*The terms "f*g" and "h*mo" are used once each in this story*
edit (Jan, 2022): lemme be clear i am gay LMAO
Stan and Bill were best friends. They were always at each others houses, they were always helping each other out. And god damn were they so stereotypically and almost sickeningly pastel.
Although many people in Derry, Maine were boring, plain, dull and utterly delusional, Bill and Stan still barely blended in with the crowd. But the only people that really liked to pay attention to them other than their friends, self-titled "The Losers Club", were Henry Bowers and his gang.
Henry, Belch, Victor and Patrick were your classic bullies. Taunting, teasing, annoying and at times injuring the two and their friends. One day, Bill and Stanley had had enough.
"Stan, I-I don't know how much more of th-this I can take," Bill said. "They've been after us for as long as we can rememb-ber.. and now look. They're starting to g-go to far."
Bill sat beside Stan on a bench by the quarry. They go there often with their friends.
Stan looked down at his pink converse, covered in dirt from just running from the bullies earlier that day, then at his light blue and pink sweater, dropped with blood (mixed with a little glitter he had on his face) that seeped from a small cut on his cheek.
"I know," Stan sighed, "But last time we tried to stand up to them they beat the shit out of us and then our friends. That can't happen aga-"
"Aye fags. We interrupting anything?" Henry said with a smirk as he caught up to Stan and Bill. Who had thought they had escaped the taller and definitely stronger boys.
"Henry, please, can't we just cut the crap?" Stan said.
Bill nodded, "Yeah we both have better things to do than deal with each other."
Henry laughed gave Patrick a sinister look. He went over to Bill and grabbed him by his light purple tee shirt. Patrick wiped Bills cheek harshly, smearing the glitter on his cheek all over his face.
"Ugh, what the fuck." He wiped his hand on his shirt and shook his head, turning his focus back to Bill.
"Cmon! Don't hurt him!" Stan cried.
"Standing up to your boyfriend, softie?" Patrick taunted and shook Bill by his shirt collar.
"Leave him alone!" Victor stopped Stan from trying to get to Patrick by punching him in the stomach.
"Aw f-f-fuck." Bill said.
"You two, disgust me. You're both just too easy. Softies. Little homos." Henry smiled evilly at his friends.
Patrick kept shaking Bill and kicking him. Victor punched Stan repeatedly. While Henry watched in amusement and Belch helped keep Stan in Victors arms. Stan was never often a fighter. But it was possible to find the strength for his friends. Bill, to him, at least, seemed to be more. Not just a friend.
"Fight, softie. Fight for your boyfriend!" Henry yelled.
The word boyfriend dragged out in Stan's ears and rang. Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Boyfriend... Over and over again. For a moment, just a single moment while he imagined being with Bill, he wasn't in pain...
Before the boys knew it, Henry and his gang got bored and left the two there, injured. It was quiet for a few minutes.
"Y-you froze." Bill stated.
"I'm... I'm sorry. If I fought harder maybe I could've saved us both. I don't know..."
The two stayed lying on the ground close to each other.
"Why?" Bill asked.
"Who wouldn't want to fight for a friend?" Stan said like Bill should know this.
"No, I-I mean, why did you freeze?"
Boyfriend.
"Well," Stan started. Boyfriend. "I just," Boyfriend. "Henry was just saying some things like-"
"Like calling me y-y-your boyfriend?" Stan didn't reply for a minute or two.
"H-h-hey. Hey s-softie?" Bill said jokingly.
"Yes, softie?" Stan smiled slightly.
"W-what do you think of the idea? B-b-b-boyfriends?"
"Well, you know. It doesn't seem horrible..." Stan answered. Getting redder by the second. The two turned their heads so that their faces were close.
"D-do you think that you'd be willing to check that?" Bill managed to get out. With his stutter that he presumed to be annoying. Although Stan found it adorable.
"Honestly? Yes. Yes I would." Stan laughed. But then groaned in pain because of his stomach still hurting.
What Stan didn't expect was Bills lips connecting with his. Bill pulled away and Stan was in shock. But he still liked the kiss, and smiled.
"Softie." Bill said playfully mocking Stan's goofy and loving smile.
And for another moment, for both pastel boys, they felt happy. Maybe even in love. For a moment, a split second, all their pain, sadness, anger, sorrow, had melted away.
