Watching a Silent Dawn

Frozen Warm Daydreams

The winter sun shone upon the Earth cold and brisk, providing nothing but but a burning cold that bit at your cheeks and ears if you stayed out too long. The wind was strong and forceful, pushing you every which way and bringing along even more unwelcoming cold with it's every move. Stanley wasn't a mite happy about the weather that came along with winter. He hated it. But he had to suffer through it all if he wanted to see Bill. Which of course, he did. His bike had broken in the previous week, so he had to walk. He had to walk the dreaded walk of shame into the freezing, unfriendly winter because his pride was much too high to ask his mother to drive him. But of course, Bill was worth the freeze. Bill had called him earlier, asking if he wanted to come over and watch movies together. Naturally, Stan said yes. Stan never said no to Bill. Call it force of habit from being friends with Bill for so many years, but Stan always went along with Bill. But as of late, Stan had been feeling different about Bill. He was confused because all of a sudden Bill had just started to stand out to him. Whenever he would laugh, Stan noticed that Bill's nose would scrunch up and his head would nod with every little noise that emanated from his mouth. Whenever Bill wasn't feeling well, Stan noticed that Bill would rub the right side of his nose and his stutter would get worse and he would go to Bev's to do all kinds of daring shit. As a bird-watcher, Stan was an observer by nature, so of course he knew everyone's mannerisms by heart. But like the ocean, the way Bill acted towards Stan had completely changed with no warning. To be completely honest, Stanley was overwhelmed by it all. But that's not to say he didn't like it. He liked how Bill stuttered less when talking to each other. He liked how he was the only one who could go over to Bill's house without calling ahead and be welcomed inside. He liked how Bill was always looking at him and no one else. Stan didn't have a clue what any of that meant, but he loved it nonetheless. Finally he reached Bill's house and waltzed right on in and hung up his coat. "Billy, I'm here!" Bill's door slammed open and the boy himself came rushing down the stairs and enveloped Stan into tight, soul-warming hug. "Cuh-come on Stanny, I h-have everything set u-up for us. L-let's go." Bill grabbed Stan's hand and led him upstairs to Bill's room where a marathon of movies sat waiting to be watched. Bill had directed Stan to his bed where he sat down and waited for Bill. Billy just grabbed what was dubbed "The Comfy Blankie" and wrapped around Stan before putting on the first movie and joining Stan on the bed. 3 movies and a big bowl of popcorn later, Billy had passed out on Stanny's shoulder. Stan, being the respectable man he sought to be, had just left him while he continued to watch movies. Eventually, Stan himself had grown tired and wanted to lay down. So he went to gently wake Bill up so he could move and both of them could lay down for a proper nap. But as he began to shake Bill awake, the other one had some sleep-induced ideas. "Don' wan' ya t'move Stanny. Less just say an' watch movies. Or we cou' jus snuggle ri' here. Can even bring Georgie wi' us." Stan stared in shock at the half-asleep boy. For one, he hadn't stuttered at all while in his sleepy stupor, and for two, he mentioned his brother Georgie, who he usually doesn't like having around when Stan is over. But Georgie was staying with his and Bill's grandparents for awhile. Stan sighed in defeat. "Okay Billy, we can snuggle. But Georgie isn't here, he's with your grandparents. Now come on, if you want to snuggle you're gonna have to lay down on the bed instead of my shoulder. Yeah-yeah, there you go." Stan had carefully and slowly gotten Bill to lay down as to not wear off any sleep from him. Then Stanny joined and had pulled Bill's weighted blanket on top of them and settled in. Not long after, Bill had grabbed Stan's hand and pulled it close to his chest. Stan wasn't sure if he was still sleeping or not, but didn't move anyways. His heart was racing, his long time crush wanting to snuggle? Holding his hand? Sure, him and Bill have been close like this since they met in Kindergarten, but he couldn't help but have a spark of hope that maybe Bill liked him. While lost in his head, Stan hadn't noticed that Bill had mumbled out a very sleepy, very slurred, "Love you Stanny. Always love you." That, was true. That was always true for Bill. He had loved Stan from the day they met. He realized he had romantically loved Stan when they were 13 and had stood undefeated against Henry Bowers and his goons after a rock war. Over the years, his love had only grown stronger. Bill was fine with leaving things how they were, but lately he'd been longing for a relationship with Stan. He'd been leaving little hints and doing little things to let Stan know that he loved him, wanted him. But so far, as to what Bill knew, it was to no avail. Stan had seemed completely platonic as per usual. Maybe saying he loved Stan was the next step in his plan to finally get Stan to notice or figure out how he felt about him. Maybe even reciprocate those feelings too. But Bill didn't wanna get carried away in his daydreams. He really just hoped for the best. All while sleeping, Bill had dreamt about the beautiful bird boy with the prettiest springy curls who acted annoyed all the time, but was in truth really very happy to have friends like his. How could Bill not love him?