Notes: Follow up to "SYL / Racing Time". Bittersweet fluff is still fluff.
Recommended OST: "The Places Where You Are" by Johnny Black.
"Draw"
K
An hour later, the sun-basking session ended.
Time to undo the damage.
Then Georgie paused mid-bedroom-clean-up, spying the blue prize sitting atop his dresser. Funny that it had been fifteen minutes before he had even bothered asking, what fate had befallen the precious bit of metal. Fever broken, his face lit up with instant excitement.
The group of stuffed animals, once in his arms, hit the floor as he moved to grab it, to make sure the car was real.
"You found it!"
Across the room, Pennywise paused, half-smirking as he recalled the events at the park, before sliding an open desk drawer shut.
"Did you thiNk I wouldn't?"
"No..."
But the way the boy's eyes slid away, like he were trying to sidle his way out of answering.
Pennywise didn't believe an atom of it.
In an instant, he was crouched down beside the boy, affecting his best pretend-threatening hiss: "LiaR."
Georgie glanced sidelong at him, features taut as he struggled to keep a straight face. Then the clown leaned even closer to his ear, eyebrow raised. "HmMm?"
"I didn't." A moment later, he relented, spinning one of the racecar's wheels for emphasis. "Okay, but only for a second."
This earned him a gentle tug on the ear in reprimand. "Less. LesS than a second."
"What's less than a second, Penny?"
Pennywise frowned, tilted his head, pretending to consider the literacy of that. Timekeeping science was not his forte, wake-sleep cycles notwithstanding. "...HalF? Then half of a half?"
"Ugh." Georgie affected a pained face, held his head in both hands. "No fractions, please. I hate doing those."
The glove let go of his earlobe.
Flick.
"You diD ask."
Denbrough jumped, rubbing fitfully at his 'offended' nose as if it had been punched. "Well, next time, don't answer me."
"I can't not ansWer you, Georgie."
"Yes, you can."
A low, unconvinced hrmph answered him.
"Not when you aSk like that."
Georgie turned around, looked up, and almost stepped back.
Pennywise stood there, half-crouched above him, one hand raised, as if he were about to swear some weird oath.
Wait.
Why was he smiling?
"Like what?"
"ThiS!"
There wasn't much in the way of free space left in the room (even if they had spent the last ten minutes policing up the sharper objects). Caught off guard by the gentle push, Georgie stumbled back and half-fell against the pile of clothing. Arguably, it was a soft landing. He slipped on a disheveled pile of shirts, attempting to get back up.
Then he was pinned. Gloved hands found his sides, tickling mercilessly.
And from there it was all downhill.
"Penny, no! Stop! I- ah-ha-ha! Please, no!"
Immediately, Georgie was reduced to a fit of helpless giggles, kicking and trying in vain to worm his way out of reach.
Oh, the number of times one of their 'disagreements' had ended in this fashion.
He had long ago lost count how many it had been.
They seemed to average one every three days.
Georgie hated fractions, but didn't mind averages.
"N-no- ah-ha-ha-hee! No fair! Ha, no, stop! I can't- Ha-hee-ha!"
Then one of the gloves found his face, holding it easily in the wide span between thumb and index finger, pinching his cheeks.
Not enough to hurt. No, never.
Through his watery, squinting eyes, the boy could just see Pennywise's expression, leering down at him, teeth bared in a playfully-mocking grin.
"Can't wHat, Georgie boy? What caN't you do?"
The other hand never stopped, creeping under the hem of his shirt, fingers fluttering against his ribs.
"I-I-I, e-hee-hee-hee! I-I c-can't, heh, a-a-ssk you anyotherway! Ah, no! N-not there!"
This happened every time.
First the sides, then under the arms. Worse and worse.
No matter how he twisted and wriggled, Georgie could never seem to get free.
The one time he almost had, Pennywise had simply reached out with one long arm, grabbed him by the ankle, and dragged him back across the carpet.
