just as any summer before, it was boring as hell. in a small town, you can only go to so many places until you've been to all the places. on the hottest days of the year, richie would stay in and watch television while rubbing ice cubes on his forehead. nobody really had ac, not anyone he knew anyway. that was for the REALLY rich kids. since it was cool enough to go outside, and even better with a slight breeze, he stayed outside for the time being.
he hadn't smoked a cig in days. not because he didn't want to, he just couldn't afford to buy a new pack. with luck, the day before he had found a brand new pack lying on the sidewalk. rich looked around for any suspecting people, and then quickly bent down to seize it. he shoved the marlboros in his pocket and went on.
richie held up the thin stick of tobacco to his lips and lit it with a gas station lighter. he was standing under a tree, to catch the shade. it wasn't too hot, but hot enough that wearing any kind of jacket was out of the picture. he had on a plain white shirt and jeans; wearing black out in the sun would be unimaginable.
he was just drifting around in his head, only subconsciously aware of his thoughts. the trace broken, he heard some faint ringing in the distance. he peeked out from under the shade of the large tree and went to see what it was. ah, just a bunch of kids on bikes who had rung the bells. as the group on bicycles came nearer, he saw that maybe they weren't kids. okay, definitely too big of people to be kids. the laughing and ringing got louder as they rode closer, and richie looked at the passing faces. the head of the group had light brown hair, and there was two more following him. one kid with curly hair, which he couldn't tell if it was brown or blonde, and another with milk chocolate brown hair. the details of the faces were blurred as they rode, still a bit in the distance. richie stood still, not realizing he was still fixated on the bikers.
they came within six feet of him, and then suddenly slowed down before pulling into a driveway. the boy with darker brown hair was at the back of the crew, and stopped his bike to instead walk up the drive. none of them had seen rich peeking out from the shadows. the brown-haired boy seemed attentive though, and looked around to take in his surroundings. he looked frightened for a second when he saw something by the trees. richie caught on by then and stepped out, putting his hand up to block the blinding brightness of the sun. "oh, its just you. i thought you were a serial killer for a second there." richie's eyes adjusted to the light and he brought his arm down to see who was talking. he realized yet again who he'd stumbled upon.
"we meet again," he said. "we really have to schedule these." eddie glanced at his friends, who waited when they saw him stop and talk. eddie turned back and laughed. "sure, when are you free?"
"dunno, i guess i'm free now." richie said, shrugging with a light smile on his face. he eyed the other two boys waiting for eddie. "you should go though, don't have to make small talk. got people waitin' on ya." eddie looked back once more, and then shook his head.
"no, it's okay." he paused for a moment, carefully thinking out his next string of words. "you can come! i can introduce you." eddie said, his whole face lighting up.
rich half laughed "no, way. you don't have to." eddie shook his head again. "seriously, come on. i insist. doesn't look like you're doing anything better. plus, you told me you're free." eddie said sweetly. richie rolled his eyes playfully and eddie lightly tugged on his shirt, with a look that said lets go. richie thought quickly, fuck it.
he gave in, and walked slowly towards the house. sometime while talking, richie had let the cigarette slip out of his fingers, and crushed it on the hot cement under his sneakers. eddie lead him to the steps, walking in big strides of victory. the curly haired boy looked quizzically at eddie. neither of them seemed to recognize richie from his bad reputation, so there was no nasty looks which he was grateful for. eddie pointed to richie.
