Richie nodded, and he was quiet for a few minutes, finishing the cocoa but not moving from where they sat.
"I won't always be weak, right?" he asked, softer, his voice making him sound more exposed and raw than it usually did. He wasn't a kid, and there were more and more moments lately where he very much felt like a teenager who didn't want to be around adults, especially parents, and didn't want to cuddle or hear people tell him 'I'll take care of you'. But, Richie was also hurting. He'd been through so much despite his age and sometimes still felt so young and so small that he needed those things just as much as he needed air. "Bill said so. He said I got big and we could all fight. That means we aren't always the ones getting hurt, doesn't it?"