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i’ve been thinking about eddie & bev & bill growing up in unsafe or unloving homes & now i’m sad, so we’re going to talk about found families & being loved by your friends’ parents (and i’m going to do a lot of projecting onto said parents, so just be aware of that)
arlene hanscom, jessica hanlon & maggie tozier are the unofficial mothers of the losers club. when arlene arrived in derry she did not expect to end up with a kitchen full of teenagers most nights after school. the first time she comes home to loud laughter & yelling she half
believes ben has the television on too loud. when she steps into her kitchen she’s greeted with a chorus of “hi mrs hanscom” & it takes her a solid half hour to remember which name belongs to which child (except beverly, that one’s easy, both because she’s the only girl & ‘cause
ben’s cheeks burn every time he mentions her name). it barely takes a week for her to start stocking the pantry full of their favourite snacks, remembering which kid likes which food & what allergy eddie is testing for himself on any given day. she is every inch a mother figure
all kind words when they’re needed, hugs even if they’re embarrassing in front of friends & firm encouragement to do their homework before they do anything else, “yes that includes you richie, i don’t care how good your grades are or how fast you write, it’s homework time”
the first time ben asks if bill can stay over when the others have already started to leave, arlene wonders why. not that bill & ben aren’t close, all of the kids are close, closer than she’s been to anyone in years, maybe ever. it’s just they don’t seem to seek out the other’s
company when they’re in a group. everyone gravitates towards bill, and ben tends to stick with mike & bev, the two other new additions to what they seem to refer to as the losers club. but arlene says yes without pausing & ben seems relieved. she asks bill for his phone number
which he gives somewhat awkwardly. “d-don’t buh-be surprises if they d-don’t know i should be home” is all he says, shoulders almost touching his ears, before he follows ben to his room. arlene frowns & rings the number, what she hears on the other end doesn’t inspire her & she
decides then & there to make sure bill knows he’s always welcome in her house, whenever & for whatever reason. by the end of the year he has his own key & she’s set up a proper trundle bed for him instead of the old sleeping bag he’d brought the first time. when they graduate
arlene takes a photo of the two boys together, ben a whole head taller than bill now & that’s the one that goes on the mantelpiece. now, maggie tozier has known eddie kaspbrak his whole life. he & richie have always lived in each other’s pockets as much as they’ve been allowed
eddie knows he can stay over at theirs for dinner or the night whenever he’d like, all of richie’s friends do, but it’s bev who seems the most desperate to take her up on it, and she’s also the one who never does. maggie sees something in her eyes she doesn’t like, something in
the way she holds herself, the way she checks the time & startles sometimes at went’s voice. it makes her blood boil, but she makes sure not to let that show. she starts asking bev questions about school, easing her into regular conversations. offers to take her shopping & drives
her home. the first time bev takes her up on it, it’s for some dance at school that they all (minus ben) roll their eyes about but secretly really want to go to. maggie asks if she’d like to make a day of it, “we can drive to the city, have a proper girl’s day, my shout. i love
my son with all my heart, but he can’t stand browsing for clothes & i’d like the company”. bev says yes and after that it’s normal to see her spending time with maggie, joining her at the supermarket or attempting to help her garden or sitting at the kitchen table watching her
cook. maggie sits down with richie one night, just to check in with him about how often bev’s around. “jeez ma, it’s fine. it’s bev, i love bev. and i always kind of wanted a sister. besides, her house is creepy as shit” “don’t say shit, richie” is all she says, but she has a
better idea of what’s going on at home than richie or bev think she does, and she does everything she can to be a person bev can talk to about anything from english homework to periods to whether or not soup should be considered a whole meal. jessica hanlon is good at talking too
and she’s good at listening. eddie discovers this when one of the farm cats has kittens & mike invites him over to come meet them. jess hands him the smallest one, she fits snug in the palm of his hand, & smiles at him encouragingly. “i’ve never touched a cat before” he whispers
“never?” she asks, looking at mike with a raised eyebrow. mike’s face tells her half a story, but the longer she sits with eddie, coaxing answers out of him with gentle words & a kind smile, the better she understands. she teaches eddie how to cook food he’s never even heard of
plays music that makes him tap his feet against the floor unconsciously, doesn’t just let him run but encourages him to, “go on both of you, quickly before it gets dark, but be back in time for dinner, this is a meal you don’t want going cold”. when eddie leaves for college
she sends him off with a handwritten recipe book & he cries in front of her, something he tries never to do, not since he was small & learned that crying made him seem weaker than people already assumed he was. she wipes the tears away even though there are some collecting in her
own eyes and makes him promise to come home for christmas. “i don’t know mrs hanlon,” eddie equivocates. he’s so ready to leave & never stay another night in derry. “no, not to her house,” jessica assures him. “you come here, we’ll give you a proper hanlon christmas, like we’ve
always said we would. i won’t even make you go to church if you don’t want to” mike makes a disbelieving noise & eddie grins at him. “yeah, okay. i’ll be home for christmas”.
