Chapter Text
When Angelica drops him off at his apartment at the end of the day, all Aaron wants to do is throw off his suit and go to sleep immediately. It had been a long shift at the office; Montgomery and Knox were really breathing down all of their necks to find any sort of lead in the defense case they were working. That combined with Jefferson and Madison’s constant bickering had been enough to set Aaron on edge for the duration of the day. If the two of them didn’t leave the office every evening holding hands, Aaron would never think that they were dating.
Aaron had been working with Angelica, Jefferson and Madison for almost five years now. They were an interesting team, none of them were very similar, and more often than not their work days usually involved them fighting and arguing, but they had somehow helped the law firm of Montgomery and Knox become one of the most sought out law firms in New York City. It was a taxing job, but Aaron would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it.
Once Aaron finally walks up the six flight of stairs to his apartment, (the buildings elevator had been broken for a week), he’s surprised to see a man attempting to unlock the door next to Aaron’s while simultaneously balancing a large box on his knee. Aaron watches him struggle from a distance for a few moments longer before walking forward.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” Aaron steps closer, the man jumping slightly at his question before turning his head. As he faces him, Aaron notices that he has some papers clenched between his lips, which muffle his reply. “I’m sorry?” The man opens his mouth, letting the papers flutter down onto the box he’s still holding.
“Shit, sorry, forgot I had those for a second.” The man says with a short laugh, indicating the papers with a nod of his head. “I said that would be nice, if you don’t mind.”
Aaron walks over and takes the box from his hands, allowing him to finally put the key in the lock and open the door. He walks into the room, and Aaron follows him in slowly, taking in the sight before him; there are boxes everywhere, a sure sign that the man had just moved in today. Aaron hadn’t even been aware that whoever had lived there previously had moved out. Whoever they were, they had always been quiet, and Aaron’s not even sure if he ever even caught a glimpse of them.
He sets the box down next to the others, brushing his hands on his pants before turning back to the man, who’s staring at the towers of boxes with a determined yet exasperated look.
“It took me over three hours to get all of these up here.” The man says, Aaron unsure whether he was saying this to him or himself. “Of course the elevator would be broken the day I finally decide to move out of my friends apartment. I’ve always had shit luck.”
“Well, it’s been like that for almost a week, so it wasn’t really poor planning on your part. Did you move all these yourself?”
“I suppose that’s good to hear, the universe isn’t totally against me then. And yeah, my previous roommates were working. They said they would help me tomorrow, but I was set on leaving today and really didn’t want to wait anymore and -- oh, excuse me for a sec, sorry.” He pulls out his phone, which had started to buzz in his pocket, and begins texting.
Aaron takes this momentary distraction to take a closer look at the man. He’s of average height, a little shorter than Aaron, but probably not as small as his baggy clothes would indicate. His skin is tanned, almost golden, and his dark hair is pulled into a bun at the nape of his neck. His eyes flick up suddenly to meet Aaron’s, who looks away immediately, feeling embarrassed to have been caught staring.
“Speaking of old roommates,” the man waves his phone, “they’re stopping over now to see the new place.”
“Is there a reason you left your old apartment?” Aaron asks, more as a way to hold the conversation instead of out of actual interest.
“It was just getting too cramped, with the three of us there. And my one friend, John, he’s gotten really into rescuing stray cats. He has about four now and my allergies weren’t helping the situation. I had already stayed with them three years longer than I planned, so I just figured it was time, you know?”
“Sure.” Aaron responds, eyes flicking to the door as he realizes once again how tired he is. “Well, I hope you like it here.”
"You’re welcome to stay if you want, and meet John and Hercules. I promise they’re good guys, despite their usual first impressions.”
“Oh, no, thank you.” Aaron starts to make his make his way back towards the door, realizing that there is nothing he wants to do less then spend time with a bunch of people he doesn’t know. “I’ve had a long day, so if you’ll excuse me…” He’s almost out of the door, but then the man has a hand on his shoulder, so he turns back.
“Wait, what’s your name, so I know who to send the thank you card to, for helping me out?” He gives Aaron a crooked smile, which Aaron returns hesitantly.
“Aaron Burr.” he extends a hand, which the man takes.
“I’m Alexander Hamilton. Nice to meet you. I’m sure I’ll see around.”
