Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Eleven’s dreams weren’t always the greatest, but this one in particular was off. It started with red balloons, they flew around the sky and seemed to circle her. Raspy laughing emitting from every single balloon, and they popped, screams replacing the usual popping noise. After every balloon was popped, she was standing on a street, it was dark and gloomy, the clouds were grey and the moon was full. She looked around, but her eyes were drawn to the missing posters that plastered the buildings, a few different faces marked the papers.

She tried walking, but each step seemed to get her further and further away from the building that caught her eye, an old worn down house at the end of the street. The sound of a bicycle sped by, it held no rider.

“You’ll float too.” She turned around, a small boy in a yellow raincoat stood there, he held a paper boat in his only hand, he was missing an arm. The boy repeated these words over and over, giggling at Eleven’s panicked expression. She backed away and ran towards the strange house, hoping maybe that’s where she was supposed to go.

As she took each step, the ground began sinking and sinking, and eventually she had fallen through the dirt and landed into a strange area. Piles and piles of junk lay in the center, bodies orbiting the largest pile. She looked around for a way out, a way to wake from the dream, but instead saw someone else. A boy, who looked similar yet different than Mike. This boy had thick-rimmed glasses that rested on his freckled nose, his hair was a bit longer and curlier, and his eyes were pearly and glazed over, which she had a feeling wasn’t normal for this boy. He was floating above the air, but seemingly staring at her nonetheless. He didn’t speak the same words as the young boy had, instead his breathless voice uttered out three words.

“It is coming.” The words repeated over and over, making it hard to forget. The boy seemed to be chanting it, and eventually, he fell back and disappeared. The last thing she saw before she woke up was two yellow glowing eyes that wouldn’t stop following her. When she tried approaching, she instead found herself breathing heavily in her bed.

“El, El?!” She looked up to see Hopper gaze at her with worry, he seemed to be shaking her. “Are you okay? What happened?!”

“Nightmare,” El said in her simple wording, which Hopped decided to accept and move on from the subject.

“Want Eggos for breakfast?”

///

Hiding his bike behind the shed, Richie bit at his lips anxiously. He’d been gone for a week, his mother might not care, but his father would surely notice the absence of his annoying brat of a son. Richie still had hope that his father wouldn’t throw a fit about it, though that hope was quickly draining as he approached the dreaded house. Part of him wanted to just climb in through the window and pretend he was in his room sleeping, but his father would eventually go in the room to check, so there was no better option than to face it head-on.

He opened the creaky door, the stench of alcohol filling his nose within moments. The house was a mess, furniture was moved around and paintings had fallen to the ground, his mother lay drunk on the couch as cartoons played on their TV. Wentworth wasn’t in the main room, so Richie decided to sneak upstairs to his room, but the moment his foot made it to the stairs, he felt his hair being tugged violently as he was dragged to the wall.

“Where the hell have you been, boy!” Wentworth Tozier was a mess, to say the least. There were dark bags under his bloodshot eyes, and his clothing was wrinkled and stained from alcohol. The man held his son against the wall, a hand on the boy's throat as he struggled to breathe.

“I-I was j-just at a friends.” Richie managed to say, stuttering like Bill. Richie normally didn’t stutter, but for some reason, his father brought the worst out of him. Though he thought Bill’s stutter was cool, his own occasional stutter was horrifying to him. “S-Stan’s.”

Wentworth liked Stan, in fact, Stan was the only friend of Richie’s he allowed to stay at the house, though Richie rarely invited him over anymore. Richie always left the house to hang out with his friends, and though it pissed Wentworth off, he didn’t find it in his heart to care. He only cared when the boy would be gone for days, and then the man would return home to find the place a mess, and his wife black-out drunk on the couch.

“You can’t just leave for a week!” Richie’s father raised his fist and punched the boy in the face, his other hand held a tightening grasp on his neck. Richie couldn’t breathe much at that point, he desperately clawed at his father's hands to free them but it was no use. The man just got more angry with him, and more hits were directed at him. “Your Mother could have died! Look at her!”

Richie didn’t want to look at her, he wanted to go to his room and forget about everything and retreat back into his mind. “I-it’s not m-my j-J-Job to t-ta-take care of h-her!” His words were rough and pained but he was glad he could still let the words escape his mouth.

His father released his neck, Richie fell to the floor and desperately breathed in as much air as possible, his hands on his neck to ease the aching. He watched as his father’s foot neared his body, and closed his eyes. The man began relentlessly kicking at him, he covered his face with his arms and waited for everything to end. Part of him wanted his mother to wake up and pry her husband off of him, to save her son that she neglected for so many years, but she lay unconscious and oblivious on that wine-covered couch.

“I’m sorry, I j-just didn’t think y-you’d care!” Richie sobbed out, his ribs burned and his face ached and everything hurt. He wanted to close his eyes and die. His father grabbed a picture frame from the wall and threw it at him, the glass shattering on his head and spreading all over his curled up form. He felt blood trickle onto his face, and many other places stung.

His father didn’t say anything else, he eventually walked away and grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge, chugging down the liquid as if it were water.

Richie just layed there, his eyes closed as he refused to see how bad his father hurt him. Tears silently fell down his cheeks as he tried to find solace in the situation. His dumb jokes couldn’t make him happy, though they never brought him any joy. They were simply his way of dealing with his emotions, if anyone asked too many questions, he’d dodge them with a joke. If someone started to pry on why he’s all bruised up, he’d probably joke about fucking their mom or something. They seemed to find him funny, their ‘beep beeps’ always seemed to hide a bit of laughter as they said it to him.

His father walked to the basement, and Richie took that opportunity to carry himself upstairs to his bedroom. The room was messy, though that was his own fault. Clothes were scattered on the floor and old tapes overflowed over his desk. His backpack lay by his bed, though it was August and he didn’t have school for another few weeks. He looked in his mirror in horror, he needed to find someone to help bandage up his wounds. Eddie would worry if he saw Richie like that, so Richie crossed him off the list. Stan and Bill were the closest to Richie’s house, and they both were living down the street. He grabbed a jacket and threw the hood over his head, hoping maybe he’d look less panicked. His glasses were broken, and they were his last pair. He’d have to make do with them, and so he opened the window and sighed as he climbed down. The screen of his window was cut out, he remembered spending half an hour on the tedious task as he wanted a quick and easy way of sneaking out as a kid. His parents never noticed, and quite frankly, he didn’t think they cared as much as they let on.

His legs ached, his arms were burning, and he just wanted to rest. He knew he couldn’t, he knew how bad the injuries were. He needed to find someone to at least patch him up. He reached the grass as he hopped down, his legs began to burn even more and it only seemed to increase with each step. Stan would be worried, he’d probably grab a first aid kit and sneak Richie into his room to help him. Bill would probably try and ask Richie about what happened and worry way too much, probably stutter at every word. Bill would insist on taking him to the hospital, and Richie couldn’t afford a hospital stay. He started heading towards Stan’s house, which sounded like his best bet. He kept walking and walking, the hot August sun burning against his layers of clothes that he hoped would cover all his injuries.

“Richie?” He heard a voice call out, and he looked over to see Mike Hanlon. He was in his truck, he parked to the side and walked out to Richie. “What happened?”

“‘S’nothing, Mike. I’m on my way to Stan’s house, I’ll probably sleepover.” Richie shrugged it off.

“Weren’t you Just at Stan’s? He said you stayed over for a week.”

“Yeah, I miss him so I’m goin back.” Richie smirked, “Though I should visit Mrs. K soon, I think she’s starting to get jealous I’m spending my time with another person.”

Mike frowned, “I’m worried about you Richie.” He brought a hand towards Richie, who frowned as Mike slipped the hood off of his head. An array of bruises and cuts were spread across his face, his glasses cracked beyond use, and his neck had a hand-shaped bruise on it. Mike slowly grabbed Richie’s hand, leading him towards his truck. Richie hesitated at the touch but allowed the boy to lead him into the vehicle.

They both sat down in the front seats, Mike stared at the steering wheel and Richie stared out the window.

“What happened to you?” Worry was clear in his deep voice. “Bowers didn’t cause this, did he?”

Richie sighed, “No, he didn’t. Though I kind of prefer that over what actually happened.” Richie was glad Mike found him, the older boy understood him in a way the other Losers didn’t. He listened and wouldn’t press for information if Richie told him not to. He would remain calm and not freak out, he’d treat Richie with care. Richie liked that, and so he figured that the solace he was looking for was Mike.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, not now. Can we go to your farm or something? You have a first aid kit, right?” Richie asked, though he started to feel his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.

“Yeah, are you sure you don’t want to have a doctor help? Those injuries look pretty bad if I’m being honest.” Mike started driving, and Richie continued to stare out the window. He frowned when they passed the Tozier household, and Mike noticed.

“I-I don’t need to see a doctor. I’ll b-be Fine.”

“You sound like Bill right now.” Mike sighed, “Listen, I don’t expect you to tell me what happened, but I just have to ask… are you safe at home?”

Richie looked over and shrugged, though his eyelids were starting to close. “I’m fine, Mikey. Don’t worry ‘bout Richie over here..” he was quiet as his eyes closed.

“Richie?” Mike looked over, Richie’s eyes were shut and his breathing was slow. He passed out, and so Mike changed his route from his farm to the nearest hospital.

///

Mike stared at the window, the doctors were working on fixing Richie up, and Mike wasn’t allowed in the room until he woke up, and even then his parents were the ones who had to come first. When he had given the nurse the Tozier house phone number, they told him no one answered. So he decided to call someone to be there with him, he felt like he needed to ask if anyone knew about Richie’s parents, the boy never talked about his own family.

He entered the phone number and picked up the phone, listening to it ring twice, then he heard the familiar voice. “Hello, you’ve reached the Uris house.”

“Stan, it’s Mike.”

“Hey, is everything okay?” Stan seemed to notice the worry in Mike’s voice.

“It’s about Richie... I was driving by and he.. he wasn’t looking too good. He passed out, so I took him to the hospital. Do you think you could come here?”

There was a short silence from the other line, and then a sigh. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Mike nodded and hung up the phone, sitting back down in the waiting room.

The nurse walked up to him with a frown, “Do you know how this happened?”

Mike shook his head, “I found him covered in bruises and cuts, I offered to take him to the hospital and he refused. He passed out in my truck so I decided that he needed to be here.”

A different nurse frowned, “smart for someone like you.”

Mike ignored it, as he ignored everyone who even showed a little dislike of his race. He was proud of it, and small comments were the least of his worries.

“I’m sorry about her, she’s a bit small-minded.” The nurse whispered, and he shrugged.

“It’s fine, I’m more worried about my friend.”

It took another ten minutes before the familiar curly-haired teen walked through the doors. Stan sat next to Mike and frowned. “How’s he doing?”

“Only his parents or legal guardians are allowed to know that information until he wakes up.” He looks Stan in the eyes, “They didn’t even answer the phone.”

“I didn’t expect them to.”

“Has Richie ever told you anything about his parents? I can’t even remember him saying anything about them.”

Stan leaned against his seat, which seemed very unlike the neat boy who always sat upright on a seat. “Of course he told me, we’ve been friends since kindergarten. He just.. he doesn’t like talking about his family.”

“Do you think they did this to him?” Mike whispered, he didn’t want to risk the nurse hearing. He didn’t know what she’d do.

Stan sighed, refusing to make eye contact. “Could’ve been Bowers.”

“He said Bowers didn’t do it.”

“Then probably his Dad. His mom is drunk all the time, she probably is right now.” Stan tugged at the collar of his shirt, “his dad gets really violent, take it out on Richie a lot. Probably mad that Richie was gone for a week and took it too far.”

“You've known his dad hurts him? And you’ve never done anything?” Mike sounded angrier than he was, but he really was just worried.

“Don’t say that like you know what I do to help him. If he is at my doorstep with a bruise on his face, I don’t question it, I let him in and I feed him. I let him stay until he says he’s ready to go back, and I let him because I know he knows better than I do. He eats our kosher food without complaint, he’s even stayed over during Hanukkah. Sometimes he’ll even come to the synagogue with us, and my parents love him. He’s not Jewish but he respects our culture so much that my parents don’t question it when he’s at our doorstep at one in the morning.” Stan closes his eyes and massaged his temples, “if he ever comes over and wants to talk about it, I listen. I don’t tell him any of my problems, I just listen and don’t question when he doesn’t want to talk.”

Mike was about to speak, but the nurse walked over to him, “His parents still haven’t answered the phone, but he’s awake. Would you like to see him before I start asking what happened?”

Stan immediately stood up, and Mike followed his actions. “Yes, please,” Mike said, and Stan nodded.

The nurse led them to a hospital room, and they saw Richie sitting uncomfortably in a hospital bed, he was wearing a hospital gown and had bandages all over his body. An IV was in his arm and he itched at the skin around it.

“Stan the man! Homeschool!” Richie smirked, watching the nurse sit in the corner. “I missed you two!”

“Missed you too Richie.” Stan sat down next to Richie’s bed and stared worriedly at Richie.

“Eddie’s gonna kill me if he sees me like this, does anyone else know I’m here?” Richie asked, his smirk faltering.

“No, just us. Your parents don’t even know, they won’t pick up the phone.” Stan told him, and Richie nodded.

“They probably won’t for a while. Mom was napping and dad was getting ready to do the same.” The words seemed strange, as if there was a message hidden, but Stan just nodded in understanding.

“Was she napping on the couch?”

Richie nodded, “Dad was being really loud and she still didn’t wake up, she’s a heavy sleeper I guess.”

Mike looked over and noticed the broken glasses sitting on the table next to Richie’s bed. Richie noticed Mike’s gaze and chuckled.

“I wish I could see, those don’t do shit right now.”

The nurse stood up and gently smiled, “alright, I’m gonna have you two go back to the waiting room, I need to ask Mr. Tozier some questions.”

Richie nodded in understanding, and Stan did as well. Mike and Stan walked out of the room and back to the waiting room.

Stan stared at the ground, a monotone gaze on his face. “I knew this would happen one day.”

///

“Do you remember what happened?”

Richie remembered every second, every punch and kick and especially the picture that fell onto him and spread shattered glass all over him. He remembered walking to Stan’s house and then Mike found him and went to take him to the farm, and that’s where it got fuzzy. The next thing he knew a doctor was bandaging the cut on his face. “Not really, it’s a bit fuzzy at the moment.”

“You did get some pretty bad head injuries, but we don’t think you have a concussion. Do you know anyone who would do this?”

“No, probably just some random street thug, I really don’t know.”

“I think you do know.” Her words surprised him as he looked up into her eyes, even through the blurriness of his vision, he could see they were glazed with worry.

“I-“

“I don’t want another excuse, you know. Richard-“

“Richie.”

“Richie, we can’t help you much unless you just tell me.” Her eyebrows were furrowed, her soft smile was replaced by a frown. “You can trust me.”

And that’s when Richie started crying, “My dad, he gets really angry at me and he takes it all out by hurting me. My mom is always drunk and unconscious on the couch, she doesn’t really take care of me. My dad expects me to take care of her, but it’s not my job to do that, so I don’t. I deserve it though, I really should be taking care of her... it’s not her fault and I’m just a bad son..”

The nurse wrote something down on her clipboard. “Richie, it’s not your fault he hurts you, you don’t deserve any of this.”

“Yes I do, it’s really nothing. You don’t need to worry, he just went a bit far today and it’ll be fine.” Richie tried to assure himself more than her, but even he didn’t believe his attempts.

Chapter Text

“You’re going to live with your relatives until we get this situation figured out.” The social worker spoke, Richie picked at his jeans and said nothing. “They’re a nice family in Indiana, they’ll take you in while everything is being figured out. Your mother is being sent to a rehab program, your father is awaiting his trial, and that’ll be in a month.”

“Can’t I just stay with a friend?” Richie asked hopefully, but reality had slapped him in the face.

“No, I’m sorry but you must be living with a living and stable relative. They’re the closest relatives you have that are capable of taking you in. I’ve spoken to them already and they’re fine with having you,” she explained. “You’re leaving on Friday, we’ll meet up with Mrs. Wheeler in Cincinnati, she’ll drive you to Hawkins and then you’ll be staying there for the time being.”

Richie sighed, “Where will I stay until Friday?”

“Your friend Stanley Uris and his parents have offered to house you until it’s time to leave, and I’ve allowed it.” She smiled for a moment, “Your friends care about you, you’re lucky to have them.”

“I know, but now I have to leave them, it’s bullshit.” Richie muttered. His glasses were still broken, but the social worker had offered to pay for contacts. He hesitantly agreed, seeing as his glasses always ended up broken.

“I understand Richie, but there’s not much else we can do. Our sources claim that your mother is constantly drunk, she is just unfit to care for you until she recovers from her addiction. We aren’t even considering letting you live with your father. You can still call your friends all you want, I’ll even let you take a picture with them if you’d like.”

Richie nodded, “I’d love that.”

“Alright, so you have a few days to pack up and then Friday at noon I’ll come to pick you up. We’ll head to Cincinnati and then your aunt will take you from there, any questions?”

“Will I be going to school in Hawkins when that starts up?”

She nodded, “yes, we don’t want your situation to interfere with your future. You will be absent for a few days when you have to return for your fathers trial, but you won’t miss too much. The school will be made aware of your situation, and you will be speaking with the school counselor weekly about it as soon as school starts. Until then, you have a few weeks to adjust to the place.”

Richie nodded, standing up. He had just been released from the hospital, his injuries were healing but not as much as he’d hoped. He still looked like absolute shit, his face still bruised and cuts still bandaged, his torso didn’t look any better. It still hurt like hell, but he just ignored it.

“Your Friends are waiting in the other room, they’re very worried about you.”

“I know, I expected them to be. Thanks for not letting them see me when I was still bound to that bed, I don’t think I could handle trying to act normally.”

She nodded, “you’re welcome. You’re contacts should be ready tonight as well, so I’ll be stopping by to get them to you.”

Richie nodded, standing with a hand on the doorknob. He wasn’t fully ready to face his friends, but he knew his time was limited, so he gathered his courage and opened the door. His friends all stood up and made their way over to him, Beverly rushing ahead and hugging him tightly.

“I missed you, Trashmouth.”

“Missed you too, Bev.” He hugged her back, and pretty soon the others joined in.

/////

They were in Stan’s basement, Richie was laying against Eddie’s shoulder as the smaller boy changed his bandages. “Why didn’t you ever tell us about them?”

Richie’s mind searched desperately for a joke, but none came to his mind. “I told Stan.”

“Yeah, one person. We could’ve helped you, y’know? Like we helped Bev whenever her dad was an asshole.” Eddie sighed, staring into Richie’s eyes. Richie was squinting at everything, which Eddie found almost laughable if it weren’t for the ugly bruises painting his face.

“I don’t want to leave you guys.” Richie frowned, “Mrs. K is gonna be so upset without me.”

“Beep beep asshole.” Eddie snickered.

“W-We’ll see you when you’re b-back for the t-trial, and we’ll m-make sure to call you as m-m-much as possible.” Bill added, helping sort through the things in Richie’s bags that were quickly thrown together. Richie couldn’t handle being in his house, and so he didn’t really spend much time on gathering his things. Stan, Ben, and Mike all volunteered to go collect the rest while Eddie, Bill, and Bev stayed in Stan’s basement to be with Richie.

Richie held up his cracked glasses and laughed, “I won’t have my signature glasses anymore, the social worker lady said it’d be safer to just get contacts so I don’t end up breaking them.”

“Aww, I liked the glasses.” Bev chuckled, she was folding his clothes and placing them neatly in a suitcase. “But you’re actually attractive without them too, you’re cute with them though.”

“Why thanks Beverly you sexy ass bitch.” Richie smirked, “I feel honored.”

Steps were heard from the stairs, and the three other losers entered the room holding a few bags.

“Richie you have a lot less shit than I thought.” Mike chuckled, setting the bag down. Stan and Ben did the same.

“I only got everything I buy for myself, Mikey-boy.” Richie leaned away from Eddie and stood up, though part of him wanted to continue being next to the smaller boy. “I’ve been thinking.. about IT.”

“What about It?” Eddie asked nervously.

“O-oh..” Bill murmured as he stared at the ground. “I understand.”

“I’ll be away, what if he comes back when I’m gone and I can’t help you all? What if I can’t keep my promise?” Richie held up his palm, the pale scar was clear as day.

“Don’t worry about it, Richie. If Ben is right, we won’t be seeing that thing until we’re forty.” Beverly assured, “isn’t that right, Benny?”

Ben nodded, “all the evidence points to that, we’ll be adults when it’s back, and we can just drive ourselves back here.”

Stan spoke up, “I didn’t know you kept pictures.” He held up the many pictures from their time together, the images of their fondest memories.

“‘Course I do, I don’t know what I’d do without you all. It just makes sense to keep pictures of you all.”

Stan held one up, “I remember that day, the day that Bev was leaving for Portland with her aunt..” the image showed a group hug, the redhead was in the very middle.

“Remember when Richie and Bev stole cigarettes from the drug store? They came running to the clubhouse and laughed their asses off as Eddie yelled at them for even smoking in the first place.” Mike said, a warm smile on his face.

Richie nodded, “We met Bev that way, getting first aid supplies for Ben when we had no money, she distracted the clerk for us so we could steal.”

Bev laughed, “I remember that! I thought you guys were so adorable panicking in front of the bandages, of course I had no idea that Bowers had carved up Ben’s stomach..” her voice trailed off at the end as she leaned against Ben. His face was noticeably redder at the action.

“Or how we all got detention because we skipped class to hang out outside at the quarry, and Mike’s homeschooled ass didn’t get in any trouble.” Eddie remembered, causing Mike to snicker.

Tears started to stream down Richie’s face, “I don’t want to miss more memories.. I want to stay.”

“Things are gonna happen, Richie. We can’t help it, so we just need to accept it. I live in Portland now, but I do have the ability to travel here every so often. Maybe we could visit you, or maybe you can visit us. Time will only tell.” The corners of Bev’s lips raised to a slight smile, her eyebrows crinkled with a tinge of worry and sadness.

He nodded, “I know. I just wish this word wasn’t so cruel.”

////////////

“Mike, Nancy, we need to talk.” Karen Wheeler said as her kids entered the house. They were over at the Byers house all day, and Karen had finally decided it was time to break the news to them. She motioned for them to sit at the dining table with her, and they complied.

“Is everything alright, Mom?” Nancy asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Do you remember your aunt Maggie?”

Nancy nodded, Mike shrugged. “Isn’t she in Maine or something?”

Karen nodded, “yes, she is. She had a son, Richard. It’s been found out that his father has been hurting him, and aunt Maggie had been struggling with an alcohol addiction. He’s been removed from his family and will be placed with us.”

“Why us?” Mike groaned, he did not want someone else in their home, especially after the events of the upside down.

“We are his only relatives that can take him, his relatives on his father's side are all deceased and we’re the best option for him.” Karen looked at Nancy, who was staring at the table, “He’s around your age, Nancy.”

“When’s he coming? And where will he stay?” She asked.

“I’m going to pick him up on Friday, he’ll be staying in the guest room.”

“That’s in the basement though.” Mike frowned, “You’re gonna shove him in the basement and make him listen to me and my friends play D&D?”

Karen shook her head, “would you like to offer up your room instead?”

Mike was silent and looked at the ground.

“I don’t expect you to immediately be eager to see him, but I expect you two to treat him with care and kindness. He needs that more than ever right now.”

Nancy nodded and Mike sighed. “Okay.”

/////

“You ready?” Miss Elizabeth asked, the Social worker had gladly told Richie her name when he had asked, and he’d made sure to give her a few nicknames.

“Si!” Richie yelled, standing next to all his friends.

Miss Elizabeth took the picture on her Polaroid camera, it printed out and she took six more. She handed them each a copy, and they gladly took them, admiring each other’s faces.

Richie packed his away in his pocket, then turned and hugged each of his friends individually. Bev gave him a small kiss on the cheek, and they both laughed. “I’m gonna miss you, so you better call me.”

“Don’t worry, I will. Once I get settled in I’m gonna call everyone.” Richie smiled solemnly.

“G-good, I want to h-hear everything about H-Hawkins.” Bill added, giving Richie a pat on the back.

Richie nodded, looking at Eddie. “I don’t know what I’ll do without my Eddie Spaghetti, how am I supposed to know what diseases could kill me if I do something dumb?”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “I’m Eddie, not pasta. You’ll die of some disease within a week, I’m calling it.”

Richie laughed, “Aw Eds, you wound me.”

Eddie smiled, “you have everything for your contacts packed?” Richie nodded. “Bandages so you can keep your wounds clean?” Another nod. “Okay, make sure to sleep on the way there, you’re going to need the energy.”

“Okay mom, will do.” Richie snickered, and Eddie sighed, holding back tears. “Ben, take good care of Bev, Mike, Uhh, you protect them and shit. Bill, you should definitely try to get into that college in New York. Stan, I’m gonna miss knocking on your door at one in the morning and eating your kosher food with you while we talked. Eddie, I’m gonna miss you worrying about everything I do, and Bev, I’m gonna miss the time we spent skipping class to smoke out by the football field.”

Richie began to cry, tears streaming down his bruised cheeks as he looked at the ground. “Bill, I think you should keep Mrs. K’s bed warm for me, she’s gonna be so lonely.” He attempted to laugh but he only sobbed.

Bill began to cry as well, “beep beep, Richie.”

Before he knew it, they all were crying and hugging.

Miss Elizabeth started packing Richie’s bags into the trunk of her car, and Richie took the hint that it was time to go.

“Well, I’ll see you all at the trial, adios Losers!” He turned around quickly and ran into the car, holding a middle finger at them as he looked at them for one last time. Miss Elizabeth laughed as she sat in the driver's seat and buckled her seatbelt, requesting he did the same. He complied, and stared out the window as the car began driving away.

“You’re sixteen, you have two years and then you can visit them as much as you want.” Miss Elizabeth tried to comfort him, but two years were a long time to Richie. “I had a case similar to this one, it was a few years ago. This boys parents were abusing him, and he had ended up telling someone who referred his situation to us. He kept saying it was probably a waste of time, but we listened to him and we got him into a good foster home. When we removed him from his family, he had no hope for the future, he had even said he wanted to die. We found a foster home that seemed to be perfect for him, and he loved his new family. They ended up adopting him and he started seeing a therapist. He still writes me letters about how he’s doing, and I write back every time. His parents are in jail, and he’s living a happy life.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Richie decided to ask, seeing as he didn’t really care about this guy who ended up with a better life.

“Because Richie, there’s still hope for you. I know you’ve already given up, but there’s so much left to life that you’re missing out on. You still have your friends, and now you’ll be with a new family that can help you recover. Just… give this a shot, okay?”

Richie nodded, looking out the window. “We’re Not driving the whole way, are we?”

“We’re going to the airport, but we don’t have enough funds to cover the whole trip, so Mrs. Wheeler and I made a compromise. I’ll get you to Cincinnati, she’ll get you to Hawkins.”

Richie nodded, looking at Miss Elizabeth with a cautious gaze. He picked at the strings on his red sweater, one that Bev had gotten him for his birthday. He got the urge to smoke, and he realized he hadn’t since he left Stan’s house on the day he last saw his parents. The pack of cigarettes were in one of his bags, Bev had made sure to hide them in the pocket of a jacket and told him exactly which one. His lighter was still in his pocket, he liked to stare at the flame when he was anxious. He’d smoke as soon as he was able to be alone, and that was what comforted him throughout the whole drive and plane ride to Ohio.

/////

“I’m at the airport right now, Ted. I’ll be home in a few hours. Make sure his room is ready for him, and try not to let Mike’s friends come over. I don’t want to intimidate the poor boy.” Karen sighed, saying goodbye to her husband and hanging up the pay phone. She saw a woman approach her, a teenage boy following her.

“Karen Wheeler?” The woman asked, and Karen nodded.

“You must be Miss Elizabeth. It’s nice to meet you.” She shook the woman’s hand, and turned her attention to the boy. “You must be Richie, it’s nice to meet you, I’m your Aunt Karen.”

He nodded, not acknowledging the hand she stuck out. She dropped her arm back to her side, and smiled. “Here, I’ll take those bags.” She took the bags from him, and started to gesture for them to follow her to her car. “We better start heading home, I don’t want to worry my family too much.”

Richie nodded, he avoided her gaze and stopped in front of the car, as if wondering where she wanted him to sit.

“Go ahead and sit in the passenger's seat, you’re sixteen, I don’t think you want to sit in the back.” She chuckled at her own words and put the bags into her trunk.

“Alright, just sign these papers and you’ll be all set to go.” Miss Elizabeth told her, handing her a pen. She nodded, signing her name on each paper after closing the trunk of her car. “Take good care of him, he’s been through a lot..” the two looked at the teen who now sat in the car, boredly looking out the window. “Expect his friends to call a lot as well, he has six friends he’s very close with. It was hard to get him to come to terms with leaving them.”

Karen nodded, “My son, Michael, he has a good amount of friends too. Sometimes they’ll just show up in my basement and I’ll have to make extra dinner to make sure they all get to eat.”

Elizabeth smiled, walking over to the passenger side and gesturing for Richie to come out of the car. He did so, and she engulfed him in a hug. “Bye Richie, Don’t cause too much trouble. You have your spare glasses in case something happens to your contacts, right?”

He nodded, “Don’t worry Bethy, I’ll be fine.”

She rolled her eyes at the nickname, “Oh come on, we were having a moment.”

“I don’t like moments.” He shrugged, going back into the car and waving her goodbye.

“Well, I’ll keep in touch about the trial and everything. Your family will have to attend it, it’ll be in Derry. The traveling funds will be covered by insurance, so don't worry too much about that.”

Karen nodded, “Thank you so much, I’ll keep in touch.”

And before Richie knew it, Karen entered through vehicle and they were headed to Hawkins.

“So, this must be a bit hard, so I understand if you want to distance yourself a bit.”

He shrugged, his mind trying desperately to make up a joke but failing miserably.

“Alright. I don’t like it, but I guess I should cover the rules of the house.” She sighed, “Ted doesn’t like swearing, so please don’t swear around him. My daughter Holly is still very young, so don’t do anything dangerous in the house. You’re allowed to leave the house throughout the day, I just ask that you be back home for a family dinner.”

Richie nodded, the idea of rules making him frown. His father never really had any rules, it was more of the man getting angry at Richie for no reason and Richie pretending that it doesn’t happen.

Richie put on an old British voice that sounded terrible, “well well, I suppose I’ll comply to your rules, Ah yes I believe that is something to be set in order.”

Karen laughed at his attempt to lighten the mood, and started to finally feel like her saying yes was a good idea. Days of anxiety were starting to ease.

“I think you’ll like Hawkins, it’s a very lovely town when you get used to it.”

Chapter Text

Mike stared out the window, it was ten pm and his mother still hadn’t returned.

“You gonna stay there all night?” Nancy sighed, sitting down next to him. “She’ll be here soon.”

Mike nodded, “I know. I’m just not excited about having our cousin stay here.”

Nancy leaned back and faced away from the window. “So you were fine with hiding a strange girl in our basement, but not our cousin, who just got out of a bad situation?”

She had a point, but part of Mike was still upset. “I don’t know what to think, I guess I just wanted a bit of peace for once.”

Nancy grabbed nail polish from the table and began painting her nails. Mike recognized the nail polish, it was given to Nancy by Barb, before the girl had died. “It’ll be fine, how bad can he be?”

The siblings turned to see headlights turn into their driveway, the familiar vehicle parked and Mike ran to the front door. He stepped outside onto the concrete, his bare feet were cold but he knew his mother would want him to greet his cousin. Nancy followed him out, though she was wearing a pair of slippers. The doors of the car opened and Mrs. Wheeler stepped out, on the passenger side, a lanky teen stood, he had dark curly hair and a red sweater. He looked like an older version of Mike, which freaked the younger boy out.

“Mike! Nancy! I’m glad you both are awake!” Mrs. Wheeler walked you the back of her car and opened the trunk, “Could you help bring his things to his room?”

“Mrs. Wheeler, I can do it myself-“

“Nonsense Richie, you only have two arms. Besides, they don’t mind helping.” Mrs. Wheeler looked at her own children, who were grabbing bags. “Let’s get your things into your room and we’ll give you a proper introduction.”

Richie just nodded, grabbing the last bag and following the wheelers inside and into the basement. They entered a neat room, probably one that used to be the guest room. They set the bags down and went upstairs to the living room. They sat on the neat couches and Mrs. Wheeler grinned at her children.

“Oh, right. I’m Mike.” The boy said, nervously glancing at his sister.

“And I’m Nancy.” She spoke, “We have a younger sister as well, her name is Holly. She’s asleep right now.”

“So is dad,” Mike added, pointing to the man asleep on the chair, a newspaper still in his hand.

“He had a long day at work, so I won’t wake him. How about I give you some time to settle down in your room? I bet it’s been stressful for you, so feel free and grab a snack and a drink. If you have any questions feel free to ask any of us.” Mrs. Wheeler explained, pointing to the kitchen.

Richie nodded, skipping the kitchen and going straight to the basement. Mike watched the boy until he was out of sight, and sighed.

“Is this a permanent thing?”

“As of right now, yes. His mother is in rehab for an alcohol addiction, and his father is going to jail most likely. He’s got nowhere else to go, and he’s only sixteen. It’ll get better, okay?”

Mike nodded, and Mrs. Wheeler hugged him. Nancy smiled softly and gazed out the window.

“How about you guys show him around town tomorrow?”

“I can’t, I have work,” Nancy said, and Mike frowned.

“Well, then you can show him around, Mike.” Mrs. Wheeler meant well, but Mike groaned.

“I’m supposed to go to the arcade with my friends tomorrow!” His eyebrows furrowed, his mouth formed a frown.

“Well, you can bring him with you then. He needs to find a way to feel more comfortable here, and that means meeting people.”

///////

Richie shut the door of his room and opened the bag with most of his clothes, digging through to find a certain jacket. He took a pack of cigarettes from the pocket and grabbed a lighter from his own pocket. He took a cigarette out and lit it, sitting down and taking a long, satisfying drag. He blew the smoke from his mouth and nose, staring at the bare wall. He knew Mrs. Wheeler wouldn’t be happy when she found out about his habit, but at that moment it was the only thing bringing him any sense of peace. It reminded him of Sunday evenings at the quarry, sitting next to Beverly Marsh as they smoked their favorite Marlboro cigarettes that she’d stolen.

He smoked the cigarette until it was a small little bud, he put it out against his leg, a straight face being held the entire time. He started unpacking, putting his clothes in the dresser and closet, making sure to keep his cigarettes hidden in the same jacket as before. He grabbed a roll of tape from his bag and taped the pictures of him and his friends on the walls, the images making him miss Derry more and more. He put the books on the bookshelf and his spare glasses on top. He grabbed the tapes of his favorite songs and stacked them on his dresser, his Walkman was set next to them, waiting for him to listen to the songs that reminded him of summers with his friends. He knew the latest hype was CD’s, but he couldn’t afford them, he preferred the old-school cassette tapes better, anyways.

Once his bags were all empty and shoved into his closet, he sat on his bed and sighed. He fell down into the blanket and stared at the ceiling, his mind finally feeling calm enough to really comprehend everything that had happened. He knew his father went too far, Mike found him, he passed out in Mike’s truck, and then woke up in a hospital and told the nurse what happened. Next thing he knew, he was talking to social workers and he was being discharged but taken from his family. He didn’t even know where his father was, or what he was thinking. Though Richie never could figure out what was going on in his father's mind, and he didn’t really think he wanted to know.

