"Dude this was the fanny pack kid?" Cayden asked as she flopped stomach down onto Richie's bed, kicking her shoes off somehow in the process. His phone was clutched tightly in her hand, her thumb scrolling over the feed of Eddie's Instagram pictures.

"Mike said it was."

"Mike was the one you talked to on the phone right?" Cayden asked as Richie nodded and sat next to her on the bed, tucking his legs under him.

"Eddie got hot, why didn't you?"

"You can fuck right off." Richie scowled as he hit her with a pillow.

"Okay okay settle down, I'm joking Tozier." The dark haired girl sat up and handed his phone back. "Eddie's cute though."

Richie let out a slow breath. "I'm going to sound crazy for a second."

"When do you ever not sound crazy?"

"Okay first of all fuck you." Richie pulled at his hair, he desperately needed a haircut. "I want to see them again."

Cayden rolled her eyes. "You idiot, that isn't crazy. They were your childhood best friends. It would be fun, getting everyone back together don't you think?"

"The problem is that's exactly what I think."

"And what's so bad about that?"

"I don't know, I just have this weird feeling in my stomach that we're apart for a reason."

"You think your mom moved out of Derry to get away from kids?"

Richie let out a huff of frustration. "No, that's not what I'm trying to say I just- I can't explain it."

"Well what does Mike say?"

Richie shrugged. "Not sure I've texted him a bit but I haven't asked about the others."

"Why don't you text Eddie."

"I'm not going to DM him!" Richie scoffed as he laid down on his back. "What the fuck is going on dude?"

"You found a picture in your closet, realized you had really cool friends in the past and now you're plotting to leave me for some ex fanny pack wearing pretty boy?"

Richie propped himself up on one arm. "Nah, you're not too bad, I wouldn't ditch you."

Cayden smiled and threw her legs over his. "Can I ask you something Rich?"

"Sure."

"Am I the only person who knows you're gay?"

Richie was quiet for a minute before nodding. "Yeah."

"Maybe you could tell them," she said softly.

"What?"

Cayden let out a breath. "Listen, because this is the only time I'm going to compliment you or say something moderately nice about you Richie Tozier. You're my best friend, but I haven't seen you as happy as you were in that picture in- well I haven't seen you that happy ever. What I'm trying to say Rich is that I want you to go back to Derry because if that group of kids can make you as happy as you were in that picture again, well isn't that worth it?"

Richie didn't know how to respond so he just squeezed her arm.

They laid in silence for a moment before Richie cleared his throat. "I don't know if my mom will let me go."

Cayden rolled her eyes. "That's bullshit and you know it."

"It's weird! I don't even remember all their names and I'm trying to organize some fuckin group event or something! Who even says they'll show up?!"

"Well you won't know because you haven't asked them."

Richie groaned loudly and pushed the heel of his palm against his forehead.

Cayden snickered. "Maybe you're just putting it off because you realized how hot Eddie is."

"You can fuck right off."

Cayden shot up, clasping her hands over her heart. "Oh my god wait you think he's hot? Is this you admitting it? Oh my god Richie Tozier has a cru-" Cayden let out a scream mid sentence as Richie practically tackled her off the bed.

"Shut up! That's not what I was saying!"

"You totally have a big fat gay crush o-" the girl cut off again when Richie's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Would you shut up for two seconds?!" Cayden nodded so Richie removed his hand from her mouth and sat back on his heels. "I want to go."

"Good!" Cayden exclaimed happily. "I think you should!"

"I'm scared," Richie whispered.

"Why are you scared?"

"Because we're not twelve years old anymore."

_______

Richie: hey mike...sorry it's late

Mike: No problem Rich, what's up?

Richie: well ive been thinking...maybe about spending a weekend in Derry soon?

Mike's typing bubble appeared and disappeared a few times which made Richie's heart pound. It wasn't that he thought Mike would say no, he just didn't expect him to say yes, if that even made sense.

Mike: Seriously?! I haven't talked to Eddie or Ben or Bill or Stan or Bev in a while but I'm sure we could convince them to come...I mean assuming that they remember too. Oh my god Richie please come I miss you guys so much it's been too long!!!!!

Richie felt himself smiling, a weird feeling blooming in his chest.

Richie: definitely. I followed eddie on instagram

Mike: Lmao of course you remember Eddie

Richie: what's that supposed to mean ??

Mike: I'll let you figure that one out for yourself. Want to ask him about Derry or want me to?

Richie thought for a moment, crossing his legs and shifting on the bed. He felt weird when he thought about texting Eddie. The picture stayed at the back of his mind, his skinny lanky arms thrown around the fluffy haired kid. Eddie must have been important to him, like Cayden was important to him.

Richie: can I ask you something mike?

Mike: Sure

Richie: was eddie my best friend?

Mike: Yeah. You two were inseparable

Richie: I'll message him

Richie let out a breath and opened instagram, opening the boy's page. Eddie certainly aged well. He was still short compared to the other people he was pictured with but he wasn't as small as the photo booth picture showed. Richie held back a laugh when he saw a fanny pack still around his waist. There was a picture of Eddie at what looked like a fair with pink cuffed shorts that rested above his knees and a yellow collared shirt. He was smiling and he had his arms around a small boy who seemed to be no older than eight. Another picture was a picture of Eddie laying down on a blanket in the sun, the camera was close so his light freckles showed up nicely on his pale skin under his warm brown eyes. Richie swallowed thickly and decided to stop stalking him.

