"Today's activity: a scavenger hunt," George announced, walking back and forth in front of the cluster of his employees. An audible groan rose from the group.

"With all due respect," John began, "do you really think having us look for pinecones and shit would do anything to help us?"

The group was in upstate New York on a trip in an attempt to encourage them to get along better, especially since Alexander and Thomas's rivalry was starting to get out of hand. Unfortunately, the team-building exercises George had planned had not helped thus far.

"John, I assure you the hunt involves more than looking for, using your words, pinecones and shit," George said, not without some amusement. "Rather than looking for objects, you and your group will be attempting to complete a set of tasks. The team that completes the most with picture or video evidence wins."

Alexander perked up a bit at this. "I get Laf," he announced immediately. "He has that phone with three cameras; it was made for this."

"Putain oui." Lafayette high-fived his friend. "iPhone 11 Pro, let's do this!"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "I've got the same phone, Hamilton. Not discriminating, are we? Though I wouldn't be surprised if you were."

Alexander glared daggers at him, but Thomas only smirked back. This infuriated Alexander even more. He made his way over to Thomas and glared up at him.

"You know what, Jefferson?"

"What, Hamilton?"

"You–"

George stepped between the two men. "I've already chosen the teams," he told them, interrupting their argument before it could get out of hand. "And I don't want to hear any complaining."

"But, sir–"

"No, son." George ignored Alexander's grumbling at the term of endearment and took a breath, hoping he would not regret his decision. He probably would. "Team One: Alexander, Aaron, Lafayette–"

"Yes!" Alexander cried, pumping his fist in the air. George gave him a halfhearted look of exasperation. "Sorry, go on."

"–and Thomas."

There was an immediate shout of protest. Aaron let out a sigh. Yes, he understood that George would want someone on the team to keep the peace between Alexander and Thomas, but no, he was not looking forward to it. Still, he didn't complain, which was more than could be said about others in the group.

"Sir, I cannot work with that thing!" Alexander was saying to George. "You can't expect me to, you know he hates me!"

"That 'thing' is your co-worker. You'd have to work with him anyway. You two need to work out your differences, and from what I've seen, the hatred goes both ways."

"Yes, sir, but–"

"Enough, Alexander. You cannot switch teams." George ran a hand over his face wearily. Thomas didn't say anything, but he, too, looked less than happy about the team arrangements.

"Team Two," George continued. "James, Hercules and John."

Thomas spoke up. "If I may, sir?" George nodded, and Thomas continued. "James had the flu last week, and I'd like to keep an eye on him. Maybe if I switched–"

"No." George cut him off. "I know what you're doing. I've already told you, you can't switch teams."

"Technically, you told Hamilton," Thomas muttered, though he was careful to say it quietly enough that only James could hear him. James let out a small snort of amusement.

"Actually, maybe that's a good idea," Alexander broke in.

John gasped. "Are you agreeing with Jefferson?" He held the back of his hand up to Alexander's forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

Alexander playfully slapped John's hand away, leading to an impromptu play fight between the two men.

"Get to the point, Alexander," George sighed.

Alexander and John snuck in a few more slaps before they stopped. "As I was saying," Alexander continued, as though nothing had happened. "Maybe Jefferson should switch with John, then–"

"Hey!" Hercules called out, feigning an offended expression.

"Or Hercules," Alexander amended, and Hercules nodded with satisfaction. Alexander turned to face Thomas before speaking again. "Then he can make sure Jemmy's alright. After all, we don't want him getting sick and dying on us," he spat mockingly.

Thomas flushed with anger. He stalked over, glared down at Alexander, who smirked up at him the same way Thomas had just a few minutes before, and opened his mouth to say what would have undoubtedly escalated their argument further. But before he could, George shoved them apart.

"Alexander, that is enough! James is your co-worker, too, and I will not have you talking about him like that!" Sure enough, James was scowling at Alexander from his place beside Thomas.

