Fade Away. •.brance.•

•.FIVE.•

that morning, things between them became quite awkward. neither of them knew what to say.

"so um.. about last night," vance started after a long time of silence. "i don't want to talk about it," bruce sighed, not bothering to look at vance. "i meant, when you asked me about a personal thing or whatever."

"oh, yeah, sorry. you don't have to tell me anything," bruce finally looked at vance, who was intently staring at him. "i will. it's not that personal. but i had a brother once. he was adopted. my dad abused him so bad. the one time he was sent to the hospital, he never came home," vance turned to look at the wall ahead of him.

"shit. i'm sorry. have you seen him at all since?" bruce asked, getting up to sit next to him. "nope. i have honestly no clue if he's dead or alive," vance shrugged. "that's awful. i'm so sorry that happened. your dad better be in jail for that," bruce was never good at comforting people, he was never able to come up with the right words for it.

"i wish. i still live with him," vance sighed out. "really? say, what his name? your brother?" bruce asked. "billy. why?" vance tilted his head at bruce. "billy? oh yeah billy's alive. he's the paperboy, i see him every morning, do you not?"

"okay, first of all, how do you know it's actually him? and second of all, no i don't because i'm not a nerd who waits for the paper every morning."

"rude. i know it's him because we talk sometimes and he told me. he's my neighbour.  when you get out of here, you should go see him," bruce smiled at him.

"alright, when we get out of here, you can take me yourself," vance pushed bruce's shoulder with his own. "i don't have very high hopes i'll get out of here," bruce frowned. "definitely not with a mindset like that. you will get out here alive. i'll make sure nothing bad happens to you."

the door unlocks again as the grabber entered, placing the trays on the ground and leaving again. as the boys walked up to it, they realized that this time the trays had nametags. one had a piece of paper labelled bruce, the other being labelled vance.

"i have to go to the bathroom real quick," vance mumbled as he walked off. bruce looked back down the the trays. if they had labels, the food was definitely tampered with. maybe the grabber drugged vance's. the grabber might've been planning to come down and wanted vance to be knocked up on drugs so he wouldn't fight him.

bruce quickly swapped the plates before vance came back. he didn't care if they contained drugs, borax, or even cyanide. bruce would rather himself die than vance. he had a higher chance of getting out. he had things he wanted to do in life. bruce just wanted to see his sister.

the two ate in silence. bruce could tell his eggs were definitely drugged. his vision began getting blurry after he finished them. he took a sip of the sprite, but it only made it worse.

"you.. take," bruce pushed the bottle towards him and wobbly stood up. he'd never taken any drugs in his life, so it would affect him pretty badly.

"you alright? you can barely stand," vance pushed himself to his feet and helped bruce onto the mattress. "fine," bruce slurred.

"the fuck happened to you?" vance frowned, shaking his shoulders. bruce shut his eyes and fell backwards, resting uncomfortably on the mattress. "bruce?" vance whispered, poking his shoulder.

"bruce," vance raised his voice, slapping his face lightly. "bruce this isn't funny, get up."

bruce didn't move. "shit," vance mumbled as he looked at him. he wouldn't be dead, would he? vance checked his pulse, seeing it was a tiny bit slower than usual, but still normal.

vance continued shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to wake. "come on, wake up," vance said, dragging his words to be longer.

"bruce. get up before i... hit you?" vance hesitated before he uncertainly said that. after a minute of bruce not responding, vance sighed out in annoyance.

"i'm not actually gonna hit you. just wake up you're scaring me," vance began nudging his arm. vance flopped down next to him, deciding to just give up. he looked over at bruce one last time before starting at the roof.

after what vance figured was twenty minutes, he stood up and began digging out bruce's hole for him. there was nothing else for him to do, so he may as well do something useful.

after a mere ten minutes of doing that, he looked back to check on bruce, seeing he was rubbing his eyes, trying to get rid of his blurry sight. "bruce! jesus shit, you scared me," vance exclaimed, wiping the dirt off his hands onto his clothes and walking towards him.

"sorry," is all bruce replied with. "what the fuck happened?" vance asked, sitting next to him. "uh, i don't know," bruce shrugged. "fuck you mean, i don't know?" vance frowned, imitating bruce's voice.

"i don't sound like that. and i just don't know," bruce shrugged. "i don't think it's normal for people to suddenly pass out for an hour. just tell me, jeez!"

"alright, chill! uh, your eggs were drugged," bruce shrugged. "then how the fuck did you pass out and i didn't?" vance furrowed his brows.

"i swapped them, when you went to the bathroom," bruce looked down at the ground. "why? i would've been just fine eating that," vance frowned. "so am i. i am a-okay."

"not really, dude, you have to stop caring about me so much. you've barely ate or drank anything, your sleeping situation is shit, and the food you did eat was drugged," vance placed a hand on bruce's shoulder.

"so? you are our only chance of getting out. i don't matter. you need to be strong. i don't. i'm always like this, starving or not. i. am. fine," bruce tried convincing him. it was all true. vance probably has things to look forward to when he gets out. bruce does not. as long as vance gets out, bruce would be fine by that.

"you do know people are only looking for us because of you, right? if it was just me nobody would bat an eye. but since you're involved, everyone is trying. i have nothing waiting for me when i get out. you have everything. you matter so fucking much."

bruce continued looking at the ground. vance was right. although bruce would never admit it out loud.

"you don't even know me," bruce said after a while. "i want to," vance replied. "i like giraffe's," bruce whispered. "well. it's a start," vance chuckled. bruce smiled to himself.

the two continued to talk more about themselves, then head off to sleep. vance slept on the mattress again while bruce sat on the floor. bruce held up the fight until vance gave in. yet again, bruce got no sleep at all.

—-
so many parts were so random omfg. anywhooo bruce is bein a lil silly 🧍

(1207 words.)