[for will; silent darrow]

[finally_ahead]

This can't be happening.

Stan tells himself he's overreacting, that he's just having a hard time connecting with Will. It doesn't have to mean to very worst. His phone could be dead, and that's why Stan hasn't heard from him since yesterday morning. He could be wrapped up in a project, and that's why he's not with the usual people or in the usual places.

He doesn't panic outwardly, because he knows he has a tendency to make things so much worse in his head. If anyone asks questions, once he's confirmed Will's not there, he just tells them he thinks Will's phone might be dead.

There's no reason to think Will could be--

Only he checks some of their usual places themselves, and still nothing,

"Please," he murmurs, looking down at his phone, at the last message he'd sent. "Please be somewhere."

Comments

[zombie_boy]

"I know. I know you would," he said fiercely. And so would his mom. And El. And Eddie. And Hopper. He wouldn't have to be trapped down here forever. And the same went for Stan. They had a small army of people who looked after them.

"I love you, you know," he whispered, his heart stuttering in his chest as he held Stan tighter.

[finally_ahead]

"I love you too," Stan says back, voice hoarse and hushed, rubbing one hand up and down Will's back. He gets it now, the way Eddie and Jamie are, the lengths people would go for this kind of love. "I love you and we're going to get out of this place."

They have to, he's got plans for a life with Will, all the sort of things he'd thought weren't for someone like him.

He turns his face just enough to press a kiss to the side of Will's head, to the shell of his ear. "You're the best part of my life," he whispers. "I mean it, you-- I don't know that I really wanted any kind of life before you but--" He lets out a tiny wet laugh. "You changed a lot of things. So we've gotta get home."

[zombie_boy]

His breath caught, tightening almost worryingly in his chest. It felt like panic. Like excitement. Like soaring, soaring, soaring up in the air and crashing down, down, down. He gripped Stan's hand and nodded, wanting to say so many things but managing only, "We're getting home."

Home was with his mother and sister, yes, but it was with Stan, too. He was making one, right here on the precipice of adulthood, and it was terrifying and too fast and not fast enough.

They had to get home. Their home.

[finally_ahead]

Stan holds onto Will a while long, his heart pounding just as much with all of the things he'd said, poured out for Will, as with being in yet horrible place. It's the sewers, he thinks, that always makes him think these places are down, are below, even if he could look up and see endless grey haze above.

"Okay," he finally says, just a little shaky. "Okay. Let's-- let's sit down and think about how we do this. Remember all those stories about weird monsters coming out of nowhere? There has to be a way out for us too."

[zombie_boy]

"Okay," Will said, nodding. Gripping Stan's hand tight, he led him over to the least gross corner of the freezer and sat down on an overturned crate. "Okay. Yeah. The clown motel was one of them, right? I'd... really rather not see what that place looks like here."

[finally_ahead]

Stan holds tight to Will's hand, even as he sits down next to him.

"I heard something about that really gross pizza place, too. The one with the gnomes? Richie insisted on going there once, so I at least know where it is. It's creepy as hell, but probably better than the clown motel."