Watching a Silent Dawn

Electric & Euphoric

After Beverly had told Eddie to wait and see if Richie returned those feelings, Eddie had launched into full anxiety mode. He decided to observe Richie's mannerisms for the following week and pray to whatever all-knowing deity there was that Richie did indeed like Eddie the way Eddie likes Richie. Needless to say, that week was a living hell. Come the weekend, and Eddie was still as clueless as ever. So he decided that they needed to talk. They needed to talk and that was that. No consulting Beverly, no overthinking, nothing. Something needed to be done, and something needed to be done immediately. So when Eddie's dad Frank was on a business trip over the forthcoming weekend, Eddie decided that's when he would go see Richie.

~

His fingers were jittery, his arms were shivering and covered in goosebumps, his mind racing faster than the speed of light. At least that's how it felt to Eddie when he stepped up the petite stairs to the porch, finally in the clear after watching Richie and Clarissa's parents leave yet again in that stupid, stupid car that looked like it couldn't decide between gray or silver. Eddie slowly raised a shaky fist to the door before taking a deep breath and...nothing. Eddie froze with his fist maybe no less than half an inch away from the door. That's when the anxiety made an appearance. What if I just completely mis-read him and he's not actually into me but is just really comfortable with me?? Oh no oh nononono what if he is against gay people?!? I don't think I could handle that much damage to my heart. I think I would actually die right then and there holy shit. No! Stop overthinking and just have trust! Eddie sighed and proceeded to carry through with his action and knock on the door.

~

Richie sat in his room listening to Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners just doodling some gloxinia flowers because he'd remembered from a book he read years ago that gloxinia flowers meant love at first sight and man, did Richie experience that all right. His peaceful state of drawing had been interrupted when his 'baby' sister opened his door with a message. "Hey Rich, Eddie's here to see you. He said it was important. He's waiting at the bottom of the stairs for you." With that all said, Clarissa closed the door and walked off with an all too familiar sly smile adorned upon her face, leaving Richie a wide-eyed, unprepared, frantic mess. He stole a quick glance at his room and deemed it acceptable before nearly tripping himself to get down the stairs to see Eddie. When Eddie turned around, Richie could almost feel the stress and urgency radiating off of Eddie like heat waves. Richie held an open hand out to Eddie and nodded back up the stairs in the direction of his room. Eddie seemed hesitant to do so but eventually caved and grabbed Richie's hand. Once again, it was like lightning had been in their blood and had finally come to life when their hands touched. Eddie's fingers were numb with exhilaration. Once the duo had arrived in Richie's room, Eddie immediately let go of Richie's hand in favor of his very large, very comfortable bed. Eddie wasn't gonna do this very important thing while uncomfortable. Richie had just watched and smiled adoringly. Seeing the sight of Eddie wrapped up in his blankets made his heart slow down, and the edges of his mind all fuzzy like an out-of-focus videocamera. Richie was enamored with the electrifying soft creature that is Eddie Kaspbrak. Eddie had finally gotten comfortable and had taken notice that Richie was staring, his eyes seeing nothing but him. Eddie laughed to himself and smiled at Richie. "Come join me? It's almost winter and I'm cold from walking over here." Eddie unwrapped himself from the blanket burrito partway in order to make room for Richie. Richie was convinced that he had died and gone straight to Heaven right then and there. There was absolutely no way that Richie was going to miss an opportunity like this, so he returned the smile, nodded, and hopped into the blanket cuddle puddle with Eddie, who nuzzled up close to him like he was a heater. Eddie had settled his face into the crook of Richie's jaw and wrapped his arms around his torso. "Hope this is okay, but 'm freezing and you're just so warm. Like a heater or something." Richie had brought an arm up to Eddie's hair and began to gently play with it as his way of saying don't worry, I'll always keep you warm. Eddie let out a contented sigh and in the last moments before falling asleep, he thought, maybe I can just wait to talk to him, I'm too cozy to do anything right now. And with that, Eddie fell asleep, cuddled up with Richie The Heater who played with his hair and had a smile painted on his face. Richie felt like his body was dripping with euphoria at every contact point with Eddie. Oh, how good it felt to be so in love with an angel like Eddie Kaspbrak. Maybe moving to Derry wasn't so bad after all.