He noticed it on a Tuesday. It wasn't Alexander's habits, or appearance, though. John was at Alexander's house, and Alex had gone to the restroom. They two hadn't gone out to eat in a while, Alex always claiming he had food. John was hungry so he went to see what food Alex had. The problem was, he didn't have any. None in the cupboard, or the fridge, or the freezer. John found it odd, but reasoned that Alex had to buy groceries. He shrugged it off and went back into the living room.

Alex returned, and John swore that his cheekbones looked more defined, and that he looked tired, and even that his skin was paler. Alex just looked deprived of everything, and John could feel his stomach drop. Once again, though, John brushed it aside, telling himself he was overreacting.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked, sitting down next to John on his couch.

"Nope, I'm all good," John told him, unsure if he really was or not.

The next day John asked Alexander if he was planning on going grocery shopping that day. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Um no," he answered, confused. "I mean, if there's something you want me to pick up then I'll go, but I wasn't originally planning on it. Why?"

"Um, I'm really not sure. I just randomly thought of that," John lied. Alex just shrugged. "Hey, do you want to go out for supper tonight?" John began to pray. He prayed Alex would say yes, that Alex wasn't lying to him. He prayed Alex wasn't doing what John was suspecting.

"No, I have some work to do. This chapter has a shit ton of assignments," Alex said nonchalantly. "I'll just eat something from my place." John could feel his heart shatter. The worst part was how Alex was acting. He acted, sounded, pretended to be fine. He pretended like he was happy, and fine, and wasn't starving himself. John just nodded.

John said his goodbyes and left the room. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think straight. How should he handle this? John tried to figure out a way that he could intervene without seeming insensitive. Should he talk to one of the sisters about it? No, he didn't want to have to go to them whenever something went wrong. He wanted to be able to handle these things himself.

Later that night John told himself he would go to Alex's house. It was the best idea he had, and he couldn't bare the thought of Alex doing this to himself. Not for one more day.

He walked up to Alex's door and worked up the courage to knock. Alex came to the door, an he looked confused when he opened it.

"Hey, John... um, what exactly are you doing here?" Alex asked confused. He gestured for John to come in. They went into the living room, not saying a word until they sat down. John looked him straight in the eye and took a very deep breath.

"Why have you been lying to me?" John asked, trying to remain composed. Alex furrowed his brows.

"Wait- what? Lying about what?" Alex asked confusedly. John took another deep breath, feeling a little more confident in what he was doing.

"Eating. You've been lying about eating, and I know you haven't been," John said, voice quivering.

"Why would you think that?" Alex asked, sounding defensive.

"Well, for one you didn't have any food here yesterday, and you didn't go grocery shopping and I have the feeling you haven't had food here for a while," John started. He could tell he was rambling, but he didn't care at this point. "Second, I know you well enough to know that you don't eat lunch and you barely ever eat breakfast. Third, I can see that you're losing weight, and I can tell you look unhealthy. Is that enough for you?"

Alex looked at John, and then looked at the floor, and then back at John. John internally braced himself for Alex to yell, or hit him, or leave him, or just be outright mad. But instead he did something John never expected.

Alexander cried.

He threw his arms around John, crying into his shoulder, body racked with sobs. John just sat there, telling Alex it was okay. He rubbed his back, and tried to be supportive, been he mostly just waited until Alex was emotionally stable. After nearly half an hour, Alex pulled away, sniffling. His eyes were red, and he still had the occasional tear roll down his cheek. He breathed in, breath shaking, and began to talk.

"I-I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't do this. I know.. I knew it was bad, but... yeah," Alex tried to stutter through his tears and shame in order to try and explain himself. "I, uh, I have never liked my body, and about a week ago something just, I dunno, flipped. I wanted to do whatever I could to, you know, fix it." John opened his mouth to intervene right then, but Alex started talking before he could.

"There were just... too many things in my life that made me want to change, and I dunno, I kinda felt like you would want somebody who had more of your body type. Or at least somebody skinnier. I guess I just-" This time it was John's turn to hug Alex. Alex immediately started sobbing, welcoming John's acceptance and warm embrace. They pulled away again and John grabbed Alex's shoulders.

"Alexander Hamilton. You are the most incredible, beautiful, handsome, adorable, perfect person I have ever met. I know I can't help you in the blink of an eye, but I know I can tell you how I love every single inch of you. I love you and I adore your body. Just because you have some extra weight doesn't mean you aren't absolutely perfect. If anything, it makes me like you more. Now promise you will never, ever do this again, okay? Can you do that?" Alex nodded. "Good, because I love you, and never even want to imagine you hurting." They hugged again, this time without crying, and just love.

"So," Alex said when they pulled apart. "Do you wanna get something to eat?" John laughed lightly and nodded.

"It's nice hearing that from you again," John said. "Let's go."

So, here's a long chapter since the last one was so ridiculously short. Hope it wasn't too sappy or sad or anything :)