The Unspoken Introduction of Hercules Mulligan

Chapter 5

     After my shift ended, I went back upstairs and made dinner; boxed soup and grilled cheese. Dad didn't come out for dinner, he was still in his office, filling out supply order forms.           Afterwards, I played Parcheesi with Virginia and Daphne as promised. Daphne won, and V pouted all the way through The Simpsons. As I put the girls to bed, Dad came out, and took a plate of reheated dinner back to his office.

      I did my homework. Once I had finished all my Calculus and half of my American Government paper (I'd get Alex to finish it tomorrow) I collapsed on my bed with my headphones. Fast rap and beatboxing swarmed my ears. Lately I'd been into this relatively unknown rapper, Daveed Diggs. He could spit out words faster than any rapper I'd ever encountered-- and he had ridiculously impressive hair.

     My phone dinged. I scooped it up, and the old model was immediately dwarfed in my large hands. I turned it on and scrolled through the latest group message.

ALEX: who's with me for the student council meeting tomorrow? represent!!!!!

JOHN: im literally sitting right next to you you could have just asked me

PEGGY: ugh no those things are bor-ring

ELIZA: you know i am cutie 💕

ALEX: thanks cutie 😘😘

LAF: gag me

LAF: and im with peggy but what the hell

LAF: jefferson will be there and i enjoy pissing him off by correcting his "french"

JOHN: sure i'll go. aaron and i have to compare bio notes anyway

ANGELICA❤️: liza you're my ride home so i have no choice

ANGELICA❤️: but you owe me. and i refuse to third wheel on one of your dates afterwards

     Student council meetings occurred once a week. Non-council members weren't required to attend. But Madison always did, to support Tom, of course, and John did to support Alex, of course. The rest of us had just started sort of jumping on the bandwagon, mostly because it was fun to mutter insults at Tom, Madison, and Charlie Lee, the twerpy secretary, who enjoyed sucking up to Mr. Washington, the mediator. Since my crew was coming, I would go also. And the double deal of Angelica... I typed fast, my sausage fingers screwing up the words and relying on autocorrect.

ME: im in. and angie y'all could come out with me and laf and the rest of us after... we'll give you a ride home and you don't have to mess with the lovers

ANGELICA❤️: sounds like a plan. you're a lifesaver Herc

     Heat rose in my face and I hated myself for still getting blushy whenever she talked to me, even after four years. AND she was in love with Alex. Once, when I was hanging with her and John, and we were all tipsy and they were (to my discomfort) having the "we're not dating Alex this sucks" conversation", and I asked her why she didn't go out with Alex when he was interested, and she just shrugged and said "I'm not easily satisfied, I guess". But I knew why. He had liked her at first, but she had pretended not to be interested so that Eliza could get him. She was like that. Endlessly selfless. That's part of the reason I liked her.

     I had put my phone away and was almost asleep when my door cracked open and small feet padded across the floor.

    "Daph?" I said groggily. I could tell them apart even in the dark.

     Her small figure lifted up my blankets and slid in beside me, breathing rapidly, like she had run from her room. "What's wrong?"

     "Bad dream."

     "Did you tell Virginia?"

     "She said to go back to sleep and stop being a baby."

     I sighed and wrapped my arms around her. Her small body nestled against my big one. "Do you want to talk about it?"

     "No."

     "Do you want to sleep here tonight?"

     "Yes."

     "Ok. You good now, Daph?"

     "Yeah, I'm good."

     She rested her head on my arms and her puffs of breath on the side of my neck slowly steadied. 

     I remember when the twins were just born, six years ago. I was so scared to hold them, I was so much bigger, I thought I would crush them. I would push them back to mom after just a few seconds. And then there wasn't any mom to push them back to, and Dad stopped being there when he needed to be, and suddenly I was the only one they reached for when they were sad, the only one whose shirt they tugged on when they were hungry, the only one who separated them when they fought, the only one they ran to when they were afraid. I couldn't be worried about crushing them anymore, I was too worried about them breaking in other ways.

     "You know," Daphne murmured sleepily, "you aren't scary. People say you look big and scary, but you're not. You're my brother. I think you're nice, Herc."

     I buried my face in her hair and took a deep breath. And then I let it out. Took another. Let it out. "G'nite Daph."

     "G'nite, Herc." 

A/N: Ayyyyy, look, another chapter. I've almost figured out a way to promote this, hoorah! But in the meantime, PLEASE let me know any and all opinions. Questions, suggestions, likes, dislikes. Leave it in the comments! Any feedback is GREATLY appreciated! (Also, how is it working with the twins? I doubt it's anything close to historically accurate, but I thought it was kind of cute, and made Herc more of a cinnamon roll)