golden // it oneshots

two: sleeping in panic

sleeping in panic; stenbrough
word count; 669
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stan has nightmares. he's no longer ashamed to say so like he was before as a young teen, but he doesn't embrace it either. all of the losers club knows about his nightmares, as they choose to no longer do anything about them or care at all for that matter.

stan's been having these night terrors since the summer that 'it' happened, he's never been the same since. they're always about the same things as well, meaning he has to almost live through the same situation whenever he closes his eyes. the terrible part is how he screams and cries during and after this occurs, but nobody ever seems to care anymore.

but bill cares. the only one who does, actually.

if he's around he'll shake the boy awake through the frightened shouts, despite how loud and desperate they sound. when stan would finally wake up, tears would be dripping down his face and he'd be panting and sweating, looking around and seeing bill in front of him.

it breaks bill's heart to see him like this, all shook up and scared. especially when stan would always leap forward to bury his face in the crook of bill's neck, the two hugging each other so tightly afterwards. he would always reassure the scared boy, whispering, 'it's okay, you're okay,' every time.

tonight was no different than the others.

it was a friday night and, like always, the losers arranged a sleepover at the denbrough household.

after hours of watching movies went by, the third film of the night finally ending, one by one they called it a night.

first was ben, then mike, stan, eddie, bill, bev, and richie.

all was calm and quiet up until about two a.m.

almost like routine, stan let out a loud cry, waking up the losers for a quick second.

"what was that?" ben asked sleepily.

"it was just stan, he's having another nightmare. just try and go back to sleep." richie mumbled, closing his eyes again.

bill couldn't fall back asleep. not to the sounds of stan's screaming, it pained him too much to just let him be on his own. even the thought sounds so cynical to bill.

so he wiped his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and carefully crawled over to the sleeping bag stan occupied.

"stan?" he whispered softly, as to not scare the boy if he woke up. "stan, w-wake up." he shook the teen's arms and shoulders, lightly at first but increasingly getting more aggressive as the minutes passed.

after five dreadful minutes, stan woke up with a big breath like he's been underwater for hours. he looked around with large eyes and hitched breathing, locking eyes with bill in the dark.

"bill!" he lept out of his spot to grab bill and pull him in for a tight hug, silently sobbing into his shoulder.

"are you o-okay, s-s-stanny?" bill felt nothing but sadness seeing stan in this condition. all riled up after a stupid dream.

"no." he pulled away from bill's embrace, looking him in the eyes. "but can you stay here for the rest of the night? please?" his voice sounded croaky, breaking in between words.

"o-o-of course i will." they both gave each other a weak smile before bill layed down on stan's sleeping bag, motioning for him to come lay down too.

the curly haired teen huddled up next to bill, laying his head on the other boy's chest.
bill wrapped his arms around stan, holding the boy even closer.

uris fell asleep quickly, but bill stayed awake for hours replaying what just happened. he couldn't help but stare at the lovely boy curled up beside him, playing with his hair and wrapping the curls around his fingers hundreds of times. once he finally went to bed,
he didn't resist putting a small grin on his face thinking about how this wouldn't happen if it weren't for a nightmare.

~