What About Now

Wedding Day

Jon tugged Richie along by the vine lei, down a now very familiar route along the coastline. Giggling like teenagers and setting nearby dogs into barking frenzies or being yelled at by people for disturbing their sleep as they sang at the top of their voices, they walked hand in hand back toward their rental. When they weren't chasing each other and tumbling to the sand in a frenzy of kisses, they would stop to admire the view or each other.

"I can't believe I feel this giddy without a single drop to drink," Jon sighed happily as they sat on the sand. He was leaning up against some rocks with Richie between his legs, leaning back into his embrace. Jon had one hand inside Richie's shirt, over his heavily beating heart. His other hand was entwined with Richie's as they sat listening to the crashing of the waves not far from where they were sitting.

"It's a strange feeling, isn't it?" Richie said over his shoulder. "As Mike said, it's like that jigsaw. It looks complete from afar because that piece is just so infinitesimal in comparison to the overall picture...but fuck, it feels complete now. We feel complete, don't we?"

"You know...it does and we do," Jon agreed. "But the thing that's always frightened me was...and I know that we've covered ourselves as much as possible but...I've always had this fear that...," he swallowed down the insecurities that reared their ugly heads now and again, "that if anything happened to either of us, they'd take everything away from whoever was left. The house...the kids. Because we weren't what the law classifies as normal."

"Ah, Cowboy...why didn't you ever say anything?" Richie asked, kissing the hand that was gripped in his.

"Because it was dumb, I know that," Jon replied. "And it happened more when Seb and Lia were babies. It seemed to dissipate somewhat as they grew older. I don't think I've had an attack over that for a couple of years now."

"I wish you'd told me, babe," Richie murmured.

"But had you thought about that at all?" Jon asked. "You know...I kinda got a taste of it with the hospital and your parents."

"My parents?!" Richie shifted to peer at Jon in the dark, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"After your assault...you were still unconscious...," Jon said, casting his mind back to those few horrible days when Richie lay lifeless in a hospital bed. "I wasn't even allowed in your room until Eddie authorised me to be there. Then...when your folks came in and tried to tell you that you were going home with them...that I wasn't needed anymore and that I should just leave. As if my life wasn't shitty enough with you all beat up and not waking up. They were going to take you away from me and I was so fucking angry with them."

Richie looked confused as he tried to form the words to reply.

"You gotta remember this was before everything was all patched up between you and them," Jon clarified. "Before I knew about your mom's Szarlotka," he grinned and felt Richie's soft relieved chuckle.

"She loves you, you realise that, don't you?!" Richie asked, rhetorically. "Mom always wanted a big family...more kids, grandkids. You helped give her that." Richie turned further and cupped Jon's cheek with his free hand, drawing him close and touching their lips together. "For a street kid...you sure did a good job at making your own big family, Cowboy."

"I guess I did, didn't I?" he replied with a smile before leaning in for another kiss. He lost himself in that one simple touch of Richie's lips against his and he was suddenly hungry for more as he shifted them both down onto the sand, covering Richie's body with his own.

Pushing Richie back into the soft sand and settling himself between his husband's open thighs, their kisses deepened with every moment. Richie arched up beneath him with a barely audible whimper. Jon grinned to himself and answered with his own hip roll as his mouth moved down to Richie's chin and jawline. "Can I help you with something, Mookie?" he murmured between little nips and kisses against the warm skin.