*Ok yeah so I literally have no excuse for how long this took me. I'm just a bad person. I'm sorry. And it's kind of bad- idk, I'll probably go back through and change stuff- but here it is for now. Enjoy! :)*

Over the next few days, John drew Alex too many times to count. He never used his sketchbook- settling down properly to draw him felt somehow even creepier- scribbling instead on napkins, the backs of receipts, cereal packets- any surface he came across. He was acutely conscious that the details of the man's actual appearance were starting to slip out of his mind, so, rather than detailed portraits, he filled his pages with rough outlines and sketches of his body, trying to capture the tension and movement in his form. It never seemed to work. He was becoming more frustrated by the hour, and Lafayette and Hercules were hardly helping; they'd decided to change tactics, ignoring him as much as he ignored them.

Unfortunately, his best friends' version of 'ignoring' mostly entailed hanging around at the coffee shop at all times, talking very loudly, and making sure he could see that they were ignoring him. They had his work schedule memorised, of course, so they knew when to find him there, but what that meant now was that they were always there during his shifts. John's patience was wearing thin- he knew he wasn't going to last much longer, that he would crack and accept their friendship back soon.

It didn't stop them from texting him, though - mostly about each other. It was well known among their friends that Lafayette and Herc were head-over-heels for each other, but both had expressly forbidden all of them from saying a word about it. Well, if you're happy in your mutual pining… had been John's response to that- met on both accounts with some variation on "Mutual my ass."

What this meant was that everyone in their contacts list, without question or variation, would reliably receive at least ten texts a day about how beautiful the other one was- and John, as their best friend, got to look forward to double.

They usually looked like something out of a teen romance novel- cheesy-ass comments that made John practically retch- like come on:

From: Baguette fucker

John! I finally managed to put my contact lenses in! I can see everything now! Was Hercules' smile always that pretty or did he change it?

From: ZERO2HERO

john i stg lafs eyes are actual stars how he make them do that

From: Baguette fucker

Hercules is avoiding me, John. I think I made him uncomfortable- mon dieu, all I did was kiss him on the cheek, but now he hates me and I don't know how to fix it- please help! He keeps making excuses to leave the room when I come in. Advice?

From: ZERO2HERO

oh my god y does laf have 2 b so flirty and affectionate w/ everyone how does the lord expect me 2 cope what r u supposed 2 do when an actual angel kisses u n then just leaves fucking hell i cant even look him help me youre supposed 2 no abt this stuff

John had stopped replying. Those two had been pining since basically middle school, and it was about damn time they stopped beating around the bush and made out or something. He'd tried almost every trick in the book- mistletoe, standing them way too close to each other on New Year's, even attempting to rig a spin the bottle game on one occasion- and nothing. It was beyond frustrating at this point.

A couple of times, he almost forgot that he was mad at them and started writing a text back. Damn his adorable friends. Still, he was angry with them, and they needed to learn a lesson- that setting him up with assholes was not cool. So he didn't reply, and he didn't acknowledge them, no matter how loud their laughter was.

He lasted until Monday evening.

They trudged into the Grind Stone as usual- decidedly grumpy expressions on their faces- and took their usual seats at the bar. Instead of pestering or talking about him, however, they simply shared a defeated glance and sat in silence. That was all it took.

John sighed, moved to the counter directly in front of them and leaned on his forearms. He didn't look at them.

"Hey, guys."

Their eyes lit up in unison, their heads rising a few inches in their surprise- and both seemed cautious to say anything. It was Laf who did, in the end.

"John?" he ventured, timidly.

"Yeah?"

"We are sorry."

"I know. I-" John sighed again, looking them both in the face with a tired neutrality. This had gone on long enough.

"John?"

"I forgive you."

Their smiles reached their ears. Both were tall enough to lean over the counter and hug him, and they did so, crushing him a little in their excitement.

"About damn time too, John." Herc muttered.

"We have missed you, mon ami."

John felt suddenly guilty. He had overreacted, hadn't he? He'd been childish, and mean. They hadn't deserved it.

"I'm sorry, guys." he said quietly as they pulled away. "I overreacted. It wasn't your fault. I just got into a bit of a spiral, you know? That guy said some nasty shit, and I couldn't take it out on him and I kinda had to blame someone. I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

"'s alright, man." Herc muttered, shrugging one shoulder. "He was a real dick."

"Oui. I do not know why we thought you would be a good match."

"Because he was gay and rich and single?" John asked coldly, arching one eyebrow. Hercules blanched a little.

"Well- well, we just-" but John cut him off with a chuckle.

"I'm kidding, dude." Relief spread over their faces.

