Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bill's POV

Bill Denbrough is spending his morning in bed with just a comic book. It's Saturday, and Bill can do that. He doesn't get to see his friends, cause it's raining outside, which sucks, but he can live with it. At the moment he just wants to stay on his room, and just hang out by himself. Then he blinks and randomly is in a place he most certainly was not before.

"What the fuck?!" His friend Richie Tozier blurts out.

"Oh my god!" Eddie shrieks.

"What?" Stan mutters, his eyes crinkling as though trying to figure this out.

Bill looks around. Surrounding him are his friends, his parents, his friends' parents, Beverly Marsh, that homeschooled kid, some fat boy he's never seen before, and another man and woman that Bill just assumes are related to the other kids.

He feels a tiny pair of arms wrap around his waist. Georgie's here too. He knows it without having to even look down.

"Why is there a turtle here?" Richie asks with a groan, and Bill turns to see a large turtle of all things sitting in the middle of the room.

"The fuck?" He murmurs under his breath, hoping his parents don't here.

"What is happening?!" Stan's mom asks. "How did we get here?!"

The Turtle opens his mouth, and to everyone's shock, has something to say.

"FEAR NOT!" A deep voice booms from the Turtle.

"WHY IS THAT TURTLE TALKING!?!?!? WHY IS THAT TURTLE TALKING!?!?!?" Eddie starts shrieking in Bill's ear, causing him to jump away. Eddie's fucking loud, okay?

"This is officially the best day of my life." Richie announces.

"LOSERS! PARENTS! GEORGIE! YOU HAVE ALL GATHERED HERE TODAY TO WATCH A DUOLOGY OF 'FILMS' ENTAILING THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE RESISTANCE FORCE KNOWN AS THE LOSERS CLUB AND THE MURDEROUS CLOWN KNOWN AS PENNYWISE!"

"Did you just say 'murderous clown'?" Richie's mom, who's the only adult in the world cool with them calling her by her first name, Maggie asks with wrinkled eyebrows.

"I told you so!" Richie shouts at her. "I. Told. You. So." Maggie lifts her hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry, when did we move past the talking turtle?" Eddie asks.

"Are all my dreams this specific before I wake up?" Stan asks himself. "And then... it all gets blurry..." His mother wraps her arm around his shoulder.

"I UNDERSTAND IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND, BUT IT IS INDEED ESSENTIAL TO THE FUTURE THAT THESE MOVIES ARE WATCHED."

"How the fuck does that make sense?" Richie asks, his parents unphased by his language. Bill's clearly are, but they probably expect Maggie and Wentworth to say something, which they won't. Annoying.

"Wait, why isn't my dad here?" Beverly Marsh asks. "Everyone else's parents are here?"

"Yeah." Eddie nods. "And what about my mom?"

The Turtle turns its head towards Eddie. "NO MAN OR WOMAN DESERVING OF AN EXECUTION OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE SHALL BARE WITNESS TO THESE EVENTS!!!!"

Everyone jumps, looking legitimately freaked out. The adults share nervous glances with one another. Execution of the highest degree? Excessive. Richie'd probably call it accurate though.

The television clicks on.

"MAY THE WATCHING.... BEGIN!!!" The Turtle thunders. "I PERMIT YOU TO SIT DOWN!"

They shift around, everyone probably figuring that the got no other choice. The talking turtle seems pretty fucking powerful.

He and his friends start to move together, but he feels a tugging on his sleeve.

"Can I sit with you and your friends, Billy?" Georgie asks. Bill really wants to  say yes, but doesn't want his friends to think he's a baby like Georgie or anything.

Instead he says. "Are you sure you don't want to sit with mom and dad? It could get really scary."

"That's why I want to sit with you!" Georgie says, making him feel really special.

"Aw." Richie coos next to him. "That's why he wants to sit next to you! Don't be a pickle, Billy. If you know what I mean."

"Beep beep." Bill snaps, then softly looks back at Georgie. "Um.... sure. Sit with the cool kids."

"I thought he was sitting with us?" Stan deadpans. Georgie ends up sitting half on Bill's lap and half on Stan's.

The movie begins in his house of all places. Bill guesses it makes sense, if these movies are about him, and his friends, and those other kids. Georgie is by his window, asking if he'll get in trouble.

"Don't be a w-w-wuss. I'd come with you if I weren't-*cough*-dying."

"Are you getting sick!?" Mom says worriedly. "You don't look like you're coming done with something."

"Uh... must be one of those things." He says lamely. Bill feels perfectly fine right now. He probably just doesn't want to play with his brother today. So what if he does that sometimes? He's not his brother's babysitter. "I'm pr-pr-probably already sick, and I just won't feel it til l-later."

Mom looks at Bill, and he knows instantly that she doesn't buy it. And of course she's mad at him now. Bill just shrugs at her apologetically. Well, there's nothing anyone can do about it now.

"Why did you say that?" Eddie sighs and squirms away from him.

Georgie goes down to the cellar to get some stuff for him, and Bill finds himself getting bored. Nothing is happening. He's just getting stuff. And, okay, Georgie's being a baby about the cellars again, but whatever. This feels irrelevant.

They watch as Georgie gets the stuff back to him and Bill corrects him on the 'she' debacle. Bill smiles when he sees himself hug his brother, and then Georgie leaves.

"Be careful."

On screen, Georgie puts the boat in the water and runs after it, dodging those barrier thingies along the way. It actually looks like fun. Maybe Bill should have played with him. Well, maybe he will when this is over.

Then Georgie hits his head on one of them, falling. Bill winces. Okay, he definitely has to stop that from happening.

"Oh no! Billy's gonna kill me!"

"Don't be dramatic." Bill rolls his eyes. "It's just a toy."

"But it's a toy you made me, Billy!" Georgie protests, lip quivering in a pout.

"I can make you a new one-" Bill starts, but Richie interrupts him.

"What the fuck?!" He yells in pure terror, immediately gripping on to Eddie's arm.

On screen, a clown is shown in the sewers, where Georgie is bent over. With out even thinking twice about it, Bill shifts Georgie so that he's completely on his lap, wrapping both his arms around him.

"Oh my god." Beverly deadpans. "That is a clown."

"Georgie, don't talk to strangers!" Mom says worriedly. But that doesn't change anything Georgie does in the movie, as he starts answering the clown's questions.

"Three, but my brother is the bestest."

"Okay.... I love this child." Beverly states as fact, obviously trying to comfort herself as well. Bill uses both these lines to try to make himself feel better, and maybe if the movie stopped playing, it would work.

"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."
"Oh well, I'm Pennywise, dancing clown. Pennywise yes meet Georgie. Georgie meet Pennywise. Now we are not strangers, are we?"

"Nope! Still strangers!" Maggie judges. "Emphasis on the strange part!"

His mother actually nods along. "Just because someone tells you his or her name does not make that person any less of a stranger."

"Then how does someone not be a stranger?" Georgie asks.

"Through.... time spent together..." Georgie opens his mouth again and Mom is quick to add. "Surrounded by other people. Who the person can't... do things to you around. Got it?"

"No." Georgie shakes his head, but then turns back to the screen. His face lights up like a carnival. "Pop!"

In the movie, Georgie and the clown are making pop noises, and next to him Georgie is joking along.

"Georgie." His mother tries to get his attention. "Georgie!"

One of their neighbors spots Georgie and.... Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but doesn't do anything about it.

"Hey!" Dad barks. "Sarah Blattchet's not even gonna say something!"

Mom herself looks confused. "I thought we were friends.... she must not have seen who he was talking to. Thought he was playing or something? But, she would have said something about him playing in the rain, I just know she would...."

Bill tries to calm himself by focusing on how Richie clings to Eddie in fear. Normally he would find it funny how scared Richie is being, but the thought of his baby brother talking to a clown (Murderous clown! The Turtle's words ring in his head) keeps him from ease.

Georgie reaches for the boat, and then the clown shows his teeth.

He doesn't look.

Don't look. Don't look. Don't look and it's not happening.

Not looking doesn't silence the screams though.

He feels himself be lifted up into strong arms and then dropped onto a lap, but he doesn't look up from where his nose is buried in Georgie's nose. The arms wrap around him and pull him close to a chest. Another pair of arms around them.

"It's okay, boys." Dad shudders. "It's gonna be okay."

But it's not okay.

Chapter Text

Richie's POV

Well this is fucked.

Fuck clowns. Fuck them. They're all demons sent from hell. Every last one of them. They all said Richie was being a little wuss, but he always knew that clowns would be the death of him. Fuck clowns.

Jesus, that family doesn't deserve this. If there was ever anything Bill loved more than anything else, it's Georgie. Jesus, Richie was there when he learned how to tie his shoes, how could anyone want to hurt him?

Eds is really freaking out, and Richie tries to comfort him, but he's at a loss, so he just leads him away from the devastated family, and holds his hand and takes deep breaths to calm them both down. By the time his parents come over, they've both managed to push away asthma attacks.

The new kid is trembling against his mother's embrace, Homeschool's grandpa has a hand on his shoulder, Stan's mother has her arms around him, and Beverly seems to be taking a moment of silence out of respect.

His own mother is holding him close to her chest, and Dad running his fingers through his hair, as though trying to ground himself in the moment. It's admittedly nice. He knows how much his parents love him, but they aren't always the best when it comes to the whole 'paying attention to him' thing. Moments like this remind him how much they care.

Finally though, Mr. Denbrough separates from his family and marches straight up to the talking turtle. "What the fuck!?" He bellows, and Richie blinks. He's never heard one of his friend's parents curse before. "You think this is funny!? Making my kids watch themselves d-die!?" His voice cracks at the end.

"INCORRECT. ONLY ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN IS DEAD."

Bill cries harder. Obviously.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you." Mr. Denbrough snarls, his hand fisted like he's about to throw a punch.

"Zach!" Mrs. Denbrough protests, but doesn't dare leave her spot on the couch with Bill and Georgie.

"I AM BUT A MESSENGER." The Turtle says. "HEED MY WARNING AND CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER!"

Mr. Denbrough takes several deep breathes, looking back at his wife and kids before shifting his gaze back to the Turtle. "How?"

"WATCH THE FUTURE IF YOU TRULY WANT TO CHANGE THIS FATE! WATCH AND ALL CAN BE PREVENTED!!!!" The Turtle yells ominously as the lights flicker, and the table he is resting on begins to move backwards, into the darkness.

Oh is he leaving? "Bye!"

"BYE!"

Richie decides not to sit with his parents unless there's another death and takes a second to scan the couches because the one he's already deemed territory for him and his friends is now best taken up by the Denbrough's, and Richie's not gonna tell them to fuck off. He's not a monster. He goes to his second choice.

He drags Eddie with him by his wrist, and to lighten the mood a bit, when he sits he pulls Eddie onto his lap, until he's draped over him. He fully expects Eds to snap an insult at him and then take his place next to Richie where he belongs, but Eddie doesn't move, which he's more than okay with. Stan's parents are a little more hesitant to let him go, but they don't put up much a fight.

Bill stays with his family.

The movie plays, and the scene cuts to a barn with a bunch of farm animals. At first Richie wonders if they're still in Derry, but soon Homeschool and his grandpa show up. And- oh fuck.

"You have to shoot a goat?!" Richie says with wide eyes.

"Grandpa..." He sighs.

"It is important, Mike." His grandfather says firmly. "But this isn't for almost a year, son. We'll talk about it when the time comes."

Mike doesn't seem to pleased with this, but he doesn't push the subject.

On screen, the grandfather goes into this whole thing ending with him talking about Mike getting a gun to his head. Fuck, the last time Richie saw his grandpa he was warning him about the dangers of pulling your hip during old people sex. Or maybe it paddle-boarding.

The scene cuts to him (looking sexy), Eddie (looking sexier), and Bill (looking like he's doing good all things considered). They're talking about Stan's Bar Mitzvah.

"Oh shit, Eddie Spaghetti's the one talking about dicks now."

"Shut the fu-" his eyes dart towards the adults. "Beep beep Richie."

The scene rolls on, them all showing their lack of knowledge of the Jewish tradition.

"You know, your grandfather is rolling in his grave." Mom smirks but the glare she gets from Stan's dad makes her stiffen. Richie frowns. The religion always makes mom so nervous. He's glad that he only has to go to synagogue a few times a year and still be able get both Hanukah and Christmas presents. He's got it made.

Stan quickly joins the group from his last class, and they start teasing him.

"Yes, Rabbi's gonna pull down your pants. And he will tell the crowd: 'Where's the beef?'."

"The rabbi is my dad you pervert!" Stan protests, maybe for show for his parents, but Richie plays along, suddenly mock-dropping his expression.

"Oh my god, someone call social services." Richie whispers but then starts laughing. Stan rolls his eyes in exasperation.

"My Mom is social services, you asshole!"

Richie is silent for a moment before, ".... IT'S AN INSIDE JOB!!!!!"

"Beep beep!" Stan desperately throws at him, which, fine.

He notices his parents being particularly unnerved by Hockstetter's creepiness when Movie-Richie passes him and he licks his lips. Their group makes it past them and starts talking about them.

"In your backpa- Does that happen a lot?" Mom asks in anger.

Richie shrugs. "They're psychos, Ma. They could see an old lady fall in the middle of the street and force her to give them her lunch money."

"Then stay away from them." Bill's mom says simply, putting a hand on his mom's arm to calm her down.

She makes it sound so easy.

Richie's attention is quickly put back on the movie at the sound of a bathroom door being kicked open. Beverly is there with a cigarette, not doing anything Richie hasn't done before.

"Smoking, young lady?" Stan's mother scolds, cause it's not like her father is there. Lucky. Then again so is Richie. His parents are cool. Most of the other parents are looking at her suspiciously.

She whispers something he doesn't catch and then just looks away, so Richie pays more attention to the movie. A bunch of girls berate her and finally pour trash over her.

"Fucking Greta Keene." Eddie grumbles under his breath while rolling his eyes.

Richie suddenly feels bad for Marsh. Sure, he and his friends all get shit for being total losers, but at least they have each other. Beverly Marsh has sat alone at lunch since the third grade.

"Hey." He says to her. She looks his way in surprise. "You know, she's probably just pissed that you're making her favorite masturbation spot smell like smoke, so..."

Beverly snorts, still looking stunned, but almost appreciative. And then she smiles at him uneasily. It's nice to know he can help with his natural charm. He can tell all the other kids' parents are still kind of mistrusting about 'the town slut', but to be fair Richie had probably just said something about sex so that probably didn't help.

Movie-Richie and friends dump all their school books.

"The best feeling ever."

"Yeah? Try-" He's cut off by himself. The others laugh, even Bill, which is good.

"Christ, almost another a year of jokes like that Trashmouth?" Eds rolls his eyes.

Nice to know some things never change. Like Richie.

"Is that how you want to spend your summer, stuck in an arcade?"
"Better than inside your mother. Ohhhhh."

He goes for a high five that Stan immediately denies, causing some laughter, even from Mr. Uris. Obviously because of Stan, which is just annoying because Richie is the jokester of group, but oh well. He was just making a mom joke, and Eddie's mom is gross anyways. That's probably the joke.

His mood is spoiled though, because soon enough their attention is drawn to another missing child.

"B-Betty R-R-Ripsom?" Bill asks in horror. "Sh-she's one of th-the nicest g-girls in our grade!"

"Does this fucker only get the decent people? That why I'm still there?" Richie asks.

"God, how many poor children must have died in the time between now and this movie?" Mrs. Uris asks in horror. "It's a miracle our children are still alive."

Everybody gets a lot more tense, and Richie's honestly grateful because his movie-self is mouthing off, and with Georgie, he doesn't want to be that big a dick, though he does have one, but he listens to himself anyway, because it calms him down from the fear gripping his chest.

"She's not dead. She m-m-m-missing."

Richie can see his own face turn somber as he adjusts his glasses and apologizes. Then of course shrugs it off again. He does have limits, and those limits are his friends... on a good day.

The moment is quickly over though, because pretty soon the Bowers gang shows up and turns everything shitty again.

Both Richie and Stan are on the ground. Stan's parents start grumbling when they start fucking with his Jewish hat. At least Eddie's mom isn't here to start shrieking when Belch does his thing in Eddie's face. Though Eds himself does start gagging.

Bill for some reason does the mind-boggingly stupid thing, and fucking stands up to Henry Bowers, and by some miracle, all that happens is that he gets his stutter made fun of. It pisses his parents off though, who are already still messes from the first scene. 

Richie was just surprised Bowers had the decency to not bother him after losing his brother.

"Ew!" Eddie says after Bowers licks his hand and wipes it on Bill's face. And though he'd never say it loud, yeah. That's fucking disgusting.

"This is unacceptable!" Mrs. Denbrough says angrily. "They're bullying our boys!"

"They should be expelled." Mrs. Uris nods in agreement. "We should go to the school board. We'll just tell them the boys told us about how horrible they are."

"Oh great." Richie mutters to Eddie, making sure his voice is low enough that the only people who might be able to hear him would be Stan, because he does still appreciate the thought. "We're gonna be the losers who tattled on the Bowers gang." Eddie nods in agreement.

The new kid is struggling by the bikes and Beverly is talking to him, trying to get past. He quickly gets out of the way. She keeps talking.

"Henry and his goons are over by the west entrance. So you should be fine."

"Good." New kid's mother nods. "It's best to stay clear of boys like that."

Seriously though. It's not that easy. Why do they make it sound so easy.

"I'm Ben. But almost everyone calls me..."

"The new kid."

"Well that's unfair." Stan rolls his eyes. "But expected."

"Yeah," Richie nods. "Glasses. Jewish. Stutter. Asthma. That's all anyone ever sees."

Shit, that only makes the parents look more concerned, and it doesn't even matter anyway, because New K- Ben's too distracted by the scene. Beverly is signing his notebook with hearts. Okay, so he has a crush on her. So since their lives are movies now, they'll probably end up kissing by the end of this or whatever. Good for Ben, Beverly Marsh is pretty hot.

Chapter Text

Mike's POV

Why a talking Turtle wanted him in his movie about clowns killing kids, Mike doesn't really know. There seems to be a theme with the other kids here. Everyone here is the kind of kid who would get bullied, and Mike knows a lot about that. He gets dirty looks every time he goes to the supermarket.

He remembers that the Turtle mentioned the word 'losers' a couple times, and that word definitely describes him. And his entire life. He's an outsider. But apparently so are they, just not in the same way as Mike.

Maybe they are supposed to find solace in one another. Maybe Mike's here to get his first real friends.

Not likely.

Back to the movie, Bill is walking home alone. He's talking to himself. He obviously has a speech impediment and is practicing. Mike sees the way his mother rubs his arm in comfort and wonders what it would be like to have someone there for him like that.

Bill's father meets him in his garage, looking upset. Apparently Bill made a whole model of the Derry sewer system. Mike has to admire him for his dedication to his brother. Unfortunately, his dad doesn't seem to agree. At least not the one on the television.

"But if the storm swept Georgie in, we should have gone..."

"HE'S GONE! HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEAD!"

