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Henry Bowers x Fem!Reader_____________ You ran right into the girls' restroom near the back entrance of Derry High School.
You know?
The restroom with the busted mirror over one of the old, porcelain sinks that were lined up against the wall that was littered with graffiti and mean words that labelled certain girls of the school as 'sluts' or 'man-stealers'. With some names listed of girls who were probably grown women now, and whom probably graduated or dropped out long-since you arrived to the school.Derry High School had been around for a long time, after all. And it was still the only high school in this small town you found yourself in.
Derry.You stormed over to in the farthest corner of the room, standing in front of the sink there as your hands clutched tightly to the front of it. Your head bowing as you clenched your teeth, pressing your lips together to try and hold back the scream that was trying to escape your mouth.
You didn't scream.
But, a deep moan of anger and frustration choked its way out of your throat.One of the two fluorescent lights that served to illuminate the restroom flickered and buzzed softly on the ceiling above you, adding to the overall creepy atmosphere of the place. It's why you liked going to that particular restroom when you needed some time alone. It seemed like most of the other girls in your school avoided it like the plague, because they found it too off-putting.
Which meant that you could be sure to find quiet refuge and solitude there, when you needed it.But, it wasn't exactly as quiet as it usually was. Along with the constant buzzing from the broken light above you, there was a soft and steady 'drip-drop' sound that you just couldn't ignore. Lifting your head a bit, you recognized the culprit. Someone-- possibly you-- hadn't turned the faucet of the sink in front of you off completely before leaving it, previously. Resulting in that miniscule flow of water that dropped into the sink.
You obliged to make it stop, twisting the cold water knob on the sink.
The dripping stopped.
The dripping from the faucet stopped--But, now there were two more sets of water droplets falling into the dirty sink.
They were from you.You lifted your head a bit more, making eye contact with yourself in the mirror. Your eyes had become a bit red. Watery. And you wiped away the thin streams of tears that seemed to trickle down your cheeks and fall into the sink beneath your head. Sniffling softly, you furrowed your eyebrows at yourself.Oh, how you hated crying. You hated when others saw you cry. And you even hated seeing yourself cry.
But, you were under extreme stress, lately. Even more than usual. And your peers at Derry High School didn't make it any easier for you.Another, strangled whimper sounded from your throat and you cringed as you heard yourself. Quickly turning the knob on the sink again to turn the water on full-blast. Because, if you couldn't stop yourself from crying like a pussy-bitch, at least you could drown out the sounds of it with rushing water.
Little did you know that you were inadvertantly giving a certain school bully a means of locating you by having the water running so ferociously and loud.
A certain bully who'd noticed you on your journey to the restroom without being spotted by you........Henry Bowers.The boy who loved knives.The boy who didn't love his 'friends', but loved the way that they followed him around like he was the second-coming of (anti-)Christ.The boy who loved to torment and torture anyone he felt like he had the upper hand over. And... he had the upper hand over a lot of the young people in Derry.That Henry Bowers.
He was currently stalking the quiet halls of Derry High. This was one of those rare instances when he wasn't surrounded by Victor and Belch and Patrick. Because, it was class time and the current class-period he was skipping out on didn't include his minions.
Henry decided in the middle of that boring lecture on 'The History of Derry' that he would simply ask to go to the bathroom and occupy himself alone while waiting for the classes for that period to end. Then, he'd link up with his gang-- The Bowers Gang-- and they could all skip the rest of their classes for the day.
And Henry knew that they'd do it. They did everything Henry told them to do.Henry was just roaming the halls, though. He hadn't expected to see anyone else, since the teachers and hall monitors were really cracking down on students skipping class and being in the halls without permission. A kid could get stuck with a week's worth of detention if they were suspected of skipping class.
Of course, that never bothered Henry.
Because he would just skip out on detention, too.Henry was sure he'd have to just ride out the boredom he felt everytime he was alone. Not to mention, those stupid, haunting thoughts that resembled something like self-hatred and judgement. Thoughts that Henry would swear were just strange, intrusive thoughts if anyone ever found out about them.
