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"Psst, psst, Eddie, hey, hey," Bev whispers and kicks roughly at the hammock, causing Eddie's bare thighs to squeeze Richie's knee just a bit, but enough to make Eddie flush pink.
They've grown enough that the hammock is a tight squeeze for one, let alone two teenaged boys, but Eddie and Richie never really grew out of sharing it.
"Eddie," Bev whispers again.
Eddie ignores her and tries to go back to napping, but Bev is persistent, so she kicks again but harder.
"Eddie, Eddie, but guess what though," she says, chewing gum and grinning deviously, glancing over her sunburnt shoulder to make sure the others can't hear. "One of the losers likes you," she tells him, and blows a small pink bubble until it pops.
"Huh?" Eddie frowns. He feels Richie's body tense up beside him, his fingers clenching tightly on the comic book he's reading. "Don't they all like me?" Eddie goes on, confused, "we're friends, I thought..."
"Not friend-like," Bev says with a roll of her eyes, "Like-like."
"Oh," Eddie says, still totally confused. "Huh?"
"One of… the losers..." Bev says slowly, chewing her gum between each word, "likes you."
"Wait," Eddie says just as quietly, his arm hanging out of the hammock. "One of the guys?"
"Obviously." Beverly stands up straight and puts her hands on her hips, then looks at him, uncertain. "I mean, would that be a problem? That it's a guy?"
"No," Eddie answers quickly, because it's not. Definitely not to him, and hopefully not to any of the others. He glances over at Richie, but his face is still shoved in that comic. Eddie doesn't think Richie would have a problem with it. You don't live your life as an outsider only to shun other outsiders.
Still.
Eddie swallows hard and says, "I just didn't think any of 'em... swung that way."
"Well," Bev grins, and nudges the hammock again. "One of them definitely does."
***
At Stan's place later that night, while the others are asleep on the floor and couches, Eddie notices that he and Bill are the last ones still awake.
Eddie glances back at Richie, who is sleeping soundly beside him on the floor, and taps on Bill's knee.
"Oh," Bill says tiredly, and tilts his head at him from his place on the couch, Stan is lying opposite ways of him and snoring softly. "Yeah?"
"Beverly said that someone likes me," Eddie whispers fast, blushing.
"That's w-weird," Bill says quietly, and goes back to staring up at the ceiling.
"Uh-huh..."
Eddie waits for another response, but Bill doesn't say anything else--which is not helpful.
"Well, do you know who it is?" Eddie asks, a little irritated.
Bill finally looks at him. "I know i-it's not m-me," he says with a smile, like he's laughing at Eddie.
"Asshole," Eddie mutters. He glares at Bill in the darkness for a moment, willing him to say more, but he doesn't, just shrugs and falls asleep against Stan's ankle.
With an annoyed sigh, Eddie turns over, only to come face-to-face with a very wide-awake Richie. "Uh, hi."
"Hi," Richie says back quietly, squinting at him in the dark, his hair falling into his eyes. "Um," he starts, and curls in on himself, "so, is Bill the one that likes you?"
Eddie snorts, "Definitely not."
"Did you want him to be?" Richie asks, and looks so bare without his glasses, so strangely soft and vulnerable.
For a second, Eddie considers Bill, and what it'd be like if Bill did say he was the one that likes him. He gets a strange image in his head: a flash of him and Bill smiling at each other, him and Bill kissing, him and Bill naked--no, nope, nope. Bill's like a brother. Eddie shudders at the thought, disturbed beyond belief.
"God no," he answers firmly, his face going sour. "Ew, ew no. That'd be so gross, dude."
Richie bursts into surprised laughter, waking some of the others and earning a mild "hey f-fuck you!" from Bill, which only makes Richie laugh more.
Eddie thinks it's the best sound in the world.
***
"Do you think Bev was lying?" Eddie asks Ben, who is trying to master skipping rocks into the lake. The others are lounging around behind them, taking in the summer sun.
"I don't think Bev would lie about anything," Ben states, which is so aggravatingly a Ben-thing to say.
