I'm home! Finally reunited with my computer, and much more downtime, though half of this was still written on my phone and poorly edited since, y'know, I drove almost fourteen hours today... but I still wanted to get this into your hot little hands tonight. It's finally here! Their big day. I hope you love celebrating with them... after a little more comfort just because it's such a soothing genre and y'all seem to dig it. I've read your suggestions and a lot of you are just getting ahead of what's out, many of your suggestions are in the works, keep them coming! I love seeing what you want to see happen and spiderwebbing it all together. Thank you so much for your continued support and reviews, that's seriously (along with the four cups of gas station coffee, let's be real) what gets these chapters out so soon. Love you peeps, for real for real.
"You're sick." John decided.
"Yeah, but I'm fine." I held my head in one hand and typed with the other, wishing the dining room would stop spinning long enough for me to transpose my handwriting into my typed document.
"What can I get you?"
"I'm fine." I insisted, a little whinier than I'd hoped, still typing with one hand, my eyes shut, working line by line from memory.
John out his hand against my forehead, "you're burning up, let me at least get you some Tylenol."
"Okay," I relented, dropping from my hand to my elbow.
He produced the tablets and saw me flopped down pathetically and handed me a glass of water.
"When is this due?"
"Midterms, about a month."
"And where are you at with work?"
"Ahead of schedule."
"Then come here, let's go cuddle up in bed."
"No, I have to finish this..." I forgot the word, "this… thing… paper… case… briefing."
"Nope, your almost husband vetoes it. We're going to bed."
"Okay." I shut my eyes, bent over my desk using my notepad and forearm as a pillow.
"No, come on, bed bed, not desk bed." He helped me stand and escorted me to our bedroom.
"Thank you." I mumbled as he tucked me in.
I shivered against his side and watched him scroll through Instagram, the motion of the scrolling phone making me dizzy. I closed my eyes and the room continued to spin. I slept.
He was still there when I woke up, gasping, fingers gripped white on his forearm. He was cooing at me, running a wet rag across my brow. Taking care of me. I couldn't tell the difference between sweat, cool water from the cloth, and my tears.
"Bad dream." He soothed.
"Sorry." I mumbled, weak fingers twitching for a cigarette, still craving one after two weeks of going without.
"You're okay. Just worried about you. You kept talking about your mom."
"I think about her a lot when I'm sick… really sick… we got really sick."
"I know." He squeezed me tighter into his side where I lie in the crook of the elbow he was propped up on as he looked down at me in a shivering heap.
"Sorry." I said again.
"Don't be."
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on breathing deeply and evenly just like my shrink taught me. We lie silently like that, my chattering teeth the only noise between us. John made little noises in the back of his throat and kissed my forehead. Sleep wouldn't come again, I was too exhausted to fall asleep. I rolled to my side, facing John, still trying to get used to someone taking care of me when I was sick.
"How did you even live?" he wondered quietly, I think mostly to himself.
"Just couldn't seem to die." I put a hand on his hip to try and ground the spinning room. It helped some.
"Were you sicker than you were in November?"
"Easy. Way s-sicker."
"I almost put you in the hospital then."
"Well, we didn't have one of those for a while. N-no power, two f-feet of standing water." I reminded him. He tucked the blankets around me tighter to try and calm my chills.
"I didn't even think people could still get yellow fever. I mean, that's like crazy ass, kill you in the 1700's shit."
"I know."
"It's no wonder you have such a messed up immune system."
"Doctors told me I'll probably get really sick at least once a year… but it's way more than that."
"Maybe 'cause you don't take care of yourself?"
"I do."
"Alex," he giggled and shook his head, "you've said, on multiple occasions, 'I don't remember the last time I drank water.' When I met you you subsisted on a diet of coffee, frozen pizza, cigarettes, rum, and sugar crap."
"I'm way better about that… and I quit smoking."
"Still so proud of you." He kissed my hair and moved the rag to press it across my cheeks.
"Sorry I've been such a sh-shit bag about it."
"It's hard. I expected it."
"You don't deserve a shit bag, though."
"You're not." His voice was hard, insisting and immovable.
"I am. You sure you want to start a-a family with a sickly asshole."
He kissed my forehead again, "as long as it's you." I felt his lips grin against my forehead and he kissed my brow again.
"I hope I'm a good dad." I mumbled, feeling the bed tremble with my convulsions.
"You will be, papi."
I smiled faintly at the nickname he started using every time we talked about the baby.
