Title: Prove It

Main Characters: Bryan + Julia

Genre: romance

Rating: K

Summary: When Julia is stuck in a basement with her fellow beyblading teams, new opportunities present themselves. Will Bryan get the courage to let Julia know him, or stay locked up inside? first BRYAN/JULIA

Disclaimer: No, I don't own it. What is this oh so famous it? It is Beyblade and all of its respective seasons.

I know I'm working on Find Something New. However, I've realized that the entire thing from chapter 2 and up isn't working, so I'm changing what's going to happen from chapter 2 and up!

FAREWELL! This is my Ode To Summer fic. It's not going to be summery at all though. The thing is, I'm typing this on Monday August 15. My last day of summer vacation. My first day as a freshman is tomorrow. Yea. Everyone hope for my safe return.

Anyway, this is my final farewell to summer until May. Farewell, sweet friend . . .

Review and tell me what you think! Don't just say update. I want to know what you like! What you don't like! Whatever!

You're tired of hearing me by now. Here ya go! The FIRST and I repeat FIRST Bryan/Julia. Don't blame me. Blame my friend Nariko Sasame (pen name here). She came up with the pairing and she put this up for me! Oh, yeah. Hehe. The fic. Here.

Julia scanned the large concrete basement of the BBA building, what she could see of it anyway. What felt like hundreds of boxes blocked her view beyond the small circle several teams had made in the dungeon. The competing teams BBA Revolution, White Tiger X, PPB Allstarz, and F Dynasty had gathered together to form a large group near the stairs leading out of the basement. Raul and Romero had already fallen asleep from boredom, snoozing back to back. Julia couldn't blame them, and actually really wanted to join them. Waiting was too tedious, and her butt had gone slightly numb from being on the hard concrete floor too long. It really didn't help that it looked like this floor hadn't been mopped in years.
Cringing in disgust, she stood up and swatted away the dust that clung to the back of her skirt. No one really paid much mind, most people either asleep or starting to lull off themselves.
Several lights overhead flickered, threatening to go out and leave a patch of area in shadows. This place really was ridiculous, Julia began thinking as she wandered through the maze of oversized wooden crates, not comprehending the fact that she could get lost. No, instead her mind went on to other things that she hoped to satisfy the eternal tediousness of the day which chose to constantly plague her.
There had been a tornado watch issued in that area and all people had been advised to go underground until it ended at 7:15 pm. Julia hated being underground, where she couldn't have the slightest idea of what was coming and even if anything was. It was like if anything did come, she wouldn't have a clue until the entire building came down on her in a flurry of dust and metal. A shiver went up her spine at that, but she had always persevered to stay tough. There was never a time to become scared, especially not at the mere thought of things that wouldn't even come. Everyone thought, no, knew that the tornado wouldn't come their way. Too little chance, but they took this as a safety precaution.
Besides those little facts, here in the basement she couldn't even tell if it was night or day!
The Spanish maiden shook her head of the thoughts and relaxed her tensed body, walking onward. She briefly passed Barthez Battalion, slowing a fair bit to get a good look at them. Mr. Barthez was a good space away from his team, snoring profusely. Miguel and Aaron appeared to be conversing and quietly laughing about a topic involving their teammates. The reason for this being that the two, Claude and Mathilda, had fallen asleep in a questionable position. The pink-haired blader had fallen asleep curled up with most of her upper half in Claude's lap, while the said blader was sleeping sitting up with his hand on her back.
Chuckling herself at the two clueless European beybladers, Julia continued down the maze. Seeing as how she had no plans on doing much, she thought she'd sneak a peek at the most solitary team in the tournament: the Blitzkrieg Boys. The minute everyone had clustered down the stairs and into this apparently abandoned basement, the Russians had gone off on their own having never cared one bit for socializing with their peers or the comforting presence others brought.
Coming to a place where the path broke off in four different directions, she took the widest one on the far right.
"Maybe they're this way", Julia mused to herself.
Her ears listened intently for any noise they might make, anything what so ever. Then again, what did she expect to hear? They weren't the types to laugh and joke. No, she was willing to bet her prized Thunder Pegasus that the Muscovites did a lot of brooding and sending glares at inanimate objects. A mental image entered her head of all of them doing so and she couldn't help but to giggle. Julia quickly silenced herself. If they heard her and found her first, it would no doubt be terribly embarrassing. They would want an explanation, firmly convinced that she was another ridiculous girl come to stalk them.
