An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
and it’s live!!! i couldn’t resist. i love ghost stories, i love bittersweet stories, i love killugon stories… why not roll them up into one big delicious fic ;u; updating every sunday! (hopefully)
Richie had been residing in the neibolt house the day he had met him, he had been quietly watching from his favourite spot up in one of the higher windows of the house, it was were he frequented the most, reading something that humans had made, a ‘comic book’ was what the human at the market place had called it those many years ago when Richie had first gotten it.
This one kind of reminded Richie a bit of himself, the character in the pictures had abilities to that of the creature humans had named ‘spiders’. Richie supposed that's what he was- well at least partly considering Richie had a very much more human appearance than a spider, the only parts of him not being human being the extra set of limbs and the more sharpened teeth- to the point where they were almost like fangs.
Richie blinked looking at the extra set of limbs that he had currently curled around himself in a sort of protective- and comforting matter, blowing a soft sigh as his gaze went from the comic book down to the street, basking in the idea of what it would be like had Richie been born human, just another clueless one who could live out a limited but happy life.
It was an odd thought to occur to him but the more he dwelled on it the more he wished it was true, he wasn’t entirely sure why he thought this way, all he knew was that he did not enjoy his current life and ways one bit at all, but what can you do when it's all your made for? All he can do is dream.
Richies eyebrow quirked up as he looked below to see an alone someone enter the house, he had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed them walk up to the house until now, closing the comic book and putting it to the side for later Richie allowed his extra limbs to deform, crunching and folding up into his back and he allowed his eyes to return to a normal deep brown rather than the black sclera and bright orange pupils they naturally sat at.
Flicking his eyes back down towards the street to see that the human was no longer standing out the front and instead must have entered the house, Richie huffed getting off from his seat at the window and begrudgingly shuffling down the stairs, from where he was he could hear the young boy mumbling to himself something about “a stupid dare” and “if I die I’m sueing those fuckers.” which caused Richie to relax a bit, just some stupid kids doing stupid stuff.
It probably caused him to relax a bit to much as he wasn’t focusing on where the kid probably was in the house anymore, so when he rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, the last thing he expected was to hear an ear-piercing shriek and a sudden blow to the side of his head, and with an “Ow! Fuck!” He fell to the ground, his glasses being knocked off his face.
His hand moved up to rub at the side of his head as he looked up to see the same young boy standing over him with a baseball bat in hand and a horrified look on his face as he quickly dropped it in favor of kneeling down next to Richie, his hand scrambling for the others fallen glasses, “Holy shit dude, I’m so fucking sorry- you scared the crap out of me!”
Richie gratefully took back his glasses as they were offered to him, blinking as he turned to them as they offered a hand which Richie cautiously took, “I’m Finn Tozier,” He said as their hands shook, “And you are?” He inquired as their hands separated, Richie frowned, narrowing his eyes at the human,
“Richie,” He finally grunted as a response as the both of them stumbled back up to their feet, Richie using the currently peeling wall beside him as support as he looked towards the boy to take in more features of him, the first and most confronting thing was that this was not a kid, rather he looked more in his mid-to-late teenage years. The second was that he was at least 6ft tall, causing him to practically tower over Richie, but he wasn’t tall in a threatening way, he was scrawny, and his limbs were lanky and he looked rather uncomfortable with himself.
He had pale skin, light brown eyes and hair and there was slight stubble growing back on his chin, he was a generic awkward teen Richie quickly realised, he sighed reaching his hand up to touch as his head where the bat had struck, Richie didn’t feel pain so much as to the extent that humans did however there was still an uncomfortable throbbing there and he grimaced a bit as he pulled his hand back away to find blood lightly staining his fingertips.
“Oh shit, you’re fuckin’ bleeding, here let me-” The boy- or Finn cut himself off in favour of moving closer to Richie and using his hands to brush Richie’s curls out of the way to see where he had hit, in response to this Richie hissed- yes literally hissed at him batting him away quickly, “I’m fine.” He huffed.
