#I can easily imagine Eddie sneaking around and staying hidden for WEEKS

[fire-fira]

Blue Devil #15

Pfffft

His parents are never gonna find him on that lot. lol

Eddie: I forgot I had to- BYE!

[eddiesasspbrak]

Daydreams

Richie had trouble staying focused in class, always daydreaming about Eddie. He gets caught one too many times and has to face the punishment.

Part of my “I’d rearrange the alphabet to put U and I together” series

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3k+ words

Richie was in detention again. He was a good student when it came to his studies, consistently got As, but he couldn’t always keep his mouth shut. He’d landed himself in detention many times and had phone calls and letters home to discuss his behavior. Given his grades, they never took any serious action, though he hated how disappointed his parents would be each time. He tried to change, but you can’t easily change a trashmouth.

Lately, it wasn’t his mouth that was getting him in trouble. For a while he’d found himself daydreaming more than normal. He wasn’t a stranger to frequent daydreams when class became boring or he was in a situation that triggered one. The subject of each daydream had been the same and, at first, they had worried him. After a while he realized what exactly was going on inside his head and he accepted it and gave into it. He was hesitant to actually do anything, so he just ran scenarios through his head.

The subject of the daydreams was none other than his best friend, Eddie Kaspbrak. He wasn’t exactly sure when he fell in love with him, but part of him thought he always had been. It just took him a while to realize it. Before he truly understood what he was feeling he thought it might be due to puberty and rampant teenage hormones. But he was sure of it, it was love. Slowly the fantasies became more frequent and to the point where he couldn’t control them anymore. He’d look across the classroom at Eddie and all he’d have to do was yawn and suddenly Richie was gone into his mind, sitting under the big tree in front of school with Eddie’s head on his lap while he napped.

Sometimes he didn’t even realize he had zoned out until something pulled him out of it again. A few times he thought that he’d actually confessed his love for Eddie only to realize it wasn’t real. Probably for the best. It was worrisome though. If he couldn’t differentiate fantasy from reality, surely, he’d make a fool of himself eventually. Still, he couldn’t help himself. Eddie was like sunlight and Richie was the idiot who kept staring into it. If he went blind from his brilliance it would be worth it. Except that he wouldn’t be able to stare at him any longer, he’d have to survive on memories of his smile. He knew that if he voiced these things to Eddie, he would think he was crazy.

Every time Richie told a joke and Eddie laughed beside him, it filled him with warmth. He loved it when he’d tell him to shut up or he’d scold him for what he said too. He loved every part of him and every interaction with him was perfect. So why wouldn’t he want to extend them in his mind? The Eddie in his fantasies always told him that he loved him too. He wasn’t sure it would go like that in real life. He didn’t even know if Eddie liked boys or girls or somewhere in between. Richie wasn’t sure if he himself like boys in general or if it was just Eddie because he was all he saw. He’d imagined what it was like to kiss him so many times, he thought he might actually know what it felt like.

They’d been in history, learning about some old white guy, when Richie found himself looking at Eddie for the hundredth time that day. They didn’t sit together. Richie wasn’t allowed to sit with any of his friends in class because he was known to talk during lessons. That didn’t stop them from passing notes to one another. So, when he saw Eddie intensely focused on his notebook, it was unlikely he was writing notes about the lessons and more likely he was writing something to one of their friends. Or maybe to Richie. Maybe it was a love note that he would sneak into his locker or backpack signed from a secret admirer. And so, the fantasy started.

In his head, Richie saw Eddie slipping notes into his things and him finding them. In the pages of his textbook, in his pocket, in his locker, on his desk at the start of class, even in his lunch bag. Richie would theorize who it was sending him secret love letters until he finally caught Eddie with his hand in his backpack. Eddie would be embarrassed and flustered. He’d speak at the speed only he was capable of and deny that he was leaving a note. He’d say that he saw it in there and wanted to see what it said. Richie would know better and he’d silence Eddie with a kiss.

Richie was just getting to the good part when a hand slapped down on his desk, startling him and snapping him back into reality. It was the fourth time that week he’d zoned out in that class and the fourth time he’d been caught. He was sent to the office and, after a long lecture about the importance of paying attention in class, he was given a detention. It sucked but it was nothing he wasn’t used to.

After school, his friends walked him to the classroom where detention was held, telling him where to meet them when he was free.

“Real friends would find a way to get out of the detention.” He said with a grin.

They all ignored him, Stan rolled his eyes and Beverly shoved him through the door. He flipped them off as they left him there before finding a seat near the front. He found that if he was diligent in doing his homework during detention, sometimes they’d let him out a little early. So, he always sat in the front of the room, so they’d notice how hard he was working. Mrs. Walsh was the teacher left to babysit them this time. They rotated who had to supervise detention. She barely paid attention to them and he was pretty sure she was playing a game on her phone.