"You only say that 'cause you love her," Eddie counters, and he doesn't say it to be mean, but then Ben gets this hurt look on his face and Eddie feels bad, so he says, "sorry, sorry I didn't mean, sorry…"
"It's okay," Ben says, and elbows him softly. He's always so quick to forgive. Which is so aggravatingly a Ben-thing to do.
"Maybe I should ask Richie who he thinks it is," Eddie says, contemplating.
"Do you think Richie would lie?" Ben counters with a wry look.
Eddie scoffs at that. "He'd never lie to me."
"Hmm," Ben says, and manages a successful few skips before smiling and saying, "Wonder if you only say that 'cause you--"
"Ben, you got three skips!" A shirtless Richie yells, leaping up from the grass to run over and give Ben a noogie. "Who's da man? Huh, who da fucking man?"
"...Me?" Ben says, laughing, gripping his forearm. The muscles in Richie's arms flex kind of distractingly.
"Damn right!" And then Richie slaps Eddie on the ass, for some godforsaken reason.
"What the hell?" Eddie tries to kick him back, but Richie's out of reach. Ben rolls his eyes at them and goes back to skipping rocks.
Laughing, Richie just shrugs, raising his lightly freckled shoulders. "Catch me if you can, Spaghetti-man!"
And then he's running off, so of course Eddie has to chase him.
***
When summer ends, everybody gathers in the barrens, because Bill tells them to. They all bring food (chips) and drinks (well, Eddie and Ben bring drinks, the others bring booze), and Mike brings his tape deck for some much-needed tunes.
Eddie tries to not think of it as the end of an era. They're only sixteen, he tells himself, they have all the time in the world. Still--sometimes he'll catch Richie's eye across the room, and he'll worry.
Over the night, the room slowly empties. Bev and Ben walk out together, discussing what sounds like plans to go backpacking in Europe together someday. Mike eventually has to carry Stan out, grumbling about what a lightweight he is as Stan snuffles drunkenly against his back.
So it seems that other than Eddie, Bill is apparently the last to leave, still jiving to the music on the tape before realizing most everyone had left. But finally, he also heads out, saying he needs to go get some beauty sleep.
Eddie wanders over to the hammock, where he finds Richie is lying and reading an old comic.
"Hey," he says, nudging at the Richie shaped lump, "I didn't know you were still here."
Richie looks surprised to see Eddie standing there too, his book dropping to the ground.
He smiles easily. "Oh, hey Spaghetti! Me neither, thought I was the last one."
Eddie nods and finds he has to fight the urge to climb in beside him. "Well, I didn't really feel like going home tonight, so."
"Yeah," Richie says, understanding, and tilts his head at him. "You okay, Eds?"
"Was Bev lying?" Eddie asks, and finally gives in and climbs into the hammock, ignoring Richie's faint grunts of protest. "When she said someone likes me, like, was it true?"
Richie raises his eyebrows at him, and pushes his glasses up his nose. "No."
And he doesn't elaborate further, frustrating. Annoyed, Eddie's throws his legs over Richie's knees, and he kicks off his shoes. "No, like, it's not true?"
Richie hums, and his hand falls onto Eddie's ankle, fingers twitching. His palm is sweaty. "No, to the first question."
Eddie sits up as best he can, leaning in close. "What?"
"Yes, someone likes you, I mean," Richie says, sitting up too. And his face is so close now. Eddie notices there's a flush in his cheeks, but that might just be the alcohol.
"Oh," Eddie says. He clears his throat and turns his head away from Richie, from his pretty, seeking eyes. "Okay, I well," he stops, wrapping his arms around his knees. "What if... I... like someone?"
"What, who?" Richie asks, and his hand is suddenly on the back of Eddie's neck, making him face him. He's frowning so seriously, and just looks so uncertain about it. Eddie gulps.
He can't help it. He leans in and kisses Richie, his body bending forward awkwardly. It lasts only a split second before Richie pulls away quickly.
"What are you doing?" Richie asks, eyes wide behind his glasses. He puts his hand to his lips, where Eddie's had just been, and just stares at him.
Eddie feels his heart drop into his stomach.
