calling up rebellion [brance]

chapter three: teddy keychain

This chapter is a long one, mainly to make the slowburn seem longer! (since I'm not that good at it lmao). Please don't skip it as this chapter is just as important as the others, thank you! (:

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HE HADN'T SLEPT that night, tossing and turning every moment. Staring at the ceiling, the floor, the wall. He couldn't stop thinking about Vance, or rather, the interaction and request that came directly out of vance's mouth.

Vance Hopper inviting Bruce Yamada on a day out? What could go wrong?

Except everything could go wrong. Everybody knows about Vance, the kid everybody is too frightened to go near and tomorrow - today, as it is 7am - Bruce will be standing next to Vance playing pinball.

He shouldn't dwell on it to much, he was always told the more you dwell on things the harder they are to forget about. He never understood that phrase more than he did now, no matter how many times he shoved his face into his pillow or hid under his covers he just couldn't stop his mind from running straight back to Vance.

His eyes the first thing bruce noticed, now the first thing he thinks about.

He shut his eyes tightly. Repeating over and over to just forget about it, not go, stand him up. I mean, it's Vance? He'd be able to deal with that.. right..?

Bruce wasn't so sure, if he stood him up he's risking himself getting harmed. God why was he being so stupid recently? Speaking before thinking, acting out, not sleeping.

It's like somebody had replaced his soul with another, changing him as a person inside and out. He didn't recognise himself anymore, sometimes he'd stare in a mirror and see himself staring back but the eyes reflected somebody different. He wasn't sure if it was him, or his family, maybe even his friends or his change of surroundings?

What change of surroundings, I've not moved. Nothings changed.

He thought over and over, the previous nights of jumbled thoughts now singling down to a person. One blond boy who plays pinball is currently the only thing Bruce has on his mind, that sounded better than it is.

What would his parents think, him hanging out with the school rebel. Skipping classes, robbing, fighting, everything that Bruce's parents disliked built up as a person. Vance was everything his parents hated, Vance was everything a lot of people hated.

He was also everything alot of people were afraid of, but not Bruce. He wasn't scared of him, he didn't live in fear knowing Vance might be around the corner, he'd never understood everybody's continuous fear of a boy whose doing merely nothing but trying to live.

Bruce not only saw beauty in his eyes, but he saw pain. Not a cry for help as such, Vance hopper asking for help? Now that was a new one. It was more of.. a permanent mark stamped into his mind shown through his angelic like eyes as they try to hide it. But Bruce saw it, Bruce saw the stamp that his eyes so desperately tried to hide.

He shook his head, opening his eyes again. He thought maybe the darkness would help remove the thoughts when all it did was drag him deeper into the trail of his brain.

Bruce turned towards the alarm clock next to him, it was only a small round one painted in yellow and red. There was dust lining the inside edges and the thin glass was going misty, he was lucky he could still see the time. The slight tick as the hand moved it's repeated journey around the clock. He didn't have time to try and sleep anymore, as if he would've anyways.

Groaning loudly he rubbed his sore eyes, they were definitely bloodshot. He felt like a dying robot, a repeated routine everyday, but today he's going off schedule. He's switching it up, and he's not allowed to do that. He has to be the 'good boy' he's always been. Dangerous ideas come to life and spread like sparks on dry twigs.