quiet | stenbrough ✔️

slow dancing in a burning room

CH. 31 | SLOW DANCING
IN A BURNING ROOM
"and you know that we're doomed. my dear,
we're slow dancing in a burnin' room."
- john mayer

★ 彡 "RICHIE HIDES HIS FEELINGS with humor. he's always done that, and i think he always will. it explains his lack of relationships; he just can't be serious, even if everybody else is, he just cracks a joke to break the ice. except when he's with eddie. it's different from him i guess. they've been friends the longest, now that i think of it." stan explained in a quieter tone, almost whispering next to bill. bill laid on his bed, under the covers with his head facing stan who had chosen to sit on bill's beanbag in the center of bill's small room.

bill yawned and scooted over, patting the bed next to him and stared at stan nervously until stan stood up, turned off the lights in the room, and cautiously laid down next to bill, but not too close. they both agreed after leaving new york two days ago that they were going to take it slow for both of their sakes, even though stan wanted to kiss him until their lips were bruised. but he would be patient with bill.

"is georgie sleeping?" stan asked, and bill nodded, and even though stan could hardly make out his face in the darkroom with only a hint of midnight moonlight shining down on the both of them, he could see the nod. stan had crawled through the window nearly an hour before, and after a couple of minutes of random chit-chat about their friday routines, bill asked through a piece of notebook paper why richie was still moping about eddie and myra's afternoon in new york.

stan then continued his talking to bill and bill would nod his head or give him a confusing gaze, something to get stan to continue as if he was in the conversation at all. stan had told him of how each of them met and from that time to the present. how mike had liked bev in the past but decided they should be friends and years later met his current girlfriend, carol. how mike gaped the first time he had looked at her because of how beautiful she looked, and how he continued to love her today. "they are so happy together." stan had told bill and smiled to himself, and stan could tell bill wanted to be happy like mike and carol. stan decided at that moment to make bill that kind of happy that he hoped for.

it been eating at stan for days now, eating at him because he kisses bill and touches him and feels his body against his own, but he doesn't know if he's allowed to hold his hand or trace his fingers along the ridges of bill's arms, and he wants to. he scared because bill said to take it slow and stan doesn't want to scare him away and wants to make sure that they are on the same page but he also wants to intertwine their fingers and feel bill's palm against his and this thing –this thing where he misses the feel of bill's hands, misses how bill's skin feels against his happens a lot when he's not with him.

it happens at school lunch when stan sneaks off to the library with bill and they're sitting on the floor against a shelf and bill's talking about some biological find and stan' watching him, watching the way his bright eyes are smiling along with his lips, and how his dimple digs into his cheeks when he's so excited about something, and he wants to reach over feel the dimple beneath his fingers and feel bill's hand against his, wants to feel the warmth of bill's hands against his, wants to tell bill that he likes listening to bill talk, likes that bill gets excited about stupid things and he likes bill. likes him a lot.

and it happens when they're in class and they're taking a test and bill's hands are gently tapping against his desk and his lips are pursed in his mouth and his dark brows are knit together because he's concentrating on something difficult, and stan wants to reach over and interlock their hands together, wants to feel bill's pulse under his fingertips and feel the curves of his fingers pressing against his own and he wants to tell him it's okay, you can do it; don't stress.