{COMPLETED} cherry cola 🍒 reddie

6

when eddie crawled back into his window, whispering a goodbye to richie and waving him off, he let out a soft sigh.

he quietly changed into some pajamas, and laid in his bed, snuggling into his blanket, which was in a giant heap on his bed because of the heat. if he covered up, he would sweat, but if he wasn't available to the option of the blanket, he'd get too cold.

he smiled to himself, thinking about his night out with richie. he loved the way richie knew so much about the stars. it was like his head was off in the clouds– no, higher than that. his head was way up in space, and he spent his time up there more than he did down on earth.

eddie was not in love. he liked richie, yeah, but it was too soon to be love, he thought. they'd known each other for a month and a half. he and richie were just friends.

even if eddie would daydream about what it would be like to hold hands with richie, and kiss richie, and have cute little dates with richie– he decided that they were just friends.

that's probably all richie wanted from him, anyways. richie was known for being a huge flirt, among all the other things he was known for. maybe he was just flirting with eddie to flirt with him.

but god, it felt so right when he did. like nothing else mattered besides richie's stupid words coming from that stupid mouth of his.

and as eddie thought about those stupidly perfect lips of richie's, he smiled, falling into a deep sleep.

the next morning, the sleepy boy quietly walked downstairs, his hair disheveled and messy. he went to the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal, stopping at the sight of his mother.

"oh! hi, mommy." eddie looked up at his mother. the woman frowned. "is everything oka-"

"where did you go last night, eddie?"

eddie froze. "what..?"

"where did you sneak off to? you know your curfew is 8:00."

"i-" eddie choked up. if he told her about richie, she'd never let him see him again. "i-i..."

"well?"

"i-i went stargazing. i-it was too bright out before i left."

well, he wasn't exactly lying. he just wasn't telling her who he was with.

the large woman frowned at her son. "eddie bear, this isn't like you."

"i know, mommy, i'm sorry." he faked an apologetic look. in all honesty, he wasn't sorry for what he did. he had an amazing time with an amazing boy, which never happens to him.

of course, he couldn't talk to his mother about it. she had no idea her only child was gay, and if she found out, she would lose her shit.

she was extremely homophobic, and would tell eddie about how being gay is a 'disease' and say that if he ever 'thought about doing things with boys', she'd get him help.

eddie was usually very truthful and obedient to his mother, but the one thing he kept from her (besides, now, who he snuck out with) was his sexuality. when he was younger, he was horrible at pretending to like girls, so he just said he thought relationships were 'icky'. now, though, his acting skills had gotten better, and whenever he'd get asked about what he wants his future to be like, instead of saying the word 'husband' in the mix, he would say 'wife', and use feminine pronouns. it made him uncomfortable, obviously, but he had stan and bill, and now, richie, to talk about boys to.

"eddie bear, you know how dangerous it is to go out by yourself. you could have gotten hurt or gotten sick."

"i know, mommy. it was a bad thing to do."

"take your medicine, quickly."

"yes ma'am."

**

"so you're saying she believed your bullshit?" richie's voice rang through the phone to eddie's ear.

"yeah, thank god. she would've flipped if she'd found out that i was with you."

"oh? why's that?"

"oh, i don't know, because you're richie tozier? the perfect image of someone she wants me to stay away from?" the last part came out as more of a question.

"well are you gonna listen to her?"

"huh?"

"are you gonna stay away from me?"

eddie paused for a minute.

"no...no, i could never do that."

the smile was obvious in richie's voice as he spoke. "that's sweet, eds."

eddie bit his lip. "would you stay away from me..?" he asked, slowly.

there was a pause of silence, which made eddie's heart begin to pound. maybe richie would stay away from him; maybe he didn't really want to hang out with him at all–

"no, little man. i wouldn't."

eddie let out a breath of relief.

"what, did you think i would say yes?" richie sounded sympathetic.

"i-" eddie began, but sighed, cutting himself off. "it's fine, rich. don't worry about it. i'm just glad we feel the same, in that aspect.." the freckled boy smiled to himself.

"'in that aspect'?" richie repeated, curiously. "is there another 'aspect' you've been worrying about?"

shit.

maybe eddie could play it off?

"no, no, i-it's nothing-"

"it's definitely something, i can tell!"

eddie sighed nervously. should he tell richie about what he'd been thinking about?

richie noticed eddie's nerves and immediately spoke up about it.

"eds, if you don't wanna tell me, you don't have to. but i really wanna know."

"i don't really wanna talk about it," eddie lied.

"mm," richie responded, in a caring tone. "alright. just know i'm here for you, alright little man?"

"i know."