Click~ Lams Internet AU [on hiatus that may last forever]

Chapter 31

TW: Google Translated Spanish. Yes, that's gonna be a trigger warning.

~Sunday, April 26, 2020~

"Salutations, Mr. Manning. Ah, how lovely to see you hear, Martha! I'm absolutely delighted you are here. Please, please. Come in."

John rolled his eyes, crouched down at the top of the spiral staircase by the front door. Of course, Martha and her father were invited to their 'house' as John has been there. He sighed and retreated to his bedroom to mentally prepare himself.

He took a deep breath and decided to change himself to more decent clothes for certain reasons (like 'impress' William Manning, the father of Martha and a business partner of Mr. Laurens); that included staying out of trouble with his father.

John opened the door and came face-to-face with this idiot called Francis. He sighed. Could this get any worse?

"Oh, John, so, you're actually going to see Martha?" he said, smirking. Then he pouted. "Moving on from me? Perhaps too much, since you met Alexan-"

"Waiting for you to move on is like waiting for a valley with no mountains or anything on the sides. That's not even a valley, so it's...wrong," he mumbled before regaining his former expression. "It's absolutely pointless, you slowpoke. So it would be rather nice if you just stay away," snapped John, giving the taller man a death glare. "I'm not cheating on Alexander. And if you hurt him, then... then... estarás muerto!"

Francis grimaced. Although he did not know the language, he sure did think that was a threat. He sighed, crossing his arms, as Henry called to John to come downstairs. John let out a breath he was holding and walked down the stairs, avoiding Francis's gaze. He silently thanked his father for once.

"John! How nice to see you again!" said a man who was standing beside Martha.

Ahem. Uh, sir, we haven't met yet - ever.

The freckled boy gave him a slightly crooked smile. John answered, "Yes, uh, nice to see you again too."

Mr. Manning narrowed his eyes at John, as if the boy was a specimen, analyzing and taking in all the data. He shrugged and pushed his daughter forward with a light tap.

"Now, you two can go to the patio, while William and I have a little chat," Henry said, giving them a nearly friendly smile. William's eyes lit up and linked arms with the taller man, looking all giddy to their trip to the kitchen. Mr. Laurens laughed, awkwardly patting his business partner.

John gave Martha a questioning look, who shrugged as if her father was always eager for food. He nodded slowly.

Mr. Laurens shooed the two away to the gardens. John quickly grabbed his friend's hand (out of a platonic sense, of course) and dashed away towards the backdoor. Satisfied, the senator walked towards the kitchen, leading Mr. Manning and hoping, hoping that maybe John could give the girl a chance.

He was so deep in thought, he didn't notice his friend slip away and dug in his fridge. He sighed, sitting down, and letting William choose...whatever food he wants.

He grinned to himself as he thought about what could happen. Hmm, perhaps they'll get along well. John would see that the girl's quite wonderful. Wonderful to be his fiance. He chuckled softly. Martha will practically fall in his arms. Ah yes, job well done for me raising a handsome boy. Yes...yes, all will be well. Now, to hope that it's not unrequited; just hope he falls in lo-

"Say, Henry, do you have any tea?" Mr. Manning poked his head out of the refrigerator door, looking slightly disappointed.

Startled, the man nodded. "Oh, uh, yes, I do. H-Hold on," he said, leaving his friend muttering about how much unhealthy food was in the food tomb.

Unfortunately for his father, his thoughts were wrong. Well, for one, Martha and John were both not attracted to the opposite gender. And two, Martha was not the one who, I quote, "fell in his arms". More of the other way around.

"Oh, goodness, Martha, help me escape from this...gosh, I forgot what it's called!" John cried as Martha comforted the boy.

"Did you mean 'hellhole'? That seems very suitable," she said.

"Yes, indeed, that's it! Hellhole!" He laughed. "It's only been a while and I'm already forgetting things." He sighed. "Help me, Martha, I'm just stuck here. I can't bother to escape since el estupido is always there."

"Who's the idiot?" she asked.

"Francis," he said miserably, giving his friend a sad look. She nodded understandingly, being a classmate of John before college.

Martha reassured, "Well if it makes you feel better, your friends know that you're here."

John scoffed. "Like they know where this house -"

"Mansion."

"Alright, mansion, whatever." He muttered something about now understanding the Schuylers. "I don't even know where this is. I doubt you do. It's like we're in the middle of nowhere, just a huge patch of land with this house - "

"John, it's a mansion."

He groaned. "Fine. It's a mansion, I admit it. As I was saying, some person just dropped a mansion in the middle of a huge patch of land."

"Yeah, well, I saw a 7 11 branch ten minutes before we arrived," she murmured. "That's something, ain't it?"

John nodded slowly. The younger girl sighed, wrapping an arm around her friend. "We'll get out of this problem soon. They'll come. I know it."

John just wished he could believe her.

~~×~~

Alexander sighed. Maybe it was just him being paranoid, but he thought John was...

captured at an alien invasion - of course not.

But sure, the first part was true; he was indeed beginning to get paranoid. He had started checking newspapers to see if anything happened to a freckled boy, with curly brown hair and the same colored eyes. About 5'4 or so. Seeing that the national newspaper wasn't really of help, he went to visit the Schuylers.

Expecting only to see his best friend and Maria, he was surprised when he knocked on the door and saw everyone there.

"What did I miss...?" he started glumly.

Maria was the first one to speak up. "Alex! We've been calling you but you didn't seem to pick up. We have some news."

"Did you find anything about John?"

"Well, sort of," she said.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm leaning more on the latter on this one..."

"Hate to say it, but I guess you could be right," Thomas muttered.

Maria slapped his hand. "Pegs called and said that Martha Manning, a friend of theirs, was summoned to South Carolina."

"I...I still don't get it."

"Martha's apparently some raging lesbian - which is totally great, by the way, at some point - but she's also supposed to marry the eldest son of the Laurens family to strengthen financial and political issues and that so happens to be your boyfriend," mac n cheese boi explained. "So, that means lover boy's at his house, mansion, or something."

"Right...well, that's -" Alexander interrupted himself. He didn't exactly know what to say. He should be glad that they now know, or perhaps at least an idea, where his boyfriend was being kept. Yet, just to think that he could be separated from John forever made his stomach churn.

One thing's absolutely for sure: this was going to be one heck of a roller coaster.