THEY'RE GAZEBOS | it one-shots

thirteen | rachel

Sometimes Eddie wondered what life would be like if he were like everyone else.

“How bout a blowjob Eddie?”

Despite his mother, he really didn't have many allergies or illnesses. He ate like everyone else, even going as far as to stealing food from his friends, just to prove he could, because it had to be obvious he was normal. If he wasn't, they could investigate, and then-

“Cute, cute, cute!!”

His inhaler lay at the bottom of the drawer on his bedside table. He breathed like everyone else, he hadn't touched the aspirator since junior high. He played soccer now and though his coordination wasn't stellar, he could make up for it in speed, his coach said he was fast, quite fast, so Eddie slowed down, because if the boys on his team thought that was abnormal-

“You're not to shower with the other boys Eddie Bear.”

His report card came back every marking period, all A's and B's. He learned like everyone, but not the way Ben did, every second of every minute of every hour, because Eddie had to blend in-

“Ahh, you love it Eds!”

Sometimes, Eddie would sneak out of the house. He broke rules like everyone else, he hated the feeling, it was slimy in his stomach, creeping into his throat as he slid down his drain pipe, and it was stupid, so stupid, because really, if he asked he was almost sure his mother wouldn't mind him going out with his friends or the team, but maybe if he was too much of a mama's boy it would lead them on-

“Where ya goin girly boy?”

He talked with his friends, they teases each other. Like everyone else, he picked out those who were desirable or not, commenting on Greta's short skirt or Sally's tube top. He admitted to his team one day that he would date Myra, a fit girl on the volleyball team. They made fun of him relentlessly, but in a good way, he knew he'd made the right choice, that if he'd told them who he'd really want to date, the teasing wouldn't be as supportive-

Eddie had once confided in Stanley Uris, his best friend, that he wished he really was normal. The two had been laying in the grass, watching for comets. Stanley had scoffed at Eddie.

“Of course you're not normal Eddie! There's no such thing as normal. The only thing that makes us normal,” Stanley had paused here, and Eddie had held his breath, waiting for his friend's words or wisdom, a cure, anything. Reaching his hand up, though he lay flat on his back, Stanley had moved his arm in an arc, as though he could sweep the night away. “The only thing that makes us normal is that we all see the same stars. We're all like each other in that way.”

Eddie's breath had escaped him in a rush. He supposed he could never be normal then, for all he saw when he looked up at the night sky was how the stars reminded him so much of Richie Tozier's shining eyes.

But when Eddie was in his boyfriend's arms, door locked so no one could get in, nothing could get out, his hands tangling Richie's hair as he kissed his lover's back, hard, he had the quiet, peaceful thought at the back of his head that maybe normal didn't matter after all.

author's note:

rough week. thank you all for supporting me. my -reddietowrite family, i love you guys so much.

-rachel