Chapter Text
Hatchetfield High third period, The Nerdy Trio, plus Stephanie and Grace, walk through the crowded halls to their next class.
“Jesus, Ruth, shut up!” Peter rolls his eyes.
“I’m just saying she could totally hit this anytime, any pl-"
She gets interrupted by a hiss of pain.
“Richie, are you okay?” Stephanie asks, looking over at him. Nothing seems physically wrong, but his reaction indicates otherwise, he's standing in place with a pained look in his eyes. She doesn't know him well enough yet to understand what's happening.
Richie silently shuffles over to the lockers and slides down to sit on the floor. A few students look at him weirdly, resulting in him staring at the dirty vinyl flooring.
Grace glances around the group “Why are Stephanie and I the only ones concerned right now?”
Richie curls up into a ball “Ow, shit,” he mumbles as his knees crunch.
“Did you not wear your knee braces, dumbass?” Pete asks.
“How can you be so insensitive!?” Steph slaps his arm.
Ruth shrugs "He hates pity. The last time I showed sympathy, he yelled at me… while quoting an anime monologue.”
“To answer Pete, I was fine this morning,” Richie's voice has an air of defeat.
The hallway has grown emptier as time slowly ticks on, just a few lingering students left, including Max Jägerman, who is staring and not hiding it well. Richie looks up catching his eye, Max looks away quickly.
“Are you sure there weren't any signs?” Peter questions, he knew Richie's pain pretty well by now and the fact his friend was really good at ignoring his own body.
“I don’t know, I was too distracted getting ready and watching Bluey,” Richie fiddles with his sleeves.
Steph chuckles “Bluey?”
Ruth elbows her “Don’t bully him!”
“You’re the one who told me not to pity him!”
“Can someone just explain what's going on with him?!” Grace yells, still visibly confused.
Richie stays on the floor avoiding eye contact as he nervously rubs his hands against his shorts, not making a move to answer.
Pete waited a few seconds before answering for him “Oh, uh, yeah. Richie has some sort of joint and body pain issues, probably fibromyalgia.”
“Fibro-whaty?” Stephanie blurts.
Max slowly steps closer.
“Fibromyalgia. Fuck, my knees hurt,” Richie groans and tries to massage them slightly.
Ruth notices the jock “We have an audience,” she fails to whisper.
“Yeah, Jägerman has been staring for like 5 minutes,” Richie rolls his eyes, seemingly unbothered.
Max leans against a nearby locker, only about two feet away from the group now “I- uh… is Shitlips okay?” his voice is gruff, yet awkward.
“Like you would care,” Ruth scoffs.
Stephanie knows Max better than the others, and she can see the genuine concern in his eyes. Max -while still not the best person- was slowly but surely becoming nicer to the nerds since the prank “He's fine, Max.”
“That's debatable,” Richie mumbles.
Max, unexpectedly, crouches down next to him “Let me ask again. Are you okay, Shitlips? Um, I mean Richie. Are you okay Richie?” this was odd, almost like they were kids again, when Richie would trip and Max would help him back up.
“Just a flare-up, Max. I don't understand why you're acting like you care,” while Richie missed those childhood days, that wasn't reality anymore, Max was a bully and made his life hell, he caused him pain. So why would he be concerned that he's in any?
“Flare up?” Max looks confused, his head tilted to the side like a dog.
Of course he wouldn't address the rest of Richies sentence, “I have chronic pain.”
“Oh. Is that why you're off school so much?”
“You noticed?” Richie stares at Max, he was lost on this. Why would Jagerman notice his absence and why did he feel weirdly flattered over it?
“Um, well yeah, practice and games are less fun without Zeke ya know,” he shrugs, sounding flustered.
Pete fakes a cough “Ahem, anyway... do you need to head home, Richie?”
Richie looks from Max to Pete, the growing blush on his cheeks now visible to the whole group “Huh?”
Ruth snickers and looks at Pete knowingly; while they all heavily dislike the football player it's no secret that he's attractive and that Richie is very, very queer.
“I said, do you need to head home?” Pete repeats himself, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, uh, yeah, yeah I think so.”
Max pushes himself back up from the crouched position “I gotta go to remedial algebra, bye nerds. Feel better Richie!” he walks off, but not before Stephanie notices that his face is growing red too. It's her turn to snicker knowingly.
“What's so funny?” Grace asks.
“Oh, nothing,” Steph lilts with a smile.
“That was really weird behaviour from Max,” Grace points out what they were all thinking.
“Maybe the prank worked more than we thought,” Richie shrugs then winces in pain at the movement “Pete, can you call Uncle Paul to pick me up?”
“Sure thing.”
Pete calls Paul, who answers the phone quickly, concern lacing his voice, He was at work and Pete rarely called him for anything other than emergencies “Peter? Are you okay? Do I need to get Ted? Is Richie okay? Ruth? Is anyone hurt? Should I call an ambulance?”
“Woah, Paul, calm down. We’re okay, but Richie’s having a bad flare-up," he looks at Richie, who seems to be trying to stretch out his tight muscles but just getting more pain in return "he needs to be picked up.”
“That's a relief, I hope he's not too bad. I'll see if I can get a longer lunch break, and come get him.”
“Thanks, Paul. Update me when you can; we’re just sitting in the hallway for now. I'm just waiting to get into trouble.”
Paul chuckles “I’ll keep you updated. Do you want to come with Richie, or will you be staying at school?”
“I'll come with.”
“Hey, I wanna come too!” Ruth shouts into the phone.
“Okay, I'll hopefully see you all soon,” and with that, Paul hangs up.
“So I'm not invited then?” Steph giggles.
“Neither am I?” Grace adds.
Richie looks up at them “His car fits like three people, it's tiny," He pauses “he is coming, right?”
“He said he's going to do his best, and if worse comes to worst, I can call Ted to pick us up. He'll take any opportunity to skip work.”
“No thanks, I don't want to die,” Richie laughs.