Finn shook his head, “Nope you’re not,” He said, grabbing Richie’s wrist “C’mon my house isn’t too far away, I’ll help you clean the wound.” He said and before Richie could react he was being tugged out of the house, frowning, It had told him to never leave the house unguarded, to always be there in the years It wasn’t active, just in case.
In this case Richie hadn’t left the house in twenty-six years with It due to come back in roughly six months, he pouted a bit in thought as he was steered towards the front door by the human before thinking fuck it, after all every cycle nothing bad had ever happened when he was at the house so what were the chances that this one time he left that something bad would happen?
Besides, maybe this will help Richie to further understand the humans and the way they lived throughout their day to day lives, because despite the interest and curiosity of himself being discouraged by Pennywise he couldn’t help the ever growing inquisitiveness that expanded in his chest with each day that passes in this boring house.
So Richie let himself be steered down the street and away from the house he was currently meant to be protecting, away and into town by this kid, this kid who didn’t even know who Richie was but wanted to help him, this kid that took him by surprise and hit him over the head with a bat, this kid who- was very talkative Richie was finding as they made their way down the street.
“I mean like, it was completely accidental but also dude what were you doing at that house?” Finn had asked, giving him a sideways smirk to which Richie responded by sticking his tongue out at the other, an action that caught himself by surprise as usually when he was befriending the humans he would take on a more serious persona, he would have his shoulders squared but also in a nervous hunch, however currently his shoulders were relaxed at his sides and he found himself in general relaxed in the presence of Finn despite only knowing him for a few minutes, it was strange- and it was different, but a good different, one that made an unfamiliar warm feeling well up in Richie’s chest.
Finn just replied with a soft chuckle which in turn made a ghost of a smile appear toy on Richie’s own face, “Hey man, I’m just saying, it’s kinda creepy you were just stalking around the house alone!”
Richie just scoffed, “You were doing the exact same thing!” He shot back quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Can’t prove it!” Finn said, smiling stupidly when Richie made an incoherent splutter of mixed noises, and he continued, feigning an innocent voice as he held his hand to his chest, the other one remaining with its light grip on the bat that he had picked up on the way out of the house, “My dearest Richie, are you suffering a concussion?” He asked, his voice progressively going high pitched as he spoke, for this, Richie shoved him swallowing his own laughter he could feel wanting to bubble out.
This only made Finn continue his act out but more passionately as his hand moved up to his forehead in faux horror, “He’s getting violent! Oh dear we must fix him up as quickly as we can!” He cried, grabbing Richie’s wrist and dragging him into the house they had taken to stopping outside the front of.
Richie let out a soft “Oh,” as he was tugged through the front door, so this is what a human's house is actually meant to look like on the other side, because despite frequently talking to others younger humans he had never been inside one of their houses, the closest thing he came into was the marketplace that he liked to frequent when It was active and didn’t need him.
“Sit on the couch,” Finn instructed, pointing to the large piece of furniture, he had dropped the voice now and was now rummaging around underneath the countertop in the kitchen as Richie sat down, fumbling with his own hands as he tried not to make his observations of the house clear
It was clean, really clean inside, no dust or dirt was trekked inside, no cobwebs or overgrowth in sight, everything was neat and looked in properly in place- it was nice.
Finn suddenly plopped down next to him, a blue square looking thing in hand, he held it out to Richie who cautiously took it with furrowed eyebrows- it was cold? He looked back to Finn who was looking at him with an expectant gaze, maybe it was like that medicine stuff one of the others always had to take?
Hesitantly, Richie rose it up towards his mouth and when not protest came from Finn he bit down on it to which he let out a soft “Ow!” As Finn let out a shout of surprise wacking it away from Richie’s mouth.
“Did you just-” Finn had to cut himself off as he burst out laughing and Richie felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment, “Did you just try to-” He tried again but couldn’t and doubled over clutching his stomach, “try to eat the ice pack?” He finally got out.
Richie just blushed harder.
-
Richie had intended for it to be a one time thing, for them to only meet that once and then Richie would go back to living at the house on Neibolt on street, he would continue to stay on guard and on watch until It came back once again, and It would be soon, It could come back anytime now which meant it was not a good idea whatsoever for Richie to be anywhere outside of the house.
