𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 | 𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕖

chapter twenty-seven: i got you babe

"God, it's like you cut my hair, drunk! It's all uneven!"

"It's called fashion, Richie."

"Fashion is clothes, dipshit!"

"Your hair looks great!"

The bickering became a token in Richie and Eddie's relationship, pulling them closer and closer together even though they seemed to be miles apart.

Unbeknownst to them, many people were searching for them, getting closer and closer.

★

Patrick Hockstetter didn't think it would happen, but he somehow disliked Cher even more than he did before. As 'I Got You Babe' crackled through the near-dead radio, he blinked furiously and felt blood dripping down his face. What happened?

It all came back to him.

Drunk, off of greed and wrath, he tried to capture the feral runaways, but he failed. He failed again.

Instead of feeling powerful, he felt weak. He'd rather be dead than feel that.

He turned his head to look at his friend in the passenger seat. "Hey, Hen."

Henry Bowers did not react, but his chest still rose and fell occasionally.

Patrick had decided that enough was enough. He climbed out of the totally wrecked vehicle and assessed the damage with a grimace. He clicked his tongue, creating a 'tsk, tsk'.

Hockstetter was no stranger to failure. As much as he loved to deny it, he was as much of a loser as everyone else. The difference was; he was a total freak show.

It was just too bad that his mother didn't show concern when he was cutting up butterflies at 5 years old.

He walked back to the car and shook Henry's shoulders, "wake up, dickhead!"

Henry awoke with a jolt and felt aching all over, especially in his jaw and back. The first thing he saw as his eyelids opened was Patrick lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag from it. "Just let me die this time, Pat."

"Fuck off with that nonsense." Patrick mumbled and walked around in thought.

Henry was serious. It wasn't that he was against hunting the runaways down (it was his idea in the first place), but he truly was exhausted.

★

Eddie usually hated peppermint. The flavour was sometime spicy, but refreshing? It was ludicrous. Peppermints had no function to Eddie other than making your breath smell minty.

'People with peppermint breath think they're better than anyone else.' Eddie's mother had told him. He supposed it made sense. Relying on candy to freshen your breath was a recipe for cavities.

Eddie kept his thought spirals continuing as he watched Richie eat a peppermint with no grimace in sight.

"I don't know how you eat those things." He grumpily spoke, as if the mint offended him.

"What? Mints? Do you not brush your teeth, lil' fella?"

Eddie slumped in his seat and didn't respond but continued his spiralling thoughts.

He'd never had a cavity before. Perhaps it was due to his unbeatable hygiene and cleanliness, but he never had dental problems.

'What if the car crashed right now?' Eddie thought to himself in a sudden, random panic. 'What if the bullies survived the car crash?' He was causing himself to freak out, but he couldn't stop. 'What if momma doesn't love me anymore?' His breathing started to fall behind his thoughts and he was struggle to fill his lungs with air. 'What if Richie's using me?' 'What if Richie doesn't love me?' 'What if we get caught?' 'What if I don't like California?' 'What if I never know real love?'

Eddie wasn't even aware that the car stopped moving and Richie was digging around for his inhaler.

"C'mon, c'mon," Richie encouraged himself and retrieved the inhaler.

He held the inhaler out for Eddie to use, but he refused it.

"Eddie, please, take it." Richie's voice was firm, but well-meaning. "Eds,"

"D-Don't ah- don't call me Eds, Rich. You know how much I hate it." Eddie wasn't wheezing per say, but he was recovering from hyperventilation.

Something clicked in Richie's mind and he felt silly for not seeing it earlier.

Eddie wasn't an asthmatic.

He was anxious. A lot.

"It seems like you won't be needing this after all," Richie gestured to the inhaler, but still placed it back in Eddie's bag. "I know what you do need though."

"W-What?"

With that, Richie started peppering Eddie's face with delicate, heartfelt kisses. This annoyed Eddie, but he also loved it.

"Stop- ha! Ha- Richie!" Eddie couldn't control the wide smile spreading across his face.

Richie finished his kissing 'reign-of-terror' and held his face close to Eddie's, their noses slightly bumping each other. Suddenly, Eddie's lovestruck smile began to fade as he felt Richie's warm, pepperminty breath against his cold skin.

"I want you to know that I wanna be with you." Richie whispered, resulting in his voice sounded very hoarse. "And I'm really so scared," Eddie pushed his glasses up with a single finger, "but I know that our lives are only temporary." Even with the sad atmosphere created, Richie smiled, "and I would be honoured to spend that small time with you, again and again throughout all of eternity. Every single life we have, let's spend it together." He reached out and caressed the side of Eddie's face. "Totally together. Will you do this with me, Eddie Spaghetti?"

Instead of using a verbal answer, Eddie dived in and captured their lips together as if to say 'I do'. Just in case Richie didn't get the idea, Eddie spoke, "I do."

"You are honestly the most exciting part of my life, Eds. You hurt me so badly without even touching me."

"I would never want to hurt you." Eddie spoke and licked his lips and tasted the lingering taste on his tongue. "Ugh, peppermint."

"There ain't nothin' wrong with minty breath- I- how did we even come back to this? I thought we were talking about our required feelings for each other-"

Richie continued rambling at a fast pace, but Eddie thought about one thing:

Maybe peppermints weren't so bad after all.