CHAPTER 19:

The rest of the week was relatively quiet. John woke up every morning to a fresh pot of coffee and an empty room, never making it to his second cup before Alex would come back from his morning walk. He'd scramble some eggs and make some bacon for the both of them, and sometimes Alex brought bagels back with him and other times John just made them toast. It was almost surprising how well they fell into a routine, but John supposed that was because Alex didn't feel like a stranger to him. If Alex felt the same way he didn't say anything about it, and John didn't see a need to bring up why the man was familiar to him. Even when Alex would catch John staring at him and ask him what he was thinking about, Alex always accepted the "Oh, just zoning out, heh," excuse John gave him with little more then his own smile and nod. He never asked about the way John was curiously studying the curve of Alex's cheek and the way his lips silently moved on occasion when he was reading; the way he pushed his hair from his face, or how he would yawn and stretch his body; the unconscious way he seemed to always tap his fingers when he wasn't scribbling out his own notes.

When Alex went to work over the few days they had before classes, John spent the time really contemplating what he was gunna do on Saturday, when his regularly scheduled session with Lin was to take place. A few keystrokes on his laptop told him if he gave the spot up there was a good chance he'd never get it back and honestly, John didn't want to. Lin had been good to him and John didn't want to let the connection go if he might need the service later. But it didn't seem fair to keep paying for a slot he now felt extra dirty using, and likely wouldn't during their semester together; shouldn't it go to someone who would use it and wouldn't Alex rather have the work? He knew he certainly wasn't gunna tell Alex who he was, aside from not wanting to be labeled a perv or have his new roommate think less of him for the stuff he'd asked Lin to perform, his entire comfort from their sexual interactions came from the idea that he was anonymous to Lin. He was playing a part there as much as Alex was; just a faceless, nameless being who needed the illusion of intimacy to keep their sanity in check.

And watching Al—Lin get fucked by someone didn't do much for John except make him as uncomfortable now as it did when he was looking around for someone to settle on. If he was with a woman John couldn't get over his own jealous feelings that he could never even just pretend he cared for a girl that much, and if he was with a man John couldn't relate to the ones that topped, which was a problem because Lin certainly made his living on his knees. And John wondered if that wasn't what Alex actually liked in bed; to have his hands tied up behind him and someone's fist in his hair, to have another male thrusting in him hard as he gasped and moaned and begged beneath them. Did Alex like being slapped across the face or was that just the part Lin played? Was he truly happy having a dick in his mouth and one in his ass, while he tried to pleasure a woman or was that just an act too?

John didn't know. And it felt too overwhelming to watch. It felt too much like the nights he'd spent sitting outside of Lafayette's bedroom door, listening for sounds of abuse, or the word stop to be uttered too loudly or with too much urgency; only this time the door was open so he could see inside the room where it happened yet even if a line was crossed John would be powerless to stop it. And he knew how badly it messed with his head to watch other people screwing their brains out; like the times he was forced to watch his own abusers show him how he was supposed to sleep with a woman.

"Earth to John," Alex said, waving his hand in front of John's face until he finally seemed to realize his roommate was back from his Saturday morning walk. "Come in, John. How ya doing there buddy?"

"Oh, good morning," John replied. "Sorry, zoning out again."

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked with a worried look.

"Yeah, why?" John replied.

"Your eyes are, ummm, a little watery?"

John touched his face and found that his eyes were indeed wet with tears. He rubbed them away and shook his head. "Anxiety," he told Alex, as if that was all the explanation needed.

"You wanna talk about anything?" Alex offered, and when John shook his head Alex nodded to show he accepted that answer. "I brought us bagels today."

"Mmkay," John said getting up and stretching a bit. "I'll make some breakfast. We'll need to go shopping again soon."

"I'm not doing anything today, well, except work but it's a late shift."

John pretended that answer was new information to him and nodded his head. "I gotta go in to work today too, see what my schedule is for next week, and make a general plan for the semester. You got your class schedule too right? Want me to draw you up a weekly calendar as well?"

"Only if you want. I'm generally pretty good on managing my time tho, thanks."

"Okay, let me know if you change your mind. I'll have one posted for me by my desk if you need to know where I'll likely be at any given point," John said and moved to the table that housed most of his kitchen gadgets. He set his coffee mug down and started preparing their breakfast, listening to the sounds of Alex stripping behind him and going to take a shower without turning around. He kept meaning to mind Alex that he should apply more modesty when removing his clothes or changing, but each time a moment like this came John lost his voice in an embarrassed blush and then it passed and he thought it would stupid telling Alex of all people to be modest. So he just let it slide past him and kept his eyes focused on other things and his mind focused on other tasks.

