now or never [reddie au]

4

While they were out, Richie decides to take Eddie to a small coffee shop downtown. The interior had white walls and a dark wood floor. The shop was decorated with small plants and aesthetically pleasing photos with motivational quotes on the wall. As long as Eddie had lived in Derry, he had never been in here before.

Behind the counter of the shop stood their friend, Stanley Uris. Richie liked to stop by, get coffee, and talk to Stan the way Eddie and Beverly talk to each other when no one's around.

"Hey, there, Stan the man!," Richie waves to Stan, and Stan softly smiles at Richie. "Hey! Where's Connor?," Stan asks Richie.

"Working, as usual.," Richie sighs, "This is only the third time he's had to cancel a date because Greta keeps skipping work."

"I'm sorry.," Stan looks at Eddie and asks, "So, what do you want?" Stan didn't ask Richie because he already knew Richie wanted an iced coffee. "Um, do you have hot chocolate?," Eddie asks. Eddie wasn't really a coffee person.

"Eds, you don't like coffee?," Richie asks Eddie. Eddie shakes his head and Richie tells him, "You have to try iced coffee. I bet you'll like it."

Richie pulls his wallet out of his pocket and pays for their drinks. The boys sit across from each other at a table near the counter. Stan finishes making their drinks and a girl close to their age walks in and orders.

Richie looks at the girl and she watches Stan make her drink. It's obvious that she thought Stan was cute. Stan finishes making the drink and hands it to her, their hands touching as she takes the drink from him. She leaves the shop and Stan sits down next to Richie and Eddie while there weren't any more customers coming in.

"Stan, she was cute. You should've got her number.," Richie elbows Stan, "She seemed like she was into you."

"She was pretty, but not my type.," Stan shrugs. "Well, what is your type? Almost every girl that comes in here thinks you're hot and they're never your type.," Richie takes a sip of his iced coffee.

Stan had started to say something, but forgot that Eddie was at the table. Eddie had been sitting quietly drinking his hot chocolate, not paying much attention to Stan. "Eddie Spaghetti, try this.," Richie moves his mug of iced coffee over to Eddie. Eddie reluctantly takes a sip of the iced coffee. It wasn't bad, but Eddie didn't necessarily like it, either. Richie steals Eddie's hot chocolate and takes a sip of it.

"Damn, this is good.," Richie looks at Stan, "I don't know why I haven't been getting this the whole time. I still love iced coffee, though." Stan and Eddie look at each other, then at Richie. "Oh, Eddie, I have to ask you something.", Richie turns to Eddie, "Are you or are you not dating Beverly?"

Eddie didn't know how to answer the question. He didn't want to lie and say he was, because he didn't want Bill or Ben to hear and be upset with him. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he was ready to tell Richie that he was gay. Not in front of Stan, anyways.

"Richie, why are you so worried about who everyone's dating?," Stan asks. Richie shrugs, "Because you guys are losers.," Richie jokes, taking another sip of his coffee.

"I mean, I've actually been in a few relationships before, but go off I guess.," Stan tells Richie. "Yeah, and the longest one was with that guy, and it only lasted like, three weeks-"

"No, it was that one girl and it lasted four weeks. We broke up because she moved, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right. I remember her."

"Stanley, you dated a guy?," Eddie raises an eyebrow. Stanley looks at Eddie. He had forgotten that Eddie was there again. Eddie takes another sip of his hot chocolate. Stan sees another customer walk into the coffee shop. "I have to go.," Stan says awkwardly, standing up to go back to work.

"Stan dated a guy?," Eddie asks Richie. Richie nods, "There's a lot you don't know about me and Stan the man."

"Oh, really?," Eddie looks at Richie, "What's something I don't know about you?"

"That I know you're dating Beverly.," Richie takes Eddie's hot chocolate and takes a sip of it.

"Richie, I'm not dating Beverly.," Eddie rolls his eyes.

"Would you let anyone else do this?," Richie grabs Eddie's hand, pointing out the black nail polish on Eddie's nails that he had forgotten about.

"Yes, I would, actually.," Eddie shrugs, stealing Richie's coffee and taking a sip. Richie looks at Eddie's hand, still holding it. Eddie's hands felt soft, and were small compared to his. Richie presses his palm against Eddie's, and Eddie's fingers were significantly smaller than Richie's.

"You're so small, Eds.," Richie jokes, "Have you even grown at all since middle school?"

"Of course I have!," Eddie says, looking at their hands touching, "I'm almost as tall as Beverly."

"Beverly's not that tall, though, Eddie."

As their hands continue to touch, Eddie's palms begin sweating. Eddie looks at Richie, whose cheeks were turning pink. "I really miss hanging out with you.," Richie says to Eddie, "Let's do this more often."

"Yeah.," Eddie agrees. Richie slowly pulls his hand away from Eddie and takes a sip of his hot chocolate. Richie could still feel Eddie's hand on his. It reminded him of when they were younger. There were moments that Richie felt closer to Eddie than ever, but was too scared to tell him how he felt. He liked Eddie back then, but the feelings went away when he started talking to Connor.

A small part of Richie still liked Eddie because Eddie was his first crush. He knew that one day, he'd get over it since Eddie didn't like boys. Richie was with Connor and Eddie was probably with Beverly, anyways. Richie was happy in his relationship and wouldn't change anything about it.