casual : stozier

SEVEN

a/n: i fixed the awkward part. enjoy this instead.

richie shuffled back and forth in his bed. stanley laughed quietly at it.

"wake up, dummy, your class is in 10 minutes."

"10 minutes?! fuck! "

richie jumped out of bed, grabbing a shirt off of a bag on the floor and pulling it over his chest. stanley found it funny to watch richie panic so much over a class. either way, richie was out in a hurry, and stanley watched him leave, thankful he did not have to go to that specific class. 

a minute or two later, stanley was still reading.

a knock sounded at the door and stanley said aloud,

"come in."

soon enough, eddie opened the door slowly, peeking his head in.

"oh, hi eddie, richie's in class right now,"

"i know." 

"oh, alright, what's up?"

eddie entered the room, slowly and cautiously sitting down.

"can... can i ask you questions about like, dating?" 

"yeah, for sure" stanley swallowed his doubt, concerned that he would somehow answer incorrectly.

"a-and before you think that, like, i'm only asking you about this because you're dating richie, i'm not, i just--fuck. i'm not getting this out right. give me a moment." eddie took a breath in. "if i'm honest, mike is asking me to ask you some questions about dating. he's scared to ask you. so this has nothing to do with the fact that i asked out your boyfriend. sorry about that, by the way."

stanley laughed lightheartedly, "it's alright, eddie."

"so, like... well i guess first: do you love richie? " 

"uh..." what the fuck was he supposed to say to this? "i mean, it's been a such short time but... yeah. y-yeah i mean... i dunno, yeah."

"oh. alright."

there was a moment of silence between them, eddie thinking hard about it.

"so... how do you know that you're in love with him? " eddie asked.

stanley hated this moment. he hated this moment so much, in fact, because he had never wanted to say this out loud. he wanted to keep all these thoughts in the notes app on his phone. 

either way, an answer that bordered on true bubbled in stan's throat.

"well that's blunt, um... i guess i knew just cause... i couldn't stop thinking about him. you know? i thought it might be because he's my best friend, but it, it was more than that. he is my best friend, but i knew i loved him i guess 'cause i loved all the stupid little things he did, how couldn't i love him, you know? i figured there was no way that i wasn't falling in love with him, because i was absolutely falling in love with his insignificant little actions. i guess i was right. like, i love the dumb way he fiddles in the passenger seat by opening and closing the glove compartment when i'm driving, though it's probably not the greatest thing for him to do. and the fact he learned how i organized my bathroom drawers so he could do the same at his house so i'd feel more at home. i guess that's not really an answer to your question. i couldn't tell you, really. i just know that i am. i also found that i wanted to kiss him a whole lot, so that kinda aided. sorry to mike if that's not very helpful"

"no, it's alright. that was sweet."

thinking back on it, with two seconds worth of hindsight, that's probably the most vulnerable stan had ever been. 

the door swung open and richie clamoured back in.

"i left my laptop! " richie said breathlessly. he paused for a moment by the door. "you guys starting a richie tozier fan club? " 

stanley shut the door on richie with his foot, hearing him laugh loudly as he ran back to his class.