mixtape (reddie)

Chapter 50

a/n: tw: mention of self harm. slight nsfw themes, nothing too graphic.

***

Zack and Sharon won a free weekend stay at a resort up in Bangor, so Sharon packed for the spa while Zack sat and talked to the boys about the weekend rules.

"Look, Bill, Rich," Zack sat them down at the kitchen table. Richie was shaking, his teeth grinding against one another as he prepared for the gut wrenching news.

Richie saw Sharon packing. He's was ready to hear it, he's ready to get kicked out. They made a mistake adopting him, he just knows-

"I'm not saying no parties," Zack said. This wasn't what Richie was expecting at all, so he lifted his eyes in surprise. Zack looked around, then lowered his voice. "Just keep it under control, alright? I don't want to get a call from the hospital saying one of you has alcohol poisoning."

Bill laughed, shaking his head. "Who the fuck would we invite to a party, dad?"

Richie nodded. Neither of them are popular, Bill pretty much destroyed that chance with a stutter he couldn't shake. Now, his dead brother's legacy follows him like a shadow. And Richie? Richie will never be cool. He's... well, he's Trashmouth. The trashmouth that got sent away to an orphanage and left behind his faggy boyfriend.

Zack still said "If you're gonna smoke, don't empty the bong water in your mother's porcelain sink. She'll be able to spot that residue the second she steps in the door."

Bill scoffed and then rolled his eyes, pushing on his dad's legs. "Go. Seriously. I'm not having a party, I'm gonna go to Bev's."

Zack looked over to Richie, then asking "Now what about you, crazy kid? You gonna have a rager while I'm gone?"

Richie shook his head, promising profusely "No sir. I'm going to stay home. I'll fight off any intruders."

"Atta boy," Zack reached out to ruffle Richie's hair, and for once, the boy didn't flinch. He just smiled up at the fatherly figure that makes him feel loved.

"Da- Zack?" Richie then asked, earning the attention of both Zack and Bill who heard the slip up at the same time. "Can I invite a friend over?"

Zack looked at Bill with a smile, a silent conversation between their eyes saying that he can't believe this is the infamous class clown that Bill told them all about for the two years that Richie wasn't in Derry. He knew he was going to say yes, but he still did his parental duty by asking "Which friend?"

"Eddie Kaspbrak, sir. He's a good kid, he's Sonia Kaspbrak's son," Richie nodded as if he was trying to sell the idea of Eddie to Zack. His hands twisted in his lap, but Bill could see the way that Richie was crossing his fingers. He thought that was adorable. Bill takes full advantage of his parents lax personalities, but Richie still has yet to learn that he can get away with anything as long as it's not murder.

"Oh, I know Sonia," Zack nodded, his eyes widened. He also knows Eddie, the little boy that used to come stay over in the basement with Bill more often than those other friends of his. In the midst of one of Bill's many tangents about his lost friend, he explained that Eddie and Richie were close. Closer than just friends. "Sure, bucko. Just remember..."

Richie nodded, his eyes wide and ears ready to receive any sort of instruction. He wants to follow authority as closely as possible to prove that they can trust him to do as they say. He's been trained to obey.

"...Don't be silly, wrap your willy. There's condoms in the top drawer of me and your mom's bathroom."

"Dad!" Bill spluttered out, then bursted into laughter at the obscene vulgarity.