AN: Flashbacks will be in italics.
“So I’ll meet you there?” I asked, throwing together both my suitcase and Richie’s as we talked about how we were getting to Derry.
“As much as I’d hate to leave you there on your own for an hour or so, I think we have to.” Richie said. I could hear rustling on his end, signaling he was packing up what he had taken to Los Angeles.
“I’ll pick you up at the airport. It’s only a couple hour drive to Derry from New York.” I zipped his suitcase and started on mine. “How’s the Mustang for this trip?” I heard Richie laugh.
“(Y/N), leave it to you to drag that car out for a life or death situation.” I chuckled as I gave a shrug I knew he couldn’t see.
“Hey, listen to the historian Rich. I’m not repeating how we left. We arrive in style and we will leave in style.” I trailed off as the memory of Richie and I driving my mom’s beat up station wagon out of Derry after high school came back to me. I came back to Richie calling my name. “Sorry sweetie.” Richie sighed.
“Your mom’s station wagon right?” He asked. I agreed. “Fuck. This might be harder than I thought.” We stayed on the phone as we finished packing. “I have to go (Y/N). They’re waiting on me to get to the airport.”
“I’ll leave in ten minutes Rich.” I zipped up my suitcase. “I will be there when you land Richie. In the red Mustang.” I said. Richie laughed. “I love you Richie.”
“I love you too, (Y/N).” Richie said, going completely serious. “I’ll see you in Derry.” He hung up and I went to pack the car. Getting in after locking up the house and calling work to let them know I needed the week off, I took off. The closer I got to Derry, the more memories came back. Most of them were of Richie and I growing up. The rest were of the summer we went after Pennywise the dancing clown. Finally pulling into the city limits, I went to the Derry Townhouse and checked in. It would be another hour before I had to pick up Richie so I drove around the town to see what had changed. Various memories broke through the haze and made me smile as I played with my wedding ring. I texted Richie that I was headed to the airport. Leaning against the car, I thought back to how Richie and I met.
“Bowers!” I yelled as I caught the mullet-wearing bully rearing to punch a kid wearing glasses. “If you hit him, I’ll pound you!” Bowers turned towards me before turning back to the boy he was picking on.
“I’ll be back four eyes.” Bowers threatened the boy. He turned towards me. “And I’ll get you freak!” I raised an eyebrow and let my fist fall into my open palm forcefully, ensuring the resounding smack was heard by Bowers and his gang. My mission was accomplished when Belch turned to follow the others, dragging Bowers with him. I made my way over to the boy.
“Thanks for that.” The boy said, standing up and adjusting his glasses.
“It was no problem.” I shrugged as I bent to pick up his books. “I’m (Y/N) by the way.” I held out my hand. The boy bowed and kissed my hand.
“Richie Tozier, at your service.” He said in the worst British accent I had ever heard. I laughed as he straightened up. “I was headed to hang out with my friends down in the Barrens. Want to come with?” I nodded and followed him, listening to his crazy voices. It was then that I realized he would be in my life for a while.
I pushed off the car and snapped out of the memory as Richie came running to me. He pushed me back into the car when he reached me and engulfed me in a hug. His smile was bright as he pulled back.
“I missed you.” He said before kissing me. “Let’s agree that next time you just come with me. I can’t do this whole week apart thing anymore.” I laughed as I kissed him back and ushered him into the car.
“I know Richie.” I said as I jumped into the passenger’s seat. “But let’s get a move on this. Otherwise there might not be a next time.” Richie laughed as he took off towards the Townhouse to drop his belongings off. After the Townhouse, we headed to the Jade of the Orient per Mike’s request. As well pulled up, I remembered the day that Richie asked me out.
It was like every other day during our childhood and when we were teenagers. I walked down into the Barrens, hoping to find someone, anyone, to spend my day with. I followed the sound of music. The trapdoor to the Clubhouse was open and I could hear Richie singing along to whatever was playing on his radio.
“It’s just me Rich!” I called out as I descended into the Clubhouse.
“Well well well. If it isn’t my favorite person in the whole wide world.” Richie said in his Irish cop voice. I chuckled and shook my head.
