#askhc

ooh this is an interesting one!!

i think that when the losers find out richie’s actually really smart, they’re surprised but not because they think he’s dumb or stupid but more because they’re so used to richie acting like he has zero common sense lmao

but their grade cards arrive one day and they all go down to the barrens after school, and they have their grade cards with them so they decide to discuss them just for something to talk about for a while

(i’m not american so idk exactly how the grading system works but) when they get to richie they find out that he’s gotten at least straight As in all of his classes apart from gym because he’s not the most athletic person

they all seem surprised by this because they don’t actually have any classes with richie so they’ve never seen him do school work, and richie seems bashful under their shocked expressions because he doesn’t usually get this type of attention

but eddie’s sort of confused as to why they’re surprised, he’s always thought it was fairly obvious that richie’s very academic behind the crude jokes and impressions

he doesn’t realise that this is because he subconsciously pays much more attention to richie than the rest of the losers do

he watches richie at the lunch table quickly scribbling down the solutions to whatever maths homework he has due for his next class, and he’s in a more advanced class than eddie so it’s not quite clear to him if richie’s doing the work right but eddie thinks he must be, because he writes without hesitance and appears to be solving them pretty quickly in his head

eddie notices that richie’s notebook has highlighter pen and doodles scrawled all over it, he wonders if it’s to help richie with keeping his focus on his work

he helps the losers sometimes when they’re stuck with something, just a throw away comment to get their mind back on track but none of them ever seem to think of it

eddie’s heard how richie talks about comics during the small hours of the night at sleepovers, it might not seem like much but he has a very deep understanding of the characters he reads about, on a level eddie’s not sure he would be able to achieve without richie’s insights

so they all gawk and laugh out of pure surprise, but eddie just smiles at richie because he’s always known, it makes him feel sort of special to be the only one who can see through the jokes, maybe he understands richie like richie understands the characters in his comics

god you’re so right

i’ve never really been a fan of richie being stylish in the traditional style, i think he throws together outfits and it looks like he got dressed in the dark, and none of the losers know if he maybe had a streak of good fashion in his young adulthood because they were separated for that time in their lives, but all they know is that he dresses like an absolute mess as a middle aged man

the clothes are maybe toned down now that he’s an adult, but the energy is very much the same

(his ch2 clothes were bland as hell i refuse to believe he would’ve voluntarily worn those)

he loves bright colours and patterns, he wants something interesting to look at so why not make it the clothes he has to walk around in all day?

post derry, richie’s so unbelievably happy that eddie’s choosing to leave his wife to come to california and is willing to do anything to make him comfortable because he knows it’s gonna be hard for a while

yk with the divorce process which will undoubtedly be long and hard, and both he and richie having to spend time recovering (richie with crutches because he messed his legs up pretty bad and eddie having to adjust to and learn how to use his bionic arm)

richie reasons that his choice of clothing makes him more easy to spot by the paparazzi, not many adults are out and about wearing a flamingo button up bright enough for them to stick out like a sore thumb, last thing eddie needs is to be caught by the paparazzi, media attention is overwhelming when you’re not used to it

and as much as richie loves the shirts, he doesn’t want eddie to be embarrassed being seen with him because of them—he doesn’t imagine that eddie’s the biggest fan of his style so he decides to tone it down

he starts to wear the same type of shirt but more dull, some with small patterns (like the one he shows up in, in ch2) or just shirts of solid colours but he doesn’t enjoy them like he enjoys his bright happy patterned ones, they don’t feel like him yk

though, without richie’s knowledge, eddie notices his sudden change in wardrobe and is secretly very disappointed

he doesn’t want to be weird and tell richie that he wishes he would go back to his silly shirts because he knows they make richie happy and honestly they make eddie go absolutely bananas inside

he didn’t get to see richie during his prime, but even as a tired forty year old he’s very easy on the eyes—not for everybody, but eddie certainly thinks he’s very handsome

