gay ➳ reddie ✓

28

yikes i was writing but @ blurrf  wants to watch a movie lmao so i cut it short BUT i'll post the rest of this scene tomorrow skksks sorry but here's a small update at least. -kat

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Thursday. June 25, 1987.

Two weeks had passed since the disappearance of Betty Ripsom and camp was finally going back to normal. Camp curfew was still intact and the buddy system was still enforced but the kids were beginning to enjoy themselves again. To top the hopeful possibility of a fun summer, the camp counselors announced there would be a dance on the twenty-eighth of the month.  However, in order to make it more exciting, they added that the dance would be a costume-themed event. 

The losers seemed to enjoy the idea for the most part, especially Eddie but he kept that part to himself to avoid embarrassment. He thought it would be an opportunity for him and Richie to act out publicly and he hated to admit it, but he needed to in order to figure out his feelings. Throughout the days since they first kissed, Eddie was growing more and more confused as it floated in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure why he couldn't stop thinking about it but he didn't particularly want to do it again. He found himself easily distracted from it when he spent time with his friends. Since Bill spent most of his time cooped up inside with Stan, Eddie had to find distractions elsewhere. He was spending most of his free time with Will Byers. 

The two boys shared many interests and were pretty much scared of all the same things which only brought them closer. They made their way to the quarry late in the day, right before dinner. Will was talking about a game he used to play with his old friends back in Indiana. Eddie nodded along, staring at his reflection in the water. He wondered for a moment what it must be like to have to leave all his friends, moving to a new place where he knew no one. It couldn't have been easy. 

"What's it like?" Eddie asked suddenly. Will looked at him, confused. 

"What's what like?" Will asked, throwing a rock into the water.  Eddie shrugged. 

"Being the new kid." Eddie had been living in Derry since the day he was born. 

Will kicked his shoes off, as he thought. Eddie joined in, removing his shoes, then his socks. Will tugged his shirt over his head and began rambling on once again with Eddie's eyes on him, listening intently. 

"It's pretty much crap all around." Will said honestly as he got into the water. Eddie rubbed the back of his neck, still not comfortable with undressing in front of others. 

"That bad?" Eddie asked, still standing near the water. Will nodded, giving him a funny look.

"You don't need to be scared, you know." Will understood Eddie's dilemma. "I'm a bit shorter than you so I get what it's like being the runt of the group. I won't laugh." 

Eddie laughed for a second. He'd hated showing his body to anyone ever since he turned twelve and all the boys kept growing while he stayed small. He appreciated that he'd found someone just as awkward as him. Eddie sighed, finally taking his shirt off as well and jumping into the water. 

"I miss my friends." Will said, running a hand through his wet hair. Eddie nodded, trying to be as sympathetic as possible but staying aware of the fact that he could drown in the water and his only hope for a rescue was Will who weighed a good ten pounds less than him. 

"How were they?" Eddie asked.

"They were so cool." Will beamed. "Well, not cool. But they were cool to me, you know?"

Eddie knew. He couldn't help but think that his own friends were the most uncool people in Derry. Yet he viewed them as icons. 

"I don't know." Will shrugged. "It's okay here. I guess. I mean the bullying is worse but that's a given." 

"Yeah. Bowers has been on me since the first grade." Eddie rolled his eyes. He swam further into the water and Will followed him. The two stayed in the water, taking turns holding their breath as the other one spoke. 

"I mean it seems weird," Eddie said. "Bullying you just because you're new?"

Will looked at him strangely, furrowing his eyebrows. "No, he bullies me because I'm gay." 

Eddie gulped. He suddenly felt what Richie had been feeling for weeks. He felt guilty for pretending to be gay when Will struggled with it every day. 

"I'm sorry." Eddie spoke genuinely. Will shrugged it off. Will was so used to bullying back in Hawkins that he couldn't imagine a life without it. It was a sad reality but it was his life. 

"What's it like for you?" Will asked, rubbing his eyes. 

Eddie didn't know what he meant. He'd hoped he wasn't asking about what it was like being gay in Derry. He stared at the boy until Will spoke up again. 

"What's it like having a boyfriend?" Will asked, blushing at the embarrassing question.

"You've never had one?" Eddie laughed, soon shutting up when Will shook his head. "Well then how do you know you're gay?" Eddie almost forgot he was supposed to be playing gay as well. 

"What?" Will frowned. "I just know I like boys. Didn't you? You know, before you started dating Richie?" 

Eddie felt cornered, looking at the sky, then the water. Anywhere but at Will. "N-no." 

Will made a face. Eddie was so weird sometimes. "What do you mean?" 

"It's fake." Eddie swallowed the lump in his throat and the water around him felt cold, suddenly as Will stared at him with the most clueless look on his face. Eddie sighed. It was time to come clean. Eddie coughed awkwardly, trying to form the right words in his head without disappointing Will.

"What? I'm confused." Will scratched his face. What was Eddie trying to say?

"Richie and I aren't actually dating. We faked it. He helped me with Henry and Bev and your sister saw and-" Eddie rambled. "It's fake."

"Why would you fake a relationship?" Will looked serious and Eddie knew he needed to explain himself better before he lost  a friend.

"Richie liked the attention. H-he wanted the girls to notice him so we started it. I thought it would work. He'd get to talk to girls and I'd get protection from Bowers." Eddie sighed. Will still looked a bit sick. 

"That's fucked up." Will said honestly. He turned around and began swimming away.

"Wait,"Eddie called. Will turned around. "I don't think I'm faking it."

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q. where do you live?

a. I live in california whoop 

10/15/17 @ 10:03 pm