#reddie week 2023

[gloomy-prince]

Reddie Week day 5: Other media

Pushing Daisies is one of my favorite shows and I've been meaning to draw an au for a while ❤️ So... I ended up drawing two things

[reddieweek]

Welcome to the fifth annual Reddie Week!

Rules | F.A.Q. | AO3 Collection

Posting period: 04 June 2023 - 10 June 2023

This year we've decided to give Reddie Week a theme using a tried and true trope we all know and love. This year's theme is Alternate Universe!

Prompts:

04 June: Mythical Creatures: witches/wizards/warlocks, werewolves/werecreatures, vampires, dragons, etc.

05 June: Occupation Swap: tattoo artist, flower shop, mechanic, barista, doctor, musician, baker, etc.

06 June: Meet-Cutes: online, speed-dating, looking for a roommate, boarding school classmates, etc.

07 June: Soulmates: red string of fate, seeing in black and white until you meet them, feeling each other's emotions, etc.

08 June: Books/Games/Movies/TV: star wars, twilight, the uglies, percy jackson, bones, skyrim, zelda, etc.

09 June: (Post-)Apocalypse: natural disasters, solar flare, nuclear war, zombies, etc.

10 June: Canon Divergence: eddie in the deadlights, richie doesn't want to return to Derry so eddie has to come get him, eddie did the carving in the kissing bridge, pennywise was a figment of their imagination, etc.

Although there are suggested AUs for each day, any alternate universe work is acceptable! Just be clear about what type of AU it is in your tags or author's notes!

Additionally, this year we will be accepting works that are inspired by any past Reddie Week prompt. Please make it clear which prompt you are using. Here is a list of possible, related tags you might use for past and present prompts. Specific past prompts can be found in each year's sub-collection on AO3.

You can share your work by tagging it with #reddieweek or tagging @reddieweek in your post.

Any questions? Concerns? Ideas you want to share? Send this blog an ask or message the mods: @eddieeatsass and @frankchaudhary

[cciirceee]

@reddieweek Part two!

occupation swap!

(I might post everything with a small delay I'm sorry)

I was listening to Maneskin while drawin this so in my brain at some point felt like it was rich singing lmao. Based on Daisy Jones and the six!

[arvilsdraws]

Reddie week day 4: (yes I know, super late since this was yesterday, so sorry) A drawing with the legend of the red thread

@reddieweek

[beep-beep-sunny]

Reddie Week 2023

Master Post

Sunny Gloom

Day 1- Mythical Creatures (ongoing)

The Ghost with the Most

Richie died became a ghost saving Eddie when they were children and has been attached to Eddie ever since.

Day 2- Occupation Swap (ongoing)

My Daddy Likes Boys

Eddie and Myra get a divorce when Eddie comes out as gay. Their son, Frankie Kaspbrak, hatches a plan to set his dad up with his teacher, Mr. Tozier.

Day 3- Meet-Cute (finished)

Keep Walking

Eddie and Richie have a chance meeting within the 27 years.

Day 4- Soulmate AU (finished)

The Most Beautiful Colors

Everyone has a soulmate, except Eddie Kaspbrak.

Day 5- Other Media (ongoing)

It's a Real Scream!

Eddie and Richie as the Ghostface killers in Scream (1996)

Day 6- Post-Apocalypse (ongoing)

The Eater of Worlds

The Losers lose against Pennywise, and he takes over the world.

Day 7- Canon Divergence (ongoing)

If You Were Here (and I Wish You Were)

Richie dies instead of Eddie....or does he?

Please tell me which of these fics you'd like to see continue!

Great Reddie Week this year everyone!!

[imsodonewiththissite]

Ahh okay

super nervous to post bc it's my first time posting fanart but...

