OH SHIT

Alexander groaned in exasperation to himself as he tried (in vain) to drag his overly heavy suitcase up the echoing stairwell whilst retaining as much of his dignity as possible. Well, he didn’t have much to begin with considering the bright pink t-shirt and jogging pants he was sporting, having decided that since he was on campus a week early, nobody would be there to see him. He was wrong.
He had been the subject of way too many stares to be considered comfortable, especially since his suitcase insisted upon being the noisiest item on campus. True, it was at least 15 years old, having been the one he brought with him from Nevis, so the noise was to be expected, but it was special. Every set of foster parents that he went through attempted to buy him a new one, but he was having none of it. Along with the stuffed lion teddy that his mother had given to him, it was his only reminder of his life in Nevis and he would be damned if he was going to give it up.
He was cursing his anti-sport mentality as he all but fell onto the break between staircases, hands on his hips as he gasped for breath. He glanced down at the smudged writing on his hand showing the number of his dorm (which he knew he would never remember) and grimaced at the unnatural amount of sweat covering it. He could just about make out the number 24a, and upon looking up hopefully at the numbers above the door by where he had stopped he almost cried. 16-23. He looked up the stairs in disdain, mentally preparing himself to carry on.
He flicked his (admittedly greasy) black hair over his shoulder and flexed his hands in an attempt to relieve the pain that ran through them at the unusual amount of physical exertion they were going through. Having decided that his hands where cool enough and having regained his breath, he turned his back to the top of the stairwell and began a new tactic- walking up backwards. Sure, it wasn’t probably the best idea since Alexander was the clumsiest person that he himself had ever met, but at that moment all he wanted to do was get to his dorm and settle down to some nice, strong coffee.
After about 30 seconds he was already panting again, muttering to himself something along the lines of “stupid poor parents and stairs and fucking high buildings” as a sort of repetitive rhythm to help him carry on. His arm muscles burned and his hair was in his face again. He knew he needed it cut and washed desperately, but he had so much work to do before the semester began and he would not throw away his shot at an amazing education in king’s college just because he was too lazy to do any pre-lesson studying. And yeah, maybe his sleep deprivation and inability to go a day without coffee could have maybe been a key factor in the way he was sweating and considerably out of breath because of an action that most normal people could perform without any trouble, but he had a routine. Every hour less than 8 that he managed to sleep amounted to one cup of coffee. He usually had at least 4 a day. He might have been slightly addicted, but that was a price he was willing to pay in order to get his scholarship.
He was deep in thought about how the first thing he was going to do when he arrived in his dorm room would be going on his laptop and finding the nearest 24-hour coffee shop and trying not to die of exhaustion when he all but bounced off of something behind him. He turned around after almost falling headfirst down the stairs to see a young man on the floor behind him.
Shit! He thought as the other man groaned in pain, rubbing his back and glaring up at alexander. He looked like your typically rich, pompous kid who had too much money for his own good, with his designer jeans and polo shirt all adding to the problem that Alex had literally walked into him. He had with him two friends, one who was bent down next to him, wearing the same sort of clothes but with a friendlier face and a mop of curly hair, the other looking down at Alex from his position on the highest step (which was about 5 steps away) with a malicious look on what would have probably been a nice face. Yes, Alex, well done, piss off the preppy white boys.
He began to frantically apologise by force of habit, memories of a particularly bad scenario in high school which had not ended well flashing through his mind. “I am so sorry; I honestly didn’t see you there! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I hope you can forgive me and please I’m so sorry are you okay? Oh my god, you’re not hurt are you? Here, let me…” he reached towards the boy on the floor but was pushed away by the meaner looking boy who had been looking down on him, a look of disgust on his face. He stumbled and almost fell down the stairs, grabbing out at whatever he could, which just so happened to be his ancient suitcase. Unfortunately, ancient suitcase decided in that moment to split open at the zip, Alex’s possessions starting to spill from the opening.
He glanced down, mortified, as his lion fell out along with some of his stationary, and frantically went to grab for it, forgetting about the fact his suitcase was still open momentarily in his confusion. He remembered soon, however, as it began to tilt over dangerously on the edge of the step it was on, before finally falling and crashing down the stairs with a dangerously loud sound. Alex’s eyes widened as he watched it go, clothes and everything he owned spilling all over the stairs as it came to a halt back down at the place where he’d paused just 5 minutes ago. Fucking great.
He took a deep breath before turning around in what he tried to pass off as a calm manner, but that soon went out of the window when a chorus of manic cackles came from the boys. His face literally turned red as he stomped up the two steps to the three, the one on the floor having now stood up and was dusting himself off in a ridiculously pompous way, looking down at Alex as though he was some sort of insignificant insect which had just landed on his food.
