Lafayette walked through the front doors of the school, making his way to his locker and getting his things. He felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Peggy and Angelica standing behind him. Peggy was looking at the ground, "u-umm... hi Lafayette..." she mumbled, a blush breaking out on her face.

"Hi Peggy. Is something wrong?" He asked, looking down at the freshman with a concerned smile.

Peggy shook her head, mumbling something that Laf couldn't make out. "Peggy wants to ask you something," Angelica translated. Peggy nodded. Angelica put her hand on her shoulder, and Peggy took a deep breath.

"Wouldyoumaybewannagooutsometime?" Peggy blurted out, still not looking up.

It look Laf a moment to figure out what she'd said, and when he did, his face fell. "I mean, it's fine if you don't..." Peggy added, noticing Laf's expression.

"N-no, that's not it. I'm sorry Peggy, but-"

"You don't like me. I understand..." Peggy finished, tears welling in her eyes.

"No no. If you would let me finish please? I was going to say that I like you as a friend, and I couldn't feel more if I'd wanted to because I'm not interested in girls," Laf explained, "at all..."

Peggy looked up at Laf in confusion for a moment. Then it dawned on her what he meant. "You're... gay?" Peggy asked, almost in a disbelieving tone.

Laf bit his lip. Was this part of what Hercules was warning about? Then Peggy's eyes lit up. "Finally!" She cried, hugging him. "I honestly thought John and I were the only LGBT kids in the school who weren't afraid to admit it!"

Angelica, who had left them to it but had actually been very obviously eavesdropping around the corner, came toward them. "Pegs here is pan," Angelica explained with a laugh.

"Were you listening the whole time?" Peggy whined.

"Sorry, but I wanted to know if I was gonna need to hurt someone for breaking my baby sister's heart," Angelica stated.

"I'm not a baby Angelica!" Peggy shouted. Suddenly the warning bell rang.

The three of them shouted, "Gotta go!" As they ran off in different directions.

It was lunch. Lafayette was waiting in line for his food. After receiving what looked like the most disgusting... something... on the planet, Lafayette started looking for a table. The girls had gone home for lunch, and John was sitting with the art kids, so unless he felt like sitting with Hamilton and the other debate kids—which he didn't—he was going to be sitting alone. Just then, he crashed into someone holding a binder. As Lafayette's lunch and the contents of the binder went flying, pages flew everywhere. Laf looked up to see who he'd run into.

"Hercules! I'm so sorry!" Laf cried, beginning to pick up the pages. The cafeteria was empty, save for them, because the school had recently started letting kids eat anywhere on campus instead of having them all crammed in a crowded room. Lafayette had been one of the last people to get lunch, and the other remaining people had cleared out.

"I-it's okay..." Herc replied, "you don't have to pick-"

"Did you draw these?" Lafayette asked, looking at a sketch of a coat that had clearly been inspired by revolution era military coats.

"Dammit. You weren't supposed to see those..." Hercules mumbled, taking the drawings out of Laf's hands and shoving them back in the binder. "The one day I have to take this god forsaken thing to school..."

"Those were fantastic!" Cried Laf, picking up one last design that Hercules had missed. It was probably one of his favourites too; a short, off-white dress with elegant writing on the skirt, a black sash around the waist. "do you want to be a designer?"

"It's none of your business," Hercules snapped, snatching the drawing away from Laf.

Lafayette's smile fell. "I'm sorry..." he mumbled, turning away.

"Laf, wait!" Hercules called, grabbing his arm. "I shouldn't have snapped at you... it's just that I... well... no one knows about this..."

"I see. It's a secret," Lafayette stated.

Hercules nodded. "Look, can we talk about this later? Somewhere a little more private? Why don't you come to my place after school?" Herc suggested, "I promise I'll explain everything."

After school, Lafayette and Hercules walked home. Hercules inserted his key into the door, calling out, "dad! I'm home!" When there was no answer, he mumbled a quick, "Must not be back yet." And dropped his bag by the door, heading toward the stairs. "You coming?" He asked Lafayette, who promptly followed him up the rickety oak staircase.

It was weathered and creaky, the railing shaking and the steps bending unnervingly as the two walked up the stairs. When they got upstairs, Hercules turned into a narrow hallway, standing on his toes and pulling a ladder down. Bright sunlight streamed down from above, a stark contrast to the dark, closed in house around them. The two climbed the ladder, and as Lafayette poked his head up, he gasped at the sight in front of him.

The room was very nice; modern, simplistic and open. Shelves lined one wall, mannequins on another, and a white IKEA desk placed in front of a large triangular window that let in most of the light in the room. But the thing that impressed Lafayette was the mannequin in the centre of the room.

On it was a deep blue Victorian dress. The top was off the shoulders, wrapping around them instead. Black silk lined the top edge, an intricate bow in the centre. It was fit perfectly to the waist and flowed out into a long skirt, two black lines running down the length of the dress. The blue part of the dress cut off about a foot and a half from the end, revealing a translucent black skirt underneath. "Did you make this?" Lafayette asked.

Hercules nodded. "It was a commission for a cosplayer in New Jersey," he explained.

"It's beautiful," Lafayette stated.

"W-well it's not my best work, I've done much better than this," Herc stammered.

"How'd you get interested in all this?" Lafayette asked.

"Well, my dad's a tailor and my mom was a high-end fashion designer before-" he cut himself off, "never mind. My dad's been teaching me how to design and make clothes for years, but I didn't want to take over the business, so I started advertising on the internet, and now I make a half-decent living off of this."

Lafayette smiled. "How did I not know about this before?" He asked.

"Pretty simple, really. I don't tell people about it," replied Herc.

Laf chuckled. "Why not?"

"I get that you don't care about what others think, and I wish I could have that kind of confidence," he began, "but I don't, so I do what I can to fit in, and this," he gestured to the dress, "would get me killed in a heartbeat if anyone found out."

Lafayette smiled sadly. "W-well, anyway," Herc stammered, "you wanna go do something? There's really not all that much to do around here... maybe you could call some of your friends. I'd love to meet them."

Lafayette laughed, nodding. "That sounds like fun. My friends have been dying to meet you as well." With that, he pulled out his phone.

LeBaguette: hello? Anyone there?

AndPeggy: literally everyone accounted for lol

Angelica: hi

Eliza: hey

Turtleboi: I exist

HamIam: I don't want to

LeBaguette: good. You wanna meet at the park in five? There's a friend I want you guys to meet

AndPeggy: oo! Is it the boy you were telling Angelica about in science?

LeBaguette: you told her?

Angelica: I told everyone lol

Laf rolled his eyes, quickly changing Angelica's contact name to Devilica.

LeBaguette: great. But... *sigh* yes, it's him... try not to humiliate me in front of him. Please?

Devilica: sure thing

Eliza: will do

AndPeggy: I'll try

Turtleboi: same

HamIam: no promises

Lafayette rolled his eyes, smiling. "Looks like literally all five of my friends are going to be there," he stated.

Hercules laughed. "The more the merrier," he stated nonchalantly, heading toward the door. Lafayette followed, a smile on his face.

A/N

Yay update! Things! Character development! (Sort of... clunky and forced, but character development nonetheless) more characters! Btw, if anyone has any ideas for Eliza's name on Laf's phone, pls tell me lol... she's the only one without a creative nickname.