PJO universe!reddie AU for day 5: other media @reddieweek

Camp half-blood has a few new members (because this is actually a losers club au hehe) but were starting with richie and eddie!! I hope this is good and also not too niche lol

I finally decided my final pick of their godly parents but if I would love to see alternates too! I have so many more thoughts on this au that I will make a separate post but for now I will have to make do with this beginner art so that you all can see my ✨️vision✨️

[alicetallula]

Reddie Week 2023 - Day 1 : Mythical Creatures - 04.06.2023

I'm so excited to finally manage to participate to @reddieweek

Day 2 : Occupation Swap / Day 3 : Meet-Cutes / Day 4 : Soulmates / Day 5 : Books/Games/Movies/TV / Day 6 : (Post-) Apocalypse / Day 7 : Canon Divergence

Day 1 : Mythical Creatures - Vampire!Eddie and Werewolf!Richie - 04.06.2023

Done using watercolors, metallic watercolors, ink pens, colored pencils, alcohol markers, graphite pencils, gel pens and acrylic paint pens

AO3 post / DeviantArt post / Instagram post / Patreon post / Pillowfort post / Twitter post

[alicetallulaafterdark]

Reddie Week 2023 - Day 5 : Books/Games/Movies/TV - 12.06.22023

I decided to redraw this scene from S3 of Barry with Reddie

For @reddieweek

Day 1 : Mythical Creatures / Day 2 : Occupation Swap / Day 3 : Meet-Cutes / Day 4 : Soulmates / Day 6 : (Post-) Apocalypse / Day 7 : Canon Divergence

I was in an angsty mood, sorry 🥲😅💜

Day 5 : Books/Games/Movies/TV - Barry AU - Page 1 - 12.06.2023

Done using watercolors, ink pens, gel pens, colored pencils, alcohol markers, graphite pencils and acrylic paint pens

AO3 post / DeviantArt post / Instagram post / Patreon post / Pillowfort post / Twitter post

Day 5 : Book/Games/Movie/TV - Barry AU - Page 2 - 12.06.2023

Done using watercolors, ink pens, gel pens, colored pencils, alcohol markers, graphite pencils and acrylic paint pens

AO3 post / DeviantArt post / Instagram post / Patreon post / Pillowfort post / Twitter post

[que3rduckling]

Reddie week day 4: soulmates

I got inspired by my Bylerweek soulmates fanart in which I drew the first time they met with a red string around their fingers. So for this I drew what I think would be the first time reddie met with the red string wrapped their fingers.

Ok can we please pretend they look like their in like grade 1-2, I know that they don’t really look like they are but I was trying my best. I have never drawn little kids before so please excuse it.

Anyways I think that the first time they met Richie would have been playing in the playground when he fell and scraped his knee. Eddie, who was also in the playground at the time, saw that happened and decided to help him.

With Eddie’s fannypack of wonders he produces all the equipment he needs to help Richie clean up his wounds. And as we see in the image Eddie is putting on the final touch with a band aide.

Hope you guys like this as much as I do

@reddieweek

[eddieeatsass]

Swear It

Reddie Week Day 7: Canon Divergence

Summary: What if it hadn't been Bev and Bill who'd shared a kiss at the end of chap 1, but Richie and Eddie? Pairing: Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak Rating: Teen Warnings: Canon typical blood (takes place during/after the blood oath), very light angst

🩸 🩸 🩸

So there they were, sharing bloody hands and nervous looks, standing among one another with the weight of that summer finally lifted.

They'd killed Pennywise. Richie honestly isn't even sure how they’d done it, he's pretty sure he’d blacked out somewhere between picking up the baseball bat and making his way back out of the sewers. But now that It was finally gone, the atmosphere between them had changed.

Whatever happened down there had tethered them to one another in a way Richie wasn't mature enough to fully understand yet. And if that hadn't been enough on its own, the blood oath they'd just taken was the nail in the coffin.

The seven of them were connected forever; through love, through trauma, and now through blood (much to Eddie’s dismay).

Continue on AO3

[cafenervosa]

he knew well enough.

it always bothered me that my reddie playlist didn't have a cover pic so here's one uhhh *checks calendar* four years later. yes i've updated it recently what about it.

[id in alt text]

[reddieweek]

Thank you and congratulations!

To everyone who participated in Reddie Week in any capacity, thank you so much! You absolutely killed it, and you spread so much joy and life. We really can't thank you enough!

We hope you all had fun ♥

And remember, you can continue to participate if you still have ideas flowing in.

A huge congratulations and thank you to the three of you who completed Reddie Week on time this year! What a feat!

