Work Text:
Ted Spankoffski waited for his brother in his baby blue studebaker. He usually picked Pete up from school when his parents were busy with work. His work schedule was a little more flexible.
Though, he could tell that something was off. Pete usually came out of the school pretty quickly. Today, Ted sat for a while waiting to see him walk through the doors.
After what felt like forever, a familiar face walked up to the car and got in. "Geez, took you long enough, dorkus," Ted teased.
Pete said nothing in response. Ted thought that this was kind of weird. Usually, his brother joined in on the teasing. Either that, or he'd keep the conversation going in some way. But right now, there was silence.
"What? You got no witty comeback today?" Ted wondered if all he needed was a little prodding. Still, Pete kept quiet, and he hid his face. He couldn't even look at Ted. What was that about? "What? Are you suddenly too cool to talk to your older brother?" His social standing had improved over the last couple of weeks. Maybe that's what it was.
Finally, Pete spoke, his voice breaking. "I found out one of my best friends died today, Ted. I'm not in the mood."
Ted immediately dropped his usual act. He certainly hadn't expected that response. "I'm sorry," he said, and he meant it. If he had known, he probably wouldn't have teased him like he had. "Who-"
"Richie." Pete looked up, and Ted saw tears streaming down his face. "Somebody killed Richie, and I don't know if anyone's gonna do something about it. No one cared about us until Max Jägerman-" he searched for the right word "-dissapeared. Will they still care about us when we're dead?"
Pete's phrasing was really scaring his brother. "Petey, you're talking like you're gonna be next."
"I could be! The police said that there was a message next to Richie's body. It said 'Nerdy Prudes Must Die'. If Richie was considered a nerdy prude, then I could be, too."
"That's...a lot," Ted managed to say. He couldn't imagine how scared Pete must have been. Hell, he was scared to think about his little brother dying. Still, he knew it would be better to focus on his feelings. "Do you need anything?"
"I just wanna go home right now."
Ted nodded. "You got it." He wished that there was more that he could do. But if all Pete wanted was to go home, then that's what he would do.
As they drove, there was another bit of silence. Except now, it lasted longer. And while it was going on, Ted thought about what would happen if Pete died. He knew there was no use thinking about that sort of thing, but he couldn't help it.
Specifically, he thought about how he was never really a good brother. As much as he would hate to admit it, his sleazeball tendencies still shine through when he's with Pete. And what's worse, he's been giving the nerd terrible advice about how to go about life.
He glanced over to Pete and saw that he had begun crying again. When he did, he realized that it didn't matter if he wasn't a good brother before. He would try and be a good one right now.
"I get that you're scared," he finally said, "and upset about what happened. I would be, too. And I can't promise that everything will be fine, because I don't know that it will."
Pete looked back at Ted, full of confusion. If this was his way of trying to cheer him up, he wasn't very good at it. He looked up to Ted, but he would not come to him for comfort.
Ted continued, "I can promise one thing, though. If you need anything from me, I'll do my best to give it to you."
Pete wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thanks, Ted," he replied.
Soon, they arrived at the Spankoffski household. They got out of the studebaker and walked up to the door. Ted pulled out the key to the house he had for times like this. Then, he quickly fiddled with the lock and opened the door.
But before Pete walked through the doorway and into the house, Ted wanted to say one more thing. "Look, I know I'm an asshole who's terrible at showing it, but I do care about you, kid."
To his surprise, Pete pulled him into a hug. "Don't say that," Pete said, "You're a great older brother. You've actually always been there for me. I love you, Ted."
Ted felt like he was going to cry. It had been years since either of the brothers said that to the other. Sure, the feeling was there, but Ted never felt vulnerable enough to say it.
But as he stood there, and he looked down at his brother, he couldn't help but see that little boy again. The boy he held for the first time in that hospital in 2002. The boy he would babysit even when he didn't want to. The boy who he would call a nerd, but never out of malice, like the kids at school.
When Ted saw that boy, he wrapped his arms around him. "I love you too, Petey," he replied.
They hugged for a few more seconds before Ted pulled away again. "Alright, enough of that," he joked, before adding, "I better get back to work. You gonna be good by yourself for a bit?"
Pete rolled his eyes. "I'm eighteen, I can handle myself."
Ted held up his hands in response. "Okay, just asking!" With that, he walked back to the studebaker and drove off.
But as he drove, he remembered something. Richie was the nephew of someone he worked with. That someone was his best friend, Paul.
Ted didn't know how to talk to Paul. When he got back to the CCRP building, he avoided his coworker entirely. What was he supposed to say to him? He didn't know if Paul even knew about what happened to Richie. Then, he heard him get a phone call.
