now or never [reddie au]

28

When they enter the room Eddie's in, he's sitting up at the end of the hospital bed. Maggie and Wentworth pull him into a hug as if he were one of their own kids. They were careful not to squeeze him too hard since he was probably sore.

"Hey, guys.," Eddie says to them. "Hey.," Stan says back to Eddie. Wentworth and Maggie pull away from Eddie and Maggie asks, "How are you?"

"Better than earlier.," Eddie answers. "That's good.," Maggie smiles at Eddie. "I wanted to stay with Richie, but I didn't want to get in trouble.," Eddie tells them. "Edward Kaspbrak, don't try to blame yourself.," Wentworth tells him, "No one could've known this was going to happen."

"Sorry.," Eddie says before joking, "I bet my mom's gonna wish I did stay the night with Richie." Stan is the only one that slightly giggles at Eddie's joke. 

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom.," Wentworth tells them, "I'll be right back. I'll ask about Richie on the way."

"Okay.," Maggie tells him before he leaves the room. Stan tries to be subtle and take a picture of Eddie to send to the group chat, but Eddie notices and throws up a peace sign with his broken arm. Stan giggles at Eddie, shaking his head as he takes the picture.

"What's that for?," Eddie asks Stan about the picture he just took. "For the others.," Stan answers as he moves closer to Eddie to show him what they said in the group chat before sending them the picture.

The doctor pokes his head in the room to tell Maggie that Sonia had arrived. "Wait, I wanna see Richie before I go.," Eddie sighs. "I'll make sure you do, Eddie.," Maggie tells him before she walks out of the room.

"I don't wanna go home.," Eddie tells Stan. "I know.," Stan says.

"Can you send me that picture you took?"

Stan nods as he sends Eddie the picture before reading the texts in the group chat.

bill
is he feeling better?

yeah :)

bill
okay good

beverly
<3

Wentworth enters the room and says in a relieved tone, "Richie's awake."

Eddie lets out a sigh of relief. He just wants to see Richie and hug him and tell him that everything is okay. He wants to go home- by "home" he means Richie's house- and cuddle with him until they fall asleep. The boys get ready to see Richie, but Eddie stops in his tracks, "What about my mom?"

"Maggie's arguing with her in the waiting room. You'll be fine.," Wentworth tells him. The boys follow Wentworth. Eddie walks slowly since he's sore, so Wentworth and Stan walk the same speed so Eddie can keep up. The three of them enter the room and look at Richie. He has a knot on his forehead and scratches on his cheeks from the broken glasses he was no longer wearing. Richie looks over at them and asks, "Who are you?"

Wentworth, Stan, and Eddie all look at each other as it seems Richie's lost his memory. The felt halfway worried and halfway sad.

"I'm just kidding!," Richie laughs, "Oh, fuck, you should've seen your faces!"

Eddie rolls his eyes, not amused by Richie's stupid joke. Stan lets out a sigh of relief and Wentworth laughs with Richie. "You're a dumbass, Richie.," Wentworth says as he approaches Richie and gently hugs him. "I get it from you.," Richie says as he hugs him back.

Eddie looks at Stan and asks, "How does my face look?" Stan rolls his eyes before looking closely at Eddie's face and answering, "You have a small bruise but other than that, you look fine."

Wentworth pulls away from the hug and Richie looks at Eddie, "Come here, Eds." Eddie slowly approaches Richie. Richie looked rough. He had a giant knot on his forehead and a few bruises.

Richie pulls Eddie down to his level and kisses him on the cheek, causing Eddie to blush. "I'm so sorry-"

"It's not your fault, Rich.," Eddie tells him, "Do you know who hit us?"

Richie shakes his head, "Who?"

"Henry Bowers."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"After the car flipped-"

"The car flipped? Like, upside down?"

"Yeah. Anyways-"

"That's kind of cool. I wish I remembered that part. It happened so fast."

"Did you just say that was cool?"

Richie nods.

"That's so not cool. We literally could have died, Richie!"

"But we didn't!"

Eddie rolls his eyes at Richie, causing Richie to laugh a little. Stan texts the group chat that Richie's okay and is somehow already making jokes about the wreck. Soon after, Maggie enters the room and hugs Richie before telling Eddie, "I told Sonia that if Richie tells me you can't hang out with your friends at least once I'll drive over to your house and pick you up myself because you and Richie shouldn't be punished for someone else's reckless driving."

"What'd she say?," Eddie asks.

"She was like, 'I just don't want him to sneak out of the house.,' and then I said, 'If you weren't so damn overprotective, he wouldn't what to sneak out!'"

"Damn!," Richie says, laughing at the way his mom is talking about Eddie's mom.

"Anyways," Maggie continues talking to Eddie, "She's ready to take you home."

"Okay.," Eddie sighs, "Bye, guys."

"Bye.," Stan says to Eddie.

"See ya.," Richie tells Eddie before he walks to the door and opens it. He sees Victor Criss standing outside the door. He has some scratches on his arms, but nothing worse than that. When Eddie walks out of the room, Victor walks in. Wentworth and Maggie look at each other, then at Victor.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tozier, we're really sorry.," Victor says, "Me, Belch, and Patrick, anyways. We told Henry to slow down, but he wouldn't listen."

Wentworth and Maggie don't say anything, and Victor continues, "They did a sobriety test on Henry and he was drunk, so they arrested him. If there's anything we can do-"

"It's okay.," Wentworth tells him, "Thank you for apologizing." Wentworth could tell that Victor's apology was genuine and that they didn't really have anything to do with the wreck. It still would've happened whether or not they were in the car with Henry.

Victor looks over at Richie, "Sorry. At least nobody died."

"Hell yeah.," Richie laughs a little. Victor slowly turns around and leaves the room. "He seems nice.," Maggie says, "I don't know why he'd be friends with Henry."

"Yeah.," Wentworth agrees. They wait a while before the doctor gives them paperwork to send Richie home. As they leave the hospital, Richie asks his parents, "Can I stay home from school tomorrow since my head hurts?"