golden boy : stozier

twenty six

stanley held a finger to his lips, richie holding his hands out to keep him from completely falling off the bed. richie's feet wiggled on the top of stanley's bed as richie's arm touched stanley's floor.

stanley was holding in a laugh, but he stayed dead silent, sitting against his door as they listened to two pairs of footsteps make their way up the stairs.

stanley's lights were off, and richie had failed to properly reach for the glass of water on stanley's night stand, putting them in this precarious situation as stanley's parents made their way to bed. once he heard their door shut, stanley motioned to richie, richie slithering off the bed like a snake onto the floor.

"something is seriously wrong with you," stanley whispered as he let himself laugh, making his way over to where richie was on the floor. richie flapped his hand at him.

"i'm just an unlucky man," richie replied, checking his phone as he pulled the water off the nightstand properly. stanley leaned his head on richie as he sat up a little, scrolling through some texts.

4:30pm
bill: hey richie,, bev mike n eddie r coming to my house if u wanna come. stans welcome too ofc but. yk idk if he'd come. anyway. lmk

5:27pm
bill: ookay taking that as a no, but ed n mike r sleeping over if u wanna come over later

richie turned his head to stanley on his shoulder, wiggling his fingers. stanley, who'd been reading over his shoulder anyway, sighed through his nose.

"c'mon, you're already sneaking me out, might as well come with," richie said, stanley sitting up to look at him in disbelief.

"you're being mean," stanley crossed his arms. richie shook his head.

"please?" richie pouted his lip, "you said maybe you'd get into sneaking out. it's just bill's, you don't have to sleep over." he watched stanley think, swearing he could almost hear the cogs turning. stanley narrowed his eyes.

"i hate you." stanley said. and then, "okay."

richie smiled uncontrollably, pulling stanley to his feet with a hand. richie texted bill as stanley grabbed a coat out of his closet.

10:13pm
richie: STAN AND I R COMING. PREPARE THOUSELVES.

richie put his backpack on, grabbing his shoes by the laces and waiting for stanley at his bedroom door. stanley sighed one last time before opening the door for him.

-

to richie's surprise, it was beverly who opened the door, but she smiled widely to see both of them. she waved them in with a hand, "hi! bill's parents are out, so feel free to be as loud as you want, provided you don't cause a noise complaint. they're—" she cut herself off, hearing bill swear at mike through the wall. "they're playing monopoly."

"oh, that is my shit," richie said, kicking his shoes off with haste and running to bill's bedroom. stanley took a little longer, putting in the effort as always to take his shoes off properly.

"it's nice you're here, stanley, i didn't think you'd come," beverly said, her voice sweet as she walked slowly with him. he shrugged.

"rich forced me to sneak out, really. i dunno, it's nice." he said, avoiding eye contact as he looked outside. she put a hand on his shoulder, and he felt goosebumps raise on his arm. he wasn't quite sure why.

"well it's good to see you outside of school," her hand only let up as she got to bill's bedroom, stanley walking in to sit next to richie, of whom eddie was dealing into the game late.

"stanley! do you wanna play too?" mike smiled cheerfully, motioning to the game. stanley shook his head politely. they were all being a little nicer than normal, and it didn't really make sense until stanley noticed the bottle next to bill, and mike, too. beverly picked the bottle up and took a drink as she sat next to bill.