the kissing bridge [reddie+stenbrough]

33

While Stan was sleeping, Bill had moved from the hammock to the floor. Stan wakes up and sees Bill sitting next to Mike. They didn't realize that Stan had woken up.

"So, do you guys want to hang out at my
house later?," Richie asks.

"I'm not sure if I can.," Mike answers.

"I-I'll come over, R-R-Richie.," Bill answers.

"Bill, is it cool if I ask Stan, too?"

Stan was confused. Why wouldn't it be cool? He and Bill were still friends.

"Y-Yeah, it'll be f-f-fine.," Bill tells Richie.

Eddie glances over at Stan and sees him looking at Richie. Stan looks at Eddie and mouth, "What are they talking about?"

"Hey, Stan!," Eddie waves at Stan, "How was your nap?"

Richie and Mike look at Stan, and Bill looks down at his lap.

"Hey, Stan, want to come over later?," Richie smiles at Stan.

"Yeah.," Stan says before looking at Bill, "Bill, are you mad at me?"

Bill shakes his head.

"Okay.," Stan says. He didn't believe him, but he didn't want to annoy him.

Stan stands up from the hammock and stretches before sitting down across from Bill.

The fact that they both liked each other and both agreed not to pursue a relationship was a little weird for Stan.

Maybe they could try again. This time, they'll be more careful. They could make it work.

Stan reaches for Bill's hand, but Bill pulls his hand away.

"I have to go, guys. I'll see you tomorrow.," Mike stands up and leaves the clubhouse.

"Bill, are you sure you're not mad?," Stan asks Bill, who was avoiding eye contact with Stan.

Bill wasn't mad at Stan. He was just sad that the relationship didn't work out. He didn't want Stan to know he was upset about it because he didn't want his feelings for Stan to get in the way of their friendship.

Bill nods, "Yeah, I-I'm okay."

Stan looks at Richie and Eddie. Richie was messing with Eddie to make him laugh and blush. He loved that Richie and Eddie were together, and he wished he hadn't said anything to Bill.

He didn't realize how much he wanted to be with Bill, but he could tell Bill was trying to get over him.

///

hey! this is a shorter chapter i think but thank you guys so much for 8k reads! <3 i may or may not start another story soon but i'm still trying to come up with a way to execute it so if anyone wants to help me with that i'd appreciate if u could dm me and i'll mention u when it's published but i'm kind of excited about this idea :))) i'll keep updating this one of course but i also wanna try something different but yeah that's it lol (also speaking of other stories i decided to unpublish magnetic lmao)