//////

Richie was woken up by a knock on his door, he didn’t even remember falling asleep. He sat up and murmured a quick, “Come in.”

The door opened and Mike stood in the doorway, a frown on his face. “My mom wants you upstairs. It’s breakfast time.”

Richie nodded, “What's got a stick up your ass?” He snickered, though Mike’s frown grew deeper. The younger boy turned around and went upstairs, not even bothering to acknowledge Richie anymore.

Richie sighed, walking up the stairs and into the kitchen. The table was set and there were plates filled with food. Richie looked at it confused until a man set a hand on his shoulder. Richie flinched away, causing the man to frown. The wheelers seemed to frown a lot.

“You must be Richie, I’m Ted.”

Richie nodded, shaking the man's hand. “Thanks for having me.”

“Not a problem, kid.”

“Richie, you can sit right here, I hope you like pancakes.” Mrs. Wheeler smiled, pointing to the empty seat. He nodded and sat down, he wasn’t hungry. He never really ate breakfast, he’d always just get out of his house and find someone to hang out with. His family rarely had enough food for an actual dinner, so breakfast had never really been in the question.

He grabbed the fork and stared at the heavy scented food, he tried coming up with an excuse but he couldn’t find one.

“Mike’s going to show you around town today, so you should get dressed and ready once you’re finished with your food.” Mrs. Wheeler told him in between bites of her own food. He nodded, cutting a piece of pancake and stabbing it with his fork. He raised it to his lips, but he didn’t open his mouth. The last time he ate pancakes, he was at Bill’s house. Bill’s parents liked to cook and bake, Richie had assumed it to be their way of coping with Georgie’s death. Whenever he came over, they made it their task to feed him, as it wasn’t a secret that he was thin. His bones stuck out in a lot of places, which he didn’t enjoy.

Mrs. Wheeler looked at him expectantly, and he finally opened his mouth and ate the pancake. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until that moment, his stomach quietly growled. He continued to eat, but he decided to eat slowly. Mike was practically inhaling his own food, causing the boy's father to glance at him.

Before he knew it, his plate was cleared and he was headed to his room. He took off his red sweater and exchanged it for a band T-shirt and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt. He put on a pair of jeans with rips in them, which he’d done himself, liking the way they looked. He grabbed his pack of cigarettes and his lighter and stuffed them in his back pocket and headed out the door with Mike. The younger boy didn’t speak to him, and he decided he’d have to start a conversation.

“So, this shithole have anything interesting about it?”

Mike frowned, refusing to look at Richie. “No, it’s the most boring city in all of Indiana.”

Richie nodded, “you got a girlfriend?”

Mike's face blushed, “Yeah, she’s gonna be at the arcade.”

“Do you guys fuck?”

“What?” Mike’s face was as red as a tomato, he stopped walking completely.

“Y’know,” Richie Made Hand gestures that made Mike blush even more. “Sex? Or are you a virgin?”

“I- El and I don’t- we don’t do that stuff..” Mike frowned, “are you telling me you’re not a virgin?”

Richie laughed, “what do you think?”

Mike looked away, “I don’t know.”

Richie snickered, “I’ll leave it up to you to decide what the answer is. Anyways, this shithole has an arcade?”

“Yeah, down the street over there. Normally I’d just bike there but mom said that since she’s making you come and you don’t have a bike, it’d be nicer to walk with you.” Mike explained, crossing his arms.

Richie nodded, taking a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. “Your mom’s a bit weird.”

“Hey, don’t say th- are you smoking?!”

“No dipshit, I’m fucking your girlfriend.” Richie chuckled to himself as he exhaled the smoke.

“Stop talking about fucking People! If mom finds out you’re smoking, she’ll murder you!” Mike frowned, “How did you even get those?”

Richie shrugged, “A friend from Derry gave them to me as a parting gift. Anyways, want one?”

“No!” I don’t- I don’t smoke.” Mike groaned, running a hand through his hair as they approached the lit up arcade building.

“Oi, is innocent lil Mikey Wheeler too good for some ciggies?” Richie teased with a voice.

Mike rolled his eyes and sped walked to the building, seeing the array of bikes in front of the place.

The pair entered the arcade, and Richie immediately noticed the group of people Mike’s age crowded around a game. Mike ran over to them, and Richie put out his cigarette and stuffed it in his pocket for later. He approached the group, trying to figure out which of the two girls was Mike’s girlfriend.

“So, my mom made me bring my cousin. He’s annoying as hell.” Mike told his friends as Richie walked up behind him.

“Wow Mike, I thought we had something here, now you’re saying I’m annoying?” Richie chuckled, the younger teens gazed at him curiously.

The brunette girl frowned, walking in front of him and staring him in the eyes. “You’ll float too.”

Richie’s grin turned into a frown, a solemn look on his face. “What?”

“Yeah El, what are you saying?” Mike asked, his voice was gentle. This was Mike’s girlfriend.

“I saw you.” She said, her face devoid of any emotion. Richie’s face showed clear alarm, was she connected to It? “In my nightmare.”

Everything about El made Richie feel uneasy, he didn’t understand it, but she wasn’t normal. “What are you saying?”

“It is coming. That’s what you told me.”

“I never told you anything, trust me, I’d remember if I had.” Though he was attempting at a joke, he couldn’t manage to change his expression. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, he wanted to run but he felt paralyzed. “I’m gonna go walk around, you see if she’s okay, yeah?”

Mike nodded, “Yeah.”

Richie grabbed the unfinished cigarette from his pocket and lit it, looking over and seeing a boy with brown hair in the shape of a bowl cut stare at him. He stared back at the boy as he leaned against the wall, ignoring the ‘no smoking’ sign that he stood by.

///

“What was that about El?” Mike asked, but the girl just gazed at the ground, “Why did you see him in a nightmare?”

“I don’t know.” She mumbled, “He feels.. different.”

Will looked at her, “I feel it too, something about him isn’t right.” Will revealed his arm, it was covered in goosebumps.

“He’s from Derry, Maine. His parents abused him and he had a group of friends. There’s nothing about him that points to something from the lab.” Mike stated, and Lucas shook his head.

“Whatever it is, we can’t trust him. If El and Will are uneasy around him, then something is up with him.”

Dustin nodded, “He’s probably hiding something from you.”

Max groaned, “How about instead of avoiding him, we try and figure out why he’s so weird? What if he’s linked to the lab? We’ll miss our opportunity to find out what we still don’t know.”

Will looked over at Richie again, the boy sat down now, still smoking from the cigarette peacefully. An image appeared in his mind, a pair of pearly, glazed over eyes that hid behind broken glasses that rested on a freckled nose. Dark curls that were raised in the air, and a Hawaiian shirt that matched the one Richie was wearing.

“Will? Will!” Dustin was shaking the boy, who shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“You zoned out, you good?” Mike asked, and Will nodded.

“I was just trying to think, that’s all. What Max suggested was a good idea, your mom would kill us if we ignored him anyways.” Will finally said, and Lucas nodded.

“Yeah, you have a point.”

When the group looked back, Richie was gone, the scent of cigarettes lingered in the air.

Chapter Text

Richie left the arcade. He felt their cold stares and it reminded him of a time he wanted to forget, a time when bullies did more than call him names. He didn’t exactly know where he was, he didn’t even know how to get back to the Wheeler house. He did know that he saw a small drug store and decided to make use of the twenty dollars he had brought; the money was going to be used on arcade tokens, but he decided that arcades were bad luck for him.

He opened the door to the store, only the worker was there. She was a middle-aged woman, nothing special about her that he could see. He looked around the store, his eyes landing on the first aid section. Eddie always told Richie to make sure he had a first aid kit, and Richie had told him he would. He had no idea if the Wheelers had one, but he didn’t care. He needed something to remind him of those chocolate brown eyes that he admired so much. He grabbed a box of band-aids and a tube of Neosporin. He looked around and headed for the rack with lighters hanging from it, and he grabbed a black one. He had a lighter, but he wanted the security of a backup, in case Mrs. Wheeler did discover his smoking habit and take away his lighter.

He walked up to the counter and set the items onto it, the cashier rang them up and put them in a bag. “$12.37. I’ve never seen you around before, are you new to Hawkins?”

He handed her the money, and she gave him his change. “Yeah, you could say that.”

As he grabbed the bag, he noticed a cop park in front of the store. He didn’t like police, in Derry they never gave a shit about what happened. When Georgie ‘disappeared,’ they just told the Denbrough family that their son would come back, and when he didn’t.. they ended up searching, and they found what remained. Richie didn’t like to think about it, there were things he wasn’t supposed to see, and he had told himself to pretend as if he hadn’t.

The police walked into the store, and the cashier grinned. “Hey Hopper.”

“Joyce.” The police, Hopper, responded. He eyed Richie for a moment before turning his attention back to the woman.

He decided to leave before he did anything dumb, and opened the door, exiting the calm store. He didn’t know where to go, and so he found a spot by some buildings and leaned against a wall, taking his cigarette out and lighting it again.

//////

“It’s rare to see an unfamiliar face these days,” Hopper commented, looking at the floor.

Joyce nodded, “Yeah, it’s nice though. Most teenagers come in here and steal, he paid fair and square. Although the things he bought seemed a bit weird.”

“What’d he buy?”

“Band-aids, Neosporin, and a lighter.”

“That is weird.” Hopper looked Joyce in the eyes, “Maybe I should go see if he’s nearby and ask him ‘bout it.”

“No,” Joyce sighed, “There’s no reason to. How’s El doing?”

“Good, she’s speaking a lot better than before. I sat her down and had her practice with kids books, she hated it.”

Joyce laughed, “I bet. She’s with Will and the boys, right? At the arcade?”

“Yeah, I decided not to be all restricting on her today, she deserves some fun.”

“Will told me that Mike’s cousin moved in with his family, so Mike was bringing his cousin.”

“That kid was Mike’s cousin then.”

“Looked like an older version of Mike, I almost thought it was him until I saw the bruises on his face and the fact that he was a lot taller.” Joyce sighed, “I wonder why he had to move in with the Wheelers.”

“Maybe got orphaned or something, happens a lot.” Hopper sighed, gazing out the window. “Maybe you should ask Will about it later.”

Joyce nodded, “yeah, I might. Will’s been doing better lately, fewer nightmares.”

“That’s great to hear.”

“So, did you wanna buy anything? Or did you just want to talk?” Joyce asked, returning her attention to her cash register.

“Just some beer.” He sighed, putting money on the counter. “I also just wanted to talk.”

Joyce grabbed Hopper’s usual beer selection, and rang it up, taking the money and handing him his change. “I figured. Hey, check-in on Will, would you? I have a bad feeling, I just- I just want to know that my boy is okay.”

Hopper nodded, grabbing the beers and walking towards the door. “Yeah, I’ll stop in at the arcade, maybe ask Mike why his cousin ran off and bought a bunch of weird shit.”

“Yeah, just make sure they’re all okay first.”

////

Richie had decided to go back to the arcade, as much as he didn’t want to, he had no choice. He didn’t know where anything was or any way to get back to the Wheeler house, and so Mike was his only option.

He stood up, heading towards the building he had been avoiding, and the police car stopped next to him. He didn’t stop, no he kept walking. Why would a police officer be following him? He didn’t want to know. The officer exited the car and called out for the boy.

“Kid, kid stop.”

Richie groaned, turning towards the officer with a frown. “What do you want? You gonna molest me or some shit?”

the officer stopped and frowned, “You’re Mike Wheeler’s cousin, right?”

Richie slowly nodded, “What, is Mikey in trouble with the law? I’d never expected tha-“

“He’s not, you’re not either.” The officer sighed, “Listen, if you see or hear anything strange in this town, you come to me. You tell me everything, okay?”

Richie looked to the concrete, and then back at the officer, “I knew something was up with this town. What’s your name?”

“I’m chief Hopper.”

“Well, you can stop bothering me now. I have somewhere to be.” Richie started walking towards the entrance of the arcade, but Hopper was following him. “Uhh, can I help you?”

“I’m checking on my friend’s son, he’s in there,” Hopper stated, going in the arcade and towards the group of young teens. “Will, you guys doing okay?”

Richie looked around, deciding to go by a random game. The group was talking to Hopper, and then the officer left, making sure to get a good look at Richie before he left. Richie sighed, taking the lighter from his pocket and staring at the flame. He sat down and leaned against the game, just staring at the flame. He didn’t know why it was so comforting, but he didn’t care to think about it too much.

“I don’t think you’re bad.” Richie looked up to see Will, who’s eyebrows furrowed gently. He crouched down and sat in front of Richie. “You like fire?”

“I guess.” Richie sighed, putting the lighter back into his pocket. “What makes them think I’m bad to begin with? Mike’s girlfriend said I was in her nightmare and all of a sudden I’m a bad person.”

Will frowned, he didn’t know how to answer Richie’s question without mentioning everything that happened. “This town has a history, we’re just cautious I guess.”

“Doesn’t every town?” Richie looked away, his mind remembering memories he didn’t want to think about. “What’s up with the cop?”

“Hopper?” Richie nodded, and Will sighed. “He’s Just looking out for us. His daughter is El, and she gets into a lot of dangerous situations with us..”

“He stopped me in the street and talked to me, telling me to come to him if crazy shit happens. Where I come from, cops don’t do shit. Kids went missing and they didn’t even try looking until everyone was begging them to.”

“Will?” Someone called out, and Richie sighed.

“You should go, I have a date with your mom. We’re gonna go have hot sex.” Will only stared at Richie with a frown. “It’s not funny, I know.”

“You’re weird.” Will snickered, though he didn’t seem to have bad intentions.

“That’s kinda my whole personality, isn’t it?” Richie stood up, motioning for Will to go back to his friends.

“Okay, but seriously, if you ever see or hear strange things here, you tell someone. Me, Hopper, Mike, whoever you can trust, okay?”

“Goddamn, do you ever shut up? Go back to your friends before they think I’m killing ya.” Richie waved him off, and Will finally listened, joining his friends once more.

He was alone again, and so he stared around the arcade. He wondered what they all meant, it all seemed too suspicious. Everyone seemed to tell him that something strange would happen to him, and so he decided he needed to investigate. He remembered Ben, the boy said he spent afternoons in the library looking into Derry history, so Hawkin’s probably had a library that contained its history. Unfortunately, he didn’t know where that would be located, and so he stared out the window.

[Richie.] a whisper spoke, Richie looked around but saw nothing, until his eyes spotted the bright red balloon floating outside. He stood up, his eyes unblinking as he walked out the door of the arcade. He heard someone call his name, but he didn’t acknowledge it.

He continued to follow it until a hand touched his shoulder. “Richie?” Richie turned around, Will stood there with worried eyes.

“Yeah?” Richie asked, keeping a straight face (which was impossible for him, if you know what I mean.)

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go look around town, I’m bored.” Will didn’t seem satisfied with the answer, looking at him with a determined gaze. Richie was about to speak, but he heard another whisper in the wind.

[Beep beep, Richie.]

Richie didn’t speak, he just turned around and walked away. The red balloon still floating away, and he followed it. If IT was in Hawkins, he needed to stop it before it killed anyone.

Little did Richie know, Will heard the whisper that spoke to Richie, and he saw the red balloon. He didn’t know what it meant, and he didn’t think he wanted to. Will knew something was wrong, and yet he turned around and rejoined his concerned friends.

///

Will opened the door of his house, Jonathan behind him as he waved to their mother. Joyce Byers was cooking dinner, she had just gotten home from work.

“Hey boys, I hope you guys like spaghetti.” She pointed to the pot of boiling water with a warm smile.

Jonathan and Will nodded, sitting down at the kitchen table. “It’s been a while since you made spaghetti.” Jonathan commented.

“I figured it’d be a good day for it.” Joyce looked at Will and bit the inside of her cheek. “Will, I heard that Mike’s cousin is living with them now, that true?”

Will nodded, “Yeah, I met him today.”

“Do you know why he’s living here now?”

“I think Mike said his parents were abusive or something.” Will shrugged, his mind still thinking about the voices and balloon he had seen and heard earlier. It wasn’t anything like what he’s seen before, but he had a feeling Richie knew what it meant.

“Oh that’s terrible, I hope he’s doing okay.”

“Where’s he from?” Jonathan asked.

“Maine, I think he said the town was Derry.”

Joyce frowned, “Oh, that’s where Bob grew up..”

Will stayed quiet, looking out the window. “I think I’m gonna go take a nap.”

Joyce carried the pot of spaghetti and set it into the table, “Can you eat dinner first?”

Will nodded, taking Spaghetti and putting it on his plate.

Later, he went to his room and laid down, he fell asleep after a few minutes.

His dream was unusual, an eerie feeling crept upon him as he realized he was dreaming.

Will was standing in a street, it was raining. He looked around and saw someone, Richie. Richie looked a few years younger, thick-rimmed glasses over his eyes and less curly hair. The boy was walking around, not seeming to have a particular destination, but the boy stopped when he saw a little boy in a yellow raincoat crouched down by the storm drain. Richie stood still, watching the boy speak to absolutely no one.

“Georgie?” Richie called out, but the little boy didn’t hear him. He started reaching his arm into the sewers, and Richie began walking over. Will followed him, but looked over in horror as the little boy’s arm was chopped off by something in the sewers. Richie froze, staring in horror as the little boy screamed in agony, calling out for someone named ‘Billy.’ Something sucked the boy down into the sewers, all that remained was the blood that was quickly being washed away by the rain.

Richie’s breathing began to become heavy, he slowly approached the storm drain, “Georgie?” He mumbled, his eyes glazed over as he kneeled down in the bloody water. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real.. this isn’t real.. fuck..”

He stood up, staring once more at the storm drain, and then ran.

Will woke up in a cold-sweat, he looked at the clock and saw he had been asleep for several hours. He needed to find Richie, he needed to know what was going on.

Chapter Text

“You want to go to the library?” Nancy practically laughed, “why’s that?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve maintained straight A’s all my life.” Richie smirked, “School is starting in a little over a week and I need to catch up on some knowledge. So can you give me a ride or not?”

“Why don’t you ask Mike to take you?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but he hates me.” Richie crossed his arms, staring at Nancy’s car. “I’ll stop making sex jokes for a week if you do.”

Nancy looked at Richie skeptically, debating whether the deal was worth it, and then sighed, “Fine. But if I hear one joke about sex, you’re gonna have to deal with me never allowing you in my car.”

Richie nodded, “deal.”

Nancy stood up and led him to her car, a 1981 Lincoln Mark VI continental, which Richie was surprised she could even afford. He sat in the passenger side, and she started driving. It was only a few minutes until she parked in front of a building, and she gestured for him to get out.

“Here’s the library, go knock yourself out, nerd.”

Richie snickered and exited the car, walking into the library and immediately looking for the librarian.

“Can I help you?” A woman asked, she looked to be in her fifties, a gentle smile on her face.

“You have anything on Hawkins history?”

She nodded, “Just recent stuff mostly, the older ones are in our archives downstairs, and I have no idea where they’d be exactly.”

“ Anything is fine, show me whatever you got.” Richie followed her to a smaller bookshelf, it held newspapers.

“May I ask why a young boy like you is looking into the history? I do believe school hasn’t started yet.”

“Personal quest, I suppose.” Richie shrugged off her question, and she walked away. He grabbed the articles and sat down at a table, reading each headline and date.

[Local boy goes missing, believed to be dead]

Richie didn’t think he’d find anything useful that quickly, but a disappearance was definitely something that reminded him of It.

[William Byers’ body found, funeral to be held]

Richie’s eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the paper, it was dated as last November.

[William Byers found alive]

[Dead boy living]

[Hawkins ‘Zombie boy’]

Richie looked at each paper, different headlines all describing the tales of November. Will Byers went missing, a body was found, a funeral was held, and then he was found alive.

He glanced at the older papers, they seemed less interesting. Politics, robberies, deaths, all things that couldn’t compare to Will Byers being resurrected from the dead.

He grabbed one of the papers and folded it, stuffing it into his pocket as he put the other papers back. He noticed a small piece of paper fell from the inside of one of the papers, all it held was an address. He stuffed it in his pocket as well, deciding to leave the library before he found out too much.

He knew he’d have to walk, though he didn’t mind. He made sure to memorize the way back to the Wheeler's house while Nancy drove him, and so he knew the way back.

////

Dustin Henderson wasn’t scared of much, he was scared of losing his friends, but that was about it. He’d faced bullies so much that he stopped caring what people thought of him, and he wasn’t too scared of things hiding in the dark. The demogorgons were terrifying, but he had been convinced that he’d seen the last of them.

That was until he was in his room reading, he heard a strange noise and decided to investigate. He stood up and walked across the creaky floorboards, peering through the doorway. His parents weren’t home, it was just him, but that made no difference. His parents didn’t know about everything that happened, they’d just tell Dustin that he was imagining things. He grabbed his walkie-talkie from his nightstand and wandered towards the noise. The noise wasn’t like any living thing, it was the creaking of floorboards and something falling to the ground. Maybe it was the wind, but he needed to know for sure.

He entered the kitchen, looking around and seeing a book had fallen off the counter. He approached it, trying to remember if he left a book in the kitchen, but he didn’t recognize it. He picked it up and read the cover, but it was in Russian. He flipped through the pages, hoping to see some clue as to what it was, but each page had the same phrase. He didn’t know what that phrase was, but he was determined to figure it out.

“Dustin.” He heard a voice say, but he couldn’t find the source. He started walking towards his room once more, but froze when he saw a single red balloon now floating in his doorway.

“Holy shit.,” he mumbled, staring at it. He knew it wasn’t there before, he hated balloons. So he popped it and threw it in the garbage, grabbing the walkie-talkie from his pocket. “Guys, this is Dustin. Some weird shit is happening over here. Do you copy?”

“This is Lucas, I copy.”

“Me too.” Mike’s voice spoke.

“I copy. This is Will.”

“Good, we need to meet up. I don’t think I can say this out loud.” Dustin spoke, looking around his house for any other strange things.

“Mike’s basement?” Lucas asked.

“No, his cousin will be there, remember?” Dustin reminded him.

“How about we meet up at Scoops ahoy?” Mike suggested, and Dustin smiled, remembering the older teen he looked up to.

“Yeah, sounds good. Lucas, can you invite Max?”

“Yeah, I’ll stop by her house.”

“Okay, I might be a bit late. You know how Jonathan is.” Will sighed, and they all understood.

“See you guys soon,” Dustin said as he put his Walkie-Talkie down, putting on his shoes and leaving his house. He grabbed his bike and started riding to the Starcourt Mall, a place he grew to enjoy hanging out at.

When he arrived in the ice cream parlor, he immediately noticed the two older teens that usually were working at that time. Steve and Robin were good friends, though Robin would laugh in someone's face if they mentioned it.

“Henderson, here for some ice cream or for Steve?” Robin asked, pointing at the back room.

“I’m meeting up with my friends actually.”

“Unusual. Well, I’ve got to pretend to be doing work, go enjoy your freedom.”

Dustin nodded, sitting at a booth and waiting for his friends. Eventually, they all arrived and sat at the booth with him. He set the book on the table and stared at it.

“Any of you know Russian?”

“No.” They all said, and Dustin sighed.

“I was reading earlier, heard this weird sound in my kitchen. I was home alone, so obviously it wasn’t normal to hear something fall, so I went to investigate. I found this on the floor and took it, and when I went to go back to my room, a red balloon was floating in my doorway.” Dustin rubbed his eyes.

“A red balloon?” Will asked, his voice quiet, he stared at the book.

“Yeah, I don’t own balloons. I don’t know how it got there.”

“Everything okay, Will?” Mike asked, and Will nodded.

“Okay, we’ve faced a lot of shit, but balloons and Russian books aren’t any of them,” Lucas said, flipping through the pages. “Why does each page have the same Russian words on it?”

“I don’t know, ask the Russians,” Max muttered, staring at the book as if she were trying to crack the code. She looked away in defeat after a minute of trying.

“Umm, yesterday after I walked out of the arcade, I saw a red balloon floating through the street. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but maybe something bigger is happening here..” Will spoke, everyone listened.

“What else are you neglecting to tell us?” Lucas asked, though his words weren’t meant to be as hostile as they sounded.

“Well when we saw Richie acting strangely as he left the arcade yesterday, I had followed him out, remember? Well I heard this voice speaking to him almost, I think it said his name and then said ‘beep beep,’ anyways he was gonna say something until he heard it, but then he walked away and followed the balloon.” Will frowned, “Mike, what ended up happening with him?”

Mike shrugged, “I went home and he was there already, annoying the hell out of Nancy. I don’t know how he managed to get home though, he didn’t know how to get back, that’s why he stayed at the arcade in the first place.”

Dustin put the book back in his bag, deciding he didn’t want everyone passing by to see it. “Why is everything leading to Richie being bad?”

“Probably because he is! Did you hear what El said? He was in her nightmares, if they never met, why was he in her dreams??” Lucas questioned, crossing his arms. “That kid is bad news, I don’t care what you say, Will.”

Will shrugged, “He seemed nice when I talked to him, I just think he knows something we don’t.”

“What makes you say that?” Max asked.

“I’ve been having dreams of memories that aren’t mine, memories of Richie. The first was when I first saw him, I saw this image of him with completely white eyes and floating in the air. That was after El had mentioned the ‘you’ll float too’ thing. Then I took a nap last night and I saw this memory of him witnessing a kid die. He looked younger though, so whatever he knows isn’t something new.”

“Maybe it was just a dream, I doubt that Richie saw anyone die. And why would you see him with white eyes as he was floating? It makes no sense!” Mike argued, and Will shrugged.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know.” Will wanted desperately to believe it was all a misunderstanding. Will was connected to the upside down, and so was Eleven. Maybe Richie was too, but that didn’t make him bad. “I think we should talk to him, maybe if we actually give him a chance he’ll tell us.”

“No! He’s not gonna tell us anything other than jokes that aren’t funny!” Mike argued, his voice drawing the attention of the other people in Scoops Ahoy. Mike hushed his voice, “Why do you have so much trust in him being good? After everything you went through?”

“Because, he gave us a bad feeling, right? Well, I don’t think the feeling was there because of him. I think it’s connected to something bigger, and if El were here right now I think she’d agree.” Will explained, and Mike frowned.

“Well El is with Hopper right now, so you can’t decide what she thinks.”

“Guys! Stop arguing!” Dustin finally said, the two young teens turned their attention to him. “Mike, you only hate the guy because he’s your cousin and he is annoying to you. Will, you’re too nice for your own good. Lucas, Max, and I, our opinions are just based on meeting him at the arcade and El freaking out. None of us really know him.”

“Yeah, we can’t sit here and say he’s bad when all we have to go off of are nightmares and goosebumps,” Max added, staring Mike in the eyes.

“Why don’t we try and confront him about it instead of sitting on our asses and arguing about it?” Lucas suggested, staring at each of them. “Then we can decide if he’s bad or not.”

////

Richie held the phone in his hands, dialing the number he had memorized over the years. He held it against his ear as he heard the ringing. It was only a moment before he heard the familiar voice.

“This is the Uris House, who’s speaking?”

“Stan the man!” Richie grinned, though Stan couldn’t see.

“Richie! How are you?”

“I’ve been better, but I thought I’d start calling people.”

“Who else have you called?” Stan asked, and Richie could already imagine the boy sitting in his kitchen with an excited expression.

“Just you, thought I’d ease your worries first. I think I’ll call Eds and Bev after, and then I’ll call everyone else later.” Richie sighed, “Look, something isn’t right about this town.”

Stan was quiet for a moment, “Is it.. is it It?”

Richie sighed, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Don’t go telling everyone yet though, I don’t want them worrying. There are things about this town that aren't normal, I think this town is hiding something from me. I need to find out before I decide that it’s IT.”

Stan cleared his throat, “just be careful, Richie. Facing It together was terrifying, we barely made it out alive. I don’t think you’d be able to beat him on your own.”

“I know, I don’t know what I’ll do. Pennywise, it got me last time. It’d be so-“

“Richie, don’t say its name. Please don’t.” Stan’s voice sounded desperate, his words frail and quiet.

Richie sighed, “I know.. look, you remember how It got me, right? If that happens again I don’t have any of you to help me. I’d be dead in minutes, I don’t know what to do, Stan.”

“I won’t tell anyone, but you need to as soon as you think you know for sure. I have to go, but call Eddie next. He’s been a wreck without you.”

Richie smiled, “yeah, I’ve missed everyone. I’ll talk to you next time I get a chance, okay?”

“Yeah, talk to you soon.”

“Bye.” Richie mumbled, and hung up.

He stared at the wall as he dialed Eddie’s phone number.

“You’ve reached the Kaspbrak household, Sonia speaking.” Richie hated that woman, as much as he joked about fucking her.

“Is Eddie home?”

“That depends, who’s speaking?” Her voice was cautious, a slight annoyance to it.

“Uhh, Richie Tozier. I’m his friend that moved away.”

“Oh, you. You have five minutes.” She moved the phone from her face, “Eddie sweetie, come here.”

It was a minute until he heard another voice, “Umm, Hello?”

“Eddie Spaghetti.”

“Richie! How is Hawkins, is it as boring as Derry?!”

Richie snickered, “Meh, maybe even more boring. Although I’m pretty sure my cousins all hate me.”

“Saw that coming. How are you doing though? It hasn’t been that long since everything happened, you doing okay?”

Richie smiled warmly, Eddie’s voice was like music to his ears. The boy worried too much about Richie, but he was fine with it. “Yeah, I’m doing fine. The bruises are starting to fade a bit, and no one asked me about why I have them. Though this town is small, everyone probably knows by now.”

“School starts next week for you, right? It starts next week in Derry too, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, Not excited about it. Though I’m glad there isn’t anyone named Henry Bowers here.” Richie chuckled, though his mind began to think of the boy who was now in a mental asylum.

“Yeah there isn’t exactly one here, either.” Eddie sighed, “But all of his friends besides Patrick are still assholes. Glad we’re down two of Bowers’ gang, but that doesn’t make much of a difference to them.”

“Yeah, good luck.”

“Mom, can’t I have a few more minutes!” Eddie groaned, “I gotta go. Call me again soon though, okay?”

“Yeah, I will. Bye Eds.”

“Bye Richie.” Eddie hung up, leaving Richie in silence.

He decided to call Bev last, knowing she was probably worrying her ass off. He dialed her aunts phone number and waited.

“Hello.” The Familiar voice spoke.

“Molly Ringwald? That you?”

“Richie fuckin Tozier!” Bev exclaimed, her voice loud and eager. “How’s Hawkins treating you?”

“Pretty shit, but it’s nothing compared to Derry.” Richie watched as the front door opened and Mike walked in with his friends, Richie looked away. “How’s Portland?”

“Same as always, an absolute shithole. But better than Derry for sure, but I’ve known that for a few years. I like the fact that this town doesn’t have a killer clown hiding in the sewers, you like that about Hawkins too?”

Richie frowned, “Yeah, but can you not mention It? I feel like that’s kinda bad luck for me.”

Bev sighed, “Yeah, sorry. Anyways, how’s your family?”

“You mean my parents or my aunt and uncle and cousins?” Richie smirked, “because I’m pretty sure my parents aren’t too happy right now.”

“I meant your aunt and uncle and cousins, Trashmouth.”

“Oh, yeah I’m pretty sure they all hate me, but that’s just what I do.” Richie glanced at Mike, who sat in the living room talking to his friends, the other boy glanced at him for a moment before looking away. “I decided to pull a Ben.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Remember how he used to spend his time in the library looking into Derry history? Well I went to the Hawkins library to look into its history. Really boring, only some newspapers and shit.” Richie groaned, “I was hoping to find something about some serial killer or something as interesting as Derry’s history. There wasn’t really anything.” Richie decided not to mention what he found out about Will Byers, seeing as the boy himself was in the other room and hearing everything Richie said.

“Boring. Anything else interesting?”

“Yeah, the cops in this shithole are weird. The chief of police stopped me and told me to tell him if any weird shit happens.” Richie chuckled, “I don’t think I ever really spoke to a Derry cop until Georgie.”

Richie noticed Will tense up in the corner of his eye, and Richie gave him a sceptical glance. “Don’t Tell Bill I said that, I can already hear his silence. Anyways Bevvy boo, have you visited the losers since I left?”

“I just got back to Portland yesterday, but it was quiet without you.”

“Of course, the losers aren’t the same without their resident Trashmouth to spice it up. I mean come on, who else is gonna constantly talk about fucking Mrs K?”

“Bill tried to make some jokes that you’d make, but he can’t pull it off.”

“Yeah, because he’s s-s-stuttering b-bill.” Richie laughed, “he can’t fill my void because he’s a loser himself. The trial is in a few weeks, I’ll definitely visit you all, and you better be there or else.”

“Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll tell Haystack that you kept his poem.”

“Touché, but It’s not technically with me. I hid it in my old apartment, it’s in the wall.” Bev laughed.

Richie smirked, but then frowned. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you, but not now.”

“Why not?”

“Look, I’ll call you next time I have the time, ok? I have something to take care of.” Richie watched the younger teens from the corner of his eyes, they were eavesdropping. They weren’t even trying to be subtle, and so he decided to mess with them. “Tell Your aunt that I said hi.”

“Okay.. bye Richie.”

“Adios, Beaverly.”

Richie hung up the phone, deciding to call everyone else later. He wanted to call Bill and Mike, but he knew he shouldn’t. They could usually tell when something was up, though every loser could, but they’d actually confront him about it. Eddie was oblivious as ever though, and so he probably didn’t notice that Richie wasn’t making many jokes.

He stood up, grabbing the lighter from his pocket, and walked into the kitchen. He stared at the flame as he held it up against the window, the flame close to the glass, but not touching.

“What are you doing?” Nancy asked, opening the fridge and pouring herself a glass of milk.

Richie shrugged, “I’m bored.”

“Was the library not fun enough for you?” She teased, and Richie smirked.

“I wanted to learn another language, there weren’t any books for that.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, he had checked for books on learning a new language, though he had stopped looking when the librarian had spoken to him.

“Why do you want to learn other languages?” Nancy asked, now seeming intrigued.

“A year ago my friends decided to learn a language other than English, so now we are fluent in said language. Now I just like to learn languages I guess, I dunno.”

“What language do you know?”

“You’ll have to find that one out yourself.” He shrugged, putting the lighter back into his pocket. He glanced back in the living room to find it empty of any people. He stood up and walked to the basement, deciding to smoke before Karen or Ted got home.

He ran down the staircase and ignored the group that sat around a table with hushed voices. He walked to his room and shut the door, immediately opening his dresser and fishing out a pack of cigarettes from a jacket. He took out a cigarette from the box and was reaching for his lighter when he heard a knock on his door.

He sat down on his bed, raising the lighter to the cigarette, “come in?”

The door opened and Mike stood at the doorway. “We need to talk.”

Richie lit his cigarette and put his lighter back in his pocket, taking a long drag. “Yeah, what makes you wanna talk?”

“You know something.”

“What do I know, exactly?” Richie sighed, staring at his cigarette as it burned.

“I don’t know, and that’s why I need to know.” Mike frowned, his friends still sat around the table but were staring at the two cousins.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” Richie put his cigarette out against his leg and sighed.

“Why do you do that?” Mike asked, looking at the boy with furrowed eyebrows.

“Old habits die hard.” Richie snickered, “Harder than my wang.”

“Dude shut up.” Mike groaned, “Why were you looking into the town history?”

“So you admit to eavesdropping? That’s not very nice.”

“Just answer the question.”

