“Just leave Bill Denbrough alone,” Stan said from their spot under the bleachers at lunch. Richie had yet to say anything about it, but he’d been watching Richie watch the former mayor’s son kicking at the fallen leaves for nearly ten minutes. Richie was only that quiet and that focused for two reasons, when he was deeply upset or when he was plotting something that would get him in trouble.

“Who said anything about Denbrough?” Richie replied lightly, prompting Stan to look back towards Denbrough and his friends. His eyes fell to the small one, Kaspbrak, with his warm autumn clothes and soft hair. Stan couldn’t avoid rolling his eyes.

“Absolutely not, Tozier.” He said darkly. “I thought we were past this. You haven’t lusted over Eddie Kaspbrak since eighth grade. This is supposed to be over. You know the two of you will never work out.”

Richie shrugged one shoulder, taking a deep inhale of his cigarette. Beverly mumbled something nonsensical from where her head was resting in Richie’s lap as Stan wondered, for maybe the millionth time in his life, if he’d made the right choice in friends.

Richie pushed himself up and snuffed his cigarette out on the ground. Tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, Richie strutted over to Denbrough and his friends. Sighing, Stan stood at the same moment as Beverly and they flocked to either side of Rich.

“Afternoon, preps,” Richie greeted them with, shooting Kaspbrak a cocky wink. Stan was mildly surprised to see Kaspbrak’s cheeks flush. Over the years, it had been pretty apparent that Eddie Kaspbrak would do anything and everything in his power not to react to Richie Tozier’s existence, so even this small acknowledgement was a shift in a certain power class within Derry.

“I’d be a lot better if my brother was alive,” Denbrough said coldly and even Stan had to blink in surprise. Bill Denbrough had certainly gotten a lot darker and almost edgier since his brother’s murder but this was almost stupid bold. No matter what thoughts and theories he was holding, that wasn’t the smartest method of speaking to a Tozier- even a Tozier as calm and seemingly harmless as Richie. The horrified looks on Phillips’ and Kaspbrak’s faces seemed to imply their agreement, while Beverly and Richie both stared on in amusement.

“Oh, wonderful,” Richie chuckled, running his tongue along his bottom lip. Kaspbrak’s eyes trailed its movement and Stan couldn’t help but feel that the world he’d always known had been tossed a little bit sideways. “We’re getting right to the point then. I hate chit chat.”

“What do you want, Richie?” Kaspbrak jumped in, glancing between his best friend and Richie as though he would physically throw himself in front of their unavoidable argument. “Can’t you just leave us alone? What are you getting out of this?”

“Nothing,” Richie replied, looking momentarily confused for a second himself. “But it might be a good therapy session for your buddy, Bill, here. It isn’t good to keep all that stuff locked up inside like that.”

Denbrough’s eyes flashed almost dangerously. “Get out of here, Tozier. I’m really not in the mood to deal with your fucking bullshit today.”

“Would you be in more of a mood to deal with my bullshit tomorrow?”

There was a group starting to gather around them now, students preparing for the showdown which had been building progressively for the last six months. Stan couldn’t deny that he, too, was almost wondering how this would turn out. There was unquestionably bad blood between Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier, hurt feelings and burning accusations that would never said.

“What do you want?” Denbrough asked, frowning deeply and crossing his arms. He and Richie were standing only inches apart now, their breath and anger mingling in the air. Richie, with all his training, was doing a better job of hiding it but Stan could see it. Could see it in the slight clench of Richie’s jaw, in the furrow of his brow and in harshness of his smirk. Denbrough’s anger radiated off every part of his body, not hiding it, nearly exploding with it all.

“Tell me what you think, William,” Richie said, voice slipping halfway through. Voice darkened, chilling and Stan’s hand twitched at his side. If Richie slipped fully- if Richie lost his control- then God Help Bill Denbrough. He might end up seeing his younger brother much sooner than expected. “I want to know what you really think.”

“You already know,” Bill said, sentences now short, aborted. His hands trembled at his side, as though every inch of his soul was fighting against reaching out and punching Richie right in the face.Stan glanced to his side, intending to catch Beverly’s eye, to find her already looking at him. They already knew their place, what they’d need to do if this turned a little too sour.

“I want you to say it,” Richie said shortly, all hint of false friendliness gone now. Phillips’ pressed a hand over her mouth, and Kaspbrak’s eyes went wide with fear. Stan caught sight of the new kid from English Lit in the crowd of students, looking like he wanted absolutely nothing more than to be somewhere else.

“I think you killed my brother.”

