Quick note- I FINALLY went back and edited two past chapters, where Bev called herself Richie's "little sister" and they have now been changed to his "big sister" because I'm an idiot and forgot that I'd said she was younger than him at one point, and didn't feel like changing it. So yeah, she's older than Richie, by only a couple weeks :D

I fiddled with the ages and such, and they are Juniors rather than Sophomores! Is it obvious yet that I've been writing this fic for THREE years? I don't know jack ass about my own damn fic.

Also some of Richie's uncle's shit is revealed in this chapter. It's not much better than the first go around, but it's more likely to happen, I guess. Either way, I'm sticking with it lmao


Tuesday, January 2, 2018

It was close to ten that night when everyone finally left, having to get ready for the school day tomorrow. They'd spent the entire day at the Tozier's watching movies or playing video games. Maggie and Went both had to go into work today, Went dealing with a case and Maggie had to handle a few things at her job.

"There was a grown ass man at the office today." Maggie huffed, letting out a quiet grunt as her back hit the back of the chair. Everyone was home now, except for Went.

"Well, mom, I figure a grown man being there is pretty normal-"

"Let me finish, Richard." she cocked an eyebrow at him and he grinned at her, fiddling with a pencil in his hand. "He freaked the, excuse my language, fuck out over a needle going in his arm. And when I say freaked out, and I mean had a full blown panic attack. He was like forty."

"Christ." Bev laughed. "I mean, not many people are fans of needles, I get, but really?"

"I know." Maggie sighed, and finally noticed the papers sitting all over the kitchen table. "What are you guys up to? School work this late?"

"We were kind of, uh… distracted over break, as you know." Bev bit her lip, glancing at Richie who simply poked her in the nose with the eraser end of his pencil. "And we're just now getting to our work."

"You kids, I swear." Maggie chuckled.

"We didn't have shit to do for English, but had stupid ass packets for science, math and history." Richie told her, waving his pencil as he talked.

"You literally do not have to do this shit, Richie." Eddie looked like he was ready to pull his hair out. "You can work on it over a few days instead of stressing out over it like us."

"Who says I'm stressing?" Richie asked.

"You're over there hunched over that damn math worksheet writing like your life depends on it." Eddie huffed.

"First of all," Richie said, poking Eddie with his pencil. "I literally cannot unhunch myself at the moment," Bev laughed and Maggie shook her head, amused. "And secondly, I'm the mathematics God. I am not stressing shit."

"Alright, math God, help me with this bullshit before I pull my hair out."

"Why is he doing his work now?" Maggie asked Bev, who looked up from the page she was reading. She let out a snort.

"Because, Mr. Big Shot, who has claimed to not give a singular shit about school, doesn't want his work to be turned in late." she deadpanned and Maggie laughed, shaking her head. Her son was now too busy explaining some equation to his boyfriend- she assumed, she had no idea at this point- and wasn't paying the two any attention. "He doesn't want his grades to drop, though." she explained. "As if he wouldn't be able to get them caught up. We're all gonna write a lot of notes for our classes, since we all share at least one together, for him and collect all his work until he's able to go back to school."

"That's sweet." Maggie smiled, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hands. "We've already talked to the principal and his teachers about what happened, and the guidance counselor if something happens while he's at school, so hopefully when he starts back they won't give him a hard time."

"Oh they will." she said. "Teachers at Derry High don't give a shit if you're on your deathbed."

"Sucks to see it hasn't changed." Maggie sighed. "Well… you have one more full year of having to deal with them. And whatever comes your way for college." Bev nodded, biting her lip.

"I haven't thought much about college." she said. "At all, really."

"Why's that?" Maggie asked. She shrugged.

"Never thought I'd make it to that point, honestly."

And dammit, Maggie couldn't hate pregnancy hormones any more than she did in this moment, because she felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks within seconds of the words coming out of Bev's mouth.