"I hope so…"
"You will be. We both get to go high where our fathers went low."
"Yeah."
"What do you think the baby will look like?"
"I dunno… perfect."
"Well, yeah. Do you think we'll get a boy or a girl."
"I dunno."
"What do you want to name it?"
"I figured we keep its name… unless it's s-something horrifying like Abcde."
"That doesn't sound like that bad of a name."
"It's the first f-five letters of the alphabet, John. There are hundreds of p-people with that name."
"No."
"Yup."
"Okay, well, no Abcde… or Brad. All Brads are assholes."
"Fair." I held him tighter. The room losing some of its spin.
"I don't think you should go to class in the morning."
"I have to. Angelica won't be there, so one of us has to take notes."
"There are other people you can get notes from."
"None of them are our intel-le-lectual equals. Angelica and I are by far the most intellectual in the class."
"Okay, high horse. I'm sure for one day you could make do with subpar notes. What about that Aaron guy?"
I groaned, "Burr? Ugh, he's like the bad example of orphan money. He's so pompous."
"Hasn't he come to you for notes before?"
"Yes."
"Give it a shot."
Without realizing it, I fell back asleep in John's arms.
The next two weeks flew by, I was on the mend a few days after getting sick, and took John's advice to skip class and had gotten decent notes from Burr. He was smarter than he seemed, his quietness threw me, though. If you have a good mind why waste it on a life without convictions? Regardless of his middle of the road stance, we started to become something akin to friends and he started sitting with Angelica and I for class. He and his wife were expecting and he shared in the excitement when I divulged our plan to adopt.
Our wedding loomed, taking forever for the month to pass, then suddenly arriving. We took the day off from work and met Lafayette and Hercules at the courthouse. John looked gorgeous in the suit Hercules made. Deep sapphire to complement my emerald, it was far dressier than anything I owned, I felt suffocated, but even I had to admire how good I looked. John was nervous as we walked into the courthouse. I found his hand and stroked the back of it.
Holy shit, you've done it. You really have. Found someone who loves you. Wants you. Likes you. Almost a whole year and you haven't fucked it up yet.
Lafayette produced two small plastic boxes and opened them, pinning a pink rose boutonniere to John's lapel, and a matching one to mine.
"See, this is not very fancy, but you must have some flowers."
I smiled a 'thank you' at him.
"Let's do this." John grinned at me.
I nodded and swallowed hard. We walked into the ornate building and found our way through the maze back to the room we'd applied for the license in yesterday. We paid more money to the clerk and got our license.
"Just gotta do it, now." Hercules clapped me on the shoulder.
I nodded and tightened my grip on John's hand as we found a seat to wait for the chapel which had three couples ahead of us.
I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "you look so good."
He smiled and played with the ends of my ponytail, "you've never looked better."
From the benches across from us Lafayette leaned into Hercules and sighed dreamily. Hercules took his hand and pressed a kiss on the back of his knuckles.
After about an hour of nervous chatter, it was our turn. Lafayette called Martha on Skype and we could see the Laurens family congregated on the sofa. We followed the aide into the small chapel where the magistrate stood, nicely dressed in a tweed suit.
"Stand just there. You may hold hands if you wish." He instructed.
John clutched my hands in his and grinned hugely at me, his nose crinkling. I was running my thumbs over his hands a little bit too fast, riding the waves of my nerves.
"Alexander and John have you both chosen to be here of your own volition and free from coercion?"
"I have." John beamed.
"I have." I agreed.
"Alexander repeat after me, 'I, Alexander, take you John.'"
I followed suit, "I, Alexander, take you John,"
"'To be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward,'"
I repeated them.
"'For better or worse, richer, or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live."
As I repeated the vows, John's eyes rimmed in red and my voice caught. I heard Lafayette sniffle behind me. John's voice was shaky while he repeated his vows, a tear breached my lashes and rolled across my cheek.
"You may kiss." the magistrate offered.
John cupped my face in his hands and kissed me sweetly.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you married. Congratulations!"
There were cheers and whoops from Lafayette and Hercules as well as emanating through the phone where John's siblings shouted their congratulations.
We spilled out into the street and hugs and handshakes were exchanged. Lafayette and John hugged energetically, Lafayette springing from foot to foot. Hercules fist bumped me.
"Alright, Sofrito's at eight?" Hercules confirmed.
"Yup." I responded, John linking his arms around my waist.
"Wear your suits!" Lafayette called.
