Richie made his way back to his room, a smile on his face the whole time. Sure, he was a little unsure about Eddie's dad and meeting him, but he had just had the best night of his life. A cute boy that helped make him a member of an illegal organization and seemed to like him had kissed him and let him stay in his room. That's more attention and affection in one night than Richie had received in his 18 years of life.
The thought of Eddie just being there and actually caring made him smile brightly. As Eddie had told him, there was a closet full of clothes in his closet. There were business suits, jeans and T-shirts, and workout clothes. They obviously had to be ready for anything.
Richie pulled on what he considered to be workout clothes, consisting of a black T-shirt and shorts, along with tennis shoes that sat at the bottom of his closet. He finished getting dressed and almost instantly there was a knock at his door. Richie opened the door eagerly, but was puzzled when Stan stood on the other side.
"Where's Eds?" Richie asked, concerned. He knew Eddie could definitely handle himself, but the fact that he said he'd be there and didn't show up worried Richie.
"He asked me to come get you. Don't worry, he's probably just trying to plan out your workout today or something," Stan said, noticing Richie's concern.
Richie nodded and followed Stan to the cafeteria, where the others all sat at a table, waving as they walked in. Eddie was sitting in between Bev and Mike, so Richie sat across from him. He was even more concerned when he saw how upset and angry Eddie looked.
"You alright, Eds?" Richie asked.
"It's Eddie." That's all Eddie said before Bev started a conversation with Richie.
Stan knew Eddie got moody a lot, but he had sounded and seemed really upset when he had arrived just fifteen minutes before at Stan's door. He had simply asked Stan to collect Richie for breakfast, but didn't make eye contact or seem to be his usual, sarcastic self.
"W-what's up wi-with Eddie?" Bill murmured to Stan, noticing how quiet he was being. "He was f-fine last ni-night."
"I'm not sure. I figured it was something between him and Richie, but Richie seems just as confused as we are," Stan responded.
No one else knew how to get Eddie back to normal, so they all delved into their own conversations, making sure to keep Richie in the loop so he didn't feel left out.
"You're all coming to training, right?" Eddie asked the group, and they all fell silent, but nodded. "Good. We need to get Richie up to speed."
That's all he said before he stood up and vanished down a hallway.
"Come on, Richie," Mike said, walking towards the hallway that Eddie walked down.
"Where are we going?" Richie asked. He didn't know why Eddie was so upset, but definitely didn't want to make it worse.
"Training rooms. We're all training together, but you should probably get to know the environment."
•••
Richie thought that the training room was going to be his least favorite place in the whole facility. He always hated just running and doing stuff without knowing how he could use it in the real world. However, as soon as he set foot in the training room in the Hive, Richie decided he was going to enjoy it.
There were targets and sets of throwing knives, and the whole gym seemed to be a giant obstacle course, except for one piece that had a giant mat, seemingly for wrestling. Past the training room was a glass door and a room that had another set of targets.
"Wow," Richie murmured.
Mike grinned next to him. "We find that the best way to train is to not dread it. Obstacle courses, knife throwing, and that back room is for shooting. It makes working out beneficial and somewhat enjoyable."
"Yeah, seems like it," Richie said.
Mike led him over to where Eddie stood in front of a white board, writing down goals for the week.
"You need to stretch first, or you're going to fuck yourself up. Then we're going to work on upper body strength," Eddie said in a monotone voice, not making eye contact.
Richie didn't respond. He followed Mike, who walked him through some stretches. He acted like he was paying attention, when in reality he was stuck in his own head. "What if he regrets kissing me and letting me stay? What if he did it out of pity and doesn't know how to tell me to stop? What if I'm just as disappointing as I thought I was?" he thought.
"Rich? You good?" Mike asked, taking a look at Richie's glazed expression.
"Mhmm."
"Eddie's an asshole, Rich. He gets moody for no reason. You didn't do anything wrong," Mike said, clapping him on the shoulder.
