A collection of AU's, Fics, HC, and gifs

So what is this?

I won't lie to you, that this was going to start as a joke. My friend, Luci, and I were joking about a pamphlet of the amount of Stozier content that I completely formulate out of thin air. (Let me just say, that I actually have created a lot of content that is considered only in the idea stage, which is why it's presented in the fashion that it usually is...)

So, I actually started a pamphlet, but now it has grown to be so much, that I've really been using one specific twitter to keep track of a lot of my personal Stozier content. Which leads to this Carrd, in which I can hopefully share all my of different Stozier things with ease, or at least have them somewhat organized...

Gif Credit

This is a work in progress, so it will continually be updated.

Mr. Clean but w/hair

Whomst am I?

My friends call me Ducky, so if that 's what y'all call me, I'm chill. I'm just another person who fell down the spiral of clown town and has not been able to leave.

There really isn't much more to know besides the fact that some of the things mentioned in this have been in DMs with my friend Luci, so there are times where she has feedback (we also go back and forth on threads as well so there is a lot to pick through...)

The main twitter mentioned in this is @magpieuris, but I reference some things from my main twitter account, which is quite irrelevant to a lot of the Stozier content mentioned in this Carrd.

Important Headcanons

So there are specific headcanons that are included in most of these AUs and fics, unless stated otherwise. They technically aren't detrimental to your enjoyment of anything that I have written in here, but I think that they enhance parts of my stories, or are just general character building that Mr. King forgot.

  • Richie is Jewish, and he and Stan met through the synagogue. His parents originally went to services but stopped altogether when he got older.

  • In most of the things that I have made, Richie lives in the Uris household as a part of the family by the time they reach high school. (He has his own key and uses the guestroom.)

  • Stan and Richie are best friends and know each other better than the rest of the losers. (They are best friends, and most of the media implies that Richie and Stan have been friends longer than the Losers club existed, so I'm sticking by this.)

  • Stan has depression and it is mostly untreated, depending on which universe it takes place in (most modern ones mentioned, Stan partakes in therapy).

  • As mentioned before, Richie lives in the Uris household, so my conclusion is that his home life is very less than ideal. (His father is still a dentist, but I add the implications of being a doctor in specified fields, and I've seen that Richie's mom is an alcoholic, which I think adds to his behavior issues.)

  • Richie and Stan are in love with each other but don't recognize those feelings are romantic, as they are each other's first friend. They believe that the crushes that they feel towards their other friends are actual romantic attraction when it's a fleeting crush. (So Richie believes that he loves Eddie, Stan believes he loves Bill.)

  • This is one is just implied in everything: Richie has undiagnosed and untreated ADHD. (I am an individual with ADHD, and I've seen the parallels between our behavior, so yeah, Richie has ADHD.)

  • Okay this one is the final one, Richie and Stan use pet names for each other in private. They mainly stick to bird-themed (magpie, blue jay) but Stan has a specific one for Richie and it's "scarecrow". I use these a lot so I apologize...

Headcanons

This list is ever-growing, and I'm quite sure that I'm forgetting most of them, but there is a lot of information to go through, so I apologize.

  • Richie spends holidays with the Urises. (And they get him small Hannukah presents because Richie feels embarrassed about his homelife.)

  • Richie and Stan wear the shower caps when they are alone in the clubhouse, and Richie only declines it when the others are around.

Alternate Universe and Universe Shifts

Separated by category and edited, with links to original threads and replies

1990s Miniseries

IT (2017)

Missing Time

Modern

Crossover

Miscellanious

ALSO IM JUST,,, LIKE IMAGINE RICHIE JUST TAKING HIS GLASSES OFF AND HE AND STAN ARE LAYING TOGETHER ON A BLANKET AND STAN LOOKS AT HIM AND REALIZES HE’S BEAUTIFUL AND HE’S SO SCARED BECAUSE HE FIGURES OUT HE LOVES HIM SO MUCH BUT IF HE SAID IT, IT WOULD GET THEM KILLED.

Like he starts to pick up the habit of cleaning Richie’s glasses, so whenever they get particularly bad he takes Richie's glasses off his face and cleans them on a handkerchief. Richie is kind of like thrown through a loop the first time bc stan is being affectionate in public, and he just lets stan do it because he likes being reminded of the fact that someone cares enough about him to make sure he can see. Stan doesn’t tell a soul he only has that handkerchief to clean Richie's glasses.

Oh my god, just stan slipping the glasses on Richie's face, leaving his hands against Richie's temples for a moment. Then he just smiles, it’s full of nerves but it makes Richie smile even brighter. They can both breathe.

Imagine 90s Richie joining Stan on a boy scouts camping trip.

They don't really care about boundaries so they share a tent and sleeping bag, and the troop leader has given up on shaking off Richie because Richie makes stan open up a little more, and Stan is a little bit more compliant when that ginger idiot is around so they just let Richie hang around with the troop. He mainly hangs off of Stan and keeps him company.

AND RICHIE DOES LEARN STUFF AROUND THE TROOP BUT ALSO THE TROOP LEARNS SOME THINGS ABOUT STAN!

  • Like, yeah, they know Stan is quiet and more collected but they didn't know that Stan doesn’t like carrots, so when Stan just wordlessly hands them to Richie and Richie just chomps down, they are confused and Richie just goes, “he doesn’t like carrots,” and they are so confused about how they work most of the time. Stan rolls his eyes but he speaks more with Richie around than the two years without him. So like, they let him stay even if his jokes are perverted.

Or they find out that Richie knows how to calm Stan down because he sometimes has nightmares, and everything they tried before would keep him calm failed. All of it doesn't compare to when Richie takes Stan in his arms, and you can see how weak and relaxed he goes when Richie pulls him into a hug and says reassuring things. They know Stan has these nightmares that leave him shaking, and the troop leader never knows what to do or say, so they usually just leave stan and let him be for the day, and continue on with activities. They don't know if Richie knows.

They didn't know until one-night Stan went to bed early and Richie was sitting with the rest of the troop eating smores and then they hear the telltale screams of Stan from his nightmares and Richie immediately gets up and runs towards their tent. The troop watches him in fear bc they don't know what Richie is about to do, but Stan’s screams die down. They don’t expect Richie and Stan to join them at the fire, Stan’s shoulders hunched and his hands shaking. He’s crying, sniffles loud. but when Richie finally sits down he leeches onto him and his shoulders ease.

The troop members look at each other, unsure if this intimate moment is for them to see. Richie starts to whisper to Stan, getting a choked up laugh out of him and Stan almost full on sits in Richie's lap, but they aren’t alone so he just gets leans into Richie's chest.

  • When, in reality, stan wanted to put Is head into Richie’s neck to smell the familiar scent he knows all too well and he knows will calm him all the bit more because why would he be scared when Richie is holding him so tight it feels like home?

And then when Stan is finally a lot calmer, Richie offers to make him a s'more and stan smiles, and it's odd because none of the troop members have actually seen Stan fully smile. Richie grabs the metal skewer next to him and the napkin holding the supplies that he had readied before. Richie makes him one, and Stan doesn’t criticize it like he usually does when a troop member attempts to make one for him. Richie knows how he likes them, the marshmallow slightly cooked on the outside, but warm enough to melt the chocolate; he hands it to him.

The troop are used to Stan being hyper-clean, so when he doesn’t even hesitate to just eat the s'more and doesn’t give a shit abt the chocolate and marshmallow on his face they know that what Richie and he have is different. That stan feels relaxed. Happy.

Richie fusses over him and cleans him up and Stan just sits there, a small smile on his face, and letting Richie love him. He feels safe.

LIKE RICHIE CAN BE A REAL MOTHER HEN IF HE WANTS TO.

  • Stan brings it out in him because Richie just wants what's best for him, so the troop gets used to them preening each other like a couple of birds after that night and if Stan starts freaking out and Richie isn't nearby, they drag him over and Stan clings to Richie. Then Richie will sometimes jokingly hoist him onto his shoulder and carry him into the woods to birdwatch. No one needs to know that Stan sits in his lap and hugs him until he feels normal again.

  • It gets to the point where they don’t question where Richie and Stan go, because, “oh one of them probably needed space and are out grounding them,” they, of course, know that Stan's dad is hard on them so they don’t mention the nightmares or the secret hugs and sitting in one another laps to Stan's dad because what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.

Like, the troop kinda feels like being gay is wrong but Stan and Richie are just so effortless and Richie kinda scares them because they saw him one day standing up to one of the older troop members because they made a comment about Stan that wasn't positive. Richie is terrifying and he kind of curls around Stan like a protective dog. Also, Stan is terrifying when it comes to Richie because one day someone made a comment about Richie and Stan tried to make them square up, and since 90s Stan is tall he is F E A R.

No one in the troop dares to say shit about them, or to them. There is a specific air about them (the shine) that makes it feel like they could actually kick your ass, and they know about Bowers.

  • From there on, if any of the troops made a face behind Stan's back when they were hugging, he would give them the dirtiest look he could muster, because Stan should feel safe even if that’s in Richie's arms or lap.

God, they knew Stan’s glare was bad, but without Richie, it’s worse, but if someone says shit about Richie he will glare, his fist curling and his eyes alight with anger. So no one comments on the sleeping bag or the tent or the holding each other.

  • Or when it came for them to take pictures of the scout for the year Richie may have went off on one of them to take a picture of Stan and him and he was ready to fight when they said, "You aren’t part of the scouts, kiddo, you just tag along with Stanley here,” and the look they got made them tell him fine but they weren’t putting that one in the papers cause, “You don’t even own a uniform,” and so Richie is just happy to get a photo of him and Stan and the memories they made that summer and who knows maybe Stan kept it hidden under his neatly folded shirts and looked at it when his breath felt a bit wobbly, he would deny it, but it may have calmed him enough to ground him and call Richie.

Just a grainy ass photo of Richie smiling and Stan giving this tiny smile, while also Richie is doing the bunny ears on Stan. At some point, Stan makes him an honorary sash with some bullshit pins like “least funny” and “most likely to eat trash” and Richie wears it everywhere.

Stan just looks so content when he sees Richie bounding up to him wearing this dumb sash of inside jokes, and it’s so perfect, and he feels so fucking happy that Richie is wearing this joke he made for him. It makes him feel appreciated.

GRIEF

tw// graphic depiction of character death, blood, discussion of self harm

The turtle never wants to see this timeline repeated, ever. It hurts like a thousand burning hot coals when walking on them. It hurts them all, even if it has the closest ending to the successful timelines. It's the summer of '89, during the losers being separated.

Richie and Stan are walking together, escaping the hell that had become Stan's Bar Mitzvah. Jokes being traded as they get closer on the outskirts of town, they are shifting closer and closer as they walk towards the kissing bridge. Their hands are aching to hold the other.

They stop at the lip of the bridge, being hidden from the rest of the town. Stan lets out a little smile, which is offset by the still visible tear tracts from his earlier breakdown. Richie smiles back, and then Stan surges forward to peck him on the cheek and scampering away,
into the barrens. Richie chases after him, screaming about public indecency, and looking back, Richie thinks that it was the happiest he had been in his whole life.

It was also the last time he would ever be happy.

