MORE TIME PASSED, Beverly shooting chopsticks from her mouth and into Richie's, Veronica babbling on and on about this and about that, Richie making his stupid jokes — attempting to make his childhood love jealous, it was like old times and they were all so happy. For a moment, Mike even forgot that time had even passed at all. It was like everything stood still — nothing had changed. They were still the Losers they all once were.

"Oh, here we go," Richie mumbles, looking to the archway of the room, a woman entering with a bowl of fortune cookies.

A chorus of thank you's escape each of their mouths as the woman sets it down, exiting as they all take one out. Veronica takes one, cracking it in half and shoving a small piece into her mouth. Feeling her phone vibrate in her back pocket, shaking her head as she places the rest of her cookie and the slip of paper onto a plate and checks it. Missed calls from Jenny. She didn't bother to pay it any mind, shoving it back into her pocket.

"Y'no, these are fuckin' bad for you? Like, I don't wanna get type two diabetes," Eddie rambles, holding up a fortune cookie to Ben's face with wide eyes.

Mike forms his lips into a line as him and Ben both shake their heads with unimpressed expressions. "It's all in your head," Richie responds.

"It's not in my head," Eddie argues.

Veronica nods. "I think it's in your head," She agrees, shoving another piece into her mouth. "Live a little already, Eds! You're not gonna die from a fortune cookie," She goes on.

The group agreeing, nodding their heads. "I think you read shit on the internet," Richie adds, nodding his head rapidly as his hand finds its way onto Veronica's thigh, tapping his fingers against it. Almost like a habit. And, it was. Twenty-seven years ago, that is.

♧

Veronica sits on her bed, cross-legged, her neck craned, looking down at the open science textbook she was working out of. The sound of her Billy Joel record humming softly in the background as she scribbled down the answers to her questions she was doing. She was so focused, she barely even paid any mind to the boy who read a comic book, his back leaned against the side of her bed.

"Ronnie," He speaks up, getting tired of reading. Getting tired, in general. She doesn't respond.

He sighs, putting the comic book down and turning around to face her, resting his chin on her mattress comfortably with pleading eyes. "Ronnie," He draws out the R, hair flopping over the top of his glasses as he stares at her through tired eyes.

She continues to ignore him, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth in concentration before a piece of her feathery hair fell in her face, she blows it away exasperatedly. "Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie," Richie hums, rapping his fingers against her mattress in a beat before he stands up and crawls onto the bed with her.

Humming back, Veronica waves — telling him to stop. "Rich," She mumbles, looking up from her textbook. "I need to do my homework," She sighs, rubbing the temple of her nose tiredly. She felt drowned in homework and all she really wanted to do was nap.

He shakes his head, pouting his lip. "You've been working too hard. You can do it later," He says taking the textbook and sliding it off the bed, landing with a thump onto the floor.

Veronica opens her mouth to retaliate but stops once she feels his head fall onto her lap, laying down in her bed, maneuvering himself onto his side so he could tap against her thigh with a dopey smile on his face. "You can do it later, Doll," He whispers out through half-lidded eyes as he continues to tap his fingers against her thigh. A familiar feeling to both of them, a rhythmic beat on both their skins which made them feel safe for whatever reason.

And, Veronica couldn't help but nod. Too soft for this boy to even disagree, her hands finding their way into his messy hair, playing with it softly. "Yeah, okay, Rich. I'll do it later," She agrees, looking down at his magnified eyes before taking his glasses off and putting them on her bedside, already sensing he was going to fall asleep. "Someone's tired, yeah?" She goes on, twirling her fingers through his curls.

He nods in content, a smile on his face before he stops tapping against her thigh and snakes his arms around her waist. "I love you," He mumbles out, his words muffled against her stomach.

Chuckling softly, she leans down just low enough to press a kiss to the back of his head on his hair. "I love you too,".

♧

"I mean, it's weird, right?" Ben looks up from his drink. Everyone looking to him. "Now that we're all here, everything just comes back faster and faster," He elaborates twirling his finger in a rolling gear motion. "You know, all of it,".

Beverly smiles, nodding. "Yeah," She mumbles out softly.

Lazily, Richie speaks up. "You know when Mike called me, I threw up," He says, looking between the band of old friends. "Isn't that weird? Like... I got nervous. Like, I got sick and I threw up," He goes on, chuckling. "I feel fine now. I feel very relieved to be here with you guys," He continues awkwardly, clasping his hands together — not sure what to do. "Why's everybody looking at me like this?".

