Be prepared for a TON of flashbacks.

Three Years Later...

The sun shone brightly, casting dark shadows that followed the two boys as they walked through the park. Their arms were hooked together, keeping them close to one another. They had stayed together all this time, growing happier every day. Now, they would be graduating in two weeks, so they had decided to spend some time together on a calm walk around town, talking about anything they thought of.

"I'm just saying," John said, "my apartment isn't too far from King's. You could easily stay with me instead of having to live in a dorm with some stranger."

"I don't know..." Alexander looked away. "I wouldn't want to burden you. You bought the apartment, after all."

"What makes you think I'd be burdened by you? You're my boyfriend." Alex shrugged. "We've shared a dorm for the past four years, what makes this any different?"

"I guess it isn't...But, still..." They fell into silence for a moment. "It's been four years? Really?"

"I know. It doesn't feel like it's been that long."

"Yet, so much has happened."

"So many really weird things that we've done."

"Yeah, like that stupid Halloween party in our second year."

"Oh, my gosh," John bust out laughing. "I completely forgot about that!"

"I'm still upset that I actually had to dress up."

"The sisters planned it; what did you expect?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"No."

"Please?"

"No." Alex said again. "I'm not wearing a costume. Especially not that." Eliza frowned, looking over the outfit in her hands.

"It's because Laf picked it out, isn't it?"

"It's because I'm not a child!"

"Neither am I, but I'm still wearing one." This was true: Eliza wore a dress that was covered in blue and white daisies, and sky blue fairy wings. She had even gone as far as to put on sparkling make up and to curl her hair. "Besides, you can't come unless you wear a costume."

"I guess I'm not going, then."

"Ten minutes!" Peggy called from the bathroom, where she was helping John with his costume.

"Please, Alex?" Eliza begged. "It won't be that bad, I swear."

Alexander was in the middle of shaking his head when John hollered, "Who am I supposed to dance with if you don't come?" Alex froze, thinking.

"Fine," the boy growled, snatching the costume from Eliza and storming into his room to change. Several minutes later, he opened his door, in full costume, and very unhappy.

"Boo!" Alex shrieked and jumped back when John suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What the hell, John?" John couldn't answer for a while, because he was laughing so hard.

"Scaredy cat!" John squealed. "Get it? 'Cause you're a lion?"

"Yeah, I get it," Alex hissed. He finally got a good look at John's costume: a zombie. Unfortunately, Peggy did an amazing job at making John look like he should be dead by smearing fake blood all over him. It made Alex sick to his stomach. It had been half a year, but John's near-death experience was still fresh in Alexander's mind. "Why a zombie?"

"What? You don't like it?" John crossed his eyes, stuck his tongue and arms out, and moaned, "Braaaains!"

"Shut up!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"That wasn't funny!" Alex cried after the story had been recounted. "It was scary!"

"That's the point, Alex," John snickered. "Although, you thought Sweeney Todd was hilarious, for some reason."

"Because it is."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You got the lead?" Jefferson asked, appalled.

"You like musical theater?" Alexander countered.

"What made you think we didn't?"

"I don't know. Probably the fact that you're a total d-"

"Alex!" Angelica shouted. "It's your cue!" Alex glared at Thomas and James again before hurrying on stage to read his lines. When Eliza had told the squad that she and her sisters participated in a local community theater, everyone had excitedly asked to join, especially since the show was Sweeney Todd. Then, most of them had gotten lead roles, apart from Hercules and Maria, who were part of the stage crew.

During a rehearsal, Lafayette, who was playing Perrelli, tripped while he was on the set and fell backwards into the curtains. Thankfully, Hercules had been standing there, and he caught Lafayette as if he was a princess. It was super romantic...besides the fact that the set was barely a foot off the ground.

Then, during the first show, Alexander was almost late for his cue in the scene where he was to be 'killed' by Aaron. Maria had found him and John in some corner making out, and told them that whatever they were about to do would ruin their costumes. Alex ran onto the stage blushing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I'm surprised Aaron never actually killed you," John said.

"What? Why would he want to do that?"

"You two fought a lot."

"Usually just as part of our class."

"Sure..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When John walked into his dorm, he found himself in the middle of a discussion-no, argument-no, fight between his boyfriend and Aaron Burr. John just stared as Alex began yelling every time Burr tried to speak, and Burr snarled at each interruption.

