Work Text
Richie Tozier was a mix of emotions. He was angry, upset, and irritated. All in all Richie was absolutely miserable. He had been for the past few weeks. And it was all because of a motherfucker named Stanley Uris.A couple of weeks ago Stan had started to distance himself from everyone. It started out slowly, with skipping hanging out with the Losers every now and then. Then it became more frequent to the point where the only time any of the Losers saw Stan was at school. Richie, being the oblivious boy he tended to be at times, ignored it. He didn’t really notice until it got to the point where Stan started avoiding the Losers at school. And everyone couldn’t help but notice that he did all he could to avoid being in the same room as Richie. None of the Losers could figure out why.Richie tried everything he could to contact Stan. All his calls went unanswered. His messages ignored. Everytime he went to Stan’s window it was always locked and the curtains closed. There was the time Richie even went so far as to visit Stan’s favorite bird watching bench for a week, but Stan never showed up. Richie was running out of hope.The Losers could sense it. The longer that Stan avoided them the quieter Richie had gotten. Eddie decided it was enough when Richie went a whole movie night without making any comments. The next day Eddie dragged Richie to the Uris’ house.“What are we doing here Eds?” Richie grumbled him.
Eddie’s first instinct was to tell Richie not to call him that, but Eddie doesn’t have it in him with the state Richie was in. “You’re here to talk to Stan.” “What? I can’t do that! He’s been avoiding us for weeks.”“I know, but you’re miserable without him Rich. So you’re gonna talk to him because you two have always been best friends and I’ll be damned if two of my best friends are miserable just because they refuse to see each other,” Eddie said leaving no room for Richie to argue.Richie could feel himself start to fidget as they got closer to Stan’s house. Eddie nudged Richie forward.“I’m heading to Bill’s while you two talk,” Eddie said. Richie turned to him.“You’re not staying?” Richie near shrieked. They both ignored the fear and panic in Richie’s voice.“I’m pretty sure this talk is meant for only you two,” Eddie said. Richie looked at him almost suspiciously. Though before he could ask any questions Eddie was walking away. Richie stared at him and frowned. What did Eddie know? Richie thought before looking back at the houseHe could easily walk away too. Head over to hang out with Beverly, but he knew Eddie was right. If he didn’t go up to the house now Richie wasn’t sure if he’d come back.With a heavy heart he forced himself to walk up to the house. As he got closer to the door he felt himself slowly filling up with dread and his feet had slowly started to become heavy. He stared at the door and wanted nothing more than to turn and run after Eddie. After taking a couple deep breaths he forced himself to move and knocked on the door. Mrs.Uris was the one to open the door, and she smiled sweetly at Richie.“Hi Mrs.Uris, is Stan here?” Richie asked as he forced himself to look as nonchalant as he could. Richie’s nerves slightly picked up as he received a nod from her.“He’s in his room, go right on up Richie,” She told him. Richie smiled at her and walked in. He ignored his growing nerves as he walked up to Stan’s room. He opened the door to find Stan reading his bird book.“I promise I already-” Stan started, before he cut himself off as he looked up and made eye contact with Richie.“Hey Richie,” Stan said meekly. Richie gave him a small smile.“Stan the man,” Richie said quietly. He nervously messed with his glass and hoped Stan didn’t pick up on his anxiety.“What do you want Richie?” Stan asked just as quietly. Richie felt hurt noticing Stan was avoiding his eyes.“To be completely honest, I just wanted to see your mother again,” Richie joked hoping to ease the tension. It didn’t help. Richie felt a slight stab to the heart at getting no reaction. He took a step forward, but stopped in his tracks noticing Stan had tensed up at his movement.“Why did you stop hanging out with us, Stan?” Richie finally asked. Stan stayed quiet.“Did we do something? Did I do something?”No response. The stabbing feeling that Richie had felt before was getting stronger and wasn’t easy to ignore.“Did something happen to you?” Richie asked crossing his arms. He felt one of his hands clench up. The frustration from a lack of response was slowly rising. But he didn’t want Stan to notice. Stan stay silent, but this time he glanced at Richie for a second. Richie felt a slight shock at seeing Stan’s eyes. In that second he noticed tears had started to well up in Stan’s eyes. RIchie wanted nothing more than to move towards Stan, but he felt that even the slightest move would have Stan shut off. “What happened?” He asked quietly. Stan didn’t answer. Richie was beginning to feel desperate. All he wanted was for Stan to open his mouth to say anything. Even if all he said was to tell Richie to shut up. Because then it would at least be something.If it wasn’t for how quiet it was Richie would’ve thought he’d imagined it. But he heard it. It was the first time he had heard Stan’s voice in weeks. And it made him furious when he heard Stan mutter the name.