Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Welcome to NYC
NYU was the university that Richie Tozier had chosen out of the ones that had accepted him. He was going to finally begin his journey through radio broadcasting. It was something he’d wanted to do since he was young. Not only was NYU the best school of the bunch, but it was the one that allowed him to live in the same city as all his best friends as well as all his new friends.
Richie had pitched in with his other friends to buy a house on 16th Avenue. It was a fairly dilapidated house in Richie’s opinion, but Ben assured them he could fix it up over time.
Ben, Beverly, Bill and Mike had headed to the house first in the middle of the summer to get some work done on the roof. It wasn’t that Ben had much prior experience with rooftops, but he knew it was a priority according to what he told the losers. Richie had no idea about anything when it came to buildings or fixing them up, so he took Ben’s word for it.
From the floor plan they had accessed, it was a five bedroom house with and attic and a basement. The attic could easily be converted into bedrooms. The first floor had a large living room and across the hall was a dining room with a kitchen attached to it. A single bathroom resided on the first floor as well. Overall, it looked promising to them all.
Eleven had ventured to New York City with Richie, Stan and Eddie in Bill’s car a couple weeks after the first group had gone up. It was about eight hours of driving, but the group made it there by the evening after a few driver changes along the way. Eleven was prepared for the journey, bringing a book with her for the trip.
Despite Stan, Eddie and Richie bickering the whole way, the group made it there in one piece, pulling up outside of the large three-story house. The red brick was crumbling off the side of the building, many of the windows were held together with tape and plastic, and the chimney looked to be barely hanging on for dear life. Despite the sad state of the house, the houses next to it looked alright, and it was quite possible the house they bought was previously neglected. From what Mike Hanlon said, the property had been previously bought by a bunch of university students who partied too hard and trashed the place. Whatever the story was, the place was going to be a lot of work to fix up.
Richie got out of the car with the others as they parked in the three-car parking area next to Ben’s car. Richie let out a whistle, “This place sure is fucking cozy looking. Can’t wait to air out my feet through the giant fucking hole in the wall up there.”
“For once, I agree with you. This place is a shit hole…” Stan sighed looking up at it as he crossed his arms against his light blue buttoned up shirt.
“It’s fixable.” Eleven said casually, adjusting her violet t-shirt a bit, “My father’s cabin broke a lot worse than this and it all got fixed.”
“I think you’re a little more optimistic than we are. This house looks like a death trap, and if I die in here, its on Ben and Bill especially for making this horror show happen.” Eddie chimed in as he joined them in staring up at the house.
Richie wanted to comment, but he decided that once he got Eddie going, he wasn’t going to stop complaining. Richie really wasn’t in the mood after the long drive.
“Anyway, when did Wheeler say he was stopping by to get you?” Richie asked Eleven.
Eleven looked from the house to Richie, “He said a little after seven.”
Richie nodded, “Alright. At least you won’t have to live in this shit hole with us. You’ll have an actual apartment to go home to. We might have to light a trash can fire inside the house just to keep warm come wintertime.” Richie quipped.
“Or we could just light you on fire instead. That would solve multiple problems.” Stan said dryly before grabbing his bags from the trunk.
“I’m hot enough, Stanley.” Richie retorted.
Eleven left her bag in the trunk. She’d just have to bring it outside again anyway when Mike arrived to get her. Richie grabbed his own bag out along with Eddie’s before handing it to him.
“I-Is this place even going to be safe to live in? I mean we have permits for a reason, a-a-and imagine the illnesses we could catch if we’re living in such a poorly insulated place.” Eddie rambled on as the group of them headed to the house with their bags.
They headed up the concrete steps to the front door, “Jesus, Eddie.” Richie rolled his eyes, “We’re gonna fix it up. I trust Ben completely on this one. He wouldn’t have gotten us a complete fucking…” Richie said opening the front door only to pause when the entrance looked completely gutted, the floor was pure concrete and glue from whatever flooring had been there before, complete with spray paint on the walls.