Then, in that summer, time had no meaning until Bill comes running to them in the arcade, begging them that they need to help, that it took Bev. They agreed to go, for her. They make their way down the well, Richie and Stan sticking to each other like glue. Until Stan gets pulled away by Judith, and that's when Richie's worst fear is being realized.

Well, being realized by both Pennywise and himself. Stan being hurt is his worst fear, even over the fear of being alone, of being forgotten; because Stan is always the one who remembers. He is always the one to ask for Richie's opinion, to get him a birthday present, to make sure that he heals when he is sick, to always be there to help him remember that he is real, he is a person, he is not invisible.

Stan sees him, Stan knows him, and losing Stan means losing any stability in his life. Even if sometimes Richie boasts that Stan is his best friend, or that Stan actually hates him, Stan genuinely is the one person that Richie trusts with his life. Over Bill, over Eddie, over Bev. He trusts Stan, with everything. It's what makes him pick up his pace and run at Stan when they find him in the maws of the disgusting lady.

He didn't realize that this is where the timeline deviates, but the turtles knows now that this is where the detrimental change happens.

Before running off, the "Judith" that attacked Stan flexed its claws and quickly dug them into Stan's torso, they shred his lungs, causing blood and other fluids to transude into the air he breathes. It is only going to get more exasperated when he sits up, blood pooling out of his mouth as he screams that his friends left him. It's too dark for them to notice the dark tendrils of blood seeping out of him. It's too fast, too dark, and then immediately Eddie runs after Bill.

The others quickly join him, but Richie stays behind to help Stan stand up, knowing that Stan is struggling to breathe. They slowly chase after the others, Richie practically having to drag Stan back into the main cavern of the sewers, finding Bev and helping her down, and that's when they find Bill as well.

The same scene ensues in every timeline, the fake brother, the chants that there are no bolts in the gun, the headlock, and the deal. This time, though, Pennywise smiles, knowing that not all seven on them will return.

One will float with It.

They head out of Neibolt, and that's when Stan finally collapses. His lungs giving out and sending him onto the pavement. Richie follows him, holding him in his lap, and it's then they all notice the red stains around his ribs, the tears on his shirt.

Richie is sobbing, screaming at them to get help, please he's dying. He can't die, please, he can't leave me. Eddie and Mike are the ones to leave and go to one of the neighbors and plead for an ambulance to be called. Bill, Bev, and Ben watch as Richie holds Stan, the blood smearing all over him. "Stay with me please," Richie begs, his tears pouring from his eyes. "Stan, you can't leave me, please, you promised." Richie's voice breaks halfway through, a whine surfacing in his throat, "You promised, you promised." Stan raises a hand, placing it on Richie's cheek, he brushes his thumb across Richie's skin, he then pulls Richie's head towards him.

He kisses him, then releasing Richie's face, leaving a bloody handprint in its place.

That's when Stan's eyes close for the final time, the rest of the losers are unsure of what to say, of what to do. An ambulance is on its way, but they all know that Stan is dead.

Richie breaks out into sobs, holding Stan's body in a tight grip as he knows that he is now alone. His one person is gone, no one else will ever be able to compare.

He stares at the tar of the road, his mind racing through everything. It's like his brain can't compute that Stan is dead, that he left him. The losers see him in his own world, still clinging to Stan and crying his eyes out. They don't know what is running through his head, but they can assume that it's not good.

The paramedics have to subdue Richie to be able to get Stan's body into the ambulance, and none of them have the heart to join the two boys in the vehicle. When it drives away, that's when it hits them. Their friend is dead, he is dead and it's because of It.

They don't know who told Stan's parents first, the hospital or Richie. They knew Richie was close to Stan's family, but they never knew how close. Word around town spreads fast, they say it's an animal attack, but all of the losers feel guilty about that conclusion. It's not the truth.

Richie doesn't make it through Stan's funeral, his sobs too loud and his shaking too noticeable. Stan's mom leads him away from the temple and towards the back rooms. They try to force him back out to make a speech before they finish, and Richie attempts.

"Stan, he was..."

He wipes away the tears falling down his face, "He was the best, more than I could ever ask for in a person. In a friend," he swipes at his face again, "He deserved better than... than I or anyone could give him. He should grow up and have his bird sanctuary and be old, but he won't get to, and that's the thing that fucking sucks."

"Stan is never going to go to school, he's never going to walk down the trail to the quarry, he's never going to tell me to shut up again. The worst part is that he'll never get to leave this place, he's never going to be free." Richie stops, his breathing ragged and his hands can barely hold the microphone, "It's why he watched the birds, because he wanted to know how to be free."

He pauses, "Your god failed him, I hope you can fucking live with that." He walks away from the podium and leaves the synagogue.

The losers try to follow him down the street, but it turns out Richie has gotten good at disappearing. They don't find him until the next day, his suit-clad form walking back to the cul-de-sac in which the Uris's live. It doesn't become obvious to them then that Richie is living with Stan's family. He tells them off for following him and slams the front door shut.

They don't see him much after that, no matter how many times they try calling his house, or Stan's number. He never picks up, he never answers, and they don't know if they've even seen him outside in the last couple weeks of July. The next time they actually see him is when school starts again. They are all freshmen in high school and hoping for a better year, hoping for a lack of clowns or Bowers and his lackies.

Riding together continued to be a tradition, even if it was painful to pass Stan's house and not to have him join them. Their sixth member is still silent, and he didn't join them outside.

Maybe Richie moved, maybe Richie changed to a school in Portland, that's what a lot of people were thinking until Richie pulled into school on his bicycle and promptly parking it at the edge of the bike rack. He says nothing to everyone as he heads inside, his head low. To say that Richie changed wouldn't be too far-fetched. His hair is a complete mess of curls, his clothes are dark and most likely Stan's, and he is 100% paler than anyone remembers seeing him. He moves like a robot, his limbs automatically taking him to the guidance office to inquire about something that none of them know the answer to.

There was a lot that changed in him besides his appearance, he hasn't spoken. The old Richie Tozier was a chatterbox, you could never get him to shut the fuck up, but this version of him is cold, quiet, calculating. He looks disinterested in any conversation that people try to engage him in, and if he even does speak it sounds like his vocal cords are raw; hoarse.

It was like a switch was flipped in him and permanently taped down. He is just a shadow of what he used to be, to the menace of Derry, to the Tozier boy hated by most adults. Richie stopped being crude, his words only short and concise. You wouldn't be able to find him in the school during lunch, he would be out back, chainsmoking like he doesn't want to see tomorrow.

No one wants to talk to him about this, about him throwing himself into unhealthy habits. Or just the fact that he looks so sickly pale that they're that he is going to keel over any day now. His ribs are seen through his skin when they change for physical education. They can't even gauge how much Richie probably loved Stan, how much this is affecting him.

Stan's death still is an open wound for all of them, but it's a gaping wide crater that was taken out of Richie's heart. They can't even begin to understand or try to visualize how much this has taken Richie's world for a tailspin. They still know what it feels like though, they can still understand even with their fraction of a piece in Stan's life.

Mike is the one to approach Richie first, being the kindest of them all, but also understanding how to deal with grief in the long run. He sits down next to Richie one lunch period, Richie is not looking at him, and instead puts out his cigarette and stands up. He goes to walk away, stopping only when Mike calls out, "Stan wouldn't want you to do this."

Richie turns to look at him, a fire alight in his eyes, he also looks incredibly angry. His brows are a firm line, his usual dimples being accentuated by his frown, he looks absolutely pissed, "What 'Stan would want' means fucking jackshit because he's dead." He fully faces Mike, "You wouldn't know what he would want, either. You didn't know him, so stop acting like you do."

Richie stomps away from him, grabbing his bike from the rack and riding away from the school. Mike sighs, trying to not let it hurt him. He was the same way after his parents died, he was rude, he was spiteful, Richie just needs to realize that it wasn't his fault, that they can't control who dies. He goes inside and sits down next to Bill, telling them that Richie walked away from him. They don't need to know what Richie said to him, but they need to know that Richie is hurting, he is throwing himself down a rabbit hole that only he can pull himself from.

They all watch as Richie continues to struggle throughout the rest of the year, he's slowly becoming something other than what he was. Multiple attempts at talking to him were unsuccessful: Bev trying to talk to him over cigarettes and getting blown off, Eddie walking up to him at his locker and begging him to talk only to be ignored and walked past, Ben's nice notes passed to him in class and left in his locker that Richie makes a point of burning or throwing out in front of them, and Bill showing up at his house and getting no reply at his knocks or rocks thrown at his window. The only person who would be able to get Richie out of this is Stan. He would be able to get Richie to open up, he would be able to get Richie to sit at the table. He would be able to get Richie to tell them what is going through his mind.

They never really thought about the sway power that Stan held over Richie, but when thinking back on it, it was obvious. Whenever Stan told him to shut up, whenever Stan told him to move over, whenever Stan asked him to get him something, Richie would always do it without complaint. He puts up a fuss with everyone else, but never Stan. It's what makes Stan's death a lot harder on everyone because Richie will not listen to anyone else, will not let them control him in any way. If it was someone else in the losers, Stan would be able to get Richie to understand, to process, but Stan can't do that from six feet under.

It only gets worse and worse as they get older, as Richie shuts himself off from any human contact. It's also then when the losers find out that Richie hasn't been living with his mom and dad since he was young, he's been living with Stan and his parents. It was confirmed when his mom opens the front door and tells them he's with Stanley. Maybe she meant who he used to be died with Stan, or maybe she doesn't realize that he is dead. They never saw her at the funeral, and they are sure she hasn't been out of the house in years. So that could only mean one thing, which leads them to right now, at the Uris household, knocking on the door and asking for Richie.

Stan's mom looks at them for a moment, and they can tell she is worried. She lets them in and tells them to wait in the living room, that she wants to double-check with Richie if he wants to talk to anyone. It's starting to become clear that Richie hasn't talked to anyone about this, about Stan, not even to Stan's parents.

Her footsteps are light on the stairs and they don't even realize that she is back until she walks into the room. "He says he doesn't want to talk," she wrings her hands, and they can tell she is on her last shred of hope. "C-Ca-an I t-take a c-c-cr-crack?" Bill says, standing up from the couch, "I w-w-want to ch-check up on h-him." Bill is somehow always so charming to parents, with his compassion for others, but some form of otherwordly charisma, because Stan's mom's brow smooths over and she moves her hands down to her sides. "If you can get him to listen," she nods anyway and leads him out of the room and up towards the stairs. They walk down the hallway to the last door on the right, there is a blue plaque that reads "Stanley" with messy handwriting in white paint. She opens the door and allows him to step in.

Bill has only been in Stan's room once, and right now it looks the exact same but with key differences: Richie is curled up on Stan's bed, there is a lack of Stan telling him off about his shoes being outside of his shoe bin, and there is the thick smell of tobacco. Stan's mom closes the door behind him, it clicking shut quietly. Richie doesn't move on the bed, he keeps himself curled into a ball. Bill steps forward, the wood creaking underneath his foot. The figure on the bed flinches.

"Rich," Bill starts, "We n-n-need to t-talk." Richie turns to him, his dark eyes a neverending pit of sorrow, "No, we don't. Leave." Bill takes another step forward, "I'm n-n-not l-le-leaving unti-til you ta-t-ta-talk to m-m-me." Richie scoffs, "Whatever, Denbrough." He rolls back over to face the wall, ignoring Bill's existence entirely. Bill walks over the bed, sitting on the edge near Richie's feet. "S-SS-Stan, w-w-wouldn't wa-"

"You don't know what Stan would want, Denbrough, so don't finish that fucking sentence," Richie interrupts. His eyes are on Bill.

