𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌

↱ 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊; 𝖒𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖞 𝖑𝖊𝖙𝖘 𝖒𝖊!

Following Frank's death Eddie spent an increasing amount of time at the Wheelers' house as Karen was unable to leave Eddie with his unstable mother in good conscience.

Richie and Eddie had also become even more reliant on one another. Eddie had taken to frequent bouts of silence, refusing to communicate with anyone other than Richie who acted as his verbal translator in social situations or whenever Eddie was upset. They had also become physically reliant on one another, stealing needy kisses whenever they were alone in a room together.

Following their first kiss in Richie's bed the two had come to realize that while there wasn't anything particularly exciting about pressing their open mouths together, it did make them both feel safe and happy. While they weren't entirely sure why, they had enough awareness to know they shouldn't kiss in front of other people, sticking to engaging in lip-locks in their bedrooms or in the empty coat room after recess.

Despite their best efforts at being sneaky, however, Karen caught on to what was going on pretty quickly. One afternoon, nearly a month after Frank's death, Eddie and Richie found themselves in Richie's bed reading a Spiderman comic Richie had purchased at the comic book store with his brother and father the previous day.

While both were still learning to read, Eddie liked to pretend that he understood much more than he did and often read comics aloud to them. He could typically sound out a couple words every few panels and would piece together his own story to describe the action unfolding in the scenes.

"I love you, Peter," Eddie cried in a high voice, trying to mimic a female voice as he read out Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker's dialogue.

"You're so silly, Eddie Spaghetti," Richie giggled as Eddie began making kissing noises.

"No, I'm not! They're in love," Eddie laughed back, pointing at the panels showing Peter and Gwen kissing passionately.

"Are we in wuv?" Richie asked bashfully, recalling their kisses.

"That's silly," Eddie shook his head. "We're both boys, we can't be in love!"

"Oh," Richie nodded sadly.

"Don't be sad," Eddie squeaked, reaching out to grab Richie's hand in his. "If I was a girl, I promise I would love you."

"You would?" Richie asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Eddie nodded with a smile. "You're so funny and nice and you always protect me!"

Richie smiled, leaning down to slot his lips over Eddie's. While they hadn't figured out what exactly they were supposed to do when they kissed, they had learned that hugging while their mouths were pressed together was nice.

"Boys, I- Oh!"

Karen stopped in the doorway, staring at the two boys wrapped around each other with the comic spread over their laps.

"Yeah, mommy?" Richie asked, cheeks pink as he pulled back from Eddie, a long string of saliva stretching between their lips until Richie wiped at his slobbery mouth.

"Lunch is ready," Karen laughed shaking her head at the two boys.

From then on, the boys took Karen's flippant reaction to their kiss as the green light to kiss anywhere at any time. Kissing in the coat room after recess turned into openly kissing in front of others on the playground or as they built towers with colourful blocks with Mike and Will.

"No!" Eddie shrieked, his tower tumbling to the ground because it was top-heavy. Eddie's lip bottom lip shook as he pouted at the fallen blocks.

"Timber!" Richie screeched a few seconds late, laughing at himself.