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It had been two days since he had broken his arm and his mom didn’t let him out of her sight once since. He missed it, he missed his friends. But he was so, so scared. He didn’t want to go back outside. Inside was safe, his mom was there. She would never let anything happen to him, as long as he wasn’t alone.. he’d be fine.. right?
Whenever he closed his eyes he would see.. IT.. that thing, that clown. Whatever it was, it haunted him. It came so close to biting his arm off, so close to ending him if the others hadn’t saved him. Ben had only gotten hurt because he listened to IT, he got distracted.. Bill and Richie were fighting, all because of him. It hurt, it hurt so bad. If his mom wouldn’t get even worse over it, he’d beg her to sleep next to him. She’d never let him do anything on his own again if she found out about the nightmares.
He hated being alone now, he just wished he had a normal mom and a normal life.
A sudden knock on his window startled him out of his thoughts, the fear immediately creeping up in him. The clown had come for him, he was sure of it. This was it.. He opened his mouth to yell for his mom when the window opened and Richie climbed through.
‘’R-Richie..?’’ Richie kicked his shoes off before jumping down on Eddie’s bed. ‘’Yo Eds, how’s your arm-’’ Eddie saw red, the urge to yell at him very strong. But he didn’t, because Richie didn’t deserve that. Richie didn’t mean to scare him, Richie had done it time and time before.. so why did it scare him now?
‘’You okay dude? Did I come at a bad time or..?’’
Eddie hesitantly reached out and touched Richie’s face, Richie seemed shocked but didn’t move and let Eddie inspect him. ‘’You’re really Richie.. right? Not playing tricks on me?’’ Richie grabbed a hold of his hands, his gaze softening as he realized what Eddie meant. ‘’It’s me in the flesh, Eds.’’
‘’Don’t call me that dickweed.’’ Eddie pulled his hand back, his hand immediately lacking Richie’s warm skin. Richie had always radiated this incredibly comforting warmth, not that he would ever admit that out loud.
‘’Well, now I know you’re definitely Eds.’’ Richie’s voice was soft, Eddie rarely got to see this side of him. ‘’I just came back from your mom so-’’ Eddie smacked his arm and Richie chuckled. Eddie shushed him, ‘’Be quiet, I don’t want her to know you’re here.’’
‘’What, you jealous spaghetti? Don’t want her to go for another round of this Tozier ass?’’ Richie laughed at the face Eddie pulled and threw his arm around him.
‘’You never answered my question, how’s your arm doing?’’ Richie looked at the cast, his hand reached out to touch his but he didn’t dare to incase he accidentally hurt Eddie.
‘’It sucks, can’t do much while it's hurting like a bitch. My mom’s been on my ass the whole day.’’ His mom had always been overprotective of him, but ever since he broke his arm it had only been worse. Eddie sighed, leaning onto Richie’s shoulder. Richie brought a sense of comfort, a comfort that he wouldn’t be hurt. Richie had always been there for him, Richie was the first one at his side when he broke his arm. Richie was the one who tried to break into his hospital room to visit Eddie, Richie was the one who kept messaging him and asking about how he had been. The other losers had also texted, but none of them had stayed up as late with him as Richie did. Richie was.. special.
‘’Don’t go falling asleep on me now. I know I’m very comfortable but you’ll get backpain sleeping like that.’’
Eddie opened his eyes, never having realized he closed them in the first place, and looked at Richie. Was it okay to ask? He didn’t want to cross Richie’s boundaries, he didn’t want to cross any lines he couldn’t take back. He didn’t want Richie to know about how terrible he had been feeling, but the thought of Richie leaving again soon made him shiver.
‘’Sorry. Actually.. okay, so don’t be a dickhead about this.. but can I ask you a favor?’’ Richie seemed surprised at the question ‘’Of course Spaghetti, what can I do for you on this fine evening?’’
Eddie rolled his eyes and shoved him with his good arm, the sound of Richie’s laughter warming his face. ‘’Wanna sleep over? I don’t have another mattress or anything and I know it’s totally gross to share a bed but sleeping on the floor is even more unsanitary and if you don’t want to that’s okay! I just-’’
‘’Dude!? A sleep over! Sounds dope!’’ Richie leaned back on the bed, pulling Eddie along with him. He was happy for the distraction because the thought of actually sleeping in the same bed as Eddie was sending him into a frenzy.
‘’Wait, but what about your mom? Not that I wouldn’t be happy going for another round later.. but if she catches me, we are so dead.’’ Eddie pushed Richie’s arm off of him and huffed, ‘’You’ll just have to get out of here before 8am, she never comes in early on summer break.’’ Richie smirked and saluted him, ‘’Aye aye captain.’’
‘’..Aren't you going to take your glasses off?’’ The question startled Richie and he quickly placed his glasses on Eddie’s nightstand. He had completely forgotten how to function. All he was thinking about was that he was going to sleep in the same bed with his totally platonic STRAIGHT best friend. Eddie frowned, confused at Richie’s strange behavior.
‘’Get under the blanket fatso.’’ And so Richie lay under the covers with Eddie, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.
‘’Did I make you uncomfortable?’’
‘’No-no way. It’s just.. I’m thinking about some stuff.’’ Richie turned to his side to face Eddie. Eddie could see Richie’s face a lot better so close up, especially since he was normally wearing those huge glasses. If Richie were a girl, he’d be really pretty..
