Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Karen Wheeler wakes up one morning feeling unspeakably sick. She throws the covers back and rushes to the bathroom, immediately leaning over the toilet and throwing up last night’s dinner. She flushes and stands, turning on the faucet and cupping her hands underneath it, drinking some water straight from the tap. Once she rinses out the awful taste of vomit in her mouth, she feels the tiniest bit excited. 

She puts a hand on her stomach to try to calm herself. Sure, she and Ted have been trying for another baby for a while now, but it could just be food poisoning, or the flu. Or something. 

“Ted!” She yells. “Ted, come here, please!”

“Yes?” he calls, making his way over to the bathroom.

“I threw up,” she states blandly. 

“I’m sorry, honey,” he says softly, rubbing her back. “I can get some tylenol, and call work for you, if you want-”

“I’m not sure if it’s that,” Karen says.

His eyes light up. “You think it could be…?”

She nods, rubbing her stomach. “I hope.” 

“Me too,” he says gently. “Have you had your… y’know…?”

“No, not in around a month and a half,” Karen says happily. “When can we get an appointment with the doctor?”  

“Probably soon,” Ted answers. “Do you want me to call him?” 

Karen nods. “Yes, please. I’ll start breakfast and wake Nancy. What time is it?” 

“8:30.”

Karen pulls her hair back from her face and then walks down the hall to her daughter’s room.

“Nance, wake up baby,” Karen whispers, rubbing Nancy’s shoulder. 

Nancy blinks up at her. “Hi, Mama.” 

“Hi, sweetie. What do you want for breakfast?” 

“Cereal?” 

Karen pours three bowls of fruity pebbles, and three glasses of apple juice. One of them is significantly smaller than the other two, but that’s just what’s healthy for her little girl. 

“Thanks, Mommy.”

“Of course, sweetie. Enjoy.” Karen rakes her fingers through Nancy’s loose waves and then walks back upstairs. 

“Hi again,” Ted says dorkily. 

“Hi,” Karen says, smiling. “So, when is the first available time for an appointment?”

“They said they can see us on July 17th, which is, sooner than I expected,” Ted says with a smile. 

Karen hugs him. “I’m so excited.”

“Me too.” 

On August 3rd, they find out that Karen is for sure pregnant, and start preparing right away. 

Karen handles all of the clothes, accessories, and interior decorating of the baby’s room, whereas Ted shops for binkis, diapers, and formula. He knows Karen plans to breastfeed, but they both agreed on formula as a backup plan, just in case. 

They arrive home that afternoon, and Karen immediately collapses on the couch, a hand on her stomach. 

“Tired already?” Ted jokes. 

“Hey. You try having a human being inside of you,” she replies back, opening her eyes and letting Ted help her up. 

They’re letting Nancy stay the night at her Nana’s tonight for some much-needed alone time.

Ted chops up everything for their Salisbury steak, and Karen does most of the sauteing and actual cooking. Ted starts on the strawberry shortcake for dessert, and Karen definitely steals a few licks of his homemade whipped cream. 

“Thanks for this,” she says later, when they’re watching a movie. 

“For what?” he asks, putting an arm around her.

“For being the father of my children, cooking for me, y’know… everything,” she says, laughing a little. 

“I love you,” he says in response. 

“I love you, too.” 

The next morning, they spend the whole day designing the baby’s nursery. Ted builds the brown wooden crib, setting it up in one corner of the room. Nancy’s old changing table sits in the other corner, and Karen works on painting the walls without getting too much paint all over herself, or Ted. Nancy helps paint, as well as making sure all the stuffed animals they’ve already bought are comfortable and familiar with each other. 

“It looks great, babe,” Ted says, wrapping an arm around Karen and stepping back to admire their work.

The walls are a light gray that compliment the dark brown of the wood in the room. There’s a playmat on the floor, and a few baby blankets hung over the side of the crib already. They have plenty of bobos (what Nancy calls binkis) and nipples stacked in the drawers of the changing table. They’re more than ready. 

Karen kisses Ted on the cheek. “I love it.”

“Me too. I know this is a bit early, but… have you started thinking of names yet?” 

“A little,” Karen says. “Have you?” 

“I have one.” 

“What is it?”

“No, you go first,” Ted insists.

“Well, I was thinking Michael, after my dad’s dad,” Karen says simply. 

“And if she’s a girl?” Ted asks. 

“I’m not sure. What are your name suggestions?”

“Rachel if she’s a girl, and Richard if he’s a boy.” 

“Richard, I like that,” Karen says. “Richie for short. Rachel is really pretty too.”

Ted smiles. 

“I think these three are good names. We’ll just have to see which one fits the baby, when he or she comes.”

It’s almost New Year’s, and Karen’s bump is getting too big to hide. Luckily, nobody has questioned why she isn’t drinking, why she’s waddling instead of walking now, and why she’s wearing extremely baggy clothing.

They’ve decided to announce the baby tonight, right after New Year’s, during the toast.

“3, 2, 1, Happy New Year!”

Ted gives Karen a quick kiss, and Nancy makes a face, taking a sip from her glass of sparkling grape juice. 

Ted holds up his glass of champagne. “I propose a toast, to the new year, and to everyone in this room with me now…” he trails off, looking at Karen. She grins and nods, urging him to keep going. “And here’s to the rest of Karen’s pregnancy going smoothly! Alright!”

Karen giggles and nearly doubles over laughing at the confused expression on everyone’s faces after they drink. 

“Did I have too much or did he just-” Karen’s brother starts. 

She puts her hands on her stomach, pulling her shirt tight around her abdomen. “He just did.” 

Everyone cheers. 

“Baby,” Nancy says simply, tugging on her mama’s hand. 

“That’s right, there’s a baby in there.”

“She knew and we didn’t?” Nana asks with a good-natured smile.

Karen nods, grinning. “You know her, she’s very smart. She kinda just figured it out.”

“Kept asking and asking why Mama’s tummy was getting so big,” Ted adds, picking up Nancy. “Didn’t you?” 

Nancy nods and puts her head on her dad’s shoulder, yawning. After all, she’s still only four years old. Midnight is pretty late for her. 

“I’m going to get her to bed,” Ted says. “I’ll be right back.”

“Congratulations, Karen,” Nana says, wrapping her eldest daughter in a hug.

“Thanks, Mom,” Karen says, beaming as the rest of the family congratulates her. 

“Any guesses on the gender?” Papa throws out.

“Dad!” Karen says. “No… not yet.” 

“I’m saying it’s a boy,” he says, lighting a cigar. 

“I think it’s a girl,” Nana speaks up.

The rest of the family puts their bets out there, and Karen lets them argue for a while. Sure, she’s wondered vaguely about the gender of the baby before, but she’s never really put this much thought into it. She puts her hands on her stomach and rubs it thoughtfully. The baby gives a little kick, and then another. She feels his or her two feet kicking her at the same time.

“Mom, feel my stomach,” Karen says, holding her mom’s hands and placing them on the lower part of her belly, where the baby is kicking. 

“Oh my,” her mom breathes. “She’s a kicker.”

“He,” her dad corrects.

Karen rolls her eyes. 

The party wraps up quickly after that, and soon it’s just Karen and Ted, throwing away stray streamers from the living room. 

“So, what gender do you think she is?” Ted asks, when they’re lying in bed late that night.

“I’m really not sure,” Karen replies honestly. “I’d be happy with anything, obviously, but…” She puts a hand on her stomach. “Maybe he’s a boy…?” 

The baby kicks. She smiles. “Yeah. I think he’s a boy.”

Ted smiles, and wraps an arm around her. “We’ll see.” 

Come early March, it is very difficult for Karen to do simple tasks, such as walking to the bathroom, or washing dishes. She feels useless, and she hates it, but she knows it will all be worth it once the baby gets here, and she gets to hold and love him.

She’s trying to fold some laundry when a sock falls on the ground. She bends over to get it, but doesn’t get very far when a sharp pain shoots through her lower back. “ Shit. Ted can you come here, please?” 

“Yes?” he asks, there in a heartbeat. 

“Can you pick up that sock?” 

“Of course, honey,” he says, picking it up and placing it in the sock pile. “You should really rest. You look so tired-”

“Thanks,” she says flatly. “You really know how to sweet talk a woman.”

“I just want you to feel okay,” Ted says, rubbing her back.

“I’ll feel okay once this baby is out of me. I swear, some days it feels like there’s five of ‘em in there,” she jokes. “He’s so friggin’ heavy.” 

“She,” Ted says. 

Karen glares at him.

“I mean he! Sorry.”

She sighs. “Sorry I’m so moody. My back just really hurts, and I’m super tired, y’know-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself. You’re pregnant. Just… relax, okay? Can you promise me you’ll at least try to get some good sleep tonight?” 

“I’ll try,” Karen promises. 

They lock pinkies like the dorks they are. 

That night, it’s harder to sleep than ever before. She can’t close her eyes for a minute without the baby kicking and squirming around inside her. Oh, and her back hurts like absolute hell. She feels as if she’s going to burst open any minute now. He performs a particularly hard kick to her bladder, causing her to shoot up and rush to the bathroom. 

She relieves herself quickly, trying to hurry back to bed so she can at least catch a few hours of sleep, when she feels something warm and wet trickle down her leg. 

“Oh, holy shit,” she says breathlessly. “Ted! Ted!” 

“Hm?” he calls from the bedroom. “Karen, are you-”

“We gotta go,” she says, smiling. “He’s coming.”

“Yeah, okay, what do you-”

“Just call my parents, carry Nancy out to the car, I’ll grab the diaper bag we packed a few weeks ago.” 

Karen digs a pad out of the diaper bag and puts it on, hoping it’ll help slow down the steady flow of amniotic fluid exiting her body. 

She feels a sharp pain start in her lower back and move to her stomach. She winces. Contractions. 

Karen gives up on sliding on her tennis shoes and coat, instead throwing onone of Ted’s old college sweatshirts and a pair of slides. 

Ted is waiting for her in the car, Nancy looking around groggily in the back seat. 

“Mama? Where are we going?” 

“The baby is coming,” Karen explains, breathing as evenly as she can with these new contractions taking over her body. “Did you call my parents?”

“Yes,” Ted replies. “They’re coming to sit with Nancy in the waiting room. Hopefully they’ll let me inside.”

“Unless those bitch-ass doctors wanna get punched in the face by a pregnant woman they will.”

Nancy doesn’t even comment on her mom’s language. 

They arrive at the hospital within the next ten minutes. Ted helps Karen out of the car and then carries Nancy in. 

The doctors and nurses immediately get Karen into a hospital gown and settled in a room, although Nancy and Ted have to wait outside, simply because of Nancy’s age. Ted promises that as soon as her parents get there, he will be inside, holding her hand. 

“Hi,” he says softly, brushing her hair back out of her eyes. 

“Hi,” she mumbles through clenched teeth, trying not to cry out because of all the pain going through her body at once. It feels like someone is ripping apart her insides. The doctors gave her a couple pain relievers, but they don’t seem to be working too well. 

She cries out in pain as the contractions continue to intensify. She feels like she must be squeezing the blood right out of Ted’s hand, but can’t quite bring herself to care. 

“You’re doing, amazing, sweetheart, I love you, think of how worth it this is all going to be when you get to see his beautiful face,” Ted whispers.

“So-” Karen starts, trying to work through another contraction. “So you’ve finally accepted he’s a boy?” 

Ted smiles. 

Twenty hours and a lot of repressed screaming later, she feels a sticky, wet sensation as the baby slips out. Her stomach still feels unbearably heavy, though. 

“Wow, Ms. Wheeler, he’s got a lot of hair,” a nurse comments. 

He. 

“He’s a boy!” Ted tells her. “You were right!” 

She smiles. 

He doesn’t cry right away, which almost causes Karen to go into full-blown hysterics, but with some gentle prompting from a kind nurse, he begins to wail at the top of his lungs. She can’t find it in her to hate the sound. 

“Wait, hold on,” the doctor says.

“Wha- what’s wrong?” Karen asks, trying to sit up. Ted pushes her back down. 

“Keep pushing,” the doctor orders.

“What?” Karen asks. 

“Please, I see something else down there,” he says. 

“O-okay,” Karen stammers, starting to push again.

So the heavy feeling in her stomach wasn’t excitement or nerves. 

Twelve minutes later, another loud cry hits her ears as her third baby is born. 

“He’s another boy, isn’t he?” Karen asks with her eyes closed, after the initial shock of having two babies instead of just one has worn off.

Ted squeezes her hand. “Yep. What are you going to name them?” 

“I think…” Karen trails off, out of breath and extremely exhausted. “Remember when we talked about names? I liked those two we picked out…”

“Michael and Richard?” 

“Yeah,” Karen says lightly. “Mike and Richie.”

“And what about middle names?” Ted asks. 

“Michael… Michael Theodore and Richard Andrew,” Karen says decisively.

“You want to name Richie after my dad?” Ted asks cautiously. 

Karen nods. “Yes, so he can redeem the name. Just like you are.” She smiles and holds her husband's hand. 

The doctors return after cleaning, diapering, and swaddling the babies. A doctor lays Mike on one side and Richie on the other side of her chest. Mike almost immediately settles down and falls back asleep, whereas Richie simply stares at his mama. 

“It is March 7th, 1971, at 12 in the morning. Michael Theodore Wheeler weighs 8.8 pounds, and Richard Andrew Wheeler weighs 7.5. Michael is 19.5 inches and Richard is 19 inches,” a kind nurse says. She leaves after making sure the family is situated and relatively calm. 

“Jeez, how are we going to tell them apart?” Ted asks. 

“Easy,” Karen says. “Mike-” she points to the baby on her left breast “-and Richie.” She points to the baby on her right.

“That’s not easy at all, but okay…?” Ted says, a little confused. “Your parents want to come in with Nancy, can they-”

“No,” Karen answers quickly. “I… I want to spend time with the boys first. They need to know their mama.”

Richie looks at her, deep brown eyes wide. 

“Hi, baby,” Karen says.

He blinks at her slowly, his tiny hand curling around his face. Ted sticks his finger in Richie's hand and Richie's fingers close around it. He smiles. 

"That never gets old." 

His wife nods. “He’s got such pretty eyes,” she remarks.

“Which one?” Ted jokes. 

“Richie, duh. Mike’s sleeping.” 

“Okay, so Richie’s got the green blanket, and Mike’s got the blue one?” 

“Exactly,” Karen murmurs.

Richie starts squirming, his little mouth opening and closing almost frantically. 

“He’s hungry,” Karen says. “Shit. How am I supposed to feed both of them at once?” 

“Well, Mike is sleeping right now, so just pull your shirt down a little and let Richie eat from your right side.”

“Can you help me?” Karen asks, laughing a little.

“Of course.” Richie starts crying, effectively waking Mike and causing him to cry as well. 

“Sadly, I think we’re going to have to get used to that,” Ted says, pulling down Karen’s hospital gown a little bit. Richie is still desperately searching for a nipple, and once he finds it, he immediately settles down, making contented sucking noises. 

“Can you help Mike find the other one please?” Karen asks. 

Ted nods and loosens her gown even further, allowing Mike to suck on Karen’s other nipple. 

“How does it feel?” Ted asks. 

“Really weird,” Karen answers. “It feels like I’m being drained…? But it doesn’t necessarily feel bad…”

The sucking sensation stops in her right nipple, and she looks down to see that Richie’s eyes are closed and he’s fallen asleep, though his mouth is still around her nipple. She laughs softly. 

“What?” Ted asks. 

“He fell asleep while nursing.”

“How lazy of him,” Ted remarks jokingly. 

“Shit, I have to burp him…” Karen says. “Ugh, I don’t wanna wake him up!” 

“Just… rub his back a little, make sure he’s done eating and didn’t just fall asleep out of pure content… rubbing his back will act as burping,” Ted says. 

“Okay.” Karen places a hand on Richie’s tiny back and starts rubbing slowly, checking on Mike every now and then. He’s still eating. Richie eventually pulls back from her nipple, burping softly. 

“That was the most adorable burp I’ve ever heard,” Ted says. “Is that weird?”

“No,” Karen says, putting a hand on his arm and laughing. “But… I am sure it only gets grosser from here.” She makes a face, and Ted laughs. “Hey… what time is it?” 

“Almost one in the morning.” 

“Okay, so if I go to sleep now, I’ll have to wake up every three hours to feed them again, right?” 

“Correct,” Ted says. “Babies have no concept of day and night. Only hungry, and full.”

“Yeah. This is going to be tough, with two of them,” she says wistfully, looking at Mike. She rubs his back too, coaxing him away from her nipple. She gets a small burp out of him, too before he slips back to sleep. 

“Go to sleep, Karen. You look tired. We’ll all still be here when you wake up. And after a good power nap, maybe the twins can meet their Nana, Papa, and older sister?” 

In all of the chaos of having twins, Karen had almost forgotten about her parents waiting patiently outside with her daughter. 

“Yeah. Okay,” she breathes, closing her eyes. “Love you.”

“I love you, too.” 

Richie wakes her up with a sharp cry, and unlike last time, she gets him fed before he wakes Mike. 

“The grandparents can come in now,” Karen whispers. 

Ted steps out for a minute and returns with her parents and Nancy, who is holding her pink blankie and rubbing her eyes tiredly. 

“Wait, what?” Nana starts. 

“Am I seeing double or are there two babies on your chest instead of one?” Papa asks.

“Twins!” Nancy exclaims, waking up immediately and rushing over to her mama. 

“How much sleep has she gotten tonight?” Karen asks. 

“Not a lot,” Nana answers honestly. “What about you?” 

“Same deal. Whenever Richie cries, he wakes up Mike.”

“Richie and Mike huh?” Papa asks. 

“Yep. Michael and Richard,” Ted confirms.

“Oh, Ted, that’s way too formal. We’ll only call them that when they’re in trouble.”

The parents share a smile as Karen’s mom opens her mouth to scold. Ted gives her a look and instead she asks to hold one of the twins. 

“Of course, Mom,” Karen says, shifting slightly. “Here, take Mike.”

“Uh… which one is Mike…?” 

“He has a little bit more hair than Richie,” Karen says. 

“As far as I can see, they have the same hair: a helluva lot of it,” Papa says, laughing. 

“Mike’s asleep, he’s on my left side,” Karen says, getting slightly exasperated.

“Oh. Thanks, sweetie.” Karen’s mom takes Mike from her arms, and he startles a bit, but settles back down quickly. 

“He’s going to want to eat in a little bit, so just beware of that…” Karen trails off. She puts a hand on Richie’s back and rubs, trying to keep him awake this time so he gets enough food. He pulls back and burps softly, and instead of falling asleep, opts to just stare at her some more while Mike is fed.

“Do you wanna hold Richie, too, Ma?” Karen asks. 

Of course, she wants to. Richie isn’t as easy as Mike was, though, and he cries a lot before ending up back in Karen’s arms. 

“Can I hold?” Nancy asks tentatively.

“When we get home, sweetheart,” Ted says gently. “We don’t want the baby to accidentally fall. We need pillows and things.” 

“Okay,” Nancy says, yawning and curling up next to Nana with her blankie. 

Karen must fall back asleep, and it goes on like that for a while. She falls asleep, feeds the babies, and then sometimes just stares at them while they stare at her. Richie seems very interested in her, while Mike seems more interested in his brother. They haven’t really interacted much yet, but they’re barely a day old yet. She expects much more sibling bonding to come. 

“Karen, hey, baby, wake up,” Ted whispers, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes. “We’re going home.” 

Their first night home is a bit of a trainwreck, neither parent getting much sleep. Luckily, as long as Nancy’s door is closed, she manages to sleep through a lot of the twins’ feeding sessions.

They only have one crib, and Nana and Papa set out to buy a matching one a few hours ago and have yet to come home, which means Richie is spending a lot of time asleep in Karen’s arms. She takes turns putting them in the crib, but Richie fusses a lot more than Mike when he’s not being held. Mike loves to be held just as much as Richie, but when he’s asleep, he’s out. Whereas with Richie he just needs to be held all the time . Karen fears this isn’t good for his development, but can’t do anything about it until they get another crib.

“Are they here yet?” Karen asks, rocking a fussy Mike. 

“Almost,” Ted answers. “I see their car down the road. Okay, they’re here. I’m going to go get the crib set up.” 

Karen sighs in relief as she sticks her finger in a pacifier and lets Mike suck on it. Both the twins took to pacifiers pretty well, Richie a little more so than Mike. But this is helping soothe him for now, which is really all she’s asking for. 

An hour or so later, Ted takes Mike from her arms and sets him in his new crib. He startles a little, and they both hold their breath, waiting for him to start crying. 

He doesn’t. 

“Damn,” Karen breathes. “Okay, let’s get out of here.” 

“What time is it?” 

“It’s like five in the morning.” 

One thing they had learned as parents of twins so far was that they completely lose all concept of time. She tries to think back to if this happened with Nancy, but she can’t remember. Maybe it’s just sleep deprivation. 

Regardless of being so sleep deprived she can barely think sometimes, Karen loves every minute she spends with her boys. She had her older brother, who’s a photographer, come over and take pictures of the twins and Nancy, but mostly the twins. The pictures turned out amazing. For only being one week old, Mike and Richie are surprisingly photogenic.

Nancy loves her new brothers. She loves holding them, helping feed them, watching her mom take care of them, everything. Most girls would prefer having a younger sister, but not Nancy. She loves her twin brothers with all her heart, and makes sure they know this, spending as much time as possible with them. 

Nancy isn’t the only one who adores the twins. Not too long after the twins’ turn one month old, Karen and Ted decide to have a small get together for Nana, Papa, and Karen’s brother, sister, and their spouses. Everyone takes turns holding the babies, and Karen never thought she’d be glad to hear their piercing cries signaling the need for food, but at the end of the day, she is glad to hold both her boys in her arms. 

Karen is slowly getting fit again. She’s not necessarily watching what she eats, but she likes to take the babies on walks in their double-stroller, and sometimes she goes on runs with Ted. It makes her feel more confident to see her body going back to its normal shape.

After two months of having her sons, Karen notices some things. Mike has taken to sucking his thumb instead of a pacifier. Karen isn’t too concerned about this, as Nancy did it for a little while, too, but grew out of it quickly. She hopes the case is the same for Mike. She has started laying the babies down on blankets and letting them learn to lift their heads. Richie has been smiling a lot more, too, although Ted claims it’s just gas. 

At three months, Richie still insists on being held almost all the time. Karen invests in a sling so she can carry him wherever she goes, but still have her hands free to take care of things she couldn’t do while she was pregnant. Karen has also been very concerned lately about SIDS, so she also invested in a baby monitor, and that has helped tremendously. 

When the babies turn five months old, teeth start coming in. It’s a nightmare for her and Ted as parents, and Karen doesn’t sleep for a good two days in a row. She’s constantly holding Richie, keeping her finger in the bobo that he’s sucking on, and Mike still hasn’t gotten out of the habit of sucking his thumb. His teeth are coming in now, so after he falls asleep, she just gently removes his thumb from his mouth, but it always finds its way back somehow in the middle of the night. It’s not like they can’t afford braces, but she’d like to avoid it if at all possible. The twins have started interacting with each other as well as interacting with her, which she is delighted to see. They can bear weight on their legs, and sometimes pull themselves up on the couch. Karen is always standing behind them, ready to catch them if they fall. And Richie falls. A lot. 

She introduces solid food and sippy cups, slowly weaning them off formula and breast milk. Richie’s been babbling a lot more than Mike has, but she talks to both of them all the time, trying to get them to speak. Ted says it won’t happen for another couple of months, but Richie is really showing promise. She left the kitchen for one second. One second. She comes back, and Richie and Mike are absolutely covered in mashed potatoes and peas. She doesn’t know if they smeared it on each other or on themselves, but she knows the bath she gave them afterwards exhausted all three of them.

Mike sleeps through the night before Richie does, because Richie is just a little firecracker to get to bed. On the contrary, Mike simply needs a bottle and his thumb and he’s out like a light. Karen reads to Richie, sings to him (the same three songs, over and over ), and lets him have the bobo with her finger in it, but he’ll still be wide awake by nine o’clock. She hands him over to Ted and doesn’t even want to know what time he gets to bed.

Richie starts crawling before Mike does, and somewhere around then they both say their first words. They’re just about to go to bed when Richie calls her Mama, and Karen’s heart just about melts. Mike hears this and copies his brother a few weeks after, but in terms of crawling, prefers to hold himself on the edge of the couch and pull himself along than crawl like Richie. They’re both sleeping through the night now, much to Ted and Karen’s delight. 

Around nine months, Mike and Richie both become very attached to their blankies, refusing to go anywhere without them.  Mike’s is a soft blue one, with silk around the edges, and Richie’s is the same design except green. They find each other increasingly more interesting than anything else at this point. They love stacking blocks together, occasionally watching the news with Daddy, and eating together. She is so touched that her boys get along this well, and has high hopes that it always stays this way.

Their first birthday party is long, and contains lots of gifts and kisses from distant relatives. They each have a small cake in their high chairs. Mike seems very confused at first, but quickly smashes his fist into it, bringing it up to his mouth and discovering it’s sweet, and therefore safe and good. Richie babbles on and on in baby-talk, and Mike, in their close proximity, reaches over, smashing his fist into Richie’s cake and getting some on Richie’s arms. Richie copies Mike in eating it, and enjoys it just as much. 

“I can’t believe it’s been a year,” Karen says quietly, picking up Mike, who is close to falling asleep.

“Yeah, it’s really crazy, huh?” Ted asks, holding Richie. “Time flies.”

