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skeletonscribbles · 6 years

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Wishes - Chapter 13

as promised - the penultimate chapter, as told from our least biased Loser, Ben Hanscom <3

Title: “Reflection” (Ben)

Warnings: not everyone is good at conflict resolution, disordered eating, Eddie is a dumbass about pop culture

Read on Ao3!

Tag List: @roobarrtrashmouth @jem-carstairs-is-perfection@tozier-club @aizeninlefox @stanheartsbill @imrichie @softeds@pretzelstoday @melancholypurple @wheezygreens@ayyyymichele @loser-marsh

Other: if you want my full opinion on the Losers’ Hogwarts houses, hit me up!

BEN HANSCOM IMAGINEER Currently in UNIVERSAL STUDIOS: ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE JUNE 15th 12 P.M.

Universal Studios didn’t make any fucking sense to Ben Hanscom.

He knew a lot of people liked it better than Disney, and that those people generally had valid reasons. They were right to say that there were more thrill rides at Universal. There were certainly more motion simulators - and good quality simulators, too. Ben was particularly fond of the Spiderman ride, to the point where it had been a major inspiration for some of the Star Wars projects he’d pitched over the course of the last year.

They were also right to point out that the Harry Potter sections of the park were well done. After the construction of Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1998 and the subsequent fallout around how the company handled the opening of that park, a lot of Imagineers jumped ship to Universal, and their influence was obvious in the narrow, winding paths of Hogsmeade Village that Ben and his friends were currently meandering down. It was all true to the story of Harry Potter in a way that was impressively theme-park functional, right down to the frozen Butterbeer that Ben currently had clutched in his hand.

The rest of the park, though...well, to say he didn’t care for it would be an understatement. It was confusingly set up, and more importantly, it was, in his opinion, kind of lifeless. Disney worked so hard to make sure that every detail of every square inch of their parks were perfect - there were Rapunzel designs INSIDE of the toilets in Fantasyland, for goodness sakes - so to see so much bare concrete and thoughtless palm tree decor at Universal was a little disappointing.

He kind of wanted to share that observation with his friends to see if they agreed, but initiating conversation with them with proving to be...difficult.

The primary issue as far as that was concerned was that he was Bev-less. They were all supposed to be on this outing, and as of two days ago, they had all solidified their days off and had been set and ready to go...but then Bev had been late to work and gotten a point on her record, and none of them had wanted her to risk getting fired by taking a personal day after that.

He loved his friends, but it was easier to be in a group when you had a point person with whom to interact if things got cliquey, and Bev was definitely his point person.

Mike was usually his second choice of people to turn to when he was feeling socially awkward, but Mike had his own issues to focus on today. It was the first time since February that they had invited Bill to hang out with them as a full group (Ben, Bev, Richie and Eddie had spent time with him separately, but having him together with Mike and Stan was uncharted territory) and making sure that things remained tension-free was proving to be a little bit exhausting. The energy of the group wasn’t bad at the moment, per-se, but it was also obvious that there were a lot of things left to be discussed between Mike, Stan, and Bill, and none of them wanted to be the first to bring up anything difficult. As it was, they were trying their best to stick to neutral topics, which currently meant that they were deep into an assessment of which of them belonged in which Hogwarts house.

“I thought I was a Hufflepuff,” Eddie was saying, wrinkling his nose in confusion. He and Ben were the only ones without Harry Potter apparel on: Eddie was wearing a Spiderman baseball shirt, and Ben had chosen his trusty Dr. Strange tee, but it was obvious that of the two of them, Ben had more Harry Potter expertise. Eddie’s knowledge of the Potter series was like his knowledge of Star Wars, which was to say: spotty at best. “They’re the ones that are just kinda nice, right? Like, just kind of there? I don’t know as much as you guys. My mom wouldn’t let me read the books when I was younger, and I’ve only seen the movies on TV.”

Richie looked down at him thoughtfully, adjusting the arm that he had slung over Eddie’s shoulder. “I mean, you’re sweet and loyal and stuff, but I also think you’re pretty brave, Eds. You might just be a Gryffindor.”

Eddie still looked perturbed, so Ben helpfully volunteered, “That’s the one Harry Potter was in, Eddie.”

“Oh.” A pleased flush spread across Eddie’s cheeks. “That’s good, right? I don’t know. though...that sounds like more of a Bill thing than a me thing, I think. Harry Potter’s REALLY brave.”

Ben watched nervously as Stan and Mike looked quickly at one another, and then carefully over at Bill. Ben’s drink shook in his hand, and a little bit spilled on the ground, but it was probably for the best. It was starting to melt, anyway.

“I think that fits,” Mike said slowly. “Bill, what do you think? Gryffindor?”

Bill shrugged, but his smile betrayed an amount of relief. “Sure. That’s where Pottermore usually sorts me...that or Slytherin. I guess it thinks I’m polarizing.”

There was clearly more that Stan wanted to say on that point, but to everyone’s relief, he kept his mouth shut.

Eddie looked overwhelmed by all of the information he was receiving. “What’s Pottermore?”

“Harry Potter online...thing, I don’t know what the fuck it actually is,” Richie tried to explain. Ben almost wanted to cut him off and take over the explanation himself so as not to give Eddie a brain aneurysm, but Richie seemed pretty committed to saying his piece, so Ben backed off. “There’s a sorting quiz on there that the author of the books designed herself. It’s like...the Big Deal quiz.”

“Oh, okay.” Eddie tugged on Richie’s sleeve to pull him towards a shop that appeared to sell a variety of stuffed owls, and mechanically, the rest of them followed suit. “Where did it sort you?”

“Ravenclaw,” Richie said, beaming amusedly. “Fucking hilarious, I think.”

“That’s the smart house, Eddie,” Stan said before Eddie had the chance to ask, “and it is fucking hilarious, definitely, given that he hasn’t even had enough forethought to let me know that he’s moved out.”

Richie stopped dead in his tracks in front of the plexiglass shop window, and the rest of them congregated around him, shuffling wearily into a circle. They’d all known that eventually, someone was going to break and lead them into conversations that none of them really wanted to have, and the resignation on every single one of their faces was proof that each and every one of them had been quietly waiting for this moment since they’d piled into Ben’s car that morning.

Ben bit his bottom lip anxiously and tried to ignore the way his butterbeer was melting down the sides of the cup it came in. He shouldn’t have bought the damn drink. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to muster up the nerve to drink it. Liquid calories were so fucking difficult…

“I’m surprised, Stan,” Richie said, knocking Ben out of his spiral. “I thought you’d go after Bill first.”

Mike frowned and opened his mouth to begin telling Richie off, but Stan put a hand on Mike’s shoulder to quiet him and shook his head - once, twice, three times.

“That’s not fair, Richie,” Stan said, voice surprisingly neutral. “It doesn’t matter that you’re constantly balls-deep in emotional denial. You’re not the only person here, and some of us want to address the bad shit so we can move on.”

Richie scoffed. “You can’t accuse me of that stuff, Stan...not when you do the same thing. You know I could be really mean about this and bring up a bunch of examples, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ve had this argument a thousand times, Rich, I know…’just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you can treat it like it doesn’t exist’.” Stan ran an agitated hand through his hair. “But I don’t like that you’re never in the apartment anymore and I really can’t pretend that that’s not happening, so.”

Eddie spoke up next. His voice was timid. “I’m sorry about that, Stan. We would have been over more often, but I thought you might not like to have us in your space all the time…”

“I appreciate the apology, Eddie, but it’s not even really about the space,” Stan said, eyes locked on Richie. “I mean, Richie and I haven’t even been talking. I had to find out that he was thinking about quitting the company from Beverly. Quitting the company! That’s fucking huge! And I understand that we’re all friends here, but...but...I knew you first, Richie.” Stan crossed his arms, embarrassed. “I knew you first. Why didn’t you tell me?”

The silence after that was thick, to the point where even the crowds of tourists around them seemed inconsequential. Stan’s statement had obviously affected Richie, but the amount of panic apparent in the way Richie was wringing his hands was too great to have been brought about by Stan alone…

The realization that Richie hadn’t told Eddie about quitting the company either seemed to dawn upon all of them at once. With a sharp collective intake of breath, they all swung their heads towards Eddie, who looked like he was one angry word away from bursting into tears.

Ben tightened his grip on his Butterbeer, and some more of it splashed out and on to the ground. He couldn’t bring himself to care - no, he was far too busy trying to frantically brainstorm ways of de-escalating the situation in front of him. That was what he was good at; that was what he could bring to the table here - and he suspected it was also a pretty big part of why they’d insisted that he still come after Bev had backed out. They needed him for this exact moment.

If only he had any idea what the fuck he was doing.

“Richie…?” Eddie managed to ask softly, voice squeaky with the effort of not breaking. It was obvious that he was sending up a plea: please be lying, please be joking, please don’t tell me you’ve actually been keeping this huge thing from me .

Richie had his eyes screwed shut, and his face had paled significantly, which was a real feat considering how pale he was in the first place.

“Okay, I promise you, Eddie, I was going to tell you--”

“More excuses, Richie?” Ben was startled by the sudden anger in Eddie’s voice. It seemed that he was pushing aside his feelings of grief and helplessness in favor of lashing out. “More excuses?! You always have an excuse for not telling me stuff! You’re too busy? Too nervous? What the fuck, Richie! Why should any of that stuff get in the way? I’m your boyfriend! You should feel comfortable telling me anything! What the fuck is wrong with me, huh?”

Richie gaped. “Wrong with you ?”

“Something must be!” Eddie had wound himself into near hysterics already. Beside him, Ben felt Mike tense up, as if he were readying himself to leap into action, and Ben wondered crazily if Mike would actually pick Eddie up and carry him out somewhere if his current meltdown got any more intense. As it was, the people around them were starting to stare. “Something must be wrong with me, Richie, because you don’t trust me!’

“There you go, Richie,” Stan agreed. “That’s how you make people feel when you pull shit like this. I told you it wasn’t just me.”

Mike held up a finger. “Hold on, honey. You and Eddie aren’t dissimilar when it comes to expectations for communication. Maybe Richie--”

“I’m good, Mike, you don’t have to defend me on this,” Richie insisted.

“Then defend yourself!” Eddie screeched, fists clenched at your side. “Explain!”

The argument continued for five minutes, and then ten, and then it had been almost twenty minutes, and at that point Ben began to realize that the storm he was trying to weather was showing no signs of stopping. The massive, multi-faceted disaster that Stan had pushed them into had obviously been coming on for quite some time now, and as hurricanes went it was a Category 5.

Wordlessly, he stepped away from the circle to throw away his Butterbeer. It didn’t seem worth it (and he knew that was dangerous behavior, he KNEW it, but he was losing his mind and the Butterbeer wasn’t helping).

