CRAWLING BACK TO YOU | { pennywise/reader oneshots }

quiet

You were just trying to sleep.

You had no idea what time it was - 3 maybe? It was too dark to tell but it felt late, and you were too tired to care. What you did care about was the dubious scratching noise coming from under your bed. You gripped your blanket in a groggy fervor, pulse rapidly quickening when the skittering stopped. You sighed.

"I know you're down there, dude."

There was no response. Of course.

You took in a shaky breath, gathering yourself as best as you could. Slowly, you leaned over the side of your bed, peeking into the blinding darkness. Squinting, you still couldn't make out anything save for flecks of dust. You shrugged it off, albeit cautiously. You returned to your position in bed, trying but failing to find that comfortable spot the noise pulled you away from. Not like you had a chance to when you felt a dip grow on the far side of your bed.

Begrudgingly, you opened your eyes. Your room was bathed in the washed out light from the street lamps outside, and it took yourself a minute to actually comprehend what you were seeing. Even so, it wasn't hard to miss the shape of a clown rocking itself back and forth at the foot of your bed. You sucked in a breath, shutting your eyes and involuntarily shrinking further beneath your blanket.

It hadn't visited you in weeks. For a second you thought it had decided to leave you alone, but you knew that it was only a matter of time before it decided to show up again.

You expected It to crawl closer to you like it always did, enveloping you in that silky costume and uncomfortably long limbs. But it didn't. The clown stayed at the edge of your bed like an animal that had only seen a human once in its life. You opened your eyes just a crack, lowering the blanket you gripped in your fists.

Pennywise sat hunched over like a gargoyle, its yellow-orange eyes fixed directly on you. The sound of its wheezing breath and garbled mumblings filled your room and sent chills running down your spine. You slowly sat upright. To your surprise (and what was likely Its disappointment), any fear you might have felt slipped away into something more like confusion. Pennywise looked..wrong?

Well, It always looked wrong. But this was different. Something about its expression seemed painfully human. Though its eyes were having trouble focusing on you for too long, you could tell that something somehow managed to bother it. That was a feat you could respect, but you weren't about to go tell it that. You relaxed, body un-tensing as you leaned against your pillow.

"What are you..?" you trailed off, voice suddenly unable to find itself after the clown decided to move.

Pennywise didn't speak, instead it crept closer, drool spilling from its drooping lip and onto your bed. Great. You'd have to remind yourself to clean that in the morning.

You froze, not daring to breathe as It loomed over your vastly smaller form. You could feel its hot, acrid breath on your skin. It would have made you retch but you didn't want to provoke the clown any more than you knew you should. There was something off about the way it was acting but you couldn't quite place it. The fact that Pennywise's expressions were all but readable made it all the more difficult. You nervously crossed your arms, clutching them both tight to your body.

"You, uh, okay?"

Not the best question to ask the drooling clown creature sitting above you with both hands placed on either side of your head, effectively pinning you to the bed. But it was the most your still groggy mind could come up with, and luckily enough, Pennywise didn't seem to mind. Not that that mattered. It didn't respond to that question either, only lowering its head closer to yours. You suppressed a shiver, you hated how scared you became in its presence. But it wasn't the fact that it was trying to take a chunk out of your skin this time, it was that It wasn't doing anything at all.

Well, mostly nothing. It rested its head on the space above your shoulder, shoulders slumping so that you felt its puffy sleeves brush against your blanket. You stiffened. You knew that Pennywise was as unpredictable as the weather - probably even more so - but this had caught you off guard more than you'd like to admit.

"Uh," you unfolded your arms, not knowing where to put them now that the clown was pretty much using you as a pillow. "So are you not gonna eat me orrr-"

Pennywise let a low rumble of a growl leave its lips, reverberating throughout the walls of your room.

"Alright. Got it. Shutting up now."

Pennywise still stared, a thin drop of drool falling to your pillow. It moved its legs from their place over yours to the side. It was practically lying next to you now, with its arms draped around your tense body. You looked away from it. Which, of course, proved to be of no use when the clown pulled you against its chest.

You didn't mean to gasp, but the sound escaped you. Your hands instinctively grabbed at your blanket like an anchor but you always somehow forgot how ridiculously strong It was. To Pennywise, pulling you closer was as easy as lifting a doll off the floor. That was one of its many annoying qualities, but you didn't seem to mind it as much now. Spooning with a murderous entity was the last thing you expected to come of tonight but you guess you couldn't complain compared to any of your previous encounters.

Maybe it was just the fact that you could barely keep yourself awake - even with this thing next to you, but you actually felt pretty comfortable. You still didn't allow yourself to relax into the clown's grip.

"So, you gonna tell me why you're like..this?"

Pennywise only responded with a shake of its bells, which you guessed meant no.

"What, did some snack give you trouble?" you probably shouldn't have spoken in such a derisive tone but you couldn't help yourself.

Pennywise gripped your arms, its muffled whine reaching your ears. You turned back to look at it.

"No." you said, astonished.

Pennywise hadn't spoken once in the time it had appeared and finally you thought you knew why. That disconcerting expression it wore earlier finally made sense, somewhat. You weren't surprised, honestly. There was bound to be somebody that made an attempt to fight back upon getting attacked by a bloodthirsty clown. But the clown that currently laid next to you on your bed in the dead of night acted like a puppy that had just gotten kicked. It would've been cute if it were anyone else. That's what you told yourself.

You cautiously pat the arms that had wrapped themselves around you.

"You can stay I guess. Just try not to kill me or whatever I have work tomorrow."

Pennywise said nothing once again as it buried its head in the gap between your neck and your shoulder. You were gradually becoming less uncomfortable with the situation, and you allowed yourself to at least close your eyes for minutes at a time, but you couldn't quite catch your sleep anymore. Not like it mattered. Pennywise was actually being quiet for once, and that was something to be savored.