Field - ★ - Brance

- Part Fourteen -

The black van came to a stop and a weirdly dressed man stepped out. Vance cursed at him as he started awkwardly apologising. "I'm so sorry!" He said in an odd tone. That didn't stop the rain of swearwords though. After channelling all his anger onto the stranger Vance ran past the van, continuing to Bruce's house.

(giggles)

Vance made his way onto Bruce's porch. He waited while impatiently tapping his foot until he heard the door unlocking. Infront of him stood Mr. Yamada. "Oh," He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Vance, right? I didn't know you'd be getting more tutoring." He said, furrowing his brows.
Vance nodded, not knowing what else to do. "Yeah, is he home?" He slowly asked.

After Mr. Yamada confirmed that he was, Vance walked inside and put his boots by the coatrack. He watched as Bruce's father went back to the TV room before stumbling up the stairs. He knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds.
"I'm busy!" A voice from the other side of the door chanted back.

"Are you sure?" Vance asked in a teasing voice. He listened as the sound of hurried footsteps grew closer. Bruce opened the door with a surprised look, his hair was messy and he seemed exhausted. "Vance? Why are you here?" Vance hated when people asked things like that. He always forgot what he wanted to say. So he decided to just walk past Bruce without saying a word.

He sat down on Bruce's bed, glancing around to see if anything had changed.
"Why are you here..?" Bruce repeated. He just shrugged lightly while looking Bruce in his eyes. Vance always had liked something about Bruce's eyes. He could never figure out what it was.
Bruce crossed his arms and stood by his door, glancing back at him.
"Fine. What did Michael tell you?" Vance said hesitantly.

 Bruce tilted his head. "Why do you care?" He asked. Another question Vance didn't know how to answer. He often wished Bruce wouldn't be so confusing, more simple like him.
But it's also something he liked about him. A thing he admired.
"Look, whatever he did it has nothing to do with me." He mumbled.

Bruce clenched his jaw a bit. "So you didn't tell him to beat me up?" What? 
"Not recently, no?" Vance said carefully. Bruce sighed. "Not recently?"
"Well, a while ago they where bothering me because I stopped picking on you," Vance started rambling, trying to explain himself. "So I told them to just do it themselves. Nothing more. It was weeks ago." He kept trying to explain himself but he lost his strain of words as Bruce sat down next to him on the bed.

"Okay." Yamada mumbled. "Are you mad?" Vance sharply inhaled after saying that. It was another one of those questions, but this time it was from him. "No, it doesn't matter."
Bruce simply said. A short silence fell between them. Bruce turned his head to Vance, giving him a small smile. Vance tried to pick up a conversation again.

"So," He started, turning to Bruce's nightstand. "You like taking photos?" He said, nodding his head towards a camera laying on the stand. "Oh, that old thing?" Bruce chuckled. "I do, sometimes. But I'm not good at it or anything." Vance picked up the camera, inspecting it as carefully as he could. "Not good? You somehow have talent for everything." He laughed.

"Shut up, no I don't!" Bruce replied, shoving Vance's shoulder in a teasing manner. Bruce gently took the camera from Vance's hands, their fingers brushing as he did so. He turned the camera on, a small click interrupted the silence. Bruce brought it up to his eye and took a picture of Vance. He laughed, giving Bruce a small nudge.

 ___

They had been talking for a few hours. Time seemed to fly fast when they actually got to talking, even if on the surface they seemed so different, they got along easily.
The conversations would be mostly about school, Vance would start talking about someone that had annoyed him followed by a story about how he beat the shit out of them. Bruce facepalmed and let out a sarcastic sigh every time. 

Mrs. Yamada entered the room. "Boys, dinner is ready!" She smiled. They both got up and walked downstairs, not stopping their stupid conversations.
"Sweet is the best band." Vance groaned out.
"No way! Pink Floyd is way better!" Bruce teased back.
They sat down at the dinner table and Amy sat next to them, giving Bruce a confused look.
 "Why is Pinball Vance at out dinner table.. again?" She questioned. 
"We where just talking about school!" Bruce defended. 

He looked over at his dad who had a disappointed look on his face which Bruce decided to return. Mr. Yamada had been back from his work trip for only a few hours now, but he had already given Bruce a whole speech about having to focus on studying more. If it wasn't studying it would be about baseball. Sure, Bruce had a passion for baseball, but it was never his priority. So he was annoyed, at the speeches and at how his dad was towards his friend. 

 Vance and Bruce talked more during dinner, Amy even joined in a bit. She never hated Vance, she just found the duo surprising. And she found it fun to tease the Pinball Vance without having to be scared. After dinner both Bruce and Vance helped to clean up the table. Bruce's mom thanked them. "Is Vance staying tonight?" She asked. Bruce ignored his father's groan. 
"If he wants too," Bruce said, turning to Vance. He nodded and gave Mrs. Yamada a small smile before thanking her.

(940 words)