*time skip*
Eddie fumbled with the hem of his shirt as he looked up at his front door, he readjusted his backpack and sighed before turning the door handle and stepping inside, he really didn't want to go back home, it had been quite a few hours since they had gotten back from camping and it was already getting dark. Him and the other losers hung out at Bills house for a bit after they got back, but after leaving, Eddie hung out at the clubhouse by himself because he didn't want to go home yet.
But now it was time to face his fear and just return, it's not like he could sleep at the clubhouse, and he knew his mom would get even angrier if he wasn't at home for yet another night. "Eddie bear? Is that you?" Sonia called from the living room chair, "yes ma.." he replied quietly, heading towards the stairs,
"aren't you going to come here?" she asked,
Eddie took a deep breath before walking back towards the living room and looking at her, "you didn't call to tell me when you'd be home or if you were okay, I was worried sick Eddie..!" she said in an angry tone, "sorry mama.. I just forgot that's all.. I promise I won't do it again," he sighed, she scanned his face, looking for any signs he was lying, "who did you stay with?"
"...Bill," he lied, knowing that she wouldn't accept any other answer, "better not have been that Tozier kid too.. you know how i've told you he's a bad influence," she said as she returned her attention back to the TV. Eddie knew exactly why she thought Richie was a bad influence, and not just because he was an annoying idiot who couldn't keep his mouth shut, but also because she had occasionally caught them holding hands, or hugging for just a little too long. Eddies mom was highly homophobic and Eddie knew it too, if she found out her son was gay, the couple would probably never see each other again.
Eddie was just about to walk away when his mom stopped him again, "oh and Eddie bear? When you come back it's time to take your pills," he paused for a second, thinking whether to refuse like last time or just accept it, "...okay ma.." he replied, knowing that refusing would just make things worse, he then ran up the stairs to his room as quickly as possible and shut the door behind him. Tears started streaming down his face as he sat on the floor and brought his knees up to his chest, he quickly took his inhaler out of his fanny pack before pumping it into his mouth, after he had calmed himself down, he wiped his tears away and stood up.
"Put them in your mouth, but don't swallow" Richies words from before kept repeating in his head, he knew exactly what to do, "put the pills in your mouth, but don't swallow them.." Eddie whispered to himself, "you can do this.." he said before opening the door and walking back downstairs.
*time skip*
"There he is," said Bill, opening the arcade door, Eddie shoving through it, "Richie? Are you serious? We were looking everywhere for you!" he walked over to his boyfriend and clapped his hands in front of his face which was dimly lit by the arcade game, "hold on one sec..!" Richie urged as he pushed Eddies hands out of the way.
This just annoyed Eddie even more so he started tugging at Richies arms, causing him to lose the game, "Eddie what the hell! I almost beat my street fighter high score..!" he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air just to put them down again,
"Mike got hurt you insensitive dumbass!" Eddie spat,
Richies eyes widened, "wh-what are you talking about..?" he asked nervously, adjusting his glasses. Bill came up from behind Eddie, answering Richies question,
"B-b-bowers.."
—
All three losers sped down the road on their bikes, going as fast as they possibly could, "how badly is he hurt?? What did Bowers do..? Is he going to die!?" Richie called out, the wind almost drowning out his voice, "shut up Richie!" Eddie yelled, getting impatient with his boyfriends constant questions.
They skidded into the woods, their tires scraping against the leaves until they finally made it to the entrance of the clubhouse, all of their bikes dropped onto the ground with a thud as they all rushed to the door and opened it. Bill and Eddie climbed down the ladder first, Richie going after them, "holy shit, are you okay?" he asked, concern in his voice as he looked over at Mike who was bleeding all over his head and arm, he nodded his head before wincing in pain, "sorry.." Beverly apologised, trying to clean the blood off of his head.
"Here let me do it," Eddie said, taking the damp cloth from Beverlys hands, "good going Dr.K, fix him up!" Richie joked in his british guy accent as he walked over and stood behind Eddie, making him turn around and look at him in annoyance.
"Anyway.. what happened?" Richie asked, "I was going around dropping off some stuff for grandad at the butchers and I was on my way home when Bowers spotted me and chased me down in his car.. he caught me eventually and.. you probably know what happened from there.." Mike sighed, more relaxed now that Eddie who knew what he was doing, was cleaning his wounds.
"Fuck.. Bowers hasn't bothered us all summer, why start now?"
"I-I heard he's b-b-been in s-some sort o-of correctional facility the wh-whole s-s-summer.." Bill said, "and now he's back?" Ben looked around, "well it clearly didn't work, that's for fucking sure," Richie laughed, causing the rest of the losers to go silent and stare at him in disappointment.
They all continued to talk about Bowers and what they were going to do about him, Richie kept his eyes on Eddie the whole time, who surprisingly was handling it very well, "you alright Eddie?" Richie asked, placing a hand on his boyfriends shoulder, "yeah Rich, I need to concentrate right now so.." he rolled his shoulder to get Richies hand off and continued to wrap up Mikes wounds,
"okay.. you sure you don't need your inhaler or anything?"
"Richie I said I'm fine..!" Eddie said, raising his voice this time, causing the other losers to look over at him, "just go read a comic or something.." he mumbled, Richie sighed and walked over to the hammock before laying down in it and grabbing a nearby comic.
—
"Just change the bandages every morning and night, and CLEAN the wounds okay??" Eddie told Mike as he watched him pick up his bike,
"I will, thanks Eddie,"
"I'm serious! If you don't clean them you could get lockjaw.. or-or even AIDS! You do know there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now, then we'll probably have to amputate your arm or something, but it can get even worse than that!" Eddie ranted quickly, speaking so fast none of the losers even understood what he was saying anymore.
Bill came out of the clubhouse before closing the door behind him, "alright, me and Stanley will walk you home Mike, we'll see you guys later, and be careful okay?" he said, looking at Eddie and Richie since Ben and Beverly had already gone home together. The couple watched as the three of them walked off out of the forest before they both began riding their bikes, they rode in silence most of the way, up until they had to go seperate ways to their houses.
"Looks like this is where I leave you.." Richie sighed, getting off his bike to say goodbye, "hey Rich.." Eddie said softly as he looked at the ground, "truth is.. i'm not fine.. i'm really scared, I-I didn't wanna tell you because I didn't want you to worry but.. this is Bowers we're talking about, look what he did to Mike.. j-just imagine what he would do to us if he found out we were—" Eddie was cut off when Richie pulled him into a tight hug, his words being drowned out as his head got buried into his boyfriends shoulder.
"Hey... everything's going to be okay don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you, and he won't find out I promise, only us two and the others know.. it's okay to be scared.. i'm scared too but as long as we're together, we'll be fine.. I love you baby.." he said quietly, stroking Eddies back gently, they both pulled away from the hug and looked at each other, now smiling.
"God you don't know how much I wanna kiss you right now," Richie blurted out, causing Eddie to giggle, "you know we can't do that Rich.."
"I know I know.. this town is nothing but one big cock block I swear.." he mumbled,
the two then said goodbye and headed back off on their bikes towards their houses. Eddie started to feel like he was being watched so he looked behind him and sure enough there was a car there, he began peddling faster down the road, not stopping for even a second to look back again, as he sped up, the car did too, he started to peddle so fast that he lost track of his footing and ended up falling off of his bike onto the ground, his arm smashing against the pavement.
He quickly began dragging his bike out of the road but just when he was about to go hide, he heard a familiar voice come out from the car that was following him,
"Hey get back here faggot!!"