“Yeah sure.” Aaron removes his hand, which Alexander had been gripping tightly in his own. “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to knock on my door.” And with that he walks out, eager to be in his own house and bed.
Later that night, while he’s attempting to fall asleep despite the loud voices coming from next door, Aaron can’t help but be a little annoyed. He knows that Alexander just moved in, but surely a little common courtesy surely isn’t too much to ask? Him and his friends have been unpacking things and talking loudly for hours. If Aaron had work the next day, he wouldn’t hesitate to go over and ask them to quiet down, but he had the weekend off, so instead he draws the covers over his head in an attempt to block out the noise.
It works for a few moments, but then a loud voice, one Aaron recognizes to be Alexander’s, begins singing, and soon his two friends are soon joining in. Aaron groans and tries to pull his pillow over his head.
He’s used to things being quiet on his floor. Nothing too exciting or chaotic ever happened, which is one of the reasons Aaron has lived in the same place ever since he graduated college. The only crazy thing that happens is when the old woman who lives on the other side of him occasionally catches whatever she’s attempting to bake on fire.
A loud crash from next door makes Aaron jump in surprise. There’s a moment of silence, and then the sound of three voices laughing simultaneously. Aaron rolls his eyes and presses his pillow more tightly to his head.
He just hopes that things will calm down after tonight.
-
The next morning, Aaron is lounging around in his pajamas and on his second cup of coffee when there’s a knock at his door. He doesn’t move towards it at first, thinking that he had only been hearing things, when the unmistakable sound of a second knock echoes through the room. He gets up from his couch and walks towards the door, wondering if someone on his hall had gotten his mail again, which was a common occurrence.
When he opens the door, however, it is to see a smiling Alexander Hamilton staring back at him.
“Hey neighbor! Sorry to bother you so early, but while I was unpacking all of my stuff, I realized that I don’t have any coffee. I have a coffee pot and a whole lot of mugs, but no actual coffee. Usually I would just go out and buy some, but today is a day where I just really need some coffee in my system before I can start doing things. I kind of live off of coffee, you know? And you said if I ever need anything to just to knock on your door, so, here I am!”
Throughout his speech, Alexander didn’t seem to take pause once. He instead spoke all of his words in one breath, making it almost impossible for Aaron to keep up.
“Yeah...yeah, that’s fine.” Aaron responds after a moment, realizing that he did say that Alexander could knock on his door anytime. He just didn’t think he would actually take him up on the offer, which had been more out of politeness than sincerity. ”Come on in, you can borrow some of mine.”
He steps away from the door, allowing Alexander room to follow him inside, and goes into the kitchen to grab his tin of coffee grounds.
“Nice place.” Alexander’s voice says from behind him. When all Aaron does is make an affirmative hum, he hears Alexander take a deep breath. “Yeah I really like my place a lot so far, I mean, sure it’s only been a day, but I feel like I’m really going to like it. Plus it’s closer to my job, which is nice, and no cats, always a plus. Although it’s weird living alone. Do you live alone?”
“I do.” Aaron turns back around and hands Alexander the coffee grounds, hoping that he’ll just say thank you and go back to his room. But of course he doesn’t.
“Is that weird for you, living alone?” Alexander looks up at him, genuine interest on his face. “I can’t tell if I like it yet. Do you get lonely?”
“I guess I don’t really notice it.” Aaron lies, not wanting to get into this with someone he barely even knows. “It’s an adjustment, I suppose.”
“Yeah.” Alexander clutches the tin to his chest, biting his lower lip before shrugging. “I mean, it’s not a huge adjustment, I guess. I lived alone for a little when I was 14, after my mom died.”
“Oh…I’m sorry, I-“
“No, no, I’m sorry. I know people get uncomfortable when I say that, I didn’t mean to, I just ramble a lot.”
Aaron peers over at Alexander, who is shifting from foot to foot, looking at the ground. Aaron sighs and passes a hand over his eyes, half wishing that he had not opened the door so he wouldn’t have to have this conversation. But unfortunately, he did open the door.
“My mom passed away as well.” Aaron says, letting the words fall quickly from his lips. “My dad too, so I was raised by my Uncle, but I was pretty young so I don’t remember my parents that well anyway.”