@squeakykid, @gloomy-prince, @lordkalsiferdraws!!!!

Amazing work!!!! :)

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 30, 2023

Adult-born neurons inhibit developmentally-born neurons during spatial learning. Ash, A. M., Regele-Blasco, E., Seib, D. R., Chahley, E., Skelton, P. D., Luikart, B. W., & Snyder, J. S. (2023). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 198, 107710.

Behavioral origin of sound-evoked activity in mouse visual cortex. Bimbard, C., Sit, T. P. H., Lebedeva, A., Reddy, C. B., Harris, K. D., & Carandini, M. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 251–258.

Exploration patterns shape cognitive map learning. Brunec, I. K., Nantais, M. M., Sutton, J. E., Epstein, R. A., & Newcombe, N. S. (2023). Cognition, 233, 105360.

Distinct contributions of ventral CA1/amygdala co-activation to the induction and maintenance of synaptic plasticity. Chong, Y. S., Wong, L.-W., Gaunt, J., Lee, Y. J., Goh, C. S., Morris, R. G. M., … Sajikumar, S. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(3), 676–690.

 An intrinsic oscillator underlies visual navigation in ants. Clement, L., Schwarz, S., & Wystrach, A. (2023). Current Biology, 33(3), 411-422.e5.

Not so optimal: The evolution of mutual information in potassium voltage-gated channels. Duran-Urriago, A., & Marzen, S. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0264424.

Successor-like representation guides the prediction of future events in human visual cortex and hippocampus. Ekman, M., Kusch, S., & de Lange, F. P. (2023). eLife, 12, e78904.

Residual dynamics resolves recurrent contributions to neural computation. Galgali, A. R., Sahani, M., & Mante, V. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 326–338.

Dorsal attention network activity during perceptual organization is distinct in schizophrenia and predictive of cognitive disorganization. Keane, B. P., Krekelberg, B., Mill, R. D., Silverstein, S. M., Thompson, J. L., Serody, M. R., … Cole, M. W. (2023). European Journal of Neuroscience, 57(3), 458–478.

A striatal circuit balances learned fear in the presence and absence of sensory cues. Kintscher, M., Kochubey, O., & Schneggenburger, R. (2023). eLife, 12, e75703.

Hippocampal engram networks for fear memory recruit new synapses and modify pre-existing synapses in vivo. Lee, C., Lee, B. H., Jung, H., Lee, C., Sung, Y., Kim, H., … Kaang, B.-K. (2023). Current Biology, 33(3), 507-516.e3.

Neocortical synaptic engrams for remote contextual memories. Lee, J.-H., Kim, W. Bin, Park, E. H., & Cho, J.-H. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 259–273.

The effect of temporal expectation on the correlations of frontal neural activity with alpha oscillation and sensory-motor latency. Lee, J. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 2012.

Describing movement learning using metric learning. Loriette, A., Liu, W., Bevilacqua, F., & Caramiaux, B. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0272509.

The geometry of cortical representations of touch in rodents. Nogueira, R., Rodgers, C. C., Bruno, R. M., & Fusi, S. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 239–250.

Contextual and pure time coding for self and other in the hippocampus. Omer, D. B., Las, L., & Ulanovsky, N. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(2), 285–294.

Reshaping the full body illusion through visuo-electro-tactile sensations. Preatoni, G., Dell’Eva, F., Valle, G., Pedrocchi, A., & Raspopovic, S. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0280628.

Experiencing sweet taste is associated with an increase in prosocial behavior. Schaefer, M., Kühnel, A., Schweitzer, F., Rumpel, F., & Gärtner, M. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 1954.

Cortical encoding of rhythmic kinematic structures in biological motion. Shen, L., Lu, X., Yuan, X., Hu, R., Wang, Y., & Jiang, Y. (2023). NeuroImage, 268, 119893.

Mindful self-focus–an interaction affecting Theory of Mind? Wundrack, R., & Specht, J. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0279544.

[arvilsdraws]

As always I am late for everything, I wanted to participate in reddie week but I didn't start on the first day so my best option was to sneak😺

[beep-beep-sunny]

Reddie Week Day 4 Soulmates!!

