but i am the chosen one

Alexander woke up in John Laurens' arms. How the fuck.... he thought. Then, the events of last night came back to him. 

Laf being missing.

Looking for him.

The mutant plant thing.

John having a nightmare.

Falling asleep in John's arm, which by the way, were super comfortable. Alex looked up to see John, sleeping peacefully. His freckles and hair stood out in the early sunlight, and Alexander had a strong urge to kiss him. Where the fuck did that come from, he thought. 

He must have disturbed John, because he rolled over. 

"Alexander," he muttered in his sleep.

He's dreaming about me? Alexander felt almost giddy at the thought. Ok, this is getting awkward. 

Alexander tried to climb over John, but failed miserably, tripping over him and sprawling onto the floor.

"Oh, shit!" he yelled. He landed on his ankle, which was now probably sprained.

"Alexander?" John said. He woke up. "What happened? Are you ok? What are you doing on the floor?"

"Nothing, I just...." Alex trailed off, as John stared blushing furiously. Is he remembering what happened after they saw the plant?

"Hey, can we, er, just... forget what happened last night?" 

Oh. Alexander jut found out that he was probably falling in love with John Laurens. He had barely known for ten minutes, and his heart was already shattered. 

"Oh, ok then," he said. If that's what John wanted, he would forget it. He tried standing up, and fell over. "Fuck."

"Did you hurt yourself? Here, show me your ankle. Episkey."

"Thanks. Let's go get food."

They joined the Schuyler sisters and Hercules at the Great Hall. No sign of Lafayette. According to Angelica, she hadn't seen Washington after the quidditch match either. It was halfway through breakfast when they finally showed up. 

"LAFAYETTE, WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?" Alex yelled, at the same time Angelica yelled, "WASHINGTON YOU FUCKING MISSED THE PARTY." They was walking with Washington at their side, looking weirdly happy despite waking up early for school. 

"Yeah, you asshole, we almost got ourselves killed because of you!" 

"Excuse me, you did what now?" Eliza said. 

"Students, students," McGonagall said, standing up from her table in the front and tapping a spoon to a glass. Such chaos, Alexander thought. "Now, as most of you know, we had a ball last year on Halloween. Now, back by popular demand, we shall have a Halloween Ball. Your teacher shall inform you more on this, but just know that we will have a ball." She sat down.

And the Revolutionary Crew all started talking at once. 

"We're going to have a ball?" Peggy said.

"You're coming with me, Peggy," Hercules said.

"You left your dorms in the middle of the night?" Eliza asked.

"What the fuck happened to you guys," Angelica asked to Lafayette and Washington. 

"Where the fuck were you?" John and Alex asked to Lafayette.

Absolute chaos. 

"Ok, everyone SHUT THE FUCK UP," Angelica said. "Now, yes, we're having a ball, we're not talking about that now. What we're talking about, is these bitches that didn't show up to the fucking afterparty." She sized them up.

"Crinkled robes, Lafayette what happened to your impeccable clothes, messed up hair, you didn't even comb it? Disappearing for the night at like the exact same time.... Oh. My. God."

"What? What is it," Alex said. Lafayette, apparently, did not want them to know. They gestured to tell her to cut it off. 

"You- you, you just-"

"What," John said. 

"They-"

"Angelica is too smart for her own good," Lafayette said. "I will tell you guys, it's only a matter of time."

"Laf, we almost got ourselves killed cause of you, we deserve to know," Alex butted in.

"Oh my god." Angelica took her head into her hands. "Alex, John, talk. Actually, no not Alex, just John, if we let Alex talk we'd probably die."

So John talked. He told them about their adventures under the invisibility cloak and finding the plant. Obviously, he omitted the 'falling asleep in each other's arms' part. Hey, Lafayette had their secrets, they had theirs.

John's voice was so sweet. It was warm and soothing, like a melody. Alexander could just listen to him for hours on hours on hours.

The entire time John was telling the story, Eliza looked like she didn't know whether to scream at them or hug them. Peggy and Hercules just looked in awe. Lafayette looked a bit sheepish, like he felt bad for it all. Angelica just looked like a bomb that was about to explode. 

"You've invented a new kind of stupid," she said once that was all over. "A damage you can never undo, kind of stupid. An open all the cages at the zoo, kind of stupid. Clearly, you didn't think that through, kind of stupid."

"I know, we're horrible people, I'm going to hell, let's just talk about trivial matters like the ball," John said. "You're making me feel bad."

The Gryffindors went to Charms. While they were there, Alexander and John finally got an answer from Lafayette about where they was that night.

"Let's just say that daddy and I had some matters to attend to, if you know what I mean."

Oh.

Alexander would never be able to look at Lafayette or Washington the same way again. 

John looked like he wanted to laugh or throw up.

John, oh John. Alex and John's relationship became more normal during breakfast, but Alexander couldn't help but want to make out on John's face a lot. He didn't tell John. Of course he didn't tell John. He didn't want to lose him as a friend. 

