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Ruth, Richie, and Peter had all been egregiously offended when they found out Stephanie had never seen any of the Back to the Future movies. And nerd judgment is harsh. Which is why Steph ended up spending her Friday night on Richie’s faded blue bean bag chair watching a movie about as old as her dad with time traveling cars and lots and lots of layers to everyone’s outfits, goddamn. No wonder Miss Retro always wore that jacket.
“So scientist guy didn’t come back with ski vest, right?” Steph asked, glancing at the couch where all 3 of the other occupants sat, only slightly smushed together. (and apparently very used to it.)
Pete nodded and Ruth helpfully provided, “He was shot.” with a smile.
“This is him from the past,” Richie explained, “He was there 30 years ago.”
Steph squinted, “But he’s still old.”
Richie nodded.
“So he’s, like, full gray for at least 30 years, but he’s also still running around and doing black market deals with terrorists?” She asked, which was met with another nod from the group. “...how fucking old is this guy?”
“...Unclear.” Pete conceded.
“Does this guy even need a time machine? Seems like he’s gonna see the end of time anyway.” Steph joked.
There’s a pause as the trio seem to consider something.
“HOLY SHIT IS DOC IMMORTAL?!” Ruth exclaimed.
“That book thing was probably total bullshit, I bet he met Jules Verne himself!” Added Pete.
“And he knows every generation!” Richie said excitedly, almost vibrating, “Marty’s kids, Biff, Biff’s grandkid, even Mad Dog Tannen! He doesn’t look up records because he doesn’t need to! He’s operating on memory!”
“Holy shit.” Pete muttered. “I’m gonna need a refill. Anyone else need one?”
Ruth’s hand shot up despite sitting right next to him, “Get me one!”
Peter nodded, taking his glass as well as hers, and left to the kitchen. Steph smirked to herself, watching these nerds wind themselves up was way more fun than getting hammered with the cheer squad. …most of the time anyway. Speaking of messing with them, her eyes fell to the newly opened space in the middle of the couch. She grinned at Ruth and then Richie
“Make room.” She whispered. They didn’t, there was no more room to be made, the Goodwill couch was barely suited to hold 3 people. She fit just fine though.
“Hello new best friends.” Steph still grinned, whipping back and forth to look at them, “Isn’t it so nice to be off the ground?” She sighed dramatically as she settled further into the seat.
Richie smiled and Ruth giggled, in part due to making shoulder contact with a cute girl, but also the couch thing, that was good too. Peter stepped through the doorway, newly full drinks in hand, but quickly paused upon this scene.
“Welcome back.” Steph gave an overly innocent smile. “We were just bonding without you.” She teased.
Pete half-smiled, “Okay, can you bond about a foot to the left? My hands are full and I can’t take the bean bag without staining it. Again.”
Oh, yeah, drinks. Steph almost started to get up and surrender the spot, but then an idea hit her. And since when did Lauters concede anyway?
Instead she just settled in her newly claimed seat again, smile turned mischievous when her eyes met Pete’s again, “Who said you had to?” She asked simply, confusing all the nerds around her.
Pete glanced around, “There’s, uh, no other place to sit.” he chuckled nervously.
“Sure there is.” Steph replied, again earning looks from the other three. She straightened her back, adjusted herself, and then smoothed her hands over her lap presentationally.
Pete’s eyes blew open the moment he processed her implication and nearly choked on air, “I don’t….what?”
Steph arched a brow, expression somewhere faux-innocence and challenging, “Well this is your spot isn’t it? And you don’t want to spill anything. Besides,” She then rested her head on Ruth’s and batted her eyelashes, “Don’t you wanna sit with your friends?”
Pete gulped and laughed nervously, “I, uh, I think”
“C’mon Pete!” Ruth interrupted his sentence that was going nowhere, “Don’t you wanna sit with your friends?” She teased and jerked her head Steph’s direction entirely unsubtly.
“Yeah,” Richie encouraged, also clearly nervous. “You can’t take the bean bag with drinks.” He followed it up with a glare that clearly said ‘Don’t blow this, dude, are you insane?’
Pete nodded to himself, “Okay.” He squeaked then made his march, shaking like he was headed to the guillotine and not his friend’s lap.
Stephanie grinned and straightened up again, allowing Peter to sit down as rigidly as humanly possible onto her lap. She chuckled, “See? Now we can all watch together.”
Pete nodded silently. Ruth poked his arm. “Pete?” she asked.
“...yeah?”
Ruth pointed to the cup he was currently gripping with white knuckles. “Oh, yeah….sorry.” He managed, loosening his hold on the drink so Ruth could take it. He cleared his throat before finally offering a new objection, “This really can’t be the best way to watch. Can you even see, Steph? I’ll just move to the-”
He was cut off by his own yelp as Steph wrapped her arms around his middle, trapping him in a hug before he could get up, even pulling him closer than before. “Oh hush.” She scoffed, then rested her chin on his shoulder, which was about the only option for her given how close she was holding him now. “Don’t be such a baby.” She joked.
Pete didn’t hear that last bit though. Or any other bits. For the rest of the night. His brain was too caught up in trying to process everything else to even bother with words. Steph’s hands around him, her body pressed against his back, the way her breath hit his ear, the fact that she was wearing shorts which shouldn’t have been a factor since he was wearing khakis and their legs absolutely weren’t touching, but it didn’t matter, he knew. She was too warm and soft and pleasant and entirely distracting.
Pete didn’t remember how that night ended, or really anything that happened after that one moment.
He was sure he didn’t say anything, and that he made it home at some point.
And that his face didn’t stop burning until well after he’d woken up the next morning.
One thing he hadn’t caught was Stephanie hiding her face in his shoulder for most of the night, concealing her own blush.