my favorite color • reddie

p i t o n g

Beverly and Richie met up at that same patch of grass that they always did before school. Beverly smoking another cigarette, Richie laying next to her. Not caring, which wasn't like him.

"What's up with you?" She turned, laughing a bit. She'd never seen him smile like this, she thought he looked stupid smiling at seemingly nothing.

Richie shrugged. "It's a nice day."

"Yeah, same white sky and black everything else, gorgeous." She chuckled sarcastically, tapping ashes off her cigarette.

Richie hadn't told anyone about anything. No one knew he could see colors, no one knew he found his soulmate or had his first kiss. No one knew about Eddie.

He kept it to himself.

Richie had never had any kind of interaction with a boy, he'd suppressed those feelings. He never put any thought into what he would do when he did find his soulmate. Now that he did, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell anyone.

People weren't very accepting of same gender couples, or anything different really. Richie didn't think he could handle that.

Meanwhile, Eddie told as many people as he could. He told his mom who tried to convince him that it was all in his head.

"You're just confused." She'd say.

"No, Mom, I can see colors. Look, you're wearing a blue sweater." He pointed at her. She looked down and shook her head.

"He's my soulmate." Eddie smiled, hoping she'd understand and be happy for him just this once.

She asks why he couldn't just be normal.

It hurts him, no matter how many times she says it, it still hurts.

She's sent him to therapy in the past.

She caught Eddie holding hands with a boy when he was in middle school.

She sent him to a therapy group to 'help' boys with 'homosexual tendencies.' She even tried putting him on medication. Eddie knew this was just a part of who he was, so he never took the medication. He accepted himself and didn't mind that his mother wasn't accepting of him.

He tells his friend from his old school, she's happy for him.

"Really?" She laughs.

"Yeah, hes tall and has these thick ass glasses." Eddie gushes.

They talk about colors, Eddie does his best to explain to her what they look like.

Eddie had been with other boys in the past, thinking they were his soulmate. They were all straight and just experimenting. They all hid him, never telling anyone they were together. Eddie would tell everyone that he thought he found the one. The boys would get mad at him for telling people.

"It's our secret." They'd tell him.

No, it's just yours, Eddie thought.

Richie's different, he thought. He's my soulmate, he's meant for me.