Because Henry Bowers was the man! He was a god amongst men. He was a badass. Strong and brave. Smart and cunning. A master gunman and knife-weilder.
Henry Bowers did not hate anything about himself!!
.. So, why did he have those kind of thoughts about himself, when no one was around to distract him from them?But, Henry would not have to grapple with those confusing thoughts. Not that day. Because he'd found a way to entertain himself. He was practically elated to see you storming swiftly through the hall that was adjacent to the one he was in. You'd breezed past him in the blink of an eyes but he recognized you, still. That alone was probably telling of the kind of regard Henry had for you.
You were probably one of the only girls Henry Bowers consecutively harassed at your school.
Actually, you were the only girl Henry consecutively harassed at your school. Sure, Henry's snarky remarks were rated 'E' for everyone. And you'd definitely seen the guy speaking poorly of that one red haired girl.
What was her name?
Beverly Marsh.
But, a lot of guys in Derry High spoke poorly about her. So, it was nothing special for Henry to do it, too.
That poor girl. She was only in middle school. And she had such caring eyes..Anyway..Henry really did seem to save his continuous harassment for guys. Not girls. So, it was kind of strange that he felt the need to bother you so frequently. Especially because you never gave Henry any big reactions to his constant bullying. And Henry was the type of guy who liked getting a rise out of people. It made him feel powerful, to be able to manipulate a person's emotions and actions. And it made him much more likely to continue targeting a person. It made things much more fun for him.Nonetheless, a sly smile grew on Henry's face when he saw you. Hands balling into fists as he made his way into the hall you were in.
Since you hadn't noticed him, his plan was to quietly stalk behind you. To follow you and get you somewhere more private and surely scare the living shit out of you.
But, he'd underestimated your determination to get to wherever you were going.
You were very swift and quick, light-footed as you turned every corner of the halls of the school.Henry was pretty quick, too. But, he often wore heavy boots and it made it hard for him to move quickly and quietly in them at the same time. So, he ended up losing you.A frown grew on Henry's face when he realized he'd lost your trail. Mumbling swear words to himself. He felt like an idiot. Even though you truly didn't even know that he was following you, he felt like you'd made a fool out of him. By making him chase you halfway across the school just to ditch him.
And Henry did not like feeling stupid. His teachers made him feel stupid. His father made him feel stupid.His father.
Just the thought of Sheriff Bowers was enough to make Henry's blood run cold. His hands squeezing even tighter into fists. He was about a second away from punching a hole through the nearest wall. A wall that Henry wished was his father's face! A face that Henry would have been pulverized himself.. If he wasn't so afraid of the man.
And Henry also didn't like being afraid of anything. And it mad him angrier!
And--The sudden sound of rushing water did a great job at pulling Henry's thoughts away from his father and back to the present moment. The sound was faint from where he was standing-- a few feet away from the restrooms near the back entrance of the school-- but it was undeniable. Someone had turned on a sink in the ladies room.
And that someone was you.That devilish grin came back onto Henry's face as he slowly made his way towards the restroom entrance. He had no qualms with entering the girl's bathroom. But, he was still attempting his fun game of sneaking up on you that he'd started........You'd managed to clear the tears away from your face, drying your eyes as you stared at yourself in the mirror. You felt a dry lump in your throat.
You slowly looked down at your hands, pulling the sleeve of your left arm up and scrunching it around your elbow with your opposite hand. Eyes scanning over the thin scars that lined the inside of your left wrist. Scars that you had to hide from others but that you were proud of, almost. Because they were old scars. You chose to see them as a sign of success from what you've overcome. Not as a sign of weakness and lack of self control..
But..
Now you were heavily contemplating it, again.
More than contemplating. Because you were already reaching for blade in your front pocket that you'd meticulously and discreetly unscrewed from the inside of your handheld pencil sharpener before leaving your class.
And your hands kind of shook as you slowly brought it towards your wrist with your right hand. And more tears began to stream down your cheeks. They were hot and salty. But, you didn't seem to notice them.The only thing you could feel was the cold, thin blade as it finally made contact with your soft skin. The acute stinging sensation as it poked into your flesh.
