#Ghost was the only band I had multiple songs I listened to… the others I had songs on repeat for the entire year lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wastelandcth · 3 years

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i’ll always come back to you - cth

summary: Calum wore a skirt. A stage reveal happens.

author’s notes: I have no excuse but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

warnings: Cal in a skirt (please it’s too good), car sex, PIV, calum blanks out a little, she’s back and better than ever!

masterlist || request || more doves

“What do you think I should wear?” Calum asked softly, his hands running through the different items in his closet once more, “It’s a pretty big show, I can’t just show up in something shitty. All I’ve worn for the past two years is either baggy jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and no shirt.”

It was true, ever since the world had shut down and the band’s tour had been put on hold more times than Calum could count, his passion for fashion and finding new clothes to wear had been put on hold as well. Comfort and trying to stay sane in the middle of a worldwide pandemic had left him reaching for any signs of comfort to hold on to and keep him sane. But with the band’s first show slowly approaching and Calum’s nerves returning in the form of playing a fake bass while he tried to calm his racing mind, he knew he’d have to find an outfit sooner or later, and it’d have to be one to make him feel good about himself on stage once more.

“I mean, I don’t think anyone would personally complain about you showing up shirtless to a show,” Dovey teased, her eyes tracing the muscles in Calum’s back as she sat on the edge of the bed, “I certainly wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, but you’re a pervert so you have no choice,” Calum chuckled and threw another shirt towards his loving wife.

The days had gone by and Calum had been stuck at rehearsals, trying his best to find the groove the band had long for ever since the start of the shutdown, but eventually, Calum found himself at home the morning of the show watching from the green room as the concert went on around the world. His bag, which he’d packed and unpacked multiple times that morning, laid on one of the couches. He knew he’d made the right choice, the look on Dovey’s face when he’d packed away the black fabric before she could get a peek of it enough of a reaction to make him smirk before he had rushed out the door at the sound of Ashton’s horn.

“So, did you decide on an outfit?” Michael asked as he sat down next to him during a break in their soundcheck, watching as Calum’s leg swung along to whatever beat Ashton was trying to work out with Luke, “Dovey has been texting me all day asking if I’ve gotten a peek at it.”

“Tell her to fuck off,” Calum chuckled, “I told her she had to wait like everyone else did to see it.”

“Alright,” Michael huffed, nudging him playfully, “But we’re going to be the first to see it then.”

“Yeah, yeah, and she’ll manage to bully you into telling her somehow.”

Calum looked in the mirror, inhaling a shaky breath as he fixed the collar of his suit jacket once more as he heard his bandmates chuckling outside of the bathroom door. With one final look at his outfit he opened the door and stepped out, goosebumps covering his skin as the cold air of the dressing room brushed against his legs.

“Woah! Calum!” Ashton grinned, his eyes wide and his head nodding, “No man, that looks sick! I love it!”

“Oh man, your dad is going to freak once he sees you on stage!” Luke nodded, “You look so good!”

“Guys, Dovey is literally going to kill us all,” Michael whined and clapped Calum on the shoulder, “You look fucking awesome, dude.”

Calum’s cheeks flushed, turning hot as he chuckled and shook his head, letting the curls he’d been growing out swish against his forehead while he tried his best not to push away his very excited and very supportive bandmates. It wasn’t until the room, which consisted of the four of them and their photographer started chanting for him to do a spin that he’d finally told them to fuck off. But with a spin, and a small bout of giggles that left him when the material of his skirt brushed against the back of his knees, Calum had never felt more prepared to play a show in his life, especially when he knew that Dovey would be in the crowd singing her heart out along with them all.

Dovey’s eyes watched the crowd around her grow restless as time ticked slowly, minutes dragging on until the show would start. Her adrenaline was high as she heard an announcer overhead shout that the show would start in one minute, the pit in her stomach thrumming with excitement and the thought of seeing her husband and his best friends on stage again after so long. She knew how much Calum missed being on stage with them, how much he missed performing to a crowd of people singing the lyrics back to them, and so she knew that tonight’s performance would be nothing but perfect. The hum of a guitar backstage and the sound of cheers around her had Dovey on her feet before she even knew it, her wide eyes searching the stage for the man she’d married.

“Oh my god, he did not,” she gasped, her cheers and clapping drowned out in the rest of the crowd as she saw Calum walking out on stage, “That bastard!”

On stage, under the shining lights and for everyone to see, Calum Hood stood grinning as his fingers moved easily over the strings of his bass. The silver chains, which hung across Calum’s waist, shone like his eyes as the set started. Dovey’s eyes tried their hardest to focus, her vision blurred by the tears that sprung out as she watched the love of her life sing his heart out on stage after too many months of being away from the one place he was able to lose himself in. The skirt, which Dovey was already drooling over, swayed along with every movement Calum made as she found herself swaying along with it, stuck in a never-ending dance she wasn’t sure she’d ever want to end. But when Ghost of You played out and Dovey’s eyes found Calum’s it was like the large crowds that had given her anxiety ever since Calum had mentioned the show and the loud music had all disappeared.

There was no one but her and Calum standing there, swaying to the song that had meant more to them than anyone could have ever imagined.

She knew their kids were watching from home, giggling and dancing along in the safety of their living room while the sitter recorded them for Dovey and Calum to cry along to later that night. But right now, in the moment, all she could think about was how despite all the things that had gone wrong and how scary the world had turned, she still had her family and the love of her life was singing to her in a room full of people once more. The set was over before Dovey even realized, her legs carrying her back towards the dressing room she’d left not too long ago and towards her husband and his amazingly talented friends.

The night had become a whirlwind of events, Dovey’s arms wrapping around Calum and stuttering through her praises as her hands and eyes took in his after-show presence. Her mind was distracted throughout the rest of the promo the band had gone to do with the view of him in the skirt and mesh shirt that kept peeking in and out of view from where she stood with the rest of their team. Her eyes never left his as she watched him smile and laugh with the band and it wasn’t until the car door closed next to her and she watched Calum walk in front of the car before sliding into the driver’s seat that she let out the soft breath she was holding in.

“So, what did you think of the show?” Calum asked as he pulled off the highway, his grin wide as his eyes glanced over at Dovey, “Did you like it? I think we did great. Yeah, the set was short but I think it we-”

“Calum, if you don’t pull over right now I will literally crash this car,” Dovey breathed out, her hand reaching out and squeezing Calum’s thigh gently.

The car screech to a halt, Calum’s soft gasp lost on Dovey’s lips as she pulled him into a kiss, Calum’s body leaning over the console to pull her even closer to him. He and Dovey might not have been a couple of a thousand words, but he knew exactly what she was doing when her teeth pulled gently at his bottom lip. He also knew that they didn’t have much time before their car was steamed up and their moans echoed against the tinted windows, so Calum had to work fast.

“Back seat, baby girl,” he breathed out, his forehead resting against his wife’s for just a second before she sprung into action, her soft laughter music to Calum’s ears.

“I am. So proud. Of you.” Dovey mumbled in between the kisses she was leaving on Calum’s skin, her hips rolling against his and pressed up silver chains of his skirt, “You looked so fucking amazing on stage I couldn’t help but think about all the things I wanted you to do to me tonight.”

“Yeah?” Calum breathed out, his hands squeezing Dovey’s thighs as he helped her push up the hem of the skirt she was more than likely soaking through if his leaking cock wasn’t already at fault for it, “Gonna show me all those things you were thinking of?”

“Mhm, only have time for one of them right now though,” Dovey smirked, her hand taking his cock and stroking it a few times, listening to the soft whimpers that left Calum as her own hips rocked against his solid thigh, “Have to wait until we’re back home for the others.”

Calum’s eyes opened enough at one point to see the steam from their act fogging up the windows, the beads of moisture dripping down their foreheads matching the ones racing down the window next to his head. Above him, Dovey looked like an angel, her closed eyes and barely opened mouth making Calum think he was the luckiest man alive. His fingers had dug into her hips, soft whimpers leaving them both with every rock of their hips and Calum wasn’t sure if he’d ever want this feeling to end. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get tired of the way Dovey felt wrapped around him. He’d happily get lost in her warmth and never find his way out again if he could, but the coil in his stomach kept stretching and stretching, threatening to snap as he listened to Dovey’s moans grow louder and louder as her hips rose and fell with every one of them.

“Calum,” she gasped out, one of her hands finding comfort in the soft curls she’d been playing with ever since they’d grown out and coiled against his head.

“I know, I’ve got you,” Calum choked out, his own high speeding towards him as he felt Dovey clench around him as her hips paused and her whimpers were soaked into by Calum’s skin, “Oh fuck, baby, I-”

“Calum,” Dovey whispered, her soft kisses on Calum’s skin making the blinding white stars beneath his eyelids clear slowly, “Hey, come back to me,” she mumbled, the feeling of her fingers running through his hair grounding Calum back to the backseat of his car.

His lungs hurt, the panting breaths he was taking sounding over the muffled music playing from the radio in the front, and his vision was still blurred as he watched Dovey leaned back against his thighs, her hair tousled and her dress still rucked up over her hips. It took him a couple more breaths, the thick air coating his lungs until finally, Calum’s hand found Dovey’s in the darkness of the car and he smiled lazily.

“You back with me, Hood?” she asked softly and smiled, the gentle squeeze she gave his hand making him nod.

“I always come back to you,” Calum whispered, “Always.”

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gifted-burnout-archive · 4 years

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we can never be friends

Requested?: Big mash up again... Oopsies. Someone wanted angsty luke smut, someone wanted the phrase ‘well i fucked your girlfriend and there’s nothing you can do about it’ implimented, someone else wanted a lil fake dating to get back at an ex, bad boy luke, the sex scene from charmed, y/n is a witch... also decided to make y/n a child genius to sweeten the pot.

Word Count: 10.2K+

Author’s Note: this story is brought to you by machine gun kelly, and the songs ‘bloody valentine’ and ‘why are you here’. i stumbled across the songs by mistake, and can’t get them out of my head, so now you get luke smut based on them.

also, everyone is aged up by like six-seven years, this takes place over a period of like a year and a half ish? yeah, read the nonsense and take from what you wish my doods. and a part two might come along if y’all want it, so like, lemme know.

song featured is ‘bloody valentine’ by machine gun kelly.

Warning: smut, drug and alcohol misuse, infidelity. and when i say smut i do mean smut. like oof smut. enjoy...

masterlist, i write more stuff like this sin.

It was always a mistake, whenever they got together.

Of course, it never felt like it in the moment: when his body was pressed up against hers, his lips on her neck and marking what was his, her fingernails clawing into his back and doing the same, it didn’t feel like a bad idea. It felt like euphoria, it was sweat and teeth and passion and sex. And for the first few moments after, as they came down from their highs and his arms pulled her close as they both caught their breath, there was a moment when they both wondered if they could actually work, they could actually be together.

“You’re thinking it again.” She muttered softly, pressing her lips to his once more before slipping out from under the satin sheets, making a beeline for the hotel bathroom. It was just chance they had run into one another in New York, what with them both calling Los Angeles, California home. But she had been called to Columbia University, and he had a habit of appearing where she least expected him to be.

For all the years Y/N had known Luke Patterson, he had never failed to surprise her.

“Is it so bad to think it? It’s not like we’re ever going to act on it.” He responded, biting his lip as his eyes scanned over her figure. He threw off the covers, recovering his boxers and slipping them on before walking after her, his thoughts giving him away, though he knew that already. “You sure you can’t stay for another hour?” He asked, leaning against the bathroom’s doorway as she freshened up. ‘Maybe this time I could fuck you against the window…’ her eyes shot up, a scowl upon her pretty face as she walked past him and back into the bedroom, quickly collecting her clothes.

“You really ought to control those thoughts of yours, Patterson. One day they might get you in trouble. Besides, I have an early lecture in the morning.” She muttered, pulling on her underwear, pausing to look for her second stocking. Luke walked over towards the door, lifting the hosiery from atop a lampshade.

They had been in a rush to get into bed.

“Crazier things have happened than you missing a lecture, Y/N.” He reminded when she came over to collect her second stocking, sitting on the bed and slipping it on quickly, the pair sharing glances.

“Not when I’m the one giving the lecture, you asshat.” She reminded, and Luke grinned. He forgot sometimes how unbelievably clever the girl before him was, and as she pulled on her dress, Luke took a step forward to zip up the back for her. One of his hands came to hold her waist as his lips pressed down on the exposed skin of her collarbone, his cold breath fanning over her skin and causing the girl to shiver and goosebumps to form. “This can’t happen again, understood?” She breathed out, the last of her words turning to a moan as Luke nipped at the crook of her neck, his free hand coming down from her shoulder, his fingers brushing faintly against her skin as their hands finally met.

He spun her around, bringing the hand he held to his lips and pressing a chaste kiss to her knuckles, his eyes locking with hers, his lips quirking to a smirk when she blushed at his actions.

Luke loved the effect he had on her. Y/N hated it.

“It’s cute how sure you are about it.” He remarked, moving away and breaking their touch, Y/N trying not to frown at the loss of his cold hands against her warm skin. “I mean, we’ve been saying the same thing since high school.” He swung open the hotel room’s door for her, and she quickly rid herself of any feelings of affection for the man before her: he always knew how to annoy her.

“And this time it’ll stick.” She snapped back, locating her purse with haste and slipping on her heels before marching for the door.

‘I like when you scream my name, Princess, don’t you?’ The intrusive thought belonged to the boy leant against the door, and Y/N scoffed as she walked out into the hallway, the carpet underneath a crimson red, something she hadn’t bothered to notice on her way up to his place.

“Get out of my head, Ghost Boy.” She ordered, not looking back as she made her way down the hallway, though she heard Luke laugh behind her, one of his smug chuckles that made her blood boil.

“I think it’s the other way round, your Highness. Rude to listen to what other people are thinking.” He called back down the hallway, earning a rather offensive hand gesture before Y/N stepped into the golden-door lift at the corridor’s end, the girl refusing to turn around until the doors had closed behind her, sparing her from his haunting gaze, those green eyes that managed to steal into her soul every time.

Luke watched the doors close at the end of the hall, letting out a soft sigh at the loss of the girl from his sight, though his moping was shortly interrupted by the sound of another room along the hallway opening its door, a scowling face looking back at him.

“You’re looking at me like I did something wrong.” He commented, walking back into his room and grabbing his jeans, that had landed on the back of the dining chair in the suite some five metres from the rumpled sheets of the bed. He pulled them as a set of footsteps approached, Luke again met with the disapproving expression of his band mate.

“Luke…” The concern dripping from Alex’s tongue with just his name had the guitarist shaking his head, walking across the room to grab his shirt, pulling it on quickly. “Luke, you know this is going to end badly.” He continued, taking a step further in the room while Luke grabbed his jacket. “Just like it did last time, and the time before that.”

“Alex, it’s fine, alright?” He said quickly. “What we have is good, it works.”

“It’s stopping you from finding someone you’d actually get along with.” The blonde disagreed, following Luke out into the hallway as the brown-haired boy started for the elevator. “Where do you plan on disappearing to? You remember we are meant to be on a plane in four hours?” He reminded, the other boy slowing to a stop, halfway between the golden doors and his friend.

“Is it really that late?” Luke asked, a smug look on his face, his iconic smirk and raised eyebrow causing Alex to roll his eyes.

“If you want a drink, order something up. Preferably, don’t order anything at all. Last thing you’ll want to be on an eight hour flight over the ocean is hungover, Luke.” He had always been the one with common sense, and Luke wavered on the spot for a moment, eyes fixed on the door. A part of him was sure he could catch up to her, that the pair could get a drink at the bar downstairs together. A part of him was sure she was waiting just beyond a press of a button, that she too was hoping he would join her.

“We’re bad for each other, aren’t we?” Luke found himself sighing happily, turning on his heels to face Alex once more. “God, she’s an asshole.”

“Most geniuses are.” Alex remarked with a smile, Luke taking one last glance back at the elevator before he headed towards the drummer’s room. Alex followed him in, walking to the drinks cabinet and pouring them both a drink: vodka, good stuff from what Luke could see, having taken a seat by the balcony windows. “You know, Julie’s got a friend you might like…”

“I don’t date, Alex. We’ve established this… Last thing I need is to break another one of Julie’s friend’s hearts. She’s only just forgiven for the last one…” Luke paused and nodded in thanks as Alex came over and took a seat across from him, handing over a drink. “Fuck, what was her name? It was something like Ruby or Pearl or Opal…”

“Crystal.” Alex corrected with a grimace and cold chuckle, finding the humour in his superior knowledge of Luke’s exes compared to the man across from him. “So, what? You’re going to spend the rest of your life like this, your closest encounter with romance being a girl you screw twice a year?”

“I mean, I see her twice a year… There are multiple rounds of sex involved each time.” Luke corrected with a strained laugh, downing the liquor in his glass. “I’ve really fucked myself over, haven’t I?” He asked, and Alex’s expression softened a little.

“Luke, don’t tell me you’re in love with her…”

“No, no… But it wouldn’t be the wildest thing, would it?” He asked, looking up at his friend for some sort of guidance: Alex was, after all, the one of their friendship group who had been dating his boyfriend since, God, since Julie’s senior year of high school. How far they had come since then…

“Everyone knows that you wouldn’t work out… For the obvious reason you’ve both been avoiding.” Alex sat straighter, picking up Luke’s empty glass and walking back to the cabinet to refill it, bringing the bottle back with him that time. “You may be alive again Luke, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re not actually alive, and that we don’t mix with…” He trailed off, and Luke nodded, accepting the second glass and downing it in one, the alcohol in his veins the warmest thing about him.

He knew all too well what Alex was inferring, though in the guitarist’s defence, he hadn’t been privy to the rather large secret Y/N had until about a year into their… relationship. She had figured out his backstory rather quickly of course, but she had the advantage of reading his mind. Yes, Luke may have been a ghost, and that should have been complication enough.

But Y/N also happened to hold the title of supernatural being. It was just Luke’s luck, wasn’t it?

Just his luck to end up screwing a witch.

If there was anything to know about the intricacies of supernatural species, it would be that some of them didn’t get along very well: vampire and werewolves, mer-people and sirens, angels and demons. Amongst the long list of rivalries one might find in their research, one of the oldest and most conflicting pairings was that of witches and ghosts.

Witches, in practice, have one job: banishing spirits from the mortal realm. Alongside all the candle lighting and chatting with deities, witches like Y/N spent their lifetimes on earth getting rid of lingering souls. And with her family lineage and standing amongst the American covens, Y/N was rather good at what she did. Alongside her shocking intellect and undeniable beauty, she took on the part-time role of vanquishing ghosts to purgatory before they did anything stupid like come back to life.

Y/N hadn’t expected to find out her classmate Julie Molina was a medium halfway through their sophomore year, nor had she anticipated the arrival of three ghost musicians who could be seen by mortals when they all sang together in a band. Of course, her seeing them too didn’t help things, and her conflicted feelings over banishing the very attractive guitarist had led to a delay in her actions, and before she knew it, Julie was bringing them all back to life, or as alive as ghosts can be.

Noticing a resurrected ghost was nearly impossible: they age, they appear human, and if they avoid utilising their previous ghost powers, the only thing that would ever raise suspicions of a mortal, or any species for that matter, was how cold ghosts stayed.

It was a common misconception that vampires were ‘cold as ice’, popularised by teen movies that suggested the bloodsuckers sparkled in the sunlight, when it was ghosts who in fact held that trait (vampires were actually constantly warm from the excess of blood in their system). To touch a ghost was like shoving the body part into a freezer, there was an element of pain to it if the feeling was continuous, and it worked the other way around. A ghost touching the living could hurt, something that could perhaps be compared to the nipping on skin just a little too close to an open flame.

Y/N and Luke had found a loophole to that, of course: the heat of sex tended to offset the cold, mixing the inklings of pain with waves of pleasure.

Their relationship had been a complicated one from its beginning: there’s a certain level of tension that comes with the possibility that Julie’s pretty friend could destroy you and your friends with the same magic Caleb had threatened them with all those years ago, but when a year passed of the boys being present on earth, both invisible and visible to the human eye, and Y/N having done nothing to report them to her coven, the boys were sure they were in the clear.

And they were almost right…

“I need your help, Ghost Boy.” The words had Luke spinning on the spot as he stood under the early autumn sunshine. He had been waiting for Julie, tasked with picking her and Flynn up from school that day. Ever since the boys had stopped being dead, they had taken on chores in the house to help out Ray as a thank you for him letting them stay in the garage. Luke had expected to find Julie or Flynn, or anyone for a matter of fact: just not Y/N. The pair rarely spoke, most likely to do with the fact she should have reported him to some magical authorities over a year before.

“What do I owe this pleasure, Miss Magic?” He asked, his chipper tone and easy smirk causing Y/N to frown further. She disliked that she found him attractive, though it was exactly why she was approaching him that warm September day of her senior year. “Aren’t you meant to be at college?” He asked with a raised brow, and she sighed, folding her eyes.

“My academic schedule is none of your business.” She was, in fact, meant to be at college that day: Y/N had simultaneously attending high school and working towards her first degree, her parents insistent on her growing up amongst peers despite her summer having been spent working on her final dissertation for her first bachelor’s degree. “I am going to make this quick, Patterson, simply because talking with you makes me nauseous and I worry I’ll catch a cold if I stay close to you for too long.”

“You always had a way with your words, Princess.” Luke grinned, leaning back against the car’s bonnet and folding his own arms, his eyes quite blatant in their racking over her body: the sundress she wore leaving just enough to the imagination to leave the boy intrigued. “What can I do for you?” He asked, and Y/N snapped her fingers in front of his face, frowning.

“I can hear what you’re thinking, asshole… But you’re not far off.” She muttered, and Luke’s eyes widened. His thoughts had been far from pure. “I need you to come with me to Carrie’s party on Saturday, alright?” She exclaimed, clearly upset that she had resorted to asking assistance from the ghost. “My ex is going to be there, he’s an asshole, and if you say no I do have the means to banish you to purgatory.”

