#eddies leg got caught in the grip of a zombies hand and it bit him before he got it to let go

[sir3n-s]

Steve hoped they would all get out of this apocalypse together. Hopefully in one piece, but he'd take just alive.

And everything was going great until someone got bit by a zombie.

When Eddie told everyone they were all devastated. And only had 3 days to decide what to do. 

Either let Eddie wander until he fully turns or kill him. 

On the first day they all spent time with Eddie as a group. They didn't get much done but they all wanted to soak up the remaining time Eddie had before he was gone forever. 

On the second day everyone started getting setemintal. Saying how much they love Eddie and how they'll miss him. And of course Eddie gave a very over the top speech about his love and appreciation for the group. 

No one commented on how many jokes Eddie cracked during it despite him being teary eyed. 

On the morning of the 3rd day Steve took him in the forest with a pistal. Preparing to be the one who shoot Eddie. 

They chatted as if everything were normal, as if these weren't Eddie's last moments. And for a moment, Steve forgot these were his last moments.

Eventually they stopped talking once they've made it far enough. 

They stood there silently only for a moment before tackling each other in a huge. 

"I'm going to miss you so much" Steve says holding Eddie tighter. They've only been together for a month and a half and he's already losing Eddie. 

"I know" he responds, "I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault" 

"It kind of is," Eddie says, backing up a bit while keeping his hands on Steve. "I should have been more careful. I got careless that day."

"It's okay," Steve says, cradling Eddie's face in his hands, trying to memorize the way Eddie looks. He wishes he would have asked Eddie out sooner so he would have had more time to study every feature on his face.

"I love you, Eddie, more than anything" he crashes their lips together like he needs it breathe.  And maybe he did. 

He's not ready to know how it feels to live in a world without Eddie. He just got him. Just got to know him. Just got to love him. He doesn't want to give it up. 

"I love you too Steve, never forget that" Eddie says against his lips. 

"How could I forget you?" He says resting their foreheads together. 

"Can't believe I got The Steve Harrington to fall for me," Eddie says without a smile, "make sure to put that on my tombstone" 

Steve laughs but it comes out wet. Tears filling his eyes as he tries to stop them. He doesn't want to make this moment worse by sobbing. 

"Everything is going to be okay, promise" Eddie says before walking away from him. 

Once he stand still Steve takes the gun out and aims it as his head. 

"I can't do it" Steve admits lowering the gun as he starts to sob.

Eddie just takes the gun away from his shaky hands and pours out all of the bullets except one, handing the remaining bullets back to him.

Kissing Steve on the forehead before pushing him away, "Don't look back okay?" Steve nods and turns to walk away. 

When he eventually hears the gunshot and a body hit the floor that's when he starts to sob until he feels a pain in his chest.

Because he just lost apart of his heart. 

[trash-the-tozier]

That stozier story was so cute! If you're goign to do any more would you maybe consider 38 with stozier or stenborough?

Ahh thank you so much!! I’ll do stenbrough for this one, since I did stozier last time! oblivious!bill came out in full force during this i’m sorry in advancei am incapable of writing short fics why @ myself 

length: 2.4k | ao3warnings: noneprompt: 38. Everyone thinks we’re already dating, but we’re just best friends- oh wait

send me a cliche prompt (list here: x) and a pairing and i’ll write a drabble!

“Bill, sweetheart.”

Hearing his name caught his attention, Bill turning quickly. He was over at Stan’s house, the two doing homework up in Stan’s room. Bill had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water, Mrs. Uris stopping him at the edge of the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know if Stanley’s told you about it yet, but it’s Donald’s birthday this weekend and we’re having a bit of a party.” Donald was Mr. Uris, and Stan hadn’t mentioned anything about a birthday party to Bill yet. “I just wanted to let you know that you were completely welcome to come if you’d like.”

“Oh.” The words were completely normal and fine, but something about Mrs. Uris’s tone was striking Bill as strange. Almost like she was trying a little too hard to be welcoming, which was weird, because Bill had been coming over to Stan’s house and participating in various family functions of his since they were in middle school. “Yeah, thanks.”

After another smile and a little bit of a nod, Mrs. Uris returned to the living room, and Bill took the stairs two at a time to make it back to Stan’s room. Stan was on his bed with a book in hand, evidently having put the finishing touches on his English essay in Bill’s absence, and Bill put his water on the bedside table before flopping down next to him.

