- 𝗋𝗎𝗂𝗇𝗌 -

28

Fumbling with the zipper of his backpack, Eddie sighed for the fifth time and glanced around the almost empty park. Beverly said that she and the rest of the losers club were coming here at 7. Now, it was already 7.05 PM and there was still not a Beverly in sight.

Maybe she tricked him and didn't want to be his friend anymore. Maybe he didn't get the memo earlier that this was all just a test to see how pathetic he was. Maybe the losers club were going to ridicule him for liking boys. The nasty bitter thoughts wormed their way into his head and stayed as he constantly fidgeted.

He checked his watch. 7.10. None of them were coming. Nobody was.

And just like in the beginning, he was left alone and surrounded by nothing but his own loneliness.

Tired and depressed, Eddie rose and slipped out his phone, getting ready to call his mom to tell her that he would be late for dinner, when a quiet voice spoke from behind him.

"Eddie?"

He halted.

Tears flooded his eyes and blurred his vision. Streaks ran down his cheeks but Eddie couldn't help it. Richie was here. Richie was here with him. He looked exactly the same, with his crooked round glasses and his beautiful brown eyes. His hair was as unruly as ever and his lips were still a tantalising pink.

And this beautiful boy, the boy that had kept him up at night and occupied every single thought of his, was here. Eddie had never seen a sight more beautiful than seeing the boy he loved for the first time in weeks.

"Richie." Eddie gasped, his lips mouthing the name like a old friend. "Richie." he sobbed, his legs flying towards Richie and his arms raised to hug the living shit out of the curly-haired boy. Richie caught the smaller boy and hugged him impossibly close, not an inch or centimetre of space left between them. "I missed you so fucking much." Eddie sobbed louder, his sobs muffled slightly by the cotton being pressed into his face, the smell of Richie flooding his nostrils and keeping him safe.

"I missed you too, Eddie Spaghetti." Richie choked back all the sobs and gushy things he wanted to say and just held the boy that he missed in his arms. Eddie had never felt so damm small, and he loved how warm he was.

Finally pulling apart, Eddie smiled giddily at Richie. His hazel eyes sweeping a greedy look over Richie to see how much he had changed. If he had changed when he was away. But Richie didn't and never had. This boy was the same boy that had broken his heart and then left him for days on end drowning in his own tears and suffocating in his misery.

He. Had. Left. Him.

Tears were in Eddies eyes again, but not happy tears this time. Angry and hurt, the brunette reached out a hand to slap Richie across the face. Hard.

The surprise and hurt in Richies face only spurred Eddie on further as he continued landing hits on Richie, any part of him, he hit with all his strength. "You!" Eddie shrieked, his eyes burning like hot coals. "You left me! For weeks! Not a call or a text and i missed you so much! I waited for some sign that you were ready to explain and that you were ready to talk, but i got nothing! Nothing from you at all, Richie fucking Tozier!" Eddie raged and screamed, thanking god that the park was completely empty and that his screams wouldn't cause stares from the public.

Grabbing Eddies tiny fists, Richie tried to coo at Eddie to calm down. "Eddie...Eds please...i'll explain right now, if you want. Just please let me talk and i'll promise to tell you the whole truth." The taller boy pleaded.

Eddie glared meanly at Richie before pulling his fists away from him and folding his arms instead. "Good. You are going to explain when we go to your house." Eddie said firmly, grabbing his phone from his pocket and sending his mom a text. Richie stood, baffled. "I'm sorry- what?!"

"Yes. You and me, at your place, and you will tell me everything from there." Eddie repeated, talking and typing quickly at the same time, his thumbs flying across the screen like the flash. "B-But why my place?!" Richie cried out, his eyes wide in shock and surprise.

"Because you've been to my place and i've never been to your room or your house. It's not fair. So that's why today, i'm going to your house to eat dinner and so that you can do your talking and explaining."

Resolve hardened and mind made up, the brunette tucked his phone back into his pocket before grabbing Richies warm hand and dragging him to the entrance of the park. "Come on, Richie. Bring me to your house so i can see who birthed your clueless ass." Eddie mumbled, but Richie heard.

"I am not clueless!"

"HA! BIG HA!"

"REALLY!"

" Yeah sure! and i'm a fucking angel from the heavens!"

"Well you're certainly better than any damm angel", Richie mumbled, smiling as Eddie looked towards the horizon, the setting sun lighting the boy he loved up and making him truly, in that moment, look like a fallen angel.

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