He opened the direct messages and bit his lip as he decided what to type. He let his fingers hover over the screen before typing out a single 'hey' and sending it. He rolled his eyes at himself before sending another message, "it's Richie."

Richie mentally cursed himself before looking at his own instagram. It wasn't as nice to look at as Eddie's. He had a couple pictures of him and Cayden, the brown haired girl throwing up a peace sign as Richie made a ridiculous face. He had a couple pictures of concerts he'd went to and even a kinda embarrassing mirror selfie that Cayden made him post. He felt weird about imagining Eddie sitting on his bed, scrolling through the pictures on his own instagram. His pictures were grainy and usually barely in focus and Cayden looked way better in all the pictures then he did, it was a clusterfuck compared to Eddie's.

Richie was about to get up and get a snack when a little one popped up next to the DM box. He opened it quickly.

Eddie.kasprak: Richie ???

Tozierrrr: from derry

Eddie.kasprak: Richie Tozier oh my god

Tozierrr: you remember?

Eddie.kasprak: I do now, I'd remember that stupid mess you call curly hair anywhere

Tozierrr: you followed me back even though you didn't remember ??

Eddie.kasprak: Yeah

Eddie was typing again so Richie sat back against the wall, biting his lip.

Eddie.kasprak: What's up?

Tozierrr: nothing much, where are you living now?

Eddie.kasprak: New York. not the city though

Tozierrr: you like it?

Eddie.kasprak: Yeah. Where are you?

Tozierrr: vermont

Eddie.kasprak: It's kinda weird I can barely remember living in Derry

Tozierrr: ...yeah about that

Richie let out a deep breath. He didn't realize his heart was pounding til then.

Eddie.kasprak: What?

Tozierrr: I've been talking to mike

Eddie.kasprak: Mike?

Tozierrr: homeschool kid

Eddie.kasprak: Oh my god Mike!

Tozierrr: I think I'm going back to Derry

Eddie.kasprak: What?

Tozierrr: mike still lives in Derry. I was going to visit him. He was going to get the others to come too. I was going to ask you if you wanted to come

Eddie.kasprak: I don't think my mom would let me out of her sight for that long

Richie actually felt upset at that. He underestimated how much he wanted to see Eddie again, the kid who was seemingly his best friend years ago.

Tozierrr: I get it

Eddie.kasprak: But I want to see you

Eddie.kasprak: All of you guys

Tozierrr: are you suggesting something?

Eddie.kasprak: I mean, I am 18...

Tozierrr: I don't remember you being so sneaky

Eddie.kasprak: A lot has changed Richie

Tozierrr: I know

Eddie.kasprak: Do you?

Richie stopped, a weird feeling filling up his chest. What the fuck was that supossed to mean? Something about the message shot pins and needles up his arms and made him shiver. He almost didn't want to know what Eddie meant so he avoided the question completely.

Tozierrr: so does that mean I might see you in Derry?

Eddie.kasprak: When?

Tozierrr: Mike said next weekend cause we all have off mon and tues for some weird holiday

Eddie.kasprak: yeah, I'll be there. I'll see you then Richie

Richie dropped his phone on his chest and let out a harsh blow of air. His heart was racing in a new way, not like the way it did when he did new things like that time he got a pathetic handy from Josh in the gym locker room or when Benny gave him his first kiss in a stuffy closet three years ago. It pounded in a good excited way; he knew his stomach was going to hurt until next weekend out of the sheer fact that he actually couldn't wait to see his old friends.

He also decided that he wasn't going to tell his mom. Well he was, just not the whole truth. He was going to use camping with Cayden as a cover up story. The look in his mother's eyes when she looked at the picture was enough to produce reasonable suspicion that she would not let him go, not that she cared what he did most of the time. This was slightly different, Derry was different, Derry was different and scary and exciting and Richie had pinpricks of excitement for the upcoming weekend.

_______

I promise I'll text you with updates. No I'm not going to hook up with Eddie. I most certainly will not tell them you're single. Yes I'll be careful.

Cayden had mothered him when he left, pinching his cheeks and hugging him so tight he could barely breathe. He hadn't spent a day without seeing the girl since that day in the lunch line freshman year. He might have even felt a little bit sad leaving her too (okay a lot sad but whatever).

Richie had packed a backpack and got on a train, deeming that the fastest and easiest way of travel. Easiest would have been a car, but Richie had yet to hold down a job. He was at a pizza place for a few months but got fired after cursing out a customer. Something similar happened at the grocery store, then the restaurant and the final straw was when he dumped a whole thing of popcorn on a customer's head at the movie theatre because he called him slow. He gave up the job hunt after that. His past employers had nothing nice to say about him and he had no skills or talents to give to a future employer. That being all out on the table, Richie's wealth extended to a few crumpled twenty dollar bills in his pocket and coins that always ended up surfacing in his bag. After the train ticket he was down to about forty dollars and a mostly used up Target gift card.

