bill found himself sitting in his bed at one in the morning, eyeing stan's window from across his driveway.

he stared into the barely lit room, watching as stan moved from his door to his desk, written something down on a scrap piece of paper.

bill finally left his gaze from stan, sighing and laying down on his bed. "i'm such a stalker..." bill mouthed, racking his fingers through his hair.

bill stared back at stan, a phone at his ear before picking up, and when he did, he saw stan sitting by his window, staring at bill in return.

"hey." was all stan let out, and it wasn't until he did that bill noticed how his voice was raspy and rough, and how his voice cracked when he spoke.

bill gave him a concerned look, turning the phone on speaker and scratching the back of his neck.

"um, hi, wow, i almost forgot you were mute. um, uh... yeah." stan awkwardly said, and bill only laughed, making stan chuckle as well.

"your laugh is beautiful." stan exasperated, and bill eyes widened as he suddenly stopped laughing, his face burning red.

"oh, did i say that out loud—," bill smiled, placing a finger over his own lips. then he reached his hand up to his forehead, tapping it, and bringing it back down.

"thank you." he signed, and stan blushed in return.

"um, can i come over? it's my dad, he—," stan stopped talking when bill nodded, and before bill could do anymore, stan hung up.

stan quickly opened his window, stepping out into the grass and shutting his window partly before running towards bill's window. bill quickly opened it for stan, and stan hopped inside.

"hey," stan exasperated, sitting on his normal spot, a small beanbag in the corner of bill's room by the window, adjacent to the door.

bill smiled in return, not having enough energy in one in the morning to wave or sign. instead of turning on his phone to text him, and walked towards stan, sitting in front of the beanbag.

before bill knew exactly what he was exactly doing, he gently took stan's left hand and began writing letters slowly on his palm.

the question was simple enough, and bill understand by the way stan moved more slowly, his voice seemed to crack with everyone word he said, and he was quieter than usual, that some was wrong.

he remembered the day he arrived in derry, he could never forgot the first time he saw the boy, riding away on his bike in a pool of tears, and it seemed now the seem situation.

"i'm fine. it's... it's nothing." stan exasperated, but bill wasn't going to take it, bill squinted his eyes into a glare at the boy until stan sighed.

"i'm just under a lot of pressure right now, i'm the rabbi's son, my dad just expects a lot from me. i should be studying, but—,"

bill's eyes were full of confusion and concern.

"—but, i don't wanna leave you to study, i love hanging out with you." stan finished, and bill's eyes filled with tears, and for once he didn't curse his sensitivities.

stan blushed furiously, before looking up at the only light on them from the moon, then back to meet bill's gaze. "i think i love you." stan murmured, cupping bill's face in his hands, bringing himself forward to kiss the boy on the lips slowly and gently.

"it's weird, i've none you for a little over a month, but it's felt like... forever." stan said innocently, and bill couldn't help but blush.

it seemed like the perfect time, the right time. but it seemed as if in that moment bill remembered everything, his mind going blank from love and you could hear a pin drop on the ground.

bill stood up and grabbed his notebook, sitting back down in front of stan.

"i'm sorry, you can't love me—,"

bill paused, stan watching him write with a curious mind. "why not?" stan's breath hitched.

"—you can't love a murderer."

lol sorry for the cliffhanger

(feb 27, 2018 @ 7:57pm)

~ penny