BRANCE + RINNEY

200.

bruce groaned, shifting uncomfortably as sweat beaded on his skin. finney, who didn't mind all of the movement, laid on his lap comfortably. his mouth was creased into a smile, his face light pink and puffy as his bottom lip poked out. he looked cute, bruce could give him that. but, still...

"can someone please turn on the damn air conditioner!" bruce's shirt stuck to his skin, his damp muscles painted against the thin fabric. finney shifted, frowning suddenly at the tone of bruce's voice. "too loud."

distantly, bruce could hear the whir of something being turned on and a murmur of quiet voices. stretching his arms slowly, bruce attempted to pry finney off of his lap.

"plum, i'm going to need you to get up. can you do that, please?" bruce never raised his voice with finney, not even when he was upset with him. finney peeked an eye open, his body twitching slightly as he sat up and stretched. "okay." his voice sounded identical to how syrup tasted, thick and sweet. yet so, agonizingly slow.

it was okay, he had just woken up.

bruce smiled at finney briefly when he stood up, his limbs moving in weird, puppet-like ways. bruce said nothing as he made his way to the door, choosing to take a silent note about the chorus of chirps and clicks he heard behind him.

"vance! robin!" bruce felt himself smile as a cold chill ran down his spine, pooling around his ankles with every step he took. he was grateful for air conditioning, especially in mid july. distantly, he could hear the buzz of a game and quiet murmurs of laughter.

"it's not even one yet." bruce spoke only to himself, his footsteps louder than his voice as he walked through the rest of the small home. "vance! robin!"

his voice was louder now, knocking into the chipped and worn walls of the home. his bare feet felt too cold and he rubbed his arms, now missing the overwhelming heat of finney on his lap.

walking into the living room, bruce let out a deep sigh. robin and vance were playing mario kart, a stack of empty cans and dirtied wrappers lying between them.

great.

"hey, assholes. i've been calling you." bruce squinted, glaring, as both vance and robin turned towards him. robin, with his apologetic smile and big eyes and vance, his narrowed eyes and slightly pouted lip as he titled his head to the side. "you have?"

damn them.

"yeah. i.. i have. finney is awake and he's, well he's finney. i think he's stimming again." bruce had his hand on the back of his head, rubbing the strands of baby hair tucked against his skin awkwardly. robin looked at vance, who looked at bruce, who looked at him back.

"yeah, alright. i got it."

vance stood up, dusting off his worn jeans and thin shirt best he could. crumbs dirtied the floor and he grimaced, flashing bruce an apologetic smile. bruce only rolled his eyes, pointing to the stack of trash nestled on the floor. vance took what was his and dumped it in a nearby bin, leaving rather quickly after that. faintly, bruce could hear soft clicks and even softer footsteps.

"will he be okay?" robin avoided bruce's eyes, his hands lingering on his thighs as he leaned forward, then back, then forward again. bruce nodded, his silence hanging thickly in the air. "okay. cool."

it was two hours later that vance walked back into the room, a teary, slightly red and puffy, finney in his arms. bruce and robin looked nearly identical, their expressions confused and slightly scared. vance shook his head once, licked his lips, and sat down with finney against his chest.

"is he okay?"

"he will be."

"there's nothing wrong with him. right?"

"no. he just does some things different than the rest of us, and that's completely fine."

"oh, okay."

"try not to sound so disappointed. i said he'll be fine."

"i know, it's just-"

finney shifted against vance, his eyebrows dipping towards the middle as a few tears slipped from his eyes onto the fabric of vance's shirt.

"finney? you okay sweetheart?" vance rubbed a circle into finney's back, frowning a bit. there was a muffled noise and a nod, then finney slumped against vance and kept quiet.

"he'll be fine."