HOME ISN'T A PLACE.
IT'S A PROMISE.

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DEAD BOY (book one).
°• EPILOGUE ONE •°

" I THINK I'VE ALREADY
FOUND MYSELF A HOME. "

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THERE'S NO TELLING WHERE THE MESS THEY WERE IN ALL STARTED. There were still questions they may never know the answers to because It was asleep and It will remain in hibernation for a very long time. Twenty-seven years, to be exact, if Ben's research was true. He doesn't have answers about It, nor for his future. Daxton doesn't know exactly who he'll be in twenty-seven years. He can't imagine what kind of adult he could grow up to be. In twenty-seven years, he'll almost be forty due to his birthday on Christmas Eve and yet, he's never considered what - or who - he wants to be. Daxton never considered how far he'd get.

He remembered how he felt walking out of the Well house. Lighter. Daxton thought he floated his way home. He felt safe for the first time in a long time. He didn't feel as if he would have to glance over his shoulder every few minutes, waiting for Bowers or It to pop out. He supposed he wouldn't have to worry about Bowers anymore since his arrest after somehow barely making it out of the sewers. It turns out the blood on his face and the cause of the lost of his sanity was because Bowers slit the throat of his two friends before stabbing his father in the neck. Now he was locked far away.

They still take some time to clear their heads and process everything they've done. It took a few weeks until Bill calls to gather a meeting of the Losers Club where everything started - at the Barrens. Daxton is propped among the growing weeds in between his brother and Mike where the lucky nine sat in a wide circle. His knees are bent, arms crossed over them after Bill broke the silence and asked the only question they could receive an answer to. What did Beverly see when It captured her?

"... I only remember parts, but..." Beverly clears her throat. Something traumatized her, but she forces the next words out. "I thought I was dead. That's what it felt like. I saw us together, back in the cistern... But we were older. Like, our parents ages."

"Am I still handsome as an adult?" Richie asked. He rose his hands and mushed his face together, earning a few soft laughs. Daxton presses his lips together as they twitch into a smile to hold his back. He wouldn't give Richie that satisfaction.

Beverly shot him a teasing grin. "You grow into your looks," she shot back.

"What the fuck does that mean?!"

"What about me?" Stan questions next. He shifts towards Beverly curiously.

The smile on her face vanishes almost immediately. Daxton saw a far away look in Beverly's eyes as if she was reliving what she saw. She refuses to meet Stan's gaze as she mumbles, "Like now. But... Taller." Daxton frowns at the reaction, but Stan is unbothered, smiling widely and creasing the bandages wrapped around his head.

"W-W-What were we doing there?" Bill switches the topic to something more serious.

Eyes landing on her shoes, Beverly's chest rises as she responds, "I don't know. I just remember how we felt. How scared we were. I don't think I can ever forget that." She numbly shakes her head and Daxton wonders if that was all. Beverly was floating in a trance for hours. There was something she was holding back to spare them, but he wanted to know what it was, no matter how bad the truth would hurt them. He only wished she would admit it.

A beat of silence passes before Bill snatches a shard of glass once dug in the soil. He shot to his feet. "Swear it," he demands. "Swear if It isn't dead, if It ever comes back... We'll come back, too."

Beverly is the first to stand. Then Mike, Richie, Charlie, Daxton, Eddie, Ben, and Stan. Daxton's knees were wobbling in something he hasn't felt since the clown died, fear. He didn't want to ever return to this town when he would be lucky enough to get out. He never owed Derry anything. He was bullied here, taunted, beaten up, attacked, as was his loved ones. Daxton would have no reason to return, but...

He would have to. Because if It isn't dead in twenty-seven years, It will feast on whoever was left in Derry. And Daxton would never want anyone else to suffer. Bill wanted them to make an oath, so he would do so.

