The movie finally ended after nearly two hours and Richie stretched as the lights turned on, his shirt riding up and revealing a sliver of his stomach, which caught Eddie's eye.
"Alright, c'mon." Richie said, standing up and smiling at Eddie who as well stood up and followed Richie out of the movie theatre.
As they threw away their trash and walked out of the arcade connected to the theatre, Richie spoke up.
"Thanks for the date, Ed's." The curly haired boy said, looking down at Eddie. "It was nice."
Eddie felt flustered and didn't know what to say. "Yeah, n-no problem." Eddie looked down at the sidewalk as Richie grabbed his hand and they began walking.
"Richie, aren't you worried someone will see us?" Eddie panicked, casting quick glances around at his surroundings.
"Girls hold hands all the time and people see them as just friends, so why is it any different for boys?" Richie replied, loosing his grip slightly on Eddie's hand.
"Yeah, no, yeah," Eddie agreed, "sorry."
-
"Welp, I better get going before Ms. K sees me." The duo was both outside the Kaspbrak residence house, Richie had promised Eddie he would walk him home to make sure he was safe. In reality, Richie just wanted to spend more time with the small boy he'd been crushing on.
"You know how she gets when she see's this smoking hot piece of meat," Richie continued. "She gets a nosebleed and almost faints and-!"
"Shut up, douchbag." Eddie cut Richie off with a kiss on the cheek and wandered away from him to his own house.
"B-bye," Richie stammered, watching the small boy wander up the steps of his house and disappear inside.
-
Richie stepped inside of his own house and closed the door, kicking off his dirty and beat up black Converse.
"Hey, sweetheart." Maggie welcomed Richie as she noticed the boy return home. "Where you been?"
Richie suddenly panicked. He obviously couldn't tell his mother he was on a date with another boy. "Just, uhm, the arcade."
"You sure do like your Street Fighter." His mother commented, not tearing her gaze away from the book she was reading.
"Yeah." Richie ended the conversion there and headed to the phone in the kitchen. Since he was already out to Ben, he'd thought he'd share the great news with the chubby boy. He dialed in Ben's phone number and stood there, waiting for him to answer.
"Hanscom residence." A voice sounded through the phone, polite yet quiet.
"Hey!" Richie smiled. "It's Richie."
"Oh, hey Richie! What's up?" Richie could practically see the boy smiling through the phone.
"The sky," Richie laughed, amused by his own joke. Ben also laughed. "But I do have great news to tell you."
"Does it have something to do with Eddie?" Ben asked as if he could read Richie's mind.
Richie smiled. "Yeah, actually. Can I trust you not to tell the others?" Richie asked, anxiety suddenly gnawing at his belly.
"Yeah, of course."
Richie spoke softly so that his mother and father wouldn't hear. "Me and Eddie went on a date today."
"Holy shit, congratulations man!" Ben congratulated Richie. "Where to?" He then asked.
"The Aladdin, we saw Cujo." Richie informed Ben, smiling to himself as he remembered Eddie jumping at nearly every scene and cuddling into Richie's side for comfort which Richie gave.
"Yeah I know that movie." Ben laughed. "Did the date go well?"
"Yeah." Richie replied.
"So," Ben said in a slightly more serious tone. "Are y'all like, dating, yet?"
"Not yet...we haven't put a label on it. We were planning to go on a few dates first and then settle it."
"I don't know how you did it." Ben suddenly said, sighing.
"What do you mean?" Richie queried.
"I could never do that type of stuff with Bev. I get all nervous around her." The chubby boy answered Richie's question.
"I'm sure she would go on a date with you!" Richie encouraged the boy. "Just practice what you're gonna say and then say it! I'm 100% sure you'll win her over."
"Thanks, Rich." Ben said, smiling and his cheeks growing flush at the thought of the wild girl named Beverly Marsh that he loved.
"Anytime. See you Monday, Haystack!" Richie said, and then hung up the phone.
