Bruce's mother drove him to the Hopper residence. He had been nervous all morning and part of him wanted to lie to Vance and say he woke up sick, but he also wanted to meet Vance's family.
He had told his mother that morning about what had happened with Vance, how they talked things through and they were good again — he of course kept out the part of them kissing and that they weren't really dating before anyway. Mrs. Yamada had been a bit confused, asking multiple questions about the subject and if Bruce had told Vance about her telling Linda the neighbour. She had felt better knowing that things had been good again and she told Bruce that she would be expecting Vance to be over for dinner at some point during the week so she could 'apologise' better.
Amy had found it interesting that Bruce was so nervous to meet Vance's mother, especially when Bruce usually was never nervous to meet new people. Bruce just wanted to make a good impression on Vance's mother.
When the car pulled up in front of the house, Bruce took a few minutes to settle his breathing. His mother gave him a concerned look but he tried not to notice it too much.
He got out of the car, the heat hitting his body as he left the air conditioning behind. He smiled at his mother as he walked up the steps, knocking softly on the door. He kept glancing over his shoulder toward his mother, she leaned over the passenger seat, staring in his direction in case no one came to the door. It took a few minutes but eventually the door opened, a younger boy had answered the door staring at Bruce with an expressionless face. As far as Bruce knew, Vance didn't have any younger siblings, he had thought that maybe he knocked on the wrong door.
"Um, hi," Bruce spoke. "Is Vance home?" He looked past the boy, looking off into the house.
"I don't know." He answered, his voice sounding soft and sweet. Bruce was certain then that he had knocked on the wrong door and he could feel his hands get shaky at the encounter. He looked behind him at his mother again, watching as her expression turned confused.
"Is this the Hopper residence?" He asked, turning back to the boy. The boy didn't look much younger than Bruce but he still felt irritated by his lack of communication. The boy didn't answer at first, just seeming to stare at Bruce before he slowly nodded. "And Vance isn't home?" He repeated his question again only to receive a shrug from the boy.
Bruce didn't want to seem overbearing or bossy, but he wanted to just ask the boy to check. He didn't know what else to say or what to do and he knew his mother was staring bullets into his back which made him more nervous. Bruce silently wished that anyone but this boy had answered the door.
Bruce had to scan his brain for any kind of reply which made the air feel awkward as the boy stood staring at him in the doorway.
"Well... I'm here to see him, so... could you go see if he's home?" He said in the nicest way he could muster up, showing a friendly smile in hopes that the boy wouldn't turn his request down.
"I guess so." The sweetness that Bruce had heard in his voice was a bit sour now as he opened the door further, motioning for Bruce to enter. He turned to look at his mother once more before giving her a wave and entering the house. If Vance ended up not being home, he could just walk back to his place, he didn't need his mother waiting for him.
The boy shut the door behind him before turning down a hallway. The inside of the house was just as bright as the outside, the layout was pretty open except for that one hallway that the boy had turned down. Bruce kept his shoes on, standing on the welcome mat the decorated the entryway, he didn't want to untie his shoes to just tie them back up if Vance wasn't there.
He hoped Vance was home, he would be pretty irritated if he wasn't. He had told Bruce to come and although he never really gave him a time, he just sort of hoped Vance wouldn't go out anywhere in case Bruce decided to show up whenever he wanted, like now.
The boy came back down the hallway, looking at Bruce.
"Yeah, he's coming." Bruce felt his shoulders relax, thanking Vance in his mind for being there. "You're that baseball guy, right?" The boy asked, and Bruce was surprised that he would keep talking. Bruce nodded, hoping that whatever baseball guy this boy pictured was actually him and not some other number.
"You like baseball?" Bruce asked, trying to start a conversation while he waited for Vance. The boy hesitated before shaking his head softly, his hair moving with his movements.
"No. I've seen like two games but I don't like it." Bruce nodded before beginning to untie his shoes, even though he had noticed the boy wearing his shoes on the hardwood floors.
He heard the sound of someone walking and as he placed his shoes by the wall, he saw Vance enter the doorway. Bruce stood up straight, looking at him with a bit of awkwardness in his body language. Vance looked back at him before looking at the boy.
"You can go now." He said, glaring softly at the younger boy.
"Is this your boyfriend?" The boy asked and Bruce felt his cheeks turn pink at that sentence. Bruce looked over at Vance, seeing his glare deepen.
"Griffin, go the fuck away." He spoke through his teeth and Bruce watched as the boy smiled before turning to go back down the hallway. Vance had watched him, making sure he actually left and that he wasn't trying to listen into whatever conversation would come next.
Vance turned back to Bruce, looking at how Bruce held his hands in front of him. Vance scanned his body and it made Bruce feel bare under his gaze.
"Um, is that your brother?" Bruce asked, trying to break the silence. Vance smiled at him as he stepped closer to him once more, a foot between them now.