"W-Well, wh-w-what w-w-would he w-wa-want?" Bill asks, turning a skeptical eye onto Richie, "If w-wh-what I w-w-wa-was going to s-ss-say is not w-wh-what S-S-SS-Stan w-would w-wa-want, then w-wh-hat w-would he w-wa-want you to do?" Richie's harsh eyes soften for a moment, and Bill doesn't know what he's about to say. Maybe it's true that Bill will never truly know what Stan would want, or would say, but does Richie? "He would want me to forget him," Richie states, his voice shaking. "W-W-Wh-hat do y-yo-you mean?"

"What, you got fucking cotton in your ears, Denbrough? Stan would want me to forget that he ever existed in my life. He told me to, he told me to forget him, but I can't do that."

Bill wants to say something, anything, but he doesn't know how to react to that. He doesn't know how to make this in the way he needs it to, he never expected Stan say something like that, but Richie hasn't been in the joking mood for years. He looks absolutely serious; absolutely heartbroken. Did Stan really ask that of Richie? The Stan that Bill had perceived would never ask that of anyone, he was a good person, he was...

Or is that what Bill wanted to see? Did Bill even truly know Stanley Uris? Or did he just know a perception that he never thought to challenge? Maybe Richie was the only person to truly know Stan, maybe Stan was the only person to truly know Richie. Did Bill know anything about his friends or did he only know what his brain wanted him to?

"T-Te-Tell me ab-ab-bout him."

"What?" Richie raises an eyebrow at him. "T-ta-tell me ab-ba-bout S-SS-Stan, the r-r-real S-S-Stan," Bill explains, looking Richie dead in the eye, "If w-wa-we d-da-don't u-un-und-da-d-ers-s-stand w-wh-hat S-Stan w-w-would w-wa-want, th-the-then t-ta-tell m-me ab-bout him. Sp-sp-spare n-no d-detail, I'm f-f-free the r-ra-rest of the d-d-day."

Richie sighs, "The first thing everyone gets wrong about Stan is that he is well-mannered and well-behaved, he curses like a sailor and will absolutely throw caution to the wind when no one is looking. He likes to bird watch, but sometimes he finds it too quiet." He continues, telling Bill everything that they missed out on Stanley Uris. His sharp wit, his funny retorts, his loud laughter at the stupidest of things, but also the sad things. Stan had an issue with self-worth, his self-esteem low, and his anxiety levels were high. Richie talks about breakdowns that they both shared that they had to help each other through, about Stan telling him he knows he isn't going to live to be an adult, about Stan telling him he sometimes thinks about hurting himself, about Stan feeling alone.

Bill is enamored by the fact that there was so much that he had never known about Stan, even though he considered them to be almost brothers. Maybe Richie is lying, maybe all of this is false, but he now understands who he was close to, even if it was something that Richie lied about. It does click in his brain, though, everything Richie told him. The secretive glances he would give Richie, the way that Richie knew when to stop with a specific joke or when to pull the others away and distract from Stan. It also makes the small times Stan smiled, or joked, or whispered to Richie, that he felt safe, happy seem so genuine. For a while, they all believed that Stan's smiles and such were formalities, ways for him to keep them at a length, never telling them what's actually up but telling them he is fine. Don't worry about me.

Now there are things that Richie would never tell a soul about: the kisses they shared in the barrens, under the moonlight on Stan's roof, or holding each other through the nightmares, and the way that holding Stan's hand felt so right that Richie wishes he could do every day of his life. This silence includes the times they snuck out together, finding their way towards the barrens with a blanket and a small booklet on astronomy. Sometimes they would choose other books and take out flashlights, and they would take turns reading out passages or chapters. It denies the existence of the times they tried to bake or cook together, ending up covered in whatever substance, dancing with small shared kisses when their tempo slowed. He did talk about the shower caps, how for a while they were just for them in the darkness of the clubhouse, sitting in the hammock, and talking about the future. That particular part made Bill crack up.

When Bill walks down those steps, he feels changed in a way. They all were wrong the whole time about Stan, about him and Richie, about everything between them. The good is that now he has an open line of communication with Richie about his grief, maybe they can finally help him move on.

He slowly opens up to the rest of them, only becoming an echo of his former self towards the end of their senior year, and they all have a feeling that it's not going to stick when they are all gone. At least they can consider that one of them will stay with him because it's become obvious that Richie isn't going to leave Derry. He had told them in a drunken stupor that he can't leave Stan, he has to fight It in his honor, that if he had to leave Stan he doesn't find a purpose in living anymore. It was heartwrenching to hear this, but they understood to an extent.

Mike ends up staying with Richie in Derry, he continues to work on the farm and letting Richie help when he isn't working downtown. Mike keeps the best track of him that he can, even though their friends don't contact them anymore. There was a time when all of them were still exchanging letters, but one day it just stopped, they tried to send a letter but it got returned to them instead. It's like he feared, they forgot about them. At least they have each other, even if Richie is still quiet and behind a mental steel-inforced wall. Bill was the only one to fully break down the walls Richie had built, even then he only just scratched the surface.

When it comes time to call the rest of them back, because of Adrian Mellon's death, Richie helps Mike call them back. Richie had talked Mike out of the Ritual of the Chude years ago, telling him that they are not folktale heroes, Mike. So there is no need for the tokens, but they know that they need them to remember more.

They are able to get all of them back, meeting them at the Jade of the Orient, and watching as all their friends start to remember.

It's painful to Richie that none of them initially remember why there is a seventh seat, which Richie put in Stan's memory because if Stan could be there, he would.

When they ask him about it, it sends a shock of pain through his heart. Every day of Richie's life since the funeral has felt like the moment he realized that Stan was dead, there is always a constant ache in his chest. These days it's small, but it used to be a giant tug on his whole body that was forcing him towards the ground, to crush him on the pavement. It's a reminder that his best friend, his soulmate, is dead.

He has never been able to forget, to not see Stan's blank face in the casket whenever he closes his eyes. Stan's death haunts him every day of his life, and finding that his friends still don't care as much as he does; it hurts.

Richie tries to save face, saying that their final friend is running late, they have to be. It doesn't matter that Stan has been dead for 27 years, that Richie has never been able to be free of the guilt of that day. He just needs to keep up the shtick that Stan is alive, that he is just late, that maybe he remembers and doesn't want to come. They all don't remember yet, and Richie doesn't want to be in the room when they do. The pity that they showed him every day of high school still sits on his shoulders, telling him that he is pathetic, that his only friends feel bad for him because he lost the love of his life too early.

He sips on his drinks and stays quiet, not really feeling in the mood to act like the Richie that they remember. Richie hasn't been that kid for almost 30 years, and he doesn't want to return to who that was just to humor his old pals. They left him and Mike, they don't deserve that courtesy.

They start to tease Eddie about his marriage, and really Richie has a feeling that it's not going to last past this trip. She sounds just like his mother, even just being reminded of her existence pumps adrenaline through his veins. Sonia Kaspbrak was a vile and horrible woman, and even if Richie had made so many jokes about her, he still felt pure hatred about her.

It takes a few more drinks before the losers start to try and ask Mike and him about their lives, which they have skillfully avoided from their jovial pals the whole entire first part of the evening.

"Now, I have a question: Why is Mr. Trashmouth Tozier being so silent this evening? When we were kids we couldn't ever get you to shut up, and then Stan made up the thing, what was it?" Bev taunts, and she is looking over at him from behind her glass. She is flushed and a little giggly, and Richie knows that they are going to have to play along, or at least fiddle with the truth until they all remember, well, remember all of that summer into the school year.

"I'm sure the words you're looking for are 'Beep Beep', Bevo," Richie states, taking a sip from his water, "I also haven't been 'Trashmouth Tozier' since we were kids." The losers are confused because deep down they know there is a reason, a reason that they know of. It's just hidden behind the fog in their memory, and it may clear up soon. They just know that mentioning Stan made something churn in Richie's head, mentioning him made him withdraw even more from conversation. Mike looks at him with a worried expression, his brow creased, and his mouth a thin line.

The fortune cookie scene happens, unfortunately, but with some differences. Instead the message is a taunt, a tell to both Richie and Mike that It remembers and will use it against them. They are not safe from their grief.

I must've taken his breath away.

Richie escorts Mike and the rest of the losers outside the restaurant ignoring the looks from the waitresses. They wouldn't understand what is going on with them, what is going on with this town. They talk to everyone, telling them to meet at the library, they need to discuss everything before continuing, even if someone leaves. The losers all separate for the evening and that's when all the losers realize: Richie remembers because he never left Derry.

When they were kids he had these grandiose dreams of moving to California, to make it big as a comedian. What happened to them when they were kids to make Richie give up on that dream? He was always the one to initiate the topic, but he ended up never leaving, what changed his mind? Bev is wracking her very befuddled brain full of night terrors for anything, for any memory that slipped into the visions. Nothing.

The library is a lot more well-kept in this specific timeline, as Richie helps run it part-time while he works on the construction outside of town. It also was not converted into a living space and instead has a secret lounge that they set up a couple of years ago. It still has a board of research, but more sane reasonings than just oral folk tale and shrooms. They were able to communicate with a lot more people, as they had enough people to cover two simultaneous shifts of talking to people. So they have more consistent stories, and Mike thinks this is the best research yet.

They break down everything the best they can, telling the losers that they are going to spend the day trying to regain some semblance of their memories because It knows your fears and you need to make sure that you remember them first. They split up, allowing more private memories to be thought upon instead of tokens.

Bev still finds her way to her old apartment, talking to the old woman, and finding the old postcard. She folds it up and hides it in her pocket, in hopes of truly finding the boy who wrote it, again. The old woman still chases her, asking her if Bev was her father's daughter still? She isn't, and she hasn't been since she moved from Derry, to Los Angeles. Bev is her own person, but she forgot that for so many years. She runs from the building, realizing that a lot of her memories are hidden behind that postcard, and she stands on the bridge staring at it, and she remembers a kiss. On her way out of the apartment, surrounded by walls of wood and the dampness of mold, a door opens in front of her. She inches towards it, a feeling of dread taking over her stomach.

She places her hand on the doorknob and swings out the door, revealing what looks to be a bathroom. It's the one that haunted many of her night terrors, the one where she saw a man die, a man she never recognized. Instead of the man in the tub, she sees Stan. His body is broken in angles she thought not possible, his limbs are broken through, the bones tearing through the flesh. His shirt is the same as the day of his death, she remembers it now, his death on the tar of Neibolt street. She sees Richie clinging to him as a paramedic tries to pull him away, his sobs filling her ears as she watches the corpse of their friend leave. It's what makes the groaning figure in the tub confusing, she inches closer to him. His head snaps to hers and she sees his eyes, they are a bright gray, and that's when he comes to life. "Beverly,"
he wails, "You could've saved me, Beverly."

"But I wasn't as important enough as your precious Bill."

