Homework (Lams AU)

So He Can't See It On My Face

Lafayette's POV

"Okay, what the hell happened back there?" Hercules asks as he drives us to my house. We had decided it was best to hang out back there so we could unpack..all of whatever that was.

I look back at Alex through the rear view mirror to see him crossing his arms and trying to keep his cool as he looked out the window. I sigh gently. "Alex?" I ask. 

He snaps out of his thoughts and looks up at us. "Huh? Oh, sorry, I wasn't listening."

"What happened at the party?" Hercules asks again. 

Alex hesitates to answer. "Um...I got into an argument with Peggy." He says quietly.

"Yeah, we saw that much, Alex." I say. "All we saw was you two getting angry at each other and then you spilling your drink on her. But what happened before that."

"I..." He sighs and I swear I could see his eyes starting to get all teary. This didn't make sense at all to me, because Alex never cried. Especially not over something that has to do with that group. It then hit me. 

"Something happened with John, didn't it?" I ask. 

I see Hercules look at Alex through the rear view mirror as he nods slightly. I frown at him and he hides his face by looking down. Herc sighs heavily. "Alex, you're going to have to talk with us. What's going on?" 

"Let's just wait until we're at Laf's house." He mumbles. We both nod and I turn back in my seat, continuing to watch Alex through the mirror. He went back to looking out the window and I couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had sworn he would never catch feelings or be heartbroken, but clearly he did this time. 

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"Did he really say that?" Hercules asks Alex.

I look over at Alex and see him nod as he held himself. "I..I don't know what to do.." He says quietly. 

"Aw, Alex..It'll be okay..I'm sorry this happened to you, they're awful people." I say, going to hug him. 

Herc nods and joins in on the hug. "Yeah, and John doesn't know what he's missing out on." 

Alex sighs and sits there, not necessarily hugging us back. Which was fine, I didn't expect him to. 

"I just..I thought he liked me..." He says. "He acted like he actually wanted to talk to me, and he was so nice..."

"He probably just got bored doing the same thing everyday. Him and his friends thought it would be funny to play a cruel prank on you, that's how they are. We've known this since Freshman year, Lex." Hercules explains. 

"You're right, I should've known better." He buries his face into his knees and sighs. "God, I'm such an idiot." 

"Hey, you are not an idiot. You are far from an idiot." I say, rubbing his back. "You fell for him, that's not anything anyone can avoid." 

"But I usually do. I let my guard down and got hurt." He looks up and wipes his eyes. "It's fine, this was just a reminder to why I keep my walls up. A good lesson to never let them down again." 

Herc and I look at each other and frown before looking back to him. "Alex, you can't just never fall for anyone ever again. You have to learn to love, it's part of life." 

"And what would you two know? Neither of you have dated all of high school, either." He snaps. 

"Not true, I had a girlfriend up until last year, when I moved to America. Her name was Adrienne, and she was beautiful. We were going to try and make long distance work, but I found out she had been cheating on me the entire time." I say. Neither of them had heard this before, because I chose to keep it to myself, but Alex was hurting and needed to hear it. 

They both stare at me in shock. "Wait..You did? You never told us that.." Herc says. 

I sigh. "I know..It..It hurt, and you guys were my new friends, I didn't want to burden you with my problems right away. But then I moved past it and found someone new to crush on." 

Alex raises an eyebrow. "Who are you crushing on?" 

"Hm?" I ask, looking over at him. I then blush and look over at Hercules. He shakes his head and I look back to Alex. "Sorry, was crushing on someone. I lost feeling when I started talking to them more." I lie. 

"I don't believe you.." Alex mumbles. "You and Herc were pretty close at that party, and you both just shared a look. What's going on with that?" 

I pause. "We're just really good friends." I lie again. 

He gives me a skeptical look before looking to Hercules. "Okay, so what's going on between you and Lafayette?" He asks him. 

"Nothing is going on between me and Gilbert, Alex." Hercules says in a non panicky way. He was better at lying than I was. 

Alex looks between us and nods. "Huh..Okay, if you say so." He stands up. "I'm going to get water." 

"Can you get me one, too?" I ask, and Hercules adds onto the count. Alex nods and leaves the room and I look to Hercules. 

"We have to tell him at some point, Gil." He says to me. 

"I know, I know..It's just, now's not a good time.." I sigh. "He's already hurting, he doesn't need to see his two only friends together and feel like a third wheel." 

"I get that, but don't you think he'd be upset we kept it from him?" 

"I think we need to focus on helping him feel better before we tell him we're dating." I say. 

"I fucking knew it." 

Hercules and I whip our heads around to see Alex standing in the doorway with three water bottles. 

"Alex! We wanted to tell you, I swear, we just-"

"No, no I get it. You didn't think I had the right to know about your real relationship." He interrupts Herc.

I shake my head. "Alex, that's not it at all-"

"It's fine. I'll let you two be, wouldn't want to interrupt anything." He says before leaving. I sigh and look at Hercules. 

"Should we go after him?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "No, he needs to blow off some steam. We'll see him in school on Monday."

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I sit down at our table, anxiously bouncing my leg as I waited. Alex hadn't texted either of us all weekend, and I hadn't really seen him all day today, either. 

Hercules places his hand on my knee, looking at me. "Hon, it'll be fine. He can't stay mad at us forever." 

"This is the same guy who held a grudge on Aaron Burr for two years because he beat him in an argument one time." I say. "I'm pretty sure he can stay mad." 

"But not at us. We're his friends." 

We both pause when we see Alex walk into the cafeteria. He freezes and stares at us, new bruises covering his face. He stands there a moment before pulling his hoodie over his head and walking to get food. I look at Hercules. 

"He's still mad at us." I say quickly. 

"We just need to give him space. He'll come around." 

"How can you be so sure?" 

"Unfortunately, he has nowhere else to go..He'll give up being petty and come back, and then we can apologize to him." He says, holding my hand under the table. 

I sigh and stare at my food. "If you say so.." 

I didn't want to lose Alex. He was my very first friend in America. He knew lots about me, and I knew lots about him. It would be devastating if he never talked to me again. It's why we didn't want to tell him in the first place. Relationships within friend groups were always difficult, no matter who the friends were. I just hoped he'd come around sooner rather than later. 

1374 Words