Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Hey! Hey, kid! Wake the fuck up! I'm talkin' to you!" 

Bill, easily, drowns out Joe's spat-out words. He's not sure if it's on purpose or not, but he can't bring himself to care enough to question it. He's more focused on the girl in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre shirt standing in the doorway. Her hair is soaked from the rain, her mascara running a little, her eyes wide and nervous. It's definitely not helping that everyone else is hardcore staring at her. He can't blame them; he's been going to Joe's for years now, and he's never once seen a woman even dare to get within five feet of it. 

He grips onto the comic in his hand so hard that he physically feels it go from mint to fine. She's cute, not in an Emma Frost way but in a geeky way. Maybe this is his chance at getting a girlfriend. 

"Do you guys have any Dork?" Her voice shakes a little, fidgeting with her hands as she speaks.

Bill feels like she's staring right at him. He'd like to personally guide her over to the indie comics and explain why they're complete bullshit in comparison to Marvel and DC. He's already imagining her swooning over this and agreeing, holding his arm and babbling out about how he's so smart. He opens his mouth to speak, but is interrupted by everyone around him laughing at her. He swears to god he hears the faint snap of a camera from one of the men. 

Just like that, she's gone as soon as she appeared. Like some nerdy mirage. 

Bill scowls, shaking his head. He sets the comic back on the counter, too scared to look at just how badly he damaged it by gripping onto it so hard his knuckles were white. "What was that all about?" He looks up at Joe, brow furrowed.

"Y'know, one of them fake geek girls." Joe shrugs, rolling his eyes. He grabs the comic and prices it high without even looking at the crumpled cover. He walks over to the racks of comics and sets it down on top of a box instead of inside it. Bill just follows him around the store blindly, too scared of losing his newly earned job to do anything else.

"Really? They actually exist? I thought they were like urban legends or cryptids or somethin'."

Joe laughs, looking at him like he's stupid, "You don't think she was actually in here to buy a comic, do you?"

"Why not?" Bill gets defensive fast, raising his voice a little, "She was in a Texas Chainsaw shirt."

"It's a trap, kid!" Joe scoffs, "It's part'a the whole no-life model decoy routine! You saw her waltz her ass in here an' get everyone's juices goin'! Then, as soon as she's got her attention fix, boom! She's outta here like that!" Joe snaps his fingers.

"She was cute." Bill sighs, eyes darting back to the door, "And nobody fakes liking Dork. That's stupid, nobody actually likes Dork anyway."

Joe groans and rolls his eyes, “You’re fallin’ for her shit, kid.” Bill just stares at the door in silence for a moment, looking at how hard it’s raining. She’s probably getting soaked. It’s probably not safe out there, she needs someone to save her. His body moves faster than his brain can. Before he knows what’s happening he’s murmuring “You guys are dicks” and following after her. He runs out into the rain, oversized Dick Tracy shirt immediately becoming so soaked it sticks to his skin.

It doesn’t take him long to find her. She’s only made it across the street from the store, pulling her jacket over her head in an attempt not to get wet. He can only tell it’s her because of the buttons and keychains on her bag, the distinct jingling when she walks. He slows his run into a walk and puts on his best “Captain Dickey” voice.

”Hey,” He smiles, attempting to seem cool despite the fact that he looks like a wet dog right now, “Y’know, I think we’ve got some Dork somewhere in the back.”

He’s completely bullshitting, he’s never once in his life seen a copy of Dork at Joe’s. She doesn’t need to know that.

”I think that those are total shit compared to Marvel’s stuff though,” He says, “I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of those but they’re fucking fantastic. I’m sure you’re more of an Archie person, but I could show you some things.”

”What?” She furrows her brow, looking at him with confusion.

He grins, “Oh, Marvel’s a comic company. They do all kinds of superhero stuff, it’s fine if you haven’t heard of them—“

”Who the fuck hasn’t heard of Marvel?” She laughs, “Why do you think I’m into Archie?”

