timing : stozier

13

december 13/14 (technically + january 14/15)

t/w: emetophobia

having their second 'losers club party' of the month, the nearing new year caused the kids to be quite excited. this time they chose for the party to be void of alcohol. they spent the first half of the night really just hanging out, but now they were sat in front of the television, watching the live newscast. 

things changed a bit, however, when ben turned to bev, whispering something in her ear. richie looked over at the sound of whispers (always a boy for gossip). 

beverly smirked and richie followed her line of sight to mike. taking a look back at ben he understood. smiling smugly, he looked back to the tv.

"okay. i wanna spice things up." beverly giggled, all the boys turning their heads to her. she turned her head to the clock briefly, 11:20. lovely.

"so. since we are 7 gay asses, i propose a fun little homosexual activity, everyone has to kiss someone at midnight or else... or else you have to prank call your parents. or, guardian. whatever." she said, stanley freezing at the mention of parents. he'd be fine, he had a boyfriend he could kiss, for gods sake. 

"bev... you're a girl... it's not gay if you're kissing a boy..." eddie said, his eyebrows furrowed.

"i'll take an L this time." she shrugged, sitting down on a love seat. they all muttered agreements to the bet from their respective spots.

richie realized if he didn't end up kissing bev, he'd probably be the one to lose. eddie wouldn't kiss him (it was just strange. and eddie didn't like kissing, period), and ben and mike were... they were the reason beverly was doing this.

sighing, he sat down next to her. she looked at richie briefly, and then back to the tv. eddie went to the kitchen to grab himself a cup of water, but he ended up staying there, watching the tv from the kitchen. he leaned against the counter and watched as bill walked into the kitchen. he took a bowl and a container of ice cream, helping himself to a large heaping of ice cream.

"bill, aren't you lactose intolerant?" eddie questioned as bill ate the ice cream, practically inhaling it. bill stopped for a moment to look at eddie, nodding.

"yeah? why w-wuh-would that st-st-stop me?" bill responded, eddie shrugging (very concerned) and looking away. he sighed at bill's actions, but bill continued to scarf down the ice cream. 

"eddie, i f-fuh-feel like it's been a while since we hung out." bill stated in between spoonfuls of ice cream. 

that's because it has. you have a boyfriend now, bill. he's more important.

holy shit, eddie thought to himself. he was jealous, but not that bitter. jeez.

"yeah, i guess so. we should catch up, sometime" eddie suggested, bill nodding. after a minute or two of uncomfortable small talk and silence, bill left the room to go to the living room. eddie wondered why they couldn't talk like they used to. 

richie watched as bill walked right back up to stan (who was mid conversation with mike) and wrapped his arms around stan's waist, who smiled weakly and leaned into the touch. he tore his eyes away, trying so hard not to watch. it wasn't his business, no matter how much he wished it was. out of the corner of his eyes, he watched as bill gave stan a spoonful of ice cream. he sighed.

forty minutes later bill was nowhere to be seen. it was approaching midnight (two minutes left!) and stan couldn't figure out where his boyfriend had gone. eddie was sitting on the counter in the kitchen, still watching the kitchen from there. beverly had joined him in the kitchen, as so to not interrupt anything mike and ben were doing. they were just talking, ben building up courage. richie found himself in one of the hallways, looking up and down at all the paintings. he'd decided he would lose, that was okay. he'd prank call his mom from someone else's phone, and that way she couldn't trace it back to richie when she would (inevitably) lose her shit.