pre-canon, vance and bruce are dating secretly

tw: mentions of daddy issues and abuse in that respect.
(i headcanon that vance has daddy issues, which is why he acts out like he does)
homophobia and homophobic slurs

bruce beamed at the sight of his boyfriend across the courtyard. he bounded up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"jesus fuck-" vance flinched, surprised by bruce. he turned to face him, and sighed. a small smile came to his face. "hey, sorry, you scared the hell outta me." he said, bringing a hand to his lips. he pressed the end of a cigarette between his lips and took a drag of smoke in. bruce pouted a little.

"you know that stuff isn't good for you." he mumbled. vance blew the smoke in his boyfriend's face.

"yeah, i know." he gave a smug grin when bruce swatted the smoke away. he stifled a laugh. "so i heard you got two home runs last night at the game. sorry i couldn't be there to witness your glory." vance said, looking bruce in the eyes. bruce smiled a little.

"that's okay, i get it. i know your dad can be...difficult..." bruce mumbled. vance blew another puff of smoke, this time blowing it away from his boyfriend. vance let out a chuckle, but there was no humor behind it.

"you got that right." he grumbled, tapping his cigarette a bit to watch soot fall from the end. bruce placed a hand on vance's cheek, stepping closer. the blonde leaned into his touch for a moment.

"you know you can always stop by my place if you need to get away, right?" bruce said softly, looking into his eyes with a sad smile. vance sighed, nodding a bit.

"yeah, i know..." he paused, fixing his gaze to a group of guys who were murmuring to each other while staring at them. vance took bruce's wrist and pulled his hand away. "babe, people can see..." vance whispered, and bruce moved his hand back to his side.

"right, sorry..." bruce mumbled, a frown on his face. vance looked away, taking a drag from his cigarette and dropped it, stamping it out. just like that, the bell rang. bruce turned to head to the building's entrance, but vance stopped him.

"hey, bruce, think i can crash at your place tonight...?" he asked, offering a small smile. bruce's smile returned.

"yeah, of course. you can come over any time." he insisted, and vance nudged him.

"good. i'll see you at lunch." he said, before bruce went off to his first class. vance smiled as he watched bruce walk, and he sighed, lovestruck almost.

lunch rolled by, and bruce sat with vance and a couple friends to eat. the table was a bit quieter than usual, everyone was exhausted from pulling all-nighters. they all just sat and picked at their food, finding the good pieces and tossing the bad from their school lunches. vance hadn't been paying attention to any of the conversations around their table, until he heard his name. he listened in, picking a bit more aggressively at his food.

"he's probably gay. he just has that look."

vance didn't care, he'd heard this a million times.

"didn't you see him and yamada this morning? i expected hopper to be queer, but bruce?"

"damn, why did it have to be the baseball player? they're letting the sissies represent our school, fuckin disgusting..."

vance stood up, turning to look at the guys who were talking about them. a ton of eyes were drawn to the sudden bang on the table as vance slammed his palms against it. the guys looked at vance, and a few of them stood up as well, towering over the much shorter boy they had been talking about.

"got a problem, hopper?" one of them spoke, making vance grit his teeth.

"you don't fucking talk shit about me, bruce, or any of my friends. got it, fucker?" vance growled, glaring up at them. they all wore mocking smirks.

"why? 'cause you really are just a bunch of fags?" another one of them remarked, hoping to get a reaction out of vance. bruce stood up, grabbing vance's shoulder.

"hey, don't let them rile you up. come on, let's get outta here." bruce muttered to him. vance almost calmed down at the soothing, soft sound of bruce's voice.

"aww, look at this guys, the fag has got himself a fuck puppet to take care of him." vance growled and lunged, throwing his fist, balled up so tight that his knuckles turned white. he hit one of the guys square in the nose, and the guy recoiled, holding his nose and glaring at vance. bruce panicked, and grabbed vance's arm.

"vance!" he yelled, but vance pulled his arm away and kicked another guy in the dick. bruce stepped back and covered his mouth in shock when someone landed a punch on vance's jaw. people gathered around, watching the fight and chanting for who they wanted to win. bubbles welled up in bruce's stomach, churning and whirling at the sight of vance's bloody nose and bruised cheek. the blood on his knuckles made him queasy. bruce his his face with his hand as he cried. vance caught sight of his distressed boyfriend in the corner of his eye, and he stopped everything he was doing. he took bruce's hand away from his face, and placed his other hand on his cheek. his shaky thumb wiped away a stream of tears. the fighting ceased, everyone just stared at the two in shock.

"hey, look at me, i'm sorry- i just want to protect you..." vance muttered, and bruce looked into his eyes.

"i know, i know i just...i don't really like seeing you like this. you don't have to get all bloody for me..." bruce whispered, and vance frowned.

"i'm sorry baby, i'll try to control it, are you alright?" he asked, and bruce nodded. people started whispering all around them, some kind and concerned, others confused, while most were disgusted. vance glanced around to everyone and sighed, gritting his teeth. he looked back at bruce, who had tears welling up again. he took a moment to process everything before he tilted his head up a bit and pressed his lips against bruce's. people around them gasped and mumbled louder to each other, but at this point vance didn't care. bruce kissed him back almost immediately, letting out a small sob through his nose, both of vance's hands caressed his face, keeping him close. after a moment, they pulled away, their foreheads pressed together. bruce only just now noticed that vance was crying too. his hands were shaking. "i love you, bruce. i don't give a shit what they think anymore." vance finally said.

"i love you too, vance..." bruce whispered, and they kissed again for a brief moment.

"fags!" someone yelled from the crowd. vance ignored them, too caught up with looking into bruce's eyes. neither of them cared anymore. they just needed to be close to each other, holding each other's hands, crying silently together as people threw insults and slurs at them.

this didn't stop vance from throwing up some middle fingers to the crowd, though.