I Loved You First | Reddie
Richie Tozier x Eddie Kaspbrak
Summary: Richie made a promise that if Eddie survived he would man up and tell him how he felt. That little fucker lived to tell the tale and now Richie has to man up at Lovers Bridge.
A/N: My first Reddie fic, my babies are canon! Here’s a fix it fic. Enjoy!
The sun was shining brightly on a nice afternoon in Derry, Richie cracking jokes from the driver’s seat and Eddie desperately trying not to laugh at them. His worst fear was tearing his last set of stitches and having to endure another 4-month stay in the hospital. The hypochondriac should’ve died that night, he blamed it on It being a “sloppy bitch” and missing vital organs or it was because he had unfinished business with his friends and the man in the seat next to him.
“Why are we at Lovers Bridge?” Eddie asks curiously as his head turns with the sign they passed. The trashmouth’s lips formed a tight line, eyes forward with his grip tightening on the steering wheel. It made a promise to himself that if Eddie survived he would tell him how he felt, and that fucker lived.
“There’s something I need to show you,” he answered swiftly as he parked. He rushed o turn off the engine and nearly missed the door handle trying to get out. Eddie held back a chuckle while he watched him practically run behind the car ad to his door. Eddie grunted as he shifted in his seat, a small burning pain came from his abdomen as he moved.
Richie adjusted his glasses and helped him out of the car slowly “Should we’ve brought the wheelchair?” he asks his heart breaking to see him in pain. The shorter man shakes his head and leans against the car, taking a moment to catch his breath “Were you this winded when you fucked my mom?” he jokes, earning a deadpan stare.
It took a minute but the pair slowly walked to the bridge, the nerves inside the comic’s body were quaking. He helped his friend to the wood and let him lean comfortably, constantly asking if he needed his inhaler. Eddie rejected and gripped the wood tighter “What’s going on Rich? Why are we here?”
Richie straightened out his grey t-shirt and nervously placed his hands in his pockets “When we were down there, I- uh thought I lost you. A-and I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he stutters his barely coherent sentence. Eddie leans forward to hear him better.
“I’m gay, Eds. It kept shoving it in my fucking face,” he cries, tears threatening to fall. Eddie’s face softened, eyebrows furrowing together in sympathy, his lips turned down into a frown. “Everywhere I went he tortured me, even before that fucking clown I didn’t want to admit it,” his eyes lock with the distinct carving next to where the love of his life stood. “I couldn’t tell anybody who I loved,” he whispers.
Eddie’s eyes shift between Richie and the ground, he hesitantly looked to where he was looking ‘R+E’ carved into the light brown wood. It didn’t take him long to realize the E was for Eddie, his feelings were mutual, even if he forgot the curly-haired man he didn’t forget how that certain person made him feel. He knew that feeling all too well.
A grim silence fell over them, Richie wanted to run but his feet were glued to the ground. Eddie finally looked over at him, tears were spilling from his eyes, it was very unlike Richie Tozier to cry. “Am I?” he speaks more confidently. Richie nods.
“You know I didn’t want my last words to be I fucked your mom,” he smiles softly, “I wanted to say something else.”
Richie looks up at Eddie who was peeling his body off the wood, taking small steps to approach him. their bodies gravitated towards each other, a magnetic force pressed their thundering chests together. Richie pressed his forehead against the shorter mans, Eddie’s hand came up to caress Richie’s scruffy face “If I was going to die that night,” he whispers, “I wanted my final words to be that you were the one, I love you.”
Richie choked back a sob, enveloping him into a tight embrace and suddenly the world was lifted off his shoulder. Their noses bump together as they begin to laugh, they didn’t know why or what that they were laughing at, but they were. “Say it again?” Richie asks.
“I love you,” Eddie smiles.
“I love you.” It wasn’t a dream or a nightmare composed by Pennywise. It was actually Eddie Kasprak, the only man he’d share a hammock with, the only one that truly brought him happiness. He nervously went in for that first kiss but Eddie backed away. Shit. “There’s something else.”
“Fuck. What?” Richie whines. Eddie rolls his eyes and pulled out a rolled-up stack of papers from his back pocket. How did Richie not notice? He practically shoved the pages into his friend’s hands, telling him to look at the last page.
They were divorce papers, signed divorce papers. He was divorcing his wife, he was finally free, he felt free. “Eds? You’re serious?” and with a nod, Richie smashed their lips together. That kiss was everything he dreamed about, his lips were soft and delicate but most importantly they were finally his and his alone.
“I love you, Richie,” Eddie whispers as he gently pulls away, looking up at him lovingly.