”Well, it’s a girl’s comic.” He shrugs, like it’s a given. His shirt clings to him so hard that it feels like a second skin. It becomes increasingly obvious to her that the boy in front of her has never interacted with a woman other than his mother. He's just praying that she can't see through his shirt now that it's like this, he doesn't want her to see how bad his acne is through the now sheer white fabric. She just rolls her eyes and continues walking.

"Hey, wait, wait," He walks after her, "I can find you one of those comics, but y'know Dorkin's references are totally inaccurate and outdated. It's not even really that funny. If you want any recommendations, I'm here. I work there for a reason." He grins at her, shocked when he looks at her face and she's not visibly impressed by his words. 

It both shocks him and confuses him. His comics and lengthy fantasies have taught him that she’ll fall right into his lap, fawning over him and kissing him everywhere she can reach. She’s not even looking at him.

”Listen, I gotta get home.” She attempts to let him down nicely, “It’s raining real hard and I don’t wanna catch a cold. It was nice talking to you…”

”Bill.” He frowns, voice finally dropping into his normal squeaky tone. Joe was right, all these girls are posers anyway. He has no reason to get so worked up about this, she’s just following some fad. She doesn’t know anything about comics, he can feel it deep down in his gut. She’s a poser bitch just like all the other fake geek girls out there.

“It was nice talking to you, Bill.”

He'd like to beat the shit out of her like she's Josh, but instead he forces a smile and says “It’s safer and warmer in the shop." She looks at him doubtfully, deep down in her stomach she can tell that he's bullshitting her. She attempts to come up with some kind of excuse, she doesn't really feel all that safe around this guy, no matter how wimpy he looks. She's seen the scabs on his knuckles and can only assume they're from one thing.

”That’s nice and all but I’d rather not get made fun of like that again.”

”I’ll sneak you through the back,” He offers, “It’ll be fine. Nobody will see you.”

He can’t believe he’s saying these things. He can’t sneak her through anything, Joe will yell at him until his ears bleed if he does. He doesn’t know what’s come over him. There’s silence between them for a moment, only filled by the pitter-patter of the rain. They just stare at each other, Bill feels a pit forming in his stomach that he’s never felt before. He feels like he’s about to vomit all over her shoes. It takes all his strength to swallow down his nausea. 

”I really don't know, dude."

"Would you rather walk all the way back home in this weather?" He asks, "I'm just tryin' to help." 

And get laid.

She hesitates, taking a deep breath. He can't be that bad, can he? He had the decency to follow her out here and make sure she was alright, or at least attempted to. Plus, he didn't stand there and laugh in her face for asking about something as simple as a comic. She's just trying to ignore his vaguely sexist statements towards her. Maybe he was just nervous and didn't mean it the way it sounded. She doesn't see any bad intention in his eyes, even if they are almost fully covered by his waterlogged glasses.

Part of her is telling her to run as far as she can without slipping and busting her head open on the wet concrete sidewalks. She choses to ignore her gut instinct. 

"I guess." 

"Great." He grins in a way that makes her almost immediately regret her decision. He grabs onto her hand hard enough to bruise and runs back to Joe's without even bothering to clean off his glasses.

He pulls her through a side door that the club sometimes uses when Joe gets a little too suspicious about them stealing. Unfortunately, everyone’s attention immediately goes towards that door.

“Where the fuck did you go, kid?” Joe walks up to him, voice firm and angry. He, somehow, looks even angrier when he sees her standing awkwardly beside him. He rolls his eyes, "You're makin' a big mistake."

Bill doesn't care, as long as he doesn't lose his job. Joe scowls and shoves a box of un-bagged comics into his hands. “Get ‘er outta here.” He spits out, “Or you’re fired.”

Bill looks up at him with wide, scared eyes. This can’t be happening. He can’t lose this, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to him. He immediately lies with ease, turning towards her, “You fucking followed me in here?”

She tilts her head, confusion in her face. “What?”

”You bitch! You followed me in here!” He yells, “I told you to stay the fuck away from the shop! I don’t want a poser cunt to ruin our reputation as a reliable comic place!”

