golden boy : stozier

fifteen

richie woke up in his own bed with a boner. he wanted to slap himself, but he'd had an extremely self indulgent dream, and just thinking about it made him get harder.

he shuffled around, turning in his bed to see stanley in the flesh, lying under his covers with him, fully asleep. they both appeared, richie noted, to be fully dressed save for a couple buttons undone on stanley's shirt.

richie rolled back over, not wanting to face the reality of what hadn't happened. he wondered briefly when he'd even got home, and how he'd done it with stanley trailing along.

stanley mumbled suddenly, and richie turned his head to see him rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. stanley blinked a couple times, "mornin'" he croaked out, closing his eyes again.

"how did we get back?" only as richie spoke did he realize how dehydrated he was. his voice was sore, and he coughed lightly. stanley reached a hand out for him, almost naturally. richie didn't know how to take it, so he let it sit next to his chest.

"bill drove us." stanley replied, his eyes still closed. he blinked them open and looked at richie curiously. "what do you remember?" he asked, laughing at the fact that richie had drank nothing but cola and still forgotten the night before. richie nearly laughed as well, unsure how to communicate to stanley that he was too focused on remembering his dream, in vivid detail, and he definitely could not stand up because of it. especially not while looking stanley in the eye.

"um, i remember most of the night, i guess i was just tired by the end," richie shrugged, shuffling around a little.

"i mean, you were fast asleep in bill's car, so that makes sense," stanley said, laughing gently again. suddenly, richie remembered stanley cleaning out his cut, and the way he'd held him for a moment.

richie's fingertips felt like they were tingling. he noted that stanley hadn't mentioned it, like he was pretending it hadn't happened.

yeah, and when i get up, we can pretend like that's not happening either.

or maybe it wasn't that important to stanley.

"oh. okay." richie yawned. he turned back over, away from stanley's view. he pushed past his boxers with his hand, hoping really just to tuck it away more than anything.

it didn't exactly work, richie instead getting a little distracted and having to remind himself that stanley was less than thirty centimetres away from him. he decided just to get up before stanley would, finding a hoodie to hide his problem. or maybe he'd just take his issue to the bathroom.

richie began to roll, reaching out for the floor as he sped off the bed, stanley laughing at how he fell off. richie scrambled to get a hoodie, pulling it over his crotch as he stood up.

"what are you doing?" stanley was laughing lightly, now looking over at richie. richie laughed nervously.

"going to pee." richie said, scurrying out of the room. he disappeared into the bathroom and stanley sat up, his head hurting. the door to the bathroom was in perfect view, so stanley stayed there.

stanley could hear something in the dead silence of the morning, and he soon figured out it was richie, breathing. it was heavier than normal, and occasionally it hitched. stanley was really too tired to make anything of it.

he rubbed his eyes as he looked around, standing up. he'd never been in richie's house, he was now realizing. richie's room felt like him, the duvet cover pulled every-which-way and posters half hanging off of the walls. he got up, walking to a calendar. he squinted his eyes at the happy face stickers on the calendar.

his eyes moved next to the desk, where a pill bottle sat on its side next to pencils and lighters. he couldn't help himself, richie in the bathroom, stanley picked up the bottle. he read the label, unsure what any of it really meant.

next, he ventured into the hallway, where framed achievements hung. he could hear richie's heavy breathing better now, but he didn't really pay any mind. instead, he was reading the certificates. all of them were addressed to a "percy tozier", and none of them seemed to be delegated to richie. 

stanley quickly ducked back into richie's bedroom as the toilet flushed, sitting back down on the bed. he read the titles of the books stacked in the corner.

"oh, i haven't even read half of those. catcher in the rye is one of the only classics i've ever actually finished. because, like, where actually are the ducks in the winter time? i know it's a metaphor, or whatever, but like, what do they do? i've never heard of ducks migrating south but i guess they do, right? i don't know. shit's weird." richie glanced towards his desk as he was talking and wandered over to it.

picking up a glass of water that could have been days old, he took a pill from the bottle and swallowed it, stanley sitting wordlessly.

"i like your room, richie," stanley said, lying back down on the bed. richie sat down next to him, tussling with his own pajama pants.

"thanks. um, i can make you some breakfast if you want. my mom says i'm useless at making food but i think i'm alright at eggs." richie scuffed his feet at his carpet. "um, like how did bill get us in here? do you remember?"

stanley yawned, rubbing his eyes again. "uh, you took a nap on greta's couch. i told bill, and we laughed, and bill told mike, who said he should drive us home, i think. i'm pretty sure beverly stayed over, and bill had to carry you into the house because you were fully asleep." while stanley was explaining, richie was watching him with infatuation. there was a smile present on stanley's face as he spoke, like he was fondly remembering the night before.

"shit, i really owe him," richie mused, stanley 'pssh'ing and waving his hand in dismissal.

"that's what friends are supposed to do, i'm pretty sure. sneak you in past your sleeping parents." stanley punched richie lightly, who laughed stiffly. the statement felt hypocritical from stanley, but richie this time had the forethought not to say anything.

"yeah, well, we're not really friends, like i said. not real ones." richie was looking down towards his carpet. "ouch!" he got punched a second time in the arm, this time harder. he looked to stanley again.

"shut the fuck up." he snickered.