prank || reddie

4

3rd person POV

Eddie took a deep breath, calming himself as much as possible before he reached out and pressed the doorbell.
"Eds!" Richie exclaimed as the door swung open, and Eddie smiled at him.
"Hey Rich, are the others here yet?" Eddie asked, looking past him but unable to see anyone.
"Yep, we're just waiting for Ben, as usual," Richie sighed, rolling his eyes, "Come on,"

Eddie walked inside and through to the front room, where the rest of the Losers - excluding Ben - were sat in various positions. Stan and Bill sat suspiciously close on beanbags, Mike was in the armchair and Bev was sat on the floor by the left of the couch. Richie shut the front door and joined the others, jumping onto the couch. Eddie looked around nervously, trying to find a spot that wasn't right next to Richie, but failed. He flicked his eyes downwards and sat on the opposite side of the couch, leaning so far away from his best friend that they may as well have been on opposite sides of the room. That's what it felt like to Richie, anyway, who was now extremely uncomfortable.

"So, how about we choose a movie while we wait for Ben?" Bev asks - noticing the awkward silence - and Richie was quick to agree, grabbing the remote from the table beside him. They flicked through the movies, all shouting their opinions as they selected trailers, until eventually deciding on some new horror movie none of them had seen before. Eddie wasn't bad with horror movies, but he had no idea just how scary this one would soon turn out to be.

Just as they selected the movie, the doorbell rang once again and Richie jumped up, excitedly making his way towards it. Richie had invited all of the Losers over to his house for a sleepover as his parents let him do pretty much whatever he wanted. They had been given the front room for the night and Richie had made his embarrassing parents promise to stay out whilst his friends were there, they had agreed, saying they would stay upstairs. He and Went had already blown up the air beds, and they had made sure they fitted on the floor before picking them up and leaning them against the far wall. Richie had told everyone to bring sleeping bags, and they all had. The Tozier's had a substantially big front room and there was enough space for six single air beds if you positioned them correctly, Richie was going to sleep on the couch.

Ben grinned sheepishly as Richie swung the door open for the sixth time that afternoon, and immediately handed Richie the bag of candy he'd stopped to get on the way here as a sort of apology.
"Sorry I'm late, but you can't have a sleepover without snacks!" He exclaimed, and Richie rolled his eyes.
"Okay Haystack, you've been forgiven," He said, standing aside so Ben could shuffle through. He sat down next to Beverly on the floor, and the others waved at him. Beverly shot him a smile and he immediately blushed, looking down at his feet.

Richie returned, and exclaimed:
"Let the sleepover commence!" In an impression no one - not even Eddie, who had learnt almost all of Richie's 'Voices' by now - could recognise.
"You've gotta stop doing that," Stan complained.
"Um you do know this is my house right? I could just make you leave if I wanted," Richie said, slapping a hand over his heart in mock hurt.
"Yeah, but you won't. I'm the life of the party," Stan said in a completely monotone voice, causing them all to burst out laughing.
"See what I mean,"
"Alright, alright, I won't," Richie grinned when the laughter had stopped, and he selected the movie they had picked earlier and pressed play.

At first they found the jump scares pretty lame, none of them really having any effect on the group, but they began to get better and better. At one point Mike could practically feel his heart in his throat, the suspense of the scene getting to him. Richie's skin was crawling with fear and Ben was sweating in his seat as the movie continued but all of them were far to embarrassed to admit it. About half way through there was a brilliant jump scare, and they all screamed. Eddie's was loudest of all, and Richie automatically looked over at him. Eddie met his gaze but quickly tore it away again, cheeks flushing red. He was still sitting as far away as possible, but his left arm was outstretched and Richie was determined to comfort him. He reached out and gently placed his hand atop of Eddie's, stroking his soft skin kindly. Eddie immediately drew his hand away, turning his head in the opposite direction of Richie's.

Richie frowned and pulled his own hand away. Is this my fault? Is it because of what happened at the quarry? It has been four days since then and this is the first time i've seen Eddie so... possibly... He returned his gaze to the movie and tried not to dwell on the thought, but it was no use. He simply couldn't stand the thought that he might have fucked something up between them. Is my crush on him obvious now? I thought he was okay with what I was doing... I should've been more careful. I should never have pranked him in the first place.

These thoughts and others like it whirled around and around in Richie's head and when he finally managed to focus on the movie again the credits had started to roll. Mike got up and switched the main lights on, and they all looked scared to death.
"That was..." Stan trailed off.
"T-t-terrifying," Bill finished, and Bev nodded in agreement. Eddie still said nothing.
"You ok Eds?" Richie asked worriedly, and Eddie wouldn't even look in his direction.
"Yes," He said plainly, and that was the end of that conversation.

By now it was six PM, and they were all starving. They agreed on ordering pizza and Richie went to grab his phone, coming back with it in hand a moment later. He dialled the pizza place and ordered a large cheese pizza, a large pepperoni pizza and two large ham and pineapple pizzas (much to Stan's disgust), along with a two litre bottle of coke and a large garlic bread. They sat and chatted until the food arrived, and Richie payed for it with the money his parents had given him beforehand. They ate the food quickly, Stan making numerous comments about how 'pineapple will never belong on pizza' and Richie flicking him off or threatening to kick him out every time.

When all the food and drink was gone, they started eating Ben's snacks. He'd bought so much candy they weren't able to finish it all, and Mike was nearly sick by the end. No one threw up though, and they all decided to get ready for bed. Together they managed to slide the air beds from where they stood against the wall and set them down in a way they would all fit well, everyone claiming one as theirs and placing their sleeping bag on top of it. Richie stayed with a blanket on the couch and, much to his dismay, Eddie chose the bed furthest away from him. I've definitely fucked up.

No one could actually be bothered to get into pyjamas aside from Eddie (he was wearing plaid baggy pyjama bottoms and a grey t-shirt which Richie found absolutely adorable, he afterwards hated himself for having that thought), and none of them were surprised by this fact. Similarly, no one brushed their teeth apart from Eddie, who made sure to give them all a lecture on what might happen if enough plaque built up on your enamel. It didn't make any difference though, and eventually Eddie calmed down and got into his sleeping bag like the others had done. Richie scrolled through the other movie options, selecting a random one, but they were all to tired to pay attention. Slowly they began to fall asleep, and when Richie could hear the others' soft snoring and his own eyelids were dropping dangerously, he switched it off again. He lay down, shut his eyes, and was gone in seconds.