"Um...what's going on?" John asked. The others silenced, looked at him, then started talking over each other again. "Guys." Neither seemed to hear him. "Hello?" Still no response. "Stop!" Finally, the two fighters focused on John. "Okay, Burr, you're the calm one. What is happening?"

"Mr. Washington had us do mock debates in class today," Aaron explained, "and the two of us still can't find a compromise."

"Compromise?" Alex laughed bitterly. "You're just wrong!"

"What was the debate about?" John sighed. Burr hesitated to answer.

"Who would win? Aliens or robots?" John blinked and groaned.

"Are you serious?"

"I know, right? Aliens would totally win!" Alexander cried.

"We don't even know if aliens exist yet," Aaron mentioned, "let alone intelligent ones."

"And how are those sentient robots coming?"

"They don't need to be sentient. We can program them to do whatever we want."

"You think aliens wouldn't be able to reprogram them?"

"I've heard enough!" John shouted, shutting the boys up. "This is stupid. World War III is coming, the planet is dying, and you two think the end of the world will be caused by aliens that control robots. Get a hold of yourselves." Alex turned his head down in shame while Aaron flushed red. "Burr, you should leave before Alex starts trying to punch you."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I almost did," Alex recalled, "once I realized that aliens can drop bombs that use elements we don't know about-"

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"I still don't care."

"Okay, then." They both giggled.

"Man, second year was crazy."

"Third year was crazier. And the beginning of the year sucked."

"Are you still bitter because you lost that bet?"

"No!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You've said a whole lot of stupid bullshit, but this is by far the stupidest bullshit I've ever heard." Alex crossed his arms defiantly.

"It's not my fault you don't understand true love," Jefferson cooed.

"Jack and Rose are not an example of true love!" Alexander slammed his fist on the desk. "And I'll bet that most of the people in here agree with me." Jefferson perked up, a smirk on his face.

"You'll bet?" Alex nodded fervently. "Whoever loses is the winner's servant for a week."

"What?"

"Do you bet or not?"

Alex thought for a moment. Was he really willing to bet on this dumb argument and risk being made a fool of? Would he keep his word if he lost? Would he absolutely ruin Jefferson if he won?

Yes, maybe, and oh, hell yeah.

So, they asked Mr. Washington to take a vote from the class for them. The verdict: 29 to 30.

Jefferson won.

Shit.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"He kept making me wash his clothes and cook mac and cheese for him," Alex complained. John raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I'm still a little bitter about losing. He wouldn't let me live it down all year. Going to South Carolina was such a relief."

"You liked it there?"

"Of course I did."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"This is it," John stated as he opened the tall, metal gate. The steel was warm because of the South Carolina heat. The boys had decided to visit the state for spring break, mainly because John had wanted Alexander to meet someone. They walked slowly, hand-in-hand, through the rows of graves, many of which were unreadable from being worn down by the weather. Her's wasn't.

Eleanor Laurens ~ The Most Amazing Mother We Could Have Asked For

"I'm sure she was," Alex whispered. John simply nodded, tears forming in his eyes. Alexander turned away from him, instead focusing on the grave in front of him, the colorful flowers around it, the serenity of the cemetery surrounding him, the group of children running closer.

"John!" Upon hearing his name, the boy spun to face the voice just before it tackled him with a hug.

"M-Martha?" John gasped. The girl he held tightly looked just like him, ponytail and all. The two other boys looked nearly the same, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes, but one's hair was curly while the other's was straight, and the former had freckles while the latter wore glasses. The last, a little girl, had straight, brown hair and wide, excited eyes. They surrounded and hugged John, the smallest only able to reach his legs. John bent down and picked her up, holding her at his hip. "Hey, Mary. You remember me?" The little girl nodded.

"I helped you when you were sad, 'member?" Mary said. Alex remembered when John had told him that his siblings had saved him from suicide so many times.

"I do." John smiled. "You were so little then, though. You could barely speak. Now, look at you! How old are you now? 18?" Mary giggled.

"No! Marta is 18! I'm 7!"

"Oh, of course." John looked down at the two boys in front of him. "That means...Henry is 14 and James is 12, right?" The boys nodded. John's face fell. "I missed so much..."

