#grace chasity fanfic

[jklovesfandoms]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Hatchetfield Series - Team StarKid Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Grace Chasity/Stephanie Lauter/Peter Spankoffski, Grace Chasity/Jason Jepson Characters: Grace Chasity, Stephanie Lauter, Peter Spankoffski, Jason Jepson, Max Jägerman, Douglas "Duke" Keane, Miss Holloway (Hatchetfield) Additional Tags: the relationships are not super central to the story, Song Lyrics, Unreliable Narrator, Grace Chasity Needs a Hug, Grace Chasity-centric, Minor Violence, is it minor violence if one of them is already dead?, Possession, Ambiguous/Open Ending, excessive pronoun over name usage Summary:

Grace Chasity gives up what she cherishes most. Her chastity.

What is chastity but control over your own body? ~~~ Lyrics from 'the fruits' by Paris Paloma

[yourlocalabomination]

I am not immune to funny crackships.

+ Bonus

[dirtydudesmustdie]

I came across this fanfic where in the summoning, the lords in black are wearing the faces of those who died in npmd, Richie, Ruth, Mayor Lautor, Miss Tessburger, and Mr. Chastity whom Max killed when he went to inspect the house. And the three are faced with their dead friends and family, possessed by cruel, manipulative beings.

And I'm so not okay with Wiggly using sweet Richie like that alright

[whoareyoueventhough]

please enjoy this drawing I made to explain the next plot point in my holyghost fic

[teranova-00]

an idea perhaps (NPMD/ TGWDLM)

while i love love love fics where Ted and Pete are these super close brothers, I've been thinking recently about writing smth where maybe their relationship is much more strained. Ted and Pete have about a 17-year age gap. what if Ted left home at 18, leaving Pete before they really got to know each other at all. Pete for one reason or another leaves home to live with Ted around the start of NPMD. Ted still hears from their parents every now and then about Pete and how much of a little goody-two-shoes he is. And now, when he finally meets the kid, because of all the stuff going on with Max and getting to know Steph, his personality has done a complete 180 and Pete's nothing like how Ted was told he'd be like, already setting up a divide between the two of them. And rather than the events of NPMD being the main focus of the story, it’s Ted and Petes relationship that's at the forefront and how it grows and shifts. The stuff going on with Max being more of a backdrop and reason for conflict that further drives the two brothers apart, eventually bringing them together as they learn to trust one another.

idk just a thought :P

[rhondafromhr]

Ok I know Brenda wearing Max’s letterman in Workin’ Boys was just costume budget but hear me out: just like Miss Holloway and Wilbur Cross, they’re fated to fight to the death in every timeline (the exception being the NPMD timeline bc the nerds pulled that prank and interfered before it could happen) and each wins about half the time. In the timelines where Brenda wins, she takes the letterman as a prize assumes his position as the ruler of Hatchetfield High. She doesn’t really care enough to dictate who’s a nerd and who’s cool and whether people can date each other, so things are a lot more chill. Also in the Brenda wins timelines Grace is super into her bc she just senses that she had something to do with Max’s disappearance and that intrigues her.

[moodmoodthecrabking]

lautity fake dating-to-lovers moodboard based on they tell me they know best, got me on the edge by @moonmoonthecrabking

[courtfreakinmiller]

Mine All Mine - Angela Giartanna x Fem!Reader

warnings: kissing, possessive behaviours, implied future smut, mention of throwing up (think that's it but let me know if there is more)

words: 1617

I know this sucks guys, but just bear with me, I haven't written for a long time and I am still tryna find my vibe again. Hope you enjoy though :)

Mine All Mine

Jealousy wasn't an emotion that Angela was used to, at least not until the last few months. When Y/N joined the Smosh cast at the beginning of the year, Angela quickly felt something drawing her in. She felt lost when Y/N wasn't near her and only complete when she had her eyes on the girl. So she set out to make sure she felt the same. Whether it was offering to grab Y/N's lunch when she picked up hers, always laughing extra hard at her bits, or even things as simple as always asking for her opinions on her newest jokes, she was always making an effort. Y/N had no issues with it, though; she thought it was cute, plus it made her feel safe around Angela. They always looked out for each other, told each other everything, and considered each other their best friends. Looking back, all the signs were there, but it was only on that day that Y/N finally picked up on I.

The cast had just wrapped the shoot for their most “fun” Eat It or Yeet It episode, which Garret had called the All-Stars episode. They brought back some of the best and worst dishes for an hour-long special. Unfortunately for her, Y/N got stuck with the worst dish of the game. No one thought she could manage it, and they were right. One mouthful in, she reached for her bucket and spat it all out. She coughed and choked as she spilled her guts. In an attempt to give her some comfort, Courtney rubbed Y/N's back. The second her hand made contact, Angela's eyes snapped to it. Why was Courtney touching her girl? No one was allowed to be that close to her. Was there something going on between them? No, Y/N would've told her, right?

As everyone made their way off set, Angela grabbed Y/N by the arm and dragged her away from her conversation until they were alone together in a far corner of the building. Angela stood there with her arms crossed and her brows furrowed. They stayed in silence for a moment, neither daring to speak. Finally, Y/N broke it.

"Hey, Ange, you ok? You look a bit upset there. What's on your mind, pretty girl?" She brushed some stray hair behind Angela's ear. Getting a bit flirty always cheered her up when she was having a bad day. But today it didn't seem to do the trick because Angela's demeanour hadn't changed.

"Why was Courtney all up on you earlier? Are the two of you together? Why wouldn't you tell me? I thought we were friends." Y/N's mouth opened in shock. Nothing was going on with Courtney; why would Angela even think that?

"No, we aren't together; don't worry. If I ever got with anyone, you would be the first person I'd tell, I promise." Y/N smiled at Angela, trying to offer any comfort. She wasn't sure what caused this little outburst. Sure, Angela could be a bit clingy sometimes, but never anything like this. Then Y/N noticed how Angela was nervously fidgeting with her sleeve. She took Angela by the hand and gently rubbed her thumb. “What's going on with you? You know you're the most important thing to me, why are you getting all worried about it?” Y/N whispered softly to her friend.

“What if... what if I don't want you dating anyone?” Angela mumbled. Y/N stayed quiet, she was confused. She loved Angela, probably more than she cared to admit, but she had never acted like this before. “What do you mean?” Before Y/N could question it more, Angela surged forward with an urgency neither woman had witnessed before. Before she knew it, Y/N could feel Angela's soft lips on hers. Butterflies erupted in her stomach. She didn't realise how desperately she had needed this. Their lips moved together, as one. It didn't take long for Angela to brush her tongue against Y/N's bottom lip. She gasped, and Angela used that chance to slip her tongue in. They fought for dominance, but Y/N soon lost, not that she ever really had a chance. The two leant into each other, Angela's hands on the back of Y/N's neck, pulling her in.

