Jason had tangled himself around Kyle. He laid his head unto Kyle's chest. The tears had stopped, but only because he became coherent enough to be embarrassed. Though, not embarrassed enough to detangle himself from Kyle. The warmth Kyle offered was too comforting, it even outweighed the I told you so tone he had taken earlier.

It was safe to say Jason no longer had any pride left. Specifically though, that had been destroyed last night.

Absolutely demolished, is more like it.

And it had hurt. A hell of a lot.

It had been pretty much the worst night of Jason's life. That's how much it had affected him. Not that he'd admit it.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Not in the least.

Jason looked at Kyle, trying to keep a false bravado. After a moments time, he dropped the act. Because, well because Kyle knew.

"Not especially" Jason replied mumbling "I don't really."
Kyle hummed in response. And they stayed like that for longer than just a while. And when Jason's breathing became regular, Kyle began to connect the dots.

Realization dawned upon Kyle as he gently pushed Jason away.

"It was your birthday yesterday, right?

Jason coughed.

Kyle laughed humorlessly, taking the silence as a yes.

"It was, wasn't it?"

Jason felt tight knots being ties in his stomach.

"And you turned eighteen, am I right?"

These were all rhetorical questions, Kyle wasn't even giving Jason a chance to respond. Not that Jason would.

Kyle stood up and brushed the non-existent dirt off his pants.

"I cannot believe you right now."

Jason balled his sleeves into his fists.

"You don't understand, Ky" Jason practically whispered.

"Then help me fucking understand."

The words were spoken vehemently, almost with a sense of cruelty.

Jason stood up, still shorter than Kyle. But managed to look him straight in the eye.

"Don't be an ass till you've heard the whole godamn thing."

Kyle scoffed.

"I feel as though I've heard this story before."

"Well, you fucking haven't."

This was the very moment that Hal walked back into the room.

Sure, it was silent, but Hal could feel the tension rolling off the two boys. Almost as if there was a power struggle going on.

Hal pushed them away from one another, yet they continued to glare.

"Okay, I have no idea what happened, but I sure as hell would like to know."

There was no response.

Kyle smiled, almost viciously.

"Tell us, Jason. Why don't you?"

Normally Kyle was a nice person. Sometimes, he was even told he was too nice. This didn't seem to be the case right now.

Jason took a step back.

He looked away from Kyle's intense eyes and decided to turn his attention toward Hal.

"I'm sorry for being such a bother, Uncle Hal. I'll get out of your hair."

Jason began to walk away. But before Hal could respond, Kyle grabbed onto Jason's hood and yanked harshly.

"The fuck you will." Kyle said.

"Language" Hal reprimanded, but really, he didn't looked like he cared.

Kyle scoffed. He seemed to being a lot of that lately.

"For the love of God Kyle, why are you acting like this?"

Jason didn't bother to struggle against Kyles's hold. He knew it'd be futile. Kyle took up boxing a while back and, like mentioned before, was a lot bigger than Jason.

After hearing the exasperation in Hal's tone, Kyle let go. He even looked somewhat ashamed.

Jason didn't move a muscle.

"Now, Jason. Would you like to tell me what's wrong?"

Hal had used the soft tone, one he had only used back when they were kids.

Jason felt his face heat up slightly. As if he was self-conscious of something Hal didn't know.

"It not something I want to tell you, Uncle Hal" Jason didn't mean it as punitively as it came out.

Hal let out a deep breath, clearly trying to disguise his hurt expression.

"Whatever kid, be like that."

Hal turned to walk into the bedroom. Jason stopped him.

"Promise you won't tell my Dad?"

Despite the whole situation, Hal had it in him to smile.

"Yeah kid, I promise."

…

A/N- At this point, I feel like everyone is as clueless as Hal. Don't worry, all will be explained soon enough.