Everyone was gathered in Hercules', Lafayette's and Peggy's apartment, watching CNN's ball drop coverage with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. Everyone except Alex. Chips and dip were out, so were mixed nuts, M&Ms and other various snacks, but no beer. Not this time.
"Well, it's eleven now. Only one more hour left of this godforsaken year." Hercules said.
"It hasn't been all bad." Peggy said.
"Really?" Hercules asked. "Name one good thing that's happened this year."
"You and I met." Sally pointed out.
"Yeah, that's true." Hercules smiled.
"Civil War was pretty good." John said.
"Zootopia had great messages of racism that I could use in my Black Lives Matter club." John Jay said.
"We finally had a sequel to Finding Nemo." Angelica pointed out. "And it was a good one."
"And staying on the subject of finally," Eliza began, "the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series."
"The Olympics were good." Nathaniel said.
"Pokemon Go!" Maria shouted.
"The Superhero Girl dolls!" Peggy shouted.
"Moana and Elena." Lafayette said.
"Okay. So it hasn't been all bad." Hercules agreed. "I guess you're right."
"But there's been moments that haven't been so good." Aaron said. "Remember last January?"
Alex yawned and hopped out of bed. "Aaron, wake up."
"I'm awake." Aaron said sleepily.
"Yeah, you are." Alex yawned again and turned on the TV. He sat down on the couch and put his feet up.
"... was iconic back in the seventies. His music was unlike anything that had ever been heard before. The likes of him will never be seen again. If you're just joining us, our main headline is the death of iconic rock star David Bowie-"
Aaron sat bolt upright. "David Bowie's dead?!" He shouted. "No! Alex! Turn it up!"
"Aaron, for god's sake, he's just a musician!"
"Just a musician?!" Aaron snapped. "No, he was more than that." He got up out of bed and sat by Alex on the couch. "Where were you when Michael Jackson died?"
"Probably in the hospital, almost dying of Yellow Fever." Alex answered back, oh so casually.
"You almost died of Yellow Fever?" Aaron asked.
"No, I said hurricane." Alex said. "Where did you hear 'Yellow Fever'? I didn't say that. God."
"Alex, you definitely said Yellow Fever, I-"
The power went out and the TV went off. Everything went dark.
"Aaron?"
"Yeah?"
"What just happened?"
"Uh... Blackout."
"Thought so." Alex nodded. "Shall we get some candles?"
"Yeah, that'd be best." Aaron agreed. The two friends went around their dorm room looking for the emergency candles.
"I got some tea candles!" Alex held up a handful of the small, circular candles.
"And I found a candlestick." Aaron said. "I'm gonna light it, then we can use it to light the tea candles."
"Okay, yeah. Sounds good." Alex agreed. He turned his back to Aaron and began lining up the tea candles on the kitchenette counter.
Aaron held the candle between his legs and began fiddling with a box of matches.
"Be careful, Aaron." Alex said.
"Yeah, when am I never careful?" Aaron said. He lit the candle to success, but it blew out. "Damn." He muttered. He struck another match and lit the candle. He took the candle from between his legs and shook the match out. "Alright, done."
Alex turned around cheerfully, but his eyes instantly widened and his expression changed to one of horror. "Aaron!" He exclaimed. "You're on fire!"
"I'm what?"
"You're on fucking fire!" Alex rushed to the sink and began filling up a dirty bowl that one of them had left the night previously.
Meanwhile, Aaron looked down to see that his t-shirt was indeed on fire. "Holy shit!" He exclaimed and dropped the lit candle. He then tried to pat the fire out with his bare hands.
Alex caught sight of what Aaron was doing. "Don't do that, you moron!" He shouted. "That's how you get third degree burns!"
"If I don't put it out, I'll have third degree burns anyway!" Aaron shouted back.
Alex took the bowl from the sink and tossed it over Aaron, thereby putting out the fire on his t-shirt and the candle, however, leaving a scorch mark on the rug and leaving Aaron looking less than impressed.
"I'm gonna call an ambulance." Alex took out his phone.
"No. Alex, I'm fine."
"You were just on fire. You're not fine." Alex said. "Look at your hands! They're blistered already!"
Aaron looked down at his hands. Alex was right. Large blisters were indeed bubbling up on his hands. "Yeah. Call an ambulance."
"Oh yeah!" Eliza said. "You looked like you were wearing thick woolen mittens for like a week."
"Ten days actually." Aaron groaned. "And Alex had to do everything for me."
"Must have sucked for you." Maria said.
"Not as bad as when they lanced and drained the blisters at the hospital." Aaron said.
"Does anyone else want to share any icky stories?" Hercules asked. "Or stories of being lit on fire?"
"I don't!" Peggy shouted.
"But I have a story." Angelica said.
