ego // oneshots

is it bad again? → stozier

it was a typical saturday for richie tozier. he didn't have school, so he had to keep himself occupied; so he went to bill's.

there was a double feature at the aladdin that day: poltergeist and the exorcist. the ownner said he wanted to "start fall off with a bang", richie giggled at that, knowing the movies had come out long before the current year of 1990, and knowing the old man who ran the aladdin would never catch up on the trends.

richie wouldn't have it any other way.

after the horror movies left both bill and richie high on adrenaline and paranoia, bill told richie to just come back to his house; and that maybe they could invite stan and eddie and play monopoly or something. it seemed perfect to richie, who wants nothing more than to be with his friends, even if it means losing monopoly to stan for what seemed like the billionth time.

at about fifteen after nine, mrs denbrough called the pair downstairs. they'd been up in bill's room listening to music and talking; they'd completely forgotten their prior plans to hang out with eddie and stan, and knowing their parents, it was much too late to call now.

the boys stood at the base of the staircase and smiled at bill's mother. she told them it was getting late, and that richie should just call his mother and ask to stay over.

richie's smile fell.

he felt the color flee his skin and his hands started to shake.

his mom.

maggie tozier was an alcoholic. a textbook substance abuser. at this point in the night, richie wasn't convinced she'd even be awake, much less competent enough to string a sentence together or recognize richie's voice. maybe she was out tonight, not to return until three days later with a gram of coke and a warrant for her arrest. sometimes richie really wished she would just leave and never come back. he was tired of picking up her bottles and food scraps and bits of glass rhat get stuck in the carpet.

richie looked at bill and swallowed, telling mrs. denbrough that he'd be happy to call her. bill smiled. he had no idea.

richie walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. he dialed stan's number.

stan was the only one of richie's friends who knew about the things that maggie did. the number of times that richie had shown up to his door in tears over his mom was more than he could count. stan picked up after two rings.

"hello?" stan said
"hi, i was uh, i was just wondering if i could stay at bill's tonight?" richie winced.
on the other side of the line, stan was confused for a moment, until he realised who was calling.
"richie?" he said
"yes." richie responded
"is it bad again?"
"yeah."
"i love you."
"i love you too."
"call me if you need anything, im serious."
"i will, im serious"
"bye richie"
"bye."

💔🍒

does this even count as stozier lmao hhhh this is bad but whatever i hope u still like it!!