Chapter Text
Richie Tozier started his day feeling nervous. It wasn't often that he experienced much nervousness during school hours these days; what with it being pretty far into their senior year and the blatant senioritis everyone had begun to develop. Even most of his teachers seemed to be winding down classes for the year despite the fact there was still three months to get through before the semester was actually over.
Thankfully this meant that Richie had been able to avoid any school induced anxiety for the past few weeks now. Today, however, was different. Although in this case the reason for his anxiety wasn't necessarily school related.
Richie had started his day off not too much different than he always did. He had gotten a firm 3 hours of sleep the night before, he'd had a hearty breakfast consisting of a piece of toast, and he arrived at the school roughly the same time he always did. Which was, of course, 10 minutes before classes began and a good 15 minutes later than all of his friends.
He shuffled down the school hallways, already bustling with students preparing for their first classes of the day. Richie did his best to weave through the crowd without knocking into anyone too badly, following the familiar route through the chaos directly to Bill's locker.
Eventually his destination came into view, Richie's height advantage over the majority of his peers did come in handy when looking for someone in a crowd, allowing his gaze to easily lock onto his group of friends even from 20 feet away. Bill was standing at his locker gathering his first period books while behind him Ben, Bev, Stan and Eddie stood chattering amongst themselves about nothing in particular. As soon as Richie's gaze landed on Eddie he felt his stomach flutter pathetically, the small object that he had in the pocket of his jeans felt like it was practically burning a hole through the denim as he remembered the mission he was on.
Richie finally reached them, edging his way past some people that had stopped in the middle of the hallway, and squeezing his way into where they were grouped up against the lockers lining the wall, immediately flashing them all a grin with his usual confidence.
"Howdy, friends, how is everyone doing on this fine morning?" Richie greeted with an exaggerated gusto, unknowingly interrupting some story Eddie had been telling about his latest experience at the local movie theater and his opinions one the films that were currently playing. Richie slid into his usual place, squished in between Eddie and Stan's shoulders as the group tried to press themselves close enough to all stand in a circle together in order to talk without being in the way of other students trying to access their lockers.
"Good morning Richie," Stan greeted, followed quickly by a chorus of nondescript 'hellos' and 'whats ups' from the other members of the group.
Stan spoke up again once everyone finished exchanging their greetings. "We were talking about maybe going to go see that new prison movie that just came out for movie night tomorrow. I heard it was really good."
Eddie nodded enthusiastically, launching right back into the tirade Richie had interrupted. "I heard that Morgan Freeman was amazing in it. Like, apparently people are saying it's one of his best yet. Oh, and there's also that other movie, 'Pulp Fiction', or something. People won't shut up about it. Apparently it's, like, fuckin' crazy because its all shot out of order or something."
As he finished talking, Bill finally managed to sort out his locker, kicking the door shut and turning around to join the conversation properly.
"Most movies are sh-shot out of order. Supposedly this one just k-k-kept it like that on p-purpose or something. The whole st-storyline is played out of order."
Beside Bill, Ben frowned, eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"Out of order? Wouldn't that be super confusing?"
Eddie shrugged. "I have no idea. Apparently not though, since so many people seem to be going crazy for it."
Bev nodded in agreement from her place between Ben and Stan.
"Yeah, no kidding. Yesterday during study hall there were these two guys sitting near me who talked about it all period. I didn't even think you could have that many opinions on one movie, but they certainly did."
The conversation continued, bouncing from one person to another as they each chimed in in turn with whatever came to their mind.
Richie listened to them chatter for a while. The hum of their familiar voices mixed with the obnoxious noise of the busy hallway, creating a comforting lull to his ears as he zoned out and focused instead on the feeling of nervousness buzzing in his stomach.
He had made himself a promise that he would do it today, no matter what. His thoughts shifted to the boy pressed up against his side, now talking animatedly once again. Eddie. Everywhere they touched sent little jolts of electricity racing through Richie's body, filling his stomach with so many butterflies he felt like he might throw up. He could feel the other boy practically vibrating with energy beside him, so worked up with excitement and his usual high strung nerves that it almost seemed like he would explode any second.
