Archive of Our Own ^beta

Eddie frowned as he opened one eye and squinted, trying to accommodate to the morning sun filtering in through his curtains. He turned on his side to look at his at his old alarm clock, flashing a red 7:53am at him. Taking a deep breath before Eddie had a chance to wake up fully he heard his mother knocking on his door in a way that was supposed to be lightly but sounded more heavy than intended.

‘Eddie-bear! If you don’t get up now you’re going to be late for school. Are you not feeling well? You can always just stay home and let mama take care of you today, you probably caught something from someone in that dirty school-‘

‘No mommy, I’m up and I feel fine,’ Eddie sighed quietly and moved to push his duvet off. ‘I just need to get dressed.’

He heard Sonia hesitate for a second before opening his door and stepping into his room. She paused mid-step before looking at him with a sickly sweet smile and looking him up and down, as if trying to find a reason for him not to leave the house today.

‘Oh, Eddie-bear, my big boy today, I know you’re still upset that you can’t have a party,’ she stepped closer to his bed and moved to sit down before thinking better of it and kept to standing close to him, smiling again. ‘but it’s okay! You know I don’t like when you spend time with those filthy boys, the Jew and the stammering boy who lost his little brother are slightly better than the rest but that chubby new boy, the other one with the glasses who always seems to be covered in dirt and don’t get me started on that dirty n-‘

‘Enough!’ Eddie interrupted before she could finish her rant. ‘I understand you don’t like my friends but they’re still my friends Ma..’ Eddie trailed off, not wanting to start his birthday like this but he just couldn’t help it when Sonia just never had an off switch.

Eddie finally climbed out of his bed, dodging his mother before she could reach him for a kiss and opened his wardrobe, grabbing the first clean clothes he could see, dashing off to the bathroom to start his morning routine. Normally he would have plenty of time for showering, brushing his teeth and making sure his hair all nicely brushed and clean but this morning would have to be a quick routine.

As Eddie stepped outside of the bathroom, he once again bypassed Sonia who was still trying to convince him to stay home today from outside the door and now following him down the stairs.
‘Honestly Eddie-bear, I don’t even know why I allow you to attend that germ-filled school. Think about how many diseases those other children are probably carrying! Measles, the flu, smallpox,’ she urged with wide eyes and frantically moving hands. ‘please, just stay home today.’

Eddie had paused, limbs locking in place, thinking over what she had said for a moment and then shook out of his stupor. She would not be ruining his birthday with this bullshit. He slouched slightly and quickly turned around to face his mother. Looking up to make eye contact with her, Eddie set his face into a sad frown and prepared for another guilt trip from his mother. What she didn’t know is that he could guilt trip as well as she could. Like mother, like son indeed.

‘But mommy, seeing as it’s my birthday today and it’s a school day I just thought that we could celebrate maybe another day..’ Eddie looked down sadly. ‘spend the full day together when you don’t have to go to work and just stay here.’ Eddie looked back up at his mother and tried not to spit out what he was really thinking. Keeping his face as sad as he could he heaved a heavy sigh and prepared for another battle to leave the house which would probably make him late for school.

‘Well.. I guess you can go today. But no staying out too late! Be home by dinner.’ Sonia relented.

Eddie snapped his head up, surprised and couldn’t help but grin. He knew better to question her but decided to ask one last request, it was his birthday after all. ‘Thank you Mommy! Could I have dinner at Bill’s? He asked me over yesterday because he knows it’s my birthday today.’ Seeing Sonia start to frown and open her mouth he was quick to finish his lie ‘It’ll only be Bill! No one else could come and his parents will be there all night!’

Sonia furrowed her brows and went silent for a minute which felt like hours.

‘Okay..’ Eddie couldn’t believe his luck. ‘Make sure to be home no later than 11 pm and Bill must walk you home, you know how dangerous it can be around here at night.’ Her arms crossed over her chest and Eddie was still in shock that this was happening.
He grabbed his bag and ran out of the house before she could change her mind, thanking her profusely on his way out.

Swinging one leg over the seat of his bike, Eddie pedaled as fast as his legs would allow. Well not too fast, it was still quite downhill and he didn’t actually want to arrive home that night with scrapes and bruises that would send his mother into a tailspin and him in the hospital for the foreseeable future. Grinning as the autumn wind hit his already flushed cheeks, Eddie had a feeling that today would be a good day.

