Chapter Text
There was a shift in the air, a shift that Eddie couldn’t seem to place as he wandered around his house for the millionth time. One thousand, seven hundred and forty one days had been the exact same, the routine never changing. Now, though, now something was different and it was all coming from the big white moving van that had pulled up outside his house.
Never in the (almost) five years that Eddie had been no longer living, had anyone ever moved into 27 Elm Street, Derry. Which could only mean one thing, that finally his mother had gone and sold the house. The thought made a sick feeling pool in Eddie’s stomach, a feeling he was all too aware off. One would think that now he was no longer breathing, he wouldn’t be plagued with those kinds of feelings.
No such luck.
“Yes, yes, yes. I arrived safe and I’ve got everything I need. The house is perfect. It’s in more of a secluded area so I guess if anything weird happens no-one here will really notice?”
The new voice filtered in through the hall and up the stairs, making Eddie flinch and merge into the wall. Immediately, he felt extremely stupid, it wasn’t like this new man could see him. No-one could see him, not in life or in death. He was just invisible.
At that moment, something moved around his feet and Eddie shot his head down to find the source. He let out a noise and backed up as the black cat crouched into a pounce, hissing at him. Did the cat know he was here? Perhaps it did, considering that animals were most inclined to see things that humans could not.
“Hades!” The new voice called from down the stairs and the cat backed up, eyes never leaving Eddie’s form until it reached the stop of the stairs and disappeared. As the cat did so, Eddie let out a breath he didn’t need to hold and merged through the wall and into his room.
Suddenly all the weird visits to his house made sense. The blonde haired lady who brought men in to assess the house, the paperwork she had filled out in the kitchen. She was setting it up to sell the house, and she had apparently succeeded as this stranger was unpacking boxes in what used to be his living room.
Still, Eddie felt a strange connection to the stranger and the urge to get just a little bit closer over weighed his fear of the fact that he was no longer alone in his solitude. He floated into the air just a little and merged through the door, taking his sweet time moving down the stairs. He took a peek into the living room where the man was hunched over a pile of boxes, surrounded by large, creepy looking books.
Maybe it was the fact that Eddie had little to no life when he was living. Maybe it was the fact that all he had ever known was his mother, and the two brothers that would deliver the paper to his house until they were too old for that. Maybe it was neither of those things, but Eddie’s curiosity was high and he wanted to find out about this man, his cat and his books.
From the corner of the room, in the dark, Eddie watched with curious eyes. He watched as the man talked to the cat, Hades, and unpacked more of the large dusty books. He watched as he picked up his phone and ordered in a pizza, and he watched as he pulled out his credit card, name clearly written on the top. Richie Tozier.
It was later on that night that Eddie stepped out from his space. Richie had passed out on the couch, the pizza box left open on the coffee table, crusts abandoned for the cat to feast on. He edged a little closer, moving around the table to get a closer look at the book. The cat, luckily, was too busy eating to notice he had gotten closer and Eddie looked down at the markings, closing his eyes and trying to open the book using his mind.
Except it didn’t work. Confusion spread over Eddie’s face and he tried again, his time a little harder but received the same results. With a low growl, he tried once more, but instead of opening the book he knocked the pizza box off the table instead, the cat letting out a loud meow.
“Shit!” Richie jumped up, being awoken from his sleep and Eddie jumped all the way back into the darkness. “Hades, what have I told you about eating my leftovers?”
The cat, Hades, ignored Richie’s orders and continued to star at the shadows in which Eddie was hiding. Unable to help himself, Eddie started talking to the cat, hoping that by some miracle, it could hear him. “I’m not dangerous. I swear-”
Eddie had barely gotten a few words out before a loud crash broke him off and he looked up, his eyes locking onto Richie’s, who was staring with wide eyes in his direction. “Who’s there?”
It was clear that RIchie could hear him, but there was still the question of whether or not he could see him. No-one had been able to see Eddie before, or hear him for that matter, but this man seemed to hold that ability. Was he a psychic? What he some sort of clairvoyant? He backed himself further up into the corner of the room, but Richie seemed to follow him.
“I can see you, you know?” Richie questioned and Eddie felt himself freeze up in shock and fear. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?”
Eddie wasn’t sure what possessed him to respond to Richie, but he did, his voice coming out in a quiet whisper, “Technically, this is my house. I was here first.”
He expected Richie to jump in shock, or run away in fear of a stranger being in his home, never mind a ghost. What he didn’t expect was for him to cross his arms over his chest and let out a chuckle. “Looks like the landlord did us dirty then, considering I’m paying rent here too.” He met Eddie’s eyes from across the room and he had to stop himself from shrinking back into the wall. “Who are you?”
Instead of answering Richie’s question, Eddie bantered back with him, the interaction foreign but a little fun all the while, “I don’t pay rent.”
