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Herc and Eliza had settled into a good routine for alternating their resident hall nightly examinations around their various sorority and fraternity obligations. Granted, it was only the freshman get to know you week, but they both agreed that they had a pretty solid schedule. The building hadn’t burned down at least. The easy Sunday calm of the building made it easy for them to relax together in the small RA lounge in their building. Herc was scrolling through twitter trying not to laugh at the banter between Jefferson and Hamilton. Laf hadn’t been wrong when they had called him out for being overly attached to those four. He had been so relieved when they had all joined his house. Herc’s family had never been very present in his life. He was a middle child in a large family: it was easy to blend in and get lost in the chaos. When he came to college, it had been with and for a girl. When she dropped out of his life, he had drifted until Laf had introduced him to the Schuyler family. The Schuyler’s had basically taken him in as one of their own. He had Dr. Schuyler as an advisor until he solidified his studio design major and had to switch, but he still found himself in the older man’s office more than his own advisor’s. He and Laf had a constant open invitation to the Schuyler family dinner on Sunday nights. His little family had expanded under his nose, and now with the addition of the four boys, it was growing again.
Herc didn’t realize he had been so lost in thought until Eliza gently petted his arm. “Hey big guy, you doin’ alright in there?”
Herc gave her an exaggerated thumbs up. This seemed to placate her for the moment and she went back to grinning at her phone. Herc had met Eliza before she came to college, and hadn’t been surprised to see her follow her sister in both college choice and sorority. In the last two years, he had gotten to watch as she really settled into herself, and while Herc would never pick favorites, he did have a special place in his heart for quiet moments spent with the middle Schuyler sister. Angelica was a whirlwind. She was charismatic and loyal to a fault, as well as very defensive of her younger sisters and all those she cared about which had extended to Laf and Herc. She was a big proponent of her image, and she and Herc had bonded over his ideas for a nongendered clothing line that had ‘equality of pocket size for all’ during their freshman seminar. Eliza had a quieter energy. She was almost matronly and very in tune to the needs and feelings of others. Sometimes this resulted in her putting herself in uncomfortable situations, but Herc had learned that she was worse to cross than even Angelica. Eliza knew how to hit right where it would hurt. Then there was Margarita, the youngest Schuyler. She was the Schuyler’s ‘miracle baby.’ When every doctor said she wasn’t going to make it, she had fought for her life. Her mother died during childbirth, but little Peggy had survived and hadn’t stopped fighting since then it seemed. She had been described as ‘sharp as a tack’ and ‘an atomic pinball’ because of her wit and energy. However, when she was around Herc, she changed into what seemed like the complete opposite of what others thought. Always such a proper young lady, Herc assumed that maybe the rumors about her were falsified or like an in family joke. He didn’t linger on the thoughts too long though.
“Oh no.” Herc looked up to Eliza who was suddenly frowning at her phone. Herc was at immediate attention. Nobody hurt one of his girls.
“What’s up, buttercup?” he asked, concern evident in his tone. Eliza looked at him with a look that he knew meant she was about to do something for someone else instead of something she actually wanted to do. She was almost on her feet when his tone stopped her, “Elizabeth. What’s going on?”
She rolled her eyes good naturedly at the use of her full name. “You don’t have to use the big brother tone on me Hercules. I just have to go get Margarita from practice because she lost her keys and can’t drive herself home from volleyball practice. Her friends are willing to wait with her, but their car is too full to safely bring her home. Angelica is apparently on a date, wouldn’t say with who so don’t ask, and so it falls on me to go get her. Not a big deal.”
He narrowed his eyes, knowing he wasn’t getting the whole story. With a look of exasperation she continued, “You know, you’re honestly worse than Angelica with the ‘I know you’re not telling me everything’ face, right? Fine. Alex had invited me to go with him to that ice cream place that Laf loves so much. I haven’t gotten to stop in to see Ma Marie yet this semester, so I am a little disappointed that I have to go get Peggy instead. Can I go now?”
“I mean, if you mean go to get ice cream with ya boy then sure. Let me go get Pegs from practice. I’m on her emergency contact list right?” Herc was already grabbing the key to his motorcycle and standing with Eliza.
Eliza was sputtering protests, but stopped when she saw the determined look on his face. “Herc, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Peggy will be ecstatic that it’s you and not me. I don’t know how I’m going to thank you for this. Will you be at dinner tonight?”
Herc pulled his jacket on and grabbed his helmet. “Yeah, I think Laf is coming as well. I’ll see you then. Good luck with Alex.” He winked before walking out.
Eliza’s laughter tinkled out of the room after him. “Good luck with Peggy’s friends!”
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Margarita Schuyler had always felt like there was some deity out there watching out for her. Whether it was luck, or a blessing, or a guardian angel, she had lived through anything life could throw at her with grace. She had excelled in classes easily sharing a sentiment with Elle Woods, “What, like it’s hard?” She had never doubted her beauty. With two older sister’s wardrobes to choose from, she stayed at the peak of fashion. She had started playing volleyball early in her childhood, so scouts from colleges all around were taking note to have someone come try to sway her from attending Liberty College. Even puberty had been easy on her with only a few pimples here and there. She was ‘well-rounded’ as her father liked to say which Peggy and her friends joked meant she was good at everything. She had excelled so far that she was already permitted to take college classes in the afternoons instead of staying in the high school ones. But if there was one thing Peggy was not
good at, it was flirting. With anyone. Ever. Her friend’s had poked so much fun at her for it, that she did something drastic and lied. Which is why she was currently sitting outside her school in her practice volleyball uniform with her friends scowling at her phone and wishing that she had contacted anyone but her sisters for help getting home.
