Promise // Mullette

chapter 1

- Hercules POV, present day, New Jersey -

I groaned as I flopped onto my old worn out couch. I glanced outside my window to see the rain still falling heavily . What a wonderful day way to spend your 21st birthday, am I right? All alone on a gray, boring day in my apartment. Wonderful.

I should call John or Alex or someone but I know that neither of them would be up for going out. Poor Alex is probably being comforted by John right now, since Alex's fear of storms hasn't gotten any better in the 4 years he's lived here; if anything, the fear has become almost worse.

I finally settle on watching Netflix for a while, flipping through movies and shows until I find some random TV show and select it.

A few mindless hours later, a random knock sounds at my door. Ok, who even is this? I don't know who'd come to my apartment during a storm like this. It's definitely not John or Alex, so I can rule that out. My family doesn't live in New Jersey anymore but maybe it's my mom? I pause the TV and stop debating with myself to answer the door.

I readjust my grey beanie as I walk from my couch to the door, just in case it's someone important.

I pull the door open and see a tall, curly - haired man standing there, soaking wet and panting as he leaned against the outside door frame.

"Hi, can I help you...?" I asked awkwardly. All I could think about was how hot this guy was. Oops.

"Um, I'm new around here and I don't really know where I'm going? I knocked on all the other, how you say? Apartment. Apartment doors but no one would help me. I'm looking for the Restaurant Serenade?" He asked in a strong French accent, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

"Oh, ok. Why don't you come in? We can find you some dry clothes or something. Restaurant Serenade isn't too far from here. But it's pretty fancy, you must have money, yeah? Sorry, I'm rambling I guess... anyways..." I trail off uncomfortably, not knowing what to do as I led him into my apartment. He nodded and I motioned for him to sit on the couch. He did, fairly unsurely, and I went to find clothes that would fit him.

I finally found big enough clothes to accommodate his height and showed him to the bathroom to change. I really hope this wasn't some shady burglar or something, but he seemed normal, and, I'll say it again, he's hot. Of course I'm going to let the fine piece of French ass into my house!

Except he's probably not into guys. I mean, I'm pansexual but I've been through it all with liking people who weren't into guys. I wouldn't be surprised if he denied me. But we just met, I'm not going to ask him out.

Weirdly, he seems familiar in some way. Almost like I knew him a long time ago or something. But I don't really know. I don't remember having any French friends as a kid. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else. He kind of looks like Thomas Jefferson, one of Alex's coworkers, but I can't really see them being related or anything. Then again, Jefferson has a weird obsession with all things French, so I dunno.

After pondering for a while, the mystery man (I still don't know his name), came out wearing dry clothes. Damn. He looked hotter than before, if that's even possible.

I felt myself blush a little as I scanned him over quickly. At last we made eye contact and he thanked me for the clothes.

"No problem, it's the least I could do. Oh, I'm Hercules Mulligan by the way. I should've introduced myself when you first got here, my bad." I replied.

"Ah! It is no problem. I am Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. But, most people just call me Laf." He smirked at me. I felt my heart turn from confusion (who the hell had that long of a name?) to mush as he smirked at me. Snapping myself out of it, he walked over to sit next to me so I decided to continue the conversation.

"So, why are you going to Restaurant Serenade?" I asked. It was a high rated and expensive French restaurant not too far from my apartment, but it was odd that he was going there , seemingly alone.

"My girlfriend, Adrienne, got here a few weeks before me for a work thing. I told her I was going to move back to the states and I might as well live with her in New Jersey, right? She asked me to meet her at this fancy place for dinner at 6:30 and I got lost trying to find my hotel and the place." He explained. My heart sunk when he mentioned his girlfriend but I smiled and nodded through it anyways.

"Well, it's almost 6, so should we leave? You want to be on time to meet her early, losing your reservation wouldn't be cool." I laughed and he nodded.

Soon, we were in my car outside the restaurant, and Laf was about to leave. It was kinda sad. I've only known him for like, 30 minutes but I really like him and I don't really want him to leave. I'll probably never even see him again.

"Before I go, let me put my number in there," Laf said, pointing at my iPhone. I nodded and handed it to him and he quickly punched his number in and added it to my contacts.

"If you ever need anything, call me. I owe it to you, mon ami. Maybe we can hang out sometime, since you did save me after all. Well,  au revoir!" He said, dashing out of the car as he spotted who I assumed was his girlfriend. I mean, I think it's his girlfriend, it'd be kind of weird if he just kissed a random girl waiting outside the restaurant. She was very pretty, with smooth porcelain skin and soft, curly brown hair, and she was wearing a long, navy blue dress with a thin strand of pearls around her neck. She was lucky to have him.

Wow, Hercules. Snap out of it. You just met him. He doesn't like you.

Well, time to go watch Netflix again. Happy birthday to me.

a/n oops I was supposed to post this like 5 days ago hahaha here you go children