Work Text:
Eddie hates her.
Eddie absolutely, resolutely hates her.
Fuck her. Fuck her and her shiny hair and her green eyes and her clear skin and her- fuck her.
One of the worst parts is that he has no real reason to hate her, other than… jealousy of Richie? No, that’s not right. He’s not jealous of Richie. There’s nothing to be jealous about. He’s just another Loser like the rest of them, and Eddie could never harbor any real bad feelings towards Richie.
But right now? Right now he’s fucking mad at Richie. Richie has no goddamn right to get a girlfriend from fucking Bangor, and pretend like everything is just fine and dandy.
And none of the other Losers think anything is wrong, which is just fucking stupid!! Of course something is wrong, Richie can’t have a girlfriend.
Eddie’s only spoken, like, three words to her, and he hates her.
---
The first time Richie brought her up to the Losers was a day after he had gone to a concert in Bangor.
“Her name is Katie,” Richie announces to the group, sitting himself down at their lunch table.
Stan eyes him skeptically. “Who’s?”
“A girl I met last night,” Richie says, and grins easily like everything is okay. Even though Eddie’s heart speeds up and he feels like he might explode with a weird mix of uncertainty and anger. His hands clench around his sunbutter sandwich.
Beverly smashes her water bottle down on the table so quickly that it gets partially squished, and a few drops of water fly out. Ben jumps in his seat at that, but turns around to smile apologetically at all the students now giving them weird looks.
“Details, now, Tozier,” Beverly demands.
“Not until later,” Richie sing-songs.
Eddie doesn’t ever want to hear about her. He knows he’s scowling in a particularly exaggerated way, but his face won’t calm itself down. Shit, he doesn’t want it to. He’s angry. This is so not okay.
“Wuh-why later?” Bill presses his hand against Beverly’s mouth so she doesn’t get annoyed at the lack of information. She licks his hand, and he gasps, slapping at her shoulder.
Richie shrugs. “I just like leaving you guys in anticipation,” he says, nonchalantly.
“You bastard,” Beverly frowns, pointing her finger at Richie’s face. Richie grins at her.
“Love you too, Bevvie,” he returns.
“Never thought you’d get anyone,” Mike teases, holding an easy smile.
“Me neither,” Ben agrees. “Our Trashmouth is all grown up.”
Beverly points at the inside of her mouth, mocking vomiting. Eddie feels like he might actually vomit.
“Ah, don’t speak too quickly, my dear Ben,” Richie says in a British Voice, “Nothing has really happened yet except for the ol’ Exchanging of Phone Numbers.”
Eddie even hates that. He’s communicating with a girl, which leads to going out with, which leads to dating, which leads to sex and marraige. And, in Eddie’s, very personal, very right opinion, Richie can not have sex with or get married to a girl.
Eddie puts down his sandwich as calmly as he can, (he squishes it down to the table), and stands up, quickly and, probably, aggressively.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” he announces, very loudly, to the Loser’s lunch table, and storms off. He needs to be out of there. Richie can’t date someone.
He hears Stan say, “He was fine just a few minutes ago,” to the Losers before Eddie retreats far enough from earshot.
Fucking fuck. What the shit was that? That’s- that’s fucking unfair. Eddie shouldn’t be expected to be civil around his friends when Richie is trying to fucking… bone a girl!!
(Why shouldn’t he be able to date someone? He can make his own choices. He’s his own person.)
Eddie avoided the Losers for the rest of the day. He didn’t want to see Richie.
---
When Richie and Katie finally started dating, Richie brought her to Derry to meet the Losers. She was positively lovely and Eddie could not stand that. She fit in well with the Losers. She made good jokes, teased Richie tastefully, and they even kissed once. It made Eddie sick. He genuinely wanted to vomit.
She had chest length brunette hair, (which shone in the sun, and Eddie hates that), light green eyes, and seemed perfect for Richie Tozier.
God damn it. He doesn’t know why he’s so… jealous of her.
Jealous? Is that right?
