This one involves a lot of timeskips sorry

also slapped in a temporary cover. got it from zedge.net

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"They want to do what now?"

"A taste test," Teddy repeated.

Thanks to last night, I put on extra layers of clothing to thaw my practically frozen body that morning. "The president insisted, and the body agreed on it. You never really sold meringues to a lot of people so they don't know if it's as good as the few say," Teddy explained.

I chewed on the inside of my cheeks while Daisy pulled me to a comforting side hug. "Dude, couldn't you have worded it nicer?!" she scolded her boyfriend, whacking him by the arm as she glared down at him (yes she is taller than us).

"I-it's fine, really," I swallowed.

"Shit, sorry Mattie."

I cleared my throat and nodded. "They do have a point though. Support local sure, but it's always good to check the salability of products before agreeing to a sponsorship," I explained. "After all, I'm sure the Jocks wouldn't want to serve bad candy to the people."

"Who are the ones coming to taste? So I'd know how many I should make."

"Hmm, I'd have to ask the other jocks about that."

Teddy opened the door to our first class and gestured us to enter before him. "Is he gonna do it?" I whispered. Daisy snickered. She raised three fingers up, and I silently counted down with her.

"Good morning y'all!" Teddy cheered.

"There it is."

There were mumbles of sleepy greetings back, but there was one bright enthusiastic one that caught our attention. I skipped over to Chris, Daisy and Teddy close behind. "Morning!" I chirped, leaning down to give Chris a cheek kiss before taking a seat.

"How cute," Daisy cooed sarcastically.

I turned to face Daisy behind me with a scrunched up face, and she laughed at the double chin I purposefully jutted out to add to my reaction. "You just jealous Teddy don't kiss you good morning like that," I mocked, bobbing my head sideways as I spoke. "and Chris and I aren't together." Chris chuckled, spinning around on his seat so he could face the three of us.

"Oh, I can do her one better," Teddy laughed.

"Wha-"

Teddy pulled Daisy down and gave her a short, passionate kiss on the lips. I hollered encouragingly, Chris gave a mix of scoff and chuckles, and a few nosy classmates whistled at the scene. "Get some!" someone screamed in the background. When Teddy pulled away, I broke into a laughing fit as Daisy blinked, stunned.

"Oh, ok wow," was all Daisy could say.

"Morning, babe." Teddy winked at the still shocked woman.

What a way to start the morning.

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"So... five people?" I clarified. Ten minutes in and he professor still hadn't arrived.

"Mmhm. One of them is me, so there's one sure yes."

"Eh, you just want free food from Mattie," Daisy teased.

"Whaaaaaaat? No, no, not at all," Teddy defended weakly.

"You guys could've just said so."

I reached down to my bag and tossed two biscuits over my shoulder. "Whoo! It's raining!" Teddy hooted, catching the snacks. "Anyways, so five people. I can do that. When are they all free?" I asked, getting some food for myself and Chris.

"Well..."

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"Okay! None of you disturb me," I announced, pushing the door open with my shoulder, frantically typing on my phone with one hand and holding a paper bag with the other. "I have to use my oven in the next three hours. I called off work, but I'll be gone in this evening. I have take-outs for the both of you for dinner."

"Uh... about that..."

"Yeah?" I replied to John, not looking up.

"Who is he?"

I froze.

Disregarding the pronoun, I sure hope either John and Alexander are messing with me by making his voice low and gruff. I really hoped that was the case. I refused to look up.

"If I look away from my phone right now, please tell me it's only you and John there."

"Well, that's not the case right now..."

"Qui est ce petit homme?"

That was definitely neither of them.

Taking a calming breath, I slowly and clearly raised my head up to the scene before me.

...

Oh.

Oh no.

Not now.

"Uhh, hi?" the one in the bandana waved at me awkwardly.

"Hi."

The noise I made out to say that one-syllable word could be equated to a deflating balloon with the end pinched as the air escaped.

The tall one, actually the tallest one out of the four (oh fuck me in the back there's four of them now), wore a blue coat, but it wasn't like the Continental Army uniform. It looked different, more regal? Sophisticated? I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The other man wore a dark green coat similar to Alexander's. Early 1800s fashion, perhaps?

"Is this a bad time?" Alexander chuckled uneasily.

