casual : stozier

NINE

the seven of them were spread out amongst the grass taking up four blankets. starting on the left, beverly was on one end, next to ben. eddie was engrossed in a conversation with ben about constellations, whilst mike and bill had a silent conversation with their eyes next to eddie. finally, next to them was stanley and richie.

"so, isn't it pretty? " richie gestured to the sky, the both of them looking upwards. 

they were lying close enough to appear affectionate enough, but richie took stanley's hand in his own anyway. stan glanced over at richie and studied his face for a second. he looked back to the sky.

"yeah." 

they lied there in silence, save for eddie trying to show ben the big dipper. stanley reached his other hand out backwards to feel the grass and found it surprisingly damp, the tips of his fingers twinkling with droplets. he exhaled softly and turned back to richie.

richie lay there, appearing as though there were no other worries in the world.  his nose stuck out in his side profile and stanley admired it for a moment. he admired everything about richie, truth be told. 

richie turned to stan lightly and laughed, "like what you see? "

"you sure are casual, rich." 

"i know."

richie glanced back at the rest of the losers and then back to stanley. richie smiled, 

"i love you."

stanley froze up. almost as if the water on his fingers had chilled down to the bone, producing raw, painful icicles on his fingertips. he swallowed. his fingers slipped out of richie's stinging grip and he stood up, richie's eyes widening.

"guys i-i have a really bad stomach ache. i think i'm going to go inside." 

"aww, are you sh-shuh-sure? it's r-really nice out," bill said breaking eye contact with mike for the first time in a while.

"yeah, yeah i think i'm going to throw up." and with that, stanley was off, essentially jogging back towards the entrance of the housing. richie watched with concern.

"richie? aren't you going to check on your boyfriend? " beverly asked, richie snapping his head in her direction.

"uh-y-yeah."