“That was weird.”

“What was?” Stan asked without looking, but shifting a little, moving his torso so Bill would have more room, but then flopping his legs over both of Bill’s own.

“Your mom. She just invited me to your dad’s birthday party.”

“Really?” That got Stan’s attention, looking at him with a slight frown on his face. “She said it was family only, so I didn’t mention it; I was afraid of Richie gatecrashing the thing.”

“I can not go, if you don’t want me to.”

“No, I mean… Do you want to? It’ll be me, and my parents, and then all of my dad’s brothers or something. You’ll probably get bored.”

“Nah, I’ll come. We’ll get to hang out, right? So that’ll be fun.”

“Oh, okay.” Stan smiled, a smile big enough to reach his eyes and show his teeth. “Yeah.”

As Stan had said, the party was only family, consisting mostly of Mr. Uris’s brothers, their wives, and their children, none of which were over the age of seven. Bill and Stan kept mostly to themselves, stuffing their faces with the snacks and lemonade that Mrs. Uris had prepared. At one point they retreated to the kitchen, leaning against the counter and talking, when Mrs. Uris walked in.

She seemed almost flustered to see them, grabbing a bowl of fruit salad from the fridge as quickly as she could and backing out, apologizing and saying “I’ll leave you two alone.” Bill couldn’t figure out what that was supposed to mean, about to ask when his attention was stolen by a firecracker going off outside.

As it turned out, one of Mr. Uris’s brothers had brought a box of small explosives to set off in Stan’s backyard. That ended up being the most fun of the evening, Stan and Bill stealing an entire box of sparklers for themselves, using Bill’s lighter to catch them on fire and watch them spark to life. When recounting the party to Beverly on Monday morning in their shared Chemistry class, Bill found himself describing the sparklers, how pretty they’d been in the sunset of Stan’s backyard, how the lights had caught Stan’s eyes, his eyes so bright despite the way they were already curved into crescents by the smile in his cheeks. Beverly, with safety goggles on and hair pulled back, rested her elbow on the lab table and put her chin in her hand with a sigh.

“You two are so cute.” She told him, and Bill couldn’t do much more than laugh.

“Thanks."

“Big ‘ol Billy Boy!” Richie caught Bill after school the following Friday, slinging an arm around his neck. “You free tonight?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” Bill answered, and Richie laughed.

“Wanna see a movie?”

“Oh?” For some reason, that wasn’t what Bill expected to hear. Not that he wouldn’t want to see a movie with Richie, but still. “I think Stan and I were going to hang out.”

“Sure, okay.” Richie shrugged, readjusting his glasses. Then, “Does he want to come too?”

“I don’t know.” Bill didn’t really see why not. He and Stan didn’t have any plans more concrete than “hang out”, but he didn’t want to speak on Stan’s behalf. He didn’t end up needing to; Stan was standing in the student parking lot with Eddie, the two of them talking, Richie and Bill coming up to meet them.

“Stanley, my wise old manley.” Richie said, a strange grandioseness to his voice as he slung an arm around Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie kissed his cheek in greeting, lifting up on his tip-toes to reach. “Eds and I wanna see a movie tonight, and I already invited Bill; you in?”

Stan glanced over at Bill, who simply looked back, unsure of how to convey “I didn’t say yes, but I also didn’t say no” with just a facial expression. After a moment, Stan shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.”

“Yeah!” Richie shot his fist into the air with excitement. “Me and Eddie, and Bill and Stan! It’ll be a double date!”

And double date it was… Sort of. It was a date for Eddie and Richie, sure; they’d already been boyfriends for two years and going strong. For Bill and Stan, it was just any other time they’d gone to see a movie together in the theater--though Bill had a feeling that Return of the Living Dead III would not have been Stan’s movie of choice, which was what they ended up buying tickets to.

Richie liked to put his hand on the small of Eddie’s back as they walked, using it to steer him in the right direction when he was too busy arguing a point in Richie’s face and making sharp hand gestures at the same time. It was cute, a casual but intimate touch all the same, Bill barely noticing when Stan did the same thing as they entered the theater to help lead him to their seats.

