mixtape (reddie)

Chapter 51

Richie rolls over in the morning light, his hand reaching out to the other side of the bed just to find cold sheets.

He sits up, his heart rate accelerating as he looks around his room for signs of escape. However, he spots Eddie's jeans still on the floor, the shoes paired next to Richie's boots. Richie releases the tension in his muscles, sighing out in relief.

He fumbles around on the desk for his glasses, slipping them onto his nose as he gets out of bed. He doesn't want to walk around the house shirtless, so he picks up the first shirt that he finds on the floor and slips it over his head. A bit short, but that might be because it happens to be Eddie's shirt instead of anything that belongs in Richie's closet.

Richie stops by the bathroom, finding it empty but steam still trapped against the mirror, letting him know he's getting warmer to the location of his little fauna boy.

He descends the stairs, hearing sounds coming from the kitchen. Perhaps Eddie is cooking breakfast? God, they truly do feel like a married couple, like they're living out that life that Eddie wrote all about having in his leather bound journal.

When Richie rounds the corner, a smile on his face, he finds the company of two other people in the kitchen as well, which causes him to stop dead in his tracks.

Eddie looks up when Richie enters, a soft smile finding its way onto the boy's youthful features. Richie, however, seems to fixate on the fact that Beverly and Bill are sitting at the table sharing a pot of coffee together.

When Richie notices that he's wearing Eddie's shirt, he backs up and hides himself behind the doorframe. Eddie shakes his head, waving the boy in confidently. Eddie himself is still only in boxers and Richie's shirt, so it's not as if Richie is exposing something that the two haven't already seen on his counterpart's body.

"Oh, hey Rich!" Bill welcomes his brother in, watching the way that Richie slowly approaches the spot that Eddie's standing at.

"Hey..." Richie says quietly, leaning his back against the counter. He looks down, watching the way that Eddie spreads cream cheese on a bagel. When Eddie notices that Richie's staring, he smiles and puckers his lips out, lifting his head up for the tall one to get the hint. Richie leans down just far enough for Eddie to kiss his cheek, then the smaller one bounces back down on his feet and takes a bite of his breakfast.

"We're thinking about going down to the mall," Bill explains. He doesn't think anything of the kiss that he's just witnessed, and Beverly's far too focused on the newspaper to be paying attention in the first place. "What do you think? Sound fun?"

Richie looks over at Eddie, who turns around so he can lean against the counter as well. He waits for someone to reply, but Richie isn't sure what all has been said between the three while he was sleeping. Have they made amends? Is Eddie okay being in the same room as Beverly? How long was he even asleep for?

"I don't know," Richie says a bit quietly, "Seems like a lot of people."

"We could go to the Barrens," Eddie suggests.

"No way," Bev pipes in. She looks up for the first time all conversation, her eyes looking at Richie in particular. She raises her eyebrows, but makes no comments. "Too cold for that."

"Ben has an arcade game in his basement," Richie suggests.

Bev frowns, looking towards Bill incredulously. Richie instantly recoils, turning around to face the counter so he can busy himself with trying to wipe away the crumbs that Eddie left behind. He doesn't like seeing such blatant rejection.

"I think that's a good idea," Bill says in that voice he uses whenever he's convincing the rest of the group of something. "Ed?"

"Yeah," Eddie nods besides Richie, leaning over just the slightest so that their arms are touching. Comforting. "Stan and I are talking again, we've been talking about sort of getting the gang together again. Do you have Hanlon's phone number?"