Warning(s): unaddressed sexual harassment technically... this is a humor fic, but, yeah, a bunch of creepy alphas are creepy (Not Peter though, he’s charming) but this Is a humor fic soooooooo
Gif Aesthetic: Peter swooping in to be Stiles knight in shining armor
Summary: Stiles and Peter from the POV of an onlooker
On AO3
This was meant to be a 5 +1 type thing, but then it kind of got away from me. But ya, this is basically just fluff and crack.
*****
Claire let out a sound of frustration, looking between the three packages of pasta in their hands. One said whole grain, one said whole wheat and the other said multigrain. They just wanted a healthier option, but with there being so many options, they were so lost. Pasta was a cheap option that they could afford on their college student budget, but they didn't know the difference between all of the kinds of pasta in front of them. How were they supposed to know if what they were eating was actually healthy?
Claire grumbled again, about to just give up and buy ramen. They've survived two years on it so far, they could probably go for another two. If they kept pushing themself how they were now and graduated early like they wanted, that would be even less time their body had to keep running on ramen. Which was just another motivator to keep going.
Just as they were about to put the pasta packages down, a guy came walking down the aisle, pushing a grocery cart filled to the brim. The way he was looking around made it look like he was looking for something, and from the look on his face, he wasn't finding it.
His eyes looked a little crazy, clearly having been looking for whatever it is for a while. His short brown locks were pointing in every which way as if he had just rolled out of bed or had been pulling on it an awful lot. And he had the sleeve of his red flannel caught between his teeth, which Claire was sure would start fraying soon is he kept it up.
The guy dropped the sleeve from his mouth, starting to mumble as he did so. Claire couldn't hear about what exactly, but they picked up on a few words like "stupid wolf," and "needs a damn tracker." Finally, he stopped walking, looking resigned as he rolled his eyes and let out a sudden shout.
"Marco!"
Claire was about ready to call the looney bin, cause the guy, although extremely cute, seemed a little bonkers. But then, from somewhere in the store, the distant reply of "polo" was heard. The guy tilted his head as if assessing the direction that it came from, before his face fell into a glare. Then he turned to Claire, pointing a finger at them.
"That came from the wine aisle didn't it?"
Claire thought about it, and yes, it did sound like that was the direction it came from. They gave him a nod, not really knowing how else to respond to him. His glare hardened, moving to start walking in that direction, before he stopped again and turned back to Claire.
"What are you making?"
Claire blinked a couple times, completely lost on the guys thought process.
"What?"
"The pasta. What are you making?"
"Oh! Uh, I found a recipe for a creamy Caprese pasta."
The guy nodded, taking the multi wheat and whole-grain packages from their hand and putting them back on the shelf.
"Get the whole wheat one. If you're trying to be healthier, never use multigrain, unless it specifically says whole multigrain. There are no standardized regulations or definitions for the label multigrain, so it can be added to any packaging as long as the food inside it contains more than one type of cereal grain. Something can be multigrain and still be processed, bleached, or refined in a way that removes any real nutritional value.
"The whole wheat label means the wheat in that product hasn't been refined so healthy components like endosperm and bran are left intact. Unrefined products also have many more nutrients like B vitamins and trace metals like iron, zinc, and copper. This isn't to be confused with things that say they contain a hundred percent wheat, that only means it's completely made of wheat, not that said wheat is unprocessed. Along the same lines, something labeled whole grain is made of unrefined cereal, like barley, rice, oats, or flax.
"So just make sure to read your packaging and nutritional facts, some companies like to be sneaky with their wording so you assume you're eating something healthy."
As he was saying all this, the guy flipped over the pasta package in Claire's hands, pointing at the things they should be looking at. Claire just blinked a couple of times, trying to take in that knowledge vomit.
"Um, thank you. That's actually really helpful."
"No problem, I hope you enjoy your pasta. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go stop my husband from buying ten bottles of wine when we already have so many at home."
And with that the guy pushed his shopping cart out of the aisle, heading towards the wine. As he was leaving they could hear him, although the whole store could probably hear him as he wasn't being too quiet, talking.
"Peter Michael Stilinksi-Hale! I swear to gods, if you have more than two bottles in your hands, I'm letting Scott pick what's for dinner for a week!"
Claire just shook their head, a faint smile on their face, as they placed the whole wheat pasta in their cart. Maybe eating cheap healthy food wouldn't be too hard.
They saw the guy again when they were checking out, this time accompanied by who they assumed was his husband. Peter, if they remember correctly. They noted a few things. One, that there were, in fact, three bottles of wine in their cart, two, the guy was very aggressively and angrily placing his items onto the conveyer belt, and three, Peter had a very smug look on his face.
Finally, after everything was on the belt, and they were just waiting for the cashier to ring it all up, Peter slinked (yes, slinked) over to the pasta guy. He turned him around so they were facing each other, wrapping one arm around the guy's waist, and using the other to cup the guy's cheek. There was so much love in Peter's eyes, Claire almost felt ashamed for watching and intruding in on that moment.
He didn't say anything, and neither did pasta guy, they just looked at each other. After a moment though, the guy broke and gave Peter a small, private smile. He brought his arms up, wrapping them around Peter's neck, before placing a chaste, but clearly, heartfelt kiss to his lips. Peter smiled too, rubbing circles into the guy's cheek with his thumb.
"I love you, Stiles."
(Stiles! Finally a name, now they can stop calling him pasta guy in their head.)
"I love you too, moja miłość."
Stiles pecked Peter's lips again, before turning to pay for their groceries. Peter stayed wrapped around him though, pressed firmly to Stiles' back with his arms wrapped around his waist. They were clearly truly in love, which made Claire happy. It wasn't too often you saw true connections like that, ones that will last for a lifetime and then some. They could only hope to have something like that someday.
"Scott is still picking dinner for the next week though, dear."
Peter visibly deflated, a scowl falling onto his face. He just sighed though, obviously too stubborn to back down.
"Yes, sweetheart, whatever you say."
Stiles smirked, twisting his arm back to pat Peter on the head, which Peter playfully snipped at Stiles' fingers in return. Claire sighed longingly, handing over their debit card to the cashier as they watched them walk out, hand in hand.
Stiles slips in so quietly, that if it hadn't been for his enhanced hearing, Peter wouldn't have noticed him until the boy dives head first onto the couch. Peter glances over from where he's sitting on a chair by the kitchen island and puts his book down, and he definitely doesn't need any superpowers to realize oh, it's one of those days.
‘You come into the flower shop I work at every day and always buy a bouquet of flowers, only to have them delivered right back to the flower shop by the end of the day with my name on it, why don’t you just ask me out you weirdo’ AU