tw: 𝑨𝑩𝑼𝑺𝑬, internalized homophobia
oh, stanley for sure felt the wrath of his father as soon as the door was locked. stanley was barely able to take off his shoes before his father was in his face, barking like a vicious dog.
"STANLEY AZRIEL URIS WHAT ON GODDAMN EARTH WERE YOU DOING HOLDING HANDS WITH THAT TOZIER BOY? AFTER ALL THAT IVE TAUGHT YOU? DO YOU NOT FUCKING LISTEN TO ME?"
he began to yell in a mix between hebrew and yiddish, most of which was incoherent to someone who hadn't heard mr uris yell before.
"ARE YOU A FAGGOT STANLEY? ARE YOU?"
"no sir. richie is just my frien-"
before stanley could finish his sentence, however, he was knocked to the ground by a soul-removing slap. stanley could barely even get a breath before his father began full on beating on him.
after more yelling and hitting, his father finally stopped and stood up straight.
"i did not raise a gay son." his father spat, storming out of the house.
stan sat in silence for a while, unmoving. then, he began to sob. his head ached and blood poured from his nose, but he sobbed so hard he forgot where he was for a minute.
his father knew. his father knew he liked boys. and worst of all, he knew what stanley didn't, that he liked the boy with the wild hair and obnoxious glasses.
finally developing the strength, stan rose from the ground and stumbled his way up the stairs. he couldn't possibly let his mother, or any of his friends for that matter, see him like this. after shuffling through the bathroom cabinets, he finally got a good look at what his father had done to him.
he looked absolutely terrible. his bottom lip was swollen and crusted with blood, along with his nose. his cheeks and eyes blossoming into the same shade of purple. he lifted his shirt to reveal his beaten & bruised ribcage, which ached just by looking at them.
he slowly, and painfully, cleaned up his wounds, using a bit of foundation bev had got him for his birthday to cover up his battered eye. when he finished, he slumped his way back through his room before falling to the bed, eyes already leaking once more. for the second time that week, stan wondered why he had to exist.
stan awoke to the sound of his mother knocking on his door, informing him dinner was ready. he made sure to check his appearance once more in the mirror before heading downstairs, only to find it was just his mother who was home.
"where's dad?" stan asked as he sat down at the table, of course placing a napkin on his lap.
"business trip, he called a couple of hours ago. it'll just be us for the week. excited?" his mom chuckled, placing his plate down.
stan didn't say anything out loud, but he was glad he only had to see his mother. he couldn't stand to look his father in the face for a while, or ever again.
{next morning}
that morning, stan woke up earlier than normal during the summer. like at 8:00 early. so, he did what any good fake boyfriend would do, and biked over to richie's house to wake his ass up. mrs. tozier answered the door and, being the fantastic mother she is, began to offer stan something to eat before he went to bother richie. before she could, however, she caught notice of stan's bruises, still slightly tainted by the day-old foundation.
"stan sweetie, what happened to your eye?" she questioned, like the concerned mother she is.
"oh, i was messing around with bill and he accidentally hit me. it's fine though, my mom checked it," stan lied smoothly, which he fucking hated. why was he so good at lying?
"okay darling, just let me know if you need ice or anything," she smiled sweetly.
stan entered the house and clambered the stairs to richie's room, not bothering to knock knowing he'd still be fast asleep. when he entered the room, he took a moment to take in the sight in front of him.
richie was laying on his side, curled up slightly, cuddling a pillow, which stan found far more adorable than he should have. stan crept up to the bed slowly, careful not to make any noise. he then proceeded to slide the pillow out from richie's arms carefully, before replacing the pillow with his own body. he decided that he was suddenly sleepy, and richie's grasp was far too comfortable for him to disrupt. stan laid awake for a few minutes, taking in richie's scent, and the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and the stray curls cascaded across his face, accompanied with the freckles that stan could sit and count for hours. stanley decided in that exact moment, that real boyfriend or not, richie tozier was beautiful.
as stan's eyes drifted close, he held on just a little bit tighter and felt his heart, against his own will, flutter as he felt richie do the same.
around 10:30, richie woke up to a warm body pressed against his own. as confusion seeped into his features, he looked down and was met with a mop of curls. he smiled to himself softly, wondering when the hell stan got there. richie tilted the smaller boy's head back slightly to get a good look at him. the sun shone in through richie's open curtains, falling onto stan's face in the most perfect way he'd seen in his life.
