Alex and Thomas were arguing again. Both of them had forgotten the point of their debate and the discussion had devolved into the two of them hurling insults and cussing loudly, much to the amusement of their classmates. Such a sight was not uncommon after all. Alex was a lit fuse from both ends and Jefferson was a match, making the two of them a particularly volatile combination.

"YOU REALLY ARE A PIECE OF SHIT JEFFERSON," yelled Alex across the classroom, throwing an accusing finger at Thomas and then slamming his hands on the table. "AND YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE CLASS DIVIDE IN AMERICA,"

Oh, that was the topic of their debate, wasn't it. Thomas didn't really care. Winding up Alex was much more fun. "I could say the same about you Hamilton vis-à-vis being a piece of shit" he said icily.

"GO FUCK YOURSELF,"

"You really are a pain to deal with. I can see why your father left you," he said in reply, dramatically whirling around, anticipating an angry retort or an insult, something only Hamilton could come up with. Perhaps he would liken Thomas to the bastard offspring of an elk and a bison. He had seen the phrase written down in the notebook Alex carried everywhere, on a page simply entitled 'Insults for Thomas Mother Fucking Jefferson'. Thomas thought it quite amusing and wondered how Alex would explain if given the chance.

Instead, he got nothing. Everything froze for a second and everyone, even Alex who was never quiet, had gone silent. Jefferson broke the stillness by turning to look at Alex. He was stood still in shock, hands still splayed out on the desk. Slowly, he sank back down to his seat. "You don't know shit about my family Jefferson," he muttered, tearing up. Then he started to cry.

Jefferson didn't know what to do. Alex was crying. Alex never cried. Had he gone too far? It was just a rumor that he had heard and thought to be false. He hadn't meant to upset him so. Making his way to Alex's desk, he tried to rest a hand on his shoulder, only for Alex to push him away in hysterics. Thomas whipped his head around, trying to get his classmates to help him but everyone was quiet and unmoving.

Then, the whispers started.

"He took that a bit far, didn't he?"

"That was unnecessary,"

"Why would he say something like that?"

"Everyone knows family is a sore subject for Alex,"

Shit. What could he do? Alex was breaking down. He hadn't meant to make him cry. It was supposed to be a bit of fun. He was just winding Alex up. He didn't know it would upset him so. Alex was probably very stressed to be breaking down so. What could he do?

He took a breath, trying to stay calm. What would he want people to do if he had a breakdown? Well, he would want them to call James. Talking to his boyfriend would usually calm him down when he got upset. He looked back at Alex. Which of Alex's partners should he call? Herc would be at the tailors shop where he worked. That was ages away. Lafayette was visiting their family in France, so they wouldn't be available. That left John. Yes, John would know what to do.

But he didn't have John's phone number. Fuck. He grabbed Alex's backpack, undoing the front pocket's zip, searching for his phone. Alex let out of mumble of indignation through his tears that Thomas ignored. Taking out the old battered thing, he found that Alex didn't use a password on it. Thank God for small mercies. He went into Alex's contacts and found John's number.

While waiting for John to pick up, he decided to take Alex out the room. Being gawked at by a lecture hall full of people probably wasn't helping his situation. Shoving him through the door, he turned to snap at his classmates. "Thanks for the help, you fucking idiots," he announced, adding a middle finger for an extra kick of fuck you, before slamming the door loudly.

"What are you doing?" sniffed Alex, while rubbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and dropping down to the floor.

"I'm calling John for you," said Jefferson. "You need to go home. You not in the right frame of mind and the day's basically over anyway. Do what you do to relax. Watch a movie, write an essay about the ethics of fucking pineapple on pizza, beat up a punching bag with my face on. Whatever you do with your spare time. I don't fucking know," he ranted. "Just come back tomorrow when you're less stressed and we can finish our debate,"

"Didn't know you cared about me," teased Alex.

"Can't have my favorite arguing – I mean debate - partner out of commission, can I?" said Thomas as John picked up the call. "Hello, this is John Laurens, right?" he said turning his attention to the call.

"Yeah. Who's this? Is that you Alex? I told you not to call me while I'm in class,"

"It's Thomas from Alex's political science class. I said something I shouldn't have and he's gotten pretty upset. Can you come and pick him up?" he asked briskly.

John agreed. "I'm in the English department right now. It's pretty close so I won't be long. I'll be there in about five minutes,"

They finished the call and Thomas hung up, handing the phone back to Alex. "John will be here soon," he said, standing next to Alex. "Do you wanna talk about it or whatever?"

Alex laughed softly, still rubbing at his face, trying to stop the tears. "I didn't know you could be nice,"

"Go fuck yourself Alexander. I'm trying to help," said Thomas, learning on the wall next to Alex.

"It's a long story. I don't wanna get too into it right now but to summarize, my parent's divorced, my dad died in a car accident, my mom got sick and then she died. I moved in with my cousin but he killed himself. I went into foster care, got abused and finally aged out. So yeah. Family is a sore subject. I've been thinking about it a lot since the anniversary of my father's death is coming up," Alex screwed himself into a tight ball.

"Shit. Didn't know it was that bad. I never would have said that stuff if I'd known. I thought you just had Daddy issues," admitted Thomas.

"Hey!"

"I mean, am I wrong?"

"No… but still." There was a long empty silence. "Please don't tell anyone about this. It's sort of a personal thing. You know how it is,"

"Yeah, I won't. Besides, if I did that, your partners would be after me and quite frankly I don't want that. Hercules is built like a truck and I'm pretty sure Lafayette could pick one up if they wanted. John seems like the outlier, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he knows marital arts," said Thomas.

"He does actually. He took Taekwondo classes last year and got pretty good," said Alex.

"I fucking knew it," said Thomas, as he noticed John coming around the corner. "Speak of the devil. It seems that your boyfriend has arrived." John rushed up to them and crouched down, taking Alex's hands.

"Are you alright Alex?" he asked.

"I'm mostly okay now. Just tired and stressed," explained Alex, standing up. "Can we go home?" John agreed and the two of them left. Thomas was now alone in the hallway. He could have gone back into class but had the feeling that it would be awkward. Eventually, he decided to just go home. It was his last period of the day anyway.

The next day, Thomas trailed into the lecture hall. A few people turned to stare at him as he walked in, which he expected. His gaze shifted to the front of the room. Alex was stood behind one of the tables that had been dragged apart from the rest to form a sort of debate stage.

"Come on Thomas," said Alex with a cocky smirk. "We need to finish the debate we started yesterday, you bastard offspring of an elk and a bison,"

"An elk and a bison? Really?" quizzed Thomas.

"You're tall and skinny like an elk but with fluffy hair like a bison," explained Alex. "I thought that was obvious," Thomas smiled. The Alex he knew was back.