"Hey, Angelica, did you hear?" Maria asked when Angelica entered the library.
"Hear what?" Angelica asked. "I've been busy in the library, writing my stupid law essay."
"It concerns law." Maria said. "Constitutional law."
"Okay. My interests are piqued." Angelica raised an eyebrow.
"Antonin Scalia kicked the bucket."
"No!"
"Yeah!"
"God that man was horrible." Angelica said. "Really, really evil. Say, has Karl Rove died yet?"
"No." Maria shook her head.
"Just Scalia?" Angelica shrugged. "You know, I thought I felt the world suddenly become a better place."
"The world would be a better place if Karl Rove, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity all croaked. Oh and Bashar al-Assad. And Donald Trump. And Vladimir Putin. And-"
"I'm gonna stop you there." Angelica said.
"If I had the Death Note, they wouldn't be around." Maria rolled her eyes.
"You like Death Note?" Angelica cocked her head slightly.
"You know Death Note?" Maria's eyes widened excitedly.
They noticed that they were being glared at by students all around them.
"Hey, listen. How about we get out of here and go to Starbucks. Discuss Death Note there." Maria offered.
Angelica looked at her thoughtfully. "Yeah. You know what? Let's do that!"
"And the rest, as they say, is history." Angelica said with a smile.
"Wow." Hercules said. "I had no idea you two started dating because Antonin Scalia died."
"Well, not quite because..." Maria trailed off.
"In any case, does anyone else have a story that they'd like to share?" Eliza asked.
"I suppose I'd like to share one." Hercules said.
Hercules was playing Call of Duty on his PlayStation when Alex suddenly burst into his apartment, dressed like a leprechaun and carrying a tin whistle. Hercules turned his head slowly to look.
"Alex, what the hell are you wearing?"
"It's St. Paddy's Day!" Alex began to play the tin whistle-very, very badly.
"No." Hercules tossed his controller to one side. "Get that the hell off you."
Alex's shoulders dropped. "Why?"
"Because people might actually think that you're a real life leprechaun." Hercules said.
"Nice." Alex said sarcastically. "A height joke. That's a low blow, even for you."
"Well the leprechaun joke is low for you." Hercules said. "Though everything you do is pretty low... Down." He smiled to himself as if to congratulate himself on his awful joke.
"Herc. Not funny." Alex complained.
"For god's sake, Alex, it's St Patrick's Day."
"And you're Irish." Alex got on his tiptoes to put a green plastic top hat on Hercules' head. "Come on. We're celebrating."
"Celebrating how? You're nineteen. I'm twenty. We can't really do much."
"There's always illegal drinking. Or the St Patrick's Day parade or something." Alex suggested. He grabbed Hercules by the arm and tried to drag him out of his apartment. Hercules simply stood there, immovable.
"Alex, what the hell are you trying to do?" Hercules asked.
Alex had a hold on Hercules' arm and was now running to try to pull him away. "Let's go!" He groaned.
"If I go with you, will you stop this ridiculous behavior?" Hercules asked.
"Yes!" Alex said.
Hercules took a step forward and Alex-still pulling-fell back on his bum. Hercules chuckled.
"Alright, let's go." He said, helping Alex up.
"We're gonna have so much fun." Alex said.
He grinned and practically skipped along as Hercules followed. They went down to the student St Patrick's Day party, where Alex managed to get his hands-illegally-on some beer. And began drinking it. And repeat until shitfaced.
"So we gotta invade Mars." Alex said drunkenly. "Haven't you-haven't you seen the... Martian?" He slurred.
"Alex. You're drunk." Hercules said.
"I'm not drunk." Alex said. "I just got... A-a speech impediment." Without warning, he vomited on Hercules' shoes. "Maybe I'm a bit drunks."
"That's it." Hercules grabbed Alex's upper arm. "We're going home."
As they walked towards the exit, Thomas Jefferson swaggered in wearing a green suit, a green tie and a green top hat-this one wasn't plastic like Hercules' was.
"Time to get this party started!" Jefferson said.
Alex immediately pulled against Hercules. "No!" He cried out and pulled himself free with his other arm. He went in front of Jefferson. "You want to eat the Plutonians!"
"What?" Jefferson raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, he's just drunk." Hercules said
"Well control your West Indian." Jefferson sneered.
"I'm not West Indian!" Alex shouted. "I'm from Mars and you eat my Pluto!"
"The hell-?" Jefferson asked. He didn't get a chance to get any further before Alex's fist connected with his nether regions. As Jefferson groaned in pain, Alex lunged at him, knocking him to the ground and began punching him over and over in his face. There was mass commotion as Alex shouted about Pluto-everyone was shouting, by then. Hercules kept trying to prise Alex off Jefferson. Things took a turn when Alex bit down on Jefferson's ear and shook his head violently as if he were a dog killing his prey. Jefferson screamed out in pain. James Madison rushed to help Hercules get Alex off Jefferson and though they managed to do it, Jefferson's ear was a bloody mess.
