Chapter Text
"Happy Birthday Philip!" Lafayette yelled as they slid into the car. Leaving the party for Philip's fourth birthday.
"Papa?" Georges asked from the backseat.
"Yes baby?"
"Can we have Lip over for a play date?" Georges asked in an adorable French accent.
"Of course baby." Lafayette said smiling.
They pulled into the parking lot and headed up to the apartment. Once Georges was in bed, Lafayette headed to the living room to relax.
Adrian skulked in, "you think that was cute don't you?" Adrian asked scowling.
"Que, what are you talking about?" Lafayette asked sitting up sharply. They had never seen Adrian like this before. "Mon amour are you alright?"
"Enough with the French. I let it go at the party, but no more French in my home."
"Adrian?" Lafayette asked scared.
"You fucking flirty tease, you were all over that man." Adrian said moving closer to Lafayette.
"Alex is my friend. Nothing else, we just have always been close." Lafayette defended.
"Is that why you were talking in a language I don't speak? Because it was just a friendship thing?"
"It's just, neither of us get to speak French all that much. At least not with a fluent person."
That was when the first hit came. A punch to the jaw line. Lafayette tried to pull away, but then came the second. "Think about that next time you think about being a slut." Adrian said before walking to their shared bedroom and shutting the door.
Lafayette closed their eyes and allowed the tears to fall. After a long time, they went to the bathroom and gasped at their reflection. Purple bruises were blooming on the side of their face. They fell into a fitful rest, but only for a few hours before having to wake up and put make up on their face. Adrian came and stood behind them as they finished with their makeup.
"Lafayette, I'm sorry about last night. My anger got out of hand. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course mon, my love." They corrected before he became mad at them.
"Great," he said, "I've got to go to work, see you for dinner." He left before Lafayette could respond.
They went to wake up Georges, "hey baby,"
"Papa!" He exclaimed hugging them. "Do I have to go to school?" He asked sounding less excited.
"Yes, now let's get you dressed."
Adrian didn't hit Lafayette for a long time after that. The second time it happened, it was after Georges had his fifth birthday party. Lafayette wasn't done cleaning the apartment when Adrian arrived home. After that it became more frequent, Lafayette found themselves going through more concealer, Jumping at any noise, and overall becoming a quieter person. They only spoke French when they were out with other friends, which was not often because Adrian got jealous.
But one day after a particularly bad episode of Adrian's Lafayette found themselves at Hercules' door With suitcases for themselves and six year old Georges.
They knocked and he was quick to answer. Both Lafayette and Georges had a bruise on their cheek, and Lafayette had several more. He gasped and quickly let them in. "Can-can we stay here?" Lafayette asked voice breaking.
"Of course. You two can stay in the guest room. There's only one bed, but it's double." Hercules said leading them to the room.
Lafayette just nodded, "merci, oh sorry, thank you. I'm going to get Georges ready for bed, I'll be out in a bit."
Once Georges was asleep, Lafayette joined Hercules at his table.
"Are you ok?" He asked, "who did this?"
"Adrian, and I'll be fine."
"How long?" He asked.
"Philip's fourth birthday party." Lafayette answered looking down.
"Lafayette!" They winced at his loudness, he noticed and calmed down, "that's two years. What changed?"
"He hit Georges, I couldn't let him do that to my son. I thought when it was me that I deserved it, that if I could be better it wouldn't happen, but then he hit Georges."
"Stay here as long as you need to." Hercules said. "If you need to go back for more stuff, I can go with you so he can't harass you."
"Thanks, but I grabbed everything that was mine before we left. Adrian owned almost everything in the apartment."
"Do you need anything else?"
"Can you drive me to work tomorrow?" Lafayette asked, Hercules nodded, "I'll call Alex and ask if they can drive Georges to school, or maybe Jefferson."
"I can drive him." Hercules offered.
"Thank you mon ami, sorry, my friend, but that's a bit out of the way, they already drive Vee and Philip to school so it will be easier."
"Okay," Hercules agreed, "phone is on the counter."
Lafayette nodded and dialed the Hamilton-Laurens household. "Hello?"
"Hi Laf," Alex responded, "once second Kika, I'm on the phone."
"If you need to go, I can wait." Laf offered without thinking.
"No it's okay, what's up?" Lafayette could here Philip squealing in the background, "John, please put the kids to bed!" Alex called to the other man. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"Could you drive Georges to and from school tomorrow?" Lafayette asked.
"Sure I'll be at your apartment at 7:30" Alex responded.
"Not my apartment, Hercules'"
"What? Oh are you out of town?" Alex asked.
"No, I ended things with Adrian, I'm staying with Hercules."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"Don't say that. It's better that we ended it. He wasn't good to be around, especially for Georges. I guess I should tell you, before you see Georges tomorrow,"
"What is it?" Alex asked finally giving Laf his full attention.
"He has been hitting me, and tonight he hit Georges for the first time. That's when I finally realized and we left." Lafayette heard the sharp intake of breath on the other end, but no response came out, "Alex?"
"God, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"No one did Alex, you didn't do anything."
"I should've known," Alex said continuing to beat himself up.
"How could you have, I worked very hard to cover it up."
"I'll be at Hercules' around 7:30 to get him. I can drive him as long as you need."
"Thank you. I need to go. See you in the morning."
Lafayette hung up quickly. They knew they would have to tell all of their close friends. They sighed, "I should get to bed."
"Yeah," Hercules agreed, "I'm glad you decided to come here."