Fandom: IT 2017
Pairing: Teen! Reddie. (Teen! Losers Club friendship in general.)
Prompt: "You must be drunk."
Warnings: underage drinking, swearing, hints of flirting, how Reddie's relationship began essentially.
Word count: 1997
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THE LOSERS were sat around Bill's basement, trying to find something entertaining to do. It had been 5 years since the Pennywise incident and their lives had suddenly become less eventually. They couldn't complain - all of them would take boredom over the killer clown, however, their apathy today was eating them alive.

They weren't doing anything exciting at all. All seven of them were sat, talking about nothing and listening to the same Pet Shop Boys album on repeat. Ben and Bev were sat in the loveseat together, looking through the records, not planning on changing the album at all. Ben still hadn't admitted his feelings to the ginger girl and it aggravated all his friends, causing a lot of teasing from Richie. Bill, Mike and Richie were playing Super Mario Bros on Bill's Atari. The three had finished the game multiple times since it was released, so they were only playing it again because they had no other games to play. Stan was reading his favourite bird book for the what must've been the 50th time. Eddie was pacing about, ranting about how bored he was - like usual.

"Like we've graduated! We should be out celebrating or something not stuck in this shitty basement-" Eddie ranted, his arms waving around in the air as the words rushed out of his mouth.

"H-Hey!" Bill yelled, offended, not taking his eyes away from the video game glowing on the screen.

"Sorry, but this is shit. We're 18, for God's sake! And we stuck in Bill's basement with nothing to do," The short brunet boy was exasperated. After the events that he experienced when he and his friends were 13, Eddie had grown up a lot. He liked going out and he liked adventures - anything to get away from his toxic mother. So being trapped in a dark basement was not high on his to-do list.

Stan rolled his eyes, nudging his book closer to his face. "I'm perfectly happy like this, thank you very much."

"Well, good for you, Stanley, but I, for one, am not. You've read that book like 100 times, how are you not bored?"

"Well, what do you suggest then, Eddie Spaghetti?" Richie called over his shoulder before Stan could answer, his thumbs rapidly clicking buttons on his controller.

"Don't call me that," Eddie ordered, halting in his tracks before quickly going back to his rant. "Well, I don't know. At least I'm doing something different."

"Eddie, we've heard this rant 7 times in the last 2 weeks," Bev said, lowering the Queen record in her hands to her lap in order to raise a brow over at the brunet. "It's not exactly new."

Eddie groaned, falling into the couch beside Ben and Bev. "Save it, Beverly. I'm not in the mood for your sass."

The ginger girl snorted. "You're just pissy because you know I'm right."

Before Eddie could rant any further, Ben came to the rescue. "Hey, I know somewhere we can go!" Ben had become much more present in the friend group - from being the shy 13-year-old newbie to the optimistic and confident 18-year-old. However, throughout the last two summers, he was hardly present. He didn't tell his friends where he would disappear to.

"YES! Yes, this is what I'm talking about, people!" Eddie could've rushed up and kissed Ben but instead, he chose to jump up and fist bump the air excitedly. The Losers all laughed at their short friend, yet Richie chuckled whilst admiring his best friend's antics. Richie and Eddie had always been close, but after the horrors of 1989, they became a lot closer. They did pretty much everything together - going to the movies, the arcade, the quarry, the park, the parade - anything you could think of Richie and Eddie were there, together. They didn't need to be with everyone else to have a good time. They both appreciated each others' company.

"Where is it then, Haystack?" Richie asked after cursing, nearing throwing his controller at Bill's TV when Mike luckily won for the 3rd time in a row. Even though Ben had lost a significant amount of weight, Richie still kept the nickname he used for Ben back when they were 13.

Ben stood up, placing Bill's records neatly on the floor beside the loveseat. "Follow me."

-------

The tall brunet had led the Losers down to the woods. It was nearing night but none of them seemed to care. They were thrilled to know where Ben was taking them. Although they didn't want to admit it to Eddie - knowing it would make him suffocatingly cocky - they were bored shitless at Bill's place. Anywhere would be better - of course, except for the well-house.

Ben stopped in the middle of the woods, looking down at the ground, his foot bouncing up and down on certain parts of the leaf-covered ground. "Don't tell me you brought us out here to murder us, Haystack."

"Beep beep, Richie," Stan, Bev and Eddie muttered in unison, causing the group to chuckle together.

"What?!" Richie asked through a chortle. "We're in the middle of the woods, going god knows where, and it's getting dark. Sounds like the cheesiest horror movie ever!"

Eddie nudged Richie's shoulder with his fist with a groan. "I'd prefer getting murdered than boredom right now."

Mike crossed his arms, a smile growing on his lips. "I'll go tell the local murderer then, Eds."

The short brunet's brown eyes widened in fear. "Don't joke like that, Michael Hanlon," He narrowed his gaze at the boy in question. "That's Richie's job."

Richie gasped in awe, a hand of his heart. "Aw, Eddie Spaghetti! You know me so well!" Richie gushed, acting like a teenager girl around her 9th-grade crush. Richie's slender hand clasped around Eddie's upper arm, his knees bent slightly to look at Eddie with admiration.

