Work Text:
Richie, according to Eddie's mother, is not the sort of person he should be associating with. In fact, were it up to his mother, he's pretty sure the only people he'd be allowed around would be her, his doctor, and potential future brides. His boyfriend would be far, far at the bottom of the list of acceptable companions–not that he's told her they're dating. Just the idea of doing that sends a chill through him.
As it is, the increased time he's been spending with Richie in public for the last few months has set his mother on edge. It'd be one thing if that only meant listening to her complain about it. Unfortunately, it means listening to her complain and his bodyguards being told to pay extra close attention to him. The only place he gets any real privacy anymore is in his own room.
It's for this reason that he and Richie have been dating for four months and have never actually gone on a date. But that is going to change tonight. All of the pieces are in play.
His daytime bodyguard would switch off at midnight, leaving Mike's grandfather to take the night shift outside his door. Only Mike had convinced his grandfather to let him take the shift instead. There was, of course, the problem of the bodyguard that stood outside his mother's room, but he was assured Bev would have it covered.
There's a knock on his door and he pulls it open immediately. Mike gives him a small smile. "Good luck. Have fun."
Eddie nods, pulling the hood up on the sweatshirt Richie had left with him. He grips the giftbox in his hand and makes his way down the hall as quickly and quietly as possible. When he comes to the intersection for the next hall, he peeks his head around the corner and spots Bev with a basket beside her on the floor, fruit scattered around her like she'd dropped it. She's putting a hand on the guard's forearm when she spots him and he gives her a thumbs up as he makes a break the opposite way.
He gets all the way to the staircase without an incident before the pocket of the sweatshirt snags on a wall decoration. There's a small tearing sound and he stumbles, smacking the wall in his attempt to steady himself. A very audible smack.
While he's debating whether or not he wants to run for it, he hears Bev say, loud enough for him to hear, "Around the corner."
Eddie stays ducked in the shadows as footsteps approach and then turn the other way. He heaves a relieved breath and continues, weaving in and out of hallways and rooms, using the least-walked path until he makes it out into the gardens. He's just made it out when Bev texts him a thumbs up, then, Mike covered, no alarms tonight!
He sends back a quick thank you and looks around the east entrance of the gardens, searching for Richie. There's no sign of him, and after five minutes of waiting, Eddie huffs and sits down on one of the benches.
Leave it to his dumbass boyfriend to be late to a date he was planning. Eddie was out here messing up his circadian rhythm and for what? To waste away by the dim post lights by himself? He skipped dinner for this.
Another handful of minutes go by and Eddie digs his phone out again. He dials Richie's number and it rings until it goes to voicemail. A stab of worry makes itself known and he shoves it down. Richie is fine. Richie is okay. He's just a little late.
Eddie's foot jiggles as he waits, staring down as the minutes tick by. He calls twice more, getting sent to voicemail each time. It's half past midnight when he finally has enough waiting, almost certain that something bad must have happened.
He gets no further than a step away from the bench when there's the unmistakable sound of running behind him. Even though logic tells him it's probably Richie, he still jumps when a figure rounds the corner of a hedge and barrels into him.
"Oh my god, Eds, you're still here, thank god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't standing you up, I promise."
Eddie shakes away the daze and tries to parse out the slurry of words Richie has thrown at him while squishing him in an overly-tight hug and panting overtop of his head. "Where were you?"
Richie pulls back enough to look him in the face, curls wet and clinging to his skin. "Uh."
"Why is your hair wet? And why is your shirt half tucked into your pants? And are you wearing two different shoes?"
"Am I?" he asks, not sounding at all convincing. "I hadn't noticed."
Eddie crosses his arms and pulls out his best not here for it look. "That's bullshit. What the hell, Richie, I was worried. I thought you like– got kidnapped or something."
His cheek is promptly pinched as Richie coos at him. "You were worried about little ol' me? That's so cute. Kidnapped? You're the prince, Eds, not me."
He pulls his face away and feels a petulant frown forming on his lips against his will. "You're right. Nobody could bear to kidnap you. As soon as you opened your mouth, they would be begging you to get out of their van."
"Yeah, well, that goes twice for you. Have you ever heard yourself when you get scared or anxious or, god, bored?"
Eddie sticks his tongue out, the age old habit he saves particularly for when his friends are being a specific brand of annoying but truthful. He is a grown adult now and he can stick his tongue out at his annoying boyfriend if he wants to.
"You're so damn cute," Richie says, pulling him into a kiss, which Eddie doesn't resist because he's only human. It would take a lot more than a thirty minute wait for him to reject such an opportunity. It is an unfortunate trait that he came to terms with when he let Richie kiss him senseless in the dirt after their roughhousing landed them on the ground.
"Don't think I forgot that you haven't answered me," he says, accepting the kisses being peppered to his cheeks now with a great deal of dignity.
