it's early in the afternoon by the time eddie woke up. his eyes filled with the sight of richie, and his ears filled with soft snores before anything else registered.
eddie thinks that he could lay there forever, warm and tired, so long as richies arms stay wrapped around him. he thinks about how it's worth getting too hot in the middle of the night, worth the backache he'd have due to having another person sleeping into it. worth every single second of it all as long as this feeling never leaves him.
he's content. overly content, even. as content as one can be when laying in bed with someone they thought they'd never speak with again.
eddie shuts his eyes and imagines their friend group. he couldn't remember the last time they were all in the same room.
they were all richies friends, eddie reflected. none of them originally his own, but they all accepted him.
he thinks of beverly, who'd remained friends with pretty much everyone. he thinks about how, despite this, eddie himself had barely seen them since high school.
a thought made eddie giggle to himself. he'd realized, just then, that he'd seen richie more since the break up than he'd seen mike, ben, and bill. he wonders when the last time richie saw them was. he assumes not long at all, seeing as they all went to the same school.
with richie and bill being roommates, he knew the two of them and stanley hung out often. ben and mike probably tagged along.
eddie never could bring himself to do things with mike and ben anymore. bev tried often, knowing that eddie had always adored them.
eddie had always adored the entire friend group. they all made him feel at home.
eddie never felt like he had his own friends. henry's gang was always there, always nice to him, but besides victor, they never felt like friends. victor barely did.
but richies friends, they quickly became eddie's.
it was never strange, never weird that they hung out without richie. eddie always felt like they genuinely liked him.
he felt bad for abandoning them over richie. even though he was sure that they took richies side.
eddie had a lot of time to reflect on those last few months in derry.
a lot of time to reflect on his senior year: henry, richie, his father, what happened at the diner. it often crept up on him as he lay awake in bed, hit him when he was alone.
the diner haunted him. he felt so silly. it was all so silly. none of it really mattered. he felt dumb for how he reacted. i mean, it was a kiss on the cheek. really, it was so juvenile.
but richies purpose was to hurt eddie. that was why he did it. so really, his overreaction was justified. kiss on the cheek or more.
richie stirred slightly, a sigh escaping his lips as he twisted himself further into eddie's satin bed sheets.
eddie blinked, shaking his thoughts away and watching as richies eyes fluttered open, eyelashes brushing soft skin.
richies eyes darted around for a moment before they met eddie's gaze. richie smiled, just slightly, before his eyes shut back gently and he pulled eddie close.
"morning." eddie whispered into richies chest, breathing him in.
"mmm." richie exhaled.
the two lay in silence for what felt like weeks, at least to eddie. he wondered if they'd talk about it. he wondered if this would actually change things.
