NOVEMBER 5TH 1983

Hawkins, Indiana was probably one of the weirdest places to vacation at, especially around Christmas.

But, thirteen year old Richie Tozier had family there and his mom and dad insisted he stay with them for the time being, clearly forcing him out of the house and temporarily out of their lives. They'd agreed with his aunt and uncle that he'd be staying from the start of November until early January, spending almost two months at their house. It was even more unusual that they were sending him away while the school season was still on, but Richie excelled in his classes and wouldn't miss much.
He could vaguely remember the place from when he was little, it was a small town where hardly anything went wrong and so the memory didn't hold very well. The plane journey was long and bleak, with only the view of the sky, his music and his thoughts to keep him entertained while he could hear the other passengers drone behind him. He smiled politely at the attractive stewardess passing by and fixed his glasses on his nose for what seemed the fifth time in an hour.

The truth was, Richie was worried. He couldn't remember them very much but what if his cousins turned out to be a pack akin to the Bowers Gang? He didn't want to have to deal with that for two whole freaking months and he knew his parents wouldn't eagerly let him hop on the next flight back to Maine. He fret over trying to meet new friends, only to leave them when his inevitable departure came in January. That's if he even met friends.

He drummed him fingers to the beat of the music and waited anxiously for the plane ride to be over.

When he got to the airport, the bespectacled boy took a deep breath as we went to go and claim his luggage. His suitcase was easy to spot, decorated with band logo stickers and various crude things he'd drawn on it.
He panicked when he remembered his relatives had a 3 year old daughter, worrying that he wouldn't be able to stop swearing around his little cousin. Clenching onto the handle of his case with his right hand and holding onto the strap of his backpack with his left, he took a deep breath and went out to meet his aunt Karen.

Richie could recognise her the moment he saw her, she looked almost exactly like his mother only with much kinder features. Her face beamed when she recognised him, mostly because he almost looked like a doppelgänger of her son, Mike.

Karen's stature comforted Richie immediately, warmth radiated off of her like it was no big deal as she stood with her hands firmly clasped in front of her. Her hand broke from the clasp to lightly wave at her nephew as he approached her without hesitation. She smelt like eucalyptus, a scent he recognised from Mrs Douglas - his English teacher.

"You must be Richie! Gosh- it's been so long! You've grown so much! You look just like our Michael!" She hugged the boy as he awkwardly tried to balance both his bags while reciprocating it. "Hey aunt Karen." His glasses squished against his nose from the death grip he was locked in.
Little did he know, she wasn't exaggerating about him looking like Mike. They could literally pass as identical twins.

"Oh my gosh, you must be absolutely starving! I've got Ted parked outside - oh that's your uncle if you don't know - and we'll take you home to meet the kids! Holly's with Nancy and her friend but Mike's at a friend's house, so you'll meet him later!" She babbled as she took his suitcase and directed him to the car park. The woman was certainly a change of pace from his mom, who barely talked to him. He appreciated the questions she asked and politely answered them in return. Richie knew how to play adults like a fiddle, it was kids his own age he found trouble connecting to.

Ted Wheeler seemed like a very straightforward, bland man. He immediately went quiet when Richie replied that he wasn't a big fan of sports, but he could tell Ted was just recalculating the questions he'd ask him.
He seemed like the dad that left most of it to the mom and only came into play when it was necessary.

The car ride passed very quickly, the conversation never stopping with aunt Karen. They stopped at a suburban neighbourhood, one that looked much more upper class than his own in Derry. The street was quiet and had a coming winter's breeze to it. He took a look around as Ted unloaded the luggage from the trunk.
"C'mon in honey! Holly's dying to meet you." Karen ushered him forward as Ted took his luggage to his soon-to-be shared room. Sitting in the dining room were three teenage girls doing homework and a blonde toddler.

The first teen that immediately drew his eye was the one with the bright ginger hair and large glasses but he knew that his cousin wasn't ginger, so he assumed the mousey looking brunette sitting next to her was Nancy.

"Richie, meet Nancy. Nancy meet Richie." Karen gestured between them as his older cousin approached him. She supplied an small smile on her face as she gave him a light hug. "It's nice to meet you again, Richie." Letting go, she nodded and turned towards her friend.
"This is Barb and Debbie, they're my best friends. You'll be seeing a lot of them while staying here." Nancy smiled at her friends with Barb waving at him. Barb seemed awkward but nice, he slightly nodded in her direction while smiling. Debbie was clearly slightly more outgoing and reached out to shake his hand, which he gladly accepted. There was no way he'd decline a handshake from a pretty sixteen year old. He got the feeling Nancy, although being polite, would probably not willingly hang out with him during his stay.

"And this, is little Holly. Say hi sweetie!" Karen approached him with the small girl in her arms. She studied his face for a moment before reaching out to grab his glasses. He jumped back and the two girls to his right giggled.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Barb laughed. Richie felt assured he was in safe hands here. He even felt a little jealous, they all seemed so happy.
"Can I see my room?" He finally spoke looking at his aunt Karen who was trying to keep Holly from grabbing his glasses out of curiosity again. "Sure, follow me!" He waved goodbye to the two girls and followed his aunt up the stairs. Richie could faintly hear the TV on in the living room, indicating Ted was in there.

