Hello friends! Hope you are all having a fantastic week, and I hope you enjoy this week's chapter. (Look at me! On time and everything XD)
***Lafayette POV***
Lafayette decided he need to do something for Peggy. Anything. The guts that girl had-facing up to her depression, forgiving the jerk who had abused her, not complaining when the doctors had made her stay overnight for observation after that mess-had impressed him so much, and that crush feeling kept getting in the way of his life. So he decided to learn a song for her. The only problem? Laf knew he wasn't the best ukulele player. Laurens, however, was a master. He collected the instruments like pokemon cards.
So Laf went to him for help. "John?"
"Hey Laffy Taffy! What's up!?" John asked excitedly, his sea-green eyes matching the ukulele he was re-tuning.
"I was...er…wondering if you could...Enseigne moi?"
"Teach you what?" Laurens asked, becoming rather confused.
"Pour jouer au ukulélé?…So I can sing to Peggy."
"OMIGOSH! MY SHIP WILL SAIL!"
"Wait, what?" Laf asked, very, very confused. It annoyed him that he didn't quite understand American mannerisms and slang yet. But at least he was trying. Alex had made him some flashcards.
"Don't worry about it," John squeaked, redirecting the conversation back to where it should be. "What do you need from moi?"
"I know how to play un petit peu, but need you to help me with the chords, and maybe some accompaniment. It is a long song, but..." Laf asked a little sheepishly. He knew it would be worth it if he could learn it by Laurens' surprise party on Friday.
"I totally feel ya, man," John responded. Laf loved how supportive and helpful his friend was.
"But first, you'll need an instrument!" John said happily. He led the taller boy into his closet, where he kept his collection. He thoughtfully looked through his ukuleles until he found what he was looking for.
"TADA!" Laurens proclaimed, holding up a mostly black instrument, with a blue swirl design. Upon closer inspection, however, Laf realized it was a Doctor Who Ukulele.
"I'll lend you this to practice and perform on!"
***timeskip brought to you by Thomas Sanders' purple hair***
Finally, the day of the party rolled around, and Lafayette found that he was almost as excited as Laurens himself, and that was saying something-the mentioned freckled man was bouncing up and down, confetti clenched in his hands like a lifeline. Lafayette grinned as Alex checked his phone for the twentieth time in two minutes.
The plan was this; Hamilton was supposed to get a text from Angelica a couple minutes before all three Schuyler sisters got there. At that signal, Herc was in charge of turning the light off, and Laf, Thomas, Lin, and Aaron were supposed to hide like their lives depended on it. Then, when Peggy got there, Laurens would crack the door, having rigged it so when it was pushed open, the lights would go on and confetti would go flying. That would be the cue for the hiding party guests to jump out and yell surprise.
After what felt like eternity of fiddling with the Doctor Whukulele, Laf's head snapped up as Alex's phone finally dinged. Within seconds, the lights were out, the door was prepped, and Lafayette had dived behind the couch, cradling the instrument to protect it. He slipped it into its case in the darkness, crossing his fingers that all would go well.
Suddenly, Laf heard the door creak open and prepped to leap from his hiding spot. The lights blared, confetti scattered, and everyone jumped up
"SURPRISE!"
***Peggy POV***
Peggy was not prepared for this. It was only a week or so after she had gotten out of the hospital. Mariah and Jasmine had been constantly in her head, but it seemed muted, as though she had diluted the personalities by adding an other. Her dad still wasn't due back for a while, so Peggy had contented herself with doing her homework and blasting Twenty Øne Piløts as loud as her headphones would go.
Her home life had been a lot better. Her sisters had paid more attention to her, and even included her in their nefarious sneak-into-the-city-to-watch-all-the-guys-at-work plots. And while Mariah had kept reminding her that it was probably fake, or at best out of sympathy, Peggy had been out of the dumps.
Then, out of the blue, Angelica and Eliza had asked her to get in the car to go shopping. The older girls had been giggling to each other all day, but Peggy hadn't been able to figure it out. They all piled in, Angelica driving towards town. It was getting late, and Peggy stared through the window at the peach-auburn sunset as they went. She didn't really notice where they were driving until they pulled into an unfamiliar driveway.
"Wait, I thought we were going shopping?" Peggy said, her voice cracking in confusion at the end and making it sound like a question.
Gosh you're a loser, Mariah snarled. Can't you get through one sentence without crying?
Shut up M, Jasmine chimed in. We both know the real reason her voice cracked.
"Thanks J," Peggy muttered under her breath.
"I left my jacket at 'Lex's the other day," Angelica said, smirking a little. "Wanna help look for it? If we all look, it shouldn't take too long, but you know how disorganized guys can be."
Peggy shrugged, but got out of the car. If their brother PJ was any indication, this could take awhile-when he moved out to go to college, it took Peggy a good month to clean out his (now her) room. So she headed up the driveway, her sisters slightly behind her. Angelica had told them the other day that technically the house belonged to Alexander and Lafayette's foster parents, The Washington's. Laurens and Herc lived down the street.
As they approached the door, Peggy wondered if anyone was home, as the lights were all off. In the dusk, it was getting hard to see where the driveway stopped and the porch started. She stumbled a little, but Eliza caught her before she fell.
"Thanks Lizza," Peggy said gratefully, and knocked on the door. Suddenly, it swung open on impact. Then multiple things happened at once; Peggy surged forward, trying to catch the door, bright lights flicked on inside the house, and confetti rained down around her.
