Tight-Knit Family| Richie Tozier

12-

August 1989 (tw- slurs. Homophobia)

The friendship group had evolved after the six had saved Mike Hanlon from a racist attack from Henry and his gang. After that, they'd called themselves the losers club, a group formed due to the bullying they all endured. A bond that was unbreakable. Speaking of unbreakable, Eddie's arm wasn't and he'd broken it from falling out of a tree. Sonia was now not letting him go and hang out with his friends. Which sucked as Richie enjoyed spending time in their new clubhouse with him. They liked to share the hammock and read comics.

So, Richie was playing in the arcade, trying to push his feelings for Eddie away. He'd met a boy called Connor and the two were playing street fighter happily. Connor was slightly taller than Richie and had curly blonde hair. Not Richie's type but a distraction from Eddie.

"Come on, you. Come on!" Richie grumbles as he hits the buttons aggressively. He smiles and looks at Connor, eyes wandering over him slightly. Then he looks back that screen.

"Ken you little bitch!" Connor says, getting into the game as much as Richie was.

"YES!" Richie cheers as he wins. Connor smiles.

"You're fuckin good." Connor says and the two high five, Richie's hand lingering slightly." Well, uh, I gotta go."

"Hey! Uh, how about we go again? Play some more, y'know?" Richie asks, holding up his last arcade token. Connor looks at him, stopping in his tracks. Henry, Belch and Vic walk in and Richie feels nervous." Only if you want to."

"Dude why're you being weird? I'm not your fucking boyfriend." Connor says and the whole arcade goes silent, everyone staring at Richie.

"Woah, I-I didn't-" Richie begins, panic rising.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Henry asks and Richie and Connor look at him.

"You assholes didn't tell me your town was full of little fairies!" Connor says and the words hit Richie like a tonne of bricks. His chest aches in pain and everyone is staring at him.

"Richie fucking Tozier, wait, are you tryna bone my little cousin?" Henry asks and Richie stands silently, eyes pricking with tears." GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE FAGGOT!"

Richie stands hesitantly, looking around at everyone, praying someone will defend him. But no one does. Infact, everyone seems to look at him with disgust.

"FUCKIN' MOVE!" Henry yells at him. Richie backs up, all of the boys moving away from him like he has the plague. His breathing starts to pick up and he turns, pushing to door open and running out.

He runs to the park and sits down on the bench, aggressively taking off his glasses and crying loudly into his palms. No one is around and Richie sobs until he can't anymore. He puts his glasses on his face and sighs. He gets up and decides he wants a hug from his dad. So, he walks to the office.

"Hi." Richie shakily greets Jean, trying not to break down in tears on the spot. She notices him about to cry and instantly picks up the phone to tell Wentworth that Richie is here.

"He's on his lunch break. You can go right through, honey." Jean says with a smile of sympathy. Richie thanks her and knocks on his dads office door.

"Yeah!" He hears Wentworth say. Richie opens the door and Wentworth smiles at him until he sees that Richie's crying." What's wrong?"

"I fucking hate this town!" Richie sobs. Wentworth stands up and pulls Richie into a hug. He rubs his back gently and kisses the top of his head as he sobs loudly. He doesn't even tell him off for swearing.

"Ssh. It's okay. It's okay." Wentworth whispers, hating how upset Richie is." Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No." Richie mumbles against his dads chest. Wentworth nods and just holds him.

Once Richie calms down, Wentworth tries to cheer him up by making him laugh. But Richie seems distant. He notices a pocket knife by his dads lunch (probably because he makes his sandwiches at work) and he grabs it whilst Wentworth is distracted. He says he'll see his dad at home and Wentworth kisses his temple reassuringly before Richie leaves the office.

He's had an idea and so he walks to the kissing bridge, cautiously making sure no one can see him. Luckily there's no one around, so Richie kneels infront of it and pulls out the pocket knife, beginning to carve.

"Fuck this piece of shit town. I fucking love you. I love you. I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak." He whispers as he carves his and Eddie's initials into the bridge. He finishes and sighs, looking at it. Richie allows himself to smile and then he stands up, going home to get a hug from his mom.

-
"Stan, this is so boring. How'd you do this?" Richie sighs the next day. He'd agreed to bird watch with Stan but he's now regretting that decision. He's restless from yesterday and some of the birds are quite loud and he doesn't like it.

"Ssh!" Stan shushes as he looks through his binoculars. Richie sits up and sighs again, overdramatically this time. But, then he notices Bev and Mike walking over and he smiles.

"Richie, Stanley!" Beverly calls out, her and Mike waving at the boys. Richie waves back but Stan is too focussed on a bird he's found. Richie gets up and walks over to them.

"Hey, Bevvy, can I have a cigarette?" Richie asks and Beverly nods in response. She gets her cigarette packet out of her pocket and hands one to Richie and offers one to Mike, who declines with a polite smile and shake of his head.

Richie lights up his cigarette using Beverly's and he takes a drag of it, his stress going away instantly and him relaxing. He'd felt tense since yesterday.

"You seem like you really needed that, Rich." Mike states and Richie chuckles, blowing smoke out as he does so.

"Slightly stressful 24 hours, Mikey." Richie replies before he takes another drag. He knows it's unhealthy and his mother hates him smoking, but it relaxes him so he won't stop. He's also addicted to it.

"Bowers?" Beverly asks.

"Ding ding ding, ten points to red." Richie says as he exhales." I don't wanna talk about it. I just want to forget it."

"Rich, if you say you're straight, we believe you. Don't let Bowers get you down, okay?" Beverly says. Richie forces a smile, takes another drag and then spots Eddie walking by himself to get to the pharmacy, probably for a refill of his medication.

"HEY EDS!" Richie yells, making the bird Stan had been studying fly away. The curly haired boy rolls his eyes and Eddie walks over to his friends with a smile." Hey, are you okay? What's prison like?"

"Shut the fuck up." Eddie sighs but he smiles. Richie laughs and then spots something written on Eddie's cast. Eddie spots him looking and he moves his arm away.

"Wait who wrote loser on your cast?" Richie asks with furrowed brows. He throws down his cigarette and stomps it out before lifting up Eddie's arm gently, so not to hurt him.

"Greta Keene." The smaller boy replies and Richie rolls his eyes." I mean, she's not wrong-

"Don't fucking say that. Stan pass me your pen!" Richie calls out. Stan walks over to them and passes Richie his pen.

Eddie watches as Richie scribbles a V over the S with a smile on his face. He chuckles and the younger boy grins. Mike, Bev and Stan shoot eachother knowing looks and Richie finishes his scribbling. Eddie smiles even wider and Richie grins before pinching his cheek.

"Cute cute cute!" He says and Eddie pushes him off, laughing.

"Asshole!" He chuckles and Richie smiles. He remembers his carving and his heart feels warm. He did love this boy, so much, and all he wanted was for Eddie to know. But, alas, he couldn't let his secret spill.