Wait For It || Reddie ✔️

- 34 -

The soothing circles of Richie's thumb stopped. "Fucking what?" He asked. Eddie stared hard at his feet. Richie dropped Eddie's hand, his blood starting to boil. "Why the fuck don't you live with your mom anymore? Where have you been staying? Jesus, I knew something was up!!" Tears pricked at Eddie's eyes as Richie rambled on.

"You knew?" Eddie asked. "Fuck yeah! You've been wearing the same clothes for the past few days, Eds!" He looked down at his wrinkled and dirty clothes and realized he was right. "Rich, please," he said, grabbing at Richie's arm, "Let me explain."

"You better explain before I go over to your house and fucking fight Sonia myself!"

Eddie nodded and breathed, his vision clearing from the tears. Richie stood in front of him, his fists in clenched balls, ready to fight at any moment. "After you kissed me for the first time, I went into this weird, confused mood and before I thought it through at all, I came out to my mom."

Richie stayed quiet while he let Eddie explain. The urge to punch something - Sonia, mostly - never left him. "She- she got upset at me and started saying.. how she would find different medication for me." Eddie replayed the memory in his head, tears refreshing in his eyes as the hurt placed in him by his mother came back. Richie saw the pained expression on Eddie's face and took his hand again, squeezing it. "I'd never let her hurt you, alright?" Richie said gently. Eddie blinked away the tears and nodded. "I know that, Rich."

Richie was tempted to kiss Eddie's forehead but being surrounded by houses and possible nosy eyes, he kept himself from giving into the urge. "Do you know if your moms home? We can go grab a few of your things and head back to my house," Richie offered. Eddie looked at the time on his wrist and shook his head. "It's the weekend, she's defiantly home."

Richie sighed and grabbed the bike handles. "Then my house we go," he said, kicking off. Halfway down the street, Richie got an idea. "Hey, Spaghetti," Richie said, braking. He patted his bike and grinned. "Want a ride?" Eddie silently thanked Richie for the shift in mood, not liking the depressed silence. "You want me to get onto that? How?" He asked. Richie glanced down at the bike as he said, "Easy. You sit on the seat and I'll stand and bike home."

"And have your ass in my face the entire way? Fuck no, Richie."

Richie huffed and he thought of another way. His mind flashed to when he sat on Stan's handle bars. "Then how about this, you sit on the handle bars and I'll bike. No asses in anyone's faces." Eddie thought about it for a second. "That's dangerous, though," he said and Richie raised an eyebrow. "And fighting an inner-dimensional clown isn't?" Eddie looked up and shrugged. "You have a point. Now move your hands before I sit on them," Eddie said, swatting at Richie's hands as he laughed.

~~~

"Home sweet home," Richie said as he steered up his driveway. Eddie didn't wait for Richie to stop before hopping off. "I am never fucking doing that again!" He said, backing away. Richie laughed and dumped his bike in the grass of his front yard. "That's what my reaction was when I rode on Stan's bike," he said. "That was fucking terrifying! And did you really have to go over every pothole?" Eddie asked, a hand flying around in the air. "I didn't go over every pothole!" Richie said back and he nodded. "Yes you did!"

Richie rolled his eyes and hopped up the stairs to his house. The two went inside and up to Richie's room. On the way over, Eddie complained about the heat and how his clothes were sticking to his back so Richie offered he take a shower when they got back home. "Here's some clothes you can borrow," he said as he dug around in his closet. "Do you want shorts or sweatpants? Cause I have both." Eddie thought for a second. "Sweatpants." Richie nodded and grabbed the clothes before throwing them at Eddie's face. They fell into his arms as Richie snickered. "Fuck you."

As Eddie took his shower, Richie went downstairs to get water for both of them. On his way back upstairs, his eyes landed on the phone. He thought it over and glanced up the stairs, figuring he had enough time before Eddie finished his shower.

He set the cups down on the stairs before moving into the living room, dialing the number he knew by heart. It took a few rings before Sonia picked up.

"Hello?"

Richie breathed in sharply, the anger of what she put Eddie through flooded back. "Ms. K, it's Richie."

"Richie. I should've known. Is Eddie with you?"

"Yeah, he is. But don't bother coming for him, he's safe with me."

"I presume he told you? I was only trying to help, you know." There was no remorse in her voice, only that fake sweet tone. Richie adjusted the phone in his hand as he glared at the table. "You were no fucking help. Eddie's perfect the way he is, there's no changing him."

"You know not-"

Richie couldn't bare to let her finish. He slammed the phone down on the receiver, cutting her off. He closed his eyes and breathed, letting his anger simmer down before grabbing the drinks and running up the stairs.

Richie was sitting in bed, slowly sipping on his water deep in thought when Eddie walked in. He looked over and his breath got stuck in his throat. Eddie stood there, dressed in Richie's sweats and oversized t-shirt. "I look like a fucking idiot," Eddie said, pulling at the hem of the shirt as Richie stared at him.

Eddie caught this and walked over to the bed, gently smacking Richie atop the head. "Stop staring," he said, sitting down next to him. Richie smiled and leaned forward, pressing a light kiss to Eddie's lips. "Sorry, I couldn't help it," he said. Eddie's breathing shallowed and his ears went red. "Shut up," he forced out, looking away. Richie smiled and pecked another kiss to his lips before sliding off the bed.

"Stay here," he said before leaving the room. Eddie leaned over to the side table to grab his water as Richie came back, a towel in his hands. "Your hair is still wet," Richie explained when he caught Eddie's confused look. He only got one sip in before he had to balance the water as Richie climbed back onto the bed. "You probably don't want to drink while I'm drying your hair," Richie warned. Eddie set his glass back down and raised an eyebrow at him. "You're drying my hair?" Richie nodded happily.

He sighed and let Richie take the towel to his head. He was more gentle than Eddie expected, messily rubbing the towel around. "Hopefully that's good enough," he said after a moment as he ran a hand through Eddie's hair. He closed his eyes and thanked that his back was turned towards Richie, knowing his face was probably red. "Yeah, now get your hands out of my hair," Eddie said as he slapped them away, making Richie laugh.

y'all i got three chapters done in one day you do not understand how proud of myself i am