my boy | reddie

three

when richie and eddie arrived at the party eddie was immediately turned off. richie could tell so he rested his hand on the boy's back and led him slowly into the house. 

although richie was known as a loser he was also known to be an okay party goer so he was always welcome. eddie quickly grew more uncomfortable the deeper they went into the party. he subtly hooked his finger onto one of richie's belt loops to be sure he wouldn't lose him. richie noticed this small gesture but didn't mention it.

before the two could make it into the kitchen someone loudly called out, "7 minutes in heaven"

"come on eddie! we've gotta go!" richie dragged eddie back through the crowd and followed the voice that called out. 

"you know tozier you're not too good at convincing." richie ignored eddie's words and sat down on a couch where everyone was ready to play the game.

"okay everyone." a redheaded girl got everyone's attention. "write your name on a slip of paper and put it into this jar." she pointed at the pens and paper as she set the jar onto the coffee table. 

"richie i'm not doing this." eddie disclaimed. 

"of course you are!" richie seemed to make all of eddie's decisions lately. although richie gave more of an attempt to convince eddie now than he did earlier.

"i agreed to come not participate." eddie was not having it, he really just wanted to go home, or even to richie's house. as long as it wasn't here.

"you don't go to a restaurant just to sit there." richie pointed out.

"unless it's the food court of a mall." eddie turned to face the voice that came from behind him. 

"stanley?" he questioned. 

"i couldn't let you guys come to a party without us." he said as he gestured to bill.

"but you hate parties." eddie said.

"as much as you." replied stanley. "but bill doesn't and i couldn't spend my friday night alone." stanley sat between richie and eddie and bill sat on the left side of richie. as stanley and eddie were talking richie wrote everyone's name down and put them into the jar without eddie knowing.

"alright." the girl called out. "we're drawing names." she pulled the first name out. eddie anxiously tapped his foot and crossed the fingers of both his hands.

she pulled out the first slip of paper and eddie subconsciously gripped stanley's thigh to reassure himself. "richie!" a wave of 'ooh's filled the room as a smirked filled richie's face. "aaaaaand..." the girl dragged out. "emily!" emily smiled widely as she followed richie toward the closet. 

eddie finally let go of stanley's thigh. 

"a bit nervous are you?" he asked. 

"i wanna go home." now more than ever he thought to himself. 

"me too."  stanley admitted. "wanna get out of here?" eddie nodded frantically. stanley turned to bill. "hey bill we're gonna split, let richie know we went to my house." 

"y-yeah cool. s-s-see ya." stanley and eddie waved to bill as they left the house.

"i really need a car." stanley sighed as the left the house.

"i'm just glad to be breathing in real air again." eddie laughed. he walked side by side with stanley until they made it to his house. it was a lengthy walk but eddie was quickly relieved to make it into stan's explicitly clean room. he jumped onto the bed and enjoyed the comfort.

"wanna do anything?" stanley offered. 

"not really." eddie admitted with a yawn. "i'm a bit exhausted." he slipped his arm under the pillow to support himself and before he knew it drifted to sleep. 

stanley was doodling a picture of a bird when he heard a quiet knock on the door downstairs. he knew that everyone was asleep so he gently walked down the steps to reveal richie at the door. 

"finally." stan sighed. "i thought i was gonna end up sleeping on the couch."

"you know you'd never. you'd rather deprive yourself from sleep than to not sleep in a bed." even at two am richie still managed to get a -not so great- joke into his dialogue. 

"whatever. just come get eddie." the two boys stumbled up the stairs as quietly as they could, much of a challenge for richie. 

when richie saw eddie sleeping soundly a tsunami of relief washed over him. for some reason he was always a nervous wreck when he didn't know the boy's condition. he admired his sleeping frame thinking of every smart remark eddie would but couldn't make right now. richie felt a peng of guilt when he realized he'd have to wake him from his beauty sleep. 

"you can't get jealous that you didn't get picked with this treasure." richie chuckled.

"who invited this loser?" eddie mumbled with a sleepy voice masking his normal one. richie smiled and stanley smiled knowing he'd be able to sleep soon. 

"thanks stanley." richie said once more before carrying the small boy out of the house to bring to his own.

"don't drop the poor kid." he laughed. 

"oh look, the nature boy does have a giggle in him after all." stanley closed the door on richie leaving him to carry eddie the whole way to his house. 

"these are one of the times i'm grateful you're tiny." richie knows eddie had fallen back asleep and couldn't hear him. it was nice though, richie would rather die than be caught not insulting the boy.