(🏹) ✔️ 𝓼𝓾𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓮-ONE SHOTS!

0.13

Sunshine-
Unspoken Rules!
[WARNING: talk about depression (very light but still present); lots of fluff; swearing]
[0.13]

THE STREETS STARTED TO FLOOD early in the storm. he knew the streets would only get worse. still he hoped they would. he hoped he would drown in the flooding. it was another hopeless night for richie when his thoughts were too much and he needed to go on some type of midnight walk for a smoke. the losers hated that he did this, and bev only pitied him. she understood. there was a reason ms. marsh was always his best friend, other than stan the man and mr. eddie kaspbrak. the four of them were the crackheads of the group, however stan nor eddie did drugs. they were typically looped into the category. every once in a while bill would get high with them, but it was rare. they had their deepest talks when they were high, to be truthful.

tonight richie had no destination; no place he wanted to be. he was wandering aimlessly with a wish that the earth would swallow him up whole. of course, the world never really did what he wanted, and he was not swallowed up nor drowned by the water. he had no idea where his feet were taking him. he began to forget that it was even pouring somehow. he didn't know he managed to forget, considering his raven curls were pushed down into his face from the impact of the water and he was nearly shivering in his soaked ripped jeans and leather jacket. stupid idea, he thought. i'm gonna ruin my fucking jacket. but he couldn't bring himself to care.

his feet kept moving but his mind felt distant. he recalled those books he had read, where the artists say, "the paintbrush moved on it's own," and the authors say, "my fingers moved as if they were magic." his feet moved like they were fucking desperate.

he looked up when his feet finally stopped, recognizing the lush yellow light coming from an upstairs bedroom and the cream colored curtains behind the small window. instinctively he picked up a few pebbles and began tossing them at the homey looking window. after about three tosses a familiar face looked at him worriedly and ran to the front door. despite himself, richie smiled.

"rich?" the boy asked. "what're you doing out here? it's raining, shithead!"

richie tried to grin but failed. his face looked more like a grimace and he dropped it. "hey eds. i know. could i skip the lecture today? i'm not quite in the mood."

he closed his eyes in a slight sigh and was surprised to feel a warm pair of arms wrap securely around his body despite the cold of his clothes. eddie was holding on to him for dear life. that simple feeling was what broke richie: he started crying. boys don't cry, richie. you're being dramatic. but he cried. the voice in his head couldn't rebuild the dam that had broken; the flood was coming whether he liked it or not. he felt guilty for forcing it on to eddie. it was always eddie. he just felt safest with him. is there anything so wrong with that? "come inside, richie," the smaller boy mumbled.

"okay."

there were three unspoken rules about coming to the kaspbrak household after seven at night. sonia went to bed at six-thirty, and tried to force eddie to go to bed at the same time, but he secretly stayed up much later every night. to keep his secret a secret, eddie created three rules (they were honestly only for richie. he's the only one who ever came over after seven), two for protection and one for comfort: don't step on the fifth step from the bottom of the stairs because it squeaks, don't say a word until we're in eddie's room, and eddie will give cuddles if you say you need them (as long as you tell the truth).

"but only you get cuddles!" eddie had giggled the night he informed richie on the rules years ago. "but don't tell bill. he thinks he's my favorite."