#richie def works for the govt

[tinyarmedtrex]

PART 2 OF THE PAIN FIC! i know it just came out but i’m already intrigued

OK EVERYONE HERE IT IS. 

Read part one here.

The kiss left Eddie reeling, but not in the way he’d been prepared for. He’d expected to feel pain, Richie’s worst moments, the things he felt whenever he touched another person. 

Instead he felt nothing. No emotions, no feelings. It was like Richie was a void, empty. 

It was far scarier than the pain.

Eddie broke the kiss nearly immediately, pulling back and gasping for breath. The touch had left him reeling. Richie had been smiling but the grin dropped from his face as he saw Eddie’s reaction. 

“What- Eds, what’s wrong?”

“What are you?” He asked, horrified. Richie reached for him, confused, and Eddie took a step back, stumbling against the wall. “Don’t touch me. I can’t- you’re not human. What the fuck are you?”

“Eds, of course I’m human. What do you mean?” He asked with a light laugh.

Eddie shook his head. “You’re not. You’re- something else. Something wrong” With that Eddie turned, darting out of Richie’s apartment and back to the safety of his own, slamming the door and falling against it before sinking to the ground. His head fell to his knees as he tried to catch his breath, begging his heart to stop hammering against his chest. 

The date had gone well. Richie had made pizza, they’d watched a movie. He’d been careful not to crowd or touch Eddie. They’d talked the whole time and Eddie had laughed until his stomach hurt. It was the most normal he had felt in a long time.

Then as he’d been getting ready to leave Richie had asked to kiss him. Somehow, stupidly, Eddie had convinced himself it would be fine.

God he’d been wrong. That nothingness he’d felt was scarier than any of pain he’d expected. And Richie had seemed so confused by his reaction. 

What the hell was he? 

“Eddie! Come on.” Richie was banging on his door. “Come out! We gotta talk about this!”

Eddie didn't want to talk though. He didn’t want to confront the idea that Richie, his neighbor, his friend, his- whatever, was something else, something less than human. 

“No we don’t.” Eddie called back, lifting his head so Richie could hear him. “Leave me alone.” 

Then Eddie buried his head again, wishing that Richie would just leave. Whatever he was he was clearly lying about not knowing and Eddie didn’t want to deal with it. He had enough of his own shit to handle without - whatever he was. 

He should have known that Richie was persistent though. He continued banging on the door. “We’re neighbors! I see you every day! And you’re making me look like the insane neighbor out here, yelling at a door. At least tell me what I did wrong!” 

Eddie stood, opening his door as far as the chain lock would let him. “You know! You aren’t human! You-” Eddie’s bottom lip trembled. All he’d wanted was a date. A chance to be normal for once but no, that wasn’t how Eddie’s life worked. He’d had to fall for -what- a demon? Another freak like him? It didn’t matter. 

“Don’t cry.” Richie reached through the door, cupping his cheek. 

The action startled him and Eddie darted back, closing the door was he did.

“Ow! Fuck!” Richie cried as his wrist was caught in the door. 

“Shit! Oh my god, Richie!” Eddie hurriedly opened it, letting Richie pull his hand back and then unlocked the door, crowding him and looking at his wrist. It was red and there was a little blood. “Fuck, I’m so sorry I- I can bandage you up. Just wait there.” Eddie ran off without waiting for a reply, grabbing his first aid kit. When he got back Richie was in his entry way, holding his wrist and looking around. Eddie had never had someone in his apartment before. He pushed away any others thoughts as he went to Richie. He was good at this, at bandaging people up. He’d had to learn how as a kid since he couldn’t let other people touch him. Cleaning out a scrapped knee alone was better than having someone else touch him for that long. 

“Bodily harm is what it takes to get you to open the door huh?” Richie asked, watching as Eddie spread the kit out on his table. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m going to fix it.” He said, grabbing a band aid. “Hold out your hand.” Richie compiled, letting Eddie quickly clean it then press the band aid to it. Then he grabbed an ice pack. “Here. I am sorry.”

“About the door or about running away?” Richie asked. 

Eddie swallowed, subconsciously taking a step back. “The door. You should still go.”

Richie’s face fell. Eddie hated how much it hurt to know it was his fault. But he couldn’t trust Richie. He couldn’t trust anyone but Richie was even more dangerous. He was different and different meant bad. Eddie’s mom had drilled that much into him.

“I’ll leave, if that’s what you want. But I’m going to ask once more, will you tell me what happened? Am I that bad of a kisser?”

