Runt in Shining Armor (Reddie) - COMPLETED

A Triggered Ms. Kaspbrak

((hey guys, i know i havent updated this in forever. all of the chapters suck except for the last one- and i'm sorry, lol. hopefully ill start updating this more but i cant promise anything.))

Richie Tozier sat at the foot of Eddie's hospital bed in a rocking chair, watching him sleep.

To anyone else, it would've seemed creepy or obsessive. But to him, it was important. He needed to know these things. What Eddie would look like when Richie woke up in the morning to go to work, turning around to find a cute little Eddie Kaspbrak laying in bed with him. What Eddie would look like naked- but even Richie knew that was going too far. For now.

Eddie whimpered in his sleep.

Richie crawled on the cold hospital tile, laying down. He reached up and took Eddie's hand that was dangling, limp, from the bed. "No nightmares, my little Spaghetti Head," he cooed, smiling to himself like he was in on some kind of secret nobody else was. But then he frowned, remembering what had happened to Eddie just last night. Sure, he had all night in the hospital to think about it, but it still bothered him. Especially that Eddie was the one that came out with a broken leg, and not him. Eddie's well-being mattered to Richie almost as much as it did to Sonia, if not the same. Richie just did all of his worrying behind the scenes- he couldn't let the secret out that he actually cared about something. That would be a tragedy!

Eddie whimpered again, making Richard's heart flutter just a little more intensely in his chest than it had the first time. Then he felt Eddie's hand move.

Richie let go, getting to his feet almost immediately. "Eddie Spaghetti!"

He stared at his obnoxious lovesick friend with tired, half-lidded eyes. "Nngh..." Eddie whined, grabbing the blanket loosely with his fist and turning around.

   "Don't go back to sleep, c'mon now..."

   Richie hadn't gotten much sleep himself, but the nurse woke him up to change his bed sheets. Or something. He asked about Eddie, naturally, and the nurse said he was allowed in the room. So that's exactly where he went.

   "Richie, shut upp..." Eddie whined again, shifting underneath the covers ever so slightly.

   "Do you not know me, Eddie Pasketti? Have we not been friends for over two years?" Richie grinned, leaning over Eddie, wrapping his arms around him. He inhaled the clean scent of the hospital bed. "Get up..."

   Eddie turned to look at Richie, not being able to hold back a smile. "Stop... really, I'm tired..."

   "If you don't sit up, I'll tickle you."

   Eddie's eyes widened as he sat up straight, without a single complaint. "Don't."

   "So, Eds... looks like you got a bit of an, um..." Richie said, lifting the bottom of Eddie's blanket up. Eddie looked down at his leg, only now noticing the heavy cast that was plastered over his calf.

   "My mom's gonna kill me!" Eddie shrieked.

   "God, calm yourself. Sure, she probably will, but she loves you too much to kill you. Me, on the other hand..." he grinned. "Save your prayers for my scrawny ass."

"No! She can't kill you, can she?" he said in denial. Richie's comment had only made Eddie's anxiety worse about the whole situation. "She'd go to jail... muder's illegal. Richie, I told you! If my mom found out-"

Richie furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing Eddie by the shoulders. "You need to calm your shit. Have either of us ever died before, huh? Do you really expect your mom to go insane and strangle me?" Richie didn't quite know himself what Sonia would do this time, but he needed to calm Eddie down. "We're safe. The most she'd do is... probably try to stop us being friends. But we always find a way around it, don't we?"

Eddie nodded quickly, staring into Richie's eyes. He hated being yelled at, even if it wasn't that harsh or cruel. Richie could literally sense Eddie's panic, so he stopped. "Oh god... dude, I'm sorry, just. You need to stop worrying about everything." He removed his hands from his shoulders, stepping away from the bed and back into the rocking chair.

A nurse walked in, the same one that had "washed" Richie's bedsheets. "Edward, your mom will be here any minute now... Richie, yours haven't answered the phone. Sorry, we tried."

Richie raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Prepare for a tantrum. And, that's alright. I can walk home," he grinned proudly (of having the ability to walk.)

"No, it's required that you have an adult sign you out..."

"I'll find a way."

As the nurse turned to open the door and walk away, a very red-looking Sonia Kaspbrak stomped in. Richie inhaled and braced himself for the upcoming storm.

"You take my son outside after curfew again, leave him without a jacket, don't give him his inhaler, and break his leg?What is wrong with you, you little heathen?!" she shrieked, as loud as possible. Perhaps to scare Richie, but if so, it didn't work. He was simply enjoying the show, preparing his response for when Sonia was done with her yelling and screaming. "Eddie is a very fragile boy!" she went on, huffing in frustration that Richie didn't look the slightest bit scared. "He is better and does not belong with you and your druggie friends."

This brought a frown to Richie and Eddie's lips. The other Losers didn't do anything wrong- hell, 3/7ths of them weren't even there! "Um-" Eddie intruded. Man, 13 years of living with this beast and he didn't even know what set her off and what didn't.

"Eddiebear, I wasn't done," she said quietly, giving him a soft smile. She then moved her head to look at Richie. He could practically see the fire rising in her eyes- even though there was no fire, and Sonia wasn't that threatening. What would she do, sit on him?

"I don't want to see you near my Eddiebear EVER AGAIN. If I even get the slightest feeling that you're close to him, or talking to him, or even looking at him, or intracting with him in any way," Sonia said, inhaling sharply, "You will regret ever being born."

"Is that a threat?" Richie chimed in, with the all-too-familiar grin on his face. "What do you mean by 'I'll regret ever being born'? You gonna hurt me, Ms. K? I could report you to the police-"

Ms. Kaspbrak's face only got redder. She took a few steps toward Richie, her fat jiggling. Richie cringed at the sight of it- one more Cosmic Brownie and she'd be dead.

"You shut your mouth, you little hoodlum. I ought to talk to your parents about this."

"Boy, you're lucky Eddie loves you, or else I'd just have my parents adopt him! Since he actually cares about you and doesn't want you to die, I'll give you some advice. Lay off the Debbie Cakes, okay?"

Eddie's jaw dropped. Sure, Richie couldn't keep his mouth shut, but this time he took it too far. He could already guarantee he wouldn't be seeing Richie Tozier's face again for another, what, seven years?

   Sonia's face just got redder, as she tried to drag Eddie into the wheelchair the nurse had provided earlier. "I don't want to see your face EVER AGAIN, Richard."

   Then she left, pushing Eddie down the hallway with her.

   Richie sighed, preparing for the long walk to his house that lay ahead of him.

   ((ok so... marching band starts in about a week-ish (probably shorter) and then i wont have a lot of time to really write fanfic... i mean. i'll try. but that's all, lol,  hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's over 1,000 words long..))