Dawnstar94 - I'm looking forward to posting that chapter, actually!

I feel bad for Benvolio, going through that and then having Gabriel smother it in his face. I expect Tybalt's doing worse, though.

"There you are!" scolded Juliet, finding her cousin slumped on the bench "I've been looking for you. You had me worried"

"Get lost" grumbled Tybalt. His eyes were glassy. Briefly, Juliet wondered if her toughest cousin had been crying, but she soon let that thought go. Tybalt would be furious if she realized. So she ignored him and sat down beside him.

"That was pretty scary when you kicked down the lockers"

"Whatever"

"You haven't blown up like that for ages"

"Shut up"

"I'm only trying to make conversation!"

"Suppose I don't want to talk!" hissed Tybalt "Go back to school. You're a little girl. You don't understand"

"I'm not just some little girl" Juliet snapped back "I'm fourteen"

"Yeah, a little girl!" Tybalt retorted.

"Ok. I'm a little girl. But I'm also your cousin and I love you. So you can talk to me, and I will understand"

"Ok. How well do you understand the statement 'Fuck off'?" Tybalt snapped again.

"And how well do understand that I am not leaving until you talk to me properly?" insisted Juliet. She knew her cousin well. She could stand up to him and debate with him even if he grew angry, because they were close.

"And how well do you understand that if you don't leave I'll throw you off the bench myself?"

"How well do you understand that I'll just get up and sit back on the bench and you'll have to keep getting up to shove me off, have to keep talking, instead of sitting like an emo kid wallowing in his own misery?"

"I'm not an emo!" yelled Tybalt "I'm a chav, damn it!"

They both looked at each other, and snorted. The tension was broken.

"I know you're a chav. You drive a stinky, battered up Vauxhall Nova and you smoke like a chimney"

"And I know you aren't just a little girl, however much your parents think you are"

They hugged, and then Juliet felt Tybalt start to shake.

"Are you all right, Tibby?"

"No, I'm not all right!" Tybalt let go, and crossed his arms.

"You've been crying, haven't you?"

"No!" Tybalt vehemently replied.

"Give over, Tybalt, I know you like a book"

"Fine then!"

For the first time since Tybalt was a child, tears spurted out of his grey eyes, and he howled into his hands. Juliet rubbed his arm, trying to think of ways to comfort him.

"There, there, it's all right, there are much nicer girls out there..."

"I don't want them, I want her! I love her. I can't believe she'd believe the rumours over me! I did not brag. I'd never brag to my mates about what I do with her. It was Hermia and the Montagues who set me up. I respect her. She's different to the girls I've been with before. She doesn't just want to be with me because I have a big dick or I'll beat up her ex, even though I did-"

"Tybalt!"

"What? He had it coming, cheating scoundrel. No one treats my girl like that and gets away with it" growled Tybalt, wiping his eyes fiercely.

Juliet shook her head "No! I meant the bit before! Urgh. Don't ever discuss your...size, in front of me, ever again!" She shook her head again, turning red, before trying to change the subject "You are going to get into trouble one day with all your fighting"

"Whatever. I just...I thought we understood each other. I helped her when Angelo was trying to get into contact with her, and helped her when she was getting to know Gabriel. I understood how she felt, about wanting to do well but not be what other people wanted her to be. I thought she understood me, about how, no matter what I do, however much I defend our family from the Montagues, I won't ever get anything!"

"So stop fighting with them then!"

"I can't!" yelled Tybalt "They harass my mum. Unless you've been living with your head in the sand for fourteen years, my mum has manic depression and can't look after herself. Remember when I had to live with you when she was in hospital? Yeah? Well, it was because those Montagues were prank-calling her and shit. And I thought Rosaline understood that and didn't judge me for it"

"I know, Tybalt, I know. Calm down"

Tybalt sat back, breathing heavily. His face had turned red. Juliet cautiously reached over and touched his arm again.

"Well, look" said Juliet "I don't think you and Rosaline were cut out for each other in the first place. I think sometimes she brings the worst out in you. And I think you bring out the worst in her too. When you're together, it's a 'get Hermia' mission all the way. You should stop calling her a bastard. Whether or not she's legitimate or not, she's family. She's just as much your cousin as I am"

"She isn't Rosaline's cousin, and I'm damn envious of her for it!"

"That is so childish" Juliet rolled her eyes "It was Rosaline who you were hanging out with when you were also hanging out with that dodgy crowd-"

"They're her neighbours, for fuck's sake. There's nothing she can change about that. That's how we'd see each other and get to know each other. I like to hang around on the Burry Estate, and she likes to hang around with rich people, which is what we are!"

"Well, what about the drugs thing? You hung around with her then as well!"

"Because she was helping me through it!" Tybalt yelled again "You're so stupid and naive. You are a stupid little girl. Rosaline does not bring out the worst in me. I think she brings out my nicer side. I have a shower before I go out with her. I wear clean clothes and brush my teeth. I have a shave. And I even cut my toenails!"

"Wow" said Juliet, looking over at him to see if it was true.

"She actually got me to do my coursework. I mean, I know she did half of it, but she helped me get a good mark. My teacher was impressed with me"

"Well, that's good then. But look, you could do all that yourself you know. You don't need her telling you what to do all the time. Sometimes, when she talks to you, it's like she thinks you're stupid"

"No, she doesn't! It's just part of the bickering. We always bicker. But...I like it"

"But there's nothing nice about bickering. Trust me, there are nicer girls out there, who wouldn't bicker like that"

"Whatever, Juliet! You don't get it. You think love is all roses and poems and undying devotion, but it isn't. That's your silly pathetic little fourteen year old girl view of it, well, wake up to the real world!"

"Well, what is it, then? Since you're such a loveable person, what is it?"

"Rosaline..." Tybalt trailed off, thinking of his beautiful girlfriend "Rosaline's nice to my mum. Chasnay told me to my face that she was a freak. And Rosaline goes along with the whole 'Sausage Surprise!' nonsense and doesn't judge. Shayna all but threw up on the table. That's love. When I funnelled loads of beer at a party and had the worst hangover I'd ever experienced, she held my head when I hurled and got me an aspirin. Shiraz would have just left me to toss up. She cares about me. She came with me to the dentist when I had to have root canal because she knows I hate the dentist, and then she held my hand and looked after me when I was crying in pain on the sofa. She didn't even judge me or laugh, like Chantelle would have. There! That's love"

Juliet watched her cousin pant angrily. What he had said had had an element of truth. Juliet chewed her lip, wondering whether she was biased to listen to what Hermia had to say on their cousins.

He sniffed "But now she's gone. There's no point anymore. She'll never let me come near her again thanks to this. I'm alone again. Just stupid aggressive Tibby Capulet, the walking joke of the Montagues"