"Did you get cuter when I was turned around or is that just me?" Richie smirks. He looks down at his precious Eddie Spaghetti, who so happens to be looking everywhere else but at the trashmouth himself. "Shut up, asshole," Eddie says rolling his eyes and hoping to God the other Losers' or Richie didn't see the blush spreading across his cheeks. "Aw come on, Eds! I'm just seeing things as they are." Richie ruffles Eddie's hair and wraps his arm around him pulling Eddie closer. Eddie felt the corner of his lips tug upwards slightly at the small gesture, and he was sure he felt the sun grow even brighter on this already hot day. "Don't call me that. You know I hate it when you call me that." Eddie sighs, but still couldn't help the fact that his stomach was doing backflips.
The Losers' had decided to go out to the Quarry to relax, and had ended up swimming and just enjoying each others' company. Which lead them to where they were now, sitting in a circle, talking, occasionally giving each other looks across the circle when either Richie and Eddie started obviously flirting or found Stan and Bill giving each other looks that were too intimate to be normal. Beverly was especially fond of Richie's attempts at winning the oblivious Eddie over, which usually ended with a conversation between the two the next day, that somehow always ended with a giggling Bev and an annoyed Richie. Aside for one day, after a long day of school recently, it didn't just end like that.
"Am I doing something wrong, Bev? I mean I've been doing everything. Am I just bad at this?" Richie asked. The usual uplift in his voice was gone, and that's how Beverly knew he was being serious. It caught her off guard. They were sat on the brick wall across the street from the high school, smoking cigarettes. They did this all the time, but today felt different. Richie was being funny, but there were times where Bev would catch him with a far away look in his eyes, and it worried her. She shifted her position on the short wall. "You aren't doing anything wrong, Rich. He just- he probably hasn't realized that you like him yet, but-" she wasn't sure she was allowed to say this, so she paused, "I know for a fact that he likes you too," Beverly turned to her right to glance at Richie. His eyebrows were furrowed together, his right index finger and middle finger occupied with a cigarette between them having just taken a drag. "But, how do you know, Bev? How can you just tell?" Richie blew the smoke out of his mouth and nose slowly. He seemed to be pleading for an answer. It made Bev want to hug him. They both needed it anyway. "Richie, do you ever see the way he looks at you? It's so full of fucking love and affection that it's hard to actually keep my eyes on you guys, 'cause it's just so… intimate, it reminds me of the way Ben looks at me," Bev paused for a breath and laughed at the thought of Ben. "I mean, I only ever see Eddie smile so big when he's with you. Or even talking about you, if I can say that," she smiled at the thought of Eddie's "Richie-smile", as she liked to call it. Eddie hated it when she called it that. She knew that, but it was always worth seeing the blush that seemed to creep back onto his face at the mention of Richie, who at the moment was slightly smiling, with a wistful look in his eyes, just sitting silently. "Rich?" She turned her head to look at his face. "You okay?" she asked. It was a rare occurrence for Richie to stay silent for so long. Richie had finally turned his head to her. "Bev, if anything, my day has just gotten 10 times better than it was two hours ago," he said. He was smiling and it was genuine; Beverly knew that. She always knew when he was really happy or not. So, she smiled back, and they continued the rest of that day in silence. A comforting silence. It was the last time Richie asked about Eddie at one of there hangouts.