But yet he still found himself constantly hanging out with Finn frequently still, they often would catch up whenever Richie got bored at the house which he found he did more often than he ever used to recently, ever since becoming well, friends with Finn. He found himself wanting more, wanting to make more memories, learn more about the humans lives, more than he ever had, he wanted to feel and experience life like they do, he wanted more of a purpose.
Finn helped give him that.
Richie had learned a lot in the last few months of him spending time with Finn, he learnt that kids often frequented places called the ‘movies’ where they would watch people inside large screens act out storylines and interesting actions, Richie had been incredibly confused the first time Finn had taken him there and he was pretty sure that’s also when Finn started becoming suspicious of Richie’s origins.
He never outwardly said it but Richie got the vibe from him sometimes that he wanted to know more, he wanted to learn more about Richie and why Richie was so strange and didn’t know basic human things, Richie however always brushed him off.
He would sound insane, and frankly, he found himself not wanting to even tell Finn, it would probably scare him off and Richie felt a heavy feeling in his chest whenever he thought about how he had scared so many others like Finn but hadn’t known them.
How could he do that?
With each day passing Richie found himself hating himself even more, regretting everything he had ever done, his chest tightening and a weight that hadn’t felt heavier on his shoulders felt like he could crumble under it any second and be crushed.
Richie didn’t understand why he felt this way, he felt all these terrible feelings over the very thing he was made to do, something he shouldn’t think twice about doing, was he broken?
Richie in the past had always tried to push these feelings away whenever they grew strong in his mind, and he usually could with effort, he was able to take his mind off what he was actually doing and get his job- his purpose done.
But it was like his life so far had been a spiral staircase and Finn had been a small pebble scattered on one of the stairs that Richie had accidentally tripped on and he was now falling in the downward spiral of the staircase and he couldn’t stop.
Currently Richie was sitting on a swing attached to a tree in the barrens and Finn was a couple metres away sitting on the ground, both of them weren’t talking as they were both too busy indulging themselves in comics, after Richie had found out that Finn had a much larger comic collection compared to Richie’s which in reality, only consisted of two he had practically spent the night reading all of them whilst Finn slept, afterall, Richie didn’t need much sleep, two or three hours could typically last him a fortnight. However, he often did follow humans sleeping patterns of sleeping at night and waking up when the sun rises again, anything to learn more about them and how they live, he supposed.
They were both sitting in a comfortable silence, aside from the noise of animals such as bird, the occasional rumble of passing cars and the even more frequent of pages turning as they both read.
That’s when Richie felt it, the deep tug on his gut, one that only ever happened when It resurfaced, when It was waking up. he found himself quickly throwing the comic book to the ground and jumping off the tire swing he collapsed onto the dirt ground, not even reacting as a few stray pebbles dug into his palms as he retched violently onto the leaf-littered floor.
Vaguely hearing Finn’s “Holy shit,” before feeling his hand on Richie’s shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze of comfort as Richie continued for another couple of minutes before leaning backward, Finn carefully moving to sit down next to him with crossed legs, “Want to tell me what that was?” He asked, giving a small chuckle, “See something too gorey wussy?” He asked, nodding towards the discarded comic book, chuckling lightly.
Richie shoved him away, a small smirk playing at his lips despite the despair expanding quickly in his chest and tightening in his throat because he couldn’t avoid it now- he couldn’t avoid the fact that he can’t go back to doing that. It’s stupid- he knows its stupid, he shouldn’t have a problem with doing it, its something he’s told himself so many times, thats just how it works, its how life works, some live, some die.
So why wouldn’t he be able to do it this time? It’s what he’s always done but even that thought now makes him feel sick to the point where he might as well start vomiting again.
Richie staggered to his feet, ignoring the offered hand from Finn, It had probably already noticed that he wasn’t at the house and that very thought made him want to vomit at the idea of the wrath it was probably in over that fact.
“I needa go,” He mumbled to Finn, adjusting his glasses as he looked up at the other who had concern flickering in their gaze which Richie made a point of ignoring, he needed to leave now before It found out the reason he hadn;t been at the house was because he had been hanging out with a human.
