#Alex goes over to Willie's the next day and admits his crush | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

legolasghosty · 4 months

Note

I love all the celebrity fake dating prompts! So hard to choose just one but how about for willex, the prompt: wearing each others clothes publicly to 'keep up the image'

And reason: To tick off a certain group that has been being jerks lately. (My brain instinctively thought to piss off the homophobes and stick it to the “fans” who refuse to believe that he is gay, but that is optional!)

- @beencryingfor25years

Hehehehe hello @beencryingfor25years, thanks for the prompt!!! The holidays have been a little nuts, so sorry for the delay, but here it is!!!

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alex asks, bracing the phone between his cheek and his shoulder so his hands are free.

"Duh," Willie answers on the other end of the call. "This is like dating 101. Honestly, it would be more suspicious if we didn't."

"But this looks ridiculous on me," Alex insists, tugging at the fabric that keeps brushing against his abdomen.

Willie laughs and Alex is glad it's not a video call. At least this way Willie can't see how Alex's cheeks are warming at the sound. Why did he decide to do this again?

"You're just not used to it," Willie responds. "Shoot me a picture, I'm sure it looks fine. Or just ask Julie, she'll smack some sense into you."

Alex sighs. "Fine, one second," he says. He removes the phone from his ear and flips over to the camera. It only takes a moment to snap a photo of his reflection, but that's a moment longer than Alex wants to be looking at himself. "There, happy?" he asks after he sends it.

There isn't a response at first. Oh no, Alex thinks. It must be just as bad as he thinks and Willie is trying to figure out how to tell him without being rude, because that's the kind of sweet person they are. But honestly, the tan and blue shirt that looks so nice on them just doesn't suit Alex as well. It's so awkward, even with the high waisted jeans Julie told him to wear with it.

"Alex, you look amazing," Willie says finally. Something in his tone sounds odd though, but not like he's lying. Alex can't put his finger on it. But it's definitely something.

"You sure?" he questions instead of pointing it out. "You can tell me if it looks bad, I won't be offended or anything."

"No seriously, dude, you look great!" Willie exclaims. Alex can almost picture their wide grin and the sparkle in their eyes when they're hyping him up for stuff. "Honestly, you look better in it than I do."

"That's a stretch," Alex responds, chuckling. "But fine. And fair's fair, now you gotta show me yours."

Willie giggles and Alex feels his heart speeding up again. Honestly, he should have asked someone less... incredible than Willie to be his fake boyfriend. Because this has only brought them closer together, and curse Alex and his everlasting curse of falling for guys that are totally out of his league.

But honestly, how could anyone not fall for Willie, at least a bit. He's funny and sweet and has a mischievous streak that terrifies and excites Alex in equal parts. Plus the fact that they're basically the prettiest person Alex has ever met. And the two of them have a lot in common, despite the fact that Alex is a pop-rock drummer and Willie is a gaming streamer. Even though they've been sort of friends for almost a year after a rather awkward run in at a convention, and pretend dating for just over two months, they still haven't run out of things to talk about.

So yeah, Alex has maybe developed a crush on his fake boyfriend. Which is a problem.

His phone buzzes in his hand, pulling him out of his head.

"There ya go, hotdog," Willie says.

Alex opens the message and... okay he is not having feelings about Willie in his favorite pink hoodie. He isn't. But Willie took more than a second on his picture. The selfie shows Willie in their gaming chair, dark hair loose around their shoulders, his legs pulled up and crossed even though the arms of the chair get in the way. And the light pink fabric of the hoodie in question is covering his torso in a way that is entirely too attractive for something that Alex has worn to bed a million times. Alex is 99% sure that if he actually walked in on Willie wearing that in person, he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to kiss them.

"Well?" Willie asks. "How do I look?"

Alex clears his throat, suddenly realizing how long he's been staring at the photo. "Um, it looks great, very, uh, boyfriend-y."

"Well this hoodie does seem to be made of boyfriend material," Willie teases after a second. "Gonna piss off some homophobes for sure."

"Perfect," Alex responds, laughing. "I mean, what's the point in this if we don't?" Which is something he has to remember himself...

"Alex, we gotta get going!" Reggie calls from outside of Alex's bedroom. "Quit flirting with your faux-boo and let's go!"

"One sec," Alex yells back. "Sorry, I've got to go," he says into the phone. "Content Day calls."

"Yeah I gotta prep for stream in a few anyways," Willie sighs. "But good luck!"

"You too, I'll hop on to watch for a bit if I have a break," Alex promises.

"You spoil me, baby," Willie responds. "Talk to you later!"

"Bye, Willie," Alex answers, ignoring the flush in his cheeks at the pet name as he disconnects the call.

Reggie gives him a smirk when he joins the rest of the band in the living room of their apartment, but Alex just shakes his head. Now is not the time to talk about his crush. They pile into Alex's van and head for their favorite cafe.

----------

A few hours later, Alex has almost managed to put the image of Willie in his hoodie out of his mind. But he has a minute to himself while Luke and Reggie are filming a little studio tour, so he pulls up Willie's stream on his phone. And... well. Yeah.

Alex.exe has stopped working.

Willie is playing some new farming sim at the moment and getting hopelessly lost on the map. He's laughing at the conflicting directions he's getting from the chat and Alex wants to be there beside him, enjoying that rush of joy in person.

Willie must recognize his username on the chat log, because he breaks off midsentence. "Hey, Lexi, you're here! Everyone, my boyfriend has decided to grace us with his presence for a few minutes, be nice."

The chat immediately goes wild and Alex can't help but laugh at some of the comments. He types out a quick hello message, then adds that he probably can't stay long.

"No worries, babe, I know you have your big fancy music job to do," Willie responds. "But I'm glad you're here. Anyways, does anyone know where I can find the blacksmith?!"

"You should talk to him."

Alex nearly falls off his chair onto the floor at the voice just behind him. He turns to see Julie looking down at him with a bit of a smirk, two bottles of water in her hands.

"What?" he says, trying to remember if he's forgetting some content thing.

"Willie," she clarifies. "It's pretty obvious you like him for real, and it sure looks to me like he likes you too."

"What, no, they're like..." Alex stammers. "I mean, Willie is way out of my league. He doesn't like me like that. It would just make things weird."

"Please, you're like a solid 10," Julie responds, smacking him on the shoulder with one of the bottles. "And they have a massive crush on you, it's so obvious."

"Their a good actor," Alex points out with a shrug. "It's a fake relationship, we're supposed to look like we're in love."

"Okay but you also stay up way too late texting," Julie counters. "And he knows your allergies even better than Luke, who has known you since before you knew about all of said allergies. You two have memorized each others' coffee orders, sensory icks, and medication schedules. I'm pretty sure he likes you back."

Alex sighs. When she puts it like that, it seems so simple. But...

"Don't give me that look," Julie adds. "Just talk to them."

"Fine," Alex groans. "I'll try."

"Andddd, here, in his natural habitat, we have the elusive drummer boy," Luke cuts in, bursting through the green room door with Reggie on his heels with the camera.

Alex heaves a more dramatic sigh. "Sue me for wanting a break from you weirdos," he teases, taking the water Julie offers him. "Are you almost done?"

"Just about!" Reggie answers.