“It really does,” Karen says, putting Mike down in his crib on the left side of the room. She tucks him in with his blue blanket, because now that he’s officially one, she feels free from her worry about SIDS. Ted lays Richie down, and he whines for a bit, standing up and reaching his arms out. 

“Mamamamamama,” he babbles, looking at her helplessly.

“It’s bedtime, baby,” she says softly, walking over to him. “You need to lie down.” 

He shakes his head. “Richie, lie down for mama.” 

He shakes his head again. “Richie.” Karen looks exasperatedly at Ted. “How do you get him to sleep at night?” 

“I just wait until he tires himself out, to be honest. It will happen eventually.”

“Yeah, but that’s not healthy ,” Karen protests. She looks back to Richie, who is pouting at her, and on the verge of tears. She picks him up.

“Karen, now he’s going to think when he cries he gets what he wants,” Ted says. 

“No, he’s not,” Karen argues. Richie yawns and puts his head on his mama’s shoulder. “See? He’s just touch-starved.”

“How? You never put the kid down!”

“Sh! I don’t know, but he’s going to sleep now, okay?” 

Richie blinks, bringing his chubby baby fist up to rub his eyes, yawning again. His bobo falls from his mouth, and he doesn’t even fuss.

“Damn. He’s tired.” Ted picks up the bobo and puts it away, in one of the drawers of the changing table. 

“Exactly,” Karen says firmly. “I know what I’m talking about.”

“Okay, I trust you, I just-”

“I know, Ted,” Karen reassures. “It’s okay. I… I just… I can tell when he’s being needy and when he actually needs, y’know?” 

Ted nods, even though he doesn’t know, because he loves all three of his kids with all his heart, but still doesn’t have all the motherly instincts Karen does.

“Thanks for trusting me,” Karen says, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. She lays a sleepy Richie down in his crib and tucks him in with his blanket tightly, so he won’t move and accidentally hurt himself in his sleep. 

She’s about to leave the room. “Wait,” she says, turning back around and going over to Mike’s crib. She gently pulls his thumb out of his mouth and tucks his arm underneath the blanket, hoping that will help break the habit. His teeth are fine so far, but she doesn’t want to take any risks. It’s going to be so hard to break the habit, mostly because it’s how he soothes and she hates seeing him distressed, but… it’s worth it for his pearly whites, she guesses.

“How did you know he was doing that?” Ted asks. 

Karen shrugs. “He does it every night, what do you mean?” 

“You’re magic, I’m telling you.”

“I’m just a mom.”

“No, no just anything,” Ted argues. “ Magic .” 

She laughs and gives him a quick kiss, so incredibly grateful to have her family.

Chapter Text

“Mama, mama!”

Karen opens her eyes and looks down at her son, who is pulling on her sheets frantically. “What’s wrong, baby?” 

“Mikey hurted,” Richie states, eyes wide. “Come faster!” He tugs on her pajamas this time, looking way too worried for an almost three-year-old. 

Karen stands quickly, letting Richie nearly drag her by her pajamas to his and Mike’s room. She’s not extremely worried, she just figures Mike fell out of bed or something, though that’s usually Richie’s thing…

She can feel Richie’s panic, though. His hands are shaking where he’s clutching her shirt. “Richie, calm down. I’m sure Mikey’s fine.”

That was before she heard the cough. 

“ Shit ,” she cusses, rushing over to Mike’s bed. She pushes some sweat-soaked hair back from his face. “Ted! Ted, come here right now!” 

“What?” 

Mike’s curled up on his bed, facing his mama now. He’s crying, his breathing is fast, and he makes little squeaky sounds with every inhale. 

“Shit,” Ted repeats, saying the same thing Karen did. 

“What do we do?” Karen asks, picking up Mike and holding him gently in her lap. He coughs a few times, a high, barking cough that sounds a bit like-

“Croup,” Ted says. “He has croup. I’ll run a hot shower. Keep him comforted.” 

“Sh… sh… it’s alright,” Karen says, comforting a sobbing Mike. “Baby, you gotta stop crying. I know you can’t breathe-”

He interrupts her with a large, gasping, wheezy inhale, and then a broken, exhaled sob.

“Richie, how long has he been like this?” 

Richie shrugs. “Since I just woken up, I guess.” 

“Okay, sweetie, can you try to lie down for me?”

Richie shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. Mikey is hurted.”

Mike inhales largely again, his breath hitching at the top. He doesn’t exhale. Karen tries her best not to panic, rubbing his back and trying to get whatever’s in his lungs to come out, but she can see her poor baby’s face turning red. “Ted!” she yells. “Ted, he’s not breathing!” 

“Okay, okay, the shower’s ready, give him to me,” Ted says. Karen hands him Mike, who manages to succeed in inhaling, though he squeaks at the top of his breath and coughs loudly as an exhale. 

Karen follows Ted into their bathroom, where they hold Mike near the steam of the shower for five minutes. He won’t stop crying, and his breathing is only quickening. It doesn’t seem to be helping at all. Mike inhales sharply, and then goes into a loud, barking coughing fit, and he doesn’t stop.

“Ted, call my parents. I’m taking him to the ER.” 

“Richie and Nancy-”

“You stay here with them until my parents get here, and then drive their car to the ER, okay?” 

Ted nods. 

“Mama?” Richie asks quietly from behind her. Nancy, who got out of bed at some unknown point, has her arms around her younger brother in a hug. “Is Mikey going to be okay?” 

Ted rubs Mike’s back as he coughs and wheezes. Karen nods in what she hopes is a reassuring way. Judging by the way Richie’s eyes fill with tears, it wasn’t. 

“I’ll be back. I love you all,” Karen says quickly, taking Mike from Ted’s arms. She continues to rub his back as he coughs and squeaks, feeling so bad that he has to go through this. 

“Mama,” Richie says, following her to the door. “Take this.” He hands her Mike’s worn blue blankie, which she knows Mike will be more than happy to have at the hospital. 

“Thanks, Richie. You’re very sweet.” 

She smiles and then walks outside, strapping him in his carseat quickly, and then she rushes off to the hospital. 

“Mike, baby, you’ve gotta stop crying, sh…” she keeps saying, even though she knows her words won’t reach his ears. He’s way too focused on getting oxygen to his brain. She hopes the soft, gentle tone of her voice is enough for him to feel safe and comforted. 

Karen runs up to the nurse at the front desk, and before she can open her mouth, Mike starts another series of hacking coughs. She pulls back a little to look at him, and his face is going more purple than red now. She’s trying really hard not to panic. 

“Hi,” she starts. “We- he has croup and can’t breathe, can we-” 

A nurse brings her back into a room where they lay him down on an all white bed. He immediately looks panicked, reaching for his mama and struggling to get in a breath. She grabs his hand and holds tight. Another nurse comes in and starts taking his blood pressure.

“Uhm, excuse me,” Karen starts. “What are you doing?” 

“Taking his blood pressure,” the nurse replies easily, clasping the band around Mike’s arm. Mike takes a squeaky inhale and then lets out another broken sob. 

“Mama,” he whispers, speaking for the first time that night. 

Her heart breaks. 

The machine tightens around his wrist, and his breathing starts speeding up again as he becomes more and more panicked. He pulls at the cuff repeatedly, but the nurse just tightens it on his wrist. 

“Okay, that’s enough ,” Karen says firmly. “You’re scaring him, there’s nothing wrong with his blood pressure, he clearly has croup, now would you please just help him to breathe again because this is only making it worse!” 

Mike cries out as the machine reaches its tightest point around his arm. He screams hoarsely and then doesn’t inhale again.

“He can’t breathe!” Karen yells. 

A lady nurse comes in. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asks the male nurse. 

“Exactly!” Karen screams. “Can someone just help my son breathe, please?” 

Mike looks on the verge of passing out. 

“We’re so sorry ma’am, it’s just protocol,” the lady nurse explains gently. “But, Don, would you please get out of here? You’ve taken the kid’s blood pressure, now get the epinephrine.” 

The male nurse huffs and then leaves, returning later with a breathing machine. He hooks it around Mike’s face, who is so drained and desperate for oxygen he doesn’t even have time to react and pull away. Mike inhales sharply as soon as the medicine reaches his nostrils, and the whistling sounds he was making quiet with every inhale after that. His breathing is nowhere near normal, though. It’s still a little fast, not to mention loud. 

“That’s it, that’s it, baby,” Karen says gently, rubbing Mike’s back and glad he’s not wheezing anymore. The lady nurse, Lisa, gives her a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry about all that hassle,” she says quietly. 

“It’s okay, I was just really scared,” Karen says truthfully. “I mean, honestly, I think this was the scariest night of my life.” 

Mike’s face slowly returns back to its normal color, his eyes droop, and his head tilts forward. He blinks heavily at his mom, making grabby hands at her and fighting sleep. 

“Can I-” Karen asks.

“Go ahead,” Lisa answers with a smile. 

Ted comes rushing through the door. “Hi, Karen, I got here as fast as I could, is he okay?” 

Karen nods slowly, letting her husband come to her rather than the other way around. There’s no way Mike’s letting go of her hand right now. 

“Mama,” Mike whispers hoarsely, his tears drying slowly on his cheeks. Karen wipes them away. “Here.” He makes grabby hands at her again, and she heeds his request this time, getting as comfortable as she can in the small hospital bed. Mike leans on her and lets his eyes close. She rubs his arm, trying to keep him relatively awake so she can make sure he’s still taking deep enough breaths for the medicine to work. 

“What’d they give him?” Ted asks quietly. 

“Epinephrine,” Karen replies. “I was so scared, Ted. I thought he was going to pass out.” 

“Me too,” Ted says honestly. “How long are they gonna have him breathing through that thing?” 

“Probably around fifteen minutes or so, it’s been around eleven so far, I’d guess. Mikey, sweetie?” Karen asks, pulling a hand through her son’s hair to rouse him. “How are you feeling?” 

He blinks up at her owlishly, giving a weak cough. “I better now. I love you, Mommy.”

“I love you, too, sweetie.”

A nurse walks in, and Karen helps Mike sit up while they remove the face mask. They listen to his heart and lungs, check his eyes and ears, and record all his other vitals. 

“Yeah, he’s definitely got some gunk in his lungs. And a fever too,” Lisa says. “He should be alright within a week or so. Does he have any siblings?” 

“Two,” Ted replies.

“Okay, he’s going to be contagious for about three days, or until the fever goes away. Try to keep his siblings separated from him for this time, so they don’t get sick. How old are the siblings?” 

“6 and 2 and a half,” Karen says.

“Twins?” Lisa asks knowingly. 

Karen nods.

“And I assume they share a room?”

“Correct again,” Ted says humorlessly. 

“Okay, well, as hard as it’s going to be, you don’t want your other baby going through what he just went through, so try to keep them separated.”

“Richie?” Mike asks groggily. He yawns, rubbing at his swollen eyes. 

“You’ll see Richie when you get home, kiddo,” Ted says, reaching over to ruffle Mike’s hair.

Mike seems comforted by this and gives one last shuddering inhale, leaning back on his mom’s side. She puts an arm around him and continues rubbing his back. She sees his thumb twitch out of the corner of her eye, and she knows he’s itching to put it in his mouth. The problem is, he can’t breathe through his nose right now. She smooths back his hair, hoping this will be enough to soothe him. 

“We’re going to need to keep him overnight, just to monitor him after the epinephrine, so would you like me to bring you a cot?” Lisa asks Ted.

“Yes, please.” 

“How was everyone at home?” Karen asks worriedly. 

“Nancy’s doing okay. Worried, but okay. Your parents are also worried, but they’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, so, they know how it’ll all work out. Richie’s a nervous wreck. Hell, I’d even say he’s worse than you,” Ted teases. 

Karen lightly smacks his arm. “You should call them. They’ve got a phone here somewhere, right?” 

“I'm sure I could find one.” Ted stands from his chair and goes off to find a phone.

Ted walks back in just as Lisa finishes setting up his cot. 

“Thanks so much.”

“Of course,” she replies kindly. 

“How are the kids?” 

“Asleep on the couch,” Ted says. 

“Good,” Karen says, tension releasing from her shoulders. “And Nancy’s going to school tomorrow?” 

Ted nods. “As far as I know.” 

Karen sighs. “We should get some sleep.” 

“We can try,” Ted offers. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still very spooked.”

“Me too,” Karen admits. “But we’re going to be useless to Mike if we’re zombies. What time is it?” 

“Five in the morning,” Ted replies. “I’ll ask for some extra pillows to prop him up so they can lay the bed back, and some extra blankets for the cot.” 

“Thanks,” Karen says, leaning back and closing her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” 

It’s not the most restful night in the world. Karen wakes up every time Mike so much as sniffles, which is a lot, and Ted is right by her side through all of it. By the morning, they are so incredibly grateful to receive the all clear to go home. The doctors and nurses said to give him breathing treatments right before bed, along with a healthy dose of Vicks VapoRub. Karen still doesn’t really know where he’s going to sleep, as he has to be separated from Richie for the next three days, but… they’ll cross that bridge when they come to it.

“Mikey!” Richie yells, running up to the door and jumping up so he can see his twin brother. 

“Richie, no,” Ted starts gently, kneeling down. “Mike is very sick.” 

“I know dat,” Richie says. “I wanna see him,” he continues, jumping to see over Ted’s shoulder. 

“Buddy, you can, just… don’t get too close to him right now. No hugs or anything for three days.” 

“Three days?!” Richie exclaims, putting his hands up to his face in shock. 

“Yes,” Ted confirms. “We don’t want you to get sick like Mike is, okay?” 

Richie nods solemnly. “I love you, Mikey,” he says dramatically, reaching out a hand to his brother. 

“You can still talk to him,” Karen says, shaking her head at her son’s antics. Throughout the past two years, Richie has developed quite the personality, loving to imitate people and things, and loving the sound of other’s laughter. Mike is a little more subdued, but when they’re together, which is pretty much all the time, things get crazy. “In fact, come into the kitchen, we’re going to eat breakfast right now.” 

Thankfully, Karen’s mom prepared pancakes, eggs, and even a little bit of bacon for everyone to enjoy. Karen fixes Mike a plate and sets him up at the counter rather than at the dinner table, where everyone else will be eating. 

“How are you feeling, bud?” she asks quietly. 

He shrugs. “Throat hurts and feels hot, but I home now. I can breathe.” 

“Yeah,” Karen says, laughing humorlessly. “Yeah, that’s good. Can you try to eat some of this for me?” 

He nods, and works his way through half of the pancake and all of the eggs. 

“Apple juice?” he asks, looking at her with puppy dog eyes he doesn’t even know he’s doing.

“Ah, not too tired to ask for apple juice are you?” she teases.

He giggles. 

“Of course!”

Ted takes Richie into the other room, as Nancy is already at school.He thanks Karen’s parents for all their help and wishes them a safe ride home, and then begins talking to Richie. “Okay, so you two are going to have to take it easy today, alright? No roughhousing or being too loud. You both had a late night, and Mike is recovering from croup-”

“What’s croup?” Richie asks curiously. 

“It’s when you get sick, and you have a really horrible, loud cough that keeps you from breathing.”

“Yeah, I saw Mikey couldn’t, y’know-” Richie starts, crossing his eyes and making a choking sound. 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t do that buddy,” Ted says, shaking his head and smiling. 

“We’re so glad you came and got us when you did,” Karen says, walking into the living room with Mike on her hip. “If you hadn’t, Mikey would’ve gotten even more sick.” 

“When’s he gonna feel better?” Richie asks. 

Mike coughs weakly. “We gots lots of work to do with the planes and cars and stuff… cuz the station won’t build itself. Mommy, can we play planes please?” 

“Buddy, you’ve gotta take it easy for a while, okay?” Karen tells Mike gently. 

He takes a drink from his sippy cup filled with apple juice. “Okay. We can play soon?”

“Soon,” Karen reassures, brushing a loose curl back from his face. “You can play with your foam blocks, though.”

Mike’s face lights up as Ted pulls out their blocks. He keeps Richie on one side of the room and Mike on the other, because he’s still coughing quite a lot. 

“So, where are we going to have them sleep?” Karen asks Ted quietly. “Because I sure as hell don’t trust Richie to not climb into Mike’s bed and give him cuddles when he starts coughing.”

Ted smiles. “As sweet as that is, we can’t have two sick kids on our hands. Maybe Mike can just stay in our room for the next three nights? And we’ll be sure to wash the sheets and everything when he gets better, get rid of his pacifiers, and wash his sheets.”

“Sounds good,” Karen says, giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

They spend the rest of the day making sure Mike doesn’t over-exert himself and making sure Richie doesn’t get too close to Mike. Nancy returns home from school, and Ted helps her with her homework while the twins work on a small puzzle, occasionally tasting some of Karen’s latest sauce. 

“That’s really good, Karen,” he tells her with a smile. 

“Thanks.” She blushes lightly. Even after all these years, Ted still has that effect on her. She knows she married the right man. 

Nancy helps her mama set the table, and then goes into the living room to ‘check on’ her baby brothers. “Is Mike okay, Mommy?” 

“Yes, sweetie, he’s going to be fine. He just needs lots of rest and lots of love.”

“Can I give hugs?” Nancy asks sweetly. 

Karen looks at Ted. “Uh… yes, you’re past the risk for croup, but try not to hug him too much in front of Richie, since Richie can’t.”

“Why not?” Nancy asks, confused.

“We don’t want Richie to get sick, too,” Ted explains.

Nancy nods. “Okay, I will get them for dinner now.”

“Thanks so much, sweetie,” Karen says, raking her fingers through her little girl’s waves.

Mike and Richie walk into the kitchen, each trailing their blanket behind them. Richie’s still got his bobo in his mouth, Mike’s is long forgotten, probably replaced in favor of his thumb if she knows anything about her son. 

She picks them up and gets them seated on their boosters, giving a good bit of noodles and meatballs to each of her kids.

“Richie, no bobos at the table,” Karen reminds him gently. 

He takes the bobo out of his mouth and sets it next to his plate, pouting a bit. 

“You can’t eat with it in, silly,” Nancy says, and his expression changes. 

“Mike, can you try to eat a little more than that?” Karen asks. Mike hasn’t touched his meatballs, and only ate about half the noodles. Usually Richie is her picky eater, but she guesses being sick messed with Mike’s taste buds.

“You can do it, Mikey!” Richie cheers, shoving a forkful of noodles into his own mouth. “Easy peasy lemon squeezy!” 

Mike laughs a little, and then takes a bite of his meatball, encouraged by his brother. 

Karen smiles. 

“Movie time!” Richie exclaims after dinner. “Movie time! Movie time!” 

“Sh,” Ted says. “Not so loud.”

“Sorry!” Richie stage-whispers. “My turn to pick?” 

“Actually, it’s Nancy’s turn,” Karen says. 

“I think…” Nancy starts, twisting her fingers in her dress. “I think I’m going to let Mike pick because… ‘cause he’s sick and all that.”

Mike grins. “Really? Thank you, Nancy. You’re the bestest sister ever!” He gives her a big hug. 

Richie pouts. “I want a hug!” Ted picks him up and hugs him tight. “Thanks, Daddy.” 

“Okay, what movie are we watching, kiddo?” Ted asks. 

“Dumbo!” Mike exclaims. That’s been his favorite movie for a while now, and he watches it so much that Karen has nearly memorized the script. Nevertheless, she turns it on. 

Richie smiles, as he likes this movie too. Karen grabs a few blankets and hands them to each family member. 

Richie stands up and tugs at Karen’s pants. “Milk?” he asks. 

She smiles because a mother’s job is never done. “Of course, baby.”

She warms two cups of milk and then transfers them into sippy cups for the twins, also making a cup of hot chocolate for Nancy. 

Richie reaches for his green cup, but before she gives it to him, she makes him say the ‘magic word.’

“Please,” he says, proud that he remembered it. 

She hands him the cup and gives Mike his, settling down on the couch. Nancy is sitting on the end of the couch, near Mike’s feet, while Richie and Ted are curled up on the arm chair. 

By the middle of the movie, Mike is fast asleep, and Richie’s not too far behind him. They both downright refused to nap that day, and are obviously now paying the price.

“You think it’s time for bed?” Karen asks, slightly amused at her toddlers. 

Ted nods. “Nance, go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth, I’ll be right in to read to you, okay?” 

Nancy nods and walks upstairs. Karen picks up Mike and Ted lifts Richie, both walking up the stairs slowly, so as not to wake their sons. 

Karen lays Mike down in the middle of their bed, propping him up on a few pillows to help ease his breathing. 

“Did you get a bobo and his blanket?” Karen asks as Ted walks in. 

“Yep.” He hands her what she asks for, and she gives Mike the blanket and keeps the bobo on their side table, just in case. 

“Oh, shit,” Karen says. “We gotta do the breathing treatment and the Vicks.”

“Yeah, do you want me to go get that stuff, or-”

“No, you can go take care of Nancy, I’ll get it set up and everything.” 

Karen sets up Mike’s breathing machine and gets out a tube of Vicks. 

“Mike, baby, wake up,” she says softly, rubbing his back and helping him sit all the way up. 

He blinks at her. “Wha-”

“You have to do your breathing treatment, then you can go back to sleep, okay?”

He nods, and lets her put the face mask over his curls. He breathes in the steam for fifteen minutes, and then lets Karen put the Vicks all over his chest and neck.

He giggles. “Tingly.”

“Yeah, a little tingly.” She smiles as he yawns and lies back. She follows him, lying down and smoothing out his curls. Three nights. And then her baby hopefully won’t be so sick anymore.

Ted comes in a little later. “How’d he do?”

“Very well,” Karen answers. “I’m not too worried.”

They only wake up once during the night, when Mike’s breathing gets a little squeaky. They are quickly able to change his position though, before he’s in too much discomfort. 

Three faithful days later, Richie is finally allowed to hug Mike. 

“Mikey!” he yells, running downstairs and meeting his brother at the breakfast table. Mike jumps off his seat and falls into his brother's arms, causing Richie to lose his balance. They both topple to the floor, smiling wide and still hugging. 

“Richie,” Mike says, a little quieter. 

Karen thinks she’s going to melt from the sweetness of it all. 

“C’mon, Mikey! We got a city to build!” 

“Not before breakfast,” Karen says, picking Richie up and setting him in his chair. “You’ve gotta finish eating.”

“Okay.” Richie gives in, digging into his pancakes. “I’ve got so many ideas since you were sick, Mikey. You won’t even believe how big the airplane place is gonna be with the- the heliocopters…?”

“Helicopters,” Karen corrects, ruffling his hair.

“Helicopters,” Richie repeats. 

Karen smiles at her boys, glad to see them both well again. 

Sadly, her relief doesn’t last long. 

About two months after the croup fiasco, Karen is making lunch for Nancy and herself, having just put the boys down for a nap. Nancy is watching cartoons in the family room. 

Everything is fine. 

Karen hears a bang that shakes the house, and then a loud, painful scream. Her butter knife clatters to the ground. She picks it up, trying not to panic.

The boy screams again, and she recognizes it as Richie’s scream, not Mike’s. She hurries up into their room. 

“Boys? Are you-”

Mike throws open the door as wide as he can. “Mama, mama, help- ” 

Richie cries out again, and Karen struggles to open the door wider. Something is blocking her path. 

“Mike, baby, I need you to move, I can’t get in.” 

Richie’s stopped screaming now, but she can still hear his slight whimpers. Karen twists the knob and throws the door open wide, slipping in through the crack. The door shuts behind her, and that’s when she sees Richie, stuck under his dresser, with only his head peeking out. 

“Oh, baby,” she murmurs, rushing over to him. “Richie? Richie can you hear me?”

He nods weakly, but turns his head and closes his eyes, not saying anything more. 

“Ted!” Karen screams, knowing they have to get this dresser off him right now, before any further damage is caused. She sure as hell can’t lift it alone. 

“Daddy!” Mike calls, helping her. 

Ted comes running. He was in the garage, so she doesn’t know if he felt the bang or not. 

“Oh my-” he breathes, cutting himself off and hurrying through the crack in the door. “One, two, three -”

They lift the dresser off Richie, moving slowly to set it down on the other side of the room. When the dresser is safely on the ground, Karen rushes over to Richie again, gently picking him up and cradling him to her chest. He doesn’t move.

“ER?” Ted asks.

Karen nods, tears in her eyes. 

“Mama?” Mike asks, his eyes filling up as well. He toddles over to her. “Richie…” 

“Mike, baby, can you tell me what happened?” 

“I was tryin’ to go to sleep, and… and uh… Richie needed to get his other bobo because he didn’t want the one he had, and he didn’t wanna go get you or dad so he climbed up there to get it, and then it fell on him…” Mike trails off, tears dripping down his young face. “I’m sorry, Mama.” 

“It’s not your fault, baby,” she says, stroking hair off Richie’s face. His breathing is shallow, but his eyes are open now, so that’s good. “We’re going to have to go to the hospital.”

“Like I did?” Mike asks.

“Yes,” she says, standing up. She opens the door and situates Richie so she’s holding him with his head on her shoulder. 

“Ready?” Ted asks, walking in and picking up Mike.

“Yes.”

They get to the hospital fairly quickly, where a nurse takes all five of them back into a room. They check Richie’s vitals, his reflexes, all of the general stuff, and then take him back into a room to get x-rayed. 

His bones are all intact, and he doesn’t have any internal bleeding. 

“In short, there is nothing truly wrong with him, he’s just going to be achy, tired, and a little short of breath for a while,” a nurse says. 

They recommend that Ted bolts the dresser to the wall so something like this doesn’t happen again. They also tell her that the only thing she can really do to help Richie is sit with him while the tylenol kicks in. 