What could he do to help any of this, really? His friends were counting on him to mediate, but how the hell was a person supposed to mediate when all of them had agendas he didn’t understand and he couldn’t even keep himself together enough to have a sip of a goddamn Butterbeer?

“Guys--” he tried, not knowing where he was going with the sentence but throwing it out there anyways, “guys….”

They weren’t listening, and Ben almost couldn’t blame them. Mike was in the middle of trying to calm down a wheezing Eddie, and Richie was trying to both get to Eddie and fend off Stan at the same time. As for Bill…

...huh. Bill, who had been surprisingly silent through all the fighting, was making his way into the epicenter of the action. He came up behind Eddie and put a hand on his shoulder, and Eddie abruptly stopped crying out of surprise.

“B-Bill?” Eddie asked, voice cracked and hiccupy.

“Enough now, Eddie,” Bill said, tightening his grip a little bit on Eddie’s shoulder. A hush had fallen over the group, and Ben was surprised to see Bill roll his shoulders back as if filling in all the empty, silent space he’d been left.

Beverly’s voice lit in the back of Ben’s mind. It’s destiny, Ben. The seven of us. It’s fate.

He kind of wished Bev was here to see this. The Bill that she so often spoke of - the collected leader that Ben had wished would emerge earlier - was finally making an appearance, it seemed.

“Bill,” Eddie tried again, more coherently this time, but Bill wasn’t finished.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Bill said, turning slowly to look at each of them individually, “right?”

Nobody met Bill’s gaze. Instead, they all looked around at each other in confusion - no one was really sure what Bill was trying to say.

Stan’s impatience ultimately broke the silence. “Get to the point, Denbrough.”

“It’s been a weird couple of months for me,” Bill continued, nodding at Stan in acknowledgement. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about all of this - all of us.”

“Please don’t give us a ‘this is what you all should be doing right now ’ talk,” Mike said quietly, looking at the ground and the people passing by and really everywhere but at Bill. “We’re past that point.”

The Bill that Ben had known five months ago would have fired off a hasty response to Mike’s underhanded accusation, but Ben was impressed to see that Bill had apparently grown enough to rein himself in. He put his head down, processed, and then looked back at Mike neutrally.

“I’m not going to. You’re right. This isn’t about ‘should’ or ‘should have’, or anything in the past. It’s about figuring out what to do next.”

He looked down at the top of Eddie’s head, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Eddie turned around hesitantly, and shot Ben a quick, pleading look that Ben didn’t really understand before turning his eyes up to Bill.

“Why did you want to be with Richie in the first place, Eddie?” Bill asked, and Eddie inhaled sharply. Richie’s face began to contort up into a grimace - he was obviously bracing himself for the worst. In the background, a show was starting up on the small Hogsmeade stage, and the music from it was providing a peppy soundtrack to their otherwise somber conversation.

“Um,” Eddie said, and looked over at Richie’s legs. “Do we...do we really have to have a group therapy session while the Beauxbatons Girls are singing in the background…”

“We’re apparently incapable of doing any emotional work in private,” Bill said flatly, “so unless you want to go back to your argument--”

“He was nice,” Eddie said quickly. His breaths were coming fast and shallow, now, and his hand ghosted down to his pocket as if there was something there that could help him. “He takes care of people. He was funny. He made me feel special.”

Judging by the delighted surprise in Richie’s expression, that was not the answer that he had been expecting. He took a tentative step forward, and Eddie’s eyes snapped up to his face.

“And when you found out about how much of a disaster he can be sometimes,” Bill continued, “did any of that change how you felt about him? Were you just clinging on to the person you thought you wanted, or what?”

Stan’s eyes narrowed and he stepped up next to Richie with a tight frown plastered firmly on his face. He was ready to fight...and Bill should have seen that coming, Ben figured, given Stan’s penchant towards attacking anyone that was cruel to Richie. He was probably beating himself up on the inside for his earlier comments, too - that was how dedicated he was to that particular friendship.

Richie didn’t seem angry about Bill’s words, though. His eyes were locked on Eddie, and his concentration was unwavering. It felt like he was treating Eddie’s response like a jury verdict.

Eddie deflated a little bit under everyone’s gaze.

“No,” he finally said, “I like the disaster parts, too.”

Richie exhaled loudly in relief, and Bill nodded knowingly. “So you got what you wished for, avoidance tendencies and all.”

“I guess I did,” Eddie said softly. He still couldn’t bring himself to meet Richie’s gaze.

“And you,” Bill said, turning to Richie. “You wanted Eddie so bad. You thought he was going to make you happy again.”

“Bill, you’re referencing a private conversation--” Stan cut in angrily.

“If it helps, it helps, Stan,” Bill said, crossing his arms. “And none of us really have secrets from each other any more. Now. Richie - you stayed even though Eddie wasn’t a magic cure-all. Why?”

Richie responded almost too quickly, as if he’d been turning it around in his brain for so long that it was ready to pop out at a moment’s notice. “Because why would I want a cure-all when I could have the real Eddie Kaspbrak instead?”

That was enough to get Eddie to look up. As soon as they made eye contact, it felt like some kind of spell had broken - one of the corners of Richie’s mouth turned up, and Eddie clasped his hands sweetly in front of his stomach.

“So...why don’t you tell me things, then?” Eddie asked carefully. “Why secrets?”

This time, it was Richie who couldn’t make eye contact. He jerked his head off to the side, electing to stare at the side of Mike’s head instead of engage fully with the situation.

“I don’t want you to go,” Richie said in a low, private voice. “I’m scared you’ll, um….I’m scared you’ll leave if you find out that I’m doing outside stuff, you know, like...non-Disney stuff. I know that’s something you’re nervous about, and I….I can take care of myself, if you don’t want to be with me anymore. I don’t want you to worry about that. I just…”

Eddie stepped forward and reached up to slide his hands around Richie’s jaw. Slowly and deliberately, he brought Richie’s face around so that they were making eye contact again.

“Richie,” Eddie said, and Ben wasn’t sure if it was a question or an assurance.

“I like you so goddamn much, okay?” Richie mumbled, screwing up his face as the words left his mouth. “I just want to have as much time with you as I can.” He leaned back a little bit, just enough to gently ease himself out of Eddie’s grip. When he spoke again, it was loud, and addressed to everyone. “Fuck all of you for making me admit that out loud, by the way.”

Mike let out a relieved bark of a laugh, and Stan groaned, burying his face in his hands. Ben stared at Bill in wonder - by some miracle, he’d just cut the group tension in half, and all he’d done was ask a couple of bizarre questions.

Well, he’d mostly dissipated the tension, anyway. Richie apparently wasn’t finished.

“So,” Richie said, crossing his arms and looking down at Eddie. Ben could see his knuckles turning white from where his hands were gripping his arms, and felt a pang of sadness for his friend - this was obviously not easy for him. “Do you want….are you going to break up with me?”

Eddie’s expression shifted rapidly from confusion to horror to embarrassment, and as such it took him a moment to respond. The extra couple of seconds of silence were obviously agonizing for Richie, who was rocking back and forth on his heels with a sort of possessed intensity.

“Of course I’m not going to break up with you, dumbass,” Eddie finally managed to choke out. “I can’t believe… .no. It scares me that you might not be at Disney, I won’t lie about that, but I’m not…. Richie.”

Richie unclenched his hands from around his arms as Eddie reached up, and they found each other somewhere in the middle. Eddie grabbed his collar and pulled him down, and Richie slid his hands over and on to Eddie’s upper arms.

“Oh,” Richie said, staring down at Eddie in disbelief and wonder. “Oh.”

“Just kiss and make up already if you’re not breaking up,” Stan interjected, raising a hand to hs face in an effort to pretend he wasn’t smiling, “for fuck’s sake, you idiots.”

Eddie looked seriously back at Richie.”You had turkey leg for lunch, right?”

“Yes,” Richie said blankly.

“Then we save the kiss for later.” Eddie stepped back, smiling wanly up at Richie and then around at his friends. “When your mouth’s not gross.”

Richie blinked, nodded, smiled, and then began to laugh - stiltedly at first, and then sort of normally, and then somehow, he was in hysterics. The fact that Eddie wasn’t actually leaving seemed to be belatedly catching up to him. “That’s...oh my God, that’s….oh, fuck, Eds, I’m...you….come here!”

Before Eddie could protest, Richie had swooped him up in his arms and was kissing him soundly. A couple of passerby cheered, and Richie held up a peace sign to them without ever detaching himself from Eddie’s mouth.

Eddie pushed away, spluttering, but he was smiling in spite of himself. “Okay, okay, jeez. We’re good now, right? Thanks, Bill.”

Bill smiled and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jean shorts. “It was all you, Eddie.”

Richie made to say something in response to that, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Stan had been tapping his foot restlessly behind Richie and Eddie for the past minute or so, and now it looked like he’d finally pieced together what he wanted to say.

“I’m sorry too, Richie,” he said, making sure to hold eye contact with him so as to properly convey his sincerity. (Stan was very good at eye contact, Ben had realized - to the point where it was sometimes unnerving.) “I was jealous and stressed out, and I was wrong to call you out like I did. It’s okay that you’re moving out, and um. In fact. I’d, uh...I’d like to talk to you about maybe making that official? I’m not kicking you out, I just--”

Mike came up behind Stan to smile sheepishly at Richie from over Stan’s shoulder. “I was thinking that maybe I could move in instead, if you��re not going to be at home? I mean, if you and Eddie...I don’t know what the deal is, really--”

Richie shrugged exaggeratedly and looked over at Eddie, who rolled his eyes.

“You live with me, Richie. You haven’t been back to your other place in months. Might as well get your name on some of my paperwork so you can start pulling your weight in this relationship.”

Richie let out a short laugh and clapped Stan on the shoulder. “All right then, Stan my Man, apparently I live with Eddie now. I’m sorry, too, though. I miss you, mi amor .” He leaned in next to Stan’s ear to whisper the last part, and Stan beamed at him as he shoved him backwards into the nearest trash can.

Ben noticed with a jolt that Mike’s eyes were on him. He stared back, wondering what on Earth Mike was staring for...until he realized that Mike’s moving out meant that he would be alone.

‘You okay?’ Mike mouthed, and Ben found that he didn’t really know the answer to that question.

He knew what it was like to be alone. He’d done it before...but after all of this, after having these wonderful friends for the better part of the last year - could he do it again?

Before he was finished processing, though, Stan was speaking again. “And I think...I think I’ve been wrong about a couple of different things, lately.”

Ben knew that Stan was going to turn towards Bill after saying that - they all knew it, really, but Bill still seemed taken aback. He stared openly at Stan, half-curious and half-afraid, and did not respond.

