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“Richie for the last time, you’ll never know what his answer will be unless you just...ask him.” Stan snapped, closing his locker and turning to face his best friend who was picking at his nails. “Also will you stop that? How many times do I have to tell you?”
Richie looked up at Stan, an apologetic look on his face as he brought his fingers down and away from his mouth, “Sorry Staniel, you know I can’t help it when I get nervous.”
Stan just rolled his eyes and picked his satchel from the floor, sending Richie one last look. Richie tried to smile in response, but deep down he knew that Stan was right. If he didn’t pluck up the courage and ask Eddie, then he would never really know what his answer would have been. This way, if he is rejected, then at least he knows where he stands.
“I’ll ask him,” Richie muttered after a moment, causing Stan to stop and whip his head around, his eyes wide in shock this time. “When I see him, I’ll ask him.”
Before Stan could reply, however, Beverly rounded the corner and clocked the two boys. She made a beeline towards them and grinned, stopping right in front of Richie. “What’re you two talking about?” She asked, looking between them.
Richie spluttered and shook his head, “Nothing! Nothing, we were just talking about...birds! Yeah, birds!” He could feel Stan’s glare on him, but he had panicked!
“Birds?” Bev questioned, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Richie thought for sure that she was going to call him out on his bullshit, but instead she just shrugged. “Alright. Are we still hanging out at Mike’s tonight?”
Just like that, Richie was out of the hot seat and he breathed a sigh of relief as Stan and Bev picked up a conversation of what movie they were going to watch that night at Mike’s. Richie’s thoughts however were buzzing with something completely different. He wasn’t sure when he was going to see Eddie next, so he had to think fast. How the hell was he going to ask Eddie Kaspbrak to prom?
He had barely finished the thought when the very person he was thinking about came rushing around the corner, heading straight for them. He felt Stan nudge his side with his elbow, a reminder, and Richie’s throat went dry. As soon as Eddie stopped in front of him, his cheeks flushed and a wide smile on his face, Richie stammered over his words. “H-Heya Eds!”
“Don’t call me that,” Eddie bantered back, a smile still on his lips, bouncing back and forth on his heels. It was almost like....he had received some good news. “Guess what?”
Bev wrapped an arm around Eddie’s shoulders and pulled him close to her side as she smiled at him, “What’s got you so excited, Eddie?” She asked and Eddie bit down on his lip.
“Okay so, you know Liam from my History class?” He started and everyone, including Richie, nodded their heads. Of course Richie knew about Liam. He was quite popular and he sat next to Eddie in History. He was also a common topic, as Liam was quite the...flirt. “We were in class today and he was being really weird, and then just before the bell rang I asked him if he was okay and...he asked me to prom! Can you guys believe that? Liam asked me to prom!”
As Eddie continued to talk, explaining the ins and outs of his ‘promposal’ Richie blocked everything out. His head was spinning and it felt as though someone had punched him in the gut. Stan had been right. He had been too slow, and Eddie had been snatched up with someone who was, in Richie’s opinion, completely unworthy.
“Richie?” Eddie’s voice broke through his thoughts and Richie blinked, focusing on Eddie. “You okay there Trashmouth? You’re awfully quiet?”
Richie managed out a chuckle and he ruffled Eddie’s perfect hair with his hand, ignoring Eddie’s squawk. “OF course, Eddie Spaghetti. Everything is just fine.” In normal Richie Tozier fashion, he plastered on a smile, avoiding Stan’s gaze. To everyone else, he was fine, but inside he was screaming.
* * * * *
The week in the run up to prom was the hardest week that Richie had ever had to endure. Bev helped Eddie with his outfit, getting the colours from Liam so they could somewhat match. Everyone was excited and there was a happy buzz within the group. Even though Richie was anything but happy, he pretended, as the last thing he wanted to do was put a damper on his friends evening.
“I still think you should say something,” Stan muttered as they stood in line for lunch. Richie scoffed and looked at his friend, moving his tray up the line.
“Prom is tonight, Stan. I missed my chance,” Richie replied, running a hand through his hair.
Stan didn’t look convinced, “Richie, we all know that Liam is an ass, and that if you were to ask Eddie to go with you instead, he would say yes in a heartbeat!”
