the kissing bridge [reddie+stenbrough]

45

After an hour of sitting awkwardly and making small talk and Bill drew in his sketch book, Bill turns it around, showing Stan the portrait Bill had just finished drawing.

"Bill, this is so good!," Stan takes the sketch book and takes a closer look at the picture. "Thanks.," Bill blushes, "I've been p-practicing."

"I love it.," Stan smiles and looks up at Bill, "And... I love you."

The sentence caught Bill off guard, "Y-You mean, like a f-f-friend, right?"

Stan could have just said yes, but he could help but tell Bill how he really felt, "Of course. But, also- you already know this- I like you a lot. I didn't realize how much I wanted to be with you until we decided we didn't want to do anything."

Bill didn't know what to say. He starts blushing and avoids eye contact with Stan. "Listen.," Stan sighs, "If you don't feel the same way anymore, I get it. I just had to get that off of my chest."

"No, I-I do.," Bill looks at Stan, "Are you s-s-sure you w-want to?"

Stan puts Bill's sketch book down and grabs Bill's hand. "Yeah.," Stan nods.

///

Richie and Eddie had walked together to Richie's house. Eddie sits down on Richie's bed and Richie sits in Eddie's lap, facing Eddie.

"Richie, you're hurting my legs.," Eddie sighs.

"Whatever, coward.," Richie jokes.

"Fucking move, Richie-"

"Make me!"

As Eddie tries to push Richie off of his lap, Richie starts ticking Eddie. "Richie, stop it!," Eddie says in between laughs. Eddie's laugh made Richie giggle. Eddie playfully slaps Richie's arm in an attempt to get Richie to stop.

Richie grabs Eddie's face and kisses him. Both of the boys were blushing. "I love you.," Richie says, his forehead pressed against Richie's. "I love you, too.," Eddie tells Richie before joking, "Maybe."

"Eds!," Richie moves slightly farther away from Eddie before saying sarcastically, "Well, if you don't want me, Connor Bowers is next in line-"

"Richie, shut the fuck up!," Eddie laughs. At this point, Eddie wasn't even mad about what Connor did because of how much Richie had been joking about it.

Wentworth walks in on them laughing hysterically. He smiles because he knows that this is the happiest the boys had been in a long time.

"Hey, boys!," Wentworth says, causing Richie to turn around and look at him.

"Richie, can I talk to you for a second?," Wentworth asks him. "Yeah.," Richie answers before turning to Eddie, "I'll be right back."

"Okay.," Eddie tells Richie. Richie pecks Eddie's cheek before standing up and following his dad out of the room.

Eddie knew what they were talking about. He was hoping that they would stay in Derry, but was trying not to get upset over the thought of Richie leaving.

A few minutes later, Richie walks back into his room with tears in his eyes, and Eddie's heart sinks to his stomach.

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thank u guys for 20k+ reads, 700+ votes, and 400+ comments <3 also if u read now or never that story already has 78 reads so thank u i'm glad u guys like it so far :,)