#ted tries to mess with pete when steph is around

[alieonya]

ted having no real friends or emotional attachments outside of his brother, and maybe their parents. he has a soft spot for peter, even if it’s in his nature to tease him—but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or worry about him.

because of that, ted is so protective of peter when he learns that his little brother is being bullied and outcasted, he almost stays up all night just seething over how much he wants to beat the shit out of any shit starter that fucks with his brother.

(but he rationalizes that there’s no way he could protect pete if he went to jail for kicking some kid’s ass, even if he wants to fight a child as a sign for other kids to stay away from pete)

when pete befriends richie and ruth and ted learns about this, it eases his mind to know he at least has friends, even if the duo are rowdier than pete. he’s kinda proud that pete is the lead in their group, even if it’s coincidental.

when they both die, ted definitely hears about it from the news and pete. he fears for pete’s sake, both physically and emotionally, because those were his first friends that ended up sticking around for the longest time.

then stephanie comes along, and at first ted is most suspicious of her since she indirectly caused pete to get beat up for trying to meet up with her, and she’s “popular” from what pete has said. but he witnesses/hears how well they get along when she comes over, or how they become protective of one another, and ted begins to trust her.

(if anything, he ends up trusting her the MOST out of everyone pete knows because she’s so outspoken and willing to stand up for his little brother, and she’s a bit of a rebel, which ted finds entertaining—this is a shock to steph if she learned how ted felt, but it is appreciated)

to an extent, grace could be considered a friend of pete’s too, especially because at the end of the musical she tells both steph and pete about her homecoming date with jason, despite how much their personalities differ and the possibility of them being friends is slim at first.

ted may not be able to protect pete from everything, or be around him 24/7, but learning he has a safe space in the end and people around him that care. ted is so proud of him, and so grateful that pete won’t be as alone as he is, and that he’s happy.

and ultimately, that’s all ted wants for his little brother. :(

[rhondafromhr]

More ideas/headcanons for the ‘Nerds Corruption AU’

Link to the original post for those who aren’t familiar: https://www.tumblr.com/rhondafromhr/738012368733356032/dont-get-me-wrong-i-love-max-redemption-arcs-in

-The LIB adopt their human forms after the first time Max, Steph and the nerds summon them and RELENTLESSLY make fun of their true/eldritch forms. “our real forms would melt your minds” yeah sure whatever you need to tell yourself Pokey

-Tinky tries to use having Ted in the bastard box as leverage against Pete, but he just doesn’t care because that’s not his brother, it’s some other Pete’s brother from another timeline so it’s not his problem.

-Once everyone in the group starts acting like an agressive bully the way Max does, Grace finds herself attracted to all of them and has a crisis over it.

-At some point Max tries to apologize for before (“sorry for bullying you guys all these years, you never deserved that, everyone we’re currently bullying does but you didn’t.”) Now that they’re all literal monsters too they just dismiss him like “don’t apologize, we get it now, the power trip is fucking awesome!“

-Max’s signature move of using anti-bullying slogans to justify and get away with bullying is their favorite. They always tell Max how smart he is for coming up with it.

-They decide Kyle can date Brenda now but plot twist! Brenda leaves him for Ruth. Ruth taunts him for this every chance she gets and purposely makes out with Brenda in locations where he’ll have to walk by. Cue Kyle sobbing in the bathroom while Jason comforts him, leading to one of very few sweet, wholesome scenes we get in this universe.

-Ruth is confident enough to perform now, which obviously means they need to sabotage the lead in The Barbecue Monologues so she can take the role. They either just straight up intimidate them into quitting or frame them for vandalizing the school and get them expelled.

-One day Pete randomly remembers the time Brad Callahan pantsed him and he and the rest of the crew just drop what they’re doing to go beat him up. When they get called into principal Blim’s office they tell him they did it because Brad was picking on Hannah Foster earlier (“what do you want us to do? Stand by and do nothing? Being a bystander is just as bad as bullying, we learned that at the anti-bullying assembly!”) Brad has been known to do that so he believes them and lets them off with a warning. When word gets around people actually do mess with Hannah a lot less.

