Chapter Text
Eddie bounced on his bed aimlessly, looking at Mike and Bill wearily as they pitched their idea to him. He started college a few months ago, deciding to follow in Bill’s footsteps because he didn’t trust his mom to pick a school for him. Looking into it’s opportunities, Eddie decided it was good enough. Plus, he’d have Bill with him the entire way whilst he transitioned to life without his mother. Of course, she wasn’t happy about the idea of him leaving her sights, but he guessed he convinced her well enough, because here he was.
Thankfully, he got roomed with Bill, along with another student, Mike, who they became friendly with really quickly. So quickly, that Eddie was comfortable enough to dance around to his music while the other boy was in the room. The best thing about it, though, was that Bill didn’t always have to be the middleman between them. Eddie could talk to Mike alone about his own issues, and that was pretty great for him.
Now, the two were convincing him to take an art class with one of their friends. His name was Ben. Eddie had never met him, but after a while, he learned that his friends had English with him, and had apparently gotten on pretty well.
This had all come up simply with the fact that Eddie had a required arts credit to fulfill, and the two boys insisted that he sign up with Ben for one of the drawing classes the school offered. Eddie wasn’t too worried about Ben, that wasn’t the problem. He had a feeling they’d get along well, considering how well his friends got along with him, and how well he got along with his friends. He was more concerned about the drawing part.
Eddie was not good at art.
“Come o-on Eddie. It’s a required art credit a-anyways, so they don’t really expect you to be a-a-amazing at it,” Bill said exasperatedly.
“Yeah,” Mike piped in, “and either way, if you work with Ben, he could help you out with that stuff.”
“And if not, just make a piece out of words. Th-That never did anybody wr-wrong,” Bill gave Eddie a chipper smile, and he groaned, covering his eyes.
“Fine! I’ll take the stupid art class!”
Bill and Mike grinned to each other cheekily, and Eddie couldn’t help from giggling, throwing a pillow at them in his wake.
After their talk, Eddie finally got on his way to his Latin class, meeting up with Stan and Beverly at the entrance.
On his first day there, Eddie had sat down next to Beverly. He had had his earbuds in then, and to introduce herself, she had taken one of them out, and put it into her own. Beverly giggled, reveling in the fact that he was listening to ‘It’s Raining Men’. Of course, Eddie was horrified. Thankfully, she had introduced her name after, and decided to be his friend because he was ‘pretty cool’. They’ve been talking ever since, and they got along great.
Stan on the other hand, had already been friends with Beverly. They met in the school’s laundry room, where both of them had chosen the same detergent. Beverly noticed this and used the same pick-up line she had used on Eddie. Stan had smiled, and apparently, they talked a bunch while they waited for their laundry to finish.
Eddie had met Stan through Beverly, and he wasn’t very friendly at first, thinking Eddie wouldn’t be too serious when Beverly told him what he was listening to. Eddie was, of course, horrified again. But, they had really started talking in the bathroom, washing their hands. Eddie tried him again, asking how he met Beverly, and giving notes about his views on Latin. Stan had told and agreed with him, and after talking, Stan realized Eddie could be serious, and that they were alike in some ways.
Eddie walked with both of them into the classroom, sitting down at his desk while the two sat around him. Stan took a desk to his left, while Beverly sat at the one in front of him, facing backwards.
Eddie took a moment, and then said, “I have to take an arts class.”
The two waited for him to go on.
“Aaand my friends want me to sign up for one with this kid named Ben? Like, I haven’t even met him, but should I? Before I meet him in class?”
“Wait,” Beverly startled, “Is this an art arts class?”
Eddie nodded, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. Beverly looked at him, “Well that sucks, because we’re taking the music course…”
He frowned, “And I suck at art, but I don’t want to be a dick!” He put his hands up to his face with a groan.
“Well…” Stan piped up, “maybe you’ll improve if you take it.”
Eddie nodded solemnly, and then looked back to Beverly again, “So should I meet up with him?”
“Why not?” Beverly said excitedly, “Maybe we could come, too!”
“Oh God…” Stan said, putting his head between his legs.
“Oh, come on! It’ll be fun! What if he’s this awesome guy, and a perfect addition to our little group?”
“Beverly, he wants to take an art class,” Stan groaned, “How awesome do you think he’ll be?”
Beverly shot him a look, “Well F.Y.I. Stan, Eddie here is going to be taking that art class. Isn’t he awesome?”
