As Jay kicked his shoes off and plopped down onto the field bed he's been assigned to in the tent he would share with John and his friends, he couldn't help but let out a low sigh.

He was relieved that, so far, everything went well.

"So, who exactly are you?", a french accent rang through the room and Jay turned his head towards the man who'd spoke.

"I'm Jay Edmunds. Spy from Virginia," he said and hoped that the man would tell him his name without Jay having to ask.

"Je suis Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette," the Frenchman said, to which a frown appeared on Jays face at the long name.

"Just call him Lafayette," a deep voice came from the corner, and Jay turned his attention to the rather tall man who sat there. "Hercules Mulligan," the man introduced himself.

"You sure you're not related to Hamilton?", Mulligan asked and raised a brow at Jay, who just shrugged and said "I don't know. I was parted from my family when I was quite young."

The men watched Jay a moment in silence, before Laurens asked "What's going on with the British?"

"Not much. They're just planning on where to possibly attack next," Jay said and shrugged "Although I've been running for quite some while, I don't know what they're doing right now. I think their camp is like, a day or two away from here?"

"And you managed to come here with that shoulder wound?", Laurens asked suspiciously.

"Well, as you may have noticed when you stared me down in the infirmary tent, there was already some cloth wrapped around it, but it had soaked through," Jay frowned at Laurens. Okay, he was lying a bit. He had been running for that amount of time, but only a few miles before the camp of the Americans he was attacked. And the wound was deep, so of course it had bled through the cloth he'd wrapped around.

"I just returned from the British," Mulligan toned up and for a moment Jay thought his heart stopped.

"Yorktown is probably next. They've also considered Monmouth," The tall male with the bandana said, and once more could Jay feel the suspicious gaze of Laurens resting on him.

"Monmouth is too predictable though. Sir Clinton decided against it," Jay said, frowning at the spy. "I thought MG Leslie declined that plan?", Mulligan asked and Jay sighed, shrugging with his healthy shoulder "I don't even know. The two of them have argued too often for me to even count."

Mulligan laughed and said "I've heard of their infamous bickering quite a lot around camp."

Jay grinned and let himself fall back, before propping himself up on his elbow carefully so he could still look at the others "I've got to listen to those discussions live more than I wanted. It's pretty nerve wracking trying to find a peace."

"Did ya hear about the Frederick runaway?", Mulligan asked and Jays grin faltered just barely. Laurens frowned, but said nothing.

"You mean Y/N?", Jay then asked and Mulligan nodded. The Frenchman frowned at the duo and asked "Who is Y/N?"

"Y/N Frederick was the wife of Prince Edward, first brother of King George III. He died about four years ago due to poisoning, nobody knows why or who could've done it, but I've heard the rumor that Y/N herself poisoned her husband," Jay said and for a moment, Lafayette and Laurens looked stunned by the fact that a royal probably killed her husband. He slowly sat up again.

"Who could've blamed her, though? She was forced to marry him when she was eleven years old. Poor girl," Mulligan said and a hint of pity flickered in his eyes.

Jay almost would've said I don't want your pity. He managed to hold himself back though.

"What's been going around about her now, though?", Laurens asked, out of curiosity or just to keep the conversation rolling, Jay didn't know.

"The King wants her brought back. The only condition was that she be alive. Otherwise, nothing," Mulligan said.

"So basically making her...uh, how you say, libre sauvage?", Lafayette said, frowning a little as he couldn't seem to find the right words.

"You mean a fair game?", Jay asked and in an instant Lafayette's face lit up "Oui! Thank you, mon ami!"

Jay smiled, mumbling a "You're welcome," when someone clicked their tongue. Everyone turned to look at a certain freckled male.

"Already calling him your friend, Lafayette?", Laurens sneered and glared at Jay, not sparing a glance at anyone else.

"Well, why wouldn't I?", Lafayette asked and frowned at Laurens' behavior. Laurens laughed and said "Because he's a fucking spy of the Brit's, that's why! He's just gonna play all of us and then he'll fuck off to his friends in Britain."

"Why would he do that?", Lafayette asked, obviously not able to understand or follow Laurens' train of thought.

"Because that's what spies do! They play us, get information and then run back to their Brit friends and help form a new plan of attack to get rid of us Americans," Laurens snapped.

"What did I do to you to make you hate me like that already?", Jay asked, now pulling the attention to him.

"You're a fucking Brit. Probably can't wait till you can run home to your friends and cry to them of how awful you were treated here," Laurens glared at the other male.

"The only one who is treating Edmunds unfair and awful here is you, Laurens. Tone it down a lil'," Mulligan said and sent a warning glance to his friend.

Laurens chuckled bitterly and asked "So you trust this traitor?"

"I'm not a traitor! I don't have friends either! I hate those redcoats more than anything because they ruined my fucking life!", Jay snapped, maybe a little louder than he had intended.

Silence made the air feel tight, tensing the atmosphere.

"What do you mean, they ruined your life?", Mulligan finally asked and raised a brow towards Jay, who looked down at his hands. Only now did he notice that he was fiddling with his left ring finger.

Quickly he clamped his hands to fists and said "Nothing, forget it. You wouldn't care about a fucking Brit anyway." With that, he glared at Laurens.

Then he fell back down onto his bed and snapped "I'll get some sleep, if you don't mind. If you don't want to sleep with a traitor in a tent, there's your way out, Laurens." He pointed towards the entrance of the tent, not bothering to look at the angry freckled male.

Laurens glared at the back of Jay for some while longer, until he realized that Lafayette and Mulligan were talking quietly among themselves — excluding him.

Maybe he did do something wrong.

[ okay so. I started writing and then like 3/4 through mY FUCKING PHONE CRASHES AND A QUARTER OR ALMOST HALF OF WHAT I ALREADY WROTE WAS FUCKING GONE AND I HAD TO REWRITE ALL OF THAT AND IM STILL SO FUCKING PISSED AT MY PHONE WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS
anyways, did ya enjoy the chapter? wasn't the best but ya ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ I tried ]