Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

xv

When Richie woke up it was dark in the small area that he got to call a room for the time he spent on the jet. He felt around the space silently listening, but couldn't feel or hear Eddie. Richie sat up, still in his jeans and T-shirt from earlier that day, and opened the door to the dark jet.

Eddie was sitting at the table, his hair tousled from restless sleep, and he was in the pair of shorts that Richie always teased him about. They were among the only articles of clothing Eddie had kept, since he claimed they were comfortable, but Richie said Eddie was just trying to show off his ass to tease him.

Richie climbed out of the bed, closing the door silently behind him. Eddie had a mug in front of him and seemed to be nodding off. Richie walked over and slid into the seat next to Eddie, putting an arm around his waist.

Eddie seemed startled at first, but once he realized it was Richie, he settled back down and leaned on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Richie asked with his lips pressed into Eddie's hair.

"I couldn't sleep," Eddie said with a shrug.

"Stressed?"

Eddie shook his head.

"Restless?"

Another shake of his head, but this time he finished with taking a sip of the tea in his mug.

"What is it then?" Richie asked, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to guess why Eddie couldn't sleep. There was a range of potential reasons and Richie was way too tired to try to guess them all.

"Nightmares," Eddie whispered after a minute of silence. "I've been having nightmares for the last few nights."

Richie felt guilty right away. He had felt the bed move in the hotel rooms, but never thought it was Eddie sitting awake, panicking because of the venomous images that infected his mind.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Richie whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of Eddie's head as Eddie relaxed further into his touch.

"It's not something I can't handle, Rich. I used to get nightmares a lot as a kid. It's just been a while," Eddie mumbled, taking another sip of his tea, even though it had gone cold a while ago.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is it with people and talking about shit? What's that gonna accomplish?" Eddie asked, sounding both exhausted and annoyed.

"I don't know, maybe talking to someone will make you feel better? Instead of keeping it all stuck inside your head?" Richie asked, growing more and more frustrated.

Not with Eddie, no. He was pissed off at the Hive. They had forced him to learn to keep all of his emotions inside. He had never been allowed to express anything.

"I'm fine," Eddie hissed, glaring down at his mug, before drinking the rest of his tea and pushing past Richie to put it in a bin that held other dirty dishes. "Go back to bed, Richie."

"I'm not going until you're alright."

"I've told you I'm fine."

"But you're not, Eddie!" Richie snapped, making Eddie widen his eyes in surprise. Richie never used his full name unless it was a heavy situation.

When Eddie didn't say anything, Richie kept talking in a low, angry voice. "You keep saying you're okay, but I can tell you're not. I get you're hurting, but we all are. You're the only one who hasn't tried to move on!"

Eddie didn't say anything, looking down at his feet like a child who had been caught with something he shouldn't have.

"You're not okay, Eds," Richie said, his voice softening as he saw how upset his boyfriend was. "You can talk about it. This isn't the Hive. They didn't let you say anything or feel anything. You can talk about being upset here, baby."

Eddie finally lifted his head, tears in his eyes as he made eye contact with Richie. "I miss my dad," he said in a high pitched, upset voice. "I miss my dad, I miss the stupid lab, I miss feeling like I can go to sleep and not wake up with a gun pointed to my head."

Eddie sat down at the table again, holding his face in his hands. "I don't want to be alive, Richie. I hate my stupid life. I don't know who I can trust, I don't have a plan, and I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life fighting the stupid fucking Hive until I get shot," he was crying, choking on his sobs. It was clear he was trying to be as quiet as possible, as to not wake the others, but all of his feelings had finally come crashing down.

Richie walked forward and lifted him up, carrying him to their bed, closing the door behind them. It was dark, but getting lighter since morning was coming. Soon they'd be in Franc with their allies.

"Eds, don't cry," Richie whispered as Eddie continued to sob.

Richie was terrified, in all honesty. Eddie was finally giving up and feeling everything he had been trying to fight back. He couldn't go down that path, or he'd sink into depression and end up getting hurt. Richie couldn't lose him.

"Eddie. Eddie, look at me," Richie said firmly but gently.

Eddie wiped away the tears he could and looked up at Richie. "What?" he asked.

"You're not going to spend the rest of your life fighting the Hive. We will find a way to end it, and we will get away from all of this secret-organization-government bullshit, okay?"

"No we won't. You don't get it-"

"Eds, I'm having some major deja vu right now, because you said something really similar when we separated and I stayed with the Hawkins group and you were going to leave the country. You said we wouldn't survive. Guess what, baby? We did. And we're going to be okay. I know you don't believe it, but you gotta trust me Eds. Please?" Richie was pleading with him. He just wanted Eddie to realize there could be more to his life than being on the run and hiding from government organizations.

Eddie was silent before closing his eyes and laying down. "You're the only person I trust, Richie," he said weakly.

"So trust that what I'm saying is true."

"Okay," Eddie whispered.

They laid in silence, Eddie's sniffling and Bill's coughing from the cabin next to them being the only sounds that echoed through the plane. They laid in their room for a few hours until they heard an echo from the intercom through the plane.

"Get up, assholes. We're almost there."