cash in. (au story)

chapter 27; a deal not worth making.

(MAJOR TW FOR SA AND LIKE- MOLEST?)

- A WEEK LATER (MONDAY) -

richie yelped as he was grabbed from behind once again. why does this always happen?

"shut up," fred grumbled, facing richie his way. richie stared up at the man, terrified.

"what do you want?! leave me alone!" he cried out.

"i want to make a deal."

"yeah right, make a deal my ass! now get the hell off of me before i scream bloody murder!"

"your little friend inside your pharmacy? kevin, i do believe?" the man said creepily. richie paused, his bottom lip quivered.

"i swear to god, if you fucking hurt him—"

"no, of course i didn't hurt him! absurd!" he said. richie panted lightly, eyes filled with horror. "but i will. i will do unimaginable things to him."

"no!"

"then! accept my deal, richie." richie looked up, blinking his tears away. he sucked in a sharp breath.

"what," he demanded. the man smiled.

"you're going to do exactly what i tell you from now on. and i won't hurt your little friend kevin, or eddie."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW EDDIE?!" richie screamed.

"calm down, sugah."

"don't call me sugar."

"you do what i want, i won't hurt the kid. or beverly, or stanley, or kevin, or mike. understood?" richie eyes watered intensely and he shakily nodded. "kiss me."

"what?!" richie yelped.

"do it or i will do this to kevin instead."

"okay okay! okay.." richie cried, sniffing harshly. kissing this man was nothing like kissing eddie.

the man, fred, he was rough. richie swore he could taste blood, unsure if it were from him or the man himself.

two minutes later, they pulled away, and richie held his profusely bleeding lip. he panted hard, tears streaming down his face.

"good boy.." fred mumbled, dropping richie, who landed on his hands and knees. "i'll be back later. i advise you don't try to get out of this."

richie nodded and the man walked off, leaving richie to start sobbing. the fresh, salty tears burned the cut on his lip, but it was nothing he hadn't been through already.

to richie's luck, kevin hadn't noticed his sudden disappearance. while richie clearly needed someone, being unable to breathe, he didn't want to have to explain this. he just wanted to keep kevin and his friends safe.

after a hot ten minutes, richie managed to pull himself together, taking deep breaths and shaking the deal out of his head. he cleared his throat, rubbed his eyes, and walked back into the pharmacy.

"there you are," kevin sighed.

"why are you out here-?" richie asked.

"uhh, i was gonna ask for help in the storage room? why so defensive, dude?"

richie froze and blinked a few times. "i- truth is, i didn't want you catching your grandma and i."

"ugh, gross," kevin groaned, walking back to the storage room. "let's goo!"

richie sighed. he was glad kevin couldn't see his red face, his puffy eyes, his busted lip. if he couldn't see it in this light, no way was he noticing in the storage room light.

it was silent in the room. too silent. richie wasn't talking, not in the mood to start acting like himself. he didn't have it in him.

kevin sighed audibly, looking over at richie. "sooo.. bad day at work?"

"what? no," richie said immediately. kevin's eyebrows rose, unconvinced. richie glanced at him. "what?"

"was it a rude customer or something?" kevin asked.

"no?" richie chuckled.

"then whaaat?? you're quiet! and quiet and richie don't go together. like, at all."

"i dunno-? i just didn't have something to say..?" richie uttered, fixing up supplies into first-aid kits.

"okay then, what do ya wanna talk about?" kevin asked awkwardly.

richie stopped what he was doing and looked at kevin with an unamused expression. "politics."

"oh, JOY."

richie sighed and turned back to what we was doing. "have you considered our slogan yet?"

"slogan? oh."

"yeah, from the last time we were here together!"

"okay, one, that wasn't the last time, that was like two or three times ago, and NO!" kevin corrected, sticking a pill bottle at richie as he yelled 'no.'

"oh, but whyy?"

"i can't believe you still remember that, dipshit," kevin chuckled lowly, looking down at what he was doing.

"how couldn't i? it's drilled into my smooth brain."

"smooth, yeah?"

"like a baby's bum. smeared with shi—"

"okay, okay. that's enough of that."

richie smiled proudly and locked off the first aid kit, grabbing more materials to load another.

"restocking day tomorrow?" richie asked.

"yeah, that's why we gotta rush this."

"what if a customer comes?"

"oh, don't act like i don't see you on your phone out there every day at this time and every night around eleven. there's no customers any time now," kevin pointed out. richie shrugged, tilting his head as in to say 'fair.'

"okay suree, man, believe what ya wanna! i don't even own a phone, bitch," richie lied, acting empty-handed.

"oh yeah?" kevin consulted, turning to richie, "prove it!"

"the fuck you want me to do? pull out my damn kindle?" richie scolded, squinting at kevin with stupidity and confusion.

kevin laughed out of his nose and rolled his eyes. "whatever, dude."

"aye, get back to work, mate!" richie yelped, shooing kevin with his hand.

"bite me, tozier."

"youu wish."

"disgusting."

[a/n: short chapter ik im sorry 😭🫶]