a quiet battle. (richie tozier angst 😘)

lovers&friends.

richie stared out the window of the backseat of his car, still shaken up about what happened. his parents didn't seem to care that much, but at least they were even driving him home in the first place. 

upon arriving home, richie went to his room and shut down completely. he stared at the wall for an hour, his face not even twitching once.

for the next hour, richie scrolled through websites on facts about school shootings and how to move on from them. most of the options were just drugs, alcohol, weed, and smoking in general. richie let out a rough sigh, knowing he had zero access to all of those options.

'maybe i could borrow cigarettes from bev? she'd probably let me smoke with her. she knows me too well not to—' richie thought before being interrupted.

interrupted by a faint tapping coming from his window.

"wha.." he whispered. he scrambled to his feet and opened his curtains, jumping slightly at the sight of eddie.

"shit, let me in," eddie blurted out. richie nodded slowly and unlocked the window, opening it for the boy. eddie practically jumped in, holding richie by the shoulders. "are you okay?! what happened?!"

"what do you mean?" richie asked.

"you texted me. you never text me that. and you didn't text anyone el—" eddie started to ramble. "oh."

"what??" richie exclaimed, completely confused.

"did.. did you mean it..?" eddie asked.

"mean what?"

"the 'i love you.'" richie swallowed.

"as a friend, of course," he answered, and watched eddie release a breath of relief. he was glad he didn't just tell eddie the truth.

"okay.. why'd you text that to me?" eddie rushed once again. richie sighed and looked around his room as if there would be an excuse written on the ceiling.

"uh.." he uttered. "n-nothing."

eddie tilted his head. "you can tell me."

"just thought you needed to know. you seemed kind of down thursday," richie lied. eddie hummed.

"i wasn't?" the boy chuckled. richie shrugged, and eddie sighed. "well, i appreciate it, rich. you freaked me out, though. not answering my texts after that."

"yeah.." richie mumbled. the entire time, richie's eyes were focused on the floor. eddie looked at him genially.

"hey, is something wrong?" eddie asked, rubbing down richie's shoulder to his arm.

"no," richie said simply. eddie gave him a look, showing he was not convinced.

"what's up?" eddie asked, sitting down on richie's bed and motioning for him as well. richie sat next to him and leaned into eddie, shaking slightly. "richie?" eddie mumbled after a good three minutes of silence.

"hm."

"what's wrong?"

"nothing's wrong. just.. tired. it's 2:00 in the morning, eddie," richie lied.

eddie nodded. "fair point."

"yeah. why'd you decide to show up at 2:00?" richie asked.

"my mom wasn't falling asleep, she only fell asleep like— fifteen minutes ago. i couldn't sneak out when she was awake," eddie explained, and richie nodded slowly.

"see? she needs me! i help her sleep at night," richie regaled, and eddie chuckled.

"beep beep," he breathed. eddie leaned into richie's side hug, putting his head on the boy's.