They drive home around ten o’clock that evening, because for some reason, hospitals take forever to take care of all the legal stuff that comes with paying one a visit.

“Man, we just can’t catch a break can we?” Karen asks sarcastically, getting out of the car. 

“Nope,” Ted says, picking up Mike, who is miraculously still awake.

“I sorry,” he mumbles groggily.

“For what, baby?” Karen asks, unbuckling Richie and getting him out of the car. She quickly unbuckles Nancy and helps her out as well.

“I let him do it,” Mike mutters. “I shoulda stopped him.” 

“Mike, it’s not your fault,” Karen reassures, as her son rests his head on his dad’s shoulder. 

“Still,” he protests, closing his eyes, and bringing his thumb up to his mouth. 

“Nancy, go get ready for bed, sweetheart,” Ted tells his daughter kindly. 

She nods and goes off to find a pair of pajamas.

Karen finds a pair of pajamas for each of the twins, and Ted helps them dress. Karen rouses Richie briefly so he can brush his teeth with the rest of his siblings.

“I sorry,” Richie murmurs, repeating what Mike said earlier. 

“It’s okay,” Karen says, smoothing his hair back off his forehead. 

“Bobo?” he asks. 

She almost laughs, because that’s the whole reason this happened. All because he wanted his bobo. 

She fishes around in her pocket for a minute before finding his green one, and she hands it to him. He closes his eyes, cuddling his blanket contentedly. 

Ted walks in and lays Mike down, pulling his thumb out of his mouth. It’s no use. Mike just whines and switches to the other hand. 

Karen sighs. “Okay, so when are you bolting that dresser to the wall?” 

“Tomorrow morning.” 

Ted drives to the store to get the materials, and sure enough, the next morning, the dresser is safely bolted to the wall. 

“It’s too quiet ,” Mike complains, lying upside down on the couch. Richie is peacefully coloring next to him. 

“Sh,” he says, putting a finger to his lips. 

“Mama, Richie’s bein’ too quiet!” Mike yells. 

Karen walks in, and as much as she’d like to enjoy the peace, she can’t help but agree with Mike. Life without Richie bouncing off the walls… well… it’s different. And not the good kind of different. 

“Richie, baby, are you feeling okay?” Karen asks, crouching down next to him. 

He nods. “Yes, Mama.” 

“Mike, I think he’s still a little worn out from having the dresser fall on him. Remember when you got sick and couldn’t play for a while?” 

Mike nods, curls bouncing. 

“He just needs some time to rest, and I’m sure you guys will be back to adventuring soon.” And with more adventuring means more injuries, more messes, but mostly importantly: more fun. “Just... be a little more careful this time, you hear?” 

Richie looks up. 

“We will,” the twins say in unison. 

She shakes her head as they fall over laughing.

Chapter Text

The twins’ third birthday passes in the blink of an eye. They’re still growing like weeds, so clothes are a necessity, and most of their presents are clothes. Karen mostly dresses them in the same style of clothes, but different colors. Mike is always blue and Richie is always green, but occasionally she has them match completely. It’s funny watching Ted try to tell them apart. Even Nancy can tell them apart by now.They also receive some new toys for their birthday, but to be fair, they’re both very imaginative and much prefer making up worlds and building forts together than playing with toys. 

Richie comes barreling into the kitchen at full speed, his brother not too far behind him. He runs straight into her legs, falling over. 

“Oops, sorry Mama,” he says, pushing himself back up and giggling when he sees Mike behind him. “You’ll never catch me!” 

“Yeah I will!” Mike screams back. 

“I’m not going back to jail!” Richie yells. 

Karen smiles and shakes her head as they both come barreling through the kitchen again. Richie manages to avoid bumping into her this time, but Mike isn’t so lucky. As soon as they pass her, he trips on the rug under the dining room table, toppling down and hitting his head. 

“Crap,” Karen says under her breath, putting down the bread knife she was using to cut the sandwiches in half. 

“Mikey?” Richie asks tentatively as his twin starts crying. “I sorry, you can take me to jail now.”

“Richie, it’s not your fault, he tripped,” Karen explains. “Come here baby,” she says gently. 

Mike sniffles and lets his mama hold him. “Hurts…” he mumbles. 

“I know, sweetheart,” she says, softly touching his head with her fingers. “Here?”

He winces and nods. 

She knows he’s exaggerating just a bit, but he’s always been like that with injuries. Richie is very durable, running, falling, hitting his head, and then getting back up without so much as a tear. He falls out of bed quite a lot and wakes Mike up but not himself. Even though he’s only younger than Mike by twelve minutes, durability is just something that comes with being the youngest of three siblings. Karen knows, because she was one. 

“Are you feeling any better yet?” Richie asks. 

Mike nods, wiping his eyes. He grabs Richie’s arm. “Now you’re going to jail!” 

“Hey no fair!” Richie exclaims, trying to pull himself out of Mike’s grasp. 

“Yes fair!” Mike says back. “Get back here!” 

Ted opens the front door, walking in after Nancy who has just gotten home from her friend Barb’s house. 

“Hi Mommy,” she says, walking over to her mama to give her a hug.

“Hi, sweetie,” Karen replies, picking her up. “How was Barb?”

“She’s very good,” Nancy says. “We played dolls and her parents even letted us watch a little bit of TV. Isn’t that cool?” 

“Yes!”

“And Barb shared one of her scrunchies with me, and her mama taught us a new braid style. Look at my hair!” Nancy turns her head to show off a pretty fishtail braid, much more complex than any braid Karen could do. Barb is an only child, so her mom has a lot more time to learn stuff like that. 

“Wow, Nancy, that looks beautiful,” Karen says. 

Nancy beams. “Lunchtime yet?”

“Almost, just let me finish up these sandwiches. Richie! Mike! Come here for lunch!” Karen calls. 

The twins come running in, one after the other. Richie trips over his own feet and Mike helps him up. 

“Okay, peanut butter and jelly for Mike, peanut butter and banana for Richie, turkey and cheese for Nancy,” Karen says, setting their plates in front of them, along with a large bowl of fruit and three glasses of water.

“What? No sandwich for me?” Ted jokes. 

“Make your own,” Karen shoots back, smiling. 

He does, and makes one for her too, because she’s been home with the troublemakers all day and deserves a break. He washes the dishes, too, while Karen sets Mike and Richie up in front of the TV for nap time. 

Karen hopes Richie won’t fuss too much today. She wants to spend some time with Nancy. See, the thing is, Richie hates the idea of a nap, but she finds that without them, he’s very cranky and quiet so she knows he still needs them. 

Karen hands Richie his bobo and he takes it, lying down next to Mike who’s already got his thumb in his mouth. 

“Blankie?” Richie asks around the bobo.

Karen nods, walking up to their room to grab the blankets. Richie immediately wraps himself in it, and Mike just holds it like a lovie. 

She walks into the kitchen. “Ted, can you keep an eye on them?”

“Yeah, sure,” he says, drying his hands on a dish towel. 

“Hey, Nance, can Daddy wash your cup?” Karen asks. Nancy is almost done with her water. 

She nods. “Yes.” 

“Okay, Nancy, can you come with me to my room really quickly? I have a surprise for you.”

“Surprise?” Nancy asks, her eyes lighting up. 

“Yep.” Karen grins. “Come on.” She grabs Nancy’s hand and opens the door, letting Nancy walk in first. “What’s on the bed?”

Nancy jumps up on the bed, grabbing her just-because gift. “New paints!” she exclaims. 

“And paper too!” Karen tells her, holding up some special art paper she got from the crafting store. 

Nancy has always been a creative kid, loving to do things with her hands. She liked pottery a lot when she was younger, but one time clay exploded all over the kitchen, and that was the end of that. Now, Karen stuck to painting and drawing with her daughter. 

“So… what are we gonna draw today?” Karen asks, as Nancy pulls her back into the dining room. A quick glance behind her tells her Mike and Richie are asleep, so she can relax. At least for an hour or so. 

“Flowers,” Nancy says decisively, pulling out her special pencil. Nana gave it to her a while back, and now it’s the only thing she’ll use to draw. 

“Okay,” Karen says, laughing. Nancy is so adorable. She has a clear artistic vision. Karen doesn’t think she’s ever known a seven-year-old who makes an outline before painting, but her daughter does. Karen hopes art is something she pursues, in whatever form it takes. Painting, drawing, and sculpting are cool, but writing is also an interesting hobby. Nancy can make up quite the story with her little brothers. Karen would love to see her write some of those ideas down. 

“Daddy, come draw with us!” Nancy says. Ted is sitting at the kitchen table, watching. 

“Yeah, Ted, come here,” Karen encourages. 

He smiles. “I think I’ll just sit this one out-”

“Please?” Nancy begs, giving him the puppy dog eyes. 

“Oh, all right. But I’m not as good at this stuff as you two are.”

“That’s okay!” Nancy says brightly. “You don’t have to be good. It’s just… like having fun and drawing whatever comes to mind.” She grabs a sponge that Karen set out for her, putting it in some yellow paint and then dabbing it in the middle of the flower. She takes a larger brush, dips it in the pink, and then makes large outward strokes to finish off the flower. “See? Easy peasy!” 

“Okay,” Ted says, laughing. He takes a brush and dips it in the blue, making a sky for the background. He adds some green for grass, and then dots the grass with a bunch of colorful dots. “Those are my flowers.”

“Pretty!” Nancy says. “Now you have to add your signature. Mommy says a good artist always adds her signature.”

Karen smiles. “I did say that.”

Ted adds his signature at the bottom of his work. “Is that good?”

“Very good,” Nancy says, giving him a thumbs up and then starting on her second flower. 

Karen creates a field of daisies and then shows Nancy how to draw roses. 

“She’s a natural,” Karen whispers to Ted when they’ve finished their paintings, and are simply watching Nancy work. 

“Truly,” Ted replies.

“Have we gone to the store yet this week?” Karen asks. “I forgot to add a couple things to the list.”

“Uh… no not yet. I can go in a little bit if you’d like.”

“That’d be great,” Karen says. “We just ran out of Swiss cheese for sandwiches, and I know with how Richie eats the stuff we’re going to run out of peanut butter. Oh, and we ran out of fiber gummies. The kids don’t have enough fiber in their diets. So if you could pick up some more gummies or like any protein and fiber packed bars that would be cool.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll make a list and then I’ll be right back.”

“Alright,” Karen says, kissing him on the cheek. “See you in a bit.”

“Mama? Can we also draw cats? Those are my favorite animals,” Nancy says, picking up her drawing pencil and a new sheet of paper.

“Sure, sweetie. And why are they your favorite animal?”

“They’re so cute!” Nancy replies. “And they’re so soft.”

“Doesn’t Barb have a cat?”

Nancy nods. “Yep. Her name is Mittens and she’s just the sweetest… and she always cuddles us when we watch TV or get our hair braided.”

“Mittens sounds very nice,” Karen says, hoping the conversation doesn’t go where she thinks it will. 

“Having a cat would be nice,” Nancy says wistfully, working on the ears of her drawing. “Wouldn’t it?”

“Maybe when you’re a bit older, we can think about it, huh sweetie?” Karen suggests, hoping Nancy will drop it before the twins wake up, which should be very soon. 

“Yes, maybe then,” Nancy says. “How does this look?” She holds up her drawing, and it is a very well-drawn 2D cat. 

“Very good,” Karen says honestly. “What about mine?” She holds up her blank paper.

“Mommy, there’s nothing there!” Nancy exclaims, giggling. 

“Yep,” Karen says proudly. “It’s a polar bear in a snow storm.”

Nancy laughs loudly, grabbing the bottle of orange paint. “Barb’s cat is orange, like her hair.”

“That’s right. Barb is a redhead,” Karen says, voicing her thoughts aloud.

“Why do they call her a redhead when her hair is orange?” Nancy asks. 

“That’s a really good question. I’m not really sure. People see colors in all kinds of different ways. I might see her hair as more red, while you see it as orange. Probably the majority of people saw red and started calling red and orange-haired people redheads,” Karen explains.

“Oh. That makes sense,” Nancy says thoughtfully. 

“You’re so smart, you know that?”

“Yes,” Nancy says, blushing. “Thank you,” she adds quietly, even a little shyly.

“You’re welcome,” Karen replies, smiling at her daughter. 

The kitchen door slides open slowly, Mike peeking his head out from behind it.

“Hi, Mikey,” Nancy says. “Wanna come draw with us?”

He nods, still a little quiet from the nap. He takes a pencil from his sister’s hand and starts scribbling something on a piece of art paper she generously gave him. Karen knew at her age, she definitely wouldn’t have given her siblings one of her most precious possessions to scribble all over, but Nancy is different. 

Richie joins them a little after Mike, still sucking on his bobo and trailing his blankie behind him. 

“I draw plant,” he mumbles around the bobo. 

“Richie, take that out, I can’t understand you,” Karen tells him gently. 

“He said he’s drawing a plant,” Nancy translates. “Mikey, what are you drawing?”

He shrugs, grabbing a paintbrush. “Sky.”

“It’s beautiful,” Nancy says, patting him on the back. 

Karen smiles at her kids. Sure, when she was a kid, she loved her siblings more than anything, but they were never this… kind to each other. Nancy, Mike, and Richie just… they act like they’d do anything for each other. 

Karen knows they would. 

She checks the time, wondering when it would be appropriate to start on dinner. It’s around three, and lasagna takes two hours to make and another thirty minutes to cool, so she guesses she can start now. She also has to cook vegetables. 

“Do you guys want to help me with dinner?”

Nancy nods excitedly, putting her art supplies away and then grabbing Richie’s hand, who looks equally as excited. 

“Mikey, come help!” Richie says around the bobo. 

Mike looks down at his paper and then sets it aside, following his siblings to the kitchen counter. 

Karen lifts the boys up into their chairs and then helps Nancy up as well. She pulls out the measuring cups and ingredients, getting started on the cheese mixture. 

“So first, parmesan,” Nancy tells Richie, who is holding the measuring cup. 

“Parme-john,” Richie repeats determinedly, measuring out a cup of it and pouring it in the bowl. 

“No, Richie, that’s too much,” Nancy explains patiently, dumping the cheese out and showing him the correct measuring cup to use. 

“½ cup?” he asks. 

“Yes.” She nods. 

“Nancy, I do the wet cheese,” Mike says, holding a container of ricotta. Karen opens it for him, and Nancy helps him scoop out the correct amount into the bowl. 

Nancy grates some mozzarella into a measuring cup, the ½ one that Mike is holding, and then lets Richie crack the egg and stir it all together. 

Karen lets them each do a layer, and then they run off to play something else while she does the vegetables because everyone knows vegetables are boring . 

Ted walks in through the garage door, setting the groceries down on the counter. 

“Lasagna?” he asks. 

“Yep,” Karen replies. “You know it’s one of the only things Richie will eat besides peanut butter and marshmallows.”

“Don’t forget about graham crackers,” Ted jokes. 

“Oh, no. He grew out of those last week.”

Ted looks at the art on the dining room table, standing back and admiring it. “Looks like we got a couple artists on our hands, don’t we?”

“Seems like it,” Karen replies. 

“Where are they?”

“Playing something in the living room. Oh, did you get those fiber gummies? I think you could give them to the kids now, before dinner.”

“I did,” Ted says, pulling out the container. “Be right back.”

Karen turns the oven light on and takes a look at the cheese, which is almost brown on top. She stirs the green beans around in their pan and then turns the heat off, transferring them to a plate. 

Ted comes back and starts setting the table, hanging their art up to dry in the other room. He fills glasses of water for everyone while Karen pulls out and starts cutting the lasagna. 

Nancy walks into the kitchen, dressed in a rain jacket and rubber boots. It must be for one of the new games they’re playing. 

“Nancy, what’s up sweetheart?” Karen asks. “We were just about to get you guys for dinner.”

“Mama, these look funny,” she says, holding up one of the fiber gummies. 

“What do you mean sweetie?” Karen asks, taking the gummy from her hand. “These are just like the other medicine you used to take…” Karen trails off, examining the gummy. “I’m sure it’s no big deal.”

“I don’t want it,” Nancy says. 

“Sweetie, you’ve gotta take it. They’re like vitamins,” Karen explains. 

Nancy shakes her head.

“After dinner?” Karen offers. 

Nancy nods tentatively. 

“Where are the boys?” Ted asks.

“In the living room,” Nancy replies. “Dinner time?” 

“Yeah, can you go grab your brothers please?” Karen asks, serving lasagna and green beans on everyone’s plates. She cuts up the twins’ into smaller, bite sized pieces so they’ll be able to eat it with ease.

Nancy nods and walks into the living room, quickly coming back to get her mama. 

“Mama, they already took a nap today?” Nancy asks, cocking her head to the side curiously.

“Yeah…” Karen answers. “Why?”

“Come look,” Nancy says, grabbing her mom’s hand and pulling her toward the living room.

“Nancy, I don’t understand-”

“Look.”

Mike is asleep on Richie’s shoulder, loudly sucking his thumb, and blanket held firmly in the other hand. Richie’s head keeps nodding as he struggles to hold it up in his sleepy state. 

“Jeez,” Karen says. “Mike, wake up.” She runs a hand through his hair gently, and he startles, blinking at her groggily. 

“Mama.” He rubs his eyes gently and then pokes Richie in the cheek until he’s up as well. 

“Are you okay?” Karen asks.

Richie nods. “Yes.”

“Just tired?”

He nods again, yawning. 

“Okay, well you guys can go to bed early tonight.”

Richie doesn’t even protest.

Karen watches them walk into the kitchen and then turns to Ted. 

“What the hell?” she whispers.

He shrugs. “I’m sure they’re fine. They’ve been running around a lot today, haven’t they?”

“Yeah, but they do that every day, and never go to bed before 8 or 9, especially not Richie.”

“Mama, this lasagna is so good!” Nancy compliments.

“Thanks sweetie,” Karen says. “You guys helped make it.” 

“They did?” Ted asks, intrigued. 

Karen waits for Mike or Richie to jump in with the story of how fun it was. They’re quiet. She looks over at Mike, who is blinking heavily at his half-eaten lasagna. 

“Yeah! We did!” Nancy says. “And it was super fun.”

“Ted, are you sure they’re okay?” Karen asks. 

“Why wouldn’t they be? They’re just a little-”

“Woah!” Karen cuts him off, pulling Richie back from where he almost just fell face first into his dinner. 

He inhales sharply and looks around wildly for a moment. “Mama…?” 

“Yeah, baby, it’s okay.” Karen pulls him close as his eyes well up. 

Mike manages another forkful of lasagna before announcing he’s done and is going to watch TV. 

“Daddy, are they okay?” Nancy asks. 

“Yes, sweetie. They’re fine, just a little tired, okay?” 

“Okay…” she says uncertainly. 

“Okay, well Mama’s going to take care of them, you have to take the gummy you didn’t take earlier.”

Nancy shakes her head. “No. Please. I said… it looks weird.”

“It’s not-”

“Hold on, Ted,” Karen says, still holding Richie in her lap. “Can you bring me the bottle?” 

“Sure.” He comes back, gummy bottle in hand. 

“Ted, that doesn’t say fiber. It says melatonin.” She laughs loudly, nearly collapsing with relief that there’s nothing wrong with her boys. Richie whines softly in her arms and she settles down. “That’s why they’re so dang tired.”

Ted laughs along with her. “I’m so sorry. My mistake. Nancy, don’t take that gummy. Here, give it to me.”

Nancy hands him the gummy. “What is mela-tonin?”

“Melatonin is a hormone that makes you sleepy,” Karen explains. “Instead of your regular medicine, this medicine has melatonin in it.”

“Oh,” Nancy says. “Silly Daddy, he got the wrong medicine?”

“Yes, I got the wrong medicine,” Ted says, laughing.

“You’re not going to be laughing when they wake us up at three o’clock in the morning, asking for breakfast,” Karen says, though she is still losing it over Ted’s little mistake. 

“True, true,” he admits. “I’ll handle it. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, I’m not,” Karen tells him. “Nancy, finish up dinner and then you can pick out a movie for the three of us to watch.”

“It’s Richie’s turn?”

“It’s okay, he doesn’t mind,” Karen says, brushing a loose curl back from Richie’s forehead. “I’m going to put them to bed, okay?”

“Okay,” Ted says, still chuckling. “I still cannot believe I did that.”

“Oh, I can. It’s such a Dad move. You mix up things all the time,” Karen replies. 

“I do not-” She looks at him. “Yeah, yeah okay maybe just a little.” 

“I’ll be right back.” 

She stands up and carries Richie all the way to his room, where she lays him down gently and places a bobo next to his pillow in case he needs one in the middle of the night. She goes back downstairs to get Mike, who is out cold in front of the TV, thumb in his mouth. She picks him up and carries him to bed as well, tucking him in gently with his blue blanket. She flicks the lights off and then leaves the room.

“I think that’s the fastest they’ve ever gone to bed,” Karen says once she’s back downstairs.

“Agreed,” Ted says.

“Can we watch Snow White?” Nancy asks, interrupting their small conversation. 

“Of course,” Karen replies. “Let me go find it.” 

They have a wonderful time watching Snow White, though Richie’s commentary and Mike’s telling him to be quiet every five seconds are dearly missed. It’s nice, though. Karen’s normally so busy with the twins, she doesn’t know Nancy’s bedtime routine like the back of her hand anymore. After brushing her teeth and all that, Nancy has her read a chapter of the newest book she’s into, this time it’s Frog and Toad. Then Karen turns on her nightlight, and that’s it. 

“Feels like there used to be a lot more hassle into getting her to bed, too.”

“She’s growing up,” Ted says simply, shrugging.

Karen looks sad for a minute.

“Hey, don’t give me that face. You’ve still got plenty more years of mothering her, and not to mention the twins, right?” 

Karen smiles. “You’re right. Now c’mon, let’s go to bed. There’s going to be a wake-up call at three o’clock, specifically for you.”

“I can’t wait,” Ted says sarcastically. 

Sure enough, at three in the morning, the twins make their way down the hall to their parent’s room.

“Mama?” Mike asks quietly. 

“Daddy?” Richie asks after that, tugging on their sheets. “Breakfast now?”

Ted sits up and sighs, running a hand through his hair. He swears Karen smiles at him. 

“Uh… not right now, it’s… uhm…”

“Why not?”

“It’s too early,” Ted replies. 

“How early?” Mike asks. 

“Three.”

“Three in the morning?!” Richie exclaims. “I never been up this late before.”

“Yep. Let’s… let’s go downstairs. Your mama is still sleeping.”

“Why?” Richie asks, wide awake. 

“Because it’s three in the morning,” Ted replies easily, leading them downstairs.

“Please breakfast?” Richie begs, his stomach growling pitifully.

Ted remembers that he fell asleep before he could finish dinner.

“Yeah, yeah sure. You guys can have a little something.” Ted grabs some animal crackers out of the kitchen cabinet and portions them into small bowls for the twins. He turns on the TV for them to watch. 

When they’re finished eating, Richie immediately starts a game of tag with Mike, who is about to get up and chase him around the house. Ted pulls him back. 

“You guys can’t be too loud right now.”

“Aw, why not?” Richie complains.

“Everyone else is trying to sleep. Here, how about something fun, like a puzzle or these blocks?” Ted suggests, pulling the quiet toys out of their toy cabinet.

Richie pouts. “But I wanna play tag.”

“Richie, we can play this too, and tag in the morning,” Mike tells him. 

“Okay,” Richie says, finally giving in. 

Ted lightly dozes on the couch as the twins play, and they finally fall back asleep at around seven, only to wake up at eight by their older sister. They’re not too cranky, just taking a bit of a longer nap than usual after lunch. Their sleep schedules are back to normal by that night. 

“This is definitely a story for the books,” Karen says that night. 

“Totally,” Ted agrees, yawning. “I’ll be sure to read the labels next time.”

“I hope you do.”

Chapter Text

“Mikey, you excited for the fireworks?” Richie asks, holding Mike’s hand as their parents take them down the road to watch the town’s fireworks show.

Mike shrugs, not having a ton of fond memories about fireworks. He knows they’re loud and can be a little scary at times, but Richie seems so excited so he’s trying to keep an open mind. 

“Boys, hurry up,” Ted says, as they have started to trail behind.

Mike and Richie walk as fast as their little legs will carry them, but their parents are quite tall, and Nancy is holding Karen’s hand, so they can’t quite keep up. 

“Hm…” Karen says. “You can’t carry them, because of the chairs, uhm…”

“I’ll hang back,” Ted tells her. “It’s only another block or so.”

Ted hangs back with Mike and Richie while his wife and Nancy pass them by, only by a little bit, though. Nancy is by no means tall. She’s only seven, after all. 

“I love fireworks,” Richie states loudly. “They’re so cool and colorful… and they look so pretty.”

“They are very pretty,” Ted says. 

Mike is quiet, holding tightly to his brother’s hand.

“What’s wrong, Mikey?” Richie asks. 

“No,” Mike says. “Nothing.”

“Okay.” Richie shrugs. 

They reach the end of the street fairly quickly after that, Richie pulling Mike along and trailing a little behind their dad. 

Ted sets up their fold-up chairs, and Richie is so excited he can’t bring himself to sit.

“Richie, if you don’t sit down you won’t be able to see the fireworks as well,” Karen says. This makes no sense to her adult mind, but hopefully Richie will buy it and calm down. She really doesn’t want to be chasing him around all night.

“Oh, oh. Sorry, mama,” Richie says, sitting down next to his brother. “I sit down now.”

“Don’t be sorry, baby. And good. I just want you guys to safely enjoy the fireworks.”

Richie smiles. “I can’t wait, Mikey!” 

Mike nods. “It will be cool.”

