Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

      Richie took you straight to the clubhouse like you asked. As soon as the bike was stopped, you raced to the ladder to beat Richie down and steal the hammock. Clearly he had no idea what your intentions were, because he just kind of watched you scurry into the hole as he threw his bike somewhere off to the side.     
      Once he finally got down and saw you sprawled across the hammock, hands behind your head, he realized. “Oh, now I see what you were doing.” He said, adjusting his glasses. “You really think you getting in first is going to stop me from coming in?” He crawled into the hammock facing the opposite way you were so that your feet were at each other’s heads. It took a little bit of clambering, and you almost falling out of the hammock, for him to get comfortable, but he finally did. 
      You sighed. “Happy, Tozier?”
      “Always am when I’m with you.” He grinned.
      “You can be a real romantic when you’re not being absolutely feral, y’know?”
      “For you, I try.”
      You smiled at him, then, not knowing what else to say, turned your head to the side and admired the clubhouse. You took note of all the little things Ben had added to make it homier - the posters, the magazines, the toys. You thought it was cute.
      But you didn’t get to dwell on it for long. Richie was hitting your face with his foot.
      “Pay attention to me.” He said.
      You swatted his leg away. “Entertain me then, bastard.”
      “Do you want me to take my shirt off or something?”
      “I mean yeah but I always do, so what’s that have to do with anything?” You said, and at this he raised an eyebrow. For Richie, making jokes like that with you was easy, because all you ever really did in response was say “shut up, Richie” and move on. But when you said stuff like that to him, he took it as a challenge. Who could get the other the most riled up.
      His eyes never left yours as he undid a button of his shirt. You didn’t dare to move, and his fingers shifted to the next one, unbuttoning that as well. As you watched his hands slowly make their way down another button, you spoke up. “Stop,” you said, giggling a little bit (surely out of nervousness). You hit his hand with your foot.
      He arched his eyebrow and undid the next button anyways. “Make me.”
      Fuck.
      You didn’t really have time to think. His shirt would be fully off soon, and of course, he was already moving to undo the next button.
      You leapt up, the hammock swinging wildly beneath you. You straddled Richie and grabbed his wrists, pinning them to each side of his head. Whether out of shock or some other reason, he didn’t seem to put up much of a fight.
      Once you had both settled, he grinned at you. You pouted. “Win-win situation for you, huh?”
      “You gonna do something about it?”
      Your heart was basically leaping out of your chest. What the fuck were you supposed to do now?
      In a bout of panic and unsurety, you snatched the glasses from Richie’s face and fell back into your original position. You sure as hell weren’t going to be the one to make the first move.
      He sat up to rest on his elbows, looking at you and squinting. “What the hell kind of tactic is that?”
      You placed the glasses on your face, the world and the boy in front of you becoming a creamy blur. “Distraction.”
      You watched the blurry shape that was Richie lean closer. You felt your breath hitch in your throat as he slowly crawled on top of you, mimicking the position you were previously in. Though it was still quite hard to see, you could tell that he had undone just enough buttons earlier to make you flustered. Yes, you had slept with him while he was shirtless, but even the thought of that brings a blush to your cheeks.
      Fuck, stop thinking about that or you’re gonna blush and he’s gonna notice.
      He gently grabbed both your hands and weaved his fingers through yours, then pinned them on either side of your head.
      Well, now you were definitely blushing. Hard.
      “Y/N, I’m sure you look awfully pretty in my glasses, but I kind of can’t fucking see you at all.” He said.
      Without saying anything you slowly pulled your hand away from his (he didn’t have a very tight grip) and took the glasses off your face, resting them on the bridge of his nose.
      He blinked a couple of times, then simply stared at you for a moment, as if in admiration. His free hand moved from beside your head to cup your cheek, his eyes never leaving yours.
      Your heart was fucking racing. 
      He ran his thumb over your cheek a couple of times, his gaze seemingly fixated on something right beside your face. He wasn’t looking you directly in the eyes. 
      Every second of this felt like an eternity , and just as you were about to say something, his thumb stopped moving, his eyes flickered over to meet yours, and his lips crashed into yours.
      It couldn’t have felt shorter. You don’t know how long he actually kissed you for, because you were so immediately overcome with joy that you kind of blacked out. The thought that he may feel the same way you do was enough to make you light-headed as is. You felt like you could be dreaming.
      God, please don’t let this be a dream.
      When he pulled away, he seemed to have the same look in his eyes that you were sure you did. Just sort of a content, glazed-over look. After a moment, it turned into one of slight panic.
      “W-Was that okay?” He asked. “I guess I, uh, probably should have asked that before I kissed you but, y’know, I didn’t want to-”
      You cut him off by running your fingers through his hair on the back of his head and bringing him down to kiss you again. 