"Well, you see, I wouldn't," Alexander explained patiently, "but it's the only thing that really gets to Jefferson.

Thomas, who was still breathing hard from unspent anger and glaring at Alexander, flipped him off. George didn't notice and continued to scold the two. "You both need to stop this behavior!"

Alexander interrupted him. "Sir–"

"What now?"

"Jefferson just flipped me off."

George threw his hands in the air. "I can't deal with this right now."

Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he was really not looking forward to this.

"If everyone's ready, get into your groups and we'll start the scavenger hunt," George announced, attempting to regain control of the situation.

"I'm not ready," Alexander muttered.

Lafayette looked bemused. "But we didn't even say goodbye!"

"This is only going to take a few hours!" George exclaimed. "I hardly think you need to say goodbye."

"Yes, but this is going to be the last time we see Alexander and Thomas alive. They might appreciate some words of encouragement before they expire," Lafayette said seriously.

"Fine," George sighed, too exasperated to argue. "One minute for goodbyes."

As everyone else gathered with their friends, Aaron made his way over to George.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" he asked hesitantly.

"No," George responded. Aaron was surprised by the honest answer. "But I'm counting on you to keep them from fighting too much."

There it is, Aaron thought sardonically. Aloud, he replied, "I'll do my best, sir." By way of making conversation, he added, "What will you be doing?"

"Getting a drink."

"I'll join you after."

"Come on, you can't leave me with him. He hates me!" Alexander protested.

Lafayette glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Well, if he didn't before, he does now. T'es foutu, petit lion."

"Thanks, Laf," Alexander deadpanned. Turning back to John and Hercules, he desperately asked, "Can't one of you say that your name's really Alexander and switch places with me? I can't spend a few hours around him, I'll go insane."

"You already are," John laughed. Alexander tugged on his ponytail, and he yelped. "I mean," John amended hastily, "I would, Alexander, but… I don't think we should test Washington's patience any more right now."

Hercules raised his eyebrows. "Since when do you think things through like that?"

"I happen to respect the guy, I don't want him to get too fed up with me," John defended himself.

Lafayette let out a cough that sounded a lot like "Charles Lee".

"That was different! I was defending the Machine!" John objected.

"He was still mad," Alexander snickered.

"He was madder at you!" John playfully shoved Alexander, who purposely stumbled back an unrealistic distance.

"You claim to respect Washington, yet you call still him the Washing Machine. Please enlighten me, how does this 'respect' work? Alexander teased, bouncing eagerly on his toes.

John pushed him again, though he couldn't help smiling. Alexander reached out to shove him back, but John hopped to the side, out of reach. When Alexander made to lunge at John, Lafayette decided to change the subject and end their second play fight of the day.

He swung his arm around Alexander's shoulders, effectively keeping him in place. "You two are going down in this hunt!"

Hercules and John exchanged glances. "Doubt," Hercules said.

John nodded his agreement. "You won't be able to get anything done with Alex and Jeff on the same team."

Alexander groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Don't listen to what he says, Thomas. He's just trying to make you angry." James spoke softly to calm down his friend.

Thomas looked down. "I know. It just… hits a little too close to home sometimes."

"Thomas. Look at me." Thomas did, and James continued. "Don't let him get to you."

Thomas gave a small smile. "I'll try." He paused. "I really do worry about you, you know."

James's smile echoed Thomas's. "I know."

"You'll be careful? You won't overexert yourself?"

"I'll be fine. Don't go picking fights with Hamilton. I'd like you back in one piece."

"Are you saying he'd beat me? I'll have you know–"

"I know. But if he comes back in multiple pieces, you know what Washington would do to you?"

"...Fair enough. I'll try, Jemmy. I really will try."

"Minute's up!" George called out. "Get with your groups!" Team Two formed quickly enough, but Alexander took his time in joining Team One. Aaron sent a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening.

"Here are the tasks," George said, handing a piece of paper to both Lafayette and Hercules. "Meet back here in three hours. Time starts now."