Richie just shook his head, “I’m not going to take that risk. You saw how happy he was Stan, I can’t- I can’t take that away from him. It might actually make him hate me.”
They didn’t speak about prom for the rest of the day, or even that night when Stan was getting ready at Richie’s place. Against Richie’s better wishes, his mom hovered in the doorway, snapping pictures on her digital camera.
“Smile, boys!” Maggie grinned, snapping another picture. Stan turned around then to appease her, and forced Richie to do the same. “Come on, it’s your senior prom!”
Richie sighed and plastered on his best fake smile, only to please his mother. He let her take as many pictures as she wanted before Went called from downstairs to let them know it was time to go. They were meeting the other losers there as they were all coming separately. Ben with Bev, Bill with Audra and Mike was being dropped off by his parents so he could go with Stan. Eddie was being picked up by Liam and Richie, well, Richie was going stag.
By the time they arrived, the music was already blaring from inside and Richie could feel his brain hammering against skull but he powered through. He waved as his dad drove off and both he and Stan made their way to the door, where Mike was patiently waiting for them.
“Hey!” Mike grinned, stepping towards Stan and wrapping his arms around him, giving him a soft kiss in greeting. “You look amazing,” he murmured and Stan flushed.
Richie faked a gagging noise before grinning at the two boys, “You two are gross, and I love you.” He looked towards the doors. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
The hall was beautifully decorated, Richie had to give credit to the prom committee as they had done a spectacular job. However, he barely got the chance to appreciate it when Bill and Ben both pushed him back towards the door, their eyes wide. “Just- come out here for a sec Richie,” Ben muttered but Richie managed to shake them both off.
“What the hell, you guys? What’s going on?” He was not in the mood for any of his friends weird shit tonight, and this was definitely some weird shit. “Come on, let me at least grab some punch first.”
He pushed past them and made his way to the punch table, looking around the gym all to try and find out what his friends didn’t want him to see. He was about to give up, when he saw it, or more to the point...saw him. Liam was sitting at the table with all the cheerleaders, two girls hanging off of his arm and laughing.
Eddie was nowhere to be seen.
Unadulterated rage filled up in Richie and he ditched the punch, making his way over to the cheerleader table with a purpose. The closer he got to the scumbag, the angrier he became. “Hey, asshole!”
Liam looked up as Richie snapped at him, his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face, “What the fuck to do want Tozier?” A few of the girls giggled, staring at him as though he was scum. Richie couldn’t care less though, his mind was focused on Liam.
“Was Eddie a joke to you? What the fuck did you hope to gain from asking him to prom and then fucking ditching him? What the fuck?” Richie was so angry, he was sure steam was coming out of his ears. Instead of replying to him, Liam just laughed that little bit harder, that god awful smirk still plastered on his ugly fucking face.
“Calm down Tozier, it’s just a little fun-” Before Liam could finish his sentence, Richie gripped onto his shirt and pulled him out of his seat. “Wow what the fuck!”
Richie didn’t answer with words, instead he pulled his hand into a fist and hurled it right into Liam’s face. A crack sounded out and Richie winced at the pain in his hand but felt satisfied when he saw the blood pour from Liam’s nose. “That’s for fucking over, Eddie.”
Suddenly there was a hand grasping his shoulder and Richie turned around to come face to face with the school principal, who looked less than pleased. As he was pulled out of the hall, he sent his friends an apologetic glance. He hoped they enjoyed their prom, but he had somewhere else he needed to be.
“We’ll be having a serious conversation about your behaviour on Monday, Mr Tozier,” The principal snapped as they reached the entrance. “My office, 9am.”
Richie just nodded, shrugging as he stepped out into the car parking lot, “Yeah yeah, sure thing sir.”
As the principal walked back into the school, Richie inhaled sharply before he broke out into a run, making his way straight for the Kaspbrak house. He was out of breath after only a few seconds, but he powered through, needing to make sure Eddie was alright.
He was just glad he didn’t live too far from the school.
* * * * *
Richie was gasping for air by the time he reached Eddie’s street and as he stopped just a few feet away from his house, the sight almost broke his heart.
