Coffee and Cigarettes

Je M'appelle Lafayette

      Who's ready for the chapter long adventures of everyone's favorite genderqueer characters??
     Certainly not me
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     And hey... thanks™
     ~Cecil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Yo, turns out we've got a secret weapon.
     An immigrant you know and love who's unafraid to step in..
     He's constantly confusin', confoundin' the British henchmen—
     Ev'ryone give it up for America's
    Favorite Fightin' Frenchman!—

     "Lafayette!"
      The curly-haired other glanced up from their phone and pulled the earbud out at the call of their name.
"Laf!"
They turned to see a short sweater-clad man running towards them, waving almost excitedly. A smile came across their face and they waved back.
"James! Mon ami!" Lafayette grinned as the man, James Madison, slowed to walk beside them. "Are you ready?"
     "Mm hm!" James flashed a small smile as they neared the building. "I woke up early, honestly, I'm really excited..."
      "I heard that Washington runs this too!"
      "Really?" James blinked as he recalled the same volunteer man who ran the debate club. "Wow.. does... does he just run all the extra circular groups at this school? Aren't there any... uh.. actual teachers? I mean, don't get me wrong, Washington's a great guy but does he ever... get a break? And or; job?"
     Lafayette processed what James said and laughed softly. "I heard he does, in fact, have a job. He's president of the arts academy in the big high school uptown!"
      "Mm.. he seems like the kind of guy to spend a lot of time uptown. It's really nice there... calm and a lot less rowdy than it is here. Still, y'know, New York, but on a slightly smaller scale."
       "Do you like it uptown?"
      James shrugged. "It's quiet uptown."
       "Ah."
       Lafayette and James mindlessly conversed, smiling over the speak of some topics (i.e.: cats) and shifting uncomfortably at the mention of others (i.e.: therapy. Or ducks. They're soulless, according to Madison). Lafayette's laughter filled the quiet empty hallways as soon as James opened the door to the building and let them in. The two walked side by side, Lafayette not seeming to mind how loud they were being while Madison stayed very conscious of how quiet he could stay.
      All in all, a peaceful walk.
     "Is that the room over there?" James murmured after a while, pointing to a door where a couple other guys with clean-pressed shirts and precise haircuts walked through a few moments before.
      "Maybe?" Lafayette linked arms with James and nearly skipped over to the door in their excitement, either ignoring or not caring about how the other squeaked and scrambled along. They neared the room and simply perked up more at the sight of the colorful sign plastered in the center, reading simply "LGBT+ Club" with a written smiley face beside it. Lafayette squeaked, admittedly a little childish in the action, and opened the door, tugging James inside.
      "W-Whoa--" James stumbled in beside Lafayette and hissed softly his exclamation of surprise before standing as tall as he could in his 5'4 glory in attempts to seem put together and calm. "I... I'm taking that as a yes...?"
      Lafayette beamed and nodded, looking around the (surprisingly) large room. They dropped James arm and walked off, excitedly glancing around for any familiar faces. There were a lot of people they'd only seen in the back of classrooms or in the cafe when they visited John at work-- and a few others that they could slightly recognize.
    In the corner stood a tall blond man beside a significantly shorter (yet still, average-sized) redhead. The two were talking to each other happily, arms linked, and Lafayette noticed the redhead (Sammy? If they remembered correctly) separate from the blond (George?) only as a third, black haired man (Charles Lee, undoubtedly) came back over with some Oreos. They continued to converse amongst themselves, despite Lee seeming to shift in slightly obvious uncomfortableness.  Lafayette was sure James would want to talk to them (to Samuel, at the least) once he noticed them. Perhaps they would come along and try to converse as well.
     Their ga(y)ze drifted elsewhere and landed upon another red headed man beside a slightly taller raven haired other. Their shirts were clean and pressed and their haircuts were precise, yet they were cuddling close with the black-haired man's arm around the redhead's waist. Lafayette smiled a little as the taller of the two pressed a soft kiss to the other's forehead and decided to move their glance once more, processing the others in the room with a hum of curiosity.
      Two girls by the water fountain, name tags reading something with a D and something starting with a C (Carla? They should've brought their glasses). A pair of boys drawing on the whiteboard, with the shorter of the two sitting in the other's lap and seeming to giggle as his partner (?) spoke quietly to him. Beside them stood a blond and dark-haired man, looking much like the redhead and his partner from before in terms of clothing and hairstyle. They were talking quietly and Lafayette could see the blond laugh from time to time as he nibbled on what seemed to be a pop tart.
       Another gentle smile came across Lafayette's face.
      They barely knew anyone here, yet it felt as much of a second home as the school itself. The idea relaxed them. It was... nice to think of..
      "Hey, Laf," James' voice came into hearing range of the French(hu)man and they spun around to face the shorter other, who came trying to hold out a name tag to Lafayette while also attempting to not drop Oreos on to the ground. Quickly, Lafayette took the name tag and stuck it on their shirt, grabbing a few cookies as well. (Whether that was to help James or not was questionable.)
