The Place To Be: A Hamiton Fic

Chapter 10: New Beginnings

Love you guys. Keep pushing through ❤ things WILL get better and you CAN get through this.

Sorry for slacking with this. Things have been hard for me. I'm working on it

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John's POV

"Alex, we're here." I woke Alex up with a soft kiss on my cheek. His eyelids fluttered as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Huh?" Alex yawned.

I laughed. Alex looked adorable with his tired eyes and messy hair. "The Schuyler mansion, dummy." I reminded him. " We're here."

"Oh." Alex unbuckled his seat belt and rolled his shoulders. It had been a long and uncomfortable ride to the mansion from the airport and I could tell his spine was definitely feeling the affects.

"I'll get our bags." I said with a smile as I payed the taxi driver.

Alex shook his head. "No, let me help...."

He was interrupted by the slam of a door and the clumsy patter of Peggy Schuyler's feet as she hurried out the house, a big grin on her face. "You're here!" She said happily. "Angie and Eliza are so excited! They've been waiting all morning for you two."

"Shouldn't they be at school?" Alex asked, furrowing his brow. "You know, in Europe?" I opened up the taxi door and slowly clambered out. It was a chilly March afternoon and I was starting to regret packing my coat in my suitcase. New York's weather is way different than California, and I am not ready to deal with that "winter" bullshit.

Peggy lowered her voice and leaned in. "Eliza dropped out of school, right around the time you found Alex again." She whispered. "Couldn't deal with everything, I guess. We're not making a big deal out of it. Every time my dad brings it up Eliza just runs away again, so he's letting it go. Angie's still attending, but she took this week off and flew home to help you two settle in."

"Oh." I started pulling the suitcases out of the trunk. "That's very nice of her."

I looked up at the huge mansion. It was white and classy and very colonial, exactly what I would expect from the a family as respected as the Schuyler's.

"Here John." Alex reached for a suitcase. "Let me help."

"I don't think so." I teased, poking my tongue out at him. "What sort of escort would I be if I made you take your own bags?"

Alex shook his head. "You wouldn't be my escort. You'd be my boyfriend."

"I think I like the latter more." I admitted with a little grin. "I'm still taking all your bags though."

Peggy laughed heartily. "You two are so adorable, it's honestly disgusting." She walked us up to the door and held it open for me, as I was struggling with all the bags.

"Please let me help." Alex sighed, watching as I dropped a large duffel bag during an attempt to pick up an overturned suitcase.

"I've....got...it." John said through gritted teeth. Peggy shook her head and relieved him of two backpacks and the smaller suitcase.

"Angie, Eliza!" Peggy called, leading us into the large Schuyler mansion. "The boys are here with an unnecessary amount of luggage!"

Eliza came down the stairs with a big grin on her face. "Hey guys!" She said, beaming. I was taken aback by how happy she looked. And even though it made me an extremely selfish person, I felt like kissing Alex right then and there to show her where she stands.

But that would be rude. So I settled with making a mental note to yell at her in my imagination later.

Eliza hugged me and then Alex. "Angelica's upstairs setting up your room." She explained, leading us towards the staircase. "Come on, follow me. I'll give you the grand tour."

We followed Eliza through her labyrinth of a house, which had about eights bedrooms and eleven bathrooms, a kitchen bigger than my entire house, and, according to Eliza, three giant stained glass windows that had been imported straight from England around the time of the Revolutionary War. We were not allowed to touch them, they'd just been dusted.

Rich families. What can I say?

So Eliaz led me and Alex up to our room, a big and grand space that just overall looked like a giant ordeal to me. The room was open and spacious, with a massive bed and a gigantic window. The heavy curtains were drawn upon so the room, which had a nice light blue them, was bathed in sunlight. The window overlooked a giant garden. I'm sure in the summer it was full of various plants and flowers, but at the moment it was just covered in snow.

"I'll give you two a moment to settle in and unpack." Eliza smiled warmly at me and Alex, looking around the room to make sure everything was in order. "When you're ready, come downstairs to the kitchen. I can make some snacks and we can talk about making a plan for Alex's recovery."

Alex flinched, but Eliza didn't notice. She cast us one more grin before turning on her heels and walking out.

"Are you ok?" I asked, rubbing my hand up and down Alex's arm to calm him down.

Alex nodded. "Fine," he muttered shakily.

"I don't believe you." I complained, peppering Alex's cheek with kisses until he started laughing.

"John, stop it!" He laughed heartily and tried to push me off.

I gave him a big kiss on his lips, which were dry and a little too chapped. Everything about Alex seemed....chafed, lately. Raw and red and sore.

He was too skinny. His skin practically hung off his bones and on the rare occasion that Alex smiled, his grin looked too big for his face.

"Thank you for doing all this for me." Alex said gratefully. "I know it must be hard to leave your family behind."

I shook my head. "You're my family, Alex. I love you."

"Just promise me you'll go back to them, when I'm....gone." Alex took my hand in his own. "That you'll go back to school. That you'll laugh a lot and fall in love. Don't shut down again, John. Not like last time."

I kissed him; a good kiss, slow and sweet. "If that's what you want."

"I don't know what I want, John."

I kissed Alex again. "Well, I know what I want." I teased him. "I want you a I stop being so depressing and angsty and just focus on getting better. Do you remember what I was telling you earlier, about not losing hope?"

"No." Alex admitted. "I got distracted by your freckles. You never told me how many you have."

I kissed his nose. "You'll never know."

Alex grabbed my face and smushed my cheeks together as he started kissing all my freckles. I made a disgusted face and pulled away.

What a dork.

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Next chapter has some serious drama omg