Tw: homophobic slurs! :(
Richie POV
We are currently sitting in my living room, Ben and Mike on the loveseat, Beverly and Stan on the floor and me lying on the couch with Eddie on top of me. They are talking about school and all the classes they have together, but I tuned out of the conversation a long time ago. Eddie is scrolling through memes on his phone, and he has it tilted so that I can see them too. I'm absentmindedly running my fingers through his soft brown hair, which has become slightly curly. He told me his hair was naturally curly, and he has to straighten it and gel it everyday. When I told him that I liked his curly hair, he went silent.
"You're so little, Eds," I say in his ear, and he reaches his arm back to smack me. "So feisty," I mutter. It's so weird with him. It feels as if I've known him for my whole life and yet, he still manages to make me nervous. I have no idea why.
Beverly surprises me when she pulls a vape out of her pocket. It's light blue with little flowers painted on it. She hits it twice and then exhales a large cloud of pink smoke.
"Bev, hand it over," I say, reaching my hand out. She hands it to me and I take a long drag before tossing it over to Mike, who also takes a hit. Eddie sits up and tries to scramble away from me but I blow the smoke into his face before he can.
"Richie, what the hell? I'm gonna get popcorn lungs!" He squeaks, still struggling to get off of me. He ends up rolling onto the floor. I laugh loudly and peek over the edge of the couch to see him sitting on top of Stan, who is now lying on his stomach. The room bursts into laughter. Mike hands the vape back to me and I take another hit before scooping Eddie back up and placing him in my lap. I toss the vape back to Beverly, who continues puffing on it. Once the laughter dies down, Mike speaks up.
"Guys, where's Bill? He's been gone for a long time." He says, the worry evident in his voice. I look down at my watch: 5:15. School ended almost an hour ago.
"I'll go check up on him," I say standing up. "My parents know that you guys are here but if they come home and ask where I am, just tell them I went to get snacks." I start to leave until I notice a smaller presence beside me. "Eds..." I say, but he just shakes his head.
"I'm coming with you, dipshit."
How nice.
We walk outside, the warmth of an early evening in August enveloping us. We've traveled about a block before we here it: laughter accompanied by someone's pleading.
"P- p- please leave m- me alone, Henry."
Me and Eddie look at each other, panic evident in our eyes. I give Eddie a small push back towards my house.
"Go back, Eds, I'll take care of this." I say quietly, but he just shakes his head. I give him a harder shove this time, giving him a look that says I will not fight him on this. I watch his face show defiance, determination, realization and finally, defeat. He turns around and sprints back to my house. I watch him go and then turn around to follow the sounds. I finally spot Henry, Patrick and Bill tucked just barely into the woods where they are hard to spot. Bill is lying on the ground, face smeared with blood and clutching his side. Two plastic bags are flung to the side, which probably hold the snacks that Bill went to get an hour ago. Henry and Patrick are looming over him. I slowly bend down and grab a rock a little smaller than my fist.
"Hey asshats!" I yell, and all three of them look at me. "Vibe check!" I throw the rock as hard as I can, and it connects with Patrick's head. He drops to the ground, out cold. Henry looks at his fallen friend and then roars in anger, charging at me. I turn and sprint away, trying to lead Henry as far away from Bill as possible. My track skills come in handy as I make I all the way to the quarry, barely out of breathe before he finally catches me. I feel a hand grab my shirt and whip around to throw my fist in Henry's face. I know I can beat him in a fight, hell, I did it a few hours ago at lunch, but fear grips me when Henry pulls something from his pocket: a knife.
"Are you a fucking psychopath?" I spit, trying to hide the pure terror in my voice at the sight.
"Shut the fuck up, faggot." He growls, and I wince.
"Homophobia isn't a character trait, Bowers." I say, trying to stall as long as possible as I think if a way out of this. He stalk toward me, grabbing the front of my shirt and pressing the knife to my throat.
"So you admit it? That you're a fucking fairy like all your loser friends?" He says harshly, getting spit all over my face.
"I'm not fucking gay, dipshit." I say. His grip falters a little, and confusion crosses his face.
"Y- you're not?" He asks, something unrecognizable in his voice. I find myself becoming confused as well. He actually thought I was gay? Why the fuck would he care, anyways? I decide to take advantage of his hesitation and jerk my knee up as hard as I can. Hebstumbles back and I grab his knife and fling it away from us. Finally, a level playing fie-
Oof.
I feel a fist connect with the side of my head so hard that I drop to the ground. The world spins. I get kicked in the side, again and again, until I'm struggling to breathe. I can't move, I can't think. Finally, it stops. I lie on the ground where the rocks meet the grass and all I can hear is the water from the quarry, some strange rustling and cursing. My head's spins and the edges of my vision are black, I think I have a concussion.
"Shit, where the fuck is it?" I faintly hear. It's Henry- he's looking for something. What is he looking for? A voice in my head slowly becomes louder, it's a warning, a memory. Knife! He's looking for his knife! I slowly push my self up to a sitting position. Bad idea. It's worse now, everything is spinning. It's way worse. I hear footsteps crunching through the grass,and then the rocks. They're coming closer, and I see Henry walking towards me. His figure is twisted, wrong. He moves every which way and weird colored dots are dancing around him.
"Cat got your tongue, Tozier?" He spits, and I'm much too dizzy to respond. "Is this what you wanted? To sacrifice yourself for your faggot friend? The little one's in love with you, you know. Too bad you're not gay." He continues, and I can hear the evil smirk on his face. He punches me again, and I am thrown to the side. I feel my hair getting wet, I must be right next to the water. "I'm gonna enjoy watching you break his heart." Is the last thing I hear before a searing pain is felt in my side. I scream out before Henry claps his hand over my mouth to silence me. I feel the pain again and again, as if he were carving something into me. I hear him laughing, he must be carving something that he finds funny.
"Just wait til he sees this and gets his hopes up. What a fucking pussy." I try so hard to stay conscious and fight him off, but the pain becomes too much, and everything goes black.
YOU ARE READING
Denial ~ A Reddie Fanfic
Fanfiction"You're in denial, Richie Tozier. And just because you're too scared to admit it doesn't mean it'll just go away." ~ The Losers Club in highschool in 2019. What could possibly go wrong?