"Christ, Thomas." Hercules winced, holding back Alex, who was thrashing all four limbs towards Jefferson.
"Just get him out of here." Jefferson hissed, holding his hand to his ear.
"And so I did." Hercules said. "And Jefferson had to have stitches in his ear."
"Wow. I didn't know Alex had it in him." John Jay said.
"I did." Nathaniel said. "Because I have a story."
Alex walked into John Adams' classroom and took the seat between Aaron and Nathaniel.
"Hey." Alex greeted. He opened his notebook and wrote the date.
"Did you hear about Prince?" Nathaniel asked.
"I know. It's terrible." Alex shook his head. "Celebrities seem to be dropping down dead left, right and centre."
"Let's hope Betty White isn't next." Aaron said. "She's a national treasure. Can't afford to lose her, right?"
"No." Nathaniel sighed. "We sure can't."
John Adams walked into the room. "Right, today, we're going to cover some Constitutional Law. Who wrote the Federalist Papers? Well, as you see here-"
"Gouverneur Morris and William Due." Alex muttered as he noted their names down. More like scribbled quickly.
"Do you have something to say, Mr Hamilton?" Adams practically snarled.
Alex looked up from his notebook. "I was just saying that the men who wrote the Federalist papers were called Gouverneur Morris and William Due." He said icily.
"I've about had it with you, you little creole bastard." Adams snapped. "Coming in here and interrupting my lectures, talking over me. You've been doing it all year. Either shut up or get out. Oh and I heard about your drunken fight. Some model student you are." He sneered.
"Really?" Alex stood up slowly and flicked through his notepad. "If it wasn't for me then nobody would learn anything." He looked up at Adams. "You're the fat, arrogant, anti-charismatic, national embarrassment known as Professor John Adams."
"Shit." Aaron muttered and tried to cover his face in embarrassment, a sort of 'I don't know this guy and he's certainly not my roommate'.
"This man's irrational!" Alex shouted. Addressed to the class, of course, even though his back was turned. "You're always going berserk, but you can't be bothered to actually do your work. Give my regards to Abigail next time you tell the class about my lack of a moral compass. At least someone is doing your job for you so you can carry on sitting on your fat lazy ass."
Nathaniel's eyes widened and he bowed his head. "This isn't good."
"The line is behind me, I crossed it again. You'd better run off to your wife. She's so much stronger than you-also, she's a better professor than you. They were calling you a dick back in 'seventy-six! And you've hardly done anything new since!" Alex stepped away from the desk and slowly walked up to the front of the lecture hall, carrying his big, heavy law book. "You're a nuisance with no sense. You will die of irrelevance. Go ahead; you can call me the devil but you aspire to my level-you aspire to malevolence."
Alex was now standing in front of John Adams, looking up at him in his face. Scowling.
"I don't care if I get expelled for this." Alex took a breath. "Sit down, John, you fat motherfucker!" He spat out and dropped his heavy law book to the ground.
Gasps could be heard all around the room. Nobody could quite believe what they had just heard. Or seen Nathaniel looked around and pretty much everyone-including Professor Adams-had that jaws hanging open.
Then without saying a word, Alex walked away, grabbed his backpack and walked out of the room. Nobody else said anything either. They were too much in shock.
"Alex is out of control." Aaron mumbled.
"Well, as long as he can hold a pen, he's a threat." Nathaniel muttered back.
"That's always been Alex's strength, hasn't it?" Hercules said. "Words. Though I thought that was an urban legend."
"It soon will be." Nathaniel said. "That was the most legendary take down of... Anyone that I've ever witnessed in my life. Even if it was a bit embarrassing at the time."
"I've actually seen him use words beautifully though." Maria said. "He would probably make a great poet if he wanted."
"Really?" John Jay asked. "He doesn't seem the type."
"He wrote a haunting letter after Hurricane Sandy devastated St Croix." Hercules said. "It's how my parents noticed him."
"And I once saw him make an impassioned speech." Maria said.
Maria walked onto the quad to see Alex standing on a soap box. She lowered her satchel, curious as to what he was saying.
"And forty nine people were killed, because some insignificant man, in the big picture, wasn't tolerant of other people." Alex said. "We know the name of the shooter. We know that it was the deadliest attack on the LGBT community. We know that it was the worst attack by a single shooter. We know that it was the worst act of terror since 9/11. But what we mustn't do... We must never forget those forty nine people. We must remember them. Not the shooter. The victims of this... Senseless act of horror." He paused.
