Half The World Away

Eddie in LA

AUGUST 23RD, 2016: 19:48pm

Eddie groggily walks through LAX, Sharon walking excitedly beside him with their bags. He was exhausted. He couldn't sleep on the plane and now he had to deal with the time zone shift. Eddie had never been to LA before, and he was excited, very excited, but he hadn't dressed appropriately for a heatwave. He was in jeans and a hoodie and was starting to sweat profusely. He was boiling and tired and all he wanted was to rip this stupid hoodie and jeans off and sleep! He smiles when he spots Richie. Standing tall above a sea of heads, are the two comedians. Richie is in orange coral shorts, one of his dads t-shirts and his Make America Gay Again hat. Sandy is beside him, blonde hair tied into a ponytail due to the heat, pink cap on her head. She's wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. Both of them have sunglasses on and Sandy grins as soon as she sees Sharon, rushing over to her with all the excitement in the world. They reunite with a hug and a kiss and Eddie smiles before making his way to Richie, who drags him into a tight hug.

"I'm all sweaty!" Eddie chuckles, but Richie doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he hugs him harder, almost crushing him." Get off you oaf!"

"I missed you, that's all, spaghetti man!" Richie says, pulling away from the hug. Eddie huffs and rolls his eyes at the nickname." You look exhausted, let's get you home, fed and then off to bed."

Eddie chuckles at that and the four make their way out of the airport, not really noticing paparazzi as they reach Richie's car. Instantly, Eddie starts rambling about how cool it is as he gets into the passengers seat, Sharon and Sandy getting in the back as Richie throws their bags into the trunk. He closes the trunk and sits in the driver's seat, smiling as Eddie rambles about the make of the car. He soon turns on the radio, however, when Eddie loudly yawns mid-sentence and goes quiet. Richie glances over at Eddie, the smaller man looking out of the window with a small, tired smile on his face, watching LA whizz past. Richie smiles too and looks back at the road, listening faintly to Sandy and Sharon talking excitedly about the date they had coming up. The date they were planning to drag the two men on. It wasn't that Richie didn't want to go; it was more that he was scared of what it would mean. And so, he had also convinced Kay to take Audra.

It isn't long before they're at Richie's house and Eddie stares up at it once out of the car. Richie smirks and hands him his suitcases before leading them all inside, ordering for their shoes to be taken off. Eddie looks around in awe. There are awards and photos and posters all over the place, in every room, even review clippings are in Richie's office space and a photo of him and his parents at his first ever show sits on his desk. Eddie hadn't agreed to a tour, but Richie was giving one anyway, and so the shorter man stands in the doorway of the older ones room, looking at the queen sized bed, thoughts of what they could do there rushing into his 'spaghetti brain' as Richie so often called it. Eddie blinks the thoughts back and continues down the hall with slight shame, until they reach one particular guest room. The plaque on the door reads 'Eddie's room' and Richie explains that he had that done a few days ago. The room was spacious and nicely decorated, it just didn't feel like Eddie's yet. So, Richie had said that at some point in the week they were going to go room shopping for Eddie and then baby shopping. It makes Eddie feel warm to know that Richie is excited about this and thinking about it with care.

Whilst Richie and Sandy order pizza, Sharon and Eddie go to clean up. Richie had said Eddie could use his en-suite as the water pressure was better in the shower, and so that's what Eddie does.  He showers slowly in Richie's own personal shower and then he gets out, wrapping a towel around his waist, clutching onto the sink as fatigue hits him like a brick wall. He yawns, blinking back the tiredness, and then he throws on some flannel pyjama pants. He towels his hair in an attempt to dry it and then he leaves the room, putting his dirty laundry into a bag he'd brought with him. On the way out of Richie's room, Eddie spots something on the floor near the door for the wardrobe, and so he picks it up and unfolds it. It's a brown jumper with the letters UCLA embroidered on it. It's bigger than Eddie's size, but smaller than the sizes Richie wore now.