Problems

|| Chapter 18 ||

TW: depressed actions, mention of dissociating and panic attack, description of death
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"I have an announcement," John said loudly, and heads all around Hercules's and Lafayette's dorm room swiveled away from the tv towards his voice.

"Now that I have been legally disowned, I will no longer be taking any law classes for the rest of my life. At the start of next Trimester I will be taking classes in Marine Biology." Cheers rang out as John smiled smugly, until Angelic a piped up from where she was sitting on the floor, leaning against Herc's bed. "How are you going to pay for the rest of college though? You don't have any access to your dad's bank account anymore."

John shrugged, "I have some money stored away, but if it comes down to it, I'll get a job at Starbucks or something."

Peggy wiggled her eyebrows, "Oooh, coffee shop AU."

Herc snorted, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Ya'know, the thing that fan fiction writers do? Like, the characters are set in alternate universes or whatever," Peggy said. "You've never heard of that?"

"Um, no," Herc scoffed.

"Oh, c'mon," Peggy complained in disbelief. "You're in the Marvel fandom, you cannot tell me, with a straight face, that you have never, ever, in your entire life, read fan fiction."

"No!" Herc exclaimed. "I am a grown-ass adult."

"A grown-ass adult that has a poster hanging on his wall that declares 'I heart my fashion designer' with an enormous pink glittery heart on it," Peggy shot back, and Hercules flushed a deep red.

"Pegs, stop terrorizing him," John cut in, sighing. "And anyways, I have about a million smuggled into my bank account, so I think I'm set for a while."

There was a collective explosion of sounds that met this remark; the biggest ones being Laf doing an actual spit take and spraying water all over his desk, while Peggy dropped her glass in surprise and it shattered all over the floor.

Angelica hefted her jaw off of the hardwood as Eliza grabbed the broom to sweep up glass shards. "How did you manage to get that much money into your account?" Angelica asked in disbelief.

John shrugged, "I just took whatever amount I thought I could get away with from the time I was fifteen up until now. And it payed off, I guess. No pun intended."

Alex's mind was currently blanking out. He had never seen that much money in his entire life, much less had any in his family name or bank account.

When Alex congratulated his boyfriend, he was concerned to see John glaring at him.
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John was angry

His happy boyfriend was kissing his neck and saying how proud he was.

Feelings were swirling around Johns head.

He felt a stab of jealousy-Alex would never have to live on a day-to-day basis of stealing from his own father; he wouldn't have to create a multitude of lies just to get into college.

He quickly shoved these feelings down. Alex had been through a lot-he deserved to be happy.

But John couldn't shake the nagging thought that he had been through more.
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"Hey, you okay?" Alex asked. They  were sitting in their dorm room, having left Laf and Herc's place about half an hour ago. "You're like, really cranky."

"I'm not cranky," John muttered sourly, and Alex raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night," he said, and John huffed a out a breath through his nose.