Alex (direct)
That snow tasted revolting.

More or less, it tasted like urine.

I was still in the middle of wiping my mouth when Peggy stuck her arm out and pursed her lips. "Shhh!"

"What?" I rasped, peering from her arms- and there, curled up limply, was John; his hair tossed about on his shoulders and a small blanket thrown loosely around his back, which was facing towards the crackling fire. What such a fragile, but tender sight- seeing the one I love at his most tranquil time of rest.

As I approached him, I could pick up soft, ginger snores admitting from his lips- not to mention that the mere sight of his fluttering eyelashes beating softly was too angelic and pure.

Sometimes I wonder if I love this man too much.

I shift over to him and take him by the waist, pulling him closer to me- I also ignore the mimicked gags and smooshy faces pulled by Peggy and Maria. Immature bitches. No matter how much they like it or not, they'll get together eventually as well. Thrice the gay couples. (I facepalmed of pure stupidity writing that.)

"Be careful not to disturb him," Eliza giggled, setting down in her original seat next to Angelica and taking her hot chocolate in her gloved hands.

"So, its Alex's turn now." Aaron sighed- for once this man spoke. Surely enough, he speaks unreasonably rarely and bare with his words.

"Yes, I suppose it is." I shot a glance at Betsy, beckoning her to come over. She blinked, then more so grinned evilly and scuffled over to the couch and kneeled down. "Who should I ask?" I whispered in Duplan. Duplan was a code of speech that we had made up the day we blew that fire hydrant in town. A form of squabble to any others around us, but loud and crystal clear to only our ears. It was the best solution for if we ever wanted to discuss genius plans.

"I have. The best idea." Eliza hissed back. Her eyes had a devilish charm attached to it's black pallet; I knew that whenever she conjured that hint of devil inside, shit would go down.

"The idea is...?" I raised an eyebrow and spoke in a hushed tone, careful not to stir John who was still sound asleep in my arms.

"Dare. Peggy. To kiss. Maria."

"Oh my god, Eliza. You're a fucking genius." And what a genius she was. I wondered if this was a once conspiracy gone haywire into a whole devilish plan, she was that cunning. Where the fuck did her innocence go?

She grinned and nodded, shifting onto another knee before scrambling back to her seat, fidgeting with excitement. I wasn't too far behind her plan, and darted my eyes across the room to Peggy. "Pegs. Truth or Dare."

Peggy clapped her hands together. "Dare, bitch."

Lest I grinned maliciously, Eliza let out a shriek of exhilaration and kicked her legs up. I had to take a moment to calm myself in fear of awakening John. "Okay, I dare you. To. Kiss Maria."

"Wha... M-Me? I..." Peggy's whole face stained iron white like folded sheets- everyone started scrabbling like little 5 year olds. it was almost exactly like that spin the bottle game with Eliza and i... It was giving me fucking nostalgia.

"Yes. You. On the lips." I grinned, my cheeks aching from smiling so wide.

"O-On... the lips?!"

"On the lips."

"Oh boy." Peggy muttered with an astonishing flicker of excitement. She turned slightly to face Maria, who was on the cusps of spilling over with the red on her cheeks.

"A dare's a dare." Theo chimed in, adding a sly whistle at the end.

After a solid minute of chanting, Peggy gave off a 'what-the-actual-heck' face and quickly took Maria's cheeks in her palms, connecting their lips together. This seemed to spark the group into utter maniac mode- Laf nearly flipped the table over, Angie started babbling incoherent words in French, Eliza was in the middle of spilling her voice box into a pillow, and even Burr was shouting in the midst of it all.

I realised soon enough that John would not be able to sleep through this. Utterly no way.

Maria and Peggy's lips were still churning through this long, dragged out yet passionate kiss that only died down and ceased completely when a chilling glass shattering sound skidded through the halls. This was exactly why i was told that the Schuyler's in this residence moved into the penthouse for the night next door.

"My fucking bad! I'm a bit too excited!" Angie's voice split through the halls. Fucking goddamnit, Angie.

