Who:Richie an Virgil What:Richie stops by to drop off some important comics When:Sometime last month Where::V’s dorm Warnings:None Status:complete
This was officially the longest time Richie had been away from Virgil and he could now say he definitely wasn’t a fan This was officially the longest time Richie had been away from Virgil and he could now say he definitely wasn’t a fan. His parents tried to reassure him that being apart would only improve their friendship but Richie failed to see how. Still he'd let Virgil go reluctantly and regretted it ever since. Virgil may as well have been his brother. They had been inseparable since pre-K. When summer rolled around and Virgil accepted a job at Stark Industries he knew what was going to happen, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Still, he tried not to smother him.
When he got the text a plan formulated in his photographic brain to surprise him in person. It was summer after all. Richie only had one semester of tutoring arms or was the last one, so he packed up the stuff Virgil had asked for Anna headed off to his dorm. He grinned the entire was, humming along to some tunes Virgil had given him a while back that he'd never bothered to take out of his car and drove until nightfall to Virgil’s campus.
Following the directions he was given, around 9p.m there was a knock on his door and a muffled annoyed tone behind it. “Pizza delivery .”
“Pizza?” Virgil asked himself, looking up from his computer. He looked at the door, puzzled. He didn’t think he’d ordered pizza. In fact, he was certain of it. Still, he wasn’t about to pass up a pizza if one was just going to show up on his doorstep.
He paused his video game, and then headed over to the door, opened it, and… that was not a delivery boy.
“Richie?” Virgil asked, blinked once, and then grinned. “Richie!” he said, moving forward to embrace his nearest and dearest friend. He hadn’t expected to miss his homeboy so much, but he really, really had. “What are you doing here? Where’s my pizza?”
Richie beamed and hugged him back, may be a little too tightly-but whatever. It'd been weeks! “V-man!” He laughed at that comment, never changing in spite of distance. “I duno, you tell me. This is your new dive isn't it? scoping out new pizza better have been first in the list. Besides, I'm starving.” He looked at him expectantly for a moment before giving him a playful nudge.
“you said comics emergency right? I figured summer vacation…” He let his hands do all the talking as usual making up for words lost on conversation. They'd known each other so long now words weren’t always necessary anyway.
Oh. That was really touching, actually. For a second, Virgil was speechless. But Virgil was never struck dumb for long. “There’s this pizza-by-the-slice place around the corner,” Virgil said. “It’s not that bad. But-”
And this was it. Virgil had been holding back telling Richie, though it had been fairly hard to do. But since Richie was all the way back home and Virgil was living it up in California, he hadn’t wanted to make Richie jealous. It had been a lot easier to keep it to himself when they’d just been Skyping back and forth. But now that Richie was here in the Orange County. Standing in Virgil’s doorway. Virgil closed the door behind him, ushering him deeper into the apartment. He hadn’t had time to do much in the way of unpacking, and most of his stuff was still in boxes.
“Ohmigod, Richie, you won’t believe the reason I need those comic books.” He closed the door behind Richie.
“It’s no Detroit?” Richie could fill in those blanks pretty easily. He knew Virgil had to be hurting for a Burger Fool or some real Dakota fair by now. “I’d have brought you somethin but it’s a long drive. Dad’s car already kinda smells like feet.” He shrugged as he finally released Virgil and let himself be lead inside
“Well spill it bro.” He grinned. He hadn’t been this happy since Virgil left, it was like a brick had been lifted off his chest and he could breathe again. He sat on the edge of Virgil’s bed just as they had for years back at his father’s place. “What’s the big rush?”
“Ugh. I’ll pass on the foot burgers,” Virgil said, waving a hand in front of his nose. Besides, as delicious as Burger Fool burgers were, they really didn’t taste any good after a few hours.
Virgil didn’t bother commenting that he’d never claimed it was a ‘drive across country’ kind of rush. He really was glad that Richie took the opportunity to come visit him. “Alright, so - and this is going to sound too crazy - there’s this Network website. A social media kind of thing for the citizens of the OC. And people talk about having these dreams, that are like a different life? And some of them get powers. Anyway, I met this guy. Calls himself Miles Morales and says he’s Spider-Man. He said he wanted to check out these comics.”
Richie leaned on an arm, he knew Virgil wasn’t in that big of a rush-but he certainly was. Dakota was boring without him, school was boring without him. Sure Richie was tutoring back at their old high school, but it wasn’t the same without Virgil around to make snarky comments to about the ridiculousness that it was returning as a graduate to their old stomping grounds.
“Super powers...Miles Morales?” It didn’t take long for Richie to connect the dots there and an eyebrow raised up at Virgil. “Were his parents big nerds too?” Obviously not all the dots had connected in his mind yet. Dreams and super powers and stuff just didn’t make sense. “....Are you writing a comic book?”
