Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

viii

Eddie didn't want to wake up the following morning. He heard their alarm go off and Richie start to stir, groaning and blinking to try to focus on the room.

"Can we skip training today?" Eddie whined, hugging Richie around his waist to stop him from getting up once he turned off the alarm.

"Sorry, Eds. The others would be pissed," Richie said sympathetically, putting on his glasses and swearing when he remembered the one lense had a crack.

"So? Bill's missed training for three days."

"Bill's been vomiting through his nose," Richie pointed out, smiling at how Eddie winced. He loved how easily grossed out Eddie could be.

"That's gross," Eddie said with a shudder before standing up.

He threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before crossing his arms and pouting as he waited for Richie to get ready. Richie could tell he was pouting but purposefully ignored him, laughing when Eddie kicked the bed to try to get Richie's attention.

"Come on, Eds. Don't be a brat," Richie said, walking over the bed where Eddie sat glaring at him. "We need to go."

Eddie laid back on the bed, his jaw clenched. "It's just one day. Besides, we have a lifetime to go workout in that shitty gym."

"We'll get out of here, Eds. Besides, we still need to talk to the others and figure out how we're going to handle what I saw." Richie sat next to him, letting his hand inch dangerously close to Eddie's exposed stomach.

Eddie saw his hand and his eyes widened. "Do not fucking touch me," he snarled.

Richie grinned. "Get up then, Edward."

Eddie grabbed Richie's hand and flipped over, landing on Richie's lap and pushing him down onto the bed.

"Don't call me Edward, you fucking asshole."

"Don't be a bitch and I won't have to," Richie said, taking advantage of the muscle he had developed and standing up, laughing when Eddie gasped and held onto him in shock.

"How the fuck did you get stronger than me?"

Richie winked. "Working out. Now come on, before the others try to come in here expecting an orgy."

"Beep beep, Richie," Eddie said with an eye roll, giggling when Richie grimaced at the phrase.

"Haven't heard that one in a while," he said, putting Eddie down and walking toward the door.

"You haven't been a dumbass for a while so I had no reason to say it."

Richie smirked and grabbed Eddie's hand, marching him toward the gym. They joked the whole way, but when they got to the gym, they saw the losers all standing in front of a man that none of them had seen before.

"You're late," the man said, glaring at Richie and Eddie. "Don't make a habit of it."

Richie and Eddie exchanged confused expressions before jogging over and standing side by side next to their other friends.

"There's only six of you," the man growled. "Where's the last one?"

"He's sick," Stan said. He had his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face.

The man marched over to Stan and towered over him. Stan didn't seem intimidated at all, raising his eyebrows.

"Did I give you permission to speak?" the man snarled.

Stan smirked. "Did I need to ask for permission? You asked a question and I answered it."

The man glared at Stan, loathing in his eyes. "I'm not taking shit from a Hive member. Twenty push-ups, go."

Richie felt Eddie tense when Stan was called a Hive member. Richie put his arm on Eddie's shoulder to try to calm him down; he didn't need Eddie to attack the random asshole guy who had a stick up his ass.

Stan didn't move. "Who the fuck are you?" he asked, clearly annoyed. "We don't have any contact for two months with any government officials and now you're suddenly here to order us around?"

"Yes, I am. You should be thankful. Not many people want to work with kids who had a part in killing thousands of innocents."

"We didn't kill people you fucking asshole!" Eddie yelled, pushing Richie off of him when he tried to cover his mouth. "We saved people! If we hadn't gone in, those missiles would have hit most of DC and killed tens of thousands of people!"

The man walked over to Eddie. He was tall, eyes dark with anger, and he easily stood at six feet tall. "Did you have permission to speak?"

Eddie smiled and laughed. "No, but the difference is I didn't fucking ask."

The man stood still for a second, before slapping Eddie across the face. Eddie grabbed his jaw, a red mark on his face. He looked like he was ready to fight back.

"What the fuck, dude?" Richie yelled, pulling Eddie behind him to stop him from fighting the asshole in front of them. "Who the fuck are you and why the hell are you harassing us?"

"I'm not harassing you, kid. It's my job to make sure you're all in line, so you better fucking figure out how to listen. Now, all of you on the wall," he said in a loud voice, pointing to the far wall.

The teenagers could have easily fought back, but they were all in so much shock and confusion that they rolled their eyes and walked to the wall.

"I want line sprints. Go," the man said, pointing to a yellow taped line on the ground.

"How many?" Bev asked, glaring at the man in front of them.

"Until I say stop. Now go!"

The teenagers all exchanged annoyed eye contact before doing their sprints. After they'd run for a while, they were told to lift weights, pull ups, and other work outs. All of them were in good shape, so it wasn't hard, but the man seemed intent on dragging it out.

They finished two hours after they usually did, leaving them all in bad moods, especially Stan and Eddie, who were livid at the way they were addressed and treated.

"He really called us fucking Hive members? Who does that asshat think he is?!" Stan snapped to their whole group.

"I don't know, but I need some ice for my jaw," Eddie snarled. "I can feel a bruise forming."

They all made it to their rooms, Richie mentally preparing to handle a pissed off Eddie who would probably be ranting for the next hour.

However, when they walked into their room, they didn't get a chance to start ranting. As soon as they walked in, they realized something was wrong.

Everything had been cleaned out. The desk, the nightstand, all of the drawers in the bathroom. Even their closets had been cleaned out and all of the clothes had been replaced.

"What the f-" Richie began, only to be stopped by Eddie shushing him.

"What?" Richie hissed, glaring at Eddie.

Eddie just held a finger to his lips, standing on the bed and taking the lamp off the ceiling. Inside he pulled out a circle with wires attached to it.

Richie immediately recognized it. It looked like bigger version of the COMs they used when they worked with the Hive. Eddie took it to the bathroom, cracking it in half and running it under the faucet to break it.

"How long have they been listening to us?" Richie asked, looking around the room.

"The whole time we've been here, I bet. They heard us last night, Rich. They know what you saw and everything on that list!" Eddie said, looking angry and terrified at the same time.

They both stood in silence for a few minutes before they reached the same realization.

"We need to get out of here," Eddie whispered.