Hamilton One Shots

Full Of Lies

Requested by: MichaelaTheWordsmith
OC: Elizabeth Price

Lying could only be a game to those who understood how powerful the rules were. Once it began, the game never ended. No matter what a person did or whatever they tried to could stop the unforgiving brutality of it.

Elizabeth learned that early on in her relationship. She knew that people could be cruel with their tongue, but she hadn't expected to give her heart to that type of person. And she certainly didn't know that it would be one of the most arrogant, selfish, but loving people ever to live.

"John, please. I would like to speak with you an-" She found herself met with the abrupt slam of the study door in her face. One of her hands touched the wood surface softly, and a delicate sigh left her mouth. It was another reminder of how insignificant she was.

Back to doing women's work, without any sympathy, that seemed to be all her use in his household. Elizabeth nudged the stray curls out of the corner of her face and held up a piece of fabric. She thought about it for a second, and then began to stitch in a pattern.

This had been the pattern she'd been living for the past several months. Falling in love had been the simple part, but being caught only in the shadow was becoming a heartache. He showed himself as more of a coward each day, and she couldn't believe that her witty self hadn't captured that right away.

Though he wouldn't admit it publicly, he somehow loved her. Elizabeth knew it, and she refused to be a victim of the game he played with her.

Had he forgotten about the affection and care she'd given him? Or what he gave her back?

There were nights that had been restless, either for her worry of his safety, or the romantic touches he gave her. She despised how he toyed with her damn heart but made her fall back into his trap of lies with every little sign of a notion worth living for.

He would lose this game eventually. Not only was he lying to himself, but to everything he ever worked for. Elizabeth admired his bravery from the second they met, and she knew that he took that too highly. He was a fighter, but not for her love apparently.

"Won't you confess to failing?" Elizabeth recalled the night she asked that and her head spun. The look on his face had only required a twitch of his lips to remind her that she had crossed a line within the man's house.

"Won't you shut it about the mistakes made with my name? You have no right to speak of anything about that. I'm a man of respect and honor, and you treat me as if I'm the opposite," he had snarled back in her face.

Elizabeth knew quite well how to face the bitter words he said. "I treat you horribly? Oh, look at yourself, John. You're a drunken mess, too proud of who you are, and it's making you blind to see how my heart is aching. Quit telling me lies about how you don't love me."

"I don't love you," John growled back through gritted teeth. "And I'm not a drunken mess, you're too pathetic to see me when the truth is being spoken. Look me in the eyes and tell me something that will make me love you."

It always ended up at this point. The two of them would scream and shout terrible things, until the breaking point. It would be the moment that Elizabeth recognized something that had been cloaked in her own disgust.

Their relationship wouldn't ever work out. His lies were apart of telling her something. She wouldn't ever be fit to love John, or for him to love her back in any way. Leave him. You're worthless. Elizabeth gazed at him with frightened eyes and a lethal tongue at the ready, but heart sunk.

John wouldn't come along again. No man could ever steal her affections so cleverly as he had. She couldn't see herself moving on and loving another person, so quickly after she had escaped him and those lies.

Oh, the lies. How they kept her hungry for more revenge and exposure. She wanted that pleasure of knowing he loved her, so she kept digging until the two of them were backed in a corner gasping for breath. What was the use of playing the game any longer?

Elizabeth could pretend and so could he. But it would show just how deeply flawed they were.

Her hands wound their way against his jacket, a worn out one that she had washed hundreds of times, and she warned herself another time of what she was capable of. No, you're lying just like him now. Save yourself.

Tears trickled down the sides of her cheeks. She had spent all this time convincing herself that she loved him and tore her to pieces. For nothing more than having a name for the two of them, that they were something, the relationship was only a twisted, useless game at the end of the day.

"I don't love you either," Elizabeth snapped back quietly in his face. She touched his cheek softly and sighed again. It would be simple to walk away, but just as simple to say goodbye.

That was another lie to herself.

John noticed her rather conflicted expression and pushed away. "I should get som-" She only pulled him back and placed a kiss on his cheek, for a desperate attempt to convince him of trying on something not worth fighting for.

"You're never going to love me, John. I-I don't think we sh-" The words came out faster than her brain could compute. The look on his face shifted into a terrified one, and he pulled back.

"No," he spat and hurried off down the hallway, retreating into his study where he would hide his true feelings. John knew of his lies and games and how they worked. And more than that, he would know that the two of them would never work out.

Even though they were complete opposites at times, one thing that made them similar was their ability to block out the truth of the situation. All their relationship consisted of was lies and lies, and that would never leave them, no matter how much they tried.

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A/N: Thank you MichaelaTheWordsmith for this request! This is inspired from the song Lies by Marina and The Diamonds, and I listened to an acoustic version, took the lyrics, and went from there. It's been a while since Laurens has been in one of these, so it was fun to write him again. Hope you liked it!