“Good to see you too Richie.” I spotted him in the hammock and took a seat on the stool next to it. “Just you down here today?” Richie nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t mind though. It’s kind of enjoyable just sitting down here and listening to the music.” I smirked as I turned up the volume of the radio.
“I completely agree.” We listened to the music, sometimes singing along to a song that came on that we both knew.
“You want a turn in the hammock?” Richie asked, maneuvering himself so he could put his feet on the ground. I shook my head and smiled up at him from the comic book I was reading.
“I’m good Richie.” He nodded as he tapped his foot. “I’m not Eddie. I won’t count your minutes.” Richie laughed as he slid back onto the hammock a little more. It was a couple of minutes before anyone spoke again.
“(Y/N)?” Richie asked. I looked up, knowing it had to be serious if he was going this long without using one of his voices. “Can I ask you something?” I nodded as I set the comic book aside.
“Ask away Trashmouth.” I said as I gave him my full attention.
“What would you say if I told you I liked you?” Richie rubbed the back of his neck. I tilted my head back a little and tried to keep my smile from getting too big.
“I would say that I would hope so.” I shrugged as Richie took off his glasses to run a hand down his face.
“That’s not what I mean.” He sighed. “I mean like as in more than as a friend.”
“Then I would say it took you long enough Trashmouth.” I giggled as Richie quickly put his glasses back on.
“Wait.” He got off the hammock and stood in front of me. “You like me back?” I smiled up at the look of shock on his face.
“Of course I do!” I laughed. Richie laughed as he pulled me up and into his arms.
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that!” Richie picked me up and spun me around. I laughed as I held onto him tightly. Richie settled down a little bit and rested his forehead against mine. “I’m beyond thrilled to hear that (Y/N). I really am.” I smiled up at him.
“You have no idea how much I’m happy to hear you say that Richie.” I whispered. Richie sat down on the hammock and brought me with him. Laying back, Richie pulled me to lay on his chest.
“So, will you go on a date with me?” Richie asked after a moment of silence. I smiled up at him.
“I think you know the answer to that Trashmouth.” I said as I reached up and kissed his cheek. Richie smiled down at me and blushed.
“(Y/N)?” Richie asked gently as he put his hand on my thigh. I jumped as I snapped out of the memory.
“Yeah. Hi. Sorry. Got caught up in a memory again.” I breathed as Richie turned off the car.
“Which one?” He asked, concern hinting at the edge of his voice. I smiled at him before kissing his cheek.
“What would you say if I told you I liked you?” I teased. Richie blushed before kissing me.
“Right.” He chuckled against my lips. “It took you long enough.” I laughed as Richie pulled back and got out of the car.
“You have to admit, it was completely us.” I followed him before grabbing his shaking hand.
“Yeah. It was.” Richie nodded as he looked up at the neon sign. I swallowed before gently tugging his hand.
“Let’s get this over with Trashmouth.” I said. Richie nodded. I gave him one more kiss before walking through the door to the restaurant. We found our way to the back room that Mike had rented out. In typical Richie fashion, he banged the gong gaining everyone’s attention.
“This meeting of the loser’s club has officially begun.” Richie deadpanned as I tried to hide my giggle behind his back.
“Richie.” I gasped out. He looked behind him and smiled when he saw me doubled over in laughter.
“Trashmouth!” Bill exclaimed. I popped up from behind Richie. “And (Y/N)!” I waved as Eddie made his way over to us. I grabbed Eddie in a hug before Richie could. We all took our time reintroducing ourselves after Beverly and Ben showed up.
“Let’s eat!” Mike said as we all sat down at the table. Richie sat on my right and Eddie sat on my left. I rolled my eyes at my arrangement, knowing they would somehow find a way to bug each other even though I was between them. It wasn’t long before we were all taking shots and I smacked Richie on the arm as he took his without using his hands. Shaking my head, I leaned back in my chair, enjoying the feeling of my ankle crossed with Richie’s and his hand on my thigh.
“So wait Eddie you got married?” Richie laughed. I chuckled as I saw the start of a joke.
“Yeah. So why’s that so fucking funny dickwad?” Eddie got defensive. I reached over and put a hand on his arm.
“What? To like a woman?” Richie egged him on.
