Author's note: I really wanted to have this chapter up ages ago, but that obviously didn't work out. I know some of you have been waiting for this, so here it is finally! I really hope it was worth the wait and I apologize for taking forever! I also hope it's not too weird to be reading about Thanksgiving in June, but what the hell? If networks can have Christmas movies in July, then my story can have Thanksgiving in June.

Brave
Chapter 28 – Thanksgiving

When Eddie straightened up from checking his stuffing in the oven, Richie immediately pressed up against Eddie's back, wrapping his arms around Eddie's waist. "Smells good," Richie said, kissing the back of Eddie's neck.

"Told you, asshole," Eddie muttered, even as he relaxed into Richie's touch, resting his hands over top of Richie's. "My gluten-free stuffing is so fucking good, you're not going to know what hit you."

Pausing in between his kisses, Richie pulled back and asked, "Who the hell's talking about stuffing? I meant you smell good." Richie let the tip of his nose run over Eddie's hairline, sniffing quietly.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie said, "Shut up."

"Or what?" Richie asked playfully, returning to laying kisses along the back of Eddie's neck.

Eddie huffed out a breath and abruptly turned around in Richie's arms. "Are we having this conversation again?" He rested his hands against Richie's chest before he said, "You know I can shut you up." He looked up at Richie through his eyelashes.

"So shut me up." Richie tilted his head to the side, capturing Eddie's lips in a kiss.

Eddie moaned before momentarily opening his mouth up to Richie's tongue. This only lasted for a moment, however, before Eddie broke the kiss and said, "Not now. People are going to start showing up soon. We can't go fooling around in the bedroom when we have guests on the way."

Richie stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. "Later though?"

"Mm, I don't know." Eddie shrugged nonchalantly, like he wasn't thinking about getting frisky with Richie more and more as time went on. "It depends on what time people leave, and how tired I am at the end of the day…"

"So we'll just have to kick everyone out early," Richie said, nodding.

Eddie pushed gently against Richie's chest. "You're horrible."

"Tell me you weren't thinking the same thing."

Unable to keep a smile from spreading across his features, Eddie ducked his head, feeling his cheeks growing warm. Their relationship still hadn't progressed to actual sex itself, but they were both becoming quite accustomed to coming up with new and fun ways to get each other off. If Eddie was honest with himself, it absolutely thrilled him to think about what else he and Richie could get up to, but he would never openly admit it to Richie.

Richie, however, could always be counted on to point out the obvious, because Eddie's nether regions were already betraying him.

Grinning, Richie pulled back, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "You are thinking the same thing."

"Shut up," Eddie scolded, thumping his hands against Richie's chest. "Why are you like this? Why is everything about sex for you?"

Richie snorted loudly, raising his right hand to his chest. He sought out Eddie's left hand, Richie's thumb brushing over the opal and platinum ring settled on Eddie's finger. "Okay, Mister Hot and Bothered. You know, the one who initiated everything last night."

"Not everything," Eddie muttered, even though he could feel his cheeks growing warmer yet.

Placing one of his fingers under Eddie's chin, Richie directed Eddie's vision up towards him. Richie was grinning, because he knew that Eddie was absolutely correct, although he would never admit to that either. Because Richie was nothing if not an asshole.

Without saying a word, Richie leaned forward to kiss Eddie. It only took Eddie a moment before he was moaning into Richie's mouth once more, deepening the kiss as he did so. He fisted his hands in the front of Richie's ungodly bright blue shirt with stupid cartoon turkeys on it. Turkeys. Eddie only had a moment to wonder (again) about where Richie found these abominations before his train of thought was interrupted entirely by his phone ringing.

It was Richie's turn to moan as Eddie pulled out of his grasp. At first, Eddie thought that it was one of their guests for dinner calling to inform him they were going to be late or something. But no. It was Myra. Goddamn fucking Myra who he had no intention of talking to today of all days.

"I have to take this," Eddie said around a sigh, picking his phone up off the counter. "It's Myra."

