timing : stozier

53

december 23/24

"hey guys, welcome," richie opened the door, smiling widely as he welcomed them in. stanley, eddie, and bill walked in awkwardly. bill wondered silently how many gay men there were in new york for all of them to know each other. behind richie, two other people stood there. all three of them silently wondered which one was axel.

"hi," bill broke the silence and awkwardly, and eddie held in a snicker. 

"so this is axel, and that is jamie," richie finally introduced them and stanley decided that the names fit them. stanley, by the way, was trying to stop himself from physically shaking, simply because he was afraid of axel confronting him. 

in stanley's eyes, axel really looked like he would be named axel. he had small eyes (was that a weird thing?) and hair that reminded stanley of young hugh grant, but bleach blond. he wore a wife-beater (stanley was wearing a button up shirt) and stan briefly wondered if he had ever been surfing. 

"that's what he looks like?" jamie mumbled out of the corner of his lips to axel, who smirked as he looked over to jamie. it was obvious to them which one was stanley for several reasons. most of all, the fact that the other two (bill and eddie) were holding hands.

"yeah, talk about upgrading" axel replied, and the two shared a quiet snort. jamie put his hand out subtly for a fist bump, but got ignored by axel. his hand lowered, disappointed.

"nice to meet you too." stan mumbled. he shoved his hands in his pocket. 

"yeah and this is bill, eddie, and stan." richie continued, gesturing to the other three. they all looked each other up and down. richie felt uncomfortable. he wished he hadn't done this.

"nice to meet you," eddie offered a hand out to axel, and axel shook it briefly, his gaze focused on stanley.

stanley felt stuck in his place like a deer in headlights.

"nice to finally meet you, stanley. you're quite the legend, y'know. almost like a cryptid." axel laughed jokingly, but his tone made everyone in the room uncomfortable. axel put his hand out in front of stanley. stanley swallowed (what felt like) the rock in his throat and shook it, pursing his lips.

"uh, haha, yeah." he responded softly, placing his hand directly back into his pocket. 

"um..." riche cleared his throat, "so dinner will be good to go in around 5 minutes, so you guys can wait in the living room and chat, um, if you want." he pointed off to a small part of the apartment and the five nodded separately, wandering over there.

"cool, cool, thank you rich," stanley muttered, feeling like maybe he should commit to being quiet. 

"yes, thank you babe," axel said loudly before richie disappeared into the kitchen, richie nodding in acknowledgment. 

stanley sat down on a couch, eddie and bill beside him. 

"i didn't know richie could cook," bill commented, shuffling a little bit in his seat. the apartment smelled good, they had all noticed that. stanley couldn't place the smell, but something inside of him recognized it.

"yeah, me and my girlfriend taught him so many recipes that he kind of runs on a schedule of certain meals," jamie said. 

"oh, cool..." bill trailed off. he was honestly trying his hardest not to make this 100% awkward, he had a tendency of being a peace-maker. it wasn't going incredible well. 

"so how did you all meet richie? back when you were kids, right?" axel asked, all of them nodding. stanley kept quiet, but eddie started explaining. 

"yeah, him and stan met in grade 1 or something, and we knew stan from pre-school so it worked out and we clicked and all." eddie spoke, bill nodding along to his story. 

"cool, cool. why'd you all move out from maine to new york?" axel asked, really getting into their background, for some reason. 

stanley couldn't explain why, but he knew that although he himself was watching axel on one side of the room, jamie was staring right at him. he was a little scared of jamie. because axel was one problem, but jamie would have no problem beating up stanley, would he?

god, was he in high school again? these were adults. adults that richie trusted, and therefore good dudes. he might not be axel's favourite person, but they weren't immature.

"i was third-wheeling with them in an apartment the three of us were sharing back in maine, and bill especially had a dream of coming out here to work as an author, so here we are." stanley decided to speak a little, just so they didn't think he was entirely quiet. 

"you write?" jamie's attention finally turned to bill. 

"i'm writing, but i work in a bookshop in the meantime." bill said, a little shy about his career as an author. it wasn't going very great, writing was hard, but he figured he could get through it.

"oh, that's cool, that's cool." jamie leaned back in the couch.

"what do you guys do?" eddie asked, genuinely running through icebreaker questions in his head.

"i work in statistics in my friend's company," jamie replied, an answer that seemed about right. 

"i'm currently being a student teacher as an assistant at a school down the road." axel answered, and stanley, for all that his imagination was worth, could not imagine axel as a teacher. 

"nice, nice." 

there was silence for a moment, and jamie's eyes were put back on stanley. stan looked at him this time, expecting jamie to glance away. he didn't. so stan did. 

"ok, it's time for dinner!"

stanley put his finger on the smell. it was chicken stir fry.