"They had jobs, pets, families, lives. That were cut short. The news blames it on the Islamic State, on Daesh. But it's not Daesh that caused this. It was the same thing that caused World War II. The same thing that caused slavery to run rampant during America's early years.. The root cause of every single civil war, every single civil rights concern. Black Lives Matter. Not to forget the Crusades." He continued.
"I'm talking about intolerance. The sole reason that everyone from Donald Trump to Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage in the UK are all doing so well in the polls. America claims to be a Christian nation, yet we all forget one of the Ten Commandments that everyone should follow, regardless of religion. The one that says love thy neighbor, of course, not the one about coveting graven images."
Alex paused as if not knowing what to say next, a true rarity for him. "I, Alexander Hamilton, am a Latino from the Caribbean. I'm a bastard, orphan, immigrant, Caribbean Latino. I am also a straight A student. And I'm bisexual."
He got off his soapbox, picked it up and started walking away.
"That was genuinely the first I'd heard of Alex being bi." Maria said. "But I can't say I'm surprised."
"That sounds like an Alex speech." Angelica said. "Eloquent. He would make such a good politician."
"He's aiming to be treasury secretary." John said. "He should be eloquent."
"Especially when it comes to intolerance." Eliza said. "He's Latino, bisexual and now disabled. He has a lot to fight against."
"But if I know Alex, he can do it." Lafayette said. "Especially with what we discussed that time."
Alex was sitting in an office chair, pushing himself back and forth with his foot as he checked the news on Twitter. Lafayette walked into Alex and John's apartment, carrying a basket full of cookies.
"Hey, Alex." They said. "Peggy and I got you and John a housewarming present. An apartmentwarming present." They held the gift basket out.
Alex held a hand up and turned himself to face Lafayette "Not now, Laf." He lifted his head. "Something weird's just gone down."
"What?" Lafayette asked. "What is it?"
"Britain just voted to leave the European Union." Alex said.
Lafayette's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"And that's not all."
"Do I want to know the rest?" Lafayette set the basket down on the coffee table.
"David Cameron, their Prime Minister, resigned. And Scotland wants to leave again." Alex said. "There's even talk of Wales leaving."
"Wales?" Lafayette questioned. "Pays de Galles?"
"Yeah." Alex nodded. "This is awful. They voted to leave the European Union, because a frog faced racist told them to. And we have an orangutan faced racist urging us to vote for him. This Brexit thing is the worst self-sabotage I've ever seen since... Since me!"
"What do you mean, Alex?"
"Remember my Reynolds Pamphlet?" Alex asked. "Oh wait. No. We weren't friends then. Basically, I cheated on John with Maria Lewis-James Reynolds' girlfriend, the abusive, manipulative shit." He paused briefly. "And then I wrote a tell-all and posted it on the Internet. Some people-William Van Ness-printed it out and began handing it out like it was some kind of political pamphlet. That put an end to John and I's relationship. But things worked out well for Maria. Aaron defended her and managed to help her get a restraining order on Reynolds. Now she's dating Angelica. I also started dating Eliza. So I guess it went well for me too."
"Brexit isn't going to end happily." Lafayette said.
"And neither is a Trump presidency." Alex said.
"So what do we do?" Lafayette asked.
"We rise up." Alex said defiantly.
"Yeah, Alex said pretty much the same thing to me that day." John said. "And over and over this past year. You know he got it from me, right Laf? When we were in high school?"
"It's true. That was John's catchphrase back then." Eliza said.
"His 'rise up' was constantly getting on my nerves." Peggy admitted. "Though he uses it a lot less since we started at college."
"You mean except for that one day, right?" Eliza asked.
"What one day?" Peggy asked.
"Go on. Tell them, John." Eliza folded her arms.
John sighed. "I don't remember."
"Sure you do." Eliza said. "In Summer. When everyone was back home, Laf went on vacation to France-"
"Stop there." John said. "I know what you're talking about now."
Eliza was in her room, flicking through the channels on her TV. John walked in, carrying a box of chocolates. Eliza turned her attention away from the TV-which had landed on MSNBC-and onto John.
"Hey Jack. Happy Bastille Day."
John rolled his eyes. "Oh don't start with that Bastille Day crap. I'm not Lafayette."
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you since the Fourth of July."
"And we know how that party went." John shuddered. "Damn Alex and his soapbox speeches."
"You know you're talking about my boyfriend, right?" Eliza said.
"Yeah, and he was mine too. But sometimes, some of the things he says are... Can be pretty inflammatory." John said. He grabbed one of Eliza's hair ties and tied his hair back, then took a stance that imitated Alex's. "I am a stranger in this country. I have no property or connections," he said, doing his best impression of Alex. "Am I then more of an American than those who drew their first breath on American ground?"
Eliza stood up off her bed. "Immigrants, we get the job done!" She said in a poor French accent, obviously imitating Lafayette.