The kiss ended abruptly, though, as Angela pulled away slightly. Y/N caught herself trying to chase after her lips, she made note of how pathetic it was and thought to remind herself in future not to do it. Angela also made note of it, however, her reasoning was the opposite. She liked how quickly Y/N submitted to her. “You are mine. Is that understood? I don't want anyone else touching you. I need to know that you belong to me and me only.” Angela muttered through gritted teeth. Y/N could only manage a nod in reply. She looked at Angela, her eyes like a lost puppy looking for approval.

Over the next few months, the two built a relationship. They kept it private, though if anyone really wanted to figure it out, they could. Not too much had changed from before, but now you would never see one without the other. They were attached at the hip and were always touching in one way or another, whether it was a hand on one of their backs, an arm wrapped around their shoulders, or just sitting so close that their thighs were pressed up against each other. It didn't go unnoticed—a clear difference in their behaviour—but it wasn't enough to raise anyone's suspicions.

Then the day that Angela had been looking forward to for months arrived. The Starkid episode of TNTL. It was supposed to be the best day ever. But stupidly, Angela had not accounted for all the extra people that would be around her girlfriend.

The filming began, and Y/N was seated between Chance and Mariah.

While they were sat on the stools, Angela noted how close they were. She saw how they would grab each other every time they laughed and have quiet little conversations between each bit. She could feel the anger and jealousy bubbling up inside her. When it was time to swap over teams, Angela pulled Y/N aside quickly to give her a warning before going to her stool.

When the other team started doing their bits, Angela quickly noticed that whenever Mariah was out, so was Y/N, and vice versa. She was already angry, but now it just felt like they were doing it on purpose. She knew she couldn't technically blame Mariah; she didn't know about Angela and Y/N's relationship. But Y/N was to blame. Angela had even been kind enough to give her a warning.

When the shoot finally finished, everyone decided to hang out for a bit. Mariah and Y/N were together the entire time. As the afternoon went on, Angela could feel her jealousy build up moment by moment. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't drag Y/N away without most likely outing their relationship, but she couldn't just let this go on.

Neither was a good option, but Angela soon decided she would invite Y/N over after work so they could talk about it (among other things, hopefully).

When Angela and Y/N were alone together, talking was not an activity they could manage much of. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. But Angela was determined to show the younger girl who she belonged to.

“Mine.” Y/N had barely made it through the front door before she was being pushed up against it.

“Of course, I'm yours, baby. Why would you ever doubt that?” Angela noticed the look of innocence on Y/N's face. She wasn't going to let this slide.

“Mariah was all over you, flirting with you, touching you, she was obviously into you. You just let her act like that. Were you trying to get a rise out of me? Cause it worked,” Angela growled, keeping Y/N up against the wall.

“No, I was literally just spending time with a friend, Angela. You always get so worked up about things like this. If you can't handle me just communicating with people, then maybe we should have some space. I need to be able to have a life outside of  you." Y/N shoved Angela off her. She walked further into the apartment and slumped down onto the sofa. Work had worn her out, and now she was coming home to Angela being like this.

“What does that mean? Are you trying to break up with me right now?” Fear was present in Angela's voice now. This wasn't what she'd expected to happen. She thought they'd maybe argue a bit, then ultimately settle it in the bedroom. Knowing she was at risk of losing Y/N made her realise that maybe she had overreacted a bit. Y/N sighed as Angela walked over to her.

“No, pretty girl. I could never break up with you. I think both of us are tired and need to chill out a bit. Come here, we can cuddle and put on a film for a bit. How does that sound?” Y/N the cushion next to her as she spoke. Angela smiled as she sat down on the sofa. While they were discussing what film to watch, Y/N crawled onto Angela's lap. It had been a while since they had been able to just sit together and relax. As Angela pulled the girl closer to her, she heard a small whisper come from her.

“Just to be clear, I'm still getting laid tonight.” And with that, Angela decided that this was definitely the best day ever. She got to keep Y/N, and she gets hot make-up sex for another one of their "not really an argument" arguments.

[unhingedhotchocolate]

If you’re a Hatchetverse fan that reads fanfic PLZ listen to this rec!!! It is the best fic from the fandom that I have ever read by far!!!

They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely (I'd show them the stars) by Haughtshit1 <- link!!!

Au where the events of npmd never happen. To put it in as few words as possible Grace has an awful couple of days and throughout them the fic dives into her past and introspects on her life. I cried multiple reading this. Not even just tearing up like full on sobbing every time. It’s so beautifullly done and has so much depth I cannot say how much I love it enough.

Letting you know it contains Steph x Grace in case you don’t like the ship. Though even if you don’t necessarily ship them I’d still give it a try. Graces internal conflict over this is one of many she has and it’s so amazing that I think it’s good enough for even people who don’t ship them to love it.

TW’s in this fic!!: Severe internalized homophobia, past homophobia, religious trauma, bullying, injury (I really wasn’t kidding about the days being bad 4 her), severe familial issues, past death of a family member, really just a lot of trauma in general for Grace.

I really hope you give this fic a try if you can! It’s so beyond incredible and it deserves more recognition!!!

[ratsarecute4]

Max, Steph, Grace, Richie, Pete and Ruth all find themselves serving detention at the same time. When the power goes out and a blizzard traps them in the school for the weekend, they have to work together to survive. But something is lurking in the storm outside, and it wants in.

⋆⋅•⋅⊰∙∘⋆ ❆ ⋆∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⋆

Written for @hatchetfield-bang

Art by @livestock-and-bibles

I'm also just now realising that between both my fics for this event, I wrote a combined 41210 words. If only I could always write this much!

[angelagiarratana]

Pre-show Jitters

cute, little, npmd story

Angela nervously paces back and forth backstage, her heart pounding with anticipation. She's about to perform in Nerdy Prudes Must Die, but her nerves are getting the best of her. Wanting some reassurance, she pulls out her phone and dials your number. As the phone rings, she takes a deep breath, hoping that you will pick up.

Sat in the audience your phone starts to vibrate in your lap, "Uh hold that thought Court." You rose from your seat and quickly shuffled out to the lobby, "Hi sweet girl, everything okay?" Anglea nervously chewed on her thumbnail, "Yeah, I'm just feeling really ah! You know?" You smiled at the thought of her calling you for emotional support. "I think that it's been a really long time since you've performed on stage like this and it's normal to be nervous." Anglea stopped pacing and smiled at the ground. "Either way, I've seen the work you've put into this. You are prepared, you are ready, you're going to do amazing Angela. You are the most talented person I know." Audience members shuffled past you, heading to their seats.

