Richie woke up to someone blowing in his ear. He swatted towards the air, "Fuck off asshole."
"You don't even know who it is."
Richie opened his eyes, he had assumed it was Bev. Instead it was Eddie, looking very proud of himself. "Eddie Spaghetti!" Richie pulled the smaller man on top of him, intent on getting revenge for being woken up.
"Hey! Not fair!" Richie flipped Eddie under him and trapped his arms under his thighs.
"That's what you get for waking me up." Richie leaned in and licked Eddie's cheek, leaving a wet trail behind.
"Beep beep Richie! Germs!" Eddie struggled under Richie but couldn't move.
"You blew in my ear, you must have wanted to end up in my bed." Richie teased, lightly licking Eddie's ear.
He shuddered under Richie. "Well, you looked so peaceful and gorgeous. It was weird. I had to wake you up."
"Hey, fuck you. I always look gorgeous. Have you seen my hair?" Richie flipped a lock, smirking.
"Yea, you've got fucking great hair. Let me up now?" Richie leaned in until their noses were touching, planning to lick Eddie again. Eddie licked his lips and stared at Richie's lips. Richie paused, wondering if he dared to kiss Eddie. Before he could decide he felt a hand on his hip, pushing him over. Eddie had worked a hand free and pushed Richie off, then got off the bed.
"I'm only here because there's no bed in my room. Do you know what happened?" Eddie smoothed out his clothes. He was still dressed for winter in NY, not a Hawaii vacation.
"They called and said that the last people broke it, Probably some hot, kinky sex." Richie sat up and pulled on some clothes.
"Well, where am I supposed to sleep?" Eddie turned around as Richie got dressed.
"Eds, I don't have anything you haven't seen before. No need to protect my modesty."
"I just don't need to see your hairy back."
"I live in LA. I get my back waxed, it's practically a requirement there." Richie pulled on a shirt. "You can turn around."
Eddie turned. "That blue looks great on you. Brings out your eyes."
Richie grinned and threw an arm around Eddie, "thanks babe."
Eddie moved out from under him. "Don't call me that. Now, where am I sleeping? I want to put my bags somewhere."
"Well there's the couches," Richie started and Eddie made a face Perfect! "Or you can sleep in here? Its a king sized bed after all."
"Sleep in here? With you?" Eddie flushed slightly.
"What? It'll be like old times, only with a much bigger bed. I promise not to try anything, unless you want to if course." Richie waggled his eyebrows.
"No, just sleeping will be good." Eddie left and returned with a big suitcase. "I'm going to change." He stopped, clearly expecting Richie to leave.
"Oh, I don't mind hairy backs. I think they're sexy."
"Beep beep Richie, Just leave so I can change and shower. I stink like an airport."
"Fine, but I hate to miss the show. Did you see Bev out there?"
"No, it's just us so far." Eddie said, walking to the bathroom and shutting the door.
Where was Bev? Richie wondered as he walked into the kitchen, getting coffee started and opening some cereal for breakfast. Richie checked his phone and saw he had a text message from Bev. Everything is okay! Grabbed a later flight, see you soon. Kisses! Good, she was still coming, and probably with a good story, knowing Bev.
At least she's okay He thought, pouring water in for the coffee. It was around 7am, Mike was the next person due, around noon. He had several hours alone with Eddie. Perfect.
When Eddie came out of the room Richie was sitting with his laptop open again, replying to an email from someone in HR. "Richie, it's vacation, stop working."
"All these people are children who fall apart without me." Richie took a sip up coffee, rereading his reply.
"That's not true, you hired them. I'm sure they're great." Eddie sat next to Richie, coffee and bagel in hand. "You need to be able to turn off."
Richie smiled at him. "Turn off? Around you I'm only turned on." Eddie rolled his eyes. "Okay, you're right. I'll shut this down." Richie sent the email and closed his computer. "What should we do this morning?"
Eddie sipped his coffee, thinking. "When is the next person coming?"
"Mike should be here around 12." That reminded Richie, "What are you doing here so early? I thought you were taking a red eye tonight."
Eddie stared into his coffee, not answering for a minute. "I caught an earlier flight, it was cheaper." He said finally.
Richie was sure that was a lie but decided to let it go. "Eddie and Richie, team of the century. Two bachelors on the loose."
Eddie laughed, "Not quite how I'd describe it. I'm engaged remember?"
I tried to forget. "Different time zone, doesn't count. It's in the rules."
"I think Myra would disagree." Eddie finished his bagel and stood. "Let go to the beach, I've got a book and it's not too hot out yet." Richie nodded in agreement and went to change into his swimsuit. Eddie changed after and the two went down to the beach, after Richie wrote a quick note where they were in case someone else came early.
The men found two chairs on the beach and sat. Eddie put on half a bottle of sunscreen while Richie made fun of him. "Eddie, you know that more sunscreen doesn't matter, right?"