"Then I'm going to go check my sticks," Alex tells them, disconnecting from the stream on his phone and heading for the studio.

He has to admit he's a bit distracted for the rest of the day though. Does Willie actually like him back? Is that even possible?

Only one way to find out, he decides during dinner.

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heliads · 3 years

Text

Lucky Number 6

Based on this request: “5 times Luke almost admitted his feelings to the reader (Julie’s BFF) and one time he actually does?”

masterlist

#1: The one time Alex and Reggie interrupt him

Luke’s heading over to Julie’s studio. It’s been a long day, and a pretty boring one at that. With Julie at school all day, he and the boys can’t really play as a band until the afternoon when she comes home. They had been distracting themselves outside the house, but Luke left to return back to Julie’s house because Willie showed up and he’s not really in the mood to watch Alex flirt with the skateboarder any longer. Reggie stayed behind, claiming that he was going to be a chaperone, but even that doesn’t really tempt Luke to stay.

When he shows up at the house, he notices that Julie is already inside the studio, talking to a girl who’s got her back turned to him. When Julie glances up and sees him, she gestures for Luke to join the two of them. “Luke! Good to see you! This is my best friend Y/N!” The girl- Y/N- turns around to face him, and in that moment Luke swears that time stops.

She’s beautiful. No, more than that. Gorgeous. Her eyes are warmer than a sparking fire, and they draw Luke in like the opening notes of a guitar riff that he’s been dying to play. Her smile is infectious, and he feels himself start to smile in return. He barely manages to stammer out a sentence. “I’m Luke. You’re-” He’s cut off as Reggie and Alex poof into existence, and the two boys instantly start talking over him in their rush to speak to Y/N. The words die on his tongue. You’re really pretty.

Luke feels a slight pang of annoyance that his friends would interrupt him at this moment, but as he watches Y/N talking excitedly with them, he realizes that it might have been for the best. What was Luke going to do, anyway? Ask Y/N out on a date when she’s the only one in the world who can see him? Y/N’s turned back to him, now, and the intensity of her gaze makes Luke feel like he’s caught in a strobe light. “Luke, weren’t you saying something?” Luke just shakes his head. “Nah, forgot. Nothing important.” Nothing important indeed. This isn’t going to go very well.

#2: The one time Julie interrupts him

The setting is a fairly large jazz club, home to throngs of people milling about and listening to the music of Julie and the Phantoms. Julie’s killing it on the vocals, of course, and Luke feels like he’s coasting on the clouds as he plays along on his guitar. The entire club is full of people, but yet Luke’s gaze keeps returning to one person and one person alone: Y/N. Before he knows it, the song is over, and he’s bowing in unison with the rest of his bandmates before poofing out of existence along with his guitar.

Luke notices that Y/N’s heading backstage, and so he poofs a few feet in front of her. She jumps, startled, then flashes him a grin. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.” Luke winces. “Sorry! Keep forgetting that randomly appearing out of nowhere isn’t normal.” Y/N laughs, and the sound makes Luke want to make a thousand more jokes just to hear it again. “No worries. By the way, you were amazing out there! You guys sound terrific.” Luke can’t help but smile at her words. “Us guys?” She nods. “You.”

Maybe it’s the pounding of the music overhead, or the adrenaline of performing, but Luke takes a step closer to Y/N. He watches as she tilts her head up at him, not backing away and maybe even intrigued. His heart feels like it’s pounding a million times per minute. “You know, Y/N, I-” There’s the sound of running footsteps behind him, and Julie jogs up next to the two of them. “There you are! I was looking for you guys everywhere!”

Luke realizes how this looks, the two of them inches away from each other, and he backs away quickly before Julie can realize what he was going to say to Y/N. What he’s been trying to say, but never got the chance. He scratches the back of his head awkwardly. “Well, we’re, uh, over here. Good work out there!” Y/N nods at this, congratulating Julie on the performance. Julie starts to lead her best friend away, but Y/N glances back one last time as if to apologize for not finishing the conversation. Luke can only stand there. How can he tell Y/N how he feels if he keeps getting interrupted?

#3: The one time when she’s into music too

Luke’s bored. School’s technically still in session, but he doesn’t have anything to do and so he shows up to Los Feliz High School anyway. Julie’s in the middle of a test, so he can’t bother her. Instead, Luke just wanders down the halls, idly making lockers open and close when he’s sure nobody can see it. As he rounds a corner, he hears something. It’s faint, coming from further down the hall. Curious, he follows it, and ends up finding himself in front of a closed door to a music room. It’s empty, except for one person seated at a piano. Y/N.

He can’t help himself, and Luke walks through the door to come to a stop in the room. Y/N’s bent over the piano, focusing on the piece at hand. It’s simple, certainly far less advanced than anything Julie’s been working on, but it’s beautiful and makes Luke stand still, watching with a slight smile on his face. A few seconds later, Y/N looks up, her hands falling silent at the keys.

Luke walks over, smiling. “I didn’t know you could play. You sound amazing.” Y/N grins, nervously straightening the sheet music in front of her. “I can’t, or at least not very well. Julie’s teaching me so I can accompany her if she needs anything. She says she wants me to learn because if I play her pieces, she can listen and find mistakes more easily. I’m not sure how much that really works, but I’ve been meaning to learn for a while so I figured I might as well go with it.”

Luke nods, heading over to the piano bench. Y/N scoots a few inches over, and Luke takes a seat next to her. He considers the sheet music propped up on the piano. “To be honest, I’m not that good at piano either. I was always more of a guitar kind of guy, but I’ll learn if you’re there with me.” Y/N beams up at him. “Sounds like a plan. There’s this one line, right here, that I’m having some trouble with.”

Luke nods, scanning the notes. He positions his hands on the keys, skimming just a few millimeters away from Y/N’s fingers. “I think it goes like this.” He plays a few chords, and she nods, brow furrowed in concentration as she tries it herself. Their hands move in tandem, his guiding hers to the proper places on the keys in a quiet dance to the music she’s playing. Luke realizes that Y/N understands the piece now, but he can’t quite convince himself to move his hands away. His arm is neatly wrapped around her shoulders, just a hair away from touching her.

The room is silent, and Luke realizes that she has finished playing the piece. He looks up at her, at the way her chin is tilted up just a few inches away from his own. He wants to say something, anything, but his mouth feels dry and he finds he can’t do anything but stay silent. Y/N blushes slightly, looking away. Just then, her phone rings, and Luke notices the caller ID displays her mother’s name. He unwraps his arms from around her. “I think you had better answer that. It looks important.” She nods, reaching for her phone. Is it just his imagination, or does she look just as reluctant as he does to end this moment?

#4: The one time he realizes he won’t be enough

Luke’s feeling determined. He has to say something to Y/N, to tell her he loves her. He’s been dancing around it for a while now, but he thinks at last he has the confidence to speak up. How is it that he can play with the band in front of massive crowds, but yet talking to a pretty girl makes his heart pound like a drum in his chest?

Y/N’s back at Julie’s house again, and they’re getting ready for another garage show. They hadn’t planned on doing any more performances at Julie’s house, considering that the Phantoms were so well-known that they could afford to play at larger venues, but Ray had asked and so the band would deliver. Y/N’s helping them set up, and Luke’s about to tell her how he feels. For real this time, no interruptions.

