𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒇𝒆 ❀ 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆

𝒕𝒘𝒐

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

richie tozier liked to hide things. he hid his gameboy beneath his bed. he hid his glasses case underneath his dresser. and he hid his feelings, his sadness behind his trashmouth. it had become a habit for him. sometimes he wondered if he were true to himself, if things would be different. maybe he'd have declared a major. maybe he'd have found a hobby that stuck with him. maybe he'd even find love. richie would laugh at the thought. love was for losers.

"come on, come on, no no no no-- fuck!" richie exclaimed, nearly chucking his side of the nintendo switch across the room as mario died on screen, resulting in his loss in super smash bros ultimate. princess peach, played by his roommate, mike hanlon, remained the victor for the fourth time.

"i told you i'd win, rich!" mike yelled, grinning victoriously, "you wanna say 'princess peach sucks' to my face again?"

"princess peach can suck my dick," richie said, laughing and pushing up his glasses. mike pursed his lips.

"no seriously," he added, "she's fucking hot."

"beep beep, tozier. pay up, we bet on it. best 4 out of 5," the coily-haired boy said with a knowing smirk.

richie rolled his eyes, fishing his wallet from the bedside dresser, then handing his best friend five bucks. "i'm assuming you want a blow job, too?"

"you're a bi disaster," mike simply replied, his eyes lowering in a playful annoyance.

"i'd like to keep it that way," said the pale boy with glasses, flashing his roommate finger guns. they both burst into a fit of laughter until they heard a knock on the door. richie collapsed on his bed in response, and mike shook his head, getting up to open it.

on the other side stood a familiar girl with fiery red hair and piercing brown eyes, "the annoying girl," as richie called her, max mayfield. she dwelled just across the hall with her roommate, a dark-haired, chocolate-skinned boy by the name of lucas sinclair, who, well, also happened to be her longtime crush. recently, four months ago to be exact, lucas joined a band with some kids from the neighboring college, who he was apparently, better friends with. that was besides max mayfield, his number one best friend in the world. richie and mike were the only ones who knew of her crush on lucas, and richie tormented her endlessly about it, especially since all four of them had first period linear algebra together.

"hey, max," mike greeted cheerily, "come on in."

"don't have to tell me twice, loser," replied the sassy ginger, waltzing in and plopping herself down onto mike's bed, and picking up the nintendo switch on the floor.

"oh, god, mike, is that the annoying ginger?" richie groaned, his voice muffled between the pillows.

"bite me, homo," the tomboy replied. she ejected the "super smash bros ultimate" game chip and replaced it with "new super mario bros u deluxe," her all time favorite game. she dreamt in the future, to create video games as beautiful as nintendo's.

mike chuckled subtly, "hey, that's racist, maxine," he tossed the girl a bag of doritos which she caught with her free hand, "rich, you want a snack?"

"fuck yeah, we got takis?" richie sat up immediately, as a dog awaiting a treat.

the brown-skinned boy only chuckled in response, throwing the pale, curly-haired boy the last small, purple bag of chips from the pantry.

"thanks, mikey!" max and richie chirped. the boy in the little "kitchen" returned to his bed and sat beside max.

max usually came by when she was either upset, frustrated, or extremely happy. sometimes, it was only to play games on the switch when she was bored with her xbox. but tonight was different. the melancholy look in her chocolate eyes was all to be seen. she tended to cover it up with her anger, the fire in her gut. richie and mike noticed this immediately. she wasn't the same as she usually was.

"what's wrong, max?" mike inquired.

she hesitantly paused the game, avoiding eye contact with either of the two boys. they soon slipped shut in utter frustration. the silence between the trio was almost overbearing.

"i worry sometimes," max said lowly, "about you, richie. not to sound gay or anything."

richie went pallid. he knew that max could see straight through him. secretly, he was worried that he wouldn't declare his major in time. he was worried about getting a job, and although, sure he acted like he didn't care, it was all an extravagant facade. again, the boy in the glasses buried his feelings beneath the surface of his crude humor.

"hey, max, why don't you go suck lucas's dick, am i right, mike?"

mike didn't budge. he knew something was wrong.

"richie, we're serious, tell us," the other boy said soothingly and worriedly.

he sighed. of course, richie tozier was a tough nut to crack. it was hard for him to be honest with others as it was to be honest with himself. max and mike were fairly open though. they were the only people he felt comfortable talking to about bigger problems.

"sometimes i feel kinda worthless," he said simply, "like... i don't have a job and well, you guys do... mike you're a waiter and max, you're a cashier. it's just like, fuck."

"oh, dude!" mike exclaimed, "we can fix that! there's a coffee shop across the street, i think they're hiring. you used to be a barrista back in high school with mike wheeler right?"

the boy cringed at the memory. he and his childhood friend, mike wheeler were always mistaken for each other back at the coffee shop, across from their high school. apparently, according to his mother and mike's sister, they had the same nose. "yeah," said richie, groaning lethargically, "but i'm too lazy."

"come on, dickface, we're trying to help you," max said.

"wheeler says you were good at it! okay, tomorrow we're heading to the swampy marsh café to get your sorry ass a goddamn job," mike definitively stated.

"yeah, bev marsh runs it," said max, "apparently lucas knows her. i can talk to her for ya."

"cafés are gay and lame," richie joked, "but i'll take what i can get. thanks you guys, really."

"no problem, trashmouth." the two replied, grinning.

richie did love his friends to no end, no matter how much he didn't want to show it. maybe, there would be hope as long as he was with them. the boy pulled off his glasses and decided to head to sleep. mike and max didn't question it at all, though they knew richie as the king of staying up until three in the morning. it had only been eleven, the wee hours of the night, and richie wasn't sure why he was so tired. perhaps it was the emotional release. the fact that he was open with people was, again, foreign to him, though he'd been friends with the boy and the girl across from him for a year and a half. the redheaded girl talked with mike and watched parks and recreation on netflix while richie was asleep, keeping their voices and laughs low.

life was simple, besides the stress and term papers. one more year of undergrad to complete, and everything would be perfect. one more day, and richie tozier would go to the café and try to make friends with this beverly marsh girl.