Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Stanley was freezing. That was the cold and hard truth as he lay curled into a ball at the back of his mother’s car. It was uncomfortable and the leather seat underneath him was sticky with his tears. He had stopped crying long ago when his brother had but there was still the remains of salt water stuck to his cheeks. He was exhausted and smelled gross from days without sleeping or washing himself. Not to mention starving. Yeah, he was totally starving.
He was not complaining though because the one thing he could count on was that Ford was here. His brother was with him and even if things looked kinda bad, at least they had each other's backs. He grunted as he finally sat up and looked at the snow falling. They really needed money for gas to warm themselves up at least.
“ You awake Ford?” He asked softly and waited for the shifting before the identical brown eyes looked straight into his.
“ Yeah,” came the croak from his brother before he broke out in coughs.
That was right. Ford got sick easily and this snow wasn’t helping. He frowned as he heard his brother hack up a lung before he himself could feel the burn
In his chest. This was not going to be good if they let it go on. Things had to change.
“ Ford, I got an idea,” Stan said after several moments as he sat up and curled his hands around each other. He looked at the boy as he sat up as well with a serious look.” We've got to get money somehow so I’m going to go make it. You’ll stay here and we’ll figure things out from there once I go get money.”
“ Lee, again we don’t have any qualifications to get a job,” Ford said looking for his brother. He didn’t see anything legal that they could do.” The only thing I can think of is you robbing a bank to get money.”
He was met with silence.
“ Stanley you aren’t really thinking of robbing a bank!”
Stan winced at the yell but held out his hands to calm his brother.” I promise I have a plan! We don’t even have to both do it. I just need to get us enough money to get us down to Mexico. I bet it’s warm there right now.”
“ We’re not doing this plan Stanley,” Ford said not even going to touch on the lack of knowledge.” You can get shot. If you get caught you could go to jail for a very long time. I will not take that risk.”
“ Come on Ford,” Stan whined going to lean forward.” With enough money, we could even rent a boat. Don’t be such a-“
“ This is the end of the discussion Stanley. The answer is no,” he said going to lie back down as his poor body broke into coughs again.
Stanley let it go as he watched his poor brother be wracked with coughs. He didn’t even have a blanket to throw over him to keep him warm. He moved to slip off his coat though and doubled it over Ford’s own.
For now, he waited.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Two am came quickly enough next week. Stanley had waited until he couldn’t anymore seeing Ford so sick. They managed to scrounge money cleaning people's shoes for enough money for cheap pop and chips from a local store but that was about it. Pretty soon he wouldn’t have to worry hopefully.
He was going to get that money easy-peasy
Err….Money honey in Stanley’s pocket.
He had never broken into a building before but finding a tire iron and hanging it against the lock did wonders. He slipped inside the building with little grace and immediately started to open different drawers for anything he could get. He was stuffing as many things not even really looking at them. Most of the money wasn’t there but these change rolls would help them for awhile which he was shoving in his school bag.
He was almost done when he heard footsteps. What? No one was supposed to be there so early.
“ Hello! Who’s there,” Shouted a man's voice above Stan’s head.” Come out! I’m armed and I will shoot.”
Mother Fu-
Stan had to get out of there. Maybe he could attack the man and get by. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly the best move to make but he had to do it for Ford. Without Stanley then he would be along and they promised each other they would never be alone.
He waited till the man went around the counter and punched him right in the stomach as he came near. He may not be the best of fighters in the world but he had taken boxing so he knew what he was doing somewhat. He pretended he was in the ring and began to punch at the man’s face with his fists. He was just about to do another punch when something hit him hard in the back of the head.
Shit there was another one!
He was trying to get up when another hit had him down on the ground. His last thought before everything went black was how sorry he was to Ford as a third strike knocked him out.