Critical (Jamilton)

22. Andre Plays Pity-Mon Instead of Poke-Mon

Hamilton

Alexander sat with his feet propped on the coffee table, scrolling lazily through Peggy's phone as she set out warm drinks for everyone. Thomas had yet to show up and a part of Alex didn't necessarily want him to since he was still pissy about what happened, but the bigger part of him wanted to just go back to having those stupid arguments that ended with one of them aggressively apologizing in the most sincere and still sarcastic way possible. Talking wasn't exactly working up until this point so Hamilton was interested in whatever Peggy was planning on doing.

 "Okay!" Peggy cheered, setting down a tray of steaming mugs. "I have drinks!" 

Alex smiled and counted the mugs, turning the smile more confused than happy.

"Pegs, why are there four mugs?" he asked suspiciously. 

"I wanted to invite Andre. Since talking between you and Jeffershit isn't working, I figured we could get down in the deep with this. I talked to Liza and got his stuff, but I haven't actually invited him yet because if you think you can't handle it--" 

Ham shrugged and set his feet on the ground. "I think it's a good idea."

"Alex, don't try to force yourself to be comfortable with this. If you can't do it, that's fine." 

"No, really. I don't want to keep fighting with Thomas this bad and Andre's sort of the source of our problems at this point. So invite him." 

The Schuyler sighed and went back to the kitchen, most likely to make the call. Hamilton sat and waited for her to get back. He let his mind wander to how Thomas would react if he came in and saw John just sitting there. 

So maybe this was sort of a bad idea. 

But Alex wasn't going to let Thomas call all the shots. Getting over things requires some personal struggle right? So really, Alexander was doing the right thing by not beating the snot out of Andre and trying to get Thomas to be decent. Andre really didn't do anything wrong, if his story was true. He didn't actually kidnap anyone, he provided most of the food that kept the victims alive, and apparently, he just took the occupation they gave him to help a sick parent, which Alexander knew a lot about.

He sighed and went back to flipping through the phone, hoping that nothing would go too wrong.

Only five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Peggy jumped over everything cluttering her floor and yanked it open, apparently excited to be holding a group therapy session. Hamilton was sort of hoping to see Thomas walk in so he wouldn't have to worry about John being a surprise, but Andre was closer.

At the sight of John, Alexander wanted to leave. He saw one of the faces of the organization and his pulse at least doubled and he was ready to bolt if he had to. Andre, however, looked nervous enough to cry. In a horrible way, that made Ham feel a little better. Nobody looks intimidating when they cry.

Andre sat down across from Alex, smiling nervously at him from across the coffee table. Alexander tried calling his nerves by smiling back, which wasn't much help because Thomas let himself in not too long after.

"What is he doing here?" Thomas growled when he saw John. Andre stood up.

"I don't want to be any trouble," he clarified.

Thomas took a step forward and clenched his fist. "You should have thought about--"

Hamilton stepped in front of him closed his hands over Jefferson's fist.

"Don't," he whispered quietly. Thomas looked at him and they had a conversation with each other using various eye-looks. Alex ended winning and Jefferson flopped down on the couch next to him, leaving everyone to wait for Peggy to get back in the room.