Problems

|| Chapter 1 ||

Chapter 1 - Why Is There A Turtle In The Sink?

Hello everyone! Just a warning before you read this fic: this work deals with a lot of heavy subjects such as self-harm, mental illness, eating disorders, sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, and other things that I cannot think of at this exact moment. If any of these subjects trigger you, I would advise you not to read this, because I don't want to cause any harm to your mental health! I will also have trigger warnings up at the start of chapters as a precaution.

Enjoy!
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Alexander was on the verge of a panic attack.

He had just spent ten dollars he could barely afford to spend to get a bus ride to Kings College, and now he couldn't find his dorm, or the check in, or anything.

Okay Alex, just breathe, he thought to himself. You can do this.

"Um.. excuse me? Excuse me, sir?" He asked timidly to a man striding by with papers in his hands.

"Yes?" The man asked, looking up. He had a small name tag on his faded blue sweater vest that read Mr. Washington.

"Do you know where the... um, where the check-in is? I'm kind of lost," Alex mumbled, cursing at himself for stuttering. He looked down and his hands, fiddling with his fingers.

"Ah, yes, of course. Don't worry son, new students are always getting lost, you're not the first one," Mr. Washington said, and smiled kindly. Alex noticed a small gap between his front teeth. The teacher pointed over to the corner of the courtyard, "The check in is over at the administration building. You can't miss it, it has a big sign over the door."

"Thank you so much!" Alexander smiled and re-shouldered his backpack, then grabbed his pitifully small suitcase, resuming his search. As he started to walk off, Mr. Washington called after him, "I hope to see you in one of my classes!"Alex turned and nodded with a small smile before continuing to walk.

As he made his way over to the admin building, he bumped into an older boy with a head full of messy black curls, almost getting knocked backwards as a result.

"Hey, watch it, fag," the guy sneered, and the boy trailing him, a burly dude with short, curly hair, glanced sympathetically at Alex as he walked past him. Alex rolled his eyes and kept his head down until he reached the admin building.

"Hi, um, my name's Alexander Hamilton and I, um, need my room key and class schedule...?" Alex mentally slapped himself upside the head. He sounded like a complete idiot.

The girl behind the counter smiled at him.

"Hi, my name's Peggy. Here's your schedule and your key." She had the kind of grin that was infectious. "I think your roommates' already in there, but I don't know," she added, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Alex reached out and tucked the key into his pocket, fingers fumbling.

He had just started to walk away when Peggy called back, "Hey Alex, if you ever need anything, I'm in Hawthorne dorm, okay? You seem like a cool guy."

He shot her a smile over his shoulder, then continued up the flights of stairs to the third floor.

As he walked down the hallway, he glanced down at his information packet, then looked back up at the room numbers.

"Room 1804, room 1804," he mumbled under his breath, and then started as he accidentally walked into the chest of a taller student.

Not again...

Alex stumbled backwards, "Sorry! Sorry, I'm just looking for my room." He looked up-and then continued looking up. The other boy had to be at least 6'0, dwarfing Alex's 5' frame. "S- sorry!" He yelped.

The boy smiled down at him and opened his mouth, "What room do you have? Maybe I can help you find it." He spoke with a thick French accent, and Alex was slightly taken aback - he hadn't met that many people who spoke french in New York yet.

"Um-room 1804," he said sheepishly, and the boy grinned even wider. "That is right across from me! Maybe we could become friends, oui?"

Alex smiled, his confidence growing, as the boy pointed down the hall. "Five doors down from here, on your right." The taller boy seemed to think for a second before adding on- "My name is Lafayette." He started to walk again. "I hope to see you around soon," his voice was sincere. Lafayette continued down the hall.

"Thank you!" Alex called after him, and headed off towards his room, counting off doors.

He arrived in front of a dark-wooded door that had the number of the room on a brass plaque next to it that shone in the hallway light. Alex took a deep breath, then put his key in the lock and turned the knob.

The door opened to a small but tidy room, with twin beds pushed against either wall and desks next to them. There was a small mini fridge between the desks at the back wall, with a microwave on top of it. Two windows were next to the desks, so that when Alexander turned his head to the left he could see into the courtyard.

His bed was on the right, it seemed, since the other bed had an explosion of clothing and office supplies all over it. Alex gently closed the door, then set his suitcase on his bed just as a boy walked out of the bathroom. Alex looked up and immediately blushed.

This guy was hot.

He was taller than Alex by a few inches, had big curly hair that was currently in a ponytail, and freckles were sprinkled all over his face.

Adorable, Alex thought.

He suddenly realized he had been staring for a quite awhile and resorted to heatedly looking at his suitcase instead.

"Hi!" The cute guy beamed and held out his hand. "My name's John Laurens."

Alex took his hand and offered a small smile in return. "Alexander Hamilton."

"Um, I can move my stuff if you need me to..." John trailed off and winced at the mess on his side of the dorm before he looked at Alex.

"Oh! Uh, nah, it's fine. I don't really care where I am." Alex shrugged and gestured to his stuff. "I don't really have that much here anyways."

He set his suitcase down on the bed and unzipped it, then started pulling out clothes and neatly folding them into the stack-able, refold-able containers he had brought with him.

He shoved those underneath the bed, along with his shoes, and plugged his laptop into the outlet next to his desk. It hummed to life, and he let out a small, contented sigh of happiness.

He rifled through the rest of the items on the bed and grabbed his shampoo, and headed into the bathroom before stopping in his tracks.

"Um... John?"

"Yeah?" John called from the other room, his voice muffled by the wall.

Why's there a turtle in the sink?"

John poked his head into the bathroom and grinned. "Oh yeah, that's Charlemagne."

"You have a turtle... named Charlemagne?"

John frowned and picked up the turtle. "Yes."

Alex saw the look on John's face and immediately backpedaled. "I didn't mean that I don't like it-"

"Him," John interrupted Alex.

"-him, I didn't mean that I don't like him, I was just surprised that you have a turtle..." He trailed off.  "...in the sink."

John laughed. "His tank is arriving sometime this week. I didn't have anywhere else to put him."

"Are turtles even allowed in here?" Alex asked, and John shrugged.

"I dunno, I just brought him along with me. I think so, but don't tell anyone just in case." He winked, "It can be our secret."

Alex snorted, "Yeah, okay. I think I can deal with that."