The room Karen led him to, shocked him initially. It was like a regular geeky boy room, with a posters of movies like The Dark Crystal mounted onto his walls. Bunk beds were positioned in the corner, clearly a desk had been under there but moved in time for Richie's arrival. It almost seemed like a room Richie could own. Only problem was, there wasn't enough band posters and no sign of a record player or tape deck.

"Mike sleeps on the bottom bunk, he said you could have the top." She pointed at the bed which had fresh striped bed sheets on them. "He left the two top drawers of his dresser empty for you to fill with your stuff, I'll let you unpack. With that, aunt Karen left the room. He sighed and went to reach down for his luggage, it contained his regular attire - some t-shirts, jeans, shorts, over-shirts etc.

He adjusted his glasses once again to take in the sight of the blue room. Richie chuckled at the action figures and Star Wars memorabilia scattered throughout. Walking over to look at the picture of his cousin's science fair win, he was alarmed to see himself in the picture. Of course, it wasn't him but god, they were identical. As almost as if they were the same person but one had glasses on, but that'd be ludicrous.

In the picture he stood with three boys and a girl - a very attractive girl he might add. She fitted in with them exactly with her short dark hair but stood out in clothing, her shorts contrasting with their jeans.

Richie spotted a handheld radio and examined it. He'd never learned to use one of those things, much preferring a cord phone. Plus, Eddie's mom would kill him if he got one, Bill had already had a set of walkie talkies with his little brother and Stan didn't care for the concept of a radio whatsoever.

With one final inspection, Richie began to unpack his stuff. He decided to actually neatly fold it for once, attempting to make a good impression with Mike.

Oh god, what if Mike was his secret evil twin?

What if this was all a big trap set up by him in order to wipe out his ineffective clone?

Of course, Richie was being paranoid - but those thoughts did float through his mind after he realised the resemblance.

Richie spent the duration of his time waiting for the middle Wheeler child to arrive by flicking through the comic books he'd brought with him and listening to some Buddy Holly on his walkman. The top bunk was cosy and Richie had never been afraid of heights so he didn't mind his placement. Or maybe Mike was trying to kill him by making him fall to his death! Nope - that was the paranoia talking.

Richie was alerted when he could see the door burst open and a tired looking boy walked into the room, only to jump when he noticed someone on the top bunk.
Mike's eyes widened when he saw how much his cousin looked like him, his mouth flew wide open and all he could say was, "Jesus Christ!"

"Nope. Richie Toziers' the name." He took off his walkman and lightly threw it on the duvet behind him then hopped down and shook the boy's limp hand. Mike truly didn't know what to say.
"Geez kid, you look like fuckin' death itself!" Richie exclaimed, letting go when he realised Mike was too shocked to shake back. "I-I'm sorry?"

"You sound like my friend Bill, can't talk without stuttering every five minutes. Not as bad as it could be but still sad, really." Richie spoke to Mike like he'd known him for years - technically he did but hey hadn't interacted since they were like, three years old. There were a few obvious differences, Richie's hair was a lot longer and slightly curlier and wore large magnifying glasses that made his big brown eyes even larger. Mike looked slightly younger than Richie too, Richie was more lanky and taller.

"Are you seriously not fazed by this?" Mike questioned the bespectacled boy who was handling this all too well. "I've had time to process. Say, how's about introducing me to any lady friends you got? Back home I've got a bit of a reputation if ya catch my drift." He winked and nudged his cousin's arm who could clearly tell Richie was lying. He had all bark and no bite.

"I was thinking of introducing you to my friends, they're pretty coo-"

"Yikes, the geek squad. I mean, if I have to meet them then sure." Mike raised an eyebrow at the boy who looked even more like a nerd than he did. "I'm actually just back from a eight hour D&D campaign with them. You know what that is, right?" Richie nodded, slightly offended at his cousin's question. "Of course I know what Dungeons and Dragons is - I'm great at that shit!" It was Stan who was the real fan, he'd tried to get the boys involved but all they wanted to do was splash around the Barrens.
Mike informed him that his friends would be coming over tomorrow to participate in a 10 hour campaign and he was welcome to join. Richie tried to act too cool for school, but in reality he was pretty psyched about the whole thing. Would Mike's friends be as geeky as him? Probably. But he didn't mind that. They already reminded him of his Losers Club.

The family dinner was welcoming and made Richie feel even more at home than he did in his own one. He could tell he was gonna really like it here. Even if he did miss his friends(which he'd never admit to), he was secretly excited to meet new ones.
Especially that girl in the photo.

Mike and Richie soon found themselves getting along like two peas in a pod and any paranoia was swept away under a thick rug.