This is my longest Reddie week post so far! I'll put it below the little squiggly line and see what that does. Please let me know what you think if you decide to check it out! Thank you!

Soulmates were real. Right? Eddie Kaspbrak was always told they were. That there were auras that were visible to just you and that special person. That being around them made things smell different… taste different. They made you look at the world with fresh eyes. He had no proof of that. 

He had no proof of it because he wasn't able to see anything. He never could. It would be one thing if only that "special" person was supposed to have an aura. No. People said they could see their own auras. Eddie never saw anything. He didn't even know what it was supposed to look like. It's like how no one how's how well they can visualize things because they'll never know what other people are seeing. How clear is the apple? What the fuck does that even mean.

He used to try to see it. He'd convince himself he was a late bloomer. It was coming. His colors would come in and he'd see the world in a new vibrancy. 

His mother was pushy from the start. "Describe it sweetie? What are your colors?" She wouldn't drop it. Wouldn't let it go. "Why won't you just tell me, sweetie?? What are you hiding from mommy?" 

She pushed it and pushed it until Eddie popped. He started crying and screamed out. "I don't have any colors! I'm blank! I'm broken!"

He regretted it immediately. He feared what might happen after speaking to her like that, but she just pulled him close in an oppressive stranglehold. "Oh baby, it's okay!! Maybe you don't have colors because you don't need a soulmate because you have me. I'm all you need, Eddie bear." Eddie, overwhelmed, only cried harder. 

When his friends asked, he lied through his teeth. He was silent as he listened to his friends describing their colors. Bill was sad because his colors didn't end up matching with Beverly Marsh, the girl he had a crush on ever since they kissed in the school play. His were purple. Stanley mostly just said his were green. He didn't give much away about his stance on "soulmates". Just green. Then, Richie. For some reason, Eddie has been dreading Richie's explanation the most. He and Richie had been "Eddie and Richie" for so long. Always together, always fighting, always tangled up limbs forming the infinity sign. It was selfish for Eddie to wish Richie was like him, but he did. He told himself he just didn't want to be the only one. 

Richie has colors. From the sounds of it, the most beautiful and obnoxious colors that ever existed. He painted a picture with a rainbow of colors. Eddie watched him with wide eyes, stunned, in awe, as Richie kept going, kept describing the most beautiful colors in the world. "What about you, Eds?" Richie asked. Eddie searched Richie's face. Did he know? Could he tell? They made eye contact, Eddie swallowed, though his throat was dry. Richie's eyes were so, "Blue." Eddie said, before he even realized his lips were moving. The eye contact held for a moment longer, the air sticky thick, before Richie smiled wide, carefree as if Eddie's world wasn't falling apart. "Cool!" 

Not long after, Beverly Marsh joined their little group as well as Mike Hanlon and Ben Hanscom. As it turned out, Beverly Marsh's soulmate was the new kid, Ben. Bill tried to hide the heartbreak on his face when they told everyone, hand in hand. Eddie's mouth turned up in disgust. Why should something so stupid control love? What If they don't feel it? What if they love someone else? Who decided that's what the colors meant anyway? Bill cried on Eddie's shoulder for a week while they ate goldfish and gushers and watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The rest of them didn't see the person with their colors throughout their highschool years. It didn't matter much, as Eddie saw it, with what they'd been through together? They were all soulmates in the ways that mattered. 

They all lost touch after graduation. 

He met Myra on a Sunday. He got off work early Sundays, so he likes to spend his nights sipping fruity cocktails at The Lucky Turtle. The old dusty sign under the name read "your destiny awaits". Her voice had a familiar shrillness, even though they'd never met. She was wailing to the bartender about her boyfriend loud enough for the entire bar to hear, and the bartender looked overwhelmed. "He's a bum!" She blubbered. "I can't believe I got saddled with such a gross loser for a soulmate! I was really going places before he came along ya know! All A's in school and cute as a button. Now we're broke and all my potential is wasted. Stupid freaking," she paused, "Pardon my language, but stupid colors shouldn't trap a cute teen girl into a life of suffering with a total loser. I need a man that can take care of me!" Myra wasn't pleasant, but Eddie couldn't help but be intrigued by her disdain for the colors. He moved closer to her. "W..what??" She sniffled. "Come to take advantage of my fragile position?" She looked at him through her eyelashes and puffed out her lower lip. 

