til the end of time ➸ it/stranger things crossover [reddie/mileven]

000; the awakening

"BOOM!" Mike Tozier-Wheeler yelled as he slammed the figurine down onto the board. "The Evil Clown!" The three other boys sitting at the table groaned loudly.

"We're in deep shit now," Dustin Henderson huffed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. From the couch in the corner of the basement, someone snorted.

"That's bad karma for not giving me some of your Skittles earlier," the boy lying on the couch said smugly, not taking his bespectacled eyes off of the comic he was reading.

"Bite me, Richie," Dustin growled.

"Kinky," Richie laughed, ducking forward to dodge the baseball cap thrown at him. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Shut UP, dickwad," he huffed, and Richie saluted in response. Mike turned back to his friends, regaining his Important Announcer Voice he reserved for playing D&D. "The Evil Clown edges closer, laughing maniacally."

"Will, it's your call," Lucas Sinclair exclaimed, nudging the small boy next to him. Will Byers eyes darted frantically.

"I don't know!"

"Fireball him," Dustin prompted.

"Nah, it's too risky."

"Cast protection," Lucas suggested. Will hesitated, and Dustin made a noise of disagreement.

"Don't be a pussy, Will. You gotta fireball him."

"Are you even listening? Will, use protection."

"Fireball."

"Protection."

"Fireball!"

"Protection!"

"FIREBALL!"

"PROTECTION!"

"BITE HIS DICK OFF!"

"SHUT UP, RICHIE," all four boys yelled, causing Richie to burst into peals of laughter. Mike, frustrated, spoke again.

"It edges closer. It smiles wide, teeth sharp and eyes bugging out, sort of like my idiot brother over there-" cue snort from Richie, "-but much more sinister. It shrieks out a laugh, and begins to chant: you'll float too, you'll float too, you'll float too, you'll float too, YOU'LL FLOAT TOO, YOU'LL FLOA-"

"FIREBALL," Will shouted suddenly, and he threw the dice while Dustin whooped in triumph. Unfortunately for them, Will had thrown the dice a bit too enthusiastically, and it flew off the table and out of sight.

"Where'd it go?"

"I don't know."

"Son of a bitch, where-"

"Richie, do you see it?"

"Don't know, really don't care," Richie replied breezily, lazily flipping to the next page of his comic while his twin and his twin's friends desperately search the room. Richie never really got the appeal of board games, considering he got bored when nothing exciting happened about two minutes in, but it was interesting to hear Mike attempt to do voices when clearly that was Richie's forte. Otherwise, he would rather die than watch his twin and his nerd friends play pretend. But, hey, it wasn't that bad, especially when it gave him an excuse to laze around and read comics. Besides, Dustin was cool, Lucas was decent, and Will was cute.

(in the least gay way possible)

Richie drowned out the complaining background noise and focused more on his comic. With his nagging mother and fucking terrible father, he found from a young age that he loved escaping to places in books and comics he knew could never exist. Worlds better than the boring ass town of Hawkins. Worlds that felt kind of like home at this point.

Anywhere was better than his actual home, he supposed. With his shitty parents, snobby older sister and annoying ass nerd twin, the Tozier-Wheeler household was a bit of a nightmare.

Speaking of Mike, Richie realised he was now arguing with someone. Looking up, he saw that his mother had come downstairs to tell Mike's friends to go. Richie closed his comic and tucked it under the couch as he prepared to say goodbye to his brother's 'party',

(or whatever the fuck else they call themselves)

when he felt two small objects brush his fingers. Curious, Richie stood up and knelt down next to the opening under the couch, and he dragged out the two items. It was the dice, the faces upwards showing three white dots on the left die and four white dots on the right die.

(huh, so he did lose)

Richie picked up the dice and put it back on the table before looking up and waving at Dustin's retreating figure. "Bye asswipes!"

"Bye dickhead!" Dustin called back over his shoulder gleefully and disappeared upstairs along with the other four. Richie chuckled to himself as he walked over and resumed his previous position on the couch, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

A few minutes of peaceful silence passed before, inevitably, he heard shuffling as Mike came back down to put away the game. "Hey," he heard Mike exclaim, "the dice are back."

"Thanks to yours truly," Richie responded. "I found them under the couch."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Richie said. He paused for a moment before opening one eye and looking at Mike's face. "Seven."

"What?"

"He rolled a seven," Richie explained. "The Clown. It got him."

-

That night, on the far right side of town, a little girl in Hawkins Laboratory touched something she shouldn't have. A creature. A clown. It screamed and turned on her, baring It's teeth in a sinister way. She screamed and, when she escaped from the void in her mind, a hole had ripped in the wall to her left. The scientists, thinking little of it and assuming it was just a result of her losing a bit of control, continued the routine they went through daily after the tank. Just as they put the girl into a new hospital gown, the creature found the hole- no, the portal- and burst through. In the terror and confusion, no one noticed as the girl slipped through scientists and escaped right out the main entrance.

A voice called for her to come back. She ran.

Even later that night, on the far left side of town, a small boy was let off the bus he was riding and found himself at the edge of Indiana. He felt around his shorts for a moment and found what he was looking for. He brought his inhaler to his mouth and breathed in once, then twice. Adjusting his backpack straps, he prepared to be fearless. Unafraid of anything or anyone.

An owl hooted. He ran.

-

hey there lads it's me, ya girl

i know!!!!! it's been ages since i've actually posted a story!!!!!!!! but listen i hate my writing and i get insecure after abt a month of something being published lmao but let's give this a try shall we

i'll try post each chapter as soon as i can cause i mean i already have the contents of each chapter planned out so ??? shouldn't be that hard to Churn Them Out but then again i am the master of procrastinating so

anyway i'm rambling now so i hope u enjoyed this prologue of sorts!! ily thank u for reading <33

-laura