ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀ ʜᴏᴘᴘᴇʀ

ᴇᴘɪꜱᴏᴅᴇ 4

(Vance pov)

‼️this is a long chapter‼️

tw

I wake up squinting my eyes because the sun has just beamed on my face. I turn to the other side to see that Bruce isn't here. Maybe he went home. I sigh sitting up with a semi hurting chest. I stand up, taking off my sweater to see my old binder with some blood stains on it. I cringe at the sight at this and lift it up to see my chest injured. I suck my teeth pulling the binder back down. It hurted a bit doing that but I can't stand not wearing a binder. I don't feel comfortable doing so, it makes me feel exposed. I know if my mom sees the state i'm in, she'll go bananas. The last time she saw my chest like this, she took me to the doctors as fast as she could speeding down the highway. I remember the doctors saying that I had to lay off the binder for a good month or two. Worse experience ever. Since today is my birthday, i'll be turning 14. Which is a huge thing I guess. I take off the pants that i'm wearing, replacing it with basketball shorts. I walk over to my closet to see what type of shirt I should wear. I scatter through my closet finding a oversized black t shirt. Its a decent outfit to wear. Plus, its not like i'm going anywhere until later. My friends was taking me to the fair today which I guess would be fun. Hopefully we don't have Griff and Finney barfing 24/7. I change into the black oversized t shirt. I hear scattering coming from the kitchen. That's weird because I thought my mom had work today. It's probably my stepdad. He's always home over cleaning some shit. I exit the room to see all of the lights off. It was kinda creepy. Its like in horror movies when the white guy gets kidnapped from behind in he dark. I turn on the living room as I enter. Because in order to make it to the kitchen, you have to walk through the living room. I notice something is off about the livingroom. Stuff looks a bit out of place. I shrug it off continuing going into the kitchen. As soon as I enter the kitchen, confetti gets popped into my face and I hear people yelling surprise. "Happy birthday honey!" My mom swings around me giving me a hug. I look around the room to see Finney, Griffin, Billy, Robin and Bruce. "Holy shit dude, your getting old." Robin says playfully hitting my arm. "I'm the same age as you idiot." I say hitting his arm back. "Happy birthday Vance!" Finney says. " Thanks Finney." I ruffle his hair. I remember when Finney used to be scared of me the first time we actually talked. Griffin then pops another confetti in my face. "Happy birth month Vance." He says popping another one again. "Okay I get it Griff." I snatch the popper from him. "So no hug?" He says making his fake puppy face. I roll my eyes giving him a bear hug. "Ow you stupid cow!" He says trying to escape. I let go of him looking around the room to see it all decorated. It looked video game themed a bit. And a mixture with retro. I then feel someone hugging my from behind. "Happy birthday Vance!" I turn around to see Bruce with a party hat on. He then pulls a party hat from behind placing it on my head. "We have many things to do today but you guys must have the most important meal of the day." My stepdad says as he takes food from out of the fridge. "You guys could just relax and play some games until breakfast finishes. And then we can start heading to the fair." Mom says. "Yes yes let's go." Billy skipping to my room. Everyone else followed him but Robin stayed by me. "You think your gonna get your birthday kiss today?" Robin says making a kissing noise. "What the hell are you talking about Robin." Robin makes an over dramatic groan, as always. "You know what I mean, you and Bruce!" I think about it for a second. Why would Bruce kiss me on my birthday? That makes absolutely zero sense. "That makes zero fucking sense Robin." I say heading towards my room. As I enter the room, I see Finney and Griffin jumping up and down on my bed, and Billy and Bruce arguing over something. "Right Vance?!?" Bruce says running up to me. "No Vance tell Bruce that mario cart is bette than pacman." Billy says pushing Bruce out of the way. "Wait what happened? I ask helping Bruce up. "Bruce said that pacman is better than mario cart." Billy says crossing his arms. "It kinda is. Pacman is more fun." I shrug my shoulders." Bruce gasps, pulling me into a hug. "See, I told you." Bruce says sticking his tongue out. "You really think your boyfriend is going to disagree with you." Billy roll his eyes. My cheeks starts heating up a little bit. Bruce starts making a loud laugh, "Me and Vance? Dating? No we're not." Bruce says chuckling. "That's what couples say." Finney says. "Mind your business baseball boy." Bruce pokes at Finney's forehead. "Dont you play baseball-" As Robin was about to say something, multiple knocks can be heard from my door. "It's breakfast time kids." My stepdad says as he walks back to the kitchen. "I like your stepdad cooking. Its so good!" Bruce rubs his hands together. Everyone heads to the kitchen sitting at a seat. As soon as Robin sits down, he starts eating the food so fast, I can barley tell if he was moving or not. "Calm down Robin. Your gonna choke on your food." Griffin says smacking Robin's hand. "Your right. Thanks Vance's mom and dad!" He says with a mouth full of food. "Your embarrassing us Robbie!" Finney says covering his face. My stepdad chuckles, "Your welcome." He says grinning. "Yeah rObBiE, have some class." Billy says doing the exact same thing that Robin was doing. "Oh my god." Bruce mutters facepalming himself. "You guys better wash your hands after that." I say taking a bite out of the pancakes. "Of course we will!" Billy says with a stuffed mouth. "Make sure you guys use the bathroom before we head out, we're only taking a few bathroom stops." Mom says. "We'll make sure to Vance's mom!" Bruce says. "You don't have to keep calling my Vance mom. You can just call me Carrie!" My mom takes a sip out of her cold coffee. "Oh my gosh. I'm literally going to win every carnival game!" Griffin says. Mom chuckles. "I don't know about that, David is really good at arcade games." She says elbowing my dad a bit. "Thats true, I used to be the arcade champion back when I was you guys age." He grins. "No offense, but that was probably in the 1500s or something." I say laughing underneath my breath. "Hey, I still probably still have the spunk!" He says defending himself. "You youngsters is just going to have to see for yourself." He says. Everyone was laughing and joking around the table. If I had a core memory, this will definitely be in it. Finney was getting along with my mom and dad, Billy and Robin about to start a food fight, and Griffin talking to my mom. I think my mom likes Griffin the most though, she's so gentle with him. As if he was her child. I think it's cute. I don't really mind, Griffin had told me that his parents been arguing lately so I don't blame him for wanting to get closer to my mom. Plus, I wouldn't mind having Griffin as a little brother if anything. "Alright kiddos, you guys could start getting ready. Because the fun is about to begin." My stepdad sits up from his seat. "Thanks for the food again Vance's stepdad! It was delicious." Bruce says with a smile on his face. The one thing I like about Bruce is that he's respectful. Even when it's times when he doesn't have to be, he will be respectful anyways. He's charming actually. You don't see much people around Denver being respectful and kind. And if so, then it's extremely rare. I guess i found a couple rare ones.