Eddie shook his head. “No. No you aren’t. Not at all.” Eddie wasn’t sure if it was a good kiss, he’d pulled away too quickly to know but he knew from how Richie made him laugh, how his eyes travelled over Eddie, that it would have been amazing. He hated that he would never find out. 

Richie look relieved and he turned, taking two steps towards the door before Eddie called out, “Do you really not know?” It seemed unlikely, Eddie was hyper aware that he was different. How could Richie not know it?  But he seemed genuinely confused and Eddie knew that Richie was many things but a good liar wasn’t one of them. 

Richie turned back, confused. “Know what?”

“That you’re- different.” He spat the word out. 

“My teachers always told me I was most annoying student they’d ever seen. Other than that though-” Richie shrugged. “What do you mean?”

Eddie wasn’t sure how to explain it without sounding insane but Richie was there, waiting, and Eddie wanted to tell him. For some dumb, inexplainable reason he trusted Richie. “I can- when I touch someone I can see their pain, the hurt. But with you there’s nothing.”

“Maybe I’ve had a good life.” He joked.

Eddie pressed his lips together. “You think I’m lying.” 

“I think that you believe what you’re saying.” Richie said carefully. 

“Come with me.” Eddie grabbed Richie’s hand and, trying to ignore the utter nothingness he felt, dragged him outside. It wasn’t long before they ran into a group of people. It was late but their building was right off a busy street.  Eddie let each of them brush his shoulders, trying not to shudder at the contact. Next to him Richie was watching with obvious concern. 

“That guy was abused by his stepdad, the woman was sexually assaulted on a date and the last guy got fired last week.” Eddie whispered, pointing as he spoke. 

Richie looked at him in awe but Eddie could see he wasn’t convinced so he raised his head, shouting to the group. “Good luck with the job search!”

The third guy stopped and turned to Eddie, confused. “Um, thanks? How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess.” 

The strangers kept walking and now Richie was watching him like he had a second head. “Shit you were serious.” 

“As a heart attack.” Eddie said, rubbing his shoulders and trying to will the bad memories away. It’d been a long time since he’d touched three people at once. He was good at avoiding crowds, at avoiding people in general.

Richie reached out, pulling him into a hug. Automatically he stiffened but then let himself lean into it, enjoying the unusual sensation. 

“It’s been a while since someone hugged me.” He said quietly, resting a cheek on Richie’s chest. 

“That’s really fucking sad.” Richie said, squeezing him gently. Then he pulled back, looking down at Eddie. “You really get nothing from me?” 

Eddie shook his head. “It’s like- TV static. There’s nothing.”

“Romantic.” 

“Romance has never really been an option for me anyway.” 

Richie looked down at him, brushing aside some of his hair. It was a casual gesture but the softness of it made him want to cry. He had to stop himself from leaning into it. 

“That’s a rough life Eds.” Richie stopped, his hand on Eddie’s cheek. Then his face lit up. “Maybe we’re soulmates. That’s why it doesn’t hurt.” 

“Soulmates aren’t real.”

“Says the guy who can feel other people’s pain.” 

“Fair enough.” Eddie looked up at him, emotions churning in him. He didn’t know what to make of this, any of it. It didn’t make sense. 

“You really didn’t know you were different?” Richie shook his head. For a minute neither spoke. Eddie was trying to figure out what that meant, if he really believed Richie. He was sure that Richie was wondering the same thing.

Finally Eddie asked, “What do we do now?” 

“Well the way I see it we’ve got two options.” Richie held up a finger. “One, we ignore each other and our obvious chemistry. I’ll go back to watching you dance from the window and you can go back to conveniently getting your mail when I get home from work.”

 Eddie blushed, he didn’t know he’d been that obvious. “Or?”

“Or,” Richie held up a second finger. “We go up to your apartment and talk. You tell me more about your power and I listen.” 

He paused, considering the options. He was so sick of being alone, even if it wasn’t safe he wanted to let someone in.

 “How do I know you aren’t some government spy or something?” 

Richie did a spin, tripping over his own feet as he did. “Do you think any government would hire me?”

Eddie chuckled. “No, I guess not.” He nodded firmly. “Let’s go to my apartment.”

A smile spread over Richie’s face. Eddie was too happy to notice that it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I had really hoped you’d pick that one.”

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#reddie #part 2 #spoilers #richie def works for the govt #you're welcome #just let that little fact stew frr a bit #tinyarmedtwrites #Anonymous