“Richie.” I warned. I could see in Eddie’s eyes that he wasn’t above hitting his former best friend for comments made about his wife.
“Fuck you bro.” Eddie deadpanned. I sighed. This was a clear indicator about how tonight would go.
“Fuck you!” Richie cheered. I rolled my eyes and bobbed my foot that was crossed with Richie’s at the ankle. He shot me an amused look before reaching for more food.
“Alright what about you trashmouth?” Bill asked. “You married?” I bit my lip before sharing a look with Mike.
“There’s no way Richie’s married.” Beverly’s voice stood out above the others debating whether or not it was possible that Richie could have gotten married. Looking over at Richie, I tried to gauge his reaction. He looked a little sad that they hadn’t even considered the fact that we were still together, even though we had walked in together and were holding hands for most of the night.
“No. I got married.” Richie said. Beverly shook her head.
“Richie I don’t believe it.” I looked over at her. She winked at me, telling me she was joking.
“When?” Eddie asked. I tried to suppress the smile that was threatening to break out. I looked over at Richie and shook my head when he winked at me.
“You didn’t hear this?” Richie asked. Eddie shook his head. “You didn’t know I got married?”
“No.” Eddie looked at Richie in disbelief before his eyes traveled down to my lap. Realization started to dawn on him when Richie spoke up again.
“Yeah no me and your mom are very very happy right now.” Richie finished while everyone choked on their drinks. I shook my head as I smacked his shoulder.
“Trashmouth!” I scolded. Richie looked at me with the biggest grin on his face.
“He totally fell for it.” Richie struggled to get out between his laughs.
“Fuck you.” Eddie said. He shook his head and went to take a drink.
“She’s very sweet. Sometimes she’ll put her arm around me and she’ll whisper to me. She’ll go,” Richie put his arm around me and leaned in. He did his Jabba the Hutt impression and I had to lean against him. I was laughing so hard.
“Oh we all get it. My mom was a great big fat person.” Eddie said. I frowned as he was taking this way too seriously. “Hilarious. Hysterical.” I put my hand on Eddie’s shoulder.
“Lighten up Eds. It’s a joke.” I rubbed his arm. “Trashmouth married me.”
“Wait seriously?” Eddie asked. I nodded as I held up my hand. “You married this prick?” I frowned and pushed him.
“He isn’t a prick!” I defended Richie. “He’s the best thing to happen to me. Especially in this deadbeat town.” I looked around the table to see Richie smiling at me. “Or did you all forget how shitty I had it and how much better being with Richie made me feel? Did you all forget how happy you all were for us when we finally told you guys?” Mike was smiling at us while everyone else just stared at their plates in confusion. “Oh my God. We all forgot.” I looked over at Richie. “Even I forgot.” Richie put his arm around me again. He drew me close as I sought out his comfort once the memories of how bad things were at home came back.
Turning the corner, I ran straight for the Barrens. I didn’t look behind me. I knew what I would see if I did. My father, gaining on me. Except it wasn’t exactly my father. It was something else. Something that took the form of my father, my worst nightmare. Breathing hard, I caught sight of the bridge.
“Bill! Bev! Ben!” I yelled, knowing I was wasting precious oxygen but needing them to know I was in trouble. “Stan! Mike! Eddie!” I caught sight of Silver leaning against a tree and I scrambled down the incline. “Richie!” The trapdoor to the clubhouse opened up and Bill’s head popped up.
“(Y/N)?” he asked as I tripped and crawled to the entrance. I pushed him back and climbed down myself, slamming the door shut above us. Richie was out of the hammock and by my side in seconds. He put his arm around me and led me to sit down.
“Hey.” He brushed the hair out of my eyes and gently wiped the sweat off of my brow. “What happened?” I shook my head as I burst into tears.
“It was my dad.” I sobbed, reaching for Richie. He sat next to me and pulled me into his chest. “But it wasn’t my dad. It was something that showed me my worst nightmare involving my dad.” I clutched at Richie’s shirt, desperate for something real to hold onto. “I don’t know what it was. Just that it looked like my father and was coming after me.” Richie ran his hand along my back as soothingly as he could while putting his chin on top of my head.