A rare burst of confidence lit in Ben’s chest. When everyone had been screaming about their own issues, it had been too overwhelming for him to untangle, but now that there was one specific problem to solve, Ben knew that he was the man to do it - especially now that Bill had a personal stake in what was going on. They needed an outside party.

(It was damn nice to feel needed - and that was part of the problem, part of what he was going to have to talk to Mike about later, but now it was time to focus.)

“You guys,” Ben said, and everyone turned towards him in surprise.

“Jesus, Haystack,” Richie said slowly, “you were so busy minding your own business over there, I almost forgot you were suffering through this with us.”

“Beep beep for a minute, Richie,” Ben said kindly, “this isn’t about you.”

Eddie cackled at that, and Richie sighed, pushing a hand back through his hair. “If you weren’t so damn nice…”

Ben ignored that in favor of turning back towards Stan, Mike, and Bill. “Guys, this is a ‘ be careful what you wish for’ kind of thing too. I think.”

Stan nodded, seemingly relieved to have a direction for the conversation to follow that wasn’t just him having to apologize to Bill. “I mean, sure. I entered this relationship back in the fall hoping that it would be one in which both of you understood me perfectly, and when you didn’t, Bill--”

“Oh.” Bill looked contemplative. “Huh.”

Stan nodded. “Richie and Eddie had a kind of desperate desire to be together - no offense, nerds, but you did - and I...didn’t have that kind of need, I think.”

“Me either,” Mike agreed. “I wanted the same thing, Stan. And some friends, but that was a whole separate deal.”

“Did you have a desperate desire for me, Rich?” Ben heard Eddie murmur teasingly over to Richie.

“Yes,” Richie replied promptly, and Eddie squeaked a little at the non-joke response, which he had obviously not been anticipating.

Bill flinched a little bit at Eddie’s squeak, but then registered it for what it was and rolled his eyes. It took him another moment to re-formulate his sentence. Eddie had knocked him out of his thoughts pretty soundly.

“I...I just wanted to be in love, I think. I was falling in love left and right in the fall.”

“And we were the ones that stuck, huh?” Mike asked, and although it was something of a biting question, Mike’s intention was clearly not to be mean. Bill knew that, and he smiled quietly, shrugging his shoulders.

“I guess you did. And it was good for a while...really fucking good, wasn’t it?” he asked wistfully.

“It was good.” To everyone’s surprise, Stan was the one who stepped forward and agreed. “Until it wasn’t.”

Bill sighed. “Until the two of you realized that I’m a whole dumbass.”

Mike winced at Bill’s wording. “Getting what you want is complicated.”

“And it helps to not jump right in,” offered Stan. “I think, actually, that if we’d taken things a little bit slower, like Richie and Eddie, that we might have been able to resolve our issues more neatly. Not that I’m saying that Richie and Eddie did everything or really anything right, but.”

Bill raised an eyebrow at Stan, and Stan flushed a little bit, jamming his hands in his pockets and scowling. Richie and Eddie, for their part, were whispering to one another, and seemed to have missed Stan’s dig at them entirely.

“So you’d take me back?” Bill asked pointedly, and everyone went silent again.

Well, no. Everyone went silent except for Richie, who had just started listening again, and felt the need to contribute by letting out a long, dramatic gasp. For once, though, Richie’s humor actually diffused the situation instead of making it worse - everyone groaned, and the question immediately felt less heavy than it actually was. Eddie clapped a hand exasperatedly over his boyfriend’s mouth, and Mike made to speak.

“Wasn’t it you that told us to be careful what we wish for?” Mike asked, voice strained, and Bill threw his head back and laughed.

“Yeah, yeah. No, I’m kidding. Probably not smart to try again right now. I still like you both as people, but.” Bill’s smile was sheepish as he said his next piece. “You guys are too mean to me.”

You could practically hear the collective eye roll that Bill’s statement garnered..

“Just because we don’t like being bossed around--” Stan started hotly, but Mike nudged him gently and he lost track of his rant.

“Anyway,” Bill said softly, smiling as he looked between Mike and Stan. “Maybe in a couple of years, we’ll see, or maybe not. We’ll get there. I just wanna make sure we stay friends.”

That was exactly the right thing to say. Stan and Mike looked at one another and then back at Bill, obviously impressed with how collected he’d become, and Ben found himself approaching Bill gratefully.

“Agreed,” he said, holding out a hand for Bill to shake. “We probably should have thought about that before we all jumped into crazy relationships, huh?”

Bill took his hand and tugged on it, pulling him into a full embrace. “So says the man whose relationship has literally never been a source of drama for the group. Ben, you’re astonishing.”

Ben hugged him back awkwardly - he’d never been good at hugs, he’d had very little practice, and so he found himself trying to convey sentiment through stilted back-pats. “I mean, you dated Beverly, too.”

Eddie’s jaw dropped as Bill and Ben pulled away from their embrace. He looked incredulously at Bill. “I thought you were gay!”

The group erupted in laughter, and Eddie’s ears turned red.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Bill assured him through wheezy giggles, at the same time that Richie crowed, “Hands on your head, Denbrough! It’s Eddie Kaspbrak from the gay police, here to remind you that no gay diet means no gay powers---”

Stan elbowed Richie in the stomach. “Enough, Wallace Wells.”

With a start, Ben noticed that the crowds around them were dwindling. It was starting to get late - they’d really lost track of time.

“Should we be moving?” Ben asked, wondering what on earth the Universal Team Members in the area had been thinking about their little drama circle for the past however many hours. “This is weird, right, that we’ve been standing here this long?”

Murmurs of assent rose around the circle. “Weird that no one’s told us off,” Mike said, frowning at the storefront they’d parked themselves in front of. “Richie’s said ‘fuck’ really loudly quite a few times during this conversation.”

“Me?” Richie gestured wildly towards everyone else in their little circle. “Eddie almost cried...and he outed Bill to all of Universal Studios! That’s not good Hufflepuff behavior.”

“You thought I was breaking up with you!” Eddie retorted, tugging at the front of Richie’s ‘Mischief Managed’ t-shirt. “That’s not good Smart House behavior! Is there a dumb house?”

“Yes,” Stan said neatly. “It’s called your apartment, Eddie.”

Mike put a hand over his face to mask his amusement at Eddie’s responding squawk. “Okay, guys, seriously. Do we need anything else here? Eddie, did you want to buy a stuffed animal?”

Eddie gazed wistfully into the store window. “Oh. I...no.”

Ben made a mental note to remind Richie to buy Eddie a stuffed owl for his birthday.

“If nobody wants anything else, we should go,” Stan agreed, tugging at one of his curls. “We’ve already done Forbidden Journey...there’s nothing else here, right? And we’re not doing the Hogwarts Express because fuck the Universal Studios side?”

“Fuck the Universal Studios side,” they all chorused, grinning.

“I don’t want to do Kong again,” Ben said meekly, “if that’s okay.”

“Same,” Richie and Eddie said loudly, glancing at one another in terror. They’d done Kong first because it was a new ride and they had wanted to beat the inevitable mid-day line, and the experience had been nothing short of a mess. It had been fifteen terrible minutes of dinosaurs, giant bugs, and a huge, horrible Kong animatronic in graphic 3D, and it had taken Eddie a full forty-five minutes to calm down afterwards, mostly because Richie was also panicking.

“What about Jurassic Park?” Mike suggested. Eddie looked a little conflicted about that, but after a quick moment, he nodded.

“If I’m gonna die, I might as well be thinking about Chris Pratt when I go,” he sighed.

Richie squinted at him. “Chris Pratt, huh?”

“You guys go ahead,” Bill said, turning to face Ben. Ben felt suddenly nervous, as if Bill had put him under a spotlight or a magnifying glass, and tried to keep his face from contorting stupidly. “I want to buy Ben a new Butterbeer real quick. He didn’t end up drinking any of his last one because we were being dumb.”

Everyone’s face fell. One by one, their eyes flickered over to him, and Ben could tell that the regret they were projecting was sincere.

God, it was amazing to have friends.

“We’re sorry, Ben,” they mumbled disjointedly, and Ben couldn’t help but smile.

“I love you guys,” he said earnestly. “I don’t care about Butterbeer. I just want to help.”

Richie promptly bounded forwards and wrapped Ben up in a terrible, bony embrace. “You’re the best of us, kid. We love you.”

“We love you,” Eddie echoed, scampering after Richie to attach himself to the parts of Ben that Richie hadn’t already wrapped himself around. Mike and Stan followed suit, and finally, Bill completed the circle, fitting in neatly between Mike and Richie.

It felt like home.

Almost.

“I wish Bev were here,” he said before he could stop himself, and the hug promptly evaporated; they fell off of each other, laughing agreeably.

“If Bev were here, all of this would have been solved three hours ago,” Mike pointed out.

“Cheers to that,” Richie agreed. “It’s okay, though, Haystack, we’ll have her soon enough. Go get your Butterbeer.”

“Bill really doesn’t have to,” Ben said, suddenly over-cognizant of the fact that he’d thrown away his Butterbeer from before because he was afraid, not because of their conversation.

Bill looked at him knowingly. “Bill wants to. Save us a place in line, Rich.”

“Roger roger,” Richie said in his best Star Wars Droid voice, saluting and then turning towards the bridge to the dinosaur section of the park. “Tally ho, Edward! Chris Pratt awaits.”

“You’re jealous, so you break out the British Guy?” Eddie asked, nose wrinkling in distaste. “Really?”

“You know, Ben kind of looks like Chris Pratt from some angles,” Stan offered dryly, pushing past the two of them to lead the way to Jurassic Park, and they followed noisily. Bill, Ben, and Mike watched them go until the last of Richie’s “That’s not funny, you dickless fuck!” s faded into the din of the dwindling crowd.

“I wanted to talk to Ben, too,” Mike finally said before either Bill or Ben could ask him why he stayed. “Okay if I crash?”

Bill shrugged amiably. “Fine by me.”

“Yeah,” Ben agreed, eyeing the Butterbeer cart warily. “But Bill, you really don’t--”

“Bev wants me to make sure that you’re eating,” Bill explained, shuffling his feet. “She worries. And also, um. I worry.”

“We all worry,” Mike confirmed, looking at Ben seriously.

Ben felt a mix of exasperation and warmth overtake him. He didn’t need to be watched over like a child...but then, what were friends for if they didn’t care about stuff like this?

Would he ever be used to having friends?

“Fine,” Ben conceded, moving to get in line. “I’ll try.”

“You can do it, Ben,” Mike said reassuringly, and Bill nodded along. “We’ll be right here.”

That was a cheesy way of framing their support, but Ben found himself grateful for it nonetheless.

