It could be said Brandon Breyer, felt different at least a little…. Ok maybe a lot. The symbol, his symbol that could be seen being sketched in his blue notebook would be considered odd to anyone who saw it, like two 'b's back to back, a long vertical line connecting them.

For some reason, he felt drawn to it- no pun intended- like it was apart of him on a way deeper meaning than he could know. So more and more recently he has felt more of a pull to sketch this mark, hence why it was all over his notebook. But he wasn't so engrossed with his work he didn't notice what went on around him in class.

"Can anyone tell me what's the difference between a bee and a wasp?" The teacher asked to be met with instant silence.

'Don't all answer at once…' she thought before deciding if there wouldn't be volunteers, there would be victims.

"Brandon." She called pulling him from his work.

Looking up, Brandon became slightly nervous before speaking.

"U-Uh, well… bees are pollinators and wasps are predators." He said causing her to smile and nod, but he wasn't done yet.

"Wasps are also more aggressive, some even losing the ability to create their own nests, instead forcing others to…" and so began his long explanation.

Hey, she said she wanted to know the difference, Brandon was gonna give it to her.

"Sort of like maggots." He finished leaving a shell shocked but smiling teacher.

Guess she learned something from this experience at least.

"Man, you love talkin about maggots, must be because you are one!" One of his classmates said getting some laughs in the class before another voice cut in.

"Nah, he just saw your nappy hair, all the lice and bugs in there reminded him of them." At that a chorus of 'ooooh's and 'burn!' Rang out the class while even Brandon gained a small smile.

Glancing over Brandon saw the most yellow blond hair imaginable, whiskered cheeks and wide grin. The boy was sticking up for him… noone outside his parents did that, and to be honest, it was weird. But seeing the boys wide grin and blue eyes that seemed to glow with warmth, Brandon ventured a timid smile in thanks, that the boy saw and responded with- to Brandon's growing surprise- an even bigger grin.

"Hey, shut up new kid!" The boy roared in fury before the teacher cut in.

"Ok that's enough class…" this said after her initial chuckles died down.

"Hey, its ok," a female voice turned his attention to in front of him, "smart guys wind up ruling the world." Caitlyn assured him warmly.

This caused a bigger more noticable smile from Brandon who nodded to her while she smiled at him before turning back to the lesson.

The rest of the lesson went on without issue or problems. Before Brandon knew it, the bell had rung and it was time for lunch. Knowing it was time he packed up his book and book bag before heading to the cafeteria to try to work on something and eat.

As he walked out he noticed Caitlyn looking at him and felt an odd warmth in his chest before shaking it off and continuing on his trek to lunch before he heard someone call out… to him… something about that sentence didn't sound right…

"Hey! Brandon, right?" The voice questioned behind him before it moved to his left walking with him to lunch.

Looking over, Brandon saw it was the same boy that defended him in class, the new kid. Walking next to him. They looked completely different.

The kid next to him had black capris with a black and orange bomber jacket. His black and orange nikes fell in step with Brandon's vans. His eyes were an unusually bright shade of blue making Brandon raise an eyebrow.

"A...Are you talking… to me?" Brandon asked, his eyes scanning for anyone else around them.

"Of course, dude!" The boy grinned opening the door to the cafeteria for him before Brandon muttered a quick 'thank you' before heading in, and getting into line to quietly get his food, his new shadow right behind him.

After sitting down, Brandon tried his best not to let his nervousness get the better of him. Sure, he never really cared about making friends and or socializing to an extreme, but normally people ignored him anyways, so this was next level weird for him.

"Sorry uh, who are you?" Brandon asked after finding an empty table, sitting down only to be blinded by the new kids infectious smile.

"Names Naruto Uzumaki, you can call me Nate though." the now named Naruto or Nate said with an easy smile.

"Na.. Naruto? What kind of name is that?" Brandon asked, completely lost as he never heard a name like that before.

"Well its japanese, it means maelstrom." He informed Brandon with a smile while the brown haired boy nodded before biting his apple.

"Soo Brandon, what do you do for fun?" Naruto asked making Brandon pause in his eating to stare at him.

Leaning in Brandon thought he'd do the kid a favor, being seen with 'Brandon Bryer' was social suicide, even Brandon himself knew it.

"Look, you know you don't have to do this, right?" Brandon questioned getting a raised eyebrow from the enigmatic blond.

"Do what?" He asked back, confusing and irritating Brandon.

"Be nice to me. Other kids are probably going to pick on you, so just leave me alone." He said dejectedly.

"Why would that matter to me?" Naruto questioned getting Brandon's eyes back on him widening in shock, "I decide who my friends are, nobody else. And guess what I decided!"

Shocked and unsure how to answer the question Brandon just looked at Naruto in shock at his declaration, it dawned on Brandon something.

He didn't have friends. True, it never bothered him before and he didn't mind being alone, he certainly never thought anyone would be adamant about being friends with him.

With a light lump in the throat he asked;

"What did you decide?"

"You're gonna be my new best friend!" Naruto declared with a grin.

This caused Brandon to choke on his milk, coughing it out, which Naruto dodged by leaning to the side.

Unfortunately his spit take landed on one of his school Bully's back.

