soulmates~reddie

chapter ten

'bowers.'

Richie inhaled sharply, "What did he do Eddie?"

Eddie looked up at him through teary eyes. Richie wiped his tears away with his thumb and repeated his question in a softer voice, "Eddie, what did he do to you?"

Eddie let out a shaky breath and said, "You can't do anything if I tell you or else it's going to get worse.."

The ravenette looked at Eddie with a mix of rage and pain in his eyes. "Eds, how do you expect me to not do anything when Bowers hurts my best friend?" he raised his voice.

"Richie, please.." the smaller one pleaded. Richie gave in and listened to what Eddie had to say. The brunette told him everything what had happened just a few moments ago.

When Eddie finished his story, Richie was almost in tears. "Eddie, i'm so so sorry..." the ravenette said while pulling Eddie even closer to his chest. "It's okay, as long as you don't do anything it won't get worse I guess.." the smaller one said. But he was wrong. He was oh so wrong.

Everyday Henry would find a moment to hurt Eddie, to give him new bruises, to call him new names and immediately after each and every moment the blonde one would change his posture, kiss Eddie on the cheek and act like nothing happened.

Eddie tried to cover up his bruises by wearing long sleeves and turtlenecks so the others wouldn't see...so Richie wouldn't see. Because if he knew that Eddie was still getting hurt by him, he would try to end Bowers and get hurt himself.

Eddie was pretty good at hiding his bruises and telling everyone he's fine. It seemed like everyone believed Eddie. Everyone...except one person.

It was friday and Eddie was walking to his last period. He wanted school to be over already so he could take a hot shower and take care of the bruises around his wrists. Richie was in Eddie's last class of the day so that made him feel a little bit better.

He was walking down the hallway until he suddenly got pulled into the bathrooms. Thinking it was Henry, he immediately shielded his face and whispered "I'm sorry."

"I knew it!" he suddenly heard, but it wasn't Henry's cold and stern voice. It was a warm and soft voice. A voice that belonged to his bird loving friend.

"Stan? What the fuck are you doing? You scared the shit out of me." Eddie said while dropping his arms to his sides. The curly haired boy stared at Eddie in disbelief, "What am I doing? I'm trying to find out what's going on with you and I think I figured it out."

Eddie's mind started racing, he knows that Henry is hurting me, oh no he knows, what if he tells everyone? No Stan's not like that- his thoughts were cut off when Stan started talking again.

"Lately you've been acting off and I didn't like seeing you like that so I started keeping an eye on you and I know that someone is hurting you, and I think the answer to who that might be is quite obvious," he layed a hand on Eddie's shoulder and looked at him with sympathy in his eyes, "Eddie show me your bruises."

Eddie hasn't said a word since Stan started talking and was even more startled about the command the boy just gave him. "I-i...uhh..I don't know what you're talking about." Eddie said, while taking a step backwards.

"Eddie, you have to be honest with me. I know Bowers is hurting you, I just want to see how badly..you can trust me." the dirty blonde one told Eddie.

The brunette inhaled deeply and hooked his fingers under the fabric of his sweater, ready to pull it over his head, "You sure?" he asked Stan, to which the boy nodded and with that Eddie had discarded his sweater from his body and was standing half naked in the school bathrooms with Stan.

The bird lover touched Eddie's side where a dark and nasty bruise was showing from when Bowers had kicked him with his worn out boot. Stan's fingers trailed up to Eddie's chest where red marks were showing from when Bowers shoved into him multiple times. The boy then took Eddie's wrists in his hands and softly stroked the bruises with his thumbs. He brought the wrists to his face and left a light peck on both of them. Tears started rolling down both of their cheeks and Eddie let himself fall in Stan's arms. The boy quickly hugged Eddie back.

While this was all happening in the bathroom, Richie was getting concerned why Eddie wasn't in class. He knows for a fact that Eddie doesn't skip his classes like that.

After fifteen minutes of class Richie raises his hand and asks if he can go to the bathroom. He gets permission and starts wandering around the school, looking for his best friend.

He turns one of the corners and sees Bill walking through the hallway. "Hey big Bill, skipping?" he asks while waving at him. Bill turns his attention to Richie and shakes his head, "Stan didn't show up for c-c-class, it isn't luh-like him."

"Wait, seriously? Eddie didn't show up to class either." Richie said while furrowing his brows, "Where the fuck are those two?"

Bill and Richie now start searching together. They were walking in silence, the only thing being heard were their shoes on the tiled floor and the muffled noises from teachers inside the classrooms. Suddenly Bill broke the silence, "You d-don't think they are...f..." he started, but couldn't say the word that swirled around in his mind, "fucking?" Richie finished for him. "Y-yeah.." Bill said with a tone of sadness. "To be honest man, I have no fucking clue what those two are doing if they are not in class."

Bill nodded and they kept walking until they came across the bathrooms were they heard muffled crying. Richie stopped walking and pressed his ear against the door while motioning for Bill to come closer. Both boys were now standing at the door, with their ear pressed against it, "We should go look." Richie whispered to Bill and the boy nodded back.

Richie pushed the door open and froze at the image in front of him. Eddie and Stan, hugging in the middle of the bathroom and both crying. But what had Richie's attention the most was that Eddie's sweater was laying on the ground and Eddie himself was covered in bruises.

"Richie, I can explain-" Eddie started, but the ravenette cut him off.

"You lied to me.." and that was the last thing he said before he ran off, with tears falling from his eyes.