~.~
Eddie looked sideways at Stan with a bitten-down grin, watching the typically stoic boy smile slyly back. Together they showed their hands, grins blistering bright at the delighted squeal from Beverley as the boys whooped.
"I knew there was a reason you two were my favourites!" Mike chuckled, dropping an arm around Stan and hauling him off-balance into a hug that Stan laughed and protested about, the bag of sweets in his hand toppling to the ground.
Bill grinned and bumped his shoulder against Eddie's as Mike threw out his other arm to hug Eddie much less vigorously.
"No," Bill laughed, shoving Mike playfully, "th-th-they're my f-favourites! G-Get your own!"
Beverly wrapped Eddie in a tight hug from behind, fingers relieving his bag of a hard sweet as she popped it into her mouth with a gleeful smile and kissed him noisily on the cheek.
"I'll fight you both," she chuckled, as Bill and Mike focused their wrestling attention more on Stan, "Eddie's my favourite."
Eddie flushed under all the praise, squirming a little. While he knew, by now, that the others loved him probably as fiercely as he loved them, he was still awkward when it came to it. He never said anything, but he noticed things like this, Beverly wrapping him in a floral-smelling hug while the boys wrestled, making sure he was included when the others didn't play quite so roughly with him.
Not that he wanted them to play rough with him. But sometimes it was nice when Bev did instead, and Eddie no longer felt like it was an unspoken comment on him being weak. (Okay he did sometimes, in the dark, but not really.) Besides, Richie man-handled him enough without the others roughhousing him too.
He grinned at Ben when the boy finished up the tidying he was doing at the Clubhouse desk and ducked over to Eddie's side, giving the shorter boy a wide smile when he accepted a mint from the offered sweet bag. Eddie craned his neck to see the empty hammock.
"Hey," he spoke over the howl as Mike and Bill finally tacked Stan to the ground, "where's Richie?"
Beverly had noticed the empty space as Eddie did, but now four other faces raised and turned instinctively, as Eddie had, to eye the space their loudmouth usually occupied.
"Yeah, where is Richie?" Bev asked, finally releasing Eddie.
Just then, there was a far-off scrape of leaves, and the sound of feet crossing above them. The square of sunlight where the open hatch streamed in the sky darkened, and then he was there, dropping right to the floor like he always did, giving Eddie a mild heart attack. His wide grin danced as he took in the scene.
"I heard that!" he grinned at Beverly, "Miss me?"
The girl laughed and snuck another sweet from Eddie's bag, tossing it at the late arrival. Richie beamed when he caught it.
"Yowzers!" he exclaimed in one of his ridiculous accents, "You lot found treasure without me!"
As the others groaned, picking each other up off the floor and retrieving Stan's paper bag from the floor, Richie turned gleaming eyes on Eddie and took a tall stride till they were almost level.
"Race you, Spaghetti." he yelped as he jerked forward and Eddie shoved the bag into Beverley's hands as he cried out in answer.
"Richie!" he spun to follow, too late, of course, "You know it's my turn!"
Richie swayed lazily in the hammock and gave Eddie a beaming, cat-got-the-cream grin, already flicking open a comic book.
"Hey, if you're not fast." he shrugged, turning his eyes to the pages and adjusting his glasses.
Eddie scowled, opening his mouth to snap back, but Richie shifted his legs deliberately in invitation. Though his scowl didn't lessen, Eddie scrambled into the hammock with him, kicking and squirming more than necessary as they found their balance. He snatched the comic from the taller boy's hands and flicked it out, sweeping the pages with his gaze as he recognised it, and Richie only chuckled in return, leaning to one side to grab another from the little shelf beside them.
"You know," Stan smiled wryly, settling on the swing as the laughter from the others died down, "one of these days you two are going to grow up."
Beverly giggled as Eddie turned an insulted expression Stan's way, met only with a raised eyebrow and a shrug as the curly-haired boy popped a lemon drop in his mouth.
"I think it's sweet." Beverly replied, hopping up onto a crate in the far corner by the hatch, pack of smokes in her hand.
Her eye caught Eddie's and she gestured the packet, and he was too busy nodding okay to answer her. She struck up a cigarette with a grateful smile, eyes gleaming when Richie laughed.
"'Course it's sweet," he reached over and pinched Eddie's cheek to make him swat at him, "anything involving Eddie Spaghetti must be!"
"Buzz off, Richie." the shorter boy snapped, and Beverly laughed as the Clubhouse settled into the comfortable laziness of summer.