Richie hiked his backpack up higher on his shoulder and let out a breath. The train's location screen read off Derry which of course was Richie's stop. He felt like there was a lump in his throat that he couldn't decide if it was from excitement or fear.

The train came to a screeching halt which almost sent Richie toppling into the isle. He managed to catch himself on the seat in front of him which resulted in a dirty look from the old lady in front of him.

Richie pulled out his phone and texted Mike a quick "here" before he managed to push past the mass of bodies and stumbled off the train.

When Richie was out on the platform, he scanned the crowd for Mike. Just then he realized that he hadn't seen a picture of Mike since the photo booth one he had when they were twelve.

His phone buzzed with a text from Mike.

Mike: having a hard time finding you

Richie bit his lip and looked around again, this may have been slightly poor planning.

Suddenly his eyes fell on a dark skinned kid who was looking around the train station with a confused look on his face. Richie awkwardly raised his hand up in a wave, feeling his cheeks heat up when he thought about how stupid he looked.

The kid's eyes fell on him and he froze, his face breaking out into a grin. Richie watched the kid push through the crowd of people. For some reason it made his heart rate pick up.

"Richie Tozier," the boy, who Richie was now positive was Mike, said as he pulled him into a tight hug.

"Hey Mike." Richie felt himself smile as he tightened his arms around Mike's frame. When they pulled back Richie took a second to look at Mike's face.

He still had clear dark brown skin but his face had definitely matured. He looked older. He was built too, giving off the impression that he spent quite a bit of time in the gym. He had on a long sleeve shirt that hugged his body and jeans.

"How's it being back in Derry?" Mike asked. He seemed almost giddy with excitement.

"Well all I've seen is the train station." Richie smiled as Mike clasped him on the back. "Come on, let's go back to my house. You can put your stuff down. Bill and Bev are probably going to be here soon."

"Everyone's coming?" Richie asked, failing to keep the shock out of his voice.

Mike laughed. "Yeah, I was surprised too. It only took a little persuading to get them to agree. I think they're excited actually."

"Fuck, I forgot a sleeping bag, all I have is some clothes and..." Richie trailed off. "I basically forgot almost everything I needed."

Mike laughed again. "Of course you did trashmouth. I wouldn't have expected anything more of you. Don't worry I got it covered. You and Eddie got the downstairs guest room, Big Bill, Ben and Stan get the basement and Bev gets the couch in the living room."

Richie nodded his head. "Putting Bevey alone so we don't have to watch Bill and Ben painfully pine over her?"

Mike looked shocked at that. "You remember that?"

Richie paused for a moment. "I think we all had the hots for her at some point. First girl we've ever seen up close right?"

Mike looked at him for a long second before letting out a breath. "Yeah we all did, everyone but you Richie."

______

Mike lived in a barn. Okay well maybe not a barn, but it was pretty damn close to one. The walls were wood and he had acres of grass. There were sheep and cows and pigs. Despite racking his brain the whole walk across the farm to the little wooden house, Richie couldn't remember ever having seen it before.

"Just you and your dad here right Mike?"

"Yeah, he's out for the weekend though. It's the market weekend, he's going to sell stuff."

Richie didn't even know what he was saying, but he nodded anyways, it felt right.

Richie followed Mike into the house, it was a lot bigger inside than he had expected.

"When are Bill and Bev coming?"

"Bill is driving, but he's bringing Bev so I'm not too sure actually when they'll end up showing up."

"Well if they roll up with steamy windows we know what went on." Richie grinned. "Maybe we can ask Bev is big Bill is a really a fitting name if you know what I mean."

Mike rolled his eyes. "The last thing I want to think about is Bill's dick."

Richie wiggled his eyebrows. "You sure about that Mikey, I won't tell him if you secretly want to be butt fucked by Bill."

"Beep Beep Richie," Mike said as he huffed out a breath.

Shut up. Richie blinked a few times at Mike. "That means shut up Richie."

"Yeah, yeah it does."

"You guys all say that."

"We did yeah." Mike agreed.

"This is like a whole weird mind fuck." Richie admitted as he grabbed his temples. "Memories are popping up in my head that I didn't even know existed."

Mike was about to reply, but he heard the sound of tires on gravel.

Grinning, Mike grabbed Richie's arm and practically dragged him outside.

"Bill!" Mike exclaimed excitedly as he grabbed onto the tall boy who was barely out of the parked car.

He watched as a red headed girl got out of the passenger seat. She had on a flowery dress with white shorts underneath that barely stuck out of the bottom of her dress. She had on combat boots and socks that were visible underneath.

Richie felt a weird tug in his chest and he was moving before his head knew what was going on. He threw his arms around the small girl, lifting her up and spinning her around.

Bev hugged him back just as tightly, practically squealing in his ear in excitement.

Richie was going to send Cayden a thousand thank you texts for forcing him to go because he finally pinpointed what he'd been thinking.

Right.

This felt right.

______

This was a bitch and a half to upload. My computer had an anyrusim and made this the hardest thing to edit so if it looks worse than my sense of humor, sorry