Richie stood up, motioning Mike to leave the room, and he complied, Richie walked over to the table and grabbed the folded up newspaper from his pocket. He unfolded it and set it on the table, the headline as clear as day.

[Dead boy found alive]

“Seems to me that you guys are the ones not telling me anything.” Richie looked at Will, “It isn’t normal to have a funeral, open casket might I add, and then be found alive.”

Chapter Text

Will stared silently at the newspaper, memories from a certain November invaded his mind.

“Will? Will are you okay?” Mike asked, a concerned gaze set on his friend. “Look what you did, Richie!”

Richie wanted to lash out and argue that he did nothing, but he knew how sensitive some topics could be. He frowned, facing away from the group and leaning against the wall, “I’m just saying, stop prying into my life when you don’t want me to pry into yours.”

“You don’t understand-“

“No, I understand, you all are a group of kids that faced something you shouldn’t have had to, and now you’re scared something else is happening. You’re scared, you’re terrified! But guess what, You guys aren’t the only ones that feel that way!” Richie raised his voice, his hand had formed a fist as his fingernails dug into his skin. “So stop acting like you’re so special, you’re not.”

No one spoke, they all just processed the words.

“Who’s Georgie?” Will asked quietly, breaking the silence of the room.

Richie’s eyes widened, “How do you know that name?”

“You said it during the phone conversation earlier,” Max said, remembering the way Will had tensed up upon hearing the name.

Richie chuckled to himself, though his chuckles were full of sorrow, “It’s none of your concern who Georgie is.”

Will frowned but didn’t push the matter. Richie walked back to his room, shutting the door behind him.

“I hate him, it’s official, he’s the worst cousin,” Mike complained.

“Why won’t he tell us anything, seriously he’s not even hiding that he knows something,” Lucas complained, turning his attention to Mike. The door to Richie’s room opened and the older teen walked upstairs. They all noticed the small slip of paper he was holding, but none of them thought much of it.

////

Richie wasn’t good at tracking things down, not even in Derry. As a kid, he’d bike around the neighborhood to escape his house, and often he’d find himself lost. He’d have to ask people for directions, which they’d be hesitant to give. It was no secret that Richie Tozier was a Trashmouth, in fact, it was what everyone thought of when they thought about the Tozier’s. Wentworth believed that Richie brought disgrace onto the family name, and so he started to distance himself from the boy. Richie wished he would’ve kept his distance, then he’d still be in Derry.

He wandered through the woods, the trees tall and flourishing. Stan had once said that it was better to be a tree, they just stood there doing their one job, and then in the winter they’d die, but once spring came, they’d be reborn. Richie had called Stan a tree-fucker afterward, but sometimes he’d still think about how right Stan was. It never attacked trees, though not every kid had to deal with a killer clown. He had just been unlucky, he supposed.

The address that had fallen out of the newspaper wasn’t very easy to follow. It said it was located in the woods, right in the center. Richie had been walking for ages, and yet there were no signs of whatever the hell he was trying to find. It had been impulsive, he was angry at Mike and he needed to let it all out. He wished he had brought his bike to Hawkins, but Miss Elizabeth said that they wouldn’t allow it on the plane.

“Richie.” Richie looked around, the all-too-familiar voice sending shivers down his spine as he continued walking. Part of him wanted to turn around and run, but he didn’t think he could stop himself from looking for the strange address.

The August weather grew cold, he started to wish for a jacket as the temperature kept decreasing.

“Richie?” Richie looked up, a boy stood in the distance, a familiar face stared at him with a grin.

“You’re not Eddie. Eddie is in Derry.” Richie spoke, though the boy continued walking towards him.

“Richie? Where am I?” The ‘Eddie’ imposter began to cry, loud sobs escaped his throat. “Richie!”

“You aren’t fucking Eddie!” Richie yelled, he had stopped walking. Part of him yearned for it to actually be the shorter boy, but he knew it wasn’t. He just talked to Eddie earlier, and he was very much in Derry.

“What’s going on with you Richie! It’s me! I don’t know where I am! This place is disgusting!” The fake Eddie kept advancing, and Richie began stepping backwards.

“Ты не он”

The fake Eddie stopped walking and furrowed his eyebrows, “what? What did you just say?”

“You tell me. Eddie knows Russian, so if you really are Eddie you’d tell me what I said.” Richie crossed his arms, watching as ‘Eddie’ began laughing.

“Beep beep, Richie” Eddie began to grow, his skin turning a pale white as he scratched at his face. Bloody lines were trailing down from above his eyes to the corners of his lips. His eyes glowed yellow, hair growing into an orange-red color. It stood in the fake Eddie’s place, his maniacal laugh echoing in the woods.

Richie wanted to run, but he stood paralyzed in fear. He tried desperately to shove that fear away, knowing It was feeding off of that fear.

“Well Richie, it’s been a while!” It exclaimed, slowly approaching him, “Hasn’t it Richie!”

“Stop.,” Richie muttered, red balloons appearing from the woods and nearing him. “You can’t be here… you’re stuck in Derry..”

“Am I?” It asked, a playful grin on its face. “Am I really?”

Richie closed his eyes, refusing to watch as the clown reached out to grab him. He didn’t have anyone, he was alone. No one could save him, no one in Hawkins would even care if he went missing. It wasn’t Derry, his disappearance wouldn’t be missed.

“It’s time to float, Richie!”

But Richie didn’t want to die, as much as he hated his life, there were things he never wanted to leave behind. He loved biking around Derry with his friends, calling them obnoxious nicknames as they all told him to ‘beep beep,’ and he’d just laugh. He loved smoking at the quarry with Beverly as they talked about having shitty dads, or talking about how fucked up the world was. And goddammit he loved the way that whenever he looked at Eddie Kaspbrak, all he could think of was the way his brown eyes were so goddamn adorable.

No, he didn’t want to die, and especially not by the hands of a killer clown that haunted his nightmares since a few summers ago.

“Eat shit, fucker!” Richie yelled, running away. He didn’t have a weapon, all there were was twigs. Maybe a few sticks that could potentially be useful, but nothing that he felt confident in. So he ran, he didn’t know where he was but it didn’t really matter. He needed to find somewhere safe, anywhere that the clown couldn’t follow him to. He made it out of the woods, heading to the downtown area of Hawkins.

He kept running, but eventually, he ran into someone.

“Richie? What are you doing running into town?” Hopper asked, a concerned look on his face. Richie didn’t say anything, he just caught his breath as he stared back at the woods. “You good, kid?”

Richie bit at his lips, his gaze remaining on the area he had come from. He didn’t notice when Hopper began leading him to his car, and he especially didn’t notice that Hopper was trying to speak to him. He only noticed when the car started driving away, and the woods were out of his sight.

///

Eleven sighed, staring at the doorway. Hopper had said he’d be home soon, and yet he was still gone. He hadn’t let her hang out with her friends that day, and she was left feeling bored. She missed Mike, and she knew he missed her as well.

That’s when she heard the familiar sound of the door, it opened to reveal Hopper and the boy from the arcade. She remembered he called himself Richie.

“El, I believe you met Richie,” Hopper said, leading Richie to the table, having him sit down. Richie seemed to be in a dazed state, not fully paying attention to the world around him. “Okay kid, you need to snap out of it.”

Richie shook his head, “I’m fine.” Though his eyes stared at the ground unblinking.

“You don’t look fine, you ran into me from the woods, why were you in the woods?” Hopper asked, and El remembered the woods. She didn’t like them, they brought bad memories.

“I found this.” He held up the small slip of paper with directions written on it. El recognized the location, it was the lab.

“Where the fuck did you find this?” Hopper asked, he must have recognized the location as well.

“A newspaper. I was in the library looking into the history of this town and it fell out of one of the newspapers.” He sighed, finally seeming to snap out of his daze. “Do you know where it leads to?”

“Did you find it?” Hopper asked skeptically, and Richie shook his head. “It leads to a lab, one scientists used to use to run dangerous experiments. Why were you running from the woods?”

Richie shrugged, “Just a bad feeling.”

Richie made eye contact with El, and El remembered her nightmare. “Lies.”

Richie looked at El with a frown, but she stared at him back. “

“El, do you know something?” Hopper asked, and El didn’t respond.

Richie sighed, “Look, I appreciate your concern, but you don’t need to worry. I need to get back to the Wheeler’s house now, before they get home and worry.”

Hopper stared at Richie as if trying to decide if prying the information out of him was worth it. “Fine, I’ll drive you home.”

The word ‘home’ felt wrong to Richie, that wasn’t his home. His home was in Derry, his home was with the Losers. It wasn’t in Hawkins, it would never be Hawkins.

“Sounds good, seeing as I have no idea where the fuck we are.” Richie snickered, standing up and giving one last glance at El.

“Watch the Language kid, don’t want to catch a bad reputation.”

Richie shrugged, “I don’t really care what some uptight adults think of me.”

///

“So, the Cold War is dying down. That’s good, right?” Karen had tried to ease the tension during dinner, but it was easy to see that her children weren’t getting along with Richie. Nancy seemed to not entirely hate him, but Mike outright refused to speak to him. Holly tried to stay away from him as well, which she tried to speak with the girl about it, but she continued the behavior.

“It’s great news, it’s been happening since 1947. Our country can’t seem to be away from war.” Ted spoke, oblivious to the tension. He never seemed to see that something was wrong, he’d just cluelessly eat as everyone was upset.

“Mike, why didn’t your friends stay for dinner?” Karen asked, hoping to get him to speak.

“They had family stuff.” He said, shrugging his shoulders.

Karen nodded, not believing his answer at all. She turned her attention to Richie, who hadn’t even touched his food. “Are you liking Hawkins so far?”

He stared at her and shook his head, “No, I hate it here. It’s a bigger shithole than Derry.”

“Woah! Do not use that language in my house, Richard!” Ted raised his voice, and Richie slouched lower in his chair, looking away.

“What makes this place bad? I thought you were liking it.”

“Look around! Nothing fucking happens! I’ve been here two days and everyone seems to hate me already!” Richie raised his voice, standing up. “At least when people hated me in Derry, they didn’t do it silently!”

Ted stood up, “Stop with the swearing!”

“No! I won’t, because I don’t give a shit what you think of me or what words I use! I really don’t fucking care!” Richie’s hands clenched into a fist, “I don’t want to be here!”

“Richie, just please tone down the swearing, you know Ted hates it..” Karen tried to reason, Holly stared at her with terrified eyes and her other children watched silently.

“And what’s he gonna do about it? Hit me? Because he can go ahead, I don’t fucking care.”

And then it was silent, the bruises on Richie’s face became the sight that Karen stared at.

Richie sighed and walked downstairs, leaving an untouched plate on the table. Ted sat back down and rubbed his temples, not saying anything.

Nancy stood up, glancing at her mother with a calm expression, “I’m gonna go talk to him.” Karen Just sighed, staring down and her own food, suddenly she couldn’t bring herself to eat.

///

Richie fell back on his bed, the image of It still clear as day in his head. He hadn’t meant to lash out, but it just happened. If he had been speaking to his parents, he would’ve gotten beat until his father believed Richie learned his lesson, the Wheelers wouldn’t even dare hit him. Part of him wished they would’ve, maybe it would’ve given him a reality check or something to keep his mind from thinking about everything he didn’t want to think of.

He stared at the ceiling, a soft knock came from his door. “What.”

The door opened and Nancy entered, sitting next to him on his bed. “What was that about?”

Richie sighed, “I don’t know.”

“I know it’s hard, being here... I don’t fully understand, but I can tell it’s not easy for you.” Nancy spoke, her words soft and comforting, “But you don’t need to take it out on us. It isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Nancy Drew.” Richie sat up, leaning his head against the wall. “But I knew that, I always have.”

Nancy decided to ignore the nickname, “You can talk to me, you know. I don’t know you well, but I don’t hate you.”

Richie looked at her, gazing into her eyes, “Mike hates me, but you knew that.”

She nodded, “he doesn’t really try to hide it.”

“Why are they so suspicious of me? They keep saying that because I was in Mike’s girlfriends’ nightmare that I’m bad.”

Nancy’s eyes widened, “Wait, what?”

He shrugged, “They won’t tell me why, you seem to know. Enlighten me, Nancy Drew.”

“It’s not my place..” she started, but looked Richie in the eyes as he stared at her. “Something happened a bit over a year ago, something bad. They still are traumatized by it, I guess. I am too, my best friend died and the last thing I ever said to her.. I have a lot of regrets, let’s just say.”

“Don’t we all.”

“But anyways, they’re still healing, and they’re just cautious of it happening again. Something happened to Will, so they’re really careful with him-“

“Yeah, he had a whole funeral, I heard.”

“They told you?” She asked, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“No, I wasn’t at the library to study. I was there to look into Hawkins history, and I read some newspapers from a while back.” Richie sighed, sitting up, “I don’t care if no one will tell me, I’m gonna find out what happened. I don’t have a choice.”

Nancy was confused by his words, but before she could question them, he stood up. “Do you know where that kid lives? Will Byers, I mean.”

Nancy bit the inside of her cheek and nodded, “His brother is my boyfriend. Are you saying you want to speak to him?”

“He’s the only one that doesn’t hate me, so yeah. He’s the only one who might tell me.”

“Alright, I’ll take you. Just.. don’t tell Mike, yeah?”

“Don’t worry, he won’t even listen to me.” Richie grabbed a jacket, which earned a confused gaze from Nancy, and he followed her to her car. “You’re Lucky i value the need of transportation, Nancy Drew. I’ve had to hold in so many jokes..”

Nancy rolled her eyes and grinned, driving towards the house she visited many days. She didn’t seem to notice the red balloon that she had passed by many times, or the way the air began to chill.

She didn’t notice it at all, at least that’s what she told herself whenever she noticed the red color from the corner of her eye.

Chapter Text

Nancy knocked on the door, waiting to see the face of a Byers, and she smiled when Jonathan opened the door.

“ Hey Nancy, everything alright?” He asked, and she nodded. She stepped out of the way to show Richie, who was looking around with his hands buried in his pockets.

“Yeah, he wanted to talk to Will.” She spoke, and Jonathan nodded. “If that’s alright?”

He nodded once more, moving out of the doorway, “Come in. He’s in his room right now, follow me, Richie.”

Richie nodded following Jonathan through the hallway. “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s at work, she’ll be back soon though.” He glanced at Richie, who didn’t look at him. He was skeptical about Richie, he hadn’t exactly met the boy, but he’d heard about him from Will. “He’s in here.” Jonathan knocked on the door and opened it, Will sat on his bed scribbling something in a sketchbook.

“Hey, what’s up?” Will asked his brother, but that’s when Richie entered the room with his arms crossed. “Richie? What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.” Richie sighed, walking into the room. Jonathan had left the two alone, probably retreating to his own room, but left Will’s door open.

“I- yeah, we do.” Will set the sketchbook aside, closing it so Richie didn’t see the drawings.

“Do you know about the lab?” Richie asked, deciding to start there.

Will frowned, sitting up and bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them. “Yeah. How do you know about it?”

Richie held out the slip of paper, the location written neatly on it. “It fell out of that newspaper I took, so I tried to find where it led earlier.”

“Wait, did you- did you find it?” Will’s eyes widened, he bit at his lip.

“No, but something about that lab is linked to what you aren’t telling me.” Richie sighed, “I’m not saying you should tell me what you’re hiding, but that lab might be connected to what I know, as well.”

“Why are you telling me this? I thought you hated us..” Will’s voice was quiet.

“I don’t hate you or your friends, it’s your friends who hate me.” He sighed, eyeing the wall. It still held the Christmas lights with the alphabet painted over the lights. “Something bad is here, in Hawkins, and I can’t stop it alone. I want to help you guys, but you won’t let me.”

Will nodded, “They’re just trying to be careful, they might realize you aren’t bad eventually..”

“I’m not gonna sit around and wait for them to kiss my ass, Bowers.” Richie sighed but frowned when he realized what he called Will.

“Bowers?” Will cocked an eyebrow up, “My last name is Byers.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry, your name is so similar to this dickwad I used to know.” He rubbed his temples and turned his gaze to the sketchbook. “You’re having visions?”

Will nodded, staring at the ground, “How’d you know?”

“Just a hunch, I guess.” Richie shrugged, “Your friend El had one kinda, and you seemed to act strangely around me for a while. When you asked about Georgie… I just thought that it seemed too suspicious.”

Will sighed, opening his sketchbook up to the most recent pages. One page was the image of a boy in a raincoat, kneeling down by a Storm drain. He flipped the page to show Richie, white glazed over-eyes. The next page showed a red balloon floating in the street.

“Блядь,” Richie mumbled, and Will looked up at him with wide eyes. (fuck.)

“Was that.. was that Russian?”

Richie nodded, “sorry, sometimes I just like the comfort of speaking Russian when I’m nervous. Reminds me of my friends, I guess.”

“So you’re fluent?”

Richie nodded, “Yeah…”

“So if I showed you some Russian phrases you’d be able to translate them?”

Richie nodded again, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Yeah? You’re confusing me here, kid.”

Will stood up and paced around his room, “Dustin found a book that’s in Russian, you could translate it for us!”

“Woah there,” Richie stood up, crossing his arms, “I’m not helping them.”

“Why not?” Will stopped pacing, staring Richie right in the eyes. Richie looked away and sighed.

“Do you not remember that they literally hate me? All this time I’ve tried to ignore it and tried to get along but they fucking hate me.” Richie dropped his arms to his side, “So no, I’m not helping them until I get an apology. They’re what, fourteen? They need to start acting like it.”

Will nodded, retreating back to his bed, “I’ll talk to them about it, I’ll make sure that they stop trying to say you’re against us.”

Richie nodded, sitting back down on the bed. “When exactly will that happen?”

“As soon as I can get them all together, which will probably be tonight.” The sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard across the house, footsteps echoed in the halls. Will stood up and walked towards his door, looking back at Richie, “My mom is Home. Wanna meet her? She’s really nice.”

Richie nodded, following Will to the kitchen, where a familiar woman stood.

“Hey Will, how was your day?” She asked, she hadn’t looked at them yet, and Richie just waited for her to notice him.

“It was fine, mom,” Will spoke, and that was when Mrs. Byers turned to see Richie.

“Wait, you’re Mike Wheeler’s cousin, right?” She asked, “You were at the store the other day.”

Richie nodded, “that’d be me. Why does everyone know Mike, seriously?”

Mrs. Byers giggled, “He’s my son’s best friend, of course I know him. So you’re from Maine?”

Richie nodded, “Born and raised. Though it’s a pretty boring town. Bit of a shithole, if you ask me.”

Mrs. Byers nodded, gesturing for the two boys to sit. They did so, and she smiled warmly, a motherly smile that Richie rarely ever saw. “So, how’s Hawkins treating you? Anything interesting happen?”

Richie shrugged, looking out the window for a moment before returning his attention to the two Byers. “Not really, this place is pretty boring too. I’d rather be in Derry, in all honesty.”

Mrs. Byers nodded, “I bet. Are you going to be staying for dinner?”

Richie shrugged, “I guess, the Wheelers already had dinner though.”

“You don’t have to eat anything if you don’t want,” she eyed Richie’s thin frame, “But I think you might like my omelets.”

Richie nodded, he was starving. He hadn’t eaten dinner, which he decided wasn’t the best idea. “Is Nancy here?”

Mrs. Byers shrugged, “No clue, I just got here. I better go check on Jonathan though, I’ll be right back.”

Richie nodded and looked at Will, who smiled softly. “Told you she's nice.”

Richie nodded, “She’s better than Mrs. Wheeler.”

Will shrugged, “Yeah, but Mrs. Wheeler is nice too.”

Richie nodded, “She’s pretty strict though. I guess parents are supposed to be strict, I’m just not used to it.”

“Your parents weren’t strict?” Will asked, remembering Richie's situation.

“They tried to be, but they weren’t too good at controlling me. I’d just end up doing what I wanted, and they couldn’t do much about it. Any punishment they tried at first wouldn’t work. I liked my room, so they couldn’t send me there. They couldn’t send me outside, I liked going outside too. I ended up doing chores so wrong that they stopped bothering, and then my dad just kinda stopped coming home.” Richie explained, remembering how proud he was of himself as a kid.

“Where’d he go?”

“Work, mostly. My mom stayed home, she used to cry herself to sleep about it. She was fucking miserable, and eventually, she tried alcohol. It helped her at first, but it just went downhill from there. One day my dad came home to find her passed out on the couch, laying in her own vomit. He just snapped after that, I dunno. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Will nodded, “My dad left when I was ten, my mom didn’t like how he was parenting me and they divorced. He moved to Indianapolis and that’s all I know.”

Richie sighed, “Dad’s suck. My friend Bev and I used to complain about our dads all the time, I miss her.”

Will nodded, watching his mother walk back into the room. “Hey mom, is it okay if I invite over my friends?”

“You want them coming here?” She smiled, “You never invite them over here.”

“Yeah, is it Fine though?”

She nodded, “feel free. Do I need to make more omelets?”

Will shook his head, “I’ll invite them over after dinner.”

Mrs. Byers smiled, taking out the carton of eggs from the fridge and setting it on the counter. She worried for her son, especially after what had happened, but she knew he’d be fine. Everything strange that had happened had to have been over, right?

//////

Mike stepped off of his bike, putting the bike stand down and walking to the door. His friends were all there already, but he had a difficult time convincing his parents to let him leave. They were still upset over the ‘dinner incident.’

He knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal Will, who smiled awkwardly. “Hey Mike, come in.”

Will led Mike into his room, their other friends (minus El) were all sitting around his bed waiting. They perked up as soon as they saw Mike.

“Okay, now that everyone’s here, our emergency meeting can begin.” Will sighed, closing the door behind him. “You can come out now.”

The closet door opened and Richie walked out, a smirk on his face, “Sup Losers.”

Mike scowled and looked at Will for an explanation, “Why is he here?!”

Will sighed, “Look, we need to talk.”

“Hey, that was my line!” Richie complained, leaning against the wall. “But yeah, that’s why I’m here.”

“I know you guys don’t trust Richie, but right now he’s our only hope of figuring out what’s going on.” Will walked over to his friends and looked at Dustin, “Did you bring the book?”

Dustin nodded skeptically, taking the book out and handing it to Will. Will walked over to Richie and the older teen took the book, looking at the cover.

“By the way, I’m fluent in Russian, so I can tell you everything this says.” Richie frowned and moved his attention to the group, “But I’m not going to.”

“Why not?!” Max exclaimed, the hope she just had was wiped away.

“Because ever since I got here you all have made it apparent that you hate me. I’m not going to help you until I get an apology.”

“No, we can’t trust him!” Mike raised his voice, “El said she had nightmares of him! Will had visions of bad things happening, and all of this started because of him!”

“So you think that whatever is here is here because of me?” Mike nodded at Richie’s statement, “Maybe you're right, maybe not. But do you think I would do anything to hurt any of you on purpose?”

“I don’t know!”

“Look, Mike, maybe Will is right. Unless he’s hiding anyone else who knows Russian in his closet, Richie is our only chance to get answers to what that book says!” Lucas spoke, his tone hushed as to make sure the other Byers didn’t hear, though the others didn't even care about their loud tones.

Max nodded, “I get that you’re upset with him, but we don’t have to like him to apologize and cooperate with him. Right now we need to worry about the book.”

Dustin frowned, “Why does he even know Russian in the first place? I’m not accusing him of anything, but that’s an oddly suspicious language to be fluent in.”

Richie smirked, “That’s exactly why my friends and I decided to learn it. We watched a movie where this person was speaking Russian and we were like ‘let’s learn it,’ and we did. Took maybe a year or two, but now most of us are fluent.”

“Mike, please just let him help us, he’s a good person.” Will pleaded, and Mike stared him in the eyes and sighed.

“Fine, I’m sorry for not trusting you, can you please help us with this?” Mike frowned with each word, but his friends were counting on him. They needed Richie’s help, whether he liked it or not.

Richie nodded, looking over the cover of the book once more, “The dancing clown.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean??” Lucas asked with frustration clear in his voice.

“It’s literally only the title of the book, chill.” Richie sighed, opening the book. He had a bad feeling, and the book was already connected to Pen- connected to IT. “The dancing clown emerges from the woods.” He turned the page, “It is coming.” He emphasized the word IT, and turned the page, “You all will float soon enough.”

Richie looked at the small printing on the bottom, dropping the book and breathing heavily.

“What? What did it say?” Max asked, furrowing her eyebrows and watching as Richie stared at the lights. They were glowing.

[B-e-e-p B-e-e-p R-i-c-h-i-e]

Will picked up the book, reading the small words at the bottom of the page, they were in English. “‘I know your secret Richie.’ What does that mean?”

Richie shook his head, “it’s here.”

The lights kept repeating the same phrase, Will remembered the voice in the wind spoke the phrase to Richie.

“What is it?” Mike asked, looking around the room.

Richie’s eyes widened as he stared behind the group, Will followed his gaze and gaped at the sight. The others turned around, a clown stood outside the window, a red balloon in his hand. His skin was the color of snow, and not in tbs pretty Snow White way. There were red marks coming from his eyelids to the corners of his blood-red lips, his nose the same color. His hair was an orange-red that stuck out wildly, his eyes were bright yellow. He wore a white clown costume, and his forehead could've won an award for how large it was.

“Fuck!” Richie yelled, looking around the room, “27 years my ass, Hanscom! It’s only been four!”

“What do you mean?! What the hell is that!” Someone yelled, he didn’t pay attention to who.

“That’s It.” He spoke, “He apparently doesn’t know how to fucking hibernate!”

The clown stared into the window, his mouth drooling at the teens, staring into their souls.

“We need to get out of here!” Dustin yelled, but Richie shook his head violently.

“Are you insane? Do you not see the killer fucking clown out there!” Lucas yelled, “What are we supposed to do! It’s definitely not a demogorgon!”

“It’s not real, it can’t be!” Max yelled, although she knew full well it was real. The demogorgons were real, what made this any different?

The clown disappeared, and they all sighed in relief. They tensed up when they noticed Richie frantically searching around.

“So I’m not real enough for you?” A high pitched voice spoke, causing them all to freeze up in fear, and Richie kept searching, holding a baseball bat in his hand now. He’d found it in the closet, and he felt safer with it.

“Where the hell did you go! I’m not letting you terrorize another town!” Richie yelled, pacing around.

“Don’t worry Richie! You’ll float soon enough! You’ll float with all of them! Georgie, and these new friends of yours!”

“Don’t you dare say Georgie’s name! You’re a fucking coward!”

The closet door opened, and It stepped out, his teeth sharp and ready to bite into them.

“Am I? Am I the coward? Or is it you!” It giggled hysterically, Richie backed up, trying to figure out a way out. When he first saw Pennywise in Bill’s garage, they had opened the garage and he disappeared. Maybe leaving the room would help, or maybe the damn clown was done playing games. “You’re nothing without your friends, Richie!”

“You think I don’t know that!” Richie readied the bat, getting ready to swing at the approaching creature, but then he heard it; footsteps nearing the door. He watched as the handle turned, and the door opened.

“Everything okay in here?” Mrs Byers asked, a worried expression clear on her face.

The group looked over to where the clown had just stood, but it was gone.

“Yeah, we’re playing a game Mrs Byers.” Richie spoke, as if nothing had just happened, “Sorry if we were a bit loud.”

“You’re Fine. Feel free to let me know if you need anything.” Mrs Byers eyed the group skeptically, she didn’t seem to fully believe the teens but she saw no evidence of anything related to the demogorgons, so she left the matter alone.

Mike looked over at Richie and gaped, “What the fuck was that and why does it know you!”

“I told you, we both have our secrets. That was mine.” Richie set the baseball bat down, wiping the sweat off his forehead and picking up the book, “so yeah, the rest of the pages just repeated those phrases. Pretty boring if you ask me.”

“Are you Just gonna pretend like that didn’t just happen?!” Max stood up, looking around the messy room. “Because that wasn’t normal, if you didn’t know!”

“Oh I know.” Richie frowned, “it’s very cranky, probably found out I fucked it’s mom.” Richie chuckled to himself, handing the book back to Dustin.

Will frowned, “I think it’s time we talk about what happened, both of us.” Will stared at Richie, and the boy just sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, I figured.”

Chapter Text

“It started off with Georgie.” Richie sighed, “He was the little brother of my friend, Bill. It was October when he disappeared, Bill had been sick and sent Georgie out in the rain to play with a paper boat. I was taking a walk at the time, I wasn’t really expecting to see Georgie. I was walking down the street when I saw him, his yellow raincoat was hard to miss, and he was couched down by the storm drain that led to the sewers.. he was talking to someone, well, something. He was worrying me, so I tried to catch his attention, but he didn’t hear me. That’s when he reached his arm into the storm drain, but the arm was bitten off by whatever was in there, and he was desperately crawling away. I tried to run over and help, but I couldn’t seem to make myself move... before I knew it, the thing in the sewers had taken Georgie.”

“That’s exactly what I saw in my dream!” Will spoke, though he hushed his tone as he realized it sounded rude.

“It was traumatizing, I had nightmares for months after that, I ran home and pretended I had never seen that. I tried telling myself that Georgie was asleep in his room, alive and well. But the next day, Bill wasn’t at school, and he hadn’t come for a week afterward. Me and my friends went to his house to see what was wrong, and that’s when he told us that Georgie was missing. At that point, everyone in town had accepted that he was dead, but Bill couldn’t. We looked for months, searching the whole town, even in the Damn sewers.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone you saw him die?” Max asked.

“You think anyone would believe me? Bill was in denial, I was in denial.. It was a tough time. It wasn’t until the last day of school when anything else happened. There were disappearances in between, but no one we really knew. That day, everyone started seeing things. We met Ben, Beverly, and Mike within that week, and that’s when shit started happening. Patrick Hockstetter went missing, and weird things kept happening. My friend Beverly, her sink shot blood all over her bathroom, her dad couldn’t see it. My friends helped clean it up while they made me keep watch, and I saw It. He was just standing in the street, exactly how we just saw him, I practically shit my pants. I was terrified, and I was alone.”

“Did you tell them what you saw?” Mike asked, though he still refused to look Richie in the eyes.

“No, ‘course not. I was convinced I had gone crazy, but I guess I forgot that my friends had just spent hours cleaning up blood from my friend's bathroom, so I probably should’ve realized it was connected. One day we met up in Bill’s garage, we figured out he was using the sewers, but then the projector showed a family picture, and that’s when we all encountered It together for the first time. It terrified us, but as soon as we opened the garage door, it vanished. We went to this old abandoned house, which we decided was where it was hiding, and we got separated. It terrorized us, played with our deepest fears and made us believe we’d all die in there. My friend Eddie ended up breaking his arm.”

Richie took a moment to breathe, looking at the intrigued and terrified faces.

He continued, “We managed to get some hits in, which gave us the opportunity to escape. We quickly left the area, Eddie ended up being taken to the hospital and we were told by his mother to never be around him. Bill and I got into a fight, and the whole group kinda split up. That was bad, because the only reason we had survived our encounters with It was because we were all together.”

“So you’re saying it’s good to stick together?” Will asked, and Richie nodded.

“I was at the arcade one day, I was usually there whenever I wanted to drown out my feelings. Shit happened, someone I thought I could trust had spoken some shitty things to me, and I ran out. I kept running, somehow ended up at my own doorstep, so I went inside and the house was empty. My mom rarely left the house, so I looked around the house for her, but I didn’t... I couldn’t find her.. and then I had turned around at one point, and it was just... It was standing there, and that’s all I remember until I woke up..”

“Where’d you wake up?” Will asked, noticing the older boy’s panic.

“In its home, there were all the missing kids just floating around this pile of junk..”

Will zoned out, the images coming into his mind.

—
The dark-haired boy woke up in a grungy area, it was filthy and cold. He stood himself up and looked around, his eyes stumbling upon a speaker that played a voice. “Step right up, Richie! Step right up!”

Richie was looking around, desperately searching for a way out, but none could be found.

“You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll cheer! You’ll die-“

Richie stopped searching, his head turning to the source of the noise.

“Introducing Pennywise! The dancing clown!” Demonic giggles echoed the place, the tune of pop-goes-the-weasel played, and eventually, the music stopped and a clown puppet jumped out from a box.

A stage opened up, sparks emitted from it and circus music began, Richie kept mumbling “what the fuck,” under his breath as he saw the clown himself, dancing as he glared viciously at Richie.

Richie began to run, but Pennywise moved swiftly, catching the boy by his neck. The clown cackled, staring into Richie’s eyes in excitement.

Richie struggled in his grasp, eyes shut as he attempted to claw and his throat, “You’re a load of bullshit!”

The clown frowned, staring Richie in the eyes with dissatisfaction. He sniffed the boy, searching for even an ounce of delicious fear, but he didn’t find enough.

He opened his mouth, it grew wider and wider until the inside of his throat emitted light. Richie stared at the light, hearing screams and pleads for mercy, and his eyes glazed over to a white color. He began floating up in the air, eventually halting. The clown ran off, and all that could be seen was the blank state of Richie Tozier.

—

“Will? Will!” Someone was shaking him, and his eyes opened as he caught his breath. Everyone in the room was looking at him with worry, even Richie had moved closer to help.

“I’m fine, really,” Will said, waving off Mike, who had been the one to shake him. “What happened next?”

Richie shrugged, “I don’t really remember much, I just remember seeing these lights and everything just felt like nothing, like everything was just a void... I saw these visions, I saw you all. Each of you.. and I saw my friends and you all die in different ways at different stages of life.” Richie sighed, “My friend Stan told me that he found out I was missing when he went to check on me, I guess the guy who insulted me had asked him to check up on me... anyways I was gone, and he gathered all our friends up and they went into the house on Neibolt street. They went all the way to Its lair, and they found me.”

“How’d they snap you out of it?”

“I don’t know. I just opened my eyes and I was laying on the ground, my friends were standing above me. Except Bill, he encountered Pennywise pretending to be Georgie. That’s when we all fought against It, and we won.” Richie sighed, “You had another vision, didn’t you?”

Will nodded, “It was of what you had just been saying, waking up in that strange place and seeing the lights.”

“The Deadlights, Pennywise’s True form.” Richie sighed, “So that’s my secret. It’s about time you share yours.”

The party nodded, and each took turns explaining what happened. They spoke about everything, from the lab, to the demogorgons, even to Will’s ‘death’ and funeral, and Richie listened. He was intrigued by El’s mysterious powers but didn’t question how she acquired them.

“El closed the gate, so everything connected to the Upside Down shouldn't be bothering us anymore,” Mike explained.

“Then it’s safe to say It followed me here.” He sighed, “This town has a weakness, so he was probably able to exist here without danger or whatever that fucker’s weakness is.”

“We need to officially call a truce.” Lucas suggested, “Richie did say that sticking together was what saved them, we can’t risk any of us dying.”

Mike sighed, staring to the ground. He understood that they were all meaning that he and Richie would make the truce, and he knew he had no choice. He stood up and held out his hand, and Richie shook it.

“Welcome to the Loser’s club, assholes,” Richie smirked,

//////

It had been a week since their encounter with Pennywise, and no signs of the clown had occurred since then. Richie was getting ready for his first day of school, and he was not excited. He remembered he’d have to meet with the guidance counselor weekly to ‘talk through his problems,’ and he was not prepared.

“Can I just not? I could drop out or some shit.” Richie groaned as he sat next to Nancy in her car.

“Keep up this whining and I’m making my mom drive you for the rest of the year.” Nancy threatened, “Or maybe I’ll make you buy a bike and ride with Mike.”

