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bethlehembroclub-blog · 7 years ago

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chapter 1 - it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas

written by @sweatereddies and @gingerbreddie

word count: 2.9k

pairings: reddie, stenbrough, benverly

warnings: swearing, drug/alcohol use, pineapples on pizza

want on the tags list?

new chapters every day in december, follow us for future updates!

Eddie Kaspbrak was late for class. While this was not an entirely unheard of event, it was uncommon, and frustrating enough to ruin his morning. He cursed both his manager and the powers that be as he glared at the patrons in line, each of them feeling just as impatient as he. He had told his manager explicitly that he needed to leave the shop with enough time to get to campus, but because of the rush not only had he lost his travel time but it was now five minutes past when he knew his lecture had been started. Shooting his coworker a pleading look, he was only met with a mouthed “I'm sorry” before they both dove back into the rush. Eddie sighed to himself.

This is gonna be a long day.

______________________________________________________________

“So you're not going to your aunt’s this year?”

“Nah. She has to work super early for Black Friday and doesn't wanna do all the work for two people.”

“That makes sense.” Ben carefully avoided the unsaid question between them, instead choosing the safer but not quite completely safe option. “You know, if you're bored or whatever on the day you're more than welcome to come to mine. My mom and my aunt make more than enough for the five of us.”

“Thanks for the invite, I’ll consider it.” Bev smiled at him over her notebook.

“Plus, the Kappa boys and i are having a sort of “friendsgiving” at the house the day after if you want to join.”

“What, no crazy shopping spree?” Bev smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I'm leaving that to Stan and Eddie. I think they're taking Chris this year, though.” Ben laughed.

“Well, if they hit up radio shack tell them to ask for Linda.” Beverly chortled, turning her page and focusing back in on their work. “God, this project is gonna kill me.” She sighed, changing the subject.

Ben let her. “I don't know, it's not that big.”

“To you, mister three-point-eight.” She griped. “Some of us dummies have a much harder time with this shit.”

“Oh come on Bev, you're not dumb.” Ben replied, genuinely.

“Yeah, well, my GPA begs to differ.” She muttered, starting her paragraph. Ben smiled softly, before picking up his pen and doing the same.

______________________________________________________________

“Stan, thank fuck.” Eddie breathed into the phone as he continued power-waking at full speed.

“Christ Eddie, it's eight in the morning, what's got you so heated?” Stan grumbled tiredly into the phone.

“The fact that it's eight in the morning and I'm not in class right now. My dumbass manager didn’t let me out on time and I’m late. Do you have the car today?” Eddie panted, sprinting across a crosswalk.

“No, Tyler took it home for the next two weeks remember? No one’s-”

“Shit!” Eddie cursed, skidding to a stop near the bus station. “I’m gonna have to get a fucking Uber or something-”

“At eight in the morning? Good fucking luck.” Stan sighed. “Need me to call you one?”

“No…” Eddie sighed, watching a bus pulled up near him, the marquee reading the neighborhood near the college. “I’ve got it covered.”

______________________________________________________________

“So you guys don’t have any plans this weekend? Seriously? It’s end of term, bro!” Bev laughed as she and Ben walked to the campus coffee shop.

“Eddie said, and I quote, ‘if one of you fuck heads drags me to some dumb rager the night after I finish the semester, I will push you off the roof of said frat house.’” Ben said in a mock high-pitched voice, imitating Eddie’s classic Grumpy Tone.

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“I think Trig broke him. He was screaming along to an Enya song at like, three in the morning last week.”

“Who even does that?” Bev laughed.

“Someone whose brain has officially been fried.” Ben sighed. “He’ll be fine after the break. He just needs to relax.”

“Is he going home for the holidays?” Bev hugged her books to her chest, shrugging her purse strap back up onto her shoulder.

Ben shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s been blowing off all his mother’s calls. Besides, I think he has work.”

“What about Stan?”

“Fourth quarter. He couldn’t get a day off if he died.”

“Corporate America hath its brutal ways.” Bev sighed dramatically. “Well, I think I might be joining you guys for this “friendsgiving” you’ve coordinated.”

“We’ll be happy to see you there.” Ben smiled.

“On one condition.” Bev smiled mischievously. “You need to get the boys to come with you,” she gently poked his chest, “And I,” she turned her finger to herself. “To the End of Semester party the Omega Nu’s are having this weekend.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You want us at a party?”

“Of course. It’s only gonna be the greatest party on the block.”

“On our block more like. Aren’t the Omega Nu’s across the street from us?”

“And one down!” Bev joked.

“Wow, a whole house down.” Ben laughed. “I don’t think we’ll much be able to avoid it in that case.”

“So you’ll be there?” She looked at him hopefully.

“Of course I will, but.. I’m not so sure about the boys.” He shrugged. “Stan is a toss up, but I’m positive Eddie will say no.”

“Tell him if he wants me at friendsgiving he has to come.” Bev pouted.

Ben sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.” Beverly smiled exuberantly. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Call me for the time, Haystack.” She smiled as they reached the coffee shop. She leaned up and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “See you later.”

“See ya.” He waved as she ducked inside.

______________________________________________________________

The sound of a book slamming down on the table in front of his face jarred Richie Tozier from his sleep.

“W-wake up, asshole. I’m not d-doing this project alone.”

Richie groaned, a hand scrubbing over his face as he arched up. “Fucks sake, Billiam, could you slam that book harder?”

Bill dropped an equally large volume onto the table next to the first, causing Richie’s head to throb all over again.

“Jesus H. Christ Bill, does it not hurt you too?” He pouted.

“It does, but it’s worth it.”

“How come the only sentences you can get through are the ones where you’re making fun of me?” Richie grumbled, squinting up at Bill as he pulled the closest book towards him.

“E-excuse you?” Bill glared, raising an eyebrow as he sat down across the table.

Richie shot him a tempestuous glare, communicating more than enough, but added a middle finger for clarity.

“Shut the fuck up and d-do your section.” Bill griped, pulling his notebook out of his book bag.

“Shut the fuck up and d-d-d-d-d-do your section.” Richie mumbled to himself in a mocking tone, two fingers massaging his temple in desperate hopes of relieving the growing hangover headache. Bill didn’t respond, killing Richie’s need to continue his teasing. He gave in with a sigh, pulling his supplies out of his bag as well.

It took all of five minutes of attempting to study before Richie was over it. He glanced around the library, taking in the filtered sunlight dripping through the high arched windows. Someone across the way tapped an uneven beat with their pencil. A door upstairs closed. A girl from his Trig class crossed the shelves in search of an unknown tome. He watched her as she moved, both distracted and interested. Bill snapped his finger in front of his face.

“Tozier.”

“What?” Richie snapped, eyes still on the girl.

“Wh-what did you get for f-fourteen?”

“Fourteen? Fuck, Bill, I haven’t even gotten one. It’s too hectic in here. I don’t wanna work. Let’s go home.”

“Hectic my a-ass. There’s like, no one here.”

Richie pointed at the girl. “Yeah there is.”

“Oooohh, one o-other person, ‘scuse m-me!” Bill drawled dramatically. “Rich, this is our l-last assignment, p-please. Let’s just get it done.”

“Somewhere else?” Richie pleaded, dropping his head so his chin was resting on his folded arms atop the table.

“Wh-why?” Bill complained, throwing his head back.

