THICK & THIN ✿ reddie

just for you.

It takes Richie a week of planning to find a date where all of the losers can surprise Eddie at one of his games. At least one of them always tries to go to Eddie's games but all of them being there at once is rare due to their busy schedules. However, this weekend the girls' volleyball team faces their school's biggest rival and Eddie is clearly anxious about it. Richie's determined to make sure all of Eddie's friends are there to cheer him on.

He feels accomplished in having gotten all his friends to agree to come to the game and walks with a little pep in his step on the way to the gymnasium. Watching the last half an hour of Eddie's morning practice on the weekends had become a regular part of Richie's routine.

He can't fathom how Eddie rolls out of bed at 8 a.m. every weekend morning to go exercise, but he sure as hell respects him for it. Richie can only make it in time to see the last thirty minutes, but it's worth it. Eddie gets this ridiculously wide smile on his face when he plays and Richie absolutely loves seeing his boy so happy. So, he sacrifices some sleep to get up early, walk to the gym, catch the tail end of his practice, and take him out to breakfast.

Richie shoulders open the heavy gym door just in time to see Eddie send a practiced serve over the net, causing one of the back-row players to shank it.

"Nice one, Kaspbrak!" Richie cheers from the doorway.

Eddie whips around with a huge smile on his face and blows him a kiss before returning his focus to the game.

Richie takes a seat in the bleachers nearest to the court and watches Eddie play.

Once practice comes to an end Eddie's jogs up to him, covered in sweat and grinning.

"I'm gonna take a shower real quick then we can head out," he promises, pressing a kiss to Richie's cheek.

Richie flashes him a thumbs up and unabashedly stares at his ass as he makes his way to the locker rooms.

Richie passes the time by playing a game on his phone. At some point he lifts his head and catches two of girls from the team laughing their asses off as they walk by.

Richie would easily ignore it, but the bag in one of the girl's hands catches his attention. Katie Toizer is printed on it in cursive. He easily recognizes it as Eddie's volleyball bag which happens to be a hand-me-down from Katie.

It doesn't take him long to figure out that they probably snatched Eddie's bag while he was in the shower. That's odd—he doesn't remember Eddie ever saying he didn't get along with some of his teammates.

"Hey, Darling, what's your name?" Richie asks as the girls pass him by.

They give him a suspicious look but answer nonetheless. "I'm Sophie, and this is Jenna," one of them responds.

"Hmm, so, neither of you happen to be Katie Toizer?" Richie asks conversationally, gesturing to the bag in her hand.

Sophie narrows her eyes. "What are you getting at?"

"This is Eddie's bag, isn't it?" he says, swiftly plucking it out of her hands although she doesn't provide much physical resistance, "So, wanna explain why you have it?"

"Why don't you worry about yourself and mind your own business," Sophie snaps.

"That seems a bit hypocritical, don't ya think?" Richie responds.

"Fuck you, faggot," the other girl hisses. Richie's eyes widen at her sudden aggression, but he quickly recovers.

"I'll have to put you on the waiting list, babe," he says as he slings Eddie's bag over his shoulder.