Quietly Noticed || Lams

Well ain't that inconvenient

|Third Person|

It had been decided between the two boys that they would go on their date Friday night. Until then, Alexander had told him he needed to catch up on his school work. He felt he had been neglecting it, not to mention that his cousin had been nagging at him to visit since that first weekend when their aunt had been in the city. He tells Daniel he had been insanely busy, swamped with homework and papers to write, which is half true. He does have a lot of homework, he just also has freedom to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. That's something he's hope-ful he can hang onto for a while.

He's sitting at his desk, alone in his room since Aaron was at some friend's place. Alexander found it hard to believe that someone as sour as his roommate had anyone willing to be around him at all. He decides not to question it though, glad for the chance to be alone. He sits at his desk for what seems like hours until his fingers cramp from typing and he has to regularly flex them for a couple seconds before continuing.

Around ten at night he gets a phone call. He sighs and leans back in his chair, a tiny bit thank-ful for the break. It's Lafayette.

"Hey, Laf." He says, spinning around in his chair just for something to do.

"Alexander!" Lafayette exclaims into the receiver. Alexander holds the phone away from his face for fear that he'll burst an eardrum. "How could you not tell me?!" Lafayette continues to yell, but a little less loud so Alex holds the phone at a normal distance from his face.

"Tell you what?" He asks, though he has a good idea what his friend is talking about. He kind of just wants to hear someone else say it out loud. He feels a smile creep onto his face.

"That you're practically dating Professor Laurens now!" Alex has to fight back a laugh of pure giddiness.

"Well, it's dinner and a movie on Friday, so we're not really dating." He tires to explain the situation to his friend, but only gets an exasperated huff from the other end. "How did you find out anyway?"

"Uh..." Lafayette suddenly goes quiet. Alexander feels his chest tighten. What if everyone knows and they think he's a slut who's sleeping with the teacher to pass the class. Alex gets good grades anyway, and this would just add to the theory.

"Lafayette, how did you find out?" Alexander gnaws at his lip and taps his finger on his desk.

"Don't get mad..."

"What?"

"Hercules told me." He rushes out the last sentence, hurrying to end the call, but not before he hears Alex's reaction.

"What?! Laf! How many people-" Then only the beeping of the vacant line.

Meanwhile, down in his classroom, John sits alone while he pours over his papers he has to get graded by tomorrow. He has a hard time focusing though. He wishes he could have Alexander here. He wishes he didn't insist on studying so much. The boy just didn't know when to stop. Constantly writing and reading and blocking out the rest of the world. John pictures that face he makes, especially in class, when he's really focused. His eyebrows drawn in, his bottom lip between his teeth as he taps his fingers or twirls his pen until suddenly it seems like he's solved all the mysteries of the world and his face lights up and he doesn't stop working until everything is in writing.

He smiles and wonders if he could call Alex. Just to see what he's doing, maybe he's as bored as John. He reaches for his phone before he can think better of it. Right as he is about to tap on Alex's contact, he is interrupted by Hercules and Lafayette coming into his classroom. The former stumbling a little, laughing as Lafayette reaches out to catch him. Lafayette rolls his eyes, but laughs along as well at some unsaid joke.

"What're you guys doing here?" John asks, standing to greet them and realizing that Hercules reeks of beer. He scrunches his nose and turns to Lafayette instead.

"Well, I was kind of hiding from Alex at the coffee shop and when I finally decided to come back to my dorm, but it was... occupied to say the least." John raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything. "So I went to look for Herc here to see if I could crash at his place. He's a little drunk if you couldn't tell." Lafayette laughs and leans Hercules in a chair for the time being.

"So...why are you here then? Also, why were you hiding from Alex?"

"Well, uh, Hercules wanted to apologize to you about something." He quickly backs away and pushes Hercules forward. "Right, Mulligan don't you have something to say?"

Hercules only giggles, a funny sound from the huge guy. "I think I wanted to apologize about something that had to do with Alex. I can't remember- oh! Wait I know, I told, like ten people about you and Alex." He smiles proudly, placing his hands on his hips like some superhero.

"I'm sorry what?" John asks, his tone turning angry as he stands and leans towards Hercules, who's face drops a little.

"Wow, mine isn't nearly as bad as that..." Lafayette observes, but quickly shuts his mouth when he realizes just how mad John is.

"Herc..." John starts, fuming as he leans forward some more. "Who did you tell?"

"Well, there was this new professor lady- she was really hot by the way..." He trails off, seeming to be daydreaming about the aforementioned.

"Dude! Really?! You told a fucking professor? I could lose my job for that!" He looks as though he's going to burst any second, so Lafayette steps in before things can go any further.

"John," he steps between his friend and his professor. John glares at him for a moment. He touches John's arm, but he jerks away.

"I- I need to take a walk." He runs his hand through his hair as he walks quickly out of his classroom. Only a faint call to him from Lafayette to follow him.

The French college student turns back to Hercules who only looks confused. "Did I say something?" He asks, looking at Lafayette with genuine questioning.

Lafayette sighs and touches Hercules's arm. "C'mon, mon ami. I will tell you in the morning." He proceeds to drag Hercules back to his own dorm, letting him sleep in Samuel's bed which is empty again since he hasn't exactly been using it the last couple of nights- save for his random girl he brings back for a half hour before vacating the place for a couple days. He shakes his head at his friend, wondering how John is doing. Surely they wouldn't fire him completely for this, he's sure it will all work out, it might be messy, but he hopes it won't all go to shit.