Another Scottish Tragedy [LAMS AU]

12

A/N: The plot thickens ooh boy.

Alex couldn't stop thinking about John. He'd had to scrap three drafts of his essays for Professor Washington because the name "John Laurens" had kept finding it's way into the sentences that were supposed to be about the National Bank.

Honestly, Alex felt awful about posting that letter. It had made John so upset because he was so convinced that nobody would ever write something like that about him because he was unlovable and didn't deserve it. He wished he could tell John that the letter was about him, that he'd only blacked the name out in case John didn't feel the same way and posting a letter about how much you love them on the internet is an awful way to ask someone out.

Alex didn't know how John felt. He knew he liked Alexander Hamilton, but there was a difference between a crush on an unobtainable celebrity and desiring a real relationship with someone.

Alex worried that all of John's feelings had been rooted in the fact that Alex was a sexy famous writer who he had no chance of ever meeting, and that they had all faded when he'd learned that Alex was, in fact, a real, ordinary person.

He put down his essay, deciding that he would finish it tomorrow. He knew that he wasn't going to get anything done that night, so he decided to go to the library instead. Maybe he would find a book on how to fix the disaster that was his love life.

When he got there, he was overjoyed to find Peggy Schuyler sitting at a table alone. It was strange to see her without her sisters, but he guessed she was probably enjoying the peace and quiet. Angelica Schuyler didn't believe in peace and quiet.

"Hey, Pegs!" Alex smiled as he slid into the seat beside her. She was wearing a yellow sweater as usual. Alex wondered what her strange obsession with the color yellow was. He'd always thought she would look better in red.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to leave his room."

"I decided that I wasn't going to get anything done in my room so I might as well be unproductive somewhere else." 

"So, Alex, tell me something interesting." Peggy said, looking up from her book. "My life is about as interesting as those boiled potatoes you keep stealing from Burr."

"Peggy, I'm having an identity crisis." Alex said.

"That's the third one this week, Alex."

Alex sighed. "I'm serious, Peggy. I need your help."

Peggy closed her book and turned to face Alex, leaning forward expectantly.

"Spill the tea, Hamilton. Spill all that Hamiltea."

"Hamiltea?"

"Yeah. Hamiltea. Tea related to Alexander Hamilton. Hamiltea."

"How long did it take you to come up with that?"

"Are you gonna tell me or not?"

Alex sighed. "I'm helplessly in love with someone."

"Who?"

"He doesn't go here. He lives down south. His name is John Laurens. I met him online and he's obsessed with turtles." Alex shook his head, trying to hide how red he was turning. "He thinks I'm too good for him. He thinks that I could never love anyone as ordinary as him. I wrote a letter about loving him but when I posted it I blacked out the name and he said that nobody would ever write something so beautiful about him. He thinks that he isn't good enough to be loved."

Peggy looked shocked. "John Laurens? Southern accent, curly hair, tons of freckles? Named his turtle after his favorite founding father?"

"You know him?"