lightning : reddie

"um, don't worry about taking your shoes off, just cross straight through, i'll be here with your cat. what's her name?" eddie said, turning his keys and letting them into his apartment. richie observed his keychain, it had a few little chains, gifts from his friends, richie figured. eddie closed the door behind them.

"it's nicky. short for jack nicholson. i thought it'd be funny, and the shining had just come out. you get it," richie hurried through eddie's apartment, taking in the very bare kitchen. there was like... no food! no wonder he was tiny! eddie followed behind richie, a purring nicky in tow.

"i've actually never seen the shining, but i have seen one flew over the cuckoo's nest! so i do get it," eddie said, watching richie open his window. he tried to fit his lanky self through the small window, going one leg at a time. eddie thought he looked kinda funny, and couldn't help himself from laughing a little bit. 

"shit, my name's richie, by the way," richie said, fitting his head through the window. it was raining harder now, and the clouds began to look more and more like lightning clouds by the second. eddie nodded. 

richie then had to cross from one fire escape to another, in the pouring rain, on drenched metal. but he could do it, he believed in himself. he took gymnastics as a kid. reaching slowly, one hand gripped his own fire escape, and the other gripped eddie's. eddie felt nervous just watching him. 

"shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" richie said, crossing one leg, and then a second, making it successfully to the other side. eddie breathed a sigh of relief. richie breathed one too, rubbing his chest in stress before reaching for the window. his hands gripped the frame of his window and pulled.

and pulled.

nothing was happening. it wasn't budging. "oh good, fucking jesus, fuck," richie muttered to himself. he kept tugging, but it was no help.

"no success?" eddie's head was peeking out the window, and richie turned back to him with a dejected sigh. he shook his head. eddie furrowed his eyebrows. 

"it's fine, i'll break my windows and fix it later, whatever," richie said, rubbing his knuckles with one hand. 

"no, absolutely not, get your ass back over here, just stay at my place." eddie said, all of a sudden inviting. he leaned a little more out the window, and richie was reminded that eddie was holding his cat. oh, and he looked so cute doing it, too.

"what?" richie didn't know whether he'd take eddie up on his offer or not, but he figured he'd at least need to cross the bridges back to eddie's fire escape, so he started the process. 

it stressed eddie out, but he continued, "if you break the glass you'll fucking freeze or die when the storm hits. just come back here, and i have a couch, you can stay here until either mel gets back from new york or we find a way to get you into your apartment. plus, i get to keep petting your cat." eddie smiled, and richie could not resist that. i mean, who was he, jesus?

"such kindness, eddie from 2-e, how do you know i'm not a killer?" richie clamboured in front of the window, and eddie backed away to let him in. richie, instead, sat on the window sill to take off his shoes, so that he didn't absolutely soak eddie's carpet for the second time.  eddie shook his head and laughed. 

he even had a pretty laugh! maybe richie should lose his keys more often. 

"i've seen you at track meetings at eastern state. you go there, right?" eddie said, richie nodding. "you sit there and watch us run. maybe a stalker, but not a killer." eddie put nicky down on the floor gently to close the window as richie stepped in. 

"you got me there, eds, i've been watching you," richie spoke in the southern drawl of a private detective, and eddie rolled his eyes as he went to grab a towel. 

"absolutely no to the 'eds' thing, by the way. that's disgusting." he returned a couple seconds later, and placed one towel flat on richie's head, and the other on the ground in front of him. richie graciously stepped onto the floor towel. 

while richie dried himself, he scoffed, "you'll love it eds. give it a moment to grow on you." 

"uh huh." eddie opened the fridge, and sighing to himself, he shut it again, "so, you'll sleep on the couch, uh, i don't have much food in right now, but if it looks like you're going to be staying for more than one night, we can go grocery shopping tomorrow."

"for sure, thanks so much, by the way. this is actually, like, so kind, no joke." richie scrubbed the towel on his head, doing very little to really dry his hair, but at least he was trying. eddie laughed a little as richie smacked himself with the towel, trying to dry his arms and legs.

"what?! this is how olympians do it!" richie defended himself, eddie continuing to laugh as he shook his head. outside, a first strike of lightning hit, and nicky meowed from the other side of the apartment. 

"i think there's a reason you're not an olympian, richie." eddie said, and richie rolled his eyes. suddenly, richie felt his phone buzz in his back pocket, and he grabbed it. shit, mike!

"sorry," richie muttered to eddie, picking up the phone, "i'm fine, i found nicky, i locked myself out of the apartment, i'm now in track boy's apartment, so it's fine. love you." he then promptly hung up on mike without letting him get a word in. 

"track boy? you talking about me?" eddie asked, a glass of water in his hand. richie grinned.

"you bet your fur i am." richie winked at eddie dramatically, and eddie laughed again. 

richie could do this. he liked making eddie laugh.