always will be

( IT , austin abrams , he/they , genderqueer ) ⋮ the census states that STANLEY "STAN" URIS has been living in town limits for FOUR MONTHS . it makes sense the HUMAN can be found hanging around TOWN SQUARE .  HE must be close to TWENTY-SIX by now , do you think they’re still as ANALYTICAL as they were before ? i overheard they DO remember everything leading up until their arrival . nothing reminds me of them quite like neatly pressed clothes in a temple of worship, binoculars pointing out at the great wide somewhere, and  unread messages sitting unopened in the notifications . ( mer , 23 , est , she/they , emetophobia )

he had finished building a snow castle with ben and didn't have skating with beverly for another few hours, so stan just had to make it to coffee with padme. unfortunately, once again, he happened to be that one thing he dreaded more than anything: late. he had rushed through changing clothes from snow gear to regular wear, and was now arriving at the coffee shop to find padme had already claimed a table.

"hi, sorry i'm late! second time today. how've you been?"

with the plans for this castle scrawled on his notepad , ben had held this distraction from last evening into this morning . everything had been measured accordingly , and in fact , this is what he did past . “ i thought i was going to have to be the brain and the brawn if you didn’t hurry up . ” the man chuckles , flipping out the proposed design plans . “ so , i’m thinking a real castle . tower and all . and a dragon . it can rest on the spiral tower , over here . ” he’s waving his hand in the air , suggesting the location . “ what do you think ? ”

stan broke into a smile without really being able to help himself from it; he was just so fond of his friend, so glad to see him, that restraint was not an option. he looked over the design that ben offered to him, much more complicated than what one might think would go into building a snow castle, but if stan had always been the man with the plan, ben had always been the guy with the schematics. not as good of a rhyme, but arguably more true. "if you're expecting brawn from me, benny, you might should have called mike," stan said, still grinning. "the plan looks good. let's do this thing."

he was late again. it'd been happening all day, ever since he arrived late to meet ben; he's never been late to so many things in one week, let alone in a single day. the guilt was eating at him more than he could say, but it hardly mattered. feeling guilty wouldn't make him get to the rink faster. he found beverly outside of it already, holding her skates in hand, and a surge of relief went through him, though not for any particular reason. just to see her was a relief. he rushed over.

"so sorry, bev, i've been late all day," he said, moving to her side and dashing a kiss across her cheek.

he was running late. he was meant to meet ben as soon as the competition started, or preferably before, but neither seemed to be happening this morning. he smoothed his gloved hands down his knee length jacket, feeling far too harried to be presentable but far too tardy to be able to take a moment. not that ben would particularly mind, stan knew, but he valued ben more than that. he wanted ben to feel more valued than that. he pushed down his disappointment in himself and made a bee line for where ben stood in the snow.

"sorry i'm late!"

“i don’t think you wanna know the places i’ve been, stanuel.” he shook his head as he hugged his old best friend. “god, i’ve missed you. it’s been way too long.” richie sighed as he rubbed the other’s back. “what have you been up to? other than reading shitty books, that is.” a chuckle escaped his lips as he let go of his friend and grabbed the book, looking at the cover. “never change, stanny.” he much prefered playing video games than he did reading. he’d always been vocal about his love for games– especially street fighter.

"way too long," stan agreed, one of his hands still on richie's shoulder as the man moves. he knew that richie wasn't much of a reader- stan had spent enough days leaning against the wall, seated on the shitty carpet of some arcade while his best friend bettered himself at street fighter over and over again til he hit the high score. he had never minded the environment, as loud as it was, for how he and richie could hang out, doing their own things, and no one batted an eye at them. even stanley uris, sitting alone on the floor, was welcome in the arcade. "i just got here a few months ago, been picking up accounting work at the local businesses. what about you?" never change, stanny. how many people had told him that in his life? not many. 

it had been a while since richie had seen stan. after graduating high school, he’d left derry. he hadn’t wanted to leave his best friends behind, but he was so much happier now. even if his comedy career was taking longer to get off the ground than he’d thought. “are my eyes deceiving me or is that good ol’ stan the man?” he chuckled at the old nickname he’d given his oldest friend. he gave all of his friends nicknames– it was like a rite of passage for them. it was richie’s way of showing his love. “put that damn book down and hug me.” not usually one for hugs, richie found himself longing for any kind of physical contact with his old friends. 

it was the voice that got stan before he looked up; that loud and always comedic voice that he's known since he was small, that same perfect, annoying asshole he's always known. "trashmouth!" stan said excitedly, his book hitting the floor as he threw himself at his best friend. even in a few years apart, it felt like he had just seen richie, really, like they had never parted for how he still felt like the trashmouth was one of the most important people in his life. "how have you been?! where have you been? tell me everything."