NOVEMBER 6TH

Sunday came and Mike was preparing his basement for a game of D&D. His friends were coming over soon but Richie was being taken out into town by Karen. She woke him up at seven in the morning and insisted that he explore Hawkins before properly meeting anyone, just incase he needed to go somewhere. The first location was Melward's General Store, where he met a slightly erratic woman named Joyce who kindly chatted to his aunt as she brushed him off and told him to get as much candy as he wanted.
Of course, the Trashmouth himself scooped up all the familiar brands he could find and launched himself at Joyce's counter, earning a wide eyed look from her. The woman didn't judge him though and just started scanning the items.
"You look just like Mike, have you met my boy yet?" He shook his head and loaded one of the various candies his aunt had just purchased into his mouth. "His names Will. He's a lot quieter than the others - smaller too. You'll know him as soon as you see him." Maybe this Will could be his Eddie Spaghetti of Hawkins.

"Nice ta meet ya Joyce. See ya!" Richie saluted as he left the store, following Karen and Holly back into the car.
He saw a lone girl hanging around a corner, one looked exactly like the girl from the picture - just with long hair.
"Hey Frogface!" She shouted. Richie raised an eyebrow and ignored her comment, turning around and going towards the car his aunt and cousin had already loaded themselves into.
"MICHAEL WHEELER! Do you really think you can hide behind those glasses?" She shouted again, making him turn around and go, "I'm not Mike!"

The girl rolled her eyes, "Ha-ha. I can smell a loser from anywhere and you definitely smell like the Wheeler variety." She crossed her arms. He clenched his fists.
"I'm Richie. I'm Mike's cousin." The brunette raised her eyebrow. "I'm Francesca. Frankie to my friends but we aren't friends so don't bother. Here's a tip - don't start getting smart around here. Not a lot of people like your cousin and I don't think they're gonna like you either." She snobbishly turned her nose up at him and spat out her gum, being alerted that her friends were leaving whatever shop they had been in. Richie thought the girl would like Greta, she reminded him of her a lot.

He sighed and got into the backseat of the car, being taken to the next destination - Bradley's Big Buy.
It was like Melward's on steroids, truly a statement of capitalist America. Everything was sold in a multipack or ten times bigger than any grocery in Derry sold. It seemed that Hawkins was one step up from his humble Maine home.

He assisted Karen as she went around picking things off shelves and telling him what she was gonna cook for dinner. His attention was more on Holly pulling faces at him every so often, which he'd happily return.

Being an only child kinda sucked, so to interact with the Wheeler kids was like a breath of fresh air. They spent what felt like forever in that shop until Joyce offered to take him to a small ice cream parlour. There was no way on earth Richie Tozier was gonna refuse.

They ended up not getting back to the house until about seven o'clock.

"On ya go hun, they're all in the basement." Karen gestured and started to prepare dinner. He took a deep breath, adjusted his glasses and began the descent down the stairs. He was met with the view of four boys avidly talking discussing the game while a short haired girl lay on the couch, blowing bubblegum and reading a comic.

His eyes widened, she was the most beautiful creature he'd seen with his own two eyes. She looked exactly like the girl at the shop but oh so different. The dark haired girl wore a striped crop top with black shorts and black Doc Marten boots. Richie checked out her long legs, which were decorated in bruises and a pair of socks that came up to her knee.
Noticing someone was here she looked up, her hair moving back and showcasing her plump lips. Her fringe swept away to bring her brown bambi eyes to his attention, eyes he'd definitely like staring up at him while she su-

"Who the hell are you?" She turned her head to the side, chewing the gum like her obvious twin sister. "Mike, who's this?" It was like Mike had been cloned, but like, hotter.

"Oh guys, this is Richie. He's my cousin. He's staying until after Christmas." The boys greeted him before returning to their game.
"Y'know my names Richie, but you can call me dadd-"

"Beep beep Richie." She placed a single finger to his mouth and went back to blowing a pink bubble. He raised his eyebrows at the unusual phrase and assumed it just meant shut up, but from what he had gathered - he liked this girl. He liked her a lot. "So, what's yours?" Richie put his hands in his shorts pockets and feebly attempted a conversation with the 5'2 angel in front of him. "Lizzy. Lizzy Dwyer. Pleased ta meetcha." Lizzy continued flipping through her comic book and only really paid attention to him when she caught him staring at her chest area.

She rolled her eyes and moved her legs up closer to her chest so the couch would be free for him to sit on, which he gladly did. "What's your deal, Richie?" Lizzy questioned him, he could faintly see her looking at him through her bangs. "Mike told you. I'm staying here 'til Christmas."

"Nah, I mean like, what stuff you're into." Richie felt a wave of conflict pass through him. What would she find attractive? Did she like all this nerdy shit? He certainly did, but maybe that wasn't the guy she wanted.
"I, uh, like music." She raised an eyebrow at his response. "Music?"

He nodded, he was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't interrogating him, more so getting to know him.
"Yeah, like Buddy Holly and Michael Jackson aaaand like, Prince. What about you Liz?"
She slightly smiled at the nickname he'd given her but shrugged. "I like Bowie." His face sparked in recognition. "Hell yeah! Say, you're pretty fuckin' cool." Lizzy lifted the comic and smiled at him. "I guess you're alright."

