WC: 5,430
“And don’t forget the lightbulbs, mijo!” Carmen calls as Brandon clambers into the Uber. “We’re down to our last one in the bathroom and I am not taking showers in the dark!”
Brandon chuckles. “Yeah, ma! I won’t forget!”
“Hey, uh…” Brandon watches as the driver taps at his phone as he ducks in fully, “Brendon?”
“Brandon,” the teen corrects. “Common mistake, don’t worry.”
“‘Kay,” the driver shrugs. “You’re goin’ to uh… 8143 Height Street, right?” he asks, glancing back.
“Yep,” Brandon nods.
“And then to that Target nearby?”
“You got it.”
“Awesome.” With that, the driver pulls off and Brandon leans back in his seat. He pulls his phone out from his pocket and switches over to his messenger app.
[1:32 PM]
> branflakes: heyyyy im omw
The teen checks his socials for a minute before receiving a message back.
[1:34 PM]
> bart!!!: ok
> bart!!!: see u soon
Brandon smiles to himself and goes back to tapping at his phone. It’s not long before they’re pulling up to Bro, stuffed in a hoodie, noise canceling headphones around their neck.
The slightly taller teen opens the door for the slightly shorter teen and then shifts over to the other seat. Bro easily slides into the place he was just occupying, closing the door behind themself.
“H-ey,” Bro waves.
“Hey,” Brandon grins, holding up two fingers to his forehead before flicking them away. “Thanks for agreeing to come with me.”
“No prob,” Bro shrugs.
The car is a small thing, forcing the two of them to be sitting shoulder to shoulder. Brandon feels the shrug rub against him and he has to be very, very calm about it.
“Target now, yeah?” the driver asks.
“My man,” Brandon nods, voice absolutely not cracking.
“Cool.”
Brandon and Bro don’t talk on the way to the store, the former knowing the latter didn’t really like talking in front of others in such close quarters. Instead, they both hum the tunes they recognize on the radio, the driver even joining in a bit.
Every bump in the road pushed the two teens into each other a bit. And each time Brandon was very normal about it. Super normal even. He was absolutely, perfectly normal.
It takes a moment, but eventually the car makes it to its destination and the two passengers climb out.
Before them now stands the obscenely large Target that took up nearly half a block. Outside decorations include the mascot dog in gift boxes, head coming from one box and tail coming from the other, pumpkins (it was nearing Fall…), and potted plants stuck all around the plaza-like sidewalk outside of the store.
“You wanna grab the cart or me?” Brandon asks, stretching.
“You,” Bro says, beginning to walk away and enter the store.
“‘Kay,” Brandon nods, going towards the carts instead. He pulls one of the minimal amount of carts away after he reaches them, only for the thing to come out rickety. He rolls his eyes and pulls out the next one, this one fine.
The teen scans the opening area for his friend as he pushes into the store proper, but can’t seem to spot them. He chuckles, knowing they probably went straight to the electronics aisle immediately after stepping foot into the place.
Glancing around as he makes his way there, Brandon half heartedly looks to see if he can spot something he might like.
See, along with the stuff he was here to get, he was also allowed to get one “frivolous item,” as his Mom would put it. Basically, he could get something he wanted that wasn’t on the list, cost permitting. Nothing above $40 and he was golden.
He admittedly doesn’t really pay much attention to the products though, more looking to see if he can spot the hooded figure of his friend.
After the long trek to somewhere in the back of the store, Brandon finally spots them. They’re looking at some games, head slightly tilted. Their headphones were now on, resting on top of the hood.
“Theeere you are,” he grins. “You tryin’ to cop somethin’ new?”
“Thinkin’ ‘bout it,” Bro nods. “You c’n g-go ‘nd get y-our stuff. I’ll be here.”
“You want me to send you the list I got at least? In case you wanna know generally where I might be if you wanna come and find me?” Brandon asks, already pulling out his phone and going to his Notes app to copy the list.
“Mm,” Bro nods. “Might choose sooner th-an I think.”
Brandon hums as he sends the list over. “Sent.” He turns the cart to his nearest destination. “Imma try ‘nd go in order but, you know me.” Brandon smirks, spinning a finger in the air next to his head.
