#also Flynn has no clue where the ghosts actually are

[h-worksrambles]

Echo and player choice: Horror through powerlessness

I have so many thoughts about how Echo plays with player agency to subvert the expectations of a visual novel and add to its horror.

  When you start Echo you have little reason to see Chase as anything more than a typical player character. He has a defined personality and established ties to the cast and the town so he’s definitely not a blank slate protagonist. But you still get to make plenty of choices in the prologue. And ultimately, in typical dating-simulator fashion, you choose a character’s route to follow. So far it feels like you’re making choices as Chase that affect the story, and part of those choices is, eventually choosing which cute anthro guy (or girl) you’ll romance, and getting one of various endings.   But as you play through the routes things start to get a bit...weird. This start with the choices beginning to get sinister, or cryptic, often signified by a specific musical cue. And as the routes go on, we get more and more hints as to what’s really going on.    TJ’s route demonstrates how little control we the player have over Chase, our supposed player character, and also doubles as a commentary on the nature of player choice and romance in a dating sim. The game expects that you chose this route partly because you find TJ appealing as a character, so as Chase begins to show attraction to TJ, he and the player are essentially on the same page. But TJ doesn’t really reciprocate in any way other than friendship, and any tells that Chase picks up on are entirely innocent as far as TJ is concerned. Then Chase starts getting jealous (to the point of malicious) when Julian shows up, resulting in a ‘confession’ scene that looks like this.   

  Through this, Echo makes a commentary on how the mindset behind a dating sim is...kinda messed up. You use your player character, Chase, as a conduit for your own choices and wish fulfillment. And pursue the romantic interest of the route with single minded determination in a way that is kind of possessive. And you get to witness that as Chase’s behaviour gets more and more uncomfortable, and you relate to him less and less. This is also seen outside the romance in the overarching mystery of the letters from Sydney. Chase comes to his own conclusions about what’s really going on in the scavenger hunt, and intervenes in ways the player has no control over. Eventually he goes out to find the last clue, and replaces it with a different piece of paper, which we don’t see. Our player character is not just acting without us, but also witholding information from us. This culminates in the route’s ending, where Chase becomes a full fledged villain, murdering Flynn, manipulatively co-ercing TJ into keeping the secret. And this is the only outcome, the player’s choices don’t affect this ending. If you thought Chase was just a blank slate protag for your choices and TJ was the romantic ‘goal’, you are throughly proven wrong. Chase is a character, with a mind and goals of his own, and TJ’s lack of agency, and being objectified as a cute innocent love interest to be protected is the tragedy of the entire route. Here, Echo turns the fundamentals of a dating sim VN on their head to tell a horror story, all without ever explicitly breaking the fourth wall.

  Leo and Jenna’s routes throw another spanner in the works by introducing us to the ghost of Samuel Ayers...our actual player character. Yep, the whole time, you were not playing the character you thought you were. You control the ghost of Sam Ayers, a resident of the town who died years ago, and whose ghost has been possessing Chase ever since the day Sydney died. You control Sam, who is controlling Chase. You make decisions as Sam, and Chase follows Sam’s instruction. This changes the player’s understanfing of their control over the narrative. Because the character we’re actually controlling is someone we don’t really know. And it’s a great way to get under the player’s skin. It also allows for an interesting dynamic between Chase and Sam. Near the end of Leo and especially Jenna’s route, Chase starts to recognise Sam’s presence as a voice in his head. This allows for an effect similar to a fourth wall break in other games, such as Kris becoming aware of the player’s control in Deltarune. In fact, both games frame the act of player control as a spectral possession that supresses the protagonists’s own personality. But it does this without explicitly breaking that fourth wall. Which is good, because while fourth wall breaks can work in a horror game, recklessly shattering it can risk dimantling the atmosphere of the game’s world, making this less scary by being too overtly meta. Chase doesn’t become aware of the player, and thus question his free will, but does become aware of Sam. Still, in some ways, this is more comforting than TJ’s route, because it restores the player’s illusion of control. Sure, we’re not playing as who we thought we were, but we’re still in control, right? We make choices as Sam, who will in turn guide Chase to good or bad endings depeding on our outcome. That’s what happens in Carl, Jenna and Leo’s routes. After all, what is a visual novel without choice? It’s the only substantial gameplay element this genre has. We’re still in the driver’s seat...right?

  And then we get to Flynn’s route.

  And even that guarantee is ripped away from us. 

  Over the course of Flynn’s route, Sam starts exerting control to force Chase to make decisions the player may not want. He forces Chase to condemn Flynn before the group, hiding the truth of Chase’s own past actions. Eventually, he stops possessing Chase entirely, and takes control of Flynn instead. We now follow Flynn as the POV character, for the rest of the route. And here, too, Sam starts restricting the choices you can make as a player, directing Flynn to an outcome you are kept in the dark about. This culminates in the scene in the vision of the Smoke Room where Echo plays its final card.

  So you know, Sam, the ghost of a dead townsperson of Echo who has been our player character this whole time? Yeeeaahh...turns out we weren’t really controlling him either. ‘Sam’ is simply an offshoot of the ghostly entity behind all of Echo’s supernatural happpenings. One that creates simulations, echoes, if you will, of those long dead to coerce, control and torment the townspeople for its own ends. We were playing as the true eldritch villain of the game this entire time. Our capacity for any control over the events of the story was a lie. Any say we had over the story has well and truly gone, and we can only watch as Flynn is destroyed by his single minded search for the truth, transformed horrifyingly into the Socket Monster. Much as TJ’s route punishes the player for thinking of Chase as a mere blank slate for their actions, by presenting him as a person with goals of his own, so too Flynn’s route punishes you for underestimating Sam, by proving he is far more powerful than we ever expected.

  Echo’s subversion of player choice is fascinating because it has so many layers. In TJ’s route you slowly realise you’re not in control of the person who you think is your player character, and that he has goals outside of you. So when his actions get progressively more messed up, you can’t stop him. Jenna’s route had you realise you’re controlling someone completely different, and while you can steer things to a good or bad outcome, you watch Chase grapple with the existential nightmare that someone else is making all his decisions, and we the player don’t really know anything about who we’re actually controlling.  And Flynn’s route, pulls the final rug out from under you, as you you realise you’re not even in control of Sam, because he’s in the service of the very entity you’ve watched hurt these characters over and over again, route after route. And we only realise, too late, that he’s led us, and Flynn to an inescapable tragedy.      

   Echo takes the visual novel, a genre where the only real piece of gameplay is the choices you make and makes you question your ability to even make said choices. It frightens you by making you feel progressively more powerless.   And yet, you come back. You all come back eventually. You try again on another route, and another, hoping maybe this time things’ll be different. ...Because just like this town...

You’re only moving in circles.

#god this game is so good #the way it slowly strips you of agency as a source of horror is immaculate #echo vn #echo visual novel #echo project #echo spoilers

[lyxchen]

Day 19 of jatp appreciation month: Found Family

Here have this (super late) group hug!!♡ @jatpappreciationmonth

Also you can read the previous parts here , here and here

#this drawimg took me way too long #but it's finally done☆ #please they all need to do a group hug!!! #also Flynn has no clue where the ghosts actually are #she just hugs the place that seems the most realistic #and Julie #jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp appreciation month #jatpam #julie molina #alex mercer #reggie peters #luke patterson #willie jatp #flynn taylor #this was also the last part of this series #lyxchen's art

[crybabyddl]

I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REITERATE SOMETHING

Yes, let’s circle back to the beautiful performance of Edge of Great. More specifically the BODY LANGUAGE, particularly Julie and Luke’s, which I will be analyzing with gifs.

Exhibit A

Jealous Luke looks over at Julie and Reggie vibing

Julie is aware that she’s avoiding Luke, which she is doing so bc she realized her feelings for him thanks to Flynn earlier in the episode.

Since Julie has put the task of ignoring Luke upon herself even though she has no obligation to, she ends up failing her own mission. She sees Luke’s reaction to the lack of her attention.

She literally FREEZES. She’s emotionally worried to confront what she’s feeling and it’s beginning to manifest physically.

Exhibit B

It gets better y’all. After Luke finally has even a crumb of Julie’s attention, he beckons her over with his signature head tilt. This is important bc he did this with his longtime bandmate during the soundcheck of what would’ve been their biggest performance. If he feels comfortable enough using that body language with a girl he’s only known for, what, a week and a half(?) then you know this puppy boy’s got it BAD.

Julie is well aware that Luke is getting jealous. But in classic Julie fashion, she will try to tune it out instead of addressing it. Our wicked beauty doesn’t like confrontation and would rather just deny and avoid than potentially make things awkward, especially when she knows Luke would ask her about it at a later time.

The look on Julie’s face. Her eyes widen and the classic tight-lipped awkward smile is present. She’s literally saying “ok enough of that let’s get back to work doo doo doo” with her face. The way her body SWINGS back into performance mode as she faces the audience again. It may have been a split second, but when you’re deliberately trying to avoid looking into the dreamy (dead) eyes of someone you shouldn’t be crushing on, any amount of time feels too long. Plus, she knows Flynn is watching and doesn’t want her to lecture her (but she does anyway bc Flynn is observant and knows her bestie too well to let any action slip past her).

Exhibit C

Keep in mind; NONE OF THE GUYS KNOW WHY JULIE IS AVOIDING LUKE. Flynn, Alex, and Reggie have noticed the Juke chemistry, but it’s still too soon for them to get past the “we like each other but we’re too clueless to notice that we reciprocate” phase, so even though their respective besties know, they are still denying. Besides, Reg, Alex, and Flynn know better than to keep pestering if they want to keep their kneecaps. In reality they’re both smart enough to tell by this point, but for the sake of the plot and to make everything more adorably frustrating, Flynn has the collective brain cell under lock and key, leaving Juke to be like *dog tilting its head and making that “a-roo?” noise*

Anyway, Reggie notices Luke being snubbed after realizing that his extra dose of Julie time was slightly out of the ordinary. Luke is clearly concerned (look at his eyebrows and how his eyes travel from Reggie, to Julie, then to the audience to trying and get his mind off it and bring his focus back to the main goal; the performance.) If he can’t have the moment of connection with Julie that he so desperately craves, he’s gonna fill that void as best he can by connecting with the audience. >:’)

But Reggie’s trying to help Luke brush it off by conveying his reaction as ‘look at julie coming into her own! i told you she was a star! and you thought you were the lead singer? think again buddy this girl’s got you beat!’

But since Reggie isnt a master at hiding his feelings yet, especially around Luke, —who was able to get under his skin earlier (“girls, am i right?”)—Luke was easily able to see through that and interpreted what Reggie was saying as “look at julie go, she all in the zone. you’re literally making heart eyes at her get a grip you’re slacking lmao” (hence luke’s right eyebrow quirking at reggie like ‘dude seriously gimme a break u know i need attention like tinkerbell’) even though Reggie’s true message was a bit less harsh and more lovingly teasing, but it’s Luke, he sees things through his eyes and at his intensity, regardless of who it’s coming from. (This is one of the reasons why Luke comes off as selfish at times.)

