#stansbooty

Richie took in the scene around him. The leaves blowing across the grass, his friends bundled up in coats, the Halloween decorations surrounding them, the rickety old sign reading “Derry Fall Festival”. His eyes lingered for more than a few seconds on Eddie, who had never been a fan of the cold, and his unnecessarily thick scarf, giant coat, and adorable beanie plopped on his head. His face was flushed from the weather, giving him a red nose. October in Maine was never kind to them, bringing the freezing temperatures before Halloween even arrived.

“I don’t know about you guys, but that rope swing over there is calling my name.” Richie interrupted whatever conversation his friends were having in favor of pointing over to rope strung up by some giant hay bales.

“You mean the one with the children surrounding it?” Mike asked.

“Hell yeah, I’m bigger than them, I’ll push them out of the way.” Richie responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “So, who’s gonna join me?”

“Me, duh.” Beverly made her way over to him, lightly shoving his shoulder. “I’ll race ya.”

A giant grin made its way onto Richie’s face. “You’re on.”

The two of them ran across the field, dodging all of the other guests with ridiculous spins and jumps. At one point, Richie nearly ran into a woman holding her baby, allowing Bev to race passed him with a dramatic battle cry. 

“Ben,” Stan began as the rest of them walked over to the swing. “Tell me again how someone as chaotic as Bev managed to snag you?”

A flush appeared on Ben’s face that had nothing to do with the cold. He shrugged. “Love is weird, I guess.”

Eddie looped his arm around Ben’s and smiled. “I think it’s sweet.”

“Of course, you do.” Bill rolled his eyes with a laugh.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Eddie’s tone changing instantaneously to snap defensively. 

Mike snorted. “It’s just that you find…chaos attractive.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie stopped in his tracks, pulling Ben to a stop as well. “I do not.”

“It’s nothing, Eddie.” He smiled brightly. “Forget it.”

Eddie glowered at him, scrunching up his face in annoyance. “Fine.”

Ben smiled brightly at him. “Don’t worry about it, they’re just joking.”

“Yeah, I know.” Eddie replied quietly, although he had sensed there was truth behind all of their words.

The five of them continued down to the rope swing, finding a spot to sit on top of a hay bale facing their two friends. Beverly and Richie took turns swinging from one side of the hay to the other, their swinging becoming increasingly more sporadic as they went, causing some of the children to leave in order to prevent getting knocked in the head.

Richie waved widely at Eddie when he noticed them sitting down. “Eds! Come on over!”

Eddie shook his head. “I’m good over here, dipshit!”

The grin on Richie’s face didn’t falter with Eddie’s words. “Suit yourself!”

“I’m joining them.” Bill got up suddenly, after Richie had made a hard fall onto the hay.

“Betraying us sane people?” Stan joked.

“You know that none of us are even a bit sane.” Bill laughed and ran off, yanking the rope from Richie’s hands.

The others watched with a fondness that only came from truly loving their friends with all their heart and soul, despite the absolute chaos, or “idiotic shit” as it was put by Eddie once, that they tended to get into. The key, they’d come to realize, is to stop getting embarrassed by Richie and Beverly, the ones who often started the chaos in the first place.

“I think we should do the corn maze.” Richie ran over after running away from a mother who seemed to think three teenagers had no business on a rope swing.

Stan’s head perked up. “That actually sounds like fun.”

“You sound shocked that I could have a good idea, Staniel.”

“But wait,” Bev said as her and Bill joined them. “We thought it would be a good idea to do the hard part. And, like, make it a race. See who can finish first?”

“Me being able to beat you guys at something while also being able to witness you getting unbelievably lost? I’m very much interested.” Stan stood up, looking at everyone expectantly.

“You know I’m directionally challenged.” Ben laughed. “I could get lost in my own neighborhood.”

“Which is why you’ll be sticking with me.” Bev got up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “But all you other fuckers are on your own, every man for himself.”

The man at the front of the corn maze had told them that the hard portion could take anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple hours, all depending on how badly a person got lost. An hour and a half later, six of the seven friends stood at the exit, Bill the most recent to get out.

“At what point do you think we should worry about Eddie?” Mike asked.

“Bill just got back, I wouldn’t worry too much.” Stan shrugged. 

“Bill got back 20 minutes ago.” Ben pointed out.

“Well, Eddie’s smart.” Stan replied.

“What? Did you murder him, Stan?” Richie attempted to jump up above the corn stalks to see into the maze, trying to get a glimpse of Eddie, but to no avail.

“Who’s gonna go run back in there? It took us an hour to get out, imagine trying to look for someone.” Stan pointed out and most of them made noises of agreements.

“I’m the one who finished first, in 45 minutes if you haven’t forgotten.” Richie replied and inched towards the entrance.

