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i.
They are children when they meet.
Predictably, they fight.
Predictably, Vermont climbs up a tree, using his smaller form and skills to his advantage.
Unpredictably, the crown colony of New Hampshire sits at the base of the tree and waits.
ii.
"Can you not?" New Hampshire asks in irritation as Vermont purposefully knocks another acorn down. The last one hit his head. This one doesn't, thankfully.
"You could leave."
"No. I want to know who you are."
No answer.
New Hampshire huffs. "Please?"
There's movement, and then Vermont drops onto a lower branch so he can actually see the other boy. He crosses his arms. "You first."
New Hampshire shrugs. "New Hampshire." He says simply. No hesitation.
"...Vermont."
iii.
"I'm not going to be Eve." Vermont says.
New Hampshire looks over. Vermont is weird and doesn't speak much, so New Hampshire tries to listen when he does.
"I wasn't made out of your bones or land or whatever. I am my own person." He puffs up. "It's my land."
"You read the bible?" New Hampshire asks instead of starting another fight about territory.
Vermont frowns. "I think I'm Catholic."
iv.
By the time Alfred finds them, it's weird to call each other anything other than their colony names.
It's weird sleeping separately after a decade of sleeping side by side.
Alfred lets them share a room- they can both tell he feels bad about it even though they would rather be together than apart.
They hold hands in the space between their beds.
v.
The first time they kiss, it's nothing but two sets of lips pressed together, but somehow it makes both of them breathless and giddy with joy.
vi.
The day after Cam kisses him for the first time, Monty's still wandering around in a happy daze.
When he goes back to their room that afternoon, however, Cam drops to one knee, presenting him with a ring.
A very familiar ring.
"Is that Samantha's?"
Cam flushes. "Um. Yes. Marry me?"
Monty raises his eyebrows. "Why?"
Cam flushes even more. "Because I like you. A lot. And I want to kiss you."
"That doesn't mean you have to marry me."
"Yeah, but Al said you have to marry someone if you kiss them."
There was silence.
"DAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDD!"
vii.
Monty says I love you first, and Cam peppers his face with kisses, says it back a dozen times.
viii.
Monty finally admits that words don't make much sense to him, that no matter how many times he writes it, his alphabet is always ugly and raggedy-looking.
Cam listens to him silently as he explains that b p d q sometimes mix up and the letters move around. (Math makes more sense.)
And Cam goes and gets Robinson Crusoe, sits back down, and begins reading it out loud.
For the first time, Monty understands the book.
ix.
Monty never thought Cam was being serious when he started to plan to move out.
Sure, Scarlett had left for Savannah and now lived in her own place, and Sam and Foster both went off a few months ago and lived in Boston, but Del and Connie and Scott stuck around.
It actually hits him that Cam's leaving to live in his own territory when he goes up to New Hampshire to find a house and Monty falls into overwhelming sadness.
Especially when Cam starts to pack up his side of the room.
Their belongings had become increasingly entangled throughout the years of sharing a room, but it was still possible to tell which side was which.
And then Cam tilts his head, blonde hair flopping into his eyes. "Hey, how come you aren't packing?"
"Why would I be?"
"Because we're movi- oh, fuck, I forgot to ask you."
Monty bites a lip to keep from smiling at Cam's forgetfulness before his words hit him. "What'd you forget to ask?"
Cam looks sheepish as he rubs the back of his neck. "I wanted you to come with me."
Monty blinks. Blinks again. "What?"
"I wanted to live with you and I found a house in Hanover and it's right next to the river so you're not too far from your land and I've shared a room with you for nearly sixty years and I can't imagine not being around you-"
"I love you. And of course, I'll move in with you."
Cam pauses, registering the words. Then he whoops, spinning Monty around until they're both dizzy.
x.
Revolution explodes in the American Colonies, and Monty is terrified every time Cam puts on that blue uniform.
xi.
Monty can feel the revolution in his veins cooling. Perhaps the war will be over in a year or two, he muses.
He's been to a few weddings, but the general consensus among states is that they always make them at least a touch uncomfortable, the same way births and deaths do.
