richie woke up to see no snow on the ground; yet again, no white christmas. richie's parents didn't really do anything for the holidays, so he didn't have anything to look forward to. every few years they'd get a christmas tree, maybe hang a strand of lights and some ornaments but that was it. this year, they didn't do anything besides put up a few shelf decorations, that was it. no christmas dinner or anything that big, sometimes a small christmas present, not this year though. richie was 16, he didn't need presents.

richie usually spends every christmas with beverly, as they both had nobody else to spend it with. they usually got eachother a gift and spent the day at richie's house, watching movies, eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate. if they had enough money, they'd build a gingerbread house together, but they'd usually just eat it while building it.

this year was different.

richie and beverly would still be hanging out today in a few hours, but this evening, they would get to eat christmas dinner with bill's family and the rest of the losers. that's also when they would exchange gifts, just to cause suspense. richie has been saving up for this gift for months now, and he was extremely excited to give it to bev.

richie hopped out of bed, making his way out of his room to greet his parents when he saw that they were both still asleep. instead, he got dressed in jeans and a black and red flannel, freshened up, and made his way to the phone. he dialed beverly's number and waited.

"hello?"

"hey, it's richie, you ready to meet up soon?"

"oh hey rich, and yeah i'll be leaving in about ten minutes. the park right? same place as always?"

"of course, meet you there" richie said before hanging up. he threw on his shoes and started walking towards the park, finding the specific bench that they always sit at. nobody else sits there, it's like their assigned spot.

it was eleven in the morning, richie and beverly usually hang out for about two hours. then they'd be going to the dinner around six.

richie sat on their usual bench, looking around at the naked trees and the dead grass. the park was completely empty, but that wasn't a shocker - it's a cold christmas.

eventually he spotted his orange-haired friend coming towards him, and he sat up straight. once she reached him, she smiled and immediately exclaimed "merry christmas rich!!" with the biggest smile on her face. richie stood up and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers.

"merry christmas bev." richie replied, pulling away and smiling at her. richie smirked. "you have noooo clueeee how good my gift for you is." he said, sitting down.

"oh don't even talk rich, my gift is gonna be 10x better." she plopped down next to him, putting her elbow on the back of the bench and resting her head against her hand.

"i doubt it, but okay." richie said, facing her. richie looked at her features while they sat in a comfortable silence, admiring how pretty his best friend was. beverly looked like she was thinking about something, and richie wanted to know what.

"are you okay?" richie asked her with genuine concern.

"i'm fine rich," she said, glancing up at him and making quick eye contact before staring back at the ground.

"no you're not, talk to me." richie said, placing his hand on her shoulder just to have her nudge it off, like she's never done before.

"sorry, it's just, i dont know." she sighed, lifting her head up just to have her eyes start watering. she looked around at the trees and the sky while blinking rapidly to stop her tears.

"today, um. with my dad, it was just pretty bad. i don't know, it was scary, i ran out before anything major happened. i don't wanna go back home richie. i didn't wanna say anything to ruin the whole uh, "christmas mood" i guess." beverly said, her voice cracking as tears fell out of her eyes before she quickly wiped them away. richie wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything at all and just held his arms out instead.

beverly leaned into him, burrowing her head in his chest. he held her tightly and kissed her forehead, staying like that until she didn't want to be held anymore.

"i'm sorry bev." he said, lightly rubbing her back in circles. she didn't say anything besides hug him back tighter.

"i feel like it's just going to get worse as i get older." she mumbled and they sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"wanna come back to my place and watch movies?" richie asked her after a few minutes, breaking the silence. she nodded and lifted her head from his chest, walking with him to his house, the usual routine.

-

"what do you wanna watch this year?" richie asked, they always watched christmas movies, rotating through them. "you can pick something out, i'll get the popcorn and hot chocolate." he said, throwing the popcorn in the microwave and making extra-chocolatey hot chocolate.

"what'd you pick?" he asked, bringing everything out the living room and setting it on the table.

"we're watchin the santa claus movies baby." she winked. these were some of their favorites, they were so funny and always put them in a good mood.

they plopped down on the couch, started watching, made it to the third movie, and then fell asleep.

richie woke up first, quickly glancing at the time to see it was almost 5:30.

