now or never [reddie au]

19

Stan wakes up laying in Richie's living room floor, his head throbbing. He picks up his phone and looks at the time. It was 1 p.m., and he had missed work. "Shit!," He groans before texting his boss to tell her that he missed work because he got kicked out, not because he was hungover.

Richie and Eddie are also sleeping on the floor with little to no space between them. Meanwhile, Beverly is snoring on the couch. Stan sits up and looks around, the mess of beer bottles gone. "Good morning, Stanley!," Maggie calls from the kitchen, "How are you?"

"I'm alright.," Stan answers, his mouth dry.

"Did you have too much to drink last night?," she asks him.

"Oh, uh... yeah.," Stan answers honestly, his cheeks flushing, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, hun.," Maggie smiles, "Do you need anything?"

"Maybe some water, but I can get it.," he tells her as he stands up and stretches. He joins Maggie in the kitchen and gets a glass out of the cabinet.

"Thanks for letting me stay here.," Stan tells Maggie. "No problem.," she replies, "Do you like it better here than at your dad's house?"

"To be honest, yeah.," Stan answers as he fills his glass with tap water.

"I mean, no offense to your dad, but I just don't see why he'd kick you out. If he would've done it before you turned eighteen, I would've adopted you in a heartbeat."

Stan smiles before he takes a sip of his water. Maggie continues, "I hope he's not as bad as Sonia Kaspbrak. That poor kid is lucky she lets him hang out with Richie."

"I know.," Stan agrees, "I feel bad for Eddie."

"You know," Maggie's voice softens, "Richie would walk home from school just to walk with Eddie and he'd come home and tell me all about it. I don't know why he's dating that Bowers boy."

"They broke up, actually.," Stan tells her, "But yeah. I have no clue where that came from."

"Oh, finally! I did not like him, and I've never told Richie that so you better not say a word."

"Okay.," Stan laughs and takes another drink of his water.

Richie wakes up soon after Stan and Maggie's conversation. He realizes how close he's laying to Eddie and recalls the previous night.

"Wait, what?," Eddie asks, taken aback by Richie's question. He asked it so suddenly. He was also under the influence of alcohol, so he wasn't exactly sure if he meant it.

"Prom!," Richie tells him, "I want you to be my date!"

"Are... Are you serious?"

"What? You don't want to-"

"I do want to! I promise I do. I just didn't think you'd ask. Plus, you're drunk."

"Oh.," Richie smiles, "So that's a yes?"

"Yeah.," Eddie groans, "I don't feel very good, though."

Richie raises an eyebrow, then his eyes widen as Eddie gets up and rushes to the bathroom. Richie gets up and follows him, but Eddie slams the door. "Don't come in!," Eddie tells him, followed by gagging noises. "Are you okay?," Richie asks, "Did I say something?"

"No, I'm fine. I just drank too much.," Eddie answers as soon as he's done.

Richie smiles as he remembers he finally had the balls to ask Eddie to prom- kind of. They were both under the influence, but at least he did it. Now, it was Stan's turn.

Richie stands up, feeling lightheaded. "Fuck.," he groans as he stretches. "Good morning, even though t's almost 2 p.m.," Maggie tells Richie.

"Morning.," Richie tells her as he walks into the kitchen. He grabs a box of Lucky Charms and begins eating the cereal straight out of the box as he sits down at the table with Maggie and Stanley. "Well, Stan the man," Richie looks at Stan, "I did it. Now, you have to."

"What?," Stan asks, confused.

"I asked Eds to prom, so you have to ask Bill."

Stan remembers their deal, then remembers that Richie asked Eddie last night. His heart starts racing. "Right now?," he asks, "It's early."

"I just said it's almost 2 p.m., Stanley.," Maggie tells him. Stan sighs and looks at Richie, "What do you want me to do, go to his house and tell him?"

"You can just call him.," Richie says, "The worst he can do is say no."

"That's easy for you to say.," Stan says, "You already know that he likes you! I don't know that, and I don't want to embarrass myself if he doesn't."

"We're all gonna be at prom anyways. You might as well go for it. You can just say that you meant as friends if it backfires."

"I guess.," Stan sighs as he dials Bill's phone number.

Bill, who had been in his room all day, sees Stan is calling him. He picks up, "H-Hey, Stan."

"Um, hey, Bill.," Stan says in a nervous voice, "Can I... ask you something?"

"O-Of course.," Bill tells him, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, no, I'm good. I was just wondering, uh... if you were still looking for a prom date, because... I wanted to go with you?"

"Oh. Um... D-D-Do you mean, like... like a 'date' date?"

"Yeah, you know... Unless you don't want to-"

Bill says through a smile, "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Really?," Stan asks, also smiling, "Okay, that's all I wanted to call you for."

"Okay, b-bye.," Bill says.

"Bye!," Stan tells Bill before hanging up.

That phone call made Bill's day. In the moment, he didn't care how anyone else would feel or what anyone else would think about the two of them being together at prom. It's a month away, and Bill wishes he could just go to sleep and wake up that day.

"Was that so bad, Stan the man?," Richie asks the boy next to him, who was blushing uncontrollably. "I didn't think he'd say yes.," Stan tells Richie through a big smile that Richie had never seen from Stan before.

"And you did it sober!," Richie tells him, "I'm proud of you."

Stan hadn't heard anyone tell him that before. It made him a little emotional, but he didn't want to cry right now.

"Did what?," Beverly, who was standing behind Richie and Stan, asks. No one realized that she had waken up.

"Good morning, Beverly!," Maggie tells her, "Stanley asked Bill to prom."

"Richie made me do it, but he said yes!," Stan tells Beverly.

"Nice, Stan!," Beverly smiles at him as she sits down next to him.

"Thanks.," Stan smiles back. The love and support coming from his friends- and Richie's mom- made him feel better than he ever had before. He was on cloud nine and he didn't want the feeling to end.