Breathe ⭐️ Reddie

16

Richie made his way back to his room, a smile on his face the whole time. Sure, he was a little unsure about Eddie's dad and meeting him, but he had just had the best night of his life. A cute boy that helped make him a member of an illegal organization and seemed to like him had kissed him and let him stay in his room. That's more attention and affection in one night than Richie had received in his 18 years of life.

The thought of Eddie just being there and actually caring made him smile brightly. As Eddie had told him, there was a closet full of clothes in his closet. There were business suits, jeans and T-shirts, and workout clothes. They obviously had to be ready for anything.

Richie pulled on what he considered to be workout clothes, consisting of a black T-shirt and shorts, along with tennis shoes that sat at the bottom of his closet. He finished getting dressed and almost instantly there was a knock at his door. Richie opened the door eagerly, but was puzzled when Stan stood on the other side.

"Where's Eds?" Richie asked, concerned. He knew Eddie could definitely handle himself, but the fact that he said he'd be there and didn't show up worried Richie.

"He asked me to come get you. Don't worry, he's probably just trying to plan out your workout today or something," Stan said, noticing Richie's concern.

Richie nodded and followed Stan to the cafeteria, where the others all sat at a table, waving as they walked in. Eddie was sitting in between Bev and Mike, so Richie sat across from him. He was even more concerned when he saw how upset and angry Eddie looked.

"You alright, Eds?" Richie asked.

"It's Eddie." That's all Eddie said before Bev started a conversation with Richie.

Stan knew Eddie got moody a lot, but he had sounded and seemed really upset when he had arrived just fifteen minutes before at Stan's door. He had simply asked Stan to collect Richie for breakfast, but didn't make eye contact or seem to be his usual, sarcastic self.

"W-what's up wi-with Eddie?" Bill murmured to Stan, noticing how quiet he was being. "He was f-fine last ni-night."

"I'm not sure. I figured it was something between him and Richie, but Richie seems just as confused as we are," Stan responded.

No one else knew how to get Eddie back to normal, so they all delved into their own conversations, making sure to keep Richie in the loop so he didn't feel left out.

"You're all coming to training, right?" Eddie asked the group, and they all fell silent, but nodded. "Good. We need to get Richie up to speed."

That's all he said before he stood up and vanished down a hallway.

"Come on, Richie," Mike said, walking towards the hallway that Eddie walked down.

"Where are we going?" Richie asked. He didn't know why Eddie was so upset, but definitely didn't want to make it worse.

"Training rooms. We're all training together, but you should probably get to know the environment."

•••
Richie thought that the training room was going to be his least favorite place in the whole facility. He always hated just running and doing stuff without knowing how he could use it in the real world. However, as soon as he set foot in the training room in the Hive, Richie decided he was going to enjoy it.

There were targets and sets of throwing knives, and the whole gym seemed to be a giant obstacle course, except for one piece that had a giant mat, seemingly for wrestling. Past the training room was a glass door and a room that had another set of targets.