"Y/N! You made it!"

"What, did you think I wouldn't?"

"Eh. I know you. What were you guys doing together?" Angelica narrowed her eyes at your companion.

"Oh, we met up on the way and decided to walk over together," You replied quickly, "Anyways, where's everyone else?"

"They're already seated. Come quick, I can't leave them unsupervised for too long."

You really didn't want to deal with Angelica's inquiries at the moment. She made it very clear that she loved and cared you, and you loved her, but as you grew up together, she would more and more frequently assume the attitude of an overbearing mother.

"So, Y/N. What happened after you left today?"

"Yeah, you were gone for a while. What happened?"

"If you don't mind us asking, of course." Aaron Burr, ever the moderator.

So they all seemingly cared enough to ask.

"You know most people are nice," Eliza had once told you, when you expressed worry for the millionth time about going with them to college and meeting others.

Maybe you were actually going to test that out yourself.

"Oh, I basically just took a nap."

Angelica sighed.

"We literally just talked about this, Y/N. You don't do naps or... sleep, in general."

"Well, I just took a break then, alright? I get overwhelmed, you know. I just needed to cool off."

"Mnifce goeng, Jehherhonmf!" Alex spoke, his voice muffled by what seemed to be a mass of french fries.

Eliza wrinkled her nose. "Please, Alexander. Did no one teach you manners?"

"Am ang orpfhan!"

Beside you, Thomas had grown oddly quiet. He stared intently down at his menu. There's no way he still feels bad...

You shifted awkwardly and nudged him.

"What are you getting?"

He blinked at you, surprised, and then quickly snapped back into his unnerving, smug smile.

"I'll have whatever-"

"Oh, not this again."

He let out a laugh, a deep, clear noise that made you suppress a small smile. Your heart twisted strangely at the audible relief in his voice.

-

As you leaned against the counter, you watched Thomas from the bar with an appraising eye and a softly furrowed brow.

His eyes sparkled as his face scrunched up in a beaming peal of laughter, his curls bouncing around his face. His teeth contrasted beautifully against his skin. Even from a distance you could practically feel the warmth of the flattery rolling off of his tongue. You could only imagine how the people he was conversing with felt.

He's so...

Never mind.

Watching everyone around you seemingly interact with such ease, you couldn't help but feel a great bit alienated.

And your... friends. They weren't unwelcoming in the slightest. Every conversation in your surrounding took care to reach out to you, but even as you slipped in your own halfhearted shares of feedback and quips, the discomfort in your chest never let up.

Not knowing the reason for your ailment only made you feel worse.

They were amazing, so what broke your heart, was that it was you.

And Thomas. He seemed to shine so, so brightly...

You were so preoccupied with the suffocating, swirling atmosphere and white-knuckling your glass, trying to stop yourself from welling up in tears ,that you almost didn't notice the man himself approaching you from behind.

"Woah there, sweetheart! Wow, you got some FORCE packed in those arms. Nearly took my nose off!"

You managed to mumble out a hasty apology. Your (thankfully, already empty) glass glistened in your shaking hand, and you tried to gather the pieces of your wits back together in the other.

"Hey darlin', you want to get out of here?"

Your narrowed gaze snapped back up, and Thomas's eyes promptly widened. "Not like that!" He rushed, waving his hands. "I mean, just to get some air. It's kind of stuffy in here."

You hummed, hesitating.

"Jemmy and Angelica are right outside, see? We can just stay near them to talk. I doubt Angelica would let you out of her sight anyways. That is, if you that's what you were worried about..." He fumbled uncharacteristically, and something in you filled with a grounding sense of relief at his clumsy state.

Grinning at last, you nodded. "Sure then."

-

"I'm literally going to fall."

"Damn, sucks to suck..."

"Y/N, Y/N- I'm literally going to fall! Please!"

You shook with poorly stifled laughter from where you were perched on a windowsill, as the man below you scrabbled desperately at the bricks with a quickly slipping grip.

"It's NOT funny! Fuck!"

"I-it's not! Sorry, it's not. Um, theres a little ledge just to the right of your left foot..."

Slowly and not-so-surely, the two of you made your way up the side of the building with a lot of coaxing from your part, and a lot of cussing from his.

Thomas growled in frustration as his hand missed the edge of the roof for what seemed like the millionth time. When he looked back up at you, he almost thought he'd already started falling from the way the breath was practically sucked from his lungs. The backlighting of the moon surrounded you with a cold, silvery glow, while the streetlights below illuminated the warm features of your face, framed beautifully by your hair. Your eyes shone with amusement and a little smirk tugged at the corners of your lips, enticing and precious, as you extended an outstretched hand to him.

Curses died in his throat. He would've plummeted backwards onto the asphalt had you not caught his arm and dragged him up to meet you on the roof with a grunt of effort.

-

"You know, you look pretty strong. I didn't expect you to struggle so much."

He grinned at you smugly. "I look pretty strong, don't I?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Well, that's normal anyways, chérie. What, you scale a lot of buildings in your lifetime? And you drank too."

"...Yeah?"

"What?"

Hearing someone shout your name, you peered down at the street. It was Angelica.

"What are the two of you doing up there? Get down!"

You waved.

As you sat and swung your legs over the edge, watching James Madison coax a muttering Angelica away and back to their conversation,
Thomas situated himself gingerly at your side.

"You afraid of heights?"

"No." He flashed you a stupid, beaming smile. You hated how good he looked in the dim lighting. "Anyways, I, uh, noticed you looked kind of stressed back in there. What's botherin' you?"

"Oh, I mean it was stuffy as hell in there. I'm pretty sure the all of the humidity in the air came from fucking sweat particles. But," you cracked a smile, your gaze still fixed on the roads below, as he snorted. "... I'm just not used to stuff like that. There's a lot of people, I get overwhelmed, and... yeah. I'm not really good with people."

He nodded, and when you turned to him, he was looking straight at you. His face was surprisingly free of judgement. "I'm sorry about that. Well.. are you feeling better now, at least?"

The night air was crisp around you. You remembered your combined laughter and complaining during your treacherous journey up the barely 2 story high building. You really didn't realize how much better you felt until you looked into Thomas's warm, concerned eyes. You gave him a small, tentative smile.

"Yeah, I think so."