HAUNT✦reddie

t e n

"what's this?" richie felt the blood drain from his face as he whirled around to see eddie, reaching under the bed to grab the book he had been hiding for the past two weeks. he lunged towards eddie, snatching the book out of his hands before eddie could read the title and putting it behind his back.

"t-that's, uh, my porn! yeah, eddie, you wouldn't want to read it, there's some kinky stuff in here-"

eddie crossed his arms, clearly unconvinced with richie's god awful lie. "what is it?"

richie shook his head again, his heart racing in his chest. god, he wasn't ready to tell eddie about his past, how fucked up it was, how his own mother murdered him in cold-blood, how he wasn't the only one-

the smaller boy pouted, "are they really that bad?"

richie chuckled nervously, watching eddie's big brown eyes peer into his own, fuck, this was embarrassing. "ha, ha, yeah."

"and you made a collage? ew, i live here too, you know!"

richie swallowed nervously, feeling his clammy hands against the old leather cover of the book was not something he particularly enjoyed. the secret was really getting out of hand.

everytime he went to the library, the librarian (her name was dorris, the perfect name for an unhappy old lady in richie's opinion) would raise her wrinkly wrist to her face, tapping it to mimic that his book was overdue. being the mature child he was, he'd poke his tongue out at her.

he was thinking that when he moved out for collage or got sent to prison, he'd write eddie a letter. maybe something along the lines of 'hey, eds! remember when you told me about how you imagined your family was like and it almost brought me to tears! well, your dad died and your mom murdered you . . . then died. whelp, i would of told you sooner but, i'm a huge pussy! lots of love from prison, rich.'

but the guilt was eating richie from the inside and richie was so close to breaking. he wished he never found out about eddie's past. hey, it's better to just live with your head down.

richie ran a hand over his face, pushing his glasses up. "i know! just, hormones and-and all of that - hey eds, can you m-"

"alright! gross richie, TMI!" eddie blurted, pressing his hands up against richie's mouth. they passed through his head but richie got the message. he had recently been teaching eddie all of the internet slang and it was adorable hearing eddie blurt 'OMG' when anything remotely interesting came up in conversations.

the taller boy smirked, glancing at eddie, "wait for me downstairs, i have to do something first. it rhymes with 'basterbate-'"

"gross, richie!" the ghost boy's nose scruched up in distaste as he rushed out of the room, passing through the door. richie's smirk didn't leave until he heard eddie race down the stairs, each step so old, that with the gust of wind, he could still hear the wood creak. he exhaled deeply, pulling the book back into view with a sad sigh.

"i'm sorry eds," he whispered, his fingers tracing over the bookmarked page. he glanced back at the door and shook his head. tomorrow, he thought numbly before slipping the book back under his bed to join eddie downstairs.

***

"i'll be back soon," richie said, pulling up mismatched socks on his feet as eddie sat on the bed, a pout on his face. "i'm just gonna hang out with mike and return your books, promise."