(Lmao I'm pretty sure I've had Richie's age wrong the entirety of this fic thus far. He was 42 up to this point. Eddie's been 43 though, since around the November-ish mark)

Eddie and Richie hadn't seen eachother in three months. Richie had returned to his usual self two weeks after Christmas. But River knew he was still upset, even after all these months. Her and Quinn's friendship had been slightly rocky and awkward for a few weeks, but it was fine now. Quinn was officially dating Ivy and, Wren and River had been thrilled.

Eddie's divorce had been finalised and he had complete custody of Quinn, much to Myra's annoyance. Richie had lost his custody case on the grounds that River was almost an adult who could make her own decisions. The smirk on Isla's face had made him feel sick. But, River never wanted to see her mother ever again and Isla had had to respect that on the grounds of being arrested if she didn't.

March 7th 2019. River-Cecelia's 18th birthday and Richie's 43rd birthday. She's woken up by the sunlight billowing into her room, Wrens arm wrapped around her. She grins. She was 18 and it wasn't a school day!

Richie and River always had a tradition on their birthday. They would wake up, make pancakes together and eat them whilst watching Drop Dead Fred. This year, Wren got to join in on the tradition. Richie had warmed up to Wren and River's relationship a lot more and Wren had been staying over more frequently.

"Happy birthday." Wren yawns as he wakes up. River grins and kisses him gently." Are you excited?"

"Yes!" River replies happily. Wren chuckles and sits up, clicking his back." Let's go downstairs!"

He laughs once more and River gets up excitedly. She throws on a hoodie and her glasses and then yanks Wren up, making him laugh harder. River sprints across the hall and into her dads room. He's fast asleep, lying on his stomach with his mouth open.

"DAD!" River yells,startling Richie awake. He opens his eyes and blinks." Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, bunny." Richie yawns, sliding on his glasses before he stretches." Wanna make some pancakes?"

"Hell yeah!" River says, Richie laughing slightly at his excited she is. River and Wren leave Richie to fully wake up and he sighs. He looks at the spot ok the bed beside him. Eddie's spot. He pushes the sad thoughts to the back of his mind and gets out of bed, throwing on a tshirt.

When he gets downstairs, he sees River getting out the ingredients for pancakes, herself and Wren chatting excitedly. Richie smiles. He doesn't know where the time has gone. It felt like only yesterday she was a small baby and now she's 18 with a boyfriend.

"Come on, sleep baby, sleep." Richie begs. It was the fourth time in an hour River had woken up crying. It was just Richie as Isla was away on a work trip." Sssh, be good for daddy. He's trying his best. Please!"

River laughs as they play music. Wren smiles and they all start to make the pancakes together, Richie already managing to make a mess. He just laughs and wipes flour onto his daughters cheek. She sticks her tongue out at him before Wren wipes more onto the other side of her face. She gasps and throws some at him, making him laugh and kiss her gently. Richie smiles.

"And now we mix like this!" Richie instructs his four year old. River grins and places her hands ontop of his, which are on the whisk, and they mix the pancake mixture together.

"This is fun!" River says. It was the first year of the tradition. Richie grins."Mommy, look."

"Clever girl!" Isla says with a smile, walking over to them and kissing Richie gently." Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"Thank you." Richie replies as he kisses her again." Love you."

"Love you too." Isla says and Richie grins. She smiles back and heads off to take a shower, her husbands facade falling the moment she walks away. He turns to River, who is happily mixing the mixture still.

"Happy birthday, baby." Richie says, kissing the top of River's head.

"Happy birthday daddy!" River replies with a grin." Should we cook them now?"

"Let's cook them now!" River says with a smile as she lets go of Richie's hands. They stop mixing and Richie smiles a sad smile at her." Dad, everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's just...you've grown up so fast." He says and then a tear falls. He wipes it away." Sorry I'm getting emotional. I...I didn't want to cry today."

