Eclipse ✧ Reddie

VIII. to aid

aid - to help, typically of a practical nature

"Speak of the devil," Stan muttered under his breath, the first to speak upon Richie's arrival. Meanwhile, Eddie was all of a sudden at a loss for words, soft lips ever-so slightly parted to give way to his apparent shock. 

"Sorry I'm late- I'm guessing you all know that shithead, Henry Bowers. He gave me a bit of a run for my money," Richie spoke up again, the cool tones of his voice contrasting against the reds of his face, colors with a quality that made them look like they had been painted on with an unsteady hand, leaving his pale canvas blotchy and uneven. The group seemed to simultaneously shudder at the mention of the cursed name that they were all unfortunately familiar with and he took a moment of appreciation for his practice in lying.

Bill spoke up after swallowing the lump in his throat. "Yeah, w-we've all been there, R-Richie."

"Then I'm also guessing that you're not expecting me to jump off that there cliff after this here encounter, lady and gents." 

"Of course," Bev said then, her cherry chap-stick lined lips turned up the corners thanks to Richie's simple acknowledgement; Normally, in reference to the losers as a group, it was just "Boys-" or "Gentlemen-" The others had quickly nodded, except Eddie, who was seemingly still fixed in his state of wide-eyed bewilderment, and Richie had popped a squat on the big rock that they had all sat on at one time or another. 

"Well, you best be heading for the waters," he reminded from his new spot, gesturing broadly.

 As if she didn't have a care in the world, Beverly took Richie's suggestion into account before the rest of the loser's could rekindle their argument about who was jumping first. Then, barely even a second after her red head disappeared over the edge, Ben went after her, and soon the others followed in a staggering line until only Eddie was left with the (un)honorary member of their group. The smaller boy had since recovered from his rightfully precedent shock, now slipping his clothes back on and proceeding to walk over to Richie's chosen resting place where he carefully sat down next to him, uncovered, lightly tanned legs sensitive to all of the rock's rough indentations. 

"What are you doing?" Richie's raised eyebrows and hesitant tone offered to show off his surprise without a clear mention of it among his words. Not that anyone could blame him; The same guy who was petulantly expressing his excess of hate for him minutes before had now taken a seat beside him like they were complete pals. And that  was what kept any obscene words from tumbling out from Richie's unhinged mouth, at least for now. 

"Looking for something," Eddie responded after a minute, his voice sounding disembodied as he filtered through a compartment of the fanny pack secured around his waist. 

Richie started to ask him what that would be, but was interrupted by Eddie closing the gap in between their legs and using his free hand to gently take hold of Richie's wounded face. Richie winced in response followed by a "What are you doing?" and then a"Yowza!" when Eddie pressed a damp cotton ball to the open cut that sat across his cheek bone. 

"Stay still, will you?" the smaller boy exclaimed, honey brown eyes roaming across Richie's face as he cleaned up the various wounds. 

"What do you expect? That shit stings!" 

"Well, it'll sting a lot worse if you let all of this get infected!" 

Rather than keeping up the bickering, Richie just sighed and shut his mouth, instead using the allotted time to examine the features of the boy perched in front of him. He traced over the dotted freckles that the two of them had in common, the eyelashes that batted at him each time Eddie blinked and framed eyes that he noted looked pretty cute while they were concentrated, the fingers tucked lightly around his jaw that emulated a soft touch he had many times before wished he would receive from his ever-broken mother- 

"Okay, you're done," Eddie said, placing a final light blue band-aid and moving back to admire (scratch that, study) his work. In the background, you could hear splashing and laughing coming from the waters below. 

"You didn't have to do that in the first place."

"I'm aware." 

"Aw, so now you care about me," Richie cooed, voice dumbed down as if he was talking to a child. 

Eddie responded sternly with an accompanied eye-roll that may or may not have been a little bit extra dramatic. "You know the answer to that already."

"I don't think I do. Can you explain?" 

"Can you shut up?"

"I wouldn't say that's possible."

"Look, I know that it wouldn't be likely for you to go home and clean this up, yourself, so I did it for you. It doesn't mean I've changed my opinion." 

"So I have a few smokes and get an F in your grade book?" 

"You don't get it," Eddie said, shaking his head and standing up from the rock. He had stripped back down and jumped into the water to join the others before Richie could say cannoli. (A/n- I don't know why that's the first word I thought of.)

"Yes, I do," Richie muttered to himself once Eddie had gone. 

He left before the swimming was over. 

Author's Note-

I still suck at updating and I'm sorry that this chapter is probably terrible. I love you though. 

- Sophia <3