Nothing /// Mullette Asylum Fic

6 - Crayon Drawings and Airhockey

Hercules
"Hey, Laf?" Hercules asked the Frenchman flopped across his lap. "Yeah?" Lafayette replied, momentarily glancing up from his novel.
Hercules took the sketchbook balanced on his friend's back and put it on the bed next to him. "Do you wanna tell me what the hell happened last night?" Hercules asked quietly.

Lafayette turned so he was squinting up at him. "Not really. Why?"
Hercules laughed incredulously. "Why? Seriously? You were freaking out."
Lafayette shrugged nonchalantly. "And?"
"For God's sake, Lafayette, I've never seen you freak out that bad, ever!" Hercules said angrily. He realized he'd used Lafayette's full name, something he'd never really done before.
The boy in question's face was blank.
"Please just tell me what happened, I want to help you", Hercules pleaded.

Lafayette laughed scornfully. "The only way you could help me is by ripping my skull open and tearing my memories out of my brain."
So something to do with his past then, Hercules thought, mentally saving the information. "If that's what I have to do then I'll do it."
Lafayette sat up, frowning, so he was sitting in Hercules' lap. The older boy blushed slightly as he adjusted his hold so the Frenchman didn't fall backwards.

"I don't think I'd trust you with brain surgery", Lafayette quipped.
"Yeah but if I had to do it-"
"Then you would", Lafayette finished. "Thanks Romeo." He wrapped his arms around Hercules' torso and leaned his head against his shoulder, closing his eyes.
"If I'm Romeo, would you be Juliet?" Hercules asked.
Lafayette rolled his eyes and smirked. "If I had to then I would", he mocked.
"Good to know", Hercules grinned. While Lafayette's eyes were closed, he admired the Frenchman and how beautiful he looked.

"I can feel you staring at me", Lafayette said after a while.
"Yeah I'm just... taking in the view..." Hercules muttered, half-listening. "I mean, uh-" he stuttered, realizing what he had said.
Lafayette snorted, falling backwards off his lap with a panicked yelp.
Hercules caught him before he could hit the ground and pulled him up.
Lafayette buried his head in his shoulder, cursing in French. "That", he said weakly, "was terrifying. My whole life flashed before my eyes."
"What was it like?" Hercules queried.
"Surprisingly underwhelming", Lafayette responded, looking up at him.

"Oh?"
"Yeah, it happened in half a second though, so I doubt it really counts."
"Were there any good parts?"
"Uh."
"Wow thanks."
"No, no, I'm just trying to think of the best ones! Um, meeting you and George and the others here. That's kind of it."
"That's just kind of shitty."
"Mm."
"What about France, was there any from-" Hercules stopped when he felt Lafayette tense against him. "Sorry", he muttered.
Lafayette quickly shook his head. "It's not your fault, it was mine, I just-"
Hercules held up a hand to stop him. "I don't even know what you're claiming to be your fault, but knowing you, it probably wasn't. Stop."

Lafayette rolled his eyes. "It really was this time, though."
"Doubtful", Hercules said, raising an eyebrow.
Lafayette grumbled to himself and pouted.
"Aww is little Laffy getting sulky?" Hercules teased.
"Shut up", Lafayette grumbled.

Hercules got up suddenly, making Lafayette clutch onto him with a shriek. "God, I hate you!" he gasped.
"No you don't", Hercules sang. He carried the Frenchman out of his room and to the game room. "I wanna play air hockey", he said excitedly, setting Lafayette down on a beanbag.
"But you always win, though", Lafayette sulked.
"Please?" Hercules begged.
Lafayette considered, then a small smile crept onto his face. "I'll be right back", he said, excitedly jumping up from his chair and running out.

Hercules used this opportunity to take a proper look around the game room, having only been in there a couple times to play air hockey and immediately leave again.
Multicolored beanbags were scattered around randomly. A dark red sofa and two armchairs sat against one wall. In the middle of the room was the air hockey table and a pool table.
A threadbare red rug lined the floor and the walls were painted a cream color.