Richie and Eddie had one giant popcorn between them, the carton half empty by the time the movie actually began, munching with open mouths as they talked in whispers about what was on the screen. Stan and Bill were also sharing a large popcorn, their hands brushing when they reached for it at the same time, Stan occasionally pelting pieces of it at Richie and Eddie when they got too loud. Stan managed to get five pieces to actually stay in Richie’s mess of curls, Bill laughing at each one.

The movie actually got tense towards the end, Bill pulled from the action on screen by the way Richie would squawk and curl into Eddie at loud noises and gruesome imagery. On Bill’s other side was Stan, gripping onto Bill’s arm rather hard, wincing and turning his head in Bill’s direction at the scares, only a breath away from pressing his face into Bill’s shoulder. Eddie was giving whoops and hollers, egging the zombie on to just eat everyone, while Bill was just pretending to be brave, wanting to be something for Stan to hold on to.

Eddie complained loudly about the end of the movie as they walked home, pausing at the crossroads where they all had to part ways. Richie leaned down to scoop Eddie up in a goodbye kiss, and knowing that it would take a few moments, Bill averted his eyes, directing his attention to Stan.

The moon was high in the sky, reflecting off Stan’s cheeks and the delicate curls in his hair. Stan glanced back at Bill, a resigned sort of expression on his face--Richie and Eddie had been dating too long for shared looks of pretend disgust to really be funny anymore--and his eyes caught the light, the same way the sparklers had the weekend before. Bill felt a sort of tug in his chest. Richie and Eddie were still kissing in the background, and a quick, unexpected thought crossed Bill’s mind--how he wouldn’t mind kissing Stan.

But as soon as the thought was there it was gone, Richie trying to pick Eddie up and knocking into Stan, nearly toppling all of them to the ground.

People around Bill were acting weird, and Bill couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. His parents always asked him why Stan wasn’t coming over, if he ended up spending the weekend at home, or why they weren’t going out to do something together. Even some of the Losers seemed surprised if they asked him where Stan was and he didn’t have an answer. As a result, Bill did end up spending more time with Stan, just because he was the only person actually acting normal. They did everything that they usually did, getting milkshakes and laying out on the grass at the park, Stan looking and pointing out the different birds he could see, Bill looking at Stan. Stan’s parents would go out on dates and Stan would invite Bill over, the two of them laughing through an attempt at making themselves dinner and watching stupid sitcoms on TV. Stan would sit close to him on the couch, their bodies becoming more and more relaxed as they sat there, reclining into a position that, more often than not, had them lying on each other and dozing off.

Eventually though, it got to a point that Bill decided to ask Ben about it.

“Why do people keep talking to me about Stan? I mean, we hang out a lot, but... It’s not like I like him more than I like the rest of you guys.”

“You--you don’t?” Ben asked, sounding both completely blindsided and curiously hesitant.

“I like all of you guys, Ben.”

“Yeah, but…” Ben frowned at him, then his whole face lit up in understanding, his mouth opening, his eyebrows going up. “Oh. Oh, oh no.”

“What?”

“No, no, nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Ben, you have to tell me.” Bill stopped him, taking Ben by the shoulders. “What’s going on?”

“Well, we all…” Ben didn’t want to look him in the eye. “Bill, the way you look at Stan… Sometimes, it’s like the rest of us aren’t even there. And… He’s always looking at you. The Losers, we thought… We kinda thought you two were dating.”

“What?” Bill asked, thinking Ben was joking. But he sounded too serious for it to be a joke, and Ben never lied to him, so it had to be real. Even more surprising, Bill found his mind not automatically rejecting the idea. Going on dates with Stan, holding Stan’s hand, kissing him… Kissing him.

Bill wanted to kiss him. All he really had to do was figure out a way to ask.

Asking was proving to be difficult. He tried to think of something that would send a kind of a hint, a date sort of activity they could do together before Bill properly asked him out. The problem was, all of the things he came up with were things that they normally did, just as friends. An attempt to make those activities more romantic had them feeling over the top and sappy, and that wasn’t what he wanted either.

Realization came to Bill at Mike’s house, when he was supposed to be working on a history assignment and his mind was wandering. He sat upright in his seat, so quickly that Mike gave a start.

“Oh. Fuck.”