"I'll…explain when we get there. I need you to keep your eyes closed though; the blindfold is at the dry cleaner's."
"You would make a horrible kidnapper."
"As long as I get you to the secondary location," Richie says suggestively, pulling Eddie into his chest again. The corner of the gift jabs him in retaliation. "Ouch. What is that?"
Eddie's fingers twitch against the ribbon on the box and he fights back a prickling of embarrassment. He doesn't really have any experience with dating, pulling all of his knowledge from romantic comedies and Beverly. It isn't weird to bring a gift to a date, is it? "It's for you. But not right now."
"Oh. Okay," Richie says, letting it go much easier than Eddie expected he would. He's got that goofy look on again though, the one that Stan refers to as his Eddie face.
Eddie takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, finally uncrossing his arms. "You better not run me into anything."
Richie slips away, but grabs his hand and twines their fingers. "I can't make any promises."
If Eddie's eyes were open, he'd roll them, but he settles for a huff instead as he's pulled forward gently.
It's a testament to how much he trusts Richie that he doesn't peek at all as he's lead through the winding paths. He isn't sure why Richie had been so adamant on being the one to plan the date if they were just going to stay on palace grounds, but who is Eddie to judge a date? It's not like he's ever been on one. God, what if he ruins it because he misses some date-specific cue?
By the time Richie stops, Eddie can feel the sweat slicking their palms and he's only marginally sure it's not just from him. A moment passes in silence and Eddie squeezes his hand. "Can I open them?"
"Yeah," Richie says, voice much smaller than it had been ten minutes ago.
Eddie opens his eyes slowly and swiftly sucks in a breath as they adjust. They're in the gardens but…no place Eddie has seen. It dawns on him that this must be the new expansion, the one Richie told him wouldn't be finished for at least another week.
It's gorgeous.
They're standing in the center of a white gazebo, lights winding down the wooden pillars and around the pond it overlooks. More shine beneath the water, illuminating the fish just enough to see their shadows swirling under the surface. To the right, the pond breaks off into a small-scale river that flows underneath the bridge, curls around them, and disappears into a rock structure. The water is channeled back out at the top, creating a little waterfall that flows down and sways the lily pads.
Surrounding everything is, of course, flowers of all kinds, pops of color against all of the green. Eddie feels breathless, like all of the air is stopped up in his throat. He forces it out in one gust. "Wow."
"You like it?"
Eddie drags his gaze away from the beautiful scenery to give Richie a baffled look. "Of course I do. You helped, right?"
"Actually, uh, I kind of name dropped you? Ew, sorry, my palms are so sweaty." He pulls his hand away and wipes it on his pants and Eddie does the same. "I said that you had…suggestions for the expansion."
Eddie mulls over the information. "You mean you pretended that I wanted something," he says slowly, "so that you could get it?"
He winces. "Yes?"
Putting a hand on his shoulder, Eddie pulls himself up on tiptoes and places a chaste kiss to his lips. "Smart."
"Oh." Richie's faces splits into a smile and grabs Eddie's hip to spin him around. "Shall we?"
On the floor of the gazebo are two pillows and a picnic basket on top of a blanket. He smiles and kicks off his shoes before stepping on it and sitting down, which earns a roll of Richie's eyes before he does the same.
"I didn't make any of this," Richie says as they begin to pull the containers from the basket. "I thought food poisoning was not a very sexy first date idea."
"Oh yeah, because we just scream sexy right now, with your two different shoes and my ripped hoodie."
"You mean my ripped hoodie. Wait, ripped? That's my favorite one!"
Eddie hunches his shoulders up to give the illusion of burying himself further into the oversized item of clothing. "Well, I claimed it. And it's just the pocket. It can be resewn. Probably."
"You're lucky I love you so much," Richie says on a sigh.
He knew that already, but he blushes anyway, hiding his smile in the collar of the hoodie as he starts putting food on his plate. "Are you ever going to tell me why you showed up late looking like that?"
"Oh, well, I sort of…"
"Sort of?"
"Fell…"
Eddie spears a piece of fruit, pops it into his mouth, and talks around it. "Fell?"
"...Into the pond."
The bark of laughter comes on so suddenly that he almost inhales his watermelon. "You what? "
"You heard me." Richie shoves a bite of food in his mouth and scowls as Eddie laughs some more. He shakes his head defiantly, sending droplets of water flying.
Eddie turns away, shielding his plate, throwing out colorful curses in between the snickering.
They slip into an easy back-and-forth as they eat, which eventually tapers off into something more muted. The scene around them seems to demand their quiet, its only accompanying sound the trickling of the waterfall.
"What's the best dream you've ever had?" Richie asks, voice little more than a murmur. He's begun plucking the little flowers creeping through the balusters and putting them in Eddie's hair. He clearly isn't checking them for bugs first, but Eddie's decided to hold his complaints. It is kind of sweet.