The day stretched before them, and the thought filled Eddie with a lovely warmth as he stretched out a little. It was barely nine, Stan meeting him early in town before their agreed meet up at the Clubhouse. Eddie had told his mother truthfully that he was meeting Stan, one of the only two Losers she approved of, (if barely,) though she thought they were going to Stan's house. Eddie knew his mother would never let him have a life if he was honest with her about who he met and where, let alone what they got up to, but he couldn't quite crush the lingering little bit of guilt at lying to her.
The time passed languidly. The others chatted quietly, Ben putting the radio on down low at some point. Bev and Stan tossed Eddie and Richie sweets, and they bickered quietly over the ones they wanted. Ben hummed along to the music sometimes, under his breath, the others listening. Bev joined in for a song that Eddie recognised her singing in the Quarry before, quiet and gentle, some of it even words. Eddie closed his eyes, feeling lazy and happy in the warm Clubhouse air, the sounds of his favourite people around him. This was where he was happiest, he knew. Wherever they were, happiness was.
Sure the air was still kinda dusty and stuffy, and would be almost unbearably warm once the sun was higher, and his throat was a bit dry from the sweets he'd eaten, and Richie's knee was digging into his hip a little, and he'd read this comic a hundred times already, but right in that moment he was nothing but happy.
Of course, Richard Trashmouth Tozier wasn't one to let a comfortable silence last.
"Isn't there anything on there but love songs?" he complained, dropping his head off the side of the hammock to look upside down at Ben, tipping the balance dangerously so that Eddie had to lean his weight the other way to stop them from falling.
He kicked one lanky hip and was answered with that easy, annoying grin, rolling his eyes in return. As he turned back the Ben, who blushed awkwardly and reached for the radio knob to comply, Richie bumped Eddie back with the back of one hand. Eddie swatted him again.
"No, leave it." Bev said good-naturedly, blowing smoke up towards the hatch and smiling at Ben, "I like this one. Change it after."
Richie groaned loudly, but Ben stuck his tongue out.
"You heard the lady." he bantered gently, and Eddie laughed at the expression on Richie's face.
He particularly liked when others sided against Richie in things too, the solidarity was always pretty neat. It was particularly neat when it was Mike or Ben or Bill, because they were always so much more relaxed that the rest of them. Ben especially was very quiet and shy, something Eddie really liked about both he and Bill.
"Miss Marsh, you wound me," Richie wailed, throwing an arm across his brow and swaying the hammock again much to Eddie's dissatisfaction, "what a betrayal."
Beverly just snorted as the others chuckled, and the comfortable quiet fell as they all listened to the song that felt so prominent now. As it ended Richie sat up eagerly, but then a new song started and Eddie couldn't help himself. Ben really looked like he recognised it, too.
"Ooh, I like this one, Ben." he said, watching the quiet boy's eyes widen in surprise before he caught on, his grin growing wide as Beverly cackled, Richie's face whipping to meet Eddie's eye with clear surprise splayed across his mouth.
Eddie smirked, flicking his comic book open again even though he'd already finished, and was waiting for Richie to finish his so they could switch. There were plenty littering the Clubhouse, of course, but they always read and traded anyway.
"You liar," Richie gasped, even though he couldn't possibly know Eddie was lying, and Eddie just kept his eyes on the coloured pages and said nothing as their friends laughed.
Richie jostled them both again, gaining purchase to lean over Eddie and pinch his cheek, laughing when he was swatted away.
"You liar, liar, liar!" Richie called when Eddie met his eyes, "Betrayed by the Spaghetti man, oooooh, that stings!"
Eddie couldn't help the grin, trying his best to swallow down his laughter and hold his scowl when he shot the other boy a glare, but it was hopeless. Richie always made him laugh, even when he was just downright obnoxious and annoying.
"Whatever," he answered, "it's playing now."
Stan in particular thought that was hilarious, and did nothing but shrug when Richie scowled his way.
It happened again as the next song started, Mike piping up that it was one of his favourites, and Richie's dying howls grew more and more exaggerated as it happened again, Bill that time, then again with Stan. Finally, finally, they'd all had a turn.
"Okay, enough, that's it, let's do something else!" Richie hollered as Stan's song finally finished, deliberately swaying the hammock to bug Eddie and only laughing when he had the comic books thrown in his face.
"Wh-what's wrong, Rich?" Bill grinned, eyes glittering, "D-d-don't y-you like th-this one?"
Richie threw himself inelegantly from his perch as they all laughed, and adjusted his glasses with an unamused expression, ignoring Eddie's yelp to offer him a hand to clamber out. Eddie took it, slight heat in his face, but Richie made no comment for a change about ladies in distress.
