Drop Out

[catchacold]

Assorted Threads.

Comments

[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."

[catchacold]

"I always have damn good ideas," Leonard assured him, turning to look at Mick. "Come on. Nobody would believe him anyway, it's not as if he took a picture of us holding hands and skipping through a meadow." Also wasn't as if they had ever done anything like that, but still. "Feels right to you, blackmailing someone with that?"

[boilover]

"Yeah." No. but Mick was stubborn and he wasn't feeling much like relenting. He crossed his arms and gave Leonard a stern look... that lasted only like five minutes before he started eating Barry's left over pie. "I guess not but we coulda made a lot out of the bastard and he's gotta be out some day." They could have gotten a lot of mileage out of that ten thousand.

[catchacold]

"Think so?" Leonard watched Mick and finally moved his leg again, bumping his foot very lightly against Mick's shin. "Do we gotta be out some day too?" Not really what this was about, but in a way it was. They weren't in this together, but life wasn't easy for people like them. Not even when they had a lot of money, evidently. A very sobering reality.

[boilover]

"Yeah but when we're away from our parents. We can do that, we don't gotta be near them for long. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'm moving our and you're not sticking with that asshole either. That Rathaway kid will always be with his family." And that was why he was going to have to be out before it got messy. Mick was hoping to be out as soon as he left home. But, like, lowkey out.

[catchacold]

"Yeah. I've no idea how to get away from my father." Leonard had ideas, but Lewis, Lewis was where he always reached his limits. He looked down at the pie and just used his fork to scoop up some whipped cream, shaking his head. "I got a copy of the picture. I just don't want to use it."

[boilover]

"He's an idiot. He'll get himself arrested or shot in the face. You'll be fine." Mick didn't doubt for a second that Leonard would get away. Like he'd be an adult and still under his dad's thumb? Yeah right. "What are you gonna do? Jack off to it?"