Sail Away With Me
Summary: In this dimension, Stanford tries to sail away with Stanley.
This fic is inspired by and based on this comic. Thank you @daidz-art for making this beautiful comic!
(Cross-posted on AO3)
It was supposed to be fine. Everything was supposed to work out.
But it didn’t.
West Cost Tech had rejected him.
If it had been because his project truly wasn’t up to snuff, he would have been fine with that. He would have been able to move on.
But his twin did this.
He had taken away the only opportunity either of them had to get away from New Jersey. Of course he’d have been by himself in the school, but he’d have scraped up enough money after college to bring his brother to him. That had been the plan.
It wasn’t the plan anymore.
He yelled without regard to how his twin—the only other one that mattered other than himself—flinched, without really paying attention. He saw his future—their future—shattered before his eyes. It hadn’t involved treasure hunting because that wouldn’t have been viable, but it would have been something. It would have been better.
It wasn’t so much the words that had snapped him out of his angry stupor, but it had been the seething voice that slithered down his spine. It wasn’t a roar, but it didn’t have to be.
Filbrick Pines could make himself heard without even raising his voice.
Stanley stared up at their father with fear written all over his face. “Wait, no, I can explain! It was a mistake!”
“A mistake?” He shoved his son down onto the couch and stared at him for not even a heartbeat before he stormed out of the room.
“Stanley, what happened?” Caryn demanded as she bounced the crying baby.
He didn’t even look at his twin, he was busy looking down the hallway where they could hear Filbrick riffling through things. “I-I broke—Ford’s project. It was an accident though, I swear. It was still moving when I left so I thought it was fine.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You should’ve told me! I could’ve fixed it last night.”
Stanley looked over at him, eyes wide and pitiful in a way that they had never been before. “I—”
Footsteps started down the hall and everyone went quiet as the storm rolled in. There wasn’t time to ask any questions because before they knew it, he had grabbed Stanley and started hauling him down the stairs.
Caryn started after him. “Fil—”
“No, you’re not gonna get him outta trouble this time!”
Stanford knew what would happen—it was inevitable with their father’s temper. He went to their room, determined to give Stanley the silent treatment when he was returned with red marks on his back and legs. Stanley always squirmed.
Upon opening the door, he saw the window was open and clothes were strewn about in a way they hadn’t been when he left earlier that evening. It was clear to him that their father had rifled through their room, but why would he open the—
He heard the front door open downstairs and rushed to the window to look outside just in time to see his twin sitting on the sidewalk with their father standing over him. His eyes weren’t drawn to the two men, but rather to the duffel bag that sat beside Filbrick’s feet.
He threw the duffel bag down before he walked back out.
He had been packing Stanley’s things.
He was kicking Stanley out.
The bag was thrown into his twin’s chest, and he barely managed to catch it for all of his shock. “Stanford, tell him he’s bein’ crazy!”
He gaped down at the scene, unable to quite process what was happening.
He couldn’t kick out Stanley. He was just supposed to give him licks and send him back upstairs. He was supposed to give him a lecture and take away privileges. Stanley wasn’t supposed to be thrown out of their lives.
“Filbrick, what are you doing?”
“Quiet, Caryn!”
That snapped him back to reality. “Pa, this is crazy! You can’t kick Stan out!”
Because for all his faults, Stanley was the one that had been there for him most. When their mother was distracted and father was ignoring them, they had each other to rely on. They were brothers—twins—and that meant something.
“You stay outta this unless you wanna tag along with him!”
There it was. Exactly what Stanford had expected.
He was one mistake away from being kicked out, too. It hurt. It made him angry.
As much as he wanted to go to WCT, as angry as he was with Stanley, he couldn’t… he couldn’t live with the thought of his brother on the streets.
Because that’s where he’d end up and that’s where he would stay. Stanley was more stubborn than anyone else in their family. They wouldn’t see him again until he made millions… if he made millions. How could a kid without a high school diploma make that kind of money?
He couldn’t.
The worst part was… he could see Stanley dead in a ditch without any of them knowing.
And that made up his mind.
“Fine!” He yelled back, turning on his heel and hurriedly packing his own things. He turned to shout out the window, “We can make it on our own!”
After he was sure he’d gotten everything they would need—including the money they had stashed away—he ran downstairs and pushed past their father.
“Can’t we just talk about this?” Caryn pleaded. “Boys, come back inside.”
“No, Ma, he made his choice!” Stanford pointed to their father. “Shermie wouldn’t even come around if it weren’t for us—” He gestured between their ma, himself and his twin. He didn’t break eye-contact with the towering man. “—and when we’re all gone, no one’s even gonna visit your grave.”
“You’re not thinking clearly,” Filbrick stated, voice low and warning.
“Well, neither are you.” He turned and pushed his twin towards the car. “C’mon Stanley. We’re leaving.”
