From the sewers to a space ship

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

WHO: Eddie Kaspbrak and YOU
WHERE: Bishop, then open
WHAT: OMFG WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!
WHEN: Now? When the fuck is now even?
WARNINGS: Language, mostly. Possible canon talk


Bishop

There's a man in one of the bunks who was absolutely not there before. He looks (and smells) like he just rolled out of the sewers. His jeans, t-shirt and hoodie are covered in an array of multicolored substances. His left cheek is bandaged in a very soiled gauze patch. Needless to say... He looks worse for wear.

He sits bolt upright with a terrified gasp. "Richie!" His eyes wide with fright, he looks around. "Whaaaaat the fuck?" Inexplicably, he knows where he is and what he's doing there, but that doesn't make him feel any better. He was in the cavern, saving Richie and something... Something was wrong. He makes a face as he reached back to scratch a weird itch in the middle of his back. Alright. He's not going to get any answers sitting in bed.

He gets up and moves to the door, peeking out. It's going to take him a while to find the way out of the ship, especially considering the tightness in his chest. He wasn't claustrophobic usually, but he had to get some air. He can be found wandering aimlessly around the ship, looking confused and slightly panicked.

Outside the ship

When he finally stumbles outside, he takes a few deep breaths. "Ohthankfuck." Leaning forward, he braces his hands on his legs and tries to get his breathing back to normal. Once he feels sufficiently calm, he takes a deep breath and straightens.

Then he sees his first alien and that goes out the fucking window. Hello Coruscant. There's a human in the space port alternating between screaming in terror and laughing awkwardly as he tries to figure out if he's really hallucinating and having an anneurism at the same time.

Wildcard
[Have other ideas? HMU! I'm at eternalferret or Discord SupahFerret#0368]

Comments

[mrsklover]

"Ben is a god. You can't compare him to us mere mortals."

He isn't really paying attention to what he's saying, though. Richie is more focused on the feeling of Eddie's forehead against his own as he closes his eyes and just breathes in. The man he loved, lost, found, loved, and lost again was here. Part of Richie screams that he should be braver and not let the moment here pass but the rest of him is still a fucking coward. At least he doesn't pull away until Eddie does.

Progress.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. And we will from now on. Missing you.... Missing you sucked, Eds. Really sucked. And I hate to break it to you, but the other Losers are insensitive dicks. You should hear what they all did after you kicked it. Bev and Ben still are buying me drinks to make up for it."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Braver about what? Seriously. They're just close friends... right?

Right?

Eddie raises an eyebrow at him. "Oh come on, you're shitting me. How the fuck could they be insensitive?"

[mrsklover]

"You'd be surprised..."

Richie leans back and all but glares out the window. Even a month later this smarts. The more he thought about it the more it hurt and the more offended he got on Eddie's behalf. At this point, telling him, he's quietly furious, uselessly.

"Well. Let's see. I was crying in the lake and they hugged me. That was nice. And then Bev and Ben decided to go make out under the water and fuck off on a honeymoon or something. Mike went on a trip which, good for him honestly. I'm least mad at him. And Bill just went home to bang his wife, I guess? I don't know. After bringing your shit back to Myra and going to see Patty I didn't keep close tabs."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Eddie blew out a puff of air, leaning back and absorbing all of this. Holy shit... did they really just leave Richie alone to deal with all of that on his own? That didn't sound like them... But... maybe? They'd gone through a fuck ton of shit. He raked his fingers through his hair, shaking his head.

"Holy shit, Rich... I can't believe it. Fuck... Wow, I'm sorry." Leaning forward again, he rests his elbows on his knees and shakes his head again. "I mean... I guess I'm happy for Ben and Bev. And, yeah, Mike definitely needed to get the fuck out of Derry. But... wow."

[mrsklover]

Whoops. Too serious. Too close to real feelings. Richie shrugs a shoulder and tries to just laugh it all off.

"It's whatever. You know? I mean they all had other stuff to get to. What did I have? A career I sort of fucked up and a liquor cabinet to deplete. It's... You know. Whatever. It's fine."