"What's yours?"
There's a brief pause and then, "Well, it started with me, your mom, and whole bottle o–"
"Shut up , Richie!" Eddie bats his hand away with a scowl. So much for being sweet.
Richie, for once in his life, looks like he's actually regretting the joke. "I don't know why I said that. I think I panicked."
"You panicked? Over what?"
He shrugs and averts his eyes, fingers returning to the tiny flowers. "I dunno. Just…"
Eddie waits all of two seconds before trying to catch his eyes again. "Just?"
"I didn't want to weird you out or anything."
"Weird me out?" Eddie repeats, starting to feel like a broken record.
"Well, the best dream I had…was about you. We were older. We had our own place and a dog. It wasn't anything crazy…" Richie glances up to gauge his reaction, but he's not even sure what face he's making.
He loves Richie Tozier. He knew that already, but the thought is suddenly hitting him like two tons of bricks. He really fucking loves Richie Tozier. He loves his quirks and dumb jokes and glasses that make his eyes look too big for his face. He loves that underneath everything, Richie has the biggest heart in the world.
"I totally freaked you out talking about the future, didn't I? Fuck."
"No, I–" Eddie moves to resituate himself and brings his hand down on the giftbox, forgotten by his side. He can't give it to Richie now. It'd be so pathetic in comparison to what Richie's done. He forces himself to finish his sentence. "I'm not freaked out, Rich. Really."
They stare at each other for a drawn out moment before Richie asks, softly, "Can I kiss you?"
It's a ridiculous request. They've been dating for months. They kiss all the time. Richie Tozier basically has co-ownership over Eddie Kaspbrak's mouth at this point. But Eddie doesn't say any of that. He just nods, heart catching on every few beats, like it's not sure how to work anymore.
They meet in the middle, eyes closed before they get there, and their noses bump so hard that it makes them both wince. Eddie peeks a single eye open to see Richie fly in like Eddie might disappear if he doesn't get there in time. Their noses are, thankfully, safe the second time around, but the velocity of Richie's kiss sort of makes the experience equatable to a collision.
He pulls back with wide eyes, face twisted up in horror. "Oh my god, I can't even fucking kiss you, I'm useless."
A laugh bubbles up from Eddie's chest and he grabs Richie's face with his hands. "This is dumb. What are we so nervous for?"
"I just wanted everything to be perfect and I keep messing it up."
"Do you think I'd be dating you if I wanted perfect?"
"Wow, Eds, way to a kick a man when he's down."
Eddie smooshes his cheeks together to dissuade him from talking, which makes him grin because now he looks ridiculous. "I like that you aren't perfect. I like that you laugh at your own jokes and always have flower petals in your pocket and can't tell the difference between the salad fork and dinner fork. I like that you fell into a pond trying to plan our date, because it's you , Richie, and I wouldn't change that for anything."
Richie sniffs and says, "I wouldn't change you for anything either." Or that's what Eddie thinks he says, anyway, because it's a little distorted from the face squishing and he yawns at the end of it.
"We should probably turn in," Eddie says, hands dropping from his cheeks. "It's probably like three in the morning by now."
"Does that mean I get to open the gift now?" He leans over to grab it, but Eddie slaps a hand over the box and pulls it out of reach.
"I changed my mind."
"What? You can't change your mind now."
"I think I just did, so ha. It's stupid anyway."
Richie sits back again, bottom lip jutting out in a pucker. "It's coming from you; that's literally impossible."
Eddie sighs and stares down at it. It seems so small of a gesture now. "Fine, but don't– Don't get your hopes up, okay? It's not anything spectacular."
Richie holds his hands out immediately, face lit up with anticipation. "Lay it on me."
Reluctantly, Eddie hands it over to him. The box is a unassuming dark blue with a white bow, which he unties and lets fall into his lap. As soon as he pulls off the lid, Eddie buries his face in his hands, not wanting to see the disappointment.
The gift came in two parts. The first was a single rose, the same kind he'd first gotten from Richie. The second is a necklace in the shape of a sunflower, which opens to reveal a simple, silver pendant with R + E engraved on it.
The silence stretches on until Eddie can't take it anymore. "I know it's lame."
"I love it."
He peeks through his fingers as Richie sets the box down to slip the necklace on. "Really?"
The excited smile is gone now, replaced with something much softer that makes his stomach flip. Richie grabs his hands and pulls them down, but doesn't let go. Instead, he tugs Eddie forward gently and presses a kiss to his forehead. There's something so tender about the action that he practically melts into it. "Really."
He breathes a sigh of relief and lets Richie rest their foreheads together. For a moment, no world exists outside of them, outside of this corner of the gardens and their clasped hands. For a moment, things are perfect after all.