california here we go

2- this must be the place

eddie had expected to just sit listening to music, daydreaming, for the entire flight. he was okay with that. it's what he was prepared for. eddie wasn't due to move in to his student accommodation for another four days, so his plan was to use the inflight wifi to look for an airbnb to stay in until then. probably a bit late to do that, but eddie had possibly forgotten to book anything before this.
what he didn't expect was for the nervous looking brunette boy beside him to tap his arm half an hour after take off. he wasn't complaining though, company was company- and eddie had watched the boy pin a bisexual flag pin onto his backpack the moment he got onto the flight.

eddie took both of his airpods out and put them back into their case when the boy tapped him- pulling one out would just be rude. eddie smiled at him, encouraging him to speak.
"h-hi, s-sorry for my s-stutter. just t-thought i'd t-talk to you s-since you look about m-my age and w-we're stuck h-here for h-hours. i'm b-bill denbrough, b-by the way," the boy said, extending his hand out to eddie.
eddie ignored sonia's voice in his head, muttering about the germs, germs, germs, and shook Bill's hand with a wide smile.
"hey bill, nice to meet you. i'm eddie kaspbrak. what's bringing you to the golden state?"
bill returned eddie's smile, before speaking again, "i-i'm starting m-my f-f-first year at UCLA, j-just wanted to g-get there e-early to see the c-city."
eddie grinned at the other boy, "no way! that's what i'm doing too! what's your major?"
bill looked a lot more at ease now, and just as excited as eddie was. "e-english, it's s-stupid but i w-wanna be an a-author. what about y-you?"
"ooh, that's not stupid at all!" eddie said, "i'm going into nursing, which hopefully isn't a horrific decision seeing as i'm moving to the other side of the fucking country for it."
bill laughed at that, "i-i'm sure y-you'll be f-fine, eddie."

eddie didn't think this day could get any better. he learnt that bill was from bangor in maine but his family had actually moved over to derry as soon as bill graduated from high school, which is why eddie hadn't met him before- "you didn't even get to enjoy the relentless homophobia and crippling anxiety that comes with the anticipation of said homophobia," eddie joked.
bill laughed again. "i g-got a t-taster within, l-like, t-three days."
"shitttttttt, let me guess- did it come from a blonde kid with a mullet, about six foot tall i'd say? looks sort of like a methed-up neanderthal?"
bill looked only mildly alarmed, "h-how'd you g-guess?"
"that would be henry bowers, bullied me like all fuck from elementary school onwards. he got held back twice and ended up beside me in pre-calculus."
"t-that s-sounds like hell." bill replied.
"dude, it was wild. he was so pissed that he couldn't even cheat off me because i was so shit at the class. what'd he do to you?"
"my m-mom s-sent me over to w-walmart to get some s-shit and he was j-just s-standing beside the d-door. i tried t-to w-walk on past and he p-put his hand o-out to s-stop me. l-looked me u-up and d-down and s-said "t-this is a f-fairy free z-zone s-so fuck o-off."
eddie burst out laughing, and bill did too.
"man what the fuck, what did you even do?"
"i-i just s-stared at him and w-walked on, i t-thought he was a j-junkie or s-some s-shit."
"high school ended like three months ago, he probably is by now."

it was four hours into the flight now, and eddie knew he'd just made a best friend. bill and him had similar music tastes, with bill thankfully having good taste and agreeing with eddie that ode to viceroy by mac demarco is a work of art. eddie learned that bill had been playing drums since he was ten, and eddie one-upped him by telling him that he'd been playing piano and violin since he was four (and, naturally, taught himself to play guitar too). they both loved the same tv shows and movies and even dressed similar. eddie wished bill had moved to derry sooner. they'd followed and added each other on social media and it all just felt right.

at five hours into their flight, eddie had an epiphany, and squeaked out an "oh my GOD, bill."
"w-what?" came the response.
"have you checked who your roommate is yet? i got an email last night but i haven't opened it yet."
eddie had been half asleep when he got the notification, so hadn't opened it- but he gathered that the administration team at ucla were hoping that students would contact each other on social media before moving in together.
"s-shit, i h-haven't. i-imagine we w-were roommates."
"i wouldn't complain."
bill beamed at that, "n-neither would i."
eddie found the email on his phone and looked at bill who counted down.
"t-three, t-two, one, go"
eddie scanned his eyes over the email and yelped.
"holy fuck bill, we're fucking roommates!"
"j-jesus christ, w-what're the c-chances of t-that?"
"this is a fucking miracle. maybe god does exist."
bill snorted out a small "d-doubt it," which eddie had to agree with.
"okay, so it's me and you as well as a boy named stanley uris."
"s-should we l-look him u-up?"
"definitely," eddie said, opening facebook and searching up the boy's name. eddie had to admit, the boy was pretty. he also noted the star of david in his facebook bio, but there wasn't much information there otherwise. no hometown, school, anything. eddie was more focused on the boy beside stanley in his cover photo- a boy with thick nerdy glasses and unruly black curly hair, wearing the most obnoxious hawaiian shirt that eddie had ever seen over a PUP t-shirt. eddie didn't know how the boy managed to make that look good and why he was instantly attracted. whatever, though- there was no chance eddie would encounter him.
bill, however, was looking at stanley's photo as if he was the prettiest boy he'd ever seen.
"see something you like, bill?" eddie laughed.
"h-honestly? absolutely, y-yes. w-what are the c-chances he likes b-boys?"
"we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"