𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 | 𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕖

chapter twenty: one

"Just use the inhaler, Eds." Richie sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"I don't know if it really helps, Rich. I just feel like the gang is right behind us!" Eddie squirmed in his uncomfortable seat. "This whole run away from home thing has really exploded, huh?"

"Yep, everyone's in love with us." Richie couldn't help but smile a little bit at the thought of Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles watching the story of them on the news channel.

"Or the idea of us." Eddie added and pulled out his inhaler, taking a hit.

"God, I wish I was that inhaler." Richie mumbled.

"What?" Eddie heard Richie and knew exactly what he said, but he still turned to look at the tall boy as they raced past trees and blue skies.

"Uh, nothing!" Richie nervously patted the sweat on his forehead with his hand and glanced quickly at his crush.

"Okay." Eddie nodded.

Everything was starting to feel, dull, both boys could easily notice that but not acknowledge it. The hard work of constantly running from danger was really starting to get to them as well as the fact that they've left so many people behind.

Richie didn't even know if he'd ever see Mike Wheeler again. What if he couldn't prove that he was innocent?

Richie didn't want to be the reason that his aunt and uncle couldn't find their son.

"I don't think we can show our faces at all anymore, Eds." Richie spoke, guiding the car with his hands firmly on the wheel.

Eddie was sure that he was correct but he definitely wasn't happy about it. "Yeah, I know," Eddie adjusted his turtleneck and cleared his throat, "as long as we get to California, I'll be happy."

"Man, I can just smell the salt in the air from here." Richie sniffed the stuffy car air into his nostrils, "okay, maybe not. We'll be able to smell it soon though!"

The boys were in fact just entering Nebraska.

Eddie didn't know a lot about American geography because he kind of slept a lot in that class. He was also bust getting pushed around and called a faggot by his peers.

Richie had the luxury of being free because of his ability to come off as a heterosexual man.

"Will California really be all that? I mean, didn't Charles Manson kill a bunch of people? He lived there, didn't he?" Eddie questioned, but he already knew the answer.

"He did. You've got a point there, but it doesn't mean that California is a death trap." Richie assured him. "So many people live there! It's perfectly safe and the perfect opportunity to show off my awesome beach bod." The boy smirked and leaned back more in his seat.

That statement managed to turn into a picture in Eddie's mind. He'd never thought about anyone in that way, let alone a boy! However, he did manage to think about kissing Richie every now and then, only held back by his common sense.

★

The boys had been driving for hours and were still states away from their final destination. It was nearing sunset and Eddie and Richie still hadn't acknowledged their obvious feelings for each other.

But it was only a matter of time...

"We're gonna have to stop somewhere for the night soon," Richie was growing tired of the relentless driving and he really wanted to just relax for the night. At the same time, he knew it was dangerous to hide in plain sight due to the maniacs that were trying to capture them. "We need to find a good place to park the car. How about the woods?"

"Yeah, no thanks." Eddie spoke up, stretching out his arms, "we just need to find a place that they won't find us. We don't need to act like animals!"

"I'm just fine acting like an animal with you, babe." Richie winked, knowing Eddie would take it as a dirty joke. Eddie rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, not the woods then. How 'bout we just have a look around?"

"Yeah, sure." Eddie agreed, eating a small pretzel.

Richie thought it was funny and cute when Eddie ate.

Eddie ate like a rabbit, in small nibbles, biding his time and maintaining his small figure which he'd come to grow used to.

The birds were tweeting, though it was a very late afternoon, singing a song that seemed all too familiar to Eddie. He wondered if maybe he'd heard those birds specifically before. He wondered if the birds remembered him from when he was a child, when he played quietly in the garden, whistling along to their aching tunes. Perhaps his love for music derived from those birds. He supposed he had a lot to thank them for.

To Richie, the birds were sort of annoying. All they did was mock him by being immune to human law and not being stuck to the ground all the time. Stupid birds.

"Don't you just love their voices, Richie?" Eddie beamed, "the birds."

Richie saw the gleam in Eddie's eyes shining like a thousand fireflies. "Of course I do, Eds."

"It's a symphony. Do you think they know how beautiful they sound?"

"Surely."

The two boys smiled and glanced at each other as Eddie continued talking about nature's finest sounds and Richie shouted for the perfect place to hide for the night.

★

"You're right, these two aren't the runaways." A bearded cop spoke, furrowing his eyebrows, disgruntled. "Michael Wheeler and William Byers. How could you fuck this up?" 'One' was playing on the radio almost silently.

Two more cops stood and talked to the cop in charge. One spoke, "they surrendered! We really thought it was them."

"I met Edward Kaspbrak's mother. The boy would never surrender to go home to a woman like that." The bearded cop said, chuckling lightly, "scary woman, really. Anywho, get off your asses and find those little twits."

"Sure thing, boss." The other cop sighed and went to release the falsely imprisoned boys.

"Alright, you two. Seems you were telling the truth, yeah?" The stupid cops were at Mike and Will's cell, prepared to release them, but not before questioning them to the end. "Let's see if we can get some more truths."