He rounds the corner of his house and sees her, the confidence in her stature and the smile in her eyes. It takes him a second longer to realize that she’s talking to somebody. Nick, that boy from school who’d had a crush on Julie. Guess he’d moved on. Luke hangs back, realizing that Y/N can’t see him from this angle. As he watches, Y/N laughs, hitting Nick playfully with the palm of her hand. They look so happy together, and get along so well.

There’s some difference here in the way she acts with Nick than with him, and it hits Luke like a ton of bricks. Nick’s right there, and he can be a regular, ordinary person with her. She can hit him playfully, can tap him on the shoulder, can take his hand and never let it go. Luke feels his ghostliness keenly in this moment, in a way he’s never felt it before. Will it always be like this, with him an undying outsider? Will he have to watch as she grows up and moves on from him, even when he can’t move on from her?

Y/N is starting to turn around now, and Luke quickly moves away before she can see him. So much for that conversation happening- he can’t see a future where she would ever want to be with him. Why would she, when no one else can even look at him?

#5- The one time there’s a miscommunication

There’s a crowded afterparty at Flynn’s house. Flynn had been proud of Julie and the band, and, not wanting Carrie to take advantage of the crowd’s high spirits, had hosted the party herself. Luke is here, although he’s not quite sure why. Nobody can see him anyway. In fact, the only reason he showed up at all is because Y/N had asked him to. He’d do anything for that girl, he knows that now. He doesn’t even know where she is, and he’s still here. Luke’s head is starting to pound from all of the noise, and he heads out to a quiet room out back to let his thoughts settle.

There’s a quiet noise behind him, and he turns to see Y/N standing next to the door. She smiles at him. “Not quite enjoying yourself?” Luke shrugs. “It’s kind of hard to appreciate the party when you’re not really there to everyone else.” Y/N smiles. “You’re here to me, Julie, and your bandmates. You can still hear the music. Isn’t that enough to make it different than most nights?” Luke smiles slightly in spite of himself. “You’re right. I apologize.” He looks at Y/N with an obviously feigned pout that makes her giggle.

Y/N considers the red plastic cup in her hands, then looks at Luke through eyes that have suddenly turned serious. “Luke, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while now about something.” Luke nods slowly. “Shoot.” Y/N sighs, letting her words spill out in a flood as if letting them churn inside her head for a second longer would’ve drowned her. “I love you, Luke. I think I have for a while now.”

All Luke can do is stand there. Is this really happening? He wants to look around for the distraction, for the inevitable interruption that always seems to happen whenever he tries to confess his feelings to her. This can’t be real. Why would she ever feel the same way about him? Luke comes back to reality when he realizes that Y/N isn’t looking at him with the same expression. In fact, she seems far sadder than normal. Her voice is barely above a whisper. “Do you not have anything to say?”

Luke’s eyes widen. “What? No, that’s not- not what I meant.” The door to the room opens, and Alex and Reggie bound inside, laughing. Y/N flinches when she hears them come in. “I guess I know how you feel. I think I’m going to go.” Luke reaches out his arm to her, panicked. “Wait! I-” She’s not listening anymore, already turning to leave.

#6: The one time he actually does

Reggie and Alex glance at her, then turn their attention back to him. Reggie throws an arm around his shoulders, and Alex does the same. “Hey, guess what! Flynn thinks we should perform again. Come on, we’ve got everything set up.” Luke shakes his head, trying in vain to see where Y/N went. “I can’t, I’ve got to talk to Y/N. I think I really messed up.”

Reggie rolls his eyes, grinning. “You can talk to her later. Come on! We have to go. Are you really going to give up a chance to play with the band?” Luke looks at his friend apologetically. “Yeah, I think I am. Sorry, but I have to go.” With that, he shrugs off his friend’s arms, diving out of the room.

It takes him a while to find Y/N. He poofs in and out of different rooms, searching for the girl he loves. After a minute or two, he finds her. She’s standing alone in the garden out back, staring at the flowers with an expression that looks all shades of blue. She glances up when she sees Luke poof into existence next to her.

“Look, you don’t have to say anything. I shouldn’t have told you that, we should have stayed friends. You don’t have to come cheer me up, Luke.” Luke shakes his head. “I don’t want us to be friends.” Y/N looks taken aback. “What?” Luke just grins. “I love you, Y/N. I don’t want to be friends because I love you. I’ve been trying to confess for ages now but people keep interrupting me.” Y/N stares. “What? Then why didn’t you say anything when I told you?”

Luke grimaces. “Honestly, I’m not quite sure why. I think I was just so surprised that I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t realize how it would look until you left.” Y/N laughs, slight incredulity starting to tint her smile. “You’re serious? You really do love me?” Luke flashes her a grin. “Really do. Have since the moment I met you. I’m just glad that you love me back, or I would have been trying to confess many, many more times.” Is this really working out? Luke’s not sure what kind of cosmic luck he must have, but Y/N actually likes him back. Well, maybe the sixth time’s the charm for telling someone you love them.

#luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson imagines #jatp #jatp imagine #jatp x reader #jatp imagines #luke jatp #luke jatp imagine #luke jatp x reader #luke jatp imagines #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms imagines #julie and the phantoms x reader #julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms luke

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sunsetcurbed · 3 years

Text

you showed me faith is not blind (miracles happen)

Pairing: Alex/Willie Words: 3,416 Rating: T Warnings: none Chapter: 1/11 read on AO3

Summary: “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Frederick Alexander Louis Mercer?” his grandmother asks with a deep frown, crossing her ankle behind her other foot carefully. He frowns. Here’s that pub trivia he doesn’t know. “No, I can’t say I have.” “Frederick was Beasiga’s crown prince,” she tells him with a meaningful look, which he doesn’t understand. She leans forward. “And Frederick was your father.” Alex’s mind blanks. “That’s… okay,” he says, bobbing his head in a quick nod as he presses his lips together and bites the insides of them, trying to will some thoughts back into his mind. “I don’t think—I’m not sure you’re quite right on that. Because if you were, then—“ “Then you would be Alexander Charles Taylor Mercer, Prince of Beasiga.”

(*)

(or: the willex princess diaries au that no one asked for but I wrote anyways)

(1)

1 e and a 2 e and a—

"On the edge of great, on the edge of great, on the edge of great," Alex sings into the microphone, listening to the rest of his band around him and hearing the audience of their music class as he performs his midterm with his band. On one hand he's thankful that the four of them only have to perform once for all of their grades instead of four separate performances—less opportunities to mess up. However, on the other hand, he's bummed about it because it means they only get to play in front of their class once rather than four times. Performing music for a live audience is like nothing else—even if it's an audience as simple as a group of thirty high school students. The music their band makes is undeniable, so even while listening to performances is routine in this class, most of the students still end up getting into their music and dancing along.

Alex drums and sings along and watches Julie from behind as she belts out her high note at the beginning of the final chorus. He can't keep the grin off his face as he sees various students dancing in their seats to the song. He makes eye contact with a few and even sends one of them a wink, just as he hits his last cymbal before Julie and Luke go into their duet over the piano. He looks towards his two band mates and friends and smirks at them being just a little too close for a midterm performance, but—glancing at Mrs. Harrison—the teacher doesn't seem to mind, so. The two of them finish and all four of them stand and take a bow, and Alex lets the cheers and clapping wash over him.

