Work Text:
The three boys sat with their moms in the Denbrough's living room. Bill and Richie's dad's had gone off into the garage. Richie and Bill wanted to go with them, but they knew they couldn't leave Eddie.
"My Eddie here is so well mannered. Even at his age I've never heard him swear," Mrs. Kasprack said in a high pitched voice, prideful. Richie and Bill smiled at this, recalling how much Eddie actually swears. Eddie shoots them a look and Bill corrects himself but Richie keeps on grinning.
"Georgie hasn't learned any swears yet, thank goodness. Bill has his moment's, but for the most part he stays polite," Mrs. Denbrough states.
"M-mom!" Bill complains. The three women keep talking as if their sons aren't even there. Richie's grin gets wider as he straightens his glasses.
"I wish I could say the same for Richie. I'm lucky if I can walk into a room without him yelling and cursing," Mrs. Tozier sighs. The grin is wiped off of Richie's face and he looks down at his hands in shame. Mrs. Tozier continues.
"I think the only time that he's not swearing is when he's playing the piano," Mrs. Tozier adds. Richie slaps his forehead with embarrassment as Eddie and Bill stare at him.
"R-Richie? You p-play the p-piano?" Bill asks.
"Oh, you didn't know? I figured it would be all he ever talks about, what with how talented he is," Mrs. Tozier brags. Richie looks just about ready to crawl into a ball and die.
"How could you keep this from me Maggie?!" Mrs. Denbrough jokes. The women laugh, Mrs. Denbrough beaming with passion.
"The piano's right there, you should play something, sweaty," Mrs. Denbrough offers Richie.
"I.. I really shouldn't. I can't play in front of anyone, let alone a talented pianist like you," Richie compliments, finally lifting his eyes from his hands. Mrs. Tozier looks happy at Richie's politeness.
"Nonsense! Play!" Mrs. Denbrough stands up from the couch and ushers Richie to stand up. Richie does so and Mrs. Denbrough waves him over to the piano.
"There's sheet music in the desk," Mrs. Denbrough points to the desk a few feet away from the piano. Richie barely gives the desk a glance before ignoring it and sitting down on the bench in front of the piano.
"I won't need it," Richie says, regaining his usual confidence as he thinks for a moment before pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and hovering his fingers just above the keys. He takes a deep breath before he pressed his fingers to the keys and the song begins.
At first it's slow and pretty. Nothing too impressive but nothing to scoff at either. The gentle notes blend together as Richie times each note perfectly with ease. Then, it gets faster. The song feels more urgent as the notes contrast and blend with increasing intensity.
The song becomes more and more complicated as Richie's hands shoot along the black and white piano keys. Eddie feels the sadness and confusion in the music, each note telling a story. It feels panicked and intricate. Eddie can't believe that a song could bring him this much emotion, tell this much of a story.
Eddie looks at Richie's face. It's shiny with sweat, but he seems relaxed and confident despite the intensity of the song. He's barley looking at the piano, yet he doesn't miss a single note. The music swells, seemingly reaching the climax of the song. Eddie holds back tears at how beautiful it is, there's complexity and urgency in each and every movement of Richie's fingers.
Eddie bites his lip, punishing them for wanting to kiss Richie's. He forces himself to look away from Richie, but his eyes betray him as the gravitate towards him. Something about the fact that the loud, trashmouthed boy could do something so delicate, be so vulnerable; it made Eddie's heart race.
Richie closes his eyes and throws his head back as the song continues, lost in his own music. Despite not seeing the keys, he plays the song perfectly, without a single error. He reopens his eyes and looks back at the piano as the song finishes with a low, drawn out note.
Everyone in the room except for the Tozier's are speechless. The dad's were now in the living room too, drawn in by the music. Mr. Denbrough handed a $5 bill to Mr. Tozier.
"You sure won that bet," Mr. Denbrough laughed. He had expected to see his wife playing the piano, and Mr. Tozier had bet otherwise.
"I should get a cut of that," Richie commented, looking over at his dad.
"No way! I won the bet, not you!" Mr. Tozier chuckled. He then walked over to his son and gave him the five dollars before ruffling his hair. Richie pocketed the money, smirking and making no attempt to fix his hair.
"What piece is that?" Mrs. Denbrough asked, astonished.
"I haven't named it yet," Richie answered nonchalantly as he got up from the piano stool.
"Named it?" Mrs. Denbrough furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Yeah, I wrote it," Richie explained, sitting down on the couch again. Eddie was suddenly hiper aware of the fact that they were sitting next to each other.
"That was fucking beautiful, Rich!" Eddie squeaked. He had meant to say something more laid back, but instead the words just flew out of his mouth.
"Well Mrs. Kasprack, it seems there's a first time for everything," Richie smirked and winked. At first Eddie was confused at this, but then realized what he had just said and in front of whom. Bill and Richie snickered as all the adults in the room looked at Eddie with shock.
"We're leaving, right now! Eddie, we're having a serious descution when we get home. Maggie and Went, you should really discipline you son more, he's becoming a bad influence to my Eddie Bear!" Mrs. Kasprack screeched. Eddie gave everyone in the room an apologetic look as he was dragged out the door by his mother.