forget the demonic shape shifting clown. the most unrealistic part of IT is that eddie’s mom let him ride a bike without a helmet

A/N: so the new installment of IT absolutely took over my life so that’s fun, wrote this small drabble because reddie stole my heart and i couldn’t help it

basis: Eddie patching up Richie after being beaten up by the Bowers gang walking home from the arcade alone

Richie involuntarily sat on the edge of the counter, wincing as Eddie dabbed a cotton ball soaked with isopropyl alcohol to his forehead. 

“God, careful with that shit, won’t you Dr. K?” Richie scowled. “It stings a lot like me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eddie scrunched up his face, annoyed.

 “Stings like a motherfucker,” Richie smirked.

“Oh cut it with the mom jokes, won’t you?” Eddie groaned.

“Hey, what can I say?” Richie continued. “Your mom just can’t get enough of me.”

“Beep, beep Richie,” Eddie glared.

“Alright, alright,” he relented.

“I can’t believe you nearly cracked your skull open, jackass,” Eddie muttered. He brushed back a lock of stray hair from Richie’s face, inspecting the wound carefully, half disgusted, half concerned.

“You know how Bowers is,” Richie huffed, starting to frown and quiet down a little bit. “It usually isn’t much of a fight.”

“Yeah, I know,” Eddie sighed, noting the unusual lack of noise coming from his friend. A moment of silence fell upon the small bathroom as Eddie prepared another cotton ball, neither of the two boys talking. Eddie decided to finally break the silence. “You okay, Trashmouth? You usually never shut up, especially after this kind of stuff.”

“Just thinking,” Richie mumbled, staring off into the corner.

“Hey,” Eddie pulled away from the wound, softening his expression. “Whatever those assholes said or did, you know they’re just being a bunch of dicks right?”

“Yeah, nothing new, Eds,” Richie rolled his eyes, trying to force out a laugh, but still refusing to make eye contact with Eddie. “A black eye, a bit of blood, and some name calling.” He nodded slowly. “I’m a stupid faggot again today.”

“You’re not. Not today, not ever,” Eddie narrowed his eyes. “This, all of this, it’s just them trying to get to you. Don’t let it. None of the bullshit that comes out of their mouths is ever true, okay?”

“Yeah…” Richie murmured, still seeming distracted, brow furrowed, chewing on his lower lip.

“Hey come on, what’s wrong, Rich?” Eddie finally tossed the cotton ball in the wastebasket, pausing the amateur medical treatment to bring Richie back down to earth. “You’re being awfully quiet for someone whose mouth rarely ever closes.”

“What-” he stopped, looking at the smaller boy, almost teary eyed behind his thick rimmed glasses. “What if it was?”

“What if what was? What are you talking about?” Eddie asked, confused.

“What they said,” he answered. “What if it was true? What if I was, I was…”

“What if you were what?” Eddie wondered, worried himself now as to what his friend could have been so worked up about.

“A faggot,” Richie blurted out, embarassed, looking down into his lap at this point. Eddie noticed how his knuckles turned white from clutching the edge of the countertop, arms shaking, nervous and afraid.

“I mean…” Eddie looked at him, a bit shocked but also thoughtful. “Well, I’d still like you just the same. You being…” His voice got soft. “Richie, that’s not going to change anything.”

“Really?” he looked up, hopeful, yet hesitant.

“Yeah,” Eddie nodded. “Of course.”

“…Really?” the messy haired boy repeated the question, tilting his head to the side in confusion, swallowing hard, recovering from the overwhelming amount of anxiety that came with revealing his secret. “How come?”

“Cause like you said, maybe Bowers and his band of goonies were right for once,” Eddie shrugged, finding himself looking towards the ground too now, a bit nervous. “Not just about you, but uh, about me too.”

There was a moment of realization before Richie perked up, stunned. “You like boys, Eds?” he raised an eyebrow, almost dumbfounded.

“Well,” Eddie’s face turned red. “I mean… Yeah, I like- I like-” He looked at his best friend, terrified but excited to tell him all the same. “I like you, Richie.”

↝ ' ‘, , '

both lost the love of their life

anyone have any reddie au’s they want headcanoned? inbox is open for these reddie hours

reddie as elementary school teachers hc dump

• Richie and Eddie both teach the same grade, Richie’s class is one half of the students, Eddie’s class is the other
• Eddie thinks Richie doesn’t take things serious enough because he’s always goofing off with his kids, but they love him and he’s actually really good, Eddie realizes 
• Like he’ll see Richie playing kickball and shit with his class on the playground and his kids think his shitty voices are hilarious 
• And Eddie is like …. hmm 
• And Richie loves how passionate Eddie is about everything … he usually goes out of his way to schedule ‘accidental’ run-ins with Eddie in the teacher’s lounge and cafeteria just so he has an excuse to talk to him 
• And they usually wind up sitting by each other during staff meetings and shit because they’re both snarky af and can whisper shit to each other 
• Richie always wears dorky-patterned button-up shirts with the sleeves rolled up and you better bet that Eddie’s checking out those forearms like
• Myra is another teacher at the school and the rest of the staff acts like Eddie and Myra are the Jim and Pam of the school but Eddie is like ((leave me ALONE)) 
• Richie finds out from other teachers that Eddie and Myra are supposedly a thing so he gets all ): 
• But then Eddie complains about all of it to him later and he’s all (: again 
• One time Eddie is making photocopies in the teeny copy station in the teacher’s lounge and Richie needs to reach something on the shelf above it so he just leans right against Eddie like ‘sorry lol’ and Eddie can’t
  b r e a t h e 
• One time Richie invites Eddie over one night to “work on lesson plans” but then when Eddie comes over it’s just Richie sitting at the dinner table with like candles and wine and shit like [: 
• Their classes have friendly rivalries and will often go against each other in dodgeball and kickball and stuff 
• During one of the games Eddie is casually like, “if my kids win, you owe me dinner” and Richie is like “well if mine win, you owe me” and that’s how they go on their first date 

I just realized something and that is

how would Richie know what Myra looked like to make this joke??? It’d be kinda weird for him to just assume Eddie married someone ‘10x his size’

The only explanation is that obvi after reuniting with Eddie at the Orient, Richie acted like an actual middle schooler with a crush and started looking up Eddie online and trying to avoid liking his old 40+ week posts these are facts

Afternoon sketch. Richie in is some quality snack for me ✨

Only respectful stares, the men having their moment

(insomnia art is always hits different)