"God no, he's some kid my mom watches sometimes. He's like fourteen but his parents never let him stay home alone. He's annoying, sorry if he was weird." Vance reached out and grabbed one of Bruce's hands, watching as the other dropped to his side. Vance led him out of the entryway, bringing him down the hallway that entered into a tv room.
Bruce observed Vance's home, looking at all the stuff his family has owned throughout the years of living there. The walls didn't have much photos, and if they did, they didn't have Vance in them. It disappointed Bruce a bit, he had wanted to see photos of young Vance just like he has seen of Bruce in his home.
In the tv room, Griffin sat on the couch watching Emergency. He looked at the two and Bruce could see Vance flip him off subtly in front of his chest as he dragged Bruce through the room.
Bruce wondered if he didn't care if Griffin saw them holding hands. Bruce didn't know the boy, never even heard of him or saw him so he wouldn't know. He did know that Vance didn't want anyone to question their relationship, so maybe he was comfortable with them holding hands in the comfort of his own home.
Vance brought Bruce to the kitchen. He saw a woman standing at the counter, the newspaper in her hands while she stared down at it. Bruce could tell instantly that she was Vance's mother. She had blonde curly hair just like him, but dark eyes — Bruce could only guess by that that Vance inherited his blue eyes from his father. She had black framed glasses sitting on the edge of her nose as she looked down. Bruce thought she was very pretty.
Vance kept his hand in Bruce's, bringing him on the other side of the counter. His mother looked up, pushing her glasses up with the movement of her head.
"Mom, this is Bruce. Remember I was telling you about him?" Vance spoke, his voice soft. Bruce felt his ears burn at the eye contact she gave him and the fact that Vance had mentioned him before.
His mother made an 'ah' sound as she took off her glasses, closing them and laying them on the newspaper.
"Oh, yes, I've heard a lot about you." She smiled and Bruce heard Vance groan in embarrassment at his side. "I'm Judith, it's nice to meet you." She reached her hand out over the counter, Bruce took it, hoping he didn't feel sweaty. She shook his hand softly before letting go.
"Nice to meet you too." Bruce replied, his voice sounding sweet to make him seem sweet. He brought his hand back to his side as he looked anywhere but at the woman in front of him, scared that she could see how nervous he was.
Bruce didn't know what to say, he was hoping either her or Vance's voice would fill the room instead of the muffled sound of the television in the other room.
"Are you hungry or anything?" Vance asked, turning to him. Bruce shook his head softly.
"No." Bruce felt as Vance let his hand go, walking over to search for food for himself. Griffin entered the kitchen at the sound of food, pushing himself against Vance's shoulder as he looked through the cupboards with him. It made Bruce think if they were close to each other, he highly doubted that Vance would let anyone ever push him even if it was playfully or softly if he wasn't comfortable around them.
Based off the only conversation he had with Griffin, he could feel that his tone of voice and his humour was similar to Vance's, he could imagine that the boys parent's were gone often enough that he caught on to some of Vance's behaviours. Maybe Griffin wasn't a huge part of Vance's life, but he wished he knew Vance had a person like him around before.
"So, Bruce, Vance told me you play baseball," Judith says, moving her newspaper over to the recycling bin. "How long have you played for?" She looked up at Bruce and he felt like he was staring into a pot of honey.
"I don't know. I've played for a long time." He responded, really unsure of how much years have passed since he first swung for a team. He could hear Vance mumbling words to Griffin as the boy pushed him harder to reach up and grab something off a higher shelf.
Bruce smiled as he watched Vance simply reach up and pass it to him, earning a 'I could've gotten it myself' from the younger. Vance just rolled his eyes as he watched Griffin pull himself up to sit on the counter-top, opening his snack.
"Judy, is Bruce Vance's boyfriend?" Griffin asked before taking a bite of his food. Bruce widened his eyes at the boy while Vance shoved him a pit harshly. "I'm just asking."
Bruce looked over at Judith, not knowing how much she actually knew of what was going on between the two. They technically weren't dating, neither asked each other to officially be each others boyfriends, and honestly Bruce didn't know if they would ever actually give each other those titles, he had only confessed to Vance yesterday.
Plus, with as much as he knew now, he honestly didn't know if Vance was the committed type. Whenever he heard something he didn't like, he would leave and Bruce didn't know if that would mean he would end things on the spot if people found out or if they got into a tiny fight. Bruce was really okay with things just being how they were.
Bruce scanned Judith's face. She just smiled and laughed softly at Griffin, which was nice for Bruce to see since he didn't know how she would react. He had thought that Vance must've told her that there had been chemistry between them or else why would he want Bruce to meet her? Her reaction didn't seem to turn sour when she thought no one was looking and that made Bruce's chest feel warm knowing that she didn't look disgusted like his father had.
"I told you to shut up Griffin." Vance said, staring him down and Bruce felt that awkwardness flood his body again.
