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Eddie was currently sitting in classroom G-2, his math class. His teacher, Mr. McAvoy, had just finished passing out all the math tests to the students. Eddie stared down at the white sheet of paper sitting on his desk in front of him. He needed to get a good grade on this test to bump up his grade in the class. If his mom found out he was failing his math class, he was toast.
He spent all night studying for this test, putting all his effort into memorizing and understanding the material. If he failed this test, too, one of his best friends, Bill Denbrough, would force him to go to the Tutoring Center in the school. Eddie did not want to go to the Tutoring Center. He thought that if he went, people in his grade would see him and notice how dumb he is and he did not want that. He especially didn’t want Henry Bowers and his Gang to notice. That would be double torture for him.
But, if he failed this test, Bill would force him to go, no matter how much he kicked and screamed. That was their deal.
“Hey,” came a voice from behind Eddie. “Yo, Eds.”
“Shh! Shut up,” Eddie whispered, angrily over his shoulder at the boy. “And don’t call me that.”
“Aw, you love it!” The boy replied easily, still a bit too loud for Eddie’s comfort.
Eddie turned around in his chair, now facing the boy. “What do you want, Richie?”
Richie Tozier. He was the most annoying boy in the school, according to Eddie, but still somehow very attractive. He had long black curls that sit atop his head like a mop. He had dark, beautiful freckles hidden underneath his large coke-bottle glasses.
He is a beautiful mess. Eddie thought to himself.
But, the messy-ness over-ruled the beautiful-ness in Eddie’s mind. He walked into class late every single day and was constantly talking to someone throughout the class period, whether that be the teacher, a nearby classmate, or even himself. He was also constantly moving in his seat, but whenever someone would ask him to stop, he would remind them of his ADHD and that he just can’t help it. “Same as me being hilarious and super sexy” he always added on.
God, he is so annoying. Eddie thinks.
“Can I have some bubble gum, Eddie my Love?” Richie pouts at him, getting an annoyed look from Eddie. “Pleaaaaase?”
Eddie rolls his eyes. “UGH, fine!” Eddie reaches into his fanny pack strapped around his waist and pulls out one of the pink bubble gum packets, throwing a stick at Richie. “You’re so annoying.”
Eddie Kaspbrak loves bubble gum. It’s one of his favorite things in the world, other than his best friends, Bill, Ben, and Mike, and also care bears. It’s just one of the things he immediately fell in love with, just like with care bears. He grew up without being able to eat candy in his house. His mother, Sonia Kaspbrak, always thinks Eddie is sick and fragile so she doesn’t let him do many things, including eating candy. He somehow convinces Sonia that bubble gum was good for him to chew on. So, ever since then, he’s always kept at least one packet of bubble gum in his fanny pack.
While Richie was neatly taking off the wrapper of the stick of gum, Eddie got deja-vu.
“Wait… didn’t I already give you gum today? Like, ten minutes ago?” Eddie asked.
“I swallowed it,” Richie said casually, shrugging. He threw the piece of gum into his mouth, chewing sloppily, then grinned widely at Eddie.
“You little dick, I can’t believe you,” Eddie said, annoyed. “I bet you didn’t even study for this test.”
“Nope!” Richie said happily, popping the ‘p’.
“Of course. Like always,” Eddie rolled his eyes at the tall, annoying boy. “You’re gonna fail this test, I bet, Rich.”
Richie blew a large pink bubble, showing off to Eddie. It popped with a loud SMACK!, then Richie said, still smiling, “Bubble of Luck, Eds!”
Eddie rolled his eyes again, scoffing, and mumbling out a quick little “don’t call me that,” before turning back to his test.
Richie let his gaze linger on the back of Eddie’s head for a moment, smiling to himself, then turning back to his own test on his desk. He picked up his purple mechanical pencil, glanced up at the brown curls at the back of Eddie’s head again, then started on his test.
“Okay, everyone! I finally have your test scores,” Mr. McAvoy waved around a stack of papers, gaining the attention of the students.
He began passing them out to each student. “So, most of you did really well, and some could use some work. We’ll be correcting these tests together in class today, so if you got a score you are okay with, I hope you have something to entertain yourselves with.”