They must have so many annoying fan girls from all over the world screaming their heads off at them wherever they go. Julia cringed terribly at the thought of being compared to those groupies, those sheep who had nothing else to do besides harass people. Pity went to the fellow competing team for being bothered just because of their undeniable good looks, but they would only hate her for any pity sent their way. Heck, they'd hate her for that other thought. She crossed her arms. Yeah, they would want to be "strong" enough to be above sympathy and too ignorant to see what's in the mirror.
For a second, Julia wondered why she was going to see them. They surely wouldn't want her company, and if the Blitzkrieg Boys did let her stay she would only be shunned. How nice was that?
"Why am I even bothering?" she asked rhetorically, jumping an inch in the air after receiving a very much unanticipated reply to her question.
"Yeah, why are you?" a voice came from above.
Julia quickly began looking around and was frightened to find absolutely no one. It scared her that someone could see her, but she couldn't even spot them. The idea had always given her a nasty cold chill and eerie thoughts played with her active imagination. Of course, in the past it had only been a thought, not something part of the present.
An annoyed sigh. "I'm over here."
Spinning around, her lime green eyes flew to Bryan who was sitting on a stack of three crates. How embarrassing! She had walked right under him. So much for not being found.
Julia put her hands on her hips, aggravated. "What are you doing up there?"
Bryan had his legs dangling over the side, one crossed over the other. He was leaning back, propping himself up with a gloved hand while the free one had been set leisurely across his lap, fingering the beyblade case the falcon bit beast Falborg resided in. Looking up at him, Julia could see just how bored he really was.
"Thinking", he replied with a careless shrug of the shoulders.
"Yeah, but why up there?" she pried, knowing full well that she didn't have anything else to do. After this, she might as well go and giggle about Claude and Mathilda.
"Because I want to." Apparently, he just wished she would.
"So what are you thinking about?" A completely forward question, true, but an innocent one.
"Why are you spying on people?" he threw back, already impatient with the person he was conversing with. Not that he had much of another choice as well. Tala was moody, Spencer was playing solitaire (a game which he did not like being distracted from), and Kai, well, no one could tell whether he was brooding or asleep.
"I'm not spying", she defended herself. "I'm stretching, that's all. We've been in here for hours." Her voice made the ending statement sound more like a complaint than a whine.
"Two."
"Huh?"
"We've been in here for two hours."
"So Spencer likes to play Solitaire?" she asked in hopes of starting more of a conversation.
"All of us like card games."
"I've tried playing card games, but I can never really get the hand of most of them. I'm really good at Blitz, though. I haven't met anyone who could beat me yet", Julia bragged, persuading Bryan to roll his eyes.
"Sure." His tone said he really didn't care, and she caught on. After all, Julia felt she had some insight on how a guy's mind works considering she is so close to her own brother. However, she was completely resolute in not to have to go for Plan B if this didn't work. So, another change of topic was greatly needed.
"You're not gay, are you?" Just not that.
Bryan seemed to wake up for the first time in that conversation. He gave her a surprised look before replying, "None of us are, well, we're not so sure about Ian."
She blinked once. Twice. Several times before understanding what he said.
"Oh, you're joking!" Julia discovered.
Once again, she saw him roll his eyes. It wasn't like he could really blame her, though. She couldn't recall a time she had ever heard anything other than a mean jest come from the Blitzkrieg Boys. Then again, that was pretty harsh to Ian who she guessed not to be gay. Wait, who was Ian again?
"Why, are you?" he countered back cautiously.
"What? No!"
An uncomfortable silence passed between them before anyone tried another topic of discussion.
"Why are you so pale, anyway?" Once again, it was up to Julia to push the weak conversation forward.
"I didn't see much sun growing up", came his simple reply, the tone of his voice completely unchanged. "Why do you only wear black lipstick on your top lip?"
This wasn't going as Julia had hoped it would. She mentally kicked herself, after all, she should have known that if she started scrutinizing him, he'd scrutinize her. Being a girl, having her looks examined was an extremely upsetting process.
"No reason." Her mind found something else he should take to: talking about himself.

