The two of them walked downtown together to a nearby Italian restaurant that Herc had heard was good. They had just been seated when Laf received another text.

'Where are you?'

'For the last time, I'm on a date!' Laf texted back, frustrated. 'Now leave me alone!'

His phone continued to blow up with messages, eventually causing him to silence it and shove it into his pocket.

Herc looked at him curiously. "Is everything okay? If there's somewhere you need to be we can go back."

"No!" Laf replied quickly. "No, everything is fine. Don't worry about it." He continued, finishing his food and pushing the plate off to the side. He attempted a smile to keep Herc from worrying, and it seemed to work.

"Okay," Herc grinned. "Did you want to go to the park and just talk for a little bit?"

"Sure, that sounds nice."

It was still early, but surprisingly enough there weren't many people at the park. It seemed rather quiet too, but Herc and Laf filled the void of silence with their own voices.

"Did you have a good time?" Herc asked Laf. They were sitting on a bench and Laf had leaned his head up against Herc's shoulder.

"Yeah," He said, smiling softly. "Thanks."

"Of course," Herc replied, wrapping his arm around Laf. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Mm-hm." Laf replied. "Hey Herc?"

"Yeah?"

"Alex said you've liked me since last year...have you really?"

Herc looked surprised. "Uh, yeah. I've liked you for a while now…" he replied quietly. "I just didn't know how to tell you."

Laf looked at him. "Well, what made you tell me last night then?"

"John told me what you had been calling me all day...he knew I liked you already, so he thought it'd be fine to tell me."

"He said he wouldn't tell you though." Laf said, disappointed his friend had ignored his wishes. "Not that I'm mad that he did!" He replied quickly after that.

Herc smiled. "You're fine."

"Hi!" A voice said from behind them, causing them both to jump and turn around to see the speaker.

"How'd you find me?" Laf asked Thomas quietly.

"There's a thing called looking." The boy replied, his arms crossed. "And it doesn't look like you're on a date."

Herc looked between the two, trying to figure out what was going on. "Can someone please explain?" He asked, confused.

"Well, I was waiting at my dorm for Marie to show up, and when he didn't show up I texted him but he refused to respond!" Thomas said quickly before Laf could get a word out. "And earlier he told me he was on a date, and now I see that he's just here with you!"

Herc looked at him. "Excuse me? We are on a date, if you must know!"

"Herc...Herc just ignore him…" Laf said quietly.

"Why are you on a date with my boyfriend?" Thomas replied, glaring at Herc.

"Thomas, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not your boyfriend?!" Laf yelled at him.

Thomas ignored him. "Well, as nice as it was to meet you," he glared at Herc, "Marie and I have somewhere to be." He continued, grabbing Laf's wrist harshly and pulling him up from the bench.

"Ow! Thomas, let go of me!" Laf exclaimed, struggling against Thomas's grip.

"Hey, let go of him!" Herc said, standing up. "He obviously doesn't want to go with you!"

"Does it look like I care?" Thomas replied, tightening his grip.

"I said, let go of him." Herc said forcefully, forming his hands into fists.

"No." Thomas said defiantly. "You aren't in charge of me."

Herc swung at Thomas's face, causing him to loosen his grip on Laf's wrist, giving Laf the chance to pull away from him.

The fight continued on until Herc shoved Thomas to the ground. "Get out of here!" Herc snarled.

Thomas scrambled up, glaring at Herc, then stalked off.

Herc turned to face Laf, who was on the ground, sobbing. "Laf? Laf, what was that about?" He bent down next to him, putting his hand on Laf's back and rubbing him gently.

"I'll-I'll tell you back at the dorm." Laf choked out.

Herc looked at him concerned, then helped him to his feet. The two of them walked back to the dorm, Laf with his head down the entire time.

The two of them entered the dorm, collapsing on the couch and letting out a shuddered sob. Herc sat next to him and pulled him close, and Laf slowly leaned into his chest.

"He's not my boyfriend…" Laf mumbled, still crying.

"I never said he was." Herc replied gently. "Why does he think that though?"

"I-I dated him in our senior year of high school…" Laf choked out. "It wasn't for a very long period of time, but when I broke up with him he didn't acknowledge it. He won't stop bugging me…" He said in between sobs. "That's who I was getting texts from all through dinner."

Herc hugged Laf, speaking softly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to worry about it. I didn't think it was very important, so I just left it alone. I should've told you, I'm sorry."

"Hey. Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. Can I ask you another thing?"

"I guess…"

"Why does he call you Marie?"

"Because he's mean...he knows I hate it…"

"Oh. Is your arm okay?" Herc asked. "He grabbed you pretty tightly."

Laf pulled back his sleeve a little bit to look. "It's a little red." He muttered. "It should be gone by tomorrow."

"If you need to talk you can come to me, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," Laf said quietly. "Yeah, I know."

"Good," Herc replied, leaning in and kissing Laf lightly on the forehead, at which Laf stiffened and pulled away. "Laf?" Herc said, confused. "Sorry, did you not want me to…?"

"It's-it's not your fault. It has nothing to do with you. Just reasons…" Laf said, trying to look fine, but Herc could detect a trace of fear in his eyes.

"You're scared." Herc said plainly. "Why?"

"I already said, it's just reasons!" Laf replied, his voice rising in volume. "Sorry...sorry, I didn't mean to yell…"

"Are these some of the same reasons why you say sorry all the time?"

"Maybe," Laf muttered, silently crying. "I'm-I'm gonna go to bed."

Whoo, Chapter 3! Don't expect daily updates, I'm just doing this until the story gets a little more popularity! Please review and thanks for reading!