fifteen // reddie

5.0

Eddie, doubled over, wheezing, in pain. "This is all your fault!" He's saying, but he's choking his words out through coughs. Richie can only watch- the more he runs towards his soulmate, the further he gets.

"Help him!" Someone cries behind him. It's a boy's voice and it's desperate, but there's hands clawing at Richie, pulling him backward, and Richie can only stare stare stare as Eddie gets further and further-

When Richie wakes up with a start, he doesn't remember his dream, but the first thing he thinks about is Eddie. He doesn't mind. He selfishly allows himself to dwell on the thought for a few minutes, thinking about what Beverly said, thinking about hands touching him but not in a bad way, thinking about Eddie Eddie Eddie.

And then he tells himself to snap out of it.

He turns his head to check his clock to see what time it is- one quick glance out his window shows it's still dark outside, so it's definitely still early. The clock announces that it is 4:16 AM, but Richie doesn't feel tired at all. Maybe it's the dull pain of his cut that he should definitely put gauze over, or maybe it's the small section of his brain that had produced the memory of Eddie in pain and so proudly flaunted it to Richie while he slept, but something is keeping Richie up.

Then he feels it: a pinch on his arm, despite there being no fingers there to pinch him. He waits a few seconds, and then feels it again. He thinks of Eddie sitting in his bedroom, pinching himself. Richie waits a bit longer and then pinches his own skin, now imagining Eddie sitting on his bed and maybe even smiling when he feels Richie's pinch back. It's another selfish thought, but Richie lets himself have it, anyway.

The pinching was probably just an accident.Perhaps Richie had only imagined it and just randomly pinched Eddie. Great. Now he's an asshole.

A detached feeling of sadness washes over him uninvited, and his stomach churns. Between the shock of Eddie being his soulmate and the guilt he has from it, Richie has been feeling horrible. Briefly, he wonders if the sadness isn't his own.

Richie doesn't realize he fell back asleep until he wakes up the next morning. His first thought is Eddie. Again.

_____

He pinched back. Eddie was laying down in bed when he had hesitantly pinched himself, just to try it.

And Richie pinched back.

He didn't know if it meant, stop annoying me or i'm trying to make peace, but either way, the thought of Richie reacting to him is better than Richie ignoring him.

Ignoring everything.

Everything they've been through had settled into the dust the second Henry had pulled Richie away from the group, because as far as Eddie knows, he's been ignoring all of them. Which is stupid. Eddie's strongest theory is that Richie is unhappy about being soulmates with him, but he tries to rationalize. Richie's his friend. They've had a sort of... romantic tension for a while, really. Or maybe it was all in Eddie's head and Richie is wishing that literally anyone else could have been his soulmate.

Fuck.

Eddie pinches arm again. This time he receives no pinch back.

The Losers Club is hanging out today, Eddie thinks with unfiltered joy. Which means Richie will be there. They're all going to the quarry again- it's summer, after all- which means not only will Richie be there, he will be there shirtless, which is a lot more exhilarating now that they're soulmates.

Eddie's usually the last one to the quarry. First, he has to convince his mom to let him go. Then, he has to patiently wait for her to drench his skin with sunscreen for as long as possible to stall. Which means he has to be start leaving more than forty minutes early. When Eddie finally arrives at the quarry cliff, everyone is sitting in their underwear, talking.