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(one)
Richie and Eddie were very close. Beverly knew this, had sussed it out within the first five minutes of joining The Losers Club, so the development in their relationship didn’t really come as a shock to her. In fact, she’d been waiting for this exact thing to happen for the last two years. She couldn’t help but notice the way Richie went all concerned and soft-spoken when Eddie’s asthma kicked in, or the way Eddie would gaze at Richie when he knew the other boy wasn’t looking, or how the two of them just naturally gyrated towards each other whenever they all hung out together. She was a believer in not rushing love, however it was beginning to get a little bit ridiculous watching the two of them blush and giggle every time they were near each other (which was all the time) and Beverly had decided to intervene.
That evening, The Losers Club had arranged a movie night round Ben’s house. They’d all been excitedly chatting about it in school that day (except Mike who was still being home schooled) and while Richie’s suggestions weren’t Beverly’s favourite movies, she was still excited to hang out with her friends.
“Wh-who wants to ch-choose the f-f-first m-movie?” Bill stuttered, walking into the room with their usual three bags of popcorn, well Bill was holding two bags while Stan held the third.
“Me!” Richie yelled gleefully from where he was spread out across the floor of Ben’s living room, his feet resting in Eddie’s lap, despite the smaller boy’s complaints and scrunched up nose.
“No way,” Beverly cut in, before Richie could get even more excited and unbearable, “I’m not watching Blade Runner for the hundredth time,” She complained, quite reasonably as Richie did force the Losers Club to watch it at every sleepover they had; there were so many movies in the world, Beverly would’ve been fine watching anything other than that.
They settled on The Goonies, which was Mike’s pick oddly, and Beverly glanced around to assess the seating arrangements, as she suddenly remembered her plan to get Richie and Eddie to finally realise their feelings for each other. Ben was sat on the main sofa, wedged between Mike and Stan, all sharing a bag of microwave popcorn. Beverly was sat with Bill, pretending not to notice (or love) his hand consistently brushing against hers in the shared popcorn bag. When Beverly looked to the other chair, she noticed that Richie and Eddie were, of course, sharing the seat, as was Losers Club tradition (Richie had informed her immediately, after the first movie night when Beverly had attempted to sit beside Eddie and had almost been attacked by a furious Richie, while Eddie just rolled his eyes with a grin) however they were also sharing a blanket and Beverly’s heart melted seeing the two of them cuddling together.
Richie’s arms were wrapped around Eddie outside of the blanket, while one of Eddie’s hands gripped one of Richie’s and intertwined their fingers. Eddie’s head was nestled into Richie’s shoulder, both of them wearing small, content smiles on their faces. Beverly quietly heard Richie mutter a joke to Eddie, which was met with a hushed giggle from the smaller boy.
Beverly was wondering how the two could be so completely oblivious to the other’s feelings when she saw Richie’s lips press lightly against Eddie’s head, which caused the younger boy to blush with a massive smile on his face. Richie was grinning as well, his thumb running over the side of Eddie’s hand that he held in his and Bev realised that there was no need for her to intervene after all. It seemed they had it all worked out.
“W-w-what’s up B-Bev?” Bill whispered, interrupting her staring at the loved up pair and she quickly realised she’d been grinning stupidly to herself for at least five minutes now. She looked up at Bill, ignoring the nervous hammering of her heart at their closeness, and smiled.
“Nothing, Bill. Just happy that we’re all here, hanging out together,” She whispered back, figuring that it wasn’t a lie technically, because she was very happy to be here with her best friends in the whole world, and even happier that two of them had finally realised they were completely in love with each other. Well, at least she assumed they had. She decided that she wasn’t going to bring it up until they were ready to talk about it, although she didn’t know at the time just how long that would take.
(two)
Ben loved being at school, as nerdy as it sounds, he just can’t help it. He absolutely loved learning about new things and he didn’t understand how anyone in the world felt any different, sure the rules you had to follow were annoying but it was amazing to just be there, learning. Ben’s outlook was, of course, not shared by all the Losers, especially Richie. He despised school, despite being actually really good at the majority of his classes, he just couldn’t stand the mundane routine of school, not to mention the god damn rules. Ben and Richie argued about school probably once a week, though Ben was not the argumentative type so it normally consisted of Ben making one comment about the importance of school and Richie ranting at him for 20 minutes until one of the losers, almost always Eddie, got sick of Richie’s rant and shrieked, “Beep beep Richie! I can’t listen to this anymore!” and Richie finally shut up.