“Sh… sh… they’re starting,” Nancy tells Mike, as everyone around them gets settled in.

The first firework shoots up into the air, exploding in a burst of red.

“Yes!” Richie exclaims, squinting up at the sky to see the fireworks clearly. 

Mike startles a bit. That was really loud. 

The second firework explodes suddenly, this one fizzling off and popping in a delightful shade of blue. 

Richie claps his hands as the third firework goes off, this one is another popper, and it’s really loud. 

Mike covers his ears, trying not to cry.

More and more fireworks go off, making the sky explode in so many different, beautiful colors.

“Pretty,” Richie states. 

Mike starts crying. 

“Aw, baby,” Karen says gently. “Do you want Mama to hold you?”

Mike nods, running over to her, sitting on her lap, and hiding his face in her chest. 

Richie looks over and is mildly concerned, but then another firework goes off that grabs his attention.  

“So pretty,” he murmurs again, captivated by the colors and fire. “Wanna touch.” Richie imagines it’d be hot, and feel just as it looks: very, very pretty. 

Eventually, the fireworks show comes to a close, with the grand finale being a bunch of brightly colored sparklers. Richie adores it. 

Mike looks up, eyes wet and hair slightly mussed. “”s over, Mama?”

“Yes, sweetie. It’s over,” Karen replies, smoothing down his hair. “Richie, how’d you like it?”

“I loved it!” he yells. “What about you Nancy? Didja like them?”

“They were gorgeous,” she replies. 

“Gorgeous?”

“It’s more than pretty,” Nancy says.

“Gorgeous… I like that word,” Richie says. “Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous…”

“Richie, stop sayin’ that over and over,” Mike tells his brother, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Or it’s not going to sound so gorgeous anymore.”

“What? Mikey, that no… that doesn’t make sense?”

“Yeah it does.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Yes, it does.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Yes-”

“Guys,” Nancy says, coming in between them. “Please no fighting?”

“Okay,” Richie agrees. “I guess it made sense?”

“Thanks,” Mike says, forgetting what they were talking about entirely. 

“Mama, why’s there that car in our driveway?” Nancy asks.

“Oh, Aunt Mary and Uncle James are here for a little bit, just to talk to Mommy and Daddy.”

“Do we have to go to bed?” Richie asks sadly.

Ted and Karen look at each other.

“Well, if you guys play nicely and quietly, you can stay up a little while longer,” Karen says. “But only a little while.”

“Thanks, Mommy!” Richie exclaims. “Mikey, we’re gonna have so much fun… I already gots so many ideas for the next game we’re gonna play and guess what?” He whispers something in Mike’s ear, and Mike’s eyes widen. 

Karen looks over at them, but doesn’t ask about it. She figures it’s just some secret code for their next spy game. 

“Hi, Aunt Mary!” Nancy calls, running over to her Aunt, Karen’s sister.

“What am I, chopped liver?” their Uncle James jokes, while Mike and Richie run up to greet him. 

“Hi James, Hi Mary,” Karen says, giving them each a hug. Ted shakes James’ hand and gives Mary a hug.

“It’s been a while, and guess what I brought…” Mary says, trailing off. She holds up a bottle of 1970 wine. 

“1970?” Karen asks excitedly. “Well damn.”

“Fourth of July, it’s a special occasion,” James says. 

“Yeah, I figured we haven’t seen each other in a while, so…”

“Thanks so much,” Karen says. “Just let me get the kids set up with a game, and then we can catch up. How is your new house treating you? Have you decided what color you want to do the basement yet?”

“Mama?” Richie asks. 

“Wait a minute, Mama’s talking,” Karen tells him. 

“No, no, it’s alright,” Mary says. “What is it, Richie?”

“Can we go play now?”

“Oh, that boring are we?” Uncle James jokes, picking up Richie and tickling him a bit. 

Richie giggles. “No… we just gots to get a game setted up!” 

Mike laughs. “Yeah. Please, Mama?”

“Sure,” Karen says. “But clean up whatever you take out.”

“Okay!” Mike calls, as Richie pulls him inside. Nancy quickly follows them. 

“Okay, okay, so what are we going to do?” Nancy asks.

“I told Mike that we should build a slip ‘n slide!” Richie exclaims. “Isn’t that the mostest brilliant idea that I’ve ever even had?”

Nancy laughs. “Where the heck are we going to build a slip ‘n slide?”

“In the bathroom of course!” Richie answers. “Right, Mikey?”

Mike nods. “Rich… I don’t really know if we should do this. What if… it’s against the rules?”

“Psh,” Richie says. “It’s not. We’ll be fine. You won’t be able to think of what the rules are when you are slipping and sliding all over the bathroom. And Nancy’ll be there, and she always protects us.” He hugs his older sister as she beams, proud that he sees her that way. 

“Yeah. I’ll protect you Mike, don’t worry.” She puts an arm around him as well.

“Well… okay,” Mike says, giving in. 

“Yes!” Richie yells. “Now, let’s go. Come on, come on!” He grabs Nancy’s right hand and Mike’s left and pulls them along to the bathroom. “First, we need… shampoo. Yeah. Nancy, can you get the shower head ‘cuz… in order for it to be a slip ‘n slide, it’s gots to be slippery!” 

Nancy stands on the rim of the bathtub and grabs the shower head, turning it on. 

“Why aren’t you pouring it?” Richie asks curiously.

“I’m waiting ‘til it gets warm,” she explains.

“Good thinking,” Mike says, grabbing the bottle of shampoo off the rim of the bathtub. 

Richie pulls the mat off the floor and helps Nancy get it on top of their vanity. He taps his foot on the floor lightly. 

“This tile is perfect,” he declares. “Nance, is the water warm enough yet?”

“I don’t know, you feel,” she says. 

He puts his hand under the shower head. “Yes, it’s warm enough.” He grabs hold of it and then immediately starts spraying Mike. “Mikey! Water volcano, ah!”

Mike ducks behind the vanity. “Richie! We need our swimsuits!” 

“Oh, that’s right,” Richie says. “Be right back. Nancy, you watch the water.”

“I need my swimsuit, too!” she protests. 

“Be back,” Richie calls, already out of the room.

Nancy sighs, spraying a little water on the floor. 

Richie and Mike come back, Richie dressed in green swim trunks and Mike in blue. 

“Now, I’ll be right back,” Nancy says, rushing out of the room. She picks out a pretty pink tankini and then runs back into the room. The slip ‘n slide needs to be just right, there can’t be too much water or too much shampoo, or it won’t be as fun.

“Nancy, close the door,” Richie says. “Parents might not like this.”

“Rich, that’s what I thought about-”

“Okay, now, Mikey, you pour the shampoo,” Richie instructs, cutting Mike off. 

“Okay…” Mike trails off, squirting a bit of the shampoo on the floor. “There. That’s good.”

“More!” Richie exclaims.

“Rich, Mom likes this stuff, she said that we haveta-”

“More,” Richie repeats. 

Mike starts pouring more shampoo on the floor, Nancy spraying the spots he gets lightly with water. 

“Okay, that’s good,” Richie says, taking the bottle of shampoo and throwing it in the tub. “Now, we slide! Nancy, you go first.”

“Okay,” she says, smiling. She stands behind her brother, acting as if she’s about to slide. Instead, she sprays him in the back with the shower head.

“Hey!” Richie yells. “No fair! Give it!”

Nancy shakes her head, laughing. “Nuh-uh!” She runs across the room, spraying both her brothers as they chase her around the bathroom. She slips and falls, sliding across the bathroom. “I did it!”

Richie claps his hands and Mike smiles. 

“It works!” Richie says. “I am a genius. Brilliant.”

Mike laughs. “I helpeded you all along!” 

“You didn’t wanna do it.”

“Yeah I did!” 

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah!”

Richie grabs the shower head from Nancy’s limp hands and aims it directly in his brother’s face, drenching Mike’s hair. 

“Ha! You’re all wet!”

“Gimme that!” Mike says, tackling Richie to the ground and trying to grab the shower head. 

“Guys, I said no fighting,” Nancy says, exasperatedly. She helps them stand up and then pushes them down again, watching them slide on their homemade slip ‘n slide. She giggles. “Made you slide.”

Richie tries to push her down, and fails time and time again. Mike and Richie team up against Nancy, and send her sliding across the room. 

Mike stands off the ground, pulling Richie up with him, and they run across the bathroom, chasing their sister, who now has possession of the still spraying shower head.

Mike runs after Richie, who quickly slips on some shampoo. Instead of sliding, he hits the ground facefirst. Hard. This causes Mike to trip up as well, and he does the exact same thing.

“Oh no,” Nancy whispers, rushing over to them.

Mike’s eyes well up with tears as he struggles to breathe, having landed on his stomach and knocked the wind out of himself. He palms his eyes a bit, but pulls his hands away once they start stinging. He blinks after he’s caught his breath, and immediately starts wailing. 

Richie looks mildly startled, also struggling to breathe from having the wind knocked out of him and starting to cry, but he’s not touching his eyes as much as Mike is. He can’t see very clearly, but he doesn’t pay much attention to that. His eyes just hurt.

“Uhm… uhm… what hurts?” Nancy asks tentatively. Mike doesn’t answer, just keeps rubbing his eyes and crying. 

“Eyes… sting…” Richie says briefly, still trying to catch his breath. He inhales and then releases a sob, lightly touching his eyes and then squinting up at the ceiling.

“Gosh, why’d you both have to fall?” Nancy asks no one in particular. 

Mike cries out, rubbing his eyes again. “I can’t see! I can’t see!”

“Do your eyes hurt, Mikey?” Nancy asks. 

He just cries, and Richie does the same thing. 

Nancy feels helpless, and like she failed at protecting them. “Should I get Mama and Daddy?”

Richie shakes his head. “We’re going to b-be in so much t-trouble,” he sobs.

“You’re hurt!” Nancy argues, Mike still crying in her arms. “I’m getting them. Please don’t move.”

“C-can’t!” Mike yells, curling up on the floor after Nancy’s left. Richie crawls over to his brother and hugs him, tears and soap blurring his vision.

Karen is enjoying some conversation with her sister, her spouse, and her husband when Nancy comes running down the stairs, soaking wet and in her swimsuit. 

“Sweetie, what are you-”

“Mike and Richie need help, Mama,” Nancy says. 

“Oh, no. Not again,” Karen says quietly, almost to herself. “Where are they?”

“Bathroom,” Nancy replies, blinking back tears. 

“Okay. I’ll be back,” Karen says. 

“Do you need me to-” Ted asks. 

“No, I’m okay. I’ll be back,” she repeats. 

Karen follows her daughter into the bathroom, where her sons are on the floor, shirtless, soaking wet, and sobbing. She wonders how she hadn’t heard them before, but the door must’ve been closed. The bathroom door is surprisingly the most soundproof, and she is starting to think that might have to change.

“What’s going on?” Karen asks, kneeling down on the floor next to her boys. “Nancy, please turn off the shower head. What the hell happened?”

Nancy winces at the tone of her mother’s voice, but turns the shower off and starts to explain the slip ‘n slide while Karen checks the boys for any possible life-threatening injuries. She looks around the room and sees the shampoo shining on the ground, along with the empty bottle thrown haphazardly back in the tub. 

“Are they okay?” Nancy asks tentatively.

“Yep,” Karen says, annoyed. “You’ve got soap in your eyes, don’t you?” she asks Mike, who is incessantly rubbing at his red-rimmed eyes.

“Can’t see…” Mike mumbles. 

Richie’s eyes look a little bloodshot as well, and he’s staring off into space. “Both of you.” She almost laughs. “Nance, go get your dad.”

Nancy runs to go get her father while Karen sits Mike and Richie up next to the bathtub. They’ve quieted down quite a bit now, in the presence of their mom, but Mike is still sniffling and Richie won’t quit touching his eyes. 

“You two are going to have a bath, and then you’re going to go to bed, you hear?” Karen says. “We will be having a talk about this in the morning.”

Richie whines. “Don’t wanna go to bed…”

Mike puts his head on Richie’s shoulder. “Richie, we gotta.”

Richie shakes his head. “My eyes are hurting.”

“I know, baby,” Karen says, rubbing his shoulder. Even though she’s annoyed at her boys for pulling a stunt this stupid, they’re only three and she hates to see them hurting. 

“What’s going on?” Ted asks, opening the door. “Holy sh-”

“They decided to build a slip ‘n slide indoors, didn’t you?” Karen asks, looking at Richie. 

He nods. “Sorry, Daddy.”

Ted sighs. “Are they okay?”

“Soap in their eyes,” Karen replies. “Where’s Nancy?”

“Mary’s gonna get her to bed while we give these two a bath, apparently.”

“I’m so grateful for Mary,” Karen says, turning on the tap and filling the tub with warm water. “Poor James. He’s probably just sitting there, wondering what the hell happened.”

“Nah,” Ted says. “He’s finishing up that bottle of 1970.”

Karen laughs, helping Mike into the bathtub while Ted helps Richie. Washing the soap off their bodies is easy enough, but turning on the shower head and rinsing their eyes proves to be quite a challenge. 

Richie keeps involuntarily closing his eyes, while Mike refuses to let them rinse. 

This results in Ted more or less holding their eyes open for Karen while she rinses the last remnants of soap away. She wraps them each in a towel while Ted picks out pajamas. She picks them up and sets them on the vanity. 

Mike yawns, rubbing at his eyes but this time, not because he’s in pain. “Mama, want milk.”

“Yeah,” Richie agrees. “Milk, please?”

“Only if you promise never to pull something like this again,” Karen states.

“Never?” Richie asks. 

“Not for a long while,” Karen replies, realizing that never is way too long for a three-year-old to comprehend. 

Ted walks back in with two pairs of footie pajamas and two pull-ups. Ted dresses Mike, and Karen dresses Richie.

“Promise we won’t-” Mike yawns, cutting himself off. “Not for a long while. Milk, please?” he asks again. 

“Of course,” Karen answers. 

She walks downstairs and warms them some milk in a mug first, then transferring it to their respective sippy cups. Ted carries them downstairs and sets them up on the couch with Dumbo for what must be the third time that week. 

Richie makes grabby hands for his cup when Karen walks in. 

“What do we say?” she asks him. 

“Please,” he and Mike say at the same time. 

“Yep,” she says, giving them each a sippy cup. 

“I love you, Mama,” Mike says sweetly. 

“I love you, too,” Richie says, reaching his arms out to hug her. 

“I love you both, very much.”

Ted watches them have their moment, loving his sons and knowing they love him, but also knowing they will most likely forever be Mama’s boys. 

Karen and Ted go back to the other room to finish their glasses from earlier and wrap things up with Karen’s sister, but Karen finds herself wandering back into the living room to check on her sons. 

Mike is fast asleep, sippy cup still half-full and held limpy in the fingers that aren’t in his mouth. 

Karen watches Richie look over at his brother and take the sippy cup, starting to drink from that too, since his is gone. She stifles a laugh with her fingers.

But he’s not wrong. 

It was totally free real estate. 

The next morning, the five of them have a good long talk about shampoo and shower water and their respective uses, slip ‘n slides and why they should only be outside, and what should happen in the bathroom and what shouldn’t.

Karen thinks she and Ted handled this really well when Richie asks to have a real slip ‘n slide out in the backyard.

Of course, Ted agrees.

Chapter Text

Since the whole slip ‘n slide incident, things have been relatively calm in the Wheeler household. The twins are still running around the house all day like the maniac children they are, but with Nancy in school things have calmed down a little bit. Nancy grounded them most of the time but sometimes she egged on some of their wildest ideas. Hence, the slip ‘n slide. Without Nancy home all the time, Richie and Mike tend to gravitate towards quieter games of pretend rather than the lavish dress-up stories they act out with their sister. All three of her children have wild imaginations, but since Nancy is the oldest, she comes up with the most intricate, elaborate, and arguably most fun games and stories for them to play. The twins miss their sister a lot, but Karen has been looking into new things to keep them occupied. 

One of these new things: books. 

Since the twins are so into story-telling with their sister and love getting read to before bed, she figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to read to them during the day as well, and maybe start to teach them some letters and numbers and things like that. 

Not that she’s thinking about kindergarten or anything. 

Nope. 

She will not think about kindergarten. She stands up from where she was kneeled on the floor of the twins’ room, just picking up a few toys and putting them away. She grabs a book off the shelf, The Berenstain Bears , and then walks downstairs to where the boys are playing in the living room. 

“What are you guys doing?” she asks, kneeling down next to them. 

“Building,” Richie replies simply, stacking another block on top of his and Mike’s tower. He put it down a little lopsided, and Mike quickly corrects it before the whole thing topples over. 

“Building a tower for the…” 

“For the police station!” Richie cuts in. He starts making siren noises, and Mike slaps a hand over his mouth.

“Richie, the criminals aren’t getting caught yet!”

Karen laughs. “Well, how about you guys take a little break and read with Mama? If the criminals aren’t getting caught yet, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if it took a little extra time for the station and prison to get built.”

Richie looks up at Mike, who shrugs. 

“Okay.”

Karen smiles and then helps them onto the couch, where Richie snuggles into her left side and Mike snuggles into her right. She opens the book and reads it to them, and notices that Mike is a lot more interested than Richie, who keeps fidgeting and looking back at the blocks on the floor. 

“Thanks, Mama,” he says quickly. “We gots to build the tower, now-”

“Wait a minute, Richie,” Karen says, pulling him back by his shirt. “You guys know your alphabet, right?”

Mike nods. “Yeah. ‘cuz of we watched that one show, ‘member Richie?”

Richie looks agitated. “Yes. We have to finish the police station-”

“Richie, calm down,” Karen says gently. “Your blocks aren’t going anywhere. Just come sit down.”

Richie sighs heavily but listens, snuggling in next to her once more. She re-opens the book. Mike looks absolutely delighted. She points to the first letter on the page. 

“So, what letter is that?” she asks them. 

“T!” Mike answers confidently. 

“Good job,” Karen says, patting his back. “What about the next one?”

“H,” Mike tells her. “And the next one is… E?”

“Yep,” Karen says, noticing that Richie is being uncharacteristically quiet. “Richie, are you okay?”

He sighs and tugs at his hair in frustration. “I wanna play blocks.”

“You can play blocks in a minute, sweetie,” Karen tells him, smoothing down his hair. “Can you tell me what the letters say?”

Mike opens his mouth to speak, but Karen shushes him, focusing on Richie. 

“I can’t,” Richie mumbles. 

“It’s easy,” Mike says, trying to help. “T, h, e!” 

“Easy for you ,” Richie shoots back, hiding his face in his hands. 

“Hey, Richie, come back,” Karen says kindly, pulling Richie’s hands away from his face. “There you are.”

His expression softens slightly. 

“I think it’ll be easier if you just look at the page,” Karen says in the same gentle tone. 

Richie looks frustrated again, but does as she says, squinting at the book’s cover. “T, h, e,” he says blandly. “Now can I play blocks?”

Karen isn’t stupid. She knows he only repeated what his brother said so he’ll get off the hook and be able to play, but she lets it slide for this word. There’s plenty more of the book to go. 

“Not yet, Richie.”

He groans. “Please?”

“Just try this next word for me. What letter is that?”

Richie squints at it for a while. “I don’t know!” 

“It’s a B,” Mike says helpfully. 

Richie’s eyes fill with frustrated tears. “Well thanks for that, genius.”

Mike looks mildly hurt. “I was only trying to help-”

“I know, baby,” Karen says, keeping an arm around Mike while also holding the book. “I just want Richie to figure this out.”

“B,” Richie says. “Fine, it’s a B.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Karen asks. 

Richie rubs his eyes and then continues, mostly copying Mike, who is watching his brother squint intently at the letters and words on the page. 

After a bit of arguing, a few frustrated tears from Richie, and lots of helpful tips from Mike, Karen closes the book. 

“Alright, you guys can play blocks now.”

“Finally!” Richie yells, hopping off the couch and down onto the floor. All traces of his previous anguish have vanished. “Mikey, c’mon, this prison isn’t gonna build itself!”

They finish the rest of their prison and police station when Nancy walks through the door, Ted a little bit behind her. Ted’s work gives him relatively good hours. He has to get up early in the morning, but he’s almost always available to pick Nancy up from school, which helps Karen tremendously. Karen’s never really thought much about getting a job… she figures being a mom to three kids is enough. Ted makes enough for them to have everything they need and most of what they want and she feels extremely happy and fulfilled staying home with the kids. When Mike and Richie are in school that might be a different story, but she doesn’t have to think about that now. 

“Hi, Nancy,” Karen says, picking up her daughter and giving her a hug. “How was school?”

“It was really good!” Nancy exclaims, holding up a paper with a star sticker on it. “Teacher gave me this sticker because I’m just so smart.”

“Good job, baby,” Karen says, chuckling a little. “You are very smart. How was art class? Did you make anything special?”

“You bet she did,” Ted says, holding up a huge piece of paper and handing it to his daughter. “Go ahead, show Mommy.”

“We made mosaics today, with little cut-outs of paper, because… that’s what a mosaic is. Well, it’s mostly tile but we only had paper ‘cuz we’re little and stuff but isn’t it so cool? That’s the sky, and there’s the grass, and I also made a sun and-”

“Nancy!” Mike yells, cutting her off and running into her as he hugs her. Richie isn’t too far behind him, joining in on their little sibling group hug. 

Nancy laughs. “Hi Mike, hi Richie.”

They pull away.

“Woah, that’s so cool,” Mike says, looking at her mosaic. “Can I see it?”

“Sure,” she says, handing it over to him. “I was just tellin’ Mama about the sun and the little flowers at the bottom, see?”

“That’s really cool, Nancy!” Richie says, not really paying too  much attention to the detail of her work. “Wanna see what we did?”

“Yeah!” 

The kids run off to the living room and Karen walks into the kitchen to check on dinner, which is meatloaf. It looks about done, so she starts mixing her special sauce. Ketchup, mustard, and a tiny bit of brown sugar. It’s everyone’s favorite, and she’s very proud of it. 

“Bringing out the special sauce, huh?” Ted asks, kissing her cheek. 

She grins. 

“What is it, a special occasion?”

“No,” she answers. “Just felt like it, I guess. How was work?”

“Kind of boring, to be honest. I answered a few calls and filled out paperwork, and that was about it.” He works at an office, and sure the hours are convenient, but it’s still not the best job in the world. He’s happy with his family though, and that’s really all he could ask for. “How were Mike and Richie?”

“Oh, y’know, a handful, as usual,” Karen replies, spreading the sauce on top of the meatloaf and then slicing it and cutting it up for the kids. “Richie didn’t nap for too long today so it should be a relatively easy night… they played blocks almost all day, building that city of theirs, oh! And I got them to sit down and read with me for a bit.”

“Yeah? And how’d that go?” Ted asks.

“Okay,” she answers. “Mike was very good at it and very focused, Richie… not so much. He just refused to read the letters and words back to me. It took us a good hour and a half to get through the book. Mike helped him out a lot. I just don’t know why it was so easy for him and so difficult for Richie.”

“He’ll figure it out. They’re still very young, remember? They don’t start kindergarten for another two years.”

“I know,” Karen says, sighing. “I just know they’re equally as smart, and they have such big imaginations, I thought they’d love reading. Well, Mike does, I’m just-”

“Worried?” Ted finishes. “I get it. I’m sure Richie’s fine. Just give him time and he’ll come around, okay?”

“Okay.” Karen nods. “Kids, dinner!” 

Dinner is relatively uneventful, and by that Karen means Richie and Mike didn’t start randomly throwing food at each other, which is a real thing that occurs on some nights. Karen figures Richie is just a little tired from his less than satisfactory nap and the struggle that came with reading. Maybe that’s why he was having so much trouble. Maybe after a good night’s sleep he’ll be able to focus better. 

They’re watching a movie later that night, and instead of watching the screen, Mike is intently watching his brother’s face. Richie is squinting slightly, and keeps rubbing his eyes every so often. 

“Richie, are you okay?” Mike whispers. 

“Yes,” Richie answers immediately, pulling his hands away from his face. He looks back at the TV.

“Okay.” Mike shrugs, but still can’t shake the feeling that something is bothering Richie, and has been for a while now. 

That night, Karen reads them both a bedtime story and again encourages them to read along with her. Richie refuses, and she doesn’t push it because she doesn’t want to get him riled up right before bed. Her concerns have lessened quite a bit by now. She figures by tomorrow morning his brain will be refreshed and he’ll be ready to read. 

She was very wrong. Right after their nap, which was almost an hour and a half long, by the way, she grabs a different book, eager to try again. 

Mike sits up on the couch, excited to read another story. 

“What’s this one called?” he asks. 

“Well, it’s got the same title as the last one, but it’s a different story,” Karen explains. 

“How?” 

“When there are multiple books with the same title and different stories, it’s called a series.”

“So The Berenstain Bears is a series?” Mike asks. 

“Yep,” Karen replies. “Look, you already know the title. Richie, can you read it for me?”

“Mama, I can’t.”

“Baby, what’s going on with you?” Karen asks. “Normally you’re so ready to try new things. I know reading can be scary, but you’re super smart, you got some good rest, can you just try for me?”

“I am!” Richie yells. “I’m trying! I can’t!” His breathing picks up, and she knows she needs to calm him down before this turns into a full-fledged breakdown. 

Mike crawls off the side of the couch and goes to her left side to join his brother, rubbing his shoulders and whispering comforting words in his ear. 

“Mama, Richie can’t see,” Mike declares. 

Richie looks confused. “Yeah I-”

“No, he can’t,” Mike says, determined that both his brother and mama see his point. “On yesterday, we was watching the TV and I kept looking over at Richie and he was squinting all at the TV, and ‘member when soap got into our eyes and he wasn’t even crying as much as I was, ‘cuz he already couldn’t see!” 

