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Eddie Kaspbrak knows he’s not funny.
He’s known it since childhood when he couldn’t even make his best friend laugh at a single joke of his. Yeah, of course, other Losers sometimes would laugh to tears after most successful jokes of Eddie. However, he felt it was more of a pity laugh rather than anything real.
Why did he think so anyway? Because Richie Tozier was the only one who never laughed. And ironically, he was the only one whose laugh would matter anything to Eddie.
In a world where everything is based around laughter, not being funny enough even to make your friend, leave alone your soulmate, crack a smile was just hurtful.
The universe was dumb enough to create a world where you only started seeing colours after hearing your soulmate laugh at your joke. And it was supposed to be a sincere laugh, not the forced one. And obviously, the culture used the hell of the concept milking the subject and romanticizing t as hard as possible. Growing up, surrounded by the stories of those who found their significant others after cracking just one joke. Reading books about princes who make their princesses laugh to get married and live happily after. And then coming back to reality where your closest person doesn’t even smile? Shit, man, that felt just unfair. But Eddie learnt to live with it.
He himself laughed at Richie’s jokes much more often than he maybe was supposed to. Although many were dumb or straightly offensive, Richie’s charisma made them incredibly funny. And sometimes Eddie used to think how lucky the bastard was. Having enough charisma and a good sense of humour can help you find a soulmate in no time.
At some point, Eddie decides that the best he can do is to stop trying. No more playing a clown, no more jokes. Maybe he just isn’t supposed to be with someone; maybe he doesn’t even need a soulmate? He grows sick with those fake laughs and smiles from his friends and family and never tries to joke anymore, forcefully turning himself into a Serious Person until he doesn’t only forget how to joke but how to laugh as well.
After leaving Derry for college and forgetting about the Losers, including Richie, Eddie keeps on with his false seriousness. Sometimes he catches himself trying to understand whether he was always like that or not.
“Is it possible that my parents never taught me to laugh?” he thinks. People around him are finding their significant others, marrying, and having children, while he is just turning into a lonely adult.
***
Myra doesn’t laugh ever, too.
Eddie knows that she is not his soulmate just as he knows that he doesn’t love her. Maybe it’s just convenient. There are not so many people in the world ready to spend their whole life with a dull hypochondriac without any sense of humour whatsoever. So he marries Myra, getting used to this way of living.
He is not sure what she thinks, though. Maybe she hopes to crack him at least once and see the colours? Eddie’s not sure whether he wants to know it. He can’t give her what she wants anyways.
They once sit together in front of a TV, three years into marriage. Some dumb show which is supposed to be funny comes on, and they decide to give it a chance. There are no better alternatives on a Friday evening anyway. Myra is into her puzzle while Eddie tries to finish his job with his laptop on his knees when he hears a voice from a TV that somehow feels slightly known to him.
The man on the telly is tall, and his hair is sticking out in all possible (and two-three impossible) directions. It’s definitely some dark colour, and Eddie catches himself wondering which one it is in particular. There are glasses with giant lenses on the comedian’s nose. He must really see nothing without them, Eddie thinks, suddenly concentrating on the TV.
“Hey, everyone!” the guy says, waving from a stage. He is standing in the light, using his hand to cover his eyes while they get used to it. “Wow, there’s, like, a lot of you there! Anyway, we’re not here to talk about you, am I right? I mean, it’s still my show.”
Laughs from the crowd encourage the man to go on. Eddie forgets about his job, following the face on the screen with his eyes and trying to remember where he knows the man from.
“My name is Richie Trashmouth,” the comedian says, and Eddie can’t help but think, What the hell of a name is that? A few jokes later, though, he gets it. Richie’s repertoire mostly consists of low-brow and dirty jokes. However, it’s his charisma that makes it suck a little bit less.
At some point, when Eddie is close to changing the channel, someone from the crowd screams at Richie, drawing Eddie’s attention once again. “You suck!” they scream, and he sees Richie smile. This makes Eddie stop with a remoter in one hand. The look on Richie’s face fascinates him. The comedian’s thinking, coming up with a comeback, and Eddie wants to know what he’ll say.
