Who: Hunter and Jade What: Random hanging out When: September 1st, lunch Where: PP High School Status: Complete
It wasn't as weird as Hunter had worried, being the new kid at school. Maybe because he wasn't that new in town, or maybe it helped that his sister was there too even if she laid low and kept falling asleep in class so she wasn't exactly there there.
It was lunch and he gathered his books as quickly as he could before rushing to the hallway to try to find Mak but he couldn't see her anywhere in the chaos in the hall. They hadn't talked about meeting for lunch or anything but he had things to talk to her about and she was better company than Jen. He couldn't see Sabrina anywhere either so maybe the girls had gone off somewhere together.
He stood there for a beat just looking around before he spotted Jade. They'd met a few times but usually in passing so Hunter couldn't really say they were friends. Jade was however friends with Mak so Hunter made a beeline for him, hoisting his backpack up on his shoulder.
"Hey! Jade!" He nearly got bowled over by a couple of juniors rushing past him but managed to press himself against the wall enough to escape. Fortunately Jade seemed to have heard him and was still there when he was clear and he smiled at the guy as he approached him. "Have you seen Mak?"
Jade was trying to decide what to do with his lunch break. His backpack was over one shoulder, and in it he had a book he could read as well as his lunch bag. He was halfway looking for either Sabrina or Mak, but the hallway was such a mass of motion that he couldn’t pick out any one person. He supposed he could always go eat in the yearbook office, but he tried not to give himself the option to hide out there every day when school was in. It was nice to actually talk to people sometimes.
He heard his name and glanced around, the nonchalant expression he’d put on leaving his face and being replaced by something more complicated. Hunter Barrett knew his name? When had this happened, and why hadn’t Jade been informed? The guy was usually only around during the summer, but Jade had heard that he’d moved here now. Because yeah, he’d needed something else to obsess about, or maybe that was obsess more. Hunter always had Jade’s attention whenever he was around, even if he only received it through furtive peeks, since Jade would never want to be caught looking for too long. “Hi,” he said, his cheeks coloring slightly. “I uh…. No. Haven’t seen her.”
"Damn it," Hunter said though he sounded more jovial than upset. He looked around again but saw neither of the girls and not Jen either so clearly she'd slumped off to somewhere to eat alone. He didn't know why she was so antisocial, she could be really fun when the mood hit her but she was so unlike Hunter that he sometimes wondered if they were really twins. Looking back to Jade he smiled and arched his brows quizzically."What are you doing for lunch?" Jade hadn't joined them for lunch yet and on the rare occasion they'd met he'd been very quiet. Hunter didn't think they'd ever actually talked more than a few words which was obviously something he needed to rectify. "I hate eating alone, I always end up wasting all the battery on my phone, you know?"
Jade almost wished he’d already gone to hide in the yearbook office, but also he was glad he hadn’t. Because Hunter Barrett. Everything he’d heard and observed about the guy told him that Hunter was nice as well as being stupifyingly attractive, but Jade had never sought him out because he’d been afraid he’d make some huge, embarrassing blunder if he tried to talk to him. He shifted his weight when Hunter asked if he had lunch plans. “I was going to eat.” Well duh. “I mean, I didn’t have anyone I was gonna meet, or… anything.” Hopefully he wasn’t as red as the cherry tomatoes he had in his lunch bag. “I usually read if I’m not eating with someone.” And he usually read actual books, which probably made him a dinosaur of sorts.
He was blushing but Hunter knew better than to point that out or make fun of him for it. It was tempting, he couldn't deny that, but he knew better. Plus it was kinda cute, like Jade himself and damn, had that just happened? He'd completely flown under Hunter's radar last summer as anything but Mak's friend who didn't come around much. "You're with me," Hunter said after deciding that Jade was shy and shy people needed to be dragged out of their shells if possible. Of course it wasn't always possible, some people were introverted as hell but there was only one way to find out.
Jade was more reserved than actually shy, but he could understand if people didn’t get that. There was an extra layer involved when it came to handsome guys, because his sexuality was an issue he hadn’t yet been able to deal with; he was always conscious of not wanting to seem to be interested in or coming on to a guy. He pulled in a deep breath, hopefully doing it discreetly, then asked, “Where d’you want to go?” Could he think of enough things to say to Hunter for half an hour or so? Maybe, maybe not, but he was determined to try.