“I can’t focus!” Richie whined. “I’m so sick of homework, Big Bill. I wanna party!”

“We p-partied last night.” Bill griped.

“I know, but that was just the beginning! I wanna go home and work on the bash. We only have a couple of days, we need decorations! Supplies…” He trailed off, giving Bill a strange look.

He shared the expression. “We also only have t-two days left of t-term.” He pressed. “So we have to get this d-d-done.” Resolutely, he turned back to his work.

Richie sighed, tapping a finger on the table in agitation.

He let Bill get about fifteen minutes in, before interrupting again.

“What’re you doing over break, again?”

“I t-told you Rich, I’m not sure yet.”

“I’m gonna stay.” Richie adjusted his position in the library chair, yet again. “I’m sure ole Went will be disappointed but he’ll just have to deal.”

“Your m-mom won’t be?”

“Don’t talk about my mom like that.” Richie joked. Bill looked up incredulously.

“That- wasn’t even a-”

“I’m tired, sue me.”

“Your brain runs on autopilot.”

“I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

“Or a good fuck in awhile, christ.” A new voice joined their conversation. “You look like shit, Tozier.” Mike Hanlon smiled his golden boy smile, swinging a chair around backwards before sitting in next to Richie.

“Mike and Ike, thank the lord! Here to rescue me from the clutches of Big Billiam.” Richie dramatically feigned a faint, leaning heavily on Mike only to be shoved off with a laugh.

“Fat chance. You know you need to do your homework, and you’re not leaving till it’s done.”

“Fine.” He sighed, sitting upright in his seat. “But I’ll have you know, I have indeed been laid plenty.”

“Lies.” Bill and Mike said in unenthusiastic (but accurate) unison.

Richie dramatically placed a hand to his chest. “How DARE-”

“Shut up and work, Rich. We have stuff to do today.” Mike playfully dope-slapped him.

“Like w-what?” Bill looked over at Mike, confused.

Mike gave them both a mischievous smile. “We are now the only frat south of fifth street planning an end of semester blow out.”

Richie pumped a fist. “Yes! How’d you manage it, man?”

“Gave the boys over at Alpha Sig some food for thought.” Mike said nonchalantly, examining his nails. Richie laughed.

“Fuck Mike, that sounds menacing as hell.”

Mike chortled in return. “Get straight Tozier, I didn’t fuckin kill them. I just gave em what they wanted.” He eyed Richie, who finally understood. “So now we will officially be the best party in the whole of college town.”

Bill smiled to himself. “Wh-what about Christmas? D-did they say anything about th-then?”

“Couldn’t get them to spill holiday plans, so it looks like Christmas is still any mans game, but we’ve got the market cornered on end of term.”

“Guys, we’ve got to get holidays too. I want the streak this year!” Richie pleaded. “You’ve got to stay this year, Bill.” Richie turned to him, hands folded in prayer. “Pleeeaaaseeeee please please.”

“F-fine, I’ll stay.” Richie whooped, earning a dirty look from the other patrons. “But only so we can w-win.”

“It’s hilarious how competitive you guys get over this.” Mike shook his head with mirth. “There’s no official contest.”

“Um, unofficial for sure, and who just spent an hour negotiating our party status with the enemy?” Richie quipped.

“Firstly, they’re our classmates, not enemies, and secondly, I did not say I was there for an hour.”

Bill raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, so it was like an hour and a half. You should be thanking me, assholes.”

“We thank you kindly, good sir.” Richie saluted Mike.

“Now do your homework so we can go buy decorations and booze.”

“Now that’s more like it!”

______________________________________________________________

“Honey, I’m ho-ome!” Ben playfully called into the house as he closed the door. One of his roomies, Chris, was sitting on their couch, pounding away at an apparently rousing game of Halo. He grunted noncommittally, barely taking his eyes off the screen. “Eddie and Stan here?”

“Upstairs.” Chris nodded towards the stairwell.

“We got invited to a party this weekend, you in?”

“Leaving Friday, but thanks.”

“No problem.” Ben called behind him as he started up the stairs.

Stan and Eddie’s bedroom door was adorned with a large whiteboard, which often contained doodles and messages the other boys would leave. Ben’s poorly scribbled banana and bird drawings were faded and half erased in the corner, still there from nearly six months ago. The center of the board had been erased (mostly) and bore a new message:

STAY THE FUCK OUT WE’RE STUDYING

Ben laughed to himself, knocking lightly on the door.

“What?!” Came Eddie’s annoyed voice.

“It’s Ben, can I talk to you guys?”

“Yeah, come in.” Stan replied, clearly much less stressed.

Ben swung the door open, only for it to collide with a solid object.

“What the fuck-”

“Oh, sorry.” There was the sound of some scrambling and then the door opened all the way; Eddie stood before him, arms full of books, with more (and about half the contents of his backpack, by observation) strewn all over the floor.

“You spread out again.”

“I told him not to.” Stan said calmly from his bed, where only a small pile of work accompanied him. “I’ve been trapped in here for awhile because there was a hazard on the floor.”

“I’m trying to get this fucking project done, Stan-”

“Eddie, hey, it’s okay.” Ben laughed lightly, clapping a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. “You’re stressed, we get it. But maybe leave a walkway, okay?”

Eddie sighed weakly. “Okay…”

“What’s up?” Stan asked, setting his book aside, pen inside to mark the page.

“Just came to ask you guys about something. How was your day?”

“Just fine. Actually had a reasonable shift, so that was nice.”

“And you, Eddie?” Ben said, sitting in their office chair.

“Terrible.” Eddie flopped back onto his bed. “I worked opening today, so I was there hella fuckin early, and then the rush started right when I had to leave, so my manager kept me an extra half-hour! So I was late to class, and Tyler went home with the car so Stan couldn’t come get me. I have like, four dollars in my bank account so I couldn’t get an uber, so… I took the bus to school.” He shuddered.

“You took the bus?” Ben and Stan asked in unison, each shocked.

“Yeah. It was disgusting. I had to sit through all of Trig just… imagining what the fuck I’d contracted. I took like four showers when I got home.”

“He did.” Stan said when Ben shot him a look. “I thought somebody puked on him or something.

“I never wanna go outside again.” Eddie said dramatically, hands over his face.

“Not even if it would mean having Bev over for Friendsgiving?” Ben prodded.

Eddie sat up, sizing him up with a glare. “What’re you planning, Hanscom?”

Ben held his hands up in defense. “Hey, this scheme wasn’t my idea. But I did invite her.”

“And?” Stan asked.

“She says she’ll come.”

“There’s a but.” Stan confirmed.

“There’s always a but.” Eddie sighed, resting his chin in his hand.

“But- she wants us to go to the Omega Nu party this weekend with her in exchange.”

“No fucking way.” Eddie threw his hands up.

“I’m down.” Stan shrugged. “I hear they throw a good bash.”

“They do, I went to one with Mike last year. It was great.” Ben turned to Eddie. “All you have to do is show up Eddie. It’s right down the street, you can walk back home after like, five minutes.”

“I don’t even wanna go in the first place! Those guys just throw dumb shitty ragers, I don’t want to actually get thrown up on.”

“Eddie, please, she said she’d come to dinner.”

“I’m not being pimped for a date!”

“Quit being such a buzzkill Kaspbrak, oblige the poor man. Love hath made him a fool.” Stan snickered, smirking at Ben’s look of distaste.

“I hate parties Ben, you know this.” Eddie tried.