“I don’t get much of a say then, do I?”

“No, you don’t…”

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

There was one thing certain about the relationship Luke Patterson shared with Y/N Y/L/N: they could never be friends.

After six years of casual sex in high-end hotel rooms and bathroom stalls; six years of cheating on ‘significant others’ with one-night stands; after Julie and the guys signed their multi-record deal and began touring and Y/N found her own level of moderate celebrity thanks to her genius brain; after all of it, they knew each other too well to like one another, and saw each other too little to develop anything beyond their physical encounters.

Because even though Luke annoyed Y/N with every smirk and his scoffing chuckle, and Y/N drove Luke to the edge with her superiority complex and constant need to prove her intelligence, it couldn’t be helped that whenever the pair found themselves faced with the other, all sanity went out the window. They became different people, and for the few hours they were in one another’s arms, who they really were didn’t matter.

Luke hated her a little bit for it, the effect she had on him, the same way Y/N hated him. There was no love lost between the two, there was no love to begin with. It was just convenience and desperation that had transformed into a primal hunger for one another. Neither had had better sex with someone else, no matter how hard they both searched. It wasn’t a secret that twenty-five year old Luke Patterson of Julie and the Phantoms, the four-time Grammy winner, was a ladies’ man and the free spirit of the band: it was plastered over every tabloid magazine across the globe. And while her fame was lesser than that of the rock star, the sophisticated twenty-three year old Y/N, the scholar who seemed to be headed straight for becoming a household name, was notorious in academic circles for her love affairs: at least two tenured ivy-league professors had slept with and left their wives for the young woman.

In recent years, concern had grown amongst their shared friends, mainly being Alex, who witnessed the rather undesirable parts of their relationship play out to their fullest. It wasn’t just that the pair used one another for sex, they were fine with that: but there was suddenly this need to impress the other, a competitiveness between the two. There was enough heat on Luke’s love life, but whenever Y/N came around, that seemed to escalate to excessive drinking: and one time, Alex and Reggie had to haul Luke into his apartment after he decided to get high on some sort of pill with the witch.

Despite disagreeing with one another on everything but sex, it was almost comical how quickly they could give in to one another. Constantly, even when they weren’t in the same country. It was too common of an occurrence that Y/N would be on the TV as the younger generation’s voice of science, sat on some couch in a studio in LA or New York or Paris or London, or she would be another key note speaker at an event: she had even managed to get herself on the cover of Vogue, an exclusive interview with Anna Wintour herself titled ‘The Sex of Science’. Luke saw all of it, of course, and like clockwork, he would then, for some reason, make it his mission to get another scandal on the front page of tabloids, like he was trying to one-up her.

And he was, and in a way, it was a form of foreplay for the pair. Luke’s insufferable gloating transcended physical presence, he was in every shop Y/N walked into, with a new girl on his arm. Y/N retaliated with success, building the brand she had been working on since high school as the country’s new scientific mind, acting like she was too above the rest of the world to even care to know who Luke Patterson was…

One year.

One whole year since that night in New York, and the band were back by personal invitation. With their third world tour finally finished, and their fourth album in the works for release later that year, the guys and Julie had been riding a high, not quite sure if they’d ever fall down.

Their half decade of commercial success had handed them their third invitation to the Met Gala, a PR opportunity to promote themselves, according to Flynn. Their manager was flown out from LA with Willie, Reggie’s girlfriend Kayla and Julie’s girlfriend, the group opting to share a plane with Trevor and Carrie Wilson, almost a reunion for them all. It wasn’t often they all got to see one another, with the band constantly on tour the past years, but it felt like there was no better place to catch up: over $1,000 champagne as they all talked about the clothes they wore.

“And stepping out onto the carpet now we have the Phan-tastic Four themselves, Julie and her Phantoms!” It was the first voice Luke heard as he stepped out of the limousine and onto the red carpet, suddenly joined by a barrage of questions and flashes of cameras, hundreds of reporters and fans calling out his name. He gave his signature smirk and a wave, opening the car door wide and holding out a hand to Julie, helping her onto the carpet and smiling as gasps sounded around them.

She was a vision, dressed in a tulle ballgown, a mixture of blues and greens and yellows layered on one another, decorated with butterflies like she was some type of goddess. The theme for the year was Sense and Sustainability: Fashion of the Planet, and she had hit the nail on the head with the help of their designer that year. The boys too, had gone for the blue and green tones to match their lead singer: Luke was in a dark blue suit, Reggie in an emerald three-piece and Alex in a topaz shirt, all of them looking like they were straight out of some utopian alter-reality.

“You know, Luke, I think it’s my job to help Julie out of the car.” A voice spoke, Julie’s girlfriend emerging in a white tailored piece, she too decorated with butterflies, a flower the same colours as Julie’s dress proudly displayed on her lapel.

“He has a habit of coming to these things alone, he just likes having something to do.” Julie teased her friend, giving his hand a quick squeeze before letting go, turning her attention to the girl by her side, the pair sharing a soft kiss, the camera surging into another frenzy.

“Honestly, it’s like we’re famous or something.” The next car pulled up, the voice this time being Reggie’s as he jumped from the still rolling car, assisting his girlfriend Kayla out the vehicle, she a beauty in purple. The pair were quickly followed by Alex and Willie, who both looked like they belonged on one of the Vogue runways instead of the red carpet.

“Divide and conquer, meet back at the steps?” Alex suggested, taking in the extravagance of it all, the constant flashing lights and the noise of it all. “Flynn and Carrie texted, they’re already inside.” He alerted on top of his question, the group sharing glances and nodding in agreement.

“Don’t say anything stupid.” Julie warned them all, the group breaking apart to make their ways down the carpet, towards the Met, respective partners in tow.

The next forty minutes were a slow crawl down the carpet amongst the world’s superstars, and Luke did his very best to answer the questions posed to him by prying reporters: he stuck to talking music, and the band and touring, and whenever questions about his love and sex life came up, he quickly laughed them off and changed the subject, a tactic that seemed to work quite well. He wasn’t the only person the journalists were looking to interview, and with each evaded question he felt the weight in his chest get lighter and lighter.

He had promised Julie and the guys, after all, that the night was about what really mattered: they had been asked to play a few songs for the event’s official after party, as well, their popularity shared amongst celebrities alongside the general public. Despite it being a fashion event, that night was about the music for the four.

“So, Luke, correct me if I’m wrong, but tonight is almost a school reunion, no?” The reporter asked, Luke stood to her left as the camera rolled, live feed of the night going straight onto TVs across the country.

“Well, yeah! I guess it is. It’s the first time we’ve had the chance to all be together since before the tour, and you can-” Luke was interrupted by a squeal, he and the reporter turning around to catch Julie and Flynn hugging in the centre of the walkway, coos coming from nearby celebrities who watched on as the girls embraced around the volumes of Julie’s dress fabric. “You can tell we’ve missed each other, can’t you?” He said, turning back to the reporter, who’s eyes flicked down to his arms and back up. He had forgone his suit jacket about twenty minutes before, the shirt underneath sporting sheer sleeves that showed off his biceps quite nicely.

“It’s uh.” The reporter cleared her throat. “From what I gather, the Los Feliz alumni make up over 1% of attendants tonight, and considering we have guests here from across the world, seems like there’s magic over at that school.” She suggested with a raise of the eyebrow, and Luke found himself chuckling. If only she knew…

“I should say hello to Miss Harrison actually, best music teacher in the world.” Luke waved at the camera quickly, and his eyes quickly surveyed the space. His friends had found themselves nearing the steps, and he was quite set on joining them.

“Of course, not all of the reunion class are in the music industry though, are they?” The reporter posed, and Luke frowned a little in confusion.

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me there…” He admitted, though his wonders were quickly answered as another car pulled up at the end of the carpet, yells and cameras flashing making it hard for Luke to focus on the person stepping out of the car, though it soon became rather clear with reporters crying out her name.

Plus, Luke knew Y/N’s body like the back of his hand.

There had to be something said for showing up to the biggest fashion event of the year in black, and more so for showing up in the iconic Coco Chanel fashion of a little black dress. There weren’t many people who could pull it off, but as she walked down the carpet, passing reporters begging for her attention, adorned in the form fitting dress that just passed her knees, the boatline neck putting focus on the gold chain necklace she wore, her stilettos red bottoms to match the crimson lipstick she wore, her hair in its natural waves and framing her face beautifully: no-one could have garnered more attention.

“Will you excuse me?” Luke asked, but before the reporter could speak up he was already making his way across to the centre of the carpet, a lazy smirk on his face as he looked her over, and she came to stand before him, the pair staring one another down. ‘You should’ve told me you’d be here, Princess’, he thought, a smile quirking on her lips as she held out a hand, Luke taking it in his own and pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles, his cold lips giving her goosebumps.

“I think your friends might be waiting for you.” She said softly, the pair breaking their hold on one another and beginning a walk for the steps, Y/N gasping softly at the sight of Julie in her dress. “My goodness, she looks stunning.”

“Yes, you do.” Luke responded, the pair sharing a glance before Y/N started up the stairs, Julie descending to meet her halfway as the pair held onto one another, Luke watching as they seemed to communicate telepathically: they had learned rather a lot from Y/N about Julie’s gifts, ones she had inherited from her mother, and Julie’s ability to see and speak to the dead also seemed to have the added bonus of receiving messages from witches. Y/N could read minds, Julie could mirror the effect.

“Oh, you haven’t met Hannah!” Julie exclaimed suddenly, the girl in black shaking hands with Julie’s girlfriend in white. “Why, how are you here?” The question seemed to perk more than Luke’s interest, microphones held out across the barricade by reports to try and catch a snippet of the words soon to leave Y/N’s mouth.

“Who do you think suggested the theme? The fashion industry is one of the biggest pollutants in America, and where better to flagship the reusable movement than at the biggest fashion event of the year.” Y/N giggled, Julie’s arm linking with hers as they began to walk again, a vision of colours against black. They complimented one another, strolling along the ways old friends do, Flynn coming across to greet them as Hannah and Luke followed behind, the four making their way for their waiting friends. “Besides, Anna owed me a favour.” Y/N added with a smirk, Luke catching the words and raising an eyebrow.

“Are you here on business, Y/L/N?” He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and coming to a stop beside Alex and Willie, the former of whom glanced over at Luke with warning: the last thing they needed was Luke on another front page, this time with the brightest young mind in America.

“Wintour has… Bouts of lycanthropy, and a problem with the undead hanging around museums.” Y/N explained in a low voice, glancing over and spotting the iconic magazine editor, sending her a polite wave from across the way. “I promised to do some banishings if she would kindly assist in the environmental progress movement. An endorsement from Anna Wintour goes a long way.” She shrugged. “It seemed like a fair exchange.”

“I’m sorry, can we backtrack for a moment? Banishings and lycanthropy?” Hannah asked, the group turning to look at her, Julie taking her hand as they decided who might explain. She was the newest addition to the friendship circle, her and Julie having been dating for just over a year and a half. She had joined the band for a leg of the tour, met Flynn.

Y/N was not a person Hannah knew very well, and the sudden talk of magical things, quite understandably, made the girl uneasy.

“So, you know how we told you about us being the g word? And Julie’s a medium?” Reggie said, throwing an arm over Kayla’s shoulder and pulling his girlfriend closer. When Hannah nodded, he continued. “And you know how there was the dead magician who tried to kill us again when the band first formed?” He stopped again, making sure the girl was keeping up with him. “Well, Caleb was a witch when he was alive, and Y/N over there, the one in black, you two have met. Well, Y/N was the alive witch who was meant to banish us and didn’t, thank you for that.” He nodded to the girl, and she smiled slightly, her eyes more focused on Luke across the circle from her. “And now she’s the science girl that everyone talks to on TV since Bill Nye is too old.”

“So… Potions and spells and candles and stuff?” Hannah asked, the group joining in a light chuckle as Y/N nodded.

“Indeed, though it’s a lot more logical than myth has people believing.” Y/N said, her attention diverting from Luke as their host approached, the young men and women all finding themselves straightening up at the sight of her.

“Dr Y/L/N, it’s lovely to see you again. Might we have a word?” Wintour asked, removing Y/N from the group with the words and a quick wave goodbye, the young woman sending a wink Luke’s way before disappearing with the chief editor of Vogue, the pair stopping for an interview further down the stairway.

The title was one that made Y/N smile every time she heard it, the hard work of her youth paying off with respect from elders. It was important for her public persona too, people tended to believe you more if you had the suffix, and for someone so young, it helped her appear mature. There weren’t a lot of perks to getting your first of two doctorates at nineteen, the whole process of being a wunderkind leading up to it had been stressful to say the least, not to mention the added pressures of being groomed to lead the coven one day, but she made it work.

“So, Dr Y/L/N, perhaps we should talk about why you’re here?” The reporter’s question brought Y/N back to reality, stood beside Wintour with a practiced smile to the camera.

“Well, Monica.” Y/N was sure to use the reporter’s first name with a smile. “When Vogue made the move to promote sustainable fashion and opened the bid to make the top designer brands carbon neutral by 2030, I simply couldn’t refuse.” She had rehearsed what to say, she always did. Her appearances were important, her time on screen needed to mean something to viewers. “We are saving our planet, our economy, our livelihoods one step at a time here, this move to recycled materials is predicted to create thousands of new jobs globally within the fashion industry. And as someone who studies these things for a living, probability and the effects of pollutants, the political climate on these issues, I know that I’m here representing the entire scientific community tonight, approving of the incredible work done by our designers, our celebrities who help spread awareness, and by the people at home.”

“You know, I still can’t get over how young you are, I apologise.” The reporter responded with a light laugh, Y/N offering a soft smile back.

“Young, but wise beyond her years. She’s the one we need to listen to.” Anna interrupted with a nod to Y/N. “Two doctorates and five degrees under her belt, not to mention the sense of style.” She complimented, and the reporter rounded off the interview as the pair walked away. “How long until the banishing is over?” She whispered, the pair ascending the staircase to enter the hall, celebrities by the dozen milling around, finding their tables, sitting themselves down for the dinner soon to be served.

“Surely you can trust me to get the job done in a timely fashion, Anna.” Y/N remarked, hands clasped behind her back.

“You’re a witch, of course I don’t trust you.” She muttered, the pair sharing masquerade smiles as they quickly separated, the rather cruel thoughts wandering around the fashion icon’s head causing Y/N to smirk. Her night was just beginning, of course, and as she made her way towards the security corridors on the far side of the hall, her eyes scanned over the room to find Luke looking right back at her, that smug look her hated on his face, arms folded as he rather blatantly checked her out.

’12.05?’ Luke asked as they shared the gaze, the time meaning something to them both. When she nodded, Luke’s gaze focused back on his table of friends, leaving Y/N to disappear in peace, though her mind was once again at war.

She just couldn’t say no to him.

It was a fairly desperate call for Luke to have to rope Y/N into something, but she owed him a few favours from the year before, and he was not going to be the only person at the Halloween record label party without a date: especially not when his ex-girlfriend was going to be there.

As much as he disliked it, Luke was quite certain he needed the hottest person he knew, and it was, rather unfortunately, the witch. It helped that Julie, Flynn and Carrie had banded together that summer to reimagine their friend’s wardrobe: they had fitted Y/N with a style somewhere between ‘if looks could kill’ and ‘you wish you could’, outfits that all looked like they belonged on the cover of a couture magazine, with elements of the witch theme laced in. And while Luke and the band hadn’t seen Y/N in months, what with them recording in LA and her studying at Stanford, just outside of San Francisco, he was hopeful that he could salvage some shred of dignity if he had a pretty girl on his arm.

His breakup with Alice had been front page news for weeks, a mess of lies and cheating and constant scandal that had worked in everyone’s favour, even if it left Luke feeling worse for wear. It was the same as his relationship before Alice, and then his relationship before Alice and Rita… He was quite committed to swearing off romance until he hit forty, at least then he’d be avoiding the front page if things went south.

He arrived at the Fall Down Records HQ coming close on eleven o’clock, a slam of his car door echoing around the street as cameras flashed and caught him on his way in. He blocked out the bright lights and noise, the questions of how he was coping with the breakup, of how he was feeling about Alice’s new boyfriend: by the time the new month started, he had no doubt his tragic affair with the country singer would be overshadowed by the mysterious girl who had arrived at the party earlier that night.

“Luke, you made it!” As the boy entered into the lobby of the building, decorated from top to two in Halloween décor, Trevor welcomed his friend with a smile and quick hug. It was weird, Bobby now being Trevor and Trevor being the same age as Julie’s dad, perhaps weirder that he helped run the label JATP was signed to, but apologies had been handed out and late statements made by Trevor to credit the guys on his first album, so he had sort of just become an uncle now. He was older, wiser, changed from the kid Luke had known, but he still cared about him and Alex and Reggie, just instead of getting them fake IDs and letting them crash in his old garage, now Trevor read the fine prints of the band’s contracts and offered free use of his helicopter.

“Did a pretty girl dressed as an angel show up?” He asked, getting straight to the point. He himself was dressed in an all-black number, sleeveless of course, and had managed to put in some red contacts, a modern take on the Devil.

“She’s with Julie, doing a rather good job at outshining your ex-girlfriend…” Trevor muttered, gesturing to the left of them, Luke’s head turning to locate the girl he had effectively hired to date him for the night.

And she took his breath away.

Y/N stood at Julie’s side by a karaoke machine, the two singing to one another as crowds cheered them on, his ‘girlfriend’ looking like she could’ve quite literally come down from heaven: she had flat out refused to dress up as a witch, and when Luke suggested that their dressing as angel and demon could also be construed as cultural appropriation, Y/N had laughed until she cried. He had asked what was so funny, and she had asked if he had ever seen an angel in person.

It was safe to say that the fluffy white wings and halo mortals had commercialised was a far cry from the true essence of angelic powers: they more resembled blobs that floated, one large eyes in the middle, usually surrounded by rings of heaven fire and something one might describe as spinning wheels of death. All spikes meant to destroy anything impure that came close.

Safe to say, Luke didn’t plan on going to heaven any time soon.

As the song ended, the girls turning to the crowd to bow, Y/N’s eyes fell on Luke at the far side of the room, and she took the opportunity to pay him back.

“You’re here!” She squealed, sending a quick wink Julie’s way, their friend aware of the favour, before putting on her best performance: rushing through the breaking crowd to jump into Luke’s arms, his own instinctively wrapping around her waist to hold her up as he spun around to gain his balance again.

‘Happy to see me, Princess?’ he raised an eyebrow as she read his thoughts, Luke’s eyes drifting over to land on Alice, who watched from the corner of the room rather intently. ‘She’s looking at me…´he thought, Y/N glanced back as Luke placed her back on the ground, a thought coming to her head.

“Let’s give her something to gossip about, yeah?” She suggested, pulling Luke close to her by his collar, planting her lips on his in front of the entire room, making quite sure to embarrass the girl who decided to cheat on Luke Patterson.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?!” Julie called out, the crowd filling the Bowery Ballroom cheering back as she took the stage, microphone in hand. Julie had opted to change dress, her ballgown replaced with a white strapless number, keeping to the theme of butterflies that night and now matching her girlfriend, who stood in the front row of the crowd encouraging her on with a thumbs up.

The evening had been more than a success, with the crowd of celebrities migrating from the Met to the music venue she stood on the stage of as the formalities quickly came to a close. JATP had been begged to play a show, many of the celebrities that night major fans of the young rock stars, and after a DJ set from a mix of the Billboard 100’s top producers, Julie found herself taking the stage with the promise of a song.

“I just want to say thank you, on behalf of myself and the guys, for letting us play. And… Well, we’ve decided that for such a special occasion, we ought to give you something new.” Another chorus of cheers echoed in the space, Julie walking round to place her microphone on the stand by the keyboard waiting for her. “The guys and I have been working on album number four, and this song was one Luke wrote last year just after we left for the World Tour.” Julie paused, looking out into the crowd, her eyes finding Y/N’s as she watched from beside Flynn. “It’s called Bloody Valentine, and we hope you like it.” She finished, the cheers and applause dying down when a sudden guitar riff came from out of nowhere, Julie joining in with piano chords alongside a bassline and a drum beat from Alex, the sounds filling the air despite three of the four musicians being absent.

“The simulation just went bad, but you're the best I ever had. Like hand prints in wet cement, she touched me it's permanent.” Julie sang out, another swell of cheers as the crowd began dancing to the fast paced drum beat and guitar riffs of the song. A flash of light, and Reggie appeared on stage, no longer in his emerald suit from the event, but changed into a silk shirt of the same hue, a pop of colour under his trusty leather jacket and tucked into his ripped skinny jeans.

“In my head, in my head, I couldn’t hear anything you said but in my head.” Reggie took the melody line, Julie harmonising on top, moving away from the piano and crossing the stage to sing with her friend, the two beginning to dance along to the music they made. “In my head, I’m calling you girlfriend what the-” the curse word meant to finish the phrase was overshadowed by a drum fill as Alex appeared on stage behind the pair, his topaz shirt now half open, his hair a mess and his sticks hot from the sheer speed of his hands.

“I don't do fake love, but I'll take some from you tonight. I know I've got to go but I might just miss the flight.” The three sang the first half of the chorus together, Julie jumping up onto the drum stand with Alex to rock out as he played an sang, leaving room on stage as their final member flashed onto the stage, his suits pants switched for a pair of jeans and sneakers, his shirt now without it’s sheer sleeves, showing off Luke’s arms as they flexed, the guitarist taking lead on the song with a complicated guitar riff.

“I can't stay forever, let's play pretend, and treat this night like it'll happen again. You'll be my bloody valentine.” Luke sang to the screams of the crowd, a smile on his face as he sang, his eyes roaming the crowd for the girl dressed in black, stood a row or two from the front, sending her a wink as he performed. “Tonight.”

