21

Nightmares and calming kisses

Tw: Gay slurs. . .

"Fucking useless faggot."

"Dad please, don't do this."

"If I ever hear that you were flirting with Connor Bowers, or any other boy in town, you are dead. Hear me?"

"Yes sir. Please just don't hit me again dad."

"I'll tell you what, I won't hit you, I'll do something a little more brutal. I'll leave you here to burn."

In a matter of moments the house was engulfed in flames, and there was no way out.

Richie coughed and squinted his eyes through the burning smoke.

"Mom? Mom where are you?"

"Richie? Baby I'm right here."

Richie ran towards the sound of his mother's voice which was coming from upstairs.

"Mom! We have to get out of here!"

Richie's mother ran over to the window.

"We have to jump baby, it's the only way out."

"I'm scared. I don't want to."

"Its okay I'll jump right after you."

"Can't we go together?"

"The openings to small, we have to hurry. Go Richie."

Richie jumped landing hard on his back. He couldn't breath as he looked up to see his mother vanish in a puff of smoke.

Richie had been screaming when he had woken everyone up.

Eddie didn't know what he should do. Would it be dangerous to wake him up?

Bill and Stan came into the room calmly, and Bill gently put his arm on Richie's shoulder and started rocking his body back and forth gently. The way one might rock a baby in there arms to get it to stop crying.

"Shhh. It's okay Richie." Stan whispered as he stood next to Bill.

"What's going on?" Eddie whispered.

"Night terrors." Bill replied.

"They started after his parents. . ." Stan trailed off.

"So we just, try and calm him down?"

"Yeah. He should wake up in a second. Once he realizes where he really is." Bill explained.

As if on cue Richie groaned awake.

"Richie are you okay?" Eddie was afraid to touch him, he was afraid to startle the boy.

That's what he was in this moment, just a scared boy.

"Yeah I'm fine. What's going on?"

"You were having a nightmare Rich." Stan said running his fingers gently through his brothers hair.

"Oh. Yeah. It was the anniversary yesterday, I should have seen it coming I guess."

"Oh my God, I forgot Richie. I'm so sorry I should've been there for you yesterday." Bill felt terrible.

"No, it's okay Billy boy. I'm fine, really."

"No it's not okay, that's our thing. We get sad about our families and cry together.  I'm really sorry Rich." Richie could hear Bill start to cry.

Bill leaned down and kissed Richie's forehead.

Eddie didn't get jealous or upset at this act of affection, they were close. Stan and Richie were brothers and best friends, but Bill and Richie were almost like two lost souls who had found one  another when they had needed each other most.

Eddie couldn't be jealous of a friendship so pure and so full of kindness and love.

"Bill, really, I'm okay." Richie smiled up at him, "I'm okay Billy."

"Come on Bill. Let's let Richie get some sleep. Let's go make you some tea okay?"

Bill wiped his eyes and nodded leaving Eddie and Richie to talk about what had just happened.

"What was your nightmare about?"

"I don't remember."

"Its okay if you don't want to tell me. You don't have to."

"No I'm telling the truth, I can't remember when I wake up."

"Oh. I'm sorry, that must suck. To not remember what your afraid of or why your afraid."

"Waking up is the hardest part. I know I'm dreaming, but I can't get out. Theres nowhere to run or hide, I just have to hope someone's there to wake me."

"Your lucky you have Bill and Stan here for you."

"Yeah, but they won't always be here for me. We almost didn't all live together. I was just gonna stay in the dorms, but Bill told me that it would be so fun if we all lived together, and we could all split the rent. I know it's so they can keep an eye on me though. Bill apparently still worries about me."

"They care about you."

"They're afraid to let me be by myself. They care too much. I want to be able to  be on my own someday, without feeling like I need a babysitter. One day, Stan and Bill are going to finally realize they don't want to just be boyfriends anymore, and they won't want to live in an apartment anymore. They'll want to buy a house with a lawn and a white picket fence. Stanley will be an accountant, and Bill will have his own office that he can write his stories in. And they'll have an extra room in the house, but it won't be for me. It'll be for the daughter they have. They're not going to want to wake up in the middle of the night to wake me from my nightmares, they'll be too busy changing diapers and arguing over what color to paint the living room. They aren't going to need me to be a third wheel anymore."

"Well, whenever Bill and Stan move forward, get married, have kids, you will too. You'll be able to be on your own, if that's what you want, or who knows, maybe you and I will have a place of our own. And I can be the one to wake you up."

"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot Ed's."

Eddie leaned into Richie, and kissed him.

And it was a damn good kiss too.

A/N: Ayyyyy two updates in one day?!?!?!? Crazy. This one somehow was easier to write than my last chapter. Some crazy shit is going to be going down in the future but I am hoping for some sexy time in this story soon. Nothing too gross or graphic, but a little bit of romance and love.

Personal note:

Also I am considering giving star wars a second chance. I have always hated star wars because my dad loved star wars and he was an actual horrible human who was mean and awful to me, and he made me watch star wars. But yeah I might try watching it again and seeing if I like it now that I'm older. It's just difficult to associate star wars with pleasant memories.

But hey, I'll give it a go. I used to always lie to people I dated and say I loved star wars. I dont wanna do that anymore so I'll actually watch it and let people know how I feel about it in honesty