Hercules rubbed his temples, the din of the crowd seeming magnified, the slamming of lockers sounding like gunshots. He had a killer hangover to say the least, and he regretted every drink he'd had last night. He made his way groggily to first period, history, only to find that there was only one seat left, and it was right next to some guy he'd never seen before. The way the desks were set up was that they were in three rows, two desks side by side in each row. He slid into his seat, leaning on the table.

"Welcome back class," said mister Washington, "how was everyone's weekend?" The class groaned in unison. Then he began teaching, something about the American Revolution, Hercules wasn't really paying attention. That is, until Washington said, "now, I'm going to give you the rest of class to talk with only the people around you. You are not to move from your desks, understood?"

Hercules sighed, glad to be done with the class. Then he turned to the guy next to him, who had remained silent the whole class. "Hi," he said, "I'm Hercules."

"I'm Lafayette," replied the other guy with a smile. He had a thick French accent and he talked quietly.

"Nice to meet you. Where are you from?" He asked. He wasn't sure if he was from France or if he was from some other French speaking country, like Canada maybe.

"France. My family came here for a job opportunity," he replied, struggling to string together the sentence. "I am not very well with English." He paused. "that didn't sound right..." he murmured.

Hercules laughed. "No problem. I think the word you're looking for is 'good' not 'well'," he explained.

Lafayette smiled. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Say, you wanna sit with me at lunch? You look like you'd be into sports," Hercules suggested. It was the truth. Lafayette was tall and lean, but muscular nonetheless. He looked like he'd be pretty fast, maybe a good basketball player or something. Hercules sat with his friends on the football team, so maybe he could get Laf on whatever team he wanted to play for.

"I was going to sit with some other friends, actually. I met them over the weekend and they invited me to sit with them," Lafayette replied, "and I am interested in sports," he added.

"Oh? What kind?" Herc asked.

"I was into gymnastics back in France. On my way to being an Olympian, my parents always told me. But you don't have a gymnastics program here, do you?" Laf stated.

"No, we don't. But there are plenty of places outside of school that you could join," Herc replied.

Lafayette smiled. "I see." He opened his mouth to say more, but the bell rang signalling the end of class. Everyone began to get up, and Laf packed up his books. "It was nice talking to you, maybe we can meet up sometime," he said, waving to Hercules.

After school, Hercules walked home. He turned into his quiet street, feeling his muscles relax the farther he got from the noise and stress of school. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind, three sets, all running in his direction, punctuated by a cry of "look out!" Before he had time to react, he was on the ground, the weight of another person pinning him down. The person got off, helping him up. It was Lafayette

"Laf?" Hercules asked.

"Can't explain, gotta go," he replied, fear in his eyes. He ran off down the road. Hercules looked around to see two other guys chasing after him, one with a black eye already forming, the other with a bloody nose. Hercules held out an arm as they approached, clotheslining then both.

"Get lost," he snarled, voice deathly calm as he towered over them. They got up, stumbling back the way they'd come. Hercules turned toward where Lafayette had stopped running. He approached Laf who started running toward him. "Who were they?" Herc asked as he got to him.

"...nobody important, one of them was being rather rude to my friends, so I stood up to him. Then his friend saw us and joined in. They were stronger than they looked, and they fought dirty too, so I did what I had to to stay alive," Laf explained.

"Where's your friend now?" Herc asked.

"Here they come now," Laf replied, pointing behind Herc, who turned around to see three girls running toward him and Laf.

When they got to them, the one in red ran over to Laf. "Lafayette, are you alright?" She asked. When he nodded, she proceeded to smack him in the back of the head. "What the hell were you thinking?" She cried.

"Uh..."

The girl turned toward Hercules. "Thanks so much for helping this idiot," she said, "I'm Angelica by the way, these are my sisters, Peggy and Eliza." She gestured to each girl in turn. All three of them were gorgeous to say the least, and their designer clothes made it obvious they were wealthy.

"Nice to meet you," Herc said.

Peggy grabbed her sister by the arm "we should really get going, daddy said to be home by sundown," she stated. Eliza nodded, and Angelica agreed, though she was reluctant. As they left, Peggy turned around. "By Laf! We'll see you tomorrow!" She exclaimed.

Laf waved at her with a smile. He sighed. "She's a sweet girl."

Hercules laughed. "Not bad looking, either," he stated, elbowing Laf playfully.

Laf laughed nervously. "No no, you misunderstand, that is not what I meant."

Hercules raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then what did you mean?"

"I meant exactly what I said. She's very nice. I don't feel that way about her. She's like a little sister I guess," he explained, "besides, I'm gay," he added nonchalantly. Hercules started choking, seemingly on nothing. Lafayette turned toward him. "What? Is that such a surprise to you?"

"N-no! I mean... yeah, kind of. But that's not the point. Seriously, you don't wanna go around saying that at school unless you've got a death wish," Hercules explained.

Lafayette chuckled bitterly. "I'll do what I want, they can va te faire foutre."

Hercules' brows knitted together with concern. "I'm serious. There are a lot of people who don't do well with that kind of thing. There was this guy, John Laurens, he came out back in freshman year, and ever since then he can't so much as turn a corner with getting shoved into a locker."

"For your information, John Laurens is a friend of mine," Lafayette snapped. He sighed, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry. I know you're just looking out for me, but I don't want to have to hide who I am to preserve some kind of image that society says is important. It's not, and I'm not going to change myself for any reason."

Now it was Herc's turn to sigh. "I know. You don't wanna pretend to be someone you're not, I'll respect that. I'm sorry..."

Lafayette smiled softly. "Merci, mon ami." He pulled Hercules into a hug, kissing him on both cheeks before his eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry. That's not something Americans do... it was just a re-"

Hercules laughed. "It's alright, don't worry about it. I have to get going though, I'll see you later, kay?"

Lafayette mumbled a goodbye, still clearly embarrassed by their previous interaction. Hercules walked the rest of the way home, climbing up the stairs to the second floor, then pulling down the ladder to the attic. He threw his blue, white, and gold letterman jacket on the back of his chair, sitting down with a sigh. He looked at the desk, which had a binder filled with sketches for dresses and coats and all sorts of clothing. Mannequins with half-finished pieces hanging off them were shoved into the back corner of the room, and shelves filled with different fashion magazines lined the far wall. He heard Lafayette's words echoing inside his head. I don't want to have to hide who I am to preserve some kind of image that society says is important. It's not. God, he wished he had that kind of confidence.

A/N heyo! First chapter! Probably not gonna go very far, knowing me, but hey, at least you're gonna get a couple of chapters before I inevitably give up... anyway, yeah, thingy... I'm terrible at this part halp.

Imma go now, hope you liked this...