Wrong

•26•

⚠ Talk about abuse and abusive threats, brief mention of self harm, guilt, mention of rape (being drugged) panic attack ⚠

*Richie's POV*

Anger- no, RAGE fumed inside of me. How fucking dare Dan write that on Eddie. Did he just expect them to stay together forever, especially after everything he did?!

I wanted to go to his house and beat him to a pulp, but I know I shouldn't. I should be comforting Eddie.

He was finally getting what he wanted in life. All of his friends were helping him, he finally got out of that abusive relationship and got with someone who actually cared about him. But Dan still has control over his life, this just proves it.

"Dan's right..." Eddie said softly, tears still rolling down his face rapidly. "I'm still his. I always will be. I'm worthless and he tried to help and I just left. God, I'm so stupid."

"Eddie, that's not true," I said holding him closer to me. "You're amazing and beautiful and smart. You're not his anymore."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rich." Eddie sobbed into my shoulder.

I held him in my arms for a while. He kept mumbling bad things about himself, but I contradicted every word.

"I love you, Richie," he said, looking up at me. "I really do."

I smiled and kissed his forehead. His cheeks turned slightly pink and he giggled.

"So you got the job?"

"OH YEAH! I forgot to tell you, I got the job, I'm starting next week!" I said excitedly.

"That's awesome Richie! I'm super proud of you," Eddie grinned. "Can we go out with Losers to celebrate?"

"You sure you're ok to go out right now?" I asked. "I don't want you to feel overwhelmed."

"I promise, I want to. I think I should be around people right now..." Eddie looked down at his feet.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I don't trust myself alone right now Richie..." Eddie said and started crying again. "I want to hurt myself..."

"Eds..." I whispered and hugged him tightly. "You don't need to do that. We can go to the Losers if you want."

He nodded quickly and looked back up at me, smiling slightly.

"Thanks Rich." Eddie said and I kissed his nose. He giggled and stood up, walked to the phone and called our friends.

•°•

*Stan's POV*

"Biiiiiiiilllllll," I called out as I walked out of our bedroom. "Where are you?"

"I'm making some food for the Losers!" Bill yelled back.

They're coming over today? I didn't remember that...oh well. Usually they barge in unannounced, so at least they called in advance this time.

"Richie and Eddie are coming over in 15, Mike said he'll be over within the next half hour, and Ben and Bev said they'll come in about 20 minutes."

"Ok," I said and wrapped my arms around Bill. "What are you making?"
He turned around to face me and I could practically see the sparkle in his eyes.

"I found my Grandma's Gooey Bar recipe!"

"Gooey...bar?" I asked skeptically and looked into the bowl on the counter.

"No, I promise, it's so good! Georgie and I loved them so much when we were younger, it's amazing!"

"Ok then," I laughed. But I looked in his eyes again and they didn't have that glow anymore. "Bill? What's up?"

"Just thinking about Georgie..."

"Hey," I said and held onto his shoulder. "None of that was your fault. Ok?"

"O-ok..." Bill whispered and looked down at the floor.

"Bill, I know how you feel about Georgie and everything with...It. That wasn't your fault. Nobody thinks that."

"I kn-know," he sighed. "I just f-feel like I c-could've done more..."

"It's ok Bill," I said and started rubbing his back. "You're ok."

"Thanks Stan," he sniffed and moved back to bowl. "I'm going to finish making the bars, why don't you figure out what we should do."

"Sounds greats Bill." I kissed his forehead and walked into the other room.

•°•

"Holy fuck, Bill! These are amazing!" Bev said and took another bar. All of the Losers had come over and now we were trying the Gooey Bars.

"Yeah, it definitely needs a new name though..." Ben added, everyone nodding in agreement.

"Ok, fine," Bill laughed and walked into the living room. "I'm gonna check the answer machine, then we can play some games." He pressed down on the small machine in the room.

"1 new message. Beep. One of you Losers has to know where Eddie is, so I'm calling all of you," Dan's voice crackled through the speaker. Eddie's face paled and I could see him start shaking slightly.

"That little piece of shit needs to get home right now. Things will just get worse the longer he avoids me. If he keeps up this bullshit, he's in for a world of hurt."

Eddie started to cry silently and Richie put a protective arm around him. Eddie instantly collapsed into him, his shaking getting worse by the second.

"And if you don't call me back to tell me where he is, I'll hurt you too. And Eddie, if you're hearing this...I'm going to slit your fucking wrists Kaspbrak."

Eddie put his face against Richie's chest and started sobbing. Rich sat him down on the couch and rubbed his back.

"Eddie," I said quietly, breaking the silence. "We're not going to let him hurt you, not anymore."

He didn't answer, he just kept shaking and crying. Richie held him closer and stood up.

"We'll just be a couple minutes, you guys start the game without us." Richie said and led Eddie to the spare bedroom.

*Eddie's POV*

I don't know what happening with me. I feel like I'm not in control of my body, like I'm floating. It's kind of like that time when Dan drugged me so he could have sex with me...not that I'd tell anybody about that.

Richie sat down on the bed and then pulled me into his lap. I was still curled up and shaking as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"It's ok, Eds," he whispered. "Deep breaths. You're ok..."

I tried to slow my breathing, but I couldn't do it. I felt helpless, and I just accepted that. I'm used to the feeling anyways.

"Breathe in with me, ok?" Richie started breathing a lot slower. "In...and out...keep doing that, in...and out..."

I followed his lead, and eventually, the panicky, floaty feeling was gone.

"Thank you, Rich." I mumbled into his chest.

"It's not a problem Eds," Richie looked down at me and kissed the top of my head. "I'd do anything for you. I love you."

My face flushed red and I couldn't hold back my smile. I leaned closer into him and closed my eyes.