“Ha, that rhymed.” Richie looked out the window, “So you’re a senior… and he’s a freshman now?”

“Yeah, he’s starting his first year of high school. I guess it’s gonna suck for you, you’re not in either of our grades, you won’t know anyone..” Nancy sighed and looked at him with a frown.

He shrugged, “Whatever, used to be like that all the time.”

//////

“Alright Richie, how’s your first day going?”

Richie shrugged, “It hasn’t really started yet.” He glanced at the clock, the first period had only begun and he was spending it in the Counselor's office.

“Oh, that’s true.” The woman sat down and smiled fakely, “How are you handling your situation? I know it must be tough.”

Richie once again shrugged, he made sure to include a loud sigh. “The trial is next week, so things are just going okay. Can I go now?”

She frowned, “Mr. Tozier, I understand how hard this must be, but this is necessary for you.”

He wanted to call her out on her bullshit, he couldn’t understand how she got licensed to talk to kids like that, but he didn’t really doubt that no one really batted an eye. “Yeah, whatever. Everything has been fine, I’m just adjusting to being away from my friends.”

She nodded, “well, I’ll end this session and let you go to class. You have history, alright? Room A19.”

Richie nodded, standing up and grabbing his bag. She handed him a slip of paper and he exited the room, finally feeling himself begin to breathe. He wandered the halls until he stumbled across the classroom, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Tozier. I was told you’d be a bit late.” The teacher spoke, and Richie handed him the slip of paper. “You can sit in that seat over there, you didn’t miss much.”

Richie nodded, sitting down in the empty seat and staring at the chalkboard. The word ‘Holocaust’ was written neatly, a messy underline underneath it. He remembered being in History with Stan, how whenever that unit came up, the whole class would look at the boy and whisper. He remembered the way that Stan would just ignore it and tell Richie it was fine, but Richie knew it wasn’t. The boy was proud of being Jewish, though he didn’t fully understand it, it was what made him close with his family.

The room was full of unfamiliar faces, people who didn’t care to give him a second glance, they all just listened to the teacher talk about the holocaust and took notes. Richie didn’t need to take notes, as much as he acted like a dumbass, he maintained straight A’s. He had an amazing memory that surprised most people, but he didn’t really try and shove it in people’s faces.

////

Lunch came fast, and he had no idea what to do. Mrs. Wheeler hadn’t told him if he would buy lunch or not, so he decided to just skip lunch and find a place to smoke. That had been what he did in Derry Anyways, though he didn’t spend the whole lunch doing so, as he actually had friends to sit with. He was about to start searching when he spotted someone familiar, he tried to act as though he knew where he was going, but they quickly approached him.

“Richie, what’re you doing?” Dustin asked, his arms held heavy science textbooks.

“Walking, how ‘bout you?”

“Going to the cafeteria, it’s over there.” Dustin pointed to the large doorway, and Richie frowned.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Holy shit, you don’t have anyone to sit with, do you?” Dustin smirked, “You’re gonna eat lunch with us.”

“Actually I-“

“Actually you shouldn't refuse, now come on! If Troy sees us with a junior, he won’t bother us!”

Richie frowned, “Troy?”

Dustin shrugged, “He’s an asshole who likes to bother us, calls us names. I’m Toothless, though I don’t think he’ll be too happy to see I have front teeth now. Anyways, he’s just a jerk.”

Richie remembered Henry Bowers, the way that the older teen was much more than a jerk. Jerks didn’t kill their dads or carve their initials into an innocent person's stomach.

“I think he’s in your grade, actually. He’s a real dick, so watch out.”

Richie made sure to keep an eye out for someone named Troy. “I can handle an asshole that calls people names, that’s nothing.” Dustin decided not to mention that it was more than name-calling, he continued to lead Richie around the cafeteria.

Eventually, Dustin sat down at a table, the others were already there.

“Oh, hey Richie.” Max greeted, giving him a warm smile as she ate a sandwich.

“Sup fuckers, miss me?” He grinned, and Mike just rolled his eyes.

“Not really,” Mike muttered, drinking from a school milk carton.

“That’s Not what your mom was saying last night.” Richie instinctively said, and immediately expected a ‘beep beep, Richie,’ but never got one.

“Dude, my mom is your aunt,” Mike spoke, a disgusted look on his face.

Richie just shrugged, “Where’s El?”

“She’s homeschooled,” Will said, “Hopper is a bit overprotective, but he means well. Also, she’s really behind, seeing as she’s… y’know..”

Richie nodded, staring at the table with a blank gaze.

“Everything okay, Richie?” Dustin asked, looking over at the older teen curiously.

“You guys should come to Derry with me next week, there are things that are hard to understand without seeing it.”

Will nodded, knowing full well that the subject of the clown was still heavy on their minds. He’d convince his mom to let him go to Derry with the Wheelers, he had to.

Chapter Text

“Everyone’s b-been asking about y-you, Richie.”

Richie chuckled, “Well yeah, that shitty school is nothing without their local Trashmouth.”

“N-n-Not so local anymore, though,” Bill spoke, and Richie rolled his eyes, though the boy couldn’t see that.

“Don’t remind me, this shithole has an even shittier school. Literally, no one is interesting to talk to, I try and joke around and they tell me to shut up and do my work!” Richie groaned, rubbing his temples. “Trial is next week though, I’m bringing along my cousin and maybe some of his weirdo friends.”

“We’re really ex-excited to see you again, Bev said she’s g-gonna make a cake and everything. Mike said he’d h-help.” Bill chuckled, “Even Stan is excited, he won’t stop talking about how boring it’s b-been.”

Richie smiled, “How about my Eddie Spaghetti? How’s he doing?”

“He’s been okay, he r-really misses you though.”

“I miss him too,” Richie frowned, “Hey, quick question: Had anything weird been happening in Derry?”

“R-Richie?” Bill spoke, and Richie knew the boy understood.

“Nothings been happening here, if that’s what you're thinking, I’m just being paranoid as per usual.” Richie chuckled.

“No, everything’s b-been pretty normal. No disappearance or a-anything.” Bill sighed, “You’re sure nothing’s ha-happening?”

“Positive Big Bill, although nothing could compare to fucking-“

“Beep beep, Richie.” Bill laughed, causing Richie to laugh with him.

“Your stutter is getting better.”

“That’s what B-Ben said too, but I’m n-not really sure I agree.”

At that moment, Mike and Will walked inside, talking to each other and glancing at Richie.

“Ben has good judgment, for the most part anyway. Don’t know how someone so smart can be so obsessed with a boy band.” Richie smirked, “Look, Big Bill, Richie’s gotta scidattle.”

“Yeah, I should g-go too, Bev wanted us to m-meet at the quarry.”

Richie didn’t know why that made his heart sink, of course his friends were still hanging out, they couldn’t just stop their usual routines because Richie wasn’t there. “You guys have fun, have the hottest sex-“

“Don’t make me b-beep you!” Bill threatened, and Richie chuckled, hanging up the phone.

Will and Mike were still talking, waiting for him to go over to them. Richie could tell Mike still hated him, though the others were getting used to his odd behavior and Trashmouth ways, Mike seemed to despise it. Richie didn’t try and change that, if Mike wanted to hate him, then so be it.

“What’s up Willy? Mikey?”

“That’s not our names,” Mike stated.

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you that El and I are gonna be going to Derry with you. Hopper said he wanted to check it out, so he said he’d drive us there.” Will explained.

“Of course by default, that means Jonathan is going too,” Mike added, his voice seemed to be calmer. “Which means we think we should fill him in on the clown.”

Richie shrugged, “Whatever, as long as you don’t mention too much ‘bout little ol’ me.”

“Are we gonna be able to meet your friends?” Will asked, and Richie nodded. “You should tell us about them.”

Richie thought it over, deciding that he’d love to talk about his friends. “Well I was just speaking with Bill, so I’ll start with him. He’s got a stutter, to start with, and that’s why he always got bullied in school. He’s basically our group leader, makes good decisions and such. He named his bike Silver and refuses to call it anything but ‘she’ and stuff. Really cool dude though.”

“He’s Georgie’s brother, right?” Mike asked, and Richie nodded with a blank expression.

“Anyways, then there’s Stan, I have a million different nicknames for him. Staniel, Stan the Man, Stanny boy, etc. Anyways, he’s the best, he’s Jewish so he got picked on for that. I’ve known him since kindergarten, and he absolutely hated me, but I just grow on people until they accept that they’re stuck with me. Anyways, he’s kinda a perfectionist, always has unwrinkled clothes and a tucked-in shirt. So obviously, he’s super uptight, but that’s what we love about him.”

“You like that he’s an asshole?”

“Shut it, Mikey. He’s perfect.” Richie smiled, “I guess I’ll do Mike next.”

“What?” Mike furrowed his brows and scrunched up his face.

“Not you, my Mike. Mike Hanlon, certified mom friend. He’s literally amazing, he always makes me food when I go to his farm. He’s homeschooled, so he’s always working on the farm, though he still couldn’t escape getting bullied by the Bowers gang. He helped me a lot before I came here, even took me to the hospital after I passed out in his truck. He lets everyone talk about their problems and shit, never tells any secrets. Everyone goes to him with their problems, and sometimes if we’re lucky, he’ll talk about his. You guys will love him.”

Will nodded, “Yeah, he sounds great. Kinda reminds me of a nicer Steve.”

“Who the hell is Steve.”

“Nevermind, I'm sure you’ll meet Steve soon enough, though.” Will smiled and gestured for Richie to continue.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll tell ya about Beverly Marsh, aka Bev. She’s great, we’re smoking buddies. She lives in Portland right now though. She goes to Derry every weekend so she still can hang out with the Losers. She lives with her Aunt since her dad got into a bit of a shitty situation that involved a toilet lid, but we won’t talk about that. She’s the only girl in our group, which doesn’t help that everyone thinks she’s a slut and a whore. She’s really nice though, used to let me talk to her about anything, and she’d mostly listen.”

“Kinda reminds me of an edgier Max,” Mike noted, and Will nodded in agreement.

Richie shrugged, “Then there’s Ben Hanscom, super-smart nerd. He’s the certified fat kid in the group, so that gets the attention of bullies. He likes to study history, in fact when we met him, he had said he was studying Derry history. Although when we met him, he had just gotten carved into by Bowers, a real shithead of a dude right there. Ben’s a tough guy though, but insanely bad at trying to get Beverly to like him. He wrote her a fucking poem, and she thought Bill wrote it!” Richie laughed, “But yeah, we love Ben. He’s a literal angel.”

“You’re Friends seem really cool.” Will smiled, and Richie nodded.

“I saved the best for last, our hypochondriac, Eddie Kaspbrack. He’s great, always telling us that we need to do this or that or we’ll die. He knows about any illness that we could get from swimming in the Barrens, which we ignore. He’s really nice though, he really cares about all of us. His mom is a bit of a bitch, but we totally have hot sex every night-“

“Richie! Stop with the sex jokes!” Mike groaned, his face showing pure disgust.

Richie rolled his eyes, “Anyways, that’s the Losers club. You’ll meet them all soon, and you’ll be seeing a lot of Eddie. I could talk about him all day but I don’t want to be beeped.”

“Beeped?” Will questioned.

“Nevermind, but yeah, you’ll get to meet them all. So, any questions?”

/////

Richie sighed as he sat against the wall, he had finally found himself alone, he felt like he could breathe for the first time in ages. He frowned, staring at the plain white ceiling and wondering if it was really okay that he told a group of kids about everything that traumatized him. Sure, they were dealing with Pennywise too, but part of him regretted mentioning Georgie, or even the part of him seeing the Deadlights.

He raised his palm and stared at the silver scar that stared back at him, his eyes stared unblinking at it. He had promised to return to Derry if Pennywise ever returned, but the Losers never even thought about if It returned but in another town. It was only after Richie, none of the other Losers even knew, so he could just not tell them. It’d be hard, seeing as he’d be seeing them in a few days, but he had to keep it from them. It was in Hawkins, he couldn’t just make his friends go there and relive traumatizing experiences.

He grabbed out a notebook and a pencil, opening to a blank page and scribbling notes onto it.

[ •Get a baseball bat.
•Call Ben and ask about Derry History and IT
•Look into the Hawkins sewers for any signs of IT
•look Into disappearances
•call Connor?
•ask Nancy about Barb
•stop. ]

Richie sighed and wrote “Things before the Trial,” on the top of the page, ripping it out of the notebook and stuffing it into his pocket.

He had a lot to do, and he figured he better start with buying a baseball bat.

/////

Joyce wasn’t expecting many customers on a Tuesday night, and she was right. Most people only came in and bought snacks or cigarettes, maybe even beer. It was a boring shift until Richie walked through the doors, a blank expression filling his face.

“Richie? What’re you doing here?” She asked, noticing him searching around the store.

“You wouldn’t happen to sell baseball bats, would you?”

“No, we’re just a small general store. I’m sure the Wheelers have one if you want to play baseball. If not, Will has one that he never uses.” She offered, but he shook his head.

“I’ll worry about it later, Thanks anyways, Ms. Byers.”

She frowned, “Wait, Richie.”

He stopped walking to the door and turned his gaze to face her, she frowned.

“Is everything alright?”

He nodded, “Just peachy. You have a phone here I can use real quick?”

Joyce nodded, “it’s in the back, I’ll show you.” He walked over to the counter and followed her to the backroom, a phone hung on the wall. “Who are you gonna call?”

“A friend.” He answered simply, entering the phone number and holding it against his ear. “Ben, I know it’s late but I needed to ask something.” Richie glanced over at Joyce as if telling her to leave. “You still remember the history of Derry?”

Joyce walked back to the counter and frowned, Richie had confused her many times since he came to Hawkins, but he was acting stranger than usual. She decided she’d ask Will if he knew anything, seeing as they got along fairly well.

////

“Not as much as I wish I did, I’ve kinda tried to forget about it though,” Ben spoke, his voice quiet so he wouldn’t wake his mom.

“I get it, sorry for asking. Look, I’m just being paranoid at every little thing. But you said once that It would come back every 27 years, right? Always without exception?”

“Yeah, 27 years without fail. No occurrences in between and he’d never come later than 27.”

“Okay, that’s reassuring. Thanks, Benny, appreciate it.”

“Yeah, no problem Rich.” Ben’s voice became more gentle, “How’ve you been doing?”

“Just dandy, Benny boy, just dandy. Anyways, I gotta go, I’ll see you soon though.”

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Richie sighed, hanging up the phone. Maybe he could just not phone Connor, but he had questions that he needed answers for. He stared at the sheet of paper with the unfamiliar number written on it, entering it into the phone and listening to the dialing noise.

“Hello?” The familiar voice spoke, and Richie once again sighed.

“Connor, I need to ask somethin.”

“Richie? Holy shit is that you?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s me.”

Chapter Text

“Why’d you call? We haven’t spoken in years.”

Richie sighed, “Have you gotten any updates on Henry? Last I knew he was sent to the looney bin, has-has anyone gotten any updates?”

“Oh.. yeah, my mom said that he’s gone insane, keeps talking about clowns and shit.” Connor took a deep breath, “My mom is the one to get updates since Henry has no other family.”

“They even bother to send updates?” Richie chuckled softly to himself, “Were you around him much when he was starting to go crazy?”

“Rich, he was always going fucking crazy, he tortured kids for fun, for fuck's sake. But not really, he’s just my cousin, it wasn’t like we hung out much.”

“Didn’t he try and get you to join his gang?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to fuck around with gang shit, you know that.” He sighed, “I know I seemed like I wanted to impress him all the time, but I didn’t. I was terrified of him, just like you and everyone else.”

Richie didn’t speak, he stared at the floor in utter silence.

“The doctors did say Henry was acting particularly frantic, if that’s what you wanna know. Keeps trying to break out, even tried to kill another patient.” Connor cleared his throat and continued, “Why are you so interested in Henry? He made your life miserable.”

“I don’t know.” Richie shifted his feet, “Do you know how Henry was acting before he went psycho and killed people?”

“More aggressive, I guess. Especially after Hockstetter, after he killed Patrick things just went downhill. Whenever I ran into him, he’d always claim he saw weird things that weren’t there, even said the television told him to kill his dad. Said shit about seeing a fucking clown, and he was really sensitive about his dad. He was just a mess, I suppose. Anyways, I don’t know as much as some of his old gang pals, but I guess you called me because you didn’t want to speak to them.”

“Yeah, you seemed easier to talk to.” Richie sighed, he started to speak, but Connor interrupted him.

“Listen, you take care, Rich. I hope Hawkins is treating you well, but I really don’t think it’s good to be talking to you.”

Richie thought it over and decided Connor was right, “Yeah, I think I get it. Take care, Connor.”

And with that, he hung up the phone. Connor Bowers was a kind guy, and Richie would be lying if he said he didn’t have feelings for the boy many years ago. Unfortunately, Connor and him never happened, and Connor threw away everything they had to avoid any conflict from Henry Bowers. Richie understood, but ever since the day Connor practically outed him, they hadn’t spoken. It was the only thing they could do, there was no returning to a normal friendship after that, even if Richie had tried to mend it. It just wasn’t the same, the tension was just too much for them and they had decided to part ways. It was for the best, that’s what he’d always told himself, but part of him still longed for a friend that had no idea what happened in the summer of ‘85. He loved the losers to death, but they all were still traumatized by the clown, and they all worried too much. Sometimes he wanted to just stop joking and drown out his thoughts with arcade games, the Losers would get concerned and pester him about it, but Connor always was up for a game; that is until he wasn’t.

“Fuck.” Richie sighed, exiting the back room and walking past Ms. Byers, who gazed at him with creased brows.

“Where are you off to?”

He looked over at her, a half-hearted smirk forcing itself on his face, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” And with that, he left the store and took out a folded up map from his pocket. He didn’t even know if Hawkins had an easily accessible sewer system, but he didn’t really care, he’d find a way. It wasn’t like there was a Neibolt house in Hawkins, so the only place he was able to check was the sewers. He unfolded the map and gazed around, his eyes desperately searching for any synonym for the location he needed to find; he wasn’t disappointed when he found it. He quickly started heading in the correct direction and ignored the sinking feeling in his chest.

When he finally arrived, he wanted to run. Maybe he should’ve made sure to get a weapon, maybe it would’ve felt safer; but unfortunately, he gave up after being told a general store didn’t sell baseball bats. The most he had was a small lighter, and he didn’t know if the damned clown could burn. He walked into the opening of the sewer, his feet stepping into the greywater and immediately reminding him of the doe-eyed boy.

[‘It’s basically just piss and shit, so I’m just telling you!’]

He took a moment to breathe, and then took out his lighter and used it as a light source. He probably should’ve brought a flashlight, but his mind had been on autopilot, he wasn’t really thinking; he was just doing.

“What are you doing in the sewers?” A familiar voice asked, and he turned around to stare at the redhead.

“Same goes to you, Max.” He snickered, watching as she shone her flashlight on him. He narrowed his eyes, deciding he didn’t know if he could trust that she was Max. “Why are you here, exactly? Were you… were you following me?”

She shrugged, still standing at the entrance, “It’s not every day you see someone following a map to the sewers, at first I was just skating around but then I realized you were heading in this direction. I wanted to know where you were going that was so interesting.”

“You should come with me, it’s everyone’s dream to walk in greywater with someone you basically just met, right?” He joked, and she giggled, starting to walk towards him.

“Okay, but why exactly are you in here?”

“Clown hunting.” He said quietly, “You remind me of my friend, Beverly. She’s really cool, you’d love her.”

“You can’t just say clown hunting and then change the subject, why do you think that thing would be in the sewers!?” She asked, her voice showing hints of concern.

“Do you forget I’ve dealt with It before? Like I literally know everything from experience.” He frowned, “He’s either here, or some other abandoned place.”

She stared at the ground, her expression showing a range of emotions, from conflict to sadness. “Well, there is somewhere, but I don’t know if I should say…”

“Just say it,” Richie said impatiently, deciding he needed to know the information.

“The lab, it’s abandoned and no one goes near it, if anything gives off paranormal vibes, it’s that shithole…”

Richie nodded, exiting the sewers, “Well, let’s go then.”

////

Richie stared at the building in awe, it wasn’t as miserable-looking as he had imagined. The only sign that it was long-abandoned was the front doors, where there were windows that allowed him to see the interior. It looked like a murder scene, and he was certain he saw bodies inside.

“What the fuck.” He mumbled, and Max just looked at it and sighed.

“Shit went down, remember? I’m pretty sure no one has been inside ever since that day.” She went to the door and tried to open it, but the doors remained locked. “Well, there goes-“

Richie grabbed a random object from the ground, it happened to be a metal pole, and he attacked the glass.

“That’s not gonna work, Richie, I’m pretty sure it’s bulletproo-“

The glass shattered, he looked over at her and grinned. “Bulletproof my ass.” He stepped inside the building, Max hesitantly followed him. “You’re like, one of the only ones out of your friends without a stick up their ass. Will is okay though, but he’d never go to an abandoned lab with me.”

“No, honestly I don’t even want to be here, but we need to find as much about It as we can.” She stepped over broken glass and tried not to look at the mostly decomposed bodies.

“You’d think the lab people would come back and at least get rid of the bodies, it smells like a fucking sewer in here.” He pinched his nose and looked around, Metal pole still in his hand. He wondered if he’d actually find It, part of him wanted nothing more than to run, but no one else would be able to search. Max was only there because he was, and the others definitely wouldn’t find enjoyment in searching for killer clowns.

“Yeah,” Max mumbled, shining her flashlight around in the darkness, “after what happened, everyone that survived just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, so yeah.”

Richie stopped walking, gazing around and listening closely. “Have you ever watched someone die?”

Max frowned, “not really, although I can’t say the same about the others. I came to Hawkins a year ago, right after everything that happened with Will. They saw more than me and experienced more, I’m guessing they must’ve seen people die.”

Richie frowned, “Pennywise uses your own fears against you, any weakness he can find.. he’ll use it and he won’t show mercy. He knows my weaknesses, and he knows yours. He knows everything.” Richie refused to look at Max as he stared at the floor that was covered in dried blood.

“What are you saying?”

“You need to constantly consider that what you’re seeing isn’t real.”

Max frowned, she had seen Richie be serious many times, but in the past week he always made unfunny jokes about sex and other dumb things. It had always annoyed her, but she didn’t know if she liked how deathly serious the older boy was being.

“Lucas is your boyfriend, right?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing as her brows creased.

“Be careful around him, if he walks up to you alone and starts speaking to you, always make sure you know it’s really him.” Richie sighed, starting to walk towards a door.

“Did something happen where It imitated someone close to you?” She asked, and he nodded.

“When I was trying to find this place a week ago, he took the form of my friend Eddie.” That was all Richie said as he advanced towards the door, opening it slowly.

“Wait, Richie, I don't think we should go any further..” She had a bad feeling, she knew she couldn’t let him go through that door.

Richie grinned, giving her eye contact as he stepped through the doorway, “Oh no, I’m gonna die! What, are the ghosts gonna give me crabs? Terrifying!”

Max rolled her eyes, “I’m not going in there, and I’m definitely not giving you the flashlight.”

Richie took out his lighter, “Alright, feel free to stand there all alone while I go off and search.”

Max wanted to protest, but she knew he had a point; she couldn’t just stand there and wait. She followed him, trying to ignore the torn apart rooms.

Richie stepped on broken glass, the loud crunch echoing through the walls. “It has to be here, I feel it.”

Max cautiously gazed around, hoping that he was wrong and that the building was truly abandoned and empty. “How can you know for sure?”

“I don’t know, I just know it’s here. It’s hard to explain, really.” He stopped walking, holding up his lighter and lighting it, the flame was small and barely illuminated anything. “When I go to Derry, you better keep an eye out for It.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

“Good, because I don’t know if it’ll follow me back or not, but I don’t want to see another missing poster.” He sighed, looking over at Max with sleep-deprived eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“It’s all my fault it’s here, if I had just decided to not leave the house after my dad went too far, I would’ve still been in Derry and it wouldn’t be here... you wouldn’t have to worry about that fucking clown.”

“It’s not your fault, you really shouldn’t apologize.”

“It is my fault, Max. Even Mike said it, it’s all my fault. You guys already dealt with a lot and now I’m ruining the peace you guys had found.” Richie was now staring at the ceiling, “My friends don’t know that It’s back, and I can’t tell them.. if I do they’ll want to help, but I can’t- I can’t do that to them. We already faced it, we WON! It shouldn’t be back!”

“Richie-“

“Poor little Richie Tozier,” A cold voice spoke, and Richie tensed up and stared at Max with wide eyes. “You never won.”

Max didn’t know if she wanted to turn around, she didn’t think she wanted to see what she knew stood there.

“How about we play a game! Oh, I bet you love games, both of you!” It cackled, its voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

Richie held onto the metal pole tightly, running over to the clown, “Get lost, fucker!”

Max turned around, watching as Richie attacked what definitely wasn’t the clown.

It was a Demogorgon, but Richie didn’t seem to notice, and he tripped and fell onto the floor.

“Richie!”

Chapter Text

Richie’s glasses slid across the floor, the creature didn’t back off either. It was definitely Pennywise, but it seemed to be mimicking Max’s fears, as he realized it kept changing. He was unfortunately very blind at that moment, and couldn’t see what it looked like.

“Max, it’s not real!” He yelled out, crawling around and searching for his glasses. “I mean it’s actually Pennywise but not the creature thingy!”

“How can you be sure?!” She yelled out, and from what he could see, she was paralyzed in fear. The creature was quickly advancing towards him, and he finally found his glasses. He quickly slid them over his nose and picked up the metal pole.

“Get lost, you child-killing asshole!” Richie yelled, attempting to stab it, but it dodged. Richie groaned as he ran over and grabbed Max’s arm as it began to shapeshift. He froze when he recognized what it had become.

Standing in front of them was Patrick Hockstetter, not actually, but it looked exactly like the guy.

“Who is that!” Max mumbled, and Richie went pale.

Richie always was afraid of Patrick, the way the older teen seemed to always be looking at him with lustful eyes, Richie didn’t like it at all. He’d just look away and make a joke, and none of his friends seemed to notice, so it didn’t matter.

“I know what you are Richie!” It spoke, “I know your dirty little secret!”

It quickly shifted into a different person, one Richie didn’t recognize, but he realized Max did. She backed away and gaped at the guy that it turned into. He was hot, Richie had to admit, but Richie set those thoughts aside and ran towards it, Metal pole ready to make a kebab.

“Max!” It spoke, but Max kept backing away until her back was against the wall.

Richie swung the pole at it, not bothering to wait and see if he hurt it, he grabbed Max’s arm and led her out of the building. They ran until they were out of the woods, the streetlights of Hawkins gleaming in their faces.

“Next time You’re going to go explore or clown hunt, count me out,” Max said as she caught her breath, and Richie just nodded.

“Yeah, probably should’ve warned ya. The clown likes to take the form of your fears.” He sighed, “I guess I forgot how much Patrick Hockstetter used to terrify me.”

“Was he the guy with the dark hair?”

Richie nodded, “He’s dead though, It killed him a few years ago.”

“The fears that it turned into for me were the Demogorgon and my stepbrother, Billy.”

Richie didn’t comment on it, knowing that she’d explain it if she wanted to. “Well, now we know his new favorite hiding spot, that’s good to know. How about we don’t tell anyone about what just happened, okay?”

Max frowned, “Why not? Why shouldn’t we warn them?”

“Your Friends seem to seek out danger, I don’t want everyone to die yet, although I’d love to see Mike all terrified and shit. It’s just not a good idea.”

Max didn’t say anything, a silent agreement lingered in the air.

They both wished they could go a year without crazy shit happening.

////

Eleven was used to bad dreams, she’d gotten them very often in her life. She didn’t like them, but she learned to deal with them.

That particular night she had one, but she knew it was like the kind Will had been having. She knew it was real, but she didn’t know who to tell.

It started off normal, a boy walking through the woods at night, thick-rimmed glasses over his eyes and dark curly hair that bounced with each step. He was holding his arms tightly to his chest, keeping a steady gaze on the ground. He had a bruise forming on his cheek that looked like it came from a fist.

“Dammit Bill, you fucking dumbass.” He muttered to himself, “And then fucking Bowers and Connor, they can fucking rot.”

He stepped on a twig, flinching at the sudden noise and stopped to look around, a cautious look in his eyes. The wind grew cold, a shiver going up his spine as he brushed his hair out of his face.

“That clown can fucking rot.” He sighed, dropping his arms to his sides and stuffing them in his pockets. “Derry can fucking rot.”

“You can say that again.” Another voice spoke, causing Richie to look over. A redheaded girl stood there, leaning against a tree with a cigarette in between her fingers.

“What’re you doing here Bev? Shouldn’t you be sucking Bill’s dick?” Richie asked with annoyance clear in his voice.

“Beep beep, Richie. I haven’t spoken to Bill since the fight, so no.” She sighed and took a drag from her cigarette, “I can’t get that clown out of my head.”

“None of us can,” Richie muttered, walking closer to her. “It’s gonna be us eventually, we’re gonna be the ones to disappear.”

Bev frowned, “Don’t talk like that, Richie. We aren’t gonna go missing or die anytime soon.”

Richie shook his head, “Happened to Georgie, Betty, even Patrick fucking Hockstetter! That fucking clown is already playing with us, pretty soon we’ll be next!”

“Richie-“

“You weren’t in that house, Bev! You didn’t see what I saw, what WE saw! Bill is fucking psycho for wanting to keep looking for his dead brother! Not after what happened!”

Bev dropped her cigarette and stomped on it, then turned her attention back to Richie. “That clown made my bathroom covered in blood, that clown is terrorizing my friends, so I can’t just sit here and wait for it to kill us. Richie, we need to do something, or else we can start planning for our funerals.”

Richie was quiet, he leaned against the tree and slid down to the ground. He stared at his hands and frowned, “It has it out for me or something, I’m telling you. I keep seeing it, every time I think I’m finally safe, it reminds me that I’m not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when I was left on lookout duty while everyone else cleaned the blood from your bathroom?” Bev nodded. “I saw it, while I was waiting. He just stood there and stared at me, because it knew I saw what it did.”

Bev was starting to get confused, “Saw what?”

Richie’s eyes watered as he turned and stared Beverly in the eyes, “I watched Georgie die, Bev. I was going for a walk and he was right there.. talking to the storm drain, and I didn’t think much of it until it was too late.. his arm was gone and then so was he and there was blood… there was so much fucking blood!”

At that point, Richie was full-on sobbing, and Beverly crouched down and hugged him. He sobbed into her shoulder as she rubbed circles into his back.

“Do the others know?”

“No! How could I tell them! Bill would kill me for not saving him! Bill can’t even accept that he’s dead right now, so telling him would hurt him! I can’t- I can’t do that to Bill!”

Beverly sighed, staring in El’s direction. El almost thought that the girl could actually see her, but she seemed to be looking at a squirrel that was running by. That's when the dream began fading, the image of Richie with glazed over eyes popped back into her head until the dream finally ended.

When El woke up, she knew she needed to talk to Richie. The dream wasn’t much of a nightmare, no it wasn’t scary at all. She felt like her mind was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t figure it out. She left her room and walked over to the kitchen, where Hopper was drinking from a beer bottle.

“Where’s Richie?”

////

Richie opened the door to the Wheeler’s house, walking inside and immediately heading upstairs to Nancy’s room. Richie didn’t know as much about Nancy as he’d liked to, but he did know that the girl knew someone named Barbara. Well, she knew her before the girl went missing and was found dead. Throughout his research of Hawkins, he discovered that Will and Barbara had gone missing, and the girl had been found dead. An article in the newspaper was written by Nancy, and it had explained their friendship status as well as explaining the tragedy of her death.

Richie knocked on the closed door, and it opened after a moment. Nancy stood there with curiosity in her eyes, waiting for him to explain his reasoning for knocking on her door.

“Tell me about Barb.” Richie wasn’t smiling, his tone was dead serious. Nancy frowned and tugged him into her room, closing the door. He had heard the nickname from the article she had written, and decided it was easier than saying Barbara.

“How do you know about Barb? What do you know?”

“That she’s dead, went missing, all that fun stuff.” He shrugged the question off as if it were light.

“Barb was my best friend, one day I was being a literal bitch and ditched her at a party. I never saw her again.” Nancy briefly explained, and Richie frowned.

“So you abandoned her at a party and she went missing? Do you know how?”

“I don’t know for sure, I think she was by the pool and got taken.”

“Taken by what?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.” Richie stared at her, and she avoided looking at him. “It was the Demogorgon, right?”

Nancy’s eyes widened as she turned to look at Richie, “What?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, I know you know.” Richie frowned, “Your brother and his friends told me everything.”

“Why would they tell you?”

“Because there’s something going down here in Hawkins that you don’t know about.” He decided to push his luck, “Have you ever seen a random red balloon anywhere?”

She paled, remembering the red balloon she kept seeing that she always made up excuses for. “What’s going on?”

And then Richie explained it, he didn’t explain everything, just the basics. He didn’t mention the Deadlights or Georgie, he didn’t even mention his friends or his own experiences with It. He didn’t fully trust her, though he hadn’t fully trusted Mike and his friends either, but Nancy seemed like she was hiding things, and he didn’t trust that.

Chapter Text

  The car ride to Derry was long and dreadful, but Richie was excited nonetheless. He’d get to see his friends again, but that also meant he’d have to pretend that It wasn’t back. Maybe if the clown decided to return to Derry, then he’d tell them. But if It was only tormenting Hawkins, then it wasn’t their problem. 

  Mike was asleep, Nancy was staring out the window, and Holly was dropped off with her grandparents. Richie didn’t know if he should do anything, he had been thinking and thinking but his mind was all scrambled. He was conflicted about what he should do. He was sure things would be okay, but his mind kept forgetting that he was going to Derry for his father’s trial. He’d have to speak to a room of people, including his father, and tell them to send the man to jail. 

  The truth was that Richie didn’t hate his father. He might’ve told himself that because that’s what everyone expected of him, but he did love his father. His parents were once great people, but Wentworth became stressed and started to drink, but that only made it worse. He’d spent too much time at his job and neglected his family, which caused Maggie to start drinking as well. Richie tried telling her it wasn’t a good idea, but she refused to listen. She’d stopped going to church, she’d stopped trying to take care of herself, and she spent most of her time drunk on the couch. 

  Wentworth came home one day and saw how miserable she was, and he became angry. He didn’t want to blame himself, and he could never blame his wife, so the only option for him was his son. The moment he saw Richie that day, he yelled at the boy. There was no physical contact made, just verbal. And Richie knew that it was the alcohol speaking, so he didn’t take it to heart. Eventually though, Wentworth started slapping Richie, nothing that left a mark, but it still hurt nonetheless. Richie had grown used to it after a while, but Wentworth was growing bored of small slaps, and eventually, it became more and more and more. 

  Richie would hide it from his friends, he knew they’d worry and try and help him. He didn’t need their help, he didn’t want to ruin his parents’ lives even more, so he kept his mouth shut and learned how to use concealer. He’d stolen some from the pharmacy while no one was looking, and it worked wonders. He could even hide the dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping. His friends never seemed to notice anything was wrong, and he was fine with that.

  Stan knew, because he couldn’t hide it from Stan. They were best friends, Stan noticed everything. One day he had noticed that Richie was wearing concealer, and Stan asked him about it. Of course, Richie tried denying it, but Stan had rolled his eyes and wiped a bit of concealer off, revealing the nasty bruise. Stan somehow managed to get Richie to tell him, and Stan told him that he wouldn’t tell anyone, but if Richie ever needed somewhere to go, he could go to Stan’s house. Richie gladly took up that offer, and Stan’s parents eventually started expecting him there most of the time. 

