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it had been five days since stan had talked to eddie about his....problem. yes, eddie had only just found out about stan being gay, but the worst part about it was that it was painfully obvious now that eddie knew. he could also see how obvious stan's crush on bill was, but only after stan told eddie his secret. it pained eddie to look at stan's longing stares. stan longed for someone to love. for someone to love him back, but not just for his appearance. what eddie didn't realize was that he was the same way with richie. oh, how the two boys craved love. if you think about it, their stories would be a bit poetic. both wanted - scratch that - needed to feel loved for once in their life, but neither realized how much they loved each other - in a platonic way, of course.
however, it had only been one day since stan climbed through a window, but it wasn't eddie's window.
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"stanley, we need to talk." stan's father sat opposite from him on the couch. stan looked up from his book. "how long are you going to keep up this 'no speaking' thing?" stan frowned and didn't answer. donald uris sighed. "stanley, this whole situation is pointless. talk to me." stan shook his head.
"donald, he's not going to talk." andrea uris took a seat next to her husband. donald furrowed his eyebrows.
"why won't he just speak?" donald felt a rising frustration. his son stopped talking last year and he had absolutely no clue why.
"well he obviously isn't going to talk to you after you slapped him," andrea stated simply. donald gaped at his wife.
"are we seriously going to talk about that now?"
"you scared him half to death! he even ran away for two days." andrea pursed her lips.
"yeah, but he came back, didn't he?" stan was contemplating whether to leave or not, but he decided against leaving. he wanted to see how this would turn.
"he didn't come back willingly, donald. we're lucky that sonia kaspbrak found him." stan rolled his eyes.
"but we still don't know why he's silent!" donald shouted at andrea, who gasped.
"he has his own reasons! don't pressure him to speak to you when obviously he's afraid!" andrea retorted. stan felt uncomfortable. donald rolled his eyes this time and turned to his son.
"speak already!" he demanded. stan clutched his book tightly. "goddamnit, speak already!" stan was more scared than uncomfortable now. donald drew in a breath. he reached out and grabbed his son's chin. "talk to me! say anything!" he screamed at stan. tears welled up in stan's eyes. he couldn't stand being yelled at. andrea sat silently as donald slapped his son for a second time. stan winced and held his hand to his cheek. he looked up at his father's face before kicking him. donald winced and released his grip on stan's chin. stan took this opportunity to bolt out of the house.
the cold air felt nice on stan's skin as he ran like his life depended on it. he couldn't stand being near his father. or his mother, who only watched. tears fell down stanley's cheeks as he neared richie's house.
stan panted and ran around the house to get to richie's window. he picked up pebbles from the ground. he threw them at richie's window until he could see richie's shadow in the curtains.
"i told you already eddie, don't disrupt my beauty sleep!" richie shouted out the now opened window. stan pursed his lips and threw another pebble. "okay, what the fuck do you w- stanley?" richie sounded surprised at stanley's sudden appearance at his house, but he let his best friend climb through his window anyway.
stan plopped down on richie's bed and curled up next to richie's blanket. richie gently sat next to stan. stan let richie run his fingers through stan's hair.
"here's a notepad and pen." richie set down the items next to stan, who picked them up. "stan, what happened?" richie brought his hands to stan's face, but didn't touch him yet. "may i?" stan nodded. richie tilted stan's chin up before moving his head both ways, examining it. he noted the red handprint on stan's face.
stanley shook himself out of richie grip and wrote what happened on the notepad. once he was finished, he handed the notepad to richie.
"'my dad slapped me because i wouldn't speak,' oh god, stan i'm so sorry!" stan turned away from his friend and rested his head on richie's thigh after handing him another note. richie didn't read this one aloud. "oh," was all he said. richie smiled softly at stan. "don't worry, it's okay. i won't tell anyone." stan smiled back at richie. "by the way, i am too." richie chuckled softly. "but seriously? bill?" stan rolled his eyes and gently pushed richie. stan felt so lucky to have not one, but two friends that accepted him for the way he was.