--gif is not mine--

Warnings: Cheeky and inappropriate Richie [but what else is new] Possible spelling/grammar mistakes ahead

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The glass bowl hit the bottom of the sink, much harder than you expected when you set it down to soak. You were filling it with water from the faucet when you heard a small series of knocks on your front door.

Whipping your head over your shoulder at the noise, you returned to the sink and shut off the faucet, shaking the few droplets of water from your hands and made your way to the door.

You leaned against the wooden frame and peered through the peephole as a precaution. Just as you had suspected, it was Beverly. She was looking around the porch, fiddling with her hands as she waited and you noticed the drastic change in her hair. She hat cut it short, just above her ears, the long red locks were long gone. You quickly slipped into your shoes you had laid out for when you left and open the door, greeting her.

"Hey Bev! I love your hair,"

She was snapped out of her daze fairly quickly and her lips stretched into a smile.

"Oh, thanks Y/n. You ready?"

"Yeah, just about."

After your run in with the boys, you both decided to just meet up and head to the quarry and meet the them there.

You closed the door behind you, making sure to lock it as Beverly slowly made her way out, making sure you were close behind.

The two of you were now just outside the town square and were nearing the park area where the quarry was, making idle chit chat with Bev as you two rode your bikes.

The closer you got to the quarry, you could feel your stomach slowly shrivel up into knots. You couldn't stop thinking about Stan, ever since you two met. It wasn't rare for soulmates to meet at this age, but it wasn't exactly common either.

You couldn't wait to see him again, but you were also very nervous. I mean, getting to know your soulmate, the most important person anyone gets to meet could be incredibly nerve wracking at first.

You two came to a stop when you reached the end of the small path, and found your way out of the trees. There was a small pile of bikes, and your eyes trailed to the edge of the cliff overlooking the water where five smaller figures stood staring at the water.

You were surprised to say the least to see the figures, who you knew to be the boys, were standing there in nothing but their tighty whities. Trying not to make much of it, you got off your bike and you and Beverly could hear them talk amongst themselves.

"Alright, whose first?" Bill asked, still unaware of you and Beverly.

Beverly gave you a look, signaling for you to take the jump with her, as she got off her bike. You were nervous about the height, and more than anything you realized you would have to abandon your clothes and swim in your undergarments.

You debated it in your head, a blush dusting your cheeks.

"We'll go." Beverly chimed, letting her bike drop to the ground and she reached to unbutton her dress.

Your heart began to pound, realizing you were going to have to do this at one point or another given everyone was going swimming.

Scrounging up every scrap of courage you could muster, telling yourself to focus on the fact that the sooner you got into the water the quicker your body would be hidden in the murky water.

Your bike fell to the ground after Beverly's, hardly any time had passed since she spoke although it didn't seem like it to you.

Trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach, you forced yourself to look anywhere but the five boys who were now gawking at you and Beverly as you shed your clothes, slipping off your shoes as you did so.

"Sissies," Beverly giggled.

She grabbed your hand and you were now running along side her towards the cliff. The guys parted like the red sea, jaws on the floor.

Tightening your grip on Beverly's hand, you launched off the the cliff, and even you couldn't deny the moment of peace and freedom you felt as your feet left the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Richie exclaimed suddenly.

The feeling disappeared as soon as it came, the moment fleeting as you became aware of how quickly you were reaching the water.

You released Beverly's hand moments before you hit the water, reaching to plug your nose, out of pure instinct. Your other arm waving itself in a motion to steady your body and suddenly you were submerged in the emerald water.

You were still floating beneath the surface, thousands of bubbles floated around you and there was a moment of relief before the cold temperature of the water registered, your senses catching up with you.

You swam to the surface, locks of your hair splayed against your face. You swiped your hair back, looking up at the top of the cliff to see the boys standing stiffly, one or two of them shuffling on their feet nervously.

You let out a relieved laugh, astounded and proud of yourself for what you had just done.

You looked to Beverly, smirking, your arms swimming around you, keeping yourself afloat. She made a small comment of how that wasn't so bad then called out to the guys.

"Come on!"

Distant chatter among the five boys from up above, drew your attention to the cliffs edge. You adjusted yourself to float on your back. You stretched out your legs and began kicking, making room for the incoming boys.