“Thank you,” he said, looking readily at Mike. “Thanks. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, too?”

“Oh, no, actually.” Mike joined him in line, squeezing in front of the two girls that had gotten in line immediately after Ben and garnering incredibly hostile looks from both of them. “I wanted to apologize for not letting you know before now that I was thinking about moving in with Stan. I’ve been trying to bring it up with you for awhile, but I never figured out how to do it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blindside you.”

Ben almost laughed. He’d just about forgotten that piece of the conversation - it felt like so much had happened since then.

“It’s okay, Mike,” he said, clapping Mike on the shoulder. “I think it’s good that you and Stan get some space. Don’t worry about me.”

“We do worry about you, though,” Bill chimed in, sliding next to Mike and earning more angry, muttered curses from the girls behind them. “We want you to be happy and well.”

“I’ve managed alone before,” Ben pointed out, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“We don’t want you to be alone if you don’t have to be alone, though,” Mike explained, and Bill made a small noise of agreement. Ben looked between the two of them in vague amusement - it was nice and also kind of funny to see them getting along again.

“I have an idea about that, actually,” Bill said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Ben had a feeling he knew where Bill was going with this, and he shoved his hands in his pockets resignedly. He’d thought of this himself, of course...hell, he’d thought about it a million times, but…

“Haven’t we already gone over ‘be careful what you wish for’?” Ben asked sadly, smiling a small, appreciative smile back at Bill. “Who knows what would happen if I asked Bev to move in with me?”

Mike stared at him in disbelief. “Well, for starters, she might say yes and be really happy about it...so you have that to consider.”

“We’ve only just started having sex,” Ben protested, flushing red, “we’re hardly ready to be roommates.”

“And they were roommates,” Mike muttered, and then winced as Bill let out a loud cackle.

“Oh, Stan has really wormed his way into your brain, hasn’t he,” Bill said fondly.

“He definitely has,” Mike agreed, and Ben couldn’t help but smile at the pride in Mike’s eyes.

“But anyways,” Bill continued, “what does that have to do with anything? You and Bev are together practically all the time anyways. This would be a good way to see if being official with that changes anything.”

Ben felt a little lost, and wanted to say so, but didn’t know how to phrase it. Instead, he asked, “Why would I want to see if living with her changes anything? I don’t want anything to change. Things are really good right now.”

Mike sighed, but his eyes were fond. “You do want things to change, Ben. I think so, anyway. You’ve been window shopping in a lot of jewelry stores lately.”

Ben could absolutely not deny that Mike was right about that. He’d spent what had to be hours staring at rings in glass cases at the Mall at Millenia, wondering if he’d ever be able to work up the nerve to buy one (because just like Bev knew that their little group of seven was destined, so Ben knew that he was never going to love another human being the way he loved Beverly Marsh).

When Mike put it that way, it did make sense to move in with Bev as a sort of trial run.

“How should I ask her?” he asked quietly, and Bill let out a short whoop of excitement.

Unfortunately, the question had to be put on pause - they’d reached the front of the Butterbeer line, and Bill was looking at him expectantly.

“What’ll it be?” the Team Member serving drinks at the cart asked wearily.

“One frozen Butterbeer, please,” Ben said meekly, and the Team Member set off to making it. Beside Ben, Bill began fishing around in his pockets for his wallet, and was fortunately able to procure it by the time the girl was back with Ben’s drink. He paid and handed Ben the drink, and Ben took it with shaky hands.

He could do this.

“Do you want something elaborate, or something bare-bones?” Bill asked as soon as they were away from the cart and en route to Jurassic Park. “For a move-in proposal, that is.”

“He needs a proposal?” Mike asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Bill. “Can’t they just have a conversation?”

“That would be bare-bones,” Bill said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Ben stared at his Butterbeer, and then looked back out towards the dinosaur theming area they were moving into. The “jungle” aesthetic they were going for was undercut by concrete walls and steel vending carts, and Ben found himself longing for Disney.

In that moment, he realized he had an answer for Bill.

(He could do this.)

“Let’s say I wanted to go elaborate,” Ben said, smiling softly to himself. “What would I have to do to impress Bev into agreeing to live with me?”

Bill’s face lit up, and Mike’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I have a couple of thoughts,” Bill said excitedly, tapping Ben’s arm erratically. “I’ll tell them to you in line, and you can tell me what you think, yeah?”

Ben thought of the way Bev had lit up on their first date when the fireworks had started - the starry look on her beautiful face as she’d registered exactly how much attention to detail Ben had paid, and the way she’d grabbed for his hand afterwards, as if trying to thank him through her fingertips.

He took a careful sip of his Butterbeer.

“I’d like that very much.”

He could do this...and damn it if it wasn’t going to be perfect when he did.

#ben hanscom #reddie #reddie fanfic #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #stanlon #stanley uris #mike hanlon #bill denbrough #benverly #it 2017 #it 2019 #stephen king's it #it fanfic #wishes #disney au #this chapter is like...full degrassi #bill stans rejoice #fun fact i hate universal studios butterbeer i am probably the only person on earth that does but i HATE it

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phvnthom · 7 years

Text

From the Shadows (A Stenbrough Hogwarts!AU)

Chapter I: The Wolf's Not Dead

Pairings: Bill Denbrough/Stan Uris, Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

Fic Summary: Bill can’t shake the feeling that Stan Uris is hiding something. However, the closer he gets to Stan the faster their world crumbles and as more is unravelled he comes to learn that the darkness doesn’t only live in Stan’s eyes, but in the shadows themselves.

Seventh year had creeped up on them so quickly that Bill could hardly believe it. Only yesterday was he a gangly twelve year old at King’s Cross Station being bid farewell by his mother; a child completely made up of anxiety, doubt, and confusion. But everything had worked itself out. He wasn’t that same kid anymore, his life had completely changed, from the worst to maybe the best it had ever been.

From being lanky and awkward, he had become incredibly tall and his shoulders had spanned out strong and wide against his somewhat narrow waist, his hair was short but not incredibly so, maybe a little past his ears. He always wore rings on his fingers and his ears were pierced, one at the bottom and two at the top, just like Richie’s. It was his idea after all. Late at night, after everyone else had gone to sleep during break they both sneaked out, black hoodies over their heads and sneakers stepping silently on the pavement as they dashed off towards Bill’s car; a birthday present from his mom. It hurt like a bitch for Ritchie while Bill’s was almost completely painless. Afterwards they just stayed in Bill’s car, the radio playing softly in the background as they stared up at the stars through the sunroof, the blanket Bill brought strown over both of them.

Back then it was only the two of them, then Eddie came along and god was Richie completely smitten with him. It was like love at first sight. Sure, they had known of each other since they were younger, but never had they actually met and once they shared a class and became partners for a project it was over. Seeing the two of them together was surreal at first, with Richie being six feet and Eddie staying at a consistent height of five foot eight for the last three years. Richie teased him for it and in Eddie’s eyes he could see murderous intent behind them every time it was remotely brought up. However, Bill and him got along surprisingly well. They had become like brothers to each other in the short amount of time they had known one another. When Eddie had problems he always came to him, especially when it involved Richie. He was almost like the lifeline between them, always leveling the playing field when one of them fucked up.

Eddie wasn’t the only change though. Ever since fifth year all three of them had been made into prefects; and along the way more people were added to their little family. Mike, Beverly and Ben were all cool people and they had molded to each other as if they had known each other their whole lives. There wasn’t a moment where they weren’t together one way or another. Usually it was Richie and Eddie together, but ever since they joined Bill didn’t feel as alone anymore. They were always there for each other, even when one wasn’t available there was always another to pick you up. They were his family away from home and he was so grateful for them.

Being in different houses however always sucked, as most nights they had to coordinate with each other on which common room to sleep over at for the night. Usually it was Gryffindor tower as both Beverly and Bill belonged there and it was always the most welcoming of the three, besides Hufflepuff. Everyone knew them there anyway and treated them as one of their own, even Richie. For someone who constantly partied and and barely did anything to study most of the time, Bill was surprised he wasn’t a Gryffindor. For Richie it was all about connecting with people and having a good time, he always stood up for the little guy even if it made him a public enemy. But when he spoke and actually put in thought to his incoherent ramblings and jokes he could see exactly why he was a Ravenclaw. Richie was nothing short of genius and passed all his classes effortlessly, and even helped them on the side whenever they asked. Mike was more reserved however, for him it wasn’t as easy but he was just as good as Richie, even if he actually had to study for it. All in all they were a well rounded group.

Eddie and Beverly were usually the ones who planned things but ever since Beverly was made head girl, there wasn’t a lot time for them to hang out, and consequently Eddie and Mike were now the ones in charge. Saturdays they were supposed to meet in the morning for breakfast, and hang out for the rest of the day wherever they planned and already he was late. He stayed up all night doing homework and when he woke up it was already ten am; one hour late. He’d be surprised if they were all there waiting for him still.

Slipping on his t-shirt and his bomber jacket he ran down the stairs, his hair whipping behind him as he dashed by the first years. The stairs were going to change soon and he needed to get there before they switched and he had to wait another five minutes. Breakfast was over in an hour and he didn’t have time to spare.

With a buzz he heard another text message come in.

My Favorite Boy: “Dude, where are you? Bev keeps bitching about family bonding time being wasted.”

Big Bill: “Sorry. Woke up late. I’m almost there.”

My Favorite Boy: “She’s scary when she’s angry… Don’t tell her that, though. She’d kill me.”

Big Bill: “Probably. I’m right here in the hall anyway, three more minutes. I promis—” With a clang, his phone went flying out of his hands as he bumped into someone.

His cheeks burned up as he looked down and saw none other than Stanley Uris. Tan skin, caramel curls, with a nose piercing, and a leather jacket. Every person’s fantasy at Hogwarts, and he had just managed to not only bump into him but also send his book flying halfway across the floor.

Stan wasn’t just any student. He was the head boy, and the proud leader of Slytherin. However not by his choosing; people naturally just looked up to him. He mostly kept to himself and was close to no one, but his grades and his ability to always win made him a strong candidate for head boy, and just this year, when it was announced, it surprised absolutely no one. Except maybe Richie who thought he was sure fire to get the spot, but ultimately lost to “the hot pureblood asshole”. Bill couldn’t agree more with the title. Stan was hot no doubt, but his uptight nature and the way he held himself made everyone believe that there really wasn’t anyone who could ever measure up to him; and he let it be known every time he picked up his latest conquest just to dump her a couple of weeks later. Stan wasn’t one for monogamy, at least not long term, and every girl who had ever been with him ended up heartbroken. It didn’t stop Bill, or anyone else from looking though.

Stan merely looked up at him, his eyebrow arched condescendingly and his lips pulled into a slight frown.