“Just show up with me. Then you can turn around and go right back home.”

Eddie crossed his arms.

“I’ll pay you.”

“In what? And don’t say arcade tokens, I’m not twelve.”

“Firstly fuck you, you’re lucky I can get free tokens to give out. Second, I was thinking actual adult money.”

“You can pay me in pizza.” Stan cut in with a shrug.

“Shut up Uris, you already agreed.”

“I still want pizza.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll pay you in one half of Stan’s damn pizza and fifty Real Adult Human American dollars.” Ben said with resignation.

“I want fifty individual one dollar bills, because what I’m most angry about is the inconvenience, pineapple on my half, and if, IF, all my projects are done, you have a deal.”

“You are NOT putting pineapple on my pizza, Kaspbrak-”

“PINEAPPLE OR NO DEAL.”

Ben looked between the two boys. “Fine. You have a deal. Shake on it.”

“Pineapple, Ben, really?” Stan whined.

“I need him to come!”

“You’re a monster. Sacrificing your morals, nay, my morals, for a lady.” Stan shook his head as Ben and Eddie shook hands.

“Pineapple on pizza is not a moral offense.”

“To some it is.” Stan mumbled.

“This is my revenge.” Eddie grumbled. “Now leave me alone, I have to finish my shit.”

“I’ll go get the damn pizza, then we can eat and I’ll help you guys.” Ben stood, filled with excitement about the weekend ahead.

“Thanks, Haystack.” Stan said, turning back to his work.

“Yeah, thanks.” Eddie said quietly, already lost back in the storm of his trigonometry project. Ben left the room, closing the door behind him gently and smiling to himself. This was gonna be a great weekend.

______________________________________________________________

authors notes: welcome to the party you guys!!! we’re very excited to get this fic to y’all <3 if you ever have any questions, shoot us an ask! if you want on the tagslist, please let us know! we’d love it if you could reblog our account/story to spread the word!! we hope you enjoy what’s in store ❤

tagslist: @ayyyymichele @megelizabethvh @flickerflies @beepbeep-losers @tapetayloe @gazeboseddie @finnwollfhards @turtleneckrichie

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bethlehembroclub-blog · 7 years ago

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chapter 2 - it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together

written by @gingerbreddie and @sweatereddies

word count: 3k

pairings: reddie, stenbrough, benverly

warnings: swearing, drug/alcohol use, terrible james bond references

want on the tags list?

new chapters every day in december, follow us for future updates!

"Oh come on, Eddie. How long is it gonna take for you to get over it?"

"Well at least more than five hours, Stanley!"

Stan rolled his eyes as he leaned back against the wall in his Adidas overalls, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Him and Eddie always went on evening runs at least three times a week, but now Eddie was acting stupid over his bus-incident.

"I'm telling you, I am overwhelmed by the bacteria and if I step outside and breathe so much as one germ, I'm probably gonna catch lepracy."

"So your plan is to stay inside this house forever?" Stan asked.

"No, actually, inside this room." Eddie snapped, writing in his trigonometry book again.

Stan had to quit about half an hour ago, due to his brain getting mushy with the lack of air— and it was perfectly crisp, still a little sunny weather outside, begging for someone to go for a jog in it.

"Fine," Stan then shrugged and leaned back up from the wall. "Stay here. For the rest of eternity. But I'm going."

Stan's reverse psychology worked, as Eddie now lifted his head from the studies on the floor.

"Really? Without me?" He asked.

"Yeah, really without you." Stan snorted and stepped across Eddie's books on the floor.

"Give me five minutes." Eddie said as he practically jumped up and rushed to his closet.

"Four." Stan said.

"Four minutes?" Eddie asked, glancing from behind his shoulder as Stan sighed and looked at the clock around his wrist.

"Three..."

Eddie let out a groan and started to pull on his sweatpants.

"Alright, Uris, God dammit!"

______________________________________________________________

"Richie, you fucking coming or not?"

"Man, I wish I was, Michael—"

Richie shoved the door of his room open, finding Mike and Bill standing in front of it; Mike shook his head with a slightly amused expression on his face, and Bill just rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'm ready." Richie said, still closing the zipper of his skinny jeans before the duo started to walk down the white, spiral stairs; well, Mike and Bill walked, Richie jumped on the railing and started to slide down.

"Richie, please get down before you hurt yourself." Mike said in kind of bored tone. He was so used to this, and even though Richie would most of the time (never) listen to him, he felt obligated to at least try each time Tozier did something stupid. Frankly, he felt like he was responsible for both Richie and Bill. Bill wasn't that hard to look after, though.

"Awwww, I love it when you care, Papa Hanlon." Richie smirked, but didn't get down until the stairs ended and he had to jump off of it. "So we gonna hit the mall?" He asked.

"No, Richie, we’re gonna hit the fl-flower shop." Bill sarcastically said. Mike chuckled; Richie bursting out laughing.

"I fucking love you, Denbrough! So ssssspicy." He hissed the letter S and slapped Bill's ass, who mumbled something about hating his life.

______________________________________________________________

"I can't believe you were gonna go on a jog without me," Eddie said as he and Stan walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, well— it's not like I'm gonna stay inside just because you are. We are not Siamese, you know." Stan gave Eddie a look.

"Well yeah, but we always go on jogs together. It's what we do, Stanley!" Eddie said.

"What are you whining about, Kaspbrak? We're going, aren't we?" Stan asked as he opened the front door.

"What are you two fighting about, for the second time today?"

Both Stan and Eddie now looked at Ben, who was just getting back with the pizza.

"Eddie's just being Eddie." Stan shrugged. "That our dinner?"

"It’ll be waiting when you get back." Ben said, trying to step in, but neither Stan nor Eddie were moving; in fact, both their gazes were stuck on something outside.

"Who the hell are those?" Eddie asked, and Ben glanced at him, before turning around to look what they were staring at.

He saw three guys; one wearing a white shirt and a huge smile on his face, one in a flannel who didn't look happy, and one in a stupid over sized printed t-shirt, laughing out loud.

"Oh," Ben said. "Well that's Mike—"

"I know who Mike is by now you idiot, I'm talking about the two other guys!" Eddie hissed, and Ben glanced at him, mildly offended, but Eddie only raised his brows at him, pressuring him to start singing already.

"They're his friends," Ben said. "From the... frat that burned down."

Stan's eyes widened as Eddie's jaw dropped.

"What?" Eddie blurted out. "Freaking BBC?"

"Freaking BBC, lives across us now?"

"Yeah," Ben said, turning his gaze back to the guys.

The curly haired boy was smoking a cigarette as the three of them stood in a tiny circle, the flannel wearing one kicking the cement with the edge of his Converse.

"How the hell did they get planted here?" Stan asked, voice full of confusion. "These guys burnt half of their frat down."

"Okay, we're not positive it was these two." Ben said, turning back to his friends again.

"We're not— we're not positive? One looks like he's got a rifle in the back of his jeans and the other one looks like he's made out with a cat at least once!" Eddie hissed, gesturing out towards the guys with his hand.

"Lets not get too judgmental here, Edward." Stan said, pulling Eddie's hand down. Eddie looked shocked, his eyebrows still up and his mouth still very much open.

"Yeah," Ben said. "Lets go say hi."

"What?!— Lets go say hi?!" Eddie almost choked on air, but Ben was already leaving to walk down the stairs of their porch, setting the pizza on their porch swing. "I'm sorry, do you wanna get shot tonight?!"