The next couple of hours was spent catching up. John could hardly believe he'd spent almost a full week not talking to his two best friends. Okay, now that he thought about it, that didn't seem like that long- but it had been tough. Those two knew him better than anyone else and they could read him like a book- for good or for bad. In minutes, they had him clutching his sides, giggling helplessly in a way he had missed without them, any anger was forgotten, and they even made a few good-natured jokes about his date. It was getting on for 10:45 when Lafayette's face suddenly lit up and he banged his fist on the table.

"Oh, John! I forgot to tell you! Alexander will be joining us for drinks on Friday!"

John was pretty sure his heart stopped. Had he heard right?

"W- Who?"

"Aah, don't try to pull that shit on us, man." Herc drawled, a smug grin on his face. "Alex? Alexander Hamilton? The love of your life?"

"What?"

What made him say that? John was starting to panic a little. Had he been that obvious? Wait- obvious about WHAT? You don't even like him!
For some reason, the loudest thought in his suddenly crowded brain was: so, Alex is short for 'Alexander'.

"Ah, mon ami, the way you were looking at each other! You are meant to be." Lafayette batted his eyelashes at him, smirking just as much as Herc was.

"You couldn't take your eyes off him, man."

"I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about." John muttered. He could feel his ears start to go red as his thoughts flitted to the binder of doodles that was stashed in his bag. "Sure, he was… interesting- but that doesn't mean I like him. You know, like that." His friends looked unconvinced.

"But you found him, you say, 'interesting'?"

"Oh my god, you're as bad as Angelica." John moaned. "She said, like, the exact same th-"

"Wait- you talked to Angie about him?"

Shit

"I didn't say that…" he mumbled, trying to back-track, but Laf and Herc were beaming.

"Holy crap, dude, this is even better than I thought!" Herc laughed gleefully. "You talked to Angelica about-"

"So help me I will ban you from this establishment."

"Fine, so we'll go home. And you'll come with us. Now that we're bros again, we all know you'll be back at our apartment." he shrugged.

"Oui. Your shift ends in, what-" Lafayette mimed looking at a watch (he wasn't wearing one) "-twenty minutes?"

"You can stand in the rain for twenty minutes, then!" John replied hotly, glaring up at him defiantly. "You can get pretty drenched in twenty minutes, and until Madison gets here-" As if on cue, the door to the shop opened and a sopping wet James Madison walked in.

"Hey, I thought I'd come a little early" he said, offering a small smile to the trio.

John glowered as he handed over his apron. Laf and Herc were stifling giggles behind him, and Laf threw an arm around his shoulders as soon as he came around to their side of the counter.

"That is wonderful, mon ami!" he beamed, chin resting above John's thunderous face. "We will have all the more time to spend with notre chérie. Come, John."

John let himself be led out, fuming, clutching his bag until his knuckles went white. Looking back, he saw Madison's expression- confused, and a little hurt- and tried to communicate silently that his anger wasn't directed at him, but they had passed out of sight before he had the chance.

"So, John." Hercules began smugly once they were nearing the end of the street. "What exactly did you find so interesting about our dear Alexander?"

That evening was a tough one.

John was more than reluctant to go into work the next day, having stayed up until practically morning arguing with Herc and watching dumb shit on YouTube with Lafayette. He slept well into the day- waking up to an alarm clock that read '3:47' and an empty apartment- Herc and Laf were both at work. Upon trudging into the kitchen, he found a mug of cold coffee and a note that read:

morning bitch (or afternoon you lazy slob) gone to work then going shopping we need new curtains. Lafs phone is dead so call me if you die or something. see you later

-Herc

P.S. sorry for last night

P.P.S. but not really

P.P.P.S. remember you have a shift at 4.30 maybe you'll see alex again if you do then tap that

P.P.P.P.S also if you slept long enough for this coffee to go cold then you don't deserve it anyway its almost midday bitch

Shaking his head fondly, John tucked the note into his pocket and took a swig of the stone-cold coffee. It was gross, naturally, but he found he really couldn't be bothered to make himself a new cup. Instead, he simply sat himself down cross-legged at the table, still half asleep, and stared blearily into the thin sunlight that was dappling the floor- his hair falling a little in front of his face, blocking a portion of his vision. This was John Laurens' morning (afternoon) routine: get up, get coffee, sit in the kitchen in your boxers for half an hour trying to persuade yourself to get on with the day, get dressed, leave. Sometimes Laf or Herc would join him, and he'd just sit while they pattered around making breakfast, listening to their chatter and quiet singing. John, Herc and Lafayette were always singing. It was kind of their 'thing' now- or so Angelica had said. They would sing as they cooked, or as they walked down the street, or as they shopped; absolutely everywhere they went, they would bring a soft melody with them. John had learned to harmonise by ear just by being around those two- their voices were astounding. He'd grown used to the constant humming and scatting- the silence in the house, now, seemed unnatural. Under his breath, he filled it;

"Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live, oh…"

He tapped his fingers on the table, watching how the muscles moved under his freckled skin. He'd never liked his hands; they were so big- his fingers too long, knuckles bulging like knots in a tree- and the freckles, god. He had far too many freckles. He'd used to try and keep out of the sun- knowing that it would only get him more- but eventually recognised it as a lost cause. He still winced a little when he caught sight of his reflection- the dots were everywhere, especially on his face, even peppering the skin of his lips. The ones that dotted his knuckles were fainter than some, and he watched them move slightly as he opened and closed his hand. The sunbeams really did look very pretty, glancing off the table and into the room. The patterns they made through the leaves outside the window looked like water, he thought, even rippling a little as a breeze rolled past. As he stared into them, dazedly, calm pulling his shoulders down, he thought of how Alex would look under those sunbeams- calm for once, sleeping with the light in his hair and-

John woke up abruptly when his head hit the table.

Cursing, he rubbed it and screwed his eyes tight shut, trying to clear the drowsiness. A yawn escaped him and he swigged a little more of his coffee, then managed to pull himself out of his chair, stumbling into the living room. Most of his clothes were still at his apartment- stupid, as he hardly spent any time there- so he grabbed an already-worn T-shirt from next to the makeshift mattress he used and fished around underneath it until he found a pair of jeans. They'd do. It wasn't like he was going to see anyone important today; his change-over was with Angelica, and she'd seen him literally come into work in pyjamas on a couple of occasions- and done it herself on one- so she probably wouldn't judge. He'd looked really smart on Saturday, but that had been a fluke: he'd actually been trying to show Herc and Lafayette that he could manage without them doing his laundry- they'd often joke that he'd walk around in a bin liner if they didn't stop him.

Still pretty tired, he decided to set off early, as he was bound to be a little slower than usual.

'Well look at you, being all organised and shit' said a remarkably Herc-like voice in the back of his mind.

'Shut up.'

'Nope.'

He set off, slinging his bag over his shoulder with the dull hope that the shop would be quiet enough for him to get some sketches down, and kicked at the leaves that scattered the road. Artists always talked about autumn leaves as if they were something exciting- drew forests made of fire and golden mountains of them- but John had always thought they just looked like a pile of brown sludge. They stuck wetly to his shoes, soaking through a little, and he kicked them off before he entered the shop. It would be him cleaning them up, after all.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the shop, and called out to Angelica.

"Hey, Angie! You're released, girl- run free."- but he stopped short as his eyes fell on the man sitting with his back to the door.

Alex.

Even from the back, he was sure of it. Wearing a different hoodie this time- an even baggier one with a black star on the back, he was sitting opposite a beautiful woman with a bright blue pixie cut and sparkling eyes. Even John's gay ass could tell that she was absolutely stunning, and he noticed immediately that she was staring at Alex with an expression that may as well have been the Heart Eyes emoji. Their hands were intertwined over the table, and they were both talking to Angelica, who was standing next to them with a teasing smile on her face.

'So, he has a girlfriend' John thought. Or maybe not, they could just be friends- but that didn't bother him. Hey- he didn't even like the guy, right? Right.

"Oh, thank god. I don't think I could listen to any more relationship drama without imploding." Angelica sighed, rolling her eyes, as she pulled off her apron and threw it to him.

Relationship drama. Definitely his girlfriend. But it didn't matter, right? John didn't like him. So why was his stomach twisting like that?

He tried not to look at the couple, answering Angelica's comment instead.

"Ugh, tell me about it. If I hear one more word about Lafayette's eyes, I swear…" Angelica groaned.

"Are they still not together?"

"Nope." John shook his head ruefully. The blue haired-girl was now peering at him with interest, but Alex hadn't even looked around. But that didn't matter- hey, he probably didn't even remember John, it wasn't like they'd talked all that much. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, still talking on autopilot. "I've decided to make Christmas my deadline, though. If they ain't smoochin' by then, I am going to lock them in a closet and wait. I don't care how long it takes."

"I am with you on that, hon." chuckled Angelica, shaking her head. She leaned down, kissing the other girl on the cheek- so, they knew each other- were they related? Perhaps this was one of the little sisters Angelica was always talking about. What were their names… Margaret? Isabel?

"Bye Liza, call me later, ok?"

