(malum=evil in latin)

Chapter 1: Mike

Mike Hanlon the Cupid knew that this assignment would be hard.

His assignment was Reddie. Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak.

    Bev's mission was equally hard-  her's was Stanbrough. Bill Denbrough and Stanley Uris.

This was their plan: They were going to become friends with the group using Ben (who was already a part of it)  and join, Bev being Ben's girlfriend and Mike being her best friend and Ben's close friend. Than they would focus on doing their jobs being Cupids and get the people together.

    What Mike was not expecting was getting two jobs: playing matchmaker for Reddie, and completely eliminating Pennywise, who was a Darke Malum (the opposite of a cupid--one who spreads hate instead of love).

On his previous missions, he hadn't had any trouble with the Malums.

Of course, they hadn't been Darke Malums.           

    "Ready to go to Bens', dear Mikey?" asked Bev.

    "Yes," he said back.

    And to Ben's house they went, lugging overnight stuffed bags with them.

Arlene Hanscom answered the door with a smile.  Mike always thought she was a charming lady with her soft brown eyes that sent a calming 'no need to worry'.

    "Ben! Your friends are here!!!" she shouted in the direction of..... Stairs? That's new.

    "Coming!" he heard Ben holler back.

    "How's it going Mrs. Hanscom?" Bev asked, ever the polite girl.

    "Oh, great! In fact I was just on my way to leave for a short trip with my husband, Ben didn't want to come, so we let him decide to stay." she whispered the last part because everybody could hear footsteps coming closer.

    A slightly chubby boy with a smile like his mothers and a brain like his fathers came into view. Bev's smiled widened

    "Bye kids, you have fun. I'm off!" Arlene called, as Mike and Bev stepped into the house at the same time as Arlene stepped out.

    "Have a good trip, mom!" Ben called after her, while Bev and Mike stood there waving. Mike wasn't gonna lie- he felt a bit awkward standing there.

    "You guys are late," Ben accused.

"We'll tell you why in a second after we've had something to drink!"

She shoved her over-night bag into Mike's arms, who grumbled in reply, but otherwise didn't do anything.

Bev pushed past Ben and marched to the fridge. Ben blushed just as Mike rolled his eyes, Ben caught notice of this and said:

    "Wow, you're being such a Stan."

    "Thanks," even though Mike didn't know who Stan was he mumbles.             "Hey Bennyboy," called Bev from the kitchen, "um, we need to get initiated into the Loser's Club."

    "Really," Ben said, "how come?"   

Mike bit his lip, wondering what he should tell Ben.
           Suddenly Bev bounded out of the kitchen, clutching a bottle of tequila in her hand.

         "Ben-ben, my boy," she squealed, brandishing the tequila at him, "wanna have a drink?"

                  Mike snorted.

                  Ben blushed a violent shade of crimson.

        "I-I d-don't dr-drink..." he stammered.

       Bev laughed, "I know, silly. I'm tugging your leg." 

       Mike walked past Ben into the living room and put the bags down by the velvet red loveseat.

      Bev bounced past him and plopped down, the tequila bottle sloshing as she set it down on an oak coffee table.

"Big Ben," she giggled, "can you grab us some cups."

       Ben looked uncomfortable, "uh... I told you, I don't drink."

Bev rolled her eyes, "for me and Mike, Benjosouras." Ben

   She leaned over and rummaged through her duffle bag and pulled out a bunch of folders.

                Mike sat down on an old purple couch, its coils squeaking in protest.

                  Ben plunked down beside him with two cups in one hand.             Bev grabbed the cups, uncorked the tequila and poured some for herself and then Mike.

               She grasped her cup and chugged half the cups' fluids in one gulp.

Meanwhile Mike opened the folder titled simply 'Reddie' in loopy cursive. Ben looked at the title and frowned.

"You spelled 'ready' wrong," he said questionaly.

                       Bev snorted, "Bennington, do you know what a ship is?"

Ben blinked, "of course I do. A ship is a kind of watercraft."

Bev burst out laughing.   "Hon, a ship can also mean two people who need to be in a romantic relationship."

"Oh" Ben replied, eyes wide

Mike couldn't resist, "like, an example of a ship is you and Bev! And that makes Benverly"

Ben's mouth opened in a perfect 'O'.

              Bev laughed.

"And whose names do I think make 'Reddie'?"       

"Wait.."

Mike nodded.

"EDDIE AND RICHIE?!?!" Ben exclaimed in horror.

"Ah eggs benedict you sweet thing, yes, those two"

Ben gasped, "but-but those two are as different as the sun and the moon!"

Mike pulled out several sheets, one of them containing pictures of Eddie Kaspbrak and Richie Tozier.

                     "Mike's basically a stalker," Bev explained to Ben, who looked confused.

"Anyways," Mike started, "the reason why we need to get into the Loser's Club is because we-sorry-I need to 'push'-" here he made quotation marks with his fingers, "Eddie and Richie together--"

      "And I need to get Stan with Bill, ASAP!" Bev cut in.

Mike shot her an annoyed look and continued, "do you have any ideas on how we can meet them."

"Well.... I could invite them to my house for a sleepover- it is the weekend after all. But I don't know if Eddie will be able to come, though" Ben shrugged.

"Why not?" Mike asked.

"His mom, Sonia never lets him do anything. She is also usually angry at the rest of the Losers for no reason."

"Well I'll look into it."

"Invite the Losers over, I can pretend to be a really close friend of yours and Bev will just be what she is, your girlfriend" Mike said in a singsong voice.

Ben scowled at him.

Then he stood up, grabbing the tequila and Mike's still full cup. He reached over for Bev's cup but she swatted his hand away, and chugged the rest of it. She shoved the now empty cup into Ben's arms.

"Now run along Benedict Salad, and phone the rest of the Losers while you're at it," she beamed at him, "thanks hun."

Ben walked off, and a few minutes late, Bev and Mike heard him on the phone.

"Hey Bill, it's me, Ben. I was wondering if you could come over for a sleepover tomorrow night, but Georgie can't come tell him 'sorry'!" Ben waited for a couple minutes before Bill came back with an answer. Mike heard a muffled stutter of a

'They said yes'.

"Awesome see you in a bit, but be here before 7:00"

Ben hung up and punched in some numbers.

Bev and Mike heard a tinkling ringtone, and then Ben chatting with Richie.

"Hey Richie, I was wondering if you could come over and have a sleepover with the Losers tomorrow night? I have some new people I want to introduce."

"Sure, my parents don't care."

Mike thought he heard a touch of sadness in the other boy's voice but he dismissed it as his voice being muffled through being in the kitchen.

"Awesome, oh and can you ask Eddie? Be here by 7:00 goodbye!" Mike once again hears the dial tone.

Ben then proceeded to call Stan, the last Loser that Ben needs to call.

"Hey Stan! Want to come over for a sleepover? I have someone you should meet!" Mike heard a muffled voice from the other end.

"Yeah the others will be here, don't worry," this time Mike heard a 'wait one second' than after a minute or two he hears a quite "sure, why the heck not"

"Awesome! Be here before 7:00"

"We just need Eddie now." Bev commented.

"Richie has got that covered."

"How?" Mike asked.

"I don't really know but he'll probably get Eddie to sneak out, Sonia would just say 'no'."

Mike nodded.