Hunter thought about it, pleased that Jade hadn't wiggled out of hanging out with him. "The weather is kinda good, might not last long. Let's sit outside?" He might be asking but he'd pretty much already decided that was what they were doing so he started walking that way, grinning at Jade. "It's gonna be weird being here in the winter. Fun, but weird, you know?"
Jade followed along, not inclined to argue about the suggestion of going outside. He was trying to decide if this was really happening or if he was having an extended daydream as he sat in the library with earphones on. After a subtle pinch to the back of his hand, he decided it must be real. “You never even visited in the winter?” he asked. He knew that Hunter had been living with his mother somewhere else before recently, and he definitely remembered the guy’s summer visits but couldn’t recall if he’d seen him when there was snow on the ground.
Hunter had been there in the winter of course, but only briefly over the holidays. It didn't feel the same when everything was kind of closed down and there was nothing going on but family stuff and his mom always preferred having him and Jen in Portland for Christmas. "Back in... 2014? I think... I've been here for easter. It's different for vacations." He pushed the doors open and made a beeline for one of the benches. "What do you do for fun in the winter?"
Jade nodded, having nothing to contribute to vacations being different since he hadn’t really taken any to speak of. He was surprised there was a bench left; maybe this was his lucky day. It would be awkward to have to find a spot on the ground to sit… and it was possible he was over-thinking this way too much. He seated himself when they reached the bench, placing his backpack on the ground and unzipping it to find his lunch bag. “Sledding, sometimes,” he said of winter fun around Point Pleasant. “Making hot chocolate? I get cold easy.” Maybe that was a silly thing to say, but it was the truth. He’d never been one to spend hours and hours outside in the snow in winter.
"Guess there's always video games if there's nothing else to do," Hunter said with a smile as he got his own lunch out and got comfortable opposite Jade. Not that he much enjoyed staying at home for long periods at a time. "Do you play any sports?" he asked since he was still trying to decide on what extracurriculars to do this winter. There was no swim team so that was out but there seemed to be plenty of other fun things to do.
“Yeah, there’s that,” Jade agreed. He played occasionally, but sometimes it was hard for him to concentrate. His mind started running on what he’d lost and how uncertain everything felt and how lonely he got sometimes, sitting around with what felt like too many secrets. Maybe there was a part of him that was afraid he wouldn’t be liked or accepted if anyone knew; his dad had made it clear how substandard he considered gay people to be. He opened his Nalgene bottle and took a long drink, hoping he could manage not to swallow his own tongue. He’d never considered that eating lunch with Hunter might be a part of his day. “Uh, I don’t really do sports,” he said, feeling embarrassed again. “I write for the paper, do yearbook. That stuff.”
Hunter arched a brow at that. There was nothing wrong with geeky stuff but Jade looked... Good. "You seem pretty fit," he said before he had time to think it over and instantly raised his hands. "Don't worry, I'm not hitting on you." Unless you want me to be. No, he wasn't about to add that and freak poor Jade out. He just assumed Jade knew he was gay and hoped he was okay with it considering their mutual friend was gay too. Of course she was a girl and straight boys tended to not have issues with lesbians. Not as threatening, or whatever, even if Hunter thought it should be the other way around. He wasn't the one stealing their women, right?
Jade’s blush reached shameful proportions, and he started digging in his lunch bag because he couldn’t think of anything else to do. Out came a sandwich wrapped in foil, which he promptly dropped. Ooops. “Uh, I ride my bike a lot,” he said as he leaned down to pick up the sandwich. He wasn’t addressing the rest of it, because in an ideal world he’d love for Hunter to hit on him. Maybe part of the reason he obsessed so much about the guy was that he knew Hunter liked boys and that it was a possibility. Well, if it hadn’t been completely awkward and in the closet him, of course. He distracted himself for a few seconds by trying to remember what kind of sandwich he’d packed. Was it something that would make his breath smell? No, peanut butter and banana. That wasn’t too bad.