"Did you forget the beer in the car again, Richie?" Mike asks, a playful annoyance hinting at the tone of his voice. It was already dark yet Richie was still able to see his friends. He looked around for help excluding Mike; they were sitting in a circle at the top of the only accessible cliff of the towering rock walls of the quarry. Except for Stan and Bill, who went out to get firewood about half an hour ago (everyone knew something was up between Stan and Bill, they didn't even bother to ask besides Ben who had been smirking as the two left the circle). Richie flinches. "Maybe?" he looks to the short boy on top of him, who had somehow ended up sitting on his lap somewhere around mid-afternoon. "Wanna help me grab the beer, Eds?" Richie asks, grinning teasingly. Eddie rolls his eyes out of habit, and turns to look at the boy under him. The first thing he seems to notice this time is Richie's hair. It had always been an untamed mass of sable curls, that now that Eddie thought about it, had somehow resembled his own aside from the fact that his hair was more of a soft hazel rather than an inky abyss. The other thing that Eddie took note of was the freckles. Freckles were splayed everywhere across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. And he loved every single one of them. He recently found himself wanting to just kiss every little thing he noticed on the boys face. In fact, for the past six years, everything about Richie caught the small boy's attention. First, it was the hawaiian shirts and now ever since freshman year, it was the ripped black jeans, brood colored hoodies, flannels, and band t-shirts.
Richie felt he needed a change. The hawaiian shirts were starting to grow tighter on his already small figure and it annoyed him. Bev thought a day at the mall would be necessary and had somehow dragged him out of his house that fall evening and helped him out. So, when he had came walking to the school in his new outfit, he was scared, and he didn't know what everyone would think of him. Especially Eddie. "Woah Rich, what happened to you? Going through a phase?" Stan said, mockery laced into his tone. The moment Richie saw Stanley, he flipped him the bird. Stan laughed. Everyone was gathered at the front of the school when they saw him for the first time. Richie was wearing a red flannel over one of his AC/DC t-shirts and some new black ripped skinny jeans. His hands were in his pockets and a warm smile spread across his face the moment he saw Eddie's reaction. "Wow," Eddie said. His mouth was gaping open and he hadn't realized he was speaking out loud while checking him out until he was finished. He looked away in embarrassment. "Can't keep your eyes off me, Eds? 'Cause last night your mom had the same look on her face," he smirked, and waited for the usual "shut up, Richie" or "beep beep, Richie" to come out of Eddie's mouth. Eddie just scoffed, and tried to look everywhere but at Richie, before he could say or do anything else stupid. Keyword: tried. "Eddie Spaghetti? Not telling me to- to shut up about his own mother? What the fuck is happening right now?" Richie had placed a hand over his chest in faux surprise. Eddie rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Richie." From then on, Eddie thought he looked good in everything Richie wore. However, if the two weren't so focused on each other, they would have noticed the way Bev was smiling at the two and Ben, who was looking between the pair and Beverly, with a smirk on his face. Ben couldn't help but ask, "Did he do that himself Bev, or did he get some help?" he narrowed his eyes and looked down at his girlfriend, a smirk still played at his lips. "I may or may not have given him some ideas of what to buy when we visited the mall yesterday," Bev bit her lip, and smiled up at Ben, who proudly reciprocated the smile Bev had on her face.
"Eddie?" Richie asks, not forgetting to notice the way Eddie was staring at him. It was making his stomach do backflips. He sneaks a glance at Bev, who is sitting next to Ben across from him smirking, and looks back to Eddie. "Huh? Sorry. Yeah let's go." Eddie blushes again. He gets up from the tall boy's lap and rushes to the car to get ahead of him, hoping again the second time that day, that Richie didn't see him blush.
The second Eddie leaves the group, all of the Losers except Richie, exchange looks, they all had small smiles on their faces. Richie takes a glance at them. "Fuck off, guys." He rolls his eyes and turns to Bev again and gives her a look. She looks back at him and tilts her head in the direction Eddie walked toward urging Richie to follow him. He gives her a smile and rushes over to catch up to Eddie.