"i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it," richie whispered, wanting nothing more than to slide down and kiss the boy's lips, then he stopped himself. what was he thinking? he didn't like stan. he likes eddie, that's why they're doing this.
but richie let his mind wander, questioning if that was still the reason at all. the way stan's breath felt on his neck and the way he gripped richie's back had richie's brain going haywire. then, richie remembered he had gone to sleep in his boxers. just his boxers. he freaked out internally for a moment, wondering if he should dress himself before stan woke up, though the way stan held onto him made him think if he'd be able to get up at all. so, he laid there and rubbed stan's back in a soothing manor.
about 10 minutes later, stan woke up from his tiny nap and was met with richie's bare chest. quite literally. his face was pressed so close in towards the black haired boy's chest that he could poke the skin in front of him with his nose without straining a muscle. richie's breathing felt normal against his own chest reminding him that he, too, was awake.
stan crooked his neck upwards, nudging richie's chin with his head. richie curved to look down at him as well and smiled gently, in awe of the way stan's eyes glowed when he was happy.
"look who's finally awake," richie teased, bopping stan on the nose.
"excuse me i was up at 8, you just looked comfortable so i didn't want to wake you," stan mumbled, turning his face back in to richie's neck, the ache in his jaw suddenly reminded him of the events of the morning before.
"well thanks for joining me. y'know even though you look mean and void of emotion, you're a pretty great snuggler," richie sniggered, earning a bop to the head from stan.
stan looked up at richie once more, regretting it once richie noticed stan's swollen eye. how did he not see it before?
"bub what happened to your eye?" richie asked, holding stan's face back a bit to get a better look.
"oh i was hanging out with bill and we were messing around and he accidentally hit me. it's not that big of a deal," stan mumbled, wanting nothing more than to hide his face away again.
"how many times did he accidentally hit you then?" richie muttered, examining stan's face like some kind of doctor.
when stan didn't answer, richie stared into his eyes, wondering why he wouldn't tell him the truth.
"why're you lying to me?" richie asked in the same tone.
stan's eyes began to water, his lip trembling, and oh god it was all becoming too much. he should've came better prepared, he shouldn't have lied to richie at all. he shouldn't be doing any of this with richie at all. richie didn't deserve him anyway, fake boyfriend or not.
unable to hold his tears back any longer, stan finally let richie see him cry, and the look on richie's face damn near broke his heart.
richie pulled him closer almost immediately, allowing the curly haired boy to hide away in his neck, listening to the tiny sobs he let out.
"shhh, hey. stan, baby, it's okay. just let me help you, okay?" richie whispered, stroking stan's hair in hopes of calming him down.
after a few minutes, stan let his face be pulled back and back into richie's view.
"c'mon, shirt off."
what.
"richie what-"
"stan just lemme see," richie mumbled, reluctantly pulling his body away from stan's.
as he helped stan get his shirt off, he wondered yet again if there were different circumstances, if he weren't removing stan's shirt to check him over for bruises, but in a more dirty way. he snapped out of it as stan had fully removed his shirt, arms awkwardly trying to cover the patch of bruises coating his chest and rib cage.
richie gently pushed at his arms, hoping stan would take the hint and move his damn arms. stan took it and hesitantly moved his arms to instead cover his burning face.
richie looked him over closely, and he hated to admit it but, stanley was fucking perfect, even all bruised up. he let his fingers skirt over stan's skin lightly, checking to see if there were any odd lumps or signs of broken bones.
"shit, bub, who did this? bowers?" richie questioned, moving to pull stan's arm from in front of his face.
"yeah. he got me when i went out for groceries," stan spoke just audibly, smoothly lying yet again.
"youch, he really did a number on you. what'd he use? a fucking bat?" richie gritted, sliding his arms around stan and flipping them over, earning a small yelp from stan.
"y'know, this looks really bad right now, what we're doing," stan giggled, his breath gliding over richie's neck yet again.
"oh no staniel? what will our mothers say? pre marital snuggling? oh what a 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚," richie exasperated, throwing a hand over his head dramatically, stan shoving at his shoulders in the process.
after a few minutes in the silence, stan spoke, "so, any ideas of what to do today?"
"one or two," richie smirked, "c'mon, let's call the gang. tozier's got a plan."
"those are never good," stan laughed, rising to retrieve his phone from his bag.
"damn staniel, look at that ASS!" richie barked with an attempt to slap stan's behind.
"fuck off richie, you're the worst!"
🪐🧸🌿🌷✨
okay i am SO sorry i haven't updated in a million fucking years so here's a kind of long chapter. i missed u guys 🥺(also i don't actyally know stan's middle name i just made one up 👉👈)