But with that thought Finn suddenly grabbed his wrist in apparent panic to which Richie just looked up at him with a confused gaze, but Finn just pointed a little further away into the woods and when Richie looked in the direction he felt his stomach drop.
It was there, its basic clown form, and he was looking directly at Richie, a knowing look in his malicious expression, eyes dark and a menacing grin forming on It’s face accompanying Its sharpened teeth.
It didn’t have to speak words for Richie to see the wrath and bloodlust that shone so clearly in darkened eyes.
Then It started advancing towards them, “Shit, shit, shit! Go, go go!” Richie screeched, his voice shrill and piercing as Finn stumbled backwards, his hand still on Richie’s wrist as he did causing Richie to follow back with him.
It was only when It let out a loud guttural growl that Finn swept his bat up off the ground- something Richie had found out he took everywhere with him after hanging out with Finn a few times and asking him- for protection Finn had told him.
Not like it was going to do much now, Richie thought bitterly to himself.
They were sprinting through the forest now, their shoes thuds against the ground were practically silent compared to the blood roaring in Richie’s ears.
Finn was repeating the same chain of three words, which consisted of, “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.” Over and over again
Richie stumbled a bit as his foot got caught in the branch but yet Finn still wasn’t letting go of his wrist and continued to tug Richie along and the action made Richie want to cry, this was happening because of him, Finn could die because of him, yet Finn refused to leave him behind.
Somewhere, although Richie would deny it, as they ran, in the back of his mind, he knew it was hopeless.
And indeed it was as no more than mere moments later that there were sudden and loud, skittering thuds coming from behind them and Richie didn;t even need to look over his shoulder to know what he would see, Finn however did and he let out an ear-piercing shriek that made Richie wince and anything that hadn’t already fled in the general area were probably well on their way now.
Richie gasped as a large weight from behind sent both him and Finn sprawling and he let out a hacking cough as all the breath was knocked out of his lungs, turning around and scrambling back, his breath hitching as Pennywise had taken on its large true spider form and was looking down at Finn with hungry eyes.
Richie scrambled to his feet, throwing himself between Pennywise and Finn, his eyes narrowing as Its gaze landed down on him, “Richie, Richie, Richie,” It said, low, menacing and mocking, “Oh! How I didn’t expect to come to not only find you not where I told you to stay,” It said, in its disgusting giddy and raspy voice, “But you’re also befriending!” It continued, giving a laugh that sent chills down Richie’s spine, “Befriending a human!”
“R-Richie, w-what is it talking about?” Finn spoke up from behind him, and Richie wanted to cry at the fear quivering through Finn’s, however he forced himself to ignore him, taking a step backwards as It took one forward, “Stay away from him!” Richie spat fiercely, although he doubted he looked even remotely threatening.
“Oh!” It laughed, eyes shining before a mocking pout appeared on Its face, a fake sort of sadness running through its next words, “You didn’t tell your friend what you really are?” It said, spitting the word ‘friend’ as if it were an insult.
A few months ago Richie would have thought it was too.
It took another step forward, but this time Richie held his ground, his eyes turning a bright glowing orange as his deadlights flared to life and his sclera darkened, “I said stay away!” Richie snarled, spider legs unfolding and snapping into place in a quick moment as It took another step forward and Richie pretended to not hear Finn’s voice hitch with fear from behind him, it sounded further away than what it had before though which Richie took as a good sign, the further away Finn was the better.
It only glared down at him, Richie bent his knees a little bit, baring fangs that grew out in a matter of seconds, ready to attack if he needed too to which It just laughed at him, “You don’t scare me, child.” It grinned as they began moving around in a circle, and Richie winced a bit, because it was true, sure for a human’s lifespan he would have been considered old, however in perspective compared to Its age of billions of years he was yet but still a child, a younger replica, a broken replica he thought to himself.
Still, he continued to stand his ground, he wasn’t going to let himself or Finn die without a fight, however the idea of the latter dying because of Richie’s own selfish faults made him shiver a bit at the prospect.