“Holy shit…” Stan said wide eyed.
Beverly headed over to the entrance, a flower print knee length dress on her slender body. She smiled at them, “I know, it looks pretty bad, but we’re still in renovation progress…”
“When the fuck will we actually have proper rooms? This looks like a fucking abandoned underground crime den.” Richie commented.
Ben came around the corner. He had lost a lot of weight over the past few years, and because of all his working out he was finally starting to get some muscle definition in his shoulders and biceps. He wore a navy t-shirt, faded jeans and a tool belt on his hips as he approached them, “Hey guys, I know it’s not much to look at, but the bedrooms are overall intact, and the kitchen wasn’t in bad shape to start with.”
“I only spent three days cleaning it.” Beverly rolled her eyes, “Come on in, the entrance looks about the worst… well… second worst, our living room still has a huge hole in it.”
“D-Don’t worry about t-t-the living room. We’ve go-got tarps.” Bill said coming from the living room with Mike Hanlon in tow.
“Thank fuck for tarps.” Richie said sarcastically.
“Where the Hell are we supposed to sleep?” Stan asked concerned.
“What about the bathrooms? Please tell me they’re ok.” Eddie pleaded.
“The downstairs bathroom is fine, the upstairs ones though… not so much.” Ben informed them.
“So, all seven of us have to share a fucking bathroom now?” Richie asked.
“It’s all temporary.” Ben assured them. “Also… we don’t have power going to certain rooms, such as bedrooms and the living room, so everything we will be using for light will have to be battery operated, BUT, we do have a bunch of battery operated lamps hanging in each room, and plenty of candles for back-up.”
“Why did I agree to this shit?” Richie sighed.
“Because, once we fix it up and we’re done with school, we have the option to sell it for way more than we bought it for.” Ben reasoned.
“It’s a good neighborhood, just a crappy house at least for the moment.” Mike shrugged his broad shoulders.
“You guys’ better work fast, winters coming.” Eddie pointed out.
“Yeah, and there better be some fucking power on in every room in this place by then.” Richie said frustrated.
“Richie, the main thing is we have power to use the phone, the kitchen and the showers. We’ve got some time to fix all that but we need a professional to look at that stuff.” Ben explained.
“Good, because I’m not planning to freeze my ass off in a shower in the fall.” Richie crossed his arms.
“We’ll do our best to get everything fully functional on time, it’s the heavier things we might have some problems with though, like boarding up the ceiling in the living room.” Ben reasoned.
“I can help.” Eleven spoke up.
“She can lift a fucking truck with her mind.” Richie informed them.
“Really? I know you can lift things but… for long periods even when they’re heavy?” Ben asked.
Eleven nodded, “Yes.”
“Well, if you don’t mind helping us out, we can use all the help we can get. The Livingroom in particular could use your help the most.” Ben said honestly.
Eleven nodded her head once again, and Richie cracked his fingers over his head, “Alright… let’s have the fucking tour…”
Overall, the place was quite large and would be good for them once they could have their own spaces. Richie noted that most of the rooms were intact despite the spray painting on most of the walls, and the piss poor paint jobs the edgy teenagers who lived there before them had made for themselves. Some of the bedrooms on the second floor though, the hardwood had to be ripped up, which Ben had already done, meaning some of the losers had to share rooms. Richie and Eddie opted to share a room and so did Mike and Ben. Beverly, Stan and Bill were lucky enough to have their own rooms to themselves.
On the second floor there were three regular sized bedrooms on the left side of the hall when facing north. The other side of the hall had a single bathroom for everyone to use, and then it had a large bedroom to the south, and a master bedroom to the north that had a bedroom of its own attached to it. That room belonged to Beverly, giving her a bathroom she didn’t have to share with a bunch of guys.
Despite the utter lack of furniture, they were making do with what they could. Blow up mattresses were laid out for them all, and for their dining area they were met with a plastic patio table and some folding chairs. It wasn’t much, but it was something at least.