Not wanting to pull out a bunch of stuff, he decided to do some reading for his English class. They were currently working their way through Shakespeare plays and Hamlet was burning a hole in his backpack.

He did a decent job of focusing on it for a about ten minutes, and then his eyes began to get tired. This wasn’t unusual. He just had to take a short break, look at anything other than the words crammed together on the pages. The classroom they were in was usually used for science classes and the back half of the room was big tables with stools pushed up the edge and sinks off to one side. Other than that, they were empty as all of the science equipment was kept in cupboards that lined either side of the room only broken up by the emergency shower and eyewash station. At least once a week someone snuck into the classroom and pulled the chain that activated the shower and made a mess in the classroom.

The other people in detention were passing the time in their own ways. One girl in the corner was drawing in a sketch pad and had a charcoal smudge on her cheek. There was a guy sleeping with his legs up on the desk in front of him and his head tilted back against the seat. It looked painful. A girl sitting two seats over had a textbook open and propped up against a pile of books behind it. From the front it looked like she was studying but from where Richie was sitting, he could see that she had her phone hidden and was watching 10 Things I Hate About You. A favorite amongst him and his friends.

He thought about the plot and wondered if they’d get to The Taming of the Shrew while they were on Shakespeare plays. He’d never actually read or seen the play that the movie was based on, but he’d seen the movie about a hundred times with his friends. His mind drifted to the scene where Patrick was in detention and Kat entered the classroom to break him out. It was one of their top favorite scenes in the movie and suddenly Richie wondered if any of his friends would actually do that for him. He’d joked about it before entering the room, but he couldn’t actually see any of them doing it. Maybe Bev. It was a silly and sweet thing for someone to do he thought. The person he’d want to see do it would be Eddie. After all, it was supposed to be a romantic thing when Kat did it.

Any hope Richie had in getting back to the play were out the window as a new fantasy took over. Almost as if he’d been expecting it, Eddie entered the classroom, earning the attention of everyone awake. He was mildly flustered at the attention being on him as he made his way to the front desk. Mrs. Walsh looked up at him in annoyance as she set her phone aside, screen facing down. Richie really did wonder what she did on her phone that was so engrossing. He’d figured it was games but maybe she was on tinder. She was a widow, maybe she was looking for new love or just someone to warm her bed. Richie immediately regretted having that thought though he’d have to tell his friends that line later.

“Mr. Kaspbrak, I don’t see your name on the detention list today.” She said, eyeing the list sitting on the desk.

“No, I’m not here for detention. I’m here for Richie.” Eddie said, looking back at Richie with a small smile.

“Mr. Tozier still has forty minutes before he can leave.”

“I understand but it’s an emergency. His cousin…broke his leg.”

“I’m sure it will still be broken in forty minutes.”

“I know it doesn’t sound like it’s urgent, but you see, Richie is the only one he trusts. He doesn’t like being touched. So, he’s been screaming and threatening the EMTs with rocks if they come near him. We need Richie to come and calm him down so they can get him to the hospital and get a cast on his leg. If we don’t hurry, he could realistically lose his leg.”

“Mr. Kaspbrak-.”

“It’s true! My mom knows a guy who broke his leg while riding a bike on a trail and there was no one else around and no cell service. He couldn’t even drag himself for help so he just sat there praying someone would come by. He sat there four hours before someone finally came and by the time they got him to the hospital, the bone had started to…rot! They had to amputate, and he hasn’t ridden a bike since. Do you want that to happen to little…Timmy??”

Richie was biting his lip to keep from laughing as he watched Mrs. Walsh’s face go from mildly annoyed to extremely frustrated. She likely wasn’t believing a word coming from Eddie’s mouth, but she also didn’t want to deal with this any longer. Besides, this was Richie’s fantasy and he could make anything happen.

“Fine. Go attend to your cousin but I expect a letter from your mother by tomorrow.” She said, picking her phone back up.

“Yes ma’am!” Richie stood and grabbed his backpack, shoving Hamlet back into the open pocket.

He followed Eddie out into the hall and managed to hold his laughter until they were a good distance away. Eddie was smiling widely in a way that made Richie’s heart skip a beat. He just wanted to grab him and kiss him. But he would get to that later. He had plenty of time to enjoy the build up to it. He waited until they were outside to say anything.

“I thought you left with the others.” Richie said.

“I stayed behind to break you out. It took me a while to come up with an excuse though.” Eddie chuckled.