"Come on," Richie pleaded, "it's getting hot. I'm not sitting around all day in here."
Ben laughed but flicked off the radio, getting to his feet and looking at the others.
"We could… go to the Quarry?"
A round of agreement went up, everyone but Stan leaping to their feet in excitement. Richie nudged Eddie with a grin, tipping his head sideways as he looked at him.
"What about you, Eds? You comin'?"
Eddie bit his lip, but the others looked at him so eagerly that he was swayed. His mother would be furious if she found out, but it wasn't like it was the first time. And it was so early still, he'd have plenty of time to dry off before going home.
"M-m-maybe you can g-get y-your mom to l-let you s-s-s-s-tay at m-mine tonight." Bill added helpfully, knowing as he almost always did one reason why Eddie was hesitating, "My m-mom will w-wash your s-s-stuff for you, y'know."
Eddie flushed with affection as he couldn't help but smile at his oldest friend.
"Okay." he said, greeted with the almost painful noise of his six best friends whooping in the small space, before they started scrambling for the ladder, jostling playfully.
Richie waited with Eddie while the latter tied his laces, even though the taller boy had slid his shoes on in two seconds flat as he always did, left perpetually half-tied in a way that always made Eddie itch to fix them. When he stood, Richie flashed him a half-grin.
"You good, Spaghetti?"
"Don't call me that," he shoved him, moving for the ladder, "why do you have to call me that!"
Behind him, waiting till Eddie had cleared the ladder, Richie chuckled.
"Can't help it, Eds, you bring it out in me."
"Whatever." he grumbled, kicking a bunch of leaves down on the dark head as his friend climbed the ladder, grinning when he spluttered.
They raced for their bikes, the others waiting, already mounted and raring to go. It took Eddie a second or two longer than any of the others to start his bike, something that nobody ever seemed to notice. They started off, Richie right beside him, gathering speed fast as they whipped down the open road. The breeze caressed their skin and the sun kissed them warmly, and it was a special kind of perfect.
Eddie's chest felt fit to burst, keeping pace with his friends as they flew like nothing could stop them, but it wasn't because of breathing. It was love, that ballooned in his chest, joy that felt like it'd spill out of him. He lifted his head and laughed wildly, Mike hollering a wordless yell, Beverly's giggle, Richie loosing an exaggerated wolf howl as they raced.
The clearing was bright and vivid with colour when they got to it, and Eddie could just feel everything about the world melting away, as it always did, standing with the six best people in the whole world as he dragged air into his lungs in heavy pants. He dismissed the itch for his inhaler, grinning to deny the brief concern in their faces as they caught their breath too.
Richie was already kicking off his trainers, hawaiian overshirt dropping messily to the ground, yanking his t-shirt over his head and letting it fall too, inside out, grin splitting his face as though he knew how much it bugged Eddie when the latter rolled his eyes and sat down to undo his own laces.
~.~
Eddie jumped when he opened the door, faced suddenly with Richie in the dark. He gripped the glass tighter, his free hand clutching his chest as his leaping heart slowed down. Richie grinned tiredly, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses as he raised an eyebrow.
"Scare ya?"
A shiver ran down Eddie's spine as old memories threatened to surface, triggered by the phrase and the breathy way it was spoken. He blinked and they were gone again, but he could see the waver in Richie's expression that he'd realised. His smile was tinged a little sheepish.
"Sorry. Hey."
Eddie stepped aside to let him slip past into the room and followed behind him, taking a mouthful of water and watching as Richie filled himself a glass just as he had seconds before. Richie sipped from the glass before turning back around, leaning against the counter a little as he did and looking at Eddie over the rim. They drank in silence, right there in the kitchen, until Eddie nudged his friend aside and rinsed both glasses clean, setting them carefully on the draining board.
The moon filtered softly through the window, lighting the room in a gentle shadow, and Eddie couldn't help but notice how it shone silvery where it glanced across the taller boy's hair.
"Did I wake you?" he whispered once he'd dried his hands, expecting Richie to follow as he returned to the door, and eyeing him curiously when he didn't move.
Richie looked… funny. Different, in an awkward way. Eddie turned back towards him, and waited.
"Need me to hold your hand back to the room?" He finally snickered, and Eddie huffed.
"Beep beep, Richie."
The taller boy seemed to cringe, which was weird, before he was fiddling with the hem of his nightshirt.
Eddie debated asking what was wrong, unsure whether it would cause Richie to draw away. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. It was difficult to tell. He held his breath and slipped back to him, looking up quizzically. Richie looked away, mouth opening and then closing again. His brow furrowed.