There was a tense silence that clung to the thickened air. Maria and Peggy had caught each other in bewildered glances- until Maria suddenly shot up and sped walked into the mattresses area, hands far over her shoulders in agitation.

Once we all heard a door slam, all hell broke loose. Silence? Fuck that. Neighbours? They'll have to fucking block their ears and turn that goddamn radio up.

Everyone turned to Peggy, who was still in a state of shock.

"Oh my god, Alex. I can't believe i just did that." Peggy finally shrieked an clasped her hands to her mouth.

I smirked and pat her on the back. "You better fucking believe it."

Eliza was in a state of absolute rejoice and once she was finished screaming her lungs out into a cushion, she flapped her arms around and slammed Peggy into a hug. "I can't believe it fucking worked!"

"It took them long enough. Thank god it happened one day." Laf piped in.

"Next they'll be in third base." I wiggled my eyebrows while I whispered to Eliza in Duplan. She let out a shriek of cackles.

"Guys, shhh. Look." Herc pointed down into my arms where John lied, and I peered down only to connect eyes with him. He stared up at me drowsily, still in a sense of sleep, supposedly.

"What's happenin." John mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

A group of giggles fluttered around the room again, and I couldn't help but snicker quietly. "You had a good sleep?"

"No." John sighed, then widened his eyes and shook his head. "I mean yes. Yes. Although it was quite loud when i woke up."

"Blame Eliza." I pointed at the raven haired girl, who put her hands up in defence.

"You dared her to do it!" Eliza responded, poking her tongue out.

"Wai' wai' wait. Who dared him to do who?"

Of course he didn't laugh at the fact he just said 'do who'. He's pure. Maybe its just our ridiculously dirty minds.

"Eliza told me to Dare Peggy to kiss Maria." I answered with a grin.

It took him almost multiple minutes to comprehend what I just said. He then sat up wearily and grinned. "You didn't."

"I did."

"You sly fox." John breathed and let out an airily laugh. "I can't believe i missed it."

"I can't believe i did that!" Peggy tugged at her hair stressfully and stretched her cheeks out.

"I should go talk to Maria." Theo went to stand, but Eliza held her down.

"I think, to be honest, Alex is more supposed to go. He's known her for longer than us." She prodded towards me. She did have a point, indeed. I know more about her than majority of everyone.

I stood up from John beside me- who had dosed off slightly again- and creeped into the hallways. Me having no idea what room she was in, I flung every door open in search of Maria.

I had only got to the guest room where i was suddenly dragged inside with my collar. "What the-" The door slammed shut and i was pushed against it, sending a shock up my spine.

I finally looked up to the person, and Maria stood with a frantic expression, panting. "Why the fuck."

"That's what I've been asking myself all my life." I blinked slowly. I was not helping, nor did i care.

"Why the fuck did i kiss back?!" Maria let off a small shriek and collapsed on one of the beds, sprawling her legs over the sides.

I rolled my eyes and leaned on the pale wall. "Dude, it had to happen eventually. And if she kissed you, what's the big deal? You know she likes-"

"No no no, I just- I don't know if that was sincere or if it was just for a dare." Maria groaned.

I facepalm and mentally screech. Of course, I love Maria, she's awesome, but how the actual fuck is she so oblivious? It's excruciating to watch them pine at each other like this and not have them notice.

"Okay." I let out a groan, pursing my lips. "She likes you."

Maria shot her head up, then wavered her hand around with a dismissive huff. "No. I know she doesn't. She's denied it." The caramel skinned girl sat up and glared at me and seemed to be having trouble hiding a hopeful smirk.

"Okay, okay. Remember that time in the bar when you said you 'don't swing that way?" I held my fingers into air quotes.

She squinted her eyes in thought for a moment then nodded solemnly. "Yes. Oh. That." Maria turned from me.

"Well, it seems like someone wasn't telling the truth." I folded my arms.

"I- ah. Um." Maria's cheeks turned pink faster than someone slapping her across her cheek. "Okay. I might as well say it, seeing how almost everyone in this group isn't straight."

"Got that right."

