Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

June 17, 1993

"Bev" Bill tapped them on the shoulder once, they turned around with wide eyes to face him.

"Yes?" They questioned, he made eye contact. Bill never made eye contact, but it was oddly endearing. "I w-wanted to ask if y-you could p-p-paint my nails"

Bev was taken a bit off guard, as this was the first time Bill asked something like this, but obviously they weren't going to deny him. "Yeah sure! What color do you want?" They asked as they made their way from their desk to their dresser. It was Bill's turn to be taken off guard, he didn't expect them to accept his request.

"I-I hadn't really thought to- to much about it..." Bill could see Bev nodded even though their face was turned away looking at the dresser drawer. "I think you'd look good with a dark green, y'think?" Bev asked as they looked back, Bill hesitantly nodded.

And just like that Bev went to work on his nails, they offhandedly mentioned that he should stop biting his nails so much and he mumbled something along to lines of "b-bad habit"

"I always noticed how you looked at me and Stan's nails, like you wanted to but didn't know how to ask" Bev said, Bill went a dark pink, the other simply smiled.

When Bev was done, they held Bill's hands for a few minutes before kissing him. The boy closed his eyes and moved towards the other slightly. When Bev pulled away, Bill was out of breath, quickly realizing they were too.

"That was amazing" Bev smiled at him, still holding his hand. He greatly appreciated the hand-holding, he didn't want to lose the pressure on his hand. Bev seemed to understand what he was thinking, because they didn't let go until Bill had to go home that night.

Chapter Text

June 30, 1993

"Guyssss!" Richie called out as he entered the clubhouse, immediately noticing that Stan was the only other person there. "Hey Rich" Stan greeted him.

"What's up Staniel!" Richie yelled as he moved to sit by the other on the hammock.

Stan wasn't paying much mind to Richie as they turned the pages in their book, it was a simple picture book about Bluejays.

?
"Leave if you're just here to bother me" Stan stated simply. Richie's smile faded a bit.

"Sorry bout it Stan, but you had a full blown meltdown earlier at Bev's place, didn't wanna leave you alone" Richie shrugged, Stan didn't say anything.

Richie wasn't lying, when they were at Bev's, Stan failed to mention that the light was too bright, the blankets were scratching his skin, their talking was grinding against his eardrums, and the smell of the candle wax was about to make him scream. Causing a very ugly meltdown in front of everyone, definitely not Stan's proudest moment.

"Sorry.. Ab-about the meltdown" Stan mumbled, Richie's eyes widened. "Why're you apologizing? I mean, yeah, you could've told us, but it's not your fault for getting overwhelmed" He moved a strand of hair out of Stan's face, only for it to fall right back to where he moved it from. "It was childish, Rich, I had it under control" Stan flipped a page in their book.

"Gorgeous, you can't always deal with everything by yourself"

"I can and I was dealing with it."

Richie sighed, "You're feeling better now, though?" he asked, Stan nodded.

"Just- I need some kind of pressure" Stan moved to sit in criss-cross position.

"I can hug you from behind- or we could hold hands- I'm okay with anything, really" The boy smiled brightly. Stan closed their book, "Can we just hug normally? You could rap your legs around my back-" Stan fiddled with their hands. "Course, gorgeous"

They spent the next hour just like that, Stan ended up falling asleep at some point, but Richie didn't move in fear that it would wake him.