@unberryble's favourite fics!!
Helllooo everyone! Kim Unberryble here! (Yes, that is my legal last name.) I’m gonna be helping out with the library posts going forward, so I thought it’d be good to kick things off by giving you guys some of my crème de la crème, top de la top, All-Timers!
Firstly, this was……… So Hard. Do not talk to me about how many real-world hours I spent agonizing over this list. The cutting room floor is wet with my tears and blood. Fittingly, I decided to go for the fics that have caused me the most lasting emotional damage and mental infirmity, past and present, because I’m a sick freak who loves anything that will make me cry :)))
And thus, here are 10 of my favourites (I have many more) in no particular order:
Keep On Loving You - notso_bad (rated E, 257.8 k)
Okay, so maybe I’m immediately breaking the ‘no particular order’ rule, because this is probably my Favourite Reddie fic of all time (Like, ‘come within 10ft of me, and I’ll shove it down your throat’ levels of insanity). A classic, slice-of-life, ‘Eddie U-Hauls to California post-ch2 & these fools dance around each other obliviously for 258k before putting us all out of our misery’. Warning: There will be misery. ‘Oblivious’ is not a joke -- you will want to hit them. Multiple times. Gorgeous writing, incredible characterization, god-tier dialogue. She lives in my mind, and I pay her rent.
greetings from stardust - fairytalefluff (rated E, 52.1k)
Richie & Eddie road-trip to California the summer before university. Featuring: Mixtapes, dumb kids in love, accidentally adopting a dog, pining, pining, pining. When I tell you this fic is physically painful, how sweet and heartwarming it is. They both love each other so much!!! This is the life they deserved!!! Vague spoilers, but when Eddie gets the mail?? Oh, I sob everytime.
it’s a nice day to start again - eddiespaghetti (rated T, 6.2k)
The Losers are shocked to find out Richie has gotten married in Vegas without telling anybody. Eddie… does not react well. Ohhhhhhh, boy. This is the fic I will always read when I need a quick cry sesh. I don’t know what it is about it -- the Losers trying to comfort Eddie? Eddie thinking he’s missed his shot?? Him trying to make peace with it when he’s absolutely heartbroken??? Couldn’t tell you, but the tears come like clockwork.
brighter lights back home - kaspbrak_kid (rated T, 50.6k)
A sort-of Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon AU where Eddie has a mid-life crisis, moves into his dead grandfather’s old farm, and tries to find a place among the small community of Derry. Richie is the innkeeper. Richie is also a dog. I promise this will make sense when you read it. I think I may have imprinted on this version of Eddie like a baby duck. Socially anxious, borderline agoraphobic, but trying. Plus, his nemesis is a cow. 10/10.
L’Appel du Vide - Mackem (rated T, 92.4k)
Post-ch2, Eddie and Stan both survive (that’s just canon, so I don’t need to mention it, haha… right?), they slowly figure their shit out. Growing, healing, pining (sensing a theme with my favourites…). Richie is blatantly in love + Eddie has no idea + Everyone else does. Many such cases. Incredible characterization, and it makes my heart hurt to see how much the Losers love each other. When the title dropped in the fic, I got so worked up, I stood on my bed for 15 minutes, unmoving.
au where pennywise is the general concept of distance - eddiespaghetti (rated T, 21k)
Text fic set in modern times, where the Losers are online friends who met via Tumblr/Rabb.it (remember her?) and start a group chat to… well, chat. Group-style. I love dialogue and banter-for-banter’s-sake, and text fics are primo for this. I have so many of the conversations in this fic screenshotted because they genuinely make me laugh out loud. Also, every single one of the Losers is gay here. Which, you know. Feels accurate to Tumblr friend groups. (A non-cry-inducing fic! Are you proud?)
i’ll speak a little louder, i’ll even shout - theparadigmshifts (rated T, 24.7k)
Richie and Eddie catch up on a few decades' worth of phone calls. They’re in love. They’re so in love. Ow, they’re so in love,, o u w , they’re so i n - - - -
Oh, But He Makes You Laugh - loserchildhotpants (rated M, 8.6k)
JEALOUS TEENAGE EDDIE: The Fic. The Losers adopt a new guy into their friend group, and he and Richie immediately start flirting. It takes Eddie a Second to figure out why he hates the guy with a burning passion. I love love love jealous / possessive Eddie, so I was immediately sold on this fic. We also get insecure Eddie, as a treat, and one of the most genuinely beautiful Richie monologues that I still think about to this day. (It’s in the foundation.)
like a prayer against his skin - slugboy (not rated, 22.6k)
Train-station-goer Richie / security-video-monitor Eddie AU. Also Radio-show-host Richie / radio-show-caller Eddie AU. Also They-met-on-a-train AU. These can all exist at once. I LOVE AN INTERESTING MEET-CUTE, and this fic has three. Very fun to read and witness Eddie dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole while struggling to hide his identity from Richie. A-plus banter!
Wistful and Wandering - HauntedHotel (rated E, 148.4k)
Last but not least, we have yet another slice-of-life + road-trip + mutual-yearning + mutual-obliviousness fic. (Are we getting the sense that I have very particular interests yet?) Richie and Eddie post little YouTube videos of their road trip and wind up with an audience of people wanting them to kiss while they… also really want to kiss. The tension is PRESENT and PALPABLE. I just loved living in this world. Really amazing dialogue, so much heart, beautiful Losers relationships / Tozier family dynamics, and delicious angst and pining. Yum.
