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Stanley had always been relatively lazy and in his spare time, in addition to stealing things he would probably never find a use for, he liked to sleep.
You see, the act of sleeping itself is quick. But it involves a whole environment, Stanley liked to wear pajamas, especially a green shirt emblazoned with the logo of any unknown band he found lying around in the living room, probably Trudy's, but she never asked for the shirt back. Stanley liked to lie in bed and feel the softness of the blankets. He liked the feeling of sleepiness, so Stan didn't quite understand why he couldn't sleep well in the house he now lives in.
The feeling of security is greater than when he lived with Trudy, and every day Diego makes sure Stan gets his good night hug before he goes to bed. However, Stanley's brain doesn't seem to let him sleep.
One particularly cold night, Stanley got out of bed at three in the morning because he wanted something to eat. The sclera of the boy's eye was red.
Stanley failed to notice the sound of Diego's steeps entering the kitchen, but in Stanley's defense, he was too tired to notice anything other than the gluten-free cereal bar he was eating.
"Stan?" Diego called out to him, and Stan slowly turned his head towards Diego, who had both hands on his hips, which was kind of comical. Stan would make a comment about how he looked like a worried mother if he weren't so tired.
"What are you doing at this hour?" Diego said, approaching him and placing his hand on Stanley's face, pulling up slightly.
The sound was muffled because of the unchewed food that was still in the boy's mouth but he tried to speak anyway, then something came out something like this: "Uhhhh? Eatin'?" Stan responded by waving half the granola bar in the air.
"Yeah?" Diego caressed Stanley's cheek with his thumb but then withdrew his hand and left it resting on the boy's shoulder. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really. just can't sleep." Stanley explained, and before Diego could ask why Stan continued, "I'm sleepy but i can't sleep and i haven't slept well for one week and I'm exhausted."
Diego looked at him with pity, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought I could handle it myself." Damn, if Stanley is really telling the truth then that means that Diego needs to find a way to make him sleep urgently, because besides being exhausted Stanley started to tear up.
"Shhhh, it's okay." Diego reassured the boy and pulled him into a hug, "You finish your cereal bar-"
"No, it's okay, I'm not even hungry." Stanley said breaking free of the hug for seconds to put the cereal bar on the counter, but then he hugged Diego again.
"Fine. You can sleep with us tonight, okay with you? Like we did the first week." Diego proposed as he ran his hand down the boy's back, hoping the gesture would be soothing.
Stanley sniffed and said yes.
A few weeks ago, the three of them fit perfectly in the double bed, but with Lila's belly growing every day, it was now difficult for the three of them to get comfortable.
"Dad?"
"Hmm"
"Can you hold my hand, just until i sleep?" Stanley asked quietly and Diego would never deny a request like this.
Even with Lila's belly, all three, or four if you count the baby, slept perfectly comfortably that night.
Uncle klaus was a nice guy. He let Stan see movies that Diego considered inappropriate for Stanley's age, talked about his problems openly, and was generally a pretty easygoing guy.
The only problem was that sometimes he disappeared while he was supposed to be taking care of Stan, and Stan was pretty sure if he told Lila she'd never let him take care of Stan again.
So when Stanley got out of the shower and found the house empty, it wasn't a surprise, the surprise was to see Uncle Klaus sitting on the couch, his foot propped up on the coffee table in the living room, where Stan's homework was waiting for him for a completely boring afternoon.
"Get your feet off dude" Stan said to Klaus before sitting on the floor. "It's going to make all my books dirty."
"Hey! I have clean feet okay?" Klaus said putting his foot on the back of Stanley's head, who slapped him as soon as he felt it, making a face.
"Homework Huh? What's the subject?"
"Math."
"Ew. I hated math, i never touched a pencil again after i left the academy." Klaus spoke and then shook himself as if he felt a chill, "I don't even like to remember."
Stanley didn't answer, and decided to do his homework soon so he would be free before four o'clock. As the minutes ticked by, the sleepier Stan grew. Klaus didn't help much either, as he was humming something while reading a magazine.
Stan's head made a huge noise as he hit the glass table, but it wasn't enough to wake the boy up.
What made him wake up was the sound of his cell phone ringing. Stanley woke up and turned off the alarm, which indicated he should drain his ears. But when Stanley looked around, there was no one there.
No.
It's not possible right? They wouldn't do this to him. Stanley looked around again, "Uncle Klaus?" The boy's breathing was already ragged and he could feel his heart pounding against his chest. Stanley opened every room in the house looking for Klaus, it was already six p.m. and it was already a little dark.
"Uncle Klaus?!" He tried again and got no response.
No, no, no. Had they gotten tired of him already? Was he back? My god how could Stanley live without Wi-fi?
Stanley felt his fear take over his body.
"Stan? Why is it so dark in here?" Stanley can hear Lila's voice while she opened the front door of the apartment and turned on the lights, Diego was with her carrying a box, oh yes! they went shopping for the baby and he wanted to stay at home because he wanted to play videogame.
