calling up rebellion [brance]

chapter five: cigarettes and guitars

BRUCE WAS SAT ON none other than Vance Hoppers bed. He hadn't expected this turn out of events when being promised an apology for missing his game, but for Vance Hopper standards this was probably the best it could get.

The house, including Vances bedroom, smelt of burnt cigarettes and alcohol. It filled his nostrils and almost made him gag at the strong scent, he had managed to prepare himself but the scent was still strong against his nose.

Vances bedroom consisted of messily clothes shoved into one corner and a pile of magazines toppled atop of that. Next to that was a drawer which had a singular picture frame with a crack that began from the left corner down to the bottom. It was the biggest in the middle, covering young Vance and only showing - who Bruce presumed to be - his mother. It was also nearly buried underneath tissues and crumpled up papers that had been poorly thrown. A few coke cans were also shoved amidst that mess, it made Bruce shiver. The walls were covered in posters, all sorts of different bands varying from metal to rock, they sometimes overlapped. Besides that all was a broken vinyl that Vance had somehow managed to stick to the wall aswell, then besides the messsy pile of clothes, just above it, was a guitar. It was a crimson red and seemed to be in decent condition. It managed to cover the horrible blue colour of his walls. Vances shoes, mainly consisting of boots, were tucked neatly besides his beside table. Probably the only neatly placed thing in his bedroom.

The bedroom door was pushed open, Vance entered with two glasses in his hands, his shoulder the one managing to push open the door. "I had some coke left over, so.." he sheepishly held up one of the glasses, Bruce presumed that was his.

"Oh!" Bruce chuckled, impressed by Vances generosity. "Thank you." He didn't bother to tell Vance that he wasn't massive on fizzy drinks, watching as he placed them down on the bedside table. Pushing a few crushed cans off the wooden surface to create space.

Vance took a seat on his bed, it sinking around his figure, falling backwards to face the ceiling. Bruce was sat against his cushions, back flushed against the wall, while vance was at the end of his bed. His ceiling was boring, it was clear he had attempted to plaster that with posters aswell but the 2 lone Rolling Stones posters told that he didn't manage to get very far with that task.

"Since when did you know how to play guitar?" Bruce asked, glancing up at the burgundy coloured guitar and then back down at Vance. Though he could only see his side profile, it still reflected his beauty. Despite liking girls Bruce couldn't lie to himself anymore, Vance was very pretty. If not one of the prettiest guys he's ever seen, not that he's seen many in this town. His curled blond hair dragged down past his shoulders, sometimes covering his eyes creating a shadow that illuminated his intoxicating blue eyes. His lips were crimson red, slightly plump, his bottom lip seemed to bigger than the top though. He had lightly scattered freckles covering his face, and a small mole just beneath his nose. It wasn't very big, but could be seen from up close. His eyelashes fluttered every time he blinked, he was a pretty sight.

"Oh, right," Vance turned his head to look at the guitar, and then sat up. "Taught myself, could never get proper lessons."

Bruce thought that was pretty cool, he'd wanted to learn guitar himself when he was younger but his parents had been so adamant on him playing baseball. He did enjoy baseball, he just wished his parents would allow him to sometimes focus on other things than this one sport that seemed to take up his whole life despite him not even sure if he wanted a baseball future. "Could you play me a song, you don't have to sing! Just want to hear you play the guitar." Bruce asked, Vances face contorted into that of thinking. He didn't know many songs, teaching himself them seemed to be rather difficult sometimes.

Vance awkwardly coughed, "sure, if I can remember the chords." Rising from his bed he trudged over to the corner where his clothes were messily shoved and grabbed the guitar from the wall (with great struggle, it was quite heavy). Sighing as he finally managed to bring it down to him, he placed the strap over his head and held the guitar with both hands. "Bare in mind I haven't played for.." He counted in his mind, he wasn't the brightest with maths, "a year.. and a couple months."

Bruce just watched as Vance took a seat once again, his torso twisted to face bruce but his eyes downward to look at his dusty guitar. He blew some of the dust off before placing his fingers on - what he thinks - are the correct chords. He wasn't even sure if it was in tune, maybe bruce wouldn't notice if it was.

He strummed the strings, it let out a horrid noise and sent bruce into a fit of laughter. "I thought you said you could play!" He choked through his laughs, his eyes creased as his smile was wide and showed his perfect teeth. They were straight, extremely white, taken care of.

"I do, I do! I just.. may have forgotten the chords." Vance tried to stop bruce from laughing, but it only sent him into a deeper laughing fit. Vance had to fight the smile that pulled on the strings of his lips, failing miserably as he watched the boy struggling to breathe from how hard he was laughing.

Bruce finally was able to recollect himself, wiping the tears that escaped his eyes from when he was laughing. "Sorry sorry, it's just.." he brushed a hand threw his hair, "it was quite funny."

"Right, now you've finally stopped crying over me playing guitar I can try again." Vance said, he should have a pick. But he doesn't. He lost it, that was his own fault.

Tuning the guitar as best as his memory remembered and repositioning his fingers on the correct opening chords he strummed once again, finally the sound that emit from the guitar was a nice sound, or atleast the correct sound. So Vance carried on, sometimes the strumming stopped as he forgot the next chords, but Bruce still watched attentively as his fingers moved from string to string.

Vance's face was concentrated, his tongue was slightly stuck out as he focused on what he was doing. His head bobbing along with the tune he played, although bruce didn't know what he was playing he thought it sounded nice. The chords fit together, creating a flow of nice rhythm.

Bruce stared at his face. His lips are red, like crimson cherries in the middle of summer. His eyelashes are long and flutter every time he blinks, each small glance trailing back and forth over the guitar. The glisten of passion in his eyes enticed Bruce even more, that's when he stopped playing. Looking up at bruce waiting for a reaction.

Bruce just stared at him, he was amazed. For somebody who'd been self taught, he played amazingly. His eyes still travelled around his face, smiling. "That was.." Bruce thought for the correct word, "amazing!"

Vances furrowed eyebrows undoing almost into a shocked expression, "really?" Vance had never been compliment on his guitar skills, really they weren't very good at all.

"Uhm, yes." Bruce exclaimed, inching closer to vance. "That was so impressive, I wish I could do that." Bruce said, his line of sight travelling down to the guitar then back up to look at Vance. A red tint covered Vance's cheeks, and he was visibly trying to fight the smile creeping up on him.

"I could.. teach you?" Vance suggested, "one day." He shrugged, licking his lips. He lifted the guitar from his lap and placed it besides them on the bed, it made the bed dip slightly.

Bruce's face lit up, "no way, you'd actually do that?"

"I mean.. if you want?" Vance leaned back on his hands, the breeze from the ajar window behind them ruffled the back of Bruce's hair. The sun covered the bedroom, lighting up the posters and sending a blinding glisten off of some.

"Yeah, yeah! I'd like that." Bruce nodded fast, his parents had never allowed him to learn any instruments when he was younger. No matter how hard he'd begged them, they'd always say he must focus on his baseball games.

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1449 words

me after promising you guys better chapters and then giving you shittier ones:

This falls flat very fast, I promise the action and drama will be here soon just stick around 😰🙏. Honestly I did have a good plan for this chapter but then slowly just sort off went off track?? Sorry about that everybody, anyways slow burn is very hard. 😇

P.S. I'm shit at writing fluff, it's very difficult don't come for my throat

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.