The tallest man made his way to me, his bun bouncing gently in the air as his knee-high boot heels (high-key wanting a pair of my own now; wait, those already existed before?) clicked on the floor. He bowed a bit and put out his hand for a handshake.

He was a whole fucking foot taller than me. And he's in heels.

"Bon après-midi monsieur," he greeted...? I think it was a greeting. Without a doubt, this man is French.

"Pas un monsieur," John and Alexander said simultaneously.

So this is how my friends feel like when Jacques and I speak in our languages... I thought.

"Oh! Désolée, mademoiselle." He shifted his hand so his palm was up, as if he was... asking for something?

"Pas une mademoiselle," John and Alexander spoke up at the same time once again.

"Quoi?!"

The Frenchman pivoted to the two, his hand falling back to his side completely. "You two are messing with moi," he said accusingly, his accent heavy. The two men in modern clothing shook their heads, while I remained standing and lost not knowing what their conversation was. I never studied French, so all I could pick up from my barely even surface level knowledge of the language was the "sir" and "miss", and that's it. My confusion must've been so obvious that one of them picked it up.

"Sorry for them," the bandana man apologized. "I don't speak French, either."

"Glad to know someone shares the same sentiments...?"

My phone buzzed, snapping me out of my trance. I shook my head rapidly before checking the time. 4:03. The meeting was at 6:30. "I am so sorry you two, but I don't have time for this right now. I'm Mattie, we'll do the rest of the introductions later," I explained. I kicked off my shoes and moved past all of them, removing my jackets and dropping them along with the paper bag on the table on the way.

"Alexander! John! Please fill them in with everything."

I opened the bottom drawers in the kitchen and began pulling out the things that I needed for baking. I knew everyone was watching me from behind, but I was too absorbed with the time to care about that right now. Though, I did spare a second to look over my shoulder.

"Oh, and shoes off, please."

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The preparation part of making meringue was an absolute headache, not because of how to make it, but rather the environment I was working in. Alexander wouldn't stop bugging me with every single thing that he saw I was doing, John having to physically restrain him when he wouldn't shut up about the hand mixer. At some point the other two guys joined in, and I was on the verge of throwing the mixer at them while it was still on. I couldn't care if they just got here hours ago, until I know these cookies are safely baking in the oven, I was restless.

John was the only actual helpful person right now, trying to keep everyone away from me. Good. He'll get some of the extras as a reward.

As soon as I piped all the meringue on the baking sheets and got them in the preheated oven, I put the piping bag with the little batter it had left in the fridge before cleaning the counters. Once that was done, I wiped my hands and finally faced the group of men.

"Okay, I'm free. Let's talk."

Everyone stopped their conversations. I pushed myself up so that I was sitting on the counter. "Again, I'm Mattie, and I'm the owner of this house. Well, tenant really, but you get the point," I began. I paused for a second, checking their reactions to make sure they were catching on.

"What are your names?"

"Hercules Mulligan," the one in the bandana introduced.

"Just call me Lafayette," the Frenchman supplied.

I knew these two after researching about Alexander, and I knew that Lafayette could not be called Lafayette when the time comes that he'd be going out of the apartment. "I'll be direct. Lafayette, your name is too dead of a giveaway if we call you that outside. Is there any other names I can call you?"

"Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette. How you say it, uh, take a pick?"

When I said I was bad at names, I wasn't shitting anyone. "Gilbert," I decided, it being one of the only three names that I picked up from what he said. "But for the meantime I'll call you Lafayette. Would that be alright for you?"

"Oui."

That I could understand.

"Okay."

I cleared my throat during the silence, not really knowing what to say at the moment with my mind too wound up with the meeting that was to happen in about two hours. Apparently, Teddy and the other judges decided it was best to hold the taste test as soon as possible, and by that they meant tonight. I didn't have the heart to say that meringue takes a long time to bake so I just rolled with it. I checked the time. 4:34.

"Mattie, are you okay? You look stressed."

"Yeah, I am," I breathed out truthfully. "I have an important meeting this evening and I was not anticipating my house to reincarnate two more men of history today, plus I only bought dinner for two."

I sighed as I rubbed the side of my head. "Hercules, Lafayette, I'm sorry I couldn't greet you as kindly as I did to John and Alex right now. You two must be so confused, but in the next few days I promise I'll walk you two through everything. Right now, I'll get some delivery for all of us."