Normally, Paige was the only person Brandon could ever joke about Bad Brandon with. And even then, it was few and far between. But with Bro… He didn’t know. It was fine. It’s like the whole thing never even affected them. Brandon was allowed to talk about the fact he was a weirdo who had to take medicine (that he may or may not have forgotten to take today) to not be that. About the fact Bad Brandon was the source of all that.
Bro doesn’t make it weird, either. They just nod and swipe the notification away from their phone before going back to perusing the games.
With that, Brandon looks down at the list and starts, as promised, at the top. The word lightbulbs is highlighted and has three exclamation marks at the end of it. The teen snorts. The way his Mami wrote the shopping lists was always so funny. So him.
Brandon ambles over to the lightbulbs, not far away from the electronics section. He always liked to take his time in this store. There were so many flashy things that could catch his attention to be his Funny Item Of The Trip. He liked to make sure he got the best thing he could get for that trip.
He reaches his destination sooner rather than later and searches for the right wattage of lightbulbs. The eco ones his Mom preferred specifically. They were supposed to be like… 100 or something…
He flickers through his previous notes, knowing the wattage was surely sent a little while ago. He scrolls through the notes, trying to spot the one that has it.
Eventually he gets the bright idea to search “wattage” in the search bar that makes itself very known the second you open the app. He grumbles to himself, a little miffed he didn’t think to start like that.
The actual number he’s looking for is 1100. He nods to himself and bends down to scan for the proper boxes. He figures grabbing like, three two packs would last them 20 more years.
Something or someone bumps into his cart as he grabs the box and he ignores it, figuring it was just someone passing by. He lifts and tosses the box into the cart as he watches with slightly lidded eyes Bro do the same.
He bends down to grab another before blinking, lifting back up to see Bro’s back, walking further away with each second. He looks down in the cart to see the bigger basket filled with a collection of games.
Brandon blinks. Bro wasn’t prone to trying to get so much at one time. Did they get a raise at Gamestop or something…?
A befuddled expression makes its way onto Brandon’s face as he goes to collect the other two boxes of lightbulbs. Maybe they just brought them to cross reference with him. He shrugs as he moves on the next thing on his list, some towels and rags. They were starting to run low with how many of them they’d use as washcloths and water absorbers for other things.
The teen makes his way over to the right aisle, enjoying the light feeling the smell of the cloth surrounding him brought him.
He smiles all the way through that aisle, grabbing towels and rags of all colors every so often. He stops once he feels they’ll probably be stacked for life now, and looks back at the cart, only to notice the larger basket now has several board and card games thrown in there as well.
He raises his eyebrow. Cross referencing these too, he guessed?
Brandon doesn’t see Bro this time when he looks around and so he shrugs, looking at his list for the next things.
Lotion? Check.
Soap? Checks.
Toothpaste and brushes? Chep.
Detergent… Checkarooni.
Finally he reaches the section of the list where it just says some chips or something, IDK.
Brandon grins wide. He could stock up on so many Doritos.
It’s not until he’s looking over his cart to double make sure he’d got everything (he wasn’t about to come back for like, one thing) does he notice the large basket is now overflowing with clothes.
Okay, okay, okay. Video games and like, normal board games? He could understand. But, what was all this about?
Brandon shakes his head, bemused. He was sure Bro would have some sort of explanation for this. He feels like he vaguely remembers when they set this up that they had mentioned needing some stuff too, but this seemed like a bit… much.
He sighs, unable to think of a reason of his own. Oh well. He’d get the answer soon enough.
The teen goes to the grocery section of the store, going to collect, as his Mami put it, some chips or something.
He smiles maybe a bit greedily at his haul. His Mom would get it. This was The Stock. You know. The Stock.
She would get it.
There’s a tap on his shoulder and he turns to be greeted with none other than Bro, smiling at him.
“Bart!” Brandon smiles back. “There you are!”
“Th-ere I am,” they nod.
“You got a reason for all this stuff?” Brandon snorts. “Seems like a bit much for ‘some stuff to get’.”
Bro’s smile turns a bit sly as they shrug. “I’unno,” they murmur. “Maybe y-ou’ll find out. S-ometime s-soon.”