"We get the job done!" John said with Eliza. Then they hi-fived.
"Yeah, that... That's pretty much exactly how that went down." Eliza said. "Not forgetting all the horrified faces."
"Alex is a little shit." John said. "But he's our little shit."
"Thank you for joining us. This hour it has been about four hours since what uh... Looks to have been another significant terrorist attack-"
"Wait, turn the TV up." John said.
Eliza panicked and grabbed the remote, turning the TV volume up higher.
"-the southern French city of Nice. To give you some-"
"Holy shit. Is Laf okay?" John asked.
"Have you heard from them in the last four hours?" Eliza asked.
"I haven't heard from them in the last day." John said.
"Maybe we should try to get in touch." Eliza offered. "Do we know that they even went to Nice?"
"I honestly have no idea where the Washingtons went." John admitted. "Does Peggy?"
"I don't know, John." Eliza said, turning her attention to the news.
"-a long promenade, a long walkway. It's called the Promenade Dez Anglay-"
"Des Angais." John muttered under his breath, correcting Rachel Maddow.
"Today is... Not an ordinary day. In France. It's Bastille Day, which is the biggest national holiday in France and tonight in... Nice, and tonight, all along the waterfront people were lined up, all along that promenade to watch a big fireworks display for Bastille Day. It was about 10:30pm, local time, which means it was about 4:30pm East Coast Time in the US. Uh... The fireworks had just wrapped up. The crowds were staring to disperse uh... When this attack... Happened. Uh... A big white truck-modern, modern, high profile tractor trailer-basically, was turned into a battering ram into the crowds on the street. There were reports that the truck may have smashed through security barricades in order to get down to the promenade amidst these crow-"
"I don't want to hear any more." Eliza said, turning the TV off. She turned to John "At least seventy seven dead and fifty injured. What's going to happen if Lafayette's in those numbers?"
"If they're injured, then that's okay, I guess. They're alive. But if they're dead..." John paused to think of what to say. "We rise up."
"Thankfully, Laf was in Paris." John said. "Hundreds of miles away from the carnage. And the reason we couldn't get in touch with them because it was like... Three in the morning and they were asleep."
"But we gave them an earful when they woke up." Eliza said.
"Yes. Now I tell people where I'm going on holiday, rather than a vague... France." Lafayette said. "You can never be too careful when there are terrorists and racists and homophobes about."
"Laf, you're not gay." Hercules said.
"I'm pansexual. And genderfluid, so there." Lafayette stuck their tongue out childishly. It got a laugh.
"Well, not everyone's an 'ist', Laf." Peggy said. "Do you not remember the summer?"
"I remember there was a terrorist attack in my home country." Lafayette said.
"No!" Peggy said. She stood up to face the entire group. "That wonderful, once every four years event that brings everyone together, right before they get divided by the presidential election!"
"You mean-" John Jay began, but was interrupted by Peggy.
"Yes! I mean-"
"-the Olympics!" Peggy said excitedly. "I can't wait to watch Michael Phelps do the swimming and I hear they have a Nepalese archer-the first Nepalese dude to participate in the Olympics and-"
"Peggy, slow down." Lafayette said. "We aren't actually in Rio, we're only watching it on NBC."
"I know." Peggy shrugged. "But I want to watch it all!"
"You can't." Lafayette said.
"The opening ceremony's on today and that marks the official start of the Olympic Games!" Peggy said. "Look, after the few months we've had with worrying about you, Alex and Aaron's dog getting shot and this right wing nonsense, we need something good in our lives, right?" She asked.
"Yes." Lafayette agreed. "We do need happier things in our lives."
"Exactly!" Peggy exclaimed.
"But I don't think the Olympics is actually it."
"Laf, you're a spoilsport. There's an entire team of refugees. Russia's been banned for doping. Nepal finally has an athlete. Michael Phelps! And I'm sure there's some awesome French athletes too. It's going to be good."
Lafayette rolled their eyes. "If you say so."
"And Laf ended up loving the Olympics." Peggy said.
"'Loving' is a bit of a, how you say, exaggeration." Lafayette said.
"Don't lie. You liked it." Peggy bumped Lafayette's shoulder.
"Like you liked Britain's new stupid money." Eliza said.
"Fascination isn't liking, Eliza." Lafayette said.
"You weren't just fascinated. You liked it!" Eliza said loudly.
Eliza walked into the library and saw Lafayette sitting at a computer. They were listening on their headphones with their eyes wide and a grin on their face. Eliza walked over to them. She lowered her backpack as she sat down next to them.
Eliza tapped Lafayette on their shoulder. "Sorry I missed your birthday."
Lafayette took the earbuds from their ear. "Oh. It's fine. I spent it with George, Martha and Peggy."
