INSTANT REPLAY | REDDIE

- 12 | INSTANT REPLAY

"Don't tell him I miss him, because then he'll just feel worse," Eddie decided. "Tell him that I'm okay, though. Tell him I'll try to talk to him soon. This won't be forever." There was a small murmur of agreement. Eddie struggled on a few of the problems, occasionally requesting help. Stan was patient, and Bill was mostly quiet, but Eddie could tell he was happy to be there. It didn't take a genius to notice the slight change in attitude that the two boys had towards each other.

"Bev misses you a lot, too." Stan pulled Eddie's schoolwork away after he had been hitting it hard for almost an hour and a half, replacing it with a coloring book of his own. Eddie took it without question, deciding he would have plenty of time for his work later on and grabbing a crayon. "She won't stop talking about when you're going to get back. Threatened to break you out when they asked us to come see you and not her." Eddie laughed at that. It certainly sounded like the spunky girl.

"Tell her that I'll see her soon, and not to worry," he said with a smile. "I've still got her friendship bracelet in my fanny pack." He cursed loudly as his shaking hand sent the color a little out of the lines.

"Hey!" Greta piped up from her corner. "Language." Eddie scoffed at her, grabbing one of the colors he never used and throwing it at her head. She ducked, and the crayon joined the small pile that was forming beside her chair where he had thrown many before. Bill raised an eyebrow, unable to keep the smirk off of his face while Eddie just scowled deeply.

"Bitch!" He whisper-shouted at her, laughing when one of the crayons went sailing back in his direction. It landed on his page, making a big streak across his picture, and he gasped. "You ruined it! I swear to God, I'm getting a new spy. You are literally the worst." Greta blew a raspberry in his direction, then went back to the magazine she had picked up off of his side table.

"You two seem to get along well," Stan observed. Eddie made a face, shaking his head and making a cut-it-out motion with his good hand. Stan shut up about it after that, and they changed the subject to birds. One thing that seemed to be the same in both 1958 and 2018 was the fact that Stanley Uris loved birds. He could talk about them for hours. Eddie and Bill could listen for hours, so they did. They colored and listened. Greta put in earbuds at some point, which Eddie snorted at but didn't say anything. He didn't want to ruin Stan's flow.

"I'm thinking about maybe bringing Richie birdwatching one of these days. You know, just to help him relax. He's so tense lately." Stan frowned, brow furrowing as he really thought about it.

"R-R-Richie's always h-hated it when E-E-E-Eddie's not a-around," Bill pointed out, and Stan nodded. Eddie perked up a little bit, eyes widening.

"Really?" He questioned. Bill nodded, a soft knowing smile spreading across his face. Eddie flushed, averting his eyes. Stan chuckled.

"Of course he has. He would kill for you, Eddie. Haven't you noticed?" Eddie had noticed, but only recently. He wished he had noticed sooner. He looked down at his page, tracing it gently with shaking fingers.

"I miss him," he whispered. Stan glanced at Bill and pulled out his phone

"He found out we were coming to visit you," Stan said carefully. "He wanted us to tell you something, but it doesn't seem like many people around here like you to have contact with him, so I'll just let you read it." Eddie watched carefully as he pulled his case off of his cell and a piece of folded up paper fluttered out. He glanced at Greta, who was still reading her magazine, and picked up the note.

"H-H-He wouldn't let a-a-a-anyone read i-it," Bill said as Eddie unfolded the page and pressed it against his coloring book, lifting it so it would look like he was examining his artwork. His gaze scanned the page quickly, taking in the crumpled and smudged appearance. There were spots where it had obviously been torn up, and tape where it had been put back together again. Eddie took a deep breath, and read it.