𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡.

𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐞 & 𝐫

R

    Richie laughed at his joke about Eddie fantasizing about him. He shook his head a bit at his own joke, smiling and looking down - No one thought Richie Tozier was funnier than Richie Tozier did.

    He looked back up at Eddie, who was smiling to himself as well, with the lovely, delicate half-smiles he would give. Even in all of Richie's glorious decadence and self-indulgent, selfish acts, he could not truly understand how someone could not see Eddie as perfect as he saw him. Of course, Eddie's tongue was sharp and he could somehow come off as cruel or even callous, but Richie couldn't imagine him truly meaning to hurt Richie's feelings, or anyone's feelings for that matter.

    Richie would like to think he knew Eddie as well as he did before the accident. As well as he did when they spent nearly every waking moment together (of course, with the exception that his mother didn't know). He thought he knew almost everything about the boy, even down to his favourite colored fanny pack. There was just an unsettling gap - five years. Five years may not seem very long. It's not the number that makes it seem long, though. It's the time in between. So much could happen in five years. Love. Stories. Friendships. Deaths. It was the gap in between when they reunited that irked Richie. Eddie could be hiding so many things from Richie, and Richie may not even know. However, Richie couldn't hold him to that - he was hiding many things as well, likely more secrets and sick actions that Eddie could ever be capable of being responsible for.

    Richie felt Eddie's tender fingers graze the palm of his hand, sending what felt like an electric shock to his brain. His eyes quickly darted up to the boy, laughing a bit, only out of nervousness. "Yeah?" He said, still softly laughing through the statement. He didn't understand why particularly in this moment he was feeling so nervous around Eddie. He started into the boys kind yet intense cinnamon colored eyes, which seemed to match almost perfectly what he smelt like. His aroma had a luxurious vanilla, and a light dash of cinnamon, a recipe smelling nearly intoxicatingly pleasant to Richie. He'd never met anyone that just exuded beauty as much as Eddie did.

    "I love your laugh." Eddie said to Richie, catching him off guard. "I... Thank you?" He replied, with an inflection of questioning coming through his tone.

E

"I don't know. Can you just talk? About anything? What's on your mind??" Eddie said, sounding slightly defeated. He tried to be subtle at first, but his longing desire to just talk to Richie was now taking over the wheel, in the driver's seat. He wanted to be let in to share just a fraction of Richie's mind. He wanted so badly to just know what he was always thinking about. "I just want to hear your voice." He said, quieter this time, realising that what he was sighing probably wasn't making too much sense. Richie's eyes looked into Eddie's, seeming to be rid of whatever was previously preoccupying their vision. Eddie didn't want Richie's ravishing eyes to be looking at anyone else other than himself. They were like his life line, or a rope tying him to shore so he wouldn't float off into the sea. As long as he had them, everything was okay.

"Okay," Richie said, his eyes awkwardly looking around the room. "How did you feel when you saw me again?" Eddie smiled a little, remembering the emotions that flooded his psyche when he saw Richie in that dimly lit alley, looking as if he wanted to jump out of his skin. "Scared." Eddie replied, trying not to spend ages just trying to decipher the exact feelings he felt.

R

    "Scared?" Richie said. He didn't know what he was expecting, maybe 'hurt' or 'shocked' or something along those lines. But "scared" was certainly not the word he was expecting. His bit his lip a bit, trying to hold back from saying what was going on in his mind currently. "How did you feel?" Eddie asked in turn. Richie's smile faded a little, realising how absolutely mortified he was. In the moment he wanted nothing more than to just disappear from thin air. Disappear from all of reality. He remembered almost everything about that day, how loud Eddie's footsteps were and how they echoed through his brain, seeming to block out all of the busy noise pollution that was there from people going about their lives. He felt guilty. Hurt. All of the things he thought about at night or when he had a bad high came to the surface, rendering him to feel helpless and like he would simply shatter into a million shard of dark, broken glass at any second.

    Then, he remembered how he felt when Eddie kissed him back in his apartment. How good it felt. How it felt like he'd been holding his breath for so long, finally letting go and inhaling the mouthwateringly sweet air, and how the smell of cigarettes in his apartment was completely gone in that moment. How Eddie's lips tasted and felt - smooth and velveteen, but almost sticky like candy, keeping Richie drawn in, unable to pull away. How as he caressed the boy's cheek, it was almost like touching guitar strings, hearing the metal vibrate ever so softly but causing beautiful euphonies to come from it. His hand felt every detail of how the boy's face was crafted with such fragility and delicacy in that moment. The world felt like it was swaying. Then as the moment broke, he realized how he was truly left to his own devices.

    "Rich?" Eddie said, making Richie look back at him. He tried to force himself to say how he truly felt, but he didn't want to make Eddie feel bad about anything he did, or rather didn't do. "Uh," He began, searching for something to say as the smile faded back onto his face. "I don't know. I guess I was just questioning why you chose those god-awful pants you were wearing." He said with a smile. Eddie looked very offended, which made Richie smile even more. He was glad that he could preserve Eddie's happiness. At least for a little while.

"What? They were just black jeans."

"They weren't just black jeans. They were black flared jeans."

"Okay, and what? Flared is very in right now."

"No, Kaspbrak, they aren't. And haven't been. Since like, the sixties."

"You literally had on a hoodie in 70 degree weather in spring. I don't think I should be taking your fashion advice."

"Damn, Eds. I didn't think you could come up with a burn that hurt so much. And I was right, you can't. That was lame as hell."

Richie stopped for a second, thinking what he said was too mean. He saw Eddie laughing, and he felt at ease. The boy smiled, and it wasn't a half smile - it was a full smile.