"Very impressive," Mrs. Harrison compliments. "Who composed the song?"

"Julie and I wrote the lyrics, all four of us worked on the melody and harmonies, and each of us worked on our individual instrument to compose our piece," Luke answers readily.

"It was very well done," she nods at each of them in turn. "I'm sure you'll be very pleased with your grade. You all may take your seats."

Alex follows behind Reggie to their group of four seats in the back of the music class room, nodding at a few of his class mates as he goes when they offer him praise. When they get back to their seats Mrs. Harrison calls for the classes attention and then next performance goes, and then Flynn goes next, and then music is over for the day.

"We nailed that," Luke bursts as soon as the bell rings to end class.

"Luke, what was that riff at the end of the bridge?" Reggie asks with wide eyes. "It was killer."

"You think so?" Luke asks, bouncing on the balls of his toes. "I didn't mean to improv but it came to me and it sounded so good in my head so I just—"

"Luke," Julie smiles softly, placing a hand on his upper arm, "don't worry. It was incredible. You were right to add it in."

Luke looks between the other three band members and bites his lip. "Yeah?"

Alex laughs. "Yeah, buddy."

"Awesome," he grins, swinging his backpack up onto his shoulder and hopping towards the door. "And now—that's three midterms down and only two to go."

Alex groans. "I only have one left."

Reggie frowns. "Why are you more upset about that then Luke is about two?"

Alex sends a look at Reggie. "It's public speaking."

"Oh no," Julie murmurs from next to him, reaching up to rub a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll be okay. Just imagine you're sitting behind your drums."

"Yeah, that's never worked."

"Imagine you're on stage with us," Luke says from Julie's other side, tossing his arm around Julie's shoulder and leaning in her space so far that he's nearly in Alex's space as well.

"That's also never worked."

They reach the cafeteria then and their conversation falls away as they make their way through the lunch line. Alex grabs only an orange, because if he's going to be giving a speech in the next two hours, he doesn't want to give his stomach much ammunition.

They make their way to the back table of the cafeteria where Flynn, Willie, and two of Willie's skateboarder friends, Greg and Shawn, are waiting for them. Alex can count the amount of words he's said to Greg and Shawn over the past two years on both his hands, but they shared Willie nicely, so that was enough for him.

See, Alex had met Willie in elementary school at recess—it had to be at recess because Willie was a grade above him. Alex remembers Willie doing cool tricks on all the playground equipment—flipping off the benches, pin wheeling on the bars, jumping off the parallel bars—exciting things like that. He'd always had Alex's attention. And then in fourth grade Alex jumped off the swing really far (he'd never admit it was on accident). Obviously this started a jumping contest off the swings and the only one who bested him had been Willie, who came over and introduced himself after the recess aides stopped the competition. At the time, Alex didn't know what he was feeling when Willie smiled at him. He'd been told crushes were for girls, so he didn't realize that his crush was on a boy. Over time he'd learn though, and over time it'd develop.

It wouldn't progress much further though until Willie was in tenth grade and Alex was in ninth, both of them at high school. It was Alex's second week at high school and he lost rock, paper, scissors to Luke and had to go up to the concession stand at the beach to get everyone their hot dogs. On his way back to the group, however, Willie skated right into him. After lengthy apologies, Willie took him back to the concession stand and bought him new hot dogs in apology, plus an extra one, and joined them. That day would cement Alex's helpless crush on Willie which—

Has not gone away now that they're half way through fall term in Alex's junior year of high school.

Ask him how he's doing.

"Hey, hot dog!"

(He's doing great.)

"Hey, puka," Alex rolls his eyes back, eying the puka shell necklace around Willie's throat. Willie grins wide at him, bouncing his eyebrows up and down. Alex moves to take his seat next to Willie.

Willie takes a bite of his sandwich and looks at the group. "How'd your music midterm go?"

"So well they left me there," Flynn huffs from where she's picking her lunch out of her lunch box. "I had to put my trumpet away and by the time I was done they were gone!"

"You know what Luke is like after a performance," Julie apologizes to her friend. "I couldn't keep him still if I tried."

"It's for that reason and only that reason that you're forgiven," Flynn says.

"Our midterm was amazing though," Luke jumps in as soon as Flynn finishes speaking. He looks up to the ceiling and shakes his head. "Man, I wish you were in the music program so you could have seen it—but we'll play it for a gig soon, so I guess you didn't miss too much—"

"We did kill it though," Reggie leans forward, around Alex, to see Willie. "So you can be sad about missing that."

"Consider me sad, then," Willie says. "Flynn, how did you do?"

Flynn answers, and the rest of the table is quiet, giving Alex a moment to let his mind wander. Next period is his public speaking class, and his final midterm. His biology midterm had been yesterday, so after public speaking he's technically free to go—well…

Not actually. He's got an obligation after school today, but. He's not exactly sure how he feels about it.

He doesn't need to think about that now, though, because the rest of lunch passes with various conversations ranging from the start of new songs ("where's my notebook—write that down, write that down!"), cats versus dogs ("you can train cats too, you just don't have enough patience"), and the dance team ("there were kazoos and immediately I knew I was in the wrong"). It's a good distraction from his impending doom of public speaking, but when the bell rings to dismiss them from lunch to class, he realizes that it was just that: a distraction.

He feels his hands clam up, his breathing pick up, and his pulse skyrocket. He can't even force himself to get up from his seat.

"Hey," Julie's voice says from across the table. "We'll be here for you after your speech, yeah? I have a free period after next period since we already took our history midterm so I'll meet you here, okay?"

Willie's hand falls on his shoulder and Alex is already tense so it doesn't even matter that he gets even tenser. "Hey, man," he says "I read through your speech like, ten times. It's ace, you've got this. Don't even bother looking at the audience, just read right off the paper, okay? You don't even need public speaking skills, you're gonna be a fucking rock star."

"C'mon," Reggie says, standing behind him. "I'll walk you to class."

Alex looks at each face surrounding him, and each of them are encouraging, each of them believe in him. He closes his eyes then and swings his legs over the bench and stands up. "Yeah, let's go."

"Good luck!" he hears a group chorus behind him, but he doesn't look back to acknowledge them, doesn't think he can because if he looks back then he'll see their faces and he'll want to hold on to them and so he focuses on the feeling of Reggie's arm brushing against his and keeps walking forward. It doesn't even take them two minutes to get to class, and then Reggie is shaking Alex's shoulder and wishing him luck. Alex doesn't look at Reggie's face for the exact same reason he didn't look back at his group of friends. He doesn't think he'd actually go into class if he'd looked at Reggie.

So he doesn't look at Reggie, and instead walks into the classroom where Mr. Kullins is waiting. Alex takes his seat—second row next to the window—and waits while the rest of the class files in. He pulls his speech out of his backpack and stares at it. He mumbles to himself, reciting his speech as students fill their seats.