He finally got to Eddie’s desk, placing the thin sheet of paper upside down on his desk. He made a little disappointed sigh, already letting Eddie know he did badly before even seeing it himself.
Mr. McAvoy went onto Richie, passing him his test, and the kids behind him. Eddie slowly turned over his test, showing the small, red 43% in the top right corner. There was also a small note under the number, reading ‘Check out the Tutoring Center for help. I want you to do well in this class, Eddie.’
Eddie sighed deeply, pushing his body back to rest on the back of his chair, disappointingly.
Eddie felt a small tap on his left shoulder. “Hey, Eds. What’d ya get?” Richie asked next to his ear, looking over Eddie’s shoulder at the test. Eddie moved the test a bit to indicate that the score was on his paper and Richie was allowed to read it for himself. “Oof. That must hurt!”
Eddie turned his head over to face Richie a bit better, asking him what he got.
“Oh, I got a hundred,” he shrugged casually, pushing his test towards Eddie a bit.
“The fuck?” Eddie whispered, mostly to himself. “How’d you do that?! You didn’t even study!”
“What can I say, Eds. Bubble of luck.” He shrugged again.
Eddie huffed angrily, then turned back to his desk.
“So, Eddie, w-what’d you get?” Bill asked the moment Eddie sat down at their lunch table.
“Uh… we still haven’t gotten it back yet,” Eddie says, unzipping his care bear lunch box.
“You’re s-so full of shuh-shit,” Bill said, throwing a carrot at him.
“Nuh-uh!”
“Eddie, I’m literally in that class the period before you!” Ben said, smiling around his cookie.
“ARGH!” Eddie went to swipe the cookie out of Ben’s hands, only getting a few crumbs. “Fine,” he said, rolling his eyes and sitting back in his seat. “I got a 43%.”
“YOU W-WHAT?!” Bill yelled at him.
“EDDIE!” Mike said, covering his mouth with his hands.
“Oh my god, Eddie,” Ben said, wiping up the milk Mike had just spilled.
“I know…” Eddie said, dejected. “My mom’s gonna kill me if she finds out.”
Bill suddenly stood up, knocking the table a bit which made more milk spill. “C’mon, Eddie. We’re g-going to the Tuh-Tutoring Center.”
Eddie started to whine but packed up his lunch anyway. A deal’s a deal.
After another failed quiz and many tutors that didn’t quite work for Eddie, he was called by Mr. McAvoy to talk after class.
After slowly packing up his backpack, wishing the floor would suck him up and drop him into the core of the Earth, he walked up to Mr. McAvoy’s desk.
“You wanted to speak to me, sir?” Eddie shuffled his feet while fidgeting with his backpack straps.
“Yes, I did. Wait one second, please,” Mr. McAvoy put up his finger to Eddie then turned to face someone walking behind Eddie. “Mr. Tozier.”
Eddie looked to his left to see Richie now facing towards Mr. McAvoy also. “Yeah, Mr. M?”
“Can I please speak to you and Eddie here for a minute?”
Richie looked over to Eddie for a moment, now noticing him. He smiled at him before turning back to the teacher. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
Mr. McAvoy now went back to Eddie. “So, Eddie, I know you aren’t doing well in my class and I heard the Tutoring Center wasn’t working out well for you?” Eddie nodded, embarrassed. “Well, Richie here is the smartest student in my class. I thought, if you both are okay with it, Richie could tutor you. You can try it out once, if it works well, great! You can keep doing it. If it doesn’t work out though, I’m afraid I’ll have to talk to your mother, Eddie, to find something else. Does that sound good to you two?”
Eddie and Richie looked at each other for a moment. This was Eddie’s only chance. He would not let his mother find out about his terrible grades. It would probably be the last time he saw the outside world if she did find out.
“It’s good with me, Mr. M,” Richie told Mr. McAvoy.
Eddie thought for another moment before finally deciding. “Okay, sir.”
Eddie and Richie had been studying every Tuesday and Thursday after school for the past month or so.
It’s currently a Thursday and Eddie is on his way to the library to meet up with Richie, like usual. Once he gets there, Richie is standing outside the doors, reading a sign on it.
“Hey, why’d you wait for me? You could’ve just gone in,” Eddie says to him once he gets close enough for Richie to hear him.
“No, I couldn’t’ve,” Richie responds, still looking at the sign.