"SHIT beverly! we have to go to the dinner! it's at six remember?" he said, gently shaking her awake.

"oh fuck," she said, quickly standing up and tiredly looking around her. "i'm pretty much ready, do you have everything? we can just walk there right?"

"yeah, yeah, we'll make it there by six, it just shocked me. i didn't mean to fall asleep."

-

they made it to bill's house on time and once all the losers arrived, they ate dinner together and then set up all their blankets and pillows in the living room where they'd all be sleeping.

"alright, time to open gifts!" bill's mom said once they were finished. everyone made their way to the living room and sat down, taking their gifts out.

eddie got richie a black hoodie with his favorite band on the front. richie immediately put it on.

richie gave eddie his favorite shirt that richie had, plus he got eddie's favorite picture of them framed.

beverly got richie a new mixtape with all of his favorite songs on it.

richie got beverly an old polaroid camera.

once everyone gave their gifts to eachother. they all became distracted by their new presents.

"richie, i wanna try my polaroid out. let me take a picture of you and eddie!" she said, smiling and taking it out of the box.

eddie looked at richie and shrugged, moving closer to him and facing beverly.

right as beverly was about to snap the photo, richie quickly put his arms around eddie and kissed his cheek. he heard the camera snap and pulled away, and eddie giggled at richie and jokingly slapped his arm.

"you caught me offguard, 'chee." he blushed. richie leaned in to kiss his lips and placed his hand on eddie's cheek. he deepened the kiss before he heard the camera snap again and he pulled away, remembering where they were.

"jeez richie, not around everyone else!!" eddie looked around frantically, just to see nobody paying attention. his face was bright red.

"you guys are so cute." beverly said, looking at both of the pictures she got and smiling, adoring them. eddie snuggled against richie and held his hands out to see the pictures.

richie giggled at eddie's flustered and shocked face and smiled at the photos.

"i look so ugly" eddie giggled, staring at his own face too much to the point where it looked distorted.

"no you don't, you're adorable." richie pinched his cheeks and kissed the top of his head.

everyone spent the rest of the night talking, watching movies, and eventually falling asleep. richie and eddie's sleeping bags were next to eachother's in the corner of the room, however they ended up just sleeping on top of them and covering themselves with a thin blanket, as it was too hot in the room to sleep under the heavy layer.

richie woke up in the middle of the night because he really had to pee, but eddie's arm was across him and his head was partly on his shoulder.

richie sighed and laid his head back down, glancing at the clock on the wall that said it was somewhere around 1:30 am. he couldn't see that well, it was dark and his glasses were somewhere on the floor.

eddie was a light sleeper, so richie knew he would wake up anyway, but he slowly moved away and got up to go to the bathroom. he went to the kitchen to grab himself a quick drink too, figuring he might aswell do that instead of getting comfy again just for his throat to be dry. eddie appeared out of nowhere, walking out of the pitch black living room.

"rich-?"

"JESUS fucking christ you scared the absolute shit out of me!" richie whisper-shouted, breathing heavily with his hand on his heart. eddie reached him and kissed his jawline gently, taking richie's breath away before he could even gain it back.

"i'm sorry rich, didn't mean to. what are you doing?" he asked, putting his hands on richie's waist.

"had to piss really fuckin bad, then got a drink. was gonna come back in a second." he replied, reaching his hands to play with eddie's hair out of habit. "do you wanna sit outside for a little? you look a little, uh, weird, no offense or anything. are you okay baby?" richie asked him quietly, remembering that everyone was sleeping in the room right next to them. he took his hand away from his hair to wrap his arm around him instead.

"yeah, don't know, had a weird dream and was woken up suddenly and couldn't figure out where i was." he laughed.

richie put his drink in the sink and led him outside to the front, sitting on the porch swing and tapping the seat next to him.

"hey, it's snowing!" eddie said.

"oh shit, i guess we got a white christmas after all, huh?" richie replied.

