Richie kinda internally freaks out over accidentally calling Karen mom, and they have a bit of a heart to heart over it and he tells her about his adoptive mom and it gets a lil deep.

Also, I've decided to change their birthdays to March 7th, as that's Richie's actual birthday. I've been meaning to mention this before now, but y'all know how much of a dumbass I am sometimes (most of the time). They're 21 :D

AND it might be a week or so before I update again, depending on school and whether or not my mind wants to work right XD. Anyways, the next chapter's also gonna be probably twice as long as this one and a lot's gonna be going on, so get ready! (Not necessarily IT related until the end though, I know that for a fact.)

Thursday, June 14, 1992

The last week and a half has gone by pretty quickly for the Losers, while for Mike and El it seems like it's dragged on and on. Billy was sent off to some jail in Indianapolis the same day of the fight, where his injuries were taken care of. Mike was proud to tell Richie that he'd knocked three of his teeth out, broke his nose and he needed a couple stitches on his cheekbones, which Richie'd obviously started bragging about, all the while he had a black eye and bruised knuckles. The rest of the Losers spent everyday exploring Hawkins with Bev, Dustin, and Will, as Max had to work a lot and Lucas was up her ass, while Mike and El were busy with even more missing child cases.

Three more kids have gone missing, and there isn't a trace of them anywhere. Unknown to everyone else, Lucas has been having weird dreams about a clown with red balloons, standing tall around his friends, who were all dead on the ground. He'd told Max about it after the third night in a row, but she had no idea what to do to help.

Dustin probably talked even more than Richie when he found out Billy got his ass handed to him, and probably spent two hours on the phone talking to Steve about it as if he was there, when in reality, he and Will joined the group ten minutes after the whole thing, only to see Richie's shirt and face smeared with blood and his eye already swollen.

Now, Richie is sitting in the living room of his could have been childhood home while his biological mother fussed over his face, insisting he put an ice pack over it even though the swelling had gone down days ago and the bruise was already fading.

"Mom, he's fine." Mike said, waving her off as he put a red two in the middle of the coffee table. He, Richie, Eddie and El were sitting on each side, playing Uno, and have been at it for about an hour. "It's been over a week so he's good, right Rich?"

"Si." He mumbled, hardly paying attention to them, only to his cards. "Uno. I'm all good, mom." He said as he went to put another red down. He froze halfway, realizing what he just said. He hadn't actually called her that before. He dropped the card on the table and bit his lip, holding the last card close to his chest as he stared at a chipped piece of paint on the table.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck why did I say that? I mean yeah she's my mom but what if Mike doesn't really want me to call her that? What if he was just saying it to be nice and now they both hate me. I look like an idiot in front of them for letting it slip.

Eddie eyed him and Mike and El looked at Karen, who looked like she was gonna cry. She took a step forward and leaned down and kissed the top of his head. He let out a breath and blinked, eyes flickering to her face for a split second, and all he saw was her smile. He gave her a small one back. He coughed into his hand and looked up again and Mike winked at him. He smiled a small smile at him too and waited for his final turn, slapping the plus four on the table with a loud,

"Whoop!" Eddie started grumbling about losing again but pecked his cheek as a reward. Richie stood up, stretching his arms above his head, his back cracking. Eddie scowled at him so Richie just winked.

"Can I talk to you, Richie?" Karen asked softly. He blinked and let his arms fall back down. He gulped and nodded, biting his lip as he followed her to the basement, of all places. "I only wanted to come down here so they wouldn't eavesdrop. Michael's known to do that." Richie cracked a smile. She sat on the couch and patted the space next to her, crossing her legs. He hesitated for a second, but sat next to her.

Shit she's probably gonna lecture me about not calling her mom. Is she gonna hit me like ma used to? No, no, Mike would've told me, right?

His mind was going a mile a minute, thinking up different ways this was gonna go, and not one of them matched what actually happened.

"Hey, what is it?" She asked, noticing the tears threatening to fall.

"I, uh... I'm sorry for um, for calling you mom..." It was almost a whisper.

"Don't be sorry!" She went to put a hand on his shoulder but he flinched and she retracted her hand instantly. "You can call me mom, I'd love it if you did." She still had that smile on her face, though he could see it in her eyes that she was confused. He looked at her for a couple seconds and didn't realize he was actually crying until he felt her hands on his face. "What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked, swiping her thumbs under his eyes.

