Bev was helping Mike pack up the car with their luggage. In the kitchen, Ben was whipping up bacon sandwiches for the road. He'd asked Mike if he needed to make something else for Stan, but Mike knew that he wasn't kosher. It wasn't a long drive back to Derry, but they had school to get to.
'Are the downstairs lot not up yet?' Bev asked, her voice strained as she lifted Ben's bag into the trunk.
Mike shook his head. 'Do you want to give them another knock?'
'Okay,' she said, and jogged back inside. She dipped her head into Bill and Stan's room first with a cheerful, 'Are you guys up yet?'
Stan and Bill were almost dressed, though they looked groggy, like they hadn't slept much.
Stan yawned, 'Yeah, yeah. Nearly there.'
Bill sniffed, 'D-do I smell b-b-bacon?'
Bev nodded, 'Yeah, Ben's making food for the road.'
Bill moaned, 'T-tell him I love h-him.'
Stan shot Bill a look that Beverly didn't see. She was too busy laughing and trotting over to the other end of the hallway to Richie and Eddie's bedroom. She entered with a gentle, cheerful, 'Wakey, wakey, rise and shine. Ben's making,' she started, then her mouth dropped open.
Richie and Eddie didn't stir as Bev ran back to Stan and Bill's room, snickering excitedly. She opened the door, 'Oh my God, you have to come and see this. So cute, my God.'
'W-what?' Bill asked, but Beverly didn't say, just vanished to the kitchen to hound Ben and Mike.
Stan furrowed his brow and exited the room. He trotted quickly down the corridor, silent, with Bill hot on his heels, and poked their heads into Richie and Eddie's room.
Richie and Eddie were asleep in the middle of the bed, spooning one another, hands quite clearly linked together. Richie's nose was buried in Eddie's hair as he snored.
Bill smirked, 'Well, well, well. You d-d-don't see that e-every day.'
Stan shot him another look.
'What?' Bill whispered, then realised what Stan was assuming. 'No,' Bill refuted. 'No w-way. They just f-f-fell asleep. M-maybe they were c-cold, I don't know. This d-d-doesn't mean anything.'
Before Stan could say anything to the contrary, the other Losers approached from behind them, crowding into the threshold to observe the rare sight before him. Suddenly, Stan felt like he was bird-watching: silent, motionless.
Between warm chuckles, Mike whispered, 'Shouldn't we wake them up?'
Ben wrinkled his nose. 'They look so,' he started, unable to finish his sentence with words that by definition seemed unattributable to Richie or Eddie, let alone together.
Finally, Stan spoke loudly, 'Richie, Eddie, it's time to get up.'
The sleeping boys groaned for a moment, then their eyes snapped open wide, comically large as they realised how compromising the position they found themselves in was. Richie, slowly, like an owl, twisted his neck to see just how royally they were busted.
'Oh, fucking hell,' he muttered, as his eyes were met by five other pairs clustered in the doorway.
'M-morning,' Bill said.
Releasing their embrace, the boys shunted up to lean their backs against the headboard. With a sigh, Richie said, 'We're never gonna fucking hear the end of this.'
Eddie didn't say anything. He didn't have words. He didn't have the energy or mental capacity to come up with a joke, come up with an excuse or explanation. Brimming with anxiety, under the safety of the covers, he placed his hand in Richie's and squeezed, to let him know that he wasn't okay.
'How did you sleep?' Bev asked.
Richie blinked at her. 'Brilliantly, thank you. Now, could you excuse us? We need to get dressed.'
'Yeah, come on, guys,' Stan clapped his hands and began to usher the other Losers away. 'We've got to get on the road soon.' He closed the door behind him. The Losers tittered, muffled as they returned to the kitchen.
'Are you okay?' Richie whispered.
Eddie nodded, but Richie could tell he didn't mean it.
'Hey,' Richie squeezed his palm, 'it's alright. They just think it's funny because they don't know. They think that we're Richie and Eddie, the guys who shout at each other all the time about the infectious diseases that I might have caught while fucking your mom.'
Eddie let out a half-hearted laugh and let his head drop onto Richie's shoulder. Richie craned to kiss his forehead.
'Thanks, Rich.'
Richie tilted Eddie's chin up. 'Let's get dressed, okay?' he suggested, then kissed him.
'In a minute,' Eddie said quietly, putting his arms around Richie and holding him.
'Take as much time as you need,' Richie said, and they both knew that he didn't mean in this moment.