Eddie walks into the pharmacy, to get his inhaler. Keene is still working the counter, and he struggles through conversation with the older man. He always suspected that Keene was not a good man, that he wanted more from him as kids, and it really was obvious in the way his sharp eyes would rake over the children standing at his counter. Eddie had never realized how uncomfortable it made them all as kids, but he was also a ball of anxiety back then; he still is now. He goes to walk away from the counter, but he can't walk out of there. "Eddie?" He hears the voice of his mother cry out, and for some reason, he is taken back to when he was a kid. Eddie inches down the steps into the basement, and he walks towards the curtain at the back, where he hears his mother wailing.

He moves the curtain, and he thought he would see his mother like his younger self had, but he sees Stan. His old friend is tied down to a table, blood covering every inch of him, and he is sobbing. The restraints on the table are keeping Stan stuck to the table, his arms crushed onto his torso. "Please, Eddie, please help me," he croaks, he breaks out into a weeping mess, "Where's Richie? Where's Richie? He promised he would be here, Eds, where's Ri-" His cries are interrupted by the sound of shaking chains. Eddie looks at the back of the room and sees a figure covered in a tarp, it's attached to a heavy chain. It starts to move at them, "Eddie! Eddie! Where's Richie? Why did he leave me, Eds? You could've saved me!" Stan is screaming, and struggling against the restraints and Eddie turns and runs, trying to escape the hell of his own creation.

"You did this, Eddie! You did this! I would be alive if only you left your precious Bill in that sewer, it was me or him, Eds!"

Mike leads Bill back to his shared apartment with Richie downtown, telling him that he has something for him that he forgot when he left for college. Bill doesn't know what it will be, but Mike's smile is like staring at the sun, so he follows him in sort of a trance. They reach the apartment building and they walk up the rickety steps towards the second floor. "Now, I know that it probably needs some work, but you entrusted it to me before you left. We kept it as safe as we could," Mike swings open the door and leads him into the somewhat clean apartment. It's obvious that Mike and Richie are a clashing pair, with Richie's clothes strewn on chairs and such, but Mike's papers cover most of the surfaces. "Wait here," Mike chirps, and he walks back towards the hallway, leaving Bill to wait in the living room.

Bill looks around the room, he takes in the scene, he takes in the whirlwind of objects without places. It was such a distinct feeling of home, a combination of two of his closest friends. He walks towards the small wall of framed pictures, all of them from their childhood. Many images from the quarry and some from a place that Bill hasn't remembered yet. He also sees an image that he doesn't think knew was being taken, or well, he didn't know it was being taken at the time. It's him and Mike riding on Silver, the bike's name flooding his memory as he looked at this picture. Mike is sitting on the bike and he is chasing after him, and he smiles in response to the memory flooding his senses. His mind is too occupied to recognize the image below it, a polaroid of Stan and Richie, their faces so close that it looks like they were fusing. If he had seen it he would've realized immediately what was wrong with Richie, the memories of their dead friend floating back to his memory.

"I got her!" Mike exclaims from the hallway, and Bill is thrown out of his emotional stupor and sees Mike Hanlon standing in his living room with Silver, the bike that Bill had treated like his own before leaving Derry. Mike looks so proud of himself, a beam eating up his face. Bill realizes something, and then he remembers.

Ben walks down the hall of the middle school, looking down memory lane. He spent hours upon hours in here after school, discussing new books with the librarian and trying to find others to discuss the weirdness of Derry with. No one wanted to talk to him back then, and maybe he didn't want to talk to anyone either. He was always the second option, or third, or fourth when it came to people choosing who to interact with. He lifts his head from the desk, meeting with the Beverly that in hindsight seems to weird to quantify as real, Bev would be kind and tell him when she entered the room, not appearing like the clone of her did.

Her alight form chases him through the hallway of the school and he finds his locker, locking himself away from the creature that is following him. His breathing subsides, allowing him to try and rationalize, to get out of this situation. That's until he hears a plink behind him, and he turns his head. Ben knows deep down he is supposed to be seeing that clown, it's what actually happened that summer, but instead of It he sees Stan. He's standing there, blood flowing down his eyes and mouth, and that's when he screams. It's blood-curling and Ben has never heard Stan be that loud before, so he runs. "You did this Ben!" He hears, "You're the reason I'm dead, Benjamin!" Stan falls out of the locker, his legs are swaying, but he still follows after him. Ben continues to run down the hallway, and that's when he bumps into the janitor. He turns around and the bleed corpse of Stan is no longer limping through the corridor. Ben is back into the present, but he can't help but hear Stan's voice in his head.

"You're the reason I'm dead, Ben! You watched me die! You never once tried to help! You only care for your vile Beverly!"

Richie walks down the main street of Derry, and it's starting to set in that this is the end. They are finally going to finish off the clown, he can kill It for Stan. He won't have to be so scared anymore, maybe he can finally put all of these feelings to rest, maybe he can...

He doesn't want to finish that thought, so he instead heads towards the supermarket to grab supplies for their up and coming battle with the final boss. Hopefully, they finish off the rosy fuck instead of perpetuating this fight. He has spent the last 27 years of his life feeling terrified, being isolated, being a pawn in a game that is not their own. They just got wound up in this shit, and Richie plans to finish it. It doesn't matter if he fucking dies, he needs to fight in Stan's honor, he needs to end this.

The further he gets from the library, the more he thinks there are eyes on him. It's not a new feeling, but Richie can tell that this time it's different. This is not the curious townsfolk, this is a malevolent force coming for him. A predator.

"Hey Rich."

Richie stops in his tracks, he knew that voice. He knew that voice, he knew that voice, and he shouldn't be hearing that voice. It's coming from behind him, he can hear the ragged breaths. He turns around and there he is: his best friend, not the bloodied version that he saw on the tarmac, but the version he saw in private. This Stan has one of Richie's old shirts hanging off of his shoulders and he is smiling, and Richie really wants to cry. It's been 27 years.

"Come with me, babylove." Richie has to swallow down the whimper that tried to escape his throat, and he has to remind himself, 'This isn't Stan, this isn't Stan, this isn't Stan, just the clown trying to fuck with you.' He clenches his shaking hand into a fist and he turns away from the mirage of Stan and he continues walking towards the supermarket; he can't break now.

Upon meeting up again, the losers discuss their memories. Richie stays out of the room when Bev first mentions Stan, and he stayed in the archives room. When they discuss the final plan of attack, that's when Bowers kicks in the door and realizes that It sent him into an ambush. It told him that they would all be separated, he could take care of Mike. He rushes from the building like a dog with its tail between its legs and doesn't realize that Patrick Hockstetter at the wheel of the car is sending them towards a tree.

They enter the house on Neibolt in a highly armed group, they are planning to end this.

The well is easily found as they never separate, and that's when Pennywise realizes that the timeline was severely altered. Their intent of slowing the group, of crippling them from the start failed. It is going to die tonight.

It tries to capture them in their fears, trying to cripple them enough so that it can wipe them out quickly. Bev is in the stall again, Ben being buried in dirt, Bill seeing his younger self, Mike is shown Stan's death again, Eddie is stuck with his mother in an endless cycle of the fight, and Richie is back in Stan's living room with his best friend sitting next to him. It should work, it does in other timelines, but not this one. Bev and Ben find each other again, Bill shooting the younger version of himself, Eddie telling his mother that the medication was bullshit, and leaving, Mike rushing forth to sit next to Richie and Stan, and Richie walking out of the living room. They were all free from their fears and their burdens for one moment, and they are able to kill it, crushing the heart in their hands. They are finally free.

They leave the rubble of the Neibolt house and head towards the quarry, but Richie doesn't join them. "I have something I need to do, I'll be there," he walks towards the opposite side of town. He enters the cemetery, walking past all of the dirty and old headstones towards the one he has been upkeeping the last 27 years, he stops at the foot of it. "We did it, Stanno, we killed it."

"I know."

Okay, okay, holy shit! So this is now finally done and over with, thank you for reading! (Also thanks to my friends who have been waiting like weeks for me to finish this...) Since you are here check out the song above, and if you're really inclined to re-read this mess with the song playing, I won't stop you. Time for me to shut up now.

Derry-X89

There is a specific timeline that the turtle hasn’t touched, and really, it doesn’t want to. It’s the one time the losers were able to break free, or specifically, the two that started it all but never got to finish it together. It starts with that same summer, in 1989.

Derry isn’t much different than the other timelines, there is still the fear, the useless adults, and the endless hatred. The town still feels cursed, children still go missing, and nothing is done by the sheriff or police. Georgie Denbrough is still dead, his body gone. This time, though, there is a seed of desperation placed in both Richie and Stan, it was one not there before, because the one difference between this time and the next, Richie moved in with Stan when they were six years old.

They’ve been dating since they were eleven, always hiding their intertwined hands and loving gazes. they have a stronger foundation than in any other timeline, one built on years of support and love, even if Stan’s parents were strict and cold. They always had each other, which meant that Richie was slightly altered in a way.

He is still quite loud and harsh, but not as so when Stan is sat with him, personal space nonexistent between them. They still are as close in other timelines, but they never had the foundation that they have in this one. They are boys in love, who know each other in ways that the other losers couldn’t imagine. They have the idea that when Stan can drive, Richie doesn’t have the attention span to learn, they’ll leave. They’ll escape. The other losers have each other, they don’t need Richie and Stan to be the losers. The losers don’t even notice them both studying the drivers manual with such caution in the library, pressed together with their breaths combined. (They should’ve noticed.)

So, when Stan first sees Judith in the temple’s office, he runs down the steps and towards Richie, who’s waiting for him in the lobby. He holds Stan as he is crying, their bodies shaking. He asks him what happened, and Stan whispers between his broken sobs that the lady in the office almost got him. He bursts out into another sob and Richie holds him closer, kissing the top of Stan’s head. When the rest of the losers start to bring up their visions of IT, Richie doesn’t mock it. He keeps staring at Stan, his eyes saying that he knows. When Stan brings it up, Richie doesn’t play it off as a joke, he offers a slight head nod towards Stan.

If anyone else noticed it, they would’ve thought it was one of his usual fidgets, not a signal for Stan to join him on his bike, so that he can offer comfort. Stan declines, with a sharp shake telling him, “Not now, later." They can’t risk giving affection to the other in public.

In Derry, that’s a death wish, so he waits until they are in the back of Bill’s garage, when the lights are extremely dim. Stan slides his hand into Richie's while the projector runs, gripping tightly. They can’t hold each other in front of their friends, but at least, holding Richie's hand has taken him slightly out of his hysterics. He feels much more cool-headed, able to approach Bill’s information logically. Then the projector starts to flicker and he tries to push himself against Richie, seeking any safety because he is so terrified.

They hold each other as they run to the door, trying to evade the growing clown. (Also, don't worry about Eddie, Bill and Mike protected him first) When Bev hits the garage door, sending the sunlight into Pennywise and causing it to leave, they let go of each other. They both don’t want to, they want to cling to each other right now, because they are so scared of what they just saw. They can’t, though, it’s not the time.

They chase Bill to Neibolt, and when Stan sees Richie pull a metaphorical short straw, his heart clenches. He doesn’t want to go in, but he so desperately wants to go in with Richie, to make sure he makes it out. Stan knows he should trust Bill and Eddie to keep Richie alive, but he can’t. The one person he cares about more than anything is on the line. He pulls Richie aside for a moment before the group enters. He grips his hand and whispers into his ear to survive, it doesn’t matter what happens, “Come back to me, Rich.” Richie nods, glancing at the others for a second, seeing that they weren’t watching. He plants a kiss on Stan’s cheek, releasing their hands and joining Bill and Eddie.

