"okay, wait. stop, stan. okay. i don't really know how to do this so please be patient. stan, stop grabbing my phone."
"you don't know what you're doing let me help." stan grabbed the phone again, this time fully taking it from richies grasp. "alright, hey guys. how are you? what's going on?"
"oh my god, you just hijacked my live. that's fucked up, dude."
richie had never really done a live stream before. they had done professional streams during shows or shoots, where someone came in and used their band accounts to record them.
"okay, okay. let me just, there. all good?" stan fixed the position of the phone, setting it up in a way where the two would both be seen on screen.
"cool. okay, so. off day from tour, so we thought we'd come on here and hang for a bit, maybe answer some questions, do a little chatting for a bit." richie smiled at the camera, what he did best. he saw the comments flooding in, unsure of where, or how, to even start with them appearing so quickly. "do the comments always go this fast?"
"yeah, unfortunately." stan leant forwards to stop them from going quickly, and read one aloud. "where is the rest of the band? they went sight seeing."
"eddie and bev are here though. just, over there." richie pointed in a direction, as stan grabbed the phone and tilted it towards eddie and bev, who lay opposite each other on a couch, silently watching their phone screens.
"bev, eddie, say hi to richies instagram live." eddie's eyes broke contact with his phone, and drifted to stan. he smiled and waved, nudging bev with his foot to signal her to pay attention.
bev, now annoyed at the thought of being touched by eddie's foot, kicked him back before looking to stan.
"what is it that i'm doing?" she asked, dropping her phone to her chest. stan sighed, turning the phone back to himself.
"i wanted you to say hello to the live stream, not abuse eddie on camera." bev let out a laugh, signaling stan to turn the camera back to her.
"hello, richies live stream!" bev said, vibrantly, a laugh following directly afterwards.
"okay, now that you've all taken attention away from me, can i have the feature back on my live stream please." stan laughed, bringing the phone back to where they sat, and setting it up how it had been prior.
"okay, let's see. uh, any plans for your day off, besides insta live?" stan looked over to richie, silently asking that he be the one to answer this question.
"um, not really, just hanging out. we'll probably go out tonight bc we have an off day tomorrow as well." stan nodded in agreement.
"guys ask things of substance, stop asking for eddie to come over here." stan scrolled through comments trying to find something to ask.
eddie turned his head and watched for a moment before he got up and wandered to where the two were sitting.
"they just like me better than they like you guys." eddie said with a smile. stan rolled his eyes as he kept scrolling.
richie looked up to where eddie was standing, smiling as he looked.
"they're saying you have heart eyes, richie." richies smile grew bigger.
"i do." eddie met his gaze, returning the smile.
"okay, that's enough. you're going to make someone sick." stan groaned, earning a laugh from eddie.
"alright, alright." richie said, scooting over in his place on the couch, letting eddie sit. eddie did just that and threw his legs over richies lap, letting richies hand rest on his knee.
"uh, oh this is a good one. filming anything fun while on tour? i think we are, i don't know if we can talk about it much though." stan looked to richie for approval.
"well, we can talk a little. we're filming tour diaries, which i'm sure you all guessed because we did it last tour. um, we're filming something cool tomorrow that we can't talk about until after but, yeah! stuff is being filmed, definitely."
"good answer." eddie whispered while stan looked for more questions. richie turned his head towards the voice, smiling like an idiot.
"eddie, how are you liking tour so far this time around? is the nicest phrasing of that question that i've seen for you since you got on camera. if you want to answer, so they'll stop asking." eddie sat forward.
"oh um, yeah. sure. uh, i'm liking it. it's good being around all of my friends and richie, and meeting you guys!"
"follow up question, what are you doing about school?"
"online classes are a life saver. right now i'm not taking anything though, just wanted to get used to touring first, but i'll be starting back up in a few weeks."
"okay, no more eddie questions because you guys can't be nice." stan said, scrolling passed hundreds of comments left.
eddie felt his stomach drop. he hated this part. all of richies fans knew what happened between them last time they toured, and for all they knew it was bound to happen again. eddie couldn't blame them, because he himself was scared it was going to happen again. he was scared of himself.
richie grabbed eddie's hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of it in an attempt to soothe him. richie could always tell when eddie felt off.
"are you guys glad to have eddie and bev on tour again with you? i cant speak for richie but i'm happy that they are, we need someone to keep richie in check. eddie and bev always have a way of doing that." stan looked to richie, awaiting his answer.
"yeah, yeah i am. it wouldn't feel right if they weren't here. they're as much of a part of this band and tour as any of us are."
"i agree." stan looked back at eddie, and over to bev, who was looking right at the three of them and listening in. "you can join us bev."
"it's more comfortable over here, plus i don't have to get richie-eddie air on me."
"fair enough."
after a while of answering questions and the four of them bantering, goodbyes were said, and the live was ended.
"so, are we going clubbing or what?" richie asked the group.
"i'm not against it." stan said, clicking away on his phone. eddie assumed he was asking bill, ben, and mike if they wanted to go.
"i'm down if everyone else is." bev chimed in.
"okay well, it seems like they are." stan turned his phone screen to face everyone, showing that bill, ben, and mike were all interested in going.
"me and eddie are going to go get ready, meet back here at ten-ish?" richie grabbed eddie's hand and made his way to the door.
"sounds good."
the walk back to their hotel room was silent. not an uncomfortable silence, but a silence nonetheless.
"they hate me." eddie said once they were in their own space.
"who hates you?" richie walked to the mini bar, opening a bottle of white wine that was left for them.
"your fans." eddie trailed behind, making his way to the mini bar and resting his head on richies shoulder as he poured them both a glass.
"they don't hate you, ed's." eddie took a sip of the wine. it was warm and sweet and it reminded him of the first week they'd spent together, drinking cheap wine and watching movies in richies airbnb.
"they do, you heard stan. everyone was being, you know." richie took his hand.
"they don't matter. i'd give it all away for you, eddie. don't let them make you feel this way."
"don't say that."
"don't say what?"
"that you'd give it all away. never say that." eddie felt like he shouldn't be say this.
"love is all about sacrifices. i'd give everything for you, ed's."
eddie hated to hear him say this. he hated to hear that richies dream, the thing he'd worked so hard for, was less important than eddie was.
eddie hated it because he didn't know if he could say the same.
"it shouldn't be that way. you love what you do, i'm not asking you choose. i never would."
"the ones who truly care about me, and the bad, the music, they aren't leaving comments like that. the real ones are the ones that matter."
"they're going to be upset about the music video. they already hate that the songs are about me." eddie had been dreading being in the music video for richies song since it was brought up. he knew that he'd get so much shit. he was terrified.
"they'll be okay. all that matters is us."