"so stan the man," richie said as he slung his arm around the boys shoulder, "how's your mom, ya know, after last night?"
stan threw richies arm off of him and continued to open his locker. "after what ri-" stan scrunched his face. "okay, gross! grow up, rich, beep beep."
richie opened his locker next to stans and began putting his textbooks away. it was near time to go home, so the hallways were nearly at capacity.
"h-hey g-guys," stuttering bill let out as he walked up to stanley's locker, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
the dirty blonde was holding his baseball bat in his right hand and had his book bag slung over the opposite shoulder. he had made the baseball team a week before and was already thriving.
"there my little athlete," stan said pinching bills cheeks. "c-cut it o-out s-stan. i'll beat y-you with my b-buh-bat," he said tightening his grip on it.
stan rolled his eyes. "you're bluffing, babe. you'd never hit me, and you know it."
richie, who was nearly done packing everything up, interjected. "trust me, stanley, he will. yesterday he invited me over for dinner and i asked if his mom would be home and he tried to stick the bat up my ass!"
bill and stan laughed. "well, rich, it seems like you actually deserved it. and besides don't you take it up the ass," stan asked sarcastically.
"i'll have you know, if i wasn't a virgin, i'd definitely be a top," richie said, pretty much shocking the two boys in front of him.
"dude, you're still a virgin?" richie shrugged at stan's dumb question. "yeah, so?"
"just surprised that's all. before eddie we all thought you hoo-"
richie scoffed and slammed his locker. bill flinched and richies eyes held flames. "yeah, i know what you thought. bye guys," richie turned on his heels and disappeared into the crowded hall, and out the door.
richie wasn't just angry at stan. richard tozier was disappointed. disappointed that his friends believed the rumors, and disappointed he let the entire school believe them.
as soon as he exited the front door of the school and unlocked his bike from the rack, he was gone.
he rode his bike home in silence, the only sound being the creaking of his chain that desperately needed oil and a few cars passing by.
once richie reached his house, he sighed. this definitely was just a house- not a home. home was the losers; home was eddie. he noticed the faint smell of cigarettes and jack daniels when he opened the door.
his father was asleep in the la-Z-boy just as he had expected him to be. two packs of camels were on the coffee table that was parallel to the entertainment center. the tv was on and playing what seemed to be a re-run of jeopardy.
richie sighed and made his way up to his room. richies room was just like every other teenage boys— messy.
his bed was unmade, and dirty clothes were thrown every which way. no one seemed to mind because richies room was purely— well, richie.
richies room had the usual in it; a bed, desk, dresser and richies favorite thing in his room— his bookshelf.
the bookshelf it's self wasn't necessarily important to richie. the objects that filled the nine cubicles are what had richies love.
the bottom six shelves held any and all x-men and marvel comic books richie could get his hands on. one shelf had his record player and walkman. another contained his records and tapes, and the final one had a picture of him and all the losers.
richie closed his door and locked it. he threw off his black vans and changed into a hoodie and sweatpants.
richie sighed and walked to his shelf. he grabbed the first tape at the top of the stack and inserted it into the walkmans compartment and pressed play. some random guns and roses song started playing and richie sobbed.
he threw the walkman across the room, almost sick to his stomach. this was the fucking mixtape stan had made for him.
richie knew the rumors. they may have seemed believable from and outsiders point of view, but richie was udderly revolted that his own friends believed them.
richie cried for a few minutes more, still listening to the music that was dimly playing from across the room. he sat up on his bed and wiped his tears with his hoodie sleeve. he was about to get up and change his snot covered hoodie when there was pounding on his window.
he got up and threw the blinds up and saw mike sitting on his roof. richie rolled his eyes and opened the window for him.
mike climbed through the window and gave richie a fist bump. "what's up, homeschool?"
"nothing much rich, just wanted to see if you had any weed i could bu-" something stopped him from continuing his sentence, and richie groaned. "have you been crying?"
richie wiped his face once more and gestured for mike to sit next to him on the bed "what's it to ya, michael?" mike just shrugged and looked at richie. "just wanted to make sure you were okay." mike sat down and sighed. "what's the matter, rich?"
richie explained the whole situation with stanley. "you know, i think he was just messing with you. but if it made you that upset screw that and tell him."
richie closed his eyes. "yeah. screw that."
richie was about to flop back onto his bed when he heard his dad come racing up the stairs. "richard! unlock this door," he said banging on it with all his strength.
mike gasped when richie grabbed him by his wrist and opened the closet door. "get in here, and whatever you do, don't make a noise," richie whispered. mike nodded. he closed the door just enough to hide him, but not enough that richies room was out of sight.
"coming, sir." richie said, his voice high and shaky. upon unlocking the door wentworth tozier came barging in and hit richie hard in the face with the door. "what the fuck richard? what the fuck did i tell you about locking your door?"
richie grasped the side of his face. "i was getting changed sir." wentworth grumbled and smacked richie across the face. "don't lock it again, do you hear me boy?" richie nodded with a blank face.
richies father left the room and mike came out of the closet. "i'm sorry you had to see that, homeschool." mike sighed and engulfed richie into a hug. "no, it's not your fault. you don't deserve this." richie nodded and began crying hard into mikes shoulder.
mike pulled away. "rich, look at me." richie wiped his eyes and looked at mike. richie looked at the tall boy in front of him.
"you have got to get out of here, rich. it's not healthy for you to be here." richie laughed sadly and walked over to the bed. he plopped down and made room for mike. "maybe one day he'll kill me."
mikes eyes widened as he sat down. "do you really mean that? i mean, do you deeply, truly want to die, richie?"
richie sighed and glanced up at his friend. "let's just say i might as well be fucking dead already. fuck, i don't think i was ever alive, mike. not ever."
-
here's a little bit of hanzier friendship for you guys :) my favorite boysss <3
sorry about there not being reddie but this is kinda important for richies character eek
