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the shouts of richie's parents fighting were drowned out by blink 182's pretty little girl blaring on richie's cheap speakers as the two boys laid down on the taller boy's bed.
eddie sat curled up against the wooden headboard, gently bouncing his leg to the sound of the music as he flipped through the pages of the maze runner. he enjoyed the playlist that richie had made. the sounds were so different in its own unique way, from loud, vivid and full of neon colours to soft, safe and full of calming colours.
richie tossed a rubber band ball back and forth between his hands, sprawled over the bed as he stared up at the ceiling, basking in the glow of the surrounding voices and instruments as he pictured himself at a concert. alone and carefree with eddie by his side.
the raven haired boy stopped throwing the ball, rolling onto his stomach and gazing at eddie. "eds," he poked his ankle. he was freezing.
"yeah, richie?" eddie asked without looking up from his book. his voice held disinterest. "what do you need?"
he thought about it for a moment before pushing himself up and sitting in front of eddie, shifting his glasses up that had been falling off of the bridge of his nose. "how did you die?"
the ghost boy immediately tense, shoulders stiffening. the phone had shuffled to the 1975's fallingforyou, leaving the room quieter. eddie fumbled with the pages of the book before placing it face down on the bed to save his place. "w-well, i don't know."
richie's brows furrowed. this had now certainly peeked his interest. he watched eddie lick his lips before biting down on the bottom lip, unable to meet his eyes. "oh? you don't remember?" eddie shook his head. "do you want to?"
richie's comment must of stricken a chord in the ghost because he fell silent. richie crawled closer and sat against the headboard beside eddie. their knees grazed each others.
"i guess," eddie said after a few moments of silence. "i think i may of drowned, since i don't have any physical injuries and the others did-"
"wait," richie immediately cut him off, eyes blown wide. "there are more ghosts? whoa, that's so cool, do they live in the basement?"
richie saw eddie tense and instantly regretted his stupid mouth for even uttering a single word as eddie's shoulders started to shake. "eds," he breathed out softly, his tone thick with pure regret, reaching for eddie's hand. it passed through his transparent body yet richie let it hover there.
"there was stanley uris and georgie denbrough," eddie looked up through his wet lashes. richie could see the freckles that dotted the smaller boy's cheeks and nose. richie smiled encouragingly, silently urging him to continue. eddie weakly mirrored the action. "stanley had slashes on his wrists. ugly, fucking, clotting things that made you gag every time you saw it. stan doesn't remember why he did it." he chuckled humorlessly. richie just frowned.
"and georgie, only like six years old. his entire arm just... ripped off. his legs were scratched too. probably some sick pedophile that jerks off to underage kids being murdered," eddie fumbled with his sleeves, eyes shining with tears. "but he remembered a little. just his brother but, shit richie, that would be everything to be, to-to remember something. something to call my own.
"they were my best friends, i don't know what i would of done without them. then," it was as if eddie was describing the murder of his family. his eyes became wide with fear and his toes curled. richie gently grasped his hand.
this time he didn't pass through.
he slipped his fingers between eddie's cold ones, soothingly rubbing circles on the top of his hand with the pad of his thumb.
"then it took them away," eddie managed to whimper out. "b-both of them while i hid. like a c-coward. now-now-" eddie couldn't even finish and richie felt his heart shatter like glass. he wrapped his arms around the trembling boy, pulling him close. confusion and concern painted his face.
"eds," richie soothed softly as the music shuffled again. he sighed through his nose, resting his chin on eddie's head. "you're not a coward, okay? we-we can get them back, i hope. right? they're not gone forever." richie was spewing bullshit at this point, just wanting eddie to feel better.
he felt eddie shake his head into his chest, "it has them, richie." his voice was wary, guarded.
"i don't understand."
"you d-don't need to," eddie pulled away, rubbing his eyes of tears. richie went to grab his hand only for it to pass through. he sighed sadly, knowing how upset eddie was. how scared. he didn't understand why though. it couldn't hurt him, eddie was already dead. but this didn't seem like the time to question it.
richie sat back quietly, pushing his glasses up. eddie remained quiet, occantionally drawing patterns into the comforter. it hurt richie's heart to see eddie like this. even though they had only known each other for almost three weeks, it felt like much more to richie. he considered eddie his best friend.
"eddie?" richie asked. eddie looked up at him. "am-am i your best friend?"
eddie smiled, the sides of his lips tugging upwards. "yeah, rich, you are."
richie could of sworn he saw a faint blush on eddie's cheeks but his glasses were fogging up so he couldn't really tell. "cool! i-i mean great, awesome."
they sat in comfortable silence, millions of questions on the tip of richie's tongue, but he decided to leave the conversation alone. he briefly wondered what it was. maybe a demon of some sorts. that sent shivers down richie's spine, thinking about a blood-thirsty demon living just down in the basement.
however, when eddie returned to his book, pink lips mouthing each word silently, richie's thoughts evaporated into thin air as he stared fondly at the freckled ghost boy.
fuck.
richie's parents stopped arguing downstairs, the house almost silent other than the sweet voice of oasis's wonderwall bouncing off the walls. he grinned, grabbing the rubber band ball and returning to his original spot on the bed, slightly closer to eddie as he carefully constructed his plan.
richie was going to give eddie something to remember.