Exhibit D

Poor Lukey boi can’t seem to catch a break today! Not only does Julie ignore him, then has a cute lil (platonic but it’s luke so it still makes him jealous >:P) moment, but now she has the AUDACITY to interact with Alex? The guy who was out learning Ghost 101 with this Willie guy instead of rehearsing with the band? What gives?! What’s he got that your moody ghost bf doesn’t? >:’(

He literally just watches, and even glances back in a way that, to me, screams ‘did i see that right? did i just see what i just saw with my own dreamy (but dead) eyes? say sike rn.’ \_(*_*)_/

Meanwhile, Alex pays no mind. I like to think that Alex is fully aware that Luke is an angry boy rn, but has learned to ignore it, especially this bc literally NOTHING happened. Either that or Alex has no clue and just truly thinks nothing of it and is having too much fun to think about Luke’s moody and childish behavior. Either way, Alex is just straight chilling and we love to see it *^_^*

Notice how Reggie is right there vibing with Julie and Alex. Luke feels a bit betrayed like ‘not you too! i know you were the first to turn on me but i figured since you’re such a golden retriever you’d be loyal and come back to my side!😠🥲’

Also; Luke approaches the rest of the group, wanting to be included in at least SOME of the vibing, but when Julie starts dancing and smiling with her buddy Alex, he backs up like

“you know what? nope. nevermind. not doin’ it.”

and the group’s like “i mean hey it’s your loss, but luke we want you to-”

“no, bc you chose to piss me off right in front of my face so no luke time for any of you! no cuddles, no hugs, no nothing! you made your bed, now lie in it and perish.”

Exhibit E & F: This is where it gets a bit interesting and theorized hehe...

Now we all know that this moment is just fucking ICONIC

WEOWH NEOW NEOW!!! WEOW NEHR NEHR NER-NER-NER NEHR NEHR NEOWHR!!! (wer nehr-nehr-ner-ner-nehr-nehr!!) WUEHNER-NEUHNER-NEHR-NEEOW-NEOWH! DLOOLOODDUH-DOODLAH-HOOBLUEH-NEOWHR-NEUEHR-NEEEEEEUOWRH!!!!

But hear me out– HEAR ME OUT!

What if... now don’t shoot the messenger who just so happens to also be the theorist... but what if...

WHAT IF!!! Luke didn’t!! plan this?!!!

Listen i know you’re probably thinking:

“Well uh Nicole, isn’t that kinda the whole point? It literally wasn’t planned until Charlie realized Madi was gonna be standing on the piano so he suggested the idea for the guitar solo to Kenny.”

And you’re right! But here’s the kicker:

What if Luke THE CHARACTER, just decided to do this as an “Alright that’s it! You wanna be like that? Well what if I just hit you with my super awesome radical totally cool wowza guitar skills & make a moment between us? Huh? What do you think about that? Hmm? HMMM???!!!”

He licks his lips & that to me read** like he was nervous (**read rhyming with bed just to clarify) so that means it could’ve been a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment thing.

In the second gif, you can see that Julie’s head is tilted, as if she’s a bit confused, but she’s also delightfully surprised.

Julie is quick to smile and scrunch her nose at Luke, something she does often. It tells Luke his impulsive action garnered a positive response from his favorite girl. Julie also starts to shake her head, but doesn’t go through the motion in full, which means she’s still a bit nervous to let her guard down. This is probably because she doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he will do next. The lopsided smile mixed with the suave, gliding steps towards her probably brought her back to her daydream lol.

Luke’s happy bc Julie’s no longer ignoring him. He smiles like a GOOBER bc this chump is simping HARD for our Julie. So cute! :’)

Exhibit G

And hear me when I offer this:

What if Luke poofed the guys out???

I know, I know. It’s a bold claim to make. But the boys are special, considering they are a threat to Caleb (3 gay-variant himbos vs. a gay magician that could’ve been on broadway but decided to make some sort of deal with a devil so he just entertains capitalists who most likely sold their souls to get into the hgc which i will probably elaborate on in a future theory so dont do that bc im gonna lmao idc we all have big brains) So it’s not too crazy to think that they could share some ghost powers.

We know Caleb transported the guys during You Got Nothing to Lose. And the guys have left a place at the exact same time on more than one occasion.

And you may be thinking “well what if the guys poofed out to give juke a moment alone together?” And to that I say...

Look at Reggie. He isn’t looking back at Alex like “dude let’s give them some space.”

The timing of him turning around, at least to me, makes me think Reggie was surprised by Luke approaching the piano. (But also he lowkey was waiting for Luke to prove him wrong by doing something to get Julie’s attention so Reggie isn’t mad. Neither is Alex but he doesn’t like being told how or WHEN to ghost) Luke doesn’t even give his bandmates a warning eyebrow quirk, a hand signal, nothing. Reggie turns to Alex like ‘dude what is he DOING?’ And before he can even really convey that, they go *POOF*

This man had a plan and he was gonna do it, so he did. Whether it’s the power of love, they stopped performing, or Reggie and Alex actually poofed out, the odds worked in Luke’s favor so he and Julie could have a super special moment, a moment special enough to make an actual living person (Nick) wonder if a “hologram” has a better chance at connecting with Julie than he does.

Again, regardless of who made them poof or how they poofed, they mf poofed so Luke’s a happy hamster. (Idk it just sounded fitting instead of happy camper lol wait what if someone had 3 pet hamsters and named them alex reggie and luke🥺 someone buy some hamsters and let me be their godmother or their aunt and i’ll love them from afar.) Anyway, Luke’s thriving, flourishing, his crops are going to grow in time for the harvest.

You can see Julie lean back as she turns to see Luke. It’s... almost as if... She. Wasn’t. Expecting. Him. To. Be. There..??

Honey badger Luke bc he DGAF <|:) Bitch, it’s Luke mf Patterson and he’s gonna,, GET! IN! YOUR! FAAAACE!!!

You CANNOT tell me he’s not doing the absolute MOST to try and seduce Miss Juliana Mariposa Rose Molina.

Yes I’m making a headcanon that Julie has TWO middle names and that one of them is the spanish word for butterfly and that the other is her mother’s name. Also yes, I believe (i believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re– oh, that’s not what we’re doing? okay, sorry!) that Juliana is Julie’s full name.

In this house we love and respect Juliana Mariposa (Dahlia)** Rose Molina

**I’m just putting Dahlia there for fun bc I can. :) Whether I’d consider it a possible middle name of hers depends. Anyway I just thought it was a cute thing to add bc it goes along with the other middle names I gave her *^_^* Also, I feel like I made a post giving a bunch of the characters middle names lemme see if I can find it later)

Ok i’m done this took me basically all day from like 10am until 4:08. I obviously took breaks in between, but not long ones...😶

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #madison reyes #luke patterson #charlie gillespie #alex mercer #owen joyner #reggie peters #jeremy shada #jatp theory #jatp headcanons #carrie wilson #savannah lee may #jatp flynn #jadah marie #sacha carlson #edge of great #nick danforth evans #music #jatp netflix #jatp cast #jatp hc #juke #crybabyddl has a theory #i spent way too long on this #crybabyddl

[petals42]

been so long and now...

Alright, not writing the fic but this is the fic I want to read for julie and the phantoms (okay updated note: I wrote it basically). Going to try to keep this quick (LOL it’s 7k). We’re starting after season 1 here.

[7k, Reggie-centric, Julie POV, child abuse mention, Ray is a good dad.]

Alright, the boys can now touch Julie (sometimes) and can still be seen when playing music, but other than that, it’s not super clear how much actually changes. And after that day in the garage, life seems to even out a bit. Which means Alex is off looking for Willie and Luke and Julie are spending a lot more time writing music together (and okay, maybe that’s new but if both of them ignore it, it's fine) and Reggie is back to hanging out with Ray. 

Ray can’t hear him or see him and the conversations are by necessity very one sided. Either Reggie filling Ray in on his day slash his ideas on ghosthood or Ray talking to himself/the computer but somehow it becomes fairly commonplace for Julie to walk downstairs and find her dad talking to (around?) her dead teenage bandmate. And there are times, sure, where she is like is this weird?? Should i say something about this??? But Reggie is kind of being left on his own a lot and she never really wanted to listen to her dad mutter about cameras and if that’s how Reggie wants to fill his days then… well that’s not her business. Neither party seems to mind. Probably because her dad doesn’t actually know.

Of course, the Julie-magic power does eventually start working more and more and then Carlos knows they are ghosts and then her dad hears them talking in Julie’s room when Luke accidentally starts humming and then catches a glimpse of them in garage when there’s no lights on so he doesn’t see how the hologram is working and--

“It’s time to tell him, I think,” Julie says to the boys and Luke nods and looks excited and Alex twists his hands around his drumsticks the way he does when he is a little anxious (but mostly okay) and when Julie glances over at Reggie, she expects that large megawatt smile that he directs at Flynn or Carlos but instead, he looks even more uncertain than Alex.

“I dunno,” he says, one shoulder raised. “I feel like we have an okay system?”

His concerns get drowned out by Luke and Alex and Julie herself pointing out that her dad is in photography, at some point he is going to realize that this hologram technology does not obey the laws of physics and/or light, plus he keeps almost seeing them just around his house and…

They play a song to tell her dad and lately, the boys have been able to be seen longer and longer, especially when they are just in the studio and don’t officially bow so once her dad gets over the initial shock (which, admittedly, takes him a little longer than Flynn or Carlos), there are introductions and--

Julie finds herself glancing at Reggie the whole time. Waiting for him to bound forward and say that actually he knows all about Ray and actually they’ve hung out quite a bit and actually, it was him that’s been slowly doing the puzzle with Ray in the corner room and maybe the other boys do too because there are a lot more awkward pauses that she thought there would be but Luke seems to realize it halfway through so suddenly he is taking the lead (and maybe trying to impress her father like omg what???) and so it kind of gets forgotten. (especially afterwards, in her room, when her dad lowkey tries to grill her about her relationship with these boys and she doesn’t have good answers and ugggggh maybe they should’ve stayed holograms).

Anyway, things are still mostly normal after that. The boys are not often seen or visible (except more and more to Flynn and sometimes Carlos) and so Reggie is often back to hanging around her dad and one time Julie does ask him “Do you let him know that you’re here?” and “Oh no,” Reggie says. “I wouldn’t want to bother him.” And Julie guesses that’s true, Reggie is normally chilling with her dad when he is editing photos so, alright. Again, she has lots of other things going on. There isn’t much point in digging into this.

Except then-- then the boys start being seen more and more around the whole house. It starts in the studio and then sort of spreads and it’s a weird new normal for sure, them still walking through walls whenever they want so you can’t forget they’re ghosts, but you sure can see them around a lot. And if Julie is around and can make them solid, they can eat and so it become a not rare occurrence to have the boys come eat dinner 2ish times a week or at least try to (Julie’s “powers” only work about a fourth of the time, to be honest, but they can be seen so they usually hang around.)

And right around when that becomes common place, suddenly Reggie stops hanging out with Ray.

I mean, it’s not something that Julie notices right away but suddenly Reggie is around the studio a lot more and sometimes she assumes he is in the house only to find out he has been hanging by the beach or with Alex and Willie and there’s no real reason for worry but it sort of… lurks in the back of Julie’s mind. A weird sense that something isn’t quite right there, that Reggie used to love hanging around her dad and giving her dad full reports of their days and, okay, maybe it was weird but still… it bothered her. Now that it was gone. 

And then, her dad asks her about it.

Not directly, but he comes sort of frowning into her room, asking if the boys are okay, and “yeah, why?” Julie says and..

“Oh, I dunno,” her dad answers, looking over his shoulder and drumming his fingers against his thigh. “It just feels… I don’t know, the house feels empty? Like… sometimes I think there should be someone and-- you know what, nevermind. It’s probably in my head.”

“No, no,” Julie says because she’s lied to her dad enough. “You’re right. I mean, Reggie used to hang out in the house all the time.”

“Reggie,” her dad says. “The bassist. He did?”

“Yeah, he was probably… what you were sensing.” and Julie has an awful moment of wondering if her dad thought that presence around him was her mom and if Reggie being more busy with other things was like losing someone all over again and--

“That’s what that was!” her dad sounds happy. And relieved. “Sorry. Who. Who that was. I thought I was going crazy.”