  Richie closed his eyes, and eventually, he fell asleep. He dreamt of bike tires and freckled cheeks, of the days when things were better. 

  And when he woke up, he was in the parking lot of a Derry hotel. He stood up, not even waiting for anyone to tell him anything, he opened the door and ran off to the house he remembered vividly. He placed three careful knocks and watched as it opened, a smile erupting on his face as he saw the familiar boy.

  “Richie?”

  “Hey, Eddie Spaghetti.” Richie didn’t even wait for the other boy to respond, he grabbed Eddie and hugged him tightly. “I missed you.”

  “Missed you too, Richie.” The hug eventually ended, and Eddie stared at Richie’s face, the bruises completely gone. “Do the others know you’re here?”

  He shook his head, “No, not yet. Let’s go to Stan’s house.”

  Eddie nodded, closing the door behind him, not even bothering to tell his mother where he was going, and followed Richie to Stan’s house.

  They eventually arrived at the house, knocking on the door. Mrs. Uris opened it and grinned happily at the sight of Richie.

  “Stanley, come here please!” She called out, ushering the two boys inside. “Would you like anything to drink? Any snacks?”

  Richie nodded, “Water?”

  She nodded, exiting the room. Stan walked in and smiled as he saw the familiar Trashmouth, walking over to him and hugging him.

  “You look better,” Stan noted.

  “It’s only been two weeks, Staniel, don’t get too horny.”

  Stan rolled his eyes and chuckled, “beep beep, Richie.” He released the hug and looked at Eddie, “Where are your cousins?”

  “I ditched ‘em at the hotel.” He chuckled, “they’re probably looking for me, but you guys are more important.”

 “Bev is coming in from Portland today, I think she said noon,” Eddie explained. 

  “Noon? What time is it?”

  “It’s eight in the morning, Richie,” Stan explained.

  “That car ride was long.” Richie sighed, he watched as Mrs. Uris walked in the room with three glasses of water. “Thanks, Mrs. Uris.”

  “No problem dear.”

  Richie chugged down his water as Eddie and Stan sipped at their own.

  “Well, let’s go find the others.” Richie stood up, but Stan shook his head.

  “How about we talk first.” Stan stared at Richie, who sat down. “The trial starts tomorrow, everyone’s coming.”

  “I figured as much.” Richie looked over at the window, “I don’t really want to talk about this.”

  Stan sighed, looking over at Eddie who was silent. “You do know there’s a chance that you lose the case.”

  Richie bit at his lips, “Yeah, I know.”

    “What would happen if he loses?” Eddie asked, he stared at Stan with worry evident in his eyes. “Does he go back to his parents? Does he have to endure more abuse?”

  Richie winced at the word, he never really liked it. ‘Abuse’ just seemed too harsh, it made him feel weak.

  “Maybe, I don’t know. It’s up to the court.” Stan looked over at Richie with a frown, “But you should know that your dad isn’t in jail right now, he’s in your house with strict limitations. He’s not allowed to see you until the trial, so I wouldn’t go near your house.”

  Richie nodded, “Okay.”

///

  “How the hell should we know where he went!” Mike ranted, walking around the town.

  Nancy sighed, “Looking is better than assuming he’ll come back to the hotel, because he definitely won’t.” 

  Mike groaned, looking around. They passed by an arcade, which he decided would be cool to check out later. 

  “Richie?” A voice asked, and the siblings looked over to see a round boy with brown hair. “I didn’t know you were back in town, is that your cousin?”

  “I’m not Richie.” Mike hissed, a frown on his face. “Who even are you?” Mike knew it was one of Richie’s friends, but he didn’t know which one.

  “I’m Ben Hanscom. You look exactly like Richie.” Ben’s eyes widened in realization, “Oh wait, you must be Mike. Yeah, he mentioned you guys looked similar, I didn’t think that you looked exactly the same.”

  “Do you know where Richie might be?” Nancy asked, “He ran off as soon as we got here.”

  “Probably at the quarry or Barrens, that’s my guess anyway.” Ben shrugged, “Although there’s a good chance he’s at Stan’s house, so I can take you there.”

  “Please.” Nancy nodded, and the boy started heading towards the houses. 

 Mike felt a shiver run down his spine, the whole town felt off. Something about it was wrong, the way they never saw a single police car, the way the adults seemed distant. He didn’t like it.

   “So, Uhh, Ben, Tell us about Derry.” Nancy spoke, deciding to break the silence.

  “Umm, It’s a town, we have a pretty nice arcade. There’s also a really cool area called the barrens, we like to hang out there.”

  “We?”

  “My friends and I, before Richie left he hung out there too.” Ben turned down a different street, “The people here are really boring, except my friends, they’re pretty cool.”

  “Does any paranormal stuff happen here?” Mike asked, deciding to test his luck. Maybe the boy would mention the clown, or maybe he’d keep it a secret as Richie initially had.

  “Not really, unless you count missing kids as paranormal.” Ben shrugged, although he looked skeptically at the two. 

  “Missing kids?” Nancy echoed, trying to lure Ben into telling them more.

  “I don’t really know, there haven’t been any since 1985, so I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. Besides, there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”

  Nancy was about to keep prying when Ben stopped in front of a house.

  “This is it, I’ll go knock.” The boy walked through the concrete pathway and walked up the steps to the door, he knocked three times. The door opened and a skinny boy stood there with light brown curly hair and a serious gaze.

  “Hey Ben.” The boy they assume to be Stan looked over at them and frowned, “Oh.”

  “Is Richie in there?” Ben asked, peering through the doorway.

  Stan nodded, “And Eddie. We were just about to go to the barrens.” 

  “These are Richie’s cousins, they’re looking for him.”

  “Well he’s here, they can go now.” Stan stared at them with a frown, but they didn’t move.

  “Stan, what if Richie wants them here?” Ben asked, but Stan shook his head. 

 “We’re having a serious conversation about the trial, I don’t think he wants them here.” Stan looked back at Ben, his expression lightened up, “how about you gather the others and get to the barrens? We’ll start heading over in a few minutes, we just need to finish this conversation.”

  Ben nodded, “Ok, sounds good.” Stan closed the door and Ben turned to the siblings. “Well, you heard him, to the barrens we go.”

  Mike and Nancy exchanged a glance, frowning as they followed the boy. 

  It would be a long day, they decided. And they were absolutely right.

Chapter Text

  Richie stared at the water, his reflection staring back. He gritted his teeth as he awaited what he knew would be brought up. He had hoped that the subject of his parents would be set aside until the trial, but the tension in the air made that hope seem impossible.

  “Your cousin looks exactly like you, it’s kinda scary,” Eddie commented, he was staring at Mike W as he stood in front of him. 

  Richie nodded as he stood up. He needed to stop getting in depressing moods when his friends were around, they expected a Trashmouth and he couldn’t disappoint. “Here, let’s see if he looks like me when I was his age.” Richie took out his glasses from his pocket, he had brought them in case he felt overwhelmed. Sometimes he just needed something to be like the old days, back before the clowns or parent issues.

  Eddie gladly took the glasses and shoved them onto Mike’s face, his face immediately scrunching up.

  “How are you so blind!” Mike complained, taking the glasses off before a headache could arrive. “Seriously, I think that’s the biggest difference between us!”

  “Not all of us are lucky enough to get perfect vision, Michael.” Richie took his glasses back and stuffed them back into his pocket. “Mrs. K has perfect vision, hopefully our kids get it from her!”

  “Beep beep Richie!” Eddie groaned, but his face held a smile. Eddie walked over to Richie and sat down next to him, picking up a rock and skipping it into the water. “We really did miss you, Rich.”

  “Aww, I’m honored, Eddie Spaghetti.” Richie grinned, ruffling Eddie’s hair.

  “Don’t make me take that back! My name is Eddie!” Eddie playfully hit Richie’s arm, who just grinned wider.

  Richie turned his head to glance at Stan and Bill, who were talking to Mike H as they set up a table. Richie didn’t quite know where they got the table, but he wasn’t one to question things. 

  “Ooh! Bev’s bringing a cake, right?!” Richie quickly stood himself up, he looked at Eddie and offered him a hand. Eddie took Richie’s hand and stood up, the pair headed towards the others. Mike W followed them, unsure of what to do.

  Mike W felt out of place, which he supposed was how Richie felt around the party. Nancy had gone back to the hotel to inform their parents on where Richie and Mike were, so he was left standing in the barrens awkwardly.

  Richie looked over at him and sighed, “Get your skinny ass over here, Wheeler! You’re gonna hang out with my friends whether you like it or not!”

  Mike rolled his eyes and walked over to the group, who all held welcoming smiles. 

  “So I see you met Ben, but I don’t think you’ve been properly introduced to the others!” Richie grinned widely, staring at his friends and decided on who to start with. “This is Eddie Kaspbrak, but you can call him Eddie Spaghetti, he loves it. I wouldn’t go near him if you’re sick though, he’ll probably isolate himself from you. Huge hypochondriac.”

  Eddie waved, “It’s Eddie, don’t listen to him.”

  “Next is Stan the Man!” Richie pointed at Stan, who Just held a half attempted wave that resembled a peace sign more than anything. “I already told you and Will about them the other day, so I doubt I need to explain?”

  Mike W shook his head, urging Richie to continue.

  “That’s Billiam Denbrough, but you can call him Big Bill.” Richie pointed to the tall boy wearing a red flannel. “He’s like the group leader:”

  Bill didn’t complain over anything Richie said, he just laughed. “It’s n-nice to meet you, Mike.”

  It was reassuring in a way, to know that Richie had some normal friends. Or maybe Bill wasn’t normal, he wouldn’t know. The only abnormal thing about him was the stutter, but that wasn’t something he could control. 

  “Next up is Mike! Aka Homeschool, he’s your name twin.” Mike looked over at Mike H, he looked friendly. His eyes gazed softly at him and a warm smile was spread across his face. 

  “You can call me whatever you’d like, I don’t mind too much.” He held out a hand, Mike W shook it. 

  “Then all we’re missing is Bev, who should be here soon.” Richie looked around, even putting a hand against his forehead to block out the sunlight. “That cake better be fucking chocolate or else.”

  “Or else what?” Bill inquired, leaning back against the table. 

  “Or else I’ll tell her she no longer gets to be the queen B. It’ll be Ben, he deserves the title.” 

  “I thought you’d pick Mike,” Stan said, his gaze set on Mike H. Mike W was starting to get very confused, but he figured he could just pay good attention to which Mike someone looks at.

  “Uhh, I’m pretty sure Mike doesn’t start with a B.”

  “His name is Mike with a B then, he should be Queen B,” Ben said as he stood up, his hands buried in his pockets. He took a hand out and pointed at Mike H, who was just laughing at the ordeal.

  “Mike with a B?” Eddie repeated, staring at Ben with a confused gaze. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean! Where’s the B!”

  Ben Just laughed, he didn’t answer.

  Mike looked over and saw a redheaded girl approaching them, she looked very different from Max. Beverly, at least he assumed that was her, had short curly hair and a slim face. She wore green overalls over a magenta tank top. She held a box in her arms as she quickly approached, but Mike noticed how she stared at him with curiosity.

  “SUP FUCKERS!” She finally yelled after getting close enough for the others to notice. She set the box onto the table and took out the chocolate cake. It was sloppily decorated, the word Loser on it, a red ‘V’ overlapping the s. There were red and white sprinkles scattered across the top, overall the cake actually looked good. Whenever Nancy has ever attempted to bake, her creations always ended up.. a mess? Nancy stopped baking after she burnt brownies for Holly’s last birthday.

  “BEV! MY FAVORITE!” Richie quickly stood up and hugged her, she tightly hugged him back. “That better be chocolate on the inside!”

  “Oh you know it is!” She grinned, “My aunt helped me bake it, apparently she used to want to be a baker when she was in high school.”

  “Your aunt is the best! Did she come into town with you?” Richie asked, his energy radiating that of a child who got a new toy. Mike found it slightly annoying, but he wasn’t going to say anything. He doubted his friends would agree or listen.

  “Yeah, she’s actually in the same hotel as you, so she’s hanging out with your aunt!” Bev turned her attention to the others, who were chatting amongst themselves. “So that’s your cousin?”

  Richie nodded, “He’s a little shit, but I think he’s getting used to me. Isn’t that right, Mikey!”

  Mike rolled his eyes, deciding not to give the satisfaction of an answer. 

 “I’m Beverly, but everyone just calls me Bev. Derry sucks, but just watch out for clowns or Bowers’ gang.” Richie elbowed Bev, the others looked at her with frowns. Did they not know he knew about Pennywise? Did they even know it was in Hawkins? “Sorry, inside joke. Not the Bowers part, if you see any ugly teens, just run or something. They’re tough shit around here, their reputation is built on tormenting kids.”

 “Yeah, l-luckily for you the worst of them is g-gone.” Bill sighed, “H-H-Henry B-Bowers, their leader, is in jail for the m-murder of his father.”

  “And is suspected for the murder of a bunch of innocent kids,” Eddie added, looking at Bill with a look in his eyes that Mike couldn’t read.

  “And Patrick Hockstetter is dead, probably killed by Henry or some shit,” Stan said, his voice making the sentence seem normal, like Murder was just a normal thing in Derry. Mike sighed, maybe it was. From what he had heard from Richie, Derry held some strange people. Hawkins had demogorgons, even evil scientists, but everyone in Derry seemed odd. Even the air felt off, just the way the whole town felt was like something he couldn’t describe. He couldn’t seem to get rid of the goosebumps from his arms, but no one noticed so he didn’t bother to dwell on it too much.

  “That’s one way to make an impression of your hometown,” Mike commented, he watched as Beverly took out a knife and started slicing into the cake and putting the slices on different plates that she’d taken out of the box. Mike didn’t feel hungry, so he didn’t stand up as the others had.

  “Well y’know, don’t want you getting too comfortable.” Bev shrugged, licking chocolate frosting from her fingers. “Want a slice?”

  “No thanks,” He smiled at her. She was nice, he wasn’t expecting that after all he’d heard about her.

  “Bev you need to wash your hands! I’m not gonna let you touch any other slices until you do!” Eddie said with a panicking tone in his voice. 

  “Where am I supposed to wash them? We’re in the middle of the barrens, the best I can do for ya is the water over there.” She rested her hands on her hips and glared at him with a determined smirk, “Unless you have some soap with you, or even wipes.”

  “I-“ Eddie groaned as he dug into the bag he had brought, he took out a pack of wipes. “Just make sure to throw it away after!”

  Richie snickered as he wrapped an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, “This guy used to carry around a fanny pack wherever he went, now he’s upgraded to an actual bag.”

  Mike chuckled, he didn’t want to make fun of Eddie for it, especially not when Mike himself faced bullying. He’d hate to make someone feel like shit.

  Eddie rolled his eyes and nudged Richie’s arm off of him, he took a slice of cake and began eating it. “Richie.. well he’s mostly the same as he was back then, guess I don’t have dirt on him after all.”

  “Aww, sorry to disappoint Eddie Spaghetti, me and your mom are still happily f-“

  “Beep beep Richie!” The teens all said at once, and Mike felt almost left out. 

  “Mmm! Mikey!” Richie spoke with a mouthful of chocolate cake. “When’s Will and El getting here?!”

  “Sometime tonight, Hopper and Joyce needed to take care of something so they left later than us,” Mike responded, he kept his gaze on a small hole in his jeans. Will seemed upset when they last spoke, he told Mike he’d tell him as soon as he could, but Mike wasn’t sure when that’d be.

  “Cool! You guys gotta meet them, they’re pretty cool! Will is really nice, a huge nerd too!” Richie exclaimed, but Mike frowned.

  “He’s not a nerd.”

  “You’re saying that like being a nerd is a bad thing.” Mike H Frowned, “It really isn’t.”

 “We’re all nerds here.” Bev added, “We’re the Losers club for a reason, right?”

  Mike shrugged, years of being called a nerd just wouldn’t leave his mind. Before everything that happened with Will, people mostly just called him a fag, or a nerd, maybe even make fun of the fact that his dad left. Mike still wasn’t used to being around people who seemed to embrace everything they got made fun of for, he couldn’t understand it. 

  He wasn’t 100% sure of what Richie was made fun of for, maybe his parents or maybe glasses (when he didn’t have contacts) or maybe he was made fun of for being a Trashmouth. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he was betting that Richie was embracing whatever it was. 

  Eddie was probably made fun of for being a hypochondriac, but the boy seemed to not hide it. Maybe it was because he was around his friends, but Mike couldn’t know that for sure.

  Bill was definitely made fun of for his stutter, but he didn’t try to suppress it or hide it, he just let it happen and did not care what Mike thought. Though Mike didn’t honestly care, he supposed Bill could sense that.

  He didn’t know about Stan, the boy was quiet and reserved, so it was hard to tell. He did seem overly neat, maybe a neat freak. 

  Beverly was a girl hanging out with a group of guys, it wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that everyone probably called her a slut. She still hung out with them though, she probably didn’t let any rude names stop her from being around the people she enjoyed being with.

  Ben was obvious, he was fat and no doubt made fun of for it. Ben seemed happy though, he was kind to everyone and they all seemed to enjoy his presence. Mike respected that.

  Mike H was black, and Derry definitely didn’t seem fully accepting of that. Lucas was always made fun of for his race as well, but Lucas was more aggressive when upset, so he’d try and confront his problems head-on. Mike H seemed more passive, probably just ignoring the rude comments and moving on with his day. He was super nice from what Mike could tell, so Mike was glad he wasn’t letting any words bring down his spirits.

  For once, Mike saw himself not minding being around Richie. He’d expected his friends to be exactly like the annoying Trashmouth, but they all were different. They weren’t his friends, but maybe they could be. 

  But he decided it wouldn’t be a good idea, he was only in Derry for the trial, which meant in a few days he’d never see them again.

  The trial weighed heavily on his mind, that and the Damn clown. Every second felt like just another moment until his death, he always had to watch his back or else he feared that there would be something lurking there. 

  He wanted to ask Richie’s friends about it and how it was somehow back, but they seemed to not know anything, and he was certain that Richie preferred it that way.

 The rest of the day flew by, the group continued to hang out and catch up on the two weeks they’d been apart, they’d cleaned up their mess and headed into town where they showed Mike around. The town seemed relatively nice, all things considered. They stopped at the arcade for a few hours until the sun began to set and everyone took off to their own homes for dinner.

  By 5:30, it was only Richie, Bev, and Mike. They were all headed to the hotel where Mike’s parents were surely still talking to Beverly’s aunt as Beverly had said they were.

 It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

  Richie itched at the collar of his suit, he wanted nothing more than to disappear from that courtroom. The lights were too bright, his own mind racing with anxiety. To make matters worse, his parents were both there, Richie didn’t fail to notice the glares his father kept sending him.

  “All rise.” The Bailiff spoke, “Department one of the Derry Civil Court is now in session. Judge Decker presiding. Please be seated.” Richie sat back down and sighed, everyone kept glancing at him. His own friends sat among the crowd, their worry was evident by their creased brows and nervous glances they sent each other.

  The Judge began speaking, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Calling the case of Richard Tozier Vs Wentworth Tozier. Are both sides ready?”

  “Ready for the people, your honor.” The district attorney said.

  “Ready for the defense, your honor.” The public defender said. 

  Richie sighed, those two men would be deciding Richie’s fate. Would he be sent back to Indiana, or would he be sent back into the clutches of his father, whom no doubt had a new wrath to release upon Richie.

  “Will the Clerk please swear in the jury?” The judge asked, and the clerk nodded.

  “Will the jury please stand and raise your right hand?” The jury stood up obediently, waiting for further instructions. “Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you, God? Please say ‘I do.’” 

 “I do.” The jury responded, their voices were monotone.

  “You May be seated.” The clerk said as he turned his attention to someone else.

  The defense attorney stood up and faced the jury, “Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: the defendant has been charged with the abuse of his son Richard Tozier. The teenage boy was discovered on August 14th of 1989 with severe injuries. He was found and brought to the hospital with broken ribs, severe bruising, several lacerations on the head and back. A nurse claims the boy admitted to it being caused by his father, the defendant. The evidence I present will prove to you that the defendant is guilty as charged.”

  The public defender stood up as the DA sat down. “Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: under the law my client is presumed innocent until proven guilty. During this trial, you will hear no real evidence against my client. You will come to know the truth: that my client's son, Richard Tozier, is merely just a troubled teenager who gets into fights and seeks attention from others. Wentworth Tozier hadn’t once laid a hand on his child, he just didn’t know how to handle his delinquent son and did not stop him from getting into any fights. Therefore, my client is not guilty.”

  The judge nodded, “The prosecution may call its first witness.” 

  The defense attorney said, “The people call the defendant’s wife, Margaret Tozier.”

  The Bailiff escorted Maggie to the witness stand, she seemed sober. Richie was glad, he hadn’t seen her sober in a long time. 

  The clerk looked at her with a blank expression, “Please stand, Raise your right hand.” Maggie obliged, “Do you Promise that the testimony you shall give the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, And nothing but the truth. So help you God?”

  Maggie nodded, “I do.”

  “Please state your first and last name.”

  “Margaret Tozier.”

  The defense attorney stood up, “Margaret, are you employed?”

  “No, sir.”

  “So are you constantly at your home?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Our records say you are an alcoholic, is this true?”

  “Um, yes sir.”

   “How often would you say you are intoxicated?” 

  “Before being admitted to a rehab program, I suppose it was everyday.”

  “And while intoxicated, do you ever black out?”

  Maggie frowned, “Yes, sir.”

  “With this in mind, have you ever seen your husband hurt your son?”

  Maggie was silent for a moment, her gaze set on Wentworth as if asking silent questions. Richie knew the gaze all too well, Maggie always seemed to be wondering what to do or say. She relied on Wentworth for too much, and Richie hated that.

  “Well?” The defense attorney asked impatiently.

  “No, I have not.”

  Richie felt his heart sink, his mother lied to the court. At this point, the idea that he would be returned to his parents was becoming more and more of a possibility. 

  “Would you say your husband ever abuses drugs or alcohol?”

  “Objection.” The public defender interjected, “How is this relevant?”

  “Sustained.” The judge responded, “What is the point of this question being asked to her?”

  “Though her perspective may be unreliable, it is also helpful to know if the defendant was also dealing with an addiction as she was.” The defense attorney explained.

  “Alright, Carry on.”

  “Not really, he occasionally drank a beer, but never enough to really get drunk. He’d also smoke cigarettes, though I don’t believe he’s addicted to them currently.”

  The defense attorney nodded, “Do you believe your son is a delinquent?”

  “Yes, he’d constantly come home with injuries, we’d get calls from the school saying he was getting into fights and getting suspensions for it. Went and I would catch him smoking cigarettes and drinking beer he’d steal from us. No matter what we told him, he wouldn’t listen to us.”

  “And do you believe he got his injuries from a fight?”

  “Yes sir, without a doubt.”

  “Alright,” The defense attorney glanced at Richie with an unreadable expression. Richie couldn’t tell if anyone was on his side, not after hearing of his smoking and drinking habits. “Thank you, I have no further questions.”

  “Does the defense have any questions?” The judge asked, and the public defender nodded.

  “Yes, your honor.” He stood up and faced Maggie, “you said that your son has done drugs, correct?”

  “Yes.”

    “Do you have reason to believe they are influencing him? Such as the things he says?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then do you believe that it’d be reasonable to say he should receive an intervention to get him off of the drugs?”

  “Yes.”

  Richie frowned, his smoking habits had nothing to do with how he behaved. His own father smoked, so why weren’t they all blaming his abusive behavior on it if they were so eager to do the same for Richie?

  “Has your son ever smoked anything more than the nicotine in cigarettes?”

  “Yes, marijuana.”

  Richie wanted to scream, he tried marijuana only five times. Sure, it was more than some people, but it also wasn’t all that much. He tried it, he wasn’t sure if he liked it, tried a few more times, and then decided it wasn’t for him.

  “Alright, thank you. I have no further questions.”

  Maggie nodded, the bailiff escorted her back to her seat.

  “The people call up the family friend.”

  Richie watched as Stan’s father was taken to the witness stand, he held confidence to his stride.

  “Please stand, raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

  Richie wondered if Mr. Uris’s oath would count, considering he was Jewish. 

  “I do.”

  “Please state your first and last name.” The clerk spoke.

  “Donald Uris.” 

  “You May be seated.”

  The defense attorney stood up, “Donald, you claim to have witnessed Wentworth Tozier’s abuse towards his son.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Were you a direct witness or did you only see the aftermath?”

  “I have only seen the aftermath.”

  “And your son is friends with Richard Tozier?”

  “Yes, they have been friends since kindergarten.”

  “And you are also friends with the Tozier’s?”

  “Formerly, sir. We stopped speaking.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because Wentworth began to be more aggressive, I didn’t want him around my family.”

  “Aggressive?” The defense attorney frowned, “Could you elaborate?”

  “He’d get upset at the smallest things, he would yell at even the smallest misfortunes, such as a paper cut or a pothole. He always seemed upset for some reason, and when Richard kept coming over with injuries, I suspected that something more was going on in the household.”

  “And what kinds of injuries did Richard have?”

  “Bruises mostly, once he had a broken nose. There were several times he arrived with a black eye or deep cuts in his skin from broken glass or other sharp edges.”

  “Did Richard ever tell you where these injuries came from?”

  “He told Stanley, my son, and my wife and I overheard.”

  “Did you ever confront Richard about the matter?”

  “No, we didn’t think there was much we could do. We just allowed him to stay at our house for as long as he needed to, we figured it was the least we could do.” 

  The defense attorney looked through a few papers, “And Richard Tozier was at your house from the seventh to the fourteenth?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do you know the reason?”

  “No, sir. He came over and stayed, we told him to stay as long as he wanted.”

  “Alright, thank you Mr. Uris.” The defense attorney straightened out the papers, “I have no further questions.”

  “Does the defense wish to ask any questions?” The judge asked.

  The public defender stood up, “Yes, your honor.” He looked over at Richie for a moment, then turned his attention back to Mr. Uris. “Are there any reasons that Richard Tozier may be lying about the abuse?”

   “No, sir. From what I understand, he enjoys being here in Derry with his friends, if he were to live with his aunt and uncle, he’d be in Indiana.”

  “And so you believe that him wanting to hang out with his friends is a strong enough reason to believe that he is telling the truth about his father?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The public defender took out several sheets of paper that was laminated, he handed it to the Bailiff, who placed it in front of Mr. Uris.

   “These are pictures of the injuries found on Richard Tozier the day of the apparent abuse. Do you recognize any of these injuries from when he was at your residence?”

  Donald Scanned the images, his heart ached as he looked at each bruise or cut. Sure, Richie had many injuries over the times he spent at their house, but the ones he had on the seventh were mostly healed up by the time he left to go back home.

  “No.”

  “And what time did he leave your residence?”

  “About seven in the morning.”

  “And how long of a walk is it from your residence to the Tozier residence?”

  “About ten minutes.” Mr. Uris responded, “But he was riding his bike, so it would’ve been five minutes.”

  “So Richard should have arrived at his house at around 7:05, 7:10 at the latest, correct?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “The person who found Richard said that it was eight when he found him, which leaves a fifty minute window where we do not know what happened in that time. If it truly was abuse from his father, it shouldn’t have been that long of a time gap.” The public defender took the images back and straightened them out into a pile, “I have no more questions.”

  “The witness is excused,” the judge declared, watching as Mr. Uris nodded and walked back to his seat. “Does the prosecution have any other witnesses?”

  “Yes, your honor.” The Defense attorney spoke up, “The people call Richard’s friend.”

  The bailiff escorted Stan up to the witness stand, he held a calm and controlled expression that shot a determined stare at Richie.

  For as long as Richie had known him, Stan was always calm and collected. Richie respected him greatly, he was his ‘bestest friend’ as he used to say. He trusted Stan with his life, but he wished that Stan didn’t need to be up there trying to prove that Richie wasn’t a liar.

  “Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” 

  “I do.” Stan responded, doing as the Clerk told him to do. 

  “Please state your first and last name.” The clerk ordered, just as he had with the other witnesses.

 “Stanley Uris.”

   The defense attorney stood up, “Stanley Uris, you are in Richard’s grade, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you have known him since kindergarten?”

  “Yes, sir.” Stan looked over at Richie for a moment before turning his attention back to the defense attorney.

  “When was the first time he mentioned anything about his parents abusing him?”

  “Around the second grade, he asked me if my parents had ever hit me like his parents did.” 

  “And how did you respond?”

  “Objection,” The public defender interrupted, “I don’t see the relevance in that question.”

  “Sustained,” the judge said, “Please explain the relevance.”

  “I was just trying to get a sense of how much Stanley Uris knew at the beginning.”

  “Carry on.”

  “I told him no, and that was the most I heard of it for several years.”

  “Did he ever have concerning injuries?”

  “Yes, most days he’d have several bruises on his body. Even some cuts. There were also a few occasions where he came to school with broken bones.” Stanley explained.

  “And did Richard ever get into fights?”

  “Not really, the school had a group of bullies who liked to hurt us but they never exactly caused much injuries to Richie. They mostly just taunted him, and he never fought anyone.”

  “And who were these bullies you speak of?”

  “Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter.”

  “And they both couldn’t have possibly caused him any harm on the fourteenth, considering their circumstances.”

  “Can you explain the circumstances of what happened to Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter?” The judge requested.

  Stan nodded, “Patrick Hockstetter was murdered a few years ago, and Henry Bowers is in a psych ward after he murdered his father and many children.”

  “Is there anyone else who could’ve possibly done such damage to Richard?”

  “No, the school bullies currently are not as physical. They never go after Richie and my friends, or me.”

  “And what was the reason he stayed at your house for a week?”

  “He said that his parents were being particularly aggressive and he didn’t want to be around them. He tried returning home on the tenth, but he came home to his parents fighting so he came back before his parents noticed.”

  “And he returned without any injuries?”

  “Correct.”

  “I have no further questions.” The defense attorney stated, sitting back down.

“Does the defense wish to ask any questions?” The judge asked.

  The public defender stood up, “Yes, your honor.”

  When Richie looked over at Stan, he realized how anxious the boy seemed. It was strange, Stan always seemed to be the person with his shit together, always calm and collected. 

 “Stanley, has Richard Tozier ever had reason to lie to you over how he acquired his injuries?”

  Richie was waiting for someone to object, but no one did. 

  “The only lies he’s told me about them was that they were all accidents.”

  “So Richard lies about how he gets them? Could you elaborate?”

  “Well, when we’re around friends and someone asks how he got hurt, he’ll just say he ran into a pole or something, or that he fell off his bike. He doesn’t want to say that it was his parents, because he was always scared of having people think he’s weak.”

  “And why is he so scared of seeming weak?”

  “Because he’s the happy-go-Lucky funny friend, sir. He thinks that because he always seems so happy, no one would want him around if he wasn’t happy.”

  “And has his friends abandoned him since they found out about this case?”

  “No, we’ve all been very supportive and caring. I believe the only reason he thought they’d leave is because it’s what his father told him.”

  The public defender frowned, but Richie knew it was because there was a lot of evidence piling against Wentworth. The case was favoring Richie, so of course the public defender was worried.

  “Could Richard Tozier possibly be giving himself these injuries?” The public defender asked, a slight smirk at the corner of his mouth.

  Stan seemed surprised by the question, but he quickly regained his composure. “No, some of the injuries are just too difficult to give yourself.”

  “Yes, but what if he is purposefully getting himself into situations where he gets hurt? What if he really is walking into poles and crashing his bike, but with the intention of getting hurt?”

  The court room was silent, the idea that Richie was doing it to himself seemed to loom in people’s minds. Some seemed to believe it, while others (his friends and some others) seemed angered by the question.

  “No,” Stan shook his head, his brows furrowed together as he frowned. “He’s not that kind of person.”

  “And how can you be sure?” The public defender handed the bailiff a picture, and the bailiff took it over to Stan. Stan’s eyes widened as his frown grew deeper. “It has been discovered that Richard Tozier burns himself with his cigarettes, so it is entirely plausible that he is doing it to himself.”

  Stan was quiet, too quiet. Richie felt as though he were about to puke his own heart. Of course they figured out that the burns were caused by himself, he had forgotten that the nurse took pictures of them. He didn’t want to look over at his friends, but he did anyway. They had a look of despair set on their faces, they knew that the tables had turned.

  Richie burned himself with cigarettes, yes, he’d admit that now. But he always told himself it was a reality check, it was to bring his mind back to reality when he gets stuck in the endless void of dark and negative emotions. He never thought anyone would find out, not when he put so much effort into hiding them.

  “Were you aware that he was self-harming?”

  Richie cringed at the word, as if saying it was self-harm made it feel more real. It made all his excuses for doing it be thrown away.

  “No, sir.”

  Richie felt burning eyes on him, so many people in the courtroom were now looking at him like he was faking his parents' abuse. He didn’t want to know what’d happen if his father won the case, he really didn’t think he’d be able to handle it.

  “Richard smokes cigarettes, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you, I have no more questions.”

  For a moment, it was silent. Everyone was deep in thought about what was true and what wasn’t. Richie was convinced that he was now going back to his father's clutches, there was no doubt in his mind. He couldn’t understand it, just because Richie was willing to harm himself didn’t mean everything else in the case was a lie.

  “The witness is excused.” The judge hesitantly looked over at the jury, “Does the prosecution call any more witnesses?”

  Stan walked back to his seat, his footsteps ruining the silence that was suffocating Richie.

  “Yes your honor, the people call the aunt.” The defense attorney spoke, uneasiness in his voice.

  Karen Wheeler stood up and was escorted to the witness stand, her heels clicking against the tiles. She stood at the stand with an unreadable expression, but Richie decided she had given up on him. He was terrible to her, he lashed out and isolated himself from her. She hated him, he was certain of it.

  “Please stand. Raise your right hand.” Mrs Wheeler did as she was told. “Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” The clerk asked.

  “I do.” Mrs. Wheeler said.

  “Please state your first and last name.” 

  “Karen Wheeler.”

  “You may be seated.” The clerk said, and Mrs. Wheeler sat down.

  The defense attorney stood up, “Mrs. Wheeler, you are the sister of Margaret Tozier, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “And have you had any communication with her in the past few years?”

  “No, we stopped speaking after she moved to Maine two decades ago.”

  “Why is that?”

   “We didn’t get along as well as I wish we had. She had a fascination with alcohol, I didn’t like that.”

  “And would you say she was an alcoholic when she moved to Maine?” The defense attorney asked.

  “Not entirely, I think she liked to have a few drinks every week, but it wasn’t like she was addicted yet.” Karen looked over at Maggie with concern-laced eyes.

  “Do you think Wentworth may have encouraged it into an addiction?” 

  “I can’t be sure, I’ve never met him. Maggie and I, we never went to each other's weddings.” 

  “And Maggie is Margaret Tozier?”

  “Yes.”

  The defense attorney nodded, looking through his papers, “Karen, when Richard was taken into your care, was there any strange behavior he displayed?”

  Karen nodded, brushing her hair behind her ears. “He wasn’t very trusting of me, or my husband. He would lash out a lot, I believe he was used to the way his household was. From what I heard, they didn’t have many rules in place, so he wasn’t used to the ones in my house.”

  “He lashed out in what way?”

  “He raised his voice and swore a lot, but he didn’t hurt anyone. When we were trying to hit him, he basically dared us to hit him. He stormed off afterwards and we didn’t see him for a bit after that.”

