Work Text:
it's another one of those weekly gathering days for the losers at bill's house. his living room is a go-to whenever the group of friends want to just chill and talk- or occasionally drink. today was the latter choice.
bill provided beer. beverly provided rum (ben bringing the coke). and richie provided vodka, courtesy of his often drunk mother.
there was an unspoken rule amongst them all when they got together like this: it was a big no-no to hook up with another loser. of course, that rule has been broken, but it was only allowed when you are sober and not in the presence of your friends.
but that never stopped richie from being flirty when he drank. it was no secret, richie tozier was horny when he was drunk. stan knew it more than anyone else since he rarely participated in the drinking part of the night. but he decided to fully start staying lucid after the night of the incident .
"stan- my man!" richie cooed from the other end of the couch. the group had dispersed throughout the house, leaving stan and richie on the couch. alone .
"yeah richie?" stan blinked rapidly with his eyes glued to the ceiling above him. he and richie laid horizontally on the couch across from each other, their feet pressed together with their socks slightly tugged over the toes.
"do you ever-" he hiccuped. "want to just-" hiccup. silence.
"richie?" stan asked to the silent room. the torso of his friend peeled off of the couch. richie slumped over to look at stan, whose knees were bent ever so slightly. his hands were on his stomach while he stared straight ahead. do you ever want to just get it over with? richie had wanted to ask. but stan wouldn't know what he meant. hell, he didn't even know what he meant.
"i forgot." he smiled, bringing his hand up to ruffle his loose black curls. stan scoffed.
"typical." oh if only he knew how typical of richie that would be. to forget.
stan wasn't plastered but he was definitely to the point where he felt his body floating. floating. ha. funny.
"ah- shut it jewface." richie tucked his legs beneath him and moved to tower over stan. "you can't be rude to a kid with tourette's." stans vision of the chipped white ceiling was replaced with the sight of richies rosy face. what a sight for sore eyes he was- a sight for sore eyes indeed.
"you don't have tourettes. you're just an asshole." he grinned and felt his heart pick up speed as richie placed his hands on stans shoulders, pressing him down into the cushion.
"that's rude. i'm more of a smartass." richies touch wasn't foreign. they fucked around often, all the losers did. whether it was waist hugs or cheek kisses- they were all comfortable with each other.
"or maybe let's just drop everything and call you an ass." richie laughed loudly and snorted.
"there we go stanley! stan the man- Gets Off A Good One!!" stan loved his laugh. he loved the way his nose would scrunch and make his glasses go farther up onto his face. he loved his big buck teeth that showed when the corners of his lips pulled up just right. he loved when richie laughed at something he said. he loved richie.
richie laughed so hard that he became lightheaded. his elbows buckled under him and he plopped down onto stan. his lips pressed against stans collarbone as he tried to calm his laughing fit- and if he hadn't been shaking so much from the repercussion of his laugh he would be able to feel how fast stans heart was beating.
stan swallowed thickly and pulled his hands from in between his and richies stomachs. he wrapped them around the boy on top of him- who was nearly in tears from how much he was enjoying himself.
"jesus. calm down- it wasn't that funny." richies giggles died down and he was left with a small smile that he dragged from stans collarbone to the crook of his neck. stan licked his lips and closed his eyes.
both of richies hands travelled down stans torso to weave their way around his waist. he made a soft 'hmm' sound against the delicate skin of his neck which made stan open his eyes. he tried to look at something- to maybe latch onto something that would take his mind off richie and the compromising position they were in.
the alcohol in richies system started to find its way to the lower part of his body's bloodstream where he felt an intimacy between stan and him. he was pressed against stan in every way possible and without thinking, he let out a quiet gasp.
"stan." he whispered against stans neck. stan nodded slowly, feeling the way richies lips grazed his skin as his head moved up and down. when his head stopped he felt the edge of richies glasses press into his jaw, but he could care less. stans mind was taking in too much at once.
and then he froze. richies lips applied more pressure on the place they were on. and then his neck felt a pinch. and now something wet. richie took his teeth and bit the side of stans neck carefully, and then ran his tongue over the bite to sooth it.
stan let out a breath of air that he didn't know he was holding in and his arms tightened around richie.
