ethereal : it oneshots

paper hearts

pairing: steddie

a/n: this one is kind of short, i apologize

stan's heart had always been like paper.

fragile, folded over to be made stronger, and easily ripped.

maybe it was cliché or stupid, but that's how stan compared it.

so when he held hands, cuddled, kissed, and loved bill denbrough, he felt complete. he felt like bill denbrough was sustaining him. they had been together for so long, stan felt like they had a chance at lasting forever. he loved bill, bill loved him, and it was meant to be. they were the perfect couple. they had a low amount of pda in school, but when they got home, it was like there was no tomorrow. they always went on dates or hung out, but they kept time for their friends. stan had known bill since they were little kids, and even though they didn't date until 13, he felt as though they had always loved each other.

so to find out bill had been cheating on him?

his heart crumpled. it ripped at the edges and crumpled into a little ball, never to be seen again.

"you'll be okay." mike said, rubbing circles on stan's back whilst he cried in the bathroom down by the gym.

"he didn't deserve you." ben cooed, hugging stan until he couldn't breathe.

"you can get through this." beverly smiled softly, rubbing stan's knuckes with her thumb as she wiped his tears away with her other hand.

"he's a dick." richie tried to comfort him from the other side of stan's bathroom door when stan first found out.

in hindsight, stan knew he should've seen it coming. how they kissed and kissed but bill would never take off his shirt. how he would tell stan he was being manipulative and selfish when stan asked if he lied about going to richie's. how he could never look stan in the eyes for too long.

so yeah, it had taken a while, but here was stan, senior year, fresh from a summer of tears, ready to try and survive the year. one last year, right? it was okay. he was okay. he thought.

first block, ib science. he went and found his science, room 2035. he sat in the middle. not wanting to be special, or noticed, or pointed out as the boy who got cheated on long term. some boy walked in and sat right in front of him. he carried a fanny pack, which stan found a bit stupid, but he said nothing. stan's chest flipped when bill walked in the room, and stan immediately looked down at his desk. luckily, bill sat in the back, on the opposite side of the room.  stan was over bill, but when he saw him he got a bit angry, so he just told himself he was going to try and stay away from him as much as possible.

it was barely possible, stan found out, as bill was in 6 of his 8 classes. and bill's new girlfriend, greta, was in 5 of those 6 classes. he only got a break from bill in criminology and ib french. his favourite class, and his least favourite class. this stranger with the fanny pack who had barely spoken at all, was in 7 of his 8 classes, joining stan in ib french.

stan was in science like normal, his notebook and binder out, betty sitting next to him chewing on her pencil, richie behind him, practically asleep, and the mystery boy—who's name was eddie, stan soon learned—in front of him peacefully taking notes.

stan ran his finger out his page, flipping it when his finger began to sting.

"shit!" he hissed, having not gotten a paper cut in a while. betty laughed quietly at him, and he glared at her.

he blew on his finger gently and shook his hand, trying to relieve the pain.

"band-aid?" stan hadn't even realized eddie was turned around until he spoke. stan nodded, still blowing cool air on his finger.

stan could now hear richie chuckling at him from behind him. turns out he wasn't asleep after all.

stan realized the function of the fanny pack as eddie reached into it, pulling out a single band-aid. he unwrapped it, crumpling the paper and putting it on the desk. he wrapped the band-aid around stan's finger, and stan looked up at him. they made eye contact for a while, as eddie blinked innocently and finished wrapping up the band-aid.

stan smiled softly at him, "thanks."

eddie smiled back, "anytime stanley."

and just like that, stan felt his heart flatten itself out, a bit wrinkly, but no longer a crumpled ball. and just as he wrapped the band-aid around his finger, eddie had placed band-aids along each rip in his heart.