dusk • brance

.;12;.

(prolly gonna be a short chapter idfk what to write for this one my planning was ass)

walking into the grab n' go, finney and bruce were met with the sight of a few teenagers scanning the isles, and vance hopper playing on the pinball machine. bruce decided he wouldn't talk to him, as right now he was with another friend.

the two picked out a few candies each, then getting ready to check out. as they were about to walk to the register, the two heard screams coming from multiple people, and a few yelling some words.

finney and bruce looked towards eachother in fear before they stepped out of the isle, seeing vance was towered over a boy on the floor, blood seeping through his nose and cheek. another boy was propped up against the wall, bleeding from the same places.

vance stood back up as he headed back to his pinball game, acting as if nothing happened. "what the fuck.." bruce mumbled as he watched the boys on the ground struggling for air.

a few seconds later, two police officers came through the door, then cuffed vance. he looked around, his face making him seem confused.

"should we, you know, leave now?" finney worriedly suggested. bruce agreed and the two quickly checked out before making their way towards robin's house.

"wonder what happened back there," bruce said as he watched the police car finally driving off.

"probably some kid saying or doing something," finney shrugged. "yeah, probably." bruce admitted.
••

while bruce was walking to school he was absolutely petrified of seeing vance after what he saw yesterday. he didn't see the whole thing, but he could tell from the aftermath, it was bad.

he didn't want to be scared of vance, bruce was sure he had a good reason for it, he always thought that. but they were in a simple convince store. what bad could've possibly happened in there?

bruce noticed vance leaning on a pole as he neared the school. bruce swallowed heavily, trying to drown out his fear.

"hey! you alright? fight seemed pretty bad," bruce spoke once he reached vance. he looked up from his scabbed and bleeding knuckles to stare at bruce.

"i'm fine," vance mumbled as he looked back down at his knuckles. he picked at his scabs, watching the blood pour out onto his hand.

bruce frowned while watching vance bleed on his hands. "um, are you sure? you're uh, bleeding," bruce says pointing out the obvious. vance's eyes trailed up, locking them with bruce before quickly looking back down.

"yeah," vance shrugged. he put his hands in his pocket, feeling the blood staining them. "why're you still here?" vance asked.

"class doesn't start for another ten minutes.. and i just wanted to talk!" bruce told him with a smile, however vance didn't smile back.

"you saw what i did to those people, i think," vance mumbled, "and i just thought- you'd be scared of me or whatever," vance admitted.

"no, of course not. i don't think i really did anything, so i think i'm alright," bruce says with a giggle.

"you're always safe with me," vance whispered, inaudible. "what did you say?" bruce asked. not in a rude way, he really didn't hear what vance said.

"nothing," vance told him, a little too quickly. "jeez, alright," bruce says, concerned at vance's quick answer, "do hope you weren't actually planning on killing me," bruce continued.

"no, never," vance admitted to him. he had never once wanted to actually physically hurt bruce, and those times he did, he didn't even mean to.

"oh okay, epic. classes starting soon.. you coming?" bruce asked, slowly backing away. vance nodded and followed him inside.

bruce continued speaking to vance along their way, being sure to walk slowly so he could talk more. he quickly stopped mid sentence as he noticed a certain few individuals walking by him.

"oh, and last night my sister- well we had just finished dinner and.." bruce trailed off as he saw terry and jonah up ahead, walking in their direction.

as they walked by bruce, they both stared at him, looking as if they wanted to pounce on him that very second. bruce stopped his walking as he watched the two turn forward and keep walking.

vance took a few steps forward before he realized bruce wasn't beside him. vance turned around to see bruce looking sideways, entirely zoned out.

"bruce?" vance questioned, walking back next to him. the kids in the hall began to stare as vance poked his shoulder a few times, still whispering his name.

"bruce?" vance asked again. this time, bruce jumped and looked back at vance. "jeez, what happened?" vance asked.

"er, nothing?" bruce said questionably. it practically was nothing, terry and jonah didn't even say anything or do anything to him.

vance gave him a questioning look before he shrugged and continued walking. bruce took a  second to process everything before he ran to catch up with bruce.

—-
super duper sorry this was short, i pinky swear the next one will be long AND epic 😎

aaand my brother is in a fuckin hockey tournament so i had to go watch 2 games today, was kinda interesting, 3 dudes got absolutely killed then literally everyone on the ice started fighting. i gotta go watch 2 more tomorrow omfg 😟

(896 words.)