"Heard you moved in with Hercules." Eliza said.
"Yes. I did. Peggy's moving in next."
"She never told me." Eliza was surprised.
"She told me that she'd told you." Lafayette was surprised.
"I guess she meant to tell me." Eliza said with a soft sigh. "Anyway, what are you watching?"
"Oh. It's awesome." Lafayette smiled and turned the monitor to Eliza. It showed a man trying to rip a piece of thin plastic apart.
"What is that?"
"It's the new British five pound note." Lafayette said.
"What? But it's plastic!" Eliza complained. "It can't-it looks like Monopoly money!"
"All their money will look like that soon."
"I'm glad that we fought for independence now." Eliza said. "Well, our ancestors anyway. I can't imagine having to pay in Monopoly money." She took another look at the video. "Even if it is indestructible."
"No way." William walked in, carrying an armful of soda. "Britain has Monopoly money. I have so many people to tell. Anyway, sorry I'm late!" He dumped the bottles on the table, crushing the Doritos.
"William Van Ness." Hercules said, almost sounding irritated. "You're very late. There's only ten minutes left of the year."
"What're you doing?"
"Telling stories." Hercules said. "To pass the time in case someone else dies."
"Then I have one!" William said.
It was Halloween night and Alex's party had just been broken up by George Washington. William had taken Alex's sign that read:
LIN MANUEL MIRANDA FREE ZONE. MENTION HIM, YOU FUCK OFF OUT OF MY PARTY
NO THOMAS JEFFERSONS ALLOWED
And he had it crumpled up in his pocket. He turned to Nathaniel. "So what do we do now?"
"I don't know." William replied. "But what I do know is that Sally Hemings is going out with Hercules Mulligan."
"Really?" Nathaniel asked. "I didn't think that he'd be the type-"
"Well, technically, they've only got a date. It's this Saturday." William said. "Oh and you know what else?"
"Do I want to know?" Nathaniel asked.
"Alex, Eliza and John have just entered into a polyamorous relationship."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah." William nodded. "I just had to tell someone, you know?"
"I don't know." Nathaniel said. "I don't like to gossip like you do."
"I'm going to the college's party." William said. "Are you coming?"
"I think I'm just going to go back home." Nathaniel said. "Good luck gossiping, man."
"And so he left and I gossiped at Columbia University's Halloween party." William said.
"So your story was how you gossiped to me about John, Eliza and Alex's polyamory?" Nathaniel asked.
"Yeah." William said. "Why what was your story? Probably not as good as mine."
"That time Alex eviscerated Professor Adams." Nathaniel replied.
"Ooh. That was good." William smirked. "Sit down John, you fat-"
"We've heard the story." Sally said. "We know what he said."
"So I suppose your story's better?" William asked.
"Actually, I haven't told a story." Sally said.
"Really? Why not?" William asked.
"Because I didn't want to." Sally replied. "But you know what? I think I will. I'll tell the story of the darkest day of the year."
It was Election Day. Everyone was gathered at the Washingtons' house. Mainly because Peggy is dating Lafayette. Philip Schuyler-Peggy's father-was up for re-election and the gang had gathered to support him. John Laurens' father also stood for re-election, but he's an old racist, so it's okay not to pay much attention to him.
Everyone had a reason to be there, whether they be family members, dating family members or family friends. John Jay was only there because John Laurens had invited him. Maria had come for Angelica and Sally had gone for Hercules. Their relationship was moving well.
All the gang had voted for the first time as well, with the exception of Alex and Lafayette, since they were immigrants, but everyone who voted, had voted for Hillary Clinton. Maria voted for Jill Stein though. Everyone else voted Clinton. But the results came in in favor of a different candidate.
"New York has voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton-she's so far got ninety percent of the vote with votes still to be counted. The incumbent-and highly influential-New York senator Philip Schuyler has kept his seat, having beaten out Wendy Long with, again, over ninety percent of the vote." Anderson Cooper said on the TV.
"Congratulations, Dad." Peggy said. "You kept your job."
Philip responded with a light grunt. "Campaigning is the easy bit. Now I have to keep my promises and hope the people like me enough to keep me in."
"Congrats Philip." George extended his hand. "You won a good battle."
Philip shook his hand. "It's these results I'm worried about. All these states that are too close to call."
"A bit of breaking news now, we're calling South Carolina" Philip's phone began to ring. "This state goes to Donald Trump. That brings his delegate count higher than Hillary Clinton."
"Oh jeez." Alex mumbled. "He's going to take the entire election, isn't he?"
"And we're also predicting that Senator Henry Laurens manages to hold onto his seat and-"
"I have to take this." Philip stood up off the couch and walked out of the room. The next thing anyone heard was loud, very loud shouting.
