Chapter Text
Vance Hopper was head over heels for Bruce Yamada.
Although they've only really had 2 conversations, Vance knew that he was in love. Unlike what people would think, Vance knew his emotions pretty well, and he knew this feeling he had towards the "Golden Boy" of North Denver was definitely not anything other than love.
And that's why he thought he could get rid of it.
But of course, he couldn't.
Every time that Vance Hopper saw Bruce, he felt like his heart would explode into a million pieces right then and there.
Seeing Bruce Yamada undeniably made Vance feel as if he could die happily in the moment, which was extremely hard for Vance to admit.
Love was a foreign feeling to Vance, well at least this type of love. He knew he loved his mom and his pet bunny Vengeance, but it never felt as suffocating and as passionate as the feelings he felt towards Bruce Yamada. Never would he in a million years think that this was just because Vance thought Bruce was cool. So, he came to the conclusion that Bruce was his crush.
But of course, Vance didn't come to this conclusion right away. First, he experimented.
Skipping class like usual behind the 2nd floor stairwells to the abandoned 3rd floor, he payed more attention to the skanky teenage girls' conversations about their crushes and boyfriends. He tried imagining himself in those sappy, romantic situations and it went anything but well. He was sure, He knew he was as red as a tomato for the whole school day after imagining himself kissing Bruce, and what made it worse was that Bruce was one of the people who pointed out his unfamiliar blush.
"Hey Vance — dude, are you feeling OK? Are you sick? You're bright red," Bruce pointed out, making Vance even redder then he already was. And the catch: Bruce wouldn't leave him alone until he had walked him to the nurse's office.
Vance swore that he would never do something like that again.
The 2nd experiment was going to Bruce's baseball games, and holy hell did Vance enjoy that.
Seeing his crush sweaty and working out, he had to physically stop himself from grinning like a mad man the whole game. Although Vance left the game before Bruce could come up to him after, he always attended his other ones, even though people had started spreading rumors that he had beef with some unlucky guy on Bruce's baseball team. Vance always thought Bruce never noticed him, but sometimes Vance swore that Bruce Yamada was staring at him with those beautiful, deep eyes of his.
Vance was content with their current relationship, him watching Bruce Yamada with Bruce not having a damn clue what was going on.
But as always, things never went Vance Hopper's way.
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12:13 PM, October 12 1978
Vance was currently in the 3rd floor abandoned bathrooms, wallowing in his deep hatred for life.
His math teacher Mrs. Collins, had just told him that she would now have to get Vance a tutor after handing in 15 assignments that he failed. Miserably.
Vance loathed math with every atom of his being. Just seeing a number flooded him with enough rage to punch someone (He acted on it, only sometimes). He knew it wasn't his fault he was bad at math. If Mrs. Collins actually taught in a way Vance could understand and pick up, Vance was sure he could pass with flying colors, like with English.
English was his favorite class. His English teacher Ms. Rachel was truly an angel on Earth. She always complimented Vance's amazing pieces of writing and poems and even hung most of them on the wall, and seeing them everyday made him feel so much better about himself.
But even so, Ms. Rachel could not save him from the depths of hell called Math class.
So now, Vance was truly about to kill someone. He was dazing out, thinking about that one guy who had tried to pick a fight with Bruce and thought that was a good target for his anger just before the bell rung, signaling the next period. Vance got out of the stall, still dazed, and groggily fixed his denim vest in the busted mirror that was shorter than him.
He fluffed up his hair with his scarred hands, being sure to pay close attention to the sides. Vance was a person who took pride in his appearance. Everywhere he went, girls, moms, and especially elder woman/grandmothers would compliment his hair and talk about how pretty and healthy it was. Before grabbing his bag to leave, Vance flexed in the mirror and smiled,
However, that smile didn't last for long.
Someone swung the bathroom door open, revealing a dumbfounded Bruce and a horribly mortified Vance Hopper.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence as the two evaluated the situation they were in, but the tense air was quickly broken by Bruce Yamada dying laughing.
