Chapter Text
Eddie loved teaching. If you told him ten years ago that he was going to voluntary spend the rest of his life in the institution that made his adolescent life a living hell? He would’ve directed you to his very adequate psychiatrist to prescribe you anti-psychotics. But now that he was older, now that he had his own classroom and was working with kids himself, he saw how much good can also come from school and how much that can be affected by a good teacher. After all, it was Mrs. Kale in the third grade who sat Eddie next to Bill and without that Eddie might not have either of his best friends.
So Eddie loved teaching and he loved his kids most of all. He started his credential program thinking he was going to be single subject, teach Math or Health or something, but in his observations he realized that… he didn’t like teenagers. Teenagers are the worst people. And so Eddie switched to elementary school and he fell in love. The kids were so sweet and excited and yeah they were a little gross, but Eddie was good at keeping his classroom clean (he disinfected everything. Like twice a day). And he also loved decorating his classroom, loved coming up with games and songs and anything to make his kids smile.
Of course it wasn’t all smiles, god no. When he was student teaching, his master teacher told him that teaching elementary school was like having a child. It’s really painful when you’re in labor and you think why am I doing this I don’t even really like kids all that much oh my god this hurts and then at the end of the year, everything is over and your body releases those endorphins so that you don’t remember the pain and you think hey that wasn’t so bad, I can do that again.
And that’s pretty much true, even though Eddie didn’t think it was quite as painful as labor. The kids really were great and most of them tried really hard. Of course, there were the ones with bad behavior, the ones who acted out because they were desperate for attention. And Eddie tried to give it to them, he did, but sometimes there was only so much he could do. God, like this kid Ryan Bowers. Eddie literally didn’t know how to get him to stop being an asshole… and he hated to call a child an asshole but that’s what he was! He bullied literally everyone, Eddie couldn’t count how many times a child had run in from lunch crying because of something Ryan had said.
He’d had parent conferences with Ryan’s father so many times and the guy just didn’t seem to give one fuck. Eddie had known him in school and he was still just as much of a dick now as he was then. Eddie felt bad for the kid honestly, he never stood a chance. But unfortunately, Ryan acting out wasn’t just pissing off Eddie. In particular it was pissing off Benji Marsh.
Which sucked because he was the sweetest kid ever and Eddie hated writing him up, but he had to. It was school policy to have a no tolerance for bullying, yes, but also they couldn’t really teach the kids that you’re allowed to punch every person who is rude in the face. Which sucked. Honestly, Eddie wanted to pat the kid on the back and thank him for finally standing up to the kid, but he couldn’t. Instead, they were sitting across from each other awkwardly at Eddie’s desk, waiting for Benji’s dad to show up. Benji was sitting, holding an ice pack to his cheek and fidgeting with his broken glasses, alternating between squinting down at them and looking up at Eddie with wide eyes.
“I’m really sorry he’s late, Mr. K.” Benji whispered and Eddie smiled.
“It’s okay, I’m sure he’s on his way.” Eddie assured him, trying to sound confident even as he eyed the clock suspiciously. He was 15 minutes late at this point and Eddie was annoyed. He had only ever met with Benji’s mom, Beverly, and she was lovely. Eddie had been hoping to meet with her, but apparently Benji was with his dad for the week, so it was him picking the boy up today.
But apparently this guy didn’t know that school ended at 3:15 and not 3:30.
“Do you have a number we can call him at?” Eddie asked, but before he could even finish the sentence, the door to the classroom swung open and an extremely tall and haphazard looking man tumbled in, bee-lining towards Benji with a concerned look on his face. Eddie stood up straight and honestly was slightly alarmed. He probably would’ve put himself in between the two of them if Benji hadn’t been practically glowing.
“Daddy!” Benji beamed, bouncing up and down in his chair. The man, who Eddie now knew to be Mr. Marsh, was kneeling in front of Benji, moving his chair so that the boy faced him.
“Whoa!” he cried, putting on an old-timey Brooklyn voice, “What’ve we got here? Someone did a number on ya, didn’t they, kid?” the little boy blushed and nodded.
“You should see the other guy, though.” Benji replied, trying to replicate the accent as well as he could. Richie squinted his eyes a little.
“Should I really?” he responded, disapproval evident in his voice.
“I’m sorry, daddy. He kept calling Julie fat and she looked so sad. But he wouldn’t stop! And you told me it’s okay to make jokes but only when they make people happy, not sad and I told him that but he wouldn’t listen!” Benji’s bottom lip started quivering and Mr. Marsh pulled him in for a hug, kissing him once on the top of his curly red hair.
“It’s okay, Benji-boy. I’m not mad.” He assured him and Eddie felt himself smile at the tenderness in the man’s voice, at the soft way he ran his thumb over the little boy’s bruised cheek. It was incredibly sweet and… not what he expected from a man who looked like he didn’t know what a shower was. Or a hair brush.
Benji smiled a soft smile back and then wiped away a stray tear before shifting tone completely and glaring at his father a little bit.
“You’re late.” He pouted and the man laughed loud, a boisterous thing that bounced off the walls and knocked Eddie off his proverbial feet.
“I’m sorry, kiddo. You wanna punch me for it?” he teased and Benji rolled his eyes, echoing a sentiment Eddie himself had.
“Daddy, you have to talk to Mr. K now.” the boy whispered, tugging at the man’s sleeve and looking towards Eddie, who was still standing up and staring at the scene in front of him.
