ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪs ʀɪɢʜᴛ

- 9 -

when richie peddled his way home at the end of school that same day, something sparked within him. his hands tightened around the handlebars, and his brows creased downwards in indecision.

impulse took over, and he found himself heading in the opposite direction to his own house.

upon arriving at his destination, he carelessly threw his bike to the ground and jogged his way to the doorstep of his intentions, raising his fist to knock on the door before reconsidering. he rolled his eyes.

fuck that shit.

he opened the door and stepped into the kaspbrak house, running straight into the living room to find eddie sat idly on the floor. he was drawing what appeared to be a pigeon eating a hamburger. he chose not to question this.

"eddie, i-"

"oh yeah, sure, rich. of course you can come in, thankyou for asking so politely. your manners always astound me."

richie panted breathlessly, shaking his head and ignoring eddie's sarcastic comments. the boy hadn't even looked up at him yet.

"no, seriously, i need to talk to you, i-"

"i think the fuck not."

richie frowned in confusion. eddie raised an eyebrow, and gestured towards richie's shoes, which were filthy.

"you are not talking to anyone about anything until those, are off."

richie could forget how stubborn eddie was sometimes. but then eddie would always manage to find a way to remind him.

"seriously? i really need to-"

"nope. not happening. shoes off or you're off."

richie scowled at the tiny spawn of satan himself and dragged himself back to the shoe rack outside the front door. he slipped off his shoes and kicked them across the hallway in a small act of defiance.

"yeah, they go on the shoe rack. sorry if i didn't make that clear to you."

eddie called from the living room, causing richie to mutter profanities under his breath as he sluggishly collected his shoes and threw them onto the rack.

"neatly."

he could have cried.

he trudged back with his head down, and plummeted face first onto the sofa behind eddie. the smaller boy barely acknowledged this.

"i can practically smell the self pity on you, babe."

his tone was teasing and gentle, but all richie could do in response was let out a muffled groan. he had of course come here with the sole intention of finally doing what he'd been wanting to do for years. but now, as he watched the boy of his dreams from above, he didn't think he had it in him.

after all, why would eddie want to be with someone like him? he wasn't particularly attractive, or clever. he didn't have any special talents, and he hadn't brushed his hair in seven months.

why would eddie kaspbrak, the boy who bathes his cheeks in fairy dust and wears lipstick and dolly socks,

want someone like him?

"you said you wanted to talk to me?"

eddie finally spoke up, having finished his rather questionable drawing. he spun around on his butt, shuffling closer to the sofa which richie was still sprawled across. richie let out a sigh.