Smol Fry | Hercules X Lafayette

C h a p t e r T h i r t y f o u r

{A bop. And I love you all}

Herc's POV

Waiting to actually be let off the plane always took ages. Kids were crying, parents were shouting, and my ears still hadn't popped. It was 12:30am and I wanted food, sleep and to curl up in my bed.... with Laff. We'd waited at the place where they scan your hand luggage for about an hour, because Croissant got stuck in it, and they reckoned we were probably smuggling drugs inside. Throughout the enquiries, dehydration, needing to go to the bathroom, the bathroom being genuinely vile and Laff almost crying at the security guards, I attempted to keep a smile falsely plastered on my face. I have to admit, the twelve hour flight itself was absolute hell as well.

I kinda wish I knew properly how to deal with panic attacks before I got on the plane. It'd would've been good if I knew that Lafayette was scared of flying, not just 'allergic to his jumper. Now, of course I love him to the end of the Universe, but when he's not completely truthful, just so I can be happy, I don't find it very healthy for him. He began to sweat and shake furiously and that's when I knew something was definitely wrong. Trying to calm him down was become more difficult the higher in the air we flew; eventually, I had to let one of the flight attendants give him actual treatment. Throughout the rest of the flight, he snuggled up to my chest and went to sleep. Poor Guy.

His phone kept buzzing a lot...

I'd been noticing that for a while. Obviously, I'd never snoop inside of his phone, so I left it, but it still played in my mind. Those bruises still hadn't faded; they were completely visible on his arms, but he told me they were new, that he bumped into objects often. I mean, I just wanted him to be safe, and I wish he'd tell what the hell happened when we lost him downtown. Lafayette's the kind of person who will pretend that something's okay right up until the very end, and even though deep down you know completely that something's wrong, you believe him. Sighing, I grabbed his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze as we walked out of the plane, in that weird tunnel thing connected to the airport. He beamed at me and then looked behind as we heard familiar voices in the tunnel. 

"Are you sure  there wasn't a direct flight to England, Georgey?"

"Positive, and don't call me that."

Immediately, we turned our heads forward again. It would be a tiny bit awkward if both Mr Washington and Mr King recognized us. Lafayette silently giggled as they began debating about how terrible online flight booking is. The subject soon changed to emails, and how 'that Hamilton Kid' emails him twenty-four-seven about history assignments. Laff and I shared silent fits of laughter as Mr Washington continued to talk about how he was so reluctant about possible adoption, yet emails him like he's his actual dad. That was news to me; Al had never told us that Mr Washington had offered to adopt him.

"He signed the papers either way," Washington chuckled. Wait, what? He was GENUINELY Al's adoptive father? Laff and I were now exchanging confused glances.

"George, are you telling me that I  have an adoptive son?" Mr King asked, pretty shocked by the sound of it.

"U-uhh, yeah, I guess we're both dads to one of my children, and now Daniel's got a brother," He chuckled proudly, "I asked him over Christmas- hey, hey, don't make too much of a scene, his two best friends are in front of us."

"Hi sir," I half greeted, half snorted. As there wasn't really much conversation to be had, we went ahead to collect out baggage, and collecting the suitcases only took a short amount of time. I don't think anybody really asked about the bear, but we recieved some pretty weirded out looks, epecially from the taxi man. Despite that, he allowed Croissant to sit in the passenger seat next to him, so Laff and I could chill in the back. After about  ten minutes of silence, we started a conversation about Ireland and how I moved to New York, and occasionally visited at Christmas. He was a pretty nice guy, but he looked like he'd seen some shit in his car.