he doesn’t know anyone else who could pull off the very questionable style that richie opted for, and he doesn’t think he’d be so enamoured by the silly designs if it were literally anyone else

the more ridiculous richie looks the more eddie wants to grab his face and kiss it all over

so since he’s not very good at talking about what he wants yet—he isn’t long out of his loveless marriage so it’s taking some work still—he decides to silently take matters into his own hands and hope richie gets the message

one morning richie wakes up and eddie’s in the kitchen, brewing some coffee for both of them

he goes about his short morning routine of a quick shower and brushing his teeth followed by some light skincare. and then he goes to pick his clothes for the day from the closet but stops when he realises that eddie seems to have already picked some clothes out for him and left them on the chair by the closet

it’s one of the shirts richie had pushed to the back of the closet, a bold purple complete with prints of assorted cartoon looking fruits all over it

eddie’s given him that shirt, a pair of sweatpants and nothing to serve as an undershirt but he doesn’t mind because they don’t intend to go anywhere on this particular day anyway

he changes slowly, albeit slightly confused, and makes his way through the house to the kitchen afterwards

eddie turns around when he hears richie coming, and his face softens at the sight of him “now, there’s my handsome man.”

eddie does end up sort of having to explain to richie that he was never embarrassed by his clothes and in fact would absolutely love it if he went back to his old style because it does do something for him and he can’t explain why

it’s a little awkward because they’re not used to talking about feelings yet but richie gets the general idea and reverts back to his old clothes, even buying some new shirts for eddie to marvel at because even if he doesn’t admit it outright richie definitely feels some type of way about eddies reaction to him in certain clothes

omg yes i love talking about this 🥺

so i think their cuddling positions vary depending on the day, and where they are

usually when they’re on the sofa eddie sits between richie’s legs and leans his head back on richie’s shoulder to give easy access for if richie wants to kiss him on the forehead while he wraps his arms around eddie’s stomach

he likes to feel like he’s keeping eddie safe (he thinks that’s something he’s gonna need for the rest of his life after seeing pennywise take eddie’s left arm from him)

however sometimes when it’s really late at night and they’re at that point where they’re sleepy but can’t be bothered moving, they can be found with eddie lying down on the sofa, and richie on top of him with his head on eddie’s chest

richie calls himself eddie’s blanket and says that eddie is his pillow in return

i think that they like to spoon in bed and perhaps this is controversial 😩😳 but i love eddie being the big spoon!! in richie’s past relationships he’s always been the bigger of the two so he’s never really gotten to experience being the one gets held rather than the one who holds the other because none of his past girlfriends asked if he would have liked to try it

and honestly until eddie asks, richie doesn’t know it‘s something he wants

“hey, rich, do you want me to cuddle you tonight?” eddie asks one evening, maybe a year and a half after he moves to california to be with richie

it takes them a long while to work up to intimacy with each other, and they’re still getting there with the help of therapy from professionals

“what do you mean, eds? we cuddle every night, now.”

“no, i know—i mean, wouldn’t you like to try letting me hold you for once instead of the other way around?” eddie watches richie begin to understand what he means, but he continues before richie has the chance to accept or decline, “i know that it’s important to you, being able to protect me, but i hope you know i always feel protected with you, regardless of the situation.” eddie takes the oppurtunity to tuck richie’s hair away from his face

“let me hold you to sleep, Rich, i promise if you hate it we don’t have to do it again, i just think you’ll be glad you tried it.”

and eddie’s right because it really is a wonderful feeling, eddie’s bare chest up against his back is so intimate that his body warms with it, he’s craved this kind of contact for so long without even realising it

plus eddie gets to kiss the back of his neck as much as he wants and gently squeeze his hip to make him laugh

richie certainly has days where he feels like he needs to curl up around eddie to make sure he’s safe but he’s an absolute sucker and will melt for the way it feels to have eddie cuddling him to both of their hearts’ content

oh my god yeah 😭

eddie moves in with richie in california and they have to get a bigger bed because despite having enough money to buy a hundred king sized beds, richie never opted to buy one because he lived alone until now and so much space left around him where he slept would have made him feel more lonely :(

answer an ask without going off on a small tangent every time challenge

so they decide on a bed together and when they bring it home to set it up it goes about as well as you’d expect

they literally cant get the sheet on, every time they fit it over one corner, it comes off the other and they just can’t figure it out LMAO richie tries to tell eddie that they have to both hold two corners and fit them around the mattress at the same time but eddie complains that his arms are too short to be able to do that

