His Eyes (LAMS)

That's what friends are for.

It was raining. And it was raining kinda hard. Aside from the loud pitter patter of the raindrops, the only sounds that could be heard were the gasps and running footsteps of a couple of folks running down the path, trying to get to safety.

The two burst through the door of the library, laughing softly. They had been talking together, on their way to the library anyway, when it started pouring out of nowhere. They had basically bolted it down the path, trying to not fall, and making it a race.

It was a tie, but it was fun so no one cared really.

The girl grinned, taking a moment to catch her breath and fix her ponytail. She wore a pastel yellow t-shirt and denim shorts, kneehigh rainbow socks, and sneakers.

The man sighed, adjusting his ponytail too. He wore a school t-shirt, and khaki shorts, along with tennis shoes. 

After a moment of messing with his ponytail, he frowned and held out the broken hairband. He sighed, turning to the girl.

"Peggy, mon ami, do you have a spare hairband?" He asked, showing her the broken hairband. She clicked her tongue, and handed him a spare she kept on her wrist.

"Yeah, here you go Laf." She smiled, stretching. 

"Merci." He smiled, finally fixing his ponytail. "So.. We should find John, non? He should really meet Alex, I forgot that he was going to this college too." He smiled. He had been grade-school friends with John Laurens, along with Hercules. Peggy beamed, and nodded.

"Yeah, c'mon." She paused a moment, scanning the library before pointing to some folks sitting at a table, both looking familiar. "There! I think they already met, by the looks of things." She grinned, and darted over to them. Lafayette followed after her.

She stopped short however when she noticed Alex's state, and it wasn't good..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex just sat there, head in his hands. He could tell that John was talking to him, but he couldn't make anything out. It was all blurred out, every sense seemed to be nulled.

He could feel the tears on his face, though his mind registered them as rain, and suddenly he was falling.

Falling out of the tree he and his brother had taken refuge in. He plunged into the murky rushing water, the last sound he heard was his brother screaming his name. And he was underwater.

The waves kept pulling him down, no matter how hard he tried to stay above water, they just kept plunging him under. Every time he could get his head above water, he'd take a gulp of breath. Sometimes he ended up with a gulp of the ugly brown water, and end up coughing. But he kept getting plunged under.

Over.

And over

And over again.

Then everything started fading out, and he could hear voices. He couldn't make them out, they were all echo-y, and they blended together. It was like they were far, far away..

But that didn't matter.

The voices meant that he'd be saved.

~~~~~~

John glanced around, listening. He could hear a few people coming in the library, but he couldn't figure out who they were. He was more concerned about Alex's silence. He knew the other boy was still there, he hadn't heard him get up. But he couldn't see if anything was wrong.

"Alex? Is.. Is everything okay?" He asked, reaching over the table to try to touch the other boy, though he couldn't quite reach. That, or he was patting in the wrong direction.. 

He straightened when he heard the other folks coming over. He smiled slightly, he'd recognize those footsteps anywhere. They belonged to his childhood friends, Peggy and Lafayette.

It's not creepy to memorize someone's footsteps.. Right? No..? Well I mean, what else you gonna do when you can't see the folks?

Anyway, John looked over in their general direction. "Hi Peggy, hello Lafayette.. Is something wrong with Alex? He's the person over there, he won't answer me." 

He couldn't see it, but he could hear the worried frown in his French friend's voice. "Mon ami, we know Alex. We met him yesterday, he is my roommate." Lafayette explained, kneeling down next to Alex and placing a hand on his back. Peggy frowned as well.

"I think he's having a panic attack or somethin'." She muttered, stuffing her hands in her pockets. She never knew what to do in situations like this.

"Oh.." John murmured, frowning worriedly himself. "Is.. Is there anything I can do?" He asked. Lafayette was already trying to calm Alex down, attempting to coax him to take deep breaths.

"Alexander, mon ami, you need to breathe slowly. In, and out.. In and out, just breathe." He kept repeating, rubbing Alex's back at the same time. John stood up carefully, and cautiously navigated his way to the other side of Alex. He sat down in a nearby chair, and awkwardly placed his hand on the other boy's shoulder.

Peggy and Philip joined in on the action, with the former trying to also convince Alex to breathe, and the latter rubbing up against the Caribbean man's leg.

Eventually Alex did calm down, though he was a shaking mess. John was able to feel the other man shaking, and he awkwardly wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulders in a sloppy hug. Alex almost instantly returned the hug, just feeling better by having someone to anchor him in reality.

"Are you okay, 'Lex?" Peggy asked after a moment. Alex nodded slowly, sighing shakily.

"y-Yeah... Thanks.." He murmured, twisting slightly to give Laf and Peggy a thankful look.

"Of course mon ami! That is what friends are for." Lafayette responded, smiling brightly.

"Friends..?" Alex asked softly, letting go of John.

"Yeah, friends." John replied, smiling. Alex smiled slightly, chuckling softly.

"I.. Never had a group of friends before." He muttered nervously. Peggy gasped in an over dramatic way. 

"Whaaaat?? Well we oughta change that!" She grinned, bouncing slightly. 

Alex chuckled again, starting to feel quite a bit better. "Heh.. I promise that I'll make y'all proud."

~~~~~~~~~~~

wHOA HI THERE SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING :"DD 

I'm much more active on my Dev. Art lmao- (Winterline13)

I will try to be better about updating though, but I've got a lot on my plate right now. What with duel enrollment and highschool classes and learning how to drive and oof-
I've just got a lot going on in general aa :"))

I will admit that's not much of an excuse?? But it's my current reasoning sobs-

I'll try to get a super short chapter out either today or tomorrow to make up for my absence though. It'll be hella short though, but it'll be something :" )

Have a great day/night, don't stay up late if you've got something to do tomorrow, and wear your seatbelt kids.

//mwah