“I'm overstimulated and I'm sad. I don't expect you to understand. It's nothing less than true romance or am I just making a mess?” Luke and Julie found themselves singing together, his friend dancing across the stage and leading him along with her microphone as they played for the hundreds before them, Julie switching to the harmony line as the second pre-chorus came back around. “In my head, in my head, I'm laying naked with you, yeah. In my head, in my head, I'm ready to die holding your hand.”

“I don't do fake love, but I'll take some from you tonight. I know I've got to go but I might just miss the flight. I can't stay forever, let's play pretend and treat this night like it'll happen again. You'll be my bloody valentine tonight.” Luke took the second chorus by himself, while Julie hyped up the crowd, Alex and Reggie going hard on drums and bass behind him. He couldn’t stop his eyes from drifting over to Y/N as he sang, the girl stood there with a smirk on her lips. He wondered if she was reading his mind, if she knew what he was thinking, if she knew the song was about her, about them: about the chaotic and borderline toxic relationship they had developed over the years. He wondered if she remembered the year before, the night they shared in New York before he vanished off for a World Tour, before she had fully accepted her role as America’s Greatest Scientific Mind.

The instrumental break had the crowd going wild, Luke, Reggie and Julie harmonising on their separate instruments while Alex improvised on the drums, quickly bringing the tempo down and starting a roll on the snare, Luke coming back to his mic to sing.

“I can't hide how I feel about you. Inside, I'd give everything up tonight, if I could just have you be mine. Be mine, baby.” Luke’s voice had a gravel in it, something raw and powerful that took people’s breath away. He glanced over to Reggie and Julie as he sang, the three sharing smiles until Reggie glanced out at the crowd, his grin dropping to a frown, Julie’s soon following. Luke tracked their gazes as he held onto the microphone for balance, every piece of joy in him suddenly filled with rage.

There, in the third row back, was some guy, dressed like he’d just come from a giving a university lecture, with his arms around Y/N’s waist, his chin resting against her shoulder as he pressed kisses to her neck.

“I can't hide how I feel about you. Inside, I'd give everything up tonight, if I could just have you be mine. Be mine.” Luke continued, dropping back from the mic once he had sung the last of the bridge, leaving Alex to another drum fill, a chance to show off that Luke had before been so excited to hear. Now? He just felt numbing anger, it was clear on his face: he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Y/N, who seemed to be refusing to return his gaze, her eyes anywhere but on him.

“I don’t do fake love but I’ll take some from you tonight. I know I’ve got to go but I just might miss the flight.” Reggie and Julie took over singing the last chorus, trying not to show concern as they performed, trying to remain professional. They both wondered exactly what Luke would do once they got off stage, wondered if Reggie and Alex would need to hold their friend back while Julie attempted to talk him down, but it seemed like Luke’s frustrations were coming out on his guitar and the song. He stepped up to the microphone again, green eyes piercing into Y/N’s very soul as he played like he wouldn’t get another chance.

“I can't stay forever, let's play pretend and treat this night like it'll happen again. You'll be my bloody valentine tonight.” Her eyes finally looked up, her face one of blank expression, and it almost gave him hope. She almost look annoyed, though he couldn’t tell if it was at him or the man who’s hands had begun travelling across her body.

“No not enough, no not enough, no not enough, no not enough no just tonight.” The four sang, repeating the line over again as the song came to a close, Luke swinging his guitar behind him as Alex drummed them out, heavy breathing in a mix of adrenaline and wrath.

The moment the song ended, the crowd bursting into applause, with significant others quickly rushing to the stage to congratulate Julie, Reggie and Alex, Luke watched Y/N slip her way out of the mystery man’s arms, making a beeline to a door by the stage side. It took Luke a second, setting his guitar on the stand and following after her, ignoring a call of ‘Luke wait!’ from his bandmates as he slammed open the door walking down the backstage corridors.

He was hunting, following the scent of perfume, that sweet mix of apple and lemon that made him lightheaded, the echoes of stilettos on concrete. It wasn’t often that he used his ghostly gifts, more because he had gotten used to being human again, but it a moment of frustration at the endless hallways and rooms that seemed to filled that backstage of the Bowery, he poofed with Y/N in mind.

She had expected him to follow of course, they had agreed it earlier that evening. While Luke hadn’t been paying attention to the time, he appeared in one of the Bowery’s backstage bathrooms just as the clock hit 12.05, finding Y/N perched on the sink with a window cracked open and a cigarette between her blood red lips. She blew the smoke out the window, turning back to look at him, reaching out a hand from him to grip onto as he steadied himself. He hadn’t jumped like that in years, the feeling foreign to him.

“Luke…” She said softly, sincerity in her voice that was rare: she wasn’t a woman prone to expressive emotion.

“You could have fucking told me you were with someone before I got on stage.” He hissed, cutting off any type of apology she might have tried to give, not that she was known for them. “I mean, I knew you were a total bitch, Princess, but do I not get any warning?!”

“We don’t do feelings Patterson, you know that.” She whispered softly, taking another drag of the cigarette before stubbing it out and tossing it through the window, the smoke she blew out hanging in the air.

“Are you really going to sit there and act like we don’t have something?! Really?” Luke exclaimed with an angry laugh, running a hand through his hair in disbelief at the girl before him, who sat stoic, straight backed with her legs crossed one over the other, like she was being interviewed on one of those stupid news shows.

“It doesn’t matter what we have if it would never work, Luke!” She finally let her temper break, yelling the response back at him despite her perfect posture. “We aren’t friends! We can never be friends! We’re two different people leading two very different lives. And to be quite honest with you, Jackson fits into mine.” She admitted, trying to stop her bottom lip from quivering. The last thing she was going to be was weak.

“Jackson, so that’s his name.” Luke scoffed, taking a step closer to Y/N, and another. “Tell me something, Princess.” He muttered, his hand lifting her legs apart for him to get closer, his cold demeanour matching the chill that exuded from his body, causing goosebumps to form on Y/N’s arms and legs. “Does he have the same effect on you that I have?”

“No.” She confessed, her head hanging low as she let out the word. Luke’s thumb and forefinger caught her chin, raising her face to look him in the eyes, the smirk on his lips prompting Y/N to add to her confession. “But I suppose that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Can you tell me honestly that you can give this up?” Luke posed the question, and for a moment Y/N had to pause, to gulp, the closeness of their bodies all too tempting. “You know, you may be the smarty pants young doctor out to save the world around everyone else, Princess, but I’ve heard you scream my name before.” He whispered, his lips centimetres from making contact with skin. “You like this, you love this. Us…Late nights in hotel rooms and sneaking out before morning.” A hand finally placed down against her thigh, the cold skin against her flushed body almost shocking had it not been a feeling Y/N had craved. “You like the adrenaline that comes with going back to what ever pencil neck you’ve wrapped around your little finger while my cum is still on your thighs, marks I left still on your neck.”

All of it was true, but of course Y/N had no intention of admitting it, of boosting that asshole’s ego anymore than she already had. She shouldn’t have agreed to even meeting him, no matter how badly she craved the feeling of Luke’s body against hers, of his hand around her neck as he fucked her senseless.

“Let go of me and I’ll leave. You’ll never see me again.” She promised, to which Luke laughed, the hand he had on her thigh pushing her skirt higher and higher, coming down towards the inside of her thigh, brushing the lace of her panties. Her breathing hitched, her body betraying her.

“Face it, Y/N…” He said softly, moving back to look her in the eyes as a finger hooked under her panties and pull them down her thighs, Luke biding his time, waiting for the fabric to fall to his feet before continuing. “You need me as much as I need you.” He assured her, his eyes flicking between hers and her mouth. He silently asked permission, Y/N giving it to him when her hands moved to the belt buckle on his jeans, quickly undoing it and letting Luke’s pants fall slack.

Luke didn’t hesitate any longer, taking her face in his hands and pressing their lips together, his tongue fast into her mouth and dominant. He often took control like this, something Y/N could never quite bring herself to resist, and she was almost immediate in her reciprocation of the kiss, her hands coming to the hem of Luke’s shirt, unbuttoning it quickly and pushing it off his shoulders as their lips collided.

Kissing him was like jumping from a cliff into waters one would assume were warm, only to land and hit the freezing sea below. It was the taste of salt on his tongue, the tug of his hands in her hair, the way she panted for breath between kisses like she might drown in him.

Y/N was always the one to make the second move, it was how they worked. Luke always initiated, she always responded, it was a back and forth. They didn’t speak, they knew each other so well they didn’t need it. Her hands coming to his boxers briefs and palming at his stiff member through the clothes, asking for him to take his turn, prompted Luke to do so, moving aside the last piece of clothing separating them from the thing they both begged for.

Luke lined himself up with her entrance, breaking the kiss to pull Y/N to the very edge of the counter, pushing her skirt completely past her ass. His body between her thighs spread her legs, Luke smiling as she whimpered.

“You asshole, don’t make me wait.” She moaned out, giving up on trying to feign resentment, her hand coming to his locks and pulling him in for another kiss, Luke pushing himself into her as they lips collided once again.

A year without one another, Luke had missed the feeling of her walls clenching around his cock. He had missed the way she whimpered curse words under her breath as he set a hard and fast pace. She clung to the counter top for some sense of stability, letting her head fall back as a moan racked her body.

“Fuck Princess, so good for me.” Luke groaned, his lips coming to her exposed neck and pressing down on her sweet spot, making sure to leave a mark, to tell whoever saw her next that she belonged to someone else. His eyes trailed over her in the vulnerable state, taking his cock like the good girl she always was once he had her panties on the floor. He admired the site: her tight cunt spread around his girth as he pounded into her, evidence of her arousal catching the dim lighting overhead.

“Luke… F-fuck…” Y/N whimpered, one hand coming round the back of his neck, pulling him deeper as she began chasing her high, the knots in her stomach slowly beginning to form, his body against hers beginning to burn with each touch. They weren’t meant to be compatible, and yet sex never felt better than with one another. “Baby, don’t stop.” She gasped out, her eyes widening as he bit into her skin, a guttural moan leaving her body, unable to fight back against the smug look on his face.

She had forgotten just how good he was, just how much she wanted him. As the knots in her stomach tightened, the tension in Luke’s abdomen increased, both chasing towards euphoria, Luke’s breathing grew shaky, his pace turning sloppy, his thrusts deeper and deeper.

“Cum for me sweetheart.” Luke muttered, a hand coming down to rub circles against her clit, the action throwing Y/N over the edge, into the waves of ecstasy as the knots in her stomach unfurled, her eyes squeezing shut and her head falling onto Luke’s should as he too spent himself inside her.

They stayed like that for a moment, ragged breathing and Y/N’s rapid heartbeat seeming to pound hard and loud enough for someone two rooms over to hear. She found herself holding onto him, letting herself relax for a moment, even enjoy it, as Luke’s hand came up and petted her head, only moving back when her cheek burned too much from his icy skin.

‘I think she’s in love with me…’ Luke’s intrusive thought wasn’t one he meant to think, but it seemed to be the one Y/N heard. She pushed him back to the other side of the small bathroom, Luke unable to rid himself of the smug expression he wore as he tucked himself back into his boxers and pulled up his jeans.

"He doesn't make you happy." Luke’s voice almost sang in victory, leaning back against the wall as Y/N cleaned herself of their scandal, their affair. Once she had finished, flushing the secret they shared down the toilet with the toilet paper, he reached out and pulled her close to him. His hand came up to her mouth, his thumb pressing against her bottom lip, ego inflating when her felt her tremble slightly in his grasp. "You know he doesn't…"

"Yeah, well at least he doesn't make me sad, Luke." Y/N snapped back in response, interrupting him from finishing his sentence, a stray tear rolling down her cheek as he held her in his arms, catching Luke off-guard and forcing his hands to drop away, his mind to go blank. He didn't think he had ever seen her cry before, but then again, Y/N never had cause to feel shame. She didn't have cause to feel it until then, storming out of that bathroom, knowing for a fact she would do everything in her power to stop herself from loving Luke Patterson.

Tags: @siennanoelle01 @epikskool @eries45 @thesweetestsinner @fangirlangioma @moviesbooksandfandoms @ohyoureaqueenbutuncrowned @saroo-hawks @charliessunset @lanasfandoms @bigdesi @avngrsinitiative @emotionalbruv @lolychu @lazydaisy19 @korydickson @sunsetpatterson @uglypeachh @reggieandthereggies @rogersangel @izzyhogue @writerinlearning @independentgirl @delicatelukepatterson @melsucks1 @uhmitstori @mon-charmante @writingforphantoms @musicconversedance @mjflower @heimdoodle @kcd15 @-episkey- @walkingonshunshine @obxmermaid @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve @kristencoontz @n0wornever @simp4madi @aliciameix @kinda-just-chillin-here @jatpfan99 @blueyed-one @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic @ghostlyb1tch @leahstypewriter @daisiesforlacey @valntynegillespie @ritz-hell-hotel @reggiesleatherjacket @hemmingsness @ssprayberrythings @whitemanshoe19 @mishapned @lukespaterson @caitsymichelle13 @dovesgrangers @morganayennefertyrell @kissing-thunder @localfangirlx @queenxxkiller @sunset-swerves @dmcfarland1 @cherrymaybank @fireballdaisy @theatricalfangirl @marinettepotterandplagg @kaylinfayezink @crappy-unicorn @all-in-fangirl @hologramband @calamitykaty @dxlanhxlland

#luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson smut #luke patterson x y/n #jatp luke x reader #jatp luke #jatp au #jatp #julie and the phantoms #angsty smut #smut #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson fanfiction #julie and the himbos

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issaxcharlie · 3 years

Text

Ghost Of You 2/2

Pairing: Ghost! Luke Patterson x Fem Reader

Summary: Luke, Reggie and Alex have to assimilate their loss. For Luke of his girlfriend, and for the others of their best friend after suddenly learning that she didn’t have the future they imagined, and instead died 23 years ago.

Thank you to @cookiebuba for being the head of the entire idea and trusting me with it, and to Emy for almost holding my hand to force me to write🤣💜

PART 1 HERE

“It can’t be.”

“Luke, I-”

"No, Julie. You are not telling me that the woman of my life, the purest person who has ever stepped on this world, not only lost her partner and her best friends, but was only able to live her life for two more years and then ended in a horrible accident. It's as if life wanted to torture her before taking her too.”

“Love of ?... Zeppelin shirt you wore when you ran away. Of course.”

“I- It can’t be true, please tell me it’s not true, Julie.”

“Luke... she loved you so much.”

He falls on the floor. The impact is strong, as if his legs have stopped working.

"I know." He whispers slowly, his gaze empty as multiple tears fall from his eyes.

The rest of the gang threw themselves to the ground around him and hugged him with all their might, trying to unite his broken pieces without any success. Alex and Reggie each crying silently over the loss of their sweet friend.

“What day did she pass away? Alex whispers.

"Let me search, one moment." Julie gets up quickly and checks on her laptop to find a little note about the singer's death.

"The rising singer Y/N Y/L who had just released the biggest hit of her career passed away this afternoon in a terrible car accident after leaving the cemetery where her late boyfriend, Luke Patterson, was buried. Y/L was there in commemoration of the 2 years of the loss of the aspiring musician, who died from a sudden tragic intoxication along with the rest of his band. Something to rescue from this tragedy is that at least she's already reunited with her eternal love. May both rest in peace.”

“This can’t be. My Y/N can’t be gone. Not her, not like that.” Luke is still in denial, unable to believe that his little girl suffered such a terrible ending.

“Maybe she’s not. There's still a chance that she's also a ghost.”

“Yeah, Julie’s right. We need to look out for her, we can't write her off without trying to find her first.” Reggie's eyes sparkle with hope, rushing to cover Alex's mouth in case he says anything other than motivating.

Luke takes his flannel and disappears immediately. Both Reggie and Alex stare sadly at Julie who simply whispers a "go, he needs you." They nod and teleport to their friend.

As expected, Luke is in front of the window of an old music store. He met his girlfriend here so many years ago, the day his parents agreed to buy him his first guitar.

The store had a small section where customers could try out some instruments and she was playing the guitar they had there and singing for the small audience. It seemed like it was something she did often because both the workers and certain customers seemed familiar with the girl.

Luke was captivated by her from the first moment. The energy and passion that radiated from her in every move was unreal. He had never seen anyone happier, much less singing with a borrowed guitar from a small downtown store.

The store is completely abandoned, so without saying anything he comes in and walks towards the small stage.

The ghosts of two 12-year-old kids singing together into the microphone invades his memory. If they only knew.

"Do you remember what was the first thing she said to you?" Reggie and Alex sit next to him on the floor, looking straight at the very small stage. They both try to imagine what their friends must have looked like singing here together the first time. Luke totally invading little Y/N's presentation trying to captivate her with his 0% music experience and 100% of enthusiasm.

Luke laughs through tears. "You have the voice of a country singer."

Alex starts crying when he imagines her. He met her just a few weeks later so he knows exactly how she must have looked and sound.

Reggie smiles while shedding a tear, remembering all those afternoons Y/N convinced Luke to join them in their country sessions. He knows that's why Luke hasn't wanted to know anything about country or his songs since they got back. They remind him of his sweet girl.

“I was so offended. I still didn't know anything about music but I had already decided that I would be a rocker. If I hadn't already been so dazzled by her I would have left without looking back.”

“And what did you answer to defend your honor?”

"You think so?" The three of them start laughing while still crying. A heartbreaking mix of pain comes from their chests.

“C’mon guys, next stop.”

The three of them were teletransporting around the city during the day without any success. Luke's desperation increasing for every place the songwriter wasn't.

At night the three decide to go back to the studio. Luke is heartbroken, bloated after crying all day, eyes red and sore, and whatever it was that was driving him to continue, off.

His friends couldn't do much for him either because each was living the loss in their own way, concentrating on living their own pain until they could process it.

Julie wraps them in blankets on the couch and tries to fill them with love, making sure to hug Luke tightly, who seems about to fall apart.

“Does anyone want to talk about her? Maybe it could make you feel better.”

“She was my entire soul, the words and melody in each of my songs. I just, I love her more than anything in this world. I would give anything for her. My guitar, my voice, my songs, whatever it took for us to be together. I know it doesn't seem like it at this point, but we belong together.”

“We know you do, man.”

“I didn't tell you but I dream about her almost every night since we got back. It is always the same dream. She is in bed, leaving my side intact. She's wearing one of my shirts and hugging my favorite one while sobbing. She falls asleep listening to the ballad I wrote for her soaked in tears and no matter how hard I try to wake her up, I can't get her to see or hear me. I can’t get her. After a few minutes she gets up still asleep and begins to dance as we did so many times, but alone. Then she stops and starts crying again inconsolably. And that's when I wake up."

"I'm so sorry, Luke. She deserved so much more." Reggie walks over to hug him, his head resting on his arm while he sobs.

“We couldn't even say goodbye to her.” Alex cries, his eyes completely red.

“We already know that she visited your graves, perhaps we could do the same, dedicate a few words to her.” Julie offers in an attempt to help them find some peace.

Luke looks devastated, but he nods his head as tears continue to fall from his face, the ring that his girlfriend gave him going in and out of his finger. Alex hugs Julie while she strokes his hair in an effort to calm him down and Reggie runs up to get a notebook and pencil to start planning what to say to his best friend tomorrow.

The three of them hang around all night, crying, writing, hugging, remembering the spark of Sunset Curve. In the morning before going to visit her, they realize is exactly the 25th anniversary of that tragic night that changed the lives of the four forever. Luke nearly punches a hole in the wall upon hearing the sad coincidence.

Her grave is right next to Luke's, who has never been here before and can't help but feel a bit anxious.

“Don’t worry, I’ll start.” Reggie tells the guitarist as he takes a step forward, a small smile on his lips.

"Hello, princess. Long time, huh? I'm Reggie, by the way. In case you don't recognize me from the slight change in my hair. I am trying a little more gel, I want something more elegant and classic. What do you think? Yes, I also thought you would like it.” Julie and Alex smile at hearing him talk to her as natural as possible.

“I tried very hard to think of what to say, because if there is anyone who deserves my best words, it is you. And three things came to mind that I want to share with you.

First, the color yellow.

Yellow like the guitar you were saving for two years to buy. You did everything. You were a babysitter, you walked dogs, you worked in the school library, you sang with your old acoustic guitar in every cafe, basically everything that will let you win some money.

And the day before you could finally go buy it, my dad broke my bass in a moment of anger in one of his typical fights with mom that got really out of hand. At least he didn’t hurt her, huh? But when you're a kid you don't even think about the possibility that something like that could happen, you just focus on the broken instrument in your hand. I ran out and ended up on the stairs of your house with my face soaked and one of the broken pieces in my hand.

You hugged me and promised that everything would be fine. That I was always going to have you four and that we would always be family. You assured me that good things happen to good people. And I believed you, you know? You were always right. But now that I'm here, that I know you didn't have the happy ending you deserved, I'm honestly not so sure anymore.”

Luke and Alex start crying again, each hugging Reggie from one side. Reg tries with all his might to continue through the tears, while Julie looks at them with a broken heart.

“The next day when I came back from school a new bass was on my bed. You talked to Mom so she could take the credit for the gift, but coincidentally was exactly the bass that I fell in love with a year earlier when we went to check if your beloved yellow guitar hadn't dropped in price. Luke revealed to me a few months later that you had to borrow money from your mom in order to complete the exact money for that one.

How generous do you have to be in order to do something like that? how noble? How loving? How selfless? You were always more than I deserved. I was supposed to be like an older brother for you, but it was always you who took care of me. I have Julie and Carlos, and I'm trying to be with them as you were with me. I had the best step sister in the world to teach me, and I hope I can do you justice.” Julie starts crying too after hearing his words, and resists the urge to going to hug him because she knows that they need their space to let go all the suffering that they carry.

“Second, my leather jacket.

When we started the band we made a 100% commitment to being rockstars. And a very important part is the look. You accompanied me on a walk around the city looking for the right outfit to literally go sing to the people who were lining up in front of the clubs.