“Why not?” Eddie asks, now looking at the sign, too, once Richie points to it. “Oh.”
The sign reads ‘CLOSED DUE TO SNOW’ in big, black letters.
“Well, where do we go now?” Eddie asks Richie. Richie just shrugs before responding, “we could go to my house? Or we could just skip today if you’re understanding everything.”
“Okay, we’ll go to your house. I definitely still need help,” They both laugh.
They start walking towards the school gates, chatting along the way.
“I still don’t have a car so we have to walk. Is that okay?” Richie asks him while they walk through the gates.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I usually have to walk home anyway.”
“K. Hey, can I have some gum, Eds?” Richie asks.
“Only if you don’t call me that,” Eddie said while taking out a gum packet anyway.
“Can’t promise anything, Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie sings while taking the gum stick from Eddie’s small hand and popping it into his mouth.
“Ew! The wrapper is still on it, dickwad,” Eddie practically squeals at him, giggling at Richie’s weirdness.
“That’s the best part, Eds,” Richie whispers into Eddie’s ear, before picking the stick back out of his mouth to take off the wrapper. Eddie giggles and pushes Richie away from him.
When they finally arrive at Richie’s house after a short 20-minute walk, they immediately go inside up to Richie’s house to work. They can’t waste any time because Eddie has to be back at his own house at 4:30 pm or his mom will go out looking for him.
After about 30 minutes of studying and going over the material they did in class that day, they decided they were done for today’s study session. The clock only read 3:26 pm, though, so they decided to watch a movie for the next hour.
“So I’m guessing you’re gonna wanna watch the Care Bear Movie or something, but I’m sorry to say they don’t have that on Netflix, Eds,” Richie says, smugly to Eddie.
“Ha ha, asshat,” Eddie says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “What about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?”
“I LOVE THAT MOVIE!” Richie screams while jumping up on his bed, pushing the laptop off his lap to fall on the carpeted floor next to them.
Eddie reaches over the bed to pick it up, saying casually “of course you do, Rich. It’s a classic. One of the best movies ever made.”
“Oh, how right you are, Eds.” Richie sits back on the bed, taking the laptop from Eddie and placing it in front of both of them at the end of the bed.
They end up watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but falling asleep. Eddie wakes up from a blaring noise coming from his phone sitting on the bedside table.
“Huh?” He groans, feeling an arm around his waist and something warm behind him. He turns around the find Richie, still sleeping, spooning him. How the fuck is he sleeping through this noise? Eddie thinks to himself. On the foot of the bed still sits Richie’s laptop open to Netflix. The screen reads ‘Are you still watching?’
Eddie slowly takes Richie’s arm off his waist and wiggles away from his body, reaching out towards his screaming phone.
“Hello?” He asks into the phone, not checking who’s calling.
“EDDIE KASPBRAK!” A booming voice screams through the phone. Sonia. Shit.
“Mommy, oh my god. I’m so sorry,” Eddie says quickly getting up off the bed and collecting all his shit from around the room. He shakes Richie awake, still trying to calm down his mother. “Mama, it’s okay. I just lost track of time. I’ll be there in ten minutes TOPS, okay? Gotta go now, bye mommy!” Eddie hangs up the phone, then checks the time. 4:38 pm. Eddie rolls his eyes.
“What’s happening?” Richie asks, rubbing his eyes.
“Rich, we fell asleep! My mom needs me home, like, NOW!” Eddie says, still packing up, facing away from Richie.
“Oh, SHIT! I’m so sorry, Eds.”
“It’s okay. It’s not really your fault.”
“No, but that is,” Richie says, pointing to the back of Eddie’s head.
“What?” Eddie asks, looking confused at Richie. Richie just points to the mirror on the other side of the room. Eddie walks over and turns around to try to see what Richie was talking about.
Then, he sees it.
A big wad of pink, chewed bubble gum sitting in his hair.
“SHIT, RICHIE!” Eddie screams, trying to get the gum out of his hair with his fingers.
“I’m sorry! It must have fallen out of my mouth when we were sleeping! I really didn’t mean to! I don’t even know how it could’ve gotten into your hair…”
“‘Cause you were fucking SPOONING ME! AGH” Eddie yells at Richie.