Karen looks taken aback. The fact that Richie’s twin noticed all of these things and she didn’t makes her feel like an awful mother, but it makes sense. Richie only complained about the pain of the soap in his eyes, not the fact that he couldn’t see. She’s caught him squinting at the TV a few times before, but never really put much thought into it, simply assuming he was tired or the lights in the room were too bright, but-

“Mike, you’re right,” Karen says. 

“I know.”

“No, he’s not!” Richie complains, angry tears filling his eyes. “I can see fine, I-”

“Baby,” Karen says gently, holding him in her arms. “You might think you can see fine but you should be able to see the letters on the page, right?”

He sniffs and then nods. “They just look like nothing,” he says. “Like little tiny squiggles. I can see the pictures, though!” 

She smiles, because he looks so pleased by this fact. “And that’s good, baby, but we want you to be able to see the words, too.”

He nods, head held down. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Not being able to read,” he mumbles lowly. 

“Oh my goodness, Richie, it’s not your fault!” Karen reassures him, hugging him close. 

“Yeah, Richie, why say sorry?” Mike asks, slightly confused. 

Richie shrugs, wiping at his eyes. “I don’t know. I feel like I should just, like- you can read, y’know…”

“Richie, Mike inherited my vision, and you got your father’s. It’s completely okay to need glasses.”

“Glasses?” Richie asks. 

“Yes, Daddy wears glasses. They help him see better.”

“Okay…” Richie trails off.

“Richie, it’s going to be great!” Mike says, hugging his brother. “We’ll be able to read lots of books together, and maybe we can even read with Nancy, too! It’ll be fun. Don’t worry about it.”

Richie fidgets with his hands a little, but then cracks Mike a smile. 

“Okay.” 

Ted walks through the door with Nancy, who is chattering about some conversation she had with Barb at lunch. 

“Hi, Nance,” Karen says, greeting her daughter. Mike and Richie give her their usual hug, and she starts telling them about her day. 

“So guess what I found out today?” Karen starts, pulling Ted into the kitchen, where a frozen pizza is in the freezer waiting to be put into the oven. 

“Hm?” he asks. 

“Richie inherited your shit vision.”

“What? No way. That’s why he couldn’t read?”

“Yep,” Karen says. “You said it was no big deal.”

“I didn’t know!” Ted says, defending himself. “But at least we know now. Do you want me to call the eye doctor… the optometrist?”

“That would be appreciated, thank you,” Karen says, setting a timer on the oven. “I just can’t believe he’s going to be four in March and we didn’t notice a thing. Hell, I didn’t even notice.”

“But you just-”

“Mike told me.”

“He did?” Ted asks, surprised.

“He did. He gave me this whole speech about how Richie couldn’t see, and brought up quite a good bit of evidence to prove it. Like remember the whole slip ‘n slide thing, when they both got soap in their eyes?”

“How could I forget,” Ted says sarcastically.

“Well, Mike was complaining and crying that he couldn’t see, whereas Richie was just rubbing his eyes because they hurt. He already couldn’t see. Ted, I feel terrible. He hasn’t been able to see for nearly four years!”

“Karen, it’s going to be okay. I’ll call the optometrist, we’ll get him checked out-”

“We should get both of them checked out,” Karen cuts in. “Just in case. Even though Mike is doing so well, we thought Richie could see for four flipping years, so-”

“We’ll get both of them checked out,” Ted continues. “Richie will get some glasses, and then you can continue showing them how to read, which is a skill they don’t even need right now anyway-”

“Ted, they do. It’s very important for child development and I don’t want them going into kindergarten absolutely clueless. Also, you know how much they love to play pretend with Nancy. Stories are very enriching and enlightening for their imaginations.”

“You’re right,” Ted admits. “Very right. But still, it’s going to be okay, alright?”

Karen sighs. “Alright.”

As she puts the twins to bed that night, she simply reads “Goodnight Moon” to them, not forcing Richie to read out words he can’t see anymore. 

Ted calls the optometrist that night, and sets up an appointment for the following Saturday. 

Karen can’t wait. Richie is less than excited, and Mike doesn’t really have an opinion. He just wants his brother to be able to see. 

When the day finally arrives, Karen pulls Mike and Richie away from the game they’re playing on the floor and gets them in the car to head to the optometrist’s office. Richie is extremely quiet on the way there.

“Are you okay?” Mike asks. 

He nods. “I’m scared, Mikey.”

“Of what?”

“Of gettin’ glasses,” Richie replies. “What if they’re ugly?”

“Are Daddy’s glasses ugly?”

“Kinda…” Richie admits. 

Mike giggles. “You’re right. But I’m sure they won’t have ugly glasses for you. They’ll get you the prettiest glasses there, okay?”

“Are you sure?” Richie asks, fidgeting with his hands.

“I’m positive.”

They’re keeping their voices low, and Karen knows they don’t think she can hear them. 

She can. 

They’re in the waiting room for a bit, Richie kicking his legs anxiously and Mike trying and failing to calm him down. Richie eventually ends up in Karen’s lap, holding tightly to his mother in an attempt to calm his nerves.

“Karen Wheeler?” a person in a white coat calls from the waiting room door. 

Karen stands, pushing Mike in front of her so she can carry Richie. 

“Hi, I’m Dr. Adler,” a young man with kind eyes says as they enter a white room. 

“Hi,” Richie says. “I’m Richie, and this is my brother Mike.”

“Hi,” Mike says, waving. 

“Twins?” Dr. Adler asks, looking up at Karen. 

She nods. 

“So what brings you three in today?”

“Well,” Karen starts. “Richie is having a little trouble reading, and he’s been squinting at the television a lot-”

“And the soap thing!” Mike cuts in.

“And the soap thing… It’s a long story,” she adds when she sees the doctor’s confused look. 

He smiles. “Okay, and what about you Mike? Having any trouble seeing?”

“Not really,” Mike answers, shrugging.

“Okay, but we’ll still have you take the test to be sure.”

“Test?” Richie asks anxiously. 

“Oh, don’t worry, buddy,” Dr. Adler says in a reassuring tone. “You just have to read a few letters off a board for me. No needles, nothing like that.”

Richie’s shoulders slump as he relaxes, and Mike puts a hand on his back. 

“It’s okay,” he whispers, and Richie nods. 

“Okay. Test now?” Mike asks. 

Dr. Adler laughs. “Yes. Cover one of your eyes with your hand, and then look at the board across the room. Can you read off the letters for me?”

“A, F, J, K, G…” Mike starts. “L, O, M, T, L… they’re getting smaller…” he mumbles. 

“It’s okay,” Dr. Adler encourages. “Keep going.”

“R, C, V, P, another… Y, U, W…? I can’t see any further,” Mike says.

“Okay, cover your other eye.”

Mike repeats the same letters.

“Okay, that’s very good! You have 20/20 vision!”

“20/20?” Mike asks. 

“Yep. You have perfect vision.”

Mike beams, but then notices Richie looking sad standing next to their mother. 

“Richie, don’t be sad,” Mike tells him. 

“I don’t-” Richie starts, hiccuping. 

“Aw, buddy,” Karen says, kneeling down and hugging him. “It’s okay.”

“I… sorry, sorry,” he mumbles into her shirt. 

“Don’t be sorry,” she tells him. “It’s okay to need glasses. It’s totally fine.”

Richie takes a deep breath and then pulls away, wiping his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, completely sure. Daddy has glasses, Nana and Papa need glasses, and there’s plenty of other people in the world that have glasses.”

“Hey, Richie, if it makes you feel any better, basically this entire building is for people with glasses,” Dr. Adler says, kneeling down a bit so he’s on Richie’s level. 

“Really?” Richie asks, sniffling. 

“Really,” Dr. Adler confirms. “Now, dry your tears so you can take the test accurately, okay? No frowny faces are allowed during the test.”

Richie giggles. “Okay.” He holds one hand up to cover his left eye as Dr. Adler changes the board that Mike used so he doesn’t just copy his brother. “T, U, G… I, D, K? R? I… I can’t see anymore, I’m sorry,” Richie says, pulling his hand down. 

“Don’t be sorry, just cover your other eye.”

Richie repeats the letters using the other eye. “That’s all I got, doctor.”

Dr. Adler chuckles. “Okay, good job. You are quite a bit farsighted… we’ll have to get you a pretty heavy prescription, but once you have your glasses, you’ll be able to see everything so much better.”

Richie smiles slightly, looking over at Mike. “I’ll be able to see like Mike?”

“Just as well. I’ll be right back, I’m going to pick up some glasses for you guys to look at.”

He comes back with a few pairs of glasses. One with square frames, one with circle frames, and one with rectangle frames. 

“Richie looks like Nana,” Mike blurts, when Richie tries on the rectangular glasses. 

“He’s right,” Richie says, pulling the glasses off. “Circles, please.”

Dr. Adler chuckles and hands him the circular glasses, which he quickly discards. 

“Okay, we’ve only got one more that fits your prescription-” 

Richie’s already got the glasses on. “Mama, I-”

“Richie you look adorable!” Karen gushes. 

“His eyes look big, but he doesn’t look old,” Mike states. 

Richie grins. “You look old, you idiot,” he teases. He looks back at himself in the mirror. “I like them better than all the other ones, I guess, but…” 

“It’s okay, they’ll definitely take some getting used to,” Dr. Adler says. “I think you look great.”

“Thanks,” Richie says, smiling. 

They purchase the glasses, and Richie can’t stop looking around at everything. 

“What’s up, buddy?” Ted asks once they get home, and Richie is just running around, examining each room.

“I can see,” he states. 

“You can,” Ted says, amused. “And I can finally tell them apart,” he whispers to Karen a little later. 

She hits him good-naturedly. “You could tell them apart before.”

“Eh…” Ted makes an iffy noise, and quickly gives her a kiss before she can hit him again. “I’ll be upstairs. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

That night, Richie is extremely engaged in his and Mike’s bedtime story. He actually refuses to go to bed afterward, insisting that Karen come lay with him and read it five more times before he finally passes out, glasses slipping low on the bridge of his button nose. She gently removes them from his face and places them on his and Mike’s dresser. She’s going to have to get him a side table for his glasses now. 

She takes a step back, looking at their room, and looking at her boys. 

They’ve grown so much throughout these past three and a half years. From helpless babies to semi-independent toddlers, she’s seen them grow and change and has loved every minute of it. 

She loves them. 

Oh, and she loves Richie’s new glasses.

Chapter Text

On March 7th, 1976, Mike and Richie turned five. The summer flew by, and now it’s time for kindergarten, a stage of their life that doesn’t necessarily scare Karen, because she knows they’re smart and they’ll be fine, but, well… she feels nostalgic. 

“I’m going to miss having them home all day,” she tells Ted, washing the dishes while the kids play in the living room. 

“I know,” he says. “It’s definitely going to be an adjustment.”

She finishes drying a plate and then sets it down, looking wistfully into the living room. 

“It’s only kindergarten,” she says, more to herself than to her husband. “It’s not like… it’s not like I’m sending them off to boot camp or something.”

Ted rubs her shoulders as they watch Mike and Richie play dominoes while Nancy works on a craft nearby. 

“Ted, I-”

“I know that look,” he starts, smiling a bit. “Karen, we already have three.”

“I know that, but they’re growing up, we’re still young, we could have another baby-”

“True, but as much as I love those boys, they’re quite the handful, right? And I haven’t even been home with them all day these past five years. Kindergarten is just going to bring more surprises. You won’t be bored, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

That’s part of it, but she’s also just going to miss them being babies. Sure, Richie still loves to be held, but he doesn’t ask for it anymore. Mike doesn’t ask her to do as much as he used to, preferring to get his toys on his own and make his own sandwich for lunch. (Even when they don’t always turn out as good as she makes them). 

“Fine,” she says. “Not now. But I want another one.”

“Okay,” he says, laughing, and letting the topic rest. 

Karen walks into the living room, as Richie pulls Mike’s hands away from his face. He undoubtedly had his fingers in his mouth again. 

“Mama says you gotta stop doing that,” Richie tells his brother matter-of-factly. “Your teeth are gonna grow in ugly.”

“You’re ugly,” Mike retorts, putting another domino in place and resorting to just biting at his nails.

Richie knocks it over, laughing as the rest of them fall. 

Mike smiles and elbows his brother good-naturedly, as they start again. 

Karen is aware that this is how they interact, as brothers, but she also knows they’ve never interacted with anyone else. Their only cousin is only six months old, and they never see him, and they don’t really have any friends. She knows there’s a couple nice families that live just next door, but she’s never really made a point to reach out to them before. She’s seen a kid and his sister playing outside, and there’s another boy with curly blonde hair that sometimes plays with them. Uris? She thinks that’s right. That’s their last name. As for the other family… she knows it starts with an S. She wonders vaguely if Richie and Mike would like to join one day, or if they just prefer to play by themselves. Maybe their neighbors will be in Richie and Mike’s class? She thought she saw Uris on the class list...

Richie sticks his tongue out at his brother and knocks over the dominoes again. 

How is she going to teach him that he can’t act like that towards other people? That’s going to make no sense to him whatsoever. But other kids might be sensitive, they might be offended by his seemingly obnoxious nature, and not understand that he’s sensitive too-

“Richie. Stop. Not funny,” Mike says seriously, building the dominoes again. 

Richie pauses, but then goes back to blowing raspberries and walking all over his brother’s work. 

“Stop,” Mike repeats. 

“Why?” Richie asks, sitting down, but continuing to fidget with his hands and feet. 

“I’m trying to build.”

Richie doesn’t respond, now extremely focused on his colorfully patterned socks. 

He stopped when asked, so that’s good. But Mike’s his brother, he might act differently around other kids. Karen shouldn’t worry. Whatever happens will happen and she’ll teach Richie and Mike how and why you treat your brother differently than you treat your friends. 

Karen glances out the window, watching the blonde boy finish up a game of catch with his dad, just as the sun goes down.

Maybe this time next week, the boys and Ted will be able to get out there with them. Or they’ll be able to play basketball with the brown-haired boy in his driveway, having made friends in their kindergarten class. 

Or maybe they won’t, but… she can’t think about that. 

She smiles, forcing herself to push worry to the back of her mind and be happy that her boys are going off to school. After all, they are very excited. Nancy is also excited for them to be joining her at Hawkins. And Karen’s excited too! She also just can’t shake the naturally motherly worry and nostalgia that comes with the youngest in the family starting school. 

“They’re going to be fine, Karen. I promise,” Ted tells her that night.

She nods. “Yeah. They’ll be fine.”

 Karen takes Richie, Mike, and Nancy back to school shopping the next day, and has to stop the twins from buying out the entire store with all of the colorful, fun notebooks that catch their eyes. She lets them have one fun notebook each, along with the staple colors they need for each subject. Richie picks out a pair of blue craft scissors, immediately becoming infatuated with them for some, odd reason and whispering something in Mike’s ear.

Karen should worry about it. She should have learned by now that whenever Richie does that nothing good is to come from it, but well… they need craft scissors for school. Richie picks out a backpack with dinosaurs on it, while Mike picks out a plain blue one, which is his favorite color. Nancy is using her unicorn backpack from last year, as it is still sturdy and looks like it’ll last another year or two.

Karen wakes up on the first day of school equal parts nervous and excited. Richie is already awake and nearly bouncing with excitement, while Mike and Nancy are a bit more subdued as they eat their Fruity Pebbles. Karen forces Richie to eat half a bowl, which is all his nerves will allow. She knows he’d be starving later if she hadn’t, though. 

Richie nearly drags Mike and Nancy out to the car, and Karen has to pull him back in to fix his shirt, which was on backwards, and Mike hands him his backpack, laughing a bit. 

“Can’t forget your backpack!”

“Or your lunch,” Karen says, handing the twins their brown paper sacks.

“Thanks Mommy!” Richie exclaims, hugging her legs. Mike follows his brother, as Nancy leads them out to the car. Ted is already at work, his hours having been less-than-convenient today, but that’s alright. She and the kids will both have lots to tell him when he gets home. 

She takes a photo of all three kids standing by the car before she buckles them in, hopping into the driver’s seat to drop them off at school. 

This is it. Richie and Mike won’t be home all day again until summer. Jeez. What the hell is she going to do all day, without having them to chase around?

“Mama, we’re here, we’re here!” Richie says excitedly, unbuckling his seatbelt and then unbuckling Mike’s. 

“Slow down, Richie,” Mike says, laughing and grabbing his lunch. 

Nancy smiles at her siblings and ruffles Mike’s hair a bit, holding her lunch as well. 

Karen takes another few pictures, and Mike scowls. He’s never been fond of the camera, but Richie pulls a silly face that quickly has everyone laughing and grinning again.

“Mama, come on!” Richie exclaims, grabbing her hand. 

“Time for class,” Mike reiterates. Nancy puts a hand on the back of his backpack to guide him. 

“Do you know where your classroom is, sweetie?” Karen asks her daughter.

Nancy nods. “We saw it at orientation, right? It’s the same one.”

“Yes. And Barb is in your class, right?”

“Yep! I’m excited. Fourth grade is supposed to be a big year. With the field trip down to the capitol and everything, but… that’s not ‘til later…”

“Field trip?” Richie asks, stopping in the middle of the hallway. 

Karen urges him to keep going, so as not to stop the flow of parents and students walking. 

“Yeah. It’s when you leave school for a day to go somewhere fun and educational!” Nancy tells him. 

“We get a field trip this year, Richie,” Mike pipes up. “Right Mama?”

“Yep. You guys get to go to the zoo.”

“The zoo!” Richie exclaims, face lighting up all over again. 

Karen almost tells him to lower his voice, but realizes he’ll probably hear that plenty of times today, and shuts her mouth as she sees Nancy off to her classroom. Besides, all the other parents are too preoccupied with their children anyway. 

She spots a larger woman talking, well, more like yelling, at a shorter woman. The larger woman is wearing a tent-like dress and holding a few bottles of medicine as she yells at… who must be the teacher, if the little boy standing in between them is anything of a reference. 

“What do you mean I can’t give all of these to the school nurse? He needs his medications, Laura.”

“I am aware of that Ms. Kaspbrak, I just think it’s a lot, he looks perfectly healthy to me-”

“He has asthma, is allergic to all nuts, grass, trees, and he needs these on him at all times, just in case he has a panic or asthma attack- he’s prone to those to -and he needs his sanitary items because I am positive all of these kids are sick, and dirty, and-”

“Hi,” Richie says to the little boy, startling Ms. Kaspbrak out of her rant.

In all the commotion, Karen hadn’t even noticed him wander away.

“Dirty kids, like him!” Ms. Kaspbrak continues, pulling her son away from Richie. 

Richie’s face falls. “I took a bath last night.” He looks to his mama for comfort, as Ms. Kaspbrak pulls Eddie into her tight, suffocating embrace. 

“I know you did, sweetie,” Karen tells Richie, making sure Mike is by her side and not about to wander off. She glares at Ms. Kaspbrak, sparing a pitying glance to her son. “My son is not dirty. ”

Ms. Kaspbrak turns her nose up in the air, ignoring Karen. “Anyway, just take the damn medicine. I will not hesitate to call authorities in… higher positions than yours.”

The teacher’s mouth falls open, but she takes the medicine, mentally preparing for the conversation she will later be forced to have with the school nurse. “Sure, Sonia.”

Ms. Kaspbrak turns around to face her son. 

“Now Eddie, if anything happens to you, you know our phone number, don’t hesitate to call Mommy, okay? I’ll come and get you, and help you, and you don’t have to stay all day, remember? You could have picked a half-day-”

“Mommy, I’m fine,” Eddie says, picking at his nails. 

Ms. Kaspbrak sighs, standing up. “Alright then. Oh, one last hug!” 

Karen looks away, watching as other parents start to leave. 

“Goodbye, Mama,” Richie says, hugging her knees, and then following Eddie and their blonde-haired neighbor into a classroom. 

Hm. So they are in the same class! That’s good. And Richie’s an outgoing kid. She knows this, and he didn’t even say anything weird when he walked up to Eddie earlier. Just ‘hi.’ He’ll be fine. 

“I’m going to miss you, Mama,” Mike says, a little quieter than Richie. He’s always been a bit quieter than Richie, though. 

“I’ll see you first thing after school, okay?” She bends down to hug him and fix his hair. “I love you, and tell Richie I said so too.”

“He knows,” Mike says wisely, turning around. His shoulders still slump slightly.

“Hey, you’re going to be fine,” she tells him. 

He looks up at her. “I’m going to make friends?”

“You’re going to make so many friends, Mike.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t you? You’re sweet, loyal, funny, and creative. I’m absolutely positive you and Richie are going to have so many friends.”

“Okay.” He smiles genuinely, and then hugs her one last time before he races off into the classroom. 

“Hi!” a voice says brightly from behind her. “Karen, right?”

Karen turns around to face a young, blonde woman. “Yes, uhm-”

“I believe we’re neighbors. I’m Andrea, Stan Uris’s mom.”

“Oh! Andrea, hi! Yes!”

“This is my good friend Cynthia, who also lives next door!”

“Hi,” Cynthia says, shifting the one-year-old in her arms so she can hold out a hand to shake. “Lucas is my son, I think he’s in the same class as Stan and your twins? What are their names?”

“Mike and Richie,” Karen tells her, smiling. 

They talk for a while, about kindergarten, kids, and jobs until Erica, Cynthia’s baby, starts crying and she has to step away for a minute.

“How have we not made plans before?” Andrea asks. “We all get along so well.”

“I’m not sure. I guess it just never really crossed my mind,” Karen says. “Mike and Richie are more… inside people and seemed content playing by themselves, but, well, having a little get together would be nice.”

“Yes,” Cynthia agrees, walking back over and rubbing Erica’s back. “That would be wonderful.”

“Does Friday work?” Andrea suggests. “I’ll host.”

“Friday works,” Karen confirms, Cynthia nodding along with her.

“Well. I’ll see you guys later. I have some grocery shopping to do and I have to put her down for a nap,” Cynthia says. “It was really nice talking!”

Karen and Andrea wave as she leaves. 

“I do not miss having to leave to put him down for a nap every few hours,” Andrea says, going back to their topic of kids and kindergarten.

“Oh, yeah…” Karen says absently. “I don’t know.”

“You still have baby fever?” Andrea laughs. “Is that even possible with three kids?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Karen laughs along with her. “I miss when they were young enough to carry, y’know? I still can, but they’re getting heavy.”

“Yeah, I feel you. Do you wanna get out of here? I think they’re going to kick us out soon? We could stop for coffee somewhere,” Andrea continues.

“Oh! You’re right. That would be really fun, yeah.”

Karen has coffee with Andrea, continuing to talk about Friday, and how much they hope their kids get along throughout this next week. From what Andrea has told Karen about Stan, she’s sure they will. After coffee, Karen tidies up the house a little, and even manages to watch a little TV, before she realizes it’s time to pick the twins up.

She walks into the classroom to see Andrea and Cynthia already there, along with Ms… Sonia? Is that her name? Kaspbrak from earlier. 

She spots Richie and Mike making something at a big round table with a few other boys. She recognizes the blonde, curly-headed boy as Andrea’s son, and the black-haired boy as Lucas, Cynthia’s son. Eddie is also sitting around the table, pretty close to Richie actually, a fact Karen is sure Sonia will not be happy about, but finds herself smiling at this thought. There’s another kid with auburn hair, another with really curly hair, and one with a bowl cut. Karen’s sure she’ll hear all about them on the ride home. 

“Mike,” she says, tapping him on the shoulder. 

He startles a bit. “Hi, Mama.” He turns to hug her, and Richie does the same. 

“Oh. Bye guys! My Mama’s here!” Richie says loudly to the group, going around and hugging each one, Eddie last.

She walks them to Nancy’s room, where they all hug and start talking before she can get them into the car again.

“So how was it?” she asks.

“It was good,” Mike mumbles around his fingers. The habit of sucking his thumb when he was a baby had somehow morphed into him having his fingers in his mouth when he’s nervous, tired, or scared. She guesses he’s a bit tired right now, having just had his first day of kindergarten. She wishes she knew how to help him break the habit, but she’s let him do it for so long now, she doesn’t quite know how. “You were right. We made lots of friends.”

“Yeah! There’s Bill, and Stan, Eddie, Will, which is weird, because Will’s name is William and so is Bill’s so it’s good that we call them separate nicknames, and… and wait Dustin! Yeah! I called him Dusty, but… he didn’t like that nickname so much, but that’s okay, ‘cuz I stopped after that! And Lucas was also super nice to us! We didn’t have water at recess and he shared… Eddie helped me with arts and crafts, when I lost my scissors! Turns out they were just on the floor!” Richie exclaims. 

“It was... scary at first," Mike continues. "At recess, I had nobody to play with." He frowns, recalling this memory from only a few hours ago. "But, Will was swinging on the swings, and I asked if he wanted to be my friend, and he said yes." Mike smiles now. 

“I knew you'd make friends," Karen says, reaching back and grabbing Mike's ankle. His smile widens.

“I think… Stan is my best friend and Eddie’s my bestest," Richie says happily.

“Will is my best friend,” Mike says. 

Nancy, who was patiently waiting for her brothers to finish, decides to speak up about her day. “Our teacher is so nice, Mama. Barb and I got assigned group work, and we finished fast, so she gave us a ladybug eraser, see?” Nancy holds up her eraser for her mom to look at from the front seat. 

“Yeah, that’s a really cool eraser,” Karen tells her. 

“Can I see?” Richie asks, and Nancy hands it to him.