"r...richie." stan tried to sound calm, to sound normal, but he hadn't caught his breath yet so richies name sounded rushed and needy. richie took his mouth from stans skin and looked over the side of the couch. he wiggled his nose until his glasses cluttered to the floor. what are you doing richie.
richie pulled his face back so he could look at stan. their faces were both red and stan tried to look anywhere but richies eyes. without his glasses richie looked older. more mature. and stan realized how hard it was to look away. how hard it was to even think about pushing richie off of him. the truth was that he craved some sort of contact between them. he needed richie to do something. anything.
and then richie steadily brought his lips to meet stans.
and now their clothes were discarded in a small pile next to the couch since stan was too drunk to feel the need to fold them.
and stan was telling richie how much he needed him.
so they fucked. oh god did they fuck. richie at one point had to cover stans mouth so he wouldn't scream and alert the others. and stan did not mind that at all. they were drunk, it was meaningless. but it had been their first times. and that made stan sick to his stomach.
cause stan remembers all of it. every second. every sloppy deprived and tender kiss. and because of what he said to richie afterwards, he came to think, over the next few months, that maybe it wasn't so meaningless to him.
but richie didn't recall any of it. and if he did then he sure as hell didn't act like it.
so stan forgets too. at least- he pretends to.
"stan." eddie snaps two fingers in front of the skinny boy. stan follows eddies retreating hand and sees it fall back to the asthmatic boy's waist.
"wha- what?"
"you're not even listening to the poor boy!" richie howls, coming to the kitchen flamboyantly and swinging an arm around eddie. "eds needs attention to fill that small gay heart of his." eddie pushes richie away. if he didn't have a smile carved on his lips stan would assume he was angry.
"don't call me that, fuckstick." stan jumps from his seat on the counter to stand next to the fridge.
"god you experiment one time with a stick and suddenly-"
"beep-beep richie." stan hissed with a smirk and rolled his eyes as richie shot him a finger-gun.
"sorry stanley- forgot sexual deeds are a sore subject for a jew." stan clenched his jaw and opened the fridge, turning his back on richie. no you fucking asshole, it's a sore subject because of you.
"mike chill i'm g-getting it!" bill said as he clumsily entered the kitchen.
"jesus, denbrough, how much did you pre-game." they both laughed and bill walked up to the fridge.
"i haven't drank anything yet, sadly. anyways- speaking of drinking- you up for it tonight stan?" stan lifts his head up from the fridge and moves aside to let bill in.
"sorry. not tonight."
"stan has church- remember?" eddie teased and stan shot him a glare.
"ugh fine." bill leans down and grabs one of the 6 packs from the fridge. richie looks to eddie and elbows him, closing his fist and then sticking his pinky up and his thumb out. he tilts his head back and shakes the loose "y" he made with his hand over his head- most likely insinuating that bill's an alcoholic. eddie laughs and grabs richies hand to pull it down, stopping him before bill sees. stans mouth gapes slowly open and his chest feels tight. why am i feeling this way. they always do this- god- why is it any different now. stan thinks for a moment and scans down richies body until he notices his other hand on eddies lower back.
richies hands.
on someone else.
oh... that's why. bill straightens back up and looks to richie.
"what about you tozier? chu-c...change your mind?" what do you mean 'change your mind'- richie would never refuse a drink. stan crosses his arms and leans against the counter.
richie licks his lips. he looks to stan and rubs his hands on his jeans. "nothings changed from our- uh-" he looks to bill. "from earlier." what. the fuck.
"you guys are weird." stan says as he walks past the boys into the entrance of the living room. before he leaves the hallway, he lingers by the door. eddie exits and mumbles something, smiling at stan as he brushes past him to the living room.
"dude what the fuck- why did you mention that. he was in the same room!" richie hissed and bill's feet shuffled across the floor. stan glanced to the rest of the losers in the living space before pressing his ear towards the invisible door into the open room.