Everyone jumps at the sudden screaming. Bill's father looks horrified with himself. Mike sees even more tears build up in Bill's eyes and feels so bad for him, but he doesn't know what to say to comfort him, so he doesn't.

Bill's mother looks at her husband sadly, and maybe a little tiredly, still clinging to her sons. "... You've never screamed at the boys like that."

"I-I know."

"When I agreed to have kids, you promised-"

"I know!"

The mother doesn't say anything after that, just gives her husband a long, sad look as he stares ahead blankly, obviously trying to contain.... something.

He sees his grandpa trade glances with the other kids' parents, and he wonders what they must be thinking. Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Denbrough are hurting, but the other adults all seem really worried about it.

By the time Mike's attention is back on the screen, the movie has cut back to him. Why does he have to be in this movie? Yeah, the other kids seem nice enough, and no one's giving nasty looks to him and his grandpa, but he never asked for this.

He's now on his bike with his food basket, but the Bowers gang is close by and of course he automatically runs for it.

"Christ," one of the moms, Richie's mom he thinks, mutters. "They don't even have to do anything, they just show up and the other kids run for it."

Another mom nods. "It's so concerning! These kids are making everyone else feel so unsafe."

On the screen, Mike is concerned by a rattling chain over a door.

"Mike! Hurry up, son! Help! I'm burning! Mike!" Fire. So much fire.

Mike's heart sinks in horror, and all he can think is- no, no, no, no.

Grandpa claps a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

As the door opens, something demonic bursts out at him, causing the other kids to jump and curse.

Mike feels his breathing become more and more erratic. He still remembers that day. Still has nightmares about it. How is he supposed to just get over something like that? And it's gonna be used against him and there's nothing he can do about it.

Even onscreen, he's saved accidentally, by the bullies of all people.

By now, Grandpa is now holding him in his arms, like Mike's a little kid again, coming to him after another nightmare about that night. His breath evens out, and when he's ready, he lets go of his grandpa.

"Are you okay now?" Eddie asks in concern. "Do you need an inhaler? Richie always keeps a spare for me, I'll let you use it."

Mike shakes his head. "No thanks. I-I think I'm good now." He smiles at the boy. He notices that everyone else seems relieved.

Maybe making new friends is not as unlikely as he thought.

Stan's POV

Well, this is the weirdest day of Stan's life.

He's still not sure that he isn't dreaming, but if he is, what does that mean for his brain? That Stan would dream about a magic talking turtle showing them a movie beginning with a clown that kills his best friend's little brother? Did he have something weird to eat? Did Richie do something stupid and know he has a concussion? Is this just the kind of things he dreams about and once his alarm goes off and he wakes up he'll forget about all of this and it will be as though nothing ever happened? And then he'll have these dream again and end up right where he was at the start?

That makes a lot more sense than any other explanation, so Stan's gonna roll with it.

After Mike's scene, it cuts to the synagogue, where he is studying the Torah. His father berates him for not knowing how to read it, of course.

"Maybe you were a little harsh, Don." Mom frowns. Sweet mom, but Stan knows it'll be useless. Dad's the stubbornest person he knows.

"It's his Bar Mitzvah!" Dad, of course, protests. "How could he not know his readings? If anything, we should have him study it every night after this is over."

His mom has a big heart, but she's easily convincible. She'll go along with whatever she's told is for the best, so Stan figures he'll have to be reading the Torah at night now.

Awesome.

In the movie, he uses his hand to not look at that painting in his Dad's office that he hates so much. In real life Stan averts his father's gaze. So what if he still has a stupid phobia of that lady? She's creepy as fuck.

But the canvas is crooked. Oh great, now Stan will have to fix it, because if not it will drive him crazy, just like how he can never let the hallway light stay on, to the point that he sometimes has to wait until whoever is in the hallway leaves because he knows that that person won't turn it off. Or how he always has to count how many times his hands slap together when he claps? Or how he has to specifically have three examples of why he's so weird?

Fuck, what is wrong with him?

The painting falls down and Movie Stan picks it up only to find it empty. Flute music plays and a door creaks. Okay, now Stan is getting seriously freaked out. He doesn't want to meet that thing after what it did to Georgie. Especially not if he's next.

Stan has to look away when the painting lady appears. It doesn't turn out so bad, his futur- dream self running out of there as quickly as he could.

"Oh god..." Mom says in such a terrified voice that breaks Stan's heart. Of course his mother would act like this. She's never been the toughest of mothers but that's what Stan loves about her. He loves that she's so soft and loving. Dad wraps an arm around her soothingly. "I-I can't- Donald, I can't watch bad things happen to him, what if he's next? I-I- get rid of it! You have to, please!"

Stan rushes to pull his mother into a tight hug. His mother breathes into his hair, trying to calm herself. To Stan's surprise, his dad joins the hug, turning it into a family hug. Yes, Stan loves his dad, and he's sure his dad must love him too, but he's usually so strict, always pressuring Stan into being a perfect Jewish son, that the act of affection is a surprise to him.

"I'll get rid of it." Dad assures them, surprising Stan even more. When he was younger he used to beg his father to get rid of it, but he never budged, saying it's value was beyond Stan's comprehension. "I'll throw it out, and we won't ever have to worry about it. I promise."

He's not even sure how he feels about it. On one hand, Stan was obviously relieved that he never has to see that horrible painting ever again. But on the other....

For some reason, Stan doesn't think it's that simple.

Chapter Text

Eddie's POV

If Eddie's asthma hasn't killed him by the end of this movie, then maybe nothing will. Because how could a talking Turtle forcing him and his friends, and some other people, to watch a movie about some thing going around murdering kids not just do it for his body?  How he's still functioning is a medical miracle.

After Stan's scene, all Eddie can think about is how the monster went after Stan, the monster already went after Georgie, it's gonna come after you next, it's gonna come after Richie next.

He tries to calm down and focus on the movie. The scene playing doesn't seem to be leading up to anything too scary or dangerous. Richie and Bill are at his house, getting stuff from his home's cabinets.

"Hey, first you said the barrens and now you're saying the sewer. I mean what if we get caught?"

The sewer. His future self will be going into a sewer, and he has to watch. Fuck.

Then again, if Bill thinks Georgie is there, it's obviously a worthy cause, even if the chances of anyone, let alone Georgie Denbrough, surviving the whole rest of the school year without an arm, or medical supplies to help that arm, in a place like the barrens are pretty much impossible. Plus that evil clown didn't exactly seem like it was gonna just let Georgie go.

Still, it's not like Future-Eddie or Future-Bill would have a reason to know that. They should still have hope. In the present moment, Eddie wishes he could have that luxury.

Seeing Georgie die like that still haunts his vision every time he so much as fucking blinks, and he knows Bill must have it much worse, being Georgie's unspoken protector.

"Eddie, are these your birth control pills?" Richie asks.

"Yes, I'm saving it for your sister." Eddie closes the cupboard. "This is private stuff."

Eddie hides his head in his hands out of shame as Richie starts snickering. Why does Richie do this to him? Why, God, why is this idiot in his life?

"I am surrounded by a never-ending array of idiocy." Stan murmurs darkly. He's still tangled up in his parent's family hug, and Eddie sees the way Mr and Mrs Uris blink at each other.

"What does that even mean?" Bill asks, also still tangled up with his family.

"I don't know, it just sounds like a lot of stupid."

On screen, he and his friends are about to leave when his mother interrupts them from where she's watching tv from her recliner.

"You're mom still watches the Children's hour?" Richie laughs. "Dude, is she jacking off to the baby's first birthday dance?"

"Beep beep, motherfucker." Eddie immediately bites back, but then flushes when he realizes that he forget that they were surrounded by adults. Thankfully not his mom. Ironically everyone but Richie's parents looked like they were holding back from giving him a scolding like he's a naughty pre-schooler running with scissors.

Richie's parents seem to find it funny though. The only thing they seem to be holding back is laughter.

The mystery that is how the fuck did Richie end up how he did is suddenly becoming less and less confusing. Still doesn't make him less of a headache.

"Ha!" Richie laughs, and Eddie redirects his attention back to the screen where he is kissing his mother goodbye, causing Richie to say something dickish.

Fuck it. "Fuck you."

XXX

Ben's POV

The screen shows himself at the library, writing something down.

Your hair is winter fire,

January embers

My heart burns there too.

Ben's eyes widen as he realizes what he was writing and who he was writing it for. Oh god. Oh god, please no.

"Is that for me?" Beverly blinks in amazement. Ben feels himself blush, but she smiles. "That's so sweet."

Ben doesn't know what to say so he just forces himself to smile back. His mother nudges him softly.

On screen he sees the other boys riding past the library, joking around and stuff. In real life he sees the way their parents smile fondly at the boys.

They look like they're having fun. Ben wants to know what it's like to have fun like that with other people.

"A boy should be spending his summer outside with his friends. Don't you have any friends?"

Ben frowns. He's never been the type to make friends. He was always the New Kid or the Fat Kid. He was always leaving before too long. But Derry is supposed to be different. His mom says no more moving, and Ben doesn't really know how to process that. He doesn't know how to live in a place without his looming departure hanging over his head. And he doesn't know how to make friends.

Though maybe getting kidnapped is kind of it happening for him? Maybe?

He guesses there could be worse friends.

His movie self flips through the book he just got.

"Wait, look at the librarian!" Stan says.

In the background, the lady he was just talking to us staring at him with an inhuman look on her face.

"Oh, god..." Mom whimpers, wrapping an arm around him.

A red balloon floats through the library, and only Ben seems to notice it. He follows it.

"Don't follow it!" Mom orders, which his movie self doesn't seem to hear. He's usually smart about most stuff, but it's not like his future-self knows he's in a movie. He doesn't know not to investigate anything suspicious.

He finds a trail of plastic eggs, and follows it into the backroom. There are sounds of footsteps, and he looks to see who it is. 

A headless boy.

Mom holds him in her arms, shielding his eyes from seeing. He briefly hears the clown from the beginning scream; "Egg Boy!" Making Georgie cry out loud from seeing the clown again.

He peaks from behind his mother's hands to see him running into the librarian. His mother still doesn't let him out of her grip, and Ben doesn't protest, remembering her from earlier.

"What on earth are you doing?" 

Thankfully, Ben is shown to escape the library without much trouble. In relief, he melts against his mother, feeling his heartbeat calm down.

"Fuck!" His hopes are dashed when the other kids start groaning, and he looks at the screen to see himself running from the Bowers gang. Great.

He scoots even closer to his mother, resting his head on her shoulder. He tries not to feel so scared. After all, they were just bullies right? Just a bunch of jerks who wear ratty clothes to feel cool right? Ben knows now that there's actual danger to him in this town, what could these guys possibly do to him?

The gang catches him easily, him being too fat to outrun them. Ben can't help but wonder what he must have done in the future to make them want to hurt him so bad as the gang drags him to a bridge.

One of the boys, Hockstetter, takes out a match as his friends hold him down. 

"He's gonna escape before they hurt him, right?" Mom blubbers desperate. "Everyone else's kid escaped getting hurt. We were taken too, that means he gets to survive."

Ben doesn't point out that the other kids escaped the monster, not these guys, if anything he pushes the thought down and hold onto his mother's words.

Henry Bowers takes out his knife, and Ben whimpers into his mother's arms. He sees a car pass them, the passengers look at him and don't stop. A balloon appears in the backseat.

"W-what?" Bill asks shakily.

"The monster must be keeping grown ups from doing anything to help us." Stan says in a frightened voice.

"That would explain why Sarah didn't do anything." Bill's mom covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh god. What if the kids all get targeted by the thing that hurt Georgie, and no one does anything. And we don't do anything!" She cries.

"Well, we have to do something to help them-" Stan's mother starts, but is cut off by the sound of Ben's screaming. 

They all jump, turn back to the scream as Bowers cuts Ben's stomach with his knife.

That's the final straw before Ben's mother bursts into tears. 

"Oh, I'm gonna be sick." Eddie whines, clutching his stomach. Ben sees that him and Richie are holding onto each other tightly, both scared themselves.

Even one of Bowers' friends is terrified by what's happening, begging him to stop, but Henry doesn't care.

"I'm gonna carve my whole name into his cottage cheese." 

"I'm gonna kill them." Mom seethes through her sobs. "If I ever see those monsters, I will kill them!"

"Jesus, these freaks go to school with our kids?" Richie's mother says sounding distressed.

Ben finally escapes the gang by kicking at Henry's private area, and then jumping off the bridge before bolting. He and his mother let out sighs of relief, but Ben can't bring himself to feel relieved until the movie shows him for sure that he's safe.

Except it won't, will it? He can escape, and the Bowers gang can lose interest, but he's never safe because they'll still be free to terrorize whoever, and even then there's still something even more dangerous then them threatening his life.

On screen, the Bowers gang splits up to find him, but then the movie stops. They all look around to see Stan holding a remote. "I would like to take a break right now." He squeaks.

They're all quiet for a moment before a murmur of agreement breaks through the crowd.

Chapter Text

Maggie's POV

"It's gonna be okay, he'll be okay." Sharon pats the shaking woman's back soothingly. Maggie can't help but feel a little useless in this situation.

She was never the type of mom to soothe. It was always Sharon or Andrea. She remembers way back when Richie was just a baby, suffering horrible colic, and she would try and take him park, but that didn't make him feel any better either. She was just sixteen years old at the time, a high school dropout with no clue what to do. Sharon had been there with Bill, and while most mothers turned their noses up at the teen mom, Sharon took pity on her, and gave her pointers.

And yeah, maybe Maggie was kind of quick to dump Richie on the poor woman whenever she felt too overwhelmed. She was too young, and Bill and Richie made great friends, so no one was harmed, right?

Except now her child lives in the same town with a child murderer, so the chance of someone getting harmed is now a lot higher. She still can't believe Richie was right about clowns though. All those times she thought about Richie's terrified face that one time they went to the circus to make her feel better when she was feeling down, (she comforted him, of course, she's not a shit mother, the image just stuck in her mind because she thought it was just silly) and it turns out he was right! 

In hindsight, Maggie regrets not high-wheeling him the fuck out of there.

Back to the present, Sharon has finally calmed the shaking woman down enough.

"I don't we've properly introduced ourselves." Ben's mother straightens her spine, breathing deeply. "I'm Arlene."

"Sharon." She smiles before turning her face towards Zach. "And that's my husband, Zach." Then to the Uris'. "This is Andrea, she's married to Donald." To Mr. Hanlon. "I believe this is Leroy Hanlon." And finally to them. "Maggie and Wentworth."

"Wentworth?" Arlene asks.

"Don't get me started on it." Her husband grumbles. Maggie smiles at him, softly punching his arm.

Donald interrupts them by clearing his throat like the buzzkill he is. "I think we should discuss this."

"Agreed." Zach nods.

Andrea turns towards the kids, most of whom are still sitting at their couches, with the exception of Ben, who's still caught up in his mom's arms.

"Uh... kids, go and talk amongst yourselves." Andrea tries to smile reassuringly, but fails miserably. "The other adults and I want to discuss what we've seen so far."

"What? No!" The redhead whose name Maggie has already forgotten says. "If it's our future, we can handle a conversation."

Richie nods. "A clown is killing everybody. Enough said."

Maggie feels a rush of sympathy. She and Went had been on the bad end of far too many of these kinds of conversations when she was pregnant with Richie.

"We get that, but we kind of just want to gather our thoughts as.... parents." Went cringes as Maggie spews our the same crap their parents said to them. "You talk about this as the kids, and then we'll...." She forgets the word.

"Discuss?" Went offers.

"No...." Maggie shakes her head. "I mean, yeah, but that's not the word I was looking for."

Richie gapes at them. "You sound like grandma!"

Maggie shrugs. "Well, look alive! This is your future, kid!"

"Anyways!" Donald snaps, always the first to be resistant to the magical Tozier Family Charm. Bitch. He turns to his son. "Stanley, don't you think it would more beneficial for the..." his eyes shift to Maggie and Went and she resists the urge to flip him off "-adults to speak about your safety moving forward."

Stan's face drops. "Oh! Uh, yeah..."

"Yeah..." Richie repeats in a mocking tone.

"Shut up." Stan shoves him.

"Boys!" Andrea say disapprovingly, even though Maggie doesn't see what's wrong.

"Sorry mom." Stan says. "We'll go talk by ourselves then."

Ben dislodges himself from Arlene. "Can I go with them?" She looks hesitant, but nods.

The kids move to a corner, which is good because they can still watch them.

"Okay...." Maggie starts, because someone has to. "A magical clown is trying to murder our children.... Fuck. Why couldn't it have just been drugs?"

"I'm not convinced we haven't been drugged." Went says. Maggie nods. Fair enough.

"Regardless, we have to do something." Donald cuts in.

She ignores him. "I know it's always relieving when Sonia's not around, but can you imagine what she'd be like if she were here?" Maggie rolls her eyes. She turns to Arlene to explain. "Eddie's mother."

"The one your son is having intercourse with?" Arlene asks, causing Maggie to snort, something a 'Your Mom' joke has never done before. Not even with her own son.

"Yeah..." Maggie admits. "Those are new. I thought I taught him to be a little Lé Classical with his humor."

"You didn't." Sharon says immediately.

"You want me to talk to him about the mom jokes?" Maggie suggests.

"Yes." Donald says instantly.

"Do that." Andrea agrees.

"It would be for the best." Arlene tells her.

"As soon as possible would be nice." Zach nods.

"It's unsettling." Leroy Hanlon speaks for the first time since Mike's scene.

"And this better not be one of those things where you say you're gonna talk to Richie about something, and then you don't." Sharon says sharply. "I'm still upset that Richie told the other boys about sex."

Maggie rolls her eyes. "He said sorry!"

"He didn't mean it!" Sharon snaps back.

"Wait...." Andrea interrupts. "When you say 'other boys' you don't mean Stan, right?"

Maggie and Sharon make eye contact, she pleads with her eyes. ".... Right."

Donald shakes his head. ".... We will talk about that later.... The clown! Can we talk about the clown!"

"Oh yeah!" Maggie says.

"Do you think Stan was right?" Andrea asks. "Do you think the monster is keeping us from noticing when the kids are in danger?"

"You have to admit, it would explain a lot." Sharon nods.

"So what?" Zach says in frustration. "We just trust our kids to take care of themselves when it's literally their lives on the line?"

"Well the magic Turtle seems pretty fucking powerful." Maggie points out. "If there's a second movie, the Turtle will have to come back. Let's just ask him to lift any curse Pennywhatever might put on parents off of us. Ooh! Or better yet- just deal with the fucking clown himself!"

Don looks at her like she's crazy. "My word.... Maggie actually contributed something of substance."

"It was bound to happen eventually!" She cheers and pats herself on the back.

"Is that really a good idea though?" Andrea frets. "I don't want to do anything that upsets the all-power being."

"Spoken like a god-fearing wife." Maggie comments. "Still think it's worth a shot!"

"I agree." Arlene nods. "We need to at least try to protect them."

