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Richie and Eddie have always had a different relationship than the other losers, preferring each other's company, no matter how much Richie teases Eddie. Richie loves picking on Eddie specifically, thinking it's cute when his face turns red and his voice gets higher as he becomes flustered from his comments. Though Eddie will never admit it to anyone, not even himself, he loves the attention Richie gives him.

They are best friends, and it's obvious. From buying each other ice cream to holding each other as Pennywise jumps out of a projector, they are undeniably close. But it couldn't be anything more than that right? No, they were just best friends. That's all. Nothing more.

It had been a few years since that traumatic summer, and no one really spoke of it much. They'd much rather pretend they were a group of normal teenagers who bonded over something simple, like similar interests, rather than killing a demon clown together. But they could never escape the trauma that kept them close together despite how hard they tried.

Especially Richie.

Pennywise's taunting about his "dirty little secret" plays over and over in his mind. And Richie wonders if it's true, or if that stupid clown was just trying to scare him.

"Time's up, Richie," a voice that can only be Eddie's says, breaking Richie out of his thoughts.

Richie is swinging in the hammock in their clubhouse, reading a comic book, per usual. The other losers are gathered around the place, Stan talking to Bill about the bird book he's reading, Beverly sitting on the ladder, smoking out the top of the hatch, and Ben pretending not to watch her admiringly. Beverly and Bill dated for a little, but eventually, they decided they are better off as friends. And when Ben wrote Beverly another beautiful poem, she took him on a date. They aren't official yet, but they might as well be. Mike has to work on the farm almost every single day, so they don't see much of him.

"How many times are you gonna try this, Eds? I'm not getting up," Richie says, not even looking up from his comic.

"How many times are you gonna call me Eds? For the millionth time, that's not my name!!" Eddie exclaimed, annoyed. Eddie hated when Richie called him Eds. Mostly because of the way it made him feel. All warm and soft inside.

"Whatever you say, Eds" Richie replies grinning widely at Eddie, loving the way his face scrunched up as he got flustered and annoyed.

"Shut up," Eddie says, annoyed, but climbs into the other end of the hammock anyway.

This isn't the first time Eddie and Richie have bickered over the hammock. It started many years ago when the clubhouse was first made. And it always ends up the same way, with both Richie and Eddie sharing the hammock with tangled up limbs and neither of them protesting it.

Richie doesn't even enjoy the hammock that much, he just likes when Eddie climbs on top of him and their warm bodies touch. Something about it makes his heart flutter and turns his stomach into knots. Despite the fact that sharing the hammock was becoming increasingly less comfortable as Richie recently hit his growth spurt and became more tall and lanky.

The two wiggle and move around, trying to get comfortable, and Richie places his legs on Eddie's shoulders, simply to annoy him a little.

"Your legs are too fucking long for this thing anyway," Eddie glares at Richie, pushing his legs off.

"You know what else is too fucking long?" Richie laughs.

"You're disgusting," Eddie replies, rolling his eyes. But Richie knows he doesn't mean it, because with every joke the corner of Eddie's lips twitch like he's trying not to smile.

"Would you two pipe down?" Stan says, clearly annoyed that the two are arguing again.

"Sorry, Stan the Man," Richie says, not sounding the least bit apologetic, "I forgot you were over there jacking off to birds."

"Ew!" Stan exclaims, making a disgusted face, "Do you always have to be such a pervert?"

"Your mom seems to enjoy it," Richie fires back, wiggling his eyebrows at Stan.

"B-beep beep, Ri-Richie," Bill says before Stan can fire back and antagonize him more. Stan just gives him a dirty look and rolls his eyes.

Richie turns his attention back over to Eddie, watching him shift around some more only to end up more squished into Richie's side. His stomach does a somersault. He loves being close to Eddie. He looks so cute sitting there, focusing on his homework with his tongue slightly sticking out as he deciphers the math problems. His eyebrows scrunch together in thought and Richie has the sudden urge to pinch his cute little cheeks, dotted with the most adorable freckles. It isn't long until Eddie catches Richie staring at him. Eddie looks up at him curiously with suspicion. Richie begins blushing from embarrassment and hides his face behind his comic book.

It's normal to admire how cute your best friend is right?