"it's f-fine. i was just asking about d- drinking richie. not-"
"hey stan! you coming?" eddie spooked stan out of his thoughts. he turned around and saw eddie at the end of the hall with his hands on his hips.
"yeah." he mumbles and turns to walk away from the kitchen. he's out of listening range from bill and richie but they're obviously still talking.
"not about stan. y-you need to cool it." bill says as he pushes past richie.
"big bill-" richies hand shoots out to grab bills forearm. "i'm sorry. i'm just... worried." bill scoffs.
"richie- worried? about someone hating him? never heard of that in my luh-life." richie lets bills arm go but instead of putting his hand back to rest against his thigh he forms a fist and socks bill's bicep, not lightly but not hard. "ow- jeez sorry." richie smiles. "don't sweat it. y-you guys may have been wasted but... stans always liked you." richie slipped his hands in his pockets and kicked at the recently cleaned floor with his converse.
"really?" richie asks, very uncharacteristically.
"yes idiot- now get the fuh-f-ff...fuck out of my kitchen." richie made a fake schoolgirl laugh and skipped out of the kitchen. bill chuckled and ran after him.
the two boys bounded into the living room and bill set the beers down in the middle of the coffee table in front of the couch. everyone except for stan and richie grabbed one, bill grabbing two.
"now this is pre-gaming." mike laughed- taking one of the beers from the seat he was in on the right side of the couch. he smiled at ben who accepted his beer from beverly after she placed herself back on his lap. mike patted the front of his pants. "shit. where'd my bottle opener go?" mike scanned the room before his eyes landed on richie. "hey trashmouth!" he jumped up and over the table to richie. "do your thing." richie laughed.
"you're gonna have to be more specific sweetheart. i've got a lot of tricks up my sleeve-" richie took his left hand out of his pocket and wrapped it around mikes waist. "want me to show you some of em?"
stans blood boiled and he felt his face grow hot. was richie doing this on purpose? no. of course he wasn't. he would have to remember that night if that was the case.
"you've got too much courage for a white boy." mike smiled and shoved his beer in richies chest.
"alright alright. i don't feel like walking to the counter so-" richie thought for a moment. normally he would press the cap of the bottle to the counter, pop the top of the neck down with the palm of his hand and the cap would crunch open but his eyes landed on stan. his cheeks were tinted a soft pink and it made richies legs weak- he didn't trust himself to walk.
richie took the bottle and his arm from mike. he stepped away and remembered something his dad did once. he lifted his shirt a bit and exposed his belt buckle- but all stan noticed was his happy trail. oh how he wanted to trail his fingers down his chest again. to feel his heat pressed against him. stan wanted to choke on richies scent again but quickly shook those thoughts away.
richie grabbed his pants waistline with his free hand and placed one edge of the buckle under the cap. he used his thumb to push down on the other side of the buckle and with enough force, released the cap.
"yes! goddamn- you're a genius!" mike howled as richie quickly tipped the bottle up so it wouldn't spill. he grinned and handed the drink back to the owner.
"ah that was nothing. learned it from my old man." mike held his beer up to clink richies but realized he didn't have one.
"when have you ever wanted to spend the night sober with kaspbrak in the same room." richie screeched with laughter, throwing his head back and holding his hand to his nose as he snorted. when he looked at eddie, the smaller boy gave them the bird- which sent richie back into his howl of laughter. he grasped mikes shoulder and started to cough out his laughs.
richies laugh was contagious, so one by one they all started laughing. all except stan. stan just sat there. a fake smile was spread across his face but that was all. i should be making him laugh. after they each slowly started to calm down beverly spoke up.
"for real though- you sure you don't want one? bill does not need two." bev laughed loudly, a bit too loudly, at her emphasis on 'not.'
"nope. sorry my fellow inbreds- no glug glug for tozier tonight." stan slowly found his way to sit on the couch next to eddie.
"let me guess- "church" too?" eddie said while making air quotes on 'church.'
