My Dear Laurens (Lams)

M. Lafayette

Lafayette kicked open the doors with enough enthusiasm to snap them off their hinges. He patted Alexander's cheek with his free hand, and said, "It is time to take you shopping, of course!"

Alexander whipped his head around in his last moments isolated from the outside world to glance at Laurens with furrowed brows, a strained grin, and a shrug of his shoulders. Lafayette refused to grant him time to adjust to the searing, white light emanating from the sun, the human-infested streets, or the readied, and somewhat irritable horses standing a few feet to their left.

Lafayette dragged Alexander into a quaint, nut-colored carriage, and onto the plush, cushioned-seat across from him. Lafayette sat with his back to the driver, causing his body to jolt forward with every bump in the road. They began their journey to New York City, roughly eleven miles away from their temporary home in Manhattan.

The ride commenced at a slow pace. Alexander couldn't hush the temptation to push the pale, floral curtains away from the view provided by the small opening in the doors of the carriage. He wanted to absorb the passing sights, smells, and sounds that invigorated his senses. Lafayette realized how closely he resembled Alexander. Brimming with wonder and euphoria at the novelty of New York. So different from his home country of France, and so different from Alexander's home... now, where did he say he was from?

Lafayette tempted Alexander away from the diversions of the city.

"Hamilton," Lafayette opened the stilled air between them. "I know you have mentioned it at least once before, but where do you come from?"

Alexander's focus narrowed on Lafayette, arms and legs crossed, before him.

"I was born in the Caribbean. More specifically, Charlestown, Nevis. You ever heard of it?" Alexander asked, keeping his tone cool and posture lax despite the buzz disturbing his nerves at the mention of his past.

Lafayette leaned forward an inch and shook his head. This pin's head of a movement elicited a flurry of words in response. Well, a flurry isn't the best way to put it. More like a snowstorm.

"So far, I haven't met anyone who has, and I don't think I will. New York is nothing like Nevis, and yet, it's exactly how I imagined it to be. It's thrilling, and expansive, and cruel, and welcoming, and delicate, yet inescapably crass."

Alexander sighed, and looked to Lafayette, who was enthralled by his outburst, then continued.

"I feel like I can become a new man here. There are so many opportunities around every corner, and I thought it might be overwhelming, and it is, but it's also the greatest wish I could have asked for."

Lafayette waited for Alexander's galloping tongue to carry on, yet he listened to nothing but subtle breaths and jumbled cacophony outside their little world, so he took this chance to speak.

"So, you like it then?"

Alexander and Lafayette chuckled briefly before Lafayette reared to ask a new question.

"I felt the exact same when I came here from France. It's a wonderful place with so many different things to experience all at once, but it's a shame it's not perfect, you know?"

"Perfection is hard to find."

"Oui, I think there would be a few things I would like to change if I got the chance."

"Really? Like what?"

Lafayette cleared his throat and smiled as he arrived at one of the many destinations he had planned for their conversation. "Like some of the laws here. I don't agree with all of them, and even though my country and many others share the same laws, I would love it if New York was the place to change all of that."