Eddie almost just left, but he didn't. Maybe it was the alcohol coursing through his veins"I don't think the colors know everything." He said coolly. "It's all a huge scam." She lit up at that. 

They went home together. It wasn't like Eddie to mess around with a married woman, but it wasn't like him to mess around with anyone and he was so fucking lonely. When Eddie blurted out his defect. I have no colors. I'm blank. I don't have a soulmate. He thought that would be it. Why would anyone want someone that was deficient? It wasn't. She was delighted. 

By the fifth meetup, Myra announced she was leaving her "dead beat" husband for him. She loved that Eddie was dependable with a good paying job and benefits. She also loved that he was broken. It was like having two soulmates, she'd say. She never had to worry about him leaving her for his real soulmate because he didn't have one, and she thought that was great. 

Their relationship wasn't anything special. Things didn't smell different or taste different, but at least he wouldn't live his life alone, and that was better than nothing, right? They were married on a Sunday, just like the day they met. His mother cried. Seeing them in one space was unnerving. It made it impossible to ignore their similarities. Two women that used his deficiency to claim him. 

He was married. That's what he wanted, right? To not be alone forever like he feared he would be? It seemed as though he should have been happy. He had everything normal people had, and yet, maybe the colors really meant more than just "soulmates", maybe it was the soul itself. Maybe Eddie was soulless. Maybe God forgot to give him a soul. Maybe he'd never be happy because he was hardly a real person. 

One afternoon, he was doing the dishes and Myra was watching TV in the sitting room. The rooms were connected, so they could still look over at each other. Myra was laughing, until she wasn't. She'd been watching her favorite late night talk show. "This guy sucks." She whined as she sunk deeper into her chair. "Eddie bear, come here! Look at this guy!! He really thinks he's funny, but he's awful. I can't believe Johnny Daily would have a hack like this guy on the show. What is the future of TV coming to?" She just droned on into an unpleasant white noise. 

"Okay okay, just for a minute. I'm doing the dishes." He took a few steps over so he could see the TV, absentmindedly drying a plate. 

"Richie Tozier, ladies and gentlemen." The TV came into crystal clear focus. There he was Richie. All grown up, scruff, laugh lines, and all. Same shitty jokes. The plate slipped from his fingers and shattered on the ground. 

After that, Eddie secretly sat in the bathroom to look up Richie, watch his standup, he'd only watch him on TV if he knew Myra wouldn't be home as if he were having an affair and not just embarrassed to be obsessed with a guy that his wife thought was "offensively unfunny". 

Myra was out with friends one night. "Girls night, don't wait up!" She said, going out the door in low-cut cheetah-print. Eddie had recorded Richie's recent TV appearances on a secret account and had been itching to watch them. Just waiting for an opportunity. 

The first was very typical of Richie's TV appearances, promoting his upcoming Netflix special that Eddie was already ready to sign up for a free trial to watch as soon as it came out. The second recording was different. It wasn't like his usual appearances. The vibe was more serious. At first, Eddie worried something was wrong. 

"So, you've come out! Tell us more about that." The host probed with a sympathetic smile that felt artificial. 

Richie's smile felt genuine, but nervous. "Sort of, I guess. If you want to put it like that. It's true. I don't have colors. I never have." Eddie felt himself immediately become cold and clammy. His mouth grew dry. 

"Never?" She asked. 

"Nope!" Richie replied, almost jovial. "I'm tired of lying. I figured I couldn't be alone. I thought, maybe I should finally be at least a little brave if that means it would help some other confused kid. It would have meant a lot to me to know I wasn't alone." 

Eddie stared at the screen, much closer to it than his mother would have been okay with. She always said sitting right in front of the TV was like staring at the sun. That hardly felt like it mattered at that moment. Eddie got up from.in front of the TV while earnest Richie and the fake interviewer continued the interview in the background. Eddie desperately pawed through the medicine cabinet. He'd thrown out his inhalers years ago, but suddenly felt desperate for a puff. Seeing Richie made him feel strange and small and scared. 