“No,” Julie shakes her head. “He’s real. And he was around a lot.”

“Hm,” Ray says and turns to leave. Then turns. “You know…  he’s still welcome, you know? Unless you guys are practicing more…”

“I’ll tell him,” Julie laughs. And then shoos her dad out because she has got to work on this chemistry homework and sometimes it sucks -- having three ghost bandmates who should be in high school but who never have to do anything and don’t even try to help her and--

*^*^*^

“Hey,” Julie says, plopping down next to Reggie on the couch. It’s a few days later but this is the first time they’ve been alone-- Luke and Alex, realizing they were solid enough to go eat and running for the kitchen, Reggie opting to stay behind.

“Hi, Jules!” Reggie says and he doesn’t seem any different. With her and the band, he talks just as much as always, big bright smile, whining about the need for a country song, laughing at all their mishaps.

“I have a question.”

“What’s up?” He twists to face her, giving her all his attention. He does that, she realizes. Focuses on her. All the boys do, to some extent, but with different energies. Reggie’s is the biggest, she thinks. Honest and open.

“So… I’ve sorta noticed that you haven’t been hanging out with my dad as much anymore?” Julie tries to keep her tone casual. She’s not accusing him. She’s just… curious.

“Oh,” Reggie says and his head tilts as if confused by her confusion. “Well, yeah.”

There’s a beat. Julie thinks Reggie is going to keep talking. Reggie does not. Reggie turns back to where he was tuning his bass. “Uh, why?” she finally asks.

Reggie frowns at her. “Well, he can see and hear us now,” he says, as if this is very obvious. 

“So?”

“So like… I don’t want to bother him,” Reggie says. “He does a lot of work during the day. It was one thing when he couldn’t hear or see me but now you know… I’m annoying.”

It’s Julie’s turn to frown, even though Reggie is already looking down again. There’s something about the way he says it, I’m annoying that bothers her. He says it as if it is an obvious fact. As if everybody knows it. As if it’s true. 

“You’re not annoying,” she says. “I don’t think you’re annoying.”

He blinks at her. “Well, no, you don’t,” he allows. “And Luke and Alex don’t. Most of the time.”

“And Flynn and Carlos,” she adds.

“Most of the time. But still, see, all kids. Teens,” Reggie says. “But old people… parents are different. You have to--”

He cuts himself off and for a moment, his hand grips the neck of his bass tightly and there is a tension in his shoulders and suddenly Julie thinks she maybe is in a little too deep here. She doesn’t want to upset him. 

“You’re dad is really nice but he still… It’s different,” he says and he shoots another smile at her, but it’s tight and fake and he jumps up the moment Alex and Luke burst back into the studio.

“So close,” Alex mutters as they come back in. “I had the sandwich IN MY HANDS.”

“Dumb choice,” Luke says, mouth still clearly full of something. “You gotta just hit the snacks, my friend. Focus on what’s quick and easy.”

The boys all head for their instruments and the moment is passing, Julie knows, and she also knows she now has clues that maybe she should put together but she doesn’t have time and why couldn’t her powers last just a little longer this one time? But-

“You should still go hang out with him again,” she tells Reggie as Luke starts tuning up and Alex gets settled behind his drums. “He misses you.”

There’s no time for Reggie to ask any questions but his frown of confusion as she turns away says it all. 

*^*^*^

It grows, this curiosity and she realizes she doesn’t know much about Reggie’s parents. Luke’s, she obviously knows very well and she knows the story very well and she has heard enough about Alex’s to know that they are not worth seeking out but Reggie’s…

She’s never even heard him mention them. Not even in all their conversations about Luke’s. And this is a sensitive topic for all the boys and she doesn’t know how much to push or even whether to push so--

“What were Reggie’s parents like?” she blurts one day. Luke startles and looks up at her and that’s fair as they had been in the middle of writing a song and there was no reason for her to ask. 

“What?” Luke says and she gets to watch as he tries to switch his brain over from music-mode to conversation-mode.

“Reggie’s parents,” she repeats. “What were they like?”

And she knows she’s hit on something when Luke’s head goes down and his shoulders come up and “I dunno,” he says. “It’s… we didn’t hang out there that much.”

“But you must know something?” Julie presses. “Like… did they ever come to see you guys play?”

“No,” Luke says and he’s leaning further away, eyes cutting to the door. “Look, I--”

“Were they against him playing music?”

“Uh- I don’t… Why are you asking?”

The question forces Julie to pause. And she chews her bottom lips as she tries to figure out the answer. Why is she asking? What does she think? What does she actually need to know?

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I just… he’s never even mentioned them.”

“Well, then… we probably shouldn’t talk about it,” Luke says and that’s fair, she knows it is, but she can’t help if she doesn’t have some information. And going to Luke was at least better than just googling. 

“So there is something to talk about,” she says softly. 

“No, I don’t… look,” Luke says and takes a breath. “Reggie never…. He never said anything about them, really. Not even when we were alive. He just… I don’t know. I told you, we never hung out at his house.”

“So you think they were…?” Julie lets the sentence dangle. Luke glares at her a little. Then takes another breath. Fiddles with something on his pants. Doesn’t speak. “You know I’m just trying to help, right?” Julie asks. “I just--”

“Reggie was really quiet,” Luke interrupts. “When we met him, I mean. He was… he was really shy.”

“Reggie?” Julie asks and she can’t help the disbelieving tone. That doesn’t make any sense.

“Yeah,” Luke says. “He was a great bass player, obviously, and nice enough but… really quiet. He… didn’t even laugh really. He just hung back a lot and… it’s weird to think about. Now that I know him.”

“You think he was that way because of his parents?”

“I mean… I dunno. Maybe?” Luke shrugs. “The few times he met my parents, he was… really weird.”

“Weird?”

“Just… weird.”

Julie opens her mouth to ask more questions, to say that that answer wasn’t specific enough, but Luke finally meets her eyes and suddenly she knows that this conversation is going to end.

“Look, if you want to know more, you can probably ask him,” Luke says. “Or like… don’t. It’s not like it matters anymore now, right?”

And there’s a trace of bitterness in that and a trace of please stop and more than a trace of I am uncomfortable with this conversation and so Julie lets it go. 

“Yeah,” she says, worried she pushed too hard. “Yeah, you’re right.”

*^*^*^

The clues are all there and Julie isn’t sure what they point to, so she tries to listen to Luke’s advice and remember that it doesn’t really matter. Reggie doesn’t have to see his parents again and it doesn’t matter and he continues to seem absolutely fine with the band. Fine and happy and--

“Helloooo?” she hears him call from the front door, just as she’s hitting the top of the stairs. She turns, a bit confused because the boys never bother announcing themselves but she opens her mouth to tell him she has to finish homework before rehearsal today and then closes it when she says that he is not looking at her at all, but towards the kitchen.

She walks down a few steps. Bends over so she can peer down and see what he’s looking at. 

Her dad is sitting at the counter.

“Hello!” Reggie is louder this time, and then waves his arms a little bit for good measure and her dad doesn’t see him, she realizes, doesn’t even flinch at all the noise and the arm flailing and she is about to tell Ray that Reggie is there when suddenly, Reggie’s face bursts into a grin and, seemingly satisfied that he is undetectable, the teenager plops himself down in the stool next to Ray.

Julie watches as her dad continues muttering to himself for a minute and then he pauses, and shifts, and glances, and she doesn’t know if he caught a glimpse of Reggie or if he can just sense it but his mouth quirks into a slight smile and he talks more now, at maybe a higher volume, but still to himself and Reggie doesn’t seem to notice the change, so she leaves them to it.

Reggie is still there when she finally finishes her homework two hours later. 

*^*^*^

It doesn’t really get that much better. Reggie still avoids the house when he is visible and, when she catches him with her dad, she somehow knows that he had made sure he was undetectable before risking it and he doesn’t talk as much now, not when he’s learning from conversations with Flynn and Carlos that sometimes it’s part way through a conversation that they are suddenly audible, but she hopes it’s a little bit nice, at least, that Reggie is there at least part of the time.

*^*^*^

They play a particularly good show and the boys stay visible for 5 straight days. Reggie avoids the house the whole time.

*^*^*^

It’s a Friday night when Julie finally gets her biggest clue. It’s a rare quiet Friday. They don’t have a gig all weekend so there’s no rehearsals and Carlos is home and the boys aren’t visible or audible to anyone but Julie so most of her time is spent laughing at what they say and then having to explain to her dad and brother and she thinks they are going to try to play a game, maybe like Clue? Something all the boys can play, though Luke is pushing for twister even though the boys can literally go through people so that doesn’t seem fair at all and--

Something (a ball) whizzes past her head as she and her dad are bent over trying to remember the Clue rules and then she jumps as there’s the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. 

There’s a moment of stillness and then it makes sense. There’s a vase broken on the ground and a baseball rolling under the kitchen table and she turns to see Carlos, looking shocked, mouth already open to apologize. 

“Carlos!” her dad says, standing and moving, doubtlessly to go get the broom. But there is glass everywhere and his voice comes out angry because this is not the first kitchen object Carlos has broken by a longshot. “How many times have I told you not to play--”

Things move very fast then. 

Her dad is moving towards Carlos because that’s where the broom is and Carlos is standing still and looking down because he already knows he’s going to get in trouble and then just as suddenly, Carlos is sort of stumbling back because he’s been pulled back and Reggie is standing where Carlos just was.

Squarely between her dad and her brother. 

“It was me,” Reggie says. And he sounds sort of breathless but also certain and he’s not moving from where he stands. 

Carlos is still sort of gaping that he was just pulled back by a ghost and Julie can see the other two boys processing that fact, the fact that Reggie just managed to touch another person and Ray jerks to a stop because a full teenage boy has just popped into existence in front of him. So no one says anything.

“I threw the ball,” Reggie repeats. More firmly this time. A lie, Julie knows, because Reggie had been on the couch with Alex. Nowhere near where the ball had come from. “It was my fault.”

His voice is still firm and his eyes stay on Ray’s for a second before looking down and his hands tighten into firsts before going slack and he swallows and--

He’s scared, Julie realizes. Scared, but still.

“It was my fault. So--”

“Reggie!” Her dad exclaims and he’s beaming, she can already see it, and then without a thought to whether Reggie is still solid or not, her dad is throwing her arms around Reggie as if he is a long lost friend

(Which in a way, maybe he is)

Reggie stays solid and his arms are pinned to his side and Julie sees him stiffen, sees his face frown in confusion.

“You’re here!” Ray says, still grinning. He leans back and slaps Reggie on the arm. “And solid, I see. Thank goodness. Come, come help me on this puzzle. You’ve been slacking and I swear this dark spot near the left corner is driving me crazy and-- Oh, Carlos, go get the broom and clean this up. No throwing balls in the house! Honestly, you’d think after the last time-- Reggie, wait, whatever happened with that telenovella you guys were watching, you haven’t updated me in forever.”

And then her dad is dragging Reggie away, who still looks shell-shocked, still looks like he was expecting something different, and Julie hangs back, partly to help Carlos clean up, partly to enjoy hearing Reggie slowly start to stammer out answers to her dad’s many, many questions.

*^*^*^

“Oh shoot,” her dad says an hour later, when family puzzle night is brought to an end because the three boys have abruptly vanished from existence. He looks at where Reggie had been sitting (roughly). “Well, we’ll finish next time.”

*^*^*^

What happens next, Julie calls in her head, the Period of Cautious Testing. 

She sees it play out.

Reggie comes into the house, waves hi to her, but doesn’t say anything and then he goes and sort of… lurks near her dad, watching carefully and if her dad seems to be in a good mood (which he is often, to be honest), Reggie will either say hello or obviously pull out a stool to make it clear he is there and--

“Are you free?” Reggie asks. Or “Do you mind?” or “Hey, can I--?”