"Why do you think your dad held onto his seat, but barely?" Angelica asked John.
"Because he said that Donald Trump was in bed with communists." John replied. "He's very misguided. But he's not a bad person."
"I'm not sure I believe you there..." Theo said.
"Believe what you want, Theo." John shrugged. "I think he's just an poor, misguided idiot who tries to say whatever he thinks will get people to vote for him."
"Don't all politicians do that?" Aaron asked.
"Not just politicians." Alex said. "You too."
"How?" Aaron demanded.
"Well, we have this 'if you stand for nothing, what'll you fall for' talk every day-or so it seems." Alex explained. "You say whatever you think will get people to like you. You're as reticent as they come."
More shouting from outside the room.
Martha looked awkward and picked up a plate of cookies. "Cookie anyone?"
"They just called another state for Trump! They keep doing it!" Philip yelled, this time loud enough for everyone to hear him clearly. "I swear to fucking God, Bob, if that orange faced, pink eyed, stupid haired, tiny hand bastard wins this election, I'm going to block him every chance I get!" He bellowed. After a very brief pause he screamed "Because I'm still the sitting senator!"
The night went on, and there was maybe another three hours of Philip taking phone calls and swearing angrily at his campaign staff. More states were called and eventually, they called the election. Trump... Trump had won.
"Hercules?" Sally asked. "Are you okay? You've got that look in your eye."
Hercules said nothing. He kept quiet and stared at the TV, looking as if he was formulating plans to assassinate Donald Trump.
"Aaron, what does this mean?" Theo asked with tears in her eyes. "What's going to happen?"
Aaron looked down at the love of his life with a look on his face. Pure terror. "I-Idon't know." He held her close to him and she began to cry.
"Welp." Was all Angelica could say.
"We're all going to die before next year." Maria said. "The world will be a toxic wasteland. All because people voted for an orangutan to take the highest office in the country when said orangutan had zero political experience whatsoever."
"Come on." Peggy said. "That's offensive to orangutans."
"Not the time for jokes, Peg." Eliza said.
"Everyone's going to get more racist." John Jay said. "Cops are going to get more trigger happy. They're going to kill us all because we're black."
"I'm Chinese." Eliza said. "So they're probably going to just run me out of the country."
"Which is just as bad." John said. "I'm Latino. Alex is Latino. We're drug dealing, bad hombre rapists! We're going to be forced to build the Great Wall of Mexico!"
"Just ask Berlin how that turned out." Angelica said.
"Lafayette?" Peggy asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm scared." Lafayette admitted. "I'm an immigrant. He's going to deport me."
"Lafayette, no. I won't let that happen." George said. "Philip won't let that happen. It's going to be okay."
"He's going to deport me!" Lafayette began to cry. "Because I'm French! Or the cops will shoot be before they can deport be because I'm black!"
"I'm black." George said. "Martha's black. Philip's black. Trump will not deport you." George held onto Lafayette's hand.
"But he can deport me." Alex said in a quiet voice. "I'm technically here illegally."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm nineteen. My visa expired back in January. I'm Latino. He's going to deport me."
"No, Alex." Philip said. "I'll get you a new visa. Trust me. It'll be okay. I'll support your application to be a naturalised American citizen if you want-you too, Lafayette."
"See? It'll be okay." George said.
"Until I have to build Trump's wall." Alex said. "Hail to the Chief indeed."
"It'll be okay, son." George pulled Alex in for a hug and held Alex close to him. "We can defeat Trump, but to paraphrase the Beatles, all we need is love."
Theo nodded. "Love is all we need."
Peggy began to play the song All You Need is Love on her iPhone. "Alex, I know you prefer Android, but we need to stick together. Look at us here in this room." She said. "We have each other."
"We have love." Sally said, holding Hercules' hand.
"We have friends." John said, putting his arm around Lafayette's neck. Lafayette smiled and did the same to John.
"We have family." Eliza looked fondly at her sisters.
"Dad's kept his job and he said he'll try to block Trump's racist bills." Angelica said.
"Exactly!" Peggy said. "We all have each other. We're all together. And Professor Washington, sir, reminded me of it." She continued. "As long as we have each other and keep spreading the love... Then nobody can take us apart."
"What about-" John began.
"If nukes fall, then we're all going to die. And we're all going to die as we are right now. Together."
"That was a nice story, Sally." William said.
"Look!" Eliza pointed to the TV screen. "They're about to do the ball drop!"
The group all got to their feet and began the countdown.
"Ten!
Nine!
Eight!
Seven!
Six!
Five!
Four!
Three!
Two!
One!"
Fireworks started booming outside, marking the start of the new year. A hopefully better one than the one they'd just lived through.
"Happy New Year!" Everyone screamed for joy, jumping up and down.
