Field - ★ - Brance

- Part Eight -

"Are you excited?" Mr Yamada asked. It had been a bit since Bruce had been to baseball practice. His coach had gotten a fever and it had restrained the last practices from happening. He turned to his father and nodded. They had been in the car for a bit, his dad had driven by the store before this. "Finney is going to play with you, right?" Bruce nodded again. 

His father hesitated before speaking up again. "So, when did you start tutoring that boy? Vance, right?" Bruce looked up. "Oh, well, he just wanted some help with his homework. But it won't be like, a regular thing." "I understand." The car came to a stop near the entrance of the field. They sat in silence.

"Aren't you coming?" Bruce asked. "I'm sorry. I have work to do. I hope you have a great practice though." Bruce scoffed and got out of the car. He held his bat in hand and walked onto the field.

____

Bruce huffed as he ran to the first base. He had been at practice for a while and he felt exhausted since the night prior he hadn't gotten much sleep. The pitcher was Finney Blake, a boy from his school. He had hit a homerun on the third throw. He sprinted to the final base. His teammates cheered for him, and they chanted out his name. After scoring the coach blew his whistle, signalling the practice was over.

All players started talking to each other and they preached for Bruce.
"Hey man, good job out there." Finney had walked up to him. "Thanks dude, you almost got me though. Your arm is mint!" Finney smiled and walked off. Bruce glanced into the bleachers. He felt a wave of disappointment seeing that his father had indeed not showed up. That disappointment quickly turned to fear after he spotted a familiar boy with long blonde hair sitting on the bleachers, staring at him.

He quickly made his way over to the bleachers and Vance stood up and walked his way. The two stood opposite of each other in silence. "Why are you here." Bruce asked in an agitated tone.
"Just wanted to see you in action. I can't lie, I had no clue what was going on. But I think you did well." Vance said in amusement.

"I know." Bruce scoffed. "Why the bad mood?" Vance smugly asked.
"Why would I be happy to see you, Vance?" If you had told Bruce a few months back that he would talk this bluntly to Vance without getting a punch to the face he wouldn't have believed you. Vance instead ignored what he had said. "So, when are you getting picked up?" 
Bruce looked around. He knew his father wasn't coming to pick him up, he would have to walk back home. He could've told Vance this, but he really had no reason to.

"Soon. Also I don't think my father would be happy seeing me talking to you again, so maybe get out." Bruce was fed up. He might've won the game but the combination of his father not being there and Vance being there probably just to laugh at him from the bleachers had pissed him off.  But Vance didn't leave. He just looked at Bruce with furrowed brows.

"I don't give a fuck about what your father thinks of me." He snarled out. Bruce remembered who he was talking again. Vance not bothering him for a few days had made him forget how afraid he actually should be of him. Vance sat down on the bleachers and looked at Bruce with a puzzled look. 
"Shouldn't you be getting to your father's car?" Bruce didn't answer him but instead sat down next to him and let out a small sigh.

Vance looked away from Bruce and stared at the empty field. He didn't know what to say. For whatever reason he never knew what to say to Bruce. He couldn't just start a conversation since they weren't friends, but whenever he wasn't friends with someone he would either avoid them or fight them. So sitting next to the popular boy like this was something he didn't know how to deal with.

He didn't even know why he came to the game. He had been once before, a few months back. He had hid behind the bleachers, watching to see how good Bruce actually was. To see what impressed everyone so much. And of course also silently hoping he'd see him lose the game. 

"He's not coming to pick me up. I have to walk home." Vance glanced up. "Why didn't you just say so?" "I forgot." Vance shrugged and looked away again. 

"This is fucking awkward. I should've left when he told me to." Vance thought to himself.

"Can I walk home with you?" Bruce lifted his head up in confusion before carefully answering. "Sure?" He didn't know why Vance wanted to walk with him. Maybe he was planning to mess with him again, to beat him up as soon as they walked out of sight. But a part of him told him that Vance wasn't planning on doing that. The last day had gone kind of well, and he had even tried apologising to Bruce.

They walked side by side in silence. The only sound was the sound of Vance's shoes slightly dragging over the pavement. "I know a shortcut, we can pass through this piece of forest here." Vance muttered. Bruce was exhausted from the game, normally he wouldn't have gone there, especially with Pinball Vance, but instead he just huffed and followed Vance onto a small path. 

It had been a few minutes and Bruce started wondering if this was really a shortcut. Vance stood still in his tracks. "What's wrong?" Bruce questioned him. "I have no fucking clue where we are." Bruce's eyes widened a little. "Are you kidding me?" Bruce exclaimed. Vance scuffed and sat down in a piece of grass. Bruce facepalmed and sat down next to him. 

"I'm so cold." Vance looked over at him, finally noticing he still had his short sleeved baseball outfit on. It was October and the temperatures had been dropping for a while. "Stop whining, you'll live." Vance scoffed.
"I wouldn't have been if you hadn't chosen this confusing path. My house is really not that far, we didn't need a shortcut." Bruce felt fatigued again. The last person he wanted to be lost in the woods with was Vance Hopper.

Vance hesitated a second before shrugging off his denim jacket and taking the hoodie that was underneath it off. Under that he wore a long sleeved T-shirt, so the cold wouldn't bother him too much. He handed the hoodie to Bruce. "Here. Now stop whining." Bruce took a second but took the hoodie and quickly put it on. Vance put his jacket on again. "Thank you." Bruce said in a quiet tone. 

____

It had taken a bit but they had found their way out of the woods eventually. They both stood at Bruce's porch as he unlocked the front door. They had exchanged a few small conversations while walking, most being based on how to find the way back, but they hadn't discussed anything either of them found interesting. Just small talk. 

"Can I ask you for a favour?" Vance asked Bruce. "What do you want?" Bruce said confused.
 "I actually could use your help with some homework. My dad would be pissed if I had to repeat this year again." Vance asked while avoiding looking at him directly. "What would I get in return?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll leave you alone at school." Vance said. Bruce didn't have to think long about that offer. "Come over tomorrow, I'll help you." Vance nodded and watched as Bruce walked inside and closed the door before turning around and walking off.

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