Talk Less

A/N: I am thrilled at the response that this story is receiving. Thanks all of you who have read and reviewed! This story recently cleared 10,000 words (putting it at over 27 pages), which means it shows up when you're looking for a longer story (YAY). This chapter contains homophobic slurs and the like. Thanks again, and please leave a review.

-TNS

The weather was nice, the sun glared brightly, there were no clouds outside, not even a hint of rain in the air, but John was a thunderstorm in and of himself. Martha had trusted Hercules, Lafayette, Alex, Angelica, Eliza, Peggy, and John enough to take a car to Central Park alone. Angelica and Peggy sat in the front seat, Peggy on top of Angelica's lap. Eliza sat on top of Hercules, who acted as though Eliza was weightless. Lafayette and Alex shared the middle seat, while John got the far left seat to himself. He had argued that it wasn't fair, but the group wouldn't let him. Alex was convinced that John was overly-space sensitive, refusing to let him sit on someone's lap and let Eliza have the empty seat. Personally, John was kind of pissed, he had been looking forward to an opportunity to be closer to Alex, and sitting on his lap would certainly be the way. The cab lurched forwards, weighed down by the numerous persons it held. Lafayette began a conversation with the driver in French, and John was fairly certain that the cab driver didn't speak the language. Nonetheless, he nodded along to what Lafayette was saying.

John leaned into Alex's side as the car turned. Even after the car straightened itself, he didn't move away, and Alex made no move to remove him, instead, he leaned back, invading John's personal space, but strangely enough John didn't wince or shy away from his touch. The cab tilted again, sending Lafayette sprawling into Herc's lap, displacing Eliza from her perch. She tumbled to the floor of the car and Lafayette accidentally took her place.

"God dammit, Marquis de Fuckface! Watch where you put your ass!" Herc yelled, shoving Lafayette off of his lap, placing him back on to the middle seat. He hoisted Eliza off the ground and put her on his lap again.

"Did you just say 'Marquis'?" John asked, a little dazed from Alex's touch. The latter was curled into a small ball of laughter.

"Well, yeah. That's his official title. He has some insanely long name, but it ends with Gilbert du Montier, Marquis de La Fayette. I can never remember the entire name, so we just call him 'Gil' or 'Lafayette' or 'Laf'," Herc explained.

"My full name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette. I was baptized by a Spaniard, who gave me all of the names under the sun," Lafayette sighed "Sometimes even I don't remember my entire name."

"So, your first name is technically Marie?" John grinned "Why didn't anyone tell me this before? I have a friend, who is a male, with the first name of Marie! This is great guys," he paused, thinking for a second "Hey, if you're a Marquis, why do you live in a foster home? Aren't you super rich or something?" Too late, he realized how untactful his question was. He was used to voicing his opinions without consequence because of his father, but Henry Lauren's name carried no weight here, in fact, it was more of burden then anything.

"Yes, mon amie. I am rich. But because of legal rights, I have no access to my family's wealth until I am 18. I am in the foster system because my parents are dead. Much like the rest of us at Founding Fathers," Lafayette said, his tone a little sour, clearly showing how much John's question had offended him.

"Hey, I'm sorry man, I didn't mean any offense by it. I was just curious," John apologized, feeling the tension in the cab grow to unspeakable amounts. Even the cabbie was dead silent, obviously eavesdropping on the conversation.

"It's fine," Lafayette muttered in a voice that clearly said that it was not fine. John's already bad day became worse by a multiple of about 500. The thunderstorm brewing beneath the surface of John's skin kicked up again, a whirlwind of frustration, anger, disappointment, and sadness. Alex seemed to sense his mood, he leaned away from John, leaving his side colder than before, allowing the thunderstorm to add another emotion to the mix; longing.

After six more minutes of high tension with Peggy making 'My Little Pony' references that nobody understood, the cabbie let them out. Angelica paid for the ride, ignoring the fact that the cabbie had priced the rider higher than what it would be normally. 'Fine' she thought 'I'll let myself get scammed by an underpaid cabbie.'