As he stirred the pan of eggs, John wondered if a real domestic life with Alex would be anything like what they had right now. Obviously, the dorm was small and cramped, but he imagined Alex getting out of his morning shower and coming to give John a kiss, taking a plate of breakfast with a towel still wrapped around his waist. They'd sit in their little kitchenette table and plan their day, drinking coffee and reading different parts of the morning paper. Then they'd would finish getting ready for the day and dash off to school or work, and Alex might bring him lunch once in a while and make John's coworkers incredibly sick with how cute they'd be. He'd get home and start on dinner, Alex would be in shortly after with tales of his own daily adventures, they'd study together on the couch or watch some TV until bedtime...It sounded nice. He wished he could have that. Some part of him said he was just displacing the fantasies he'd had for Lafayette onto Alex, and it minded him not to make the same mistake of thinking his own desires were anything realistically attainable.

He pretended not to feel how close Alex was standing behind him a moment later as he was picking his clothes out, pretended he wouldn't have given anything to turn and put his arms around Alex's waist and nuzzled against his fresh clean skin, pretended he didn't eye Alex it the reflective surface of the toaster as he dressed himself. It didn't matter, it was an idle fantasy. And honestly, he felt like a creep thinking that way about Alex. It's not like the man felt any of the same things for John. He divided their food onto two separate plates, timed just so that when he did finally turn to give Alex his food his roommate was already dressed and nearly ready for the day. Alex smiled at him gratefully and said his thanks as he took the plate offered to him. As John sat in the extra chair he'd brought, Alex pulled his desk chair up next to him and they sat together to eat as they had done every morning that week. John wondered if the hectic life of a law student would allow it to continue. Oh well, they'd know in about two days when classes finally started.

Alex's phone pinged and he reached over to retrieve it from where he'd left it on his desk, seeing a number he didn't recognize was texting him. Hey there, beautiful boy. :) the message read and he sat up a little straighter. It had to be Eliza finally texting him back. He'd been waiting for her to do so all week, and finally here she was shooting him a message. Well of course, she had to be the one to text him, he hadn't gotten her number. He let a smile slip onto his face as he wrote out his response.

"Who is it?" John asked him, nodding his head at Alex's phone.

"Uh, this girl I met Eliza. I think she's Angelica's sister."

"Oh. I haven't met the middle sister. Tell her I said hi."

'Sup you adorible little cutie? What took you so long to get back to me? Also, my roommate says hello.'

Sorry, I was a little busy with some things on my end. Tell him hi back from me. You know, I had a really great time the other night. We should get together and do it again sometime. :)

Alex felt his smile growing wider at the prospect of being asked out. 'Oh for sure; I had a lot of fun hanging out with you too. When were you free?'

Heh, hanging out? Is that what the kids are calling it these days? :)

His brows furrowed some at that, thinking quickly that he was messing up. 'Well, I supposed they'd actually call it an impromptu blind date. But I'd be honored to take you on a more serious date, if you'd like.'

What? Like dinner and a movie? You sure are romantic. But how about we skip all of that and just get down to doing the one thing we both want? :)

At this Alex tilted his head to the side. 'Swapping fairytales?' he asked and it took a minute for the response to come through.

You want me to tell you a story? Okay. Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jackie, and he was gunna take basket of goodies to his grandmother's house. Jackie's mommy and daddy warned him not to stray off the path that ran through the forest, but Jackie was a very naughty boy who never listened to his parents and he walked into the woods, thinking he knew a short cut. Then, a big, bad wolf came and told Jackie he was gunna eat him whole and Jackie became very scared. He begged the wolf not to do that, but the wolf didn't care. He pinned Jackie to the forest ground and tore off all his clothes. But instead of eating Jackie whole, the wolf started licking Jackie's cock. Soon Jackie wasn't scared of the wolf anymore, he was so aroused by the way the big bad wolf knew how to tease him. But little Jackie was making too much noise, so the wolf crawled on top of him and gave Jackie his own dick to suck. Jackie sucked and suck and almost sucked the wolf dry, but the wolf was too wild to finish in Jackie's warm mouth. So he turned Jackie over and mounted him from behind, shoving his thick hard cock into Jackie's sweet sensitive ass over and over, until they both howled their wild feral passion to the moon. And the wolf made Jackie his, so that whenever he howled he knew Jackie would climb out of his bedroom window and sneak away into the forest to the wolf, naked and submissive to the creature's desires. The end. So what do you say, wanna be the Jackie to my big bad wolf, John? :)