      "Thank you, mon ami~" Lafayette hummed happily, taking a bite from the cookie and laughing a little as James pouted jokingly. "Awh come on do not be sad!"
      "You do so much for someone and then they just steal all that's important from you," James sniffled childishly and was obviously trying not to giggle as he took an overdramatic bite from the snack in his hand.
      Lafayette laughed again and rolled their eyes, nudging James. "Look, James, it's your British friends," they teased a bit, gesturing to where Lee and the other two stood still. They noticed James perk up a little and squeaked as he grabbed their arm and pulled them over to the group.
     "Samuel!"
     The redhead turned to look at the two and smiled happily, waving them over. Lee's arm snaked around his waist and Lafayette saw him pull the other closer almost protectively. They noticed the blond place a hand on the redhead's shoulder as well, though Lafayette was fairly sure they had met the man before.
"James!" The redhead beamed as he regarded the shorter man. "How are you? Doing alright? Finals got you stressed?"
"I'm very well, surprisingly, thank you-- how about yourself? It's been about... what? A year now since things with you two," Madison gestured between Lee and Samuel. "hit off?"
"A year as of the 16th, yes!" Sam snuggled close to Lee and giggled a little.
"Ah, congratulations then!" There was a pause as James glanced around. "I didn't think you'd have the time to join another club, Seabury..."
"Well the dance season just ended and this club is something I feel strongly about-- plus it only meets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I decided to tag along for moral support since I had some type of free time."
     "...moral support?"
     "We're here for George," Lee piped in, nudging the blond man, who blinked and grinned proudly.
      "That's me!"
      James laughed softly and nodded. "Ah yes, of course. Mr. Fredericks can't go anywhere without his best friend?"
     "Oh hush up, Madison."
     "T'was a joke."
     "As was mine."
    Lafayette rose a brow as he watched the two laugh together and opened their mouth to ask something, but was cut off as a man in the front called the group to gather in a circle. Sticking close by James (who stuck close to Samuel, who stuck close to George and Lee and vice versa), Lafayette quickly got into form, feeling their heartbeat speed up in anticipation for being introduced to all the new people and being able to feel at home with them. The thought alone made them beam happily and bounce a little on their heel.
     They couldn't wait to tell Hercules about it all.
"Well good Saturday morning, guys, gals, and non binary pals!" the man, who couldn't be much older than anyone in the room, greeted with a grin, earning some groans and snickers from the group. "My name is George— Washington, that is. If I'm reading these sign-in charts correctly, there should be another George amongst the overwhelming crowd of 16, yes?"
"Yes!" Lafayette blinked and smiled as they looked over to the waving blond who stood beside Sam, seeing his pale face redden as all eyes turned to him. "Yes... that would be me. George Fredericks the Third—" he rolled his 'r's in a way that made Washington chuckle. "—at your service!"
"Well how great," Washington snickered, pausing for a moment as he glanced around at everyone. "One down, 15 to go." Before anyone could work up the audaciousness to ask, he clapped his hands and randomly pointed to the redhead in the neatly ironed shirt, who stood (seeming attached-at-the-hip) beside the dark-haired taller man from before. "You two, you're up!"
     "I... wait.. w-what?" The redhead stuttered, a bit embarrassed as the group's focus fell on his shoulders.
    "Introduce yourselves! Name, favorite color, how many Oreos you actually took from my stash-- and don't lie, I'd know-- anything to give us a basic understanding of well... of you."
The redhead shared a glance with his partner, seeming nervous. The taller of the two reassuringly kissed the other's forehead and stood straight as he began to speak.
"Hello!" the black-haired male smiled widely and waved to the others, getting a few waves back. "My name is Kevin Price." He paused and pulled away from the redhead for a moment to pull something out of the bag slung across his shoulder. "And as a little insight about me, I would like to share with you the most amazing book!" A few people rose a brow as he showed the cover of a decent sized book to the circle of people. "It's called The Great Gatsby. My parents gave it to me before I moved here from Utah-- it's one of my favorite books that I've ever read.. so it's... pretty special, in both senses."
Kevin looked to Washington, hoping that was enough, and let out a slight sigh of relief as the other nodded, giving him the signal to nudge the redhead before pulling him closer by the waist.
"I'm Connor McKinley," the redhead said slowly after a few moments of thinking. "And the uh... a basic understanding of me? I'm this idiot's," he grinned goofily and nuzzled against Price. "Boyfriend. That's all you need to know."
Washington chuckled and nodded anyway, gesturing for others to continue on with the introductions. As names and facts were given out about each person, Lafayette couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
What if they were too weird? What if everyone judged them? What if no one took them seriously? If someone refused to use their pronouns? If someone called out how expectant those pronouns made them, especially to a room full of mostly strangers? What if it was just like everywhere else? What if they weren't wanted here either?
That thought alone caused Lafayette to tense and made their brain send signals throughout their nerves telling themselves to just run back home to Hercules before they're humiliated in front of any more people because of their stupid actions.

