Sticks And Stones [Reddie]

3

eddie didn't know what to expect from a movie called three men and a baby, but his mother was weary of it to say the least. admittedly, it did sound a bit...homosexual, but it was one of the few movies showing that day and myra wanted to spend some time with her son.

but even if it was homosexual propaganda, eddie couldn't stop thinking about the guy in the ticket booth, the guy in his backyard, the guy with stubble gracing his jaw and neck, the guy with huge calloused hands, the guy—

"eddie-bear, would be a darling and get your mother a drink?" myra whispered to her right, interrupting his train of thought, as she continued staring at the screen.

he was sitting uncomfortably in his seat, in the centre of the auditorium, shifting and fidgeting while the movie flashed before him.

"i-uh-yes, momma."

he was handed a dollar bill as his mother's eyes stuck back to the projector.

he tiptoed down the sticky carpeted stairs, not wishing to disturb all the other three audience members in the theatre. when he made it to the door, he struggled to pull it more than a foot with his skinny arms, due to the fact that it was soundproofed and rather hefty. it didn't matter that he could only create a small gap, however, as his tiny frame easily slipped through.

he began his walk towards the counter, staring at his worn-out, unbranded sneakers, but stopped in his tracks about seven feet away from it when he looked up and saw richie tozier standing behind it, taking a handful of popcorn straight from the machine and into his mouth.

despite his disgust at the action, eddie found himself mesmerised.

before he even realised he was at the counter, he had his arm fully extended forwards, the dollar bill an inch from richie's chest.

eddies lip was quaking and his eyes were wide.

"um, can i help you?" he said in a confused tone.

"um, y-yeah, well, i mean— i'm-i'm sorry...uh...can i...sorry, do you remember me?" eddie choked out, lowering his arm.

richie raised his right eyebrow and looked eddie in the eye, and he felt as if his soul was being directly targeted.

"no, sorry." he stated.

eddie looked down.

"you were in my backyard last night. i found your glasses in the grass and you gave me a beer." he muttered, looking up at richie hopefully.

"last night? oh, i was fuckin' wasted, i'm sorry. what was your name?"

"eddie."

he didn't see why being drunk affected his memory. alcohol wasn't a magic memory potion.

suddenly a hyper detailed sequence of events slapped richie in the face, and a genuine smile relaxed eddie slightly.

"oh, right! eddie spaghetti! how are you doing on this beautiful day?" he gazed at the boy in front of him.

he couldn't take his eyes off of eddie's pink lips and pink cheeks.

"i'm-i'm good. um...do you think i could get a bottle of water please?" he requested, resting the crumpled dollar bill on the surface.

"sure thing, eds."

["eds, i didn't mean to hurt you!"]

richie pulled open the fridge behind him, before eddie spotted the label on the fridge that informed him that bottled water, was in fact, $2.

his mouth went dry.

"um...richie? i'm really sorry b-but i'm a dollar short. i'll just leave, i'm sorry for wasting your time." he stumbled, totally embarrassed and ashamed.

he had just totally wasted this guys time. he was probably thinking about what an idiot eddie was; can he not do math or something?

"just take it." he stated blankly.

"what?"

"i don't care. it's two bucks. here."

the taller boy grabbed a packet of skittles from the display behind him and put it next to the water in front of him.

eddie looked up at him with the most adorable face and beautiful eyes richie had ever seen. in a puppy sort of way. his eyes were wide and glistening, his eyebrows turned upward on the inside and his mouth curled into a subtle pout.

"don't. you don't have to." eddie muttered.

"don't worry about it. buy yourself something pretty." richie smirked, sliding the dollar bill towards him, and winking.

eddie grinned.

"are you sure?"

"why wouldn't i be?"

for a moment, they both just stood there smirking at each other with their eyes locked, the eight inches difference between their heights making itself known.

"thank you, richie." eddie almost whispered, finally breaking eye contact to take the items and the money back to the theatre, as his counterpart watched him leave.

he couldn't help but look at his cute ass again as he left, though.

before eddie went back into the theatre, he stuffed the bag of skittles into his fanny pack to prevent getting into trouble.

not only was he still banned from eating until this evening, but his mother would never allow him to eat candy. it was basically poison, and even though eddie knew this, he wanted to hang onto them. just in case.

*

eddie laid on his bed that night, his back still not adjusting to the horrible mattress, his packet of skittles resting on his chest.

he should just eat them. he was still starving, and he hadn't had candy in at least a year. a little bit wouldn't kill him.

but it could. his mother had told him all about diabetes and the people who died eating junk food like this.

but he saw people eating it by the truckload and they were fine.

yeah, but not in the long term.

richie gave him those, he'd want him to eat them.

he barely even existed in richie's world, he didn't mean anything to him.

the way he looked at him said otherwise.

it was conflicting. of course, eddie trusted his mother and believed what she was telling him. she was well educated and knew her facts. but he wanted to trust this boy, too.

before he could overthink it for a second more, he sat up and tore open the packet, tipping half a dozen skittles in his mouth and the rest of the packet on his right hand.

that wave of sugar and intense flavour hit the frigging spot.

but eventually, he froze, and his heart sunk, and his face went white, and his heart started beating at a million times faster than normally.

what had he done?

he leapt up from his bed and spat them out of his bedroom window, the paranoia taking control of his actions. his mother knew best. what reason would she have to lie?

when a string of spit broke from his lip, and eddie's arms had stopped shaking enough to have a stable balance on the window frame, he looked up into the dark sky, a breeze brushing over his face. they were so far away, those stars. but he felt like he could reach out and touch one.

"hey! eds!"

eddie looked out to the street, searching for the person calling his name. his brown eyes finally settled on richie tozier, who was saluting to him from across the street, which couldn't have been more than a hundred feet away, and smiling, before speeding off on his bike down the wet road.

he wondered how long he'd been watching him.