golden boy : stozier

twenty five

"okay, so maybe i'm a little... overzealous... but i can do it," richie brushed himself off, straightening his shirt as they approached stanley's house. stanley shook his head at him, still in disbelief. richie prepared, doing some squats with absolutely awful form (the kind that mike would have shamed him for) and stretching.

"well, while you kill yourself, i'm going to go inside. i'll probably have to talk to them for a bit, but then i'll be up there. if somehow you manage to get up, my window's probably unlocked." stanley brushed him off, making sure no one was looking in through his window before opening the gate for richie. richie entered and stood on the other side, saluting stanley as he began to close the gate. stanley paused, "good luck."

as stanley disappeared behind the gate, richie looked at the roof in front of him. it wasn't... impossible... it just wasn't... probable! richie could do with those odds. he backed up a bit, trying to get a running start. his first attempt, his hands scraped the edge of the drain pipe at the bottom of the roof, his arms then hitting the wall as he fell back down. he paused, winded on the ground. looking around, he found a step stool.

"dickhead," richie mumbled, a smile on his face as he brought the step stool over to where he was. it wasn't particularly tall, but richie could definitely jump from here. he did so, struggling to pull himself up with his backpack on (it was the world's hardest chin up), swinging his legs like a chimp. in a moment of success, he nearly cheered, but instead rolled, further up the roof. he grabbed ahold of his surroundings, a little dizzy.

"this is so how i die," he muttered, choosing not to say aloud that he wouldn't mind dying for stanley uris, in case anyone heard.

eventually, he made it to the window. he yanked at it, the window shaking in the frame before fully opening. god, he hoped he wasn't making that much noise. stanley didn't seem to be in his room yet, and as he silently moved his bag into the room, he listened.

"i know you think that the end of school is some kind of time to relax and do fuck-all, but in a program like yours, the summer is the most important time to be on top of work." donald was talking, a furious tone like his jaw was clenched. richie's eyebrows knit together in worry, as he pulled his shoes off and put them on the window sill, sliding into the room. he tip-toed to put his feet down, not wanting to make that loud a noise.

"and i will be on top of it, i just want to see my friends once so we can celebrate what we've done." stanley's voice was almost unrecognizable to richie, turning into a different person as he talked to his parents. richie chewed on his lip, looking around stanley's room. jesus, it was so neat! he'd never been inside the house, merely outside, so to see the place that stanley spent most of his time was... well... depressing.

he hadn't truly believed when stanley had said his parents just didn't listen to music, but looking around, he believed stanley now. he hid his backpack under stanley's bed—which was, by the way, perfectly clean. zero dust bunnies, not even a stray crumb. richie was ashamed to say that under his own bed were many a pizza box from days past (months past, really).

the rest of their conversation wasn't loud enough for richie to hear, and he simply waited, sitting against the bed, his head on the soft covers. jesus, he'd forgotten how tired he was.

in a couple minutes, probably less than two, but it felt to richie like at least ten, stanley came up the stairs, the door opening slowly, cautiously. stanley looked in to see richie, proud of himself, sitting upright against the bed. stanley shook his head, genuine disbelief this time.

"i cannot believe you got up here. i could hear you thumping against the wall and i thought you gave up." stanley spoke in hardly a whisper, shutting his door behind him gently and sitting down next to richie. richie shrugged, it was a boastful shrug, and stanley hit him for it. they both smiled.

"i used my third leg," richie winked, and stanley groaned quietly, making a disgusted face. after a pause, stanley got his bag from next to him, pulling out his laptop and papers. richie watched as he did so, impressed at stanley's ability to switch his attention. richie pursed his lips, "are you okay?" he asked, watching stanley chew on the inside of his lip.

"um, yeah. just... you know. you probably heard." stanley replied, halfheartedly. he didn't seem like he really cared, but richie knew better. he'd seen stanley cry too many times not to know when he was upset. richie nodded.

stanley seemed to zone out, doing work as always.

"you can nap like, on my bed, if you want to. i don't mind." stanley whispered, richie glancing back at it. it was appealing, the covers tucked in nicely, but looking back to stanley, sat on the ground, he decided to stay where he was.

he let himself lean into stanley. stanley seemed to accept it, eventually bringing an arm around richie, typing with just one hand. it definitely hindered stanley's ability to work, but richie's heart was so warm that he didn't care.

for the briefest millisecond, richie thought, thanks, i love you.

the two lied in silence for quite a while, richie eventually drifting off to sleep once more. he wasn't totally sure he'd taken all of his pills in the last couple days, and he was definitely feeling the brain fog. when he finally awoke, the sun was still out, but it was almost eight o' clock. 

stanley, it seemed, had hardly moved at all. he was still doing work, even if richie had moved down to his lap, one of stanley's hands wrapping its fingers around richie's hair. when richie shuffled around on stanley's legs, he put his laptop down.

richie looked up to him, a feeling twisting its way through his stomach. he wasn't entirely against it.

"i didn't really think about how to get you home. they tend to stay awake until about ten, and i'm definitely not letting you jump off the roof, so you're gonna have to stay until then. okay?" stanley whispered, the faint noise of television being the only other audible noise.

richie blinked. he hadn't heard a word stanley had said, looking at how kind stanley looked. how the softness of stanley's eyes made richie feel like he was burning. he'd been begging to hold onto the feeling, and everything stanley had said had gone in one ear and out the other.

still, he replied, "aye aye, cap'n."