Anyone could have left me alone on that for multiple reasons, not even these two wanted to face the trouble. But you followed me without thinking twice.

The afternoon was over and we still haven't found anything. Our feet couldn't take it anymore and we had 10 minutes to run to the club. But we stopped by a little store that had a black leather jacket in the window and you said, Reg, this is it.

You excitedly took me by the hand and when I tried it on, the rest was history.

Then I tried to get the whole band to use them but these two boys without fashion sense didn’t want to. You, on the other hand, supported me and wore your leather jacket during all the Sunset Curve performances we had, convincing me that they were our good luck charms and that if we both used them everything would be amazing. Oh god, I miss you so much.

And third, a star.

I thought you were a star when I heard you sing for the first time.

I thought you were a star when you and Luke managed to write the whole Sunset Curve album in 2 months.

I thought you were a star when you bought me my bass, when you made Alex feel better after one of his strongest attacks, when you filled Luke with love and support when he needed it the most.

And I believe it now that I know you are gone.

If you are in heaven, you have to be a star. And not just a star, the brightest star of all. I promise to look for your light every night to wish you sweet dreams. I will also sing you some country since you were the only one who appreciated my incredible sound, I hope it makes you smile.”

“That was beautiful, Reggie. I’m sure she loved it.” Julie finally reaches out to hug him as Alex prepares to be next.

“Hey. I don’t even know where to start.

I- I guess I should start saying I could never pay you all the times you were there to pick me up when I needed someone the most. I went back to dancing a little again. It's not the same without you, but somehow it makes me feel you close. I also met someone, oh Y/N, he’s so special, I'm sure you would have loved him and I would have loved the opportunity to introduce him to you. You were always there.

You were there to support me when I decided to learn drums to cope with my anxiety. You sang the song I was practicing over and over to keep me company and reassure me that what I was doing sounded good.

You were there to support me when I told you I like to dance. We spent hours choreographing different iconic songs and just laughing and enjoying creating more memories together.

Not shocking at this point but you were also there for me when I confessed to my parents I’m gay and you gave me strength all those times that I wanted to fall because they no longer saw me the same way.

You were always my safe place. And I regret with all my heart that I couldn’t be yours.”

Alex breaks down. She kept them on their feet during her darkest days and they paid her off by causing her the most horrible pain imaginable. Julie and Reggie surround her in their arms while sobbing. The last one of the band standing moves closer to the grave and drops to his knees.

“I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so fucking sorry.” Luke tries to be strong, but tears start falling like waterfalls from his eyes, his face red in a mixture of despair, sadness and anger.

“I will never forgive myself for leaving you alone. Baby, I've been without you for only 1 month and I’m going crazy, even with the boys and Julie by my side. I don't even want to imagine what you must have been through those two years. My soul is shattered just thinking about it.

At first when we returned I imagined you were happy after having fulfilled all our plans with someone else. And I thought nothing could hurt me more than that, but obviously I was wrong. Because although it hurt me that I couldn’t be the one who was with you, thinking that you had been happy gave me the peace to be able to continue. Now that I know that life took away your opportunity, the only thing I feel is anger.

Anger towards me, anger towards destiny. Anger at not being able to be together even after death. Since we discovered where you are, I have only been able to think of cross over and finally be with you again.

Or at least go back to the night before everything turned into a nightmare. Fall asleep with you in my arms one more time.

I swear I even miss your snoring and you biting my cheek after your goodnight kiss, as you would say, in a gesture of love.”

“Hello again, my love.

I can't believe 25 years have passed. First of all, I want you to know that I'm okay. Or well, the equivalent for ghosts that are destined to haunt the earth alone for all eternity. I made a friend for several years, Rose. I told you about her, remember? I know you guys would have been good friends, she was a ridiculously talented musician. Since she died I no longer had the strength to go back to the studio, but for a long time I enjoyed her company in one of my favorite places. She promised to tell you that I'm waiting for you. I will wait whatever time is necessary, okay? I love you so much, baby.

You three are always on my mind, and I think I can finally accept that the pain is just never going to go away. But lately something super strange has happened to me, let me tell you.

Throughout these years, in the darkest days, I see you. But, they were always memories.

A month ago, I started to see you having other kinds of experiences and I honestly don't know how to feel about it. Am I going that crazy? I selfishly hoped that you too were ghosts for so many years. I looked for you 5, 10, 15, 20 years. And just as I decide to give up, my head imagines you all over the city.

The first time I saw you singing Reggie's jam on the beach. You guys looked so happy, love. It filled my heart with peace for a few seconds, knowing that somewhere up there you are enjoying life singing together all day.

Then I saw my beloved Alex with a cute boy. My heart melted, I can’t even explain how much I wanted to run to hug him and gossip about it.

Baby, he looked so peaceful. I always wanted that for Alex. I didn't know whether to be happy or cry because that didn’t actually happen, so I did both.

The penultimate time was a few nights ago when I was walking in front of the Orpheum and I heard your voices. How wicked my mind is, right? A knife to the heart would hurt less.

And now, I can't even get close to your grave because I'm imagining you all again.”

Y/N doesn't know what to do, if she gets close enough will they disappear? What If they don’t? Will she bear to see them up close? She has been dancing with their ghosts in her dreams for so many years, but It’s not the same as doing it when she is fully awake.

She is about to run out of there in fear when the silhouette of a fourth person catches her attention. She doesn't know why, but it immediately reminds her of Rose. Could it be that she is imagining her friend too?

Curiosity is stronger than fear, like all those times when she got into trouble with her boys. She walks carefully towards her grave which is next to her beloved Luke.

“I swear I even miss your snoring and you biting my cheek after your goodnight kiss as you would say, in a gesture of love.”

“I don't freaking snore, I told you a million times already... and now I'm talking with my imagination, great.”

The band turns in shock towards the fifth voice. That's when she can see the girl's face and realize who she is.

“Julie? But, how?”

“Y/N?” Alex whispers on the verge of passing out.

She starts to panic, just before the boys can do something about it, a new person appears behind her.

“Hey, you took a long time." She turns around and jumps into the arms of who has become her only friend in recent years.

“Phoenix, thank god.” Her body continues to shake but she clings tightly to her friend while crying uncontrollably.

To say the ghosts are confused would be an understatement. And apart from that, the guitarist is having many conflicts with the jealousy that he is feeling at the moment. They haven't seen each other in 25 years and when they finally do, she runs into someone else's arms and clings to him like her life depends on it.

What does that mean for them? Is it too late?

“Beautiful, what's wrong? Who are they? Oh, wait. You guys were at the club a few weeks ago, you're friends with Willie, right?”

Luke feels like dying all over again hearing him call her that. She continues to shake but finally lets go.

“What? You can see them?”

“Shouldn’t I?” He looks at her skeptical and shifts his eyes from her to the ghosts.

“I- Oh my god. I'm going to pass out.“

“Baby, look at me.” Luke’s voice is a mix between a plea and a demand. The terror of knowing that perhaps he has already lost her without having had the opportunity to fight for her clouds his judgment and tears begin to fall from his face again.

25 years. 25 years fighting not to forget his voice. 25 years having him only in dreams, in memories, in melodies. 25 years waiting for him. 25 years on her own.

She turns slowly to meet those honey-green eyes she craved for so long to see, a painful smile from Luke makes her smile through tears.

She carefully lifts her right hand and gently draws it to his cheek, almost exploding at the feel of it.

“You came back. Oh my, It’s really you.” She jumps to the guitarist, entwining her legs at his hips, her arms tangled with all her strength around him, her head buried in his neck inhaling his scent. Tears coming out as if to drown her, all the pain and suffering that she faced all these years finally leaving her body.

Luke wraps her tightly in his arms, still unable to process what’s happening.

Alex and Reggie begin to smile without fully assimilating what is happening, while Julie begins to jump of joy.

“Babygirl, I'm sorry to ruin the moment but I have to rush to the club. Will you be okay here?"

“She's always safe with me." The guitarist growls, and Y/N starts laughing when she hears it.

"The jealous, protective baby in the beanie is right, don't worry Nix. I’ll go and find you later."

Phoenix nods with a smile and disappears. Julie begins to scold Luke while Reggie and Alex approach to touch the cheek of their best friend, still in the arms of the guitarist who does not seem to have any intention of letting go.

“We should go home to catch up. Reggie and I will accompany Julie, it seems that you two should speak alone first." Luke doesn't think twice and disappears with her in his arms.

“Good things happen to good people.” Reggie whispers as he hugs his friends and they start walking home.

Luke and Y/N reappear in the studio and they are both shocked for a few seconds. The girl trembles again in fear of dreaming.

“Hey, come here baby. Shh, I’m here, I promise.”

“Don’t leave me ever again, please.” He can see that it is very difficult for her to understand that is really happening, and to think that she lived without him not 2 but 25 years makes him want to cry again.

“I won’t. I promise, beautiful. Never again.” Luke wraps her in his arms, but she lifts her head from his chest to push her lips against his. The kiss is urgent, but they both instantly recognize each other and fit in perfectly. Luke picks her up again and gently lays her down on the couch, both desperate to feel the other, to recognize every inch.

“I missed you so much baby, I love you more than anything.” Luke whispers between kisses, not willing to have her an inch away from him.

“I love you my love. I love you, I love you, I love you.” She says while kissing the love of her life, happy for the first time in 25 years.

Before things get to escalate, the rest of the band shows up in the studio followed by Julie who clearly walks through the door.

"Let go of her man, it's our turn!" Y/N gets up quickly from the sofa while her boyfriend complains and she throws herself at both of them who pick her up as best they can and spin her in the air.

They put her down and Julie and her stare each other, both raise their arms and meet in a quick but sweet hug.

“You said my name back there, how?” The question that she has stuck since she met her finally coming to light.

“I met your mom many years ago when I came to visit the studio and realized that she could see me. We were friends for many years and I had the opportunity to see you grow up, but I always made sure to be upstairs when you came in in case you could see me too.”

“Well, now I understand how Carlos felt when he found out that we lived with ghosts. And It sounds like mom watches over us both from heaven.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she does.” Both girls smile and hug each other once more.

“I can't believe I endured 25 years without having those beautiful arms around me.” She whispers as they both lie on the couch, Luke has her completely cornered in his arms.

“I’m so sorry, baby. It breaks my heart that you have suffered that much for so many years.”

“It was not your fault. You lost as much as I did that night. Besides, I always knew that you would find me sooner or later. We belong together.”

“We do. I, I k-know we have way more to talk about but, who was the dude from the cementery?”

The insecurity in his voice is evident and Y/N can't help but smile. His emotions are complex, real, and nothing can make her happier than that.

“I’ll tell you all about my friend later, okay? For now... dance with me? I want to dance with the real deal.” He smiles and they both stand up, hugging each other as they slowly move through the studio as they did many times before life separated them.

The Luke in her arms is her Luke, the same one she has been waiting for so many years, finally back in her arms. And just as she thought when she lived, she will dance with his ghost for all eternity.

Thank you for reading✨✨

Taglist: @writerinlearning, @ghostofmgg @strangerthanfanfiction713, @thebloodthirstyvampress, @kinda-really-lost, @kcd15, @magnet-girl, @aliandthephantoms, @stxrkspidey, @pinkrockstar19, @s0uz4s, @shycupcakealissa @cookiebuba, @fangirlangioma, @sageellsworth05, @twist3dtinkerbell, @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve, @caitsymichelle13, @ifilwtmfc, @luckylouiebug, @bibliophilewednesday, @totomoshi, @siennanoelle01, @lunashadow6955, @bookfrog247, @morganayennefertyrell, @kiss-themoongoodbye, @rachelle3musicals, @imsydneywalker, @really-dont-forget-it @agentstarkid @talksoprettyjjx @kaitieskidmore1 @lukeys-giggle @katie-navarro @crybabyddl @cocopuffs0211 @marvel-ousnesss @blackhood5sos @tessxblxckthorn

Goy tags: @eternalharry @xplrreylo

#luke patterson imagine #luke patterson fanfic #luke patterson x y/n #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson imagines #luke patterson fic #jatp imagine #charlie gillespie fic #charlie gillespie x y/n #charlie gillespie imagines #jatp luke

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mrsbrookegillespie · 3 years

Text

+Perfect Harmony+ (Part One) Luke x Reader

Description: For Y/N Molina, it never came easy for her. The hardest part not being able to do the one thing she loved, creating music. With her cousin Julie joining a ghost band that she’s been secretly admiring for years, her all time crush not returning the same feelings, and having many untold secrets, something is bound to go wrong.

Warnings: ANGST, swearing, mention of suicidal thoughts, Ray not being that nice (I’m sorry Ray, we love you), mention of slight sexual harassment, mentions of death (duh), terrible writing, typos, and probably more that my brain can’t think of at the moment.

After Writing All Of That I’m Questioning This Story, But I Do Love It So... Many Songs Will Be Featured, Feel Free To Listen To Them When They Come Up.

+Perfect Harmony+

For Y/N Molina life wasn’t easy. Her parents, one being the sister of Ray Molina, dropped her off in front of the Molina household at the age of fourteen before going off to explore the world. At the time she was upset about the situation, but it wasn’t surprising. Her parents never wanted a kid, she practically raised herself while they were in Greece eating seafood, and sipping at the finest wine, no doubt. “How are you doing?” Rose, her cousin Julie’s mom, asks.

Y/N shrugs. “They’re never coming back, so I guess I’m going to be stuck on this couch for a while.” She actually grew quite fond of the sofa that pulled out into a bed.

“We’ll make you a room up in the loft,” Rose assures.

“So, we agree, my parents are…” Her voice fades off, inhaling through her nose.

“You know, this used to be the studio of a band.” Y/N tilts her head, looking at the older woman. “A rock band, I met them when they were going to play at The Orpheum--”

“The Orpheum?!” Y/N exclaims. “That’s amazing!”

“They were, but they died that night.” Rose stands up, walking to a box. “This is some of their stuff.” She picks it up. “I’ve heard the music you listen to, and I think you would like them.” Setting down the box in front of Y/N, she wastes no time searching through it.

“Sunset Curve?” she questions, staring down at the logo printed on the shirt. “Cool name,” she compliments with a wide smile, setting the article of clothing in her lap. She picks up a picture showing four boys. “Were these them?”

“Yes, that one was Bobby, he’s a flirt, Reggie, sweetie, Alex, very sassy--” Y/N giggles, “And Luke, he was the lead singer.”

“He’s… Quite decent looking,” Y/N observes sheepishly.

“I knew you’d think so.” Rose ruffles her hair. “Listen to the CD, you never know…”

“I will.” Y/N clutches the photo to her chest as Rose leaves. Hastily she picks up the CD that had the band's logo plastered on the plastic case. She gently places it in the player, waiting for the music to come through the speakers. And then, there it was. “They’re amazing.” She grabs the box again, pulling out an orange beanie, placing it on her head.

By the end of the night she had searched the entire studio for more stuff, gathering it, trying things on, she stayed up ‘til sunrise listening, and trying to learn each and every one of their songs, painting each of the members on canvases, writing songs about the guitarist that even though died years ago, she couldn’t help but feel connected to. A crush on a dead guy, what’s better than that?

“Boo!” Luke poofs in next to Y/N who’s currently getting her textbooks out of her locker.

“God!” she shrieks. “You need to stop doing that to me, gonna give me a heart attack,” she mutters as her fellow classmates, and random people she had never met give her weird glances. “Make people think I’m crazy.” Luke opens his mouth to reply, but Y/N beats him to it. “Yes, Luke, I know ‘we’re all a little crazy’.”

He pouts. “Someone’s grumpy today.” He crosses his arms, leaning against the locker next to hers. “But, anyways! Do you know where Julie is?”

And there Y/N’s heart was punched. “I mean, she has to be around here somewhere,” she answers, slamming the locker door. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I have to go to class.” She takes her time to turn around on her heels.

“You’re gonna be at band rehearsal before our performance, right?” he asks, making her stop.

Turning only the upper half of her body to look at him. “I think you forget I live in the studio.”

He lets out an airy chuckle. “Right.” He playfully rolls his eyes.

Unlike Julie she didn’t care if people thought she was crazy, for the number one reason being that people already thought that. Wacky, coocoo, freak, those were just some of the words people called her before her favorite band suddenly popped out of nowhere because Julie played their CD.

That always confused Y/N, why is that when she played the CD all that time ago they didn’t show up, but when Julie did, they did? She never mentioned her already known infatuation with the band, even though it most likely answers the question of why Julie and her can see the ghosts. “But, I’m grounded so…” She carelessly shrugs. “I’m stuck on party duty for the time being, so probably won’t be there for that, but I’ll be there for the actual performance.” Even though she would’ve done it anyway, Ray wanted Y/N to be more ‘supportive’.

“Oh.” His smile falters a little. “Cool, I’ll catch you later then.”

An awkward tension fills the air. “Yep.” She salutes towards him, walking off.

Grounded. No phone, only can drive her car to school, and home. Y/N wasn’t even allowed to listen to her records which she’s collected over the course of three years. And it was for the reason that she's failing multiple classes, but Ray didn’t understand the struggle she’s going through.

Let’s rewind… When Rose died it left the whole Molina family broken. But, it also left another part of Y/N broken when music became Julie’s thing at that moment, Ray not allowing Y/N to even have a guitar in her room. She loved music, all she wanted to do was sing, play every instrument, write every song with any word that popped into her mind. Julie couldn’t even touch a piano until recently, and yet, it had to only be Julie’s thing. So, now Y/N has to just secretly write songs in her red notebook knowing they’ll never be used, and secretly play in the school’s band room before any student takes a foot into the building, while she watches her cousin and the guys become ‘Julie and the Phantoms’.

What does hurt her everyday, is not being able to do something she loves because they’re afraid of how it might affect someone else. But, if Julie really cared for her family member then she’d be happy for her, right? Not to mention the way Luke looks at Julie hurts a little too, the chemistry. No one can deny it. It’s not like she’s had a crush on him before they even met him as a ghost. No, the biggest crush that she’s ever had is totally not a dead guy, and no, she’s never in the past thought about killing herself in hope to meet him if there were an afterlife, which she guesses there is now. She’s sure he loves Julie not being an absolute mess for him, and he probably knows that Y/N’s in love with him and is trying to show her he doesn’t like her in the worst way possible. “Y/N!” she internally screams, hearing the familiar voice.

“Josh…” she drags out his name. Maybe she should just give him a chance? He gives her plenty of attention. She giggles to herself when the thought crosses her mind. That wasn’t funny. An inner voice replies.

“Hey, I just… Wanted to see how you were doing, you know--just friend to friend.”

“I actually have to go to class, so we’ll talk later, ‘kay?” She tries to turn around to leave, but Josh grabs her arm to pull her back.

“Class doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes,” he counters.

“Y/N!” Luke exclaims, poofing right next to Josh. “I still haven’t found Julie, are you sure you don’t know where she is?” He almost didn’t even notice the other boy that had also been fighting for Y/N’s attention.

“I like to get to class early,” Y/N replies to Josh. “And you haven’t seen Julie around here, have you?”

“I think I saw her in the dance room.” She gives Luke a pointed look. “You know, practicing for that dance thing.”

“Yeah!” Y/N responds, not even an ounce interested in this conversation. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she noticed Luke not leaving.

“Who’s this?” he asks.

“So, Josh, I really have to go,” she claims. “I’ll see ya around!”

“Wait,” he starts. “Is this about when I tried to kiss you the other day?” Y/N tenses up,

Luke’s jaw dropping slightly.

Followed by a wide smile. “Does Y/N have a boyfriend?!” he mocks.

“No, well, yes, it is. We aren’t dating, Josh, it’s uncomfortable.” Josh huffs out. “That’s not a weird reason for why.” Y/N’s blood starts to boil.

“You should feel honored that someone would even want to kiss you, I mean your reputation here isn’t all too great, Y/N,” he states.

“Goodbye, Josh.” She turns on her heels.

Luke watches as she angrily walks away, glaring at Josh who obviously couldn’t see him. He turns slightly, glancing over his shoulder to see Julie by her locker. Giving Y/N one more glimpse he goes to do what he came here to do.

Y/N sits at her desk, rereading over the words that she colorfully wrote in her journal. “You pretty thing, with pretty things inside,” she sings quietly. She slams the book closed when she finds herself getting annoyed by just how untalented she was.

“I think that Nick guy has a crush on Julie,” Luke reports, once again magically appearing in front of her. He was taken aback when she didn’t react.

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parkerslatte · 3 years

Text

Gone Forever

Luke Patterson x Reader

Warnings: Car accident, death

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: (Y/N) is friends with Julie and the boys - she is very friendly with Luke in particular. Not long after the Orpheum performance, (Y/N) dies in a car accident. Luke tries to find her as a ghost.

*****

(Y/N) beamed up at the stage as Julie and the boys performed, she was beyond proud of what Julie has accomplished with the boys. Julie was no longer the timid girl who shied away from music. She was now performing on stage at the Orpheum. (Y/N) was beyond proud of her. However, no matter how proud (Y/N) was of Julie, there was still an aching feeling in her heart. She knew that the boys were going to cross over, she knew that this was the last time she was going to see them.

The song drew to a close and (Y/N) clapped along with everyone else. A single tear fell down her cheek as she looked at Luke, Alex and Reggie. She made eye contact with Luke and he gave her a small reassuring smile. It’s okay, he mouthed. (Y/N) smiled at him once more before smiling at Alex and Reggie who both gave her a smile in return. The four of them took a bow before the three boys disappeared, leaving Julie along on the stage.

After the show, (Y/N) went straight home. Julie offered for her to stay the night, but (Y/N) just wanted to be alone. Julie understood this, knowing how much the boys crossing over had affected her. While Julie went home to find the boys dying (again) on the studio floor, (Y/N) went back to her house and cried on her bed. (Y/N) wished that she had never fallen for the shaggy haired ghost, but it had happened. She knew that a relationship between the two would never be possible for them but at least she could’ve still spoken to him - but now he was gone forever and there was nothing (Y/N) could do.

