Hold Me

Chapter 10 - The First Snow

Laurens came back from class just as he had been doing all year. The temperature was beginning to drop as expected for the middle of November. As he opened the door to the dorm he was met with a wall of heat. Hamilton must have turned the heat up but why have it on full blast? Laurens saw the other man sitting at his desk typing away.

"Hamilton, why is it a million degrees in here?" Laurens turned the heat down to something that was more reasonable.

"It's cold," Hamilton looked over at Laurens. 

"You have a sweater on," Laurens gestured to the sweater that was actually his. 

"It's still cold."

Laurens chuckled and wrapped his arms around his friend. "You've made an oven. People don't live in ovens." Laurens kissed his cheek, "you'll get used to it. Give it time." Hamilton pulled his blanket tighter. 

--

"Laurens, wake up," Hamilton whispered as he shook the sleeping man. "John, wake up."

Laurens didn't want to wake up. "What time is it?" He groaned. What could Hamilton possibly want?

"Quarter to four. C'mon, look at this," Hamilton was sitting with his face basically on the window. "Laurens, hurry up!" Hamilton sounded exciting. Laurens couldn't imagine what it was. Still half asleep, he stumbled across the room and looked out the window. It was snowing. Hamilton looked at Laurens like a child on Christmas morning, "isn't it pretty?"

Laurens smiled. "Yeah, let's go back to bed." This was the time of day when people are asleep. 

"Can we go see it," Hamilton begged.

Laurens didn't want to say no but it was still very dark outside, "when the sun comes up, it's prettier then."

Hamilton's eyes lit up more, "it gets prettier?"

Laurens nodded. "Just like you do when you get sleep, let's go." Laurens tried to pull Hamilton away from the window, it didn't work. If Laurens couldn't beat him then he'd have to make do. He curled up in Hamilton's bed and went back to sleep. However, his sleep didn't last as long as he would have liked.

"Laurens, the sun is up! Can we go now?" Hamilton was bouncing around like a child, he was almost too excited, "Laurens, I will make you get up if I have to." At this point he was only pretending to sleep to see what would happen. Hamilton crashed on the bed. "C'mon Laurens, Lafayette and Hercules are going to beat us outside. Let's go."

"Hamilton, it's sunrise," Laurens grumbled into the pillow.

"Our friends are waiting for us, please Laurens," Hamilton started to kiss his face in an attempt to get him up. It worked.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up," Laurens sat upright in the bed. "Happy?"

Hamilton nodded. "You get dressed, I'll go get the girls!"

Hamilton was gone before Laurens could respond. It only took him a few minutes to adjust to the temperature of the room. He was dressed by the time Hamilton got back. Laurens had not expected to basically be dragged into the frosty outdoors, but it had happened. When Hamilton was excited he was strong.

For the first time, Hamilton didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. Laurens could help but smile at the childlike amusement Hamilton was getting from just being in the snow. 

"Hey Laurens!" He recognized Peggy's voice and turned in her direction only to be hit in the chest by a snowball. 

He laughed, "is that how it is?"

"What are you going to do about it?" Peggy's yellow coat made her seem smaller.

Laurens bent to the ground and formed a snowball. However, when he looked up Peggy was gone. He almost half expected her to still be there. Laurens looked over and noticed that Hamilton had copied his actions.

"Now what," he smiled at Laurens.

"You throw it at someone, just not at me," Laurens watched as Hamilton fired it past his head. Laurens turned and saw the snow piled up on Hercules face. He could help but follow Lafayette in laughter. 

"Oh, it's on little man," Hercules chuckled as he too made a snowball.

The large group of friends continued to play in the snow for another hour before the cold finally got to them. Back in the dorm, Hamilton was bundled in two of Laurens' sweaters, a blanket, and sitting on the heater. Despite him feeling colder than a popsicle, he still had fun. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had fun like that. 

Laurens handed him a hot chocolate. "I think I like snow," Hamilton smiled.

"You do?"

"Well, I think it's nice even though it is damn cold," Hamilton giggled, "pass me my notebook." Hamilton tried to see the top of his desk even though he knew the notebook was there. Hamilton had made it clear to Laurens that he was not allowed to read anything in this book. It didn't bother him. Laurens handed him both the book and a pen before sitting across from Hamilton. Hamilton may have been writing secretly for Laurens but Laurens wasn't as subtle when drawing his boyfriend. Hamilton kind of liked the idea of Laurens drawing him.