cash in. (au story)

chapter 19; sonia sucks.

"hey again- oh, hey, bill," richie said as he entered through eddie's window.

"hey, r-r-richie," bill greeted with a smile.

"long time no see!" he chuckled, flopping on eddie's bed when he entered. "where's eds?"

"he's just d-dow-downstairs," bill said. "how was work?"

"eh, boring as always."

"as expected."

"do you work anywhere?" asked richie.

"nah. my main duty is to take care of g-georgie."

"shouldn't that be your parents' job?"

"well, my mom is nuh-nuh-never home, and my dad's kinda just distant from us," bill explained.

"oh, i'm sorry, that sucks ass."

"yeah. but it's fine. i-i love them, and i love my little brother, and nuh-nothing can change that."

richie smiled. "well that's sweet of you-"

"FINE!" eddie screamed, opening the door aggressively and slamming it. he took a deep breath and opened his eyes to bill and richie staring at him.

"y-you okay, eddie?" bill asked, and richie sat up.

"yeah. i'm fine. sorry."

"that didn't sound 'fine,'" richie pointed out as eddie walked over to his desk.

"it's whatever. we just had an argument, it's fine."

"eddie, c'mere," bill said softly. eddie looked up at him and sighed, walking over and falling into bill's arms. richie scooted over to the two and rubbed eddie's back. "don't l-le-let her get in your head."

"i'm trying, she's just so stupid," eddie mumbled into bill's shoulder.

"what's going on?" asked richie.

"ever since eddie's dad p-p-passed away, his mom's been super cautious. like, over-cautious. to the extent she forces him to take pills and medication for a sickness th-that he doesn't have. she doesn't let him li-li-live a normal life," explained bill. richie's eyebrows furrowed.

"that's fucked up," richie pointed out. "she sounds psychotic as shit."

"i know! she is. it's like she's just scared that the same thing that happened to my dad will happen to me. but she's fucking ruined my life and i don't know if i'm gonna be able to do things normally anymore because of it," eddie ranted.

"no i get that, she's a bitch. i get it, she could be scared, but that's no reason to take it out on you. you're just a kid that wants to have a good summer and a normal life, and she's filling your life with bullshit medication? now that's fucked up. i'm really sorry that's going on, eds, she's insane," richie said. eddie pulled out of the hug with bill and sat next to richie on the bed, leaning over and putting his head on the boy's shoulder.

"thanks, rich. it means a lot," said eddie. richie put an arms around him and bill smirked hard.

"of course. you mean a lot to me, and i won't let that crazy bitch hurt you furthermore."

"we don't have much of a choice. we're only kids."

richie sighed. "you're right. which is why as soon as we can, we're gonna get the hell out of derry and never look back."

eddie chuckled. "sounds like a plan, tozier."

"y'all are so cute," bill blurted out. both eddie and richie blushed as they looked up at bill.