Zero Two Three One | John Laurens X Reader [Hamilton]

XI: Four In The Morning

❝I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.❞
-Abraham Lincoln

John Laurens. South Carolinian. Former law school student. Eldest child. Twenty-two years old. Texts in paragraphs quite a bit. Charismatic. Considerate. Selfless. A natural-born leader.

I feel as though I've known him all my life, but I haven't. Some part of me wishes I did.

I've never spent as much time on my phone as I have in the past couple of weeks. John is very busy all the time, and he'll continue being busy for a couple more weeks, so we sadly can't be in a constant back and forth. Because of this, I'm filled with pride and joy knowing that he spends his free hours messaging me.

Usually, this equates to us staying up late at night and chatting it up. It started as texts exclusively, but as things progress, we've advanced. Calls, FaceTime, and competitive mobile games. This is how I spend my 10 pm-3 am. It's not uncommon for me to remind John that he has to rest up for the next day. He, of course, has meetings to attend to. As much as we both dread it, we do eventually have to bid each other a good night and cease the communication. Throughout the next morning and afternoon, there are a few scattered texts here and there. But I'm still looking forward to the night time when he and I can have an undisturbed conversation.

What do we talk about? Well, everything. I tell him about my difficulty adjusting to city life, and in return, he gives me tips. He tells me what he can about the tense and classified meetings, and in return, I encourage him to stick through it. I tell him how bored I am, and he suggests things for me to do. He tells me how annoying his higher-ups are, and I... I suggest he works to take their place.

That's one thing John Laurens and I have in common. We both want to take down our superiors. We have different intentions, though. John believes that he'd be a better leader, so that's his motivation. My motivation is far more sinister... I haven't told it to John.

Throughout all of this, Alexander has no idea. If he did know, I have a feeling he'd be incredibly pissed. It's better for everyone if he's in the dark.

While John takes up my night, Alexander takes up my day. We wake up early, throw on some workout clothes, and go for a jog around the more peaceful part of town. It's therapeutic in a way and it helps keep us in shape. For the most part, we stay side-by-side while we jog. However, when we start to head back home, Alexander and I race each other back to our apartment building. As always, Alexander beats me by a large margin. By the time I make it to our building, Alexander is there waiting for me.

I'll beat him... one day. I'll be faster than him.

After a shower and putting on more casual clothing, we head to downtown Manhattan, exploring and adapting to the city. It's healthy, helpful, and important, Alexander claims. I say it's utterly stressful.

We usually come back around one o'clock, and when we do, we spend a lot of time reading. Alexander has stacks of books that he insists we read. These include philosophy, history, psychology, economic, and political theory books. I find it utterly boring, but I read Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes anyway. Alexander enjoyed it. I didn't. It didn't stop him from making me write an essay about it.

If Alexander wasn't so important to me, I'd say fuck off to that bullshit. But I know he means well. He educated me when we were children, and it seems like he never let go of that role. Now we have more important things to learn about than where to put commas and how to divide. We're learning complex subjects.

For Alexander's sake, I stick to my books, reading three at the same time. I do his essays. I take his tests. I do it all for him...

But when he suggested we read through the Constitution this afternoon, I was not having it. I needed to evade the situation, and fast. So instead, I suggested something that John had suggested two nights before: going to a shooting range, trying out a few firearms, and buying some for ourselves.