Neither team moved immediately, but stood whispering, trying to decide which task to complete first. John pointed to something on the paper, and Hercules and James nodded, presumably in agreement. Team Two went off one way, leaving George and Team One behind.

No one in Team One was willing to start another argument in front of George, so when Aaron pointed to a task, none of them complained. They walked off in a different direction than the one Team Two had gone in.

When they were far enough away, Alexander stated, "We're using Lafayette's phone." He looked over at Thomas as though daring him to argue.

For Jemmy. Thomas looked away, and Alexander smirked triumphantly. Aaron sighed in relief.

"I hope you were volunteering for the karaoke, Burr. You suggested it," Alexander said brightly, walking beside him.

Aaron shook his head. "I figured you and Lafayette would do that. Seems like something you would do."

"Aww," Alexander whined, sounding a bit disappointed. He recovered quickly. "Sure, we can do that. You record though, we don't want Jefferson touching the phone.

For Jemmy. Thomas scowled, but bit his tongue.

"Alexander," Lafayette warned.

Aaron got a nasty feeling in his stomach.

"I'm just saying, because with all the time he spends with Jemmy–"

Thomas squeezed his hand into a fist.

"–he's probably carrying around lots of germs. I'm just looking out for my friend, I don't want Laf to get ebola because Jeffershit touched his phone."

Thomas closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He could do this. He could–

No.

I tried, Jemmy Jems, he thought. But Thomas also knew James wouldn't fault him for fighting back; he wasn't terribly fond of Hamilton either.

Lafayette saw the dangerous look in Thomas's eyes. He stepped forward to block Thomas from getting to Alexander. "If you need to, go into the forest," he whispered.

Thomas knew Lafayette was right. But he also knew that if he ran off, Alexander would never let him live it down. He let Lafayette hold him in place and settled for glaring at the back of Alexander's head.

Alexander turned around and feigned immense surprise that Thomas wasn't fighting back. Aaron grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him back around to face the front.

"Come on, Burr, you're no fun," Alexander complained, nudging Aaron good-naturedly with his shoulder.

Thomas managed to regain control, and the group set off once again. Alexander dropped back a bit, and Thomas sped up to walk past him.

"Fuck you," Thomas muttered as he passed Alexander.

"Really?" Alexander asked. He stopped.

Shit. He wasn't supposed to hear that.

Alexander looked back at where Team Two had disappeared. "Funny, I thought that you would rather do that with Jemmy, but–"

Thomas punched him. Right in the face. What else could he do? He knew very well he couldn't follow Lafayette's advice and run off into the forest, not right after Alexander said… that.

Alexander staggered backward, and Aaron rubbed his temples. He stepped between the two men.

"All right, that's enough–"

Thomas shoved him to the side. "Stay out of this," he growled. He wasn't done. He turned back to Alexander. "That's like saying you and John. You're really close, does that mean you want to fuck him?" Alexander began to stammer as a bright blush crept up on his face. Thomas ignored this. "Even if you did, he would never want you! You, a broke orphan, when he could have anything and anyone he wants!"

"Don't talk about him like that," Alexander's voice was low and deadly.

Thomas pretended not to hear him. "You're nothing but some broke orphan who tried to hard to be noticed by everyone. News flash! No one cares. As soon as you die, you'll be forgotten. Your mother was probably glad to be rid of you when she died."

"Leave my mother out of this!" Alexander yelled furiously.

Thomas hummed. "No, I don't think I will." He turned around and started walking. "That's enough chit-chat. Let's do the scavenger hunt."

Alexander threw himself after Thomas, only to be caught by Aaron and Lafayette.

"Leave it," Lafayette advised.

Alexander struggled harder. "He insulted my mother!" he hissed. "I can't just leave it!"

"You weren't exactly being that nice either," Aaron told him somewhat hesitantly, still restraining him. "You two need to stop fighting all the time."

