Reddie•Always you

Pizza

"Geez, come on Eds." Richie said tossing his cup in the trash conveniently sitting beside him, "We were joking, just fucking around."

"Yeah!" Eddie said louder then before, "You're always fucking around! You don't know how to fucking behave so you end up acting like an asshole!"

Eddie stretched his arm out to his friend, his cup gripped tightly in his hand, "Throw it away." Richie looked at him before grabbing the cup.

He looked back to Eddie as he adjusted his grip on the handlebars of his bike, ready to leave. Eddie looked up to see Richie drinking from his cup, "Ew Richie, that's so unsanitary."

"Why?" He said, the straw dropping from his lips, "It's your mouth, nothing else but your lips have been on here." He said motioning to the cup in hand.

Eddie suck in a deep breath, "W- just, whatever Richie."

He started backing away from the bike rack, ready to kick off, "Eddie." Richie said looking down at his own bike, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No Rich just go ba-"

"Can I go with you?" He asked more directly, lifting up his eyes to Eddie's.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asked in disbelief.

"What?" Richie said kind of defensive,

"You're acting different, it's been like 5 minutes and you haven't made a single joke."

"You're upset." Richie said furrowing his eyebrows,

"You always annoy me when I'm upset."

"I- yeah but this time it's serious."

"How is every other time not fucking serious Richie." Eddie said standing and crossing his arms, the bike resting on his inner thigh.

"Because every other time is about some stupid shit like what diseases you could get from doing something. You never shut up about aids."

"Damn Richie, that is serious, me being genuinely worried about your fucking well being! If I'm upset, I'm upset! It's never not serious!"

Richie wrapped his other hand around the cup in his hand, still holding Eddie in eye contact, "Yes but this is more- more..."

"More what Richie?" He said throwing a hand in the air before letting it slap against his leg.

"I don't know! Okay? I'm actually trying to be fucking serious here Eddie!"

"This is serious!"

"Then stop making me feel like an asshole!"

"Stop acting like one!"

"I'm not!"

"You are!"

Richie was about to argue back but decided against it, he closed his mouth and stepped back, taking a breath in as he nodded.

"Yeah." He said simply, not looking at his friend as he threw the cup away and grabbed his own bike.

Eddie felt bad, his face was hot and his breathing shallow, he had just yelled, alot.

"If you don't want me to take you home." Richie said with his back facing towards him, "Then I'll take the longer way." He threw a leg over his bike and waited for a reply.

Eddie waddled up next to Richie, staring at him until he finally looked back to him,

"Can you take me home Richie?" He asked, hating how it made him feel vulnerable, but his friend's reaction was worth it.

"Of course." Richie said softly, he took a deep breath as a small smile appeared on his lips, both of them kicked off down the road. They rode their bike's in silence until they made it to Eddie's sidewalk.

"Hey Ed's?" Richie called.

"Yeah?" Eddie said getting off his bike,

"We're okay right? Everything's good?"

"Yeah. We're okay." He said offering a small smile, Richie nodded. He watched as Eddie dropped his bike and walked up his front porch,

"And Eddie?"

"Yes Rich?" He asked, acting annoyed, causing the other to smile at him,

"Don't forget about Stan's sleepover tomorrow."

"I won't." He said reaching for the knob, waiting for Richie to leave but he didn't.

"Richie, unless you're planning on giving me a goodbye kiss like the cheesy movie we watched today, then you should stop being a creep and go home now."

"Right." Richie said laughing, "yeah, I have no memory of that movie."

"I know." Eddie said, his face heating up when he remembered Richie falling asleep while holding him.

Richie felt that funny feeling in his stomach again, "Give your momma a kiss for me." He said biking away, "Tell her I'll see her later tonight!" He called farther away.

Eddie rolled his eyes, smiling to himself before opening the door.

"That you Eddie-bear?"

"Yes Ma!" Eddie called, kicking off his shoes at the door.

"Sorry I didn't get here sooner." He said, "We all got some pizza."

"It's okay hon." She said looking back to her TV screen, no emotion on her face.

Eddie pushed his lips into a flat line as he took off his fannypack and placed it on the counter next to the pills he was still refusing.

He made his way upstairs to his room, immediately grabbing clothes and making his way to shower when he stopped for a moment.

He looked at the Polaroid taped to the inside of his closet door, he smiled at the memory.

Bev took the photo, her red hair barley visible in the corner while Stan was staring with an annoyed expression at the other two, Richie had been tickling Eddie. Eddie had been smacking Richie, and in the background you can see a fuzzy Bill on his bike.

Eddie closed the closet door, still smiling at the memory before going to take his shower

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