Turning the corner carefully to where Richie usually met him, leaning on his bike and waving casually with a cigarette, (cancer stick Richie, it’s a cancer stic- don’t blow that near me you fuck!), Eddie was confused to find himself alone on the street. Coming to a halt, Eddie silently debated on what he should do, surely Richie hadn’t purposefully ditched him, today of all days.
Coming to the conclusion that after a good 12 minutes, he counted, Richie was not going to show, Eddie reluctantly started to make his way to school, a little annoyed and alone. Richie had better have a good reason for ditching him on his birthday. With that thought, Eddie sped up on his bike a little, ready to confront Richie when he got to school only to find the losers stood outside chatting to each other. Still no sign of Richie.

Jumping off his bike, Eddie walked over to the bike rack that the losers were stood near and waved quickly when they took notice of him coming towards them.

‘Hey, t-there’s the birthday b-boy!’ Bill smiled at him.

Cries of agreement came from the others as they crowded around him to pat him gently on the shoulder and wish him a happy birthday. Pulling back slightly from the hug he was currently receiving from Bev he glanced around once more to check if Richie was definitely not there. Trying to put a smile on his face he looked at everyone. ‘Yeah guys, thank you..’ He fidgeted for a moment. ‘the trashmouth isn’t here yet is he? He wasn’t waiting for me this morning.’

Collective laughter came from the losers as Eddie began to flush and rushed to defend himself ‘Not that I care! He just tells me- I mean us, the day before if he’s not coming into school.’

‘Well I’m sure he’s just missed his alarm and is late Eddie, I wouldn’t worry too much.’ Ben patted his shoulder again with a comforting gaze.

Stan had a look on his face when he spoke next.

‘And I don’t know about any of you all but Richie has never called me to let me know he’s not coming in the next day. If anyone would know, it would be you Eddie.’

Bev giggled to herself and blew out smoke, Ben looked at her adoringly, Bill nodded his head in agreement and Stan’s lips quirked up with that same fucking look on his face. Eddie flushed again and Bill went to stop him from continuing before this became full out bickering.

‘O-okay e-everyone its Eddie’s birthd-day let’s not tease him t-too much.’ Bill said in a placating manner with his hands held up.
Eddie relented and didn’t say anything more, folding his arms to show that he still wasn’t happy until Bev put her arm around his shoulders and started walking them all inside the school, effectively ending any further conversation about Eddie being concerned about Richie’s whereabouts.

-

Walking into his classroom for the second period of the day, Eddie sat down in his chair in the middle of the room nearest to the window. Usually he would have history with Bill and Richie but seeing as Richie still hadn’t turned up by this point, it was just him and Bill. Frowning for about the 20th time today already, Eddie leaned his face on his hand and looked out the window at the schools’ entrance as if waiting for Richie to make his big entrance and yell ‘What’s up fuckers?’ to them all.

Feeling a small nudge from bill, Eddie turned to the front of the classroom where their teacher had walked in with a binder full of what was supposedly their lesson plan. Sighing, their teacher brushed her frizzy hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear and looked around at the class.

‘Today I had planned for you all to watch a documentary on World War 2 and how America was subsequently involved but,’ sighing again, her face hardened. ‘some group of hooligans seemed to have stolen the school’s projector so today we will be doing worksheets. If any of you have any information or have seen anyone wi-‘
Eddie zoned out on his teacher’s following lecture towards the potential ‘hooligans’ and therefore did not see Bill trying very hard to not snicker beside him.

Discreetly as he could, Eddie sneaked a glance out of the window again to see that, unfortunately, Richie was still not outside.

He still couldn’t believe that Richie, Richie Tozier, the same Richie that annoyed Eddie day in and day out, the same Richie that had to be in his personal space all the time, the same Richie that carried around a spare inhaler even though they all knew they were fucking gazebos, had decided that the day he wanted to bunk off school was the day of Eddie’s 15th birthday.

Eddie sighed out loud without realising and again, didn’t see a few of his classmates and his teacher turn to him and stand with her hands on her hips.

