WillFord fluff for the ones who are still here with me 💪
Based on my AU and the song Rewrite the Stars from The Greatest Showman soundtrack, this is the part of my AU where Stanford Gleeful is pretending to be in love with Will Cipher in order to get his guard down enough to trust him, and make a deal with him to obtain the Mystical Amulet. He has been love bombing Will who has been reluctant to make a deal with Stanford for a few weeks due to his fear from the prophecy, and learns fast that he was manipulated when Stanford drops the romantic facade entirely once he gets what he wants.
“How can we rewrite the stars, say that the world can be ours tonight? All I want is to fly with you, all I want is to fall with you. So just give me all of you.”
The number one question I always get is, “Do they truly love each other?” the answer is yes, but never at the same time. Stanford originally thinks Will is this stuttering mess of apologies and nervousness, and Will thinks that Stanford is this romantic empathetic person. In reality Will is a short tempered, two-faced spoiled brat who would never truly feel sorry unless he was negatively affected by something (but would still never fully take accountability) and Stanford is a backstabbing, antisocial narcissist with an ego big enough to give him a God complex.
Will loves Stanford for who he’s not, but Stanford loves Will for who he truly is. Stanford never expected to actually love Will, and so when he does he doesn’t know how to admit he fucked up since it goes against everything he stands for. He thinks not letting himself admit he’s in love will make it easier on him, since he is holding him captive in order to obtain his powers and eventually immortality, which could mean he has to kill Will. And Will has to struggle with actually trusting Stanford, after being lied to he might not ever believe Stanford’s honest remarks.
They do have their moments of being “in love”, but they’re so brief you’d miss it if you blinked. If not for forced proximity I don’t think anyone could love either of them, they’re truly horrible people in almost the same ways and I think that makes them perfect for each other. They do eventually truly learn to love each other, but only because they finally have a desire to change to be better for the other person. That can be scary and causes a lot of internal conflict, and it takes a long time to admit you’re the problem when you spend your whole life thinking you’re the best thing to ever exist lol.
I have the story ending with Stanford admitting that he would not kill Will in order to obtain his life’s goal that he’s hurt others to get to, and Will finally regretting killing something/someone to spark their want to change for each other. This just happens at the time of “Weirdmageddon” (or what I call Apocadent) and they get separated. However, the time spent apart forces them to make changes without a driving force (having each other) because then it’s genuine and not just superficial. I like to imagine that there’s a post-Apocadent where Will comes back very similarly to the Handyman AU, where they get a second chance and things are MUCH better!