Richie grumbled something under his breath before crossing his arms over his chest. "I hate when she bothers you. She gets you so riled up sometimes."

"I know," Eddie replied, staring down at his still ringing phone, at Myra's name lit up on the screen. "At least things haven't been so bad between us since we talked in person. You know that." He closed his eyes as he added, "Besides, I just want to get this divorce settled as soon as possible so we can move on."

When Eddie opened his eyes again, Richie only fixed with a helpless expression as he gestured for Eddie to answer the phone.

Eddie cleared his throat before accepting the call. "Myra," he greeted, bringing the phone up to his ear.

He almost thought she had hung up at first, because there was no immediate response. Just as he was about to pull the phone away to see if they were still connected, Myra replied, "Eddie." She took a moment to clear her own throat and asked, "How…um, how are you?"

"O-okay." Eddie frowned, because he and Myra did not call each other to make small talk. He knew she wouldn't be calling him – especially on Thanksgiving of all days – just to ask how he was doing, but he decided not to rock the boat. "And you?"

"Okay," she echoed. More silence met his ears, but a few seconds later, she said, "Look, I just wanted to let you know that I was served with the divorce papers."

Eddie's heart thudded uncomfortably, because he wondered if this was when she would begin to contest things. If this was when she would raise issues with it. But no.

"I didn't…" she began again before pausing. "You're leaving me everything? The house and…everything?"

"It's the least I could do," Eddie replied sheepishly. He reached across his chest with his free hand to grip his shoulder. Perhaps he was trying to give himself some sort of comfort in this, but he wasn't sure. "You know, after…treating you the way I did."

More silence. "Eddie…" she said before trailing off again.

Eddie couldn't tell if she stopped herself from using one of his pet names, or if there really was something else she wanted to say. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

As if sensing his thoughts, she finally added, "Well, I'm…going to sign them either way, so you don't need to worry about that. I told you I would and that's what I'm going to do. I was just making sure…you really don't want anything?"

"Just some money so Richie doesn't have to pay for everything. And until I get more settled in my new job."

It only took Eddie a moment to realize what he had said – Richie's actual name as well as implied that he and Richie were living together. It wasn't any secret that he and Richie were in a relationship, but Myra wasn't aware of his real name or the fact that things had moved so quickly between them.

Myra, however, didn't seem phased. Didn't seem like she was all that surprised by this information. Again, Eddie wondered how he had missed just how well Myra seemed to know him. To know his relationship with Richie.

"Richie," she said quietly, her tone genuinely curious and slightly amused. "So he really doesn't go by Dick like he introduced himself as."

"He doesn't go by Dick," Eddie huffed out around his own small laugh. "Although he should, because he is."

This earned him an expression from Richie that was caught somewhere between shock and offense. In the end, not wanting Myra to hear him, Richie had to settle for sticking his tongue out at Eddie. Eddie rolled his eyes.

Eddie briefly wondered if having Richie's real name would make Myra realize that Eddie was indeed in a relationship with that 'crass comedian' from YouTube. If she made the connection, however, she didn't say anything.

"So how is the new job going?" Myra asked.

"It's good," Eddie told her. "I think it's a good fit for me. I like everyone I work with and my boss is giving me more responsibilities, so I think he's happy with my work."

Myra didn't reply right away, but then she said, "I'm happy for you. Don't settle."

Eddie could feel himself smiling as he met Richie's eyes. "I didn't."

"Are you…with him today? Richie?"

"Yes. And, um…we're having a few friends over. I'm making my famous gluten-free stuffing."

"I'm sorry I'm missing it."

At least there was someone who appreciated his cooking and his gluten-free recipes even if Richie didn't. "I hope…I mean, you're not alone today, are you?" Eddie asked. As much as he hadn't gotten along with Myra even when they were together, she still didn't deserve to be alone. Especially not on a holiday.

"No. My sister, and her husband, and their two kids are here. Her husband's attempting to make his own stuffing recipe which he claims will make me forget all about yours, but we'll see."