He scrubs his hands on his pants, staring into the same middle distance that Eddie is.

"Nothing to be sorry about."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Eddie glances over at Richie. "You know what this means, then, right?"

Smiling, he sits back and puts a hand on the other man's shoulder. "This is an opportunity for you to have another chance at things, too. You don't have to worry about any of that shit, now."

[mrsklover]

This is fucking embarrassing. Eddie touches his shoulder and he's all lit up inside again. What the actual fuck? How can someone have that sort of impact on another person when they haven't even kissed? And shit, what would happen if they did kiss? Would his heart just fucking explode?

Not worth thinking about.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I would have liked to start over somewhere with Netflix, but this might be alright."

And because he hates himself and has never figured out how to close his mouth:

"At least I have you."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

He snorts. "Dude, we're literally in like in a sci-fi nerd's wet dream right now. I'm sure you could do something before they drag us back to that weird dystopian shit."

Come on, if anyone can find somewhere to tell jokes, Richie can. Also, since when did he need somewhere specific to tell his jokes?

He can't help but smile, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Jesus fucking Christ, I don't think I coulda dealt with any of this shit without you here."

Eddie... missing the obvious once again.

[mrsklover]

Richie glances over at Eddie and forces a smile. Yeah. Okay. That... Yeah. That was going to be more than good enough. More than he could ever really expect to have, let alone hope for more. He reaches out and pats Eddie's knee.

"Yeah. Having a familiar face sure helps. But gotta say having Mike would have been nice, too. All that research probably would help us find a way out. Or... I don't know. At least lead up to a fun ritual that doesn't work and has us all almost killed. Either way, fun Friday night."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Who knows, Richie. Maybe one of you will eventually stop being idiots and there could be more. Now is apparently not that time.

Eddie laughs, "Oh god, we'd lose him in some library somewhere. He'd come out and know everything about everything." Something dawns on him, then, and he reaches for his pocket. "Holy shit, that reminds me. Look what fell out of my pocket when I was getting in the shower." He pulls out a familiar blue inhaler... the same one that had been burned in the ritual.

[mrsklover]

The inhaler.

Richie reaches for it, brushing his fingertips over the plastic. It's as though Eddie discovered some kind of precious jewel. Really, he sort of had. Richie remembers having this in his hand and pulling it from Eddie. 'You're braver than you think.' He'd regretted those words, some nights.

But here the inhaler is. Unburnt and whole.

On a whim, he reaches into his own pocket and is almost not surprised to find his own totem. The token. He flips it in his hand and laughs as he holds it out toward Eddie, too.

"Look at that... Crazy."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

He'd needed to hear those words at the time. And, hell, they'd lead to him being able to save Richie's ass when he needed him the most.

His eyebrows raise as Richie pulls out that arcade token. He shakes his head, chuckling as he takes it from Richie. It's solid metal between his fingers. He turns it over, reading the engraved words. "Holy shit. What do you think this means?"

[mrsklover]

He shakes his head. He can't even hazard a guess, honestly.

"I guess they were...important? To the Agrii, maybe? Or to us? I mean, they were our totems so I guess it makes sense they would travel along with us. Or maybe soon we'll come across an arcade and an asthmatic and we will both be super useful. Who can say?"

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

"Huh..."

Well, it was as good a guess as any. He holds the token out to Richie with a smile. "Hey, you never know. But maybe you're right, that they have some kind of importance to us." He pauses, thinking. "You did spend a fuck ton of time at that arcade." That had to be why it was a token... right?

[mrsklover]

He looks down at the token and remembers Connor. The first guy he felt something for, outside of Eddie. It hadn't been as strong or as consuming but it had been something. And then it had been completely destroyed before it could even be fully formed.

"Yeah. Yeah, I liked the arcade a lot." It had taken him awhile to go back but he did. Before the summer was even over he was back in there and playing his games. Alone, this time. Always alone after that.

The token goes back in his pocket.

