Chapter Text
Rocking the leagues (With my hardcore metal)
Chapter 5
Bruce blinked rapidly as Vance pulled him through the ever growing crowd. What moves could he have possibly made to lead him to such a disastrous scenario.
Actually, don’t answer that… there’s a lot…
He gulped, what did his therapist say about social interaction? He couldn’t quite remember as Vance sat him down at a booth.
Mikaela gave him an apologetic glance as he flipped her the bird as casually and conspicuously as possible. She glared at him, at least I tried asshole!
He swallowed down his scoff once curly blond locks came into view. Bruce thought about disappearing into the crowd but he stomped down the idea as soon as it came.
“Hey, this is yours right?” Vance slid the drink towards him as Bruce stared at it awkwardly before a flash of greyish blue eyes looked into his own, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite… unless, you want me too..?” He smirked, his wolfish smile brought very unwanted butterflies to his stomach and uh,… maybe a little lower..
A sound between a squeak and a gasp came out of him, as if he swallowed a squeaky toy. He flushed and chucked down the red, spicy alcohol; more to distract himself then for show. Vance grinned wider as he stared down at the man, intrigued.
Welp, so much for playing it cool.
“Y’know, unlike my friend over there,” he pointed behind him to an unknowing Robin, “I like to say words that people actually can understand..” Oh Bruce knew exactly where this was going…
He gulped down saliva, his face felt hot and his body buzzed with nerves and alcohol. Is this how it feels to be drunk? He’d never admit it but this was in fact his very first time going to a bar, a club, no less.
He’d always been way too absorbed in studies and extracurriculars to do such risky things. Going to hang out with friends at a bar was, well, undecorous. But he’d admit that he was having fun until the man before him showed up.
He felt faint, not enough to fall unconscious but well, enough to dissociate the conversation that took place for the next 5 minutes. When he snapped out of it, Vance was leaning over the table holding his face with one hand and lightly tapping it.
Oh shit.
Bruce stared back at the man, the very, very hot man of whom he has cut outs of in his diary, was now touching his face, skin to flipping skin.
…is it just me or is this lighting making it look like he has demon horns???
“What?” Vance chuckled out in surprise as Bruce came to his senses. His face paled as he stammered out a reply, “ACK—NO—I—NO—UH—I… 😨😨😓😓😭😭” Bruce rushed out as he hid his face in his hands. This got a quirked eyebrow from Vance.
How is this guy speaking in emojis???
Vance smiled slyly as he lifted his chin, “To think I could make the ever composed, student council president, golden boy lose his cool with just one drink..” he murmured out his voice down an octave as Bruce’s mind went haywire. Like a sailor drawn to a siren, he’d fallen deep for the man before him.
He could faintly hear Mikaela losing it at the bar, he mentally cursed her family line and wished all her hamsters would die in strange ways, like exploding due to eating baking soda and drinking vinegar unsupervised. (Iykyk😌)
Vance laughed in that deep husky voice, fuck, now he just wants to see me die!!
Bruce stood abruptly as slurred out, “🧑… 🚶➡️… 👉🥤💧.” He swayed on his feet.
Oh he’s still talking in emojis… how does he do that??
Vance grabbed his hand before he could leave, “Careful, Golden boy, ya might hurt your precious body.”