Due to Richie’s serious dislike for school, he always found himself in detentions. Mostly because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, and Ben would probably guess that his tirades about the uselessness of school extended to Derry High’s teachers, as opposed to just Ben. The teachers used to just give Richie after school detentions but when they realised he didn’t mind them so much, due to his not-so-great home life, they started to give him detentions at lunch time instead. Eddie was definitely not happy about it.
“We have like, two classes together this whole year and now you’re not even there for lunch!” Eddie loudly complained, standing by his locker with Richie and Bill, while Ben made his way over to the group. It was 10am and Richie had, by the sounds of it, already landed his first detention of the day.
“Awww, Eds!” Richie yelled in delight, wrapping his arm around the short brunette’s shoulders, “You missing me? I’m always at your house in the evening, just knock on your mom’s bedroom door and I’ll come say hey,” He grinned, already backing up in preparation for the punch Eddie was sure to throw at his arm.
“Beep fucking beep, Richie! And don’t fucking call me that!” Eddie shrieked, delivering the punch Richie had anticipated. Eddie shrieked a lot, Ben had noticed. In fact, most of the noises he made were shrieks.
“You shriek a lot,” Ben commented, finally reaching the group of three boys, “Like a lot, I can hear you from the other side of the school sometimes,” He chuckled, adjusting the straps of his back pack.
“HA!” Richie shouted, grinning like it was the best thing he’d heard all day, while Eddie glared at Ben like he genuinely wanted to murder him. Ben was kind of regretting what he’d said now, getting on the wrong side of Eddie was something he’d been trying to avoid since he joined the group 3 years ago.
“Fuck off, Ben. I have every right to be annoyed, this dipshit can’t stay out of detention for one fucking day” Eddie swore, his cheeks beginning to colour a light pink. Richie threw his arm back over Eddie’s shoulder pulling him in with the same grin on his face.
“You know, Ed-Eddie, it’s kind of of-f-fensive to the rest of us that you can’t bear a lunch without R-R-Richie,” Bill laughed, though there was genuine question in his eyes. Bill’s stutter had been massively improving recently, all of the losers were very proud of their friend. Eddie’s face reddened deeply, and he pushed Richie away from him, who gave a sharp bark of laughter.
“Whatever. Get detention every lunch time of the year, I don’t care” He muttered, angrily shutting his locker and storming off with one last glare at Richie. The three boys watched their shortest friend march down the hall, Bill and Ben in confusion and Richie with a small begrudging smile on his face.
Richie sighed, “Well, I guess I have to try and not get detention now” He said glumly, while Ben and Bill laughed because, seriously, there was no way Richie could go more than a day without getting detention.
-
Three weeks. It had been three weeks and Richie hadn’t had a single detention. Ben couldn’t stop staring at him at lunch, as he sat grinning beside a, for once, equally grinning Eddie. Three whole weeks. Ben honestly couldn’t believe it, he’d shared enough classes with Richie to know that he was a complete nightmare in the classroom, teachers seriously couldn’t not give him detentions most of the time, Ben was his friend and even he wanted him to get a detention.
“You’re blackmailing the principle, that’s how you’ve done this,” Ben said suddenly, making all eyes at the table go to him, he blushed slightly under all their eyes, but continued, “It’s the only way it makes any sense.”
“What are you talking about Ben?” Beverly asked with a laugh, leaning forward on the lunch table from her spot beside Bill. Ben was trying really hard not to be jealous of that whole situation, he had to admit that he wasn’t doing the best job.
“Richie hasn’t had detention in three weeks,” He offered as explanation, “It doesn’t make any sense unless he’s blackmailing the principle, otherwise there’s no way he could’ve done this” He flushed slightly, realising that he’d literally brought this up out of nowhere.
Richie laughed loudly, throwing his head back, “I wish I was blackmailing the principle, that would be awesome!” He slapped his hand on the table, causing Stan to roll his eyes at the other boy.
“You would be the shittiest blackmailer ever, no one could take you fucking seriously,” Eddie huffed, elbowing the still laughing Richie in the ribs. Eddie was smiling slightly though, signalling that he wasn’t really annoyed at his friend’s antics.
“But…how have you gone three weeks without a detention then?” Ben asked, confusion clouding his face as he realised that his idea had been thwarted. It just didn’t make any sense, Richie had literally spent 3 hours after school every day for the whole of last year, how could he just suddenly stop getting detention?
“Oh, Benny Ben Ben, Benjamin Benny Ben,” Richie sing-songed, making all the losers glower at him, “Oh, Bennyboy, Benjamin my friend, Ben-“
“Just get on with it, asshole!” Stan interrupted, irritation clear on his face. Richie laughed loudly, focusing his attention back on Ben as he tried to make himself serious again. It was pretty difficult considering Richie was the least serious person Ben knew.
