quiet | stenbrough ✔️

never ending vacations

' 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 '

when bill entered his house, minutes later, he wasn't surprised his mother wasn't home, only georgie. he hated leaving georgie home alone, but he knew how independent the ten year old was, and he always kept the doors locked anyways.

he met georgie in the living room, blankets and pillows around a tent he had set up in the room.

"look, i made a fort!" georgie exclaimed, making bill laugh, kneeling down by the fort to examine it. bill gave georgie a simple thumbs up, and georgie reached out his hand for the boy, bill entering the fort.

it was a messy fort, pillows and blankets everywhere, but bill didn't seem to notice, only searching up at the top of the fort, where there were scattered stars on the top, glowing, making the area around him visible to the eye. georgie had a light, which stars covering it, making the stars reflect onto the fort, giving it the signature glow.

seeing bill had laid down, staring at the stars in awe, he knew bill loved it, and he knew he would.

"bill?" georgie asked after minutes, and for the first time since bill made his way into the complex fort, bill gazed over at his little brother, dirty blond hair, a simple yellow t-shirt, and jean shorts.

"where's dad? is he coming back?" georgie asked, and bill's stomach dropped multiple levels. his head began to spin, hatred for the woman who made georgie ask these questions. the woman who was so taken back by the death of their father she didn't bother having a funeral, and was too torn apart to tell georgie that he was dead. the woman that made them move to three different places because she was too lazy to keep a steady job, and the woman who took them here.

their mother.

bill hesitated as he signed to georgie, glad someone around him knew sign language.

"he's on vacation." bill signed sadly, before turning the other way.

"what's vacation mean then? i thought vacation was just a short trip..." georgie huffed out, and bill remembered how smart the boy was, he couldn't trick him anymore. he could when he was five and had just lost his father, but he couldn't now.

"vacation means you go somewhere and never come back." bill signed quickly, before hearing the door open, which made georgie sprint out of the fort, running towards the front of the house.

"is bill here, georgie?" someone asked from the front hall, and bill's mind began to spin, hearing the jewish boy speak.

he felt his feet pick up before him as he lazily made his way towards the two of them, his heart beating faster than usual, along with stan's.

stan looked up from georgie, staring at the new face in the room, the skinny boy slightly holding his stomach, as if he was sick, but somehow he made it look cute. his hair was short, but slightly covering his forehead, and stan could tell he was laying down before from his lazy eyes and his bed head.

"hey bill." he half imagined bill, saying hi to him in return, but regret washed over him as he remembered not even an hour before.

georgie had already left the room, running to the living room, and they soon alone, bill on one side of the room, stan on the other.

"i'm sorry. i... i tried to text you, but you didn't answer. look, i know it was wrong for me to ask, we've only known each other for like a week now, but hanging out with you feels like i've known you my whole life." stan exasperated, hands running through his curly hair, heart warming up to the quiet boy.

bill smiled weakly at stan, and he understood where stan was coming from, but it still hurt inside, for reasons he couldn't understand. bill just nodded, but stan didn't seem to get the memo, continuing to speak.

"you know in kindergarten, when you would go to the park or something, and start playing with some random kid there, then minutes later, you two are best friends? that's what it feels like when i hang out with you. when i talk to you like i've known you my whole life-,"

bill's pointer finger was on stan's lips, and small smile across the boy's face. stan's heart melted at bill's touch, bill's heart as well. and they should there like idiots, bill's finger not moving off of stan's lips, wishing it was his lips touching his, not his finger.

i finally put my finger down, and it was like time slowed down as i stood there in front of stan, a dorky smile plastered across his face.

"can i stay for the night?" he asked, breaking the silence, face reddened, along with bill's, who had backed from him a bit.

bill only nodded, grabbing his hand without thinking, and dragged him towards his room, bill sitting down on the floor, along with stan. "how come you haven't done anything with your room?" stan asked, bill taking out his phone.

bill: i don't want to go thro my stuff yet... some stuff i don't wanna see.

stan smiled down at the text, but his smile faded when he glanced up at the last text i had sent him from earlier. he simply brushed it off, staring around the room, his eyes laying on a white, plain bed, with grey and white striped sheets.

"do you want me to help?" stan asked, pointing at three boxes in the corner of his room, by his window. stan stood up, making his way towards the window, and saw you could see his own front porch easily, along with his own room from bill's view.

bill stood up behind him and picked up the top box, bringing it to his bed. stan eyed the box, opening it for bill, and grabbing the first item he saw.

it was a framed picture, and stan didn't get to see who was on it before bill snatched it out of stan's hand and threw it in the trash can by his door before pointing his finger at stan, and stan understood he needed a minute.

when bill was out of sight, stan immediately ran for the trash can, grabbing the picture frame.

he looked at it, and it just looked like a happy family. bill, around the age of ten or eleven, hugging a small five year old boy stan assumed was georgie. then his mother, she seemed healthier and more kind, smiling at a man in the photo, stan believed was bill's father. he had brown, wavy hair, a down to earth face, and looked like the most kind person alive.

he dropped the frame on bill's shelf, placing it perfectly, before his phone rang in his pocket, and he picked it up, seeing richie's contact photo on the screen.

"hey rich-,"

"i need to tell you something." he heard from the other side of the phone, richie's voice raspy and tough.

"then tell me dipshit." stan rolled his eyes, but didn't say it too harsh, knowing richie was probably having a hard time after his extravagant torah speech, which was highly unneeded, but highly true as well.

"i'm in love with my best friend and i haven't even told him i'm gay!"

"holy shit."

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