Fusion || Reddie Soulmate AU || IT (2017)

[Prologue]

Fusion was a taboo. Only soulmates could do it, they say. But no one believes in soulmates anymore.

Bill, Stan and Ben would share the stories their parents told them- about soulmates. Bill's parents weren't soulmates, none of the Losers think any of their parents are, but they're okay with that. At least that's what they said. No one goes out looking for their soulmate anymore. They knew they probably won't find their soulmates, so they stopped looking. Either that, or they didn't believe.

Richie believes in soulmates. Eddie tries not to think about it.

——

They first fused during the first trip to Neibolt.

When Richie ran down those stairs to see that- that monster's hand on his Eddie Spaghetti's terrified face, he felt two things.

Unadulterated fear.

And anger.

But most prominent was the fear. It overwhelmingly takes over everything- his body, his mind- even that anger. It makes him freeze.

Freezing in fear means one thing- you don't move. Richie stood there. Stood there as that clown- the one who almost ate Eds- slowly turned its head to show its ugly face, a face sporting a sour frown.

Richie would've found this sight hilarious, in a different situation.

He stood there as that clown turned its abnormal clown-suited body and taunted Bill, who in turn was too shocked to move when It came running at them at full speed. Richie was still frozen, eyes solely trained on Eddie's face. He didn't even notice the clown.

His senses came back after Molly Ringw- Beverly stabbed the thing right through its pasty white scalp. Richie jumped, and his eyes flicked over to the sight in panic. Away from Eddie. He took in the sight, and let his mouth do the work.

"Get Eddie!"

The rest looked over as Richie ran towards the other boy, who was hyperventilating on the floor and cradling his broken arm helplessly. They made eye contact, and in turn Eddie found out just how scared Richie was. But Richie refused to give into that fear. He would cover it up like always, even if Eddie knew better.

Richie palmed in Eddie's fanny pack, and finds his inhaler. Shoving it into the other boy's face, he quickly pumps the chemicals into Eddie's mouth while blabbering on about how they're okay until his breathing is calmed. Richie then takes a look at Eddie's arm and grimaces.

"I-I'm- I'm going to snap the arm in place."

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME-"

Richie places a hand on each section of the arm, but feels something... strange. A fuzzy feeling. He's not complaining. It's nice. He puffs out his cheeks as he mentally prepares, then...

Snap.

A white light blinds everyone else in the room, and they all cover their eyes.

Once the light fades, the first one to see them is Ben. He lets out a squeak, eyes wide, and brings a hand to his mouth in shock. Everyone has to blink a few times to recover, but once their eyes can focus again they let out a chorus of shocked sounds.

Sitting in front of the group, where Eddie and Richie used to be, is another boy. A different yet oddly familiar boy. The boy looked their age, with Eddie's light, chestnut brown hair in Richie's unruly curls. He was a bit tanner then Richie, but paler then Eddie and had their freckles spotting his skin. He had Richie's coke bottle glasses, Hawaiian shirt, and mismatch socks. But he had Eddie's pi- salmon shirt, fanny pack, tiny red shorts, watch and pair of Chucks.

He felt the others looking at him, and tilted his head with a confused expression. Richie does that head tilt! That's Eddie's expression!

"What?"

With that single word, everything fell apart. The boy's eyes widened in shock, then another blinding light flashed. Richie and Eddie were back, staring at each other in silent surprise.

They all agreed not to talk about what happened that day in the Neibolt house.