“Eddie was soooooo lonely at lunch,” Eddie punched him in the arm, interrupting his explanation briefly, “that I had to abandon my attempts to ruin teachers’ lives. Momentarily. I will be back, don’t you worry, Ben, I will be back to my antics very soon” He chuckled, his arm back around Eddie’s shoulders, which was where it always seemed to be these days.
Ben thought he was joking at first, but the steady reddening of Eddie’s cheeks seemed to imply that Richie was being serious, for once. Ben was more confused with this answer than he’d been when he first asked the question. Richie stopped messing around because of the little strop Eddie threw in the hallways three weeks ago? That didn’t seem to make any sense.
“You stopped messing around because… Eddie asked you to?” Ben asked unsurely, and he became even more unsure when his question caused Richie Tozier, as in the Richie Trashmouth Tozier, to blush. Ben had absolutely no idea what was going on. Luckily, it seemed like none of the other losers knew either, well except Beverly, who Ben noticed was hiding her smile behind her hand.
Richie seemed speechless, his cheeks continuing to darken, and Ben couldn’t believe he’d rendered the loudest person he’d ever known speechless. Richie normally talked even when he’d been begged to shut up for just five minutes, and Ben didn’t know he’d said anything to deserve this reaction. Eddie was grinning smugly, looking at Richie like he’d just heard the best news. It suddenly hit Ben what was going on. Well, it hit him after he saw Eddie’s hand squeeze Richie’s knee under the lunch table. Of course they were dating. Ben couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to work out, no one would be able to stand spending as much time with Richie as Eddie does unless they were in love.
The bell rang loudly, signalling the end of lunch and that the group had to return to lessons. Richie looked relieved that he didn’t need to answer Ben’s question, though Ben already knew the answer from their reactions. Ben looked around, wondering whether anyone else in the group knew what was going on between the pair; he met Bev’s eyes and she nodded with a grin, though brought a finger to her lips, silently telling Ben to keep it to himself. He decided to take her advice.
(three)
Mike knew that Bill was brave. He wasn’t sure what made him so certain of this, he just knew. He’d seen him defend his little brother Georgie, he’d seen him stand up to Bowers and his gang, he’d seen him stand up for Bev against those horrible girls who called her names multiple times over the past three years, so yeah, Mike knew that Bill was brave. He also knew that Beverly was brave, after he’d found out what happened with her father, Mike was pretty sure she was the bravest and most badass girl he’d ever met. And see, he didn’t think the others in the group were not brave, it just wasn’t as clear. He guessed they didn’t need to be as brave as Bill and Beverly, and that was okay, Mike wasn’t complaining because he wasn’t the bravest person himself. Mike definitely would never have pegged Richie to be very brave, he even would’ve guessed that Richie himself wouldn’t have said he was very brave.
Mike had been allowed to go to public school for a year now, and he was ecstatic that he got to hang out with his friends all the time now. However, being at Derry High also meant being around Bowers gang. All the time. Therefore, when Mike rounded a corner in the hallway during third period and heard the tell-tale collective laugh of Bowers and his friends, Mike paused where he was. Part of him wanted to help whichever poor soul was about to be beaten up, but a bigger part of him was scared. He started inching towards the sound of bullying, trying to keep himself hidden. If it started getting really bad, then he’d go to get a teacher.
“Shut your trap, beaver face,” Mike heard Henry laugh cruelly, and Mike felt his blood run cold as he realised who Bowers gang were surrounding, “We were only going to have a little fun with him, no need to get your little faggot panties in a twist.”
“Stay the fuck away from him, you asshole,” Mike heard Richie spit and he was shocked to hear the anger in his friend’s tone, he’d never heard him that furious before, even during his other run-ins with Bowers.
“What’s wrong, trashface?” Belch patronised, “Don’t want us to hurt your little boyfriend?” Mike heard the three boys laugh in response, as if Belch had just made the most hilarious joke. Mike moved around the corner more, so that he could actually see the exchange, although he hoped that he wouldn’t be visible. Mike had no idea who the boys were referring to, although he assumed he was going to find out soon enough.
“I swear to god, if you go near him…” Richie trailed off, and Mike could see from his partial view that his face was completely enraged. The bullies laughed in response, Bowers’ was the loudest as he physically threw his head back like he’d never heard anything funnier. Mike’s heart was beating faster in fear for his friend.
“You’ll what?” Henry snidely laughed, moving his face close to Richie’s, “Huh? Faggot?!” He shouted, but was quickly shushed by Victor Criss, as he seemed to be the only one who remembered they were in a silent hall while classes were going on. “I’m going to get your little boyfriend down on his knees for me,” Henry menacingly whispered, “bet he’d like that, wouldn’t he?” he grinned, his face now right against Richie’s, their foreheads practically pressed together.
