—Richie Tozier—𖦹 ₊˚⊹

•He's proud of the relationship, but he's embarrassed to show it. He doesn't brag about you directly; he does it with casual comments, like "my girlfriend said..." or "she plays better than you," as if it were just a coincidence.

He's afraid of the future, even if he doesn't say so. The idea of ​​growing up, of separating, of changing, unsettles him. That's why gestures of promise or commitment weigh so heavily on him.

Richie isn't good with money, but he tries with you. He saves coins in jars, folded bills in books, even in the pockets of jackets he no longer wears, to buy you gifts.

•He overthinks the details. If he's going to give you a gift, he hesitates a thousand times. He buys it, regrets it, rewraps it, makes a joke about how ugly it looks. What's important to him isn't that it's expensive, but that it has meaning for you both.

Their families get along well, and that puts him at ease more than he admits. He likes seeing you talking to his parents, and he likes it when his mom asks you questions, even though he makes awkward jokes afterward to hide how nervous he is. He's respectful to your family… in his own way. He tries hard to be likeable, lowers his voice a bit, but inevitably, an inappropriate comment slips out.

•It's unconscious physical. He takes your hand without thinking, leans on you, plays with your fingers, with your hair, occasionally touches your waist when you're hugging.

•When he's stressed or tired, he becomes more clingy. He doesn't ask for it, he doesn't say anything. He just wants to be close, to sit with you, to share space even if you don't talk. His way of calming down is knowing you're there.

•If you argue, Richie doesn't leave. He might joke around, dodge the issue, play dumb, but he doesn't run away. He'd rather be uncomfortable than leave things unresolved. When he realizes he's hurt your feelings, his smile fades and he suddenly becomes serious… and that's rare for him.

Richie treats you with a strange mix of extreme care and utter clumsiness. He's a chatterbox with other people; with you, he chooses his words more carefully… and even then, he still messes up sometimes. Not because he doesn't care about you, but because he cares about you too much. When he does something wrong, it's immediately noticeable: he stays quiet, tries to fix it with gentle humor or a small gesture, never with drama.

The desire is there, but it's not intrusive. Richie notices your body, of course he does. His eyes wander to your breasts unintentionally, he gets distracted, stares a little too long, and then realizes it. That makes him nervous, not bold. Sometimes he makes silly or even somewhat vulgar comments, and then he regrets saying them. He doesn't say it to pressure you; he says it because he doesn't know how to control himself.

•When he sees you with desire, he becomes more restless: fidgety hands, awkward posture, nervous giggles. He doesn't invade. He waits. He observes. If there's intimacy, he responds, but always testing boundaries. Richie doesn't make any big moves without being sure you're comfortable too.

•He's very specific with you. He notices the smallest details: changes in mood, clothing, tone of voice. Not because he's controlling, but because that's how he shows interest. If he likes something, he says so. If something bothers him, he takes his time to say it, but he doesn't explode. He prefers to stay silent rather than hurt you.

•He gets emotionally intense at times. He wants to spend time with you, he wants to make sure you're okay, he wants you to know he cares. Then he stops himself. This awkward self-regulation is very common.

And something key: he doesn't act around you. He makes funny voices, tells bad jokes, and makes random comments. He shows you his most cringeworthy side because he trusts you. If he feels aroused, he doesn't dramatize it or make a big deal out of it; he experiences it silently, nervously, with long glances, waiting for the right moment… or simply enjoying being near you.

Deep down, Richie in a relationship is someone who chooses to stay, even though it scares him. It's not secure, it's not perfect, but it's genuine. And that makes him nervous every day… because he doesn't want to lose it.

•Hormones don't make him bold, they make him restless. He's more aware of your presence, of his own body, of physical contact. He gets nervous over simple things: hands brushing against each other, lingering glances, comfortable silences. All of that matters to him more than he'll admit.

Richie, being in a relationship, is more nervous than when he was single. Not because he doesn't know what he wants, but precisely because now he cares about doing it right. Having a girlfriend doesn't calm him down: it makes him more aware of everything he says, every gesture, every silence. He no longer speaks just to fill space; he speaks and then wonders if he said too much.

•His anxiety changes form. Before it was “Does he like me?”. Now it’s “Does he still like me?”. He worries about the smallest details: whether he was too intense, whether he was inattentive, whether that comment sounded strange. He overanalyzes after seeing you, not during. With you, he tries to appear calm, but inside he’s always one step ahead.

•He is constantly on emotional alert. He notices changes in mood, tone of voice, silences. He doesn't ask directly because he doesn't want to seem insecure, so he observes. A lot. Sometimes that makes him more restless than necessary, but it also makes him careful.

♡Affection makes him clumsy. When he wants to do something nice, he gets nervous. When he plans a small gesture, he mentally rehearses it a thousand times. When he finally does it, he feels immediate secondhand embarrassment. But he doesn't regret it. He prefers to be embarrassed than to be left wanting.

•She has a fear—not paralyzing, but real—of not being enough in the long run. Not because she doubts what she feels, but because she knows it's strange, intense, and chaotic. She worries that one day it will become tiresome. That's why she tries, in her own way, to demonstrate consistency: to be present, to stay, to keep small promises.

He's still a geek, still weird, but he lets his guard down around you. Sometimes he's quieter than usual. Sometimes he leans on you without saying a word. That's not a lack of interest: it's trust.