"ready?"

pt. fifteen

* chapter energy *
dream | the pied pipers

the sun was almost below the horizon and eddie had fallen asleep leaning against richie's shoulder. richie sat there the entire time, a massive smile plastered across his face as his stared at their hands and listened to eddie's slow, quiet breathing.

once he noticed how late it had gotten he realized he had to let him go. richie exhaled gently and untangled their hands. he reached up next to eddie's head with his left hand and ruffled his hair.

"hmm," eddie hummed, blinking slowly,"AH WHAT THE FUCK-"

he yelled as he looked around and saw that they were still in the roof. richie quickly grabbed one of eddie's hands and he looked over. relief flooded his body as he remembered what had happened, that he wasn't feet away from falling to the ground, that richie had him.

"hey- woah woah," richie laughed lightly,"it's alright. you gotta get heading home though, it's probably about five thirty or so."

"ah shit-" eddie muttered, rubbing his eyes,"how long was i out?"

"maybe half an hour?" richie replied,"i dunno kind of lost track of time."

"the only person who could 'lose track of time' while you're sitting on the crest of a roof," eddie said with a smile.

they both crawled back inside richie's room safely and eddie got his things together again. richie finished his soda and went downstairs, eddie following close behind. he tossed his can and they both headed back out into the crisp autumn dusk.

richie biked eddie home despite eddie's warnings about him catching a cold or getting chilblain. they rode slowly, richie weaved throughout the street while eddie tended to stick to the sidewalk.

"this is my stop," eddie said solemnly,"see you at school tomorrow?"

"but of course," richie said in a horrible british accent,"i shall await your arrival with bated breath."

eddie laughed softly before he went to put his bike away. he came back to the front yard a moment later.

"goodnight rich," he said warmly, waving goodbye.

"goodnight ed's," richie replied, smiling wistfully.

he waved back and set back off toward his house. he rode in circles, daydreaming. the sun was already down but he didn't mind- neither of his parents would be home for at least another hour or two.

after about half an hour of circling the neighborhood, he arrived back home. crashing his bike in the yard, opening the front door, and rushing up the stairs in the span of a minute.

he grabbed his walkman off his desk and hooked his clunky, koss headphones in. he put in double fantasy by john lennon and laid back on his bed, replaying that moment on the roof over and over again until he fell asleep.

by that time eddie was sitting in his room doing the exact same thing. he sat on his bed, writing in his journal about what had happened, mindlessly doodling a little sketch of the view from richie's roof.

the entry read:

10.9.1988

holy fuck. we held hands. I FUCKING KNEW IT. i knew something was going on. i knew it wasn't just me. oh my god i feel like i'm going to throw up. how did all of this happen so fast. before that party the idea of this all was just some stupid flutter in my stomach. now, i know, for certain that's not all it was. i wonder if he felt it too, how long have we both felt this way? god i feel sick just thinking about what might happen if someone found out. it makes me feel safer knowing that i'm not the only one whose had those thoughts though. before i talked to richie about everything i was sure i was bound to end up in juniper hill for the rest of my high school career. i know now that everything will be alright. as long as i've got rich, things will be ok. im never giving him that jacket back, no way in hell- just looking at it hung on the back of my door makes my heart stutter. richie trashmouth tozier, who would've thought. well i mean- i did, but i thought that was just me being insane ya know. i think he had a point though, i really don't mind drunk eddie.

just as he finished the messy drawing of the scene from earlier his mom called him down for dinner.

"shit," he muttered under his breath,"coming!"