"Why aren't you playing with them?" He nodded in the boys direction, noticing the smaller boy who must've been Will. "Not my thing, I like listening though." Richie went quiet for a minute, honing on the boys discussion about Will's wizard getting into a spot of bother. Lizzy softly giggled beside him and (although Richie wasn't very religious) he swore it was god herself.
Richie examined her face even more, falling in love with her ever glance he took. She could tell he was clearly looking at her, but Liz elected to ignore it.
"Where are you from, Richie?" She continued to prod him with questions.

"Derry, Maine. It's a bit of a ditch though." She giggled, "Richie from the ditchie." He smiled at the returned nickname and she swirled around to sit properly on the couch. Richie did the classic yawn and stretch move making the girl smirk. She liked this kid. A lot.

"Something is coming." Mike began, setting the story up even further.

"Something hungry for blood," he continues, building the tension. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." He looks to his right as Dustin wipes his nose. "It is almost here."

"What is it?" Will questions timidly. They didn't even know that 10 hours had already passed. Liz was secretly hooked in the campaign as Will and the boys were, grasping tightly onto her comic.
"What if it's the Demogorgon?" The boy in the hat exclaimed, making Will whine at his question and shrink back in his seat. Lizzy loved how much her best friends got involved in their campaigns. It was nice to see people who were truly passionate about something. "Oh Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon," the tanned boy continued. 

"It's not the Demogorgon!" dismissed the darker skinned boy, as he tried to calm his friend across the table down.
"That's Lucas and that's Dustin." Lizzy whispered, leaning in even more. Richie nodded and made an "oh" sort of noise.

"An army of Troglodytes charge into the chamber!" Mike slams the playing piece onto the board. Lizzy sighed in relief, Richie could tell she was enthralled by this entire thing. Lucas gestured towards the board with a smirk on his face and leaned against the back of the chair.

"Troglodytes?"

"Told ya." He replied sarcastically to Dustin, making the others including Richie giggle at his smug face.

But Mike wasn't joining in.

His cousin had a slight worried look on his face as if he was trying to find out something. "Wait a minute." He stopped. Looking around he went on to say, "do you hear that?" He was looking behind him now.

Facing the group again, "That- that sound,"

"Boom"

"Boom"

"BOOM"

He banged on the table causing the other kids to gasp at the sudden loud noise. Will rose in his chair again, eager to learn more about the noise. Richie felt slightly jealous at Lizzy staring at his cousin. What if she had a thing for him? He clenched his fists and continued to listen to the campaign.

"That didn't come from the troglodytes, no, th-that came from something else." The group rose in anticipation.

"THE DEMOGORGON"

Mike smashed the piece on the table as they disregarded the Troglodytes.

"We're in deep shit!" Dustin proclaimed as Will lay his head on the table.

"Will, your action!" They didn't have much time. "I don't know!" He replied, his head rising up again overwhelmed by the sudden revelation.

"Will, you should fireball him!" Lucas exclaimed, gesturing as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "But to do that I'd have to roll a 13 or higher!" He replied. "Too risky. Don't listen to him. Cast a protection spell." Dustin suggested as an alternative. "Don't be a pussy, fireball him!" Lucas fought back, Lizzy narrowed her eyes at him for insulting Will. She was very protective of the young boy, he was like a little brother to her.

"Cast pro-tect-tion."

Mike slammed on the table once again, "The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you, BOOM!"

"FIREBALL HIM WILL!" Lucas screamed.

"CAST PROTECTION." Dustin argues once again.

"IT ROARS IN ANGER!" A full scale argument breaks out against the two boys with Mike continuing to voice the Demogorgon's movements in the background, Lizzy rose out of her seat and pushed the comic to the side - prepared to stop any possible difficult conflict from occurring.

"FIREBALL!" Will announces as he tosses the dice across the table. "Oh shit!" It goes to far and falls onto the floor, making the group get up from their seats in desperate search for it. "Where'd it go?" The scattered into different spaces around the room. "Where is it?" Mike gasps, his mom would kill him if he broke it to her he'd lost another one. "I don't know!" Will shouts back as he tries to find out what his fate was. Dustin in the corner freaking the fuck out with this hands over his head as the others bickered amongst themselves. Lizzy kept up and joined the hunt, not wanting Mike to get into any real trouble.

Karen shouted down that it was fifteen after eight and demanded they finish their game. Mike went upstairs to try and earn a few more minutes of game time, they were truly thick in the plot. Liz spotted the dice by the stairs. "I found it!" She exclaimed, showcasing it above her head. "What was it?" Will rushed over to her. "Does a 7 count?" Liz asked.
"Did Mike see it?" Lucas questioned her, slightly pointing at her like a game show host wanting an answer from a contestant. He's shook her head, making her hair swish from side to side. Most girls back home had long flowing curly locks, but Lizzy's hair looked perfect. "Then it doesn't count."