This actually earned a genuine laugh from Eddie, although he wondered what Myra's family was really saying about him. He was fairly certain they were calling him a few choice names and badmouthing him…just like he used to do with Myra. "I'm glad," he said. "That you're not alone."

"Yeah." Myra sounded somber just now, and Eddie supposed he couldn't blame her. "But I'm going to get the divorce papers filed next week, so…it can get underway."

"Thank you."

She sighed before she added, "Happy Thanksgiving."

"You too."

Biting at his lower hip, Eddie placed his phone back down on the counter before glancing at Richie. Richie was already making his way over to Eddie, wrapping his arms around him from the side. Eddie tucked his head underneath Richie chin, relaxing into his grasp.

"Laughing with Myra?" Richie asked after a moment.

"It's not like that." Eddie took a moment to rub at his face before continuing on. "It's nice that we can actually have a civil conversation without biting each other's heads off. I just…feel bad, because I can tell she's hurting. Because of me."

Tightening his grip around Eddie, Richie let out a soft sigh into his hair. "I know," Richie said, running his hands up and down one of Eddie's arms. "I kind of didn't realize…I think she really loves you in her own way. It's…weird. It's fucking weird to think about her having feelings like that after treating her like a pariah all this time."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Eddie whispered, continuing to rub at his face. "I can't believe it took…this for me to realize that she really isn't as bad as I made her out to be all this time."

"Do you think…" Richie began, but then he stopped, biting at his bottom lip.

Eddie pulled away from him slightly, looking up into his eyes. "What? You know you can ask me anything."

Richie stepped away, taking the time to lean back against the counter before he said anything more. "I was just wondering if…things would have been different between you two if you had realized that sooner."

"If we could have worked things out, you mean?" Eddie asked, his eyebrows going up. "Why, Richie, are you jealous?"

"Not…jealous." Richie's face scrunched up into a grimace. "Not exactly. Just…if things were better between you two, this wouldn't be happening for us." He fixed Eddie with a slightly helpless expression.

Shaking his head, Eddie laid a hand over Richie's arm, letting his thumb caress Richie's skin gently. "Definitely not. Like I told Myra, you can't make yourself love someone and…I wasn't happy. Maybe we could have kept things a little more civil for a while longer, but it eventually would have imploded. It just wasn't meant to be."

The very corner of Richie's lips twitched up into a smile. "Not like we were, hm?"

"Not like we were." Eddie's own smile overtook his features.

Richie pushed away from the counter and took a step towards Eddie, either to embrace Eddie or kiss him again. Eddie wasn't sure and he didn't find out, because just then, there was a knock at their door.

"Someone's here!" Eddie screeched, leaping across the kitchen and nearly tripping over his own two feet in the process. He only had a moment to feel silly before excitement overtook him again.

He had never done this before – had his own guests over. Sure, Myra made it a priority to invite over her friends and her family all the time, but Eddie never did. Hell, it wasn't like Eddie even had friends or family to invite over. He had a few acquaintances at work that he liked well enough, but no one he had ever spent time with outside of the office. Almost everything about his previous life had been about Myra, and her friends, and her family, and it was so fucking nice to just have his own space and his own friends.

Eddie hurried across the entryway, and he could hear Richie hot on his heels, his own feet echoing off the tile floor before meeting the plush blue rug near the door. A grin had settled across Eddie's features as he wrenched open the door.

It was Eddie's nurse, James, and Eddie didn't know why, but he found himself wrapping an arm around the other man. It had been quite a while since Eddie had seen him, and even then, they had never been very close; for reasons Eddie couldn't quite explain, however, he felt a certain affinity for James that hadn't quite been there before. Eddie attributed it to the fact that James was there for Richie when Eddie couldn't be. He had stood up for Richie at his last show and had made sure Richie hadn't cracked his head open, after all.

"It's good to see you," Eddie said, releasing his hold on James. He stepped back, allowing James to fully enter the home that he and Richie now shared.

"You too," James said, placing a hand on Eddie's shoulder. "You look good."

