ethereal : it oneshots

moonlight

pairing: stozier

richie slept easily. he slept thickly, able to sleep through earthquakes. even with this, he had a rather annoying habit of waking up in the middle of the night. it was as if he couldn't sleep for longer than 3 or 4 hours.

he had always slept early. he went to bed at 10, and though nobody in the losers club asked, they knew why. the earlier he went to bed, the less of a chance that his dad would come home while he was awake. and he liked to sleep through his dads return most nights.

it was just common sense.

it was a normal night like that. richie had just finished eating his dinner, alfredo. he was very extravagant. he put his plate in the sink, running water and his fingers over it. loosely cleaning the plate, it landed in the drying rack and he went upstairs.

richie changed into a large paint-stained hoodie and went to brush his teeth. he heard a car drive up and so he rushed to his bedroom. he slipped under his covers and tried to think about nothing (that was his trick to falling asleep, empty your mind).

his mind kept wandering, especially as the front door opened and shut.

his father wasn't a bad man.

richie loved his dad, he always had. he just... he had gone off the rails a bit. he was always drunk when he got home. it wasn't a bad drunk, it just reminded richie of his mom. since they had got divorced, his mom had started going to aa meetings and trying to get better. his dad?

not so much.

so yeah, richie was pretending to be asleep. he felt his bed shake a bit as his dad wobbled from side to side coming up the stairs. he heard his door creak, and could see the light coming in from the hallway. his dad spoke softly.

"richard?" when he got no response, he sighed and closed the door, louder than needed. richie relaxed once the door closed. at least he had school tomorrow.

with that thought, he fell asleep.

normally, when richie woke up in the night he wouldn't really get up. he'd keep his eyes closed and focus on going back to sleep.

this night, he woke up again, as if on a schedule. used to it, he kept his eyes closed and he tossed himself in the other direction. his stomach growled. after all, his dinner had been just one bowl of package alfredo. usually he had at least two bowls of something so small.

"fuck..." he muttered aloud, moving his duvet to get up. his eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet, and there was no light coming in from his windowsill. he stubbed his toe on his nightstand. he cupped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from yelling out, and his eyes enlarged. he let out a tiny yelp anyway, and heard shuffling.

he thought nothing of it, his vent had a habit of blowing cold air towards the paper in his garbage can. it was a unnerving noise that richie had gotten used to.

quietly making his way downstairs (it was a challenge to be quiet considering every step creaked), richie grabbed a yogurt from the fridge. not a high quality meal, but it would do. he ate a piece of ham as well. limiting himself to that, he closed the fridge and began creeping back upstairs.

richie, now adjusted to the dark, nearly screamed when he looked back into his room. he noticed a figure, sitting on his windowsill.

his windowsill was large enough for a medium sized person to fit comfortably sitting down.

this person was sat upright, knees pulled in, but seemed to be snoring lightly. richie froze in his place. he didn't know what to do. he listened for a second, and his instincts almost immediately told him who it was. they were mumbling in their sleep, and richie only knew one person who did that.

and suddenly, richie regretted not wearing any pants.

stanley uris was asleep on his windowsill.

stan was one of his best friends. he had known him for a very long time.

without even thinking about it, he grabbed stanley's arm softly.

"stan.. wake up.." richie whispered, stan murmuring something back and opening his eyes. panic filed stan, aware now that richie was looking at him, and knew he was sleeping on his windowsill.

"i'm sorry i shouldn't—i'll go" richie stopped stan, grabbing and squeezing his hand. stan's shoulders relaxed. he still knew he shouldn't have come. he should've left when he heard richie get up.

stanley fell asleep quickly, but slept very lightly. he would wake up at almost any sound. it was a curse, honestly. especially at his house. his parents would argue through the night. they thought they were being quiet, but it kept stan up.

richie always knew when one of those nights had happened, stan would be exhausted and his under eye bags would be deepened. it was a quiet understanding between them, and richie would be extra caring to stanley that day.

the two of them had a lot of unspoken things.

one of them was the touching. when they watched a scary movie and stan grabbed richie's hand, they both knew it wasn't because stan was scared. when they walked in the rain and richie's hand pulled stan closer around his waist, they knew it wasn't totally because richie wanted stan out of the rain. when their hugs lingered longer than considered normal, nobody questioned it. and when richie left traces of kisses on stan's forehead and scalp, it wasn't talked about.

when richie interlocked his fingers with stan's and put his other hand on the side of stan's face, it wasn't questioned by either of them that night.

"do you wanna join me on the bed?" richie tapped his fingers gingerly across stanley's face. stan nodded, and richie's look of concern melted into a smile. richie noticed the streaks down stan's face from past tears, and said nothing.

richie leading stanley through the darkness, they made it to the bed. the duvet was flipped in all sorts of ways, and after richie smoothed it out, they got under the covers.

richie at this point, was beet red. luckily for him, the darkness covered it. he was in his bed with stanley uris with just a hoodie and boxers on. he felt stupid. he hadn't planned on getting up into the freezing winter air or seeing stan. richie, lying behind stan, reached an arm over the blonder boy. he felt stan move back, stan's back now touching richie's chest.

"i love you" although it was never spoken, it was known between them. richie let the words slip out of his mouth as he tapped his fingers along stan's forearm.

"i love you too" stan trailed off, as if to say more, but he never did. maybe that was all that needed to be said. he felt richie's breath on the back of his neck and shivered, but this time it wasn't because he was cold on richie's windowsill. this time, it was good.

he was in a bed with richie tozier, and the fated three words had just been spoken aloud for the first time.

he felt ethereal.