- (already mentioned this in a separate post but I’ll put it here too) after graduation Max, Steph + the nerds run an anime/comic book store together and Richie’s the only one who knows or cares about any of it. He’s rude and condescending to customers, everyone else is not knowledgeable and completely unhelpful, Grace tells every customer they need to go read a bible instead. They have like 1.5 stars on yelp but stay in business because the next closest similar store is in Clivesdale so nobody’s going to go there

-At some point Linda Monroe comes in and sees the gang being rude to Becky Barnes, so of course she takes an instant liking to them. She becomes an investor in the store and sort of a mother figure to all of them. She encourages their bad behavior, giving them tips for manipulating people in a more sophisticated way. Max and Steph get especially attached to her (the three bond over their dad issues) and they go to her house once a week to drink wine and and hear all the hot gossip about Linda’s rich frienemies.

-When Roman finds out about Linda’s new investment he comes to check out the store and he’s as icy towards her as usual. True to form, Max, Steph and the nerds say the rudest, most out of pocket stuff to him (Richie goes after his appearance HARD, not realizing the irony that he looks pretty similar) and eventually he storms off. Linda’s touched that they stood up for her. She cries and tells them how proud she is. Max and Steph cry a little too because this is the first time a parental figure’s ever told them that. After this they become obsessed with impressing Linda so they can hear it again.

-Grace babysits Linda’s kids sometimes and Linda pays her an outrageous amount due to being so out of touch with regular babysitting rates (“it’s one banana, what could it cost, ten dollars?” energy). Grace refuses to babysit for Tom anymore because he can’t match these rates. One night he can’t find any other sitters, so he tries to cancel on Becky but she suggests they spend a night in with Tim instead, leading to some nice family bonding (okay there can be one more cute wholesome moment, I’ll allow it.)

-They’re rivals with Frank Pricely. They hate him because Toyzone cuts into their merch sales. He hates them back for stealing Linda, who used to drop thousands per week at his store. They always scheme to screw each other over. Black Friday doesn’t happen in this timeline solely because they pay Lex to destroy the entire shipment of wiggly dolls. This is also what gets them on the LIB’s radar, Wiggly is absolutely furious.

- (This one relates to the popular “Paul is Richie’s uncle” headcanon) At some point, Paul is at his wit’s end with Richie and makes him move out in the hopes it’ll force him to reevaluate his life and stop being so awful. He doesn’t just throw Richie out, he gives him a timeline and helps him find a place. But he’s not sure if he did the right thing. He mentions this to Ted at work and Ted says his parents did the same to him and he’s totally well-adjusted. Paul just gives him a look and says “Ted…no.” This is the catalyst for him getting involved with the group and eventually getting his own corruption arc.

-After moving out, Richie becomes roommates with Max and Ruth. Steph and Pete have a luxury apartment together downtown (Solomon pays for it because he can’t deal with her anymore and wants her out of his house). Grace has a two bedroom apartment to herself - she had a roommate at one point, but they got fed up and left. Luckily she can afford it with her cushy babysitting gig.

[thehatchettownchronicles]

No Flowers On My Bones - 2

MASTERLIST

Content Warning: character death mention, grief, poor self image, poorly translated Polish, Ted being Ted

🥀🥀🥀🥀

Steph hadn’t been able to sleep. Believe her, she wanted to. She tried. Really, she did. But tomorrow came, and left sleep behind. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, having been awake the whole night. She sat on the Spankoffski’s couch, knees curled into her chest. They’d let her stay over more often than not after everything. She didn’t want to be alone in fhe manor more than necessary. Being the gentleman he was, Peter had opted to sleep on the couch, but Stephanie refused. She knew that she wanted some time to process, and she wanted Pete to be comfortable.

Her hair was disheveled, and she wore no makeup for once. She wore a pair of pajama shorts and one of Pete’s old t-shirts from a summer camp he got sent to. It was a hideous thing, bright blue with black lettering reading “Virginity Rocks.”

In her mind’s eye, Steph thought she looked like a dumpster fire.

She sure as hell felt like one.

Her mind had plagued her with unending memories of her dad. Both when he was alive, and memories from that night. She wondered, could things have gone differently? Could he have still been here if she hadn’t ran?

Was this her fault?