"Well you never answered me when I asked before."
"No, he's not my boyfriend." Griffin put his hands up in surrender as if his presence alone would cause Vance to want to push him straight off the counter.
The next few hours went by pretty quickly after that. Vance had shown Bruce to his room to have privacy until Griffin's parents returned home, claiming that he was giving Vance a headache. Vance's room was exactly what Bruce would expect looking at him, except he would imagine it messier if Bruce wasn't coming over. It had a few posters of bands that Bruce didn't know on the walls, along with some video games that he could picture Vance spending hours at the arcade to beat. The room smelt entirely of Vance and Bruce loved it, he could be eaten alive by the smell.
Vance had a bigger bed than Bruce did and it was pretty comfy too. They had spent the few hours sitting on it, talking, laughing and kissing every once in awhile when Bruce would catch Vance staring at him while he talked about whatever conversations arose. When Bruce would see Vance looking at him out of the corner of his eye -- because he was bad at keeping eye contact when he was trying not to laugh during a sentence -- he would turn to look at him, smiling at him until Vance would lean over and kiss him softly.
At some point Bruce had been telling him about a movie Amy made him watch and how boring it was and that Vance should definitely not put it on his watch-list even if it was the current hottest movie. Bruce knew that when describing some of the moments that bored him the most he would furrow his eyebrows when he expressed it, he didn't mean to but he had done it anyway, he had heard Vance laugh at that.
"You're so cute." He had said and caused Bruce to blush since he couldn't handle when Vance would compliment him on the smallest things. He looked over at the blonde, wanting to brush away his words, when Vance had kissed him again, pushing him backward onto the bed before covering his face in tiny kisses that would make Bruce laugh softly. Vance kissed his lips first, then his cheek, his nose, his forehead and then his jaw before Bruce pushed him away.
When Griffin had left, the two returned downstairs. Bruce wasn't going to be staying too long after that since Vance had told him that he didn't want him there when his father came home, saying that he was someone he didn't want Bruce to meet. They had spent time with Judith till then. Bruce had learned that she was quite an interesting person, she used to work for an airline, getting free trips all the time and travelling the world which was the most amazing thing Bruce could ever think of.
She had met Vance's father in Europe when she got a trip to Slovakia where he had been travelling to meet a girl he had known there, Judith said that he had a girlfriend there but she had saw him at a bar and she knew she thought he was attractive so she made a move on him without knowing he had a possible girlfriend, in the end she had won him over, bringing him home with her. Bruce could see where Vance got part of his personality from, he could imagine that Vance would be similar in getting what he wants.
Judith as well was also a bit of a heart breaker, she had told Bruce that wherever she travelled to as part of her job there was always at least one man that had asked her out for coffee, she would always go because, in her words, 'A free coffee, is a free coffee', but by the end of the night when they would want her number or a second date, she would leave them.
Bruce could picture his mesmerized expression as he sat on the couch listening to her explain all the cool things she had done in her life. He felt like he could write a whole movie based on her adventures and he could re-watch it over and over and never get bored. He didn't understand how Vance had almost fallen asleep twice during her story of when she was almost put in prison in France for insulting a woman's outfit and apparently getting accused of harassment.
When she had asked Bruce questions about his own life, he felt that it lacked comparison. He was only seventeen and hadn't lived much of his life yet to begin with, but even when he compared it to Vance, he still wasn't doing much. Bruce didn't start doing anything until he decided to talk to Vance for the first time after supposedly disliking him, he was always at home or playing baseball, the only thing he could ever say he's done was go to a concert of a guy he didn't even know and get offered weed by some hippie that he never called.
Bruce could only hope that one day when his children are asking him questions of his life, he could respond with stories similar to Judith's and not any like his parents. Sure his mother and father had done stuff, had explored and had stories of their own, he could never picture them doing anything like the woman that sat in front of him.
At around seven o'clock, Vance began to walk Bruce home. Bruce had hugged Judith goodbye and he was extremely glad that he didn't call with some excuse to not come. She had already invited him over again next week and wanted to meet his mother, which he was more than happy to agree to.
Vance and Bruce walked hand in hand down the sidewalk as the sunset behind them. They were silent as they walked, the summer air sitting on their skin while Bruce swung their hands gently between them.
Vance stopped them when they got in front of Bruce's house.
"I want you to have this." He said, letting go of Bruce's hand to reach inside his pant pocket. He pulled out the necklace that Vance had usually worn, the green choker with the flower at the front. "I thought you could wear it as a bracelet or something... but that way you can always think of me." Bruce laughed as he watched Vance physically cringe at himself as he said the last sentence.
"Aw, thank you." Bruce smiled, his face lighting up with so much love as he put his left arm out for Vance to tie it around his wrist. He smiled as Vance finished the knot, bringing his hand up to kiss his knuckles.
Bruce never took it off.