"Of course we do, but I really don't want to push our luck." Andrea says frightfully. "What if we upset him and he takes our memories? And then we can't do anything!"

"He wouldn't do that." Went brushes it off. "What would the point of kidnapping us be if we didn't?"

"Joy." Maggie whispers in a mockingly horrified face. "It's all for joy! Joy I say! Joy!"

"Maggie, shut up!" Sharon snaps, and Maggie can't even blame her, she's a nuisance. And that's the Tozier Family Way. She shrugs. "Kay."

"So what about this curse?" Leroy asks. "

Maggie has an idea, but she just agreed to shut her mouth, so she instead whispers in her husband's ear, and then he says in an incredibly stilted voice. “You know what? It's America, all for asking the magic Turtle to lend a hand say 'I'."

"I!" Everyone except Andrea says.

Maggie smirks.

"So, it's agreed that we're going to the school and getting those bullies expelled, right?" Arlene asks.

Maggie looks at her like she's crazy. "You think we're gonna let those literal criminals work on science projects with our infants? Hell yeah, we're dealing with them."

"Clowns and knives." Went shakes his head, murmuring to her so no one else hears him. "If he survived me dropping him on his head like five times, he can survive anything."

Maggie snorts, feeling a bit of fearful feelings dissipate, just a little bit.

"Hey, how are you two holding up?" Andrea asks Sharon. "I can't imagine.... I never want to imagine!"

"You don't have to." Sharon assures. "Stan's such a smart boy. Good head on his shoulders, always thinking hard. It will keep him alive."

Andrea nods. "Wow. You're comforting me! Oh, Sharon...."

"They're so young." Sharon shakes her head. "Why do they have to go through this?" 

Zach wraps an arm around her. 

"Reconvene!" Maggie shouts, causing everyone to jump. "The word I was looking for was reconvene!"

Sharon opens her mouth, and closes it, then opens it again. "..... Do you even know what that word means?"

"To come together in a meeting after separating." She supplies helpfully.

XXX

"Your mom's really weird, Richie."

"Yeah, I know."

Chapter Text

Bev's POV

After being pushed to the side by the adults, Bev and the other kids move to a corner as the parents talk too low for them to hear.

She taps Ben on the shoulder as they walk towards the other kids. "Hey, I never got the chance to say this when it was happening on screen, but can I just say how cool it was that you kicked Bowers in the balls?" Ben's face turns red. He seems flustered. She continues. "And that poem was.... the sweetest thing anyone has done for me in... a really, really long time." 

Ben's face turned bright red, and Bev didn't know why but that made her feel happy. They approach the other kids together, Bill carrying Georgie on his hip, and Mike staying in the background.

"Uh...." Stan says to Bill timidly. "Can we?"

Bill flinches, but nods. He brings Georgie closer to his friends. He never lets Georgie go, but allows all his friends to take turns hugging Georgie, and then it's a big group hug. The scene brings a smile to her face. She doesn't have siblings, or friends, but if she did this was the kind of relationship she'd want.

Eventually they separate and sit down again. Bill keeps Georgie tucked close to him. He looks at the homeschooled kid. "Hey, you're Mike, right?"

He looks stunned for a moment before nodding sheepishly.

"Um, I'm sorry about your parents." Bill says. Mike's eyes widen before smiling slightly.

"Oh, thanks." He murmurs. 

Bill's eyebrows wrinkle. Softly, he asks, "Thanks? For what?"  

"Um... for... the thought."

There's something timid about the way Mike says that, but Richie decides to move on from the situation for them. He turns to Ben. "Hey, you kicking Henry Bowers in his pickle area did things to me, Benny. If you know what I mean." He wiggles his eyebrows.

Bev laughs, but Ben gapes, unsure what to say, but she's just glad someone else is giving Ben the recognition he deserves.

"He's a badass." Bev agrees. "It might be good to have someone who can drop kick a freak like that."

"Yeah. Okay, was it just me or was Bowers just a tiny bit more nuts than usual?" Richie asks, pointing out what else has been on her mind. "And this is coming from someone who's gone through ninety-billion pairs of glasses because of those freaks."

"Even Belch seemed like he was pissing himself." Stan nods. "Henry's always been a psycho, but that was.... I've never seen him that intense. I mean, what did Ben even do?"

"Nothing. Ben probably did nothing to those freaks, and they just shit on him." She bites. Bev feels the already present hatred she has for the Bowers gang increase. Inexplicably, she already felt some level of protectiveness for the new kid. Ben's already been so kind to her. Everyone always looks at her like she's just this slut and she's sick of it. His kindness was a sudden glimmer of light in her shitty life.

"Th-th-th-they're g-getting w-w-worse." Bill shakes his head. "M-m-more d-d-d-dangerous."

"Well isn't that wonderful?" Richie says sarcastically. "Soon enough they'll be turning all of us into practice dummies for breathing the wrong way."

Eddie rubs his forehead in frustration. "Beep beep."

"What? What did I say?" Richie asks.

"Reconvene!" 

They all jump and look over towards the voice. "The word I was looking for was reconvene!" Richie's mother shouts loudly, startling everyone.

She looks back at Richie. "Your mom's really weird, Richie." Bev says.

He shrugs. "Yeah, I know."

Stan's dad looks at them. "Are you kids ready to start watching again?"

They all share looks and nod, moving to return to their seats. Georgie runs back to his parents. His mother immediately meets him with a hug.

"Hey, you guys want to sit with us?" Richie asks her, Ben, and Mike. "I mean it'll be crowded, but you're pretty cool."

"I'll pull up a pillow." She turns and gets a couch cushion to sit on, with Ben following her lead.

"Oh." Mike blinks. "Um, I'm not really used to friends...."

Bill frowns. "Well that can't be very fun." He glances towards his family. "I'll sit with the guys if you do." Mike looks surprised, but almost touched.

"Okay then."

The movie starts again.

Richie, Bill, Eddie, and Stan are outdoors, seemingly in a similar area as the one Ben was escaping to. The thought gives her hope of them rescuing him. The short one seems like he'd know what to do with blood wounds.

Stan goes on about all the poison ivy, and Bill and Richie enter the sewers with Stan and Eddie staying behind by the entrance.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

"Then you probably have crabs."

Bev chuckles, causing Eddie to glare at her and Richie to beam at her.

"That's so NOT funny."

She turns to Eddie and shrugs. 

On screen, Eddie reminds everyone that sewers are where toilet water goes, and that they're "splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee." 

And then Richie picks up a stick and fucking smells it.

"Oh! Ew!" Eddie shrieks, and even Bev has to gag. Mr. and Mrs. Tozier laugh though. 

It's strange. She's known these boys her entire life. Hell, even kissed one of them. And yet she's never given them much thought. They just were never close. But they're really, really fun now that she's closer to him.

She wants this. To be a part of this. Of their group. To banter with them, and to go to gross, shitty sewer places for them, and to trust that they'll be there for her if she needs them for something this huge.

But that's ridiculous. These boys invited her to sit with them, and one wrote her a poem. She's expecting to much.

Bev holds back a gasp as Bill identifies a shoe as belonging to Betty, a girl who was never cruel to her.

"Ow!" Richie shouts after Eddie punches him in the shoulder after he makes a comment about Betty walking barefoot. Bev smirks.

Bill and Richie want to move forward into the sewer, which in real life causes their parents to vocalize their disapproval.

"Richie! No! Stop it! Bad!" Mrs. Tozier scolds him, kind of jokingly, but Bev can see that there's a bit of worry in her eyes.

"Bill, you are absolutely not allowed to go to any place where you might think that clown will be." Mrs. Denbrough orders. 

"Well, I won't have a reason to anymore." Bill shoots back. "And besides. It's not like Movie-Me knows...." He leaves what's left of his sentence unsaid, resting his head on Stan's shoulder as Richie wraps an arm around his waist.

In the movie, Richie notices Ben running into the quarry and falling, struggling to get back up again. Bev breathes a sigh of relief.

"Oh good." Arlene smiles.

The scene cuts back to fucking Hockstetter, looking way too happy to be chasing Ben around. He goes into a sewer. It turns dark quick when.... It (she forgets his clown name) decides to target him. 

They're all quiet. No one here is particularly saddened by this, and silently Bev thinks that this is actually the first time someone in this movie was killed and actually deserved it, but pointedly did not say anything so that they don't think she's some psycho or whatever.

It goes back to the boys, with Eddie ranting about AIDS.

"Is that true?" Bev asks as she listens to his, frankly, insane story.

"Of course it is." Eddie says fretfully. "You know AIDS is the biggest problem facing America today. My mom says that's why we need to avoid gay people."

Bev already expects Richie to say something to piss him off, because that's obviously just what he does when Eddie speaks, but one look at him she sees him looking at Eddie thoughtfully, actually listening to him for once.

"Why are they at the pharmacy?" Mr. Denbrough asks. "That boy needs medical attention."

Watching more of the scene, Mr. Uris' eyes widen. "Oh my god, pause the movie! I think they're buying medical supplies."

"What? Go to the hospital, I don't understand!" Mrs. Tozier yells at the screen.

"Is this because of Kyle?" Mrs. Hanscom asks frustratedly. Ben stiffens at the name.

"Who's Kyle?" Bev asks Ben.

"My new boyfriend." Ben noticeably stiffens at the mention of him.

"Ooh, a new boyfriend!" Mrs. Tozier suddenly perks up. "Do tell."

Mrs. Hanscom ignores her. "Ben. When you are hurt, you go to the professionals. I don't understand, you're usually so smart...." She shakes her head in disappointment.

Ben doesn't say anything, just crosses his arms. Hesitantly, Bev takes his hand, causing his eyes to meet hers in surprise. She smiles and he smiles back.

Everyone else ignores them, and they unpause the movie.

"Glad I got to meet you before you died.” 

Bev breaks eye contact with Ben, still not letting his hand go, and glares at Richie, even though she's used to Richie's Trashmouth at this point. His nickname is fitting, but that doesn't give him an excuse to be insensitive to Ben after what just happened.

They boys go into the pharmacy, and Greta says goodbye to her dad. Bev is there as well, thankfully  avoiding her bully. Except then she ends up in the same aisle with the boys. She hides the box she's holding behind her back. It takes her a second of confusion before she realizes what happened.

Oh. God. No.

Chapter Text

Donald’s POV

He refuses to make any comment whatsoever, even mentally, on the contents that she is carrying.

Even as her face turns as red as her hair, and Andrea coos sympathetically; He. Does. Not.

“You’re mom’s dead, isn’t she?” Maggie asks blissfully unaware of her own distastefulness.

“Maggie!” Sharon scolds as Beverly looks down.

“Well, if she’s buying her own stuff, it’s only-“

“Maggie!”

His migraine fails to disparate as Edward reveals Ben’s situation to Beverly with the same amount of tact as Richard and his mother would have used.

William admits that they’re lacking money in order to purchase the supplies. So irresponsible, they really should just go to the hospital, regardless of any familial problems. And why was Stanley entertaining this foolishness? He should be trying to talk sense into the other boys! What does it say about Donald that his son would be so willing to get mixed up in his friend’s nonsense?

Beverly approaches Mr. Keene, probably to pay for the supplies herself. Unfortunately that is soon proved to not be the case.

“Oh my god.” Sharon facepalms, and Donald resists the urge to do the same.

“I need cat spray!” Maggie yells to the side, possibly to the Turtle.

He looks at Beverly, mentally asking her what must possibly be going through her head in order for her to think that this could remotely well for her.

She shrinks under their disapproving stares, and Donald sincerely hopes that she is thinking about the consequences of her actions.

Still, that doesn’t resolve the other matter. The one he knows for sure his wife is dwelling over at this very moment.

Yes, Beverly’s actions are completely idiotic, but that doesn’t excuse Norbert Keene for not putting an end to this.

How someone could witness such a blatant, and frankly disrespectful to both parties, attempt at manipulation and not scold her for being so ridiculous is beyond Donald. Much less actively encouraging it.

“Stay away from that man.” Andrea immediately orders, a slight departure from her normally ladylike behavior, and using her intelligence and career to her advantage. “Avoid that place at all costs. All of you.”

“That’s the pharmacy!” Edward protests. “Behind the hospital, it’s basically my third home!”

“I.... will have to discuss things with your mother then.” Andrea says, albeit clearly reluctantly. Donald doesn’t miss the way both Sharon and Maggie give her looks of sympathy. Silently he makes a note to verbalize his own sympathy once they’re alone.

“Well it’s no wonder his daughter is so vile. I wonder....”

She drifts off, shaking her head. Donald knows what she’s going through her mind, and it’s not pleasant.

Andrea shifts closer to him to whisper in his ear the way she does when no one else that it’s appropriate to speak about this stuff to is around.

“I think that cruel, mean-looking girl could be in a bad home situation.” Andrea whispers.

Donald takes her hand, not wanting to make a scene. “If so, you’ll handle it. You always do. But for now we have to focus on Stanley’s safety, Andrea. Let’s pay attention.” She nods, but remains deep in thought. Donald decides not to push her.

Back with Ben, Richard is distracting Edward as he tries to apply the medical supplies to the injured boy. And is Donald is not surprised when he sees that Maggie is entertained by her son’s behavior, even as it gets in the way of Edward’s work. He shakes his head. Not only do they do the irresponsible thing and refuse to see an adult about his injuries, now Richard is actively distracting the only one of the children that could realistically help him.

Bill thanks Beverly for her service to them, and only then does Donald realize the purpose for Beverly’s interaction with that pharmacist.

“Shoplifting?!” He glares furiously in Stan’s direction. That was not how the son of rabbi should behave!

Stan avoids his glare, but they most certainly would talk about this behavior later. At times he thinks- no he knows the other boys were bad influences on Stanley, but he knows that if he tried to prevent them from speaking that Richard would act out and convince Stanley to speak to him anyways. And of course his parents wouldn’t be against his antics, and Sharon would act like she disapproves but do nothing, and nothing would change except his wife, son, and friends would be upset with him.

Besides, when they aren’t getting him into trouble, Stanley at least seem to be happy with them. And Donald has gotten far too used to the parents’ antics to disrupt things like that.

Anyways, Beverly checks to make sure Ben is alright, but apparently Richard has scared her by bringing up those horrible boys from earlier while he was mentally going over his son’s influences. Nothing that couldn’t be expected from a Tozier, proven even further by Richard’s lewd comment about Beverly, causing all the other boys in real life, including Stanley, to punch at his limbs and and shoulders.

Immature, Donald thinks as Richie cries out, but probably deserved. Even his own mother thinks so as he notes her mischievous smile.

Richard proves to be that mother’s son yet again by saying, “Bill had her back in third grade. They kissed in the school play. The reviews said that you can't fake that kind of passion.”

Edward punches him in the arm again. “Way to kick a horse while he’s down Trashmouth.”

“That’s not the saying.” Stanley quickly corrects, causing Edward to roll his eyes, which in Donald’s opinion is quite rude considering his son was correct.

And then Richard does a British accent that is only slightly more bearable than Maggie’s.

The scene cuts to Beverly entering her home, with her father for some reason also watching a children’s show.

“Oh my god, that show marks you for death!” Maggie’s eyes widen. Donald rolls his eyes.

“It’s all the clowns!” Richie points at the screen, playing along with Maggie’s annoying game. “That’s where he comes from! This show breeds murder!”

“No, no, no!” Maggie shakes her head. “If anything it’s the ponies! They’re the real masterminds behind all this!”

“Oh my god, shut up!” Eddie snaps, and Donald shakes his head at him telling a grown woman to shut up, despite resisting the urge to do just that just a few moments ago, it’s still a matter of principle.

Beverly’s father, a deadbeat on first glance, greets her, and immediately takes the box from her, which Donald feels is a bit too demanding, but a father has a right within his child’s boundaries, even if that leads to unfortunate situations at times.

He takes out the objects in the box. To Donald’s astonishment, Beverly’s father does not immediately put them back in and hand the box back to his daughter and apologize before leaving her be.

“Tell me you're still my little girl.”
“Yes, daddy.”

He and Zach share looks of honest to god astonishment.

Donald honestly can’t imagine reacting like that if he had a daughter. He only wanted a child because it fit the image of a rabbi to have an obedient son, and also partially because Andrea really, really wanted one. He never had a desire for a daughter, but if he had one, he’d very much prefer all of those details to be kept between her and her mother, with him very much out of it.

Mr. Marsh seemingly strokes Beverly’s hair affectionately. And then he gets closer to her and inhales.

Donald is confused. He doesn’t like it.

“What?” Maggie whispers in horror. Is that the appropriate reaction? Considering who it is Donald would have to guess it’s the exact opposite, but even he can admit that Maggie is capable of surprising him on occasion.

“Pause the movie! Beverly?” Andrea asks. Donald can see by the way her eyebrows are wrinkled that she is incredibly concerned, despite trying to hide it. It’s the same expression she gets when one of her cases are particularly concerning, or when Stan does something a little too oddly. “Do- would you mind speaking with me.... privately.”

Beverly looks surprised, and a little scared. “Am I in trouble?”

Why would she be in trouble? Maybe for what she did in the pharmacy. Whatever it is, Donald can tell by the way his wife’s shoulders tense that it only made her more concerned.

“No! Nothing, I assure you, I just.... I just think we should talk.” She says kindly.

Beverly looks hesitant but nods, following Andrea’s lead.

“Do you think your mom’s talking to her about periods?” Richard asks, causing Stan to shriek “Beep beep, Richie!”

Chapter Text

Bev's POV

Stan's mother (Bev remembers her from when the woman burst into tears after Stan's moment with that painting.) gently leads her to another corner. The same one the adults had a full blown discussion in without them overhearing. They probably could’ve eavesdropped, if they wanted to eavesdrop, but no one felt like eavesdropping, so they didn’t eavesdrop. But they could’ve if they wanted to.

"Okay, um, Beverly," Mrs. Uris starts. "So.... Does your father act like that a lot?"

“Like what?” Bev asks, pretending to be grouchy and disinterested. 

“Like.... sniffing you.” Mrs. Uris gives as an example. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“He’s just affectionate.” Bev defends. That’s a lie, she finds her dad strange. She wishes he could be more like the dads on TV, who give their kids life advice, and as far the episodes show, never go into their kids bedrooms to watch as they sleep at night. But she’s already fucked his life up already, she can’t just let him be slandered with her.

“How affectionate?” Mrs. Uris says softly.

“My mom killed herself, he can be protective. Sue him.” Bev snaps.

Her eyes widen, but Bev can see a look of realization glaze across her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Beverly. I assume it’s been really hard ever since.”

Bev bites her lip. Elfrida Marsh was her safe place, the one person who seemed to understand her. To see her as more than a body. And she fucking offed herself. She wasn’t perfect though. She was sick, and weak, and she didn’t leave their stupid town and take Bev with her.

“That my mother decided a noose was more desirable than raising me? Yeah.” Bev says sarcastically.

Mrs. Uris stumbles. “No, that’s not what I meant! It’s just.... well, I mean, how is it at home? With just you and your dad.”

