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f o u r

"so, richie and i broke up."

all of their friends stare in awe at eddie's words. and by all, it's all.

el and max seem devastated. they'd been immersed in some pointless conversation about cats when eddie had just waltzed up and made the announcement. it seems like the last thing they'd expected.

bill and stan stand side by side. they aren't touching. not even holding hands. they feel inappropriate to do so when such a revelation has been made.

ben has his arm around bev; she looks even more devastated than el. honestly, eddie wouldn't be surprised if she cried.

mike, dustin, and lucas stare in shock; they aren't as visibly upset, but the sympathy and pity in their eyes transfers to eddie like an electric shock.

he hates it.

"what?"

"when?"

"why?"

"how?"

"who with who?"

questions are shot, rapid fire, at the small boy. he doesn't really know how to respond. him and rich had perfectly planned their breakup story the previous night, in their shared home, but he feels wrong sharing it with actual other people.

bev looks the most upset. she'd grown close to the couple and became a sort of confidant to them. "are you okay?" she asks, voice quiet, nervous, and she reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"i guess," eddie shrugs. his eyes reflect her sadness. he keeps having to remind himself that it's all pretend. richie is right at home, waiting for him to reappear so that they can order in chinese food and binge watch netflix. "it was mutual, in a way."

"in a way?" max finds her voice after this, curious, quiet.

"well," eddie takes a breath. he hates this. "we got into a kind big fight last night. we were arguing over something stupid, like who was supposed to clean the dishes that night, but it escalated. we ended up picking out little things to yell at each other for, and then, without thinking, richie said, 'well maybe you should break up with me if you hate me so much' and i just kind of said 'maybe i should'. he said fine, i said fine, and then he left the house after that. i haven't seen him since."

of course, this was all a lie. the previous night, rich and him had laid on their couch, planning out what they'd tell their friends, and once that was complete, they'd curled up in bed and put a movie on, which was just background noise to their stupid remarks and sweet giggles. they'd left the house that morning with an 'i love you', and richie would be right there when he got back.

"i'm so sorry," stanley breaks the silence first. he sounds genuinely disappointed. he'd always been rooting for the two of them. "that's terrible."

eddie forces a smile. "it's fine. we weren't really getting along anyway. it's for the best."

"still," el adds, and her tone of voice is low. "it sucks."

"i guess so, yeah."

bev reaches down and grabs one of eddie's hands in her own. "well, just know that we're here for you, eds."