No.

Lafayette gulped and wrung their hands together as others continued on.

That's ridiculous, Laf... get a hold of yourself...

     They took a deep breath. They would be fine. Nothing bad would happen. These people were like them... they wouldn't be as bad as others, Lafayette was sure (more or less). They nodded to themselves and tried to process and focus more on what the rest of the group was saying about each other.

      You'll be fine...

       They listened in and tried to recover as much information about the rest of the 'club' as they could
      Blond and black haired guy who probably fashion coordinated with Connor and Kevin? Christopher Thomas (blond; he introduced himself as Poptarts) and James Church (black hair. Blue eyes. Rare. Nice).
     The girls by the water fountain? Daniella and Carla (Lafayette was right about her name, which made them relax a little to know the fact that their eyes weren't completely failing).
The shorter of the two boys who were drawing on the whiteboard said his name was Sonny. The taller was introduced as Pete. They're majoring in arts, no surprise, their "doodles" on the board were amazing.
Samuel introduced himself happily, listing off things like his favorite movie (Coraline), book (Lès Mis), color (pink), and person ("Charlie!" He said, beaming at Lee, who blushed vividly and hid his face). Charles made his turn short and simple.
"I'm Charles Lee. I love dogs. That is all."
Washington laughed at that, for only a few moments as George began to pout over having to wait to talk about himself. The blond finally went and it was passed on to Madison, who, surprisingly took quite some time, but only because he got caught on the long trail of gushing over Jefferson. After talking about how beautifully fluffy Thomas' hair was, James finally realized what he was doing and shut his mouth promptly, ending his turn.
Then all eyes were on Lafayette.
      They felt their heartbeat speed up as Washington looked to them, smiling gently.
      "Last but not least," Washington glanced down at his clipboard again. "Uh....Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, M-Marquis de Lafayette....? Is that uh... is that correct?"
He glanced to Lafayette and they felt their mouth go dry. They gulped and stuttered over words a bit, fumbling with their hands anxiously as they desperately just tried to form words and function like a normal human being. It was tediculous, they knew, but the idea of being judged by even people like them terrified Lafayette to no end.
      They're mind, in its panic, thought to Hercules and a sudden, crushing desire to be back home with him overcame them.

       You're being ridiculous.

     The thought became abundantly clear to Lafayette as James worriedly glanced to them and murmured something they couldn't understand, but was probably supposed to be his way of being calming.

You'll be fine if you just talk.
Talk.

Lafayette gulped again, hearing Washington call out to them "Excuse me?" before once again being devoid of the world around them.

Form words. Open your mouth. Talk.

"O... Oui..." Lafayette murmured quietly, despite their nerves spiking up the moment the sound of their own voice hit their ears.

You'll be okay. Calm down. Count. Then talk.
Un. Deux. Trois. Quatre.

They took a deep breath.

Cinq. Six. Sept. Huit. Neuf.

"...Je m'appelle Lafayette..."