Can't Stop Me From Loving You // Mullette

Best Friends

HERCULES' POV

I got up, put on my jacket, and drove to Angie's house. She didn't work, her husband Aaron did and she was rich anyway, so she usually didn't mind being woken up late at night. 

I texted her and it turned out she was already awake. When I got there, she led me to the lounge and we sat down on an elegant red couch.

"So, what's going on, Herc?" She asked, sounding like a therapist.

"I- It's Laff." I sighed.

"What about him? Do you like him?" Her eyes widened with excitement.

"Of course I do! He's cute, funny, handsome, and has the most adorable French accent ever!" I gushed. "I want to ask him on a date, but I'm worried it will ruin everything."

Angelica nodded, then thought for a moment. "I'm going to have a party." She announced.

I looked at her, surprised. "Ok? What does that have to do with anything?"

She got up and began walking around the room excitedly, telling me her plan. It was sort of crazy, but it might work. 

When she was done, she looked at me expectantly. "So?"

"That... that might work." I said finally.

She cheered and clapped her hands together. "Great! Let's have the party on Friday, which is... tomorrow. I mean, if you consider it Thursday right now because it's 1:00 a.m."

"Perfect. I hope Laff isn't busy, I don't know why he would be though." I said.

"Great! Well, I'll see you tomorrow then." She said, leading me back to the front door because her house was so huge I usually got lost when trying to go anywhere in it on my own.

"See you." I waved and drove back home.

When I walked in the door, Laff was pacing around the living room, looking extremely worried. He turned, saw me, and rushed over, throwing his arms around me.

"Hercules!" He nearly shouted. "I was so worried about you!"

I hugged him back for a moment then gently peeled him off of me. "I was just at Angie's house. She needed... um.... help with a fashion emergency." I laughed.

"Oh, yes! That makes sense, she is very concerned about her fashion!" He stifled a yawn and smiled at me. I glanced at the time.

"It's nearly 2:00 a.m, we should go back to sleep." I stated.

Laff nodded sleepily and leaned on me slightly as we walked back to my - our - my? Whatever, we walked back to the bedroom.

We laid down, and Laff rolled until he was almost on top of me. I gently laughed and tried to push him off, but he wouldn't budge.

Oh well, cuddling together in a friendly, completely platonic way was couldn't hurt anything, right?

THE NEXT MORNING

I woke up and Laff was gone, as usual. There were officially three days until the fashion show (not counting today), we left on Monday. I invited Laff and he excitedly agreed. Surprisingly, he had never been to New York, even though he'd been to many other places like Alaska, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Ireland, France, Japan, wow- this man really travelled a lot.

I had finished the 5 dresses, one was soft pink, one yellow, one a minty green, one a vibrant blue, and one a soft purple. (A/N: a rainbow, if you catch my drift hehe)

I carefully packed them in a suitcase along with a beret for one, a few purses, and 5 pairs of shoes. Any jewelry would be decided by the people running the show, which was fine with me. I was never much of a jewelry guy myself.

I went about my day, doing the usual. I sketched some, then began working on a pink, yellow, and blue jacket. I wasn't sure if I'd sell it, because it was really cute. I might give it to one of my friends.

After cleaning the apartment, it was only 3:00, and I had been working hard on the fashion show for a month, so I decided to sit on the couch and watch some tv as I made scarves for my online store.

When Laff got home, I told him about the party and he said yes, of course. 

But then he said something that made my heart sink. 

"Can I bring a date?" He asked.

I tried not to look disappointed. I wanted to tell him no, but how could I? "Sure." I heard myself say, then swallowed to try to keep back tears.

"Are you ok, mon ami?" He sat down the knife he had been using to chop things for dinner and  approached where I sat on the counter.

"Yeah, of course. Just... tired." I lied, but a tear gave me away as it dripped down my face and landed on his hand that he had put on mine.

He lifted my chin, so we were making eye contact. "What is wrong, mon ami?"

It took me every shred of self control I had in my body not to lean forward and kiss him. 

"I just, well, um..." I wasn't sure how to dig my way out of this one. I settled on telling him the partial truth. "I'm just disappointed you're bringing a date, because..." My voice trailed off. Should I really lie, or come clean?

I glanced down. "Because I thought at the party we could... become closer friends, you know? It was going to be a close friends only party, and if you brought a date it would...change the atmosphere, you know?" 

I really hoped he did know because if he made me keep talking I was going to burst into tears and spill my whole heart out to him.

He stepped back slightly, and for a moment I thought we was angry. Then he just shrugged.

"That is fine, mon ami, I do not even have a date yet. I was just checking in case I met someone in between now and tomorrow night." He laughed slightly, and went back to chopping vegetables.

Since his back was turned, I let a few more tears run down my face before I laughed. He turned back.

"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas? Oh, excuse mon français. What is wrong?" He asked, as I began laughing harder.

"That was just---" I was cut off because I was laughing so hard. I wasn't really sure why I was laughing either, maybe I was just relieved that he didn't have a date.

At some point he joined in, and we laughed so hard we fell to the ground. After we finally calmed down, we just laid on the kitchen floor in pleasant silence.

"You know, you really are my bestest friend, mon ami." He said, breaking the silence.

"You're my bestest friend, Laff." Even though I wanted it to be more than that, I was still happy I could call someone my best friend.

Honestly, before I had met Laff, I had been pushing everyone away, even John and Alex. I was alone everyday unless I had a business meeting. But Laff changed that, and... he sort of saved my life.

I shook my head, trying not to think about my depressive episode. I had Laff, and now everything would be alright.