Lizzy grabbed the discarded comic and joined Will, who was already heading up the staircase. Dustin called up on them. "Guys, do any of you want this?" Lucas rushed up the stairs to leave with Richie (who hopelessly trailed after Liz, trying to get a good backside view of her shorts) as each of them answered no.

"Thanks for letting us come over Mrs W," Lizzy smiled, turning into her good girl act for an adult. "My, my you're very welcome! Stay safe!" She kindly waved at the young girl as Liz grabbed Richie's sleeve, alarming him but also making him fine with it when he realised what was happening.
She ripped a page off the end of her comic that had useless info in it and grabbed a pen off of one of the counters. "Turn around."
His eyes widened, "Huh?"

"Turn around, I need a flat surface to write on. What the fuck did you think I was gonna do?" He wiggled his eyebrows and happily obliged, letting her lean on him. He could feel Lizzy's breath hitch at the slightest amount of contact. Richie got the feeling she was a lot like him, played a 'bad-girl' image but she was really caring deep down. Liz really was the mum of her group, the boys were the only ones who really accepted her, she was a secret geek. Lizzy ripped the lid of the pen off with her teeth and held it between her teeth. She quickly scribbled something down and handed to him, quietly slipping Mike's pen in her pocket.

"See ya." She winked and left the house, gabbing her bike from the ground and whizzing off down the street. Richie looked at the mystifying girl speeding off down the street, howling at her friends who'd left earlier.

Mike was out on the porch too, Richie ran and whacked him on the arm. "Dude!"

"Ow! What was that for?" His cousin rubbed his arm, confused at his actions. "You didn't tell me you were friends with her!"

"What do you mean 'her'? That's just Lizzy." Richie rolled his eyes at Mike's ignorance. "You mean the fuckin' bangin' hot goddess you're seemingly besties with?" It was Mike's turn to roll his eyes. "She's just Lizzy. She's the coolest, I like her - not in that way though."
Richie itched his forehead, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had been in Derry for thirteen years and never properly had crush on a girl. He comes to Hawkins for one day and he's practically found his soulmate. Richie looked at the piece of paper Liz had just handed him. To the boy's surprise, she'd written her phone number along with "- xoxo call me (Liz)" in her cursive writing. Getting a girl's number was foreign territory for Richie but getting Lizzy's number? That seemed like it was extraterrestrial territory.

He smiled as he held the ripped paper tightly.

Lizzy and the other boys were having a similar conversation.
"Why were you all over Mike's cousin? Do you have a thing for him?" She snorted at Lucas' investigation. "We spoke for an hour I doubt it's true love!"
"You blushed! I saw you!" Lucas accused, earning a giggle from Will.
"Oh Richieeeeeeee, what's your deeeeeaaaalll?" Dustin jokingly impersonated, causing Will to chuckle out loud. Lizzy smirked, she couldn't really say much. She'd always had a small thing for Mike, so when an even hotter version with a little bit of wit shows up is she supposed to not feel anything? Plus, the glasses were cute - very very cute.

Lizzy's family was one of the richest in Hawkins, her parents worked at a lab out of town but didn't like talking about it very much.  Her 16 year old sister Debbie was more a mom to her than her own mother, her twin Frankie was a massive ball of angst and Lizzy really didn't want to get into it. They hardly talked and fought when they did.

After Lucas' house, Lizzy resided in another not too far away from Dustin's but it was probably the fanciest house in the entire town. Sometimes she felt awkward, her house was too showy-offy for her liking.
She wondered what Richie would think about her lifestyle.

Wait, why the fuck was she thinking about Richie? He was irrelevant.
Well, he wasn't but he shouldn't mean anything to her. Lizzy barely knew the guy.

But somehow it seemed like she did.

NOVEMBER 7TH

Will was missing.

Lizzy had been alerted to this when she (along with the boys) was called into the principal's office while she was checking out the new radio Mr Clarke had ordered for the AV Club. All of them had been talking about how weird his lack of appearance had been this morning. She'd pushed the horrible gut feeling aside after being picked on by Troy and James. But then again, she could take being called "Crybaby" it was a lot better than stuff she'd been called in her worst nightmares.

Richie had found out when Mike came home, traumatised. He was pacing back and forth trying to find out what he could do to bring his friend home.

"Chillax dude," Richie was on his bed, lounging around akin to Lizzy was on the couch downstairs the previous night. Mike sent him daggers, "How the hell can I 'chillax' when one of my best friends is missing?"
Richie shrugged and hopped down again, "Why don't we go and look for him?" Mike's eyes almost popped out of his head at Richie's calmness of the whole situation.

"Because Richie! It's pouring from the heavens!  But-" Mike thought of all the things Will would do to find him, even in the awful weather. "I- you're right. Hold on a sec." He went to go get his SuperComm and pulled the antenna out.

"Lucas? Do you copy? It's Mike. Lucas?"

Lucas lived in the closest proximity to Mike, so Mike found himself recruiting him first for the adventures they went on.

Lucas sighed and spoke back, "I know it's you Mike."