"So, what's Russia like?"
"Well, there are eleven different time zones", he started, curious as to why she would want to know.
"Don't you live in Moscow? Does it snow a lot there?" Her neck was beginning to ache from looking up so long.
"Yeah, but people think wrong about it. It's not like Antarctica, it can get pretty warm there in the summer."
"Have you ever gone to St. Basil's Cathedral?" Julia had heard her brother talking about it once when they were watching the Beyblade World Championships on a small television with Romero. It had been a rainy day and with nothing else to do, they were happy to find that they had the free time to watch one of the finals matches that was going on in Russia. She didn't know much about it, but St. Basil's was supposed to be the Notre Dame of Russia.
"Yeah, we go there."
Julia was taken aback by that answer. "I never took you for the church type."
He glared. "We're not atheists."
"And I never thought you were", she quickly corrected his thoughts. "Just because someone doesn't attend church doesn't mean that they don't have a religion. Raul and I don't get any chances to go to church because our circus troupe is always traveling, but we're still religious."
This piqued Bryan's interest. "You're in a circus?"
Now it was Julia's turn to feel comfortable under a subject she knew. "Yeah, I do a little juggling, acrobatics, and a lot of beyblade tricks."
He nodded, encouraging her to go on. Having grown up in the abbey, the chance of going to a circus had never presented itself to him. It was even more interesting to hear what kind of tricks could be done with just a beyblade.
"Well", she started, "there's one where me and Raul stack glass bottles on top of each other, launch our blades into the air, and have them land on top of each other on the top of the bottles. And then, there's another one where I twirl a ribbon and make my beyblade go along it- Hey! What are you doing?"
The Russian beyblader slipped over the edge of the crate and fell a fair fourteen feet to the hard solid ground, landing heavily on his feet. He straightened his posture and looked at the girl before him.
Julia, during Bryan's "leap of faith", had jumped back herself and flinched at the sound of his booted feet hitting echoing as they hit solid concrete. Seeing him watching her, amused at her ridiculous reaction, she immediately tried regaining her composure which she was sure to have lost.
"Did I scare you?" he asked, smirking. The answer was all too evident, including her own reply.
"No!" Julia pitifully tried to defend. "You caught me off guard."
"Right", Bryan replied, a smirk still on his face.
It agitated her, making her grit her teeth in frustration. Of course, she wasn't really mad at him. This whole thing was more like play. In their own way, the two were having a conversation that involved teasing and basically getting to know the other. It didn't seem like they just didn't have anything else other to do, but now they wanted to carry on their talk because it was just purely interesting speaking with someone far different from what either one was used to. That was saying something too, considering each had seen more than their fair share of characters.
"So, what's your favorite movie?" she asked, suddenly feeling overcome with confidence at the realization.
"Oceans Eleven", Bryan replied, starting to feel slightly more comfortable. He didn't like opening up to people and very rarely did. Mostly, the teen kept to his teammates. This girl, however, hadn't asked anything too personal. Well, that gay question had caught him off guard.
But then there was this nagging bit of his mind that reminded him that she was just another girl beyblader out to prove something. Mariah and Emily should have gotten together long ago, then they could have created another girl power team with a stupid girlish name. Yeah, then they would sooner or later get smashed by another team with actual skills and would say that they were still better. Hilary from BBA Revolution should join their group too. The sassy loud-mouth may not know how to blade to save her life, but she was still stubborn and out to prove something. And Julia?
He had seen her push around her little brother, but wasn't that what siblings usually did? Competitiveness was just part of her, but did that make her another girl out to prove something. Thinking on it, she was. Though not as extreme as the two from White Tiger X and PPB Allstarz. What were their names again, he briefly wondered before not caring enough about the answer to forget about the question.
"I've never seen that one", Julia talked away, unaware of the thoughts that had previously gone through the other's head. "My favorite is probably the one where this guy's wife is dead and talking to him through- Hey, where are you going?"
Bryan had suddenly started walking off without warning. Stubborn about leaving him alone, Julia followed in hot pursuit.
"Hold it right there!" she yelled, quickly stepping in front of him to block his path. "Don't start walking away when I'm talking to you!"
"Whatever", he spat back.
"Why are you acting like this?"
"Why are you even talking to me?" Bryan demanded, wanting to what he felt to be the point of it all.
"To get to know you, stupid!" Julia yelled, angry at him.