He takes one more look at Stan before entering the house. Stan feels like pacing, his hands shaking and he has never felt so useless until that exact moment. He would never be able to explain it to the rest of them.

When they hear the screams, Stan is the first to run. He finds them first, and he is so fucking terrified when he sees Pennywise, lumbering towards Richie, Eddie, and Bill. Richie notices him for a moment, meeting his eyes, and the fear that he saw from Richie, it made him feel so angry. His jaw clenches and his fist curls, and his heart is beating fast and pumping adrenaline through his veins. The last time he saw Richie so scared was before he moved in with them. His mom was scaring him, and it was only getting worse. Richie should never have to feel that scared again.

Adrenaline absolutely roars through his veins and he searches for a weapon. The screams get worse and he finds the giant rod. Bev goes to stop him, asking him what he is doing, he brushes her off and running towards Pennywise. He drives the rod into the side of the clown’s head, right where the brain should be. While Pennywise backs towards the well, Stan looks at Richie. They are both panting, their breaths lining up. He doesn’t mean to smile, but he does anyway.

Ben and Mike go to help Bill to take Eddie out of Neibolt, but Richie stands there, staring at Stan. They join the others when Eddie is being toted away by his mother into her car. Bill suggests they go back, they know where to find it. Richie objects, telling him the truth, Georgie is fucking dead, Bill. He isn’t coming back. Bill punches him, and when Richie goes to retaliate, Stan does his best to hold him back, Mike only helping as a means to peacekeep. Richie pushes past Bill and towards his bike, Stan chasing after him, and they ride away towards their house. they park their bikes on the front lawn and go upstairs to shower. It’s only after they changed and felt cleaner when Richie allowed himself to breakdown.

He cries into Stan about everything, about the clown, what he saw, about losing everyone. Stan kisses his forehead and holds him, telling him that they’ll figure it out. It gets them closer to getting out. He nods, and they tangle around each other until dinner.

During the losers being split, Richie and Stan are still as inseparable as ever. They are seen going everywhere: movies, the arcade, the barrens. The arcade scene technically happens, Richie and Stan are both chased out the arcade by Henry and his gang. They are whispering to each other onto the bench, crying, trying to calm down. Pennywise can’t attack them, but it notices something about them, and it smiles. Knowing what exactly to do, it can use them to hurt each other. It keeps that in mind.

When Bev is taken, Bill runs to the arcade, trying to get them both. He begs Richie, who ignores him, Stan is glaring at him. “P-puh-please, i-it t-t-ta-took B-Ba-Bev," and they both look at him, look at each other, and sigh. They leave with Bill, heading towards Neibolt. Stan doesn’t hesitate to follow Richie, their hands intertwined. They go down the well, and when resting on the sewer pipe, Richie keeps Stan close to him. When Judith tries to grab Stan, Richie follows immediately, chasing as Stan tries to scream. He picks up a pipe up on the way down the path towards stan. He rushes the Judith on top of Stan, hitting it multiple times and trying to get between Stan and it. He is successful as the other losers try to come into the room, it shrivels and runs, mocking them with kissing noises.

It knows about them, but Richie can’t find it in himself to give a fuck. He only cares about one thing: Stan. He’s laying on the ground, his face bleeding, and his eyes closed. He looks unnervingly at peace, and Richie feels like he shouldn't interrupt it. Richie touches stan, catching him when he starts to freak out, holding him, telling him he got him, they’ll be okay. Stan cries into Richie's shoulders, "You came for me." and Richie nods, “Always, Stanley, always.” The losers are sitting around them, trying to calm down. They all stare as Bill chases something they can’t hear down the hall, and Richie helps Stan up. They lock hands and plan to never let go, not until they get out of this hellhole.

They are right behind the others when they find Bev, easing her to the ground and Ben waking her up. they find Bill, begging him to kill that Georgie, it’s not him. He’s dead. Bill shoots the "Georgie" and Pennywise starts to grow into its normal form. It takes Bill once again, raising a deal for their absence to it stopping.

Leave Bill and I’ll stop.

Richie sighs, unclasping his hand from Stan’s and walking forward. He makes his grand speech before grabbing a bat and bashing Pennywise on the head. The other losers join in, hitting Pennywise, screaming at it, and shoving it back towards the well down to their home. Stan laced his hand with Richie's. They stare down the clown together, telling it that they are proud of who they are, that they are together. Pennywise cannot stop them from loving each other. They will never fear something that hates itself some utterly that it finds that it needs to scare others to feel better.

When they leave Neibolt, they are once again a group, but Richie and Stan are behind them, talking to each other in hushed tones. The lie of what happened to Stan, to why they smell awful. but also expressions of love, telling each other that they won’t have to hide anymore when they leave. They can be together publicly, and won’t have to fear anyone ever again. So, when they hit high school, Stan immediately signs up for the drivers ed course, getting his license on his 16th birthday. His parents gave him a choice of a car and didn’t realize that they were never going to see that car again. Richie and Stan have been saving up mostly every allowance, every birthday money, every child support payment (from Richie's dad) for the fateful night in the middle of December, in which they took all of their clothes in backpacks, the rest of their items in trash bags, and slipping into the car after leaving a note on their door.

They were leaving, don't try to look for them, because you won’t be able to. they drove to a contact Richie made in Portland who got them new IDs & SSN for their travels. it was hefty to pay for it, but they knew at least Stan’s parents would try to spin it like Richie coerced Stan, that Richie was a bad influence. Or, maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they just wanted to stop being Richie Tozier and Stanley Uris for one day.

(They have matching last names now, which makes them feel like they got married, but they don’t tell the contact that.) While they leave Maine, their memories falter for one moment, but it continue as they get farther away. They don’t need to be in Derry to remember.

They spend the next couple of years dashing town to town, getting nightshift after nightshift, and living in ratty apartments with their new names. It’s the happiest that either of them could be. They go out on dates, they can hold hands in public, they don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. No matter if a homophobic person comes up to them to tell them they are disgusting and damned to hell, they just tell them they’ve “been there done that” and smile at the fear on their faces. They do decide to settle down in a town so that they can both get GEDs, they’re only 20 so it’s not too old. Stan plans to go to college to get a degree, while Richie plans to work for a while as a means to keep them afloat until stan can get approved for a work-study. (Which is at the sub shop on campus, Richie will come in and annoy him most days.) They actually find home around Washington state, in a cabin deep in the woods.

They’re about early thirties when they find it, and it’s perfect for them. The town connected to them always whispers about the secretive “brothers” who live in the cabin, who come in for groceries. It becomes a kind of conspiracy theory about who they are, what they’ve done. They both find it funny, but it warms their heart that no one wishes to run them out.

It’s a while before they can legally get married, but when they can, they head to Vegas to get married in one of the most overtop venues, because it’s really just them. (They found a clown chapel...) That’s the only lead that Mike gets when he tries to find Stan and Richie to call them back, a marriage certificate from Las Vegas. They are alive, that’s all he knows. they are together, which warms his heart to know, that they never left each other. They were always different than the rest. He doesn’t find them, no numbers, no emails. He doesn’t try any harder than that, let them rest.

Pennywise finds it funny when Mike, Bev, Ben, Eddie, and Bill are the ones to confront. “Awww, the lovebirds didn’t want to join the fun!” Mike never told the others about Richie and Stan, “You should’ve seen their wedding, so beautiful!” and Mike is angry. When they are all trapped in their separate visions of fear, they don’t realize that two others joined them in the cistern. Richie and Stan see Pennywise, and they immediately decide to intervene, knowing that Stan’s visions could be a reality. They weave into the rocks and find both Bev and Ben.

They call out to them, not being able to pull them free from their binds, but Stan puts his hand on Richie's shoulder, “They’ll find each other.” Richie nods, they sneak towards another crack, keeping low. They find mike, frozen in fear in the back of a split. His eyes are looking around the room and he is shaking, he doesn’t see them. They shake him out of it, and when he looks at them he smiles, “You came back.” Richie snorts, “Well, this guy,” he loops his arm around Stan’s shoulders, “Was having dreams about all of our friends dying, so we obviously had to come back and help,” Stan just smirks at Richie.

They look better, happier, than Mike last remembers. They find Bill, waiting for him, knowing that what he has to figure out is for him alone. He holds onto Mike as they go out towards the main part of the cistern. Eddie is okay by the time they enter back. Pennywise notices that they’ve joined the party, squealing in delight that the “disgusting lovebirds decided to join us” and they both look absolutely pissed, Stan’s eyebrows furrowed and Richie is shaking.

“You can’t scare us, you vile pig," Stan shouts, his voice is even, and much deeper than it was when they were sixteen. Pennywise just giggles back, “Come on Stanny, but that’s no fun!” and Richie steps up, his hand clasped with Stan’s, "You’re just a bully, you fucking clown.” Pennywise shrivels for a moment, and it gives the rest of the losers the idea. If they aren’t scared of it anymore, it can’t grow. It will shrink. They descend upon Pennywise like a pack of wolves, hurting the clown like it hurt them when they were kids. When Pennywise is the size of a small child they take its heart and destroy it. The house starts to fall and they run, exiting the Neibolt house. When it fully crumbles in on itself, that’s when the losers finally take the time to look at their friends. It’s been almost 30 years, Richie is tall, but Stan is taller. They both have glasses, Richie's are a thinner version from their childhood, and Stan's are metal framed rectangles.

They dress a lot better than when they were kids, stan in a t-shirt and cardigan, a nice pair of jeans. Richie is wearing a button-up with ripped jeans, a hoodie thrown over it. they have matching gold bands on their ring fingers, they don’t look as tired. They look happy. they are hugging, whispering to each other about something. Stan flicks Richie's head and they pull apart. They link hands.

Mike is the first to speak, congratulating them on getting married. They kind of laugh it off, trying to not make it about them. Any conversation is going to be awkward, considering they never really got to say goodbye. Bev suggests the quarry and Richie lights up. So that’s where they all head, to rinse off. Bev goes first, Ben and Mike following, Bill and Eddie go together. Stan goes before Richie, and when Richie goes Stan watches. Richie lands extremely hard on his back, which sends Stan in a laughing fit. when Richie resurfaces he glares and attempts to chase Stan, laughing as Stan tries to run from him. He picks up Stan and tips them back into the water.

They come back to the surface laughing, Richie invading Stan’s space. He pulls Stan to him and kisses his temple, Stan’s laughing stifles and he looks at Richie. The losers take a moment to realize that this is what they saw during their childhood, only in little moments. Richie and Stan thrived outside of derry, they grew into who they see right now, a couple that knows who they are, who didn’t fall into who they were as kids, like the rest of them. They have a lot to learn from them, and now they have the time to. It is dead, and they can move on.

Richie Tozier - 20
Gay cringe ass nae nae baby, jk. He's a part-time student at NYU. (He is stan's boyfriend of 7 years) Made a name for himself on campus as an annoying jackass who is extremely talented.

