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❝ hell is empty and all the devils are here. ❞

—SHAKESPEARE

THE LOSERS and I strode under the bridge, our feet bruising the patches of dirt leading to a ravine as debris trailed around our ankles.

The boy's – Mike's – screaming blared through the forest that surrounded us, causing me to flinch at the piercing sound.

We perched our torsos on our knees as we hid behind the scrubby coated pathway, slowly examining what we had to anticipate for an attack as we observed Henry and his goons viciously assaulting Mike.

"What are we gonna do?" I hissed towards the group, shuffling upon their bent knees, heads glued forward as I followed from behind with Eddie.

Beverly turned her gaze to me from up front. "We are going to give them a taste of their own medicine."

"How?"

"We are going to fight," she declared, the sound of Eddie swallowing aggressively causing me to study him with amusement and curiosity.

"Psst," he elbowed me, "I don't think I can do this, this is Henry Bowers for god sakes—"

"Edward," I cursed quietly, "you are capable of knocking some shit into that fucking prick, just think back to all of the things he's done to you."

Eddie hesitated for a moment, rummaging through his memories silently. "Yeah, he
uh. . . he's a real bastard."

"So, let that anger out on him, he's a fucking asshole that picks on kids when he's twice their size."

"But I'm scared, Stef," he admitted.

"Come on, Edward," I clamped my fingers around his hand in reassurance, "you can do this."

Eddie contoured his features to appear like he almost believed the words that spilled from my lips, but it was easy to tell that he couldn't quite convince himself, creating the irked feeling of my heart to contract.

I sympathized for Eddie; his mother was the epitome of an emotionally deranged middle-aged woman who spent so long protecting her son from the world that she made him believe that no matter how strong he wanted to be, the world would still crush him like a small insect.

Eddie could be strong—he could be more than the small and feeble boy that he perceived himself to be to the naked eye. Eddie was capable of much more than scarfing down pills to reassure his overly protective mother.

As I peeked a glance toward the frail boy, I observed his position of his feet being engraved in the same spot. The sun glared harshly towards him as his features scrunched in an almost raged expression—the thoughts pooling in his mind being guarded by the clenching of his teeth.

Richie caught my locked gaze on Eddie as I studied the way his jaw contracted, his chocolate irises meeting the ground whilst Richie's face contouring in a foreign set of emotions.

"Eds, starring at your dick won't make it any bigger," Richie snickered in a hushed tone as the rest of the group continued to spectate upfront.

"Shut the fuck up, Richie," Eddie groaned. "You're a fucking prick."

Richie glared at him in irritation, rolling his bulged eyes locked behind a large set of spectacles. "What bit your fucking ass."

"Nothing Richie, I'm just upset and you're here being a prick for no fucking reason."

"Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation."

"No, actually, you weren't," I piped up.

"Fuck off, Copperhead," Richie replied to me through gritted teeth.

"Are you on your period, Tozier?" I asked, curious at his sudden outburst of anger toward me.

Despite Richie always insulting me, his harsh reaction was peculiar.

He shook his fringe of ebony locks around his scalp, the twirled ends spilling upon his forehead. "Nothing, Stef, just nothing."

My lips twitched downwards at his comment, the sound of my name rolling off his tongue appearing bizarre.

Stanley turned to me, anxiousness pouring from his features. "Bev says we should go now before they kill Mike."

"Alright, come on, Edward."

"Stef, I really don't think—" Eddie Began.

Beverly's torso fled to the scene before any of us could catch up to her. A violent groan escaped someone's lips as Stanley piped up. "Nice throw."

"Thanks." I overheard Beverly reply as I trailed behind her, my arms clamped on to Eddie's petite figure.

Henry stood up from his aggressive assault on Mike, his face scrunched in a fit of rage as he glared at each of us in repulsive distaste.

Eddie stood behind me, peeking at the scene from behind my shoulder. I turned to him with a sympathetic expression imprinted upon my features. "Don't worry Edward, you can do this, he's just a prick."

"I—"

"Ed, pretend that he's uh—a sickness of some sort, or disease that can only be conquered by beating the living shit out of him instead of taking those rotten pills."

"Are you trying to use metaphors on me, Stef?" He asked, his right eyebrow twitching upward.

"Yeah, but is it working?"

Before he could formulate a reply, Henry's treacherous voice pierced the atmosphere, alongside the snickering of his preposterous entourage.

"You losers are trying too hard," he snarled. "She'll do you ya know."

Henry gripped himself provocatively, the entirety of the scene unfolding before me causing my insides to churn in revulsion.

A feeble Mike swam over to us encrusted in layers of dirt and patches of his own vermillion blood. The losers and I obtained rocks in our possession as we anticipated a spontaneous assault.