Angela knew the surefire way to cure her pre-show jitters was to get her hands on you, "Could you meet me in the back alley really fast?" Your smile grew 10 sizes, "Of course." You hung up and slipped out the door. When you turned the corner to the alley Angela grabbed your shoulders pulling you into a bone-crushing hug. Once the shock had fallen, you wrapped your arms around her waist, drawing lazy patterns on her lower back. "Hi honey." The pet name made your stomach erupt in butterflies, "Hi my Broadway star." Angela giggled and took a deep breath, breathing in your scent and warmth.

Angela pulled away and grabbed your chin, "Thank you." Your cheeks flushed, "No need to thank me. I would always sneak away for you." Anglea then saw what you were wearing, a homemade crewneck that said, 'Grace Chastity's girlfriend'. "Oh my god, your shirt Y/n!" You giggled as you watched your girlfriend gawk at your creation. "Wait look at the back!" You turned around to show a picture of Spork wearing Grace's butterfly clips. Angela laughed loudly before grabbing your chin again. She pressed a sweet kiss to your lips, wrapping an arm around your waist to pull you closer into her. Four kisses later, Angela was peeling herself off of you, "I need to go." You kissed her forehead, sending warmth directly to her cheek. "Go kick ass." She hugged you once more before disappearing inside.

"Everything okay?" Courtney asked as you returned to your seat. You sat down, and smiled at her, "Yeah, someone just had some pre-show jitters." Courtney smiled knowingly before returning to her conversation with Amanda. A few minutes later the lights dimmed and the starting notes played out.

After the show the Smosh gang took Angela and the cast out for dinner and a couple of drinks to celebrate opening night. Angela had been touching you in some way since the show ended, holding your hand, her hand resting on your knee while you ate. Angela showed her appreciation for you in many ways, but physical touch was a huge one for her. She could use physical touch to say what her mouth or brain couldn't.

"So you made this yourself?" Lauren asked as she sipped her drink, ice clinking in the glass. You nodded excitedly and let go of Angela's hand to show her the back in a photo you had taken earlier. While chatting with Lauren you could feel her looking at you, "One second Lauren." You looked at Angela, "Can I help you?" Anglea smiled widely, giggled a little then said, "You're my dream girl Y/n." The entire table either gagged, made some kind of disgusted dramatic noise, or awed. Angela went into defensive mode attacking those who gagged, "At least I'm getting laid, Shayne!" You laughed with Lauren at your girlfriend and thanked the heavens or whatever is up there for sending you, Angela.

[oo-delallymrcrow]

In Your Dreams, Jägerman

Alright, I’m on a new kick after watching Nerdy Prudes Must Die. And I am saddened that I couldn’t find any fanfics so again, if I want it I got to write it myself.

This is spicy so those under 18 DO NOT READ! I have warned you.

This has religious stuff, but mostly sex in a church.

“And I was thinking since you’re new in town and you come to my church now. You can help me stop the school dance.”

(Y/N) stopped at her locker giving Grace a look, “why do you want to stop homecoming?”

“Because (Y/N),” she huffed, "I run laps in that gym and I don't want to step on any wayward spunk when they dry hump in there.”

She makes a face at her choice of words and roll her eyes. “Only you Grace would stop a whole dance for that.”

Grace glared at (Y/N) as she closed her locker, “you don’t seem so on board with this (Y/N). Why is that?”

(Y/N) shrugged, “I just wouldn’t go and tell the coach to allow you to run laps around the school.”

Grace blinked at her like her words didn’t make sense.

“I’m still going to stop it.”

She just sighed and watched Grace walk away. She was grateful she at least had one person she new from Hatchetfield. Ever since her parents made her move here for their careers, she wanted to just try and fit in somewhere her senior year. She knew Grace from a church summer camp her parents made her attend.

Her parents and the Chasity’s had the same views with religion, while (Y/N) just went along with whatever her parents said. It was better to just nod along and say nothing then to start her “drama”, as her parents put it.

So she was proclaimed as the “good christian girl” by the students of Hatchetfield High. This new nickname has brought a different kind of attention that she didn’t think was going to happen. But come on what did she expect, there is porn.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little miss good girl herself.”

Max Jägerman. The jock and self proclaimed “god” of Hatchetfield High.

She groaned as she tuned around to see Max lean up against the lockers behind her. He grinned at her as she crossed her arms.

“What do you want Max?”

“I just want to know what my good girl is up to. Heading to class?”

“I am not your good girl Max.”

He pushed away from the lockers to step closer to her.

“Oh but you are. You’re saving yourself for special old me.”

She rolled eyes, “in your dreams Jägerman. And as everyone here knows I’m saving myself for god.”

If she was going to be called the “good christian girl”, she might as well act like it.

He grinned as she felt her back hit the lockers and he placed his hands on either side of her to keep her trapped there.

“Yeah, you’re saving yourself for me.” He leaned in close and whispered into her ear, “I’m gonna be your new god baby.”

She pressed her legs together and bite her lip as he placed a small kiss on her neck, under her ear.

“Fuck you Jägerman.”

“Wow, that’s not a very good girl thing to say.” He grinned at her as she stared back at him.

“Just go away and leave me alone,” (Y/N) pushed him off of her and went to walk away before turning back to him.

“And you’re never gonna be a god, Jägerman.”

She started back down the wallway when she heard him shout, “but I already am good girl!”

—————————————————————————————————————

(Y/N) sighed as she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling in thought. Still thinking about the conversation Max and her had.

‘God he’s so stupid, and hot. That wasn’t fair.’

She rolled over with a huff.

“Why is the hot jock the worst guy ever.”

(Y/N) glanced at the clock, 10:00. Ugh, she should sleep before she keeps thinking. She rolled over to the other side and let her body relax, closing her eyes.

——-———————————————————————————————————

Opening her eyes, she looked at her hands folded in front of her, kneeling in prayer.

She snorted with as she looked up and around, her face scrunched in confusion. The church she was in wasn't the one Grace's or her family went to.

It was a big cathedral, an alter in front of her with the Bible open. There were candles everywhere, making the lighting feel intimate.

“Hey there, my good girl.”

(Y/N) gasped and whipped her head toward the husky voice. The voice that she knew all too well.

“Max?” She whispered in shock as he walked toward her in a… priest uniform?

She swallowed harshly as he just smirked at her.

“Have you come here to confess your sins?”

