Chapter Text
"Benjamin Handsome!" Richie said in awe. He looked down at the cards in his hands, shuffling through them. "Ah, look!" he exclaimed, holding one up to Bill and Beverly. "My baby's in here!" He turned it around to look at the neatly printed name, running his thumb over the indents the pen had made into the index card. Eddie, it read.
"All of us are in there," Ben said, looking quite pleased with himself. "Plus, a whole bunch of inside jokes too."
Richie handed the homemade Hedbandz cards back to Ben, who sat next to him on the couch. Beverly and Bill sat on the love seat, fingers intertwined between them, while Stanley sat in the armchair, flicking through channels on the television. His head was turned to the side slightly, indicating he was listening. They were all sat in the Denbrough family's living room, except for Mike who had just left to go to the bathroom. Bill's parents were out for the weekend, leaving him in charge of the house. Richie had been there for about an hour already.
"Hand 'em over here," Bev said, while reaching her free hand towards Ben. He handed the cards to her, his face blushing when their fingers grazed. Beverly set the cards on the arm of the love seat, picking the first card on the top then setting it in a separate pile, so she could look through them without letting go of Bill's hand. Bill looked over her shoulder and read the cards, a smile appearing on his face.
"We should play it when e-e-everyone gets here," Bill said, his eyes flicking up to Ben.
Bev nodded in agreement, her red locks bouncing just below her shoulders. "These are so cool."
"Thanks, Beverly."
Richie bounced his leg up and down, up and down, wondering when his boyfriend would get there. Earlier that day they had spoken on the phone, Eddie telling him he might be a little late because of his mom. He smiled at the thought of their conversation. Eddie whispered into the phone, quiet little giggles escaping his mouth so not to attract his mother's attention whenever Richie told a joke. He could just imagine him on the other line, a soft blush combined with his freckles spread across his cheeks. His thumb on his free hand tapping his pinky, ring, middle, and then pointer finger, then going back and over again, like he does once and a while when he's shy or nervous. A small smile lifted up at the corners of his mouth while he spoke. Richie reached up with his hand and pushed his large glasses up, which had slowly been falling down his face without him noticing. Eddie would sometimes do that for him. When they first started dating they had just turned fifteen and Eddie would always reach up to adjust Richie's glasses for him, even if one of then were having a conversation.
He thought of Beverly and Bill who had started dating a month prior, and they seemed really happy. But that didn't stop some lingering gazes. Sometimes Richie thought he knew things about his friends, only to be completely wrong. He had always thought Ben and Beverly would get together. Also, he had always had a sneaking suspicion that Stan was hiding something-
"Rich?" Mike sat down next to him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Mikey! Is Eddie here yet? I just zoned the fuck out for like ten minutes," Richie said.
Exactly on time, the doorbell rang.
Richie jumped off of the couch, tripping over Mike's feet on the way, and then barreled his way over to the front door.
"Jesus, Richie," Stan mumbled from the living room. He could hear the rest of them chuckling at him as he ripped open the door.
There, on the porch, was Eddie Kaspbrak. He had an AC/DC sweatshirt that his small frame was drowning in, which was definitely Richie's. Every time Richie saw Eddie, he was in awe at how cute he was. How cute could someone possibly be? Not as cute as this boy. Richie reached his arms out in front of him, with a giant smile on his face. "It's Spaghetti Head!"
Eddie rolled his eyes, but he also had a big smile. "Don't call me that!" He lunged himself at Richie, almost knocking him down.
"Jeez, Eds. You're like a little spider monkey."
"Fuck off, Dick," he mumbled.
Richie grinned and kissed the top of his head sweetly, smelling his strawberry shampoo in the process. "I missed you," he whispered.
"We talked on the phone like an hour ago."
"That's too loooong," he whined.
Eddie pulled away. "That-"
"That's what she said!" Beverly shouted as she walked past them to shut the door. She pushed her sleeves up to her elbows and tugged the two boys into the living room. Eddie by the arm, and Richie by the ear.
"Ow! Marsh, you're gonna rip mah lobe off!" Richie complained loudly.
"You guys are so cute it's gross," she said and then let go of them, to return to her spot beside Bill.
Richie sat in his spot and tugged his boyfriend down onto his lap. He noticed from across the room Stanley had an unreadable expression on his face, while he stared over at Bev. Stan quickly realized he was being watched and acted like nothing happened. "So, Eddie, Ben made his own set of cards for Hedbandz, and it's got all of our names in it. I bet you five bucks-"
Eddie perked up immediately. "You're on, Loser! Can't wait to win another five dollars from you."
"We'll see about that, Loser," Stan said with a smile creeping onto his face.
The thing about Eddie was that he was extremely competitive, and everyone thought it was the funniest thing ever. One time when they were playing Sorry! he flipped the game board over, causing a red pawn to go flying and hit Richie square on the forehead. Beverly laughed so hard she nearly passed out. Eddie stormed into the kitchen, followed by an apologetic Bill. It was all in good fun though, after about five minutes Eddie and Bill came back in and they were all giggling about it, laughing even harder when Richie complained that he had gotten brain damage from the pawn hitting his head and Stan replying, "Wait, you don't already have brain damage?"
This time, there were no teams. It was everyone against everyone. They all crawled on the floor, sitting in a circle.
