festival of lights : stozier

6

"consider it a chanukah gift. the second day is like, totally about all coming together. it would be so fun..." richie teased, his arm looped through stanley's as the two sat on the couch. stanley, scrolling through his phone, took a moment to look over at him. he narrowed his eyes.

"fine." stanley gave in, richie pushing his glasses back up his nose after cheering for joy. "who else is coming?"

"michael, sarah, and tyler. oh, and if maria gets her ass down here in time." richie pointed to each of his cousins, though stanley knew who each one was anyway. michael turned his head at the sound of his name and grinned. he elbowed tyler, who passed it down to sarah. sarah disappeared up the stairs.

in a moment's time, maria was downstairs, adjusting a false lash as she pulled her shoes on. the rest of them decked out in snow gear, richie taking the time to zip up stanley's jacket (against his will). in return, stanley took forever to tie up richie's shoes (at richie's request).

"mom, we're going out for a walk in the snow," richie said, maggie nodding mindlessly as they disappeared. the six young adults slipped out the door, richie having to push jack in to keep him in there.

"i feel bad, we could have taken him with us," sarah pouted, her arms crossed as she stepped hesitantly into the snow. tyler laughed at the idea.

"the dog would've been stoned to death walking back into that house. can't do that to a poor dog, can you?" tyler replied. maria shivered as she walked next to stanley, whom richie was holding close with one arm.

stanley hadn't exactly drawn the line with affection yet, and he wasn't sure where richie's line was, but he decided he'd rather not ask.

"i hate you two. fuckin' warm assholes," maria muttered, richie only smiling and pulling stanley closer, causing the two to nearly crash into the snow. they steadied themselves, stanley suddenly aware of how close he was to richie's face. he could feel richie's breath on his nose.

"here, this'll help," michael kicked snow in her direction, maria screaming as she kicked snow back at him. the two continued this as they walked, snow building up in michael's hair and on maria's eyelashes.

the six eventually made it to their destination, a bridge with a sectioned off area above a street. they fumbled their way into a corner and huddled together, sarah pulling all of their hoods on, claiming they'd be cold otherwise. stanley thought it was a sweet gesture, though the others groaned.

"you're all babies to me, okay?" she claimed, huffing.

"how many babies do you smoke weed with, exactly?" richie asked, her flicking him in the forehead. maybe the forehead flick was familial. he dug a container out of his pocket, and tyler pulled a light from behind his ear that stanley was sure hadn't been there before.

michael looked over, noticing stanley's confusion, "oh, the asshat just likes to look magical and cool. he learned two slight of hand tricks at magic camp one year and suddenly he's fuckin' houdini." he explained, tyler rolling his eyes as he passed the lighter to richie.

stanley held up a hand instinctively as richie lit the joint now between his fingers, burning the edge off. he passed a second one from his container to sarah, who took the lighter as well.

richie coughed out smoke, stanley and michael both shutting their eyes to avoid it. richie spit on the ground to his left and passed the joint to stanley, "sorry. been a bit. a little rusty."

a moment later, when the joint had made it to michael's hands, stanley watched as richie put his glasses inside his coat pocket. he looked away when richie met his gaze, but not because he was uncomfortable with the eye contact. he knew that richie did that so his glasses wouldn't break, and for reasons he couldn't explain, the fact that he knew that made him want to cry.

but it was too cold to cry. michael passed the joint back.

"i feel the need to meditate... it would solve my problems i think..." tyler had said on their way back, the five of them laughed unabashedly at his tone. they paused under a tree where there was less snow, for michael and sarah to use eyedrops.

"meditation would make you the most unsofable-unsuffable-un-what am i saying?" richie tried to reply, getting stuck on his words. stanley giggled, intertwining his hand with richie's naturally, as if only for the warmth. richie looked to stanley with surprise, but said nothing.

"unsufferable fuck!" maria exclaimed, michael 'woo-hooing' as tyler loudly disagreed. sarah simply rolled her eyes.

"you know you guys need to shut up before we get back." she said, the others shushing her. stanley felt the lump back in his throat, and looked down to the snow. he felt funny, walking through the snow in shoes too big that he'd borrowed from wentworth when he'd got there.

he looked around a couple times, blinking at the five adults. they looked so young suddenly, like kids enjoying their youth before they were asked to come inside for dinner.

"shit," he mumbled, feeling a little sick. richie turned to him immediately, concern etched into his face.

"what's up?" richie asked, mindlessly curling a hair of stanley's.

"i just... need a moment. you guys go inside." stanley managed to get out without throwing up, upset that the snow kept him from sitting down. he'd have done anything for a sidewalk to sit on to get the ache in his head and the lump in his throat to dissolve.

"you guys head inside, we'll be there in a sec." richie gestured for the rest of the group to continue, and though michael furrowed his eyebrows, he followed the rest of them after richie shook his head.

richie took stanley by the shoulders, letting go of his hand. stanley shoved his hands in his pockets instantly, shivering and continuously swallowing.

"what's going on?" richie tried to rub stanley's arms to warm him up, but stanley felt the cold in his lungs, in his bones, in his muscles. his skin felt warm to the touch, but he couldn't stop shivering.

"i—" stanley gasped for air but knew he couldn't talk. he felt the need to claw at his chest or his throat. richie looked severely concerned, holding stanley by his head as stanley shook it.

if it had been any warmer than twenty degrees, stanley might have cried. instead, the tears stayed frozen behind his eyes, and something else came up instead. he pushed himself away from richie, stumbling back in the snow as he threw up.

he spewed vomit everywhere in front of him, gagging as it came out his nose as he fell into the snow behind him. wentworth's boots had just narrowly avoided it, but it stood out in front of all the pristine white snow like, well, vomit.

"holy shit!" richie exclaimed, but stanley was clamouring to his feet, running off for richie's house. richie followed after him, but stanley had a head start, and richie's legs couldn't keep up with running in the snow, let alone being high.

stanley got inside the house well before richie could see inside the window, and he kicked the boots off, heading for a bathroom immediately. luckily, no one had been there to greet his arrival.

he shut the door, hyperventilating. as the warm air inside the house hit him, the waterworks began.