Eddie turned his gaze to Stanley who just shrugged and then followed Ben, and now Kaspbrak was the only one standing inside the house, the door wide open, watching as his friends were almost out of the front yard.

"Oh, fuck this!" He cursed out quietly before stepping out and slamming the door shut, rushing after his idiot fraternity mates.

______________________________________________________________

"So what are you guys thinking?" Mike asked, leaning against the red mailbox behind him and pushing his hands to the front pockets of his beige chinos. "Vodka, whiskey... rum?"

"I say we take all of it," Richie said, bringing the smoke up to his lips for a drag. Bill sniffed, then raised his brows.

"Really, Richie? You're doing that now?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Richie asked, and Bill just gave him a look.

"So all?" Mike asked, and the two turned their gazes back to the boy.

"Yeah. Aaaaallllll, my boy." Richie made a creepy voice similar to Smeagol. "Can Bill buy them though?" He added, smirking teasingly at his friend who started to look even more gloomier than usually.

"Are you ever gonna get over my druh-driving license picture?" Bill asked.

"Never absolutely ever, Charles Manson." Richie's smirk widened even more, and Bill rolled his eyes.

They were quiet for a moment (if you don't count the soft tune Mike was humming), until Bill spoke.

"Why do I feel like the boys across the street are staring at us?" Bill asked, and Richie was about to snap his head towards them, but Bill spoke.

"Don't look, Richie." He warned and Richie sighed, taking another drag.

"You ruin all fun, Billiam." He said.

"A few m-minutes ago you loved me." Bill said.

"That's the beauty of marriage." Richie faked a smile at Bill, and he snorted with a half-smirk.

"Bill, you feel that way because they are staring." Mike said, cutting in between his friends' immature jokes as he kept his gaze strictly on the tree right next to the frat opposite them, but he could see the boys across the street in his sight still. "I know one of them."

"W-Which one?" Bill asked.

"The one with the yellow t-shirt." Mike said, glancing at Bill.

"Why can't I fucking look?" Richie asked.

"Because you're nah-t gonna do it s-subtly." Bill said.

"Oh," Mike suddenly said.

"What?" Both Richie and Bill asked.

"I think you can finally look, Rich." Mike said, smoothly nodding forwards, and the boys turned their heads to the left at the same time, seeing all three of the others walking towards them now.

______________________________________________________________

"What the hell are you even gonna say, Ben?" Eddie hissed as they walked towards the boys, fighting to keep up behind his friends. "Hey, we live across the street, welcome to the neighborhood here's a basket of homemade muffins?!"

"Shut up, Eddie." Stanley snapped from the corner of his mouth, his lips barely moving.

"Oh, mother of God..." Eddie mumbled as they grew closer— until they stopped, about a foot away.

"Ben Hanscom!" One of the guys – Mike – said, letting out a chill chuckle as he got up from his lean against the mailbox and made his way over to the boy at the front of the squad standing on the road.

"What's up, man?" He asked, holding his hand out and doing what else but the legendary bro-handshake-and-hug with Ben.

"Nothing much, what about you?"

"Oh, you know— just keeping an eye on the town." Mike smirked with his upper teeth showing, before his eyes flew to the boys behind Ben. "These your friends?"

"Yeah," Ben said. "Mike, this is Stan—"

"Oh yeah, I think we've met once; at the library," Stan said as he shook Mike's hand.

"That's likely, yes," Mike let out a small laugh.

"—And this is Eddie."

Mike was about to grab Eddie's hand with a polite smile but Eddie stepped back with a shake of his head.

"Na-ah, no thank you. I'm a germaphobe." He spoke, causing the boy with black curly hair to snicker with a mumble that Eddie barely heard.

"Of course."

"Excuse me?" Eddie raised his brows, trying to look at him past tall-Mike.

"Oh– nothing," the boy just shrugged, and his flannel-wearing friend shot him a scowl.

"Please, ignore my friend." Mike said, turning his head around lightly to glance at his buddy. "Richie sometimes loses his manners."

"No I don't, the fuck?" Richie asked, offended.

"T-that's a perfect example rah-right there." The flannel-boy said, stepping up from behind Mike.

"Hi," he said. "I'm B-Bill."

"Nice to meet you," Ben smiled and offered him a hand that Bill shook, offering an awkward tiny smile.

"You t-too."

Stanley eyed him; this boy was pale and bony and under his eyes were slightly black, due to the lack of sleep he was probably getting, but hey— who could blame him? His looks reminded Stanley of a vampire, quite frankly— and he had a weirdly soothing voice.

Which also kinda directed towards the vampire theory.

Bill turned his gaze to Stan, so the boy flinched back to the moment and shook Bill's hand.

"Hey," he said. "I'm– I'm Stan, like Ben already said."

He let out an awkward laugh and Bill chuckled.

"R-Right. Hey." He said, and turned his gaze to the smaller boy in the back.

"And I'm Eddie. Still a germaphobe." He said with a tiny wave of his hand and a slight nod, and Bill nodded back.

"Got it."

Everyone turned their gazes to Richie who was still enjoying his smoke in the back, but now everyone was staring at him, and after a moment of staring back at them quietly, he then felt obliged to introduce himself as well.

"Alright, okay—" he threw the smoke to the ground and stepped on it, before he walked over to the lot.

"The name's Tozier. Richie, Tozier." He said, offering his hand out to Ben.

"Nice James Bond reference, asshole." Eddie snorted with a roll of his eyes, and literally all of them turned their gazes to him with a little shocked expressions; and now Eddie realized people were staring.

"Did I... say that out loud?" He asked quietly, and both Ben and Stan nodded, slowly. Even though Eddie thought this Richie guy seemed like a huge douchebag, he didn't wanna actually hurt his feelings. He wasn't a douchebag.

So he was about to apologize during the awkward silence, but he didn't exactly have to as Tozier's lips started to curve into a wide smirk and then a laugh left his mouth.

"I like you, Germaphobe." He said, and Eddie's eyes widened a little, but he just faked out a cough and looked away.

"Hey, I'm Stan." Eddie heard Stanley mumble as he still tried to find literally anything else to look at instead of this disgusting, bum-looking, weirdly-too-familiar neighbor.

"Well, now that everybody knows each other and it's all very jolly— I think we're gonna get on with our business." Mike clapped his hands together once, and Eddie turned his gaze to the boys again, Richie's gaze immediately meeting with his and he uncomfortably shifted the weight on his leg, turning his eyes to Mike and trying to escape from under Tozier's burning gaze.

"Oh yeah? What business?" Stan asked.

"We're throwing a p-party this weekend." Bill spoke.

"Right—! Right. We're coming." Stan said.

"Really? Well, that's amazing!" Mike held his hands out and chuckled, and so did everyone else; except for Eddie.

He wasn't amused in the tiniest bit.

"Yeah, yeah." Stan nodded with a little cackle still.

"Alright— well, I'll see you all there." Mike nodded with a kind smile, glancing at each of the boys opposite him once.

"Sure thing!" Ben smiled, and Stan just gave him a polite nod.

Eddie just faked a smile with the corner of his mouth, and then Mike started to walk.

"B-bye." Bill said to them.

"Bye," The boys said in chorus.