“Richie, you’ll get lost. And then we’ll have to call a search team for two people.” Mike said, taking Stan’s side.

“Betrayal, Mike, true betrayal.” Richie clutched at his heart. “But no one can stop me.” 

Richie turned on his heels and ran into the maze, ignoring the sounds of protest coming from his friends behind him.

If he was being honest with himself, Richie didn’t know if he would run back into the corn for anyone other than Eddie. Seeing how long it would take for one of his friends to get out, or even having to call a search team of festival employees seemed like a great opportunity for entertainment. But, as always, Richie found himself unable to control himself when it came to Eddie. Bev would tell him it was because of his “cute little cruuuuush” (as she so eloquently put it), to which Richie couldn’t really deny it, but Eddie was also his best friend and he knew he would probably begin to get a little panicked if he was stuck in the corn when the sun began to go down.

Therefore, Richie ran full speed through the corn, not really taking into account with turns he was taking or which direction he was going (he figured if he found his way out once, he could do it again without a second thought).

Eddie considered himself pretty smart. But nearly two hours after entering the damned corn maze, going around in circles like a maniac, and then seeing Richie Tozier running towards him, he was beginning to think he was losing brain cells by the minute.

“Spaghetti! I’m here to rescue you!” Richie outstretched his arms to wrap Eddie up in a hug.

“Fuck that nickname, Rich.” Eddie pushed the other boy off of him. “Are you lost, too?”

Richie scoffed. “Oh no, we all made our way out. I came back in to rescue you.”

“Are you serious?”

“That everyone got out? Yeah.” Richie then smiled triumphantly. “I got out in 45.”

Eddie let out a noise of disbelief. “No.”

“Yes. Who’s the smart bitch now?”

“Oh, fuck off, it’s confusing in here.” Eddie shoved him lightly and with a smile gracing his lips, but Richie made a show out of losing his balance.

“Hey, be nice to me or I’ll abandon you in here.”

Eddie sighed and gestured in front of him. “Alright, lead the way.”

Richie began leading them around the corn, taking turn after turn, nearly making Eddie dizzy at the speed he took them at. He knew that all the cornstalks looked the same, but after what seemed like several minutes, he felt as if he was beginning to recognize some of the stalks.

“You do know how to get out of here, right?” Eddie looked up at him.

Richie made a noise in his throat. “Uh, definitely.”

Eddie looked at him with wide eyes. “Are we fucking lost?”

“No!” Richie protested and then shrugged. “Maybe!” 

“You told me you got out of here!” 

“I did! I…I just forgot?” 

Eddie looked up towards the sky and let out a loud groan. “We’re gonna die in here.”

“Lighten up, we’ll find our way out.”

“No, we’re gonna die.”

“Well in that case,” Richie slung an arm over Eddie’s shoulder, bringing him close. He leaned down to whisper in Eddie’s ear. “We might as well have some fun.”

“Shut up.” Eddie nudged Richie with his shoulder. “No one wants to do anything with your disgusting ass.”

“That’s not what your mom said last night when we were fucking in this corn field.” Richie made a crude gesture with his fingers to go along with his words.

“Richie!” Eddie screeched and shoved the other boy, harder than he did earlier, who lost his balance from the sheer force of his rage and fell back into the cornstalks.

“Fuck!” Richie yelled as he was engulfed by the plants, his body disappearing so only his feet stuck out onto the pathway.

Eddie giggled and kicked one of Richie’s feet softly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m dead, Eds.” Richie replied dramatically, swinging his feet around. “I’m one with the corn now. A child of the corn, if you will.”

“Oh, shut up. You need help getting up?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I live here, this is my home!” 

Eddie scoffed. “Richie.”

“Fine, c’mere.” He stuck a hand out in front of him, his fingers barely making it out of the corn.

Eddie stepped forward, putting a leg on each side of Richie’s to brace himself. Leaning forward, he could vaguely make out Richie’s face amongst the stalks. He grabbed the outstretched hand, preparing to pull him up from the ground. Suddenly, he was instead pulled forward into the corn.

“Shit!” He screamed and fell harshly onto Richie’s body.

“Glad you could join me in the corn, Eds.” Richie grinned.

“You’re so fucking annoying.” Eddie shoved his chest, trying to get up. “Don’t call me that, help me get up.”

“Never.” Richie instead placed his hand on Eddie’s hips, pulling him hard down against his own body.

“Richie.” Eddie gasped and looked at him with wide eyes, suddenly aware of how much of their bodies were touching.

“What?”

Eddie swallowed hard. “Stop.”

“Stop what?” Richie grinned and rolled their bodies further into the corn, Eddie could feel the corn closing around them, and they were completely engulfed, the pathway no longer visible.