"Shut up Richie, I'm not burning on my first day. Get my back?"
Happily. Richie poured some sunscreen on his hands and slowly rubbed it down Eddie's back, savouring feeling his muscles. He slowly rubbed in in, massaging Eddie as he did so. Eddie sighed happily and leaned into Richie. Wondering how far he could take it Richie moved his arms over Eddie's shoulders and to his chest.
Eddie immediately jumped away. 'Handsy much?"
"You love it" Richie said, sitting down. He wasn't going to push his luck more. Eddie shook his head and sat, opening his book.
They read quietly for about an hour then Richie got bored. He put his book down and went over to Eddie, who peered at him over his book. "What do you want?"
"Well that's rude." Richie leaned down and grasped Eddie around the waist. "Rude people go in the ocean." He picked Eddie up and threw him over his shoulder. Richie was nearly a foot taller, even if Eddie was in better shape. Eddie couldn't escape, though he squirmed and tried to.
"Put me down! What the fuck, Richie!" Eddie pounded his fists on Richie's back.
"All in good time." Richie walked into the water about waist deep and threw Eddie as far as he could. The smaller boy went under the water completely and came up a sputtering.
"You asshole. You're going down." Eddie lunged at Richie, pushing him into the water. Richie grabbed Eddie's hands and pulled him down too. Eddie landed on to of Richie in the water and wrapped his legs around Richie, trying to gain leverage. Richie stood up, Eddie still latched around his waist. Both were laughing. Richie felt lighter than he had in months.
Richie put his hands under Eddie's butt and tried, halfheartedly, to pull him off. "Hey! No ass grabbing!" Eddie cried as Richie squeezed lightly.
"You're wrapped around me like a fucking tiny octopus, what am I supposed to do?" Richie squeezed once more for good measure then moved his hands. Eddie untangled himself from Richie and stepped back, splashing him. The splash hit Richie straight in the face. "Now you're really in for it."
Richie lifted Eddie up by the armpits and held him in the air briefly. He looked so fucking gorgeous like that, wet from the water, laughing, struggling lightly against Richie. Richie felt himself growing hard and put Eddie down quickly. Eddie looked a little disappoint but recovered quickly, splashing Richie again. The two splashed each other for a bit, not touching again. After a while they decided to go back to the house. They walked back, lightly bumping shoulders and laughing.
Richie looked at Eddie, laughing at a joke Richie made. He looked so carefree here. The Eddie at the engagement party and this Eddie were two different people. Eddie was already slightly sunburned, his cheeks and nose were a little red. He didn't have bags under his eyes. His hair was wet and slicked back. This Eddie looked blissful. The Eddie at the engagement party looked broken.
Richie knew that Eddie hated New York. He didn't like the winters or the people. Richie had been trying to get him to move to LA for years. He loved the sun and the ocean so much.
Richie tousled Eddie's hair, making it stick up at odd angles.
"Hey!" Eddie protested, slicking it back again. He smiled at Richie and tousled his hair back. Eddie had always like Richie's hair. He used to tell him all the time how he liked the wildness of the curls. Now that it was wet it was even curlier, forming ringlets around Richie's ears and the nape of his neck.
Eddie leaned in and spun one of the curls around his finger. "You better hope you never lose your hair, it's your best feature."
Richie put a hand to his heart in mock horror. "All my features are my best feature! My dark, brooding eyes, my gorgeous cheek bones, my amazing body." He gestured down. "Many have also compliment my other huge..asset." He thrust his hips at Eddie.
"I don't need to know anything about that asset. And anyway, those people are wrong. Its definitely the hair." He fingered another curl, near the Richie's neck.
"Your best feature is your hands" Richie said suddenly, He hadn't meant to but he'd always thought it.
"My...hands?" Eddie looked at them, confused.
"Yea," Richie was blushing a bit. "They're so strong but also delicate. They've gone through so much and they're still willing to help. You have long, amazing fingers. And we have that matching scar on our palms." All of the losers had a scar on one of their palms and no one remembered where it came from. Richie grabbed Eddie's hand with the scar and traced it with a finger. Eddie flushed at the intimate contact. "I love your hands." Richie finished softly. They stood there for a minute, Richie holding Eddie's hand and the two smiling at eachother
Then Eddie seemed to realize that Richie was holding his hand and snatched it back. They were back at the house. "I'm going to go shower, then you can," Eddie said, walking inside. The need to shower after being in the ocean was another quirk Eddie hadn't gotten rid of.
Richie poured himself more coffee and heated it in the microwave. He checked his phone again, seeing several texts from the other losers that they were at the airport or waiting for a connecting flight.
Richie smiled. Nothing made him happier than having all the losers together. He felt whole when they were all in the same place. That was why he had recommended buying the timeshare a few years ago. Everyone had eagerly agreed, loving the idea of having a spot of their own.