It hardly seemed impressed with Richie’s attempts to make it back down, instead grinning the spider claws connected to its arms grew in length and were suddenly coming for Richie to which his eyes narrowed and he quickly leapt out of their way as they cemented themselves into the ground where he had just been standing.
He landed perched on top of one of them, wobbling a little bit at first as he gained his balance in a few moments before looking up to look at It, but It just grinned, like It was expecting that to happen, like it knew it would and Richie wouldn’t be surprised if It had.
Richie, breathed out heavily through his nose as he leapt towards It’s face before letting out a ‘whumph’ noise as It rose its other arm to block him halfway through the leap and his chest collided with the side of It’s claw, letting out a small wheeze as he scrambled to hold onto it as It tried flinging him off, waving the claw wildly and Richie only let go when It swung the claw up into the air, limbs spreading out as Richie became airborne, looking down as he began falling back down, arms extended as he landed with an impact on Its face, sinking his own spider limbs into each side, ignoring the way It screeched and threw its head back, gritting his teeth as he allowed his limbs to pierce further.
It stumbled back a bit on large spider appendages as Richie furthered his attack before it let out a screech and before Richie knew it he was being thrown across the clearing before thumping into the tree, knocking all the breath out of him as he fell to the ground sputtering and spitting up droplets of blood onto the forest floor, chest heaving as he desperately tried to get air back into his lungs.
His gaze snapped up from where he lay against the forest floor as the familiar loud and thudding skittering noise approached him and he blinked, slightly disoriented as he noticed that It was coming towards him again, and he swallowed as they locked eyes in a way that was eerily familiar, but then both of their attentions were distracted as It was hit in the side of the head with what appeared to be a small rock, both of their gazes travelling to see Finn standing there, huffing and a beyond furious expression across his face.
“Finn.” Richie breathed out softly, still unable to gain enough air in his lungs as he watched with wide eyes as It abandoned Its focus from Richie entirely to move towards Finn who in return stumbled back and Finn could see the way he stiffened and fearfully swallowed, as if he hadn’t expected It to abandon Richie for him.
Richie clutched his chest as he tried to push himself up, “Run, you idiot!” He yelled horsley as but Finn however seemed frozen, like a deer in the headlights and the sight of him so afraid made Richie’s blood run cold like a lake in winter.
And then within mere and unpredictable moments, moments that seemed to move too slowly to be real, one of Its arms extended and stretched,
And in one quick movement It had impaled Finn Tozier right through the middle with a sickening squelsh noise.
Richie screamed.
[Present Time, 2001]
Richie let out an incredibly manly yelp as a hand landed on his shoulder, he had been so caught up in his thoughts as he walked down the street, his eyes darting this way and that in sign of any movement
In any sign of It,
he hadn’t noticed Bill and Stanely follow him out of the house and on instinct Richie snapped his hand up to grab the one on his shoulder, using it to spin himself around and drew his fist back, ready to punch whichever asshole thought messing with him would be a good idea but it soon went slack when he looked up to see it was just Stanely who had immediately let go of Richie and put his hands up in a surrendering manner.
Richie wanted to scream at them for following him, because they didn’t know, they didn’t know what was happening, they didn’t know what was going to start happening to the kids of the town soon, they didn’t know it wasn’t safe for them to be around Richie.
How was he meant to explain that to them?
He couldn’t.
So instead he let out a forced laugh, “You scared the shit out of me Staniel.” He said, only giving them half his attention as whilst his eyes remained trained on the two losers in front of him, he was still actively hearing and focusing on the surroundings, making sure, needing to know, if It was here or not.
“Yeah well you scared the shit out of all of us!” He hissed, before shivering a bit, only just realising the cold of the night, but he ignored it as he continued “Storming out on all of us like that?” He asked, before grabbing Richie’s wrist, “What’s going on with you ‘Chee, you can trust us.” He said and for the first time Richie made eye contact with Bill who was staring at him, concern in his gaze.
Richie’s gaze dropped back down to the ground, “I’m fine Stan.” He said, “I just think I should be getting back to my place now, my parents are probably worried because I didn’t tell them I was going out tonight.”
