So this is what I’ve been working on since I finished PTA, I’m really excited to start this new fic! It’ll be a fwb-to-lovers style college au, but I’m gonna try to make it a slow burn (for as long as I can stand). Enjoy!
Pairing: Reddie
Read on AO3
Words: 1568
Chapter 1
It was a Saturday night, and Eddie Kaspbrak had, for some reason, found himself at a bar he’d never been to. He normally just kept to the few gay bars there were in the bar district of his small college town, but tonight had been different. The group of girls he normally went out with, who loved the fruity drinks and the crawling dance floors of the gay bars had made a change of plans halfway through the night. One of them had made the executive–drunk–decision that they all needed to get laid, and that the needs of many were more important than the needs of the few. So here Eddie was, in the middle of a sea of drunk college kids, almost sober, not wanting to be there.
He pulled out his phone to check the time and noticed it was almost last call. He went to text one of the guys on his roster, needing to get the fuck out and hook up with someone, when some guy walked into him, spilling his drink and also knocking Eddie’s out of his hand. They both watched as the sticky liquid splashed all over the front of Eddie’s polo.
Eddie looked up at him slowly, seething with rage and trying to make that clear in his eyes. He felt he had conveyed his feelings well when the guy took a step back, fumbling to adjust the oversized glasses he wore and putting his hands up on either side of his head. “Oh my god, dude. I am so sorry, that was an accident I’m pretty drunk.”
“Fuck you!” Eddie yelled instinctively, before noticing the fear and hurt in this guy’s eyes, he was actually being sincere and Eddie could tell he was nervous. “Sorry. It’s fine. I was about to go home anyway.” He said, making his way to the door. A few steps later he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, angling his face to look up at the guy who’d spilled his drink on him only thirty seconds ago. “What do you want?” He asked, furrowing his brows.
“I just… I..” He stammered out, fixing his glasses again. “Um. I live like a block away from here… you could just clean off at my house? It’s cold outside I don’t want you to have to walk to yours if it’s far… I mean I don’t know where you live but I just thought I’d offer because you’re really wet now and–”
Eddie grabbed his hand. “Let’s go, idiot.”
He dropped Eddie’s hand but moved to catch up with him so they could walk side by side as they exited the bar. “So I just live in that apartment building right over there.” He pointed at a large building that really was very close; Eddie’s was at least a ten minute walk from the bars.
A couple of minutes into their walk, the guy looked over at Eddie and noticed him shivering, his arms crossed over his chest. When his teeth started chattering audibly, he offered Eddie the jean jacket he had on.
“No.” Eddie kept walking, crossing his arms tighter around himself.
“Are you sure? You look really cold.”
“That thing smells like cigarette smoke. Besides, I don’t even know you. When’s the last time you washed that thing? It looks disgusting.”
The guy shrugged and put his jacket on, smiling. “My name’s Richie. Now you know me. What’s yours?”
“Eddie.” He said, not looking up. They arrived at Richie’s apartment, where Eddie followed him up a flight of stairs and watched him unlock the front door. Richie pushed the door open with his hip and leaned against it to hold it open, motioning for Eddie to go first.
“Sorry, it’s a little messy.” That it was. The living room had plates and food trash scattered everywhere, and Eddie was sure the kitchen was just as bad. “My roommate and her boyfriend are out of town right now, he’s usually the one to pick up.” Richie said sheepishly, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Bathroom is over there. Dryer’s in there if you want to dry your shirt. I’m really sorry again I feel bad.” He pointed to a little door off the living room, looking at Eddie through thick, dark eyelashes, still rubbing at his neck with the other hand.
“Thanks.” Eddie made his way into the bathroom. He stripped off his shirt and rinsed it in the sink, before turning around to throw it in the dryer behind him. He spun back around and put his hands on the counter in front of the mirror, looking at himself closely. He quickly splashed some water on his face and patted it dry with a towel he was sure hadn’t been washed in at least a month. He reached to his side, pulled the door open, and returned to the living room.