(richie laughs, eddie pouts, richie kisses him until he’s laughing)

and because they can’t get the sheet on the bed, they don’t get around to putting anything else on it and end up spending that night squeezed together in richie’s smaller bed, it’s okay though they like to cuddle

the next day they call mike and bill and ask them to stop by richie and eddie’s house while they’re on their travels so that they can help richie and eddie make up their bed

Domestic reddie 2: eddie thought richie would be a mess in the kitchen and he would be the designated cook, but turns out bc Eddie grew up with all his health scares he cooks bland af and richie is actually amazing at making fancy GOOD food. This infuriates eddie a little bit sjjdjd

Domestic reddie 3 bc i just remembered: eddie gets them matching gucci shoes AND outfits and the Internet is amazed by how pretty richie can be when he doesn’t go out looking like hot garbage shdhdh

aw yay i’m a fan of this too!! i also prefer the idea that they adopt pets rather than having children, i think that works better in general with the vibe of canon than them having kids does, by the time they get to be together they’re forty years old and slightly worn out by life, so wanting to care for something together but not feeling equipped to do so with kids, they’d definitely opt for pets

a cat and a dog is great for them!! i feel like the cat and dog would get along really well (and maybe even reflect richie and eddie’s personalities like they do in @caliceal’s ricardo/eggie au because that’s so sweet and funny) and richie and eddie would have the best of both worlds when taking care of them

they go to the park so that their dog can run around and get it’s energy out, so eddie runs around with the dog on the grass, playing fetch and frisbee with him while richie watches from one of the park benches, their cat (who’s only a kitten at this time) laying on his lap, sleeping

(i think it’s probably out of the ordinary to put them in these roles rather than the other way around but my reasoning is that eddie loves to run, he didn’t really get to often as a child so running around with their dog is a lot of fun for him. also i headcanon richie as having to use crutches permanently after their return to derry because of that nasty fall he had when he came out of the deadlights—he definitely should’ve had some sort of severe injury there, so he needs to give his legs a rest every so often and is content to watch eddie getting his energy out with the dog because he gets to see eddie so happy.)

then in the evening when they’re back home richie and eddie curl up on the sofa together, the kitten sits in eddie’s lap and the dog jumps all over richie, licking his face and trying to get a hug from him, which of course richie gives many of

i like to think that they have a pitbull dog, she’s very friendly and i think that after pennywise they’d want to feel really safe and protected and they know their dog will protect them if they’re ever threatened

onto cooking, i think you’re right! eddie’s still very apprehensive of many foods and ingredients that make cooking great, because for nearly four decades he was conditioned into fearing them so much, he’s working on it with his therapist

it does make his cooking a little bland, and honestly i’m not sure eddie would even be a good cook regardless, no one taught him how to cook so the food usually comes out with one problem or another but!! richie eats it anyway to make eddie happy because he looks so proud that he managed to make something

eventually eddie decides that richie should be the designated cook because he makes dinner for them one night and wow it’s so much better than eddie’s, he’s surprisingly talented in cooking

richie promises eddie that he’ll teach him more about cooking once eddie feels comfortable using more ingredients and isn’t as worried about allergies, and then they can make dinner together

and omg yeS eddie buying clothes for richie so they can match!! i’ve talked before about richie buying eddie hawaiian shirts so that they can match, and i think eddie would definitely do the same thing because he wants to let richie in on this thing that he loves so much and of course richie’s delighted

as i’ve said before richie often looks like he got dressed in the dark, he’s pretty neat in general like he’s clean and his hair is normally nice even if it looks messy it’s just that his clothing style makes him look like a closet full of different clothes threw up on him or something

it does work for him though in a way it wouldn’t with anyone else

buT he really likes the stuff eddie buys for him to wear too!! eddie buys him a lot of designer clothes from brands he likes and makes sure he gets things that are still pretty close to richie’s style so that he feels comfortable in what he’s wearing