For the last few months, Peggy had been telling her friends that the reason she wasn’t ‘flirty’ was that she had been dating her long time crush, Hercules Mulligan. They had ate it up. Dating a guy in college was basically the epitome of a scandal at a small high school like Peggy’s. Dating a college guy who was in a fraternity, played hockey, drove a motorcycle, and had tattoos? That made Peggy the most cool girl at the school and the proverbial talk of the town. Which was fine when he was just a concept. Even when her friends joked that he had to be made up because he seemed too good to be true, Peggy had just laughed it off, and then thanked whoever was out there watching out for her that there would never be a reason to get caught in the lie by anyone other than her sisters (who had found out and then laughed their asses off, but Peggy had just been glad that they were willing to play along.)
Peggy had been so lucky. ‘Guess all luck comes to an end,’ she thought bitterly. Eliza had texted her that Herc was coming to get her on the motorcycle and had the audacity to send a winking face immediately following. ‘Traitor to the cause.’
One of her friends was asking what Eliza had said to make Peggy so moody all of the sudden, so Peggy turned on her depths of charisma. “Oh, she said she’s feeling ill. I’m just worried is all. But,” she made sure to drawl out the ‘u’ sound so that she had all of her friend’s attention before continuing, “there is a silver lining to this cloud. Guess who is picking me up instead? On. His. Motorcycle!” She paused for effect while her friends screamed and started all talking at once.
“OH MY GOSH! This is proof that he’s actually real.”
“Mr. Mysterious in the flesh!”
“Do you think he would give me a ride on his bike?”
“Do you think he has any brother’s that need girlfriends?”
“Is he going to come to prom? Will he bring his friends?”
“If you get tired of him, can I have him?”
Peggy chuckled nervously and deflected all of her friends prying questions. Before she was really ready, she heard the rumble of Herc’s motorcycle winding up the school drive. Her friends got quieter as they were all straining to look without looking like they actually cared. Peggy took that moment to decide that she thought high school was super overrated. He pulled up to the curb and cut the engine. Her breath caught in her throat for a second just looking at him as he pulled his helmet off. She would swear his muscles rippled when he flexed, and the cutoff sleeves of his shirt weren’t helping her focus on somehow maintaining her lie. Luckily, her friends were just as shell shocked as she was. Herc, as usual, seemed oblivious to the ogling of the high school seniors. “Hey Pegs, your sister said you needed a ride. She’s a bit busy but I figured I could come save the day. You about ready?”
Before she could scamper off and leave her friends to wonder without getting a thought out, one of them was approaching him. “We’ve heard so much about you. You’re Hercules right?”
Peggy internally groaned. Herc responded to the girl in his casually friendly way. “Guess I’m pretty popular in these parts. Most people just call me Herc.” He was turning to get the spare helmet out of his small trunk equivalent when he felt hands on his bicep. Peggy was mortified at her friends brash behavior. “Wow, your arm is like the size of my head. Peggy wasn’t exaggerating that you were strong. Is this from hockey?”
To Peggy’s amazement, Herc continued to either ignore or completely miss her friend’s hidden meaning to the question. “Yeah, I have to be in shape year round because by the time we get on the ice, we have to be ready to go. I lift in the off season. I can probably squat more than one of you easily. I just like to be ready to give 100% so I don’t let any of the people who come see me play down.”
He handed Peggy the spare helmet. She was sure her blush would be obvious, but so far no one had called her on it. Herc was behaving so well that she almost worried for a moment that Eliza had told him her secret. She immediately discarded that idea though. Her sisters were pros at secret keeping, and this situation would be no different. She tried to calm her racing heart. If she could just get the helmet on, Herc would whisk her away and her secret would be safe another day. In her panic, she missed her friend coyly asking Herc for a demonstration of his strength. All of the sudden, he had her in a firemans hold over his head, easily squatting with her a few times to her friend’s delight. Peggy felt dizzy from being so close to him and had a moment of silly hope that he would never put her down. When the moment had ended, he put her back down, and she couldn’t help but laugh with her friends and Herc at the situation, too. She still punched him lightly on the arm. “Can we go now?” she murmured, still slightly embarrassed.
“Sure thing, let me hop on. Remember to hold on tight; she’s got a lot of power.” Herc helped her get situated behind him on the bike before waving to her friends. She hoped that he didn’t notice the winks or insinuating waves her friends gave her as they pulled away. If he did, she would tackle that then. For the moment, she just curled into his back and let her arms drape around him just a little tighter. They arrived at her house much sooner than she would have liked. Instead of confronting her about her friends, he gestured to the house. “Do you need to get your spare keys from inside? I can drive you back over to your car after.”
Peggy thanked every deity she could think of that Herc was as dense as he was acting when it came towards recognizing affection. “Nah, I will just take my spare to school with me tomorrow. Thanks for coming to get me though! I appreciate it more than you know.”
He scratched at the back of his neck, giving her another awesome view of his arms. “You Schuyler’s over react to the simplest of gestures. It was just a ride. We have some time before dinner though, if you wanna go with me to crash Eliza’s ‘totally-not-a-date’ with Alex?”
Peggy could never tell which side of Herc she liked better: the cool, aloof fake-boyfriend or the cool, dorkily concerned older brother she never had. Either way, she laughed and ran inside to change before hopping back on his bike so they could go terrorize Eliza.