why you? - reddie (completed)

1. realisation

Eddie stared at Richie from across the hall. Him and some other guy from his french class were joking around and play fighting. He was dressed in a tacky Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, canvas shoes and large coke bottle glasses. Eddie wasn't sure why he was staring. Maybe it was because he was mesmerised by the way Richie's messy hair would bounce off his forehead when he moved or how he found it cute when he threw his head back in laughter after a dumb joke he made. Wait, why'd he find it cute? He wasn't ever sure why he'd stare, but he couldn't stop.

"You're drooling," Mike smiled as he leant back against the lockers next to Eddie.

Eddie flinched and dropped his textbook. He quickly bent down to pick it up before standing up and shoving it in his locker.

"You scared the shit out of me and I was not drooling," he quickly retorted.
"Uh huh, then what's this?" Mike bit his lip and smiled as he wiped drool from Eddie's chin.

Eddie slapped his hand away and Mike laughed.

"So you got a thing for Mr Tozier?"
"Of course not. He's repulsive."
"Is that why you were drooling then?"
"I'm done with this conversation," Eddie pulled out another text book and slammed his locker shut, "I have to go get that dumbass over there. I have my next lesson with him and I'm not his bitchass skip again."
"Uh huh, cya Eddie," Mike smiled as he walked off in the other direction.

Eddie leaned back against his lockers again. He admired the way Richie was smiling at him. The way the corner of his eyes crinkled made his heart throb. The image of Richie was getting closer. Wait, he was getting closer.

"Hey Eds!" Richie grinned as he snapped Eddie out of his day dreaming state.
"Oh h-hey Rich."
"Don't be so surprised to see me, you watched me walk over here."
"Yeah right um," he cleared his throat, "you ready for history?"
"Nah, I think I'm gonna-"

He noticed the way Eddie's face so subtly dropped when he began his sentence. History was the only class Eddie had with Richie. Every few days he asked the same thing and was usually good at hiding his disappointment, but today he just couldn't. Richie furrowed his brows for a second and changed his mind.

"Yeah, let's go."
"Rich-"
"I said, let's go, we don't wanna be late," he smiled as he headed towards their classroom.

Eddie quickly caught up to the trashmouth. He couldn't help, but smile. Richie was talking about nothing. He was kinda just ranting about his last few classes. Eddie wasn't really listening though. He was just using this as an excuse to stare at Richie again. The trashmouth was smiling and every time he turned his head to make sure Eddie was still there, his hair would bounce and Eddie still wasn't quite sure why he found it cute. Wait, he found him cute...again? When they got to class, they took their normal seats at the very back of the classroom.

"Nice to see you, Mr Tozier," Mr Dowling said as he walked in.
"Wish I could say the same," Richie smiled as Eddie smacked him on the arm, "ow."

Mr Dowling ignored his comment and started teaching the class.

"Today we're starting our unit on Henry the VIII and his six wives."

Richie leant back and let his eyes drift to Eddie. The small boy was quickly taking notes of what Mr Dowling was saying. He had his eyebrows furrowed and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. Richie felt a smile spread across his face as the teachers talking became like a distant chatter.

Eddie put his hand up and got called on by the teacher. Richie watched his lips move as he spoke six words.

"Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived."
"Correct!" Mr Dowling replied before continuing to teach.

Richie kept his eyes on Eddie's lips as they formed into a smile, causing Richie to smile harder. Eddie saw Richie smiling at him out the corner of his eye and turned to face him. Richie looked to the front of the classroom, sat up straight, pretended to be interested and started scribbling nonsense onto his book. A soft laugh escaped Eddie's lips and he could stop smiling for the rest of the lesson.

——

When Eddie got home later that night he didn't do his homework. Instead the trashmouth occupied his mind. His cute smile, coke bottle glasses and messy black hair was pictured in his mind as clear as day. Richie was staring at him during a class he went to purely because of him. The stare wasn't the typical cheeky stare he'd give others. It was soft and loving. Eddie just couldn't stop thinking about how he wanted Richie to look at him like that all the time. His mind then wandered to the conversation he had with a Mike. He was in fact staring at Richie while drooling. He thought he was cute...he-

"Shit," he uttered when the realisation hit him, "I'm in love with Richie Tozier."

——

(A/N) So that's the first chapter of my new reddie book. What do you think?