Stanley threw himself into Lila's arms, who didn't understand. "Why are you crying?"
"Is Stan crying?" Diego asked worried after putting the box on the floor and approached the two, "Where's Klaus?" He asked.
"I want to know too!" Stanley stormed out of the hug angrily. "I thought you guys had left me, i woke up and thought i was alone again."
"What?" Lila said, running her hand over Stanley's arm. "First of all, we're never leaving you. Me and Diego, never. Okay?" Lila had a motherly, soothing look. "Now, Diego, grab the knives and let's go hunt your brother." She didn't have the look anymore.
"I swear to God, he's never entering this house again!" Diego said while getting ready, Lila took the car keys and Stan's hand.
They found Klaus walking down the street and it can be confirmed that Stanley was amused to see his parents threatening his uncle with knives while he waited in the car having a strawberry slushie, it was about time Uncle Klaus stopped leaving him alone.
Hearing the words from Lila's mouth was really comforting and Stanley felt better for a few days, he worried about the baby's room decor and how it was turning out Etc. Etc.
Stanley didn't worry about the baby's arrival and even if he did, Diego and Lila called him in for a chat couple months ago and said nothing would change the love they felt for him Etc. Etc. Then Stanely relaxed, but still he couldn't sleep.
But now it was different, he didn't want to sleep. It all seemed so fanciful that he worried it was just a dream. He couldn't believe this was his life now. So he would take energy drinks and watch movies to keep him awake.
The problem was that the school seemed to notice Stan's concentration problem the last few days and instead of just calling his parents and saying he was sleeping in class, the school did something worse: they had him talk to the school counselor.
Talking was extreme, because all he answered was yes or no.
"Stanley Hargreeves?" Stanley was again sitting in the blue chair in the counselor's room, just waiting for the remaining minutes to end.
"You have a nice last name, you know that?" Stanley didn't say anything so she continued, "Is it your foster father's?"
"Yeah." Stanley didn't like the way she said "foster" but let it go.
"Can you tell me a little about your experience with your foster parents?"
Stanley sighed slightly annoyed, "Can you stop calling them 'fosters' do i look like a dog? They may not be my blood but they are my parents."
"I'm sorry." She said as she jotted something down in a notebook, "I can see that you love your parents."
"And why wouldn't i?"
"You know sometimes kids have a hard time adapting to new surroundings and my job is to make sure you're safe. I'm glad to hear that but i don't understand, if you love your parents why don't you talk about them?"
Stanley thought, "Because don't I want to."
"I met your mother, you know? We made a call to her about your accidents."
What? So why didn't Lila say anything?
"I talked to her today. I want you to know that you can count on us if something ia wrong alright? We only did this because you refuse to talk to me and we are worried about your safety." Stanley was silent and refused to speak for the rest of the session.
The way back home was awkward to say the least, Lila didn't say a word besides "hi", and Stan said even less. When they got home Lila directed him to the living room where he was put sitting on the couch while she and Diego were standing.
"You already know why you're here." Lila said calmly, "What's going on Stan? Apparently you can't stay awake in class anymore, don't talk to anyone and keep quiet when the school tries to help you?"
"Sorry ok? I didn't know my sleep was going to cause this much trouble!" Stanley scoffed.
"This is serious Stanley! The CPS can knock on this door now if they think we're mistreating you!" Lila answered and everyone was silent for a few seconds, which felt like hours.
"Stan, why don't you want to sleep?" Stanley looked at Diego, "Don't give me the "i can't sleep" bullshit, because I know you bring those horrible energy drinks in your bag and hide the empty can in the closet."
"It's not because I want to! I really can't!"
Lila rolled her eyes in disbelief, and decided to sit next to Stanley. "Stanley, pay attention. You need to tell us why because you clearly can't solve these problems on your own." She said emphasizing the "clearly"
Diego sat on the other side of the sofa, their legs were touching because the sofa was relatively small.
"I-" Stanley started but couldn't finish. "It's beca-a" he took a breath and tried again "I-i" he stuttered. "Fuck!" he said frustrated
"It's okay, just picture the word in your mind." Diego said calmly with a totally worried facial expression.
Stanley looked at the two of them and took Diego's advice before trying to speak again.
"I feel like I'm dreaming." He finally said "I don't want to wake up and see that I'm still there." Stan said so low that Lila and Diego almost couldn't hear, Stan lowered his head in embarrassment.
"Hey! None of that!" Lila pulled his head back up, "look at me" she said taking his hands and placing them on her face "Can you feel me?"
"Yes" she took his hands off her face and placed them on Diego's head and asked, "Can you feel that ugly-ass scar?"
Diego would be offended if it weren't for the sound of Stan's laughter, "Yes." He replied.
"It's because we're real." Diego said, "and we care about you, because we are real."
Stanley decided to ask something with the courage he had left: "From today, can you hold my hand? Until I sleep?"
The answer was yes.