Hope for Our Ass After All

t h i r t y - s i x

Lafayette

They were all surrounding Eliza now, who was sitting on the couch. Upon further inspection, Lafayette realized that it was a folder she was holding. It seemed as though Eliza had compiled information together, prepared to share. And that's what she did.

"First off the list—Maria's boyfriend James Reynolds is abusive," she assured boldly. "Peggy's told me much about it."

Lafayette blinked in surprise. Who'd thought that he wasn't? Surely they'd believed he and Alex.

"But we'll get back to him soon." She opened the folder. At the top was the letter Lafayette had gotten, and he flinched unintentionally. Alex blinked. "Did you go through our trash can?"

"Not the point. Look, see the note? It was handwritten. Hercules, go get your sketchbook." Herc did as he was told, returning and flipping to a page with writing on it. "See? Doesn't match up. But you know who's does? James Reynolds," she stated, putting a Post-It with Reynolds' handwriting on it next to the note.

"Wait, hang on." Hercules said, putting his sketchbook down and taking the letter. "What is this, anyway?" He scanned the note, and Lafayette's fear grew in his stomach as Hercules blinked in surprise. "You're trans?" he murmured, glancing up at the Frenchman.

"Y-yeah. I thought— I thought you didn't like me and— I broke it off because I was scared, and—" Lafayette swallowed. "And you left—"

"I was kidnapped," Hercules corrected.

"Presumably by James Reynolds," Eliza piped up. Lafayette shook his head. "So you didn't know? Mon cher, you didn't write the note! And— how did James find out?"

"Might've been my fault." John eyed Lafayette, and the fear rose again. "I keep a journal—stupid, I know, shut up—and I wrote about it in there. He must've gotten a hold of it."

"Wait, John knew?" Hercules accused, looking back over at Lafayette.

"John's the only one. It was a mistake." Lafayette glanced back at Eliza. "What about John and Alex, then, mon amie?"

"Reynolds was behind that, too. I can assume that Alexander didn't cheat with Maria, but proof is the fact that Peggy knows where Maria is almost 24/7—it's not creepy, Alex, stop looking at me like that—so she can help if things go bad. She wrote them down in this notebook. None of those times included Alex, except for when he and Laf caught him abusing Maria." Eliza, satisfied, grinned at them. "He got John's number and lied. He broke you all up in revenge."

Nervous and not wanting the answer, Lafayette queried, "revenge for what?"

"You saw him. He couldn't handle having you guys tell anyone, and when he got word that you had, he got angry. Couldn't keep himself from hurting you four, I guess." Eliza smiled pleasantly. "But now everything is fine, right?" She put the papers and notebook back in her folder. "You're all good?"

Lafayette swallowed, unable to answer. "We'll figure it out," John supplied softly. "Thank you, so much. You have no idea how much this means to us, Eliza."

She smiled, but Lafayette saw something painful behind her eyes. Before he could ask, she was gone, shutting the door behind her.

[two updates in two days? wow, i'm spoiling you losers. >:(
also! this is bad!!
also pt. 2! detective schuyler really out here doin the most lmao]