There was a faint knock on her door and (Y/N) tried to compose herself quickly, knowing that it was most likely her parents, “Hang on, I’ll be a minute.” (Y/N) hastily wiped the tears from her face while getting up from the bed. The door opened and (Y/N)’s heart dropped. She stopped wiping the tears away and stood there stunned.

“Luke?”

Luke smiled at the girl, “Yeah, it’s me.” (Y/N) noticed that he looked different, he looked more alive.

“But, how- how are you here? You crossed over.” (Y/N) said, inching forward towards him.

“Playing the Orpheum wasn’t our unfinished business.” Luke stated, stepping closer to (Y/N).

“What about Caleb? What about his house band? Are Alex and Reggie okay? Does Julie know? Does-” Luke cut (Y/N) off by holding her upper arms gently, “How- how are you doing that?”

Luke smiled again, “Something happened with Julie at the studio, we don’t know what it was but I don’t think we need to worry about Caleb anymore. And as for this-” Luke’s moved his hands from (Y/N)’s upper arms to cup her face, (Y/N)’s moved hers to hold gently onto his wrists, not believing this was real, “I still think we’re dead but we can now touch people. So now, I can finally do this.”

(Y/N)’s eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean-”

Luke planted his lips on hers, cutting off her speech. (Y/N) kissed him back, gripping onto his wrists a little tighter in surprise. Luke pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. (Y/N) opened her eyes and looked at Luke. A smile stretched across her face.

“How long have you waited to do that?” (Y/N) mumbled.

“A long time.” Luke answered before leaning in and kissing her again.

***

It was a few weeks after the Orpheum performance and everything was going amazingly. The boys had figured out that they could choose when they wanted to be seen and could make themselves tangible at will. This of course made Reggie very happy as he could interact with Ray without it being a one sided conversation. But even Reggie’s happiness didn’t meet the happiness Luke and (Y/N) felt. The two of them were not rushing into things, the last time they had kissed was that night after the Orpheum performance, but the two of them were now extremely touchy with each other. They were always connected in some way, whether that be holding hands, Luke’s arm slung around her shoulder or their feet touching as they sat opposite ends of the couch.

The four band members were sitting on Julie’s couch flipping through all the TV channels trying to find something to watch. (Y/N) wasn’t with them, she had decided to go shopping with her mother that day - of course Luke sulked at the thought of spending time away from (Y/N) since the two had been connected at the hip these last few weeks. (Y/N) had reassured the boy that she would come around later that day.

They flicked through the channels until the word ‘Breaking News’ flashed up on the screen. Julie stopped flicking through the channels as the four band members listened.

“At 4:02 this afternoon, a car was hit in a drunk driving accident. The drunk driver sustained few injuries however the car they hit wasn’t so lucky,” The news reporter said, “The two people in the car, believed to be a mother and daughter, suffered major injuries. The mother was quickly rushed to hospital to treat her, the daughter however, wasn’t as lucky. Seventeen year old, (Y/N) (L/N) was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Tears fell down Julie’s cheeks as she jumped up from the couch, immediately phoning her dad. Luke, Alex and Reggie sat there in shock, their eyes glazed over with tears. It wasn’t until a few minutes later once everything had sunk in, that Luke got up from the couch and began pacing around.

“No, no, no, she can’t be gone. She promised she'd be here and she never breaks her promises,” Luke ran his hands through his hair as tears slid down his cheeks, “Maybe- maybe she’s come back as a ghost, I mean we did right? Maybe she has too.”

Alex looked at his friend, even though Alex himself was distraught over the news, he knew that Luke was hurting much more than he was, “But Luke, we had unfinished business, that’s the reason we came back. And we came back twenty-five years after we died, if (Y/N) does come back as a ghost, it may take her that long.”

Luke took one look at his blonde friend before leaving the house, not before saying one final comment, “I’m going to find her.”

For days after her death, Luke had searched everywhere for (Y/N). He had checked the site of the crash, he had checked her house, he had checked the small cafe she had loved so much. He looked everywhere he could think of and she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Luke didn’t want to believe that (Y/N) was gone forever, but he was beginning to think it.

He collapsed on the side of the street. No one would be able to see him, he made sure of that. All he could think about was (Y/N). If she wasn't a ghost, he would never see her again. He would never get to hug her again. He would never get to kiss her again like the night of the Orpheum performance. Luke just wanted (Y/N) back.

Luke wished that he hadn’t convinced (Y/N) to come around Julie’s later that day, maybe then she and her mother wouldn’t have been caught in that crash. They would have taken another route home and (Y/N) would still be alive and her mother wouldn’t be in the hospital. Luke’s eyes widened, there was one place he hadn’t checked yet.

***

(Y/N) stared down at her mothers body laying on the bed. Her chest going up and down in shallow breaths. Her mother was alive and (Y/N) was happy about that. Her mother was okay and that’s all that mattered. Even though she was hooked up to multiple different machines, (Y/N) knew she would pull through - her mother was a strong person. She would never let something like a drunk driver take her life. (Y/N) had been in the hospital her mother was in the past few days, she hadn’t left. (Y/N) had realised that she was a ghost quite quickly after someone had walked directly through her. (Y/N) even watched as her body was placed into a body bag.

However, since she had died, (Y/N) hadn’t gone to see Julie, Luke, Alex or Reggie. She would have no idea if Julie would even be able to see her. (Y/N) wouldn’t even know what she would say to Luke. (Y/N) had gotten entertainment from people from her highschool posting tributes to her. When there was no one at the computer in reception, (Y/N) went onto instagram and saw everything people were posting about her. She always laughed when someone she hated posted a tribute saying they were the best of friends, it took everything for the dead girl not to comment on the post, but (Y/N) thought that a comment from a dead girl would probably give them a heart attack so she refrained herself from doing so.

Feeling another presence in the room, (Y/N) turned around expecting it to be another doctor but when she saw who it was she stood up. Luke was standing there, he looked clearly disheveled and his eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying. (Y/N) felt her break, she suddenly regretted not going to see him once she became a ghost.

“(Y/N)...” Luke had rushed forward and pulled the girl into his arms. The girl he had been looking for for days was in his arms.

“Luke,” (Y/N) said, pulling away from the hug and looking up at him, “I am so sorry I didn’t come to see you. I was scared and I didn’t-”

“I don’t care. You’re here, that’s all I care about.” Luke’s hands held (Y/N)’s waist gently.

“So how are the others? How’s Julie doing?” (Y/N) thought of her friend and how she was coping with her death.

“She’s been a bit distant, she hasn’t spoken to us much about it. Alex and Reggie tried to talk to her but she just brushed them off.” Luke explained.

“Do you think she will be able to see me?” (Y/N) questioned.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Luke said, taking a step back from the girl and holding his hand out.

(Y/N) looked at his hand before looking back over to her mother in the hospital bed, Luke noticed this and took her hand in his, “She’s gonna be okay, alright. The doctors and nurses are going to take good care of her. She’ll be fine.”

(Y/N)’s glance lingered on her mother a few moments longer before it finally shifted back to Luke. (Y/N) gave him a small smile, “Alright, let’s go.”

“One thing first.” Luke said before pecking (Y/N) on the lips. (Y/N) smiled before the two of them poofed away.

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

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paralleljulieverse · 3 years

Photo

‘Gentlemen like you are few...’: A Supercentenary Tribute to Irwin Kostal

1 October 2021 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Irwin Kostal, the musical arranger, orchestrator and conductor whose work helped shape the sound of the post-war American stage and screen musical. In this post we look back at the career of this remarkable 'music man’ with a particular focus on his collaborations with the equally remarkable Julie Andrews -- who, as it happens, shares the same birthday, so this post is doing double birthday honours.

A gentle, unassuming man, Kostal or ‘Irv’ as he was known by associates, was not one for the limelight. It’s possibly why he gravitated to the ‘behind-the-scenes’ art of musical arranging. Unlike composers, performers, or even conductors, arrangers seldom loom large in public perceptions of professional musicianship. They are, for the most part, the ‘invisible artists’ of the music industry: their contributions to the sound and experience of music are immense, but they remain largely ‘uncredited in records, liner notes or books or records’ (Niles 2104, p. 4). That Irwin Kostal would ultimately prove a rare exception to this tradition of thankless anonymity -- becoming sufficiently well-known to have his own name not only included on recordings, but emblazoned on the front cover alongside those of the ‘star’ vocalists with whom he worked -- is a testament to the singularity of his talents.

Born the son of first generation immigrant parents in Chicago in 1911, Kostal claimed he was instantly ‘smitten’ by music when he saw a piano at the age of two-and-a-half, but his family was too poor to afford such luxuries. Moreover, his father -- a hard-drinking Czech with a fiery temper -- was ‘rigidly opposed’ to his interests in music and ‘could see no future in it’ (’Irwin’ 1962, p. 70). So Kostal initially had to content himself with listening and absorbing as much musical knowledge as he could indirectly. When he was eleven, his father finally brought home a broken player piano salvaged from a removals job and it provided the young Kostal with the launch pad he needed.

Kostal devoted himself to his musical education with single-minded zeal. His formal training was intermittent -- enabled by a supportive mother who ‘surreptitiously managed to save money from her weekly allowance for my musical instruction’ (’Irwin’ 1962, p. 70) -- but he was a passionate autodidact who would spend countless hours studying and practising on his own. By age 15, he was already playing professionally with local touring bands, while also offering his own services as a piano teacher with, at one point, more than 40 pupils (ibid.).

When he wasn’t playing, Kostal would be found in the local library poring over musical scores and reading about the greats of the classical canon. He was particularly intrigued by orchestration and the possibilities it offered for varying the sound and feel of music. He recalls how he would take orchestral scores home and study all the parts learning ‘about musical instruments I never knew existed’ (Suskin 2009, p. 56). He progressively worked his way through the music of the masters, going alphabetically:

‘Bach...Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Elgar, Frank, Gounod, on and on through the alphabet...I tried to absorb everything. By the time I came to Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, I knew quite a lot about music in a jumbled way’ (Suskin 2009, p. 57).

While still in his teens, Kostal started to experiment with arrangements of his own, scoring a high school production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin with multiple variations on the American folk melody ‘Way Down upon the Swanee River’. ‘By taking away the rhythmic aspects and playing it in a minor key,’ he recounts, ‘I found lots of ways to play this song, making it fit the dramatics of the half-hour long story’ (ibid., p. 56). Thus, Irwin Kostal the arranger was born.

Throughout the 1930s and early-40s, Kostal honed his talents in a professional capacity, working with various big bands, before finally landing a job as a resident arranger for an NBC radio affiliate in Chicago. Following the war, Kostal moved to New York where, after a rocky start, he secured regular work as conductor and arranger on a number of long-running radio and TV variety shows including Your Show of Shows (1950-54), Max Liebman Presents (1954-56), and The Garry Moore Show (1959-63). It was demanding, fast-paced work with Kostal having to arrange and orchestrate hundreds of score pages a week, but it consolidated his musical versatility and capacity to work across a wide range of styles and forms (Suskin 2009, pp. 57-60).

Throughout this period, Kostal was also orchestrating for Broadway shows, racking up over 52 credits on theatre productions big and small (Allen 1995, p. 18). Many of these assignments were done in a ‘ghost-writer’ capacity including contributing work to such classic musicals as Wonderful Town (1953), The Pajama Game (1953) and Silk Stockings (1955). A major breakthrough came when Kostal was contracted to work in a credited capacity as co-orchestrator on the original Broadway production of West Side Story (1958) -- collaborating with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Sid Ramin. It earned him his first Grammy Award and a subsequent invitation to arrange and orchestrate a string of other big Broadway musicals including Fiorello! (1959), Sail Away (1961) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962).

The success of West Side Story also saw Kostal do repeat honours on the film version (1961) which would, in turn, earn him an Academy Award and kickstart a hugely successful Hollywood career. In 1963, Kostal was invited by none other than Walt Disney to take on the major job of arranging the songs for Mary Poppins (1964) which had been written by the in-house Disney composing team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. The Sherman Brothers claim to have suggested Kostal because they were fans of his Broadway work and they wanted a bright theatrical sound for the score. However, Walt Disney demurred. He reasoned it was a period film and they needed someone who could write music for any style or era, suggesting they get the musical director from The Garry Moore Show instead. Cue mutual delight when it was discovered they were all referring to the same man, Irwin Kostal (Sherman & Sherman 1998; Suskin 2009, p. 65).

Kostal’s work on Mary Poppins catapulted him to new heights of mainstream success. It not only secured him another Academy Award nomination -- he lost to Andre Previn for his work on My Fair Lady -- but it also brought him a tidy fortune in royalties from the film’s best-selling soundtrack album (’Kostal’s’ $65,000′, 57). His fame -- and fortune -- skyrocketed even further the following year when Kostal was contracted to arrange the score for The Sound of Music (1965). His dazzling efforts on this box-office blockbuster confirmed Kostal’s status as Hollywood’s presiding musical wonder-boy and saw him walk home with his second Oscar. A string of other big screen musicals followed including Half a Sixpence (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).

Many of these films were repeat collaborations because Kostal favoured working with people he knew and with whom he clicked personally and creatively. He would for example continue as the de facto ‘house’ arranger for Disney well into the 1980s, working on various assignments for the studio including Pete’s Dragon (1978), Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) and the controversial re-recorded 1982 release of Fantasia (1940/1982) (Tietyan 1990). Kostal would also maintain a long association with the Sherman Brothers, acting as musical arranger for all their big screen musicals including the aforementioned Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), as well as Tom Sawyer (1973); Charlotte’s Web (1973); and The Magic of Lassie (1978) (Sherman & Sherman 1998).

The other great collaboration of Kostal’s career was of course with Julie Andrews. Perhaps it was the fact that the pair shared the same birthday but Kostal had an extraordinarily sympathetic relationship with Julie and he would work with her more than any other vocalist. Long before they teamed on Poppins and The Sound of Music, Julie and ‘Irv’ were making musical magic together. Kostal was the arranger and conductor for Julie’s first two solo albums for RCA: The Lass with the Delicate Air (1957) and Julie Andrews Sings (1958) where his sensitive facility with a wide range of musical idioms from English classical to Broadway and Tin Pan Alley came to the fore. Reviewing the first of these albums at the time of its original release, one music critic lauded it as ‘a record to charm every member of the family...[with] a combination of sincerity and simplicity and wholesome sweetness...Thank goodness arranger and conductor Irwin Kostal met the challenge and set the ballads winningly without overpowering Miss Andrews’ light pure tones’ (RRS 1958, p. 5A). In a similar vein, another reviewer praised the second album for ‘its charming unforced version of standards, well known and almost forgotten...Miss Andrews still sings naturally and purely [and] the deft accompaniments played by an orchestra under Irwin Kostal are agreeably restrained’ (Masters 1959, p. 11).

In this early period Kostal also worked with Julie as guest star on several episodes of The Garry Moore Show, where he was resident musical director. In this context, Kostal was pivotal in helping establish the legendary teaming of Julie and Carol Burnett which came out of the Garry Moore appearances. He would go on to act as musical director for their breakout 1962 TV special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall which would earn Kostal his first Emmy (Taraborelli 1988, pp. 172-79). He would secure his second Emmy a few years later working with Julie again on the 1965 variety special, The Julie Andrews Show (1965) where, among other highlights, Kostal scored a series of stellar song-and-dance medleys for Julie and guest star Gene Kelly. The same year, Kostal teamed up with Julie on yet another recording with the 1965 edition of the annual Firestone Christmas albums.

It was however their combined work on the two big musical mega-hits, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, that secured the Kostal-Andrews partnership a place in the history books. A cultural phenomenon of the highest order, the soundtrack recordings for these two films remain among the most successful albums of all time. Mary Poppins held the #1 spot on the US national music charts for 14 consecutive weeks in 1964, beating out Elvis Presley and The Beatles (Hollis and Erhbar 2006, pp.72ff). The album for The Sound of Music sold over 9 million copies in its first four years of release alone, remaining in the Billboard Top 100 for an unbelievable five-and-a-half years, and becoming the highest selling LP of all-time in the US up to that date (Murrells, 1978) The Sound of Music continued its record-breaking run abroad, dominating the international charts and holding the #1 spot for 75 weeks in Australia, 73 weeks in Norway and 70 weeks in the UK, becoming in the process the single biggest selling album worldwide of the 1960s (Harker, 1992, pp. 189-91).

Commentators have frequently singled out the combination of Julie Andrews’ soaring vocals and Kostal’s dynamic arrangements as instrumental to the phenomenal success of these two albums. ‘Miss Andrews glows--positively glows--right through the record groove, vinyl disc, amplifiers, speakers, and all other mechanical barriers,’ enthused one contemporary reviewer of the Mary Poppins soundtrack, noting how the ‘songs that Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman have written’ and ‘the handsome arrangements by Irwin Kostal have the perfect balance ‘of lilt and flair to provide Miss Andrews with an effective working basis’ (Wilson 1965, p. 109). Apropos The Sound of Music, another critic pronounced it ‘as good a reproduction of a score as has ever been made’, noting how it ‘presents Julie in a most appealing role and given the splendid musical direction of Irwin Kostal, her talent comes shining through...as a treat beyond measure’ (Moore 1965, p. B6).

In total, Julie Andrews and Irwin Kostal would work together on six recordings, two musical motion pictures, two television specials, and a host of other TV appearances representing some of the very best of Julie’s musical work during her heyday of the 1960s. Considered alongside the wealth of Kostal’s other work across film, stage, television and recording, it’s hard not to concur with Disney’s Nelson Meecham who, on the occasion of Kostal’s passing in 1994, eulogised: ‘He brought the joy of music to more people than it is possible to count’ (Allen, p. 19).

Sources:

Allen, John F 1995. ‘Remembering a Music Man: On the life and work of Irwin Kostal.’ Boxoffice. August: pp. 18-19.

Harker, Dave 1992. ‘Still Crazy After All These Years: What was popular music in the 1960s?” Cultural Revolution? The challenge of the arts in the 1960s. Bart Moore-Gilbert and John Seed, eds. Routledge, London and New York: pp. 186-200.

Hollis, Tim and Erhbar, Greg 2006. Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

‘Irwin Kostal: Music in all its many forms is his life.’ (1962). The Province. 2 June: p. 70.

’Kostal’s’ $65,000 Poppins Score’ 1965. Variety. 10 March: p. 57

Levy, Charles 1964. Mary Poppins: About the stars and photo-story features [Press kit]. Buena Vista Distribution, New York.

Masters, John 1959. ‘Off the Record: Enchanting Music.’ The Age. 7 January: p. 11.

Moore, Robert 1965. ‘Record Turntable: Julie Andrews out in front again in film album of”Sound of Music”.’ The Arizona Daily Star. 7 March: p. B6.

Murrells, Joseph, ed. 1978. Book of Golden Discs: Records that sold a million. Barrie & Jenkins, New York.

Niles, Richard 2014. The Invisible Artist: Arrangers in popular music (1950-2000). BMI, London.

Oliver, Myrna. 1994. ‘Obituaries: Irwin Kostal; Film, TV Orchestrator.’ The Los Angeles Times. 1 December: P. B8.

RRS 1958. ‘On the Record: ‘Lass with the Delicate Air.’ Bristol Herald Courier. 9 February: p. 5A.

Sherman, Robert B & Sherman, Richard M 1998. Walt's Time: From before to beyond. Camphor Tree, Santa Clarita, CA.

Suskin, Steven 2009. The Sound of Broadway Music: A book of orchestrators and orchestrations, Oxford University Press, New York.

Taraborelli, J. Randy 1988. Laughing Till It Hurts: The complete life and career of Carol Burnett. William Morrow & Co, New York.

Tietyan, David 1990. The Musical World of Walt Disney. H. Leonard, Milwaukee, Wis.

Wilson, John S. 1965. ‘The Lighter Side’. High Fidelity Magazine. 15: 4: pp. 107-111.

#julie andrews #irwin kostal #musicals #classic film #the sound of music #mary poppins #Disney #Sherman Brothers

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batslime · 2 years

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i am a big huge ghost fan and i really . like the new song and am a little unsure of why it’s so controversial bc its like. its different i guess but it’s different bc it is literally referencing the rhythyms of the 1920s in a 2022 metal song. i think it rules lol . im just saying this to u bc youre my only ghost mutual . anyway im very excited for impera

WELL there’s multiple reasons people have mixed feelings on it. In this video Tobias talks about the inspiration for the sound being this really aggressive sounding Brazilian musician and how he wanted to try mixing the sounds with different instruments and how he was just really captivated by it, that he’d never heard smt like it before. There are so many weirdos who are already on Ghost’s heavier, more metal music complaining that it’s “not metal”, so I know they have a field day when it comes to their more diverse stuff like Twenties, Missionary Man, Kiss the Go-Goat etc despite them clearly not meant to be metal and not claiming to be.

Fans definitely had apprehension too because of the way Tobias described Twenties and based on the lyrics before it dropped. I’ll have to dig up where I saw it said but in an interview he described it as something like “a mix between Missy Elliot and Slipknot” (can’t remember exactly what heavier band he used in his example) and that it would have “unorthodox articulation” so a lot of is thought he was going to rap lol. The sound is definitely still out there and hard to swallow at first but it’s BECAUSE it’s so different and weird that I love it tbh.

And of course since it’s making fun of Trump there’s dudes who have a fit to throw over that. Some weirdo even drew Papa IV as Trump because he didn’t like it. Overall I just see weird comments about it from people who don’t like it, the other day on twt I saw some guy say he “can’t forgive fans for praising it” like hello???

lol like I def get not liking the song but Ghost haters are really so weird about their hate for the band. And ME TOO I keep checking my email obsessively to see if my order has shipped yet!! I’m so excited to see the art book and hear the vinyl for the first time ❤️❤️❤️ and I got some of their older albums to listen to in my car, an Impera shirt, and they threw in a pin since I spent so much lmao

#i have to finish the sculptures im working on bc i wanna sculpt some ghost stuff sooo bad omg

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thedragonemperess · 3 years

Text

JATP Big Bang Fic

Title: A Job On The Other Side

Artist: @bowtiesareavenged

Cheerleader: @flynn-flynnagan

Art Link: Here!

