the kissing bridge [reddie+stenbrough]

21

"S-Stan?"

Stan was sitting at his desk again, and Bill was on Stan's bed. Stan could tell that Bill sounded congested. "Yes?," Stan answers, also congested.

"M-My throat k-kind of hurts."

"Mine, too, a little bit. It's probably from being out in the rain yesterday."

"Y-Yeah. So, sh-sh-should we just stay home t-today?"

"Probably, but only because we don't want to get more sick. I don't think it's contagious or anything."

///

"Did you enjoy the movie, Eds?," Richie asks as they walk out of the movie theater.

"It depends.," Eddie shrugs, "Was it supposed to be a horror movie? Because it was kind of cheesy."

"Come on, " Richie grabs Eddie's hand, "You don't think killer clowns from outer space are scary?"

Richie didn't care what anyone thought about him holding hands with Eddie. Eddie, on the other hand, was nervous. He'd never seen so many people stare at him before. People were whispering and trying to be subtle about pointing at them. Eddie looked down at his feet as they walked.

His hands start to sweat. He looks up and people are still staring; some laughing at them, some judging them. He begins to feel nauseous, and his hands start shaking.

Richie notices and stops in his tracks. "Eddie, what's wrong?"

"I-I don't feel very good. I think I need to sit down."

"Oh, okay," Richie and Eddie sit down across from each other, on the ground in front of the movie theater, "What's going on?"

"Everyone is staring at us, Richie.," Eddie motions to the crowd of people mingling outside of the movie theater and looking at them, "I mean, when we're around our friends, I feel fine because they don't judge us, but all of these people that don't even know us are! They're laughing and pointing and probably calling us names-"

"Eddie, it's okay. You don't know them, and they don't know you. You'll probably never see them again after today. Just don't think about it-"

"It's kind of hard not to, Richie!," Eddie raises his voice, and tears roll down his cheeks, "I'm sure most of these people are just like Bowers and would not hesitate to come over here and try to kill us! Just because we were holding hands. It's not your fault, Richie, but I just don't want to believe that my mom is right, and... and that we are sick and that we're freaks just for showing any kind of affection and... and..."

Eddie runs out of breath from talking so fast. He just gives up on trying to get his point across and starts sobbing. Richie pulls Eddie into his lap and hugs him tightly. Eddie cries into Richie's neck.

"Shh, it's okay, Eds, I've got you.," Richie rubs Eddie's back, "You'll be okay." At this point, Richie was also trying to hold back his tears. Not only because he hated to see Eddie like this, but also because he knew that Eddie was right. It hadn't sank in how dangerous it was just to hold hands in public.

Eddie begins breathing heavily. Richie pulls away and unzips Eddie's fanny pack. "Here," Richie gives Eddie his inhaler, and he takes a few puffs of it.

Richie looks at the crowd staring at them. They were silent, watching Eddie have an anxiety attack. He takes a deep breath and yells in a shaky voice, "What are you looking at? Fuck off!" They all turn away and mingle amongst themselves.

Richie grabs Eddie's face and looks into his eyes. "They're not staring at us anymore, babe. And if this happens again, just look at me. No one else but me. I'll make sure you feel okay, I promise."

"Okay. Did you just call me 'babe'?"

"Shut up. Let's go to Stan's house, and you can give me my ten bucks."

"Yeah, sure," Eddie and Richie stand up, "You know neither of them have said anything yet. At this point, they're just waiting on the other one to make the move."