Richie tried to be subtle as he glanced over at the shorter boy, allowing his gaze to drift over the features of Eddie's face, taking note of some of the new particularly dark freckles that had appeared spattered across his nose and onto his cheeks, most likely due to recent sun exposure. He could always tell when Eddie had been spending time outside in the sun. He noticed every new spot that appeared on Eddie's face.
Richie thought to himself that he could probably spend a whole day doing nothing but counting all of Eddie's freckles, from the obvious ones covering his nose all the way to the faintest traces of the ones that had all but already faded away from the summer, lightly trailing down his jaw and neck and down past the collar of his shirt.
He also knew for a fact that those freckles would lead all the way down Eddie's torso if he'd gotten enough sun. One activity that practically guaranteed it was when the group would go swimming in the quarry.
Unfortunately, this also lead to Richie developing a small habit of sneaking some not so subtle glances at Eddie, especially when they did linger at the quarry, either swimming or simply basking in the sunlight and chatting. He found that he couldn't help but look; the freckles scattered over Eddie's shoulders and down his back were an intoxicating sight. He more often than not ended up spending the group's quarry days yearning for a chance to see those freckles up close, perhaps closer than what one would consider strictly platonic. In fact, he often found himself yearning to trace his fingers over each of the freckles scattered over Eddie's skin to see what constellations he could find.
"-ichie. Richie! Hello? Earth to Trashmouth? You haven't said a word in, like, 5 minutes. Are you sick or something?"
Richie was drawn from his thoughts as Stan waved a hand in front of his face.
In front of him, every member of the group had their eyes on him, some vaguely worried or confused and others only showing vague amusement. Richie pointedly did not look at Eddie, knowing full well that he had probably been blatantly staring at him for the past few minutes and based off of his friends reactions it seemed as though everyone else had probably noticed this as well.
Richie blinked behind his glasses, shaking his head as though he could physically fling the thoughts away.
"Ah," he started, giving the group a wide grin and a thumbs up. "I'm a-ok, Captain! Just havin' an ole' ponder to myself! Nothing to worry about!" Even he wasn't quite sure what kind of voice he had been going for initially, but what came out was an odd mix of a pirate and a proper british sailor. Not his best work.
"Right," Stan hummed, eyebrow quirked as he observed him. "Anyway, what's your vote? Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction?"
"Uh, Shawshank Redemption."
Stan nodded. "That makes three for Shawshank and three for pulp fiction. Mike will have to be the tie breaker when we meet him after school."
Everyone nodded in agreement, thankfully taking their attention off of Richie as Eddie checked his watch.
"We still have, like, ten minutes until first period starts," Eddie groaned. "Class haven't even actually started yet and today is already going way too fuckin' slow." He huffed, tapping at the face of his watch impatiently as though it would make the hands move faster.
Richie watched him out of the corner of his eye, anxiousness blooming deep in the pit of his stomach. He quickly shoved the feeling away, doing his best to bury the feeling as he dramatically threw his arms out to loop around Stan and Eddie's necks and pull them into his sides obnoxiously.
"Fear not, Spaghetti boy! I'm sure six friends can find some way to pass a couple minutes before class. Why so eager for the day to end, anyway? It's only barely begun! Who knows what treasures and fun awaits us!"
Stan had pushed Richie's arm off of his shoulders before he had even gotten his second statement out. "What the fuck are you talking about? 'Treasures and fun'? You meant algebra and english lit? I could think of more than a few things I'd rather be doing with my day."
"Ohoho," Richie laughed. "I can also think of things I'd rather be doing, right, Eds?" He grinned stupidly at Eddie, his free hand coming up to ruffle his hair. He pointedly ignored the invasive thoughts of how soft Eddie's hair was and the way it curled around his fingers slightly.