"SURPRISE!"
Practically everyone that had helped her out during her infamous birthday was there-Dr. Lin Miranda, the nurse that bandaged and hugged her, the whole Hamilsquad, and even the waiter from the restaurant. Peggy suddenly felt tears brimming in her eyes as everyone converged for a giant group hug. She had never felt so loved. Even Mariah and Jasmine were stunned, inasmuch that they were dead silent in her head.
"Happy Belated Birthday Peggy!" Laurens squealed as the hug broke apart, throwing confetti in the air as he skipped the girl in question. He started humming "For he's a jolly good fellow" softly, and Peggy's from was the widest it had been in years. And definitely the most genuine.
Alex looked at his friend, a bemused expression on his handsome features, before turning to Peggy with a yellow gift bag. "Also, congrats on not dying," he joked. He handed her the present, and Peggy was ecstatic to find a $10 iTunes gift card. Alex rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Laf mentioned you liked music."
Peggy blushed, and turned to the Frenchman in question. The other guests had trickled out of the room with Hercules to have some refreshments, so Lafayette stood alone in the living room. Wordlessly, Alexander followed his friends out. Suddenly, Peggy was hyper aware that she and her crush were alone, and how just a few steps could close the gap separating them.
Laf shakily took a dark blue ukulele from behind his back and checked the tune. Then his golden eyes met Peggy's brown ones. "I...er…" Peggy smiled awkwardly back at him, and his shoulders relaxed.
"I wanted to...Je voulais vous dire ... comment je me sens ...how you say…? Tell you how I feel about you..."
He closed the gap nervously in only two steps, and led her to sit on the couch. Peggy's blush deepened when their hands touched.
Then Laf took a deep breath, and strummed the ukulele.
"I do not know why I would go
In front of you and hide my soul
'Cause you're the only one who knows it,
Yeah you're the only one who knows it."
Peggy stifled a gasp as she recognized the song, and all its connotations. If Laf noticed, he did a good job of hiding it.
"And I will hide behind my pride
Don't know why I think I can lie
'Cause there's a screen on my chest
Yeah there's a screen on my chest."
Lafayette chuckled a little, which Peggy found adorable.
"I'm standing in front of you
I'm standing in front of you
I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool
I'm standing in front of you
Oh I'm standing in front of you
I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool."
***Lafayette POV***
As he got to the faster, rapping part of the song, Laf was impressed by how calm he felt. Sure, he was panicking, but he had expected to hit a full blown Panic Attack by now. It was lucky that the only signal that he was giving that alluded to his distress was his thick accent that kept fading in and cutting out at interesting intervals. It did not help that Peggy looked adorable with confetti in her hair.
Luckily for him, he was a proficient rapper. At least, more proficient of a rapper than a ukulele player.
"I can't see past my own nose, I'm seeing everything in slo-mo
Look out below crashing down to the ground just like a vertical locomotive
That's a train, am I painting the picture that's in my brain?
A train from the sky, locomotive, my motives are insane
My flow's not great, okay, I conversate with people
Who know if I flow on a song I'll get no radio play."
Here was his favorite part of the song. He knew it like the back of his hand, and it meant something to him. And to Peggy. And that made it special.
"While you're doing fine, there's some people and I
Who have a really tough time getting through this life
So excuse us while we sing to the sky
I'm standing in front of you
I'm standing in front of you
I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool
I'm standing in front of you
Oh I'm standing in front of you
Oh I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool"
Laf had attempted to not make eye contact with Peggy up to this point, fearing it would distract him so much that he would forget the chords, the words, or both. But here he met her gaze, and saw the tears in her beautiful sunflower eyes(1). He cracked a grin.
"Oh oh oh
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken people, oh
We're broken people, oh
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken people, oh
We're broken people, oh yeah
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken
We're broken people, oh
We're broken people, oh yeah
I'm standing in front of you
I'm standing in front of you
I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool
I'm standing in front of you
I'm standing in front of you
Oh I'm trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool"
Lafayette ended the song, and sat down next to Peggy on the couch. He took her shaking hands in his own, marveling at how delicate they were.
"Peggy," He said, meeting her gaze once more. "je crois...I do believe I'm in love with you."
And thus concludes chapter 16. I sincerely hoped you liked the fluff chapter, especially shippingtrash!Laurens and flustered!Lafayette. Please tell me what you thought.
The song Laf performed was Screen by Twenty-øne piløts. If you really want to get an idea of how it would have sounded, look up the acoustic version on YouTube.
As always, and questions, suggestions, or plans to fight instead of fleeing west are welcome! Feel free to review or PM me.
FOOTNOTES
So sunflower eyes are brown eyes where the pigmentation has been diluted to the point that the irises look like sunflowers. Its It's a real thing, my mom has it. Idk if that is what it is actually called, but that is what I'm calling it.
Responses
Avese23; Angelica is one of my favorites to write! And thanx 4 reviewing. I was worried I didn't do jasmine right! XD
Ranger-Corpses; Thanks for the review! I loved the latest Sanders Sides vid by the way. What did you think?
JADBZWILDCHAOS; Thank you soooooooooooooooo much! You've been so supportive!
BuddyIsNotADog'sName; aww, thanks! As soon as I determined Peggy had DID, I realized I just had to include the actual actress. Thanks for reviewing!
RN