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" REPUTATION "
"just know that you don't have to do this alone, promise i'll never let you down"
_
richie had always been a mess, how could he not? but the mess inside of him got significantly worse that day at the cafeteria, when the boy he had been crushing on (and fooling around with occasionally) called him 'faggot' and ended him only to preserve his golden reputation. reputation as an asshole.
him an richie had a huge fight, a physical fight. everyone was looking, including eddie himself. bev tried to stop it but got harshly pushed, landing on the floor. they both got detention and after that came to its end, they never spoke a word to each other again.
and god, did richie change.
he barely talked to anyone and he never wanted to hang out with the group out of school hours.
well - anyone except eddie.
they had been spending an awful lot of time together, even more than usual considering that they had been best friends since kindergarten and their families had sunday lunches every other week. eddie didn't know why, but he found himself agreeing to go ride around derry with richie at 1AM on school nights. he didn't want to care so much about why that was happening, he just wanted to be there for him after how his heart had been brutally stepped on.
the trashmouth took eddie to a lot of places that eddie wouldn't have stepped foot in if it weren't for him. after a few nights, eddie noticed that these places were the go-to places for boys who just wanted to make out without being judged. it wasn't after, like, the tenth night they had hung out that richie admitted he had gone to all of this places with the famous crush.
"then why do we come?" eddie had asked in confusion.
richie sighed. "to tell you the truth, eds... i don't fucking know." and he let out a humorless chuckle. "maybe the dumb little lovestruck fucker inside of me wants to hold on to that asshole for a little while longer."
and eddie decided that he understood.
time went by, a few months to be exact. eddie and richie hung out almost every night, except when richie truly wasn't up for it. eddie's bedroom window was open every night to climb out of it when he would see richie's car approaching his home.
eddie didn't know, but something inside of richie was bulding up and had been building up ever since he was through with detention and saw eddie in the hallway waiting for him with two smoothies. something that he didn't think he could hold inside of him for much longer.
