Chapter Text
Richie Tozier had always been a charismatic person, naturally a good talker; and boy what a talker he was. Richie had always prided himself on his ability to make others laugh. Whenever he delivered a well worded joke or made a funny comment, a big part of himself felt something swell inside his chest like a balloon. Ready to burst with happiness. Perhaps this is why he always got along so well with his friends. More often than not his intentions were purely platonic, just attempting to keep the mood going or get a laugh from his peers. Sure he’d see a couple cute people he’d want to impress, but he’d always let it go.
However, things suddenly changed during a particular August afternoon. It was the time of year in Derry, Maine where the blazing sun was at its peak, right before the full extent of autumn hit. The Losers club had decided to venture out toward the Quarry to cool down during the last bit of their summer vacation. The trees surrounding the area was a gorgeous ambience of green and yellows and a few scattered brown leaves. The warm breeze gently wafted through the air, rustling the colors into a slight blur of late summer.
It was today that Richie noticed something about Eddie. The group had planned the day for the last few days, each having conflicting plans before. Beverly was preparing to move in with her Aunt, Bill’s family had been attempting to squeeze in multiple family holidays before the school year began, Stan had to visit family, Mike had already started homeschool sooner than the rest of the kids, Ben had been at summer camp, and Eddie’s mom was barely letting him attempt to wiggle out from underneath her thumb.
Stan and Bill had teamed up against Mike and Bev as they splashed each other mercilessly in a water fight. The four of them were smiling and shouting playful taunts while splashing each other more and more. Meanwhile Ben and Eddie sat on the dry land, talking and chucking small pebbles into the clear water bellow. This earned a smile from Richie, who had taken a short break from the water fights to enjoy the sun beaming down as he sat a couple feet away on the dried grass of the ground. Today felt almost like a lazy Sunday, the air hung thick and warm in the atmosphere and Richie found himself having almost no energy whatsoever. Having grown tired of sitting by himself decided to annoy his cute little Eddie.
As the lanky teen forced himself up, he grudged over to his two friends chucking pebbles. Ben and Eddie both glanced up at Richie upon the sound of his footsteps approaching. Ben was a really good friend, he was a kind hearted boy who always tried to keep a level head, Ben was one of the sweetest people Richie had ever met and because of this he respected the other greatly. “Hey Richie do you want to join us? We were just talking about school.” Not hesitating to help Richie feel more welcomed, Ben offered a couple black, dime-sized pebbles to the other.
Why not? He was kind of bored of swimming and throwing things into the water just may be the cure to his boredom. “Sure thing Ben. Lemme at those things, I’ll show you both how to throw a rock.” Though Richie didn’t really mean anything by those words a gleaming pair of brown eyes caught his own almost instantly.
Eddie turned to face Richie, the sun flushing his normally pale cheeks, as well as his button nose; a lazy smile spreading across his face gently. “Oh please, we both know I could throw a rock further than you can. It’s not like it would be hard to do.” He snarked at the taller, no heat behind his words.
“The only thing I like to do rock hard is your Mom, Eds!” Richie grinned wildly at his own joke, earning an eye roll.
“Ugh, beep beep Richie.” Eddie groaned before gently punching him in the arm “And don’t call me that!” He snarled.
Blowing his bangs from his eyes, Richie felt a small spark of competition igniting within himself. “Yeah right Eddie Spagetti,” taking a small moment to think Richie felt pretty confident in himself. “I bet I could throw my rock farther while I stay down here than you can standing up. Ben can be the ref. Yeah?” Just for good measure Richie looked Eddie up and down swiftly before adding some salt to the injury. “I’m sure with those noodle arms of yours you won’t make it that far.”
Eddie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms quite dramatically before pouting slightly. “You’re not that much better, you’re body is like 75% arm and legs.” Eddie mentally kicked himself for not finding a better comeback. “But whatever, yeah you’re totally on. You go first.” He grinned back deviously.
If he were to be honest, Richie would have admitted to himself that he honestly was just too comfortable to move. Otherwise he would have totally gotten up and just kicked Eddie’s ASS at rock skipping. “Alright Ben you ready?” He looked over toward his other friend.
Ben smiles wholeheartedly and gave a confident thumbs-up. “Ready as ever! Go ahead and start.” As he said this he did a sort of karate chop in the air to show he was ready.
And with that Richie used all his strength and launched the rock a good few feet in front of the three, a satisfying *ploop* noise resonated through ripples on the water. It wasn’t a bad shot. Ben clapped politely as Richie motioned toward Eddie. “Alright good chap! Let’s see if you can try your cards and beat the master. They don’t call me ‘Sir Richie the strong’ for nothing!” As he spoke Richie laced his words with a thick British accent.
“Literally no one calls you that.” Eddie huffed.
“Well. Maybe they should, Eddie dearest.” Richie winked before nodding toward the water. “It’s your turn.”
With a nasty scowl, Eddie grabbed a moderate sized rock off the ground near his feet. It was smooth and fit in the palm of his hand. He then took a few steps back before running and absolutely launching the rock into the water, narrowly avoiding the other four losers.
Before anyone could say anything Eddie whipped around and looked down at Richie, his brown eyes full of excitement. “Did you see that Richie? In your FACE! That was so far! I can’t believe I did that!” His happiness washed over each word as he glowed in excitement.
However it was that moment all Richie could see was the golden glow of the setting sun lacing around Eddie, the excitement of his voice resonated in the now slightly cool breeze as his chestnut curls bounced tenderly. The pink blush on the others face highlighted the freckles speckling his cheeks and he could see the slight imprints of dimples near the wrinkles of his smile. All of these details hit Richie like a brick and he felt his heart stop for just a moment.
Fuck.