The Aftermath (Reddie)

31

Eddie's POV

Richie had fallen asleep.

I had told him not to, insisted even, but he crashed about an hour or so after we went downstairs and I left him to go pee.

He was snoring, and his glasses laid haphazardly on his face.

I sighed and took his glasses off and set them gently on the coffee table.

He looked so innocent, not at all like the sick minded nerd I knew.

"Eddie will you come open the door?!"

My mom was home.

She was screaming for me at the back door, probably with two big bags of groceries in her arms.

I ran to open the door.

"Be careful dear!" she scolded, her hair was clinging to her face and her clothes were damp. It must have started raining.

She squeezed her way into the house and shook herself off.

"Here," I offered with my hands out for the groceries.

She handed them over and I raced them to the kitchen counter.

"Will you put them away Eddie bear? I need to go and rest," she started to trudge to the living room, "mind the cans though, I don't want you to drop them on your feet."

"Of course Ma!" I sighed and looked at the bags, they were loaded with goods. I hated putting away the groceries.

I heard a short yell of surprise from the living.

"Mom?" I called. Maybe she had fell or couldn't find the remote.

"What is your friend doing on the couch?!"

Shit. I forgot about Richie.

I ran to the living room. My mom was hovering over Richie with a sour face.

"Oh, Richie got hurt at school so I brought him back here." I felt oddly nervous. I knew she disliked most of my friends, especially Richie.

I shifted my weight from either foot.

"Is that blood on him?!" she shrieked and Richie started to stir, "you know how dangerous it is to be around someone else's blood. Especially because you are so small and weak and your heart is-"

She continued to rant about how vulnerable I was, I looked down at my feet. I could feel anger bubbling up inside of me.

"-and you are still getting over your broken arm and-"

"I'm not fragile!" I yelled at her, "I have gone through so many dangerous situations and guess what? I am still ALIVE!"

She was speechless, her face was red. She just kept sucking in a breath as if she wanted to say something.

"Eddie?"

Richie was sitting up on my couch and rubbing his head.

"I want him out of the house Eddie, no arguing." My mom said finally.

"Fine." I muttered, "but I will walk him home."

She didn't say anything as I ushered Richie to the door.

"Let's go Rich," I said guiding him with a hand on his back.

He just kept rubbing his eyes.

It was still raining outside so I grabbed an umbrella quickly before heading out.

Richie started getting ahead of my and I tugged at the back of his shirt to pull him back.

"You have to walk slower Rich if you wanna stay dry."

Richie turned to me.

"Eddie?"

"What's up?" I expected a stupid comment or some insane question.

"Are you okay?"

I stopped walking and he only stopped after he was hit by the rain and shuffled back underneath the umbrella.

"Eds?"

I huffed at the name.

"Since when do you care if I am ok?" I asked. Did Richie get the annoying dumbass knocked out of him?

"I always have," he shrugged, "don't you remember when you broke your arm?"

I reflected on the memory. I was about to get devoured by IT and then Bill yelled and IT's attention was off of me. Then Richie ran towards me and knelt down. I remembered how concerned he looked. I was yelling, he was yelling, everyone was yelling.

I grimaced at the memory and nodded.

"So?" he pressed, "are you okay?"

I wasn't, it was so stupid. How could I be so upset by the fact that I yelled at my mom? Regular teens did it all of the time and I'm all shaken up about just doing it once. Well twice now.

Richie probably thought I was fragile too.

"I'm fine, of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" I tried to be convincing by looking straight into his eyes. He looked disappointed though, sad even.

"You don't have to be fine Eds, I know how strong of a grip your mom has on you," he reached and awkwardly patted my shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around his torso and buried my head into his chest.

"Thank you Richie," I whispered.

He finally wrapped his arms around me too and rubbed my back.

My ear was pressed against his chest and I heard his heartrate pick up.

He let out a shaky sigh, "No prob Eds."

"Don't call me that."

"Will do Eds."

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Awww, fluff

I needed to write it

Fluff makes me happy. idk about you

also I feel sick rn and I don't want to go to school tomorrow but I have to but ugh.

I just want to write all day.