'Oh crap' Brandon thought while trying to control his coughing.

While the bullying never got too physical or anything, Brandon always felt if was only a hair's breadth away from happening. So seeing the school jock slowly turn around with murder in his eyes, Brandon met his eye immediately regretting it.

"Breyer!" He roared, standing up, fury abound while Brandon tried to resolve it.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, it was an accident!" Brandon tried to explain only for the boy, only to hear others call over him

"Nah, get him, Max!" The same kid that called him a maggot yelled as the now dubbed Max walked around his table to him.

"Hey, Max, right?" Naruto piped up gaining everyone's attention as he stopped Max's charge.

Wordlessly the boys eyes drifted to his fellow blond who looked at him almost sheepishly.

"See, problem is, it's actually my fault you got milk on you. I kinda startled Brandon." He apologized with a laugh while Brandon looked on in abstract horror.

Here he was finally making a new friend and now he had to watch them get murdered by the school bully.

Granted he didn't really feel too bad about the milk thing, but he didn't want the kid to take a butt kicking on his behalf.

"I don't care who caused it! Brandon spit his milk on me and I'm gonna pound him for it!" Max roared.

...well, there goes that line of thought. So he was gonna get beat up because Naruto started something? How is that fair?

His inner musings were lost on him when he and the rest of the cafeteria heard Naruto's uncontained laughter.

"'He spit his milk on you'… did you mean to word it like that?" Naruto asked getting the whole cafe's attention back onto himself.

The bully caught the meaning of his words with a red face before he slammed his hands on the table to intimidate the new kid.

"Shut up! Or you're next!" He yelled while Naruto only smiled and stood up.

"And you're gonna 'pound him'? Yikes…" Naruto joked making the bully go red while the rest of the cafeteria laugh.

Looking to his new friend, Naruto saw Brandon grow a smile on his face, not bothering to hide his amusement.

'Oh yeah, this kid has a fire to him.' Naruto thought before turning to the pirate teen in front of him.

"I mean, I'm not judging but…" letting his words trail off, Naruto was rewarded with the bully flying off the handle.

Immediately Max swing with a wild right Naruto leaned away from the fist holding his hands up.

"Whoa, careful! you could have hurt somebody!" Naruto yelled while grinning and Brandon smiled knowing what he was planning.

"That's the idea!" Max roared swinging again, but Naruto just stayed out of his reach somehow while Brandon watched.

The whole cafeteria watched as Max tried to throttle Naruto and fail horribly. Naruto was dancing around the boy's grabs and punches. The students cheered Naruto's athleticism while yelling at Max for being unable to hit the new kid. His rage only made him wilder, sloppier, and more prone to mistakes. Essentially, Naruto never fought back, Max beat himself up, case in point, while weaving through the hits Naruto smiled before using a plastic tray, holding it up for Max's fist to crash into it. Naruto silently watched the students laughing at Max rolling around holding his aching hand.

Turning towards Brandon, Naruto smiled at his new friend laughing before him. Grabbing the milk from his own try before pouring some of it on the floor in front of himself before winking at Brandon's confused face. Naruto was about to say something as he saw the teachers began closing in.

"Look out!" Brandon called out seeing a charging Max come in for a kick.

His warning was apparently unnecessary, as if seeing the boy coming, Naruto moved to the side, out of harm's way, while Max's foot stepped on the milk, and slid himself into the table, lading on his family jewels.

All the boys and male teachers cringed at the sight before the teachers finally showed up, seeing Brandon holding his sides laughing with Naruto while Max was on the ground holding… himself.

"What happened?" a teacher, Mr. Clark asked.

"I can tell you!" Caitlyn called out, walking up to the teacher, "Well, Brandon and the new kid were just minding their own business…"

As she told the story and Max was being carted off to the nurse, Naruto looked at the heavily amused Brandon before sitting next to him to see his notebook.

"So my new partner in crime," Naruto said before grinning at Brandon's slightly alarmed face, "What were you working on in class?"

At that, Brandon's face lit up as he whipped his book out to show Naruto his designs, while Naruto looked on. Normally the brown haired boy was more protective of his notebook. Private, even, but Naruto proved he was trustworthy.

"Whoa, dude! Thats awesome!" Naruto cheered before looking closer gaining a sheepish look, "Uh… what is it?"

"Is it your initials?" Caitlyn asked next to them, looking down, successfully spooking Brandon.

"O-Oh… uh, I really don't know… just feels right to make it, yaknow…?" Brandon asked with a light blush, not quite sure how to answer.

It was weird, normally he didn't talk nearly as much as he was now, but now the girl he liked and his new friend were now talking to him and… he was talking back? This was so weird...

It might be a little early to say this but… if he didn't know any better, Brandon Breyer could say, he had friends.

~TBC~

So… recently I saw Brightburn, and while it was a good movie,in the words of Sameal; "I like stories with a happy ending." I think with a little love, understanding and a friend, a real friend, the story would be to mention I think a friend that could beat his ass would give him a helping case of humility. Sooo no clue where I wanna go with this but I'll see. Sooo R&R please don't overly flame me and lemme know what you think. Thank you for joining the Onyx corps and I'll see you later!