"Hun, can you come into the bedroom for a minute?"

There was a groan heard from the livingroom and John soon walks into the bedroom, raising an eyebrow. "What's the issue?" He asks.

I look around the room and gesture to the whole thing. "This place is a mess! I get that you came home late, but you can't just leave the whole room looking like this!" I say.

He looks around. "It's not that bad, Lex. It's messier than usual, sure, but it's not a complete pigsty."

"There's dirty laundry everywhere, your shoes aren't put away, your bag is just sprawled out on the ground. I mean Jesus, John, how hard is it to pick up after yourself?"

"Look, I don't have time for this right now, I have to finish this project before midnight tonight." He sighs.

"Could you clean up your mess first?" I ask, crossing my arms.

He shakes his head. "Can it wait? I just told you I have to get this project done, I only have like an hour and a half."

"How long is it really going to take?"

"Art takes time, Alex! I have to make sure it looks good." He explains.

"Okay, well I can't study for my finals with this room being so distracting!" I complain.

"Fine, then we'll switch rooms, you can study in the livingroom, I can paint in here, can we just hurry so I can get back to what I was doing?"

"You're going to move that giant easel into here? And make more of a mess?" I raise an eyebrow, giving him a 'seriously?' look.

"Look, I don't have time for this! Why don't you go to the kitchen then?"

"And get distracted by the food? You know I can't snack and study at the same time."

"Alex, calm down. You are way over stressing right now." He says.

Of course I was over stressing. It was finals week, and I go to law school. So while John gets to paint and draw for all of his finals, I have to take really long tests and if I don't pass, I fail. And I have never failed, so I don't plan on starting now.

Not only was it finals week, but Lafayette and Hercules were coming tomorrow night to visit us. They traveled everywhere they wanted to in Europe, and now they were ready to come back home, but they wanted to see me and John first.

"Will you two keep it down? I'm trying to talk to Victoria!" Peggy shouts from the other room.

Peggy and Victoria have been dating this whole time, and they haven't fought except that one time because of Carrie. I don't think Carrie knows they're still together, though, I think it's a secret for right now. It's because they don't live together. Living together with your partner is such a pain, because you can't get away from them if you're in a bad mood or whatever.

I love John, don't get me wrong, but I swear he's insufferable sometimes. He's always asking me what's wrong, and making sure I get enough sleep, and telling me to calm down when I don't want to calm down, I would much rather yell or something. I did do that one night, actually, and then the neighbors reported us to the front desk.

"I'm not over stressing, and I don't think it's too much to ask you to clean up a little around here." I say stubbornly.

"Fine, if that's what will make you happy, I will clean up the room. But then I have to go paint and cannot move from that seat until I am done, okay?"

I smile gently and nod. "Thanks, babe!"

He rolls his eyes and starts throwing clothes into the hamper, finally picking up after himself. I walk out to the livingroom to see Peggy facetiming with her girlfriend, giggling about something with her. "Peggy, are you ever not on the phone with Victoria?" I ask.

"Nuh uh, you can take your stress out on John, but you're not going to come in here and start telling me what to do." She says, not looking away from her phone.

I raise an eyebrow. "I was just asking."

"Shush, Alex. We're talking about something serious." She says before giggling again with the other girl on the phone.

I sigh and head to the kitchen, making some coffee for myself. I wasn't stressing that much, there was no reason for these two to be attacking me like this. Right? Yeah, definitely.

Timeskip brought to you by Jaime and Cathy being fiiIiiine.

"No, just don't touch me, don't talk to me-"

"You didn't even let me explain-"

"You don't need to explain I heard what you said-"

"No wait, please let me-"

"I'm going out, please just give me some space-"

"John, wait!"

Okay, when I said I wasn't stressed, that was a lie. I'm so stressed, and I finally snapped at John. It was not good.

"Alex, clearly you need a little bit of space, and I'll give it to you. I'll go hang out with Betsey, just stay here." He says, heading towards the door.

"John, you know I didn't mean it that way, I wasn't thinking, these exams-"

"I get it. Just let me leave, I can't be around this right now." He grabs the door handle and I continue following him.

"I can't let you leave without making sure you're alright, and that you know I didn't want to hurt you by saying that."

He sighs and opens the door. Just as he does, a hand flies in and stops before it hits John in the head. John flinches and pulls away, showing Lafayette and Hercules behind the door. Herc raises an eyebrow at us and Laf chuckles nervously.

"Well, that was pretty good timing, I was just going to knock on the door." Laf says, letting himself in.

Hercules looks at John and then at me. "Are we interrupting something here?"

John sighs and shakes his head. "No, I'm just heading out, I'll be back later."

Before I can say anything, he slips out the front door and I groan, closing it and leaning my head against it.

"What was that about?" Lafayette nosily asks.

I hit my head on the door a couple times before standing up and shaking my head. "He's upset over what I said to him. But I didn't mean to say it, I was just so focused on my work and so stressed out, I snapped."

"Well.. What did you say?" Herc asks. When I turn around, I see them both sitting on the couch, already making themselves comfortable. I go and sit in between them, sighing softly.

"Well.. He was bugging me, telling me to take a break and such and I told him that I couldn't take a break because if I did I wouldn't pass and if I didn't pass then I would fail. He kept annoying me and then he made a comment about how I sounded like his dad." I take a deep breath and the two nod at me, signalling me to continue. "And then I snapped at him and said maybe he should have listened to his dad instead of going off to art school."

"That doesn't sound that bad." Laf says, tilting his head. "What else did you say, Alex?"

I bite my lip. "Well, he didn't say anything, so I told him that he wouldn't make it in law school anyway, so it was a good thing he didn't listen to his dad."

"Alexander." Herc shakes his head at me and I whine.

"I know, I know! I didn't mean to, I tried to take it back but he wouldn't stay. I'm such a shitty person, I know his dad is a sensitive topic for him." I hide my face in my hands and then feel a hand on my shoulder.

"He'll come around eventually." Lafayette says. "In the meantime, go finish your work, and then we'll watch a movie to wind down. I'm sure John will be back by then."

I look up at him and nod. "Yeah, you're probably right. We both just need to cool off, he'll come back. I'll just get my work done before he comes home so we can spend time together."

I relax my shoulders and stand up, stretching a little. "Alright, I'll be in my room then. Please don't bother me, help yourself to anything in the apartment. Peggy should be back soon, she's on a date right now, and then John will be back when he's back."

"Got it, chief." Herc grins and I nod, heading to the room. It'll all be fine, I know it.

1442 Words

It'll all be fine :)