Favorable (Jamilton)

29. Jefferson

On Thanksgiving day, most of the Jefferson siblings were helping cook. Martha had to keep an eye on the upstairs in case their legal guardian decided to wake up for once, while Thomas, Elizabeth, Jane, and Mary got the job of rushing around the kitchen to make enough food for an army. 

Alexander got the joys of babysitting the three youngest kids, keeping them occupied while everyone else got things done. Every now and then, Thomas would poke his head into the living room to make sure everything was running smoothly. And, for someone that wasn't around kids a lot growing up, Alex was doing a surprisingly good job. He handled the twins' arguments over who was playing with a toy first and he kept Lucy occupied with trying to beat her at Mario Kart. He was still losing terribly.

Thomas put his pan of baked macaroni and cheese in the oven and ducked under his sisters to make room for them and their projects. 

As he was waiting for Jane to give him another job, Thomas leaned on the kitchen island and watched Hamilton lose at another match of Mario Kart. Lucy laughed as he set up another game, insistent on trying to beat her. 

Alex tied his hair back in a loose bun somehow without any hair elastic and focused solely on the game, moving his entire body with every turn. 

"Boy, I wish I could get me a man to stare at me like that." Thomas jumped as Mary came up next to him. Alex obviously heard what she said because before he turned around, Thomas could see the man smirk despite losing to Lucy again. 

Mary dragged her brother out through the back door and into the cold weather. "So have you dealt with the romance issue yet? It's obviously still there, or you wouldn't be staring at him like Martha looks at a new book." 

"Did you have to drag me out here to ask that?!" Thomas wrapped his arms around himself. "If you must know. . . We may have had some contact last night."

Thomas realized that Mary probably had never looked more proud in her entire life.

"Wait, you only kissed right? Like that's as far as you went?" 

"God-- Mary, yes, we only kissed! Nothing else happened!" Thomas's entire face went red. "Technically that wasn't even supposed to happen."

"So then how did it?"

"He just, you know, he gets some pretty bad nightmares sometimes and they've been pretty common lately so I usually stay up with him for a while afterward and I said something about missing the full nights of sleep and he took it the wrong way and it just happened, alright?"

Mary tapped her chin with false thought. "So you have some things to work out, huh."

She grabbed her brother's wrist and pulled him back into the house. Then she went to Jane and whispered something in her ear. Jane looked confused but shrugged and set down her oven mitts. 

"Hey, Thomas, why don't you and Alexander take Lucy and the twins to pick out a tree?" Jane said in a slightly raised voice, probably to make sure the younger kids heard it to get them excited. It worked. They were immediately running up the stairs, shouting about picking out a tree. 

"But it's not even December yet," Thomas pointed out in an annoyed tone. 

"Thomas you have been gone for a total of three months. You did not forget the tradition of decorating the tree after the Thanksgiving dinner did you?" 

"That's not even a--"

"I think it sounds fun," Hamilton said as he walked into the kitchen. "I need to talk to you anyway, Thomas." 

An hour later, Thomas and Alexander were walking slowly next to each other while the three younger kids were running ahead at the outdoor shop to find the perfect tree. For once, Alex had his hands shoved in his own jacket to keep them warm. 

"So, you needed to talk to me?" Thomas said, hoping that it wasn't about the kiss. 

"Uh, yeah, about last night. . ."

"Oh, that, right. Sorry about that, I have no idea where it came from."

"Mm, yes you do. Don't try to pull the clueless thing, Jefferson, we both know that no matter how much I want you to be, you aren't stupid."

Thomas looked down at Alex, who looked like he just solved the biggest mystery in the world and now had a big head about it. Thomas just rolled his eyes and went back to watching his siblings hover around a tall tree. 

"Well, fine then. You don't want to admit your love for me, I get that. You'll never know whether or not I enjoyed it, so I mean if you're willing to risk that. . ."

Hamilton shrugged and slowly walked off, obviously trying to make it more dramatic than it needed to be. Thomas was going to walk after him, but his phone started ringing in his pocket. 

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, yeah we sort of need you home," Martha said.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Sort of? Mom woke up and she's trying to help make some cake, right now. Janey and Mary are kinda panicking 'cause, well I mean, it's Mom. Anyway, they told me that you need to get the kids home. Tell them you'll come back to get a good one or something. Just, you know, get home before the house burns down or something."

Thomas groaned and pinched his nose as he hung up to go and herd his siblings into the car.