twenty nine ;
h a l e

"NO WAY THAT'S TRUE."

"Dude, it is," Will said insistently. "It's the truest thing I've ever done."

Dylan scoffed. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Neither does your face," Will retorted childishly. "Doesn't mean I protest it, huh?"

"I'm with Dylan." Coralie rolled her eyes at Will's indignant look of betrayal. "You really expect me to believe you did a fucking backflip off the monkey bars? Get real, Will."

"You don't believe me? Well, I have proof," Will said, and just as Hale anticipated, Will appeared at his side grinning with a little too much vigour for anything good to follow. "Hale, go ahead, tell them. Tell the haters it's just as I said."

It was a rare sunny day for England, possibly due to the fact it was March and Winter was officially over, and the four of them were making the walk to Juniper's after school. They were meeting the others there, seeing as they'd had a free last period and managed to sneak out to snag a large booth before the afternoon rush.

"I hate to admit it, but William speaks the truth for once," Hale sighed, ignoring the ridiculously smug look Will was sporting at the affirmation. "I would know, because I didn't believe it either and dared him to do it."

Hale had been so sure that one would end in another emergency trip to the A&E department. They'd only been about eleven or twelve, messing around at Ashfield Park, when Will started making his ridiculous claims that he could do a backflip off the monkey bars. Naturally, Hale laughed in his face and offered his top set of Match Attax cards if Will did it, which had been a big deal. Match Attax was the latest craze back then and the fact Hale was willing to give away his favourite players showed he really didn't think Will could do it.

By some miracle, Will actually did the backflip, even if it was shaky at best and he ended up bruising his feet from the impact. Will had been just as surprised as Hale at the feat he'd pulled off, even though he claimed it was because he had been practising off the bunk bed he shared with Wendy at the time.

"Aha!" Will said triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you I'd done it? That's right, shower me with praise and amazement."

Coralie and Dylan did no such thing.

"Hale isn't proof, you twatarse," Coralie said. "For all we know, he could just be lying to save your ass."

Will gasped dramatically. "How dare you accuse us of such underhanded things? Hear that, Hale?" He nudged Hale in the side with a grin that contradicted his supposed wounded tone. "Venezuela Gertrude Butterworth doubts us. She's just jealous because monkeys haven't learnt how to do backflips yet."

Coralie growled, "You little - "

Will ducked out of the way of her talon-like fingernails with a laugh. That was one of the few advantages to being a shorty like Will, because if it had been Hale's eyes Coralie had been going to gouge out, he definitely wouldn't have managed to move out of the way in time. It was probably the reason Will was so ballsy; he could easily dodge the attacks the followed his provocation.

"You're an idiot," Dylan told Will. "You really want to prove you can do a backflip, off the bloody monkey bars no less? You can show us yourself. We'll all go to Ashfield Park after school tomorrow."

Will didn't even hesitate. "Gladly."

"Do you even remember how to do it?" Hale asked him skeptically.

"Nope," Will said cheerfully. "Can't hurt to try, though."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but it can and definitely will hurt," Hale said. "Break your arm and fracture your skull when you land on your head kind of hurt."

Will waved a dismissive hand. "Those are all just possibilities. Besides, I've broken my arm and fractured my skull so many times it probably won't hurt this time."

Hale might have pointed out that the opposite was more likely to be true, that the more you broke it the more it hurt, but he knew it wouldn't make the slightest difference to Will.

"You are such a psycho," Hale grinned, shaking his head in disbelief. They would definitely be taking a trip to A&E tomorrow, and Will would probably end up on his sixth cast. Quite possibly seventh.

"Anyway, enough about me and my ridiculously amazing ability to backflip off anything," Will said breezily, ignoring the disbelieving look Dylan and Coralie exchanged. Will looked at Hale and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "How are things with MJ?"

Hale resisted the urge to groan. This had been kind of fun at first, but he was getting sick of her now. He better kill it off before anyone actually thought it was something serious and long-term; or worse, found out she wasn't real.

"We broke up," Hale said bluntly. "Not a thing anymore."

Dylan looked sympathetic. "Shit, sorry, man. What happened?"

