Aaron's day had gotten a little worse when he ran into Thomas. He had made a complete fool of himself and now he probably thought Aaron was a thief. Make matters worse, Hamilton had spilled his drink on their documents and evidence files, so now they needed to redo everything because heaven forbid Hamilton using a goddamn laptop to write. By "they", he meant him. Aaron may or may have not broken Hamilton's pens. Hamilton of course took advantage of their mishap and went for coffee. Normally, Aaron avoided coffee, but today he needed some extra pip in his step. It was ... different from his tea, but Aaron neither hated nor really liked it. It might've been a better experience if Hamilton weren't on some huge rant about a tall ass guy in some sports car. Aaron tuned him out and looked dead ahead, too tired to actually care.

"You little shit!"

Or maybe he did care.

He recognized the voice and looked to see Thomas fuming. A deep ball of "oh shit" was burning his insides as he thought of why Thomas was mad. Was it him? Fuck, he was probably going to chew him out for wearing James' clothes, shit. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it. Aaron could barely handle the thoughts that poured into his head as his breathing became faster and faster. Calm down, he struggled to push down his feelings aside as they kept coming up. Like waves in the ocean and he was being dragged deeper and deeper by the undertow.

"Oh my god, it's the embodiment of purple."

Confused for a second, Aaron looked to Hamilton's face and studied the man's face. It was full of shock and disbelief. Hamilton wasn't all that wrong. Thomas was wearing all purple and - wait. Purple. Hamilton was just complaining a guy with purple shit... oh! Aaron would've slapped his forehead if he had been alone. Jesus, how dense could you get? What other, maybe, sane human being is obsessed with the colour purple so much that he wears it and drives it?!

It didn't take long for Thomas to get into Hamilton's personal space, he was scowling and looked like he was about to murder him. Aaron was frozen right in the middle of them.

"I believe you have something of mine?" Thomas all but growled.

Hamilton smirked and twirled the cane in hand. "Hmm, do I? 'Cause, last I checked, you're walking just fine a minute ago and canes are used to assist people. Though you look well in your forties."

"Why you little-!"

Thankfully, James cut in before the bloodbath started. He groaned and pulled Thomas back, clearly unamused by his co-workers shenanigans. "Break it up. We can't afford a mess, the cleaning crew are still pissed about Hamilton's little mess last week."

Hamilton looked away shyly, an embarrassing red tinting his cheeks, last week had not been a proud moment for him. Aaron bite back a smile. It was pitiful that he relished in his ex's misery like a teenager but it felt good to see Washington freak out on him. Washington's temper was legendary. The man looked like he was going to lose his cool but somehow held it at bay, so when he blew you best get out, there had only been three times were he saw Washington freak. Hamilton's little accident, when there was some mishap with shipping and they had about fifty boxes of frozen dead rats, and the best: when he discovered someone had been writing fanfiction about him and business rivals. Aaron wasn't the one to point fingers but he definitely didn't see Dolley writing something with Washington's name in it.

James cooley removed him from the equation, taking him out of the middle and to side, Aaron gave a grateful smile. He was glad that James didn't question what he was wearing.

"You," James pointed at Hamilton, "give this man his cane back, 'cause I'm never going to hear the end of it."

Like the toddler that he is, Hamilton pouted and handed over the cane with defeat. Thomas took the cane from his hands with grin. James rolled his eyes and Aaron snorted. As much drama as it was, Aaron could maybe get used to it, it was a lot more exciting than Hamilton's opinion on rice cake.

"And you," James turned his finger to Thomas, "need to stop carrying that cane around. You don't need it, and that purple car of yours makes you look enough like a douche."

"It does not!"

"Does to," Hamilton chimed with a grin.

Thomas growled and looked like he was going to swing a punch. Thankfully James took him by the arm and dragged him away. As they were out of view, Aaron laughed softly. Thomas Jefferson, a top lawyer who had lots of respect, just acted like a teenage girl when their friend didn't like her photo. Washington and Angelica had spoken high praise of him, calling him brilliant and resourceful; Angelica had even read his court trials. What made Aaron nervous in the first place was gone and he felt some weight off his shoulders. Thomas wasn't exactly the man everyone said he would be, which made Aaron feel a lot more calmer. Of course he shouldn't relish in other's misfortune but he was allowed to have this one.

"What a prick," Hamilton scoffed.

Aaron hmmed. "Look who's talking."

Hamilton gasped dramatically; at least Aaron was hoping he was being dramatic. "Aaron Burr, by the Gods I hope you are joking!"

"You're an atheist Hamilton."

"I still have some morals."

"What are those?"

"Morals or what are my morals."

Aaron grinned. "You'll never know."