Again Brandon raises his eyebrow, inquisitive. Just what was Bart up to?
“Wellll, I’m all done with my stuff,” Brandon says, motioning towards the cart. “I didn’t get a thingy I guess, but eh.” He looks around real quick before grabbing a cake off the shelf. “This is good enough, I guess.”
“Mm,” Bro hums. “Me too.”
“Let’s go then?” Brandon asks, turning towards the checkouts.
Bro nods. “Mm.”
Brandon and Bro make their way to the self checkouts. It’s not exactly crowded here, but it does take them a moment to get to a register of their own. They stand very close to each other as they wait for their turn, both hunched over the cart’s railing.
Brandon doesn’t say anything. Neither does Bro.
“You firs-t,” Bro says once they reach their register. “Less stuff.”
“‘Kayy,” Brandon nods. He still has a fair amount of stuff, but it feels meager in comparison to what Bro had gotten.
Once Brandon is loaded up on a few bags and has paid, he waits and watches as Bro takes his time to scan and bag everything they were getting. …Without consulting Brandon at all?
Actually, it was just like, a straight minute of Bro scanning everything they had thrown in the cart. Brandon watched in awe.
“Um,” he mumbles, tapping on Bro’s shoulder. “Bart, I know you get like, so much cash in your dinky little Gamestop job,” he jokes, “But can you afford all this?”
“Yeah,” Bro shrugs. “I-it’s important stuff. Waited a l-long while to—to get some stuff.”
Brandon hums, the sound tinged with worry. “If you’re sure…” He mumbles again.
It suddenly feels rude to watch as Bro goes to pay. He feels like he’s not allowed to look at the price anymore, not that he was paying attention in the first place. Now he absolutely can’t know though.
“Nnn…” Bro huffs eventually. “Think I got too—too much.”
Brandon looks over to see the cart filled with the bags of stuff Bro had gotten and smiles, amused. “Do we need to like, buy a cart?” he asks.
“Maybe,” Bro pouts playfully. “I’ll get it,” they offer. “W-wait on line? A-agin for us?”
Brandon frowns a bit, some disappointment stabbing him in the chest as he realizes he misses how close they were when pushing the cart. And sitting in the car. And he thinks, if I go with them, we could push the cart back together again…
And his mind is made up.
“I’ll come with,” Brandon says, totally inconspicuously. “You’re gonna need someone with, uhh…” He pulls up the sleeve of his hoodie and flexes. A fair bump forms on his bicep. “The Big Ones to help you transfer all’a this stuff.”
“Th-e Big Ones,” Bro snorts.
“The Big Ones,” Brandon smirks back.
Bro laughs as they shake their head. “You s-ay stuff sometimes,” they tut, “That is—it’s j-just…” They giggle and shake their head some more, not continuing after trailing off.
“I know,” Brandon grins, fixing his sleeve, “III’m the best.”
“You’re th-e best,” Bro nods.
Finally deciding to move out of the way of other paying customers, the two push the cart all the way from the checkout in the front of the store to somewhere in the middle of the grocery section.
“Weird they’re like, here, y’know?” Brandon says to no one really. “Liike, it makes sense, I totally get it. It’s like…” He makes a noise and waggles his hand in the air a bit. “Yyy’know. Like I get the connection. Still, kinda weird they don’t have their own like, dedicated section.”
“I g-guess this just… is their d-designa-ted s-section,” Bro says. “It’s t-tiny, but…”
“Huh,” Brandon hums. “It’s so tiny in comparison to everything else I never thought about it like that.”
“C-City workers m-make do,” Bro smirks.
Brandon smirks as well, rolling his eyes. “City workers do indeed make do.”
Together they push the store cart through the few isles until they find a purchasable cart big enough to hold all their stuff.
“Ooh,” Bro grins for the umpeenth time,” “This one.”
Brandon glances at the price. …$1200?! This was the most expensive one Bro had suggested yet! They were goin’ splitsies on this, weren’t they? Brandon had already spent nearly that much on his own stuff!