Stanley Uris - 20
TA @ NYU, has two separate igs (one for employers with old modeling stuff, one that he uses to gush about richie, which richie follows). A lot of his students thinks he is pretty and flirt with him, which he turns down bc w h y? (gay boy)

Tyler - 19
One of stan's students and somewhat the ringleader of the student friend group. (he's bi)

Erin - 20
Another one of stan's students, co-ringleader of the student group. (she's pans)

Kylie - 19
They own a shopping cart and like to meme,,,, another one of stan's students and one of the most obvious flirts towards him. (they are bi)

Arun - 19
Another one of stan's students, is the quiet but funny one of the group,,,, also lowkey has a crush on Stan. (he's gay)

Emerald - 20
Funky skater girl who gets along with a Kylie a lil too much, straight up lesbian but supports her friends.

Alright, so Stan is a TA for an English class, one of the electives that can be taken as an extra in place of another course, so it is generally a sought after course, as it has the same credit amount but is a little bit easier of a course, so Stan gets a lot of the younger and more stressed out students.

What he usually does for that class is grade a lot of the less important papers, leaving nice and succinct feedback, he answers student emails in only a couple of hours after they are sent and they always answer the questions given, so a lot of the students like him despite the fact that in class he is very cold, and made it very clear that conversation during class was unwelcome. It didn't perturb Tyler and Kylie, though. Those two started to outright flirt with Stan when asking questions, invading a little bit of his personal space after drenching themselves in some sort of cologne or perfume, they will leave him their numbers on sticky notes on his desk that sits in the corner of the room.

No matter how uncomfortable Stan looked or how many times he turned down their flirting, they continued to try and attempt to start a romantic pursuit until Stan accidentally put a stop to it. Fall is starting to turn into winter, which means that campus is basically a freezer when entering outside.

The group (which I've dubbed them) are lounging around in their seats as they are early to class, like usual. They get into the classroom early and wait for Stan, trying to initiate a conversation. It usually fails as Stan is working on organizing his papers, but today when he entered the room the group were frozen in their spots, because Stan is wearing something that
1) he has not worn before
2) the group thought he would never be caught dead in

It's a giant bomber jacket that looks like it's falling apart at the seams. It's huge, a dark blue middle with a denim collar and sleeves, and it is absolutely covered in patches. Some are vulgar (one talking about eating ass instead of having aspirations), some are odd (a fish in a bottle, a repeating star pattern with a sunflower in the middle), some seem to be sweet (a name they can't make out in curly letters with a heart around it), and it is wholly something that doesn't fit Stan. Stan is sweaters and button-ups, he's nice khakis and his converse shoes, he's not a bomber jacket full of crude or weird sayings and images.

That's not the Stan they know. He wears the jacket like he isn't completely flipping upside down the group's perspective of him and his place in the world. they don't get a chance to go up to him and ask about it before the teacher enters and starts the lecture.

It's after the class ends when the group is able to approach Stan and ask him about the jacket. One of the other students in the class was already talking to him when they walk over, they know his name is Ben and that he is a real sweetheart. that's until they hear their discussion, "does he know you stole his jacket for the day?" Ben has a smirk on his face and that's when Stan stops placing the jacket on and looks down at the piece of clothing he is sheltering onto his form, and he whispers, "Shit."

Ben just laughs and that's when Kylie decides to insert herself into the situation, "So, what's the deal with the jacket?" Stan looks at the group and seems to be too distracted to do what he usually does when they try to corner him: run away. Ben let's out a snort and crosses his arms, basically telling Stan that he got himself into some deep shit. Stan sighs, "It's my boyfriend's jacket." He throws all of his shit into his bag and starts dragging a laughing Ben out of the room.

The group decide to find out who it is, because Stan is never going to tell them, not after they basically flirted with him and essentially were trying to get him to cheat on his boyfriend that they didn't know he had. A mission starts to find any of Stan's social media to see if he posted anything about them, they only find the main Instagram that he has, which he never posts on except for old modeling images, but they do find an image from a year ago of two hands intertwined and the caption says "Happy 6 years, babylove. You light the spark in my heart, may we prosper for eternity as long as we are together."

The group go through the comments on Stan's posts, and find some of his friends, and they decide to go through their posts as well. They find a lot on Bev's page, because she likes to document her friend's relationships on her page, but the group don't realize that Richie has his arm around Stan's waist and that they are obviously more than best friends. Mike's account is mostly candids of Bill and Eddie, while also having some of Stan and Richie, considering Mike got into some photography.

They basically overlook a lot of the signs in any of the images of Richie and Stan: their linked ankles, the easy touches that usually are shared between lovers, gazes that say more than any words could, but the group are none the wiser.

They also find Stan's personal Instagram, and then realizing that maybe Richie has a partner, and that he is off the list of people that Stan has taken images with. It is the reason they overlook the easy signs of affection and the glaringly clear truth: Richie and Stan are in love. the group also do not realize that this is the same Richie Tozier that they do not like, the one they mutually despise. His heavy glasses obscure the usually shit eating grin that Richie wears on campus, spreading mischief wherever he goes.

They continue to try and stalk Stan to find his boyfriend, like overasking him questions and following him and Ben to the cafe where they have lunch. So one day when they are asking the questions after class Stan says he’ll answer one question a day if they stop following him around and leave him alone outside of class. The group agrees and asks him his boyfriend’s name. Stan just looks them dead in the face and says, “Nice try.” Then he and Ben walk to get lunch.

After that, basically, they ask him questions every day, “What does he do for a living?” stan doesn't hesitate, “Being a pain in my ass,” and then Ben chirps in, “Stan, you can be a pain in the ass too,” and Stan flips him off.

The next day, “How tall is he?” Stan thinks for a moment, using his hand to make a visual metaphor of shortness, “A couple inches shorter than me” Ben quips, “No one can be your five nine, you bitch.” Stan snorts, “You sound like Eddie, Benathan,” and that shuts Ben up.

“When did you meet him?” Stan thinks for a second, “When we were two.” That causes some guffaws because I'm sorry what???? You’ve known this guy forever and still wanted to date him??? Ben laughs, “That I did not know,” and Stan flips him off. “We were the originals, Ben. Or were you not listening when he went on a high rant last weekend?” That's when Ben laughs, because he knows exactly what Stan is talking about. The group are like???? UHHHH “Your boyfriend smokes weed?” Kylie asks, and Stan sighs, “As much as I hate it, it’s better than when he smoked in middle school.” THAT’S LIKE???? SO CONFUSING. Stan always seems like a person who avoids stuff like drugs so it’s kind weird to them that he is dating someone who does them. “Hey, at least he wasn’t as bad as Bev,” Ben says, and Stan nods. “Enough questions for today.”

And then, “Do you love him?” and then Ben fucking snorts and Stan is glaring daggers at him. He sighs, “Yes, I do. I wouldn’t live with the dumbass if I didn’t.” It's in that moment, Ben loses his shit. It's silent for a moment, Stan then realizes that he revealed that he and Richie live together.

The group is slowly starting to realize a little bit the softness that comes out of Stan when he answers these questions. “What do you like about him?” Stan has to take a moment, "There are many things, from his dumb voices to how he cares about everyone. He tries to make sure that everyone is okay, and he feels like he needs to protect those he cares about. I’ve been under his protection many times growing up, but I don’t think anything can top the quiet moments he has whenever he is being serious or at peace. He’s harsh but soft, and it all rolls up to be him.” Stan says in complete sincerity. it’s the most they have ever heard leave Stan’s mouth at one time. Ben is kind of like stunned, “Stan, that was beautiful.” Stan nods, then he promptly drags Ben out of the room. but they hear “If you tell him or Bev that I said that I will gut you,” on the way out. Ben just laughs in response and they leave. Then the group realizes 'holy shit they didn’t realize how deep stan loved his boyfriend'.

“When did you start dating him?” They kind of already know but want it from Stan’s mouth. “Freshmen year of highschool,” Stan walks away.

“who asked the other out?” stan takes a moment, and ben has a knowing smile. “he asked me out, we were stuck behind in detention and on the walk home he confessed to me and asked me to a movie.” and ben has this soft smile because he knows that it’s not the actual story, which was that they went birdwatching and richie kissed stan, telling him everything, and begging him to say something, please. and stan just gripped him by the collar and kissed him back. “can i count today as a first date?” he whispered to richie, and richie smiled. they usually lied about who asked who out and the story because they never want to muddy the details of that day. “oh shut up ben,” stan says and then they leave the room. the group are confused for a slight moment.

“is he currently a student?” and stan laughs. it’s short but beautiful. “you could say that, he’s part time here, but he’ll graduate with my class.” and stan looks proud, there is something he’s not mentioning. ben knows what it is, that stan is so proud of richie, considering richie does most of his classes in the summer, and stan will hover above his shoulder and litter him with kisses and praise. richie is catching up. and stan could never be more proud. “what is his major?” stan tries to fight a smile, “if i told you that then you’d know him immediately.” and then stan and ben go to lunch. that is confusing as hell??? bc there are a lot of people they know from specific majors. (richie is a theatre major and has made a name for himself on campus as a really good on but he is also a weird dick)

and before they can ask another question the next day stan is wearing richie’s jacket to class and basically when they go to ask the question a loud “stan the man! haystack! i finally found you!” and richie enters the classroom. and like the group knows who richie is. he’s loud and crass and they don’t really like him, and they didnt realize that richie was the richie they saw on the losers instagrams bc he wears contacts on campus. today though he has on the giant glasses that adorn the losers ig photos. ben smiles at richie and stan stopped putting his folders back into his bag. “rich, i’ve told you the room and time too many times to count,” stan says and richie beams, and he slings his arm around ben. “well sorry i was too busy-“ “beep beep” stan and ben say in unison. and richie just cracks up. “i see my crowd is stale today, where’s eddie spaghetti when you need him?” richie then drapes himself across stan’s desk in a dramatic recreation of a dead scene. “for art thou be so kind to join me for mimosas in the afterlife?” he giggles and stan pushes him off the desk. it just makes richie laugh louder. the group is kinda confused bc like u wouldnt think stan and richie work as a dynamic, but it makes sense in a way. ben just smiles and let’s out a little laugh. richie gets up and slings himself around stan and pushes their faces together. and they all expect stan to push richie off again. “are u going to get off me you hyperactive puppy and allow me to finish putting my paper in my bags?” stan asks, and his voice is deadpan but him and richie are having a conversation with their eyes. and the group is kind of confused, because why does stan look like he is in love with his friend??? when he has a boyfriend???? “alright u funky jew i’ll get off” richie says and hops off the desk. and then they are kinda like ????? uh tf???? bc richie never really pulls away or stops in other classes, he just keeps going until someone gets angry. wtf??

