The Tension Between Us

Chapter Five - Truth

- EDDIE'S POV -

The next day Eddie wakes up at 10:30 with a nervous buzz in his stomach, turning off his watch alarm and putting it on his wrist as usual with a yawn. He makes his way downstairs and turns on the stereo, switching it to the music channel and humming along as he makes himself some pancakes and pours himself a glass of apple juice. Richie hated apple juice, calling it an abomination that Eddie preferred it over orange. He scoffed to himself with a smile as he took a sip, the memory making his heart grin.
Once his pancakes are ready, he adds lemon and sugar because his mother refuses to buy maple syrup, apparently it was too 'cavity-prone'. He then sits at the kitchen counter to eat. He liked it in the summer when his mother was at work and he could just do what he wanted for most of the day, no worried nagging, no annoying TV chatter coming from the lounge room, it was peaceful.
At around 11:45, Eddie had showered, gotten changed and was flying through town on his bright yellow bike towards Mike's farm. It was a 35 minute ride away, but Eddie didn't mind, the scenery kinda made it worth it. Once you reach the outskirts of town, all you see is green fields and big trees arching over the road, the sun filtering through the leaves to create a mottled green and golden pattern over everything. Derry was actually a pretty beautiful town, y'know, when there wasn't a psychotic Henry Bowers on your heals and a kid-eating clown trying to kill you all the time.
Once he arrived, he leans his bike lazily against the fencing and opens up the big metal gate, starting his hike up the hill leading to the farmhouse. When he reaches the top, wheezing slightly, he spots Mike out the front, axing up fire wood. Eddie takes a quick puff from his inhaler and this startles Mike, dropping the axe with a fumble, "Eddie!" He chirps with a laugh, sauntering over to the much shorter boy and clapping him on the back. He takes off his gloves and leads Eddie out to the fields with a grin.
The two boys spend almost the whole day goofing off, meeting all the animals and snacking on the Wild blackberry bush that climbs up the side of the chicken coop. At one point Mike shows Eddie how to bottle feed the lambs, and he just about dies from the cuteness overload. They talk about the little things, about how they've both been doing, this and that. After, Mike picks Eddie up throwing him over his shoulder with a dramatic yell, "TO THE HORSES!" He announces, a laughing Eddie wriggling to try and escape but failing miserably. It's a little hard to beat someone who's buffer than most of the seniors at their school. When they get there, Mike puts him down carefully and grabs his wrist to lead him to one of the horse's stables. He's huge and copper coloured, splatters of white in random spots and a golden mane falling down messily.
"This is Fizgig," Mike introduces, "Eddie, Fizgig. Fizgig, Eddie!" He gestures between the two before reaching up his hands and rubbing along the horse's neck, it whinnying a bit, making Eddie jump back in fear. Mike laughs, rolling his eyes,
"he's not gonna hurt you Eddie," he scoffs, grabbing the brunette's hand and placing it on the steeds nose gently.
"See?" He whispers, Eddie's eyes widening as he looks into the beasts eyes, he feels like silk, huffing into Eddie's hand lightly before making an almost content grumble. Eddie smiles lightly, expression filled with amazement.
"Woah." He says before turning to Mike and grinning, but the boy just smirks at him, a cheeky look that Mike always wore when an idea came to mind.
"Oh god what are you planning." He questions, narrowing his eyes as the darker boys' smirk grows wider.
"You wanna ride him?" He asks, leaning down, Eddie's eyes widening in astonishment,
"Hell no!".