“Oh.” Alexander is looking at him again, something unmistakable in his eyes. “Still, that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m sorry.”
Aaron just shrugs in response. He’s always been uncomfortable with pity, it never does anything to rectify his situation, it just reminds him that he’s lost something and should be sad about it.
“Anyway, thanks for the coffee. I’ll make sure to return it when I’m done.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Aaron says as he follows Alexander back over to the door. “Consider it a housewarming gift.” He can’t help but smile at the look Alexander gives him when he says that.
“Thank you, seriously, thanks. You’ve saved my life. I’ll see you later!” And then he’s gone, shooting Aaron one last smile before disappearing around the corner.
And Aaron does see him later. In fact he sees him two more times in the same day, and then again and again the next day. Alexander stops by his room for the most random things, a little bit of sugar, milk, a pan, even a singular egg for some unknown reason. Each time, Aaron finds himself getting less surprised and a little more annoyed. He knows he told Alexander that he could stop by any time, but he didn’t mean literally any time. But he also doesn’t know how to bring it up because he doesn’t want to hurt Alexander’s feelings, but Aaron really is reaching his limits of patience.
When there’s a knock on his door Sunday night, Aaron groans out loud, wondering what it was he’d done in a past life to deserve this. Still, he makes his way over to the door and opens it.
“Aaron Burr, sir!” Alexander says brightly, leaning on his doorframe. “I was wondering if you wanted to come out to dinner with us, it’s on me, as a repayment for letting me basically raid your kitchen the past few days.”
“Us?” Aaron asks, unable to stop himself.
“Yeah, me and my past roommates, John and Herc. We’re meeting up with a few other people for some drinks.”
“Well, thank you, but I’m afraid I can’t. I’m…busy.” Another lie.
“Aw, come on.” Alexander practically whines, giving Aaron a smile. “You can drive down and meet us there when you’re not busy.”
“I don’t have a car.”
“Burr, if you don’t want to come then just tell me, you don’t need to lie-“
“I’m not.” Aaron says with a roll of his eyes. “I really don’t have a car. And I work tomorrow, so I can’t go out tonight, maybe another time.”
“Ok then, another time.” Alexander looks like he’s going to say more, but then two other people appear behind him, cutting off whatever he was going to say next.
“You ready to go, Alex?” Asks the shorter of the two as he throws an arm around Alexander’s shoulders.
“Yeah man, let’s go!” The taller on says. “Eliza is already there and I can’t keep my girl waiting.”
“Shut up, Herc. You guys aren’t even dating yet.”
“Yeah but we almost are, and the almost stage is the most delicate, which is why I can’t mess anything up, so let’s go already. Hey man.” He turns to Aaron and holds out a hand. “I’m Hercules Mulligan. And that’s John Laurens.” He nods to the other man, who gives Aaron a small salute.
“I’m Aaron Burr, nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Sorry that you have the unfortunate luck of living next to Alexander, I’m sure he’s already annoyed the hell out of you. Lemme guess, he’s come over and asked you for various food items and probably knocked on your door close to a hundred times?”
“Oh, well-“
“Be quiet, Herc.” Alexander interrupts, face flushing. “I thought you were in a rush, so let’s go.”
Hercules and John snicker but start making their way downstairs, leaving Aaron and Alexander alone again.
“Sorry about them.” Alexander says, looking up at Aaron. “I told you how bad they are at first impressions.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Have I been annoying you? I really haven’t meant to, I just thought we were friends. Seriously, you can just close the door in my face the next time I knock if you want, I won’t take it personally.”
Aaron can’t help but raise his eyebrows at that, wondering how anyone could not take that action personally. He’s about to tell Alexander that he has been a little annoyed, but when Aaron looks at him, Alexander is looking so crestfallen that Aaron swallows his words and shakes his head.
“You’ve been fine, I have no problem being your coffee supplier.”
“Good.” Alexander is smiling at him again, and Aaron’s hoping he won’t regret this small white lie. “Well, I’ll see you later.”
When Aaron closes the door after Alexander leaves, he tells himself that the feeling in his stomach is due to the leftover chicken he’d eaten for dinner, and not because of anything Alexander said. But the feeling is a nice, fluttering one, not a churning one that is usually associated with bad, leftover takeout.