(But Richie’s his friend and he shouldn’t be jealous of his girlfriend, that seems wrong, why is that wrong?)
He only managed terse, rigid conversation with her the whole day, while the other Losers talked with her freely. Eddie felt like such an outsider. (Even though he was around the Losers.)
Eddie was supremely glad when he was able to slip away from them and go home. He felt odd by being relieved about being away from the Losers, but he didn’t give himself time to explore that. He just did all of his chores, ate dinner, did the homework he had, and let the sweet pull of sleep drag him away when nighttime arrived.
---
Life pretty much continued like that. Richie brought Katie over, sometimes went to visit Katie, and Eddie hated her. Nothing much came of this, except some annoyance from the Losers, and sad looks from Katie herself. Richie seemed to be oblivious, which was all fine with Eddie. He didn’t need his friendship with Richie to be jeopardized.
One night, as Eddie started to fall into the blissful abyss of sleep, he started to hear the telltale signs of a Richie Tozier Late-Night Break In. Light footsteps on his driveway, crunching in the gravel in Eddie’s backyard, pebbles being thrown against Eddie’s window. Which, for once, is shitty as all hell.
Eddie wanted to sleep- he wanted to be able to think about something that wasn’t Richie Tozier and his dumbass girlfriend. But, here Richie was anyway, ruining any of Eddie’s plans for the night.
Eddie gets out of his bed and opens his window. Luckily, his mom’s definitely asleep at this point, at twelve thirty in the morning. (Eddie usually goes to sleep earlier than this, he’s not a monster.)
“Fuck off,” Eddie hisses into the night. He can’t see Richie on the ground, but he can imagine he’s grinning.
“No can do, Eduardo,” Richie calls back, and starts climbing up the side of Eddie’s house. Eddie has no control over his life.
With speed he’s gained over the years, Richie easily scales the walls and all but catapults himself through Eddie’s window. Miraculously, he still lands on his feet. He’s like a fucking cat, what the fuck.
“How’s it hanging, Eds?” Richie asks, grinning as he plops himself down on the bed that Eddie was previously in. It’s probably still warm. Eddie misses it.
“Don’t call me that,” Eddie says and ignores Richie’s actual question. He sits down beside Richie, pressed to his side, because he craves any physical touch from Richie, for some reason.
Richie doesn’t say anything after that, so Eddie doesn’t either. They fall into an uncomfortable, awkward silence that is highly unusual for Richie and Eddie. Richie seems to be… contemplating something. His hands are pressed together at his knees and he’s bent slightly over.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Richie clears his throat and starts speaking.
“Bevvie told me that you don’t like Katie,” he says.
Eddie turns his gaze to the wall. He feels his shoulders tense up.
“Uhm… Do you?” Richie continues. “Not like Katie?” He clarifies after Eddie doesn’t answer.
Eddie knows he has to answer at some point. He couldn’t avoid this forever. But he really doesn’t want to upset Richie. Or cause a fight or anything.
“No,” Eddie says finally. “I don’t like her at all.”
Richie whistles lowly. “That’s okay. I can break up with her. Losers come first.”
Eddie pauses, whipping his head around to face Richie. “What? No.”
Richie looks confused, and stands up, placing his hands behind his head. (No doubt he’s feeling restless.) “What do you mean? You don’t even like her.”
Eddie stands up too. “No. You shouldn’t break up with your girlfriend because I don’t like her.” He jabs his finger into Richie’s chest.
“Who fucking cares? You’re way more important to me, and it’s been pretty casual between me and Katie anyways. Why do you care?”
“No,” Eddie says, sternly, and with the beginning of anger in his voice. “Wait, fucking backtrack. What do you fucking mean that you guys are casual? You’ve been hanging off each other and hanging out nonstop.”
“Well, yeah, because she’s cool,” Richie frowns down at Eddie. Eddie finds it painfully condescending and scorns the fact that he ever wanted to be close to Richie Tozier. “I don’t get why you don’t like her.”
