Brodacious! A BroZone Oneshot Collection

Visitor

Veneer lifted his head slightly to assess the scene today. The booths were not as busy as it could be, which he was silently grateful for. The less folks to see him, the better. Inmates, all donning the same shabby orange jumpsuit he had on, were seated at them and already engaged in their own conversations with the recipients on the other end of the glass that separated them. He heard snippets of the chatting as he passed by.

"Six more months in the brig, can you believe it? Six months! I'll be old and wrinkled by then - "

" - and you can't even tell the difference between the chicken and the broccoli sometimes. Ugh, it's awful! How can that even be allowed? That should be a crime!"

"Friends? In prison? Pfft, come on, dude! This isn't gradeschool - "

Veneer attempted to swallow down the lump in his throat, and thought about who his visitor would be this time around. Maybe it was a Mount Rageon, reminding him of how they used to be a fan of his music until he turned out to be a phony, while he sat, quietly mumbling an "I'm sorry" that fell deaf upon their ears. Or, they could whisper about how they still liked him, and believed that the whole Troll-talent thing was an elaborate hoax to spice up the drama. Veneer hated that scenario more than the first, and he would get frustrated in explaining that his jail-time was deserved. Or maybe still, it could be his parents, there to chew him out and express their disappointment in him and his sister. The first time they'd come, Veneer had easily taken the verbal beating, but Velvet only had her anger spiked. He shuddered remembering the way she'd spewed a string of obscenities so foul, even a sailor would be put to shame.

Veneer didn't dare look up to see who it was at the booth when the guard told him to be seated. He just picked up the phone, and tried to sound somewhat alive as he mumbled into it.

"Hello?"

"It isn't as hip as your old pad, but at least it's something, huh?"

Veneer gasped, recognizing the serene voice at once, and whipped his head up. "Floyd?"

Sure enough, it was the teal Troll speaking into the phone's receiver. When Floyd offered a gentle smile, Veneer couldn't help grinning back. Floyd had that effect on folks, it seemed, one of shining positivity even in the darkest times. But that grin disappeared when he caught sight of the Troll's hair, a rich sweep of magenta... save for the significant white streaks that ran through it. Ones that had been caused by Veneer's own doing. The guilt bit at him, and the teen suddenly didn't feel comfort in his unexpected presence. "Floyd, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I came to see you," he answered simply.

"Why?" Veneer asked, flailing his arms in a baffled manner. "If I were you, I'd be the last person I'd wanna see!" It was only when the guard standing at the far end of the room had shot him a warning look that Veneer realized his outburst had been too loud, and he toned it down.

"That's not true, Veneer," Floyd said, and then he smirked. "I'd say your sister wins in that category, wouldn't you?"

Veneer had to chuckle at that. "Yeah, you are so not wrong there."

Floyd laughed a little, too, and then spoke again. "But even then, I'm still gonna try to talk to her at some point, too."

"Good luck with that," the former Pop-star scoffed. "Anytime I've tried to talk to her, it just ends like this." He turned his face to the side a little so Floyd could see the ugly purplish bruise that was his left cheek.

The Troll winced. "Ouch."

"Ouch is right," Veneer whimpered, gently touching the injury in hopes that perhaps it didn't throb as much. Nope. Still did. He pinched the bridge of his nose and gave an exasperated groan, unable to contain it in him anymore. "So much for my sister not treating me like garbage. This has literally been the worst month of my life! Vel's never gonna talk to me again. This uniform stinks! And you can only chop so many rocks before it starts to get to your head..." He huffed and heaved a sigh. "You're SO lucky you don't ever have to go through something like this. You've probably never done one bad thing in your life!"