“I-I-I’m so-orry. I w-wasn’t paying attention and did-dn’t see y-ou.” Bill said embarrassed, his cheeks getting redder when Stan merely stared at him strangely.

The silence stretched between them awkwardly before Stan crouched down and picked up Bill’s phone, while he scrambled to pick up his book on the other side. Bill was surprised when he found birds on the cover, as Stan didn’t seem one for pleasantries or cute animals.

“I-I’m sorry again. I really didn’t mean to b-bump into you.”

“I know. It’s fine, now if I could get my book back that’d be great.” Stan said courtly, his head held high and his eyes cold.

His every movement was calculated and controlled while his tone never strayed far from slight annoyance and complete apathy.

Bill had never met such an intimidating person before.

“Ye-eah, sorry. Here you go. Sorry for that.” Stan rolled his eyes before retrieving his book, the look he gave him almost making Bill want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

“You know, you apologize too much.” Stan said.

He gripped the book to his chest before giving Bill’s phone back, his cold fingers pressing slightly into his palm as he placed it there. A jolt of electricity ran down his spine at the touch and from being in such close proximity to this god of a man. Bill could only stare awestruck as he watched Stan fix his fringe exasperatedly before walking past him, their shoulders brushing against each other and making him stumble slightly on his feet. Looking back he briefly saw Stan stare back at him with a slight smirk to his lips, and Bill quickly looked away, his face burning up at the thought.

Stan was weird…but not his kind of weird. Everybody knew that. He was the Casanova of the school. The straight, perfect elite who mostly looked out for himself and kept his eyes on the prize. Not part of a misfit group of teenagers that had movie marathons almost every weekend and were constantly messing around making fool’s out of themselves in public. That statement mostly referenced Richie of course.

He snapped out of it and made his way to the great Hall.

When he got there almost everyone had finished their food, except maybe Eddie who had just gotten his.

“Finally, Billy! Where have you been?” Beverly exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as soon as she saw him.

“I w-woke up late. Sorry guys.”

“Took you long enough. I was starting to miss you more than Eddie’s mom.”

“Do you ever shut up. I swear to God.” Eddie grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No, and neither did your Mom last night, babe.”

Eddie’s face contorted into disgust just as Richie and Mike burst into laughter. It wasn’t only Richie who found the childish jokes funny, as Mike always chimed in with his own, usually aimed at Beverly or Richie’s own parents. Though his were always a bit more mild.

“Keep it up trash mouth and pretty soon I’m going to start dating Bill. He actually knows how to treat a guy.” Eddie said smugly, spooning his porridge.

“I knew it! You’ve wanted to fuck Bill this whole time! If I’m honest, I’ve always wondered what he looked like down there…”

“Ew, Richie.” Beverly scrunched up her face.

“O-okay, I know everyone’s interested, but enough about m-my genitals. What are we doing?”

“The plan was to have a horror movie marathon. It’s October, we might as well make the most of it.” Ben chimed in, “We could also make Halloween arts and crafts.”

“Arts and crafts? What are we? Twelve?”

“Don’t be rude, Richie. I actually think that sounds fun.” Eddie smiled at Ben across the table. His enthusiasm at the thought was apparent.

“So, it’s settled. Movies later on and then arts and crafts. What about now though? We could go down to the quad and hang out for a while. Some of the students are putting on a short play, apparently Hocus Pocus is the theme this year. It could be fun.” Mike said softly, wrapping his arm around Beverly.

“Yeah, I-I’m down.” Bill said, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone.

“Hell yeah. Nothing like watching Hocus Pocus while Eddie hocus’ my pocus, am I right, guys?” Richie brought his hand up but it was ultimately shoved away by Bill, a faintly annoyed expression on his face.

“That doesn’t even make sense, Richard.”

“What did I say about the full name thing, Edward?”

“Don’t say stupid shit and maybe I won’t have to use it.” Eddie shrugged, a faint smile on his face.

On a day like this nothing beat being outside and enjoying the sun. Even if he didn’t want to, the group always found a way to drag him outside, one time they dragged him out by texting him that Ben bought nachos for everyone and that if he didn’t get there in five minutes Mike would eat them. It was the group’s inside joke that Bill was the vampire of the group, always staying indoors and studying, and when he wasn’t studying he was helping out first years or writing. For Bill, being busy and helping others was part of his job and he felt it was his duty to do what was expected of him to his best ability. Not only that but apart from all the other Losers he was mostly a recluse. Everyone knew him but he didn’t go out of his way like Beverly or Richie to make himself known so intimately. Richie would joke with anyone, and in a crowd or group everyone would flock around him, laughing and talking like old friends. Even Ben was more socially adept than him seeing as he had a bunch of acquaintances all over the school, but Ben was such a sweet guy that it wasn’t even surprising. Bill wasn’t funny, or outgoing, or super smart, he wasn’t even charming, he just stuttered a lot and was mediocre at partly everything. The only person who he could almost relate to was Eddie, and even he was good at bossing people around and getting what he wanted. So even that was a far stretch.

Walking with the basket in his hand, Eddie and Beverly wasted no time setting up the multiple plush quilts and pillows on the ground before they all took their respective seats. Like always Eddie and Richie were inseparable, while Beverly sat with Ben and Mike took his seat with Bill. As the students set up the play they all laid down, their hands linked with one another on the quilts. Beverly’s were always cold, while Mike’s were warm. It always made him a great cuddler in his opinion.

“You know, I always forget how much I miss you guys throughout the week. We barely see each other unless it’s at lunch or in class. I miss hanging out all the time and doing stupid stuff.” Beverly said sadly. Bill could feel her grip tighten on his hand. “It feels like we’re growing up too fast… I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to say goodbye to all of this.”

Richie sat up, his hair slightly sticking up at the back, and his sweater wrinkled.

“Woah, okay, where is this coming from, Bev? We see each other all the time. You and Bill literally live in the same tower. Me and Ben still do the whole newspaper thing, and Mike and Eddie are always hanging out a-and doing whatever the hell they do! We’re not going anywhere.”

“Yeah, but when was the last time we sat down for more than two minutes without mentioning something about the future or how much pressure all our classes are on us right now? The year’s only just begun, but it’ll be over before we can even catch our breath. We’ll have to be adults and get jobs and move away… We’ll forget about each other.” Beverly sat up too and the rest of the Losers did the same. Everyone not only looked concerned but saddened at the thought of forgetting and moving on without one another. They were each other’s life, and the thought that they wouldn’t be a part of one another’s lives was an atrocity neither of them wanted to think of.

“Beverly, none of us will forget. You’re like my sister—you are my sister! You’re as much part of my life as Richie is or any of the others. We’ll always be together.” Eddie smiled at her while placing his hand on her shoulder and bringing her closer into a hug. The rest did the same and piled gently on top of her, a warm sigh escaping each one of them as they squeezed just a bit tighter. Maybe enough that what Beverly said wouldn’t happen.

“Guys, as sweet as this is, I can’t breathe.” Beverly said between laughter and slowly each one of them detached from one another, a smile on each of their faces.

“Eddie’s right. We’ll always have each other, even when we’re old and withered. We’ll probably die next to each other, and get buried next to each other too.” Richie said fondly, wrapping his arms around Eddie and kissing the top of his head.

Just as he said that, the stage lit up and all of them got into their respective positions. Eddie lay his head on Richie’s lap while Beverly cuddled up next to Ben under his arm, Mike and him just resorted to propping up pillows under both of their heads and sharing a blanket.

“Emily? Emily?!”

“Emily? Elijah! Elijah, has thou seen my sister, Emily?

“Nay, but look. They conjure.”

“Oh God, the woods! Emily!”

“She’s done for.”

“Not yet! You wake my father! Summon the others! Go!!” a boy that Bill could faintly remember as Vincent ran off the stage and off to the background where the scenery changed to woods. It seemed this year’s club had done a great job.

As the play progressed he could see Eddie get more and more sleepy, and when he got like that he resorted to aggressively cuddling Richie. It started with his head on Richie’s lap, then his hands tangled in Richie’s sweater, then he would lay on his stomach and wrap his hands around Richie’s waist just to pull him down and lay on his chest. It was sweet but also incredibly scary seeing how much power Eddie had over Richie. He basically melted in Eddie’s hands.

However, throughout the play Bill felt the itching sensation that someone was watching him. It started off soft but eventually got painstakingly difficult to pretend like the feeling was just a coincidence.

Slowly he scooted closer to Mike and got his attention.

“For the past hour I’ve felt like s-someone is watching me, and I know it sounds stupid but I can’t shake it off.”

Mike’s eyebrows scrunched up before he started looking around, immediately his face relaxed and he nudged Bill with his shoulder.

“Be discreet, but I think I know who it is.” Bill’s head immediately snapped to the left and from the corner of his eyes he could see Mike sigh and rub his temples. “I said be discreet, jesus christ.”

But it didn’t matter. Bill had a good look of who just it was. It was only a glance but the same caramel curls as before were easily recognizable. Stan sat atop one of the tree branches, sketching along in his notebook while below Florence and Jesse, two other Slytherins, sat talking to one another. They were all in quidditch and sometimes Bill did see them together, but mostly Stan was alone. The strange part was that Stan wasn’t involved in the conversation at all, he was completely focused on the notebook in front of him. It was the same notebook with the birds as before. Bill stared mesmerized, and as he did so Stan looked up, their eyes catching and staying on each other for a while before Stan ultimately looked back down again. Again he saw the same small smirk that he did in the hallway, and he could barely keep himself from smiling at the thought of Stan Uris purposely seeking him out, even if it was just a fantasy.

Back in the dormitories, they were preparing to snuggle up in the lounge in Gryffindor tower. A couple of other students were there but ultimately scattered as the group lay their things on the ground. So far, they had chosen Friday the thirteenth, Halloween, and the Exorcist, all old movies but good nonetheless. As much as Richie tried to hide it, most of the group knew how much he hated horror movies and how easily he got scared. But he always cuddled between Bill and Eddie, Bill’s chest to his back and Eddie on his back, his arm next to Richie’s chest.

It had rained outside, and they were soaking wet. Richie’s long hair was plastered to his face and neck and his glasses were all fogged over. Eddie wasn’t far behind to step through the door, his fringe covering his face. All of them took off their jackets at his request and held them up in front of them, Eddie making a complicated wave and reciting a small charm to produce hot steam from his wand to dry all their jackets and sweaters. As those dried, Beverly and Mike took care of the rest, drying the Losers and then themselves. The school, which had previously been strictly magical, had slowly incorporated things of the muggle world into most of the castle. TVs had been installed, wifi, communication towers, computers and a PA system. Life at Hogwarts had become incredibly modern. Most purebloods had been confused at first at all the technology but eventually everyone warmed up to the idea. Cell phones had become a big thing here as had computers and all new matters of communication. Bill imagined that all office jobs had become ten times easier as soon as the computers were introduced to archive all the information.