"oh you bet-" richie plopped himself next to stan and threw his arm across the back of the couch on either side of him. "i'm finishing shabbat just to see stan on his knees again." stan clenched the skin on his knees beneath his hands as eddie and bill nearly spit out their drinks.
it went on like this for about an hour. richie being richie. flirting with everyone, stan more than others- but he flirted with mike often too. it was all one sided with stan whereas mike would shoot back sometimes.
but now richie had gone too far. and that's saying something.
the conversation had gotten semi-serious, for eddie at least. but not quite serious since they were all smiling and richie was still being richie. whereas serious richie would take his joking manner and throw it out the window, replacing it with a more collected version of himself. a more respectable version.
"but seriously bill. i was being serious! what's the difference between anal and oral sex?" eddie asked as bill pressed a finger to his chin to think for a moment. a few of them began giggling. "why are you laughing? sorry i'm still a virgin! it's normal for my age you cheeky bastards." eddie smiled faintly and sipped on his drink. they had all upgraded to either rum and coke or vodka shots- mainly bill taking on the vodka.
"eddie- baby." bill chuckled at the pet name he used on his friend. "the duh-d-"
"don't call me baby! you're not richie." richie held his drink up as a cheer and smiled. it was just water but it meant the same.
"i've got this bill." richie said as he took a swig of his water. "you see- edster... eddie. eds. oral sex..." richie thought for a moment whether he should make a joke or not. "makes your day. but anal makes your hole weak ." eddie squinted his eyes and thought for a moment. stans eyes widened as he got it and he looked up at richie. their eyes met and richie winked. stan gritted his teeth and eddie, bill, mike and beverly roared with laughter. "ain't that right- stan the man?" richie grinned and stan looked away, slouching further in his seat.
"i don't get it." bens response was heard by everyone but stan, who was too deep in his thoughts to comprehend anything anyone was saying.
and after a few minutes of stan thinking of just screaming at richie, he got up and smiled to the rest of them.
"i gotta go take a leak." he said as he looked at eddie and exited the room. richie heard stan over mike going 'no hanscom, if you laid a foot on that field i would BEAT YOUR ASS!'. everyone laughed but this time- this time richie didn't. richie was the only one sitting in clear view of the hallway where the bathroom was. he saw stans legs carry him past the bathroom door and around the corner.
"GUESS YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO BEAT MY ASS!" and the front door clicked. the sound it only makes when someone's closed it. richie looks to the losers but they don't seem to have heard it. richie placed his drink on the table and gets up. he turns to eddie and smiles.
"i'm gonna uh- wait outside the door and try and scare the shit out of him," he says. eddie laughs and gives him a thumbs up, then goes back to watch ben and mike fake fight. "keep going there hanscom. that extra weight looks great in the wind." ben pops up his middle finger with a smile and mike takes his chance to pick him up. you're looking good ben. sorry i'm still an asshole.
richie leaves the room and looks back to make sure no ones watching him, not that anyone would be, and when the coast is clear he turns the corner to the entrance room. he walks over to the front door and grabs for the handle. what if he doesn't want to be bothered. what if he's perfectly fine. but richie pushes all that away. he knows somethings wrong. he knows his best friend.
richie twists the knob and is hit with the cold fresh air of derry, maine. he steps out onto the porch area and closes the door quietly behind him. richie expected stan to be sitting on the steps but he's nowhere to be seen.
"you are too much work, uris." richie jokes to himself as he walks down the stairs towards the garage. that's where stan is. he knows it.
and when he turns the corner, there stan is. in all his lanky jewish glory. richie smiles at stan whose standing there faced away from him, looking at all the tools on the wall with his arms wrapped tightly around himself.
"didn't figure you for a working man, uris." richie perked up. stan bolted his body around to face whoever spoke to him and skittered back against the workbenches counter.
"ow- fuck- i..." his face drops slightly. "oh. it's just you."
"disappointed?" richie teases, but he's not sure he wants to hear stans truthful answer.
"always." eh. sounds humorous enough. richie stuffs his hands in his pockets and walks towards stan, looking at the walls on his way there.
"who isn't." he smiles faintly and swerves past stans to the tools on the table. he takes his hands out of his pockets and grabs the hammer.