He’s self sabotaging, like he always does. It’s impossible for him not to. He knows, deep down, that with the right words maybe she would have liked him, but he doesn’t know what those words even are. There’s a tightness in his chest that’s making it hard to breathe and a lump in his throat that won’t go away. He’s aware - but not enough to stop the misogyny he’s spewing.

“You fuckin’ come in here, get everyone all worked up, and then run out because you’re a fucking attention whore! You didn’t get your fix so you’re takin’ it out on me!”

He sounds like Joe, and instead of it scaring him it gives him the biggest ego boost he’s ever felt in his life.

Her eyes are confused, and if he looks close enough she looks a little hurt. She knew he was like this. He brought her back solely with the intention of humiliating her in front of this man. She can’t bring herself to yell at him, it’s a waste of energy. He’s not going to listen anyway.

She just walks out the door he brought her through and sits on the stoop outside, waiting for the rain to stop. She pulls her sweater tight around her and just watches.

Occasionally someone will walk by her and into the shop without even glancing at her. She sighs, this is a bad part of town and she can’t help but feel a little sick to her stomach every time a man approaches.

A group of three boys walks by her, loudly debating something that sounds like complete loser-gibberish to her. They all stop before walking in and stare at her in shock. She looks down at her shoes, attempting to act like she doesn’t see them so they don’t scream at her for being a “poser”.

Two of them walk in, a tall blonde boy in green just sits down beside her. He looks nervous at just the thought of talking to her, but swallows and speaks anyway.

”You alright?”

”Not really.” She shrugs.

”Oh. That sucks.” He responds, tripping over his words, “I’m sorry.”

They sit in silence for a long time. She doesn’t look at him, she can’t bring herself to. She just looks down at her wet shoes. She can see, out of the corner of her eye, him hunched over fidgeting with his hands.

”The rain is really bad, huh?” He tries to make small talk. She just shrugs and nods, tapping her feet in a puddle.

”Uhm…” He trails off, sitting up straight and leaning back a little, “I’m Jerry.”

She finally looks up at him, observing his face. He has his hand out for her to shake. At least he’s a little bit more of a gentleman than Bill. When she wraps her hand in his, his face goes a shade of red she didn’t even think was possible. 

“What are you even doing out here anyway?” He asks, “Why don’t you go inside?”

”I tried, believe me.”

He doesn’t ask anymore questions after that. He couldn’t if he wanted to, because Josh comes storming out of the shop as fast as possible. He slams the door, hard, on his way out. Pete follows, looking equally as mad.

Jerry scurries up, they’ll make fun of him like how they did with Agnes if they notice he was talking to her. “What’s wrong?”

”Fuckin’ Bill!” Pete yells, “He’s fuckin’ workin’ there now! The douchebag kicked us out! Like he has any fuckin’ right!”

”He quit the club himself! He said he’s a professional and he doesn’t need us ‘losers’ anymore!” Josh huffs. He’s so angry his face is bright red, breathing so hard his glasses fog.

She opens her mouth to talk about what Bill had just done to her, but backs out before any words come out. She just looks down and picks at her fingers, acting like she’s not eavesdropping.

”You’re kidding.” Jerry says, looking at them with shock, “He kicked you out?”

”He banned us!” Josh replies, “And Joe didn’t even try to stop him! The egotistical asshole thinks he owns the fucking place!”

”I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him.” Pete says through gritted teeth, fist balled so hard his knuckles are white. 

Suddenly, Bill slams the door open, “Get the fuck away from the shop before I get you losers fucking arrested! I never want to speak to any of you again!” He’s screaming so loud she can practically hear him damaging his vocal cords. He’s so angry at them that he doesn’t notice her sitting there.

“You know what this means, right?” Josh responds, “This is the end of the Eltingville Club! For good this time!”

”Good!” Bill yells, slamming the door in his face and squishing Josh’s finger in the door. He pulls away quick, shaking his hand in an attempt to relieve the throbbing pain. 

“Who cares about the fuckin’ club?” Pete says, exasperated, “We don’t need the asshole anyway!”

