Runt in Shining Armor (Reddie) - COMPLETED

Jealousy

"Spaghetti!"

Eddie looks up at the bleachers, huffing when he sees Richie. "What do you want-"

"I just want to sit next to my spaghet, is that so bad?" Richie smiles, patting the spot next to him as if Eddie were a dog. "I'm not 'your spaghet,' dude, I have a girlfriend..." He walks up the steps and sits next to Richie, putting his stuff down. "Are you uh... sure, about that?" he asks, suddenly getting more serious. "Yeaaaaah, why?" Eddie questions.

They were talking about Sammie Mellon, Eddie's girlfriend. Despite Eddie caring deeply about her, he wasn't really feeling the romantic part of it. Sammie could tell, though. So...

"Didn't she break up with you?"

Those words hit Eddie like the day he first tried baseball. He got hit in the chest once, and the split second he felt it, he knew it wouldn't be for him.

Plus his mom wouldn't approve anyway.

Richie stared at him, completely insensitive.

"Um, no? Why, is she going to...?" he says quickly, his voice cracking. Richie could already see Eddie's eyes start to water, and his lip quivering. "Yeah- dude, she is, I'm sorry-... girls aren't worth it, y'know, Eds?" Without thinking, Eddie shoves his head into Richie's chest, sobbing. He puts his arms around Eddie in return.

They stay like that for a while, Richie feeling horrible about not being able to help Eddie.

A few minutes pass. "Edward, you'd better wipe up those tears, because Denbrough is walking down here as we speak. Do you want hum to think we're a bunch of emotional queers? No? Chop chop! Get up!" Richie announces in one of his accents, pulling away. His voices only made things a little bit better for Eddie.

Eddie sits back up, wiping his eyes. "Man- now my shirt's all wet. That's alright though-" Richie confirms, to make sure Eddie doesn't get more upset with himself. "Sorry," Eddie says, as Richie peels his tear-soaked shirt from his chest.

At last, Stanley and Bill arrive. "Wuh-wh- whut- w- what h-happened, Ed?" Bill stutters out. "Nothing, j-"

"Just that stupid piece of shit Sammie girl. Broke Eddie's heart. Bet she's already got another boyfriend... bitch," Richie blurted. He didn't really understand why he was so upset, but it was the first thing that came to his mind, so he let it out. All three of them stared at Richie for a few seconds.

"So uh- where's Beverly, Ben, and Mike-"

"Beverly got sick and went home early, I suppose Ben's with her. About Mike... I don't really know," Stanley explained.

   The principal grabbed her microphone, and started one of her dumb motivational speeches about how the Sweetheart Dance was an important event, and how great the school is, and all of that jazz. Richie makes fun of her quietly, trying to earn a chuckle or two from Eddie. He, fortunately, surpresses his laughs with a hand to his mouth.

   That sure gave Richie a confidence boost.

   A few minutes later, Richie left to go get concessions.

   "Hey Eddie?"

   "Hm?..." he responds, looking back at Stanley. Wuthout really noticing what he was doing, he had watched Richie walk across the gym floor, completely neglecting Stan and Bill's conversation. "I see you're already over Sammie."

   Eddie looks back over at Richie, still running to the consessions. His mouth opens a little bit, in shock...

   ...or realization.

   "Uh, no. No. Not..." Eddie replies, trailing off. Stanley gives him a smug look, looking back at Bill and continuing the conversation.

   He gets lost in thought again.

   A gentle poke on the shoulder makes him snap from his thoughts and daydreams. "Eds?"

   He looks over to see Richie, holding a piece of pizza out to him. "Here-" he says, squinting. "You alright?"

   "He's fine, just got a new little crush... that's all," Stanley informs. Richie's eyebrows raise, clearly interested. "A crush- who? Already?"

   "I'm not a snitch, Tozier," he says. "Damn, fine..." Richie mumbles back.

   The boys keep the conversation going, until the Macarena comes on. "Shit, guys," Richie says, standing up. "Gotta go, this is my jam." He runs down the steps to the gtm floor. The others watch in amusement.

   The majority of the other kids stood around and watched too. But all Richie was concerned about was singing and dancing right.

   The thing was, nobody ever actually danced at dances. They all just sat around and ate, talked, or ran around on the dance floor. And Richie Tozier doing the Macarena was their show.

   After it ended, Richie found himself back up in the bleachers with the Losers. Eddie stared at him. "What the hell is a Macarena?" he asks, looking around at the three. "Um, my jam. Duh. It's only the best song ever, sent down here by Jesus himself."

   The boys lost track of time, and soon enough, 5:30 PM arrived.

   "Will everyone please sit down? It's time to announce the Sweetheart King and Queen!" the principal says excitedly, grinning up at the remaining students in the bleachers. "But first, we have to announce the candidates!"

   In pairs, the teacher called out kids from a short list- alphabetically. The kids in the bleachers clapped and screamed for their friends, Richie letting out a super loud screech for some kid he didn't even know, just for the sake of being loud. She finally started announcing 8th graders.

   "...Kay McCall, Richard Tozier and Danielle Mitchell..."

   Richie looked around at the other three boys. "What...?" he asks, running down the stairs again. He quietly took Danielle's arm, not having the slightest idea why he was a candidate. They walked along the gym floor, as people took pictures and clapped. He put on a fake smile.

   Meanwhile, Eddie was silently planning Danielle Mitchell's death.

   He leaned foreward, his teeth clenched together. He wasn't sure why, but that girl pissed him off.

   Eddie looked at their arms interlocked, then over at Richie's face. Realizing Richie didn't like Danielle in the slightest, it calmed his nerves a bit. But it was only in that moment when he realized something.

   Richie was gay- obviously. But what if Stanley was right- that Eddie actually was gay? That he did have a huge dumb obvious crush on Richie? It would explain quite a bit...

   Eddie just decided that this was simply too much dor one day. He put his head in his hands and shut his eyes.