She just stayed silent as he stopped right in front of her, looking down upon her like she belonged there. (Y/N) felt herself get warm at she tried to avoid looking at his groin right in front of her face.

“M-Max, what are you doing?”

He shushed her and placed his hand under her chin to make her look up at him. He grinned as she made eye contact, making her bite at her bottom lip. He groaned and knelt down on the floor so they were face to face.

She couldn’t help but admire him this close. His blue eyes looked dark with the way he was looking at her.

“Do you know how wild you drive me (Y/N)?”He whispered as he leaned into her. She let her eyes start to close as he got near, feeling his breath on her lips. She shook her head.

“I want you to say ‘no sir’.”

She gulped and opened her mouth to let out a shaky breathe.

“No sir.”

He smiled and chuckled, “thats a good girl.”

She let out a whimper as he pressed his lips against hers. His lips were soft and surprisingly gentle as she placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself.

‘Oh God. this can not be happening right now.’

She pulled away and placed her hand against her lips, closing her eyes. This was making her feel things for him.

Max grabbed her arm to pull her hand away, “whats wrong baby? I thought we were enjoying ourselves?”

(Y/N) looked back at Max. He was smirking again and she quickly stood up.

“Enjoying ourselves? Max we are in a church, we shouldnt be doing,” she threw her hand out to him, “this.”

He smiled and cocked an eyebrow, “I didnt see you complaining. I say that you were even enjoying it.”

He growled at the end of his sentence and (Y/N) couldn’t help the shutter that ran through her body. She quickly moved away from him toward the alter, trying to clear her head.

“Oh god, what am I doing?”

“Well if you’re asking? Then you should be doing me.”

She turned as he snuck up behind her to speak. She yelped as he lifted her up and pushed everything on the alter off of it. She gaped at the bible being thrown on the floor before looking back at Max. He placed her ontop and placed his hand on her thighs. She watched as he pushed her skirt up.

She felt like she couldnt breathe as Max slowly knelt down in front of her.

“I know that you should be on your knees worshipping me, but why not let your god reward you for such devotion.”

She tensed as he said those words to her.

“You’re not my god Max.”

He smirked up at her as he pulled her closer toward him, having her body lean back against the table.

“Oh but I will be baby.”

Before she could say another word she yelled out as he rushed forward and licked up her pussy.

‘Am I not wearing underwear?’

She couldn’t think after that thought because Max Jägerman was licking up her pussy right now. He groaned as he tasted her and sat back a little to run a hand up her thigh. He looked up at her and smiled as she watched him push a finger inside of her.

“You taste heavenly (Y/N).”

She groaned at his words and actions and let her head fall back. She let her body just feel everything that was going on. Moaning loudly as she felt him lick her clit and suck it into his mouth as he added another finger.

“Fuck yes Max. You’re making me feel so good.”

She couldn’t help but to run her hand through his dirty blond hair and give it a tug. He groaned against her and pulled away again.

“Yeah? Is your god making you feel good my dirty girl. Having me eat you out on this alter in god’s house.”

She gasped and snapped her head upt to look at him. He had an evil smile as she tried to breathe and shake her head.

“N-no. you’re not-”

“Yes I am,” Max’s face got serious as he slowed his fingers from moving.

(Y/N) whined and moved her hips to try and make him move again.

“Tell me I’m your god (Y/N).”

“No,” she exhaled.

He grabbed her thigh and pulled it close as he bite down. She screamed as the pain hit her at the same time Max started moving his fingers again, harder into her. He released her skin and smirked at the dark red amrk on her thigh.

“Tell me,” he growled.

He looked back into her eyes as she watched him. She could feel herself start to tense and the burning inside of her get hotter.

“Say ‘you’re my god Max’,” he said in a condescending tone, “and I’ll let you cum.”

She felt her mouth fall open as he leaned down to suck her clit back into his mouth. As she started to get right to where she wanted he started to pull away again. She quickly wrapped her legs around his back and gripped his hair into her hand.

“You’re my God! You’re so amazing please god let me cum! Please Max!”

He smirked against her and nodded his head as she looked down to see his eyes open up to look at her.

“Cum in my mouth my good girl.”

—————————————————————————————————————

(Y/N) shot up in bed as she cried out and grabbed at her blanket. She blinked her eyes rapidly as she looked around her bedroom.

She let out a whine as she fell back into bed and threw her hands to her face. She moved a leg and felt something on her thighs. She pulled up her blanket to see a pillow shoved in between her thighs and whined again as she grabbed it and found a wet spot on it.

“Great I had a wet dream and ruined my pillow.”

She threw it across the room when a knock came from her door.

“Dear? Are you alright? I thought I heard something strange.”

(Y/N) grimaced as she looked at the clock on her night stand.

“No mom sorry. It was just a bad dream.”

“Oh alright. Well better get up for school then dear. Don’t want to be late.”

“Alright mom,” (Y/N) sat up before her mom spoke up again.

“Oh and honey? Don’t forget your father and I are leaving for the Bible study weekend trip today so we won’t be home when you’re done with school.”

(Y/N) said a quick ok as she moved to get out of bed when it hit her. She gasped and threw her hands to her mouth as she looked toward the pillow.

“Oh fuck, I had a wet dream about Max Jägerman.”

[dead-meat]

1.1k word Richie x Grace Christmas Fic:3

@alivinghorrorcomedy for the idea :DD

[teranova-00]

I feel this rly encapsules Grace Chastity (another snippet of my npmd fic)

If this was anyone else he was talking to, he’d have guessed that they'd wanted Max to fall through that hole. But this was Grace Chastity he was talking to here. Sure, grace could be a bit insane at times, but she was still the same girl to petitioned daily to get the Homecoming dance banned because of the sinful threat that it posed to the students of Hatchetfield High just because of the simple fact that it was co-ed. This was still the same girl who carried a pink bible with her at all times and who owned a pair of baby pink Mary Janes with little pink bows. So, imagine Petes surprise when this same Grace Chastity lets these words fall out of her mouth.  

“I wanted Max to fall” 

[smilecult]

random thought I had about npmd

I’ve had this thought that no one else had talked about. So, we all know how max died. But I realized that when he fell he was in the same spot Pete had been when he jumped out to scare max. So I was thinking, and came up with a great fic idea! What if Pete fell instead of max? Would he come back? If so I think he’d come back in a similar way to max, except I think he would try to kill Grace since it was her plan. If anyone writes a fic about this pls tell me!!

[rhondafromhr]

Lautity shippers I’m working on something for you!!