Mike gets it next, before handing it back to Nancy. “Cool,” he says, feeling the sides of the eraser. “It’s a soft eraser.”

Karen smiles and shakes her head because her children are enthralled with an eraser, out of all things. They arrive home fairly quickly, where Richie and Mike kick their shoes off and sit down on the couch to watch some TV. It’s fairly quiet as they do that and Nancy does her homework, and Karen finds herself half-wishing Richie and Mike were running around wreaking havoc as they normally are, but then she looks at the cleanliness of the house and thinks… maybe it’s better this way.

Ted arrives home from work just as she’s finishing up dinner. 

“So… how was it?” he asks, kissing her cheek. 

She smiles. “It was great. I’m sure they have lots to tell you.” She finishes portioning out food for everyone, and then walks into the living room, where Richie is dozing lightly and Mike is absently reading a picture book with his head against his arm, thumb securely in his mouth. 

“Boys, Daddy’s home,” she says, shaking Richie’s shoulder lightly. Mike looks up, pulling his thumb out of his mouth as he stands up and walks into the kitchen. Richie follows him with a yawn. 

“Kindergarten is just so hard, am I right boys?” Karen teases lightly, smiling at Ted as Richie babbles on about their day, Mike chiming in once and a while. Nancy tells her dad about her day as well, and he listens intently, complimenting Karen on her three-cheese mac and cheese. 

Throughout the week, the twins become more and more happy with their school and social lives, going so far as to ask Karen if Stan and Lucas can come over. She happily tells them that she already set up a play-date tonight with both boys at Stan’s house. They grin at each other and then run upstairs, probably to argue over which toys to bring. She rolls her eyes good-naturedly, putting on a new blouse and fixing her hair and makeup before making sure the twins didn’t pack anything they could lose and then walking over there.

“Hi Karen!” Andrea greets her at the door.

“Stan!” Richie yells, hugging the other boy immediately. 

“Richie,” Stan says. He seems like an extremely quiet kid, which Karen assumes would mean he and Richie wouldn’t get along, but the slight smile playing on his face tells her otherwise. She knows Stan must tone Richie down and balance him out quite a lot, and Richie must, in turn, make him laugh. 

“Hi Stan,” Mike says, following Stan as he leads them up toward his room. 

“Lucas is already here,” Stan informs them, and that’s the last they hear for a while as Andrea pours Karen and Cynthia each a glass of wine. 

“So… how was the first week?” Karen asks.

“Good,” Cynthia answers. “I expected it to be a much harder transition, but Lucas seems really happy with the friends he’s made, and he’s finishing his work quickly and accurately.”

“I had no questions about the academics part, but… Stan is just so serious for his age, y’know? I was a little worried about him making friends.”

“I understand,” Karen sympathizes. “Mike and Richie are so used to just being around each other, insulting each other, hitting each other, as brothers do, I was worried they’d think it was okay to treat others that way as well. But it seems that if they do, Stan and Lucas are okay with it, and if they don’t then… wow, these five year olds have social cues.”

Andrea laughs. “Stan tells me how they ‘play-fight.’” She puts air-quotes around that word, indicating it was Stan’s word, not hers. “He doesn’t have siblings or cousins, but I should’ve had faith in him. He’s got Richie, Mike, and Lucas, and… what were those other boys names? I know Bill Denbrough’s family, they live a few blocks down, and the Hendersons…”

“Dustin, Will, and Eddie,” Cynthia tells her, listing off the rest of the boys’ friends. “They’re all I’ve heard about for the last week, I can’t have forgotten their names. Lucas is insisting on a playdate with everyone, but I think that would be a lot. Maybe for someone’s birthday. And… I’m not sure how Sonia would feel about that.”

Andrea snorts. “Sonia.”

“You two know her?” Karen asks. 

“Have you lived here your whole life?” Cynthia asks.

Karen shakes her head. “I moved here to have a family, I lived closer to the capitol, but still an hour outside. But I guess that should be long enough for me to know people. Did you guys go to school together?”

“Yes. She’s a total lunatic.”

“Well that much I could tell,” Karen says. 

“I just feel bad for Eddie.” Cynthia takes a sip of her wine. “She must stifle him like hell.”

“He seems brave, though,” Karen says, thinking back to when the little boy told his mother he was alright before walking into the classroom, head held high. 

“Yeah. Well, with a mother like that, you’re either brave or always going to be living in her shadow.”

“True.”

A loud crash sounds throughout the house, coming from upstairs. 

“Oh shit,” Andrea says, the first to stand up and start walking upstairs. 

“Boys? Are you-”

They’re fine. In fact, they’re all laughing hysterically at Richie, who is on the floor, also laughing. 

“What happened?”

“Richie- fell-” Lucas manages in between huge fits of laughter.

Karen shakes her head, helping Richie up. “Okay, what happened this time?”

“I’m a superhero!” he pipes up helpfully. 

“The most ungraceful superhero ever.” Stan snorts, still leaning on Mike with the force of his laughter. 

Karen silently praises his vocabulary, because what five-year-old uses the word ungraceful? 

Andrea and Cynthia are now also laughing uncontrollably at her son, and Richie beams and seems pleased by this fact. She thinks maybe he’ll always want to make people laugh. That it’s just a part of his personality. 

Slowly, everybody calms down, and the adults head back downstairs. 

Richie holds the blanket up around his shoulders again and hops up on Stan’s bed. 

“Richie, careful,” Stan tells him, as Lucas starts laughing again. 

“I got this. I’m going to save the city. Richie to the rescue!” He hops off the bed and then scoops up a few of Stan’s plastic cars. 

“No, Richie, you wrecked it!” Mike complains. 

“No, I saved them from the fire.”

Stan nods. “There was a fire, Mike.”

“Richie, use your blanket as a base,” Lucas instructs. 

Richie spreads Stan’s throw blanket on the floor, and they begin building a city out of Lincoln Logs and Legos. Mike is about to come up with another natural disaster to occur, but Lucas and Richie insist the parents see their masterpiece first.

“Mama! Mama! Come look what we made!” Richie calls down the stairs, Mike by his side, and Lucas and Stan behind them. 

Karen follows Andrea and Cynthia up, to look at the city their sons made out of Legos and Lincoln Logs. 

“Very creative,” Andrea comments, ruffling Stan’s hair. He pulls away from her slightly, pulling at his hair a little and fixing the curls she supposedly messed up. 

“Thanks.”

The moms watch fondly as their boys destroy the city they worked so hard building, but it’s all part of some sort of game, so it’s fine in their eyes. 

A bit later, the boys request to watch a movie. Andrea makes some fish sticks and tater tots for dinner, bringing out a cheese board for the adults. 

“This is fancy,” Karen comments.

“Well. When else am I going to use it?”

“A party?” Karen suggests.

“This is a party.” Cynthia laughs. “When’s the last time you’ve been to an actual party? Their birthdays don’t count.”

“Yeah, okay,” Karen says, helping herself to a bite of cheese. 

They talk for a few hours longer, and Karen only realizes she has to go when Ted calls the Uris’s house phone. Sure, it’s not late for her, but for the kids, it must be. 

Andrea leads her to the living room, where sure enough, all four boys are passed out in front of the TV, which is still playing The Aristocats .

Cynthia gives both Karen and Andrea a quick hug, thanking them for the lovely night, before moving to pick up Lucas and take him home.

“Are you going to be able to get them home?”

“Probably,” Karen says, pulling Mike’s thumb gently out of his mouth and then carefully picking him up. “If I make two trips. And gosh, he’s got to stop doing that. It’s going to mess up his teeth. Probably already is.”

“Stan sucked his thumb when he was a little younger, and we helped him to stop with gentle reminders and talked to him about it. Have you tried that?”

“No. Honestly, we thought he’d give it up, like Richie did with the binki, but he just… hasn’t.”

“Yeah, but whatever you try, don’t use gloves or anything like that. It’ll only make him more anxious and want to do it more.”

“Okay. Thanks, Andrea.”

“Of course.” She smiles. “Here, I’ll help you take them home.” She picks up Richie, who starts a bit, subconsciously registering that this is Stan’s mom, not his, but quickly falling back asleep. 

They walk back to Karen’s house, continuing to talk at the door after Richie and Mike are back in their room. Finally, Andrea says goodbye, and Karen walks into the living room to sit in her husband’s arms. 

“How was it?”

“Fun,” she replies. “You’ll have to come next time. They can bring their husbands, too. We’ll make a day out of it, or something.” 

“The kids get along that well?”

“You wouldn’t believe it.”

“With both twins?”

“Yes, they’re like four peas in a pod.”

“Wow.”

“And there’s four other boys as well. I haven’t met them yet, but apparently, they’re just as nice, according to Andrea, Cynthia, and of course, Mike and Richie.”

“I’m happy for them. See? There was nothing to worry about.”

Karen nods. “I knew that. It’s just.. kindergarten is a big deal, even though Nancy already went through it and I knew what to expect… Mike and Richie are different, and especially… taking them through school as twins might be hard. What if they go through a phase where they want nothing to do with each other?”

“Have you seen them lately, Karen? They seem closer than ever,” Ted reassures her. “And if they do go through that phase, we’ll be there to pull their heads out of their asses.”

Karen laughs. “You’re right.”

They head up to bed after that. 

“Mike, I’m bored,” Richie tells his brother, hanging upside down on the couch. 

“Richie, we’re a’pposed to be doing homework,” Mike says, focusing intently on the page he’s coloring. He takes his scissors and cuts another strip of paper to glue onto the construction paper in his other hand. 

Richie flips off the couch, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He blows it up, a bit annoyed that it won’t stay, but moves to sit at the little table in the corner of their living room with Mike, taking his identical sheet out of his backpack. 

“I need help.”

“It’s easy, Richie.”

“No, it’s not. It’s super hard. I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can,” Mike argues, handing him the glue stick. “You just cut, glue, and color. Whatever colors and patterns you want.”

“But it’s too much…” Richie complains, pushing his glasses up to hold his hair in place. However, this just creates a new obstacle, because now he can’t see. He doesn’t want a haircut, because last time he was there, the barber cut his hair really ugly. Maybe… maybe he can just-

“Mike, scissors. Now.”

Mike looks up, handing Richie the scissors. “What, Richie-”

Richie has already cut a little strip of his hair off. “Now I can see!” he exclaims. 

Mike’s eyes go wide as Richie cuts another piece. 

“Mike, this is fun! We can play barber! Don’t worry, I won’t give you an ugly haircut like our barber did last time!”

Mike fidgets with his hands uneasily. “Well… okay…”

“Here, sit down, my client!” Richie says, wrapping a blanket around Mike to mimic a smock. He holds Mike’s hair up like he’s seen good barbers do before, and then snips. 

“That tickles,” Mike says, giggling. Richie cuts another piece of hair. Soon, there is a large pile of hair on the floor at Mike’s feet. “Okay, Richie, my turn, my turn!” he says excitedly, taking the scissors from his brother and tying the blanket-smock around him. 

He snips a few pieces of hair off Richie, cutting his hair short so he won’t have to worry about it being his eyes when he’s trying to do homework. Mike brings his hands up to feel his own hair, feeling that it’s short on the sides and long in the back and front. He cuts it a bit to even it out, and then looks at his brother. 

“Twins,” he jokes, cutting another piece of hair.

“Hey, boys, what do you want for-” Karen cuts herself off as she gasps, bringing a hand to her chest. “Uh. I-”

“Hi Mama! Do you like it?” Richie asks, as Mike turns around to hide the scissors. 

“Richie, Mike…” she trails off, still stunned at seeing her babies’ gorgeous curls chopped off and on the floor. She doesn’t want to say anything she’ll regret, so she takes a deep breath and leaves the room, closing her eyes and resting her head against the kitchen counter for a minute.

“She doesn’t like it,” Richie says sadly, resting his head on Mike’s shoulder.

“It’s just… different,” Mike reassures his brother, rubbing his back. “I think we look great.”

Richie walks into the kitchen a few minutes later, starting to get hungry. 

“Mama, I-”

She gasps again, though not as loudly, as she sees just the amount of hair he chopped from his head. 

“Rich,” she starts, running her hands through his much thinner hair. “Why did you guys cut your hair?”

“Too long,” Richie states. “Do you like it?” he asks again. He needs her approval. It’s something that comes with being a kid, and it’s a part of who he is. He needs her to like it.

She nods, feeling the sides of his head. “We’re going to have to get you an appointment at the barber’s.”

“What? No, Mama! That’s the whole reason we cut our hair!” he protests. 

Mike walks in after Richie, carrying bits of hair to the garbage. 

She resists the urge to laugh. “Mike, sweetie, don’t worry about it, I’ll clean that up later, okay?”

He nods. “Okay.” He’s got bangs, and his hair is longer in the back than on the sides and top of his head. It looks… quite strange.

“Richie, you guys need to even out your hair. You have to go to the barber.”

“Mama…” he whines. “The barber make me look ugly.” He pouts. 

“Is that what this is about? You didn’t want to get a haircut because you didn’t like the style he did?”

Richie nods. 

“Oh, Richie. You didn’t have to go to that specific barber.”

“What’s specific mean?”

“The same one, that particular barber, the certain kind of barber,” she tells him. 

“Oh.” He feels his hair. “Maybe my hair is a bit uneven.”

“Have you looked at it yet?”

He shakes his head, and a strand of hair flies around wildly. 

“Do you want to?”

He nods. 

She takes both he and Mike to the mirror in their bathroom, where Nancy is currently painting her nails. 

“Oh, hi M- woah,” she says, almost dropping her bottle of polish. 

Richie hops up on the counter. “I wanna see! I wanna- oh.”

“Mama…” Mike trails off. “I don’t like it.”

Richie pulls at one of his remaining curls sadly, tears welling up in his eyes. “Ugly. I look uglier than when the barber cut it.”

“Oh, no, baby. You don’t look ugly,” Karen reassures him, kissing the top of his head as he frantically rubs his eyes. “You just need someone who knows what they’re doing to cut your hair.”

She possibly could have phrased that better, but the words are already out, and he’s already crying. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, sitting down on the closed toilet and rubbing his back. Mike just continues examining himself in the mirror, blowing up his bangs and laughing. 

“I look funny,” he says. “Richie, we’re not ugly. Just different. Come on, little brother.”

“Not little,” Richie says, as Mike has taken to calling Richie that, as he technically is, his little brother, when he wants to get Richie’s attention. 

“Then get up here. We’re not ugly. Mama’s right. We just need haircuts.”

Richie laughs, wiping his eyes. “Yeah?”

Mike nods. “Yeah.”

Karen hugs both of them close to her chest. “Now, go play. But no scissors, you hear?”

They nod, and she confiscates the scissors just to make sure there won’t be any ‘accidents.’

Dinner is fun, as Richie and Mike get to share everything that happened that day, Nancy quietly laughing behind her hand. She assures them they look very handsome, when Richie gets to talking about his insecurity again. Mike keeps an arm around his brother when they’re standing, up until their hair appointment. 

“Oh, and guess what?” Karen asks Ted, the day before. “Friday, next week, is picture day.”

He snorts. “You’re lucky it wasn’t today.”

“Yeah, right?” She pauses for a minute. “I’m worried about Richie.”

“Why?”

“He just… Mike seemed to brush off their mistake, but Richie really took it to heart. He cried pretty hard in the bathroom, going on about how he was ugly…”

“Maybe he really wants to be a hairdresser,” Ted suggests.

“Ted, I’m serious.”

“Okay. I don’t know. Mike and Nancy seemed to pull him out of it, right? I’m sure he was just shocked, that’s all.”

“Okay.” Karen lets the topic go, but she still thinks that this insecurity might be something that follows Richie for a while. She hopes Mike and Nancy will always be there to pull him out of it, and they won’t go through the bullshit phase where they want nothing to do with each other. 

The hair appointment is fun, and the twins get lollipops afterward. The barber shop is now a happy memory in Richie’s mind, and he no longer has the urge to cut his own hair out of fear someone else will cut it wrong. Besides, he couldn’t even if he wanted to, because the scissors have been confiscated after a long talk from Karen and Ted.

Their kindergarten pictures are adorable, and this will go down as the picture day where they cut each other’s hair. 

Chapter Text

"Mama?” Richie asks, hanging upside down on the couch. His curls have grown back in, but just barely. They flop down away from his forehead, along with his glasses. 

“Yes, baby?”

“When’s our birthday party ?”

“Richie, stop that, you’re going to get a head rush,” Nancy scolds him lightly, helping him sit back up. 

“W-woah!” he acts mildly dazed and then falls over, but sits back up quickly, grinning at her. “Just kidding.”

“Richie!” Mike yells. His brother fell into his lap, knocking over the pencils he was using to complete what little kindergarten homework he was given. Richie, apparently, had finished his during class. “Stop being annoying.”

That was a new word they’d both picked up from kindergarten, and they’d taken to calling each other that, too. Though neither one got particularly upset when it came from the other one’s mouth, she knew it must’ve come from a bully. 

“Don’t call him annoying,” Karen tells Mike. 

“He knocked over my pencils!”

“It was an accident!” Richie protests. 

“You say that every time you mess up my stuff!”

“Because it always is!”

Karen sighs, and steps between them, before this can turn into a huge blow-out. 

“Richie, pick up Mike’s pencils. Mike, do your homework at the table. And Richie, Nancy’s right. Stop laying upside down.”

Richie makes a sad face at her, but they listen, and Nancy turns on some cartoons. Richie watches them for a minute, but starts getting twitchy again, so he walks over to bother Mike. 

“Mike, can I draw something?”

“Sure.” Mike hands him a piece of paper and a pencil, and that occupies Richie for around ten minutes before he discards that quiet activity as well. 

“Mike, did you know only sixteen more days until our birthday?”

“Yep,” Mike says, working hard on a particular question. 

“Oh!” Richie exclaims suddenly, head whipping around to face the kitchen. “Mama, you didn’t tell me when our birthday party is?” he tells her, but phrases it as a question.

“It’s on a Saturday, sweetie. March 5th.”

“But our birthday is March 7th…?”

“Well, we can’t have a party on a Monday.”

“Why not?” Richie asks. 

“We have school, silly,” Mike replies, from his spot at the table in the corner of their living room. “Finished! Mama can you come check?”

“Yes, one second, honey.”

“Who are we inviting?” Richie asks, and then after a moment, “I’m hungry, Mama.”

“Let me check your brother’s homework, and then I’ll get you something to eat. Drink some water, though. You just had dinner.”

“I’m still hungry. Mama, can we invite Eddie?”

“And Will?” Mike adds, as he hands Karen his homework. 

“Yes, I’ll have to call their parents…” Karen says, as she looks over Mike’s math. “Good  job. Everything looks right to me.”

“I wanna invite Dustin and Stan too!” Richie exclaims.

“Can all our friends come, Mommy?” Mike asks, following her into the kitchen, where she chops up some apples for them. 

“Sure. I’ll call their parents tomorrow, after school.”

“Thanks!” Richie smiles, mouth full of apple.

“Chew with your mouth closed, honey. That’s yucky,” she reminds him. 

He closes his mouth, swallowing and then grinning at her. 

She smiles back, and walks into the living room to see if Nancy needs any help with her homework. 

“Are you excited, Mikey?”

Mike nods. “It’s going to be really fun. I wish it was hot, though. We could play in the sprinkler.”

“Well, we can still play in the summer. It gets hot in… May, right?”

“Sometimes.” Mike shrugs. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

They finish their apples and walk back into the living room to watch a bit more TV. Karen knows Ted won’t be home for a while still, which is why she’s letting them watch TV instead of playing a family game like they would if Ted was home. His hours run later during the winter than they do during spring and summer.

The clock strikes eight thirty, and Karen takes Mike and Richie upstairs to get ready for bed, allowing Nancy to turn on a show of her choosing and stay up a while longer, as she is the oldest. 

“I’m not tired, Mama,” Richie tells her, nearly bouncing on his bed.

Mike hums his agreement, thumb in his mouth. 

“Mike, what did we tell you about that?”

He cocks his head to the side. “Hm?”

He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. 

“Take your fingers out of your mouth, baby.”

“Oh. Uh… sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I just want you to have healthy teeth, remember?”

He nods, and lies back and she can tell he’s anxious now, and a little embarrassed.

“It’s okay, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she reassures him.

“Okay.”

“Yeah. It’s alright, Mikey!” Richie pipes up, looking at books on their bookshelf. “This one?” he offers, holding up Twinkle Twinkle Little Star . 

Mike nods. “Come here.” He pats the spot beside him. “Mama, can I read it?”

“Of course.” Karen hands him the book. 

Richie leans his head on his brother’s shoulder, to see the book better. Mike reads it aloud, doing, for the most part, a very good job, but yawning his way through the last few pages. Richie finishes it off for him, and then hands his glasses to his mama, hopping down from Mike’s bed and snuggling into the covers of his own. 

“Goodnight, Mama.”

“Sweet dreams.” 

She turns off the light and closes the door. 

“Nancy?” she asks quietly.

“Yes, Mama?”

“Are you ready for bed?”

Nancy switches off the TV and nods. “I’m already in my pajamas.”

“Do you have a book you want me to read, or anything you wanted to talk about?”

As Nancy has gotten older, Karen stopped reading to her as frequently as she does Mike and Richie. Nancy prefers to talk about her day before bed, ask her Mom for advice, or tell her about something that happened at school over reading. Karen knows she reads on her own and this makes her happy, makes her feel like she has a good relationship with her daughter in which she feels she can trust her mother with almost anything. 

“Well… a little bit, yeah.”

“Okay, why don’t you brush your teeth and we can talk, okay?”

Nancy nods, biting her lip, but runs up to go brush her teeth and hair. 

Karen waits for her daughter on her bed, hoping nobody did or said anything mean. 

“What’s up, honey?”

“There was this kid… at school… Henry Bowers? Do you know him?”

Images of the boy’s father run through Karen’s mind, of him yelling at kind people for no reason, being harsh, cruel and unnecessarily rude.

“I know his father,” she answers darkly. “Continue.”

“He kept saying really mean things about Barb, and she’s my best friend. He kept calling her dumb, and fat, and ugly… and none of those are true! She’s really pretty. I love her hair.”

“What did you say?”

“Well, I told him to stop,” Nancy says. “Was that… was it the right thing to do?”

Karen could burst with pride. “Yes. When someone is being bullied like that, you stand up for them. Especially if that someone is your best friend. I’m very proud of you, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, Mommy.”

Karen wraps her arms around Nancy in a hug. 

“I love you, sweetheart. You finished all your homework, right?”

“Yes.”

“And other than that, it was a good day?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay, well. Try to get some sleep. It’s a school night, and I know you like to read…”

“I will, I will. Goodnight, Mommy.”

“Goodnight.”

She closes Nancy’s door carefully, nearly stepping into her husband on the way out.

“Woah!” she exclaims, startled. 

“Hi,” he says. “Sorry, I was just gonna check in on you guys, but, well…”

“No, she’s still awake. Go in, I’m sure she’ll want to tell you about her day.”

Karen gives Ted a quick kiss on the cheek and then walks downstairs, preparing two glasses of wine for them to drink while they talk about their days. 

He comes down the stairs a while later, dressed more comfortably and without his glasses.

“How was work?”

“Same old, same old.” He shrugs. “I can’t wait for summer so I can be home with you guys more, but you know how it is.”

She nods. 

“What about your day?”

“I did some laundry, cleaned the house, cooked, yeah, same old, same old… Richie and Mike started planning their birthday party.”

“They did?”

“Well… I already knew the date, but they started planning the guest list. They want all their friends there.”

“They’ve grown attached to each other, haven’t they?”

“Yeah. Like I said before, the first time I saw Stan, Richie, Mike, and Lucas all hang out together, I don’t know… I just kinda knew they were going to be best friends forever.”

“Karen, most kids don’t stay friends with their middle school friend group through high school, let alone kindergarten-”

“Ted. I just know. And I’ve seen them hang out, even after that. You’ll see it at the party. You’ll have to.”

“Yeah. I guess I will. But can you believe they’re going to be six?”

“No.”

Karen gets that look in her eyes again, the one Ted knows all too well.

“I want another one,” she states. 

“Karen, we can’t.”

“What do you mean? I know we can afford having one, and I want Nancy to have a sister-”

“There’s no guarantee it’ll even be a girl, and aren’t Mike and Richie still quite the handful?” 

“Yes, but I can handle it. They deserve a younger sister.”

Ted sighs. “I’ll think about it some more.”

“We’re having another baby.”

“Not now.”

“We’re having another baby.”

“Let’s focus on the babies we have right now. They’re about to be six. Did you find their friend’s parents’ names in the phone book?”

“I’ll do that right now.”

The next few weeks go by in a blur, Richie and Mike’s excitement for their sixth birthday transfers to the rest of the family, causing time to cease existing.

Soon enough, she’s being shaken awake on the day of the party, Richie trying his hardest to jump on the bed but still being a bit too small. 

“Good morning,” she says, giving him a hug. “Where’s Mike?”

He shrugs. 

“Well, why don’t you go find him, and we’ll be right down, okay?” 

He nods and runs off, excited as ever. 

She smiles, tapping Ted’s shoulder. 

“Good morning.”

“It’s six thirty.”

“They’re excited. Come on.”

“It’s not even their real birthday-”

“I’ll just have to make more chocolate chip pancakes then.”

Ted sighs and follows her downstairs, where Mike has already gotten out all the ingredients.

“And what time did you wake up?” she asks him.

He shrugs. 

“These two and their shrugs,” she says, turning toward Ted and laughing. 

“Can we make pancakes now please?” Richie asks, hopping up onto a stool and pulling the bowl towards himself. 

