Candlelit:
January 1778
Valley Forge
Everyone else had gone to bed by now, leaving just the two of them.
John set aside his quill for a moment, rolling his wrist. He stole a quick glance across the table to see Alexander still writing feverishly across the parchment set in front of him. Brown eyes left Alexander for a moment to look at the candle, seeing that they only probably had another hour of light at best.
"Hamilton?"
No response.
Thin lips drew themselves into a frown at that, sigh escaping his lips. His eyes went back and forth, watching Alexander's quill write. Part of John wanted to say goodnight and head up those stairs, falling into bed but the other part knew he just couldn't leave Alexander. He wouldn't have put it past the other aide to take out yet another candle to keep working for a few hours more.
He glanced down at what he had just finished, reading it over once more. At this point, he was just stalling for time, and he knew it. "Hamilton?" He tried once again, only to be answered with the sound of a quill scratching quickly across parchment.
He couldn't help but wonder how exactly Alexander could be so focused on his work. It would have driven him mad. Sitting there in silence, watching Alexander work, however, allowed John to really study the man sitting across from him.
John had sat across from Alexander before, but tonight he had really been studying him. He watched the way Alexander's slender fingers held his quill and the way that he wrote on the parchment, the way his eyes were focused on his papers in front of him.
His nose.
His lips.
John had to stop himself from lingering on the thought of Alexander's lips for too long. He glanced away, he could feel his face heating up a bit, glad that Alexander was too enraptured in his work to notice.
They had hardly known each other for but a few months and John wanted to stay away from thoughts such as those. They had become close and John wanted to keep that close friendship, stuffing any thoughts he was having deep down inside of him. He forced his gaze away from Alexander's lips, eyes drifting upward.
His creased brows.
The hair that seemed to become lose of the ribbon that he had tied his hair back in.
"You can go to bed, you know."
John blinked, thoughts coming back to reality after a moment. His gaze shifted back over to Alexander's face. He was now sat up, eyebrow raised as he stared at John for a long moment. "What?" He blinked once, then twice, not sure if he had heard him or not.
Alexander frowned, tilting his head to the side, looking John over before glancing back down at the parchment in front of him. "I said you can go to bed, the others have already."
John glanced at the candle once again. There was maybe 30 minutes of light left in the candle. It was burning down quickly. He turned back to Alexander. "Will you be finishing your work soon?" His own eyebrow rose, surprised at himself for the question that left his lips.
Alexander stared at him, stunned.
It was unusual and John didn't think that he had ever seen him stunned like that before. He wanted to backtrack for a second, but didn't, sitting there, staring across the table, awaiting an answer from the other man.
Staring into eyes that he wanted to get lost in.
John blinked away those thoughts as Alexander cleared his throat. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt," was Alexander's response. Perhaps not the response that John was searching for, but a response, nonetheless.
"I will drag you up there if I have to," a quick response from his own lips. He wanted to curse himself, tell himself he needed to think things over before speaking. He gave Alexander a wry smile.
He could see the humor in Alexander's eyes as he grinned at him, chuckling at John's response.
John could almost feel his hear skip a beat.
"I suppose, I'll have to take your word for it." Alexander glanced back down at the parchments in front of him, picking up his quill once more. "I just have a thought more to finish putting down before stopping for the night."
John nodded, finding himself sitting there once more, his own thoughts his only company for the next few moments.
The moments in silence passed, this time being a tad more comfortable than before.
John wanted to creep up the stairs and grab his sketchbook. He had the urge to sketch the man before him, but he kept himself in his seat, silent. He hardly thought Alexander would appreciate being the subject of a drawing. He would possibly have to ask at another time.
"Laurens?"
John had hardly realized he had been alone in his own thoughts again when he heard Alexander speaking once again. "Hm?" He hummed, brown eyes glancing up only to see Alexander standing above him. "Oh, I apologize." He said as he stood up, watching as Alexander began to walk across the room, heading up the stairs quietly as could be, so they did not wake anyone else up.
John let out a soft sigh, turning to follow the other man up the stairs to their shared quarters.
He had resolved that all he needed was to sleep. Sleep off all thoughts of wanting to sketch Alexander, wanting to kiss his lips.
He stopped outside the door, watching for a moment as Alexander readied himself for bed.
John, taking in a deep breath, pushing past the door, stalking past Alexander and over to the bed, falling onto it face first, wanting to just melt into sleep.
Alexander turned, seeing the other man like that. "Are you going to sleep like that?"
"Yes."
"Boots and everything."
"Yes."
He didn't want to talk any longer and just wanted to succumb to sleep, ignoring all thoughts until morning.
"Good night, then, Laurens."
John moved his head, his eyes staring at the wall, so he didn't have to glance over at Alexander. "Good night," came his soft response. His eyes closed, letting himself being drifted off into the thoughts that were stirring of a candlelit Alexander, if only for a few hours.
