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The door was open, so Andrew made his way into Richie’s apartment to go over some things for the show that night. As he turned the corner to the living room, he stopped abruptly and gasped. Richie and somebody else were racing to re-zip their pants and throw their shirts on. Being his manager, Andrew showed up unannounced at Richie’s apartment fairly often, but despite this, he had never walked in on Richie during an intimate moment before. Richie was a fairly private guy behind the scenes; although he made lewd jokes about women and sex in his sets, he rarely ever talked about his dating life, and when he did it was vague. That was why, Andrew first reasoned, he was so surprised to find Richie with another person. As another moment went by of watching the two men franticly dressing, the realization dawned on Andrew. Oh. Oh. A man. Richie had been hooking up with a man.
Once all of the clothes were back on, Richie turned to the unknown man and said frantically, “Go, go, I’ll call you later.” The man nodded curtly and rushed out of the apartment, leaving Richie sitting on the couch alone, eyes wide and face pink. Andrew figured he may as well be direct, so he took a breath and asked, “So, are you gay? Or bisexual? Or… something?”
Richie bit his lip and looked away. Anxiety showed on his face, and Andrew now quickly regretted putting him on the spot. He had been Richie’s manager for 8 years now, and he really did care about him. He didn’t care at all if Richie was gay, and he felt bad that the comedian felt he had to hide this part of himself because he was in the public eye.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Andrew continued, “I just would hate to think that you don’t even relate to the material you’ve been doing, or that you’re only doing it to play some character that you think people will like. I’ve known you for a few years now, man… and even though you’ve got a pretty gross sense of humour, your nickname is Trashmouth for God’s sake, you’re a genuinely funny and really sweet guy. And if you think you wouldn’t still have fans if you came out or changed your material or something, you’re wrong.”
Richie moved his eyes to meet Andrew’s gaze. Andrew could see that they were slightly watery, and his heart pained for how distraught Richie looked. This wasn’t something that he had ever had to deal with, but he wanted Richie to know that it was going to be okay.
“I guess I don’t personally know what you’re going through… but my older brother is gay, and he didn’t come out until he was like 30. He’s not a celebrity or anything, he’s just an accountant, but maybe you could talk to him? About accepting yourself or something? I can give you his number.” At this, Andrew pulls a notepad and pen out of his pocket, scribbles a number on it, and walks forward to hand it to Richie. Richie takes it and meagerly shoves it into his pocket.
“I’m probably, definitely, overstepping here, and I’m sorry, man,” Andrew exhaled, as he sat down next to Richie on the couch. “But I consider you a friend and I genuinely want you to be happy.” Even though Richie was looking at the floor, Andrew could see that he let out a small smile. “Just know that whatever you do, now, or in the future, or maybe never… you’ve got my full support as a manager and as a friend, ok?”
Richie nodded his head, and quietly sniffled. It was unnerving to see him so quiet. As Andrew was pondering what to say next, Richie mumbled, almost inaudibly, “I am.” Andrew squinted his eyes in confusion, and after a couple moments Richie lifted his head to look at him and continued, slightly more confident, “Gay, I mean. I’m gay.”
Andrew’s eyes widened. This was the most personal thing Richie had ever told him, the most vulnerable he’d even seen him be. He quickly replied, “That’s cool, man. No sweat!” He internally slapped himself then, because that was probably not the right thing to say, but to his surprise Richie shot him a teary smile.
“I’ve never told anyone before. I’ve known since I was twelve but, I don’t even think I’ve ever even said it out loud before.”
Andrew returned the smile, “Thanks for telling me, man. I’m honoured to be the first person. I won’t tell anybody, I promise.” He frowned, “Well, I’ll tell my brother that a ‘friend’ is struggling with being gay and I gave them his number, just so he’s prepared, y’know. But I won’t tell him any identifying information, I promise!” He made sure to say the last part with conviction, so Richie knew he was serious.
Richie chuckled and nodded, then took a deep sigh. Andrew couldn’t imagine how he was feeling right now, so he pressed his lips together and said, “Give me a hug, man, it’s all gonna be okay, I promise.”
As Andrew patted Richie’s back, he suddenly remembered why he had walked in on Richie in the first place. “So, I originally came over here to ask you which bit you decided to end with tonight, so I can brief the stage crew.”
Richie hummed briefly and answered, “The tall girlfriend one.”
Andrew released his grip on Richie and smirked as he sat back, “You might have to change that joke just a little for it to be true, huh?” Richie shot him a glare and Andrew laughed while he put his hands up defensively.
“Ok, I’ll let them know. And I guess I’ll get out of your hair now… sorry for just barging in,” he said with a grimace. “You have my brother’s number, Jake, and I’ll see you tonight, okay?” He stood up and shot Richie one last smile. “Take care, man, seriously, you can talk to me whenever.” Richie returned the smile and nodded, as Andrew turned around and made his way out of the apartment. He chuckled as he closed the front door, never in a million years would he have guessed that that was how today’s visit was going to go.