Eddie was about to speak, when Richie finally did.
"D'you think…"
When he didn't continue, Eddie tipped his head to one side.
"Do I think what, Rich?" he prompted softly.
Richie lifted his head and looked out the window over his shoulder. Eddie's concern grew, as it always did when Richie let himself be like this, quiet and serious. Eddie didn't particularly dislike when his best friend was like this, but it was… weird. God help him, but Eddie preferred the Richie that grinned like nothing could hurt him and made stupid jokes and laughed like there was nothing bad in the world.
"Richie?" he whispered, reaching out gingerly to touch the elbow closest to him, "Are you okay?"
"Why?" Richie shot back instantly, lips twitching upwards as his eyes flickered sideways to meet Eddie's, "You worried?"
Eddie crossed his arms, ready to snarl back, riled by the challenge in the words and tone.
"Yes," he snapped honestly, almost surprising himself, "but fuck you, whatever. Like I care."
He didn't move, however, though maybe he should have stormed out. Instead he met Richie's eye fiercely and watched in surprise as his face softened, lips curling into a small smile.
"What?" Eddie growled, feeling the heat rising in his neck at being taunted, "If this is how you're gonna be when I-"
"D'you think I'm anyone's favourite?"
Eddie froze, blinking as the fight left his body all at once, his arms dropping to his sides as he stared at his best friend. Richie was watching him back, dark eyes fixed on him, his expression strange and unfamiliar.
"What?" Eddie breathed, confusion in his voice.
"The Losers," Richie clarified, shrugging his shoulders in a way that made Eddie think he wished he had his jeans on to slide his hands in the pockets, "d'you think I'm anybody's favourite?"
Eddie blinked, cocking his head without thinking.
"What do you mean?"
Richie shrugged again, looking uncomfortable as he turned away again and scuffing his socked feet on the kitchen floor.
"You know. Earlier, at the Clubhouse. When you guys brought candy."
Eddie blinked again, thinking of the welcome, and of Richie decidedly not being there yet.
"You heard that?"
Richie shifted his weight, shrinking a little in Eddie's eyes.
"I… stopped to listen. I heard Bev squealing."
Eddie didn't know how to feel about that, being listened to. He supposed maybe he should be annoyed, like he'd been spied on. But mostly he just felt… confused, concerned and weird, that Richie did it at all.
"Why?"
Richie shrugged, swallowing audibly and avoided Eddie's eyes.
"Dunno."
Eddie looked at him for a minute, something strange and tight in his ribcage, before he moved, nudging up beside his friend where he leaned against the counter. A strange kind of understanding, like a guess, entered his head.
"Sometimes…" he started, clearing his throat and not pausing to wonder if he should bare this fear to Richie Tozier, jokester extraordinaire, "Sometimes I feel a little bit like I'm the odd one out." he whispered.
Something vulnerable sat in Richie's tone when he whispered back.
"Yeah?"
Eddie nodded. Richie shifted a little, brushing closer to Eddie's side, and Eddie pressed a little into his side in return. He watched the soft moonlight where it landed on the floor, their shadows stretching out from their toes.
"You're not." Richie hummed.
That time, Eddie shrugged.
"Nobody really is. But sometimes it feels like it."
Richie's head swung his way, but Eddie didn't look up.
"Everybody loves you, dumbass."
Eddie smirked a little as Richie jostled him with an elbow when he spoke.
"And everybody loves you, dickwad."
"But they have favourites, right?"
Eddie shrugged in reply, but his brain was already working it out. Richie stayed quiet, waiting, and eventually Eddie sighed.
"Maybe." he started, slowly, "But it's not… It's not like that. It's not… bad. It's not like they don't… you know."
"But they do though, right?"
Eddie rolled his eyes towards the ceiling, hating that Richie was right.
"Fine," he thought of the others that morning, "but I'm not actually their favourite."
"Sure you are."
Eddie shook his head, smiling as he followed the path of thought in his head.
"Nah. Beverly's real favourite is Ben."
Richie thought for a second, the room quiet.
"And then you." he eventually added, and Eddie could feel his eyes on him as he flushed.
"Maybe." he admitted.
"Okay. And Bill's?"
"Mike." Eddie answered instantly, "And then… Stan?"
Richie shook his head.
"You, definitely you."
Eddie chuckled, and knocked him with an elbow.
"I'm not everyone's favourite, you moron."
Richie flashed him a grin, his eyes lighting up again.
"Okay, but you're Beverly's, and Bill's."
Eddie rolled his eyes.
"Not Stan's. Stan's are definitely Bill and Mike."