🧑 think I 💭that…
He sat him back down before leaving to get water for him, finally giving him a chance to gather his bearings. “AHAHHHH, what just happened.” He groaned into his hands before finally noticing the incessant vibrations in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see one hundred plus messages from Griffin and Finney,
Gettin’ freaky~
Saturday, 11:25
150+ notifications 🔔
Griffindor: OH MY GOD BRUCE IF YOU DON’T GET THE FUCK ONLINE RIGHT NOW!!! @Brucey-poo
FinnFinn: Bruce pleasseeee we just want to know you aren’t dead in a ditch or something! @Brucey-poo
Brucey-poo is online
Brucey-poo: 🧑okay he 🚶➡️to go get me water..😞😞
Griffindor: Why the fuck are you talking in emojis
Brucey-poo: 🤷♂️
FinnFinn: um anyways…
Griffindor: JESUS YOU JERK WE THOUGHT YOU DIED ASSHOLE WHAT HAPPENED
Brucey-poo: Uh 👱 got me a 🍹and I 🤔 🧑💭half the things he 🗣️ ngl
FinnFinn: Uh well thank god you’re alive 😓😓
Brucey-poo: oh 💩 👱coming back 🏃💨—
Griffindor: STOP TALKING IN EMOJIS—
Bruce tucked his phone back into his pocket as he saw the man place the cup of water onto the table, “here you go, Geliebte~” he smiled as he sat back down in the seat across from him.
Bruce prayed he didn’t call him a slur in that foreign language.
“Thank you… 🙇” he held the glass with both hands, and chugged half of it. His hands were still shaky from the alcohol and his mind was still pretty foggy but he could actually speak now so that was a plus, at least.
Vance eyed him again before speaking up, “Yknow I said this already but you look really nice tonight, beautiful even..” He complemented, his eyes held sincerity in them; they left no room for doubt.
Oh!
Oh.
OOH!?!!
Now when did he say that?!?
Fully sober from the revelation, Bruce stared at the man like a fish out of water with an extremely bad sunburn. As Bruce stared at him a dumbfounded, flustered mess. It was like his stare alone was making him come apart at the seams, unravelling him and leaving him completely and utterly fucked.
He stuttered over his words but nothing came out as he gulped the rest of the cup down. “Well, you’re stuck with me for the rest of the night, sweetheart.” He smiled, his stupidly stupid charming smile. God, Bruce was so dead…
Funny and Griffey quietly sat at the booth across, eyeing Bruce and Vance like a hawk as Griffin laughed at him, “Jesus, Bruce is killing himself out there!!” He squawked out, bending into his stomach and trying to stifle his laughs. “Don’t get too cocky, Griffin. If Showalter were to show up you’d more frozen then a deer in headlights..” he side-eyed him as gave him a one hundred yard stare.
“… sorry you lost me at Showalter…” Griffin smiled sheepishly as Finney scoffed, “Putain, tu viens juste de me donner raison !” He face palmed and walked towards the bar.
“Mikaela, can I get two waters?” He asked as Mikaela pulled up to his side of the counter, “Yeah, sure!” She chirped and reached down into the mini freezer under the table. She pulled out two freezing bottles of water and handed them to him.
“How long do you plan on staying tonight?" She asked as he took the two waters, “Depends, if Bruce finds a way to escape then we’ll probably get going soon.” He shrugged but felt eyes on him. He turned to see the man of his dreams and/or nightmares (at the moment) staring at him.
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHOT HES SO HOT WHAT THE HELL-
They both stared at each other wide eyed and jaw slacked before Finney finally snapped out of it and power walked away.
“Woah what’s up with you?” Griffin looked up to see an extremely tense Finney, eyes wide and mouth open, Griffin thought ideally that he looked like a fish as he slumped in his seat.
“Robin just saw me, god, I’m gonna die.” Figment tugged at his hair anxiously and he curled in on himself, “Hey, woah, it’s okay! I’m sure his opinions won’t change on you!” Griffin patted his friends back and handed him the water, “Hey, breathe, it’ll be fine. If he has something to say that’s anything but a complement, we’ll give him an early grave.” Griffin smiled reassuringly and rubbed circles on his back. Finney looked up with watery eyes as he hit his lip anxiously, “let’s enjoy ourselves for a little longer, who cares if our crushes are here?” Griffin stood up and grabbed Finney by the hand.