  “What do you mean by ‘dared you to hit him’ exactly?”

  “Well, he was swearing a lot, so I told him that he shouldn’t because Ted hates swearing, and he asked what Ted was going to do about it.” She took a deep breath and continued, “His exact words were: ‘And what’re you gonna do about it? Hit me?’ And then he went to his room.”

  “Has he lashed out at all after that?” 

  “Not really, maybe sometimes he gets a bit angrier than usual, but he’s been good about controlling it.” She looked over at Richie for a moment, he was sitting in a chair with his arms crossed as he stared at the ground. His gaze was blank, and she hoped he was doing okay.

  “Were you aware of his smoking habit?”

  “Not entirely, I suspected it but I never knew for sure. He smelled like cigarettes, but I never saw him smoking.”

  “Right. And did he get along with your children?”

  Karen frowned, “Not at first, he got along okay with Nancy and Holly, but not much with Mike. At first they were either ignoring each other or fighting.”

  “Physical fighting?”

  “No, just arguing.”

  “Did he ever open up to you about his parents?”

  “No, he didn’t. I didn’t try to make him, either.” 

  “Thank you. I have no further questions.” The defense attorney sat down, his eyes glancing at each Tozier. Maggie was biting anxiously at her lips as she stared at Karen, Wentworth had his fists balled as he stared at the public defender, and Richie was still staring at the ground. 

  “Does the defense wish to ask any questions?” Richie was getting tired of the repetitive questions and phrases he heard, he just wanted the trial to be over.

  “Yes, your honor.” The public defender stood up, his eyes glaring at Richie for a moment before looking at Karen. Richie shrunk back in his seat as he closed his eyes for a moment before opening then once more. “Mrs. Wheeler, you mentioned he dared you to hit him, was that something he repeated?”

  “No, it was just that time.”

  “And has he shown any signs of mental problems?”

  The words stung to Richie, as if the public defender had already written Richie off as insane.

  “Well, he flinched whenever people touch him, he has a lot of nightmares, and he sometimes has these moments where he won’t talk and will stare at the wall.” Karen looked at the ceiling for a moment, deep in thought. “He also tends to lock himself in his room whenever he’s overwhelmed.”

  The public attorney nodded as his lips raised to a slight smile, “Has he ever been violent since coming to your residence?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “And do you know if he’s been self-harming?”

  “No, I didn’t even know he ever had. I would’ve thought I’d be informed by the social worker.” 

  “Hmm, do you think he’s adjusted to Hawkins?”

   “If I’m being honest, not really. He just can’t seem to get comfortable there, no matter how hard I try to help.” 

  “Do you think he was telling the truth about his father’s abuse?” 

  Karen looked over at Richie, who raised his gaze to meet hers. He held a worried stare in his eyes as his brows furrowed. 

  “Yes, I have no doubt in my mind.”

   “I have no further questions.”

    The judge cleared his throat before speaking, “The witness is excused.”

  Karen nodded and went back to her seat, sighing as she sat down.

  “Your honor, the people rest their case.” The defense attorney spoke, straightening the pile of papers on his desk.

  “Is the defense ready with its case?” The judge asked.

  The public defender nodded, “Yes, your honor. I call the defendant.”

  “Does the defendant choose to testify?” The judge looked over at Wentworth.

  “Yes, your honor.”

  “Proceed.”

  The bailiff led Wentworth to the stand, Wentworth straightened his tie as he gazed at everyone in the courtroom. 

  “Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

  “I do.”

  “Please state your name.”

  “Wentworth Tozier.”

  “You May be seated.”

  Wentworth sat down, his eyes shooting daggers at Richie, who ran his hands through his hair repeatedly.

  “Wentworth, where were you on the morning of August 14th?” The public defender asked.

  “I was in my house with my wife, we were having breakfast.”

  “And when did your son return home?”

  “I believe around 7:13.”

  “And was he injured?”

  “No, he came home without injuries.” Wentworth wasn’t lying just yet, but Richie knew the lies would be the next thing he spat out.

  “So he was at home, where was he until he was found with injuries?”

  “Well, I grounded him for leaving for a week without a word, and he stormed off to his room. He slammed the door and everything.” 

  Richie bit at the inside of his cheeks, there were the lies. 

  “Was he in his room that full time?”

  “No, I heard a loud crashing noise and went to check on him. When I opened the door, his room was trashed up and his window was open. He had snuck out.”

  “And what time was it?”

  “Around 7:43.”

  “Did you and your wife search for him?” The public defender glanced at Maggie before looking back at Wentworth.

  “No, we assumed he’d be back within the day.”

  “And when did you find out that he was found injured?”

  “I didn’t find out until later that night, my wife and I went to work and didn’t have access to a telephone.” 

  “Thank you, Wentworth. I have no further questions, your honor.” The public defender sat down.

  “Does the prosecution have any questions?” The judge asked, gazing at the other man.

  “Yes, your honor. Wentworth, in your home a picture frame was found broken in the trash can. One of Richard’s injuries resembles that of glass breaking on him. Can you explain this?”

  “The picture was from his room, he had broken it while on his rampage. He doesn’t have a trash can in his room so it was thrown away in the kitchen.” Wentworth hadn’t been prepared for that question, his hesitation was obvious.

  “And what was your wife doing during this time?”

  “She was hungover on the couch, I believe she may have been asleep.” 

  Richie supposed there was no need to lie about that, seeing as the fact that Maggie was an alcoholic had been covered already.

  “And did she wake up during any of this?”

  “Yes, during his rampage. The crashing sound woke her up.”

  “And you don’t have any idea of what happened with Richard between the times of 7:43 and 8:00?”

  “No.”

  “Thank you. I have no further questions.”

  “The witness is excused.” Wentworth nodded and went back to his seat. “Does the defense rest?”

 /

  “No, your honor.” The public defender spoke as he stood up, “I call up the defendant’s son.” 

  Richie felt like he was going to be sick, his mind was spiraling as everyone turned to face him. He had no where to run, not even a way to conceal the panic that was showing in his face. He sighed, standing up as the bailiff escorted him to the witness stand. At that moment, he couldn’t hear anything but murmurs of words that were spoken to him.

  The clerk looked at Richie, and Richie realized it was his turn to stand and raise his right hand. He did as he assumed he was told, and the clerk proceeded.

  “Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

  “I do.” Richie wanted to look anywhere but at the adults standing before him, he wanted desperately for the stares to be directed somewhere else. Of course, he felt stares throughout the trial, but now it was everyone.

  “please state your name.”

  “Richard Tozier.” He hated his first name, he really hated it. It wasn’t even because it could have the nickname of ‘Dick,’ because Richie thought that was hilarious. It was just the way it seemed so degrading. No one called him Richard unless they were yelling at him, scolding him, even furious with him. It made him feel like his parents were yelling at him, it brought so many negative memories into his mind. 

  “You May be seated.”

  Richie sat down immediately, his eyes gazing quickly at his fingers as he picked at hangnails. He couldn’t imagine what everyone was thinking about him, all his deepest secrets had been revealed. Well, almost all of them. There was still one secret he swore he’d take to the grave, and it was definitely going to remain that way.

  “Tell me, Richard, on August 14, you came home after being gone for a week. What happened between the times of 7:13 and 8:00?” The defense attorney asked, his eyes gentle. Richie liked the defense attorney, though maybe that was because the guy was hired to take Richie’s side. It didn’t exactly make the public defender a bad person, he was also just doing his job. Richie wished that he could convince his brain that, because the way the public defender spoke to him felt degrading.

  “Well, I came home from Stan’s house, cause I knew I had to eventually. I tried sneaking in, b-but my dad heard me. My mom was passed out on the couch, no doubt she was hungover. Maybe even drunk at that point, I don’t know.” Richie glanced at his mother, who frowned regretfully at his words. Maggie Tozier wasn’t the best mother, but Richie would be lying if he said he didn’t love her. She tried her best, but her addiction had her on a tight leash. Wentworth didn’t help it very much, he even encouraged it.

  “What did your father do when he found you?”

  “Well, he pinned be to the wall and held my neck, it was hard to breathe. He kept- he kept yelling at me for not taking care of my mom, and leaving for so long. He punched me a bit, and Uh, he eventually released my neck and I fell to the floor. He kicked at my ribs and threw a picture frame on me. After that, he- he left me alone.”

  “And what did you do after that?”

  “I kinda laid there for a bit, then I went to my room to try and patch myself up, but I realized I couldn’t do that on my own. We didn’t have much medical supplies, and my glasses were broken, so I couldn’t really see.” Richie paused, and no one spoke or asked questions, so Richie cleared his throat and continued. “I decided to go back to Stan’s house, since I knew he already kinda knew what my dad was like.. anyways, I snuck out through my window and headed down the street, I didn’t make it far though. My friend, Mike, he drove by and was concerned, so he stopped to help me. He was gonna take me to his farm to help fix me up, but I must’ve passed out before we made it.”

  “And you woke up in the hospital?”

  “Yeah, my friends were there, but my parents weren’t.” Richie sighed and looked up at his friends, who looked concerned for him. He wished it was before everything went to shit, when they could just hang out at the quarry and think they were invincible to the worlds troubles. Sure, Richie always had shitty parents, but there was a time when he didn’t let it bother him. Before the clown, everything was just better. Sure, he didn’t know Bev, Mike, or Ben, but at least he felt happy to be alive.

  “And when did you see your parents next?”

  “Today.” Richie watched the shock that radiated from the defense attorney’s eyes. Richie hasn’t seen his parents since he was taking a beating, they never bothered to go to the hospital to visit even after hearing what happened. Then he told a nurse that his father was the one to hurt him, so they had to deal with the police. It was a hectic day, that was for sure.

  “Alright.” The defense attorney began to sit down, “I have no further questions.”

  “Does the defense have any questions?” The judge asked.

  “Yes, your honor.” The public defender stood up and put his full attention towards Richie for the first time. Richie wanted to shrink down in his chair and evaporate into water vapor or some shit, but unfortunately he was stuck in his situation.

  “Richard, is it true that you have the tendency to harm yourself?” 

  Richie wanted to groan, or even roll his eyes, they’d already gone through this question with multiple people. He didn’t think it was necessary to drag it on.

  “Yes.” He hated admitting it, but he wasn’t going to lie. They had proof against him, he knew there was no denying it at that point.

  “Why do you harm yourself?”

  Richie didn’t know how to answer that, in all honesty he rarely thought about why he brought the cigarettes to his skin. 

  “I guess to feel something, and to make myself stop feeling like I deserve to be punished.”

  “Can you elaborate?”  

   “Well, sometimes I just feel this hatred towards myself that every little thing I do makes me think I’m such a terrible person and I deserve to be punished for even existing. And then sometimes I feel absolutely nothing for so long, and I feel like hurting myself is the only way to feel anything.”

  Richie knew they were probably already considering him as a crazy person, they were probably printing off the psych ward admission paperwork as he was speaking. No one seemed to understand self-harm, not even himself. He did it for the sole purpose of feeling better, he couldn’t see why everyone was so concerned by it.

  “And you do this by burning yourself with cigarettes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have your parents ever found out about this?”

  “No.” Of course they wouldn’t know, they never cared enough to look at him for more than five seconds. Even if they knew, Richie doubted that they’d do anything about it.

  “Did you ever cause any other injury to yourself on purpose?”

  “No,” Richie could see the set-up. The public defender was hoping he’d say yes, and then he’d try and make it seem like that made all his injuries self-inflicted. 

  “Alright then,” the public defender looked through his papers for a moment, his eyes landing on one as he looked right into Richie’s eyes. “A few months ago, you were suspended from school for getting into a fight with someone. Is this common behavior of yours?”

  “No, that guy was making fun of my friends and wouldn’t shut up. I was just-“

  “I don’t want to hear any excuses or explanations to why you beat up someone and sent them to the hospital.”

  Richie couldn’t deny that information, he had went too far. Someone made fun of Bill’s brother being dead, they called Eddie a fairy, made fun of Stan’s religion, called Mike a word that Richie would never dare to repeat, told Ben to kill himself, and called Richie a fag. They didn’t say anything about Beverly, mostly because she was in Portland and he didn’t even remember who she was. Mike was homeschooled, but the guy knew about Mike somehow and insulted him. The other Loser’s just tried to shrug it off and go, but the guy wouldn’t give up. Richie got pissed, so he fought back. Eventually, the two ended up in a fight, and Richie had to make sure he won.

  And he did win, but his father made sure to make that win feel like a loss as soon as he returned home with his two-week suspension. 

  “What was the reason you stayed at Mr. Uris’s house for a week?” 

  The topic change surprised Richie, he had to calm himself down before continuing. “Because my father and I got into an argument, he threatened to hurt me, so I left before he could do much damage to me.” Richie sighed and remembered the way his father gripped his wrist too tightly, the bruises took the whole week to fade. ”I didn’t want to face him, so I procrastinated by staying at Stan’s.”

  The public defender set down his files and rubbed his temple. “In my years of having this job, I have never had a case so complicated. Someone has to be lying in this case.”

  Richie decided not to respond, knowing the man was just speaking statements.

  “Both sides would have reason to lie if the other side was true, which further complicates things.” He rested his hands on the table and frowned, “Richard, have you ever wanted revenge on your parents?”

  Richie didn’t have to think about it much, he already knew the answer.

  “No, I never have.” It was true, he looked the public defender in the eyes as he said it. He may have hated his father, but never once did he consider getting revenge. He never thought about hitting his father or ruining his life, the most he’d done was yell at the guy. 

  “Alright.” The public defender said with a steady voice, “I have no further questions, your honor.”

  “Does the defense rest?” The judge asked, looking at Richie for a brief moment before holding his gaze on the public defender.

   “Yes, your honor.” He sat down, and Richie felt a wave of relief wash over him.

   “The witness is excused.” 

  Richie was led back to his seat, where he gladly sat down on. The stares were now mostly off of him and now on the judge.

   The judge looked over at the papers, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I am now going to read to you the law that you must follow in deciding this case. To prove the crime charged against the defendant, the prosecution must prove three things to you:

 First, that the defendant physically abused his son.

 Second, that the defendant was not under the influence of any substance or drug at this time.

  Third, that the defendant is lying about what happened.

If each of you believes that the prosecution proved all three of these things beyond reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant guilty. But if you believe the prosecution did not prove any one of these things beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must find the defendant not guilty.”

  Richie couldn’t bring himself to look at anyone, he knew that the favor was on Wentworth’s side, he knew he’d lose the case.

  “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean beyond all possible doubt. It means that you must consider all of the evidence and that you are very sure that the charge is true.” The judge looked over at the defense attorney, “Are you ready with final arguments?”

  “Yes, your honor.” The defense attorney and public defender said in unison.

  The defense attorney stood up and faced the jury, “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: The judge has told you that we must prove three things. There are two things we must prove, first being that Wentworth Tozier was the one to cause the injuries to his son. Second, that he was not under the influence during the incident. Therefore, all we have to prove is that Wentworth hurt his son and lied about it to the court. The defendant admitted to his wife being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the event, he also claimed he was upset with his son and grounded him. All witnesses except Margaret Tozier have claimed that Wentworth did abuse his son, even an old friend of Wentworth’s. The defendant may have claimed he did not cause the injuries, but the picture frame that fell on Richard Tozier was not from his room. The glass shards were discovered on the floor of his kitchen, and therefore prove that Wentworth was lying. That shows that Wentworth May have been lying throughout his testimony to the court. According to what the judge just told you, that is all we have to prove. Based on the evidence, you must find the defendant guilty.”

  The defense attorney sat down as the public defender stood up, “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Wentworth Tozier was just being a good father. He was unlucky to have his son be injured as he had, and he was also upset by the boy being absent for a week without consulting with him first. Sure, when the boy returned home, he was upset. But , he did not lay a hand on his son. My client did not lie during his testimony, glass shards were also found in Richard’s room where the frame fell, the ones in the kitchen may have been from something else. Wentworth was a concerned father just trying to take care of a delinquent son, he couldn't have known that his son would get into trouble that’d cause him such injuries. The boy left their residence without injuries, then he was found with them. The boy has had self-harming behaviors, this very well could’ve been caused by himself as a way to get revenge on his father for grounding him. Richard Tozier has been known to get in a lot of trouble around the neighborhood, many say he’s a troublemaking Trashmouth. This may just be his way of gaining attention at the expense of his family. Remember that under the law, my client is presumed to be innocent. The prosecution must prove every part of its case beyond reasonable doubt- that means that you must be very sure.”

  Richie felt himself start to panic, he didn’t want to hear anyone side with his father's lies. His heart beat a mile a minute as he focused on breathing.

  “One of the things they must prove is that my client lied during his testimony, but my client swore an oath to the court that would cause him legal trouble. Wentworth Tozier is an intelligent man who surely would understand that, he testified under oath that he never laid a hand on his son. The prosecution has presented no real evidence to you to show that this is not true. That means that there is a reasonable doubt and, therefore, you must find him not guilty .”

   Richie knew that he had already lost the case, Wentworth Tozier was a well-respected man in Derry. The jurors were all from Derry and considered Wentworth a good man. Richie had no doubt it wouldn’t end well for him.

 The jury spoke amongst themselves, they occasionally glanced at the Tozier’s before looking away. 

  “Will the jury foreperson please stand? Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?”

  The foreperson stood up, Richie recognized them. It was the mailman, after all. Hard to forget the face of someone you see that often.

  “Yes.” 

  The clerk walked over to the jury stand and retrieved the jury form, he walked over to the judge and handed it to him. The judge silently read over the paper, then handed it to the clerk.

  The clerk cleared his voice, “The jury finds the defendant GUILTY.”

Chapter Text

  Richie stayed seated while everyone in the courtroom went their separate ways. His father was sentenced to eight years in prison, his mother was sentenced to six months in prison for lying under oath, and then afterward she would be put in rehab. Richie would be going to Indiana.

  He couldn’t say he didn’t see it coming, because he knew it was a possibility ever since he ended up in Hawkins. He knew it was for the best, but despite that, he couldn’t seem to come to terms with it. He and his friends had always planned on leaving Derry together, but that plan was quickly becoming impossible. Beverly left, and now Richie. He was scared. He didn’t want to live a life away from his friends, he just couldn’t. They were always there for him, even if he never truly opened up to them about any of his problems. They at least knew something wasn’t okay with him, and so they’d try and make sure he felt happy.

  He watched as a group of people approached him, too many people. He couldn’t deal with people, not at that moment. But he couldn’t bring himself to speak, he just stared at the ground as they approached him. 

  “Richie, it’s gonna be okay,” Eddie said, and Richie wanted to argue that it wouldn’t be okay, that everything was going to shit and he couldn’t do anything about it. But Eddie’s voice made him feel like it would be okay, that he could get through it all and be happy.

  Richie raised his eyes and looked at Eddie, “Do you promise?”

  Eddie nodded, sitting down next to Richie. “Yeah, I promise.”

  “It’s only two years until you’re 18, then you’ll graduate and you can move back into Derry.” Ben smiled, and Richie knew he was right. He was a junior, that left less than two years until he graduated.

  “And until you can afford a place of your own, you can stay with me, or Stan.” Bill offered, “But, I have a feeling we won’t be staying in Derry for long.”

  “Are... Are we all going to leave together?” Richie didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he needed that hope. 

  “You bet your ass we will, Rich,” Bev said, sitting down on the other side of Richie. “As soon as I can, I’m coming back to Derry. Until then, I’ll just visit every so often, but I’m gonna call you every fucking day now that I know your aunt’s number.”

  Richie chuckled, looking around at his other friends, “Two years is a long time..”

  “Well, it’s been what, four years since we fought that clown? It really isn’t all that much time.” Mike H spoke, he smiled at his words and watched as Richie had a small smile of his own.

  “Yeah, that’s true.”

  The clown. The trial distracted him from the fact that the clown was back. Would it follow him to Derry again? Or was it stuck in Hawkins? He didn’t want to find out, but he knew he had no choice.

  “I guess I’m going back to Hawkins tomorrow,” Richie sighed.

Stan and Beverly exchanged a glance as they looked back at Richie.

  “Richie, we’re gonna go to Hawkins with you. Not permanent, just until Sunday. We’re gonna miss a few days of school, but I don’t think we’ll miss much.” Stan grinned, a genuine and full grin. Richie rarely saw Stan fully smile, they usually looked awkward and almost forced. 

  “Wait, really?” Richie looked at each of them, and they all nodded, “How?!”

  “Your Police friend, Chief Hopper? Yeah, he offered to take us there for a few days. Guess you grew on him?” Beverly explained.

  Richie glanced at Eddie for a moment before the realization clicked. IT was in Hawkins, his friends were now going to Hawkins. In conclusion: Richie was screwed.

  Okay, he knew he was only screwed because he was hoping to not get them involved. The first time really traumatized them all, especially Stan and Bill. The two grew close due to said trauma, but Richie didn’t think they could take another clown situation.

  “Barely know the dude, if I’m being honest.” Richie shrugged, “But he’s a nice dude. Weird to see police doing their jobs.”

  “Richie.” Another voice said, Richie looked up to see Will.

  “Hey, I didn’t really get to say hi when you got here last night.” Richie noted, “So.. uh... hi?”

  “Um, hi?” Will furrowed his brows as he chuckled, “Mrs. Wheeler said that we’re gonna go back to the hotel in a few, but she’s been talking to the other parents for a while, so I don’t think that’s completely true.”

  “Who’s that?” Eddie asked, curiosity filled his brown eyes. 

  “That’s Will, he’s my cousin’s friend.” Richie frowned for a moment before grinning, “But I’d like to think he’s my friend, too.”

  Bill nodded and walked up to Will, “Well then, welcome to the Loser’s Club, Will.”

  Will smiled and shook Bill’s hand, who had held it out. 

  “Richie took off the jacket of his suit and revealed the Hawaiian shirt underneath it. 

  “You’ve had that under your suit this entire time?” Eddie asked with a frown. “It might be starting to get colder, but it’s still summer. You could get a fever from wearing too many layers, and-“

  “Now now, Eddie Spaghetti, the Hawaiian shirts are worth it.” Richie took his glasses out of his pocket and set them on his nose, “Holy shit this feels weird.”

  “Aren’t you wearing your contacts?” Stan asked, watching as Richie stared at his hands with fascination. 

 “Yeah, this shit looks so weird, like I’ve got supervision or some shit.” Richie turned his hands over and waved his hands around, “it’s kinda blurry but like, shit looks further away... this is super cool!”

  Richie grinned and looked over at his friends, who were giggling at his antics. He almost forgot he was in a courtroom, and that his father was now in prison, and he was going to be leaving his friends for two years. Almost forgot.

  Richie looked around the room, it wasn’t entirely empty, but it felt like it was. The adults were crowded in one area, and the teens were broken up into two different areas. Richie sighed as he looked down at the floor, he practically memorized how the tiles looked at that point. He found it easier to face the floor than anyone else, though he felt guilty for it. 

  “So, when we get to Hawkins, there’s something important I have to tell you.” Richie bit his inner cheek and faced them, “But only when we’re all in Hawkins.”

  They all gave Richie nervous glances, but he refused to give any hint as to what he needed to say. It was far too soon to tell them, they’d surely freak out. 

  Their 27 years was a load of bullshit, he couldn’t break that to them yet. 

  “Oh, Okay,” Bill replied, a skeptical look on his face. 

  /////

  Jim Hopper was a cautious man, he used to be the opposite, but traumatic experiences tended to change people. Ever since everything that happened with the lab and demogorgons, he decided to protect that group of kids with his life. (Especially El, of course. And some days he’d probably say that Mike could burn in hell, but he didn’t really mean that.) 

  Upon arriving in Derry, Maine, Hopper noticed something was off. It wasn’t blaringly obvious, but he could feel that there was something wrong with the town. He’d overheard Will telling El about the way Derry wasn’t at all good, something Richie probably Warned him about. The people in the town seemed like they didn’t give a shit about anything, the adults all seemed like they were too miserable to do anything. Hopper noticed quite a lot of kids and teens parading the streets on bikes and skateboards, it seemed like they were all avoiding their lives.

  Hopper might’ve just been used to the uptight manner of Hawkins, how the adults all had good control of their children and lived very generous lives. Though Hawkins wasn’t exactly like that either, he supposed. Hawkins was just good at hiding the fact that everyone had their secrets.

  “The sewers,” El mumbled, stopping as she reached the grungy opening, “I sense bad.”

  “You sense bad? You mean evil?”

  “Yes, something bad happened there.” El responded. Hopper was proud at how far her language skills had developed, though sometimes she’d have some grammar errors, she was doing fairly well for someone who originally could barely say a single word.

  El took out a bandana from her pocket, the one she used as a blindfold. 

    Hopper sighed, rubbing his temples as he considered her suggestion. 

  “We don’t have long to investigate.” El stated, she hoped it’d help persuade Hopper to agree.

  He sighed as he took a mini-radio from his pocket and adjusted the settings accordingly. “Alright, but if things become too much, I want you to get out of there.”

  El nodded and tied the blindfold around her head as she sat down at the opening of the sewers. The ground was wet and gross, though that was to be expected of sewer water. She closed her eyes and focused, her mind starting to show images.

  She saw yellow glowing eyes that peered into her soul, the sound of laughing echoing across the void. The image of a little boy without an arm bleeding out on the ground, he wore a yellow raincoat.

  Then she saw a girl who looked about 13 with her body ripped in half, she was missing a shoe. Her eyes were glazed over but open, staring lifelessly at whatever stood above her. A boy who looked around 15 was walking through the sewers when he was attacked by the clown, he was ripped to shreds by the razor sharp teeth of It and died. A twelve year old boy, who was missing an arm as well, lay dying in the sewers. He called weakly for help before the creature finished him off. Eleven saw death, so much death, and it was all at the hands of the clown she had heard so much about. She didn’t want to see more, but the images kept coming and coming. She saw a 16 year old boy holding a knife to a police officer's throat as the man struggled to fight the boy off. The officer lost, his blood spraying everywhere as the boy held him down. The man died and the boy simply walked away.

  And then, she stopped seeing the deaths. The image changed to a group of six boys and one girl, they stood in a dark and eerie place as the clown towered over them. 

  The group fought the clown ruthlessly, but they couldn’t seem to overpower it. It eventually held one of the boys, who seemed to be called Bill, as they all yelled that name. 

  “Let him go!” The girl yelled, her voice was shaky, but it held courage in it.

  “I’ll take him! I’ll take all of you!” It hissed, keeping its grip on Bill. “And I’ll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear!”

  The clown grinned maniacally as the kids stared fearfully at it. 

  “Orrr…” it began, “you’ll just leave us be, I will take him… only him... And I will have my long rest...and you will all live to survive and lead haaaapppy lives! Until old age takes you back to the weeeeeds.”

  The offer hung in the air as they all contemplated it, some seeming to want to take the offer and run.

  That’s when El noticed Richie, who frowned deeply.

  “Leave!” Bill weakly called out, the clown’s hand held against his throat. “I’m the one who dragged you all into this! I was- I’m s-s-s-sorry”

  “S-s-s-Sorry! HAHAHAHA!” The clown mocked.

  “Go!” Bill yelled out once more, his voice held desperation as he wanted nothing more than to save his friends.

  “Guys, we-we can’t!” The girl reasoned, though she wasn’t fully sure if she was right.

  “S-s-sorry..” 

   Richie stood up, “I told you, Bill. I fucking told you! I don’t wanna die, it’s your fault!” Richie began pacing, holding up fingers as he listed things off, “You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, you made me end up in this fucking crackhead house, you ran after your dead brother over saving me from the fucking deadlights!” The clown frowned at the crackhead house comment, seeming almost offended by it. Richie grabbed a baseball bat from the pile of junk, “and now, I’m gonna have to kill this fucking clown.” 

  The clown let go of Bill and grunted as he turned his full attention to a bat-wielding Richie. 

  “WELCOME TO THE LOSER’S CLUB, ASSHOLE!” Richie swung the bat, it hit the clown in the head with a loud dinging noise.

  The group continued fighting the clown, they used various weapons they found laying around, and it countered with its own oddities, such as tentacles spewing out of its mouth.

  Eventually, it changed its appearance to a man who cooed at the girl, “hey Bevvie, are you still my lit-“

  Before he, or it,  could finish speaking, the girl attacked it with a spear down its throat. It sat there choking as it tore the spear from its mouth. It convulsed on the floor as the kids watched in horror.

   El tore the blindfold off her face and wiped away the blood that was leaking from her nose. 

  “You alright, El?” When El nodded, Hopper sighed, “What’d you see?”

   “Death, so much death.” She took a moment to breathe as she stared at the sewer opening, “And the clown, how to defeat the clown.”

  Hopper rested a hand on El’s shoulder as she sat in silence, processing everything she just witnessed.

  “We need to figure out everything we can about that clown.” Hopped rubbed at his mustache and sighed, “I just don’t know how we’ll do that.”

  ////

  Richie sat at the quarry, staring down at the water. For once, he didn’t feel hopeless or scared, he felt confused.

  “It’s gonna get easier, don’t worry.” Richie looked over to see Bev sitting down next to him. “At first, I hated living with my aunt. Sure, my dad sucked, but I hated being away from you guys. It’s kinda funny, seeing as we always used to talk about getting out of Derry. Now that it’s a reality, it’s not as fun.”

  “Do you ever miss your dad?” Richie asked, seeing as Alvin Marsh wasn’t a good guy by any means.

  “Not too often, but sometimes I do. Not the way he was before.. just, how he was when my mother was alive. He used to be a good person, and then we moved to Derry, and not too long after, my mom died. I wanna say that Derry corrupted him a bit, but I know her death also really hit him hard.” She brushed through her hair with her fingers and sighed, “It’ll get easier, though. You’ll find happiness in Hawkins, you have friends already.”

  “I wouldn’t really call most of them friends, but whatever you say.” He chuckled as he took the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and gazed at them. He sighed, closing the box and throwing it down the quarry and into the water below. Richie wished he could hear the splash they made when they reached the surface of the water, but he only had the visual to satisfy him.

  “That was a waste.” Bev chuckled, but she noticed the hopeful expression on Richie’s face and shut up.

  “I don’t need them, I don’t need to smoke. I started smoking as a way to cope with my parents, it just got out of hand. I don’t need them anymore, I never will.” 

  “Yeah, guess you’re right.” She took out her own pack and tossed it down the quarry, “I’m not quitting, I don’t think I ever could, but I figured I’d toss mine in honor of you. Cheesy, I know.”

  Richie grinned, turning to fully face her, “Thanks Bev, means a lot to me.”

  “That trial was.. intense.” She began, and Richie nodded. “I really thought you’d lose the case at one point, but I’m glad to see it ended well.”

  “Yeah.. I’m gonna visit my mom tomorrow, before I leave. My mom was only sentenced because she lied under oath, but they let her off easy, seeing as she was in an abusive relationship and a raging alcoholic.” 

  “You want me to come?”

  “No, I need to do it by myself. I didn’t wanna leave for two years without at least speaking to her before I left.” Richie sighed and brought his knees up to his chest as he hugged them.

  “So.. you Umm.. burned yourself?”

  Richie frowned, “Do we really need to talk about that? I was in a good mood.”

  Bev shook her head, “No, guess I’ll leave it be. Just.. do you still..”

  “I haven’t since the week I moved to Hawkins, and I don’t plan on doing it again.” 

  “Okay, I believe you.” She looked him in the eyes with a steady gaze, “If you ever need to talk, I’m a call away.”

  “Thanks, Bev.”

  “We should get back to the others before they worry, you know how paranoid we all are.” Bev stood up and offered him a hand, he gladly took it and stood up.

  “Yeah, plus it’s gonna get so boring without my humor to lighten the mood. Bet they’re all sad that I’ll be in Hawkins ‘till I’m 18.” Richie grinned and wrapped an arm around Beverly’s shoulders, “Let us descend, good sir!” He said in a badly done British accent.

  And so they walked back to the clubhouse, where their friends plus Will and Mike were currently hanging out. 

  There was an eerie chill in the air that they didn’t seem to notice, little did they know things in Hawkins were not going great. It was making its first real move, and it was seeking revenge this time.

Chapter Text

  “So.. you guys hang out in an underground room?” Will asked as he dragged his hand against the wooden panels that were spread across the walls. “It’s actually pretty cool.”

  “Y’know, it’s not much different than a basement,” Ben said, he was sitting on a couch they brought after his mother got a new couch and needed to get rid of the old one. “Just not connected to a house, nor is it professionally done. But it works.”

  Richie and Eddie were sitting on the hammock, Bev was sitting on a chair, Ben, Bill, and Stan were on the couch, Mike H was leaning against the wall, and Mike W and Will were wandering the hideout in curiosity.

  “Why go through the trouble of making this place when you could just hang out in someone’s basement?” Mike W asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought of his own basement. 

  “Because we can get away from parents here, and no rules. We do what we want and no one can tell us no.” Bev explained, “At first it was mainly getting away from parents though.”

  “Oh,” Will responded, he didn’t want to know if everyone had parents like Richie’s, but he had a feeling their situations were similar.

  “R-Richie, you have t-ten minutes,” Bill said as he looked at his watch.

  “Thanks, Billy-boy.”

  “We aren’t timing the hammock though?” Mike H questioned, “Richie earned it for the day.”

  “Oh not the hammock, he’s going to take care of something in ten minutes,” Bev explained, looking at Richie with unknowing eyes. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to be the one to tell them.

  “I’m gonna visit my mom,” Richie said, his voice was calm and collected. He figured there was no need to hide it, seeing as they were all supporting him. He looked over at Eddie, who gently smiled and squeezed his hand. Richie’s stomach felt as if it were fluttering, he wanted to tell his stomach to stop. “She... Umm... She's really struggling right now, so I feel like I need to say goodbye.”

  “Oh, okay.” Mike H smiled warmly at him, his kind face made Richie relax. “Do you need anyone to come with you?”

  “No, I need to do it myself.” Richie cleared his throat and put on a grin, “I’m a big boy, Mikey!”

  Mike H chuckled and looked over at Bill and Stan, who were whispering to themselves with concerned gazes. Richie noticed this as well, but he decided it'd be better to avoid conflict with guests around.

  Will and Mike W found themselves a seat on some chairs they had laying around, they watched each of the Loser’s curiously as they seemed to not know what to do or say.

  “There are more seats, you can sit, Mike.” Will pointed to an empty seat, but Mike H shook his head.

  “Mike likes to stand, says sitting too long makes him uncomfortable,” Richie explained.

  “Yeah, and if anything happens, I can quickly do something about it.” Mike H added.

  “So,” Bill spoke up, which caused all eyes to be on him. “W-where’s your friend? Umm, El?”

  Will shrugged, “She left with Hopper, so she probably went back to the hotel.”

  “What’s her deal? We invited her and she didn’t even show up or at least tell us she wasn’t coming.” Bev sighed as she adjusted herself in her seat. 

  “She’s not fully comfortable around people yet, she’s been through a lot.” Mike W explained. He missed El, he hadn’t gotten to see her much lately. With Hopper being an overprotective dipshit, and Richie being an asshole, things got hectic.

  Bev nodded in understanding, deciding to end the conversation of that subject.

———-

  Richie stepped inside the prison and gazed around, it looked like an absolute shithole. His mother would be in the visitation room, which he really hoped looked a bit more presentable. His friends had been reluctant to let him leave, and he knew he should’ve let them at least come with him to the prison. Even so, he told them to stay at the clubhouse and hang out.

  “This room right here.” The guard said as his hand was on the doorknob. “Would you like your aunt to be in there as well?”