Richie cleared his throat before continuing. "I mean, I'm sure your mom would agree! She is always first in line when I'm looking for fun things to do."
Eddie groaned in annoyance, shoving Richie's hand away. "Shut the fuck up, Richie. We're, like, 18 years old and you're still making 'your mom' jokes. Jesus Christ."
Richie snorted, undeterred by Eddie's protests as he continued.
"Well, actually, since I am actually 18 now, we don't have to hide our relationship anymore. Actually, Your mother and I were planning to tell you together, but we decided that I'll be moving in soon. Sorry, but you will still have to call me Richie. She might get jealous if you start calling me dad." He laughed at his own joke, elbowing Eddie's side comically.
Eddie shoved Richie away, rubbing his side to soothe the slight ache left there by Richie's boney elbow jabbing into him. "Ow, Jesus, dude, your gangly fuckin limbs are like knives."
Beverly cut in before Richie could retort. "Actually guys, sorry to cut your flirting short but Me, Ben, and Stan have to do a presentation together in first period and we gotta go get our cue cards ready before class starts. So we're gonna have to head to class."
Stan nodded in agreement, glancing at his own watch. "Yeah, we gotta go. See you guys later." The three of them waved goodbye before they turned and started down the hallway towards their shared class.
As they departed, Bill turned to Richie and Eddie with an apologetic look. "S-Speaking of doing things before class- Sorry, guys, B- But I actually have to go grab a b-book from the library for my english class. I'll s-see you guys at lunch."
Richie saluted him somberly. "Godspeed, Denbrough."
Eddie simply waved. "See you, Bill."
Bill mumbled one last goodbye to the pair of them before slipping into the flow of the hallway and shuffling along with the crowd.
Once he was gone, only Eddie and Richie remained.
Richie smiled, casually shoving his hands into his pockets. "So, Eds…" He started, shoving down his growing urge to flee. It was just Eddie, after all. "How's it hangin'? Had any fun new adventures?"
"If you count refilling my bullshit prescriptions and having Greta Keene call me a virgin for 15 minutes straight, then sure." Eddie shrugged.
"Hey, at least she was only calling you a virgin and not the local town whore or something, right?" Richie joked, unconsciously stepping a little closer to Eddie now that it was just the two of them.
"There's nothing wrong with being the local town whore, Rich. It's called sex positivity. If I want to be a whore then I can be a whore. Who cares? It's no one's business who decides to embrace being horny sometimes."
Richie laughed, reaching out to pat Eddie's head.
"Well then, if you do decide to become the local whore then I'll be sure to be first in line to ride the Kaspbrak Express. After all, who could possibly resist someone as cute as you, Eddie Spaghetti."
Eddie smacked his hand away, rolling his eyes. "Shut up. You know I hate it when you call me that." He did not address Richie's first statement.
Despite Eddie's words, Richie couldn't help but notice the pink tinge dusting his cheeks. It made his chest feel warm, knowing that he had managed to make Eddie blush so easily. He took another step closer without thinking.
Eddie coughed, looking up at Richie who now stood less than a foot away. "What about you? Anything interesting happen over the weekend?"
Richie paused, thinking back to how he had spent the previous two days and what events had transpired during them. Usually, the Losers would be sure to arrange a time and place to hang out over weekends, whether it be the barrens, the quarry, or having a movie night together. The previous weekend, however, everyone had been too busy to find the time to meet up.
Stan, Bev, and Ben had spent the two days finishing their presentation at the library, Mike had gotten caught up in his work on the farm all weekend, and Bill had agreed to help his dad repaint their living room. Which meant that Richie had had two full days of absolutely nothing to do.
"Not really," Richie mused. "Just spent two cold, lonely days alone in my room. Casually wishing on shooting stars that my knight in shining armor would come rescue me from my boredom. I guess you were too preoccupied, though." He grinned dumbly, nudging Edbie's shoulder. "Get it? 'Cause it's you. You're my knight in shining armor. Like in rapunzel."