Alex felt his face heating up when he read the last word of the text. He glanced over to John who was just sitting in his chair, finishing his breakfast. Alex didn't know who this wolf character belonged too, but he wasn't sure John would have liked the story he'd had to tell. It didn't help that Alex couldn't get the image of John in a little red cloak and little else while he lay spread out on a forest floor out of his head. 'I think we got some wires crossed here, buddy,' Alex typed out. 'I thought you were this girl Eliza, and now I'm thinking that's not the case. Also, my name isn't John.'

You're right, I am not your Eliza. But who are you if you aren't John? I got this phone number from him directly.

'One sec,' Alex shot back and awkwardly turned toward his roommate. "Hey, uhhhhh...John?"

"Hmm? John replied, merely glancing over as he took another sip of his coffee.

"Did, ummm, you give my number to somebody who maybe wanted to hook up with you recently?"

John's head snapped too attention, putting all of his focus on Alex. "What? No. Why?"

Alex scrolled back to the start of the conversation and handed his phone out to John to look through. "Because someone just texted me looking for you..." He studied John's face carefully as he watched his eyes dart back and forth over the messages. It wasn't hard to tell when John got to the explicit little "fairytale" the guy had written as he squeaked in a bit of shock before going bright red. Alex hoped he'd done the right thing in letting John read that message himself.

"Can I text them back?" John asked, looking up with a face full of embarrassed horror. "I think I know who it is, and I'm soooo sorry Alex, I swear I didn't give him your number, I think he just found your phone in my pocket that day I had it and presumed it was mine. God I didn't get a chance to ask him which phone he said he'd gone through!"

"Hey, it's okay," Alex said, patting the air. "Text him from your phone so he has your number tho. I'll just delete those messages off mine and pretend that stuff never happened." He smiled gently at the little nod John gave him and watched as he pulled out his own phone to copy the number from Alex's. "Um..." Alex started, but when his roommate looked up at him he felt lost for what exactly he wanted to say.

"Yeah?" John prompted, looking curious.

Alex smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, no; it's none of my business."

"What?" John asked, looking far more interested now.

"No, it's not my place to say anything."

John looked about done with him. "Okay, what the fuck is wrong with him?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What is it about him that you don't like? Go on, say it. Laf does this shit to me all the time. You don't like that he went through your phone? You don't like that he wasn't there the following morning to make sure this shit wouldn't happen? What? C'mon, out with it, say your piece."

"I have a concern about the story he thought he was telling you."

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It didn't come across as a little...aggressive to you?" Alex watched as all of John's hostile defensiveness melted away. He shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. "Look, I'm paranoid, I know that. And I know something about you he probably doesn't and maybe I'm the one being way too sensitive here. I just want you to be careful, okay? But I trust you to make good choices. I just don't want to see you get hurt, which, I mean, I hope that would go without say, but I really mean that, John."

John glanced between the longer text message on Alex's phone and his roommate. "I...didn't really tell him my history; it wasn't..." He sighed chewing on his lip. "It wasn't exactly something that came up like it did for..."

"Yeah, no I figured," Alex said. "You don't have to tell him, you know. Ummm, seems like he has you in mind for one thing and, ya know, if you're good with that arrangement go for it. Just know that, if you tell him stop he needs to respect that regardless if you tell him why or not, okay? Ya know, cuz if he doesn't I think I gotta help your friends bury a body somewhere, heh."

"Yeah, have fun with that," John said with a small laugh. "You'll have to listen to Thomas's bitching for hours. Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" Alex said, tilting his head to look up at John.

"For worrying about me," John said. "But I'm a big boy. I think I can handle a little booty call without disappearing for more then a handful of hours."

"So who is Mr. Booty call, anyway?"

"I told you about him, he's the guy I met at the bar."

"Ahhh, yes, bar boy. The one we aren't telling our nosy french friend about." Alex grinned in a cheeky way, then asked in a silly voice, "so what are you gunna tell me about him?"

"Dick," John said with a smile. "Look, all you or Laf or anyone needs to know is that I had a good time with him once, and now that he's texting me back maybe we'll go for another round."

