Chapter Text
Fall was here, school was in session, same old, same old. Eddie grew bored of it when he became more self-aware as he got older, he figured out his medications his mother had him take were fakes, he had no illnesses, no asthma, nothing when he was 13; it had been devastating, yet relieving.
His friends he had since he had met in elementary school had stuck with him through thick and thin, listened to all his whining and his attitudes, they were the best people Eddie ever had the greatest pleasure of meeting.
He hoped that they would be friends after they graduated too, it was their junior year of high school, so they had a couple more years, but Eddie was still paranoid of the unknown of the future.
The newest unknow that joined his first day of junior year was in the shape of a tall boy with pale skin, wild, dark curly hair, and even darker eyes that seemed to just stare through you.
Eddie was fucking terrified…yet oddly intrigued.
“This is Richie Tozier, he will be joining us this year, please be courteous and help a fellow peer in need, should he have any questions,” Eddie’s English teacher said to her students that morning, in a tone that was almost a warning one to be nice or else.
Isn’t it her job to do that? Eddie thought as he observed his new classmate, who shared first period with him and Eddie’s friend Stan.
Richie Tozier didn’t say anything, let alone even acknowledge the full classroom, he simply followed his teacher’s command to sit at the empty desk that was diagonal to Eddie’s, it was the second desk closest to the door, it would have been for another kid, but his class had been informed that Andy Cruz had in fact moved.
Eddie was pretty sure no one knew who the fuck Andy Cruz was, even though they were apparently in the same grade, but whatever, that kid didn’t matter to Eddie though, so the name was forgotten as quickly as it was spoke; in one ear and out the other.
Stan was sat behind Richie, he side-eyed Eddie and wrinkled his nose.
Eddie bit at his lip to stifle the giggle. When he glanced over to Richie, his heart froze, those dark eyes peered at him and Eddie felt like a mouse trapped in the gaze of large snake that was just waiting for Eddie’s next move.
Pale red lips pulled into a small evil smirk briefly before Richie turned away to face the chalkboard. He didn’t look at Eddie after that, when the bell rang, dismissing them to their next class, he gathered his things and melted into the crowd.
Stan stood by Eddie’s desk, “What had that been about?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know, but he’s creepy,” Eddie shivered and collected his things to follow Stan out of class.
But despite that, Eddie couldn’t help think about that new kid for the rest of the day.
~~~
It was the end of the day, it was Eddie’s study hall, which he didn’t share with any of his Losers, but the new kid, who had taken the far seat from the door in the corner, keeping to himself.
Eddie wasn’t staring…he was just worried that new kid didn’t have any friends and the last thing this town needed was a massacre. He awkwardly shuffled over to the free desk by Richie, as the other students seemed to…avoid him, and he sat his things down, Eddie saw that Richie was giving him a curious look, “Uh...h-hi," Eddie said.
Richie gave a slight tilt of his head of acknowledgment, “Hello.”
“You’re the new kid…obviously,” Eddie spoke, his voice had a small nervous tremor to it. He saw that Richie was giving him an amused look. He startled when he heard their teacher speak and told the class to keep quiet, he rolled his eyes and Richie chuckled.
Richie leaned over, till he was in Eddie’s space, “Obviously so,” he murmured.
Eddie swallowed nervously, he could feel warmth coming to his cheeks and he hastily averted his gaze, “O-obviously,” he repeated and felt embarrassed when Richie just huffed out a small laugh at him.
Richie’s dark eyes glittered like gems, his small smile was a teasing one, “You’re so shy,” he whispered, propping his head in his hand and laughed softly again when Eddie merely blushed. His eyes followed the color, he found himself counting the freckles spread across Eddie’s lightly tanned face, the adorable cluster of them that were speckled across the bridge of his nose.
“What?” Eddie frowned at him and felt more insulted that Richie just continued to give him an entertained look, because it was like he was being left out on a joke. “You’re so weird,” he sighed.
“Mr. Kaspbrak,” his study hall teacher chided, she glowered at him from over the novel she was reading.