"I know it's you. And say over when your done talking so I know when you're done. Over."
Lucas snarkily replied, "I'm done. Over."

"I'm worried about Will, over." Mike expressed.

"Yeah, this is crazy, over."

"I was thinking Will could've cast Protection last night, but he didn't.
He cast Fireball, over." Mike brought up.

"What's your point? Over."

Mike explained, "My point is he could've played it safe, but he didn't. He put himself in danger to help the party, over." Lucas realised what he was saying now.

"Meet me in ten. I'll get Lizzy and Dustin, over and out."

"So?" Richie asked, trying to see what was expected of him. Mike opened his wardrobe, "Get your jacket - a thick one preferably. We're going down to Mirkwood." Richie scrunched his face in confusion. "Mirkwood? What the fuck is a Mirkwood?" Mike grabbed a flashlight and tested it. Thank god it worked.

"You'll see."

They gathered the gang, Lizzy seemed the most nonchalant that it was raining. She wore a yellow raincoat and Richie couldn't help but think she looked adorable. "Hey Liz." He winked at her, she rolled her eyes. "Hey asshole." The boys scoffed at her comeback.

They all went down to Mirkwood, but stopped at the crossroad. "Aww man, this is it." There was police tape blocking off a section of the forest.
"Hey guys," Dustin started, "Do you feel that?" He looked up as a droplet of rain splashed on his face.
"I think we should go back." Their bike lights illuminated the darkness with Mike responding, "No. We're not going back, just stay close. Richie just- stick with Lizzy, ok?"

"C'mon, just stay on channel six and don't do anything stupid." One by one they passed through the police tape, with Dustin staying behind, scared of the unknown.

"Wait up!" He shouted after them, trying to catch up to the others. They got further into the forest as the rain started pouring more and more. "Will? Will? Byers? I've got your X-Men 134!"

Richie immediately stuck to Lizzy like he'd been covered in hot glue. "So, ya come here often?" She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I come here with your mother a lot." He smirked. "Y'know, I love feisty girls." She returned the smirk.
"I'm sure you'd love it if I jammed my foot up your ass." She smiled sweetly, jokingly.
Richie was distracting her from the difficult truth that the boy who was like her little brother had gone missing.

"Well, can say I've ever done shit like that before but I'm willing to try it for you babe!" She slapped him in the arm for his crudeness, but laughed afterwards. Nobody here in Hawkins had a sense of humour like that. They were all so plain. It was so boring.

"Guys, I seriously think we should turn back." They were interrupted by Dustin

"Seriously Dustin? If you wanna be a baby then go home already!"

"I'm just being realistic, Lucas!"

"No, you're just being a big sissy!" Lizzy looked at Richie and shrugged. Mike was starting to get the feeling that something was watching them.
"Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad? And we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen? - And we have no weapons or anything?"

"Dustin, shh-" Lizzy could see that Mike had stopped and yanked Richie by the sleeve towards him.

"All I'm saying is, does that seem smart to you?"

"Shut up." Mike stopped them in their tracks.

"Did you guys hear that?" Each of them heard a weird noise coming from one direction, indicating they weren't alone. Initially, they thought it was a false alarm but after hearing it again, it was brought to their attention that a girl was standing there.

It seemed like a no-brainer to take the girl back to Mike's house.
They smuggled her down to the basement, luckily Mike's family was watching TV and Nancy was doing god knows what upstairs. They stared down at the girl, who was sitting on the sofa in Mike's basement. Mike had given her his jacket, to protect her from the rain.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike questioned, Richie nodded. He was pacing around in the back like Mike had been in his room earlier.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked, making Lizzy roll her eyes.

"Did you run away?" Lucas interrogated, Lizzy nodded. "Are the cops after you?" She asked, calmly chewing gum. Deep down, she was concerned for the young girl.

Lucas noticed a smeared red patch on her vibrant yellow t-shirt. "Is that blood?" He went to point at it only for Mike to smack it away, "Stop it, you're freaking her out!"

"She's freaking me out!" He exclaimed in rebuttal, trying to reason with his shocked friends.
"I bet she's deaf!" Dustin suggested, he clapped to test out his theory, which was proven false by her jumping at the clapping noise.
"Not deaf."

"Alright, that's enough! Alright? She's probably just scared and cold." Lizzy finally properly spoke up, Mike went to get spare clothes from a laundry basket seeing as the small girl's ones were ineffective. The storm seemed to be really scaring the girl who jumped and shut her eyes when it crackled. Lucas and Dustin's eyes were glued to the mysterious stranger while Richie and Lizzy shared a look. They turned away as soon as Mike came back to not draw suspicion.

"Here, these are clean," she dried her face with them slightly and got up, starting to remove her wet top.
The others stopped her from stripping in front of them, "No, no, no!" they chorused. Dustin went into a full on 'oh my god' panic. Lizzy prevented her from pulling the top up, so she got the memo. Richie's fingers were wrapped in his hair. If you'd have told him this would happen while visiting his cousins, he'd laugh in your face and say a joke about screwing Eddie's mom.
"See over there? That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?" Mike explained, she looked embarrassed as she clutched onto her fresh clothes and went towards the door.