“We’re poor as fuck.” Bev sneers.

“Lang- that’s not what I meant.” Mrs. Uris tells her. “How does your father treat you?”

At this point, Bev is getting annoyed. She doesn’t want to get in trouble, but she also doesn’t see how this is anyone’s business but her and her dad’s. “I already told you, he’s just overprotective because my mother’s fucking twelve feet under. Why do you care so much?”

“I just- I work for kids’ wellbeing. I care.” 

“You care for a paycheck?” Bev laughs. Of course she does.

Still, the woman’s kind and annoyingly understanding expression does not waver. “I care because not everyone does. And that’s wrong. But I care. About kids. About people. I just want to know that you’re safe, Beverly.”

Despite herself, Bev’s cold wall crumbles, just a little bit. “Why wouldn’t you think I’m safe? Cause we’re poor?”

"No! But I mean.... flirting with older men, that's such self-destructive behavior." She shakes her head as Beverly feels shame wash over her. But she tries to hide it. If she’s not strong for herself, no one will be. “It tells me as a professional that there’s something in your life that’s not stable.”

"I know you all look at me like I'm a slut." She crosses her arms. "I'm not, you know. I've only kissed one person because our pervy elementary school teacher wanted us to kiss. No one even blinked at Bill kissing me! Instead it was all my fault because I was just a slutty little girl!"

"Beverly!" Andrea gasps. "No! No, I swear that's not the case! For any of the parents here. If some extremely misguided people have ever treated you so poorly, I swear to god that those people are completely wrong. And stupid. And-"

Bev blinks in shock. Even her mother seemed ashamed of her after that horrible play. She kept shaking her head as her father ranted and screamed at Bev. And this woman thinks she was the victim? No. Bev doesn’t buy it. Bev is the town slut, and everyone knows it.

She shakes her head. “Don’t bullshit me! You think I’m fucking my dad!”

Mrs. Uris gasps. “No! I’m worried that you’re not safe, Beverly.”

“Well don’t!” Bev shouts. “It’s none of your business. My family is not your paycheck, so stay out it!” She takes a deep breath. She sees how Mrs. Uris looks especially helpless. “I’m going back and we’re watching the rest of this fucking movie.”

“You’re a good person who deserves a good life.” Mrs. Uris blurts out as Bev turns to leave. She pauses in her tracks, almost turning around but decides to keep going.

"If it makes you feel any better, Stan was Mercutio and the music teacher's decision to have eight year olds be in a play about suicidal teenagers made me look into him." She says as they walk back together.

Bev doesn't know why, but is does make her feel better.

"Turn on the movie." She say shortly, returning to her spot, but puts more distance between her and the boys. 

Ben looks at her. "You okay."

Bev is still so confused, but nods at him. On the screen she is cutting off her hair frantically. She can almost feel Mrs. Uris’ precious ‘concern’ for her as does this. The words ‘self-destructive behavior’ rings in her ears.

Fucking bullshit. 

The boys are looking at her like she’s crazy and Bev just gives them her favorite finger to keep them from talking about it.

Some pop shitty song that would probably make her want to dance if she was in the mood starts playing. All boys (except for Mike) are playing loogie in their undies off of a cliff. Richie and Eddie are bickering like an old married couple, except Bev’s pretty sure no old married couple has ever and would never bicker over loogies. Doesn’t matter, Bev totally could’ve done better than either of them. But it’s not proper for girls to be spitting in front of other people, let alone boys.

Bill asks who wants to jump off first, and to her dismay, it’s Bev who does it. She fucking strips off her dress in front of those nearly naked boys and jumps off. 

If that turtle doesn’t fucking smite her right this instant....

Mike’s POV

The other boys soon follow Beverly, because as Richie states, “We just got shown up by a girl.”

“Yes, you did.” Richie’s mother smirks. And then he flips off his own mother. And she doesn’t mind. And she gestures for the protesting parents to calm down.

The other kids gape at him. He’s the kid with the parents everyone wishes they had, isn’t he?

The scene that follows is.... sweet. There’s a whimsy feeling about it, and it just shows them having fun. They’re getting on each other’s shoulders, laughing and playing. It looks like so much fun.

Mike wishes he was there.

“Hey.” Bill nudges him with his foot. Mike looks up at him. “Wh-when th-this h-h-happens f-for r-real, y-you’ll b-be there. I m-mean n-not th-that w-we won’t ch-ch-change anyth-thing, b-but when s-summer c-comes y-you’ll b-be ou-our fr-friend t-too, an-and y-ou can h-hang w-with us pl-plent-ty unt-til then.”

Mike waits patiently for him to finish, smiling when he does. It’s a nice sentiment. A really, really nice sentiment. But there must be a reason his future self hasn’t joined the group already. He’s an outsider. He never belonged before, why should he now belong with these kids?

“Eh, that is if all our parents don’t move us all out of this shit-hole.” Richie points out. “I think they’re all realizing that this town is the fucking worst.” 

And then there’s that. Mike’s Grampa won’t want to leave. Their farm is the only home their family has ever had since they were freed from slavery, and his family isn’t big on change. Bill’s family would definitely be on the first train out of here, and who can blame them after what happened to their other son? Still, Mike can’t really see himself talking to the other kids without Bill around, even if they’ve only met today, he’s still been nicer than anyone else has been in a long time.

At one point Richie is surprised by something in the water. And Bill says, “It’s a turtle!”

Everyone freezes. 

“He’s watching them.” Mrs. Tozier whisper-yells. “He’s always been watching!”

Mike tries to bite down his uneasiness as the scene goes on, and he doesn’t seem to be the only one.

 Then it cuts to Stan looking uncomfortable. The shot goes to Bev. They’re all staring at Bev as she sunbathes. Mike’s jaw drops.

Bev groans loudly, hiding in her hands. 

“Beverly-“ Stan’s mother starts.

“Don’t!” She snaps.

“Learn your place, young lady.” Mr. Uris warns.

“Donald!” Mrs. Uris says. She gives him a look and he deflates.

The moment is over quickly, with Richie snooping through Ben’s stuff. It’s all old newspapers and stuff.

Mike peaks in interest. He himself enjoyed research. It’s weird, Mike’s aware, and would probably get him teased by Richie, but it’s all so interesting. More interesting than anyone else would have thought. He tried asking his grandfather about all the deaths due to him living in Derry his whole life, but the answer always felt vague.

By this point all the kids have gathered around Ben’s stuff. Were they interested? Mike feels almost happy at the thought.

For some reason he’s brought down by Bill looking at Beverly.

“Y-y-y-your hair…” 

“Your hair looks beautiful. Beverly.”

“Oh, right, thanks.”  

Mike feels annoyed. They should just wait for Bill to get the word out. It’s not his fault after all. Still, he feels weirdly.... grateful? No, happy. Happy for Ben and Beverly as the latter finally smiles for the first time since speaking with Stan’s mother.

Chapter Text

Richie's POV

The movie pretty much tells Richie that Ben and Bill are both into Beverly. So which one of them is clearly not gonna get the girl? Usually that's the douchebag character. But neither Bill or Ben are douchebags. So they both end up with Beverly? Like an orgy? Well, what else happens when two not horrible people like the same person?

Richie watches too many movies to actually be in one.

"Why's it all murders and missing kids?"

"Derry is not like any town I've ever been in before. They did a study once. It turns out people die or disappear six times the national average."

"WHAT?!" Mrs. U screeches like a cat at the screen, sounding more like Richie's mom than Stan's with that cartoon-y sound.

"That can't be right!" Mrs. Denbrough shakes her head. "That-that can't be!"Someone pauses the movie as everyone breaks into yells at once. 

"The fuck!?"

"OhmygodOhmygoOhmygodOhmygod!"

"How long has this town been around!?"

"Why didn't we move!? We knew this town was pure evil! Just.... Not like that."

"It took us too long to get stable enough jobs to not need my parents, we couldn't just leave! We're trapped! Parenthood trapped us! No offense, Richie."

That calms Richie down right away. His mood suddenly somber, he doesn't feel like dealing with this noise and decides to cut the bullshit. Standing on a couch he screams. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!" They listen to him. "Thanks." He jumps up and hops into a sitting position, bouncing a little as his ass hits the cushions.

They all blink at him, as though waiting for him to say something. "What?"

"Um." Mr. Uris clears his throat, everyone turns to him, including Richie. "Well... Okay, that statistic can't possibly correct is it?"

"Right." Mrs. Uris nods. "I mean, we didn't just.... not look up death rates when looking at places to raise our families, right?!"

Richie expects all the adults to make 'pfft' noises and say ‘right, but instead everyone is silent. Even his mom. 

"Well, did you?" Mr. Denbrough snaps, sounding a lot like he's deflecting.

"Zach..." Stan's dad warns.

Even Mrs. Uris takes a pause. ".... It seemed really suburban."

"So has this clown just been around.... murdering people for years and years?" Dad asks. 

"We both grew up here!" Mom protests. "I don't remember anyone going missing... well... there was Madeline Parra.... I'm pretty sure she just got a perm and now I can't recognize her though."

Everyone turns to mom, just staring at her like they stared at Richie. Mr. Hanlon clears his throat. ".... If the evil's been here for long then the only thing we can do is keep on." He gestures towards the TV.

Everyone begrudgingly sits down again. He sees how Stan and Bill and Ben and Mike all briefly stop by their respective parents, quickly just giving them reassurances. Eddie comes straight to him (His mom obviously not here, otherwise she'd have locked Eds up in a car seat made of her body) and Richie finds comfort curling into his spaghetti. As always.

In the movie they all agree to go back to Ben's house to see more of his super important nerd stuff. On the way there, Patrick Hockstetter's mother is seen stapling up his missing poster.

Richie gulps, not having it in him to feel sorry for Hockstetter, not after all that shit he'd whisper to him when his friends weren't around. Still, now that Richie knows It's body count, he really can't stand the thought of himself or his friends being one of the missing kids, left to nothing but a sad piece of paper, and then a part of a stupid statistic other parents don't even look at.

They go back to Ben's house, where they chill and discuss the fact that their new BFF hangs up murder articles on his bedroom wall.

"Actually, it's really interesting. Derry started as a beaver trapping camp."

"Still is amiright boys?" 

Richie snorts as Eddie rolls his eyes next to him. He's become quite fond of sex jokes as he waits for the day he finally gets an erection from looking at a naked woman. It'll happen. It'll happen.

It'll happen.

He said it will happen.

Ben tells them all about how a bunch of Indians all went missing. Richie decides that Ben is a great addition to their friend group.

"The whole tribe?" Mrs. Denbrough whispers in horror.

All of them in the movie react basically being like, 'That's pretty weird,"

The scene shifts to Ben's apparent weird love of New Kids on the Block. Richie lets out a little chuckle. In the movie, Bev sees and doesn't embarrass him.

Richie's bets are on Ben.

Bill asks about the Well house, but says it's for nothing, except it's never nothing with Bill Denbrough.

XXX

Eddie's POV

Eddie feels dread build up as the next scene plays with just him and him alone. He hasn’t been alone in this movie yet. And as he’s learned so far, alone means bad, bad things.

Is that the fucking Well house? The one the movie just brought attention to?

This is how he dies. Not by something Richie did. This.

His alarm goes off. He needs to take his pills. Oh shit, when was the last time Eddie took his pills? He can’t miss taking his pills!

“Eddie, what’re you looking for?”

“Fuck.” He whimpers, breath coming out choppy. 

Eddie winces as he picks up all his pills from the ground. That within itself is extremely unhygienic, but it's better than explaining to his mother that he's lost his medication.

But as he picks them up, another hand grabs them. A sickly hand. 

He gives out a small yell as the shot reveals a leper, decomposed and rotting. He looks dead.

“Oh shit!” Eddie leans into the arm around his shoulder, shifting his body to curl into Richie’s. He hides his face in Richie’s shoulder as he hears himself scream for help. He’s safe here. 

The lepers screaming stops, replaced by a disturbingly familiar voice, mocking him with all that floating shit.

He feels his heart beat accelerate as the scene goes on, holding on to Richie to keep his heart from exploding. As though if he were to let go, he’d completely fall apart. Richie is his anchor right now.

There’s a popping noise. Eddie dare to look up from Richie’s body. On the screen, the only thing left is the rubber from a balloon falling midair. 

“Fuck.” Eddie says pathetically.

“Fuck.” Richie agrees. He bends over to search his pockets. He pulls out a plastic inhaler. A backup for Eddie. He lifts it towards Eddie’s face, and he takes a few deep breaths. Eddie notices that Richie is not doing so hot himself.

Pulling back a bit, Eddie takes the backup inhaler in his hands. He looks around to make sure no one else is watching. “Here. I know you’re freaked out like me.”

“Eds-“ Richie tries to say but he cuts him off.

“Don’t ever call me that, and it’ll be our little secret.” Eddie insists. “C’mon.”

Richie frowns. “A dirty little secret.” Still he takes a huff. “I l- .... You’re the best, you know that right?”

“I do.” Eddie smiles, feeling fuzzy, the way he does when Richie gets the way he does when they have a private moment. Like a beautiful little secret moment just for them.

“Aaahh!” Beverly screams.

Oh shit!

Chapter Text

Bev's POV

While Eddie is left to Richie for comfort (which seems like a bad idea from what Bev knows of Richie Tozier, but hey, what does she know?) the rest of them watch on. Apparently everyone here trusts Richie to calm him down, so Bev does too.

It's back to her as she gets home. She finds Ben's card and runs to the bathroom. She hopes people don't think she's weird for laying in her bath tub fully clothed. It's her safe place cause her room doesn't have any locks.

But fuck.

She whispers the poems words to herself and holds it to her chest. Bev smiles. It really is so fucking, unbelievably sweet that Ben would do that to her.

"Beverly"

She frowns. Who was that? She was having a mo- Aw man, she's next isn't she?

The voice calls her again. She is drawn to the sink, where more voices join. Her eyes widen. Betty Ripsom, Patrick Hockstetter, were these all the missing kids? Beside her there's a whimper.

Beverly leaves to go get a tape measurer, passing her unconscious dad along the way. Fuck, Bev knows what she's gonna do, she just doesn't see any way it can end well.

"I don't know if I should applaud you for being incredibly resourceful, or ensure that you know to never, ever do this in this timeline. Ever."

Bev shrugs. It's not like Future Her knows about all her friends' attacks. Stan hasn't mentioned it, and neither has Ben. At least they haven't showed them telling her about it.

Of course, something terrible happens.

She pulls up the measurer, except something dark and gross sticks to it. She gasps as it comes to wrap around her limbs, pulling her downwards towards the sink.

"My hair." Bev whispers. She touches her still long locks in horror. She manages to escape, but another balloon is squeezing through the drain, growing larger and larger before finally popping.

Blood. Everywhere.

"Aah!" Beverly screams, her heart racing as she watches herself get drenched in it. It explodes over the entire bathroom, covering their ceiling, the walls. Bev falls at the bathtub.

"Okay. It's okay, Beverly!" Mrs. Uris is quick to run to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"The female body is incredibly complex, but at the end of the day, it's nothing to fear-"

"Not the time, Maggie." Mrs. Denbrough cuts in, to Bev's relief. Her dad burst in, and to everyone's horror;

"He doesn't see all of that?!" Stan shouts.

"It must be the curse." Mrs. Hanscom says, clutching her stomach. "Oh, this isn't good."

Dad dismisses her, but does stroke her hair back. Bev almost hopes for a nice, loving moment. Something in line with the reactions Ben, and Stan, and Mike got from their parents after their scares, or even something like how Richie reacted to Eddie's scene.

"Why'd you do that to your hair? Makes You look like a boy."

Okay then.

"That's you're reaction?" Mrs. Tozier breathes, sounding incredulous before laughing dazedly.

"Maggie!"

"What? Fucker just waltzes on in on his kid screaming her face off, and is all like, 'Dur dur! Hair!'"

"Permission to use the sacred 'beep beep' on another party?" Eddie sighs.

"Permission granted." Bill and Stan say simultaneously.

"Beep beep, Maggie." Eddie says, he turns to Bev, Ben, and Mike. "We're allowed to call Richie's parents by their first names, Maggie and Went."

Bev nods.

XXX

Bill's POV

He likes to think that he's been doing better. He's sitting with his friends again, he's made some new ones, but you know, he's also been watching those friends be tormented by the same monster that killed his little brother. So he's just doing what he can, okay?

It cuts to a leaking ceiling. Some of the water splashes onto a drawing Bill is working on, making it look like blood, to his discomfort 

"Oh my god, how did she get two boys to like her?" Maggie asks. "No one's looked twice at me in eleven years."

"Do you want them to?" Went whispers.

"My god Maggie, were you raised in a barn?" Mr. Uris snaps.

"Yes."

".... Maggie, I babysat for you at your house. You were raised in a house."

"During the school year! Not for summers. My parents didn't know how to deal with me full time."

"Um ...I-I'm gonna choose to believe that you mean they sent you to relatives."

Anyways, that train wreck dies quickly after that and Bill returns his attention to himself. He's in the hallway, bucket in hand for the leak, but then the lights in Georgie's room turns on.

Fuck. Bill knows for a fact that he's not gonna be able to resist that, even now that he knows all the tricks this thing will pull in order to lure kids like him and Eddie and Georgie to their doom. Bill expects to find something horrible in that bedroom. Like Georgie's corpse, or whatever the fuck this monster will do to get him.

But instead the room is empty. Bill picks up one of Georgie's toys; the Lego turtle they made together on a rainy day. Not this rainy day, a rainy day Bill didn't feel the need to fucking lie to him about being sick to not hang out with his own brother. Georgie loves that toy. And Bill knows it. Maybe that's why he sits down on his bed and starts to cry.

"Oh, Bill." Mom says in sympathy, which Bill doesn't want. He feels his own eyes start to sting as he thinks of the future he was so, so close to having. He was what? A few hours away from losing his baby brother forever because of his own stupidity. He doesn't deserve fucking sympathy.

But then a shadow grabs his attention, he does the stupid thing and leaves, still carrying the turtle, maybe for comfo- turtle!? This better not mean some higher power is looking after him. How does he get some special divine protection and Georgie doesn't? Georgie loved that toy, he deserves it more.

He's getting ahead of himself, it's probably just a coincidence. Bill needs to get a grip.

Then he sees footprints on the staircase and follows them.

"Well, I think I know why I haven't seen this fucker yet." Richie says, clearly trying to cut the tension. "I've seen too many horror movies, not following strange sounds is 101." Eddie shushes him.

A tiny person in bright yellow raincoat walks through the door. The turtle smashes on the ground.

Oh no. Oh no. He's screwed. 

Mom lets out a cry of utter misery as they see Georgie- no not Georgie, his face is too smug, too devious to be his innocent little brother. He's hiding in the corner of the basement.

"If you come with me, you'll float too. You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too! You'll float too!"

Bill's breathing becomes more and more frantic as Georgie's voice becomes more and more distorted, and his face decays as that fucking clown's head rises up from the water Bill hadn't noticed before now. Georgie falls apart like he's some puppet that that freak could just use to torture him.