"I feel good," Eddie agreed. "I don't quite have a completely clean bill of health just yet – I have a couple more weeks before I get there – but I'm getting stronger every day. I'm back to running, which I've sorely missed, and that's done wonders for my state of mind. When I was still in the hospital and not sure how I would heal, or if I would heal and be…normal again, that contributed a lot to my piss poor attitude-"

"Think nothing of it," James cut him off gently. "You don't need to apologize for your mental state when you were in so much pain and you weren't entirely sure what was going to happen. I see patients like that on a daily basis, and…it's not something I ever hold against them. You weren't you at the time."

"Yeah," Eddie whispered, profusely grateful that James was making this so easy on him. Eddie wasn't sure how to express that, so he trusted that James knew. A moment later, Eddie added, "And I've moved on from a lot of shit that wasn't good for me, and fuck…I'm better than I've been in a long time."

"Maybe ever," Richie interjected, that goddamn shit-eating grin of his nearly swallowing up his face.

"Shut the fuck up, man."

James took a moment to clap Richie on the shoulder next, exchanging greetings with him.

It was then that Eddie threw a furtive glance at the still-open door to their apartment, checking to make sure that no one else was arriving. "Listen," he told James quietly, "before anyone else gets here, I wanted to thank you for what you did for Richie. He told me what happened in Reno…thanks for sticking up for him and making sure he was okay when I couldn't be there."

James waved a hand, dismissing Eddie's words. "You don't need to thank me for that either. We're…getting to be friends, right? And that's what friends do for each other."

Eddie smiled, because goddamn, it seemed like James was going to fit right into their little Losers Club. "That's what friends do for each other," Eddie agreed.

Another arrival, however, cut their conversation short. A man had appeared in the doorway who was about Eddie's height and also had short black hair. He had a large paper shopping back in one hand which looked like it contained some pans of food. Eddie was assuming that this was Richie's manager, Jason.

"Jay!" Richie said, quickly crossing the entryway and gesturing for Jason to step inside. Next, Richie wrapped an arm around Eddie, hugging him closely. "This is Eddie, the man of my dreams." Richie pressed his nose into Eddie's hair, probably mussing after all the time Eddie had spent getting it to lay perfect. Then Richie said, "This is Jason, my manager."

"I got that," Eddie said, pushing against Richie's chest. He could feel his cheeks growing warm and muttered, "Get off me, fuck nugget." When Richie released him, Eddie took a few seconds to flatten down his hair. When he reached out for Jason's hand next, he greeted, "Jason."

"It's good to meet you finally," Jason told him. "I've heard so much about you."

Eddie pinned Richie with a piercing gaze, placing his hands on his hips, because he could only imagine half of what Richie said about him in his absence.

"All good things!" Richie claimed, putting his hands up, but then his expression faltered. "Well, mostly good things. You know, there may have been the odd comment here and there about how you're an asshole. Because you are."

"This coming from the granddaddy of all assholes," Eddie bit back.

"This is how they are," James said, probably to try and calm the slightly uncomfortable expression on Jason's face. "Get used to it."

"Oh, right," Jason said. "You thrive on this shit, and Eddie is the love of your life, because he can actually keep up with you. How could I forget?"

This earned Richie another scathing glare, but it did nothing to dampen the grin still consuming Richie's face. As much as it embarrassed Eddie to have Richie flaunting their relationship so much, he had to remind himself that it was a sign of Richie's excitement and contentment. Richie had never been able to be like this before in his entire life – completely out and proud. Now that he didn't have anything to hide around this particular group of friends, Richie was truly starting to thrive in embracing who he was. He no longer had to constantly make stupid jokes to hide behind. Not to mention, it did warm Eddie's heart underneath it all to think that he was the reason that Richie was like this – happy and finally learning to fully be himself.

Biting at his bottom lip, Eddie learned over to press a quick kiss to Richie's jaw, which in turn caused Richie's grin to nearly split his face in half.