Daxton tries to brace himself as he watches Bill start with himself, slicing the glass across the palm of his hand. He winces and watches his blood start to spill. Then it's Richie's turn. Daxton's eyes follow the pointed end as their leader cut into Richie's hand. Then it's Eddie's turn, Mike's, and finally himself. Daxton cautiously held his hand out and Bill cups his knuckles to turn it over. Their equal shade of blue eyes met, and Daxton nods to confirm without words that he swears to return to Derry in twenty-seven years if this isn't over.

The glass punctures Daxton's palm and he bears it, swallowing a grimace as the sharp pain follows the slash Bill makes. He wants to appear as brave as he wanted to be, as brave as Charlie believed he was. Blood bubbles above the wound and starts to drip from his skin, dribbling to paint across the blades of grass. Daxton curls his fingers into a fist over the fresh wound to stop the flow momentarily as Bill pulls the glass away and moves to Charlie. He watches him cut an injury into his hand too, leaving Charlie to gnaw at his lower lip, patiently waiting until it was over.

Bill finishes cutting the palms of the last few until everyone's hand drips in their blood. They unite as one then as he drops the glass and moves to his original position again. He clasps Beverly's hand in one and Richie's in the other. One by one, they follow in suite, until they're united as one. Daxton's hands are woven into Mike's and Charlie's. The blood becomes warm where it stuck on his skin and he knows without a doubt it'll leave a scar that will never heal.

They shut their eyes and bow their heads like they were making a prayer in church. But they aren't. They were doing something much worse. The Losers Club was making an oath bound by their blood that in twenty-seven years they'll return to a small town they owed nothing to and ensure the monster they put to sleep had died of starvation. And if not, they'll finish it that time around.

Their hands drop when they feel the bond spread through each of them and engrave forever into them. Daxton was so genuinely moved by the powerful moment that he has to blink a few times, stunned at what he's done. At what they've shared. At who he's become, who he will become.

"I got to go," Stan pipes up. He squints his eyes towards Bill with a glare. "I hate you."

Bill's head dropped as if Stan had sent him a blow to a chest, but then the boy started to beam, his wide grin showcasing he was only messing with him. Bill weakly returned the smile. The rest of them laugh too until the moment felt less serious and more genuine before Stan left.

They break into pieces by then, brick by brick. Eddie was the next to leave, holding his LoVers cast to his chest and using his other hand to wave with a bright smile. Daxton, Charlie, and Richie left together as a trio, leaving the rest of them still in the circle to leave when they felt like it was time. Charlie didn't last with them long. He could practically feel something desperate to break the tension between the pair and, amused, tells his brother he'll see him at home and skips away with a proud smile.

That leaves Daxton and Richie. They wander through the Barrens until they're truly where it all started. They were back at the tunnel, staring into the depths, listening to the murky water splash, feeling safe. They weren't scared of It or Bowers popping out to beat the flamer thoughts out of them. Daxton sat on the wooden log next to Richie with his hand kept into a fist. Blood was dripping from his curled fingers and spotting into the water. He watches the crimson red spread until it fades into the shitty brown water.

Richie was tracing his own cut with his finger like a nervous habit before he speaks up with a hint of anxiety, "So, what comes now?"

"What do you mean?" Daxton questioned in a confused reply. He uncurls his fingers and stops squeezing, stops pumping his blood so it stops flowing as much.

"You've um, bounced around a lot. Is Derry permanent or a stop along the way?" Richie wondered out loud with a shuffle of his shoes.

He releases a breathless laugh. "I don't think Derry will ever be permanent for me." Richie's face fell, so Daxton quickly continued, "Fuck - Not like that... Because I want to get out of this shithole when I turn eighteen but right now... I don't plan on moving into another foster home. I think I've already found myself a home."

Ah, fuck, Daxton can feel the way his heart starts to pound when no shooting star can match the brightness when Richie beams back. Who gave him permission to look at him like that, like Daxton was worth something to look at? He has spent his whole life waiting for danger around every corner, strongly believing he wasn't worthy of love from anyone, and that everything he touches with his foul hands would only be destroyed in the end. But he felt safe. The Losers loved him, so did the Griffith's. And Richie, well, he's as put together as best as he can despite the times Daxton cursed himself for almost ruining him with every touch. So, he carefully asks, "Are you gonna headbutt me again if I try to kiss you?"