"We just weren't working out," Hale said vaguely, recalling the cheesy and cliche lines from all the sappy romance movies Tessa had forced him to watch. "We wanted different things in life, you know? She wanted to..." What the hell did medical students even do, anyway? "...dissect more bodies, and I wanted more time to myself. So yeah. Guess we just drifted apart."

"What the hell, Hale?" Will looked genuinely distraught. "Who cares if she wants to dissect stuff? She was a college chick! She was supposed to introduce me to all her hot college chick friends."

"And you thought they would want to date a scrawny high schooler?" Coralie said derisively. "Once again, get real, Will. No university student in their right mind would date any of you idiots. I don't know what kind of crazy person Hale managed to find to date him."

Will was undeterred. "You really broke things off?"

"Yeah," Hale said, relieved when they finally reached Juniper's. Perfect timing, really, because the sooner everyone forgot about this MJ, the better. If he didn't lay her to rest someone would end up blabbering about it to Brooks again, and that was something he'd rather just avoid.

The others had chosen the huge corner booth by the window, and already ordered. Elsie was even kind enough to get Will's favourites - the entire menu. Elliot and Kara were huddled up together, his arm draped across her shoulder as they whispered together in their own world, their heads bent towards one another. Hale tried to ignore the irrational dart of jealousy that they were able to so openly display their affection, and he wasn't even allowed to look at Brooks for a second too long in public without fear of exposing the truth.

Hale pretended not to hear the sickeningly sweet nothings they were murmuring to each other in favour of discussing their chances this term for football and lacrosse with Dylan and Alec, seeing as Will was too busy inhaling all the food off the table to join the conversation. He didn't think anything of it when the door chimed with a new customer, but Elliot's snide remark was impossible to ignore.

"Looks like the queer parade's come to town," he scoffed, oblivious to the frown Kara turned up at him. "He's so bent you could probably spot him from space."

Hale involuntarily glanced up, even as he decided he was definitely staying out of this one, and felt his blood turn to ice. The figure that had just stepped into Juniper's was a familiar one, from the mop of blonde hair threaded through with small white feathers this time down to the glittering jewel embellished shoes. His outfit was slightly more watered down from the last time, although any attention retracted from his less sparkly outfit was drawn straight back to his face, which was just as made up as that night days ago.

It was Luke Zhang's eccentrically flamboyant and extremely gay boyfriend, Jules.

"Shit," Hale muttered, the curse slipping out before he could stop it. He snatched a laminated menu from Will, who made a sound of protest at his perusal for more food being interrupted, and hid his face behind it. Being approached by Jules was most definitely the worst thing that could happen to either of them right now, especially considering Elliot had already deemed Jules a target.

"Um, Hale," Elsie said uncertainly, "what are you doing?"

"Just...browsing." Hale pretended to skim the words he wasn't even reading and snuck another glance over the top of the menu at Jules. He was too busy chatting animatedly with the barista to have spotted Hale and his improvised camouflage techniques. "You know me. Just love these chocolate chip pancakes."

Coralie narrowed her eyes at him. "This place doesn't sell chocolate chip pancakes."

"It's true," Will said mournfully. "I would know, because I asked them to consider adding it to the menu."

Hale was just thinking he'd gotten away unnoticed when Jules suddenly turned around, and his grey eyes lit up when they landed on Hale, who ducked back behind the menu a second too late. Please don't come over, Hale begged, ignoring the strange looks his friends were shooting him. Just turn around, walk away, pretend I don't exist...

"Oh, hey! Hale! Heyaaa!"

Hale resisted the urge to bang his head against the table. "Jesus fuck."

"The fuck?" Elliot turned to stare at him as Jules weaved between tables and made his way over, with a ridiculously peppy spring to his step. "You know that fag?"

Hale didn't get a chance to response, because Jules had arrived at their table with a beam brighter than the sun. "Heya, Hale," he chirped, seemingly oblivious to the less-than-welcoming looks he was receiving from Elliot. "Fancy seeing you here, huh? It's been too long! We haven't hung out in forever."

"Is this supposed to be a fucking joke?" Elliot demanded. "As if Hale would be seen with the likes of you, gayboy."

Jules glanced at him and his breezy smile didn't even falter. "Oh, I see. You're one of those raise the pitchforks and burn them all to hell kinda guys."