It was so foreign. Yet, so familiar.You couldn't help feeling like you were betraying yourself as you carefully began to drag it in the direction of so many of the other, old scars nearby.The sound of the bathroom door opening and slamming hard against the wall behind it startled you enough to drop the blade you were holding into the sink. Which was probably a good thing, because Henry had wasted no time approaching you, now.You turned your body to face him, clutching your left wrist tightly behind your back with your right hand. You'd converted the look on your face to one of bemusement, as you usually did when Henry Bowers targeted you.
But, you didn't fool him this time. He'd seen the way you jumped when he bursted the door open. The way you seemed so frightened.
He'd gotten a rise out of you.
But, it wouldn't take him long to realize exactly why that had happened."What the hell do you want, Bowers?" You questioned, your tone surprisingly calm for a girl who'd just been ambushed in a desolated bathroom by a wreckless guy like Henry.But, Henry didn't answer you so quickly. Instead, he stared at you in a weird way.
Henry always stared at you in a weird way. He was a weird guy!
But.. This was kind of different. And, it made you nervous. Henry never made you nervous.You glanced over at yourself in the mirror, only to see your watery eyes and the tear streaks on your face.
Henry's sudden entrance hadn't given you any time to clean your face, again.You quickly rubbed the tears away from your face again with your right hand before swiftly placing it behind your back again. Gripping onto your left wrist even harder than you were before.
Stressful situations made you hold into things tightly.
And this was definitely a stressful situation."I said-- what the hell do you want!" you repeated as you looked into Henry's eyes, your voice raising in annoyance. But, also to show Henry that you weren't afraid of him and you weren't going to back down from him just because he'd caught you crying.That kind of brought Henry out of his dazed stare he was giving you and he blinked a few times, shaking away the uncomfortable feeling he'd gotten."I don't want anything, (Last name)." Henry sneered, attempting to keep up that rivalry last name thing he seemed to have started with you. But, his eyes faltered away from you. Looking down, he couldn't help noticing the stray blade in the sink that was being pushed and cycloned around the debris-proof drain cover by the rushing faucet water.Your eyes followed and you took in a soft gasp.
"Well, if you don't want anything-- asshole!-- then get out of the girls' bathroom." you responded, attempting to distract Henry and get his attention away from the sink. But, your behavior here was only serving to further peak Henry's curiosity. Because, you never responded to Henry so emotionally. If Henry's constant harassment did bother you, you never made it so obvious to him."Leave. Or I'll scream." you added. You really didn't want to scream. But, you were feeling very desperate. It was obvious.Henry didn't even flinch at the idea of you screaming, though. He got in trouble so often. And his father-- that motherfucker-- would get him out of it, even if he hated his son's guts.
Trouble didn't scare Henry. His dad was the law. And that kind of made Henry the law, too.Henry said nothing as he reached his hand into the sink and grabbed out the blade. He pinched it between his thumb and pointer finger as he took a closer look at it. His eyes squinting as he was obviously unimpressed by the size of it. He held it between the two of you, then, eyes wandering back up to yours. His head tilted to the side as he gave you a look that was both judgemental and disappointed."The fuck is this?" he asked.It was a blade. Duh."I don't know what that thing is." You lied quickly, your eyes widening slightly. There was no way in hell you'd admit anything to Henry Bowers.
For him to call you an absolute freak and tell everyone in the entire school that you're a self-multilating weirdo?
No!
You'd gotten enough flack from the mean girls in your current class, who greatly contributed to the reason why you'd resorted to that old, coping mechanism of yours."Show me what your hiding behind your back. Do you have another one?" Henry asked, but he didn't wait for an answer as he reached his free hand out and gripped your left upper arm, tugging on it as an attempt to pull your hand from behind your back.
But, you didn't budge. Only increasing your own hold on your wrist.And Henry almost looked offended by that. He saw your unwillingness to budge as direct disregard for his words-- for his command. And people were not allowed to disobey the commands of Sheriff Bowers' son."Show me!" Henry yanked on your arm."No!" You responded quickly, once again stopping him from pulling your arm towards him.And that bothered Henry even more. You could see it in his eyes. He was not going to let up.