He says it when Ray can hear him and writes it if there is pen and paper nearby and even when there’s not, he stays tense and ready to fly if he’s not wanted, but--

“Of course!” her dad says. “Sit down.” “Come look.” “Oh, Reggie, check this out--”

And Reggie stares and listens and there’s this smile he has, not his usual huge grin, but a smaller softer sort of wonderful-filled smile and he pays attention to her dad as if he might be quizzed on the information later, still starts out not talking as much but--

“Okay, well tell me about,” her dad says. “Oh, do you think--?”  And “Wait, I want to hear what it was like to--”

*^*^*^

“Your dad is really nice,” Reggie tells her one day. He says it right as they are starting rehearsal and doesn’t really look at her when he says it, looks more somewhere over her left shoulder and he is basically running away towards his mic stand but still…

It makes her smile.

*^*^*^

“Come play with me,” Carlos asks her, throwing his ball in the air.

“Where’s dad?” Julie responds. This is usually her dad’s territory. Whatever talents she had in singing and music and sort of dancing do not translate into sports.

“With Reggie,” Carlos says, throwing the ball up, tilting his head up to watch as it comes down and catches it. “They are talking about… I don’t know. Something. He said he’d be out but you know how they get.”

Julie does. And it doesn’t bother her but..

“Are you mad?” She asks, just to be certain. Carlos had been the only son. Still is. But also… “That they are hanging out so much?” Her brother is still young. Her brother maybe doesn’t--

“No,” Carlos says. “Not like I want to learn about cameras at all.”

Julie laughs.That’s true. And her dad sure can ramble. 

“Also,” Carlos starts…. And then he is glancing at her and he is young and stupid and her ilttle brother, but when he looks up at her, he looks older and serious.

“Also, I think It’s nice. Reggie hanging out with Dad. I think he…”

He fiddles with his ball, but doesn’t throw it. “I think he probably needs that, you know?”

Julie did know, she just didn’t know that Carlos knew. And understood. And was willing to share Dad like that because he knew. She feels her face start heating up with pride. 

“How did you--” she starts. Then stops. She knows how she figured it out and she had mostly relied on being able to see when Reggie was around and how he tried to stay away for so long and her conversation with Luke.

“Oh. Uh. Well, he started a stash of food in my room,” Carlos says. Julie blinks at him. “I went up there one day and he was shoving granola bars in a box in the back of my closet. That was already filled with other stuff.

“He was acting really weird. I mean, nervous and I dunno. I asked him why and he said it was always a good backup in case you couldn’t go downstairs and then I asked why I wouldn’t be able to go downstairs and I think he was embarrassed but still insisted it was safer and--”

Carlos shrugs. Flushes because he realizes he had been talking a hair too fast.

“I don’t know. It made him feel better so I kept it. And it honestly is sometimes easier than going all the way downstairs.”

“Carlos!”

“He has one in your room too!’ Carlos says, laughing. “Basket tucked under your bed, I think. I’m telling you, once you get used to access to rice krispy treats in the middle of the night…”

“Oh my god,” Julie says and they are laughing about this, because what else is there to do but…

“So it’s really okay,” Carlos says. “Plus I figure now you and me can play catch?” He turns on those big brown eyes for that last part and he is so good that Julie can barely stand it.

“Oh alright,” she makes sure to roll her eyes so he knows that she is not falling for him for a second. “Let me put my bag down.”

*^*^*^

The boys are not supposed to be on her computer (there has actually been talk of getting them their own computer to uphold this rule, but none of them really seem to have much interest in technology (besides TV) given that they can always just poof to whoever they need to talk to and force Julie to do the research for them) so it’s a surprise when Julie walks into her room and finds Reggie, glaring at the screen.

“Reggie!” she says, fully intending to yell at him. She has private things on there! 

And then he looks up at her. He looks dark and serious and--

“Will you help me?” he asks. “I don’t know how-- this thing is so complicated.” And Reggie isn’t the one who will get frustrated-- that’s Alex when his anxiety gets to be too much or Luke when a song isn’t going well or even herself when having three rambunctious boys who can pop in on her literally any time gets to be a little much-- but he’s frustrated now. 

“Okay,” she says, her earlier rant about privacy flying out of her head. “Okay, yes, let me help. What do you need to do?”

With the boys, it could be anything. Alex wants to watch videos of skateboarding so he can pretend he knows something about what Willie talks about, or there was the week he discovered Sense8 and then Luke really just wants to google guitars or also there was that week Julie tried to get him on music producing software and then he just wanted to read articles about how digital music was destroying the industry (like some old grandpa).

“I’m--” Reggie stops and stands. Takes a breath and blows it out. Julie waits. He looks somewhere toward the ceiling. “I’m trying to find my parents.”

Julie stills. 

That is not what she was expecting.

“Oh,” she says and it’s a struggle but she keeps her voice carefully neutral. She also takes the moment to look down and see that Reggie has type “goo-gull” into the windows search bar. 

He doesn’t add anything and so she sets herself to opening the real google and seeing what she can do. Contrary to popular belief, it can be a little hard to find people if they aren’t famous and have fairly common names.

“What are their names?” she asks and instead of answering, Reggie just passes her a piece of paper. It has their names on it. And what she assumes to be his old address. She senses the mood and doesn’t say anything else. At least he comes and sits next to her to see the search results pop up. 

There are a lot of them.

“Don’t worry,” she says when she sees his eyes widen. “Even if I can’t do it today, I can put Flynn or-or my dad on it and I’m sure one of them can--”

“No,” Reggie says. “I don’t want-- not them.”

Julie nods and keeps scrolling. She doesn’t know what Reggie’s parents did for a living so she doesn’t know if some of these websites apply but she scrolls slowly and hopes he’ll tell her if he sees something. 

After two pages, “Let’s switch to images,” she suggests. “Maybe you’ll see them.”

Reggie hesitates but then nods. 

After some more silent scrolling, the silence gets to be too much -- “Why do you--?”

“There.”

Julie stops scrolling and, yes, there-- there’s something slightly familiar about that woman’s nose and the darkness of that man’s hair. She clicks to enlarge it, but it’s still a blurry picture, pulled onto google search from Facebook, if she had to guess and--

And she knows that you can’t really judge someone off of a photograph, especially not one that’s older and blurry but she… 

They don’t look nice, she decides. Even though both of them are smiling. The smiles look tense and forced and they are standing a hair too far away from each other to be called close.

“That’s them,” Reggie tells her needlessly.

“Oh,” Julie says again. He doesn’t sound excited. He sounds… she doesn’t know what he sounds.

She waits, risks glancing at him to find he is still just staring. And the silence drags and then right- right as she knows she’s got to say something, anything--

“I thought it was normal,” Reggie finally says softly. “They. I thought they were normal. I mean… I thought everyone’s parents were that way.”

He’s still not looking at her. Still just staring at the screen.

“I mean… Luke fought all the time with his parents and Alex’s were just… always too religious and a bit off even before they knew and so I just assumed that everyone… you know.”

Julie did not know. Not really. Not at all. 

“I knew they hated me,” he says and he finally glances over at her. He’s not crying, but his voice is tight and the nod he gives her is jerky. He looks away quickly. “For forcing them to get married. And for forcing them to stay together too, I guess, though… it wasn’t just…”

His leg is bouncing now. Jumping up and down even as his fist clenches and presses on top of it. 

“It’s not even just that though,” and his voice rises now, almost desperate. “They hated me. They said I was loud and annoying and stupid and I… I thought that was normal. I thought they were right.”

He shoots up now, solid enough that her little table gets pushed back when his shin hits against it, but he doesn’t seem to notice and he swipes at his eyes, but he’s not crying. Just red and Julie’s almost crying, she realizes, but she’s also tense and her stomach hurts and she doesn’t know what to do.

“They were my parents and they hated me and I thought-- I thought that was normal. That everyone would always hate--” He cuts off and Julie opens her mouth again but she doesn’t know what to say. The boys… the boys are young and happy and they are all an open book, even when they try not to be, but now… Now Reggie clenches his jaw and stops himself. The boys never stop themselves. 

“It wasn’t right though,” Reggie says and he’s angry now. More angry than Julie’s seen anyone. “It wasn’t fair. What they did. Making me feel… yelling at me all the time and-and sending me to bed without dinner so often that I- I fucking thought everyone snuck snacks into their room and shoving me around and even when they were happy, I just knew it could turn so quickly, that even one mistake could just ruin everything and I- I-”

He cuts off, breathing hard.

“Reggie--” Julie starts. She stands but he takes a step away from her so she stills.

“It wasn’t fair,” he says and he’s quieter now but it doesn’t feel calmer. He meets her eyes and his are wet. “I just don’t get how they could-- why they--”

“It wasn’t fair,” Julie agrees and this time when she comes closer, he doesn’t move. So she gets to put a hand on his shoulder and breaths a small sigh of relief that he is solid right now.

“I had to die, Jules,” he says, looking at her again finally. And this is… being dead is something the boys rarely acknowledge in a real way. It’s usually a joke or an offhand comment or their comeback for why they shouldn’t have to help her with calculus. It’s not this. Soft and serious and then followed by a dark chuckle. “I literally had to fucking die to figure out that they were bad parents. And I bet-- I bet they were glad.”

Julie opens her mouth to say that of course they weren’t, that any parent would be heartbroken, that he can’t know that but--

But she doesn’t know them. She doesn’t know if that is true.

“Well,” she starts but Reggie backs away and cuts her off.

“I have to go,” he announces. And then he glances at her and realizes she’s crying and maybe realizes what just happened because he runs his hand through his hair and guilt enters his eyes but “Sorry,” he says. “Sorry about-- You weren’t supposed to-- I gotta go.”

“Wait!” Julie tries, but he’s already gone. 

*^*^*^

Her first instinct is to run and get Luke and Alex, to tell them to poof to all the most likely spots for Reggie to be, to tell them everything that had happened and then maybe run and tell her dad too for good measure and to probably cry a little more but she--

She doesn’t.

She doesn’t know what stops her or why instead of yelling and rushing down the stairs, she takes a breath and falls back onto her couch, but… that’s what she does. 

She falls back and stares at the picture she’d found a little longer and--

I hate you, she thinks. You didn’t deserve him. 

And then she closes the tab without saving it. 

And she doesn’t tell anybody.

*^*^*^

Reggie is a little late to rehearsal that day, but not enough to attract much notice.

He comes in cautious though. Julie sees it, since she knows to look for it.

He poofs up outside the garage and then slowly walks in and he’s waiting, she sees, for someone to say something or act weird or for them to all stop talking at once in an obvious display of “we were just talking about your breakdown earlier.” He’s tense and cautious and--

“Dude, awesome,” Luke says in greeting, waving a hand at him. “You’re here. We can get started. I think I have a killer idea for a harmony echo thing in the chorus of--”

Reggie looks suspicious for a beat longer, eyes flicking between Julie and Luke and then Alex, but Alex is too busy trying out a new spin move with his drumsticks to really be paying much attention and Luke is still droning on about his latest idea and Julie just gives him a smile. And a nod. And hopes that her eyes convey she didn’t actually say anything. 

She knows it was the right call when the tension leaves Reggie’s shoulders.

Reggie gives her a smile and a nod and then they all do what they do best.

They play.

*^*^*^

That night, Julie spots her dad alone (actually alone) on the couch, fiddling with something on his laptop, and when they were playing music together, she didn’t think about it but now it all comes rushing back.

The hurt and the anger in his voice and the fact that she didn’t know what to say or do and it was the right call, not to tell anyone Reggie’s private business, she thinks, but she suddenly feels very sad again and the only thing for it is to plop down next to her dad and curl into his side. 