"Yeah, because what you are is disgusting," Elliot sneered, ignoring the warning hand Kara placed against his arm to calm him down. Hale knew that his fuse had been lit and there was nothing to stop him blowing over now. "It makes me fucking sick, seeing guys walking around wearing make up and acting like prissy girls. That's just fucked up."

"Elliot, leave it," Hale said tersely, barely managing to keep the scowl off his face.

Elliot turned on Hale. "And since when did you give a shit? Don't tell me this is your boyfriend or some gay shit like that," Elliot snorted, clearly meant as a withering joke. Even when he was acting like a jackass, Elliot couldn't comprehend that Hale could actually have a boyfriend. It was all just a huge pisstake to him.

"Oh no, that won't be a problem, hun," Jules assured Elliot. He couldn't have possibly missed the disgust that twisted Elliot's features, but Jules chose to ignore that. "As much of a cutie as he is, Hale isn't my boyfriend. And don't worry, I'll be out of ya hair now - I've always been good at figuring out when my presence ain't wanted. No point in sticking around, huh?"

"Yeah, get lost, fairy boy," Elliot said nastily. "No one wanted you here in the first place."

Jules offered Hale one last smile in parting, but it was a stark difference from his usual sunny grin. The strain and sadness in it was unmistakeable, and Hale caught a glimpse of the shine in his eyes before he made a beeline straight for the exit.

Hale stared after his retreating figure, his stomach twisting into uncomfortable knots. He had to admit, when he'd first met Jules, he hadn't been his biggest fan. He still had mixed feelings about the guy; he was quite literally the walking-and-talking stereotype of gay, with an extra sprinkle of gay, exactly what Hale had thought all gay people were like before he'd met Brooks. Hale could hardly blame himself for not wanting to be seen in public with a guy who looked like he could debate lipgloss brands for hours on end. He wouldn't even want to put up with a girl talking about that.

But despite all of that, Elliot's treatment towards Jules was downright cruel, and Hale didn't care what his own opinions were on guys wearing make up - Jules didn't deserve it.

"Hale?" Elsie said, when Hale stood up and slipped out of their booth. "Where are you going?"

Hale slid Elliot a dark look. "Preferably somewhere where I don't have to put up with homophobes."

Let them think whatever the hell they wanted from that. Let them think he was fucking gay. Because he was, and he couldn't care less anymore.

"Oh, for fucks sake. Seriously?" Elliot shook his head in disbelief. "It was just a joke, mate. You don't have to get your knickers in a twist."

"Yeah, that was fucking hilarious," Hale said flatly. "Sorry for not cracking up at those highly offensive comments. Guess my sense of humour's just not what it used to be."

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no shit. You've been acting like a proper hardass lately."

"Elliot," Kara frowned, pulling away from him. "He's right. That wasn't funny."

His eyebrows furrowed at her reprimand, the first sign to show he felt even the slightest bit of remorse, but Hale wasn't about to stick around to see what defensive protests Elliot managed to conjure up this time. He walked straight out of Juniper's without a backwards glance, into the cold chilly air. He looked up and down the street, only to see Jules had almost made it to the end of the road. Hale was sure he wouldn't have spotted him so quickly if not for the distinctive pink scarf he was wearing.

"Jules!" Hale yelled, jogging in his direction.

Jules glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened slightly when he saw Hale. For a moment, Hale thought he was going to keep walking and he wouldn't have blamed him, but Jules came to a stop and turned to face him. "Heya," he said, a slightly more subdued version of his earlier greeting. "I gotta admit, wasn't expecting to see you so soon after..." He waved his hand in an expansive gesture. "You know."

Hale did know.

"I'm sorry, Jules," Hale said, running a hand through his hair. "For what Elliot said. That was way out of line."

Jules blinked long, mascara-coated lashes and broke out into a smile. "Oh, honey, that's sweet of you but I'm used to those 'die you're so disgusting everyone hates you' comments by now," he said with a shrug. "It's so last year. And why're you apologising? You didn't say anything."

"Yeah, well, something tells me Elliot won't be apologising anytime soon," Hale said bitterly. 