"Not me?" Richie gasped, playing wounded, and Eddie bit his lip.
"Maybe third?"
He giggled at the expression he got in response.
"Right, okay." said Richie, "What about Ben?"
"Bev and Mike." Eddie answered instantly.
Richie snorted but didn't argue.
"Mike?"
Eddie paused, deciding.
"Bill, and then Ben."
Richie hummed as he thought about it.
"Okay, maybe."
Eddie sighed, thinking about the sleeping bag on Bill's floor that was calling his name. He stifled a yawn.
"Guess that leaves you and me." Richie said, and the way he said it made Eddie look at him curiously, something bold and flippant growing briefly in his chest.
Richie was giving him that look again, the one Eddie had started noticing. The one that made his stomach kind of fluttery, the one that made the air feel hot in his lungs and made him want to stand a little closer.
"Well that's easy." he hummed, pushing off of the counter to hide how warm he was feeling, "Yours are Stan and Bev. Mine are you and Bill. You coming up?"
Despite being sure he'd said it in a perfectly neutral voice, Eddie's nerves were jangling more than a little at admitting what he had. He reached the door and pulled it open, but when he glanced back at Richie the taller boy hadn't moved, blinking at Eddie with his mouth a little open. Eddie shifted nervously.
"What?"
Richie's mouth opened a little, his lips flickering at the corners before he swallowed. Eddie felt himself swallow too, contagious like a yawn. His heart was beating a little bit fast. He wasn't sure if he wished he hadn't said anything.
"I'm your favourite?"
Eddie flushed in embarrassment as he felt his face heat, worried he'd showed too much of his hand, but Richie's words were strangely shy and quiet and he wasn't teasing him right then. Instead, he was looking at Eddie with a vulnerable kind of disbelief on his face. Eddie swallowed, and tried for casual, fixing his gaze somewhere near Richie's shoulder.
"You didn't know?" he almost squeaked.
Richie's head shook slowly, his mouth closing and opening again as though he didn't have words. It was… weird and kind of neat to see him like that. He always had something to say.
"Yeah, well. You are."
Richie's eyes seemed darker than usual in the shadowy kitchen, as they peered unblinking at Eddie. He rolled his eyes when Richie continued to say nothing, jerking his head to the open door.
"Cummon, it's cold. And it's nearly 3am."
Richie came, following behind Eddie like a shadow as they climbed the stairs, creeping quietly into Bill's small room. They stepped over Mike, edged past Ben. Stan was thankfully off the floor, curly gold hair peeking from the bottom of Bill's duvet. Eddie slipped back into his sleeping bag and turned to watch Richie do the same, right next to him like always.
Something warm in Eddie's chest hummed, that they were so close, but a part of him knew he didn't want to really look to hard at the feeling. That he should just enjoy the pleasantness of it and not try poking around too much. He gave his best friend a glance when Richie finally settled, meeting Eddie's eyes again.
There was a moment of eye contact, unspoken as they lay quietly in the room where their sleeping friends breathed, as Eddie smiled tentatively and held it there on his face.
"Am I really?" Richie breathed eventually with that something there again, shy and hiding in his face, and Eddie flushed and rolled his eyes, but his voice answered sincerely.
"Of course."
Richie's answering smile was soft and small and Eddie loved it, loved the way it softened his friend's face. Richie shifted closer, their sleeping bags eventually bumping, and grinned widely at Eddie from only a handful of inches away.
Eddie's heart fluttered.
"You're my favourite too, Eds."
Eddie raised one disbelieving brow, but Richie only nodded. He looked honest, cheek brushing his pillow fervently as his head bobbed.
"You are."
"Promise?" Eddie whispered, regretting it as soon as he did for sounding so stupid and babyish, but while he cringed Richie's grin just grew and grew, eyes sparkling.
"Cross my heart."
Eddie bit down on the smile he felt grow in return, and the warm comfort in his chest just pulsed and grew a little more as his eyes eventually drooped sleepily and Richie's face became a shadowed blur. The warmth in his chest curled up like a cat, pulsing gently. It felt more important, to be Richie's favourite. He loved all the Losers, loved them all with everything he had. But when it came to Richie…
Somehow there was always more of him available, more little scraps of himself he could scrounge up to love his goofy, obnoxious, irritating best friend. Maybe that's why it was different, maybe that was why when Richie told him it, it hit him harder than the others. A familiar, fearful little voice in his head told him to stop thinking and go to sleep.
So maybe being told he was Richie's favourite was the best thing ever, so what?
"G'night, Rich."
"Night, Eds."
Yeah. Kind of the best thing in the world.
~.~