welcome to the losers club, asshole!

going a little insane thinking of a non-pennywise au there the losers never separate and they do grow up together but richie and eddie never get together because eddie is never able to accept his own sexuality and richie never acts on his feelings because "i have a crush on you, but i don’t want to tell you that, so i’m going to push you away. but man, if he made the first move, that’d be the best thing ever" (bill hader i'll kill you myself) and so they grow up as best friends who love each other in more than a best friend's way and never knew that the feeling is mutual.

and so they grow up and live as adults and one day eddie tells the losers all about his new girlfriend, myra, and richie dies a little on the inside, but he plays the part of supportive friend and tries to pretend that he doesn't hate myra from the moment he meets her.

but then a few years go by and now they're engaged. richie is of course invited to the wedding and of course part of the wedding party, even though in these past few years richie and eddie have grown a little apart. something about eddie thinking that richie had changed, he always seemed a little standoffish these days, but eddie never connected the dots that he only acted that way when myra was brought along. he never connected the dots that richie only acted that way because he didn't know how to handle the fact that the love of his life was in love with someone else. but eddie was getting married- this was supposed to be the best day of his life, of course he wanted richie there, even though myra didn't.

even when richie is acting weird at the wedding, eddie shrugs it off. god knows he has more important things to worry about than richie being moody in the corner. for example, he has to make sure that each and every table centrepiece is placed perfectly, god forbid a tulip is out of place or myra would have a meltdown. he has to double and triple make sure that the catering company is making the correct menu, because god forbid myra doesn't get her gluten-free, low carb, zero-sugar dinner.

and he has to try his best to ignore the feelings of doubt burning in his stomach. a feeling of... should i be doing this? he's sure it's just normal wedding nerves.

until richie finds him in his dressing room. they begin to chat, and as richie starts to ramble on about their childhood, reminiscing on the "good old days" and talking about how he can't believe they're both grown up now, eddie can smell the alcohol on his breath. he also realizes that this is the first time they have been alone in a while, and eddie finds it almost... awkward. he had spent a majority of his life loving richie, and even more time trying to pretend that he didn't. he wasn't even sure that he had stopped loving richie, just that he had done a very good job at pretending. but he loved myra now, and besides, him and richie never would have worked out.

that is, until richie lets out a laugh that sounds more dejected than joyful, and eddie's heart sinks as richie says, "i can't believe you're actually getting married. you know, i've never told anyone before, but i actually had a crush on you when we were kids."

eddie's frozen. surely richie didn't just say that, he must be hearing things wrong, but he can't muster anything up except a weak "what?"

richie shrugs casually, as if he hadn't just dropped the biggest bombshell of eddie's life and repeats, "yeah, man, we were probably 13, 14. i had a little crush on you. you know, just one of those little kid crushes. it wasn't a big deal. anyways, it's crazy that you're getting married now."

oh, except it was. richie said something more, but eddie wasn't listening, not when richie let out a tipsy laugh or clapped him on the shoulder or when he left the room. all eddie could think about were those words:

i had a crush on you.

from those words, all eddie could hear was he liked me. he liked me back. it wasn't one-sided. i wasn't crazy for thinking maybe he could like me too. but it's too late. it's too late. it's too late.

eddie looks at himself in the mirror. he's wearing the suit he had specifically bought to get married in. he's wearing the tie that myra had picked out for him. he's wearing a boutonniere of the same flower from the bouquet that his soon-to-be wife would be walking down the aisle with.

and all he can think about is richie tozier. all he can think about is how the person he had loved his entire life, had had feelings for him too. and maybe, just maybe, if eddie had acted on his own feelings fifteen years ago, that things could have been different.

the door opens. it's bill, his best man, letting him know that it was time. "you ready?" bill asks. eddie isn't, but he nods.

because it's too late. it's too late.

i need a college au where richie and eddie are captains of different clubs who have to share the same room space for their club meetings and so are always fighting bc of it. richie’s meeting goes until 5:30 and eddie’s is supposed to start at 5:30, but eddie always shows up at 5:20 anyways and tries to cut into richie’s meeting time which pisses richie off, so he purposefully takes goes slow during his meetings so that now it stretches out until 5:45 and cuts into eddie’s meeting time. whenever they meet with the school’s club organization, they are always fighting that they deserve the room more and that the other should have to find somewhere else/another time to hold their meeting, but of course the person who helps organize the clubs just tells them the same thing they say every time: “this is all that we can offer you, either you can keep it and figure out a way to make it work between yourselves, or your clubs can be temporarily disbanded.”

of course neither of them want to be disbanded, so they are forced to “work together” and eventually make a truce to stop cutting into each other’s meeting times because actually when they stopped to think about it, the time they spent arguing with each other about the fact that richie’s meeting ended at 5:32 instead of 5:30 probably took up more of their time than richie’s 2 minute meeting extension. it still doesn’t stop eddie from making a snarky comment of “oh, so you can read the time” whenever richie actually ends his meeting on time and it also doesn’t stop richie from making an equally snarky comment of “so do you come this early in all aspects of your life orrrr”

until one semester the news comes that another club has decided to take a break, so there’s actually a new room available during eddie’s meeting time! the club organizer offers this to eddie, thinking that he’s gonna be relieved at the news considering how many complaints the organization has received about richie tozier on the behalf of eddie kaspbrak, and yet……. eddie turns down the offer. because the truth is, ever since their truce, eddie has grown to realize that richie tozier isn’t all that bad. sure he’s obnoxious, but he can also be funny and kind when he wants to be, and sometimes after a long and difficult day, having a passing conversation with richie in between their club meetings is the best part of his day. the organizer would get the same response if they offered the new room to richie, too- who has also grown fond of eddie kaspbrak and feels a little rush pass through him whenever he successfully makes eddie laugh or blush with a joke.

they of course never stop bickering. but eventually it does get to a point where richie lets eddie come into the room a few minutes early and hang around at the back, where eddie will start his own meeting a few minutes late because he got caught up chatting with richie. it gets to a point where richie hangs around for an hour after his own meeting ends, so that he can meet up again with eddie after his meeting.

the members of richie’s and eddie’s respective clubs aren’t too sure exactly what happened between their two club captains, but they do know (and are thankful) that at least their meetings don’t start and end with a 15-minute-long argument between them about time management and respecting other people’s times (it was a little weird when that arguing was replaced with awkward flirting, but hey at least it’s not arguing).