𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄, reddie

16 ☦︎︎ Nurse's Office

Eddie finished fourth period - which he had with Beverly - and made his way into the hall and towards his locker.

He was almost at his locker when a hand gripping his shoulder startled him, causing him to turn around with a slight gasp.

He turned around to see Baxter, with wide eyes and a shocked look on his face. "Baxter! Don't scare me like that!" Eddie said, in a higher tone and faster than usual.

"Whatever, nevermind- What's up? Is something wrong?" Eddie asked, now a bit concerned, as he was hearing shouts coming from a different hall not too far from the two boys.

"Your boyfriend, Matthew, is, like, getting beat up or something!" Baxter said quickly. "Matthew isn't my-" Eddie started, not processing what Baxter said, "WAIT, HE'S WHAT?!" Eddie now took time to properly take in what Baxter said.

"Yeah! He's-" Baxter started, but got cut off by Eddie running as fast as he can towards the sound of the yelling, Baxter soon following behind.

As Eddie ran through the almost empty halls to the direction of the shouting, he soon saw that multiple, multiple, students were surrounded in a circle in the halls, some with phones out, recording whatever was happening.

Eddie panicked and pushed everyone in his way to get to the middle of the circle. He gasped loudly when he saw Matthew on his knees - which were just barely holding him up - getting repeatedly punched in the face over, and over. By Richie.

He doesn't know what made him do it, but he stepped towards Richie fast and quickly pushed him with everything he had. Richie fell over, both from the shock of the sudden impact and because of Eddie pushing him. For someone small, he sure could do some damage if he wanted.

Eddie quickly made his way over to Matthew, whose face was bruised black and blue, and nose was bleeding. He pulled him into a hug and pulled him away from the crowd that had less people in it now.

He turned a corner in the hall, and told Matthew, who looked barely conscious, to make himself comfortable against the wall, which Matthew slowly did. There were so many questions racing through Eddie's head.

Why would he hurt Matthew? Physically! He doesn't hurt anybody, but me, physically, so why did he go after Matthew? Eddie thought, growing both angry and sad. He didn't want Matthew to be hurt, he had done nothing wrong.

Eddie wanted to ask if he was okay, but he knew it would be a stupid question, considering the visible state that Matthew was in. "What happened? Do you want to go to the nurse's office? Do you want to leave school? Do you want to go to the hospital?" Eddie asked, speaking faster than usual and keeping both his hands on Matthew's shoulders.

Matthew slowly looked up, "Nurse." He said, quietly, to which Eddie quickly nodded and helped him up, putting Matthew's hand around his shoulder and putting his arm on Matthew's waist tightly. Eddie used all his strength to carry all of Matthew's weight by himself, he didn't want Matthew to do too much or he was sure he might pass out.

When he made it into the nurse's waiting room, it didn't take long for Matthew to be taken in due to the state he was in. Eddie waited a couple of minutes, his legs bouncing out of anxiousness. He was still so confused as to why Richie had done that to Matthew.

After a bit, the door to the room where Matthew had been taken to opened once again. Matthew walked out of the room, the nurse following close behind. The blood was cleaned off of his face. He looked tired, but not as tired as he was before they entered the office. He had a swollen, black eye and his cheeks were also bruised, and he was holding a pack of ice to the side of his eye.

Eddie quickly got up and walked over to him. "Are you feeling better?" Eddie asked, hugging Matthew loosely, as if he'd hurt Matthew if he hugged him tight. He pulled away from the hug and Matthew gave him a weak smile. "I'm better." he simply said, to which Eddie smiled and nodded.

They headed towards to door to leave, exchanging their goodbyes with the nurse. They walked together into the halls in a comfortable silence, both looking at the floor. Eddie looked up, and was greeted by the sight of Richie leaning against the wall not too far from him and Matthew.

He looked up at Richie's face to see that he had already been looking at Eddie as he walked out of the nurse's office. Eddie felt his blood boil. He wanted to exactly what Richie had done to Matthew, only to Richie himself.

He frowned and snaked his arm around Matthew's waist, lightly pulling him closer so that their sides were now touching. Richie's eyebrows furrowed and he looked down to the ground, leaving Eddie proud.

ꕥ

Richie remembered how it had happened.

After fourth period ended, Richie couldn't resist the urge to bother Matthew. He stood up and made his way towards him, who was already in the hallway.

"You're not planning to hang out with Eds, are you?" Richie said, faking confusion. Matthew slightly frowned, but his award-winning smile soon returned, "I try my best to spend all my time with him if I can."

For whatever reason, that made Richie angry. "Why?" Richie asked, anger evident in his voice and a frown on his face. Matthew grew confused, but now mad, too. He knew Richie is Eddie's bully, and he doesn't know how much longer he can play nice towards him.

"What are you? Jealous!?" Matthew suddenly snapped. He didn't want to be nice to the person that hurts the boy who he caught feelings for.

He's not gay. He's not jealous. He can't be. That was the last straw for Richie. So, that was when it happened. He punched Matthew, gaining the attention of many students around. Matthew stumbled, but did nothing. He never liked violence, and he couldn't control what Richie chose to do, but he could make his own choices.

Students gathered around as Richie threw more punches at Matthew, Matthew doing nothing but letting out very quiet whimpers when it hurt bad. Richie whipped his leg around Matthew's hitting right behind his knew causing him to fall to his knees.

By now, many students were crowded around them, shocked voices traveling all throughout the halls as Richie kept hitting Matthew. After a bit of time passed, Richie suddenly felt hands on his side, harshly pushing him, causing him to fall, both because of the shock and the overall shove.

He fell on his side and whipped his head to the side when his body hit the floor, and saw Eddie, hugging Matthew, making the unexplainable anger return. He then saw Eddie pull him away from the crowd.

Richie got up and walked the opposite direction which Eddie had left with Matthew. People moved out of the way as he made his way through the crowd. Except for one person. Baxter. Richie bumped into him, and Baxter quickly frowned at him. "Why would you do that?" Baxter asked. Richie just scoffed as he bumped his shoulder into Baxter's. "Move it, brace-face. It's none of your fucking business."