21

Must have ID

Richie finished tying his shoes, taking his time since the concert wasn't for another hour. They would be walking to the venue though, which would take around 20 minutes. Richie had always loved walking, which was a must in New York since everyone either walked, took a cab, or rode the subway.

Stanley and Bill were still getting ready, the two were inseparable. They couldn't even get ready separately. Richie walked over to his roommates bedroom door and gave is a quick knock.

"Yeah, come in." Bill said.

Richie opened the door to see that the two weren't even close to being ready. The two were laying in bed facing each other.

Must have been too busy getting lost in each others eyes or some shit. Richie thought to himself.

"Is it cool if I talk to Stan for a second?" Richie asked.

"About what?" Bill replied.

"Girl stuff, you wouldn't understand Billy Boy." Richie said jokingly.

"You know he's just going to tell me later anyway, right?" 

"Just get outta here Denbrough." Stanley said giving him a gentle push.

Bill rolled off the bed and walked past Richie to leave the room. Richie knew they had no secrets, and told one another everything, but right now he could only handle asking Stanley about this.

"When did you and Bill, first. . . you know?" Richie turned bright red even just asking about this.

"Is the famous Richie Trashmouth Tozier getting flustered?" Stanley laughed.

"Shut up. I'm just. . . curious."

"Why?"

"I just am."

"Are you planning on cashing in your V-card tonight? Jesus finally!"

"Okay, not everyone falls in love with there childhood best friend and fucks like bunnies."

Stanley held his hands up in defense. 

"Okay, fine you have a point. Bill and I didn't do it until I felt comfortable leaving you home by yourself."

Stanley was referring to when Richie had spent a couple of days in the psychiatric ward when he was 18. They decided to put Richie on medication and send him home after a few days of vigorous group therapy and one on one therapy. That was the one and only time he had ever been admitted to the psych ward so they didn't seem too concerned about keeping him there longer.

"Wait, what?"

"We were supposed to keep an eye on you, make sure you were doing well on the medication. And we were supposed to make sure you wouldn't hurt yourself again. I didn't want to sneak over to Bill's and have something happen to you. I also didn't want you to wake up in the night needing me, only to find that I wasn't there. So we waited until you seemed stable. Taking the lock off of the bathroom door helped."

Richie never realized how much worry he had put his friends through after that whole ordeal. He never even bothered to notice that Stan and Bill took time out of there own relationship to make sure he was okay.

"What about now? Do you guys still worry about me? Like when I go to take a shower, do you get scared I'll lock the door?" Richie felt like such a jerk for putting them through that.

"Sometimes. Especially after your parents passed away. I thought you might spiral back into depression. I know some days are harder for you than others. I know today is hard for you. You don't have to pretend like your birthday doesn't come with pain over what happened."