"You never write a theme for a movie thinking 'this will live forever.'" John Williams, famous composer, said this. He and countless other composers create the accompaniment to films we know and love. Consciously, we hardly pick up on these melodies, but subconsciously, they influence how we consume the media. A good score can cause a tear, while a great score can make you weep. A good score can make you pause while a great score can make you hold your breath. A—

The bell to start class rings and Alex clenches his fist tightly around the edge of his desk, fighting down the wave of nausea that rises up in his throat. Mr. Kullins is speaking in the background, welcoming everyone to class, explaining that they'll be finishing up the last of the midterms today. It's in alphabetical order by last name, and Alex isn't sure if he's glad to have been granted the grace of going on the last day, or if he wishes he had just gotten it over with on the first day.

McConnell, Rebecca goes first and Alex's nausea rises. Then Stenson, Ryan goes, and the nausea is in every part of Alex's body now, from his head to his toes. Then Mr. Kullins calls Taylor, Alex, and Alex really, genuinely thinks he's going to be sick.

Don't even bother looking at the audience, just read right off the paper, okay?

Right—like Willie had said, he could pretend he was just reading it to himself, right? Just read it straight off the paper. Alex stands from his desk and walks to the front of the room, going to stand behind the podium that's set up for their speeches. He sets his speech down on the stand and doesn't lift his head, not once.

"Everyone, give Mr. Taylor your full attention," Mr. Kullins says from where he sits behind his desk, and Alex wants to scream at him. No! Let them—let them go on their phones! Let them talk to each other! Don't make them pay attention to me!

He starts by taking in a deep, quivering breath. "'You never write a theme for a movie thinking 'this will live forever.''" Alex pauses here, swallowing. He can hear people in the audience shuffling. Someone shifts in their chair and he glances up to see who it was. Shit. All of their eyes are on him. Quickly, he looks back down at his paper. The words are blurrier than they were when he started, and there's a pressure in his head that wasn't there at lunch, but he presses on. "John Williams, famous composer, said this. He… and countless other composers… create the accompaniment to films we know and love… Consciously," he glances up again against his better judgment and feels his face flush hot when he connects eyes with one of the students. "Uh. Consciously, we hardly pick up on these melodies, but subconsciously—" Alex cuts off when a large black dot dances in front of the words he's reading. His throat is burning all the way down to his gut. Without thinking, he leans both his arms on to the podium and hides his face between them.

In, 2, 3, 4.

There's murmurings from around him, but he can't lift his head.

Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

There's a louder murmuring from closer to him this time, but he can't, he can't.

Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

There's a hand on his back.

His head shoots up, and the room spins.

"Mr. Taylor?" Mr. Kullins asks with a cautious voice, and oh, does he have a lot to be cautious about right now.

"Gotta sit," Alex says quickly, moving to the back wall as quickly as he could to slide down it and put his head between his knees to continue his breathing exercise. He might have felt embarrassed, but the alternatives were passing out or throwing up—he'd know, it's happened multiple times before.

He hears footsteps all around him and the shuffling of desks as he assumes students are trying to move to get a better look at him, but he keeps focused on his counts, and lets Mr. Kullins tell them that the next student is going to go. Someone gets up from their desk and shuffles their papers around before settling it on the podium. Alex briefly wonders what happens to his paper.

The rest of class passes with Alex curled up in the back of the class room, listening to his final three class mates give their speeches, and then they're done. There's extra time left before the bell rings, so that means extra time for everyone to stare at him, so he picks his head up, confident that he's not going to pass out or throw up anymore, and looks at Mr. Kullins. His teacher looks back at him and wheels over in his chair to Alex and frowns at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Now I am. I was about to pass out," Alex explains, far beyond feeling embarrassed about it.

"Does… that happen often?"

"With public speaking?" Alex asks. "Yes."

Mr. Kullins frowns. "We'll speak with Principal Lessa, see if we can't get something figured out. You're not the first one. Do you think you'd be able to do your speech for just me?"

"No, yeah, that would be fine, I just… not… crowds."

"Aren't you in a band?"

Alex nods, just as the bell rings. He carries on, anyways. "Yeah. But that's—different. First, I'm not alone when I'm with my band. Second, I'm good at drums. I'm not good at speeches."

His teacher sighs. "Alright. Your midterm grade will be delayed but we'll speak with Principal Lessa next week."

"Thank you, really."

He nods. "Your speech is on the edge of my desk. Don't forget it when you leave. Are you okay to leave?"

"Yeah," Alex nods, pushing himself to his feet. He's a little unsteady at first, but his balance comes back quickly and he's able to make his way to Mr. Kullins desk and grab his speech. He goes to gather his backpack then, stuffing his speech inside of it, and waves goodbye to his teacher, who waves back.

When he leaves the classroom, he makes his way to the cafeteria like he promised Julie he would. She's waiting for him at their usual table, waving and beaming. He offers a small smile back as he sets his bag down.

"You got through it!" she yells. "It's over!"

Alex laughs humorlessly and slips on to the bench. "No, it's not."

The smile drops off of Julie's face. "What?"

"I nearly passed out, so we're talking to Lessa and I'll be giving my speech to just Kullins. Which, is better, I guess, but now I still have to worry about it until next week."

"Oh, Alex," Julie sighs. "I'm sorry. I wish the band could just… be there with you."

"That'd be nice," he says, putting his elbows on the table. "But I still suck at speaking anyways, so I'm not sure how much that would help."

"Alex, that speech you wrote is amazing," Julie says. "You're good at words, which is what speaking is. What you're concerned about is how people perceive you. When you have us with you, you think that people are looking at you similar to how they look at us just by association and you're okay with that because you love us. But when you're alone you think that people are looking at you similar to how you look at you, at that's nitpicking every little thing and criticizing every fault."

Alex blinks, stares at her. He feels his mouth open, ready to defend himself, but he's not sure what he'd actually say, so he forces it shut again. Julie sits, staring at him, unwavering. He leans forward on his elbows and brings his hands together, twining his fingers. "I… okay."

Julie rolls her eyes and huffs a small laugh. "Come on, Alex, you know I'm right."

"Do I?" Alex asks, voice pitching up an octave. Because, really. Does he? He's pretty sure it's more due to what he told Mr. Kullins—he's good at drums, he sucks at speeches. Even if he is good at words like Julie said, speeches are an entirely different brand of words. They're spoken word. And that… that is the kind of word that Alex does not do. See, if his assignment were an informative written paper on the impact of film and television scores, yeah, Alex would ace that. But it's not. And not because he thinks his class is looking at him the same way he looks at himself, Julie, but because he sucks at speeches. He says 'uh' too much, he pauses in weird places, his flow is weird, his thoughts wander, and he could go on. There's no room for any of that in papers—well, yes there is, but they can be edited out, is the point.

Julie reaches a hand across the table and covers Alex's fingers with it. She shakes it and offers a soft smile. "You should. You would kill speech class, Alex. You just have to get out of your head."

"Yeah, the person with anxiety has to get out of their head," Alex says, flipping his hand over so he can grab hold of hers. He shakes her hand so her arm wiggles. "Never heard of that quick fix before."

"Hey, I never called it a quick fix! Just said it needed to happen."

Alex smiles at her and pulls his hands back. "I'll keep that in mind." Julie lets him drop the subject after that and they turn their attention to their home work, settling into silence.