He smiled and led them to the dance floor, “Alright, show me them moves, white boy” Griffin smirked and Finney let out a laugh, “Excuse you, I’m French.” He crossed his arms, his smile finally returning to his face. “Now that’s what I wanna see!” He grabbed his cheeks and squished them, “Show us that silly smile again!” He grinned as he grabbed Finney’s hands and they spun together. They both laughed as a certain long haired Mexican watched them from a distance, Mierda, he’s so pretty tonight…
Robin smiled to himself as he drank his beer, Billy stood beside him, “Looks like they’re having fun, you sure gave Finney a fright though,” he crossed his arms and smiled, Robin frowned slightly, “I didn’t mean to come off as whatever I did, I was just shocked to see him here, in that no less…” he sighed to himself dreamily, “Ay, que lindo!!” He smiled to himself and chugged the last of his beer. Billy drank his juice quietly, eyeing the boy with the ginger hair.
Pretty…
Bruce gasped as he clung onto the blond locks of the man in front of him. Now ,you may be wondering, what could have possibly happened in the last 30 minutes for them to be making out in the men’s washroom? Well, to answer your question, Bruce couldn’t tell you either.
Vance smiled wolfishly and he chased after the raven haired man’s lips again, “God, if I knew you wanted it this badly, I would have been kissing you since last year..” his voice was heavy and hot, god, he’s so hot!!! Bruce keened and went in for another kiss, their uneven breaths mingled as they ravished each others mouths.
“WAIT!” Bruce shouted and placed his hand in front of Vance’s face, startled, he looked at the man before him.
“What?”
Bruce reached into his pocket and looked at the message, “Oh… I gotta go.” He said indifferently as Vance pouted, “But we were just getting started..”
“I’m not gonna get wrecked over the sick of a men’s washroom, at a bar no less.” Bruce deadpanned as Vance flushed, “WHAT!?” He sputtered as Bruce closed the door to the bathroom after fixing his hair and clothes leaving Vance in the washroom, rosy cheeked and speechless.
WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY??
Bruce walked to the booth of his friends and flopped down into the seat, Griffin and Finney jumped at the sudden sound, “Where the hell have you been, it’s been like thirty minutes and we got like, COMPLETE radio silence from you!” Griffin hissed and Finney nodded more worried than angry, “That was the craziest dream ever bro, I have GOT to get outta here or I might lose my sanity completely.” Bruce slurred and grabbed his bag. The two looked at him confused but shrugged and followed him out the door.
Vance stumbled back to the booth, eyes wide. “Oh, look, nuestro pequeño romancero is back.” He smirked as Billy laughed, “Hey, you good buddy? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost with how pale you are!” He laughed and elbowed his arm. Vance screamed into his hands, making them both flinch as Vance looked back up as red as a tomato, “Holy shit, that was fucking insane.” He mumbled. They both laughed at him hysterically, “If you call trying to seduce your way into his pants insane then I fear for when you really do,” Robin snorted out and Billy burst out laughing. “SHUT THE HELL UP!” He shouted the red on his cheeks no longer from embarrassment but from irritation.
Thankfully, they made it back to their consecutive houses (dorms for Finney) safely. Finney sat on his bed, looking at the shoes in the box. “… hey mom, it’s been a while. I’ve been really busy so I couldn’t talk to you at all lately but since I have some free time, I was thinking maybe we could catch up a bit…” he smiled softly and took out the shoes from the box, he carefully placed them down in his lap before and caressed the ribbon.
“So, I’ve been at University for a couple weeks now, almost a month. It’s been nice, I met a lot of new people and I like my teachers… I miss back home as well though, I miss Gwen a lot, I really hope dad isn’t giving her much trouble… I have friends now too, just like you always wanted me to have and I… I met this um-.. this guy, he’s really cool and I like him, like A LOT,” he made a big gesture with his hands in a circular motion to convey what he means more, “and he’s pretty nice to me… I think.?” He paused and stopped rubbing the ribbon. “… I think I’m gonna sleep now, good night, mom” he smiled and carefully tucked the shoes back into the box before sliding it under his bed.
