When Hal called and asked to meet at Pops, Hiram had every intention to stand him up. To leave him waiting in the empty diner late on a Sunday night. And the trusting soul Hal was, he'd probably wait until midnight before realizing Hiram was never showing.

He lied in bed, arms folded over his chest and frowning at the celling.

Hal had some nerve. God, did he have some nerve. He hadn't heard from him since homecoming two nights ago. When he and Alice vanished out of thin air after they were announced king and queen. (The Fredheads were playing and Fred sang the worst cover of Only You he'd ever heard during their dance. He hoped Alice would give him a piece of her mind for ruining the moment.) Hermione scoffed, saying they'd have more fun without the likes of Riverdale High's golden couple anyway.

He spent the rest of the night trying to enjoy having her to himself for once, but to no avail. He caught Fred inviting her to the Twilight next week when they were leaving.

Screw Hermione. Screw Fred. And most of all screw Hal Cooper.

He grabbed his jacket and keys and drove to Pops.

Hal's car wasn't in the parking lot, but he caught sight of the back of his head as soon as he walked through the doors. He took his time walking to the booth, noticing the only thing on the table was a cup of black coffee that Hal had his hands wrapped around. He jumped as Hiram approached, looking up at him with a panicked expression. Hiram held in a gasp. Hal had a black eye and a welt on the side of his face. He looked down quickly after seeing who it was.

"What – what happened?" His eyes darted to the empty side of the booth, but in his daze he slid in next to Hal.

Hal stared into his coffee. "I fucked up, man. I really fucked up."

"Talk to me. What'd you do?"

A million thoughts raced through Hiram's mind, yet the next words out of Hal's mouth were still a surprise. All considering, they shouldn't have been.

"Alice is pregnant."

Hiram put his hand on Hal's shoulder, giving him a squeeze. "Shit."

Hal's glanced at him, but his eyes felt right back to the coffee. "Shit is an understatement." He took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. He was always heavy handed with the sugar, but would rather suffer in silence than ever ask for a fresh cup. "We're fucked. We are so fucked."

"No. You're not fucked." Hiram let his hand slide down to Hal's back and rub him lightly. "Hey. Hey." Hal finally looked up at him. "The important thing is to act fast, get this under control. I'll lend you the money if you need it."

Hal let out a harsh laugh, finally pulling himself out of his slouch and leaning back in the booth. Hiram left his hand where it was.

"You don't get it. It's over."

"Your life isn't over –"

"Everything is over. My life, Alice's life, us, this baby." His hand went to his head and he looked at Hiram wide eyed. "I'm going to have a kid out there somewhere, Hiram. A kid. What the fuck did I do?"

Words played on Hiram's tongue. You stuck your dick in crazy, Hal, that's what the fuck you did. He swallowed them and pulled Hal's hand off his head, forcing it to lay flat on the table. He glanced behind him before he left his own hand lingering on top.

"What are you talking about? Don't tell me – did Alice actually run?" Hal shook his head. "Hal, what happened?"

He closed his eyes and took a breath, head falling back entirely on the vinyl booth.

"She told me when we first got to homecoming, right? We had to get their early because we were taking tickets at the door. She's been in such a terrible mood lately and everyone was saying we were a shoo-in for king and queen, I hoped that'd put her in a good mood. But she was all anxious and nervous, so not her. I told her I couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell me what was going on. She just… she burst into tears and told me she was pregnant. Like nearly four months already. I'm so stupid. How the hell didn't I notice? She was sick all summer, moody as anything."

"Alice is always fucking moody."

Hal's eyes shot open. "Not now, come on." He sighed. "So she's freaking out and I'm trying to keep it together. I tell her I'll take care of it. No one else needs to know. I'll call in the morning and make her an appointment at that clinic in Greendale and we could just nip this in the butt."

"So then what?"

"How was I supposed to know she'd want to keep it? I mean, I should have asked, I just assumed, I never thought... Alice has worked so hard and now she wants to give it all up for this baby that was a complete accident. So then she starts, starts screaming. Calling me an asshole, telling me I'm crazy. So then I start to panic and next thing I know, I'm yelling back at her. I tell her we're not doing this. We can't have a baby. Maybe I could have phrased it nicer. A lot nicer. But what the hell was I supposed to say? She's trying to tell me she wants to keep it, that we can do this together. That's… that's crazy, right? It's impossible. We're not even eighteen yet."

"Of course that's crazy." He finally took his hand off of Hal's. "Alice doesn't have a motherly bone in her body. She can't be serious."

