inevitable - stanley uris x reader

chapter seventeen - return

It had been a day since the summer fair, and you presently found yourself standing amongst the other members of your group inside the stiflingly hot garage of Bill Denbrough.  The boy in question was messing around with an old projector, fitting slides inside it and turning the dials on the side of the machine.  Stanley had taken hold of a map from the corner of the room, and was heading towards the front of the small enclosure, a few pieces of tape perched on his fingers.  You followed him to the front where he was resting the map against his knee and simultaneously trying to pull it open, his legs wobbly as he precariously balanced it on himself.  You squinted your eyes, pulling up next to him and grabbing the map from him.  He looked at you, a flicker of shock playing behind his telling eyes.  His expression softened upon seeing your unimposing form, the light smile on your face causing him to ease up considerably.  He returned your grin with a subtle softness, turning back to face the wall as you pulled the map open.  

His gaze wandered a bit as you confusedly unfolded it, honey eyes almost involuntarily sneaking glances at your concentrated features.  You pinned it against the wall, looking at him expectantly, nodding to the tape that was stuck to his fingers.  He awkwardly jumped at your sudden acknowledgement, quickly bringing himself back to reality and skittering over to where you held the crumpled poster.  He pressed the tape up against each of the corners, gulping as he stood on his toes to reach above your head, effectively towering over your now considerably shorter form.  He stole a glance at you, noticing how concentrated you were on holding the poster in place.

In reality, you were just trying not to freak out.  The proximity was not even a big deal, as you and Stanley had always been relatively used to physical contact with one another, so his leaning over you was not the issue.  Rather it was the way his arm brushed up against your forehead, lightly pushing your hair out of your eyes and colliding softly with the milky skin that lay there.  This little touch sent shockwaves through you, your body involuntarily shivering against his arm and drawing the attention of the curly headed boy.  

"You okay?"  He asked, concerned at your sudden movement.  

"Yeah..just..cold."

It was 87 degrees outside.  

He looked at you skeptically, opening his mouth a bit before awkwardly nodding and going back to his task.  Your eyes flickered tentatively over his meticulous features before awkwardly averting themselves from the boy, your fingertips trembling slightly on the map.  Stanley secured the final piece of tape, and you both walked away without a word, stealing unnoticed glances at one another as you each made your way to separate sides of the room.  You found your place on a crate that was placed near to the projector, which Bill soon flicked on and allowed to illuminate the poster on the wall.  He lined up the slides, aligning each of the maps with one another before stepping back to look at his handiwork.  

"Look," he began, pointing to a place on the map.  "T-That's where Georgie disappeared.  And there's the ironworks, and the Black Spot." he paused for a moment before speaking again.  "E-Everywhere It happens, it's all c-connected by the sewers," he messily finished, punctuating his sentence by setting his hand down against the projector.  

You gazed at the map, careful eyes analyzing the winding streets and sewer lines that were carefully sketched on it.   You jolted a bit as you traced the pipes along through the map, coming to a realization as you did so.  "And they all meet up at the..."  You said, your voice involuntarily falling off.  You gulped before starting again.  "The well house."  

Your words commanded the attention of the others in the group, seven other pairs of eyes drifting over to your contemplative form and following your gaze to the map.