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Richie knew by now how to calm his husband down. They had been married two years, which equalled literally thousands of Eddie Kaspbrak outbursts to study.
Like when he found the stain Richie left on the couch, when someone cut in front of them in line at Disney, when Ben decided it was a good idea to do a losers beach trip ( Eddie fucking hates the beach). Richie was watching and learning.
Now he had it down to a science. He knew he needed to hold his husband by the shoulders or waist ( never the wrists though, Eddie was weird about the wrists) to ground him before gently distracting him. It's what he found worked best. He also knew that the worst thing he could do is tell Eddie to ‘calm down’.
The couch? He hugged his husband and asked about his stressful day before finding a solution. The line? Two hands on Eddie's shoulders and his weirdly good jaba the hut impression. The beach? A kiss on the forehead and offering to carry him to the water.
It was genius in his opinion. Hands, smiles, distractions, jokes, all for Eddie. It was one of the best things that came from their relationship. Before they were together, before Derry 2.0, Eddie would act on his anger, chewing out his boss, screaming at his wife, and throwing fits ( As Richie liked to call them). Now with Richie's system, he’d always be talked down from the cliff, smile sweetly at his husband and not immediately take his anger out on someone around him.
Did he say always? He meant almost always. There were always days where Eddie got so worked up he couldn't be talked down. They both knew this would happen and they were both fine with it.
Today was one of those days.
“ And then- get this- Brad waltzes in and says ‘ it was all my idea boss! Eds was helping me’ he called me Eds Rich,” Eddie yells, his hands moving wildly around him, his face turning red.
Richie gently takes the shopping cart from Eddie and keeps walking down the chip aisle.
“ Ahh yes Eds… do you like that nickname or…?” Richie smirks at his husband, trying to lighten the mood.
Eddie is not in the mood apparently. “ Let me finish my story dickwad”
Richie nods and hums, ready to listen.
“ So Brad says that, and Gary was just like ‘ Yup! Well you did a great job Brad, you know I've been thinking about who to promote-’” he cuts off his own impression “ They’re going to promote him Rich! Even though I've been with them for 10 years and he's been there maybe six months. Just because i was transferred doesnt mean i dont know how to do my fucking job”
He's really yelling now, causing other people in the grocery store to stare at the both of them.
Richie knows it's time to pull out the big guns.
“ Honey…” he starts.
Eddie’s face is bright red and his breathing is heavy from the yelling. “ What?” he snaps.
Richie knows it's not personal. A kind smile appears on his face as he stops walking and turns to his husband.
“ Hey.. come on look at me” he speaks like he's talking to a wild animal.
Eddie begrudgingly looks up at Richie, not one muscle in his face calming.
Richie gently puts his hands on Eddie's shoulders, ready to reassure and distract him for the time being… but that's when something funny happens.
In the middle of the aisle Eddie glares up at his husband and roughly pushes his hands off of him. He didn't mean to but he pushed with all his strength, sending Richie stumbling backwards directly into their shopping cart.
The cart slips out behind him and Richie is falling. He grabs onto the shelves next to him to catch himself, but instead ends up taking a large bag of flour down with him, right on his gut as he lands on the hard grocery store floor.
Richie groans in pain on the ground and throws the bag of flour off of him, taking a moment to lie there and recover.
Eddie still hasn't really realized what he's done, still lost in his anger from earlier.
“ Oh good fucking going Richard” He sneers.
Richie -again- doesn't take it personally. He knows for a fact as soon as Eddie comes back to himself he’ll profusely apologize, kiss Richie everywhere he's hurting, and everything will be okay.
But again, something funny happens. Before Richie can stand and tell Eddie they should leave, a brunette woman that looks roughly their age runs to Richie's side.
“ Oh I’m okay lady dont worry about lil ol me” He says shakily, probably because of the weight just on his stomach.
The lady doesn't take no for an answer though. She helps Richie off the ground ( which he frankly needed) and holds onto him once he's fully upright. Richie sends ‘ help me eyes’ to Eddie but his husband is just as confused as him.
The brunette turns to Richie, talking quietly and slowly. “ I was in a relationship like this once too. I know it's hard to get out of but I’ve been there before I know people that can help you.”
Eddie tenses so violently in front of him Richie and the woman can both see it.
Richie roughly pulls away from the woman, disgusted at what she assumes he and his husband’s marriage is like, and whatever compelled her to insert herself in their little kerfuffle.
“ Thank you for the concern lady but I can assure you that my husband has never tried to hurt me before,” he says bluntly “ We love each other more than anything and I don't think you should judge our relationship on one bad moment” he speaks in a surprisingly strong and sure manner, bordering on too much.