Richie stepped a little closer to Eddie and he did back up this time so he was completely pressed against the wall behind him, without falling through it. “Who are you?” He asked again, but his voice wasn’t angry or agitated, it was soft and warm...almost inviting.
After a moment, Eddie moved off the wall, carefully taking a step closer to Richie, “My name is Eddie...and as I said I live here. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“Eddie,” Richie repeated, smiling that same warm smile at him. “My name is Richie Tozier, and well, I live here too. Are you going to explain this to me or am I meant to be scared you’ll murder me in my sleep?”
“I’m not going to murder you,” Eddie assured him, quickly and without missing a beat. Even hearing the word caused a violent shiver to course through his body, memories flashing back in his mind that were still all to fresh. “But I can’t leave...I’m sorry.”
Richie paused at his words, as though he was thinking something over and eventually he nodded his head. “Alright Eddie, so you can’t leave. That’s okay.” Eddie frowned at why Richie was so calm about this whole situation. Did he know that Eddie was dead or was he just that nice? His questions were answered however, by Richie speaking up once more. “Did you die here, Eddie? Are you a ghost?”
Ah. So Richie wasn’t just nice. He knew exactly why Eddie was in this house when he wasn’t meant to be. Still one question remained, how did Richie figure it out so quickly? “I don’t...how did you know that?”
“It’s not that hard to figure out. You say you live here, but can’t leave. No-one actually knows your here, and you have no shadow.” Richie listed off and Eddie looked down at his feet, where a part of him was standing in the moonlight and true to Richie’s word, there was no shadow. “Oh, and I’m a warlock.”
That caught Eddie off guard and he shot his head back up, moving out from the corner even more. He had heard about people with magic before, but he was always convinced that it wasn’t real. Apparently, he was wrong about that. “You have magic? Like in Harry Potter?”
Another chuckle passed Richie’s lips and he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Kind of, we don’t have wands or anything like that. Spells mainly come from books.” At those words, Eddie finally had an answer for what the mysterious book was that had been on the table in the living room. “I’m not exactly the best at it either, that’s why I’m here, so I can get better.” He stepped even closer, so they were only arms length away from one another. “It’s nice to meet you Eddie.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Eddie answered after a while, a very faint smile appearing on his lips. “I guess you can stay, as long as you don’t make too much noise. It would be nice to have some company around here.”
Richie laughed and nodded his head, “Well, that does seem fair. Don’t you worry Eds, I promise to be the best housemate ever!”
“Eds?” Eddie questioned quietly at the name that had slipped from Richie’s lips.
“A nickname for Eddie!” Richie explained. “You don’t mind do you?”
Even though Eddie was already a nickname for his full name, Edward, Eddie didn’t have it in him to tell Richie no. In fact, the thought of having a nickname made up by someone made Eddie’s small smile grow just that little bit more. “No, I guess I don’t mind all that much. Don’t make a habit of it though.”
Richie grinned, “I would never Eds. Don’t wanna upset my housemate on the first day now do I?” He reached forward to put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, only for it to fall right through and land right by his side. “Oh shit, I’m sorry.”
It was a weird feeling, to have someone’s solid alive arm fall through his very dead, body. He looked up at Richie with a sad look on his face, all signs of a smile gone as he was brought back to the realisation of exactly how different he and Richie were. “It’s okay...I should have saw it coming.”
“No, no I’m sorry, honestly,” Richie assured Eddie, smiling down at him in the hopes of earning another smile. It worked, simply because Eddie realised Richie’s smile was infectious and there was no way he could notsmile around him. “Do you have a room?”
Eddie looked up properly at that and he nodded his head, “I do, it’s the first on the right.” They made their way to the stairs and when they reached the top, Eddie stopped outside of the door. “Here.”
“This is the door that wouldn’t open when I came to visit,” Richie pondered and Eddie nodded his head.
“I locked it, no-one can get in unless I let them. Everything is still the same as it was when I...was alive,” Eddie explained and opened the door so Richie could enter. “You can come in if you want.”
The place was dusty, extremely so since Eddie couldn’t actually clean it up but he didn’t want anyone finding this place, which was why he kept it hidden. It was the last place that he had to tether him to his life. He watched as Richie looked around, scanning over his books that he had read countless times when he was laying in the bed, unable to do anything else.
“This is your actual room,” Richie whispered, taking a seat on the bed. “I appreciate you sharing this with me, Eds. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you.”
It was extremely difficult, but for some reason, Richie’s presence killed some of the hurt that he was feeling. Maybe it was the fact that he was human, or that he had magic, but even thought Eddie wasn’t physically alive, he felt as though he was mentally alive.
“Its late,” Eddie eventually said after a while. “You should go to sleep. I’ll still be here in the morning. I don’t...disappear.”
Richie only paused for a moment before he nodded and stepped out of the room to head down the hall to the room that was, luckily, the spare and not his mothers. “Goodnight Eds.”
“Goodnight, Richie.”