Hello! This is my first Hamilton fic, so please enjoy and let me know if you want more! Further down, there's a bit about Jefferson having a limp: this is from watching a video of the Broadway production, and in We Know especially, Jefferson sort of drags his leg behind him a bit (go and watch a video of it if you don't believe me), so I've sorta jumped on it.

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The Election of 1800

"Can we get back to politics, please? Yo."

James Madison smiled softly to himself as he watched Thomas Jefferson, his, um, eccentric best friend parade angrily around the overflowing study. He was sat at the desk, perusing a detailed map of political preferences whilst listening to Thomas rant about all the things that seemed to be going wrong in their lives.

"Every action has its equal-opposite reaction!"

Madison rolled his eyes as Thomas yet again quoted Newton's first law of motion, but kept his mouth shut, not particularly looking for a fight: I mean, look what happened to Hamilton.

"John Adams shat the bed, I love the guy but he's in traction."

He had to stop himself giggling at that little comment. Adams was no longer fit to run the country and everyone knew it.

"Poor Alexander Hamilton, he is missing in action."

Of course, back to Hamilton. Most New Yorkers were still reeling from Phillip Hamilton's death a few weeks back, but rumour had it that Alexander and Eliza had reconciled in an attempt to begin recovering.

"So now I'm facing Aaron Burr, with his own faction."

Thomas, who was usually quite the little actor, couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice as he strode around the small room yet again, his deep purple dressing gown billowing out behind him like a cape: only Thomas Jefferson, Madison thought, would plan how to become president in his pyjamas. As much as he hated to admit it, Burr was looking far more likely to win the election, what, with all the slander Thomas was getting. Thomas would never agree in a million years, but the comments hurt him deeply, Madison could tell. He was a lot less jolly these days, dancing and bouncing around a lot less than normal.

"He's very attractive in the North, New Yorkers like his chances," Madison piped up, having to keep up his role as chief peacekeeper and voice of reason.

"He's not very forthcoming on any particular stances," Jefferson replied, his arms folded in the same manner as that of a disgruntled toddler, his voice sullen.

"Ask him a question, it glances off, he obfuscates, he dances," the other said, thinking it better to go along the same sort of path as Thomas to avoid a full-on temper tantrum.

"And they say I'm a Francophile! At least they know I know where France is!"

Ouch. That statement had a definite edge and bite to the last part. Madison quietly regarded his best friend. Thomas' soft Southern drawl was magnified 10 times, his accent as thick as the tension that surrounded him, and his hair was askew, the puffy corkscrew curls even crazier than usual. His cheeks were flushed, and he held himself like a petulant child- come to think of it, he was just a petulant child trapped in an adult's body. As Madison looked deeply into Jefferson's soft brown eyes, he felt a rush of affection as he saw the hurt buried there from the derogatory statement.

"Thomas, that's the problem, see," he implored gently, placing a hand on Jefferson's shoulder, wincing as he felt how tense the muscles were. "They see Burr as a less extreme you."

"Ha!"

Thomas shook him off, barely suppressing a snort.

"You need to change course, a key endorsement might redeem you."

Jefferson unknitted his brow, his face softening slightly.

"Who did you have in mind?" he said, careful to keep his tone casual.

That's it, Madison thought. Tease him in gently, let him decide whether or not he wants this.

"Don't laugh," James replied cautiously, holding out his hand warningly.

"Who is it?" Jefferson virtually groaned, sounding a little scared.

"You used to work on the same staff..."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"It might be nice," Madison steeled himself as Thomas looked at him disbelievingly. "It might be nice to get Hamilton on your side."

Thomas chewed this over for a moment before nodding and happily repeating what Madison had said. Sarcasm? Madison couldn't tell. It didn't matter: Thomas had agreed with him, and that was enough.

"But how, Mads?" Jefferson asked, serious for once in his life. "The man hates me; ever since we uncovered his affair, he's had a grudge against me!"

Madison could tell that Thomas was getting flustered, his gait more lopsided than ever as he dragged his left leg behind himself like a dead weight, moving from the door to the window, the window to the door, repeating Newton's first law of motion under his breath like a mantra.

"Sit down," James commanded, putting his hands on Jefferson's shoulders and steering him towards the plush rich red armchair, the one Thomas always hogged and kept no matter how much Madison tempted him.

"I don't have time to be sitting around, Mads!" Thomas yelled, trying to run a hand through his unruly hair, only to succeed in losing the entire appendage in the bush. "I've got 4 days until the election, and 4 days to somehow make up for 11 years of hatred! I can't do that sitting here, can I?"

"If you don't sit down, you're going to fall down," Madison said matter-of-factly. "That will do wonders for your campaign."

Jefferson's eyes flickered briefly to his leg as he wrestled his hand from his hair.

"I'm fine," he said forcefully, finally sitting down with a flourish of the dressing gown. Madison let out a breath that he hadn't even realised he'd been holding. Walking over to the window, he gazed out at the snow-dusted cobbled streets, nearly groaning when he saw Burr campaigning directly outside. He could've swore Burr turned around and flashed him a smile before turning back to the small crowd before him.

"Burr's outside," Madison said innocently, turning back to Jefferson. Thomas called Burr a very rude name, making Madison blush to the roots of his hair.

"Oh, come off it, Mads," Jefferson cackled when he saw James' red flush. "You've heard much worse than that."

"Not out of a presidential candidate's mouth, I haven't," Madison retorted, fighting the urge to ruffle Thomas' hair. "Just be grateful you're only up against Burr and not Washington!"

"That would've been highly impossible," Thomas mused. "But Washington's not the problem this time: Burr is."

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Part 2 coming soon!