He hums in greeting and keeps his eyes on his screen and she just enjoys it. His warmth and smell and marvels in the fact that he is always there. That she can always do this. That she has a dad who will always let her sit with him and who has to be coached into being angry and just loves her so damn much. 

“Honey?” he says and he’s closing the laptop to twist and look at her. There is concern in his eyes. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head and trying to ignore the heat behind her eyes that tells her she might cry. “Nothing’s wrong. I just-- It’s been a long day.”

“Too much practice?” he says.

“No, not that. Just… you know. One of those days.”

“Oh okay,” he says and then he’s lifting his arm so he can wrap it around her and squeeze her more firmly into his side. “Okay.”

They sit for a long moment, just breathing and Reggie should do this, she thinks, just sit and be calm and be held and she hopes one day, he does. That he is solid enough and comfortable enough and maybe he can’t tuck all that way into her dad’s side like she can but he should still… he should still try. One day.

She knows her dad would let him.

“Thank you,” she says. “For being such a good dad.”

Her dad’s soft laugh answers her. “Well, you know that’s my job.” 

“Yeah, but… also for everything else too. With the band and the music program and for-for being so good to Re-- the boys. All the boys.”

She doesn’t know if he hears the name she almost said, but he tilts his head as if he knows. He probably does somehow. 

“They’re great kids,” is what he says instead.

“Still,” she insists. “I know it’s a lot. But they- he- just thank you.”

He looks at her for a long moment and finally nods. 

“Anytime.”

*^*^*^

“Thanks,” Reggie says, the next day, drifting over to where she is resting on the couch while Alex and Luke get into a semi-argument, semi-productive debate on a certain rhythm. “For not saying anything to the guys.”

“No problem,” she says. “But if you want to talk more or--”

“No, no,” he says, waving a hand as if that is going to make her forget the entire thing. “It’s not a big deal. It’s--”

“Reggie.” She says it firmly. She says it and then waits until he actually looks at her. “It is a big deal. Your parents were-- They were wrong and mean and fucking horrible and if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s your right and I won’t say anything. But it is a big deal. Your feelings are a big deal. You are a big deal. So talk to me or to my dad or to no one but don’t tell me it’s not a big deal.”

Reggie blinks at her and Julie flushes. But doesn’t back down. Keeps glaring at him. 

“Uh. Okay,” Reggie says. “I- I will. Or I won’t. Tell you that.”

“Good,” Julie says, nodding once. And then Alex and Luke turn back to them and it seems they have compromised (Or maybe Alex won and Luke is just saying they compromised) and they’re back to it. 

*^*^*^

As far as Julie knows, he doesn’t talk about it. At least, not with her.

But, gradually, he stops hesitating before announcing himself to her dad and he starts buzzing with the same kind of energy that he does in the garage in the house and, then later, she goes downstairs for a late night snack and Carlos is there too, half-heartedly complaining that his stash has run out and he had grown accustomed to a certain style of living and--

“Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray Ray RayRay,” Reggie says, running into the house, tripping over his own feet somehow and skidding into the counter, knocking over the fruit bowl in the process. Her dad idly straightens it with one hand, the other reaching out to collect the apples and oranges that had rolled everywhere but Reggie grabs it and pulls. “You gotta see this, there’s a bird and the light-- bring your camera!”

“A bird?” her dad says, and he sounds a bit doubtful but he is already grabbing his camera. 

“Huge bird,” Reggie says, waving his hands as if to indicate. “Biggest bird ever. I think it’s a condor!”

“A condor! A California condor??” her dad’s eyes go huge and then he’s throwing one camera at Reggie and grabbing another out of a drawer and there are apples and oranges everywhere and her dad almost brains himself stepping on one and flying forward but Reggie catches him and suddenly, Julie is in the kitchen by herself, surrounded by fruit, staring at a pancake her dad was supposed to flip.

She rolls her eyes and smiles to herself and grabs the spatula.

She doesn’t think they’re coming back any time soon.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #jatp fanfiction #my fic #reggie #ray molina #julie molina #fanfiction #bullet point fic #but it is 7k #also yes i just pulled the title from finally free #it seemed to fit

[lukesperfectharmonyhair]

im rewatching jatp instead of studying for the 3 tests i have tomorrow and i thought i would share my thoughts and reactions with each episode so enjoy!!....

wake up

- hearing the “1, 2, 3″ at the start of the episode gives me more serotonin than my antidepressants ever will

- julie’s slippers...that’s it...that’s the thought

- that dry ass pasta the molina’s are eating for dinner??? someone needs to give my man ray some cooking tips or a cookbook... something

-the looks the boys give julie when she says it was an OLD cd she found. as if they could be old??

-the entire julie and luke kitchen scene i mean there are no words to describe how much i am in love with scene. the banter, the flirting, luke giving this girl he literally just met an actual PIECE OF HIS SOUL so she can get music back into her life. not a single time have i watched that scene and not felt my heart literally grow cause of how cute they are. 

-the entire scene when julie is singing wake up. that scene is what made me literally CRAVE watching the other episodes. like of course i was going to watch them cause i wasn’t gonna just stop watching a show after one episode, and yes the show was good already but seeing the lighting and her voice, and just everything about the scene,,,,*chef’s kiss* 

bright

-flynn drinking seven sodas....SEVEN??? i would be throwing up if i drank more than like 2 and she drank seven,,,no ma’am.

- flynn and her trumpet. talented queen

- “ i wouldn’t have given you the song if i didnt think you were gonna rock it.” lmaooo im crying:)

- i start tearing up every time julie goes to play the first notes of bright,,, and then i’m full on bawling when the guys come in and play with her cause...they weren’t playing to be seen they were playing to be there for her and play to comfort her. pls i love them<3

- nick vibing in the front row

- the tech guy deserves so much more praise

flying solo

- reggie’s little butt shake or whatever you wanna call it!!

- julie’s little laugh when she yells at the guys to stop it

- “and we’re on the runway again” GENUINELY one of my favorite lines of the whole show pls i love luke’s humor

-this is the first time i noticed this but reggie’s face after alex says “DONT TELL ME HOW TO GHOST!”

-WILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU<3333333

-the slow mo helmet take off,,,,me too alex me too

-willie’s little giggles:))))

- “oh-oh!”

- “no clue” alex i love you baby<3

- next season better give us a scene of flynn throwing eggs at someone’s house because i think it’s safe to say we were robbed of that experience. 

- the flying solo performance is just amazing

i got the music

- just the whole opening scene is so cute ....the dancing, singing, happiness RADIATING from julie 

-nick in an all white suit and fedora

-WILLEX MUSEUM DATE YEAH BABYYYYY

- carefree skateboarder bf and anxiety ridden drummer bf

- yelling. in. museums. 

-alex thinking he’s literally dying again because of the salt... zero braincells in this band.

- another scene we were robbed of that i need to see in season 2...reggie singing “home is where my horse is” while alex and julie sit patiently and attentively listen to him but luke looks like he’s about to commit murder

- i get SO MUCH second hand embarrassment for julie when she looks through luke’s songbook and says “ wow luke I didn’t know you were such a romantic” julie baby i love you but...eekkkkk

- “he looks like a substitute teacher”- where did he come up with that like so many other things he could be compared to but a substitute teacher??

- “luke introduced you to rock” heck yeah it did.. literal soulmates

- would like to see a picture of the raccoon in Flynn’s backyard

- wee woo wee woo police sirens://///

- julie’s outfit ughhhh i love it

- the poster that im pretty sure says “sexiest role” behind caleb... why was that necessary 

the other side of hollywood

- THE ENTIRE PERFORMANCE OF THE OTHER SIDE OF HOLLYWOOD 

- i lose my absolute shit over this song omg literal chills

- the cape grab i cannot physically do this rn

- willie being so excited the entire performance and looking over to see alex’s reaction

- reggie being in awe everytime one of the girls performing does something.. me too reggie

-”well i wouldn't really call it mAAgiCcCC bUT”

- nick and his fedora again

- alex has a crush, alex has a crush on.....WILLIE

-the boys eating food for the first time in 25 years is honestly so realistic

-alex shoving a whole slice of pizza in his mouth

- lukes ‘OH MY GODDDDD’

- reggie kissing his meatball sub that looks painfully dry but also delicious 

- the continuation of the other side of hollywood performance and everyone dancing

-reggie imitating caleb’s evil laugh and owen trying so hard not to break

-me getting mad at the boys for not showing up for julie and being sad with her but at the same time i’m obviously not mad at the boys just...disappointed?? idk 

finally free

- how did julie get to the school if she missed the first three classes?? wasn’t she still at flynn’s house from the night before cause she slept over so did she walk to school or was she just sitting in flynn’s house by herself and one of flynn’s parents was like you gonna go to school or???

-dance class with nicky poo<3

-reggie fixing his amp in the rain

-julie’s blue dress outfit in this episode is my ABSOLUTE favorite 

- the birthday candle scene makes me sob like a little baby,,,and rightfully so

- julie smart, smart to be taking calculus as what a sophomore??

- all eyes on me yes queen iconic

- alex dancing is how i dance in my brain whenever the song comes on 

- finally free as a song is NEVER given enough credit and why not?? it’s my favorite song they do as a band AND the madison’s vocals and the echoing part omg i loveeeee

- and the whole performance with luke’s heart eyes. i count this performance as the moment luke like fell in love with julie...like full on just blown away with how much awe and admiration he has for her in that moment and all the time.

 - julie and luke singing “and you’re a part of me” while staring directly into each others soul,,,yeah that’s love kids

edge of great

- carlos being the ghost hunter he is and tía being done with him

- luke’s pouting face 

- reggie and ray making breakfast together is so wholesome. reggie really loves and seeks comfort in ray and i love that

- luke just waiting next to julie’s locker and his little “hey”

- the first time i watch this scene i thought charlie was from new york cause of the way he says “ i can't do this without you” and then i watched the cast interviews and just realized he is somewhat joey tribbiani 

- jealous luke hehehehehhehehe

- “well dont you look shARrP”- yes he does luke thank you very much

- “uh oh i think someone has a crush on julie” yeah you do you little shit,,, now admit it to her

- the proud look on luke’s face when he realizes julie is still paying attention to HIM even though she’s supposed to be having a full on conversation with nick

- the shoulder push ( as someone who has had their own shoulder pushed in the middle of a high school hallway as a weird way of flirting,,,,i can definitely somewhat attest to how luke is feeling in that moment and i too continued to flirt with the person who shoulder shoved me while we were still standing in the hallway)

- the flow from whatever the hell dance nick and julie are doing and the perfect harmony dance is so special to me and i love it

-ADOANCLOBNAOVBCOAB THE HAIR PLSSSSS

- EVERYTIME THE SCENE COMES ON AND I SEE HIM WALKING THROUGH THE MIRROR I HAVE TO PAUSE THE SHOW FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES WHILE I DIE LAUGHING BECAUSE THE HAIR IS SO BAD EVEN THOUGH I SHOULD BE USED TO HOW IT LOOKS AFTER WATCHING THIS SHOW LITERALLY 30 TIMES

- i think people see my username and assume i like his hair in this scene but...ummm fun little fact i do not like it

- the dance is so good though ugh my babies

- the hair

- madison is gorgeous 

- another season 2 scene i need: julie teaching this dance to luke and they perform it in front of alex and reggie so they can see luke roll on the floor like that

-the hair

- the lift i loveeee

- the voices at the end of the song *chef’s kiss*

- the way julie spins out from luke and into nick omg so good

- “thAnKs pArTnER”

- luke denying his feelings for julie,,,babe pls

- the whole edge of great performance is so good and beautiful and the colors are SPECTACULAR 

-julie avoiding luke’s gaze lolz

- can't believe my mans really tried to deny he didn’t have feelings for julie like 5 hours earlier even though he’s getting upset because she hasn’t looked at him in 2 minutes

- THE. GUITAR. RIFF. SOLO.