It was definitely time to change the subject because while Jade wasn't pissed off about it, he was so very obviously embarrassed. Hunter did the nicest thing he could think to do and pretended not to notice, focusing on getting his food out and ready to eat. "Do you like doing jumps and stuff?" he asked, focusing on the bike bit and not how that explained how nice Jade's ass was. Not that he'd been looking at it a lot but he noticed these things! "My friend was super into doing stunts and he taught me a couple but most of them are like... no thanks. I like my bones unbroken, you know?"
Jade focused on unwrapping his sandwich without dropping it and breathing, neither of which should have been challenging if not for the Hunter of it all. “Not really,” he said of doing jumps. “I mean, when I was in middle school I did some of that stuff.” He sneaked a glance at Hunter and spared a few seconds to think about how freaking perfect the guy was. Probably one of the best looking guys in the school, but he didn’t act like someone who was conceited about it. “I’m not really into broken bones either.” He took a bite, mentally reminding himself to chew quietly.
He looked so reserved. It was cute and Hunter had to force himself not to tell Jade to loosen up. He wanted him to though and was already wondering how he was going to get this guy out of his shell. He was cute, he should have a girlfriend or something. Maybe there'd be a party and Hunter could drag him with. Alcohol did wonders for shy people, he'd seen the shyest people do the strangest things after as much as one drink. "See? We're smart," he murmured before taking a bite of his sandwich, squinting playfully at Jade.
Jade had wondered about this before, but now as he sat here with a guy he could really like if he let himself, he wondered again how this could be as bad of a thing as his dad had always said it was. Why was it so wrong? Dad had never given a reason for it, just a strong aversion. What if his brother felt the same way? He stifled his line of thought, not wanting to get bummed when he was sitting here with Hunter. The playful squint made him smile, and he chuckled. “Totally smart,” he said. “I even wear glasses sometimes. Makes me look smarter.” Probably a dumb thing to say, but so what. He’d had no time to prepare for this situation.
"Like you actually need them or do you just wear them to look smart?" Hunter asked, laughing. He didn't mean for it to come off mean but maybe it did. He had no clue why his sister sometimes told him he was an asshole because it wasn't like he was trying to be one. He couldn't help but wonder what Jade looked like with glasses on. Probably still cute. Hunter didn't have a thing for glasses or anything like some people did, he figured they'd just get in the way and stuff, but they could look good sometimes.
“Do I seem like the kinda person who’d wear something just to look smart?” It was more of a rhetorical question than anything, since Hunter didn’t really know Jade. “They help when I’m staring at text for a long time, like with the paper or yearbook.” He busied himself drinking from his water bottle before he could say anything else stupid. This was turning into a surreal kind of day, but maybe it was time for something different to happen, even if said different thing was fantasizing that he could ever get with this dude. Not like he hadn’t done that before, but now he’d have an actual conversation to base the fantasy on.
Hunter almost told him he might wear something to look hot but he figured he'd inflicted enough gay on him for now. Instead he just grinned and shrugged. "I try not to judge people before I get to know them," he said flippantly and it was mostly true. Some people really were the way they looked, people sometimes wore their looks like labels, but he did try not to be a judgmental asshole. It just didn't always go as well as he wanted it to. "You look plenty smart without them though."
“That’s good,” Jade said, reaching for his baggie of cherry tomatoes. If so, Hunter might have judged him as a hopeless nerd and not bothered to talk to him. He felt like there were people here at school who had done that already. The blush returned when Hunter told him he looked smart enough without the glasses, but Jade dutifully tried to ignore it. Evidently blushing was going to be a thing when he was around the guy. “Thanks,” he said. Time to talk about something else. “Did you play sports at your other school?”
"Yeah," Hunter replied though he wasn't going to go into too much details if Jade wasn't really interested in it. "Not sure what I'm gonna do here, not like there are official tryouts or anything." Maybe he'd skip sports this year and just become a fat and sassy gay. The thought made him grin as he bit back a laugh. "What do you think I should do? Which teams are the nicest?" And least homophobic he almost added but he doubted Jade knew much about that.