“Don’t fucking speak about Eddie like that,” Richie growled, looking like the embodiment of a volcano about to explode. Mike’s eyebrows drew together in confusion because, Eddie? He guessed it made the most sense, he was Richie’s best friend, but it was still strange. Mike was expecting a couple smart-mouthed comments from his friend, that was his usual line of defence, but he seemed too angry to be witty today.
“What, not into sharing?” Henry looked like he was having the time of his life right now, and Mike was growing more angry and confused by the second, “I’m going to force your boyfriend to suck my dick and then I’m going to break his fucking jaw for being a faggot,” His disgusting words were getting worse and worse, and it seemed to finally be the last straw for Richie as he launched himself at the main bully, taking him down to the ground. His fist smashed into Henry’s face over and over again, while the other three bullies looked around at each other in shock, not knowing what to do at this turnaround of events.
Mike was shocked too, especially considering he’d witnessed Richie face off against Bowers gang before and every time, he’d kept his head down and muttered his way out of it, physically running away when he could. So to see him start the fight against Bowers, well, it was certainly out of the ordinary. It seemed that the other three finally grasped what was happening and they began trying to pull Richie off Henry, whose face was now completely bloodied. When Patrick aimed a punch at Richie’s side, Mike finally needed to step in and he ran around the corner towards the bullies. He punched Patrick in the face, using the element of surprise that he had. However, Mike knew that they couldn’t win two against four, even if Bowers was heavily injured. Mike grabbed Richie’s hand and pulled him away, dragging him through the halls away from where the bullies were gathered.
“You’re fucking dead, Tozier!” Henry screamed after them, no longer even slightly concerned that teachers might hear him. Mike was still leading Richie away, running as fast as he could towards the front doors that would lead them outside. As far as Mike could hear, the other boys were not following them, which was a relief because Mike was already getting a stitch, especially now the adrenaline was running out. Richie let out a loud laugh while he was running, practically whooping as if they’d just won a football game, rather than escaped near-death.
Finally, the pair reached the front entrance and made it outside, Mike dropped Richie’s hand and collapsed against a nearby tree, panting to try and catch his breath again. Richie was still cackling to himself, now doubled over with his hands on his knees. Mike was staring at him in complete bewilderment.
“Why…the hell…are you…laughing?” Mike panted, looking at Richie like he was the most insane person he’d ever seen. Richie just laughed louder in response, before coming to rest next to Mike under the tree.
He took a few seconds to catch his breath, “I seriously thought I was going to die. As soon I went up to them, I thought it was going to be the end of my life. So glad you were there to save my ass, Mikey” He responded, leaning his head back against the bark.
Mike stared at him in even more confusion, “Wait, what? You went up to them?” He asked, thinking that it was the dumbest thing he’d heard all day. Richie nodded in response, glancing at Mike out of the corner of his eye. “Why?!” Mike exclaimed, honestly not being able to think of single situation in which anyone he knows would approach Bowers and his gang.
“They were talking about Eddie,” He replied, looking back up at the sky afterwards as if that explained everything. Mike was seriously perplexed now.
“So? They talk about all of us all the time. Hell, I hear Bowers make a comment about Bev nearly every day, sometimes you just have to let it go,” Mike justified, though he still felt like kind of an asshole as he did so, he wished he had the guts to stand up for Bev or any of his friends. Maybe one day he would.
“No way was I going to let him say that shit about Eddie, I was prepared to die, man. Not my Eds, no way” Richie chuckled, as though Mike should’ve expected this response. Suddenly, it seemed to make sense to Mike. Of course Richie would defend Eddie over anyone else, he was completely in love with the boy.
Mike grinned to himself, “You know, you’re a lot braver than I ever gave you credit for, Rich. Fucking crazy, that’s for sure. But super brave” Richie grinned back at him, looking pretty proud of himself, especially as he didn’t have to die today.
Mike was still pretty annoyed that Henry fucking Bowers worked out that two of his friends were dating before he did.
(four)
They had all arranged to hang out at Eddie’s house today, which was a very rare occurrence, in fact Stan couldn’t remember the last time he’d even been over to Eddie’s, except the few occasions he’d been waiting in Bill’s car out front for Eddie to come out. Therefore, Stan had assumed that the reason they were allowed over was because Eddie’s mom wasn’t in, so when Stan arrived at the house (early, as always) he was surprised to see Mrs Kaspbrak sat at the kitchen table with Eddie and Richie. He was also surprised to see that Richie was there early (Stan honestly couldn’t name a single other occasion that this had happened) but he was more surprised about Eddie’s mom.
