Chapter Text
Chapter Zero - Epilogue.
Richie wasn’t the safest or most well treated in his town.
Rumors spread, and in a small town, they spread fast. Everybody thought Richie was gay—or they knew he was gay. Everyone believed it, they just had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Only Richie himself knew the truth—he was.
He was at such a high risk of hate crimes or murder. He was already bullied relentlessly, he just hid how bad it was. But of course since he was the one everyone thought was gay the most, (like, maybe no one else was, calling them gay was just to bully them, but Richie? Richie WAS gay.) he was put in the most danger, besides the regular bullying.
Townsfolk threw trash at him, talked about him within ear shot, treated him like a dog. He wasn’t human to them.
And who treated him worse than Henry Bowers? Nobody.
Henry popularized the rumor of him being queer. Henry beats the life out of him whenever he needs to get his anger out. Berating him, insulting him, chasing him, teasing him, threatening him. Richie could never run fast enough, he was always too slow. Richie had just as many bruises as Henry had, and Henry had a lot. Once Henry had another bruise, another cut, another incident (at home, no one said but always thought), Richie was found not long after and was given his own wound.
Richie was Henry’s top punching bag and Richie could live with that. He’d rather himself than his friends. Imagine if poor Eddie or anxiety stricken Stan had to deal with that bad of bullying bordering on harassment. Or Bill. Sweet, kind Bill, who led them to their next adventure and wouldn’t hurt a fly but would try to stand up for anyone needing it.
And as Richie gained more friends he couldn’t stand the thought of them being hurt so bad. And they were hurt badly by Henry. Beverly, who also had rumors spread of her and was harassed whenever she came across the older boy; Ben, who was also chased and insulted, who had skin broken with more than a hand and more than a few small cuts; and Mike, who was also treated like a dog, having things thrown at him, insults, threats, being chased. The poor thing was practically almost killed.
Richie feels disgusting when he thinks of how bad any of his friends had been harmed. It leaves the worst taste in his mouth.
Oh. But how could Richie bring up being gay and Henry Bowers without bringing up him. Him. He, who moved here last year when Henry’s aunt moved to Derry after his uncle died. He, who is Henry Bowers’ cousin. He, who Richie met at the local arcade, looking like the prettiest boy Richie had ever seen, so he asked him to play Street Fighter together when he saw him playing it. Street Fighter was Richie’s favorite game. It was so refreshing to play with another person, when none of his friends loved the arcade as much as he does. They played the game so many times, and Richie just wanted to keep playing with him forever, just to admire him and be around him.
Oh, but could Henry ever let him have something? Anything good? Anything at all?
No.
Richie asked him to stay, to keep playing, only if he’d wanted to, when he said he should leave. Richie saw the panic in his eyes, the panic he was so familiar with. Henry was outside of the theater and Richie didn’t even know he was there. Oh it made sense after. Richie knew he had a cousin, it’s just not his fault he didn’t see the evil Bowers genes in that beautiful face. Words were spewed. Slurs. And all of a sudden Richie felt fear for his own life again. Being ridiculed for ‘acting gay’ and being called a faggot in public? That’s so incredibly dangerous and Henry might as well stuck a target on his back with words above it saying ‘shoot me, i like boys’.
Geez, his cousin is just as guilty, really.
And after that nightmare Richie had the worst run-ins with that blonde haired devil spawn that they grew a horrible rivalry almost as bad as the Losers Club with Henry and his gang.
Connor fucking Bowers is Richie Tozier’s worst enemy.