(A/N) I don't own any of the characters nor do I make any profit of this fic. This chapter contains some strong language, mentions of child abuse and homophobic slurs.

The next morning, when Alex woke up, the first thing he noticed was the chirping of the birds outside. Somehow, it felt surreal to him, out-of-this-world like. A little too peaceful compared to the situation he was in before coming to the Washingtons. He rolled over to check the small clock on his nightstand. The red numbers shone in his face as if they wanted to remind him of his inability to rest enough, although it wasn't really bad that day. Still, Alex felt a sting of dissatisfaction when the clock told him that it was 6:12 am. Alex rubbed his hands over his face and wondered if it was too early to shower. When his hands hit his hair, Alex couldn't suppress a groan. His hair had the tendency to turn into a bird's nest every morning, unless he slept with a braid in.

He hadn't a problem with braiding his hair before living with the Kings. On the last day of the second week, the first comment about his hair had come from George King. Alex had always preferred longer hair over the short hairdo that was normal for boys his age. He wore it in a ponytail or a neat bun most of the time, but sometimes he would braid it to prevent knots in his hair. So that day he had gone downstairs to eat breakfast, hair braided on his back, when King had told him to take the braid out, or else he could fuck off. Alex was shocked to hear him say that, considering the little children in the kitchen, but King didn't seem to care. He had called him a faggot and slapped him in his face in front of the entire table. The bruising on his cheek had shown up soon after, and after that moment he hadn't dared to braid his hair ever again.

But the Washingtons weren't the Kings. And he didn't want to worry anymore.
Alex decided to take the risk.
But first he wanted to shower.

After taking a long shower and washing his hair thoroughly - He had borrowed Lafayette's shampoo and hair conditioner - he smelled faintly like lavender and felt better than he had in the morning. He sneaked back to his room to put on the same pair of jeans as yesterday, and looked in the closet for a shirt. He opened the door and was surprised at the sight of the almost completely empty space. It was huge! And Lafayette had told him they were going to fill it? He didn't need so many clothes. He was happy to find a simple white shirt on one of the shelves and quickly closed the closet. After putting on his clothes the search for his hairbrush began. He found it in one of the drawers of the desk. He didn't struggle much with the knots in his hair because of Lafayette's conditioner, which was a relief. Directly after, he braided his hair.

He looked in the mirror and couldn't decide if he liked what he saw. He was paler than he'd like, but the bruising that had recently colored his neck was fading and the bags underneath his eyes were also not as defined as they had been. He touched the place where his lip had split. It didn't exactly hurt when he touched it, but he could feel the memory of the pain in his subconscious. He ran his hand over his face one last time, looked himself deep in the eyes and went downstairs.

Once downstairs, he heard sounds coming out of the kitchen. Alex decided to follow the sound, only to find Lafayette standing in the kitchen with headphones in, dancing to what seemed like a country-type song. He was dressed in a pink shirt and dark jeans, and his hair wasn't tamed into a fluffy ponytail this time. He was balancing carton of eggs and a plate full of raw bacon in one hand and a bottle of orange juice in the other. Alex just looked at the scene in front of him, speechless. Lafayette put the eggs and the orange juice on the counter top, but when he turned he shrieked and dropped the plate of bacon. The plate broke neatly in three pieces, and the was bacon al over the floor. Alex felt himself get pale and started stuttering. "Oh god, Lafayette, I'm so sorry. Here, I'll clean it up. It's all my fault. Please don't tell George and Martha." He hurried to kneel down and clean up the mess, but Lafayette just looked at him weirdly. "Est-ce que tu as fait avec tes cheveux?" Alex looked up at Lafayette, afraid for an insult, already regretting his decision to braid it that morning. But Lafayette smiled at him. "Er, je les ai natté." Lafayette stroked his hair and said. "Je l'aime." Alex smiled shyly at him. He was relieved, but also felt like he should have known that Lafayette wouldn't judge him.

Neither of the boys had noticed George standing next to them. "What can't you tell me, Gilbert?" Lafayette casually said that he had dropped a plate of bacon and winked at Alex before throwing away the shards of the broken plate. Alex picked up the raw strips of bacon from the floor.

