brooks & hale ✔️

hale

fourteen ;

h a l e

HALE RUMMAGED THROUGH THE cupboards in search of something, anything, which he could eat without having to prepare it. He could cook if he needed to, was pretty damn good at it actually, but he was also pretty lazy and preferred to avoid any unnecessary effort. Of course, the one time his mum would be out late, he had to find a way to feed himself.

"Oh, hell," Hale grumbled, as he tossed an empty packet of crisps onto the counter. "Where are the Oreos? I bought the Oreos just so I could eat them after practise. I swear to God if TJ ate the fucking Oreos again - "

"Forget the Oreos," Brooks said, amused. "We're here to study, not stuff our faces."

Hale raised an eyebrow. "It offends me that you think I can't do both."

Brooks was sat the kitchen table, flicking through all the textbooks he'd unloaded. He'd recovered from the episode with Maxy, which Hale still felt like chuckling about when he thought about it, although he kept flicking cautious looks at the golden retriever curled up contentedly at the foot of the table. How anyone could be scared of such an adorable dog, Hale had no idea.

"So, which topics do you want to work on?" Brooks asked, looking up at Hale with an inquiring gaze. "Your weakest ones?"

"That would be all of them," Hale drawled.

"Right, okay." Brooks tapped the pencil against his forehead thoughtfully and nodded. "Not a problem. So we start from the beginning."

"Sounds like a plan," Hale said vaguely, frowning into the depths of his empty cupboards. This was his worst nightmare. It usually only looked like this after Will had been round, and cleared out their entire supply of food. "Which we'll get started on in just one minute, after I kill my brother. TJ! Get your butt in here!"

TJ poked his head around the door. "Hello, you called?" he said, with a devious grin in Brooks' direction. "Am I allowed to talk to your new Will now?"

"No," Hale said flatly. He wasn't going to bother wasting his breath on who Brooks was to his idiot brother. "Did you eat the Oreos?"

"Me? Eat the Oreos?" TJ widened his eyes in exaggerated innocence. "I would never. Not after you threatened to kill me last time I did that."

"Tonto," Hale muttered, and chucked a spoon at TJ's head. "Get lost, Oreo thief, before I make you go out and buy me some more."

TJ ducked out of the way at the last second as the spoon clattered against the floor, cackling evilly as he disappeared down the hallway. "Do you throw cutlery at your siblings often?" Brooks asked in amusement, picking up the fallen spoon and setting in on the table.

"Only at TJ and only when he's being a bellend, which is most of the time," Hale said with a shrug. "I'm nicer to Tessa, I only throw pillows at her. Being a gentleman and all that shit."

"And the youngest?"

"Izzy?" Hale pulled a face at him. "Jeez, what kind of monster do you think I am, Brooks? No one throws things at two-year-olds."

"Well, that's always a relief to hear."

Hale slid into the seat next to Brooks and looked at him curiously. "What about you? Have any idiots you have to share the house with?"

"Just one," Brooks said. "My older brother, Adam."

"What's he like?"

"An asshole. One who enjoys pretending I don't exist most of the time."