BRANCE + RINNEY

Second Family (2)

"Okay. What did he do this time."

It was always more of a statement than a question. Vance didn't need to ask if Finn's father did something because he already knew the man did. He just needed to know how bad the injuries were. It was a sad truth, but it was the truth.
_

Finn had told, and showed, the older boy what his father had done. Vance had winced at several of the injuries he had seen but helped treat them nonetheless. Finn was very grateful for him.

After majority of the wounds had been cleaned and safely wrapped, Finn got to work washing himself off without getting his bandages wet. Vance was in the kitchen trying to produce some sort of meal for him and Finn. He had just got out a box of pancake mix when a loud knock echoed from the front door to the rest of the small home. Vance halted what he was doing. He slowly made his way to the door, making sure he heard Finn was still in the bedroom, and looked through the peephole.

Robin and Bruce stood there. Both of them had large grins on their faces, unaware of the atmosphere inside.

Finn was now behind Vance. He had heard the knock and came stumbling round the corner to see who it was. Vance turned around to him and softly smiled. Finn returned it.

Vance opened the door, sarcastically glaring at the two boys in front of him. It was never too surprising to see Vance at the Blake residence. At least not anymore. He started coming over regularly just a couple months back after witnessing Finn and his father.

"Hey guys!" Robin exclaimed, him and Bruce now entering the house. Finn had his marks covered so neither of the two boys could see them. He smiled. "Hey Robin. Hey Bruce." Vance replied, one of his hands ruffling Robin's hair as he passed by him. Robin mocked offense but went to stand next to Finn. Bruce smiled at Vance and went to sit on the sofa. The blonde locked the door behind the two boys and eyed the group.

"What brought you two here on this lovely evening"

Both Robin and Bruce shrugged. They told the two other boys about how they were bored and just chose to come over. Finn stayed quiet during this, which would've been completely fine if his breathing hadn't turned heavy. His sides started hurting again and his body felt like a fire was being lit inside of it. All eyes were now on him. Two of them were full of concern, one was concerned and full of empathy.

"What's wrong Finn?"

It was a normal question. A normal question that mainly anyone could answer if they weren't mentally and physically suffering. Finn's entire body froze. The air he was once breathing became blocked out and his lungs began to hurt.

Bruce began to walk over to the boy, a hand outstretched to comfort him. Robin was instantly at his side, slowly leaning himself into the other boy's shoulder. Finn stiffened even more, if that was even possible.

Vance coughed, loud and hard, before grabbing Finn's hand and dragging him to stand on his two feet. The younger boy stumbled at first but caught himself. Robin and Bruce looked at each other, confusion clearly drawn on their faces.

"Okay seriously what's going on?"

Finn had calmed down slightly. Vance had his hand tightly in his grip. His eyes bored into Finn's intently.

Robin and Bruce began to get worried. They didn't know what was going on and they, in the back of their minds, thought Vance was going to do something out of line to the other boy. After all, his knuckles were starting to turn paper-white with how tight his grip on Finn was.

Finn's mind started to clear, just a little bit, and he felt the grip on him start to loosen. Once the grip fully loosened, he excused himself to the bathroom. He all but ran there, tears starting to form and leak from his eyes.
_

After Finn had departed from the living space, Vance slowly turned to the other two boys who were staring down the hall as if Finn was still standing there. He breathed shakily before one of them spoke to him.

"What's wrong with him?"

Vance felt a weird sense of anger towards that question. There was nothing wrong with Finn.

"Nothing is wrong with him." He spoke out, turning to face the direction of the voice.

Robin looked at him with a face of anger and worry. "What do you mean nothing is wrong Vance? He just-" Robin was cut off by Finn's presence.

Vance looked at him. All anger had instantly drained from his body. Finn had dried tear marks covering his face as well as red splotches on his cheeks and nose.

"My dad h- he-" Finn started to say. But his body and brain fought against him. He started breaking down right then and there. Vance automatically knelt in front of him. One hand ran through Finn's hair, another one embraced him and pulled his body close. Finn sobbed loudly. Robin stared at him for a minute before turning to Bruce. He seemed to have realized something, his facial expression turning from one of worry to one of fear. Vance, who was holding and comforting Finn, seemed to take notice of this. He shook his head and nodded towards the boy in his arms who was starting to fall limp from sleep overtaking his body. Once he was fully asleep, Vance took him to his room and tucked him in, ruffling his hair a bit in the process.
_

Robin and Bruce looked at Vance expectantly. They both knew something was going on with the sleeping boy, they just didn't know exactly what that something was. Vance knew the two boys wouldn't say anything to anyone if he was to tell them about Finn's father, but he didn't want to tell them without the boy's permission.

"I can't tell you guys what you want to know. Not without Finn."

The other two boys sighed out. They wouldn't be able to force it out of Vance either. He'd beat them both deep into the earth's core. Vance knew both of the boys really wanted to know what was wrong with their friend. He also knew that it was a Saturday. Finn's dad wouldn't be back until Monday morning. With that information in mind, he decided on a group sleep over at the Blake household. Robin and Bruce instantly agreed.

Hopefully Finn would talk about what was going on when he woke up.

Hopefully.