A/N: Let's play a game.

It's called, "How many flannels does my sugar daddy have?" The answer, after this
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*In spongebob narrator voice* The Following Day

"Earth to Ritchie. Hello?" George leaned over the table and waved his hand in front of a dazed Richard.

"S-sorry what?" Ritchie started. He was thinking about last night, hoping Paul didn't actually see him.

"You seem a bit out of it today." His voice concerned.

"Just a bit tired. I'm fine." He gave George an awkward smile and shoved a chip in his mouth. George wasn't 100% convinced, but dropped it anyway with a shrug.

"Well, today's Friday, and that means two things. One; fish and chips for lunch, and two; our first week of school is over." George said with a giddy smile.

"Oh, the way to man's heart is through his stomach isn't it?" Ritchie joked, nudging George's gut with his foot gently under the table.

"Oof. Yup. By the way, you gonna eat your biscuit?" Richard laughed, loud enough to earn a few stares from passerby.

"Sure, catch." He tossed it, George catching it with one hand and taking a large bite. Ritchie and George continued with their chatting through their lunchbreak until the bell sounded for 5th period.

"See you later Ritchie!" George gave his boyfriend a peck on the lips and dashed off to his next class.

"Bye Gear! Luv ya." Richard blew a kiss in his direction and walked to his next class.

~~~~~~~~Time skip sponsored in part by George Harrison's perm~~~~~~~~~~

'Affirmative!' Went K-9's voice signaling a text on Ritchie's phone. He read the text from his mum.

Mum <3: staying another hour at work today, Paul's picking you up today

0Rings0: kk, luv u

Mum <3: kisses!

Ritchie looked up from his phone and accidentally ran into someone.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." He quickly picked up the person's books that fell to the ground.

"Oi! Watch where you're going, queer." Ritchie shot up.

"Excuse me?" He looked Pete Best, the school's biggest douchebag, in the eyes with bubbling rage.

"You heard what I said." Richard gritted his teeth, promptly dropped Pete's books, and smoothed out his skirt before stalking off down the hallway.

"Ow! What the fuck do you want cunt?" Ritchie snapped when he felt a hand grip his wrist tightly, not letting him walk away.

"Pick up my damn books gayshit!"

"Go fuck yourself." Pete twisted Richard's arm behind his back and slammed him, chest first, into the lockers. Making him cry out in pain an shock.

"You gonna do what I tell you or do I have to make you do it the hard way?" Pete's cigarette-scented breath made Richard gag as he growled in his ear.

"Shove it up your ass, bitch." Pete scowled and pushed Ritchie to the ground. He tried to stand up but the wind was knocked out of his lungs when Pete's foot collided with his gut. Gasping and tears stinging his eyes, Richard tried to call for help but felt another blow to his torso. Pete recoiled his foot once more, but Richard grabbed his ankle mid-swing.

"Ow! Fucking hell!" He shouted when Ritchie sunk his teeth into his leg. Pete hopped backwards on one foot, allowing Richard to make his escape. He could only run to the front doors and down the sidewalk as Pete cursed in his direction. Extremely out of breath and cheeks tear-stained, Richard spotted Paul's car and quickly hopped in.

"Hi Ritchie! How was school toda- are you crying?" Paul asked with concern.

"No, I-I'm fine." He sniffed, still winded.

"I'm not stupid Richard. I know crying when I see it. What's wrong?" Ritchie lifted his gaze to Paul's and burst into tears.

"Pete B-Best!" He sobbed.

"What did he do?"

"H-he bet me up in the hallway because I bumped into him a-and didn't pick up his books." Paul's eyes widened in shock, immediately narrowing as his eyebrows knitted.

'No one hurts my Ritchie.'

"Where did he hurt you?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady and calm. Richard sniffed and hesitated before placing a hand on his stomach. "Lift your jumper up a bit, let me see." Paul said as calmly as possible.

"O-okay." He hesitantly lifted up the hem of his jumper to just above the bottom of his ribcage. A purple bruise was already forming on the pale skin of his gut.

"Oh dear..." He trailed off at Richard's injury. Paul reached over and wiped a tear away from Ritchie's cheek with the pad of his thumb. He felt something like comfort at Paul's gentle touch, and let out a shaky sigh. "Let's hurry home and get some ice on that." He nodded and let go of the hem of the jumper, settling into his seat.

Paul drove them home, forgetting when he had decided to rest a hand on Richard's knee. He dried his eyes with his sleeve and stepped out of the car. They entered the house, finding that Elsie still wasn't home.

"You go sit down and I'll get some ice." Paul said comfortingly.

"Thanks Paulie." He answered in a small voice, sitting on the couch. Paul rifled through the freezer and found the ice tray, taking some out and wrapping them in a tea towel. As he walked back to the living room, Ritchie timidly lifted the lavender jumper to reveal his darkening bruise.

"Oh Ritchie, I'm sorry." Paul cooed, holding the ice to his stomach. He hissed quietly at the coldness.

"It wasn't your fault. Good thing I bit the fucker's leg before he could kick me again." He chuckled lightly. Paul laughed heartily, his shoulders bouncing.

"You bit his leg?"

"Well it worked didn't it?" He sassed.

"Oi, if I'm gonna be living with you, you'll have to deal with my sass-is-my-thing-and-always-will-be policy." Ritchie mock pouted and muttered something along the lines of, 'How original'. Paul smiled and draped his arm over Richard's shoulders, still holding the makeshift ice pack to his gut. They sat like that for a while in comfortable silence, before Paul remembered last night.

"Uhm, Richard?"

"Yes Paulie?" He looked up at Paul. His heart melted as Ritchie's blue, teary eyes blinked up at him.

"About last night..." Richard went tomato red.

"I-I'm so sorry about that. I was jus' gonna knock on the door a-and tell you guys to keep it down. But the door was open and... and-" he babbled, looking down at his hands."... I'm sorry."

"You said that already. It's fine Ritchie, really. Jus' be careful next time." Paul rubbed his shoulder reassuringly, which made Ritchie look up.

"Please don't tell mum, please." He begged.

"Me lips are sealed love." Paul answered, planting a kiss on Richard's forehead. He continued to blush at Paul's warmth and gesture.

'You missed, Paulie. His lips are a tad lower.' His subconsious taunted as he pulled away. Paul tried his best to ignore it, along with the moans that weren't his or Elsie's last night.
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A/N: I have 7 flannels. Let me know how close you were

School starts on the 8th for me, so expect slower updates. But since I have a phone now, I can work on shit when I don't have wifi and stuff.

Hope you're enjoying so far! That thing that Jojiboy was talking about will be next chapter. What will happen? Well fuck if I know.

Jai Guru Deva Om,
Maggs xoxo