“Okay, now that we’re all dry which one are we watching first?” Ben asked as he rummaged through his bag to find them.

Richie made a face, his hands tangled in Eddie’s hair.

“How about none of them?” He said assertively, “You guys forget I have to sleep alone. I’m not watching some creepy girl fuck herself with a crucifix a second time.”

“Wait, what? Which movie is that, because I’m not watching it.” Mike scrunched up his face in disgust.

“The Exorcist, dude. I watched it when I was twelve and it fucked me up,” Richie said. “I say we watch Halloweentown, it’s a classic and it’s family friendly!

“I second that! The Exorcist and Halloween are kind of boring.” Eddie spoke up from his nest in Richie’s arms. He almost disappeared in between the blankets and his curls.

“Too late, I already brought these. We have to watch them.” Ben pouted in his seat.

“Ben, there’s Netflix and we can always watch them online. Creepy, death girls are out and fun, spooky Halloween times are in!” Richie brought out his arms dramatically, a big smile on his face, while in his seat Ben looked disappointed.

Bill looked at Beverly, motioning her to say something.

“We’ll watch Friday the 13th, then Halloweentown and we’ll finish it off with Underwraps, okay? Does that sound good?” Beverly looked around the room, waiting for the approval of the whole group before she went upstairs to get her laptop. Bill watched her go up the stairs, a quiet exasperation in her steps.

Even now, he couldn’t shake off Stan Uris from the back of his mind. Bill had only ever spoken to him a handful of times, and it was years ago when they shared the same classes. Now he was lucky enough to have seen him once. He knew Richie shared a class with him, Alchemy he believed. He was always talking about how prudish Stan was.

“Always so superior,” Richie would say, “He thinks he knows everything. Mister ‘I get perfect grades and I have a mansion and lots of money’. Oh, I’m hot and I know it. Look at me swish my perfect hair while simultaneously making you feel like shit over not being as good as me. Being middle class and mediocre? Never heard of it, I’m too busy being the crown prince of Hogwarts. Being perfect isn’t easy you know? Ugh, don’t touch me, you’ll get my robes dirty with your commoner germs!”

He remembers Eddie rolling his eyes as the walked through the halls on their way to dinner, “Don’t you live in a mansion? You’re a pureblood just like him, and you get perfect grades. Are you sure you aren’t the same person?”

“Mansion’s a misconception. I live in a larger than average house, but it’s not a mansion. We have house elves, sure, but I guarantee you we probably treat them better than Uris does. I actually pity them. Poor elves have to be stuck with that asshole.” Richie huffed, his brows scrunched and his voice getting slightly louder. “I don’t flaunt my superiority to anyone. I make good grades, but it’s not that big a deal. You should see the way he looks at everyone, Eds, as if they’re beneath him. But that doesn’t even matter because all the teachers love him! I’d rather be compared to a slug than him.” He pushed his glasses up, and smirked.

Both him and Eddie looked at each other and shook their heads. Richie was adamant when it came to grudges. When he hated someone, he went all the way, and didn’t waste any opportunity to bash the other person. If he thought they deserved it, he wouldn’t stop until he was satisfied.

He always thought that Richie was exaggerating and was just jealous, but seeing Stan for the first time all those years ago, proved everything to be true. Stan was as equally proud as he was commandeering and beautiful. He looked even better than Richie had described him. His skin was perfect and his hair was always lustrous, tamed but full of life at the same time. But Bill’s favorite part of Stan were his eyes, even past the cold, emotionless glare he could see a soft kindness when he worked with magical creatures of any sort, or when he saw him helping the first years. Stan was actually kind. Except when he wasn't… more often than not Stan barely smiled anymore, and he was even more cold, with his snide remarks biting harder into anyone’s ego and tearing it apart. He was even more quiet in class, refusing or blatantly ignoring his partner when they were forced to pair up and keeping more to himself outside of class. Richie sometimes said he wouldn’t show up to class for days at a time. It was out character, even weirder was how the teachers never mentioned anything. It was like he was a ghost.

Everybody knew Stan was a scholar; not only was he illustrious but he also showed what an exceptional student looked like. Stan was a lot of things… but a slacker was not one of them. It was strange. Richie would joke that he was a death eater, stating that because he was a Slytherin he was probably following in the steps of his ancestors. That he would become the Draco Malfoy of the school and that he’d help bring back Voldemort just as people had done in the past. It was one of the most horrible things Richie had ever said, and none of the Losers found it funny. There were still people with the scars of the war past. So many people had died and so many more were still suffering, to insinuate that Stan wanted a part in any of that and wanted to bring back a fascist mass murderer was insulting and incredibly cruel. There had to be another reason he was constantly going missing.

Just as his brain was starting to get consumed by Stan, Beverly descended down the stairs, her laptop in her arms. They didn’t waste any time taking out the snacks and art supplies and placing them all across the table. While the movie played, Richie stuffed his face with smores as he painted his paper plate. He chose to paint a werewolf, its claws long and jagged and its eyes bright yellow. It was a horrible painting but Ben insisted that it looked great compared to his mummy. Mike painted a skeleton, Eddie a ghost, Beverly a witch with a black cat and Bill decided he wanted to paint a vampire, and if it had curly hair and the same dark eyes as someone he knew then it was merely a coincidence.

As the night dwindled down and more of the students went to sleep, the Losers found themselves tired as well. Ben was already asleep against Eddie and Mike, while Beverly lay back to back with Richie, who held Eddie in his arms. But Bill couldn’t sleep. His eyes were tired but his brain was wide awake.

He moved to a seat by the window, his sketchbook in his hands. He started off drawing his friends in front of him, their sleeping figures brought to life in his book, with stars surrounding them. He sketched the peaceful look on their faces, their hair strewn across the pillows and the gentleness in which they held each other. Then he drew them again as Halloween monsters. The same ones they had chosen for their paper plates. Werewolf Richie with a Hawaiian shirt and his glasses and Mike’s skeleton with his quidditch uniform, while Eddie’s ghost held an ice cream as he levitated of the ground, Beverly flying off on her broom as she held her stereotypical witch hat and and the black cat sitting on the broom behind her, and Ben as a mummy as he carved pumpkins. Bill couldn’t help but draw Uris as well. He drew him like he remembered him, atop the tree with his head buried inside the book, a thoughtful smile to his face and flowers in his hair. He drew him happy, like he thought everyone deserved to be. He drew his face over and over, he drew him with tattoos and with a hippogriff, he drew him until his hand ached. Even though he didn’t know Stan at all, he wanted to. He wanted to be friends and have him be friends with the Losers instead of always being alone. He wondered if he would’ve felt the same if Stan wasn’t attractive, or if there wasn’t such an air of mystery surrounding him. The guilty part of him said yes but Bill knew he wasn’t as shallow as to think that. He knew there was something about Stan that just reeled him in. He had this effect on everyone, where when you saw him you instantly wanted to know more, you wanted to see into his world and be where he was. If Bill didn’t know better he’d say that Stan was the male equivalent of a veela. An enigma no one could figure out and as such, everyone was sucked into the mystery, and lost in the boy himself.

Bill caressed the small spot where Stan’s cheek was, his dark eyes staring back at him when his eyes caught something. Out in the fields there was someone running into the woods. Their cloak shielded their frame and the hood was pulled over their head, making it hard to see who exactly it could be. Bill instantly got up and rushed up to his room and put on his cloak before running back down the stairs and out the door. A student sneaking off in the middle of the night to the Forbidden Forest? Not only was it suspicious but it was dangerous as well. Even though Aragog had died and all the other Acromantulas had been driven out of their nest back in the battle of Hogwarts in 1998, there were other creatures there. It wasn’t safe, and he couldn’t think of one good reason why anyone would want to go there of it wasn’t to stir up trouble.

He ran through the halls, being careful to hide every once in awhile to stay hidden from the cameras. He thought of casting a disillusionment charm, but ultimately decided against it. It would be quick, he’d get the student then escort them back to their dorm and go to sleep. He raced down the remainder of the stairs and dashed out the archway that led to the forest.

The person couldn’t have gotten far.

As he entered the forest he kept his wand at the ready. His breaths were quick and shallow, and became easily visible against the cold October air. The farther he walked into the forest the more his anxiety grew. He didn’t know what or who he’d find and wandering aimlessly with no clear direction on what he was supposed to be looking for only made the fear stronger. Not to mention the trouble he’d get into if he was caught. He was starting to rethink his chivalrous act for one of stupidity.

He ducked through branches, and vines until he came about a clearing. Upon seeing the cloaked figure, he quickly hid behind one of the trunks. It seemed they were petting something but Bill couldn’t see what. Their hands glided through the air before bringing out a piece of meat for the air to eat, in an instant it was gone and from the trees he could hear the faint smack of teeth. He stared perplexed as the figure stroked the air some more and quietly spoke to it, though he couldn’t make out any of the words. It had to be a Thestral. But the chances of a student being able to see one was incredibly rare.

Inching a bit closer he tried to get a good look at the person but as he stepped forward a dead branch underneath his foot crunched loudly, alerting everyone to his presence. Immediately he heard a monstrous shriek and looked up only to see the cloaked figure run further into the woods. Bill wasted no time running after them as they zipped through the trees and jumped over the large roots. Keeping up with them was almost futile and as they rounded a corner and came upon another clearing Bill lost track of them completely.

“Lumos.” He huffed exasperatedly before he waved his wand, the light from the tip highlighting the surrounding area. He turned in his spot, directing the wand in opposite directions to see past the clearing and into the trees, but saw no one. Turning off the light he momentarily saw a shadow, it seemed that the person had been smart enough to use an disillusionment charm and as Bill rounded up to turn around and face them and pull them towards him the person yelled out from the trees.

“Expelliarmus!” His wand went flying and from the trees he saw the figure approach him. They held their wand out aggressively and as they stalked towards him Bill felt the fear in his chest spread, dreading that at any moment the very fear itself would cause his heart to burst in his chest and explode onto the person in front of him. With shaky breaths he watched the cloaked figure dig their wand against his throat before they spoke out.

“Why are you following me?” Bill stared perplexed into the dark face, he had heard that voice before.

“I s-saw you th-throu-ough the window. I-I wa-anted to make s-s-sure you were safe. Y-you shouldn’t be o-out h-here.” Bill stuttered, his throat struggling to speak against the piece of wood pressed against his skin.