“Oh,” Richie whispers, deciding that the bedsheets are suddenly very interesting.
“This isn’t fucking WORKING, RICHIE!” Eddie yells, irritated at his failed attempts.
“C’mere, Eds. I’ll try,” Richie says, moving to sit on the edge of the bed with his legs spread so Eddie could sit between them on the carpet.
Eddie walks over to him, sitting down between his legs, looking at the clutter on Richie’s desk in front of him. “Please don’t ruin my hair. My mom will literally kill me.”
“I’ll try, Eds.”
After a minute, Richie finally says, “I can’t get it, Eds. I’m so sorry.”
Eddie thinks for a moment before saying, “Do you have scissors?”
“Excuse me?!” Richie’s eyes practically pop out of his head.
“We’re gonna cut this out of my hair. I’ll wear one of your beanies home so my mom doesn’t see the missing chunk of hair. I’ll just say it was too cold and Bill let me borrow his beanie. Now, do you have scissors or not?”
The next week, the library was still closed and Richie’s parents were home this time, so Eddie and Richie decided to go have a picnic in the park.
The park is mostly empty because of the chilly air and slight snow still on some parts of the ground, but the boys didn’t mind because they liked the park and they were dressed warmly so they wouldn’t freeze to death.
They have decided to not actually study today since Eddie seems to be understanding the material for the quiz tomorrow, and instead just hang out together.
Richie and Eddie had been spending a lot more time together recently. They have blended their friend groups, now having a group of seven people all sitting at a lunch table together and hanging out after school almost every day. Eddie and Richie have started to talk to each other in class a lot more, bonding over small things they didn’t know anyone else liked at their school, including music, movies, and comic books.
They have also been secretly falling for each other as the days pass, flirting more and more each study session. Beverly and Stanley caught onto Richie’s little crush a while ago, telling Richie that he should tell Eddie about his feelings. Bill also caught on fairly quickly and told Eddie he should tell Richie. Bill told Ben and Mike about Eddie’s crush behind his back because he knew Eddie would flip if they all knew, but Ben and Mike just couldn’t not know.
Now, Eddie and Richie were sitting on a picnic blanket together, eating the rest of their food that they saved that day at lunch for the picnic, and joking around.
When the air between them started to get calmer and not full of laughter anymore, Eddie’s phone dinged. Richie entertained himself with his food wrappers while waiting for Eddie to check his phone.
When Eddie pulled out his phone, he saw a text from Bill.
Big Bill: man up eds
Big Bill: tell him
Big Bill: now’s ur chance
Eddie huffs before unlocking his phone to reply.
Eddie: don’t call me eds
Big Bill: oh right sry that’s reserved for richie
Eddie: STFU U DICKHEAD
Big Bill: yeah yeah just go tell him
“Why do you look so mad, Eds?” Richie asks, getting Eddie’s attention.
“Oh, nothing. Bill just texted,” Eddie replied, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“Okay…” Richie said, getting awkward because of the silence.
After a minute of awkward silence with no one knowing what to say, Eddie finally speaks up, gaining confidence for that moment.
“Hey, look, Rich,” Eddie starts, making Richie look up at him.
They lock eyes. The confidence immediately drained out of him. Eddie gets lost in Richie’s dark brown, almost black eyes, while Richie gets lost in Eddie’s warm brown eyes, the sun making them look like honey.
“Um…” Eddie tries to remember what he was saying but fails. Instead, scooting closer to Richie, slowly.
Once they are only a foot apart, each of their eyes flicker down to each other’s lips.
Before Richie can think of a reason to not, he leans in, closing the distance.
Eddie is stunned for a moment. Richie starts to pull away, thinking Eddie didn’t want that to happen. They both looked stunned at each other. Richie is about to say sorry before Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and kisses Richie. Richie immediately starts kissing back, moving his hands to rest on Eddie’s cold, freckled cheeks.
Eddie scootches closer to Richie so he doesn’t lose his balance when he tangles his hands in Richie’s frosted hair, accidentally pushing his beanie off his head.
Both their lips are cold from the freezing air around them, but immediately feel on fire when they meet, again and again. Whenever they pull away to breathe, they feel like their lips turn blue again from the missing contact.
They keep kissing for what feels like an hour but is actually a couple of minutes until Eddie’s phone starts buzzing again. Eddie pecks Richie’s lips once more before taking out his phone again.