      It was longer this time. Your hand moved from the back of his head to be pressed flat against his chest. You loved feeling his skin beneath your fingers & being able to trace the outline of his ribs. Everything about him was so soft and warm, you found yourself completely enveloped by him. It felt like all of your senses were in overdrive and they were all being stimulated by one thing: Richie.
      You loved how it felt.
      He pulled away, but not very far. His hand left your face only to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, then returned to you. His cheeks were a tinge pink and he had the shyest smile as his eyes scanned your face. You gave him a quick kiss, and his shy smile grew into his signature goofy grin. 
      “I like you a lot.” You said, feeling your cheeks heat up as you said it.
      “I sure hope so.”
      You rolled your eyes, and instead of saying anything else, you put your hand on his cheek and kissed him again. Immediately he reciprocated. The kiss felt different this time. You were both a bit more… needy. But were either of you really to blame? It felt like you had been waiting for this forever. Richie was quick to slip his hand under your shirt to feel your bare skin against his fingertips. He never went past your waist… although you wouldn’t mind if he did.
      You tangled your fingers in his hair, which elicited a small groan from him. Hearing that only gave you more confidence, and you let your free hand roam his torso. His grip on your waist tightened, and in the back of your mind you wondered if it would leave bruises.
      You tried to move your hand lower but found it getting caught on his shirt. You fumbled to undo the rest of the buttons, but before you could he pulled away. 
      His eyes searched yours for a moment. “You’re driving me crazy.” He said, his hand sliding up your back. You hummed, both in response to what he said and out of content at the feeling of his hand against your bare back. You kissed him again and smiled. A smile played on his lips, as well.
      His thumb moved across your cheek, and was he… blushing? “You’re way too pretty for me.”
      Yet again, you kissed him.
      You loved doing that.
      “That’s not true, Rich,” you pouted and placed both your hands on his cheeks. “You’re so handsome.”
      You felt like there was so much more you could say. I could look at you forever, I’ve been daydreaming of this moment since we met, I can’t believe I’m so lucky … But you still didn’t totally know where his head was at, and what the kiss meant to him. So you left it at that.
      He had a warm smile on his face, and he looked like he was about to say more, but was interrupted by his watch beeping. You both wore a confused expression, but his quickly turned to one of unfortunate realization. “Ah, shit…” he mumbled to himself as he looked at the time.
      “My parents like me home pretty early when I spend the night at someone’s house. I also never told them I was staying the night, so they probably think I’m dead in a ditch or something.”
      You pouted. “Are you doing anything tomorrow?”
      He smiled. “Nope.”
      “Come over?”
      “Anything for you, babe.”
      You smiled and kissed him. You thought maybe you could kiss him for the whole rest of your life and not get tired of it. Slowly, you sat up, trying not to sway the hammock too much. You adjusted your hair - which you were sure was a mess - and then stood up. You turned to face Richie. “Ready to go, lover boy?”
      He sat on the edge of the hammock, smiling up at you. He grabbed your hand and pulled you down into a kiss. After pulling away you placed both your hands on his cheeks. “You’re so cute.” You squished his face up and he laughed, swatting your hands away and standing up beside you. You looked up at him, neither of you moving. 
      “I wish you didn’t have to go.” You said, pulling him into a hug.
      He wrapped his arms around you. “Me neither, baby.” He pulled away and put a hand under your chin, lifting your head so you could look at him. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
      You smiled. “Yeah.”
      He kissed you again. Every time he did it felt like fireworks were going off in your chest. Is this really happening? Am I really this lucky?

      You both left the clubhouse, and when you got on the back of his bike to ride home, you hugged him a little closer than normal.
      He pedaled rather slowly, and you felt like you were in a dream as you two rode on, watching the city of Derry pass by. You thought you were probably the only person in the whole world who felt lucky to live here. 
      Life sure was beautiful through rose-colored glasses.
      When Richie pulled up to your house, you felt your stomach drop. You didn’t want him to leave. You hoped he wouldn’t tell his parents about you two kissing, and maybe they’d let him come over for another sleepover sometime in the near future.
      You hopped off the back of his bike, and he turned to face you. “Don’t keep me waiting tomorrow.” You said, feeling a bit awkward.
      He smiled. “Of course not, babe.”
      You put your hand on his cheek, leaned in, and kissed him. You tried to pull away after a moment, but Richie wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you into him.
      When he finally did pull away, he had his big, goofy smile on his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
      “Mhm.” You gave him another quick peck before turning and bounding towards your house. You truly couldn’t remember the last time you felt this happy, and you were sure your mom would question you as soon as you walked in. You just couldn’t stop smiling.
      Before walking inside, you turned and saw Richie was still there. You waved at him and he waved back, and then you shut the door, grinning and reflecting back on one of the best days of your life.