#eddie three months later pressed between a wall and richie tozier: for the record this has nothing to do with you dairy clerk curse

[trashmouthkid]

"So, are you excited?"

The words startled Richie out of the half-dream state he’d been in all morning and he jumped, turning away from his work to see Beverly Marsh by his side, arms crossed, leaning against the end of the aisle he was stocking. She raised an eyebrow and had that teasing smile Richie only liked to see when it was aimed at other people. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one around.

“Jesus, Bev,” he muttered. “You know I’m zoned out.”

“Well, are you?

Richie sighed and set down the box of detergent he was putting away, brain completely fried. He was nearing the end of a 9-hour shift and it was evident in his shoulders and the bones of his feet.

“What for?” he asked, only to indulge her.

But before Bev could answer, another coworker came up beside her—Mike Hanlon, from produce. His smile was twice as big.

“To meet your new soulmate,” he said, obnoxiously drawing out that last word.

Understanding finally kicked in and Richie groaned, rolling his eyes. “Hilarious,” he said. “You know it’s not like that.”

Richie’s “new soulmate” was, in actuality, just the new dairy clerk that had been hired last week. In the past, he had maybe dated one or two of the previous dairy clerks. This was not a big deal at all, but for some reason his friends found it very funny.

“Oh yeah?” Mike said. “So what about Matt?”

Richie grimaced. “Technically? We didn’t really date.”

“And Jess?” Bev pressed.

“You know, I heard her and Ellie are doing really great now, actually, so—”

“Oh, what about that guy you were so sure was going to help you get over you-know-who. What was his n—”

“O-kay,” Richie interrupted, meeting Mike’s eyes. “Don’t you have a florist to flirt with?”

Mike clamped his mouth shut, but couldn’t hide a grin.

“I bet he’s fifty and bald,” Bev went on after a beat of silence.

“I bet Richie still fucks him.”

They laughed, and Richie’s deep scowl only seemed to make them laugh harder. They laughed and continued to laugh even as Richie picked his work back up because apparently, they didn’t have anything better to do. Richie really ought to consider switching departments.

“What’s so funny?”

The two straightened up on instinct at the sound of a fourth voice, but relaxed when they saw that it was only Eddie, another best friend and coworker (yes, the codependency was perfectly healthy. Maybe.). Eddie, as far as Richie knew, didn’t know about any of this, which was deliberate, and Mike and Bev were polite enough to try to keep their mouths shut.

“Surprised to see you here on a Thursday,” Richie greeted him, hoping to change the subject. He was surprised to see him here on a Thursday, and anywhere in the store that wasn’t the front end. Eddie didn’t really like to hang around, on or off the clock.

“Yeah, well,” Eddie murmured as he got distracted with his own name tag—crooked probably, but only to him. “I switched. See?” He held up his hands to show Richie the heavy duty work gloves he was wearing. “Talked to Sheryl, finally. She put me in dairy.”

Yeah. Alright.

Richie managed to keep his composure, but Mike animatedly blinked—once, twice, until Bev elbowed him hard and he shook his head to hide another laugh.

“Yea, I have to, um…with the…Bill,” he stammered, gesturing wildly. “Bill needs me.”

He took off—in the direction opposite to floral, god help them all—and Eddie looked between Bev and Richie with suspicion.

“What is it?” he demanded.

“Nothing!” Bev said, at the same time Richie said “Well,” and she sighed. “Richie might kind of sort of have this habit of dating all dairy clerks”

“Oh,” Eddie said, frowning. His face was unreadable for a moment, and then he managed a small smile. “Sorry to break the streak, Rich.” There was a beat of awkward silence, and then he added: “I should clock in. But break? You wanna do you break together?”

He was very clearly looking only at Richie, who gave him a thumbs up.

“Sounds great,” he said, having taken his break three hours ago.

When Eddie was gone, Richie turned back to the aisle and pressed his forehead to one of the shelves.

“Not a word, Beverly Marsh,” he said. “Not a fucking word.”

#reddie #fanfic #mine #eddie three months later pressed between a wall and richie tozier: for the record this has nothing to do with you dairy clerk curse #i'm not running out of ideas I'm running out of brain <3