  Richie looked at Mrs. Wheeler and shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

  Mrs.Wheeler nodded and put a hand on his shoulder, “If you feel overwhelmed, just tell the guard you want to leave. I don’t want you doing anything you aren’t comfortable with.”

  “Don’t worry auntie, I want to do this. It was my choice.” Richie forced himself to grin, “Besides, what's my mom gonna do? Kill me?”

  Mrs. Wheeler let go of his shoulder and let him follow the guard inside, she watched as the door closed behind him.

  Richie looked around the room and saw his mother dressed in an orange jumpsuit, something that she definitely did not enjoy. “Ma?”

  Maggie looked over at her son, her face remained a blank expression. Richie day in the seat across from her, unsure of what he should say, but he decided to just speak his mind.

  “Why did you lie?” 

  Maggie looked at the ground, she couldn’t even face her own son. “I did what I thought I needed to do.”

  “No, you didn’t need to lie like that.”

  Maggie slammed her fist on the table and finally looked into Richie’s eyes, but the anger left as soon as she saw how frail and broken he looked. “I wasn’t going to get custody of you anyways, but if your father won, he’d kill me, Richie..” 

  “But he lost and you still never vouched for me, you were convinced I’d go back to dad even if you would have told them the truth!” Richie’s hands were balled to fists as he desperately wished that he wasn’t in that situation. “You figured that if you couldn’t have me Anyways, then it wouldn’t matter what happened?”

  “Richie-“

  “No, mom, you can’t just give up on me like that. I’m sick and tired of your shit.” Richie crossed his arms and hoped it’d help calm himself down, but he had no luck. “I came here to forgive you, but you keep making excuses for shit you did. No one told you to drink yourself to the point of passing out every single day. Not me, not dad, not even your friends. So why, ma, why are you such a fuck up?!”

   Maggie stares at him as tears rolled down her cheeks, “I have an addiction, Richard, I can’t help it!”

  “That’s no excuse for leaving me to die!” Richie was as furious, his original plan had been thrown out. Maggie was a good mother sometimes, and he had fully been planning on forgiving her and saying a peaceful goodbye, but after what she was saying, he only wanted answers. “You could’ve been there for me after every time dad thought I was a worthless brat! But you were on the couch drinking away at another bottle of wine.”

  “I wanted to help Richie! I did! You think I’m so cruel as to not love the son I birthed and raised?!” Maggie spoke up, wiping away her tears, “I know I always said I wanted a girl instead of you, and it’s true, because I could never understand you! Your father never bothered to try, either. So you felt worthless, but I didn’t think I could help you because I never thought you’d listen to what I had to say! I love you, Richie! I do! But sometimes I just lost hope in our family!”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Whenever your father would hurt you, I wanted to help, but sometimes I’d sober up too late and you’d already taken care of yourself. I figured you didn’t need me anymore. I couldn’t stop your father, he wasn’t ever going to. He always told me he hated you, hated that you were a fag-“

  “Stop!” Richie interrupted, causing her to take a moment and breathe, “Don’t say that word. Never call me that word.”

  “But it’s true, isn’t it?” She mumbled, “He might not love you for that, but I still do. It’s taken me so long to accept, but I do. I’m sorry, for everything.”

  Richie took a moment to think, and he sighed. “You.. you’re fine with me being.. a… y’know..”

  Maggie nodded and took Richie’s hands in her own, “Yeah. I think so. You’re still my son, and I can’t change you, I never could… I think God will cut you some slack when you die, you’ve been through too much to go to hell.”

  “Don’t Go all religious on me, ma,” Richie mumbled, he felt himself calm down. Their conversation had been all over the place, but he knew they were done yelling. “I’m not telling anyone though, I can’t.”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “Ma, I’m gonna go now. To Indiana. I’ll be back when I’m eighteen, so if you want, I’ll see you again?”

  She nodded, rubbing circles onto the back of his hands with her thumbs, “If you want to see me again, I’d love that. I’m sorry, again, but I’ll get better. I promise.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get better too. Don’t ever talk to dad again, okay?” Richie wanted to make sure they both left that shitbag behind, he couldn’t live a life knowing that man was plaguing their lives ever again.

  “I won’t, now you should get going. Long car ride ahead of you, right?” Maggie let go of Richie’s hands reluctantly, and he grabbed something from his pocket and laid it on the table.

  “Here, you should have this. Something to remember me by.” He looked at the object one last time, it was a photo of him as a kid with his mother, they were on the beach making sandcastles. It was before Wentworth went crazy, when he loved photographing the ones he loved.

  Maggie grabbed the photo and looked at it, she had to force the tears to not come. She regretted so much, and she knew she needed to get better. Not just for herself, but for the son she neglected for so many years. “I love you.”

  Richie stood up and smiled warmly at her, “I love you too.” 

—————

  “So, how’d you convince your mom to let you leave?” Richie asked Eddie as he helped put his suitcase in Hopper’s car.

  “Well, we convinced her it was a medical training camp where it’d be super safe and clean, and I would learn how to keep healthy and not sick. Even so, she was super against it at first. Hopper managed to get Nancy over there and convince her, and since Nancy is literally the nicest looking person, my mom finally gave up and said yes.” Eddie explained, leaning against the vehicle. “The others managed to convince their parents easier.”

  “Figured as much.” Richie sighed and looked over at the others, who were joking around the parking lot of the hotel. “I forgave my mom.”

  “That’s good, how’d it go?”

  “Well, we argued for a bit, but she calmed down pretty quickly and we had a heart-to-heart conversation I guess. I’m gonna find her when I’m eighteen and I return, unless she ends up moving out of this shithole.”

  Richie looked at Eddie’s face and smiled, the smaller boy made him happy. He wished he could tell Eddie everything he was hiding, but he knew he couldn’t. 

  “That’s great,” Eddie said softly, “I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Eddie Spaghetti.” Richie ruffled Eddie’s hair, who frowned and tried to fix it. 

  “Hey, stop calling me that!”

  “No can do, Eds, I have a Trashmouth to return to, things are getting too fucking depressing today.” Richie ran over to his other friends, he grabbed Eddie’s hand and the two quickly approached the others. “ALRIGHT FUCKERS WHO’S READY FOR THE SECOND SHITTIEST CITY IN THE WORLD!”

Chapter Text

  Richie knew something was wrong as soon as they drove past the “Welcome to Hawkins!” Sign. Whether it be the goosebumps on his arms or the shiver up his spine, he knew he wasn’t getting a break from the clown. It wasn’t until they drove past the downtown area that he knew what happened. 

  Many sheets of paper littered the streets, stapled to any surface that they could legally be placed on, and all displayed one face. It wasn’t a face that Richie could remember, though he figured that made sense. He hadn’t exactly lived in Hawkins for long enough to know the names of every kid, he had barely even met anyone that was under the age of fourteen. 

  “Oh no, it seems a kid is missing,” Mrs. Wheeler noted as she looked out the window. They were stopped at a red light, a clear view of several missing posters. “Troy Walsh.”

  “Oh, that jerk.” Mike groaned, not even seeming to care. Richie then remembered Dustin warning him about Troy. Maybe Pennywise was just doing them a huge favor and getting rid of all the jerks.

  “Be Nice, Mike. What if that was you? Going missing is a terrible thing, no matter who it happens to.” Mrs. Wheeler defended, she had turned in her seat to look back at Mike. 

  Richie didn’t say anything, he had always been terrified at the idea that his face would be on a missing poster, and Pennywise had once tormented him with that fear. He wasn’t going to let it happen again, and especially not let it happen to anyone else. (Even if they were total assholes who definitely deserved it.)

  “So what? He threatened to pull Dustin’s teeth out once! Even told me to jump off a cliff!” 

  “Well, did he pull out Dustin’s teeth, and did you jump off a cliff?” Mrs. Wheeler asked, waiting for him to say no so she could further prove her point.

  Mike hesitated for a moment, and Richie knew at least one of those things definitely happened. “No, no neither happened.. but-“

  “No buts mister, I don’t wanna hear any more of this nonsense. We are gonna send a card to his family and offer our support. Don’t you remember what happened with Will? Show some empathy.”

  Richie wanted to laugh, his own mother never got to argue about Richie’s excuses, which he was almost jealous of. Although he supposed it was better to not be on the receiving side of the lecturing.

  “Do people go missing here often?” Richie asked, and everyone went silent.

  “Not exactly, two people went missing a little over a year ago, only one was found alive. And that was Will, luckily. Though it wasn’t so lucky for the other girl.”

  Nancy was silent, she stared down at her chipped nails and didn’t look up. 

  The rest of the car ride was silent as well, Richie figured that they all had a lot on their minds. Richie did as well, but in that car ride, he felt peaceful. It wasn’t until he saw the missing posters that he actually began to think deeply.

  When they arrived at the nice-looking house, Richie immediately grabbed his bag and headed to his room. His room. It felt strange to him, knowing that it’d be his room for another two years. He sighed as he closed the door behind him. He didn’t know when his friends would arrive, but he was dreading it. Hopper had ruined his entire plan of keeping everything from the Loser’s, even if Hopper had good intentions. Richie knew it was better that they knew, how could he not? But he hated the idea of endangering them, if one of them ended up dead, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. The Loser’s meant everything to him, he couldn’t afford to lose them.

  “Hey,” Richie looked up to see Mike W, who stood awkwardly at the doorway. Richie never even heard the door open, so of course, he jumped, which caused Mike to burst out laughing. 

  “What’s up Mikey?” Richie asked, sitting down on his bed and ignoring the bag he decided he didn’t want to unpack yet. 

  “Just thought I’d stop by while we’re waiting. Will said that he’d call as soon as they’re home.” Mike walked into the room and sat on the desk chair. “The others that stayed in Hawkins are on their way over right now, they’re really happy for you.”

  “That’s nice.” Richie didn’t really know what to think, Mike’s friends were happy for him but he wasn’t sure it meant all that much to him. Maybe he should’ve been upset by that, but part of him wondered if it was just all the anxiety he was bottling up. 

  “I’m happy for you too, asshole.” Mike threw a hoodie at Richie, who caught it and fake-pouted.

  “You throwing a hoodie? Is that the best you got?!” Richie stood up and grabbed a pillow, putting himself in a defensive position, “BRING IT ON, WHEELER! I AM THE KING OF PILLOW FIGHTS!”

  Mike rolled his eyes and grabbed a pillow, “You’re so childish Rich, honestly. I can’t let myself lose to someone like you!”

  Richie snickered as he slowly walked to the side, “Vat ist dat zupposed to mean?!” He mimicked a bad mix of a german and Dracula accent, which he thought was fantastic but Mike just rolled his eyes and snickered.

——

  Mike’s basement was crowded, which it usually was, but now it was holding thirteen people. They circled around the room and all watched as Richie was silently staring at Bill, who stared at him back.

  “Are you gonna start talking or am I gonna have to?!?!” Lucas groaned, his arms crossed as he tapped his foot on the ground.

  “What did you want to tell us, Richie?” Bill asked, though it came out as more of a statement. Bill had been suspicious of Richie for a while, it wasn’t hard to tell there was something on his mind, but Bill had respected his boundaries up until now. 

  Richie adjusted his glasses on his nose, he had decided to not rely on his contacts as much and switched back for a little bit. He had heard wearing them too much can make your eyes more sensitive to them in the future. “Um, you see... I fucked your mom.”

  “Beep beep, Richie.” The Loser’s all said with impatience clear in their voices. Mike W and the party were starting to understand the way they acted towards each other, though it still confused them. When Richie was away from his friends, he seemed more hesitant and eager to leave, he was more quiet and sad. He’d make shitty jokes and hope for the best, but with his friends he mostly seemed more comfortable. Sure, he wasn’t entirely comfortable at that moment, but when a group of teens are all giving you the death-stare, it’s hard to feel comfortable.

  “Ok Fine, when I came here... things started... happening.” Richie took a crumpled up piece of paper from his pocket and straightened it out. He laid it on the table, it displayed Troy Walsh’s face on it. “It’s back, and it’s holding a grudge.”

  Stan stood up and backed away, “No. no no no... this- no! No this isn’t-“

  Bill grabbed Stan and stared at Richie in disbelief, “You lied to me!”

  Richie frowned, “I didn’t want to bring you guys into this! None of us wanted to go through that shit the first time, and- and I didn’t want to make you go through it again..”

  “So what, you were gonna try and defeat It alone?” Bev scoffed, “Because that’s a suicide mission, Richie! Even if we didn’t come here, we would’ve found a way to help.”

  Eddie grabbed his Inhaler from his pocket and used it, shaking his head repetitively as he stared at the poster.

  “They know?” Mike H asked, watching the party’s concerned gazes. 

  Will nodded, “It has been tormenting us ever since Richie got here. We saw it and everything.”

  Ben looked conflicted, he didn’t know whether he should be afraid or not. The first time was traumatic, he didn’t want to think about doing it a second time. But at the same time, he knew he had no choice. The scar that stared back at him from his palm reminded him of that.

  “We think It’s hiding at this lab, it’s in the woods. It’s the only place that makes sense, Max and I even went to explore. It was there, so I think we can say that it’s true,” Richie explained, his hands shaking as he watched each of his friends react. Bev and Bill were comforting the others, Stan and Eddie were panicking, and Mike and Ben were seemingly lost in thought. 

  “Richie, I think it’s time you tell us about the deadlights,” Bev sighed, “There’s a chance It might try that shit again to any of us, we need to know what we’re dealing with.”

  Richie frowned, remembering the experience all too well. He sighed as he wiped his hands on his shorts. When it first happened, he said he didn’t want to talk about the deadlights and left it at that, and they respected his wishes for many years. “Well, It opened its mouth and showed rows of teeth, at the back of his throat were these lights that blinded me. Then I was in them- the deadlights- and it showed me realities that can happen, some will happen, some won’t. It showed me everyone dying, and it showed me... us... and them..” Richie looked at the Party, they looked just as confused as the Losers.

  “Y-You saw them?” Bill repeated, pointing at the group.

  Richie nodded, “That’s the part I remember the least, but I remember seeing us all in a dark room.” Richie didn’t think he could say anything else, and he didn’t think he wanted to. He saw each of his friends die in different ways, over and over and over. Time seemed to be frozen as his mind was filled with images of everything he ever feared. It became a bit of a blur after a while.

  “How did he get out of the deadlights?” Dustin asked, turning everyone’s attention to him for a moment.

  “We pulled him down to the ground,” Bill started, “He wouldn’t wake up at first... but then..”

  “I slapped him,” Eddie stated, coming out of his panicked state and gaining composure. 

  Richie rubbed his cheek and grinned for a moment before looking over at Dustin, who was taking notes. Nerd.

  “Nothing was working, so I slapped him and he woke up,” Eddie added, then looked at Richie with a sympathetic face. Richie looked at the floor as the corners of his mouth lifted to a small smile.

  Dustin seemed to accept this response and waited for someone else to speak. He didn’t have to wait long.

  “How do you.. defeat.. it?” Mike W asked, and Bill frowned.

  “Face Your f-fears and learn to not be scared of it,” Bill explained, “When we fought i-it, it showed us everything we feared, and we got over our fears by beating the s-shit out of it.”

  Bev nodded, “It showed me my father, It thought it’d get me with that, but I shoved a pole down its throat.”

  Eddie sighed, “It got me covered in greywater, and other disgusting shit, but I fought it even so. I took a shower for hours after that, but I faced my fear.”

  “You guys need to figure out what scares you the most, and you need to start trying to face it. We don’t know how to permanently defeat it, but we can send it into hibernation,” Mike H explained, staring at each of them. They nodded, and Mike H looked at Richie, who smiled at him.

  “We should go to the lab tomorrow, we’re limited on time since they leave on Sunday, so that’s the ideal time. Hopefully, everything goes fine and we’ll get it situated in only one day.” Richie said, unsure of if they’ll even succeed. They still didn’t know why Pennywise came out of hibernation, and if it could do it once, what's there to stop it from doing it again?

——

  Hopper had seen many strange things in his long and tedious life, but killer clowns were definitely high up on the list. Sure, those demogorgons were a force to be reckoned with, but at least they were consistent with what they were and what they did. When Will told Hopper about the clown, he wasn’t sure what to believe. El had helped explain everything, but her mind seemed to be more focused on what she saw in the Derry Sewers. 

  When he came home to a missing kid, he knew he’d have to postpone that vacation he had so desperately wanted. Sure, he could’ve just dumped the assignment onto one of his underlings and stayed home for a while, but he seemed to be the only cop in the town with any common sense. Troy Walsh was a fairly well-known delinquent in Hawkins, his poor reputation mainly stemming from being an asshole and bullying a bunch of kids. Troy even went as far as to tell Mike to jump off a cliff in order to save Dustin’s teeth. (Which were Baby teeth, so Hopper didn’t really see the point in dying over something like that. Sure, Dustin would’ve been in severe pain, but at least he wouldn’t be dead, and his adult teeth would grow in eventually.) Luckily El saved him, though it had been a very close call.

  “So you’re saying Richie brought this thing here?” Hopper asked El, who sat across from him at their cabin’s kitchen table. 

  El shook her head and frowned, “No, it followed him here. He and his friends defeated it, but it’s back.”

  “It’s back,” Hopper repeated. He sighed as he looked over the missing kid report, reading over every detail he could. “And it takes kids.”

  “Will explained everything to you earlier,” El muttered, “What else is there to know.”

   “It’s not every day that you hear about shapeshifting killer clowns that live in sewers,” Hopper groaned and set the files on the table, they left a loud thump that echoed across the dense walls. He stood up and headed toward the fridge, where he grabbed a beer and opened it, chugging it down as he was deep in thought.

  Oh, what a situation he was in.

—-

Chapter Text

  Richie was the first to enter the lab, which would’ve confused him many years ago. Bill was always the leader, so it would’ve been right to have Bill be the first to enter, but no one was even thinking about that. They were all terrified, which was justified. Killer shapeshifting clowns were definitely not something anyone would want to face, and the Loser’s had already defeated it once before.

   “что если кто-то умрет?” Richie asked, looking back at his friends. ( What if someone dies?)

    Eddie looked at the ground, deep in thought, “Мы не позволим этому случиться.” (We won’t let that happen.) He entered in behind Richie, who was now fully inside the abandoned building.

  “How about we speak in English?” Mike W groaned as he entered the lab.

  “Friends don’t keep secrets,” El added, looking around cautiously. 

  “What he asked was what’ll happen if someone will die,” Bev explained, immediately scavenging the room for possible weapons. She picked up a broken pipe and grinned.

  “And then Eddie said that w-we won’t let anyone die,” Bill added, taking off his backpack and setting it on the floor. He opened it and took out all the weapons they had been able to bring, handing them out. Richie, of course, was given one of the baseball bats.

  “You guys should really learn Russian, it’s a cool language!” Richie argued, looking around the room for any signs of Pennywise. His steps echoed across the walls.

  “Hell no! If I come home speaking Russian, my parents are gonna think I’m a Russian spy!” Lucas groaned, “The Cold War is making everyone paranoid of Russians.”

   “Never said you had to speak Russian to your parents, but ok,” Richie chuckled, standing in front of the doorway that led deeper into the lab. He looked over at the others, who were behind him. They all held a weapon of some sort, though it was mostly metal poles, pipes, baseball bats, and a few pocket knives. “I really don’t want to do this.”

  “Richie, we don’t have much of a choice, do we? We can’t let it continue to take innocent lives while we have the chance to save them.” Bev reasoned, and Richie nodded.

  “It’s different when I’m the one leading, it’s so different. Before I just followed Bill, but now I have no one to follow but myself, it’s a lot,” Richie sighed, turning around and facing the dark room once more, “But we don’t have time for me to complain, so let’s go.”

  They all followed behind him as they entered the room, Richie turned around and made sure they all made it in. He smiled when he saw Stan had entered without hesitation, they all had really grown up. Richie trudged through the dark halls, unsure of where exactly he was going. Maybe he could find some sort of well or basement, Pennywise would probably choose that part of the building.

  “So, you think it’s hiding from us?” Mike H joked, he held a flashlight they had brought. 

  “Is it even hiding here? What if we’re at the wrong place?” Will asked, he seemed the weariest out of his friends.

  “It’s definitely this place, I looked at the map and the sewer system blueprints, they all lead to this place. It’s like the Well House of Hawkins.” Ben explained, “And we’re fairly certain he’s using the sewer system here as well.”

  “Makes sense,” Mike W sighed, he and his friends started chatting amongst themselves. 

  Richie, Stan, Eddie, and Bill all walked in the front, they looked at each door and opened them before deciding that it wasn’t hiding there.

  “Whatever happens, things will be okay,” Stan assured them, “We can defeat it for good this time, we have to.”

  Richie nodded, “The question is how, how can we defeat it for good? We were supposed to have 27 years until we had to fight it again, yet here we are.”

   Eddie frowned, coming to a stop, “What if somehow, Richie became connected to It? What if when Richie left Derry, Pennywise was awakened?”

  “That makes no sense, it w-was supposed to be in hibernation, so it couldn’t have started attacking again.” Bill tried to reason, he urged Eddie to continue walking, he complied.

  “The deadlights could’ve connected the two, but even so that doesn’t make sense. In 27 years Richie was bound to leave Derry, what makes now so special?” Stan questioned, pointing his flashlight at the walls.

  “Maybe it’s because of Hawkins, the place is some paranormal sci-fi bullshit town,” Richie turned to the others, who seemed confused, “I’ll explain. Mike Wheely-boy told me that they faced these weird alien creatures called Demogorgon, and there’s some sort of gate that is sealed here. What if when I came here, that gate weakened and it was also storing Pennywise?”

  “Maybe, but why would it be storing Pennywise?” Stan was always the voice of reason, Richie liked that about him.

  “I don’t know, we’ll have to figure it out after we defeat it.” Richie stopped in front of a door, it was identical to the rest but something about it was luring him in. 

  “Richie?” Eddie stared at him with concern, and Richie kept his stare on the door. He set his hand on the doorknob and turned it, he entered the room silently. His friends followed behind him, but he wasn't paying much attention to them anymore. The room was dark and reeked of rotting flesh, a smell very similar to the smell that had flooded the well in Derry. 

  He stepped further into the room, his body moving to the ground and removing a rug that had hidden a trap door. He opened the door and started going down the staircase, ignoring his friends’ concerned questions. The stairs were dry and creaky, probably centuries old. When he reached the bottom, he saw the well.

  “Richie!” Bev grabbed his shoulders and stopped him, he blinked and stared at her, coming out of whatever trance he was in. “What the hell was that?!”

  “I don’t know! I saw the door and it was.. luring me in? I don’t know! It felt like it was pulling me towards something,” he pointed at the well, “But now we found it, so we should get going.”

  Bev sighed and let go of his shoulders, “Fine, Let’s go.”

  Richie turned to face everyone, he stood above the well and started to unravel the rope and tie it above the well, “Listen, whatever you see or hear down there, it’s probably not real. I don’t care if you see someone you thought died, or hear a noise, don’t leave the group. If you see something terrifying, you tell someone and we all face it together.” Richie looked at Stan and Bill, who exchanged a glance before looking back at Richie.

  “What’re you kids doing in here?” A voice asked, Richie looked over to see Steve. 

  “Were you following us?” Richie furrowed his brows and stared at him, he wasn’t sure if he was real. 

  “Yeah, I see a bunch of kids going into this place of all places, I’m gonna follow them.” Steve held a baseball bat covered in nails and staples, it had to be the real Steve. Richie couldn’t explain it, but he just knew it.

  “Y’know, my friends and I are all your age, except Mikey and his friends.” Richie snickered, “But I’ll let that slide. Ready to fight a killer clown?”

  “Killer clown? I thought some Demogorgon shit was happening again!” 

/////

  When they arrived at its lair, they were surprised, to say the least. It was almost an exact replica of the original one, but the pile of items was very small in comparison to the tower they had remembered. 

  “Great, now we’re here, but the clown isn’t. Is there some sort of clown whistle or some shit?” Mike W looked around, rummaging through the pile as if it were no big deal.

  “Mike, don’t touch anything!” Richie whisper-yelled, he looked over at the losers, who all stared at Mike as well. 

  Mike W set down whatever piece of junk he’d held and stood up, his flashlight immediately went out.

    “I didn’t even have to take a captive this time! You’re all making it soooo easy!”

  Richie gripped the baseball bat tighter, he scanned the room for any sign of Pennywise, but the voice echoed across the walls. It was near impossible to tell where it was coming from.

   “And lookie here! Familiar faces! That’s a surprise!”

   “You can’t scare us anymore,” Richie stated, his friends all nodded. “You’re Just a fucking Clown! So bring it on already!”

  It was silent for a moment, but a distant groaning noise grew closer and closer. 

   “Not scared? You’re not scared of me?! We’ll see about that!”

   It jumped down in front of them, a maniacal grin plastered onto his ugly face. He cackled as he watched them step back, but luckily none of them screamed.

  Something about the way Pennywise acted when told he was just a clown had confused Richie. It seemed like it was sensitive about a statement like that. Richie made sure to keep that in mind, he had a feeling there was more to that.

   “Richie! What the hell do we do!” Mike W asked, he looked like he really wanted to attack.

  “We need to end this, forever,” Richie looked at Bill, who held a metal pipe, “Attacking just puts it in hibernation…”

  Bill nodded, “S-so what kills it? We need to figure that out.”

  Before they could even think, it started its attacks. It transformed into a strange alien creature that Richie remembered Max called a Demogorgon. 

  “El!” 

  Richie looked at Mike W and his friends, who all began to huddle together by Steve and El, who stood defensively. El held her hand out, Richie guessed that she was using her telekinesis.

  It wasn’t seeming to be doing much, It kept advancing towards them. Eventually, it attacked, but it was too large for them to fully dodge. Steve tried to hit it with his bat but even that didn’t do much.

  “YOU NEED TO STOP FEARING IT!” Bev yelled, running towards them.

  “EASY FOR YOU TO SAY! WE CAN’T JUST GET OVER IT IN ONE MINUTE!” Dustin yelled back, he was frozen on the floor staring at it.

  Richie ran towards it, he needed to do something, anything.

  “YOU CAN, WE’VE ALL DONE IT BEFORE!” Stan yelled, he was holding his weapon tightly as he devised a plan.

  “JUST THINK ABOUT IT, THINK ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULDN’T FEAR IT!” Eddie yelled, he held onto his inhaler tightly as he spoke. 

  Richie grabbed a large rock and threw it at it, it barely even seemed to notice this action. 

  The group all became silent, Mike W and his friends stared at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation. They were understanding, and they were devising a plan. They all nodded, El held her hand up once more, this time it stopped moving completely. They all ran towards it and began attacking, it hissed and groaned, but still couldn’t move. It’s form began to change back into the clown, it started searching for a new fear.

  Its eyes landed on Eddie, it began transforming into an obese woman. Mrs. Kaspbrak stood over Eddie, that blank stare on her face.

  “Eddie! What’re you doing with these heathens! Let’s Go, you need to take your medicine!” She spoke, she sounded the same as the real Mrs. K.”

  Eddie frowned and turned to Richie, “Your girlfriends here.”

  Richie grinned at Eddie partaking in the Mrs. K joke, he started running towards them, “Thank god, I was starting to think she didn’t wanna have sex anymore!”

  “Eddie! Let’s Go!”

  Richie stood next to Eddie, they both held their weapons as Eddie gathered his courage.

  “Eds, it’ll be okay, it’s not her,” Richie looked Eddie in the eye and reassured him, Eddie nodded.

  “No, mother. You’re pathetic! You’re a liar! You’re making me take all this medication and I don’t need it! I'm not sick!” Eddie hit Mrs. K with his baseball bat, it slowly transformed back into its clown form and stared at Richie.

  Richie knew it was looking for his fear, but he didn’t quite know what it’d find. Then Bev threw a rock at it, and it shifted its attention onto her. 

  But this time it didn’t search for fear, it opened its disgusting mouth, showing its rows of pointed teeth, and then Bev was in the deadlights. Her eyes were pearly white, she started floating up in the air as it looked around the room and began searching for more fears.

Chapter Text

   The scene was all-too-familiar. Someone (in this case Bev) floating in the air with eyes rolled to the back of their head and lips slightly parted. Richie remembered the time when that person was him, he remembered it all too well. The things that he saw in the deadlights weren’t something he’d ever wished someone else could see, and now, unfortunately, Bev was likely seeing very similar things.

  “We gotta help her! Eddie, you said we needed to slap her to get her out, right?!” Will exclaimed as he ran over to where Bev was. 

  Eddie’s cheeks burned a rosy red color, he stared wide-eyed at Will, glancing at Richie subtly.

  Ben and Mike H quickly started trying to get Bev down, Bill, Mike W, Steve, and El all kept Pennywise busy. 

  “The thing is.. that’s not exactly-“ Eddie rambled, but was interrupted by the groans coming from Ben and Mike H, who were pulling Bev to the ground.

  When Bev was safely on the ground, they all stared at her unconscious form, Ben kneeled down next to her and brushed her messy curls behind her ear. “Eddie lied before, he didn’t slap Richie.”

  “Why would Eddie lie?” Dustin frowned, “This could be life or death, so why lie?”

  Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning down until his lips reached Bev’s. It wasn’t a beautiful kiss by any means, it was sloppy and weird, seeing as Bev wasn’t even conscious, but it did the job.

  “Oh,” Will mumbled as he glanced at Eddie, who was looking away silently.

  Bev groaned as she sat up, seeing Ben’s retreating face, “January Embers.”

  Ben smiled, “My heart burns there, too.”

  “SHIT!” 

  The group looked over to see El collapse to the ground, her control over it had diminished. Mike W quickly ran to her side and held onto her, mumbling to her. Richie sighed and picked up his baseball bat and ran over to them, it turned its attention onto him.

   “I know your secret…” it began to sing, it kept its clown form. It was going after Richie, it knew Richie was terrified of clowns. “Your dirty little secret…”

  Richie backed away, his grip on the bat was loosening more and more, “Shut up…”

  “Richie! You can face your fear, it can’t scare you!” 

  Richie looked at Bev, beautiful Beverly Marsh. Back when she first joined the Loser’s, she made him question if he was really fully gay. She was pretty, she still was, but for some reason, thirteen-year-old Richie Tozier couldn’t seem to figure himself out. Part of him hoped that he really was straight, that whatever it was that he was feeling towards Eddie was just a strong friendship; but he couldn’t lie to himself, no matter how hard he tried. 

  Richie took a deep breath and dropped his bat to his side, it dragged across the grimy floor as he slowly stepped closer and closer to the clown.

  “You know my secret? Huh? You think you’re so strong, but you’re not. You see, you may know my secret, but I also know yours.”

  Pennywise cackled, “is that so?!”

   Richie looked back at his friends, who all stood behind him with concerned gazes, he gave them a silent message, one they all seemed to understand.

Follow my lead.

  “You’re just a fucking Clown, why should I be scared of something so weak?!” Richie hissed, he raised his baseball bat and slowly stepped closer and closer to it, it was backing away slightly. It was now frowning, anger clear on its face. “Yeah, I have a secret. I’m fucking gay! But that’s a part of me, but your secret is that you as a whole are a worthless creature that’s so lame that you eat kids!”

  Richie couldn’t turn around, he couldn’t face them. His biggest secret, the one he tore himself up over for years, and now they knew. Thirteen people now knew, some of them were bound to hate him for it, and he wished he didn’t care as much as it seemed he didn’t. 

  “Go fuck yourself, Pennywise! Ronald McDonald has a better purpose than you!” Eddie walked up next to him and held his hand, holding onto it tightly. 

   “I AM THE EATER OF WORLDS!”

  “You aren’t even scary! Why even take the form of a clown? You couldn’t even scare a kindergartner!” Bev now stood next to Richie, her hand gripping his other one. One by one, everyone walked up to them and held hands and spat insults at It, they all dropped their weapons, which didn’t seem to be needed anymore.”

  It hissed and writhed in anger, its head shifting into every form they’d seen it turn into. It attempted attacking but it had no coordination and failed miserably.

   “I’m the eater of worlds…”

  “Just a Clown!”

  “Useless!”

  “Can’t even do your job right!”

  “Ugly ass bitch!”

  “Richie that’s barely even an insult to it!”

  “Fine, you Look like Mrs. K!”

  “You’re a failure of a demon!”

  “You probably have a micropenis!”

  “Richie what the fuck?!”

  “You’re weak!”

  “You aren’t scary!”

  “You are worthless!”

  “You’re a mouth breather.”

  “Even Demogorgon’s are scarier than you!”

  “A mimic!”

  “An imposter!”

  “An idiot sandwich!”

  “You’re Just a fucking Clown!”

  It backed into a corner and shriveled up into a tiny and ugly creature. It screamed and lashed out, but nothing it did was of any use. Its heart was beating loudly and quickly, Richie looked at everyone, who were all looking at him. 

  “We need to crush the heart,” Mike H spoke, breaking their silence. “Then it’ll die, forever.”

  Ben nodded, “it’s the only way, it’ll permanently break the cycle.”

  Richie nodded, kneeling down over its dying form, and stared it in the eyes. He really didn’t want to dig into its chest for its heart, but he had no other choice. He dug his fingernails into its chest, which was soft and easy to break. He pulled the beating heart from its small body and held it out in front of himself. 

  “This is fucking disgusting,” he mumbled. Eddie raised his arm and held onto the heart, and everyone followed. It was very cramped, but they all managed to do it. 

   “Look at you, You’re all growing up…”

   They all clenched their hands and crushed the heart, the deadlights went out and it’s face rotted away. The heart itself turned to dust and shriveled away, they were left in silence.

/////

  The day passed, they had safely made it out of the building and gathered up at the edge of the woods, they stood in smaller groups and had small conversations. Richie and Eddie sat alone in silence, staring at the cars that occasionally passed by.

  “Why do you think that it’s a kiss that breaks people from the deadlights?” Richie asked, looking over at Eddie.

  “Well,” Eddie spoke softly, “Maybe it’s because it can’t comprehend the idea of love.”

  Richie sighed, “Maybe.”

  “So what you said to it, is it true?”

  “Yeah, I am what I said I was, always have been.”

  Eddie reached over and grabbed Richie’s hand, “We all support you, Y’know? You’re our friend and that’ll never change.”

  “What if I want it to?” Richie mumbled, and Eddie heard.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nevermind,” Richie stood up and dusted off his shorts, “We should head back before you guys have to leave.” Richie extended his hand out.

  Eddie nodded, allowing Richie to help him up, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Chapter Text

   “You were right, Indiana is a fucking shithole,” Beverly snickered as she took a drag of her cigarette. 

  Richie chuckled and gazed at her, a small smile on his face. “I don’t know about all of Indiana, but Hawkins is definitely a shithole.”

  “Oh definitely,” Beverly lit out her cigarette against a wood post of the Wheeler’s house, leaving a small burn on the once-perfect surface. “So, two years..”

  “Don’t worry dah-ling, good ol’ Trashmouth Tozier will be back before ye know it!” 

  “Yeah, but you need us right now, and all we’ll be able to do is call you. That’s hardly enough, and it definitely will never be enough for us.” Beverly turned and fully faced Richie, who was a bit shorter than Beverly. 

  “You don’t need to worry, the Wheeler’s worry way too much about me. They’re making me see a fucking shrink, so I think I’ll be fine. Besides, it isn’t like I’m leaving forever.”

  Beverly sighed and slumped over, leaning over the railing with a frown, “You know, back when we really met, when Ben got all cut up, I didn’t like you.”