He got into the passenger’s seat and threw his bag between his feet, refusing to look back at their parents. If he looked at their Ma, he would break and go back, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave Stanley.
“Ford, are you s—”
“Just drive!”
With a sigh, the car was started, and they were driving away.
They would need a plan.
Moses, what would they do?
“If the college board isn’t impressed with my experiment tomorrow, then okay. I’ll do the treasure-hunting thing.”
“Take us to the beach,” he said suddenly, staring at the road ahead with his mind filling with broken dreams and childhood fantasies in place of the weight of reality.
“Go home, Stanford.” Stanley had never sounded so tired before, so resigned.
He couldn’t think of that: of his brother’s sudden change in mood or reality. He could only follow through on his promise.
Their promise.
“The beach, Stanley! Drive us to the damn beach!”
There was a long silence before he wordlessly turned the car to take them on the familiar route.
His hands shook in his lap, but he ignored that.
They would set sail tonight and reach the next port by morning. He’d use the money they’d scraped up the past year and a half to get supplies. They’d been fishing enough to know how to survive. They would take work on the docks, rent out their ship for tours. They could do it.
He would make it happen.
The car parked and there was the beach.
Dark water kissed the pale sand under the pale moonlight. In the distance, the silhouette of the Stan O’War stood proud like a beacon calling to him.
He grabbed their bags when Stanley didn’t move and got out of the car, determined. They would come back for the car tomorrow, for now they needed to set sail and let the ocean wash everything away.
He threw the bags up onto the deck and pushed against the boat. After a moment of it not budging more than an inch, he realized his twin was still off to the side looking at him.
“H-help me push the boat,” he panted.
He couldn’t do it alone. Neither of them could ever do anything alone. He should have known better.
They could go, they could run.
They could disappear into the night.
“Ford…” Quiet—Stanley was never quiet—and resigned—Stanley never gave up.
Why was he like this? Didn’t he say this was the silver-lining? They could sail around the world and hunt treasure—he said that was the plan wasn’t it? Stanford had promised him this would be their fall back. They had to sail away.
He turned and started pushing against it with his back, looking at his brother with desperation. “We’ll go sailing together! Just help me!”
Stanley lowered his eyes, dejected. “Stanford, stop… just go home.”
Go home? That place wasn’t home without laughter and Stanley was the only one that made them laugh. He was still upset, but he couldn’t let his brother go without him. He couldn’t lose him forever.
The thought alone made his chest tight and vision blurry. “Stop saying that!”
Stanley glanced at him but couldn’t hold his gaze. He looked so broken and tired. It wasn’t the Stanley he knew.
“I… I don’t wanna go home without you.”
A weak, sad chuckle. “You must be pretty stupid if you wanna run away with me.”
There was so much inside him—anger, sorrow, anxiety, and emotions he wasn’t sure had names—and somehow, despite knowing so many words, he couldn’t find any to express everything he felt he needed to. What came out was immediate and desperate; it made his raw voice crack and hands shake.
“I said we’d go sailing if WCT failed! It failed!” His hand fisted his own shirt. “I promised!”
Stanley grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know… but sometimes promises break.” He looked up with quiet, dejected earnestness. “You can make something of yourself if you go back. You don’t have to be a fuck up like me.”
“Stop that! I’m not leaving you—never!”
“You think I’m gonna die out there on my own… don’t you?”
His breath hitched.
He wanted to deny it. He wanted to shake his brother and tell him that he was amazing even if everyone else thought differently. He wanted to be angry at him for ruining his chances at getting into the college of his dreams, to demand to know what he was thinking, to get that goddamn look off of his face so he could be mad at him properly!
Most of all, he wanted to go back in time to fix everything so Stanley wouldn’t have to look at him like that.
His knees gave out from under him, and he sat heavily in the sand, back pressed against the boat as a sob escaped his lips. His hands moved as they always did when he cried: pushing his glasses up so he could hide his face without smudging them and tangle his fingers in his hair.
“I don’t wanna lose you,” he confessed through the tears.
It felt as if there was an eternity before he noticed a warm body sitting next to his. When he looked over, Stanley was staring at the stars above them, head leaned back against their boat. He’d known Stanley every day of their lives and he had never seen him look so old and tired. Would he always look like this if he was alone?
“I always thought it was you and me against the world,” Stanley said quietly, chest heaving. “Now I know better.”
“Stanley—”
“We both know that you shouldn’t be here.” He turned to look at him with tears streaming down his cheeks and a sternness that hadn’t been there before. “Go home. I’ll be okay.”
Without thought, he grabbed Stanley and pulled him close, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. “No, not without you. It’s you and me against the world—always.”
Fingers dug into his shoulder, but he was neither pushed away nor pulled closer.
“Go home.”
“No.”
“Plea—… please, just go home.”
“No.”
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