Manifestation of Manipulation - Vance Hopper x Male Reader

Supposedly - 45

TW: panic attack, and mentions of murder

Y/N's POV:
"I got the job." Bruce happily announces to our lunch table, everyone erupts with cheers and encouraging words. "I knew it, way to go Bruce!" Robin says, clasping a hand on his back and smiling wide. Bruce nods and smiles the widest out of everyone. "Yeah, there was not a chance you wouldn't get it!" Finn adds with food in his mouth, Bruce laughs at this and shrugs happily. "If they didn't hire you I'd have to deal with them myself, and it would not have been pretty." Gwen adds, her eyes crinkled at the sides, a genuine smile on her face.

"Haha, in all seriousness Bruce, we're proud of you." Griffin points his plastic fork at him. "Thank you guys, it means a lot coming from all of you." Bruce says whiling looking around our groups reactions. "Sounds like you earned it. Applying for hire first, that's not a common drive. Don't change Bruce Yamada." I add, he nods and winks at me, I wink back and continue eating.

"Speaking of jobs! Not to change the subject, amazing feat Bruce- I have work all weekend, so if you guys wanna play the new croquet set again, tomorrow is your last option. I have to take Samuel to the vet today as well." Billy explains. "Thanks Billy, and I hope Samuel is alright." Bruce says, Samuel is Billy's golden retriever, a sweet heart who was raised and trained well. I'm normally not fond of big dogs but Samuel is truly a worthy exception. "Aww is he sick?" Donna frowns and shoots Billy a sympathetic look.

"No he's not sick, he cut his paw on our hoses sprinkler and I want to make sure he doesn't get a staph infection." Billy explains, I perk up and clear my throat. "Those aren't fun to deal with, if it gets bad sometimes the only thing you can do is amputate or so I've been told." I comment, Billy points at me and nods. "Exactly, he cut his paw yesterday night, when you guys left, but the vet was booked until this evening because it was so last minute.

"I'm glad you got an appointment so soon." Gwen smiles, I've been told she loves Samuel and helps babysit him when Billy works and when his dad is on truck hauls across states. "Do I need to babysit him this weekend too?" Billy shakes his head in response. "My moms friend is going to take him back to her house, she used to be a vet and I already made sure her house was clean." He smirks, Gwen laughs and continues their conversation I'm fading out of.

"Y/N, right?" A friendly voice behind me asks, I turn to look at the source of the voice. A freshman girl for sure, she has long blonde hair, straight, well kept, bangs and a red bow tie in her hair. "Uh yeah, who are you?" I ask, and position myself to face her.

"Stacy? Uhm- Hor-" "Horse girl! Gah of course, how have you been?" I excitedly ask, I haven't seen this girl in three years, she has changed her look a lot. "Yeah! Yeah horse girl, haha, I've been alright. How-How uhm are you doing?" She stumbles over her words, I guess she hasn't grown out of that yet.

"Good good, I'm good too- I'm sorry I should've known your name, we uhm talked all homecoming, '79!" She nods and does a little shrug. "Eh it's ok, not many people knew my name, I certainly wouldn't expect you of all people to remember." She snorts and giggles a bit, I frown and cross my arms.

"Ouch, but fair, I was a total airhead, how's Carl?" Carl is her cat, I met him home coming night. Her brother ditched her and Morgan and Theo ditched me. She didn't know her home number to call for a ride so I offered to walk her home. It wasn't something weird, it was genuine concern, there might have been creeps out looking for young kids that night.

"Carls good, blind in one eye but doing good." She says, hugging her pink binder closer to her chest. "You know you weren't all that bad, I mean I didn't go to school with you but I heard stuff. Hard not too, being different is a curse. It shouldn't be, but damn is it." She adds, her smile faltering a bit. "You're talking about the shit Caiden said. I'm not that kind of different, I'm uhm-.. Only a little different." I laugh awkwardly, she raises her eyebrows and waves her hands a bit.

