The night went by uneventful after Richie left the human boy, chilling at his own place and feasting on gummy worms. He had no need to leave his house.

      Mainly because he had three clones keeping an eye on Eddie to make sure he wouldn't try to jump off the roof again and they were keeping him updated.

      So all was good for the night.

      Richie was still wide awake when daylight came, not like he needed to sleep anyway, but he was on his feet and ready to see how that living boy was doing.

      He didn't really care about him, of course. Eddie was someone who could free him and he intended for that to happen.

      That's all.

      And that's why the bio-exorcist was standing outside Eddie's house. The boy wasn't on the roof from what he could see and according to his clones, he didn't try to end his life in any other way.

      With ease, Richie walked right through the closed door, scanning around the house. Simple enough, maybe too pristine and clean for the dead teenager's liking.

      He casually went into the kitchen, opening the cabinets in curiosity and—Jesus fuck, why are there so much pills here?! Was the boy's mother an addict or some shit? And then he remembered about the pills the boy threw out the night before, the placebos.

      The woman was lying to her own son, making him think that he was sick and frail.

      He wanted to scare the living shit out of her and revel in her screams.

      The green-haired boy floated into the living room, seeing a woman sitting in a chair there, watching tv. This woman had to be Eddie's mother, but he looked nothing like her.

      Richie stood in front of the large women, blocking her view of the tv.

      She showed no signs of noticing him, staring through him to watch her soap opera.

      He could totally just kill her. Kill her right here and enjoy kicking her fat ass to hell.

      But he didn't wanna piss off Eddie. He needed him.

      His help. He needed his help, of course.

      So the demon stuck his tongue out, holding up both middle fingers and wagging them before levitating away from Eddie's mother.

      He glared one last time at the woman before disappearing and reappearing in Eddie's room. The human boy was sitting on his bed, reading a book and unaware to the demon in his room.

      "Cute room ya got here!" Richie declared, letting his presence be known.

      The boy jumped and was about to scream before Richie was in front of him in a flash, a hand over his mouth. "Your mom can't see or hear me, but she can hear you. Start screaming and you'll have your overbearing mother in here." He warned him, only taking his hand away once he was sure that he wouldn't start screaming.

      "Don't touch me! I don't know where your hand has been!" Eddie hissed at him, smacking his wrist and Richie snorted,

      "You're adorable when you're angry!" He cooed, relishing in how disgusted and mad the smaller boy looked.

      "Why are you here?!" The living boy demanded, putting his book down before crossing his arms over his chest.

      "To make sure you didn't off yourself in the middle of the night." Richie responded casually and sat down on the edge of the bed.

      "Well, I didn't. So you can go now." He told him, using his hand to gesture for Richie to leave.

      The demon, however, did the exact opposite and scooted closer to him. "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay here. You're interesting."

      Eddie didn't say anything, fiddling with the cover of his book as he opened and closed it. "Why do you even care? You don't know me. You're just some ghost."

      "Babes, I'm not 'some ghost'. I'm the ghost with the most!" Richie said proudly, arms raised. "Besides, just cause I'm dead doesn't mean I don't have a heart." He technically didn't. It no longer beat, but Eddie didn't need to know that. "It doesn't hurt to have some friends on your side."

      "Friends? Is that what we are?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

      The ghost shrugged his shoulders. "I've never had a friend before, and I've been around for a millennia. So yeah, I'm declaring us friends now."

      Eddie paused for a long moment before finally smiled, a cute and genuine smile directed at the demon.

      Richie's stomach felt like it was fluttering.

      It must've been from all the beetles he had eaten earlier.

      "I...I guess I wouldn't mind a friend. I mean, my other friends would think I was crazy if I was friends with a dead guy."

      "All the best people are crazy!" He said happily, waving his hands and his grin widened when he saw Eddie snort and roll his eyes.

      He was cute.

      ...for a living boy. That's it.

      "Can anyone else see you?" Eddie asked him, his head tilting to the side slightly.

      Richie shook his head. "No one can. The only way they can see me is by saying my middle name three times."

      He raised an eyebrow. "Your middle name? Three times?"

      "Hey, I don't make the rules!" He said, holding his hands up.

      "So...what's your middle name?"

      "That's the thing, I can't say it. Again, I don't make the rules. But we can play a game for you to guess." Richie raised a dark eyebrow. "Wanna play?"

      He didn't say anything for a moment. "Maybe later. I've got homework to do...but you can stick around. If you want."

      His smile didn't falter. This kid wouldn't give in that easily, he knew. "Sure thing! Read to me, Romeo!" He declared dramatically, rolling on his back on the bed with the back of his pale hand to his forehead.

      The living boy rolled his eyes and picked up his book again, frankly ignoring the bio-exorcist but would shoot him little smiles every now and then.

      Eddie would be a tough one to crack, the demon knew this.

      But Richie had no plans on giving up.