One by one, they dropped off the cliff, splashes of water hit your face as they broke the surface. You felt yourself drift with the new waves of water, lulling you along as you gazed at the beautiful blue sky.

You giggled as you heard Richie shout profanities on his way down, arms flailing violently.

The seven of you splashed and played amongst each other. Stan and yourself, stealing bashful glances when the other wasn't looking.

"Y/n, chicken fight. You and me, who else?" Beverly said.

"How bout I be your partner, Y/n?" Richie spoke up, a devilish look on his face and sneaking a knowing glance at Stan. "Wouldn't say no to being between those legs,"

You cringed and everyone booed and you splashed him, rolling your eyes and glaring softly at him. "Beep beep, Richie."

"The last thing she needs is your pervy ass for a partner," Stan sent a more serious glare to Richie, and his face softened when he looked to you. "I'll be your partner, Y/n."

You smiled sweetly. "Thanks, Stan"

"Oh no," Richie drawled sarcastically, the same devilish smirk returning as he looked between the two of you. "That's not how I wanted that to go AT ALL"

As Richie spoke, Stan was making his way through the water towards you, "accidentally" kicking water into Richie's face.

Stan had gone underneath the water, placing you on his shoulders and you felt yourself rise up out of the water as he reemerged. Bev and Bill paired up, Bev getting situated on his shoulders and you and Bev began squaring off, Stan and Bill moving accordingly with Richie and another one of his voices as the spectator.

Soon enough the match began and you and Bev were neck in neck, always anticipating each others moves, Richie and Eddie both wildly cheering each of you for who would win.

Bev gave one final push and you tipped over, but Stan held a firm grip and was able to catch you from falling. Instead you recalled back and came back stronger, using momentum to your advantage and catching Bev off guard. One swift push and she was off Bill's shoulders, Eddie and Richie going wild.

"Alright Trash-mouth, your next. Let's see if you can beat the ultimate champions"

"Ultimate champions my ass. You only played once. Come on, let's show em how it's done Eds,"

"I told you not to call me that, dickwad" Eddie grumbled, swimming over to Richie.

Eddie ended up on Richie's shoulders, given he was smaller but he put up a fair fight. You and Stan won in the end, again. The two of you bouncing off each other verbally, cracking jokes (mostly about Richie) and occasionally you would lightly grab his hair to hold onto, leaning forward and craning your neck to meet his eye and he would peer up at you, a stupid grin on his face, a warm goofy one on yours as he peered up at you.

The two of you proved to be an excellent team. After the chicken fight, you two lingered by one another, not wanting to leave each other's side.

You threw your arms in the air, crying out a triumphant cheer and you lost your balance in the process, you failed to grab onto Stan's head for balance and you fell backwards off his shoulders and into the lake.

Sprouting up to the surface, your arms outstretched keeping you above the surface you looked around at your new friends faces, and laughed with them. Richie made a snarky comment and you playfully rolled your eyes, splashing him with water.

The fun continued like that for quite a while. Splashing and playing in the water, Ben even found a turtle amongst the murky depths, Bill and Bev stealing glances here and there.

The sun had now reached its highest point, and Bev practically had to drag you away from Stan and onto the rocks to dry off.

The boys - Stan aside, of course, who held a lingering gaze your way as you followed Bev onto the rocky shore, were roughhousing in the water.

"You and Stan seem awful close," she smirked, propping herself on her elbows as she layed on her back.

You felt your cheeks grow hot and you spared a glance in Stan's direction. His nose was scrunched up in distaste as he talked with his friends. Rolling his eyes, he looked away, head now turning to face you and you both locked eyes.

Richie said something to Stan, something you couldn't hear, but Stan never faltered, only sent a bashful smile your way until Richie splashed him in the face. Stan quickly retaliated, violently splashing Richie who began to hide behind Eddie.

Chuckling, you looked back to Bev, whom of course had noticed your gazing. She smiled knowingly.

"It's him, isn't it?"

Your lips parted, ready to deny everything but the words died on your tongue. Instead, your lips instinctively curled into a smile as you broke eye contact and you felt your heart flutter.

"That obvious?" You asked her, shyly.

"Only a lot," she giggled, lightly nudging you and you joined in the laughter.

"He's really sweet though isn't he?"

