More Than The Upside Down - An IT (2017) & Stranger Things Crossover

Jealousy

Richie

After the group had split up into Jonathan and Nancy fighting the monster, and Hopper and Joyce finding Will, the kids were forced to remain at the school. They were all in the school cafeteria now, with Mike and Eleven sitting at one of the tables and the others raiding the kitchen for food.

Dustin opened the fridge door with the top shelf revealing small cartons of milk and the bottom drawer revealing something way more delicious. Richie helped Lucas and Dustin scoop up cans upon cans worth of chocolate pudding as Dustin began to ramble on about how much of a small-faced liar the cafeteria lady was. Usually, Richie would have made a suggestive comment involving the pudding but he just didn't feel like it, for something else was on his mind.

"Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!" Dustin screamed, his voice cracking with the last word.

"Okay!" Mike yelled back.

Richie could feel how cold his doppelganger was, even under the blanket Lucas had given him. Yet no matter how thick the blanket was, it couldn't match how much the air thawed at Mike's skin.

"Hey Rich, you alright?" Eddie asked, snapping Richie out of his thoughts.

Maybe he could tell Eddie what was on his mind. After all, Eddie was the one Richie trusted the most out of anyone.

"Can we talk after I come back? I just need to do something quickly," Richie answered.

Eddie nodded in reply and Richie raced out of the kitchen. He came across Mike and Eleven who were staring at each other intensely. Once he was closer to them, he shrugged off his jacket.

"Hey lovebirds," Richie tried to grin cheekily, but it just ended up being awkward.

"What do you want?" Mike barked at Richie, clearly ticked off.

He draped his jacket over Mike's shoulders, "Just to give you this, it might help you feel a bit warmer."

Mike looked down, "Oh, thanks."

"No problem, bud," Richie attempted to smile at him before running back into the kitchen.

"So what's up?" Eddie enquired once he saw Richie come back in.

Richie sat himself up on one of the kitchen counters, slightly panting. He motioned Eddie to sit next to him and the smaller boy did so. The chunks of jealousy and curiosity began to ease from his chest as he let out his feelings to Eddie.

"I've just been thinking about how Mike could shape shift and have full control, yet when I shape shift I don't have any control," He admitted, not daring to reach Eddie's eyes with his own.

"Mike had no control when he was turning though, it was completely involuntarily," Dustin imparted before Eddie could say anything. "And you had control when you grew those wings. So I guess it kind of evens it out."

Richie's hands flew instinctively to his back, which was still aching from the dried blood and torn skin that had replaced the wings half an hour ago.

"Besides, I think you and Mike can shape shift into two completely separate things," Lucas added on.

"What do you mean?" He frowned, wondering how this private conversation had managed to spread to the others. But then again, he thought of how loud he could be at times without even realising it.

"W-W-We told them h-h-how you sh-sh-shape shifted into something more on the lines of a werewolf," Bill added, opening up a can of chocolate pudding with a fork.

Richie snapped uncontrollably at this, "Why did you tell them?"

"They were bound to find out sooner or later," Eddie defended. "And it can help us figure out what exactly they did when they experimented on you and Mike."

Richie could feel his body begin to heat up and his pulse race. He clenched his fists and Eddie rested his hand over the one nearest to him. His cool fingers soothing to the touch and calming Richie down somewhat.

"Richie, stay calm," Eddie whispered. "Please."

"What we think is that they were going to do two different experiments on you," Dustin said. "But when they captured Mike they accidentally did the second experiment on him."

"We think that it was to shape shift overall. But due to what happened, you can only shapeshift into mythical creatures and Mike can only shape shift into real animals," Lucas continued.

"Th-Th-That's why you l-l-lost control when you shape shifted into a werewolf. Because w-w-werewolves lose c-c-control once they transform," Bill looked over at him.

"Werewolves can shape shift into actual wolves though, depending on the type. So it doesn't make sense on why Richie didn't turn into one like Mike did," Stan questioned.

"Maybe they can only shape shift depending on how much the human body can physically handle," Dustin suggested.

"So what are you saying? That I'm weaker than Mike?" Richie growled, his jealousy blurting out in those couple sentences.

"Of course not, dumb ass," Dustin snapped back. "I mean think about it, Richie, when you shape shifted into a werewolf for the first time, your body had already attempted to shape shift into other creatures. Maybe your body couldn't handle so many transformations."

"Holy shit!" Mike screamed.

Within seconds Mike and Eleven came bolting into the kitchen with Mike seizing Richie and Lucas by their arms.

"Get your asses into gear!" He screamed, dragging the other two boys along.

"What's wrong?" Dustin asked, clearly confused.

"The bad men are coming!" Mike declared loudly.

The entire group didn't need to hear anything else. They ran into the school hallways, desperate to flee the bad men. Richie felt Eddie's hand grasp his own as they dashed. Richie's heartbeat fell in sync with his feet. With every step he took, he could hear the bad men move in by two. He could feel dread fuel the group's adrenaline as their desperation grew stronger by the minute.