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bow-of-aros · 1 month ago

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Day Seventeen: Raspberries

Summary: Steph keeps her promise to Peter to help him get Ruth and Richie back after yesterday.

I didn't write the first one with the explicit intention to write a part two but it is HERE and it is LONGER THAN PART ONE!!!!! I'm in love with them they're all so silly. Chaotic found family my absolute beloved I hope y'all enjoy <33

Steph swung the door open not even five seconds after Peter had done his signature knock knockknock, hair slightly disheveled as though she had been panic cleaning for the past fifteen minutes.

“Hey guys!” She holds the door open to wave Peter, Ruth, and Richie inside, “Come on in! Sorry about the mess, I put off tidying up until like twenty minutes ago like a dumbass.”

Called it.

Ruth and Richie went in first. Steph offers Richie a fistbump and a promise to practice their secret handshake later, then wraps Ruth up in a big hug that leaves her beaming.

Peter marvelled at how easily Steph had seemed to fit into their little group. She’d adapted to Richie’s anime obsession and Ruth’s need to constantly be in contact with someone with the sort of dedication that Peter brought to his study sessions.

It was something out of a dream to see how well they all got along.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Steph wrapping an arm around his waist and kissing him on the cheek.

“Hey, babe.” A soft smile pulled at her lips as she looked up at him and he felt himself grinning in response.

“Hey, Steph.”

It was all still a little surreal. Peter was dating the mayor’s daughter. And she was awesome!

And they were in love with each other, as in she loved him back!

A squeeze to his side had him yelping and curling around her hand before looking up at Steph with questioning eyes.

“Where’d you go, Pete? You were off in la la land for a minute there.” She waggled her eyebrows at him, “Thinking about anything particularly exciting?”

He’s always thought that honesty is the best policy.

“I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you and how it feels like you were the missing piece of our group, and now everything feels a little more whole.”

Silence rang for a moment as a pleased flush crept up Steph’s face.

“GAAAYYYYYYY!”

Yeah, he really was pushing his luck with that one.

“Shut the fuck up, Ruth!” Richie’s voice sounded from the living room which was presumably where they both were, eavesdropping, “Let them be gay in peace!”

Peter and Steph rolled their eyes at each other at their friends’ antics, laughing as muffled bickering inevitably started making its way towards them.

“Let’s go join them before they actually kill each other.”

They started making their way to the living room before Steph grabbed his arm and said, “And, for the record, there are days when I cannot believe how lucky I am. Yeah, for meeting Richie and Ruth and the chaos that comes with them, but mostly for meeting you, Pete.”

She laughs, running a hand through her hair, “Shit, I don’t even want to think about depressing my life would be if I hadn’t asked you to help me cheat on that biology test.”

And with that, plus a quick kiss to his jaw, she skipped away, leaving Peter slack-jawed and red-faced, trying desperately not to melt into a puddle on the spot.

“Come on Peter! We’re ordering pizza and then we’re gonna play Mario Party!”

Ruth’s voice spurred his brain back into semi-working order and he nearly tripped over his own feet in his scramble to the couch.

He made sure to throw himself on top of both Richie and Ruth, jabbing them with bony elbows and knees as he clambered in between Steph and Richie. Steph is in the middle of ordering the pizza, so Peter just leans back against Richie and reaches a hand across his lap to rest it on Ruth’s arm, smothering a laugh at her little bounce of excitement.

“And done!” Steph turns to them, “The pizza should be here in about thirty minutes, so we got some time to kill.”

“Should we set up Mario Party?” Ruth leaned out from beside Richie with hopeful eyes, careful not to dislodge Peter’s hand on her arm.

“Actually,” Peter could feel Richie tense beside him, knowing where this was going but refusing to move so that he wouldn’t upset Ruth, “I think I remember promising Peter something yesterday. So, Ruth?”

Ruth perked up, a nervous smile already spreading across her face, “Uh, yeah?”

Steph’s grin turned wicked, “I think that you should start running.”

They’d both taken off before she’d even finished her sentence, leaving Peter to wrestle Richie down on his stomach.

“Peter! Pete! You don’t have to do this, man!”

Richie’s plea was punctuated by a shriek from somewhere in the house followed by peals of frantic laughter.

Peter cracked his knuckles before reaching down to rub them into the back of Richie’s ribs.

“What? This?” He had to raise his voice to be heard above Richie’s squeals, “This is revenge, Richie! He who shows no mercy will receive none in return!”

And, yeah, maybe he was being a little dramatic, but after the shit that Richie had pulled yesterday, Peter was having a pretty hard time feeling bad about it.

“How’s it going in here Pete?” Steph walked back into the living room pulling a stumbling, giggling Ruth alongside her. “Having fun?”