Alex was readying himself for a major win. Lafayette was a horrible shot, Herc always threw the disk too hard, so Alex made sure to make it a rule that they had to have boundaries. Then there was John. Alex had never seen John play, but he wasn't even doing warm-ups. He was just sitting under a tree that threw shade over his high cheekbones. Under the tree, John looked depressed and sad. Alex was constantly worried about John's sudden mood swings. It was giving him an ulcer.

About five minutes after they arrived in the park, Martha and the rest of the kids showed up in her impressively orange minivan that she had bought on sale because it was the only thing large enough to fit all of the kids (it didn't). She swerved with extreme accuracy into a parking spot that was much too small for the vehicle. The children flooded out of the van and on to the park, spreading out, quickly finding other friends that happened to be at the park as well. Lee and Martha got out of the car, Martha cradling a smaller child in her arms. Lee was also lugging around a child, who had attached itself to his waist. He was obviously hating every moment of it. As soon as he stepped foot on the grass, he shoved the child off of him, sending the boy tumbling towards the ground. Lafayette darted forward and grabbed the kid before he hit his head on the ground. He set the child down gently, then promptly straightened and spat in Lee's face.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Lafayette said, his voice deadly calm, as he readjusted his stance so it would be easier to hit Lee.

"That little monster was crawling all over me! Those little fuckers need to learn that they can't crawl all over me! Also, you should know better than to curse around the kids," Lee mocked, wiping saliva off of his face. He clenched his fists and readied himself to hit Lafayette in the face. Before he could throw a punch, John ran in front of his fist, pushing Lafayette to the ground. Alex gasped; he hadn't even see John move from under the tree, but there he was, hand over eye, which was already swelling.

"Damn!" John hissed, before straightening and returning another punch. He hit Lee right in mouth, sending Lee ass over tea kettle into the grass. Alex leapt up and grabbed John by the shoulders, stopping him from throwing another punch. John's chest was heaving, his eye was swollen closed and rimmed with a bruise.

"Stop John. He's done," Alex whispered into John's ear. John's heavy breathing ceased and he began to shiver, as he watched Lee writhe on the ground, overplaying his injury.

"Shit. Shit. Shit, shit, shit," John murmured "They're going to kick me out. Shit. Fuck. I fucked up. It's all over. Crap," he turned and buried his head into Alex's shoulder. Alex cursed his height for the fact that John had to lean down to reach his level. He reached up a hand a weaved a hand through John's hair.

"It's fine. It'll all be fine. They won't kick you out for this. I've done much worse, but I'm still here," Alex tried to comfort John, who was having none of it.

"Yeah, but you don't have anywhere else to go," John shot back, not thinking about how Alexander would react. Before he could realize the severity of his statement, Alex stiffened and pushed John off of his chest.

"Excuse me?" Alex questioned, his voice cold. John winced as he realized how his statement might have offended Alex.

"Shit. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant..." John let his voice trail off.

"What? You meant that no one else would want to take me in because I'm a bastard orphan with no future or prospects? Because I have nothing to offer anyone? Is that what you meant? 'Cause that's what it sounds like," Alex grits his teeth, then leans down and hauls Lafayette off the ground, the later shoots him a death glare, telling John that he might have prevented Lafayette from being punched, but he was not forgiven. Not at all.

"No! That's not what I meant! I was just scared that-" but John's shouting at thin air, as Alex and Lafayette have already walked away.

From the ground, John heard a small snort of laughter "There goes your fag friends, Rainbow Man. Or do you prefer Faggy McGee?" Lee snickered. John barely restrained himself from launching another punch at Lee, and instead goes to sit with Herc, who is bent over in a stretch. He nodded his head to show that he knew John was there, before he returned to his stretches. John decided to join him. He sat down on the ground in a straddle and began to reach for his toes.

"So, you guys are pretty serious about Frisbee here, right?" At that point, John was terrified of saying anything in case it pisses someone else off.

"Yup. It's the one game that we can play without me slaughtering everyone else. As I'm sure you can see," Herc gestured to his large muscles "It's not much of a competition with my strength."

John laughed. He bent over in a back bend, wincing as the cartilage between his muscles crackled with the movement. After 40 seconds, he comes out of the bend, and finds himself face-to-face with Herc's wiggling ass. Herc had stuck his rear into the air so he could get into an elaborate twist, and was groaning as the excise began to work.