“No, bro, it’s…” Virgil had to stop himself. How to explain this like he hadn’t gone totally nuts? There was… no way to explain without it sounding like he’d gone totally nuts. “I mean people here have powers. Like, superpowers. And magic and all that junk. In real life.” Okay, maybe Virgil hadn’t witnessed any of this first hand, and it was possible the Miles guy was yanking his chain, but there’s no way the whole Network could be in on some elaborate prank. Was there?
“Magic?...” Richie wanted to believe, but he’d never actually witnessed any ‘real life’ magic as Virgil had put it. He tried not to look at Virgil with concerned eyes, but he doubted he was doing very well. He sucked at hiding anything from Virgil emotionally. “You sure this guy isn’t just messing with you? You met him on the internet right?” Richie was protective of Virgil, if anyone messed with him he’d-...well, he didn’t know what he’d do but he’d figure it out and it wouldn’t be good. He wasn’t exactly a fighter, but he’d still put his heart into defending him if need be from some weirdo.
Oh no. Richie really did think he’d lost it. That the pressures of being away from home had gotten to his head and made him snap. Not that Virgil could really blame him. “It’s not just him though. It’s all these people. They can’t all be in on it.”
Virgil frowned. “But I guess I can’t be sure. I guess I just want so badly for it to be true that I’m willing to believe it without any proof.” Because how cool would it be to live in a place where superheroes were actually real? It would almost make up for living in a place without Richie.
Richie gave him a concerned look, but really didn’t press it too hard. If Virgil thought he met Spider-Man, maybe he had. Virgil really hadn’t given him any reason to doubt him up until now. “What are you talking about bro?” Everyone? Had they been kidnapped? Was this a new thing? Richie wasn’t sure he liked it if it was.
“I get it..” Richie read comics to escape his crappy reality most of the time, the only thing that really made it better was Vrigil. Especially in high school, he was picked on a lot and generally tormented there. Comics and superheroes gave him something to believe in, if it was him in Virgil’s shoes he probably would be acting the same. His concern for Virgil’s sanity however had shifted into concern for both of their physical well being, but he was no longer directing it at his best friend? It was just a feeling that hung over him.
“There’s this website. A network, kind of. Here, I’ll show you,” Virgil said, heading over to his computer and minimizing his game. “It’s called Valarnet - not Pokemon related - and it’s a place where all these people who have strange dreams and weird powers gather. It’s kind of dope,” he said. He got up from his seat so that Richie could take a look.
Richie followed Virgil and leaned over his shoulder to peer at it calculatingly. First at the website, then at his best friend in concern. He really didn’t want him to pull it up and watch someone messing with him. Unconsciously he put a hand on his shoulder as if to protect him from whatever came up. When he got up, Richie slid into his seat to give it a quick scan. “..So you weren’t trippin.” He saw weird shit about dreams and everything Virgil had told him about and gave him a apologetic glance.
“See? Told ya,” Virgil said, clapping a hand on Richie’s shoulder. “Either this is the most elaborate prank I’ve ever seen, or this place is da bomb.” Well, not strictly da bomb. A lot of people seemed to be pretty upset with their dreams. But, well, a place with magic and superheroes was bound to have some hiccups.
“A’ight, a’ight. You win.” Richie waved a hand in defeat as he peered over the weird website. “It reads like sci-fi though you know.” He said with a shrug. “Can you blame me for thinking that?” He leaned back in Virgil’s chair and peered around his dorm. “Not bad diggs, college man.” He grinned. Richie could have gone too if they were both honest, but he’d chosen a different path.
“If we were reversed, I’d for sure think you were trippin’” Virgil assured Richie. It did read like a bizarre sci fi, he had to admit.
He frowned a little as he looked around his apartment. It was a decent size, but most of his stuff was still in boxes. Really, it looked like a disaster. Virgil hadn’t been expecting anyone to come see the place just yet, and he hadn’t done much to make it look presentable. “Then again, I’m not sure you’re not trippin’ now. I guess I should probably unpack before I start looking for a roomie.”
Richie grinned at that comment. “Nah, it’s still pretty great. Livin on your own and all. I’m still stuck at home with mom and dad.” Richie made a face. “Really puts a crimp in whatever’s left of my social life, which ain’t much.” He admitted with a shrug, he hadn’t done much socializing since Virgil left. Hadn’t felt like it really. “I’ll try not to be too jealous.” He half teased.
“Hey, I never realized how much I would miss having someone else buying the groceries and cooking for me until I moved out.” Well, so long as the person who was cooking wasn’t Sharon. There was nothing quite like his moms’ cooking. Just thinking of it made his stomach rumble. “Speaking of, what say we go get some grub?”
“Yeah maybe, but I’m going a little stir crazy y’know? Mom’s nice and everything but man if I even attempt to go out it’s like “Be back by midnight!”...and I’m twenty.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I got a job, a car and I still have a curfew.” He laughed a little ironically at that as he rolled his eyes at Virgil’s comment about being cooked for, he’d give it up in a second, “Yea man, I’m starvin. Your fault.” He gave him a playful punch to the shoulder and stood letting Virgil lead the way.