And, you were right. He didn't let up. He did the opposite. Now using a considerable amount of force as he began to yank at your arm continuously, trying to get what he wanted. Trying to get you to reveal what he believed you were hiding.
His hand sliding down your upper arm and over your elbow before gripping onto the top part of your forearm to have a better chance at pulling it from behind you.And you fought back, struggling and pulling your arm back every time before he could break the grip you had on yourself. But, he got more forceful with every pull. And, although your will to keep your self-harm a secret was very strong, Henry's physical strength was stronger."You're trying so hard just to keep a stupid, micro blade away from me?!" Henry concluded.
"Just show me what you're fucking hiding, already!"
And with that, Henry finally managed to pull your arm from behind you, gripping your forearm tightly as he yanked it towards himself.Your hand was open. And he saw that it was empty.
And he also saw the fresh cut on your wrist, that had dripped a fair amount of blood from the scuffle the two of you had gotten into.
And again, that strange look was on Henry's face. And he didn't say anything for a while.You didn't say anything, either. You were at a loss for words. So, you just stood there uncomfortably as Henry continued to clutch your arm while staring down at your wrist.
The look Henry had was hard to read. But-- just for a moment-- the look resembled regret."I knew you were an idiot, (Your first name)..." Henry finally began speaking again, his gaze lifting to look at your face. And that judgmental look was back on his face. Although, it still kind of looked like regret, too.
"But, I didn't know you were stupid enough to cut yourself when other people piss you off."Offended, you pulled your arm away from Henry. And surprisingly, he let you."I didn't cut myself!" you lied again, attempting to defend yourself. But, Henry didn't even dignify your blatant lie by acknowledging it."Why did you do it, huh? Because you were having a bad day? Because someone hurt your fragile, little feelings??" Henry continued on his short, judgemental rant. "That's weak, (your first name). That's really fucking weak.""I'm not weak!" You found yourself defending yourself with your words, again. But, Henry's words seem to sting then more than they ever had before. And you felt the need to stand up against him.
"You don't know what you're talking about!""I know that it's incredibly stupid to cut yourself ever!" Henry yelled back at you.
"I'd cut a hundred different people before I'd ever even think of bringing a blade to my own fucking skin." He added, taking a hold of your left forearm again to get another look at your wrist. He was looking at the old scars now."Well, I'm nothing like you!" you pulled your arm out of his hand again and stepped back from him, your back pressing against the wall behind you. And you looked down, grabbing a hold of your own wrist again and mumbled, ".. And thank God for that."You kept your eyes down, staring past your bloody wrist and down towards Henry's boots. They were still planted right in front of you on the ground. Henry hadn't moved at all. He wasn't leaving.
God, why was he still there??You looked up slowly and your heart dropped as you saw Henry's face. That look of regret was there, once again. And it looked so prominent and obvious, now. Like Henry wasn't trying to hide that feeling, anymore.".. Is it because of me?" he asked, finally.Such a puzzled look came onto your face.
"What?""Is it because of me?" Henry asked, again. His voice raised. His words clear. So there would be no more discrepancies about what he'd just said.
"Did you cut yourself because of me? Did I piss you off so bad that you wanted to hurt yourself?"Henry couldn't help thinking back to just that morning. He'd walked past you that morning in the cafeteria and knocked your breakfast tray right out of your hand and onto the floor in front of you. Causing your food to spill out into a huge mess, right at your feet. He remembered how it was the first time he'd bothered you in front of so many people. He remembered how a brigade of popular bitches Henry really didn't care much about began to laugh to loudly. And, most importantly, he remembered the hurt look that flashed on your face for a moment, right before you put a stoic look on your face and swiftly exited the cafeteria.Henry was mean. He was trying to get under your skin when he did that. He was trying to get under your skin whenever he messed with you.
But, he figured you'd just go back through the breakfast line and get another tray of food. There was a lot of food left, after all. He'd checked before pulling that stunt.
Henry didn't think you'd just leave without eating anything. He didn't think that you'd care that much, at all. You never seemed like you cared. You never gave Henry that attention he wanted from you. That was why he continuously upped the anti while bothering you.But, he was obviously regretting it. At least, a little bit."No." You responded, finally. Your voice calm again as you weren't sure how to take this. Henry seemed like...