"How would you like your eggs?" Alex looked up from the bacon to see George cracking a few eggs into a pan on the stove for Lafayette's breakfast. "Scrambled eggs are okay, thank you." George smiled at him. "Okay, no problem. One portion of eggs coming up. Martha will be down soon, and after breakfast she'll take you shopping." Alex nodded and sat down at the table. Lafayette sat down next to him and started devouring his eggs. It made Alex want to chuckle, but it also made him a little nauseous, although the French boy seemed to enjoy himself. George put down Alex's plate in front of him and started on his own eggs.

Martha had joined five minutes and another big plate of eggs for Lafayette later, and she didn't seem as happy before her first coffee - "Don't ever get her order wrong at the coffee store." Lafayette had warned Alex after Martha had shot George an angry look because he had put a little too much sugar into the drink. - and even after her first cup, she turned to George and started muttering some things to him, but even though she sounded very disgruntled, Alex still noticed the love behind her words. After she finished her second cup, she gathered her things and gestured for the boys to follow her.
"Okay, let's go then. Gilbert, have you got your coat from last year? Alex only has a thin one, and he'll freeze if he goes out in that." Lafayette nodded solemnly and ran upstairs to fetch his coat, while Alex was putting on his shoes. About half a minute later he heard stumbling from the stairs and the boy appeared with a big grey coat in his hands. "There you go. You've got everything?" Alex nodded. "Let's go then."

The closer they got to the mall, the more enthusiastic Lafayette got. When they arrived at the parking lot, he was basically a young dog, and ready to jump around, dragging Alex along with him. They went into every clothing store Lafayette deemed worthy, and when they were finished with most of the stores, Alex's arms ached because of all the bags, and he wasn't even carrying them all. When they entered another store, the last one if Alex could decide, he put the bags down and followed his new brother to a rack of shirts. Lafayette pushed a brown sweatshirt in his arms and ordered him to go try it on. Alex sighed and made his way to the fitting rooms.

Alex wasn't really paying attention when he shoved open the curtain of the room, but then a voice interrupted his train of thoughts. "Hey, man, occupado..." "Oh my god, I'm sorry, I..." He looked up into soft brown eyes and felt his stomach drop. A boy with more freckles than there were stars in the sky stood shirtless in the small space, arms crossed before his chest. He had curly brown hair and lips that just begged to be kissed. Alex blinked and realized he had been staring at the face of the boy, when he heard Lafayette walking toward him.

"Alex, try this one, too, I think it'll match your eyes even better than... LAURENS, mon ami, what are you doing here?" Alex looked from the boy to Lafayette, and the boy, Laurens, grinned widely at him. Jesus, that smile made hundreds of butterflies flutter in his stomach, and it wasn't even directed at Alex. It made him feel like he was floati- what was wrong with him? He didn't even know the first name of this boy, and he was already starting to like him. Lafayette did seem to know him, though, and he pulled him into a tight hug. "I thought you were in Virginia with your dad?" Laurens chuckled, and Alex loved the sound. "I left. Couldn't stand to stay one more second around him. I couldn't leave on my own, of course, so the compromise is for me to move here, but with my dad and siblings." Lafayette nodded knowingly before introducing Alex to Laurens. "Alex, this is one of my best friends, John Laurens. John?" John offered Alex his hand and Alex gladly took it. And to his dismay, he started rambling. "Hello, I'm Alexander Hamilton, well actually just Alex, don't call me Alexander. I'm sorry for walking in on you earlier, I'm not a perv, I swear." He firmly shut his mouth and could actually hit himself in the face for babbling like that. John didn't even know him, but he probably thought he was weird already. He almost didn't dare look back at John, even though he started to introduce himself. "Well, hello Alexander Hamilton, actually just Alex. Nice to meet you. I'm John Laurens."

At that exact moment, Alex noticed that John still didn't wear a shirt, and he could barely resist the urge to look at his bare chest. "John, mon ami, you are not wearing a shirt." Lafayette told him with a wink. John looked down at his torso in confusion and his face flushed red in embarrassment. It made his freckles stand out even more, and Alex loved it. Call him a perv of whatever, but he didn't want John to put on a shirt just yet. Not until he could have a good look at his chest. When John was no longer looking at Alex, but muttering a defense to Lafayette, Alex saw his chance and looked.