Richie let the air pump blow up his mattress as Eddie finished making his own bed a few feet away. Richie looked over at him, “Hey Eds, if it gets too fucking cold this winter, we can always just snuggle under the covers and play footsies.” Richie smirked.
Eddie furrowed his brows, “Fuck that. I’ll take the frostbite.”
Richie rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you say that now, but when the time comes, you’ll be fucking begging to climb under the covers with me.”
“If I really needed to climb into someone’s bed for warmth, I’d just ask Bill.” Eddie said casually.
“Bill? Why Bill?” Richie asked confused.
“He’s at least not an asshole to me and doesn’t call me stupid names like Eddie Spaghetti or Eds.” Eddie reasoned.
Richie felt a tinge of jealousy. Richie adjusted his glasses, “What the fuck?! I’m not an asshole to you. I’ve always been nice to you.”
“After about a thousand ‘your mom’ jokes, I’d beg to differ dickhead.” Eddie rolled his eyes before he paused and really looked at Richie, “…Dude, are you mad or something?”
Richie realized his face must have been giving him away, “N-No, I’m just surprised that you thought I was being fucking mean to you.”
“Wait… were you hoping I’d climb into bed with you or something? That’s kind of gay, Richie.” Eddie pointed out.
Richie felt something snap inside. Once that switch was flipped, he couldn’t even stop what happened next.
“I’m not fucking gay! I’m pretty sure you are though with your fucking short shorts and high socks!” Richie snapped, taking the hose from the pump out of his mattress, and setting it aside.
Eddie furrowed his brows, “What the Hell Richie? I’m not gay. Why would you even think that shit?”
“Yeah, well you’re pretty damn feminine for a guy, so I’m just saying, it wouldn’t be a stretch for someone to think you are.” Richie realized how mean he sounded.
Even as the words were falling from his lips her knew they weren’t the words he felt inside. This was a defense mechanism. A piss poor one at that.
“Fuck you, Richie… I’m not sharing a room with you.” Eddie said, grabbing his blown-up mattress and pulling it out of the room with some effort.
Richie watched Eddie take the mattress, all the pillows and blankets falling off as he tilted it to the side to fit it through the doorway.
Richie realized he’d fucked everything up again. With a heavy sigh, he tried to think clearly again.
“Eddie, come on. I’m sorry. Seriously, come back!” Richie tried, his hands reaching for the mattress as he got to his feet to keep him from taking it to another room.
“Let go, dickhead!” Eddie shouted with irritation.
“Just put it the fuck back, and stop being so fucking dramatic!” Richie shouted back.
“W-W-What’s going on h-here?” Bill asked from the hallway.
“I’m not sharing with this asshole; he’s fucking calling me gay and shit.” Eddie said annoyed.
Bill looked between them, “Why R-Richie?”
“I’m just fucking joking and he can’t even take a joke.” Richie huffed.
“You’re a fucking abrasive dickhead; I do not want to share my limited space with you.” Eddie said with frustration, “I’d rather sleep in the unfinished basement than with him.”
“J-Just stay with me.” Bill told Eddie, making Richie’s blood boil.
Picking up Eddie’s pillows and blankets, he tossed them into the hallway, “Fine, whatever, I don’t have to wake up to your fucking wheezing in the middle of the night now.” Richie said, slamming the door to his temporary bedroom.
He could hear the two on the other side of the room trying to get him to chill out, but Richie was fuming. Being called gay was a trigger for Richie, and he thought all his friends knew that by now. On top of that, it bothered him to think Eddie could say things like that when there was the strong possibility he himself was gay… at least in Richie’s mind.
There was no proof that Eddie was gay, but there was no proof he wasn’t. What if he just didn’t know? What if there was a chance for him and Eddie? He hated that he reacted the way he did to things sometimes… he blew one chance right there.