"See ya 'round, Germ." Richie winked at Eddie whose nose scrunched and jaw dropped in disgust, an oh-he-did-not!- way. Stanley and Ben raised their brows in amusement, and Bill growled something that none of them could hear as he grabbed Richie from the arm and started to drag him away.

Ben and Stanley now turned their heads to Eddie who immediately turned to look back at them, still absolutely devastated and offended because how dare that hobo wink at him ?

"What?" Eddie spat to his friends, both smirking at him.

"Oh, nothing."

"Nothing."

They both just hummed, shrugging and turning their gazes away. Eddie glanced at the slowly furthering back of Richie Tozier once more, before he spoke.

"Come on, Stan— we gotta get running before the sun goes down."

"Right. I'm gonna go back in." Ben said, and the boys nodded at him as he started to walk back towards the house, and Stan and Eddie started to jog.

In the opposite direction of their new neighbors, thankfully.

______________________________________________________________

"You w-winked at him? Are you fucking s-serious Richie?" Bill hissed as they were walking behind Mike, the sun starting to set ahead of them now, creating a pretty shade of pink and orange around them.

"What? I was just having a little fun." Richie smirked at his friend.

"A little f-fun?" Bill raised his brows. "Richie, flirting with a clearly g-gay guy for the hell of it isn't fun, it's b-buh-bullying!"

Richie looked at him for a moment before he softly gasped.

"Are you jealous?" Richie asked, and Bill rolled his eyes with a sigh turning his gaze away.

"G-Gosh, Richie."

"Oh my God— you totally are, aren't you, Billy-boy?" Richie cooed, grabbing Bill in a head-lock and then ruffling his hair, surprisingly actually making Bill laugh.

"Don't you worry Denbrough, there's plllllenty of love to give in this body!" Richie faked another funny voice, and Mike snorted in amusement ahead.

"Calm down, the two of you. You're gonna disturb the whole hood."

"Isn't that the puh-purpose?" Bill asked, still in the head-lock, and Richie smirked down at his friend; even though Bill could come off as the emo of the group, there was a cool side to him as well. Well, "cool" according to Richie.

Mike turned around fast, Bill and Richie nearly walking into him but stopping just in time.

"No, Bill, that's not the purpose." He snapped. His voice wasn't rude or angry or anything, more like a warning tone.

"But I thought throwing parties was the purpose?" Richie asked, stiffening his upper lip a little.

"Throwing parties is the purpose. Just not disturbing the fraternity hood." Mike said.

Richie and Bill shared a look.

"...on purpose." Mike added, and as a smirk started to rise to his lips, Bill and Richie mimicked his action— Richie slowly starting to laugh, before he clapped the top of Bill's head.

"Eeeeeeeeh, that's what I'm talking about!" He called. "BBC is here to fuck shit uuuuuup!"

Bill and Mike joined the almost evil laughter, until Mike stopped.

"Quietly, though. For now." He said in his creepily too similar to an actual adult-like voice, and Bill and Richie nodded under his power.

"Quietly." They agreed, and Richie finally let Bill out of the head-lock.

______________________________________________________________

"I think that the— Bill one is a vampire," Stan spoke, lightly out of breath as he and Eddie were jogging around the block.

They glanced at each other at the same time.

"A vampire?" Eddie breathed out.

"Yeah," Stanley nodded. "Don't you think?"

"Why?" Eddie let out a laugh.

"I kind of just get the viiiiibe of a vammmmpire." Stanley added the same softness Bill's voice had to the end of his sentence in a joking way, and Eddie snickered, his laugh unstable and breathy because of the steps his feet were taking on the ground.

"I don't know. Kinda, now that you mentioned it." He said.

"What about Tozier, though?" Stan smirked at Eddie, who groaned.

"What about him?" He asked.

"Did ya think he's cute, or what?" The smirk on Stanley's face was only widening.

"Oh my God, Uris!" Eddie blurted out, faking a gag reflex. "No, what the fuck?!"

Now Stanley let out a breathy, shaky laugh.

"Okay, okay— just checking." He said, and Eddie shot him a glare.

"Gosh," he then mumbled, before fastening his steps and sprinting ahead of Stan.

"Hey, don't leave me!" Stan called after him.

"Why, you afraid Bill is gonna show up?" Eddie asked with a loud voice.

"Shut up, or he just might!" Stanley spat, nervously glancing to the bushes around, before rushing after Eddie.

______________________________________________________________

tagslist: @ayyyymichele @megelizabethvh @flickerflies @beepbeep-losers @tapetayloe @gazeboseddie @finnwollfhards @lemonadeandrice @i-is-gazebo @turtleneckrichie

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bethlehembroclub-blog · 7 years ago

Text

chapter 3 - everyone’s dancing merrily

written by @sweatereddies and @gingerbreddie

word count: 5.3k

pairings: reddie, stenbrough, benverly

warnings: swearing, drug/alcohol use, dwayne the rock johnson in a santa suit

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“Come on you guys, we’re gonna be late!” Ben called up the stairs, as he adjusted his watch clasp.

“I’m trying, Eddie’s hogging the bathroom!” Stan yelled back. He heard the faint sound of Eddie’s quipped protests and rolled his eyes.

“I’m leaving in five minutes!” He responded, walking into the kitchen to grab the case of beer they had bought. Bev hadn’t said it was specifically a BYOB party, but Ben felt bad bringing four people and no booze.

Stan came tumbling down the stairs. “Fuck it, do I look okay?” He gestured down at his outfit, a rather complimentary blue shirt and his nicer jeans.

“Yeah, you look fine.” Ben said after a cursory glance. His brow furrowed, looking back at Stan. “Why? You never care.”

Stan looked around, clearly planning an excuse. “I don’t know, okay? I just wanted to…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ben smiled. “You don’t have to make shit up. I know you wanna impress someone. Question is, who’s gonna be there that you care so much about?” Ben said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Stan’s face flushed. “No one, Haystack.”

“Alright, fine, I won’t press.” He threw his hands up. “But whoever it is does need my official Bro Approval, so tell me soon, yeah?”

Stan laughed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Guys, have you seen my inhaler?” Eddie said, leaning over the landing on the stairs.

“You don’t have asthma, Eddie.” Stan deadpanned.

“Fuck you Uris, I’ve got something, I need it.”

“You haven’t needed it since seventh grade.” Ben said plainly. “Are you that nervous?”

Eddie fumbled with the hem of his shirt, glancing between the two boys. “Um..”

“You’ll feel a lot better once you have one of these in you.” Ben smirked, tearing open the box of beer and tossing a can to Eddie, who surprisingly caught it. “But seriously, if you don’t want to stay you don’t have to. They’re our neighbors, you can go home.”

Eddie eyed the can in his hands. “I don’t want to be too scared to go to a fucking dumb party.” Eddie muttered quietly.

“Then show up and smash the thing, man. Let loose, you deserve it.” Stan said.

Eddie cracked the tab on the beer, taking a swig. “I’ll go.” He said after he swallowed. “But I don’t know if I’ll have fun.”

“I think you will.” Ben supplied. “Like I said, Mike Hanlon knows how to throw a fucking party.”

Eddie sighed, taking another deep drink. “Jesus Christ.” He cringed at the taste. “Okay. Well the only way I’m gonna have an even mildly good time is if I have at least half this damn case to myself.”

“Done.” Ben laughed. “But that means you have to carry it over.”

