Drop Out

[catchacold]

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[boilover]

"I don't like him." If he was going to call him cute then Mick did not like it. Yes, he was a petty but he didn't like the kid. He eyed him dangerous as the kid nervously tried to eat his pie and then seemed to just give up on the whole concept. He adjusted his hoodie and then finally, he looked over at them. They were looking at him!

"... Hi?" Barry set his fork down and gave them a look. It wasn't friendly. "I had no idea you were here."

[catchacold]

"Why not? He's precious." More cute in a puppy kind of way, but still. Leonard did look over when Barry said 'hi' and he smiled. Cute. "I know you had no idea. But they have great pie here, you've good taste. What's your favourite?" Civilised conversation. Leonard moved his foot so it was on top of Mick's, hoping to reassure him. This was just fun, no harm done. Barry was harmless.

[boilover]

"I'm not making small talk with you. You're trying to ruin my friends life." Barry insisted as he looked away from then both and glared down at his food. Leonard was going to take all of Hartley's money, he was going to risk his family and his happiness. "I don't talk to people who are like that."

"What? Smart?" Mick asked as he looked over and gave Leonard a playful look. "We're brilliant."

[catchacold]

"I'm not ruining your friend's life. I'm helping him on his way to live his life in freedom, being open about himself." Leonard looked over at Mick and smiled. "Me and my partner are. Brilliantly. We're just asking for a fee, but isn't lifelong happiness worth any price?"

[boilover]

"We're not going to be lifelong happy. You're going to ruin his life. I don't get why this is so hard for you to grasp?" Barry snapped as he gave Leonard a serious look. He pushed himself onto his feet and came over to them, putting his hands on their table. Mick didn't like it, he practically growled. "You're think you're clever but you're just bullies. You're going to hurt someone who doesn't deserve it."

"Get your hands off our table or I'll break your fingers."

[catchacold]

"See, I'd feel bad, but then I look at all the money I have now that I didn't have before and it makes me feel a lot better." Leonard put a hand on Mick's arm, just in case. They liked this place, he didn't want to get kicked out. "I think your friend can feel the same, given he has more money than I could ever take from him. I'm more surprised you're not encouraging him to come out. That'd solve this little issue right up."

[boilover]

"I can't believe you're this dumb. Do you not think for a second that maybe it's not that easy. Can't you comprehend that maybe some people don't like that?"

"So? If he feels sad, he can buy himself something pretty."

"No, he can't. It's not his money. It's his parents. His controlling parents. And you guys are exploiting him, exploiting this." Barry glared at them before pushing away and moving back towards his table, clearly frustrated. "You clearly don't know what it's like to have bad parents if you can just go out there and to his kind of thing to someone. To exploit that fear."

[catchacold]

"Oh yeah. My parents love me. I'm their little angel." Leonard rolled his eyes. "Poor little rich boy, eh? But fine. You want me to leave him alone?" He took out his phone and looked at Barry, arching an eyebrow. "Do you really want me to end this?"

[boilover]

"If you end this, you're going to send out the pictures, aren't you?... But then, that's the only end game, isn't it?" Barry muttered as he sat back down and drank some of his milkshake, feeling a strange sadness overwhelm him. He should have just left Hartley alone. "You're going to end up hurting him. I can't change that."

"Boo-hoo. Take your weepy sadness away from my damn pie place. And don't come back here. It's mine!"

[catchacold]

"Relax, Mick. Sorry about him, he gets sensitive about pie." Leonard patted Mick's shoulder, then crossed his arms and leaned back. "Look, kid. I'll leave your boyfriend alone if he does one last thing for me. Promise. I always keep my promises."

[boilover]

"He's not my boyfriend and I don't want to get involved. I won't make this worse for him. I can't make it better but I won't make it worse." Barry was not having a say. Instead, he started to ignore them both. Mick didn't seem to notice, he was eating pie. He shoved a mouthful into his mouth and then looked up at Leonard, raising an eyebrow.

Then he mouthed carefully 'passcodes?'.

[catchacold]

"I'll get them from the boyfriend. Don't worry." Leonard stole one last bite of pie before Mick ate it all. Maybe they could share another piece once the kid left, he wanted to actually enjoy it. This was making him question his morals more than he liked. He didn't mind being awful, but there was something hypocritical there.

[boilover]

"He's not my boyfriend. He'll never be my boyfriend." He had to be there for his sister and that was pretty gutting but Barry was moving on. A week ago he had no idea he had feelings. No point in getting sad now. Only he was. And he was so expressive, it was hard to hide it. He just sat there, sipping his milkshake, trying to ignore them.