"I brought some sides," Jason said, holding his bag out for Richie to take. "My mother's recipes for mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, because they are the bomb." He turned to Eddie and said, "Entirely free of egg, soy, gluten, and cashews, so completely safe for you to eat."

This caused Eddie's mouth to drop open slightly, because while some of their guests had offered to bring food, Eddie hadn't been expecting them all to adhere to his dietary restrictions. There were eight other people who would be eating this food who didn't have any special diets; it always surprised Eddie when people took his allergies into account when they really didn't have to be bothered with it.

Richie was making his way into the kitchen to set down the pans Jason had given him, but he looked back over his shoulder at Eddie. Eddie in turn offered him the most genuine smile he could, which made Richie wink at him.

Eddie would have been lying if he said his thoughts didn't immediately go to what he and Richie could get up to later that evening. Fuck, he felt like a teenage boy again, because Eddie had never felt like this in his entire life. Myra certainly never drew these sorts of feelings and urges out of him, and Eddie knew that that was down to the fact that things with Richie were different. So much more different, and new, and exciting, and it made Eddie's heart thump harder in his chest.

Eddie was thankful for the fact that Bill and Audra showed up at that exact moment, because this definitely wasn't the time to let his mind wander to sexy times with Richie.

Bill was carrying a rather large and heaping roasting pan, which was covered in tin foil. Eddie assumed that this was the turkey they had promised to bring, which Richie promptly hurried over to collect.

"Damn," Richie said, grimacing under the weight. "I really fucking hope all this food fits in our oven to reheat. I wasn't quite thinking that far ahead at the time."

"Whatever doesn't fit up top can be put in the bottom drawer," Eddie offered. "It'll hold the potatoes and green beans, no problem."

Richie stopped in his tracks, turning back to face everyone else in the room. "What the fuck do you mean, the bottom drawer?"

"You know that drawer under the stove that most people put pans and shit in?" Eddie asked. "You can use that to warm food."

Blinking, Richie stood there in their hallway, holding a giant turkey, and Eddie wanted to kiss the shit out of him. "You mean that's not just for storage? You can put food in there?"

"Yes, dumbass."

Richie's eyes dropped down to the turkey, then back up to Eddie again. "I just have to find somewhere to put all our pans then," Richie said before turning back to the kitchen again.

Snorting quietly at his clueless fiancé, Eddie said, "This is Bill and his lovely wife, Audra. Bill is one of our best friends from childhood, and he just so happens to be my best man."

Suddenly, Richie reappeared from the kitchen, his hands high in the air. He stared at Eddie, his expression questioning, before he said, "Whoa, wait a minute. You didn't tell me you picked a best man. Or…best person? I don't know, what's the proper term for it nowadays?"

"I think it's person of honor," Eddie said before he shared a glance with Bill. Eddie shrugged. "You know Bill's my best friend other than you," Eddie explained. "I didn't…think it was that big of a deal or that I would need to announce it. Who else would it be?"

"Yeah, but…" Richie began, but then his voice died in his throat seconds later. "You didn't give me a chance to think about mine!"

"It's not like we're under any time constraints," Eddie reminded him. "It's still going to be a while before my divorce goes through, so you have plenty of time to decide on one."

Richie frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just…don't want you to think I want to marry you any less, because I haven't considered this yet."

"It's fine," Eddie said, making his way over to Richie. It was Eddie's turn to wrap his arms around Richie's waist, pressing another kiss to the underside of Richie's jaw. "You'll decide when you're ready," Eddie told him. "I didn't think of it as indifference on your part just because you're a scatterbrain and didn't think that far ahead yet."

Richie fidgeted around a moment in Eddie's grasp before that grin found his face again. "Okay," he finally said. "'Cause I'm not indifferent. No way, no how."

"I know," Eddie said. He leaned up on his tiptoes, capturing Richie's lips in a kiss. Richie's arm was curling around Eddie's waist a moment later, and for the first time, Eddie didn't care that they had an audience.

