" DOMINOS " + STENBROUGH

[29]

a/n: be sure to go leave questions for the character ask!! and enjoy this chapter it's unedited but also longer than usual so! i was too excited to wait to post until tmrw so u get it super late at night

not to toot his own horn, but stanley uris is good at many things.

he's smart—he currently stands first in derry's senior class—and excels in every subject. he's athletic, despite what his lanky appearance may suggest. he's friendly, and funny, and can make friends with just about anyone (his anxiety disagrees, however). he's in a wide variety of clubs and has a surprising amount of hobbies, considering the real lack of free time he has on top of his packed schedule. and now, stanley uris can say he's a good actor, too.

it's the matinee performance of romeo and juliet, and stanley uris is sitting in a makeup chair in the dressing room, as betty ripsom sprays hairspray rather excessively around his head. he coughs, inhaling a little too much. stan's heart is racing more than it was last night.

he thinks it has something to do with the people who are about to pour into the theatre. derry high's production typically attract the crowd of the student body during the matinee performance—it's happened the last few years, were all of the students come opening night or the following afternoon, and attend the cast party which follows, because even though it's meant only for the cast, no one really stops anyone from coming in. betty assures stan there's nothing to be worried about, that they're teenagers just like him, but now everyone has surely heard something about stan's performance.

recently outed stan's performance.

he can already hear the hushed whispers as he acts on stage, people gossiping about whether his sexuality is obvious in his portrayal of the character, whether he's straight enough, whether his kissing is too obviously gay. it's dumb, he thinks, to be so bothered by other's opinions. but then again, his anxiety hasn't ever really let him not be bothered by what other people think of him.

that, and his crippling need to be perfect. but, like most of his issues, stan tries to ignore that bubbling in his stomach that comes with the fear of failure and disappointment. he ignores it, and as he sits and coughs in a dressing room filled with hairspray fumes, and laughter, and people over dramatically reciting monologues that aren't theirs just for fun, stanley uris prays for a miracle.

a miracle that involves an empty auditorium. with no student body watching with judgmental stares, freshmen girls giggling about how much stan paid betty to let kiss him as juliet, and upperclassmen wondering if this whole thing was part of the 'coming out' thing all along.

but maybe he'd nervous because of last night. because of bill.

stan remembers so intensely their kiss, the heat of bill's lips on his own so fresh, still lingering like candle wax. he briefly hopes that the feeling will remain even after he's kissed betty during the performance. because he doesn't want it to go away. he wants to keep kissing bill denbrough everyday, so his lips always feel this way, and his heart always beats this fast, and his head always spins this much.

because the euphoria that follows kissing bill denbrough is a feeling stanley uris would not give up for the world.

"okay, stanley, you are all set!" betty takes a step back, finally capping the hairspray and setting it on the counter. stan turns in his chair to look at his reflection.