Not done yet but I wanted to share this snippet of what I have so far <3

(Also content warning: it’s pretty brief but it does deal with homophobia/internalized homophobia)

Summary: When Solomon decides raising her grades isn’t enough to get her phone back and demands Stephanie round out her extracurriculars, she maliciously complies by joining Grace in her anti-homecoming campaign. After all, yelling at her classmates about spunk and trying to get their dance canceled won’t be very good for his precious public image. Grace is glad to have the extra help, but gets more than she bargained for when she starts to develop feelings for Stephanie.

Stephanie’s hands are twitching. Somewhere out there, somebody is certainly posting the worst, most horrendous take known to man on Twitter at this very moment and here she is without her phone, powerless to do anything about it. It’s such bullshit. Her dad said that if she raised her grades to a C average, she could have it back, but at the last minute he decided that wasn’t enough and demanded she start rounding out her currently lackluster list of extracurriculars. In her opinion, spitting cold hard facts and spicy hot takes online totally counts (it’s basically journalism if you think about it), but he emphatically disagreed. She has to do something she can actually put on a college application, which means smoke club is off the table. To make matters worse, she made the mistake of complaining to Stacy and Brenda about her predicament and they’ve decided she just has to join cheer.

“Seriously, just try the new cheer with us and see how you like it! I mean you’re pretty, you’re popular, why aren’t you a cheerleader already?” says Brenda.

“Uh, doesn’t it also require, like, dance skills and athleticism and enthusiasm?” Steph says with a skeptical look.

“Oh, you can learn all that stuff,” Stacy says cheerfully.

“Yeah, that’s great and all, but isn’t it too late to join?” Stephanie replies, increasingly desperate for some way to end this conversation.

“Technically, yeah, but I’m captain! I’m sure I can talk coach into making an exception for you,” Brenda says “seriously, just give it a try and tell us you don’t absolutely love it!”

“Do I really need to try it to tell you I don’t absolutely love it? I’ve never tried, like, squeezing lemon juice into an open wound, either, but I’m pretty confident I don’t like that.”

They both purse their lips in confusion, pausing just long enough for her salvation to arrive - fittingly enough, in the form of Grace. Honestly, the least she can do is help Stephanie out of this jam. Her inability to butt out and let people cheat on tests in peace is the reason Stephanie’s even in this situation in the first place. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she almost made them all complicit in manslaughter with that stupid prank. If Pete dove to catch Max even a fraction of a second later, she doesn’t want to think about what would’ve happened. Then again, Max’s brush with death seems to have humbled him and he’s at least been trying to be less of an asshole, so she supposes she has to give Grace credit for making Hatchetfield High a more tolerable place to be. Besides that, whether she likes it or not, they’re running in the same circles now. Steph’s been spending more time with Pete and Pete hangs out with Ruth and Richie, who hang out with Grace, so they’re stuck together, at least at lunch. To make things even weirder, Max has been joining them and those four have been letting him.

“Hey! Grace!” Stephanie calls with uncharacteristic enthusiasm as Grace rounds the corner, her “Homec*mming: don’t dance with temptation!” sign held high.

“Hi, Stephanie,” she says, eyeing her suspiciously “I assume you haven’t changed your mind about allowing that excuse for sin and debauchery to happen?”

“I, uh, you know what? Yes I have,” says Stephanie. Surprise flashes across Grace’s face before she hands over the pink glitter gel pen attached to her clipboard so Stephanie can sign. There’s something so strangely charming about the fact that she uses a freaking glitter gel pen of all things for this.

“Actually,” Stephanie says as she puts down her signature with a flourish “I was wondering if you needed any help with your campaign.”

It’s brilliant. She can fulfill her father’s extracurricular requirement and simultaneously make him regret ever asking her to do it. He’s constantly hounding her about not doing anything to smear his public image and hurt his chances of reelection. Joining Grace in going around school harassing all of her peers and telling them they’re going to hell for supporting homecoming is going to reflect very, very poorly on him. Not to mention how pissed off everyone will be if they actually succeed in canceling the dance. They won’t, but a girl can dream. What’s more, the Chasitys are fairly powerful members of the community and crossing them by suddenly ditching their daughter when she promised to help her is also going to make him look bad. It’s a lose-lose situation for her father and, therefore, win-win for her. See, she is pretty damn smart, no matter what he says.

Grace eyes her suspiciously. “You want to help? You? Why the sudden change of heart?”

Shit, how is she going to explain it? There’s no way Grace is going to believe she suddenly saw the light and became a prude overnight.

“I, just, uh, realized I wasn’t being very open-minded to your worldview. Think of it as a gesture of goodwill. Besides, we’re friends, right? Comrades. Classmates. Nighthawks. And Nighthawks gotta stick together, so if canceling the dance is really all that important to you, then what the hell- heck! I mean heck! I’ll help you out.”

“Well, it has been pretty lonely trying to do it all by myself,” Grace admits, “alright, I guess you can join.”

Stacy and Brenda have been watching this play out, periodically turning to each other to exchange bewildered looks. They only become more confused when Stephanie asks them to sign the petition, too. Brenda shrugs and accepts the pen, writing down her name in perfectly neat cursive. She’s stoked for the homecoming game and pep rally, but she couldn’t care less about the dance right now. It’s been two weeks since Max almost died or whatever and promised to stop bossing everybody around, meaning there’s nothing stopping Kyle from asking her out. So why hasn’t he? She’s been watching grand, romantic hoco proposals at lunch every single day and slowly losing hope that he has one planned for her. Stacy immediately follows suit. Steph and Brenda signed, so she’s obviously going to. She doesn’t want to be the odd one out.

“Wow, three signatures! That’s more than I’ve gotten the entire time I’ve been doing this! Steph, you’re incredible!” The way Grace’s face lights up is almost endearing and Stephanie has to admit that it’s nice to get some praise and recognition for once.

“Oh, we’re just getting started,” Steph replies with a faint, mischievous smirk.

Before they part ways to head to their next class, Stephanie finds herself agreeing to go to Grace’s after school. Apparently, if she’s serious about this, she needs her own sign to carry around.

“It’ll be fun, Steph,” Grace insists “think of it like arts and crafts!”

“My favorite,” Stephanie says flatly as they load Grace’s pink Schwinn into the backseat of her car.

It turns out that the Chasity household is all the way across town. Grace must be surprisingly athletic if she makes that commute on her bike twice a day. It sits in a cul de sac lined with near-identical two-story houses, complete with perfectly maintained green lawns and white picket fences. It’s exactly how Stephanie would have pictured it. At least it is until they go upstairs to Grace’s bedroom and she sees that the door’s been removed from his hinges.

