Hamilton let himself stumble onto the bed. He curled up in the sheets where Laurens had lain. They were still warm, still smelling of him, and his shampoo. Laurens had too many hair products. He let himself smile as he remembered his awe the first time he'd witnessed Laurens' hair routine. Those sheets reminded him of Laurens embrace, of how safe and protected he felt when he was in his arms. Being along there felt abnormal, wrong. As though he had lost the very thing that had been keeping him from utter vulnerability and hurt. Bringing himself back to the present was the last thing he wanted to do in that moment, but he forced his mind back into focus.

Laurens had left the room just as Hamilton had remembered it, the only things that seemed to be misplaced were John Laurens himself and his phone. He hadn't even taken his wallet, Hamilton realised. It still sat on his bedside table, looking so small and unimportant, but holding many truths. Laurens wasn't gone out to get something, he hadn't even brought his digital camera, Hamilton found it just under Laurens' side of the bed. No, his boyfriend had disappeared without a trace, he hadn't left behind a note or even a text saying 'I'll be home soon, don't worry'. So, as anyone would in that situation, Hamilton spiralled into a frenzy. He called Lafayette, who picked up, then Jefferson, who didn't, then Lafayette again, all the while pacing the length of the bedroom, staring at the empty bed every so often, forcing himself to disregard reality.

Hamilton's hands shook as he found Lafayette's number to call him back, after there had been no answer on Jefferson's end.

"Laf? Have you heard from him? Laurens? Jefferson didn't pick up. But...I just remembered. Burr wasn't at the lecture I had this morning. It's unlike him to be absent, even if he doesn't regard Washington with the same esteem as he does Lee..."

Lafayette was silent on the other end of the line for an agonisingly long second. When he replied, his voice was tinged with something that resembled remorse. "Hamilton he's gone. I got through to him he's...on the way home. To Puerto Rico."

Though he tried, it was impossible to control the anger and fear from totally consuming his tone, as Hamilton replied, "Lafayette why the fuck did he call you and not me. I've been trying his number all this time and he's never picked up but he does to you? Why is he gone? Why is Laurens gone? Why did he just get up and leave me here, Laf. What the hell did Jefferson and Burr do to him to make him leave me?" Hamilton couldn't stand it in that room anymore, he pulled the door open with some force, almost hitting himself with it as he existed into the hall. He didn't allow himself to direct the anger towards Laurens. How could he, when his boyfriend was probably going through something far worse than what he was, as he stood there still for the most part untouched by whatever it was that had happened. He closed the door on the empty room behind him and stood in the hall, suddenly completely at a loss for what he should do.

"Laf what did he say. Can you remember exactly what it was?"

Lafayette sighed. His voice was soaked in such concern that Hamilton felt that anxiety more acutely all of a sudden, the anxiousness that was lingering, attaching itself - unmovable from the questions and possibilities floating in his head. "Hamilton, he didn't say much. That he was at the airport ah... I think JFK. He couldn't talk. And he said that he wouldn't be able to talk to you. Not for a while..." Lafayette's guard had dropped, Hamilton realised. He was no longer the warm, always joking, always warm and comforting figure he had come to know and love. "Hamilton he needs you but I don't know how you're going to be there for him. I don't know what's happening.. I don't want my friend to be going through this.. Laurens...he doesn't deserve any bad. His heart is too good."

Everything was out of place. Laurens had left, he couldn't contact him, but he was okay and, from what they knew, he wasn't in harms way.

That man who loved him so much that he'd brought Hamilton's life back down into the realms of reality. Laurens had taught him so much, just by being himself and loving him. Their love had taught Hamilton more about what the world had to offer than anything had before, in all of his 24 years of being. Laurens, with that smile, those eyes, the night sky full of freckles which donned his checks and spilled over his brow. The heart of a lion which lay inside his chest was probably twisted so out of shape, Hamilton thought.

Lafayette waited all this time, patient as he was, while Alexander broke down on the other end of the phone, remembering someone that may not have been completely lost, but felt so far away in that moment that he might as well have been. It took only a moment for his legs to give out, and he fell to the ground, back against the wall, beside the threshold of the kitchen. The hall seemed to elongate when he looked up, the tears and undirected anger warped his perception of reality.