"I'll stop when he stops," Alexander huffed.

"He didn't say anything to you! You're the one who started this!" Aaron realized he was close to yelling and took a deep breath to calm down. "We may have had a relatively calm three hours, but thanks to you, there's no chance of that happening now."

At this point, there was a noticeable red bruise forming on Alexander's face, and Aaron winced to think about how George would react.

"Okay, let's do the karaoke now," Lafayette called out to the group, obviously trying to distract Alexander and Thomas from their argument. He pulled out his phone and handed it to Aaron, shooting an apologetic look at Thomas. Thomas crossed his arms and looked away.

Aaron took the paper from Lafayette. "It says you have to sing a duet, bonus points for a live audience."

Lafayette noticed Alexander glaring at Thomas, so he elbowed the former. "Alexander, you with us?"

"Yeah," He turned his back towards Thomas. "There's no one else here, how could we have a live audience?"

Lafayette hummed thoughtfully. "What if we make an audience? It'll show that we'd be working together more, and it could result in extra points."

"Not a bad idea," Aaron admitted. "Since you two will be in the video, Thomas and I can make the audience."

Thomas sniffed. "How do we do that?"

Alexander snorted. "That's for you to figure out."

"They're part of our group." Lafayette reminded Alexander, giving him a look. "We can help them with ideas." He looked around. "Maybe something like snowmen, but with mud?"

Aaron grimaced. "That's going to get messy. And that might be hard to do." He paused, thinking. "What if we did that, but we cover pinecones in mud and stick them together to make mini-snowmen things?"

"Not bad," Lafayette grinned. "And here I was thinking you had no imagination."

Aaron chose to ignore this comment and handed Lafayette's phone back to its owner. "Well, come on, then," he said to Thomas, and they began to build a muddy army of pinecone people.

Lafayette turned to Alexander. "Know any duets?"

Alexander thought for a moment. "What if we write one?"

"Can we do that in time?" Lafayette asked doubtfully.

Alexander grinned. "You forget who you're talking to."

By the time Aaron and Thomas had built what they deemed to be a respectably sized audience, Alexander and Lafayette had composed a decent duet. Lafayette went to give Aaron his phone, then reeled back in disgust.

"Burr!" he exclaimed. "Wipe your hands off!"

Aaron sighed and did as he was asked before holding his hands once more to be inspected. When Lafayette decided his hands were clean enough, he took the phone and when Alexander and Lafayette had gotten into their places, he pressed the record button, making sure to get the audience in the video.

Alexander started off with the first verse.

This is a song

That we just wrote

And don't get me wrong

These are original quotes

Lafayette sang the next verse.

We tried really hard

And we managed to do it

We sound like bards

With our kick-ass duet

They sang in harmony for the last verse.

You never said how long this has to be

We don't have any more to say

Two more lines and then we're free

Now listen to us play

Alexander and Lafayette began improvising on the air guitar, screaming our random notes and rhythms. Aaron winced, but Thomas couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. The song was so stupid. Not surprising, considering Hamilton wrote it, he thought.

When they finished, Alexander and Lafayette bowed and Aaron ended the video, The two performers burst out laughing.

"That was amazing," Alexander gasped between fits of laughter. Aaron shook his head with an expression that looked as though he had already resigned himself to their insanity.

"If by amazing you mean the worst song ever written, then yeah," Thomas muttered loudly.

Aaron cleared his throat and glanced down at the list. "All right," he said, his voice containing a hint of warning directed at Alexander and Thomas. "Let's do…" He looked at Lafayette, bewildered. "Does the other group have the same list?"

Lafayette shrugged and made his way over to look at the paper. "No idea."

"There's a task that says we have to trick the other team into getting into one of our videos," Aaron paraphrased, frowning. "If they had this, too, then wouldn't they be expecting it?"

Lafayette scrunched his face up in thought. "They probably have something different," he concluded after a moment. "Let's do it."

"Yes!" Alexander's eyes flashed. "Maybe Thomas could fake an injury?"