“I-It’s still not big enough, I don’t think,” he lies, also for the umpeenth time. “Look, I think I saw a cheaper one earlier that was like, way bigger.” He points his thumb behind him. “We could check that one out again?”
“M’paying,” Bro shrugs. “Don’t m-ind spending this much f-for quality.”
Brandon blinks. He wasn’t gonna be paying for it at all? That wasn’t fair!
“Wait, Bart,” Brandon says, nervously biting his lip and pulling at his fingers in front of his stomach, “You can’t—Are we not going splitsies?” he asks.
“What?” Bro asks, confused for some reason. “‘Course. It’s my fault we n-eed one a-anyways.”
“My stuff is totally adding way too much too though!” Brandon argues for some reason, determined to make things feel fair. “I can’t let you buy something this expensive without help when it’s for me too!”
For some reason, Bro snorts. “Don’t worry about th-at, Branflakes,” they grin. “I’ve got a g-golden.”
Brandon has… absolutely no idea what that means, but… Bro didn’t seem like they were wavering on paying.
Feeling a little guilty, Brandon sighs. “If you’re sure, Bart…”
“No worries,” they reassure.
After Brandon uses The Big Ones to transfer the things into the oversized cart, he pushes the store’s cart into a neat little corner.
Again, the pair of them head to the checkouts shoulder to shoulder. It feels like the both of them walk as slowly as they can.
Once they purchase the cart (in which time does Brandon notice Bro’s golden debt card), they push it outside as Bro calls for another Uber to take them home.
They don’t talk as they wait, but their shoulders rub against each other every so often. At first it’s because of a shiver Brandon has, and then one Bro has. But then Brandon figures, hey, it’s cold… and shivers again purposefully. The warmth is small and fleeting but the contact feels electric either way.
Bro makes no indication that they dislike this, even when it becomes a bit obvious they’re fake. In fact, they shiver a bit more themself. At least one of them was fake. There was no slight chatter that would accompany their normal exhale…
Brandon’s shoulders suddenly raise to his ears, face quickly reddining. Oh god. Did he really listen to them that closely? …Was it weird he’d listen to them that closely?
Brandon doesn’t get the chance to spiral. Bro has suddenly placed their hand atop his on the cart’s railing. When he looks from that to Bro, their eyes are focused intently on him. Even their lazy eye is laser focused.
“Brandy,” they mumble. “Y-ou okay?”
Brandon, against his own wishes, lets out a big huff of a laugh. “Y-yeah! I’m like, f-fine.”
Oh god. When did he get so bad at lying?
“You were… breathin’ fast,” Bro notes.
“Was I?” Brandon asks, voice cracking on the pronoun. “Nnnah, I was like—’c-’cause it’s cold…” He laughs again. “You know,” he says, flapping his hand out. “You know.”
Bro gives him a look. This is the infamous Brandon. look. The be for real and say what you actually want to look.
Brandon gulps.
And then a car honks in front of them.
The person inside pulls down their window and looks over at them. “Bro?” they ask.
Bro nods.
“‘Kay, c’mon sweetie. Sorry to rush, but I gotta get somewhere soon.”
Both Brandon and Bro smile in a way they both know isn’t real. “That’s cool,” Brandon says for the both of them. “Pop the trunk, I’ll put everything in there.”
“Nooo problem, honey,” the driver smiles gratefully, doing as requested.
While Brandon puts the things away, Bro hovers nearby, arms reaching out every so often. They look like they want to help, but there was no need.
“You can go sit down, I’ll be done in a sec,” Brandon assures.
Bro, for whatever reason, frowns a bit before nodding and climbing inside the car. Only a few bags remained by the time they were settled, and Brandon finishes by collapsing and stuffing the cart into the back of this person’s van.
When Brandon finally climbs into the car after, the driver taps at their phone.
“Okay!” they clap. “Tooo… 16535 Pacific Road, right?”
“Yep,” Brandon affirms, only to blink. “Wait, and then to 8143 Height Street, right?”
“Huh?” the driver asks. “There’s only one stop listed.”
“It’s r-ight,” Bro says, raising their voice a bit. “Just one stop.”
“Alright,” the driver shrugs. “Off we go then!”
They pull off and Brandon looks over at Bro. “Bart?”