"Hey, no, don't feel bad." Martha placed a hand on John's shoulder. "It's not like you could just waltz into the house whenever you wanted. I mean, when we found out you were visiting, we had to wait for Dad to pass out before we could come find you. Henry knew you'd go to Mom first."

"Is he still...?"

"Yeah. Not as much, but...I make sure they're locked in their rooms when he gets mad."

"Thank you." John kissed Martha on the forehead, and it was then that Alex finally put all the pieces together.

"These are your siblings?" Alex guessed, taking a step forward.

"Yeah." The kids turned to Alexander, Martha giving him a suspicious glare.

"Who're you?" She questioned. John answered before Alex could.

"This is Alexander...my boyfriend." Martha's eyes slowly widened to the size of dinner plates and a wide smile suddenly formed on her face.

"Oh. My. God!" Martha squealed and jumped around, flailing her arms. "This is amazing! How long?"

"A couple years-"

"No me diga...A couple years? That's great!" Martha gave her older brother another hug. "I'm so happy for you!" She turned to Alex, holding out her hand. "Martha Laurens. A pleasure to meet you."

"Um...Alexander Hamilton. A pleasure, indeed." Martha snickered when he shook her hand, then, out of nowhere, dropped the giddy persona and yanked Alex towards her, whispering menacingly in his ear.

"If you do anything to hurt him, I will tear out your intestines and use them to hang you. Got it?" Alex, now frightened, gulped and nodded. "Good. And if he does anything to you, steal his phone and call me. We can roast him together." She patted Alexander on the shoulder, then backed away to introduce her younger siblings.

When Alex gave a little wave to Mary, the girl appeared to be studying him, then John, then Alex again. Finally, she stated, quite matter-of-factly, "John likes you." John blushed as Alex laughed.

"I know," Alex said, smiling at both Mary and John. "I like him, too."

They decided to take a walk around the town, showing Alexander all the landmarks of their home. After Martha had mentioned that she learned how to read when she was three, Alex got into a surprisingly intellectual conversation with Henry and James. Then, they went to a small park so Mary could play. She had insisted that she be a knight and Alex be a dragon, and the boy couldn't help but to oblige. He knew John and Martha were watching him while he playfully roared and ran around, and he heard them talking, too.

"You really do like him, huh?" Martha observed. "I can see it in your eyes."

"Yeah, I do," John chuckled.

"Hell, I'd venture to say that you love him."

"I do."

"Good. You keep doing that. I can tell he needs the love just as much as you do."

"I'm better now, you know? Because of him, mostly. I've got some friends, too."

"That's good."

"...He always says this, but...do you think he loves me as much as I love him?"

"I should slap you right now."

"Why?"

"Of course he does! It's so obvious!"

"I mean, yeah, I guess. But, there's always a little doubt."

"He adores you, John. I can tell."

"You can tell a bunch of things."

"Yeah...except, I could never tell why, a few years ago, we got a call saying that you were in the hospital because of a bullet wound. Care to explain?"

Alexander stopped listening.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

John smiled softly at the memory of his siblings. "They're so crazy," he laughed.

"Yeah, but, I didn't mind," Alex shrugged.

"I miss them, Alex, and I feel terrible. Henry, James, and Mary are still stuck in that house, I can't visit or call...I can't even send them a fucking Christmas present..." John's eyes watered, his face flustered and angry. Alexander hurried to change the subject.

"Speaking of, last Christmas was insane."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Que pensez-vous de la France?"

"She asked how you feel about France," Gil translated for his grandmother, Anne-Marie. I made that up-go with it. He had brought Hercules with him to France the year prior, and now had brought the whole squad for winter break. It was Christmas, and they were all in Gil's grandmother's house, sitting in a half-circle around the Christmas tree. She couldn't speak much English, so most of their conversations had to be translated by Alex or Gil, but they still had fun.

"We think it's wonderful, Ma'am," Eliza said.

"C'est merveilleux, Madame," Alex repeated. Anne-Marie smiled. She was a petite woman with tan skin, curly, graying hair, and a very spunky attitude (she had hit John with a spatula when he tried to eat crepes with his hands).

"The Eiffel Tower is taller than I thought," John muttered. He hadn't been scared on the plane ride there, but, while they were on the Eiffel Tower a few days before, John had stayed firmly attached to Alex's side. Alex snickered before saying what John had said in French. Anne-Marie laughed as the clock on the wall chimed 10.