The clown chases after him, but Bill runs away, narrowly escaping it before he can get killed.

"Fuck." Mom whimpers. It's the first time he's ever heard her curse and it's so weak. Bill can't take it. Dad holds her to his chest tightly.

And then- an anchor appears nearly out of nowhere. "Billy!" Georgie wrestles out of their mother's grip and runs straight for him. Bill accepts the hug with open arms, instantly feeling better with Georgie in his arms.

"It's o-o-okay, Georgie. It's g-gonna be f-fine." It's a lie, but sometimes you just need a good lie.

But even Georgie has to know that it's not fine.

Chapter Text

Stan's POV

Stan can tell that Bill is doing so much better with Georgie in his arms, and he can tell that Mr. and Mrs. Denbrough know that, which is why they don't say anything, even if they feel worse with Georgie (and probably Bill) away from them.

Beverly is smoking by her fire escape. He knows that she's actually pretty cool now, but Stan still doesn't understand how she can stand those things. Same goes for Richie. Great, Stan just now realizes that he's gonna have to deal with two nicotine-obsessed friends.

She rushes to greet them when in the movie, Stan and the other boys were walking and talking as they draw nearer.

Were they just walking by, or were they specifically going to meet her? With her weird dad, he can't imagine them just strolling by to meet her at her house, but it'd be a weird coincidence for all of them to just be strolling on by the house of the only one of their friends who isn't with them. As she greets them, Stan realizes that she probably called them all to come over there.

Richie makes another gross comment about her, causing them all to aim punches at him, including Ben and Mike. He's glad they're becoming more integrated in their friend group, they all seem really nice. Besides, Richie needs all the physical harm he can get in order to stop it with these jokes.

"I haven't even said anything yet!" Richie loudly complains.

"We will punch you into sensibility if we have to!" Eddie snaps back, looking a little bit more upset than necessary.

"My dad will kill me if he finds out that I had boys in the apartment." 

Stan sees the way his mother flinches at that. Do the adults still believe all the shit everybody says about her? They tell Richie to lookout, and when he complains, Stan makes a joke about how much he talks. It actually makes everyone laugh, causing Stan to feel almost proud of himself. He's not the 'funny' person, but he likes to feel like he's added something of worth, even it's just a bit of levity.

"Um... NO! You do not leave my son alone when there is a magical clown trying to kill anyone! No excuses, you've all seen him!" Maggie rants, and Stan suddenly feels terrible, having made the one person it would probably be easiest to get a laugh out of look worried.

"Sorry." He says.

"Sh-she's r-right." Bill sounds like he's realizing something. "W-we'll n-n-need to st-stick t-to-g-gether t-to surv-v-vive."

"Yeah, but my dad would legitimately kill us all if he catches, so if it's really a matter of survival...." Beverly points out.

What is with his mom's expressions?

The rest of them go to her bathroom door, ominously walking towards it slowly as group, causing Eddie to go on another tangent on the health risks. Stan listens, because someone has to take note of his knowledge on how to stay safe, especially knowing how dangerous Derry is, even if the dangers aren't exactly statistical.

They are all horrified to discover the bathroom, still covered with blood, staring at it. Bill declares that they can't leave it like this, and they all walk in.

And then a pop song starts.

"Damn." Maggie murmurs.

There's something oddly.... charming about them cleaning up her bloody room to upbeat music. Even as they see themselves try not to gag. Stan holds his tongue in pointing out when some of his friends are just moving around the blood, not actually cleaning. 

It's sweet to see Ben smile a little when he sees his card in her room, but he frowns when he catches Bill and Bev talking. 

Stan wonders if Bill likes her too. There was that drawing from earlier, but Bill draws all of them. It's just a sign that they're friends. In real life, Bill doesn't seem all that interested in her now, but he's more than likely preoccupied with Georgie, looking to protect everyone, and focusing on how to defeat the thing that's putting everyone in danger, because Bill has always been the guy who looks out for everyone, he has been since they were five and Bill protected everyone from bullies. Stan remembers he tried to reach out to Beverly when everyone made fun of her after that play, but she was too closed off. Maybe if things were different she could've joined them earlier. 

In the movie though, Bill has had months to heal, not completely, but clearly enough to get back into friendships and maybe even girls. Unlike now, where he just watched his little brother die, and then that was followed by watching all of his friends get attacked by the thing who did it, so of course he's not thinking about girls. If anything, Stan's just glad that they're happy.

".... You didn't sign your name?" Stan asks Ben. Who goes through the trouble of writing a love poem, and doesn't write their name? Ben shrugs.

"I'm so sorry, Ben." Beverly says, and she looks like she really means it.

"It's totally fine, Beverly." Ben smiles sadly, and he doesn't seem like he means it, but is still trying really hard to seem like he does.

Bill assures her that they never believed what other people say about her, and Stan has to call bullshit when it comes to Eddie and especially Richie, but now they all know that Beverly Marsh makes a good friend.

"Hanging out with us makes you a loser too."

The smile she gives when she says that she'd take that makes Stan realize why he loves his friends so much. They're all total losers, but... 

They have each other.

XXX

Mike's POV

They're all riding on their bikes together. Mike has a bike, and he thinks that it could be fun to ride with them, but Mike doesn't want to draw attention to himself, less he seem desperate to be a part of the tight friend group they've all created.

Richie is complaining about being on lookout for so long, and Mike is glad that he wasn't hurt or anything while they were away. Bill and Eddie both admit that they had their own experiences like Bev.

"Can only virgins see this stuff? That why I'm not seeing this shit?"

"Beep beep!" Eddie snaps. "We're actually figuring this shit out, don't distract us!"

"Well, I don't know!" Richie defends himself. "I haven't even met this fucker yet, as far I know you're all talking crazy!"

"We're all talking seriously, and you're off making jokes about sex. It's so frustrating!" 

"Well-"

"Guys!" Bill interrupts their bickering, pointing towards the screen. A certain car that always fills Mike with dread, even now is parked by the woods. The woods Mike hikes through during the summers.

"Wait isn't that the homeschooled kids bike?" 

"Yeah, that's Mike's." 

Mike blinks in shock that Eddie knew his name without spending time with him, and Bill didn't. To his surprise, they all agree that they need to help him, with most of them not even taking the time to properly leave their bikes standing, besides Stan, but that's more for a funny joke.

It cuts to Mike, his body pushed into the ground by the Bowers gang. They're all yelling, like it's all fun and games for them. Bowers screams at him to get up, but he is distracted by Pennywise eating a dismembered arm. He's kicked before anything could happen though.

He looks over to Grandpa and sees the look of pain in his eyes. The look of knowing what it's like to be hurt, and though it wasn't shown why they were doing this to him, the lack of reason is enough to infer that there was no reason. His words of warning that he's given Mike his entire life finally ring as painfully real in this moment. Mike thinks back to the way Bowers mercilessly stabbed Ben for almost no reason. They won't hold back on the black kid. He'll go double as hard and his friends won't even look half-scared by their cruelty. This is it for him.

Mike figures that this is it for him when Beverly throws a rock at Bowers, nailing him and keeping Mike from being totally murdered by that freak.

"You losers are trying too hard. She'll do you. You just got to ask nicely. Like I did." Henry grabs his junk. 

"Dickhead." Richie mutters, shaking his head. 

Ben is the most angry, roaring with anger and striking Bowers in the head. Present Beverly smiles at Ben so much admiration. "You're the best, New Kids on the Block."

His eyes still blaze with anger, but the small fact that he made Beverly feel better softens him back to the nice kid Mike's gotten to know through this movie.

"ROCK WAR!!!!!!" 

Richie is immediately hit by a rock.

"Oh, holy fuck." 

The scene that follows is.... a battle more epic than a shakespearian fight scene. And it's all them throwing rocks at each other, Mike standing with the other kids to fight against their bullies. 

"No! Stop- kids- you're all going to get concussions!" Bill's mom shouts. 

"This is highly inappropriate behavior, children." Stan's father says sternly.

"You're so cool, Beverly!" Richie comments after hitting Belch in slow motion. 

"Thanks!" She beams. ".... Call me Bev, by the way. I've looked it up, turns out my name does actually does mean something involving beavers. My mom always called me Bev."

"Oh, trust me, I was named after my grandpa to keep him from killing Dad for getting Mom pregnant. I get it." She snorts, but neither seems to notice how Mr. Tozier stares at the floor. Mike decides not to pry.

They fight off the Bowers gang, all the minions fleeing one by one, until finally Richie flips him off with blow job joke that actually makes most of them laugh.

They all walk away together, the others already accepting Mike into their group.

"Yeah Homeschool. Welcome to the Losers Club."

He already has a nickname.

"Losers Club?" Stan chuckles. "We have a name now?"

"It's a fitting name, you gotta admit." Eddie shrugs, smiling a bit.

"W-we've all b-been called it enough t-times." Bill smiles too, and Mike feels it. Suddenly, Mike trusts that they're not like the other white kids, who glare at him, or whisper behind his back. And that's only if they're nice. "T-time we o-owned it."

"You're a club?" Georgie asks in wonder. "Can be in it!?" He smiles a little, and so genuinely that it makes Mike's, and probably everyone else's, heart warm. 

"A-absolutely." Bill says immediately.

"Every club needs a mascot." Richie smirks mischievously. 

"You can hold signs at all our rock battles!" Bev suggests. Georgie's face absolutely lights up, perfectly expressing exactly what Mike is feeling at that exact moment. Friends. Huh.

Chapter Text

Ben's POV

The next scene has an exterior shot of a bunch of marching band composers.

"Ah! The annual 4th of July parade!" Bev leans back. "Good to know it stays the same level of lame as it is every year."

"Well, life's only as boring as you let it be." Maggie hums as they watch Richie play with a tuba that Ben highly doubts was actually given to him.

The rest of them, sans Eddie, are crowded around a missing poster on the wall. "Oh my god, it's Eddie! He's missing!" Bev says in concern.

"What?!" Eddie barks in fear. He sees Richie tighten the arms that were already around the other boy.

"No, not you Eddie, Eddie C!" Stan points to the missing poster. They listen in horror as details about this Eddie's disappearance spew out of them. "Fuck..."

"Language." Mr. Uris says distractedly, but there's no humph to it, too focused on the terror of the situation.

Bill lifts the poster and it's revealed that his missing poster is covering Betty Ripsom's.

"Oh, bullshit!" Maggie immediately responds.

"That's so awful!" Mrs. Denbrough agrees. "If I was Betty's mother, I'd be infuriated!" Ben tries not to wonder if Georgie was given the same treatment.

"You know, when Greta Bowie bought everyone in our fifth grade class cupcakes, except me, even those losers." Bev jerks her head towards the original four friends. "That guy gave me his. To be fair, he was allergic to chocolate, which is the most fucking devastating thing I know."

"You know, mom said I was allergic to chocolate. Richie called bullshit, so I eat it anyway, but don't tell her." Eddie tells them.

"I would be sooooo sad if I couldn't have chocolate!" Georgie squeals with wide eyes. He moves to hug Eddie, which is quickly reciprocated.

"I feel like we have more important matters to tend to!" Stan interrupts them. He gestures to the screen.

"Stan's right. That player is being a total jerk!" Richie explains, which ironically prompts the rest of them to pay more attention. Ben is talking about the missing people, and there's a pattern revealed.

"Okay. He comes back every twenty seven years." Mrs. Uris nods. "This is good, we're learning more about this monster."

"It's really messed up that he's making everyone forget about his old victims." Mr. Denbrough grumbles. "It's not enough that he's ruining lives, he has to keep everyone else from caring too?" 

Ben sees the way Bill's mom puts a hand on his arm, squeezing it, maybe in comfort, maybe as a warning. He's seen her do that before, several times actually. He doesn't know if anyone else has noticed, because Ben has always been kind of perceptive. He's never been really loud, and he's always had an interest in other people's strange habits. It's why he's so interesting in researching his new towns. Besides.... The other thing.

Eddie rejoins the group and Ben had to admire the fact that he and Richie can just eat ice cream together while discussing all of this stuff. He wonders if he'll ever become that great friends with anyone. Maybe with Bev. Then again, Eddie and Richie would probably be super mad at him for wanting to do one of their things with a girl he likes.

The scene changes so that they're at a park, sitting in front of a lumberjack statue.

"I love that guy." Richie comments. "Very.... masculine. We're basically twins!" Eddie scoffs.

Mike describes how his grandfather would tell him about the evil in their town. Ben lets himself glance at the quiet old man. He's stayed mostly silent throughout this whole movie, only really speaking when it involves Mike, though Ben thinks he's seen him hold his tongue more than a few times when Mike started really getting to know the others.

"Did you know about It?" Mom asks, as all the parents look at her like the old man is crazy.

He keeps his face neutral but does say this. "I didn't know how deep the evil ran.... But I do know that this town is filled with hate. I see it everyday. So no, I didn't know about It, but I always knew that evil was festering. Always knew it was one thing. Hate."

"How?!" Mr. Denbrough angrily demands. "How did you know!?" Mr. Hanlon just shakes his head.

On screen, Stan denies that they could be attacked by the same thing.

"Good point." Donald nods in approval. "Always think to ask questions like that." Stan smiles at the praise.

"She hot?"

"No, Richie! She's not hot!"

Everyone turns to Richie, as if to say, 'Really?'

"You're an idiot." Eddie rolls his eyes.

Mike then goes on to explain how his parents died. Ben feels his heart clench, remembering how it felt when he was first told that his father died. It was the worst day of his life. But it's not about him, Mike is getting increasingly upset.

Mike's grandpa stands from the chair where he sat alone, but before he can move, Bill wraps an arm around Mike in comfort. The old man looks surprised, and mildly suspicious at the boys. "I-it's o-okay, Mike. Y-you're safe w-with us."

Mike smiles gratefully. Since Mike is sitting right next to him, Ben realizes he should probably say something. After all, he's not exactly clueless when it comes to this subject.

"Um." Ben whispers nervously. "My.... My dad died a few years ago. It was really hard." He misses him so much. Yeah, they were always moving because he was in the military, but Dad always made every move seem like this exciting new thing. After he died, they moved around relatives for support, but now that Mom's with Kyle, they're moving to Derry.

"My dad died when I was five." Eddie tells him. "I always wondered what would've happened if he didn't. I-I think my mom gets scared that something's gonna happen to me too." He leans even further into Richie.

"Jesus, we could start a side-club." Bev shakes her head, looking deep in thought. "Uh- my mom.... She was real sick, and...." She doesn't look like she can finish, so Ben takes her hand and tells her it's okay.

Mike smiles at all of them. "Well then.... it's good we have each other then." They all smile at each other. Feeling more connected to the others, Ben looks back at the movie.

Eddie asks what Richie is afraid of. "Clowns. I'm afraid of clowns."

"Yeah? Well, now everyone is." Bev says sarcastically.

XXX

Zach's POV

Sharon's nails dig into his wrist, a constant reminder to bite his tongue. 

Bill and his friends are back in their garage. He and Sharon are nowhere to be seen. Of course, because his son and six other children are all up against this thing alone, because that fucking clown put a fucking curse-

"That's it." Sharon mutters. She reaches into her purse and rummages around it.

"Sharon, I don't need-" Zach tries to protest, keeping his voice low so no one pays too much attention to him. He has an inkling that he knows what she's looking for, though he was under the impression she trusted him enough to not carry it with her all the time.

"Yes, you do." Sharon hands him his old stress ball. 

"You seriously kept this after all these years?" Zach crosses his arms, feeling betrayed.

"I haven't cleaned my bag out in awhile." She shrugs. "Watch the movie, honey."

Eddie is disrupting the kid's scheming, jumping in front of the projector. The poor kid looks like he's having a heart attack. He tears the map, to the others' protests.

"Seriously, Eddie!" Bill glares at his friend.

"This is insane!" Eddie defends himself.

"You can't turn against each other!" Andrea says worriedly. But tensions are already rising as the projector begins to click again without prompting.

It projects a picture of their family on that one trip to Georgie and Bill's favorite water park. That was a happy day. Georgie and Bill had so much fun. They bullied him and Sharon to buy them ice cream, together, as brothers. It ended with Georgie falling asleep, and Zach carried him to his car seat.

Except now, the family pictures are clicking closer to his wife, her hair looking like it's being blown in the wind. But then the image distorts, and- That fucking clown.

What right did this clown have to torment his children, and desecrate his wife's photos in the process? It's not fair! His family is completely normal, why are the people he loves being used for this freak's sick game!

Georgie's crying. Bill is shushing him, but Sharon has left Zach's side to get to their children. His family is away from him, and all Zach has to calm himself is a stupid ball. And he's nothing without them.

"Stanley, get out of the way!" Andrea screams, clinging to Don in desperation. Stan is too close to the monster. Thankfully, Stan soon rushes to join the other kids.

It's utter chaos. All the children are screaming in terror, Richie and Eddie clinging to each other. It hurts how much terror they have to go through. Zach feels his already unbelievably high levels of hate for this clown deepen.

"Jesus." Maggie breaths, clutching her heart. "That was crazy.... So Denbrough's really have a thing for redheads, huh?" Bev and Bill are hugging on screen, after she just kind of touched Ben's should- That isn't what's important right now!

Bill is leaving, claiming he's going to Neibolt. Zach pushes down the urge to scream at him. In this universe, he already lost Georgie, he can't lose them both. He can't watch both his sons die. He just can't.

"Bill, that is incredibly stupid." Sharon shakes her head. Her voice is quivering. "Please, don't do this to us...."

He makes it to the Well house, practicing his stutter along the way. His friends have followed him, trying to get him to stay. Zach doesn't get his hopes up that his hard-headed son will listen to his friends. He can't imagine that he'd be any more sensible 

"If someone says 'It's summer' one more f-fucking time." 

"Language." Sharon mutters, though Zach agrees that it was getting old. Still, they really shouldn't have to deal with this stuff. Except they have to, because it's not like they can-

The ball bursts. Sharon sighs. "Zach." She gives the boys another hug before coming back to him with his own hug. "How is that even possible?"

Bill starts talking about how hard it is to go on without Georgie. "I love you, Billy." His son's small voice says from where he clings to his brother. If it's the last thing he does, he'll kill that clown for what he did to Zach's family.

"So walking into this house.... For me.... Is easier than walking into my own house."

Sharon whimpers next to him, and Zach quickly wraps an arm around her. Was that line really necessary? He and Sharon must be going through tremendous pain, it's not just Bill. He could stand to be a little-

Bill is a child. He needs his parents, he can't understand what they're going through, and he shouldn't have to.

Without Georgie around, it would be harder for him to remember that. Won't it?

"He didn't stutter once."

No. No, he didn't.

Stan suggests they get a lookout, and Bill asks who wants to stay outside. Everyone raises their hands. They're all committing suicide, and they know it.

"Smart move." Arlene nods.

Chapter Text

Richie's POV

Bill, Eddie, and him enter Neibolt, all the while he is complaining about drawing the short stick.... The one time he actually wanted to be left on lookout. Wait a sec, they left four lookouts? Richie was robbed. At least he can protect Eddie if anything happens.

