timing : stozier

18

february 14/15

in math class now, there was a small divide. ben in front of all four boys, richie and stan to the left and behind, eddie and bill to the right and behind. obviously, this didn't stop richie and eddie from whispering and talking all class. richie and stan started showing affection to each other again in front of their friends. 'friendly' hugs and pats on heads. the bell rung and they all got up to go to lunch. mike and beverly coming out of french, they all met together in the cafeteria.

"oh stan, you wanted me to remind you to write down the time of the audition. feb 27, 4 pm." richie said quietly as they all sat down at a table together. the cafeteria smelled like chicken wraps (if there is such a smell) and stinky teenagers. mike and ben went together to get into the lineup.

stan nodded at richie, bringing out his notebook to write it down. he had been bringing his notebook everywhere. it included his plans for everything. how to apologize to bill and eddie, how to get on his path to be a better person, his homework, etc.. neither of the boys had let on to the group that they were auditioning, only ben knew richie was auditioning. mike had assumed he wasn't going to.

"listen to m-muh-me. call me fucking w-wuh-weird, but it g-guh-guh-goes hard!" bill argued with eddie, who rolled his eyes.

"it's garbage! tell him, bev." eddie huffed, beverly sucking in her breath.

"yeah about that... i kinda like it. it's grown on me, eddie." beverly argued back, eddie rolling his eyes and gasping.

"what are you guys talking about?" ben joined in, sitting down with mike and their trays. eddie zipped his mouth shut, as if he didn't even want to say it.

"100 g-guh-gecs, it's good. weird as shit, but good." bill said, richie turning his head around.

"i love that shit! it goes hard as fuck, dude." richie joined in, bill nodding. richie smiled at the friendly nod. this was a step.

"you too? of course you like that, richie." eddie put his head on the table, sure there was no way he was winning this argument.

"what is 100 gecs?" mike asked the question stan was hesitant to. stan was always hesitant to join conversations, but he figured if things were going to try to get better, he had to join.

in order, richie, eddie, beverly, and bill spoke over each other.

"spiritual enlightenment"/"garbage"/"music"/"p-puh-pure cocaine"

mike nodded, so it was a band.

"what does it sound like though? why are your guys' opinions so different?" stan asked and richie chuckled. pulling his phone out despite eddie's protests, he plugged in earbuds and gave one to stan. stan put one in his ear and richie took one for himself.

"it sounds like pure ecstasy. orgasmic, even." richie said to stan as he clicked play. stan immediately recoiled, not at all expecting what he heard. eddie laughed at stan's reaction. stan was thoroughly confused and it was definitely not his type of music.

"what the fuck am i listening to?"

"that's not even the good part, sweets." the nickname sorta slipped out, and it took stan (and everyone at the table) by surprise a little bit. it had been a while since richie had taken to joke flirting. richie shut his mouth after that. soon enough though, it was forgotten as music started to blare into stan's ear, deafening him. he threw the earbud out of his ear, the table laughing.

"that's horrible!" stan exclaimed, bill, richie and beverly shaking their heads at him. richie took the other earbud and hung it around his other ear, so he could still hear them.

"see? that's what i'm saying" eddie huffed, flicking bill in the head. bill flinched and pushed eddie lightly, chuckling.

"y-yuh-you're just not smart en-nuh-nough to comprehend it." bill replied, leaning his head on beverly.

"richie likes it. i just disproved your entire theory." eddie stated, richie's jaw dropping. this pulled a laugh from stanley and a high five between them.

"i hate you" richie huffed, pushing stanley to the side.

stanley jokingly pursed his lips at him, "you wish you hated me." the motion made bill's smile fade and richie watched as beverly rubbed her thumb over bill's hand.

bill and eddie were sitting in eddie's room, sitting on the floor. eddie had invited bill over, seeing how bummed bill had been the entire day. bill had gladly accepted. which led to eddie flat backed on the ground, bill next to him. eddie would be lying if he said he wasn't inching his hand towards bill's. it was so close.

"ed-duh-die, do you think someday we'll be l-luh-loved the way we deserve?" bill asked, his voice melancholy. eddie knew bill was heartbroken, but he had seemed to be getting better, up until today.

"i hate it when you stutter my name, bill," eddie started, "and yeah. we will. maybe right now that's like, hard to find, but you at least have love from me and all of the losers." eddie attempted to comfort bill.

eddie had been a little conflicted recently. well, he was always conflicted, but it had intensified a bit. eddie still liked bill, he might have even loved bill, but he couldn't do anything, not when bill was so fragile. it was really a sticky situation. how do you let the person you love know that they're loved when you don't want to take advantage of them?

"but that's p-platonic, and it's not the same." bill replied, eddie internally screaming. instead, eddie hummed along as an agreement. his hand was so close.

"i mean i guess, but i still love you." eddie had meant to say we! shit! we, not i! we love you! look eddie, you've made it all weird and everything. fucking dickballs--

"i kn-nuh-nuh-now. i love you too." bill didn't think he'd ever said that phrase without stuttering, but his stutter also seemed to weaken every time he was around eddie. obviously, he still stuttered, but it was less.

"but..." eddie decided it was better to not say anything more. he didn't want to say anything he'd regret. bill didn't mean it romantically.

after all, a month ago eddie was prepared to get over him, and then bill was thrust back into his life so suddenly. what was he supposed to do?

"but?" bill asked, the room silent. when eddie didn't answer, bill understood. he took eddie's inching hand in his own, eddie feeling warm inside.

"bill..." eddie whispered, his fingertips buzzing with the excitement of touching bill's. they both smiled a little bit.