festival of lights : stozier

1

"so? are you going home for chanukah?" richie dangled a shoe by its lace, twirling it in circles aimlessly. he looked over to his suitcase, already stuffed to the brim with shoes and shirts. he tossed the shoe to the side and turned to stanley, who was biting his nails.

stanley's head turned from his laptop to richie, glancing briefly down at his suitcase. "uh, no. i was going to... um, crash at someone's place. mike's, probably." he kept biting his nails for a moment, before the glaze over his eyes softened and he took his nails out from between his teeth, placing his hands on his lap. 

"what? but it's not like you have to travel far, it's only a two hour train ride," richie said, taking a sip of a can of coke sitting on the top of his desk. he had to reach high to get it off the desk top, and stanley feared for a moment that it would spill, only for it to splash a bit onto richie's shirt. richie hardly took notice. 

"well, it's not just a train, it's two busses, and i don't really feel like doing that, and besides, i'm not feeling super religious this year." stanley replied, stepping away from his own desk to wander to his bed, where richie's line of sight followed him. stanley lied down flat onto his bed, groaning. 

"is that a joke?" richie asked, pushing his glasses up off the tip of his nose. the feeling of it sitting on the edge had flared up his sensory issues. 

stanley, face muffled into a pillow, replied, "i don't know."

"isn't mike going home too though? i thought his folks celebrated christmas." richie continued to focus in again on his packing, looking back up at his desk to everything stacked messily. in contrast, he turned his head to stanley's side of the dorm, where everything (except the papers) were aligned neatly. it still confused him, sometimes. 

"fuck, well i'll just go to bill's. i dunno, i'll figure it out." stanley rolled onto his back, his voice clear again. richie took another sip of coke, the sound of his lips against the metal can making noise. stanley rubbed his eyes.

"wait..." richie mumbled, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. stanley watched as richie leaned over slightly to scroll through his phone, obsessively pushing his glasses back up his nose as they fell forward. 

"i'm waiting," stanley looked back to the ceiling, letting himself bite his nails again. 

"come to my home!" richie suddenly exclaimed, stanley sighing before sitting straight up. stanley nearly laughed, before noticing the genuine look on his face.

"funny." stanley sighed again, now scratching at his leg.

"no, they'll love you! i'm serious. um, for the record though, my mom does try to set me up with any guy i know." richie scooted over to where stanley was, navigating stanley's empty suitcase on the floor. he was texting his mom, not looking up to stanley.

"oh," stanley's face was more confused than anything else. he'd never met richie's family, despite being friends for over a year now. richie was an only child, he knew that, but he knew richie was close with his cousins, as well. it was something stanley envied.

richie hummed to himself for a moment, thinking, "i mean, if you don't want them to... i mean i guess we could pretend we were dating, so they get off my back and leave you alone." richie finally looked up to stanley, who still wasn't sure if he even wanted to go. he supposed it would be rude not to.

"wouldn't that cause more romantic situations?" stanley looked down to richie who pursed his lips awkwardly.

he shrugged, "i get why you'd say that. but my family is a weird breed, dude. anyway, what do you think?"

"um—"

"before you answer, my mom makes fantastic sufganiyot. like, they're actually to die for." richie interrupted, putting a hand on stanley's knee. stanley continued to scratch at his knee. 

"yeah. okay. i'll come." stanley stood up, walking past richie to finally start packing. he ruffled through his drawers, strangely tossing his normally perfectly folded clothes loosely into the suitcase. 

"really? the donuts are what convinced you? alright, damn." richie rolled onto his back on the floor, stanley needing to take large steps to get around richie to and from his dresser.

the way stanley was moving from place to place made richie think stanley might be stressed. he'd done it all throughout finals. tense, quick steps focused on doing anything as quickly as possible. he was even mumbling to himself.

richie reached a hand out and it connected with stanley's for a brief moment as he passed by. stanley paused, turning to look at him with his eyebrows furrowed.

"are you okay?" richie asked, stanley's face manually relaxing. he eased his eyebrows, taking a solitary breath in, then out. he nodded, wordless, and continued to pack.

"was just stressed about going to mike's. but s'okay, 'cause i'm going to yours, so, s'okay," stanley muttered, richie hardly hearing him.

"alright, if you say so. uh, you probably won't need all the scarves, though," richie laughed a little, and stanley turned to his suitcase, not realizing he had only packed scarves and vests. he sighed, though he was laughing a little, too. he smiled at richie. and, unsurprisingly, richie smiled back.