A/N: This is some good content. Y'all being fed well today.

THE FIVE OF THEM RUSH INTO THE TOWNHOUSE, throwing the door open as they all enter. "Let's get our shit and get the fuck out of here," Richie looks back to Eddie and Veronica who trailed in after him.

"Did you leave your stuff here?" Eddie looks to Ben who entered in behind them.

He shakes his head. "No, my stuff is in the car," He says as Beverly rushes towards the mini bar.

Veronica sighs, clambering up the steps. "Why us? Huh, why the fuck do we have to defeat this stupid ass clown?" She asks no one in particular as the three of them reach the top of the steps.

"I don't know, Nic," Eddie sighs, shaking his head as he starts towards his room, walking down the hall, the floorboards creaking.

Leaving her and Richie staring at one another. "Get your stuff quickly. Okay? I wanna leave, We gotta get out of here right now," He looks down at her, his heart clenching as he stares at her half-lidded blue eyes. She looked so tired. So scared. He reaches out from her hand, gripping it in his.

She nods, feeling somewhat at ease at his touch. "Yeah. Yeah, I will," She breathes out before realizing something. She had forgotten. They didn't come here together. Why did it feel like they did? It felt like they never left. "Wait, Rich. Where are..." She mumbles, looking to him with curious eyes.

He swallows dryly, staring into her eyes. "Come with me, please, Ronnie. Come home with me," He looks at her, eyes pained at the thought of leaving Derry without one another again.

Her heart leaped at the thought, suddenly remembering all the times they had planned their lives together in her small childhood bedroom. But, she realized something again. "I... I have to go back to New York, Rich," She sputters out, looking at him with her lip trembling.

"W-What?" He asks, feeling the same way he felt when she was leaving for New York in their childhood. Confused. Alone.

♧

It was the summer of 1991 and Veronica Mills was moving away from Derry and to New York. She could barely breathe. All her life, all she wanted to do was get out of Derry. But now, she could hardly imagine life anywhere but. Perhaps, it was because was leaving the people who mattered most. Eddie, Bill, Stan, Ben, Mike. Her boys. They already lost Beverly, how could they go on losing another her?

Perhaps, it was because she was leaving the person who she had planned to leave Derry with ever since she was ten. Him, Richie Tozier. Ah, yes. It was that.

The sun shined down on them and it seemed so bright. So carefree. Had the day not have been the day she'd be bidding them goodbye, they'd probably be out somewhere, at the clubhouse maybe, somewhere fun. Somewhere happy. Yet, it wasn't.

She had tears pricking at her eyes, none streaming down her cheeks as she hugged each one of her best friends, pressing a kiss to their cheeks and whispering that she'd miss them shakily. She wad going to miss them so bad, oh, God.

She wanted to leave Derry badly, sure. But, she never wanted to leave with him. Not without him. He mattered most. He was the only thing that mattered. She'd stay in Derry forever if it meant she could always have him.

Listening to their sniffles in her ear, she hears Eddie whisper out, "I'll miss you, Nic," and Stan mumble "You're fucking annoying but I love you a lot," and Bill's broken "Don't forget about us in New York," and Mike's "You're the best, V. You know that?" and Ben softly murmuring "We'll see you soon,". The ache just seemed to worsen at the sound of their voices.

She wasn't really, truly crying until she turned to Richie. He already had rivers steaming down his cheeks as he stared directly into her eyes, his arms already reaching out for her and pleading her to enter them. "Rich," She mumbles, hurrying over and trapping into a deathly hug.

It was instantaneous, the way he latched right into her waist. His face buried into the crook of her neck as he lets out a choked sob. "Don't go, Ronnie. Don't go. Don't leave me," He cries, staining her shirt with his tears.

"I have to, Rich," She whispers into his ear, reaching up and playing with his hair softly. "I-I'll call you every single day and I'll visit during the summer," She goes on, the tight hug causing their bodies to sway lightly.

She just wanted him. She wanted him forever. He was the only thing that mattered. After all, they only ever had each other. "I want you," He sobs, shaking his head in her shoulder at the thought of only hearing her voice. He wanted her. All of her. He wanted to be able to kiss her lips and hug her and sleep with her head against his chest. He didn't want to let her go. He didn't want just her voice. He wanted her.

Richie feels his heart tighten, going breathless as he begins to fully realize, this was it. This was the last of it. She was really leaving. "No, no. Ronnie, don't go. Not yet. I love you," He cries.

She feels herself get dizzy, clutching onto him as she holds in a sob. "I love you, too," She whispers to him, pressing her lips to the top of his head. "I love you most, ever," She goes on as she pulls his head from her shoulder — wanting to look at him.

His glasses were lopsided and tearstained and foggy and his cheeks were even worse. She couldn't help but softly pull his oversized glasses off, rubbing them against the hem of her shirt and pressing a kiss under his eyes to whisk his tears away before putting them back on.

He stays silent, staring at her, sniffling quietly before he speaks. "You'll visit during the summer?" He asks her.

She nods, a bittersweet smile on her face as she presses her lips to his. Mumbling against his, "Yes," .

He smiles for the first time that day, softly, bitter-sweetly, barely even there. But, a smile. "Okay," He whispers before pulling away and kissing her forehead. Hugging her one last time, "I'm in love with you, Ronnie Mills," He says to her one last time.

"I'm in love with you, Richie Tozier," She echoes him, hugging him tightly before she's finally swept away to the car.

He watches as she enters the car, looking out the window and waving goodbye one last time. The car getting farther and farther away before it suddenly turns a corner and everything of the girl that he loved so much began to disappear. And, Richie Tozier has never wanted to disappear along with her more.

"You'll visit during the summer?" He asks her.

"Yes," She responds.

She never did.

♧

She stares up at him. "I... There's... Mason," She stumbles over her words until she was able to sputter our one that explained everything. Mason. "I have to go back," She goes on.

"Mason? Who's that?" Richie eyebrows furrow at the name of another man. She isn't married. He recalls.

She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "He... One of the kids I work with. I want to adopt him, he's... Rich, he's literally my fucking kid," She explains, stumbling over her words.

He scrunched up his nose, squinting his eyes and shaking his head. "Fuck it, R. Let's adopt him, he can come to Chicago, too. Fuck, I'll move to New York to be with you," He sputters out, desperate. He wasn't thinking this through. He didn't even know the kid she spoke of, he knew nothing about her life other than what was told at the restaurant. But, he truly didn't care. He just wanted to be with her, much like how he did when they were sixteen and she was moving. He lost her once. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

Veronica could feel her heart squeeze in her chest at his words, still staring up up at him with the same adoration in her eyes that glistened in them in the summer of '89. Nothing changed. It was them, them two, against the world. Forever. Not matter what. Suddenly, she forgets everything. All her responsibilities, the clown, the government not letting to adoption go through, everything. All she could think about was him. This man, this boy. Her Richie Tozier.

He meant everything to her. Ever since childhood.
He had been hers since they were children, she had been his too. It was like time stood still as she sucked in a breath, a sudden rush of nostalgia of all the days they spent cooped up in one of their bedrooms laying out the foundation of their future.

It was Richie Tozier. He was love. He was love to Veronica Mills. She resented the world for separating them, thinking of all the things they could've done in all the years that had passed. She wasn't willing to pass it up. Not now. Not ever. Not anymore.

"Okay," She whispers, nodding. Not really thinking this through and not really caring if she did. Because, right now, in this moment, the only thing that mattered was him.