Chapter Text
Eddie Kaspbrak fell to the floor on his second day of 11th grade.
I’m too fucking old for this shit.
He thought to himself as he rubbed his elbow, an angry expression visible on his maturing face.
There will probably be a small bruise there, and his mother will freak, but that’s a later issue. Eddie stood up, focused on the problem at hand. Mother fucking Moose.
You’d think after Henry lunatic Bowers, Eddie’s, and the other Losers, tormenter of the ages, got locked up in the summer of ‘89 the endless bullying would stop. But unfortunately, Eddie learned, there will always be a bully in the world.
The current bullies name was Moose. Well Steve Sadler actually, but irrelevant to the case. Moose had chummed with Henry Bowers a couple times back in the day. But with Henry and his goons… gone. Moose was the new big bad.
He was a huge idiot that was held back multiple times. It was a miracle he had even made it to senior year. Eddie assumed the teachers had to have been plain fed up with Steve, and passed him up to the 12th grade purely to get rid of the guy.
Eddie winced holding his elbow. He wanted so badly to shout back.
“What the fuck gives you the right to shove me around all this time? Grow the hell up!” He would say.
But he didn’t. He fought a killer clown at 13, but this? This was different. He just glared at the guy, secretly wishing Bill was there.
Big Bill was always the best at sorting out bullies, especially since his stutter had lessened to a mere occasional pause and deep breath. Any of the losers had gotten good at shutting bullies down really, besides Stanley of course. Stan was worse than Eddie. His solution was to just shut down completely.
“Sorry babyfag didn’t see you there.”
Moose eruptted into laughter as if it was anything original, and walked off, pushing Eddie a second time.
At least he wasn’t as terribly insane as Henry, just a dick nonetheless.
Eddie felt eyes on him, and even a few giggles. He tried his best to ignore the judgmental feeling. It wasn’t as if he was the sole target in this school, just a frequent one. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his aspirator.
His hand was shaking a bit.
Being shoved around in high school, oh Jesus Christ. At this rate he was bound to be a target for the rest of his miserable, helpless life. And this damn inhaler didn’t help.
Eddie closed his eyes and triggered it, feeling instantly better.
C’mon Eddie, get up fast! Don’t make a scene! Oh God, just please don’t cry. Boys at your age don’t cry.
But the name rang in his ear.
Babyfag.
It was stupid. Overused. Unoriginal. But it hurt nonetheless.
He opened his eyes and saw the one and only, Richie Tozier, his best Hawaiian shirt wearing friend, speeding down the hall.
God he looked worried and so… Eddie shook the thought away quickly.
He stood to his feet quickly, not wanting to cause more of a scene. Richie ran over to him from the school entrance, his bag wide open, a pencil flying out.
Eddie turned towards his locker, pretending not to notice Richie standing there, worried as hell. He could feel his eyes still watery from the stupid name.
Babyfag.
He reached for his textbook as Richie grabbed for his elbow. Eddie pulled back quickly now facing him, wearing his iconic pout.
“Shit Eds, what happened?!” Richie asked adjusting his comically large glasses that made his eyes distorted and disproportionate to his lightly freckled face.
“Nothing just fucking Moose again. Nothing new in this lame fucking school, in this lame fucking town-”
“That asshole. Where’s a kid murdering clown when you need one?” Richie joked smiling, but the smiling quickly dropped when he noticed Eddie’s more than typical annoyance. Something was wrong.
“Too soon Rich” Eddie replied, not amused.
He turned back towards his locker and grabbed a thick textbook.
“It’s been almost four years Eds. If I can’t joke about it now, I’ll never get to joke about it.”
“That’s the point” Eddie rebutted rolling his eyes and slamming his locker.
“Shit I think I left mine at home” Richie groaned after seeing Eddie’s Pre-cal book.
“Richie we just got them yesterday!”
“And watch I’ll make a better grade than any of you losers without touching that thing all year!” Richie said as they walked off towards Eddie’s pre-cal classroom.
“You better cause I’m not letting you borrow mine till you learn how to wash your hands-“
“One time Eds, that was one time!”
“Yeah, but I got the fucking fee because you couldn’t wash your hands after eating a fucking Reese’s!”
“And I payed you back the damage!”
“Richie you gave me a dollar!”
“Is my presence not enough for you, Eddie my love?” Richie said his stupid grin haunting Eddie.
Their usual bickering nature shut down on Eddies part quickly.
God stupid Richie, stupid nickname. Could he not hold off on all that at school?
I mean it wasn’t like Richie meant it for real, Eddie knew that. It was just how the Richie was.
But why did it bother Eddie so much? Why did his heart flutter for the smallest second as he grew angry and flustered?
Stupid Richie. Stupid nickname.
Richie smiled a bit to himself at Eddie’s angry face. Even if it was simply annoyance, Richie couldn’t get enough of it.
Richie continued to ramble on and on about some stupid rated-R movie he snuck into with Ben and Bev the other day.
“And trust me Eddie, she was like the hottest girl ever! You totally missed out it showed nipple and everything!“
Eddie zoned out a bit as Richie talked and talked. Usually the two of them could talk up storms together. But every once in a while, Eddie just liked to watch the storm Richie’s mouth created. Because really, Rich kinda does have a nice smile, doesn’t he?
“Are you even listening Kaspbrak?” Richie suddenly asked as they turned a corner.
Shit he was caught.
“Y-yeah.”
He looked up to the taller boy, who had really grown from when they were 13. Eddie grew too, but mostly just in the face. Richie was almost 6 foot now.
The taller boy smirked.
“Well anyways and then I went home and had steamy passionate SEX WITH YOUR MOTHER-” Richie said practically shouting in the busy hallway. Eddie’s eyes widened beyond all possibility as he slammed his hand over Richie’s mouth.
“Shut the fuck up, Jesus!”
Richie continued to speak through the hand muffled. He then licked a clean strip on Eddie’s hand resulting in the boy retreating in disgust and a bit of blush.
“She was all over me Eds. Like actually I was stuck under her weight-“ Eddie shoved Richie into the wall completely fed up today.
Usually Richie’s attention seeking antics were, well, charming. But for some reason, Eddie felt as though everyone was watching him.
Watching them.
Babyfag.
“That’s so not fucking funny, it’s disgusting Richie! Don’t even paint that image in my mind-” Richie adjusted his glasses and smirked as he quickly countering back. Hel flung into Eddie so hard the boy flew to the ground.
Shit, richie you idiot!
“Oh fuck!” he said as he helped Eddie up quickly.
“Sorry dude.” He offered and dusted him off. Eddie just looked empty. Richie furrowed his eyebrows, confused.
He then did the only thing he knew, made a joke.
He pinched Eddie’s cheeks. “Good as new and handsome as ever!“
Eddie glanced all around, worried anyone would see and get the wrong idea.
Babyfag.
His face is angrier than usual. Richie quickly noticed his worry growing exponentially.
“Eds? I’m sorry, it was an accident. Let’s just go to-“
“Just fuck off don’t touch me!” Eddie screamed suddenly into Richie’s face.
Richie’s heart dropped. In any other scenario Eddie saying this would be a funny little rebuttal. But that look in his eyes. They looked… sad…
Richie had no clue what to say, a rare occurrence.
Eddie turned into his classroom, not looking back. His hand brushed over his inhaler, a thing that brought him comfort.
What the fuck just happened?
Richie thought.
And then the other day flashed into his mind.
R+E.
The other day at the bridge, had Eddie?
Richie walked off toward his Theatre class, not looking up once.