When they met up with Hercules after the game, John and Alex had to physically stop him from pacing so he would focus and talk to them.
"You didn't play at all for the rest of the game," John said. "What happened?"
"I accidentally broke Lee's nose." Hercules answered.
"What do you mean 'accidentally'?" Angelica asked suspiciously.
"I mean, I wasn't trying to break his nose when I punched him."
"Wait, you punched him?" Lafayette questioned. Herc just nodded.
"Is he alright?" Eliza asked.
"Who cares?" Hercules spoke absentmindedly, seeming lost in thought.
"What did he do?"-Maria this time.
"He-ugh-he's always made fun of me because I'm bi, which is already annoying," Hercules said, his face going red.
"Why didn't you tell me when I asked what was wrong?" Laf wondered, clearly offended. "Why didn't you tell any of us?"
"Because I don't care if he's making fun of me."
"Okay," Alex sighed and crossed his arms. "Why did it bother you today?"
"Because he was talking about you guys." Herc's voice softened. "He asked how many of you are 'like me'. Then he called John and Alex sluts-"
"What?" Alex yelled. "No wonder you punched him."
"That's not why I punched him, exactly. It just made me mad." Herc's friends gave him confused stares. He looked at the ground, speaking quietly. "He said that Laf was a 'stupid French faggot'." A few of his friends gasped or loudly expressed their hatred for Lee.
Hercules slowly looked up at Lafayette. The French boy was flustered; his face was red and his eyes were welling up with tears.
"You okay Laf?" Hercules asked.
"Oui-yes," Lafayette nodded and wiped his eyes. "Just...I'm ready to go."
Later, Lafayette was just about ready to scream. He stood outside of Hercules' room, nervous and crushing really hard on his best friend. It didn't help that through the partially open door, he could see Hercules changing if he walked by. To put it simply, Lafayette quickly realized why Hercules could break someone's nose with one hit. So, yeah, Lafayette was ready to scream.
Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Hercules called from inside. Lafayette opened the door but didn't move any further.
"Um...I-I just wanted to...um..." Laf kept pushing his hair behind his ear in a nervous tick as he stuttered through his words.
"Is something wrong, Laf?" Hercules asked. Lafayette felt his face heat up.
"N-no, I just..." He sighed. "I wanted to thank you for standing up for me earlier."
"Oh," Herc blinked a few times. "Yeah, no problem."
They stood there for a moment in awkward silence before Lafayette turned and said, "Well, good night Hercules."
"Night Laf." Lafayette froze, his brain urging him to do something else.
"Gil," He said, turning back to face Hercules.
"What?"
"Please, call me Gil," The Frenchman smiled and got a small grin in response.
"Okay, then," Hercules laughed ever so slightly. "Good night...Gil."
Hey! Look down here! I need your help!
I need something that the group as a whole can be called in the writing instead of having to call them "LGBTQTEES" or "Alex's friends" or something when referring to them. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them! Thank you! I love you all!