"this is richie," he then pointed to the boy who lead the group and then looked at richie. "bill," he finally pointed to the last one there. "and stan." the two on the top of the steps up to the house looked back at each other. richie waited, feeling like years were going by. he preamped a wince, getting fully ready to be rejected entirely.
bill and stan looked back and eddie, with small smiles. eddie ran up the rest of the stairs the second he got the 'ok'. richie followed shortly behind. the door opened, and richie took in his surroundings as he passed though the doorway. it was a really nice house. richie wasn't really poor, they had a normal size house. but this house was big in comparison. the walls were lined with paintings and family portraits, and you could see the sun casting light on a large piano in the other room. richie thought about it more, and it actually wasn't that big. maybe he was slightly poor.
bill walked the group of three behind him up to his room. they sat there, just taking about needless things for a while. plans for the rest of the summer, what an ass the math teacher was. soon they heard a knock at the door, and everyone's head turned. it creaked open to reveal a woman's face, richie guessed bill's mom. "you guys want cookies?" their eyes gleamed, suckers for a sugar rush.
"you have to make it yourselves, do some cooking. i left everything for you in the kitchen." she walked away. "we ha-have to do it ourselves, h-h-huh?" bill announced, breaking the short silence.
"you guys are just gonna make me do it since you always fail at cooking, you couldn't even make hamburger helper at my house last month." stan rolled his eyes. eddie looked defensive. "hey! that was one time, i tried it again at my house and my mom said it was yummy."
"sure." stan replied, looking skeptical. richie watched them discuss the baked goods, when bill realized he wasn't talking and initiated them to go down and try the recipe together. they all got up and went downstairs.
"w-what do we do?" bill looked at stan, proving the point he had made earlier about the others being absolutely clueless in the kitchen. "get the recipe," stan replied "and read it, idiot." bill picked up the piece of paper his mom left, read a few words, then looked back at stan with a glare.
"wash your hands." eddie remarked, as richie started to grab the bowl at the far end of the counter.
richie looked at his hands. "hey, these babies are clean." eddie deadpanned. "you just smoked." richie paused, "fair enough." then walked toward the sink to wash his hands.
they all talked more, and stan guided them on what to do, even when the instructions where right there. bill looked like a deer in headlights everytime stan told him to do something like 'whisk' and 'sift'. they all got along fairly well, and rich started to feel more at ease in the new situation. they were almost done, and the oven beeped, letting them know it was ready to go in and that they need to hurry up. the last thing was chocolate chips, and everyone grabbed a handful of them and shoved it in their mouths before mixing some into the batter.
everyone had flour and stuff all over them. it was mostly on purpose (throwing it at each other) rather than accidental. richie was brave and stuck the tin into the hot oven. they all looked acomplished, and also hungry. they waited impatiently for what felt like hours; when suddenly, the timer went off and bill reached into the oven to pull the baked goods out.
they looked delicious. slightly flat, since they didn't have the patience to stick them in the fridge to chill, but still good. each of them grabbed one, and then immediately dropped them. "jesus, these are hot." richie said, shaking his hand from the minor burn of the cookie. they waited a little longer, so their mouths wouldn't burn, too. after a bit, they grabbed the cookies they'd dropped and took a large bite. "fucking good." eddie said, making them giggle from his swearing. they ate the rest of them, only saving two for bill's parents. they stayed in the kitchen instead of leaving, and talked.
there were more chocolate chips left over, so the boys munched on them as they killed time, so they didn't have to go back in the afternoon summer heat. everyone was mostly quiet, just eating the cocoa. richie looked around the room again and his eyes settled on eddie. he looked closer at the other boy, mostly his hair. richie squinted. maybe i need a higher prescription, he thought.
richie reached his hand up to eddie head, just a few inches below him. eddies hand trailed up to his head, too. "what are you doing?" he asked. richie picked several chocolate chips off of eddie's head. the other two looked at them. "you have chocolate chips in your hair," he popped one in his mouth. "they blend right in." stan laughed, "chocolate chip hair."
1646 word count
a/n: trying to get back into writing !!! i hope u like thx for reading <3
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𝑹𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑶 -- reddie fic
Fanfiction"jesus, is this a fuckin john hughes movie?" . . . . . . in which eddie and richie meet in a cinderella-esque fashion, and continue to bump each other like a strange case of groundhog day. started: aug 03 2020 pastel!eddie x punk!richie (kinda) tw...