Finishing their coffees, the two men went back to work and restored their progress. It could've gotten done faster but Hamilton had stopped multiple times to either talk or try and avoid work. Thankfully, Aaron had the energy to put up with that. Maybe it was the coffee. Aaron made a mental note that maybe he should start drinking some now and again. But not all the coffee in the world could make him a match for Hamilton's energy. Soon after their work had been recovered - Aaron made sure it was done on their laptops - they were back to fighting with what strategy and what to say. Hamilton wanted to make this a fucking novel. It might've sounded like an over exaggeration but Aaron had edited three page opening. But, of course, Alexander Hamilton could do no wrong.

"This is too long," Aaron groaned, pushing Hamilton's redo introduction back to him. "You're going to lose the jury's interest."

"That's your fault," Hamilton huffed.

Aaron raised an eyebrow and felt his irritation twitch. "Excuse me?"

"You're the one who-"

"I told you that the introduction has to be simply a summary of who, what, where, and why."

"That's what I did!"

"You wrote three whole sentences about the husband's mother. She's not even alive or relevant to the trail whatsoever!"

Their conversation didn't end there. Any normal human being would've dropped it or talked it out normally. But Hamilton wasn't normal and went on a huge tangent about almost anything that popped into his head. A headache latched onto Aaron's mind and his good mood was flushed down the drain, he felt crummy and tired again, and he was sure that Hamilton's words would later haunt him. When Hamilton was finished they went back to work and got some work done. When the day finally ended, Aaron bolted out the door and went to run into his office to pick up but he was stopped by Angelica.

"Thank God I wasn't drinking anything," Angelica chuckled.

Aaron rolled his eyes and straightened out his- James scarf. "Ha, ha. You really should quit your job and become a stand up comedian, honestly, you'd make much more than you do now. I mean, I think John knows a place, it must be destiny."

Angelica stuck out her tongue, linking arms with him and continued his walk to his office. "I think you have a point there, Aaron dear."

"Oh?"

"Oh yes, I have so many embarrassing stories about you that I can go into retirement early."

"You've been talking to Hamilton too much," Aaron said bitterly. Angelica laughed and Aaron felt warm, it wasn't the same as when he loved her but he still loved it. It was a strong laugh, not feminine and she didn't care that she had snort. That's why he loved her, she didn't hide her little quirks or opinions. Speaking of opinions. "Did you meet Thomas Jefferson?"

"You remembered his name?" Angelica's eyebrows shot up.

"Whatever. Come one, don't dodge the question: what do you think of Thomas Jefferson?"

Angelica's face flattened in a bitter way that took away the warmth in Aaron's stomach. "People over sing his praise."

Aaron winced. Angelica didn't like Thomas. His mind raced with questions, he was dying to ask why and how and what happened, but he kept himself quiet. They unlinked arms and said good byes, Aaron went into his office and practically threw himself onto the chair. His thigh was on fire. The scarred tissue was throbbing and begging for air. Aaron melted in his chair and sighed in relief as the pressure on his thigh was taken off. He breathed slowly, blinking and his eyelids were feelings more and more heavy. Groaning, Aaron pulled himself up and forced himself to stand. He walked around his desk, not bothering to hide his limp anymore, and he packed up his work and ruined sweater. And like another day, he walked into the elevator and rode it down, then went outside the building. He froze when he saw the rain pouring down.

"Shit," Aaron muttered.

What was he supposed to do? He could always walk home still, it was just water, but he remembered that this wasn't his clothes. Ruining his turtleneck was no big deal, it was his clothes and it was a one in a million. But these threads were James's, he had no idea how important this was to him, and even if it wasn't important it still wasn't his to ruin. So, what was he supposed to do? Stay? Wait out the rain? Maybe he could call Maria, but she didn't have a ride and her shift didn't end for another, if he called she would close up and that would piss off her boss. Aaron had some money from his parents if she got fired but it would run out one day and he had planned to put most of it into Maria's daughter's education. He could call a taxi but he didn't have the number, he should but he had always walked. Not only that but the phone call made Aaron's stomach turn. So what was he supposed to do?

Aaron just stood still. He felt tears start to spring when a southern voice stopped his thoughts.

"Hey, do you need a ride?"

It didn't take a genius to know who that voice belonged to, but Aaron turned his head around anyway to confirm it was Thomas. Relief filled him and the uneasy feeling in his stomach went away. He quickly blinked back his tears and smiled.

"Uh, yeah," Aaron cleared his throat and turned his body towards Thomas. "I would really appreciate a ride. If it's no trouble of course."

Thomas chuckled gently. "Trust me, I prefer to have company, and Dolley picked up James earlier. Sooo, do you wanna follow me or wait here?"

"I'll come with you."

"Cool."

Aaron felt his nervousness return but he swallowed it and followed Thomas to the parking spots.