She entered into the bathroom, Lizzy followed soon after. She wanted the girl to feel modest and safe. Just as it was about to fully close the bald girl stopped it from shutting any further.

Richie closely inspected them interacting. Liz seemed so gentle. She was like the most intriguing diamond in the rough. All he wanted to do was talk to her.
He could hear the boys discussing how they thought she was crazy and how mental this whole situation was.
"Guys, I'm gonna be honest - I don't know what the fuck is going on anymore but I'm happy to be here for the ride. Also, I think the new chick belongs in a looney bin." Richie put his hands up in defeat and joined the circle. "See Mike? Your cousin has sense in him. I like this guy." Lucas patted Richie on the back, welcoming him into the group. He smiled and pushed his falling glasses further up his nose.

NOVEMBER 9TH

Today was officially the worst day of Elizabeth Dwyer's life.

Frankie was gone.

Taken by whatever had taken Will.

Her parents were called into work claiming it was urgent so they irresponsibly left Lizzy in the care of Debbie. The teenager didn't have a clue what to do seeing as she was caught up with Barb's disappearance.

And-

A body had been found down at the quarry.

It was Will.

Mike had rode off angrily, most of the rage aimed at himself for not saving his friend. Lucas and Dustin were teary eyed but didn't know what to do, they begged him to stay rational but the boy didn't listen. Richie was awkwardly stuck in the crossfire. The only person who showed no emotion was Lizzy.

She simply stood there with her fists clenched, her face plain with no sign of anger. The chaos behind her was a blur and she didn't know what to do. Her sister and one of her best friends was gone. Liz's mind was spinning round and round and it wasn't going to stop.
Richie looked at the girl his heart yearned for with concern but all she could do was storm to her bike and ride away like Mike.

Luckily, Karen had supplied Richie with one of Mike's old bikes. It wasn't good but it worked and it helped him escape from awkwardly asking the remaining members of the squad to ride dutch with them. He felt bad not offering Eleven a ride back to Mike's but he knew that Dustin would probably have her her covered. Richie had grown close to the odd girl after basically babysitting her. She'd been awfully confused at how alike Mike and Richie looked but she soon split them apart after realising Richie had glasses (and made her giggle) while Mike didn't (and made her heart beat fast and her tummy flutter). His current focus was on Lizzy. In a matter of days, they'd become as thick as thieves and she'd been quiet today. He completely understood she needed time to process her sister going missing but he just witnessed her world crumble around her and all he wanted was to be there for the brunette.

He cycled as fast as he could, desperate to catch up with her. She couldn't be alone, not in that condition.
Richie could see the faint figure of her ahead, he followed her until she stopped outside a large fancy house. He waited until a light went on in one of the upper rooms and took a deep breath. Was he really gonna do this? Sneak into her room like some perverted Romeo?
It was worth a shot.

The drain pipe was easy to climb up on and soon he was peaking into her room. God, he felt dirty. There she was, tears falling from her angel eyes. With shaking hands, he pried open the window making her attention snap towards him and jump.
Richie pulled himself in and landed on the pink carpeted room. He gazed up at the ceiling but his view was interrupted by Lizzy slowly coming into his line of sight. He was out of breath, "I wanted to check up on you." She nodded and wiped her tears. Offering a hand, she pulled the boy up and took in their slight height difference. He wasn't that much taller than her, but it was evident that their eye-lines didn't match up.

They were millimetres away.

She was lost, she didn't know what to do or feel anymore. His thumb brushed away a stray tear from her cheek.
"You're really fucking creepy for sneaking into my room, Rich." Liz spoke, monotonously. But she understood his reasons. She loved the guys, but none of them would've done this. They wouldn't have gone out of their way to make sure she was okay like this.
The gravitational pull was too strong, the felt each other get closer and closer.
"But, I'm really happy you came." She continued looking at his plump lips.

"I am too, Liz."

Just as they were about to connect, her bedroom door opened and he was met with the teenage girl from Monday. "WHAT THE FUCK!" He screamed.

"Calm down! It's just Debbie." Debbie put her hand over her eyes as Lizzy marched over and slammed the door shut. "That's my older sister." Richie nodded in understanding and rubbed the back of his head. "Does Mike know you're here?" He shook his head no.
She nodded understandingly and went to grab her rotary phone off its hook on her bedside table and dialled up a number.
"Hey Karen, Richie's at mine. He'll probably stay. Yeah, he's fine. We're all shaken up. Bye." Lizzy hung up at looked at Richie.

"If you don't mind, kissing you would really take my mind off the fact that my sisters' fucking vanished and my dead best friend." His hands went to the sides of her face and with the right amount of force, pressed their lips together.

He spent the night on the floor in a sleeping bag on the Debbie had awkwardly supplied. But he didn't care, as long as Lizzy was safe.

NOVEMBER 13TH

Long story short, things got fucked up reeeeeeal fast.

