𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 ; 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘆

03

tw ; child abuse mentions

finney was sat on his bed, upside down. he had his legs again the wall and was scrolling through his phone, that he had just finally gotten, doing research on reasons why ghosts couldn't leave earth. "look up how to remember your death," bruce piped in. bruce was sat beside finney, staring at his phone. he was practically on top of him and if they were any closer finney was sure bruce would go through him again. the thought made finney naseous, the feeling was gross. nonetheless, he stayed focused on his research.

after about five minutes, finney moved from the 'how to remember your death' and back to 'reasons spirits may be stuck on earth'. he was about to scroll when bruce stopped him. "wait! right there," he pointed to a link, and finney hesitantly clicked on it. the two skimmed over it quickly, and one thing caught bruce's eye. "having to complete a list of things, of course!" bruce sat up and finney looked at him. "what?" he asked. bruce sighed. "a list. i had a whole bucket list prepared for this summer! maybe that's why, i have to do some of the things i wanted to complete before i can pass," finney stared at him blankly for a minute before sitting up as well. "well, i guess it's worth a try."

bruce nodded, quickly. he stood up, finney watched him. "so,, we should probably get started. what's the first thing?" bruce stared at him for a minute. "well,, that's the problem. i dont really remember what's on it,," finney groaned, looking down. "how the hell are we supposed to do the things then?" bruce's grinned, and finney did not like that. "that's where you come in, finn. i know exactly where it is," finney slowly nodded. "oh, right. this shouldn't be too hard then," bruce sat back down. "yeah, it'll be easy. its just somewhere in my room." finney's head snapped back up in bruce's direction. "what?! i cant get that, dude. i'm not breaking into your house."

bruce waved his hand dismissively. "you're being so overdramatic! i would never encourage anyone breaking in anywhere. you just have to talk to them." finney scanned his face, looking for any sign of sarcasm. "no, no. no. no way. i think that might be worse. we weren't even friends before you died. we spoke once." bruce shrugged. "sure, but they don't know that. all you have to do is say that we were."

"i'm not lying to your grieving parents! besides, what if they find out i'm lying?" bruce shook his head. "they wont, they were never too interested in my life, there is no way they could know." finney stared at him for another minute before sighing. he stood up, mumbling several curse words under his breath. he grabbed his sweater off of his dresser and threw it back on. "let's get going, don't wanna run out of daylight," bruce smiled. "great, let's go,"

finney made his way downstairs, explaining to his dad he wanted to visit an old friend — which didn't go well, considering gwen kept piping in things like 'what friends?' he knew she didn't mean harm, but she was making it quite hard for him to get out of the house. fortunately, he managed. not-so-fortunately, bruce had obviously been listening to the whole conversation. "so, wait, you really don't have any friends?" he started in on it as soon as they left the house. finney groaned. "for fucks sake,, yes— i have friends!" he crossed his arms.

bruce shrugged. "jus' asking. no need to get defensive. i believe you," finney didn't say anything more, he just looked at the grounded and fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. "woah, they really got you worked up, eh?" finney sighed. "i know gwen didn't mean any harm — but it's just another reminder. no, i dont have many friends. all i have is robin and gwen. everyone here is just so — judgemental. i'm just a weird loser. i've been bullied practically my whole fuckin' life. and now, i just got out of a mental hospital. what are they gonna think now?? that just makes me so much weirder. so much worse. what if people start hearing that i 'saw ghosts' then what? i'm never gonna live that down."

he glanced back at his house. "and— how could my dad just joke with me like that? he's acting like nothing happened! he's been absolute piece of shit since my mom died! he's a totally fucking asshole and a horrible father! he was drunk every night. he hit gwen and i so many times, for discipline? and gwen just forgives him! he hasn't even apologized! he just.. expects me to forgive him? but at the same time should i? i mean, hes trying now but.." he trails off, his tone softening. "trying isn't enough to just,, excuse everything he did. i just want an apology, you know?" he stopped walking, just staring at the ground. "shit, man.." bruce was a little shocked, that was a lot to take in. he put his hand on finney's shoulder.

he opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't really get the chance, because finney jumped away from him. bruce looked at him, clearly concerned. "what-?" finney put his own hand where bruce's had been. "what the fuck?" his eyebrows furrowed. "shit, im sorry—" bruce stepped towards him i didnt mean to make you uncomfortable or anything i just—"

"no, no. i felt that. like,, not in the way i felt earlier when i sat up either.. i really felt that. jesus, you're cold as shit–"

"wait, what?" bruce's eyebrows furrowed. finney took bruce's hand in his own. bruce's eyes widened a little. his hand didn't go through finney's or anything like that. "woah," he mumbled. finney let go. "that's got to be good, right?" bruce shrugged. "i think so..? i dont know, but i'm grateful for it. i wonder if i can pick things up?"

finney nodded as he spoke. "maybe that's what we're getting towards!" he smiled at bruce, his mood had clearly quickly changed. nonetheless, bruce felt like he still needed say something about the rant. "uh, finney? about all the stuff with your dad,, i just wanted to say—" he started, but finney cut him off. "no,, don't worry about it. i didnt mean to rant like that. i mean–" he shook his head. "i shouldn't be complaining right now. like, you're not even alive, and hear i am saying my life is bad," he chuckled, shaking his head again.

bruce's eyebrows furrowed. "finney,, just because someone might have worse problems doesn't mean yours matter any less," finney started walking again. "can we just drop this? we have stuff to do and we're wasting time." bruce watched him walk for a minute before sighing. "you don't even know where you're going," finney shrugged. "i'm going away from this conversation." bruce rolled his eyes. he was definitely going to bring it up later.
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word count: 1,181