Chapter Text
Eddie Kaspbrak was standing in front of the restaurant.
“Holy fuck” he thought to himself. And honestly, fair.
When he got the call from Mike, that It was back, he basically crashed. Frankly it was a surprise that he made it out. Whether that was a positive or a negative surprise is up to interpretation.
But right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
The restaurant. The Losers. All of them inside, or probably not, considering he was relatively early for the standards of everyone else. Richie especially.
Oh god.
Richie. Richie Tozier.
It all comes flooding back.
The hammock. The arcade. The quarry.
Everything.
But whatever, he pushes it away for now, ignoring the fact that he just remembered that the love of his life was alive and lo and behold. A man. Whatever. He’ll unpack it later.
Eddie pushes to the restaurant, looking for his friends. He wa just listing off his allergies when he saw them
“Holy shit”
And here they are. Mike and Bill talking. God they didn’t even change much. Obviously they grown into their bodies. All height and muscles now, instead of lanky limbs and awkward faces.
They got to talking, waiting for the rest to arrive, and when they did. God. Beverly was looking stunning. She was objectively beautiful when they were kids but now she was drop-dead gorgeous. And Ben. Eddie was just remembering he was gay, and frankly, Ben was just confirming it. He was muscular and tall, not even reminiscing the way he looked those 30 years ago.
And then…
Shit.
“Richie.” he said quietly, like he was worried that if he’ll be a little louder, all his secrets are gonna become common knowledge to everyone around him.
Eddie noticed him before he even rang that stupid gong. He didn’t know if that was its fault that he couldn’t focus on anything happening around him, or was he just going insane. Eddie took his seat next to Richie, leaving the empty seat between them. Again, scared that if he got too close Richie will be able to smell the desperation off of him.
…
After a couple of drinks they were all laughing, talking. Eddie however, couldn’t take his eyes off of Richie.
‘When did he got so hot?’ he thought to himself. It was unfair honestly. He used to look so awkward. All gangly and lanky, and now? God. Tall — 6’4 at least, probably more. Broad shoulders, muscles — visible ones. He carefully takes a look at his arms and shit. He shouldnt’ve, he was gonna faint right there and then. Why the fuck was he swooning like a victorian maiden just at the sight of Richie’s biceps.
He downed his drink.
It was gonna be a long night