"come on!" richie yelled from the ice, and bill sat awkwardly on the bench next to the rink, attempting to put on his skates.

he knew perfectly well how to, but he needed an extra minute to regain himself. his only thought was, what were they now? boyfriends? friends with benefits?

it made bill sick to his stomach thinking about it, and he quickly finished putting on his skates, his breath quickening as he entered the rink.

he could see stan, ben, and mike talking at the other side of the rink, eddie and richie together, and bev alone, not too far away from him.

he took a chance, skating over to her easily. she turned her head to look at him. "hey billy," she said, watching him skate, holding the wall. "how are you so good?" she snorted, and bill held out his hand for her, hoping she would take it.

she did, giving him a small thanks, and skating cautiously with her hand in his. "when did you learn to skate?" she asked, but immediately took it back after remembering he was mute. "sorry,"

he lifted up four fingers for her to see, and she nodded.

"fourth grade." she answered for herself, and he nodded in return. he wanted to tell her how he learned with his two best friends, elle and max taught him, both of them holding his hands, and he kept on telling them how he was going to fall, but he never did.

he could see stan in the corner of his eye staring at him, and stan couldn't help but feel jealously.

"hey lovebirds!" richie yelled at the two of them, and bill immediately let go off bev's hand, nodding no at richie.

"calm down, he was joking." eddie added, and bill nodded, but it didn't seem like richie was joking at all.

ben skated over to bev, taking her hand and the two skated away from the rest of the group, bill feeling guilty, not wanting ben to be mad at him, he was only trying to be a nice friend.

he took a glance at stan, who was looking at the group awkwardly, and bill made his way over to stan, wanting to tell him he was gay, and he didn't like girls, and that stan wouldn't have to worry.

"what?" stan asked bill, and bill shrugged, having nothing to say. stan turned around to skate away, but bill grabbed stan's shoulder.

"get off of me!" stan said, too loudly for bill's liking, and bill took the burst of confidence he got inside of him.

he kissed stan, just like in his bedroom, but this time in public, the rest of the losers gaping at the two boys.

"woah." richie exasperated. "can we do that, eds?" richie asked, and eddie's face turned bright red, slapping richie's shoulder.

"i don't want your dirty ass lips touching anywhere on me." eddie answered, and richie only laughed.

bill heard eddie's reply and laughed, making stan pull back from the kiss, bill not wanting the kiss to end already.

"hey, bill?" stan asked, grabbing bill's hand, and bill's face flushed at the gesture.

"i know i don't know much about you— and i'll know only what you want to tell me," he fixed his remark, wanting to say it perfectly, knowing how sensitive the boy was to the topic of his muteness.

bill slowly nodded, not exactly catching onto what stan was asking. "will you go on a date with me? just to... try whatever we have?" stan asked. "because i really like you."

bill blushed, head hurting from all the information he was gathering in his head.

bill nodded, and for the sake of his muteness, that was enough to make stan smile. but in the inside, fireworks were exploding.

"guys! smile!" bev shouted from not too far away, and the two boys turned towards her, only to be hit with a flash of a camera.

"aw, i'm saving that." bev gaped, shoving the phone in her mini purse.

meanwhile, eddie and richie skated at the other side of the rink, eddie struggling to keep up with richie.

"richie! wait for me, you know i don't have much practice, momma—,"

"when will you just call your mom, mom?" richie asked, slowing down for eddie, forgetting the number one rule of the boy; never offend sonia.

"i can call her whatever i want. she's my momma." eddie wanted to cross his arms angrily, but decided against it, considering he needed the balance.

"sorry, eds, call that bitch whatever—,"

"richie, don't start." eddie warned, and hit the wall of the rink purposely, taking a break.

"she's a fucking bitch, and her corn dogs tastes like a butt cheek on stick, and you know it! so stop defending her!" richie said, too loud for eddie, who flinched at the boy.

"sorry," richie exasperated.

"whatever, i'm going home." eddie growled at richie, skating by him, and walking off the rink. richie sighed loudly, before following after the boy.

after all, he was his ride home.

☼ ☼ ☼

adding some reddie.