Camp for the Emotionally (Un)Stable || Lams

Chapter Thirty: Happily Ever After

|Third Person|

John Laurens wakes early. Well, early for him. Especially given his recent sleeping schedule of staying in bed until nearly eleven every morning to count down the minutes until he could see Alexander at noon. Presently, it's seven-thirty, the light from the freshy-rosen sun drifting softly from the windows positioned near the top of the wall in the Schuyler basement. He glances around, blinking and watching his surroundings come into focus. 

Two hands rest lightly on his bare chest, attached to a peaceful Alexander Hamilton who breathes evenly. John smiles fondly at the sight, not quite realizing his expression as he runs his fingertips lightly over his boyfriend's spine through the oversized shirt he'd borrowed from John last night. Their legs are curved around each other like pieces from a puzzle, the heat radiating off their bodies. The thick duvet cover weighs down on John's hips, forcing him to realize just how hot it's gotten. 

He hums to himself, silently removing his body from Alex's tangled limbs and tucking the covers back around him. He shoots a final glance to the sleeping boy before going about his business around the room. Most of his things are already here. He's been living out of a suitcase since the beginning of summer anyway. 

John picks a clean set of clothes from his bag and heads upstairs to the hall bathroom to shower, just as he had been doing for those many weeks he'd been bouncing from the Schuyler's guest room, their couch, to some hotel room. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks. He sighs, almost out of relief as the hot water from the shower head hits his back, knowing that when he gets out he won't have to wait a couple hours to see Alex. He'll see him as soon as he dressed. In fact, right then and there, he makes a promise to himself to make sure he's away from Alexander for no more than two hours at a time from now on. There's no way he'd survive going any longer. 

He smiles to his feet, watching the water swirl down the drain. He had Alexander now. Nothing could ruin that. 

Downstairs in the basement, Alex was just waking up. He squints at the light, not finding it nearly as serene as John had earlier. It was nearly eight now, to be fair, meaning the sun was a bit harsher, but Alex also wasn't much of a morning person to begin with, so that may have something to do with it. 

He surveys the room for a moment  before remembering where he is. Then, he feels the now-cool side of the mattress for John and coming up empty- much to his dismay. Alexander sighs, forcing himself into an upright position and stretching his arms above his head. Something blinks on the side table, and he picks up John's phone off the charger without a second thought. One missed call from a number saved under the name Alexander and a text. 

He unlocks the phone with John's simple passcode of "1234", and taps onto the message app. Alex recognizes his past conversations with John from James' phone back at the group home and bites his lip uneasily as he scrolls down to the new message. 

From: Alexander

It's James. CPS came and busted the witch last night. They're sending everyone to new homes tomorrow. Hope your happily ever after is going well. 

Alex presses his lips together, unsure if there's a hint of passive aggressiveness in the message or not. He changes the name to James quickly, not liking seeing his own name there anymore. Then, he pauses and thinks of what he wants to say. James might not even still have the phone, but he still wants something genuine to send back.