She tried looking him in the eye, face to face, but found it difficult. The truth came to her and she cursed. This guy was a little over a head taller than her. Just great!
He couldn't take it. "What are you doing?"
Julia had been getting on the tips of her toes before falling back down on to the bottom of her feet and trying again. All this in a poor attempt to not have to look to far up at him.
"Have you ever noticed how tall you are compared to me?" she asked, giving up on shortening their height differences. It was too pointless by then.
"Only when I'm around you." Bryan realized that the conversation was coming back and instantly tried to move her aside. He succeeded and continued on his way.
Julia had had enough of his rude behavior and wasn't going to be nice about it a second longer. Her hands in fists, she sprinted after the guy as a plan formulated itself in her mind. Seeing a large opening that was almost alley-like, she threw her body roughly into his side. This action sent both teens into the "alley" and Bryan up against a wooden wall that kept him trapped by Julia.
"I've been nice to you the entire time, so you should tell me what the heck is wrong with you!" the furious Hispanic girl demanded, poking him in the chest several times with her index finger.
"You're bothering me!" he shouted back.
"Hey, it's not my fault you just won't open up and talk! There's nothing wrong with being friendly to someone!" Julia yelled back.
That hit a nerve inside of him. Being one of the most reasonable members on his team, Bryan knew he definitely wasn't acting like it. It didn't make sense why he was so mad at her. His mind began working once more.
Yes, she was poking her nose into business that didn't concern her at all. However, she was mainly asking questions with no true motive behind them and had said herself that she was purely curious to know more about him. Even when she asked a simple question, he felt . . . What did he feel?
It dawned on Bryan that the problem was him, and his unwillingness to open up. Sighing, he mentally shook his head. Tala had actually been right in telling Bryan that he read far too much for his own good. Not that the red-head didn't read, it's just that the silver-haired teen had always thought far into things.
But how did Julia know?
"Maybe I have a good reason for not opening up like you do", he finally replied, lowering his tone and calming down.
"Like?" Julia crossed her arms.
Now he definitely had every right to not say anything. Such a subject was personal, too personal to let her handle such precious information he was not about to spread.
"I'm not used to it", he told her, avoiding the real truth behind it.
"Really?" Julia settled down and uncrossed her arms. Now she was concerned and curious. It was odd that he felt unable to just open up and say a few things about himself.
A silence seemed to pass between them once more. It wasn't as uncomfortable as thoughtful, each contemplating where to go from there. Julia could tell that bit of information of was very personal to Bryan and needed to be treated sensitively. If only she could help him open up. Being a very outgoing and social person herself, it made her feel greatly depressed on the inside how some people had trouble just making friends. And now, one of those people was standing right in front of her, no doubt wondering whether to shove her aside or give her a chance. Julia hoped he would give her that opportunity to help.
"Bryan, you don't have think twice about telling me something", Julia told him. Her words were very heartfelt and went out to the boy.
Strategically, it was a good thing to say. If she had told him not to be scared he would have been more likely to reject her. Guys had never liked the idea of being scared and hated it more when told that they were terrified of something. She found it ridiculous how they feared and despised such a human trait as weakness.
However, this was not about strategy. It was one hand reaching out for another.
"Why should I trust you?"
Julia pondered over her reply to that. She had done nothing to prove trustworthiness nor the cruel opposite.
"Look, I know I haven't done anything to prove to you I deserve it, but I still deserve a chance to prove you can trust me."
"What then?"
"We're friends, silly." Julia smiled and shook her head. This guy really was clueless when it came to friendship.
"Why would I want another friend?"
"Don't you ever get tired of being around those other guys all the time?"
Much to Julia's astonishment, Bryan's face contorted into a truly sincere smile. He chuckled and nodded, no doubt thinking about past times where he wished he were somewhere far away from Tala, Kai, Spencer, and Ian.
"More than you know", he replied, still grinning.
Julia smiled back. "I don't know about that! Romero can get pretty annoying. Whenever we train, he's always sleeping."
"Consider yourself lucky. Tala is a slave driver."
Julia laughed, a bright happy aura surrounding her. Bryan couldn't bring himself to be lax enough to laugh, but did give a few chuckles.
"Hey, what was with the gay question?" he inquired.
Julia blushed and tried to find some kind of excuse as to why she asked that, when in truth it had just leaked out. Didn't every girl wonder about some guys?

