biggest fan

fourty two

text received from Bevvy

hey eds! you home? landed yesterday, and want to come by and see you!

text sent to Bevvy

yeah hey! i'm home, and my roommate left for the weekend so you can crash here if you want! can't wait to see you!

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eddie was nearly asleep when he heard the knock at his door. hearing the sound made him jump. when he realized what was happening and who was at the door, he quickly got out of bed. a smile quickly spread to his face, as he paused the movie that he had playing and fixed the crooked rug as he walked to the front of his dorm room.

when eddie opened the door, his smile faded and his heart dropped for what felt like the millionth time in the past few days.

in front of him stood richie tozier.

not that he was surprised because honestly, he wasn't. he should have expected it.

richie hadn't changed, but at the same time, he seemed to be a completely different person.

eddie had never seen richie wearing that shirt, and he had gotten new shoes in europe. his hair was long, but not too long, and eddie knew that he had recently gotten a haircut. his nail polish looked chipped and messy, like he'd been trying to paint them himself because eddie used to do it for him.

"what are you doing here?" richie looked hopeful. his eyes looked kind of bloodshot, which meant one of two things. he had been crying, or he was completely fucking wasted. maybe even both. and that made eddie feel even worse.

"are you going to let me in?" eddie looked richie up and down, not moving.

"come on eds, if you aren't going to let me in, just tell me to go and i'll be out of your hair." richie continued.

eddie quietly exhaled before stepping aside and opening the door, letting richie into the small space.

richie entered, taking in the aura. this entire place was overwhelmingly eddie. it smelt like him, which made perfect sense because this was where eddie lived. eddie smelt like peppermint and vanilla. the walls were bare, save a couple posters of kurt cobain and a few hanging plants.

kurt cobain.

eddie had ruined nirvana for richie. richie couldn't listen to a single nirvana song the entire time he was away. which was fine, because richie hadn't listened to nirvana until he met eddie.

obviously he knew the classic edgy teenager songs by nirvana that everyone knew, other than the select few popular songs, richie hadn't cared to listen.

eddie looked the exact same. he dressed the same way, he smelt like he always had. his hair was a little bit grown out, and it was damp. eddies eyes seemed duller, which made richie upset, because eddies eyes had always been bright.

"you can sit." eddie said quickly, motioning towards the bed. richie nodded and sat down, letting his eyes dart around the room. he didn't want to look at eddie, which was kind of funny because he had come here to see eddie.

"eds," richie said after a while of sitting in silence. eddie looked over, still standing at the door.

"yeah?" eddie hasn't moved. he didn't want to be any closer to richie than he had been before.

"i uh, look i'm sorry for coming here. it was, this was a mistake. i'm gonna go." richie got up and made his way to the door. eddie grabbed his arm just as he went to turn the door handle.

"don't go." eddie felt chills spread around his body. he didn't know what else to say, he just knew that he didn't want richie to leave.

"why didn't you call? or answer my calls, or my texts, or anything?" richie turned around to face eddie, whose face had sunk. the smaller looked as though he was ready to cry. the sight made richies heart break.

"i wanted to. i did. i just didn't want to hold you back. i had already left, and i wanted you to have a good time on your tour. it's a big deal, richie. a world tour? that's huge. it was your first one, and i didn't want you to be stuck thinking about me the entire time, so i thought that if i didn't contact you, that you'd resent me and realize that you're to good to be caught up on me."

"don't do that, eddie." eddie looked up, confusion spreading onto his face. richie didn't seem mad, but he sounded furious.

"don't do what?"

"don't act like you thought that i'd just give up. you know that i'm infatuated with you. do you understand that since the moment i saw you i've been in love with you? there was no way that i was just going to drop it. you're more important to me than any world tour. i thought that i made that clear."

"you did! i know that you loved me. but i couldn't let you throw everything that you've worked for away for me. i didn't want to ruin it. " tears made their way down eddies face, and richie pulled him into a hug. eddie returned the embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around the others back.

"eddie, you wouldn't have ruined it. you couldn't have."