#nerdycule

Pete drops his pencil. sighing loudly. "I'm dropping calculus. I'm serious. It makes no sense." Richie laughs across the table. "You still gotta pay for the class, though. Come on, it's the last question, you got this."

They're doing homework together. College math might be the death of him, but having his friends to keep him sane while he stares at formulas makes him feel a bit better. Ruth hums next to him, leaning over to look at his paper. They've long since finished their homework, and Pete would be done too if it weren't for this stupid calculus assignment.

"Oh!" Ruth chuckles, putting her finger above Pete's equation. "You got the period mixed up, silly," she giggles. You put k on top, when you're supposed to put it on bottom. See the 2x here?" she taps the paper, "Your period would be 2 pi over 2."

Pete sighs, grabbing his pencil and erasing the graph for the last question. "Right. I think I've just looked at it too long."

He reworks it with Ruth's input, and finally it makes sense. He stretches his arms above his head and yawns.

Richie reaches his hand over, and Pete grabs it, interlocking their fingers. "Hey, you wanna watch a movie?" Richie offers. "We can watch 101 Dalmatians."

He hums. He's got a soft spot for that movie and Richie knows it. Richie's hands are colder than his. Pete should turn the temperature up and grab him a blanket before the movie starts, he thinks. "The 1996 version?" he teases.

The blue haired boy rolls his eyes. "Yes, the 1996 version. Even though the original is way better."

"And you're just wrong." Ruth pipes up. Richie gasps, putting his hand over his chest dramatically. Pete smiles at them.

Pete is about to get up and prepare the movie when he hears footsteps behind him.

"Pete? Who are you talking to?"

He turns to see Steph in her sleep shirt, an old rubbing her eyes. He frowns, looking back at the table.

They're gone. It's just him at the table. It was always just him. Richie and Ruth haven't watched a movie with him since the summer before senior year.

"Just trying to work through this calculus paper." Pete mumbles.

Steph steps over, putting a hand on his back and peering down at the paper. "It looks done to me, babe. Come to bed?"