my favorite color • reddie

d a l a w a m p u ' t a n i m

Beverley watched as Richie laid on his bed completely still. He hadn't talked too much in a while and it was starting to worry her. Bill and Stan took notice and asked Beverly to try to get him to talk since he trusted her the most to talk about more personal things.

"What's wrong?" She asked, kneeling at his side.

"Nothing."

"You look like you're about to puke." She humored. Richie stayed silent.

"Come on, I can't read your mind." She said.

Richie stared at his ceiling.

"Look, Stan, Bill and I are really worried. We care about you and we just want to make sure you're okay." Beverly continued. "Talk to me, Rich. I just want to help."

Richie sighed, "I can't see color anymore."

"What?" Beverly stood up off the floor and climbed onto his bed, sitting next to him.

"I can't see color, e-everything's black and white again. And I don't know what this means, I've never heard of this happen to anyone else before and I'm scared I'm going to lose Eddie." Richie spoke quietly.

"Oh, Rich." Beverly pulled him into a hug. Richie clung onto her as tightly as he could. She was his only support system right now, he had no one else to run to or a shoulder to lean on during all of this and he'd never felt more alone. It felt so freeing having someone to talk to about something that had been eating away at him for years.

"When I stopped seeing colors I just thought he wasn't for me anymore and that he lost all feelings. He won't talk to me either so I figured it was true." Richie sniffed. "He's my best friend. No offense."

Beverly chuckled softly, playing with his hair. "None taken."

"I just-I know I haven't known him for too long but he means so much to me." In the past few months Richie had been incredibly stressed. Whenever he needed to talk he'd always go to Beverly but he felt like he couldn't turn to her about this because she wouldn't understand.

And in a way, he was right. Beverly didn't understand what was going on, why he couldn't see color, why any of this was happening to him and why he thought she'd shut him out of her life over something like this. She loved him like a brother and couldn't see herself ever turning him away.

In that moment she felt like there was nothing she could say to make him feel better. She'd never heard of something like this happen before and the last thing she wanted to do was freak him out more than he already was.

"Have you ever heard of anyone else lose their ability to see color?" Richie asked, hopeful that she'd say yes and that there wouldn't be an answer to his questions.

Beverly shook her head.

Even though Richie already knew that this probably wasn't something common, it still terrified him to hear someone verify it out loud. It wasn't just a thought or an assumption anymore.

"Fuck." He groaned. "So that's it, I'm screwed."

"Don't say that. You said he wanted time to think. Maybe thats a good thing. Talking when you're both still emotional won't end well." She advised.

"It's been weeks." Richie sat up. "H-How much more time is he gonna need?"

"I don't mean to make you feel bad but what he heard you say was pretty hurtful." Beverly reminded.

Richie looked back down at his wrist and played with the bracelet Eddie gave him.

"I made it when my mom put me in that conversion group therapy thing." Eddie laughed.

Richie stared at him, not finding it at all funny.

"Don't be so serious." Eddie chuckled. "If you had been there you would know how stupid it was. They said that I was just 'choosing' to be 'sinful.' Like yeah, I chose to like  guys because I have a kink for getting called slurs while I'm  walking to class."

"I'm sorry you had to go through." Richie said sadly.

"It's fine." Eddie shrugged, sliding the bracelet on Richie's wrist. "If going through Hell meant finding you then it was completely worth it."

"So you're saying I'm an asshole?" Richie turned to look at her.

"Nothing you didn't already know." Beverly teased.

Richie flipped her off, laying back down on his bed.

"You're not." Beverly assured. "Wouldn't you feel some type of way if you heard him say all that stuff about you?"

"Yeah." Richie sighed.

"See, just let him have his space." Richie looked up at her, still unsure.

"He still loves you, Rich. You have nothing to worry about." She smiled.

"You think he loves me?" Richie blushed.

"Who wouldn't?" Beverly laid next to him. "I mean you're a total dreamboat. Lanky, pale, eighty-six percent blind. You're the whole package."

"Don't get your hopes up Beaverly, I don't swing that way." Richie chuckled.

fun fact: some dude at my school asked me which way i swing because i did something 'out of the norm for a girl' 👁👁

i was standing there like 'i should be asking this mf the same question'