Cabin # 365 - Reddie - IT Camp Counselor au

~ Twenty One ~

The two boys were still sitting on the pier, Eddie still sitting in Richie's lap. Richie settled his chin on Eddie's shoulder, the shorter boy leaning his head on top of his boyfriend's in response.  A faint blush was visible on the taller boy's cheeks.

"How did none of the others keep a secret for that long, that's so unlike them." Eddie mumbled, taking his grip off of Richie's wrists and slowly interlocking their fingers. "I mean, I hid my feelings until this summer from everyone, except maybe Bev and Bill. I was scared they would tell you because you weren't out yet." Richie forces out a chuckle while looking at their hands, smiling. "I told Mike, he said he wouldn't tell anyone else, I would have told Bill, but even with his stutter, he would have told Stan one-hundred percent." He replied, slightly giggling, and moving his head to kiss Richie on the cheek.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, enjoying the tranquility of the moments under the moonlight. The stars formed various shapes and constellations. Eddie looked up and mumbled to his lover, "Look Chee, that one is Capricornus," He pointed to a group of stars near Saturn Nebula. Richie tilted his head up, looking at the stars that formed the Sea-goat constellation. "Why you look at that Eds, it sure is the goat of the sea!" Richie exclaimed in a pirate accent, causing Eddie to burst out laughing. "What the fuck, that's the shittiest voice i've ever heard!"

"You didn't correct me, I'll have to say that I am surprised to say the least." 

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked, rubbing his thumb over the side of Richie's palm. "You never said your name wasn't Eds." He responded, earning an 'ohhh' from Eddie. He blushed from embarrassment and chuckled, "Well the thing is, I secretly liked the nicknames, but said I hated them so you wouldn't suspect anything, y'know."

"I knew it! You did like them my spaghetti!" He responded, both of them laughing. Eddie noticed he changed the nickname slightly, it was no longer just 'spaghetti', it was now 'my spaghetti.' The change might not seem like a lot to most, but in Eddie's mind, the one word difference made Eddie fall harder for the other boy. 

Richie scooted backwards and stood up, leaving Eddie by himself at the edge of the pier. Eddie started to feel nervous again, in fear Richie was going to push him off, or he simply would somehow slip and fall in. "Rich where are you going?" The shorter boy asked, slowly turning around. Richie walked to where he sat his backpack just an hour or two ago, and proceeded to unzip it. 

"Give me a second Eds I brought something for us." He replied, pulling a speaker out of his backpack. Eddie tilted his head in confusion, "A speaker, for what, to listen to your trashy music, what's that  one artist, 6ix9ine or some shit?" As the taller boy zipped his bag closed, he burst out laughing. "Oh Eddie, I played that shit once to annoy the living shit out of Stan, I hate that type of music, I'm more into McCafferty and COIN, mostly alternative rock, you know this." He explained, trying to connect his phone to the speaker. 

"Well have you at least tried listening to Conan Gray or Empire of the Sun?" Eddie asked, familiar with the constant blasting of 'I swear to fucking god Chris, I'll turn this car around,' and, 'Caffeine small talk, Wait out the plastic weather.' Richie looked over at the boy, "Okay, no, but what if you show me your music, and I show you mine." He suggested, the younger boy snatching his boyfriend's phone and typing in the words 'Crush Culture' into the search bar, then clicking on the song that came up on spotify. The beginning of the song started with an angelic voice singing, "Crush Culture," Richie nodded his head, at first thinking it was Eddie singing because the vocals were so heavenly. 

The song continued, the chorus saying, "Crush culture makes me wanna spill my guts out. I know what you're doing, tryna get me to pursue ya. Crush culture makes me wanna spill my guts out. Spill my guts out, spill my guts out."