No. He thought. Nononono. Richie had colors. He said so. He had the most beautiful colors of all. Swirling blues and green and orange and yellow like the sun. He told them. He. He lied. Just like Eddie. Eddie always assumed, before he saw him again on TV, that Richie was living a happy white-picket-fence life with a beautiful wife. Someone special. Someone that also had the most beautiful colors and together they were raising two boys with a cat and a dog and a chameleon that could turn all kinds of different colors. Richie always wanted a chameleon, but no. Richie didn't have those things. He was just as confused and scared and lonely as Eddie had always been. 

Before he realized what he was doing, his body moving almost automatically, he was in the car and driving. Where am I going? The broadcast wasn't live. I recorded it a week ago. At a red light, Eddie skillfully typed out, "Where does Richie Tozier live"  like a stalker. He got a vague area in LA from a sketchy tabloid site, and that was good enough for him. 

He didn't say a word to anyone, not to his work, not to Myra. Maybe he should have attempted to message Richie, but it's not like he'd see it. He was famous now and Eddie hadn't talked to him since highschool. He just got on a plane, looking unkempt and jittery. He didn't think the random screening he was pulled for was very random. 

He'd never been to California. He used to want to go. He used to want to see all kinds of places. Road trips in fast cars, wind running through his hair from open windows, even though it's terrible for your ears. 

He opened Twitter and navigated to Richie's page. Eddie didn't use Twitter, and using it now just made him feel even creepier. What am I even doing? This is crazy! He thought, but he looked anyway. Richie had a bad habit of posting everything. Eddie went on a wild goose chase, following his Twitter breadcrumbs to no avail. He almost gave up. It was getting dark, and Eddie had retreated back into his hotel room. He relaxed in the provided hotel robe after a long scolding shower. Eddie heard once that lonely people take the hottest showers. 

His phone buzzed. Probably Myra. He told her something came up for work. He hated lying like this, but how could he possibly explain the truth? Sorry darling. I'm in LA stalking your least favorite comedian. He's actually my childhood friend and it turns out we're both broken in the same way. It was stupid. It was so stupid. 

It wasn't Myra. It was an alert from Richie's Twitter. He posted a picture of himself on a stage in front of an empty stadium. It said, "I'll see you all at my show tonight!" It included a link to more information as well as a kissy winking face that flipped Eddie's stomach. 

He was performing a show at a place nearby the hotel at 9pm which was only an hour away. This was his only chance. He got dressed quickly. He didn't pack much. He looked unpolished and ridiculous, but he headed out anyway. 

He thought he could buy tickets at the door, but no such luck. He ended up crossing his fingers and buying a ticket from scalpers for five times the price. He had no idea Richie was so famous. He wasn't even funny. 

He got in with his scalped ticket. He watched from the nosebleeds. Okay, maybe he was a little funnier than he'd been as a kid. He was in his element up on the stage. He'd really grown up. Eddie heard sounds coming out of himself that he hadn't in a long time. Fond little laughs that were embarrassed to bubble out. Okay, maybe he always found Richie a little funny. 

By the end of the show, Eddie was a bit more relaxed. He was here. Richie Tozier. In the flesh. Richie Tozier who didn't see the colors. Just like Eddie. 

When Richie finished wishing the crowd goodnight, Eddie was already out of his seat. He was fighting through the legs of slow patrons with a flurry of "Sorry, excuse me sorry." He could lose Richie. Not again. He didn't have a plan beyond "get to Richie". 

There was a crowd around the front and a bodyguard that was on the short side, but still muscular and stocky. I probably could put run this guy. Eddie thought, seemingly embracing his fate as a creepy stalker. "Back up!" The guy yelled, spitting as he talked. 

Richie was walking down the side stairs. They were so close now. Eddie took a deep breath. "Trashmouth!" The yell came out more squeaky and desperate than he would have preferred, but he had to do it. What else was he going to do? 

Their eyes met. Richie looked scared. Eddie realized this was a mistake immediately. Richie was scared. Of course he was scared because Eddie was a total fucking stalker. Richie would probably get a restraining order and he'd never see him again. 