Richie and Eddie had a dining table in the corner of the main room between the living area and the kitchen. They didn't use it often, opting instead to eat at the island counter in the kitchen itself. The table extended to seat up to ten people, although this made it a little cramped in that area of the room.

"We're really not in the habit of hosting a dinner party for nine people," Richie said, squeezing in between Eddie and the wall of windows behind him.

Eddie was in the process of setting his pan of stuffing down next to the turkey in the center of the table. Richie used this moment to place his hands firmly on Eddie's hips, stepping just close enough so that he was sure Eddie could feel the front of Richie's jeans against his backside. Eddie let out the fucking most adorable squeak from his throat, his face flushing a furious and fetching red color. Eddie shot him daggers, but Richie didn't miss the tiny little smile playing about his lips regardless.

"Sorry if it's a little crowded," Richie continued on, pretending like he didn't know what the fuck he was doing to Eddie. Richie grinned at him, but this only caused Eddie to narrow his eyes even more.

Once everyone was seated at the table, Richie took his place in front of his chair, but didn't sit down just yet. "So," Richie said before pausing again and taking a moment to clear his throat. "Um," he stammered and began to compulsively run a hand through his hair. Suddenly, he let out a breath of laughter and then he planted his palms flat on the table. "You know what? This is stupid. This is stupid, because you already know my secret, and it's not like any of you care. I don't know why I'm acting like I'm just coming out now."

Eddie reached his hand across the table, placing it over top of Richie's and squeezing gently. When Richie met his eyes, Eddie gave him the most encouraging smile he could.

Richie eventually returned the smile, clearing his throat again and facing the rest of the table once more. Before he started to speak, however, he directed his gaze down at his empty plate, at the reflection he could see of his face there. The way his unkempt hair stood out from his face. The way his glasses still sometimes looked too big on him, even though he felt like he had grown into them twenty damn years ago. The way he thought he might eternally feel like a dumb, gawky teenager even though that too had passed decades ago.

A part of Richie wondered if he might always feel this way when he came close to being more open about himself. When he dropped all his stupid jokes, and pretenses, and was just…himself. He was terrified that when he finally came out publicly, he might still feel the same way, and he was fairly certain that he would throw up again with all those people watching him.

The only person he never felt like this with was Eddie, and he supposed that was why it had been so ridiculously easy to fall in love with him in the first place. Turning his hand over in Eddie's, Richie gripped it tightly, letting Eddie's touch offer him comfort before he started to try and speak again.

Beverly was on his other side and she laid a hand over his arm. She smiled up at him and said, "We love you, Richie. You know that, and you know nothing could ever change that."

"Yeah, man," agreed Mike from the other side of the table. "Like I told you back in Derry, if your regular obnoxious self can't make us hate you, then nothing will."

"Thank you!" Jason exclaimed, lightly slamming one of his hands down on the table, which made the silverware jump and jingle. "That's exactly what I told him."

"Yeah, thanks," Richie muttered, running his free hand through his hair again. "It's just…I don't know why it still feels so hard for me to fully be myself, even around people who know the real me. I guess it's because I'm so used to…being somebody else."

Taking a moment to glance around at everyone's encouraging faces smiling up at him, Richie straightened his glasses on his face before he went on again. "But…I just wanted to…thank you all for…making it so fucking easy for me to start to fully embrace that side of myself. When I was growing up, and I was so firmly in the closet it felt like I couldn't breathe…I never imagined that it could be like this. That I could be open and…I'd have people in my life that wouldn't give a rat's ass if I was gay or fucking Eddie's mom six ways from Sunday."

"Dude," Eddie snapped, giving Richie's hand a little shake. "Just when I thought you could give a nice little speech, you go and fuck it up by talking about my dead mother. Not cool."

"Like you'd know cool if it bit you in the ass."

This got Richie another glaring stare from Eddie, and it looked like Eddie was hurting himself in an attempt to not bite back. Richie, however, was pretty sure that Eddie was about to threaten him with no sexy times tonight.

"Kiss my ass," Eddie eventually said.