“Sorry for i-intruding,” they smirk, waving a hand from across the gap in the seats of the van.
Bro had invited themself over, huh…
Brandon doesn’t really get why, but this wasn’t uncommon of them to do. He was sure his Mom wouldn’t have an issue with it.
“No problem,” he smiles. “Maybe just tell me next time?”
“Maybe,” Bro replies, not missing a beat.
By the time they reach Brandon’s house, the empty space to his side begins to make him upset. He liked being close to Bro… Ever since they got in that first Uber, he was really, really enjoying being so close to his… his friend.
Brandon’s frown is deep as they enter the Aguja household. “Ma,” he calls into the house, “Bart’s stayin’ the night.”
“Oh, hello Bartholomew!” Carmen calls from somewhere in the kitchen. Brandon can smell soap. Carmen was probably packing some stuff to be sent away.
“H-hii,” Bro calls back.
“We got like, a cart of stuff!. Imma leave it near the door, okay?”
“Okay, mijo!” He then gasps and asks, “Did you get the—”
“Yes, Mami, I got the lightbulbs,” Brandon laughs. “We’re goin’ upstairs, ‘kay?”
“Okay!”
Without thinking, Brandon then reaches back and waits for Bro’s hand to fill it, which it does almost immediately. They had always climbed stairs like this before Bad Brandon showed its dumb face. It’s a habit they never really lost, he guessed.
Together they climb until they reach the second floor and make their way to Brandon’s bedroom.
“Ughhh,” Brandon sighs, flopping back on his bed. “Ough my god. My everything hurts.”
“The Big Ones n-not big enough?” Bro teases, sticking out their tongue.
“Oh, hush,” Brandon huffs, grabbing a pillow. “Think fast, you little so and so!”
He throws the pillow directly at Bro, who somehow perfectly blocks it with their forearm, sending it limply to the floor.
“Woah,” Brandon breathes. “How the hell did you do that?”
“I’ll n-never tell,” Bro smirks. “But we can say th-at your constant… trials h-elped.”
“I see…” Brandon hums, rubbing his chin. “Like a pupil learning from their master…”
“Y-ou’re no master,” Bro snorts.
“Take that back, subordinate!” Brandon laughs, throwing another pillow. It is again parried perfectly.
“Dude, what the hell.” Brandon is seriously impressed. It looked super cool. Bro looked super cool.
Bro always looked super cool though, Brandon thinks to himself. They’re always cool and chill and… and their face is very good looking… and they’re all around pretty… p-pretty chill, that is…
…Did he already say that?
Brandon shakes his head. “Oh man,” he smiles, hoping the hint of fakeness that was in it didn’t show, “I think I should take a shower. My head’s kinda all…” Again Brandon twirls a finger in the air near his head, just like he did earlier. “Ppptthh. Y’know?”
Bro nods. “Yeah.” They then move towards his dresser. “I’ll pick out s-omethin’ for y-you.”
“Aww, thanks, Bart,” Brandon grins. “I'll be back soon. You know the drill.”
“I’ll w-wait for you d-ownstairs ‘til y-you shout that I can go up,” Bro nods. “I know.”
Brandon winks and raises two fingers to his forehead before flicking them away. He then grabs his towel and leaves Bro to find both of them something to change into after their showers.
The teen doesn’t take an especially long shower, the burning water proving to be just a bit too much for him at the moment, but him unwilling to change its temperature.
It must be about 15 or 20 minutes before he’s shouting over the second floor’s bannister, “Yo! S’free!”
“Yeah,” Bro calls back, voice not quite a shout.
Brandon goes into his room then and dresses. But, as he pulls on the shirt and pants combo, he feels something’s… off.
He looks over himself in the mirror and after a moment, slaps a fist into the palm of his other hand.
That was what was wrong!
He totally did not own these pj’s!
In fact, he knew he didn’t because this was a set he had really wanted for a while now. It was a set of Bloons pajamas. Something about the game captivated him, and he had super wanted merch.
But. As great as this was, where had they come from? They fit him perfectly, so they must be his size… Did his Mom get this for him and hide it?
Brandon smiles to himself at the thought. Aww… that was so sweet of him! He’d have to thank her later.