"well, yeah, but it's also december 26 now, but it's okay." eddie smiled. he snuggled against richie again and yawned. they sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of nature. they were freezing their asses off, but they were enjoying eachother's company and warmth too much to care. richie pulled the polaroids out of his pocket and looked at them, smiling to himself and admiring eddie's beauty. he loved his hair. he loved his freckles. he loved his eyes, his eye color, his nose, his lips, his body, his height, his personality; everything about him, richie loved.

"you don't really think you're ugly, do ya?" richie asked eddie, playing with his hair again.

"i mean, sometimes, yeah. it's normal though. everyone's insecure." he mumbled. richie sighed and wished eddie could see the beauty that he sees.

"well, you're pretty beautiful to me, eds" richie replied. eddie looked up and kissed his shoulder.

richie leaned down and grabbed his face gently, kissing his lips slowly once again and then planting a bunch more all over his face. one for every adorable feature. eddie scrunched his face up and blushed immediately. he started poking richie's waist.

"that tickles, eddie spaghetti," richie giggled, planting another kiss on his lips before pulling away. "i love you."

"oh god, you haven't used that nickname since freshman year!" eddie exclaimed. richie grinned and shrugged. "also, i love you more richie." he smiled. he snuck his hand up underneath richie's new hoodie and gently traced his hand along richie's stomach and waist.

"hm, impossible." richie gave a toothy smile and tightened his arms around eddie, pulling him closer to him. eddie fell even more in love with him. he shook his head and moved richie's curls out of his face.

"god, we sound like those annoying couples in TV shows that won't hang up the phone because they're too busy saying they love eachother." eddie giggled, adjusting himself to see richie better. he started caressing his cheek. "your hair is getting so long, it's so pretty and curly, and dark. and pretty. and soft. i love it." eddie said.

"you know what else is long?" richie smirked.

"way to ruin the moment!" eddie replied and rolled his eyes, but smiled at the same time so richie knew he wasn't mad. he pulled his hand off of richie's waist and held his face to kiss his lips. he got off of the bench and stood up. he held out his hands for richie to grab, pulling him to stand up aswell. he stood a good 5 inches taller than eddie, and eddie felt pretty intimidated sometimes, but also protected.

"i hate how much taller you are than me." eddie said, looking up at him.

"there's an advantage to that, though." he smiled, grabbing eddie's hand to hold it.

"oh yeah? what's that?" eddie laughed.

"when i hug you, you can hear my heart that only beats for you." he said in a funny accent, spinning eddie around like they were at a fancy ball before pulling him closer to his chest.

"you're so fuckin cheesy." eddie rolled his eyes and laughed, a smile glued to his face. "we should go inside, it's already like 2:30. they're gonna make fun of us when we're the last ones still asleep." eddie said, rubbing richie's hand with his thumb.

"oh shit, you're right." richie said, but pausing before stopping him one last time in front of the door. he grabbed eddie's cold face again and leaned towards him. he checked eddie's facial expression before he pressed his lips against his once again. he took eddie by surprise but he quickly kissed back, reaching his arms around richie's neck and pressing himself against him. richie lightly pushed him against the door and kept kissing him. he kept one hand on the back of his head and wrapped the other around his waist. after a minute, he started kissing down his jaw, down his neck, before leaving a small hickey on his collarbone.

he pulled away for just a second to catch his breath but he couldn't help but immediately connect their lips again. eddie kissed back with more force before gently breaking the kiss a few seconds later. eddie chewed at his bottom lip before connecting his with richie just a few more times.

"that was unexpected." was all that eddie could say when they finally pulled away.

"i cant help myself  'round you" richie replied, pressing another kiss to his nose before gently pulling him away from the door to open it.

"i'd do that all night if we could." eddie replied, looking at the white coat of snow on the ground before wrapping his arms around richie's waist and following him to the living room.

"there's always tomorrow night, baby." richie winked at him. eddie blushed a bright red as they snuck past all the sleeping bodies and laid down next to eachother. they were quite cramped and kinda uncomfortable, but they dealt with it. eddie returned to his previous position, with his arm draped across richie, and he stuffed his head right back into his shoulder.

"sleep well, i love you" richie whispered, pulling away slightly to kiss his forehead again.

"i love you too richie." he said back, richie held him a little tighter. "merry christmas."