Chapter Text
Eddie opened his eyes and slightly groaned as he stretched out his arm to warp it around Richie. However, he frowned when he realized that Richie wasn’t beside him anymore. “Richie,” questioned Eddie as he patted the spot harshly in case Richie had rolled over. When he realized that he wasn’t in the bed at all, fear sparked through him.
Eddie rolled over on the other side and pulled a small chain attached to the small lamp to illuminate the room in a light orange hue. He slightly squinted while frowning when he realized that Richie wasn’t on the bed or even in the room. The wasn’t like Richie at all not to be in the bed. He was a very snugly person and was constantly hugging Eddie in his sleep and burying his head against his chest. The fact that he just up and left was unlike him.
The fear was enough to pull Eddie’s focus and he couldn’t go back to sleep until he knew that Richie was alright. He grunted as he sat up and threw the covers from his body. He set his bare-feet on the carpeted ground while throwing his arms over his head in a massive stretch. He then straightened and made his way out of the bedroom quietly. He started down the hallway and was nearly knocked off his feet at the heat.
“Damn, it’s hot in here,” panted Eddie as he pulled at the collar of the t-shirt that he was wearing.
He pushed down the uncomfortableness and made his way into the kitchen. He glanced over the counter to the living room to see the large couch that was across from the TV. He saw a foot sticking out and relief washed over him when he realized that Richie had went to the couch. Although, he couldn’t understand as to why.
Eddie made his way over and the couch to see Richie bundled up in to heavy, fuzzy blankets that were pulled up to his chin. He seemed to be sleeping, but Eddie couldn’t leave him peacefully until he found out exactly why Richie was on the couch.
He walked over and frowned when he heard Richie snore. He didn’t usually snore, but his mouth was open as he struggled to bring in air. His nose was slightly red while his face seemed even paler than usual. Eddie forced his thoughts down as he stretched out his hand and poked Riche firmly. “Rich? Richie!”
Richie opened his eyes and it took him a minute to find out where he was. His gaze then snapped onto Eddie and he cleared his throat with a small cough. “Eddie, what are you doing,” he rasped. “Can you not sleep?”
Eddie shook his head as he continued to try and take Richie in. “I just woke up and you weren’t beside me. I wanted to make sure that you were alright.”
Richie seemed to blush as he looked down at the floor. “I’m fine. Just couldn’t sleep,” he answered dryly.
A look of hurt flashed across Eddie’s face and he did his best to ignore it. He gave his head a much needed shake as he continued as if what Richie said hadn’t hurt his feeling. “I know that I do move around a lot and—“
“It wasn’t because of you,” interrupted Richie, still snuggling deeply into the thick blankets.
Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Then what was it because?”
Richie seemed to shiver under Eddie’s intense gaze. “Nothing,” he mumbled almost into his chest.
Eddie still wasn’t convinced. He let out an exasperated sigh as he glanced at the blankets. “What are you doing? How can you still be hot,” he questioned as he reached to grab the top one to pull it off Richie. Eddie was practically pooling in sweat just thinking about it.
Richie let out a gasp as he drew back away from Eddie’s reach. Eddie was left dumbfounded as Richie pressed himself as firmly against the back of the couch as possible. “No! Don’t touch me,” he seethed.
Eddie felt even more hurt seem to slice into his heart. He knew that it had only been a few months since they arrived back in Derry and defeated Pennywise for the second time. Richie thinking that he lost Eddie and having to truly face his sexuality had been a source of pure turmoil for Richie. Richie had tried to cover it up with smart remarks and sarcastic comments, but Eddie knew that truth. He knew how difficult it had been for Richie and that Richie didn’t enjoy talking about it. Eddie had been up many nights because Richie would be in the midst of a nightmare and Eddie would need to talk him out of it.
However, Richie was always a touching kind of person. He enjoyed snuggling with Eddie or holding his hand as they walked down the street. Even when they were cooking dinner Richie couldn’t keep his hands off Eddie. To have Richie so viciously reject Eddie’s touch had been like a spear to his heart and Eddie wasn’t sure what to react.
Eddie managed to lean back as he glanced away from Richie. “I’m sorry,” he began with a slight rasp to his tone. “I didn’t meant to make you upset.”
Richie’s eyes seemed to light in understanding at how Eddie took the words that he had just said. “No, Eds, I didn’t....” He trailed off as he lowered his head to his chest where the blanket was bundled up. He started to cough, wet, harsh hacks that shook his shoulders and jarred his body. His eyes started to water while each cough ended in a painful wheeze that caused his chest to tighten.
Eddie felt goosebumps beginning to show on his arms. He longed to rush to the cupboard and take any medicine as well as Lysol the life out of Richie.
He suddenly took in a grounding breath with his eyes partially closed. They had been working through this in therapy; that not every cough or sneeze meant something. He could learn to live without the constant terror of illness or injury. Besides, it was always different when it was one of his friends, especially one that he cared so deeply for. Even though Richie was his best friend, he was now his boyfriend and that meant a certain level of responsibility to take care of each other. His affection for Richie overwhelmed his fear of anything.
“Sorry,” Richie mumbled when he had finally regained his breath.
“Is your throat just sore? You’ve been doing a lot of shows lately. Maybe you just need to water and you’ll be good to go for tomorrow,” Eddie suggested as he straightened.
Richie shook his head once more. “Eddie, wait, I—“He suddenly cut off as he took in a large breath with his head falling down again. “HrchsRhsSH! HRchrSHsSH!” His nose wiggled on his face while the faraway look in his eyes remained.
