golden boy : stozier

thirty five

"percy's gonna teach me how to drive," richie announced, sliding into his seat next to stanley at the cafeteria table. today, the whole group had gathered at the table, ben and eddie squished in on either side to fit.

"cool! i want to be able to roadtrip," ben cheered, putting his chin in his hands happily. richie nodded, glancing at stanley out of the corner of his eye. stanley looked slightly better today—he hadn't yet said anything to his parents, but he'd decided he was okay with lying to them.

"stan gets shotgun, but you can sit in the back and unfold the giant map, haystack," richie said, turning his head back to ben.

"that's exactly where i'd want to be." ben smiled, satisfied. beverly looked to him with a strange, almost questioning smile. richie didn't blame her. ben was a strange guy.

"you guys are... talking?" eddie asked, richie turning to see his eyebrows twisted. eddie had witnessed first hand at the family events how the two of them despised each other—refusing to acknowledge each other's existence, let alone their relation.

"yeah." richie said simply.

"cool," eddie nodded slowly, then looking over to bill. richie's eyes followed eddie's to bill, who looked a little better today too.

"okay, end of the week, last day, bill's house, movie night. good with everyone?" beverly spoke, hand in hand with bill on the table, looking at him sweetly. richie could read how fake the expression was, but he didn't say anything. if he hadn't known them, he might have thought they were happy. at the very least, beverly looked like she'd spent time in the mirror today, putting mascara on, or blush of some sort. richie wasn't one hundred percent how makeup really worked, but he could admit it was doing something for her today.

"i'm sure my mommy will let me," eddie said, finally breaking his stare at bill, moving sideways to admire beverly's bright red hair. the front was clipped back today, out of her face. 

"mommy," richie snorted, breaking eddie's train of thought.

he flipped him off, "shut up, richie." he pushed his waterbottle forward, and richie reached over to knock it down. he elbowed stanley in the process, turning and muttering an apology. stanley had already been looking at him, rolling his eyes. richie grinned at him, folding his arms back beside himself. he became hyperaware of how close his hand was to stanley's thigh. 

"my folks said yeah," mike scratched the back of his neck. him and bill were having another one of their stupid staring contests, or eye conversations—richie couldn't tell which one it was. 

"folks—" richie laughed again.

"can you come, richie?" bill interrupted him, having now blinked and looked away from mike. richie stopped mid laugh, watching mike take a fry from bill's basket. 

"yeah, i'll be there. stan?" richie turned to the boy beside him. stanley had now put his head on his hand, his elbow propped up against the table. richie wished silently that he could count all the dots or bumps or crevices on stanley's face—an excuse to stare longer—but his brain was too overwhelmed with thoughts to do anything but blush. 

jesus, just staring at him makes me go red.

"um, yeah, i'll be there too." stanley answered. he yawned, shutting his eyes again. there was a trace of a smile on his face, and richie was obsessed with staring at it. 

"oh fantastic, everyone will be there. great!" beverly cheered, taking a fry of bill's as well. 

richie nudged stanley's leg with his own, "tired, staniel?"

"just a bit," stanley answered without even opening his eyes, mumbling. 

"come to papa," richie laughed, patting his shoulder. stanley opened his eyes to squint at richie, sighing through his nose. but the smile grew, and he did in fact lean over to rest his weight on richie. richie wondered how pink his cheeks were, stanley's arms draping into his lap and his head on his shoulder.

"shush," stanley said, a smidge of complaint and a drop of gratitude. 

"d-duh-do you guys think we'll h-huh-have to do schoolwork on the last d-duh-day?" bill spoke. like always, all the heads at the table (save for stanley's) turned to him, full attention. 

"well, junior year is supposed to be ass," mike replied first.

"no, i have faith. they wouldn't do that to us."

"if you say so, richie."

"and i do."

eddie scoffed, "well, i know i have a to do list for the summer, but i'm happy for you guys, or whatever," he started packing his bag, finished his lunch. he was bringing out his notebook in the small silence after he'd spoken, and bill began to laugh. it was such a rare, unsure sound that it brought out laughter in the rest of the group, eddie huffing.

"ooh, pure jealousy, eds, your bitter tone drives a stake into my heart!" richie exclaimed, hoping the vibrations of him speaking weren't disturbing stanley. if they were, it wasn't present in his expression, relaxed and smiling with his eyes shut. as richie reached his arms up, gesturing, stanley slid closer to richie's chest, and richie made the choice to keep one arm around stanley, holding him up. 

"that was genuine!" eddie pouted.

"o-okay," bill was still laughing, his head on his forehead.

eddie whined, "bill, c'mon!" 

"what movie are we watching?" ben changed the topic, eddie hunching over (though he wasn't that upset) as he scribbled in his notebook. 

"that's a decision for the day of, i think," beverly said, readjusting a clip. ben went pink just from her replying, so maybe richie wasn't all that wrapped around stanley's finger. 

"i agree with marsh," richie chimed in.

"y-yeah, i've g-guh-got a bunch of tapes and m-muh-movies, we c-can find something," bill finally recovered from his case of the giggles.

"we could watch the breakfast club," mike said.

"oh my gosh, guys we are just like them! oh my goodness!"

"richie, shut up," eddie spat, richie laughing at his anger.

"we were all thinking it," ben shrugged.

as they continued to debate movies, as richie knew they would on friday as well, he slowly stopped participating, marvelling in the friendships he'd built. richie had known as a little kid that people didn't like him. not enough to do anything about it. he'd spent the first few years of high school surrounded by three of the people at this table, and yet he'd never felt like he really knew them—not the way he felt right now.  

he had an inkling of a feeling that it was stanley's fault. he couldn't put it into words—he struggled to express most things he felt about stanley—but he'd showed up, and everything had got better. he had stan. and everything was better now. no longer were the silent, angry lunches. now it was camaraderie. it was meaning something to someone.

and as he blushed pinker, thinking a little too much about stanley and all the things he'd done for richie, he stared simply at the cafeteria table. 

thanks, stan. i'll love you forever if you want me to.