See, Eddie’s mom had seemed fucking crazy when they were kids. When they were 13, Eddie found out that his medication that his mom had been making him take since he was six years old were placebos AKA bullshit. Eddie was, of course, furious and threw out all of his ‘medication’, except his inhaler which it turned out he actually did need. Mrs Kaspbrak was really apologetic, begging Eddie not to hate her and in the end, she even had to go to therapy to try to learn how to be, well…not a terrible mother. Anyway, the point is that Eddie’s mom was a lot better recently. Four years on from the start of her therapy and she seemed bearable, on the very few situations Stan had spent time with her.
However, despite the changes in Mrs Kaspbrak’s attitude, she was still not the biggest fan of Eddie’s friends, especially Richie. Stan couldn’t even blame her for this, all their parents hated Richie; sometimes even Stan thinks he hates Richie. But the hatred that Mrs K holds for Richie is why walking in on the three of them sat around the kitchen table is the strangest thing Stanley Uris has ever encountered.
“Um, hi? Sorry, the door was open…” Stan awkwardly trailed off, as the three pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly. Eddie jumped up, while the other two stayed where they were.
“Stan! You’re early!” Eddie grinned, looking almost annoyed at himself for not expecting Stan to turn up ten minutes early, considering that happened almost every single time they made plans. Eddie rounded the table to stand in front of Stan, gesturing to his side slightly where there were several bottles of fizzy drink. “Would you like a drink? Mom picked them up at the store last week,” He offered, though Stan simply shook his head. He didn’t know why he was suddenly feeling so awkward, though being with just Eddie and Richie gave him that feeling sometimes and Eddie’s mom always elicited that feeling in him, so the combination was bound to make him feel weird.
“Stan my man, take a seat! We were just discussing Mrs K’s wonderful, voluptuous-“ Richie started, a wide smile on his face, one of his hands patting Mrs Kaspbrak’s, where it rested on the table.
Eddie turned towards him with a glare and interrupted before he could say something that was inevitably rude and unnecessary, “Do not fucking finish that sentence, Richie!” The smaller boy screeched, pointing his finger in Richie’s face. The other boy laughed loudly, like he only said these things to get this kind of reaction out of Eddie. Stan was willing to bet that was true.
Stan was still feeling awkward. He glanced uncomfortably to where Eddie’s mom sat, expecting to see fury on her face but instead she looked unfazed. Stan wondered if perhaps she hadn’t heard Richie’s comment, like maybe she’d gone deaf at some point in the last couple years and Eddie hadn’t bothered to mention.
“Very funny, Richie” She wryly commented, making Stan’s breathing stop in anticipation, “anyway, what do you two boys want for dinner tonight? I was thinking spaghetti bolognese?” She asked, redirecting the conversation and making Stan frown in confusion. Eddie and Richie were smiling calmly like this was completely normal.
“Oh Mrs K, you know that’s my favourite,” Richie gushed, making both Eddie and his mom roll their eyes at him. Huh, Stan thought, that’s where he gets it from. He was still very confused though, especially as it wasn’t as if dinner was offered to the whole group, it seemed to just be the three of them.
“Ma, don’t make his favourite, we don’t need an excuse for him to stick around,” Eddie jokingly complained, retaking his seat next to Richie at the kitchen table. Stan was still stood stiffly in the doorway, feeling more and more like he was intruding.
Richie squawked indignantly at Eddie’s comment, “How dare you, Eddie Spaghetti? I never thought that you would be the one to break my heart,” The dark haired boy clutched at his chest, feigning a heart attack. Richie was always so dramatic, the rest of the losers had gotten used to it. Well, Stan got used to it when they were 7 years old.
Eddie’s mom laughed lightly, “Now now, I’m making Richie’s favourite tonight and that’s final. I’ll make yours tomorrow, Eddie-bear,” She promised sweetly, raising from her chair, “I’m going to the grocery store now.” She picked up her bag, swinging it over her shoulder.
Stan was feeling more confused right now than he’d ever felt in his life. Since when was Mrs Kaspbrak nice to Richie Tozier? She literally used to rant to Eddie, in front of all of them, about how much of a bad influence Richie was, why would she now be laughing with him and cooking his favourite meals? Stan started to think that maybe Mrs K had adopted Richie, of sorts, on account of his bad home life, not that he could ever imagine that situation happening.
Mrs Kaspbrak reached the front door, pausing to turn behind her and glare slightly at Richie, “You two better behave yourselves. Especially you Richie, hands to yourself…at all times” She threatened, making Eddie blush a deep red and even Richie’s cheeks to colour slightly pink. Then Eddie’s mom grinned and made her way out the door, shutting it quietly behind her.