“That’s not how I planned to come out to your mom, but yeah, you got it right. I do suck,” He says, clearly too self-satisfied with his improvisation. The audience bursts into laughter, and Eddie, shockingly to himself, joins them. Understanding what just happened, he immediately shuts up. Dead silence hangs in the room while Richie keeps talking from the screen. Myra’s looking at him, Eddie knows she does. It’s the first time he laughed since they met, and he’s laughing at a mom joke.
“Sorry, darling,” he says, “He took me by surprise.”
Myra doesn’t say anything, but Eddie notices how her face falls.
***
That's when Eddie starts secretly watching every single show of Richie’s. He notices fast that he only cracks over the comebacks and improv parts, wondering why. The answer comes a bit later.
Richie doesn’t write his material. It seems the only thing he brings into the show, apart from his charisma and voice, are the improvisations. And they are the funniest parts of the show, the only parts Eddie keeps on watching for.
***
When Mike Hanlon calls and Eddie returns to Derry, there are three shocking things he has to know.
Firstly, he used to laugh a lot as a child. Secondly, it was usually Richie Trashmouth Tozier who would make him laugh as hard as never. This guy also turns out to be his childhood best friend, which explains why Eddie’s sense of humour is so fucked up. The third thing is the most important one. Richie, indeed, doesn’t write his own material.
Eddie creates a mental reminder to suggest Richie write a show by himself once if they ever make it out of Derry alive.
When the memories are back, Eddie soon notices that Richie never grew up in terms of humour. Weirdly, there’s something attractive about it. Out of all, Richie is the closest to his child version, and it makes Eddie feel like he’s standing on solid ground.
Richie is, indeed, the same as he used to be. He keeps on joking about moms, Eddie’s mom in particular. Richie never stops babbling and talking. And he still never laughs at anything Eddie says, although everyone else seems to be able to crack him with the simplest line.
Next to Richie, Eddie vice versa learns how to laugh all over again. Of course, Richie’s jokes are childish and immature. But turns out this is the type of humour Eddie’s the most into.
Sometimes Eddie wonders whether Richie found his soulmate yet. He sees no ring on his finger, and it makes him feel a bit easier. Still, Richie and his boyfriend (or girlfriend. The bastard never specified his orientation in any of his shows, so he might easily be bisexual) might not be interested in getting married. The amount of thoughts about Richie’s marital status at some point starts to creep Eddie out, so he tries his best to minimize them.
The answer comes from where Eddie the least expects it.
After Richie stabs Henry Bowers, Eddie follows him to the bathroom to wash up after vomiting. Eddie’s holding Richie’s elbow, too scared that he might feel unwell. When they reach the room, Richie takes off his jacket, throws it on a chair behind and turns on the water. After rinsing it into his face, he quickly wipes it with a towel.
All this time, Eddie is standing right behind him, making sure Richie’s fine. “You okay?” he asks.
“Well, if we ignore the part where I just killed a man, yeah, I’m fine,” Richie jokes turning his face to Eddie and still looking too white compared to the shade of it Eddie’s used to. They stand in silence for a few more moments, just looking at one another, when Richie suddenly mutters, “I think we better get going.”
He almost runs out of the bathroom and screams to Eddie, “Shit! Forgot my jacket. Can you please grab it? The dark green one.”
Oh. Weirdly, Eddie feels like he’s genuinely hurt by that. The chills are running up his spine as he grabs the jacket left by Richie and goes downstairs.
Of course, he has a soulmate, he’s a comedian. People laugh all the time, he’s a very charismatic and handsome man. It’s not supposed to hurt and shock Eddie as much as it does for whatever reason.
Richie notices that something’s wrong when Eddie hands the jacket to him, face completely blank and a fake smile on. Now you really are a Trashmouth, Eddie reads his thoughts from his face. Shit, he also made Richie feel ashamed for being happy.
