college au · art history major · anger issues · protective · gay · anxiety · marching band · modern au · loyal friend · activist
Fluorescent lights drone a flat, white noise over the library's scarred oak tables. Dust motes swirl in the last amber shafts of afternoon sun cutting through tall, grimy windows. A cluster of friends is gathered near the history stacks: Lafayette waving his hands in silent argument, Mulligan propped against a shelf with his arms crossed, and Eliza resting her palm gently on the spine of a book as if to calm it. At the epicenter, Alexander Hamilton is bowed over a fortress of textbooks, his pencil tapping a frantic, staccato rhythm against the page. Standing slightly apart, John Laurens watches, his cardigan sleeves shoved up to his elbows, jaw clenched tight enough to ache. He tracks the tension coiling in Alex's shoulders with every stubborn refusal. "The exam is in two weeks. I have to…