A Dramatic RichJake Fanfic (COMPLETE)

7: Pride. Abuse. Angst. Fear. (Angst)

Trigger warning for foul language, cutting, Rich's dad, guns, math equations, and homophobia taken to the extreme.

Rich's POV

"Jake, I need your help," I plead into the phone, almost in tears, "I really want- I- Jake, I almost cut again today, I'm sorry! But I didn't do it, because you said to text or call you when I felt the urge to cut and... yeah. I just really wanna see you but my dad would kill me if you came over while I should be studying," I ranted. I felt bad burdening my problems on him but... what am I doing? Why does he care? Does he even care?

"Do you want to text so your dad doesn't hear?" he smartly suggests. "I can't, I'm shaking too much," Then, I hear his calm voice, the voice that makes me feel relaxed and loved. The voice that makes me feel like there's someone to live for and it's Jake; "Shh, it's okay, it's gonna be okay, as long as I'm here I would never let anything happen to you. Thank you for talking to me first. I love you so much," 

"Thanks for being here, I'm just afraid I won't be able to get the words out," I admit. "Hey, look, I'll always be here, if something is going wrong ever and you need to let me know but can't, just text with two slashes after it // and I'll know," 

"Thank you," Then, I hear a voice that isn't so calm. It sounded the complete opposite of Jake. "Richard!?" my dad yells about to come into my room, "follow my lead," I whisper into the phone, "Wait- I still don't get it so if one monomial is divided by a binomial doesn't that just make it a binomial?" I asked, pretending to be calling a friend for math help. 

"Well, if you had 4xy times 6 to the second power which is a binomial, divided by 8xyz which is a monomial then you would have 24xy to the second power I think, then divided by 8xy would be 3xy to the second... I'm pretty sure and that's a monomial..." he stammers through his fake story. "Hi, dad, I just had to call Jake to ask about something for math..." Posture is good... eye contact good... hands aren't fidgeting... lisp is hidden... and he doesn't look mad, that's good!

"Who's this Jake?" he takes my phone. "Jake is a friend from school, dad." I nod. "Friend? Why the fuck is there a heart emoji next to his name. We don't accept homos in this house, Richard." Oh god, how am I gonna get myself out of this one. I hesitated a bit.

"It's... an inside joke..." I tried to explain. An inside joke is something that no one else understands besides a small group of people. In this case, the small group of people is the LGBTQ+ community and the thing that makes sense to us, but not most people, is our love. So yes, it's an inside joke, but that's not what I'm telling my dad. 

"Okay, fa--ot," the words pierced me like a knife I've forced into arms before. He hung up the call with Jake and threw my phone at me. I caught it near my face. "Don't leave," he orders. So, I stand frozen and wait for what's coming. 

My entire body goes numb when I see his gun again. He didn't use it too much recently. 

"End it with Jake. Now. I'm gonna watch you send the text." He fired two warning shots. "Or else, next time the two warning shots will go into your head, kid! You're lucky I'm giving you a second chance!" 

He pointed the gun at me from across the room. I calmly sent something I never wanted to send, but I didn't show that I was sad. It's funny, when you want to die your whole life until it gets threatened... the seventeenth time it happens honestly isn't much but still scary nonetheless. 

Rich: Hey Jake, I need to talk to you. 

Jake: What's up? 

Rich: I think we need to break up, I'm sorry.

Jake: ???//?

Rich: Yeah//

Jake: Oh, well! Back to being single, I guess. 

Rich: Ha, same.

Of course, he got the hint with using the slashes // and knew it had something to do with my dad. My dad used his gun to fire warning shots a lot more, I'm just scared one day he won't put the word 'warning' in front of the phrase 'warning shots.'

"Tell him to come over," he ordered. I don't know what the hell is going on but I didn't dare ask, "Would you like me to call him or text him?" I asked as politely as I could, "Call." 

Me: "Hey, Jake! Do you wanna come over?"

Jake: "Sure. My parents aren't home so I don't have a curfew! Am I sleeping over?" 

I look up at my dad, unsure of what to say, "No, that's gay," he told Jake. "Mr. Goranski? Oh! Hi! How are you?" he improvised. "Bleh," my dad said and walked away.  

And 10 minutes later Jake came to my house. I experienced some anxiety about what my dad wanted him over for, but I distracted myself. The silence grew louder and louder until the silence was broken with Jake, knocking at the door. 

I couldn't tell if the silence became too loud, the ambiance grew quieter, or if there was even any silence at all right now. My dad opened the door for him and sounded friendly. Holy shit. I've never heard my dad like that. Is that even my dad? 

I walked down stairs to see it in fact was my smiling dad. "Hi, Jake," I said as straight as I could. Stop walking gay, Rich!  I told myself. "Why don't you come upstairs, Jake?" my dad offered. Oh no. I don't know what my dad's been planning, but it's gotta be something. 

We made our way into my room with my dad following behind. "So... I just wanted to let you know, I'm trying to become sober, and I'm fully supporting whatever choice you want to make as a couple." he stated, his hands formally behind his back. 

I'll wake up from this dream soon enough. 

"Really? Dad that's amazing!" I smiled at him, something I've never done before. "I'm sorry for making you guys break up, I was just really drunk and out of my mind!" he told us. "So this is okay with you?" Jake then grabbed my hand. 

"Yes." This can't be real! "When I used to see a homo, I'd go reaching for my gun, but I want the world to know..." 

He took his hands from behind his back revealing the gun. Quicker that I could ever imagine, a bullet pierced my shoulder like a cold, burning knife. As my vision faded, I could hear a ringing ambiance getting louder, Jake screaming for me, and my dad; "I hate my dead gay son!" I was so stupid to fall for this. Why would anyone accept me? 

Everything went black. "Rich?" I heard him by my side. "They said you'll be okay," I could feel Jake's smile. What the hell is- What's happening?

A/N: Sorry I haven't posted in a while and for ruining "Dead Gay Son" for all the Heathers fans! Hope you liked this chapter!