Mick rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, no more pie to keep him interested. Like he cared about this kids angst... even if he was also getting a strong vibe of hypocrisy here. They ranted all day about how unfair it was to be gay and then went ahead and tortured a gay kid over coming out? Dodgy.

[catchacold]

Oh, damn it. Leonard sighed and finished fiddling around on something under the table and then pushed Barry's phone closer to the edge. Yes, he had stolen it. "Here, kid. Have your phone back. You want me to leave your friend alone? I'll make you a deal." He glanced over at Mick, just to make sure he wasn't messing up entirely with him.

[boilover]

"You stole my-- of course you did." Barry leaned over and snatched his phone back, lowering his head and not making eye contact as he stirred his milkshake a little, trying to stop it all from sinking to the bottom. His face went a tinge red and he glared at the milkshake like it was it's fault. "I'm not sucking your dick. I'm not falling for this again, I'm not stupid."

Mick crossed his arms and gave Leonard a look. Since when did he have a conscience? "Gonna brief me on the deal there, boss?"

[catchacold]

Briefing couldn't exactly happen while the kid was right there and he also doubted that Mick would be on board, so Leonard improvised. "I sent you the picture just now." Barry's phone vibrated. "Do you like it? I really like the angle."

[boilover]

"Great. Thanks." Barry didn't move to look at it. That picture was the picture that pretty much got them both screwed. His first kiss was being used as blackmail material for someone he loved and Hartley was going to risk so much for this. One moment of weakness and they both got punished. He didn't need to see it. He just kept on looking away from Leonard.

Mick just frowned. What was going on?

[catchacold]

Leonard handed Mick his phone, then pulled out his own, bringing the picture up and pushing it over to Barry. "Delete it. Last copy, aside from the one on your phone. I don't lie." Well. "I mean, I lie all the time. But I ain't lying right now. Just deleted the one from Mick's phone."

[boilover]

"You said you emailed it to yourself. I bet you have copies." He turned to Leonard and gave him a look that showed just how little he believed him. "You lie. You lied to my face last time." He literally fucked around with him before and he was what? Expecting Barry to have forgotten that. He didn't trust him. Still, he pressed delete and threw it back to Leonard, not believing him for a second.

Mick gritted his teeth. That better not have been the last copy.

[catchacold]

"Smart cookie. Deleted it from my email too, I've quick fingers. But I haven't emptied my trash bin yet." Leonard brought it up and showed Barry the screen. "By the way, you should try a little more next time. Open your lips, give a little. But don't let him do all the work." With that he emptied the folder, watching Barry. "What are you going to do next time you kiss your boyfriend?"

[boilover]

"You have a really bad listening problem." Barry pointed out because he really couldn't name how many times now he'd explained he wasn't his boyfriend and they'd never kiss again. Honestly, he'd said it so much at this point, he was kind of sick of saying it. Instead of repeating it, he just sighed and slid his pie aside. He wasn't overly hungry.

Mick, however, was. "You gonna finish that?" He didn't wait for an answer, he just grabbed it.

[catchacold]

"Oh, yeah, I do. You just ain't interesting enough to listen to. Me, however? I'm fascinating." Leonard leaned forward and pointed at Mick with his thumb. "See, Barry, I'll let you in on a little secret no one's ever gonna believe you anyway. This king of pie there? That's my boyfriend."

[boilover]

"... What?"

"Huh?" Mick said about a mouthful of pie, unsure why they were being outted to some nerd? Great. Now he had blackmail material on them. He gulped down his pie and glared at Leonard. "He says that but things change so swiftly." Especially now Leonard was cool with outting him!

Barry just stared at them... this made zero sense. Why would they blackmail Hartley if they're gay? "You guys are nuts!"

[catchacold]

"Nah. Just teaching you a life lesson. Money talks. Get going, Barry. Tell your friend he's off the hook. I'll tell him myself, but you can go first. Get the glory." Besides, he'd have an angry boyfriend to deal with. Leonard slipped his phone into his pocket and caught Mick's eyes. "I have ideas." Maybe that'd be enough to reassure him.

[boilover]

"I still don't believe you." Barry admitted, as much as he wanted to hope it was this simple, Barry just didn't. Mick was impressed, he suddenly seemed smarter than he'd ever seemed before. As Barry took off out of the door, Mick turned and looked at Leonard, not at all impressed. They just lost their blackmail material and outed themselves to a strange kid.

"You better have some damn good ideas."