"That's your foster brother?!"

"That's Eddie?!"

The two boys stood across from each other in shock. What are the chances that the guy who hates your guts, would just so happen to be your brother's best friend?

But that's just Tozier luck.

"I'm going to get some fucking air," Eddie said as he slammed the front door.

"What was that about?" Stan asked, everyone turning to look at Richie.

"Remember the asshole from my first day?"

"Yea"

Richie was looking in the direction where the boy had been, his finger still slightly pointing, "Well that was him"

Ben, Bill, and Mike all seemed really confused, to which Stan explained the situation. Richie had decided he needed a smoke, so he stepped outside onto the front porch. Eddie was standing there, facing away from Richie, looking out at the cars that would pass by every couple of seconds.

Richie took out a box of Winston's from his pocket, pulling out two cigarettes. He tapped Eddie's shoulder, making the small boy jolt around to face him. "Want one?" Richie held up a cigarette in front of Eddie. "No thanks, those things will give you lung cancer" Eddie made a disgusted face and shook his head, turning back to face the street. Richie just shrugged it off and lit the cigarette hanging from his lips.

"What did I do wrong?" Richie asked after taking a long drag of his cigarette, barely loud enough for Eddie to hear. Richie was genuinely confused as to why Eddie hated him. Sure, he ran into him, but he apologized.

"It wasn't anything you did," Eddie paused, contemplating about whether or not he should continue "I'm just stressed out, especially this week, it's Bill's birthday next Friday, and I've been trying to get invites out and the party planned and between that and-" Eddie stopped "other stuff, it's just a lot going on"

"That and the seventy-eight different drugs you're addicted to..." Richie puffed out a cloud of smoke, trying to hold in his laughter.

"You know what?" Eddie spun back around, "You can go eat shit Tozier because you don't fucking know what goes on in other peoples li-"

Richie grabbed onto Eddie's wrists, seeing Eddie wince in pain. He looked down and saw a mix of purple and blue hues on his arms. Eddie looked down and realized Richie had seen the bruises, pulling away almost immediately and pulling his sleeves down.

"Where did you get those from?" Richie sounded concerned. He had only just met the guy, and he wasn't on the best terms with him, but he didn't like what he had just seen. 

Who would hurt such a precious thing?

"Don't worry about it Tozier, I accept your apology. I'm sorry I was such a dick to you." Richie noticed Eddie was trying to change the subject, he knew that feeling all too well, but he had just been forgiven and didn't want to piss the kid off even more.

"It's alright Eds" Richie sighed.

"Eww don't call me that"

"We should probably go back inside," Richie said walking towards the door and holding it for Eddie.

"We probably should" Eddie entered, Richie following behind.

When they got back into the house Mike came running out of the kitchen, laughing like a maniac, Bev following close behind. She hurled a marshmallow at him and soon Ben threw one at her. Richie quickly caught on to the warfare, running to the kitchen to find Bill and Stan eating out of a bag of potato chips. They were watching their friends run around like idiots, throwing marshmallows at each other like five-year-olds.

Richie grabbed two handfuls of the marshmallows, running back into the living room and handing some of them to Eddie. He had only been friends with him for five minutes, but something about Eddie seemed safe.

A good friend.

The marshmallow war continued for a little while, the laughter and joy making them lose track of time. Richie hadn't laughed that hard in a while, and he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. They watched movies and of course, Richie had to get up on the coffee table and dance to the Ghostbusters theme song, making everyone laugh until their stomachs hurt.

"Oh shit!" Richie suddenly exclaimed, making everyone startle and look at him "I need to get something from my car real quick"

Richie ran down the porch steps, making his way to his beautiful car. He opened the door to the backseat and grabbed his camera, running back inside with everyone still wondering what the hell Richie was doing. 

"We should probably document this night," Richie said, making Bev smile "just in case"

"I think that's a good idea Rich," she said, getting in closer next to Ben. Everyone gathered in close together, smiling their biggest smiles.

He set it down on the television stand and set a timer, running back to join the group.

"Losers on three," Mike hollered, making Richie smile like an idiot "one, two, three..."

"Losers!"

The camera flashed, and the picture slowly started to print. Richie got up and looked at the photo as it processed.

"Why losers?" Ben looked at Mike.

"Because that's what we are, we're the Losers Club" Mike smiled his contagious smile.

"Yea, t-thanks t-to Richie" Bill snickered.

Richie smiled but quickly put on an offended face, grabbing his chest "You wound me, Billiam. You wound me"

Bev giggled as Bill spoke up again "We s-should go to sleep, g-guys. It's late and we need to be at the d-diner in time for the b-breakfast special"

"You sound like my grandpa, Bill" Eddie commented but got ready for bed anyway.

Everyone laid their sleeping bags out on the floor, Richie's being in between Eddie and Bev. Each of them drifted off to sleep one by one, but Richie didnt want to sleep.

He was scared he'd wake up and it would have been a dream.

He had heard of soulmates and fate, but never really understood how something could be meant to happen, until that night. He had met so many people in his lifetime, but somehow, the group of seven fit so perfectly. Things weren't awkward or weird between them, it felt like they had known each other their whole lives. They were all different, and they'd all been through shit, shit that maybe not everyone knew just yet, but they had each other. All Richie knew was that he had a family now, and a group of friends who cared about him. That was all he needed.

At least he thought so.

~

Ok I was bored in class today so I wrote this hope y'all enjoy ok goodnight lol

Love ya ma peeps.