[ as much as he's finding comfort and warmth in eddie's hands cupping his face, as much as richie would like to lean into that feeling forever, in eddie's arms wrapped around him a moment later, richie forces himself to disengage and pull back far enough that he can grab up eddie's injured hand.

the one with the tattoo on his wrist that richie couldn't help but notice matched the one he'd woken up with in deerington. he laces their fingers loosely together, careful to avoid accidentally hurting him by squeezing too hard but making his hand a firm and unwavering presence there regardless. a chain interlocking between them. ]

We should have held hands. I thought about it when we picked straws. [ when he'd learned that eddie was going in. ] But I didn't say anything because... because I didn't want any of you to think I was scared.

[ didn't want eddie to think he was scared. ]

But I was so scared, Eds. You have no idea how scared I was when I heard you screaming.