  “We’ve met before that, though.”

  “That’s why I said really , because we never really had an actual conversation before then. Anyways, you kept making dumb and annoying jokes, never shut up, honestly you were a nightmare to be around. But I liked being around your friends, and they liked being around you. Eventually I realized why they liked being around you, I stopped being annoyed with everything you said and started really paying attention to your existence.”

   “Uh, Thanks? I guess?” Richie didn’t know how to respond to that, or even what to think. Beverly didn’t like him at one point, but it was when he was thirteen. Hell, he didn’t even like himself when he was thirteen, so it wasn’t like he should be offended.

  Beverly smiled and ruffled his hair, “We should go back inside, the others deserve to see you before we go back to Derry.”

  Richie nodded, following behind Beverly as they entered the house. The Loser’s and Party were all in the basement chatting amongst themselves. 

  “Richie! Will said he could teach us to play Dungeons and Dragons! What do you think?!” Eddie exclaimed, practically bouncing in his seat. 

  Richie grinned, “Why’re you asking me? Let’s fucking do it!”

  And so, the group of thirteen teenagers grouped up into teams (because thirteen is far too many players) and they played dungeons and dragons. Though it was hard to adjust to the team part, they enjoyed the game. Will Byers felt like the kid he was before he ended up in the upside down, even his friends (who had all been growing up and stopped wanting to play) had fun. 

  The group of teens felt as though they were friends for much longer, their shared experience brought them together, and nothing would tear them apart. The campaign lasted almost the whole night, and Mrs. Wheeler decided to let everyone spend the night in honor of the Loser’s returning to Derry the next day. 

  Richie had brought all of his blankets out onto the floor, as well as pillows. Mike Wheeler did the same, and luckily they had enough for everyone. It wasn’t the most comfortable set up, but they were together and that was all that mattered. 

 It was close to sunrise when Richie found himself in the depressed slump he hadn’t felt in many days. It was six in the morning, none of the others had woken yet. He stood up and wandered upstairs, Mrs. Wheeler was sitting at the kitchen table with Mr. Wheeler, they were reading the newspaper. 

  “What’re you doing up early?” Mrs. Wheeler asked, watching as he put his shoes on.

  “I’m gonna sit outside for a bit, enjoy the sunrise or something,” Richie answered, tying his shoelaces, “I won’t be out there long.”

  “Alright. Are Your Friends staying for breakfast?” 

  Richie nodded, “Yeah, sorry. You’re gonna have to make a feast.” Richie snickered as he stood up and headed to the door, placing his hand on the knob and turning it.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll consider it cooking practice!” Richie could tell she was smiling, the way her voice sounded made it obvious. Richie smiled as well, opening the door and stepping outside. The chilly September air immediately greeted him as he closed the door behind him, part of him wished he’d put on a jacket. He walked over to the bench and sat down, watching the colors of the sky.

  “You’re up early,” Eddie’s voice spoke, Richie turned to look at him and smiled. “Especially considering we went to bed a few hours ago.”

  “You know me, barely getting any sleep as usual,” He snickered, patting the spot next to him. Eddie smiled and sat down, he stared at the sunrise in amusement.

  “I’m gonna miss you,” Eddie didn’t face Richie, and so Richie turned his face to the sunrise as well. “It’s not ever gonna be the same.”

  “Yeah,” Richie sighed, “I’m gonna miss it. That’s why I never told anyone about my parents, I didn’t want things to end up like this…”

  Eddie looked at Richie, their eyes met. “But I’m glad you told that nurse, because you’re safe now. I know I didn’t know what was happening at the time, but I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night knowing you weren’t safe.”

  Richie reached his hand out and grabbed Eddie’s, “You know, the one thing that kept me going all those years was you.”

  Eddie let Richie hold his hand, a confused gaze on his face as his brows slightly furrowed, “What do you mean?”

  “I love you, Eddie.” It took every ounce of courage in Richie’s body to say those words, but he didn’t regret it.

   Eddie chuckled, “Uhhh, I love you too, duh.”

  Richie shook his head, “No, I love you. I love you in the way Ben and Bev love each other.”

  Eddie grabbed Richie’s other hand and stared into his dark brown eyes, “I know, you dumbass.”  

  Richie felt his face heat up, he had no idea what to feel or say. “Oh.”

  “You weren’t very subtle about it, Y’know?” Eddie sighed, “I say that, but the only reason I realized that was from you coming out yesterday. Last night I kept rethinking everything, then I realized how dumb I was. For years I thought I was sick because I felt emotions towards you that I should’ve only been feeling towards girls, but I liked you. I didn’t like the actress Audra Phillips, like Bill did. I didn’t like Beverly, like Ben did. I like you, like you like me.”

  Richie smiled, “That’s good to know, but how am I supposed to break the news to Mrs. K that I can’t keep seeing her anymore?”

  Eddie rolled his eyes and grinned, “Beep beep, asshole.” He loosened his grip on Richie’s hands as his smile faltered, “What are we?”

  Richie sighed, “I don’t know…” suddenly, he gazed up at Eddie and smiled, “How about we figure that out another time?” Richie wanted desperately to call Eddie his, but he knew it would hurt spending two years away from him. 

  The sun had fully risen, the two boys nodded and headed back into the house. They had promised themselves to each other, though they weren’t quite ready to be in an actual relationship. No, it wasn’t time.

  “What were you two doing out there?” Bev asked with raised eyebrows that she wiggled, she held a cup of coffee in her hand.

  “Just talking,” Richie looked at her with a soft smile and walked over to the couch, sitting down.

  “Troy’s body was found last night, guess it really did kill him,” Mike Wheeler sighed, “As much as that guy deserved it, I feel bad.”

  Richie nodded, “When It was in Derry, it killed this guy named Patrick Hockstetter, he was part of Bowers’ gang, which was this group of bullies that really were borderline psychos. No one was sure if they were supposed to keep hating him or be sad, so everyone just decided to not acknowledge his death.”

  Eddie knit his brows, “Though Patrick was a borderline serial killer, don’t you remember the fucking fridge?!”

  Bev shuddered, “He kept a fridge of animals he’d killed, and it was also rumored he’d killed his baby brother. He wasn’t at all a good guy.”

  Mike Wheeler nodded, “Troy is an Angel compared to that, damn.”

 ////

  Richie stood in the street as he watched his friends put their bags in the trunk of the car, they looked at him with solemn faces. He almost wondered what’d happen if he snuck in there, but he knew he couldn’t. Legally anyways, and he knew the Wheeler’s wouldn’t be happy with him if he were to break the law. 

  “Well, I’ll see you all in two years,” he sighed as he put his hands in the pocket of his jeans.”

  Bev ran over to him and engulfed him in a tight hug, he hugged her back and smiled, “I’m gonna miss all of you.”

  “You better fucking get your license soon, because you have to come visit over the summer!” Bev said as she released him from the hug. “The Loser’s won’t be the same without our Trashmouth.”

  Bill went over and hugged him next, “Stay out of trouble, man. And if you ever lie to us about a k-killer demon monster thing, you’ll never hear the end of it!”

  Richie snickered, “Got it!”

  Next was Stan, who smiled warmly as he wrapped his arms around Richie, but it was Richie who spoke first.

  “Thanks for helping me all those years, it means a lot.” 

  Stan nodded, though he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He wiped at his teary eyes before smiling, “You better call as much as you can.”

  Richie nodded, pulling away from the hug, “I’ll call every week, I promise.”

  Stan took one last look at Richie before stepping away to let someone else say goodbye. Ben stepped forward with a soft smile on his face.

  “Haystack! You always have the best hugs! Come ‘ere!” Richie pulled Ben into a hug, not too tight as not to suffocate the poor boy. 

  “Stay safe, Richie. Movie nights will never be as funny now, but maybe we can still call each other.”

  Richie smiled, they pulled away from the hug, “Of course Benny-boy! You’re my friend, I would always love talking to you!”

  Ben nodded, a huge smile plastering over his face. He stepped back and stood next to Bev, who smiled at him.

  “Hanlon! Hanlooooonnnnn!” Richie chanted, staring at the boy. Mike snickered and walked over to Richie and pulled him into a quick hug. 

  “You’re a Great guy, Richie. Can’t wait until you come back.” 

  Richie nodded, “Me too.”

  There was a moment of silence as Richie looked at them all until his eyes landed on the last person.

  Richie walked over to Eddie and grinned, pulling him into the tightest hug he could as he ignored Eddie’s protests.

  “My Eddie Spaghetti, I think I’ll miss you the most!” He said in an over-dramatic voice, “Be sure to tell Mrs. K that I’ll be thinking of her…”

  Eddie chuckled and let go of Richie, stepping back and giving Richie a final look, “It’s Eddie, dumbass. I’m gonna miss you.”

  Richie nodded, and then looked at the others. He felt his eyes begin to water, but he decided he wouldn’t hold the tears in. He let them fall down his cheeks as he sniffled. “Go before I sneak into the trunk, you Losers!”

  Before he knew it, the Loser’s tackled him into a group hug. For the first time in ages, he felt worthy of his friends. It had been a tough week for his emotions, and the next would surely be worse. He knew full well that he couldn’t never fully recover from what he’d been through, but he could try and move on.

  By the time the Loser’s had climbed into the large car, Richie’s tears had stopped dripping down. He waved at the car as it drove off, Hopper at the wheel. El would be staying over at the Wheeler’s house until Hopper returned, which no one had much of a problem with. 

   Nancy put a hand on Richie’s shoulder and sighed, “You okay?”

  Richie looked at her and nodded, “Never better.”

—————— The next summer—————————

   July 1990

  Richie had been asleep at his desk when his door opened and his name was eagerly yelled. He woke up to see Dustin Henderson at his doorway. 

  “Oh, you’re back from camp. Welcome, I guess.” Richie yawned and looked at the clock, it was late. 

  “Do you think you could help translate some Russian with me, Steve, and Robin?” Dustin asked, he kept pacing around Richie’s room.

  “Who’s Robin?” Richie sat up and stretched, then he noticed Dustin’s worried expression, “Is everything okay?”

  “Just come with me to StarCourt mall, to Scoops Ahoy.”

  Richie knit his brows, “Isn’t that where Stevey-boy works? Wait! Robin’s his coworker, right?!”

  Dustin nodded and grabbed Richie’s arm, “We don’t have time for this, get your car keys and let's go!”

  Richie sighed and nodded, putting on his shoes and grabbing his keys. He’d gotten his license in December, which was quite the surprise to him since he thought he’d fail his first attempt. He had visited the Loser’s a few times over the first two months of summer, it was now August. 

  When they arrived at Scoops Ahoy, Dustin led him to the back room, where Steve was pacing around.

  “Robin and I are switching in a few minutes, so let’s hurry this up!” Steve played the audio recorder, Richie listened closely.

  Richie always knew being fluent in Russian would be handy again, and he supposed that now was that time.

  “The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.” Richie finally spoke, looking up at Steve and Robin. “Don’t ask me what that means though, I just know Russian.”

  “So you’re the kid Dustin was talking about,” a girl spoke, Richie turned around to see her. “I’m Robin, nice to meet you.”

  Richie nodded, “Richie.”

  “Steve, I hand the scoop over to you now.” She literally handed him an ice cream scoop, he sighed and took it.

  “Hope you guys figure it out, I’ll try and think of what it means.” With that, Steve exited through the door.

  “So Richie, what did the Russian man say?” She walked over to a whiteboard and grabbed a black expo marker, readying herself to write it all down.

  “The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.”

  She wrote it down and furrowed her brows, “That makes no sense…” she looked at Dustin, “Any ideas?”

  Dustin shook his head, “I thought the message would be easier to figure out, but this is just giving me a headache.”

  Richie nodded, gazing at Robin curiously. He hadn’t ever met her before, which was surprising considering he enjoyed following around Mike and his friends. They seemed to love going to StarCourt mall, and they enjoyed getting ice cream at Scoops Ahoy.

  That day went by slowly as he sat in that back room trying to decipher what the message meant. That day was the beginning of an adventure he never saw coming, one that didn’t involve Pennywise. 

  He never called his friends over to help, he didn’t have the time to. He ended up almost getting captured by Russians, though Robin and Steve weren’t as lucky. Eventually, the whole mess was situated, though he had to endure another battle against some strange and terrifying creature. 

-

  After everything was settled, Richie decided to rent a movie. It had been a few weeks and Starcourt was destroyed, so he had no other form of entertainment. As soon as he opened the door, he realized that the usual nerdy guy wasn’t at the counter, instead Robin and Steve were there. Richie grinned as soon as they noticed him, he walked over to the counter.

  “Didn’t know you guys got a job here!”

  Robin snickered, “This dingus barely got the job!”

  Steve rolled his eyes, “Oh please, I did great!”

  Richie wiggled his brows and smirked as he stared at Steve, “Are you two a thing?”

  Steve and Robin stared at each other before bursting out into laughter. 

  “No!” Steve said in between laughs, “But guess what Richie! She’s gay too!”

  Toben elbowed Steve, “Hey! That was what I was supposed to say! Wait, Richie, You’re gay?”

  Richie nodded, looking around and confirming the store was empty. “Yep.”

  “That’s so cool! I’ve never met anyone else that was, though we aren’t exactly the same kind of gay.”

  “Still cool to meet someone else, we should hang out sometime.” Richie grinned as he eyed the many movies. He grabbed a copy of “Back to the Future: Part II” and put it on the counter.  “Well, we already met the other week, but y’know. “

  Robin nodded, “Definitely.” Robin cashed Richie out for the VHS and handed it to him. “Aright, return that by next Friday.”

  And so Richie left the Family Video and headed home. He set the movie on his desk and sighed, staring at the many pictures on his wall. He’d have to give his friends a call before they got worried.

—-

  “So who was it for you? Who made you realize you weren’t into dudes?” Richie asked, he and Robin sat in a cafe drinking expensive coffee. They spoke in quiet voices, though there were only workers in the cafe and one other person, who sat across the room.

  Robin giggled, “Tammy Thompson. In my sophomore year, she was in my first-period history class, and she was obsessed with Steve. Literally obsessed. And he never showed interest in her! It made no sense!”

  “Did you hate Steve because of that?”

  She nodded, “Despised him, but then I was stuck working with him. Things like that made it hard to hate someone, so yeah.” She took a sip of her coffee, “How about you?”

  “He was one of my best friends, Eddie Kaspbrak. At first, I thought how I felt to him was just friendship feelings, but then I noticed I only felt that way towards him. I told him how I felt almost a year ago, and he said he felt the same.”

  Robin grinned, “Congrats dude! What happened afterward?”

  “We decided to figure things out after everything settled down and I came back to my hometown.” He grinned at the memory of the sunrise, holding his warm hands. It had always felt like a dream, but this time it was really a reality.

  “So your parents know?” She asked, and then Richie realized that she didn’t know about his situation.

  “Well, yes. But I don’t live with them anymore, I live with the Wheeler’s.” Richie took a sip of his coffee.

  “Wait, why? If you don’t mind anyways.”

  Richie nodded, “I don’t mind. My parents were kinda abusive, my dad didn’t like that I was queer and shit, so I was sent to my nearest relatives. That just so happens to be the Wheeler’s, so yeah.” 

  “Oh, That had to have been hard.”

  He nodded, “but it’s all good now, so that’s good. How about you? Do your parents know?”

  She shook her head, “No, not yet. I’m waiting until I meet someone, cause then I think it might be easier.”

  Richie nodded, “If you ever need to talk about this stuff, I’m a call away.”

  She grinned, “Thanks, Tozier. Looks like my shift at Family Video is about to start though, I should get going.”

  “See ya around, Buckley.” Richie sipped at the remains of his coffee, sipping it until the cup was empty. He watched as Robin smiled at him from the doors as she pushed them open and walked out of the cafe. 

  Things were better for Richie, for once he felt as though he could breathe without worry. And things were sure to remain that way, even if Hopper was dead and Joyce, Will, and El were moving away. Things would be okay, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

  He didn’t remember the roads being so bumpy, but he supposed his new truck’s pristine wheels weren’t quite used to the rigid roads of Derry. Hawkins was much better at keeping their roads in good condition. The moment he saw the ‘Welcome to Derry!’ sign, he pulled over to the shoulder of the road and grabbed his Polaroid camera. The warm Derry air embraced him as he opened the door and stepped down onto the concrete, letting the scenery truly process in his mind. 

  “I’m home,” He sighed, walking closer to the sign and snapping a picture. He grabbed the printed picture out and put it in his pocket as he walked back to his truck and stepped back inside. 

  It had been over a year since he had last been in Derry, he’d visited the previous summer once, but unfortunately, something came up and he couldn’t visit again. The Losers didn’t know Richie was already coming back, in fact, he’d made sure to make them think he wouldn’t be able to come until July. It was June 8th, he’d graduated the week prior. 

  He drove into his hometown in silence, keeping his mixtape paused. He loved music, always had, over the years he’d made several mixtapes of his favorite songs. The one he had been playing was from the summer where his life was changed, the summer of him leaving Derry. He found it nice to listen to all the angsty songs that he’d connected to all that time ago, but now he was happier and didn’t need that negativity when he crossed back into his hometown. The silence was comforting.

It was a Saturday, the Loser’s were no doubt at the Quarry. He had a plan to visit the Uris’s before heading over there, he figured it’d be nice to make sure they were fine with him staying there until everyone was ready to move away. He didn’t need a map to remember where to go, his brain hadn’t forgotten the Derry streets. He turned onto his old street, getting a good look at his old house, and then drove over to the house of Stanley Uris. Mr. And Mrs. Uris always took great care of their house, it always had flowers in the flowerbeds, always had a nice welcome mat on the front. The secret key was behind the address plate that was hung up by the door. Richie contemplated letting himself in, though he figured it was best for him to just knock.

  He parked his car in front of their house, seeing two cars in the driveway. Stan didn’t have a car yet, though he got a license. He’d said he wasn’t ready for one yet, that he didn’t want to let his childhood go until it was time to move away.

  Richie stepped up the concrete steps and knocked three times on the Burgundy door, one that gave him too much nostalgia. He’d always asked them why their door was such a bizarre color, but they’d only said that it went well with their house. He didn’t think so, but now he wasn’t one to agree with his younger self.

  The door opened steadily, Andrea Uris stood there with a surprised gaze on her face. Her lips turned upwards into a smile as she pulled him into a tight hug. “Richie! I’m so glad to see you!” She let him go and took in his appearance, “You’ve grown much taller, I think you’re taller than Stan.”

  Richie nodded, “Sounds about right, is Stan home?”

    She shook her head as she led him inside, closing the door behind him. “No, he’s out at the quarry with everyone. I always tell him it’s dangerous, he hasn’t listened. Are you here to stay?”

  Richie nodded, “Yeah, I have my stuff in my truck. I just wanted to make sure it was still fine for me to stay here.”

  She grinned, “Of course I’m fine with it! Donald is Just at the store, but he’ll be back soon. Would you like a snack or anything to drink?”

  Richie shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, “I’ll be fine for now, I’m just really excited to see everyone.”

  Mrs. Uris smiled and grabbed her purse, fishing a few dollars out and handed them to Richie. “Here, Just in case you need to buy a snack. You should get going now, don’t wanna leave them hanging. I’ll get the gießt room set up for you while you’re gone.”

  Richie smiled back at her, “Thank you, Mrs. Uris. Everything You’re doing means a lot to me.”

  She grabbed his shoulders and led him to the door, “It’s my pleasure Richie, now go meet up with your friends before I lock you in here and make you eat until you aren’t as skinny!”

  Richie rolled his eyes and opened the door, he stepped out on the concrete steps and walked down them. “You got it, ma’am!”

  He didn’t know whether he should walk or drive, but he decided the walk would be more nostalgic. It was weird being in Derry again. He’d spent two years in Hawkins, which was similar, but not the same. He’d made good friends in Hawkins, though they could never replace the Losers. Robin and Steve had gotten closer with him and made him swear he’d call every-so-often. He hoped the Uris’s wouldn’t mind their phone being used so often by him, though they usually were kind people. Donald Uris used to be more strict and mean to Stan, but eventually, he realized that Stan was his own person and didn’t need to live up to Donald’s expectations. 

  The walk was rather short, Richie didn’t know if he was glad or not. He hadn’t run into anyone he knew, though his grade just graduated and they all probably were spending time away from Derry. Anyone younger was still in school, probably doing exams or preparing for them. Richie definitely knew he wouldn’t miss the exam part of school. He didn’t know if he wanted to go to college, he knew the other Loser’s did, but they actually had plans for their futures. Richie didn’t really ever think he’d make it to graduation, and so he never gave it a second thought. He’d thought about being a comedian throughout his Senior year, but never really looked into how to become one, he always figured it just happened out of nowhere.

  Richie stopped walking once he saw the sign at the quarry, the one that told people not to jump off it. They always mocked it as kids, even threw rocks at it. There was still a dent from where Richie had found a rather large rock and threw it at the sign, he rubbed the dent and smiled at the memory. He looked down at the murky green water, the sight of six people could be seen swimming down below. 

  He wasn’t sure if he should warn them that he was jumping down or not, but he decided to see what’d happen if he just jumped down. He stripped down to his boxers, setting his clothes in a neat pile by the clothes of his friends, and then he jumped down.

  The water was colder than he remembered, but he supposed he never really bothered to think much about the temperature. He emerged to the surface and wiped his wet curls out of his face, staring at his friends. They stared at him with wide eyes and gaped at him, Bev splashed water at him and smiled.

  “Tozier! You didn’t say you were coming back today!” Bev’s hair was a bit longer, though she had said many times she liked it short. It was just barely reaching her chin. She wasn’t any taller though, but she was still a decent height for a girl.

  “Didn’t say he was jumping down either,” Eddie muttered, “You could’ve fallen on someone and killed them, Y’know!” Eddie didn’t change at all, his hair was the same as well as his height, maybe he’d grown a bit, but not much. He’d lost some weight, though not much. Mainly the stubborn baby fat in the cheeks that had made him so adorable and pinchable.

  Richie swam over to Eddie and grinned, “But I didn’t!”

  “But you could’ve! Do you know how many people died from that kind of thing? This year alone there were-“

  “Woah! Haystack, that you?” Richie gaped at Ben, who was significantly skinnier than the Ben he had known. 

  Ben nodded, “I joined the track team, guess I forgot to mention it in a call. I pushed myself really hard and I lost a lot of weight. I even started helping Mike out at the farm.”

  Richie looked over at Mike and grinned, “Homeschool, I missed you! You always gave the best hugs, you owe me one when we aren’t in deep water.”

  Mike nodded, he looked mostly the same. Taller, more muscles as well. Though Richie supposed that was what happened when you work at a farm. “I’ll definitely give you a hug.”

  “Are you staying with Stan?” Bill asked, his hair hadn’t changed much over the years, though he was significantly taller.

  Richie nodded, “I already went over there and made sure the Uris’s were cool with it, and then I stopped at Mrs. K’s and-“

  “Beep beep Richie, you didn’t even last five minutes!” Stan rolled his eyes, though he swam over to Richie and smiled, “We missed you.” Stan also looked the same, just older. They all looked older, he supposed, but Stan really looked older. He’d always been more mature than the others, so Richie thought it was fitting.

  Richie nodded, “I’m not leaving this time, I promise.”

————-

  The day went by quickly, and he was glad. This time he had a whole summer until things changed again, until the college season began. Eddie was going to college in New York, and Richie planned to go with him. The Loser’s were all huddled up in the clubhouse that Ben had made all those years ago, it was a bit more crowded than Richie remembered. 

  “So Richie, what’re your plans for the future?” Mike asked, they had been talking about colleges and Richie hadn’t really involved himself besides his usual jokes.

  He shrugged, “I dunno.”

  “What do you mean ‘you don’t know?’ We’re literally adults now, you gotta have some idea of how you’re gonna make money!” Stan exclaimed, he would be going to school in Georgia, he wanted to be an Accountant. Richie thought it was pretty boring, but Stan said it made good money.

  “Well, I could be a comedian.”

  “Do you have a plan of how you’re gonna get there?” Bev asked, she seemed interested in the idea. Bev had actually joked about it over the phone a week before their graduation, he’d been panicking over his future and she said he’d probably end up as a comedian. 

  “Nope, I’ll just wing it.” Richie grinned and leaned back in the hammock. Eddie sat next to him, he’d smacked Richie’s arm playfully.

  “Dumbass. But knowing you, it’ll probably work out too.” Eddie grinned, “I’m going to go to New York. No clue what I’ll do, but I’ve always wanted to go to New York.”

  “What about your mom?” Bill asked, his stutter had fully vanished, though he’d said it sometimes comes out when he’s emotional. “I can’t imagine her letting you go so far from her.”

  “She doesn’t know yet, but I already got accepted into NYU. I’m planning on secretly packing up my bags in the middle of the night and driving out there, I have the money from work.” Eddie explained, he had gotten a job at a grocery store a year prior and saved everything. His mother would never fund something that would take Eddie so far away. Richie was convinced that the woman was planning on taking care of Eddie until she died, maybe even bring herself back from the dead too. 

  “I’m gonna be a writer, of course I’m going to college for it, but I’m already writing my first book,” Bill explained, “It’s a horror novel, inspired by a true story, but I won’t specify that.”

  Richie grinned, “I wanna read it before it comes out!”

  “Richie, you hate reading,” Eddie elbowed him again.

  “So what? I wanna support Bill!” Richie looked at Bev and grinned, “What’re you gonna do?”

  “I want a job in fashion design, surprising, right?”

  They all nodded, “Yeah, definitely.”

  “Mikey-Mike?”

  “I haven’t figured it all out yet, I’m taking a gap year to work on the farm and look into possibilities.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “One thing that I did consider was getting a job at the library though. I like the idea of it.”

  Richie fake-yawned, but quickly grinned, “It would suit you.”

  “I wanna be an architect, but I bet you would have guessed that,” Ben giggled as he looked around the room he had built. 

  Bev nodded, “You’re great at it, you’ll probably do really well!”

  Richie looked over at Eddie and smiled, they stared into each other’s eyes. 

  “We should talk about the promise later, okay?” Eddie whispered into Richie’s ear. Richie nodded, his cheeks heated up, so he quickly pretended to itch his nose until he knew he wasn’t blushing anymore. 

  ——-

  They were finally heading home, Stan, Eddie, and Richie all walked together while the others headed to where they lived. Bev was staying with Ben, as she lived with her aunt in Portland. 

  “Stan the man, you are gonna regret wanting me to stay at your house!” Richie teased as he skipped across the concrete. 

  Stan snickered, “I think I can handle living with you for a few months.”

  “Mikey Wheeler couldn't stand me for two years, should’ve been there for the great silence of 1990! He ignored me for two weeks!” Richie groaned, “Nancy tried to ignore me, buuuuut she only lasted one day. And then there’s Holly, that little-“

  “Okay we get it, the Wheelers liked to pick on you,” Eddie teased, “Can’t blame them.”

  “Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie put a hand over his heart and pouted, “I thought you loved me…”

  Eddie’s eyes softened, “Of course I do, asshole.”

  Stan groaned, “We’re here, I’m going inside. You two talk out here for a bit, Eddie are you spending the night?”

  Eddie looked at Richie and shrugged, “Maybe. I can call my mom, but she probably won’t want me to.”

  “Ok, just let me know.” And with that, it was just Richie and Eddie. Eddie itched his elbow and looked at the sidewalk in front of the Uris’s house. 

  “I-Umm.. I-“ Eddie began, he kept his gaze away from Richie.

  “Do you still feel the same way you felt two years ago?” Richie asked, looking Eddie in the eyes. Eddie raised his gaze and did the same.

  “Of course I do, Richie.”

  “So… What are we?” The corner of Richie’s lips raised slightly, Eddie smiled as well. 

  “I think I’m ready for us to.. be a thing..” 

  Richie grinned and watched as a car passed by, he debated taking the conversation to somewhere more private. Derry was still the same town it had always been, he didn’t doubt that for a second. 

  “You know Eds, when we were thirteen and fighting a demon clown, that’s when I realized it. That’s when I realized that I didn’t like you as a friend, that I liked you in a way my parents said boys shouldn’t like other boys.” Richie sighed, “I had convinced myself it was a phase and I’d move on to liking girls as everyone else did.”

  Eddie smiled as he sat down onto the grass, Richie did the same. “When I was ten, I liked Bill. It made sense to me, Bill was the leader and everyone loved him. We listened to everything he said, did what he did so we could be as cool as him.” He sighed, “I came home one day and told my mom because I didn’t know that it wasn’t okay to like boys. My mom told me I was sick and needed to rest. She made me talk to a priest, but I refused to say anything to him. And then one day I just stopped liking Bill, and I was so happy…”

  Richie stared at him and listened, though he couldn’t help but gaze into his brown eyes.

  “I told my mom and she was happy too, said I could hang out with him again. But then when I was twelve, I felt that way towards someone else. He was funny and annoying, always getting into trouble. He’d always call me nicknames and I’d pretend to hate it, because if I did that, maybe then I’d make myself stop feeling those feelings… but they never went away, and I kept correcting the nicknames because it became our thing.”

  Richie brushes his hands through Eddie’s hair, it was softer than he’d remembered. “What about him? Did you ever think he felt the same way?”

  Eddie softly snickered, it was almost silent. “No, I never considered it, even when I saw him being picked on by Bowers and his gang. They always called him a f- well, you know the word.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “But even then, I just thought nothing of it. I was sick, you couldn’t have been either. Those feelings never went away like they did with Bill, but I never said anything.”

  “I don’t blame you, I kept them hidden too.”

  Richie stared into Eddie’s eyes once again, his brown eyes facing the sunlight. They were like pools of caramel staring into his own eyes. His lightly freckled nose and cheeks that were barely noticeable unless you were so close, Richie could sit there and count them. His lips looked soft, he always had chapstick on him, so it made sense. Richie loved that boy with his life, and for once, he was certain the feeling was mutual.

  “I love you, Eds.” And so, Richie leaned in and kissed him. Eddie was stiff for a moment, but then kissed back. It was a short kiss, nothing that looked special, but to them it was everything. Years of repressed feelings let out in one true moment, a moment that could never be forgotten.

  “I love you too, Richie.”

———

  “You got all your things?” Richie asked softly, he watched as Eddie threw his bags in the back of the truck. 

  Eddie nodded, making sure the tailgate was shut properly before opening the passenger door and stepping into Richie’s truck. “Yeah, I left the stuff I didn’t want anymore, most of my clothes as well. I wanna start fresh in New York, Y’know?”

  “Yeah, sounds good. It’s gonna take a while, but I think we’ll be there by morning. I think it’s a six-hour drive, but I’m shit at following maps.” Richie chuckled, “Should’ve seen me driving from Hawkins to Derry, that was the LONGEST drive of my fucking life.”

  Eddie giggled as he buckled his seatbelt, “Well then, let’s get going before my mom notices, I swear she has a sixth sense for when I’m doing shit she doesn’t want me doing.”

  “Hmm, does that shit include your boyfriend? Because you sure as hell-“

  “Beep beep, Trashmouth.” He rolled his eyes and looked out the window, “Just drive.”

  Richie snickered as he put a cassette tape on, the tape playing music Eddie had chosen for the ride. He hummed along to the tunes, he smiled when he heart the soft hums from Eddie.

  “You’re cute, Kaspbrak.”

  “Shut up.”

  —-

May 28th, 2016 

Stanley Uris takes a bath.

  Stan was getting old, he was already a few years I to his forties and he really didn’t want to acknowledge the grey hairs that were starting to appear. Patty always tried to reassure him that they weren’t too old, but the fact that they never had kids made him forget his age. One day he was twenty-one and on one knee with a ring in his hand, the next he was forty-four years old and planning a vacation with his wife. 

  The day was just like any other, nothing all that special happened. He’d woken up and drank a cup of coffee, then made his bed and kissed Patty before going to work. He was an accountant, a job he’d wanted as a teen. He was right to want that job, turns out it paid very well. He’d been able to live comfortably, maybe more than comfortable. 

  Patty was on the couch when the phone rang, she had been watching an episode of her favorite show. Stan wasn’t too fond of it, so he didn’t try and pay attention. His ringtone sang out into his ears, he grabbed his phone and stared at the number. He didn’t have it saved as a contact, which confused him. 

  He answered, though he fully expected it to be a scam call or even just a wrong number, but the voice that spoke was unmistakable.

  “Hey, Stan! It’s Richie!” The Trashmouth himself giggled, “How’re you doing?”

  Stan smiled softly, “I’m doing just fine, how about you?”

  “I’m great, Stan! Stan the man!” Stan could tell Richie was smiling, “Guess what!”

  “What?”

  “I proposed to Eddie!” 

  Now Stan understood, Richie had been so nervous to propose for the longest time. Gay marriage was only legalized the year before, not everyone was all that supportive of it. But Stan knew Richie was very aware of that, it had been much worse back when he’d come out as gay. It was nice that everyone around was supportive of it, but they came from a small town that was full of homophobic people.

  “That’s great! I’m so proud of you Richie!”

  Richie chuckled, “I Uhh, I had a request of sorts. For you, if you want to.”

  “Just say it already, I’m too old for this waiting game.” Patty looked over at him and smiled, he smiled back. 

  “Will you be my best man for the wedding?”

  Stan smiled, “Yeah, of course I will.”

  “Perfect,” Richie said, “The Wedding won’t be for a while, but I figured I’d ask now. Obviously, Bev is the Maid of honor, Eddie said we should call her the Groomsmaid of honor.”

  Stan chuckled, “I’m excited, it’s gonna be nice to see you all again. When was the last time we all met up like that, Christmas?”

  Richie hummed for a moment, “Yeah I think so.”

  “Yeah,” Stan said, “You got me a poster from your new Netflix gig.”

  “Oh you loved it, I bet it’s in your office!”

  “Nope, it’s on the wall of my closet.”

  Richie gasped, “YOU HAVE A WALK-IN CLOSET? EDDIE CAN WE GO TO GEORGIA?!?!”

  Stan chuckled and looked at the clock. It was starting to get late. “Alright Richie, I should go. Patty wants to watch her show in peace.”

  “Aww ok Stanny, Tell her I said hi!” A quiet voice could be heard from the background, “Eddie says hi too.”

  “Alright, I’ll tell her. Talk to you soon, okay?”

  “Yep,” Richie said, “Adios!”

  Stan hung up the call and put his phone on the coffee table. Patty looked at him curiously, he gently kissed her head. “Richie and Eddie say hi.” He stood up and walked towards the hallway.

  Patty paused her show, “Where are you going?”

  “I’m just gonna take a bath, don’t worry.” Stan looked back at her and smiled softly.

  Patty knit her brows, “You normally don’t take baths at seven.”

  “I felt like changing things up today, that’s all. Wanna watch a movie tonight?”

  Patty nodded, “Yeah, of course. I bought one of Bill’s new movies, it’s on his It book. Such a weird name.” She giggled, “You up for it?”

  Stan nodded, “Sounds perfect.”

  Stan walked down the hallway, opening the door to their bathroom. He didn’t fully close the door, they usually never did. Part of him wanted to, which confused him. He was only taking a bath, he had nothing to hide. He started running the bathwater and took off his clothes, staring in the mirror at himself. 

  His face had faint scars of where it had bitten him, but at this point, he was sure he only could notice them because he knew they were there. Patty had never noticed them, nor did any of his coworkers. The scar on his palm had faded in 1989, after it was finally defeated for good. 

  He turned the water off and stepped into the full tub, he closed his eyes and smiled. 

Everything was okay.