(1) The Thing Is, Richie Knows. He Knows This Isn't Something Friends Do. He Knows That If Anyone Saw

(1) The thing is, Richie knows. He knows this isn't something friends do. He knows that if anyone saw them, it would be... bad. But he also knows that when he touches Eddie's hand, it opens to him, and if he holds on, Eddie holds on right back. He also knows that when they settle close to each other during a sleepover, and everyone else is snoring, if they're in separate sleeping bags, Eddie's arm will steal out, and rest against his own, and sometimes he sees his eyes shining in the dark.

(2) Richie knows that when he teases Eddie, when Eddie shrieks and protests and threatens him, he doesn't mean not to-- not to give him nicknames and tickle him and pick him up and get too close. That he has to say it because he can't, he's not supposed to, like it when Richie touches him and says secret-sweet things. Richie knows that his gut twists every time he sees Eddie flushed and panting and struggling against the brightest, most beautiful grin in the world. He knows what it means.

(3) They're in the room over Eddie's garage, bickering playfully over a comic book, when Richie soothes over the pretend hurt with a kiss. It's supposed to be a joke, it's supposed to be on the cheek, cartoonish playfulness, but it brushes the corner of his mouth and he can feel Eddie's gasp and the soft, warm sigh that follows, and Richie knows that he's crossed a line. But Eddie has let him cross it.

(4) "Eddie?" He whispers, and he knows, he knows, but his voice still trembles, his fingers still tremble as they trace over Eddie's cheek. So soft and so warm, and he knows that if he lets his touch drift down towards Eddie's jaw, he'll feel the first blush of peach fuzz not yet resolved into a beard. He knows that if he brushes his thumb across Eddie's lip, he'll feel that sigh again. "What are we?"

(5) "I don't know." Eddie whispers back, so soft he barely makes a sound, but Richie knows. They are Richie-and-Eddie, and if he takes Eddie past their initials on the kissing bridge and points them out, he knows that Eddie will touch his hand, will give him that look that says 'later', 'alone'. He knows the excited dance of his eyes that comes when they are alone, knowing that they can touch in ways they don't dare do even among the Losers. Doesn't Eddie know, too? "Rich-- I..."

(6) "You can tell me to stop. I will." Richie says, but this, too, he knows. He knows that Eddie won't, because he's always had the power to stop him. He's always invited more. And it's true-- at the mere suggestion that this could stop, Eddie's arms wind around him. Eddie's lips very nearly meet his. They stop short, but Richie knows this for an invitation, because Eddie has always made invitations, has always reached for him and waited for Richie to bridge the gap. It's something they both do.

(7/7) What Richie doesn't know is if he should call this their first kiss, or if he can call it their second. One and a half? He knows that Mrs. K isn't home, and that while she barges into Eddie's room, she prefers not to disturb this space, with its storage boxes and mess of comics, and he knows it's safe to kiss Eddie here for at least another hour of their afternoon. He knows who and what he is, and for the first time the idea fills him with nothing but joy. He is Eddie's.

THANK YOU ANONN !!