The nerve of that kid. Laurens was in the training field, beating a punching bag senseless. He still hadn't slept since his night guard duties, but he wasn't tired. His frustration and the morning light fueled him to stay awake.
Laurens had never met someone as stubborn as Hamilton. He was used to people being afraid of him, doing whatever he said, but Hamilton was different. Hamilton was brave and smart and strong and fierce...and Laurens hated him. Anytime Hamilton was around, Laurens felt a strange pain in his chest and stomach that he could only assume was loathing. The feeling only grew stronger when Laurens realized that Hamilton was just like him.
Laurens punched so hard that the bag was launched to the ground. The punch was so strong and quick that Laurens felt the metal in his shoulder scrape against his bone. He moved to a different punching bag and wailed at that one, too. He was angry. He was angry. He was angry. He didn't know why he had to keep reminding himself of that. After all, Hamilton wasn't listening to him. He was questioning Laurens' leadership. He had mentioned...he had said...Mom.
For a split second, Laurens' guard went down, and he was almost hit by the punching bag. He caught it, however, pushing it away from him.
Laurens thought that he should have tackled Hamilton to the ground the moment that dreadful word had been uttered. He thought that Hamilton should have been kicked off the team right after that mission, maybe even before that. He thought that if he had his way...
Well, shit. This was his way, wasn't it? Laurens was the reason Hamilton was still in his squadron. Laurens had been fighting for Hamilton this whole time, hadn't he? Hamilton wasn't afraid of Laurens, because Laurens wasn't being someone to be afraid of.
That could change.
Alexander yawned as he stepped outside. He hadn't gotten much sleep that night, but Lafayette had woken him up nonetheless, saying Laurens wanted to train him. Although Lafayette spoke without emotion, they seemed to hesitate when they mentioned Laurens.
"Is there something wrong?" Alex wondered. Lafayette's lips were parted for a long moment, as if they were stuck between answering or not.
"Laurens is...upset with you," Lafayette finally said.
"I wonder why," Alexander muttered under his breath.
"I advise that you be careful; try not to anger him further. He is planning to train you hard today."
"Sounds fun."
"I assure you, it will be far from fun." Alexander sighed.
Now, Alexander walked across the training field with Lafayette, spotting Laurens and Mulligan ahead of him. Laurens was lifting a punching bag off of the ground as he talked to Mulligan. Instead of putting the bag back where it belonged, however, he caught sight of Alex, scowled, and tossed the bag a few feet away.
"Hamilton," Laurens despisingly said.
Alex nodded. "Laur-"
"You'll start by running today," Laurens stated. "Five laps. Go."
"You're just-"
"Go." Laurens was clearly not backing down this time. Alexander exhaled, tightened his ponytail, and headed off. After he ran, Alexander had to practice shooting and climbing, then he had to hit a punching bag. Laurens only spoke when he told Alexander to do something different, or when he yelled "Wrong!" anytime Alex did something incorrectly. His commentary was about as helpful as anyone would expect.
After a few hours of training, Alexander was absolutely exhausted, but Laurens still had something in mind: sparring.
"Why do we always spar when I train?" Laurens didn't answer, he just stood in position, his face reflecting the war he was fighting in.
"Fight me."
Fight me, kid.
"What..." Alexander was slightly taken aback. He hadn't heard those words since... Alex shook his head. "Okay." The moment Alex stepped forward, he found himself on the ground. Laurens had flipped him over, throwing him onto his back. "Ow. Jesus."
"Yeah, I'm not going easy on you anymore," Laurens said, stepping back. "I'll let you try again, though." Alexander groaned as he stood, his back sore from the impact to the ground. He rushed forward again, dodging Laurens' lunge at him. Then, Alex's legs were kicked out from under him, and an elbow hit his back. He fell on his stomach this time, his face scraping against the dirt. Laurens hadn't been kidding about not going easy on him. "Are you even trying, Hamilton?"
You call that fighting?