Eddie’s back hit the ground and he let out a brief “oof” as Richie landed on top of him as well.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re just rolling around in the corn, havin’ some fun.” Richie had gone down on his elbows, caging Eddie in.

Eddie took a sharp intake of breath as the other boy moved them, successfully putting all his body weight on Eddie, situated between his legs, to prevent him from getting up at all.

“Richie.” Eddie suddenly felt suffocated. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just messing around.” Richie must have sensed the seriousness in Eddie’s voice because his words came out softer than they had been all day. 

“I -” Eddie tried to find words to say as he noticed how close they were, how they were breathing in each other’s breaths, and their bodies were flush against each other, how Richie was perfectly slotted between his legs in a way that caused Eddie to feel hot all over. “You’re always just messing around.”

“What?”

“Everything is a joke to you.”

Richie scrunched up his face in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“All these jokes, all the touching, you’re fucking on top of me, Richie, for god’s sake.” Eddie tried to squirm away, instead accidently bucking his hips up against Richie’s.

Richie let out sharp breath that sounded suspiciously like a moan and Eddie’s face tingled with heat despite the cold. “Don’t do that.” Richie said lowly.

“Let me up then.” He squirmed again.

“I swear to god, Eddie, stop.” 

Eddie flailed his legs, trying to get up, but Richie had several inches on him and a bit of weight, making it a lost cause. 

“Stop.” Richie growled and Eddie looked up to see Richie’s eyes had darkened, his pupils blown. “You’re not.”

“I’m not what?”

“A joke to me.”

“Rich…”

Richie took in Eddie’s face, the red of his cheeks, the wideness of his eyes, the way his lips were slightly parted as he whispered. Their bodies were still pressed against each other and maybe Richie didn’t think this whole thing completely through, but he wasn’t exactly known for thinking things through.

“Rich.” Eddie repeated.

This time, Richie let himself look directly at his lips, the way his tongue swiped out to wet them, a sheen left behind. 

When asked about it later, neither of the two boys could accurately recall which one of them had moved in first. The only thing they knew is that suddenly their lips were pressed together and Eddie’s hands were in Richie’s hair, and his legs were crossed behind his back, bringing their bodies even closer than they ever thought they’d ever be, and their hearts were thumping widely loud inside their chests.

The corn poked their bodies uncomfortably, but they couldn’t be bothered to care, too caught up in each other to notice anything else. One particular movement from Richie’s hips caused Eddie to gasp, his mouth opening to allow the opportunity to deepen the kiss, their tongues rolling against each other. Eddie felt himself begin to sweat underneath his coat and scarf.

Their mouths separated to allow them to catch their breaths, Richie pressing kisses to the side of Eddie’s jaw, not being able to get any lower due to the thick scarf. He settled for pressing kisses everywhere on Eddie’s face, going from his jaw to his ear to his nose to his forehead. Eddie let out a sigh of content with each press of Richie’s lips.

“Eddie fucking Kaspbrak, you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this.” Richie said, his voice slightly raspy, and leaned his forehead against Eddie’s.

“It’s not a joke?” Eddie whispered.

“Never.” Richie replied.

Eddie smiled. “I’ve wanted this for a long time, too.”

Their matching grins made kissing hard for the next minute. It was nothing more than pressing their mouths together, neither of them wanting to be apart for any longer. Their lips eventually relaxed again, slotting together as if they had been doing it their whole lives.

“Richie! Eddie!” 

Voices boomed through the field and the boys had no choice but to separate, suddenly noticing the setting sun around them.

“Shit.” Richie muttered.

“Guys?” They could recognize Bev’s voice close to them.

“We’re right here!” Eddie yelled back.

“Where?”

“Uh…in the corn!” Richie responded. A light flashed in Richie’s face. “Fuck, Marsh, point that somewhere else.”

Bev spread the corn apart with her arms, looking into the dense plants. “Why the hell are you in there?”

“We fell?”

She looked at them with a glint in her eyes and smiled. “Sure.”

The two boys scrambled to get up, groaning as they occasionally kneed or elbowed one another, until they fell out in the maze pathway.

“We had to tell the employees and get a map, so I hope you’re embarrassed.” Bev crossed her arms and tsked.

“I guess my rescue mission was a fail.” Richie shrugged.

She took in their flushed faces and swollen lips, as well as Richie’s tousled hair. “I don’t think fail would be the word I would use.”

“Oh!” Richie wrapped an arm around Eddie and pulled him into his chest. Eddie pushed his head into the boy’s torso, hiding his face in embarrassment. “I did catch a nice Spaghetti.”

“Richie, shut up!”

“You have to be nice to me now, Eds, it’s law.”