“Seriously? Why in the hell would you do that? All I wanted to do was help!” Alex fumed, his voice deep and he flushed bright red when he realised that his DR accent was showing through in his anger, and at the look of absolute disgust on the others face he clenched his fist. I dare you. He tried to communicate through his glare, but the boy didn’t get the hint.
“I should have known,” he bit out in the most snobbish and pompous British accent that Alex had ever heard “obviously only an immigrant would be stupid enough to knock into me!” he cackled at the end, the other two laughing along with him. Alex’s ears all but began to let out steam at his words, his anger manifesting itself as it normally did in words.
“excuse me, you posh asshole, first of all how fucking dare you speak like that? I don’t give a shit who you are, you could be the king of England for all I care, but it was an accident you imbeciele! And, did you know you uneducated little shit, two of the most important members of the revolutionary war which actually established this whole fucking country where immigrants! So keep talking you swine, I’ll have you know that I’m actually quite proud to be an immigrant, and I got here out of my own hard work instead of what is probably your daddy’s money. Now if you want to carry on, I will actually…shit!” he shouted as he was knocked backwards yet again by the speakers little (well, maybe not little) friend, but he managed to grab onto the banister to stop himself from falling down the stairs.
“Firstly, you immigrant, you have no place in this country with your low paying jobs and homeless taking up the streets. Secondly, how dare you speak to him in that way?” who was probably the man’s personal bodyguard stepped towards him, but alexander stood his ground. “he is Prince George, 3rd in line to the English throne, and so he has every right to be offended if a little thief like you even touches him. Honestly, back in the good old days, you’d be the worst slave going!” Alexander would have been completely furious if the man hadn’t been interrupted by the very unexpected arrival of some sort of ninja.
Alex had noticed his feet on the staircase above them at the start when the bodyguard mentioned the homeless. They had stayed put for a while, seemingly listening in to the drama, so Alex decided to ignore them. However, the most amazing thing happened. As soon as the word slave was mentioned, the feet leapt into action and all but jumped on top of the speaker in an amazing gymnastic feat, much to the surprise of everybody there. The ninja pushed the asshole down a few steps, a look of thunder on his face.
“first of all, how fucking dare you!” He growled, a thick French accent tainting his words and making him seem more menacing. He had a good 5 inches on the racist asshole, towering over him as he stormed down the stairs towards him. The look of fear on what was previously a malicious and snobbish face almost made Alex laugh, but then he remembered the situation and his face turned cold again.
“and second of all,” he punched him square in the jaw, sending him flying back down a few more steps. “how dare you.” He let out in a hard breath, shaking his hand in what seemed to be pain. The asshole took one more look at his attacker before turning and literally jumping down the remainder of the stairs and bursting through the door of the corridor below them. Before Alex could even turn around to see the reaction of the other two, he heard the slam of the door and knew without looking that they had ran too. Instead, he looked back at his saviour.
And damn, he was some sort of angel. His face was flushed red in exertion, and the colour made his perfectly sculpted cheekbones stand out even more. His skin was a gorgeous light brown, looking as though he spent all of his life in the sun instead of in his room like Alex. His jaw line was made all the more prominent by the perfectly trimmed stubble which lined his face in just the right way to make his facial features look stunning. It was coloured the same pitch black as his hair which was pulled back into a messy bun but was obviously a full on afro by the look of the strands which had escaped in his action. His eyes shined in exhileration as he glanced up at Alex, a breath-taking smile gracing his face and literally lighting up the stairwell.
As he neared Alex, he managed to get a good look at his arms and ho. Le. Shit. As he was wearing a loose tank top, his whole arms where visible, and Alex definitely was not complaining. They were well muscled and toned, and the same gorgeous colour as his face. He was honestly a god. And he was talking.
“are you even listening to me, cher?” he questioned, a teasing smile on his face as though he knew full well the effect he had on Alex.
“I-yes I mean- sorry, I zoned out a second. What you did there was amazing! Thank you so much!” Alex stuttered out, his cheeks flushing when he saw the smile that was directed his way from… he needed a name. “hey, um not to be rude, but, um, what exactly is your name?” Alex shyly questioned, hoping not to sound too forwards. At his question, the man smiled even more.
“Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette to be precise” he reached out a hand to Alex, who took it immediately and shook it, the look of shock on his face apparently to obvious as the man giggled.
“Most people just call me…”
“Lafayette, you long legged, lanky athletic little shit, not all of us are as fit as you, where the fucckkkkiiinnnngggg hell what happened here?” came a voice form the top of the stairs, and upon looking up Alex notice two men who where obviously Lafayette’s friends standing their hands over their mouths as they surveyed the damage beneath them. Lafayette grinned impishly up at them.
“long story?”