"Delivery of what?" Alexander piped in.

"Food."

I hopped off the counter and stuffed the two lunchboxes in the fridge. They could be heated for some other time. I opened my phone and ordered a delivery that would fit for all of us. Then, I checked if there was enough rice in the rice cooker.

Alexander and John did most of the talking, me joining in either to correct them or explain what they couldn't. Both Lafayette and Hercules admitted that they were relieved to at least wake up to familiar faces, which I'm sure would explain why they weren't so antsy when I saq them. They were most curious about me, so I went ahead and talked about it.

"They...? Hold on, I'm lost. Is there more of you?"

"No, just one of me. The they, them, their pronouns can be used as singular pronouns now. There's actually more pronouns too, but let's stick to the ones you know for now."

"What...? There's more now?!"

"Yep."

Lafayette leaned back with his eyebrows knitted, scratching the side of his head. "But... why? English was already confusing before!" he complained. Out of everything I talked about, that was what you were concerned of the most... Hercules patted his back out of pity, despite his own confusion displayed on his face.

"Lots of things have changed, in every aspect. New things, upgraded things, obsolete things."

"We don't need feathers to write now!" Alexander interjected, putting out the pen I gave him before. "These are so much easier to hold, too!"

Ding!

Lafayette and Hercules whipped their head at the direction of the oven, whose timer just went off. "Ah, don't!" I stopped John before he could open it. "Those have to cool inside for the next hour so they don't turn chewy."

"Oh."

"Are those meringue?"

This might be the first time they guessed something right. Not sure, I lost track ever since Alexander. "Yeah, it's for my meeting later," I answered Alexander, who was peering through the oven's glass. A second later there was knocking on the door.

"Delivery for Mattie?" a voice asked from outside.

"That's the food!" I cheered.

I dashed to the door, getting my wallet from my bag. "Good afternoon," I greeted politely to the delivery person as I opened the door.

"Bonjour, Mattie."

I looked up from taking out bills.

Well, talk about coincidences.

"Jacques?" I exhaled, immediately recognizing the guy. His accent wasn't as thick as Lafayette's, but it was still recognizably there. Jacques beamed at me, and my open mouth immediately curled into a smile. As much as I want to hug him hello, he was holding my order, and I did not want him to drop that.

"Bonjour, you French fuck! Since when did you start working at KFC?"

"Since last month? Anyways, here's your order and receipt."

I was too distracted with my friend and orgmate to really take notice of Lafayette by the bed staring at me horrendously for my butchered French greeting. Once I set down the food on the floor and paid Jacques with some extra tip for him I decided a little chat wouldn't hurt.

"How's rehearsals?"

"Same old, same old. There's one later tonight, you should stop by if you don't have work. We never see you and Chris anymore."

"Actually, I think I will. I'm meeting with Teddy and some of the jocks later in the SU building."

Jacques peered over me to look in my apartment. "Wow, your friends are excited for Halloween," he whispered, his eyes noticeably on Lafayette and Hercules. I swallowed thickly, feeling my muscles tense. I tried to block most of his view, which was a little difficult considering that he was freakishly taller than me. Why were these westerners blessed by their towering heights...?

"Yeah, they're just trying out their costumes." I really hope the unease in my laughter wasn't obvious.

"They're going to the party, too?"

"Are outsiders allowed?"

Jacques shrugged. We talked for another minute before he hugged me and I kissed him on the cheek goodbye. Once I closed the door Alexander was the first to speak.

"Was that your boyfriend?"

I heard this tone of voice too many times in my youth not to recognize it. "No, we belong in the same organization, that's why I knew him," I explained flatly. I picked up the food and set it on the table, avoiding the man's inquisitive gaze.

"Are you sure? You two seem awfully close."

This was definitely new from Alexander. "Yes, now let's get back to Laf and Herc." I looked back at the two newcomers and continued talking before Alexander could. "So I guess you two have to have a change of clothes. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any right now that would fit, so I'm going to have to take you two shopping some other time. Are you two hungry-?"

"Starving," Hercules replied quickly.

"Seconded," Lafayette agreed.

And so, the two had their first 21st century meal of their lives.