"put that down. you're gonna hurt yourself." stan says but makes no motion to take it away. richie points the hammerhead at him and shakes his head.
"nah. i'm the pro at... manly... things." richie looks confused at his words and stan scoffs. suddenly he's not as mad anymore. he wants to believe it's the brittle weather that cooled him down but it's not that at all. it's because of the boy across from him. he can't stay mad at him- he's simply too... richie.
richie picks up a nail from a bin behind some other tools and holds it up in front of stans face.
"can i nail you?" richie smirks as he asks.
"yeah. to a cross."
"ooo- crucifixion! kinky." stan smiles as richie puts the hammer and nail down to lean against the workbench. there's a silence for a moment and it's because stans nervous- richie’s nervous too. but he's blaming it on the cold.
it's then that stan thinks back to that night. maybe it's the way that he acted. did richie forget it like it was traumatic? is that even possible?
now he's getting angry again. but he's not just mad at richie- he's mad at himself too.
"stan." richie says gently. stan looks to him and now looking at him isn't enough to calm him down. it's actually making him more furious, so he looks away. "what happened in there?" he asks.
"nothing." stan turns and leans his back against the workbench as well.
"you and i both know that's not true." richie said, turning so that his hip is leaning on the counter and his chest is facing stan. he takes his elbow and props it up on the top of the wood.
"yeah. you and i both." stan scoffs.
"what's that supposed to mean?" richie asks in an annoyed tone. stan turns to face him and keeps his arms tightly crossed.
"it means that i'm annoyed. i'm mad. at you and i both. and i'm fucking done! i can't take it anymore." stans voice isn't loud but it's teetering the voice of an angry father annoyed with his son. richies a bit taken back from the quick change in atmosphere.
"wha- what do you mean you're done? stan help me out here i'm clueless."
"yes exactly. perfectly put- you're clueless. you're an idiot , richie." stan uncrossed his arms to put a finger to richies chest when he said 'clueless.' the sudden contact that he put upon himself made his eyes water. richie glanced between stans glossy eyes and went to hold his forearms- or his waist- anything that he thought would make stan feel comforted.
but stan pushed him away.
"no- don't touch me. god! that's what got me into this mess in the first place." now richie really was clueless. he assumed stan forgot that night, i mean stan never said anything. jews are very very upfront about their emotions. but stans also irish. irish people tend to take their feelings and bottle them up into small places in their chests, and that's where they keep them till they die. but stan always told richie everything. so he couldn't possibly remember, right?
but richie couldn't help but wonder.
"you gotta be more specific, stan." richie uttered out. his hands were suspended in the air from stan rejected comfort.
"you- you. YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" stans yell caught richie off guard and he stumbled back.
"i- stan come on. stan please talk to me. i can't know unless you talk to me." stan shook his head and laughed. his eyes were filled to the brim with water but nothing was coming out.
"YOU WOULD KNOW IF YOU'D HAVE REMEMBERED YOU ASSHOLE!" stan put one hand to his face to calm his breathing and the other propped itself on his waist.
remember? stan give me more here. there's a lot of shit i don't remember.
now richie was getting upset too.
"you just wouldn't understand! cause you're richie- you don't take shit seriously." you don't take peoples feelings into consideration. stan wants to say, but instead, he takes his hand away from his face and shuffles backwards without realizing.
"ok- WELL THEN EXPLAIN IT TO ME! DO YOU HATE ME- OR SOMETHING!?"
"I DON'T HATE YOU BUT FUCK- I-i..." the tears in stans eyes finally spilled onto his cheeks. "god i wish i did..." the room was silent but if scientists had found a way to hear something microscopic then you would have heard a soft sound, almost like a glass falling from a building 500 feet high, coming from richies chest. "its so far from that. but i hate so much about you-"
"ok well you don't-" now richie was crying. he was cold and he was crying and he was hurt.
