coy ➳ Reddie

Four

A/N You aren't reddie for this chapter. (also this chapter is super long)

"Hey, I'll walk you home, okay?" Mike said, his dark brown eyes gently glimmering.

"Okay..." Eddie mumbled, and began walking with Mike. "Do you think that I... Did something wrong?"

"No! No, of course not. They're just jerks. They always have been, but I told myself if they ever got any worse, I wouldn't talk to them anymore. And, obviously, I'm not gonna talk to them anymore."

"Do you have anyone else to hang out with, anymore?"

"I have you to hang out with. I don't need them."

"Wait, then that makes me your only friend. Why would you do that for me?"

"Because you are my friend. Besides, there's about one billion other people in this world that I can get to know. It's not that big of a deal."

"...Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we go meet up with Stan? He's my friend. And I'm sure he'd like to see you. That way you don't have just me."

"Really? Okay! I'd love that."

"Okay, let's go right now. We're not that far away from his house."

 When they arrived at Stan's house, Mike was the one who knocked on his front door, which opened soon after. Stan looked out, and once he realized it was Mike, a smile appeared on his face. 

"Mike! Hi! How are you?" he asked, and moved over to let the boys inside.

"I'm doing great. How are you? How's your family?" Mike asked, and beamed at the younger, curly haired boy.

"We're good." Stan said, and then looked towards Eddie, and as he did, a glint of concern and confusion clouded his eyes. "Eddie, are you okay? You look like you've been crying... Your face is kinda dirty."

"Um, yeah... I'm okay." Eddie muttered.

"He wanted to hang out with Richie and his douchebag friends and I, and they threw mud at his face for no reason." Mike explained.

Stan's face pulled into shock.

"Jeez! What did Richie do about it?" he asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Mike scoffed. "He just kinda stood there. He didn't even look at Eddie. I tried using his wipes to get rid of most of the mud, but some's still left. And there's some on his shirt."

"Come on, Eddie. Let's get you cleaned up." Stan said. Eddie felt very loved, and couldn't help but grin. 

Stan led Eddie to the bathroom, and helped him wash away all the extra dirt on his face, and then gave him a clean shirt to borrow while he cleaned his dirty one.

He didn't need Richie. He had both Mike and Stan now. That was enough for him.

  ♚ 

 Richie pretended to be happy as he hung out with James and Christopher. 

"Why do you even like Eddie? He's so boring." James scorned.

"I don't. I just felt bad for him." Richie lied, and immediately felt his heart droop in guilt. He did like Eddie; he was his friend. But he didn't want to be forgotten by Christopher and James. He didn't want to look boring, too.

"I don't. He needs to man up, anyway. Did you see him crying? " Christopher chuckled.

Richie fake-grinned. "Yeah, I did. That was hilarious." he said.

God, I hope he's okay. Is he still crying? Is he having a panic attack? Does he hate me? Richie thought.

"Yeah it was. Is he always like that?" James asked.