“Bill?” Mike’s voice was hesitant. “You okay? Is something wrong?”

“Mike, I… I’m stupid.” Was all Bill could think to say, Mike’s eyebrows going up his forehead.

“What do you mean?”

Bill began shoving his books haphazardly into his bag, not even noticing the papers getting bent every which way as he did so. He had to go. He had a question to ask.

“I’m--I’ve been trying to think of a way to go on a date with Stan, but, but…” Mike was looking at him with complete incredulity now-- “But I’m already dating Stan!”

He took off from Mike’s house as fast as he could, urging Silver down the street. He came to a screeching stop at Stan’s front door, knocking hard and hoping Stan was home.

Thankfully, neither of Stan’s parents came to the door. It was Stan, a pencil in his hand and a concerned look on his face.

“I saw you through the window, you look--is everything alright?”

“Stan, are we dating?”

Stan looked at him for a couple of moments before laughing. Then Bill didn’t laugh back, his face falling into something more serious.

“What are you talking about?”

“I… I didn’t notice it before, we went on the double date with Eddie and Richie that… That it was a date, right? We sat together, and we shared a popcorn, and you held on to me when you got scared. We do stuff--the stuff that we do all the time, like cooking together and marathoning TV reruns and going to the park after school--it’s things that couples do, and I really like you a lot, and then I was at Mike’s and I kind of realized--”

Bill’s flustered explanation stopped there because Stan had stepped close, reaching up with one hand to place it on Bill’s cheek, and drawing him in for a kiss. The kiss was sure and strong, Stan holding onto him tightly, the pencil in Stan’s other hand dropping with a small sound as Stan reached for one of Bill’s hands and held onto it. Stan kept a hold on Bill’s hand as he drew back.

“You finally realized it, huh? We can… We can be officially dating, if you want.”

Bill, unfortunately, was having a hard time finding words. Stan had stolen all the breath from his lungs.

“I…”

“Bill?” Stan tried, his eyebrows drawing together, the expression so concerned and so cute that it brought Bill back in the moment. He could feel his face heating up from his neck to his ears.

“Oh. Oh! Yeah, yeah. I… I mean, I do.”

Stan smiled, the smile growing into a laugh, the laugh relaxing as he put his hand back on Bill’s cheek, drawing him in for another kiss. And this time Bill was ready for it, kissing Stan back. Stan took a tiny step closer as the kiss broke, humming in contentment, pressing his forehead to Bill’s own.

“Boyfriend, then?” He asked, and Bill beamed. Boyfriend. It had a nice ring to it.

[dangertronic]

Not A Monster Chapter 1

Yes, this is a repost of the original version that I’m buffing up to make it better!

Important things, I guess: Reddie, AU where Pennywise is dead, using book, 90s series, original scripts, and 2017 movie things so expect a lot of canon mentioned things!

Tag list: @sten-bros @agrimny (let me know if any of you want in)

Feel free to always leave suggestions and any kind of feedback!

One:

It had been four years since the summer in which the events revolving around the shapeshifting, fear inducing creature had taken place, and while the ‘Losers Club’ as they had named themselves, had mostly recovered from the events of that summer, there were still times when the memories hit them so strongly that it was almost like they were thirteen again.

Richie Tozier was no exception to this, even though he would brush it off If anyone asked him whether or not he still remembered that summer; cracking some crude or stupid joke before he would change the subject entirely.

He didn’t want the reminders of that clown.

And he certainly didn’t want the reminders of the Neibolt House.

He’d never told the others, but in that moment when Pennywise had been advancing on them and Richie had been forcing Eddie to look at him instead of the clown because holy shit they were going to die and that thing did not need to be the last thing that Eddie saw, the half clown-werewolf had been taunting him and only him.

The words had been echoing around Richie’s head like a mantra, and whenever he was alone, be it walking to school, or just lying in bed trying to sleep, those words would come back to him full-force.

Don’t touch the other boys.

If you do then they’ll know.

They’ll know your s-e-c-r-e-t Rich –

“Richie!”

A horn sounded and a hand gripped firmly at the back of his shirt, Richie stumbling backwards into the gutter as the person gave him a firm yank backwards, his heals bumping against the curb; almost toppling him over onto the pavement in the process of getting him out of the way of the car.