"Don't. Just… come on. Don't. Not now. So we go through the whole night and everything sucks. We left right after our dance and I'm trying to talk to her in the car and she just won't listen to anything I'm saying. She won't go anywhere with me, just keeps saying to drop her off at home. Like what the hell are we supposed to do? She says she's telling her dad soon and I'd do best to tell my parents before she does. I drop her off and go home and then someone's ringing my doorbell at midnight. It's her and her dad. And her hair's still done up and her makeup's running down her face. Her dad knocked me out soon as I opened the door. That's where the black eye came from. And by the time I come to, they've already told my parents everything."

"Every –"

"My mom won't even talk to me. I don't know what she's more pissed about. That we were having premarital sex or that I suggested Alice get an abortion. I guess I'm lucky they're not sending me away too."

Hiram felt his blood run cold. "They sent Alice away?"

Hal finally turned his body to face him. "Yeah. Her dad agreed to it as long as my parents foot the bill. Some creepy church run place for troubled youths. Troubled is such a blanket term. Junkie, pregnant, gay. I guess it's all the same when you're a disappoint to your family, right?"

"What's going to happen to the baby?"

"Adoption. What else? They made it very clear to us it's that or we could get the hell out."

"I can't believe Alice's dad was that pissed. She's been arrested and this is worse?"

"He's an asshole. Alice doesn't do anything right in his eyes. He has some nerve, giving her the shittiest life, pushing her to join the Serpents, deal drugs, and then he's surprised when she messes up a little."

"This… this is not messing up a little. This is messing up big time."

"Gee, thanks."

"Not you, her." Hiram put his hand back on Hal's shoulder. "You offered her a solution and she didn't take it. That's all on her now. You're in the clear."

Hal knocked his hand off. "Why are you such a shitty friend? I fucked up. Me. Not Alice. I'm not in the clear."

"I'm trying to make you feel better. You can't beat yourself up over this! What's done is done. Alice screwed herself by telling her dad, your parents. She end it with you?" Hal shrugged. "What? What's that mean?"

"I don't know. She told me do whatever I want. She said she didn't care. Take that as you will."

"So you're a free man."

"I don't -" he sighed and buried his face in his arms on the table. "I don't want to be a free man. I want things to be the way they were. I want Alice. I want to have not ruined her life because I couldn't pull out in time. I want to not be such a colossal fuck up." Hal kept his head on the table, but turned it so he was facing Hiram. "You think I'm a fuck up?"

"I think you're an idiot for not wrapping it up. You guys go at it like rabbits. It's just basic statistics that it was bound to happen eventually. But no, I don't think this makes you a fuck up. Stupid, yes. But not a fuck up." He took a chance and placed his hand on Hal's cheek. "You know what the up side to all this is?"

Hal's eyes fell on Hiram's hand. "What's that?"

"That black eye really suits you."

Hal broke his gaze from Hiram's hand and looked into his eyes. He saw something there he hadn't seen in a while. Something soft, unfocused.

"Will you give me a ride home, Hiram? My parents took my car."

"Anything man, anything."

They went out to his car. The pickup that was parked next to him had left already and his car stood alone on one side of the diner.

"I have to ask you the hard question now," Hiram said as he buckled his seatbelt. "How sure are you it's yours?"

Hal didn't make an effort to buckle his seatbelt. He just stared at the brick wall of Pops.

"It's my baby. No doubt in my mind."

Hiram nodded, knowing Hal wasn't looking at him. "It's just you guys broke up for that month a while back. Everyone was saying her and FP were –"

"They weren't." Hal turned on him. "They weren't sleeping together."

"You know that for a fact?"

"Alice would have told me in a heartbeat if they were, so drop it."

"I'm just looking out for you."

It happened in an instant. Hal's hands were cradling his face and their mouths were pressed together. Hiram resisted the urge to kiss him back and collected the lump in his throat as Hal broke the kiss.

"Do you not – "

"I don't think we –"

Hal kept his hands on Hiram's face, slowly rubbing his thumb over his cheek. "Just be a good friend for once? Please?"

This, he thought, is exactly the kind of stuff a bad friend would do. Taking advantage of their emotional crippled buddy in the parking lot at Pops. But he knew Hal needed this and he'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't want it too.

Hiram nodded shortly and leaned back in for a kiss, grabbing Hal's collar in the process. He felt a pang of guilt, knowing grabbing him by the shirt was such an Alice move (just like gently tugging Alice's hair was a Hal move) but he passed the point of caring when Hal's tongue coaxed his mouth open.

When they stopped a few minutes later, breathless and red faced, Hiram muttered, "Want to go somewhere?" He held Hal's collar in his hands and ran his fingers over the soft fabric, not able to look his friend in the eyes.

"Park somewhere in the forest?"

"I was thinking my place."

Hal nodded. Hiram tried to keep his hands from shaking as he started the ignition.