“I know open floor plans are trendy right now, but this seems like overkill,” she says “why do you just, like, straight up not have a bedroom door?”

“Oh, I’m not allowed to,” Grace says as if it’s the most normal thing in the world “my parents are worried I might get up to some inappropriate activities unsupervised.”

“Inappropriate? You?” Steph says “what, are they afraid you’re gonna stay up until eight forty-five instead of eight thirty doing bible study?”

The joke is lost on Grace.

“No, Steph, really bad stuff! Like…” she pauses and looks around as if to make sure they’re alone, then lowers her voice to a whisper “…reading lewd magazines or touching myself.”

This explains a lot about Grace. Despite herself, Stephanie can’t help but feel bad for her. Along with that comes a slight, unexpected sense of kinship. She knows a thing or two about overly controlling parents. Sure, Solomon ignores her ninety percent of the time, but the ten percent he doesn’t, he’s always on her ass about something she should be doing or shouldn’t be doing or needs to be doing differently.

Grace’s small bedroom is immaculately clean and organized. It consists of a twin-sized bed in the corner with a pastel pink and blue quilt, a small desk and a largely empty bookshelf lined with only a small handful of church-approved reading material. Stephanie’s eyes are drawn to the figure of Jesus on the crucifix hanging on the door.

“What’s with the sweater?” she asks “is that some kind of obscure biblical reference I don’t get?”

“Oh, no,” Grace replies “I just knitted that for him ‘cause I think he needs to cover up. I get that he died for our sins, but he doesn’t need to have his nips out to do it.”

Stephanie stifles a laugh as they settle down on the floor with their posterboard and Grace’s impressive collection of colorful markers and get to work on her sign. To make things more interesting, she challenges herself to come up with the worst possible slogan and get Grace to approve it.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” she says, snapping her fingers “how about ‘homecoming? More like hell going.’”

“I like that,” says Grace “it really gets the point across. You’re pretty smart, Steph.” If her eyes water at that, it’s just allergies. Despite the cleanliness of the room, Grace must have forgotten to dust it recently. Yeah. That’s it.

Stephanie doesn’t get much sleep that night. With no Twitter fights to distract her, she simply stares at the ceiling until two in the morning thinking about the surprising amount of fun she had hanging out with Grace today and the glance she got into Grace’s home life that awakened a new sense of sympathy for the school snitch. Given how ludicrously strict the Chasitys seem to be, her existence is probably totally devoid of typical teenage mischief. She probably hasn’t so much as snuck out for a late-night convenience store run. It’ll take some convincing, but maybe Steph can change that.

God, who is she? Why is she lying here actually thinking about willingly spending time with Grace? The lack of screen time must be messing with her head. She always thought getting off of that cesspool of an app would improve her brain function, but apparently not. She needs her phone back, pronto. She just has to survive the next couple weeks first.

The second she wakes up, Stephanie realizes she’s going to fall asleep in class without the help of caffeine. She stops off at that singing coffee shop and gets her usual, a black americano with seven shots. She’s not sure they’re even legally allowed to serve that much caffeine in one drink, but they always indulge her. Being the mayor’s daughter does have its perks. On a whim, she decides to get an herbal peach tea for Grace. She double checks that it’s caffeine free and watches the barista vigilantly to make sure she doesn’t spit in it as it’s rumored they sometimes do here. It’s not like she wants to, but they agreed to touch base before class and it would be rude not to bring her anything. Solomon may be a shitty dad, but he raised her to have manners, damnit.

Grace is waiting for her on the steps in front of the school and accepts the tea almost cautiously, tentatively taking a sip once Stephanie reassures her that it doesn’t contain what she refers to as a gateway drug. Stephanie actually googled it once to try and prove her wrong and learned that caffeine is, in fact, technically a drug, even if she still doesn’t believe it’s a slippery slope to smoking “the devil’s lettuce” like Grace insists it is. No wonder she gets headaches when she doesn’t drink her seven shot americano. Huh, Grace might almost have a point.

“Oh, that’s really good,” she says brightly “I usually just drink plain hot water, but this is way better. I think it might be my new favorite. Thanks, Steph!”

Stephanie decides not to wonder why she’s so pleased that Grace liked it or why her heart flutters a little at the thought that it’s Grace’s new favorite. Maybe it’ll become her go-to order and she’ll think of Stephanie every time she drinks it.

“Alright, we’ve got like ten minutes before classes start, let’s get this show on the road,” Steph says. She sets her sights on a couple nerds climbing up the steps, engaged in a conversation about some TV show about a time traveling doctor.

“Hey,” she says “Rita! TJ!”

“It’s, uh, it’s Reese and PJ,” the one with the pigtails and the glasses says nervously. They both look a little terrified of her, which makes sense. She does run with the jocks and cheerleaders who were probably picking on them until recently.

“Right,” she says, trying to emulate her father’s constituent charming smile “say, you don’t want your tax dollars funding a school-sanctioned fuckfest, do you?”

“Steph! Language,” Grace scolds her.

“Uh,” Reese replies, clearly distressed and confused.

“We’re high schoolers,” says PJ, equally uncertain “I mean, I have, like, a part-time job at the bookstore, so I guess I’m technically a taxpayer? Look, is this some new type of bullying? Because it’s making me really uncomfortable, I’d honestly rather you just gave me a swirly and got it over with.”

“PJ!” Reese says “speak for yourself! I don’t want a swirly. I’ll take the weird experimental bullying.”

“Oh, perish the thought! It’s not bullying. We’re out here trying to save souls,” Stephanie says dramatically “as a wise woman once said, homecoming is just an excuse to dry hump in the gym. We can’t allow that such depravity and debauchery to take place. Not at our school. Sign this petition to keep the hallways free of sin and the gym floor free of spunk.” She’s actually having a blast hamming it up like this. Maybe she should look into drama club. She turns to look at Grace, who’s positively beaming and giving her two thumbs up.

“If we, uh, if we sign your petition, will you leave us alone?” PJ asks, shrinking back from Stephanie and hiding behind Reese.

“Deal,” Steph says, already handing her the glitter gel pen. She and Reese hastily sign and book it to get away from her.

It gets better from there. She catches Brad Callahan in the hallway and harasses him to sign, too. When he refuses on the grounds that Sarah Peterson agreed to go with him and they’re “totally going to get to third base”, she gets to channel her inner Grace and tell him he’s going to burn in hell. If there is an afterlife similar to what’s posited in the bible, she honestly does believe he will, but for entirely different reasons.

“Have fun letting the devil lick your skin clean off with his sandpaper tongue,” she calls after him. God, that was cathartic.

