birds of painted poetry ❈ stanley uris x reader

- f i v e -

                        stan's pov
  "how'd you know?"

i stopped to listen to y/n's voice. it was soft, quiet, and broken all at once. she must've sensed my presence, or she knew i'd follow her up here.

"i, uh, the photo album," i began stumbling over my words, trying to be careful with what i say, "i saw the photo album."

i watched from behind as she let her head fall into her hands, inhaling sharply and exhaling shakily each time.

"do they," she spoke up a bit though her voice still came out as timid, "do they know?"

i looked back eddie, richie, and bill, who were joking around with eachother.

"no, they don't," i sighed, turning and sitting next to her, "but you know them, they'll find out somehow."

"are you saying i should tell them before they find out for themselves?" she began to question me, and as i looked straight ahead, i could feel her looking up at me.

"i think you should," i looked down at my feet, kicking at the dirt, "if you want, i'll tell them for you. you know they'll understand."

"i know they'll understand, it's just- i can't- you can't tell the police or or your parents or their parents- you can't tell anyone else." she rambled, obviously stressed and afraid.

i listened careful and watched as she ran a hand through her hair, a tear falling her eye. she was quick to wipe it away, quick to try and hide it. but i saw it. part of me was relieved she decided to let her walls down around me, to trust me.

but the other part of me knew that eventually i'd have to do something about this if she doesn't.

"c'mon y/n, this can't go on forever. we can help you."

she only nodded her head 'no' , shortly sniffling as she pulled her towel up under her nose as if to comfort her.

"you don't know todd like i do, if this somehow got out to the police he'd kill me. and my mom, my mom's an achoholic who can't take care of her daughter, she'd be sent to rehab if todd doesn't kill her before then!"

i gently moved my hand to her knee, attempting to get her to calm down.

"i won't let that happen to you."

"you can't protect me! christ, my own fucking mother can't protect me!" she raised her voice, tears suddenly flowing like brooks off her chin.

"alright, alright! i won't tell! but if it gets to a certain point, and you and i both know it will, i'm going to have to do something. it's for your own good."

"i don't understand why you're doing this-" she put her head on my shoulder, "this caring about me, trying to protect me thing."

"you're still my best friend, y/n. i could never and i will never not try to protect you."

  and for a few moments it was silent, everything was absolutely silent. y/n's breathing had gone back to normal, and i decided to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

  "c'mon we better get back," i broke the silence.

"yeah, if we're gone too long richie will start making dirty assumptions." she removed her head from my shoulder, standing up.

"who said those have to be just assumptions?" i winked.

"oh fuck off!" she burst into laughter.

that damn laughter of hers.

  that day at the quarry was 3 months ago.

since then, things have been going pretty smoothly. school would be out soon, and i couldn't wait to spend the summer with y/n.

this morning was particularly odd, however. y/n was late, which all of us found odd, considering both her mom and todd had early morning jobs. usually she was here twenty minutes before anyone else.

but not today.

as the day moved on, all of the losers began to grow nervous, as no one had seen her. we all kept our eyes peeled for her, but she was no where in sight.

that is, until lunch hour.

we all sat behind a plethora of trees, hiding us from view. it was our usual meeting place. as we were conversing and theorizing, we saw a hooded figure making their way towards us swiftly.

once the figure got close enough, we realized it was y/n. she made her way through the trees, avoiding all the questions of where she had been. she knew that we all knew.

slowly, she took off her hood, revealing her face. her eyes were red and splotchy, she'd definitely just been crying. a dark purple and grey bruise covered the right side of her face, and blood was spewing from her nose.

"jesus, y/n!"

"h-holy s-shit!"

"what'd you do, get hit by a bus?!"

"yeah, a bus named todd!"

"beep beep richie!" 

"guys!" y/n yelled, stopping us all from arguing, "i'm fine now! just- stop fighting, please."

everyone looked up at her, and as she moved forward she nearly face planted. lucky for her, i managed to catch her, though i did get some blood on my shirt and shoes.

"yeah okay, you need to sit down, like, now." i replied, helping her sit down on the grass.

"let me uh, ya know, help as much as i can," eddie rambled, opening his fanny pack and getting out some supplies, "y/n, lay down."

"kinky!"

"b-eep beep r-richie!

i rolled my eyes, fighting the urge to march to y/n's house and punch todd myself. y/n lay her head in my lap, eddie hovering over her and i as richie and bill watched from behind his back.

"oh god, oh god, oh god, inhaler!"

bill handed eddie his inhaler, eddie quickly using it and pumping it multiple times before handing it back to bill.

"yeah, uh your nose is definitely broken."

"nice, now do what you can to fix me up, and quickly. i'll just tell people that i fell down the stairs and no one will ask any questions." y/n responded, wincing as eddie began working on her nose.

she's shown up with bruises and scratches before, but now she has the largest and nastiest bruise suiting half her face, and a broken nose. i know that me and the other guys agreed to not tell, but this is serious.

she could've been killed. i can't keep letting this happening, she'll just have to understand that. hopefully she will.