"There he is!" Richie smiles and sings to the tune of the Miss America theme as Eddie walks slowly into the lobby of his physical therapy place. "My baby is walking all by himself." He pretends to wipe a tear away.
"Shut up, asshole." Eddie says, but Richie can hear the unmistakable fondness behind the words. He's happy about it, too.
"I still suggest using a walker or wheelchair for any distances over half a mile," his therapist follows behind him. "But short distances are fine. We've made a lot of progress these past two months. I still recommend coming back every other week, just to monitor your progress and ensure that nothing is going wrong, though."
"Yeah, well every other week is much better than three times a week." Eddie sighs, happily.
"So, uh," Richie hesitates for just a second. "Is he like, cleared for sex?"
"Richie!" Eddie exclaims in embarrassment. "Are you fucking kidding me?" His cheeks heat up. "I am so sorry."
She laughs and looks at Eddie. "Whenever you're ready, as long as you take it easy. Are you married?"
"Getting a divorce." Eddie says, glaring at Richie. "That's why my nosy best friend picks me up every time."
"I still can't believe you're best friends with Richie Tozier. I was starstruck the first time you came into the office." She looks shy. "Um, would you mind if we took a picture?"
"Nope." Richie says as she hurriedly hands Eddie her phone. "See Eds? Someone appreciates your 'nosy best friend.'"
"Don't call me that." Eddie rolls his eyes, but takes the picture.
"Thank you!" His therapist grins. "See you in a couple weeks, Eddie." She waves good-bye as Richie helps Eddie out to the car.
"So I'm back to being your best friend?" Richie pretends to be bummed out.
"You're back to being a dumbass." Eddie shakes his head, leaning on him a little more than what's necessary. "You're not out yet. We can't have some random ass physical therapist spreading 'Richie Tozier is gay' rumours."
"So what?" Richie shrugs, even though the idea is enough to make his stomach hurt. But he's trying to be better.
Eddie finally kisses him once they get home. That still hasn't stopped taking Richie by surprise. He knows that soon enough it will be normal and he is both sad and excited for that day. He's never been with anyone long enough to have a normal.
Except Eddie, he thinks as he watches him make a beeline for the kitchen, griping about how hungry he is.
He supposes that this is his new normal. Since Eddie's been able to stand on his own, he has taken liberty of cooking the two of them dinner every night. It's so much better than takeout. Richie gets home from work to find a hot plate of food waiting for him. He almost cried the first time.
It's only been two months since they kissed that first night, and things have been relatively slow between them, but Richie has never been happier.
They sleep next to each other every night and kiss pretty frequently and there's occasional over-the-clothes frottage. And then there's all the domestic stuff. Watching movies and going grocery shopping and eating dinner together. Richie was only joking at the physical therapy place to get a rise out of Eddie.
He's not sure if he's ready for sex, yet. He would like to be, and he's not going to pretend like Eddie hasn't been the center of all his fantasies lately, but it's just so nice right now. He'd hate to sleep with Eddie and then have him find out that he doesn't actually like men the way he thought he did.