That was a lie, Richie had no parents, Richie had no home, when he wasn’t with the losers club he was either wandering the town or living in the clubhouse Ben had built two summers ago, Richie had been grateful ever since Ben had made it, he loved the little puffball and now Richie had a proper place to sleep that wasn’t at any of the losers houses.
Richie knew they talked about it, the fact that they had never met or seen his parents, the fact that none of their own parents knew any adults in town with the same last name as Richie, the fact that he has never dropped a single hint about where he lived.
They rarely brought it up with him though, ever making offhand comments about it whenever the topic accidentally came up and it would be quickly forgotten after Richie dismissed it.
“We-well thu-then we’ll w-walk you.” Bill said, stepping forward so he was next to Stan, Richie just shrugged, “I’m good thanks for the offer.” He said, taking a step back and for the first time allowing his eyes to do a sweep of the surroundings nervously.
“C’mon Richie, we’ve never been to your house.” Stan argued, “and it's freezing out.” He added after a few moments as he brought his hands up to rub at his bare arms.
Richie narrowed his eyes, trying not to get mad, because he loved them, but why couldn’t they just leave him alone when he needed them too, “Nah, my house is on the other side of town,” He lied smoothly, “I’ll be good, you guys go back inside.”
Stanley let out a frustrated sign and Richie winced because he knew he was pushing it, however he had relaxed a bit, maybe It wasn’t going to seek him out, after all, It didn’t during its last cycle either, whilst it had reawoken and fed on kids as it normally did, It hadn’t contacted Richie at all.
“Wuh-Well then none of us ar-are going,” Bill stuttered, frowning a bit, “I-Im not luh-letting you walk a-across tow-wn alu-alone.” He said grabbing Richie’s wrist and dragging him back towards the house, leaving no room for complaint as he ignored Richie’s stutterd out protests.
-
Richie didn’t sleep, it had been three hours since Bill dragged him back inside and Richie had since refused to speak to any of the losers whenever they asked him if he was okay or what that entire ordeal had been.
He however had made a point of ignoring the questions and anytime one of them shot him a concerned glance, or shrugged them off whenever they tried to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
But he was too busy focusing on listening, and making off-sided glances at the windows, looking for any signs of movement, he had made a few off-hand comments throughout the night to try and seem normal, but he couldn’t help the anxiety and fear expanding in his chest with each moment that passed.
He had thought it was enough, that they would have dropped the situation, in his mind he had acted relatively normal the rest of the evening, at least enough to the point where the others would forge by the morning.
He was the opposite of right, as despite the fact that he had still cracked jokes throughout the night whenever he could, Eddie could still tell something was up with him which is why when he woke up a few hours after all the losers had fallen asleep he wasn’t as surprised when he woke up to find that Richie was still awake.
However, what was strange was that he wasn’t doing anything to entertain himself, he was rather perched on the edge of the armchair in the living room and the more Eddie watched the more he realised Richie’s eyes were darting between the windows, they would stay on one for a few seconds before moving to the next, and after he watched the windows for a while his eyes would glance down to each of the losers, moving from one another.
He was stiff and upright, it was clear he was wide awake and alert.
“What you doin’ Rich?” He asked softly and Richie’s neck might as well have nearly snapped with how quickly he turned to face Eddie, eyes wide for a second before softening and his body relaxed, but even in the dark Eddie could tell it was forced.
“Couldn’t sleep.” Richie shrugged, as he sunk back from his perched position to lean back in the arm chair.
“Right…” Eddie said softly, his brows furrowing in concern.
“Go back to sleep Eds.” Richie said quietly, “I’ll go to sleep soon.”
“Don’t call me that.” Eddie huffed, but rolled back over anyways.
Eddie however, didn’t fall back asleep, and Richie did not go back to sleep.
~
Author notes:
Okay, woo, here we go, I'm officially gonna be writing/finishing this :D
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! I promise in the next one theres gonna be more of the losers club, I just kinda need to flesh out the backstory before I can continue with the story making sense, you get me? Heck yeah you do!
Also yes, the character is named after Finn Wolfhard because I do what I want and I like irony.
