"when i'm around slow dancing in the dark,

don't follow me, you'll end up in my arms."

- slow dancing in the dark by joji

★ 彡 was beautiful, something bill had never seen before, considering the furthest he'd ever travelled was his move from indiana to maine. he couldn't stop looking out the school bus window, and didn't stop until the bus went down into a parking garage below what he imagined was the hotel they would stay in.

he practically begged his mom to let him go, and it took a whole two weeks of convincing for her to finally say yes, although he had to pay her back in the future, which he was fine with. he would find a job somewhere, which would be challenging since he didn't speak, but he wasn't to worried at the moment.

bill looked down at his phone to see "6:38" planted on the screen, and sighed in relief that they arrived, an 8 hour drive was enough to make bill motion sick. he looked to his left and found mike and beverly both sleeping, their heads both rocking back and forth with the bus.

his phone dinged.

: how's the bus ride going? and can we talk later...?

he didn't respond. he couldn't. it was so confusing. stan kissed him, bill kissed stan, they went on a date, they said they loved each other, then stan made it clear after he wanted to be friends by not letting him hold his hand or kiss him, and then today he was all flirty? but all because he wanted bill to talk? bill was confused, and until he got to the bottom about what they were, bill didn't want to suffer any longer. it made sense in his head at least, but he would have to ask mike for advice later.

the bus stopped harshly, making both beverly and mike swing forward and hit their heads on the seat in front of theirs. "ouch." beverly said angrily, rubbing her forehead. bill laughed at the two of them, and bev immediately smiled, loving to hear his laugh.

"can you guys shut up? some people are trying to listen to the teacher." snobby myra winters scoffed, standing up in the seat in front of the three losers, staring down at them with confidence. beverly rolled her eyes, while bill just scooted further down in his seat and towards the window more trying to ignore the conversation.

"you're blocking my view," beverly answered, and myra rolled her eyes, sitting back down. mike gave bev a fist bump as everyone on the bus started to stand up and get off.

"i can't believe i have to room with that bitch. why can't i room with carol? she's so much better." beverly sighed, and mike nodded in agreement. they all stood up and grabbed their bags. bill caught a glimpse of stan getting off of the other bus next to them and wanted to turn away but ended up staring as stan grabbed his luggage and used his other hand to hold his phone tightly. bill noticed him staring at the screen for an extended period of time, maybe hoping bill would answer his text from before. bill felt guilty when he grabbed his luggage and got off the bus after bev and mike.

"bill!" bill heard my his being called as he walked out of the lobby of the hotel and towards room 112. he turned to his side to see eddie kaspbrak holding two suitcases and a backpack, way too much for him to be carrying on his own. bill had only brought a small backpack for the weekend trip. bill smiled at him as they continued walking, ignoring a new text message he had received on his phone.

"my mom made me pack so much stuff! i didn't know you needed to bring 4 bottles of sunscreen to new york city, where it's literally below freezing weather!" eddie grunted, and bill looked his way in agreement.

"oh, eddie, eddie, eddie," richie chuckled, emerging from behind them, wearing his white hawaiian shirt and sunglasses placing on top of his black curls, perfect for new york weather. "you don't want to get skin cancer," richie added, mimicking mrs. kaspbrak's controlling tone. eddie rolled his eyes, shaking his head a bit as bill looked for the correct room.

"oh rich, we have connecting rooms!" eddie exclaimed, looking at richie's key in his hand. richie smiled brightly and grabbed one of eddie's bags for him, seeing that eddie was struggling to even care one of the obnoxiously large duffel bags.

"we are definitely ordering pizza tonight, i'll tell the rest of the losers." richie replied, texting the group chat with one hand.

"uh, don't tell me we're gonna have another night of shitty, greasy pizza and a stupid, pointless game of truth or dare. or spin the fucking bottle," eddie groaning and bill had to agree, nodding to richie, who just smiled as he sat down eddie's bag by their hotel door.

"drop that negative attitude cutie! it's authentic new york pizza!" richie tozier exclaimed as he walked away, giving them a small bow and managed to trip over his feet in the process.

bill couldn't help but notice eddie's cheeks heat up and the way he biting his lip to stop him from smiling as they entered their room.

not long after they had settled in, and eddie had neatly organized all of his luggage and items into drawers, taken off the covers of his bed and replaced them with new ones, and even put out his 4 bottles of sunscreens on the night side table, in case he "needed it".

bill sat on his bed, playing on his phone when eddie finally finished putting his stuff away hours later, with only a few interruptions from richie who wouldn't stop facetiming him, until eddie just had to power off his phone.