"The last time I called anyone mom was...was when I was eighteen." He said quietly.

"Why?"

"Ma, uh, Maggie," He corrected, "Would hit me if I called her ma or mom, so I just stopped." Karen's eyes widened. "I-I don't know why? But...I know it wasn't always like that."

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I would never hit you, none of you."

"I know. It's just...I'm not used to this type of thing. For a second I thought you would but I know you wouldn't." He chewed the inside of his mouth for a second and sighed. "I haven't seen or talked to either of them since I was eighteen. When I was sixteen I barely slept at home a week at a time, I'd stay with Eddie or someone else."

"Why haven't you talked to them? Did they do something?"

"Well, I...I got kicked out, officially, on my, well, our, birthday. It was my fault, really, I was talking back to Went because he got mad that I said it was my birthday, and he tried to tell me it wasn't for another month." He started to continue but she interrupted him.

"Don't you dare say that it was your fault, do you understand me? That is such bullshit that they would do that!" She actually seemed mad, and he didn't know how to react to it. "If I could talk to either of them, I'd give them a piece of my mind."

"No, you don't understand, my nickname from everyone is Trashmouth." He told her softly. "I'm raunchy and I have no filter, usually at least. I usually say the F word every other word and make horrible jokes and I'm a smartass. It's why I used to get in so much trouble in school, I couldn't control my mouth."

"Mike got that way sometimes, when he was in school, and you know what?" His eyes flickered to hers for a second and then back down to his hands. "All I did was make him do extra chores, which he whined about. I never hit him, Nancy, Holly, and I would never, intentionally, hit you. Or anyone else for that matter, unless they really deserve it. It's okay that you have no filter, it's who you are. Here's a little secret about me, that the rest of you kids don't know." He looked at her so she continued. "I was a bit of a trashmouth myself when I was in school. Not around teachers or anything, because back then the teachers were allowed to pop you. I'd curse and curse every other word, even after I met your father because let's be honest here, who wouldn't curse at him or about him?" Richie chuckled wetly and wiped his eyes.

"It's kinda hard to believe you were a Trashmouth too."

"If you ever see me wine drunk you'll understand." She replied, taking his hands. "But I'm serious, Richie, it's who you are. I mean, I'd rather not hear you curse every other word, but I'm not asking you to change. Mike told me that you were cheery and happy all the time but you haven't exactly seemed that way."

"I just...I don't want you guys to hate me for who I am. The people in Derry? Parents, grandparents, even people my age were always judging me and acting like I was some disease that wouldn't go away." He couldn't help but role his eyes and huff a little when he said that.

"I could never hate you. I loved you the second I laid eyes on you, and I haven't stopped, and I won't. I'm not sure if promises mean as much to you as they do Mike, but I promise you I will never hate you. I wouldn't hate you if you killed someone. I wouldn't like it, but I wouldn't hate you." He snickered.

If only she knew the shit I've done in my life. Dumb ass fucking clown.

"Wanna know something else?" She asked. He nodded. "You're older by six minutes." He grinned widely at that.

"Hmm, I don't think Mikey's gonna be none to happy about that." She chuckled and shook her head.

"Just wait until he finds out, his face is gonna be priceless." She said. "And one more thing, with the cursing, if you will, try not to in front of Holly or Nora? We're trying to keep them both away from it as much as possible."

"Of course." He nodded in agreement. "So, uh, thanks? I think?"

"Anytime you need to talk, I'm here, okay? It doesn't matter what time, day or night, call or come over." He nodded and smiled reaching forward and pulling her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly.

Karen let him go after a minute or two and stood, walking over to a cabinet and opening it.

"Ah ha! Here it is." She grinned and turned around, holding up a Polaroid camera. Richie snickered and stood as well, following her back up the stairs.

"Be ready." He whispered to her. She nodded, the grin never leaving her face. Richie knew he looked like he'd been crying, but he really didn't care, so he just bounded into the living room like a bat outta hell with Karen hot on his heels with matching grins. Mike, El and Eddie were squeezed on the couch now, Mike in the middle.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asked upon seeing him, while El just made a face at the two. Richie just grinned at him and looked Mike dead in the face.

"I'm older by six minutes, Mikey boy. Suck on that."

Flash!

Everyone, except Mike of course, laughed at the picture for the rest of the night.