"CCRP Technical, this is Paul," he heard him say, "Rachel? What's going on? No, I haven't heard about Richie. Why, what's-" He went silent for a moment. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay, I'll let you go now. Bye, Rachel."
After that, Ted heard Paul go back to typing, but that wasn't the only thing he heard. There was also a faint sound of sobbing. Paul was crying, and Ted knew exactly why. He wanted to do something, but would Paul even accept help from him? Their friendship wasn't exactly two-sided.
Ted considered it for a little longer, and then said, "Screw it," and walked over to Paul's cubicle. He knocked on the wall a couple times before standing in the doorway.
Hearing the knocking, Paul hastily wiped the tears from his eyes. He didn't want anyone to see that he was crying. Then he'd have a bunch of people asking if he was okay. And while he did want to talk to someone about it, he didn't want everyone asking about it.
When he turned his chair, he saw Ted, who was the last person he wanted to talk to. Still, he tried to show basic manners. "Hey, Ted, did you need something?"
"No, I just wanted to talk," Ted replied, and tried not to notice Paul look more disappointed. "I heard about what happened to your nephew."
At first, Paul wanted to ask why. Then, he remembered that Richie was friends with Peter, Ted's brother. "Okay," he said simply.
"And... I figured that you might want to talk to someone about it."
Paul was surprised. Ted wasn't exactly the "talk about it" kind of guy. If he was gonna have a vulnerable conversation, it would be about him. So why did he suddenly want to help Paul talk through his issues?
"What do you want, Ted?" Paul asked.
Ted raised an eyebrow. "Nothing. I just want to make sure you're okay."
Paul stood up from his chair. "Are you feeling okay?" He came closer to his frenemy. "You aren't acting like yourself."
"Stop deflecting," Ted answered, "C'mon. Talk to me, Paul."
"You stop deflecting. Why are you being so nice to me?"
"I just-" Ted glanced around, as if making sure no one was listening. "You won't tell anyone what I'm about to say, will you?"
"Sure. I won't say anything."
"Alright. The truth is... I was thinking about if what happened to Richie happened to Pete. And I knew how awful that it would feel, and I realized: That's probably how Paul feels. I don't want Paul to feel that way."
Paul was not prepared for that answer. He hadn't expected Ted to be thoughtful. Sure, he could be nice in his own sleazeball way. But this, this was genuine, in a way that Paul never would have expected.
"So," Ted continued, "do you want to talk about it or not?"
Paul slowly nodded, because he really did want to talk to somebody. "Richie and I were pretty close. His parents are divorced, and when both of them became too much for him, I let him stay in my spare room. They became too much for him a lot.
"He was so passionate about his interests. Whenever we talked, he kept making references to some anime or another. He could be pretty blunt, too. The way he just wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind to his friends, it was admirable."
By now, tears began to flow down his face. "I tried to give him a system of support, because I wasn't sure if he had that anywhere else. He would talk to me about how he was bullied at school. And he told me that it was nice to be able talk about that stuff. Y'know, with everything he told me, I never would have thought that someone would..."
When Paul cut himself off, Ted wondered if there was more that could be said. Maybe Paul didn't want to talk about it anymore. "We can stop talking if you want," Ted said.
Paul shook his head. "No, this is actually helping," he replied, before continuing, "For the longest time, Richie wasn't very close to his twin brother, Trevor. Now, they interacted every day, and sometimes they would hang out. But Richie didn't want to be vulnerable in a close relationship. He was scared of what Trevor would think about the him he showed his closest friends.
"That was, until those two weeks where things began to turn around at the school. Richie figured that things were better and nothing would stop them from being close. Well, lot of good that did."
When he finished what he was saying, he looked back at Ted. "I guess I'm just not sure what I should do now."
Ted thought about everything that Paul told him. Then he said, "Well, the first thing to do is to let yourself be sad about it. You can't move on from your grief if you don't get to feel it."
"Also," he continued, "keep part of what he brought to your life with you." He tried not to think about Jenny, and how he became what she wanted when he lost her. "Is there anything Richie made you want to do?"
Paul thought for a second, then remembered one thing. "Well, he did try to get me to ask out that barista from Beanies," he said, almost embarrassed to admit it to Ted.
"The crabby one?"
"Yeah..."
"Then you should!" Ted exclaimed. "Today, after work. You've been looking for a reason to be confident. Richie can be your reason."
Paul nodded again, repeating, "Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, you're right. I never thought I'd say this, but thanks, Ted."
"No problem. And remember, don't be telling everyone about this. I have a reputation to uphold."
"I won't. I promise," Paul replied, trying not to laugh. He felt lucky to see this nicer side of Ted.