' 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 '

★ 彡 exactly two months since bill confessed what happened with his father to stan, and it seemed as if they were closer than ever before. but it was quite on the contrary, it had been two months since they kissed and went on their first date and nothing seemed to happen after that.

of course, they had only known each other for a solid couple months but had it felt like forever. their relationship had turned merely to habit, and bill wondered if stan liked him more than a friend, but accepted the fact that he most likely didn't. after their first date everything took a pause. every time bill showed a little interest in being more than a friend, like goodnight texts or grabbing his hand while walking, stan would shut it down immediately. he didn't understand, but he admitted defeat. he didn't want to lose stan as a friend.

"billy, please! i just want a pancake!" georgie whined, which finally snapped bill into reality, and bill sighed, putting a pancake on his plate and resting his cheek against the palm of his hand. "what's wrong, billy?" georgie asked, questioning why bill seemed so down when from the outside it seemed as if everything in his life was going fine.

bill shrugged, not wanting to explain to georgie how he felt about stan because if he said it out loud, it would mean his feelings were true. plus, georgie was too young to understand why a boy would want to be more than friends with another boy anyway. he would tell him soon, just not know. "how's school, georgie?" he signed.

georgie shrugged, "it's fine, i love recess though. it's so much fun!" he replied, making bill smile, wanting his life to go back to simpler times. simpler times when all you had to worry about is coloring inside the lines and what to bring for show-and-tell on wednesday's. some part of that simplicity bill denbrough ached for.

bill smiled and looked at the time, grabbing georgie's plate from across the kitchen counter and placing it in the sink, mentally remembering to put it in the dishwasher after school, as well as the sticky pan he used for the pancakes. bill grabbed his backpack and duffle bag sitting against the wall and tossed it over his shoulder, watching georgie mimic his movements a second later as they both exited the house. as bill locked the door, he turned his head to get a look at stan's house, watching as stan exited his house and waved at bill, giving bill an uneasy feeling, but he forgot it and waved back.

"ready for new york?" stanley smiled, hitting bill's shoulder lightly in a friendly way that made bill annoyed, but he ignored it again and gave stan a smile in return. bill nodded and watched as georgie waved at them both before getting on his school bus that had arrived seconds before.

then something unusual happened, that would make bill smile looking back on this moment. stan grabbed bill's hand gently and started walking to stan's car, and bill couldn't help but let his entire face enter a goofy smile. stan opened the passenger seat door for bill and felt his heart racing in his chest as he beamed ear to ear and sat down in the vehicle.

bill didn't understand why stan seemed so lovey-dovey today, but he wasn't going to question it, he loved it. he played quietly with his fingers as stan pulled out of the neighborhood, she bill turned to see stan take a long breath out as they drove away from his house as if stan had been holding it the entire time. but he didn't question it, i was probably nothing.

stan talked about this coffee place he had gone to the day before and got bill to tell him a few words in asl. travel and car. bill smiled once again, even though the smile from before hadn't completely gone away.

he was just so happy here, at his old home in hawkins he was happy too with his old friends, but here it was a different happy. he was where he was meant to be. he had so many good friends, the losers club, carol from pre-calc, harry from english, he just loved it here. he was so grateful.

"whatcha thinkin' about?" stan asked, pulling into a spot by the lower parking lot of the high school. stan turned towards him after turning off the engine and bill caught sight of stan's curls bouncing a bit as he turned, and laughed, touching his curls. he loved his curls.

"your laugh is so cute, i wish i could hear it more," stan said, making bill blush. "...and your voice, i'd love to hear it. just once? maybe? what harm could it do-" bill wasn't blushing any more. or smiling.

bill ran from the car. stan just couldn't understand.

bill rolled his eyes at henry bowers, who was currently sharing him down, leaning against the door of the school. he wasn't afraid of bowers though, he was a bully for a reason, maybe he was insecure? he felt bad for henry, who felt the need to make fun of smaller kids to bring up his ego.

the pale, brown-haired boy stopped when he got into the school and almost instantly walked over to beverly, who seemed to be sulking by her locker, arms crossed and facing towards the ground.

"oh, hey billy." beverly said, whispering the last part, slouching down even more. bill knew if he didn't leave now he would be late for class, so he started walking with her to their homeroom.

"you excited for new york? who are you rooming with?" bev asked, not even realizing bill couldn't reply. "eddie, right? i thought you guys got paired up."

bill smiled and nodded, pretty much the only two things he could do. "well guess who i got paired up with. fucking guess, myra winters. i swear i'm gonna kill her in her sleep." bev said angrily.

bill's eyes widened and he shook his head, "i'm kidding bill. a little." bev chucked as they entered their homeroom, joining mike in the back of the room.

"we miss anything?" bev asked mike, both bill and bev sitting down. mike shrugged.

"nothing much. we just leave for the buses in a few minutes. i'm so hyped for new york." mike grinned.

"yeah same, i've been waiting all year for this. not excited for my roomie though. at least it's only one night there." bev kicked her feet on the chair in front of her and slouched down on her chair. bill looked around the classroom, zooming out of bev and mike's conversation, until his eyes finally landed on myra winters.

she was talking to a few of her friends in the first row, sitting on her desk, even though nobody was sitting in her chair, and was talking 10x louder than she needed to me, but everyone knew she needed the attention. bill hated her. not because of how loud she talked or how she sat on her desk, or how she needed all the attention, but because she treats eddie so poorly he doesn't realize he is being controlled.

bill heard the teacher says something about buses before the entire class was exiting the classroom, and he was pulled out by bev and mike.

he had never been to new york before.

+++

update: i have decided to

make beverly bisexual instead

of lesbian. it's been a while

since my last update and i've

thought about this

for a bit so yeah.