Fade Away. •.brance.•

•.EIGHT.•

the next morning, or possibly night, bruce had lost track. he wasn't sure if the dark sky meant night or morning. bruce figured since he would die in that basement anyways, he might as well let vance know about his feelings. if vance didn't feel the same way, at least bruce wouldn't have to spend much longer with him.

"vance?" bruce whispered. vance was sitting on the ground, attempting to carve things into the wall with his nail opposite of bruce. vance hummed, looking over at bruce. "can i tell you something?" bruce tilted his head back, resting it against the wall.

"uh, yeah, sure. go ahead," vance continued trying to make marks on the wall. "this is really random, and weird. i know we haven't even known each other for that long. but i uh, i think i like you," bruce spoke, not daring to look at vance.

vance took a moment to process things. bruce just threw that on him out of no where, whilst they were kidnapped too. "if you don't like me back that's fine. just wanted to tell you just in case anything happened," bruce mumbled, filling the silence.

vance still didn't answer. he did like bruce. but he'd never really thought too much about it.

bruce pursed his lips as he realized just how big of a mistake he made. he stood up and walked to the 'bathroom'. he sat on the floor and rested his head against the wall.

bruce cursed himself under his breath. he now realizes he never really had to tell vance anything. once they got out vance would ignore bruce one way or another.

vance walked in and sat next to bruce. "sorry. you just told me that out of no where, i was just shocked or whatever," vance said truthfully. "it's fine. i'm sorry, just forget i said anything, i just wanted you to know just in case anything bad happened," bruce pursed his lips.

"oh, no! i don't care or whatever, i mean, i've never thought much about it. you're just, you and that's .. i honestly have no clue what i'm saying. can i just- just think about it for a moment?" vance struggled to explain.

"yeah, no. of course, go ahead," bruce half smiled at him. vance nodded, sat up and left. bruce's smile immediatly dropped. he knew vance only wanted to be nice about the rejection, yet why would he even be nice? vance was never one to be described as nice.

he didn't have to be nice to bruce at all, vance could've ignored him that whole time. if he would've, bruce never would've developed feelings.

with vance, he was confused about everything. he did like bruce, but in a half friend way, half like like way. vance was confusing himself with his own feelings.

sure, vance liked bruce's hair, his eyes, his smile, his laugh, his personality, his strange obsession with baseball, his- oh, well maybe vance did like bruce just a little.

vance spent another what he presumed might've been twenty minutes just thinking about bruce, while bruce was pratically stressing himself to death in the other room.

"i'm back," vance announced as he came and sat next to bruce again. "hi. listen, before you say anything, i know you don't like me back and that's fine, if you don't want to talk to me anymore or something, that's fine, i understand," bruce spoke, not daring to glance at vance.

"what? no, like i said i've just never thought about before. but now that i did, honsetly, i think i like you too," vance breathed out hurriedly. bruce immediatly darted his eyes towards vance.

"you do?" bruce asked in disbelief. vance nodded, "yup." bruce blinked a few times before he spoke again. "we should probably.. you know, get out of here before we do anything more," bruce mentioned.

"probably. do you think-" vance was cut off by the sound of the door opening. "where are you.." the grabber called out in a low taunting voice. he walked into the other room, but fell into the hole and his nose slammed against the floor. "what the fuck!" he screamed out. vance laughed for a second before he quickly stood up and grabbed the toilet lid.

he walked over to the grabber and smashed it over his head, knocking him out. "come on!" vance yelled, grabbing bruce's hand and dragging him upstairs.

bruce had definitely sat up too quickly again. his vision blurred but he allowed vance to drag him along the way anyways.

vance flew open the front door, seeing another door with a lock, yet the code was written right next to it. "pft, dumbass," vance chuckled as he tried the combinations on what it could be.

"you ready to run bruce?" vance spoke, trying the last possible combination. bruce didn't respond. "bruce?" vance spoke again, still focused on dialling the correct numbers.

he messed up on the last number so he had to re-do it. "bruce? i asked if you're ready to run? who knows how long i knocked him out for," vance said. "i didn't even hit him that hard, so we have to be quick," vance continued to talk. bruce still didn't respond. vance got the lock undone and pulled it off the door.

"jesus, bruce. you gone deaf or some...thing," vance's voice trailed off as he turned around to see bruce staring at him blankly and his mouth opened, yet he didn't speak. vance was frozen at the sight.

—-
ohh noo not a cliffhanger 😹 oopsies guess y'all gonna have to wait!! couldn't be me 🥱

anywyas my friend literally strangled me today because i stole their leaf can you believe this monstrosity 👿

(957 words.)