ethereal : it oneshots

control me

pairing: toxic stenbrough

a/n: ooc bill for REALLL

"are you sure you're okay with this? he is definitely there, i already asked bev," richie poked his head out of his bedroom as he hopped, trying to pull his socks onto his feet. stanley rolled his eyes.

"i can deal with it, he's my ex, not my arch-nemesis. and i.. " stanley watched with his eyes narrowed as richie nearly fell over, smacking the wall as he struggled with the sock. he took a moment, leaning against the wall, and looked up at stanley.

"are you—i swear this is the last time i'll ask. are you completely sure?" richie pushed his glasses up on his face, a little astounded they had stayed on his face at all.

stanley didn't know richie had heard him crying across the hallway, choking on his own snot in his tears in the early hours of the morning. it hadn't been pretty.

then again, neither had their breakup. he was pretty sure he'd yelled at bill so hard he'd spat—before he started crying, anyway. bill had been crying too, but stanley wasn't so sure he'd believed his tears.

who was he kidding? he'd prayed bill's tears were real.

stanley, his jacket already pulled over his shoulders, blinked a couple times in disappointment at richie.

"yes, rich. and you don't have to babysit me. i'll be fine." stanley checked his phone a fourth time in a minute, though he wasn't sure what he was looking for (he was).

"oh i won't be babysitting," richie scoffed, finally working on getting his shoes on his feet. he texted someone, presumably beverly, and flipped the last back of his shoe over his heel. richie grabbed his keys out of the bowl they kept by the door, "that's mike's job!" he said cheerfully.

stanley flipped him off.

-

"oookay, i'm off to find eds-meister, you let me know if you need anything. i mean anything! 'cept a ride home. i would ask ben for that," richie pushed the front door open, giving stanley a pat on the back. stanley, in turn, smacked richie between his shoulder blades, "YEOWCH! alright, jesus," richie laughed, and then hurried off into the crowd.

it wasn't very hard to find someone he knew, as mike was talking to some girl in the living room, the two sat on a couch. stanley, unsure really what to do with himself, took to the kitchen anyway, telling himself he'd get back to mike.

in the kitchen he found a girl he'd come to know in senior year, liz, standing near the open bottles of rum and pink whitney on the counter. he walked over, scratching the back of his neck.

"hey, liz, do you—" he started, her eyes lighting up as she turned to him. she waved, stanley gulping the rest of his question into the back of his throat.

"stan! did you just get here? it's been so long! how are you?" she spoke cheerfully, and stanley could tell she was a couple beers in. he opened his mouth to speak, but bit the back of his tongue, conflicted. liz continued speaking anyway, "this is my boyfriend matt! matt, this is stan!" she pulled a boy over from behind the counter, gripping him by the arm.

"who's this? what, he flirting with you or something?" matt spoke, much more drunk, spit accumulating in the corner of his mouth. stanley glanced nervously from liz to matt, then back to liz.

"no, no he's gay! he's dating bill denbrough!" liz cheered, her smile seemingly impenetrable. stanley felt his heart sink in his chest, a stomach ache grumbling. stanley, nervously, clutched his fingers around the star of david necklace hanging from his neck. the chain pulled at the back of his neck.