"Presents!" Peggy cheered. The squad had found out that Gil's family had Christmas traditions, one of which was not opening gifts until 10 am. John, Alexander, Peggy, and Gil leapt to the tree and grabbed their presents, tearing into them like children.

"Calme-toi!" Anne-Marie cried.

"It's Christmas; how can we be calm?" Alexander asked, Gil nodding in agreement.

For a couple hours, the squad opened presents and messed around, enjoying their Noël en France. At one point, Hercules, who had been awfully quiet-and almost sickly-all day, suddenly stood from his place on the couch next to Gil. He walked around to the opposite side of the tree, becoming unseen to his friends.

"Hercules, what are you doing?" Gil wondered, making to stand.

"I have another present for you," Herc answered, gesturing for Gil to stay where he was.

"Is it a cat?" Gil asked, excitedly bouncing on the couch. "Oh, if it's a cat I will scream."

"You'll probably scream anyway," Hercules could be heard muttering.

"Yo, Herc," John called out, moving towards him. "How long does it take to grab a...present...oh, my God!" John gasped and flailed as if unsure what to do with his hands.

"Don't spoil it!"

"You'd better hurry up, then!"

"What is going on?" Alex thought aloud. John had to bite his lip to keep from speaking.

"Close, your eyes, Gil," Hercules instructed. Gil did as he was told, barely able to contain his excitement.

"If it isn't a cat, I will be thoroughly disappointed," Gil grumbled through his smile as Hercules stepped out in front of him, holding something behind his back.

"It's better than a cat, I think." Hercules bent down and kissed Gil quickly.

"What could be better than a cat?" The squad suddenly all gasped at once. "What? What is it?"

"Open your eyes," Hercules said softly. Gil's eyes opened a crack, then widened as he jumped up in surprise, covering his mouth. Hercules kelt before him on one knee, a small box in his hands.

"Oh, mon Dieu..."

"Yeah...I...I had a speech but...I'm blanking..."

"Just do it!" John yelled.

"Okay, okay!" Hercules took a deep breath. "Gil, listen, I love you a lot, though I feel like you know that already. You're awesome, beautiful, funny, clever...I could go on. To summarize: I love you, I love you, I love you. You make my life complete, and I want to be with you for all of it. So-and I'm sure you've guessed what question this is leading to-Gil...Veux-tu m'épouser?"

"Oh, Dieu...Je-Je-" Gil's voice cracked, tears threatening to fall. "Oh, oui, Hercules! Oui, oui, oui!"

Hercules stood just in time to catch Gil, who leapt into his arms. The two new fiancées kissed passionately while their friends cheered and whistled, and John shouted, "Hell yeah!" A silver ring was slipped onto Gil's finger, but he barely seemed to notice; he was smiling at Hercules the entire time.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

John sighed wistfully. "They couldn't be more than two feet away from each other all day."

"Yeah, it was cute."

"They were even more attached at their engagement party."

"Well, they were drunk."

"So were we. Jefferson and Madison got wasted pretty fast."

"They took forever to get there, though."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What the hell?" An angry Thomas burst through the door of Hercules and Gil's dorm, with James behind him, a slight smirk on his face. Thomas stormed in, heading straight towards Gil. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me until now?" Gil fought to hold back a smile.

"Tell you what, Thomas?" Gil wondered with faux confusion.

"That you're engaged."

"I didn't think you would care." A look of disbelief flashed on Thomas' face.

"You're my cousin! Of course I care, you idiot." Thomas flew forward and wrapped Gil in a tight hug. Gil was surprised at first, but happily returned the gesture. "Congrats, Gil." Thomas said quietly.

"Thank you," Gil whispered back. Then, "Your turn."

Thomas pulled away quickly, his face red. He glanced at James before coughing and asking, "Where are the drinks?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I can't believe they're already getting married this winter," Alexander smiled.

"They've been dating for three years," John stated. "Oh, um, I-I mean, you know, unless...do you-do you think that's too soon?"

"Of course not. But it feels like just yesterday that they first got together."

"Oh, y-yeah." John laughed awkwardly. They stopped walking once they got to the biggest tree in the park, leaning against it to rest. John sighed. "This is my favorite tree"

"That's random," Alex giggled. "Why?"

"We first kissed under it." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right. How romantic. We first kissed while I was freaking out, because it was raining."