Eddie scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I get it, dumbass!" Richie watched in delight as Eddie's blush darkened. "You're an idiot."
"Maybe so. But I'm your idiot. What can I say, you just bring out the best in me."
"Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Trashmouth." Eddie shook his head, fighting off the smile that was tugging at his lips in an effort to not give Richie the satisfaction of seeing him laugh in response to his jokes.
Richie let the conversation hang in the air for a moment, shifting on his feet restlessly, seemingly overcome with a sudden wave of nervousness. He shoved his hands into his jean pockets. He did his best to not appear too worried, rocking back on his heels to imitate casualness.
"Right…" Richie muttered finally. His fingers grazed the hard plastic of the tape sitting in his pocket.
He held it for a moment, trying to build up some courage. It was stupid, Richie thought, that it was this hard for him to give something so small to Eddie. He took a breath to calm himself before finally pulling his hand out of his pocket, sticking it straight out to offer the object in his grip to the shorter boy.
"Here. This is for you."
Eddie's eyebrows furrowed as he reached out, accepting the object Richie was offering him. It was a black cassette tape, the ends of the dark plastic sticking out from the ends of a scrap of paper that was folded carefully around it. He stared at it in his hands for a moment before glancing back up at Richie again, expression hesitant and confused.
"Is this…..?" Eddie started, taking another quick glance at the item before once again looking up to meet Richie's eyes. "A mixtape?" He blinked, feeling unsure. He was sure his expression displayed just how baffled he was feeling.
Richie felt his heart stutter in his chest as Eddie's eyes met his own, confused yet still as warm as always. One look was all it took to send a shiver throughout Richie's body. Eddie's eyes were another one of Richie's weaknesses, the deep brown color always seemed to draw him in so deep he felt like he might drown in them.
Eddie's eyes managed to capture Richie so quickly and completely that it took a moment before the words actually reached Richie's ears. When they finally did, though, Richie let his mouth twist up into a nervous but toothy smile as he shot Eddie a bashful grin.
"Uh. Yeah." Richie nodded. "I made it for you."
In front of him, Eddie just blinked again, eyebrows furrowing even further in confusion.
"Huh?" Eddie felt a bit speechless, unsure how he was supposed to react to the turn of events.
Richie snorted, shoving his hands back into his pockets and rocking on his feet slightly. "Whaddya mean? I just said. It's for you."
Eddie stuttered, trying to get out a coherent response despite the fact that his brain suddenly felt like mush.
"It's- For-? A mixtape? Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," Richie nodded. "I spent a whole day putting it together. Nothing but the best on there, promise." He hummed, holding up three fingers next to his face. "Scout's honor."
Eddie managed to force out a scoff, his voice sounding choked and bewildered as he barked out an automatic response to Richie's teasing.
"You're not even a scout, dumbass. You can't use that just because Stan does. That's not how it works. He's actually in boy scouts."
Richie laughed. "Just because I'm not a scout doesn't mean I can make a promise on their honor. Besides, Stan basically made me, like, an honorary scout that time I helped him go bird spotting in the park."
"Fuck off, 'he made you an honorary scout'," Eddie argued, mocking Richie. "All you did was sit there and make bad jokes about the names of the birds from his identification book. I think you actually scared some of the birds away. If anything, you only distracted him when he was trying to do his bird shit."
Eddie tsked, finally drawing himself out of his shock a bit. "You're changing the subject. What the fuck is this for? Am I gonna listen to it and just hear you fuckin' telling shitty jokes for an hour or something?"
Richie held his hands up as a sign of peace, shaking his head. "No jokes. Just songs. Promise. I wrote all the tracks down on the paper, just in case."
Eddie scoffed again, deftly unfolding the paper from around the small cassette tape.
"Just in case, huh?" He muttered to himself, lips pursing as his eyes scanned the neat writing on the page. He squinted at the words scrutinizingly. "1. Oh, Pretty Women by Roy Orbison, 2. The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy, 3. Tainted Love by Soft Cell..?"