“Sorry, Rich. It’s just- oh we gotta go. It’s almost 4:30,” Eddie says, waving his phone which reads ‘almost 4:30!! go home!’ at Richie, showing the timer going off.
Once Eddie got home late last week, he set a timer for every Tuesday and Thursday to tell him to start going home at 4:15 pm so he won’t be late again.
Good thing the park was really close to Eddie’s house, only about an 8-minute walk, so they didn’t have to worry about running home.
Richie puts his beanie back on while Eddie starts packing up the lunches before he pushes Eddie’s beanie off of his head.
“What was that for, asshat?!” Eddie giggles while pulling his beanie back on.
“Payback,” Richie says happily, then places a small kiss on Eddie’s nose. Eddie pushes him away with a giggle, telling him to “clean the fuck up. You left such a mess, you absolute mess.”
Richie walks Eddie home, their hands intertwined. They sit in a comfortable silence the whole way.
The next day, Eddie walked into math class over the moon from the kiss, but still scared for the quiz.
He and Richie were studying super hard the past few weeks, even though they would get distracted at least 10 times per study session.
They didn’t study yesterday because they decided Eddie was gonna be good enough for the quiz. They gifted themselves a picnic, which, as we know, went great!
They haven’t discussed the kiss yet, but they both reacted the same way, so they assume that it was mutual.
Eddie walks into the classroom, instantly spotting Richie in his usual spot. Recently, Richie has been arriving on time for every class period, most definitely because of Eddie.
Eddie sits down at his desk, starting to unpack his supplies when he hears Richie behind him.
“Hey, Eds. You ready for the quiz?” He asks.
“I don’t know, Rich… I’m honestly pretty scared,” he replies.
“You’re gonna do great, Eds. I just know it. 80% at least, I promise.” Richie holds his pinky out towards Eddie, which Eddie takes with his own pinky, squeezing Richie’s. “And it’s only a quiz. It won’t matter that much for your final grade. We’ll study extra extra hard for the big test next week. K?”
“Mkay. Thanks, Rich,” Eddie says quietly before turning back to the front of the classroom as the bell rings.
“Happy Wednesday, everyone! It’s quiz day. You know how this goes - You do the quiz, no talking until they're all turned in, I grade them while you work on the homework for tonight, then you get them back at the end of the period. Any questions?” No one raises their hands so Mr. McAvoy begins passing out the sheets of paper.
At the end of the period, Eddie gets his quiz back on his way out of the door.
“Great job, Eddie. I can really see you improving,” Mr. McAvoy tells him as he hands him the paper.
Eddie steps out of the doorway, letting the other students pass while he looks at his paper.
“What’d you get, Eds?” Richie asks him, excited, running up to him.
Eddie stands there shocked, looking off into space, but pushes the paper towards Richie a bit to let him read it.
“OH MY GOD EDS! THAT’S SO GOOD!” Richie says after seeing the big 87% on Eddie’s paper. Richie hugs Eddie tightly, which Eddie, still shocked, gives back. “I’m so proud of you, Eddie,” Richie whispers into his ear.
“Thanks, Rich. Really.”
“No problem, toots. I gotta go to science, though. I can’t be late for the lab today. I’ll see ya later, Eds! Oh, I also have a club thing today at lunch, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!” He tells him, running off down the hallway.
Eddie gives Richie’s retreating form a small wave before hearing evil laughs behind him.
The next day, Eddie doesn’t show up to math class. Or, any class, actually.
After school when it’s time for Richie and Eddie’s study session, Eddie still doesn't show up, so Richie texts Eddie.
Rich <3: hey eds where are you
Eddie texts back almost instantly.
Eds <3: sry im home sick
Rich <3: aw shit, what happened
Eds <3: it's just a cold
Eds <3: i probably just got it from the picnic
Eds <3:i’ll be fine, rich
Rich <3: okay eds
Rich <3: get better soon <3
Richie starts walking home, pulling out his earbuds to listen to music on the way home. He clicks shuffle on the playlist called “eds <3”.
Sorry I didn’t kiss you
But it’s obvious I wanted to
Bubble gum down my throat and it’s a curse
But my luck couldn’t get any worse
Someone pushes him then, not enough for him to fall, but enough to definitely bug him. He rips out his earbuds and pauses his music before turning around.
