Promise // Mullette

chapter 9

- Lafayette -

I woke up to the sun shining on my face, streaming through the curtains. I smiled as I flipped around, seeing Hercules scrolling through his phone. He saw me awake and smiled, kissing my forehead gently.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He asked. I nodded in response and stretched a little bit, untangling myself from the blankets.

"Well, that's good, because I'm taking you on a date today." He said.

"Really?" I asked. He smiled and nodded and I felt myself smile too. A date! I've never been this attracted to someone so quickly before, but there was just something about him... a date sounded amazing.

"Yep. I thought we could make it an all day thing. Go to brunch, walk around town for a little bit, get lunch at this nice café, do some touristy stuff, go to dinner... and I want to make it all about you." He said, smiling brightly at me. I felt my heart swell in happiness.

"Thank you. You are such a wonderful person, honestly. It means so much that you would do this for not just me but for both of us." I said. He pulled me closer to him and I melted into his embrace, taking it all in.

"Well, let's say we get today started, huh?" He said after a few minutes. I nodded and hopped out of the bed, excited to spend the day having fun with him. We both got dressed and met outside the apartment before going to brunch.

The rest of the day was spent wandering the town aimlessly, looking at historical places as well as just random stuff. Soon enough, lunch had come and gone and it was time for dinner.

"So I have sort of a surprise... I made reservations for this kind of fancy restaurant for tonight but we need to wear really nice clothes, like suits and stuff because apparently they have a dress code? But yeah... the reservations are for 7 and it's 6:15 now, so we should probably head home to get ready." He said in a jumble. I nodded, picking out a few of the important details. English is not easy, especially when someone is talking very fast.

We went back to our separate apartments because my dress clothes were at mine. I put on a dark blue suit that I'd worn maybe once, and carefully pulled my hair up into a more neat ponytail. Or, as neat as a fluff ball of hair could be.

I walked to Hercs apartment where he was waiting outside in a dark grey suit, similar to mine. Needless to say, my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw him.

I walked over to him, blushing furiously.

"Ready?" I asked. He nodded and smiled, looking me over.

"Yeah. And wow. You look... wow." He said, laughing slightly. I blushed even more and hid my face in my arms as we got in the car.

"No, don't be embarrassed! You look fantastic. Like... I don't even have the words to express how good you look." He said, smiling. I looked up from my arms and grinned slightly.

"You do too. Where are we going?"

"Il Capriccio. It's some fancy Italian place that I found on Google by searching for fancy restaurants, not going to lie here. The reviews said it was really good though, so hopefully they're right." He said, tapping the steering wheel lightly along to the soft music on the radio.

"Sounds good. Also, thank you for today. It's been, how you say? It's been wonderful so far. And dinner will only make it better." I said, taking his hand that wasn't on the steering wheel. He glanced at me with a smile and brought my hand up to his lips, kissing it gently. And the blushing is back.

He just makes my heart feel so happy. I can't get enough of his smile and his laugh and how sweet he is to me.

We pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later and went inside, walking up to the hostess stand.

"Hi, I have reservations for two at 7 o'clock under Hercules?" Herc said to the woman standing there. She looked us over with an odd look in her eyes.

"Are you two... together?" She asked in an almost disgusted tone. Hercules frowned slightly and nodded.

"Yes, we are. Is that an issue?" He asked. The hostess scrunched her nose up and scowled.

"It is to me. You and your whole... type are an issue." She spat. I felt Hercules tense beside me and I could feel myself becoming slightly more nervous, not knowing what was going to happen or why this woman was being so cruel.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. But I really just want to have a nice night here with Laf and I made a reservation. Am I going to have to change that because of your intolerance towards us? Because if so, your manager is about to have a very angry email in his inbox." Hercules said. I could tell he was trying not to let his anger get the best of him. The hostess scoffed in reply and rolled her eyes, picking up two menus and starting to walk.

"Right this way." She sneered, leading us to an open table. We sat down and opened the menus, watching as she walked away and had a waitress come over to us.

"Absolutely ridiculous." Hercules whispered under his breath. He was still upset, but so was I. We have a right to be.

"Hi, my name is Peggy and I'll be your server tonight. I'm so sorry about her, she's so rude. Can I get you two something to drink?" I heard. A curly haired waitress was standing by our table, a bright smile on her face.

"I'll just have water for now." Hercules said. I nodded and said I'd have the same. She nodded and walked away, and I took the opportunity to talk to Hercules.

"Hey, it's okay. We'll have a good time despite what that woman said about us, okay?" I said, reaching across the table to take his hand. He looked up at me and forced a smile on his face, but it faltered a short moment later.

"What's wrong?" I prompted. It seemed like this went deeper than what that hostess had said to us. He sighed and looked down a little bit.

"It's just... I just came out. To my mom, to Alex and John, to everyone. Like, they've all learned about me being... gay, within the last two or three days. But I'm still scared for some reason, you know? I don't know why, but I am. And that hostess... what she said about us and 'our type' hit me for some reason. It's stupid, I know, but- " He said. I cut him off.

"Non! It's not stupid. It is a reasonable fear to have. I mean, with everything that happens to people in the LGBT+ community, all the hate and everything that there is, it can be hard to look past that and get over that fear. But we just have to get back up and smile, and show the world that we are proud of who we are and no one can change that. We were born like this and nothing anyone says can make us different. We are beautiful how we are." I said.

"Thank you. And yes, you're right. We need to be proud. No matter what they tell you, no matter what they tell me, or any of us, we are meant to be this way." He said, smiling. I nodded and kissed him, not caring what anyone said.

a/n: happy pride month!