Richie turns to his husband who has fully collapsed into himself to look smaller, his face pale.
“ Honey come on lets go” He- very rudely actually- throws a glare at the lady as she walks away and now brings his full attention to Eddie.
“ Eds? Eddie spaghetti you okay?” The hands on Eddie's shoulders are not pushed away this time around. There's a moment of tension filled silence before Eddie's eyes lock onto Richie's and tears start trailing down his face.
Richie gasps before he can stop himself and gawks down at Eddie. In their two years of marriage Richie has seen his husband cry once and that was on their fucking wedding day.
Richie starts to panic, knowing that something is seriously wrong.
“ R-Richie,” Eddie blubbers “ Rich, Rich im so sorry im so so so-” hes cut off by his own sob.
Even though Richie is fucking terrified he still knows what to do. He pulls Eddie tight to his chest and rubs his hands up and down his husband's back, soothing him.
“ hey, shh its okay baby its okay I’m fine, im right here” he coos to the sobbing man in his arms.
Eddie buries his face in Richie's neck, his cries making his whole body shake in the bigger man's hold.
He doesn't know if minutes or hours pass but eventually Richie decides it's time to not do this in the grocery store.
“ C’mon lets go on home” he murmurs and has to rip Eddie off of him he's clutching Richie so tightly.
“ O-okay” he says and hiccups.
The drive home isn't much better than right after the incident. On top of his anger at that stranger and his worry for his husband crying in the passenger seat, his body fucking hurts from that fall.
But nevermind that. Eddie is clearly struggling more.
“ You wanna talk about it?” Richie asks Eddie tentatively when they pull in their driveway.
Eddie shakes his head vigorously. “ Can we just… go to bed?” he sniffs.
Richie is already nodding even though its not even 8PM “ Of course Eddie baby come on”
Eddie grabs Richie's hand and intertwines their fingers the second he’s in reach. Richie forces a smile down at his husband, trying to make the tears stop, but he's unsuccessful.
They quietly enter their house, their dog Stormy yipping at them.
“ Hello babygirl!” Richie coos at the dog while also trying to see what Eddie is going to do next.
He doesn't do anything. He gives Stormy a little pat on the head and walks into the bedroom without speaking a word.
Richie sighs and gives Stormy some scratches to shut her up. “ I know baby… your smaller daddy is a little upsetty spaghetti tonight.”
He decides he needs to let Eddie cool down. Before bed they’ll talk it out, Eddie will apologize for the whole falling on the grocery floor thing, and they’ll fall asleep in each other's arms, another situation disarmed.
He takes the little pomeranian for a walk to give his husband some space. He announces it to Eddie of course so he knows he's not mad at him, and walks around their neighborhood.
The dog is running and jumping all around Richie, making it extremely difficult to keep the leash untangled, but he's amused at her excitement nonetheless.
When they get back to the house everything is dark and the dog is tuckered out. Richie definitely feels the same.
He walks into the bedroom to see a disgruntled Eddie Kaspbrak sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. Richie frowns at his husband and moves to kneel in front of him, despite his whole body being achy.
“ Talk to me,” he says quietly.
Eddie uncovers his face and Richie sees he's still crying. He makes a mental note to get him some water, then starts gently wiping the tears away with his thumb.
Eddie's face crumples again staring down at Richie. “ I didn't mean to” is all he chokes out before more sobs escape him.
Richie is instantly up and scooping Eddie into his arms, laying them both down and folding Eddie into his side.
Eddie doesn't need any convincing. He clutches Richie tightly, not unlike how he clutched him at the grocery store, but this time they both know they can stay this way for a while. Hell, Richie will let Eddie squeeze him tightly all night if it gets him to stop crying.
He wants to do something so bad but he can't swing it. This feels different than any outburst/incident they’ve ever had and frankly… Richie doesn't know what exactly to do. He decides that for the time being, hes just going to be quiet (big fucking deal) and sweet until Eddie is ready to talk. And if that is never? Well… he’ll get to that.
He can't help but feel he's missing a part of the story. It's making him slightly crazy, along with all the other shit going on in his head after their night. He doesn't know if he and Eddie need to sit for a long time and sort this out, or if it's going to be blown over by morning.
He hears his husband whisper “ I’m sorry” again before he's asleep in Richie's arms. The bigger man gazes down at Eddie and starts to think more optimistically.
He just feels bad about the falling thing. Everything is going to be okay… Right?
Richie always wakes up to a cold bed. It's not a bad thing, he's used to it. Being married to a health junkie has its pros and cons, and Eddie going out for a run at the literal asscrack of dawn every morning is just one con next to the never ending list of pros.