Richie flushes red at either the memory or the question, then shakes his head. Daxton waits for him to add something; a joke, something, but he doesn't. There's just a beat of silence as he waits because as it turns out, there's another way to shut Richie up.

He notices Richie's hands had started to tremble the closer he gets. Daxton knows his aren't stable either but he's still putting everything he's ever believed about himself to the side to do the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world. His brain feels as if it malfunctioned when he feels Richie's warm breath hit his skin and a slow passing second later, they're given the second chance to kiss.

It was soft, full of more love, clumsiness, less with fear, and much less of headbutting Daxton in the face and giving him a bloody nose. It was like finally breathing for the first time after being submerged underwater for so long and fighting to stay afloat while water keeps filling your lungs. He feels Richie's glasses poke him in the cheek but he doesn't bat it away when he lifts his non-injured hand to curl his raven hair behind his ear to press his palm there against his blushing skin. Daxton thinks he can get used to something as special as this.

But then reality crashes down and the world ends for Daxton again. They're in Derry, kissing in front of an open tunnel where It had dragged children to devour them, probably the least romantic thing he's done - and that's saying a lot. But the thought of being in Derry where anyone could pass by the Barrens and see them scares the shit out of him. He doesn't need the clown to do that. Daxton pulls away and catches his breath.

"Shit," Richie mumbles, and then, "I'm - sorry?" But it sounds more like a question.

"No, fuck, I'm sorry," Daxton apologized. "Some fucking catch I am, thinking kissing you in front of graywater where dead bodies have probably been found was sweet - " He cuts himself off and goes to knot his fingers in his hair in frustration.

He misses the way Richie smiles weakly at him. "Hey, don't doubt yourself, you're the freak who wanted to kiss a nerd with coke bottle glasses."

Daxton inhales again when he starts to relax and releases his hold so he doesn't rip his hair out and make himself bald. "I've never felt this sick puppy love before, okay?" He admits. "I don't - I don't know how to handle it. It scares me. I'm sorry... I'm not going to be good at this. Like, ever." And Daxton knows he isn't worth it anyway.

Richie takes it seriously for once and nods before Daxton feels him lean over. His head rests on his shoulder as they shut their eyes so they don't have to stare into the empty abyss. "For what it's worth, I won't be either," he replies quietly. Daxton presses against the touch in relief. "But I think we can figure out our story along the way."

Derry just wasn't ready for the story of Daxton Shields and Richie Tozier.

END OF ACT ONE.

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author's note:

i can FINALLY say that's IT for act one!!

i'm so proud of how far daxton has come in the span of, what, seventeen chapters? he goes from a distant, cold, grumpy, forcefully independent kid who wants to be alone to someone who would straight up die for his brother and best friends. and he's finally allowing himself to open up after years of trauma to someone who genuinely likes him and admits he still has to figure this all out because he's young and this is confusing and - I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

I HAVENT FORGOTTEN ABOUT CHARLIE EITHER!! my little sunshine. i would have gave daxton the one swift blow to the head he deserved because he always came off as a selfish dick, but charlie remained patient with him even when he didn't deserve it. he put daxton in his place when he needed it, and grew so much along the way too. charlie truly matured a lot, started taking things more seriously, became the mom of the group, and he'd go to hell and back for the losers. i'm so proud of him too.

daxton and richie still have a long way to go, but twenty seven years is a long time. you'll see in act two what happens between them and much, much more 😉 all fun things.

did i say fun? i mean painful.

i'm kidding haha but thank you for reading this far, there's much more to come as always! i'll also happily post one-shots in my misc book of daxton in his teenage/early adulthood years so keep an eye out! until then, i'll see you all again in act two ❤️

- koda

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