Veronica couldn't help it, lifting her own and taking one of his in her hand and intertwining their fingers. None of the Losers even paid any mind to it. It just... Seemed of them normal to do.

"When Mike called me I crashed my car," Eddie answers, his voice rushed.

Bill stares at him in disbelief. "Seriously?" He asks.

Eddie nods. "Yeah," He responds dryly.

"Man, I hear ya'. My heart was literally like pounding right out of my chest," Ben adds on, hand imitating a pounding heart.

Beverly gazed up at the ceiling. "I thought it was only me," She says quietly as they all turn to look at her, Veronica's grip on Richie's hand tightening.

She exhales sharply. "I felt really dizzy, like... Like, scared and," Veronica trails off, shaking her head before Bill adds onto her sentence.

"It was like pure... F-F-" He stumbles over his words before Mike looks to him.

"Fear," He finished, a wave of worry coming over the room as the group stares at him. "It's fear. What you felt,".

Bill squints at him, raising his eyebrows. "Why'd we all f-feel like that, Mike?" He asks, the grip Veronica and Richie had on one another's hand getting more tight by the second.

There was pause, Mike looking down at the table, licking his lips nervously. "You remember something we don't, don't you Mikey?" Bill presses.

Mike looks up. "Something happens to you when you leave this town, farther away the hazier it all gets. But me, I never left. So, yeah. I remember. I remember all of it," He looks to Bill, furrowing his eyebrows as Veronica began to feel the same dizziness wash over her. A sudden pang in her ribs and she couldn't help but wonder, if the story about falling out of a tree was true.

"Pennywise," Beverly breathes out, looking down at the white table cloth. Suddenly, it clicked. All of them gazing at her in shock, in fear.

Eddie shakes his head. "Oh, the fucking clown," He mutters, wheezing slightly.

"Oh, shit," Ben whispers, Richie staring down at his hand which held Veronica's. He felt sick. They all did.

Bill swallows dryly. "Mike, you said you wanted help with something, what was that?" He asks.

Mike leans back, looking back to Bill. "There's an echo. Here in Derry, that bounces back. Every twenty-seven years," He explains.

"What are you talking about?" Eddie asks.

Raising his hand to stop him from continuing, Mike shakes his head. "Hold on. W-We thought we stopped it back then. Alright? We thought it was done," He raised a journal off his lap and places it onto the table, flipping through the pages.

"Mike," Richie begins.

A scoff escaping Beverly as she stares down at the journal. "Mikey, what's this all about?" Veronica speaks up slowly.

"A week ago, a man, Adrian Mellon slaughtered. A girl, Lisa Albright, the other night, went missing," He begins to explain the group beginning to clamour at the facts, speaking in retaliation. "There's already been others and there will be more!" He goes on.

The group overlapping in chatter, Veronica tearing her hand from Richie's as she snaps the hair tie against her wrist, chewing at her bottom lip. Her heart was racing. "Just let him explain," Ben speaks over everyone, attempting to get them to calm down. They abide, going silent.

"That echo, we might've changed it. Just like it changed us but we didn't stop it because it just bounced back. We made an oath, that's why I brought you back. That's why you're here to finish it for good," Mike looks between his old friends and can't help but see the younger versions of them in their selves now.

The bright red of Beverly's hair, large glasses that sat on Richie's nose, the wide unmistakable blue eyes only Veronica would ever have, Bill's distinguishable chin, Ben's almond eyes, and Eddie's worried eyebrows. They all looks the same, yet all so different.

"Well, that shit got dark fast," Richie mumbles out. "Thanks, Mike,".

Veronica exhales, rubbing a hand through her blonde hair as Eddie cracks open a fortune cookie, forgetting about his past worries. "My fortune cookie just says 'could'," He scoffs, lifting up the slip of paper.

Richie nodding. "They don't know how to do fortune cookies here, mine just says 'guess'," He holds his up.

"You wanna throw that over here?" Bill asks, standing up as they all begin to pass their slips.

Looking down at hers, Veronica rolls her eyes. "Not even a full word, I got the letter 'I'" She passes her slip to Bill, leaning her chin in her hand.

Slowly, Bill begins to sift through the fortune cookie slips for a moment. Standing up, sensing the panic and animosity in the air Eddie and Richie follow Bill's actions, staring down at the words that were on the slips curiously. It was only a matter of time for everyone else to stand as well.

"Guess, not, could, it, I," Richie reads out the words, confused.

