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one.
Stan and Richie had been best friends since second grade. They were the original losers club, if you will. A shy Jewish boy and a hyperactive kid with glasses. Like a match made in heaven.
For some reason, Stan’s parents adored Richie. He had this false, sweetheart persona he showed them, and they fell for it.
Not that Richie wasn’t a good person; they just wouldn’t appreciate his cursing or dick jokes very much, so he lost about half of his vocabulary around them.
But hey, it got them to be allowed to have sleepovers almost every weekend, so it was worth it.
“Hey, Rich?”
Richie looked away from the TV and turned to face Stan. “What’s up?”
“Have you…” he trailed off, looking embarrassed. “Have you ever kissed anyone?
Shocked to see Stan so flustered, it took Richie a moment to register the question. “Oh, totally. Don’t you see all the ladies falling at my feet? Who would I be to deny them a piece of this?” he replied, grinning.
Despite himself, Stan chuckled. “I’m serious, Richie.”
“Okay, fine. No, I’ve never kissed anyone. Why?”
Stan shrugged. “I was just...curious. That’s all.”
“Why? Have you?” he asked. Stan had never asked him a question like that before. They weren’t like other guys their age who seemed to have nothing but sex on their minds. They talked about music and movies and nerdy stuff. So, Richie wasn’t sure where this had come from.
Stan shook his head.
“Well...do you want to?”
“What?”
“Kiss somebody?”
“Oh…” Stan bit his lip. “Maybe?”
“Anyone I know?” Richie asked, a playful smile creeping onto his face as he nudged Stan’s ribs with his elbow.
“Beep beep, Richie.”
“Oh, so I was right!”
Stan shot him a look, the one he always used when Richie was joking at an inappropriate time, and he shut up immediately.
“Hey, I’m just teasing you. You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want,” he said seriously.
Stan nodded, and silence fell til he broke it again, his voice soft.
“Would you...think any less of me if,” he started, then stopped. Then he started again. “If I wanted to kiss a boy?”
Richie looked at him curiously. Then he laughed, though he immediately regretted it. “Sorry! I’m not laughing cause- I just, you scared me! I thought you were gonna tell me you’re a fucking furry or something! Of course I don’t think any less of you,” he said, putting a hand on Stan’s shoulder.
Stan couldn’t help but laugh too. Richie sensed it was partially out of relief.
“How do you know though?” Richie asked.
Stan shrugged. “I just...I like girls too, I think. But I think about boys the same way I think about girls.
Richie understood that feeling all too well.
“Well, maybe you should...test the theory?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like...try kissing a guy. See if you like it,” Richie suggested with a nonchalant shrug, hoping he wasn’t blushing.
Stan snorted. “Like who?”
Richie looked up him, and shrugged again. “Me?”
And Stan looked at him, and without another word leaned in and softly kissed him. Neither of them were sure what to do, but it would have to do.
They pulled away, and stared at each other for a moment, before both bursting into laughter.
“I don’t think we did that right,” Richie said.
Stan shook his head, still laughing.
Talk about a great first kiss story.
***
two.
Bill made the best hot chocolate.
Richie was unbelievably grateful for that fact.
A rough day lead to him showing up on Bill’s porch, near tears. Between Bowers and his gang, then going home to his parents, Richie felt less than worthless.
Bill had wasted no time in pulling the smaller boy into his arms for a hug, dragging him inside, and commencing ‘Plan Cheer Up Richie’.
Said plan consisted of the aforementioned hot chocolate, cheesy horror movies, and a fluffy blanket thrown over their laps on the couch.
Richie felt better already, a soft smile forming contently on his face as Bill played with his hair.
“Have I ever told you that you’re the best?” he asked softly, head resting on Bill’s shoulder.
“You may have m..mentioned it once or twuh-twice,” Bill replied, smiling.
“Well, I need to remind you. You’re the best.”
“I t..try.”
And then, Richie turned his head and pressed his lips to Bill’s cheek gently, and he watched in amusement as his friend’s cheeks flushed red.
They wound up falling asleep on the couch midway through the movie, curled up beside each other. Neither of them minded.
***
three.
They were by the Quarry at night, smoking some of the weed that Bev managed to score. They’d all squished into Bill’s crappy used car and driven out there, sitting on the grass as Bev tried to teach them to do smoke tricks that they all miserably failed at and laughed about for far too long.
“Truth or d..dare, Stan the Man?”
“Truth,” Stan replied, as they all expected.
Bill hummed, trying to think of something to ask him, before his eyes lit up and a smirk curled on his lips. “W..when did you know you had a crush on me?”
Stan went slightly pink. “Fifth grade.”
“R..really?”
Stan nodded, and Bill wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Oh, either get a room or keep the game going, Stan,” Richie said, pretending to gag at his friend’s displays of affection.
“Alright. Truth or dare, Trashmouth?”
“Dare,” Richie replied immediately, putting his shoulders back confidently.
Stan furrowed his brows, thinking hard. Then, he giggled. “I dare you to...kiss Mike,” he said before starting to giggle again.
