𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 ✓

one ❀

april 26th.

the day stanley uris died was hard on everybody.

every one of the losers had shown up to his funeral, planned by richie, even though none of them had kept in touch since they were thirteen.

some people had kept in touch though.

all of the losers congratulated bill and eddie when they said they were dating. richie was happy for them, sure, but all he wanted was to be able to simply look at stanley one more time.

richie had a crush on stanley. he had never said anything, because it was too weird.

richie wasn't supposed to like stan. he wasn't gay. they had been friends for as long as they could remember.

how could he just say, "oh, stan, by the way, i'm in love with you." out of nowhere?

stan would have been disgusted, richie knew. so he kept quiet.

but now, he wishes he had just told him when he could.

—

richie woke up in a cold sweat, dreaming that stan had died. this crush was getting ridiculously out of hand. he felt tears on his face. seriously out of hand.

he got up and put his glasses on, walking aimlessly throughout his house.

richie and stanley were roommates. they decided they would be, to cut expenses, until they could support themselves alone.

"stan? staniel? stan the man? the jew with a plan?"

richie looked around the whole house. he couldn't find stanley. he looked in his bedroom and everything.

now he began to worry.

as he was about to text stan, he realized that the date said: wednesday, april 26.

what the fuck?

in richie's dream, april 26 was the day stan had died.

but it was just a coincidence, it must be.

it's just another dream.

he probably fell asleep after waking up.

so he continued to text stan, multiple texts, each one word from the same sentence. richie is one of those texters.

"STANIEL! IF YOU'RE MESSING WITH ME, IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

no answer.

richie sighed and looked out the window to the driveway. stan's car was still there.

he must be at home, hiding.

where would stan go without his car?

—

richie sat at the dinner table, eating dinner alone.

he had made himself a (not very good) lasagna.

stanley was usually the chef. the food was always great, but richie was no chef. he was quite the opposite.

he tried to eat, but he couldn't. not while knowing stan was missing.

"maybe he went to bill's." richie thought out loud.

he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and instantly whipped it out, his face full of relief before he saw the message. he knew who it was from. it had to be from stan.

but it wasn't. it was from eddie.

"hey rich. so sorry to hear about stan. i hope you're doing okay. me and bill send love 💛"

his face dropped. what the heck did he mean, "so sorry to hear about stan." and also, him and bill send love?

in richie's dream, eddie and bill had announced that they were dating.

a coincidence. stan was fine, at another friend's house. eddie and bill were not dating, but bill was simply with eddie when he had sent the text and his phone wouldn't work. eddie has heard wrong, or had wanted to play a very mean prank on richie.

it was all so easy for richie to come up with.

—