casual : stozier

FIFTEEN

"good morning lovely," richie murmured, knowing stanley was awake from the way he shuffled around in the bed. 

stanley turned around, still taking in the fact that richie was there with him, and they had cuddled all night. 

because richie was his boyfriend now. his real boyfriend.

it felt good. stan was overthinking it all, of course, he always did. but one thing richie had said to him last night stopped him from focusing on it too much. 

"take a breath, stanny. yesterday, i spent a lot of time thinking it over. i want you and i have for a while, i just never knew how to express it. and i want you. just you. no one else. i picked you for a reason, stupid. i'm not going anywhere. i know you might think i'm lying, but trust me: i'm not. i love you, staniel. sorry, the nickname was an accident. i panicked about saying it aloud."

it was going to be alright.

"i can't believe you like me."

"what's not to like, stan?"

stanley sighed contently. richie pressed a soft kiss to stanley's lips. they laughed softly when they backed away, stan murmuring "hi" as if they had just met.

all stan could think about was richie's hands on his hips and back. it felt mesmerizing. 

"do we tell them we fake dated and we're finally together? or do we keep up the act?" stan joked softly. richie chuckled.

"that's a secret to tell at the wedding."

and stanley smiled brighter than he ever had as he buried his head in richie's chest.

"i'm glad we don't have class today." stan sighed in relief, his voice buried by richie's t-shirt. richie exhaled, his chest sinking in and stanley sinking with it.

"me too. although bev did mention to me she'd be stopping by to get some cigs, so, i'm just warning you." richie's voice was so soft that stanley thought he might melt like a piece of chocolate in a bain-marie. 

"mmhm," he mumbled back, and richie blushed a little, knowing the cutest boy in the entire world was his. 

the two fell back asleep together, stanley first followed by richie.

the next time they woke up was approximately two hours later, when beverly knocked (and then opened the door without permission) on their door. 

"come in," richie commented, as though beverly wasn't already in the room.

"hey lovebirds, i see you made up from whatever was going on yesterday, not my business! " 

stanley shook his head softly.

"i'm just here to grab ~cigarettes~" she sang, taking them out richie's bag like she had many times. she spent a last second looking at the two of them.

"you guys really are very cute. i should've known, goddamnit! i could've sworn that i even had a theory about stanley liking richie in the seventh grade. if only audra were here to corroborate it. that harvard bitch." 

"i'm sure you did, bev, i wasn't very subtle, he's just dumb." stanley reached a hand up from where he was buried to put on the side of richie's neck gently. richie laughed quietly.

"okay, i'll leave you two alone, have fun. not that much fun," she mumbled, laughing at herself as she closed the door.

"did you have a crush on me then?" richie tucked a strand of hair behind stanley's ear.

"absolutely."

richie took stan's hand and kissed it.

"so this has been long term pining then, huh?" 

"shut up." 

"real happy we're finally," richie put on a goofy voice, "going steady? "

stanley blinked in disbelief. "yeah." and despite everything stan couldn't help thinking about (like how this one was really gonna hurt), he was comfortable in richie's arms, so he relaxed as richie scrolled through twitter, one hand in stan's hair.