The figure relaxed slightly and without haste Bill summoned the wand to him and whipped his wand in the air, effectively creating a small gust of wind that removed the hood from the cloaked figure. Standing in front of him was Stan Uris, his eyes pierced into Bill’s and a small look of surprise adorned his face along with anger. As he stared into his eyes he pushed the wand deeper.

“We just keep bumping into each other, don’t we, William? As much as I enjoy your company,” Stan said sarcastically, a quiet desperation in his eyes, “I’d prefer it if you’d leave. It isn’t safe for you here.”

“If it’s s-so dangerous, then what are you doing h-here? Bill gulped against the wand.

“That’s not something you need to know.” Stan said coldly. In the darkness he could see that Stan’s under eyes were a light, almost clear purple. It wasn’t hard to assume that he had probably been awake all night.

“Actually, I-I do. If Headmaster McGonagall knew you were out here…” Stan rolled his eyes.

“Unlike you, I have clearance to be out here—”

“W-why? Because y-you’re Head Boy and you s-simultaneously run the school a-along with everyone e-else?” Bill looked down at Stan, his mouth pulled into a slight frown. In return Stan’s eyebrows scrunched up in anger and his jaw clenched.

“No, not because I’m Head Boy.” Stan narrowed his eyes before stepping closer. Bill could practically feel his breath on his lips and as he looked down at him he wished that Stan was just a bit closer, just close enough to where he could feel the sensation of Stan’s lips on his own. He was as equally entranced as frightened by the proximity of Stan to him. “There are things you don’t understand.” Stan swallowed before he continued, fear behind his eyes and a fury Bill had never seen before in anyone. “There are things out there that want to hurt us, and Hogwarts isn’t safe. Not anymore.” He looked away as he said that and just as quickly as he did he pulled the wand away from Bill’s throat and stepped away. Bill rubbed at his throat as Stan put his wand away inside the pocket of his robes.

In an instant Stan had pulled the robe’s hood above his head again.

“Come. I’ll walk you back. I don’t want you getting lost and becoming another one of my problems.” Stan huffed as he proceeded to walk past Bill and out of the clearing.

They walked in silence and as they approached Gryffindor tower Bill felt a small sense of sadness. He would probably never speak to to Stan again and he would never be this close to him. He had to make the most of it, he couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

“Here you are. I’m sure you know how to make your way up to your dorm.” Stan smirked, the same look in his eyes from before. Bill merely nodded. “Well, good night, William.” Stan said courtly. Bill watched him begin to walk away, the panic in his chest drumming loudly in his ears as he fought the desire to run after him. Bill watched him descend the stone steps before ultimately throwing caution out the window and running after him. Just as he had gotten halfway, Bill reached out desperately and grabbed on to Stan’s robes, tugging at his sleeve and sending him slightly backwards. Stan looked up confused and Bill could only stare at him as he struggled to come up with something to say.

When he came out tongue tied, Stan merely stared at him before arching his brows.

“I-I want to be f-friends.” Bill said hurriedly, his eyes searching Stan’s under the candlelight. “Y-you could hang out w-with us Losers. You don’t have to be alone.”

Stan stayed in place, looking up at Bill suspiciously.

“Who said I was alone?” he asked flatly.

“I-I just assumed—” Bill stopped mid sentence, afraid that he had offended him.

Stan examined his face intently before sighing.

“Okay.” Stan whispered in a gentleness Bill had never heard before.

“What?”

“I said okay. I accept your offer. Now let go of me. It’s late and I’d rather get some sleep than just stand here all night.” Stan said annoyed as he yanked his arm softly out of Bill’s grip.

Bill couldn’t help but smile to himself as he watched Stan turn from him and go down the stairs. In excitement he called out to him, “Good night!”

Stan merely raised his hand in response, his back to him as he waved goodbye. Bill waited until he disappeared around the corner before he went back inside. He couldn’t help but feel a rush of happiness as he went to lay down. Stan Uris was his friend…Bill knew he could’ve said no, he could’ve even turned him away but surprisingly he had accepted the offer. He was giddy at the thought and as he stared up at his ceiling he daydreamed of him before he ultimately fell asleep. Caramel curls with dark hazel eyes and smiling lips haunted his dreams, just before being consumed by smoke and the vision of something evil… Something Bill couldn’t explain.

A/N: Honestly, this took forever and I hope it was actually decent and worthy of reading. I don’t know when the next chapter will even be out so don’t even ask because I take forever, lmao. If you like it let me know!!! And if you love it, reblog it!!! I won’t be mad, I promise.

And for the people that wanted to be tagged, and others who I thought would like to know here you go: @im-not-psychotic @forstenbrough @jelleyandjewels @aloeneko @bitozier @decaffeinatedpostmoon @queennugget3 @lame-yellow @i-dont-floss @randvmfandoms @liohprincexx @motheroforanges @please-change-your-ticket

#it #it (2017)#the losers club #stenbrough #reddie

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dear-wormwoods · 7 years

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Same Hogwarts anon from before! Thank you so much for the answer. I actually really loved how long and in depth your analysis for Richie was haha. You definitely have me as a believer for Gryffindor!Eddie and Slytherin!Richie now. If you ever felt like doing any of the other Losers, that’d be pretty great. :D

Ahhh! Thank you so much! It honestly makes my day when anyone takes the time to not only read one of my longass posts, but also to leave me a message about it! I love you, anon. And I’m glad you’re a believer!!

I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything that intense for the other Losers, simply because I just don’t have the same level of emotional connection with them as I do with Eddie (and sort of by extension, Richie). But maybe shorter versions, someday haha.

For now, these are my remaining sorting headcanons:

Bill: Gryffindor. I think an argument can be made for Adult Bill as a Slytherin, but I attribute that character shift more to him not having the moral guidance and expectation of leadership and bravery that the Losers placed on him. As a kid, I think Bill’s very brave and protective, particularly when it comes to Eddie (the parallels between Eddie and Georgie and how that relates to Bill’s guilt could be its own post). Bill is brave in almost a destructive way… he doesn’t think at all about his own safety and he honestly doesn’t think TOO much about anyone else’s safety, either, aside from a sort of grim acceptance that he’d be responsible if they all died, since pursuing IT was his idea. He is very quick to run off and try to be The Hero, in order to go it alone and save his friends, but this usually backfires and puts everyone in more danger by separating the group. He’s a textbook Gryffindor, particularly in regard to the recklessness. As an adult he becomes more selfish, but we don’t talk about Adult Bill here…

Ben: Hufflepuff. I know this seems obvious because Ben is so sweet, but here’s the thing about Hufflepuffs… They’re loyal - but not to a fault like Gryffindors are. They’re loyal to those who are kind, hard-working, truly good, and loyal in return. They have a strong work ethic and they’re super trustworthy. These traits are obviously very Ben. Buuuuut!!!! Hufflepuffs are NOT people to cross. Hufflepuffs are the most kind and honest people, but if you hurt or betray them or someone they love, they can turn fierce in an instant. I think this is probably the reason Ben is a TRUE Hufflepuff and the reason that is often overlooked when sorting Ben. Ben has an incredible work ethic, he’s super focused, he’s super helpful, he’s encouraging and patient when teaching and explaining. He’s kind, helpful, trustworthy, comforting, and loyal to his friends and his mom. But if you cross Ben?? If you push his buttons or hurt someone he loves? Ben will go OFF. Ben is a BEAST when he has to be. And that’s the sort of emotional intensity that really defines Hufflepuff. Don’t fuck with ‘em.

Bev: Slytherin?? I should preface this explanation by saying that I’m really only going off the book when I’m making these decisions, because some characters are fairly different in the movie… and also, that I’m not a fan of book Bev, for a number of reasons (mostly Stephen King’s fault for being so bad at writing girls/women). So I’m biased, and unlike Richie, I don’t see Bev as really displaying the Slytherin traits in a positive way very often. That all being said, I put Bev in Slytherin because she’s a clever, ambitious girl who goes after what she wants when she decides she wants something. That would be a positive quality if it weren’t for the fact that she very much uses subtle manipulation tactics (namely, using her sexuality) to achieve those goals. But hey, Slytherins use any means to achieve their ends! She can be deceptive, and she can be selfish, and she really doesn’t hold much regard for other people’s feelings… how much of that is Bev the Character and how much is SK being bad at writing women… it’s hard to tell. The most positive Slytherin quality Bev possesses is the self-preservation aspect. Bev is a survivor, above anything else. She has dealt with a lifetime of abuse, but even in those situations she learns to navigate through them as painlessly as possible. It’s complicated. Bev’s personality is NOT as fleshed out as the other characters, so it’s hard to sort her confidently.

Mike: Ravenclaw. I can get behind Gryffindor Mike or even Hufflepuff Mike, because I think in the movie he is portrayed that way more. But book Mike falls firmly in the Ravenclaw category for me, due to how much he values exploring, learning, and listening. He absorbs information more than any of the other Losers. His father (also a Ravenclaw!!) instilled in him a value for knowledge and the SEEKING of knowledge at an early age, and Mike continues down that path for the rest of his life. He painstakingly records Derry’s history, not just out of obligation but out of genuine interest. Mike thinks well on his feet, but he’s not foolish - he’s very practical. But that doesn’t mean he’s close-minded. His willingness to learn, accept, and believe is VERY Ravenclaw. I think he was one of the last ones standing in the smoke house because he was most interested in learning/experiencing the potential visions - he stuck it out due to a desire to learn (Richie, on the other hand, stuck it out because he wanted to prove something to himself and the others). Mike’s main Ravenclaw traits are his intelligence, his wisdom, and his open and accepting mind. Which brings us to…

Stan: Ravenclaw. But for very different reasons than Mike! Stan embodies the Ravenclaw traits of originality, wit, and individuality. Stan is a weird kid. He’s fastidious and meticulous and focused on order and what he perceives as the laws of the universe. He’s not a mystical guy, he’s not a religious guy. However, he IS weird. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds, he has a very unique and often not understood sense of humor and dry wit, and his priorities in life are very adult well before he’s actually an adult. He also may or may not be sort of psychic. The problem with Stan is that he is also close minded. He doesn’t have the open mind that Mike has, so he has the most trouble understanding and accepting IT’s existence. But… despite that, I still think his intelligence and quirkiness qualifies him as a Ravenclaw.

(For anyone just seeing this… I made separate posts for Eddie and Richie!)