Eddie finished the last few steps of the stairs and the last of the liquid in the can. He tossed it in their recycling as he passed it, and then lifted the case up. “Let’s go, then?”

______________________________________________________________

After locking up behind them (the three were the only ones left in the house after Chris had left that morning) the boys set off down the street, Eddie carting the case of beer under his arm. He huffed a bit under the weight of it, but kept thinking to himself about how light it would be once he's done with it.

Even from their vantage point, a good few houses away, they could hear the pounding music. It sounded like someone had put a Christmas song through some kind of alien machine, making it come out garbled and remixed in classic electronica fashion. Eddie scrunched up his nose; he hated nothing more than a shitty remix.

Stan kept his hands in his pockets, the crisp late November air nipping at his fingertips. He was grateful for the short walk.

The house in question looked like his store threw up on it. He even recognized the the giant light fixture of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story from when he’d seen it on their website earlier. He snorted at the sight, rolling his eyes at the tackiness of the entire yard. They'd certainly gone all out on the decorations; icicle lights hung loosely from the roof, where an old couch was perched, a fake santa with a beer in his hand balanced haphazardly on it. The yard was already littered with loose cans and cups, though Stan had a suspicion that they were already there before the party.

“Is- is that a couch?” Eddie faked a wretch, eyes laid skeptically on the santa.

“I do believe it is.” Ben said with a laugh. He found the whole display quite clever.

“I'm having second thoughts.”

“Don't think.” Stan said, stealing a can of beer from the box clutched in Eddie’s arms. “Drink.” Stan opened it and took a swig.

“I hate when you're right.” Eddie griped, reaching into the box for another can as they climbed the steps to the door.

Ben grabbed the handle and pushed it open, revealing an entryway stuffed with discarded outerwear. Beyond the room there was a hallway already filled with people milling around, and openings on either side to continue on into the house. Eddie swallowed nervously.

Ben glanced down at his phone as it buzzed in his hands. A text from Beverly read: hey, im here, where are u?

“I'm gonna go find Bev and grab some real drinks, wanna come with?” Ben said to the boys.

“No way. I’m staying right here.” Eddie said nervously, holding the case close to his chest. “I don't wanna get lost in there.”

“Fine, I'll be right back.” Ben rolled his eyes and left into the swarm of the house. Stan made to follow him but was stopped by Eddie’s arm.

“Don't leave me here.” Eddie squeaked, giving Stan a pleading look.

Stan rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Eddie, I’m not gonna hang around in the doorway all night. Unlike you I came here to have fun.”

Eddie gulped. “Fine.” He said after a pause. “But I’m parking on the first couch we see.”

Stan smiled and dragged Eddie off to the right, the opposite of where Ben had gone.

______________________________________________________________

Richie Tozier was not having a good night. Sure the party had started out as planned; all the decorations had gone up the way they wanted them to, and everything was in its place. Booze was flowing, people were partying, and by all intents and purposes, accounts and definitions, they had the best holiday party on the block. But every bit of it was unsatisfying. They’d already prepared for Christmas, decked in every single bit of tinsel they could possibly get their grimy paws on. They were ready to start the first weekend of the holidays with a bang proclaiming to everyone in the community that they were there to play this year. A preliminary to their holiday bash, they took special care in setting up excitement for future drinking games. They had posters with the rules written on them hastily tacked up on the walls so people could read them, become familiar with them, and laugh egregiously at them before the destined date. But as Richie passed them walking through the house, red solo cup in hand, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit of disdain. What fun was a good drinking game if you didn’t have someone special to share it with? He knew he was being sappy; it was a ridiculous thought. But it was important to him to start really expanding his friend base. He’d been so close with Mike and Bill for so long, he’d forgotten what it was like to branch out beyond that. All of his other relationships were incredibly superficial. Almost anyone in his life was there because of a connection, or for business purposes. He found himself longing for companionship, for the first time in a long time, and it kind of freaked him out. He wasn’t looking for love, at least he thought he wasn’t, until earlier that day he’d gone out with Mike and Bill to grab supplies, and ran into the beautiful boy from across the way. It was frightening though, because he’d realized he’d put his foot in his mouth and overly flirted the first time he’d seen the boy. He did call Richie an asshole first, though.

Richie knew that his chances with the boy were probably slim. But he was supposed to be at the party, and maybe that was why Richie was feeling so listless. He’d seen nothing of Ben Hanscom, or curly haired Stan, or the beautiful brunette he’d been so excited to see tonight, and that was really the reason for the sinking pit in his stomach. He’d gotten his hopes up way too much that morning, out buying decorations and filling up the back of Mike’s truck with the boys. He’d been thinking all day about the look on Eddie’s face when he saw their tacky santa on the roof, or his particular favorite of the drinking games, one themed after Spider-man. He then realized he was unsure of what Eddie’s reaction would even be. How could he possibly gauge what the boy would say in response to their tacky christmas decorations? Eddie has been displeased with his terrible James Bond reference, and probably wouldn't enjoy the many allusions to Tom Holland’s voice cracks in the aforementioned game. But part of him hoped that Eddie secretly had a side to him that would enjoy these sillier things. He’d heard through the grapevine, aka Mike and Ben, that Eddie really had a fun side to him, especially when he was drunk, which was why Richie was so excited to see him at the party. He wanted to see that side of Eddie set loose. But how could he do that if Eddie wasn't there? These thoughts swirled around him as he sat on the couch in between Mike and Bill, who were chatting with some of their friends as they set up a game of beer pong for the night. Richie clutched his cup in his hand and rested his head on his chin, boredly gazing around the room, waiting for more people to walk in. Bill elbowed his side and spoke.

“W-Whats got you so down, T-Tozier? We worked so f-fucking hard on tonight, w-w-why are you not c-celebrating with the rest of u-us?”

“I don’t know Billiam, I guess I’m just in a bad mood.”

“A bad m-mood? It’s our e-e-end of the year party, you s-should be ecstatic, no more fucking ho-homework!”

“I know, I know, I'm really excited about that and I wanna party tonight but.. I was hoping the little germaphobe would show up.”

Bill laughed, looking to Mike for assistance, but he was deep in conversation with the boys setting up the table. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to Richie.

“O-Of course you are. But look, he s-said he said he w-w-was coming with Stan and Ben so j-just be patient and wait for him to show up. G-Get a few drinks in you, you’ll start feeling more excited about the whole thing.”

“Alright alright, I’ll loosen up.”

Richie stood, downing his drink in one go, preparing himself to cross over into the kitchen to grab more. But after he turned his gaze up from the empty cup in his hands, he saw none other than Eddie Kaspbrak himself walking into the living room from the entryway, Stan Uris and his curly hair by his side, a sixteen pack of beer under his right arm. One of the cans was clutched in his hand. Richie could practically see his white knuckle grip on the thing. Eddie was glancing around the room nervously, looking at the decorations, the people, the beer pong table; Stan was smiling abstractly and taking it all in, a beer in his hand as well, already open and much more loosely gripped.

Richie broke out into a grin. This was the time of night that he was really looking forward to.

______________________________________________________________

“Hey there handsome, finally decided to show up!” Bev’s singsong voice called to Ben as he walked into the kitchen.

“Hey there Bevie. Finally got Eddie to get out of that house, he’s been fussing forever.”

Bev laughed, passing a cup to Ben. It was clearly a drink she’d just poured for herself, but she offered it to him anyways. “Go figure, I thought he was gonna take all night to get the courage. But you did get him here?”