Eddie was sitting on the porch, all dressed up in the outfit Bev had helped him choose, his head ducked down and his shoulder sagged. It was clear that he was being stubborn, not wanting to admit that Liam wasn’t coming to collect him. From where Richie was standing, Eddie wouldn’t be able to see him, but he was able to see him, as well as the front window where Frank Kaspbrak was looking out.
Just then, Frank looked over in his direction and his eyes lit up in a knowing expression. He nodded his head towards Eddie and Richie just nodded, moving closer and into Eddie’s line of sight. He cleared his throat and Eddie looked up, his eyes red from tears.
“R-Richie? What-?” Eddie started but Richie interrupted him.
“I punched Liam in the face. He- he’s a piece of shit and I’m sure I'm going to be suspended on Monday but...I couldn’t let him get away with that, Eds. No chance.” Richie explained and he watched as Eddie’s eyes lit up a little.
He wiped his eyes and stood up off the porch step, taking a few steps towards Richie, “You punched Liam for me?” He asked.
Richie snorted and ran a hand through his already messed up curls. “I’d have done way more than punch him for you, Eds.”
A silence settled between them, neither of them quite knowing what to say, that is until Eddie finally spoke up, “Thanks,” he whispered. “You didn’t have to do that for me but...thanks.”
“No, no I did,” Richie shook his head. “I did Eds because...because this is all my fault. If I had just...plucked up the courage and asked you to prom when it was announced, instead of being such a- a coward-” He stopped, collecting his thoughts. “I was going to ask you to the prom. I...I wanted to ask you.” Eddie was quiet and upon closer inspection, Richie realised he was crying. “Eds- I-”
Eddie shook his head, a smile taking over his face. “I-I’m only crying because I never...I never dreamed it would take this long for us to get our shit together. I- I was waiting for you to ask me but...you never did so I accepted Liam’s offer. I should have known better.”
Richie shook his head once more and stepped forward, reaching for Eddie’s hands and taking them in his own. “You shouldn’t...what Liam did was a dick move and he deserved that broken nose I gave him.”
“You broke his nose?” Eddie asked, his eyes light and a bigger smile on his face.
“Hell yeah, there was a crack and then so much blood. I can’t wait to see that fuckers ruined face on Monday. That is, if I’m not suspended.” Richie chuckled and Eddie squeezed his hand.
Eddie ran his thumb over Richie’s knuckles as they held hands and Richie felt his cheeks heat up. “This is better than any prom anyway...I bet it was loud and sweaty.”
Richie chuckled and nodded his head, swallowing thickly, “Yeah, you’d be right about that.” He paused and looked behind him to see Frank grinning from his window. “Eds...would you like to dance?”
“Richie, there’s no music,” Eddie laughed, but Richie had already had an answer for that, all thanks to Eddie’s dad. He put his thumbs up and Frank opened the window, music filtering through into the street. This caused Eddie to turn his head around, his cheeks flushed when he saw his dad.
“Dance with me?” Richie asked again, holding out his hand and this time, Eddie couldn’t say no. He slipped his hand into Richie’s and let him lead them in a slow dance, the music to David Gray’s ‘This Years Love’ playing through the speakers.
When ya kiss me on that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing, "ain't this life so sweet?"
This year's love had better last
This year's love had better last
Eddie had his head resting on Richie’s chest as they swayed back and forth and Richie had the biggest grin on his face. He never ever thought that this would have been possible, yet here he was.
“Richie?” Eddie’s voice caught him off guard and he looked down, sucking in a breath at how close they were.
He reached up, tucking some of Eddie’s blond hair behind his ear, “Yeah Eds?” His voice a soft murmur. He was expecting Eddie to tell him not to call him that, but he didn’t, instead Eddie just smiled.
“I really like you,” Eddie breathed. “Like...really really like you.”
Richie almost choked, his eyes filling up with tears, “Fuck I- I really like you too Eds. Like...a whole lot. I have done for...well since we were fourteen.”
Eddie smiled brighter than he had ever seen him smile before. Richie was waiting for him to say something, but Eddie just moved forward, pushing up on his toes and pressing their lips together in a soft, sweet first kiss. The kiss didn’t last long, with Eddie pulling away faster than Richie had wished he had, but it was still a kiss.
“I hope you know this means we’re boyfriends now,” Richie grinned and Eddie just rolled his head, resting their foreheads together as the song came to a close from inside the house.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Trashmouth.”