hey, lover! [lams//college au] // completed

Chapter One

John Laurens' life was a mess.

He knew this, and not much else.

Well, there were three other things that he knew for sure: it was a Thursday, his American Political System class had started five minutes ago, and he couldn't, for the life of him, find his keys anywhere. Like, they'd officially become one with the abyss.

"Keys, keys, wherefore art thou keys?"

He patted the pocket of his button down, then his jeans, then his button down again. He took a deep breath, tried not to scream, then asked, "Laff, have you seen my keys?" while opening and closing the drawers to the bedside table they had beside the door. He checked one of the pockets from his coat that was tossed over the back of a chair, scanned the top of the dresser he and his roommate Marquis de Lafayette shared, and tried not to punch something.

Lafayette himself was sitting on his bunk, phone in one hand and coffee cup in the other. "Did you check your pockets?" he asked.

"Yes!" John cried dramatically.

"Hmm..." he took a sip of his coffee. "Underneath Herc's bunk."

"Why would they be there?" John asked, looking under the bunk despite his words. The shine from the key's catching his phone's flashlight caught his eye. "Of course they would be there. I don't know why I ever doubted you." John grabbed them and was upright in a flash, stuffing his phone into his pocket before throwing his bag over his shoulder. Lafayette nodded appreciatively to himself.

"Have fun at your class," the Frenchman said.

"I won't," John grumbled under his breath. "Bye, Laffy Taffy!"

He heard Lafayette yell "Don't call me that!" as the door to their dorm slammed shut. Okay, he thought to himself, I'm not that late.

John rushed out of his dorm building. The cold air hit John square in the face, as if he needed to be reminded that winter was creeping into New York. He shivered.

John made it to his class building in under a minute. He has never run so fast before, and swore to himself he'd never run that fast again. When he opened the door to his building the bitter scent of coffee wafted outside.

A girl about his age came up to him, smiling slightly. Her hair was up and out of her face, a thick coat hanging around her waist. "Hello sir! Would you like to try a sample of our coffee?" she gestured to a set up that was a few feet away, two tables with cups, coffee makers, and different creamers arranged in a line. There was a person working on another student's coffee behind the second table.

"I'm sorry, I'm running late and—"

"It would only take a second," she said, her smile never wavering.

"Ah... uhm... sure, fine. Yes." Some coffee wouldn't hurt— he didn't have time for his normal cup this morning and he would probably be asleep by noon if he didn't have any at all.

"Great!" She rushed behind the table. "How do you take it?"

"Uh, black," John responded. She nodded and poured him a cup, handing it over to him. "Thanks. How much?"

"It's just a sample, so it's free. As long as you come to our shop," she said, winking.

"Oh."

"Yup! Reynolds Coffee, don't forget it!" John took a sip. It was good. As good as black coffee could be, anyways.

"I will. Thanks again!" John smiled at her, taking another sip before rushing away to get to class.

Professor Washington was going to kill him.

***

Aaron Burr was laughing at him as the two of them walked out of the classroom. "You should've seen your face!" he chuckled again, "God, you had your ass handed to you."

"It wasn't that bad," John mumbled half heartedly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I've got to go, see you."

"Wait! Why do you have to leave so soon?" Burr smiled slightly. John's eyes widened. "Ohoho, you've got a date, huh? Tell me about her!" He gripped Burr's sleeve excitedly. Aaron pulled his arm away, his smile being replaced with an ugly scowl.

"I'm going to be late," he said decidedly, before turning and walking away.

"Ugh, loser!" John called to him. He made his way back to his own dorm. "Damn. Even Aaron can get laid. That's a surprise." He walked up the stairs in his dorm building with his hands stuffed in his jean pockets. The elevator wasn't working, which was really inconvenient for many. Specifically John, because he didn't like walking up three flights of stairs to get to the top floor, thank you very much. Especially not when he didn't sleep at all the night before, had a shitty day at class, and definitely did not get enough coffee from the free sample he'd gotten that morning.

John lived on the top floor in dorm 1777 with his two best friends Lafayette and Hercules. He'd known Lafayette since high school and the two of them were so ecstatic to be going to the same college that they'd done everything in their power to room together. They had a four person dorm, but ended up not caring much about who else would room with them.

They'd met Hercules at the start of the year when he stumbled into the dorm, boxes in hand, and the three of them had become fast friends. So far no one had come to claim the fourth bunk, and the three boys were more than okay with that.

There were only two other dorms on the top floor that weren't vacant; dorm 1772 and dorm 1782.

1772 was home to their resident frenemy, Aaron Burr. He and his roommates, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were the study hard type. As far as John knows, the group never does anything fun. Their loss.

1782 held the Schuyler Sisters. These three were well known, rich, and the softest people you'd ever meet. John theorizes that they're actually angels in disguise but Lafayette says that's stupid (it isn't, but whatever). John and Peggy are close friends. Speaking of Peggy, the two of them had their bi-weekly movie night next Friday. John had to remember to get some snacks. When would he have time to go to the store though? I don't have a class next Thursday, right? I could go shopping then. With what money, though—

Shuffling caught John's attention. He paused, the key in his hand hovering in front of the lock to his dorm room. John turned towards the noise in time to see a pile of boxes moving shakily up the stairs. A muffled curse came from behind them. He looked longingly at his dorm room. So close.

He sighed.

"Hey, do you need help?"