By the end of the week, half the school is thoroughly annoyed by her and Grace’s proselytizing and the other half have, by some miracle, actually agreed to sign that damn petition. Every day, she comes up with another excuse (reason. They’re valid reasons) to hang out with Grace after school. They have to make new flyers to hand out. They have to make pamphlets to educate people on the safety hazard of bodily fluids on the gym floor. Now that they’re getting serious traction, they have to discuss how to bring the petition to the principal and then, potentially, the school board.

It was only a matter of time before Solomon caught wind of all this and confronted her. She gets home from drafting their proposal for principal Blim to find him waiting up for her in the living room, a scowl on his face. It gives her slight deja vu for the day her precious smartphone was taken from her.

“Well, if it isn’t my October surprise.”

“Oh, hi, Dad. To what do I owe the pleasure?” she says mockingly.

“Don’t get cute with me,” he says “care to explain why I’m getting phone calls from your school about you trying to cancel the homecoming dance and yelling at your classmates about ‘spunk’?”

“You were the one who told me to round out my extracurriculars,” she replies with a smug grin “I’m helping Grace Chasity with her campaign. Haven’t you heard? Homecoming is just a disgusting excuse to dry hump in the gym.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Stephanie, I meant a real extracurricular. Volleyball! German club! Yearbook! Anything but whatever the hell this is!”

“What’s the big deal?” she says “you were so worried what people would think of my nocturnal activities when that rumor started going around and now it’s not an issue anymore. Everyone knows I’m strictly anti-sex.”

“Well, you’re going to knock it off this instant if you don’t want me to smash your phone with a hammer for real.”

“Okay. Done,” she says, pausing for effect before grinning evilly and adding, “oh, you know what. I just thought of something. The Chasitys are a pretty big deal in the community, huh? Pretty important in the church. They’re not going to be too happy with me if I ditch their daughter and leave her out to dry when I promised I’d help her, are they?”

Solomon throws his hands up and lets out an exasperated groan.

“You’re killing me, Stephanie!” he says “you’re killing me with what you’re doing!”

“If only, Dad. If only,” she says quietly, still smirking as he retreats to his study.

Grace climbs out of bed and stretches, feeling slightly groggy from sleeping in an extra half hour. Steph’s giving her a ride today, meaning she didn’t have to get up quite so early to give herself time to bike to school. She usually doesn’t mind it - she likes getting the fresh air and the way it quiets her usually racing mind - but it’s pouring rain today and she’d much rather be inside a warm, dry car. Steph’s company doesn’t hurt, either. She knows their relationship is strictly business, but she’s been having fun with Steph and she’s starting to think of her as an actual friend. She wonders if Steph feels the same way. She’s never had many friends before, so it’s hard to tell. She gets dressed, brushes her teeth, washes her face and even puts on some of that moisturizer Steph gave her to try when she complained about her dry skin. She goes downstairs and toasts up two blueberry bagels, spreading cream cheese onto them and placing one neatly into a Tupperware container for Steph. She always oversleeps and misses breakfast, so Grace has been trying to bring her something reasonably nutritious every day. It’s the least she can do with how much Steph has helped her recently.

Stephanie pulls up in front of her house and she climbs into the car, immediately relaxed by the feeling of the heat blasting and the sound of soft jazz playing on the stereo.

“I like the music,” Grace comments.

“Yeah, I thought it’d fit the cozy rainy day vibes,” says Steph.

“It is cozy,” Grace agrees.

“So, two hundred signatures, huh?” Steph says “did you ever think you’d get that far?”

“No,” says Grace “not in my wildest dreams. I never could have done it on my own. I’m nowhere near as convincing as you. If you can believe it, a lot of people say I come on a little strong.”

“What? No way!” Stephanie says in a lighthearted, teasing manner. “Maybe you do, but that’s not always a bad thing,” she adds after a moment with a rare fond, sincere smile.

The heat must be turned up a little too high, because Grace can feel her face flushing. They arrive at school and as Stephanie reaches into the backseat to grab her bag, Grace wonders what it would be like to lean in and kiss her. How soft her lips would be and whether she’d taste bitter from all that coffee she slams. Oh, heck. Oh, no.

She shoves that thought deep down into the recesses of her mind where it belongs. She tells Steph they should divide and conquer instead of sticking together today, claiming it’s because they’re running out of time and they need to cover as much ground as possible. She isn’t sure, but she could swear Steph looks a little sad. Despite her efforts, her mind keeps wandering back to that moment in the car as she traverses the hallway trying to collect more signatures at lunch. She’d give anything for some kind of distraction right now. Well, ask and you shall receive, as they say. Max approaches and, as usual, he brightens up when he sees her.

“Hey, Grace,” he says cheerfully, absolutely enraptured by her “what are you doin’?”

“Hi, Max,” she says absently, too wrapped up in her current crisis to scold him for leering at her like that “getting the dance canceled, same as usual.”

“Where are you headed? Maybe I could, uh, carry your books for you? If you want. No pressure. Or we could just walk together,” he says with a bright, hopeful smile.

“Max, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, we’re way too young for that! Besides, if you don’t change your ways, you’re already hellbound. You don’t need to make things worse for yourself by associating with a sinner like me.”

Max furrows his brow in genuine confusion. “What are you talking about? You’re, like, the biggest prude in school.”

She feels tears pricking at her eyes. “That’s really sweet of you to say, Max, but you don’t understand. I think I like someone. Like, like-like them.”

“Is it me?” he asks, a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks. She gives him an incredulous look.

“No,” she says. His face falls slightly, but there’s no time to dwell on his disappointment now. Who the hell is this guy, anyway? He’s going to kick his ass- wait, no. No, he’s not. Grace is her own person and she’s allowed to go out with whoever she wants. It’s not this mystery dude’s fault if she likes him and not Max.

“That’s the thing,” she continues, “that someone’s a girl, too!”

The tears flow freely now and she begins to sob quietly. Max’s eyes go wide and he freezes up like a deer in headlights. He has no idea how to handle this. Until recently, he made people cry on a near daily basis, usually deliberately. Getting them to stop crying, on the other hand, is uncharted territory.

“Aw, Grace, c’mon, don’t cry,” he starts. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t do much. “I’ll sign your petition! I’ll make everybody sign your petition! How’s that sound? No homecoming! No spunk on the gym floor!” When she doesn’t even respond to that, he knows it’s serious. “Lots of people like girls. I like girls! Who doesn’t? They’re great.”

She sniffles. “Yeah, b-but you’re a boy. You’re supposed to!”