Richie just nodded, but didn't feel like agreeing. No one should change their mind that quickly for no reason. He must've done something wrong.
He didn't have much longer to dwell on his thoughts. Stan and Bev entered the training area in workout clothes with Ben and Bill following close behind in standard clothes with what looked like iPads.
"Ready to start training?" Bev asked enthusiastically.
Richie couldn't help but smile at how energetic Bev seemed all the time. She walked over to him and grabbed his elbow, dragging him to a set of bars, each at a different height.
"Climb the bars," she said, gesturing from the lowest to the highest one that sat around fifteen feet above them.
"Just climb them? No technique?" Richie asked to clarify. There's almost always a technique and right way to do things.
"Yep. You need to learn it for yourself. And if you fall, you learn how to adjust. Get going," she said, slapping him in the back.
The first bar had to be six and a half feet off the ground. Richie was about six feet tall, but still could barely reach the bar. He leapt up, holding onto the bar, trying to swing to the next one, which was about five inches higher.
It didn't take long for his arms to get tired and for him to let go.
"That's it?" Stan asked. "Come on, use your legs. Get to the top bar!"
"You guys are insane. No one can get up there on the first try!" he said, eyes wide.
Bev scoffed and took a running start, grabbing onto the bar and lifting herself to stand on it. Through a series of jumps and pull-ups, she sat atop the fifteen foot bar, looking down at Richie with her eyebrows raised. "This is the easiest thing here! You have to take a risk and not be scared to fall!" she called, hanging upside down by her knees.
Richie's jaw dropped and his eyes stayed wide. He was not afraid of heights, but was terrified of the others watching him. He didn't want to disappoint them. He really wished Eddie wasn't pissed off; Eddie was the only one who seemed to know how to support and encourage him.
"Richie? You okay?" Mike asked, seeing how pale Richie had gone. "Hey, what's going on?"
"I can't. I can't do it. Not with all of you watching." Richie looked at his feet, face burning red in embarrassment.
"W-we're not go-going to make f-fun of you, R-Richie," Bill said. He gave Richie an encouraging smile.
They all tried to reassure him, but Stan noticed how he kept glancing over at Eddie, who was looking at the group with a straight face. He had been leaning against a wall next to them, not saying anything.
"Are you not going to encourage him?" Stan asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Why should I? He needs to get over his fear of disappointing people and climb the bars. I can't force him to get over it," Eddie snapped.
Richie felt his eyes burn with tears and his stomach clench into a knot. He had thought Eddie was on his side, but he wanted nothing to do with him.
Stan noticed how upset Richie was and walked over to Eddie, grabbing his arm and roughly dragging him away from the group.
"What the fuck is your problem? You two were literally making out last night and now you won't fucking talk to him! Do you not see how upset he is?!" Stan hissed, fingers digging into Eddie's arm.
"Let go, Stan. I don't want to fucking talk about this right now," Eddie responded.
"What happened?!"
"I had a realization, and if I talk to him he's gonna keep liking me, and we can't be together! It's a distraction! We need to be focused on completing our missions, not on people who distract us on the way!"
Stan was taken aback. He saw how defensive and upset Eddie was getting, but that didn't stop his anger. Eddie did the worst thing anyone could to Richie. He had treated him like he was special for one night, then acted like he didn't exist. Just like his fucking parents did.
"I don't know what made you think that, but it's not true. You need to figure your shit out and talk to him, because it's hurting both of you. You know his life, and you're just hurting him."
Eddie wiped at the tears streaming down his face. He knew he fucked up, but he couldn't face Richie. It had only been two days, and Eddie felt so attached to him.
"Go to the lab and start on the mission. If you're gonna treat Richie like he's nothing, you don't need to be around him," Stan said before walking back to the group.
"Stan-"
"No, Eddie. You don't get to protect people and then turn around and abandon them. Figure it out."