William grabbed a large bottle of 7Up and shook it violently, before opening it and spraying it on everyone else.
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?" Peggy sang.
"Yes!" Hercules shouted. "Fuck 2016!"
"Out with the old, in with the new!" Eliza said excitedly. "Year, that is!"
"This is going to be a good year!" Angelica shouted.
Everyone then ran outside to meet with the neighbors, to share a hug, a drink and a 'happy new year'. As they sang Auld Lang Syne, they were filled with the one thing that they'd been lacking in recent months.
Hope.
A/N: Right! Let's get to it!
The title comes from the song 'Seasons of Love' from Rent. The name for the world 'Seasons of Hamilsquad' also comes from that song.
In this world, Aaron is a David Bowie fan and was shocked at his death. That was the first big event of the year, and so we start with that.
Small reminder: Hurricane Sandy devastated the Caribbean in this world, rather than New York and New Jersey.
Aaron Burr actually set himself on fire, but it was with gunpowder, rather than a match, but I had to update it for the 21st century. He wrote about his fire incident in his diary-which I've read.
I don't like any of the people Maria mentioned.
Or anime. But I met a friend because we both liked Death Note.
I had Maria and Angelica go to Starbucks, but I don't like Starbucks because they support Autism $peaks. They are evil. I'm not going to explain why, but you can look it up yourself. I am not being anti-autism, I am autistic.
Hercules Mulligan was an Irish immigrant. That's something I'm surprised Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't mention in the musical. Of the 'Revolutionary Set', only John Laurens was born in America. Immigrants get the job done, indeed.
The bar fight is based on an actual bar fight I witnessed. Only it wasn't on St Patricks Day, it was on Christmas Eve. So about ten days ago.
Gouverneur Morris and William Due were considered by Alexander Hamilton to write the Federalist Papers. And in this world, they did. Except without Hamilton for obvious reasons.
Hamilton's takedown of Adams here, is a modified version of cut lyrics in the song The Adams Administration. I love those lyrics, so I had to include them. I modified them to reflect that Adams is the professor rather than the president, and Alex the student, rather than staff. If you haven't, I recommend you look up the lyrics.
Hamilton dropping the book is a reference to the stage action 'Hamilton drops a thick tome of paper on the floor', which is itself a reference to the mic drop.
Alex's speech is based on something I wrote after the Orlando shooting, so if it doesn't seem very Alexander Hamilton-y, then it's not.
I toyed with having this part be 'Captain America is really a Nazi' (true story, Captain America was brainwashed by a living version of the Cosmic Cube to be a Nazi Hydra agent), but I decided against it.
David Cameron resigned after Brexit, like a rat abandoning ship. When he resigned and announced that Theresa May would be Prime Minister, he hummed nonchalantly to himself as if to say 'you're on you're own, awesome, wow'. Do dooo do do. Right. watch?v=bprjHYY90lo
Brexit was horrible. An MP was assassinated, racism and hate crime rose exponentially, mostly to Poles. Some people were even killed. A common quote was 'we voted Brexit! Get out!' Some intolerant git even set fire to a Polish family's house. Nobody was hurt, thank god.
Pays de Galles is indeed the French word (words?) for Wales.
The Reynolds Pamphlet happened and William Van Ness played a part in spreading it around.
Aaron helping Maria get a restraining order against James Reynolds is a reference to Aaron being Maria's divorce lawyer against James Reynolds.
"I am a stranger in this country. I have no property or connections" and "Am I then more of an American than those who drew their first breath on American ground?" Are actual quotes by Alexander Hamilton.
The news report Eliza and John are watching is an actual transcript of Rachel Maddow on MSNBC covering the Nice attacks.
And Rachel Maddow really did mispronounce 'des Anglais' as that.
The Olympics, the Euros, and the Cubs winning the World Series (Yes! That happened!) were the only good things to happen this year. Actually, 2016 was a good year for athletes, scientists and fascists, but a bad year for everyone else.
Yes, Britain's five pound note really is made of plastic and surprise! Animal fat is an ingredient!
"LIN MANUEL MIRANDA FREE ZONE. MENTION HIM, YOU FUCK OFF OUT OF MY PARTY
NO THOMAS JEFFERSONS ALLOWED" Is the note that Alex put up on his apartment door before his Halloween party in Hamilween.
The election day scene was summarised in 'Stay Alive, That Would Be Enough', but from Lafaytte's point of view.
As opposed to Rachel Maddow's real words, Anderson Cooper's were made up.
Wendy Long was the actual Republican candidate in the New York Senate election, but she was running against Chuck Schumer. She won almost 26% of the vote compared to Chuck Schumer's almost 67%. But in this world, she ran against Philip Schuyler.
And finally, the ending is a reference to Princess Leia.
Happy 2017!