“You know I’m happy for you, right? That’s cool that you found them,” Eddie assures him, trying to smile more sincerely and patting Richie’s shoulder with his palm, “Never let them go. There can’t be many people laughing at your shitty fuckin’ jokes genuinely.”
Richie smiles back but stays silent.
***
After Pennywise pierces him with a claw, Eddie’s side feels like it’s been set on fire after a giant crocodile took a bite from it, and somebody poured whiskey at the wound for it to burn a little more. He thinks he’s close to going into a painful shock.
Shit, I don’t want to die, Eddie thinks hysterically.
Richie’s there, right in front of him, mouthing something he can’t make out. This makes Eddie feel a little better, and a little easier. Then a thought comes to him. An incredibly dumb one, one of a kind idiotic thought that he truly wants to fulfil.
“Richie, I got to tell you something,” Eddie says, deciding to give it one last try. Because if not now then fuckin’ when, right?
“What? What’s up, buddy?” Richie whispers, sounding truly terrified as he gets closer to him. Eddie can’t help but notice that he’s shaking crazy. He wants to make it stop because seeing Richie Tozier, the always funny Richie Tozier who always cracks the stupidest of jokes brings him physical pain.
“I fucked your mom,” Eddie says, closing his eyes and laughing, when he hears something else. Something he has never expected to hear.
Richie’s laughing. He’s laughing at Eddie’s joke. It’s a nervous laugh mixed with tears, but it’s so different from all the other laughs he heard from Richie throughout the years.
Eddie opens his eyes to see him laughing and notices that something around him has… changed? It’s hard to tell what, thanks to the pitch dark in whatever shit hole they are, but Eddie can swear that something went different in those seconds he kept his eyes closed.
It feels like blacks, whites and greys around him are not so black, white and grey anymore. Before understanding what he’s doing, Eddie lifts his hand a little closer to the disgusting glow that seems to be the only light source available. And his hand… It’s not grey. It’s…
***
“Red!” the class shouts in unison.
“Yes, you’re right. Blood is red,” Mrs Andrews says, showing them a cut on her hand.
Although children cannot fully grasp the understanding of colour since they’ve never seen it, the basic concepts are taught to them at school. The blood, which comes out of the wound, is red; the grass under their feet is green; the sky is blue; the Sun is yellow.
Making them learn all the primary colours by heart is supposed to make future adaptation easier. It is widely known that earlier people were too overwhelmed by the number of colours around them after meeting their significant other. They say that the weakest of them turned crazy, unable to get used to their new life.
Eddie would never confess to anyone that he was slightly afraid to be the one to lose his mind because of the colours. Still, he knew that it is an inevitable consequence of finding his soulmate, and he was ready to go crazy.
“That’s just dumb,” Richie Tozier, the boy he doesn’t talk too much to, whispered to him from the left seat, «I don’t get the point of teaching us colours if we can’t even see them.”
Eddie gives him a What are you, an idiot? look.
“But you’ll once see colours. Everyone does. That’s how soulmates work.”
Richie looks at him, raising his eyebrows.
“Oh, come on. We’ve both seen me, eh?”
Eddie doesn’t understand what he wants to say. If he’s to judge, Richie looks cute to him. Eddie wants to say it out loud, but Richie turns away from him as Mrs Andrews throws a look at them, hinting that she hears them.
***
Eddie’s hand, dirty from his blood, is red, and for a few seconds, it makes him lose the sense of who and where he is. When he comes back, Richie’s still there, looking at him with fear in his eyes, squeezing his shoulders.
“Eddie! Eds! You okay, buddy? Don’t leave me, you got it?” He repeats, trying to catch Eddie’s glance.
Of fuckin' course, Eddie manages to think before passing out.
***
When he comes round again, It is gone, and Richie is once again on his knees next to him, trying to make him wake up. Eddie makes a quiet groan from pain, and Richie exhales, “Thank God! Fuck, Eds, never do that shit to me!”
