salted wounds

11

"you're beautiful"

stan just sighed as he eyes gently fell into a soft small gaze towards the other boy infront of him. he wanted to know him more, but he was scared and lost.

he brought his hand up to caress craig's hair, then slowly move it to cup his face, he gently brushed his thumb against his soft cheek. he just admired him quietly as he watched craig's body slowly rise up and down peacefully

"how many times are you gonna keep complimenting me marsh?" craig mumbled slowly fluttering his eye open

stan jumped at the sudden moment. his pale face burst into a bright red tomato shade as he quickly let go of craig's cheek but he stopped him. craig took his hand onto stan's and placed it back down on his face, still holding onto his hand

"don't let go now, keep holding me"

stan nervously gulped as his eyes beated everywhere to not make eye contact with him

craig furrowed his brows slightly. he slowly shifted his body to the side facing stan, his arm holding his head up as his torso twisted up and above him.

"look at me stan" he grumbled

"i don't want to"

"why not?"

stan bit his lip as he glanced over to the side ome more time before huffing out to shift his eyes to lock contact with craig

it was a small brief gesture but it held a lot. for once in a long time they finally locked eyes. craig's eye lids fell half way as he stared down at stan calmly while stan watched him with his eyes peeled wide. his breathing became short and fast, his heart was beating out of chest. he felt anxious

"talk to me stan marsh" he lifted his hand to stan's face and cupped his chin to lift his head up and lean him closer to his face. "why are you so nice to me?" stan mumbled while craig slightly smiled "why are you afraid of me marsh?"

stan paused and breathed out shakily "i think i'm inlove with you and it scares the shit out of me"

"i think you're just afraid to be happy marsh" craig paused "let me show you"

"show me? how?"

"choose me. not brofloski"

"choose me."

those simple two words rang in stan's head consistently, it all he can think about.

'i'm not afraid to be happy...'

'what does that even mean?'

stan stared out into the void as he leaned his head on his hand mindlessly staring off out the classroom window. it's been a few days since the night of the party, he and craig hadn't had a chance to see eachother after that since they were both busy with school work, their sport and finishing their detention cleaning duties. they crossed eachotjer paths constantly but never really had the chance to talk privately

"stan can you answer this next question for the class?"

———————————————-

"hey dude, it's time for lunch let's go" kyle smiled as he punched him on his arm jokingly
"oh yeah" stan mumbled out as he picked himself up and snapped out of his mind

"dude you sure have been spacing out all day" tolkien said slightly concerned "more like a few days now" he continued slightly chuckling as the three boys headed out the classroom and into the hallway to unite with their friends

"uh oh, trouble in paradise with craig?" kenny teased as kyle rolled his eyes "i still can't believe you guys are for real. i thought you guys were just messing with all of us"