𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 • bradley bradshaw

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐫

"these noodles are so good." bradley said through a mouthful of noodles.

robin cringed. "ew, do not talk with your mouth full. you know that's my biggest pet peeve."

"i thought your biggest pet peeve was chewing loudly." he said after swallowing.

"i have a lot of pet peeves." she shrugged.

he nodded. "true."

she put the box of rice down and repositioned herself on the couch, watching him eat.

"what're you thinking about?" he asked after swallowing again and putting the noddles down.

"a lot of things. you. hangman. this mission." she replied.

"why are you thinking about hangman?" he questioned.

"don't worry, no need to be jealous." she shook her head. "he's just my good friend and i hate him right now."

"seems like he wants to be more than friends." bradley pointed out.

"hey, i said don't be jealous." she reminded.

"no, you said there's no reason to be jealous, not to stop." he teased.

"they literally mean the same thing." she replied.

he shrugged. "eh, not really."

she hit his upper arm. "stop teasing, you're being annoying."

"look, of course i'm going to be jealous. i love you, and seeing hangman fall for you makes me feel insecure. i already lost you once, i can't bare to lose you again." he confessed.

she grabbed his hand. "like i said, i'm not going anywhere ever again. and even if we don't get back together now doesn't mean it's not going to happen ever. you know i love you and it was hard to admit. not because of you, but because of me. i'm so scared of falling in love because i don't want to lose someone the way i lost my mom. i mean, losing my dad was hard, but losing my mom was worse. i was grieving someone who is still alive and still am. so, i figured if i left someone before they left me, it would be easier, but it's not. it's worse, actually, because it not only leaves me heartbroken, it leaves others heartbroken. it left you heartbroken. it was my biggest regret. actually, no, it is my biggest regret,
not was. i just...i got scared because i loved you too much and i didn't want to get left again. i have such mommy and abandonment issues. oh god, i just trauma dumped on you, i'm so sorry, i'll shut up."

"hey, no, no, no. you don't have to stop. i want you to talk to me. i want you to let me in. that's all i want. that's all i've ever wanted. i knew about your past, but i never put the pieces together.  now that you're telling me and giving me closure, i understand." he replied.

"maybe this closure is really an opening." she shrugged.

"i think so too." he agreed. "i'm sorry i didn't pick up on the clues before. i should've. i would've been able to help you. we would've still been together."

she shook her head. "no, bradley, it isn't your fault. it's mine. if i tried harder and i got over everything that happened to me, we would've still been together."

"maybe it's neither of our faults. maybe this happened so we could find ourselves and come back stronger." he said.

"it sounds like your getting in touch with your aura." she smirked.

"i have no clue what that means." he shook his head.

she laughed. "me neither, to be honest."

he chuckled. "then why did you say it?"

she shrugged. "i don't know, i say a lot of things."

"oh, i know you do." he nodded.

she smiled and shook her head. "shut up."

"hey, we just had a breakthrough and now you're telling me to shut up. rude." he joked.

"i only tell people to shut up when they're being annoying." she retorted.

"are we flirting right now?" he raised his eyebrows.

she tilted her head. "maybe."

"i like it." he smiled.

she smiled back. "me too."

it was silent between them and they both took a sip of their beers.

"wanna watch a movie? maybe an 80's movie? we used to love doing marathons of all of the oldies, remember?" she asked.

"i do remember and i think it's a great idea." he answered.

"cool. my vote is the outsiders." she said.

"no. i refuse to watch the outsiders with you ever again." he disagreed.

"what? why?" she asked.

he raised his eyebrows. "robin, you know exactly why. you talk through the whole movie with your narrations and commentary, you yell at the screen when you don't want something to happen as if they can hear you, and you quote half the movie. absolutely not."

she groaned. "ugh, fine. what about the breakfast club?"

"yes, because it keeps you quiet. also, it's a good movie."

she flipped him off and he smiled.

she then grabbed the remote and turned on the movie.

as they watched they inched closer and closer to each other.

bradley was sitting upright on the couch while robin scrunched herself up and laid in his lap.

soon enough, her eyes fluttered shut and she fell asleep.

"goodnight, robin."

and with that, bradley fell asleep too.

AUTHORS NOTES
my babies are making a comeback :)

muah,
lea <3