The car had already passed by now, and Richie could only stare ahead, unable to bring himself to move, his hand slowly sliding from the strap of his backpack until it was lax at his side, the realisation of what happened slowly sinking in.

He’d been thinking so much about that incident in the Neibolt House that he’d almost walked in front of a car.

“Richie?”

Richie looked for the source of the voice, finding a concerned Stan just behind him on the sidewalk, one hand gripping at the back of Richie’s shirt tightly.

“Are you –”

“I’m fine!” Richie said, a little too cheerfully, raising his hand and gripping at his backpack again.

“You’re not fine, Richie. I’ve been calling for you to wait up for five minutes, and when I finally catch up to you, you almost walk out into traffic. It’s like you’re a damn zombie.”

Richie plastered the biggest grin he could onto his face and leaned over to Stan, pinching at his cheek. “Your concern is touching, Stanley boy, but I’m fine, really. I’m just a little tired today, that’s all.”

He could see the doubt on Stan’s face, one of his slender brows arched, but Stan was never one to keep pushing him, and instead he nodded, finally releasing the back of Richie’s shirt so he could slap the other’s hand from his face.

“Don’t do that.”

Richie laughed, hopefully convincing enough that Stan would actually believe he was fine, before the two of them crossed the street, walking diagonally to avoid the pitch black space of the storm drain on the other side.

Four years and they still avoided the storm drains around town as though they expected Pennywise to reach out of the void and snag them by their foot before pulling them down into the sewer.

But the clown was gone.

They knew that.

They’d seen him die.

They’d watched Bill drive the pole into his head over and over again until there was nothing left.

And yet, as they approached another storm drain further up the street, Stan fell back to walk behind Richie who had subconsciously moved further from the edge of the curb towards the clean cut lawns of the houses that lined the street.

Seventeen year olds weren’t supposed to be afraid of monsters.

But that didn’t stop Eddie freaking out whenever his mother got balloons for a party, building up his anxiety until it turned into a full blown panic attack.

It didn’t stop Stan from running away from a clown at Derry’s summer festival.

It didn’t stop Bill from riding his bike just a little too fast by the storm drains or the Neibolt House whenever he had to pass by.

It didn’t stop Ben from refusing to go to the library alone.

It didn’t stop Mike from avoiding birds or freaking out over the smallest fire that got out of control on their camping trips.

And it definitely didn’t stop Richie from remembering just why the clown showed itself as a damn Werewolf, or stop the guilt of Eddie breaking his arm because he hadn’t been watching him.

The werewolf didn’t scare him, but the implications of it certainly did.

They’ll know your s-e-c-r-e-t Richie.

They’ll call you a monster.

“God fucking damn it!” Richie snapped suddenly, startling a passing group of younger kids, one of which dropped her books onto the pavement in fright.

Unlike Richie, Stan crouched quickly to help her pick them back up. That was just so Stan. The kind, reliable voice of reason. Richie, however, was busy staring at the ground, teeth sinking into his lip. He could vaguely hear Stan behind him apologizing to the group of girls before he tentatively grabbed Richie’s arm as the group crossed the street to avoid Richie.

Richie shook the hand off quickly in a panic with a shout of ‘don’t touch me’. His effort to get away from Stan had him stumbling, almost falling to the ground if not for the fact that he was good at catching himself.

“If you didn’t have such long legs you wouldn’t be almost falling over them all the damn time.”

Richie snorted, turning his attention not to Stan, but to the person who had spoken just behind him. Eddie was standing there, backpack hanging loosely against his shoulder with his fingers drumming against the strap.

This, usually, was the point where Richie would call him a name he ‘hated’ and pinch his cheek before ‘violating’ his personal space with an arm slung over his shoulder as they walked to school.

Instead, he could only stare down at the shorter boy who was now standing directly beside Stan.

“Kaspbrak.” Richie greeted, a little too formally for the liking of the two boys in front of him who exchanged a brief look of concern.

“Did someone break you?” Eddie asked, a brow arched in mock concern. Yeah, because he’d show Richie that he was actually concerned.

“Nope!” Richie said, suddenly back in his ‘chipper’ demeanour. “Just a little tired today. I was up all night thinking about your mo –”

“I swear to fucking god Richie.” Eddie sighed, running a hand through his hair. Why was he even remotely worried about him? Richie only had two modes. Jerk, and bigger Jerk.

