𝑶𝑪𝑫 // 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘶

trial and errors of three

it works on him. 

two days went by and it was like no one existed. richie didn't exsist and neither did eddie. eddie didn't do anything out of the ordinary of his normal routine and richie didn't do anything to throw off eddie's routine to get his attention.

 god, it was fucking miserable. richie was always the first one to race out of the classroom like a stink bomb went off and the whole room smelled of mustard gas. 

it was a suffocating tension that had richie nearly beating his head off the brick wall beside his desk anytime his heart would jump if he thought eddie was glancing his way. his own plan was turning against him as if eddie was the one setting him up. maybe eddie really did like being alone. 

richie was ready to just call it quits on everything and give up trying to be eddie's friend until day number three, when he accidentally dropped a pencil and instead of just giving him a side-eye like he normally would, eddie completely turned his head, and looked right at richie, raising his eyebrow almost if asking, "what the fuck is going on?" 

richie froze in his seat, hearting thumping against his chest, because holy fucking shit, he's looking right at me. eddie eventually turned back around, rearranging his own pencils, turning his attention back to the projector illuminating the whiteboard. 

it threw richie off the rest of the day because what the hell did that mean? ignored for three days and then one noise and it was like he pulled the fire alarm. lunch came and passed, eddie still avoiding the offer which richie had internally revoked at this pointed and algebra had been sent to study hall as the teacher was out sick. 

richie awkwardly walked into the slowly filling cafeteria room, the uninterested study hall teacher telling him to sit wherever as he passed. he sat on one of the benches, unzipping his bookbag, pulling out an aquaman comic book he read a hundred times. he didn't mind it was the only one he had because it was one of his favorites. it would've been better it stanley was there, but he was out sick too. 

just as he was getting invested, he heard the shuffling of somebody sliding in next to him, pressing their small body tightly next to his, arms brushing as they moved around hastily. richie looked over, ready to jump back and make a snarky comment about somebody being so close, until he caught a whiff of the purifying scent of porter's salve and strawberries, heart instantly jumping. 

"eddie? what are you doing here?" he asked, looking down at the bustling boy. eddie looked up briefly, dark eyelashes blinking slowly, brushing against his freckled painted cheeks before looking back down, setting everything he needed in order. richie's breath hitched in his throat and he all but slapped his hand down so he didn't reach out and touch the other boy's face. 

he settled for reaching up and nudging his glasses back up his own face. 

"this, is my normal study hall," eddie replied, looking back up. "so, the actual question is, what are you doing here?" he asked more quietly to not draw attention from the teacher a few tables behind them. eddie watched idly as richie moved his hand back down to the table, fidgeting with the pages of his thinly paged book. 

richie bit his lip, looking away. "so what? you're talking to me now?" he remarked hostilely, but then quickly answered normally. " the teacher wasn't here, so we had a study hall." eddie humphed softly, picking up one of his perfectly placed pencils before opening his folder. 

it was quiet for a while, the only sounds filling their air being the scribbles of eddie's pencil. "i wasn't ignoring you, you know," eddie stated, glancing at richie then looking back down. "if anything, it was like you were ignoring me," yes. "no," richie quickly defended. 

eddie finally looked over at him fully and richie's cheeks burned pink from the intrusion, keeping his eyes down at the same comic book page he'd been on for the last fifteen minutes. eddie then motioned to richie's hand before setting his pencil in line, placing the finished paper delicately in his folder. "how's your hand?" 

every time they spoke eddie always asked. 

richie slowly flipped his hand over, looking at the bubbling skin of a forming scar. it didn't hurt anymore but it was still ghastly to look at. "fine," he answered shortly, before closing his fist and pushing up his falling glasses. he glanced over to see eddie fixing his pencils once again, even though two minutes ago, he was rearranging them. 

part of richie knew this might have something to do with eddie being ocd and all, but there was no way that people with this condition did this all the time. it had to be something else. richie found himself saying the words before he could retract them.  

"why do you keep fixing your pencils?"  

eddie looked over at him, his expression was unreadable, almost expectant and amused. 

"why do you keep fixing your glasses?" 

richie left out a small breath. he noticed that? richie thought to himself. panic rose through his veins and as if on instinct, his hand rose to push up his gawky frames. "touche," he said softly. eddie looked back down, scribbling another answer on what richie presumed was homework. 

"i know you saw the book," eddie said after a while of silence. richie looked over at him. "what book?" richie genuinely didn't know what he meant at first but it didn't take long to remember what eddie was talking about. eddie gave him a pointed look before absentmindedly tapping his pencil against the table. three times. 

richie watched, then moved his eyes back to eddies' face. eddie seemed perplexed in his thoughts. "the other day. when you came over. i was gone for a long enough time for you to read the title at least," he finished. richie felt like there was no point in denying it anymore, especially when eddie was bringing it up. 

"you don't have to tell me," richie trailed, watching the side of eddies' face closely. the smaller boys' chest rose higher with every breath he took. "i... i don't make a lot of friends. my mom says it makes my condition worse; stresses me out," richie nodded, though he didn't fully understand. shouldn't friends help relieve stress, not cause it?

"i have this... thing about me. no filter some people would call it and it causes a lot of people to stay away from me," he shrugged shortly, looking up at richie. "in hindsight that's probably not a bad thing, but you," he mumbled softly, his face still unreadable. richie felt the air leave his lungs, rendering his whole body quiet so he didn't miss a word eddie said. 

"you," he repeated faintly. "you keep coming back." 

richie blinked slowly to find that eddie had already looked away and was packing up his things, not sparing richie a second glance as he got up from the table, leaving only the faintest smell of strawberries in his path.

richie had no idea what this meant. eddie was so cryptic about everything he talked about, he could have meant it as a polite rejection for richie to fuck off and it was just going straight over his head. he only realized that eddie got up because the bell rang and he was the only one left sitting in the emptied-out cafeteria. 

at the end of the day, richie carelessly swung open his locker, moving out of the way of kids who tried to purposely bump his shoulder on their passing, exchanging his books out for stanleys' so he could take his missed homework to his house after school. when pulling down stanleys' history book, a neatly folded piece of paper floated from off of the top, landing right between richies' feet. 

he slammed his locker shut, confused as he picked up the white notebook paper. when unfolding the note, he noticed the equally sized out six squares, a small smile appearing on his face before reading the paper. 

' meet me at wembley ballpark at four. i've decided to begin stepping out of my comfort zone, starting with you. 

eddie k.' 

i have a feeling this is actually going to be a slow-burn- don't hate me (:::::