"Hey, you're getting better." John nudged Alex playfully in the side.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was there a point to bringing this up?"

"Yes." John hesitated. "I, uh, named the tree."

Silence.

Alex burst into laughter. "What?" John's face began to heat up.

"I named it."

"What did you name it?"

"The Milestone Tree."

"Why's that?"

"Well, um, the first kiss between a couple is, like, a milestone that is crossed in a relationship. We crossed it at this tree."

"Okay...but for it to be named 'The Milestone Tree', shouldn't more than one milestone be crossed here?"

"True... Listen, we've been through a lot of shit these past four years. Good shit, bad shit, whatever. But, I've been thinking over all that time, and I realized: It didn't matter what happened. All that mattered...was that I was with you. You make me so happy, Alexander, and I don't think I could live without you."

"What is this?" Alex questioned. "Do you want me to buy you something?" John shook his head and took a deep breath.

"Alex, you know how much I love you, right?"

"John," Alex sighed, "you got shot to save my life. I think I know."

"And I would do that again and again if you would trust me to."

"Wha-" Alexander was cut off when John suddenly kissed him. He was just melting into it when John pulled away, gazing at him with eyes full of adoration. John knelt down and pulled a small box out of his pocket. Alex gasped and covered his mouth in an attempt to keep from screaming.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. Alex...Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

For once in his life, Alexander Hamilton was speechless. He knew what he wanted to say, for sure, but the question then became: Would this be worth it? Would this make him happy in the long run? Was this amazing man in front of him really the person he wanted to spend his entire life with? Would he risk his life for him as John had already done, just to stay with him every day he possibly could?

Then, his thoughts froze, and he understood that all these questions were invalid. There was only one way to answer them all.

"Yes."

Before Alex knew it, John was up and kissing him again, fiercely, passionately, lovingly. Alexander wrapped his arms around John's neck and held tight, their bodies flush together. They were both crying tears of joy while Alex put the golden ring on his finger.

"I love you, so much, Alexander."

"I know. I love you, too, John." Alex wiped his eyes and laughed at nothing in particular. "Was this just a ploy to get me to live with you in your apartment?"

"Did it work?" Alex giggled and nodded, burrowing his head into the side of John's neck.

They stayed there for a long while, underneath the shade of their 'Milestone Tree'. Their heads buzzed with joy as their hearts beat loudly for one another. Sometime later, they would go back to their dorm. They would invite their friends over to tell them the news, and all of them would scream in excitement. They would spend over a year planning their wedding. But, that was all for later. This was now. And, now, they were together.

And that was all that mattered.

*Sobs*

It's over! I can't take this! I love this story so much!

Okay okay okay. The important stuff that you should read will be on top here:

*Deep breath* Do you want a sequel?

I've been thinking about making one, because of how utterly obsessed I will forever be with this, and if you want it, I'll make it. Just let me know.

I've also had a few new ideas. One is mostly Mullette (with some Lams, too, of course) and it's a royalty AU. Also, I had a weird concept I wanted to try where (in a modern high school AU) all the usually good characters were now bad, and vice versa.

If you would want to see any of these, please, let me know!

Also, I'm going to respond to every comment on this chapter (as long as the site allows me to), so if you have any questions about me or the characters in my universe, or even my other stories, feel free to ask! (You can even ask the characters themselves questions and I'll let them respond). And even if you're reading this a long time after I've posted this, I will still try to answer, so don't worry.

If any of you like the Selection Trilogy by Kiera Cass, my other friend wrote a story for it! Her username is tyozzie123, and she also likes Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, so I would expect those fics from her.

Okay, important stuff out of the way. Now...thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I literally couldn't say that enough. You've stuck with me to the end, even when I wrote pain and suffering. I sincerely appreciate every one of you, your reviews make my day everyday, and I couldn't have done this without you. You all gave me such extreme motivation to write more often, and now I'm nonstop. Everyday, I'm astonished with how much I've improved in my writing through a super gay Hamilton fanfiction. I truly owe everything to you. Sometimes, because of that, I feel bad for not telling you my real name. But, you know, it's the internet. I love you immensely, and, even though we don't really know each other, I feel like we can be called friends.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. There's definitely more to come (especially if I find another thing to write fanfics about), so get excited (though, it might take a while to write, so not too excited).

Have a good day, friends!

See you later!