#willex fic #willex #jatp fic #jatp fanfic #willex fanfic #ysmfinb #my writing

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cuthian · 3 years

Text

Becoming a Memory, Becoming a Treasure Chapter Five

Thanks for the love, guys!

Here's the next chapter. I have no idea when more is going to be up. I'll try to be fast though!

Love

Annaelle

PS Love to the peeps on the JatP Discord server for telling me let Luke use pet names on Reggie ;) You know who you are.

FIVE

“Wherever a Beautiful Soul Has Been There Is a Trail of Beautiful Memories…”

—Ronald Raegan

ALEX

He followed Willie to the museum again, hands pushed deep into his pockets.

“You know,” he said as Willie walked straight through the closed doors and into the empty museum. “I’m really starting to think you have a thing for breaking rules, Willie.”

Willie grinned at him over his shoulder, bright and handsome and shit Alex was so gay.

“You,” Willie said teasingly, turning to poke Alex in the chest, “love it.” And Alex… Yeah, Alex couldn’t really deny that. His crush had been obvious from day one, and the only thing that had made him feel better about it was that he’d been pretty sure it was reciprocated.

Then, of course, there had been the whole mess with Caleb, and much as he wished he’d just grabbed Willie and kissed him then and there, he hadn’t and now here they were—

Still very much interested in one another, but still not quite together.

It was kind of embarrassing at this point. Even Luke and Reggie had gotten their heads out of their asses and told each other they were in love with each other.

Alex really should be able to tell Willie the same—especially considering they had all but done so already. There really wasn’t another way to interpret the long, intense gazes and the hugging and the ‘I’d do anything for you’ or the ‘I’d have followed you anyway’.

“Maybe a little,” he told Willie with a grin, and the other ghost laughed delightedly, hitting him on the shoulder lightly before jumping on his skateboard and rushing off into his usual parkour of the museum while Alex went to find the bench they always ended up on so he could watch. Willie looked free as he skated, wild and untamed and delighted, laughing as he went and watching him made Alex’s chest clench—in the best way.

“You’re looking wired again,” Willie told him when he’d jumped the bench and came to a stop in front of Alex, tossing his helmet and grinning at him.

Alex sighed. “Yeah. Yeah. It’s—remember Reggie’s sister?” When Willie nodded, Alex explained everything that had happened on Saturday, and the fallout—Reggie barely making it back to the studio before he broke down in tears and spent the entire night crying in his and Luke’s arms, Julie’s anxiety about their future only adding to his own, Luke being so focused on trying to make Reggie smile that he complete forgot about everything else…

“Shit man,” Willie shook his head. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Alex chuckled wryly. “Yeah, it does.”

“Come on,” Willie said suddenly, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Alex. “I think you need to yell again, and no better place,” he swept his arms wide in a dramatic gesture that made Alex smile despite himself, “than an empty museum.”

“Willie,” Alex sighed, but he let himself be tugged to his feet anyway.

“Come on, hot dog,” Willie coaxed, grinning widely at him. “You remember how this goes.”

Before Alex could say anything, Willie threw himself into a loud, piercing yell, just like he had the first time they’d done this, and Alex couldn’t help but smile at this beautiful weirdo before he yelled too. The first scream that he forced from his lungs was short and explosive, and Willie grinned encouragingly at him, grabbing fistfuls of Alex’s sweater before he screamed again, louder and longer and Alex couldn’t help but join, screaming his frustration about being unable to help Reggie, about the uncertainty they lived with now that Caleb had reluctantly agreed to a temporary truce and now that Maggie knew about them but hadn’t contacted them at all, about how he wished he was brave enough to just kiss Willie already—

He fell silent with a gasp, panting, and Willie smirked at him, fists still clenched in Alex’s sweater, and suddenly Alex was so tired of overthinking. He nearly lunged forward and curled his fingers around the back of Willie’s neck, tangling them in the other boy’s long hair, smashing their lips together in a messy, breathless kiss.

It lasted less than five seconds, and really, Alex barely had the chance to relish in the feel of Willie’s soft lips on his before the latter pulled away, his eyes wide and startled—and damn it.

“I thought,” Alex stammered, cheeks burning with an embarrassed blush, “I thought you wanted—”

“Yeah,” Willie nodded shakily. “Yeah, no, I do.” He swallowed thickly, and his eyes fell to Alex’s lips before he said, “Kiss me again, hot dog.” He smirked and added, “Promise I’ll kiss back this time.”

Alex grinned, feeling delighted and lightheaded and exited, and did as Willie asked.

--------------

LUKE

Luke sat sideways on the couch in the studio, back pressed to the armrest, Reggie curled up against him, pressed into his arms, his nose tucked against Luke’s neck, breathing soft and quiet. It’d been the first time in three days that Luke had been able to get him to sit still long enough to fall asleep, and he wasn’t going to wake him up now.

They didn’t need sleep anymore, not really, but they weren’t invulnerable to exhaustion.

Once Alex had returned to them after he’d talked to Maggie, after he’d relayed everything that had been said, Reggie had broken down into anxious, angry, frustrated, sad tears and had spent most of the night crying in Luke and Alex’s arms.

He’d spent the next two days in a morose, melancholy mood, bundled into the corner of the couch in the studio, barely responding to anyone, even to Luke, and he’d started pacing yesterday.

It’d taken Luke hours to convince Reggie to stop rambling, to stop blaming himself for everything, to let Luke take care of him for a little bit, and even longer to coax him back to the couch. Julie and Alex and even Flynn had flitted in and out of the studio, but for the most part, they’d left him and Reggie alone. Luke was pretty grateful for it—he didn’t think Reggie could stand being around anyone else right now, except maybe Alex.

He stroked his fingers through Reggie’s messy hair, relaxing back into the pillows a little.

The consequence of Reggie having been awake for this long was that Luke had been too, and he was feeling the strain of being up and aware that long too.

He rested his head back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, with its weird, floating chairs. He understood all too well why Reggie had taken Maggie walking out on them so hard—it’d been… it’d been hard enough acknowledging that they were dead to themselves. None of them had really allowed themselves to think about what being dead actually meant to the people they’d loved.

Luke had tried, with his parents, had opened himself up to that grief because he couldn’t not—

But the other boys… Reggie and his father had parted on terrible terms, and in the last six months before they’d died, Luke and Reggie had both spent every night either in the studio or with Alex. Luke had known, back then, that not being there to protect Maggie from their parents’ temper had broken Reggie’s heart, and seeing her now must’ve brought all those feelings back to the surface.

It worried him more than he could say, and he knew Alex felt that way too.

Luke knew that Julie was worried too, of course, but more in the sense that she didn’t want Maggie to ruin any career she might be able to build in the future before it’d even begun. Alex had promised them all that Maggie had mostly seemed to believe him by the time they’d finished speaking, and that she hadn’t even seemed so very angry anymore, but asking someone to believe that the ghost of their brother that had died twenty-five years previously was suddenly back was a big ask.

Luke hated how it was affecting Reggie.

When they’d been alive and Reggie had sunk into moods like these, Luke and Alex had been able to coax him out of them with their music, with laughter and jokes and group hugs that lasted far too long to be casual—which made sense now, knowing that they’d all, at some point, been involved with each other—but nothing had seemed to help this time until Luke had bodily dragged him over to the couch.

