Head over Heels || brance

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July was almost over and Bruce was already dreading seeing the back to school stuff in stores. He would be entering his last year of high school and he already could picture the stress he'd be under. He didn't know what he wanted to do after high school, he didn't know who he wanted to be. His father had wanted him to get a scholarship through baseball and make that into a career, he wouldn't be opposed to it, but he wasn't sure if that was really what he wanted.

He sat at his desk while Billy sat on his bed. Vance was over as well, but Bruce's mother wanted him to help her with the flowers before she left to see one of her friends. If Bruce really wanted to, he would sit outside with them and watch Vance dig around.

Billy had come over to lend Bruce one of his Batman comics in trade for one of Bruce's X-Men. Bruce was a bit excited to read the Batman comic since he never had before and then maybe he could finally understand Robin and Billy's never ending debate — of course he still had to read Superman.

"Billy?" Bruce asked, turning in his chair to look at the boy who flipped through pages. Billy hummed in response, not looking up at him. "What is your plan after high school?" Bruce asked, the subject weighing on him knowing that in two months he's going to have to start applying to colleges.

Billy looked up at him, his eyes then darting around the room to search for his answer.

"I don't know. I kind of want to go to a school in the city, I think it would be fun. But I don't really have the right grades for a university so I'll probably end up staying here at the community college." Billy scrunched his face. "I kind of want to go for journalism."

Bruce nodded along to his words. He could picture Billy being a writer or even an editor for a newspaper. Looking at the boy, it seemed like an obvious choice.

"What about you?" Billy asked, looking back down to the comic in his lap. Bruce thought about it more, he really had no idea. Baseball wouldn't be too bad, he has always loved it and he knew he had a good swing, but he also wanted to keep his options open. He didn't want to be too obnoxious when he knew that he was going to get a scholarship somewhere, he always had good grades and helped around the community, a scholarship sat on the horizon for him.

He also considered taking a gap year to possibly travel the world. He had only been in America, no where else and there was so many beautiful things to see. Judith Hopper's stories came back into his head. He wanted a life like hers. He wanted to travel and meet new people, he wanted to live fun experiences before settling down with a job that he most likely would end up hating.

"I don't really know yet." Bruce settled on, playing with the bracelet he now wore. He knew that once school started again, they'd have classes to help them decide on colleges and futures.

As the room grew silent again, Billy flipping through the comic and Bruce turning back around in his seat to look at his, he wondered if he and Billy would stay friends after high school, same with all the people he knew. It made him scared to think about it, to think if he'd be alone, if Robin, Billy, Finney, and Vance would leave him after they threw their caps.

He looked back over at Billy very quickly, seeing him smile slightly at whatever he found amusing on the page. To think that a few months ago he had never even considered a friendship with him and now he's his closest friend was crazy in Bruce's head. The whole conception that it was the same for everyone in his life right now. He barely spoke to Finney and Robin before June. He had only ever talked to Finney at their baseball games and he thought that Robin would just be a face he'd see in the halls.

The most out of mind thing for Bruce to think about at all was that he was in love with Vance Hopper. He had talked bad about him before, creating an image in his head of who he was, he used to be scared of him. He tried his best to steer clear of him, scared that if he was in the same place as him for too long, he could punch him. Now, Bruce loved being around him, he loved the secret touches they'd give each other thinking the other wouldn't notice, he loved that he knew so much about the other that he could write a book with just him as the topic. But most of all, he loved that Vance loved him. He liked their moments alone at night, holding each other in their arms, soft kisses across their skin, fingers through each others hair and soft whispers spread throughout the night.