"Hey, woah, what the hell?" Richie exclaimed. Maggie held a hand up to him and grabbed Bev's.

"I'm fine." she sniffed. "I just… I wish we could've gotten you out sooner." she told Bev honestly. "Believe me, if we had known how bad it was…"

"It's not your fault." Bev told her. "I never told anyone. Richie didn't even know."

"Trust me, mom, I'd have ended up in the hospital a lot sooner had I known," he replied.

Bev chose to ignore that comment for the time being, and turned back to Maggie. "Well, thanks to you guys I never have to worry about him again, right?"

"Absolutely not." Maggie shook her head.

"So stop crying before I start." Bev told her and Maggie chuckled, wiping at her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry… hormones, you know? I cried all the time when I was pregnant with Richie."

"Sure, blame me." Richie huffed. "I didn't choose to be born! You nasty fuckers."

"Says the guy that talks about his dick seventeen times a day." Eddie replied easily, mostly focused on his math sheet. Richie let out a little gasp, cheeks turning a dark red.

"Not in front of my mother, Spaghetti!"

That had both Bev and Maggie laughing.

"Seventeen is a specific number." Bev laughed.

"I counted." Eddie replied. "That's the most I counted in one day. The least was six." he shrugged, glancing at Richie with a devilish little grin. "And talking about balls? What is your obsession with balls?"

"I'm not obsessed with balls." Richie replied immediately, glaring at the shorter teen. Eddie laughed, and with that, they went back to their work, Maggie helping in places she could.


Wednesday, January 3, 2018

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Maggie asked, hands resting on her son's cheeks.

"Yeah, ma, don't worry." he told her. He was seated on his bed, looking up at her, glasses somewhere on his table. Bev and Eddie were already at school, and Went was putting his shoes on, as he and Maggie were about to head to the doctors appointment, and afterwards were both supposed to be going to work.

"I know you act like you're not in pain but-"

"Mom," he said seriously. "It's really not that bad," liar, there it was again. That word just echoing in his head. "I'll take my meds like I'm supposed to, and when you guys leave I'm probably gonna go back to sleep anyways."

"Alright, ready to go!" Went called from the hallway, and then appeared in the doorway as a giant blob. Maggie sighed, and kissed Richie's head.

"If you need us, for anything do not hesitate to call, understand?"

"Yes, ma." Richie nodded. "Let me know how things go." he told her.

"I will." She kissed his forehead again, and Went fist bumped him, and the two left.

Richie sighed. Today wasn't going to be a good one. His insides felt like they were trying to curl in on each other, which was apparently a normal feeling after having your guts on display for eight hours during surgery. Which, of course it was. There was no way in hell he would get away with having no pain after all he went through. Didn't mean he wanted to take pain pills- he shuttered just thinking about it.

He lied back down, flipping the pillow he used under his head over onto the cooler side, and tried to relax. His phone was fully charged on the corner of his bed, so if he needed it it was right there. He looked at the bottle of pills on the table, sitting next to his glasses and a glass of water, but instead of reaching for them, he turned his head.


"I wonder what Richie's ass has done all day." Bev said as she and Eddie walked up the front steps of the Tozier house.

"He's been texting me randomly throughout the day." Eddie told her, looking at his phone. "First time he texted was at like, eleven, once around 2 and then again right before we left school. Didn't ever say what he was doing though."

"He take his meds?" she asked, unlocking the door.

"I doubt it."

"Richard!" Bev shrieked as she pushed the door open.

"Now you know damn well he can't yell back." Eddie snorted. Bev laughed and they walked inside. It was way too quiet, no TV, no music. Nothing coming from upstairs.

"Well, that doesn't seem good." she muttered. She and Eddie kicked their shoes off at the door and dropped their bags on the couch, making their way up the stairs to Richie's room.

Eddie knocked gently on the door frame and opened the door all the way. The room was dark, besides the little bit of light filtering through the blackout curtains.

