❪ it's still so hard to believe that he could have forgotten this. in a way, it scares him because he has to wonder just how powerful that creature truly is if it had the power to do something like this. to have erased such powerful emotions from all of them and push their lives in directions they might have originally gone.

but— but eddie tries to ignore those worries for now and focus on rich instead. focus on the happy sound he makes or the way his eyes still crinkle up in the corners when he smiles just like when he had been younger.

honestly, it's painful for him to smile thanks to bowers and his fucking knife but eddie just can't help it. he doesn't think he'll ever stop, at least not right now. ❫

Shut up, idiot. I've been waiting twenty years to hear you say it again and I didn't even know it. ❪ despite his word, he is smiling and sniffles lightly. ❫ I love you, Rich.

❪ he presses another kiss to his lips before pulling back and casting a glance around them. ❫ I love you but I have to get out of this fucking bathroom.