Jules looked sympathetic. "Let me guess, they don't know you're gay? Wait, first!" He suddenly looked up at him with imploring grey eyes. "Do you know if you're gay yet? I mean, you defo are, but have you admitted it to yourself yet? Last time we talked, you were too caught up in your I'm-a-tough-straight-guy act."

Hale huffed. "Right. What makes you say I defo," he made air quotes around the word, "am?"

Okay, he was - but that was besides the point. The point was that he'd spent sixteen years believing the tough straight guy act, so how could this one strange guy see through him so easily?

"Oh, honey, denial is not just a river in Egypt," Jules said matter-of-factly. "Even if my gaydar wasn't on point - which it totally is, by the way - it would have been impossible not to know you were gay from the way you were looking at Brooks. Speaking of, how's he doing? I liked him. He was cute."

"Brooks is fine," Hale said.

He made the decision not to mention that not only was he fine, but they were dating now. Jules seemed like the kind of person who would overreact to ridiculous proportions over such a minor detail. He'd probably get out a glittery notebook or something and start jotting down potential ship names. Which, by the way, Hale only knew about because Elsie and Kara would not shut up about all the couples and characters they "shipped".

"Oh, damn right he was fine," Jules said with a wink. "He was so adorable I could have just eaten him up!"

Hale stared at him. "Please never say that out loud again. About anything. Ever."

"Don't worry, I won't steal him from you," Jules grinned, misinterpreting his strange look. Hale figured people looked at him like that so often it was nothing out of the ordinary for him. "I've got Luke, remember? Oh-em-gee! Let's go on a double date!"

"This conversation isn't going how I planned," Hale said, appalled. "I just came out here to apologise."

"Oh, I know! Let's go see Beauty and The Beast," Jules said excitedly, not seeming to hear what Hale had said as he clapped his hands together. "I've been wanting to see that in, like, forever! It's meant to be good and the ratings are super high and hello-o-o, it has Emma Watson in it?! That girl is my freakin' spirit animal. Of course I'm going to watch it! I don't care how..."

Hale tuned out his excessive rambling, which wasn't difficult considering he was speaking so fast he missed half the words anyway. Jules waved his hand with flourish and Hale caught a glimpse of his nails, painted shiny metallic blue this time. As if his hair and make up and entire outfit weren't enough to draw his attention, he had to go and do his nails too. Hale really couldn't understand this guy.

"Why do you do it, Jules?" Hale asked.

Jules blinked, confused at being interrupted mid-ramble. "Huh?"

"Look like...you know, that," he said pointedly, gesturing towards Jules in general. "You know people are just going to make fun of you and act cruel like Elliot. You have to know your life would be a million times easier if you just less...different."

"Honey, of course I know that. But isn't it obvious?" Jules did a little twirl and smiled. "Looking like this and talking like and just being like this is who I am. All the mean words are worth it because I don't have to hide who I really am or how I really feel, and it's easier to ignore the hate when the people who actually matter love you for who you are."

Hale looked at Jules, at how confidently he wore his flamboyant clothing and how happily he wore his bright smile, and realised he envied his confidence. It was a strange feeling, because Hale had never felt at a loss for confidence before. But this was a different kind of confidence. Jules was confident in living his beliefs and his choices, regardless of what anyone else thought, and it was the exact opposite of what Hale had been doing recently.

And he was sick of hiding.

"You know what, Jules," Hale said, "you're right."

"Mhm-hm, honey, I'm glad you think so." Jules nodded enthusiastically along and then paused, tilting his head. "Right about what?"

Hale shook his head with a smile. He didn't think Jules needed it explaining to him; he had it all figured out. "I have to go. But thanks," Hale added, clapping a bemused Jules on the shoulder. "For being your weird gay self right when I needed it."

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can't ever hurt me," Jules said sagely. "Only reason I know that one is 'cause of my queen RiRi. Damn, that is one hell of a tune!" And right on cue, as if he wasn't managing to attract enough attention, he began belting out in an off-key voice: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips - "

"Nope," Hale interrupted, glancing at a scandalised elderly couple tottering past them. They increased the speed of their tottering at Hale's look, as if he was about to start serenading them with R-Rated Rihanna songs too. Seriously? Did that look like his kind of thing? "I'm going to leave now before someone calls the police."