All the losers had put more money down so it wasn't a burden on Mike, who made far less than everyone else. He didn't know, of course. He just thought they got a great deal on the place. The losers tried to buy him plane tickets too but he wouldn't let them, saying he wasn't going to be a burden. Richie still managed to buy them sometimes, saying he had earned the miles and couldn't use them.
Richie went to lay on the bed, waiting for the shower. He replied to all the texts, using more exclamation marks than he normally did in a month. He was lying there when Eddie came out in a towel. The smaller man yelped, clearly not expecting Richie.
"I've got to change, what are you doing here?"
"You told me to shower, I'm waiting to shower. Just following orders." Richie's eyes stayed to where Eddies towel was, low on his hips. It dipped below his hip bones. Richie could see the hair that lead...down. He gulped and got up, walking past Eddie. "See? Showering now." He went in and closed the door, taking a deep breath. Maybe sharing a room wasn't the best idea. Richie started the shower, removed his swimsuit and climbed in, letting the hot water rush over him.
When Richie was done he toweled off and walked out naked, ready to put on clothes. Eddie was on the bed, sitting up, towards Richie. "Fuck Eddie!" Richie covered himself with his hands.
Eddie blushed furiously. "I thought you'd be in a towel!" He covered his eyes.
"Why the fuck would I need a towel? All my clothes are in here!" Richie moved to grab some clean boxers and put them on.
"Who comes out of the shower naked?!"
"I do! Most people do! I live alone, I don't need to a towel to leave the bathroom." He put on some shorts. "You can look." He reached down for a shirt.
Eddie removed his hands and looked at Richie. "You still don't have a shirt on!" He turned away.
"We were just swimming and I had fewer clothes on."
"That's different, that's swimming. This is us, in a bedroom."
"Worried you'll want to jump me Eddie Spaghetti? Worried you'll see these pecs and not be able to contain yourself?" Richie pulled his shirt on and sat by Eddie.
"No, it's different, Richie. It's different." Eddie started when Richie bumped him with his shoulder. He turned, saw Richie was wearing a shirt and sighed, relieved. "Thank you."
"Anything for you Eddie, baby." Richie smiled. "How about some lunch?"
Eddie nodded, "sounds great." Eddie made sandwiches for the two while Richie checked his work email again.
"Seriously, I'm going to hide that thing." Eddie said as he put a plate in front of Richie.
"We're working on signing a new pop group, I just need to answer a couple emails." Richie protested as Eddie took the laptop away.
"You pay other people lots of money to handle that. Enjoy your vacation."
Richie relented, willing to do anything that would make Eddie happy. Eddie smiled and closed the laptop and moved it to another counter.
The two ate lunch and caught up, Richie never asked about Myra and Eddie didn't bring her up. Hawaii was not a place for real life problems. It was wonderfully outside of real life.
After lunch they decided to play a card game. It wasn't long until Mike came and then they spent time catching up with him. Since he missed the engagement party (and was only filled in via multiple emails) Mike wanted to hear all about it. Eddie was reluctant to talk about it, only saying it was fine and wedding planning was going well. Mike shot Richie a look that said 'This doesn't sound good.' Richie replied with an 'I know' look.
Ben and Stan came next, having shared a cab together. Then Bill and Audra and finally Bev came as they were starting to prepare dinner. She was sporting a black eye, multiple bruises on her arms and she looked happier than Richie had seen her in a long time.
"I left Tom!" She sang, dropping her bags. "I packed up my shit and left that asshole!"
Everyone went over to her, Richie got there first and gave her a hug. "Did that fucker do this to you?" He gestured to the bruises and her eye.
"Yea, it's what finally made me leave him. We got in an argument about me coming here and he decked me. I threw a lamp at him. We fought and I ended up knocking him out. I grabbed my shit, rented a storage unit for two months and peaced out. Sorry I'm late."
Eddie huffed, "You being late is the least of our problems. Why didn't you tell us? We would have helped!" Bev looked at Richie. He'd known about Bev and Tom. He'd tried to get her to leave but she said he was good to her after, that he felt bad. He'd argued with her multiple times, trying to get her to leave and stay with him, or Ben, or anyone. Once, she wouldn't talk to him for a month after. He'd known once she spent more time with Ben she'd realize that she deserved better. Richie had been working on throwing those two together for years.
"It's not that easy." He said after Bev didn't answer. "But what matters is that she's okay now." He put an arm around her. Everyone still seemed to have questions but understood that now wasn't the time. They all gave Bev a quick hug and moved away.
"I'm ready to get drunk, can we do that?" Bev asked, grabbing a beer from the fridge.
"Dinner first!" Bill said, grabbing plates. They all sat at the huge dining room table.
Richie felt whole and happy, sitting between Eddie and Mike, eating four servings of bread. Nothing was better than having all the losers together.