.: You Know ~:||:~ Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier :.

- 01 -

"Have you ever considered just leaving?"

A small, simple young man sits on a couch. His foot lay resting elevated on a pillow with an ice pack on his ankle and on his head. Anyone can see that there has been an obvious struggle. Red nail marks go down either side of his face. Neither side is bleeding, but both are an angry crimson color, and he isn't blushing.

"What do you mean, leaving?"

"I mean exactly what I just said. Leaving. Just ditch the bitch."

The first thing the boy could think of was the fact that what his partner had just said rhymed, which put a smile on his face. The second thing was that while it was a refreshing idea, there was no way he could legally leave the monster just down the street that he called his own mother.

"I can't."

"Why not? You could come live with me. I have my permit, I can drive you wherever you need to go."

"It doesn't work that way."

"Of course it does! You just have to say yes." The boy with the curly hair clutched the brunette's hand tightly in his own. "You just have to say yes, and you can leave her forever. I'll go pack up your stuff right now, I really will."

The smaller boy shook his head, a sad smile playing across his face while the tears that had not quite dried yet were refreshed by new ones.

"No, it just doesn't work that way. I'm not eighteen. I can't leave. She is my legal guardian."

"So we'll call the police!" The older boy insisted, his voice faltering, and every break in his voice drove a new crack into the younger's heart.

Ah, his heart. So battered and bruised from all the years of misuse. Images flashed through his head and not all of them were as familiar as they had once been.

A dam, in the Barrens.

Summer days spent at the quarry, where a ten year old boy held out his hand and asked him to jump.

An abandoned house on a nearly-abandoned street. What had happened there, again? He had nearly been killed. Now all he could remember was his face being held within warm hands and staring up into two big and beautiful brown eyes.

A leper, the ugliest and most horrifying creature he had ever seen. 'I'll blow you for a quarter. How about a dime? A nickel! Actually, I'll blow you for free. Why not, Eds? Why not?'

A girl, the mirror image of his mother, kissing him full on the lips. Her fat, sweaty hands all over his body.

A woman, his own mother, screaming herself hoarse and transferring him out of every single class he had with his friends. Nearly a year without seeing the only boy he ever wanted to see in the first place.

Fighting with said boy for months just because he made fun of him a few times. He had been right, in the end.

Falling off a cliff into the water and being dragged onto the shore by his friends.

Something about the sewers? And Bill Denbrough's little brother?

A clown.

Kissing him.

Kissing Richie.

Loving Richie.

All that was left now was Richie.

Years have gone by, and he can only remember Richie, because that boy did leave. He left his mother.

He said yes.

He moved in with Richie and his parents. Wentworth wasn't the happiest about it, and the teens had to keep their relationship on hold when the parents were home, but other than that it was still better than his previous residence.

After high school, they went to college.

They went to college and nearly forgot.

That boy couldn't remember almost anything anymore. He could just remember Richie, because Richie was his everything, and Richie was always there. He called him every day. They couldn't forget, they couldn't.

But then he forgot to call.

One time became two, and two became three, and suddenly there were months between times where they would speak.

There was only one thing on the boy's mind anymore as he prepared to graduate from his school. Only one date, one day that was swimming in the back of his mind. One date that was the most important date in the world.

On July 15th, Eddie Kaspbrak was going to see his boyfriend again.