"You just have to ask nicely, like I did," A snicker poking from Henry's atrocious lips. "Oh, look, it's Stephanie Smith, daughter of Derry's finest crackhead and lonely with daddy issues."

Ben was suddenly empowered by fury as he belched a loud grunt toward the devilish group of boys, clamping his hands around a hoary coated rock and thrusting it in the air across the river bank to hit Henry directly.

"What the fuck?" Henry bellowed in reply in a dumbfounded tone.

"These fuckers are going to pay," the grip on my jaw tightened as I snarled under my breath.

I gaped at Richie as an infuriating expression swept over his weather-beaten face, the grinding of his teeth being audible from a few meters away from me.

He lunged rocks from both of his hands as he bellowed, "rock war!"

Richie's declaration sent us all into attack; rocks roaming amongst us like showers of rain.

Eddie shockingly took his assault to new levels once he sauntered across the river bank, his scrawny legs stalking close enough to hit Henry in the face.

Belch Huggins violently jerked his head neurotically as he fumed at Beverly. "Fuck you, Bitch!"

Thankfully, his head was dented by the slam of Beverly flailing a rock to his face, his torso being sent to the ground in a swift motion.

The opportunity to feel the burn of revenge reverberated through me as I violently jerked the rock in my hand towards Henry's groin. The action sending the mullet-haired asshole into a set of sharp screams. The rest of the losers bruised his demolished limbs as he clung to the patches of rocks on the ground, blood spilling from his temple.

Henry was left alone as gripped the bed of rocks embracing him, eyes grazing towards us as we dropped the rest of our weapons.

Before I let my clammed palms allow the rock fall from my grasp, I sent it towards the center of his face as he violently jerked his entire body.

"Fucking asshole," I cursed.

Richie gazed at me as my eyes locked upon the sight of Henry on the ground with a flabbergasted set of features, his mocha irises boring holes through the side of my face. I felt myself holding back the tsunami of tears that threatened to engulf me, Henry's words about my parents obliterating the remains of my heart.

I assumed Richie was having the time of his life; seeing me at my dead end without formulating a comeback that would do Henry's damage justice. He didn't say anything, that is until we all began to flee the scene.

"Go blow your dad you mullet-wearing asshole!" He roared, his middle fingers gesturing to the weak boy buried in the rocks cascaded in the dirt.

My eyes widened at his outburst, but still left a strange mixture of emotions as I evaluated what he had done; Richie Tozier defended me.

He walked ahead of me silently as I was left confused. I trailed next to him with my thoughts pounding my mind.

"Copperhead," he piped up, "is that thing that Henry said true?"

A chill coursed through me, his words flaring through my lungs. "No, I—of course not."

"Then why did he say that—"

"Richie," I hissed, "would you please fucking drop it."

His doe-like eyes planted themselves on his feet as he silently nodded in reply, the burning sensation of my tears causing me to bite my tongue aggressively.

"I didn't mean to ask, maybe Eddie knows anyway."

"Why the fuck would Eddie know?" I sighed.

"I'm just saying since he's like, your best friend and all."

"What the flying fuck Richie, I barely know Eddie."

"Sure," was all he mustered in reply as he shrugged his shoulders, "if that's the case, then my dick must be small."

"News flash Tozier, your dick is small," I objected.

"My wang is longer than Eddie's mom's grocery list."

"Sure, and I'm as beautiful as Paula Abdul," I snorted.

Richie didn't respond as he shoved a toothpick from his pocket in the between the wedge of his two bottom teeth, silence engulfing us for the remainder of our walk.

We walked from the ravine in a straight line with the thumping of a train on the bridge above us. Mike had finally spoken up, managing to walk by himself. "Thanks guys, but you shouldn't have done that, he'll be after you too now."

"Ah, no, no, no, Bowers?" Eddie reassured him. "He's always after us."

"Yeah, seems more like a pedophile much rather than a bully," I muttered.

"I guess that's one t-t-thing we all have in common," Bill mused.

"Yeah homeschool, welcome to the Losers Club," Richie announced.

"What the fuck, why didn't I get a welcome into the club like that?" I scoffed.

"Who says you're in the club, Copperhead?"

"Shut-up, Richie," the group exclaimed in unison as he glared at them all in irritation.

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—A/N!

Sorry about how late of an update this is oof. Anxiety and depression are kinda hard to balance right now so 1!1!1

Anyways, I'm writing a Finn Wolfhard fanfic soon! Be on the lookout ;)

[ edit; I revamped the end of this to include the 'welcome to the losers club' scene bc I completely forgot about it! ]