To fight like Lovers

1.

"C'mon, scoot over."

Richie, who still hasn't gotten both legs under the covers, looks up to find Eddie standing right next to the bed with both hands on his waist.

"Oh, excuse me. Did you say something?" Richie asks him with a hand over his chest.

Eddie huffs and stamps one foot on the ground repeatedly. "Yes, I said keep your big ass limbs to yourself."
He then proceeds to lift his side of the bed sheets, wanting to get in, but Richie beats him to it and starfishes his body on the not-so-big mattress.

"Richie." Eddie adds with a warning tone.

"Not until you use the magic word. Don't worry it's not 'my lord'.... or daddy." That earns him a pillow to the face. Good thing he already left his glasses on the nightstand.

"Why do you have to make everything awkward? I don't even want to be here in the first place so why don't you just make things easier, you idiot?"

Squinting up at one angry fellow, Richie clicks his tongue. "If you really find sharing a bed with me so unbearable, what are you still begging for?"

With the longest, most frustrated sigh in the world, Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose. "Because there are only five sleeping bags and you know it. And secondly, a useless game of truth or dare settled me as the unfortunate one you have to share your bed with, and you also know it. Now, can you please scoot the fuck over?"

"For someone like me whose' nickname is trashmouth, you sure are some competition with all that cursing, Eds. But since you asked so nicely." Ever so slowly, Richie rolls over on the bed, now only occupying less than half of the space. He watches as Eddie carefully gets in and stays as far from him as possible, which isn't a lot with a childhood bed. For the first time since he came in the room, Richie notices that his five other friends are there with them.

He sits up in bed, therefore taking the covers along with him and leaving Eddie out to the cold air, and stares at the rest of the losers, each in their own sleeping bad, sprawled out on his floor.

With school break, Richie's parents decided to take a weekend family trip to some cousins' house. But luckily, they gave in when Richie begged them to stay, it was only two days after all.
Two whole days to spend with his friends. Some parents would have thought their kid would throw a party, but all Richie wanted was to watch shitty movies and eat microwaved food with his friends.

With that thought, Richie lets his body fall back against the cushions, sending one arm flying in the direction of Eddie's face. It lands on his cheek with a loud smack!
Eddie yelps, punches Richie's arm away from him and proceeds to slap Richie's body wherever he can reach while his left cheek burns red.

They pretend not to hear the annoyed protests of the other losers while they try to kick each other off the bed, sort of like a play fight. Collective groans fill up Richie's room from five teenagers who just want to sleep. But all of those fall on deaf years while Eddie manages to hit Richie's forehead on a similar way he was slapped before.

"Aha!" Eddie jumps up in victory. "Take tha-" But before he can finish his sentence, Richie's feet come in contact with Eddie's legs and start pushing him off the bed for good. "What are you doing?!" Eddie screeches while trying to hold on for dear life. The first thing that he manages to catch is, as expected, Richie's ankle.
But Richie doesn't cease the kicking and half of Eddie's body hangs dangerously off the mattress.

"You're officially banished from this land, m'comrade!"

Eddie's high pitch scream is cut off with his own words. "You can't banish me! This is my bed too!"
But it's too late. Eddie rolls off the bed after one last push to his butt from Richie's foot.

Richie's eyes bulge slightly once Eddie's body disappears behind the bed frame but he keeps his mouth sealed together to keep the giggles from coming. He waits for some sort of comeback act, but the room is suddenly quiet. At least, Eddie is quiet, unmoving, and Richie pretends not to notice when Stan gets up in his tangled sleeping bag and storms out of the room with a pillow under his arm.

Before leaving, he mutters. "Great plan, Beverly, but I'd rather sleep tonight." Out of the corner of his eye, Richie sees Mike following him to the living room.

Richie clears his throat carefully. "Eds, you oka-" But the rest of the question dies in the air when Eddie's hand comes into view and slams on the mattress. Then, following along, Eddie sits up and only his head, tousled hair and furious eyes come into view.

Eddie stares at him and breathes sharply through his nose. For the second time tonight, he grits his teeth together and says "Richie." in a dangerous tone. But this time around, it sounds more like a growl, paired with a very embarrassing sound that comes deep within his throat.

Both of them freeze, eyes locked together (even if Richie's vision is very much out of focus). Eddie's face grows warm to the second and Richie can't help it anymore.

"Did you just hiss at me?-"

"-No." Eddie cuts him off, cheeks even warmer now.

"You fucking did-!

"Shut the fuck up, Richie!"

They speak over each other until Richie falls into hysterical laughter. This spurs Eddie into jumping on the bed to start a pillow aggression again, which goes on for longer than necessary just to make sure they scare the remaining losers out of the bedroom.
Once they hear Bev admitting her defeat, Bill and Ben agreeing and the three of them going for the living room too, Eddie stops hitting Richie with the pillow and sits down on his heels to catch his breath.

"Took them long enough." Richie whispers and Eddie nods enthusiastically in agreement.

"I thought I'd actually have to murder you."

"Oh yeah?" Richie teases. He doesn't give Eddie a chance to reply before he's tackling him down in a heartfelt tickling attack that doesn't last more than five seconds. He lets both arms fall at his sides and stares down at the boy he adores so much.

"It's been a month. When are we telling them?" He has a fond smile on his face that speaks 'no rush, promise.'

Eddie looks up at him with the remains of chuckles still wearing off. "Soon, I promise." They settle into a nice silence that's broken by Eddie a few seconds later. "But you have to admit it's funny to mess with them."

"They still haven't given up on trying to get us together, uh?"

"We can't let them know they succeeded."

"God forbid." Richie chuckles and throws himself on top of Eddie's chest. "At least we can cuddle all night in peace."

Eddie giggles in agreement and wraps both arms around Richie's frame. "Night' Rich."

With one last happy sigh, Richie closes his eyes and relaxes. "Goodnight, my love."