coy ➳ Reddie

Twelve

A/N Trigger warning: abusive parent, homophobic slurs

The next morning, Eddie's dreams were swept away when he heard something quietly shuffle next to him. He opened his big, brown eyes, and saw Richie sitting up and putting on his slightly smeared glasses. 

"Hi." Eddie said, keeping his voice down so as to not wake the rest of the group. An instant after hearing Eddie's soft voice, Richie smiled a tired smile.

"Hi. Good morning." Richie said, his voice raspy and sleepy. Thin strands of his jet black hair stuck out, tangled and messy.

"What time is it?" 

"About about ten thirty." Richie said.

"I'm gonna get up, it's late." Eddie said, starting to unzip his sleeping-bag.

Stan woke up. "Hey, guys." he muttered, and smiled.

"Morning, Stan The Man." Richie said.

And, soon after, the rest of the group woke up.

The seven of them spent the rest of the morning making breakfast and either laughing or rolling their eyes at Richie's occasional jokes. Then, of course, came the time when they all the boys had to go home, so they all said their goodbyes to Beverly, and Mike drove Richie, Eddie, and Stan through the pouring rain to their homes, making sure to drop off Eddie last, so that his mother wouldn't see that the sleepover consisted of more than just Stan. Mike also made sure to hide his own face when Eddie got out of the car.

  ♚  

Eddie, while holding Carrie underneath one skinny arm and the bag he brought in the other, walked into his front door, the mild smell of hand sanitizer and flowery perfume that his mother was constantly giving off filling his senses. His mother was sitting on the couch, as she usually was in her free time, and she quickly looked up at the frail boy with her dull, and stern brown eyes.

"Hello, Eddie. Did you enjoy your sleepover?" she asked.

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"Did you take your pill this morning, Eddie?" 

"No, I didn't. I'll go do that right now."

Eddie walked to the kitchen, setting his book down on the counter, and getting himself a glass of tap water to take the pill he knew he didn't need, but still took anyway. He dug out the small orange bottle, picked out one of the red and white pills, swallowed it down with the water, and went upstairs.

When he went into his room, he started to carefully put away his clothes, and when he was finished, he slipped his sleeping bag underneath his small, twin-sized bed. It was then that he noticed that he had left Carrie in the kitchen. 

Eddie walked downstairs, and noticed that Sonia wasn't in the TV room, sitting and boring into the TV with her cold and muted eyes. He walked into the kitchen, and she was standing there, making herself a snack of some sort. Eddie quickly picked up Carrie, and before he could walk away and go into his comforting bedroom again, she glanced up at him.

"Is that a new book?" she asked, with not anger, but interest in her monotone voice.

"Um, no it's not." Eddie said, hoping she'd let him go and not snoop in his belongings. But she pulled the large book from his small hands, and examined the cover.

"Carrie. Hmm. I didn't know you had this book." 

Sonia then flipped the book so its back was facing up, and started flipping the pages until she reached the front page. Eddie felt some dread starting to grow over his emotions. Sonia was looking at Richie's scrawled out signature. She looked up at Eddie with a neutral face, but also with eyes full of ire.