“It’s okay.” He whispered. “It was IT. It wasn’t your father. Neither one is going to get you.” I nodded as my sobs quieted. “We’ll protect you.” Richie gently took my hand and ran his finger over the scars on the back of it. “You’re going to be okay.”
“That was the day you saw IT for the first time.” Richie said. I nodded as Richie pulled me even closer. “That was the day we promised to keep you and Beverly safe.”
“And you did.” Beverly reached over and squeezed Richie’s arm. “All of you did.” I caught the look that Ben gave Bev and smiled to myself.
“So now what Mikey?” I asked, settling into Richie’s arms and looking around the table. “It’s been 27 years. I thought we killed IT.” Everyone at the table agreed with me.
“IT isn’t dead.” Mike said. “The killings have started again. Just like they did that summer. We’re the only ones who can stop it. There’s a ritual. The Ritual of Chud.”
“Mike, that didn’t work last time. It’s not going to work this time.” I said. “Besides, I looked into it. You never told us what happened to the people who first tried it. They all died Mike. We were lucky to get away as kids. I doubt we’ll have better luck as adults.”
“It’s going to work.” Mike said. We all got quiet as the waitress brought in fortune cookies. We all reached for one.
“Well that shit got dark fast. Thanks Mike.” Richie said once the waitress left. We opened our cookies and looked at each other in confusion.
“My fortune cookie just says could.” Eddie said disappointed.
“They don’t know how to do fortune cookies here. Mine just says guess.” Richie said, holding his up. I started down at mine, crumpling it up and putting it in my pocket when Richie turned towards me. “What does yours say?”
“It was blank.” I said. Leaning close to Richie, I whispered in his ear. “We’ll talk about mine later.” He nodded but gave me a concerned look. “It’s fine.” He nodded before turning his attention back to the rest of the group who had ignored us and was trying to put the remaining pieces together. Bill was shuffling the pieces of paper around while everyone gave their input. Bev was the last one to include hers. We all leaned over the table to read it. Taking a deep breath, I moved the papers to create the sentence.
“Guess Stanley couldn’t cut it.” Bill read. I looked up at Richie, sensing the meaning of the message.
“Stanley’s dead.” I said.
“You can’t know that.” Eddie said. “There is no possible way you could know that.” Just then the table erupted into chaos. The cookies started to smolder and disintegrate as a black goo oozed from the bowl. Cookies exploded and IT’s mind games began. Richie grabbed me and pulled me against the wall.
“That fortune cookie is looking at us!” he yelled as an eye started to slither its way towards us.
“I don’t wanna be here.” Eddie panicked. Mike was bashing the table with a chair when the waitress came back.
“Is everything alright?” she asked, clearly confused by the way we were acting. Richie was the first to react.
“Yeah.” He said. “Yeah. Could we get the check?” I had to hold in my giggle as she left. We left the restaurant, only running into one of Richie’s fans.
“I don’t think that kid’s a fan anymore Rich.” I laughed as I wrapped my arm around his waist. We stood in the parking lot as Beverly called Stanley, confirming that he was dead.
“I saw we get the fuck out of dodge.” Richie voted. Eddie and I agreed with him. Turning around, we headed back to the Mustang. “Why were you acting weird?” he asked once we had left the parking lot. I pulled the fortune cookie fortune out of my pocket and smoothed it out on my leg.
“Because of this.” I showed him when we pulled up to a red light. Richie looked over and read it. Not quite believing what it said, he grabbed it and read it again.
“Death?” he asked, looking at me with shining eyes. I nodded.
“I don’t know if it’s one of Pennywise’s games or what.” I said, nervously playing with my fingers. “That’s why I was acting weird. I don’t know if it’s me. Or if it is you. Or even if it is one of the others.” Richie nodded and handed the paper back to me.
“Let’s get back to the Townhouse.” I nodded as we continued to the Townhouse. Before long, we were in our room looking at the paper. “We keep this between ourselves alright?” I nodded.
“We don’t tell any of them.” I agreed. “We keep an eye on them. And each other. We won’t let Pennywise win.” I leaned over and hugged Richie.
“No we won’t.” He agreed. “No we won’t.”