“Bless you,” Eddie offered as he watched Richie sit between sneezy limbo. He couldn’t help look tot he patch of blanket that Richie sneezes on as he saw millions of germs walking around. ‘At least he mostly covered his mouth,’ Eddie mused.
Richie blinked his eyes once more before pitching forward again. “HRchrSHsSH! RHchrsHsSH!” Once he was finished, he blinked a few tears from his eyes while swallowing thickly.
Everything suddenly made sense to Eddie. The fact that Richie moved to the couch in the middle of the night, the cough, and now the sneezing. Everything made more sense now. “Oh Richie,” sympathized Eddie as he looked to his shivering, sniffling mass of boyfriend. “You’re sick, aren’t you?”
Panic seemed to rise in Richie’s chest as he looked to Eddie. “I-I’m sorry, Eds. I thought it was just a sore throat from my shows and then my nose started to get clogged. I woke up to a little bit coughing and I know how you feel about illness, so I moved out here,” he rambled, fingers twiddling together under the blanket.
Eddie frowned. He hadn’t wanted to be the reason that Richie thought that he had move just to appease him. “Rich, y-you didn’t have to do that,” he stuttered.
“I don’t mind. I’m better off here and you can go back to bed. You have work tomorrow,” Richie pointed out as he lowered his head and rubbed his nose against the corner to relieve the blossoming itch.
Eddie wasn’t about to allow that. He tuned swiftly and headed toward one of the closets in the hallway. He grabbed one of the numerous boxes of tissues that Eddie had stocked and headed back to Richie. He pulled the thin cardboard cover from the box before depositing it in front of Richie on the couch. “A tissue is more sanitary than the blanket,” he reminded.
“Oh, right, sorry,” Richie repeated as he grabbed a handful and blew his sore nose.
“It’s alright.” Eddie kneeled down in front of Richie and lifted his hand to feel Richie’s forehead. He didn’t feel it any warmer than usual, but Eddie would’ve preferred to have a thermometer tell him that than his own body’s thermostat.
Richie pulled away swiftly. “It’s just a cold. I’m fine, but I would like to get back to sleep.”
Eddie glanced at Richie, back to the hallway, and then down to Richie. He pushed down any apprehension that he had to begin to pull the blankets from Richie.
Richie looked almost panicked as he stretched out his hands to pull the blankets back. “What are you doing,” he complained in shock.
“You’re sick,” Eddie pointed out a she continued to pull the blankets from Richie.
Richie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m well aware.”
“And you shouldn’t be laying here on the couch when there’s a nice warm bed for you,” Eddie pointed out when he finally managed to wrangle the blankets from Richie’s steel grip.
Surprise flickered in Richie’s gaze as he let out a dry cough against the crook of his elbow. “Where,” he asked distractedly.
“Mine, you idiot.” Eddie’s voice was warm with the tease at Richie’s foolishness. “I mean ours. You’re going to go back to where we were, is what I’m trying to say.”
Richie wrinkled his nose with his eyes slightly screwed shut as if he was trying to hold back another sneeze. He eventually pried his eyes open before shaking his head. “That’s alright. I-I think I’ll just stay here,” he decided uncomfortably.
Eddie let out the breath that he hadn’t even been sure he was holding. He knew exactly why Richie was refusing to come back to bed. Eddie had always been a germaphobe and had freaked out when they were young when Richie, or any of the losers, had come down with any sort of ailment. He would keep his distance and refused to do anything with them even after they would come back to school for at least a week to make sure that they were perfectly healthy. That had been when he was young and 27 years later, things hadn’t changed. Richie had lost his voice due to a couple intense shows a few weeks prior and Eddie had almost sectioned himself off from Richie in their bedroom with Richie in the living room. Richie couldn’t imagine what Eddie would be like when Richie was actually sick with something. As soon as he woke up coughing, he headed to the living room so that he wouldn’t wake or freak out Eddie.
“I’m sorry, Richie,” Eddie suddenly exclaimed.
Richie’s eyes widened. “What for? You haven’t done anything!”
Eddie frowned as he looked to Richie, who seemed more stunned than anything else. He lifted his foot a bit and nudged it against part of Richie’s curled legs. “Scoot over so I can sit beside you,” he instructed.
Richie’s lungs burned as he shifted into an upright position. He tried to swallow a few bubbling coughs, but they were dragged from them. He aimed them over his shoulder away from Eddie while Eddie slightly shuddered beside him at the thought of Richie not covering his mouth. Eddie pushed those thoughts aside as Richie straightened fully while still being slightly away from Eddie so that he didn’t freak him out.
Eddie was well aware of how uncomfortable Richie seemed to be with being close to him. He longed to rest his hand on Richie’s shoulder or knee, yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Have you taken any medicine yet,” he asked.
Richie shook his head. “Um, no. I’m not sure where you keep it,” he confessed.
Eddie rolled his eyes. “It’s this thing called a medicine cabinet. No, it’s really weird that you would actually keep medicine in it.”
“Asshole,” Richie sputtered as his laugh turned into a wretched cough. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he fought the impulse to nudge Eddie. Any direct physical contact would undoubtedly send Eddie right over the edge. “I would never touch your precious supply.”
Eddie chuckled back to Richie. “Well, that should be the first thing that we do.”
“We,” echoed Richie in shock.
Eddie pulled himself to his feet and turned to glance at Richie, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Yes, we,” he replied with a proud nod of his head. “Now that you’ve roped me in, I’m not going anywhere.”