He walked out with arms crossed over his bare chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious, although he wasn’t sure why. He knew he had a great body, he worked out frequently to get out all of his pent up energy, and he had been told how hot he was by the numerous guys he was currently talking to or hooking up with.
Once in the living room, he found Richie sitting on the sofa and snacking on a piece of pizza he’d pulled from a box sitting on the coffee table. He stood up immediately when he heard Eddie walk in and looked him up and down, noticing his uncomfortable demeanor.
“Be right back.” He said around a mouthful of pizza, clapping his hands together to get the crumbs off as he ran through a door by the bathroom. He returned a few moments later with a t-shirt in his hands. “This is clean I promise, I just did laundry yesterday.”
Eddie begrudgingly grabbed the t-shirt and put it on. It smelled vaguely like cigarettes, same as the jacket, but it also smelled like laundry detergent. It was a nice smell. After pulling it over his head, he made for the door. “I guess I’ll go home now, thanks for letting me dry off.”
He noticed Richie’s face fall at his words. “Wait!” He said quickly. “Um… just stay until your shirt is dry at least! Want a drink?”
Eddie debated his options. He could brave the ten minute walk back to his place in the twenty degree weather and spend the night with his cat in his own apartment, or he could stay with this rather cute stranger. Eddie shrugged. “What do you have?”
Richie’s face broke out into a smile, turning to walk into the kitchen, intending for Eddie to follow. “We don’t have many mixers for hard alcohol, but we have vodka, gin, whiskey…” Richie trailed off, turning to look at him and pushing his glasses up.
“Beer?” Eddie asked. Richie nodded and grabbed two beers out of the fridge, handing one to Eddie. They made their way back into the living room and sat down on the sofa facing each other; Eddie pulled his legs up in front of him to sit criss-cross.
“I know you right? We’ve had classes together.” Richie said once they were seated.
Eddie nodded. “Probably. All my classes are lectures, I’ve had classes with everyone. What’s your major?”
“Engineering.” Richie said, sipping casually on his beer.
“Ah. I’m premed. So we had all those prereqs and math classes and stuff the last two years. That’s why I haven’t seen you much this year.”
“Junior year is a bitch.” Richie laughed softly.
They talked back and forth about their classes and the different professors they’d had together, mostly complaining about how much they all sucked. Once Eddie’s shirt was dry, Richie jumped up and grabbed it, bringing it back for him to put on.
“So you’re gay, right?” he asked as Eddie changed out of Richie’s shirt and back into his own.
“I mean yeah? I guess everyone here pretty much knows, I don’t try to hide it. Why? Are you not? I thought you’d invited me over because… Oh god.”
“No… I just… I don’t know.” Richie said nervously. “I’ve always thought I was straight… until I saw you tonight. I’d never really looked at you until tonight.” Eddie watched Richie’s eyes rake up and down his body, subtlety impossible behind his thick lenses.
Eddie rolled his eyes, moving to stand up. “I’m not here for you to fucking make fun of me and then beat the shit out of me.”
Richie rose with him, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking away. “I’m serious.” Eddie turned around, looking into Richie’s huge eyes, seeing that he was pleading. “I have no idea what I’m doing but I think I like you, Eddie. And I know I’m a little drunk but when you’re drunk you tell the truth? Right?”
Eddie sighed. “Okay. But I’m not closeted. I’m happily out and I’m not here to be some straight guy’s ‘I’ve experimented before’ story. Sorry.” Eddie dipped his shoulder down to get out of Richie’s hold before turning toward the door.
“Wait! Please! Maybe we can at least be friends?”
“Fine. Friends.” Eddie agreed. He left that night holding a piece of paper with a phone number written on it that he never intended on using.
chapter 2
tag list: @fucking-reddie, @richie-trashmouthtozier, @waypunsarelife, @richietoaster
