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Pennywise was finally dead, for real this time. They had crushed his heart in their hands, all seven of them. Richie never thought they would all make it, that maybe some of them would have died too but he was beyond happy to be wrong. They all left the dreaded Neibolt house of horrors with cuts, bruises, and trembling hands but no one was severely injured. The house crumbled and sank into the ground while the seven losers watched with amazement at what they had accomplished.
Richie looked over at his friends and saw a reflection of their childhood. Bev and Ben were holding each other and smiling, clearly happy they were alive and happy they found love. Bill and Mike were hugging and talking about how proud they were that they finally killed It. Stan was silent but you could see the relief on his face that it was all over, he looked almost peaceful. Then there was Eddie, trying to wipe dirt off his shirt that clearly will never come out. Richie watched Eddie as he pulled out hand sanitizer from God knows where and began rubbing his hands with it vigorously.
Despite how silly Eddie may seem to the others in this moment, he was truly a beautiful sight to Richie. The truth is, Richie almost lost Eddie in that freaky hole in the ground. He had been caught in the deadlights and it was like he was watching everything from someone else's perspective. He saw himself on the ground and Eddie kneeling over him claiming that he had killed It when suddenly It moved and stabbed Eddie in the back over Richie's body. Richie had no time to react to the scene he had just witnessed because he falls to the ground from the lights.
The whole thing begins to replay from his own perspective. Eddie is over him and saying how he killed the clown but Richie doesn't let him finish, he pulls Eddie close and rolls them at least three times as quickly as he can while hearing a loud clank from the claw hitting their initial position.
“No! You cheated!” Pennywise was furious and began moving toward them but they were close to the cave entry and managed to evade him. “Come back and play fair! He was supposed to die!” Pennywise clawed at the cave entrance but was too big to come near them.
“What does he mean? How did you cheat? That doesn't make sense, Rich.” Eddie looked shaken and confused.
“The deadlights, I saw him stab you. That’s why I rolled us. I couldn't let him get you, Eds" Richie smiled sadly but quickly moved to go find the others. Now was not the time to talk, the had a fucking clown to kill.
Richie shook his head and brought himself back to the present where Eddie was alive and practically bathing himself in hand sanitizer and the Neibolt house was reduced to rubble. Eddie looked over at Richie and offered the sanitizer. On a normal day, Richie would have declined and made fun of Eddie for being a hypochondriac but today he just took it and cleaned his hands with a smile.
…later at the hotel after several showers…
Richie was packing his things, prepared to leave this god awful town behind and maybe start writing his own material. Now that It was dead, he felt more like himself even though he didn’t know he was missing parts of himself until recently. Although things were beginning to feel right for the first time in his adult life, he still had an ache in his heart. Richie knew that if he wanted to truly live his life to the fullest, he was going to have to be honest with himself and with his friends.
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Everyone was meeting in the lobby for a few drinks on what would be their final evening in Derry before they would all leave the next day. Richie decided that this would be the best time to tell them that he was gay. He wasn’t fully sure what to expect but he knew that he needed to get it off his chest, he was 40, it was time.
“Okay losers, I have something I need to tell you and even though I’m a trashmouth, this is completely serious.” Richie stood with a glass in hand and took a deep breath.
“It’s okay, Rich. Go ahead,” Bev said while touching Richie’s hand in a show of support. Richie suspects that Bev already knows even though he had never told her. Bev was very observant and smart, she likely figured it out on her own.
“Uh….shit, why is this so hard?....fuck, okay. Uhm, I’m…I’m not straight. And by not straight, I mean that I’m gay.” Richie took in a deep breath and held it while waiting for a response. Bev smiled at him and he breathed out a bit.
“Dude, that’s it? I thought you were going to say you had cancer or some shit.” Eddie said with a smile on his face. Richie took the biggest sigh of relief, Eddie was the main person he was worried about. Knowing that Eddie wasn’t disgusted by him made him feel 100% better than before he decided to share his secret. Although him being gay was only half of the secret but the other half is going to remain a secret.
“Yeah, m-man. That’s it? I’m g-glad you felt c-c-comfortable sharing with us. I th-think it’s great.” Bill added while clinking his glass with Richie’s.
“I think we all agree that we love and support you no matter what, Richie.” Stan stood and walked toward the bar, “Refill anyone before we toast Richie?”
“I’ll take one!” Bev raised her glass while Stan brought over some more whisky.
“Wow, thanks guys. Here I was having a gay panic and you guys are like, “just another day at the office,” I seriously was freaking out for no reason. Well I guess that’s not true, that clown ass bitch was taunting me with it. He made me think you guys were going to disown me and that my secret was something dirty” Richie frowned and scratched his head.
“That fuckhead is dead and nothing he said was ever true, he was just playing with our emotions and preying on our fears. We will never disown you, you’re one of us. You’re my best friend, Rich” Eddie smiled and patted Richie’s shoulder.
“Okay, okay. Toast time! To Richie for coming out to us with courage and no mom jokes! To Eddie for surviving without his inhaler for over 24 hours! To Bill for making us make that blood oath and being a leader! To Mike for dragging our asses back to Derry even though none of us wanted to be here and for showing us that we had the strength to kill that fucking clown! To Stan for coming despite the anxiety it caused him and for being a pillar of strength among us losers! To Ben for being kind and gentle and waiting for me to realize that I love him.” Bev held her glass while shouting.