Tag List: @angelwiththeblue-box @almightygrasshopper @strangeradventures @nyxie75 @beansisarat7 @tronagon @welcome-to-gaytown @jatpbigbang

Summary: An AU where Julie gets a job at the HGC instead of the boys losing their stamps. While Luke comes up with a break-out plan, Julie finds out that Caleb isn't what he makes himself out to be.

Warnings: Suicidal Thoughts and Soul Stealing

Ships: There's some light Juke, Willex, and Rayleb, but nothing strong enough that it should be tagged as such

Notes: This took a really big turn from what I originally wanted it to be but it came out pretty well in the end! And hey, it isn't half bad! I wrote the last, like, 3,000 words today because I didn't have time to finish it at any other time, so a lot of it is unedited. I'm sorry for that, but I hope you enjoy, anyway!

Luke walked up to Julie and looked her in the eye, a million emotions running through all four of them. The jolts were too much, they were fading completely. Playing the Orpheum, something that they had all worked so hard for, ended up not being their unfinished business.

“No music is worth making, Julie, if it’s without you.”

“If that’s the case, then maybe I’ve been going about this all wrong.”

Julie whipped around, Caleb now standing behind her.

“You. You were the one that did this to them!” she yelled, no longer caring about if anyone else heard.

“Yes, yes, I know, I’m evil. But I have…..an offer,” he stated, stepping closer to her.

Julie stood her ground, looking up to him in order to keep eye contact.

“If they won’t perform without you, why don’t you all join me?”

“....What do you mean?”

Alex pulled himself up and leaned back against the piano, clutching his stomach with his right hand. “Don’t listen to him, he’s trying to trick you.”

Caleb ignored him and went on. “You get an afterschool job at the Hollywood Ghost Club and perform with them. Julie and the Phantoms can still exist, you just perform at my club on the side. So what do you say?”

Julie looks back over her shoulders to look at the boys. Reggie was still on the floor, not able to gather enough energy to move, Alex was leaning back over the piano in pain, and Luke was swaying slightly, standing up. She looked back up to Caleb.

“So they won’t disappear?”

Caleb shook his head.

“And you won’t come after any of our friends and family?”

“If that’s what you wish for.”

Julie hesitated to do anything else, but nodded.

“Deal.”

Caleb stuck out his hand and tilted his head slightly. “Shake on it?”

“No!”

Julie turned around completely to face the boys and Caleb retracted his hand.

“He’ll use his stamp on you, too. That’s how he gave it to us.”

Julie looked back to Caleb and glared.

“You never said anything about not being able to use my stamp,” he acknowledged, shrugging.

“We’ll work something out some other time, but for now, can you just stop their jolts for good? Please?” she gestured to the boys, panic starting to drip into her voice.

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He waved his hand and the boys’ jolts stopped, forcing them to stand up straight. As Julie ran over to them, Caleb vanished.

That was a month ago. Now Julie was walking down the busy street alone, holding a white pair of dress pants, dress shirt, and black blazer over her right arm and a pair of knee high, black, heeled boots in her left hand. Things had gotten busier, yes, but she could handle it. Flynn hasn’t stopped bothering her about this and keeps going on about how it was a stupid thing to do, but what was she supposed to do? If she didn’t make the deal with Caleb, the boys would have faded from existence, and she couldn’t live with that fact knowing that she could have stopped it.

The HGC was open 24 hours with different performances based on the day of the week and time. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays Julie and the boys would perform. Ray was a little confused on what this place even was, but after a quick explanation from the boys (specifically, Alex, because even though he may suck at lying, the others were way worse), he was fine with it. (“My friend’s uncle owns this incredibly exclusive club. It’s for really rich people only. He thought he would give our band a chance.”) He worried about her not having time for everything, but she assured him that it would be fine, and for the most part, they were. Things got a little hectic at times, but the boys and Flynn were able to help her through it.

Something that was great about working at the HGC was most of the other workers were performers, through and through. They all had different passions and talents. For every singer, there was a dancer, a magician, instrumentalist, acrobat, and more. Everyone was really welcoming, making it a really nice environment overall.

Caleb wasn’t half bad either. Yeah, he was a pretty terrible person, and she still hated him, but he was a good role model, all things considered. Or at least, that’s what she told herself. This entire situation could have been much better, should have been much better, but it wasn’t. Life didn’t go their way, but it was still better than it could have been. There were bright sides. The band’s popularity has grown exponentially, the boys can be made visible, Willie was freed (he still works at the HGC, though), and everything was looking up.

Julie looked around, making sure that no one was looking in her direction, before getting closer to the fence of the HGC. Just before the gate, there was a small opening. Reaching it, she ducked down, getting as low to ground as possible without getting her uniform dirty. Well, it wasn’t really a uniform, she was allowed to wear whatever she wanted as long as it was black and white. After getting through to the other side and brushing herself off, she looked around one more time. Finding that no one was watching, she turned to run to the back of the building.

The Hollywood Ghost Club was the most busy on weekends, so Julie had to try extra hard not to bump into or walk through anyone. The HGC was private property, and the events that went down there weren’t exactly scientifically possible (or legal). After she made it past the gates, multiple people appeared out of nowhere. There was something about the place that made anyone on the property, once inside the gate, became invisible to anyone outside of it, but it didn’t stop her from double checking, just in case. People wearing fancy dresses, some in colorful glitter, others in black and white, of all different fabrics, lengths, and shades. People in suits walked alongside the people in dresses, some more flamboyant than others. A lot of people here lacked creativity, which Julie had learned to decipher as other lifers. If the Hollywood Ghost Club has taught her anything, it’s to never be dull.

Lightly jogging, Julie swerved around the people, not wanting to figure out who was a ghost and who was a lifer. She looked down to the lavender, sparkly watch on her wrist, which read 4:55. Picking up her pace, she made her way backstage.

“Hey guys,” Julie waved to the others.

It was still early, so no one else was there. Luke was sitting on a small table that was supposed to be for props (the variety of performances in this place is insane). Reggie was laying down in a chair, his head hanging back over one of the arm rests while his feet hung over the other. Alex was sitting down the right way in a chair next to Reggie, messing with his drumsticks on his left arm rest. Willie sat across from him, his chair backwards so that his legs were around the back and his arms were crossed on top of the back, which he rested his head on.

“Hey, Julie!” Luke exclaimed, pushing himself off the table.

“Hey, Luke!” She looked around him to the others. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey, Julie,” they all said in unison.

“So, um,” Luke started, lowering his voice, “I have a new song I wanted you to look at. I only have the first verse down and I wanted some of your insight.”

Julie smiled up at him. He was bouncing, his eagerness clear on his face. He was almost like a puppy, with how much energy he had.

“Yeah, sure, I’d love to check it out, just let me change first.”

“Got it.”

Julie gave a small wave and then turned down a hall, looking for a bathroom. Luke watched her leave before heading back to his spot on the table.

“It’s terrible how she’s limited as to what she can wear. If she could wear anything, she’d be the best looking person in this place,” Luke commented, still looking forward.

“Hey, don’t let Caleb hear you say that,” Willie joked. “You don’t want to be jolted.”

“Nice try, Willie, but we can’t be jolted!” Reggie retaliated.

“Wait, why can’t you guys be jolted?”

“Because we don’t have stamps!!” Reggie exclaimed, oblivious.

“Wait, if you guys aren’t stamped, then how come you’re still here? Is Julie stamped?”

“Not that we know of…..” Alex trailed off.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with the fact that none of our souls belong to Caleb! We don’t have to be here! We can just walk right out of here, and he can’t do anything to scare us into coming back!! He doesn’t have any real power over us!!”

“I mean, he kind of does, he’s our boss,” Reggie countered, oblivious.

“Really, Reg?” Alex asked in disbelief. “You can’t be that clueless.”

“What? Caleb is our boss! He’s in charge of us while we’re here! Sure, he can’t force us back here- ohhhh.” He paused in realization. “You guys are saying that we should just leave him.”

“Yes, Reg!! That is exactly what we’re saying!! Caleb doesn’t have any control over us anymore!! There’s nothing that he can do without the stamp to make us stay!! We can leave!!” Luke repeated, pushing himself off the table, again, in excitement.

“Uh, Luke, I get where you’re coming from, but there’s something that you’re forgetting,” Alex interjected.

“What is it?”

“He still has Willie.”

“Well, we can fix that! We just need to get to the bottom of what else can get rid of the stamps and use that to get rid of Willie’s!!”

“Maybe it’s true love,” Reggie offered, mindlessly.

“Reggie, this isn’t a Disney movie, a true love’s kiss won’t just fix everything.”

“I mean, it’s worth a shot if all else fails,” Willie defended with a laugh.

Alex took a double take. “Wait, what?”

“I mean, true love doesn’t have to be romantic, and you guys are kind of like brothers to me at this point. And an act of true love doesn’t necessarily have to be a kiss..”

“Oh. Oh. Okay, I just-- I thought you meant-- Because I was gonna say--”

Luke put a hand on Alex’s shoulder to stop him. “Dude, stop. You’re only embarrassing yourself.”

“Got it,” Alex responded, lowering his voice.

“But yeah, like Willie said. We can do this!! We might even be able to get rid of everyone else’s stamps as well!! We could overthrow Caleb!!”

“But some people genuinely like being here. Wouldn’t that be unfair to them?” Reggie pointed out.

Luke nodded and rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe not overthrow him, but anyone that wants to would be able to escape him!! We could give them hope!!”

“But doesn’t he know where Julie lives? Couldn’t he take Carlos, or Victoria and use them as leverage?” Willie offered.

“Or Ray!! He could use Ray as well,” Reggie quickly added.

“Come on, guys!! They’re the Molinas!! They’d be damned if they let some old ghost with a glitter addiction beat them!! You’ve seen what Carlos and Tia have in store in the case of a ghost!! And they’ve learned from us!! Not to mention, Ray wouldn’t let anything happen to his family, even if it was the last thing he did!! And we got the Riders on our sides!! Maybe even the Wilsons and Danforth-Evans as well, if push comes to shove!! Caleb doesn’t stand a chance!!”

The three of them nodded. The Molinas and their friends were a force to be reckoned with. If you dared to mess with one of them, chances are you’d end up regretting it. Even an otherworldly being like Caleb would be in for a bad time.

“See? There’s nothing realistically stopping us from leaving!!”

He glanced behind him at the table before jumping on it with a loud thud, startling the others to their feet.

“I say we revolt and start a revolution!! Stand in our own power!! Sing our own songs!! Write our own lyrics--”

“Don’t we already do that?” Reggie asked, cutting him off.

“It’s symbolism, Reg,” Luke informed him before getting back to his speech.

“As I was saying, we need to step into our greatness and stick it to the man!! Now, WHOSE WITH ME!!!”

“WE ARE!!”

“No, you are not!!”

Julie walked down the hall, on the way to a bathroom she could change in. Sure, she could just use one of the countless dressing rooms there are in this place, but the extra privacy that she was given in the bathroom was comforting to her. In such a busy place, it was nice to be alone with her thoughts. Especially before a performance, when she needed it most. The further she strayed from backstage, the fewer people she passed, and the fainter the noise of the people in the club became. It was like a scene in a movie, she thought, where the dialogue and background noise slowly disappeared to be replaced by the next song in the soundtrack.

It was fun to think of life like a movie sometimes. Or a musical. Breaking out into song while doing a regular task, or being a bit too over dramatic about a dropped ice cube mixed things up. It made things more fun. Thinking of a conversation-cut-short as a cliffhanger or the always dreaded next day of school as the next episode. Setting an alarm to one of her favorite songs to make it her theme song. Random moments of dead silence like the credits. It was weird, in hindsight, but she made it work. It became so natural that it wasn’t strange. Then again, nothing in her life was exactly normal. Julie laughed at the thought. The word normal has basically lost its meaning. She’s in a ghost band, working for an evil ghost, at his magical jazz club. At this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up in the morning and found out she could fly.

Julie was completely lost in thought, now walking around the building aimlessly. She was humming a random tune to herself, no specific song in mind. This place was like a maze, so easy to get lost in, and forget about telling the time. She was just going over her conversation with Flynn at lunch (who is still not very happy about the whole Caleb thing) when she heard someone speaking from another room. It was unusual, to say the least. She snapped out of her mindless state enough to figure out which room the talking was coming from, and get closer to it. After finding the door, which was left ajar, she leaned in to listen.

Was this smart? No, absolutely not. She should be going on with the band any minute, or at least, that’s how it seems, but that was in the very back of her mind right now. At the moment, she was focused on what that voice was talking about.

The voice sounded stressed, panicked, even. But it also sounded familiar. She couldn’t put her finger on it. She tried to lean in closer, opening the door slightly more.

“I can’t keep doing this with them. They’re too smart for me to trick! They’re performances have lured many ghosts out here. Many naive, young ones. Isn’t that enough?!”

“No, Covington! I need their souls!! That girl--”

“Julie.”

“Is too powerful. And she’s getting stronger. And the boys are getting too....too....too reckless. I can’t wait much longer, Covington.”

Caleb! That’s who the voice belonged to! But wait. Who was the other person? And why were they speaking to him like that?

“I need more time!”

“Well, you don’t have more time. Get the girl and her friends, or else you’ll be in the same position they just got out of.”

“Wait--!!”

Before Caleb could say anything else, the owner of the other voice disappeared, making him slam his fist down on a hard surface.

“God damn it!!” Caleb yelled to noone, before flopping down in a chair.

Julie could hear him mumbling, but couldn’t make out the words, so she tried leaning in further, opening the door wider, if ever so slightly. With all of her weight on the door, she ended up pushing too far, causing the door to swing open and for her to stumble into the room. Unable to find her balance, she fell forward landing on her hands and knees.

Caleb barely gave her a glance, his head buried in his hands.

“Hey, Julie,” he acknowledged her, his voice muffled.

Julie looked up at him, pushing herself to her knees and then standing up. She brushed herself off before taking a look around the room. The floor was a gray carpet that looked far too clean to be anything other than something out of a commercial. The walls were a lighter shade of gray, almost completely empty. In the middle of the right wall, there was a fireplace with a flat screen tv above it. It made her wonder if it was fake or if she had somehow made it to the top floor while lost in dreamland. In the middle of the room, there was a black marble and glass coffee table. Around it, there were a pair of velvet, ocean blue hairs and loveseats. To the right of her, there was a minibar. The countertop looked to be made of black marble as well, with barstools in front of it. Above the cabinets was a white and metallic blue clock O.n the other side of the room, a giant glass window stood between her and a balcony that looked like it could fit 50.

“Uhh, hey, Caleb,” she responded, her voice raising at the end. “Um, what was going on in here?”

“It was nothing, just my boss getting to me.”

“Your boss?”

“Yes, my boss. Things right now are....complicated.”

Julie walked over to the loveseat diagonal of where Caleb was seated and sat down.

“What happened?”

Caleb looked over at her through his fingers for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not he should tell her. He sighed, moving his arm to his armrest, his hand now laying on the side of his face, holding him up.

“He wants you and your friends’ souls, but most importantly yours. You guys are all pretty powerful, but you are......something else. He keeps berating me with questions and requests and demands and updates and you guys keep outsmarting me and if I don’t follow through with this, I’ll be put back in the black room, or have intense, continuous jolts, or worse. It’s not like I don’t deserve it, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I don’t want it to happen,” Caleb explained, looking in Julie’s direction but seemingly staring off into space. He let his guard down, anxiety creeping into his voice.

Julie didn’t know how to answer at first. Caleb had been a jerk to her and her friends, but has given her quite a few opportunities here at the club that she wouldn’t have had otherwise. But how much of a price really is selling your soul? Is it like in the movies, or does it follow a certain religion? Where would she even go after death? And what about the others?

But Caleb looked so.....scared. He was never like this. He always had a cool, overdramatic, posh, demeanor. Seeing him like this was like looking at a completely different person. And, as much as she hates to admit it, she’s started to like him during the time she’s spent at the Hollywood Ghost Club. Yeah, he’s evil, but he wasn’t so bad. And now he might not even be evil?

“I’m sorry, Caleb. But I don’t.....I don’t want to give up my soul. I want to be able to crossover and see my mom again when I die.”

“I know, that’s the problem. If I can’t convince or trick you into giving me your soul, then I’ll fade from existence and he’ll take matters into his own hands.”

Julie sighed. No one should be in this situation.

“We’ll find a way to figure this out. I promise,” Julie reassured Caleb, nodding her head. She looked him over for a second, thinking her next move through.

“Eh, what the hell?” she thought to herself, before enwrapping Caleb in a hug.

Caleb tensed, looking down at her and holding his arms out at his sides. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her in return, giving her a small pat on the back.

“Thank you.”

Julie retracted, reaching up to push a few stray strands of hair out her face.

“It’s no problem. I mean, it all adds up. It is kind of weird how most of the people here aren’t scared of you. I mean, don’t hate you? Wait, no. That’s not what I-- I don’t--” Julie started to panic, but relaxed when Caleb shook his head and waved his hand, brushing it off.

Caleb glanced at the clock above the bar while he did so, checking the time.

“We’re gonna be late for the opening. I’ll teleport out, you change here, and get back to the stage as soon as you’re done,” Caleb ordered, getting ready to leave.

“Wait!”

Caleb stared at her, expectantly.

“I, uh, I don’t know how I got here. Or my way back,” Julie explained, shyly, holding her left arm.

Caleb sighed, nodding.

“I’ll go wait outside. When you’re done, we’ll walk back together.”

Julie smiled, quickly separating her clothes as she picked out what to put on first.

“Thank you! I promise this won’t happen again.”

Caleb gave a small smile, quickly hiding it and heading out the room, giving Julie privacy.

Talking about this made him feel lighter. Weirdly, lighter. Of course, he shouldn’t be talking about this with a 16 year old. Especially not the 16 year old that he’s been specifically ordered to steal a soul from. Even then, just talking about it briefly had helped. It felt like a curse had been lifted, ironically.

Caleb lean’t against the wall, closing the door as he stepped to the side.

That girl had too much hope. He had known from the moment he made the deal with that man he was doomed. Sometimes you have to go through with something to realize how bad of a mistake it was, and this was one of those times. He was doomed. The moment they had become entangled with the club they had written their fate, too. They might have been able to outsmart him, but there was no way they would be able to outsmart nor outpower him. At least, not yet. Julie still needed training, and there wasn’t enough time for him to teach her how. Yet, here he was, thinking that maybe he could figure this mess out. Maybe they could all get out of this.

The door opening made him stand up straight.

“I’m ready.”

Caleb nodded, silently and started walking back to the club, leaving Julie to fall into step next to him.

“No, you are not!” Julie yelled, grabbing the others’ attention.

The boys looked at Julie, startled by her sudden entrance and confused by her objection.

Luke gave her a saddened look. Julie nodded her head towards Caleb, who was standing behind her. Luke ‘ohed’ silently, looking away.

“Do I dare ask what’s going on?”

“That depends on how much you heard,” Reggie replied, who had shied away, behind Alex’s chair.

“Only the end. Something about ‘sticking it to the man.’ I’d be careful about that, by the way. I do still have some leverage over you guys.”

Julie rolled her eyes while the others glared at him.

“Now, get ready. You guys go on in five minutes.”

With that, Caleb walked out onstage, putting on a cheery voice.

“Sorry about that! We’ve been running a bit behind schedule, tonight. I see some glazed eyes out here tonight,” he threw his cane to his other hand and the music started, “Let’s see if we can change that.”

As his speech blended into song, they had stopped listening.

“Wait, so that means you’re with us, right? And you were just saying no because he was there?” Luke asked, still standing on the table.

“No? Look, something happened. Caleb isn’t that bad? It’s hard to explain. I’ll have to tell you guys later. But for now, we’ve gotta get ready to go on.”

The boys looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and worry. What had happened to their Julie that made her side with Caleb all of the sudden?

The door to Caleb’s office slammed shut. Caleb froze. His time was up. The light dimmed and the room went cold. This was really it. He had put it off for so long, finding ways around it and surviving (if you could really call what he was doing ‘surviving’). But now it is finally gonna end. He deserved it, didn’t he? He should have stayed dead the first time; he didn’t deserve to live. Then he was given a second chance. He could have made things better; help others instead of himself! But look at where he ended up; doing the exact same thing as he was doing before: Hurting others for the sake of himself.

“Where are their souls, Covington?” his boss asked, raspily.

Caleb took a deep breath, standing up straight. He tried to sound confident, but his failure was evident at his shaking.

“I don’t have them.”

The man appeared in front of him, eyes glowing white. You couldn’t really say he was appearing as a man, though. He appeared to be a black cloud, making up a silhouette of a man. In place of his eyes were two glowing, piercing, white dots that seemed to be staring into his soul. At least, if he still had one.

“How. Come?” the figure asked, his voice booming.

Caleb gulped. “The girl - Julie - outsmarted me.”

The figure let out a deep, maniacal laugh. It bounced off the walls, surrounding Caleb. He backed into the door, fear now clearly showing on his face.

“I’ve given you a lot of time for this, Caleb. I’m afraid,” the figure lifted up a part of his shadow, appearing to be his arm, “I can’t afford to give you anymore.”

The figure stepped closer, shooting his arm out in front of him and into Caleb’s chest. Caleb curled into a ball against the door, turning sideways, trying to save as much time for himself as possible. When nothing happened, he looked back down at himself, confused as to what had changed. He looked over to the ghostly figure across from him, who seemed just as confused as he was.

“WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?!?” he yelled out of frustration.