He gets up and goes straight to the bathroom, doing his business and brushing his teeth ( Eddie won't kiss him till he brushes). While looking at his own disheveled reflection hastily brushing his teeth, he hopes again that the whole thing from yesterday has blown over.
Don't get him wrong, if it hasn't blown over, he has absolutely no trouble talking and working it out with his Eddie spaghetti…But if he sees his husband cry again it just might kill him. He's shocked he didn't immediately burst into sobs the second he saw a single tear fall down Eddie's face. Like truly shocked.
He walks into the kitchen, a soft smile already on his face when he sees his gorgeous husband in their kitchen.
Now after being so domestic for the last 3 years, Richie has all of Eddie’s "dialogue options”, if you will, for the morning memorized. He looks forward to it the moment he gets up wondering if today he's going to say “ Good morning asshole” or “ good morning dipshit”
( Those are the Eddie equivalent of pet names. Other people say “honey” or “baby” but he says “shit for brains”... it makes Richie so happy)
Richie folds himself over Eddie, wrapping his arms around the smaller man's waist ready for his greeting.
“ Morning sweetheart,” he says softly. Way too soft.
That one was new. So new it made Richie completely pause against Eddie. Not one morning has Eddie ever said that before. Yes he knows that technically his husband isn't a video game NPC with curated dialogue, but it was still a little odd.
“ Rich?”
“ Shit sorry- Good morning my Spageds” he squeezes around Eddie's waist.
He knows for a fact that's Eddie's least favorite nickname. Every time hes ever said it he immediately gets a playful eyeroll or a loving “ Oh shut the fuck up”.
But this morning…Eddie laughs. He laughs like its fucking funny when no Eddie! You hate that Eddie! Turn around and scold me Eddie!
Almost like Eddie heard his thoughts, he turns around and looks Richie in the eye, not saying anything just looking.
Slowly, Eddie wraps his arms around his husband pulling him in for a gentle hug. He murmurs a small “ I love you” against Richie’s chest.
One part of Richie wants to melt into the floor He loves his husband so much, wants to scoop him up and kiss all over his always tense face. But sadly the bigger part of Richie is terrified. He and Eddie are obviously no strangers to PDA or physical affection, but Eddie never does shit like this unless he's tipsy.
“ I love you too Eddie baby” He means it, obviously he fucking means it but the whole endearment comes out strained. He almost wishes there were more tears instead of this.
Nevermind that was a lie. He never wants to see that ever again.
Eddie disconnects them and smiles sweetly up at Richie. God does Richie just want to completely fall into his husband's sweetness but he knows he can't. He has to test him.
His arms still wrapped around the smaller man he starts, “ How was your run this morning?” ready for Eddie’s usual complaints, comments, and jokes to make Richie giggle.
But… no again.
“ It was really nice” He smiles again, more forced this time.
Richie can't help but push. “ Wow you didn't run into your mortal enemy?” he says it with a smirk, referring to a dog that peed on Eddie one day when he took a break at the park. It's an ongoing thing they joke and bitch about.
Eddie doesn't take the bait “ Yeah. Didn't see him.”
Holy shit Richie is about to pull out his fucking hair. Hes never ever seen Eddie go this long without saying the word “fuck” and its fucking bothering the fuck out of him for fucks sake.
He fully steps away from Eddie going towards their coffee maker and putting random shit in it until it shoots coffee into his ‘going out’ cup. A daily occurrence.
“ Got anything going on today? I know you're going to miss me soo much while I'm at my meeting” As much as he wanted to stay home and study Eddie like he's a bug, he has an important meeting with Bill today, pitching their next movie. Richie has been writing all the jokes in the scripts and giving a surprising amount of advice on how to not make a shit ending.
He expects the Eddie usual, saying something like “ The only thing im going to miss is that ugly fucking shirt hurting my eyes” while still smiling and laughing, going in to kiss Richie after saying it as a yes I am going to miss you.
That's not what he gets though. Eddie simply laughs, pauses, and says “ Was thinking of cleaning around the house, opening the pool, missing my husband.”
It's so sweet and so nice and Richie wants to float in the air he loves Eddie so much. But he knows something is off. When they’re bickering and bitching at each other (always with love), it's easy. There's no strain to Eddie's voice like there was just then, no pause to think about what he’s going to say before he says it. He just opens his mouth and usually says something so funny Richie snorts. He may be a comedian but he is not the funny one in the relationship.
Its fucking killing him he misses the back and forth so much. He hadn't really expected to, but now that Eddie's gone soft he realizes how much he loves bantering with him everyday.
