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Burr didn’t think of himself as a particularly violent person. He didn’t like conflict, preferring to stay under the radar most of the time. And he knew he was passive aggressive, he liked being passive aggressive, especially when people couldn’t tell.
So he’d never been punched, ever in his life. He’d never been the type to stand up and say “Let’s take this outside.”
It just wasn’t him.
And so when he was walking back to Theo, on one of their let's-complain-about-life nights, he was very surprised to see a hand swing into his face, hitting him right across the bridge of his nose.
“Oh fuck .” He says as pains splinters across his face. He presses one of the cold beers he’s holding to his face, and winces at the cold sting it brings. “What the fuck .”
Squinting, he looks up to see a worried man biting his lip, eyes wide with worry.
“Shit man I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you.” He groans and waves him away, the pain focussing right between his eyes, until it’s really almost bearable.
Burr can hear raucous laughter in the background, and he feels his ears heat up, but then the strange, apologetically-violent man is turning around to shush them angrily.
“It isn’t that funny guys, I just talk with my hands a lot.” It’s then that he can detect the hint of embarrassment in his voice as well, and… well it doesn’t make up completely for the pain still radiating across his face, but it does make him feel a bit better about the whole situation.
“Alex, you just decked a guy accidentally while ranting about feminism. This is hilarious.”
‘Alex’ flushed, red creeping up his neck as he whacked the arm of the guy who’d somehow gotten that sentence out between snorts of laughter.
“Shut up Laurens.” Looking back at Aaron, he offered a hand to shake, still sheepish.
“Okay I’m so sorry man, how about I buy you a drink yeah? I swear this wasn’t on purpose.”
Aaron couldn’t repress a smile at how sincerely concerned Alex was being, and nodded towards the table where Theo was sitting. She was clearly dying of laughter, tears at the corners of her eyes as she clutched at her stomach.
“Um, actually, that’s my friend over there, so thanks for the offer but…” He fidgeted awkwardly, half-heartedly gesturing towards THeo with the beer bottle.
Alex’s face seemed to fall for a second before he was wiggling his eyebrows at him, “Oh, ‘friend’ huh?”
Burr chuckled at the insinuation, face flushing a little at the insinuation. No way he and Theo would be like that. They’d been friends since college, and Burr still remembers how they’d met.
She’d taken his hand in a firm grip, looked straight at him and had said solemnly, “Hey freshman. I’m going to be your go-to guide to this school. Please don’t hit on me, I’m a giant lesbian. Theo, by the way.”
He’d just laughed, and nodded, shrugging. “Well that’s fine, because I’m really kind of gay.”
She’d fixed him with a squinty-eyed gaze, eyebrows raising. “Kind of sort of gay huh? What, you aren’t ready to proclaim to the world that dick is great?”
Aaron had been shocked by her openness, and… he’d loved it. “I mean… I guess?”
She’d pursed her lips, then nodded firmly. “Look there’s a gay bar near here let’s hit it up. It’s best to be out as soon as possible. Don’t hit on anyone though, you don’t want to go to your next class and see someone you’ve had awkward one-night-stand sex with.”
She says it with a tone that makes Aaron think that she’d lived through this exact experience.
He shakes his head solemnly, and she punches his shoulder, grinning. “You know, I think we’ll get along fine Burr.”
Alex still looks confused as to why he’d laughed, and he quickly assuages his uncertainty.
“No, no, Theo and I aren’t dating. I’m… really too gay for that.” Immediately after the words leave his mouth, he can feel his cheeks heat up again. Hopefully, in the dim light of the bar, Alex doesn’t notice.
But instead he’s looking at him with a delighted gaze. “You’re gay? Same! And you know what-” He takes Burr’s hand, leading him up to the bar, sending a wave to both Theo, and his group of friends as he does.
“That gives me even more incentive to buy you a drink.” He leans against the bar, obviously attempting to be suave and wiggles his eyebrows again, before he slips forward with a small squeak of surprise.
Burr kind-of-steps forward to catch him, but Alex is already waving him off, coughing, with a red flush on his cheeks as he attempts to recover.
“Human disaster Alexander Hamilton strikes again!” Comes a shout from behind him, and Alex turns in one fluid motion to flip them off, eyes sparkling as he says, “Fuck off Gilbert you french fuck!”
And when he turns back to Aaron, he thinks that he could get lost in that gaze.