Random OneShots

Silence is golden

By: Wolfcry22 on Ao3

Reddie

~~~~

"Hxchxxh! Hvhxxxxh! Hvhxxxxh! Hvhcxxxsh!"

Eddie slightly stirred when he heard the strangest sound that had ever grazed his ears seem to sound beside him. He blinked his eyes as he shifted and watched the man sleeping beside him with his back facing Eddie. Eddie didn't make it known that he was awake since curiosity was getting the best of him.

Richie had gone to bed a lot earlier than Eddie had for once. He had also been quieter at dinner, but Eddie just thought that he was working on giving Eddie more time to speak. They had watched on episode of Breaking Bad before Richie decided to head to bed while Eddie finished up some work on his laptop. He had gone to bed an hour and a half later to find Richie already sound asleep, bundled in blankets. He hardly stirred when Eddie laid down beside him tiredly.

"Htchxxxh! Hthcxxxh! Htxhxxsh!"

Whatever Richie was doing, it sounded increasingly painful. Eddie couldn't help but grimace as he sat up slowly to look over Richie's shoulder. Richie didn't seem to notice that he was awake and watching as he blinked his eyes miserably and pressed his face deep against his shoulder. His entire body then shook as well as slightly jarring the bed. Realization suddenly crashed over Eddie.

Richie was coughing.

At least, he was sort of coughing. It was very subdued and Eddie doubted that his body was content with it. After all, coughing was to expel the shit from your lungs and Richie was trying desperately to keep it in. Worry pulsed through Eddie as he wondered why Richie would even try to do something like that.

He wasn't given time to answer as Richie's head snapped downward suddenly and violently into the blanket. "Htcshxxxh!" The first exclamation had only been able to be half stifled because of the power. "Hrxxxxh! Hthchxxxh! Hthchxxxxh!"

The hairs on Eddie's neck stood up on end when he realized what had woken him. Richie was sneezing. He seemed to be trying to do his best to stifle his sneezes. However, Richie's sneezes were strong and intense, like Richie was. Stifling would be incredibly painful for him and there were certainly dangers with it as well. All of those possibilities flashed through Eddie's mind and he knew that he couldn't let Richie continue.

He reached out his hand and set it on Richie's shoulder. Richie immediately spun around in shock with his eyes widening. He seemed to relax when he realized that it was just Eddie. "Eds," he asked, his name punctuated by a wet sniffle.

Sympathy showed on Eddie's face when he looked into his lover's face. His nose was tinted pink and slightly red from the abuse that Richie had put it through. His mouth was slightly open since he couldn't breathe thought his nose. His eyes were glassy, tired, and unfocused.

"Yeah, Rich. What's going on," he asked as he lifted a hand and brushed it against Richie's cheek where the stubble of Richie's beard rubbed against his fingers, causing electricity to almost shock him.

Richie looked down in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to wake you. I was trying to be quiet," he confessed. He pulled off the covers and started to sit up. "I'll go into the other room and sleep on the couch."

"Wait," exclaimed Eddie as he reached out with both of his arms around Richie's waist. He brought him back down gently with Richie looking beyond surprised. "I don't want you to go, but I also don't want you to keep doing that."

Richie blinked his eyes with an unfocused look appearing on his face. "What," he managed to ask as he gave another sniffle that seemed to pull at his nose.

Eddie stretched out his hand and touched his finger delicately to Richie's nose. Richie whimpered as he recoiled and lifted his hand to rub at his glistening nostrils. He then grasped his hand over his nose and clamped his nostrils shut. "Hrhxxxxh! Hthcxxxxh! Htchshxxxh!! Hhtxhxxxxh!"

"Hey, hey," Eddie chided as he lifted his hands and grasped Richie's wrist to pull it from his nose. He looked into Richie's gaze and saw embarrassment in his eyes. "That's what I'm talking about. There can be none of that!"

Richie didn't say anything as he sniffled, his right nostril running madly and glistening on his upper lip. Eddie noticed and looked around, but he couldn't find anything to clean Richie up with. Against his better judgement, he lifted the corner of one of the blankets and brought it up to Richie's nose and gently wiped it dry. "None of what," Richie wheezed.

"That what you just did. Stifling your sneezes could hurt you, Rich. You could rupture a blood vessel in your brain or nose, hurt your ribs, and it's just not good for you. Millions are germs are released with each sneeze and if you stop something that is supposed to happen it can only be trouble," Eddie rambled with his intense knowledge of all thins medical.

Richie rolled his eyes. "Is Eddie Kaspbrak actually telling me to contaminate everything?"

"I'm not saying that, you idiot," snapped Eddie with a roll of his own eyes. "I'm just saying that you don't need to stifle them."

Richie blinked his eyes in surprise. "I didn't want to wake you. I know that you have work tomorrow. You need your sleep."

"And I won't sleep if I know that you're not well," Eddie chided as he stretched out his neck and planted a kiss to the side of Richie's head. He was relieved that he couldn't feel any heat from Richie to indicate a fever.

Richie still looked ashamed for waking up Eddie. He sniffled again heavily as Eddie drummed his fingers against the mattress. Eddie then lifted his hand and pulled Richie's chin toward him. "You don't need to worry about me. I love you no matter what, through sickness and everything else. I just want you to be comfortable and you can't do that if you're afraid of waking me up with every cough and every sneeze."

"Go back to sleep and don't worry about me. Worry about yourself for once," Eddie murmured as he lifted his hand and brushed some of Richie's hair from his forehead.

The two of them then settled back down beside each other with Richie turned away from Eddie. However, Eddie drew forward and wrapped his arms around Richie's waist. He rested his chin on Richie's shoulder in an attempt to soothe him.

Eddie was nearly asleep when Richie pitched forward. "HrchsSHsSH! HrchrSHsHS! HrcsSHsHs!"

Those powerful and direct sneezes were what Eddie recalled. However, he would take that of very painful stifles that Richie had been doing. Richie seemed embarrassed as he stiffened from under Eddie.

Eddie lifted his head tiredly to whisper in his ear. "Bless you." He kissed the back of Richie's head. "I love you and don't worry about me. I can sleep through anything," he mumbled.

Richie drew his head slightly back and touched his head against Eddie's forehead. "I love you too," Richie wheezed.

"Get some rest," urged Eddie as his eyes already were closing.

Richie woke him up a few more times during the night when he needed to cough or sneeze, but Eddie didn't mind in the slightest. He was just relieved that Richie was taking his advice and felt comfortable enough to really be vulnerable in front of him. It really showed how their relationship progressed and Eddie found himself falling in love with Richie all over again.