Mike points down at it breathlessly. "It's a message," He whispers.

Another slip, Ben's. "No. I guess it could not cut," Richie reads out again.

"Why would it guess it could not cut?" Eddie rambles as they all stare down at the papers in confusion.

Bill rearranging them, furrowing his brows. "Could not cut, I don't know what that means," Richie looks to Mike in confusion.

Ben shakes his head, reaching down. "It goes..." He mumbles.

Shaking his head, Eddie looks to them. "It could not guess," He says.

"No, the I goes in front. I guess it could not cut," Veronica suggests, peering down at the words.

Richie nods before grabbing at the slips. "Could it not cut?" He questions.

Eddie then begins to panic. "It? Is it taking about IT?" He asks worriedly.

At the mention, they all begin to panic. Flinging words at one another and shouting, their hearts beginning to pound as they stared down at the little pieces of paper. "Did you fuck with the fortune cookies, Mike?" Richie asks.

"Why would he do that?" Veronica rolls her eyes, shaking her head, the group continuing to shout at one another — cutting Mike off.

Ben shakes his head. "Let him speak, man!" He shouts out.

"This, this is what IT does," Mike cuts in, pointing down at the papers.

"I need my fucking inhaler!" Eddie yells, digging through his pockets as the groups chatter continues to overlap one another.

"Why'd you fucking call us?" Richie shouts out.

"This is so not funny!" Eddie adds, shaking his head rapidly.

Before they all go silent, heads turning to Beverly. Realizing they were missing a slip. With a shaking hand, she places it in the middle of the table, tears streaming down her cheeks. They all look down. Stanley.

And, suddenly, it made sense. I guess Stanley could not cut it. They all read silently. Her rely covering her mouth, breathing heavily as Veronica lets out an audible gasp.

"Why does it say Stanley?" Eddie asks. "Someone else fucking answer me!" He shouts, pointing down at the sentence.

They're all silent, not knowing what to say before a bang erupts form the table. A rattling coming from the bowl of fortune cookies. All of them beginning to shake.

"What the fuck?" Veronica mumbles out, Richie putting an arm out in front of her and forcing her to back away.

One jumps out, flipping over and cracking open. A little leg popping out. "The fuck is that, man?" Richie asks, gesturing to the hatching cookie in more agitation than fear, still holding his arm in front of Veronica. "Oh, my God," He adjusts his glasses as the creature fully hatches.

Some sort of a winged creature with a babies face coming out squealing and crying before beginning to crawl around the table towards Mike who hurriedly backed away. "Woah, woah!" Bill shouts, more of the cookies popping out of the bowl and beginning to crack.

"Shit," Richie says, backing away and dragging Veronica with him. Another one of the cookies breaking completely, revealing an eye. He screams, his arm dropping from in front of her. "Hey! That fortune cookie is looking at me!" He screams.

More and more begin to hatch, all of them stumbling away, Ben and Eddie huddled forget her as Eddie begins to panic. "I don't wanna be here. I wanna go home!".

Veronica falling away from Richie as a bat-like creature flies towards her, grabbing at her hair and pulling. She screams. "What the fuck! Get off!" She screeches, grabbing at her hair and shaking her head .

Their screams filling the room as they all begin to flail limbs, attempting to the the odd things off of them. "Ronnie? Eddie? Oh, God. Hey! Guys," Richie panics, looking between the group, all of them fighting off some sort of strange creature.

The bowl bubbling with some sort of black fluid, seeping into the table cloth and burning it. Veronica stumbles into a corner, her hair getting pulled at by two of the winged things, her eyes moving erratically as she shakes. "Richie!" She screams, her hands flying around her head. "Get them off!" She cries, feeling them pulling at her.

"It's not real!" Mike yells to them,firing a chair up and slamming it against the table. "It's not real! It's not real! It's not real!" He screams, continuing to slam the chair against the table. Not noticing the waitress entering in shock.

"Is everything alright?" She asks, heads turning to her. All of them in a wave of embarrassment and fear.

Richie's eyes wide as he nods. "Yeah. Can we get the cheque?" He responds, a nervous smile on his face before the woman quickly turns and exits.

Letting out a deep breath, Veronica looks up from the ground, her hair covering her face. "Do you think we've gotta pay for damage expenses?" She asks, attempting to make light of the situation, her voice shaky.

No one responds, no one laughs. They all just stay silent, breathing heavy as they wait for the cheque to come. After all, there was nothing to say other than, IT really is back.