Chapter Text
I'm Richie.
I'm 18.
And I'm pretty sure I'm too far gone.
Growing up, Richie always knew he was...different. The fascinations he held towards subjects that most other children were strayed away from were intense, powerful, overwhelming at times.
His uncle, Paul, didn't say anything about it, ever, just simply accepting that's how Richie is. It was most likely to his upbringing.
When Richie was 8, Paul had gone camping with him and his best friend - Peter Spankoffski - who wouldn't come if his older brother wasn't. So the four of them went camping.
Only an hour after it getting dark and the campfire being started, Richie started acting...strange. As soon as eyes were off of him, he reached out to try and touch the fire, the gloves he was wearing quickly caught alight and ended up getting to his flesh. The burn mark stayed. The skin was weird to touch, the sight of it made people's skin crawl, made their body feel all different.
It was a reminder to him of that trip, of the trip they all went on to get away from the city, from the constant noise they had to dealt with.
Richie had done what he did to feel something, anything. His childhood had ruined him in ways that was unexplainable, only Paul seemed to understand, and he didn't fully get it either. But he seemed to understand it all better than anybody else, and that was all that mattered to Richie.
*——*
School was beneath him, but he'd never dare to admit that. Saying it would make him sound full of himself, something he wasn't. He hardly had any friends, only two - Peter and Ruth. They were all he needed. They understood him. They knew about his...habits, his tendencies of violence. The thoughts he had. Neither of them ever mentioned them, not wanting to be the cause of any sort of reaction they'd receive from the teen, the young adult.
The three nerds all sat at the lunch table, silently eating - or rather that was what only Richie was doing. The other two spoke the minutes away, acting like Richie wasn't having an 'off day', as they called it. The boy stayed silent as he slowly put his earbuds in, the white wires seeming like a barrier between the real world and the world he was slowly drifting off into. His hands fidgeting at his long sleeved shirt, rubbing the fabric against itself. His other hand was busy with his fingers tapping away mindlessly at his thigh.
His eyes travelled between the two friends he had, watching the words leave their lips and hit the other, just like gentle taps against their skin. He didn't want to listen to them talk, not today, not now. They were talking about the pop quiz they had just had in their previous class, Richie didn't want to even think about that quiz - he could guarantee he flunked it. He spent pretty much the whole time just drawing his favourite anime characters - Rei and Asuka, mainly. He knew that his art wouldn't get him a grade in his core subjects, but that's why he took art. He also took film studies, AKA media studies just with a more specific focus. He enjoyed it, the courses he himself got to pick.
Without any warning, a shadow is casted over their lunch table. Somebody was stood there, staring over them.
Silently, Richie takes out one of his earbuds and looks up at this person, practically copying what Ruth and Peter had done moments before him.
"I've seen you skating, Shit-Lips.”
Is that it? Is that the only reason he was here? The only reason on why Max Jägerman, the most popular bully at Hatchetfield High, had come over to their table?
"You're pretty shit."
"Fuck off.”
That's the only response Max would get out of Richie in that moment. It stunned all three of them. His voice was so small, so quiet and so...exhausted. He had clearly had enough of today, and lunch had only just started.
The two nerds started at Richie, wide eyed. They didn't know what to do, what to say. Their minds had gone blank. Their best friend had just stood up to the schools bully, and didn't even care? What was going on, what the fuck was going on?!
Without any other words, Max turns around and leaves, like that was all he came over to say. No harassment, no bullying. Just...that simple, and extremely short, interaction.
Ruth and Peter sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before the nasally voice Ruth constantly had broke it.
"What. The. Fuck."
She said exactly what they were all thinking, just all in different ways. Ruth couldn't comprehend what just happened, Peter didn't understand the point of what just happened and Richie just found it more of an inconvenience. But they all wondered the same thing - what on earth had just happened?