"I've never seen any of you guys with girlfriends."
"Do you have any idea how hard that is to find someone who doesn't like you just for what you stand for? Besides, I haven't seen you with a boyfriend."
Julia blushed at the insinuation. "I told you, I like guys! The reason I don't have a boyfriend is because it's hard to get one when I'm always moving around. Besides, guys are needy."
Bryan snorted at the joke.
Julia looked at him curiously. "Do you like anyone?"
He was again taken aback. "No, I already told you why."
"What about any of the girls in the competition? They don't throw themselves at you."
"Then you haven't met Mariah or Emily", Bryan said with a smirk. He could recall all too well how embarrassed Kai had looked when Emily appeared and was "subtly" flirting with him. Just when he thought the day he would see the great Kai Hiwatari blush would never happen while he was still living. Though, Bryan was still hoping that Kai would go first. Then there was Mariah, who had been caught making eyes at his team captain. The pink-haired nekojin was ready to kill the shorter one, Kevin, when he oh so bluntly and loudly pointed it out.
"No one ever went for you?" she inquired.
"Not like I care." He really didn't.
"But haven't you ever looked at someone and just thought, she's cute' or she's okay'?"
"Yeah, but not like that." In truth, he usually picked out the ugly things. Like whenever he had seen Boris, he could help but think a few nasty words in Russian that were far from proper enough to repeat or say aloud.
"Don't you want a girlfriend, though? Or at least a first kiss?" she continued prying.
"Maybe." For once, a subject he hadn't thought about yet it concerned his life.
"Who are you going to kiss?"
Bryan looked down at her fairly flabbergasted. He pulled himself together for his usual reply to a question: another question.
"Are you offering?"
Julia blushed fiercely and put her hands on her hips, trying to regain herself. "Do you want me to?"
"Are you offering?" he repeated himself. It appeared to him that this was the part where two teens were supposed to get caught up in the other and their own hormones before wrapping their arms around each other and kiss passionately. Then they would disappear into the shadows of the alley of boxes in which they stood. Bryan made a mental note never to try his hand at romance novels.
"Hey Bryan, you said earlier that only my upper lip had black lipstick on it. What made you look there?" Julia said, her voice lightly coated with seduction.
For once, he stuttered and didn't find any reply to that. She had taken a step closer and he hadn't moved at all. It wasn't fear, no, he'd know if it very well was. This was pure curiosity of the other gender and what they had to offer. He knew what Julia was offering and tried to pull his mind together to decide on a reaction.
Her slim arm went around his neck, pulling herself up and him down. Her sun-kissed orange bangs brushed his forehead as her lips finally met his. It was a simple kiss, a warm kiss.
Their minds went blank in unison, the feeling touch working in overdrive as the rest of the senses numbed. It was . . .pleasant, to say the least. Julia's free hand clutched Bryan's jacket, trying to keep herself nearer to his level. One of Bryan's hands found her back and pushed her closer, the other one still limply by his side.
The other hand of his came to life as a part of his mind did. He let go of her back and used the other hand to push her away, but with little force. He didn't want to hurt her or look offended.
The couple gasped a bit, more out of shock then having a great need for it. Julia looked up at Bryan, finding red on his ghostly pale face. He was blushing just as bad as her.
"Sorry, if you didn't want that . . .", she apologized, not sure if she meant what she said herself.
Bryan wasn't looking at her, but away to the side. He didn't' know what he did think of that. It was pleasant, sure, because she wasn't a total stranger yet at the same time . . . He was just completely confused about all of this.
Julia saw his frown and figure out on her own that he didn't know what to say or do. She didn't blame him, after all it was his first time and it was out of the blue from an opponent in the tournament. Despite that, she still hoped he would look past it to make the right decision. The bad part of that being it was hard to tell what it was.
Her arms went around his back in a hug as she put some of her weight against him. Bryan stiffened at the alien gesture and slowly relaxed into it.
"I'm sorry for being so forward, but I'm not about the kiss. I'll give you plenty of time, and I'll be wanting an answer. I don't want to be waiting for nothing, just at least tell me if you don't care", Julia told him with complete sensitivity towards his feelings, her head resting against his shoulder.
She slowly let go and turned around, going from jogging to a full run back the way she had came. Bryan looked back at her only in time to catch a fleeting glance of her back.
The Russian blader looked to the ground, feeling he had failed a self-important event. How did he feel about Julia? She had just come out of nowhere and was completely friendly to him, very friendly at the end. The girl would get mad at him, then act as if they were just playing around and it was only play-anger. Wasn't' she acting? And then out of the blue, Julia began flirting with him.
It was ludicrous. And now, more than ever, Bryan was firmly convinced that Julia Fernandez of F Dynasty was out here to prove something. He just didn't know what.