𝐛𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢; reddie

(ii.)

EDDIE IS NOT IN HIS ELEMENT. The boy's clutching onto Bills sweaty hand like his life depends on it. His other fist balled, manicured nails pressing crescent-shaped marks into his palm. Eddie is currently being dragged through one of the many dark hallways of the haunted house. His eyes screwed shut, awaiting another horrifying encounter with a man in costume.

The decorations in the house are tacky and cheap; the fake blood smeared on the walls greatly resembles ketchup, and the cobwebs looming from the ceiling are quite obviously bundles of cotton wool. It doesn't matter. Eddie's scared shitless.

"C'mon Ed, lighten up! Have s-some fun!" Bill nags, squeezing Eddie's hand lightly. The smaller boy opens his eyes reluctantly, heart hammering in his chest.

  Startled shrieks can be heard from somewhere in the house, Eddie grimaces. The duo stumble upon three doors, each labeled differently: 'Not scary at all,' 'Scary' and 'Very scary.'

Bill grins like the Cheshire cat.
"You p-pick Ed, which duh-door should we open?" Bill asks.
"None of them," Eddie mutters. Bill rolls his eyes, ignoring him. He reaches for the doorknob on the door marked "Very scary."

  The taller boy twists on the knob and pushes, the door swings slowly on its hinges, groaning at the movement. Eddie takes a step back, mentally preparing himself to get the fright of his life.

Before they can see what lies behind the heavy door, Eddie jolts forwards, screeching like a maniac. A bony hand has planted itself on his shoulder. Before he can process what's happening, the frail boy is swinging his balled fist round, sending it crashing into the attacker's face.

"Fuck!" The attacker stumbles backward, falling to the floor, pulling a red-headed girl down with him. Bill watches in confusion, wondering why on earth Eddie has smashed some poor kids nose in.

"Ed? What're you d-doing?" He whispers harshly.

"Shit! I'm so sorry! He startled me, Billy! I didn't mean to hurt him!" Eddie sputters, hands reaching up to hide his face in embarrassment. The attacker, upon closer observation, is just a boy.

"It's fine." He stands from the ground. The boy dusts imaginary dust off his Led Zeppelin band shirt and adjusts his coke bottle glasses on the bridge of his nose. After doing so, he offers the girl he'd knocked over a hand with a guilty smile, which she denies with a huff. The boy eyes Eddie curiously, recognizing him from his History class.

"You dropped your aspirator, I didn't mean to scare you kid." He reaches out to reveal Eddie's inhaler pressed in the palm of his hand.

Eddie's face dusts crimson in embarrassment. The small boy retrieves his inhaler from him, internally scolding himself for overreacting.

Despite the situation, Eddie can't help but notice how gorgeous the boy is.
The moonlight leaking through the windows casts shadows on his angular cheekbones. And he has a mop of wild ebony hair which, Eddie thinks, would be heavenly to run a hand through.

Although the kid is too tall and a little hunched, Eddie finds him unbelievably beautiful. For a second, time slows down. Eddies heart drops, he banishes the unholy thoughts from his head.

No. Eddie Kaspbrak does not find boys attractive, he reminds himself warily. That is wrong.

Bill recognises the copper-topped girl as Beverly Marsh, Bens not-so-secret girlfriend, which means that the boy next to her is Richie Tozier. He smiles timidly at the pair, he isn't stupid. Bill's heard the rumors surrounding the trashmouth and isn't too fond of him.

Beverly turns away, breaking eye contact with Bill; noticing his strained smile, and taps Richie's nose, earning a wince from the boy. Her eyebrows knit together as droplets of blood stream from his nose.

"We should probably go to the hospital, Richie. Your nose is turning purple." She whispers.

  "Fucking brilliant," Richie frowns.

He spent most of his youth in the hospital. Getting stitches and treating concussions that he'd blame on roughhousing with friends. This wasn't true of course. Richie Tozier had no friends.

Eddie finally spoke up, "We'll go with you. It's my fault you're bleeding." He smiles warmly, trying not to gag at the sight of the blood gushing from the teens face.

"Sure, if you want. You're Eddie, right? And Bill. I'm Beverly, Bens gir-" she stops abruptly, rephrasing her sentence, "friend. And this is Richie, my friend." Beverly speaks over her shoulder, now dragging Richie down the narrow passage to the exit.

"Yeah." Bill says nonchalantly. He doesn't really want to accompany the pair to the hospital. But now that Eddie's suggested it, they can't really turn back.

-

It's packed outside, tons of kids partying in the front yard. Eddies eyebrows furrow at the noise, Bill puts his calloused hands over the shorter boys ears and steers him away from the chaos. For a moment, he wishes he and Eddie would've actually gone to Bens house to have a sleepover with him and Stan.

Eddie however, is glad he attended the event. He's grateful that he got to meet Beverly, and he's aware that Ben wanted to introduce the losers to his girlfriend sometime soon.

The rumble of a motor interrupts Eddie from his thoughts. He glances around in confusion. The boy is now seated in the back of Bill's blue truck. He must've let his mind wander a little too far.

Eddie lets his eyes flutter closed as Bill drives off towards the hospital.

He doesn't know it yet, but this night will change Eddie Kaspbraks life.

Authors note:
This chapter is so important but it fucking sucks uh. I hate myself. Criticism aside, I just want to say that if you are reading this book, thank you! It would be super cool if you could leave a comment or vote to let me know if you like it! Even if it fucking sucks. If you notice any mistakes feel free to let me know! Thanks again!