When Stars Align || G. Lafayette

Chapter 9

May 5th, 1779

General Washington,

Things have been stable in the northern division for the past two months. My troops have yet to come to more than a minor quarrel with the British, although I am unsure for how long that fact will remain true. It will be within the month that I meet with Major-General Lafayette to discuss plans and how we can bring a balance upon the attacks of our northern and southern divisions, and I plan to write you again pertaining to decisions and conclusions to which we come.

On a personal note, Hamilton is faring generally well in the absence of his friends, although he has seldom left his desk since Laurens' departure to South Carolina. I expect that he's already written you on more than one occasion since, but I thought you might enjoy hearing from another perspective how your son has been.

I was only joking about him being your son, by the way. Please refrain from demoting me-

I was simple contact, just a hand laid on my shoulder, but it still caused my hand to jerk downwards, and I hissed a string of curse words at the dark line staining my parchment. My time at an active war camp had forced me to develop reflexes to such simple things, and while an advantage at war, it was a handicap in my everyday life.

"King, why didn't you tell me John was coming in to visit today?" Alex's light voice came from behind me.

"You'll forgive me if your lover's visit isn't at the top of my list of priorities," I huffed, rolling up the letter I'd been writing.

"But of course, sir," he said with a scowl, "Please, forgive me for thinking that you might have the visit of an old friend on your mind. I'd simply forgotten that since you've been a major-general, people don't matter to you."

"You're still on that?" I dropped my quill back into my inkwell a bit more roughly than I'd meant to, and could only sigh as ink splattered all over my small table. "If so, you will have to be the one to forgive me. I forgot that since I haven't been drunk with you since we arrived, I clearly hate you. Silly me, right?" My teeth were gritted beneath my fake smile as I turned to face him.

He folded his arms, his burning gaze meeting my own. "Don't downplay this. You've hardly spoken to me."

"I've been busy," I seethed.

"How busy could you have been?" he scoffed, "If General Washington has free time, I suspect you do as well."

"General Washington doesn't have to restructure a month's worth of plans because they were taken by the British when we fled our previous camp," I yelled, but then sighed as I realized how much I had raised my voice. "I'm over a month behind and Lafayette could be here any day now. I need to catch up. I'm not nearly ready for his visit."

My anger was beginning to melt into the stress and fatigue that it was rooted in, and I could see that he noticed my tone softening as he nodded, and then quickly upturned the corners of his mouth into a smug grin.

"Ah, I see. So this is about your lover as much as it is about mine."

"So you admit that John's your lover?" I retorted, an eyebrow raised nonchalantly.

"And you don't deny that Lafayette is yours."

"Oh, I do, but I would never pass up an opportunity to tease you." I took on a smug grin as his melted into a groan, and I could see that I'd won.

"Y/N," he moaned, and I could feel my heart rate spike.

"Sorry?" I raised an eyebrow as I gritted my teeth and sent him a warning look, wondering how he could be so careless. "I've never met a Y/N in my life."