You’ve known for years and never told me, Eddie thinks, trying to put on an angry look. He fails, though, so the look turns out to be more of a Get me out of here before I kick the fuckin’ bucket one.
Ben and Bill seem to get it first, so they put Richie aside and gently pick Eddie up.
“You okay, man?” Ben asks. After hearing Eddie's approving M-hhm, they start moving, getting him out of the place as Richie follows, constantly asking Eddie, “Hold on, buddy, come on. You can do it, I know you can.”
Richie’s voice reaches him in a blurry way as if they were separated by a glass wall. Still, it helps Eddie concentrate on not losing consciousness again, so he holds on to it as a drowning man holds on to their saviour.
When they get closer to the top, Eddie finally makes sure the magic worked. He sees the yellow Sun shining in the blue sky as they are walking on the green grass. And although there are so many colours around him, Eddie knows which ones he wants to see the most.
When they finally stop, Ben sits him carefully on the grass near the tree and goes to check on Mike and Beverly, while Bill calls for an ambulance. Eddie turns his head nervously trying to see Richie. When he finally does, Richie is almost as white as back then, when the world had no colours. Eddie worries at first, but then, when Richie notices him peeking, the fear goes away because Richie starts… blushing.
Eddie smiles at that. He mouths Richie’s name, asking him to come closer so that his blurry due to blood loss vision doesn’t prevent Eddie from seeing Richie. He tries to grasp as much information as possible. Richie’s jacket is dark green, that’s what Richie called this colour. His hair colour is similar to one of a tree trunk. Brown, Eddie remembers. This one is called brown. Richie’s eyes are brown, too. The colour is so deep Eddie wants to keep staring at him.
Eddie wonders what colour are his hair and eyes. His mother wanted to tell him, but he forbade her, wanting to know by himself after meeting his soulmate. He regretted the decision a million times after but had no choice afterwards. Asking other people to describe your colours could be valued flirting since colours are an intimate thing that should only be about you and your partner.
Richie seems to get nervous because of all the attention.
“Hey, you okay, buddy?” He asks, his voice soft and shaking from worry.
“Cut… the crap,” Eddie exhales, “You fuckin’…”
Richie understands him immediately.
“Yeah, I know, I’m a fucker, a dumbass moron even, I’m sorry. You know what, you can tell me all about it later. I promise to listen. I even promise to listen carefully, jokes aside. And all you’ve got to do is save it ‘till the ambulance comes to help you. That’s a nice fuckin’ deal, right, Eds?”
Eddie silently frowns at him, trying to give the angriest look possible. In the distance, they hear the Losers screaming, “We’re here!”
The ambulance sirens get closer to them while Richie and Edie keep looking at each other as if they are scared that if they break eye contact for a second, the world will go back to black and white.
***
After performing a whole-ass Oscar-worthy dramedy about his desperate need to go with Eddie or he’ll die right here & now featuring all the Losers as cameos, Richie is allowed to follow Eddie to the hospital in the ambulance. While the doctors scurry about Eddie, giving him first aid, Richie sits next to him, holding his hand. Eddie notices that he doesn’t even find this strange. Not only because Richie turned out to be his soulmate but just ‘cause it’s… meant to be this way, right? Richie holding his hand. That’s where his, Eddie’s, the hand belongs, he’s absolutely sure.
When they reach the hospital, Eddie is taken by the doctors while Richie is left in the hall. The last thing Eddie notices is how lonely and lost he seems, standing there and looking at him. This makes Eddie’s heart shrink in a strange way it has never done before.
***
A few hours later Eddie’s stable, and his wound's cleaned and treated. His life is no anymore in danger, and he falls asleep in the ward, exhausted from the fight, the pain and the truth. Richie looks at him sleeping, curled in an armchair that a very kind-looking nurse brought him. She must have felt sorry seeing him from a glass, standing for three hours straight without moving for, like, an inch, as if he were a fuckin’ Madam Tussauds statue.