Brandon finishes his routine finally by lotioning down and by then, there’s a peculiar knock on the door.
“Dressed!” Brandon calls, looking up from his phone from where he sat on his bed. Im walked Bro, clothes just a bit tight on them. They walk in and stretch, t shirt riding up a bit.
Brandon is extremely normal about this development.
“Hey,” they grin lazily. “Need you h-help.”
“Help?” Brandon blinks.
“The Big Ones are n-needed,” Bro smiles innocently, causing Brandon to burst out into a laugh.
“Well how am I supposed to turn down a request like that?” Brandon giggles. “C’mon, silly,” he says as he gets out of his bed. He flicks Bro’s forehead with the back of two of his fingers. “I’ll fine you 7mil if you make me break out The Big Ones for an audience of none.”
Bro chuckles and follows behind Brandon as he makes his way downstairs. They approach the cart and Brandon looks at Bro, waiting for instructions.
“These four,” Bro says, pointing at each in turn. Brandon nods and picks them all up. Bro then takes one more light-looking bag out before nodding. “Alr-right. Back up we go.”
Brandon nods and lifts all four bags at once. They’re honestly not too heavy, but he can see where Bro might’ve struggled to hold them all.
His reward is clapping and giggling from Bro.
“Nice,” they smile easily.
Brandon blushes furiously as he pushes past them with a dumb grin on his face. “Thank you, thank you!” he laughs, hoping it doesn’t sound nervous.
They reach his room pretty quickly and Brandon lets go of his load. Bro comes in behind him and closes the door.
“Now that all this stuff is in my room, can I finally ask what it’s for?”
“Yeah,” Bro grins. “You.”
Brandon tilts his head, eyebrows furrowing. “Me?” he asks, pointing at himself hesitantly.
Bro nods, holding out their arms. “It’s a special day.”
“Special day?” Brandon asks, now worried he had forgotten something important to them. What happened today? What date was it even?
“Don’t p-panic,” Bro says quickly. “It’s s-omething I never mentioned before.”
“Oh,” Brandon sighs. “O-okay. So what’s so special about today that I get all this…” He motions around, “Stuff?” He mumbles under his breath then, “I don’t even freakin’ know what half this stuff is…”
Bro just keeps their wide smile. “T’day’s the day we first p-patched up our friendship,” they explain. “I thought… I-it was somethin’ to celebrate, y’kno-w?”
Brandon looks at his friend in pure awe. The day that they had fixed their relationship… They had remembered the date? They had gotten him gifts for this even?
“Bart…” Brandon breathes, sitting down on his bed, a bit overwhelmed suddenly. “Bart…”
“Go on,” Bro grins. “Open those bags. I th-ink you’ll like s-some of that stuff a lot.”
It takes a moment for Brandon to compose himself enough to get down on the floor and rifle through the bags. Bro joins him on the floor as he pulls out several video games from a bag.
“No freaking way…” he breathes, looking between the games and Bro. “Dude, this thing is full of the games I’ve wanted for like the past couple of months!”
“I know,” Bro laughs. “I put ‘em there.”
The only other bag that doesn’t have clothes contains a frankly absurd amount of stimming stuff. There was especially plenty of putty and several slabs of kinetic sand, as well as a playmat for it.
“Dude!” he gasps happily. “How’d you know I love this stuff?!”
“You say a lotta things,” Bro shrugs simply.
Finally, Brandon pulls out the clothes. One bag has various shirts and hoodies with graphics on them, as well as a few pairs of pants. The second is stuffed with a few more pairs of jeans and a ton of pajama sets. All of them had a bunch of different graphics on them as well, all some sort of relation to a franchise Brandon liked.
“Bart, there’s no way you bought all this stuff for me…” Brandon finally breathes. “I… I can’t believe that.” He picks up three games. “This alone is 180 USD! And you bought me a bunch of games! And vouchers? And—and everything else!”
Brandon’s mind races. There was no way he could ever repay Bro for something like this… He knew they weren’t hurting for money, but there was no way they were allowed to spend this much in one trip. To Target, no less.
