𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 | stanley uris

nine

cw: homophobic slurs

eddie was reading a novel he found in the library on his bed. it was a female-perspective love story, the interest being a male. eddie had read more than half of the medium-thickness book, and he thought it was a pleasant read. sometimes the protagonist would have sexual thoughts towards the love interest. when this happened, he usually read them intently.

the more he read the book's more sexual parts, the more he felt uncomfortable. uncomfortable, but not in a bad way, it was more in a curious way. he thought he knew he liked girls. not boys. not boys. not boys. so there was no reason to worry. but then when he did read those sexual passages he became very aroused. aroused in an ashamed, scared way. he didn't want to like it, not at all, but he did.

all of this was very overwhelming to him when he thought about any possibility henry bowers was right. that he was a 'fag' like henry said. but then he would quickly dismiss the thought as just liking to think about sex. he knew that was normal as richie talked about it all the time. so, again, he ignored it.

his reading of a paragraph was interrupted by muffled singing coming from the bathroom. richie always sang in the shower. usually it was deemed annoying by eddie verbally, but sometimes he would stop what he was doing to listen. richie chose to sing terrible 80s rock songs, mostly by the rolling stones or steve miller band by what eddie could make out.

"rich, could you keep it down!?" eddie yelled to him. the singing abruptly stopped. "i'm trying to read!"

the singing got louder, which was obviously purposeful. eddie scoffed and walked over to the bathroom. "richie!" he banged on the door desperately. "shut up!"

richie was in the steamy shower with a head full of suds, singing "paradise city" by guns n' roses. "take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty!"

"richie!" eddie sighed, turning the knob. he opened the door and yelled at him once more.

"what is it, eds? i'm kind of in the middle of something right now." thankfully the shower curtain was opaque, but eddie could guess what was behind it.

"i was trying to read and you're annoying singing was... was annoying!" he saw richie's fogged-up glasses laying on the sink, and something about them made him less upset.

"you know, you're pretty sexy when you get angry." he growled sarcastically.

"oh, grow up," eddie said. he felt something slightly different this time they argued. he didn't know what it was, but it felt a lot better. "i'm hungry. i think i'm gonna go down to the lodge and get some food."

"isn't it like one in the morning?" the shower faucet made a squeak as richie turned it off.

"yeah, so what? the lodge is always open. i bet no one's down there right now."

"alright.. i'll come with you."

~

after walking quietly down a long trail in the dark, richie and eddie arrived at the lodge. it was a long, tall wooden building. the dining hall was entirely empty besides the many tables that filled it. only a dim light lit up the echoic room with cold cement floors.

"woah," richie remarked. "i don't think i've ever been here alone before... this is weird."

"yeah." eddie agreed, he thought it was strange to be in such a place alone with richie of all people. "let's go to the kitchen."

the pair crept to the back of the room, behind the bar where campers would serve themselves food. there was a clutter of dishes by a large industrial washing machine. behind that was the line of refrigerators.

"bingo," richie said. he ran up to one and opened it, revealing various different foods. "want me to make you a snack, eds?" he picked out some bread, sauces and other food items.

eddie laughed. "no thanks, richie. i see what you eat every day. honestly, not that appetizing."

"what, you don't like mayonnaise and jelly on your toast?" he leaned back on the counter he placed the food on.

"shut up, that's disgusting."

richie sighed and pushed up his glasses. "i think i'm just gonna microwave a hot dog or something."

"ew, seriously? do you even know how processed those things are?"

"oh, yeah, i forgot all you eat is corn flakes and rice pudding." he started to assemble what looked to be a sandwich, walking around the kitchen for different ingredients.

"i get you're trying to make a joke that i eat bland things but those are way too high-carb. my mom doesn't want me going blind."

"going blind?" he reached into a shelf for a bag of chips, crushing them and putting them on the sandwich.

"yeah. she said this kid once only ate carbs and he lost his vision."

"maybe i should only eat carbs so i can stop looking at your face."

eddie looked at richie's monstrosity of a sandwich. it had lunch meats, sauces, chips, and what he could make out to be egg salad. "it looks like you already are."

"hey," richie said, taking a bite. "this bad boy has plenty of protein."

eddie shuddered. "gross."

~

"okay, okay.. guess what this one is." richie slowly fed a spoonful of mustard to eddie, who was closing his eyes. they had been there for almost an hour.

he immediately spat it out into a napkin and cursed. "fuck you." richie cackled.

after eddie wiped his tongue off, he started to laugh too. he noticed how, when richie laughed, his eyes got wrinkles around them. his teeth were slightly crooked but in such a complimentary way. maybe he was insecure about his teeth, or maybe not. either way it felt nice to cherish the small parts about people to eddie, especially when they were usually deemed as 'flaws'.

"my turn," richie said, opening his mouth and closing his eyes.

"hmm.." eddie walked over to the fridge and pulled out a small, lemon-shaped bottle. he squeezed it into a spoon and stuck it in richie's mouth.

richie gagged as he spat it all over the ground. "holy fuck, that's gross."

eddie laughed at this cheerfully, in a way richie had never heard before. he smiled and watched eddie laugh until he stopped. he really liked making eddie laugh. that's all he wanted to do when they were together because he loved the sound. not only the sound, but the way he looked when he did, too. well, he also liked the way he looked when he was annoyed, and that was usually the outcome of their interactions. laughter was refreshing, and richie noted that it was much preferred.

the boys walked back to the cabin silently, as they didn't want to wake anyone. on the way, there was a river they had to cross. eddie hopped over it first, and when it was richie's turn he braced his arm to help him over. when he did, their bodies were very close together. it was only for a split second, but they both thought about it longer than that. a small "thanks" was the only thing muttered the entire way.

when they were both in bed, richie pulled the cord on the lamp.

"goodnight, richie."

"goodnight, eddie."