Like he genuinely cared to know.It was so, so weird.Henry looked like he didn't believe you, though. Which was kind of understandable, considering how many times you'd just lied straight to the guy's face."I'm telling the truth." you said before sighing, pulling yourself away from the wall as you stepped in front of the sink, again. Putting your bloody wrist under the faucet-- which was still running. You needed to clean yourself off. And the cold water was really soothing to your tender wound."And those other ones?" Henry asked, referring to the old cuts on your wrist that had already healed."That's not because of you, either, Henry. Trust me, you're not that important." You said. This time you were the one being snarky with him.
Of course, maybe Henry's constant torment was a small bit of why you'd harmed yourself, again. But, he was honestly just a small fraction. Those mean girls who laughed at you that morning in the cafeteria-- the same girls who bullied you right out of your current classroom-- they were a part of the reason, too.
And you had so many issues going on at home. Issues that you tried to swallow back and ignore.Yes, there were a lot of things that pushed you back to this. So, you weren't gonna let Henry take the credit for it.
Besides, the genuine regard Henry seemed to have about it made you uncomfortable. It was strange and probably stupid, but you actually wanted Henry to stop feeling bad about it. And you were pretty sure that if you told Henry 'yes, it is your fault', Henry would feel just feel worse."Then, why?" Henry asked. "Why did you do it? Why did you ever do it?"
Despite the fact that you'd exempted Henry from the guilt of being the cause of your self-harm, he still seemed curious and concerned.
You hadn't expected that."That's personal, Henry. I'm not telling you." you retorted, getting annoyed with all of his sudden interest in anything about you. "Why do you even care?" you added.Looking towards Henry in the mirror as he stood kind of behind you at the sink, the two of you made eye contact. And he had the slightest, sheepish look on his face as he broke eye contact with you and looked down. His arms flexing a bit as crossed them over his chest. As if he was uncomfortable with answering your question.Imagine that. Big, strong, brutish Henry Bowers behaving shyly all of a sudden.
But, you couldn't help the warmness that spread across your face, as well.
And you cleared your throat as you looked down at you wrist, seeing that you rinsed all the blood away."Here." Henry said, stepping up beside you again as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small wad of gauze. Which was kind of funny to you, that Henry just carried around gauze. But, he did a lot of random farm work at home, sometimes. And it's really easy for someone to hurt themself while farming.
That's why he carried the gauze. Because heaven knows that Henry didn't carry it around for the sake of other people.Henry grabbed your left hand and began to wrap a short length of it around your wrist. Just enough to cover that cut and secure it onto your arm. And you were quiet as you slowly turned the faucet off. You'd wasted enough of Derry's precious water supply for one school day."Promise me something.." Henry mumbled, his eyes casted downward as he took an unnecessarily slow time wrapping your arm up. He seemed hesitant with his next words.
And you couldn't help cringing a bit as you assumed what the next words out of his mouth would be."Hey. Don't go all 'casanova' on me and ask me to promise you I'll never cut myself again or something. That's so lame and.. And, I wasn't going to do it again, anyway. Whether you asked me not to do it or not." You explained.
And you were telling the truth. You were already regretting breaking your clean streak and caving in the way that you did. You were honestly grateful that Henry had invaded your space by walking in on you. It gave you time to realize just how important it was to you, for you to stop harming yourself, once and for all."I wasn't gonna say that, dip shit." Henry retorted, his hands still gently working at that gauze. Holding your arm gingerly as he was now just checking to make sure it was secure. But, you could see the slightest tinge of red on his face, even as he insulted you. As if he was embarrassed that you'd read his mind or something."Just promise you won't tell anyone I was nice to you, (Last Name). People might think that we're dating or something." Bowers said, his eyes lifting to look into yours. But, there was a bit of playfulness to his voice. And a bit of a smirk that was playing on his lips.
And... It was kind of cute.
And contagious.You couldn't help giving back a small smirk, too.
"Never in your wildest dreams, Bowers."