Work Text:
When the doctor told Bender he had ADD, he quickly took steps to make sure no one else found out. His dad's reaction to his fuck-up son being a retard on top of everything else was bad enough. He didn't need to get the same treatment from his peers.
He was so careful with this information that when Brian innocently asked him a question about it, he flipped his shit.
"Hey" the blonde had said as he sat next to the other boy during science class. Bender was too surprised by the fact that, of all people, the nerd was talking to him during class that he didn't even manage to get a shitty remark in before the boy continued. "Sorry if this is a bit random, but I've been picking up on certain things you've been doing and, I was wondering if you maybe have, like, Attention Deficit Disorder or something, because-"
Bender kicked the boy in the shin hard and gave him a very scary look. Brian seemingly took the hint and stopped talking.
After class, Bender roughly grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the nearest bathroom. He shoved the smaller boy into the biggest stall and locked the door. Brian looked up at him as though fearing for his life but didn't dare say anything. Once the brunet was sure that the door was locked properly, he pinned his scrawny classmate against the gross tile wall, much to Brian's dismay, and leaned in really close to make sure no passing-through students heard.
"Who the fuck told you?"
"Huh?" Brian asked, confused. Bender almost smacked him but refrained, instead just holding a very stern glare toward the boy as he elaborated.
"Who the fuck told you I have that... Thing?"
"What, Attention Defici-"
"Who. Fucking. Told. You?"
"No one" Brian told him, eyes wide with fear. Bender let up his grip a little bit because he didn't want the kid to be that afraid of him. "No one told me. I figured it out on my own"
"How?"
"Well, I, uh..." Brian sighed. He figured there was no use in hiding this information considering he was in deep shit regardless. Besides, maybe it would help Bender be less ashamed of his own disorder. "I have Asperger's"
"Holy shit" Bender said, a bit surprised. He'd been tested for that as well, but he himself wasn't diagnosed with it. However, that had still triggered a whole slew of rants from his father about how retarded those kids were and how he was glad that, if his son was gonna be a retard, it was better that he had a less extreme case of it. He never thought of Brian as retarded, though. Just kind of annoying. "Holy shit"
"What?"
"You're, like, normal" Bender chuckled. Then, seemingly realizing how he was coming across, he shook his head and forced back on his tough guy persona. If Brian wasn't still being pinned to a wall, he probably would've chuckled. "Regardless, you don't tell anyone about this, got it?" the taller boy demanded. Brian nodded earnestly. "If I hear one of your little math nerd friends so much as breathe the word 'ADD' near me, you're dead, got it?"
"Absolutely" Brian assured him. "But, uh, for the record, it's nothing to be ashamed of"
"Well that's easy for you to say when you have something way more serious" Bender told him. Brian just seemed sad at this and it was only then that it dawned on Bender that he wasn't actually alone in this anymore. Sure, ADD and Asperger's weren't the same thing but surely they were at least similar if his doctor felt the need to test him for both at the same time. "Don't speak of this out loud, however... Notes, I'm fine with"
Brian's frown gave way to a small smile. He's trying, he thought to himself. This is hard for him, but he's trying.
"Now..." Bender spoke up again, releasing his hold on the smaller boy. "Get the fuck out of here"
"Yes, of course"