he freezes , glancing around his section of the shelf . “ please , tell me you’re not using wikipedia as a resource . stanley . you’re a college’s worst nightmare .” ben has reached up to touch his own face , scratching the side of his cheek gently as he attempts to organize his thoughts on it . “ yes .. and no ? i guess . it depends . i haven’t thought much about it . “

rapunzel squealed in excitement , doing a little hop as stan agreed to venture into the unknown void with her . it reminded her of the time when she and flynn descended into the cave system below the snuggly duckling to escape the guards that were after him . “i have to sing a short song ,” she replied , “i only have to sing again if it’s starts to fade , but it tends to glow for awhile .” she had started to learn how to control it more , now that she wasn’t constantly using it to make her evil stepmother look younger . adrenaline shot through her veins , goose bumps rising on her skin as she walked over to the entrance . be brave , she thought , flynn would want you to be brave . exhaling slowly , she glanced over at stan to see if he was ready to go . they might find absolutely nothing in the cave , or they might find something that definitely wouldn’t want them to invade it’s space . who knows ?

standing at the adjacent bookshelf , ben has stifled a laugh . “ isn’t there always some leader who steps forward ? they’re the main character . the rest are supporting , at least in their eyes . “ the man has flicked through a few more titles of magazines , having added two to his pile . “ you should read biographies instead . “

the one thing that rapunzel liked the most about this town was that not many people were shocked about the fact she has magical hair , and that was because a lot of these people also had their own fun little quirks about them . although , some of them were a bit intimidating and took her awhile to get used to . however she loved the fact that she now lived in a place with so many unique people , she was learning a lot here . “it’s great to meet you !” she said , a wide grin spreading across her features , “i’ve been wanting to go in one since i got here , i love to explore new and exciting things . it was just the darkness stopping me , but now i feel like my hair could light the way .” she nodded to herself , like she was agreeing to her own statement and not actually looking for approval from anyone else . “oh! you could come with me !”

anger manangement skills? jinx had absolutely none . she was hotheaded , impulsive and the shoot first and ask questions later type . her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly as she folded her arms across her chest , eyes narrowing at the individual in front of her . “better not have ,” she muttered .

jinx wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know anything about different sides , she assumed he hadn’t been in this town very long . “well i guess that means you can choose ,” she said , “most people in this town don’t give a fuck about the fact that no one knows why we’re here . there are a small amount of people who do . so what about you ? are you just settling in without question , or do you want to know why the fuck we’re here ?” a flash of sadness appeared in her eyes and disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived . “no ,” she shook her head , “i don’t have any of my memories .”

stan brushed off the mutterance, too used to anger to let it get to him, really. he contemplated the rest of what they said, however. "if the dream is to go back to where i came from, i think i'm better off here," he said, thinking of derry in nightmare scene flashing lights, the open, stinking maw of something ancient and ready to eat. he was in new york, thinking about moving to atlanta, last he remembered, but with his luck, it would be straight back to fucking maine. he couldn't go back there. he wouldn't.

rapunzel felt a presence beside her as her mind wandered about how she was going to make her way through the cave . she was getting better at sensing people creeping up on her , now that it had happened often enough . finally , her eyes made their way over to the stranger , offering them a small smile . “i said ,” she began , turning her gaze back to the vortex , “i could light up the way with my hair .” flicking the braid back behind her , her bright green orbs widened . “oh , excuse me ! i haven’t even introduced myself .” her full body turned to the stranger and she held out her hand for a greeting . “hi , i’m rapunzel and i have magic hair that glows when i sing !” one thing she wasn’t better at was subtly and not realising that what may seemed normal to her , wasn’t normal to others .

jinx took a moment to let her eyes wander over the stranger in front of her , and really only one word came to mind . cute . her eyes rounded and snapped back to his as the sarcastic comment left his lips . she scowled , not taking it well . “that smart mouth will get you in trouble one day ,” she threatened mildly . jinx was always on edge , she trusted nobody and sure , that meant she had basically no friends or alliances with anyone but ultimately she had one goal in this strange town and that was to protect herself .

she had already seen way too many shady characters around and now she was bumping into someone she had never see before in an alleyway . it’s hard to not flag that as suspicious . jinx knew how to handle herself in dangerous situations . she had no memories of her past life , but fighting and self preservation came naturally , it seemed . “whose side are you on ?” she questioned , hoping her glare was jabbing through his eyes to his brain , “do you have your memories ?”

one thing about stanley uris was that he was quite accustomed to threats for someone raised in a house so buttoned up as his own. he was familiar with the snake bite essential nature of anger, used to defusing it or defending himself both, even if he wasn't so good at the second one. "i didn't mean anything by it," he said, which was true enough, seeing as how he didn't think much before sarcasm sprayed from his mouth most days.

steve helped them up before rubbing his head, letting out a sigh. he was already late as is, so he decided might as well just say screw it. “could i get you anything? a coffee? tea?” steve felt bad for causing the other to fall like that. he was a worrier, it came with being the town babysitter for years. you couldn’t take the babysitter out of him, even if he didn’t quite remember hawkins. “i could even get you a sandwich?” he offered, sighing. steve didn’t really have the money to be buying strangers things, but he felt bad not offering at least.

"you don't have to get me anything. i'm fine, really. are you okay?" stan asked, looking the other person over for the first time. they looked a little harried, as if bumping stanley off of his feet was not the first bad thing to happen to them that day. a small sympathetic part of stanley felt bad, even if it was him that had been bumped into. "can i get you anything? i'm stan, by the way. he/they pronouns. you?"