remember some of the dms deleted: stan starts only taking questions over email and when one of the group tries to ask he shoots them down with an extremely well composed and angry email. it’s kind of scary how stan shifts immediately. it takes a couple of weeks until stan stays in the classroom after class again. the group goes to ask but ben gets in the way and tells them to just leave. richie enters through the classroom door and ben smiles at him in a friendly way. richie looks a little different, his hair is more messy and heavy glasses sitting on his head. he quickly moves over to stan and stan gives him the smallest smile. and richie smiles back. “just sit down rich, i’ll be done soon.” and richie nods and sits on the desk again and ben ushers the group away. the group leaves the class room just in time for stan to plant a light kiss in richie’s temple. “you’re doing better, baby, you’re doing amazing.” and richie nods. “I’m sorry, i shouldn’t have let it affect me,” richie whispers. stan gets in his face, “don’t apologize, babylove, they were asking rude questions, you’re allowed to feel hurt.” and richie gives him a sad smile. “i just love you so much and every time they asked it was like i was back in derry, with my mom.” stan kisses richie’s forehead, and richie wounds his arms around stan to hold him close. “well she is not worth your time and nether are these people asking dumb questions. richie, look at me,” and richie looks up at his brown eyes. “you are my everything, and all of these dumb questions were just letting me talk about you. you’re my favorite subject, bubby. i’m so happy with you, and i don’t think i would be able to be where i am without you. just because some idiots asked me about if you make me happy or not should not change the fact in your mind that i have never loved anyone as i love you. we live together for fucks sake, i’m pretty sure i’ll bound you down with a ring in a couple of yours, and i don’t want anyone else.” richie is crying and he’s smiling. he hugs stan closer to him, “i love you so much.” and stan hums, and he runs one of his hands up richie’s back and uses it to push richie’s head against his lips. “my sweet blue jay, you are the only one i want to be with, until i die.” and richie lets out of a chuckle, “until i die, stanny.”

it’s a weekend when one of the members of the group tries to ask stan, but they aren’t in a classroom, they are in the shopping centre downtown. stan hasn’t answered the question, “why are you with your boyfriend if you love richie?” and stan sighs, he is about to answer when a loud, “crawlin’, there you are!” and richie runs up to stan and he’s wearing the jacket. the jacket that stan said was his boyfriend’s. so richie slips his arm around stan’s shoulders and kisses his temple. and the person has a fucking aneurysm because oh my god we were so dumb. richie looks at the person and goes, “oh yeah you were a part of the group harassing stanny about me.” and richie gives a grin but it’s one that feels like it’s hiding something, in this case some anger. stan pinches richie and gets a laugh in response. “the cat is out of the bag i suppose,” stan says and richie giggles. and the person is so confused and kinda scared bc uh stan and richie are kind terrifying together. “i’ll tell everyone to leave you alone about it,” they say and scamper away. “i think you scared them, baby.” richie says and stan laughs, “that was all you, rich.” richie gasps in mock offense and stan laughs. “are we going to get cinnamon rolls or not?” stan asks and richie cackles. they walk towards one of the food stalls. the group is informed that they know who the boyfriend is and to stop asking, the group asks who, and the person says “richie. we were played like a fiddle.” and the group is like W H A T but it makes sense. richie joins ben and stan once again but he makes a big deal about kissing stan’s cheek in front of everyone and stan blushes and pushes him away. richie laughs and ben is just happy to see them normal again. richie had been even more anxious since those rude questions. he’s leveled out now, but stan still gives him some extra affection just in case. he also is planning to put richie’s name somewhere on the giant bomber jacket, just in case anyone forgets.

Persecution of Fairyman

A youth runs through town, his desperate steps beating against the ground and carrying him towards the hovel sitting on the edge of their village border. The door is blasted open, and he steps cautiously towards it, he goes to ask for any presence when he sees the disarray the hut has fallen into. The various cages, shelves, and bric-a-brac were gone. He curses loudly, kicking the wall and trying to hold back tears.

There is a pub that sits in the small village of Derrine, and it has made a name for itself as a meeting place for those who have jobs only fit for the arbiters and nobility of the country, nothing divine enough for the kings, but enough for their underlings. If you end up in the Singing Stars Tavern, then you are the best of the best, you are the cream of the crop, you are the most skilled in your field of study. You are a divine being's chosen few, which is why Richie Tozier is confused as to why he has stepped into this tavern with a flier in his hand, being welcomed in by the barmaids and told that his party is waiting in one of the backrooms. The paper in his hand was about the persecution of an individual he no longer likes to name in his thoughts, but he does have some colorful nicknames since he's had a year to prepare.

He follows the kind reptile-like girl towards the back hallway, and he has a bad feeling about it. "Some of your other members arrived early," she states and then opens the door for him. Richie thanks her and steps into the room, at a big wooden roundtable is a taller lycanthropic man, most likely a shifter of some sorts, who is covered head to toe in studded leather armor, with rogue pieces of chainmail attached to the forearms of his long shirt. The next is a dark-skinned high elf, the ears being recognizable to him as full elven, not the half-elven ones he was used to seeing. He has a kind smile on his face and has a multi-layered cloak covering his whole entire form. The last is a halfling, his bright red robes obvious to the fact that he is a monk of some kind. His dark hair is flying in every direction and his leg is shaking under the table. They seem to a competent team, or maybe looks can be very deceiving.

Richie takes the chair closest to the door, ignoring the way that all looked up at him and started to pick up his appearance. His armor may be old, courtesy of his past employer, and okay maybe beaten to hell. It may also be the insignia he carved into the upper breastplate, his small hope, his little remembrance of why he is doing everything. The expedited year of training, the parting from his lord, the flier that is now sitting on the table.

He tries to ignore the way that the silence falls once again over the table, but he doesn't know if a joke would fit the moment, considering where they are, and who they are about to possibly meet. You can never know the employer, no matter who the target is, and maybe it's a personal beef or one of business, it could be the grand King Lancelot out of hiding or the measly noble Lord Mordred. It's why Richie decides that right now is not the time to mouth off, to rile everyone up because this is his only chance, his only chance to give him what is due, to repay him for the kind favor that left Richie more alone than he ever anticipated. The man they are going to hunt has been in his mind for the whole entire year since their departure, and he wants to be the one to end his life.

The name Robert Gray should be familiar to those of the Magurias Empire, as he is a criminal, his list of felonies as long as a elder dwarf's beard. A wanted man that is persecuted for crimes such as murder, arson, kidnapping, and so on. He is a tall dwindling man with a thin frame, his hair the brightest red to exist on a human that matches the scars littering his face that goes from his chapped lips to his forehead. His magic is practiced, precise, and extremely effective, which has allowed him to be free of the law for too many years. It's what led to this party, to this pub, but Richie isn't doing this just to put a criminal to bed, it's much more personal to him than he wants to let on.

Falling back onto the knight morality is good for hiding the unbridled rage he feels towards the hideous monster that is Robert Gray, the man who took everything from Richie. After Robert Gray left Richie's home village, Anchoreen, he had no one left. He was an urchin, and it meant that he had to get revenge. It's why he trained, it's why he signed up for knightly duties, it's why he left and became a rogue knight. All of this, this focus on revenge, because Richie learned of this man's crimes, and added it to his own experience. This man deserves what is coming for him, and Richie really wants to be the one to give him his just desserts.

The door into the room opens once more, and the same reptilian girl leads into two other members, a shorter blue tiefling covered in battle scars and red patches. They have thin armor and a giant crossbow sitting on his shoulders, which means they must be a bounty hunter. The next is a dwarf, obvious by his size and beautifully crafted armor. His backpack is large and there is a bag of holding on his hip, which is accompanied by a couple of hammers and a leather-bound book. They sit down in the final two chairs, leaving the table full.

"Your employer left this paper for you," the barmaid says, breaking the odd silence of the room. She places the paper on the table and skitters out of the room, like she just left an explosive. Richie doesn't know who should take it and read it, and he is sure the tall shifter is about to when the monk takes it off of the table and starts to read it aloud, "Dear Chosen Seven, you have been brought together today and for the unforeseeable future, to bring about the apprehension and death to the dastardly Robert Gray, or as his acquaintances call him,

This criminal has evaded the Magurias Empire, the Dragnir Empire, and the Xueno-Stalfa Guard. This means that he is quite the big fish to catch, which is why I have assembled you all. William Denbrough, you are quite the talented swordsman, with your swift and easy cut, but your compassion is really your sharpest blade. Richard Tozier, you made quick work of the knight ranks at the Cornelious Manor, while you hold great combat skills, you have beyond sufficient skills in charming those around you. Michael Hanlon, while you were able to achieve full certification from your academic board, you still continue to seek

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Fanfiction

Originally taken from my AO3 bookmarks and put into a twitter thread, we reach this giant masterlist of only some of the fics that I have enjoyed. (Will be tagged soon...) This list is going to be continually growing.

Every fic that has triggering content is marked with TW in red, as well if the fic includes NSFW content. I just want y'all to be safe and to have fun, but only with what you are comfortable with. (Also some of them are platonic fics, but that's only a few...)

☆General/Un-rated Fics☆

different as can be by intertwiningwords
desc: richie and stan don't seem like they'd be best friends. but you couldn't be more wrong.

two schmucks chillin' in the hallway by picturemegone
desc: when richie can’t find stan at his bar mitzvah, he wonders out into the hallway and finds his deflated friend.

Drunken Comfort by lostshakerofsalt
tw// underage drinking, referenced child abuse & neglect
desc: Richie shows up at Stan's and he could really use a drink, so could Stan. Drunken angst continues. Richie finds comfort in Stan, his true family.

Breathe by lildreidel
tw//self worth issues, somewhat anxiety
desc: Stan’s Bar Mitzvah was supposed to be perfect, given he happened to be a Rabbi’s son. He was supposed to be the epitome of a Good Jewish Boy, smoothly making his way into adulthood. But as usual, almost nothing goes to plan.

Tit by AnonymouslyDead
desc: Richie tags along when Stan goes bird watching.

Would you stay if I was sick? by Lady Athena
tw// OCD discussion and triggers
desc: “You might want to visit a doctor. Are you aware that you show signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?” She asked, causing Stan to blink a few times.

“Wait, wait--You think Stan the man has OCD?” Richie raised his hand before asking.

“It’s possible. I’m not saying that’s what you have. I’m saying that it’s something to look into.” She explains.

“Is… Is something wrong with me?” Stan asked worriedly.

Where I Happen to be by spibsy
desc: Stan learned how to read as soon as he possibly could in order to figure out what his Words said. He has known ever since that his soulmate was going to be... interesting.

shakin' and cryin' by myhamartia
desc: "What, stealing and camaraderie doesn't do it for you?"

"No Richie." That smile was the personification of the word saccharine. Too sticky and sweet. The very thing you see right before you get stabbed in the chest with a candy cane fashioned into a shiv. "I'm up in a tree, surrounded by bees. I'm obviously getting off to the thought of you and a pocket knife right now."

Richie laughed, pitching himself backwards until his back hit that godawful root he'd been avoiding. Eventually, he pulled himself together enough to stand up and wipe his eyes. "I'm not taking part in this thievery."

"What happened to once a Loser, always a Loser?"

"How dare you hold my morals against me."

Morning Doves. by roachytozy
NSFW
desc: Richie and Stan dance around each other until they stumble over each other, unable to keep up the charade anymore.

to be alone by ak1h1kos
tw// referenced suicide attempt
desc: He had a baseball tournament all the way in Colorado during Yom Kippur, so he couldn’t have the “real Jewish meals” to break the fast. Richie had ordered Chinese food as Stan sat scratching at bug bites that appeared on his arm. Richie dug his nail in to produce an ‘x’ on each bite, smiled and clinked their takeout boxes together.

Yom Kippur at NYU is nothing like the ones in Maine or Colorado.