"Shut up!" Maria chuckled, then sighed. "Okay, I'm Bisexual Homoromanic. Well, scientifically. But that's just a label, and I don't prefer being called only one label. I mean, there's so many other possibilities as well. I could be Biromantic too, just because I haven't fallen in love with a man yet doesn't mean I can't. I still have plenty of opportunities.

"And i know that being with guys isn't weird for me, just as equivalent as i like girls, I guess. I'd be open for both. I just haven't fallen for a guy yet. After what happened with James...Anyway. All I know is, I've wanted to fuck guys and girls. Oh shit, that sounds really weird." Maria clasped her hands together with a squeeze. "I just prefer to be Queer, it's sort of an umbrella term for me. Do you understand?"

I thought for a moment. She was quite right. I could be Panromantic or any of those labels, just because i haven't fallen for any other gender other than men and female. I might be anything. Ive always gone under the label of Biromantic and bisexual; but what if i might be something else? Maybe I should throw out my label and use 'queer' as well. 'Queer' feels like a fluid term anyway. But then people might see me as picky and always changing my mind.

"Yeah, I totally understand. You seem to have an open mind about some things. That's a good thing." I mumbled, settling down next to her. "You know Peggy likes you, right? Come on, it's easy to figure out."

"Ugh, it's just like I'm blinded by my self confidence. I feel like I'm just kidding myself if I get hopeful. And there's no way to tell if any of you guys are telling the truth."

Oh. My god. Someone stab me. "Are you serious?" I massaged my face in frustration. "Okay. I'm not one to spread gossip, like some. Do you think that i would lead you on? You know me."

Maria let out a sigh in which looked like she had been holding on for a long time. "Yeah. You're right. so what do you suppose I do?"

I blinked with written concentration. "You should act normal. If anyone addresses it, just say everything's good. You can talk to Pegs about it later in private, but... what about James?"

Maria made a sort of 'pshhh' sound. "You kiddin'? He's cheated on me millions of other times with girls- this wouldn't be any different. He doesn't care."

"But... I feel like he would have control over your relationships with people but he would be able to cheat on you and get away with it." I pointed out with uncertainty

Maria's face turned pale slightly, but then shook her head and brushed a small curl at the back of her neck- a habit i picked up that she does when she's anxious. "It will be fine. I'll just tell her that i can't be with her, then. I'll wait until the asshole breaks up with me. Don't tell him i said that."

Geez. Even though Maria is an independent woman, she is still walking on eggshells when it comes to trusting people around her to not dob her distasteful words about Reynolds too him. "I won't. I never will. Let's just hope he'll do it soon. And I'll back you up if anyone asks you about you and Peggy."

Maria let out a small laugh that sort of mixed in with a sigh. "Thanks, Al. I totally owe you one."

It took a few minutes for Maria to step out of the room and face everyone- in which I patiently waited. When we did so enter the lounge, most everyone was settled down and nestled back in the couches; except for Eliza, who seemed to be spilling with obnoxious giggles out loud. Peggy seemed a bit disgruntled, stiffly sipping her hot chocolate (possibly Maria's). She looked up at Maria, then darted her head back down. Wow. Very smooth, Peggy.

The whole atmosphere seemed to have changed with a matter of minutes.

I was on the verge of asking why everyone seemed toned down until I turned my head to my couch, where John must have fallen asleep again because his back was curled towards the fire and hunched over.

"Okay, what are we doing next?" I sat down next to John and bounced a few of his curls.

Angie flickered up at me, then shrugged. "Everyone's seemed to calm down, and it's now about... 11? Why don't we just start the competition now?"

"Alright. Does that mean that John's already lost?" I slipped out a giggle.

"Yep. That's one down." Theo grinned slightly.

Angie stood up suddenly and whipped the blanket off of Elizas lap, much to her sister's dismay. "Okay! Get up, it's time!"

"You do realise we've heard everything you guys have been saying?" Herc rolled his eyes.

———
Okay, I'm meant to keep going but I feel like its best to leave it here and give you guys an update.
I'm also a bit inspired to rant about my sexuality- and i decided to plop it in here! It feels good to talk about it a bit.
I think there's something else i need to say as well, I've forgotten though.
Short chapter! Byeee!
Chazz💜