𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 [st/it]

₇ . welcome to derry

"Just pick which one you want," she said, ready to get to the freezer section and grab her eggos.

Eddie reached the snack aisle, leaving Richie to grab their drinks. He looked for the popcorn, before noticing El and Dustin. "Hey kid," said Dustin.

"Yeah?" said Eddie, confused as to why this stranger he had never seen before was talking to him.

"Should we get regular or hot Cheetos," he asked.

Eddie was so confused and just shrugged. "Regular, I guess." El smiled.

"We're new here," she said.

Eddie suddenly realized that they must be the kids from Indiana coming to meet the bill. "Welcome to Derry then, I'm Eddie," he said.

"I'm Dustin, and this is El," said Dustin.

Eddie suddenly went pale, realizing that it was Bill's sister. And Dustin. That was his brother's name. His brother lived in Indiana. It couldn't be him. They don't look anything alike. They are half brothers though.

"Henderson?" he asked.

Dustin's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"You okay, Eds," said Richie, walking into the aisle.

"Umm, yeah," said Eddie, returning to Earth. "this is um, El and this is Dustin, They're new here."

"Oh, hi," said Richie, waving to them. There was an awkward silence where Dustin stared at Richie and El just smiled at the floor. She was right, he wasn't as cute as mike, but freakishly similar. 

"Anyways, we have to go now before our ice cream melts. See you guys around!" Richie grabbed Eddie by the wrist and they ran off.

"That kid looks just like Mike," said Dustin.

"Do you think?" said El, looking like she was about to faint. She didn't even need to finish her sentence.

"Yeah," said Dustin. "But why did that Eddie guy look like he was freaking out?"

"Maybe he knows Bill. Bill told him our names?" offered El.

"Maybe," said Dustin. They grabbed the regular Cheetos and returned to Joyce and the others, not mentioning their encounter because they didn't want Mike to freak out. El was contemplating if she should tell him later.

"Are you okay?" mike asked el, putting an arm around her.

"Yeah," she said, wiping a tear without Mike noticing, "just cold."

✰

Richie and Eddie were walking home since Richie lived close to the grocery store. "So, that was Bill's sister, right?" asked Richie.

"Probably. They said her name was El and they were new."

Richie nodded. "So yeah, It's her. But who was the guy? It wasn't her boyfriend, Mike, right?"

"No, he said his name was Dustin," said Eddie, quietly.

Richie suddenly had a realization. "Like Dustin, you're fucking brother you've known about for year but never even bothered to meet or contact Dustin!?," he was freaking out.

"I don't know, okay Richie! I talked to them for 2 seconds and he doesn't even look like me."

"But you are half  brothers."

"Well if that Dustin is my brother, I guess I'll figure that out since we're gonna meet him anyways."

The boys hurried home to have their movie night, overridden with excitement since Bev would be returning the next day. She had visited for a week in the fall, for New Year's eve, and a couple of weekends in the spring, but the Loser's club hadn't seen her any other times, which had been hard for Bill since he liked her so much. They were ready to spend another summer with her.

✰

After settling in and having a chilled out day of hanging out in the living room, the kids had gone to bed. Mike heard Hopper beginning to snore. Him and Lucas were still sitting on their bed in pajama pants and t-shirts, reading comic books. "It's go-time," said Mike. Lucas nodded at him and Mike left the room. He opened Max and El's door. The girls were sitting on the bed, and stopped their quiet conversation when Mike came in. Max got up and said goodnight to El before walking into Lucas's room, high-fiving Mike as she passed.

Mike sat on the bed next to El, who was wearing his Hawkins middle t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. They started talking about something stupid Lucas did earlier and were laughing, trying to keep the volume down so they wouldn't wake anybody up. "Mike," said El, "I have something to tell you."

"Okay."

"When I was in the grocery store today with Dustin we met two boys."

"Oh, what were they like?"

"Our age, one named Eddie who seemed nice."

"What about the other?"

El hesitated, thinking if she should tell Mike. "I think I met your brother."

"Wait what? My brother Richie?"

"Yes. He has the same face as you," she said, stroking the side of Mike's face and holding her hand around his chin.

Mike smirked and almost giggled, but then realized that he was supposed to be serious and maybe a little mad she didn't tell him in the grocery store. "Why didn't you introduce us?," he said, a tear of (most likely) happiness rolling down his cheek.

"He left really fast, and it just felt so weird. I was looking at you but it wasn't you."

"Well, what does he look like," said Mike, "other than overwhelmingly handsome."

El giggled and wiped the tear off of Mike's cheek. "He has big glasses and he dresses very differently than you. His voice sounded almost the same, he's a little bigger than you, and I think he had more freckles."

Mike smiled. "He's taller than me?"

"No Mike, you're skinnier than him."

"Ohhh. Okay." Mike giggled a little. "I can't wait to meet him," he said, more tears streaming down his face.

They both smiled like fools before El leaned into Mike and used her sweatshirt sleeve to wipe Mike's face again. Mike leaned closer to her after she finished wiping his face and engaged in a kiss. Their lips met and they shared an open-mouthed kiss that lasted for about 30 seconds before they pulled away. They both got under the covers of the bed and laid on their backs, facing the ceiling.

"I can't wait to meet Bill tomorrow."

"Yeah, it's gonna be a long day."

Mike turned onto his side, as did El, both settling in for the night.

After a silence, Mike spoke. "Can you hear that too?"

"Yeah," said El. Max and Lucas were making out in their room.

"I have a feeling we're going to be hearing that all summer," said Mike.

El laughed, thinking about how annoying it might get. She soon fell asleep quickly in Mike's arms, dreaming of the next day and all the excitement there was to come.