Bruce was laughing so hard he had to lean against the door frame to keep himself from falling on the floor, while Vance was standing as still as a statue, wishing that ground would swallow him whole.
Out of all the possible people that could've walked, the person had to be Bruce Yamada, Vance Hopper's die-hard crush.
Shit-fuck. What the actual fucking shit did I just do?
Vance didn't know what to do or say. If it was one of his friends, he could've played it off, and if it was someone he didn't know, he could've just beat them up to keep them quiet. But no way in hell could Vance beat up Bruce Yamada. He whole-heartedly believed he wouldn't even be able to touch Bruce Yamada without his heart bursting into flames.
After Bruce had calmed down from his fit of laughter. He walked over to Vance Hopper, who was still unmoving in shock.
"Make sure,” Bruce giggled,”-The next time you gawk at yourself in the mirror, the door is locked, 'K man?" Bruce said, putting a friendly hand on Vance's shaking shoulders, covering his mouth trying to keep himself from bursting out laughing again.
Vance was sure that all his feelings towards Bruce had died in that moment.
He immediately shoved Bruce's hand off his shoulder before grabbing Bruce by his shirt with both hands.
If Vance hadn't just experienced the most embarrassing moment of his life, he knew he wouldn't of been able to do this with at least stuttering over his words and turning firetruck red. The two's noses were almost touching, as Vance threatened him.
"Tell anyone about what you saw, and I'll ruin that fucking pretty face of yours, Yamada." Vance spat through gritted teeth.
Vance wasn't planning on calling Bruce 'pretty' but it just came out. Vance didn't have a chance to correct himself.
Bruce stared at him.
"So you think I'm pretty?" Bruce replied, with a shit-eating smirk on his face, not breaking the long eye contact between the pair.
And that's when all Vance's emotions immediately came rushing back. He jumped hearing Bruce answer and immediately let go, looking away before Bruce could see the fiery red spread across Vance's cheeks.
"Don't fucking say that, asshole. You know that I didn't fucking mean it that way." He barked back, still not making eye contact with the now-interested Bruce Yamada. Bruce sighed as if he was expecting that response, and Vance felt slightly sad.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Mr. Poet," Bruce said before walking into one of the many bathroom stalls.
Vance thought he had died once again.
His crush, Bruce Yamada, had been reading the poems that his English teacher Ms. Rachel had posted around her classroom. And Vance thought it was the most humiliating thing ever, even more humiliating than what just happened. What was even worse was, that half of those poems were about Bruce.
But Vance was... confused. There was no way Bruce would've known those poems were written by Vance because Vance never signed his name on his poems...but if Ms. Rachel had signed his name herself... Vance couldn't remember if she did and it was driving him crazy.
Vance hurried out the bathroom, back to that 2nd floor hidden stairwell.
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2:58 PM October 12 1978
Vance had skipped the remaining classes because either way he wouldn't of been able to focus on class, and Ms. Rachel wasn't even in school today, so it's not like he could visit her.
Now, Vance just had to go meet with Mrs. Collins, his math teacher because he still had to get a tutor to help his failing grades in her class.
Once he reached her room, he saw Mrs. Collins acting weirdly excited, and he knew it wasn't because of him coming to see her. He knocked on the already opened door and she turned around looking happier than ever, while Vance wore a face of concern.
“There you are Mr.Hopper!” she exclaimed happily.”Y’know, I've just got the bestest news for you,” her hands clasped together.
“Most smarter students adamantly declined to tutoring you, but guess what! The smartest of them all, agreed! And he was even happy about it, saying that you two were friends.”
Now Vance was really confused. Vance wasn't friends with anyone smart. In truth, Vance was the smartest one in his whole friend group, most of them already planning on dropping out or just never attending classes.
As Vance tried to rack his brain about who he could possibly know that got better math grades then him, the moment he came to realization was when Bruce Yamada walked into the empty classroom with that all-too familiar cocky grin plastered on his pretty face.
“Guess we're destined to be, Vance.”
Vance felt himself die inside for the 3rd time that day.