“She's just annoying,” Eddie spits out, frustrated. “She’s so perfect and I hate the fact that you have a girlfriend!”
Richie’s face twitches from a confused frown to an angry scowl. “Oh, I get it. You just don’t want me to date anyone. I get it, dickhead.”
“No-”
“I’m just so goddamn pathetic that you can’t believe I got someone before you,” Richie’s voice is growing louder and angrier by the second. But, he seems to remember that Eddie’s mom is sleeping in the next room over, so he takes a breath. “Jokes on you,” he mutters.
Richie towers over him. Eddie’s never found his height intimidating, per se, but he can say for certain that, right now, he’s intimidated. Eddie wants to punch him.
“God- damn it, Richie, you know that’s not what I goddamn meant,” Eddie snaps, pushing at Richie’s shoulders, lightly. Richie’s eyes light up at this and he clenches his fingers into his palm. Eddie knows that Richie has a short temper when he’s picked on like that. He doesn’t know why he’s trying to rile him up.
“Sure it wasn’t,” Richie says, sarcasm laced in his voice and expression. Eddie’s nostrils flare.
“Fuck you dude,” Eddie pushes him again. Richie takes a step back.
“Come on. Don’t do that shit,” Richie says. And, after a moment's hesitation, “You’re just jealous.”
Eddie swears to God that he sees red. “Fucking- of what?! Of you? I could never be jealous of you, Richie, because you’re such a goddamn idiot that you don’t know what to do with yourself.”
“Why the hell do you care about Katie, then?!” Richie whisper-yells. “Goddamnit, Eds, you’re being such a dick, and I don’t understand why!”
“Me neither, asshole,” Eddie bites. He has the strong urge to push Richie again. He doesn’t. “I don’t understand at all, so you can stop being a dick too.”
“Just tell me how you feel!” The taller exclaims. “Just be- fucking- honest! I don’t care if you’re jealous-”
“I’m jealous of Katie!” Eddie screams, no regard for his mother. He finds the words that he’s toyed around with a few times to ring completely true. “I don’t fucking understand why, or how, or what the fuck is going on, but I just know that I think it’s unfair that you kiss her but not- not-”
Eddie can’t end up forcing the last word out. And when he looks up at Richie, his expression has softened. Any anger has dissipated, and he’s only left with a look of pure sympathy. Eddie hates that. He hates being looked down on. He scowls. He hasn’t felt so angry that he could cry since he was a kid, but he feels that why right now. He violently rubs the back of his hands against his eyes to dispel any tears.
“Why the fuck are you looking at me like that?!” Eddie growls.
Richie continues to stare at him for a few moments, unspeaking, before he takes a step forward.
“No.” Eddie frowns. “No, no, absolutely not. Why are you looking at me like that? What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
Richie sighs and takes another step.
“Fucking fuck, Richie, I hate you so goddamn much, you’re such a dick.”
Richie wraps his arms around Eddie. It takes the smaller boy a moment to realize what’s happening, but he lands a few weak hits on Richie’s chest once he does.
“Spaghetti, you dumb shit,” Richie sighs. “I told you to just be honest.”
“What’s happening?” Eddie asks in a small voice. He wasn’t particularly expecting their fight to end in a hug. His hands are splayed against Richie’s chest.
“Eds, can I kiss you?” Richie noses against Eddie’s hair.
What?
Oh.
That makes a lot of sense.
Eddie’s brain is screaming “Yes!” but, for some reason, Eddie can’t bring the words out of his mouth. So, instead, Eddie runs completely on instinct, which is something he hasn’t done in a long time. He nods.
Richie pats down Eddie’s hair and then rests his hands in the small of Eddie’s back. Richie grins down at Eddie in that awkward crooked way that only Richie can pull off. A warm blush spreads up Eddie’s neck and face.
This really does make sense. It makes sense that Eddie feels this way. Everything is finally being pulled together.
“Ya ready?” Richie asks, pulling Eddie closer to him.
“Uh,” Eddie responds, “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”
“‘Sure’?” Richie chuckles.