"Oh no, oh no, I'm sorry," Eddie starts, speaking fast. "I just, I thought it was you! I thought, I thought--!" He licks his lips and tastes Richie. Eddie's heart begins to race. He needs to get out of this hammock, and out of the barrens, and out of Derry. Possibly out of the whole country.
Richie holds onto him though, his hands gentle on Eddie's jittery ones. His face blooms slowly into a smile, soft and bright. "Am I the one you like, Eds?"
Still struggling out of Richie's hold, and possibly having a heart attack, Eddie reluctantly nods.
"Me?" Richie asks, and he looks positively fucking delighted. He leans forward, crawling up on Eddie's body. "You like me? Me Eds?" He's straddling him now, his face close again. "You sure? Me?"
Eddie nods again, smushed helplessly between the tight material of the hammock and Richie's body. He is so very mortified he wants to die.
"Eddie!" Richie says, laughing into his neck and nosing at his jawline. "Guess what?"
Eddie would like to say something, anything. Maybe question what the fuck is going on right now, but all that comes out is, "Uhyeahuhwhat?"
He blames it on Richie's wandering hands.
But then Richie is pulling back, his glasses are crooked and smudged and he has so many little moles on his face, it's unbearable. Eddie bets he could count them all like this, this close. He might accidentally reach out to touch one.
Richie smiles at that, stupid and beautiful, and says, "I'm the one that likes you, Eds," and then he's leaning down, and he's crushing his lips to Eddie's.
"Oh," Eddie says smartly, and kisses back.
***
The thing about kissing - that Eddie did not know since he's had no previous experience - is that he could do this for literal days. General hygiene and lip-to-lip germ transference be fucking damned.
But there's a naggy and curious voice in the back of his mind that won't leave him be. So when Eddie finally gets his mouth free, he just has to ask about how Bev knew Richie liked him.
"I may or may not have been carving something somewhere," Richie answers shiftily, and goes back to trailing distracting kisses down Eddie's neck.
"Wait..." Eddie tries to think past the feeling of Richie's lips on his skin. He tries… and remembers how a few weeks ago he was walking home, and had to take a detour (thanks to Bowers gang) past the--oh shit, but Richie's nibbling on his ear-- "Kissing bridge!"
Richie pulls back suddenly, dumbfounded and gaping as Eddie bounces excitedly beneath him.
"Kissing bridge!"
"Uh-I, how…?"
"Holy shit, I'm right, right? Like, tell me I'm right," Eddie grins, talking fast, he's practically vibrating, "tell me I'm right, tell me Richie, tell me--!"
The hammock, after having put up with so many years of their crap, finally snaps and they both tumble to the floor in a dusty heap. They twist mid-air, and Eddie falls right into Richie's lap. Figures.
"Ow!"
"Oof."
Richie squints at him, and after a moment of being caught in those pretty brown eyes, Eddie realizes it's because his glasses have fallen off. He spots them and grabs them up.
"Here, here," Eddie laughs, and gently places them on Richie's face. "Now there's my handsome Trashmouth."
Richie grabs his hand, there's a band-aid on his thumb with dinosaurs on it, Eddie notices, and suddenly becomes aware of the fact that he's still sitting in Richie's lap.
"I…" Richie starts, then huffs, "a couple years ago I carved our initials on the kissing bridge and," he pauses to lick his lips, "and Bev caught me on the E."
"Oh." Eddie bites his lip, his heart is beating miles a minute. "What? That thing has been there for years? How did I never notice it--?"
"I mean, I never finished the E," Richie says quietly, "not until this year."
Eddie gapes at him. "Wait, wait, so you mean," he starts slowly, "that we could've been doing this for years!?"
Richie breaks into delighted laughter, but Eddie isn't laughing. Eddie is angry, he's furious! And Richie is just grinning at him and hugging him close.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Richie mutters happily into his neck, and Eddie, who is still very mad, bites softly at his skin.
"I might actually not ever forgive you, Tozier," he says darkly, totally not melting at the feeling of Richie's hands working their way up his shirt. He is so mad.
He takes it out on Richie's mouth.