#pb game

The stupid “on time” razzing got to him, and Richie doesn’t even know how. He’s a fairly punctual person, to the surprise of many, but knowing that it’s a Dom Thing with Eddie has Richie arriving ten minutes early and then walking around Eddie’s block to kill the time.

Maybe he’s hoping Eddie will praise him for it or something.

(Maybe he should hire Eddie for real. And then, like, probably die of the sheer embarrassment of being known.)

He rubs his hands over his face and when he pulls them away, he sees Eddie nearly crash a car into the curb as he vaults out and races up the steps, covered in motor oil. Richie watches, overjoyed that he’s had the privilege of witnessing this. 

He waits a few minutes, then heads up the stairs and rings the doorbell right on time.

Eddie wrenches the door open, hair wet and only mostly combed, dressed in a clean white shirt. He’s spotless and only a little bit breathless.

“You good?” Richie asks.

“Yeah, why?” Eddie says, ushering him inside.

“You just seem a little short of breath,” Richie says. “Were you jerking off?”

“I was not,” Eddie snaps.

“I get it,” Richie says. “I’m a tall drink of cool water, right? Probably need to take the edge off before you have to take a look at me.” He winks.

Eddie scowls at him. “Absolutely not,” he says. “Work ran late and I was in a hurry to get ready on time.”

“Oh, I know,” Richie says.

Eddie narrows his eyes, then jabs an accusatory finger at him. “Were you watching me?”

“Okay, yes,” Richie says with a laugh. “Not in a creepy way, though, I just got here early and I wanted to be on time so I was taking a walk around your building.”

Eddie gives him a funny look.

Shit. That was way too much. Way way too much. “You know, don’t need to give you more reasons to bust my balls,” Richie says quickly. “Short guy like you probably already has so much pent up rage, you can barely function.”

“I’m average height, asshole,” Eddie snaps.

Nailed it, Richie thinks.

“I’m flattered, though, I really am,” Richie says. “People don’t often run to be on time to see me.”

“Yeah, well, I like being punctual with this sort of thing,” Eddie says. “It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence if your Dom is running late all the time.”

Richie nods wisely. He knows this is a thing of Eddie’s that has very little to do with Richie, but he takes the win - he’s not kidding about the number of people willing to run for him. Bev would probably die for him, but she wouldn’t run. Stan’s punctual as all hell, but he wouldn’t run to maintain it, especially not for Richie, who would love to be able to tease Stan for being more than ten minutes late to anything. Seeing Eddie racing up his stairs even to maintain appearances for Richie has him feeling oddly warm.

“Anyway, come inside and let’s get to it. Once I’ve started an actual arrangement with a sub, I try to get them kneeling the moment they get in the door so we can establish a--”

Richie’s knees have already hit the ground.