"Well, he sounds pretty interested for a round two. But if he decides he wants a round three you should really make him buy you dinner first."

"I don't think he's into me for dating...But that's okay, right? I mean, maybe having a friend with very specific benefits would be good."

"It could be," Alex replied. "You just gotta be careful about them pesky feelings. They get in the way and muck everything up."

John rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yeah, well give me a lesson in how you don't catch them some other time, I gotta call this guy back so he knows you didn't murder me."

"Okay," Alex said, taking his phone back as John handed it to him before stepping into their bathroom for privacy.

Burr looked up from his digging into every girl named Eliza within a 50 mile radius as the burner phone he'd picked up that morning started to ring. The Eliza development could wait. He switched over to his other screen, pulling up the live video feed of the dorm Alex and his little problem shared while he composed himself, then answered. "Hello?"

"Hi!" John smiled as he rocked in place in their bathroom on screen. "Umm...Leslie, right? It's um, John...John Laurens, form the bar the other night. You just texted my roommate looking for me?"

"Oh my gosh! I am sooo embarrassed," Burr told him. "I thought you were playing coy with me and I, ugh, I sent him something I really only meant for your eyes. I am so sorry if I made things awkward?"

"No, no," John said, "I think he's okay with it. You know, I had a feeling this was gunna happen, cuz I had his phone that night we met. Long story."

"You should tell me about it."

"What, like now?"

"No. Like tonight. I want to see you again."

Burr watched John smiled and hop around in place, giving away his bluff when he tried replying, "Well, what makes you think I don't have plans already?"

"Oh, I have my ways," he purred to John. "But in case I'm wrong, can you be done with everything by 10pm when I come to pick you up?"

"That's...pretty late," John said as he chewed on his bottom lip.

"It's a Saturday night. That's when all the fun things are happening, John. C'mon, I got a great place I want to take you, it's sure to leave you with a memory you'll not soon forget."

"...Okay," the stupid boy replied and Burr grinned maliciously. "I'll see you at 10, then. Do you need my address?"

"No baby, I looked you up in the student housing list. I'll see you then. Wear something comfortable. Oh wait John! I'm sorry, I have one more question. You said your roommate's name was Alex didn't you?"

"Uhh, yeah...I think?"

"Sorry, he just mentioned a girl named Eliza, and coincidence of coincidences my best friend happens to have the same name and was talking about a guy named Alex she had met the other night. I just wanna be sure they're the same person?"

"You know Eliza Schuyler?"

"Ah!" Burr said feigning surprise as he typed her name into his computer and instantly all available and not-so-available information started popping up for him to sort through later. "Well, what do you know, it's the same girl. Small world, huh?"

"You know, if they're thinking of dating, maybe we could all do a double date sometime?"

"Oh John, let's just keep this casual for now. If I could be quiet honest with you, I don't much think you'd like my dark side."

John snorted and rolled his eyes with a smile on his lips. "C'mon, that's just something you're telling me so I'll be all interested in your mysterious allure, isn't it?"

"Maybe it is," Burr told him. "Maybe I'll give you a peek of it tonight. Sooo, 10pm?"

"I'll be ready," John said.

"I doubt it, but I promise I'll go easy on you. See you then." He waited just long enough to hear John get his goodbye out before hanging up the phone. With John set up to be put in check that evening Burr could focus now on the new development that Alex apparently had his eye on one sweet little Eliza Schuyler. Maria had mentioned a girl, though stupidly she hadn't been able to get Burr any more information then that. No matter. She was taken care of for the next few weeks and as the info filed in about the middle Schuyler sister, Burr swore under his breath. Another child of someone with enough money and power to make a big scene if their kid went missing, and Philip Schuyler was far more high profile then John's family was. Goddamnit, Alex had expensive tastes for a brat raised out of trash can.

The very good news for Eliza, however, was that she only knew Alex. His work as Lin was absolutely a far cry from anything that would seem to cross her mind. So for now Burr decided he would let Alex warm up to her and see what happened. Maybe, if things went well, she would produce a child that Burr could use to keep Alex under his thumb. Wouldn't that be nice? And perhaps he could lure the too good daughter of a senator into working for him and blackmail her father to keep the scandal out of the papers in exchange for some political favors. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea letting Alex make one little friend. Well, he supposed he'd let Alex keep John too, so long as John was willing to play along nicely, and so far he certainly was.

Burr leaned back in his chair, contemplating the possibilities and waiting for the right moment to start making his moves.

END CHAPTER