Eddie slapped away Richie's arm then flicked the curly-haired boy's forehead. Richie's nose crinkled in disgust and shock, his thick-rimmed glasses rising slightly on his face. The two began to bicker childishly, throwing meaningless playground insults at one another.

"Guys!" Ben yelled over the bickering, catching everyone's attention. When everyone looked back at the sandy hair-coloured boy, a hatch in the ground by his feet was open, the door resting against his leg. He was proud as he gestured down to the underground bunker.

"What the fuck is that?" Richie declared, his eyes flickering between the ground, Ben's grin and the rest of the group.

"I call it the clubhouse," Ben stood proudly. When a few brief seconds of silence went by at Ben's anxiety started to eat at him. "You know, clubhouse like the Losers Club-"

"Yeah!" Bev enthusiastically smiled, approaching the hatch to peer down at the clubhouse. "This is incredible, Ben! Was this what you were doing the past two summers? All by yourself?"

Ben blushed with a nod. "Yeah. Do you like it?"

With a vigorous nod of her head, she gestured the other 5 boys to come over a have a look. Bev hopped the handmade wooden steps and looked around the poorly decorated clubhouse. On the wooden walls were decorated with multiple movie posters that Ben bought at the movie store. A single hammock hung between two slightly unsteady poles and two dusty sofas that he got for dirt cheap at a garage sale sat opposite it.

Eddie whistled at the sight of the small, dark bunker in amazement. "This beats Bill's basement."

"Hey!" Bill repeated. "M-my basement didn't d-do anything w-w-wrong!" He stuttered.

Richie leant against one of the posts holding up the hammock, accidentally knocking it an inch, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. "Richie! Don't destroy the clubhouse before we've used it!" Bev whacked the trashmouth over the head as a punishment.

Stan looked around the bunker with cautious eyes. "Are there spiders in here?"

Ben shrugged. "Probably. We are underground."

The group shuddered, all except Richie looking up at the ceiling and covering their hair.

"So..." Richie trailed off, slipping his backpack off and dug through it, bringing out a bottle of vodka. "Shall we celebrate?"

-------

An hour and a half passed and the teenagers were drunk. They all had different reactions to alcohol. Bill's stutter practically disappeared as he talked about conspiracies. Stan's love of birds became more prominent. Mike's motherly nature took over as he helped his friends stand up or if they were throwing up. Ben and Bev acted like the perfect couple, constantly flirting and laughing with each other. And Eddie and Richie were even more chaotic than they were sober.

The group had managed to get into a game of truth and dare, thanks to the drunk giddiness of Bev. "Okay, okay. Eddie - truth or dare?" She giggled with a hiccup, leaning into Ben's side, her hand clasped around a green cup of vodka.

"Uh-uh," Eddie was in deep thought, his fingers twitching on his knee as he considered his options. "Truth. No, no, no, no, no, wait. Dare. No, wait! Truth - no-"

"Right. Truth, it is," Bev grinned, deciding for the boy. "Out of all the girls in our year, who would date?"

Eddie grimaced. None of the girls at Derry High were Eddie's type. He didn't even know if he had a type, really. He liked Bev, but more like a sisterly love - he could never in a million years imagine dating her or a girl like her. He knew what he liked. He liked funny people; people who he could argue with, people he could annoy, people who could talk for hours on end with. People like Richie Tozier. "Uh, I don't know. Greta?"

"GRETA?!" The group declared in unison before bursting into a fit of laughter. Greta Bowie - Bev's childhood bully, now ally - was probably the last choice for anyone in school. Sure, she had grown up and found the discretion within, but she certainly no Cinderella.

"You are joking, right?" Richie asked, placing his hand on Eddie's upper arm for clarification. As if Eddie's nerves became hyperaware, goosebumps rose on his arms when Richie touched him.

Eddie shrugged. "I don't know. None of the girls at school are all that great," Bev gasped, offended. "Except for Bev, of course. But I wouldn't date you, no offence."

Bev snorted. "None taken. Right, Eddie, your go."

Eddie looked around the group before his gaze landed on his best friend. "Rich. Truth or dare?"

Richie leaned on his hands, his head rolling to the side to look at the boy next to him. "D-"

Stan interrupted before he could continue. "No! You picked dare last time! Pick truth, you frigid bitch!"

"Geez, fine. Truth," Richie answered, smiling at Eddie.

After a moment of consideration, Eddie chose Richie's truth. "Who do you have a crush on?"

The group went silent. Richie wasn't open about his love life. He liked to keep his sexuality and relationships a secret, even from his best friends. "You, I guess."

The group looked between the two boys with anticipation. Although homosexuality was more of a respected public matter in the 90s, it was still a shock for the friends to hear. Especially when Richie was the one to open up about it. Secretly, all of them thought that Eddie would be the first one to explore his sexuality, but no. It was Richie 'Trashmouth' Tozier. From his sexual inuendos, Richie was the last on everyone's minds when they thought of 'gay'.

Eddie was stunned. He searched in Richie's eyes for a hint of sarcasm, a bit of glimmer in his eyes to say 'it's a joke'. Anything so the short brunet boy wouldn't get his hopes up. But he found nothing. "You must be drunk."

Richie smirked. "You know what they say. A drunk mind speaks sober thoughts," Richie said with a wink.

THE END