Okay, what the fuck?!
The doorbell ran a few seconds later, signalling that some of the other losers were here. Stan didn’t get to voice his confusion, though in all honesty he wasn’t even sure where to start his questions. He heard Eddie speaking to Beverly at the door, and decided to shake the strange moment he’d just witnessed from his head, at least for the time being.
-
They were all relaxing in Eddie’s living room. Stan, Mike and Ben were reading comic books together on the floor, laughing and joking about which characters they liked and which ones they absolutely hated. Ben, of course, had terrible taste. Bill and Bev were cuddling together on Eddie’s couch, lazily watching the movie they’d selected about an hour ago. As Stan looked around, he realised he couldn’t see Richie and Eddie anywhere. He shrugged to himself and continued listening to Ben’s tirade on why he doesn’t like Superman. Who doesn’t like Superman?
Stan got lost in the argument that Ben and Mike were having, it was getting so heated that Bill and Bev had paused their movie so they could listen in. It wasn’t often that Ben got this heated, he was always so calm and collected, and in all fairness, the only person who ever attempted to start an argument with Ben was Richie and everyone knew that there was no point trying to argue against Richie. Well, everyone but Eddie, although Eddie was probably the only person on Earth who could win an argument against the trashmouth.
As amusing as this heated discussion was, Stan realised his glass of water was empty so decided to peel himself away in order to go refill it. He muttered to Bill where he was going, figuring that Ben and Mike were not focused on anything other than their debate.
Stan quietly made his way to the kitchen but he stopped in his tracks when he heard a hushed giggle, that was so high-pitched, he genuinely wondered if there was another girl in the house besides Bev. The giggle was then accompanied by the sound of kissing, which left Stan even more confused. Had Eddie or Richie snuck a girl into the house to make out with? To be honest, he wouldn’t put it past Richie. Not that Stan had ever actually seen Richie make out with a girl…ever.
Stan stealthily moved closer to the kitchen, where he assumed the sounds were coming from, though when he caught sight of what was actually happening in the kitchen, he almost dropped his glass in shock. There was definitely a make-out going on, but there was no girl in the kitchen.
Eddie was sat up on the kitchen counter, his small legs dangling over the side, with Richie pressed between them. Richie’s hands were holding onto Eddie’s hips while their lips met each other’s feverously. Eddie’s hands were raking through Richie’s hair, pulling on the strands as their tongues were…well, in each other’s mouths. Eddie let out a hushed moan against Richie’s lips, making Stan blush from what felt like his head to his toes.
He started to back away from the scene that was taking place, being careful not to make a noise, as their kissing became even more passionate. Just as Stan reached the doorway, he saw Eddie’s legs wrap around Richie’s waist, pulling him flush against his body and the taller boy let out a guttural moan. Stan turned and literally ran back to the living room, aware that his face was beet red and his eyes were blown wide. Beverly looked up from her spot on the sofa, giving him a knowing look and motioning for him to keep quiet.
Stan decided that he definitely did not want to have to recount what he just saw anytime soon, so he was fine keeping his friends’ secret to himself. At least it explained why Mrs Kaspbrak was so nice to Richie- he’s dating her son. Though he would never have guessed that Eddie’s mom would be so calm about her son being gay and in a relationship, especially with Richie Tozier. I guess therapy really does work.
He was pretty sure that he was going to be haunted by the sounds of Richie’s moan for the rest of his life.
(five)
Bill loved his six friends with all his heart, and he was so emotional that high school was nearly over. While he couldn’t wait to get out of Derry, he wasn’t so naïve to think he would stay as close as he was now with his friends forever, especially when they were spread across different parts of America, maybe even different countries. He was dreading graduation, as much as he was excited to go to college, saying goodbye to his friends was too sad to think about. What made it worse was how excited everyone else was about it. It seemed like Bill was the only person in his group that wasn’t super stoked to graduate.
“It’s going to be amazing! Think about it, Eds, see the sights, chat up the chicks, eat… interesting food!” Richie exclaimed, poking Eddie in the cheek annoyingly, as the group of seven walked down the hallway towards their last exam. Bill was trying really hard not to show how upset he was.
“Shut the fuck up Trashmouth, I’m trying to go over my revision in my head,” Eddie glared, before going back to muttering about algebra to himself. Bill wasn’t even nervous for this exam, he couldn’t shake the fear of graduation that was looming ever-near.
