soulmates~reddie

chapter nine

!warning! Homophobic slurs, degrading names, mention of harrasment, slutshaming...

'They set my mind off of everything and I just don't...feel for a moment.'

Eddie didn't know what to do and just stood there. He finally came to his senses and started walking to school. He wanted to follow Richie so badly, but that would probably cause more trouble than him coming a few minutes too late. He hurried himself to school and he was just om time before the bell rang.

He sat down in his chair in history but couldn't focus on the lesson because his mind kept slipping back to Richie, and what he had said to Eddie..

Eddie knows that he shouldn't have snapped at Richie like that, but Richie didn't have to walk away from him because this made Eddie only more concerned about the spectacled boy. At lunch he will ask The Losers if any of them saw Richie at school or not.

When the bell finally rang, Eddie stood up, after gathering his stuff, and quickly made his way over to the cafeteria. He saw Bev and Bill sitting at their table and walked over to them. "Hey guys, has one of you seen Richie today?" he asked, half out of breath. They shook their heads but both had a concerned look. "What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" the brunette asked the other two. "Eddie, are you okay?" the red head asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine...I-i just need Richie." he immediately regretted his word choice after the sentence had left his lips. Bill's face grew even more concerned. "W-w-why do you need Ruh-Richie?" Eddie started panicking and he quickly came up with an excuse, "He had notes for me, but I haven't seen him all day." he was absolutely not going to tell how he slept in the same bed as Richie, how he had kissed the ravenette this morning and how he was the reason that said boy now wasn't at school.

"He's probably skipping or getting high somewhere. If you want to we can go look for him after school at the places that him and I usually go to to blow of steam." Beverly said to him. "I would love to, thanks Bev." the brunette sighed. Ben and Stan just arrived and Ben asked what was going on. "Richie has notes for Eddie but fuckface isn't at school so we are going to look for him after school." the red head answered her boyfriend.

Everyone started heading to their next class when lunch was over. Eddie was walking down the hall when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from walking further. The first thought that popped into his head was that it was Richie, he came back to talk to Eddie so they could apologise to eachother, but that thought was quickly pushed away because this hand had a firm grip on him. Richie wouldn't hold him like that.

Suddenly the hand janked Eddie back and he was spun around before almost stumbling over into Henry Bowers' chest. "What's up buttercup?" he said with a sickingly sweet tone. Eddie looked up at his eyes and shivered. The grey eyes were dull and showed something that made Eddie's intestines turn and suddenly he felt his throath tighten up and he feels like he is in a trance caused by the blonde one in front of him.

The blonde stepped closer to Eddie and pushed the smaller one backwards until he felt his back hit the tiled wall of the school hallway, their chests pressed together. Eddie's breathing was uneven and he felt like he was going to pass out at any given moment. The taller one leaned over and started whispering in Eddie's ear, "Have you told anyone yet what happened yesterday?" Eddie quickly shook his head, his lips pressed together in a thin line and trying to understand what Henry is saying while his ears are ringing. "No? Not even that fairy with the big mouth and the stupid glasses? Bet you already fucked him, huh? You dirty slut."

He felt Henry's knee now suddenly pressing really hard into his groin which caused Eddie to leave out a yelp and a choked sob. Henry's hand flew up and his fingers wrapped around the brunette's throath. "Shut it, you little shit. You beter not have told anyone, you understand?" Eddie tried nodding but struggled because of Henry's hand. Suddenly he started pressing harder, cutting most of Eddie's breathing off.

The smaller boy couldn't do anything, he wanted to scream but there was no sound. He then felt hot tears streaming down his cheeks. He started seeing stars and began to go limp and that's when he felt Henry loosen his grip on Eddie. The brunette inhaled deeply and sharply and let his head fall back against the wall. Henry stepped back and Eddie finally felt free again. He looked up at the taller one and saw that his eyes had changed. They now had a sparkle in them and looked very lively and happy. He smiled down at Eddie and Eddie swore that he suddenly looked like a different person.

"Bye babe, gotta get to class!" the blonde one said before pecking his cheek and walking off. Eddie slid down the wall and started crying. He pulled his knees as close to his chest as possible and pressed his head between his knees until his breathing calmed down and he felt a little bit better. He looked at his watch and saw that class was almost over and he really didn't want to go in there anymore because he probably looked like a mess and he wouldn't want to explain why he almost missed a whole period.

He stood up, straightened Richie's white sweater a bit and picked his backpack up from the floor. He started walking towards the bathrooms to freshen up because he didn't want people to notice that he had been crying.

He went to open the bathroom door but someone just walked outside and Eddie crashes into him. He started apologizing but cut himself of when he saw that he had just walked into Richie. Eddie started tearing up again and hugged Richie tight.

"Eds, are you alright? What happened to you?" Eddie took Richie's hand and dragged him back into the bathrooms. He now was full on crying again and started saying to Richie that he was so worried and that he shouldn't have said what he said, ", I-i didn't mean it..." the brunette quietly said. "You didn't mean what?" Richie gently asked while rubbing his thumb over the back of Eddie's hand.

The brunette took a deep breath and silently said, "That I don't have feelings for you.."

It was quiet, very quiet. Until he heard Richie sniffle. He looked up at the taller one and saw that he was tearing up. "Richie? Are you crying?"

"No, what? Don't be sil-  hey, what's that on your neck?" Richie stopped mid sentence and tried to tilt Eddie's head to the side to get a better look at it. "What? What do you mean?" Eddie walked over to the bathroom mirrors and looked at his neck. He had a red bruise from where Bowers had pressed his hand onto his throath and almost choked Eddie unconsious.

He lightly touched the bruise with his fingertips and then pushed the back of his hand against his mouth when he let out a sob. "Hey, hey...shh" Richie rushes over to him, engulfing him into a hug, ",what's wrong? What happened?"

Eddie nuzzled his face into Richie's chest and inhaled the taller one's scent which made him relax instantly. He took a deep, shaky breath before murmuring just above a whisper, "Bowers."