- when i finally learn how to play the electric guitar well enough to learn the guitar solo... it’s over for everyone

-nick just came to watch the girl he likes perform not watch her flirt with a hologram plssss can we give this man a break next season.

- “we have to say goodbye to julie”- that’s literally more important to luke than not playing music anymore because julie is music to him now

unsaid emily

-already crying and the episode hasn't even started

-willex in the orpheum

- alex literally being OVER reggie

- nope too emotionally unstable to watch this scene right now

- my therapist will be hearing about this tomorrow

- show us the baby picture of luke cowards

- this is such a beautiful song that makes me cry every fucking time gosh damn it

- everytime i watch the flashback scene of luke on his bike i think of “christmas song” by phoebe bridges and i cry even more

- i tried to learn how to play this song on my electric guitar (because i dont have an acoustic guitar) and i ended up crying half way through so i do not think i will be playing it anytime soon:/

- the harmonies *chef’s kiss*

- THE POLICE LIGHTS ....i cry

- FAT tears rolling down my face

- there's literally not a moment i don’t cry during this episode

- interesting little relationship :0

- when i played percussion in 7th grade i used to lay down on the couch in the practice room at school ( which god knows what people did on that couch...ew) and stick my drumsticks up my nose too,,,, just another similarity between alex and i 

stand tall

- willie really drove a bus 200 miles into the desert for his crush

- WILLEX HUG 

- i love willie no last name so much,,,i just wanna hold and protect him

- alex’s ballerina dance

-julie’s overall outfit i love<3

- “im swimming”

- the way carlos hangs up the iPad on tía makes me CRACK UP he’s just lmao bye girl

- another julie outfit i love

- “anything julie. you know that.” AHHHHHAASIDSJFPACISN love bitches

- the suits

- luke’s hair in this episode is so much better than the perfect harmony hair pls

- YOU GOT NOTHING TO LOSE

- the way luke looks so restricted and confined in his suit... but at the same time he looks like a 10 week old puppy

-luke’s AGGRESSIVE but small foot tapping leading up to being on the stage

- the solos:)))))

- crying again over julie’s monologue to her mom

- julie really was brave enough to be ready to perform by herself

-the way Trevor looks at carrie when she says “been here before”

-ALEXXXXXX

-REGGIEEEEE

-luuukkKKKEEEEEEE

- this performance makes me cry

- especially the first time when i saw luke flickering...sobs

- he finally looks free in his suit:))

- alex’s solo is so pretty i love him

- reggie’s solo too 

- nick just straight up vibing the entire performance

- alex and luke holding hands...hehehe cute besties

- “thank you, guys” NO THANK YOU 

- the way julie begs for them to do something about the jolts for HER cause she knows luke would never say no to her

- “no music is worth making, julie, if we’re not making it with you,” I JUST SCREAMED AND IM PRETTY SURE I WOKE UP MY ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD...whoops

- going back to that line i could say so much about it but....for someone who’s life was literally MUSIC for the 17 years he was alive, and after finding out he could play music again even though he was dead and saying it made him feel alive, he would give that up- he would give up playing his guitar, playing in a band with his friends, give up writing and singing music- if he wasn’t doing that with julie. that’s more than saying i love you,,,that’s literally like saying i’d give up my ENTIRE LIFE and what i love to do if i dont get to do it with you

- i just made myself cry with that description...wow

-the hug<3

-also imagine how luke felt in that moment,,, hearing this girl, once again that he would give his life up for, saying in his ear that she loves them. i would motherfucking glow too, luke

- *passionately but gently holds each others faces*

-HANDS OFF MY BABY NICK, CALEB

- caleb’s outfit is....something

- the head turn plssss

this was so long and i am so sorry but if you read this far.....leave some of your own reactions or thoughts:)))

k goodnight im gonna, ugh, finally go study ://

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #julie molina #alex mercer #luke patterson #reggie peters #willie #flynn jatp #nick jatp #carrie wilson #renew jatp #netflix PLEASE we are begging give us a season 2

[bright-molina]

together

@jatp-week​ day two fanfiction prompt: write an au

synopsis: Your sister has been hiding more than a few things from you recently, it’s just not at all what you expect.

characters: Molina!reader (older sister, she/her pronouns), Julie, Flynn, the boys are all briefly mentioned

warnings: follows the themes of the show so there are mentions of death/dying but other than that none

a/n: I’ve been debating posting fics for Julie and the Phantoms for a week or two now and I figured I’d jump in head first for JATP week! Huge shoutout to @meangirlsx​ cause I know its been like a week since we talked about it but you’re a huge part of the reason I’m posting this! 

Lowkey tempted to do a part two cause there’s so much I wanna explore with this reader so thoughts and feedback are very much appreciated <3

A twisting feeling you absolutely despised filled the pit of your stomach as you marched straight through the halls of your sister’s high school. It started with an offer to pick her up and go get ice cream together as you usually did when one of you was feeling down. The fact that she’d been removed from the music program was definitely deserving of pick-me-up ice cream.

Can’t. Busy. Later? She’d responded within seconds and that in itself was worthy of concern. So you’d promptly left the last half of your own school day to go and see what was wrong. It was when you were pulling up to the school that Flynn had texted you, Jules is performing???? Text you updates…

“Julie,” Your voice caught her attention almost immediately, tearing her attention away from the singing coming from the front of the gym.

“Y/N?” She frowned and met you halfway, letting you wrap her in a hug. You being there was the last thing she expected. Her first instinct had been to want to tell you all about the boys. She hadn’t been able to though, not without worrying you. Not without figuring out an explanation first.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” You could see the way her eyes widened and you let out a soft sigh. “Dad texted me about this morning and Flynn is the one who told me you were gonna give performing a shot again.”

“Oh that,” Julie relaxed upon realizing you weren’t talking about the same thing but she didn’t miss the hurt look in your eyes. The way you were pulling at the rainbow colored bracelet she’d made you years ago. The way that you didn’t look like your usual confident self and it was all her doing. “I was going to but -”

And then with the absolute worst timing possible the three ghosts she purposely hadn’t told you about flashed into the gym right behind you. Her eyes narrowed at them, not noticing the fact that you thought she was both speaking to and glaring at you. “What are you doing here?”

Julie had no clue who to focus on. A look of hurt flashed across your face, she noticed it right away, but then the boys started talking too and all she could do was look back and forth between all of you.

“Look if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine -”

“Who’s this?”

“I’m here now, though -”

“Wait the family picture!”

“So if you want I’ll stay to watch you sing.”

“That picture really doesn’t do her justice.”

“Don’t even think about it!” Julie’s glare turned impossibly harsher as she focused her glare on the boys behind you.

You, meanwhile, remained oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t talking to you. Admittedly you struggled to force the slightest smile onto your face. It was hard not to let it hurt you. The past few months had been complicated to say the least and now it seemed she was moving on without you. “Okay then, I guess. I’ll see you later.”

“No, not you!” Julie reached to stop you, pulling you so you were now on the opposite side of her as Luke, Reggie, and Alex. She ignored the rest of their comments and instead held one of your hands in hers. “I was just um, a little distracted. I’m really glad you’re here.”

You couldn’t help but relax then and give a more genuine smile, “Well I’m glad I’m here too.”

“Still up for ice cream after school?” Julie glanced behind you as the music ended but didn’t move from her place yet, still ignoring the boys telling her it was time from behind her. “I promise I’m not doing anything anymore.”

“Sure,” You laughed then nodded towards the stage at the front of the gym. “Now go blow everyone away.”

It was then that she nodded and left after giving you one more hug. Meanwhile you moved towards Flynn who immediately grinned and locked one of her arms through yours. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Of course,” She smiled before nodding encouragingly at Julie who had started playing a few notes while you gave her a thumbs up. “Hey, have you thought about moving home? I think Julie could really use you back right now.”

“Believe me I want to,” You gave a sigh and thought briefly of your own home. 

After your mom had died your Tia Victoria wanted all of you to move on quickly. Literally. You had noticed right away how much just the idea of leaving the house bothered Julie, Carlos, and your dad. Eventually you’d been the one to give in and accept moving in with her for the pure reason of giving them a break from her constant lecturing.

She meant well, you knew that. And really you did have fun with her and it was nice to have the connection between you grow stronger. But there were also days where all you wanted to do was cry and be allowed to remember. You missed being home more than anything.

“I just don’t know if tia would be too -”

You didn’t get to finish your thought. Before you knew what was happening a bright flash came from the front of the room and the music that had been coming from what you’d previously assumed was the gym speakers started coming from the stage.

Three boys now stood on the stage with Julie singing alongside her as they played. They knew every single word that was coming out of her mouth. Knew the song. Knew the notes. Knew everything.

You couldn’t help yourself. Slowly you walked towards the stage, taking small steps as you tried to figure out what was going on. As hard as you tried you couldn’t shake the feeling that you had seen these people before.

It wasn’t hard to notice the fact that somebody was staring, you could feel eyes on you before you saw them. When you finally looked at the person on the far side of the stage you found the source of the feeling. It was also then that you were positive you knew them, knew him. You just weren’t sure from where.

Then the twisting feeling returned and you felt more anxious than you had been before. Julie was happy. She was singing for the first time in months and all you could think about was the fact that it wasn’t you that had been able to get her there. On that stage she looked free and you were glad, you really were. But you still couldn’t help the voice in your head that kept telling you you’d done something wrong.

You were the first person Julie searched for after the song ended, momentarily ignoring the confused whispers echoing across the room. She found you near the back of the crowd, taking slow steps back towards the door. You knew her well, she knew that, but she could read you just as easily.

She could see the anxiety quickly building inside you as you tugged on the bracelets on your wrist again, identical to the ones she wore. Your movements were a little jittery and rushed as you held up your keys and nodded towards the door. I’ll be outside, she could see you tell her before rushing out of the gym.

*

“I’m sorry.”

Your words broke the silence that had fallen around you and Julie just an hour later. You’d been wrapped up in your own thoughts as you drove to the ice cream place you frequented then again as you drove to an empty field that was definitely worth the thirty minute trip.

Julie frowned, turning her head so she was looking at you instead of the clouds above her. “For what?”

“I promised you I’d be there.” You hadn’t looked away from the sky just yet. “I told you I’d listen when you needed me to. Support you no matter what it was you wanted to do. After mom died I promised we’d do all of this together and instead I left you alone.”

“Y/N -”

“And now you’re singing again, Julie, and god I’m so proud of you. And those guys, your band apparently -”

“They’re not -”

“I don’t know where they came from but they did what I couldn’t and actually helped you. I don’t know, I’m just sorry for leaving in the first place. I know how hard it must’ve been and I wish I could’ve -”

“Y/N!” It wasn’t until Julie shouted, sat up, and reached over to cover your mouth with her hand that you stopped talking. You stared at her for a moment, watching as she dropped her head and let out a heavy sigh. “They’re ghosts. They live in mom's studio.”

You sat up after her and she waited patiently as you processed what it was she was saying. Eventually you gave a single nod, “I don’t believe you. You sound like Carlos.”

“I swear!” Julie sat up straighter and slammed one hand down on the grass, leaning towards you a little. “And I can prove it.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Before you knew it, Julie was pulling you up from the floor and in the direction of where you’d parked the car. “Jules, where are we going?”

She stopped and shot around to face you, a newfound smile on her face. “To introduce you to my ghost band. Now come on.”