"I've been cooped up inside for so long," Herc explained, as he poked his head through his legs so he could see John. "It's been ages since I got out and was able to do a nice, relaxing yoga class."

"I didn't picture you as the type to do yoga," John admitted.

"I am a man of many surprises. I pride myself on them," Hercules raised himself up and bent from side to side. "You ready to lose, New Guy?"

"Hardly. You better get used to calling me Frisbee God," John boasted. He watched as Hercules ran across the park to grab Alexander and Lafayette. Lafayette bounded over to join Herc as soon as he saw that Herc was moving towards him. Alex moved more slowly, as though he was fighting his way through molasses. Hercules dragged Alex and Lafayette over to a crowd of teenagers, leaving John to catch up to them. The other three quickly vanished into the mix of teenagers, and John couldn't see over the massive amounts of heads. Finally, a man that looked about 23, stood up on a crate, and began to talk. His voice was loud and commanding.

"Hear ye, hear ye! The Frisbee tournament shall now commence!" He bellowed, everyone around him cheered, which left John half deaf. As he shook his head to rid the ringing noise in his ears, the loud man was explaining the rules.

"We're going to play two on two games. As we play, teams will be eliminated and left to stew in your defeat. That is all. We'll have a sign-up sheet next to me," he gestured to his right, where a tall teenager stood, holding a clip-board. "Wave, Jimmy," Jimmy waved "That's where you'll be signing up. We'll be randomly pairing you up. If you don't like your partner, you're free to leave," he dismounted the crate and picked up a pen, signing his name with a flourish. As soon as he stepped back, the crowd rushed at the clip-board, eager to sign their names. John held back, waiting until the line was gone. He picked up the pen and signed his name at the bottom of the list. Jimmy grabbed the clip-board, looking a little worse for wear from the stampede of teenagers.

"Yo, Brandon! Let's pair these motherfuckers up!" Jimmy yelled, beckoning for the 23-year-old to join him. They conferred, bent over the clip-board, until Brandon straightened up and remounted the crate.

"Okay y'all! Listen the fuck up! I'm going to read out the pairs. If y'all can't hear me, that's your own damn fault! So, shut up the fuck up, and listen," Brandon began to read out names, John strained his ears to hear his name. Hercules sidled up besides John, dragging a reluctant looking Lafayette, and an even more depressed looking Alexander. Hercules leaned into John's side and whispered into his ear, his breath left a cold trail on the nape of John's neck.

"We better get good pairs. I don't want to call you or Alex the 'Frisbee God', when I know who the obvious champion of Frisbee is," Herc declared. Over the din of excited teenage voices, gossiping over their groups, John heard a faint;

"A dot Hamilton and John Laurens!"

"Shit," John murmured, turning to face an awestruck Alex, whose face was slowly becoming darker as Brandon's words seeped in. "Shit."

Alex barely restrained himself from rubbing his ears. Surely, he couldn't be that unlucky? But as he looked at his friends, seeing Lafayette's speechless face, Hercules' oblivious one, and John's adorable freckled face looking horrified. This is really happening, he thought.

John was shoved in Alex's direction, when he tripped over his untied shoelace, which sent him sprawling onto the ground. Before he could hit the dirt, Alex grabbed his arm, pulling him up off the ground. The momentum pushed John into Alex's chest. Alex shot out his arms to stabilize himself, as he toppled over backwards. John fell on top of him, bracing himself with his arms to avoid landing on Alex's midsection. Once the movement finally ceased, although not without the cost of the entire crowd turning around to look and John and Alex, John leaned into Alexander.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean anything by what I said earlier. I was frustrated and worried. Please forgive me," John spewed.

"It's... it's okay John. Let's just get on with this game and prepare to kick some serious ass," Alex smiled at John, studying his freckles that dotted his face like a constellation. He couldn't contain himself, as he reached up and poked a couple of the groupings of freckles. "You have the Big Dipper on your face," Alex whispered, feeling a sense of triumphant as John's face turn a beet red. John withdrew, helping raise Alex off of the ground.

"You're right. Let's beat some ass."