Richie almost had to physically restrain himself to keep from saying what was really on his mind. In the end, he only gave Eddie the largest smile he could, because he counted on the fact that Eddie knew just what he was thinking.

When Richie realized that everyone was staring at him and waiting for him to go on, he cleared his throat again. "But, um…yeah," he stammered while he collected his thoughts again. "This idiot has agreed to marry me." Richie paused, taking a moment to lift Eddie's hand up off the table, displaying Eddie's engagement ring for everyone to see.

Despite the fact that they had already been kissing and shit in front of their guests, Eddie could feel his cheeks burning warmly under their stare. Because yes, Richie was truly going to flaunt their relationship at every chance he got now that he was in a safe environment to do so.

"And I have a group of friends that I fucking love," Richie went on, "and I know that every single one of you will have my back till the ends of the earth. You've already proven that beyond my wildest expectations, and…just thank you. For never making me feel like the abomination I always thought I was."

Richie's voice broke on the last word, and he felt his eyes burning. He hung his head again, but this time, his eyes were too blurry to see his reflection in the plate below him. It was only a mass of bright white porcelain. He reached up under his glasses with his free hand, swiping away the tears that had begun to pool on his lashes.

He felt Beverly's hand on his arm again, and then she stood up next to him. She pulled him into her arms just like she had that day back at the Townhouse in Derry. Hugging his shoulders tightly, she whispered in his ear, "You're not, Rich. You're not, and none of us have ever thought you were."

Sniffling, Richie rubbed at his eyes once more before he faced the rest of the table again. Deep down, he still felt like everyone would be watching him angrily or would have gotten up from the table in disgust. But no. All of his guests were still in their seats, looking up at him and waiting for him to go on.

"You know," Bill said, a smirk playing about his lips, "except for when you tell really bad jokes, which is all the time."

Richie couldn't keep a snort of laughter from escaping him and he muttered, "Yeah, I know. I know."

"You don't need to thank us," Ben said quietly from Bev's other side. "We're just…being your friends. We're treating you the way, I would hope, anyone would treat a fellow human being."

"Except not everyone does," Richie said, throwing Ben a frown over top of Bev's head.

Ben nodded, taking a moment to finger his water glass as he considered his next words. "I know that better than perhaps anyone, but…we're not like that. I told you that back in Derry and that still stands now. Losers stick together."

Richie found himself smiling once again, the expression eventually growing to envelope his lips more as the moments ticked by. "Yeah," he repeated. He cleared his throat once again before adding, "And I just wanted to make sure that everyone seated at this table knew how grateful I am for it." He picked his glass up from the table, turning to James and Jason next, who were seated at the other end of the table.

"I'd also like to thank these two Losers for having my back too," Richie added, raising his glass farther toward them. "They stood up for me when no one else was there to do it, and I appreciate it."

"So that makes us Losers, hm?" James asked, picking his own glass up off the table.

"Sorry," Richie said sheepishly, shrugging. "But…it's really kind of a title of honor for us now. At least, I like to think it is."

"It is," Beverly chimed in, retrieving her own glass from next to her plate. Holding it up for the rest of the table, she said, "To the Losers Club."

"To the Losers Club!" everyone else agreed, clinking their glasses together.

When everyone was seated again, Richie took Eddie's hand in his, leaning over and capturing Eddie's lips in a kiss. "I love you," Richie whispered in his ear, feeling Eddie's own fingers curling around his.

"I love you," Eddie murmured back, his brown eyes wide and shimmering at Richie's words.

Richie found his finger rubbing over the engagement ring on Eddie's finger again and again, and he kept wondering how in god's name he had ever gotten so close to finally having everything he'd ever wanted.

After dinner, everyone made their way into the living room, which more or less descended into a jumble of madness. Richie started telling some of the jokes he had recently written for his new, upcoming shows, and they were landing pretty well. They were getting laughs out of mostly everyone, at which point Eddie excused himself to the kitchen.