John and I walked down to the subway, only a few stops away from home. I stared down at the gold band adorning my finger, plain and simple, perfect.
"I love you, husband." John giggled.
"I love you, husband." I held him closer as we walked.
The weather was unseasonably warm and the sun shone down warmly, illuminating John. I love him so much.
We got home and I shed my tie. Careful to at least hang my suit jacket.
"You know… we've got a few hours." I quirked an eyebrow.
"We do, don't we?" he sauntered to me.
"Sure do." I cocked my head towards the bedroom.
John lie down in bed, our clothes carefully draped over the back of the chair. I straddled his waist.
"So beautiful." I smiled, eyes taking in the expanse of chest that was visible.
He blushed and ran a hand down my chest.
"I love you, John Laurens."
"I love you, Alexander Hamilton." He giggled at our formality.
"You're ridiculous." I rolled off of him and we lie pressed against each other side by side.
"I was just thinking about when we met and you were all," he put on a gruff voice, "'you will call me Hamilton and I will call you Laurens.'"
"One, I don't sound anything like that, and, two, it was the only thing I could try and do to separate myself from how desperately I wanted you, try to keep things professional."
"Doesn't matter, you're stuck with me now."
I kissed him, "para siempre."
"Para siempre." He pulled me closer to him, handing wandering across my bare skin.
I arched against him when his hand found the small of my back, wanting to be close to him, needing him.
"You feel so good." I traced his arm.
"You ain't seen nothin' yet." His drawl blanketed the lust in his voice.
"Well, then you'd better show me, Laurens."
"Oh, I'll show you." He gripped me by the hips and tugged me down the bed, I bit my lip, impossibly aroused by his gruffness.
"So fucking hot. I have the hottest fucking husband."
"Impossible, I have the hottest husband."
I rolled my eyes and propped myself up on my elbows to kiss him, his eyes flashed and he slipped down between my hips, his mouth making contact. I worked diligently to stay still as he bobbed. One hand reached up and shoved me down against the pillows, his fingers started to work me open, rougher than he usually was. I groped the sheets, calf muscles twitching at the dual sensations.
"John. John. Johnjohnjohn. Te necesito. Please. Now. Merde. Merde. Merde. Jesus fucking Christ." My toes curled in desperation.
He pulled his lips away with a wet pop and removed his fingers, lubing his ignored cock, thick and hard, I watched as he handled it.
"You like it fast?" He whispered in my ear.
"You know it. Fuck me."
"That what my husband wants?" He sounded so confident, I'd never found him sexier than in this moment.
"Yes, goddammit."
He slid home, devastatingly slow. My hips bucked to meet him. He held them stationary and moved painstakingly slowly.
"Chill, babe, I got you. You'll get what you want." He was my John, compassionate and tender, nuzzling down into my neck.
"No, no, need it now."
"So impatient." He sped up, making eye contact with me. I held his gaze until my eyes forced themselves shut. I bent my knees, giving him room to go deeper.
He put his hands on my knees, holding them open and sped up even more, I cried out and bit the back of my hand to shut myself up.
His voice was back to my sweet John, rubbing my knee gently, "you're doing okay right?"
"Yes, just… keep fucking me."
He switched once more, "oh, I plan on it. Gonna make you come in a mess between us. Touch yourself."
His roughness was such a turn on, I gripped at my swollen cock and found the pace he was working at, my mouth lolling open. He took the opportunity to drape himself over me, his long neck arching down to seal our mouths. My kiss was hungry, tongue probing his mouth, tasting his tongue, he groaned into my mouth and I felt him working toward the precipice. I moved my hips with him and felt his release. I came quickly after, the spasm of his cock enough to do me in.
He kissed my chest and pulled out, taking careful time to clean me up meticulously. He curled up with me.
"Where did you learn to fuck like that, you little scamp?" I held him in my arms, our bodies twining like ivy to a brick building.
"Well, you get screwed like that enough and you learn a thing or two, plus, I know how sexy you think it is. Wanted to treat you."
"I'll get you back tonight. Maybe we'll have a nice bath, light some candles, put on some music, maybe give you a massage."
"You spoil me, Alex."
"It's our wedding night. I'd be a giant shit if I didn't spoil my querido at least a little bit."
"I love being yours."
"Even better still?"
"What?" He turned to look at me.
"We still have enough time before the party to take a nap."
"Ooh, talk dirty to me." He giggled.
I set an alarm and we fell asleep, content and satisfied.