Mike nods, a loose hair falling into his face. 

“Yes, one second.” She takes a quick picture of them, both grinning at the camera in their pajamas, Mike holding the bag of flour and Richie clutching the bowl for dear life. “Okay, what’s the first ingredient.”

“It says to combine the dry ingredients… and melt the butter and milk,” Richie answers confidently. 

“I’ll do the dry ingredients,” Mike says, opening up the bag of flour. “1 and a fourth cups.”

“Look at my little bakers,” Karen says fondly, to Ted. 

He smiles. “Certainly better than any other almost six-year-olds I’ve seen. And ‘cuz they practically grew up in this kitchen.”

Mike finishes the dry ingredients as Richie and Karen melt the butter and milk in a saucepan.

The recipe calls for two eggs, and Mike and Richie each crack one.

They take turns mixing in the chocolate chips, certainly eating their fair share as well. Karen cooks them just as Nancy makes her way downstairs.

“Good morning, Nancy!” Richie beams, hugging her. 

“Hi!” Mike adds, already getting started on his pancakes. 

“Mama, what time is the party?”

“Two o’clock,” Karen answers. 

Richie groans. “How many hours?”

“Seven.” 

“That’s too long!” Mike complains. “I wanna see Will.”

“I want to see Eddie.”

“You will. Be patient.”

“Mom, can Barb come over to their party?” Nancy asks, taking a bite of her pancakes. 

“Of course. How are the pancakes?”

Nancy gives a thumbs up. “Very good.”

“We helped!” Richie speaks up. 

“They did most of the work,” Karen tells her. 

“Well,” she turns to Mike and Richie, “It’s very, very good.” 

The rest of the morning is spent cleaning the house, and watching Mike and Richie attempt to clean their room. Richie keeps getting distracted, therefore distracting Mike, which reminds her of one crying setting the other one off when they were infants. 

Oh how the time flies. 

The doorbell rings around one thirty, and Mike and Richie look out the window to see-

“Nana and Papa!” Mike exclaims, running past Richie and nearly tripping down the stairs. 

“Hi,” Nana says, giving both of them a hug. “Happy almost-birthday.”

Karen’s father picks them up as well.

“Thank you!” Mike manages through giggles. 

“We have something for you two…”

“Mom-”

“Just let me give them their present, Karen.”

She hands Mike and Richie each a card, that they tear open immediately. 

“Twenty dollars?” Richie looks up, eyes wide behind his huge glasses. 

“Woah,” Mike breathes. 

“And that’s going straight to their college fund.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What do you say?”

“Thanks, Nana,” the twins chorus, and hand Karen their cards. They sit in the living room, taking turns checking in the windows for their friends, when finally, they spot a car that stops at the driveway. 

“It’s Dustin, It’s Dustin-”

“They’re acting like they haven’t seen the kid in years -” Ted teases, to Karen.

She hits him playfully. “They’re excited, give them a break.”

The twins meet Dustin at the door, giving him a hug. 

“Hi, Karen, right? I’m Claudia.”

“Yes, nice to meet you.”

“What time does the party end again?”

“Oh, around 5:30, 6 o’clock. You can stay if you want. A couple other moms are going to-”

“No, that’s okay.” She waves a hand, and Karen thinks she doesn’t see Claudia around as much as she sees Cynthia, Andrea, or even Joyce. “See you at six. Goodbye, Dusty. Have fun!”

Dustin smiles and waves goodbye. Karen smiles at his toothless smile, his cheeks chubby and gums showing. 

“Okay, would you boys like-”

“Dusty,” Richie states, poking Dustin’s cheek.

“Stop,” Dustin tells him. “That’s not my name.”

“Dust pan,” Richie says, giggling to himself.

Mike can’t help but laugh. 

Karen worries a bit that Dustin will get upset, but he just laughs along with him, and then another car shows up. She recognizes it as Cynthia’s, and goes over to the door. 

“Hi, Cynthia!”

“Hi- oh-” Lucas nearly runs through her legs, giving Mike and Richie a hug and then handing them each their gift. Richie lifts the paper and Karen quickly takes it from him. 

“Later,” she scolds. “Well, anyway…” 

Barb gets there sometime after that and she and Nancy go upstairs to paint their nails.

Stan arrives, then Bill, then Will, and then Eddie. 

She’s met everyone’s parents still, except Eddie’s mother, Sonia.

The only interaction she’s had with her so far was the first day of kindergarten, where she watched Sonia be rude to a teacher and extremely overprotective of her son. She hopes today goes a bit better.

“Good afternoon, Karen,” Sonia says, with more bite than Karen hopes she intended. 

“Hi.”

“Richie!” Eddie exclaims from Sonia’s side, going in for a hug.

“No! No hugs, remember? Germs.” 

Eddie’s face falls. 

“But we hug all the-” Karen nudges Richie and then motions for him and Mike to take Eddie to the playroom. 

Sonia hands Eddie a pack of hand sanitizer and an extra inhaler. 

“Did you want to come in or-”

“Of course I’m staying. What kind of mother do you take me for?” She holds her head high, haughtily.

Oh boy , Karen thinks.

She brings in a pitcher of iced tea and lemonade for Cynthia, Sonia, Andrea, Joyce, Sharon, and her own mother to have while the boys play. She has their surprise present for later, along with cake and everyone else’s presents, but for now, she figures the boys are content to play and catch up on whatever six year olds catch up on. 

She hopes Richie doesn’t do anything stupid.

He has Stan to stop him. 

Probably Lucas and Eddie too, if she’s being honest.

Either Richie or Dustin start a game of tag at some point, and she’s about to ask them to nicely take it outside when Sonia stands up and runs to Eddie, picking him up. He gasps lightly, confused, and-

“Mommy, wha-”

“Eddie you’re too fragile to be running like that!” she gasps for breath, the five steps she’d taken either having exhausted her, or she’s that afraid of Eddie falling.

“Mommy, I-”

“Eddie-bear, I’ve told you time and time again-”

“She’s a nutcase that one,” Sharon whispers to Karen.

Karen nods, a bit speechless.

“I love Will, but… she’s got Eddie wrapped in bubble wrap,” Joyce admits quietly.

“Sonia, it’s okay, I’ll have them take it outside-”

“He’s allergic to grass. And gluten. And most types of flour, speaking of that, will the cake be gluten free-”

“Mama, I don’t like cake,” Eddie protests, squirming around a bit in her grip.

“Oh, sure you do. It just has to be the right kind.”

Karen’s heart goes out to the poor kid, and as she watches the rest of the children later enjoy cake and ice cream and Eddie sips on a glass of water, she makes it her goal to make him as happy as possible any time he comes over. 

She makes it her goal to have him over as much as possible. 

As much as Sonia will let her. 

After cake, Richie and Mike start chanting, “Presents, Presents, Presents!” and she quiets them down before Sonia’s disapproving look causes any more premature wrinkles. 

They do, end up doing presents shortly after, and after a bit too much cash and clothing, Karen takes the twins outside for their big gift. 

Lucas and Stan are whispering to each other, conspiring about what it could be, and Richie starts coming up with outrageous theories.

“What if it’s a giraffe? The state of Colorado? A whole entire petting zoo!”

Dustin laughs. “No way. It’s like… a dog!” 

“Or a little kitten,” Richie says, holding his arms together like he’s carrying an imaginary cat. 

“A goldfish?” Mike suggests.

“A cat is way better than a goldfish, Mike,” Will tells him.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Mike agrees.

“It’s not an animal,” Karen tells them, grinning at the other moms, and Nancy, who already know. “Close your eyes.”

Nancy whispers in Barb’s ear, and even they look excited for the present.

Richie takes off his glasses and stumbles around stupidly, before Eddie rushes to put them back on his face and make sure he doesn’t trip over himself. 

Sonia is about to comment on the germs that probably inhabit Richie’s glasses, but Karen shows the twins the bikes first.

Bikes.

“Bikes!” Mike screams, running over to them. 

“Thanks, Mommy!” Richie yells.

“Now, you can ride with us!” Lucas exclaims.

Eddie looks on nervously, twiddling his thumbs.

Karen’s face falls. 

He wishes he had a bike, even one with training wheels, and she knows it. 

She crouches down to his level, and he nervously steps away ab it. She doesn’t take offense.

“Hey, maybe we could let you try out one of the bikes sometime, huh? Does that sound-”

“Are you kidding me?” Sonia roars just as Cynthia was about to step in and warn Karen. “Do you know how dangerous bikes are? Are you serious? He could get killed on one of those death-machines, and I can not stand by and watch this happen. What kind of mother lets their child ride one of those… no helmet, no knee-pads or elbow-pads… Eddie, we’ve got to go home.”

“Mommy, no-”

“Yes. Eddie. Now. The party’s almost over anyway. Thank you for your hospitality ,” Sonia nearly spits at Karen’s feet.

“You’re welcome,” Karen replies, with just as much bite. 

Richie catches Eddie in a hug just before he leaves, and then runs back over to his mama. 

“Eddie leave?”

“His mom got upset…” she says, wondering how to best tell her son that his best friend’s mother is a psychopath.

“Oh… okay.”

“Daddy, can you teach us how to ride bikes?” Mike asks, running up to his dad, who had come outside from where he was cleaning the kitchen with all the commotion. 

“Oh, I don’t know-”

“Yeah, and we can go get ours!” Lucas exclaims. 

“Well, if everyone’s going to be riding.”

Since the kids live just down the street and around the block, bikes are retrieved and helmets are placed upon their young heads. And it’s a nice enough day in March to do so, so they start riding.

Richie and Mike ride around with training wheels for a half an hour, and then Richie requests to take them off. Ted compiles, and holds the back of Richie’s seat, pushing him and driving him along.

“Don’t let go,” Richie says tightly, a bit scared.

“I won’t, I won’t.” 

He’s still a bit wobbly, so Ted keeps good on his promise. 

Mike, on the other hand, is quite the natural, and when he requests for Ted to not let go, Ted says he’s not, but does and watches his son fly. 

“Mike, you’re doing it,” he says quietly, not wanting to startle him.

Mike’s grin is enough for him to know.

“Now me, now me!” Richie exclaims as he watches Mike, Dustin, and Bill fly down the street, probably a bit too fast for the six-year-olds they are, but they have helmets. 

“I got it, Daddy, I got it!” Richie tells Ted, pedaling as hard as his little legs will let him. “You can-”

“Letting go now,” Ted says, and watches Richie fall over onto the concrete. “Oh, shit-”

But Richie just laughs, holding up his scraped arm with pride.

“Again, again!”

By the time the sun goes down, all the kids have fairly scraped knees and elbows, and will surely sleep well that night.

Karen says goodbye to everyone and cleans up the rest of the mess the kids made in the playroom while Ted finishes off the kitchen he started earlier. 

Karen checks on Nancy and Barb, who is staying the night, and they seem to be getting ready to get ready to wind down, which is good enough for two ten-year-olds at eight o’clock.

“Did you have a good birthday party?” Karen asks the twins as she’s getting them ready for bed. They’ve started doing a lot of stuff on their own, like brushing their teeth and putting their pajamas on, but sometimes she’ll catch Richie’s shirt on backwards and Mike always needs help combing out his curls. Richie’s seemed to embrace them now that they’ve mostly grown back from the hair-cutting incident, but Mike just wants his hair to be as straight as it can. She hopes he doesn’t actually straighten it in middle school. It’s very pretty as it is, and she hopes he’ll see that one day. But, for now, she’ll be dragging a comb through it before bed every night and making it poof more than lie flat. 

It’s what he wants.

She’d probably do anything to make her babies happy.

“Yes,” Mike answers through a yawn, turning his head on the pillow and making his hair fluff up even more. She laughs a little, smoothing it back.

“Wish Eddie stayed,” Richie mumbles. 

“I know, sweetie,” Karen says. “Maybe we’ll have him over one of these days to make up for it.”

Mike yawns again, as does Richie.

“That will be great…” Richie’s eyes close, and he’s not going to remember this in the morning, when Karen calls Sonia.

“Goodnight.”

The next weekend Eddie is over while Sonia runs errands, and she gave Karen a strict set of rules to follow, when to give him his medicine and feed him, etc, like he’s a dog or something. 

It makes Karen sick.

So, of course, she disregards all these rules and watches Eddie’s smile as Ted lets him borrow Richie’s bike. 

Richie stole Mike’s while he’s at Will’s house, and them riding together is quite possibly the most precious thing Karen’s ever seen.

Until Eddie falls. 

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,” she murmurs under her breath, opening the front door and running out there as he starts to cry.

“Eddie!” Richie exclaims, hopping off his own bike. “Are you okay?”

Eddie sniffles, holding his knee close to his chest. He’s bleeding a little bit. He stops crying for a minute to look at the blood, touch it, and then… he starts laughing.

For the life of him, he starts laughing harder than Karen’s heard a six-year-old laugh in her entire life. 

“I- I got a boo-boo.”

Richie starts laughing along with him. “Mama, we need a band-aid, pronto, please!”

She smiles and grabs the first aid kit from the garage. Richie helps her fix Eddie’s knee and cover it with a skin-toned band-aid. She hopes Sonia won’t notice it.

“Hey, does your Mommy ever… check you for boo-boos?” Karen asks, phrasing the question in a way Eddie will understand.

He shakes his head no. “She… trusts me. Am I in trouble?” he asks, his entire body going rigid with fear.

“No, honey, no. Don’t worry. You’re fine. Just had some fun, that’s all. Now how about a movie.”

She has Eddie over as much as she can throughout the next school year, same with the other kids, but especially him.

She can see in Richie’s eyes that he’s truly his best friend, and she knows he needs out of that home.

Mike and Will are as close as ever, and they hang out with Stan at his house, too. 

All the kids just… hang out with each other, and Karen thanks God every day for giving her boys such a loving and stable friend group to stay with them throughout their elementary school years. She hopes they have just as good of friends in middle school.

Hell, if they’re lucky, they’ll have the same friends.

She knows that’s extremely unlikely, but as she watches Richie snort milk out of his nose to make the group laugh, and Mike pick out movies that he just knows the group will love-

She thinks that they will stay together through middle school. 

Barb and Nancy have stayed friends almost that long.

Granted, they’re girls and there’s only two of them, but something is telling Karen that it’s these boys, this group.

This is it.

And she couldn’t be happier.

Chapter Text

What Karen meant was she couldn’t be happier with the friends her boys have found.

She still thinks they need a younger sister.

Just so Nancy can have one.

Just so they can experience being older brothers.

She’s discussed this with Ted countless times, and each time it’s been a hard no, and then a tentative maybe, but after a couple more conversations, and a couple more years, he’d given in, and now… 

She looks at the mirror, touching a gentle hand to her slightly protruding stomach. 

It’s nearing Christmas, and she’s about three months pregnant. The baby is due in mid to late June. 

“When should we tell them?” Ted asks, walking into the bathroom behind her. 

“Hm…” she hums, pulling her shirt back down. “Tonight?”

“That’s soon.”

“They’re going to start to notice soon, too, if we don’t.”

“I’m pretty sure Richie already has.” Ted chuckles. 

“Yeah, he kept asking how come he was only allowed to have one cookie but I could have four, looking pointedly at my stomach.” She laughs with him for a minute. “But we do have to tell him he can’t do that to people who aren’t… me. You told him that, right?”

Ted looks at her. 

“Shit. Our nine year old son, going around, harassing pregnant women.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Ted says, laughing. 

“We’ve got to tell them.”

“After dinner?”

Karen nods, and then starts the beef stroganoff right away.

Mike and Richie are finishing homework in their room, and Nancy is in her room when she calls her down for dinner.

“Beef stroganoff?” Nancy asks. “Mom, I don’t like it…”

“I love it!” Richie exclaims, sitting down and immediately piling some onto his plate. He turns to Mike, who shrugs. 

“I can’t please everybody all the time, Nancy,” Karen explains. “It’s just for one night, I’ll let Richie have all the leftovers.”

“Thanks!” 

“Mhm.”

“Okay…” Nancy trials off and puts a small amount on her plate, filling the rest up with peas. 

Karen wonders if her baby girl will be a picky eater as well as her older sister. 

While there’s no way for Karen to tell if the baby will be a girl or a boy, she knows it’s a girl. She can just feel it. 

“How was everybody’s day?” she asks, having a hard time waiting to tell the news. 

Mike shrugs. “Boring. Well, Will and I are working on a new campaign-”

“Nerd alert,” Richie says snarkily. 

“Will you shut up, you’re obsessed with comics!” Mike says. “So that’ll be fun, and… actually Nancy, we were wondering if you would help us with it?” he asks tentatively. 

“Yeah, sure, what is it?”

“Well, you’d have to dress as an elf, it’s set in a forest with fairies and cool stuff like that, and like, yeah, there’s fairies and elves, and-” 

“Wow, that actually sounds pretty cool,” Richie admits, shoving another bite of stroganoff into his mouth. 

“See. It’s not nerdy, ” Mike tells his brother. 

Richie shrugs, and Karen smiles as they work out their own dispute. 

Richie has a second helping of stroganoff, and she stops him before he gets a third. 

“Hey, save some for tomorrow, alright?”

He looks up at her, huge glasses slipping down his nose. “Okay, fine.”

He helps Nancy with the dishes because even though it’s her turn, he’s a bit bored waiting for Mike to finish eating so they can finish watching TV before they have to get ready for bed. 

It’s then that Karen notices just how much her boys have grown up throughout these past few years. Their hair is weirdly straight, or at least just not as bouncy as it was when they were kids, but she’s sure that will all change once puberty hits, then their hair will spring up again. They’ve grown taller too, and are much more responsible, hence Richie doing the dishes. Though this is a rare occurrence for Richie. Usually it’s Mike doing extra work or helping out. 

Well, she doesn’t have to worry about them growing up and her having nothing to do now. 

Nancy starts heading back to her room, but Karen calls her back and into the living room, unable to hide the smile on her face. 

“Okay, we have some news…” 

“We’re getting a puppy-”

“We’re moving-”

“You’re pregnant-”

“I- Nancy how did you know?” Karen asks, grinning. 

Nancy smiles back at her, shrugging. “I just did.”

“WHAT?” Richie screeches. 

“What does that mean?” Mike asks. 

“Dear Lord,” Ted starts. 

“Sweetie, you know what that means,” Karen says. 

Richie whispers something in his ear.

“Oh yeah! You’re having a baby?”

Karen nods. 

“I hope it’s a girl,” Mike says decisively.

“Why?” Karen asks.

“She can help us in our campaigns, like Nancy.”

“Yeah, I want a little sister,” Nancy says. “No offense, but you guys are loud sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Ted turns to his daughter, who laughs.

“Okay, a lot.” 

“Okay, okay, it’s almost bedtime you three,” Ted says. 

“What should we name her, if it’s a girl?” Nancy asks, ignoring her father for the time being.

“Uhm…” Richie looks around as he thinks, and then spots an ornament on their Christmas tree. “Holly! Holly, like the Christmas plant!”

Karen laughs. 

“And then you can give her a bunch of stupid nicknames,” Mike says, nudging his brothers shoulder as their dad urges them to head upstairs. 

“Imagine the possibilities!” Richie exclaims, and then they disappear around the corner. 

Ted walks back downstairs around a half an hour later, the kids in bed. 

“I do like that name,” Karen says.

“Holly?”

“Mhm.”

“You want to name our baby girl after ‘the Christmas plant’?”

Karen nods. “It’s pretty.”

“We’ll go over this when she’s born.”

And they do, very late at night on June 17th.

Karen is the most uncomfortable she’s been since she gave birth to Mike and Richie all those years ago, and she really hopes her baby girl will arrive tonight. 

“Tonight,” she says, out loud.

“Yeah?” Ted asks from her side. 

“We’re naming her Holly.”

“You’re still hung up on that?”

“Just as much as I was last month!”

But they’re both smiling. 

Her water breaks at twelve o’clock in the morning, just as she suspected, and she rushes off to Nancy’s room. 

Her daughter wakes as soon as the door opens, and immediately stands up, asking about the baby. 

Karen nods and helps her into the car, grabbing the bag with everything she’ll need on her way out the door.

Karen focuses on her breathing and watches Ted walk out with her boys, Richie with his head on his dad’s shoulder, undoubtedly still asleep, and Mike groggily trailing behind, blue blanket dragging on the ground behind him.

Ted puts Richie in the middle, and Nancy lets his head loll onto her shoulder, while Mike stares out the window in silence. 

Karen feels a contraction tear through her lower abdomen. 

“We should really get going,” she mutters, clenching her teeth.

“Yep, I’m working on it,” Ted tells her. “How are you feeling?”

“The contractions started.”

“Okay. We’ll be there soon.”

They arrive soon enough, and Nancy carefully wakes Richie, helping him out of the car. Mike hops out of the same side as his brother and sister, Ted walking behind everyone. 

It only takes a few minutes for Karen to get a room, after they all get checked in, and Ted uses the phone to call Karen’s parents and siblings. 

The painkillers given to her work better than they did when Mike and Richie were born, but maybe that’s just because there’s now one baby instead of two? She grips Ted’s hand just as tightly, and watches Richie lie down across a few chairs, taking half of Mike’s blanket for himself while his twin brother sits down on the floor next to him. Nancy absentmindedly ruffles Richie’s hair, biting the nails on her left hand in anticipation for her new sibling. 

A few doctors and nurses come in and give Karen the same procedure, she’s done this twice already. 

And a few hours of pushing and a lot of pain later, a baby girl enters the world. 

“Holly Anne Wheeler,” Karen sighs, hoping Richie won’t boast too much about it being his name suggestion. 

Her parents and siblings enter the room shortly after Holly is placed in her arms. 

Holly is a beautiful baby with a thin layer of golden blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes Karen has ever seen. She’s quiet too, only cried a little when she was first being cleaned, but is now as content as ever. 

Karen can’t believe it’s been nine months already, it feels like it was only yesterday they were sitting in the living room and Richie suggested her baby daughter’s name. Though that was six months ago…

“Mama, can I hold her?” Nancy asks, standing next to her grandma. 

Mike pokes Richie’s cheek and then pulls him over to stand by Karen’s bed, where they watch Nancy hold Holly. 

“My turn, my turn,” Richie says impatiently, watching both his sisters with wide eyes. 

Karen looks at Ted, a little worried with how impulsive Richie can be, but he is surprisingly gentle with Holly. She doesn’t fuss at all in his arms, and he brushes her cheek with one hand softly cooing at her. 

“She’s so pretty,” he mumbles to himself. 

Mike looks just as in awe, though Holly can feel his nervousness while he holds her, and starts to fuss immediately. 

It’s okay, Karen is sure he’ll get the hang of it. 

Karen’s parents and siblings all get to hold Holly before she ends up back in Karen’s arms to eat, with minimal crying involved. 

The tiny baby falls asleep after that, nose pressed against her mommy’s collarbone as she snuffles softly. Mike walks over to her, Nancy behind him. 

Richie stands by his dad, hugging Ted’s leg in a haze of happiness and exhaustion. 

“Mike, wanna see something cool?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“When you put your pinky finger in the middle of her foot, she’ll curl it. See?” Nancy pulls Holly’s blanket back a little bit, exposing her tiny foot. She puts a bit of pressure on it, and Holly’s toes involuntarily curl around her sister’s pinky. 

“Cool,” Mike says, and tries it. “I love her.”

“Me too.”

Nancy hugs Mike, and then Richie almost jumps on her back, but Ted catches him just in time, telling him to be gentle. 

“Her fingers will do the same thing but she’s got her hands in fists right now. We don’t want to wake her up.”

“She’s ready to fight,” Richie jokes.

Nancy laughs. “Who?”

“No one. We’ll protect her,” Mike says firmly, looking at Richie. 

Nancy knows a little bit about the bullying they’ve faced throughout their years in school, but she doesn’t quite understand the look they exchange. It looks too old for nine. Nine year olds shouldn’t be bullied as harshly as they are. 

Karen looks at her children, smiling slightly as they talk amongst one another.

She taught Nancy about baby reflexes when Mike and Richie were still that little, and now she’s taught them. 

Mike yawns, and lies his head down on the edge of the bed, closing his eyes. Richie follows him. 

“Should I get them home?”

Karen nods. “Luckily it’s a Saturday. I should be home by Monday, maybe sooner. I think Holly is the least complicated baby we’ve had yet.”

“Woah, why the yet? She’s our last one.”

Karen smirks. 

“She’s our last-”

“I’m joking. She is. She’s so pretty, isn’t she? Why is she blonde?”

“My dad,” Ted says sadly. 

“Hey.” Karen looks up at him. “Redeeming the family name, right?”

He nods. “See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Richie,” Nancy whispers, nudging her brother. 

“Wha?” he blinks at her. Poor kid has been in and out of sleep since they got here, but he got carried in so it’s Mike’s turn. 

“We’re going home,” she tells him gently. He holds her hand through the parking lot while Ted carries Mike. 

Richie wakes up around ten a.m. to start the day, Mike naps after lunch, and Nancy just powers through. She’s thirteen and used to minimal sleep what with school, homework, and extra curriculars. 

As she predicted, Karen comes home with baby Holly on Monday and life returns to their new normal. Which is essentially life before Holly, except for the fact that the twins have to deal with a lot more shared attention than only sharing it with Nancy. 

“Mom?” Richie asks, walking into the living room where Karen is feeding Holly. 

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I need to show you something, Nancy and I did a painting, and Mike is going to write a story for it, come look-”

“I’m busy right now, Richie.”

“Mom, we worked really hard-”

“I have to finish feeding your sister.”

“Mama, please?”

“Richie, in a minute.”

