timing : stozier

17

february 14/15

it had been a month. they were back at school, after what may have been the roughest start of the new year. stanley and richie biked to school together again, and bill with eddie.

it was extremely uncomfortable at first, but they learned. bev told ben and mike before school started that bill and stan had had a rough breakup. at school, they all hung out together, and it was still fun, but there was an uncomfortable undertone.

bill and stan stayed as far away from each other as possible, to make it less awkward for the rest of them. bill was hesitant around richie, and he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt when richie talked with stanley (which was quite a lot, now), but he held it in. richie could sense bill's hesitance, but he seemed to tolerate him. richie assumed eddie had told bill about richie's end of it. that was good, he supposed.

eddie and richie were still bickering best friends, keeping the energy of the group going. beverly, richie and eddie got along great as usual. beverly seemed to have a bit of a grudge against stan for breaking bill's heart, but she didn't know enough to dislike him. beverly couldn't figure out why bill seemed to be so uncomfortable around richie, but she didn't question it. mike and ben stayed in the middle, not taking either side, knowing nothing about why they broke up . not that anybody was really on stan's side. except maybe richie. it was complicated.

eddie had very obviously taken bill's side. stan was still his friend, they'd known each other a long time, but he stayed by bill's side, talked to bill, hung out with bill. stanley assumed eddie hated him, not that he blamed eddie. eddie and bill became even closer. 

mike and ben weren't exactly in a relationship. they knew they probably liked each other, but neither of them had really said anything. they were just especially close. sometimes whenever things got tense between bill and stan, ben would intertwine his fingers with mike and mike would start a new conversation. it was just little things like that. 

maybe the weirdest duo, however, was stanley and richie. they were... best friends? they got along well and it was like nothing had ever changed. which was weird, because everything had changed. eddie was a bit mad at richie for that. to let himself get used and then go back to stan. but richie was both too in love with stan to see it, and he knew that stan hadn't meant to use him.

and he hadn't. stan had apologized profusely to richie many times, and richie had accepted his apologies many times. they didn't dare show each other any physical affection (god, did they miss it), in public because of bill, and in private because of what it might have meant. richie was just happy to have his best friend back. 

"here's an idea: the three of us hang out for valentine's day. we go out for dinner, we dress up and everything. stunt on the hoes." beverly said, her legs outstretched on bill's bedroom floor. it was very common now for beverly, bill, and eddie to hang out together. valentine's day was coming up, and it was a bit uncomfortable for bill. 

"puh-puh-please!" bill sighed, scratching his head. eddie nodded from his seat in a chair at bill's desk.

"good. you two better show up fitted or else i will kill you. i will buy a dress for this occasion. it's basically a birthday celebration, too." beverly said, speaking of her own birthday. february 13th. nobody had talked about it to her, which didn't really bother her. well, almost nobody.

tristan had, and he wanted to hang out with her for her birthday. they hadn't hung out since that one day, only texting. as much as she liked him platonically, she didn't want him thinking they were dates, so she would have an excuse every time he asked. but now she felt bad. it was her birthday and he just wanted to do something nice for her.