"uh finally you're here bitches!" richie yelled, immediately shushed by eddie as bill and eddie both walked into bev's hotel room. bill looked around the room, richie laying on the floor with mike, eating his "authentic new york pizza" which was lifted above richie's head and he fed it slowly in his mouth. bev and ben sat on the bed, playing battleship, and stan walked out of the bathroom, catching a glance at bill, a slightly hurt expression on his face.

bill felt guilty.

"so, what're we doing?" eddie asked, sitting down next to richie, and bill sat down next to eddie. eddie grabbed a slice of greasy pizza and neatly pressed it against a napkin, getting some of the moisture off before feeding it to richie like an emperor being fed grapes.

"well you see, eds—,"

"don't call me eds."

"—i was just planning on you feeding me pizza all night," richie answered, making eddie giggle. bill turned away from them and looked up at the bed, seeing stan sitting on his phone, playing some video game. bill assumed it was candy crush, it was his favorite game.

"we should escape and see the city," mike suggested, murmuring his words with half a slice of pepperoni pizza in his mouth.

to bill it looked like beverly was going to reply, but they also paused when myra winters walked into the hotel room. bill wasn't quite sure why they weren't expecting her to come in at some point, but they had probably forgotten beverly and myra were sharing a room.

"hey y'all," myra said in her fake, preppy voice. she strutted over to her suitcase and pulled out her perfume, at the same time beverly closing the pizza boxes and crossing her arms at myra. stan got off his phone to watch the scene, not trusting beverly to stay calm with myra, considering how protective she was of her friends.

richie sat up and moved in front of eddie, while eddie just rolled his eyes at his friends. "hi myra," eddie replied, getting an annoyed look from both richie and beverly. even bill was confused how eddie would even speak to her after she had controlled and manipulated by their past relationship.

"oh my god! you guys have pizza? you guys know the staff said no food in the rooms, right?" she exclaimed, smacking her gum loudly, cursing bill's ears.

"if you haven't noticed we don't really give a fuck," beverly huffed in return, in which myra just rolled her eyes. eddie shifted uncomfortably to a criss cross his legs.

"hey eddie bear," myra said, and bill could clearly see richie's face was bright red and fuming. "wanna check out the city? it'll definitely be better than sitting in a rundown hotel room with frick and frack all night," she started, looking to and from richie and beverly.

"and look at the gross, peeling wallpaper. pretty disgusting. same goes with that cheap corner store pizza, i really hope you didn't touch that." she snickered, and eddie just continued biting his nails anxiously, until he finally decided to stand up.

"sure, myra," he said, looking ashamed as he walked up to myra winters, who was smirking at richie tozier.

"eds, what the fuck-" richie said angrily, standing up as well, but it came out as more like a sad cry. bill was guessing this was more than a walk around the city to him, this meant that eddie was willing to bring myra back into his life. this meant war to richie tozier, who would do anything to protect his friends.

especially eddie kaspbrak.

eddie didn't bother to look back at the astonished group, he just slipped on his coat and his gloves and followed myra out of the hotel room, grabbing his shoes on the way.

richie turned around and sat slowly on one of the beds next to ben, who looked at him with pity.

"i cannot believe he just left with the devil's spawn." beverly huffed, dragging the last piece of pizza in her mouth.

"anyone up for tv?" mike suggested, attempting to lighten the mood. everyone nodded, and despite mike's effort, the whole mood of the night would be off. especially for bill because seconds later stan stood up and walked over to him, holding out his hand for bill to take, who was sitting on the ground.

"can we talk?" he simply asked, but bill knew this anything but one-sided conversation would not be simple. bill took in his brown eyes that were almost glowing with the golden hour city covering his face. he took in his curls, slapping onto his head that had most likely not been brushed since days before, but stanley has made them work perfectly. he took in his simple outfit, a plain white shirt and blue jeans.

he took in his hand, which he could tell was aching for bill to take it, his soft hand that bill wanted to grab more than ever.

+++

bill took it.

ty for all the lovely comments on the last chapter!! i've decided to continue to write this, but i will change one thing— i'm making beverly bisexual instead of lesbian (i've also noted this last chapter btw). please comment and vote, it helps a lot and i love you all! also i saw it2 and I DIED!! it was so fucking amazing. ok bye!! ~penny