Once charms was over, they met with Eliza and headed to herbology. They talked, and Eliza basically mothered them and gave them a Molly Weasley type speech.

"John. Alex. What. an. idiot." She then proceeded, scolding them for leaving their dorms at night, for entering the third floor, for nearly getting themselves killed for nothing.

"We didn't get ourselves killed for nothing," Alex protested. "We learned that there was a plant on top of a trapdoor on the third floor!"

"Well-" Eliza started, but was cut off by Professor Longbottom.

"Oh, have you guys discovered Leafy?"

"Leafy?" Alex asked. The killer plant had a name?

"Yeah! Leafy, in the third floor. You know, she guards Nicholas Flamel's thing- I've said too much."

"What?"

"Forget everything I've said ever."

"Uh, ok?"

Strange. Alexander's brain got to work. He like working. It made him feel productive, like he was contributing to society. It was also distancing him from his emotions, where thoughts of John circulated his brain.

So he started to theorize. Who is Nicholas Flamel? What was that killer mutant plant- or Leafy- there for? Alexander knew he had to research more about it. He needed answers.

"Apparently, we're supposed to find a date for the ball," Eliza said. Great. Because he needed another complication in his love life.

"I bet Laf and Washington don't have to worry about that," Peggy joked. 

"I bet you and Herc don't have to worry about that either," Angelica said. Peggy rolled her eyes. "So," Angelica continued. "Who are you taking?"

"I don't know," Alex said. He glanced over at John. "This was kind of thrown on us, wasn't it?"

"Well, you've got like a week," Angelica said. "And I already know who I want to take." Yeah, so did Alex. 

"Who?" John asked. 

"Well," she said, learning in closer. "Maria Reynolds."

"Who?" John repeated. Alex nodded along. He had no idea who this Maria Reynolds was. 

"Oh my god, you ignorant sluts-" 

"Thank you," Alex muttered.

"That's Maria. Over there." She subtly pointed to a girl sitting at the Slytherin table. 

"You didn't tell me about her," Eliza said, with her arms crossed. 

" 'Liza, I just chose her today when I overheard her talking shit about males with her friends."

"Chose? Angelica, you don't just choose who you fall in love with," John said.

"That's deep," Alex said.  

"Thanks. Well, I guess we'd better find a date so that we don't make ourselves look like complete fools."

Seven Days Before the Ball

"She said yes! She said yes!" Angelica said happily, joining the crew at their lunch spot. "Maria said yes!"

"Good for you," John said bitterly. Angelica must have noticed his tone of voice, because she responded, "You didn't get a date yet, did you?"

He shook his head. "Alex?" He shook his head. "Eliza?" She shook her head. "I'm disappointed in all of you."

"Hey-" John protested, but Angelica was having none of that.

"Look, all you have to do is go up to someone and ask them to go with you." 

"Easy for you to say," Alex muttered.

"Yeah, but they could be taken, or say no, and like everyone has a date by now-" John said.

"I know someone who doesn't have a date," Eliza said.

John squirmed uncomfortably. "Yeah?"

"Martha Manning. She's this girl in my house. I always hear her complain about how she doesn't have a date to the ball. You oughtta give her a try."

"I guess."

Five Days

"So I asked her out," John said at lunch. "And she said yes."

"Good for you, man," Hercules said. He then went back to making out with Peggy. Lovesick assholes, Alex thought affectionately. At least Laf and Washington weren't that affectionate. They do go missing a lot though. Alexander would rather not think about what they did when they were gone.

Two Days

Alexander was at the library. He was always at the library, only this week it was a lot more than usual.

He was avoiding John. He knew that. John just got himself a date (girlfriend?). Alex felt pretty bitter about this, since he did want to make out on John's face a lot. So, he, being the asshole that he was, put all his energy into researching Nicholas Flamel and avoiding his emotions generally. If he worked non-stop and kept his mind occupied at all times he wouldn't fall into the bottomless pit of John Laurens. 

John knew that Alex was avoiding him. Alexander dumped twice as much work on him than usual, and almost spent all of his free time at the library. He noticed. Of course he noticed. He knew Alexander like he knew his own mind.

John didn't know whether to be sad or relieved. Relieved that there wasn't a scandal waiting to happen, a scandal that his father would disown him for. Sad that Alexander Hamilton, his best friend, no, more than just a friend to John, was avoiding him. 

The worst part was, John wasn't even sure why Alexander was avoiding him. Yes, he did know Alex extremely well, but Alexander's mind was like a labyrinth- complicated, complex, almost impossible to decipher. Was Alex avoiding him because of Martha? John agreed to ask Martha out completely because of peer pressure. Otherwise, he would have had no interest in girls, whatsoever. Did Alex find out about how John was completely in love with him? He only told two people- Eliza and Lafayette- he felt that those two would keep his secret well. Did he notice how John always stole glances while he wasn't looking, how he hung on to Alexander's every word, like Alex was singing a song for him, how he would look at him during the rare times Alex slept? 

John didn't know what to do. He was losing his best friend.