Twenty minutes later, Eddie somehow finds himself atop the big creature, gripping the reins for dear life, the saddle leathery under his small red shorts, and heart beating a million miles an hour. He looks over to Mike, who sits atop a dappled blue-grey horse, a bit bigger than Eddie's, named Lentil.
"Mikey, I swear to fucking God if I die today, I will haunt you until your last breath!" He screeches, the boy just laughing in response.
"You'll be fine! I go out riding almost everyday to check on the cattle, if I'm alive, then you can survive just one ride, ok?".  Eddie nodding with a heavy breath, "now come on! Best view of sundown in across the livestock paddoc, just remember what I told you!" He kicks of, launching into a light canter, Eddie gulping as he watches with wide eyes. He breathes in and out slowly,
"ok, come on, you can do this Ed's." He says to himself, before bringing his heals back and giving a double kick,
"Canter Fizgig!" He says, clicking his tongue as instructed, the horse whinnying and quickly picking up it's pace. Eddie feels like he might just die, heart racing as he leans down with a scream, wrapping his arms around the horse's neck. He feels the wind push back his slightly curled hair and the hoofs thumping against the ground rithmically, not daring to look up, until he hears Mike's voice call out,
"open your eyes Eddie!". It takes him a second, but the fearful boy musters up the courage to inch them open, the world around him flying past in a blur of green grass and pink sky, body flooding with Adrenaline.
Then Mike again,
"sit up Ed's, you can do it!" So he does, grabbing the reins again and trying his best not to fall off as he looks up, it's incredible. He feels like he's flying, the powerful horse beneath him speeding up to follow Mike's, the thudding of hooves and the encouragement of his soft friend distant in the background as he zones out, his heart pounding, it feels like the world pauses in slow motion for a moment, a wide grin slipping onto his face. He throws a fist to the sky, screaming out in triumph, the crisp air filling his lungs as he hears Mike laugh.
"I'm doin' it Mikey!" He yells, looking over to the boy who is now to his left. He goes to say something but then his eyes widen,
"Eddie look out!" He calls, the boy turning around just in time to see the branch he's about to hit. It knocks him clean off the horse, falling to the grass with a loud thud.
After a moment of lying there in shock and catching his winded breath, he opens his eyes, Fizgig now leaning over him, snuffling his nose into Eddie's shirt and nudging him to get up, he smiles weakly and tries to sit up, a pained groan escaping him, he then sees Mike with a worried look on his face as he hops down from Lentil,
"Eddie! You ok?" He questions, quickly helping the boy up, "never been better." He croaks, taking a puff of his inhaler from his pocket and attempting to stand,
"but I think, maybe on the way back, we stick with slow." He grumbles, Mike laughing and helping the boy with a nod.
They decide to lead the horse's by foot the rest of the way to the fence lining a row of pine trees, the sun warm as it turns the sky peach and orange. They tie up the steeds and sit down on the thick grass against the white painted slats, sharing a pack of twizzler's they brought. It's a comfortable silence as the they watch the sun slowly dip, the chirp of bugs slowly starting to rise into the silence. After a moment, Mike turns to his small friend, mouth full of twizzler, "Eddie can I ask," he starts,
"and don't get me wrong this is great hanging out just the two of us, but, is there a reason you wanted to catch up today without the others?" Eddie freezes up a bit, heart racing as he remembers his reasoning for the sudden social call.
"It's just, y'know, a bit random." He shrugs. Eddie sighs then, leaning his head back against the fence to look up at the purple clouds.
"You got me Hanlon." He mumbles, arms wrapping around his waste self consciously as he thinks of what to say. Mike waits patiently for him to figure out his words, "Truth is," Eddie starts, taking a moment to breathe,
"I'm in love, with Richie. I just, I wanted to tell someone and you seemed like the best option, so..." He blurts out, scrunching his eyes shut in preparation for the worst. All he hears is a small, "huh." In surprise, and he opens his eyes, Mike staring at him with his head tilted as he processes the information,
"so you're..." Eddie cuts him off before he can finish, adrenaline pumping through his veins,
"gay. I'm... I'm gay."
Mike nods after a second, turning back to the view, "Alright." He says simply, Eddie letting out a breath and doing the same. It wasn't a bad response, but it's wasn't, great? He still didn't really know what Mike's opinion was on it, but he hadn't run away yet, so, a positive right? A comfortable silence falls between them breefly, Eddie's heart still hammering and his body stiff.
"Just so you know," Mike says suddenly, turning to his freckled friend,
"I don't care about that kind of stuff, and plus, minorities stick together, am I right?" He laughs, Eddie relaxing with a greatfull smile and a giggle, he nods, "yeah man, though, I'm pretty sure you still got it worse." They laugh then, leaning against eachother as they chuckle. After it dies down, Eddie sighs,
"I just don't want any of the losers seeing me differently." He shrugs.
"Eddie," Mike says with a frown, "being, gay, isn't who you are, it's a big part, sure, but you're still you. You're still Eddie." The short boy looks up to his friend with a sad smile,
"Thanks Hanlon." He whispers, Mike taking a bite of a twizzler, "Any time Kaspbrak."
It's a sweet moment, but it's broken when the boy next to him poses dramatically,
"so, what am I out of ten?" He grins, winking, Eddie breaking into loud laughter,
"I am not doing this Mike." He says, shaking his head,
"aw c'mon! Just take a look." He grins, Eddie putting his head in his hands with a blushy smile and a groan.
After a good laugh, they get on the horse's and walk them back across the field to the stables. They walk down the hill to the gate as the sky turns to purple. "Cya Mike." They say their good-byes, but before Eddie can leave, the tall boy pulls him into a tight hug,
"Love you man, no matter what." He mumbles into Eddie's shoulder, Eddie grinning and squeezing back tightly,
"Love you too Mikey." He responds, both of them pulling away with a smile, Eddie mounting his bike with a salute and pushing off down the road, "You're a solid eight!" He yells out, hearing Mike laugh in response as he speeds off into the impending night.
He smiles as the cool wind pushes his hair back, today went amazing, and he was so greatfull to have an amazing friend like Mike. One step closer

Sorry it took so long! Accidentally deleted all my progress and had to restart! Also, next chapter will be angsty as FUCK so prepare yourself 💕

Thanks for reading and for all the love! Ilysm guys! X
-P