teach me gently on how to breathe || tradley/brad

انا صبي

"I knew I should've bought you another uniform," Brad's mum mumbles, disapprovingly tying her son's tie. "A new shoe size and a new clothing size. I can't keep up."

Brad nearly argues that it isn't his fault he shrunk - before realising it is. Miss Lillian told him it's common to lose an inch or two from your height a long with dropping a few shoe sizes. Brad doesn't really care, though, and he's happy his old school uniform hangs off his body. But it does kind of suck the Dr. Marten shoes his parents bought him for Christmas are too big. Brad was starting to get tired of wearing the boots. "It looks fine," he attempts reassuring her.

She looks at his uniform and sighs. "Of course it does to you, Bradley."

"What's that supposed to mean -"

"Okay! Time to go to work, Anne!" his dad quickly says as the doorbell rings throughout the two-story house. "That must be Drew. Brad, go get the door."

The sixteen-year-old lets out a sigh and trudges towards the entrance. "I don't understand why I can't just take the bus to school."

"You do understand why you can't just take the bus to school." The doorbell infuriatingly chimes throughout the house again.

"I'm coming!" Brad screams, tucking his tie into his jumper.

"Inside voices," his mum reminds him. Brad finally yanks the door open to a smiling Drew, wearing a school uniform identical to his with a camera around his neck. Brad rolls his eyes at the sight of him.

"Good morning!" Drew chirps to him before casually pushing past the curly-haired boy and entering his house, like they're still friends. Brad doesn't understand how he hasn't taken a hint everything isn't the same between them. Is he really this dumb? he asks himself. At first Brad thought he just didn't want to believe things have changed, but after the younger boy bought him a Christmas present (that Brad never opened), called him numerous of times on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day, the curly-haired boy is questioning his intelligence. "Good morning everyone!" he happily greets Brad's family.

"Morning!" they happily reply. Even though Brad never mentioned their fall out, it still annoys him how excited they are whenever Drew's around. His parents don't even smile like that at the sight of their own son's presence.

"It's been a while since I've seen you around here," his mum tells him. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Drew sadly responds, locking his blue eyes with Brad's. The sixteen-year-old quickly looks away.

"Well, I wish I could talk longer, but I'm off to work," she says, wrestling Brad to kiss his cheek. "Be good."

As Brad's mum rushes out the door, Drew turns back to him. "Where's Natalie?"

"She went back to Uni a few days ago," the older boy mumbles, fixing his brown eyes on the hardwood floor. He wishes he had stayed silent since the blond grins at him, like he spoke the best sentence in the world.

"Speaking of Natalie," his dad chimes in, "after school, you two have to help me get this stupid wall art off the wall."

"Only if there is dinner," Drew jokes.

"Deal." Brad lets out a frustrated sigh. He could name many reasons why this isn't a good idea. For one, he hates Drew, and he's already uncomfortable eating in front of his parents, what makes his dad believe he'd be fine with eating in front of the annoying boy who still strongly believes they're friends, too? "What's wrong?" his dad obliviously asks.

His son shakes his head, exasperated. "I need to get to school."

"Right," Drew says, like Brad was talking to him. "My dad's probably tired right now, anyway. He's really impatient. Bye, Mr. Simpson!"