serendipity {sequel to pop} || reddie

quinze

Richie and Eddie drive for a while, just around the small town. Finally, Eddie can't stand the suffocating silence anymore.

"Where are we going?" He asks, hoping his friendly tone serves as an apology for his earlier anger.

"I don't know." Richie replies, but he knows well enough. He doesn't plan on it, but as he winds through the familiar streets, he finds that his route is planned.

The silence returns, but it's more comfortable, because Richie hadn't sounded mad at Eddie, which reassures him and calms his nerves. So Eddie just lets the silence hang.

Richie turns a corner and Eddie looks out the window to see that he's driving around Bassey Park. He knows this road. He used to walk it as a teenager whenever he needed some air. Eddie looks up at Richie in slight confusion, slight curiosity, but Richie's face is unreadable, focused on the road ahead of him, blocking out emotion.

Richie rounds another corner, then puts the car in park. They're right in front of a small bridge. Kissing Bridge. Eddie smiles, resisting the urge to laugh at the choice in location, chiefly because Richie doesn't seem playful in the least.

Richie looks over at Eddie and gives a weak smile before unbuckling his seatbelt and popping the car door open, stepping out into the warm weather of Derry. Eddie does the same, walking behind Richie to the bridge.

Richie leans against the wooden fence with a small sigh. Again, Eddie does the same, minus the sigh, looking over at Richie curiously, wondering what might be going through his head.

"So." Richie sighs, smiling softly. Eddie feels a strange prickling sensation on the back of his neck, but he ignores it. "This is kind of wild, right? Back in Derry."

"Yeah, it is." Eddie nods, looking around him at the peaceful surroundings. Derry has surprisingly nice flora and fauna. "I wish we could just go back home. Get out of here. It brings up all these memories."

"A lot of them are good memories, though. For me." Richie shrugs, reminiscing, a smile gracing his features again. Eddie thinks he looks really beautiful in this light, serious for once. "I hate that we have to, you know... go through all this shit again. I thought it was over. I thought we were finished with Derry."

"We all did." Eddie replies. "But we aren't. So, you know, here we are on Kissing Bridge. Like a couple of dumb teenagers."

"You weren't a dumb teenager." Richie says softly, his eyes flickering towards Eddie's lips.

"You kind of were." Eddie grins, and then he leans forward, closing the gap between them. They kiss for a few seconds, slow and sweet, and then Eddie pulls away, looking adoringly into Richie's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Richie says, but some shadow of memory crosses his face. He exhales. "I want to show you something."

"Sure." Eddie agrees. Richie steps away from the fence, turning around to face it. He crouches down, motioning for Eddie to do the same, which he does.

"I made this I think a month or two after I met you." Richie points to a spot on the bridge, and Eddie looks at it. Faded into the wood is a carving. It reads, "R+E."

Eddie lets out a soft "aw" sound, smiling wide. "Why?"

"I guess I was too much of a pussy to actually tell you. Plus, I never really picked up on any signs. I didn't think you liked me back." Richie shrugs. Eddie scoffs loudly. Richie looks at him in confusion as he laughs.

"Look down here, dumbass." He rolls his eyes, pointing to the plank of the fence below the one with Richie's carving.

Richie looks. He scoffs. He groans in frustration. He topples back onto the road, landing flat on his back, laughing. Eddie grins with him, giggling a bit.

In the bridge, there's another carving. It's an "R" inside a heart.

"When?" Richie asks.

"I don't remember exactly. I know your carving was already there. I think I saw it." Eddie answers. "I'm pretty sure I just convinced myself that it was about someone else."

"We are so stupid." Richie groans, and Eddie laughs again.

"Not stupid. Just a little oblivious." Eddie corrects, resting his hand on Richie's shoulder. "You've gotta get up, babe. The road isn't somewhere you should be lying down, there are millions of-"

"Bacillus cereus, I know." Richie finishes for him, used to this rant. He's mastered the pronunciations of what feels like hundreds of bacteria names in the time that he's been with Eddie.

He remembers the fiasco that was gardening with Eddie in their old apartment, back in their mid-twenties- they'd made a little corner for plants and such, suggested, of course, by Eddie.

"Are you serious? No gloves?"

"What? I don't need gloves. I'm just sticking seeds into dirt." Richie reached for a seed packet, but Eddie smacked his hand away, glaring with that familiar, fiery look.

"You do need gloves. Wanna know why?" Eddie said, not waiting for Richie's answer (which would have been no) before continuing. "Bacteria, Rich. Millions and millions of kinds- there's Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthrasis, there's Clostridium perfringens, there's-"

"Eddie, my love." Richie interrupted with a small sigh, giving Eddie a quick kiss on the cheek. "I will put on some gloves."

"Thank you." Eddie smiled brightly, and the whole world lit up for that smile. Richie lived for that smile. He loved to bring it forth and he loved to send it into a scowl or a glare, which was what he did then, trailing his fingers down to give Eddie a quick squeeze on the ass and scampering off gleefully before Eddie could say anything about it.

Richie stands up, extending a hand to help Eddie to his feet, which Eddie accepts, pulling himself up and giving Richie a peck on the lips when he arrives, happiness dancing in his eyes. Though, under that temporary joy, there's still darkness. Both of them can see it.

"To your royal carriage, my prince." Richie says in a ridiculous, pompous accent, rolling all of his "r"s. Eddie rolls his eyes.

"That's dumb."
"Would you rather I call you a slut?"
"Watch it."

Eddie hops into the passenger seat of the car, followed soon after by Richie. The latter starts up the car, driving it over the bridge and out of Bassey Park, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel absentmindedly. Richie feels an itching urge to keep driving, to just drive right back to the airport and get the hell out of Derry, but something holds him back. He's not sure what- he most definitely can leave Derry, and it would be easy to avoid the Losers in the real world, but he doesn't. Maybe it's Eddie holding him back, with his incredible bravery and determination to put as much good in the world as he can.

It's something that scares Richie, though he's never told Eddie about it. It's frightening because Richie knows that Eddie would one hundred percent give up his life, with zero hesitation, for the greater good.

And that's too much of a real possibility now.