Eddie shrunk in his seat, mumbling an apology. He shot Richie a dirty look when the taller boy was giving him a teasing grin and he watched Richie quickly cover his mouth with his hand, “Asshole,” he muttered, but a small smile playing at his lips.
Richie winked at him; he opened his notebook to an empty page and pushed it between them and sketched out hangman and dashed out the amount of spaces he had picked for his word. He saw Eddie’s confused look and Richie leaned back to whisper in his ear, “I’ll give you a hint; it’s what I want to do when I get older.”
Eddie knew his face was red again, but made himself look down at the lines and counted eight dashes, which had him frowning because he didn’t know any careers off the top of his head that had eight letters. He gave Richie a confused look and Eddie felt himself scowl when Richie smiled innocently at him, “You’re horrible,” he muttered. “I don’t know anything about you.”
“Well, you’ll learn one thing,” Richie replied and tapped his pen twice on the paper to get Eddie to get a move on.
Eddie sighed, the bubbles of uneasy starting in his belly, especially when Richie seemed to watch him the whole time with a faint smile on his face, and what really made him nervous was that Richie didn’t seem to blink once.
~~~
“A fucking comedian?” Eddie was outraged that it took him about fifty-five minutes to get it, which had been the whole period; he got it two minutes before the final bell.
Richie cackled, practically skipping as he walked backwards to look at Eddie, “Crazy, right?” he beamed.
“I bet you’re not even that funny,” Eddie muttered. “No offence, but you look like you kill people for the fun of it. You just get scary stoic looking.”
Richie hummed, coming to a stop, “Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked, lips turning down somewhat.
“N-no,” Eddie spluttered quickly, shaking his head. “I did have fun with you today! I’m sorry…my friends are right about me; I am very brash and honest. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“No, you didn’t,” Richie reassured him, a smile pulling back onto his face. He winked at Eddie, “I like honesty. There isn’t much of it these days, I suppose,” he confessed. He cocked his head to the side, face going blank for a moment before looking back at Eddie, the smile on his face again, “Sorry, I forgot I’m in a rush, I’ll catch you later, Eds!” he chirped before spinning away and easily melting into the herd of kids headings outside.
Before Eddie could bitch about how he didn’t like the nickname, he heard Stan calling for him and he turned around; weird timing, he thought. He waved at his friend and saw Bill, Beverly, and Ben were following after him, “Hey, guys.”
“Were you talking to the new-new kid,” Beverly asked Eddie before she glanced at Ben and winked at him, seeing him blush. “He sure left in a hurry,” she noted when she looked back to Eddie.
“Yea…he’s weird,” Eddie told her. “But he’s actually pretty nice.”
Ben looked at Eddie with a hopeful expression, “Did you want to ask him to hang out with us?”
“Sorry, he left before I could say anything,” Eddie replied sheepishly. “I’ll ask him tomorrow in English or something.”
“Good luck,” Stan scoffed, “that’s if Ms. Birch doesn’t cut your tongue out for disrupting class.”
“W-we cuh-can talk a-about this at th-the l-loft,” Bill told him. “M-M-Mike is w-waiting for uh-us.”
The loft at Mike’s was their new hangout, since most of them were too tall to get into the clubhouse anymore.
“Right,” Stan looked apologetic. He nudged Eddie’s shoulder with his own and the pair followed after the rest of their friends, “Why are you so beat up about it?”
“I’m not,” Eddie hotly replied, feeling himself getting a little defensive. “I just don’t like how he got to me so…so easily,” he muttered lowly. He hurried to his bike when he saw it and undid the padlock, he heard Stan ask him what he meant by that, but Eddie was already hopping onto his bike and peddling away; he couldn’t help but feel as if he were being watched and he glanced over to the woods and thought he saw a pale face among the tree trunks, but when he blinked, he didn’t see anything out the ordinary.
Eddie hurried on his bike towards his house, since he knew that Bill would come by and pick them all up.
He hoped that Stan wouldn’t bring up his panicked mood to everyone else.