Okay, this isn't so bad. Richie is teasing Spagetti, and he's gagging, so all good so far. It's not gonna last, obviously, but all the other shit It has done to them haven't destroyed them yet. Plus, Richie has never gotten a scare scene, despite completely expecting one, so he's got a lot of built up preservation for whatever happens to him.

They look around, but then Richie finds something caught in the cobwebs. He gasps. A missing poster.

Fuck, he's seen the least of It so far, he doesn't know how It works, he's gonna be easy to trick. Mom gasps as well, looking a whole lot paler than she did before. On screen, Bill is trying to calm him down, to no avail.

"That's my name. That's my age! THAT'S THE DATE!"

Richie covers his mouth to hold back the sob. He can't stand the thought of being condemned to nothing more than a stupid poster. The thought that his entire existence was pointless, and everyone is just gonna forget about him, and the only thing he left to remember him bye is all the ways he fucked up his parents' lives from conception!

He's not an idiot, he knows what happened after they had him, he knows it's why his parents always make him do things by himself or with a friend.

"I-it's okay, Trashmouth." Eddie says nervously. 

"That's what you're scared of?" Stan asks as Onscreen Richie starts screaming. "Going missing? We all got what we were scared of."

"You never will!" Mom says fiercely, with a look in her eyes that he's never seen before. It makes him pause.

Bill calms him down. But then another, foreign voice interrupts them. They all follow the voice up the stairs and down a hallway. Finally they reach a girl; Betty! She's still alive.... Does that mean It could have kept Georgie alive too? Richie tries not to get his hopes up. But she's pulled away screaming bloody murder before they can talk to her.

They try to follow her, but someone calls Eddie's name, asking where he is. Eddie stops, and they, the stupid fucks that they are don't notice he stopped and keep walking.

"No." Richie whispers, taking Eddie's hand in his, not even caring that it could be gay. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Eddie quickly finds himself alone. In his arms, Eddie wheezes, taking his onscreen self by example he demands. "Inhaler. Give me my inhaler." Richie quickly complies, holding it for him again.

Richie and Bill are trying to find Betty and are met with a room with a mattress. Eddie tries to run to the room they're in, but the door closes before they can reunite. "Fuck!"

Eddie is trying to get it open, and with that damn sick freak from earlier attacking him he screams and falls back into a table, breaking it, his watch going off like crazy.

Meanwhile, Richie is desperately searching for a way to Eddie, and is lured in by the same trick It used on Eddie, except worse because he's gonna do whatever it takes, no matter how little logic is there, to find the boy behind that voice. Richie finds a room, and it looks like Eddie is there, though obviously he isn't, Richie can't blame himself for going in.

Richie goes all the way into the room, but Eds isn't there, which he knew wouldn't be and yet, it's still frustrating that Eddie's still in danger. He tries to walk back to Bill on the other side of the door, but it closes before it's too late.

"Fuck!" Bev screams as they are unable to reopen it. 

To Richie's terror, all the sheets fall off to reveal several clown dolls. "Oh. My. GOD!!!!"

His fear of clowns has not gotten any better given recent events, okay? Though apparently, Future Richie doesn't agree.

"Fuck, he finally doesn't shit himself from seeing a clown, and this happens." Mom mutters.

"Well, he should be scared of clowns!" Dad snaps. Richie sees his eyes widen. On screen his missing poster is attached to an open casket with the word FOUND across it. Oh fuck.

"Richie? Richie, don't you dare!" Bev orders as he idiotically follows it, even though by now he should know better. "You're not the only one who's seen a fucking horror movie before!"

Well, in the future he's probably in denial that his life could ever be interesting enough for cinema. Even with all this shit, it's still jaw droppi- What the fuck is that?

A tiny, Richie doll, filled with maggots lay in the coffin, which he obviously closes quickly. But then-

"Beep beep Richie."

The clown charges towards him. 

"No!" Eddie shrieks, clinging to him so hard that he's having trouble breathing and yet it's the only thing that might be keeping him together as he doesn't see any escape. He hears his mother's sobs, his father's gentle reassurances, and wonders if this is it for him.

It's not. Miraculously, Bill gets the door open and pulls Richie out of there.

"Oh, thank god." Mom cries as she slumps into Dad. She holds up an arm. "Fuck, come here."

The couches aren't far away, so it's only a few steps into his mother's arms. Eddie never lets go of his hand, following him to his parents. Richie sits in his mother's lap, with Eddie right next to him. His arms are around Eddie, Mom's arms are around him, and Dad's arm are around Mom. It's still scary, but... Safe.

He and Bill run away, and make it back to the mattress room. And up through the mattress pops Eddie, except not Eddie. This Eddie is dirty, and decomposed. This is not his Eddie.

The clown has no boundaries. Does he?

"Oh my god!" Eddie cries in horror. Richie pulls him closer repeating. "It's not you. It's not you!"

Real Eddie is back where he was last. Richie is flooded with relief that he hasn't been killed and damned to be that psycho's play thing for all eternity. And- Oh, that is not how arms are supposed to bend. Something's going on with the fridge. They all patiently wait in dread before an arm sticks out, and then the entire clown is rolling out of the thing and twisting back to normal position. Like at a real circus, Richie can't exactly appreciate the performance.

Eds is trying to crawl away but can't, black whatever is making its way towards Bill and Richie, and they're only exit is one of three doors. Not Scary, Scary, and Very Scary. He doesn't trust any of them, but have no choice but to choose the obvious trap. There's only darkness on the other side. But... There is a voice asking for a shoe.

"Betty." Stan murmurs. 

Bill flicks a switch, only to find their classmate torn apart by the waist. Richie gasps at the sight of a girl he's know since kindergarten so disfigured. "Fuck. Fuck!"

Bill insists it's not real, but the clown drooling all over Eddie is still pretty fucking real to Richie. They find the hallway, and try to follow Eddie's cries for help. They find him, thank god, just before It was about to eat his Eddie like he ate Georgie. But Pennywise is still closer to Eddie than he is, and he takes to fucking with Eddie like it's masturbation material.

He runs at Bill and Richie. Richie squirms into his mother, trying to disappear into a world where this wasn't happening. There's a slicing sound, and he feels his mother's sigh of relief. Looking up he sees the others have joined them on this shitshow. That's nice of them. They all rush to Eddie.

Pennywise walks towards them, his hand turning into a claw like something from one of the werewolf movies he'll never watch again. Richie grabs Eddie's face and keeps him from looking at the clown. In real life, he feels Eddie's head on his shoulder. "I love you, Rich."

He wants to say it back.

Pennywise comes closer, they're all screaming, he slashes Ben's stomach. Mrs. Hanscom screams and Ben rushes to comfort her as well. And then the clown bows like it's all a grand circus act from hell and retreats. Idiotically, Bill chases after him, causing everyone in real life to scream at him for being so stupid. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Mr. Denbrough screams.

"Do you want to die?" Mike asks.

"You can't go after him, Billy!" Georgie sobs.

Despite Eddie's protests, Richie snaps his arm back in place, he whimpers at the sound. They all run from the house, the scene quickly turning to Mrs. Kaspbrak, screaming at all of them and rushing Eddie into the car. Richie flinches when she insists it's all their fault. She drops something and Bev tries to help her.

"Get back! I've heard of you Miss Marsh and I don't want dirty girl like you touching my Eddie."

"Oh fuck off, you stupid fucking insane bitch." 

"Andrea!" Mr. Uris says, dumbfounded. Despite everyone's hearts racing, they all turn to stare at the woman for her uncharacteristic moment.

"No! She fucking deserves it!" Mrs. U yells as she grips the sofa, angrier than Richie's ever seen her. "Who the fuck talks to children like that!?" She's breathing hard, and soon enough her infuriated expression crumbles as tears fill in her eyes. "They are children! How dare she treat them as anything but!"

Mrs. Kaspbrak takes Eddie away. She'll never let him see him again, Eddie's gone, forever and ever and.... And Richie can't go on without him.

"No Bill! No 'next time', Bill."

"Good." Mrs. U whimpers, pale, tears strolling down her cheeks. She looks like she's going into shock, a far departure from the place she was at just moments before. Stan stands up, glancing briefly at Bill before running towards her.

Bev tries to stick up for Bill, but the rest of them are fed up with this bullshit, refusing to do so in the process.

"Sorry." Richie murmurs when he questions Bev's prescence in their friend group. She looks slightly hurt, but keeps her posture strong. The argument gets worse.

"Georgie's dead. Stop trying to get us killed too." 

"That's too far!" Mr. Denbrough screams at him.

"Zach!" Mrs. Denbrough scolds.

"Watch it!" Dad snaps, tightening his arms around him and Mom.

"I'm sorry." Richie breathes, just loud enough for Bill to hear. Bill stares at him from the distance, his eyes wet. He just stares at Richie before blinking away, not saying a damn thing.

"It's okay." He hears Eddie murmur. He looks down at Eddie and Eddie looks up at him. "You're just scared. He'll forgive you."

On screen, all Future Bill wants is an apology, which Future Richie doesn't give him, but Future Bill didn't just see Georgie's death, and neither did Future Richie. And Future Eddie isn't in his arms in the scene.

It gets physical, they start shoving each other, and then Bill punching him and the others having to hold him back from turning it into a full-blown brawl. Richie watches with wide eyes. He's never exactly been a fighter. Much less fighting his friends. His mouth was always his weapon, even if it usually only made things worse. Teachers punish violence over coercion; that's his philosophy. He's been shoved before, by bullies, but never by his friends. Was this how he responds to betrayal? Resorting to violence?

"Your such a loser."

Well they are the Losers Club, aren't they? Richie thinks, but even in his head it rings sad and pathetic. Bev tries to remind them that they need to stick together, but Richie refuses to listen, angrily walking away, shoving Bill's shoulder in the process. Stan and Ben are quick to follow.

"Ben..." Bev whispers, looking at him in disappointment. Ben just shakes his head.

"I can't do this. My granddad was right. I'm an outsider. Got to keep it that way."

"Mike..." Bill whimpers. Mike looks at him apologetically, but still shakes his head, scooting away from him, and curling into the other side of the couch.

"I'm still scared, Richie." Eddie whimpers into the crook of his shoulder. Richie lets his eyes shift up at his parents without moving his head. His mom is still holding both boys against her chest,  and Dad is hiding his face in her hair. Looking around, he sees everyone preoccupied. Taking a chance, Richie presses a kiss to the crown of his head.

"So am I."

Chapter Text

Bill's POV

He knows Richie didn't really mean anything cruel when he spoke about Georgie. He also knows it's technically true, but.... He just doesn't want to look at Richie right now, okay? And it's total bullshit of Richie to think he only cares about Georgie. Richie has Eddie in his arms right now, and that's probably all that matters to him.

Guitar starts playing, and maybe they should pause it and talk about what they've seen, but Bill is just tired, he doesn't want to deal with all this bullshit, he just... If he can just make sure Georgie will be safe, it's a win. No one else looks like they want to talk, and no one else makes any moves to do so.

A montage starts playing. Beverly is playing piano (Nothing happy), Bill is alone at his kitchen table (All alone. No parents. No Georgie. Just him), Stan has his bar mitzvah with only Richie in attendance (They swore they'd be there for him in the beginning), Mike is shooting a goat (He shouldn't have to do that), Ben is staring at the painting (Still scared), and finally Bev is in her bathtub again, noticing a splotch of blood.

He failed everyone in his life.

It's August now, and the Bowers gang is playing around with a gun. Bowers with a gun? Bill might have thought that that would be the most dangerous thing ever a few hours ago, but now Bill just accepts it with a numbness. This town is dangerous, no matter what. Be it literally insane bullies or something so much worse, it's too much for Bill.

If anyone felt like doing anything, they might have shown disgust when Henry tries to shoot a fucking cat. Though Georgie does whimper, but he's been whimpering this entire movie. Because he's not ready to be watching horror movies. Bowers dad stops him from killing it though.

"Oh, thank god." Maggie murmurs. Leave it to a Tozier to break the silence. "We're finding that cat and adopting it." Went doesn't disagree.

Henry's dad is mad at him, and takes back his gun. Bill hopes it will cut away to someone else, but he really doesn't want to watch his friends right now, still thinking about all of them leaving. But hey, anyone's better than these guys. But to his surprise (and he's learned by now to not be surprised by anything) Bowers' dad shoots at him. 

He lets out a gasp, feeling a little less numb than he did as shock floods through him. It still depresses him to think of how Dad screamed at him before, he couldn't imagine any of his friends' dads doing that ever. Because who does that? Sure, Dad would flip if they ever fucked around with one them but.... Fuck.

"Ain't nothing like a little fear to make a paper-man crumble."

Bill blinks at the screen. He's not used to seeing Henry Bowers frightened. Hell, if it was Bowers running around Neibolt he'd probably spit in Pennywise's face. It's the natural order of things, Henry Bowers is an attacker who makes everyone else around him scared. But now he looks like he's about to shit himself. What the fuck?

"Well, add him to the list of questionable adults to look into." Mrs. Uris shakes her head. "Cops are so difficult though."

Eddie is at the pharmacy. Greta and her creepy dad are both there. Bill just hopes Keene doesn't do anything cruel, especially so soon after what they just watched. She opens her mouth.

"Your medication. They're placebos." "What's placebo mean?" "Placebo means bullshit!"

"What?" Eddie gasps. He's still curled against Richie, but perks up a bit. "That can't possibly be... She's lying isn't she? I take those pills for asthma, I always have!" 

Bill raises an eyebrow. On one hand Greta isn't exactly a reliable source, especially shown through her teasing him about Eddie's blank cast. But on the other... Well it always felt like Eddie and his mom spent more time being scared of getting sick than actually being sick.

"Have you ever actually had an asthma attack?" Mrs. Uris asks as Greta offers to sign it, which Bill absolutely does not trust.

"Of course! I was having attacks earlier when I was being targeted." Eddie insists. 

"That makes two of us." Richie mutters.

Mrs. Uris looks floored. "Honey, that's anxiety."

"What's anxiety?" Eddie asks, eyebrows crinkled. Bill can practically see Richie resist the urge to kiss them or something. They're just like brothers. Richie seriously does not have the right to judge him for lengths he'll go to for Georgie.

"It's when you get so nervous it feels like you can't breathe sometimes." She tries to explain. "It's a mental disorder, so there's not a lot mainstream knowledge on it... Richie, did you say you sometimes get like that, too?"

"That's just asthma!" Eddie insists. On the screen, it's back with Bowers, but Bill is more concerned with what's going on with his friend. A mental disorder? 

"Maybe we should talk about this more later." Mom says when a red balloon is shown at Bowers' house.

"Okay, but I still need to look into this." Mrs. Uris says. 

Henry opens the mailbox attached to the balloon. Bill doesn't want to see him get attacked. Hell, he obviously deserves it, Bill just needs more time away from that clown. Even if this victim is someone who hurts his fri- other kids. Bowers finds a box with a knife in it. Knowing the clown, he'll probably have the knife float and stab him in the back. Bill hates that he can think of scary things for the monster to use. If his life wasn't a horror movie, he might as well have written one.

Bowers approaching his sleeping dad. Bill recognizes the show he's watching from its sounds, the same sounds from what Bev's and Eddie's parents were watching. Bill tries not to shiver when clowns are mentioned. But... Then so is floating. Oh no. "Sh-shit."

"That's right! And you will too, Henry. Make it a wonderful day! Kill him."

The adult lady and all the kids starting chanting for Henry to kill, and Bowers obeys without much hesitation. Bill flinches as he flicks out his knife into his dad's throat. The dad tries to fight back as the tv applauds him. The clown appears on the screen, smiling as they chant for him to; "Kill them all! Kill them all!"

"Bets on who 'all' is meant to include?" Richie mutters.

"I don't even know how to begin with this case." Mrs. Uris shakes her head.

XXX

Andrea's POV

Okay, so clearly Henry is being abused, but he's also probably beyond rehabilitation at this point. But he technically hasn't killed anyone before so maybe he isn't yet? So Andrea has to provide enough evidence to get this man in trouble with  her superiors, which even then might not do anything because of his badge. It might only make things worse for Henry's home life, which on its own is bad enough, but it will also make him angrier, and maybe even target Stanley out of frustration with her. And on top of that she has to look into Sonia Kaspbrak, the town pharmacist, and Mr. Marsh. Oh, and Henry is probably gonna go on rampage with the knife he was gifted to from the psychotic demon who's endangered the kids, and killed many more, which she's also going to need to participate in dealing with if she wants to protect them. And that rampage from earlier is probably going to include her Stanley, and his friends. Not to mention that she has to look after all of the mental health of these eight very traumatized children who are all mad at each other, one of whom has already shown signs of having anxiety, and she only knows that because she also has anxiety and it has not improved at all! And she'll have to fix that too.

This was supposed to be Andrea's day off.

She holds no illusions that this going to get any better when Beverly is shown alone in her house again. Andrea at least feels better that she's leaving, but her father catches her. 

"You're looking prettied up."

Maybe it is just her profession, but Andrea does not trust any grown man to compliment an underaged girl's in any way. To be fair though, her father did say she looked radiant on her wedding day, and on prom night, and that one time she won that wing-eating contest as a teenager. Though the last one might have been a joke. Still, she's too used to seeing horrible cases to trust anyone's intentions anymore.

Mr. Marsh takes his daughters hand, and begins speaking about her relationships with the boys. Andrea knows he doesn't know that the boys would never try anything with her, but somehow she doubts he'd care if he did.

If the lighting of the scene wasn't a dead giveaway, there's also the way he grips her hand, which she makes a note of before the screen makes it obvious. Andrea's seen the look in his eyes. She's seen it men she's gotten put away.... And she's seen it men who said they loved her when she too young to not believe them.

"Are you doing... Womanly things down in the woods with those boys?"

His face is not than that of an overprotective fathers. It's the kind of face Andrea's uncle used to give her when she was around Beverly's age before...

She hugs Stan tighter. 

Bev tries to deny anything happened, terrified. Andrea's seen that haunted look before in little girls; some who got a better life, some who were put in foster care, some who were given back to their abusers. He pulls out Ben's poem, growing more and more furious. Andrea sees Bill wrap an arm around her.

Bev finally screams that she's not his girl anymore, and breaks free from him only to fall back. Her father is over her in seconds, grabbing at her legs. Andrea's seen the aftermath of this kind of thing but she never witnessed it. The only time she's ever had to experience- 

"Stay away from her!" Ben screams at the screen. Richie and Eddie leave Maggie and Went to be with her as well. Mike has also gotten closer to them again, and Stan and Ben are soon to follow, and as much as it aches to not have her baby in her arms, Andrea feels relief that they seem to be getting along again.

"I'll fucking kill him if he ever comes in a mile of me!" Zach growls. Looking around, all the parents are extremely upset and angry, including Donald. 

