Chapter 3:

Alexander's happiness didn't fade as the night progressed either.

Although to be fair, neither of the boys stayed awake for long enough that the night really could progress, but that's not the point.

After Alex had dumped his bag next to the sofa in the small living room his new roommates gave him a tour of the apartment. It was a bit cramped, but cozy nonetheless. The livingroom connected to a tiny kitchen, which John claimed Lafayette ruled like ruthless dictator. The French boy had retorted with "Someone has to cook and calling Pizza Hut does NOT count!"

The group then showed him Hercules' bedroom, which consisted of a large bed covered by ruffled navy sheets and a huge woking desk covered in drawings and diagrams.
"Herc's designing fashion, in case you wondered about the, hrm, scribbles," John said, pointing at the desk. Hercules whacked him on the arm in response, muttering something about that "Everyone can't draw anatomically perfect turtles, Laurens".

They proceeded to what was obviously Lafayette's room. The amount of French pictures, flags and postcards that covered every open space was a tad ridiculous. It was also at this point Lafayette finally seemed to realise that he was indeed shirtless and decided to put on some clothing. Alexander almost sighed in relief at this, it had been a bit distracting. Though the white shirt with "I heart france" printed on it was so worn it hardly did anything to cover the boy's torso. Sweet Jesus.

The next room belonged to John and was located right beside the one Alexander presumed would be his own, as there didn't seem to be any other unoccupied bedrooms. John's room was basically a mirrored version of Hercules', except he hadn't bother to even try to make the bed. The dark green covers lay in a pile at the foot end of the bed and there were at least three pillows scattered over the mattress. The desk however looked almost identical to the other boy's, though these drawings looked less like fashion designs and more like, well, turtles. Which wasn't surprising seeing as the walls were covered with pictures of them.

Hercules obviously saw this as a perfect opportunity to get back at John for the insult about his fashion designs. He leaned over to Alexander to stage whisper:
"Laf and I think he has all of these pictures to remind him of his turtle-girlfriend at home". The comment caused Lafayette to double over with laughter, and Alexander to let out a snort of amusement. The only one that didn't' seem entertained was, unsurprisingly, John. He blushed furiously which made his freckles stand out even more. The sight of it caused a small pang in Alexander's stomach. Damn he was adorable.

"Shut up, you buffoon! That's just absurd!"
The sheer offense in his tone, combined with his tomato red face really did nothing to stop Lafayette's laughing fit.
"True," Hercules replied, and he looked like he might actually be contemplating what John had said. But then:
"We all know you'd never have a girlfriend, Turtle-Boy".
He winked at Alexander as he said this, leaving the poor boy very confused but also slightly hopeful, though he didn't really know why.

Once Lafayette had regained his ability to breathe they finally got to the last room. The walls were painted with a nice design of half white/half turquoise and furnitured with a small bed, a sturdy wooden desk and a small dresser. It wasn't much, but Alexander hadn't expected there to be either. Though why there was no chair…

"Oh yeah, about that chair…" John the Turtle-Boy said, clearly realising the issue as well.
"Sorry 'bout that. I took it, 'cause mine was broken and we didn't know when you'd move in. I planned to get you a new one I swear." He looked pretty flustered, and he had slipped into a slight accent. "You can have it back of course, I mean– "
His somewhat awkward explanation was interrupted by non other than Lafayette. He must have left while Alex was too busy listening to John, as he now came prancing into the room carrying an enormous and obnoxiously purple bean bag.
"I found a solution!" he laughed, and dumped it in front of the desk. "I found it in a cupboard," he added with a drawling French accent.
John blushed even deeper at this, an hurriedly offered to take the bean bag himself so Alex could have his chair back. But Alexander just grinned.
"The bean bag's fine".

The bean bag ended up being a great bed too, since once Alexander had emerged from his and John's bathroom (there were only two, and Hercules and Lafayette had claimed the other one) he'd realised there were no sheets on the bed. Sure, he could have fixed that but it was like 3 a.m. and making a bed was hard. The other's had realised this as well when they popped into his room to check if he was settled, so Herc had thrown Lafayette's US flag at him to use as a blanket. As it turned out, it wasn't really a flag, but a fleece pelt. Despite this the least American guy in the room had claimed that it could not be used as a blanket because it had "patriotic value". At this Alexander had inquired whether using it as a cape also had "patriotic value" which had caused Lafayette to mutter something in French, and the other two to howl with laughter.

So once they had all said goodnight Alexander ended up bundled in an American flag on top of his neon bean bag. Just before he drifted of to sleep a smile played over his lips, and the warm feeling that spread throughout his body wasn't just from the fleece blanket.

Thank you all for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any critique or anything you want to tell me, please do. Any and all comments are highly appreciated. I don't know for sure when the next chapter will be out because I will be busy for the next couple of days but I hope I can get it done soon. If you think it takes too long, please send me a message telling me to get it together and write it. Take care people!