lost the losers - richie tozier angst.

HIS messages.

the alarm had stopped and over the intercom, the principal announced, "school is clear, you can go back to your classes."

eddie and richie shared looks, and the bell rang for next period.

"so.." richie said. "are we good?"

eddie leaned in and kissed the boy, who's body filled with relief and joy. "does that answer your question?" richie smiled.

"no, could you do it again? maybe then it will," richie teased, and eddie chuckled, kissing richie again.

richie felt so relived and just happy for the first time in a while. he missed this. more than anything.

"let's get to class," eddie said upon pulling away. richie nodded and they stood.

leaving the bathroom, they realized a bunch of students staring at them. beverly and stanley ran up to richie and eddie, hugging them.

"holy shit! you guys are okay!" beverly said, launching herself at eddie as stanley hugged richie.

"yeah.." richie mumbled, glancing at eddie. "we're okay."

"what. happened," beverly demanded as she and stanley pulled out of their hugs.

"uh—" eddie uttered, looking at richie, who turned to beverly and shrugged.

the students - previously staring at the bathroom and the two students who exited - began to walk past, whispering about richie and eddie the whole time. not in a bad way. they were mainly impressed they had survived that lockdown since they were in the most open area of the school.

"guys," bill panted, running up to the four with ben. "eddie where were you?"

"we were in the bathroom," eddie said.

"during the lockdown??" ben fussed. eddie nodded. "are you guys okay?!"

"well we're not dead, are we?" richie joked.

"your chin's bleeding," beverly pointed out to richie, holding it and looking at it.

"i fell pretty hard on the floor," said richie with a slight shrug.

"wait why'd you fall?" ben asked.

"well.. we were running into the bathroom and i tripped on my shoe lace. i'm a clumsy fuck that's why," richie lied. of course, the losers bought it. it wouldn't have been the first time that happened. richie is known for his clumsiness.

"i'm so glad you two are alright," beverly sighed, wrapping one arm around richie and one around eddie, hugging both of them at once.

they exchanged looks and eddie rubbed richie's forearm.

richie woke up the next morning, crossing his fingers it wasn't a dream. his main focus, however, was that he lied in some random patch of grass in the woods.

remembering last night, he sighed of relief that it was his own doing. he decided on sleeping in the woods to prevent facing his father.

he stood with a rough sigh, feeling around his pockets in hopes of finding his phone. but he couldn't. and he didn't want to leave without it. but, if he was to go to school, he couldn't stick around and look.

so, richie walked to school, as the sun had not yet rose, so he knew he couldn't be late. the sun came up eventually as richie arrived, looking rough. there was a fair amount of students outside, but richie knew better than to get caught by some bully with no help from his friends.