Bev's father has gotten the door open, but the bathroom is empty. Andrea's heart hasn't stopped racing, and probably won't until the girl she's grown so protective of is shown to be safe.

"The window!" Richie gasps. "I've seen it in movies before, you must have just escaped through the window!" Her dad pulls back the curtains and she hits him over the head. "Oh nevermind." They all let out a breath of relief.

"I don't know if I'd fit anyway." Bev shrugs. She whimpers when she sees the puddle of blood pooling under her father's head.

"It's completely okay!" Andrea is quick to assure her. 

"He's my dad...." Bev whispers, not quite getting that he would hurt her. Alright, in the movie Andrea hasn't appeared, so the chances of Bev being scapegoated are high. If she's lucky, she'll make an appearance, maybe Stanley will ask for her help, and Andrea will fight tooth and nail to-

Pennywise appears.

"NO!"

Chapter Text

Ben's POV

Ben does not think of himself as a particularly angry person. He knows he can be sensitive, especially when it comes with people he cares about. That being said.... If he ever meets Bev's father, he will kill him. He's not sure he ever felt more infuriated than he did at seeing that man attack the beautiful girl next to him.

He thinks he might faint when he sees Beverly alone with that clown. Bill is shown biking to her house. Ben thinks he might be willing to deal with that sick twisting in his stomach he gets whenever he sees the duo together (Usually followed by a comment from Mrs. Tozier) so long as Bill can save Beverly. So long as Beverly can be safe.

She isn't though. Instead Bill just finds her dad's corpse and a message written on the ceiling. He runs to Richie, who is at first still angry, but the second Bill tells him the horrible truth, the look on Richie's face tells him all he needs to know that Ben and Bill aren't the only ones who care about her.

"We'll save you, Bev." Richie says, voice shaking and yet it still gives off a sense of confidence. "No Loser gets left behind."

"So you admit being a Loser is awesome?" Bev smirks, which Richie meets with his own.

Eddie finds out next, but is stopped by his mom.

"My sickness? What sickness? Huh? You know what these are? They're gazebos! They're bullshit!"

Eddie gasps, looking at the screen. Everyone glances at him then back to his mother, who has an almost dangerous look on her face. She doesn't even bother to deny it. "No. No." Eddie whimpers. "No, I'm sick, I-" Richie cuts him off, hugging him fiercely.

"I'm sorry but the only people who were trying to help me were my friends. And you made me turn my back on them when I really need them."

"I love ya, Eds." He hears Richie whisper in comfort to Eddie. 

Eddie leaves the house. Leaves his mother crying and begging for him not leave her, but he doesn't listen.

"Oh my god!" Richie shouts in what can only be described as pure joy. "Eddie, I'm in love with you!" He grabs Eddie by his face plants giant kisses on both his cheeks.

Most of their friends laugh at the antics, as Eddie seems to be in shock at his movie self's actions and doesn't even address the overly friendly interaction. But as for Ben... He can't help but see some sort of truth in Richie's voice.

"Stop! Just stop!" Mrs. Uris shouts. Someone pauses the movie. She looks she's thinking hard. "Okay, um, she confessed to.... Frankly, literal child abuse. I just, I need a second to.... Okay I have to think about some of the scenes we just witnessed."

Ben himself is thankful for the pause. He scoots closer to Bev, leans his head towards her ear and trying not to revel in the feeling of her beautiful winter fire hair, whispering quietly enough that no one, especially not Eddie or Richie will hear him. Which is actually kind of hard because they're still smoothed together on a crowded couch. "Are they, you know.... Gay?"

She backs away from him with slightly wide eyes, looking amused. Snorting a little, and his heart flutters at the feeling of being the one to make her feel better, she takes her head. Leaning in to his ear, Bev whispers back. "Trashmouth Tozier? Have you even been paying attention? Ninety percent of the shit coming out of his mouth is about girls." 

The words aren't malicious, and they both snort together. But still, the thing is Ben has been paying attention and he can name so many moments between them where Ben has wished that he had what they had with her. 

But Bev is right. Richie is clearly straight. His jokes are proof enough that he likes girls..... He would know that, wouldn't he?

....

No.

....

No?

If that's the case, Ben hopes Eddie feels the same. Ben knows how bad it can hurt when the gi- person you have feelings for just doesn't like you back. He probably shouldn't think about it. It's not like it's his business. 

Mrs. Uris gives the okay for them to start the movie again. Ben can't help but dread the possibility of seeing Bev get hurt, but if he doesn't watch and see if she's alright his head will fill in the blanks and it won't be kind. It had paused with them all riding their bikes. They turn a corner and see Mike had brought his gun. He's not sure good that will be for a fight against this creature, but any help is help when it comes to Bev's safety.

"Huh. I found a decent use for that thing." Mike says, looking thoughtful, and almost courageous as he looks to his grandfather for a reaction. Mr. Hanlon gives him a small nod in approval.

They all make it to Neibolt, and Bill says they need weapons. Eddie chucks his inhaler, to everyone's applause. Especially Richie's, Ben notes. Richie takes a bottle and smashes it, before deciding it's useless and throws it away. They all turn to him, both in real life and the movie and ask what he was thinking.

"It works in movies!" Richie says in defense to himself. Ben sees where he's coming from but movies won't help Bev.

There's a blue car, and whoever's in it is watching them as the enter. He can't see who's in it, but he sees by the other's reactions, stiffened backs and muttered curses, that it's nothing good. Ben bites back a groan. Bev is in danger, they can't deal with anymore trouble!

Only one stops before entering the well house. "Stan." He hears Mr. Uris whisper, and it's the softest he's ever heard from Stan's strict-looking dad.

"I-if we split up like last that clown will us one by one. But if we st-stick together, a-all of us, we'll win. I promise."

The look on his face is enough to tell everyone how scared he is. This monster feeds off of fear and briefly Ben wonders if it actually would be best if they left him. For Beverly's safety. Even though he hates himself for thinking it. But Stan does walk in with the rest of them, and they all make their way down to the well.

Bill finds a rope and he goes down it. Good, he can save her. He can protect her. No wonder Beverly likes Bill. He's the leader, the action hero who's the first to take the risk and go down when Bev needs him. In that moment, Ben decides that Bev and Bill belong together. He'll save her, and they'll be happy together. God knows they both deserve happy. Deserve each other.

XXX

Bev's POV

Bev can't believe that her being in danger was enough to make her friends kiss and make up. As scary at is to think about what could happen to her, she's never felt as safe as she did curled around her friends; Three of whom she had just met today (Georgie counts), Four of whom she had never been close to, All of whom she was not friends with two hours ago.

Okay, so maybe this friendship has moved kind of quickly, but.... If anything happens to any of them she swears to God.... Or that turtle.... That she'd kill every single person in this shithole excuse for a town.

Blood drops on to the dirty ground. It reminds her of the blood that seems to have been following her this entire movie. Blood drips, drips onto her face. She wakes up.

She can't help it, Bev feels scared for herself. She does t want to die. She wants to grow up, leave this hellhole of town, leave Maine, make something of herself. She doesn't know what but she knows she wants to be something. She can't die yet. Taking a chance, she takes hold of Ben's hand. He looks up at her, looking surprised. Bev squeezes the hand and feels a little braver.

Bev walks around the dark place in the movie, before looking up and finding-

"Holy fuck!" Richie screams in shock. And yeah- Holy fuck indeed.

Hanging in the air were bodies. The bodies of children. They were most definitely the bodies of the people who ended up being victims of It.

"They're all.... Floating." Stan murmurs, and they all finally realize what that freak meant by his favorite murder phrase. Shit, Bev lets her head lay to rest on Ben's shoulder. His spine straightens but then eases up a bit.

"Oh my god." Mrs. Denbrough gasps, sounding like she's holding back tears, and Bev just knows she's thinking about Georgie being one of those kids. Bev is thinking about little Georgie Denbrough -official Loser Club mascot- being one of the poor fuckers left to a hanging body, and she just met Georgie.

"It's gonna be okay, Bev." Ben whispers. "We're gonna find you. If it's the last thing I do."

Fuck. She believes him. Bev spent the years since her momma died believing she was worthless trash, and could be only be loved by her daddy, but she fucking believes him. She believes Ben, and all this boys care about her. And she can't even revel in their lack of bullshit because they're gonna kill themselves because they care.

Fuck her life.

Suddenly something happens and Pennywise is shown on a stage. The clown dances like he's in a fucked up segment of the Children's Hour. For a second she feels hopeful for her movie self as an escape is flashed onscreen. But nope. Of course. The clown runs after her, grabbing her. She feels Ben's hold on her tighten. At least that makes her feel better.

"I'm not scared of you!" 

Bev blinks in shock. How could she not be afraid of that monster after everything? 

But Pennywise is smelling her, smelling for her fear she realizes, and he seems almost disappointed. Is she- she's not that brave, is she? Even now she's stuck in the role of damsel in distress. No, she's not brave enough to face that monster on his own.

It opens his mouth, revealing strange, bright orbs. She watches the expression drain from her face and the pupils leave her eyes.

She's floating.

Ben whimpers next to her, and she shifts to cuddle him more. He's so good at hugs, like a teddy bear or a security blanket wrapping around her, making her feel better. And being so close to Bev, and looking at her other friends, she realizes how she might have gotten so fucking ballsy by the time this scene takes place.

In the movie, she's floating, but in this moment she's never felt more down to earth.

Okay, her friends are all climbing down the well. Bev just hopes that whatever the fuck just happened to her never happens to any of them. She knows that it's probably stupid to give so much of a shit about boys she met a few hours ago, but she cares deeply for all of them. To be fair though, she has witnessed the bond they all form with one another over the course of a few months. And she knows that they care about her too, at least in the future. Until now, Bev never realized how fucking lonely being Beverly Marsh was, but now she can't stand the possibility of any of them getting hurt.

Henry Bowers shows up. She groans. "Motherfucker."

Chapter Text

Mike's POV 

Seeing himself be the last at the end of the rope, and Henry Bowers of all people standing right behind him is terrifying to Mike.

He really does think his friends care about him, but he also knows they can't possibly imagine what it feels like to be hated so badly just for his skin color. And as horrible as Henry Bowers might treat these guys, he can just tell the hatred the bully holds for Mike is something much, much deeper.

So when Bowers attacks him, with his friends all the way down the well, and the gun falling away from him, Mike once again wonders if he's going to die. Bowers peaks his head down the well to look at his friends, his face covered in his father's blood.

"I-I hope we d-don't think he k-k-k-k- hurt y-you." Bill whispers. And by the way they're screaming his name, it's not a far reach.

Bowers pulls up the rope, meaning they won't have a way back up after saving Bev. They're still calling for him, and Bowers turns menacingly to where he's bent on the ground.

"You didn't listen, didya? You could've stayed out of Derry. You're parents didn't. Look what happened to them. Still get sad everytime I pass by that pile of ashes. Sad... That I couldn't have done it myself."

"Oh, fuck off, Bowers!" Bill snaps at the screen, looking angry. The look in his eyes makes Mike feel... validated in feeling upset at the cruel words, even though he already expects cruelty, especially from Bowers.

He reaches for the gun, but Bowers jumps him, and pins him to ground. From the hole in the well, Bill wants to help him, which Mike appreciates so much, but the others point out that that isn't possible.

"He's right." Mike points out. Bill huffs, and he looks almost mad at himself. Mike doesn't know why, but still smiles at him to comfort.

Bowers has gotten the gun and clicks it, with Mike still at his mercy. "No!" Bill shouts as he presses the gun to his forehead. 

Mike turns to his grandpa, remembering the pain in his expression whenever Mike's dad is brought up. He looks at the screen with conspicuously red eyes. But knowing eyes. Mike isn't going to die because of some supernatural creature, it's hate. And grandpa knows hate better than anyone. He wants to approach Grandpa, tell him he's okay, like the way his friends have done with their parents, but he's trapped between the bodies of his friends. And maybe if Mike asks, they'll move to give Mike a passage to his family. But right now Mike is one of this group, and maybe he's still scared that if he messes up they won't let him back in, so he doesn't move or say anything. He just stays, and stays a member.

Back to movie, Mike moves out of the way before the pop out part of the gun can hit him and pushes Bowers back. 

"Wait, you brought a fake gun?" Richie asks, but no one bothers respond as they all watch Mike get up and run at the psycho, pushing him over the well and down past even his friends, screaming all the way.

"Did I kill him?" Mike whispers in horror. Because even if Bowers wouldn't care if things were the other way around, the thought of him being the one to hurt someone puts a deep pit in his stomach.

"Well, I mean if you did he totally deserved it! That was awesome!" Richie blurts out, earning a shove from Eddie.

"Have a little empathy, dickwad!" 

"Sympathy." Stan corrects, which Mike can't blame him for. He doesn't want anyone of them to imagine feeling like killer, even of someone as horrible as Henry Bowers.

"I-ignore them." Bill tells him, and even though they're all crammed together on the couch, he somehow scoots closer to Mike. "I'm just g-glad you're okay."

It makes Mike feel a whole lot better about his situation, but he grounds himself as he sees that he has let the ammo for his gun, which was not fake, fall as well. He messed up. 

"Hey." Bill grabs his attention again. "C-could have h-happened to a-anyone." Mike blinks. This was coming from the guy hellbent on saving his brother and the girl he likes.

"Thanks Bill."

XXX

Donald's POV

Unbelievable. He thinks when he sees the ammo for the weapon fall. Donald might disapprove of any use of such a weapon by a child that is Stanley's age, especially anywhere near Stanley, but he still has to admit that it would useful given the situation.

He doesn't have time to dwell on it though because then the movie's attention is back to his son, which everyone knows is never good. Now that Donald really ponders it, the only time this movie feels safe for the children is when they're together. Not always, thinking back to the projector, or when they were united in their first trip to Neibolt. Donald finally understands the meaning of Beverly's words from earlier.

Stanley hears something, thinking its Beverly, but it can't be her, because she's trapped like all the other kids. He winces seeing Pennywise in the shadows, but the monster doesn't go after him. Stanley turns back to his friends, only to find himself alone. Andrea moans, and Donald hates to see her so worried, even as he worries himself. She's already curled against him, but he pulls her closer.

"Did he teleport?" Beverly asks in confusion. "The others were right there!"

"It can teleport the children?" Sharon asks tiredly, as though it's already too much for her and this is just more on her plate, which it certainly must be. 

"I think our job just got a lot harder." Maggie shakes her head. Within the past hour, Donald has seen her slowly look more and more like her mother looked when the news of her daughter's  pregnancy first became more blatant, and while Donald does not miss her childish attitude, it's jarring to see someone he's known for since she was an infant act so differently.

Stanley wonders around the empty area waving his flashlight around, clearly scared. Edward notices his absence and they all go down the tube to look for him. Donald feels slightly better knowing they're looking for him.

"Okay, we'll f-find you. We'll find you!" William insists. And Donald thinks that they better after coercing Stanley back into the well house in the first place. This isn't the first time he's thought that Stanley needs better influences, he did warn Andrea against letting their child be friends with his godsister's son, but his wife always assured him. But now they've put Stanley in danger. 

But they're in one place and Stanley is in a completely different place, and there are strange noises, and he sees his son getting more and more frightened as the shot circles around him.

"Stanley, you have to calm down." Donald orders, admittedly harsh but Stanley really needs to do as much as he can to stay safe. "You know being scared will make you vulnerable to him."

"He can't control what he does in the movie." Arlene reminds him, even though Donald already knew that, he's just taking the chance to teach Stanley something in order to survive. "And that is an 'it'."

The camera follows the light from his flashlight as he looks around. And Donald knows he'll find something, but what if what he finds isn't his friend, but something that will hurt him? Unfortunately the latter comes true as his light shines on the painted who runs towards him with an open mouth full of sharp teeth. And then he screaming. It's terrible hearing your child scream.

"No!" Andrea screams, clinging to him. Donald himself feels a spike in his chest. The others hear his screaming and run after him, William leading them. They find a door, where Donald figures Stanley must be on the other end of, and push through it. They look around and Edward finds his flashlight, and then everyone is screaming.

Judith, the woman from his classic painting is eating his child's face. He's laying still and passively and Donald can't help but wonder if he's already dead. He lets out a cry with Andrea before he knows what he's doing.

Stanley never should have been put in this position. He should have refused to go with his friends. And Donald should have listened to Stanley when he shared his fears about the painting.

"I have to go." He hears Stanley say. A glance at the children sees them all shift to let him go to his parents, but not before those closest to him squeezes him tightly first. He runs to his and Andrea's arms, and Donald feels much better. He still sees Judith extract herself and walk away, but also sees Pennywise peak his head out from the corner.

They all rush to Stan as he lays, but he jolts up and backs away from them.

"You left me! You're not my friends! You made me go! You made me go! You made me go into Neibolt!"

His heart breaks as he sees Stanley crying with blood and a terrified expression on his face. Every one of his friends look like crying when they hear his words. Andrea sobs and Donald must resist the urge to do the same as they see Stanley like this, and Donald can't even bare to look at his son and letting him see him in such a state of unrest. Still, he lets fingers comb through his child's hair.

"I'm sorry." Stanley says to his friends, looking ashamed of himself for saying such things. 

"You're so scared." Andrea whimpers. "Fear does that, honey."

"Billy, I'm sorry!"

Immediately, he understands the idiotic thing William is going to do as he stands up and brings the gun with him.

When it turns back to Stanley, Donald has to feel a little better at the sight of the boys and Stanley in a group hug. As frustrated as he is that the others pressured Stanley into this situation, he does recognize that they care for him. And the care they hold for each other as they run after the boy.

Chapter Text

Georgie's POV

Georgie hates Fake Georgie. Billy follows him, but Georgie knows it's not really Georgie. He doesn't know why Billy thinks it is after what Fake Georgie did in the basement. Billy runs, and he finds Bev. She's still floating like the monster said. And she doesn't say hi back when Billy calls for her. Georgie hopes that if Billy finds Real Georgie that he can say hi back.

Billy leaves her, and that make Ben go, "What the hell? She needs you!"

"I'm sorry! It's n-not like I know w-what to do!" Georgie frowns. He's still doesn't like thinking about Billy not knowing everything in the world. 

His other friends are looking for Billy, and then Eddie falls in the icky water. Georgie knows that Eddie really, really hates icky things, but that was because of his mommy, and he's mad at his mommy now, so Georgie thinks he'll be good. But he isn't because he finds some scary people in the water, and that's makes him scream.

Next to him, Eddie makes noises with his mouth, like he does when Richie tells a joke, or like when Georgie has to eat oatmeal that tastes bad.

They find Bev and the other people. Georgie looks again and sees they're all short like him, so they must be kids too. Georgie hopes his friends from school aren't there. Ally's birthday is next week, and she's really excited. He doesn't want there to be no one!

They get Bev back down (she's closest to the floor) and Ben gets upset when she's still somewhere else in her eyes. Georgie frowns. He likes Beverly, he doesn't want her to be like this.

"Why isn't she waking up? What's wrong with her?! Beverly please!"