Laying in bed was always a mixed feeling for him, sometimes he liked the solitude and others.. well the silence was too suffocating. This night wasn’t one of the suffocating ones though, talking to those shoes always made him feel better, talking to his mom always made him feel better, even if she’s not with him physically. She still always knew how to take the pain away, the aches.
He slept more soundly then the past week, that night.
Ring ring!!
The alarm clocked resounded in the room as Finney lazily reached for the clock, sundays sucked he thought owlishly as he sat up, bleary eyed, big eyebags and the worst head head known to man. He crawled out of bed, yelped and climbed back into the warmth, why was the floor so cold!!?
He looked at his phone and checked his notifications, ugly picture of Bruce, Griffin’s morning coffee, Damn Bruce’s bed head might be worse than mine.. he winced at his friend in sympathy as he reached for his sock drawer across his room. After 10 minutes of trial and error, he finally managed to grab and pair and slipped them on before getting dressed, fixing his hair, and brushing his teeth and setting out.
He walked down the stairs and into the cafeteria, swiping a granola bar and walking out the University doors. The air was brisk and brought a shiver down his spine as he started to jog. He read in the newspapers that morning jags help with stress so he decided to finally try it. It was working pretty well before he heard footsteps pulling up behind him, he squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for a shove that never came, ptsd could be a real pain sometimes…
“Morning, cariño! Didn’t take you for a boy who has morning jogs,” the said man chuckled as he pulled up beside Finney. “Ah, well you’d be right…” he looked away rosy-cheeked and elaborated further, “I heard it’s good for um… stress, so I though ‘Hey, maybe I should try this!’ And well, here I am..?” He pointed at himself embarrassed, Robin hummed thoughtfully before replying with a charming smile, “Well, you wouldn’t mind it I joined you right, chico?”
Finney blushed and gave him a small smile, “Not at all…” Gosh, did Robin eat up those words!! Robin grinned as they set a pace to match each other. “Y’know, these aren’t the best clothes for jogging..” he smiled as he looked the boy up and down.
“Well, it’s a bit cold out, I don’t know how you could wear that though..” he side eyed him shyly and gave him a once over; white body shirt, basketball shorts, black leggings and running shoes.
Isn’t he freezing?
Finney was decked out in autumn clothes, oversized sweater, sweatpants, ear muffs, gloves, cozy Christmas socks (thank goodness, Robin couldn’t see them or he might literally disappear off the face of the earth…) he even had his jacket on. “…aren’t you sweating under all of that, querido?” He questioned with a silly quirk of his eyebrow that made Finney melt. “I-I’m fine..” he smiled and Robin shrugged but kept an eye on him.
“You’re pretty athletic, y’know? I’m surprised you kept up with me under all that.” He grinned teasingly, an arm hooked up Finney's slumped figure as he wheezed. “How do you do that everyday? You’re so good..” He cried out, as he looked up at Robin with wide eyes. Robin blushed and looked away abashed, “Well, it’s nothing…” he smiled as Finney finally caught his breath and stood straight. He waved as he was making his way back to the university dorms before Robin called out, “Hey, would you be up to do this tomorrow as well, cariño?”
Finney paused in contemplation before nodding with a sweet smile.
Robin grinned like he just won the lottery. And walked away with his hands in his pocket and a skip in his step.
Finney made his way back to his dorm, that was surprisingly nice… maybe Griffin was right about last night… he sat down on his bed before, a reason why he hated sundays was because he had nothing to do and when he didn’t have anything to do that was when his bad thoughts came back. He didn’t really know what came over him but he ended up outside Bruce’s house with Griffin at his side. They heard he wasn’t feeling well so they decided to pay him a visit.
They went up to the door and knocked.
What a big house… their parking lot could probably fit three of my houses in there…
They heard footsteps coming and the door unlock to be met with a tall, clean shaven, man and a middle height women, short black hair and a nice long dress.
