Window Boy || reddie

6

Notes: picks up right where it left off!

After a while, it seemed like Eddie would never pull out of the hug, but then Richie poked him in the side and he wriggled away, giggling. Eddie tried to scramble back over the wood, but Richie caught up with him easily; they ended up with Richie on top, hips fitting nicely between Eddie's legs, fingers jabbing at his sides, making him laugh even harder. Richie showed mercy and placed his hands on the dock to prop his body up, pressing kiss after dizzying kiss to Eddie's lips until his own were numb except for a faint tingling.

That was how they spent the rest of the half-hour they had, Eddie laying down on the dock, Richie hovering over him (or rather, pressed into him), kissing. And just kissing- Richie didn't want to spoil the moment, wanted to keep it simple and innocent (it wasn't easy, not with Kaspbrak's legs wrapped around him like this, lying so willingly under him- Jesus- but he managed).

"Gonna miss you." Eddie whispered when Richie announced that they'd have to head back to the city soon.

"Don't think about that, lovely. You'll get stuck in it." Richie shook his head, feeling Eddie's warm fingers on his equally warm cheeks. "I'll be back. I promise."

Eddie didn't reply to that. He didn't want to dampen the mood by pointing out that that was something Richie couldn't promise for sure. Instead, he tilted his head a little, looking past Richie's shoulder, and smiled. "The sun." He said, and unwrapped his legs from Richie's torso.

Richie glanced behind him to see the sun rising in a beautiful effusion of color, all pinks and purples and oranges. He grinned, then shifted so that he was sitting beside Eddie, lanky legs stretched out on the dock in front of him, hands propped up behind him. Eddie sat up and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin between them, arms banded around his shins.

They both watched the sunrise, sneaking occasional glances at one another, but never meeting the other's eyes. There was a strange tension in the air. Eddie felt like a child standing by an adult who was discussing some grown-up thing. He wasn't supposed to look, and it would be awkward if he was caught; but he wanted to look oh, so badly.

When the sun had passed the horizon, Richie said, "Let's head out, Kaspbrak."

Eddie looked over at him then, and his eyes. They were the eyes of a lost child. They were the eyes of someone staring death in the face. They were hurt, and scared, and lost, and almost melancholy. It shook Richie to his core to see Eddie like that. But then Eddie swallowed audibly, and his eyes went back to the dull sadness that had become their resting place, where they always settled. Their home.

"Okay." Eddie said. The shift in his eyes had taken place in the space of two seconds, max. Yet it seemed like an eternity had passed from the time he'd looked at Richie to the time he'd spoken.

So they did head out. They walked for thirty minutes, holding hands until they got to the city, which was awake now (keep your head down, stay hidden). They spoke only a little on the way.

Eddie suddenly felt very tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. It took so much effort to move, and it felt like he was walking in quicksand. Sinking, sinking. He supposed it was dumb. He'd been staring at Richie for weeks, sure, but he'd only been talking to him for a few days. And love at first sight was just a silly fairytale. He really shouldn't be so attached, it wasn't healthy, but Eddie felt as though Richie were a part of him. A part he would be losing in three minutes.

"Rich!"

It was Bill, motioning for Richie to join him. He was standing in the shipyard. By a ship. And now Eddie felt a little sick. He tore his eyes away from the boat. Bill's voice seemed so distant, too. Things seemed to happen in flashes, like photographs.

Two minutes.

Flash. Now he and Richie were standing by Bill. The rest of the group was there, helping load bags onto the ship. They were all smiling and laughing and chatting away. Eddie felt like he belonged to a different planet.

One minute.

Flash. Richie was saying goodbye to his friends. So was Bill. Eddie was almost frightened when Bill spoke to him, pulled out of his head all too suddenly.

"You alright?" Bill asked him. Eddie nodded slowly, but his face told a different story. Bill gave him a tight hug. "We're both going to be back in no time. You won't even notice we're gone." He said quietly as Eddie brought his arms up to reciprocate the hug.

Flash. Bill was suddenly yanked away by the back of his shirt, and both he and Eddie were alarmed (especially by the sheer, brute force with which Bill was pulled away), but then they realized it was Richie who'd tugged them apart. Flash. Richie quickly replaced Bill's body with his own, enveloping Eddie in the tightest and warmest hug the latter had ever received.

It was different from the dock, because they were standing up, and Eddie could clearly sense their size difference now. It was like Richie was swallowing him whole. It was glorious.

Eddie hugged him back. And then panic flared up in his chest. It was all suddenly real- Richie was really leaving, right now.

"Richie." Eddie said, voice bordering on urgent; the first word he'd spoken since they'd reached the city. "My name."

"Your name?" Richie asked, and for a second he genuinely didn't know what Kaspbrak was talking about, mind too blocked up with emotion.

"My name." Eddie repeated. It was now or (possibly) never. "It's-"

Richie pulled out of the hug sharply, making a strange sort of "aaeehh!" noise and clamping his hand over Eddie's mouth. He let that hand fall, looking into Eddie's confused eyes.

"Tell me when I get back." Richie said, and Eddie's stomach dropped.

"But- but you-" Eddie sputtered helplessly, feeling his throat tighten with the threat of tears. If, he thought blindly. If you get back.

"When I get back." Richie smiled, wide and dazzling. Not even crooked like usual. A full smile; and Eddie couldn't put his finger on what it was, but Richie reminded him of a biblical angel. "I'll see you then."

Eddie paused. Richie didn't want him to say goodbye. He knew that. "See you later" or "Until then" was gentler.

Zero minutes.

"I'll see you then." Eddie echoed Richie's words, his voice full and confident, just as Richie's smile had been. It was first time in his memory that he'd spoken like that. He didn't feel full and confident, but his heart did, in a strange way.

Richie saluted, and then he was walking away, following Bill. He boarded the ship. Eddie watched until it disappeared over the horizon; most people did.

"My name's Eddie." He whispered to Richie, though the ship was out of sight now.