Taking some time to cool off, Richie made his bed and laid on it for a while. He admittedly missed talking to Will on the phone. They called one another every Saturday, but this was the first Saturday in months that they hadn’t spoken. They’d become good friends, and he was someone who seemed to genuinely care about Richie and his wellbeing. Not to say the other losers didn’t, but they didn’t know his secret like Will did, nor did they laugh at his jokes without telling him to shut up.
Making his way downstairs after a long contemplation, Richie noticed that Eleven was still helping with some of the renovations. He watched her lift some of the planks with her mind while Ben stood on a ladder, trying to patch up the hole in the living room ceiling with his hammer.
Her nose was bleeding, so Richie moved to the kitchen, getting her a paper towel, “Here. You’re fucking bleeding again.”
“Thanks.” She said taking it from him.
A knock at the front door caught Richie’s attention. He walked over to the door and opened it to see Mike Wheeler standing at the door, “Hey Mikey. Here for Jane?”
“Yeah, I am.” Mike nodded looking eager to get out of there already, “Is she ready?”
“She’s just helping with some renovations in the living room.” Richie stepped out of the way, and Mike hesitated, looking at the entrance that was nearly stripped bare.
“Renovations? How is she helping with renovations?” Mike asked as he eventually headed inside and towards the direction Richie gestured to.
When Mike stepped inside, Richie realized another person was standing behind where Mike had been standing. Will Byers.
Richie smiled immediately when he laid eyes on the brunette whose hair was shorter than last time but looking much more presentable. It felt like a weight lifted off his chest seeing the brunette, “Hey Will.”
“Hey Richie.” Will smiled taking a step inside.
“Nice haircut. Seriously, much better than the bowlcut.” Richie grinned.
“Thank you.” Will smiled as he ran a hand through it in response, “It feels better.”
Richie closed the door and noted that Will was likely realizing how decrepit the place must look in its current state.
“Um… no offense but, is this place liveable?” Will asked curiously.
“Somehow, yeah. The structural integrity seems fine, but everything else needs some fucking work.” Richie chuckled, “Fuck if I know how though… right now they’re working on fixing the living room. Jane’s giving us a hand with that though since she can lift things with her mind much easier than the rest of us.”
Will smiled, and Richie realized just how much of a comforting presence he was. Leading Will into the living room where everyone was staring at Mike while Eleven hugged him, Richie wasn’t totally surprised by their reactions.
“Everyone, this is my lame ass cousin Mike Wheeler, and this is Will Byers who is an artist and significantly fucking cooler than my cousin.” Richie said to Mike, Ben, Beverly and Bill who looked from his cousin to him.
“Thanks Richie.” His cousin said flatly.
“Richie…” Will said a hint of amusement in his tone.
“God, are you sure you aren’t twins?” Beverly asked amused.
“Yeah, I mean you two look more like brothers than cousins.” Mike Hanlon said with a nod.
“Yeah, yeah…” Richie waved a hand, “We got that a lot as fucking kids too. Anyway, this is Beverly Marsh, she’s gonna be a fashion designer someday. This is Ben Hanscom, he’s the one in charge of getting this place renovated for the most part, Mike Hanlon here is assisting him with the heavy lifting, and Bill Denbrough over here is just here pretending to do the heavy lifting.”
“I’m n-n-not pretending, Richie.” Bill laughed a bit, “N-Nice to meet you, Mike. Will.”
Mike politely greeted them all, shaking their hands, and Will did the same. The sound of footsteps behind him made it clear Stan an Eddie had joined them. Richie turned to them next.
“Whoa.” Eddie said looking at Mike Wheeler with a bit of surprise.
“Eds. Stan. This is my cousin Mike Wheeler. Mike, this is Stanley Uris who’s going up for a super exciting accounting career and Eddie Kaspbrak who’s extremely asthmatic, so don’t go taking his breath away or he’ll literally fucking die.” Richie said realizing both Will and Mike’s eyes immediately shot to Eddie the moment he was introduced.
Right, I confessed my fucking crush on him to them this summer… Richie remembered.
