golden boy : stozier

two

they began their walk to bill's, richie concentrating hard on not being obnoxious. he had good friends, he shouldn't fuck this up for himself again. once a day, only once a day. less, if richie was dreaming. richie honestly wasn't aware of how intensely he was fidgeting until mike looked over to him,

"you okay?" mike asked, richie looking down at his hands, which were flapping up and down. he stopped flapping them, going back to scratching his nails. he nodded to mike.

"yeah, i'm okay. i didn't realize i was doing that. shitty habits," richie lied through his teeth, mike taking it as truth without a doubt. richie took that a little sourly, but he didn't expect much more.

"babe, you barely ate your lunch today." beverly was making small talk with bill, and so richie chose to focus into that sound. richie thought beverly's voice was annoying, but it was very easy to pick out a of a crowd.

"w-wuh-wasn't hungry. you don't have t-tuh-tuh-tuh-to check up on my eating habits like you're my mom," bill replied, seeing beverly's face drop. he squeezed her hand for once, and her pep and energy reappeared.

"i know, i just get concerned for you, bill." beverly said, swinging their arms.

"yeah. sorry. i eat fine, i juh-just lost my app-puh-puh-pe-pett-appetite. and i hu-had a couple fries." bill mumbled. richie, despite making fun of his stutter, conventionally liked bill's voice. it was deep and surprisingly husky, mostly because he was quiet so much of the time. he liked mike's voice as well, it had a tinge of care in it. maybe it was a pitch thing.

"are you kidding? mike ate most of those," beverly joked, looking back at mike for a moment. mike frowned and crossed his arms. he looked down, scuffing his shoes.

"he didn't eat that many. he had like, what, 4? they make like 25 fries per little basket and you're gonna blame mike?" richie couldn't help himself, he had to add in his thought on the conversation. beverly looked at richie weird, and bill gave him a strange glance as well.

"it's okay, thanks richie," mike elbowed richie, giving him a small smile. richie smiled back. he looked back to beverly, who had turned her head back to bill. maybe he was overreacting. apparently he did that a lot. honestly, richie couldn't care less that beverly had insulted mike indirectly, he just needed to be on someone's good side. and it sure as hell wasn't going to be bill or beverly, so mike would do. he was the nicest, anyway.

richie kept pulling down his backpack strings, pulling his backpack as high up on his back as he could. when he had fully stretched them, he went back to scratching his nails. he stared at the ground. beverly and bill went back to talking, and richie wished he had gotten his earbuds out of his backpack before they had left. bill kept inching further and further away from beverly, who was trying to be as close to bill as possible.

"watch it, bill," richie grabbed the back of bill's backpack, pulling him off the street, and back onto the path which bill hadn't noticed he had wandered off of. the moment after richie pulled him back, a sports car ran down the road, zooming past the four teenagers. bill froze, staring at the spot that he had been standing in. richie kept walking, mike having to tap him to look back. bill looked from the spot to richie, realizing richie had just possibly saved his life.

"thu-thanks." bill said quietly, richie shrugging and pursing his lips. his fingers continued to fidget, and then he continued walking.

mike mouthed are you okay? to bill who nodded, but then shook his head in disbelief. mike patted bill on the back, and then backed away at beverly's look. he raised his eyebrows in annoyance out of her line of vision and caught up with richie, beverly and bill now walking behind them.