happenings. (lams) (completed)

chapter six.

alex knocked on the door in hopes he hadn't gotten the incorrect room. a voice emitted from within the room, alerting alex that it was okay to enter as the door was open. he slowly opened the door, wincing at the sudden creak forcing itself out of the old, rusted hinge. he entered slowly, peeking around the thick wood, creating the door as it was. sure, the paint on it was slowly chipping, but that had no affect on the atmosphere it was creating upon the room.

upon entrance, alex immediately spotted the empty, sagging bed that looked like it had just been dragged out of some motel from the early nineties. the bed frame was obviously supposed to look gold, but it made more of a darker appearance - more like bronze. around the room, decorating all the walls except one were posters and realistic portraits mixed with landscapes and band art. among all of the drawings, three captivated alex the most. the first portrait was one of brendon urie, then another of joey graceffa and then finishing with a captivating one of josh dun. they had been taped up on the beige wall with clear cellotape messily. on the opposite side of the room was a completely blank wall, like a blank canvas except it was beige. a window was placed central of it, a framed photo of an unknown person in the corner of the window sill.

then, alex saw john.

john was sitting on a similar bed to the empty one, except this one had pillows tucked at the top of the bed and a duvet shoved at the bottom, scrunched up like an idea someone had had, but binned as they were told it was stupid. he sat, legs crossed with a sketch book in his left hand, balancing against his knee with his hand and forearm keeping it up hoist and a sketching pencil in his right.

"drawings, huh?" alex asked, making his way over to the old bed (if you could even call it that) that john was sitting himself on, probably indenting it and carving a shape of his rear in the mattress.

john nodded as his response, smiling a little at the sound of alex sitting at the end of the bed, a couple centimeters off of the sheet that matched the colour of the bed.

"you drew all these?" alex took his eyes off of john to look at all of the drawings taped up on the walls.

"yeah. hard to believe?" john didn't dare to take his eyes off of the paper so that he didn't make a single mistake.

alex laughed a little, before looking at the section directly in front of him, "not at all,"

from the corner of alex's eye, he could see john smile a little at his drawing, placing down the pencil and grabbing a rubber which had been next to him. he rubbed something out, dragged his hand quickly over the sheet twice and then picked up the pencil and began drawing again. alex looked behind him to see what view john had through his window, but only saw the photograph. with his head still tilted back, he grabbed it, flung himself forward again and brushed the dust off of the photo.

"who's this?" alex asked, focusing on every inch, every detail, every molecule of the photo.

john's eyes turned off from the paper as he slowly put down the sketch book and pencil. he edged a little closer to alex, "no one," he said, his voice cracking halfway through. he was blatantly lying, but trying hard to cover it up.

"you sure?" alex said. "why else do you have a photo of them on your window?"

"no one i want to talk about." john's emotions were simple to tell, not through his face, but through his tone; it had seemed to have changed from earlier. "put it back."

alex swallowed a little. an emotion he rarely experienced quivering through him like a shiver through a dog; all at once. it wasn't fear, nor love, nor happiness. in fact, he couldn't recognise it it was that rare. he placed it back in the exact place it was before and looked to john, who had now decided to not draw at all. the sketch book was closed, pencil on the side desk paired with the rubber, a lamp, a pile of untouched homework and a ruler. looking around the room, piles of homework were lain everywhere. alex twitched a smile onto his facing, knowing that he was finally not the only procrastinator.

"john laurens, i like you. a lot," alex stated, putting his hands behind his head, linking his fingers, crossing his legs and rocking back to lean against the window sill.

"alex-"

"alexander hamilton. my name is alexander hamilton. and john, there's a million things i haven't done." alex's smile grew. "but just you wait. just you wait."

"alright then, alexander hamilton. i like you a lot too." john's cheeks were practically vomiting out the colour red, as was his whole face, covering a few freckles but certainly not all.

"how about on saturday we get milkshakes?" alex's face flushed a light pink, but were not as red as john's.

"i'd like that a lot, alex." john smiled, meeting gaze with alex's eyes. "more than i'd like anything else."

"well, i need to go and finish my history project. i'll see you saturday," alex paused for a moment, standing and smirking as he faced the other way. "babe."

he couldn't see it, but alex knew john had buried his face in his knees which were coated in black jeans and was flushing an even redder red than before.

as alex exited the room, he heard john mumble a few incoherent words. it's nothing to worry about, alex thought to himself before closing the door behind him and going back into his own room. nothing to worry about. alex opened the door and smiled.