Mine - Vance Hopper (The Black Phone)

- Them -

Warning: Use of F slur.

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"Alright Mari, school starts soon. Wakey wa-ay!" Franklyn screams, spotting his daughter and Vance Hopper in her bed.

Both Marilyn and Vance jump awake at the sound of Franlyn's voice, Marilyn wincing lightly.

"What the hell is going on?" Franklyn squints his eyes at the two teenagers, pointing between them.

This wasn't the first time he'd witnessed something like this. Casper would always bring home girls without anyone's knowledge of it. Franklyn was often the poor man that walked into the room at the wrong times.

"Hey dad." Marilyn mutters, dragging out her words in an awkward manor, sitting up in the bed. Vance copies her movement, waving his hand and puffing out his cheeks lightly.

"Hey Mr. Kate." The boy mutters.

Franklyn looks at Vance a little closer, noticing the unnatural frizz in his hair from the sleep prior. Also noticing the purple hues covering his face and arms. The bruises confused Franklyn slightly, wondering where they had come from.

"The bruises. How'd you get them?"

Vance's eyes widen slightly, looking at Marilyn for a second, clearing his throat. He had forgotten of the marks his father had presented to him last night, Marilyn made him forget his pain.

"I- uh," Vance was uncertain if he should tell the older man. Sending an unsure look over to Marilyn, Vance asks for help with through his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows lightly.

Marilyn stares back, nodding slightly at the boy with a small, encouraging smile. She believes that telling her father could help his at home situation, hopefully get rid of his problems.

Nodding back, Vance turns towards the man. Franklyn waits patiently for the boy to answer, not wanting to push him to answer.

"My father. He hit me." Vance mutters, looking down at the sheets infront of him.

Marilyn reaches forward, grabbing his hand and interlocking their fingers together. Her hands were soft and warm, a touch he'd never hate. The warmth of her hands seem to spread up his arm and through his body, a wave of calmness washing over him. The gesture made him smile lightly.

This doesn't go unnoticed by Franklyn making him smirk lightly, but he quickly brushes it off when realization dawns over him when he remember what Vance had said.

"Your father did what?" Franklyn asks.

Marilyn looks at her father, nodding slowly to confirm his suspicions. Vance lowering his head in embarrassment, it's not like it was completely aboriginal for fathers to harm their sons. It was just that nobody would expect Vance Hopper to go through such things as he's normally seen as the fearless boy who doesn't care about anything.

Both of which was completely untrue about the boy.

He was always scared, he just hid it behind aggression and fought his way through his problems, he preferred people fear him and leave him be then for them to come up and converse. Because words unlock the barriers and then you get hurt. Vance found that out the hard way. So he hid himself behind the walls he put up, only choosing to let two people in.

Ms. Beckett and Marilyn. The only two people in the world Vance truly cared about. Ms. Beckett was like his mother, always there for him and never seized to let him down. She would always be there for him to talk and clean his wounds. Marilyn is someone new that he decided to let in. She was someone he truly felt the need to protect instead of harm. Unlike anyone he's ever met in the whole depressing town, she's the only person who kept him entertained. Sure he would bully and tease her, but there was emotion behind it. Emotion he was unaware of until the recent events.

"I'll handle your father. You two get ready for school." Franklyn says and Vance nods along with Marilyn.

Franklyn sends the two one last smile before exiting the room, shutting the door behind him quietly.

Marilyn looks toward Vance who smiles lightly before the two begin to fall into a fit of chuckles.

"Man, my dad's gonna kill me for letting you sleep in my bed." Marilyn smiles, shaking her head.

Vance shrugs, "I'm sure he doesn't care. Your dad loves me." Vance sends her a cheeky grin and Marilyn laughs lightly, shaking her head.

"We should get ready for school then, don't wanna be late." She says, getting out of the bed.

"Yeah. Plus, I gotta show off my new girlfriend." Vance says following her, grabbing her hand and spinning her towards him.

Marilyn raises her eyebrow at the boy, a small smirk rising on her face.

"Girlfriend, you say?"

Vance nods.

"If you say yes." The boy mutters, leaning forward slightly, holding a soft eyecontact.

Marilyn smiles and nods. "Yes," Vance sends her a brighter smile, leaning forward to capture her lips in his own but before he can, Marilyn ducks out of the way.

"Nope. Morning breath." The girl mutters, walking to the bathroom.

Vance stares at the girl in disbelief, scoffing lightly in amusement and shaking his head. "Tease!" He calls out after the girl only to be replied back by a howl of laughter from the girl.

+++

The school halls were loud as the Blake siblings walk through the halls, people talking about what classes they have or just random conversations about comics or movies.

Finney scans the room, quickly darting his eyes to the floor after he made quick eyecontact with one of his bullies. He hated those guys, Robin was able to stop them from bullying him for a while, but now Robins gone. So now there's no one stopping them.

"Oi faggot!" One of the three call, laughing lightly at the name, his friends snickering along with them.

Gwen glares at the boys as if they were the most disgusting thing she's ever layed eyes on. She really hated them. She didn't like when people picked on her brother, he has enough to handle with at home.

The bullies get up from leaning on the lockers, squinting their eyes at the girl. They all step to move towards them but they spot something in the corner of their eyes.

Finney keeps his gaze on the floor, too frightened to look up. He felt pathetic. Having his little sister fight his battles. Imagine the shit Robin would give to him for not standing up for himself.

He waits for the sounds of lockers being slammed, the chants of bystanders, Gwen's yelling. But none of it comes. Instead, he's met with silence, a few whispers erupting through the silence.

"I thought they hated eachother?"

"What the fuck?"

Finney raises his head in confusion, looking around he spots almost every student staring in the same direction. He tries to peak above the heads that were blocking his view, but they were much taller than him and he was unable to spot what everyone was talking about.

"What is everyone looking at?" Finney whispers to his sister.

Gwen smiles pointing to the pair that emerges from the group of kids.

"Them."

Gwen points in the direction and Finneys head slowly turns to face the thing that had captured everyone's attention.

Finneys mouth slightly drops open when he spots Vance Hopper walking through the school, his arm wrapped around Marilyn Kate's shoulders, small smiles on both of their faces.

Gwen smiles and claps quickly. "I knew it." She says.

Marilyn smiles, overhearing the whispers coming from everyone. She looks up her boyfriend with a smile and Vance looks down at her, his blue eyes shining with emotion.

He smirks lightly at her before leaning forward and placing a kiss on Marilyn's forehead, earning a blush from the girl.

They knew exactly what they were doing.