𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 • 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆

* snow, and other falling things *

They left the café shortly afterwards, when the morning was still fresh and the air was cold and bright with dawn. It was strange, walking with Richie in the pale, watery light. Eddie was so used to seeing him in the dark, it almost felt wrong to be with him under the gentle rays of the rising sun.

Almost.

This time of morning was magic, Eddie thought, though different from the lonely spell of the night. It was still peaceful, still quiet, still empty. He and Richie were still the only two people on the planet, in a dream world entirely of their own. But it felt hopeful, in a way. Excited. Full of anticipation for the day to come.

It felt alive .

***

They watched as they walked, as lights turned on and cars started, and signs were flipped from Sorry, We're Closed to Come in, We're Open . They watched as the sun grew brighter and warmer and altogether more present, and as people began appearing on the street with blurry eyes and disheveled hair and paper cups of coffee clutched in cold hands. It was oddly cathartic, seeing the world wake up around them. It made Richie feel real , in a way he so rarely did.

He had started to feel that more and more, around Eddie. When he was with him, it was like the invisible wall that separated Richie from those around him fell away. Eddie's smile cracked its foundations. His laugh crumbled it to dust. Eddie understood him, saw him . Around him, Richie didn't feel lonely, or empty, or like a puppet on a string. He felt good . He felt bulletproof.

He felt alive .

Now, he took Eddie's hand in his, just because he could. He could feel Eddie's pulse though his skin.

Eddie didn't let go.

***

It was nearly eight in the morning when Eddie finally collapsed onto his couch, the weight of the night heavy on his eyelids. He'd said a sleepy goodbye to Richie out in the hallway, and Richie had looked almost surprised before saying it back. Eddie would realise later that his surprise had been because it was the first time they'd ever actually said goodbye. They normally just smiled, if even that, as they closed the doors between them. Eddie would think later that the fact that they had used parting words this time must have meant something, somehow - though he wouldn't be able to think what.

For now, as he nestled into the blankets on the couch, he found he was too tired to think much of anything. As he drifted off, the only thought that would come to his mind was of Richie. Richie, and his curly hair and his buck toothed smile and his crooked nose and the scar on his furry eyebrow. Richie, and the way he laughed at everything and seemed to light up the night around him as if he were made of fireflies. Richie, and the way he had, in these few short months, managed to carve himself a space in Eddie's heart; a space Eddie hadn't known needed to be filled. Richie, and the fact that he had so quickly become one of Eddie's dearest friends.

He wondered if Richie was thinking of him, too.

***

(He was.)

***