Who was she kidding, it had to be her fault. Her fault for going along with Chastity’s plan, her fault for asking Pete to go to Pasqualli’s, her fault to ask him to cheat on that test…

But she didn’t regret Peter. No, in her eyes he was the one good thing to come out of this.

But Steph didn’t deserve Pete. That’s what she genuinely believed. She’d cost him a normal life, she’d cost him his two best friends. Even now, she couldn’t imagine how he could love her after everything. But he did.

•••

The words had been quietly exchanged after Richie’s funeral. Pete had broken before they got to the car, crying. It had broken Steph’s heart. She held him close, comforting him, letting him let out his emotions. His eyes had been puffy and red, and his face was caked with salty tears. Steph did her best to soothe him and dry his eyes, cooing soft reassurances at him. She took his glasses off so they wouldn’t get smushed, and placed them on her head, pushed up so she could still see.

After hesitating for a bit, Steph had pulled Peter down so she could kiss his forehead, and gently held him. Pete had pressed his face into Steph’s shoulder, his hands on her waist.

That was when he’d uttered the words, “….I love you…”

“I love you too, Petey….” she had whispered back.

And she had meant it.

•••

Steph stared off, eyes practically burrowing holes into the coffee table. Yeah, Pete loved her, but he shouldn’t. Not after everything.

Peter stumbled downstairs with a yawn, his hair a mess. He wore a goofy pair of Star Wars pajama bottoms, and an old navy blue tanktop. If it were any other time, Steph would have quietly admired the fact that he was kind of jacked, but she barely even registered his presence.

And Peter took no offense to this. One glance at her showed him that she wasn’t in great shape. And he didn’t blame her. No, Pete had been an itter trainwreck after Ruth and Richie’s funerals. If he was being honest, he still wasn’t okay. He got a pot of coffee started for his family and Steph. His blood sugar was okay for now, so he’d wait to make his hot chocolate.

Instead, as the coffee pot started going, he moved to the couch, settling beside Steph. She started slightly, snapped out of her thoughts. Pete gave her that awkward, sweet smile of his and held out his arm to offer her a hug.

The corner of Steph’s lips quirked up slightly.

She slowly nestled herself into Pete’s side, letting him wrap his arms around her. Steph draped her legs over Pete’s lap, and rested her cheek against his shoulder. His thumbs rubbed small circles into her skin, and he sighed as he placed his chin on the top of her head.

“…You didn’t sleep, did you.”

“Nope.”

“I didn’t either, after Ruth and Richie’s funerals.”

Steph pressed a small kiss to Pete’s shoulder.

“I feel gross, Pete.”

“You look beautiful though.”

“Sure don’t feel like it.”

Peter pulled back a smidge, moving to cup Steph’s cheek in his palm. He ran his thumb along her cheekbone, and looked her in the eyes.

“Maybe you don’t feel like it, but I’m looking at the prettiest girl in all of Hatchetfield,” he murmured, softly.

Steph’s heart melted a little bit, his words filling her head with cotton.

Peter pressed a kiss to her cheek before moving her to snuggle into him once more. She relaxed a bit, enjoying the moment.

That is, until Ted came down the stairs with a big yawn, shirtless and hairy as ever.

“Mornin’ lovebirds,” he greeted, scratching his chest as he headed into the kitchen to get himself some coffee.

Pete cringed. “Dude. Put on a shirt, nobody wants to see that,” he said, moving a hand to dramatically cover Steph’s eyes.

Steph giggled as she heard Ted scoff and pour himself some coffee.

“I think several of the fine ladies of Hatchetfield would have to disagree with you there, kiddo,” Ted shot back. “Jesteś po prostu zazdrosny, że nie masz tak seksownego ciała.”

“Theodore jesteś odpychający.”

“Guys, I don’t speak Polish stop it,” Steph said, lightheartedly as she removed Peter’s hand from her eyes.

Pete stifled a laugh.

“Stephanie, if we’re switchin’ languages like that, it means you don’t need to know,” Ted said, shooting a cryptic smirk at Pete.

Soon, Pete’s mom and dad came downstairs, and the house was bustling with life as the two went about making breakfast. Peter never let go of her, encouraging her to be a part of the conversation.

It was foreign to her, having such a lively home.