"Aw no, are you kidding me?" Jules exclaimed as Hale walked away, chuckling under his breath. "I didn't even get to the best part! There's sex in the air, I don't care, I like the smell - "

"Nope!" Hale called over his shoulder.

By some miracle, the encounter with Jules had managed to cheer him up far more than hanging out at Juniper's. Although, as far as Hale was concerned, anything would be better than spending more time in Elliot's presence at this point. He knew he would only have more shit to dish out after Hale had walked out on them, and if ignoring him was the only way to avoid it, he was fine with that.

On his way home both Elsie him about a million texts, and tried to ring him about two million times, but Hale really didn't want to speak to her right now. He knew it wasn't fair and that Elsie hadn't actually done anything wrong, but it was undoubtedly something to do with Elliot. Finally, after his phone buzzed insistently in his pocket one more time as he dug around his pockets for his house keys, he pulled it out to frown at the screen.

elsie :
i'm so sorry hale i didn't mean to tell elliot it just slipped out

Tell him what? As far as Hale knew, she didn't know anything incriminating about him. She couldn't possibly know he was gay. And that was just one of the most recent texts among many, which he couldn't care enough to scroll through. He ignored the small sliver of curiosity, because replying meant having to deal with the situation, and switched his phone off.

When Hale stepped into the house, TJ was chasing Tessa down the stairs with a water gun in his hands, yelling, "GIVE ME MY SPIDER-MAN ACTION FIGURE BACK!" repeatedly at the top of his lungs in Spanish while Tessa cackled manically, a tiny blue and red Spider-Man clutched in her hand.

"Idiots," Hale said to no one in particular, kicking his shoes off. One hit TJ in the leg as he ran past but he was too busy screaming at Tessa to notice.

Hale was still thinking about what Jules had told him, about the people who matter accepting you regardless of anything else, and headed towards the living room. He didn't step inside, instead peering around the door. His mum and Daniel were curled up on the sofa watching Come Dine With Me, while Izzy sat on the carpet at their feet, playing with Mr Snuggles and one of her headless barbies - they had been passed down to her from Tessa, and TJ had ripped all the heads off years ago.

Hale wiped his palms on his school trousers, suddenly nervous. Was he seriously going to do this? This was a bad idea. A seriously fucking bad idea. It was also completely random and unprepared, which was better than overthinking it too much. Hale rarely ever thought about something too much. He either did or didn't, simple as. Just as he was thinking he'd go upstairs and call Brooks instead, a decidedly less nerve-wracking thing to do, his mum spotted him loitering in the doorway.

"Hey, sweetheart," she smiled, as warmly as she always had. As warmly as Hale hoped she always would even after he did this. "The twins have already eaten, but I left you some lasagne in the microwave. Did you have a good day at school?"

Hale took a deep breath and steeled himself.

Fuck it.

"I'm gay," he blurted out.

At that precise moment, Izzy chirped his name and clambered to her feet, toddling over on her unsteady baby legs in his direction. Hale knew she wanted to be picked up but he barely noticed her imploring tug on his sleeve, too busy trying to hear anything over the erratic pounding of his heart.

"Well, okay," his mum finally said, after a couple of startled blinks. "That's great. Did you want garlic bread with your dinner?"

"That's all?" Hale asked.

He was relieved that no one had flipped their shit or threatened to send him to gay camp, but it also felt kind of...anticlimactic? Was it supposed to that easy? He knew he'd lucked out when it came to having understanding parents for this kind of thing, but still. Maybe he'd been expecting them to bake a rainbow coloured cake or something, although that was hardly fair. They'd need time to plan that kind of thing. He had just sprung it on them.

"Congratulations?" Daniel offered, with a small smile.

"Hale, sweetheart, I'm glad you could tell us." His mum was smiling now and she switched to Spanish. "But it really changes nothing whether you like boys or girls. Either way, you're my son, and I'm proud of you."

"Great," Hale said, feeling a smile of his own tug at his lips. "Well, now that I've got that out of the way. On to the important stuff. How many slices of garlic bread am I allowed?"

*

i totally listened to s&m while writing this...had to relate to jules :)

for maximum experience, go back and listen to the song while he sings! it's like you're in the book with them o_O