"Eds! Wait up!" Richie calls. Eddie looks up from his somber position; he was leaning on the parked car, arms folded, and his face fixed on his sneakers, still flushed from earlier. "Trying to get away so quickly now, Eds?" Richie chuckled. Eddie wasn't smiling, and it only made Richie worry. "Eddie? You okay?" Richie reached out to touch his shoulder, but Eddie dodged him. He looked like he was going to explode. "Why do you insist on touching me? You pinch my cheeks, you tickle me, you hug me, and the billion other things that you do that make me feel… weird! You drive me insane, Richie! And I don't know why. I don't know why when you call me cute, my stomach erupts with butterflies. I don't know why when you hug me I feel every part where you touch me is burning. And for the love of God, I don't know why, when I see your stupid face I want to fucking kiss you!" Eddie stops, out of breath. He looked like he had just ran the entirety of Derry twice. Richie stood there, his mouth agape. Eddie catches his breath, and his eyes grow as wide as saucers, as he realizes what he's done. "Oh shit, shit, shit, Richie I-I'm sor-" Eddie was cut off, by none other than Richie's mouth. Literally. Richie, with all the courage he could muster, had closed the space between the two and kissed him. Eddie felt like he was going to melt. His eyes fluttered shut, his knees nearly giving in when Richie's tongue swept across his bottom lip. He happily complied, opening his mouth, his arms snaking around the taller boy's neck, whilst Richie had placed his hands on Eddie's hips. After a good while of tonsil fighting, Eddie had reluctantly pulled back, only to find himself somehow pushed up against the car door. "Woah," Eddie says, his breath, for the second time tonight, swept from under him. Richie chuckled, his forehead leaning against Eddie's, "So… you, like me right? I didn't just imagine your speech, and this very, very, hot make out session, with the Eddie Kaspbrak?" Richie asks, he almost sounded like he really did think he was imagining it. It almost made Eddie want to kiss him again. "You've imagined this happening before?" Eddie asks, only making himself laugh at such a silly question. "What? I have a very vivid imagination. And I think I deserve to ask, I've been wanting to do that for years," Richie says, removing his forehead from Eddie's to look him in the eyes, pulling him off of the car to stand properly. Eddie roamed his eyes around Richie's face again, appreciating all the freckles, the hair, his eyes, just all of it, all over again. Eddie reached up on his toes to peck his lips. "I've been waiting around for something to happen all these years too, only to figure out all I had to do was have a mental breakdown. Wonderful." Eddie says, a smile playing at his lips. Richie smiled back, he kissed the tip of his boyfriend's nose. "You're too cute, Eds." Eddie was still blushing when they came back with the beer. Everyone was back, including Stan and Bill who seemed to be blushing about something themselves, hands interlocked, but it didn't stop everyone from noticing Richie and Eddie holding hands too, love sick grins both plastered onto their faces.
A little extra I guess.
"What is taking those two so long? I need a drink!" Mike said, his back leaning against Bev's left shoulder. Bev smirked, "They're probably gonna take a little longer than necessary, Mikey." Ben laughed to her right, he was holding her hand in his lap. "I know, I know, they're finally gonna become a thing, I just need the process to quicken up a little bit," Mike said. "Were you talking about us?" a voice said behind them. It was Stan. Mike's head turned to his left. Stan and Bill were back, arms occupied with new piles of wood. "Oh thank God, I thought you guys got lost." Ben said, his head turned to look at them. "And no, we weren't talking about you guys this time, Richie and Eddie went by themselves to get the beer in the car and they're taking a little longer than usual." Bev was smiling as she said this. Bill and Stan's faces flashed in recognition, and they started to smile too, they placed the wood down and took their seats on the log beside Ben and Bev's. "Speaking of taking too long, what took you guys so long?" Ben asked, a knowing look spread across his features. He eyed Bev, and gave her the look and her smile grew wider (if that was even possible) as she turned to the two as well. Stan blushed and immediately looked down to his sneakers and then to Bill, who was also blushing like crazy, and looked away as if he'd seen something he wasn't supposed to. "Well, well, well, would you look at that, cupid was working on two cases tonight!" Mike said, he was kneeling near the fire, adding more wood to create bigger flames. Everyone laughed except for Stan and Bill, who were red as tomatoes, wishing that Richie and Eddie would come back to take the attention off of them. (Richie and Eddie literally came back 2 minutes later)
