"welcome, welcome! it's been so long!" richie cheered, letting them all walk in. they laughed and smiled and explored the place.
richie just kept his fingers crossed that he did a good enough job clearing the signs of his awful family life.
"it's cleaner than i expected," eddie nodded. he stopped at looked up at richie, who looked back down.
"hey cutesicles," richie regaled. eddie grimaced.
"ew, not cutesicles. never cutesicles," he chuckled, and so did richie.
"what can i say? you are cute," richie said, leaning down and getting in eddie's face.
"you're so cheesy," eddie breathed a laugh out and kissed richie again, quickly so the losers didn't accidentally see them.
"whaaat?" richie joked. "you know, eds? you should like totally be my boyfriend. just sayin'."
eddie smiled. "i dunno. i'll have to think looong and hard about that," he joked.
richie smiled and ruffled eddie's hair, who shoved richie over. richie started laughing, making eddie blush and laugh as well. richie's laugh was awfully contagious.
"yo, eddie and richie, let's gooo," beverly sang from around the corner, leaning against the wall as she watched the two brainlessly flirt.
"coming, coming," richie cackled. eddie followed after him into the living room, where the other losers were.
"why's there a bunch of random towels lying around-?" ben asked, laughing a bit. richie froze up a bit.
"cat piss," he lied.
"you have a cat??" bill asked.
"yeah, he just goes missing, comes back for like two days, pisses on our carpets, then goes missing again," richie explained his lie further.
"sounds like one annoying cat," mike chuckled.
"and that's why i hate cats," said stanley with a shrug. richie smiled, mainly because he was able to play off that lie, and sat down with everyone else.
they all played games for some time, eventually getting together and watching a movie. it began to absolutely down-pour only a few minutes into the movie.
the losers were all snuggled up with each other, stanley and bill on one couch, beverly, ben and mike on another, and, obviously, richie and eddie.
a crack of thunder boomed through the sky, causing richie to flinch. eddie looked down at him and rubbed his shoulder.
"you good?"
"i fuckin' hate thunder.." richie mumbled, pulling eddie closer. eddie noticed how richie was slightly trembling, and tightly hugged him.
"it's okay, rich," he mumbled to him. richie closed his eyes and nodded into eddie's chest.
more thunder. richie jumped hard again, eddie having to rub his back. richie felt like crying. he always cried during thunder storms. they terrified him. especially when his parents would argue in the background.
"i'm scared," richie whispered so quietly not even he could hear it.
"hm?" eddie hummed. and with the next crack of thunder, richie jumped and started crying. "i- heyy.. richie, don't-don't cry."
"i'm sorry, i'm so sorry," richie apologized, trying to suck in a breath and stop.
"it's just thunder. focus on the movie, okay? you're safe with me. no one can hurt you."