”Nothing was really fun with him around anyway.” Jerry murmurs, following the two as they storm away from the store.

She has a feeling deep down in her gut that this isn’t the last she’ll see of these boys.

She’s already dreading it.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, when she finally sees the losers again, it’s because Pete is trying to steal from the small bookstore she works at. She knows Jerry and Josh are somewhere around here too, but have scurried off to leave their friend to fend for himself. She’s just standing in the DVD aisle, sighing. She’s been fighting him about this for at least five minutes.

“Dude, just fucking give me the porno you pocketed.” She deadpans, looking Pete in the eyes, “Or the Fangoria, or just anything that you crammed in your pants.”

“I ain’t got nothin’ in my pants!” He defends, throwing his arms up in frustration, “Maybe I’m just real happy to see you, have you considered that?” He grins in delight at his own joke, clearly amusing himself.

She’d like to take that red hat off of his head and smack him with it. Not only is he ignorant enough to steal from a small business, he’s stupid enough to attempt to deny it, even though she saw him shove a copy of Heavy Metal up his shirt. She runs her hands over her face and sighs before responding, “No, I haven’t considered that because the bulge in your pants is DVD-shaped.”

If she didn’t think he’d take some sick joy out of it, she’d rip those comics right out from under his shirt to prove it to him. Instead she just rolls her eyes and says, “Get the fuck outta here so I don’t have to call the cops, man.” 

“I don’t got nothing on me!” He defends himself again, refusing to give up even though he knows he’s caught. He only does when she picks up the phone for show and dials one number. “Okay! Okay! Alright! I’m sorry!” He announces, emptying the pockets of his pants and hoodie before pulling up his shirt and dropping several comics and magazines into her hands. She rolls her eyes at the thought of putting all of this shit back, before pointing at the door.

Pete, defeatedly, walks out, not even bothering to yell for his friends. She sifts through everything that he attempted to steal, trying to figure out where to put what. It’s a lot of extreme horror stuff, with the exception of some weird fantasy manga that he clearly grabbed for one of his friends. When she opens it she’s met with the weirdest porn she’s ever seen, disgust graces her face and she slams it down. At least with the other comics, you knew what you were getting into based on the cover.

She sighs and walks over to the counter, dropping everything onto it. The DVDs are her first priority, they should be easy enough. All she has to do is organize them alphabetically. She’s really not in the mood to sift through cover upon cover of cartoon women being tied or cut up just so she can organize them properly right now.

Midway through doing this, a tap on her shoulder makes her jump so badly that she drops everything. She groans loudly before turning around, a little more venom in her voice than she’d like when she spits out, “What do you want?”

Luckily, the boy standing behind her is just Jerry. “I’m so sorry about Pete.” He offers an embarrassed smile, not making any effort to help her pick up the several DVDs she just dropped onto the carpeted floor.

“I knew I recognized him.” She shakes her head, “Fuckin’ moron didn’t even try to hide what he was doing.”

“It’s a bad habit,” Jerry shrugs, acting as if he wasn’t encouraging him. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her. He’s unsure if he doesn’t want her to know because he’s ashamed of himself or because he wants to keep up the image that he’s a better person than Pete or Bill. “He’s done it since we were little kids. It’s gonna get him in a lotta trouble one day.”

“It almost got him in a whole lotta trouble today .” She replies, standing back up and putting Frankenhooker and Fright Night back to their respective spots on the shelf. Jerry just stares at her while she’s doing it, fidgeting with his hands. He’s about to work up the strength to ask her if she wants to get lunch with him when Josh comes running over.

“Jerry! Where did Pete go?” He asks, voice riddled with concern. Jerry just points outside at Pete, who is standing, dejected and staring into the store through the window. He flips them off when he notices them staring, mouthing “Fuck both of you!”

She shoves the DVDs in Jerry’s hands and walks up to the window, her Doc Martens hitting the floor loudly enough to make a clomping sound with every step. “Loitering!” She yells at the window, “Get the fuck outta here, dude!”