Henry Bowers is standing there, smiling smugly at Richie. Richie deeply sighs.
“The fuck do you want, Bowers?” Richie spits out at him.
Henry just laughs at him. “Wanted to know where your boyfriend is.”
“What the fuck do you mean? I don’t have a boyfriend, jackass.”
“Oh, he really looked like your boyfriend the other day when you hugged him in the hallway,” Henry raises his eyebrow.
Eddie. Oh, shit.
“What did you do to Eddie, you asshat?”
“Oh, you know, just gave him a little fist bump,” Henry shrugged it off easily.
“YOU DICKHEAD!” Richie yells at him, swinging his fist at him, hitting his cheekbone.
Richie doesn’t punch people. He kinda wishes he did at this moment so his hand didn’t hurt so much when he punched Henry.
“What the FUCK?!” Henry screams in the hallway, holding his cheek with this hand. “Oh, you’re dead, Tozier.” He lunges towards Richie, knocking him off his feet and landing on the dirty, linoleum floor with Henry on top of him, making Richie swallow his bubblegum.
The crowd around them grows quickly, people starting to take pictures and videos of the incident.
Before Henry can punch Richie in the face, a teacher pulls him off Richie, telling him to knock it off and go home. Richie stands up quickly, running out the school doors into town.
He puts his earbuds back in and presses play, breathing deeply.
‘Cause I swallowed the bubble gum
Oh, and these seven years will be pretty dumb
Pink flowers grow from my skin
Pepto Bismol veins and I grin.
There’s a loud, repetitive knock on Eddie’s front door.
His mother isn’t home, thank god. She’s out getting things for Eddie’s “sickness” and she won’t be back for at least a couple of hours.
The knocking doesn’t stop for a few minutes, so Eddie finally pauses The Good Place, gets off the couch, and answers the door.
Richie is standing on the other side with his backpack still on his shoulders and a small bag in one hand. His fist is still raised up, showing that the knocking was not going to stop anytime soon.
“Eds, oh my god. What did Henry do to you?!” He asks quickly before looking at Eddie properly.
Eddie looks down at his socked feet while Richie places his hand on Eddie’s cheek, turning his head to see his black eye better in the light. “Oh, shit, Eds… I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Eddie’s head snaps up to look Richie in the eye. “What? No, Rich. This is not your fault. Got it?”
“It is… I shouldn’t’ve hugged you in the hallway. I’m sorry, Eddie.”
“Rich, shut up. It’s not your fault.” Eddie raises his hand to Richie’s cheek, forcing Richie to look in his eyes.
“Now come in. It’s freezing out there.” Eddie ushers Richie inside, closing the door behind him.
“Oh, here. I got you a gift,” Richie tells him once they are both sitting on the couch, handing him the small bag.
Eddie opens the bag to find a small, pink care bear and a packet of Hubba Bubba bubble gum. “I know you love care bears so I found that for you. And I know your mom, my lovely Sonia,” Eddie pushes him gently, “took your gum packets after I got it in your hair and you didn’t do a great job hiding it.” Eddie giggles, pushing him again.
“Thank you so much, Rich. Seriously. Thank you,” he takes Richie’s hands, rubbing his forefingers gently with his thumbs.
They both grin at each other, widely.
“Okay! Let’s study for this test, huh?” Richie says, taking the backpack off his shoulders.
“It’s test day, folks!” Mr. McAvoy announces to the class. “This is the big one! Hope you guys studied well.” He starts passing out the tests to each of the students, wishing them each luck.
“Eds,” Richie taps Eddie on the shoulder, getting his attention, “I have another gift for you.”
“Oh?” Eddie says, sheepishly, his body twisted in his chair to face Richie. “What’s that?”
“C’mere,” Richie grins, happily.
Eddie moves his head closer, confused. Richie leans in the rest of the way, pressing his lips to Eddie’s. Eddie is shocked they are having their second kiss in the middle of class, but he kisses back.
Suddenly, Eddie feels Richie’s mouth open a bit, lips still pressed to Eddie’s. Eddie can feel Richie push something into his mouth from Richie’s mouth. Then Richie breaks the kiss, smiling.
