Richie: 17
Eddie: 17
"I wish I had never met you!" Eddie screamed at Richie. He ran home, leaving school before it even started and went straight to his bathroom. He grabbed a bottle of Advil and was about to take all of them when Richie burst through the door. Richie grabbed Eddie and forced him to drop all the pills. Richie held Eddie tightly and rocking him softly.
"Don't ever do that again!" Richie said.
"Why did you come? I hate you! You wouldn't have cared if I died!" Eddie said. He couldn't decide if he wanted to snuggle into Richie or break free of his hold. In the end he stopped fighting and broke down crying hysterically into Richie chest.
"What do you mean? Of course, I would miss you! You are the only I've ever loved!" Richie said.
"If you really loved me, you wouldn't have put pictures of us kissing all over the school. My mom will force me to take more gazebos because being gay is a sickness to her." Eddie said in between gasps for breaths and sniffles.
2 WEEKS EARLIER
"Why did you bring me here? Are you going to murder me? Or drug me?" Eddie asked. Richie grabbed Eddie's soft hands. He stared into Eddie's beautiful eyes. The setting sun was making his eyes look like liquid gold.
"No baby boy, I'm not going to" Richie said, rubbing circles with his thumbs on the back of Eddie's tiny hands. Eddie blushed; he had thought Richie was cute since they were little. "It's so I can do this" Richie said. He stepped closer, making their chest touch and kissed him gently. It was the best first kiss either boy could ask for. Eddie kissed him back, then stepped back.
"What if someone sees us?" Eddie asked as he looked around nervously.
"I promise no one will see us. I've been wanting to kiss you for a while now." Richie said. Eddie initiated the kiss this time. But little did they know someone was lurking in the shadows taking pictures to expose them. Someone who was jealous since they weren't afraid to be themselves.
EARLIER TODAY
Eddie arrived a few minutes later than usual to school on the first day after break. As Eddie walked in, he saw everyone staring at him. Some people were laughing, and others were whispering rude homophobic slurs under their breath. Eddie was confused. He didn't understand how people found out he was gay. Richie must have told everyone about the kiss Eddie thought at first. No, he promised no one would know. Eddie thought afterwards. He tried to ignore everyone. When he got to his locker, there was a picture of him and Richie kissing in the alley taped onto the door. He looked around and saw hundreds more spread around the school. Fighting tears, he ran to find Richie. I thought I could trust him Eddie thought as tears silently ran down his face. If he would have gotten to school when he usually did, he would have seen Henry Bowers hanging the pictures up. He was still jealous of their relationship. If he came out, he knew his dad would beat him bad enough to send him to the hospital.
NOW
"I didn't, Eds. I promised you that no one would know, and I meant it. Someone else must have known about the spot, but I promise I didn't tell anyone. I mean it. It was probably Henry that did it. My parents won't be happy either. Especially my abusive alcoholic mother." Richie said. Eddie was the first person to know about his mom because Richie knew he could trust him. Eddie felt bad, he didn't think about how Richie's parents would react. Eddie looked up from Richie's chest and saw Richie was crying. Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie and hugged him tightly.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Eddie asked, softly. "She could've accidentally killed you. I wouldn't be able to live without you." Eddie said, he cuddled into Richie.
"I didn't want you to come over trying to help me and her hurt you because if she touched you, I would have gone to jail for fighting with her. I couldn't be able live without you either." Richie said.
"You care so much about that you would go to jail if someone hurt me?" Eddie asked, his voice was slightly muffled from his face being buried in Richie's chest.
"Yeah. I would do anything for you. You already know that I love you. So of course, I would go to jail for you" Richie said. Eddie kissed Richie on the lips and gently wiped Richie's tears away.
"Anytime you need to get away from her you're always welcome here. Even if my mom won't let you, you can come through my window. I'm sorry for thinking you broke your promise. Also, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I love you with all my heart and I'm so happy I met you." Eddie said. Richie smiled at the tiny boy on his lap. Eddie smiled back at him.
"Are we still friends?" Eddie asked.
"No" Richie said. Eddie's smile fell and he felt like crying.
"I want to be more, Eds. So will you be my boyfriend?" Richie said.
"Of course, I will. At first, I thought you really didn't want to be friends anymore" Eddie said.
"No matter what happens I will always be your friend and I'll always be here for you." Richie said as he kissed Eddie. The two boys sat on the bathroom floor; Eddie was still snuggled into Richie. Richie was running his fingers through Eddie's soft wavy light brown hair. Eddie started falling asleep, he was tired from crying and Richie's body heat was keeping him warm. Richie heard a soft snore and looked down to see Eddie curled up in his lap sleeping. Richie laughed quietly and kissed Eddie's forehead. He stood up and carried Eddie to his room. Richie put Eddie down on the bed and took off his shoes. Eddie woke up when Richie was taking his own shoes off.
"Chee?" Eddie said and he looked around for Richie.
"I'm right here baby." Richie said. Eddie rolled over to snuggle with him. Eddie kept yawning and fighting to stay awake. "It's ok. You can go back to sleep, baby." Richie said, he started playing with Eddie's hair again.
"I love you." Eddie mumbled, falling asleep.
"I love you more" Richie said. A few minutes after Eddie fell asleep Richie did. They knew that their parents would be angry and more than likely punish them. But they weren't worried about it. As long as they had each other, they could make it through anything.