“Sure,” Stan said, and Eddie gave him the middle finger, chuckling. He grinned.
“Well, if you’re not going Stan, I’ll go.”
“No no, I’ll go it’s fine,” he said flustered. “Where and when?”
Beverly pretended to mull it over for a second, and then said, “The Pavilion. 7:00.”
“Okay,” Eddie said, pulling his phone out, “I’ll text Mike to let him know.”
“Shit!” Eddie cried, and Bill turned his head around to him from the couch.
“What’s wr-wrong?”
Eddie huffed, throwing down the shirt he had in his hand, “I don’t know if I’m supposed to wear something fancy or not.”
“We-Well, where a-are you going?” Bill walked up to his side, looking at him quizzically.
“The Pavilion.”
“Well,” Bill mused, “what does Pavilion sound like?”
“Fancy…” Eddie pouted and rolled his eyes. Bill and his goddamned writing skills.
After a moment, Eddie decided on a navy blue polo with dark pants. He made his way out of their dorm, shouting a goodbye to Bill, and hopped into the elevator. He exited the building, and made his way to the entrance of The Pavilion, straightening his shirt, patting himself down, and then entering.
“Hello, I’m Ava. How may I help you?”
“Hi, Eddie-”
“Oh, your tables’ waiting for you, sir. I’ll lead you to it.”
Eddie furrowed his brows, and followed the waitress, making his way through the dimly lit room to one of the booths. Already seated, was Stan, Beverly, and apparently Ben. The waitress left, and Beverly turned to him, smiling brightly, “Eddie!” Then, turning to Ben, “The guest of honor!”
Eddie sat down next to Stan, who was on the other side of Ben and Beverly. Ben was a shorter, rounder man, with light hair and glasses. Eddie pointed to them stupidly.
“Oh, I don’t always need these,” Ben said before taking them off. His eyes were a chestnut brown.
Eddie looked to his friends, his brows furrowed once again, “Wait… Am I late? What happened?”
“No,” Beverly said, looking at him softly, “we were just waiting for you, and decided to get a table while we were at it.”
“Sorry,” Eddie smiled apologetically to Ben, who only waved his hand to him, nonplussed.
“So, I was thinking more concrete art like drawing?” Ben asked, taking a sip of his drink, “I-If that’s okay with you?”
“Sure,” Eddie smiled weakly. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m not too good at art.”
“Me neither,” Ben shook his head.
“What?” Eddie looked at him, surprised, before the waitress came around again to take their orders. Ben got a cheeseburger, Bev the salmon, and Stan ordered the wedge salad. Eddie just got the chicken, along with a Shirley Temple. Beverly always commented on that, saying, ‘no wonder we’re friends.’ The waitress left, putting them back into their conversation.
‘What?”
Ben chuckled, “Yeah, I’m good at architecture, not sketching up a piece of fruit.”
Eddie sighed at this, looking up to the heavens, “Oh thank God, I thought I’d be the only one.”
“Eddie,” Ben leaned forward to him, his hands clasped underneath his chest, “It’s a required credit, nobody’s going to be that amazing.”
“Bill said the same thing to me,” Eddie chuckled, amused.
Ben grinned, pulling back, “Well that’s because I gave him the point.”
“Okay…” Eddie nodded, “Why not?”
Thankfully, Eddie only had Latin, and now art, on Fridays. After his first class, Ben had met up with the three of them to offer Eddie a ride. He accepted, and they talked for a bit before he got into Ben’s silver Lexus, driving off. Eddie thinks he wouldn’t mind riding with Ben every now and then to class. It was pretty comfortable.
They pull up to the brown building, Ben hopping out of the driver’s seat in a sweatshirt and jeans, while Eddie got out of the passenger’s seat in another polo. The two walked up to the entrance, and through the halls to the drawing room. The inside was painted a light gray, and the floor was wooden. At the front of the room was a desk and white board. The back held a large window, light spewing down through it’s pane. The middle of the room held 15 desks that sat in a circle, and Eddie plopped down into one. Ben sat down to his right.
Eddie waited nervously as the rest of the class piled in. There was a girl with short brown hair, a guy with coke-bottle glasses, and another girl with a high ponytail. The teacher walked into the center of the circle of desks, clearing her throat and then smiling warmly, “Hello everyone! I’m Mrs. Brewer and welcome to visual arts. Now, from signing up, I hope you all know that this is a drawing class…”
Most of the people chuckled, including Ben. Eddie just stared blankly at her. She coughed, and then continued, “So, with this class you’ll need some certain materials...”