#jatpweek #jatp fanfiction #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms fanfiction #julie and the phantoms fanfic #julie and the phantoms x reader #jatp x reader #julie and the phantoms imagine #jatp fanfic #jatp imagine #jatp #i have no idea how to tag whoops

[nicknellie]

That’s very relatable, I’m kind of in the same boat so I get what you mean lol. Also Good morning!

Box stuff:

1. I love that as well, and when Luke’s room is particularly bad. Emily will call Alex up (the Mercers had a household phone just because) and would hope that he was around to answer it so she could ask him to clean Luke’s room.

I love that Alex just casual knows where the cleaning supplies are. Maybe that’s something that Emily and Alex do together on a random Sunday or something, they just make food together and then clean up the house.

Oh yes, sometimes Reggie will join Alex in cleaning due to a particular bad fight. Maybe that’s how the boys know that Reggie’s parents had a bad fight because Reggie won’t tell them due to the fact that he doesn’t want to bother them. But due to him cleaning they just know (also the fact that he can’t lie to them). Exactly yes! Just as you said (I hadn’t finished reading the paragraph when I said my part lol)

Yes exactly as you put it, they just go up to his room just to think about when he was still alive and how him and the boys were safe there. Oh my goodness, yes they talk to him but just like with Bobby, they can’t get a sign so they don’t know that Luke has words he never said and that he regrets that he didn’t get a chance to say them.

Yes, and Emily will always regret that she didn’t put as much support into the band as she should’ve because now she can’t take back her yelling at him to do more work and or to quit the band because education is so much more important; that he will never be able to go far with the band. So I’m listening to music and right now the song is ‘Supermarket flowers by Ed Sheeran’ and if you change around some lyrics it could be something that is Emily to Luke. (Kind of how unsaid Emily is for Emily)

3. Exactly, it’s like I somehow reached the conclusion but I have no clue how to explain to you the processes but it’s edible so.

The boys are always in awe because Alex talks while he bakes so randomly he will say something like ‘fold the flour well what if I just don’t’ ‘how is this the recipe book it gives me no instructions I need like an in-depth explanation on what the heck this means’. And then the food tastes amazing, although they once thought that Alex was just not going to include the flour (also that he was going to give them salmonella by not cooking it)

Board games and jam

1. Alex is never running out of drumsticks is hilarious. Also just love the fact that this goes on for half an hour before he stops and then once Luke has been situated and isn’t expecting Alex to throw drumstick, he throws one more.

I love that, just Reggie being so competitive when it’s legitimately Alex sneezing because he needed to sneeze. Also the fact that Alex is ready to throw drumsticks at Reggie as well. Honestly at some point Alex has thrown drumsticks at everyone (even Caleb).

Among us

It definitely would, like Luke can’t do it for anyone else but the second Alex is imposter he’s just like I know who it is.

Basically this meme: (Luke is the one saying that he has connected the dots)

Yes, however once Willie did kill Alex just to throw people off of his tail. And yes, Julie will always kill Luke first and if someone else is the imposter they will try to do the same just so people think the Julie is the imposter.

I love the accessories addition, definitely needed

Luke and Julie- yes

Willie- that is a power move and I love it

Alex- yes

Reggie- I do agree however at the same time I raise the cowboy hat

Flynn- honestly the fact that Flynn paid money to get a little character is everything and totally something that she would do.

Also if Carlos is playing then he has the paper bag

Honestly the boys thought that monopoly couldn’t get more chaotic and then they played it with Willie and Flynn and they were like this is new level. Because Flynn is competitive and she is definitely the one who would double check the rules and call out any of them if they got something wrong.

I love that Alex will just give Willie money. ‘I have no clue what you guys are talking about. Willie just has money because you guys are bad’

Despite the fact I have played Monopoly I legitimately cannot tell you what cards Flynn has that make her better than everyone else but you are completely correct. (Get out of jail for free? possibly) Also just has really good luck at picking out chance cards (maybe one of the ones in the middle idk)

Honestly I was kind of thinking that Luke would jump the table when Alex said that he wasn’t giving Willie money and that they were just bad. But I love your addition so much.

I love the fact that Reggie wouldn’t speak to Luke for a week when Luke just can’t avoid talking to them for about 2 hours. (Also Luke does the same to Reggie that they would do to Alex and Jess is in the background of everywhere with puppy dog eyes because Reggie won’t give him attention)

Numbers

2. I love this so much. Alex looks hurt about the fact that Willie is laughing however at the same time he loves his laugh. So Alex is stuck between because upset that Willie is laughing at him and the fact that Willie is laughing.

I’m glad that it changes as the story goes on, honestly right now I’m just not the biggest fan of Arthur. (I will definitely keep you informed, I’m glad that you said this because I didn’t want to over impose) Currently haven’t watched another episode so I’m still on the first one for now.

Wait yes! That is total Alex energy, also just Alex being done with Luke all the time. Just can’t believe that this is the guy he has to protect.

6. I mean Alex didn’t function after the hair flip in the show so if Bobby had been there then maybe Alex would’ve been able to function better 😂. Also yes exactly, just slaps the back of Alex’s head just so Alex will have a normal conversation with Willie and not just them staring at each other.

I mean I know you have four requests but I’m in fully support if you do want to write that after 😂. Also love how they don’t explain anything just very straight to the point and say that he shouldn’t steal their music.

8. Honestly relatable, I can’t wait for your tangent when it’s not 1am.

10. Yes exactly. Reggie is a tiny bit upset but then he’s like ‘I’m not even the one who did the developing, Bobby is and seeing as which we are kind of mad at him that’s good’. Oh my goodness, just happy Reggie staring starstruck at pictures because of how defined they are.

Alex knows that’s what Reggie is doing but of course he’s going to humour him and make the food.

11. I can’t believe you just pulled out the fact that no adult believed Reggie as a kid and you compared it to Reggie meeting a lot of celebrities. Whoa, you’re completely correct but whoa that’s painful. Yes, he has met all of them (oo nice, which Billy Joel one?). Also Luke is hurt about the fact that Reggie met him but Luke wasn’t there. To add on, Reggie has met Prince, Elton John, and Michael Jackson.

17. No, You shouldn’t go back on that, Reggie definitely has Caleb‘s baby picture like legitimately he has everyone’s baby picture even Nick.

I love that addition like Caleb tried to steal their soul but Reggie just asked for him to give Reggie his baby pictures before they poof out to do stand tall. Then next time they see each other Caleb just hands them over.

Yes, that was exactly my thought process also your addition that Caleb is mean but he isn’t stupid, about the fact that Reggie is sweet is precisely that interaction. (I mean Caleb probably saw Reggie get upset over the fact that Han Solo died and was just like Reggie is a precious being must protect. I mean take his soul but protect.)

Nope she just handed them over, just as you said. Honestly Reggie could take over the world and no one would question it just because it’s Reggie. ‘probably priceless photos and they are in some ghost scrapbook’ is the greatest comment.

Exactly yes, honestly it doesn’t matter how the hot dog is involved in the picture but there has to be one baby photo of Willie that includes him in the presence of a hotdog.

19. Agreed, usually by the point that Willie and Alex’s alliance is over. Than Alex will start one with Luke, and they will just bombard Willie with snowballs. (Just because I want Julie and Willie to be friends maybe they start an alliance just to get back at Alex and Luke) (also for Reggie he has one with Carlos)

20. They are and we did get very luck with this cast. Because no matter who you look at, they all have such great chemistry with each other and work so well with each other. For example the band demonstrate such a wonderful friendship, as do Flynn and Julie. Just flawless performances all around.

Honestly I’ve seen those as well and it just makes me upset because the show legitimately shows and has Willie say that he had no idea that Caleb was going to give them the stamps. Like he wouldn’t say that, if it didn’t actually happen. Because, if he had done it in front of Alex then it possibly could be spun in the way that he was just trying to fake out Alex (lack of better word) but he did it alone with Caleb, demonstrating that he did not know what was going to happen.

Honestly same, I just want good Caleb who adopts Alex/takes Alex under his wing. Yes! I’ve also seen theories where Caleb is actually working for someone and it isn’t entirely him who is trying to take their souls (however I think that yours is much better and I actually feel like it’s a good way for the show to not have so many villains you know. Also in general your idea was well articulated and eloquently put)

Oh my goodness, Caleb only using his power for people who hurt Willie and Alex is everything. (Also adding Reggie to that mix because)

Understandable honestly Luke and Flynn would be such a power duo and anyone who made Julie upset would need to run for their life. (Also I am totally here for another tangent, I would love to see your thoughts). And yes them arguing over who loves Julie more and somehow this gets finished because Alex randomly appears and says that he and Reggie loves Julie the most.

21. So how Alex gets arrested, I was legitimately going to send to you in another ask but then forgot so here it is. Basically they are at pride and just a lot of bad things are said so Alex punches a cop and hence him being arrested.

Also I love that either Alex vandalizing some thing or arson is your first theory. Honestly I feel like it’s Luke and Reggie who would be the reason for arson and Alex and Bobby just getting dragged along. Also you’re completely right, going on with that, one day they did graffiti of the Sunset Curve logo. Also I love how after all of this the one thing he gets nervous about is a closed museum with no one there.

25. Honestly Alex and Carries friendship would be unbeatable. Also Carrie alongside Luke and Reggie would definitely give Willie a shovel talk, just have to say.

You’re absolutely correct, honestly I feel like they would have such a better friendship than a dating relationship. (honestly it would be hilarious if it was Carrie who found out that Nick was possessed)

26. Honestly anything Willie, I just need and another hair flip is top of the list. What if Willie knows that Alex is short-circuiting around him and purposely does these things just so he can see Alex flustered. Also swimmer Willie is needed. And Willie twirling Alex’s hair is everything and I want that for S2. (Also at some point Alex braiding Willie’s hair)

32. Honestly anyone giving them stickers is completely true. Also yes, The person who gave Reggie the stickers was the park ranger. Who helped him locate the rest of the band because Reggie had wandered off

35. That is sad, also yes. Just Ray calling them his angels would be everything, also just more Reggie and Ray general.

I’m glad, mostly because ghost taking pictures for other ghost to be seen. Kind of isn’t logical but I just want Reggie to be able to take pictures of Willie. (Also the rest of the band as well)

37. Oh my goodness, that is a rollercoaster to read. Also agreed, Reggie just had no clue how to work the washing machine. He just had lights and darks all together and to this day Luke and Alex are very concerned on how Reggie turn some thing that was black into a like horrible red colour. Also yes, everyone was freaking out about how Luke could possibly set something on fire and how this happened in the two minutes that someone wasn’t watching him.

39. Yea, Ray and Trevor being friends would be so cool. Also agreed, since Julie and Carrie were close then they were kind of close as well so once Julie and Carrie fell apart then they just stopped being friends as well.