“ Well that sounds like a packed schedule to me, Edster. My little housewife” he puts a loud kiss on Eddie’s forehead, trying to act normal for both their sakes.
He does slip up here though. As he's walking to the bedroom to change he hears Eddie go “thats me!” from behind him and actually stops to turn around and stare.
What even the fuck.
He doesn't even have time to unpack that. He shakes his head, murmurs “ that's me?” under his breath and walks to the bedroom.
“You look handsome” Richie is wearing the loudest Hawaiian shirt he has. No the fuck he does not.
“ Thanks Edwardo” he forces a grin and goes for his to-go cup of coffee.
“ I shall be off! Don't worry If Bill tries to sell me to the businessmen I will resist!”
Please say something mean
“ Can’t have that. I’d miss you too much”
Richie just stares at Eddie again. Waiting for him to say something else.
It never comes. He shakes it off and prays that maybe Eddie will be better when he gets back.
“ Come on kiss me goodbye” Eddie stands on his tiptoes and gives Richie a chaste peck, almost making the taller man forget about his worries. Almost.
And with that he's gone. He sits in the car for a moment praying that when he gets home tonight Eddie is back to normal. As ungrateful as that sounds.
He leaves the house with one more thought; who the fuck broke my husband?
The meeting went well. He knew it would. What he didnt know however was how fucking long it was going to take. It's almost dusk when he's pulling into the house again. He remembers the odd morning he had and is now even more excited ( see: nervous) to go inside and greet Eddie.
When he walks in it looks completely normal. The entire house is deep cleaned but still- normal. Eddie is on the couch with the dog curled in his lap reading a book. He looks so peaceful.
Yet when he sees Richie standing there he makes the dog get off his lap and rushes to him.
“ hey woah don't get up for me” he frowns down at his husband.
Eddie brushes him off and kisses his cheek “ how was the meeting?”
“ how about we sit back down on the couch and I’ll tell you” Eddie makes a face but actually complies. That never fucking happens by the way. They bicker about whos going to scoot out of the way when theyre in the kitchen for fucks sake.
Richie sits opposite his husband on the couch and everything feels somewhat normal while he's telling him about the crazy day he had with Bill. Complete with wild hand gestures and weird impressions that make Eddie smile.
When he's done with his story, a little out of breath from how hard he went on that one, Eddie lunges forward to hug him.
“ I’m so proud of you baby” he whispers it right into Richie's ear, making the bigger man shudder.
“ I was thinking we could watch Wayne's world tonight?” Richie's favorite movie. He blushes at his considerate husband but the kind offer still puts him on edge. Eddie has never suggested they watch that before. It was an unspoken rule that Richie puts it on, Eddie has to sit and bitch about it all night when they both knew Eddie loved the movie as well.
“ Sounds good to me” he puts a hand on Eddie's jaw and brings him in for a gentle kiss, just slotting his lips between Eddie’s, making the smaller man sigh. When he pulls away there's a frown on Eddie's face. Richie opens his mouth to ask what's wrong when a forced smile appears on Eddie’s face.
“ I’ll go make you some popcorn” he kisses Richie on the cheek.
Richies freaking out again. This is not a normal fixture in their house, Eddie just making him snacks and greeting him at the door.
Like he's trying to please Richie or something. Like Richie isn't pleased by his mere existence. Like he isn't pleased by every breath Eddie takes.
Now they’re on the couch, Eddie cuddled into his side with the bowl of popcorn between them and Richie is about to throw a bitch fit.
The only reason this is his favorite movie is because of how mean Eddie is about it.
He would never admit that obviously. The first time they watched it together Eddie's commentary was so funny Richie had cried. It instantly became his favorite movie.
Now Eddie is dead silent, no snarky remarks, just soft laughs here and there. The movie isn't funny anymore. Richie is now worried, angry, and fucking bored.
30 more minutes go by before he shoots up from the couch, jostling Eddie, scaring the shit out of the dog sleeping on the floor, and almost dumping all of the popcorn on the ground.
He whips around to look at Eddie and sees the angry look on his face. He knows Eddie wants to yell at him.
But he doesn't.
“ Baby what's wrong?”
Richie snaps “ oh my god Eddie please make it stop” he yells the last part.
Eddie frowns “ Stop what sweeth-”
“ This!! What you’re doing right now!! Stop being nice to me!” He's pacing in front of the TV while he says it.
“ Huh?!”
Richie makes a frustrated shout noise. “ You're being so nice” he spits out the word like it's disgusting.
“ You haven't called me names, you haven't made fun of me, you havent even said the word ‘fuck’ today!! That's your favorite word!!” He gasps at the end, out of breath from shouting.