He tried again. Caleb flinched, but it was for nothing when nothing changed once again. The figure glared daggers at him, causing Caleb to shake even more. The figure lifted up his arm to himself, closing his fist suddenly and tightly. A realization came upon him.

“You no longer have your stamp.”

Caleb looked down at his wrist, pushing up his sleeve. Sure enough, the glowing outline of the stamp that would usually appear when prompted didn’t appear. He pulled down his sleeve quickly, hiding his wrist. He looked back up at his boss, who had stepped closer.

“Fine. There are other ways to take you out. More fun ones,” he stated, deepening his voice, moving closer to him, ever so slowly.

Before Caleb could get away, he grabbed him, teleporting them both away.

“Hey, have any of you guys seen Caleb?” Julie asked the others, who were relaxing backstage.

“Why does it matter? This place is better without him, anyway,” Alex asked, laying down on a couch, his head in Willie’s laugh, twirling his drumsticks.

“He hasn’t been here all week. I’m getting worried.”

“Why worry? He sucks,” Luke asked, not looking up from his song book.

“Yes but….he doesn’t? I think something bad might have happened to him.”

“What did he do to you that you care about him all of the sudden?” Luke looked up, shaking his head.

Julie took a deep breath before relaying her and Caleb’s conversation. She shouldn’t be worrying herself over what was probably nothing, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask around. And she couldn’t hide this from her boys forever, so this was a good opportunity to confess.

“What? Come on, Julie, he’s gotta be lying! He’s trying to trick you into giving him your soul!” Luke exclaimed, getting up from his seat and walking up to Julie.

“Yes, maybe, but he seemed genuinely scared, and--”

“Julie, he’s an actor! He’s lying! There’s no way--”

“I saw him. I saw his boss there, too. The conversation only happened after he had disappeared,” Julie blurted out, stopping Luke from continuing.

Willie, Reggie, and Julie pushed open the door, trying their best to ignore the noise being made behind them. Inside the room was Caleb, sitting in a corner, leaning against the wall. Julie and Reggie rushed over to him, while Willie stayed at the door.

“Caleb! Are you okay?” Julie asked, kneeling down in front of him.

Caleb lolled his head, looking in the duo’s direction, not being able to completely focus on either of them. There were no physical signs of injury, seeing as he was a ghost, but it was clear that he was hurt.

“What--” he sucked his teeth, wincing, “are you guys doing here?”

“Getting you out of here! The others are fighting off your boss right now. He is not a nice guy. He puts you to shame, really,” Reggie explained quickly.

“Come on, help me get him up,” Julie told Reggie.

The two of them lifted his arms and helped him stand up, although he was basically being dragged due to the major height difference between them all.

“How…..how are you able to touch me?”

“I’ve learned quite a bit since you’ve disappeared. Now come on, we’ve gotta get you out of here and finish dealing with your boss.”

They had finished him off. Whether he had crossed over or simply didn’t exist anymore, they didn’t know, but he was definitely gone. The Hollywood Ghost Club still stood, although it was now empty. A handful of ghosts stayed behind; some wanted to take care of it until it was performance ready again, while others didn’t want to leave what had grown to be their home behind. Those who wanted to leave, left. No one blamed them; that place held as many bad memories as it did good, if not more.

Julie and Flynn were explaining the situation she had been in to Ray, Carlos, and Victoria. Caleb was here for the time being, so the boys could become both solid and visible to the others. At first they had thought that was an idea better saved for another time, but Reggie was bouncing at the thought of being seen, and Alex had wanted to talk to Victoria for a while now, so they had decided that once Caleb cleaned up a bit, however he was gonna do that, they would meet each other, officially.

“......Julie, are you doing okay? Do you need to start seeing Dr. Turner, again?” Ray asked, stepping closer to her.

“No, Dad! She’s telling the truth! These ghosts really do exist! I have the proof!” Carlos defended Julie, stepping forward and in front of her.

“I thought the same thing at first, but these ghosts are real! They’re really nice, too!! You’d love them,” Flynn stated, nodding.

Ray looked around at everyone. When he landed on Victoria, she shrugged.

“I don’t know what to believe! All I know is that this house is haunted, and if they’re all saying they know the ghosts, maybe they’re telling the truth?”

Ray sighed, crossed his arms, and smiled. “I guess, if you’re telling the truth, it won’t be so bad. I mean, they brought music back into your life, I’d be crazy to kick them out.”

Julie grinned, running over to give him a hug. “Thanks, Papi!”

Then, she ran over to the stairs, and called up to them. One by one, the four boys descended the stairs, lining up at the bottom.

“Dad, Tia, this is Luke, Reggie, Alex, Willie, and-- Where’s Caleb?” Julie asked, cutting herself off.

“To hell if we know!” Luke exclaimed, ignoring the others staring at him.

“He’s gotta be here, somewhere. I mean, we wouldn’t be visible, if he wasn’t, right?” Reggie pointed out.

Just then, Caleb appeared in front of them with a puff of purple smoke. He was wearing his classic purple suit, save for the jacket.

“There you are! You may have not been the one behind everything, but you’re still on thin ice. You can’t just do that!” Julie reprimanded him.

Caleb rolled his eyes, nodding. “Yes, yes, I’m very sorry. Now, would you mind telling me who hot stuff over here is?”

Julie glanced at where Caleb was looking, and quickly looked back at him. “You mean my dad?!”

Caleb ignored her, walking up to Ray. “Hi, do you know how much a polar bear weighs?”

“No…??” Ray answered, confused.

“Enough to break the ice; I’m Caleb,” he said quickly, sticking out his hand.

Ray absentmindedly took it. “Ray…”

“Do you mind if we take a picture? To prove that angels really exist, of course.”

“I--”

“No! No, no, no. No. You can come over whenever you want and help mend your relationships with this family, but flirting with my dad is OFF LIMITS, you got that?” Julie ordered, rushing to stand in between them.

“Yes, yes, whatever you say, Julie,” Caleb replied, winking at Ray before walking away.

As everyone started chattering and getting to know each other, Flynn and Julie talked about the situation.

“Do you think this is a good idea? For them to be visible?”

“Absolutely not. But they’re happy, and that makes it all worth it.”

Flynn nodded, turning her head to look at Julie. “You know this is gonna cause a lot of trouble, right?”

“Yeah, but we’ll handle it together. Right?” Julie asked, turning her head to face Flynn in return, raising her first.

“Right.”

Flynn fist bumped her in return.

“Double Trouble back at it again!”

“That is not our band name!”

“It doesn’t have to be our band name! It just has to be our name!”

Julie cracked a grin.

“Alright.”

“Yesss! Now I don’t need to trash the new t-shirt design!” Flynn celebrated, clenching both her hands into fists.

Julie laughed. It was definitely gonna be a mess, but it will all be worth it as long as her family is beside her.

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steve0discusses · 3 years

Text

S5 Ep 3: Apdnarg is Really Hard to Spell

Yo guys, people are getting vaccinated, the sun is parting through the clouds, and I felt so nice that I even stopped listening to quite so many throwback 00′s BTS mashups (and yet I keep clicking on these dissonant catastrophes thinking “this time it’s got to be better. This time they’ll figure it out.” and like, no. Turns out you can’t match Brittany’s Toxic with BTS’ Black Swan. You can’t do that.)

This must be a sign that things are getting better. If anything, it means my personal tastes are improving. I mean I only clicked on like 3 “Dark Academia” Playlists where I could pretend I’m some sort of spooky witch in an abandoned library with a bad music player and basic taste in classical music (like can we ban Satie from Youtube for a little while?). Hell, I might even do a prompt update to this blog!

Yeah, you heard me, I’m actually going to stay ahead of the update schedule for Yugioh Abridged (maybe. I haven’t actually watched cuz of spoilers, I just noticed the thumbnail pop up on Youtube and was like “Damn it, they came out of hiatus??? I got hurry UP.”)

Anyway, speaking of the sky parting.

I’ll have you know my bro said this is actually more like a circumcision and it was one of the worst thing I have ever heard.

We get a chance to take in this lineup of confusing and varied character designs, and Joey. who is...still Joey.

The animators probably had to hold a strike in order for them to put Yugi in the audience, lets be real. There are TOO MANY PEOPLE in this shot and one is wearing a turban where you draw every single wrap. I hope those artists charged by the line.

Tea has a subplot where she’s just very frustrated with everyone she knows. They have been traveling together for like many weeks and got trapped in a foreign country so I get it. But at the same time, it’s kind of hard to picture Tea with female friends.

Because right now you got this 12 year old child, the other duelist who does not care about anything besides cards, and Kaiba’s 3 dragon cards that we’ve all collectively decided are female.

Hell it’s almost like the writers are asking themselves why Tea is here. Maybe they forgot. There’s no more ghosts to bus, no more people to knock out with her ass with random Olympic feats. Tea’s just sidelining.

(read more under the cut)

Mokuba is a itty bit bit taller this season, and so I guess that means he can legally climb on top of the cherry picker in order to give a riveting speech.

Really says a lot about Mokuba that he is so unphased about talking to, I dunno...an entire planet of people. Kind of a shame we never see this courage from Mokuba used for anything other than talking really, really big and giving everyone around him a really hard time.

Mokuba takes a moment to dunk on Yugi Muto, as is Kaiba tradition.

And then introduce the first pair of duelists, which obviously must be between the few people in this tournament that we actually know and care about.

Thankfully, in between last episode and this episode, Yugi has figured out who his own Grandpa is. This is a relief, because Yugi is such a mess, that I was fully convinced it would take over half a season for him to recognize it. I mean how long did it take him to figure out he shares a body with a ghost? Like half a season?

Instead Yugi recovered gracefully from not recognizing his grandpa, but it’s not like he bothered to tell anyone else, so the rest of our cast is just gonna be like “Is he my hairdresser? The guy who delivers my mail? Who is this guy who made absolutely no significant changes to his outfit or voice?”

Like sometimes this show goes full Spongebob silly kid’s show and you never know when to take it seriously or not. They might be sacrificing the entire cast next episode. I really don’t know. But for now their big concern is who is grandpa??? Like an innocent card version of “Are you my Mother?”

Faced with public speaking, Yugi decides to have a melt down.

We have seen him face monsters, we’ve seen him on TV dozens of times, he’s been in multiple competitions...but give a speech? Of course he can’t do that. The kid doesn’t attend enough school to know how to do that. Them’s learning skills.

And that was when a newly assembled wife-jet spliced through the sky like a souped up razer scooter and deposited 1 fully equipped Seto Kaiba in a Buzz Lightyear jetsuit.

THE RECOVERY.

Seto always watching over his Brother, ready to save this awkward party if it kills him (and it really should, that suit is held together by two seat-belts), making sure to get on that platform before Yugi starts going off about how he’s half an Ancient Egyptian. (Ah, life before social media. You could just be hella famous and also half a dead dude and people would just not know. I kinda miss the time before I knew literally everything about everyone.)

Please admire how close those flames are to setting Mokuba’s heavily hairsprayed mane completely alight. It would be an unforgettable spectacle.

These were absolutely just random ass jet packs that Gozaburo Kaiba made to kill hell tons of people, right? Like Seto found it in the family cabin, clutched to the heart of some crispy fried corpse and was like “neat! Mokuba! I found a cool toy!” and just plucked that thing out of that skeleton’s clutches and has been flying around for months?

Like this is Seto Kaiba’s Butter Glider, right?

Seriously what type of vehicle license do you need for one of these things? RIP My ‘Seto only has a scooter license’ headcanon.

Which I’m only even thinking about because I’ve had to try and make an appt with the DMV for days to get a freakin REAL ID. I went to sleep in 2019 and I could fly on a plane. I woke up in 2021 and it’s like “Want one last screw you?” and just...can 2020 please stop screwing me over? It’s March.

Anyway, the Jet is removed soon after, so no, this is not part of his new outfit. He goes right back to his Post-S4-Trauma-Normcore.

After wrestling this competition out of his brother’s hands and confusing everyone in the audience, Roland must have gotten the memo to cut the microphone before Seto got too excited and we were quickly ushered on to the next stage of the tournament.

One sec...the BTS Mashup playlist I just clicked on did a Black Swan X 7 rings mashup and it’s the worst thing my ears have ever heard.

Holy crap. I had to actually turn down my volume. Like...Ariana Grande already has music that has way too many overlapping singing parts on it--and then lets just stick a 52-person boy band on top? That’ll fix it. Yeah. Go ahead.

Wow. Even I had to change the song and you know how much I enjoy pop culture mistakes.

Spot the Mickey but like a million times easier because it’s a Massive Dick Shaped Dragon.

Yep. That’s my grocery shopping outfit. Except maybe not a lab coat and a duel disk. Wish I had a duel disk, that would make social distancing just a hell ton earlier. Just a “Yo, only one person in checkout, please” and then bap them on the head with a propelled discuss/hologram.

Anyway, Grocery shopping/Doctor man dueled the Purple Hair Boy, and considering that Purple Hair got screen time and shook Yugi’s hand once--I think that Doctor man doesn’t stand a freakin chance.

Good. I hate him.

Also, every time he breathes he’s gonna fog up his glasses. I have experience in this area. He can’t read his own cards in the same way I can’t read my phone if I’m in the refrigerated aisle.

So the way this tournament works, is everyone has to sit in the stadium to watch the show. Kinda like showing up to a football stadium just to watch a recorded TV monitor...but then again...that is how it feels to watch a football game at a football stadium when it’s live (at least with the tickets I usually get.)

And as we watch Grandpa waiting for his competitor, we find out that his competitor (Joey) is too busy eating snacks to give him the time of day.

Why do cartoon hot dogs always have lettuce? Is that seriously supposed to be relish? Or is there a place in the world where you put lettuce on your hot dog?

Sorry, bro has just informed of his favorite hot dog order, which is absolutely terrible so I will share it with you: a Five Guys hot dog with ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, onions, mushrooms, pickled peppers, and you guessed it--topped with freakin lettuce.

My own kin. How am I over 30 and just finding out that my baby brother thinks it’s normal to walk into a restaurant with normal god-fearing law-abiding people and order lettuce and mushrooms on a hot dog?

I have fully failed him.

The rest of this episode is watching both Joey Wheeler and Mokuba have a shared panic attack while Seto does freakin nothing.

Please remember that Seto has both a jetpack and a dragon wife plane and could have easily solved this problem. But nah.

Then again, Seto Kaiba has given this crew so MANY rides, that maybe he’s tired of being the Soccer Mom for the team?

Like they don’t actually say this episode, but Seto was the one in charge of like...this entire place, do you think he made the 2 for 1 special just to get Joey where it hurts the most? Or does it actually not take any subterfuge to screw Joey Wheeler because he’s just naturally this way?

Like Mokuba wasn’t there when Joey was told “stay right here, and then we will all go together to fight Dartz” and Joey was like “I’mma save Mai from herself although she told me not to!” and then he Hella Died. But, Mokuba did see the result, AKA, Joey’s dead body being carried on the back of Tristan. Maybe Mokuba never realized that Joey died because he went out of his way to be late?

Lets do a tally of every time I can recall with my dodgy memory that Joey was threatened to be DQ’d/pretty much was DQ’d either by his own fault or no fault of his own

-When he wasn’t allowed to go on the boat to Murder Island because he was a stupid nobody kid who did not have a dueling glove

-When he wasn’t actually supposed to be in Pegasus’ tourney and was, in fact, secretly using half of Yugi’s entrance ticket the entire time

-when Bandit Keith stole the ticket that Joey got from Yugi so then Joey had to borrow Mai’s ticket although she had just used it so it really shouldn't have counted. Because, really anyone could have just piggy backed off of each other’s ticket until the whole boat went through that castle.

-When his account was hacked to get entered into Kaiba’s tourney when Kaiba very clearly told him he could not apply solely because he was Joey Wheeler.

-When he was late to his sister’s eye surgery because he got mugged by Marik’s Rare Hunters, so she almost refused to do the surgery.

-When Joey got possessed by Marik, and as Marik, threatened to murder everyone else in the tournament including both of the Kaiba brother’s who’s tournament it was, and then chained himself to Yugi Muto to throw both of them to the bottom of the ocean.

-I think there was a point when he threatened to attack Kaiba in Kaiba’s own tourney while not possessed? Like several times?

-when he got struck by Lightning and almost did not stand up fast enough after being struck by lightning, which is apparently a type of DQ in Duel Monsters.

-When he tried to save Mai from getting hit by a fireball, but then Yugi did it instead, and then so many people were standing on the dueling platform that Kaiba couldn’t possibly DQ them all.

-When he entered the restricted area of the blimp in order to hassle Kaiba into landing the Blimp, which Kaiba did not do.

-When Marik killed Joey before Joey could press the “go” button on his duel disk to play the card that should have won Joey the match.

-When he was dueling a lawyer in a digital universe but then the dice was like...weighted? So Noah had to walk over and be like “The hell is this weighted dice? This is my perfect digital world? How did you even do that?” and then Joey won because the match was no longer legit.

-When Joey yelled at Noah too much and so Noah turned Joey to stone for being a rude ass spectator

-When Mai was like “Wheeler and Valon, listen closely: do NOT murder each other” and then Joey did a murder on Valon so she was like “I guess I have no choice, I was very clear” and killed Joey straight up.

-When Joey decided to block Seto’s fireballs while Joey Wheeler WAS a playing card, somehow disrespecting both Dartz and Seto Kaiba at the same time.

-When Joey was playing cards but then got absorbed into a giant Leviathan and basically couldn’t play anymore after that.

-There’s probably hell ton of S0 stuff I just haven’t seen yet.

-This episode

And Joey runs fast for a montage of wacky things that really have no business being in a theme park. Things like this:

(remember when Bakura almost died from a rock that ended up being a balloon? It comes full circle.)

The stuff that the Kaiba brother’s think is normal and fun.

Anyway Joey fights off a bunch of hologram snakes and bats and everyone is like “Should we tell him it’s just holograms???” And it’s like wow, guys, how many times have these ‘holograms’ straight up murdered Joey Wheeler and everyone else on this cast? Too many? Because I have a google doc with so many deaths on it. 7,805,844,048, to be exact.

Anyway, he gets there with five seconds to spare and Mokuba’s like “well at least you were still entertaining while we filmed you in front of a live audience being a total spaz for 15 minutes straight, so I’ll let you go.”

Grandpa and Joey start playing, Joey completely oblivious that this is just an older Muto, while Hawkins walks up awkwardly and is like “hey guys. I’m so sorry about this.”

(welcome to my font choices, for those new here, I have to make weird font color choices to make sure it’s legible for the colorblind and also for the non-colorblind. This one is not much contrast, so I may change it up in the future, but for now, this is Grandpa Muto’s new font. I apologize to every graphic designer reading this. Please don’t tell anyone who has ever hired me for graphic design about this blog.)

What’s funny about this exchange is that after they find out that Yugi’s Grandpa is Apdnarg (HOLY my brain cannot get around the spelling for that, and I will not change it in the caps. I cannot do a ‘pdn’ ever again), they don’t stand on his side of the field or anything. Hawkins is legit Solomon Muto’s only fan during this exchange and like...damn. Way not to back your Grandpa, Yugi.

Yugi immediately strides up to Mokuba to non-confrontation-ally inform him that he has stepped over a line and Mokuba is like “what are these things you say called ‘lines?’”

According to Mokuba, Solomon Muto begged him to be in the competition so he could relive his glory days (glory days making no sense here, because the game has only been released for the past 15 years, so glory days is like...the before times that can only be referring to disgraced archeologists and Pegasus ((who is, in his own way...a disgraced archeologist, too))) and Mokuba was like

“You trained Yugi Muto, right? Hey that’s good enough for me. This drama is gold. People will eat it up. Hell yes. Don’t be afraid to abduct him a little bit. Maybe trap a couple people in a digital hellscape for a little while? Now we go by Pegasus house rules here, so fire as many lasers as you want, but just make sure not to hit anyone in the face. Oh man, we are going to be swimming in cash. Love it, Muto Sr, love it.”

But I dunno, I feel like Grandpa won’t make it past next episode. It is Joey. We kinda need him to make it past Ep 4 of the arc. If Grandpa Muto becomes the new Joey Wheeler, that will be a weird transition for this show to make.

But that’s all for today, as always, here is the link to read these in chrono order becuase there’s SO MANY that you don’t need to read backwards--don’t do it--just use the chrono tag (and I don’t know if you can add compound tags, but I did separate the Season from the Episode, so if you write S4, it should only pop up stuff from S4. I didn't’ do that to seasons 1-3 though because I just...didn’t.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

And because I brought it up: here it is, the best BTS Mashup that I found on my deep dive. Like legit--this one isn’t a mess:

youtube

Most of other ones are horrible in a fascinating way. Like I’m not even a BTS fan, I think I sort of age out of that metric, I’m just bored and quarantined. And lets be real, we all appreciate a good bop when we hear it.

#yugioh #ygo #yu gi oh #photo recap #recap #episode recap #yugi muto #seto kaiba #mokuba kaiba #Joey Wheeler #Apdnarg #Grandpa muto #tea gardner #tristan taylor #professor hawkins #and then I ranted about BTS #but please don't quiz me about BTS I know nothing about them aside from the music #I actually thought there were over 12 of them because every time I see them perform it feels like an entire stageplay production of people #like a 101 dalmations situation where every time I saw BTS there were 3 new people #I assumed it was like the Gorrilaz where people just show up and then disappear in a rotation #but no. There's 7 BTS members #that can't be right #there has to be more than 7 #is this a berenstein bears situation?#how is there only 7?#I swear there used to be like 16 #and they would be introduced like here's jimin and Jungkook and red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and pea #like is google seriously telling me there's only 7 kids in this band?#this is the biggest scam google has ever played on me #this weird alternate timeline that not only has an epidemic but also only 7 members of BTS

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paradisetemporarilymisplaced · 3 years

Text

Tag 9 people to learn more about their interests!

thanks for tagging me @whaleharry🤗

MUSIC

fav genre? my top genre on spotify is always "post-teen pop" which seems right

fav artist? taylor swift, 1d, bastille, of monsters and men, all time low

fav song? how do you choose just one favorite song? I'll say good as hell because that's my all-time most listened song on spotify and also what I always go to if I'm having a bad day

most listened song recently? I actually haven't had any songs on repeat lately? maybe our song (niall and anne-marie)

song currently stuck in your head? I'm listening to 1989 rn but nothing is stuck in my head

5 fav lyrics?