Carefully. Always carefully.
Their tickle fights never actually got anybody hurt.
Bill had worried at first. He thought the creature would be too rough, not know his own strength. Or that Georgie was too fragile, too sensitive to withstand such prolonged 'torture' in the name of harmless fun.
As time went on, with every passing session, he grew less and less concerned.
No one ever complained. No one got an accidental kick in the face. No one suffered as much as a little rug burn.
Were he to come home to this sight, Bill would have simply taken one unbothered glance into the bedroom, and then kept on walking back to his own. Tickling. Nothing unusual about that sight.
Before racing back to do an open-mouthed double-take at the carnage Georgie had wrought upon his belongings.
Finally, the fluttering eased, and the pleasant tremors racing along teased nerves ceased.
Georgie held his sides protectively, almost hiccuping as he gasped for air. Trying to calm down, he slowly went from overblown laughter to muted snickering. He turned on his side, face burying into a once-folded sweater, glancing up with one eye.
He didn't have long to look up at, as Pennywise flopped down beside him, content to wedge his own face up in amidst the expansive pile of clothes. His glowing eyes, still a bright, effervescent blue, peered up from the gap between two shirts.
"You can aSk me anYthing, GeorgIe. You knoW that, yeS?"
"What took you so long, then?" Denbrough blurted out, but not unaffectionately. Already he had lost his grip on the racecar in question. They would find it again, sometime after esuming the bedroom cleanup.
But for now, he wanted a story-slash-explanation.
"So loNg?" Pennywise likely sensed this, and rose up on his elbows. He frowned and braced his knuckles against his striped cheek, forever-exaggerating his changes in expression, in keeping with his chosen guise. "You liTtle imp, I wasN't gone more tHan an hOur."
"Then why lock the door on me? I wouldn't've left!"
"Nooo?"
"No, silly." Georgie sat up on his hands, a bit defensive and not averse to tapping into the leftover outrage he had felt just before naptime ensued. "No, I wouldn't've. You know I wouldn't, and you locked it anyway."
Pennywise flinched at the accusatory finger that prodded his red nose, but otherwise, he was unmoved. "I'm soRry, GeorgIe. MayBe I shouldn't haVe. But if I diDn't, and Billy had come home- "
"That was his idea?" Crestfallen, Georgie's face fell in kind. He went from incensed to disappointed in a heartbeat. To think, he wasn't well behaved enough already, that someone thought that was necessary, least of all Billy. "To lock me up?"
"No, GeorgIe. But he told mE you were to stay home, no matTer what. He was wOrried. If you got sickEr..."
Pennywise trailed off, looking more uncertain with every passing second. His eyes strayed apart, and he slowly eased down to rest his chin on his folded arms.
"If I got sicker, what?" Georgie felt suddenly, ridiculously compelled to ask. He crawled close. When the clown didn't so much as glance his way, he turned around and struggled to get even closer, just managing to thread his way through a gap underneath one massive arm. "What would've happened, Penny?"
After what-seemed-like-forever, Pennywise finally looked over at him.
The grin he sported now seemed almost... pained, almost forced.
But it was there.
The arm lying across Georgie's shoulders lifted momentarily. "It'S okAy. You diDn't, anD I found youR racecar anyway. WiN-win?"
Georgie blinked as his unkempt hair was ruffled, and he said nothing.
Suddenly, he knew. He knew without having to be told.
He just nuzzled in deep, into his favorite place in between Pennywise's chin and ruffled collar.
Wordlessly, the entity let him, arm wrapping back around and underneath the boy's chest.
Georgie kneaded a satin frill between his fingers, letting his moistening eyes drop shut.
Yeah, win-win.
Their wager.
No winner, no loser.
A draw.
That was fine.
Didn't matter if he had been locked up or not.
Neither of them wanted to admit what might have been missed.
It was "win" enough just to be back together again.