Drops of Heaven

05

Eddie fell asleep right after he finished his coffee and breakfast sandwich in the same position that Richie had slept on his legs earlier. He had the side of his face turned away from Richie's body, but Richie could feel him breathing softly on his knees because he was wearing thin sweats.

Bill and Stan were now in the front seat, with Stan taking care of the music. He kept sending Richie shit eating grins and making the songs all center around forbidden love and other love songs.

"Stan, are you trying to ask someone out?" Richie asked when they were a good hour into his series of love songs. "You're playing a lot of cutesy songs."

Bev turned and scowled. "Shut up, Tozier. They're romantic."

"Can't you play something else?" Richie begged, worried that Eddie would wake up and see his flushed face and clear embarrassment.

Even if the others couldn't see it as well, Eddie could read him like an open book. He was a lost cause when it came to Eddie, and they knew each other better than any other duo. Even though Stan knew Richie really well and could usually read him, he rarely came close to Eddie's ability.

Then again, Eddie was rather empathic and could sense the emotions and feed off of them when the others were feeling overly emotional. It could be overwhelming for all of them because Eddie felt those emotions so deeply and acted out at times, but Richie was almost like a soothing balm for the fits Eddie had when he was stressed.

"Why?" Stan asked Richie, not changing the music. "Bringing up some deep, unexplored emotions, Tozier?"

"No," Richie said way too harshly for it to be passable as a joke. "Go suck Bill's dick, Uris."

"Why Bill's?" Stan tried to ask playfully, but his face was red and he suddenly began to turn the music up.

Richie smirked, feeling some of the power of the conversation come back to him, but he knew how embarrassed and salty Stan would get. It was way too early in the road trip for him to get into it with Stan who was known for holding a grudge.

"Never mind. You can't handle it, Uris," he responded as Eddie shifted and his eyes fluttered open.

Stan pursed his lips as he looked back at Richie, but Richie could see a glint of gratefulness in Stan's eyes. It didn't last long, as Stan had a lot of pride and refused to be too grateful, especially towards Richie. He changed the music to a different playlist that wasn't all love songs.

"Welcome back, Eds," Richie said as Eddie sat up, blinking to gain a better awareness of his surroundings. "Good nap?"

"No, the pillow was bony as fuck," Eddie replied with a small smile on his lips. "How long was I out?"

Richie laid his head back against the headrest. "An hour and a half, maybe?"

"So not lunch time yet?"

Mike handed him a small blue cooler. "I packed snacks."

Eddie grinned. "Thanks!" he exclaimed, opening it up and taking out a bag of fruit snacks.

"You're a walking stomach," Richie commented, poking Eddie's stomach.

"Touch me again and I'll bite your fingers off," Eddie growled, opening the pack of fruit snacks and huffing when Richie snatched one. "There's more in the cooler! Get your own!"

Mike took the cooler back after Richie took his own pack of fruit snacks. He remarked that he couldn't leave them with Richie and Eddie for too long or else they'd eat all of the food and everyone else would starve.

They drove all day, only stopping for lunch, until the sun set. The group stopped just outside of Toledo, Ohio, and found a motel that had vacancy. Thankfully, not many people were traveling that time of year so they were able to get two rooms, each with two queen beds.

Eddie and Richie were sharing a bed in the same room as Bill and Stan. It was the same set up as their future apartments, and Richie suggested they "practice" living together, as if they hadn't spent the night as each other's houses a few times week and had plenty of practice.

Eddie plugged his phone into the charger and began to pull out his bottles of pills. There were only three now, and they were prescribed by his therapist whom he'd started going to behind his mom's back during high school. None of them were the placebos he'd been taking for most of his childhood, which he was appreciative and thankful for.

He had medication for anxiety, insomnia, and a probiotic to help his digestive track.

Richie didn't wait for Eddie to ask or do it himself; he disappeared to the bathroom and filled up Eddie's water bottle so he could take his medication.

"Thank you," Eddie said, putting all three pills in his mouth and swallowing with ease, chasing them with his water. "I can't believe we're already in Ohio. That's, like, a fourteen hour drive."

"Yeah, my ass is numb from sitting for fourteen hours."

Bill hummed in agreement, already half asleep from having driven for the past twelve hours. "Damn, I should have taken the offer to switch drivers. I'm fucking wiped."

Stan was going through Bill's smaller travel bag and pulled out a pair of pajamas for him. "Go get changed and then go to bed," he said, and Bill yawned before grabbing the clothes and obeying. "We have to get up early tomorrow to check out and then get back on the road, so we all need to get some sleep."

"I'm driving tomorrow, right?" Richie asked through a yawn of his own.

"Yes. You get to drive for you and Eddie. He gets too stressed out driving for long distances."

Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie as the other boy began to scowl and tell Stan that it wasn't his fault that driving long distances in remote areas was stressful.

"As long as my spaghetti man is in the passenger seat keeping me company, no problem," Richie said, kissing Eddie's cheek and getting an elbow to the gut. "Ow!"

"Hands off, you walking infection."

Richie held out his arms and began to make grabby hands and zombie groans. "I'm an evil leper and I'm going to infect you!" he groaned dramatically, chasing Eddie around the room.

"Children," Stan grumbled as Bill reentered the room and flopped on their shared bed. "Bedtime."

"But mom, you didn't read us a bedtime story!" Richie whined, carrying a squirming and irritated Eddie to the bed and throwing him on the mattress.

"Once upon a time Eddie and I went to Walmart to get a shovel and dig a grave to hide Richie's dead body. They succeeded and finally got some peace and quiet. The end."

Eddie cackled. "That's a good story. Want to reenact it, Rich?"

Richie changed into his pajamas and crawled under the blankets. "I'm suddenly exhausted. Goodnight."

Eddie turned off the light and crawled into bed beside Richie, falling asleep within minutes. It took Richie a lot longer to fall asleep because he kept debating whether or not to grab onto and hold Eddie while he slept.

It would definitely help both of them sleep; it had in the past. However, they were in a room with Bill and Stan, and Richie really did not want to wake up with morning wood after cuddling his best friend and then be stuck in a car for hours with him.

Eventually he fell asleep after struggling for a while, facing away from Eddie. When he woke up, however, Eddie was gripping onto him like a leech, their legs entangled and Richie definitely felt something poking at his lower back.