They whispered to each other with big smiles before they greeted them, “Hello! You two must be friends of Bruce, we're his parents.” The man smiled as the women ushered them in from the cold.
“I’m Finney and this is Griffin,” Finney gave his most perfect smile he could to charm the man’s parents. Meeting his friends parents on a random Sunday was NOT on his bucket list. “What a charmer.” The mother smiled and they both shook his hand.
“We heard Bruce wasn’t feeling well so we decided to come check on him, if that’s alright with you…” Griffin smiled, the two grinned with glee as they ushered them upstairs, “wheat thoughtful friends our son has!” The man smiled as the women nodded and gave them directions to his room.
They walked down the absurdly long hallway before they finally made it to Bruce’s room, they knocked on the door and heard shuffling to the door, Bruce cracked open the door and looked through the crack before they both gasped, “Holy shit, Bruce, you look like shit.” He threw his hands over his mouth in shock as Bruce yanked them into the room upon seeing who it was.
“Hey, woah, Bruce how sick did you get!?” Finney frowned worriedly as he touched his friend's forehead, “JESUS, you’re burning up!” He ran to the man’s washroom, soaked a cloth in cold water and placed it on his head. Griffin pulled out the bag of medicine and other stuff and placed it on his beside table. “You didn’t need to buy all that for me…” Bruce whined and Griffin tsked him, “Stop talking, you’re wasting your energy.” He placed a fruit cup on his desk and some other snacks.
“We’re gonna stay here until you feel a little better.” Finney smiled as Bruce’s eyes watered. He sniffled out a thanks before Griffin put a movie on his laptop, “You’re gonna love this one, it’s super funny.” He grinned impishly as he pressed play.
It was in fact not funny, actually it was far from that.. might’ve scared the sickness outta Bruce had Finney not turned it off at the third jumpscare..
They talked and ate fruit cups and took photos. Finney laughed at a certain video Griffin managed to get when they were watching the horror movie. Bruce clinging onto a plushy with wide eyes and screaming “NO DONT GO IN THERE NOO DONT DO IT” Before getting the shit scared out of him when she eventually does.
It was practically night time when they finally left Bruce’s home, they were definitely going to come back, if not for Bruce, than for his parents. It turns out that Bruce had never invited his friends over before so when they came today, it was the first time Bruce’s friends ever came over.
A first for them and his parents, it seems…
Bruce sat up in bed the next day, he didn’t know what medicine Griffin gave him last night but that worked wonders on his body, he practically wasn’t even sick anymore!
He sat up and stretched. He couldn't remember anything from past yesterday, so he decided to get ready even though it was only 5 A.M. He grabbed his school clothes and took a shower before going down the stairs and making his morning earl gray and avocado toast. He read the newspaper and looked at the time on his phone, 6:30.
Still some time left…
He decided to go on a quick walk to kill time and by the time he got back it was 7, he grabbed his bag and keys before driving off to school. When he arrived it was 7:30,
Jeez, why is time going so slowly??
He sighed to himself and went up to Finney’s dorm in boredom, if he needed to do his council work, he’d rather have company than none.
He took out the spare dorm keys and opened the door, Finney was still sleeping as he went to sit at his desk. It’s kind of dirty here…
He grabbed a back and quickly organized the desk and threw out the trash. He placed it beside the door before actually starting his council work at the desk, oh yeah., the Halloween dance is coming soon.. Masquerade would be nice? He tapped his chin idly in thought. He scribbled down some Ideas before hearing some shuffling from behind him. “Morning, sleepyhead.” He smiled and Finney mumbled a morning and sat up sleepily. “Whatchu doing?” He mumbled and looked over at Bruce with half lidded eyes. “Work, there’s some stuff coming up soon in October so..” he looked back at his work and closed his book, “I think that’s enough for now.” He smiled to himself. “Our class is together so you should start getting ready.” He stood up and left the room cheerily.
How is he so active in the morning… Finney wondered as he scratched his stomach. He stood up and hit dressed before something in his mind clicked.