A small patch of color in the corner next to the couch caught Hercules' eye, and he walked towards it curiously.
Upon closer inspection, it was a crayon drawing of the hospital, with scrawled images of different colored and labeled stick people.
In it, Thomas and James were holding hands and had a heart around them. George was smiling near the hospital doors. John was looking at a misshapen figure that looked vaguely like a turtle. The Schuyler Sisters were skipping with a large rope, Peggy jumping. A boy and girl figure stood together, holding hands like James and Thomas. 'Aaron' and 'Theodosia' were their labels. Aaron had been crossed out in red.

A few more of the stick figures were crossed out; Samuel, John.A and a guy with a crown on his head labeled King George.
In the middle of the picture was an unlabeled boy drawn in dark blue with a sad face.
In the bottom right corner of the drawing was a small signature, 'Gilbert', drawn in the same shade of blue as the sad boy.
Hercules assumed that the sad boy was a picture of 'Gilbert', whoever he was.
Shouldn't Lafayette be there? I mean, he was one of the first to arrive, surely he had to be there, Hercules thought, frowning slightly.

"Hey, Herc!" a voice called from behind him.
Hercules grinned. Speak of the devil. He turned around to see Lafayette standing there, holding Alex by the shirtsleeve.
"Alex is the best air hockey player here!" Lafayette exclaimed, dragging the poor boy over to the hockey table.
"I bet I can give him a run for his money", Hercules challenged.
Alex looked up. "You're on."

Lafayette
The room was soon filled with cheers and aww's from the crowd that had formed. Everyone had gathered to watch, even Theodosia and Angelica. Hercules was furiously hitting the puck back and forth like no tomorrow. Alex was more careful with his judgement, hitting the disc with less force than his rival.
"What's going on here?" George asked, stepping into the room. His eyes landed on Alex and Hercules' intense match and he strode to Lafayette's side.
"Alex has never been beaten before but damn this looks close", he said excitedly.

Lafayette nodded and grinned, cheering when Hercules scored and equalized. Eliza, Angelica and John were supporting Alex, Lafayette, George, Thomas, Theodosia and Peggy cheering for Hercules. James was clinging to Thomas' shirt, looking slightly overwhelmed at the noise.
The counter ticked down to its final seconds and the puck was flying across the table.
Lafayette involuntarily leaned forward along with the rest of the spectators who had gone dead quiet.

Alex hit a shot straight at the goal, but Hercules deflected it and it bounced off the wall and went in. Nobody even breathed as they anxiously watched the counter tick down. Hercules nabbed another goal when the timer hit 1 and the room erupted into cheers.
Between them, John and Angelica managed to lift Hercules onto their shoulders and, ducking so he didn't smack his head off the top of the doorframe, carried him to the kitchen.
They sat him at the head of the table and Lafayette immediately went around making a cake.

He carried it out and set it in front of Hercules, sitting on the edge of the table next to him.
"Why is everyone going nuts? It was only an air hockey game..." he said somewhat nervously.
Lafayette leaned closer. "Nobody has ever beaten Alex. Ever. We've always wanted to take him down a peg, but nobody's been able to, until you. This is kind of a big deal to us." He gestured over his shoulder as he spoke.
Alex was sitting sulkily with John trying to comfort him. They kept shooting glares at Hercules and pouting.

"Are they gonna hate me forever now?" Hercules asked, eyeing them warily.
Lafayette laughed. "Mon dieu, no. They'll get over it. Probably."
"Probably?"
"Hush."
"You have frosting on your nose."
Lafayette giggled as Hercules wiped it off.

Angelica
Angelica looked over at Hercules and Lafayette and smirked. She waltzed over to where John and Alex were moping.
"Hey salt squad, take a look over there", she said, flicking her thumb over her shoulder to where the lovebirds were sitting.
"They're just talking and laughing", Alex said, confused.
John gasped. "They're being cute together!" he said excitedly.
"What?"
"Alex, you oblivious tool, John has it right, they're being cute", Angelica said exasperatedly.
Alex's eyes widened as he processed this new information.

"So we have to get them together!" he and John squealed in sync.
"Actually, I imagine that'll take care of itself", Angelica smirked. "Plus it'll be more adorable that way", she added.
"Very true", John nodded.
"Anyways, I hear we've an inspector coming in a couple of weeks, and he isn't a fan of homosexuals..."

A/N: Kind of a filler chapter, but oh well, I thought it was cute.