"And thats why I hate ball dancing." Lafayette said, concluding a very dramatic story.
Hercules raised a brow, but still remained silent.
It didnt bother Lafayette so much. He knew there was a reason the man wouldnt talk to him. So hed just have to keep up both ends of the conversation.
"What else?" He pondered, folding shirts.
"Alexander brought home a stray cat one day, so we nicknamed him tom cat. Alex-not the cat." Lafayette said, correcting himself.
"Yo Frenchfry cant you see guard aint tryna be yo daddy?" Someone called, a few people laughing.
"Fuck off, Johnson." Lafayette said jokingly.
The men in the laundry room laughed and poked fun at each other for a while, until they forgot what they were doing, even that they were inside such a retched place.
Hercules knew he should order them to go back to work.
But they all seemed to be having so much fun. Escpecially Laff. He was smiling, joking around with the other guys.
The irishman couldn't ruin their fun.
☆☆☆☆☆
Lafayette walked into his cell, climbing up to the top bunk and pulling his library book from under his flattened tired pillow.
He flipped through the pages, finally finding his bookmark.
But the man wasnt even a paragraph in before Thomas walked in, drumming on the metal frame of the bed and looking at his friend who laid at eyelevel.
"Bonjour, Thomas." He mumbled, not taking his gaze from his spot on the page.
"Bonjour, Lafayette." Thomas replied in almost perfect french.
"You know french?" Lafayette said, putting his book aside.
"Oui. Im surprised you didnt notice before." Thomas said nonchillantly, smiling.
"Well, you are a jack of all trades." Lafayette joked, chuckling as the man tipped a hat.
"Dont you know how to make a man feel special?" Thomas slipped, before correcting himself. "Not special. And not in a sexual way, i.. just i-"
"Mon ami," Lafayette interjected, "i wont tell James."
"Thanks" Thomas said, relaxing. "I love him but this whole 'no flirting' is gonna kill me."
"Ah. And they say girlfriends are hard." Lafayette said, shaking his head. Thomas chuckled along with his friend.
"But, its the least I can do." Thomas said in a very matter of fact way.
"How do you figure?" Lafayette asked.
"I mean. James is waiting for me. James is perfect and sweet and kind. He could easily find someone else, someone not as fucked up. Cuz even when I do get out, I aint gon be like i was. Yo we part of the system the rest our lives." Thomas said, Lafayette having never really thought about it.
"So. If I were to have found someone, who didnt care I was a prisoner?" Lafayette said, very careful to not let his name slip.
"Go for it!" Thomas said. "We aint got high chances for success. Gotta take it where we can get it."
"Go for it.." Lafayette mumbled, trailing off.
Go for Hercules? That seemed so risky. So stupid. So insane, irrational, impulsive.
But so tempting..