He pauses. “Well, I don’t bring it up a lot, but I like guys, too. See, you’re not alone. We’re, like, uh, what’s the phrase? Like two peas in a pod,” he says, trying to sound gentle and reassuring, which is also uncharted territory for him. She pauses and looks at him for a second.

“Oh, gosh,” she says and starts bawling even harder. He winces and realizes he’s in way over his head. It’s time to message Ruth and Richie for backup.

Grace is crying, plz help

He receives a string of incredibly graphic threats and knife emojis from both of them in response and adds, I swear I didn’t do it!! At least not on purpose!!

Yeah well there’s a difference between intent and impact bitch. Smh have you already forgotten the anti bullying assembly??? Richie replies but yeah meet us in the AV classroom, it’s empty rn

He leads Grace there and Ruth and Richie await them. She sniffles and takes a seat. Ruth hands her a water bottle and Richie gives her a small pack of tissues. He always carries some around to dab the sweat from his forehead. It’s not like they’re very useful for him, anyway. They usually end up disintegrating from becoming so soaked.

“You wanna tell us what’s wrong, Grace?” Richie asks.

She tugs at the sleeve of Max’s letterman, looking at him with red, puffy eyes. His chest tightens. It’s hard to see her like this, so sad and scared and drained. His face forms a puzzled expression as he tries to figure out what she’s trying to communicate until he finally realizes.

“Oh,” he says “you want me to tell ‘em?” She nods, still dabbing at her eyes with the tissues. “She’s sad ‘cause she likes a girl. But there’s nothing wrong with that, right? Who doesn’t like girls?”

“Uh, me,” says Richie.

“Oh, right, sorry, Richie,” Max corrects himself, looking a little sheepish.

“Preach!” says Ruth, raising her hand to high five Max. He enthusiastically returns it. “If girls loving girls is wrong, then I don’t want to be right! See, Grace, you’re not alone. You’re just like me. Two peas in a pod!”

Grace buries her face in her hands and starts bawling again.

He looks at Ruth and Richie with slight indignation.

“See,” he says “it’s not so easy, is it?” His point made, he turns to watch Grace helplessly. Grace, who was the mastermind behind the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for him, even if he did later find out that it was an admittedly well deserved revenge prank. Grace, who didn’t have to be his friend and probably shouldn’t even be giving him the time of day after the way he treated her, but still does anyway. Grace, who’s usually so opinionated and snarky and passionate, always fired up about something and never shy about it, regardless of what other people think.

He’s been learning to accept that he can’t control every little thing. That trying to have power over everything and everybody was deeply unhealthy and all it really accomplished apart from a fleeting power trip was making everybody miserable and secretly resentful of him. It’s hard letting go, but it’s also been liberating. The powerlessness he feels right now is crushing, though. There’s nothing freeing about it. He can’t stand sitting here watching his friend break down because she thinks that some fundamental part of herself is wrong. He wants to fight the people who made her feel this way, but he suspects that particular list is too extensive for him to work his way through. What good would it do now, anyway? Maybe it’s finally time to take the advice of the exhausted, overworked second grade teacher who was definitely not paid enough to put up with all of his shit and use his words instead of hitting. Better late than never, as they say.

“Grace,” he says gently, not even sure where he’s going with this, but unable to stand the silence anymore “we’re, uh, we’re here for you, alright? It’s gonna be okay.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! No it’s not,” she cries in a strained, hoarse voice “even if it’s true that there’s nothing wrong with liking girls, my parents sure don’t think so! What’s gonna happen to me if they find out? They’ll probably make me go live at abstinence camp with the Jerries for the rest of my life!”

“Well, we’re eighteen, right?” says Ruth “they can’t make you.”

“And if they try, you’ll just come live with me instead,” says Richie “uncle Paul would be more than cool with it. He loves you. He says you’re a good influence because you don’t let me blow off my homework to watch anime and you make me go to bed before three in the morning.”

“Well, you need your eight hours,” she says with a soft and sincere, but tired smile “thanks, guys. That does make me feel a little better.” She tentatively pulls Richie into a hug, not caring about the stench or how damp he is. Ruth, of course, eagerly joins in, not about to miss the opportunity for human contact. Max stays put and looks at them with hesitation, not sure if they want him to join.

“What are you doing, Max?” says Grace “get in here.” Well, that answers his question. He still holds back, watching Ruth and Richie for their reactions.

“It’s only fair,” says Richie with a smirk “you did make her cry.” He scowls, but there’s no real malice behind it. He comes over and wraps his arms around them tight.

With Grace sufficiently cheered up, there’s still one question on everyone’s minds.

“So, who’s the lucky lady?” says Ruth “wait, it’s not me, is it?”

“What? No,” she says, her signature snark finally making a comeback.

“It’s okay, Ruth. I got shot down, too,” says Max “two peas in a pod!” They high five again.

“It’s Steph,” she finally admits.

“Makes sense,” says Richie “she is waifu material.” Ruth nods in agreement.

“Waifu material?” Max asks, furrowing his brow in confusion again. Richie places a hand on each of his shoulders and looks at him with an intense, solemn expression.

“I have much to teach you,” he says “come over after football practice, we’re watching all the classics. We’ll start you off with Ouran, I feel like it’s pretty approachable for a beginner.”

Ruth grabs his arm. “What? No fair, I still haven’t gotten to show him Star Wars. Come over to mine, Max, we’re watching the prequels.”

“The prequels, Ruth? Seriously? As if subjecting him to the trilogy isn’t bad enough.”

“Well, what do you know, you won’t even sit through one episode of Clone Wars with me!”

As they continue to bicker, a warmth blooms in his chest. They actually want to spend time with him to the point of arguing over who gets to. They want to be around him when they don’t have to. They like him. They’re not just sticking around out of fear. They trust him enough to invite him into their homes. To ask him to share in the nerdy interests he used to make fun of them for. He smiles softly and pulls them into another hug.

“We can do both,” he says.

“Ugh, fine,” Richie huffs, but a reluctant smile tugs at the corner of his lips.

“Hey, Grace, you want to join us?” Max asks “oh, we should invite Steph and Pete, too!”

“Oh, I appreciate the invite, but I have my bible study group tonight.” That much is true. She is supposed to meet up with Mary, Gabe and Noah later to study scripture. She’s not sure she can face them after her realization today, but if she skips, her parents are sure to hear about it. Besides that, the alternative of joining them for their movie night and facing Peter is only slightly less daunting. It’s obvious that he like-likes Steph, too. She’s worried it’s going to make things awkward between them. What if Steph likes her and not Peter and he ends up getting hurt? What if Steph likes Peter and not Grace and she has to watch them hold hands and make eyes at each other and stuff down her heartbreak and pretend she never wanted any of those things?