dumpsterfire boi.

[sloppybitch]

[He hit the height of his fame when he was 32 and with a fresh face and a new industry he did just about everything he could to ride the acclaim as far as it would take him. There were interviews, talk show hosts applauded his creativity, even though it wasn't his at all, to begin with. LA couldn't get enough of him, and they dressed him, toted him around, threw him on stage with a drink in his hand to do their bidding.

For the first time in a long time, Richie felt heard. Sure, they weren't his words. Not entirely, and it wasn't always his fashion but he was successful, he was appreciated and respected. His life was taking off and the shift from Maine to California was finally made worth it. The financial expenses balanced out.

Then came the partying, the cocaine, the drinking and the countless bodies around him. He stayed out all night, up with energy his body couldn't naturally supply and then bottomed out somewhere around late morning and was out for the rest of the day until the next gig, and unless he didn't show his business manager didn't even really care.

Richie was quickly making a name for himself as Hollywood's life of the party and pictures of him drinking from four different bottles of alcohol and standing on tables were soon thereafter published in whatever magazines and papers would take them. There were some in which he looked strung out, taken by the paparazzi when he was mostly sober. Of course, they exaggerated everything but in this case, it wasn't far from the truth. Pictures of him almost unconscious on club sofas, the things of media acclaim and someone watching you wherever you went. Richie was chasing a feeling of exhilaration and belonging that he didn't know he'd ever had.

The bad press played directly into the attendance of his shows and when he moved from clubs to amphitheaters his problems got worse. He moved from psychotropics to cocaine, mixed medicine, and so more photos surfaced and the slew of Trashmouth fanatics and naysayers grew and doubled with each unfortunate event.]

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[spageddie]

(This was probably one of the stupidest decisions he'd ever made. Sonia had certainly made it clear that he must of lost his marbles when he came home one day after work and exclaimed he had to take a trip to the opposite side of the country. Oh how she had wailed. Eddie nearly had been guilted into staying, but another glance at the tabloid he'd picked up at the grocery store was enough to convince him to go.

He'd recognized Richie on a Netflix special, but then he recognized him more when he saw his face attached to some trashy People magazine article one of his workers had been reading between shifts. He tried to discourage that sort of thing given their careers, but some of his best workers were up to date on all the celeb gossip and it wasn't always useless.

Richie Tozier.

The name had brought back a lot of warmth, a lot of affection, and a lot of quiet somethings Eddie didn't want to think too hard about. Least of all when it was clear Richie had gone down the drain in a real bad way. Last he knew him Richie didn't do more than smoke cigarettes and occasionally drink at a party they had sneaked into once or twice as teenagers but then the memories got fuzzy after that.

He shows up in California and has enough connections to hunt Richie down like a bloodhound on a mission. Working alongside celebrities had its benefits. Helped that Richie was a celebrity but not quite A-list level. Helped make him easier to find, easier to ask about. Judging from his sweater vest and tie most people probably thought he was an agent or a publicist. God knows Richie could use the latter.

He finds Richie out cold at a pool side, completely abandoned by some pool, and it's three in the morning and all Eddie wanted to do was go to sleep. But he was staring at this long drink of a man that had filled out over the years and he felt a quiet pang that he swiftly ignored. It was evident there was really nothing but potential heartache if he bothered with that, so Eddie stiffens himself up, grabs a cup of water (a clean one) and wanders over to Richie.

Without much ado he proceeds to splash the water right onto Richie's face. Wake up, sunshine, it's your childhood best friend.)