Pete scurries away like some kind of cat or, more appropriately, a rat.

“Your little friend is an idiot, Jerry.” She walks past him and Josh, grabbing the three copies of Fangoria off the counter and going to the magazine rack to pick them back. 

Josh’s eyes widen at a girl speaking to one of them. He nudges Jerry and whispers, “Who was that?”

“A friend.” He replies, swatting his hands away. The last time he was friends with a girl, Bill bullied her so hard at a club meeting that she ran out crying. He’s not going to let anyone ruin this for him again. This girl is all his, no matter what anyone in the club says. He saw her first, that’s the rules.

“You should invite her to play D&D with us!” Josh grins, “We need a new person to play with anyway now that Bill’s gone!”

Jerry looks at her, then back at Josh, “I don’t even know if she’s into that stuff.” 

“She was at Joe’s. She’s gotta be.”

He pauses for a second, maybe Josh is right. Even if she isn’t, he wouldn’t be opposed to teaching her how to play. Plus, it’s not like Bill can yell at him for having a girl join the club if he’s not in it anymore. They need a new secretary of comic books anyway, even if she doesn’t wanna play D&D with them.

“Okay, buck, I’ll ask.” He responds, finally, “I’ll be back in a second.”

Jerry walks up to her as she’s flipping through one of the magazines that Pete attempted to shoplift. She glances up at him as he stands there in silence, attempting to find the words he wants to ask. “Yes?” She says, furrowing her brow in confusion at him just standing there, stumbling over his words with his face bright red. 

“Do you play D&D?” He asks, staring at his sneakers. If he looks at her, he’s not gonna be able to get the sentence out. 

“No.” She responds, “Where are you going with this?”

“Do you wanna learn?” He finally looks up at her, “Me n’ my friends play it together, and we need a new player ‘cause our friend quit.”

“Is this including your shoplifting friend and the one who works at the comic shop?”

Jerry winces, “Just the shoplifting one. The guy who works at Joe’s doesn’t wanna hang out with us anymore.”

She pauses, then, “I’ll think about it.”

He grins at her, “Cool. I promise it’ll be fun. I can help you come up with your character and everything.” He digs into his pockets and finds a Sharpie he stole from Pete the other day. “Can I give you my number?”

“I guess.” She shrugs, giving him the palm of her hand. He scribbles it out fast, she swears to god she can feel him physically shaking from excitement when he does. There’s a noticeable bounce in his steps when he walks back to Josh. 

The two of them walk around for a while, Jerry doesn’t buy anything, Josh gets himself a Superboy comic and a duplicate Star Wars VHS. When he’s checking out with his mom’s credit card, Jerry can’t help but wander. He stands beside the counter where she placed all of Pete’s junk, watching her scoff under her breath in disgust as she puts away horror comics. He presses his back up against the counter, hands accidentally grazing against the one book that’s still there. He turns around and looks at it, eyes widening. Oh fuck, she can’t see that. It’ll fuck everything up.

“Jerry! C’mon!” Josh calls, “We gotta get back to my place before the new Star Trek is on!”

“Coming!” Jerry stumbles over, body tense and rigid. He hopes Josh can’t tell how fucking embarrased he is. She glances up at them as they head for the door, calling Jerry’s name. His heart drops; she has to know. There’s no way she didn’t see the book. Sure, maybe she couldn’t tell what it was, but if she gets home and looks it up, it's over for him. He forces a smile, “Yeah?”

“I’ll do the campaign.” She blurts out, “You just gotta teach me how to play first.”

His shoulders fall, and he lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, “Yeah, of course. Just… Just call me.” He says, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. He can’t imagine being on the phone with a girl. He didn’t even get that far with Agnes, and that’s saying something.

She shoots him a thumbs up like she’s Dale Cooper and turns back to what she was doing. He just smiles and gets the fuck out of there before the guilt that’s building in his stomach makes him drop what he’s shoved up the back of his sweater.

When she walks back to the counter, the fantasy manga is gone, and Bill is walking through the door with comics in his hands.