The creepy wood dude had turned out to be a telekinetic badass named Eleven (lovingly nicknamed El by Mike) and the gang was one step away from finding Will. They sat in school cafeteria, awaiting instructions.

Lizzy Dwyer was curled underneath Richie Tozier's arm, shivering. She was awaiting news from Chief Hopper and Joyce who'd gone after Will but promised to try and get Frankie.

Debbie had left with Nancy and Jonathan to go and lure the Demogorgon back to Joyce's house. They'd become a bit of a monster hunting trio, each having a deep vendetta against the monster.

"Richie, I know there's a whole lotta shit going on but-" She unwrapped herself from him.
"I'm really glad you came here."

"Me too."

JANUARY 3RD 1984

"Obviously I'm sorry that you lost your girl, but dude, remember the happy memories." Richie tried to comfort Mike.

It was his last day in Hawkins and he was really gonna miss it. Mike had completely stepped down from his role as the group's leader - a shell of his former self brought on by the loss of the girl he called El.

Since the night in her room, nothing had happened between Richie and Lizzy apart from a peck on New Years which they were teased by the boys for. There was no point for them to 'get together', they both knew Richie would leave and might not come back. For the time they had left, they tried to have fun.

Well, as much fun as she could have after finding out that her sister's dead body was rotting in the Upside Down and there was nothing she could do about it. Barb aswell.

Her parents had rarely been in the house since the week she'd never forget. Perhaps they were grieving the loss of their daughter at the hands of a creature they could've prevented from even coming to this world or maybe they lusted for even more scientific knowledge, fascinated at the possibility of a whole vast world that was yet to be properly explored - not caring about the consequences or the casualties no matter how close to home they hit.

Nancy and Steve Harrington had split up, they stayed friends but both had found better romantic company in other people. Nancy wouldn't admit her feelings for Jonathan but Steve and Debbie could immediately feel the chemistry as soon as he burst his way through the Byer's door. It even became more apparent when he saved her from the creature.

"I'll miss you Rich," Mike admitted. They were like twin brothers, funny how after all these years they only just realised. Richie smiled at him and patted his cousin on the back.
With a sigh, he hopped off the bed he'd become oh-so familiar with. The room felt oddly empty as all his clothes and stuff he'd bought had been stuffed back into his long forgotten suitcase and was in the trunk of Ted Wheeler's car.

"Whenever the nights get lonely, and you decide to have a pull on your dingle dangle - think of your ol' cousin trashmouth." Mike groaned at his crudeness but the middle Wheeler would grow to miss his cousin's humour. It was one of the only things keeping him going after Eleven's 'death' and Will's odd behaviour after returning from the upside down. "Gross." He giggled.

"Well, guess it's time to say goodbye." Richie marched downstairs and opened the front door only to be met with Dustin, Will, Lucas and of course Lizzy.
Dustin started the farewell by practically tackling Richie in a hug. "Goodbye brother." Richie saluted the curly haired boy, they'd shared a few sleepovers where all they'd do was talk about food and other geeky shit.

Will shook Richie's hand, he really was like Eddie but not as much of a hypochondriac. "It was nice meeting you Richie. Come back anytime." The boy with glasses shook back.
"Likewise kiddo."

Lucas was next, he was lowkey like Richie's best friend during his stay. No words could even be said apart from huge smiles and a bear hug. After they'd broken free, Lucas handed Richie a red camo bandana making him gasp. "Are you sure I'm ready sensei?" Richie questioned, pretending to be serious.
"I'm quite sure, young grasshopper." The boys bowed to each other and laughed.

And then there was Lizzy.

They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds. Mike coughed, signalling for the boys to spread out and give them privacy.

"So.." Lizzy started, rocking on the heels of her feet.
"Soooo..." Richie continued, imitating her and earning a light smack on the arm. She giggled and brushed her hair behind her ear. He smiled at her wistfully, like he could never ever get tired of the sight.

"Why do you always look at me like that?" He sighed, thinking of what to say without fucking up completely and making her think he was just some joker.
"Because Elizabeth Dwyer, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and over these past months I think I might've fallen in love with you."

"Oh."

"Oh."

"I don't really know what to say, Rich."

"You don't have to say anything, Liz." She smirked as she got the hint and leaned into kiss him.
After breaking away, he wiped the saliva away and pushed up his glasses. "Was that a goodbye kiss?"

"No. I hate goodbyes." Liz quickly replied but thought for a second. "I won't forget you anytime soon." She promised him, making him smile earnestly.
"I've still got your number." Richie winked. She giggled.
"So Richie, it's not a goodbye kiss. It's a... see you later kiss."

"See you later, Elizabeth Dwyer."

"In a while, Richard Tozier."

With that, he waved at his newfound friends and got into his uncle's car. His flight home was unlike his initial one. The first was filled with anxiety and paranoid thoughts. This one was full of memories, some dangerous, some fun and the thought that Lizzy was waiting for him in Hawkins. The fall of 1984 couldn't come sooner. Maybe he'd ask his parents to send him for longer next time.