" LIPSTICK " + STENBROUGH

[18]

bill is sitting on the couch doing homework when he hears frantic knocks on the front door of the denbrough house.

his eyebrows knit themselves together, as he takes the binder on his lap and puts it on the arm of the couch, standing up.

bill opens the door to reveal stanley uris. his eyes are wide and bloodshot, his dark curly hair wild. he's dressed in a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants that bill didn't even know stan owned because the most casual pair of pants stan usually settles for are jeans.

"stuh-stuh-stan the man," bill says with a smile. "what's up?"

"can i come in?" bill nods, although he's confused as to why stan sounds so urgent. he steps aside and opens the door wider for the rather paranoid boy to enter.

"what's w-wrong?" bill asks. stan doesn't respond for a moment. he looks like he's trying to calm himself down, taking deep breaths. bill has seen stan have multiple panic attacks during his life time, and this looks like he might be about to have one.

"i know we were both hammered," stanley says eventually, "but how much do you remember of last night?"

bill's eyes widen. he had thought stan would forget. he had been hoping he would forget, and they could pretend that they never kissed. bill most certainly hasn't forgotten himself; he had woken up this morning with an excruciating headache and the scene of being stuck in a cramped closet with stanley uris playing in his head.

"i-i-i remember thuh-thuh-the kiss, if that's whuh-what y-y-you mean," bill stutters. he can't help that his cheeks flush pink. stan pales.

"fuck," he breathes and runs a hand through his hair.

"it i-i-isn't that buh-big a-a deal," bill says. "we c-can f-f-forget it hap-happened."

"that's the thing!" stanley says. "i can't stop thinking about it."

oh?

"what?"

"i-i can't stop thinking about the kiss," stan says. "a-and i know i'm not gay. i mean, i can't be, my parents would be pissed. but i-i, god, bill, i liked it." bill swallows heavily, watching the fear that settles in stan's eyes. he can tell that this is hard for stan to say, it's hard for him to accept and understand.

"i liked it, too," bill mumbles. something comes over bill and he takes a step closer to stanley, his eyes darting down to the other boy's lips. "i-i don't know if i-i-it would huh-help, b-but maybe w-we try it sober."

"yeah, because maybe we just like it because we were drunk." stan's hands find their way to bill's waist, bill's to stan's shoulders.

"yeah..." and with that, bill leans forward and kisses stanley uris. for the second time in two days.

his heart is beating out of his chest, and the feeling returns. it's that feeling of invincibility, a feeling he never wants to end.

it's the feeling bill denbrough gets when he put on his mother's lipstick when he was five.

boys don't kiss other boys, bill thinks. not normal ones, at least.

——

i forgot to say, but thanks for 1k reads !

- m