#jeffercles

9. Meeting online au

Thomas was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and when he was scrolling through one day and saw a photograph of an attractive man wearing a beautiful coat, he had no problem reaching out to the original poster to figure out where the coat was from.

The photo was staged in such a way that Thomas was expecting a message with a dismissive tone and the name of some obscure designer, if he got any response at all.

Instead, he got a paragraph-long response apologizing for the late response, thanking him for his interest, and saying that he was a tailor, and that was a piece he had made for a friend.

Tone was difficult to distinguish over text at times, but the message managed to somehow convey a kindness. Thomas’ first reaction had been to close the app - after all, he couldn’t get the coat, what was the point. That was ruined when his phone dinged and there was a new message from the same person saying that if he was interested, he could have a coat made, or be directed toward similar designs.

It was an easy decision to make, and soon emails and measurements were exchanged. Thomas was meticulous in what he wanted, and whoever was on the other end of the Son of Liberty Tailor Co. seemed to be more than willing to deliver.

There was always a detail to be discussed, and there were several comments about a perfect fit not being guaranteed as it was being done on a mannequin and not the person who’d be wearing it. Thomas simply assured them that it was sure to be better than off the rack no matter what.

He had his coat within six weeks, and the fit had been wonderful. Not thinking about it, Thomas snapped a mirror-pic of him in the coat and sent it to the tailor with the message, “Great fit, you did a great job, thanks.” 

He received a simple “looks great” in response, and that was that.

But the tailor didn’t leave Thomas’ mind. Every time his phone screen lit up with a message, he was disappointed when it wasn’t the tailor. 

James got sick of his whining a couple of weeks in, “Thomas, you’re being an idiot. You’ve somehow managed to get a crush on this stranger on the internet who made you a coat. Just message them! Say hi! What’s the worst that can happen? They ignore you? It’s the fucking internet, Thomas.”

“But what if it’s more than one person?”

James sighed, “Oh my god Thomas, just message them.”

“No.”

James reached his hand across the table, “You know what, give me your phone.”

“No,” Thomas held the phone close to his chest.

James leaned over the table and ripped it out of his hands and entered the passcode, “you know, you really need to change this,.”

“Don’t do anything, James. Jemmy, don’t do it.”

James slid the phone across the table, “too late.”

The tailor must have been online because in response to James’ “Hey! I miss talking to you” was “Same! I don’t think I ever told you my name btw, it’s Hercules.”

I’ll admit that for me jeffercles is a very modern au type of ship - like, part of me wants to see a full canon fic for it, but i’m not sure how realistic that is? Some of these are much more obviously inspired by their 177(6) characterizations.

It’s a very soft relationship

They’re both the mom-friends - Tjeffs with Jmads, Herc with Alex, John, and Laf

They’re totally the type to go out of their way to do stuff for the other, and be completely surprised when the other does something for them

They bitch about Alex and the shit they have to deal with from everyone constantly

In a setting where they were to get together on their own (think coffee shop au or something) without knowing about the other, and then they’re planning for thanksgiving and tjeffs is like i usually have dinner with Jemmy, and Herc is all “oh i usually have friendsgiving with alex and them” and then of course herc is like, “why don’t you, jemmy, and dolley tag along” and then chaos ensues

Hercules is the big spoon

Herc is a tailor and totally has pictures of him and his friends kind of dotted around his shop or whatever (maybe in the workroom) and Gwash is a client and he brings him back there to look at fabric or something idk how tailoring works and gwash is like “why do you have a picture of thomas jefferson” and herc is like “oh that’s my boyfriend” and gwash is just v confused

Hercules makes mac and cheese better than Thomas, and Thomas hates him and loves him for it

Herc and Jemmy bond over Tjeff’s ridiculousness

Tjeffs and Laf bond over Herc’s ridiculousness, and end up being a lot closer because of it

Hercules has totally mixed up Laf and Tjeffs if they’re wearing their hair differently and he sees them from a weird angle or only has a quick look 

Tjeffs and Laf turn this into a drinking game, and Hercules is always embarrassed about it

Dolley drunkenly points out one night that jemmy is just a smol version of herc

Tjeffs has like,, a mini crisis for like five days about whether or not he’s secretly in love with tjeffs

But then Hercules brings him flowers bc he thinks thomas hasn’t been feeling well and tjeffs is like “yeah jemmy would never do that” and all of that confusion is taken care of

Thomas is an obnoxious morning person, and herc,, is Not - enjoys waking up to the sight of tjeffs doing yoga