Posting schedule for this will probably be posted on Saturdays or Sundays, each chapter will (hopefully) consist of roughly 5,000 words as I try to spit out 1,000 a day from Monday to Thursday
Due to medical reason I also get two free periods at school instead of doing sport (scoliosis gang where you at?) so if I don't have it done by those period I'll probably use them to write so it's almost guaranteed it should be updated on the weekend unless its a week where I'm truly not motivated to do anything
Also yes since posting the first chapter the timeline has changed a bit, I pushed it back too 2001 instead of having it in 2017 in case I ever wanna maybe take on what would happen in It chapter two in this universe.
I don't care that spider-man wasn't invented until the 1960's you can fight me I just wanted ti have them reading comic books and needed something to compare what Richie is in this, because yeah the idea of him having spider-legs coming out of his back was inspired by the Iron Spider suit
Anygay, thats all from me this week and let me know what you think or just tell me how your day has been :D
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
[screams of relief]
this chapter was hard to write xD in which killua talks the most he has in a hundred years and i struggle to pace them falling in love at a not breakneck speed xD
bellarke | explicit | enemies to friends to lovers | angst with a happy ending
chapter six: you’ve been lonely too long
It was an offhand comment, a sarcastic remark, a hey, if touching people is a problem because you never do it, why don’t we practice?
What a catch-22 that question was. An offer stood underneath the teasing tone, just light enough for plausible deniability.
That’s how they end up on Clarke’s couch, wrapped in comfy clothes while a midday breeze blows through an open window. The air is crisp in a way that’s rare and welcome this time of year—breathing is easier, lighter, now that frigid air doesn’t seep into Clarke’s lungs.
So they practice. And it should be weird—Bellamy stretched out next to Clarke on the couch, the soft skin of his inner arm warm against her palm. This isn’t a warehouse training session or emergency stay over. She’d opened the door to him in joggers and a thin long sleeve rolled to his elbows, not snuck his armored body in through the window. He took the elevator.
Clarke tucks her legs underneath her and faces Bellamy, eager to keep her focus as she nears her record of staying in her own head.
“Okay, my turn to ask a question,” she says. And, yeah. That’s a thing too. When touch alone was no longer an obstacle, distracted touch became the next objective.
She sneaks a peek at the stove clock over Bellamy’s shoulder, ignoring his voice in her head droning on about how the whole point of this is to lose track of time. Clarke is too competitive for that. Two minutes.
bellarke | explicit | enemies to friends to lovers | angst with a happy ending
chapter one: for now, it’s time to run
Arkadia is a restless city. It’s a city that tosses and turns, even in the dark, quiet hours of the night. There is still pain, still suffering despite the lack of people on the streets after darkness sweeps over them.
Clarke balances on the rooftop, her hood billowing in the wind that howls along the skyline. She’s a part of that skyline now, if you look closely enough; a hooded, costumed woman perched atop a building, listening to the city cry.
Gradually, she lowers the walls of her mind, spreading her consciousness over the surrounding blocks to observe, unsure if she wants to hear what she’s searching for. Sounds of humanity rapidly crowd her mind: an over-anxious performer practicing, their annoyed neighbor, a fighting couple, someone crying over lost love. Nothing she can act on.
This part of patrol will never get easier, she’s sure. Clarke is eager to prove herself, to finally use her powers for good, but hoping for tragedy to befall an innocent person so she can intervene feels like the opposite of what a hero should do. At least, that’s what her limited research of old superhero movies tells her.
But there’s a murderer on the loose. Clarke thinks she’s allowed to want to catch them, and she can’t unless they attack. It’s okay to be eager as long as she gets there before they hurt someone.
It has to be a fellow metahuman; there’s no way they would’ve made it past the high security places to pull off such high-profile kills.
Whoever it is, they have guts. Clarke will give them that. Taking down three prominent government workers in a week is no small feat, even for a stronger meta. Maybe they’re a phaser, or have invisibility. Surely stealth is a part of the picture here.
Clarke pauses her mind sweep and presses her hands against her mask. It doesn’t have any special properties outside protecting her identity, serving as a reminder of why she’s here in the first place:
