My Dearest (Lams)

Meeting The Gang

John's POV

"I'm Alexander, by the way!" I heard the man call.

"I'm John!" I responded, then knocked on the right door, sighing deeply as I heard the man's door close.

The first thing that greeted me was laughter as the door opened. There stood Lafayette, his hair out of his usual ponytail. He looked a little flustered. I could only imagine what was going on behind the door.

"John, mon ami! Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" The Frenchman asked, noting my puffy, red eyes.

I took a shaky breath. "Can I come in?"

Lafayette looked me over, and nodded. "Oui."

He led me inside, where I saw Hercules on the couch. The large man was quickly buttoning his shirt, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lafayette blush prefusively.

"John, can you tell me what is wrong?" Lafayette said, repeating his question.

"I... My father..." Unable to contain it, I burst into tears. Right there. In front of my best friends.

But the perk of having Lafayette and Hercules as nest friends is that they've seen it before. They know what to do.

"Oh John, mon ami.  Il va bien se passer. Que s'est-il passé?" Lafayette whispered, pulling me onto the couch. I whimpered and buried my head in his chest, muffling my sobs. He rubbed my back.

"I-I got a c-call... From the S-South Carolina hospital... My s-sister was taken in last night, showing b-bad signs of a-abuse. They think my f-father did it, but there's n-no evidence."

"There has to be evidence! Henry was the only one with her in the house, right?" Hercules said, baffled.

"Henry Jr. was there too, and a lot of people think it's him," I whispered, nearly unable to get the words out.

Lafayette opened his mouth to say something, probably to cuss out Father like usual, but a knock on the door interrupted him.

We all shared a confused look, before Hercules went to answer it. I heard a few words exchanged, then my name was called.

"John! Someone's here to see you!" Hercules called. I looked at Lafayette, who shrugged and unwrapped his arms from me. I got up and walked to the door.

I must have done a bad job of hiding my surprise when I saw who was at the door, for Hercules chuckled.

"Hey, John," Alexander said. His face turned worried. "Is everything okay?"

I realized that I hadn't wiped away my tears, and I quickly rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Y-yeah," I said. "I'm fine. What... What're you doing here?"

"That's what I wanna know," Hercules muttered, his eyes narrowed at Alexander.

"I, er... You seemed a little upset when you were at my door. I wanted to know if you were okay..." Alexander shuffled his feet, obviously embarrassed.

"Um... Alex, this is Hercules. Hercules, this is Alex," I said awkwardly, introducing the two. "Alex just moved in a couple doors down."

Hercules stood there, eyes still narrowed at Alexander in suspicion. It was silent for a moment.

"I'm going to see how Laf is," he muttered, and left. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry," I said. "He really wouldn't hurt a fly."

Alexander nodded slowly and turned back to me.

"So..."

"Yeah."

More silence followed, before I spoke up.

"You wanna come inside?" I asked cautiously. "I promise, I'll keep Hercules and Lafayette from tearing you apart. Mainly Hercules."

Alexander hesitated. He was staring into space, his tongue slightly between his teeth. I was beginning to wonder of he heard what I said at all.

"Yeah," he finally said, and followed me inside the apartment.

Alexander's POV

I followed John inside. In the living room sat a tall, limber man.

"Bonsoir," he said quietly. I nodded in greeting. This must be Lafayette.

I could see Hercules in the kitchen, making tea. His movements seemed angry, and I winced as he turned back to glare at me.

"Ignore him," John sighed. "He's just protective."

"Ahh, yes, but always attractive as hell," Lafayette purred, looking back at Hercules. John snorted.

"Are they..." I asked, confused, as John sat down on the other couch next to me.

"Together? Yeah."

"Are you seeing anyone...?" I bit my lip. John shook his head.

"Nah. My dad got me with some random girl like three years ago because he couldn't handle the thought of me being gay."

This took me by surprise. "You're gay?"

"Yup." John yawned. "What about you?

"Bi." He nodded.

"You know, Alex, you're definitely not a New Yorker."

"Um... I grew up in the Caribbean, on an island called Nevis."

"Huh..." John seemed interested.

Suddenly my phone rang, and I looked down.

Elliot:
Hey pizza's here. Wanna invite those guys next door?

Alexander:
Sure. B there in a sec

"It's my cousin. We ordered pizza and it just arrived. You guys wanna come?" I asked, getting up.

"Assurer! Je meurs de faim!" Lafayette squeaked. He jumped up and down excitedly.

"Two years of living with you guys and I still haven't thought of learning French," John groaned.

"He says yes and that he's starving," I spoke up. Lafayette swiveled on his socked feet to me.

"You speak French?" He whispered. I flushed with embarrassment.

"Fluent."

"Oh mon ami! Merci merci merci merci merci!" He cried, running over to me. I stood in shock as he grabbed my face and kissed me all over.

"Hey!" Hercules called playfully. "Who's your boyfriend here?"

Lafayette ran over, feet sliding on the hardwood floor. He kissed Hercules on the cheek.

"Désolé," he muttered at me. I smiled.

"Il est très bien," I said. "Now, why don't we have some pizza?"

They cheered and we left, heading for my apartment.