𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞

079. real life.

    

     THE TWO drove mostly in silence, birdie fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket and then went through the drive-thru, eddie getting their usuals and birdie paying. he's a gentleman like that. something they joke about often, but not this time, yet it comes naturally when it was time to pay, birdie handed over his debit card and eddie paid quickly by tapping it. then birdie checks the bags and they leave.

parked at their spot by lovers lake, birdie was about to start when eddie raised a finger. "i wanna eat first." he snatched the bag from birdie who just frowns a bit but waited patiently as they both ate and because he eats like a fucking racoon digging through trash, eddie finishes his food first and just sits there, sipping his soda. birdie finished up his burger and munched on a few fries as he thinks of how to say it. how do you tell someone about something you've been keeping from everyone else because it's something... depressing.

there was honestly just no easy way to tell it, birdie realizes as he then sets down his fries. "my... mom recently told me my dad isn't my dad." he tells him and eddie glanced over. "oh..." he says and birdie nods. "like... at the end of junior year. then i kept asking her what my biological dad was like and all that, wanting to meet him. because it was nice to know someone in my family wasn't a piece of shit who was racist or homophobic..." he adds.

"and?" eddie waited with worry and birdie sighed. "she... told me about this older guy in her teen years, and at first, yeah it's not really surprising because that sort of thing, no one really cared back then... so she didn't know it was bad. it got worse as she grew older and this dude, he was obsessive... even when my mom found my, i guess, step-dad, the guy would show up... eventually, he sort of... raped her. so... that's why i was in a dark place over the summer. finding out my father is a rapist isn't exactly the ideal sum--" birdie was cut off by eddie's arms around him.

"you could've talked to me..." eddie murmured, caressing the back of birdie's head and the cohen just buries his face into the munson's, closing his eyes. "i didn't wanna burden any of you." he sniffled before pulling back and sighed. "and... the stuff with steve," he feels momentarily bad about the grimace it brings to the munson's face. "it only happened because i felt like shit about it... and it never really meant anything more, i just wanted to get my mind off of it all." he sighed and eddie nods softly, glancing around before sighing.

"i--i don't blame you, i mean, i did a shit ton of that the year i realized my dad and mom were never coming back, with the drugs and stuff... so i can't blame you, especially with feeling like you couldn't talk to anyone. the years with my addiction were bad, on wayne, on my school career and you guys, like the friend group and all." he sighs and birdie frowns.

"that time was tough for us especially... with all the shit you said, but we worked through it right?" he reached out, touching eddie's shoulder gently and the other nods softly, glancing up at him with a small smile. "plus, we promised we'd never fight over a guy." he says quietly and birdie chuckles softly.

"yeah. and steve of all guys?" the cohen scrunched up his face a bit and the long haired boy chuckled quietly. "yeah..." he says quietly but there's something unreadable on his face as birdie stared at him. "you love him, don't you?" he said quietly, leaning closer and eddie quickly glanced up. "no!" he denied rather quickly and birdie frowns at him.

"you do!" he says and eddie shook his head exaggeratedly. "nope." he said and the other just rolls his eyes, looking the other way. "bird?" eddie says and birdie looks over right away, smiling. "yeah, eds?" he asked and eddie sighs. "friends again?" he tilts his head a bit to the side and birdie nods right away.

"always, edster." he pulls the other into another hug, smiling as he tightens the embrace when eddie hugged back right away. after their little hug, birdie isn't so surprised that eddie brings out a joint for the two of them to enjoy, which they did, while listening to music. "you're my bestest friend, you know that, right?" birdie mumbles, leaning onto eddie's shoulder. "yeah... i know." eddie chuckled.

"it sucks a lot whenever we fight. i never wanna fight again." birdie clung to the front of the munson's shirt. "okay, relax, man..." eddie chuckled and birdie glanced up. "i love you, eds. and i never really say that to many people." he says and the older just stared down at him with furrowed brows. "you're not... gonna like off yourself, right?" he asked and birdie chuckled, burying his face into eddie's shoulder as he closed his eyes. "no. never. how could i ever leave any of you? my presence is a present." he murmured lazily.

"okay, can't deny that..." eddie laughs, rubbing his back gently. "but seriously, you're okay? yeah?" he squeezed birdie's arm gently. "never been better, eds. everything... feels right. with everything and everyone." he says quietly and then sighed before leaning back. "sorry, i'll try and keep my distance." he says and eddie just shakes his head. "no, it's nice to see you act the way i usually do with you... it sort of means argyle's a good influence on you." he sheepishly grins at the cohen.

eddie's odd, shifty eyes fixated on birdie for a moment who just smiled back widely. "wanna have one of our sleepovers like we use to? we can even invite robin. bring back the gay trio together again." he says, tilting his head slightly and eddie just softly nods. "yeah, sure." he smiled back faintly at him.

authors note
birdie and eddie 🫶🏼
anyways i'm a lil bored. i lowkey want drama in this fic again 😭 maybe it's getting a little repetitive but it's fun lols