"i hate... that even when i'm upset with you... you make me laugh." stan sobbed in between a few words. "i hate that you wear-" stan chuckled loosely without thinking. "fucking hawaiian shirts in the winter- and that you don't fold your clothes before you take a shower. or that-"
"stan-"
"when you're focused really hard on something you shut me out. cause you know if i'm there then you'll just wanna goof off and you won't get shit done." richie had been inching closer to stan while he was talking and now they were close enough to hug- to kiss even. "but most of all-" richie shut his eyes tightly, his hand still in some sort of defense position in front of him.
"stan please-"
"i hate that every time my parents or eddie or fucking bill ask if i've got someone who i can't stop thinking about- my mind goes to you. IT GOES TO FUCKING YOU! LITERALLY!" stan remembers. "WE HAD SEX AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER IT. AND I'M STILL SO FUCKING CAUGHT UP ON IT AND YOU'RE HERE- SOBER- FLIRTING WITH MIKE. MIKE FUCKING HANLON! AND I'M JUST..." stans back hit the wall behind him and he jumped. his eyes widened and he licked his lips. somehow he had said his feelings without choking on his tears, which were still coming. "i'm just sitting there. feeling like i'm in someone else's body. feeling like i'm just floating. and you know - you fucking know how much i hate feeling like that." all richie does is nod. he nods and stops because he feels like his head might fall off his shoulders.
stan registers what he just said and struggles to swallow the lump in his throat. he's perceiving richies tears and the fact that he's so close. close enough to hug- to kiss even.
"i'm sorry." stan chokes out. there's a moment of silence, most likely for the death of stans composure, and then richie speaks.
"of course i remember stan. i've remembered this whole time." now stans a different kind of angry. this time he's only angry at himself. for assuming. "i remember what we-" richie bites the inside of his cheek as he readjusts his footing. "what we were talking about beforehand. i remember how your skin felt and how your hair smelt and- not the be fucking weird-" richie laughed for the first time since their voices began to rise. "but i remember how you felt. not physically but it... god i don't know stan but you felt like you wanted to be there. like it wasn't just the liquor. i mean i'm sure that played a huge part in it cause how else could i get you into bed-"
"you're ruining it."
"right sorry. but stan i-i remember the way you kissed me before i left. there... there was something there." richies hands only now grabbed onto stans. "but i just... the only thing i don't remember is what you said afterwards. i dream about it almost every night but i can't fucking remember." a silence passed and richie thought that maybe stan didn't remember either, or maybe he didn't say anything at all. maybe they just kissed one final time and that was all.
"richie, i said i loved you." more silence. surely richie knew that right? he thought of all the times the losers would leave and say their goodbyes.
"love you, rich!" no that's eddie.
"love you, man." mike.
"i luh-l...loovveeee youuu." drunk bill.
"bye richie." stan.
bye.
that's all he ever said.
and the more richie thought about it the more he recalled.
stan always said bye- to richie, to bill, to mike to eddie and ben. even to beverly. and everyone loved beverly so you'd think he'd say it to her.
but nope. richie could only ever fully remember stan saying it to his parents.
"oh." is all richie said. followed by more silence. richie ran one of his hands up stans arm, up his shoulder and past his neck to hold his cheek. stan stiffens under richies sudden action, even though he expected that's where richies hand was going. "can i kiss you?" stan held his hand to his face and smiled.
"oh my god richie we've literally had sex." richie grinned and made a sharp shuddering sound with his mouth as he breathed out.
"i was just making sure!" he grinned with his teeth and pulled himself to stan. richie craned his neck down, not much since stan was only an inch or two shorter, and their lips collided with a feverish need. but not one with sexual intentions, more for the need of closeness cause their hands touching just wasn't the comfort they needed. richie let go of stans hand and wrapped his arm around the boys back. he pulled their bodies together and smirked as stan squealed.
stan embraced richie back and felt his heart start to warm up from the cold. figuratively and literally. the air was still freezing but the overall mood was much more mellow. the anger had gone away a bit ago and the tears had stopped when richies did, which was when stan said what he had said all those months ago.
"guys?" a soft yell came from the wall behind stan. richie pulled away slowly and his eyelids fluttered open. someone was out on the porch.
"yeeess?" richie purred as stan wiped a few rogue tears from the bottom of richies face.