Eddie's brow furrowed, 'What about you? Are you saying that you're,' he leaned back so that he could study Richie's reaction, 'ready?'
The corner of Richie's mouth lifted, his eyes lay heavy with love. 'I don't care what they think. I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. The only one that mattered was you.'
Eddie wondered if he would ever feel that brave. Maybe. Richie had always made him feel braver than he ever thought he could be. He kissed him tenderly.
'So, about that dream you had,' Richie started, fingers dancing up Eddie's arms. 'How did that go, exactly? I'm dying to know.' The immature gremlin in his head cheered.
Eddie hummed, 'A little something like this,' he said, pushing Richie down flat and pressing their lips together repeatedly, as Richie's hands slid around his waist.
Then Mike walked in. He halted, expression frozen, unblinking, even as Richie and Eddie snapped apart from each other at the intrusion.
'Uh, you probably should have knocked,' Eddie said.
Richie spluttered into laughter, then clapped a hand over his mouth, 'I'm sorry. Not funny.'
'Close the door,' Eddie hissed.
Mike did as he was told. He didn't say anything, pressing his back up against the wood, eyes flicking between his two friends.
Richie and Eddie looked at Mike, then each other. Richie waited for Eddie to have a panic attack, but he didn't have one. Eddie's mouth twitched into a nervous smile and mouthed, 'It's okay. I'm okay.'
Richie exhaled and bit his lip as they turned back to Mike.
Mike found his voice. Low, he said, 'I wasn't expecting that.'
Eddie grimaced, 'It would have been weird if you did.'
Mike puffed out his cheeks awkwardly. 'So, you two –'
Richie glanced at Eddie to check one final time that he was alright, and with Eddie's encouraging nod, he said, 'Yeah.'
'When?'
Richie's lips smacked together, 'You are finding out about twenty four hours after we did.'
Mike nodded, 'Okay, so, new.'
Eddie agreed, 'New.'
'I mean, it's,' he paused, forcing Richie and Eddie to wait in petrified anticipation of his next words. 'Great. Fuck,' he laughed, 'it's really great.'
Trying not to cry, Eddie managed, 'Yeah?'
'Yeah,' Mike insisted. 'Of course!' Then he coughed to quiet himself. 'I'm happy for you.'
Richie grinned, 'Thanks, man.'
Mike scratched his neck. 'Okay, I'll leave you to get dressed. But seriously, get dressed because we really are pushing it for time and someone else will come and hound you.'
'Okay, thanks.' Eddie said.
'I know you wouldn't, but don't tell anyone else,' Richie added.
'Of course not,' Mike assured. He went to open the door. Just before he pulled at the doorknob, he turned and said, 'Love you guys.'
Eddie flushed, 'Love you too, man.'
Richie got out of the bed and threw his arms around his friend. On seeing this, Eddie followed suit. Mike hugged them both, smiling softly.
'Does this mean you're going to be nice to each other from now on?' Mike asked.
'No!' Richie cried.
'Absolutely fucking not,' Eddie shook his head.
Mike laughed, 'Sounds about right. Okay, I'll save you both a bacon sandwich.' Then he left.
Eddie turned to Richie. 'That went surprisingly well,' he said.
Richie picked Eddie up off the floor and kissed him. 'That went really fucking well. I'm so,' he started, wishing he had the courage to finish the sentiment.
Eddie said smugly, 'I'm proud of you too.'
Grinning, Richie put Eddie down and gave him one final kiss. 'Let's get a move on.'
They dressed and went out into the kitchen. They were running late. Stan was yelling at them both to just take a bacon sandwich with them, while Bill protested that he could not trust Richie with food in his car, let alone ketchup.
Ben and Bev were hurriedly finishing the washing up, flicking suds at one another and pinging rubber gloves. Mike took Richie and Eddie's bags and loaded them into the trunk of the car, firmly slamming it afterwards.
Eventually, the two cars were loaded up: Ben, Bev and Mike in front and Bill, Stan, Richie and Eddie behind. Bev cranked up the music and their car crooned tunelessly all the way back to Derry.
Bill's car was idle chat and commentary, staring out of the windows at the gorgeous countryside, bad jokes and worse insults.
'Great w-w-weekend, Stan,' Bill complimented. 'Thanks s-so m-m-much for organising.'
Stan beamed at him, 'Thanks.'
'Best fucking weekend,' Richie hollered, enthused.
'Yeah?' Eddie asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
Richie smirked, 'Yeah. Don't you think?'