“And to Bev for being a listening ear when things were rough and the toughest, coolest girl I’ve ever known!” Richie finished while clinking glasses with everyone else. They all cheered and began small conversations among one another before slowly trickling back to their rooms.
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Richie stared at the ceiling while trying to fall asleep but no dice, thoughts of a giant sloppy clown burned into his eyelids and wouldn’t let him rest. He thought about how he almost lost Eddie and how he would have sacrificed himself to save him, he still would. He remembered the times when they were kids and he would bug Eddie to no end. He knows now that it was purely him “tugging on his pigtails” as they would say. Richie just wanted Eddie’s attention, in any way that he could get it. After 27 years of not seeing Eddie and completely forgetting that he existed, Richie was still in love with him like he was when they were thirteen.
Richie sighed and rolled over when he heard a sudden knock on his door. He peered at the clock by his bed, it was nearly three am.
“Rich, are you still awake? I can’t sleep.” Eddie’s voice spoke softly from the other side of the door. Richie scrambled out of bed and threw on a shirt, he was in his boxers. He walked over to the door and unlocked it to find a tired looking Eddie.
“Hey Eds, come on in. Mi casa es su casa.” Richie moved out of the way to let Eddie in. Eddie simply walked over to the bed and sat down.
“I can’t stop thinking about that stupid clown and how it almost killed me. It almost killed all of us but it really almost had me and you saved me. You saw what was going to happen in those deadlights and you saved me. I didn’t even thank you, I was so scared. Fuck, Rich, you saved my life. You rolled us out of there and acted like it was no big deal.” Eddie rubbed his face, careful of his bad cheek.
“Eds, it was a big deal but only because there was no way I would be able to live with myself if you had died in front of me like that. I could never let that happen if I had the chance to stop it. I know we haven’t seen each other in 27 years because of that clown ass and his weird amnesia powers but Eds, you’re still my best friend. I would still save you because you’re important to me.” Richie decided to sit down on the bed beside Eddie.
“You know, after I woke up from the weird amnesia shit and I saw you at the restaurant for the first time in 27 years, my heart was in my throat because it hit me so hard. I didn’t realize how much I missed you until I remembered you again. Then I realized that my entire adult life was some sick funhouse mirror of my childhood. My wife is exactly like my mother and now that I realize that, it makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t go back to her.” Eddie decided to lay down and look at the ceiling, deep in thought like Richie had been before he showed up.
“What are you going to do?” Richie decided to lay down and look at the ceiling too.There was no mom jokes to be made because Richie knew that this was beyond serious and he seriously wanted to know what Eddie’s plan would be.
“I’m leaving her, I’ve already spoke to her about it. She was beyond mad at me but I explained that it wasn’t fair to either of us to stay in a marriage that neither of us was happy in. She calmed down a bit after that. I’m not quitting my job because I actually kind of like it but I’m going to see about being transferred to another city. I need to get away from that life.” Eddie sighed but smiled a little. It was clear that he was happy to make some changes.
“Where will you go? Thinking about joining Mike in Florida for some sun?” Richie chuckled a little at the thought of Eddie smothered in sunscreen and checking the e coli levels at the beach.
“No, see I realized something else after I woke up from my amnesia. I haven’t told anyone else this yet but Rich, I’m gay. I was so closeted because of fear but also because I couldn’t remember my childhood.” Eddie turned his head to look at Richie.
“Oh, and you’re telling me first? Thank you, Eds. It means a lot that you trust me enough to share that with me.” Richie didn’t look away from the ceiling.
“Rich, look at me please.” Eddie said. Richie turned his head and looked at him and what he saw, he didn’t understand. Eddie looked at him with big, warm, doe eyes and a secret smile that looked like love. It didn’t make sense.
“Richie, I realized I was gay when we all met at the restaurant. I saw you and I was flooded with memories of when we were kids and I remembered how obnoxious you were but I also remember how kind you were to me. I remembered how you would help me sneak out and how you would always take the blame when my mom tried to punish me for being a kid. I didn’t just get flooded with memories though, I got flooded with all the feelings that came with those memories. I loved you so much when we were younger, I don’t know how I managed to contain it. I saw you at that restaurant and all I wanted to do was kiss you. Fuck, Rich, I still love you, I’m so full of love for you, it’s threatening to burst right out of me.” Eddie took a deep breath and waited. Richie blinked a few times but then tears began to swim in his eyes.
“Eddie…I…I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember and I never thought you would love me back. I thought we would go our separate ways and maybe send each other Christmas cards and that would be it. I never thought you could love me too.” Richie began to really cry and Eddie wiped the tears away and pushed Richie’s hair out of his face.
“To answer your question from before, I want to move to LA because I want to be with you. Do you want me to be there with you, Rich?” Richie hiccupped and nodded vigorously. “Good, can I kiss you now? It’s been 27 years and I think we’re overdue.” Richie nodded again and smiled.
They moved toward each other like magnets and kissed sweetly. Richie felt whole for the first time in his adult life and it made him smile into the kiss. Eddie pet his hair and kissed his forehead before pulling them both under the covers for some much needed sleep. They slept better than they have in years and woke up twisted together like pretzels.
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A few months later, Eddie was officially divorced and living in LA with Richie. Richie was writing his own material which included jokes about his boyfriend and his gay awakening. Eddie was still a risk analyst but he also was more open taking risks in his life. Eddie and Richie still got in really dumb arguments but they now usually ended in hot make up sex. They were happy and together and no fucking clown ass bitch could take that away from them.
The end.