Eddie reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook, writing things down as she said them. At a pause, Eddie looked up and bristled. The guy with the coke-bottle glasses sat across from him, looking at him with an amused expression. Their eyes met for a second, and even though Eddie was a little defensive, he couldn’t look away from him. The guy had a mess of dark hair, and large brown eyes. Tiny freckles dotted the plane of his face, and his thick lips were held in a smirk.
Eddie felt his face heating up, and looked back down to his notebook, quickly, to hide his blush.
Mrs. Brewer then began to explain the criteria of their class, “Now, for freshmen, I believe it is important to get to know everyone. You’ll hopefully be working with these people for the next four years here. So, I’m going to pair you guys up with a partner for the rest of this one. You’ll be working on different projects, that consist of you taking inspiration from the other person.”
Eddie accidentally looked over at the guy across from him again, who didn’t realize he was watching when he tried to subtly look him over. Eddie took a sip of the water he brought, and decided to prop his folder up to hide his growing blush.
“Now, it’s scary, I know. It may even get a little bit personal. But isn’t that what art is all about?”
Maybe it wasn’t accidental, because Eddie found himself staring again. They didn’t make eye contact this time, but Eddie watched as the other man used his pencil to carve into his desk, leaning his head on his other hand. She continued with fire drill procedures and safety precautions, before saying,
“Well, I’ve covered just about everything, so why don’t we get started?” Mrs. Brewer walked over to her desk, rifling through one of its drawers and pulling out a manilla folder. She walked back to the center, opening it.
“Now, when I assign you your partner, I’d like you to get up, so you know who they are, and then sit where I tell you to. It’s just easier for me if you sit next to your partner. I’ll get used to it after a while.”
Eddie looked over at Ben, who was staring at him with his fingers crossed. They gave each other a faint smile.
“Alright,” she pulled out a paper from the folder. “First pair is: Ben Hanscom and Sarah Barton.”
Eddie wilted, surprised, and watched as Ben and the girl with the short brown hair got up.
“If you guys could sit in these two seats?” Mrs. Brewer pointed to two desks in one of the corners of the circle. They sat down next to each other, Ben looking over at Eddie with an apologetic frown, before he turned to Sarah to introduce himself.
“Next up, is Eddie Kaspbrak and Richie Tozier.”
Eddie stood up, piling his things into his arms. He looked around. Who was his partner?
And then, he looked in front of him, where the boy with the coke-bottle glasses got up, making eye contact with him once again. His stomach dropped.
“I’d like you two to sit over here, please,” Mrs. Brewer’s voice startled Eddie. He looked over at the two desks she pointed to. He sighed a bit. At least he’d be next to Ben.
They walked over, Richie moving aside to let Eddie go first through the desks. Eddie glared at him, sitting down.
“So…” Richie said, before Eddie turned his head to Ben, trying to make conversation with him. He wilted, putting his tongue into his cheek and leaning forward.
“Hey,” Eddie said to Ben, and he turned to him. “At least we get to sit near each other.”
“Yeah,” Ben grinned, and Eddie guessed that was the end of the conversation. He sighed, turning his head back to the kid named Richie.
“So…” Eddie said, repeating his phrase. Richie turned to him with a grin, and stuck out his hand.
“Richie Tozier.”
Eddie took it, and shivered at the butterflies he felt in his stomach as their fingers brushed together, “Eddie Kaspbrak.”
“So why are you here, Eds?” Richie asked, and Eddie cringed at the nickname. He looked forward, “Don’t call me that.”
“Alright, Eds,” Richie chuckled. “So why are you here? You looked like a ghost had crawled into your rectum back there.”
Eddie pouted, glaring down at his desk, “I’m fine... Art just isn’t my thing.”
“Yup me neither.”
Eddie looked down at the scribbles on the other man’s desk, sighing, “Yeah right.”
“Yes right.”
“Well okay,” Eddie mused, pointing at it. The drawing looked a lot like him, if he did say so himself. “I guess you’ve already got the whole thing down, then.”
Eddie thought he might have gotten to Richie, but he just smirked at him, “Well, I guess it’s cute when you blush so much.”
Eddie’s eyes widened, and the heat in his face was on cue. He grabbed his folder, propping it up again to his side, and ended their conversation. To his abhorrence, Eddie was still blushing by the end of the day.