Richie’s sitting there because he’s suddenly too scared that if he ever goes out of the ward for a second Eddie will disappear in the air at this very moment. So he’s sitting, afraid to move a muscle, skipping breaths one after another.
So, Eddie sees colours now when Richie laughed at his joke 27 years later. This is actually much more horrific than Richie has ever thought. Yeah, of course, it could be that the universe got it wrong and Eddie would not see colours after Richie’s laugh. It happens every once in a while. Easy as a pie, they laugh and you see colours, but nothing else. Your laugh doesn’t click the mechanism. This is truly a tragedy. Most people are afraid to be those living in a world full of colour they have no one to share with.
But now that Eddie sees the colours because of him, another problem appears. Who would even want to have him as a soulmate? A definition of a child-man with dumb jokes and nothing of attractive appearance. Fuck, maybe it would be better for Eddie to never see those damn colours.
As if he could hear Richie’s thoughts buzzing in his mind, Eddie starts moving in his bed, moaning quietly. He’s talking in his sleep, so Richie focuses on it entirely, trying to understand whether he should call a doctor right now.
“Richie…” Eddie mutters in his sleep, his voice filled with worry, “Richie?”
In less than a second Richie’s near him, taking his hand.
“Yeah, Eds, buddy, I’m here. Don’t worry, I’m here.”
“Don’t leave…” Eddie continues, and Richie questions whether he heard him or not. Just in case he decides to answer.
“Never, Eds. Never again.”
***
And Richie never does. This night he sleeps in the armchair, throwing a tantrum at everyone who tries to send him home. The Losers visit them, bringing Richie some food to eat, coffee to drink and clean clothes to change into. They stay there with him for a bit, talking about what happened.
“I really can’t believe It’s gone for good,” Beverly says, looking nowhere.
“Me neither,” agrees Mike, “It just still feels like… like it’s playing with us.”
They stay silent for a few minutes before Richie speaks up.
“Do you guys think we get to keep our memories this time?”
He needs to say no more for everybody to understand. He means he’s afraid Eddie’ll forget him. And even more, he’s afraid of forgetting Eddie himself. Nobody answers at first, too scared to give him false hopes.
Ben comes closer and puts a hand on Richie’s shoulder. “Fuck that forgetting shit, dude. You found him, now never let go,” he throws a quick look at Beverly, slightly smiling at her.
Richie laughs nervously and, when he notices everybody looking at him, explains, “That’s what he told me. Ironically, isn’t it?”
The Losers leave shortly after, using Richie to write them immediately if something changes. Before going out of the ward, Ben stays to help Richie move the armchair closer to Eddie’s bed so that he can reach him in his sleep without standing up.
“Thanks, man. Bet that’s what motivated you to get so fit all those years. Helping a hopeless gay sleep closer to the love of his life in the ward after being attacked by a child-eating fuckin’ clown.”
Ben cracks a smile at that and suddenly hugs Richie.
“He’ll be fine, Rich. And you two will be. I know it. Try to get rest.”
Richie hugs Ben back, suddenly feeling emotional.
“Thanks, buddy. Will try.”
***
During the night Richie holds Eddie’s hand non-stop, caressing it tenderly every time he starts talking in his sleep. He has no idea what Eddie’s dreaming of but there is him in every single dream. Eddie keeps on calling his name every once in a while and it breaks Richie into pieces and picks him up again at the same time. He tries singing the only lullaby he remembers from his childhood, and suddenly it works and Eddie’s sleep becomes much calmer. Making sure Eddie’s asleep, Richie lets himself get some rest as well.
He wakes up in the morning and starts panicking. He can’t feel Eddie’s hand in his. Richie’s eyes snap open only to meet Eddie’s gaze. Eddie’s hand is found a moment later in Richie’s hair.
“Morning,” Eddie says in a voice dry like a desert, hurting his throat and making him squint. Richie looks around looking for a bottle of water to give him. It’s left on the desk near the bed with a glass, so he pours hands Eddie a half-full glass.