“Bowers.” Stan clenched his fists tightly. He seemed to be shaking a bit. Richie could also hear him taking deep breaths as if to calm down.“What did he do?” Richie asked. He flinched as Stan finally made eye contact with him because the last thing he was expecting was to see tears running down Stan’s face. The small anger Richie felt towards Henry Bowers grew immensely knowing that he was the reason that Stan had isolated himself.Stan stayed quiet, but after a minute or two of silence he finally told Richie. “He called me a freak. He said that I wasn’t good enough to be friends with anyone.” Richie stared at him. He felt there was more to it than that. Stan looked back down before speaking again. “You remember the other week when you wrote on one of my papers cause you wanted to talk to me in”Richie uncrossed his arms. He looked at Stan confusedly, but nodded.. “What does that-”“He found it.” Stan said angrily. Richie could see Stan was clenching his fists now. “He found the paper and read that conversation.”Richie stayed silent. He tried to remember the conversation. All he could remember was that he was bugging Stan about something. Though seeing Stan’s fist tighten he remembered. They were in class and Richie was bugging Stan. He was trying to find out the guy Stan had a crush on. Richie threw away the paper as soon as class had ended because no one besides Richie knew Stan was gay.“He knows,” Was all Richie said. His voice soft as the realization hit him. Stan nodded.“He threatened to tell everyone even the others. He told me that I should get use to the idea of being alone since no one’s gonna want me after he tells. He told me no one will want to come near a faggot like me,” Stan admitted. Richie wanted nothing more than to kill Bowers the moment he heard Stan’s voice start to crack. “And you believed him?” Richie asked.“How could I not Richie? I’m a weak, gay, Jewish kid with OCD and a fucked up sense of humour. It doesn’t matter who I’m friends with. I’m always going to be a freak and I didn’t want you guys being forced to stick with a fucking mistake,” Stan broke down, more tears going down his face. This time nothing stopped Richie. He rushed forward and pulled Stan into a hug.Stan hid his face in Richie’s neck as Richie held him closer and ignored the tears that were getting his shirt wet. He could feel Stan shaking a little and hear his small sobs, but didn’t bring them up. He just sat there and held him almost as if his life depended on it.“I’m sorry about your shirt” Stan apologised as his tears became less.“Stan I don’t care about the shirt. I just wish that you had told us sooner that something like this happened. I promise you all of us would have kicked Bowers’ ass.” “I didn’t want to burden you guys,” Stan mumbled. “I know I’m already too much to deal with.”“You’re not,” Richie said fiercely. He pulled back a little and look directly at Stan. Stan almost flinched seeing the fierce sincerity in Richie’s eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen him like this.“Stan you’re an amazing person. You’re smart and loyal. I don’t know how many times you’ve been ready to fight someone just because they had picked on one of us. You’re not weak, you’re one of the strongest people I know. You have the strength to get up everyday knowing you’re not like everyone else. If that doesn’t make you strong then I don’t know what is. And you’re sense of humor is one of my favorite things about you.” Stan could feel blood rushing towards his face. He was speechless. Richie always said random crap like this to the Losers, but he had always said it in some joking tone. Stan had never heard Richie sound so serious before “Stanley Uris, you are one of the best things to ever happen to me,” RIchie said seriously. It was the most serious he had ever been and he wouldn’t take back anything he had said. Stan’s face turned a little pink, but he looked away from Richie.“I’m pretty sure Eddie’s the best thing to ever happen to you,” Stan told him. Richie shook his head.“Sure Eddie Spaghetti is amazing, I love him and all the other Losers. All of us are like a family, but you’re my best friend Stan. You’re the one I’m going to put everything else. And right now I just want my best friend back. All I need is you back in my life and I know this won’t help much, but I promise that I will do as much as I can to show you that you’re not a burden.” Richie grabbed Stan’s hand and intertwined it with his. Stan looked back up.“Stan you’re my favorite person in the world. I love you so much,” Richie admitted. Stan’s previous blush had darkened at the confession he heard. And though the circumstances weren’t what he imagined when thinking of this moment he still couldn’t stop the small smile that had spread. Richie grinned a little and bit his lip as he waited for Stan to say something to him.“I love you too, but I think you could do so much better,” Stan admitted. Richie smiled sadly and pressed a kiss to Stan’s lips. A kiss that Stan was willing to return. When Richie pulled back he saw Stan’s eyes looking a little warmer than they did when he first walked in. “Stan even if there was someone better than you, which there never will be, I’d still choose to be with you. If you’ll let me.”Stan didn’t say anything, but he did smile and squeeze Richie’s hand. Which wasn’t much, but after weeks of nothing it was all Richie needed.