(when eddie dresses him up in gucci he likes to call himself eddie’s barbie doll 😭😭)

people are pretty shocked when articles and pictures come out of the two just going about their day, shopping, walking in the park etc and suddenly richie looks like thought actually went into his outfit—it’s not hard to guess that the outfit was eddie’s doing

people love it!! they think richie looks great in this style just as much as his other and it’s so cute to see him matching with his partner

i also like the idea of eddie braiding richie’s hair (long hair richie rights!!) and painting his nails or something because he wants to show richie how much he loves him in any way he can, he’s good at this kind of thing and wants to share what makes him happy with richie!! it’s not so easy since his left arm is a prosthetic but richie is patient and loves seeing eddie so concentrated and if it takes a while it’s not a problem because they enjoy spending time together even if it’s just while doing something simple

oh my god yes this!!!!!!

they’re both so in love with something about the other that they’re the complete opposite of themselves

while richie’s all about wearing anything as long as it’s bright and fun, eddie likes to plan

it’s canon that eddie loves fashion (not in ch2 tho what was that boring polo and hoodie about) and i really like when that’s acknowledged

eddie likes taking his time putting together colours and fabrics he thinks work with each other because he still likes to be tidy and organised, even with clothing

richie thinks it’s so adorable when he and eddie are going to an informal event, just something small like meeting up with the other losers but eddie still gets excited about putting together a shirt and sweater combo, richie’s heart swells when he sees how pleased eddie is with himself when he finds something that works

for formal events eddie likes suits, finding joy in picking out pocket squares that match or compliment the shirt he’s wearing and getting to put on his fancy loafers with them

(book eddie really wears gucci loafers and i will never let go of that)

richie LOVES it so so much

eddie’s style is so polished and it makes richie swoon, he’s just so handsome

eddie admits to richie a couple of months into their relationship that fashion is something that means a lot to him because when he was stuck in his marriage with myra, he felt like his clothes were one of the few things he had control over and could express himself through

myra was keen on deciding most things for him but his limo company earns him enough money that he was able to buy his clothes with what he earned—he didn’t have to go through her first because he controlled their finances

eddie pays great attention to detail, he wants to be clean and tidy any way he can so he really goes all out with his clothes, to the point of ironing his underwear and socks

richie’s not sure he totally understands eddie’s reasoning for the underwear and socks specifically, but he doesn’t ask because it seems to be soothing for eddie and it’s cute that he enjoys himself while doing something that would be mundane to most other people

eddie has a strong urge within himself to take care of those he loves, he wants to dote on richie and make sure he’s safe and happy but he almost hates this part of himself because he knows that it’s rooted in his mother’s treatment of him as a child

he doesn’t see richie the way she saw him of course, and richie is always quick to reassure him that nothing he’s doing is hurting richie and that in fact he really likes that eddie wants to care for him

but it’ll always be hard to know where that comes from, even if he isn’t manifesting these feelings into something abusive like his mother did

because of this urge to care and love and help richie wherever he can, he starts to iron richie’s underwear and socks too

he knows richie wouldn’t care whether they were ironed or not and he’s a little embarrassed that he wants so strongly to do little things like this to make him happy, but he’s not so good with expressing his love through words yet

that’ll take some time, so for now gestures and actions are what he relies on to show his care

richie frankly loves that eddie takes the time to do this for him, it’s really sweet and sure it wouldn’t make a difference to him either way but like i said he really feels something for eddie’s clothing style and how he chooses to go about organising his outfits, and his heart swoops at the thought of eddie doing something small to try to make him happy too, it’s adorable

