21

21 and Up

"Can you two attempt to be quiet so I can study?" Richie shouted through the thin apartment walls.

"Sorry!" Bill cried laughing.

Stanley and Bill had been inseparable since the end of senior year back in Derry. All thanks to Richie.

Which was great. They adored eachother and had dated all throughout college. Richie shared a wall with them though, so he almost wished they weren't together sometimes. He never really meant it, but he definitely could use a night off from the noises coming from the room over.

The three of them had decided to live together when the dorms became a little cramped. Richie and Stan were rooming together, and Bill was rooming with someone else, but always seemed to find a way into Richie and Stan's room.

At least Richie wasn't a few feet away from them while they were getting frisky like in the old days. At least now there was a wall between them. They shared a one bedroom apartment. Bill and Stan shared the bedroom, and Richie slept on a mattress on the floor of the living room. He had hung up curtains to separate his space from the rest of the living room. His space was pretty much a few piles of clothes, his bed, and a bunch of text books.

That was it. That was all he owned.
Richie never was one to hoard his things. He never kept anything he didn't need.

Stanley was the complete opposite, his and Bill's room was littered with books, clothes, shoes, a record player, tons of records, etc.

Although to be fair, there were two of them staying in that room.

Richie knocked on the wall after hearing Bill and Stanley starting up again.

"Come on guys! It's almost my birthday! This can be your birthday present to me!"

The noises ceased once more, before both Bill and Stan came into the living room. Stan was wearing boxers and a T-shirt, and Bill was wearing one of Stanley's button up shirt and boxers. Bill left the shirt unbuttoned revealing marks along his pale skin that Richie assumed were hickeys and bite marks.

"Your birthday technically isn't until midnight which isn't for another ten minutes, and your birthday gift is yet to be revealed." Bill said.

He hadn't stuttered since high school, but Richie was still always so proud of him whenever he spoke.

"Look I think it's great you guys want to go out tomorrow night, but I have a test on color theory in two days, and I am not prepared."

Richie was in to his junior year at college and still wasn't totally sure what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn't necessarily going to college to get a career right after graduation. He mostly wanted to move away from Derry, and if he was going to do it, he thought it best to follow his friends.

So while Stanley was studying to become an accountant, and Bill was working hard to become a writer, Richie was taking art classes.

Richie had never really been particularly interested in art until he took a tour of the campus the summer before his freshman year. There were so many classrooms messy with paint, brushes, and clay. Art work made by students plastered all over the walls.

Richie wanted to learn how to do art. So the rest of that summer Richie spent every night staying up practicing drawing. He had gotten pretty good at it now. 

"You don't need to study, Rich. You never studied in high school and you always got good grades." Bill said.

"I can't take any chances. Stan's parents are probably already pissed they're spending good hard earned money for me to draw pictures of fucking clowns. If I don't succeed in this, if I don't pass everything with flying colors, I'll let them down." Richie explained.

The Uris family had sort of adopted Richie as there own since his senior year of high school. Then a couple of years ago, when Richie's parents had passed away, they made it official and decided to legally claim him as there son. Richie had already been legally considered an adult, so they couldn't technically adopt him, but they could take care of him like there own. Which is what they had already been doing. So not too much changed.

"They don't care if you want to be an artist, Richie. They're always going to have higher expectations for me. Your the sad little orphan boy they took in, you could kill a man and they'd help you hide the body." Stan said rolling his eyes.

"Okay I doubt that they'd help me hide a body, but I get the idea." Richie laughed.

The Uris's had so much sympathy for Richie. Everything he'd been through. They didn't have the heart to let Stanley go off to college, and not let Richie go too. They had a soft spot for the boy. Stanley on the other hand, had everything he had ever needed. So his parents had high expectations for the boy, which Stanley was happy to uphold, as long as he could be with Bill.

Stanley's parents had come a long way since Stanley had come out. They were confused at first, they didn't quite understand, but they figured they couldn't change who he was. Stanley's family was Jewish, and they didn't necessarily believe in a hell, so they had no worries about his sexuality from a religious stand point. But it took some getting used to. 

That was one of the reasons they were happy to send Richie to the same university as Stanley, the two could room together in the dorms and Richie could keep an eye on him and Bill. Which ended up not making much of a difference since Bill didn't care if Richie was trying to sleep a few feet away, he had told Richie to roll over to the other side of his twin mattress if he didn't want to see anything.

Stanley smiled as he looked down at his watch. 

"Its midnight." Stanley said smiling even bigger.

"Don't fucking do it--"

Bill and Stanley looked at each other before turning back to Richie.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Richie. Happy Birthday to you!"  Bill and Stanley sang in unison. 

"Every year. Why?" Richie sighed in defeat.

"Because we love you, Trashmouth." said Bill

"No I think you guys love annoying me."

"Well, your 21 now. Do you feel any different?" Stan asked.

"I feel tired, my old age must be catching up with me."

"Yeah, I guess we should all probably get to bed." Bill suggested.

"When you say 'get to bed' you mean to go to sleep right? Please say yes." Richie begged.

Often times Bill and Stan would say they were heading to bed for the night, but not even ten minutes later he would hear them giggling to each other, and God only knows what else.

"We'll actually go to bed. . . this time." Bill said.

"Happy Birthday Rich." Stan said before going back to his and Bill's room.

"Thanks guys, night."

Richie Tozier was 21.