Richie's been struggling with his sexuality for years, unsure of what everyone would think of him when they found out his secret. After defeating Pennywise with the other losers, he's clueless as to where his life is leading him.
Little does Richie...
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Eleven Byers was a very unusual young girl. It wasn't her fashion sense, nor was it her strange speech, and it certainly wasn't her quiet unnecessary confidence. She was an experiment.
As a young girl, she had endured so much pain. She was tortured so that she would become a weapon.
When her adopted father, Jim Hopper perished in a lab (which she refused to believe), his partner-in-crime, Joyce Byers offered to take care of the sad girl.
Joyce Byers was no Jim Hopper, but she was kind and she was lovely. And not only did El receive a mother, but she also received two brothers by the names of Jonathan and Will Byers.
Although El went through hell, she felt worse for Will. She imagined being kidnapped by a monster, hiding in a small space for countless hours, coming home with a parasite stuck inside him, and living with extreme incurable PTSD. Eleven couldn't say that she had a situation like that, but she understood, nonetheless. Perhaps that was why El and Will got along so well. Shared experiences.
Eleven awoke with a small yawn, looking to the other side of the room, where Will was still fast asleep. Standing, she wrapped one of Hopper's shirts around her and walked to the kitchen, where Joyce and Jonathan were talking and eating. She also noticed that her spot at the table had Eggo waffles in front of it. With an excited grin, she marched over and sat.
"Good morning." El said, her brother and mother looking up at the sound of her voice.
"Oh, honey, how are you feeling?" Joyce spoke with her motherly tone, Eleven already digging into her waffles.
"Pretty good." Eleven didn't realise she said it until she remembered.
"Pretty..." He was staring at her blankly, her blonde wig fitting snug on her head. "Good! Pretty good."
She missed Mike Wheeler very dearly. But so did Will.
"Oh, Will, you're up! A very good morning to you." Joyce had happiness in her voice. When Will went missing, Joyce was hanging on the thread of sanity, knowing she could slip at any time. The Byers' family had it rough with their not-so-rich lifestyle along with the trauma they'd endured over time.
"Morning, mom, Jonathan, El." He greeted his family, moving to sit next to El, who was scoffing down waffles faster than you could say 'Eggo'.
Tuesday was Eleven's favourite day of the week. The reason? Every Tuesday, she would call her friends in Indiana and give them a Derry life update.
Eddie barely slept the night before, primarily because Richie had talked to him all through the night and Eddie couldn't stop thinking about him. He knew that Richie could get messed up sometimes, but he'd never heard him when it happened.
Richie dreaded going to school that morning, knowing in just two days, he would have no home. He couldn't just go and squat in Neibolt. That would be fucking stupid.
"I'm going to school now, momma." Eddie gave his mother a kiss on the cheek to save time, already walking toward the front door.
"Okay, Edward, but don't forget to take your pills! And don't forget to eat extra today, you look too skinny-" Her voice faded out as he got further and further away from her.
From the outside, everybody could tell there was something seriously wrong with Sonia Kaspbrak. She had an obsession with the 'health' of her son. Eddie was given a large array of pills to take daily, all placebos, except for the pills which calm his hyperactivity. Although Eddie knew they were fake, he decided to keep taking them to calm his otherwise insane mother.
Eddie felt bad for Sonia. He tried to imagine what it would be like to have your partner die while you were raising a small, frail infant with asthma. But he also felt degraded by Sonia.
She would constantly comment on his appearance. It was as if she thought that by insulting him, it would make him taller and muscular. Eddie felt self-conscious about his body. He somehow really missed pre-puberty when he didn't care about his body or what people thought of it.
Sonia also didn't approve of his clothing or his room. In Eddie's eyes, pink was a beautiful colour that could've been plucked from the middle of an autumn sunset. In Sonia's eyes, pink meant feminine. But Eddie loved all things feminine (except for women). He loved the idea of makeup, 'girly' colours, talking about boys, sleepovers, painted nails. But how could he indulge in this lifestyle without upsetting his mother? He almost took it too far with the pink walls and comforter. Sonia just couldn't get the idea out of her head that he was gay.
Picking his bike up from the ground, he began his trip to the Tozier household.
Richie, meanwhile, was trying not to cry. His parents were abusive like Sonia, but in a more visually obvious way. They had addictions to each other, drugs, and alcohol. Their house was a war zone.
When he heard a soft tap on his iced window, he scurried forward and opened it, joining Eddie outside and hopping on his own bike.
Not many words were said, but Richie was fine with that. Richie was one to really talk, yet the silence somehow calmed him.
