learning // reddie

chapter ten: butterflies 🦋

(this would be more aesthetically pleasing if read in black mode and in times new roman. just a heads up! <3)
Songs for this chapter:
- Eyes Blue Like the Atlantic // Sista_Prod
- Flaming Hot Cheetos // Clairo

third person point of view: richie tozier.

richie involuntarily groaned, a noise rising up in his throat as the warmth that surrounded him had faded. his eyelids fluttered, but he wouldn't open them, yet. he wasn't quite ready to welcome the sun into his irises.

and suddenly, the warmth was back again. it shrouded his senses, offering him an escape into comfort once more. he felt arms slide around him, and a head being buried into his chest. he enjoyed it, for he knew just who it was, and smiled to himself.

"rich?" the angelic voice spoke, causing richie's stomach to melt like butter in a pan. "yes, eds?" he replied, hoping his voice wouldn't give away his weak insides. richie could feel a hand brush against his forehead, touching his many freckles and moving his curls away. "you're pretty," eddie stated matter-of-factly, dragging his hand down to richie's cheek.

richie hoped that the sweet boy in front of him wouldn't feel richie's face heat up with a rose-colored blush, but to no avail, and eddie smiled. "aw, are you blushing, tozier?" he teased the flustered boy, booping the tip of richie's nose with his index finger.

"yeah, i'm exerted from fucking your mom," richie muttered, hiding his face into eddie's pillow, frowning miserably. eddie made no comment, but richie could feel eddie's finger idly trailing down his jawline, stopping where his jugular started; to richie's disappointment, his own breath hitched.

the way eddie made him feel was a love-hate relationship. richie loved the butterflies that nervously flew around in his gut and the feeling of being dizzy with love; but he hated the way that eddie could easily shut him up, amazed when he gazed upon the sweet boy; how his cheeks would constantly heat up in his company, and how he would be rendered daydreaming about the boy on the daily.

  he hated how eddie made him feel things again.

  but he loved how the feelings were for eddie.

long story short, it confused the hell out of the raven-haired boy. he had no problem with homosexuality, but had a hard time accepting that he was. he constantly tried to force himself to like girls, girls, girls, but eddie had come and diminished any chance at having an attraction to the feminine race at all. eddie's dimpled cheeks and twinkling eyes and soft skin tranquilized the thought of girls in richie's head, now cast away in the far side of his brain.

he didn't need anyone to tell him eddie was pretty, for he could see it himself. eddie was a work of art; not everyone understood him, but they knew he held some sort of beauty to his form. however, he was one of the few that really, truly understood him. richie analyzed him like a book, annotating the good parts, making note of the small imperfections that made the boy sheerly beautiful. he deserved to be called beautiful everyday, even if it meant that richie would have to be the bringer of news.

"you are, too," he replied softly, mumbling through the memory foam of eddie's pillow, removing his face to look at the smaller boy next to him. richie took initiative and carded his fingers through the tousled curls of eddie's head, tugging at them in the slightest; he reveled in the way that his ringlets glided through richie's fingers effortlessly, springing back into place. eddie's expression was soft; golden-brown eyes wide, his lips set into a small smile. richie always found himself staring at eddie's lips, marveling in how soft they looked and how pink they were.

"my mom knows about you," eddie hummed, staring richie in the eyes. eddie could feel himself slowly drown in the pools of chocolate, and he liked it. he wanted to get lost in them, to sink so far down he wouldn't resurface. the eyes he was looking at widened, and richie's whole face was upturned in shock. "what did she say..?" richie questioned, his voice a barely audible whisper. "she doesn't mind you very much," eddie said vaguely, taking richie's hand into his.

eddie watched in amusement as richie's features melted into relief, stifling a giggle. "well that's good, seeing as she didn't mind me in her room last night-" richie began, but began laughing as eddie quickly put a hand over his mouth.

"shut it, tozier."

eddie removed his hand from richie's lips, daring him to say something more.

"you know you love my trashmouth, kaspbrak."