Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alex was gone the next morning before John headed off to class. The day went by Alex-free, until he saw him during their shared US History period. During which, he was furiously scribbling notes down on a fairly small notebook... and, then, on his arm, when the notebook ran out of paper.

“Alex?” John queried quietly when Washington stopped his lecture to answer a question.

“Yes?” The boy replied, glancing up at John as he finished another sentence on his arm.

Wordlessly, John passed him a piece of paper he tore out from the legal pad on his lap.

“Thank you.”

“Welcome, Lex.”

John heard a small, confused noise make its way out of Alex’s throat and he smiled to himself. When he looked over a moment later, he saw Alex smiling too.

The next few weeks passed without any notable events. John learned to sleep through the sound of Alex’s typing, and Alex learned to live with John occasionally startling awake from nightmares. John figured out that Alex likes it when John calls him Lex, and Alex figured out that John hates it when Alex calls him Laurens. They both grew closer as friends, despite some of their very opposite traits. For instance, when John tended to pass out at around 10 PM, Alex slept around 3 AM. While John drank tea in the mornings- well, dollar-store teabags sat in a plastic cup with lukewarm tap water-, Alex always managed to end up with a cup of coffee in his hands before the day’s over.

A Wednesday night during the fourth week of the semester, John was furiously typing away on a research paper due the next morning while Alex had shut his notebook for the night and was now typing leisurely on his laptop. Alex heard John’s frustrated groans, growing louder every time.

“Oh, my God!” John exclaimed, throwing his arms up dramatically. It’s the loudest Alex had seen him get. “I’m finally fucking done.”

Alex only flinched a little bit as John slammed his laptop shut and dropped it not-so-gently onto the floor before the boy fell back in bed and groaned again.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked, clicking save on the essay he was working on before cautiously shutting his laptop, as well.

“Peachy,” John groaned. “You?”

“I’ve been worse.”

An idea finds its way into Alex’s head- an idea that’s majorly unlike him and seems to have appeared from thin air.

“Do you have any interest in indulging in an episode of Netflix with me?”

John was quiet, and Alex could almost hear the gears turning in his brain. When he answered, Alex felt a weight lift off his shoulders that he hadn’t known was there.

“Sure, Lex.”

Alex opened up his laptop again and exited the Word document before pulling up Netflix.

“Come over here. My laptop’s plugged in.” Alex shifted himself over in bed so John could sit beside him- and sue him if he purposefully pulled back the soft blanket on the side John would be sitting at.

The boy obliged, and soon Alex had the small-statured man sitting next to him, leaning against the headboard heavily. Alex was hyper-aware that John’s shoulder is just barely brushing his own- and sue him again if he scooted a bit closer with the excuse of “Can you see from this angle?”

“’S good, Lex. What’re we watching?” John murmured, tiredness creeping into his voice.

“White Collar sound good?” Alex replied, as if he expects John to know what that show is.

“Uh-.”

“Nevermind. It’s good. You’ll like it.”

Alex was right. John found himself sucked into the pilot episode, bloodshot eyes tracing the screen mechanically. As the first episode ended, he found that he’s managed to shift over to where he’s leaning most of his body weight on Alex. He has also found that for the first time in a long time, he was not freezing cold.

He looked up to Alex’s face, surprised to find the latter staring down at him with what can only be described as a fond expression, coupled with tired brown eyes.

It took John a second more than usual to look away.

“That was really good, man,” John cleared his throat, sitting up and removing his body weight from Alex. He swears he can hear the other man sigh from beside him. He regretted his decision to move as soon as the cold air hits his side again and he shivers a bit.

“Yeah. I’ve watched it a few times.” Alex murmured, sitting up a bit more as well. His face was flushed and he’s all too conscious of the fact that his arm had been pressed to John’s side when he moved it away. “Are- uh, you- going to...sleep?”

John nodded, a bit unsurely. He’d never heard Alex stutter, in all the time he’s known him. Of all things, Alex was never at a loss for words. “I think so.”

“Ah.”

“Unless...you want to watch another episode.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t decline if that was something that interested you.”

“It piques my interest.”

Alex clicked the play button and John leans back, tucking his knees to his chest. John was aware that Alex shifted himself a bit closer, and John was aware that he was guilty of the same thing as he found himself about to lean onto Alex’s shoulder. He didn’t stop himself. Soon, he was warm again.

He most definitely didn’t notice the fact that he had passed out in the middle of the episode. But, Alex had.

Alex had noticed as soon as John’s breathing had evened out. He waits for that transition each night before he pops open his laptop and begins clicking away. As soon as he had noticed, in opposite of the usual routine, Alex had closed his laptop and tucked it away. He had also considered waking John, but he was curled up into himself and-. Alex tore his eyes away from scanning the sleeping boy’s figure and sat up, climbing out of bed after grabbing his laptop again. Before making his way over to his desk, Alex tossed the soft blanket over John.

“Night, John.”

He didn’t get a reply.