OUCH!➳reddie

o n e

richie never meant to fall in love.

he never meant to trip and fall over the shy's boy leg, crashing down on the hard ground but it didn't hurt. it felt like he was drifting in the air, able to touch the clouds as his stomach filled with butterflies. he didn't mean to crash down, unable to catch himself, not that he wanted to or stop his head from spinning with pure adoration for the soft boy with brown hues and freckles.

it started in english, richie scribbled on his desk, much to his teacher's pleads not to and didn't even hear the door open. there was a voice, probably the principal's but he payed little to no attention. there were footsteps and greetings before everything went back to normal.

or so he thought. but his world would never be normal again.

"alright!" the teacher, mrs. irwin, clasped her aging hands together to gather everyone's attention from their ongoing conversations. "pull out your homework from last night, please."

of course richie hadn't done it, he just copied off one of his many friends in the class before the bell had rung. the answers were probably all wrong but just having it finished was most of the mark anyways.

he chewed loudly on his gum, conversing with his friends about the upcoming football game since he was the quarterback. richie was pretty popular, he thought. he was handsome; big brown eyes and curly hair that girls seemed to adore. he ditched his coke-bottle glasses for contacts and changed his fashion style. he secretly missed his old floral button-ups that were never buttoned up but it didn't matter anymore.

"h-homework, please," richie barley acknowledged the soft voice, a whisper in the wind. unknown to the fact that it would soon become his favourite sound.

pulling his homework out from his bag, he cut his pointer finger on the edge of the paper. "ouch! ah, fuck." he shook his hand with a small hiss of pain.

the boy took richie's much bigger hand in his own soft one and that's when richie fell hard. he looked up and was met with the biggest, vulnerable, brown eyes, reminding him of an adorable puppy framed with long eyelashes. the boy face was covered in freckle constellations that richie would enthusiastically stargaze for hours. he was pulchritudinous. richie's eyes stayed trained in pure awe on the boy's face as he reached into a fanny pack that rested on his waist.

his friends snickered teasingly causing the boy to blush but richie simply ignored them. richie's mouth parted slightly as he nervously licked his lips as the beautiful boy grabbed a band-aid from his pack. he tore off the package, crumpling it up into a ball.

the boy placed the band-aid on his tiny wound with a soft smile that revealed deep dimples that richie could drown in. without another word, the boy collected his homework as richie sat dumbly, star struck with a permanent blush coated with thick pink paint. he watched the boy leave to give all the homework to the teacher before returning to his seat in the back.

richie ignored his friends for the rest of the class, fake stretching to glance behind him to see the soft boy focusing intensely on the lesson, nose scrunching up in confusion at some parts before scribbling down notes.

the boy had finally shut richie 'trashmouth' tozier up.

***

"why so quiet?" richie snapped out of his daze to the gaze of his closest friends. stanley, bill, beverly, ben, and mike. beverly was the one to ask the question. richie flushed, taking a bite of his tuna sandwich that he usually despised but today loved. "nothing."

stanley snorted, rolling his eyes and nudging the brunette, "nothing shuts richie tozier up. what happened?"

richie fiddled with the band-aid from earlier, a little smile spreading across his face as he practically relived the moment. how perfect he looked in the lighting. how radiant his smile was. like the sun peeking out of the clouds on a grey day. "this...person in english class."

"ooh," mike whistled lowly, leaning his head on his arm that rested on the cafeteria table. beverly squealed softly, copying his action to listen closer. "who's the lucky lady?"

in this moment, richie realized that he had a crush on a guy, not a girl. his throat ran dry and his hands started to sweat nervously. his crush was a dude. he thought of himself being straight. however, no girl, nor guy in that matter, had ever made him like this. floating and lightheaded. silly with delight and wearing a lovesick smile. drowning in waves of pure adoration, crashing onto the sand.

he swallowed loudly, brown eyes darting nervously to his friends. "well," he started softly. "she has brown hair and freckles," with a loving smile, richie became more confident. "she has stunning brown eyes, so big and i felt like i was drowning in her smile and she made my stomach flip. it was suffocating but in a good way. like...the whole world stopped and it was just us." richie realized he was rambling and averted his gaze sheepishly. "s-she had a nice ass."

beverly 'awh'd loudly, reaching over and pinching richie's cheeks. "wow, who k-knew richie was s-so poetic," bill teased with a laugh.

richie scoffed, rolling his eyes and batting beverly's hand away from his face. "yeah, yeah, trashmouth has feelings."

"so, can we get a name?" ben asked softly, looking up from his book. ben had gained much more confidence since he lost all the weight and joined the football team and meeting beverly but he was still shy. richie shook his head rapidly. "no, no, no," he sighed softly. "i don't even know her name. we only had one conversation, and she did all the talking."

"still c-cute," bill said, giving richie a supportive smile. "e-every girl in the s-school wants you."

"not every," beverly interjected.

"that's not what you were saying last nig- ow!" richie pouted, rubbing the sore spot on his head where both ben and beverly hit him. stan sighed, rolling his eyes.

however, richie couldn't help but feel slightly more confident in himself. he would just need to find a way to talk to the quiet boy in his english. tomorrow he would talk to him. with that in mind, he sat up a little straighter; hope in his heart and love in his eyes.