"It's okay." River says. Her dad was an emotional person who barely expressed his emotions, so if he was expressing them now, she was completely fine with it. Wren makes the first pancake while River calms her dad down.

"I love you, Cece. You know that, don't you?" Richie asks through his tears. River chuckles and pulls him into a hug." I'm sorry for crying. I just miss you being a toddler, that's all."

"I'm still that toddler. Just more grown." River states, pulling out of the hug and wiping her dads tears away. Then she kisses his forehead gently." I also feel like this is just all of the emotions you've had bottled up since Christmas flooding out of you."

"Probably." Richie sniffs. Wren plates up his pancake and passes the bowl full of mixture to River." What're you going to put on it...Nutella or syrup?"

"How about both?" Six year old River asks.

"That's gonna be one gross tasting pancake, babe." Richie replies, running a gentle hand through his daughters soft hair.

"What do you have, then?" River asks. Richie smiles.

"Nutella, obviously."

"Nutella, obviously." River responds as she cooks her pancake. Richie grins. She had not changed at all.

They finish up making their pancakes and then they all sit on the couch, Richie putting on Drop Dead Fred. Ever since it was released, it had been his favourite movie and he was glad River enjoyed it so much. It was their movie. Just like Billy Joel's song were their songs. Richie enjoyed the moments and the things he shared with his daughter and he was going to miss her when she went off to college. Isla, Wren, Quinn and River had all gotten in to NYU so they weren't that far away and she could come home every weekend. But Richie would be alone for the rest of the week and he hated being alone.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Beverly cheers later on at Richie and Rivers party. He'd rented out the school gymnasium for it. She hugs him tightly and he hugs her back with a chuckle.

After everything had gone wrong with Eddie, Richie had confided in Beverly and Stanley. They knew all about and Stan had called him a pussy for not expressing his feelings and therefore fucking up a good thing. Stan could be blunt and harsh but Richie knew he meant well. It had been that way for almost 43 years.

"I mean. He's over there, right now. Go talk to him!" Stan says, nudging Richie a little in Eddie's direction. He's stood talking with Mike and Ben. Richie shakes his head." It's been three months. Surely you've figured out your feelings by now."

"It's always just been River and I. I don't want to change that. I'm scared of changing that because what if it doesn't work out? What if we get used to a new dynamic and everything goes to shit and we have to go back to it just being us?" Richie asks. Beverly and Stanley sigh.

"You gotta like not be a pussy, man." Stan says. Richie glares at him." You clearly love him. So just let him love you back."

"Bored of the conversation. Leaving to go speak with my parents now!" Richie says, turning on his heels and walking over to Maggie and Wentworth. Beverly glances at Stan.

"What?" He asks.

"Can't you be a little less blunt with him? Just once?" She asks with a sigh, turning and going over to Ben. Stanley rolls his eyes and walks off to find his wife.

"Yeah I got an apology in a fucking card. Dad put it in the paper shredder but let me keep the money." River explains, the four sitting in a corner together. Quinn chuckles at that. River smiles at her." I don't have to worry about her anymore but it still kinda sucks dad lost the case."

"Did they not believe him?" Ivy asks and River shrugs." I fucking hate society."

"Me and you both." River chuckles. Then We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel starts playing and River gets up, rushing over to her dad.

The two sing and dance and laugh and Eddie watches from where he's stood with Mike. He hadn't seen Richie in three months. The mans hair was long and fluffy and Eddie wanted to walk over and play with it. He wanted to walk over and kiss him, long and passionate. He wanted to let him know how much he loved him. Richie laughs loudly as he and River dance, the biggest grin on his face, and his heart aches. The lack of Richie in his life had been unbearable. He missed his laugh, his smile, the gentle way he kissed him, the way he held him, all of the stupid nicknames and silly compliments. He missed it all.

You could say Eddie was pining.

