Just About The Money || Reddie

T W O

TRIGGER WARNING: homophobic slurs

-Three weeks earlier-
(the day Eddie went missing)

This is it... today is the day I go find my dad. 16-year-old Eddie Kaspbrak thinks to himself.

He empty's his large, light green school backpack of its books, binders, and papers and instead starts to fill it with necessity's he'll take with him on his journey. He puts in extra pairs of clothes (for both hot and cold weather), snacks such as packaged goods, fruit, a jar of peanut butter and some bread he took from his mother's kitchen. He has his water bottle filled to the brim with ice-cold water and slips it in one of the pockets. In another pocket he slips a leather-bound journal he was gifted for his 15th birthday, filled with phone numbers he'd need to remember, locations of rest stops and a folded up map of the whole state, marked up with stickers and drawn on dots pinpointing to exact locations he would need to go.

Next, he starts to pack his vibrant yellow fanny pack with items such as a small first aid kit, his baby blue inhaler, some money he'd been saving up (only $47), another inhaler, and the most important item; a letter his father had sent him 2 weeks prior to his packing.

You see, Eddie's mother, Sonia Kaspbrak, had always told him that Eddie's father died of cancer when Eddie was only 3 years of age. So you could probably imagine the things going through his head when he revived a letter in the mail addressed to him FROM his father, Frank Kaspbrak.
     Now at first, he thought it was just a hoax, a sick prank Henry Bowers and his goons tried to play on him. So he pushed it from his mind and carried on with his life, as usual, only occasionally thinking of the letter he was sent. Maybe it was real? He didn't know. But he did know that he couldn't just go chasing after uncertainty.

*Flashback*

It's been about a week since he's revived the letter from his supposed "father", and Eddie's slowly starting to let it slip from his mind. All curiosity blocked, just ignoring the small urge to take it seriously.
The three boys sit in an empty music room at school to eat their lunches in peace, free from prying eyes or ears, and free from Henry Bowers.

"Eddie. Y-you have to tell her. You ca-can't j-just keep this huge-ass s-s-secret for the r-rest of your life!" Bill Denbrough wines, while splitting his peanut butter sandwich in half to share with his other best friend, Stan Uris.
Eddie frowns. "I would love too, but I can't. It's just too... scary. And what if she doesn't accept me as you guys do?"
"Eddie, trust me. She'll for sure accept you because she obviously cares about you no matter what. I mean... maybe she cares about you a little too much, considering the number of pills she shoves down your throat to 'keep you for getting sick'. But still! It's not like being gay is a sickness, I actually think it's quite beautiful that you feel like you've accepted a part who you are already." Stan smiles wide and puts a reassuring hand on Eddie back.

"You guys really think so?" Eddie asks, voice trembling, still unsure of himself.
"Oh, w-we know so E-Eddie. Please j-just tell her, you've b-b-been so tense lately and I
th-think that's something you may need to get off your ch-ch-chest." Bill pleads again. And Eddie can't take it anymore, Bills right. He can't hide away in the closet forever. He plunges into Bill's arms, tears slipping from his eyes. Then Stan takes no time to scoot over as well and lay tentative arms across both boy's backs, turning it into a group hug with a squished Eddie in the middle.
    They stay like that for a while, with Bill brushing out Eddie's beach waved hair in his fingers and Stan whispering soothing things in his ear until the small boy breaks the lovely silence.
    "I'll tell her tonight, over dinner. Promise."
    Stan looks up at his friend's tear puffed face and gently smiles. "Good. No matter what happens Eddie, just know we love and accept you."