ethereal : it oneshots

lucky seven

pairing: stozier

a/n: truth be told i don't know what this is, i was just thinking about it and had to write it.

whenever richie and beverly tell a story (because let's be honest, they're the ones telling the stories), they always make us sound cooler than we were. a tough job, considering we established ourselves as losers, but they always threw in anecdotes of us smoking under bleachers, or skipping class to go jump in the quarry. it makes us sound vaguely cool, or something. but i'll tell you the truth: we were fucking nerds.

i'm talking, seriously people you would avoid. i mean, i know richie hypes up his own appearance, but god those glasses do a number to the handsomeness underneath. beverly did always cut her own hair, but instead of coming off as a badass, she sorta just maintained a jagged pixie cut shag type look. not as glamourous as it sounds. bill had the classic emo fringe, except it was auburn, so he just looked dumb. eddie was a little runt, and having such a high voice did not help him. i looked like a hobbit, and dressed only in button ups, and ben walked so slowly that beverly ended up looping an arm through his to pull him along. and mike was, well, perfect mike. sorry, nothing is wrong with that guy. he was the closest we ever got to a jock.

nonetheless! we were absolute ruinous fucks in high school, and when all of us went to the same community college? you can bet your ass it only got worse. three of my first semester first year courses were math courses. i had an ethics of math course. ethics of mathematics, do you know how fucking lame you have to be to take that? richie was a comp sci kid, godbless his soul, beverly a business major, you get the gist.

we just weren't cool, and we weren't meant to be. but i'd wholly be lying if i said i didn't think there was something absolutely beautiful about it. i was an accounting kid, fuck, not a poetry one, but theres something to be said for a friend group that is very clearly only there out of love.

it was sorta pathetic, too, though. at least on my end. when we walked anywhere, from one class to another, traversing the cobblestone, i'd leave my hand out by my side and walk obnoxiously close to richie. we were stupid and we were young and god it i wasn't madly in love. richie would always cross his arms when he walked, like he had a point to prove, so i didn't really think it would do anything, i just sorta liked the illusion of it.

i always walked closer to richie than anyone else; i never noticed until eddie mentioned it once, a passing comment as he walked from behind me to beside.

"from the back, it looks like you hate bill because you're walking so close to richie," he'd said, wrinkling his nose as he laughed. i noticed it every time after that, but who am i to change my instincts?

but richie and i were just friends, if i hadn't made that clear. we always were just friends. for a time, i held out a sliver of hope. maybe because we were all we'd had, i thought it was meant to be. and i didn't know it, but i thought just maybe he might feel something for me too.

you don't realize you're still sorta hoping for it until that person gets a girlfriend, as it turns out. that's right, the closest richie tozier ever got to being cool was in sophmore year of college, when he went out with a girl, olivia, for a couple weeks and they got together. he called her liv. it was sickeningly sweet to see them together.

it didn't stop me from the things i normally did. richie walked, arms still crossed, olivia close on one side, and me on the other, both of us subconsciously asking him to hold our hands. he never did. i always sorta toed the line between being safe and annoying olivia. i mean, in her words, it wasn't like he was gay. so i figured she had nothing to worry about.

once though, i'd heard olivia making fun of us. i wasn't purposefully trying to listen in on their conversation, but i'd been brushing my teeth and the wall from richie's room to the bathroom is not very thick. we'd all been sleeping over at richie's. anyway, olivia called, i think it was ben, a loser, and called bill a moron. richie was pissed off, obviously, and i was sorta surprised they didn't break it off right there.

richie said some choice words, and olivia responded, "if you hate me so much just go fuck stanley already!"

it was the only time i'd actually heard her talking about me. i knew she talked about me, because beverly had told me, or richie himself. but it was the first time i heard her acknowledge how close richie and i were. i nearly threw up.

there were no more words, and olivia didn't end up staying the night. when richie saw me later that night, he'd walked up to me.

"stan!" he took a few steps towards me, "i... d-do..." he faltered, his hand halfway raised, cupped as if to hold my face. i stood there, confused. i could've sworn his eyes were watering. he gulped, "nevermind."

i'll never know what he meant. but i will know one thing. olivia taught me something that night. we aren't, and never will be cool. the seven of us are made for each other. we can hang out with richie's comp sci friend ben, or the guy in my accounting class, angus, but it'll always be the seven of us.

lucky number seven, i guess.