Someone Under Stress Meets Someone Looking Pretty (Lin-Manuel Miranda X Reader)

He's Just Like His Country

Your alarm goes off at the unbearable hour of 6am. You have received nearly 4 hours of sleep. As you put your pants on, you make the conscious decision to force all thoughts of Lin out of your mind. It's early in the morning, and the events of the previous night seem all too likely an elaborate waking fantasy, brought on by lack of sleep and a mild caffeine overdose.

You arrive to class, nearly late for the exam. The exam is challenging, but not nearly as difficult as you expected, and you finish with time to spare. As you sit quietly and wait for the other students to finish (your instructor is weird about students leaving the room before all tests are turned in), your mind wonders back to the mysterious man with the Tony Stark facial hair.

When all exams have been handed in, you are dismissed to go about the rest of your day, one spent in labs, mostly. It's your final year of nursing school and clinicals are a very real thing.

You are normally pretty focused, if not a bit tired... Honestly, you're always tired... but you stay focused and that's what matters. But today, you are unfocused. You're no less tired than normal, but you seem to have some sort of increase in energy. The prospect of meeting Lin again tonight has you giddy.

When your final class ends, your excitement has transcended excitement. You practically vibrate as you maneuver the crowded campus streets. As you walk past a convenience store, the smells of day-old hotdogs and stale popcorn fill your nostrils. Your stomach growls reluctantly and you realize you haven't eaten in a while. You purchase a sandwich and two coffees. You haven't the slightest idea how Lin takes his coffee so you grab and handful of creams and sugars and leave.

The library is not as empty as it was last night, but the thing you love most about libraries is, no matter how many people you cram inside, talking is kept to minimum (It's not that you do not enjoy the concept of socializing, but all in all, your execution is flawed, with disastrous results). Your foot steps echo on the marble stairs and you wonder if you are disturbing other people. You dismiss this thought as a mere product of your low self-esteem.

You reach the top of the stairs and struggle to convince yourself to walk foreword. Was it stupid of you to bring two coffees? What if he doesn't like coffee? What if he doesn't even show up?

All of your thoughts are quieted by a soft voice behind you:

"Hey, you came."

You turn around to see Lin treading soundlessly up the stairs, seeming to float above them. You try to make words come out of your mouth, but his grace catches you off guard and you manage nothing more than an whispered, "Mhhmmm."

"Aye, is one of those for me?" Lin says, eyeing the coffee. "Oh, no," You say, "I intend on not sleeping at all tonight." Lin looks at you blankly for a moment, and then, to your surprise, bursts into a fit of giggles. "Wow!" He says, "Cute and humorous? Score!" You blush extremely hard and hand him his coffee, before heading towards the beanbags, a bajillion thoughts running through your head.

Oh my goodness, did he just say that? Does he really think you're cute? Was he joking? He must have been joking...

You settle into a beanbag chair and Lin plops himself onto the floor in front of you. "Cream? Sugar?" You say to Lin, trying to remember how words work. "Ooh, yes!" Lin says, "One cream, five sugars, please." You hand him what he asked for, swirling two creams and two sugars into your own coffee.

As you watch the brown liquid consume the creamy milk, your stomach growls. You pull the sandwich out of your bag and take a bite. You look up to see Lin eyeing the sandwich hungrily. "Want some?" You say, your mouth not completely clean of sandwich. "Oh, uh, no, no I'm fine." Lin says, avoiding eye contact. "Have you eaten?" You say. "Well..." He says, still avoiding your eyes. You tear off a hunk of the sandwich and offer it to him. He takes the hunk of sandwich quickly from your hand and scarfs it down like a starved puppy.

"So," You say (not really sure what to say), as Lin is licking his fingers for crumbs. "Debate? Are you headed into a field of law?" "Well," Says Lin, adjusting himself on the carpet so that you can lean closer to you, "Theoretically, the most logical move would be to practice law. I mean, I honestly wouldn't mind it but..." Lins eyes brows furrow, as he tries to explain himself: "Have you ever had a passion?" "Hm?" You say, blushing "Oh, well, yes, once..." "Well," Says Lin, "Then you should understand my problem. To become a lawyer or follow my dream? I could probably make a living as a lawyer... but would I really be living?" You nod your head slowly, trying to understand what Lin is saying. "What do you want to do?" You say. Lin looks at you through his deep chocolate eyes. "Want?" Says Lin, a grin appearing over his face, "If you really want to know..."