ethereal : it oneshots

the wall

pairing: stenbrough

a/n: cliche i know!!! but i do not care 

"okay. so we can agree here, not gay." stan stated, bill nodding furiously. neither of them meant it, deep down, but on top it was strictly not gay.

on vacation in orlando with the losers, the hotel room they were in contained two beds. it was stan, bill, and richie in one room. both stan and bill didn't want to sleep in the same bed as richie, thus they were sharing a bed. 

"you know you're going to end up together someday, just give in lovebirds" richie responded, across the room, setting his own things up. 

the three of them had ended up in one room simply because the other four were sharing a room of their own with two beds. the losers had agreed it was smarter to keep eddie and richie separate, as they would definitely start something the others didn't want to hear. and as mad as richie and eddie were about the separation, they were right.

"shut up richie!" bill spat, blushing madly. stan was looking down at his suitcase, pulling out a novel. he had heard richie, and was ignoring him. 

"okay... your fault for divorcing me from my love..." richie fake pouted, both the other boys ignoring him. richie sighed dramatically and fell onto his bed. 

"alright, it's t-tuh-tuh-it's time for t-tuh-tuh-ugh!" bill sighed in exasperation. richie and stan both knew what he meant, it was time to meet up with the others. 

later that night, bill and stan decided the best idea was to build a wall of pillows between the two of them. richie continued to laugh at them, but he didn't say much. 

when the two laid down, they were ready to sleep. well, bill was. he fell asleep quickly, even though the lamp was on. richie was scared of the dark and stan liked to read before bed, so bill said nothing. stan spent a while reading, before hearing richie snoring. he decided that was his cue to sleep, so he turned the light off and lied down. 

as much as he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he was in the same bed as bill, he would never try anything. he knew bill (probably) wasn't gay, and that even if he was, stan had no chance. 

still, it kept him awake. so awake, in fact, that he could hear when bill awoke, at two am, gasping for breath. at first, stan thought bill might just be breathing irregularly in his sleep. but then he heard bill quietly sobbing, and he knew something was wrong. he moved the pillows, revealing a shrivelled up bill, sobbing into his pajamas. stan put his hand on bill's shoulder, who sat straight up and looked at stan, terrified.

"hey... i'm sorry..." stan whispered, apologizing for scaring bill. bill shook his head and dismissed it.

"do you want a hug?" stan opened his arms, and bill smiled. he shuffled over on the bed to hug stan. they shared a long hug, lingering thoughts and unsaid words in the air. 

stan knew something was wrong, but he also knew this wasn't the time to ask.

"s-sorry..." bill whispered finally when he pulled away.

"no, no worries bill." stan smiled softly, and in the dim light he saw bill smile back. bill went to lie back down, almost shivering.

"c'mere, stupid." stan lied down, pulling bill closer to him. bill muttered something in agreement, and backed closer to stan. stan slung an arm over bill, intertwining his fingers with bill's. bill squeezed, and stan squeezed back.

"maybe g-guh-gay" bill mumbled, the two laughing quietly. 

"maybe gay? just maybe?" richie would say in the morning, looking at the two boys. 

stan's legs and arms were tangled around bill, who was sleeping softly in stan's arms. their fingers were still intertwined, and stan's face was nuzzled into the back of bill's neck. his lips were against bill's skin, having left plenty of kisses there the night before. 

"just maybe? bullshiterino my friends, bullshiterino."