reddie but richie is the handyman in eddie’s building
He knew it was stupid and it was. Having a dumb schoolboy crush on the handyman who sometimes fixed broken things in your apartment. But Eddie Kaspbrak was once again ecstatic that his apartment needed so much maintenance; this time his hot water decided to stop working altogether. In his defence, Richie Tozier wasn’t just his tall dark and handsome saviour. He and Eddie had hit it off over the very few times he had visited; it was enough for Eddie to fall for his charming wit, his messy curls and large glasses. He was also big and broad shouldered with a very goofy grin that took his breath away.
There was a knock on the door that made Eddie jump slightly. He quickly gave himself a final once over in the mirror, smoothing down his shirt before he hurried towards the door. After quickly wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers, he pulled open the door. Richie grinned at him, leaning against the door frame in his dirty overalls. Eddie wanted to be mad but he just found it hot.
“Hey, there, Spaghetti. What’s the problem this time?”
Eddie sighed, folding his arms somewhat defensively, “not my name.”
“Right you are, Mr. Spaghetti, sir,” he dipped into a low bow, smirking sarcastically. Eddie rolled his eyes, trying and failing not to smile. He stepped aside to let Richie in.
“The hot water isn’t working. I tried to shower and nothing happened.”
Richie followed him to the bathroom, twirling the many keys on his key ring on his finger, “you know, if you needed a shower, my place is always available.”
“Or you could do your job,” Eddie said with a smirk, watching Richie step into his shower and begin to take apart the fittings for his shower head. The taller man smirked back, eyes lingering on him a little longer than necessary. Eddie blushed, attempting to nonchalantly back towards the door, “erm…coffee?”
Eddie nodded and left for the kitchen, taking a moment to mentally slap himself. The rest of Richie’s visit passed by much like their other encounters; they talked, drank coffee, flirted outrageously, Eddie thanked Richie for a job well done and finally had a long drawn out goodbye at the front door only to be left with nothing but their feelings.
“He fixed my shower,” Eddie said, swirling the last dregs of the wine around in his glass. His friends, Bill and Mike, groaned and shook their heads. Eddie frowned, “what? Maybe he’s not into me. Maybe it’s all in my head.”
“You’re cleverer than that, Eddie,” Bill said, slightly slurring his words and clumsily patting his shoulder. Mike nodded in agreement, “you’re funny, you’re cute, you’re a really great listener-”
“So are most children, Bill,” Eddie pouted, settling back against his couch cushions, pondering exactly what they’d told him. He didn’t want to get his hopes up but what if they were right? “You really think he likes me?”
“I mean, we’ve never met the guy but based on what you’ve told us, yes!” Mike said enthusiastically, supporting Bill to sit up with an arm around his waist, “you’d have to be a fucking idiot not to see it. No offence.”
Eddie chuckled, shaking his head as he cleared their wine glasses from the table, “thanks, Mike. You guys can crash if you like. Just make sure Bill doesn’t puke everywhere.”
“Night, Eddie,” Mike waved vaguely towards Eddie as he hauled his semi conscious boyfriend onto the sofa.
Bill began snoring almost instantly, curling around one of Eddie’s cushions. Mike rolled his eyes fondly, fetching one of the blankets from the radiator and tossing over him. He glanced at the radiator again, raising an eyebrow as he got an idea. He quickly checked to make sure Eddie was safely in his bedroom before reaching for the dial in the radiator, twisting and wriggling it until it came off. He’d later blame it on the drink but for now, Mike smiled and tiptoed back to Bill, sliding in behind him and drifting off to sleep.
“No, I swear it was fine yesterday,” Eddie said into the phone, wiping the sweat from his brow as he examined the radiator, “yeah, it’s come off completely. Are you sure, Rich? I don’t want to interrupt your day off,” Eddie smiled warmly as Richie confirmed he’d be over in ten minutes, “thanks, I owe you one.”
On some level, Eddie wished he had time to change out of his white tank top and red shorts but it was just so damn hot in his apartment he didn’t bother. So determined was he to solve his problem, Eddie barely acknowledged the dumbstruck look on Richie’s face when he finally arrived.
“I think it’s just this one in the lounge,” Eddie gestured towards the radiator, letting Richie into the apartment. He wiped a hand over his neck, groaning dramatically, “I don’t care what you have to do, I just want it sorted. It’s so fucking hot.”
Richie, who hadn’t moved from his position in the doorway, nodded dumbly, still staring at Eddie, “it sure is.” Eddie gave him a weird look, prompting Richie to snap out of it, shaking his head and immediately breaking into a wide grin, “don’t you worry, Eds. Your knight in shining armour is here.”
Almost half an hour later, Richie was sweating buckets. He had removed his arms from his long overalls, leaving him in a white t-shirt. It was a fairly simple issue, easily fixable but that would mean leaving the wonderful sight in front of him. Eddie, refusing to let his situation ruin his day, was exercising. And it was a most distracting sight.
“You’d probably get the job done a lot quicker if you stopped staring at my ass.”
"Yeah but that would involve me not staring at your ass,” Richie smirked, turning back to the radiator reluctantly, “I mean, I know what I’d rather do.”
He fixed the problem pretty quickly after that, finding it almost impossible to be in the same room as Eddie without embarrassing himself. When Eddie closed the door behind Richie this time, he felt empty, wishing he would knock again so he could tell him exactly how he felt. Clearly someone was listening to him as there was a telltale knock at the door not a moment later.
“I forgot something,” Richie explained sheepishly once Eddie opened the door. The shorter man nodded, wringing his hands.
He grabbed Richie’s face and kissed him before he could think about it too much. The other man was clearly shocked but responded enthusiastically, holding Eddie’s shoulders for support. When they separated, Richie swallowed urgently and reached up to adjust his glasses.
“Okay, wow, um, that was great and I’m totally taking you out for dinner later but I actually did forget my tools.”
“Oh,” Eddie blushed, unable to stop the giggle that escaped as he darted for the tools by his radiator. He handed them over to Richie, their hands brushing, “sorry. But I figured one of us should do something before we die.”
Richie grinned, planting another sweet kiss on Eddie, “yeah, can we tell our kids I made the first move, though?”
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