Ben took a small drink of the cup she’d just supplied. “In the flesh.” He let out with a laugh.

“Good, then let’s get him ready.” She went to pour another drink.

“He’s already got his beers for the night, I think he’ll be fine in a little while. But Stan’ll probably want something.” Ben supplied

“Sounds good to me.” Bev called over her shoulder as she began to mix Stan a drink, and then a follow up one for herself.

“So is this party everything I hoped it’d be? Ben said leaning against the counter where she worked, cup in hand, taking another small sip.

“Its shaping up to be,” She smiled. “I think they're holding back just a little bit because they wanna save us all the big shit for Christmas, but as far as end of term parties go, it’s the only one on the market and it sure as hell doesn’t suck.” She smiled, taking a large sip of the drink she just mixed for herself, grimacing a little bit as it went down.

“Any plans for the evening, or is it just a mixer?”

“Well I know somebody's setting up beer pong right now, and I think we might have a tournament going on, but other than that, I think just a quick few samples of the drinking games that are planned for the bashes coming up.”

“Yeah, I saw the posters.” Ben laughed

“Apparently the boys are trying to get the buzz around and tell people to prepare themselves for ones they have planned. I heard they're gonna do sort of uh.. Run up style parties, every other day over the break.”

“Holy shit, that’s ambitious.” Ben said after taking another drink.

Bev smirked behind her cup. “You're telling me.”

The two drank a little bit in awkward silence before Ben decided to speak up. “I'm gonna go take Stan his drink, okay?”

Bev gave him a strange look, before reaching down to interlock her fingers with his. “I'll come with you. We’re at this party together, right?”

He smiled to himself, a small blush on his cheeks. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

______________________________________________________________

Stan had never been one to understand Christmas traditions. The whole holiday was incredibly pointless to him. Being of a rather devout Jewish family, he’d always celebrated Hanukkah and followed their traditions, leaving Christmas to the crazies at the country club. But after working a couple years in retail and attending enough Christmas parties, he was aware enough of the holiday-esque things that many associated with the season. He knew about the tinsel, he knew about the lights, he knew about the trees, although none of it made any fucking sense, he knew about it. Just like anyone who grew up in anglo saxon America he could look at any Christmas item and think ah yes, that is in fact related to the holidays. What he couldn't fathom however was what a giant cardboard cutout of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a santa outfit had anything to do with Christmas (other than the red and white suit of course). Yet here it was, in the corner of the living room that he had just walked into, surrounded by its own strings of christmas lights, tinsel strewn around it and the floor in front of it, appearing as though it at just been thrown at the poster itself. He chuckled to himself a little bit; he had to admit the decorations were pretty hilarious, and anyone who was drunk of their ass and looking for a laugh at two in the morning would find them quite entertaining. But as far as a party went? This was what qualified for the best party in all of college town? Stan scoffed. He knew how to throw a fucking party. It wasn't just about getting drunk, though he had been prompting Eddie all day that it was. He knew better. Parties weren't just about drinking. Drinking was the cherry on top. Ambiance was what you had to go for. Put together decorations, that actually took effort, and looked nice when you were finished with them, incredibly clever and well thought out games, different activities for everybody to do while they were drunk, now that was how you threw a party. And this living room where half the patrons were milling around or sitting and waiting for the beer pong table to be set up, Stan knew this was not anywhere close to a satisfactory party. His own self sense of pride inflated him, and he took another drink of the beer before his eyes landed on Richie Tozier, and his two friends from earlier, who were gathered on the couch as the table was being set up.

Richie was staring at Stan and Eddie like they’d just brought the sun. A huge smile was painted across his face, the empty cup he was holding falling from his hand as he eyed them. Stan knew the smile wasn't for him; he could tell from their interaction earlier that day that Richie had become instantly infatuated with Eddie, something which he thought was endlessly hilarious; way funnier than the cardboard cut out of The Rock in the corner. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to gauge Eddie's reaction and was not disappointed. The poor boy looked like he’d short circuited. Clearly Eddie was planning on avoiding Richie as much as possible at the party, and the first person he ran into was none other than the boy himself. Stan laughed a little at the situation, until he noticed Richie's brooding friend emerging from the couch to come join them as well. He took a moment to size up the boy again to get a better grasp on him than what he had from their interaction earlier. He still thought the boy reminded him of a vampire. He was absurdly pale and seemed to look like he never got any sleep, probably from all the partying. Contrary to his appearance in the harsh light of day, under the soft multi color glow of the Christmas lights his face held a sort of gentle kindness to it. Stan found himself a little bit mesmerized taking in the sight. As the boy walked over to them, he could hear Eddie's faint stammering as his brain tried to catch up with his eyes, but he offered no assistance to the conversation, instead deciding to pretend like he was studying a poster on the walls over the shoulder of the boy who'd introduced himself as.. Will? He couldn't remember. Richie broke the silence first.

“There you are pretty boy, I was hoping you would show up!” He threw his arms out and made an awkward gesture, as if he was going to hug Eddie, and then seemingly remembered that the boy abhorred strangers touch. Eddie groaned and turned to Stan.

“You know what Stan, actually, I just remembered that I left the oven on, so I need to go home right now immediately.” Stan threw Eddie into a headlock.

“Fat chance, Kaspbrak, you’re in for the night.” The smaller of the two boys across from them laughed..

“Whatta good f-friend you are, Stan.”

Stan laughed a little bit to himself. “If Ben's gonna be running off all night with Beverly, I need my party buddy here too. So Eddie is not allowed to go home.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “Sorry Stan, but I'm gonna have to officially claim him as my party buddy. See, I threw this whole shindig here for Mr. Kaspbrak.” He cocked an elbow, resting a hand on his hip.

Eddie blanched. “You did what?”

Richie and Bill both laughed. “N-No you fucking d-didn't Tozier, don't be a shit.”

“You can't prove anything Billiam.” Richie said through his giggle. “Anyways Eddie, I'd really like to spend some quality time with you.” He wiggled an eyebrow.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I’d like to spend some quality time with your couch, which is where you will find me the remainder of the evening.” With that he pushed his way through the two boys in front of him, entire case of beer still in his hands, and sat down on the corner of the couch that Richie and Bill had just vacated. He sat with the whole case in his lap, it practically dwarfing him, and his single unopened beer can still in his hands. He took a moment to look down at it, almost ceremoniously, before cracking it open and drinking the whole thing in one fell swoop. Richie watched him in awe, jaw dropping slightly open.

“Holy shit.” he whispered to himself. Bill clapped him on the back.

“You pick em fine, Tozier.” He laughed before turning to Stan. “C’mon Uris, I'll t-take you to the kitchen a-and show you the lineup we’ve got for tonight.”

Stan cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, so I see all of the effort today went to the booze selection.”

Bill’s eyebrows shot up in response. “E-Excuse me? All o-o-of the effort?”

Stan laughed to himself. “Yeah, I mean it's not like you guys went hard on decorations or anything.”

Richie had already left them behind to go pester Eddie on the couch, leaving Bill without a paddle. He glared at Stan a little bit. “I-I’ll have you know it took us a-a good hour and a-a-a half to get s-santa on the roof, couch a-and everything.”

Stan snorted. “If you ask me it's an hour and a half you could've spent working a little bit harder on the inside of the house. But that's just my opinion.” He shrugged a shoulder and turned towards the kitchen, Bill following.