“Oh yeah, totally!” He replied, giving rapid-fire squeezes to Richie’s sides to hear the hysteric little squeaks he let out. “How about you?”

Steph pulled Ruth down beside her on the loveseat next to the couch, casually clawing her nails into Ruth’s stomach and speaking over the resulting shriek.

“I’m having a good time. I figured you’d want to help out with some of the revenge since it’s your revenge. So, what do you say, Pete, where do I go from here?”

She gestured at Ruth who looked up pleadingly at Peter.

“Nohohoho! Don’t say anythihihihing! I’ll stop complaining about you winning at Super Smash Bros!”

Peter hummed thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on Richie’s back to give him a bit of a breather while still keeping him on edge. Steph seemed entertained by his dramatics, and when has that been anything but encouraging?

He made direct eye contact with Ruth but directed his next words to Steph, “If you trace her wrists and her forearms really lightly, she’ll start screaming.”

Ruth started babbling half-hearted pleas for mercy that everybody could tell she didn’t mean, and Peter added, “Brace yourself because it will be loud. You have been warned.”

Steph’s nails touched down and Peter was immediately proven right as Ruth’s shriek seemed to rattle the glass around them. Steph’s delighted laugh was nearly drowned out, but her, “Huh. This is definitely a new one. Never hurts to have a kill-switch though,” certainly wasn’t.

Richie’s sudden attempt to buck his way out of Peter’s hold nearly succeeded due to his being distracted by Steph’s apparently evil tendencies and Ruth’s whining cackles as she desperately tried to pull her arm away.

“Oh no you don’t!” He used Richie’s momentum to flip him over to his back, making sure to immediately shove Richie’s hands under his knees and press down on them to prevent any attempts at turning the tables.

“Hey, Steph!” Peter called over, “Richie and I have basically known each other our entire lives since my brother and his uncle work together, do you wanna see his kill-switch?”

At those words, Steph’s eyes lit up at the same moment that Richie’s went wide and he started kicking out, hitting nothing but the arm of the couch.

“Hell yeah I do—”

“No! Nonononono Pete, you can’t do this to me! We’re best friends you can’t kill me!”

Richie stared up at him with his best puppy dog eyes, something that he would normally give in to if he didn’t have a girlfriend to impress.

Peter just pouted back at him, “Aw but Richie, I can’t disappoint Steph!”

And without giving him the chance to respond, Peter pushed his shirt up to his ribs, leaned down, and planted a raspberry right on his stomach.

Steph and Ruth actually clapped their hands around their ears at the scream that he let out but Peter, who’s dealt with his fair share of Richie’s bloodcurdling screeches, just took in another deep breath and leaned back down.

The second scream wasn’t as deafening as the first, and Peter could tell that Richie was getting tired, so he figured that he’d let him off the hook.

“So. Are you sorry about yesterday?”

When Richie took too long to answer, Peter started leaning back down again, and he basically tripped over his own tongue trying to get the words out.

“YES! I’m sohohohohorry! Petey plehehehease I’m dyhihihing!”

“Annnnndddd will you do my functions homework for the next week?”

“Peter!” Steph chided, “Cheating is wrong.”

They all froze for a moment before cracking up and Peter rolled off of Richie and held out a hand to help him up.

Instead of using it to pull himself up, Richie pulled Peter down on top of him. Instead of a counter-attack like he’d been expecting, Richie just wrapped his arms around Peter and yawned very loudly.

Right in his face.

“Dude, gross! I don’t need your nasty-ass breath in my face.” But instead of doing anything about it, Peter just relaxed into his hold.

This beautiful moment was broken by a camera flash going off and Steph exclaiming, “Awwwww! My cute boyfriend with his cute boyfriend! Fucking precious.”

The sarcasm had a genuine edge to it, but they both still flipped her matching birds.

“GERONIMO!” Was the only warning they got before Ruth came crashing down on top of them and, despite getting the wind knocked out of them, they shuffled around to make room for her on the increasingly crowded couch.

Ding-dong!

“That’s probably the pizza,” The trio stared at Steph for a moment, “Which I will be getting. There better be room on that couch for me when I get back!”

They lay there in silence for a moment before Ruth sighed, “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, Ruth.”

“And I love Steph. She’s awesome.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, “She is pretty cool, huh?”

The overlapping groans from his friends only stoked the warmth in his chest as he squeezed them closer.

That’s when Steph skipped into view, pizza boxes in hand, “I have pizza!”

As they untangled themselves, Peter looked up at the girlfriend he was in love with, surrounded by the friends who made him feel whole, and knew that he wouldn’t trade this for the world.

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