Eddie pouted, trying not to let his face break into a telling smile. 'It's up there.'
As they drove, Richie and Eddie bickered in the back seats and Stan felt like he was a tired mother driving his children to school. He snickered as that made him consider that Bill was his husband. He looked over at him. Bill's face was screwed up, his eyes squinting into the rear view mirror. He realised Stan was looking at him and turned up the radio.
'What?' Stan mouthed, so that Eddie and Richie didn't hear them.
Bill mouthed back, 'Eddie's neck.'
Stan cocked an eyebrow, 'What?'
Bill rolled his eyes and gestured subtly to his own neck. 'Look at Eddie's.'
Waiting a moment so as not to arouse suspicion, Stan turned to glance at the boys in the back seat. It was faint, half-hidden by the neckline of his shirt, but there was a purplish bruise on Eddie's collar. Stan's eyes widened as he turned back to Bill, 'Is that a hickey?'
Bill nodded, 'Think so.'
'What are you girls whispering about?' Richie hollered suddenly, causing Stan and Bill to flinch.
'Your m-mom,' Bill said quickly.
'Hey, that's my joke!'
They pulled up at school and got out of the car. Richie grabbed Eddie's bag as well as his own and pelted away, forcing Eddie to run after the faster boy, cursing furiously as he tried to corner him. Stan and Bill watched curiously.
'Do you th-think that th-they –' Bill started.
'Maybe,' Stan sighed.
Bill bit his fingernail. 'Are we gonna t-try and t-t-talk to them a-about it?'
Stan shook his head. 'They'll tell us when they're ready.'
Bill's stomach churned. Ready. That word haunted him. 'I g-guess,' he said. Surreptitiously, he glanced over his shoulders and, satisfied that no one would see, least of all any of the Losers, reached out and squeezed a couple of Stan's fingers. 'C-come on. Let's g-g-get to class.'
Stan snatched his hand away, nervous, but tried to smile at him.
Around the side of the school building, Eddie had finally tackled Richie to the ground to retrieve his possessions. They giggled uncontrollably, staggering back to their feet. Richie pushed Eddie up against the wall and kissed him.
'You know, I could really get used to this,' Richie smiled.
Eddie laughed, 'I don't think I ever will.'
Richie was about to lean in again, when his eyes flickered to Eddie's neck. 'Oh, shit,' he said. 'Forgot about that.'
'What?' Eddie asked, seeing the concern on Richie's face.
Richie seethed, 'I, sort of, gave you a hickey.'
Eddie's eyes widened, hands leaping to the vulnerable skin of his neck. 'What? What the fuck, Richie? Fucking hell! Fuck!'
'I'm sorry!' Richie wailed. 'You bruise like a fucking peach.'
Eddie stomped his foot, 'Not the time, Richie.'
'You could borrow my jacket? That might cover it.'
Eddie slapped his shoulder, 'Oh yeah, that'll help. I have a hickey and I'm wearing your jacket. Why not break out the rainbow flags?'
Richie tried not to laugh at Eddie's pinched cheeks. 'Okay, okay, let me think. What about Bev? She might have some makeup that you can borrow.'
Through gritted teeth, Eddie said, 'I am not wearing makeup.'
'Got any better ideas?' Richie spluttered.
Eddie snapped his fingers. 'I have a shirt. I have a shirt, I think.' He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a checked flannel. He slung it over his arms. With the collar in place, the mark was concealed. 'Does this work?'
'It's perfect. Now you look like a lesbian.'
'Oh, fuck you. Seriously.' Eddie frowned.
'You can't see it,' Richie assured.
Eddie grumbled, 'Okay. I cannot believe you gave me a fucking hickey.'
Richie licked his lips, 'Calm down or I'll give you another one.'
'You wouldn't dare.'
Richie grinned, 'Is that a challenge?'
Eddie shoved him, and Richie threw his arm around Eddie's shoulder. They walked to the lockers as they always did, they went to their homeroom, then to their classes. To the uninformed observer, it would appear as though absolutely nothing had changed.
Stan tapped his pencil on the front cover of his textbook. He glanced over at Ben, secretly handing Beverly the extra bacon sandwich he'd made for them to share. Just friends, they said.
He glanced over at Richie and Eddie, passing notes back and forth between rows. Every now and then, Eddie tugged at his shirt collar, concealing the hickey that he had seen. Just friends, they said.
He glanced over at Bill beside him, their knees knocking underneath the table.
Just friends, they said. Just friends.