Chapter Text
BILL
As the rain thundered down onto the roof of the Denbrough home bill could only register the empty feeling that had settled in his stomach.
He hadn’t cried, not even a sniffle, Instead a hollow feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach. Leaving an unnerving feeling.
He sat in his bed, wrapped in the warm layers of blankets he had covered himself in to drown the feelings that had threatened to spill out.
The house was silent. A house of people resided in the building, but not a single soul could be found.
And as the night drew on, nearing closer to midnight bill found himself unable to sleep. He felt, that when the day finally moved and tomorrow came he would be leaving Georgie behind.
It was silly, truly, there was no sensical reasoning behind it; Georgie had now been dead for 1 year, the only reminder of his short existence being the framed pictures hid under the loose floorboards in bill’s room, pictures he couldn’t let his parents pack away into the attic, pictures that provided bill with the smallest sense of normalcy and comfort when a bad argument with his parents was provoked, or anything else mildly and extremely concerning happened.
Yet. Bill couldn’t leave Georgie, he couldn’t, not in the soulless house filled with every feeling but warmth.
So bill slipped away in the dead of night, putting on slippers and running away in the pouring rain, with not even a jacket to cover his pajamas, now soaked to the bone.
But even when he began to shiver bill didn’t slow, and somehow, while running he could feel warm tears fall down his face in curtains, the warm and freezing water mixing to somehow drench his clothing further.
Then his body began to tremble and he was forced to slow, wether it was from the cold or the now racking sobs that overtook his body, it slowed him and caused his head to pound with pain.
He had begun to walk aimlessly, not caring where he landed as long as he was away from the suffocating home he had been in.
Finally, the rain pouring on his head slowed as he walked under a canopy of trees, finally reaching the clubhouse that his barely conscious brain had led him too.
With his body still trembling and his tears still falling he walked into the clubhouse, the warmth welcoming his freezing body. Then he noticed the person sitting in the corner. …
STANLEY
Stan’s head snapped up as soon as he heard the sloshing of mud and footsteps outside the clubhouse. He quickly wiped the tiredness from his eyes and pulled his jacket a little tighter around himself. Only when the soaked figure walked through the door did Stanley realize it was one of the losers. His shoulders relaxed as the figure swayed slightly, as if hesitant on wether or not to join Stanley. He patted the floor next to him and waited expectantly, only when the person come within 5 feet of Stan did he realize the soaking wet person was bill.
His eyes were red and puffy and he was sniffling, his body rocking with trembles. “Bill..?” Stan only got out that one word before bill practically collapsed on the floor sobbing, his voice hoarse and hurt.
Stan scooted closer to him, unsure of what to do. He had seen practically every other loser sob or cry at one point and always knew what to do. Mike liked you rubbing him on his back, Ben liked to be hugged, Bev Liked you just sitting by her, etc etc
But Bill?
Stan was unsure, even before it Stan had rarely seen bill cry; sometimes he would come to school puffy eyed and angrily wiping the remaining tears from his face but he had never seen him actively cry. It hurt Stan, bill’s crying hurt. His crying hurt Stan.
So he did the only logical move he could think of, like when his mother would collapse on the kitchen floor sobbing and holding her blouse so tightly that her palms would bleed because of her fingernails.
He moved closer to bill and wrapped his arms around his soaking wet body. He could feel bill momentarily tense before relaxing completely into his arms, causing an uncomfortable patch of wetness to start forming on his shoulder due to his tears and wherever else his clothing came into contact with Stan. But regardless, Stan pulled his closer until bill was practically in his lap.
He pulled his head on the shoulder, right next to the crook of his neck and rubbed his upper back. Eventually, Stan’s clothing was effectively drenched but bill’s crying ceased and and only hiccups remained,
His hand was freezing from wiping the water from bill’s hair and holding his drenched clothing in his arms.
Slowly, stan began to feel his face get increasingly warmer as the situation became much clearer to stan. Bill was in his arms and stan was holding him. He felt ashamed, what would his father think? But he felt only more shame at what bill would think if he found out.
5 years.
That’s how long they had been friends. That’s how long stan had been imagining holding bill in his arms and going on long bike rides together, alone; maybe going to watch a movie at a theater together or spending all night studying until they predictably got bored.
His train of thoughts were ruined by bill speaking.
“It’s my fau-fault isn’t it?”
Bill didn’t have to specify for stan to know what he was talking about. He had heard the whispers and the stares when they walked around town.
‘Never been quite the same’
‘What a shame.’
‘I don’t know what I do if my son did that.’
‘To his own brother?’
He pulled bill impossibly closer and brushed his fingers through his now damp hair.
“No it’s not.”
“Puh-Please d-d-don’t lie to me st-stan, please” his voice was hoarse and his face was pointing downwards so he wouldn’t have to face Stan.
Bill had always been easily embarrassed.
So stan grabbed the sides of his head and forced bill to face him, pulling their faces until they were nearly touching nose to nose.
stan searched bill’s eyes for something, something he knew he wouldn’t find before continuing.
“Listen to me bill, I would never lie to you. You are the kindest most loving person I’ve had the joy of meeting; in no way, shape, or form were you responsible for what happened to Georgie. You were a child, and you still are. Georgie wouldn’t have wanted you like this, crying over something you had no control over. You are so amazing, and it’s so shocking how you view yourself because If I were you I wouldn’t let anyone dictate how I felt or acted. You’re my best friend and you’ve impacted my life so much that
I fell in love with you for Christ sake!-“
…
Fuck.
panic began to race through Stan as bill visibly tensed and Stan responded by basically shooting upwards, stumbling in the process.
“Sorry bill, i-I’m gonna go.”
He quickly pulled his jacket back over his head a raced towards the door, his eyes welling with tears and his heart plummeting with every movement.
”puh-please don’t go.”
Stan, hesitantly turned around to face a flustered bill with damp clothing and hair, body straight as a poll while standing up.