"Richie?" Eddie whispered. He saw Richie move a little, but didn't say anything. He turned back to Bev. "Give me a minute, I'll check on him. Want to make some food?"

"Hell yeah, I'm hungry." Bev said. "Let me know how he is." she said quietly, and Eddie nodded. She walked away and he stepped into the room.

"Please close the door." Richie mumbled into one of his pillows. Eddie did as he asked and carefully made his way to the bed.

"Have you gotten out of bed today, Chee?" Eddie asked, kneeling next to his bed.

"For the bathroom," he replied.

"Did you take your medicine?" Eddie asked, waiting for the lie as he eyed said medicine and glass of water on the table.

"Yeah."

"Strange, how there's a whole ass pill sitting on this table, that is in fact, not in your system."

"Fuck." Richie groaned. "I don't like taking medicine, Eddie." There goes the full name.

"Can I lie with you?" Eddie asked softly. Richie just hummed and Eddie took that as a yes, going to the end of the bed and crawling over his legs to settle on top of the covers next to him. Richie was facing the rest of the room still, so Eddie scooted closer to him and leaned his forehead against his back, throwing a leg over Richie's. "Can I ask why you don't like taking it?"

"I don't want to." Richie muttered.

"That's okay-" Eddie rubbed his arm gently, but Richie interrupted.

"But might as well get it over with." he said it even quieter, and it took him a moment, but he wiggled his way onto his other side, Eddie helping him with his pillows. "This is such bullshit."

"I know, I wish I could help more."

"You do." Richie told him seriously. "More than you know."

"And you don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want to talk about it." Eddie said, face heating up.

"I need to, though," he said. "Your mom isn't the only person with Munch- Munchin- fuck it. MSBP." he said, finally. Eddie raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "She isn't the only person I know like that. My uncle."

"Richie…"

"We didn't know he was like that. Dad says he was always iffy growing up, but he wasn't anything like he is now. When my uncle and cousin came to visit, it was bad. He forced her to take pills- real pills, not even fake ones your mom gave you. She was addicted to whatever shit he was giving her by the time she was twelve, and I was seven then. He put on this big show, acting like she was so sick, and he convinced my parents. Lying runs in the family, I guess."

"Wow, I…"

"That summer I wasn't around for a while. They came to visit and stayed with us in our old house. I ended up staying at home with my uncle and cousin while my parents went out for the night. Let's just say…" he paused for a moment and took a deep breath, rubbing at his eyes, "I coughed a little too hard and he thought I was dying, and he made me think I was dying. I was fucking seven."

"I'm so sorry, Richie." Eddie moved closer and put their foreheads together.

"My breath probably stinks." Richie rushed. "I haven't brushed today."

"I don't give a flying fuck." Eddie replied, doing it anyway. Richie's nose poked his left cheek. He knew there was more to the story, but he wasn't gonna push him. "You don't have to tell me anything else. Not until you're ready, because I can tell there's more, and I can already tell today hasn't been the best for you. I'm not gonna push you into talking about anything."

"Thank you." Richie whispered.

"I want you to be honest with me, are you in any pain?"

"Feels like my guts are trying to tie into one of those impossible boy scout knots-"

"Not your best."

"Fuck you, I know. But it doesn't feel great but… I can handle it."

"Rich."

"I can handle it, Eddie." Richie looked straight into Eddie's eyes as he spoke. "I can handle it."

"If it gets any worse, you have to take your meds."

"I know. I will."

Eddie speaks as Bev walks by Richie's room, talking loudly on her phone.

"Huh?" Richie asked, squinting at Eddie. Eddie repeats himself, but Richie's so focused on trying to look at the blurry image of Eddie, he doesn't hear him once again.

"Jesus fucking Christ." The laugh Richie gets out of Eddie after that makes his heart nearly beat out of his chest.

"Shut up, you know I can't hear without my glasses."