Richie woke up to Eddie spooning him, the smaller man had thrown an arm around Richie and was nestled against him. Eddie had always been a sleep cuddler, it made Richie happy that he still was.
Richie didn't move for a while, enjoying the closeness, pretending that this could be normal. Eventually he felt Eddie stir and seemed to realize where he was. He moved away and Richie turned around. "Morning Eds."
"Sorry about that," Eddie said, stretching.
"No problem, I'll never turn down a cuddle from my favorite guy." Eddie rolled his eyes. "Can I ask you something Eds?" Eddie nodded. "Why isn't Myra here?"
"Why, do you miss her?" Eddie replied sarcastically.
"No I just...I thought she'd want to get to know us more. We're all pretty fucking great."
Eddie bit his lip, which made him look guilty and incredibly kissable. "She doesn't know I'm here."
Richie felt his eyes widen. "What? Where does she think you are?"
"She thinks I'm in China for work."
"Why did you tell her that?" Eddie hesitated again, clearly deciding how much to tell Richie. "I'll know if you're lying."
Eddie looked into Richie's eyes. Richie could always tell when Eddie was lying, mostly because he was terrible at it. But Richie wasn't going to tell him that.
"She hates all of you. I don't know why. She doesn't want me to talk to any of you after the wedding, or to come here anymore."
Even though Richie knew that about this already hearing it again made him angry. His tone sharpened, "So what, you'll just lie to her twice a year?"
"No! Once she gets to know all of you she'll like you! Maybe she'll even come!" Eddie seemed desperate to believe his lie.
Richie wasn't having it. "No Eddie, she's already decided how she feels about us. She's going to keep you from us."
Eddie's mouth went into a thin, straight line. "You don't even know her Richie, give her a fucking chance." Eddie stood and went into the bathroom, slamming the door.
Richie got up and got dressed, thinking that Eddie was being an idiot. He wanted to tell him about the skype call but thought Eddie wasn't ready for that yet. Instead he went out in search of coffee. He found Bev and Ben sitting on the couch, Ben's arm around Bev.
"How's Operation Free Gazebo going?" Ben asked. Richie filled them in on the conversation. Both were angry that Myra was threatening to keep Eddie from them but also optimistic that they could convince Eddie, it was only day two after all.