- "all my favorite conversations / always made in the AM" (AM, 1d)

- "the gods have forgotten the song of their love" (chant, hadestown)

- "if you had your gun / would you shoot it at the sky? / why - to see where your bullet would fall? / or will you come down at all?" (laura palmer, bastille)

- "don't say you're too tired to fight / it’s just a matter of time / up there's the finish line / so run and run and run" (only the young, taylor swift)

- "and as the world comes to an end / i'll be there to hold your hand" (king and lionheart, of monsters and men)

BOOKS

fav book genre? I'll read pretty much anything as long as it has good reviews. literary fiction, YA, magical realism/low fantasy, thriller, political nonfiction/current events, etc. the only thing I don't really read is science fiction

fav writer? riley sager, neil gaiman, leigh bardugo, libba bray

fav book? a tale of two cities (charles dickens)

fav book series? the raven cycle (maggie stiefvater)

comfort book? carry on (rainbow rowell), red white and royal blue (casey mcquiston), aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe (benjamin alire saenz)

perfect book to read on a rainy day? home before dark (riley sager) - a ghost story is perfect for a rainy day!

fav characters? adam parrish (the raven cycle), nina zenik (grishaverse), eugenides (the queen's thief)

5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart?

- "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair"

- "I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul"

- "it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known"

- "a wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other"

- "then tell the wind and fire where to stop, but don't tell me"

fuck, now I want to reread atotc🙈

TV AND MOVIES

fav tv/movie genre? sitcoms

fav movie? heathers

comfort movie? tangled, the greatest showman, the old guard, eurotrip

movie you watch every year? the princess bride

fav tv show? the good place, parks and rec

comfort tv show? parks and rec, brooklyn 99

most rewatched tv show? parks and rec

ultimate otp? ALLYDIA

5 fav characters?

- allison argent (teen wolf)

- nicky (the old guard)

- steeb rogers (marvel)

- veronica sawyer (heathers)

- louis tomlinson (this is us)

tagging: @thesunshookwithjoy @thekinkshamepolice @laughyoudrecognize @harrysuits @crackinthecloud @jenderstudies @frogsarebxtches @chinchillinator @clockwork-silence 🕺🏻

#about me #this took 8000000 years so no pressure lol #also feel free to do this even if you're not tagged!#this is the first tag game I’ve done in forever bc I’m lazy but this one allowed me to be pretentious af so here we are

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jaskiers-sweetkiss · 4 years

Text

Sunset Swerve - Part 4

Pairings: Luke x OC

Word Count: 3.7K

Warnings: none?

A/N: This one’s a bit longer but now we’re officially through episode 3! As always, let me know what you think and message me if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

Part 3 Masterlist

___

“We have to do something to help Julie with Flynn,” Jordan said firmly when they landed in the garage. “It’s our fault she’s in this mess.”

“I still don’t understand why she can’t just tell her about us,” Luke said and Jordan sighed.

“Seeing ghosts, real or not, isn’t really ever perceived as a one-hundred percent good thing, especially when you’ve just lost a parent.” She explained quietly and Luke nodded, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

When she turned to look at the other guys she was met with a curious stare from Alex as if he was trying to figure out what was going on between them.

“How’re you holding up?” She deflected, trying to get away from his scrutiny.

“Not great, actually,” Alex admitted beginning to pace in front of the couch where Luke and Reggie had plopped down.

Jordan crossed the room to join them, perching on the arm of the couch.

“I think he’s practicing his model strut,” Reggie speculated in a whisper and Jordan rolled her eyes.

“He’s so nervous it’s making me nervous,” Luke admitted.

“Alright Alex, spill,” Jordan addressed the blond and he stopped to stand in front of them.

“Okay, look, you guys know I don’t handle change well,” he spoke, waving his hands around anxiously. “Alright? Death? That was a change. Okay, then we became ghosts, alright? Another change. And- and now we can be seen whenever we play with Julie. Big fucking change!”

“Yeah but, bro, it was a good change!” Luke exclaimed. “With Julie we can play on stage again and be the band we never got to be! C’mon, you gotta be down for that.”

“I mean, yeah, who wouldn’t be?” Alex gulped, “I just… I wanna figure out why.”

“Forget why!” Jordan elbowed the brunet and he cursed, standing up to move away from her. “I say we invite Julie to join Sunset Curve.”

“Yeah, totally!” Reggie gasped, standing up as well. “I mean, like, think about it! With a new lead singer, this band would be legendary.”

“Hey! I’m our lead singer,” Luke pouted and Jordan snorted, earning a glare from the boy.

“Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel and she can make us visible,” Reggie explained, “Without her, we’re just elevator music.”

“I know, but you don’t gotta be so mean about it,” Luke whined, completely ignoring Alex who had begun pacing again.

“You deserve it,” Jordan quipped, receiving another glare from the boy.

“And we’re on the runway again!” He exclaimed, turning to see Alex’s pacing.

“Okay, I’m sorry, alright? I just…” Alex sighed, stopping his pacing. “I gotta go clear my head.”

He made a beeline for the door, attempting to grab the handle but his hand kept going through it.

“Dude you’re a ghost, just poof out,” Reggie said and Jordan leaned over to hit his arm.

“Don’t tell me how to ghost!” Alex cried before poofing away.

Jordan sighed when neither of the boys moved to do anything.

“I’m gonna go make sure he’s okay.” She said decisively, ignoring the boys’ arguments that he was fine as she poofed out.

When he had found her in the graveyard the day before he had said something about going someplace familiar, so she poofed to the first place she thought of: the Orpheum.

It didn’t take long for her to figure out he wasn’t there but she decided to wander around Hollywood to look. Sunset Curve had spent a lot of time in the area, playing gigs and just hanging out. She had stopped to scrutinize the costume of a fake Marilyn Monroe on the Walk of Fame when she spotted him. She immediately started walking towards him but stopped once she noticed that he wasn’t alone. He was talking to some long-haired skater boy and she silently awed when she saw the look on his face. Not wanting to interrupt his serendipitous meeting and comforted by the fact that he wasn’t alone, she poofed away before he could spot her.

She’d tried to poof to Reggie, wanting to tell him about the skater boy but she was immediately distracted upon arrival.

“What the hell guys?” She asked rhetorically, “Did you seriously learn nothing from yesterday?”

Once again Luke and Reggie were in Julie’s room, the latter once again laying on his bed. However, what Luke was doing was considerably worse. The boy was sat on the floor with Julie’s dream box open in front of him as he rifled through the pieces of paper.

“Did you not hear anything she said about boundaries?” The dark-haired girl huffed, attempting to close the dream box.

When her hand just went through the lid she plopped down in front of the box, pouting at her lack of ghostly abilities.

“This is perfect!” Luke gasped triumphantly, finally looking upon from the piece of paper in his hands. He jumped slightly when he noticed Jordan as if he had been so involved in whatever was on the paper that his brain hadn’t registered her presence. “Oh, hey Moss. When did you get back?”

Jordan raised her brows in surprise. “Wow, and I thought Reggie was the oblivious one.”

“Hey!” Reggie protested, sitting up on the bed only to be met with identically ‘come on’ looks from the ghosts on the floor. “Okay, fine, you’re right.”

“Anyway,” Luke redirected, sending one last side-eye at Reggie before addressing the room. “This poem would make killer song lyrics!”

“Ooh! Lemme see,” Reggie scrambled off the bed to lean over Luke. “Flying Solo. This looks great.” He mused.

“C’mon, we should start writing the melodies,” Luke said, poofing away to the garage, Reggie following suit but not before waving goodbye to Jordan who was still sitting on the ground. The girl dropped her disapproving look to smile at the boy before he disappeared.

She sat alone in the room for another minute before sighing and pushing herself off the carpet. She wandered through the house, searching for something to occupy her time now that all the guys were busy and Julie was at school. After a period of aimless wandering- time seemed to flow differently now that she was dead- she stumbled across a large bookshelf and paused. Jordan hadn’t read a book since ’95 but it had been one of her favorite pastimes after music. She browsed the selection of mostly unrecognizable title- of course plenty of hits had been published in the twenty-five years since she had passed- until she settled on a novel heralded as ‘The Next Harry Potter’ though she had no idea who Harry Potter was. The book was well worn as if it had been read many times and as far as Jordan was concerned, that was the tell-tale sign of a good book.

She pulled the blue-green book from the shelf, taking it with her as she poofed to the garage. The book showing endeavor had taken quite a bit of time as the books had kept falling through her ghost hands. Fortunately, none of the Molina’s had been home to hear the multiple thuds.

Despite the amount of time she had spent in the house, when she arrived in the studio Reggie and Luke were still stood around the piano working on their new song. Neither boy acknowledge her appearance- too immersed in their work- so she laid down on the couch and immersed herself in 2012 New York.

She wasn’t sure how long she’s laid there in silence, only that she’d reached Chapter 8: We Capture a Flag when her attention was finally drawn away. The guys had moved from writing to working it out on their instruments (which Jordan had selectively ignored because they wouldn’t listen to her anyway) when Julie got home from school.

“Guys! You’re not supposed to be out here playing alone,” she said, giving them her signature ‘are you serious?’ look.

“But we’re not alone,” Reggie explained as Luke came up to hold him from behind, “Because we always have each other!”

“Ugh,” Jordan groaned, rolling her eyes at their cheesiness.

“Agreed,” Julie quipped, smiling briefly at the ghost girl before moving to unplug both boys’ instruments from their amps.

“But we had the volume on level one!” Luke protested.

“But we rocked it on volume ten!” Reggie added, “Want us to play it again?”

“I really don’t think she does,” Luke whispered to the boy as Julie unplugged his amp, dropping the cord to the ground menacingly.

“We’ve actually been waiting for you to get home,” Luke changed directions, hoping to avoid the Latina’s wrath. “Okay, so, we have some pretty major news to tell you. We had a band meeting earlier and…” He pointed at Reggie who began a drumroll on his legs.

“We want you to join Sunset Curve! And no, you’re not dreaming,” The brunet exclaimed, looking very proud of himself.

Julie, however, looked less thrilled. “Oh.”

“Oh? That’s what you say when you get socks for Christmas, not when you get asked to join the most epic band ever!”

“Second most epic band,” Jordan spoke up from the couch where she had set aside her book momentarily to watch this unfold.

Luke glared at her while Julie began to explain herself.

“Sorry, I’m honored, but I can’t think about anything but Flynn right now. She’s still mad at me for lying, she hasn’t even texted me back!”

“Yeah, you’re in a tough spot,” Luke started, though clearly he wasn’t really considering what the girl had said, “So, you wanna join the band?”

“Read the room, dude.” Julie glared, turning to walk out of the garage.

“Way to be sincere doofus,” Jordan said harshly, returning to her book.

“Oh, come on!” Luke called, getting the girl to stop before the doors, “We need you and you need us because you need music! We found this poem that you wrote-“

“She’s gonna be pissed,” Jordan said in a sing-song voice, eyes trained on her book but clearly still listening.

“Reggie and I added this really cool melody to it. It sounds awesome!” Luke continued, ignoring Jordan.

“Where’d you find that?” Julie asked warily.

“Uh… definitely not in your dream box,” Luke lied, pulling Reggie in front of him to protect himself from Julie, clearly forgetting that she could just walk right through the ghost bassist.

“You went through my stuff?!” She shouted, quickly advancing on the guitarist while Reggie jumped out of the way.

“Told you,” Jordan muttered, though it was lost in the chaos of the room.

“I know, but-” Luke tried to excuse but was cut off by Reggie.

“Yeah, we can do that now!” The dark-haired ghost responded, completely contradicting his bandmate.

“No! No you can’t! Boundaries!” Julie shouted, reaching across the piano towards Luke. “Give it back!”

“No!” Luke denied, climbing onto the piano bench. “You need to realize how insanely talented you are! Okay? Listen to this:

“If somebody hurts you, I’m gonna get hurt too, and my life my life would be real low, zero, flying solo.”

“Oh-Oh” Reggie echoed from behind Julie and Luke grinned at him before turning back to the girl in front of him.

“It’s a killer melody,” he said.

“I wrote that about Flynn when she was helping me with all my mom stuff,” Julie sighed. “I gotta go.”

“Hey! What about the band!” Luke called after her as she turned to leave again.

Oh, I almost forgot,” She spoke, turning back around and an excited look grew on Luke’s face. “Stay out of my room!”

“Yeah?” Luke called, running after her and sticking his head through the door, “We will if you join our band!”

“Idiot,” Jordan muttered, finally turning her full attention back to the book.

She did her best to ignore the shuffling around her as the boys moved about. She was mostly successful, managing to get in a full page of reading before Reggie poked the back of her hand and she pulled her attention away to glare at him.

“What do you want?” She groaned as she turned to look at the two boys who were now seated in front of the couch.

“So, you’re a girl,” Luke started and Jordan snorted.

“Very astute observation, Sherlock,” she quipped, turning back to her book with the intention of ignoring them completely.

“Just let me finish!”

“That’s what she said.”

“Jordan!” He whined, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “Please?”

She sighed, closing the book and setting it down next to her as she swung her legs around to sit up on the sofa.

“Fine. Yes, I am a girl, what do you need?”

“We thought you might have some insight on what to do about Julie?” He said, though his unsureness made it sound like a question.

“She’s not going to even think about joining your band until she’s smoothed things over with Flynn. She’s her best friend and she means more to her than music does.”

“Woah. How’d you figure all that out?” Reggie asked, amazed.

“Girl code, man!” Luke answered, hitting Reggie’s chest.

“She’s literally said all of that to you within the last twenty-four hours,” Jordan said, staring at them with a look of pure disbelief. “There’s no ‘code’, you guys just don’t listen.”

“Okay, so how do we fix things with Julie and Flynn?” Luke said, selectively ignoring what she had just said.

“I hate to say it,” she sighed, “But you guys might already be on the right track with the song. Julie said she wrote the poem about Flynn, so maybe if she performs the song for her, Flynn’ll see how much their friendship means to her.”

“That’s a great idea!” Luke exclaimed and Jordan smirked, jokingly flipping her hair over her shoulder dramatically. “C’mon! Let’s get to work.”

Jordan moved to return to her reading when she noticed the brunet was staring pointedly at her.

“What do you need me for?”

“Well, Reggie and I can’t write the piano part.”

____

“So, when she says ‘deep-dish’, do you think she’s talking about pizza?” Reggie asked in all seriousness.

Jordan, who had kept playing the piano despite the other two ghosts dropping out, stopped playing then in shock.

“Dude,” she breathed, at this point in awe of the boy’s cluelessness.

It was just then that Alex decided to show up, poofing in right on top of the piano between Reggie and Luke.

“Oh! Hey man, where you been?” Reggie asked, immediately distracted from his previous question.

“Um, kinda everywhere,” Alex answered, “Yeah. No, I met a new ghost friend.”

“For real?” Reggie asked, amazed.

“Wait, cute skater boy was a ghost?” Jordan asked from behind them, brows raised in surprise.

“Yeah he- wait, how’d you know that?” He asked, turning around to peer at the girl behind the piano.

“Hm? Oh! I went to check on you after you left but when I found you, you had already found him so I just came back,” Jordan shrugged and Alex nodded.

“Yeah, anyway, he answered a ton of questions.”

“Like whether Julie’s gonna join the band or not?” Luke asked through the guitar pick he still held between his teeth.

“Uh… well we didn’t... didn’t really get to that,” Alex muttered, giving Luke a weird stare before turning back to Jordan and Reggie. “But, I think I know why we’re here. Okay? All ghosts have, like, unfinished business. So we have t do our unfinished business so that we can cross over.”

“Why would we do that?” Luke asked, immediately drawing everyone’s attention in a mix of shock and confusion.

“Some of us might actually want to cross over,” Jordan said crossly, frowning at the boy.

“I’m just saying, this is like our second chance. All we need to do is get Julie to play with us.” He explained and Reggie nodded.

“Not only can that girl sing, she can write too. Luke and I made a killer melody to one of her songs!” Jordan cleared her throat and Reggie blushed, adding on, “And Jordan helped too.”

“Oh… without your drummer, cool,” Alex mumbled as he looked over the song Luke had just handed him.

“Drumming is so ’90s,” Luke joked, clapping his friend lightly on the back. “We’re just gonna… stomp our feet now.”

“Okay. Well, you know what else is so ‘90s?” Alex responded, “Being rude. All right? Get woke, these are sensitive times.”

“Alex! Ow…” Luke whined quietly as Alex forcefully returned his notebook.

“I learned that from my ghost friend,” Alex whispered to Reggie and Jordan.

“What so they don’t say ‘fly’ anymore but they say ‘woke’?” Jordan muttered in a mix of confusion and distaste.

“‘Woke.’” Reggie repeated. “That’s a cool word, what does it mean?”

“No clue.”

Jordan chuckled lightly before noticing the petulant look on Luke’s face.

“Well, now that Alex is here maybe we can properly work on this song?” She proposed, “We gotta fix things with Julie and Flynn; we got her into this mess in the first place.”

The boys all nodded, Alex moving off the piano so they could all see each other. Fortunately, Luke and Reggie had already worked out most of their own parts and now all they needed were the piano and drum set. They got a good few minutes in working together, Alex drumming on the piano with his hands while Jordan played as quietly as possible, the four of them stopping every few lines to scribble in rhythms. They had the song just about finished when Julie burst into the garage.

��Grab your instruments, we need to rehearse the song.”

The four ghosts looked between themselves in confusion.

“I need to prove to Flynn that you’re ghosts but we only have a half-hour to rehearse, let’s go!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together as if to say ‘chop-chop”.

The guys began to scramble around the room getting everything set up, and Jordan handed Julie her piano part before retiring to the couch once more. She laid back down, grabbing her book and flipping to the page she had left off on while the new Sunset Curve began to rehearse their new hit.

The half-hour flew by quickly and before they knew it Flynn was knocking on the door of the garage.

“Thanks for coming,” Julie smiled as she opened the doors. “We just wanted to rehearse the song so it was perfect, which it’s not, but whatever.”

Jordan put her book down, wanting to watch what happened.

“No, if I’m gonna hear a song from your imaginary ghost band, it needs to be perfect.” Flynn objected, “So get back in there, all of you. You too.” She said, pointing around the space at the imaginary ghosts.

“Wow, she was way off,” Reggie said and the rest of the ghosts shook their heads. “I’m over here!!”

“They’re not out here,” Julie informed Flynn with a chuckle, gesturing the girl inside the garage.

“Oh, I know.”

“Alright guys, you ready?” Julie asked, looking back towards the guys who all gave thumbs up.

“Um, Julie?” Reggie spoke up, “Can you move Flynn? I need room to, y’know, rock out.”

Julie laughed but complied with his request, ushering Flynn to one of the chairs in front of the setup.

“If you’ll notice, there’s no equipment that can create a hologram. Feel free to look around the room.” Julie spoke, taking her place behind the keyboard.

She took a deep breath before addressing her friend, “The guys took a poem I wrote about you and put it to music.”

“Aww! I wish I didn’t have to talk to your dad after this,” Flynn sassed and Jordan laughed.

“I like her.” She said, and Julie glanced her way with a smile.

“It’s called Flying Solo, I hope you like it,” Julie introduced the song before beginning to play.

Jordan could see the song working on Flynn right from the start, the girl clearly vibing with the music and lyrics. At the risk of sounding cheesy, she felt like she was watching their friendship mend itself.

Flynn screamed when the chorus hit and the guys joined in, immediately becoming visible. Julie stepped away from the piano to crouch in front of her best friend, singing the next verse directly to her before pulling her up to rock out with the guys for the chorus. Jordan tried to hide the bouncing of her own leg to the beat, not wanting to admit she too was vibing with Luke’s song. Though, the boy had clearly noticed, moving over to the mic stand that had been left next to the couch. He perched on the end, making sure to smirk superiorly at her and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms stubbornly.

As she sang, Julie guided Flynn around the room to each of the boys, ending with Reggie as they reached a break in the song, the guys continued to play lightly in order to stay visible. Flynn experimentally stuck her hand through Reggie before retracting it quickly in alarm.

“Weird right?” Reggie spoke and Flynn gasped.

“They’re ghosts!” She exclaimed and Julie nodded.

“Uh, we prefer musician spirits,” Alex corrected jokingly and Reggie nodded, pointing affirmatively at the drummer.

“Where’s the other one?” Flynn asked, peering around the room, “The girl?”

“Oh, Jordan’s on the couch. I honestly don’t know why she’s not playing.” Julie turned to look at the girl in question and Jordan shrugged.

“Not my song, not my band.”

“Hey, Julie?” Luke called, redirecting the living girls’ attention. “Does this mean you’re joining our band?”

“Actually, I think you’re joining her band,” Flynn interjected matter-of-factly.

“I’m gonna go with what she said,” Julie grinned, slinging an arm around her best friend. “You too Jordan,” she added, gesturing to the dark-haired girl.

Jordan smiled brightly at the invite, poofing behind the piano as the band started back up.

Julie and Flynn immediately moved over to her as she picked up the piano part. It felt nice to rock out with the girls and it felt even more gratifying when the guys dropped out, leaving only the piano part and Julie’s voice as she sang to her friend.

The four ghosts exchanged smiles with each other, Luke and Jordan to high off the performance to care about their rivalry.

“Still wanna talk to my dad?” Julie asked when the song had finished.

“No, I’m good,” Flynn responded and the girls hugged, the four ghosts vanishing from sight.

Part 5

___

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