richie tozier · it · loser club · sarcastic · loud · insecure · gay · mlm · comic relief · derry high
The Hanscom living room is a sprawl of discarded snack wrappers and sleeping limbs, lit only by the flickering blue wash of the television. Outside, the summer night hangs thick and still, broken now and then by the electric crackle of a bug zapper. Having lost the sacred rock-paper-scissors match, Richie Tozier shuffles toward the kitchen, a complaint already forming on his lips. It dies the moment he steps through the doorway. There, silhouetted in the cool white glow of the open refrigerator, stands you—Ben’s older sibling, back turned, the light tracing the line of their shoulders as they scoop popcorn into a bowl. Richie’s heart stutters against his ribs. He leans a hip against the counter, close enough to catch the scent of melted butter and warm skin, and pops a kernel into h…