“Brandy,” Bro says while grabbing a hold of Brandon’s hands. It seems they’ve once again stopped him from spiraling. “What’s wr-ong?”
Brandon thinks to lie. It’s quickly extinguished though, disbelief too powerful to think of anything.
“I… Bart, are you gonna get in trouble for this?” The teen is distraught. “I don’t want you to get in trouble just for me…”
Bro tilts their head, worried. “What?” they ask. “I-I told you, I have a golden.”
“Yeah, your debt card’s golden. So what?” He frowns. “That make it special or somethin’?”
“It does,” Bro nods. “Means it’s actually D-Dad’s credit card. And it’s j-just gonna look good to buy s-o much ‘nd then pay it b-ack.”
“Is he so not gonna kill you for that though?!” Brandon yelps. “That’s so much money!”
Bro, of all things, raises their eyebrows. “Brandy, you’re talking l-like we can’t pay it back a-as soon as possible.”
“Can you?” Brandon presses.
“And then a couple th-ousand more,” Bro says blandly. “Your point?”
“Bart, have you been obscenely rich right under my nose for however many years now?” Brandon accuses suddenly, completely taken aback by the nonchalance. Brandon and his mom weren’t exactly struggling, but…
“I h-have never hidden my Dad’s job before,” Bro blinks. “I th-ought mentioning his… l-lawyerdom was enough to put s-omething like th-at on a scale.”
“First of all, points for lawyerdom,” Brandon praises before continuing, a lot more frazzled, “Secondly, what do you mean you thought that was enough?”
“I’unno,” Bro shrugs. “Point is, we got it.” They grin easily at Brandon and give him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Brandy.”
Several emotions make themselves known at once inside of Brandon immediately, but he focuses on the warmest feelings. If Bro was so sure they could afford it… he wouldn’t turn it down.
“O-okay,” he nods eventually. “Okay.”
The open window sends a stiff wind through the room and both teens shiver. This immediately reminds Brandon that the two of them haven’t been near each other since they got into that Uber home…
He frowns sadly.
“S-omething wrong?” Bro asks almost immediately.
“Oh, um…” Brandon mumbles. “I-I was just thinking that I think my other comforter is um… dirty right now.” He looks away. “So um… I could give you mine. Since it’s pretty cold. O-or…” He bites his lip and pulls his finger a bit.” We could um… sleep in my bed together. And share it.”
Brandon doesn’t know why he's so shy. Them sharing a bed isn’t something that's exactly new or anything. But today it just seems like… so much.
Bro doesn’t wait long to reply. “Let’s share.”
Brandon gulps as he nods. “Cool,” he smiles. “I’m… actually pretty tired after that shower and everything.”
“Mmm… Me too,” Bro yawns. “We ca-n tuck in now, i-if you want, then.”
Brandon can’t stop how fast he nods. “Sure!” He’s already sliding into bed as he says it. “Um, can you turn on the night light?” he asks.
“No prob.” Bro does as asked, turning off the overhead light as well. They then slip into bed after Brandon and almost immediately latch onto him.
This was also usual. At home, Bro had a pillow they would hold onto in order to sleep. Here, Brandon agreed to be that pillow.
“G’night,” Bro yawns, snuggling their head into Brandon’s shoulder.
He’s so full of emotion at the motion that he almost forgets to reply. “G-good night!” he manages to squeak out. He can feel the rumble of Bro’s quiet laugh and it calms him slightly.
It feels like the whole day had led up to this. Was this planned? Or was it complete chance Brandon had to go to the store today of all days?
The day they mended their relationship..
Their friendship…
Brandon gives a wistful look to an already slumbering Bro. They had said friendship. It… it was purposeful, wasn’t it? The way they had phrased it.
The teen sighs, ripping his gaze away from the other. Of course. That’s all they were. Friends.
Brandon sighs heavily. Friends.
“Goodnight, Bart,” he whispers, turning to face the other. Their foreheads touch now. If this was okay for friends to do, then Brandon wouldn’t try to push past that. Even… even if he wanted to…
He wanted to have that coveted title…
Bro snorts suddenly and adjusts their grip on Brandon, holding him tightly.
This was friendship, huh…
Then, if it had to, this would…
This would work.