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Richie had been friends with Ruth and Petra for years. He knew these two like the back of his hand. No wonder he was surprised when Petra told him and Ruth “she” was a boy.
“Hey, guys.” Richie immediately noticed Petra was more nervous than she usually was. She sat down in her usual seat at the lunch table; the seat across from Ruth and Richie.
Richie was worried to say anything while Petra was tapping her finger against the table, not eating a thing. Ruth, however, had no fear.
“Are you okay?” Simple and direct.
“Oh, yeah, totally.” Petra stared at the soup stained floor of the cafeteria.
“You're definitely more interested in the dirty floor than us today,” Richie pointed out, which may have cheered Petra up a little.
Petra looked back up at her friends. They'd never say anything mean to her. After all, Richie had had the same problem as her a couple months back.
She opened her mouth but struggled to get the words out.
“Do you mind if I write it down?” Petra asked after noticing how much she found it difficult to find the words.
Both Ruth and Richie nodded and Richie handed Petra a piece of paper.
“I need a pen.”
Ruth supplied the pen.
Surprisingly, it didn't take very long for Petra to finish writing. Less than five seconds, Richie guessed.
Petra returned her gaze to the floor as she passed the piece of paper to her friends.
In rushed, uncharacteristic handwriting, there were the words “I'm a boy”.
“Oh…” Richie felt stupid for not realising. He was trans himself. How didn't he notice?
“Petra” remained looking at the ground as if he were studying the pattern.
Ruth thought for a second, trying to remember what had been asked to Richie when he came out.
“What do you want to be called then?” Ruth thought the question sounded dumb and cliché but it was necessary.
He stopped examining the floor to answer. “Peter,” he responded, having found a little bit of courage.
“Like Spider-Man?” Richie asked, partially as a joke.
“No, not like Spider-Man!” Peter paused before admitting that, yes, he had chosen his name from Spider-Man.
The group fell silent, unsure of what to say about the new boy.
Richie finally spoke. He told a joke, or at least he hoped Peter would think it was simply a joke. “Isn't it so romantic that we're both transgender?”
“What the fuck, Richie?” Peter sounded like he was scolding but he was smiling. “You're an idiot.”
“Yeah, but I could be your idiot.”
Ruth watched the joke flirting, trying to see if there were any signs of genuine romantic interest.
“Richie, oh my god.” Peter buried his face in his hands to hide the fact he had gone bright red.
Richie had never tried fake flirting with anyone before. That was a lie, actually. He had done it once with Ruth before which convinced Max Jägerman that they were a real couple.
“Do you have no actual response? Joke flirting isn't fun when it's only one person doing it.”
Peter dropped his hands from his face. “Joke?”
“Did you think I was doing it for real?” Richie half way was doing it for real but that didn't matter.
“Yeah?”
“Did you want me to be doing it for real?”
Peter didn't reply.
Ruth stood up, slightly uncomfortable. “I'll just leave you two alone.”
After Ruth was out of earshot, Peter retorted.
“Maybe I did,” he said, grinning.
Okay. This was why Peter went the colour of an apple.
That was weird, though. Richie's body didn't have this response when he was doing the same thing with Ruth.
Richie didn't have a comeback. So Peter continued to drag on the joke, flirting with Richie while he was zoning out.
Peter poked Richie lightly. “Are you listening?”
“Uh, yeah?”
Peter laughed. “I thought I'd lost you.”
Richie decided not to focus on how he felt and was able to return to flirting “jokingly” with Peter.