‘I’m sorry Mr Kapsbrak, am I boring you?’ His teacher asked, unimpressed.

Startling at his own name being called, Eddie quickly shook his head and sunk into his seat trying to make himself look small. ‘Sorry..’ He mumbled softly.
Hearing Bill snicker quietly beside him, Eddie turned to glare at him quickly and then turned back to face the front of the class. He was not going to risk getting called on again twice in one period.

Feeling Bill nudge him again, Eddie looked over to see Bill gesturing to a piece of paper on his desk with his eyes.

Taking the paper and opening it, Bill had written in his scratchy handwriting.

you okay? you were completely out of it.

Eddie folded the note back up and slid it at the back of his notebook. In reply to Bill, he made eye contact with him and mouthed ‘later’ hoping that he would let it go for now. Bill nodded swiftly and they both turned back to the teacher for the remainder of the period.

-

If Eddie had thought that morning was bad, the rest of the afternoon was even worse. At lunch, all the losers had congregated and group discussions had been had before everyone split off into their usual groupings of conversation. With Mike still being homeschool, there was normally an even split of numbers for conversations at lunch.

Bill would listen to Stan talk about some new bird that he had seen on the weekend, Bev would update ben on some gossip that she’d overheard the girls in her class talk about while Ben was love-struck just by being in her presence and by process of elimination, Richie and Eddie would bicker until one of the others would intervene or join in on their current argument. Having no Richie at lunch made Eddie feel kind of lonely.

Not because Richie wasn’t there or anything.

The numbers were just odd now, that’s all.

Slouching on the lunch bench, Eddie observed as all his friends seemed to be interested in everything but him. That would have been a good thing on any day but today was his birthday and who doesn’t want to be paid attention to on their birthday?

Huffing a sigh, he knew he was just being dramatic because a certain loudmouth wasn’t there, but it really felt like he was being ignored the whole day like everyone was in on some secret that he wasn’t. Picking at his lunch and so distracted by his own self pitying thoughts, Eddie once again did not notice the losers giving him subtly glances and smirking to each other.
-
Jerking out of his thoughts, Eddie sat up as everyone gathered their things from their last class of the day. Proceeding to do the same, Eddie stayed in a daze until he found all the losers gathered and waiting for him expectantly. Eddie looked confused as all the losers stared at him until he reached them, awkwardly waving.

‘Hey guys, why are you all staring at me?’

Suddenly all having better things to look at, the only loser that kept eye contact with him was Bev, grinning wildly. ‘C’mon Eddie, were all going to meet Mike at the clubhouse.’ She latched onto his arm and started walking without giving him a chance to reply, as she did just earlier this morning. Tugging his arm back gently, Eddie took a step back.

‘Yeah, I don’t think I’m really feeling up to it,’ nervously touching his fanny pack. ‘You guys go on without me, I’ll probably just have an early night tonight..’ shifting from foot to foot, Eddie lifted his gaze to see the losers all look at him again, this time with panic on their faces.

‘No! I mean, Eddie, it’s your birthday! Don’t you want to go hang out for a bit before going home?’ Ben had slightly yelled at him. Trying to hide his confusion, Eddie refused again. ‘Now you remember my birthday,’ he mumbled ‘I don’t know..’

‘Seriously Eddie, will you just come, we haven’t seen Mike since the weekend and we’ll miss you if you aren’t there.’ It was Stan this time, looking at him with determination.

Eddie shifted again, uncomfortable from being guilt-tripped into this finally relented. ‘Okay, fine. But only for an hour or so.’

Having accomplished what they needed, the losers hopped on their bikes and made their way to the clubhouse.

Seeing all the losers excitedly bike ahead of him gave Eddie a chance to prepare for what would probably be another hour of his lunch break. Swinging sadly on the usually shared hammock alone while everyone else had conversations that didn’t involve him. Swerving on the path, Eddie was broken out of his thoughts as he almost ran over Mike who was standing around the losers now, muttering hellos and smiling at everyone.

Yelling a quick sorry, Eddie hurried to jump off his bike and follow them down the path to the hidden clubhouse. Trying to keep up with the others, Eddie was confused when they all stopped outside the entrance of where the door was covered in leaves. Turning around to face Eddie, he watched as Mike pulled something black and what looked to be fabric out of his backpack.