"I would have preferred my token to be something cooler though, you know? It was better than Stan's fucking hair net but... I don't know. Ben had a yearbook page he kept 27 years. Bev had Ben's sappy poem. Mike was a freak who apparently dug around for bloody rocks and Bill had his brother's boat. You and me? A token and an inhaler. Lame."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Eddie tucks the inhaler away, smirking.

"I know, right? Why did we get the lame-ass tokens? I mean... mine was from one of the times It came after me that summer." He shudders thinking about it. "But that's all in the past, right?"

Right. And he was more than happy to leave It there.

[mrsklover]

Richie is quiet for a moment. When he talks his voice is very carefully emotionless. "Yeah. Mine was from a time like that, too. It was a shitty moment I had as a kid and then fucking Nickelsmart made the Paul Revere statue come alive and try to kill me. Like I hadn't felt crappy enough as it was."

He fingers the token in his pocket, half wanting to toss it out the window and half wanting to cradle it against his chest.

"Fuck Derry," he finally decides. "We can leave it where it is."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Eddie cringes. "Holy fuck. That thing was terrifying enough already!" That gets a full body shudder as he imagines it.

"I ended up in the basement of Keene's Pharmacy thinking my Mom was being held captive there with that fucking leper."

Seriously. Gross as fuuuuuuck.

He gives Richie a nod. "Fuck it. We're done with all that bullshit."

[mrsklover]

"Well, that's not fair. We all got a nightmare and you got a wish come true. I guess ol' DimeClever liked you best."

He frowns at what Eddie said, though. The idea of him scared and trapped with the leper makes him want to crush Pennywise's heart all over again.

"We should go and get some drinks. Celebrate no more lepers and statues coming to life."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

He snorts. "You've only got a couple more kinds of coins before you run out of new nicknames for It."

He hesitates for a moment. He doesn't really drink... Then again. He's already dead. "I guess one drink can't hurt. Drink to leaving Derry behind."

[mrsklover]

"A drink to freedom," he corrects, nudging Eddie once. He leans in just to check his cheek patch one more time and then gets off the bed. He's forty so he groans as he does so. Maybe he needed to try that whole yoga shit.

"C'mon. First round is on you. Payment for what an awesome friend I was to save that cute, cute, cute face." He pats Eddie's healing cheek softly to be irritating.

"At least as far as you know, for now."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

Eddie's smile widens and he nods. "To freedom."

Dude, you sound older than him. Of course that's what decades of booze and shitty food will do to you. He stands (without groaning, thank you), making a face at Richie.

"Ow." Why with the cheek pat?! "I mean. I guess that's fair. Though all of our money came from the same place."

[mrsklover]

Richie swings an arm around Eddie's neck and started leading him out of the room. Now that he is clean and smells less like a sewer it's a lot more pleasant to do.

"Your money still spends better than mine. I don't know what makes that the case but it's totally true. You'll figure it out after like a drink or five. It's magical!"

He noogies the top of Eddie's head lightly, just to be annoying and make sure it's clear this is friendly. Of course.

"Besides, I need to buy some important stuff, I'm sure. Maybe one of those dresses. Would look great."

[beepbeepmotherfucker]

"Five?!" He gapes at Richie. That's quickly replaced by an indignant "Hey!" at the noogie. He doesn't push Richie off of him, though. Being that close to him is nice. It's a reminder that they're both there, and both alive and okay.

"You in drag? Now that'd be a sight." Hey, he's not disgusted by it or saying it's wrong. He actually smirks, shaking his head at the thought.

[mrsklover]

"Well if you wanna see me in a dress then take me someplace fancy that I need to dress up for, huh?" He winks at Eddie and only realizes afterwards that teasing about a date is just as horror-anxiety inducing as hinting at one for real. He laughs loud to undercut any hint of seriousness in that tease and gives Eddie's neck a squeeze.

"On second thought, nah. I'm not the fancy type. Beer and a burger is my scene. Wedding at Voodoo Doughnuts or a White Castle."