- Hercules -

My only thought as I broke away from Lafayette was that the kiss was amazing.

That quickly changed when I actually saw who was in the car.

"Mom?!" I shouted over the rain and thunder, Laf giving me a slightly worried look. I squinted as the headlights shone in my face and my mother held up her hand, parked the car, and we all ran inside.

I unlocked my apartment and rolled my mother and Lafayette inside, a bright red blush burning across both his face and mine. I may be 21, but I feel like I'm 14 and just got caught doing something I shouldn't have been.

Not caring about wet clothes, me and Laf sat in the couch and my mom sat in the armchair and gave us a look.

"Hercules... before I explain why I'm here, do you maybe want to tell me what I saw out in the parking lot?" She said, an unreadable expression painted across her face. There was no tell at all how she was feeling about any of this.

"Um- I-I, uh, well I- er, I..." I stuttered, my blush deepening as I tried to figure out what to say to my mother. I don't know how she feels about gay relationships and she definitely doesn't know that I'm gay. I took in a deep breath and felt Laf take my hand subtly and squeeze it. I smiled to myself and calmed down a little bit.

"Um, this is Lafayette and um... we were kissing in the parking lot?" I said unsurely, not really wanting to mention the fact that: a. He just broke up with his girlfriend, b. We met yesterday, and c. This all started with a drunk kiss. My mom sat in silence for a moment before jumping out of her chair with a huge smile on her face. I stood up too, not knowing what was going on.

"Hercules! I'm so happy for you, you finally found someone! Now you'd better treat him right, alright? Don't go and break his heart." She said, pulling me into a tight hug. I looked back at Laf with a small grin as she squeezed me, and he smirked back.

After what seemed like eternity, she stopped hugging me and sat back down.

"Ok, I want to talk to both of you separately later, but I should probably explain why I'm here, yeah?" She said, still smiling. I nodded and prompted her to explain.

"Well, I thought that 21 is a pretty special birthday and I wanted to get away from New York for a little while, so I thought, why not go to New Jersey and visit Hercules? Granted, I'm a day late and I seem to have found you at an awkward moment, but here I am!" She exclaimed. I blushed as she mentioned the awkward moment but nodded and went with it anyways.

After my father died two years ago, my mom decided that New Jersey held too many memories of him. I was a sophomore in college so obviously I stayed, but she moved up to New York.

My mom and Dad were so in love. I remember getting the news when he died. My mom was by my side and we were sitting in the hospital waiting room after he'd been hit by a drunk driver. When they told us, for a second we had just looked at each other, and then we both broke down.

But she's always been there for me. Even before he died, she was there. And she never gave up hope in me, not one time.

"Oh, ok. Um..." I said in response, not really knowing what to say. She took the lead and ushered me outside, excusing us from Laf and pulling me under the little overhang so we wouldn't be in the rain.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said. I knew this was coming. I tried playing dumb for a moment to see if I could deviate from the topic.

"Tell you what?" I said. She gave me a look as if to say, you know what I mean.

"Oh, I don't know, that you have a boyfriend? Or maybe that you're gay? Cmon Herc, I'm your mom! It's not that big of a deal, I just wish you'd have told me sooner! Why didn't you?" She said. I looked at my feet and shuffled around a little bit.

"I dunno. I guess I just never knew how you'd react to it. I was scared." I mumbled. It was true; I'd known that I was gay since I was 15. Six years is a long time to keep that big of a secret.

"Well, you don't need to be afraid, alright? I accept you. And above all, I love you. You're my son. I will always love you." She said, hugging me again. I nodded into her shoulder, feeling both guilty for not telling her but also relieved that I no longer had anything to hide.

"Now, this Lafayette guy, huh? I'd better talk to him, make sure he won't break your heart.." she said with a smile, bumping my shoulder.

"Don't scare him, please Mom. We haven't been together for all that long yet..." I said. What I didn't say was that we aren't technically together at all and we literally met yesterday.

"Ok, ok, fine." She muttered, faking disappointment. I laughed and we walked back inside, me going to change out of my soaked clothes while my mother took Laf to interrogate him. I caught his eye before he got dragged out and mouthed, good luck, to him.

This should be interesting.