Staying Silent
Whyteroze28
Why is Hector Zeroni so quiet, and why does Pendanski seem to hate him so much? Zero/Stanley I hope you like the story, please R/R
I obviously don't own these guys, but I think they're so cute together
Chapter 4
Hector tried to ignore Stanley, really he did. He dug until he wanted to drop, tried avoiding the 'Wreck Room', and even going to sleep earlier, but it didn't help. And there was the added risk of taking showers alone, which he tried to avoid. But a few days after the 'session', he'd gotten caught, and returned to D-Tent with a heavy step, aching, and wishing he'd just ignored Pendanski that night.
As he walked in, he realized that there was only one person there. He saw Stanley reading something, he guessed it was a letter from home. He laid down on his cot, and looked at the other boy. He wanted to look away, he knew it was private, but then he heard Stanley laugh. Hector had heard it before, but usually it was overpowered by the others. Magnet's laugh being loud enough to drown out everyone else. And after the laugh, there was still a smile. Hector's heart clenched.
He sat up, and almost without thinking about it, he walked over to stand beside Stanley. "What are you laughing at?" he asked, and frowned slightly at how rude he'd sounded. But Stanley didn't seem to notice. Instead he read the line out loud, and Hector frowned.
'Little old lady who lived in a shoe? What the fuck?' Hector stared at Stanley, as if willing the words to make some sense.
Stanley tried explaining it, but Hector didn't remember any nursery rhymes. He didn't remember a lot from before he lived on the streets. He just continued to stare, knowing he must be making Stanley nervous, but unsure how to break the moment. Then Stanley turned his attention back to the letter, and Hector, glad for something else to look at did too.
Suddenly, Stanley mentioned how irritated he felt, and Hector's expression fell even more. He wasn't going to say it, but it almost exploded out of him. "I can't read." Then he almost stopped breathing again, as he heard himself ask, "Can you teach me?"
His brain was screaming at him. 'Shut the fuck up! You can't spend more time with him!' But his eyes stayed focused on Stanley, even as he saw the closed expression on the other boy's face. He made excuses about being too tired, but Hector could see that wasn't all. He could almost feel the 'Zero' persona sliding back into place as Stanley brushed him off.
He scratched his head, but kept staring at the spot where Stanley had been sitting, as the boy tried to be friendly while he left. Hector knew he shouldn't be upset, Stanley probably really was tired... he was the slowest digger at Camp Green Lake, after all. And, it really wasn't Stanley's place to teach him. But Hector felt a tear working its way down his face as he stared at the spot where Stanley had sat, and he stayed in that spot for a minute, willing himself to stop feeling sorry for himself.
He sat down on his cot, staring at nothing, as he heard the other boys laughing an joking outside, and his heart clenched again as he heard Stanley join in. He knew they weren't laughing at him. He could tell by the sounds that it probably had something to do with Armpit, but even though his brain understood, the rest of him felt as though he'd just lost the only friend he ever had.