ficlets of characters you don't know

the bad ending au fanfiction??

yeah we're gonna start strong with this one welcome to angsty teenage nonsense that has no canonical base and no context for you ❤️
(and yes, that is actually what i named this fic when i first wrote it and i refuse to change it now.)

[copy-pasted directly from google docs.]
general tags: angst, gay losers, they're actually the villains of their story, i wrote this without any sort of thought put in
tw: cursing, weapons, mentions of death, allusions to suicide, immortality??

Caro leans against the doorframe, spinning the naginata carelessly as he watches Richie shove all his belongings into a backpack with an unaffected gaze.

"Where you going, Dickie?" he asks seemingly calmly. Everyone was at the dining pavilion right now except for them.

"Give me back my staff," Richie demands, not even turning around.

"What staff?"

"My naginata, dumbarse," he spits, slinging the bag over his shoulder. He stands in front of Caro with his hand held out expectantly, refusing to meet his eyes.

Caro gives it to him. "You didn't answer my question."

"None of your business," he hisses, shouldering him out of the way and walking away from the cabins. His voice is very close to a whisper.

There's a dangerous tilt in Caro's tone when he says, "So you're fucking running," He scoffs. "Coward."

Richie's pace doesn't slow. In fact, it speeds up. Caro scowls, walking after him. "Dickie," he calls, with no response.

"Dick," he tries again, angrier. "Dick, stop ignoring me."

He ignores him.

"Richard," he orders, and Richie stops dead in his tracks.

"What do you want?" He sounds too close to crying.

Caro stands in front of him, arms crossed. He won't meet his eyes.

"Where are you fucking going, Richard?"

"Away."

Caro's eye twitches. "The fuck does that mean?"

"It means I'm leaving," Richie says, side-stepping Caro. He follows his movement and blocks him.

"Leaving where?"

"Anywhere." He still refuses to look at him.

"Only cowards run," he says, echoing something Richie's said a million times before. "Hypocrite."

Richie runs. All the time. This is just the first time he's doing it alone. He almost smiles. "I was a hypocrite then, I'm a hypocrite now."

"So you're just a coward? You don't care enough to try? There's nothing left here for you? Which is it?"

He grimaces, eyes still locked on the end of his staff. "Why not all three?"

"You're just giving up?" he sounds incredulous, now. "Why'd you even join in the first place? We've been stuck with each other for centuries and now you want to lea–"

"So what if I do?" he interrupts, voice suddenly too loud for comfort and rougher than it should be. "I don't give a shit about power, or being a god, or helping someone else become a god, or, honestly? Just existing. I don't care enough about anything! I don't know how to give a shit! Joey's lost it, we're close to losing and we haven't even bloody started, and I'm tired, Carter."

Caro fists the front of Richie's shirt, pulling him towards him. "So you'll just leave us?" he growls, faces an inch apart, forcing their eyes to meet. "Because you're tired? The fuck kind of excuse is that?"

"Let me go."

"So maybe Joey's off his rocker! Maybe we're close to being found out! That doesn't mean we've lost yet! How can you have stuck with us for so long and just now decide you don't care?"

"Let me go, Caro."

"Was there any reason you even joined in the first place?!"

"Let me go, Carter!" he nearly shouts, shoving him away. "No, there's no fucking reason I joined! I don't care about powers or gods or anything, I never have! I joined because I was running! And now I'm leaving because I'm still running!"

"Then stop," Caro says, voice low. "Stop running."

"How can you still care?" he asks helplessly. "You can't honestly think they care about us? Joey's too blind to see anyone but Medora, and she's too blind to see anyone, full stop! We're just assets, tools."

"Joey's my friend, Dick–"

"Yeah, alright," he mutters, forcing his path clear and continuing. "Don't give me that bullshit."

"You're my friend, too–"

"Oh, yeah? How's that going for you?"

"Richard," he yanks Richie's arm back, pulling him stumbling into him. "Three hundred years. Three hundred fucking years."

Richie tries to pull his arm back, but Caro's not budging. "It's closer to four," he whispers self-deprecatingly.

"Just stay."

"I don't want to."

"Leaving isn't going to just solve any of your problems, the only thing it'd do is kill you!"

"Yeah, that's kind of the point."

Caro punches him in the gut, hard. Richie grunts and stumbles backwards, doubling over.

"Fuck. You." He hisses, pointing at the other. "You're not fucking dying on me."

"And why not?" he grits out through his teeth.

"Because I fucking love you, asshole!" And he punches him again, this time in the nose, just for good measure.

uhh and then the pavilion blows up and yada-dadada, they succeed, medora takes over the planet, they live happily forever after, the end ✨