Thomas scowled. Normally, he wouldn't object, he would probably even enjoy it, but he was not about to let Alexander tell him what to do. "Why don't you do it?" he snapped.

A wide grin spread across Lafayette's face. "Oui!" Alexander, you pretend you broke your back or something, I'll call John, and Camera-Man can record!"

"So I'm Camera-Man now," Aaron stated rather than asked.

"Yes." Alexander waved him off, his enthusiasm matching Lafayette's. There were clearly both eager to trick their friends. "We'll say I was climbing a tree, then I fell and broke my back."

Lafayette thought for a moment. "It might be better to have you pretend to be unconscious. Easier to do and describe." Alexander looked slightly disappointed but agreed nonetheless. "Burr, can I borrow your phone?"

"Wouldn't it look suspicious if you don't use your own?" Aaron asked. Truth be told, he wasn't keen on showing Lafayette and Thomas his iPhone 5. Even though Alexander still had a 4, he knew the owners of the 11 Pro would tease him mercilessly. And Alexander probably would as well.

"But the three cameras!" Alexander whined.

"Thomas's has three cameras," Lafayette pointed out. "He can record, then send it to me, and it'll be like it was recorded on mine."

"Fine," Alexander grumbled. "But give it to Camera-Man," he added to Thomas, though he didn't look at him.

Thomas opened his mouth to make a snarky comment, but Aaron mumbled, "Don't." and he closed it again. He handed his phone to Aaron, who gave Lafayette's back to its owner.

Lafayette grinned at Alexander. "Get in position," he ordered before calling John and putting the phone on speaker. Alexander obediently crumpled into a heap at the base of a tree, and Lafayette raised a finger to his lips, reminding everyone to be silent as they waited for John to pick up. Aaron raised Thomas's phone and pressed the 'record' button.

"Hello?"

"John! Mon ami, c'est affreux! Il a besoin d'aide–" Lafayette began frantically. Thomas had to give him credit, he truly seemed anxious.

"Woah, slow down, Laf," John interrupted with more than a trace of concern. "What happened?"

"Alexander was climbing a tree, a branch broke, and he slipped. I think he hit his head, he won't wake up, we've tried everything!"

"What?!" There was clear panic in John's voice now. "Where are you?"

"Just inside the forest, near where we were yesterday–"

"I'm coming, hang on." John hung up, and Lafayette cackled as he put his phone away.

"Now we wait," he announced.

"You said he hit his head?" Aaron asked after a minute. "Is there something hard near his head?"

Lafayette picked up a rock and put it down beside Alexander's head. "There is now."

Thomas got an idea. "You said we tried everything to wake him up. That would include pouring water on him, wouldn't it?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Aaron warned.

"That is a good point," Lafayette said thoughtfully at the same time.

Alexander lifted his head. "Don't you dare–"

Lafayette pushed his head back down. "Shh, you're supposed to be dying. Thomas, do the honors?"

"With pleasure." Thomas opened his water bottle and went over to where Alexander lay in an unnatural position. It gave him some satisfaction to know that he couldn't possibly be comfortable, and his satisfaction only grew at the thought that the water would only increase this discomfort. He poured some of the liquid on his head without bothering to bend over, allowing some of the water to splash back up. The only motion Alexander made was to raise a middle finger, his hand barely off the ground. The corner of Thomas's lips quirked upwards in a smirk.

Just then, John, Hercules, and James burst through the trees. They were all so focused on Alexander, they didn't notice Aaron holding up the phone to record.

"Shit, Alex, come on," John whispered to Alexander in anguish. He moved Alexander's limbs into a more comfortable position and knelt down beside him. "Wake up."

James looked over at Thomas, and Thomas shook his head. James nodded and turned his attention back to Alexander.

John was now cradling Alexander's head in his lap. He looked close to tears. "How long has he been like this?" he asked Lafayette.