She smirked, looking off in the direction of the boys and laid down on the rocks, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, he's not so bad,"

"Well," you broke the small pause. "What about you and Bill? You two seem awfully sweet on each other"

Her smile faltered and you frowned ever so slightly. She really did seem to like Bill, but that also seemed to be part of the problem.

"I'm sorry," You mumbled, connecting the dots.

"No need to apologize," she said simply, her eyes still closed. "For all I know, my soulmate could be right around the corner. It'll happen when it happens,"

Shrugging, you looked back at boys. They were laughing and playing, having gotten awfully routy and you mentally thanked Bev for pulling you away when she did. But you noted that Ben was the only one who differed from the pack, holding the same wistful gaze as Stan in your direction though you knew who he was looking at, and it wasn't you but Beverly.

+++

Your hair was finally beginning to dry, your clothes as well, as you laid peacefully on your back soaking up every ray of sun. Your limbs were tired and it felt wonderful in the warm blanket of sun. You were only partially aware of your surroundings, having been drifting in and out of conciousness in hour peaceful sunbathing.

You barely recall the additional voices joining you on the rocks, you even think that you heard a mention of a boombox. You had to pull yourself out of unconsciousness when you noticed how quiet it had become.

Sure enough a boombox was playing, Bust A Move you realized, but there was no talking.

Your eyes fluttered open, squinting slightly at the light and you noticed Beverly laying next to you, a hand on her stomach, but you realized no one was in water.

As you readjusted to your surroundings, you became aware of a pair of eyes burning a hole on you and you glanced to the side to see all of the boys who had been staring at you two, and they all pretended to have not been looking no matter how obvious it was. But based on the wild blush on Stan's cheeks, and the nervousness he exhibited at being caught, you knew you were the one he had been looking at.

You felt your cheeks and neck grow warm. Though you struggled to fight the nervous smile that snuck up on you.

Clearing your throat, you adjusted yourself slightly on the beach towel you had found, trying not think about how you were practically naked in front of your new friends and your soulmate. Meanwhile, Beverly turned over on her stomach. She was watching the boys, Richie in particular who was digging through Ben's backpack. Your head still turned to face the boys, your attention drawn to them when Richie spoke briefly in one of his accents.

"Newsflash, Ben. School's out for summa!"

"Oh this? It's not school stuff," Ben said, referring to his backpack.

Richie then pulled out a Derry postcard, turning it over.

"Who sent you this?"

"No one!" Ben quickly replied, snatching the postcard out of his hands and burying it in his backpack.

Richie then pulled out a green folder, and unfolded it, scanning the many papers inside.

"What's with the history project?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, well when I first moved here I didn't really have anyone to hang out with. So I just started hanging out at the library." Ben replied.

Richie then passed the folder to Bill who was now looking through it.

"You went to the library?" Richie asked, his face contorted. "On purpose?"

"There's nothing wrong with going to the library, Tozier." You added.

"Yeah, if your a nerd."

"Guilty," You quipped, shrugging.

"Well I wanna see," Beverly said, getting up and taking a seat next to Bill.

You noticed his staring when she sat next him and raised your eyebrows before looking back at Ben.

"What's the Black Spot?" Asked Stanley, referring to the papers.

"The Black Spot was that nightclub that was burned down all those years ago by that racist cult." Eddie replied.

"What?" Stan asked.

Eddie made some remark and you sat up, walking over to join the rest, taking the available seat in between Richie and Stan who know had his attention on you.

You gave him a small smile and your attention was drawn to Bill who was now passing around the folder. Richie had it, and you couldn't resist peering over and glancing at it. Stan seemed to have the same idea though he had to lean closer to you in order to see it.

"Why's it all murders and missing kids?" Richie asked.

"Derry's not like any other town I've been to before. They did a study once, and it turns out, people either die or disappear six times the national average."

"You read that?" Beverly asked.

"And that's just grown ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse."

You felt a chill at his words and shared a worried glance with Stan, before looking back at Ben.

"I've got more stuff if you want to see it."

You felt a pit forming at the very bottom of your stomach. Something about Derry had always rubbed you the wrong way, you never felt completely safe. You'd always tell yourself that you had not been given a single shred of proof to support this feeling, but hearing this stole the safety net right out from under you.

Without thinking, your hand reached for Stan's and grabbed his hand for comfort. But even the new warm feeling he supplied was not quite enough to calm the strong and rapid tug in both of your chests. The tug of distress.