"Alright, get out of here." The bodyguard walked over to shoo him, and Eddie was ready to let him, but Richie wasn't. He reached out and stopped his bodyguard from moving forward. 

His eyes bore into Eddie. Eddie shivered under the intensity of his icy blue eyes. "Eds?" Richie said. The nickname gripped Eddie's heart and wouldn't let go. Richie and his bodyguard shared a look that must have communicated "let him through" because that's just what he did. Eddie walked past the bodyguard and was suddenly feet from Richie for the first time in two decades. 

They stared for a while. "Hi." Richie said, his voice suddenly raw and vulnerable. 

"Hi." Eddie replied, shyly.

"What are you, I mean, how did you, I um," Richie struggled to form a coherent thought. Some things never changed, though he never used to seem so careful about word choice. "You're here." He settled with. 

"I can't see the colors either!" Eddie blurted, almost like he couldn't hold it in anymore. Like the words have been pounding on his throat for a long time. 

Richie looked lost. He searched Eddie's face as if he thought this was all some kind of mean joke. "But," his throat sounded dry. He probably wasn't hydrating properly. "But you're blue." He said, not needing to search his mind for the color. It was as though he'd thought about it many times before, but why. Why would he remember that little lie after all these years? The answer to that was simple, but Eddie couldn't let himself believe the simple answer. Because if Richie remembered Eddie was blue the same way Eddie remembered the picture Richie had painted of the most beautiful colors in the world then maybe that meant he felt it too.

But, what the hell? "I lied." Eddie said. 

"Why?" Richie sounded desperate, hanging on Eddie's every word. 

"I didn't want you to think I was broken. I-" Almost as soon as the words were out of Eddie's mouth, Richie caught his cheeks in his hands, pulling him impossibly close and linking their lips. Eddie didn't shut his eyes. He couldn't, because suddenly he was filled with such clarity. He could see the green grass, the dark night sky, the yellow dandelions of spring, the blue of Richie's eyes. The colors were all there. They were always there. They were everywhere. Who's to say he's missing anything? The colors were here the whole time. Blue wasn't a lie, because it was there, in Richie's eyes. Eddie wanted to live in the blue of his eyes forever. 

It didn't take long for the kissing to deepen and for Eddie to notice the cameras flashing. Eddie held up both his middle fingers. He heard that makes it so the magazines can't use paparazzi photos. He wanted this moment just for them. 

[librarycards]

hello everyone, and welcome to my slightly-belated quarter 2 2023 book recs! i spent the last 2ish weeks in europe both sighteeing and attending the amazing FAC No Borders Summer School, and am still getting back into the swing of being home, getting over jet lag, etc. since coming back, it's been really nice to take stock of the books i've read since March, and rediscover some gems. So, without further ado, here they are (links are to my reviews of each book - let me know if you like being linked directly to my reviews! I also do this on my Substack)!

Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, and Michael Northern (eds.), Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability

Joshua Whitehead (ed)., Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction

jia qing wilson-yang, Small Beauty

Srikanth Reddy, Voyager

Paris Green / frog k / @play-now-my-lord , how about a little kiss?

Ruha Benjamin, Viral Justice: How We Grow The World We Want

Connie Willis, Doomsday Book

Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs

Robin Coste Lewis, Voyage of the Sable Venus

tagging people whose faves i'm interested in below, but as always, anyone can make their list and tag me -- i love seeing what you're reading!

@gwenderqueer @discworldwitches @aldieb @tamagotchiplanet @probablymoons @capricornpropaganda @killyfromblame @myalgias @oatsmilk @secretcircuit @closet-keys @fatehbaz @sawasawako @takemyrevolution1997 @tirragen @trans-axolotl @llleighsmith @bioethicists @smokedsalmoniloveyou @materialisnt @grimesapologist @vawoolf @kissedbytheriver @twinkubus @sadhoc @hamath @thedyke @endure @osmanthusoolong @heavenlyyshecomes @stephen-deadalus @querxus @pf2e @coffinbutch @punkkwix @r00tvegetables @abstractlesbian @handweavers @r-ob-yn @mastincala @campgender @feypact and anyone else who wants to!