Richie is super smart and I can imagine all The Losers being surprised by this, all except Eddie who just assumed everyone knew. Like Richie says somthing insightful and everyone else is taken aback meanwhile Eddie's just like... 'we been knew?'
ooh this is an interesting one!!
i think that when the losers find out richieās actually really smart, theyāre surprised but not because they think heās dumb or stupid but more because theyāre so used to richie acting like he has zero common sense lmao
but their grade cards arrive one day and they all go down to the barrens after school, and they have their grade cards with them so they decide to discuss them just for something to talk about for a while
(iām not american so idk exactly how the grading system works but) when they get to richie they find out that heās gotten at least straight As in all of his classes apart from gym because heās not the most athletic person
they all seem surprised by this because they donāt actually have any classes with richie so theyāve never seen him do school work, and richie seems bashful under their shocked expressions because he doesnāt usually get this type of attention
but eddieās sort of confused as to why theyāre surprised, heās always thought it was fairly obvious that richieās very academic behind the crude jokes and impressions
he doesnāt realise that this is because he subconsciously pays much more attention to richie than the rest of the losers do
he watches richie at the lunch table quickly scribbling down the solutions to whatever maths homework he has due for his next class, and heās in a more advanced class than eddie so itās not quite clear to him if richieās doing the work right but eddie thinks he must be, because he writes without hesitance and appears to be solving them pretty quickly in his head
eddie notices that richieās notebook has highlighter pen and doodles scrawled all over it, he wonders if itās to help richie with keeping his focus on his work
he helps the losers sometimes when theyāre stuck with something, just a throw away comment to get their mind back on track but none of them ever seem to think of it
eddieās heard how richie talks about comics during the small hours of the night at sleepovers, it might not seem like much but he has a very deep understanding of the characters he reads about, on a level eddieās not sure he would be able to achieve without richieās insights
so they all gawk and laugh out of pure surprise, but eddie just smiles at richie because heās always known, it makes him feel sort of special to be the only one who can see through the jokes, maybe he understands richie like richie understands the characters in his comics
heās kinda got tunnel vision for richie without realising it




















