Survive the Night [reddie]

2

A/N pretend Dead by Daylight is a 16 bit nintendo video game for 5 minutes thanks :) short chapter

The atmosphere in Bill's bedroom was thick with tension as Richie clutched the SNES remote with white knuckles, waggling his thumbs and clicking frantically where he sat in front of Bill's bed, as his avatar desperately sprinted through Léry's Memorial Institute.
"Why couldn't we just play DnD or something? Like old times? Then everyone could play," Stan huffed bitterly, sneaking peeks at the screen every now and then but refraining from watching for too long, scared of what he would see.

"Richie stop running! The doctor can see your tracks!" Bill shoved him slightly, Richie's decisions throughout this entire round of Dead by Daylight driving him to near insanity. How he was still alive was a true miracle.
"I'm with Stan." Eddie muttered matter-of-factly, his back to the screen as he sat with a magazine, ranting under his breath about what he was being forced to witness.
"Aw Eds, sounds like somebody's a lil' scared," Richie cooed teasingly, his avatar finding the last generator and getting to work trying to fix it.
"I'm not." Eddie shot back quickly, his fingers clenching and crinkling the magazine paper.

"You are." Richie grinned, not noticing the heartbeat metre on the screen rising.
"I'm not." Eddie demanded, turning around to glare at Richie.
"You aaAAA-" Richie yelped, the doctor bashing his avatar's innocent sprite from behind with his electrical rod and knocking him down. "Shit!"
Eddie cringed and quickly looked away from the screen as Richie's avatar was hung up on a meathook, Richie discarding the controller with a huff for Bill to quickly sweep up.

"Richie you can still get out," Bill frowned, continuing the game, but Richie was bored with it now, climbing onto the bed behind them and plopping himself beside Eddie.
"Not important, we need to find away to free Spaghetti-o here," Richie addressed, ruffling Eddie's hair playfully.
Eddie scoffed and shoved his hand away, a light blush crawling at his speckled cheeks as he averted his gaze stubbornly.
"I don't need to be freed, I'm fine," Eddie huffed, shaking his head slowly.

"When was the last time you even left Derry, Eddie?" Stan muttered, for the first time in a blue moon starting to subtly side with Richie. Eddie shot him a hurt glance of betrayal before backing down, sighing through his nose and shaking his head slightly.
"What does that mean? Not in a while?" Richie pushed, cocking a brow curiously.
"Not... ever?" Eddie cringed, mentally preparing himself for the following onslaught of criticism.

"Have you never been on a family holiday?"
"You mean you've been stuck in this shit-hole your whole life?"
"We knew you were sheltered Eddie but-"

"I know!" Eddie cut them all off sharply, a flash of guilt ricocheting across the other boys' faces.
"That's shit Eddie, my parents try to forget I exist and even I've been on a few vacations in my youth," Richie snickered, ending his sentence with a half-assed impression of a wise old man while digging through his bag for a smoke.
"Y-Your youth? Richie you're still mentally a 7 year ol-" Eddie began to hiss back before being cut off by Bill, who grabbed Richie's arm and cocked a brow, mentally passing on the message that Richie was not smoking in his room.
"What Richie is trying to say is that it's simply unreasonable, you're always defending your Mom, but all she does is..."

"Deprive you of basic human rights." Stan finished for him with a deadpan and a shrug.
Eddie lowered his gaze shamefully, sighing through his nose. Sure, his Mom could be tough, but she wanted what was best for him, she always did. She'd been through a lot, and he needed to be there for her, he had to listen to her and stay safe for her.
"I know, but," Eddie began to argue again quietly before Richie cut him off yet again.
"Don't give us this 'she cares about me' speech again, Eds. If she really cared about you she'd let you experience an actual childhood instead of try-"

"Would you stop cutting me off? And don't call me that, it's Eddie!" He snapped back quickly, his tiny hands balled into shaking fists. Richie shut up, chewing on the inside of his cheek and rolling his eyes, turning away from Eddie, but not before stealing the magazine he was reading. All three boys knew well and truly that Eddie packed enough wrath for an entire Roman legion, it wasn't worth the battle that ensued.

After a moment of silence Eddie got up, grabbing his fanny pack and strapping it over one shoulder and across his chest.
"Look, Eddie, we're sorry, we didn't mean to offend you, we just feel like you're missing out," Bill sighed, watching him hesitantly.
"Well, I'm used to it anyway, can't miss what you've never had, right?" Eddie shrugged, heading towards Bill's bedroom door. "See you at school guys."

A small chorus of 'bye's and 'cya Eds' echoed from the room before Stan piped up, out of Eddie's ear-shot.
"I'm pretty sure you can."