He rolled his head to the side when he heard a gentle plop and found Alex standing in the middle of the studio sporting the stupidest grin he’d ever seen on the other boy. “Well, don’t you look happy,” he said teasingly but quietly, continuing to run his fingers through Reggie’s hair soothingly.

Alex rolled his eyes before settling on the chair beside the couch. “I had a good time with Willie,” he admitted, blushing just a little. “He says hi, by the way.”

Luke grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Alex. “Sure he did. Elaborately? With ton—”

“Okay,” Alex cut him off, waving his hand impatiently, but he was still blushing and Luke had known him long enough to know he hadn’t been that far off the mark. “How’s he doing?” Alex asked then, nodding towards Reggie.

“He’s sleeping,” Luke sighed, looking down at the boy that was, by now, snoring quietly against his chest. “Which is better than the relentless pacing.��

“True,” Alex nodded, as if he wasn’t an eternal pacer himself, slumping down in his chair a little. “Has Julie heard anything from Maggie yet?”

Luke shook his head. “Not that she’s told me.”

Alex heaved a sigh and slumped further, putting his feet up on the table and flashing his drumsticks into his hand to have something to fiddle with. “He’s not gonna be able to stay away much longer,” he said quietly, glancing towards Reggie, who was drooling on Luke’s shirt.

“Yeah,” Luke agreed quietly, dragging his fingers through Reggie’s hair again. “I know. I’m hoping we’ll hear something before then though. We don’t want a repeat of what happened with Ray.”

Alex winced, and yeah… that had been a bit of a mess.

The day after Julie had freed them of Caleb’s stamp, Reggie had popped into the house for his usual routine of chattering at Ray while the man made breakfast. Except, this time, when Reggie had appeared in the kitchen, Ray had dropped the bowl with pancake batter to the floor and stared straight at Reggie, looking quite like… well, like he’d seen a ghost.

It’d been how they figured out other people could see them after Julie had hugged them.

They also learned, over the course of a very long morning, where Julie called in sick to school and they spent hours explaining everything that’d happened to Ray, that it was temporary. That they needed to touch Julie again—another hug or something as fleeting as bumping shoulders—and they’d become corporeal and visible again.

Before Alex could say anything, the door to the studio pushed open and Julie came in, chewing on her lower lip nervously. “Oh, good,” she said, sounding relieved. “You’re all here.” She glanced towards Reggie, who still hadn’t moved, and said, “Shit. Okay. Luke,” she looked up at Luke and said, “You need to wake him up.”

“Jules, he was so tired,” Luke sighed. “If it’s not necessary—”

“It is,” Julie insisted, and then the door behind her opened further and Maggie walked in, holding hands with a tall, dark skinned woman, a baby strapped to Maggie’s chest. Luke’s mouth fell open, and when he glanced towards Alex, he saw the drummer was similarly stumped.

“Right,” Luke breathed. “Okay.”

“Are they in here?” Maggie asked, and her voice trembled just a little.

“Yeah,” Julie nodded. “Yes, sorry, they’re just.. Reggie’s asleep, they’re waking him up.”

Luke glanced up towards Maggie, towards her little family and smiled, a little bittersweet, before bending forward and running his fingers through Reggie’s hair a little more insistently. “Reg,” he said softly, shaking the other boy gently. “Wake up, baby.”

Reggie groaned wordlessly and pressed back into Luke’s touch, stretching lazily.

Luke smiled despite himself, pressing a kiss to the top of Reggie’s head. “You gotta wake up, baby.”

----------------

REGGIE

Reggie blinked the sleep out of his eyes, rubbing his cheek against Luke’s chest for a second longer before what Luke had said registered and he froze. “Did… did you call me baby?”

Luke smiled at him, that slow, sweet, intense smile that made several of Reggie’s potentially vital internal organs go all warm and mushy, and rubbed his thumb over Reggie’s cheek. “Yeah, baby,” he said, his voice low and warm and unbearably fond, the same way he sounded when he told Reggie he loved him.

Reggie’s cheeks burned and his heart felt like it was bursting—could he still die from that? Really, the only thing Caleb should’ve done to kill him was make Luke call him ‘baby’—and he needed a second to process, okay? He ducked back down and hid his burning face in the crook of Luke’s neck, exhaling shakily as he tried to deal with the onslaught of feelings.

This whole week had been a very heavy week, emotionally, and Reggie really wasn’t good at this.

Luke just huffed in amusement, curling his fingers around the back of Reggie’s neck and pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

Reggie relaxed a little, at that.

“You can’t do that in front of the others,” he muttered against Luke’s neck.

“Uh,” Luke replied hesitantly, and Reggie looked up.

Luke was biting his lip and blushing and Reggie’s stomach sank even before he noticed Alex sitting right next to them and Julie standing by the door and—

His train of thought halted abruptly.

“Maggie,” he choked, rolling right off the couch in his haste to get to his feet. Luke and Alex both started towards him, but Reggie bounced back to his feet and rushed towards Julie. “Can she see me yet? Have you touched us—is that? Did she see—”

“Oh no,” Julie chuckled, “Only Alex and I saw that.”

Reggie felt his cheeks burning, but Julie took pity on him. “It’s okay,” she grinned. “I was like that too, the first time Flynn called me ‘baby’. It’s fine.”

“Someone called Reggie ‘baby’?” Maggie piped in, eyes wide. “Is it Alex or Luke? Tell me it’s Luke.”

Alex frowned. “Should I be insulted?”

Julie rolled her eyes and turned to Maggie. “I’m gonna make them visible—it can be a little… disorienting, to just see them appear…”

“Just do it,” Maggie said, although Reggie noted that she held the baby a little closer and squeezed her wife’s hand, and he was… relieved to find he wasn’t the only one that was nervous about the conversation and the meeting and just the whole situation.

Reggie exhaled shakily when Luke and Alex joined him in front of Julie, both of them pressing close, Luke’s hand slipping into his and Alex’s hand lightly resting in the middle of his back. They held out their free hands to Julie, who smiled encouragingly and folded both her hands around theirs.

Maggie’s wife—and they really should ask her name, because it was quite bothersome to call her Maggie’s wife the entire time—gasped, and Maggie’s eyes widened, and Reggie knew they were visible.

“Oh my God,” the other woman breathed. “This is real.”

Maggie turned to her with an incredulous expression. “You said you believed me.”

“Well, yes,” her wife said. “But believing is still quite a bit different than actually seeing.” She waved her hand at the three boys vaguely. “This is…”

“A little crazy?” Alex offered wryly.

The other woman just blinked, and Reggie turned his attention back to Maggie. “Hi,” he said shakily, clutching at Luke’s hand. “I’m sorry for last time, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to explain—I didn’t think—”

“It’s okay,” Maggie said immediately, cutting him off. “I—I get it.” She rubbed her hand over her baby’s back gently—the baby she’d named after him—and took a deep breath. “I… Uh… I have questions. And I—” her lower lip trembled, and the only reason Reggie wasn’t already over there, hugging her, was because Luke was still holding his hand. “—I wanted to talk to you. There’s so many things I don’t remember, that I wish—”

“Yes,” Reggie nodded immediately. “Anything you wanna know.” He frowned and reconsidered. “I mean, as long as I know,” he smiled, “But if I don’t know, Luke or Alex probably do, I mean, they’ve been here all along too, so really—”

“Reg,” Luke cut him off, tugging at his hand quietly, “She gets it.”