“I just thought we were friends.”
Aaron doesn’t know why those words hit him so strongly, it’s not like he hasn’t had friends before, he is friends with Angelica and Madison after all. Maybe it’s because Alexander's words seemed to come out of nowhere, surprising him; Alexander is not the type of person that Aaron usually attracts, and he's not the type of person that Aaron himself usually befriends. Or maybe it's the fact that Aaron's not sure if he even wants to be friends with Alexander, they had just met after all.
That night, as Aaron once again tries to fall asleep with his pillow pressed to his head as Alexander and his friends drunkenly return from their night out, he's already regretting telling Alexander that he wasn't annoyed by him, because God, was he annoyed. Is he overreacting? Maybe he is. A loud crash and more laughter echoes from the other side of Aaron's wall, the voices only rising in pitch.
No, he's not overreacting at all.
-
The next day as Angelica picks him up for work, Aaron can’t help but nod off a little against the window. He barely got any sleep last night, thanks once again to Alexander and his friends.
“Long night?” Angelica asks him as his head snaps back up. “Did you have a hot date?”
“You know I did not have a hot date, Angelica.” Aaron says as he rubs at his forehead. “Try a new annoying neighbor.”
“You’re kidding? What happened to the little old lady next to you?”
“She’s still there, it’s the room on the other side. Some new guy. He hasn’t given me one moment of peace the whole weekend.”
“Good.” Angelica says with a smirk in his direction. “You have too much peace and quiet anyway, you need to get out more. You’ve been cooped up in that apartment ever since-“
“Angelica.”
“I know, I know, I’ll drop it, sorry.” And she does, which Aaron is grateful for. She always knows when to not push things too far.
Him and Angelica have been friends for almost seven years, he met her his freshman year of college, when she had been a junior. Aaron’s first year at Princeton had been rough, he had a lot of trouble adjusting to college at 16, and Angelica had been one of the first people to befriend him, and he’s always been thankful that she did. The Schuyler's are a great family, and even though Aaron has only met Angelica's sisters briefly, he had liked them instantly. But Angelica would always be his favorite; they had a relationship founded on mutual respect despite their many differences, and Aaron knows he wouldn't be where he is today if it weren't for Angelica Schuyler.
They walk into the office together, Angelica telling him some story of her latest dating adventure, where the guy had been so nervous that he had choked on his spaghetti.
"He was a nice guy, but it definitely ruined the mood." Angelica says as she walks into their office, throwing her jacket across her chair with a sigh, making Aaron roll his eyes at her. She was always so dramatic.
Aaron walks over to his desk, which is unfortunately situated across from Jeffersons, and sets his things down on his desk. He sits down with a tired groan, which causes Jefferson to look over at him.
“Burr, no offense,” Jefferson starts slowly, a smirk spreading across his face, which is a sure sign that whatever he’s about to say is going to offend, “but you look like shit.”
“Thanks, Jefferson.”
“Give the man a break.” Angelica pipes in from over at her desk. “He had a long night, new neighbor, and apparently he’s a a force to be reckoned with. Aaron got no sleep.”
“Really? Well what’s his name, so I can send flowers?” Jefferson laughs and then winces as Madison comes up behind him and swats him on the shoulder.
“Alexander Hamilton.” Aaron responds, not prepared for the collective intake of breath that happens around him at his words.
“Hamilton?” Three voices echo back at him, all of them filled with surprise.
“Uhm, yes?” Aaron pushes his chair back so he can look at all three of them. “What, you know him?”
“Thomas and I went to college with him.”
“I only knew him for a year, but it was the worst year of my life.” Jefferson adds, shaking his head in disgust. “Forget the flowers, I’m sending him a pile of rocks.”
“Oh come on, he’s not that bad.” Angelica turns to face Aaron. “He works with my sister, Peggy, at Washington and Greene’s firm.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Aaron narrows his eyes as he looks back and forth between each of them. “Are you telling me this is the same Alexander that-“
“Got a professor fired?”
“Insulted me in front of the entire Columbia campus with a megaphone?”
“Blew his first day in court by having his opening statement go on for two hours?”
“Yes.” They all say the word in unison again, and Aaron groans, letting his head drop onto his desk with a thud.
This was going to be so much worse than he had originally thought.