Soft | Lams

Chapitre Quarante Trois

"So we finally get to meet Jemmy, huh?" Alex teased Thomas one Friday after school. Thomas rolled his eyes, annoyed that Alexander still hadn't let him forget about the pet name.

"Yes, I guess you do," Thomas said grumpily. "And come on. Don't you have any pet names for John?" He was desperate for anything he could use to get Alex to stop. Alex simply shook his head, though.

"Pet names are John's thing. I'm not a fan," Alex informed his, smirking at his ability to get on the taller man's nerves.

"Fine, then," Thomas said. "I have to get home and get my apartment ready. See you then, Hamilton."

"Tell Jemmy I'm excited to meet him!"

"Fuck off," Thomas ordered, as he tried to walk away from Alexander. Only problem was that he couldn't. For a short, chubby man, Alex could walk surprisingly fast.

"Oh, you would miss my delightful personality if I ever decided to oblige your request," Alex said in a smarmy tone.

"I wouldn't miss you talking like an 80 year old Englishman," Thomas told him, finally get close to the door, in order to escape Alex. "I don't think that was even proper grammar."

"Oh, shut your face," Alex said as Thomas walked out of the building.

Later that night, John and Alex were carpooling to Thomas's apartment. Alex got him in on the 'Jemmy' thing, and they were both laughing nearly to tears about it. They stopped, dead in their tracks, when they got to Thomas's apartment home. It was huge. Alex had a relatively average sized apartment, and John had a fairly small one. Jefferson's, however, was larger than both of theirs combined. John cleared his throat.

"I mean, he lived in France for years. I don't think we could've expected him to be poor," John reasoned. Alex just swallowed and nodded his head. They walked in together, Alex absolutely amazed. He had never been in a building like this before. Even when he had grown up, and wasn't dirt poor any more, he felt too nervous of being looked down upon when inside one.

Alex checked his phone and, they took the elevator up to Thomas's floor. Alex was getting excited about small details, like how smooth the elevator trip was, and how pretty the designs carved into the doors were. It was honestly adorable. For the longest time John had known Alex to be a very serious person, clearly childish on the inside but too tense to ever let his guard down. In the time they had been dating, however, Alex had relaxed a lot, and just the thought of that made John feel warm inside.

They got to the apartment number that Thomas had sent out to everybody and knocked on the door. They heard Thomas's sharp voice call out something along the lines of 'I'll get it' and then heard feet running to the door. The door opened and they were greeted by an anxious looking Thomas.

"Hey, guys, you're the first ones here," he said. You could tell he was trying to refrain from letting his voice shake. "Um, come in,  make yourselves welcome."

"Thanks," John said. He nudged Alexander, as if encouraging him to say something, but Alex was completely distracted by the home around his. Expensive furniture, beautiful architecture, spacious rooms, open floor-plan. Everything about the house was gorgeous and Alex was in awe. Thomas just chuckled and invited them in. He walked them to the living room, where there was a man sitting on the couch, his hands fidgeting nervously. He looked up at them and smiled.

"Hey! Um, hi, I'm James. James Madison," the man slightly stuttered. "It's nice to meet all of you."

"Nice to meet you to James," John said politely. Alex nodded briefly, still looking around the room. James chuckled, noticing the short man's stupefied state.

"Your guys' home is absolutely stunning," Alex finally breathed. Thomas chuckled.

"It was all James. I had to figure out all of the technicalities about moving back over to America, and I didn't have time to look for a place to live," Thomas explained. "I gave him a budget and a few things I thought it should have, and he worked his magic. Be a damn good real estate agent if the poor thing wasn't always sick." James looked away and blushed, and the other two could see what Thomas meant by him being shy.

They chatted for a couple more minutes, until the heard the door ring. Alex and John hadn't noticed that they had been around fifteen minutes early. Fist the Schuyler girls showed up, then last as normal came Lafayette and Hercules. Everybody chatted way into the night, excited to learn about the elusive James that they had all been dying to meet. Alex noticed Lafayette casting glances to Peggy throughout the night, but she remained quiet in the way he had wanted her to speak up. Alex sensed this might be a bet the Lafayette would lose.

Jemmy is such a cinnamon roll and I love him