“Our decorations are lit, Uris. Y-You're just jealous cause you're n-not having a p-p-party at your frat.”

Stan laughed as the boy followed him. “Oh trust me, I am glad this is not happening at my house. The cleanup? Can you imagine?”

Bill crossed his arms as they reached the counter, Stan surveying it to find a drink.

“I can i-imagine, I clean up after every p-party we have here.”

“Well by the looks of the cups on the lawn you didn't do a very good job last time.”

Bill gasped slightly, offended. “T-Those were there when you g-got here cause the p-p-party already started!”

Stan laughed as he poured himself a rum and coke. “Yeah, and they were also there when we ran into you this morning outside. So, try again. Bill was, it?” He said over his cup, turning around to lean against the counter as he took a sip of his drink. Bill's face was flushed red, his competitive side clearly coming out, uninhibited by his usual social graces as he was already a good few drinks in.

“Is that a challenge, Uris?”

Stan shrugged again. “I wouldn't know.”

Bill frowned, taking a moment to think over the statement. It was a little bit too advanced for his drunk brain to handle.

“Stan, there you are!” Ben said, rounding a corner from the other way into the kitchen. “We were just looking for you, Bev made you a drink.”

“Oh sweet, thanks, I’ll have it after I finish this one.” Stan said genially, turning to Ben and Bev who had just entered the room.

“Bill, hey, what's up?” Bev called to the other boy, who was still standing with his face red and his arms crossed.

“Hi Bev.” He muttered, perturbed.

“Not having a good time at your own party?” Bev tried, jokingly, but clearly Bill wasn't in the mood. He just continued staring at Stan, who was busy filling Ben in on what had just went down with Eddie and Richie. Ben was laughing, Bev was watching him laugh, Stan was laughing, Bill was watching him laugh, and the whole thing was too much for Denbrough. He took a second to pour himself a drink before exiting the room.

______________________________________________________________

After about two minutes of being met with nothing but short one word answers to all of his questions, Richie grew a little bit bored of pestering Eddie. He knew he needed another drink, and Eddie had swatted his hand away when he tried to steal one of the beers. So he decided to give it a moment and go get another margarita. Sighing to himself, he went into the kitchen, which was thankfully empty. He poured himself something strong. He downed the whole thing, and then poured another. This he would sip on the couch with Eddie, hopefully at some point having some kind of real conversation. He couldn't figure out quite why it was that Eddie so desperately disliked him. But he had a feeling that the negative behavior was mostly coming from the fact that Eddie didn't look look like a party boy. He seemed to be thoroughly not enjoying himself, the sweaty bodies and spilled drinks all around him, the general messiness of Richie's house (which he could admit was worse than he would have liked). All of it was probably too much for a guy who wouldn't even wanna shake hands with someone. He figured that the more beers Eddie got down, (who seemed to be drinking them out of sheer nervousness, with no thought for how many he'd gone through already) that he would be more loose and willing to at least initiate conversation. Richie knew somewhere deep in the back of his mind that he was definitely looking for a hookup. He hadn't had a good fuck in months, and Eddie was beautiful. But he also knew that unless physical contact was initiated but the other boy he wouldn't even try with it. What he really wanted to break tonight was their barrier just as people. He wanted to at least get them onto a friend basis so he could continue to see the boy and talk to him. But this wouldn't happen if Eddie completely refused to carry a conversation. So his goal was clear; get Eddie drunk and get him to talk. With this in mind he went back into the living room. Eddie meanwhile had sat on the couch, praying and begging that Richie would get dragged off by someone who wanted to play some stupid drinking game with him. He started in on his third beer, silently hoping to himself that Richie would just leave him alone. Mike Hanlon was still in the room, beer pong game finally set up, and was currently refereeing for the two boys who were facing off. Eddie watched him absentmindedly in between drinks. Mike seemed like a nice enough guy; he had Ben’s approval and really didn't act too much like he was hot shit. Eddie could see having a good relationship with him, friendship wise, of course. But he didn't really know where else they'd run into each other rather than party scenes. Perhaps they could invite the other three frat boys over to their friendsgiving. The fleeting thought surprised Eddie; he wasn't usually one to try and reach out to new people. He’d had too many instances of getting scorned by someone who turned out to be just looking for a quick hookup or totally uninterested in any kind of friendship relationship. He was content with the friends that he had, and he knew that if he made any more it would be because they came into their friend group, not vise versa. Although he had a sneaking suspicion, and fear, that that was what was occurring as the minutes grew on. He knew for a fact that Ben was enjoying himself, and he knew Stan was gonna have a great night, which only meant one thing. His friends were getting sucked in, and they were going to very much continue going to the dumb Omega Nu parties, which meant Eddie would be constantly dragged along with them. He sighed, finishing off his can. It was gonna be a long night for sure. Just as he was sitting and steeping in his despondence, Richie came back over to him.

“Didn’t miss me too much, didya Eddie?” Richie joked as he settled in next to him, a little too close for Eddie’s taste but at this point he was really getting tired of trying to push the boy away.

“Not even a little bit.” He griped, cracking open his fourth can.

Richie laughed at him. “Jesus Eds, planning on drinking that whole thing yourself tonight?”

Eddie gave him a side-eyed look. Did this fucker just give me a nickname? A really shitty one at that?

“My name isn’t fucking Eds.”

“I'll take that as a yes.” Richie laughed to himself. He took a moment to take a drink out of his cup as well. Eddie pondered for a bit about what was in it, but decided it was better not to know. He was just fine with beer and he didn’t wanna fuck with anything stronger. Richie suddenly seemed to loosen up a little bit, but not in a way of relaxation, but rather kind of the opposite. It was like he was untightening the reigns that he had on his casual appearance.

“.. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I’m really not as big of an asshole as I’m coming across.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Really. I’m having a difficult time believing that.”

“I’m serious! If you’d just take some time to get to know me, I’m sure you’d actually start to like me.” He smirked.

Eddie blanched a little bit at his forwardness. Unsure of what to say, he just closed his mouth and let Richie continue speaking.

“Unless you’d rather sit here by yourself moping around all night, while all your friends are off having fun.”

Eddie looked between the boy with the glasses and the beer can in his hand, taking a moment to mull over his decisions.

“Well, suit yourself then.” Richie got up as if to leave.

He supplied his thoughts with another wash of beer.

“You know what? Fine.”

Eddie knew one thing; he wasn’t fucking drunk enough for this.

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The porch light was still flickering, Bev noticed. She’d been here about two months ago for a party and came outside for a smoke and realized that their back porch light was probably in the process of going out. Every once in awhile it would flicker, signaling that it was running low on energy. She stared at it now absentmindedly as she quickly smoked her cigarette, trying to get it out of the way for the evening. She knew she could survive on one, especially if she was drinking, but it had been a few hours since her last one and she was getting a little antsy. Ben and Stan kindly agreed to go outside with her, though stood a little ways apart and upwind. The three of them carried on small talk well enough; she felt comfortable with the two boys and a little buzz going. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Stan kept making cracks about the decor, Ben continuing to make jokes with him about Eddie's experiences inside, and all three of them were having a great time discussing a terrible professor they shared their freshman year. It was shaping up to be a great evening, and Bev was truly enjoying herself.

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authors notes: the drinking game mentioned? take a shot every time tom’s voice cracks in spiderman homecoming. try it. i dare u.

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