He finally turns to look right at Eddie and– god dammit– he looks so sad.
Richie moves to kneel in front of his husband, putting his hands on Eddie’s knees, and locking eyes with him.
“ Where did my Eddie go?” It comes out very softly.
There's no warning signs, Eddie just starts sobbing.
“ nononono” Richie panics under his breath.
Suddenly he's back on the couch by Eddie, both hands on his shoulders.
“ Eddie baby please” Shit– now he's about to cry too.
Eddie rests his head on Richie's shoulder, probably wetting his shirt with tears. “ I'm so sorry” he wheezes.
Richie shushes him “ No baby don't be sorry.” he coos. “ Tell me what's going on.”
After a minute or two Eddie's head finally emerges, his face splotchy and red.
“ There's some things I haven't told you– before Derry things” he rushes out.
Richie fights to keep his face neutral “ Okay…”
“ You know the scar by my ear?” Of course Richie knew the scar. It was a little raised line right in front of his ear. He had asked about it a few times to a meek “ I forget” ( it's also one of his favorite places to kiss to get Eddie riled up but let's not talk about that).
“ Yeah, I know Eddie. What about it?”
Eddie takes quite a few deep –shaky– breaths before murmuring; “ Myra did that to me”
Richie loudly gasps despite himself. He knew Myra was a terrible wife but maybe he didn't know to what extent.
“ she dug her nail into my face and did that” he says it so quickly, like he's trying to get the words out of him, never to be spoken again.
Richie pictures a slightly younger Eddie, folded in on himself and backed into a corner by his fuming wife. He pictures her hurting him, giving him that scar, and a wave of anger rushes over him so strongly he has to move his hand to squeeze the back of the couch.
“ Eddie im so sorr-”
“ Let me finish,” he spits.
Richie nods, only slightly happy Eddie is being mean again.
“ She would… hurt me. And I’m not getting to specifics but..” he takes a shaky breath and Richie braces himself.
“So when that happened at the grocery store…” Now knows where this is going and frowns down at his crying husband.
“ I never want to do that to you Richie” he sobs. “ I love you so much I don't want to hurt you”
“Oh Eddie” Richie's crying now too. It was inevitable. “ Why didn't you tell me?” his hand moves to cradle Eddie's jaw.
Eddie scoffs “ Its fucking embarassing Richie! A grown man getting thrown around by his wife? It was pathetic– I’m pathetic.”
Richie does not like the phrase “ thrown around” but he bites his tongue and instead says, “ are you kidding me Eddie? I've said it before and I’ll say it for the rest of our lives; you are the bravest, most amazing person I know” his thumb moves back and forth over Eddie's cheek and he gives his husband a sincere smile.
“ Your… your my favorite person in the entire world, I think that you are absolutely perfect” Both him and Eddie laugh. “ You're not like Myra,” he hates saying her name “ She’s an obsessive, abusive, terrible person. You may be an asshole but you're none of those things” Eddie rolls his eyes and smiles.
“You're so ridiculous” Eddie sniffs.
“ No I’m correct”
They sit there in silence for a moment before Richie speaks up again.
“ Is that why you’ve been off today?” he murmurs.
Eddie nods silently.
“ you dont need to change for me sweetheart” he wants to cry (harder than he already is) he feels so terrible for Eddie.
“ But I'm so mean to you that a stranger thought that I abuse you” he starts to cry again.
Richie just shakes his head “ Ed’s that's literally my favorite thing about you” he laughs and Eddie just stares at him wide eyed.
“ Oh my god i hate you for making me admit this,” he sighs “ I love that your so honest with me, that you don't bullshit me, that you feel comfortable enough to tease me”
Eddie doesn't say anything; he just leans up and kisses his husband passionately, threading his fingers through the hairs on the back of Richie's head.
Richie hums and pulls away “ We okay?” Eddie whispers.
“ Of course we’re okay baby, are you kidding me?”
“ Thank god…” Eddie takes a deep breath and a deep frown forms again.
“ Because that coffee you made this morning was fucking disgusting Rich, holy fucking shit what is wrong with you” he shouts.
Richie’s so happy. He just laughs and wraps his arms around Eddie's waist pulling him in for a bone crushing hug.
After a few minutes or maybe a few hours, of just holding onto his brave husband, his rock,he decides to speak up.
“ Dont worry Eddie baby tomorrow I promise I’ll learn how to use the coffee maker” He’s said that exact sentence 6 times this month.
Richie feels his husband's strong arms wrap around him in return and hears Eddie sigh.
“ Cant wait” It's supposed to be sarcastic but Richie can hear the smile.
“ Me neither”