Word Count: 1,145
For once I have a vague idea what I am doing.
the lancelot of the revolutionary set
Gilbert doesn't really remember when Loki had appeared in his life. The god has just sort of always been somewhere around him.
It doesn't even feel odd, since Gilbert can't remember a time without Loki at his side.
The man has always been there when his grandmother isn't.
When Gilbert has a problem, he goes to Loki.
When he isn't feeling well, he goes to Loki.
When literally anything in his life doesn't go over the way he wants it to, he goes to get advice from Loki at the first opportunity he gets.
And usually, Loki's help is all he needs for the problem to disappear. Whether he follows the advice or the issue just happens to vanish.
Loki takes care of Gilbert the way he imagines his father would, if he was still alive.
When Gilbert mentions that to Loki, though, the god gets a weird expression on his face. It is love and pride and horror and shock and amusement, all in one.
Even as the small five-year-old Gilbert is at that point, he finds that quite odd.
But he is quickly distracted by the chocolate Loki offers him.
Gilbert doesn't really have all that much contact with other children, but he still manages to get the impression that he is fairly odd.
It's not unusual for him to tell his grandmother about his day for her to shake her head and demand to tell her what he really did.
He is well aware that Loki is supposed to be a secret—it is one of the first things he remembers learning—so he knows to edit that out, but somehow his grandmother is still weirded out.
Like that time when he is on the swings and he floats for a really long time. Like, Gilbert counts to one hundred before he lands. He doesn't count, like, a second per number, but still.
When he runs to his grandmother to tell her, she dismisses him.
When he goes went to Loki though, he gets a proud smile and a "Great job, kiddo!". Even then, Gilbert could've sworn he sees a look of worry on Loki's face for a fraction of a second.
This by far not the only time something like this occurrs.
Sometimes, Gilbert can make people think or see certain things. It doesn't always work and never very long, but he can do it.
His grandmother laughs at him and calls it childish imagination. She does trade a concerned look with his grandfather, though.
So Gilbert runs to Loki and for the first time he can remember, Loki pales.
"Don't get me wrong, Gil, you're doing a wonderful job with those illusions. But I have a few things to tell you. Some of those, you might like. Others, not so much."
"Alright," Gilbert replies, looking at Loki.
The conversation that follows takes a long, long time. More time than should be possible, but as it turns out, there is a good reason for that.
Loki is more than just a god. He's also Gabriel, the Archangel, but Gilbert isn't actually supposed to talk or think about that other name.
Gilbert is fairly sure he only manages to do that because of the other thing Loki had revealed to him.
Namely, the fact that Loki actually is his father.
His actual father.
It is so weird. For almost a decade, he has believed his father to be dead and gone. Now he has discovered that Loki is his father…
Actually, not all that much changes between them. What changes is that Gilbert now knows that he isn't actually human.
Technically, he is half, but what he is has a whole different name.
He is a nephilim.
"Look, kid," Loki seems pensive and sad when their conversation gets to that part. "I'm sorry, but there are a whole bunch of people who'd want to kill you sorely for being my son."
Loki keeps the details to a minimum as he explains about Odin's view of Loki's children—in summary: none of them should exist—and the Angels' attitude concerning nephilim—they should be eradicated.
"The thing is, they think all nephilim are inherently evil. That's so wrong that it would be ridiculous in any other circumstance. There are nephilim like that, but those are only those where the Angel in question didn't have consent from the human."
And Gilbert takes that to his heart.
He feels like he has to.
A few years later—once he is in Paris, with his mother, and being trained as a musketeer—Gilbert realizes that he doesn't actually feel all that much like a he.
The meetings with Loki have gotten less frequent over time, so it takes a while until Gilbert can bring it up in a conversation.
"That's totally fine." That's Loki's initial reaction. "I don't really know about humans, but Angels generally only really have a gender if they really bother. There are a few exceptions, but that's true for most. So if nothing else, that's just that side of you coming to the front."
From that point onwards, Gilbert mostly goes by Lafayette.
Loki is right when he says that Lafayette has 'more than enough names' and that he 'might as well use them'.
Lafayette isn't sure that he likes male pronouns and feels comfortable with them, but quite frankly, what else would he use? He isn't aware of any other set, unless you count the female one.
And when he meets Adrienne and eventually tells her this, she accepts him.
Yet a few more years later, Lafayette goes to America to help them with their Revolution.
Despite everything, he has a fairly good time over there.
He makes some great friends and learns a new language if nothing else.
There is something odd about his friends. Something in his stomach feels weird around them. It's not necessarily a bad feeling, but he isn't quite sure how to describe it.
Once the war is over, once they have won, Lafayette returns to France.
There's a Revolution in his homeland as well, but that one escalates. It gets out of hand.
There's a price on his head, so he takes his family and attempts to run to safety.
Back to his American friends. He hasn't seen them in around a decade, which is way too long.
They are just about to enter Austria-Hungary, when his father appears in front of them.
Adrienne and the children are frightened for a moment, but Lafayette's clear excitement relaxes them.
"Son, I'm here to offer you and your family a shortcut. Something has come up and I think your help might be one of the best things we can do to prevent an utter disaster."
"Why that?" Adrienne asks.
"Because not only it concerns my older brother, it also involves Alexander Hamilton."
What had that man done now?
Please tell me what you think!