‘’Charmed by my looks, Eddie Spaghetti?’’ Richie wiggled his eyebrows, a tight feeling in his chest. ‘’No, you idiot! Go to sleep!’’
‘’Jeez, what a fun sleepover this is.’’ Richie grumbles.
‘’Well, I’m NOT the one who snuck into someone’s room around midnight!’’
Richie grins, ‘’Yeah, sorry about that, forgot mommy tucks you into bed at 10- agh!’’ Eddie kicked against Richie’s shins, glaring at him. ‘’Don’t say that, you fucker!’’
‘’Poor Eds, can’t handle the fact that he’s a small baby.’’ Eddie glared at him, god he was so close. The furrow of his brows was really attractive. How he loved making this man angry.
‘’Okay, just because I’m like not even 5 centimeters shorter than you doesn’t mean I’m small!’’ Richie chuckles, ‘’More like 10 centimeters. When we’re all gray and rimply, I bet I’ll be so much taller than you that I could fit you on a barbecue.’’ Eddie just sighed and rolled his eyes, ‘’That’s just-you’re so weird Rich.’’
He wrapped his arms tightly around Eddie and said,‘’You loveeeee it!’’ You love me, he wanted to say. ‘’Get off of me, you dick!’’ Eddie pushed him off. Richie dramatically sobbed and put his hand to his chest, ‘’You’re just jealous of my swagger.’’ He wiggled his eyebrows at him.
‘’Yeah, as if anyone would actually be jealous of you.’’
He grinned and said, ‘’What can I say? Girls love me and guys wanna be me.’’ He shrugged. ‘’Just go sleep, it’s late and I have to wake up early tomorrow.’’ Eddie sighs.
‘’Fine fine, goodnight Eds.’’ Eddie closed his eyes and smiled, turning so that his back faced Richie. ‘’Goodnight Rich.’’
Richie had woken up an hour before the alarm they had set to make sure Sonia wouldn’t catch them. Apparently, in their sleep, they had started some weird tango dance because Eddie was practically straddling him without the sexy part. He had also found out that Eddie snores. It was a cute snore, but he’d be sure to tell Eddie later that he snored like a bear.
He couldn’t help but admire his friend, his bestfriend. He was really brave. He wondered if Eddie would’ve agreed with him in the argument with Bill. He bet he would, Eddie was scared shitless to go into the building in the first place. And now, he had broken his arm. All because Richie got distracted. He wouldn’t let it happen again, this time, he’d keep Eddie safe.
Richie felt a sense of pride when looking at Eddie, prideful of how strong he was. Strong enough to participate in a rock war with the Bowers gang, strong enough to face a child-eating clown that nearly turned him into a seesaw. He didn’t know where Eddie had suddenly gotten the balls from, but it made his heart flutter every time. Though, he was happy whenever Eddie got scared, it meant he wasn’t alone. Plus, it meant he could protect Eddie.
Richie could feel Eddie stir on top of him and quickly closed his eyes, desperately trying to look asleep.
‘’Mhm.. Richie?’’ Eddie wiped his eyes and noticed the position they were in, he quickly pushed himself up using Richie’s chest and scrambled to the other side of the bed. ‘’I know you’re awake, you asshole!’’ Eddie kicked Richie. Richie opened his eyes to a very flushed looking Eddie and smiled. ‘’G’morning sleeping beauty. Seems you fell for my looks anyways.’’ Eddie tried to hit Richie again with the pillow on his bed, but Richie was quickly able to dodge the upcoming attack.
‘’Shut up, it was probably your fault anyways that we slept like that!’’
‘’How is that my fault?! You’re grasping at bare straws now, Eddie-bear.’’ Richie stuck his tongue out, Eddie frowned at the nickname and muttered, ‘’Don’t call me that.’’
They sat in silence for a moment before Eddie grabbed Richie’s glasses and shoved them to his chest. ‘’Those were expensive you know! Be careful!’’ He petted his glasses and kissed the frame as if he was holding a treasure.
‘’Then clean your fucking glasses so you can actually look through them for once you shit-for-brains.’’ Richie huffed and handed his glasses to Eddie. Eddie wordlessly stood up and grabbed a napkin to clean Richie’s glasses.
Richie watched in fascination as Eddie carefully cleaned his glasses. Eddie had gotten a habit of taking his glasses of his nose, no matter where they were, just to clean them. Because according to Eddie, they were ‘’filthy and unsightly’’.
Richie didn’t mind, he loved the simplicity of it. The homey feeling. He wished Eddie could clean his glasses for him every day. For now, this was enough. He was happy.
‘’Why do you look so dopey?’’
‘’Cause you’re so cute cute cute!’’ Richie squeezed Eddie’s cheeks together to form a smile on his face, Eddie batted his hands away and rubbed his cheeks. ‘’Asswipe.’’
‘’Yours though.’’ Richie winked at him, laughing at Eddie’s disgusted expression. ‘’Ew, seriously never say that again. I don’t even need to think of that in my brain.’’
‘’You don’t even consider it!?’’
‘’You’re dirty as hell Richie, who knows if you even brush your hair each day.’’ Richie chuckled, ‘’Psshhh, I totally do.’’ Eddie deadpanned and shook his head. ‘’But hey, at least I’m clean enough to sleep in your bed.’’
‘’Just this once!’’
‘’Yeah yeah, get over it lover boy!’’