Six Feet Under : Reddie

Part 1

Eddie Kaspbrak was collecting his books when his mother blocked his path.

"Eddie Bear?" She asked, her eyes searching those of her son's.

"What mommy?" He questioned in a rather uninterested tone, truthfully, ever since the placebo incident, the two had mostly stayed out of each other's way. That is, except for Sonia's constant worry over Eddie's health.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" She cautioned.

"Yes. It's the first day of school, I'm not playing in the sewer." He replied, adding a twist of what some would call morbid humor into his words.

Eddie hugged his mother quickly before darting out of the house, making his way to his first day as a Junior in Derry's high school.

∆°∆°∆

Richie let out an uncomfortable groan as he rolled from the matress, reading the time to be fifteen minutes past when he should've gotten to school.

But as per usual, it hardly phased the black haired male in the least.

Rubbing his eyes, he grabbed his glasses, pushing them up his nose before gathering his scattered clothes and slipping them on.

Running his fingers through his hair, Richie looked over to see his still occupied matress.

And it was occupied by none other than Victor Bowers, Henry's younger cousin.

After the arcade incident four years ago, Victor had come to him again just two years ago.

He spoke truthful words, and sincere apologies.

Victor was just as scared of Henry as most were, and Richie had believed him. Hell, who wouldn't be? The bitch killed his old man.

However, Victor was the holder of Richie's biggest and most important secret.

His sexuality.

No, in all honesty, Victor had no clue of Richie's growing feelings for Eddie.

Nor did it matter.

Victor and him were friends with benefits, and that. That is where it stopped. No feelings, no strings, just friends who fuck.

As bleak as it sounds, that's all there was to it. And that's all they needed, in Richie's mind.

Grabbing what Richie knew he needed, he raced from his house, heading off to school. Or hell. Take your pick.

Once Richie entered the building he went off, opening different classrooms in attempt to find his own. He finally reached a room filled with unnaturally cheery posters of inspiration, but in reality, they were just stupid.

"Richard Tozier?" A female teacher asked, mid twenties was his guess.

"Yeah, but your mom calls me Richie." He said with a close to completely straight face, the only noticable emotion was the slight smirk that lay on the corner of his mouth.

"Go sit down." The teach commanded sternly, her voice laced with an irritation Richie loved to get out of people.

He could just tell this year would be full of joyous fun, fun, fun.

Making his way to the back of the classroom, he sat, staring mindlessly out the window.

What he didn't notice, was the boy who sat in the front of the room, completely across from him.

But he did, Eddie definitely noticed Richie's grand entrance.

Late again.

And on the first day.

Scoffing, Eddie shook his head.

How typical.

He assumed Richie had slept in carelessly as he'd been doing for years.

It was incredible, how someone could just sleep away their future without a care.

Eddie stifled a sigh, releasing the breath out his nose before turning back to the English workbook in front of him. He felt it again. He felt weird.

He felt this way when he saw that kid. It was strange to be vague. More specifically, he felt sick. But not sick. Quite frankly he couldn't explain it, but ever since he met Richie he'd felt that way.

The most logical assumption would be he felt repulsed by Richie's humor and/or prude way of communicating.

Eddie snuck a glance over to the male in question, the early morning light bouncing off his raven black hair and golden brown glasses. Eddie felt his face redden significantly as Richie's eyes snapped to meet his.

Within Richie's eyes flashed a mixture of conflict and what Eddie thought was remorse. But the question was, why?

That he didn't know, but truthfully, should he care? For all he knew Richie had snuck some alcohol illegally or smoked something he shouldn't have.

But what surprised him, was when Richie's eyes hardened, passing over Eddie as though he hadn't seen him at all.

Eddie didn't get his usual smirk, or wink, not even a wave. And that settled in his stomach the wrong way, and now, he did feel sick. A nausea setting in his stomach as his heart seemed to sink within his chest.

Maybe it was nothing, in reality, Richie simply didn't acknowledge Eddie, that didn't mean anything. He knew it, so why did it hurt like it did?

On the other side of the room Richie clamped his jaw, his eyes shining in a way he wouldn't want others to see. He'd hoped, the few weeks spend away from Eddie, and with Victor, would've helped drown out his feelings, but no, of course he couldn't be so lucky. The feelings, in fact, seemed to have come back stronger than before, yet again. And if fucking sucked. As soon as Richie's eyes met Eddie's, his heart rate increased, a shade of the lightest pink painted upon his cheeks as he saw Eddie's small, hardly noticable smile of greeting.

And it made his heart sore, until the harsh tone of realism set it, the cold, shoulder crushing truth of life.

The meer idea that he and Eddie would never be more than what they were. Friends. The idea of life as he knew it, and all those within it.

Richie couldn't imagine how Eddie would see him if he knew his truth. A fag, was what Richie was. And society would agree. That's one of the reasons Richie nodded along blindly with his parents as they spewed homophobic comments surrounding the news of recent events.

Richie would make absolutely sure, that this year, his feelings for Edward Kaspbrak would cease to exist for any longer.

Richie would be Richie, just as he used to be. Just a comedian fueled by sexual or inappropriate humor. A friend.

And the truth would stay hidden, even if it kills him.

A/N: hi everyone, this is obviously a new story! I'm quite excited to get started on it. Just one thing, Victor is just a name I came up with for Henry's cousin, since I have no clue what his real name is, or if we even hear it. Enjoy!🖤