Eddie was Richie's very first and harshest critic, so he had already heard all of these jokes a dozen times over, and they were no longer new to him. He was happy that they were being received so well, of course, but he had other things on his mind at the moment.

Getting himself another cup of coffee, Eddie made his way back to the bedroom and out onto the balcony that overlooked the ocean. The longer he was in California, the more he came to love being so near the water. The sound of the waves soothed him and the salty sea air was becoming one of his favorite smells. The moon was out already, blazing a bright silvery trail along the water, and a lot of the time, Eddie wondered if Richie stood in this very spot, pondering his own life before everything had changed so much for them.

It was a bit chilly at night this late in the year, so Eddie wrapped his hands around his coffee mug and held it up close to his face. He let the steam warm and soothe him as he sipped slowly at the hot liquid.

The longer he was in California with Richie, and the more they became intimate, Eddie wondered when they'd be taking that next big step with their relationship. Eddie knew that Richie wasn't really in any hurry to consummate their relationship, and he was more than happy with doing pretty much everything else. Eddie was too, but more and more, he felt like that was quickly changing.

Eddie had never imagined that he'd start to feel so ready for sex with Richie after only a few short months together, but it was on his mind so much more than it had been at the beginning. He just didn't know if Richie felt the same way or how in god's name he should go about broaching the subject with him.

Eddie didn't know how long he had been out there, but after a while, he heard the sliding glass door open behind him. He didn't even have to look at who had joined him, because Eddie could always tell when Richie's presence filled the room.

"Are you okay?" Richie asked as he approached.

"Mhm," Eddie hummed, taking another sip from his coffee. "It was just getting a bit hot in there and well, I've heard all those dumb jokes before."

A moment later, Richie's hands were on his hips and Richie was learning forward. He pressed his nose against the back of Eddie's neck, laying soft kisses along the collar of Eddie's shirt.

Smiling, Eddie leaned back into his touch. It times just like this that Eddie wanted to know if Richie was thinking about sex as much as he was. When Richie used every available moment to touch Eddie and to kiss him. This had actually taken up a large part of their romantic relationship as it was, but Richie seemed a bit more intense about it every single time. Not that Eddie minded this, of course, because he was just as eager to touch Richie in more intimate ways at every chance; he just wanted to know what in the hell Richie was thinking when he did it.

Was Richie trying to send him some kind of message? Was he hoping that Eddie would bring up the subject for discussion so he didn't have to? Or was he just doing what felt right and not really thinking about the elephant in the room?

Such was their relationship, Eddie supposed. They wouldn't be Richie and Eddie if they didn't dance around these issues to death. It was why it had taken them thirty fucking years to get together in the first place.

"Should I start throwing people out now so we can get to the main event of the evening?" Richie whispered against his neck. Eddie shivered as Richie's breath brushed against his skin, stepping back even more into Richie's touch.

"Rich…"

"Hm?" Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie's waist, pulling him closer against him, and there it was again – the evidence of Richie's excitement.

Eddie squirmed in Richie's touch, suddenly feeling warm despite the cool breeze coming in off the ocean. Turning in Richie's arms, Eddie grinned and pushed himself up on his tiptoes so that he could kiss Richie fully on the lips.

Richie leaned down and turned his head into the kiss, capturing Eddie's lips fully in his. He pressed his tongue against Eddie's mouth, and Eddie moaned, letting his mouth fall open for Richie. Eddie inched forward, his coffee mug now trapped and forgotten between them, allowing his own arousal to rub against Richie's.

"Yeah?" Richie asked, leaning his head back and staring down at Eddie knowingly.

Nodding eagerly, Eddie said, "Just don't make it too obvious that this is what we're doing."

"Don't worry." Richie was grinning as he released Eddie, taking one of Eddie's hands in his own. He led Eddie back through the threshold into their bedroom, sliding the glass door shut behind them. "I have my own subtle way about these things."

"Yeah," Eddie agreed, his fingers growing tighter around Richie's in excitement. "About as subtle as a fucking space clown hiding in a goddamned sewer."

To be continued…