𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡.

𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭 | 𝐞 & 𝐫

author's note: ( small tw )

E

Eddie woke up to incandescent rays of golden sunlight shining upon his face. He opened his eyes, squinting, to find himself looking straight out of the large window in the cabin and into the eye of the sun. God, that's bright. The cherry cough syrup smell still lingered, but was now combined with an autumnal smell of pumpkin spice. The combination was sickeningly sweet in the worst way possible. Eddie felt himself trying not to gag as a reaction to the pungent odor. He sat up in his bed, not remembering much about last night. All he knew was that he was still concerned about Richie, as he was behaving even more unusually than before. Eddie felt irritated that he was still not seeing the true Richie, as every time within the past two days he interacted with him, the boy was on something.

He sighed, looked over to the door to exit the bedroom. It was open - Eddie never slept with his door open. He must have been exhausted before he went to sleep.

Eddie pulled back his blankets and got out the bed, feeling the soft carpeting beneath his feet. He cringed a bit at the amount of bacteria that could be on the floor. He was feeling particularly volatile today for some unknown reason. He reached into his bag and put on his white socks, still feeling uncomfortable. He walked out of the room, feeling the heat come through the overhead windows of the cabin. "Why is it so hot?" The boy muttered to himself, walking into the kitchen and opening the cabinets to see if any food was left for them. Expecting not to find anything, Eddie was pleasantly surprised to see a box of cereal in one of the mahogany cupboards.

As Eddie poured his milk and cereal, his glance directed over to Richie's bedroom door. Eddie was experiencing loneliness, reminded of his dark days back at his apartment. Shit. He hated how dependent he'd become on Richie these past two days - he constantly wanted to surround himself with Richie, even if they weren't talking. It made him feel weak. As much as he hated it, he knew what he had to do. He had to face the facts about his relationship with Richie, whatever it was. And he wanted to do it soon.

Eddie put the milk down after he finished pouring it, tip toeing over to Richie's room door on the creaky floorboards. He put his ear to the door, trying to hear any noises to signify if Richie was asleep. Eddie didn't hear anything, so he knocked on the door with three knocks.

R

Richie had been awake for a while - all night, actually. It was another sleepless night. Richie's insomnia had been getting the best of him for a while, especially since he'd reconnected with Eddie. He was hoping that this 'closure' he was getting from Eddie would ease his troubles and help him sleep better at night, but that wasn't the case. Now, Richie found himself awake at night, fixated on he and Eddie's relationship, and all of the things that Richie could do to impress Eddie or make him feel at least satisfied with Richie. The thoughts consumed him at night, so he'd lie wide awake.

This morning he was particularly tired, but couldn't seem to find enough peace to go to sleep. Feeling bored out of his mind, he decided to turn to something that he could always rely on - drugs. Specifically, stimulants. He was about to do some cocaine when he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

"Rich? Are you awake?" He heard, muffled through the door. "Fuck." Richie murmured under his breath, dusting the line of cocaine he'd made into the trash can. He instantly regretted doing so afterwards, realising he could have put it back into the bag, but he didn't want to disappoint Eddie even more by taking longer. After a second, he heard the voice again. "I'm coming in." It spoke. Shit. Richie quietly scrambled to get in the bed and appear half asleep as the door cracked open.