It's just another reminder that they will survive the test of time while their human companions will succumb to it. It's a reminder that they can not marry and have children and die as humans do.
But Alexander had invited them all. It was an act of kindness and generosity. Most of the founding fathers would have only invited their own state.
Eliza is a radiant bride, and Monty can see Brooke's beaming smile across the room. He doesn't blame her. Everyone knew how partial she was to the Schuyler family, and even more partial to Hamilton.
It was two of her favorite people getting married. Monty didn't blame her.
Cam has been surprisingly somber the entire time.
When no one's looking, Monty slips his hand into Cam's. "You okay?"
Cam glances down. "Would you want this? Someday?"
Monty looks over to where Alexander and Eliza dance.
"One day, perhaps."
Cam grins. "Guess I'll have to get you a real ring someday, then."
xii.
Cam proposes to him the day he gets his star.
Monty's still staring at the other decorative star- the one that will be hung up on the wall in Baltimore or Philadelphia or wherever Alfred chooses to place the family home. Staring, and tracing the writing on it.
His full name- both human and state- are signed on the star. Montgomery Carter Jones, the State of Vermont.
Cam finds him in the Capital building, still there even after everyone else has left.
His eyes are so open and clear when he presents the ring to Monty.
It isn't a ring he got from one of their sisters either.
He legitimately went out and got a ring.
It hurts something to turn him down.
But Monty has just become his own state. He'd been claimed by either Brooke or Cam his entire life. He needs to learn how to be his own person.
Cam just smiles and accepts it. "So, don't tell her I told you, but Sam was going to throw you a surprise party for your statehood..."
(The others might forget his skittishness about surprises, but Cam never does.)
xiii.
They go to war again, and Cam will always fight in the wars because it's written in his bones- liberty or death.
Monty's mouth purses as he stitches him up.
The next day, Cam's uniform goes missing.
Monty crosses his arms and says "Either I go with you, or you don't go at all."
Cam laughs.
xiv.
Cam becomes state leader because no one else will.
When he'd done it, Monty hadn't realized it meant he'd be in direct conflict with the goddamned Confederacy.
States are powerful personifications in their own right, but they aren't nations.
Some of them could hold their own against a nation, sure. A few could even take down a full-fledged nation.
Cam isn't one of those states.
He's tougher than the other states- has more invulnerability than any of the others. Things that would incapacitate the others barely faze him.
But bullets are bullets and the Confederacy doesn't hold back.
He looks like a bit like Alfred, has his memories, but has none of his compassion, at least to the Union states.
So when Cam and Del come back from another fight- Del's right hand mangled, Cam's face bloody and bruised beyond recognition, Monty calmly begins planning on killing the Confederacy.
But then Cordelia follows them in, blood splattered over her face and her hands, shoving her way upstairs before anyone can stop her.
Michael curses when he sees Cass, limp in Riley's arms, and chases after Corey after making sure Riley's okay with Cass.
"What happened?" Connie questions after flinching when Corey's door slams shut upstairs.
Del swallows. "Confederacy shot Cass. Corey shot him. Point-blank."
Monty puts a hand over his mouth. Cass was a child, practically. She didn't pose a threat to Jackson. He'd shot her just to get at Alfred.
xv.
When the war is finally over, they learn that the stars put in storage were stolen only when the government puts those eleven stars on the table and rescind the statehood of the Confederates.
After, Cam screams at Congress about rights- about private property and theft and unreasonable search and seizures.
Cam almost decks the congressman after he says they aren't really people, but Sam steps forward and holds his arm back.
Sam is tiny- 5'2 and barely a hundred pounds soaking wet, but at that moment, she is terrifying.
She doesn't say anything, but apparently, the anger on her face is enough to make the congressman shake.
xvi.
They go home after all the reconstruction meetings. Del gives them one of the pups from Blue's second litter and they name her Stella. She sleeps on Cam's lap the entire train ride back.
xvii.
Sometime after the Civil War and before the Spanish-American, Cam gives Monty the ring he'd proposed with when he got his statehood.
Cam doesn't propose, and Monty doesn't say anything, but he always wears it on a chain around his neck after that.