“It is going to be awesome,” Beverly gushed, “I can’t wait to see New York,” She smiled, and Bill felt that heartache edge back in when he saw it. They’d ended things on good terms, it was just hard to let go sometimes, and knowing that she was moving to the other side of the country didn’t exactly make Bill feel great about things. Although, he argues that maybe he’d feel worse if they were still together and still moving to different sides of the country.
“Can w-we just h-hurry up and get th-th-there?” Bill interrupted, cursing slightly in his head that his stutter was getting worse. He’d been doing so much better these past two years, but whenever he got upset, it always came back stronger. Beverly looked at him in concern, noticing the worsening of his stutter. He smiled gently at her, trying to reassure her that he was okay.
“Well damn Bill,” Richie laughed, and Bill could see all of their friends groaning in anticipation for whatever bad joke they were about to hear, “you’re more impatient than Eddie’s mom was last night when I was undressing,” He finished, looking around expectantly and raising his hand for a high five from Mike which never came.
“Stop fucking talking about my mom!” Eddie shrieked in response, exactly on cue. Bill was certainly going to miss this.
-
Graduation. The day that Bill had been absolutely dreading was finally here, as if all of Bill’s willing for time to slow down really was for nothing. Bill could see his parents and Georgie sat in the audience, and Georgie gave a little wave when he saw Bill in his cap and gown. He took a deep breath as they all walked towards their seats. Bill was sat a few seats away from Eddie, who looked more nervous than Bill felt, which was weird because he’d seemed so excited to graduate. Well, less excited than the others but still loads more than Bill. Richie was sat at the front of the row because he was valedictorian. Yes, Richie Tozier was valedictorian. As if his ego wasn’t unbearably large before.
When the others all found out, they’d all burst out laughing, assuming that he was lying. It was only when Eddie, who was stood beside Richie and hadn’t joined in on the laughter, tapped his foot and sighed in annoyance, waiting for his friends’ laughter to die down, that Bill and Beverly sobered up. Eddie never went along with Richie’s jokes so this must be genuine, though the other three hadn’t worked this out and were still howling with laughter.
“Richie Tozier, valedictorian!” Ben roared with laughter, his whole face completely red from how much he was laughing. Eddie was looking increasingly pissed off, which Stan noticed first, then Mike and their giggles haulted. Ben, however, did not notice this fact and he continued to chuckle, wiping away tears. Bill kicked him under the table but it still didn’t deter him.
Richie looked calm, actually quite amused by the enjoyment his friend was getting out of this, but Eddie was completely furious. “It’s not a joke, fuck-face!” He yelled, making Ben finally pause and look up at the short boy in confusion. “And it’s offensive that you find the idea so fucking funny” He huffed, as if the group had been laughing at him, rather than Richie.
Richie grinned at his best friend, about to throw his arm around him but Eddie stormed out of the cafeteria. He paused closer to the door and looked behind him pointedly at Richie, who seemed to know what this meant and quickly scarpered after the younger boy. Bill was completely perplexed, but when he looked around the table at the rest of his friends, they were acting like this was completely normal.
Anyway. Richie was actually valedictorian, after he’d turned his act around (mostly) in sophomore year, he managed to get the best grades in the year. Bill knew that Ben was secretly pissed, as he’d dedicated so many days in the library. Bill was honestly dreading Richie’s valedictorian speech, while he was proud of his friend, he knew what an ass he could be and he was seriously surprised that the school were letting him give a speech, especially after his speech in last year’s assembly that ended with: “Eddie’s mom screams my name when she ejac-“
The teachers droned on for ages, Bill was almost falling asleep. Finally, it came to Richie’s big speech. Bill sat up a little straighter, glancing to where Eddie sat a few seats to his left, noticing that the smaller boy looked even more nervous than before. It made sense, Eddie always worried on his friends’ behalves.
“Hey!” Richie started, very loudly, making Bill and probably several others in the audience cringe from the sheer volume, “So, it’s amazing to be up here as valedictorian. I never thought that I would have accomplished this much, still pretty sure it’s rigged ‘cause Janis from reception loves me,” He paused to wink, making some people in the audience laugh while the principle looked on in regret.
“I have so many people I want to thank. My awesome friends is the main one, so thank you Bill, Bev, Eddie, Mike, Stan and Ben. You guys are so great and I know I annoy you most of the time, but you made school bearable. Kind of. We had a great few years here at Derry High and while I will forget almost all of you here today, I won’t forget my amazing friends.” A few people in their year seemed pretty annoyed by this statement but Richie carried on, undeterred by their groans and mutters of “fuck you.”
