✯ blue jay: a stenbrough fan fiction.

new encounters with old friends.

stanley uris walked side by side with richie tozier down the long hallway of their new high school. it was their first day of freshman year, but stanley wasn't all that worried. he had richie distracting him.

"staniel! are you listening?"
"what, richie?"
"I SAID, maybe we could try rekindling our friendship with-"
"shut up richie."
"but-"
"beep beep."

richie had been bugging him all summer to talk to the other losers, but stanley refused. they chose to go their separate ways! why should he be the one to break the unspoken rule of silence between them?

stanley knew richie kept in contact with eddie though. looking back, he was surprised richie didn't go with him. eddie hangs out with mike and ben now, but since mike is still homeschooled, he hangs with ben a lot more.

"move it asswipe."
henry bowers. he was standing directly in front of the two, and could quite easily walk around them, but to avoid trouble, the two younger boys moved out of big-bad-henry's way.

"isn't it just swell that we have to spend the rest of high school with him?" richie said to stanley, as they walked on.

"rich, this is my locker, you better go find your own. we'll meet in second, okay?" stan said, he had social studies with richie for second period.

"alrighty, stan the man! see you!"

as stanley was neatly tiding up his new locker, someone tapped him on the shoulder. when he turned around, he was met by a familiar face.

"h-hey s-st-stan," bill denbrough said, smiling weakly, "we ha-ave our lockers n-next to each o-o-other."

bill and bev were the first to separate themselves from the group. they were so absorbed by their own relationship, that they didn't have time for anything else. stanley had always had feelings when it came to big bill, in all honestly, all of the losers did. stanley's though, were stronger then the rest. after bev and bill left, the others started falling off too.

"oh. cool," stanley said simply, turning back to his locker. he wasn't up for any of bill's shit, especially since he knew how fast he would catch feelings for the stuttering boy again.

bill looked unsatisfied with stan's response, but opened his own locker to put his belongings inside without a word.

"billy!" then, along came bill's loving girlfriend, bevery marsh. stan wasn't thrilled that he was here in the presence of one of them, nevermind both.

"hey s-sweets!" stanley couldn't help but wince that. pet names were NOT his thing.
"stanley uris? is that you?" stanley reluctantly turned around to come face-to-face with the red-head that addressed him. he was not looking forward to this.

"oh, bev, hi," he said, unenthusiastically.
"how have you been?" she didn't seen bothered by his clear distaste for a conversation.
"great. you?" he tried to be as vague as possible, so the conversation would end.
"oh we've been great! hey, we're going to the quarry after school today, would you like to join us? it'll be like old times!" he's got to hand it to her, she was hard to say 'no' to, no matter the situation.
"sure, beverly." he gave her a small, unconvincing smile.
"great! see you then! hey, bring richie!"

-

the first day of freshman year sure was underwhelming, apart from an encounter by old friends, that is. stanley was biking to the quarry, alone. richie had said he had some things to do before he went there, so stan was by himself. honestly, he was happy that richie's trash mouth wasn't blabbering away over the beautiful songs of the nearby birds.

as he was riding, stan focused on the mesmerising natural music. he savoured all the sounds, it was his favourite thing to do, well, other then birdwatching. before he knew it, he had arrived.

he walked towards the edge of the cliff, it looked like he was alone here too. he decided to sit down and look for birds. he didn't have the correct equipment with him to properly collect them, which he scowled at himself for, but he kept a look out anyway.

after a while, someone sat next to him, it surprised stan, and when he looked over, he saw bill. they were both silently watching the forest, as a blue jay perched on a branch near them.

"w-what bird i-i-is that?" bill said in a hushed tone, as to not scare the bird.
"a blue jay," stanley responded.
"it's pretty."

they sat there for a while longer, the blue jay didn't move either. that was until they heard rushed footsteps from behind them. the bird flew away, and the two boys snapped out of their trance.

"hey! what are you too looking at?" beverly said, plopping down next to bill, kissing him on the cheek. stanley looked away.
"ah, it's nothing," bill stood up with bev.
"glad you made it stan! could richie not make it?" beverly chirped, and as if on cue, they heard multiple voices talking from behind them.

they turned to see richie, eddie, mike and ben all throwing their bikes down onto the ground. stan thought it was stupid, just throwing them down like that. he should've known richie would do this. beverly approached the group and talked with them, as if they had never drifted apart, it bothered stan, but he wasn't in the mood to speak up against it.

"so! are we jumping in or what?" bev said, she started to undress, and swiftly jumped into the lake down below, dragging ben behind her. it really was just like old times. the rest followed her, screaming on the way down. the rest, except bill and stan.

"i-i haven't d-d-done th-this in a while."
"neither have i."
"s-s-stan, this i-is going to s-sound bad, bu-but, can i h-ho-hold your h-han-ha- DAMMIT!" stanley flinched at the outburst.
"yeah sure bill, you can hold my hand, we can jump together, i don't mind."

although, he did mind. he was supposed to be done with bill. he absolutely refused to let this little encounter manipulate his feelings for him. stanley reached out and bill grabbed his hand. they walked to the edge.

stanley began counting, "one, two, three!" they jumped, and it was a rush, alright. the impact of the water stung a little, but less then he thought it would. he rose from the water, as did bill. they were still holding hands. upon realising this though, stanley pulled his hand away.

-

the rest of the afternoon, the losers had actual fun. as much as he regretted to admit, stan was enjoying himself. he had the realisation that, they were THE losers club. they would always find a way back to each other, no matter the reason, no matter what. he couldn't deny it any more.