Hamilton Oneshots

Claw Machine (Lams)

Trigger Warning: Depression

Alex woke up and glanced at the time on his alarm clock, midnight? Why was he awake? He then heard the loudest ringtone set in his phone and woke up instantly as he answered it, "John? What's wrong? It's like midnight why'd you call?" He asked quickly. When he and John first started dating Alex had set John's ringtone to the loudest so he'd always answer it.

"I-I don't kno-ow," John cried and Alex felt his heart shatter at John's sobbing, "I-I couldn't sleep agai-gain and then I started cry-ying and now I feel like sh-shit." He said. When they were still just friends John had told Alex about his major depressive disorder which was why Alex made sure he could always be reached 24/7 so if John ever had a problem he could get to Alex and talk instead of doing something stupid.

"Okay-Okay I'm going to um...take you out," Alex said quickly, wanting to remove John from the place he was in right now, "We can go to the mall and get stuff and eat. Do you want to go to the mall," He knew the shopping center was open 24/7 but barely anybody was inside it this late so it was an ideal time to go.

"Y-Yes," John said and Alex kept him on the phone all the way to John's, his car wasn't the best and took an extra turn of the key to start but it worked. When he got there he waited for John to come out in his koala onesie and climb in.

"It'll be okay, John," Alex said and smiled, "I promise. You're okay, we're okay." He kissed John's cheek and was glad that they were dry. He then turned his attention back to the road and started down it to reach the tri-county mall.

Once he parked Alex helped John out and locked his car, putting an arm around John and leading him inside, "Let's get food first. Pizza? You want pizza?" He asked as he leads John to the food court.

"Mhmm..." John said and nodded, plopping into a seat that Alex led him to and watching Alex walk off to get them pizza from Dominos. When he came back John sighed, "I-I wasn't honest exactly..." He said and Alex opened the pizza box while prompting John to continue, "I-I um my dad said mental health issues aren't real and so he isn't letting me take my medicine because he thinks I can just...make it go away all on my own and says my pills are just mind control and...now I can't sleep because of that insomnia shit and I'm just always sad...it sucks ma-an." His voice broke again at the end and he started crying again.

Alex got up and sat by John instead of across from and hugged him, "Hey-hey I'm sorry," Alex sighed and just hugged him, he couldn't make it just go away, that's why John had those meds. He was already wording a response to Henry Laurens as he hugged John even tighter, it's all he could do, hug John, because the chemicals in his brain wouldn't let him stop feeling so sad, "I'll get you your meds back."

John nodded and sniffed, taking a few minutes to calm down before weakly picking a piece of pizza up and putting it in his mouth, "Thank you." He said quietly with cheese pizza still in his mouth.

Alex hummed and ate his own slice before saying, "It's no problem, really, you're my boyfriend and you're upset so I'm going to help you feel better. I'd be a shitty boyfriend if I didn't drop everything for you and hug you when you cry and try to make it so you don't cry." He kissed the side of John's head affectionately.

John leaned into him and rested his head on his shoulder as the two of them ate pizza at midnight inside of a mall. He was kind of embarrassed that he didn't get changed out of his pajamas and stayed in his onesie while Alex had arrived in his usual gray sweater and blue pants. John just wasn't motivated for much of anything anymore, he never was during depression spells and now without any antidepressant medication, it was worse.

"Okay, let's go buy some things," Alex said when the pizza was finished. John agreed silently and Alex took the pizza box, taking it to the trashcan and throwing it away before returning to John and taking his hand, "What else? That's not it, I can tell."

John sighed and leaned against Alex again, "My plushy." He said, "My dad said I was too attached to it and I had to grow up so he threw it out." John's mom said he couldn't have a turtle when he was a toddler so she got him a turtle plushy that he's treasured for years.

"That dick," Alex grumbled quietly and put an arm around John instead of holding his hand, "I'm sorry, man. I'm going to have a serious talk with that douche bag I promise." He led him out of the food court and began buying him a lot of things he thought were pretty.

Each time Alex bought something John would bashfully and modestly try and stop him but as they passed a claw machine and John thought about how he met Alex at one of them after seeing him get a lot of stuffed animals and stopping to praise him, he spotted something...it was green and looked scarily familiar. Instantly, John grabbed Alex's arm and Alex looked down at his hands and then up at John until he pointed at the claw machine so he looked there to see the turtle stuffed animal John was so excited about, "It looks like Shellby!" Yes, he named his stuffed animal and yes the name is a pun.

"I'll get it." Alex marched over to the claw machine and pulled his concentration face as John stuck his face to the glass and watched with bated breath as Alex put the quarter into the coin slot and then took hold of the analog, moving the claw and finding a good spot before it plunged down and grabbed the toy.

"You got it!" John cheered as it was dropped into the collection box and Alex got it, giving it to him and being rewarded with a happy kiss.

When they separated, Alex smiled and kissed his forehead, "I'm glad I made you happy."