Eddie moves his tongue around in his own mouth, trying to figure out what Richie put in it. He realizes it after a short moment.
Bubblegum.
Eddie looks at him confused, which Richie responds to with “Bubble of Luck, Eds.”
“Oh my god, that was so cheesy. And this is disgusting, Rich,” Eddie says, pointing to his mouth, referencing to the bubblegum that was in Richie’s mouth and is now in Eddie’s mouth.
“We swapped spit!” Richie says happily. Eddie giggles and rolls his eyes.
“Boys,” Mr. McAvoy says, standing next to Eddie’s desk with a slight smile on his face. Eddie quickly turns back around to face forward. Mr. McAvoy hands him a test, saying “Good luck, Eddie,” then handing Richie one, saying “Good luck, Mr. Tozier.”
Eddie gives one last smile to Richie before starting on his test.
Richie lets his gaze linger on the back of Eddie’s head for a moment, staring at his brown curls and the shorter one of them all sticking out weirdly, reminding Richie of that day when he and Eddie watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and fell asleep cuddling together. Richie smiles at the small curl before looking down at his test, picking up his purple mechanical pencil, and starting his test.
A week later, they got their test scores back.
“Okay, folks!” Mr. McAvoy said at the end of the class period. “I finally have your test scores here! I will give you them while you are walking out the door, then I won’t see you again for a week! HAPPY SPRING BREAK! Come get your tests.” The bell rang as all the students got up out of their seats and ran up to the front of the class.
Richie takes Eddie’s hand, following him to the front of the room. “Hey, don’t look at your test until we get out of the gates, K?” He says into Eddie’s ear. Eddie nods his agreement.
Once they get up to Mr. McAvoy, he says “Very nice job, you two. Please both of you check my notes and put them in your brains. Have a nice Spring Break, boys.”
“Thank you, Mr. McAvoy. Happy Spring Break.” Eddie says, taking his test from him, making sure to not look at it.
“Thanks, Mr. M! Enjoy your break from me,” Richie pretends to tip a hat, then takes his test, also not looking at it quite yet.
Mr. McAvoy laughs heartily. “Bye, boys.”
Once Richie and Eddie get outside of the school gates, all their other friends are there waiting for them in the crowd of teenagers.
“What’d you get?”
“Did you get the test back?”
“H-How’d you guh-guys do?”
“Can we see your score?”
“Woah, woah, guys. Slow down,” Richie said, laughing at all his friends. “We just got them. We haven’t checked them yet.”
“C’mon! Check them!” Beverly said, eagerly.
Richie and Eddie look at each other, before both looking down at their test scores.
“98%!”
“99%!”
Their heads snap back to each other.
“You got 98%?!” Eddie asks Richie.
“YOU GOT HIGHER THAN ME?!” Richie screams at Eddie, making everyone laugh so hard Beverly almost falls over.
Eddie and Richie show each other their tests.
Eddie’s test says ‘99% Great job, Eddie! Keep studying with Richie. He’s good for you.’
Richie’s test says ‘98% Very nice, Richie. Just please, for the love of god, stop forgetting your name.’
“I LOST TWO POINTS FOR FORGETTING MY NAME WHAT THE SHIT!” Richie screams. Everyone starts laughing again, holding their ribs while trying to catch their breaths.
While they all walked to the diner together to celebrate for Spring Break and Richie and Eddie’s test scores, their friends asked them if they were finally together.
“What do you mean?” Eddie asked.
“We all know you kissed. Multiple times. We aren’t dumb, guys,” Stanley tells them.
“Okayyy it was only twice, Staniel,” Richie said to Stan.
“Same difference,” Stan shrugged.
“So are you guys together or what?” Ben asks.
“I mean… I guess?” Eddie asks, now facing Richie.
“Hey, Eds,” Richie swings their interlocked hands dramatically, “Wanna be my boyfriend?”
Eddie giggles. “Sure, idiot asshat.”
“Hey! I only got one percent less than you! That isn’t fair, Eds Spagheds!” Richie starts to tickle a very giggly Eddie.
“Stop, stop!” Eddie yells, pushing Richie’s hands off himself. He leans in, standing on his tiptoes, and kisses Richie soundly.
They pull away, smiling at each other, then run to catch up with their friends.