"Happy birthday River and Richie. Happy birthday to you!" Everyone sings. Richie and River smirk at one another and then blow out the candles on their cakes. Richie kisses his daughters temple gently and she chuckles.

After they have cake, everyone starts to leave. River leaves with her friends as they were having a sleepover at Wrens. Richie waves goodbye and then packs away all of the decorations and the tables and chairs. He goes over to the stack of chairs and he's joined by someone.

"Hi." Eddie greets. Richie blushes." Want a hand?"

"Sure." Richie replies with a small smile. The two pack away quietly, not even engaging in small talk. Richie sucked at small talk and so did Eddie.

It takes about an hour for everything to be packed away and the two leave the gymnasium together. Once outside, Richie pulls out his cigarettes, offering one to Eddie. He knows Eddie isn't a smoker, so he's surprised when Eddie takes one. Richie lights it for him and shows him what to do. That doesn't stop the man from coughing.

"That tastes like shit." Eddie coughs and Richie chuckles lightly. That makes Eddie grin. He missed Richie's laugh." I'm still going to smoke it though."

"You do that, Eds." Richie states and Eddie smiles again. The two take a drag at the same time.

"Happy birthday, by the way." Eddie says.

"Thanks. It's not been too bad of a day. I had a little bit of a cry this morning because River's 18 but other than that...I had a good day." Richie explains and Eddie nods. He's sure he'll cry on Quinn's 18th in two months.

"Well, it's not over yet." Eddie says and Richie glances at him." Why don't we go for drinks?"

Richie stands in thought and Eddie is praying he says yes. Then he agrees with a nod and the two stomp out their cigarettes and head to Eddie's car. They drive to the bar that's in the hotel Eddie is still living in, and they sit down on the bar stools. Richie orders a bourbon and Eddie gets a Strawberry Daiquiri.

The two catch up for a little while, Eddie not bothering to hide his anger from Richie losing his court case. Richie just shrugs, though, and orders another drink. Eddie doesn't seem to be a big drinker as he gets his second once Richie's on his fourth. Richie can handle his alcohol well but Eddie already seems wasted. The two laugh and drink, sharing stories of the girls from when they were younger. Eddie laughs so hard at one he snorts and Richie almost melts on the spot.

The next thing Richie knows, he's pressed Eddie up against the wall of the elevator on their way up to Eddie's room and he's kissing him senseless. He can't really remember how they ended up doing that but he doesn't stop, Eddie begging for more everytime they pull apart. They make their way along the hallway and Eddie unlocks the door to his room, Richie closing the door and pinning Eddie up against it the second it's closed. Eddie moans as Richie kisses him deeply, before the younger man attacks the older ones neck with kisses and undoing his shirt with so much force, it almost rips. Eddie takes off Richie's shirt for him and Richie shrugs off he pants before lifting Eddie up, the older man wrapping his legs around Richie's waist as they kiss. The two chuckle lightly as Richie undoes Eddie's belt and then he kisses him again.

"Happy birthday, Rich." Eddie breathes out as he kicks off his trousers." This is new. You should do this more."

"What?" Richie asks as he kisses Eddie deeply. Eddie pulls away." Oh? You mean this because you're usually the one in my position?"

"Yeah." Eddie breathes out and Richie laughs before kissing Eddie once more." Now. God, please. I've missed this."

Richie laughs and then switches his phone off, so as to not have any distractions. Eddie does the same and sits up a little, kissing Richie once more, his lips trailing behind the mans ear and Richie moans a little. Eddie chuckles lightly.

"Dads not answering his phone." River states as she walks back into Wren's room. The other three are waiting for her to sit down so they can watch a movie." Do you think somethings happened?"

"Maybe his phone just died? Don't worry about it." Wren states and that's enough to calm River down." Come on, Cece. We're watching Love, Rosie."

River smiles and sits down beside him. He wraps an arm around her and she glances at Quinn and Ivy, who are cuddling beside them. River smiles. This had been one of the best birthdays she'd ever had.