(Guh platonic Richter how I love you 🥹 uh Richie user you can change that if you wanna idk 🫢 this is not exactly cannon and is before the musical, it also doesn't follow the fact that Steph and Grace join the group in senior year... yall are sophomores bee tee dubs! he's your CG and you're an age regressor which, again, IS PLATONIC AND SFW... freaks... slash negative... ⚠️TW: Family death, $H + $H recovery⚠️)

you and Pete have been friends since you can remember, your families were always close, you got along with his brother, life was good if Pete was your friend.

then, it happened, Shannon Lipschitz, your mother, Died of an overdose after an argument with your father the night before. Everything was fine leading up to that, she wished you a good day at school, even packed you lunch with a smile. But when you returned home, report card in hand, you found her in her bedroom. Her note blaming your father and apologizing for leaving you with him. You broke, only 13 and you lost your favorite person in the whole world.

since you were no longer safe with your father the next best thing was living with the Spankoffski's, Peter, and his older brother, Ted. They were broken when they heard the news and welcomed you with open arms.

it took quite a while for you to get yourself back into school, Peter helped you with that, as well as helping you clean up on the particularly difficult nights. But perhaps the biggest help, was when he helped you find a healthy coping mechanism, one that would stop you from reaching for that familiar sting. After a bit of research all signs pointed to age regression, you were intrigued, and good thing Peter loved to research!

you settle into the newfound mechanism, usually slipping when overwhelmed or just randomly throughout the day, and he helped, he was your safe space, your caregiver, you looked up to him as an older brother when big and father figure when little, and he couldn't be happier. He took care of you, made you food and bought you things on occasion, usually on the particularly hard days, he was very good at it too.

A few months later

You, Peter, Stephanie, Ruth and Grace are at the local mall, walking through the crowded building and in and out of crammed and stuffy shops, you were overwhelmed to put it simply. Pete noticed, he always noticed, you would stare at the ground, stick to his side, give him small glances. You were scared to mention you were slipping, normally you would, but you were with the whole group... and they didn't know yet, you were too scared to tell anyone other than Pete.

He takes your hand, giving a small nod as if to say "I know, I'm here." And gives a soft reassuring smile.

the group slows, standing in front of a hot topic as they wait for a small group of teens to walk out "you wanna go in, or do you want me to wait out here with you?" peter asks, voice soft and quiet as to not alert the others. He seems to forget Stephanie's amazing hearing...

"Is he okay?" she asks, making sure that Ruth and Grace, who are already looking around the store (Ignoring Graces complaints about its "unholiness")

Pete nods "Yeah, don't worry, he's just a little overwhelmed, go ahead in!" he tries to get her to stop worrying, but this is Stephanie Lauter we're talking about. She technically RADIATES mom energy. So of course she's not gonna just drop it.

"He looks a bit more than just overwhelmed." she replies "but fine... I'll... I'll go. Talk to me tho... okay?" she flashes you a small, sweet smile before turning and finding the two other girls in the shop. Leaving you and Pete outside to sit on the small metal benches outside of the hot topic.