“Fuck off, man, I’m confused and nervous and-” Eddie scoffs. “I don’t know.”
“Okay.” Richie nods.
“Okay?” Eddie asks. He suddenly notices how close his and Richie’s faces are and he knows that his face is a deeper shade of red than it was before.
“Yup,” Richie chirps. “S’all good, Spaghetti Man. I’m gonna kiss you now.”
And he does. His lips are kinda gross and chapped, and Eddie doesn’t really know what to do. He’s never been kissed before, so he’s still awkwardly holding his hands against Richie’s chest, but it’s fine.
The kiss is just a second or two, but as soon as Richie tries to pull away, Eddie acts on instinct, (once again), and pulls Richie back in.
Richie makes a surprised “oomph” sound and bumps into Eddie’s bed. He reacts quickly otherwise, though. He turns Eddie to the side and starts to push Eddie against the wall of his room, not breaking the kiss, not even for a second.
Eddie’s not particularly good at kissing and, hell, neither is Richie. They’re both shit, due to lack of experience, general clumsiness, or whatever. It’s nice, though. It feels so nice.
To be fair, Eddie doesn’t have anything else to compare it to. Richie does, though, he’s kissed Katie, so Eddie will have to ask him if he was okay.
Wait. Richie’s kissed Katie.
He’s kissed Katie. Goddamn Katie.
In his goddamn kissing stupor, he forgot about Katie. Fucking shit, he’s still kissing Richie.
He shoves Richie away, tears threatening his eyes for the second time that night when the other boy yelps in confusion.
“What?!” Richie squawks in confusion. “Are you okay?! What happened?!”
“I-” Eddie chokes and scrubs at his eyes. “You’re cheating on Katie! You-” Eddie hiccups. “You can’t do that!”
“Eds,” Richie tries to interject.
“You can’t cheat on Katie, not with- not with me,” Eddie cries desperately, “God, what are we doing, Rich?”
“Eds, it’s okay,” Richie comforts, taking Eddie’s hands gently in his own. Eddie lets him for some Godforsaken reason. Richie chuckles nervously. “I should have probably explained this beforehand.”
“Explained what?” Eddie frowns and furrows his eyebrows.
“So, uh,” Richie sighs. He drops Eddie’s hands. “Do you know what a beard is, Eds?”
Eddie uselessly points to his face in a mock gesture of a beard that he doesn’t have (can’t grow) yet.
Richie laughs. “No, not that. Like… it’s something you call someone who fake dates someone to cover something up.”
“That’s… vague.” Eddie blinks. “Wait, so, you and Katie are fake dating? It’s not real?”
Richie shakes his head. “Definitely not real.”
“What would you have to hide?” Eddie asks.
“Well, at this point I thought it might be obvious,” Richie mutters. “I’m, like, super gay, man.”
“Oh.”
“And it worked well because she is too and her parents were getting suspicious of her, and there’s always been all the rumors in Derry about me, so it all just fit together-”
He’s rambling so Eddie takes his face in his hands and kisses him again.
“I’m not gay,” is the first thing Eddie says after they pull apart.
“Okay,” Richie responds, looking confused.
“I just really like you and want to kiss and date you and stuff,” Eddie adds. “Just you, not other guys.”
Richie looks sound with this and nods. “Okay.”
“So… yeah.” Eddie pats Richie’s cheek and moves to sit down on his bed. “I’m tired.”
Eddie starts to get back under the blankets of his bed and Richie moves to follow him.
“Hell no,” Eddie says, kicking Richie in the thigh, “You are way too gross to be in my bed right now.”
Richie groans. “Come on, Eds. Just like when we were kids,” he whines.
The stroke of childhood nostalgia Eddie feels at those words makes him sigh and lift the covers for Richie. Richie grins and slides in beside him.
“We’re too big for this,” Eddie complains.
“Who cares?” Richie pulls Eddie close and that’s that. There’s no way Eddie would argue against this now.
He feels that he might need to apologize to Katie.