Mike, who had seemingly been lost in thought, looked up at the sound of his name. Richie was grinning at him, and he leaned over, cupping Mike’s cheek in his hand, before they both started giggling too. All of them were laughing now, a mixture of the pot and the childishness of the situation and the stupid wink Richie kept giving Mike causing them to lose it.
When they finally calmed down, Mike was the one who initiated, getting it over with before they all started laughing again.
Mike’s lips were surprisingly soft; he was a good kisser, Richie thought.
They pulled away as quickly as they’d leaned in.
And then they all laughed again.
***
four.
“The fuck happened to you, Haystack?”
Ben’s cheek was bloody, his eye swollen. God, was this kid ever not bruised like a poorly handed bag of peaches?
Richie’s hand reached out tentatively, gently touching his cheek.
“Bowers,” was all Ben had to say.
Though he wasn’t the medically educated one in the group, he was the one to see Ben like this, so it was on his shoulders to help him. Or at least, that’s how he felt.
He brought Ben back to his house; his parents were out, not that they would have noticed the whole ordeal anyway. He had him sit on the couch as he frantically searched for a bag of something frozen to put on Ben’s eye.
Maybe it would have been smarter to call Eddie, or bring Ben home to his mom, but part of him wanted to do this himself. To prove he was useful, or some shit like that. Plus, he knew Eddie would only fret and scare Ben with mentions of diseases that he could contract, and Ben’s mom would have a fit if she saw him like this.
“Thank you, Richie,” Ben said softly.
“Anytime, man,” Richie said. “Though I hope this isn’t gonna happen that often.”
Ben gave him a small smile at that, as if to say, ‘I sure hope not’.
Richie wasn’t sure why he did it; him and Ben weren’t incredibly close or anything, but he loved him just the same. He leaned over, his lips pecking the other boy’s bruised cheek, gentle and sweet.
Color rose in Ben’s face, but he was grinning.
***
five.
Deep breath. Just say it.
“I think I like guys. Well, a guy. But if I like one guy, that means I like guys,” Richie said. It came out rushed, and he felt an odd sense of relief to get it off his chest. “Or does it? I don’t know. I mean-”
“Richie!”
“What?”
Bev gave him a soft, understanding smile. She had a way to make you melt with a look, and Richie shut up instantly, feeling slightly calmer already. She was wise, gave kickass advice, and would never tell another soul any secret he told her.
If he wasn’t (possibly?) gay, he might have been in love with her.
“First of all, you know that I would never judge you for that,” she started seriously. “Second of all, honestly, it’s about time you realized. You weren’t very subtle catching glances at a certain person, you know.”
That made him blush. “Shut u-”
“Third of all, have you ever kissed a guy?”
Richie nodded. She didn’t ask who, which he was grateful for.
“Have you kissed a girl?”
He shook his head.
“Well, not saying you need experience to know for sure, but...You can kiss me, if you want.”
She said it so calmly, matter-of-factly, like it was just that simple, like it was a normal Saturday afternoon. His cheeks went even redder, though he hadn’t thought it possible.
“What?! Bev, I’m not- ugh, that’s...I mean-”
She laughed. “It doesn’t have to be weird. You’ve kissed Mike, haven’t you? Why am I any different?”
She had a point. Maybe it was the lack of drugs in his system that was telling him it was weird. But she did have a point.
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
But Richie didn’t move, and she rolled her eyes, leaning forward and pressing her lips against his momentarily. She tasted like strawberries. He pulled away, lips tingling.
“So?”
“Yeah, no, I’m definitely gay.”
And they both burst out laughing.
Once they’d calmed down, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “So, are you gonna tell this certain someone about your certain feelings for him?”
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be; I’ve seen the way you look at him, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you too.”
That gave him a bit of hope.
and the one time it meant more.
There was no beating around it.
Despite never shutting up, Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier was at a total loss for words.
He was in love with his best friend.
Despite having literally made out with the other losers, Richie had seemed to avoid touching Eddie like Eddie avoided touching public handrails. He’d never even really noticed it until recently.
He hoped Eddie hadn’t noticed it. He didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss him and hug him and touch him. It was that he wanted to so badly that he couldn’t bring himself to do it for fear of getting hurt, getting rejected.
That was what scared him the most as he stood before the shorter boy, trying to spit the words out to no avail. He sounded like Bill, sputtering, stuck on a syllable.
Eddie was looking at him curiously, but patiently.
Oh, fuck it.
Richie seized him by the collar of his jacket and kissed him, harder and more passionately than he ever had kissed anyone before.
Eddie kissed back. He was expecting him to pull back, scream, run away, or something. Instead, he stood on his toes to better kiss him back, hands resting on his waist.
Richie felt like he was flying.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Richie whispered breathlessly when they pulled apart.
“It’s about fucking time,” Eddie replied, just as breathless and flustered, but he was grinning.
About time indeed, as the rest of the losers would agree when they told them about their little revelation. Richie swore he saw Ben hand Mike five bucks, but chose not to comment on it.
Richie’s love for kisses and hugs only grew as he realized how much PDA embarrassed his boyfriend.