Kisses | Reddie

forty ☆ breathe

by: niiiiix on ao3

~~~~~

'I'm in love,' he thinks, looking at the curve of his nose leading into his cherry-ripe lips, into what is, in Eddie's opinion, a killer combination of a jawline and an Adam's apple.

There's no hope for me, he realizes, listening to his laugh. Feeling it in his chest, in his heart. None at all. Eddie fell for Richie. Not all at once. Eddie liked to pick him apart and find new reasons to love him.

Like his shirts. The Hawaiian ones he always lets me take. He glances down at Richie's chest, which was rising and falling slower and slower as he calmed down. Unfortunately, Richie was wearing his plain old Freese's shirt (Not that Eddie was complaining too much - Richie has grown the past couple of years, and Eddie adores the way the shirt now falls over his shoulders).

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Richie asked. Eddie got caught in the magnified pools of brown sugar and honey before he could make a response.

"Like what?"

"Like..."

'Like all the stars are in your eyes?'
'Like all the force of the ocean is in your laugh?'
'Like I'm looking at something beautiful and disastrous at the same time?'

"Like I stole something from a department store."

"Like what? How do you know what that looks like?"

Richie shrugged with a mischievous grin. "How do you think you got your step-stool?"

Eddie smiled and shook his head. "Yeah right."

"..."

"Richie..."

"..."

"You didn't..."

"Well-"

"Oh my god, you totally did, what the fu-"

"IN MY DEFENSE." Richie grabbed Eddie's bicep and threw his other hand against his mouth. "In my defense," he tried again. Eddie flushed pink. "I was at least nice."

Eddie swatted his hand off of his mouth. "Wha- Richie! That doesn't matter!"

"Sure it does." He must have only just realized he was still holding his arm, because he suddenly dropped his hand like it was dead weight, although it was anything but. Nerve endings firing like gunshots on his palm made him want to hold and hold and hold.

'All at once,' Richie realizes. 'I've fallen all at once.' His feet used to be firmly planted, now they're flying off the board, bracing for impact.

He zones out in the middle of their conversation, his eyes unfocused and looking right through Eddie.

"Hello? Trashmouth? Richieeee. Trashieee. Hello?" After a second of waving his hand in front of his face, he starts to panic. "Crap! Hey, you in there? Are you having a seizure on me? Do you have any pens in here you can bite down on? Or are you-"

"I'm fine, Eds," Richie said suddenly.

"Then first of all, why the hell would you put me through that? And second of all, why is your face so red?"

"Because I think I just realized I'm in love with you." Richie realizes what he's said, too late, as always.

"You... what?"

His face burns and his heart's in his throat. "Yeah... yeah. I-I think I love you, Eds."

Eddie's ears went bright pink. "How do you know?" he whispered, as if speaking too loud would shatter the bubble that seemed to have formed around them.

"I just-" 'Here's where I regret not having my jaw wired shut.' "I saw it. All at once right now. When I grabbed your arm, and every time we've... we've held hands jumping down the quarry, or whenever you put bandaids on my knees and my arms, I get these..." His throat went dry. His hands pushed his glasses up and then started pulling on hangnails. He wasn't aware when his thumb started bleeding. "... These almost fireworks under my skin. And they send shivers down my back and heat up my face when you touch me back.

Eddie stayed silent. He didn't move a muscle.

"O-Or when you tell me that your favorite color is yellow, and I see you use the rest of your yellow bandaids on we a week later. And when your hair is just half damp, and it does that wave thing. And when your freckles tell the story of the world's prettiest boy and his thousands of concerns. Or when you paint your nails, and you do everything so gently so as not to ruin it. Or when you think you're dying in the 7/11 bathroom, afraid to use your inhaler because of the bacteria in the air in that bathroom. I'll be your air, Eds. If you let me, I'll make sure you can breathe.

That was one hell of a promise from Richie, considering he has forgotten how to breathe.
Richie looks up one single tear slides down his cheek.

'I've broken him. I've ruined us. I need to learn to shut my damn mouth once in a while.'

Eddie's hand slides up along his neck, his thumb tracing the shadow of his Adam's apple. He works his way up to his cheek, where he stays. Richie lets himself enjoy the last little firecrackers he can get.

"Rich..."

His eyes almost refuse to look at Eddie's, staying down. But he wants to see him just one more time before they're broken. So he looks up and he thinks he could never break away. "Yeah?" His voice squeaks out halfway through the word, tears strangling him.

"If you're my air, then get in my mouth already."

"Wh-"

Eddie pulls him forward by the base of his neck, connecting the two boys.

At first, Richie couldn't believe it. Eddie was so- so daring.
But his lips were so soft.
And he smelled so sweet.
So he pulled his hand up so his thumb could trace new patterns on the boy's cheek.

The fireworks boomed, Richie feeling the finale on his neck when Eddie moved down past his jaw. He laid back, Eddie's torso between his knees and their heart rates all over the place.

He felt so warm. He didn't know he had such sensitive nerves on his neck - how did he not faint every time he wore a turtleneck ? - but they were there and they were new, and so was Eddie.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. Richie's hands worked their way onto his hips, his thumbs and pointers sliding underneath his shirt.

Eddie's probably giving me a hickey, isn't he? Can he-

Richie laughed at the irony. Eddie, of course, grew immediately self conscious.

"What? Did I move too fast?"

Richie shook his head.

"Then what?" Eddie huffed, struggling to catch his breath.

"No, not at all. It's just... Can you breathe?"