"Laf we have to get him back..." Once he gathered his thoughts and reasonings he began to think more feverishly than he had in weeks, months. "Maybe his parent will know."

"Mon ami...my poor Hamilton don't cry. We will get him back, of course. And maybe yes we should call them, but listen. He would not want this, no? Would he really want you to be crying like this-"

"I'm fine."

"Which is a lie. I am coming over. We need to discuss."

Hamilton didn't argue - he needed Lafayette. They would find out what the fuck was happening.

For a brief moment when he heard the door buzz, Hamilton thought it might just be Laurens. In the same instance, he remembered Lafayette's proposition to come over and plan out the immediate course of action, and all hope of a swift reunion with Laurens fell aside. He was, really, on a plane to Puerto Rico. Hamilton had tried to call Laurens' parents but there'd been no answer and his reasoning seemed to be a little off.. there was no reason why they'd know anything about this, right? He didn't want to worry them...

This is what he was thinking when Lafayette swung open the door, his arms stocked with an abundance of food. The bags were stacked so high atop a pizza box that he couldn't see directly in front of him and had to crane his neck to the side of the mountain of food. "So. Mulligan's coming over, too. I gave him the..run down.. and. I got us supplies! I wasn't sure if you were a taco or burrito person or a both person so I got us all everything! And pizza."

"Lafayette, thank you. I've never gained comfort from food but for some reason this situation seems to call for all of this..." Hamilton allowed himself to give Laf a small smile as he closed the door behind him and alleviated him of some of the weight he was carrying. That was a lot of food.

Something felt wrong about the moment. Then Hamilton realised : he was waiting for Laurens' excited outburst, waiting for him to walk through the doorway from the hall and run over to Laf, hugging him and graciously taking the pizza. "He should be here, this feels like a celebration." Hamilton had moved towards the island, in the middle of the room and left the bags down on the marble counter. There were still some remains from the night before, when their friends had celebrated the work Hamilton had written about Laurens. The man that was the burning light of his future, a future he couldn't imagine in that moment. Not anymore, with Laurens gone his very notion of a future had been stripped away.

"Have you called his parents yet?" Lafayette asked, mid-chew as he stuffed he made his way through another burrito. They had moved to the living room to wait for Mulligan and to really get into planning whatever it was they were going to plan. Everything seemed like a futile shot in the dark at the moment.

"They didn't pick up. I'm trying to think more reasonably, here.. Laf do you think they know? They probably don't. There's a chance if I tell them I don't know where their son is they'll panic. They love him so much."

"Hmm." Lafayette shook his head. "No, they think they love him."

"They're just hard on him-"

"Trust me. You should call them again. If getting Laurens to ...disassociate? completely from you was Jefferson's plan, I'm thinking he would've.. interfered with them first."

"Are you sure you're not being presumptuous?"

"Alexander, my friend, I've known them for years."

Hamilton nodded, and picked up his phone. Laurens had put his parents' home number in after their visit, when Hamilton promised Laurens' father to keep in touch in regards to some legal direction he had asked for.

This time, his mother picked up. "Hello?" Her voice sounded so much like Laurens' that he had to force himself to swallow the lump that instantaneously grew in his throat.

"Ms. Laurens, it's Hamilton! I was just wondering if you've heard-"

"Hamilton! Hello! Laurens is on a flight to Puerto Rico, his Grandmother is ill. But, he needs time away from all of this. I don't know if you know what your ...book has done? He needs away from that. Just for a while. I will call you if you need to know anything but please don't call this number again, his father is having a harder time comprehending things. And, Hamilton? Please, could you take care of the apartment? I have to go-"

Before Hamilton could answer of even develop a suitable string of the questions burning his mind, the line went dead. He was shocked into silence for a minute, before he managed to croak out anything at all. He could hardly think, the details of everything that had been said were being carefully toyed with and investigated inside his head. His dissection of it all was meticulous.

"Laf. What the fuck is going on?"