Alexander stood again and tried to punch Laurens, but Laurens grabbed his arm and twisted until Alex had to fall to keep his bone from breaking. When he tried to stand, Laurens kicked his side, forcing him to stay on the ground.
"Get up and fight me, Hamilton," Laurens said mockingly, kicking Alex again. "Just try to beat me."
I said, fight me!
"Stop," Alex whimpered, beginning to curl up in a ball and cover his face.
"No. Fight me." Laurens kicked him again.
If you want me to stop, then you have to fight.
"Please..." Alexander cried.
"Laurens," Lafayette called out, "he has had enough." Laurens ignored them.
"Fight me, goddammit!" Laurens started to kick Alexander more frequently now, each blow coming with another scream.
Fight me! Fight me! Fight me!
"Shut up!" Rage burned inside of Alexander. The next time Laurens tried to kick him, Alexander grabbed his leg and pulled, knocking Laurens off balance. As he stood, Alex elbowed Laurens in the stomach and face, then shoved him onto the ground. Before Laurens could get up, Alexander pinned him down with a knee against his stomach. Alexander wrapped his hands around Laurens' throat and squeezed, seeing red. "Tell me to fight you again! I fucking dare you!" Alexander was pulled back by Lafayette, and he lost his grip on Laurens. When Laurens stood, Alex broke away from Lafayette and glared at them.
"Hamilton, calm down." Alexander spun to face Laurens.
"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Alex sneered. "It's totally fine if you get mad, but no one else is allowed to? Well, guess what? All is fair in love and war."
"I'm pretty sure you just tried to kill me. I think that's diff-"
"Maybe you deserve it." Laurens seemed to falter, taking a half step back. "Maybe you're such a horrible asshole that you deserve it. Maybe you've put me through hell, so you deserve it. Maybe..." Alexander blinked, making his tears fall down his cheeks. When his vision cleared, he remembered that he was talking to Laurens and not...him. "Maybe you remind me of someone..." Alex looked Laurens dead in the eyes. "Someone who had better be dead." Alexander ran back across the field and inside before anyone could stop him, biting back tears.
"Holy shit..." Mulligan mumbled once Hamilton was out of sight.
"Are you alright, Laurens?" Lafayette asked. Laurens coughed.
"I'm fine," Laurens muttered, not looking at either of them.
"You really pissed him off this time," Mulligan said.
"Yeah...but...I think...I don't think he's mad at me exactly."
"Dude, he's mad at you."
"I know that. But there's someone else...something else going on with him."
"What should we do about that? About anything?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Shouldn't we at least tell the general about-" Laurens cut Lafayette off by raising his hand.
"No. Hamilton is fine."
"How can you say that?" Mulligan wondered. "He tried to-"
"I triggered something, reminded him of someone, pushed him too far. He fought against that. That's good."
"But-"
"I said, he's fine. I just can't do certain things to him, clearly."
"You literally only trained him today because you were upset that he-"
"I get it."
"Do you? Because you keep changing how you feel about him. Sometimes he's the worst, and sometimes he's the best."
"Well..." That odd feeling returned to Laurens' gut, and his face grew warm. "I...you know how I am. I do that. Besides, he's...confusing."
"Yeah, but-"
"Enough. He's fine. I'll work with him better. He'll come with us on our next mission."
"Are you sure he is ready?" Lafayette asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." Mulligan glanced at Lafayette, not believing a word. "You two are dismissed." Lafayette and Mulligan hesitantly walked off, leaving Laurens on his own to think.
He really didn't know how he felt, did he? Just that morning, he had hated Hamilton, but now...what was going on with him? Laurens had figured out that the feeling inside of him wasn't hatred, but he didn't know what else it could be. His confusion turned to frustration and his frustration turned to anger and that anger made him do the kinds of things he had done today. He knew this was a problem, but he couldn't fix something if he didn't know what was broken. All he knew was that that feeling was connected to Hamilton somehow.
And that the feeling was growing.