“Morning, Eds,” he says after, watching Eddie drink. Fuck, I must look like a creep, Richie thinks to himself.
Eddie laughs.
“Yes, you do look like a creep. You’ve slept in an armchair near my bed holding my hand and humming a lullaby to me. And I found it cute. We’re both creepy as fuck.”
Richie’s face softens and he lets out a short laugh.
“So why do you get telepathy and I don’t?”
“Because I wasn’t the one being a dick for 30 years, not laughing only to avoid accepting me as a soulmate,” Eddie says. He tries to make a joke out of it but fails and his grudge and doubts seep into his voice, “Why did you never fuckin’ laugh? Am I that not funny or didn’t you just want me? I mean, if it’s the second, that’s fine with me. We’re both grown-ass men, and—”
Richie never lets him finish the phrase, bursting with laughter and tears at the same time, making Eddie give him a worrying look.
“Eddie Kaspbrak, I can officially fuckin’ tell you now and forever. You are the funniest guy I’ve ever met. Can you even imagine how hard it was for me to hold from laughing? Fuckin’ impossible! The only thing harder than that is to ever stop simping over your mom.”
Eddie breaks into a smile for a second but then his face falls.
“The second one it is. I mean, fuck, we’re not 13, you could have just told me that I’m of no interest.”
Eddie is clearly looking for something else to say when Richie knows he’s done with tiptoeing and just pulls Eddie’s hospital robe to bring him into a kiss. At first, it is a little bit awkward. Richie’s cheeks are still wet from tears, his eyeglasses hurt his nose because of an inconvenient angle he chose, and Eddie is legit shocked, expressing it via his humming into Richie’s mouth.
A few seconds later, though, they are both very, very into kissing. Richie’s hands move higher to cup Eddie’s face. Eddie licks Richie’s lower lip hungrily, which causes him to open his mouth and let Eddie in. As soon as he feels Eddie’s tongue run over his teeth, Richie lets out a moan, which seems to surprise them both.
Eddie breaks the kiss first.
“That was disgusting, Richie Tozier. We were in the sewers yesterday, none of us brushed out teeth for more than 30 hours, and we both stink from sweat. Disgusting.”
Richie, who still has his palms on Eddie’s cheeks, smiles smugly.
“That means you never want to do that again?”
Eddie looks shocked for a second before quickly pressing his lips to Richie’s ones.
“That means I want you to brush your teeth and get me a brush as well, you dumbass.”
And, of course, Richie does both. After laughing for five straight minutes since he’s now allowed to do it.
***
A few hours later all the Losers are in Eddie’s ward, hugging him and crying happily over the end of it. Throughout the visit Richie and Eddie hold hands; none of the Losers seems to be at the very least shocked by that.
They reminisce about their childhood, talk about Stan and think they should help his wife Patricia somehow. They discuss their plans and exchange the dates of their leaving. Everyone is afraid that they’ll end up forgetting once again, but at the same time, all of them are, for some reason, sure it will not happen this time.
When the Losers leave, Eddie and Richie sit in silence for a bit. Then Eddie asks the question that has been drilling a hole in his head since he found out.
“If I am your soulmate, you must have known from the very childhood. I used to laugh a lot at your jokes. Why were you afraid to laugh at mine, Rich?”
Eddie notices how Richie’s eyes start running after the question is in the air. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, so Eddie takes his hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing the knuckles, “You can tell me. I promise I’ll understand.”
Richie laughs, but his laugh seems a little overexcited.
“Well, first of all, I highly recommend you let go of my hand with that mouth of yours before I have a boner right— Eddie, shit!” Richie exclaims when Eddie suddenly sucks one of his fingers in, “I’m trying to have a talk here while you seem to be trying to make me hard right here!”
“So mouth fucking is your thing. Interesting. Answer the question,” Eddie says, ignoring him.
“Fuck me, man,” Richie almost moans.