“Richie, you’re the worst at fucking introductions…” Eddie sighed irritated.
“Or am I the best? It’s hard to say.” Richie said shrugging his shoulders casually.
“Hi, I’m Richie’s cousin like he said. I guess you guys got a real fixer-upper on your hands here. If you guys need any help, I mean, none of my friends or I really know how to do any repairs, but we could certainly try to help you out.” Mike said shaking Eddie’s hand first.
“That would be great.” Eddie nodded, looking at Mike with a hopeful expression.
Stan shook Mike’s hand next, “Wow, it’s amazing to see someone who looks like Richie but can speak with some sophistication. You didn’t even swear once so far.”
“Shut the fuck up Stan.” Richie rolled his eyes.
Will shook both of their hands next as Mike started questioning them about the renovations they were working on.
Richie pulled Will aside, “By the way… I wanna talk to you but, I don’t know how the fuck to reach you now that we’re both moved. You got a phone number now?”
Nodding Will looked around, “You guys got a pen and paper?”
“Oh! Actually, come into the kitchen. We’ve got a phone set up in there and I think Beverly set up a memo board.” Richie said leading Will through the plastic hanging from the doorway dividing the entrance area and the kitchen.
Will looked at the plastic table and chair set-up in the dining area and then his eyes landed on the yellow phone that was on the wall. There was a bulletin board next to the phone with a pink pad of papers that were meant for taking messages attached. It was much more visually appealing compared to the rest of the house, and it was complete with a pen hanging from a string next to it.
“There you go.” Richie gestured to it, watching as Will moved closer to the memo pad and the pen.
Richie watched as Will scribbled down his number on the memo pad. Richie took one of the pins from the bulletin board and attached it to the corkboard. Richie then wrote down his own number and passed it to Will who put it into his wallet immediately.
“So, what’s the problem? Or is this a bad time to talk about it?” Will questioned curiously.
Richie glanced towards the plastic, seeing the blurry figures of his friends and his cousin still chatting in the other room. Moving himself and Will closer to the kitchen to talk, Richie leaned his back against the fridge and spoke, “Um…” Richie rubbed the back of his neck before speaking quietly, “I might have been a real fucking asshole today and… I pushed some buttons I shouldn’t have.”
Will looked at him curiously, maintaining a quiet tone, “With Eddie?”
Richie nodded, “I um… I was fucking hitting on him, you know… like I was joking or something and… well… he said something that made me kind of jealous followed by asking if I was serious about what I ‘joked’ about… then he made a comment about what I said sounding gay and it kind of made me snap on him and… I said some shit I’m not fucking proud of…” He lowered his eyes.
“What did you say?” Will questioned.
“I… I kind of…” He sighed and looked into Will’s eyes, “I told him he seemed pretty gay to me and I may have fucking attacked his masculinity like a dickface.”
Will made a pained expression, “Richie…”
“I know, I know… it was shitty of me… I’m not proud of it. I just don’t know what to do… I keep trying to get his attention because I mean look at him, he’s gotta be gay as shit, but…” Richie pushed up his glasses.
“Richie, he might not be. Just because he looks a certain way doesn’t inherently make him gay.” Will whispered, crossing his arms, but maintaining a gentle expression on his face.
Richie sighed, “You’re right… I don’t know what’s fucking wrong with me, I just lose my shit sometimes…”
“You struggle to express yourself to others. You’re used to hiding behind your jokes. I’ve noticed this about you, but you really don’t have to do that. People won’t look at you like you’re lesser if you’re honest and straight forward with people, especially if you’re close with those people.” Will told him seriously.
Richie looked at Will for a long moment, “It’s just a natural reaction I guess… you’re really the only person I feel comfortable talking straight forward with…”
“Why is that?” Will asked him curiously.
