promise? - brance

are you ignoring me?

the sun is beaming, cicadas screaming in the grass as young bruce yamada, age 10, runs around in the park.

it's a daily routine, beg his mom to drive him to the park, play for a few hours, get ice cream, take a nap. like clockwork every single day.

bruce knows every regular family that comes to this park, and knows all the details when a new family moves in nearby. so when a new, curly headed blond boy approaches the swings and he hadn't heard of it, it slightly shocked him.

"hi!" bruce says to get the boys attention, but there's zero reaction and he feels taken aback. "hi!" he repeats, louder now, but there's still no reaction.

maybe it's because bruce was across the bridge connecting the swings and the park, so he walks forward to get closer. "hello?" he asks, sitting down and dangling his feet off the edge as he stares at the boy who still pays no attention to him.

his eyes see a bright light, following it to see a flashlight being pointed at the blond's feet and then a young blond lady pointing up at bruce. he sees the boy touch his ear and then turn to bruce and he gives a nod, as if to say sorry.

"are you ignoring me?" he peeps.
"no." a soft, cowardly like voice responds. it's soft, bruce makes note of, not what he expected from such a tall boy.
"why didn't you answer?" he presses on, tilting his head a bit as the other sits down on a swing, beginning to rock to get momentum.

that's when he moves his own head slightly, pointing at his ear that holds a strange black device he had never seen before. maybe the blond boy was a robot! cool!

"what is that? are you a spy?" and that gains a giggle from the other.

"im deaf."
-
"mom! did you bring two sandwiches today?" bruce asks, looking around anxiously, seeming to want to run off and find something. his mother nods and with that he runs off into the swings direction on the opposite side of the park.

a car slowly rolls up and out pops the boy, who bruce soon learned his name was vance, and he runs over to greet bruce with a wave.

"hi, vance!" bruce calls once they're close, the other just smiles and stays quiet. "wanna go to the big saucer swing?" and he can see vance's eyes light up.

"yes please." he hums, slowly walking over with bruce and they both sit down across from eachother, beginning to rock.

vance's eyes wander to a short lady who looks like bruce speaking to his mother before she walks away and then comes back with all of her stuff. maybe they're friends now.

bruce follows vance's eyes and grins, "that's my mom! is that your mom?" bruce asks and vance again, just nods. bruce doesn't mind the quiet though, it's nice.
~
the two boys now lay in the grass talking about superheroes as they munch on the sandwiches bruce's mother had made. he can hear their moms laughing, clearly bonding over their love of food.

this was nice, bruce thought. a quiet friend was a change, and now his mom had a friend just like him.

-

"oh for fucksakes!" vance rolls his eyes, slamming the controller down on his lap and falling back into bruce's bed. the duvet makes his landing less impactful.

"boom! get shit on!" bruce smiles, his laughter shaking his body. vance smirked at him and slapped his back, hard. "ow! fuck you!"

"fuck off, let's play something different."
"but this is the only thing i know how to play well!"
a pause
"exactly." vance smirks out, not leaning back up as he pulls bruce down instead.

"man," bruce starts, "i wish i had a girlfriend." he complains, looking over at vance and the blond rolls his eyes.

"just pick a bitch from the pile, i don't know why you act like no girl wants you. no girl wants me." vance scoffs out, shaking his head and tapping his foot against the ground.

bruce was very attractive for a 14 year old. beautifully defined jawline, dark hair and deep dark eyes. vance always admired him, but it was just admiring.

"hey, vance?"
"what?" the blond responds
"promise if we're both still single by the start of highschool, we'll get together."
"huh? what is this? a movie?"
"you heard me."
"fine, bruce, whatever."

this is where vance's obsession starts.

the two boys are in middle school, grade 8, and are horrifed for highschool, but for different reasons. bruce is horrifed to meet so many different people, he's scared he won't fit in. vance on the other hand is scared of what's to come.

it's summer, 27 days until the beginning of highschool. bruce and vance toured their future highschool and they both loved it, bruce for the classes and vance for the scenery, in which he would spend time skipping classes.

"i cant believe how close we are to highschool!" bruce grins as he cracks his knuckles, picking up his throw blanket that had been recently washed and throwing it onto the foot of his bed before sitting down, inviting the other with a waft of his hand.

vance makes the bed sink in when he takes a seat,  but he can't help it when he's 175, 5'10 and still growing boy. bruce doesn't mind, because his friend says his height is an advantage to help protect himself and his friends.

friends as in bruce, he doesn't like to socialize too often.

"you wanna play games?" bruce mumbles out, looking over at the other as he stares off into space. a nod comes out of him and bruce stands to pick a game.

"don't you dare pick-"
"too late!"
"bruce yamada!" vance groans, seeing him holding the one game he's bad at.