“I should also thank my par-“ Richie started but paused, growing incredibly silent as he stared at the audience sadly. Bill heard Eddie mutter “oh no” and Bill turned around to see what the issue was, which was then that he noticed the seats reserved for “Mr and Mrs Tozier” were empty, he wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice earlier. Richie looked like he was about to cry and Bill really felt like shit for his friend now, he was so angry at his awful parents for not appreciating their son enough.
Richie made eye contact with Eddie in the audience instead, and Bill could partially see from where he was sat that Eddie was trying to calm Richie down and ground him. Bill saw Eddie’s lips mime “I’m here, I believe in you” and Richie’s face broke out into a smile like that’s all he needed to hear.
He took a deep breath, “Actually, fuck that. I’m not going to thank my parents because they’re assholes, they don’t give a shit about me so I’m done caring about them. The person I truly want to thank is my Eddie Spaghetti. He’s been there for me more than anybody, he’s the love of my life and I can’t wait to go to college together and see the world. Fuck Derry and their homophobic judgement, I love him and I don’t care what you think. Peace out, fuckers.” He finished, stepping away from the podium while the teachers all looked on in complete shock.
Bill was sharing in that shock, feeling like he’d just found out the Earth wasn’t round after all. Richie and Eddie are in love? He looked over, watching as Eddie ran and embraced Richie, hugging him tightly. Bev, Ben, Mike and Stan all ran over to them cheering and yelling “you finally admitted it! I thought I was crazy!” and now Bill was pretty sure he was the one who was crazy.
He stood up shakily, making his way towards the commotion at the same moment Mrs Kaspbrak did. Bill prepared himself for her furious shouting, but instead all she did was open her arms for Richie to hug her. Bill’s mouth fell open in complete shock. He honestly couldn’t fathom what was going on right now. When he looked behind him at the rest of his grade though, he seemed to be the only one in shock.
“Y-y-you two are d-dating?” He asked, his voice shaky and unsure to his own ears. Richie pulled away from his hug with Eddie’s mom, wrapping his arm around Eddie’s waist instead and pulling him towards his body.
“Yeah, Bill. Duh. Did you seriously not know?” He laughed loudly, still holding onto his…well, boyfriend. That was weird for Bill to think about. When Bill’s only response was silence, Richie’s face grew pinched in fear and anticipation. “Are you…are you not okay with that?” He hesitantly asked, which surprised Bill considering Richie had never seemed hesitant about anything in his life before.
“No!” Bill shouted, before seeing the looks on all his friends faces and realising his mistake, “I mean y-yes! Obviously I am, I just w-w-wasn’t expecting th-that!” He yelled, now grinning slightly, despite his confusion. Richie and Eddie were both wearing relieved smiles at Bill’s clarification and the rest of his friends were all grinning.
“Well, as fun as this has been- Eds, I need you to accompany me to my car,” Richie paused, grabbing the smaller boy’s hand in his, “road trip starts right now, baby!” He yelled in one of his many accents, Bill had stopped trying to pinpoint which one was which now.
“Wait, you’re going now?” Mike asked, and all the losers seemed shocked at this announcement, “Are you coming back before college?” He continued, the whole group were dreading the answer, especially Eddie’s mom who looked like she was about to pass out.
“Not sure yet,” Eddie answered, interlocking his fingers with Richie, “this idiot just kinda outed us to the whole town and I don’t really wanna be here when the angry mob shows up, so it’s probably best we head out for a little while.” Bill felt his heart break a little bit, right then, after months of misery leading up to this moment of saying goodbye, he at least thought he had a few weeks left.
“But don’t you kids fret, we will be visiting all of you in college! I’ve got my car and I doubt my attitude towards work will change much from high school to college, so I’ll have plenty of free time to come hang with my best friends,” Richie explained, wrapping his arm around Bill as he finished. In fact, all of the Losers were looking at Bill with concern now- it was then that Bill realised he was crying. He muttered “sh-shit” under his breath and hastily wiped at his tears, cursing himself that he showed his emotions like this.
“Don’t be sad, Bill. We’ll see you real soon! And we’ll write! All the time, I promise!” Eddie swore, wrapping his arm around Bill’s other side. It was crazy that he was saying goodbye to two of his oldest friends, the Original Losers, after 11 years of friendship. Fuck, he was going to miss them so much.
The losers all surrounded Bill in a group hug, giving reassurances of seeing each other soon. Bill felt completely choked up but realised that these 6 people would always be his friends, no matter how far they went or even if they stopped talking at all. They were the best friends anyone could ever ask for, and Bill was so thankful they were his.
“Plus, Eddie promised me road head, which is definitely something I’m-“ Richie spoilt the moment, as usual, and Bill couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad.
“Richie!” Eddie and Eddie’s mom both screamed in sync, making all the losers laugh together for the last time. For a while.