Stanley’s own composure slipped then, inhaling sharply as though he’d suffered a blow to the stomach. Beverly’s mouth had fallen open slightly, her own strong girl façade falling in her momentary shock. Stan watched as emotions crossed Richie’s face before he tongued at his cheek and took another step towards Denbrough.

“Bill…” Kaspbrak said meekly, going completely ignored. Richie and Denbrough were practically nose to nose now and Stan tried not to show how his heart was racing in his chest.

Richie opened his mouth when his face suddenly turned to something that resembled the way he’d look after Janie disappeared, a look of utter devastation that left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Stan’s guts. “You know… I know our families grew apart but you can’t believe for a second that I’d hurt Georgie.”

Denbrough simply continued to stare at Richie, jaw set and eyes hard. Richie cocked his brow, eyes still sad, while the entirety of the student body around them had fallen completely still and silent. It was anybody’s game now, whether Richie Tozier would take the accusation and let it slide off of him, or if they were going to see it go between a Denbrough and Tozier after years of anticipation. right in front of them. Stan could flip a coin, and still have no idea what the outcome would be.

Richie sighed when it became apparent that Denbrough wasn’t going to give any sort of vocal response.  “Maybe it works differently for you Denbroughs,” Richie said, in a tone that wasn’t trying at all to hide  the words spoken from their fellow students that stared on in wonder. Stan’s hand was still twitching at his side and he could see Beverly in the corner of his eye, getting ready to launch forward and end this before it really got started. “But we never forget who we are or where we came from. We take care of our own, and no matter what your father chose to do, that hasn’t changed. Old blood runs deep, doesn’t it, Billy?”

“You better shut the fuck up,” Denbrough hissed through his teeth, glancing nervously at his girlfriend. Phillips and Kaspbrak were glancing between Denbrough and Richie as though watching the world's most intense ping pong game. Maybe in a way, they were.

Richie shrugged, smirk back on his face at full force. “See ya around.” Denbrough surprisingly let him pass, and Stan didn’t hesitate to follow behind him.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Stan said in low voice, knowing their classmates were still listening in as best they could. “You’re just putting a bigger target on your back, you know that.”

Richie let out a soft sigh, glancing up at the cloudy sky above them. “I’m a Tozier. I’ve had a target on my back before I was even fucking born. There’s never been a point in playing it safe, not for me. I tried that life.”

-

Ben Hanscom moved quickly out of sight once it became clear that Richie Tozier and Bill Denbrough weren’t going to throw hands in the middle of the school yard. Ever since Mike Hanlon and Aurora Morgan had approached him, Ben had thrown himself into the Derry Murders in a deeper fashion than when he’d been reading into it before. It was a dark one, and he felt like there were too many missing pieces for it to possibly be solved- especially once Mike added in all the stuff his grandfather had told him about the murders back in the 1990s.

A hand suddenly came out and snaked around Ben’s wrist, tugging him backwards into the Student Council Supply closet. Ben let out a small, nervous shriek and found himself face-to-face with an excited looking Aurora Morgan. The fear in Ben quickly disappeared, but he found that his heart didn’t slow down.

“That was crazy…” Aurora said, her dark eyes dancing with wonder. “Did you see that? What do you think Tozier was going on about? You think Mayor Denbrough was into some shady shit?”

“Maybe,” Ben said lightly.Having not grown up in Derry, like the majority of the population, had its negatives and positives.. Not knowing the deep personal histories of what families hated which and who was good and who was bad fell under both of those possibilities. In this moment, it wouldn’t surprise him if Mayor Denbrough had been into some shady shit, and it wouldn’t disappoint him either. He didn’t have any trust in that man, nor any dislike, so the potential shady business of Zachary Denbrough would mean nothing to him outside of this investigation.

Aurora was shaking her head with a smile, hand still clutching Ben. “We need to find out. It could be the piece of the puzzle we’re missing to solve all of this! I’ll text Mike, and we’ll start looking into him.”

“We’ve already looked into everybody,” Ben said, a little impatient. It pained him but he had to say it.

“We’re not going to learn anything else from reading newspapers and stuff in the library. We might need a… more hands on approach.”

Aurora’s face lit up.

-

“Are you sure about this?”  Mary Elise Hanscom held the flimsy photograph between her fingers. She looked up to the person sitting across from her, frowning. “This is who you say it is? You have no more information?”

“I promise. Put this picture on the front page of your paper, and you’ll have people coming from every corner of town with more information. Fear is a powerful tactic.”

“Why don’t you go to the police with this?” Mary Elise asked.