Work Text:
It was on a Monday that Richie Tozier met Eddie Kaspbrak.
Richie was 5 and Eddie was 6 and Richie knew instantly that Eddie was going to be his best friend.
-
It was on a Tuesday that Richie learned that sometimes boys liked other boys the way that they were supposed to like girls.
Richie was 7 and in the grocery store with his mother. He saw two teenage boys holding hands and he pulled on his mum's sleeve, and asked her, why those boys were holding hands? And she told him "because they like each other, Richie. More than boys should like each other. Stop looking at them" and then she dragged him away from where the two boys stood laughing to each other.
When Richie saw Eddie at school the next day, he asked him "Hey Eddie, we like each other, right?"
"Of course we do Richie" Eddie said, without looking up from the book he was reading.
Richie looked down at where Eddie's hand was held in his own, and nodded. Of course they like each other.
-
It was on a Wednesday that Richie realised what the way that he liked Eddie really meant.
He was 11 and while his friends all talked about wanting to kiss girls like Beverly Marsh on the lips and wanting to hold her hand at lunchtime, the only lips that Richie wanted to kiss was Eddie's. The only hand that had ever felt right in his was Eddie's.
Richie wondered what this revelation would mean for his and Eddie's friendship. Whilst Eddie had never spoke of wanting to kiss girls, he had also never spoke of wanting to kiss Richie. And Eddie still looked at Richie the way that he always had. He still felt the way he had always felt about Richie.
-
It was on a Thursday that Richie finally kissed Eddie.
Richie had just turned 13 and every single time he saw Eddie his heart would race and his stomach would erupt in butterflies. When Richie pressed his lips against Eddie's in a sudden impulsive movement, he thought that for sure it would be the end of their friendship. That Eddie would hate him for it. But when he felt Eddie's lips move against his, God, he was filled with such an incredible indescribable joy.
He was drowning. He was drowning in happiness, he was drowning in Eddie, and he didn't want to be saved.
-
It was on a Friday that Richie was in love with Eddie.
They were 14 and it had been coming for a while now. Being around Eddie filled Richie with such a painful happiness, as if every part of him was on fire but in the most beautiful way and he never wanted it to stop. It was as though Richie had been standing at the edge of a cliff, and now, lying on Richie's bed next to Eddie, Richie jumped. With no hesitations or second thoughts, he let himself fall down, and down and he was gone.
The thing is though, Eddie hadn't jumped with him.
-
It was on a Saturday that Richie felt heartbreak for the first time in his life.
He was 17 and his knuckles were covered in his best friend's blood. Richie had felt his entire world crumble around him, felt his reality slipping, when he walked into Eddie's bedroom to see him sat on Bill Denbrough's lap. An incriminating purple bruise was half visible under the collar of Bill's shirt and Eddie's traitorous fingers were tangled in Bill's hair.
Ironically, it had been Bill who had apologised to Richie, blood dripping from his nose, telling him that he was sorry, that they hadn't meant for it to happen, that it didn't mean anything. Bill's words barely reached Richie though, because all he could hear was his own heartbeat in his ears, and he couldn't see Bill from where he stood in front of Richie. All he could see was Eddie. Sat on his bed, not saying a word. His bottom lip between his teeth, and his hands clasped tightly in his lap, but no trace of sorrow or regret on his face.
Eddie's eyes held contact with his. Richie's vision was blurred with the tears that he didn't realise had been falling.
"I hate you" Richie lied. But still, Eddie said nothing.
-
It was on a Sunday that Richie Tozier left Derry.
He was 18 and he had no intention of ever going back.