“I don’t know a lot about the teams,” Jade said. “Sometimes I check out the football games… I don’t think baseball is until spring.” He wasn’t a rabid sports fan, but sometimes he went to get a story for the paper or because a friend wanted to go. His brow furrowed when asked which teams were the nicest. “Nice like how?” That seemed like a funny thing to ask, but maybe he wasn’t understanding what Hunter meant by it.
"I don't know," Hunter said with a shrug. "Nice like... Not the kind to kick the gay kid off the team or whatever." He had never had problems in his old school and he'd never had problems here but he'd never gone to school here before so there was no telling what it was really like. It seemed cool so far though and he had a great support system if nothing else.
“I never heard of that kinda thing happening here,” Jade said. “I guess that doesn’t mean it never did, though.” There were a handful of people at school who pinged his radar as far as maybe being mean-spirited about certain things, although he’d never really seen evidence of it. It was more of a feeling than anything, and Jade had learned to trust his instincts about people. He almost wanted to suggest Hunter join the football team, but he didn’t want to explain that his reasoning was an intense desire to see the guy in those football pants. Sigh. He ate a cherry tomato to keep himself from saying anything foolish.
Hunter knew what he meant. If something didn't affect him directly he had a hard time paying attention to it though he was trying to be more open to other people and their problems and all. "Guess you never know," he sighed and wondered if there were any gay guys in his new school. There had been some in his old school but they hadn't really had anything else in common and he honestly hadn't really liked them all that much. Which was a total bummer. "So you're working on the yearbook? That's cool." It was definitely time to change the subject, homophobia was depressing. "You should join Sabrina's club if she actually starts it. Straight gay alliance? You don't have to be gay to be in it."
Jade had also wondered how many gay guys there were… how many were hiding it like he was. He admired people who felt secure enough to reveal it, but he wasn’t there yet. One day he hoped he would be, since he had no plans to become a monk. He exhaled a nearly silent sigh and gladly went with the subject change. “Yearbook and the paper, yeah,” he said. “I like writing.” The mention of the alliance club gave him another twitch of anxiety, but hopefully he hid it well enough. “Maybe,” he said noncommittally. “I could do a story for the paper about it, if she wants.”
Hunter didn't really feel like he'd had a choice in coming out. Mitch had been bitching about gay marriage being a circus and he'd had to speak up. Not speaking up was like not scratching an itch, he just couldn't do it. So he'd come out and after that it was kind of official that he was One of the Gays. He wasn't even sure half the time. Maybe he was bi or something, he was seventeen and all his emotions were complicated and weird but he was fine with taking that stand for now.
"Sounds awesome," he said about the yearbook story and smiled at Jade. "I bet she'd love that. The best weapon against ignorance is information. And you know, people getting used to having us around."
“I’ll check with her about it,” Jade said of a possible story for the paper. When Hunter smiled, he smiled back but then had to look away. How was it possible that someone’s smile could be so brilliant that it was almost blinding? He distracted himself putting stuff back into his lunch bag and making sure he’d gathered all his trash. Hopefully he didn’t have tomato seeds in his teeth, ugh. He had a HoHo in his bag also, but he’d eat it later on. Nothing like getting chocolate smeared all over himself, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle that with any grace at all in front of Hunter.
Straight boys were so cute, it was annoying. And this one was awkward and cute which made Hunter want to take him under his wing. "You must be a good writer if you've been writing for the paper," he said and yes, he was curious. Maybe he'd check the library and see what Jade had been writing about in the past. "Do you write under your own name or a pseudonym?"
“I do okay,” Jade said. He always wanted to be a better writer than he was, but all he could really do was work at it. He figured that he hadn’t been asked not to participate so he must be doing all right. “No, uh, there’s no pseudonyms at the paper.” If they did some kind of huge expose they might start, but that hadn’t happened yet.
"What would you pick?" Hunter asked, grinning at Jade. "If you got yourself a pseudonym. I won't tell anyone if it's a secret." Maybe Jade had never thought about that and that was okay. Hunter was pretty sure he'd want to use a fake name if he did some writing, that way he'd feel free to write whatever he really wanted to without someone bugging him about it.