“Maybe later, if you’ll be a good boy. The question, Rich,” Eddie reminds, finally having mercy on Richie.
Richie nods and restores his breathing before talking. Eddie notices that the pink blush appearing on Richie’s cheeks when he’s getting horny is incredibly hot.
“Didn’t know you were so naughty,” Richie jokes before getting to the serious part, “I’ve been thinking about it yesterday. Not sure whether I was more scared of me not being your soulmate back or me being it, ya know?”
Eddie frowns as if no, he doesn’t know.
“What do you mean by that? That you were afraid of you being my soulmate?”
“Come on, man, I’m literally no girl’s wet dream,” Richie says, trying to tell it easily, “I mean, dude, I have both a record of my shows and a mirror at home. None of them helps with that one much.”
“Okay, well, first of all, the only thing about your shows which sucks is all the material, which you don’t write yourself. Your improvisations rule, Rich. No shit,” Eddie says, making Richie’s mouth form a smile. Eddie reaches out to Richie’s face to cup him, “Look at me. No idea who was that seek fucker who made you believe no one wanted you, but I really do. And what’s that fucked up shit about being a girl's wet dream? You were mine a couple of times, would that be enough for you?”
“For real?” Richie asks, almost breaking into laughter and losing it after Eddie’s nod, “I’m sorry, Eds, it’s an honour. I’m just… I’m just very happy I can now really laugh at your jokes.”
Eddie smiles and focuses on how Richie’s brown eyes sparkle in the Sun, how red lips of his spread out into a smile, and how a dark curl falls on his forehead. He feels his stomach fill with butterflies and places a quick kiss on Richie’s nose.
“You’re very cute when you’re laughing,” he says, “I want to make you laugh constantly.”
***
A few days later, when Eddie's discharged, Richie is there to pick him up. They are leaving Derry together and planning to go to LA. Eddie knows that he's supposed to all Myra and explain it all. However, he wants to find better words than, “Hey, remember that quirky comedian from the telly? He's my childhood best friend and soulmate. Sorry!”
Richie checks the room for the last time when Eddie suddenly remembers.
“Rich, can I ask you something?” he says.
“Sure, love,” Richie answers, inspecting the ward, “Whatever you need.”
“Can you describe me? My hair colour, eye colour. When I looked at you in colour, it changed everything, you know. And I haven't yet got the chance to see myself since then.”
Richie freezes immediately, turning his head to Eddie. His face goes tomato red, and it makes Eddie giggle.
“You alright? I mean, it's just my face. Gosh, can't imagine what it'll be when we get to the sex part.”
Richie stays silent and comes closer to him, almost invading his personal space. That, however, does not exist between them anymore. Richie's higher than him, and Eddie finds it very convenient during hugs. He can't wait to see how the cuddling will be. The stakes are very high here.
“I don't know where this association came from, but I've always compared your hair to dark chocolate,” Richie begins. He seems very serious about his task, “Your eyes are almost black, and they bewitch me every time I look at you. I am unironically afraid of looking at you once and getting hypnotized forever.”
Eddie catches his breath, all ears.
“That's how beautiful they are. You will now have a scar on your cheek,” Richie goes on, tracing the scar with his fingers as if it is pretty, “It is bright pink now, but it'll get better. I will forever hate that bastard for that scar. But the good part? This scar will always be a reminder of how brave you really are.”
Eddie feels his cheeks burning and his eyes getting wet. Richie smiles at him and continues.
“Now your cheeks are turning red. You can't even imagine how cute this is. Eddie Kaspbrak, you are so handsome and precious to me that I want to die and live forever while looking at you. Loving you is like winning in a gambling game, and I think I got to fuck over the whole casino.”
Eddie can't take it anymore or he'll break into pieces. He kisses Richie, trying to let him know everything he's feeling. Judging by how Richie's knees bend, Eddie's more than successful.
They kiss for a few minutes before letting go and looking into each other's eyes.
“Ready to get the fuck out of here?” Richie whispers.
“Fuck, yes, please.”