Damn. John Laurens' torso was lean and muscled, but not in a bodybuilder sort of way. He looked like someone who ran regularly, and treated his body well. He could see the faintest definition of a six pack, and because of the washed out, grey jeans riding low on his hips, and he could see the defined V of his bones peek over the waistband of his underwear. Alex wanted to sigh at the view of the miles of tan skin, and the freckles that came all the way down over his chest and his stomach, but then he heard Martha call him and Lafayette. He looked up apologetically and Lafayette sighed. John just nodded and told them: "Wait here for a moment. I'm going to put on this shirt and then I'll join you." "D'accord." Lafayette said, and then left to find Martha and talk to her. A few seconds later, the curtain opened again, and a fully clothed John stood in front of Alex. There was an awkward silence where they just looked at each other, hands fidgeting and desperately trying to come up with something to say, before Alex started rambling.

"So, Lafayette has this friend who is totally obsessed with turtles. Do you know who I'm talking about?" John blushed and grabbed the shirt he had been trying on. "Yeah. That's me, I guess." Oh no. He was so stupid. Why did he have to start about this? He probably thinks Alex thinks he's weird or something. He had to fix this. "Oh really? That's awesome. Turtles are like, totally cool. You know, I've seen a lot of turtles in my life. Seen all sorts of them."

Oh. My. God. Alexander. Could you say anything more stupid than that? Alex despised himself for saying that, but John didn't seem to mind. He actually looked really interested. "Yeah? So, where are you from, then? There aren't exactly many turtles around here." Alex felt blood rise to his cheeks. He didn't really want to tell John about his early life. Scratch that, he really didn't want to. John was still looking at him, waiting for his answer

That's when God sent his personal, curly haired, French angel to rescue Alex from his miserable situation, and drag both him and the freckled beauty to the frozen yogurt store, where Martha was waiting for them. John greeted Martha like he had known her his entire life, which could easily be true. Martha hugged John tightly and whispered something in his ear, which Alex couldn't hear, and John nodded. She looked satisfied and then said: "Okay. I see shopping was successful, so now we can relax a bit," she glanced at Lafayette, who threw his hands up in the air in defense, "and after that we'll go home. John, sweetie?" John had walked over to the counter and had started picking out toppings for his yogurt, but now walked back to the small group. "Yes, Martha?" Martha smiled tenderly at John and put a hand on his shoulder. "You want a ride home? If you want, you can even sleep over. You'll have to ask your father first, of course." John looked grateful, but then furrowed his brow. "I'll take you up on the ride, but I can't stay over. My father won't be pleased if I do." Lafayette and Martha both nodded knowingly, and Alex wondered what he was talking about. Martha sighed. "Well, that's alright. You know you can stay over whenever you like. But now: yogurt."

Alex had a lot of fun picking out flavors and toppings for his ice cream. He and John both decided on caramel toppings with pineapple pieces, while Lafayette looked at them in disgust and just piled crumbled chocolate chip cookies on top of his. Alex kept throwing quick glances at John and found himself staring at the light and the way it hit John's lashes, or how his pants fit him perfectly, bringing out his slim legs, or how...

"No, I insist!" He looked at Martha, who was now standing at the counter with her credit card drawn. "John, honey, you know how I think about this. You don't pay for anything when you're with us." John opened his mouth to protest but Martha cut him off before he could even utter a word. "No. I won't have it. Now sit down, and enjoy your yogurt." She gave him a fake strict look, and John sighed in defeat and sat down at a table a little farther to the back of the store. Alex took place next to him. While they were eating their yogurt and chatting with Lafayette, he could feel John looking at him and felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter.

When they were finished, they hauled the bags filled with clothes to the car and loaded them in the trunk. They drove to John's house in about 10 minutes, and Alex couldn't help but stare at John's ass when he stepped out of the car -It was a good ass- and walked toward the massive building they had stopped in front of. The long driveway lay in the middle of a green garden, with high trees al little to the right and a small shed to the left. When John had reached the door, he turned around and waved at the car, and Alex couldn't help but smile and wave back. After they drove away, Lafayette turned to Alex. "Mon ami, you've got it bad. But don't stress, I think, non, I KNOW, he likes you, too." Alex beamed the rest of the drive home.

(A/N) I hoped you liked it!

Translations:

Est-ce que tu as fait avec tes cheveux?: what have you done with your hair?

je les ai natté: I braided it

Je l'aime: I love it

Mon ami: my friend

Non: no