The Coffee Shop (Hamilton Lams Modern AU) **IN EDITING**

Chapter 7

Alexander's POV

3 Hours Later

Since Laf had gone out to check in on the shop (he leaves the Schuylers in charge on weekends), John and I had the apartment to ourselves. We'd been watching TV for a while, but he'd fallen asleep on me. Awww, he's so cute... I thought. I'd left the TV on whatever channel it was on and went on my phone to pass the time. I was trying to think of ways I could help him, as I was still thinking about what he'd told me. I put my phone down and sighed, as I felt as if I was drained of any sort of creativity or problem-solving. Then, it finally hit me. It was so obvious! I'm in law school, studying to be a lawyer, so I could get some help from one of my professors who would (hopefully) be willing to help me, and actually put his father on trial! It was a simple solution. Just as I was about to write this down somewhere so I wouldn't forget, something even more obvious occurred to me. It was so blatantly obvious that I didn't know how I'd missed it. How did I just realize that he'd struggled with depression? All the signs were there, even from the scars alone. I felt really bad for him, as I knew what it was like to struggle with mental health. I was lucky enough to have mostly gotten over it, but John was still struggling with his in full swing. As I got up to go get a notebook (to write down my plan to help him) when I heard something that nearly made my heart stop. I turned around to find him in tears. I sat back down next to him and tried to wake him up. "Come on, don't cry, I'm right here, okay?" I gently shook his shoulder as I attempted to wake him. I kept trying for about 5 minutes until he sat up in a panic. He didn't even have to speak, he just hugged me. "Hey, John, can you tell me what happened? You were crying a lot." He shook his head. "I c-can't remember, b-but I know it w-was r-really bad.." he explained. "Okay, just calm down. It was just a dream," I assured him. "I-I know... it j-just felt s-so real.." his voice trailed off. "I get it, but nothing's gonna happen to you now, okay?" He nodded and gave me a soft smile.

2 Hours Later

John had fallen asleep on me a while ago, and he'd been pretty calm. I then heard the sound of keys jingling by the door and I quickly got up to go talk to Laf. "Bonsoir, Alexander. What happened while I was gone?" he asked. "Okay, so John was asleep for a bit, and then he just started crying out of the blue. When he woke up, he told me he couldn't remember why he was crying, but he said it was really bad. I think I may have set off a sort of trigger earlier when I asked about those scars," I explained, talking as fast as I could. "Slow down, Alexander. Yes, you're right, this is a trigger for him, but he'll be okay by tomorrow. Besides, he knows he's okay with you. I've never seen him like this with anyone else," Laf told me. "Really?" I asked. "Yes, mon ami. Anyway, I suggest you go back to your apartment now. You have class tomorrow, non?" I nodded and went back into John's room to grab my backpack. Before I left, I tore out a piece of paper from my notebook and wrote him a note, explaining why I'd left. I signed it and left it on his desk before exiting the room, putting my shoes on, and leaving the apartment.