Capital L Love by orphan__account
tw// sex is mentioned
desc: Richie didn’t love Eddie. Not the way Eddie loved Bill or the way Ben loved Bev. He loved Eddie, yeah. But he didn’t Capital L Love him.

sugar me sweet by Eyesofdoe
desc: The thing is, Richie was Stan’s first kiss when they were fourteen years old. Which, even four years later, makes it incredibly difficult for Stan to say no to him.

I Wish You Knew (Well, Now You Do) by The lazy eye
tw// car accidents, hospitals, general angst
desc: The flash of anger that ran through Stan was cut short as he turned around. He watched as the same officer who had been talking to the woman picked up the shoe and put it in a bag. He watched, time slowing down around him, as the office moved to another part of the street. He bent down, one gloved hand gripping the corner of a crushed box, torn wrapping paper shining in the street lights.

Birds, Birds, Birds! by spooky n spunky
desc: Richie and Stan go birdwatching, it's super soft, and after they go get ice cream.

jim bogart by angelsprunch
desc: Richie and Stan have a thing going, but neither of them wants to talk about it. Eventually, it hurts them both.

white picket fence dream by bwow
desc: The tap against his window makes him flinch so hard he falls out of his bed, sheets wrapped around him. He looks up, breath shaking, and sees Richie Tozier at his window, phone clutched in one hand and.

“You’re not wearing any pants.” He chokes out as soon as he opens the windows. Richie clambers through, falling onto Stan’s bed, completely unconcerned with his lack of clothing. His shirt proudly proclaims: I Rode The Cyclone Without Hurling. His boxers are Spider-Man patterned.

“Oh yeah, sorry. Was aiming for your mom’s window.”

Epic Prank War 1995 by Lisbet
desc: Richie and Eddie are roommates in college and they have a prank war.

Stan and Richie have a lot of assignments.

Hot Watter Bottle by SoddingMalfoy
desc: Stan Uris feels awful. He wants to tear off his skin. He can't seem to stop crying. That is, until his boyfriend is around.

Stanley Uris does not love himself by Fallu
tw// self image issues, angst
desc: His friends all show their love in different ways: sometimes it’s telling him that he’s kind or that they like his laugh, sometimes it’s wide grins or soft fingers in his hair, sometimes even – though mostly in Richie’s case – it’s light teasing, words that could hurt him but which are said with laughter or sharp fingers poking his ribs over and over again, until he can’t help it but give in and laugh. Yes, they care about him. But he still doesn’t understand.

or

Stan tries to find a reason to love himself.

Two birds by mugsandpugs
tw// period-correct homophobia, anti-semitic bullying, referenced suicide/death
desc: It's not easy growing up in a town like Derry with the weight of a destiny strung 'round your neck.

☆☆★Honorable Mentions★☆☆

Okay, so these may or may not be my absolute favorites that I've read and re-read multiple times...

to a buried and burning flame by demogorgns
desc: "And since today, apparently, Stanley was telling truths, and doing stupid things, he decided in that split second, stood in that shaft on sunlight on that endless summer afternoon outside Derry’s one and only synagogue, to do the stupidest thing of all."

The aftermath of Stan's bar mitzvah, reckless behaviour, and sunlight.

Richie Tozier's "All Dead" Rock Show by peridottie
desc: Stan goes to see a stand up routine and runs into someone he can't believe he forgot.

your mess is mine by vipertooths
desc: Richie sleeps over at Stan's the day Henry Bowers runs him out of the arcade.

Mike Knows It Better by SpicyWolfsbane
desc: Mike Hanlon notices that there's something weird - something new - in the way Richie and Stan are staring at each other. And he wonders if he's the only one.

we've got nothing (everything) to lose by thevaccines
(https://archiveofourown.org/works/13415043)
tw// claustraphobia, they get stuck in an elevator okay?
desc: Stanley Uris is well known through Hollywood. Mostly because of his parents who are the 'it' couple of Hollywood. Except, Stan is making a name for himself, and he's been invited, along with his parents, to one of the most elite New Years parties in Los Angeles.

If only he made it to the party.

Mixed Messages by weirdsville
desc: Was making a mixtape with all the songs that reminded Richie of his crush a good idea? It sure as hell seemed like one at the time. Then again, he didn't know that he'd end up accidentally giving it straight to his crush. Like they always say, hindsight is 20/20.

And You know I'm Yours by henclair
tw// self image issues
desc: God he really looked like Buddy Holly. Did that make Stan Mary Tyler Moore?

pillar of salt by MsThing
tw// character death, referenced suicide, it's really sad, just be wary
desc: What happened between Richie and Stanley after the Losers fell apart. And beyond.

Are Lovebirds Pigeons Too? by samdil
desc: When Stanley becomes disappointed that nobody wants to join his bird-watching club, Richie decides to be a good friend and join him in his endeavors.

Boys of Summer by flashindie
tw// OCD, depression, blood, continuous gore
desc: So he bleeds again, a hundred little cuts, and Eddie fucking freaks.

The Tables have Tabled by allwedoisdrive
desc: Stanley Uris is the last person to realize he has feelings for Richard Tozier. With The Loser Club’s wake up call, Stan suddenly feels awkward and the tension is picked up on both parties.

You're The One by rockland
desc: Bitter Richie & Stan attempt to fake a relationship so Eddie & Bill would become jealous but it blows up in their face.

eleven minutes by Seeingredfics
tw// gun violence, death, torture
desc: Stan was used to the violence and horror on the streets of New York City, especially with the type of business his family was involved in. But what he wasn't used to was worrying so much about his right hand man.

Parental Guidance by The_lazy_eye
desc: “So, what’ll it be? Shrimp, lobster? Maybe a little bit of trout?” Richie asks from behind the menu.

“I hate seafood,” Stan clips, not even looking up from his menu. The options without seafood are limited, Richie knows that from experience.

“The chicken Kiev is pretty good. I’ve had it before. This is actually a restaurant my family has come to a few times over the years, so I’m pretty familiar with the menu,” Richie tries. He glances over his own menu to look at Stan, gauge his reaction, but Stan doesn’t budge. He only flips the page and continues reading. “You know, you’re not making this easy.”

He’s almost shocked when Stan opens his mouth to reply, except it isn’t exactly the answer Richie was hoping for. “I’m not trying to.”

“Okay, then.” And that’s that. The both look over the menu in silence. Richie would find it awkward if it weren’t for the stubbornness he can feel hardening in his chest. Fuck this. If Stan wants to be an asshole, then what the fuck ever.

when did this become a mortal home by Cirkne
tw// gore, blood, crystals
desc: The pain feels almost like it’s supposed to be there.

or

Stanley wakes up with wings one day.

Now Take Your Hand In Mine (and Never Let Go) by martianwhatney
tw// referenced suicide attempt, it's literally just the depressing bath scene shut up
desc: Stan’s phone lit up again, another unknown number. He could tell instantly it wasn’t Mike calling him. With a sigh he picked his phone up. What was one more unknown caller before- Stan glanced at the bathtub, tears pricking behind his eyes.
“Stanley Uris,” he said when he answered the call.
There was a heartbeat of silence.
“Staniel?”
Richie’s voice opened a floodgate of emotions that Stan hadn’t even been aware of. Richie Tozier had been everything. He was Stan’s first friend, his first crush, he was the first person Stan went to when he needed someone to talk to, he was the first person Stan looked for when the Losers used to have sleepovers. It was always- always- Richie.
--
Alternatively, Richie calls Stan right before Stan starts the bath, and instead of taking the bath, Stan goes to Derry.

aim & ignite by breathplayed
desc: Stan's peaceful life gets rudely hijacked by his mother's random desire for him to date a nice Jewish girl. Telling her he's gay only changes her mind to nice Jewish boy.

Richie is not a nice Jewish girl - Richie isn't even his real boyfriend. But nobody has to know that. They just need to keep up the farce until the end of summer. Stan could handle that. Right?

Breakfast of Champions by hrhbrittany
desc: As their senior year draws to a close, Stan and Richie meet for bromance and breakfast foods.

The Best Medicine by demogorgns
desc: Stan is sick in bed and facing a day of boredom and loneliness. Richie has other ideas. Laughter is, as they say, the best medicine...

luckily i can read your mind by lavenderbluud
tw// referenced child abuse, degradation of health and mental state, and vomit for five seconds
desc: Richie's having a bad week, like a really bad week, he misses his boyfriend and he's stressed with school. When he gets the flu on top of all of that, his friends decide to do something.

Stanny, Stanny, lend me your comb by Rainbowfunnk
desc: They weren't sure if it was the fact that the lyrics were off beat, the discomfort on Connie Stevens face, or Ed Byrnes weird slur in his voice, but something about it caused such a level of discomfort when viewing all you could do was laugh. Before the two of them even realized it, they had the most obnoxious inside joke in the world.

if we're going to be in solitude, let's do it together by gaypasta
desc: Stanley Uris, student accountant, gets given the keys to Bill and Mike's apartment empty when lockdown is announced. He basks in the solitude for some days, going about with some motion of normalcy, until a stranger, known as Richie Tozier, waltzes in, holding a key given to him by Mike.
The two learn to coexist with clashing personalities in Mike and Bill's shitty one-bedroom apartment, they coexist and through disconnect from their friends, learn to make the best of the situation. I mean, it's better than being isolated on their own, right? Right??

sunglasses and bloody boxcutters by Rainbowfunnk
desc: stan knows how soulmates work: if when you look into the eyes of your soulmate, your colorblindness fades, and everything erupts into saturation. Stan wears sunglasses. He doesnt want to meet his soulmate.
then he meets richie. richie wears sunglasses.

Then Love Knew it was Called Love by punk rock yuppie
desc: If you asked Richie, he’d tell you he got the short end of the stick.

the silence of nothing by Lady_Athena
tw// panic attacks, depression spiral
desc: “Stanley, you have some visitors.” His mother’s soothing voice called out into the dark bedroom. “It’s all your friends.” She explains, opening the door wider to allow light into the room. “Go ahead in… he’s a little… under the weather.” She explains as the losers look into the room before freezing.

Stan was a very precise person when it came to things… so seeing his room in such chaos was… concerning, to say the least. He liked order and that’s what made him the logical mind of their rag-tag bunch of misfits.

“Stan?” Bev was the first one to speak. “What’s going on?” She asked, wanting to run her fingers through his greasy curls, but decided against it.

Stan was staring at the wall in front of him with a blank expression. He wanted to cry… He felt like he should, but there was nothing. No tears or sobbing breathes of sorrow… just a giant hole in his chest that was growing bigger. His throat tightened, making it hard to breathe as his lungs expanded to the max before shakily falling back down.

“St-St-Stan?” Bill asked.

I'll Be Your Mirror by SeemsRatherSketchy
NSFW
desc: "Stan frowned contemplatively. Like he often did, he reflected on how every choice in his life seemed to lead, somehow, to Richie. Be it for better (rarely) or for worse (mostly), he could never say no to Trashmouth. His parents always warned him about peer pressure, but giving in to Richie Tozier never felt quite like that. No, it was more like he actually said yes to Richie because he wanted to say yes."

Or, Stanley Uris, much to his own chagrin, allows his best friend Richard Tozier to talk him into something stupid. The idea? "Kissing practice" between two platonic friends in an effort to get some objective, real-life technical experience. Problem is, Stan ends up liking it way more than he ever thought he would. Things quickly spiral from there.