2am | reddie

six

richie didn't know where he was going. his feet pulled him away from the hell of a house he lived in, the cold air tangling with his already messy hair. he couldn't feel much of anything, only the warm, caked on blood that littered his skin. just his heart beating fast and hard against his chest as he ran with the wind. it was almost a half hour before he finally stopped running, tears running down his face and falling onto the concrete sidewalk beneath him, his hair a mess as he fell to his knees. he just sat there. the street that ran alongside him was dark, the lights that followed along the road then barely lighting up the scene around him. everything was dark. the smell of cigarettes and blood and it wasn't a good combination. he almost hated it. he looked up as a car passed, the passing light exposing a sudden memory.

richie sighed as he walked out of the familiar air-conditioned building of the pharmacy, a new pack of smuggled cigarettes in his pocket. quietly, he started his journey back home, his feed shuffling against the cracked concrete running below his feet. with his head lowered, curls hiding his pale complexion from the world, he walked until his zombie-like trance was broken.

"s-sorry!" the small boy stuttered.

richie jumped back to reality as he recognized the familiar figure. it was the boy from earlier at school. eddie kaspbrak. the memories of their not-so-pleasant talk sidelined by henry bowers filled richie's head and he frowned even more, if that was possible.

"you're good, kid," he mumbled, making sure eddie had collected all of his spilled medication bottles before continuing his walk.

richie waited a bit longer before walking again, his eyes this time following the shorter boy in front of him. he was so aware of everything surrounding the two boys; every individual being, every shrub, every piece of trash. he felt so protective of eddie and he had no idea why. eventually, his eyes followed the boy away from the sidewalk and up to a porch that laid in front of a small house that resembled richie's.

he looked away as eddie waved at him before walking into the house.

richie looked up from where he was kneeling, his heart beating a million times faster as some sort of emotion filled his veins after replaying the moment in his head. he couldn't recognize what he was feeling and it scared him. slowly, he pushed himself up off the ground and soon enough his feet were leading him across the street and down another road.

to eddie kaspbrak's house.

__________

richie took a mental photo of the way eddie's face was as he saw him standing outside his window. he didn't want to forget it. but he didn't quite know why. sighing, he waved at eddie as the other boy had to him that one day. eddie rolled his eyes and richie bit his lip, heart dropping as eddie walked away from the window. he couldn't just leave richie here, standing in the cold on his roof, could he?

"eddie please," he knocked gently on the window.

suddenly, the small boy comes running back with something in his hand, a finger covering his mouth as a sign to stay quiet, mouthing 'mom' from behind the fogged glass. eddie lifts his hand, revealing a flathead screwdriver that he used to nudge the window lock out. gently placing the screwdriver aside, eddie then lifts the window up and looks at richie with the same expression as before.

"tozier? what on earth are you doing here? my mom will kill me if she finds out i ha-"

"have richie tozier, the towns crackhead and girl pleaser in your room? yeah, i've heard it a million times before. can i please just come in," richie interrupts, his facial expression as serious as ever as he stares eddie dead in the eyes.