“It was a beautiful one. Hopefully little Timmy will be ok now that his favorite cousin is on his way.”

“Shut up, it was a good lie.”

Richie slung his arm around Eddie’s shoulders as they walked. The others would be at Bill’s house. He’d gotten a new multi-player video game they were all wanting to try. It was the first day since he’d gotten it that both of his parents would be out of the house so they could be as loud as they wanted without reprimand. Of course, Richie was in no rush to fantasize about what was actually going to come when he did get out of detention. He wanted to focus on Eddie.

“You’re my hero.” Richie said, squeezing his shoulder lightly.

“Does that make you the damsel in distress?” Eddie asked.

“Absolutely. I was debating growing my hair out or losing a shoe. But this works too.”

“You’re so dumb.” Despite his words, Eddie was smiling.

Richie didn’t know how much longer he had and all he could think about was kissing him. Even if it was pretend. They’d cut through the park, which was mostly empty this time of day, and the shade from trees set a mood with the sun poking through between the leaves above them. With no witnesses, his mind had created the perfect scene for a kiss with the object of his affection. Pulling Eddie to a stop with him, Richie dropped his bag in the dirt and, cupping his face with one hand, he leaned in and kissed him. It was an innocent kiss. More innocent than they typically were but he was in detention and didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

He’d imagined kissing Eddie so many times, basing it on the spin the bottle kiss he’d had a year prior at a birthday party. It was always the same in every fantasy, but this time was different. His lips were always pillowy and silky in his mind, but this time they were a little chapped yet still wonderful. Eddie always kissed him back immediately in his daydreams, this time he didn’t. When Richie pulled away, he looked shocked, his face and ears red.

“What…why…did you kiss me?” Eddie asked.

“Because I love you.” Richie had said those words more times than he could count while pretending. This time the weight of words felt heavy on his shoulders. Everything was different. Too different. Richie closed his eyes and tried to wake himself from the fantasy, but when he opened his eyes again, he was still standing in the park with Eddie. He knew that he’d been having trouble differentiating his daydreams from reality, but he never thought it was this bad. Bad enough to actually confess his love thinking it was just in his head.

Richie took in the still shocked face of the other boy and his heart began to pound in his chest. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and he had to scramble for an excuse. “Fuck…hey Eds I was kidding. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go to Bill’s ok?” He picked his bag back up and slung it over his shoulder.

“You were kidding? What the fuck, Richie!” Eddie yelled, making no move to follow him. “I’m going home.”

Richie turned then, expecting to see Eddie’s angry face red and narrowed eyebrows. Instead, he was met with tears. At first, he wasn’t sure he’d seen them, but when one broke free and slid down his cheek, he was sure. He was crying. Why was he crying?

“Eds…I’m sorry. It was a dumb joke. You don’t have to cry about it.” Richie tried to laugh but he felt his heart breaking for a multitude of reasons.

“I thought you were serious! I should have known better. You may think everything you do is funny but playing with someone’s emotions isn’t! Did Stan tell you about my feelings? Is that why you did this?”

“Feelings? Stan hasn’t told me anything.”

“Don’t lie to me. Why else would you do that?”

Richie wasn’t stupid. He always got good grades and studying was easy for him. He’d learned to read between the lines and was able to understand people even when they weren’t speaking plainly. So, it didn’t take more than a second for him to understand what Eddie was saying. He loved Richie. Or at least liked him as more than a friend. He was so stupid for not noticing before. He’d always thought he was just looking too far into little things, hoping to find proof that he felt the same way. Now he knew he wasn’t.

“Eddie, I love you. I lied. It wasn’t a joke. I love you so much that I can’t stop thinking about you. I kissed you without thinking and panicked. Please don’t cry.” Richie had dropped his bag once more and was pulling Eddie into a tight hug against his chest.

“Are you lying?” Eddie sniffled.

“No. I swear. I’ve thought about telling you and kissing you so many times it’s criminal.”

Eddie chuckled a bit, his arms coming back around his middle, squeezing him back. One day Richie would tell him the truth about the fantasies and the mistake, but now wasn’t the time. He just wanted to hold him in his arms and maybe kiss him again and again until they got sick of it. As if that was possible.

After coming to an agreement, Richie sent a text to Bill informing him that he and Eddie would not be joining them at his place that afternoon. Instead, they would be going to Richie’s basement where they would be left alone and could talk about their newly found feelings for one another. And kiss. He couldn’t’ forget about the kissing. He’d thought about it so much, now that he could actually do it, Richie wasn’t about to let a second pass when he could be kissing Eddie Kaspbrak. The daydreams wouldn’t stop there, he’d just get to tell Eddie about them afterward and learn of the daydreams he had as well.