But yet, Eddie couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something very forced in Richie’s response.

“What? Are you jealous because you don’t get any action?” Richie asked, a lopsided smile on his face.

Scratch that.

Maybe there was nothing forced about his response after all.

“I hate you.” Eddie said.

“Love you too, Eddie Spaghetti.” Richie responded without missing a beat.

Yeah, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Richie. He was stupid to think otherwise.

Bill and Ben were waiting outside of the school when they arrived, talking quietly amongst themselves. They paused in their conversation when they saw the other three arriving, sharing a quick greeting before heading into school, Richie rushing ahead and pushing through the crowds of students.

“Since when does Richie race to homeroom?” Ben asked, turning sideways to squeeze through a group of students.

“Since he woke up in a particularly weird ass non-Richie mood today.” Stan said, following Ben’s lead. “There’s something clearly wrong with that boy.”

“Stan, you sound like an old man.” Eddie said, stumbling as he tried to push through a group of students who were standing in the middle of the hallway.

“One of us has to.” Stan shot back over his shoulder, heading for the stairwell. “See you guys at Lunch.”

“S-s-see you Suh-Suh-Stan.” Bill said, waving the boy off. “Duh-do you really think th-th-there’s something wrong with Ruh-Ruh-Richie?”

“He was acting a bit weird earlier when I caught up to him and Stan, but he said he was just tired before cracking another one of his stupid jokes.” Eddie said as they entered their homeroom, shooting a quick bye to Ben.

Richie was already sitting at his desk which was located right behind Bill’s his leg bouncing up and down with the heel of his foot barely scraping against the floor.

“You okay Richie?” Eddie asked as he passed his desk to the one behind him.

Richie was a lot of things, but bouncing bundle of anxiety that couldn’t sit still in his chair had never been one of them.

Until right now.

Richie twisted in his seat, flashing Eddie a smile that made his breath hitch into his throat. Well that was weird.

“Perfectly fine, Eds!” Richie assured, raising a hand to give his friend a mock two finger salute. “I’m always fine when you’re around, love!”

“Beep, beep Richie.” Eddie hissed as someone turned in their seat to see what was going on behind them.

The girl, Jessica, gave him a sympathetic look. She was no stranger to the way Richie was, especially with Eddie. It was almost like Richie did everything he could to make the poor boy die of embarrassment.

“I told you before, Eddie, you need to train your puppy.”

“I’m trying Jess.” Eddie huffed, propping his head up with one of his hands. “Do you know any puppy training classes?”

“Sorry, Eddie, can’t say I do.” Jessica said, turning back around in her seat.

Eddie smiled, shaking his head. Jessica was nice enough. Sometimes she reminded him of Beverly, and he didn’t miss her as much on the rare occasion that he and Jessica actually held a conversation.

“Oh sure, she cracks a joke and you smile, but I do it and its beep, beep Richie or shut up.” Richie grumbled.

Eddie snorted, drumming his fingers idly against his cheek. “Maybe I just like her more than I do you, Trashmouth.”

The reaction was instant. The smile that had been plastered on Richie’s face faltered into a frown, and then a grimace. He turned in his seat quickly, his back slamming against the backrest of the chair as his attention fixed ahead.

“R –” Eddie was cut off as Richie held up a hand in a gesture that screamed ‘don’t’, and he heaved a sigh, looking out the window rather than the back of Richie’s head. “Fine jerk, be like that.”

-

Richie didn’t wait for his friends after school that day. The second the bell went, so did he, and the only thing they could see was the godawful Hawaiian shirt as he took off. He bumped into someone in the crowd of students he pushed his way through, not even stopping to register that the person he’d almost knocked over was Stan.

With an exasperated sigh, Stan decided against going after him, hunting out Bill and the others instead.

“I just – I don’t know!” Eddie snapped, slamming his locker shut with a loud clang as Stan joined them. “He’s been a jerk all day!”

“I thought that was just normal Richie behaviour.” Stan said, earning a snort from Ben.

“This isn’t just Richie-level jerk, Stanley!” Eddie flung his backpack onto his shoulder, almost smacking Bill in the gut in the process. “This is actual jerk. I cracked one joke about liking Jess more than I do him and he’s been ignoring me since.”

