Hold Me (Reddie)

Make My Dreams Come True

They walked along the frozen river, Eddie and Richie in front, Beverly and Bill behind them. They carried on the casual smalltalk you'd expect. Bev had been gone for some time, they had to reconnect. The scariest moment was when Bill asked her if she had a boyfriend out in Portland, to which she simply replied with a signature wink. Eddie assumed that meant no, but he had a hard time reading people.

"What's that mean, Bev?" Richie looked at Eddie like he was an idiot. He sure did feel like one.

"I was playing with him. I don't. Portland is cool though, they don't know me. They just think I'm the weird kid from Derry." No, Eddie thought. Not a weird kid. You are not a weird kid. No fucking way Bev, none of us are weird kids. We are losers, now and forever. Long live the losers of Derry! But instead Eddie stayed silent with one hand in his pocket and the other in Richie's.

"Like something normal could come out of Derry," Richie laughed hysterically. "Come for the high school football team, stay for the freakiness!"
Bill looked at Richie with some sort of anger or fear. Whatever it was it was intense, Eddie could tell. God, Richie had broken one of Bill's two simple rules. The second one, in which he was never supposed to speak of the summer. And he just did. He did! Eddie looked at him and his cheeks flushed with color, almost at a loss for words. For any loser other than Stan or Bill, mentioning was fine. Bad, but fine. Stan would have gone bright red, maybe vomited, or started crying. He was dangerously fragile. Bill was the only one who got angry. They were supposed to forget. Mentioning didn't help the forgetting process. And it wasn't like Richie had even spoken of It, but he had implied it all the same. Bill didn't care.

"Rich," he started, breathing in, "what the he-he-hell are you d-doing?"

"I'm sorry, let's just forget it, okay? Isn't that what you want? To forget that our childhood was murdered...I don't even remember half of it anymore, but what I do remember scares the living shit out of me! I know you want us to move on, but I can't. And don't get mad at me, Eddie brought it up a few days back."

Bill was a little hurt and shocked by the comments, and looked at Eddie for confirmation. "You?"

"Yeah," Eddie admitted. At first he thought Bill was going to yell, or hurt him, but Bill collected himself and after a brief moment they all continued walking. It was that way, Eddie assumed. Maybe if it was Richie who had initially brought it up, Bill would punch him. Bill probably had no issue punching Richie. But Eddie was different. Everyone north of the canal knew how fragile he was, even if he hated to admit it sometimes. Bill didn't want to hurt him. Eddie had self control, for the most part, unlike Richie.

"I've never spoken about it," Beverly started. "But sure, I've thought about quite a lot. I missed you guys a lot. It's unfortunate Ben can't be here. He was sweet." More than sweet, but Beverly knew that. It was more than obvious that Ben had a crush on her back then. Even before the summer. Back in fifth grade, with her pigtails and whatnot.

"Ol' Haystack is gone. New Hampshire, then Nebraska. Pretty soon he'll be in Mexico," Richie sneered. "I think he's trying to run away from us."

"Not us Richie, you," Eddie clarified. Richie flipped him off simply and then closed it in with a peck on the cheek.

"You two are adorable!" Beverly squealed. "I know a gay boy in Portland, his name is Tyler. He kissed his boyfriend once, but they can't compare with you guys."

"Bill still owes me five bucks," Richie giggled.

"Shut up!"

————

There was a little thing that changed that walk along the river. Eddie couldn't place it until later, when he was in Richie's room, listening to the same Manilow record as before, talking and thinking and kissing occasionally. He realized after a kiss or two what had changed, what glorious change has occurred. Richie had grown comfortable with it. He was no longer afraid. They kissed in front of Beverly, even just a peck, and suddenly he wasn't afraid anymore. It made Eddie so happy when he realized it that he smiled way to big for someone listening to Manilow.

"What's that all about?" Richie asked, concerned. "That curvy thing on your face? It almost looks like Eddie Spaghetti is happy! But that's impossible?"

"Beep-beep, Richie," Eddie laughed.

"Fuck off, Eds, I'm only messing with you. What's your issue?"

"Well," Eddie said, "I have a predicament. I'm falling in love with the most obnoxious kid on Earth. He never shuts up and he thinks his voices are good."

Richie nodded. He understood the game perfectly. "No, I'm falling in love with the most annoying kid on Earth. He is over dramatic and has very bad breath, even though I'm sure his ratty fatass mother makes him brush his teeth four times a day so he doesn't somehow die of bad-breath-itis."

"I hate you sometimes," Eddie laughed painfully at his beautiful friend. Someday he'll call me his boyfriend. I will mark my calendar and write about it in the diary I don't own. Dear Diary, today Rich the Bitch called me his boyfriend. Eddie blushed just thinking about it.

"You like me," Richie informed him. "You really, really like me. You dream about me, Eds. I'm making your dreams come true, aren't I?"

Eddie couldn't do anything but smile.