"Will do." replied the girl, smiling as Angelica made her way to the door. Once there, she blew a kiss to their table and called "Bye, lovebirds!"- John's stomach clenched again- before- wait, what?- she was turning to him.

And she winked.

And then she was gone.

What?

Wait. Oh god. He'd told her about Alex- what if she'd made the connection? What if she'd told him- oh shit, she'd have ruined their friendship before it even existed, Alex would think he was a creep, oh god-

John swallowed, reminding himself that he was here to do a job- and also that he didn't even like Alex. So what was the big deal?

And hey, if they were going to be hanging out on Friday, he'd better at least try to talk to him.

"Alex, hey!" he called out, walking towards the counter. Alex turned in his seat, his expression one John couldn't read. His eyes were wide- perhaps he was surprised to see him. That would make two of them.

"Hey, John." he said, smiling at him a little- that nervous one he'd used before. John was still confused about that smile- was he really that intimidating? Trying to be casual, though he was over-thinking every single movement he made, John slung the apron over his head, smiling in as friendly a way as he could. Just be nice, he reminded himself. Just act like a normal human for once and don't creep him out.

"Fancy seeing you back here." he said. "Couldn't get enough of us, huh?" Alex looked blank for a second, then blinked and sat up straighter.

"What?" He must've zoned out. Unable to stifle a little laugh at the wide-eyed look on Alex's face, John replied.

"I said: I wasn't expecting to see you here so soon- a guy can only drink so much coffee, you know."

"Oh." Alex licked his lips and swallowed. "Yeah- well, I guess I'm above average in that department. The coffee drinking department- you know." He was blushing slightly- and if that wasn't the cutest thing- wait, stop. Alex was sitting there, with his girlfriend, and John was positively ogling him: no wonder Alex was uncomfortable. His girlfriend- Lizzie?- was still staring curiously, eyes flicking from him to Alex. Shit. She would definitely get the wrong idea if he stayed there. He turned towards the counter, therefore, tying up his apron and shooting the pair what he hoped was an easy smile.

"Guess you must be."

An elderly couple approached the counter, giving John something to do other than stare at Alex, thank god, and he took their order without really thinking about it. Half way through, he remembered that his hair was untied- damnit, Alex must think he looked a mess- and wasn't he supposed to tie it back to work? He was pretty sure the health and safety pamphlet he'd been given said something about that. Luckily, he still had yesterday's band on his wrist, so pulled up his hair into a sloppy ponytail- the best he could manage without a brush- and tried as hard as he could to pay attention to the stooped women in front of him. Stop thinking about Alex.

As he made the couple their drinks, however, John couldn't stop himself from glancing up at Alex's table. From this angle, he could see his face clearly enough to recognise that he was being teased, he was biting his lip and- god- were they playing footsie under the table? That was… really cute, actually- but still made John stomach drop. He couldn't quite hear his reproachful reply to whatever his girlfriend had said, but he caught the love-struck giggle that it followed. Trying not to think about how adorable Alexander's laugh was, John turned away to serve the drinks. The old woman took forever to pay, but John wasn't complaining. Anything to keep him distracted, stop him doing something really stupid. He watched as she counted out the money, practically in cents, and smiled kindly at her, helping out when she lost count. When she had finally paid, and John had waved her and her wife out of the door, John was only just in time to catch Alexander's girlfriend also taking her leave. Her phone had gone off in her pocket, and she stood quickly, looking in the direction of the door.

"Well, gotta fly- it's illegal to park out there." she smiled. Her voice was melodious, John noticed, and with the hair and eyes- had she not been sitting next to the single most fascinating person on the planet, John might have been captivated by her instead. However, those thoughts were banished by a sort of blank buzzing when she leaned down, kissed Alexander's cheek and whispered something that made his cheeks flush dark.

"Shut up." Alex muttered. The girl returned the sentiment, then blew him a kiss and left, giggling. John stared after her.

Alex looked kind of lost without her, tapping his fingers and gazing at the door, his face still red. What on earth had she said to him?

John desperately wanted to go talk to him, but would that be rude? Pouncing on him just as his girlfriend had left- would he get the wrong idea? He dithered for a few seconds, before throwing caution to the wind. What the hell. What was the worst that could happen? The shop was pretty empty anyway, and he'd go back to the counter if anyone showed up. Yeah.

He vaulted the counter and made his way to Alex's table, conscious of how fast his heart was beating- pull yourself together, man. He sat down in the seat opposite Alex, making him look up in surprise. Well, no going back now.

"So, Alex, how are you?"

*Whoo! Tell me what you think- please please please, I LIVE for comments! I also need the Validation™... Love you, and thanks for sticking with it- and my appalling self- so far!*