Stan furrowed his brow in thought. “The new girl?” Eddie nodded his confirmation. Stan tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh. “I get it.”

“Wh-wh-what?” Bill asked, sending a confused look between the two of them.

“He’s jealous.” Stan said, traces of a lazy smirk still on his face. “Think about it, you told him you liked a girl who you’ve known for half a year more than him, who you’ve known since you were a kid. He probably thinks you’re trying to replace him or something.”

Eddie groaned, slamming his head into the locker. “He’s such an idiot.”

“That’s the general consensus, yes.”

Eddie grumbled something incoherent into the metal of the door before pushing himself upright. “She’s just a partner project! It doesn’t mean I’m going to replace my friends with her. We’ve all been through hell together. We –”

We killed a damn clown four years ago together that no one else could see.

“I know Eddie.” Stan said, frustration clear in his voice. “But did you ever tell Richie that?”

Eddie turned to him, staring silently for a moment. “Are you fucking kidding me, Stan? You know what he’s like. I can’t just go, hey you’re my best friend, you know that right, and I love you, all of you. He’d make it into some annoying joke.”

“Huh…” Stan mused, a look of interest coming to his face. “And here I thought you’d just have to say: hey, Richie, I’m not replacing you okay? You’re my best friend.”

“That’s what I –”

“That’s not what you said, and it’s not what you meant, and you tacked the rest of us on to cover your tracks.”

“What tracks?”

Bill looked between them, and then he was grinning. “Oh-oh my guh-god.”

“I don’t think I like whatever it is you’re trying to imply.” Eddie grumbled.

Stan patted him on shoulder lightly. “Don’t worry about it, Eddie. It’ll come to you soon enough and you’ll be like ‘shit’.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m sure I don’t like it.”

“Oh on the contrary, I think you do like it.”

“Shut up Stan!”

The moment Richie was in the sanctuary of his own bedroom, he tossed his backpack under his desk and toed off his shoes, dropping face down onto his bed with a groan.

He hated it when Eddie would talk to that girl. He hated it when he smiled at something she said, or when he’d laugh with her. He hated it when Eddie allowed her to punch his shoulder lightly and call him ‘Ed’.

And he definitely hated it when Eddie called her ‘Jess’.

He just didn’t understand why.

Stop lying to yourself. You know why. A voice in the back of his head nagged.

Don’t touch the other boys.

They’ll call you a monster.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Richie snapped, grabbing his pillow and shoving it over his head in an attempt to block out the voice that continued to nag him.

You know why you ran into that room full of clowns.

You know why a dead Eddie popped out of that damn mattress in the Neibolt House.

“Go away!” Richie all but screamed into the mattress, voice muffled under the pillow. “You’re gone! You’re dead! I saw you die! Leave me alone!”

They’re gonna find out your secret.

They’ll hate you.

Monster.

Richie’s fingers dug into the soft material of the pillow case as he gripped tighter, almost suffocating himself with the pillow as he screwed his eyes shut.

“No, no, no. Go away. Leave me alone. You’re dead. You’re de –”

“Richie?”

The voice in Richie’s head wavered and fell quiet, silence settling in like a fog. Footsteps sounded outside of the dark void he’d built for himself until they stopped somewhere nearby, a hand grasping at his own.

“Richie. Let go of the pillow before you suffocate yourself.” The voice soothed, their thumb running against the back of the other’s hand.

It was easier to distinguish the voice as Eddie’s now he didn’t have the voice of Pennywise scraping around in the back of his head, and he found that it was oddly comforting. Richie complied surprisingly easy, releasing the pillow from his death grip so Eddie could remove it with his free hand, tossing it behind Richie on the bed.

“Eddie?” Richie asked, blinking in the sudden light that he found himself back in.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Eddie assured him.

He attempting to release Richie’s hand, though the taller boy was having none of it, grasping onto Eddie’s hand as though it were some kind of anchor, maybe even a lifeline at this point.

“Richie? Is something wrong?” Eddie asked, awkwardly taking a seat on the bed next him.

“I –” Richie paused for a moment and then swallowed thickly. “Bad dream.”

