Eddie grabbed his boyfriends hand, his heart was pounding. He was nervous for the date sure but he was also scared that Henry would come and tear apart this beautiful reality that he had constructed.
"Are you ok Ed's?" Richie asked, concern flooding his voice. He was worried about how quiet the energetic kid next to him was. Normally the only time he could get Eddie to shut up was during an asthma attack and that wasn't ideal.
"Yeah, yeah I'm just thinking..." Eddie explained and then with a grin he turned to Richie, "And I told you not to call me Ed's. Don't think I didn't catch that."
"That's right you hate it." Richie winked obviously joking around.
"God you're an idiot."
"I'm your idiot."
They continued to talk and Eddie's concern slowly faded until they reached the arcade. Eddie almost asked Richie for his spare inhaler, but took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The place was the most disgusting thing Eddie had ever seen.
The floor was covered in wrappers and was sticky with something Eddie didn't want to know what it was. The games were shiny with the sweat of pre-teens and it was stuffy.
'You can do this' he thought to himself, breathing slowly, 'Do it for Richie.'
"Are you sure you want to do this? We can go somewhere else if you don't want to! I know how you get in dirty places, to be honest this place makes me grossed out to. This was probably a bad idea, let's just go." Richie rambled.
'God he's adorable' Eddie thought to himself as he watched his boyfriend scramble to make him comfortable. "We can stay Rich, I wanna see what you like to do."
"Well if you wanna see what I like to do best just look in the mirror." Richie winked and Eddie nudged him blushing intensely. He thought to the hickeys on his neck in a panic before remembering he had covered them in concealer.
"Shut the fuck up! We're in public asshole."
"Got it, I'll save it for the bed." Richie hugged Eddie in a side hug and ruffled his hair, "I love you so much babe." he whispered before entering the building leaving a very flustered Eddie.
"Come on!" Richie called from inside and Eddie entered.
Despite the uncomfortable dirtiness, Eddie felt the closest to comfortable he could. Richie was holding his had again, despite his protests, and had dragged him over to the most used looking game there.
"Okay spaghetti this is the best game in the whole arcade, forget about those other pussy games." he waved in the general direction of the other games, and then placed a token in the slot.
The game came to life and Eddie inspected it curiously. It was called Street Fighter.
"How do I play?"
"For a beginner I'll say just hit the buttons. This one is jump and these ones are all different attacks. Just remember that and you should be fine."
They played for a while, Richie beating Eddie every time, but Eddie didn't mind. He was grateful to spend some quality time with his boyfriend. He blushed at the word.
Eddie had always dreamed of finding love. Someone that would keep him warm, and love him no matter what happened. All of his life Eddie believed that the only person to love him was his mother. She always said she "kept him safe" because she loved him but that didn't seem to be the case.
Eddie now knew that love is whatever he felt when he looked at Richie. The overwhelming feeling of belonging, and desperation for that one person to be happy. The feeling that though the rest of the world could pack up and leave you, as long as that one person stayed you would be okay.
The feeling that the rest of the world was harsh and blindingly cold. That no matter what you did you would never escape it, and then finding a shelter that kept you warm and comforted for the rest of your life. For Eddie, that shelter was Richie.
"Hey Ed's" Richie's voice broke through Eddie's thoughts, "Do you wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm getting a bit bored with beating you."
"You know I hate it when you call me Ed's," Eddie protested, although he really loved it, "and yeah we can go eat. What do you feel like eating?"
"I've got the perfect place!" Richie's face lit up with excitement and then hesitated, "But you have to close your eyes. I want it to be a surprise."
Ok! How are y'all liking it so far? I want to shout out one of my friends who does Marichat fan fictions for all you you Miraculous Ladybug fans. Her at is @LemonWaffles123. Go check her out <3
YOU ARE READING
Forever ~ Reddie
Fanfiction-ENDED- Richie was in love, but he couldn't understand why. Why did it have to be with a boy? And why did it have to be Eddie?
