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“Aaron, you know I’ll get even more sick if I’m out here in the cold, right?” James Madison was currently being dragged along by his friend Aaron Burr. It was the middle of winter and Burr had decided it was time for James to go outside. Burr’s sort-of-friend Hamilton had tagged along too.
“I don’t care! You’ve been inside since winter started!” Aaron threw up his hands and continued walking toward the park pavilion. Alex held open the door for the two others and followed them inside.
It was much warmer in the building, and James was grateful for that. He wiped his running nose on one of the many handkerchiefs he kept in his pockets. Aaron had already taken his shoe size before even telling him that they were going ice-skating, so he was able to get skates for all of them at once (how Aaron knew Alexander’s shoe size was something James didn’t want to think about).
For a while, James struggled to put his skates on, so Alex had to come over and tie them. After two minutes of James complaining about standing around while the blood flow to his toes was slowly cut off, Aaron and Alex took off onto the ice, leaving Madison in the dust.
He stood at the doorway leading out to the frozen pond, contemplating whether he should go out and attempt to skate, or if he should sit back down, change into his shoes and stay warm. His thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind him. He quickly turned around to apologize, and was greeted by what was probably the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.
“You gonna stand there forever?” the stranger asked. He even had a Southern drawl- he wasn’t sure if this could get any better.
“Um, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to ice-skate, so I’m still deciding-” The other man interrupted James in the middle of his sentence and held up a hand.
“Well, why don’t I teach you, darlin’?” he let his hand down and held it out for Madison to shake. “I’m Thomas Jefferson.” James’ mouth hung open before he realized that was his social cue to introduce himself.
“James Madison,” he shook Thomas’ hand, who smirked, and James wondered how someone could keep one’s beard so geometrically trimmed.
“Well then, James, shall we skate?” Jefferson took James’ hand again and stepped out on to the ice. James could already tell this was going to go horribly.
He tried to follow Thomas’ movements on to the ice, only to slip and cling to the other man’s arms. He scrambled for leverage on the ice, only to find that there was no friction. He let out a terrified squeak, before Jefferson put a hand on the small of his back to support him.
“Y’alright there, Jemmy?” Thomas sent him a sly smile and James felt his face heat up, not only because of the nickname, but because of that attractive smile. “Come on. You’re gonna learn how to skate.”
Jefferson showed him how to move his legs, and after getting over his initial fear of falling and damaging his frail body, he managed to skate smoothly over to the other man, who was waiting a foot away.
“See? You’re not too bad, hun.” Jefferson intertwined their fingers and pulled him along, making James stumble and flail for a moment, before regaining his balance and letting out a few coughs. He could feel himself struggling to breathe, but quickly got it under control, trying to focus on not letting his nose run too much in front of this attractive guy.
“Jemmy, you alright?” Thomas tilted his face up with a finger and furrowed his brow in concern. “Do you need to sit down? I can carry you.”
“O-oh, no, I’m good,” Madison managed to squeak out, despite the fact that his eyes were watering. “You don’t have to carry me.”
“Who did you come with, darlin’?” Jefferson asked, looking out to the other people on the ice. James scanned the crowd for Aaron and Alexander, finally spotting them twirling each other around on the ice and giggling. He pointed to them.
“Those two.”
“Wow.” Thomas muttered, before taking James’ hand and towing him over to the couple. “You brought this darling boy?” he held up their hands. Alex squinted.
“... Jefferson?” he asked incredulously. Thomas returned the gesture.
“Hamilton? What are you doing here?” he asked, pulling James over close to his chest.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I couldn’t go to the public county park !” Alex sneered, and Madison could hear Aaron sigh.
“Could you two stop for like, two seconds?” he was half-pleading and Hamilton looked back, looking almost guilty.
“Sorry, Aaron…” he muttered, and waddled toward him.
“ Anyway ,” Thomas jeered. “Jemmy is getting tired and he did the ice-skating you wanted him to do. We,” he shot an annoyed look at Alexander. “Are leaving.”
“Who is we ?” Aaron raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, me and Thomas?” James piped up quietly, sniffling a little and holding his hands over his face to warm it with his breath. Jefferson looked down at him happily and tightened his grip around James’ hand.
“Yup. Me and James.” Aaron stared Thomas down for a second, before sighing and waving his hand.
“Have fun you two.” they turned on their heels, only to be stopped. “And James?” The man turned back to Burr. “Use protection.”
James’ eyes widened and he turned around, looking down at the ice. Jefferson laughed and sent him that smile again, making an unspoken promise.
After a short skate back to the pavilion and the slow process of warming James back up, they finally left the building, looking over at the pond again. Aaron had Alexander in a dip, making them look like competitive skaters, and their foreheads were pressed together. James sighed a little wistfully, and Thomas noticed.
“Don’t worry, little lamb. Soon enough.” he gave another squeeze to Madison’s hand. “Did you drive here?” he asked, looking down James.
“Uh, Aaron was my ride. Can I hitch a ride with you…?” he asked shyly, and Jefferson found himself smiling again, goddammit.
“Of course.” he pulled Madison along to his car, (which looked horribly expensive in James’ eyes) and motioned for him to sit while he got into the driver’s seat. “Just so you know, you’re coming to mine.”