Summary: Lee asks Brandy about reasoning behind Tina's outburst, while Brandy learns a little bit more about her ex-boyfriend in the process.

Warnings: spoiler to episode 43 - "the big chicken"

Disclaimer: Detentionaire © to Nelvana. I just fool around.

A/N1: My personal musings (and headcanons) of Tina-Jenny truce – yeah for me it was just invalid.

A/N2: this file was gathering dust on my hard drive waaay too long.

A/N3: Un-beta-ed


Choices we (don't) make

By your-biohazardous-friend

"(…) My eyes are damp from the words you left

Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest"

/Daughter – Youth/

At the first glance, Brandy knew it didn't go well. Her prep-talk was useless. No, the prep-talk was perfect – she reminded herself - the circumstances were crappy.

Lee looked miserable as if someone had just minced his heart, crushed his soul and kicked him in the groin using just words. At the beginning, he refused to talk, visibly trashed by the whole situation. Now he was talking fast, almost on single breath. He wanted to get it out of his system and, more importantly, to get the answers.

Oh, Lee! One day this quest for truth will be the death of you!

"-then out of blue she started to cry, claiming that I'm too late and that she can't anymore!" Lee finished his speech dryly, throwing hands in the air in Holger-ish manner. "I do not understand! I was too late for what? Why she can't anymore? I served her my heart on the plate and she just… she just-!" Brandy sighed heavily. It was tough – as always – to explain to a guy the women's code. He wouldn't understand of course, but if it's what he wanted…

"It looks like she made a truce with Jenny" Brandy said casually.

"truce?"

"You know when girls like the same guy but are also friends. The man appears to like them both equally, so the BFFs agree to back off of that guy, so the unrequited love wouldn't be in a way of their friendship."

He looked at her dumbly, for a split second his selfish part of a brain tried to overcome the fact that two girls, metaphorically, fought for his advances. Yet in the same second his brows furrowed, cold reasoning kicking in.

"That's some baby back bullshit!" Lee spat angrily, it was the first time Brandy heard him so close to swearing. "The truce should be over the same second I asked Tina for a talk"

"what do you mean?" Brandy looked at him confused. Was he about to argue with the code that guided the whole gender for generations? Was he for real?

"this truce is used when a love interest is, or appears to be, undecided, right?"

"basically, yes"

"But I made my decision - In 5th grade! It's as if some bonkers agreements are more important than the other person's feelings! Are you all for real? It turns out when a guy chooses, he has no choice after all! Because his 'choice' was already pre-determined by the same women that like him. News flash – no one is happy!"

There was a while of silence as Lee fought for his breath.

"I've never really had a choice in the first place – haven't I?!" he begun once more, his voice was little bit calmer, yet, somewhat, more eerier as well. "Neither with you, nor now. it's like you all want men to feel miserable and confused. Is that for your amusement? Or are you cruel by definition?"

"Lee-"

"No!" Brandy could swear the guy was, finally, going to loose it

"every since I remember I've been micromanaged by my mom, then since the beginning of the 10th grade I've been everyone's… toy – Lynch's, Barrage's, council's… yours. I'm sick and tired of it. I- I just…damn" Lee was blinking rapidly, taking deep breaths – he was, for sure, fighting back the tears already glossing his eyes.

The girl opened her mouth to speak. Lee shook his head giving her the sign that his throat was too tight for words.

He had lost this fight.

Brandy embraced her ex-boyfriend's frame tightly, ruffling messy hair at the back of his head.

She never viewed this issue in that light. There was truth in his reasoning, not only matter of the BFF's truce, which looked childish now after Lee reasoned with it, but the conspiracy as well. Not to mention, that Lee just turned out to be much more multilayered and hurt than she imagined. Despite the fact that the detentionaire was, literally, wiping his tears to her blouse, which, FYI, was very expensive, Ping was one of the manliness and bravest people she had met – and Brandy felt bad for calling him a big chicken those several minutes earlier.