𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 ; 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘆

04

it didn't take long after that to get to bruce's house, but finney could not bring himself to go inside. so, he was just standing outside the door — he probably looked super weird. not only was he just standing outside, he was talking to himself — or, as far as everyone else knew, he was talking to himself. after a few minutes of standing outside, and harsh words from bruce, he finally brought himself to knock. bruce kept telling him it would be fine, but finney was mostly tuning him out.

it took a few minutes before the door was answered. when it was, he immediately looked to the woman who opened it. she was definitely bruce's mom — they almost looked identical. her eyebrows were knitted together her gaze flicked over his face. finney was pretty sure she probably recognized him. "we don't want to buy anything you're selling." she started to close the door. "nono —" finney spoke quickly. "i'm not selling anything! i was, uhm, a friend of bruce's." she froze at the mention of the name, eyeing finney up and down. she bit down on her lip, before stepping to the side. "come in."

finney let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he walked inside. he looked around the house — it was a nice house, much nicer than his own. there was a man sitting at the table — presumably bruce's dad, and a little girl sat on the couch, watching a show. the television was one of the ones that was on the wall, but there were shelves on either side of it. finney quickly took notice of the pictures that were laid flat down and, unfortunately, so did bruce. finney watched as he made his way into the living room, his eyebrows furrowed, and a small frown on his face. finney put together what the pictures were pretty quickly, since every photo that was up didnt have bruce in it. finney found it odd — if he ever had lost someone, he would want to remember them.

finney was shook out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. he flinched, looking up to meet the gaze of bruce's mom. "come sit." she offered a sad smile, going over to the table. finney followed behind her, hesitantly sitting in one of the chairs. he wasn't sure where bruce had gone off to, but he figured it wasn't really an issue. how much trouble could a ghost really cause?

bruce's mom cleared her throat. "i don't believe we've met? i'm sonya, and this is mike." as she spoke, she put her hand on top of the man — mike —'s, who was reading a newspaper. finney nodded. "yeah, uhm, i dont think we have either. i'm finney," he gave a small smile. "finney.." sonya repeated, going over the name. "i'm not sure bruce has ever mentioned you," she paused. "oh, uhm, we weren't that close or anything, just hung out a few times." finney said quickly, starting to regret his lie — why would they let someone bruce wasn't even close to up until his room? finney flicked his gaze down to the table. bruce's mom cleared his throat again, seemed to be something she did to fill the silence. "i hope this doesn't seem rude, but why are you here?"

finney tensed. "oh, right. uhm, this is gonna sound really stupid, but, a while ago bruce promised me he'd give me this thing back.. and i think he forgot about it or something," he let out an awkward chuckle. "it's not really about the thing at this point.. you know? its about him. i just — it would be cool if i could get it? i mean, i told understand if you don't want me to. i wouldn't want some kid snooping around in my sons room either," he shook his head, but sonya smiled at him. "no, no. its okay, don't worry. i'm glad to help you out. i'll take you upstairs to his room?" finney nodded. "that would be great." she hummed, before standing up. finney did they same, and sonya headed for the stairs. he followed behind her, looking at more of the pictures. there was one of those photo collages on the wall beside the stairs. a few of the cases were empty — and it was pretty clear what had been there.

however, there was one photo of bruce. it was bruce and the little girl on the couch, smiling at eachother. it looked like bruce was teaching her to play baseball, but he wasn't sure if it was that or she was just watching. he didn't have much more time to analyze it, as he was trying to keep up with bruce's mom. she stopped at a door at the end of the hallway. "here you go. i'll let you get that, then?" finney nodded. "thank you." he offered a smile, but he didn't get one back. "of course. i'll wait for you downstairs. he nodded again, in understanding. as she started to walk away, he walked into the room.

it looked pretty much how he expected it would. baseball posters cluttered the wall, along with some posters from bands. the room was neat, the bed in the corner made. there was a small nightstand beside the bed, and there was a thick coat of dust settled on it. it was pretty clear no one had been into the room for a while. bruce was standing beside the desk, looking down at it. finney made his way over to him. "hey— did you find it?" bruce didnt answer, he was clearly preoccupied. "they locked up my room, and they've taken all of my photos down." he mumbled. "it's like they're trying to forget me." finney swallowed. "i'm sure it's not like that, bruce. really — they don't want to forget you, necessarily. just.. the bad stuff, you know?" bruce balled his hands up into fists. "no, i dont know. they're trying to forget me, you can barely tell i lived here." he scoffed, shaking his head. "the list should be in one of the drawers," with that, he disappeared. finney furrowed his brows. that was new. or maybe it wasn't, maybe bruce just hadn't done it in front of him yet. finney wanted to comfort him, but he couldn't exactly do that when he didn't know where he was now.

he sighed, opening one of the drawers. it was cluttered, just filled with stuff you'd expect — some sticky notes, a stapler, and a few paper clips. finney closed it when he didn't see the note, before crouching down and opening the next drawer. this one had a lot more stuff — mostly notes. finney felt wrong snooping, but he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. its not like bruce could do it himself.

he looked through the papers, trying not to read most of them. to his surprise, a lot of them were ripped out journal entries. bruce didnt strike finney ss the type of guy to write in a journal, but then again, he didn't really know bruce all that well. he moved a few more papers to the side, until he finally read the one titled; 'bucket list.'

he hummed to himself, picking it up. he folded it up, just incase. he closed the drawer again, standing back up. he took a final look around the room, before walking out of it. he closed to door behind himself and headed back downstairs. sonya was sitting at the table again, she looked to finney when she heard him come downstairs. he meet her gaze. "uh, i found it," he thought about holding the paper up, but he didn't really want her to know what it was. "that's good. i take it that's all you needed?" finney nodded. she stood up. "i guess i'll show you out then?" she headed over towards him. he didn't really need to be 'shown out' he thought, but he'd never dare say that. she opened the door for him, offering one last smile as he walked out. "thank you for this, really," he swallowed thickly. "and, uhm, i'm sorry." now she smiled at him again, before putting her hand back on his shoulder. "you're a sweet boy, finney. i'm glad to see you're doing okay after everything." finney wanted to say thanks — or anything, really — but he couldn't seem to form words. she seemed to understand, because she gave a small nod. "have a nice evening," she took her hand off his shoulder, giving him one last smile, before closing the door.

finney turned away from the door, jumping at the sight of bruce at the end of the walk way. finney headed over to him. "i found the list," bruce turned away from him. "right, that's good. let's head back to your place then." he started walking off, and finney almost struggled to keep up with him. he wanted to say something, but once again, he didn't know what to say. it turns out bruce was way better at this comforting than he was. maybe he would learn soon, from being around bruce, or something.

the walk home was silent and tense. finney wasn't sure how to break it — what were you supposed to say to someone who was being forgotten by their own family? as they neared finney's house, he reached for bruce's hand. oddly enough, he was able to grab it again. bruce finally turned to look at him. "what?" he raised an eyebrow — it was pretty clear he was, understandably, in an irritable mood. "hey, um," he cut himself off, not having really thought past this point. "we're gonna get through this, okay? everything is gonna be alright." he squeezed his hand lightly, which finney found out that he managed to do so, and bruce smiled softly.

"with you here? yeah, it will."
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word count: 1,696
i named bruce's dad after his actor, and i originally named the mom after her actress, but i accidentally typed sonya instead of gina once so i stuck with sonya bc it's so pretty
i didnt proof read this sorry guys