-•»Reddie One Shots«•-

Metathesiophobia

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Words: 4,335
Prompt: Metathesiophobia or metaphobia is the fear of change. The sufferer of this fear may not want anything different from what they already have. These individuals may have a comfort zone that they do not wish to disrupt by bringing anything unfamiliar to their lives.
Enjoy :)
          ➳ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀᴄᴜᴘ
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   Eddie never liked things to change. Ever since he was a kid, he hated when things were different than they usually were. Like when he had to go into a different grade. And especially when he had to go to a different school. He had burst into tears, in front of his middle school while his mother had tried to tell him he was overreacting, but the tears kept spilling. Eddie knew he was probably making a fool of himself, be he was just so scared.

    And then he had to go to a new school for high school. He went to the bathroom to cry "a little", trying to drain himself of the horrible feeling that had built up inside him. He was beyond terrified. But he had his friends with him. But what if they get popular and ditch Eddie? What if they start to hate him? What if they all end up looking gorgeous after puberty and Eddie looks like a burnt chicken nugget?

    So, when Bill and Stan had come out, he wasn't exactly too thrilled. He wasn't homophobic, like, at all. But he was scared. A wave of anxiety had washed over him. Would this change the friend group? Would they leave? What if they broke up? Would one of them stop hanging out with the group? Would both of them? Eddie didn't want to lose a friend.

    His throat became dry and he felt like crying. While everyone else was smiling and clapping and congratulating them, Eddie's mind wandered to the worst things that could happen. His breathing became heavier and he reached for his inhaler, taking a puff from it.

    "Hey, Eddie, are you okay?" Ben said softly, and everyone's smile faded and they looked at Eddie.

    Eddie took another puff of his inhaler.

    "Whoa, Eddie, what's up?" Mike asked.

    "Is something wrong?" Stanley looked worried. And that made Eddie panic,

    "Yes. I mean, no, no, no. I'm happy for you guys, you guys, you guys are, are cute! Together, not like, in general, not saying you guys aren't cute, but like- I need to go-" Eddie quickly got up to go to the bathroom of Bill's house. Slamming the door and gasping loudly for air. He sat on the floor, which he would never do because do you know how many germs are on the bathroom floor? But the fear of losing his friends was overpowering the fear of all the bacteria.

    No words could describe how scared Eddie was. He was shaking and sweating and crying. He was a disaster. And he knew it was unreasonable to be this terrified, he was meant to be happy for them, but he always had an irrational fear when it came to new situations, and this was definitely new.

    This wasn't the first time he had to excuse himself to go panic in the bathroom, and he's almost positive it won't be his last.

Then he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Eddie, are you okay?" He heard the voice from the other side ask.

"Mhmm!" He hummed as loudly as he could, not trusting himself to say actual words. Then he felt the door press against his back, and he knows that whoever's on the other side is trying to get in. Eddie moved, scooting his way to the center of the bathroom.

"Hey, Eddie, are you okay?" Beverly closed the bathroom door behind her.

Eddie was still shaking and tears were still spilling down his face, but he wiped them quickly and nodded frantically.