Richie gave a chuckle as Ben went first, his card on his head reading, That's what she said, because of the ongoing war between them on who could say it the most in three months. Bill was keeping score. He typed something into his phone, probably giving another point to Bev from earlier.The rules of Hedbandz were simple, the player had thirty seconds to ask yes or no questions about the card on their head, and if they couldn't get it in that time, the next person went and the original player would have another chance when it got to be their turn again. Whoever had guessed the most right by the end won. Richie looked at everyone's cards. Beverly had Ghostbusters! because of the day when they sang the song over and over again, and it had gotten stuck in their heads for a whole week. They had memorized the whole thing. Bill had Stanley on his card. Stan had Boop War on his because they had a war every once and a while to see who could boop the most noses in a day. It got so extreme one year that they were all banned from a grocery store because they were all running and screaming as they chased each other around the isles. Mike's read, Beep beep, Richie. Richie shook his head and smiled. Finally, Eddie's index card said Don't call me Eds, which was too perfect.
"Am I a person?" Ben asked.
"Nope," Mike said.
"Am I a war?"
Richie realized that they had had a lot of wars and were all pretty competitive, not just Eddie. "Bingo."
"Uuuum, is it the prank war?"
"No," Beverly said.
Ben didn't get it in time due to the amount of competitions they had had in the past. It eventually got to be Eddie's turn.
"Am I a person?" he asked so quickly Richie almost didn't understand what he was saying.
"No."
"Am I an inside joke?"
Richie started, "Yes-"
Stan cut him off, "No."
"Does my card say 'don't call me Eds?"
"Yes, what the fuck?" Richie said in awe.
Eddie threw the card down, simultaneously mumbling, "You gave it away, Richie." He picked up a new card which read, Richie. "Am I a person?"
"Yes."
"Am I Bev?"
"No."
"Am I Ben?"
"No."
And right before the timer went off Eddie said, "Am I Richie?"
After that the game was on. It lasted for about an hour, due to how many cards they had gathered over the years. It was a tie. Between Eddie and Stanley, of course.
"You know w-what you two have to do. You can choose, Ben, since you brought more c-cards." Bill said.
Ben tilted his head up, thinking. He then looked at Stan then Eddie. "How about a good old fashioned staring contest?"
They both nodded before Mike started counting down. 3, 2, 1...And they were off, eyebrows furrowed, and faces stuck out toward each other. It felt as if they were glued like that for forever, the rest of their friends staying quiet to not disturb them. A loud boom from the kitchen made everyone jump and look over.
Richie heard a quiet voice say, "Shit."
"Georgie?" Bill called out.
It took a moment for the nine year old to answer. "Yeah?"
"It's ten thirty, what are you doing up? And where did you learn that word?" Bill stood up and walked towards the kitchen muttering, "I'm s-so dead," under his breath.
"Damn it," Eddie said, "I should get going." He let out a loud sigh.
"No," Richie said as he wrapped his long arms next to the boy next to him.
"Wait, who blinked first?" Beverly asked, a smile showing up on her lips, ready to burst out into laughter.
"It was..." Ben drummed his hands on his lap. "Stan."
"Shit!" Eddie shouted.
"Huh, I wonder where Georgie learned that language from," Mike said, him and Beverly laughing.
Eddie stood up angrily. "I'll give you the money tomorrow."
Stan just shook his head and waved his hand in the air. "That's okay."
"Stan the Man, bein' a man. Really livin' up to your name, son," Richie in an accent he didn't even know.
Stanley rolled his eyes.
Richie looked up to see Eddie's hand in front of his face. Richie let himself be pulled up by the small boy, and then turned to the others. Bill walked back into the living room. "Welp, I've gotta walk Eddie-o-Spaghetti-o home now. Thanks for the wonderful time lady and gents." He bowed as Eddie groaned and mumbled something under his breath.
"Bye guys," Eddie said, pulling Richie behind him.
Everyone said bye as they went outside and closed the door behind them. Their fingers were still laced together as they walked down the driveway and started down the street. It smelled like it was about to rain, a scent Richie grew to love, but at that moment it made an eerie feeling fill his chest. Like something bad was going to happen. He brushed it off quickly. The gravel crunching under their feet was the only sound that could be heard until Eddie spoke up. "Do you wanna meet at the quarry tomorrow?"
"Woah, Eds. Just the two of us? Are you planning something?" He gasped. "A proposal? Oh my God, I'm so excited-"
Eddie snorted. "No, Dumbass. And we hang out alone together all the time." He paused. "I don't know, I just wanted to go there with you tomorrow," he said.
Richie smiled softly. "Of course I want to meet with you at the quarry tomorrow."
"Okay," Eddie agreed, a little smile on his reddened face.
Richie leaned down to peck him on the cheek. The rest of the way was quiet, which was weird. Usually they would be talking up a storm and laughing the whole way, possibly waking up neighbors in the process.
They walked up Eddie's driveway, stopping at his door.
"Alright, Bug. You're home safe."
The short boy reached up and placed his hands on Richie's face, pulling him down to his level so their lips could meet in a soft kiss. Richie gripped his waist as he moved his mouth in a smooth rhythm. His right hand came up to the back of Eddie's head, bringing him even closer. Eddie let out a small sigh as they opened their mouths.
Richie pulled away for a moment softly saying, "I could come in."
Eddie rubbed his thumbs across the tall boy's cheekbones. "My mom slept all day, she'll probably be up all night."
He nodded and gave him one more deep kiss before stepping back. "See ya tomorrow, Babe."
"Bye, Baby."
He watched as Eddie walked into his house, looking behind him at Richie before shutting the door.
Richie stood there for a moment, then walked down the driveway and headed toward his house. He hummed along to Africa by Toto all the way home.
When he walked inside he knew his parents were already asleep, unsurprisingly. He locked the front door and headed upstairs to his room where he didn't even bother to change into his pajamas, Richie just kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the bed. He pulled his phone from his back pocket and set it on his bedside table. He flipped and turned and tried to get comfortable, but only could think of one thing: Eddie. He was worried, for no reason. It soon turned eleven, then twelve, and then one in the morning. At one twenty two in the morning he received a text message.
Eddie Spaghetti: I don't know where I am