“Richie, why don’t you come back upstairs? We can start another painting and then show Mom both?” Nancy offers from the top of the stairs.

“Okay.” Richie drags his feet all the way up the stairs. 

‘Thank you,’ Karen mouths.

Nancy nods. 

They finish the second painting, and Richie runs downstairs once again. 

“Mama, can you-”

“Sh.”

“What?” 

“I just got Holly to sleep.”

“But Mom, you said you would come look at the-”

“Give me a second, Richie, okay?”

Nancy feels bad for her little brother, mostly because she knows how it feels when all of a sudden you’re not the only one being cared for and paid attention for. Except for her, she had two little brothers, and they were a lot more trouble than Holly. 

“Richie, give Mama some space, okay?” 

Richie nods again, and walks into his and Mike’s room. 

“Holly is annoying,” he states.

“What?” Mike asks. “Why?”

“Mom never wants to talk to us anymore.”

“Yes she does,” Mike says. 

“Uh. No. We’ve been making really cool paintings all day and all she wants to do is feed Holly.”

Mike laughs. “She doesn’t want to feed Holly. Holly needs to eat.”

“Exactly. She’s annoying.” Richie throws his head back against the wall, banging it a bit. “Ow.”

Mike flops upside down on his bed. “Oh, do you think I could read upside down?”

“You’re changing the topic, Michael.”

“No I’m not, Richard. She’s not annoying. She’s very sweet.”

Richie rolls his eyes and they find out that Mike can, in fact, read upside down. 

Throughout the next few months, Richie gets over Holly’s ‘annoyingness’ and he probably becomes her favorite sibling. That will change when she gets older, and grows to love them all equally for different reasons, but right now, Richie is the best at playing peek-a-boo, making funny faces, and feeding her a bottle. 

Mike is better at feeding her baby food, because all Richie succeeds in doing is making a huge mess. Nancy helps out where she can, mostly helps with keeping Richie busy when Karen is doing something with Holly that he can’t help with. 

“Mom doesn’t read to us as long as she used to,” Richie says once she’s left their bedroom, turning over to face his brother. 

“She doesn’t read to Nancy at all,” Mike states. He sounds sad about it. 

“She’s so busy with Holly Jolly. I love her, but-”

“Do you think Mom will stop reading to us?” Mike asks, voice incredibly vulnerable. 

“Are you okay?” Richie asks, avoiding the question.

“Yeah.”

The stories mean a lot to him. He’s only nine, but he’s bullied. He’s only nine, but he’s heard stuff he shouldn’t have at school. In the stories, nerds can be heroes. Bullies are defeated and everybody else is brought justice. In the stories, things seem better. Perfect. He can’t sleep without them. Most nights he can’t sleep anyway. If mom stops reading to them-

“Mike?”

“She can’t stop reading to us.”

“Mike, it’s okay.”

“No, I need those books, Richie.”

“We have them. They’re right here, okay? If she stops reading to us, I’ll read to you. I promise.”

“Promise? Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

One of the unspoken rules between them. Brothers never broke promises. Ever. It also extended to their friend group, but those rules could be broken and repaired with apology. If Richie broke this promise-

“Can you read to me now?”

Richie sits up and flicks on his lamp, and then hangs over his bed, looking for a book underneath it. 

“Where did that dang book go-”

Mike hands it to him. 

“Alice in Wonderland? Seriously?” Richie smirks. 

Mike shrugs. “It’s interesting, and that’s not even the title.”

“It’s weird .”

“You like it.”

“Sometimes.” 

Richie opens the book and starts reading. Mike closes his eyes and listens, losing himself in the world Lewis Carroll created. 

Karen walks in an hour or so later, just before she goes to bed, to check on them. 

She finds that Richie’s fallen asleep with his face pressed into the pages of a book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland .

She gently pulls it away from his face, wincing when it sticks to his cheek. He just rolls over as she pulls his covers up over his shoulders before turning and doing the same to Mike.

“Hi, Mama,” he says to her, eyes barely open.

“Hi, baby.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“You’ll still read to us?”

“What?”

His breath comes out heavy and even, and she thinks that’ll be the end of their conversation. 

“When we’re older?”

“Oh, yeah, baby. I’ll read to you if you want me to.”

He doesn’t respond after that, some tension seeming to leave his body as he drifts off again. 

She looks at the book on Richie’s dresser. 

So that’s what that was about. 

Since Holly, she has been spending less time in here. 

If it bothers him that much… so much that Richie had to step in-

Richie didn’t have to. He wanted to. She knows that. 

She knows her boys would do anything for each other. 

She sees it when they look at each other, and she sees it when they look at Holly, too. 

They’re amazing older brothers.

As time goes on, things will only get better. 

As she clicks the door shut, a shadow climbs on the wall behind their beds. 

There’s no light in the room. 

So she can only hope.

Chapter Text

“So are you two excited for school?” Karen’s mother asks the twins. They’re half-watching TV and half-playing with Holly, keeping her busy while Karen makes lunch.

“Grandma, it’s August,” Richie says, picking up Holly’s toy phone and messing around with it.

“Mine!” Holly exclaims immediately, running from Mike’s arms over to Richie. She just turned two, and is currently going through the phase where everything she’s ever touched belongs to her and her only. 

“Holly, we’ve talked about sharing,” Richie tells her, but he doesn’t really care about the phone. 

“Mine!” She pouts. 

“What do you say?” Mike asks her. 

“Pwease?” She does her best puppy dog eyes, and Richie rolls the toy phone over to her.

“Okay, but not without tickles!” Richie picks her up and then drops her on the couch, leaning over her and tickling her underarms. “Mike! Get her feet!” 

“No- Mikey-” She trails off, unable to finish her sentence through her giggles.

“Boys, be careful,” Grandma warns. 

“We are,” they chorus. 

Mike rolls his eyes. Holly is the youngest of four. If Richie was durable as a child, then Holly is literally made of steel. 

“I get you!” Holly exclaims as Richie and Mike let up. She jumps on Mike, and he catches her before quickly dropping to the floor, letting her think she knocked him over. 

“Richie! Sabotage!” 

Along with not getting hurt easily, she also has quite the interesting vocabulary due to her older siblings. 

Karen’s mother shakes her head before walking into the kitchen to check on her daughter. 

“How are the sandwiches coming along?” 

“Oh, they’re finished,” Karen replies. 

“Why didn’t you call them in?”

“They’re getting along so well.” Karen moves to stand in the doorway of the kitchen, watching Mike and Holly gang up on Richie next.

“Ah. It’s not always like this.”

“Oh, hardly ever,” Karen says. “They’re always fighting over something.”

While her children love each other to death, they are always fighting over the smallest things. Mike and Richie especially . Karen guesses that after eleven years of sharing a room with someone, the little things start to get on your nerves. And Holly tends to be extremely dramatic and possessive over toys and stuffed animals, taking things from Richie’s bed and refusing to give them back, even though they are his. 

Mike stands, picking Holly up. “Lunchtime, now, okay?”

She nods, reaching her hand out for Richie, who follows them into the kitchen. 

“Mom, can Lucas come over tonight?” Richie asks through a mouthful of ham and cheese sandwich.

Karen looks at her mother. “Grandpa is coming back home with Dad, and we’re all planning on having dinner together.”

“Lucas can eat with us?” Mike asks. 

“Not tonight,” Karen says, with finality.

Mike sighs.

“Mom, that’s not fair,” Richie says, aware that he sounds childish. He doesn’t care. “Nancy is always at Barb’s house. She’s been over there for the past two nights in a row , and we can’t even have a friend who lives right across the street over for dinner?”

“Richie-”

“Is Nancy even coming home tonight?” 

“Yes-”

“Mom, it’s just not-”

“ Richie .” She hates to be stern with him, she really does. She knows this is just how he is, talking and talking and talking until she’s stern. That doesn’t mean she likes it any more. “Not tonight.”

He takes another bite of his sandwich. “Fne.”

“Another night?” Mike pipes up.

“Yes,” Karen says, incredibly grateful that Mike suggested that. He’s one of the only people who knows how to keep Richie from freaking out over minor inconveniences like this. Richie would have been mad for the rest of the night. 

“When?” Richie asks. 

“How about this Saturday?” Karen suggests. 

“Alright.” Richie takes a sip of his water. “We should go to the beach!” 

“Yeah!” Holly exclaims. “Beach! Beach!” 

“Yeah, and can everyone sleep over after?” Mike asks.

“Who’s everyone?” But Karen knows by now.

“Eddie, Stan, Lucas, Bill, Will, and Dustin,” Mike tells her. 

“As long as their parents say yes.” 

“What the heck are we going to tell Ms. K? Mom, what did you say last time?”

Last time Eddie slept over was about two weeks back, and it took so much convincing and planning on Karen’s part. Convincing Sonia was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but she did it. 

“I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, baby.” 

“Okay.” 

After lunch, she starts making phone calls. 

Everybody says yes, and the only person left is Sonia.

Karen sighs and starts dialing her number.

“Hello? This is Sonia Kaspbrak speaking.”

“Hi Sonia, it’s-”

“ Karen ,” Sonia says, venom evident in her voice.

“Yes, how are you doing?” Karen asks, deciding to start with pleasantries. Well, as pleasant as it can get while talking to Sonia Kaspbrak.

“I’m fine,” Sonia says curtly. She doesn’t ask how Karen is in return.

“Oh… okay. Good.” Karen takes a deep breath. “Well, I’m just calling to ask if Eddie wanted to come to the beach with us and then stay the night on Saturday. Richie and Mike were wondering-”

“I don’t think he can. Goodbye-”

“Sonia, wait. It’s going to be just like last time, Eddie will sleep on the couch and I’ll make sure he has his medicine when he needs it. I’ll make sure they don’t stay up too late-”

“They won’t be staying up late at all,” Sonia interjects.

Karen bites her lip. She hates lying, but she has to. For Eddie’s sake, above anybody else’s. “I’ll make sure they’re all ready for bed by ten o’clock.”

Sonia sighs heavily, really playing up the dramatics. Karen rolls her eyes. “Which beach are you going to? And who is going to be there?”

“The one closest to home, and just my boys,” Karen lies again. “I’ll make sure he reapplies sunscreen every hour on the hour, and I’ll keep them all out of the water for an hour after they’ve had lunch.”

“Hm. Eddie!” Sonia yells. There is some muffled talking over the phone, and then Sonia speaks again. “Fine. Saturday. I’ll drop him off, and pick him up the next morning.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Karen mumbles.

“Hm?”

“Nothing. Have a good afternoon.”

Sonia hangs up, and Karen smiles. 

She did it again.

At eleven a.m. on Saturday morning, Dustin and Bill arrive at the Wheeler’s house. They live on the same street, so they carpooled.

“Bill is that sunscreen?” Richie exclaims, running down the stairs. “Tsk tsk. I expected more from you.”

“Sh-shut up, my m-mom m-m-m-made me wear it.” 

“Your mom is gonna make you wear some too, asshole,” Dustin says, laughing all the while. 

“Shit. You’re right. Mike, how do we get out of it this time?”

Mike shrugs. “I still don’t understand why it’s such a big deal. Do you want to get burnt or something?”

“Yeah, that’s his secret wish,” Dustin teases. 

“No! I have better reasons than that.”

“L-like wh-what?” Bill asks.

“First of all, sunscreen smells terrible-”

“What the heck? No it doesn’t!” Mike protests. “You’re blind in your nose.” 

“That’s not a thing.”

“Yeah it is,” Dustin says.

“N-no w-way.” 

“Sunscreen smells good.” 

“Not the kind Mom buys,” Richie says. 

Lucas is the next person to arrive, in green swim-shorts and a tank-top. He’s got a towel around his shoulders. 

“Hi Lucas,” Karen greets him. “Good morning, Cynthia.” 

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Cynthia says. “I know they’d love to spend every minute of every day together,” she remarks, watching the boys talk in the living room. “But everybody’s been so busy. It’s great that you’re able to take them today.”

“Of course,” Karen says. “Hi, Erica.” 

“Hello!” Erica waves up at her from her mom’s side. She’s extremely outgoing for a seven-year-old. Karen wishes there wasn’t such a huge age gap between her and Holly, but who knows, maybe they’ll get along later in life. 

“Well, I hope you’re able to get some errands done.”

“It will definitely be easier without the constant fighting.” Cynthia laughs.

“Oh, so it’s not just my kids, then?”

“Definitely not.” 

Stan and Will arrive next, joining the boys in the living room while Andrea and Joyce talk for a little while with Cynthia and Karen.

Joyce ends up joining Karen in the kitchen, helping her pack lunch for everybody.

“Eddie’s coming too?” Joyce asks, putting a sandwich inside a plastic bag.

“That’s the plan, yes.”

“I bet that took some convincing.”

“You don’t even know.”

The doorbell rings. 

“Good luck,” Joyce says, smiling.

Karen laughs. “Thanks.”

She opens the door. 

“Hello, Sonia.”

“Karen.” 

“Hi, Eddie.”

“Hi, Mrs. Wheeler,” Eddie says, small and shy, like he always is when he’s not around the other boys.

They make him different.

They make each other different.

There’s something about their group… it’s special.

It’s meant to be.

It’s still not complete. There’s more to it, Karen knows that. More to their DnD party, and…

“I’ve got all of his medication in here, and his special sunscreen here,” Sonia’s nasally voice brings Karen out of her thoughts.

“Yes, I’ve got it. Thank you.”

“Okay, Eddie-bear, I love you, see you tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, Mom, I love you.”

“Eddie-bear.” She looks at him, something like disappointment in her eyes.

“Goodbye, Mommy.”

Sonia smiles at him, and then glares at Karen before she turns and leaves.

“What the hell was that?” Karen asks herself, walking back into the kitchen as Eddie joins the other boys.

“What was what?” Joyce asks. “I finished the sandwiches.”

“Thanks. She just- she looked at him all weird when he called her mom, and then afterward he called her mommy. She just forced him to call her mommy. What. The. Hell.”

“That’s messed up,” Joyce agrees.

“No kidding. Okay, thanks so much for your help. I should probably get going, the beach is an hour and a half away.”

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yep.”

Joyce says goodbye to Will. He calls her mama because that’s what he’s always called her, and she doesn’t think anything of it. 

“Boys, are you ready to go?” Karen asks, slipping her flip-flops on.

“Yeah!” Mike yells.

Will, ever the sweetheart, helps Karen take Holly’s seat-booster out of the car. He also helps her load the towels and everything into the back before climbing in with Mike.

Bill sits up front because he’s the tallest, although Richie fights him for it before Karen decides for them. 

Eddie sits between Richie and Dustin in the backseat, which Karen questions his choices there because they are two of the loudest eleven year olds she’s ever met, but, well… they’re his best friends. 

Lucas and Stan sit in the back. Just the right spot for Richie to constantly be smacking the back of their necks.

“Richie, I swear to-” 

“If you don’t stop right now-” 

“Richie, quit being a brat,” Mike tells him.

“I didn’t do anything, that was Dustin!” 

“Bullcrap,” Dustin says.

Eddie laughs. “It was totally Richie.”

“We know,” Lucas says, his tone annoyed. He’s smiling, though. 

“RICHIE!”

Karen locks eyes with her son in the mirror, and he just grins like a maniac. Her face is something more along the lines of ‘Richard I swear if you don’t quit it I will turn this car around’ but he chooses to ignore that.

“Hey, Eddie? How about some music, huh?” 

“Ooh, yeah! Mom, can you turn on the radio?” Mike asks. 

“Okay.” She turns on the radio, switching channels until Richie yells about liking a song.

“Guys! GUYS!” Mike seems excited as well, so Karen turns it up. 

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” Richie and Mike say at the same time, looking at each other.

“CAUGHT IN A LANDSLIDE,” Will yells.

“No escape from reality,” Dustin continues.

Bill turns around. “Open your eyes…” He doesn’t stutter while he sings.

“Look up to the skies and see…” Eddie continues, looking at Lucas.

“I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,” Lucas sings, too. “C’mon Stan! It’s fun.”

“Yeah, Stan, don’t be a p- sissy,” Richie catches himself, luckily. 

Stan rolls his eyes, but joins in on the next part, right before things get crazy.

It was a very pretty song, but now, Karen has no clue what’s going on.

The kids like it, though, and she smiles for that reason and that reason only.

After the song ends, they’re all relatively quiet until they arrive at the beach.

Richie hops out and immediately takes his shirt off.

“Woah, Richie, I think I’m blind,” Dustin says.

“I know right! I gotta work on my tan.” 

“Not without sunscreen,” Karen says, handing him a bottle. “Here.”

“What? Mom, no.”

“Ha-ha.” Lucas sticks his tongue out. He knows better than anyone how much Richie hates sunscreen. Because they live across the street from each other, he spends the most time with the twins, Eddie being a close second, but Richie and Lucas are always out in Lucas’s backyard, and Richie always gets burnt to a crisp.

“Really mature,” Stan says, lathering on his own sunscreen.

Eddie waits patiently for Karen to get his sunscreen, and then applies it thoroughly. 

Once everybody is sunscreened, they walk down to the beach. Karen spreads out a few towels under an umbrella, putting her sunglasses on and pulling out a book.

“Okay, if anybody needs anything, I’m right here. I trust you all to not do anything stupid.”

“Great decision Mom, bye!” Richie says, running down to the water. Dustin follows him.

Stan snorts. “Yeah… I guess we’ll keep an eye on them.” 

Lucas shrugs, and then walks down to the water, following Bill, Mike, Will, and Eddie.

Karen reads, looking up every once and awhile to make sure nobody’s drowned, and they haven’t, though Stan and Lucas seem to be making attempts on Richie. 

Will and Mike are closer to the shore, picking up rocks and making a collection of ones they think are cool.

“I like this one,” Will holds a reddish one up for Mike to see.

“Yeah, it’s probably heavy though. I don’t know how many we can take home.” 

“Take them home?” 

“Yeah, just a few. I was thinking we could make something out of them… like a necklace? I don’t know, it’s stupid…”

“It’s not stupid,” Will says. “You would have to get some materials and stuff, but that would actually be pretty cool.” 

Mike smiles at him and then finds a few skipping stones, and throws those before getting back in the water.

“Guys, four way chicken fight!” Dustin yells.

“Dustin, we have the same brain,” Richie says. “Eds! You and me, dream team!” 

“Shut the fuck up,” Eddie says, hiding his blush well. He gets on Richie’s shoulders. 

Will gets on Mike’s shoulders, Bill on Dustin’s, and Lucas on Stan’s. 

“Three!”

“Two!”

“Fuck it, GO!” Richie screams, running at Stan. “Eddie, you got this, come on, you’re stronger than Lucas, come on! You can do it!” 

Will pushes at Eddie from behind, and Richie wobbles a little bit.

“Frick you, Mike!” 

Mike just laughs, and Will pushes harder.

“Eddie, you’re stronger than this, you hear? Come on!” 

Bill pushes Eddie too, and soon everybody’s ganged up on Richie and Eddie. Eddie shifts his weight wrong and-

Falls. 

He comes up, hair wet and eyes shining with joy.

“You’re gonna pay for that, assholes!” 

He pushes anybody he comes in contact with, Richie helping him until everybody is soaked to the bone. 

They get hungry after that, everybody walking back to the blanket to enjoy some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, along with fresh strawberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe. 

Everybody reapplies sunscreen, and Karen finishes her book while the boys play volleyball and then monkey in the middle. She shakes her head at how pink both her boys are getting. She could put all the sunscreen in the world on them and they’ll still end up lobsters by the end of the day. 

Things slow down after that as people leave the beach, but Karen is the one to shut it down. They leave as the sun slowly sinks lower down the horizon.

Eddie yawns, setting off a chain reaction, and Karen wonders if they will end up going to bed earlier than she expected. 

One less thing she lied to Sonia about , she thinks, turning the radio on and down, just for some quiet, background noise.

Mike and Will talk about the rocks they found while Eddie rests his head on Richie’s shoulder, eyes closed. 

Richie looks overjoyed, but he always does when he’s with Eddie.

Bill is twisted in his seat, talking to Stan and Lucas, but their conversation slows too, as Karen pulls into the driveway.

She watches Richie gently shrug his shoulder. Eddie looks up at him, something in his eyes that Karen can’t quite place.

They’re out of the car before she can contemplate it any further, talking about which movies they’ll watch and if they have any candy left over from last time.

They didn’t, so Karen bought new candy, chips, and frozen pizza. 

She puts the pizza in the oven and then walks outside to see Ted sitting by a bonfire with Nancy and Holly, Holly held on his lap and Nancy in the next chair over. Karen sits down next to her.

“Finally, you’re home.”

“What? It’s only been like…” Karen counts on her fingers. “Seven hours?”

“You spent seven hours at the beach?” Ted asks. 

“3 of them were the drive,” Karen clarifies. “They were having fun.”

“I bet. How burnt are they?” 

Karen makes a so-so motion. “Richie worse than Mike, Mike’s just gonna have a lot of freckles.”

Ted shrugs. “We have aloe.” 

Karen nods. “How was your day?”

“Good,” Nancy starts. “Barb and I biked around, got ice cream, and met up with a few other friends.”

“Any boys?” Karen teases.

Nancy pulls a face. “Gross. No.” 

“Gross!” Holly copies. 

“What about you, Holly?” 

“Good. We went to the park and played a lot,” Holly says, sentences extremely articulate for a two year old. 

Karen has Richie to thank for that. He never stops talking to her.

“That’s great. It’s almost bedtime.”

“No,” Holly whines, hiding her face in Ted’s shoulder.

“In a little bit,” Karen says.

She walks back inside to pull out the pizza. She cuts it and then walks down to the basement, setting it down on the coffee table, along with some candy and chips. 

“Thanks, Ms. Wheeler,” Will says, getting a slice.

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Richie stands up, wincing a little bit. 

“How’s your sunburn?” she asks. 

“It’s fine.”

“If you’re sure…”

He wants to look tough in front of his friends. She can’t fathom why, as they’re all so close it shouldn’t matter, but she guesses it does. She can already see a few more freckles on Mike’s face from standing in the hot sun for four and a half hours. She ruffles his hair and walks back upstairs.

She takes a very sleepy Holly from Ted, but the little girl still doesn’t want to go upstairs.

“Mama. Want to say goodnight. To everyone.”

“Everyone?” 

Holly nods. She likes her brothers’ friends.

Karen brings her down to the basement and then sets her on the floor, watching her toddle over to Mike, as he’s on the floor and closest to her. 

“Hols,” he says. “Hi.”

“Night night,” she says. She kisses his cheek, and does the same with everybody else before she gets to Richie, snuggling next to him and fussing when Karen tries to take her back upstairs. 

“Holly Jolly, it’s bedtime,” Richie says softly. 

“No,” she whines. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“First thing?” 

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I love you, Richie.”

“Love ya, too, Holly Jolly.”

She finally goes to bed after that, and Karen sees Nancy in her room as well. Karen walks back outside to sit by the fire with her husband.

“They have great friends, y’know,” Karen says quietly, thinking of how good those boys are to her boys, and how respectful they are towards her, and just in general. 

“I know,” Ted replies. “They’re great. We did good.” 

They sit out there a while longer, just enjoying the fire and each other's company. When the clock strikes midnight and their clothes smell throughly of smoke, Karen stands up, rubbing Ted’s shoulders gently. 

“We should head in.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

She nods, kissing his cheek and then walking back inside. She uses the restroom, grabs a glass of water, and then decides to check on the boys one last time.

It’s quiet, save for the dialogue of the movie and… Richie and Eddie. Arguing. As they always are.

She assumes everybody else is asleep, she can see Mike’s arm hanging limply off the side of the couch, Dustin, Lucas, Stan, and Bill spread out on the floor, which means Will is on the other side of the couch.

“I want the loveseat,” Eddie whispers.

“You said I could have it last week you dumbass,” Richie hisses back.

There’s some rustling, probably them hitting each other. Karen shakes her head fondly. 

“I’m getting on that- friggin’ cha- RICHIE!”

“Would you two shut up?” someone snaps. Stan , Karen notes.

“Sorry,” Richie whispers, but he and Eddie continue fighting for the loveseat.

Eddie hops on it and then pushes Richie off every time he comes near it.

“Eds, it’s so cold on this ground.”

“Don’t call me Eds.”

“Will you let me come up there if I do?”

“No.”

“Eds, Eds, Eds, Eds, Eddie Spaghetti, Eddio Spaghettio-”

Eddie snorts out a laugh at that one. “Richie, you are so stupid.” There’s an unmistakable fondness to his words.

Karen can’t help but smile. 

She waits there another five minutes to hear, “Eddie. I can’t sleep.”

“Close your eyes.”

“They are.”

“No they’re not.”

“Okay. Now they are.”

“Now just keep them that way.”

“Eddie…”

“What?”

“That’s not helpful at all,” Richie huffs.

“Sorry. Uh…” Eddie trails off. “Think about happy stuff. That’s what my mom always told me to do… before she got out the pills…” 

Karen’s heart sinks at that, and she realizes she didn’t give Eddie his sleeping medication. 

If he really needed it, he would have asked. 

She wonders if he takes it every night, at home. There is no way in hell that’s healthy-

“Okay. Happy thoughts. Got it.” 

It’s quiet again.

“Eddie?”

“Mm,” he grunts, sounding half-asleep.

“Thanks.”

“Hm?” Eddie asks, sentence overcome by a yawn.

“You’re my happy thought.” 

Karen’s heart damn near melts at that. She doesn’t know if she can infer exactly what this is, it could just be bestfriendship, but…

You’re my happy thought.

No. That’s gotta be something more.

She guesses she’ll just have to wait and see.