Lafayette pretended to check the time. "Maybe… ten minutes?" he lied.

"Shit," John swore again. He began stroking Alexander's face, eyebrows knitted together with worry.

All of a sudden, Alexander opened his eyes, shot upwards and shouted, "Rah!"

The three members of Team Two jerked backward, startled by the sudden movement. Lafayette and Alexander openly laughed at their friends' faces, and even Thomas and Aaron had to chuckle.

"God, Alexander, don't do that again!" John exclaimed, discreetly wiping at his eyes.

Hercules noticed Aaron with the phone and grinned. "You got a video?"

Aaron ended the recording. "Technically, Thomas does."

John stood up, brushed himself off, and walked as menacingly as he could over to Aaron. "Delete it," he commanded.

"Can't do that," Aaron told him.

"Burr. Delete that video, or I swear–"

Lafayette broke in. "We need it for the hunt."

John looked over at him disbelievingly. "No. No way. You are not using that."

Aaron used John's moment of distraction to give Thomas his phone back. Thomas tapped on the screen a few times, then locked the phone and put it away. "I sent it," he said, looking up at Lafayette.

John threw his hands up in the air. "Fine," he said to no one in particular, trying to act as though he didn't care. He fooled no one.

"So, none of that was true?" Hercules asked the people in Team One. "It was all a trick?"

"Yup," Alexander responded, jumping to his feet. "Did you like it?"

"No," John muttered, still sour over the video.

"I'm going to have to agree with Laurens," Hercules admitted. "Faking an injury probably wasn't the best trick you could have come up with."

"It was funny," Lafayette defended.

John made a small noise of disagreement but didn't say anything.

"Hang on." Hercules stepped closer to Alexander and inspected his face. "If the tree story was made up, how'd that happen?" He pointed to the bruise.

"Ah." Lafayette hesitated to explain. Alexander, however, simply pointed at a finger at Thomas.

James shot him a halfhearted look of disappointment that still made Thomas's insides squirm with guilt. "I thought you said you wouldn't pick fights with him."

Thomas crossed his arms. "I said I would try. And he started it."

John pretended to take a closer look at Thomas. "Funny, I don't see any bruises on you."

Thomas sighed. "He said some things, I punched him," he explained vaguely.

James shook his head with a small smile. "No more than I expected."

"What sort of things?" John asked, looking between the two men. Clearly he wanted to know what had set Thomas off.

Aaron took a breath, ready to intervene. He didn't want another argument to start.

Alexander waved him off, much to everyone's surprise. "The usual," he said, not meeting John's eyes. If anyone noticed the faint blush that rose to both Alexander and Thomas's cheeks, they didn't say anything.

Relieved, Aaron turned and took a few paces away from the group. So far, there hadn't been any more arguments. If he could keep this up, the scavenger hunt might prove to be slightly enjoyable after all.

The large group dissolved into smaller conversations, though they all stayed relatively close together, with the exception of Aaron. John drew closer to Alexander.

"You gotta get Jefferson back," he whispered. "Can't let him have the last laugh."

Alexander made a face. "He poured water on me," he remembered disdainfully. He wiped his face on his shirt.

"Exactly," John encouraged. "He can't do that and get away with it, can he?"

"Of course not." Alexander looked down and noticed a sleek, strange-looking box. He bent over and picked it up. "What d'you think this is?"

John took it from him and frowned. "It looks expensive. Maybe some kind of device?"

"Hmm." Alexander took the object back.

Aaron turned back to the group just in time to see the events play out.

"Jefferson!" Alexander called out. He threw the box.

Thomas looked up just in time to see the box flying towards him before it collided with the side of his head. There was a bright flash of light, and a bubble seemed to spread out from the box, enclosing everyone except for Aaron, who was too far away. In an instant, the light and bubble were gone, and the whole group fell to the ground.

Aaron's eyes widened, and he rushed over to where the men fell. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, confused and shocked.

Rather than six men lying on the ground, in their place were six babies.