“Of course you were asleep.” Eddie said, heaving a sigh. “You’re so lazy, Tozier.”

“Yeah, that’s me. Lazy ass Richie Tozier.”

Eddie bit back the irritated groan that was trying to push from his throat. Richie was so frustrating sometimes. Especially when it was so damn obvious that there was something wrong with him.

Forcing the truth out of Richie was not a tactic that worked though, so Eddie sat there silently, offering silent comfort with his thumb, brushing it carefully against the back of Richie’s hand, and once in a while Richie would squeeze his hand.

It was their code.

Every brush of the thumb was an ‘I’m here for you.’

And every squeeze of the hand was a ‘thank you.’

“Hey Eds?” Richie asked after another long moment of silence.

“Don’t call me that. You know I hate that.” Eddie quipped, though the smile on his face betrayed him.

“Yeah, okay.” Richie said, rolling onto his back to look up at Eddie better. “Do you still… think about that summer? Like really remember it?”

Eddie stared down at him, a serious expression set on his face. For a moment, Richie was sure he wasn’t going to answer, the tension thickening between them in the silence.

“I remember it. Sometimes a little too much.”

“Yeah?”

Eddie nodded, and the thumb stopped it’s brushing. “I… sometimes it feels like my arm is broken again, and it wakes me up at night. Sometimes… I remember the leper that crawled out from under the house and – yeah. I remember it.”

Richie nodded, threading his fingers through Eddie’s to squeeze at his hand better and soothe the anxiety that was no doubt building up in his friend. Eddie was strong, yes, and he was off all of the placebo bullshit, but the anxiety was definitely a real issue he suffered with, forcing him to remain on his inhaler.

He reached out with his free hand, patting at Eddie’s pockets until he could feel the inhaler, dipping his fingers in to hook around the plastic device which he pulled out, fumbling with the cap to push it off.

Eddie took the inhaler from him with a fleeting thankful look on his face before pushing the end into his mouth and pushing the metal canister down.

“Sorry.” Richie said, giving his hand another squeeze. “I shouldn’t have brought that up. I just… lately… I’ve been –”

Eddie removed the inhaler from his mouth, holding his hand up to halt Richie’s words before takin in a deep breath.

“I get it. Is that why you’ve been weird today?”

Richie snorted, tucking his free hand under his head. “Gonna have to specify a little there, Eds.”

Eddie shot him a less-than-intimidating glare. “You know what I’m talking about, jerk.”

Richie sighed, closing his eyes. “Yeah. It’s why I’ve been… weird.”

Eddie fell silent, studying Richie for a moment. His breathing was calm, and the shallow rise and fall of his chest was a sure signal that Richie was struggling to stay awake, the dark circles under his eyes from clear sleep deprivation barely hidden by the thick lenses of his glasses.

Eddie sighed, releasing Richie’s hand from his grip and leaning forward, carefully taking the taped up glasses in his hands before removing them.

“What are you doing?” Richie asked, opening a single eye to take in the blurry Eddie as he stood.

Eddie placed the glasses and inhaler onto the nightstand, leaning over Richie to grab the pillow. “Lift your head up.”

Richie complied and Eddie tucked the pillow under her head. “This still doesn’t tell me what you’re doing.”

“You haven’t been sleeping, idiot, so now you’re gonna take a nap.”

Richie chuckled tiredly. “What are you; my nurse?”

Eddie released an exasperated huff. “If it gets you to nap, then yes.”

Richie shifted across the bed, patting the space beside him. “Stay?”

Eddie relented, surprisingly easily, and lowered himself onto the bed next to Richie who rolled onto his side, draping an arm over the other’s waist.

“Hey Eds, I have a new name for you.” Richie mumbled tiredly into Eddie’s shoulder.

“No, Richie.”

“You’re now an Eddiebear. Get it? Like teddy bear.”

“For fuck sake, Richie.”

Richie chuckled tiredly into Eddie’s shoulder, nuzzling his face into his shirt as his arms tightened around his stomach. “Hey Eds?”

“What do you want now Richie? You’re supposed to be sleeping.” Eddie grumbled.

“Thanks. For always – you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about it.” Eddie sighed as Richie practically curled around him, tucking the shorter boy into his front. “Now take a damn nap before I hit you with a baseball bat or something.”