"whaaat are you doing?" it was eddie.
"i've got this." richie cleared his throat. "DO NOT COME IN HERE- WE ARE NAKED AND ARMED." stans eyes widened and he hit richies chest, starting to laugh. "I REPEAT- ow- WE ARE NAKED- stanley OW- AND ARMED!" richie let go of stan to cover his face.
"HE'S LYING- WHAT DO YOU NEED?" stan yelled back after he stopped hitting richie, who let out a few 'truce, truce!'s in a hushed voice.
"we're gonna watch goodfellas... if you'd like to join us." richie removed his hands from in front of his face and shrugged.
"yeah sure, we'll be right in cupcake." richie answered back and stan looked down at the ground. his face scrunched up a bit and richie froze. does he not wanna watch the movie? does he... oh wait. cupcake. "uuhh i meant eddie. just eds. not cupcake. forgot that i'm not high and people aren't food." eddie laughed and stan could hear a faint 'okaaayy' come from him.
stan looked up to richie and smiled.
"didn't figure you for the jealous type." stan punched richie for his comment and started to walk outside while richie held his arm and fake cried. he put on his best steve irwin accent and moved after stan slowly as if he would get bit if he got too close. "this here is a spashul spacies- when you get close tuh his mate- he'll BITE YORE HEAD OFF! i seen it muhself- in the outbayck." stan shook his head and sighed as richie jumped behind the garage door.
"you are such a handful." he couldn't help but turn his lips up in a simpering manner.
"ah dear friend... you luv this here crocodile hunta-"
"that i do." richie sprung from his place behind the wall into the open next to stan. richie surrounded him with his arms and placed his head in between stans shoulder and neck. he breathed in stans conditioner- which smelled heavily of lavender and green mint- and smiled.
"and he loves you." richie stopped the accent and stan hugged him back. he pulled away and sighed. "now let's go inside before they assume we did something other than fight." he smirked. "i'll give you a hint. starts with an f." stan pretended to think.
"is it fuck-"
"ew!" richie squirmed away from stan, repulsed. "no! disgusting. it was canoeing, stanley. canoeing! i lied about the f." stan bent over and laughed loudly, covering his mouth to muffle his cries. richie could be annoying but his dramatic acting got stan cackling almost every time.
richie dipped under stan to pick him up and carry him to the house.
"richie- richie, put me down!" stan said between snorts.
"don't make me start singing 'here comes the bride.' your ears might bleed." he jiggled the doorknob open and set stan down.
"oh puh-lease. if anyone's the bride it's you and those tits of yours." richie gasped and shut the door with his foot after they walked into the house. richie grasped his chest and frowned.
"i can't believe you just made fun of my above averagely sized nipples!" richie shook his finger in stans nose. "shame on you."
"don't you two look chu-ch...chipper." stan turned to see bill exiting the kitchen. richie leaned over stan and waved dumbly.
"yeah... we had a long talk about philosophy and whether ronald reagan is a smash or pass. learned a lot about my man stanley here." richie patted stans back and kissed the side of his head. stan normally would hit him and tell him to knock it off but he couldn't help but smile and sway from side to side.
"so you just... t-talked?"
"it's vile what you're suggesting here, denbrough. i would never do anything but." richie stepped in front of stan and saluted with two of his fingers. "boy scouts honour."
"whatever. just don't f-ff...fuck on my couch again." stans eyes widened and he looked to richie.
"absolutely never going to promise that." richie turned to stan and mumbled an apology. "i needed to vent ok- i'm sorry." stan pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed richie forward.
"start walking before i change my mind and disown your ass." richie swiped his bottom lip with his tongue and turned to fully face stan.
"drop the dis and you're in charge, baby." stans mouth dropped open and he pushed past richie.
"i can't deal with this right now." he teased.
it was like that for the rest of the night. this hopeless meaningless banter of flirts and gags between stan and richie. and the only one who knew, or at least had an idea of, what was going on was bill. and he guessed that they expressed their true feelings towards each other tonight. to which he silently made a cheer to richie and stan and thought fucking finally .