#stephen king's it #stanley uris #mike hanlon #beverly marsh #bill denbrough #ben hanscom #it novel #meta #asks #anonymous #crossovers #it meta #my meta #hogwarts au

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just-here-for-tozier · 7 years

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Losers Hogwarts HC

-Stan and Richie are constantly bickering, driving all of the other Ravenclaws insane -Richie knows how to get into the Hufflepuff common room and visits Eddie all the time (the Hufflepuffs don't mind) -At least once a week Richie responds to the Eagle with a smart-ass comment, resulting in him getting locked out until someone, usually Ben, lets him in -Richie sleeps in most of his classes but still gets really good grades. He's also a Beater for the team. -Richie called Dumbledore "dad" once on accident in one of his many, many visits to his office -Eddie gets along really well with all of the Hufflepuffs but still spends most of his time in the common room with Mike -Eddie was really against sleeping in the same bed as Richie at first but quickly started liking the extra warmth (he pushes Richie out of the bed during the summer, though) -Eddie goes to visit the kitchen a lot (he stays far away from the knives) and is really good friends with one of the elves, Gaz. They always make him his favorite food when he's feeling ill (so all the time) -Eddie works hard in all his classes and gets good grades. Potions is his favorite, despite Snape's efforts to make him hate it. -Eddie's on a first-name basis with Professor Sprout and the nurse (whose name I just forgot) -Bill really feels at home in Slytherin and doesn't get bullied for his stutter. -Bill still likes Beverly but they're not in a relationship -One time the common room password was the word "Mudblood" and Bill spent a week in the Gryffindor tower because he refused to say it. He slept on a pile of extra pillows on the floor in front of the fire. -Bill gets good grades but spends most of his time in class doodling, much to the disappointment of his teachers -Bill's called 90% of the staff and students "mom" at least once -Mike is friends with basically everyone in the castle but still hangs out with the Losers whenever he can -Mike dated a few girls throughout his time at Hogwarts, one of them being Hannah Abbot -Mike' favorite place in the entire world in in the Hufflepuff common room, in front of the fire, in one of the biggest chair of the rooms. He usually sits there every night to play Exploding Snap with some friends -Mike's favorite class is Herbology. He and Professor Sprout are really close and occasionally discuss muggle and wizard plants over tea in her office -All of the teachers like Mike (apart from Snape) -Ben spends a lot of his free time studying in the library (often held company by a grumpy Richie (and a silencing charm) -Ben, like Bill, likes Bev but isn't dating her -Ben is absolutely fascinated by the ceiling of the tower and spends a lot of evenings laying on the ground staring up at it (he's not the only one, lots of people love the ceiling as it shows the night sky) -McGonagall absolutely loves Ben but she'll never admit it. He's the star of her class and is also good at most other classes. -Ben's on a first-name basis with madame Pince -Stan secretly likes being in the same house as Ben and Richie (he'll never admit the latter) because life just doesn't get boring with those two -Stan does not care for girls...or guys...really he just wants to read his book -Stan spends his nights reading books in the moonlight shining in through the window of the dorm. The reason he's up is because Richie snores loudly or "silently" sneaks off to Eddie -Much to the distaste of the other Losers, Ancient Runes is Stan's favorite class but he, like the other Losers, gets good grades in everything (apart from Herbology) -Stan's invited to Nick's deathday party every year -Bev's biggest complaint about being in Gryffindor is that the staircase literally will not allow the guys to come up to her room. Apart from that she's extremely proud of her house. -Bev is way too focused on her career as a Chaser to even think about boys (one time Richie knocked a Bludger her way and broke her nose. He brought her flowers every day) -When Bill spends the night in the Gryffindor common room, Bev falls asleep in a char close to where he is sleeping -Bev's favorite class is charms, although she mostly uses it to hex the other Losers -Bev gets mistaken for a Weasly every two weeks

#the losers club #beverly marsh #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrack #bill denbrough #stan uris #ben hanscom #mike hanlon #it #stephen kings it #harry potter

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phvnthom · 7 years

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Stenbrough Hogwarts!AU snippet

Seventh year had creeped up on them so quickly that Bill could hardly believe it. Only yesterday was he a gangly twelve year old at King's Cross Station being bid farewell by his mother; a child completely made up of anxiety, doubt, and confusion. But everything had worked itself out. He wasn't that same kid anymore, his life had completely changed, from the worst to maybe the best it had ever been.

From being lanky and awkward, he had become incredibly tall and his shoulders had spanned out strong and wide against his somewhat narrow waist, his hair was short but not incredibly so, maybe a little past his ears. He always wore rings on his fingers and his ears were pierced, one at the bottom and two at the top, just like Richie's. It was his idea after all. Late at night, after everyone else had gone to sleep during break they both sneaked out, black hoodies over their heads and sneakers stepping silently on the pavement as they dashed off towards Bill's car; a birthday present from his mom. It hurt like a bitch for Ritchie while Bill's was almost completely painless. Afterwards they just stayed in Bill's car, the radio playing softly in the background as they stared up at the stars through the sunroof, the blanket Bill brought strown over both of them.

Back then it was only the two of them, then Eddie came along and god was Richie completely smitten with him. It was like love at first sight. Sure, they had known of each other since they were younger, but never had they actually met and once they shared a class and became partners for a project it was over. Seeing the two of them together was surreal at first, with Richie being six feet and Eddie staying at a consistent height of five foot eight for the last three years. Richie teased him for it and in Eddie's eyes he could see murderous intent behind them every time it was remotely brought up. However, Bill and him got along surprisingly well. They had become like brothers to each other in the short amount of time they had known one another. When Eddie had problems he always came to him, especially when it involved Richie. He was almost like the lifeline between them, always leveling the playing field when one of them fucked up.

Eddie wasn't the only change though. Ever since fifth year all three of them had been made into prefects; and along the way more people were added to their little family. Mike, Beverly and Ben were all cool people and they had molded to each other as if they had known each other their whole lives. There wasn't a moment where they weren't together one way or another. Usually it was Richie and Eddie together, but ever since they joined Bill didn't feel as alone anymore. They were always there for each other, even when one wasn't available there was always another to pick you up. They were his family away from home and he was so grateful for them.

Being in different houses however always sucked, as most nights they had to coordinate with each other on which common room to sleep over at for the night. Usually it was Gryffindor tower as both Beverly and Bill belonged there and it was always the most welcoming of the three, besides Hufflepuff. Everyone knew them there anyway and treated them as one of their own, even Richie. For someone who constantly partied and and barely did anything to study most of the time, Bill was surprised he wasn't a Gryffindor. For Richie it was all about connecting with people and having a good time, he always stood up for the little guy even if it made him a public enemy. But when he spoke and actually put in thought to his incoherent ramblings and jokes he could see exactly why he was a Ravenclaw. Richie was nothing short of genius and passed all his classes effortlessly, and even helped them on the side whenever they asked. Mike was more reserved however, for him it wasn't as easy but he was just as good as Richie, even if he actually had to study for it. All in all they were a well rounded group.

Eddie and Beverly were usually the ones who planned things but ever since Beverly was made head girl, there wasn't a lot time for them to hang out, and consequently Eddie and Mike were now the ones in charge. Saturdays they were supposed to meet in the morning for breakfast, and hang out for the rest of the day wherever they planned and already he was late. He stayed up all night doing homework and when he woke up it was already ten am; one hour late. He'd be surprised if they were all there waiting for him still.

With a buzz he heard another text message come in.

My Favorite Boy: “Dude, where are you? Bev keeps bitching about family bonding time being wasted.”

Big Bill: “Sorry. Woke up late. I'm almost there.”

My Favorite Boy: “She's scary when she's angry… Don't tell her that, though. She'd kill me.”

Big Bill: “Probably. I'm right here in the hall anyway, three more minutes. I promis—” With a clang, his phone went flying out of his hands as he bumped into someone.

His cheeks burned up as he looked down and saw none other than Stanley Uris. Tan skin, caramel curls, with a nose piercing, and a leather jacket. Every person's fantasy at Hogwarts, and he had just managed to not only bump into him but also send his book flying halfway across the floor.

Stan wasn't just any student. He was the head boy, and the proud leader of Slytherin. However not by his choosing; people naturally just looked up to him. He mostly kept to himself and was close to no one, but his grades and his ability to always win made him a strong candidate for head boy, and just this year, when it was announced, it surprised absolutely no one. Except maybe Richie who thought he was sure fire to get the spot, but ultimately lost to “the hot pureblood asshole”. Bill couldn't agree more with the title. Stan was hot no doubt, but his uptight nature and the way he held himself made everyone believe that there really wasn't anyone who could ever measure up to him; and he let it be known every time he picked up his latest conquest just to dump her a couple of weeks later. Stan wasn't one for monogamy, at least not long term, and every girl who had ever been with him ended up heartbroken. It didn't stop Bill, or anyone else from looking though.

Stan merely looked up at him, his eyebrow arched condescendingly and his lips pulled into a slight frown.

“I-I-I’m so-orry. I w-wasn’t paying attention and did-dn’t see y-ou.” Bill said embarrassed, his cheeks getting redder when Stan merely stared at him strangely.

The silence stretched between them awkwardly before Stan crouched down and picked up Bill's phone, while he scrambled to pick up his book on the other side. Bill was surprised when he found birds on the cover, as Stan didn't seem one for pleasantries or cute animals.

“I-I’m sorry again. I really didn’t mean to b-bump into you.”

“I know. It's fine, now if I could get my book back that'd be great.” Stan said courtly, his head held high and his eyes cold.

His every movement was calculated and controlled while his tone never strayed far from slight annoyance and complete apathy.

Bill had never met such an intimidating person before.

“Ye-eah, sorry. Here you go. Sorry for that.” Stan rolled his eyes before retrieving his book, the look he gave him almost making Bill want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

“You know, you apologize too much.” Stan said.

He gripped the book to his chest before giving Bill's phone back, his cold fingers pressing slightly into his palm as he placed it there. A jolt of electricity ran down his spine at the touch and from being in such close proximity to this god of a man. Bill could only stare awestruck as he watched Stan fix his fringe exasperatedly before walking past him, their shoulders brushing against each other and making him stumble slightly on his feet. Looking back he briefly saw Stan stare back at him with a slight smirk to his lips, and Bill quickly looked away, his face burning up at the thought.

Stan was weird...but not his kind of weird. Everybody knew that. He was the Casanova of the school. The straight, perfect elite who mostly looked out for himself and kept his eyes on the prize. Not part of a misfit group of teenagers that had movie marathons almost every weekend and were constantly messing around making fool's out of themselves in public. That statement mostly referenced Richie of course.

He snapped out of it and made his way to the great Hall.

When he got there almost everyone had finished their food, except maybe Eddie who had just gotten his.

“Finally, Billy! Where have you been?” Beverly exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as soon as she saw him.

“I woke up late. Sorry guys.”

“Took you long enough. I was starting to miss you more than Eddie's mom.”

“Do you ever shut up. I swear to God.” Eddie grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose.

A/N: Pls tell me if any of this is even remotely good.

#it #stenbrough #fic #pls it's not done don't crucify me #reddie

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