Reggie glanced at Maggie, who was smiling faintly and looking between the three of them. “Right,” he said faintly. “Sorry.”

“Maybe we should sit down,” Julie suggested quietly, gesturing towards the couch and its mess of pillows. “I can get those of us who’re alive something to drink too.”

“Rude,” Reggie pouted, but he let Luke and Alex drag him towards the chair and watched as Alex dragged over the massive bean bag they’d relocated from Julie’s room to the studio a week ago. Maggie and her wife—he really needed to ask her name—gingerly took a seat on the couch, Alex plopped down in his chair again and Luke dragged Reggie down onto the bean bag with him.

Reggie couldn’t help but relax a bit with Luke’s arms casually slung around him. He leaned back against Luke just a little and eyed his sister nervously. “So who starts?” He asked.

Everyone chuckled a little at that, although Reggie found it a perfectly valid question.

“I guess,” Maggie said slowly, “I guess I can start. Uh,” she tugged on her wife’s hand lightly and continued, “this is T’Nia, my wife. We’ve been married for six years—”

“Seven,” T’Nia cut in. “Seven in three weeks.”

“Right,” Maggie grinned, her cheeks a little flushed. “Seven.” She then turned her attention to the baby and said, “This is Regina. Reggie.” She looked up with a tremulous smile, and with a start, Reggie realized he was about to burst into tears again.

“You named her after me,” he said hoarsely.

Alex glanced over at him with his eyebrows raised. “You already knew that.”

Reggie pouted and glared at him. “I can get emotional over it more than once, Alexander.”

Alex wrinkled his nose in disgust and Luke snorted with laughter. When Reggie dared look at his sister again, it was to find her grinning broadly, although her eyes were suspiciously shiny. “I can’t believe you guys are exactly as I remember you.”

“Well, it hasn’t—” Alex started, “It hasn’t exactly been twenty-five years for us.”

“We didn’t… appear,” Luke explained when Maggie looked puzzled, “until Julie played our demo. That was a few weeks ago. We thought it’d been a few hours, not years.”

Maggie blinked and sat back heavily. “That’s insane.”

“Yeah,” Reggie nodded. “It was.”

Baby Reggie began to fuss right then, drawing everyone’s attention, and T’Nia rested a hand on Maggie’s. “Do you want me to take her?”

“No,” Maggie blurted. “That’s my emotional support baby.”

Julie snorted an abrupt laugh, but Reggie was just really confused, and a quick look at Luke and Alex told him that he wasn’t, thankfully, the only one who didn’t get the joke.

T’Nia mostly looked unimpressed. “I’m not sure how I feel about you referring to our daughter as an emotional support tool,” she said dryly, but Maggie just smirked and rocked the baby calmly, and before long, baby Reggie was dozing again.

“I’ve a question,” Luke piped up, and Reggie craned his neck to look at his boyfriend quizzically.

Maggie raised her eyebrows, and Luke continued, “You said… at the restaurant… You said you knew. About Bobby. About what he did. Why didn’t you—”

And Reggie heard what Luke was really asking.

Why hadn’t she stopped him from stealing their songs, why hadn’t she told anyone, why—

Why had he gotten away with it?

Maggie sighed. “Luke, I was thirteen. It was his word against mine—and I didn’t have proof. He waited long enough to make sure people didn’t really… remember. And then he only used songs you hadn’t recorded or played in public. I didn’t have your notebooks—I didn’t have anything. I tried, I tried telling Luke’s parents, but they couldn’t prove anything either. I was the only one other than him who knew most of the songs and I only knew them because I spent so much time listening to you guys rehearse.”

Reggie swallowed thickly as Maggie looked down. “I tried,” she said quietly.

“Thank you,” Alex said, and blinked hard because he’d spent all week crying, he was done, he didn’t want to start all over again. “For trying.”

“Yeah,” Luke rasped, and Reggie nodded jerkily, trying not to burst into tears, because that had been the worst thing about learning that Bobby had stolen their songs—no one had remembered them enough to know that they were theirs.

Knowing that Maggie, at least, had remembered them, had known—

It helped.

He sniffed a little and turned, hiding his face in Luke’s shoulder as he tried to get it together. Luke dug his fingers back into his hair and Reggie exhaled shakily before he went boneless against him. “Thanks,” he whispered against Luke’s skin, pressing a small kiss to the hinge of his jaw before he sat up again. Luke smiled fondly at him and rubbed his thumb over Reggie’s hot cheek and Reggie just kind of wanted to melt.

“So it was Luke,” Maggie said gleefully, and Reggie jumped—he’d kind of forgotten everyone else was still there too. When he looked back at his sister, she looked like all of her Christmases had come early.

“You are weirdly invested in this,” Julie remarked, and Reggie pointed to her as he nodded.

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Look, I’ve been wondering what the deal was since I walked in on Alex and Reggie—” Luke made a slightly punched-out noise, and Reggie patted his leg comfortingly, and Maggie continued, “I’ve literally been waiting for twenty-five years to know, okay? I need to know.”

Reggie blinked at her.

She grinned back. “Come on, Reg. Dish. You’re with Luke, right?”

“I—yeah,” Reggie said slowly, cheeks flushing when Luke leaned in behind him to press a kiss to the nape of his neck. “I mean, not until after we came back though.”

“Wait, so you and Alex really were—” Maggie leaned forward eagerly, and Reggie wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

“No. Nope, I’m not talking about this with you,” he squinted at her. “Unless you want me to start asking questions about your sex life?” Maggie blanched so hard Reggie and Luke both burst into laughter and Julie giggled while T’Nia patted her wife’s arm comfortingly.

“Fine, change of subject,” Maggie conceded.

“Tell me about our parents,” Reggie said before anyone else could say anything. “I wanna know what happened after we—after—”

“After we died of extreme food poisoning,” Luke cut in, hooking his chin over Reggie’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around his middle. Reggie winced a little, but leaned back into Luke’s embrace anyway, stretching his leg out a little so he could hook his ankle around Alex’s.

The blond startled at the touch, but shot him a grateful little smile anyway, and Reggie’s chest went all warm and tight and he wished, for a second, that they were alone so they could try that awesome group hug thing again. They hadn’t done that in far too long.

“You didn’t die of food poisoning,” Maggie cut in, sounding a little surprised, and Reggie’s head snapped back towards her so fast he felt his neck crack a little.

“What?”

“You didn’t—” Maggie shook head, looking between them with an expression that hovered between baffled and confused. “You didn’t die of food poisoning. You—” she blinked. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Reggie frowned.

“Oh, shit,” Maggie exhaled.

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For those of you that wanted to see these adorable himbos cuddling.

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Start from the beginning:

Becoming a Memory, Becoming a Treasure:

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Or read it HERE on AO3 :D Find the next chapter HERE on Tumblr :)

#jatp #jatp ruke #ruke #luke/reggie #julie and the himbos #Julie and the phantoms #Luke patterson #julie molina #alex #reggie #BaMBaT

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