The Tension Between Us

Chapter Three - Hangover

This is a shorter chapter,, mostly fluff and filler content -
The next chapter will be in Eddie's POV-
Enjoy!

The next day, Richie wakes up with a killer headache, turning his alarm off irritably and burying himself in his blankets to sleep some more. It's about 11:40 when his Mum comes in, "Richie? Sweetie, I got you some aspirin." She says sweetly, nudging him and putting down a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon and banana bread, next to it a glass of Juice and some pills. He sits up with a groan and smiles at his Mum, the angel of all parents,
"thank you Mumma, you're too good for this world." He sighs, rubbing his eyes and putting on his glasses as his Mum sits on the edge of his bed, bright blue eyes a little tired.
"You gotta eat after a night out, or you'll never feel better." She advises, kissing his cheeks one at a time,
"and don't forget you've got to paint the fence at some point this week!" She says as she slips out the door, Richie smiling and leaning against the wall with a sigh. That's when the memories of the night before start to flood back to him, the dancing, coming out to Bev, and... His eyes widen and his face glows red as he realises. Last night, Eddie and him KISSED, amungst other things, but they KISSED. Eddie liked guys! This was actually happening! He is suddenly awake, scoffing down his breakfast and hopping in the shower with a stumble and instant regret from the speed of it all. Head throbbing, he somehow makes his way to the arcade, stress playing as the day goes by. What if it was just a one time thing? What if Eddie's changed his mind, what was gonna happen, would they bring it up, or not talk about it? What if Eddie didn't remember? The thoughts circulated in his mind over and over as he smashed the buttons on the game.
Eventually he was ripped out of his panicked stupur by none other than Stan the Man,
"woah Richie, maybe take it easy." He says, putting a hand on his friends shoulder,
"you might break the thing." Richie whips his head around and takes in a breath, stepping away from the game hesitantly as it bleeps,
'GAME OVER' robotically.
"Oh. Hey Stan." He let's out, barley a squeak escaping him, but his oldest friend just rolls his eyes.
"You hate the arcade, what're you doin' here?" He asks, both of them starting their walk outside, "well, I knew once you remembered last night you would come here in a panic." He says this with a knowing look, Richie sighing in response with a cringed expression.
"Shit that's right... How much did you see exactly?" He asks, just remembering their oh so sudden interruption. Stan laughs,
"let's just say I saw enough to know that you guys have a whole lot of talking to do.
"Richie nods, kicking a can into the gutter with his hands in his pockets,
"I just have no idea what to say." He says after a moment, the two now walking through town as the sun beams brightly in the sky, Stan hums in thought,
"just, say what you feel."
Richie runs a hand through his curls,
"but what if that freaks him out and he never wants to talk to me again? Or what if he changes his mind or-" Stan cuts him off mid panic,
"Richie! Eddie is your best, friend, ok? Whatever happens, things will turn out fine." He explains, Richie visibly relaxing a little.
"Sorry, I can't help but panic." He sighs, Stan smirking a little.
"We're you surprised?" He asks as he pushes up his glasses, Stan looking a little awkward, he hesitates before the obvious lie leaves his mouth
"Sure." Richie comes to the conclusion, Stan definitely already knew, he smiles with a sigh.
"How long did you know?" He looks to the curly haired boy in question, who's eyes widen a bit at being caught
"and don't lie, because I know you figured it out, well, figured me out anyway." Stan smiles a little then, looking up to the clouds,
"Since the day Eddie broke his arm at the well house, the year IT happened." Richie scoffs, "Jesus. That long huh? Why didn't you say anything?" He questions, elbowing him. Stan shrugs,
"I just thought, when you were ready to tell me, you would." Richie feels a knot of guilt in his stomach,
"I'm sorry I didn't." He says, grabbing Stan's shoulder and stopping their stroll.
"It's just, scary. I don't want things to change, y'know? I don't wanna be hated." Stan gives Richie a sympathetic look, "Richie, it's ok, I get it. But I'll tell you this," he grabs Richie's shoulders and shakes them lightly as he speaks,
"I could never hate you, no matter how annoying you are, none of us ever could. You're our trashmouth, we love you, gayness and all, ok?" He smiles, Richie feels his chest swell with gratitude as a weak grin falls over his lips, he practically jumps on Stan, squeezing him tight,
"Aww Stanley! You do care about me!" He says in mocking at his usually feisty friend. He gives Stan a big smooch on the cheek and the blonde squeals in protest, struggling to pull away from the hug as Richie squeezes him with a grin.
Eventually Stan manages to escape the iron grip,