“Hi, Mr. Marsh, it’s nice to meet you.” Eddie said with a smile and the man looked up at him with wide eyes that looked a lot like his son’s. He looked surprised, as if he didn’t expect Eddie to be there.
“Oh, no!” he said, hopping up to take the hand Eddie extended, “I’m not Mr. Marsh. I’m Richie Tozier, Mr. Marsh is Benji’s step-dad.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t know-” Eddie began, but Richie cut him off with a wave of his hand.
“No worries, cutie. It’s… a complicated situation.” Richie said and it took a moment for Eddie to realize… they were still holding hands. And Richie had just called him cute. Eddie cleared his throat and tried not to blush, pulling his hand back and sitting down quickly, gesturing for Richie to do the same.
“Um, Mr. Tozier-”
“Please, call me Richie. So you’re the Mr. K I hear Benji talk so much about? I gotta say, you’re a lot cuter than I thought you would be. And shorter. Honestly, at a quick glance you could pass for one of the kids.”
Eddie felt his jaw drop at the mix of flirting and mocking, punctuated by a tiny gasp and Benji’s whispered Daddy, stOP.
“Wow, that’s pretty rude,” Eddie replied, narrowing his eyes at the man and debating whether or not to rise to the bait, “At least I don’t have to duck through every doorway I walk through.” He responded sweetly. Richie barked out a laugh and Benji giggled as well, although he tried to hide it behind his hand.
“He’s feisty, too. But come on, have you ever been mistaken for one of the students? Even once?” Richie teased and Eddie groaned, looking to Benji for help but the boy just covered his face to hide the giggling.
“I can’t say that’s happened yet, but I can understand why you’d be confused. Everything probably looks small from up there. Is that why your hair looks the way it does? The weather is windier up there?”
Richie shook his head a little as he laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes were lighting up, staring at Eddie like he was infatuated and Eddie felt butterflies swoop through his stomach.
“Okay, this is supposed to be a disciplinary meeting, can we please get ourselves’ under control?” Eddie asked but he couldn’t stop smiling either so neither boy seemed too upset, although Benji did squirm in his seat a little.
“Of course,” Richie said, sitting up straight instead of resting his elbows on his knees, “My boy’s a little MMA fighter, right?” Eddie cleared his throat and nodded.
“Unfortunately it’s been turning out that way. And I understand that you’re doing it to help other people, Benji, but it still isn’t okay to hit other students. Violence is never the answer.” Eddie said sternly and Benji looked down at his feet and nodded.
“Understand that, kiddo?” Richie asked him, putting a gentle hand on his son’s shoulder. Benji nodded again and tried to give a small smile, “So what do we do the next time it happens?”
“Use my words or find an adult.” Benji recited dutifully and Eddie gave a supportive smile when he finished.
“Very good, Benj,” Eddie assured, “Well, now that we’ve cleared that up, do you have any other questions, Richie?” Eddie asked, shifting his focus back to the very distracting man in front of him.
“Um, just… what exactly is his punishment? Is it just this meeting? Because he is a good kid, he doesn’t-”
“Mr. Tozier, I completely understand your concern. We are just giving a warning this time, considering Benji’s record is pretty much spotless. I also know that his heart was in a good place.” Eddie added, throwing a wink and Benji, who was pretty much blushing now after all the compliments.
“Well, that’s great.” Richie said with a grin, “Thanks, teach. We done here?” he asked and Eddie nodded, pushing back his chair to stand up with the two across from him.
“Yeah, we’re done. Benji, you can go put your stuff together.” Eddie said with a smile. The boy grinned and bounded off to his desk to pull together his stuff and then outside to grab his backpack. Eddie watched him for a moment, but Richie’s eyes were heavy on him.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Eddie said awkwardly, “That was totally… uncalled for from me. Especially in a meeting that was loosely related to bullying, I … it was totally unprofessional.” Eddie felt his cheeks flush at the wide grin that spread across Richie’s face.
“Don’t apologize. I was kind of asking for it.” Richie shrugged. Eddie adjusted his sweater vest simply so his hands would have something to do.
“Well, the truth of that aside, it was inappropriate in context.” Eddie reiterated. Richie nodded in agreement.
“Okay, then. Apology accepted. How about to make up for it, you let me take you out?” Richie asked casually. So casually that Eddie almost didn’t quite understand the connotations of the words.
“Yeah, that’d be- wait, what?” Eddie spluttered, making Richie laugh again.
“I like you. Benji loves you. I’d really like to see you again. Let me take you out.” Richie stated as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
“Um… I can’t date the parent of one of my students. That’s … so inappropriate.” Eddie explained and he felt slightly embarrassed, with his wide eyes and gaping mouth.
“Oh,” Richie said, furrowing his brows, “Well. I’ll call you in June then.” Richie grinned and Eddie choked out a laugh. Before he could respond to that, Benji came skipping in the room, running into his dad’s legs.
“Ready, daddy?” he asked and Richie looked down at him and nodded before lifting him up into a piggy-back ride.
“Ready, little man. Say goodbye to Mr. Kaspbrak!” Richie had a shit-eating grin on as winked at Eddie, knowing exactly how Eddie was feeling after he dropped that bomb.
“Bye Mr. K!” Benji repeated, waving his hand and smiling as his dad carried him out.