take me away (reddie)

seventeen

august 27th, 1993

since his last encounter with richie, eddie has been working on schooling from the crack of dawn until midnight. he hasn't had much sleep which has caused dark circles to form under his eyes. he even calculated that at this rate, he could graduate at the end of the month.

his room had water bottles thrown around it, along with papers full of homework and assignments. there were even a couple plates here and there.

this wasn't eddie. the hypochondriacal, asthmatic germaphobe's room was hard to just walk through. eddie was already stir crazy in just the few days that he had been locked away, in his room. he didn't have the time or energy to pick up after himself. he felt as if it were only him in this soulless world.

however, late at night, right before eddie went to sleep, pure serotonin, which felt like straight dopamine, would fill eddie's mind as he created small scenarios with richie. some of them were short as sweet while others had eddie completely and utterly flustered. they played through his head as if they were movies. eddie has even put himself and richie into movies such as grease, pretty woman, and even my own private idaho.

eddie remembers seeing my own private idaho for the first time. it was one of those movies that he had to buy at the movie library. one of those movies he had to sneak past his mother. the only thing he remembered thinking when he saw it was, this is art.

richie was art to eddie. something, someone, so fragile and delicate in his mind. nothing nor no one could ever amount to richie in eddie's view. richie was incomparable. he was eddie's one and only. he was everything eddie dreamed of.

eddie awaited richie's arrival on saturday throughout the heartaching days. he had never wanted to see someone or hear someone's voice more than now. richie made eddie feel like himself, and that's what he needed in this moment.

luckily, sonia was out of the house as eddie was getting ready.

eddie found himself in the shower, thinking about the night before. it was his birthday. he had gotten a couple notes from stanley taped on his window with a neatly wrapped present from stan and bill. it was a new violet polo sweater. he doesn't have one in that color, so it made him spark with joy. it felt like a warm hug.

he didn't get anything from richie though. he probably didn't know it was my birthday, right? eddie thought to himself. we just met a week ago.

eddie stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself to where it would stay as he moved. he walked over to the sink, tapping his foot to the music that flooded out of the radio. he sung lowly as he put toothpaste on his toothbrush. "we didn't start the fire, it was always burnin' since the world's been turnin'."

billy joel was one of eddie's favorites.

eddie hopped out of the bathroom on one foot, playing air guitar and nodding his head. he sung the lyrics a little louder as he dances around his messy room. he grabbed a pencil, preforming like he was on stage himself.

that's before eddie heard taps on his window. he looked over, flinching a bit.

dark brown eyes were staring at him, and the grin below it was the same one that was spread across eddie's face as he stared at the figure. it was contagious.

it was richie.

eddie turned red from embarrassment but squealed nonetheless. he walked quickly over to the window, opening it and letting richie in.

richie threw one leg over the window before the other one, splatting onto eddie's floor. he got up quickly, and he was immediately engulfed in a warm embrace despite eddie's body only being in a towel.