CRAWLING BACK TO YOU | { pennywise/reader oneshots }

showoff

Parking your bike outside the derelict fence of the Neibolt house, you couldn't help but snicker to yourself. It was a painfully mundane gesture. And under these circumstances it was hard not to find it at least a little ironic. Chaining the bike to the fence, you walked up the path to the house's porch, overgrown weeds scratching at your heels. You could feel the waning sun rays warm your back as afternoon turned to evening. For the past year, give or take a month, this had become almost a part of your schedule. There was such a surreal undertone to you casually walking into the abandoned house that you doubted you'd ever be used to it.

There wasn't much use to knocking on the door, save for maybe scaring off any squatters inside. Though you were fairly certain most of the locals knew better than to stay more than five minutes in the house. Which was, ironically, exactly the opposite of what you had planned. You shrugged the other strap of your backpack on your shoulder. You had started coming here more often than usual after finals started, resigning yourself to the front porch. Admittedly, you were more than a little apprehensive to spend your free time within the house. Only once had you mustered up the courage to sit in the remains of the living room for almost an hour. What felt odd to you was that whole week you hadn't encountered the house's sole inhabitant. It could've been that It was just out hunting, but you thought that maybe it would've at least shown a hint of itself even then. Pennywise was anything but timid.

Stepping into the derelict foyer, the familiar musty scent of rotting wood hit your senses. You had to admit, that took you a while to get used to. You absentmindedly stretched your arm out, running it along the vines that dangled from the ceiling.

You didn't know what compelled you to step inside this far on your own, but you had made it far enough that you almost passed the staircase. You had a fleeting thought of walking up, but something in the back of your mind didn't want to risk it. But what was there to risk? You had somehow managed to get It to tolerate you for almost a year now. You think it'd be used to you popping in and out of the Neibolt house by now. Right?

You were about to turn around and head for the kitchen when you heard a scraping noise somewhere upstairs. You couldn't tell which floor, but it sounded like the skittering of an abnormally large insect. You paused at the foot of the stairs. Over the months you had come to recognize the sound well. At first it could easily be mistaken for a raccoon or something similar. But you knew better.

You clenched and unclenched your fists, taking a step on the creaky boards of the staircase. You wanted to risk calling out to It, but you could feel your throat closing the farther up the stairs you got. You knew you had to control your fear around it, but being this close made it ridiculously hard to control the thundering in your heart. There was always a degree of fear beneath the composed surface you put on for Pennywise. You knew it hated that - especially when it was trying to get a rise out of you - but it was honestly amusing to see such a being become annoyed with a something like you. But then again maybe that's why it tolerated you.

You had made it to the top of the twisted, caving-in stairs, and the pounding in your chest only got more profound. It didn't help that now, closer to the second floor's hall, that you heard a dry laughter. A lilting tone that was just off enough to send chills down your spine. You didn't know if you were interrupting something, or if you were playing directly into whatever It was planning, but still you stepped into the dim hallway. Even through the dirty, yellowed window at the end of the hall barely filtered any light, you could still see how dark it was getting. The golden afternoon light was already starting to fade into a warm violet. It felt all too calming. Somehow, you gathered the courage to speak.

"Uh, hey," you gulped, throat suddenly dry.

"I know you're here, Penny. You aren't trying that jumpscare shit with me again, right?" there was a pathetic waver in your voice, and you hoped it wouldn't notice.