"Oh no no- of course not, I mean there'd be nothing wrong with it if you were- I.. Goodness, I know what you mean, Theo blabbed to me like a year later. Oh but don't worry I didn't tell anyone, I moved so it didn't matter. Oh uhm! I won't tell anyone now either since it would matter now, considering you're here! Ok I'm sorry I'm just going to cut to the chase- I am so sorry to hear about... Last night." She rambles, the whole time I'm smiling until she apologizes for something I don't know about.

"What? Sorry, for what?" I laugh awkwardly, our table is quiet now, listening in on our conversation for sure. "For, last night- I'm sorry do you not know? Oh my, I'm sorry! Forget I said anything!" She apologizes and covers her mouth a bit. "I don't know, no, what happened?" I pressure her to tell me.

She rocks back and forth on her heels and bites her cheek. "I just thought Theo would've called- maybe Morgan unless you guys aren't friends anymore but you seemed unbreakable back then so I assumed-" I cut her rambling off and speak for myself.

"Theo is grounded, his parents won't let him use the phone, and Morgan got home late last night." I explain to her, she sighs deeply and frowns. "Even then I would assume he'd tell you, it's a bit more important than being grounded." She mumbles and looks at me sadly.

"No one's going to tell me, unless you do- so please, I don't care who is comes from, please lay down what you know." I cross my arms as she looks around and sighs again. "The Skeleton man, you know him, everyone calls your father that.." I nod and wave my hand. "Yes I know, a bedtime story I heard every night for ten years." I confirm, asking for more from the obviously uncomfortable girl. "He.. Shot your mother last night." She says sadly, I freeze up and study her face. "Nah bullshit." I mutter, not daring to look at Vance who's eyes are obviously now glued to me.

"No I wouldn't joke about this, perhaps it's something you should ask your folks about.. I'm sorry you had to hear it from me." She apologizes and runs off, her eyes a bit teary. I swallow the lump in the throat and slowly turn back around, staring down at my plate so I don't have to look my friends in the eyes. "Y/N-" Bruce starts but Vance shuts it down. "Sh-" Vance says and shakes his head at him, Bruce nods back and him and eyes me cautiously.

I clear my throat and tap the table. "Lets pretend we didn't hear that, ok? Please." I plead, finally looking up to see the shocked faces. Billy is the first to nod and let his face fall back to "normal". I sigh tiredly and pick up my fork, my eyes feel watery but I don't know why.

I don't care about either of them, but... I feel like I still do, even after all the shit they put me through I still didn't want it to end this way. Maybe I have hopes to repair what was damaged. Whatever I still believe in I need to figure it out, and get it through my head that dream is impossible now. And then I need to get over it. Simply get over it, and over what has supposedly happened.

The rest of lunch has been eerily quiet, I have a migraine from racking my brain and holding back a panic attack. I finally crack, my chest begins to shake, to keep myself from making obvious noise I cover my mouth and bend over slightly to hide my face. I take deep breaths and rub my hand up and down my leg, my other harshly cupping my mouth. "Y/N, it's ok to not be ok." Griffin speaks up from in front of me, I nod and cover my eyes with my hand. "No-No I know, I uhm-Just, having trouble breathing, is all. I'm-I'm ok." I mange to spit out with little stuttering. Vance grabs my bag and gets up.

"Hey come on, I'll take you home." Vance says sternly, grabbing my arm gently to help me get up. He directs me up and towards the doors. "No I d-don't need to leave, let's go-go to the bathroom." I helplessly hurry through the cafeteria, Vance speed walking behind me. "No, we're going to your place. Please Y/N." Vance pleads with me when we make it to the empty hallway. His hands grab my shoulders as he moves in front of me.

He pulls me gently towards the front office, I let him pull me, my chest shaking bad now. "Va-Vance I'm s-s-sorry.." I sob, he lets go of me and drops my bag, only to hug me fully and slowly bend down to the ground with me. "Shhh.. Let it out." He encourages me to break down in the hallway, my hands too shaky to even grab his shirt properly. "Let's get to the office, ok? I'll explain everything and then I'll take you home." I nod hard and let him help me up, his eyes not once leaving me.

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Authors note:
I'm not playing too far into this, as I hate his father with a burning passion :)