❦♰❀ reddie smut ☿✿☆

50. you're my little prince, eds

by: yallreddieforthis

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Eddie stepped behind Richie and Ben as Mike's old camera came out to take a group picture of them at the quarry—the now-tallest of them and the widest of the group made a good shield for him to cower behind. Richie was too blinded by the joy they all felt that beautiful summer day to notice the way Eddie hid or covered up whenever that dreadful camera came into his line of vision. Beverly was finally visiting them all for the summer and their first day back as a group was just as fulfilling as they expected it to be; after the incident with It they all worried that they'd grow apart but as soon as they were put together in a room it's like they all molded into one and the years that had passed meant nothing. They were older now, all aged about 17 years old and they had matured. But despite that nothing could make them lose their childlike sense of wonder and desire to escape their respective domestic hells. So their first time wandering through the forest with a mental map leading them to their old safe haven sent memories and nostalgia to their very core. They all took as many pictures as they could that day because they wanted to remember just how much they smiled.

All except Eddie. More similar situations started to happen until the oh so oblivious Richie Tozier started to notice. He always thought 'oh, maybe he's scared his mom will find the pictures and realize he's out in the "dangerous" woods', but when the two longtime friends started to see each other it became more obvious what it was.

It was shy and unsure at first, neither of them was certain if the other was interested in them because Richie's been 'jokingly' flirting since they were 11 and Eddie was essentially a fun-sized demon of rage who demonstrated affection with misdirected anger and sarcasm. The only way they could finally express their feelings for each other was thanks to their friends getting so frustrated once their repressed feelings turned into Richie constantly staring at Eddie with a dumb, blank expression and Eddie looking up at Richie and giggling flirtatiously at every one of his ridiculously unfunny jokes.  So once Bill and Stan had had enough they locked them in Bill's bedroom and wouldn't let them out until they 'dealt with their shit'. This led to the oh so iconic and constantly brought up event of Richie just walking over to Eddie, kissing him right on the lips and then backing out of the room doing finger guns until he bumped the back of his head hard against the door that was still obviously locked. It was funny and adorable and Eddie was still proud of their 'story' he told constantly when people asked how they got together.

They had been dating for 5 months since then. Now that Richie suddenly had this new duty of loving and protecting Eddie—something he used to do anyway but much more low key—he starting observing this behavior that had begun when they were around 16. It all got pieced together now: dragging Richie away to other games in the arcade once he suggested taking cute pictures in the photo booth; keeping his face down towards the ground whenever they were around people outside of their friend group; starting to steal Richie's hoodies, which Richie thought was just a cute boyfriend thing at first because he looked so damn small in them, but now realized it's because the baggy material swallowed him and the oversized hood shielded his face.

It was also in the way he reacted when Richie would try to randomly compliment him. Of course Richie would compliment him in front of people, he loved to flaunt his pretty baby boy. Except Eddie wouldn't blush or gently shove him away like he did when they were younger. He would frown and look away or sometimes even scrunch up his nose in disgust. Richie tried to play it off as Eddie being Eddie and pretended to be annoyed by him like he always did around their friends, but even when they were alone Eddie just seemed bothered or uncomfortable by his sweet comments. He needed to know why.The real root of Eddie's problem had started when he first found out he was ugly. He was only 15 and he had been quietly going down the stairs for a snack without waking up his mother before loud kitchen chatter indicated to him that she was very much awake and his aunt hadn't left yet.