THE MORNING JOG WITH ROBIN!!
He bolted around the room and slammed open the door, startling Bruce and he jumped and turned around, "What's the rush?” He questioned as Finney hopped around trying to put his other shoe on.
“Me and Robin do morning walks now, I’ll catch you later.” He smiled and waved before running down the stairs.
He ran out the courtyard to see Robin leaning against a street light. “Oh, hey, I thought you might’ve bailed on me, Chico.” He said with a grin as Finney smiled, his smile is so pretty, Robin thought idly with a faint smile as they started jogging.
“I’m sorry I was late by the way… I don’t have the best sleep schedule..” he laughed sheepishly and rubbed his neck, Robin grinned with a cheery reply, “Tell me about it, I have to wrestle myself out the sheets everyday to even be here..” he smiled abashedly as his ears caught onto the giggle that spilled out of the boy’s mouth. Robin could feel his cheeks go red as the sound resounded through his head.
Su risa suena como campanas de boda... ¡¿Qué me pasa?!
Robin smacked his cheeks as he looked at Finney, how his eyes shimmered in the morning sun, how his pretty curls frame his face perfectly, how his smile melts his heart, Mierda, this is embarrassing, Robin…
They made it back but this time Finney was dying on the floor, sure he was bent over panting but it was a start. “Good job, you’re getting better.” he smiled as Finney blushed at the complement, “Thank you…” he smiled that smile that Robin cherished oh-so much.
“Same time, tomorrow?” He grinned.
“Yeah.” Finney smiled back.
“God, this is infuriating!!” Bruce ruffled his head roughly, and scribbled never-ending payments onto the stack of papers on his desk.
Morning classes went by in a breeze, a bit of chatting here and there, maybe a small bag of chips were shared but all in all, it went by too fast.
It was Bruce’s worst time of the day, Rush hour, when someone needed to do ALL the paperwork and organization, and since he was the council president, it always landed on him.
Not to mention his people pleasing problems…
Bruce hit his head against the desk with a loud clunk, he was so exhausted that he didn’t even hear the door opening nor the pair of footsteps approaching, not even the whispered bickering happening the two people who were now situated in front of him.
“Hey, Bruce!” The man smiled as Bruce looked up, “Oh, hey Billy—“ he turned to see the other man beside him and low and behold, the object of his imaginations, Vance Hopper was looming over him with a Cheshire grin and hungry eyes.
He shot up straight and looked at the two men before him, “W-what,” he cleared his throat as he could already feel the nervous sweats forming on his brow, “What brings you boys here?” He willed himself to give them a polite smile.
“You called me here? To help plan since we’re playing at the masquerade?” Billy quirked an eyebrow as Bruce stared at him in thought, “Oh, I apologize, I must have been so caught up in my work that I totally forgot about you guys…” he sighed and rubbed his eyes.
“Hey, it’s fine. We know how busy you are so we can’t blame you for forgetting.” Billy smiled kindly and Vance slowly nodded a smile playing on his lips.
Bruce gulped.
They sat and talked about the plans, Billy even helped sort out some out the paperwork to lighten the load. Vance sat close to Bruce and, to his utter surprise, corrected little mistakes he made while he was tired.
“This should be for Wednesday, glietbe.” He smiled but this time it was softer, more sincere. He reached for a pen and started writing down the right dates.
HES SO CLOSE AGHHHH!!!!
Bruce blinked rapidly and prayed that Vance couldn’t hear his rabbit heartbeat. Vance could definitely hear it, but he chose not to say anything this time. “Alright, I think this should be good enough, we’ll be back when you get all the props ordered, and here,” he handed him a cup of coffee, “It gets pretty rough as council president so I hope this can help.” He smiled as Vance tucked a note under the cup. They waved him goodbye and left the room, Bruce had waited for them to leave before he speedily lifted the mug and unfolded the note,
He gasped.
WHATT!??!?