Kisses | Reddie

thirtytwo ☆ i'll hold you forever

by: reddiebagels on wattpad (all credit goes to this amazing author)

Trigger Warning: attempted assault

~~~~~

To Richie Tozier, understanding how much the small things can impact a person was extremely important. He'd gone through some shit in his life and if it hadn't been for people understanding what he'd been going through and trying to help him, he probably would be in a worse place.

For some reason, he was thinking about that philosophy while walking through the aisles at a Target. He just needed to get some more toilet paper and a bag of chips, but he found himself staring up at the chips and thinking of forgiveness and understanding. Who hasn't gone through a shitty time?

"Hi, are you finding everything you're looking for?" a sweet voice asked, pulling Richie from his thoughts.

He turned and found a young woman looking at him, clearly concerned. After all, he had been staring at chips for nearly fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, I'm good," Richie said, grabbing a bag of salt and vinegar chips and throwing them into his cart. "Just thinking."

The girl nodded, seemingly thankful for the lack of help that Richie needed. "Let me know if you need anything!"

Richie nodded in response, giving her a small smile and walking out of the aisle. He pushed his cart down another aisle, for no other reason than walking around. He only needed a couple of things, but he really didn't feel like leaving yet.

He didn't have work and didn't have anything else to do. All of his friends were busy with work, so he was alone for the day. Not that he minded in the slightest; Richie was extremely social, but having a day to himself was always nice.

He turned down an aisle lined with medicines and other types of things. There was only one other boy in the aisle, who glanced at Richie with wide eyes before turning back to whatever he was doing.

Richie would've usually left someone else alone, especially someone he didn't know, but the boy was acting suspicious. He was fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt, trying to sneakily glance at Richie without getting caught.

"Are you checking me out or doing something illegal?" Richie asked, making the boys eyes widen as he looked over.

"I'm not doing anything illegal!" he said a little too loudly. "I'm uh, I'm just trying to decide which type of sanitation wipes would be the best for, uh, for a steering wheel!"

"Steering wheel?" Richie asked, an amused smirk on his face.

"Do you know how many germs are on a steering wheel?!" the boy asked in a shrill voice, almost panicking at the thought.

Richie laughed. "No I don't, why don't you enlighten me?" he asked, snickering to himself. 

The boy rolled his eyes. "I don't know the exact number, dipshit. It's a lot though! And you can get diseases from not using them, ranging from the common cold to deadlier diseases!" he said, turning back to the aisle and looking at the goods on the shelf.

"What's your name?"

"None of your business."

"I'm Richie."

"I don't care."

Richie smiled, though most other people would've been offended by the boy's fiery nature. "You're a firecracker, huh?" he asked, watching a blush make its way over the boy's face.

The boy sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Eddie," he said quietly. "My name is Eddie."

"Well Eds-"