He listed as he read them, words dropping off as he focused on reading rather than speaking. He had to reread the list at least four times before he was able to even begin processing the words in his head.
After a little longer than it probably should've taken, Eddie managed to actually consume the information and keep it in his mind for more than a second. Richie's writing was neat and careful, contrasting with the hurried nature of the torn, slightly crumpled scrap of paper which looked to have been quickly ripped from the page of a standard school notebook that the list had been written on.
A vision flashed through Eddie's mind of Richie hunched over the desk in his room, carefully writing down song titles onto a page that he had probably torn from his math notebook in annoyance after he'd gotten frustrated at a homework equation. The blue ink of the pen Richie had used was dark against the page. The further down the list Eddie read, the more confused he felt.
The paper in his hands read
Eddie's Super Special Secret Mix, By Richard Tozier Himself--
1. Oh, Pretty Woman -- Roy Orbison
2. The Boys are Back in Town -- Thin Lizzy
3. Tainted Love -- Soft Cell
4. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)
5. Kiss From a Rose -- Seal
6. Never Gonna Give You Up -- Rick Astley
7. Love Shack -- The B-52's
8. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go -- Wham
9. Don't You (Forget About Me) -- Simple Minds
10. I Wanna Dance With Somebody -- Whitney Houston
11. Take On Me -- A-Ha
12. Total Eclipse of the Heart -- Bonnie Tyler
13. Can You Feel the Love Tonight -- Elton John
14. Follow Through
Copyrighted © as a Trashmouth Records Official Mix
"I still don't get it," Eddie proclaimed, finally tearing his gaze off the paper. "Why did you make this to give to me?"
Richie shrugged nonchalantly, pretending as though his heart didn't feel like it was about to fall right out of his chest. "Listen to it and find out. I worked hard to decide on which songs to include, y'know. So you better actually listen to it! It's only kind, as the recipient of such a gift, to actually use said gift as intended."
"Right…" Eddie muttered, trying to glean any information he can from Richie's note. His eyes caught on the final track on the list.
"'Follow Through'? I've never heard of that one. Who sings it?" Eddie questioned, running his thumb over the neat writing. "It doesn't say like it does with the rest."
Richie grinned bashfully in response, hooking his thumbs under the collar of his loose hawiian shirt, popping it up slightly in a gesture of pride.
"Why actually, Edward, that one is a Richie 'Showbiz' Tozier original. Just for you. Crazy that I'm just giving away my talent for free, but that's just how far I'll go for ya."
Eddie snorted, shooting Richie a disbelieving look. "You? You wrote a song? And recorded it? And put it on a mixtape? A mixtape that you're giving to me?"
"Sure did." Richie beamed, reaching over to ruffle Eddie's hair yet again, earning an annoyed grunt and a swat to the shoulder in return.
"Fuck off, stop messing up my hair, god damn." He tsked, reaching up to push the misplaced strands back off of his forehead. He huffed a bit, eyeing Richie and the nervous energy surrounding him. "If I listen to it will you stop acting all weird?"
Nodding, Richie gave him a reassuring grin and a thumbs up. "Anything for you, Sir Edward." He bowed dramatically, making Eddie roll his eyes.
"Sure, Rich. Whatever you say. I think the bell rang, like, 3 minutes ago, so. I have to go before I'm late. I'll listen to it during my shift at work or something."
Richie just nodded, swallowing his heart back down from where it threatened to slip out of his mouth. "Enjoy it, Spaghetti!" He leaned down, making a show of dramatically pressing a big wet kiss to Eddie's forehead.
Eddie yelped, hand immediately coming up to wipe at the place of contact. "Gross, Richie! You basically just slobbered all over me!"
"Ain't that the dream," Richie laughed loudly. "Would absolutely love to stay and chat until the tardy bell rings, but if I'm late one more time I think my teacher is gonna have a coronary. So, I gotta run! See you in class, Eds!" He gave Eddie one last pat on the shoulder before turning on his heel and all but sprinting down the hallway.