"ok, I change my mind, I can't handle you." He says, continuing to walk down the path towards Bills house, Richie cackling and catching up, throwing an arm around the Stan's shoulder as they go.
When they get to Bill's house, they don't really bother to knock, since his parents car isn't in the driveway and the door is unlocked. Richie swings it open dramatically,
"Police! We're here for King Billiam! You're under arrest for being a huge nerd!" Stan rolls his eyes,
"Beep beep Richie." and follows behind as his crazy friend saunters up the stairs destructively, flinging Bill's bedroom door open with a yell. He's sitting on his bed reading a Spiderman comic, music playing from the old radio on his desk, not even giving a glance up as his two friends walk in,
"Richie, Stan." He greets, Stan grabbing the chair from Bill's desk and sitting on it, and Richie diving onto the stuttering boy's bed, snatching the comic out of his hands,
"ooo, Spiderman, gotta say Bill I didn't think you had taste," He rambles as Bill try's to grab it back,
"me? I'm more of a Deadpool guy myself, yeah, lot's of sarcastic humour, very classy stuff." He eventually gives in and hands back the blue and red comic, turning and lying on his back with his hands under his head. Bill closes it and puts it in his bedside drawer,
"so, what did you t-two wanna do?" He questions, slipping off his bed and putting on a colourful spray jacket.
"Nothing in particular, I was just coming to see how your face was doing but I bumped into this fireball here on the way." Stan lies, nodding his head in the direction of Richie,
"you love my company Stanley, don't pretend." He winks, sitting up. Bill laughs,
"well, m-my face still hurts, but I think I'll live. Why don't we grab our boards and go down to the s-s-skate park?" The Jewish boy pumps his fist with a little
"yes!". It was practically the perfect activity for the three, whenever it was just them, and sometimes Eddie too, they normally did this. There was heaps of trees surrounding the skate park, so Stan loved to sit and draw sketches of the birds, trying to pick them out of his books, Eddie would sit and watch him draw. Then the other two boys loved skating, so it just, worked.
They took the 20 minute walk to Richie's to grab his skateboard, and so Stan could borrow his bike before making their way to the park. Richie and Bill had gotten into skateboarding around the same time at the start of sophomore year, though Richie had become a little better at Tricks due to his immense boredom. Eddie loved coming to watch them skate, he tried to play it off, saying he only came because he knew if they fell he could be there to patch them up, but Richie could tell he enjoyed it from the small glint in his eyes whenever they did an Ollie or a kick flip.
The place was packed today because of the Sunshine, all the skaters in Derry we're probably out. As they boarded up to the medium ramp, Richie spotted a familiar brown haired boy, Eddie. He sat on the bench that Stan normally bird watched in, and was scribbling words down into a notebook with his tongue sticking out. He tried not to look over and keep walking but then Bill saw him,
"Hey, look it's Eddie!.. E-Eddie!" He calls to the short boy, skating over to him with a smile, Richie reluctantly following as he starts to sweat out of nerves, face red and heartbeat a mess. The three all headed towards him with smiles, Eddie looking up with a grin,
"oh, hey guys!" He chirps, before seeing Richie. They make eye contact and the boy blanks for a second, turning red before quickly trying to hide his awkwardness. Richie gives a flirty smile, looking Eddie up and down, making the neat boys' face darken again, turning to Bill,
"So you guys here to skate?" He questions in a high pitched voice, closing his notebook nervously and desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Stan. But before Bill can answer, he spots something, eyeing Eddie closely and leaning forward, then grinning.
"Is that a h-h-hickey??" He laughs, poking at Eddie's neck, the boy retracting and turning red, lifting his collar with a squeak,
"No!" He says defensively, voice breaking. Stan tries not to, but ends up laughing along, covering his mouth to muffle his chuckles. "Shut up you idiots!" Eddie screeches, facing darkening as Bill puts down his board and leans over to pull Eddie's hands away in inspection,
"w-who gave them to you??" He pushes, Richie laughing too now with a slight blush, an idea springing to mind. He makes his way onto the bench and sits on the back of it with a smirk, leaning down to Eddie. "Yeah Eddie who? Do tell~" he questions, receiving a vicious glare from the brown eyed boy, Stan laughing even harder now. Eventually Bill gives up on his quest for answers and elbows Richie with a laugh,
"c'mon trashmouth, l-let's get some p-p-practice in while it's sunny out." The curly haired boy nodding along and following with a small grin and a salute to Eddie, who smiles a tiny bit and puts up the bird, turning to smack a still giggling Stan in the arm.
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Richie being a Mumma's boy is Canon don't @ me
-P