oh my god yes okay, i hope it’s okay for me to place them as middle aged here, i’m a sucker for their relationship after their second time in derry

so i like to think that as an adult richie changes from being quite skinny like he was in his younger years, to filling out and letting himself indulge more, his body is softer and he’s much taller than eddie so his clothes are pretty big on eddie

the first time he wears any of richie’s clothes is just a quick decision he makes one morning when he gets out of bed—richie’s still lying asleep in their bed, and eddie wants to make some breakfast for them both before he wakes up, so he picks up one of richie’s shirts that was tossed to the floor last night and he slips it on just so that he doesn’t get too cold in the kitchen

eventually richie wakes up when he reaches out to pull eddie against him for sleepy cuddles and finds empty space, he can hear the kettle whistling so he goes to see what’s happening

and that’s when he sees eddie leaning over the kitchen island, just eating some toast and watching the tv in the living room

richie almost goes weak in the knees when he sees eddie in a pair of boxers and his unbuttoned hawaiian shirt; he looks so handsome

“oh, i was expecting to have to wake you up. how’d you sleep?” eddie puts his toast down on the plate in front of him and coming over to richie so he can wrap his arm around richie’s waist and give him a kiss

“i think we need to buy you some of these shirts”

“oh?”

“what d’ya think, eds? would that be okay?”

“of course, rich, but i think i’d rather wear yours” and then he’s kissing richie’s cheek and doing a giggle-snort thing

so after that his and eddie’s halves of the closet start to merge together because richie loves giving eddie his clothes to wear and eddie’s equally as happy to be wearing them. they smell like richie (which eddie says is a lot like washing powder and cake frosting; they like to bake together a lot)

they usually both sleep in just their underwear to allow for skin on skin contact which soothes them a lot, but every now and then eddie takes one of richie’s t-shirts and essentially swaddles himself in it while he spoons richie to sleep

he likes it because he gets to smell richie on the huge t-shirt he’s wearing and he can bury his face in richie’s neck to feel that comfort too

i think even though eddie really likes to wear richie’s shirts, they also do buy some shirts for eddie himself

they’re actually a lot more convenient than his long sleeved shirts because he doesn’t have to tie off the sleeve where he’s missing his left arm on the days when he doesn’t feel like wearing his prosthetic

he and richie go out in public wearing matching hawaiian shirts sometimes just for something funny to enjoy, but richie’s fans eat it up even if it’s just a joke

eventually they branch out from just the shirts and suddenly they’re being photographed in their local grocery store wearing matching sweats (which eddie does wear at home too because they’re very comfortable and more often that not he wears richie’s rather than his own because it feels so comfy and safe)

i think at some point during all of this richie thinks it’ll be a funny idea to pick something of eddie’s to wear because obviously eddie being swallowed up in richie’s clothing doesn’t work the same way backwards due to difference in body shape and height

but he tries anyway

so eddie comes home from his auto body shop one day to find richie lying on their bed looking at his phone, but he’s wearing one of eddie’s t-shirts and it’s emphasising all of the features he usually tries to hide

eddie basically melts into the bed next to richie, he doesn’t laugh like richie thought he would

he thinks richie looks great in his clothes, he can see all of the things that richie usually tries to hide (his curves, his pudgy stomach and love handles)

eddie decides he would very much like to see richie wearing more clothes like this because it makes him want to spend all of his days holding him and kissing the parts of richie’s body he’s insecure about

ahh yes!! i think that having been in the closet for nearly four decades, eddie would have some trouble expressing affection openly, but eventually after moving in to richie’s house in california (with therapy, and help from richie), he becomes comfortable enough to be affectionate, at first just in private where only richie knows, but eventually can express his affection with other people present

i agree that unlike richie, eddie sticks to the classic nicknames and prefers the very soft ones like richie baby, sweetheart, honey etc