‘What in the fuck is that,’ Eddie paused for an answer and when he got one in the form of Mike attempting to hand him the black fabric Eddie reeled back. ‘What the fuck do you want me to do with that?’

‘It’s a blindfold, put it on.’ Ben insisted.

Cautiously looking to see if there was anything scary hidden behind the trees or behind him, Eddie shook his head. ‘Nuh huh, no way, for all I know that’s been dipped in greywater and there’s some bullshit dickface in a clown mask behind that fat tree over there ready to jump out and kill me while you all watch and laugh, no way, no fucking wa- Hey, stop that.’

Eddie was cut off as Stan and Bev accosted him and shoved the blindfold on his face. Taking ahold of his arms, they guided him to what felt like the now open door to the tree house and bent him down so he could hold onto the ladder

‘Just fuck right off, if you guys shut me in here I swear to god, I’ll kill each and every one of you, seriously, I’ll just starve to death because I’m sure as fuck not eating Richie’s snac-‘ Being cut off abruptly, this time by having his sight returned to him, he blinked a few times to get used to the sudden sight that he was struck in awe when his eyes refocused. Eddie stared in surprised at the decorated clubhouse and even more at the boy stood in the middle of it, arms wide open and glasses perched precariously on the bridge of his nose.

Inhaling sharply, it was like everything that had happened that day just suddenly made sense.

Richie grinned at him and twirled to showcase the clubhouse. Balloons and streamers had been hung from pillar to pillar, pieces of paper stuck together with the words ‘Happy birthday Eds!’ written in black marker, unmistakably Richie’s handwriting, bean bags and blankets covering the entire floor space of the clubhouse and definitely enough for all the losers.
And finally the pinnacle of it all.

All their knickknacks and shit from one side of a wall had been pushed to the opposite end of the clubhouse, leaving a wide space for something and as Richie continued to gesture to everything he had set up and explain what he’d done Eddie spotted it.

The projector.

Richie had stolen the fucking projector from their school for Eddie’s birthday.

‘-And so that concluded our tour for today my fellows! Oh, wait! I also got some red twizzlers for dear Eddie Spaghetti because seeing as it’s his birthday and we all know he has a fear of choking and dying on a popcorn kernel,’ Richie grinned wider and winked at Eddie. ‘I thought my present would be to getting some choke free snacks for us all to have. Fun fact, because twizzlers have a hole, if you’re choking, you still have a hole to breathe with!’

Richie stood, obviously proud of himself, as he finished his speech and waited for a reaction from Eddie.

After a few minutes of what started as comfortable silence had now turned into worried fidgeting from Richie.

‘So.. what do you think Eds?’ Richie tried to smile. ‘is it too much? I know that I made a whole thing but you’re 15! Time for a celebration, right?’ attempting to bring some kind of reaction from Eddie,
Richie paused to think of something else to say when his thoughts were interrupted by laughter.

Really, Eddie didn’t mean to laugh but he just couldn’t help it.

All-day Eddie had thought that Richie had abandoned him on his birthday. He had thought that his friends didn’t really care. And all this time they were just planning a party because they knew his mom wouldn’t let him have one.

And.

The fucking projector.

Eddie couldn’t help laughing because he was so fucking stupid He couldn’t help but laugh so much that the losers started to join in. He couldn’t help but laugh so much he started wheezing the good wheezing if there is a good kind.

Eddie looked at Richie, expecting to see him laughing also, but Richie was just staring at Eddie and smiling softly. As everyone had started to calm down a bit, Richie decided to cross his arms and say

‘Well, I do think I’ve done quite well if I do say so myse-‘ trying to lean on a pillar to look cool but landing on one of the open bean bags that then immediately burst white balls everywhere and set Eddie off, once again, into fits of giggles.

But it was okay, Richie didn’t care that he was currently the butt of the joke.

Because Eddie was beautiful when he laughed.

-

Later on that night when everyone had settled down to watch The Breakfast Club if Eddie had sneaked his hand closer to where Richie’s rested on his thigh from their shared space on the hammock no one needed to know.

And if Richie linked their pinkies for the rest of the night.

Well

No one really needed to know that either.