brooks & hale ✔️

hale

thirty-one ;
h a l e

IF THERE WAS ONE thing Hale hated, it was being left out of the loop.

It had started way before chemistry. Kara had been acting restless and nervous around him in the morning, as if waiting for some kind of accusation, and ran off when he'd asked her about it. Hale hadn't thought much of it at the time. He figured she just felt uncomfortable after his disagreement with her boyfriend, even if Hale himself couldn't care less about anything to do with Elliot.

He did care, however, now that Brooks was involved.

"I can't talk," Brooks murmured, refusing to meet Hale's gaze as he attempted to tug his textbook free. "I have double biology now."

"Then be late for it." Hale didn't let the book budge out from under his hand. "You didn't have a problem being late to chemistry."

"That's different."

"Oh, is it?" Hale couldn't keep the scornful edge from his voice. "Enlighten me, Brooks. Seeing as you refuse to talk to me about anything else. How is that any different?"

"Hale..."

"No," Hale said, leaning across the desk towards Brooks. He saw the pink rise to his cheeks and heard the slight hitch of his breath at the proximity, but Hale refused to listen to his body's impulses to close that distance for once. "Answer the question. How come you'll be late for Elliot, but not for me?"

Brooks stared at him with a hint of incredulity. "Are you...jealous?"

Someone cleared their throat. Brooks jumped in surprise and Hale immediately leant back, as if that gesture could erase how close they'd been seconds ago. The lab had cleared out soon after the bell had gone off, but Hale had failed to notice the person who had stolen his seat next to Brooks was still standing there awkwardly. It was Mason, the name Hale had finally been able to assign to the random face.

And he'd seen the whole thing.

Hale glared at him. "What the hell are you still doing here?"

"I just...I can't get past," Mason admitted, motioning to the chairs. Sure enough, Brooks had his chair pushed back to the point that it blocked off Mason's path so he couldn't get to the door. "I was going to say something earlier, but you seemed like you were having a pretty important conversation..."

"So you decided to eavesdrop on it?" Hale narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"No! It seemed important so I didn't want to interrupt," Mason corrected, glancing uncertainly between Hale and Brooks, the latter of which took advantage of Hale's surprise to yank his textbook free. "But maybe I should just go, or..."

"It doesn't matter," Brooks said, standing up. He was avoiding looking at Hale again. "I have to go anyway."

Hale grabbed his hand before he could walk about, no longer giving a shit about Mason's presence. He'd seen too much anyway for it to matter now. "Wait, Brooks. Just tell me what happened with you and Elliot. Please," he added quietly, hating how pathetic he sounded.

Jealous? Was he seriously jealous? He knew there wasn't a chance anything like that could have possibly occurred with Elliot, who was openly homophobic, but even rational thinking couldn't shake the bitter knot in Hale's chest at the thought.

Brooks stared at their linked hands for a second before looking up at Hale. "Did you tell him?"

"What?"