He Left Sparkles in his Wake

Introductions Are Hard

Although Richard liked Mr. Wecht, he was happy to see an old man hobble in and pop a movie in.
"Alright class. Your teacher is sick today, so we will be watching a nature documentary." The man stated as he started the film. The small gay was overjoyed; he loved all nature documentaries. The film started and reviled that it was about whales. Richard successfully contained his squeal of delight and gawked at the giant mammals.
"Look at those boys! Oh~! Humpbacks make the most beautiful sounds." He enthused. Class dismissed for the day, to the rest of the class's relief, leaving Richard alone in the room. That is, until PBG peaked in and waved.
"Hey Richard, are you good at music?" He asked hopefully.
"I can read it, in theory write it, and sing it, but can't play it on an instrument." Richard replied nonchalantly. PBG nodded and waved goodbye. Richard sighed and continued packing up his supplies until he was interrupted again. Three boys in Hidden Block jackets pearled down at him. The one with a hat perched on his head smiled and waved slightly.
"Are you Richard? I'm Luke, this is Ian, and that's Jimmy." He stated kindly. Richard's eyes widened and he smiled.
"Oh! You're friends of Cake. Nice to meet you. And yes, I am Richard." He exclaimed. For once, he felt at ease with his introduction.
"Can we barrow you? I want to write a new song and word on the street is that you can write music." Luke explained. Jimmy looked excited while Ian didn't seem to care at all. Richard's face flushed slightly.
"I-I guess? I'm willing to try and help." He slowly stated. The smallest male in the room grabbed his notebook and followed the Hidden Block members into the hall. Richard fell in line behind the chatting males and watched the floor. A jock walked past the Bee Boys and shoved Richard into the lockers hard enough to ratel the metal. He quickly ran off as Luke, Ian, and Jimmy turned to look at Richard.
"I tripped over my own foot." He quickly lied and pulled himself back behind Luke, who led the way. They quickly reached what to be a recording studio and looked at Richard expectantly.
"What do you have on you?" Jimmy asked curiously. Richard swallowed the anxiety in his throat and flipped to a poem he had written recently while in one of his depressed fits.
"Being with him was like harmony and peace; he was my other half, our love couldn't cease.
We thought we were strong enough and no one would ever stop me; they took him away, he died, I never got to see the body.
The color of my mood is forever set to blue; everything about him is engraved on me like a tattoo.
Now it appears that my reputation decided to follow; the names, comments, and abuse are hard to swallow.
Will I ever get some peace of my own I wonder; everyone knows I won't have that until I'm six feet under." he finished the poem with a sigh and slowly brought his eyes up from his writing to stare at Luke. He seemed astounded with what he had heard. Luke smiled and quickly raised his arm. Richard flinched; his muscles locked up as he awaited to be hit. He opened his eyes to meet three sets if concerned eyes.
"A-are you okay?" Luke asked in shock.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm..fine....I'm....." Richard trailed off as he began sobbing. He cried even harder when he realized that he was crying in front of three boys who he had just met. Jimmy immediately wrapped his arms around the smaller male and wiped his cheeks clear if tears.
"Baby, who hurt you?!" He exclaimed as Ian and Luke walked closer.
"Take your jacket off and roll up your sleeves." The normally stone faced male stated with concern laced in his tone. Richard's crying had diminished, but he shook his head. Jimmy pushed the blue jacket off his shoulders and Luke helped undo the buttons on the smallest gay's sleeves. There were irregular cuts, too jagged to be made by a blade of some sort, and his left arm was blue and indigo in color.
"You're being bullied?!" The three in yellow jackets angrily remarked. Jimmy clung tighter to Richard, avoiding his quickly bruising left arm and hip, and forced him to look up at his face.
"You don't deserve this. Just because you're gay doesn't mean you should be treated like this! Do you have a boyfriend?" Wetzel Pretzel asked slowly.
"I don't have any friends, so a boyfriend is a long ways away. I...I do have a crush though..." Richard mumbled the last part under his breath. Only Jimmy heard that part.
"I'm your friend! We all are! I'll check in with you every day after school, and you can sit at our lunch table." Jim-Jam-Jamboree stated happily. The other two men nodded and joined the group hug.
"You are worth it." They stated in unison.