It was stupid, but Jade’s heart seemed to beat faster in his chest when Hunter smiled again. He was just being friendly and it didn’t mean anything, he told himself, and even if it did, everyone thought Jade was straight. He couldn’t win in this situation, at all. His response came out automatically with no blush and no thought put into it, which was probably a first for talking to this dude. “I can’t tell you,” he said, his own smile coming naturally, too. “Then if I write something super deep cover, you’ll know it’s me.” He brushed his hands off on his pants instead of opening the wet-nap he had in his lunch bag because yeah, that was kind of anal.
"Wait," Hunter said with feigned shock. "You don't trust me?" He put up the biggest puppy dog look that he could muster and it was funny because Jade barely knew him and had no real reason to trust him. Hell, maybe he shouldn't trust him either, considering Hunter shared everything with Mak and sometimes Sabrina - especially when it was about cute boys. He couldn't really keep that face on so he laughed and shook his head. "Okay, I don't blame you. But you should still tell me so I can stalk you a little and read all your stuff.”
“I don’t trust anyone,” Jade said, and that was close to the truth. Sabrina and Mak, his brother… that was the extent of it. He was always wary even if he didn’t show it outwardly. Hunter was someone he’d love to trust, to get to know better, but he wasn’t sure if it would happen. Why would the guy want to hang out with him? The puppy dog eyes were almost too much, though, and he shifted his gaze away. “I might tell you if I make one up,” he added, not wanting to lose the carefree vibe of the conversation. “Maybe.”
"I'll get it out of you," Hunter said teasingly and shoved what remained of his lunch back in his bag. "One way or another." It was a total supervillain thing to say which made it funny because Hunter would never really do anything to hurt someone or coerce someone to do something. Not on purpose at least! "We should head back inside," he sighed and zipped his bag closed. "I don't want to be late for class."
Luckily, Jade was done eating, because the thought of ways Hunter could get secrets out of him would have probably made him choke. He had everything he’d brought with him packed back up, and he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I have History next. Why would anyone schedule a class like that right after lunch?” It wasn’t that he didn’t like History but that about twenty minutes after eating lunch he got incredibly sleepy. Dozing off in class wasn’t any way to score points as a decent student. He stood up, hitching his pack over his shoulder. “See you around, I guess?”
"You don't like it?" Hunter asked with a grin. It wasn't his favorite subject but it could be interesting sometimes, if the teacher cared to make it. There were some really whacky stories to be told as he'd found out from one enthusiastic and funny teacher back in Portland. So far it was pretty standard here but their teacher was nice so there was hope yet. "What's your favorite subject?" he added as he got up. "Let me guess. English?"
What if History was Hunter’s favorite subject? Jade thought. Ugh. Leave it to him to slip up already. “It’s fine,” he said. “Just makes me sleepy right after lunch.” He picked at his shoulder strap, hoping he could remain semi-cool for just a couple minutes longer. “Yeah, I’m into English,” he said with a smile. That was probably obvious given his love for writing.
"English is fine when they give you something fun to read," Hunter speculated. "Which they hardly ever do because they suck. Then when they do give you something fun to read it's all about figuring out character motivation or something you don't really think about while reading." He rolled his eyes. "Better than math though."
“Anything’s better than math.” What Hunter had said was a statement with which Jade could most heartily agree. Numbers weren’t his thing, although he’d gotten decent grades in Algebra II the past semester. This year was Calculus, and he didn’t have any real impression of how hard it would be yet. Most of the time he liked the readings for English, but he didn’t want to say, because nerd alert. So he smiled and asked, “Which way you going?”
Hunter hadn't memorized his schedule yet but he'd gotten into a good habit of always checking it at the end of every class to avoid that lost in the hallway look that was super unflattering. Especially if it included peering at a piece of paper. This meant he usually seemed like he knew what he was doing, even if he really didn't have a clue about anything. He could confidently tell Jade what room he was in as a result which probably made him look pretty smart considering how short the school year had been so far and he grinned at Jade as he hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. "Heading my way?"
Fortunately, Jade was. He had the book he’d need for his next class so he didn’t have to visit his locker on the way. “Yeah, let’s go,” he said, managing to smile what was hopefully a natural-looking smile. He totally wanted to hang out with this dude as much as he could if he could manage not to be a complete goober.