Then he hugs and kisses her. Georgie giggles while everyone else makes 'ew' noises. Like in stories Bev wakes up, and they say some stuff that's probably lovey, and then Richie makes a group hug, and Georgie knows Richie gives the best group hugs in the whole wide world. He gets happiest when Richie makes one happen on the couch with Georgie there too. He's still snuggling with Billy but he loves when the others are hugging them too.

When the hug ends, Billy is with Fake Georgie again. He sees that something is weird with his arm, but he doesn't know what. Is he hiding something behind his back? Like something that's gonna kill Billy? He knows Billy is in danger here, and he can get hurt. Georgie feels his tummy feel bad when Billy talks to Fake Georgie like it's really him.

"Take me home, Billy."

"No, you can't!" Georgie shouts. "He's a bad guy! He's tricking you!"

"I-I know, Georgie." Billy whispers, and he looks crying so Georgie puts his arms on his (heads, shoul-) shoulders.

Fake Georgie is making him sound like a baby, and he's making Billy cry even harder. Georgie hates how Billy looks when Fake Georgie talks. And the thing that sucks is that Billy always falls for it, and he's getting closer to Fake Georgie, and Fake Georgie is probably gonna kill him now! 

"I love you, Billy."

"I love you too."

Georgie really really hates Fake Georgie. Fuck Fake Georgie!

Wait is that a gun? "But you're not Georgie." Woah.

Billy and Mommy start crying, and Georgie hugs Billy tighter. All of his and Billy's friends go away and Mommy and Daddy move to hug them too.

"It's okay, Billy! It's Fake Georgie!" Georgie tells him. "You didn't really hurt me!"

Mommy holds his head close to her, and Georgie tries to move away but she won't let him. He doesn't know why they're so sad. It wasn't really Georgie! If it was really Georgie, Billy would never do that! Maybe he even killed Pennywise! That's how Georgie knows for sure it wasn't really Georgie.

"Oh my god, what if that was really Georgie?"

"Richie!"

"I'm so sorry, I'll beep beep myself. Beep beep Richie! .... That would be really fucked up though?"

"That was Fake Georgie!" He insists. Georgie doesn't know how long they stay in a family hug, but he gets really bored. He still doesn't whine about it, cause he likes making his family feel happy, but nothing is happening, and it was because of Fake Georgie dying, not Really Georgie.

Finally Mommy and Daddy stop squeezing so tightly, and Stan's mommy says. "Should we restart the movie?"

"Okay." Mommy nods. "Okay." Georgie doesn't know why she said it twice.

The movie shows Fake Georgie lying down with his eyes open. Georgie thinks that means Fake Georgie is dead. His mommy cries again, but he knows that it's not Really Georgie. 

Fake Georgie is still laying, and Georgie waits for him to be proved to be Fake. And waits. And waits. That isn't Really Georgie.

See!

XXX

Bill's POV

His eyes still burn with tears when he sees the figment impersonating his little brother start shaking. It should make him feel better, knowing that his future self didn't just murder his own brother, but for now all he can feel is defeat in the knowledge that no matter what his future self did, he wasn't gonna get his little brother back, and then terror grips him as his brother's body shifts into the clown.

"Kill It! Kill It! Kill It! Kill It!" His friends scream, and Bill guesses this is his hero moment. Is Bill the hero? He doesn't feel like it. 

Bill pulls out the gun again, even as Mike claims that it's not loaded, and remembering when the ammo fell after Mike loaded it the one time, Bill realizes he's right. But somehow it still manages to hurt Pennywise, even if it doesn't kill It. 

It lunges for Bill, and all his friends try to go after it. Bill glares when It throws Mike into a wall. They try to fight him off, but one by one Pennywise manages to throw each and everyone of them off of him until it's just Bill in It's grasp. And Bill doesn't want to die, but after he failed Georgie, he'd rather it be him than any of his friends.

Pennywise talks, and Bill realizes it's the most he's actually spoken since the first scene with Georgie. He winces as It talks about how he'll eat them all, cause all Bill can think is Myfaultmyfaultmyfault. It straight up offers to let the rest of them go in exchange for Bill's life. He feels Dad press him tighter against his chest. 

"Bill, don't you dare!" Mom says with a thick voice when Bill tells them to go. "We aren't- we can't- ... We love you!"

"And I love them." Bill whispers. He's okay with this, he realizes, and he got them involved in all of this. For them he can do this.

His thoughts are validated when Richie stands up. "It's your fault." And then he lists all the ways he fucked over the best friend he's had since diapers. And just when Bill accepts that he brought this on himself, Richie comes back with this. "And now... I'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown. Welcome to the Losers Club, asshole!"

Richie swings at Pennywise with a bat. "That's so cool!" Eddie shouts, looking at Richie in awe like he's some sort of fangirl.

He feels his chest tighten when those arms from Mike's scene come out at him again, but Stan saves the day. Pennywise turns into everything from the painted lady to the headless boy to attack them. He's trying to draw on their individual fears, but they're all together. That won't work.

The start to get an edge over him, and soon they're all at the edges of their seats watching them beat up this stupid, fucking clown that's been tormenting them all summer. He turns into a leper, and to Bill's honest disgust, vomits all over Eddie.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!" And then he kicks Pennywise in the face.

"YES!" Richie shouts like it's the best thing that has ever happened to him. "YES!!!"

And then- "Hey Bevvy, are you still my little-" Bev stabs him through the mouth, to Bill's, and definitely the other's, satisfaction.

Bill doesn't understand, Pennywise looks different. Well, obviously he takes different forms, but there's something about his expression. He looks almost scared? Is that right? He's backing away from them as they stand together. Together. They were always strongest together, and now It is scared.

It's shaking, and laughing, but It is scared and they are not. Bill makes a final speech about that, maybe as a final fuck you. But Pennywise backflips farther away, and Bill is hanged a pipe to finish him off. But before he can take a swing It's giant forehead does... Something. Flies off?

"Fear."

It falls down and away.

Richie makes a joke he'd actually find funny if he was in the mood, Bev and Bill hug, and Eddie points out that something is happening with the floating bodies. Bill notices Georgie's torn raincoat, and finally realizes the truth. Once again, tears build in his eyes as he watches himself breakdown. It's okay though, because his friends are there. 

He still can't imagine what life would be like without his little brother. But for the first time since that first scene with It and Georgie and the sewers, Bill thinks that maybe life for that alternate version of himself, the version he came so close being, won't be so terrible after all. That version of him might have lost one family, but he still has another one.

Chapter Text

Bev's POV

Finally, it's September, and suddenly their stupid town seems almost sunny. Or at least the fields surrounding the quarry do. The grass truly looks beautiful. Bev wonders if they had been that way all summer and the constant dread of It prevented her from seeing, or if It's defeat is what finally let the sun shine on the nature surrounding them.

They all sit in a circle next to the water. Bev still can't believe they all made it to the end of their fucked up horror movie alive. Maybe that just goes to show what the seven of them can do as a united front. 

She's the one talking. Describing something Bev doesn't quite understand. Feeling like death and shit.

"Those lights." Stan murmurs. "I think you're talking about what you saw when you where in that trance-coma thing from earlier."

"We were all older... Like, our parents' ages."

Bev frowns. "Like... That cycle thing?"

"Twenty seven years." Ben nods. "I think you saw us fighting It again, but in the next cycle. When he comes back." Bev almost feels like throwing up at the thought of going through all this twice, even with an almost three-decade long gap between that time.

"Ugh." Richie rolls his eyes. "Well I'm sure as hell gonna be anywhere other than here when that time comes. You sucker-fuckers are on your own!" Despite themselves, they all chuckle as Bev rolls her eyes.

Bill stands up, picking up a piece of glass. "Swear it. S-swear if It isn't dead... If It ever comes back... We'll come back too."

"What did I just say, Billiam?" Richie mutters, but everyone focuses on their own hesitant faces, and can see that no one wants to do what he says. But Bev herself is the first to stand, and she finds herself admiring her future self. The Bev who fought off her father, who wasn't scared of It. 

For the first time she realizes that she is so much stronger than she ever thought. She's stronger than she thought. Stronger than any cruel names Greta Keene or anyone like her can throw at her. Stronger than her fucking father. And strong enough to fight It, as long as she has her friends with her.

And so it's good that everyone stands with her, and let's Bill cut each of their palms. In the circle, each of them hold hands. First her and Bill, then she takes Ben's hand, which reminds her that she's still holding Ben's hand in real life. She shares a smile with him.

It's a sweet moment. A moment of unity. Bev doesn't even find it in her to tease Richie and Eddie  for holding hands with that 'Lover/Loser' sign on Eddie cast between them. She's been meaning to do some teasing about their friendship ever since Ben mistook them for gay. Now that they're all best friends, there are sure to be countless opportunities for her to embarrass them. Because they're all friends.

Stan is the first to leave, and Bev mockingly glares at him for ruining their moment. "I hate you."

They all blink at him in surprise, but their onscreen selves are cracking so they do too. "Fair enough." Bill shrugs.

"I wasn't joking though." Stan mutters.

Eddie leaves next, him hugging Richie goodbye. Two in a row? Bev has no choice. She makes kissing noises in their direction, causing them to scoff. Soon enough, everyone leaves. Mike, Richie, even Ben. She frowns slightly. She'd really like a chance to talk to Ben about that kiss, or just anything really. Bev feels flustered just thinking about it.

Instead, it's just her and Bill left. "Y-y-you all packed for Portland?"

"What?" Bev frowns. Listening further in their conversation she feels dread build up in her stomach. Portland. She's moving to fucking Portland to live with Aunt Jane.

It's strange, her entire life she's wanted to leave Derry. Three hours ago, if you told her she'd be leaving this hick-town to live somewhere that's on a fucking map, she'd be thrilled. So how is it fair that just when Bev finally finds some good things in their pathetic town, she leaves? 

"You're leaving?" Ben asks, looking sad, which only makes her feel more down.

"With what happened with her father, she will need to live somewhere." Mrs. Uris says gently. But she herself does not look happy at the prospect of Bev's home situation being plopped out of her hair. "Hopefully.... Hopefully, this will be better for her."

"It won't be." Bev grumbles, crossing her arms. She hasn't seen much of Aunt Jane in her life, but every time they do see her, there's always an air of snottiness when she looks at Bev. But mean girls have always made Bev feel small. Nothing new.

"I never felt like a loser when I was with you guys."

"... Then what's the point of naming ourselves losers!?" Richie asks, and Bev finds it in her to laugh.

It's true. Even now she doesn't. That's why she needs to find a way to get away from her dad, and (and she can't believe she's even gonna say this) still stay in Derry. With her friends.

Bev walks away. Away to her life in Portland. But Bill runs after her. And without saying words, they share a kiss... What?

But.... Ben kissed her? Is she cheating on him?! Oh god, she is a whore- Nope, she's still strong! She's still strong.... Fuck, what if he hates her after this?

She turns to him, and sees him staring at the screen with wide eyes. He glances at her and for a moment their eyes meet, and she sees the hurt in his eyes. Then he glares down at his lap.

"I'm sorry." Bev whispers, not really sure what to say to make this better. Maybe she should feel happy that she shared a kiss with the unofficial leader/main character, but Bev just feels ashamed of herself for making Ben feel so sad, and... Disappointed that they apparently aren't together in the future. Suddenly her joyous mood from earlier is so-

"OH SWEET JESUS THAT I STILL DON'T BELIEVE IN DESPITE NOT GOING TO SYNAGOGUE IT'S OVER!!!!!" Maggie shouts to the ceiling. Sighing heavily, she stretches. "Whoo! That was crazy!" She giggles. "I am getting wasted tonight. You too." She winks at her husband.

"Me too?" Richie suggests.

Maggie shakes her head. "Uh-uh."

"Well before that." Mr. Uris clears his throat. "I think we should attend to some other matters."

XXX

Richie's POV

"Okay," Mrs. Denbrough starts. "So clearly, the way to defeat It is a lack of fear. So I guess we have to find someway to not be so scared when-" She's cut off by the sound of gunshots, causing everyone to jump.

"What are you doing, Maggie?" Mr. Uris say in annoyance, aka his main mode when dealing with Richie's family. Like father like son, Richie supposes. 

Richie's mom is doing something with the movie with the remote, looking like she's trying to find something specific. "There!" Maggie shouts. The screen is paused on the cat Bowers almost killed earlier. "Okay, we need to take note of any special feature that would unique to this specific cat."

"Is this really what's important right now?"

"Well, I don't wanna find the wrong cat and leave poor fella to that teen rage coyote!" Mom pouts. She puckers her lips at the completely innocent animal on the screen. "No we don't. No we don't!"

Mrs. Denbrough sighs. "Just... If we need to use the movie for planning purposes, let us use it."

"Oh absolutely." Mom says immediately, then goes back to cooing over their future cat.

"Sharon!" Mr. Uris says incredulously.

"It's a cute cat." Mrs. Denbrough shrugs. 

"We sh-should just do what w-we in the movie." Bill cuts in. "It w-worked."

"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Denbrough says immediately. 

"Yeah." Mr. Denbrough agrees. "You aren't anywhere near that freak if we can help it! Besides, apparently you might not have even finished it off at all!" He looks a little too pissed off at that, but he seems to be holding back, like he's chaining himself up. 

That's an interesting thought. A tiny version of Bill's dad locked in chains in his head, and he's trying to scream out, and he has fire breath, and-

"Well, I mean, it's not like we have any other idea on how to kill this thing." Mrs. U points out. "Maybe It will really starve if we defeat It now." 

"That's kind of a lot of pressure." Dad sighs. "Especially considering we're fighting a creature who can turn into anything. It can grow claws, or fangs, or tentacles, or-"

Dad seems legitimately unnerved. Richie should probably make a joke right around now. "Speaking of tentacles-"

"Beep beep!" Eddie snaps. 

"Oh come on-"

"Beep beep!"

Needing something to distract himself from his friends who are rudely ignoring him, Richie sees Bev look longingly in Ben's direction. He's sitting with his mom. Looking like a loser, which apparently different than being a "Loser', it's hard for Richie to get, but no Loser should be left alone with his/her mom in his/her time of need, even an awesome mom.

He walks over to his friend. "Hey, I'm sorry Bill put his lips on the same girl as you."

Ben stares at him, and Richie realizes that he used his trashmouth again, but then Ben actually snorts. "Beep beep." He says with a small smile.

Richie smiles back. Mrs. Ben's Mom stands graciously. "I won't intrude on you two. I'll talk to the other parents." 

Richie sits on the armrest of the couch. "Sorry man. But if it makes you feel better, Bev seems more upset that things are rough with you than thrilled that she kissed the mighty Bill Denbrough."

"She just feels sorry for me." Ben says softly. "I wrote her some pathetic love poem and then kissed her. I feel sorry for me!"

"Well stop it!" Richie crosses his arms, but then really, really thinks about it. "I mean... Okay, the 'Loser' part of the Losers Club has proven to be very iffy, so I don't know if self-pity is something that's acceptable amongst club members, but I do know it's a bad look on you. So stop it."

Ben stares at him thoughtfully for a moment before finally saying. "You're a good friend, Richie."

Richie blinks. He's not used to being complimented. And that's the way he fucking likes it. "Damn. Okay, but I do know that insulting the fuck out of me is definitely a requirement of the club, so deal with that!"

They both laugh. Out of habit, Richie lets his gaze drift to look at Eddie, because he always looks for Eddie's reaction whenever he says something that makes someone else actually laugh. He's looking over at Ben and Richie with a thinly-veiled smile on his cute li- his lips. They make eye contact and it turns into a full-blown smile. Eddie gives Richie a thumbs up then returns to whatever the others are talking about. 

He looks back at Ben, and finds him staring at Richie, looking like he's deep in thought. "What?" Richie asks.

"Do you like Eddie?" Ben asks, looking up at him curiously.

"Do I like my best friend?" Richie scoffs. "You're gonna have to get used to our banter if you wanna chill with us. Though to be fair, I can only imagine Eds must think the opposite question everyday."

"No. I mean, like... Okay, I lived in San Francisco for awhile. My mom had a fight with the sister we were living with in Oregon, so we moved in with her cousin." Ben explains even though Richie just kind of wants to know where this is going. "Anyways, I only lived there for a year, but... I never bothered making friends, but I did learn a lot about... Diverse people."

"So?" Richie asks with crinkled eyebrows. What did this have to with him and Eddie.

"Gay people, Richie." Ben finally admits in a whisper. Richie's eyes widen. "I'm asking if you have a crush on Eddie."

Richie's brain comes to a screeching halt. He keeps his voice low to not attract very unwanted attention. "Wha- No. I... What? That's crazy." 

But was it though? More and more as he watched this movie, it became harder to deny. No matter how much Richie talks about girls, the most important person in his life, the person he wants to always be by his side is very much not a girl. And he can't fucking deny it.

He doesn't know how long he's known, maybe even before today. In hindsight, maybe that's why he started telling jokes about sex in the first place. A reassurance. A way to tell himself, 'No! You aren't like that, silly!'

"Richie?" Ben asks with a concerned from. "Richie, it's okay."

"You can't tell anyone. Please, you can't tell anyone!"

"Richie-"

"Good friends keep their friends secret gay crushes a secret. You're a good friend, aren't you Ben?" Richie asks a bit desperately.

"Richie!" Ben smiles softly. "I swear I won't tell anyone." 

"Really?"

"I wanna be a good friend." Ben smiles. 

"Thank you." Richie sighs. "Thank you. Keep this a secret and I will name my firstborn after you, Ben. Just... Thank you." 

"How will you do that if you're gay?" Ben asks, genuinely curious. 

Richie bites his lip, not wanting to tell him that he's still holding out hope that he'll turn straight, or at least meet a girl who will be the exception to his... usual type. That this all some sick, confused phase. Instead he shrugs. "I don't know, I think we're getting a cat."

"So?"

Richie looks at him like it's obvious. "So I'll the name the cat Ben."

"Um..." Ben blinks. "Um..." 

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asks, as the others walk over to them. 

Ben and Richie share a look, and in unison they say. "Nothing!"

Eddie looks like he wants to press for more details, and Richie doesn't blame him cause he hates keeping any secrets from him, but before he can the tv starts acting weird. They turn to see the movie and rewinding like crazy.

"Maggie, what did you do?" Mr. Uris say accusingly. 

"Nothing!" Mom shouts, backing away from the tv. Finally the box under the TV poops out a tape. Mom grabs it, ignoring Dad, Mrs. Denbrough, and Mr. Uris' protests and inspects. "It just says, 'It'."

"Give me that." Mrs. Denbrough snatches it. "This must me the movie... Okay, I want to go home. We'll study this more thoroughly when we actually know we are... Any idea where a door might be?"

Dad sits next to him and sighs looking at Richie. "I hope we're not fucking trapped. Actually... You know, fighting the magical clown will be a bitch. But honestly, I am just thrilled that the movie is done with."

"Wait." Richie says remembering something. "Didn't that weird Turtle guy say that there were-"

The screen turns on again. Once again, it shows Bev floating in the air.

"Oh-"