Richie looked at Will, “You’ve never told me to shut up once so far. I mean, when I get to be a little much, you warn me, but you never told me to shut up at all so far. I feel like you care and… I-It isn’t like my friends don’t but, fuck… you somehow make me feel like you hear me and… I guess it helps you know all the other stuff about me too. You don’t make me feel like I’m fucking broken I guess.”
“You’re not broken. Not at all, Richie.” Will said to him sincerely, “You’re kind of like this house.”
Richie shot him an incredulous look, “That’s not a fucking compliment.”
Will laughed a bit, easing Richie’s mind, “No, I don’t mean you’re full of holes and dilapidated. I mean, you’ve got all the structural integrity right, but on the inside, you’ve got to do some renovations. You’ve got to figure out a way to find peace with who you are. The more something triggers you, the more it means you need to do some soul searching of your own. No ones perfect Richie, but everyone could use some internal repairs.”
Richie listened and found he couldn’t disagree with anything Will was saying, “…Maybe you have a point… Maybe.”
“Look, I know it scares you when people accuse you of being gay when you’re not out yet to them, but… maybe you need to tell them. They’re your friends. I think hiding it is the worst thing you can do when these people have been there for you in some of the worst events in your life.”
“What if it went bad? What if they kicked me out? I mean… where the fuck would I go first of all and… I’ve been friends with them so fucking long it would hurt…” Richie admitted.
“If they’re really your friends, you can tell them the truth.” Will assured him, “Worst case scenario, I’d take you in.”
“Oh yeah, Mike would fucking love that.” Richie rolled his eyes.
“You can come to me if you need anything, anytime.” Will told him softly.
“Same to you.” Richie said with a gentle smile forming on his face.
“Will? We’re heading out!” Mike Wheeler called from the entrance.
“Coming.” Will said before looking at Richie, “I guess I’ll see you around. Thanks again for taking care of Eleven.”
“Of course. Oh, I better get her stuff out of the fucking trunk of the car…” Richie said as he walked past Will to get to the entrance.
“My stuff.” Eleven reminded Richie.
“Yeah, I remembered.” Richie said heading outside with them.
Heading over to the driver’s seat, he opened the door and popped the trunk open. Eleven and Mike moved to the trunk of the car to get the bags from the back, Richie closed the door of the car and looked at Will, “So, now that I’m in the same city as you, maybe we could hang out or something sometime?”
He wasn’t asking Will on a date, but it still somehow gave him butterflies to ask to spend time with Will. He couldn’t explain it; there was just something about Will that drew those emotions within him.
Will nodded, “I’d like that a lot.” He smiled, sending another round of butterflies through Richie’s stomach.
“Cool.” Richie nodded.
Eleven approached Richie and looked up at him, “Thank you for taking care of me for so long. You’ve been a good friend.”
Richie looked at her softly, feeling like this was a strange sort of goodbye. It wasn’t a real goodbye, but she was no longer going to be living with him anymore.
“I kind of liked having a sister. Hopefully we can see each other again sometime, so long as Mike isn’t a fucking dickhead about it.” Richie said glancing towards Mike.
“I’m sure we’ll see you.” Mike said flatly.
Richie held out his arms to her and Eleven wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close. Richie smiled and slowly let go of her, “Go make his life Hell, like I trained you to all these months.”
Eleven cracked a smile at his joke and headed to the passenger’s seat of Mike’s car. Mike looked back at Richie, “See you later, Richie. Thanks again.”
Richie nodded at Mike as he got into the driver’s seat. Will looked at Richie and held out a hand to him, “I’ll call you tomorrow?”
Richie nodded, “Yeah, sounds good.”
Taking Will’s hand, he gave it a little tug, pulling Will in closer and the two embraced briefly. Richie felt Will’s hand on his back and he patted Will’s back in response. After a moment, Will and Richie let go of each other and Will got into the back seat behind Eleven. Richie waved as they drove off.
He had to admit, seeing Will was the highlight of his day, and probably his week too at that rate. Richie sighed, knowing he had to head inside and hopefully smooth things over with Eddie. At least he was going to think about doing so.