(AN, sorry for the super long chapter!)
Richie stared at his chipped black nail polish as he rode down the street he had rode down so many different times.
Whether he was riding to Eddie's house to ride to school with him, or Eddie had called Richie in tears and Richie was on his way at 2 am to cuddle Eddie back to sleep. Richie realised how much of a softie he was when it comes to Eddie and he shook his head.
Richie squinted through his glasses and tried to make out whether Sonia was home or not- it was hard to see since his glasses were littered with rain drops. It was positively chucking it down, Richie was hoping Eddie got safe dry and ok.
Richie slowed down and parked his bike outside the Kaspbrak residence and took his glasses off. He could see now Sonia's car wasn't there, signalling she was at work. He stayed seated on his bike as he put his slightly cleaner glasses on his face, before his attention was caught to the back garden.
There Eddie was, absolutely soaked through and was struggling to gather clothes from the fairly tall washing line. Richie could see the sadness and frustration on Eddie's face as the small boy jumped up to try and reach the clothes.
Richie felt himself stare at Eddie, he watched him struggle for a few more seconds until he yelled,
"Eddie!"
Eddie immediately turned to Richie and relaxed his shoulders. Richie jumped off his bike and ran towards Eddie as fast as he could and steered the smaller boy back into his house.
Richie blinked a few times and stared around him in disbelief. Eddie's pills were all over the floor, along with a chair and a few pillows, and little shards of glass was scattered across the ground. Richie swallowed and looked down at Eddie who was looking at the mess with a blank expression.
"Rich I gotta get the clothes in," Eddie said weakly. He tried to get away from Richie's grasp, but for some reason Richie didn't feel like he wanted too. "They're going to get wet."
Richie let go of Eddie's shoulders and said, "Make yourself something warm to drink, get some blankets- I'll get the clothes, okay, pipsqueak?"
Eddie sighed and began to speak but Richie shushed him. Eddie sighed once more and headed to the living room.
Once again Richie exited the house in the pouring rain and easily collected the wet clothes and put them into a little basket. This only took about
30 seconds because Richie is, (as what Stan calls him) a beanstalk.
Richie quickly picked up the basket and hurried into the house again, closing the door and putting down the basket. He rolled his head backwards and closed his eyes and rubbed them under his glasses.
Richie ran his hand through his very wet hair and turned to Eddie, who was curled up in a little ball on the sofa.
It was like the world was grey, and Richie didn't know whether it was just the rainy weather or seeing Eddie so upset.
Richie watched Eddie sigh deeply and snuggle deeper into his blanket.
"Eds," Richie said, taking off his shoes. Eddie looked up and his doe-like eyes twinkled in the light. Richie was sure a blush creeped up on Eddie's face in that moment, but brushed it off and approached him. "What happened?"
Richie sat down onto the sofa but not too close to Eddie, he realised Eddie was taking some deep breaths and probably wanted space. Eddie sighed again, but this time it was shaky, like he was almost about to cry and Richie's heart broke into little pieces.
Eddie looked at the ground and sat forward, the pink blanket falling off his little shoulders, and Richie noticed a little trail of bruises going up Eddie's little wrists. Richie felt suddenly angry. It was Sonia. Of course it was.