Agreed, also seeing Reggie has the Queen‘s baby photos with no content is hilarious. (Also possibly could be how Julie reacts when she randomly see the pictures)

Good morning/afternoon/night for whatever time it is when you read this! :)))

Box stuff (which is somehow not about boxes anymore idk how we got here lmfao):

1. Yes I love that! Maybe when she and Luke argue he gets like. Really mad. So he storms off up to his room and if he’s in a really bad temper he does Classic Teenage Boy Angsty Stuff and knocks things over and messes up his room. So Emily calls Alex to A) sort Luke’s room out because there’s no way he’d let her in there to help right then and B) to calm him down

Omggg I love that so much, like mother-son-bonding time between Alex and Emily 🥺 I imagine it like you said, they make food and then clean, and they’re basically just talking the entire time as if they’re close friends or really mother and son - like Alex will tell Emily about school and any drama that’s going on at the time, or he’ll complain about someone being nasty to him, and Emily will tell him stories from when she was younger or “you’ll never believe what Helen from down the road has been up to!” And they’re super close and know pretty much everything about each other omg yes

Omg omg ok now you’ve said that - back to the AU where they could give Bobby a sign and then still join Julie, what if they had the choice of people to give a sign? Like they could have chosen Bobby, Luke’s parents, Alex’s parents, Reggie’s parents, or any other people they were close (or not close) to. But they could only choose one for whatever reason and they all had to pick the same one, so they’re between Bobby and Luke’s parents and they can’t make a decision because either way someone is going to miss out on hearing from the boys ever again and it breaks their hearts either way

Ok so I listened to the song and first of all ouch. I think I remembering hearing it like a few years ago but it hits different now. And I can totally see it being about that if the lyrics are switched around and it hurts. But also I couldn’t help thinking of how perfectly it fits Julie (won’t lie, I was/am literally sobbing while thinking about this) so that made me think that after Unsaid Emily happens Julie and actually goes back and she and Emily become really close (we might have already said this? Idk there’s been so many posts now 😂) and this song is playing on the radio one day and they listen and they share their grief with each other and it’s beautiful and emotional and then Julie learns the song and I’m gonna stop before I make myself cry again

3. Lmaoooo thats amazing I love it. Alex talking to himself while baking is everything. And he sometimes straight up ignores the recipe book kind of like you said he’ll be reading it then just go “that doesn’t make any sense and it won’t work so bye bye Mr Recipe Book I think I can do this myself” and he literally just chucks it across the room and Luke and Reggie just look at each other like Oh God.

Board games and jam:

1. Omg yes exactly. Luke finally isn’t on edge anymore and he relaxes but Alex is just like bitch you thought and throws one and it strikes him right in the middle of the forehead

Alex’s weapon of choice is his drumsticks. Reggie accuses him of being suspicious and Alex just readies the sticks slowly and Reggie hides behind Julie apologising over and over again bc he saw what happened to Luke and is slightly scared of Alex now. Him using them on Caleb has me screaming I love that so much - it’s just like Caleb being in the middle of an evil speech all like “I will have your souls if it’s the last thing I do” and then just gets hit in the face by a drumstick. The camera pans round and we just see Alex getting ready to throw another like a dart.

Among Us

Yes omg that’s perfect lmao, and if Luke says it’s Alex everyone votes for him without questioning it so Alex spends the rest of his time as a ghost just terrorising Luke and not bothering to sabotage anyone or anything else

YES the one time Willie did kill Alex, Alex got really offended and wouldn’t speak to him for an entire day so Willie vowed never to do it again. Also I love how that means that no matter who’s the imposter Luke is the first to die - he’s terrible at imposter because people know that if he isn’t the first out then he’s the one doing the killing

Accessories - I FORGOT THERE WAS A COWBOY HAT yes omg you’re right that’s Reggie’s. And Carlos would definitely have the paper bag - he thinks it makes him look sneaky and he loves it

Flynn being competitive is everything - she gets loud and angry if she thinks a rule has been broken, literally she’ll snatch the rules from Alex and point them out to show she’s right. If a decision is taking too long to be reached she’ll just roll her eyes and take the money and give it to whoever she thinks is right. Alex just looks around like “I’m pretty sure this is my job??” but Flynn’s just like “don’t care, let’s get on with this.”

And I love that absjdldl like

Alex: Willie won his ten thousand dollars fair and square.

Flynn: Prove it.

Alex: No.

Yeah same lmao it’s been years since I played monopoly because it just causes arguments between me and my sisters but I think you’re right about the cards?? I honestly don’t know, but Flynn does and she’s great at magically choosing good ones lol. She just has a stash of get out of jail free cards (Alex: Are you sure there’s really that many of those in the deck? Flynn: *hiding literally hundreds of get out of jail free cards behind her back* Excuse me, are you accusing me of cheating?)

Yessss lmao like Reggie is doing his best to avoid him but whenever he like opens a door or something Luke is on the other side like 🥺 and so Reggie just shuts the door in his face and walks away again

Numbers:

2. Awww wait that’s adorable, like Alex trying to stay furious but Willie laughing just makes him unable to stay angry so he tries to look angry but it’s obvious that he isn’t and the whole effect is ruined but he still makes Reggie and Luke get him a new hoodie or at least fix the old one

Yay, great!! I didn’t like Arthur to begin with either but he’s one of my favourites now. Maybe he’ll grow on you like he did for me :)

Exactly lmao like Luke is about to do something dumb and call himself a hero meanwhile Alex is in the background working his magic to save his life like “I couldn’t have got a less stupid prince to be forever connected to huh?”

6. I love that, just Alex so entranced and literally breaking inside because omg cute boy hair flip omg help but Bobby just nudges him and he’s like oh yeah I’m in front of my friends I’ve gotta seem cool (even though they definitely know he isn’t) or if he’s really stuck then yep the slap does the trick and Alex is a little more annoyed but at least he isn’t just gawking at Willie 😂

Literally they’re just like “bro we know what you’re thinking. Don’t you dare. Literally we’ll be back in 25 years don’t worry”. And honestly I really might write it after I’ve done everything else or maybe I’ll save it until I officially finish school so I can focus on it completely bc honestly if I do it I want it to be the best it can it deserves it 😂

8. Ok so this goddamn tangent omg. It also works perfectly for Julie and the Phantoms but I’m going to focus on Sunset Curve bc like you said Bobby being lost without them it’s just like yeah ok.

They are literally the perfect recipe for a band or even just a group of friends. You’re so right that their strengths compliment each other because they’re all good at different things and they all bring so much to each other.

Luke - within the band, he’s their lead singer, their frontman, kind of the main attraction. His strengths lie in writing, singing, and guitar and that’s what he’s got the most control over in the band. He makes sure they have great material so they can sound amazing. Within their friend group, his strengths are mainly with building the others up, encouraging them and believing in them (see the whole “we’re the only family we’re ever gonna need” and “Alex you’re a great drummer and a great guy” and “dude you’re like a human wrecking ball” etc). He knows how to make his boys happier and he only ever sees the best in them. He’s protective and kind and a lot of other things too, but he’s best at being positive.

Reggie - within the band, Reggie obviously plays bass and does backing vocals. I can’t stress how underrated he is - it’s hard to hear the bassline a lot of the time but it’s the sort of thing you’d still notice if it wasn’t there. He’s an integral part of the band and it wouldn’t be the same without him. Also I’ve made a post about this in the past but his vocal range is insane. The guy can sing. His backing vocals honestly are so amazing (especially Finally Free (and obviously Now or Never and Stand Tall solos)) and he deserves more credit. Not only that but his stage presence is phenomenal. In every performance he is so into it, way more than everyone else. He bounces around, he interacts with the audience, he spins and jumps and one minutes he’s on one side of the stage and the next he’s on the other. Reggie provides the show, he hypes up the audience, he ensures everyone is having a good time because HE is having a good time. In the friend group, he serves to make people happy in a different way to Luke. He’s a literal ray of sunshine, he cracks jokes, he smiles, he gets rid of bad feelings before his friends have a chance to feel them. He provides the joy and the distraction.

Alex - the drummer is such an important part of any band. He keeps time and they would literally fall apart without him. He’s at risk of being overlooked a lot because he’s at the back of the stage and can’t move, but he’s so passionate about it all that he still captivates peoples attention. Still he is more of a background part, but like with Reggie it would be obvious if he was missing. As part of the friend group, Alex is the most sensible. Yeah, he still lets them do dumb shit and he joins in, 100% but he stops them from going too far. He makes sure everyone is safe and is the one to stop bad decisions being made. Alex provides safety and comfort and is there for protection.

Bobby - as a rhythm guitarist he is also another really important part that goes overlooked as well. We don’t get to see him play much in the show so it’s hard to say too much about his role in the band as a whole, but he does add that extra little something - sure, they could probably have the band without him, but it wouldn’t be the same. There would be something missing or not quite right, a gap that would need filling because it wouldn’t have that complete, full sound. As we’ve discussed before, Bobby is like the group’s counsellor. He’s there to listen to their problems, to help them through it, to listen and understand what they’re going through. Bobby provides a listening ear and somebody to talk to when things are difficult.

So all their strengths match because they’re all different and they all pull together to make one functioning band.

But then when three of them are gone, Bobby is left all alone. He doesn’t have Luke there anymore he reassure him and tell him everything is going to be fine and that he’s strong enough to get through it; he doesn’t have Reggie there to say something - anything - and make him smile just for the sake of smiling; he doesn’t have Alex there to stop him from doing something stupid (like stealing their music or doing any number of reckless things he could have done over the years); and he can’t take his own advice and move on without all of them there to help him through it. It could have been any member of Sunset Curve who was left behind that night, but no matter what they would have fallen apart because all they ever needed was each other and without that they lose all ability to function.

11. Lmao yes he managed to meet a load of celebrities because he would go to a lot of concerts and meet them but he just wouldn’t think to explain that when he told people so they didn’t think he was telling the truth

(And the Billy Joel concert was at Shea Stadium which according to Google actually took place in 2008 but it was really really good)

17. Lmao he definitely has Nick’s baby pictures. When they eventually find out that Caleb is possessing Nick, Reggie dedicates a page to Nick in his Caleb scrapbook because technically they were the same person for a while and that’s where the baby photos go

Yessssss that’s brilliant. The real reason Reggie doesn’t get to Stand Tall until after Alex is because he tugged on Caleb’s sleeve first and was like “real quick I need your baby photos. You can give them to me whenever” then he poofs out. He has his priorities in order

lol yes “take his soul but protect” is perfect. And like kinda the same for all of them? I do desperately want Caleb to end up good because like you just know that he would do anything to keep Alex, Reggie, Luke, Willie, and probably Julie (he’d really respect her because of her power and also everyone loves Julie) happy

Literally, Reggie could walk into the White House and ask to be president and anyone except Trump would be out of their chair in an instant like yes sir you run the country now thank you. He could announce his plans for world domination and all the leaders of other countries would just be like “sounds like a good plan boss”

19. I love that, like the alliances start as Alex and Willie, Reggie and Luke, Julie and Carlos but over time Alex and Willie turn on each other and use any opportunity for attack, Reggie and Luke start arguing because one of them accidentally got the other, and right from the start Carlos is pelting Julie with snowballs over and over again so they very quickly divide into the absolutely perfect dream teams you said!!

20. Exactly!! Like I don’t watch all the behind the scenes and the only time I really find anything out about the cast is scrolling through Instagram every other day or on here, but still everything I’ve seen of them together shows that they’re basically a little family. And like you said they all have so much chemistry on screen, their dynamics are so beautifully built and the best part is that there are not bad actors! I won’t lie, like there’s time from all of them when the acting isn’t perfect but that’s the same with any actor or actress and overall they do incredibly

!!!!!!!! Exactly!!!!!! You’re so right, and anyone who is against Willie is A) probably racist and B) completely ignoring what happens on screen even though it’s all obvious and they’re literally just choosing to believe he’s a bad guy smh

Thank you!! I’ve seen those theories too and I do like them but I just don’t think Caleb would be so into the whole soul-stealing thing if it was for somebody else and not for him which is why I think it’d be better if he turned nice (or turned nice, completed his unfinished business, handed over the HGC to Willie and crossed over). And yeah like you said I think once you add Caleb’s boss that’s just too many evil people. Id rather give everyone whos meant to be an antagonist (Caleb, Carrie, Trevor) character development or redemption arcs than add yet another villain

Oh yes definitely add Reggie to that list!!!

Honestly the Luke and Flynn friendship might deserve a post of its own 😂 I’ve already done one long tangent and I think this could be longer so I might do the whole thing separately lmao. but YES lmao if you mess with Julie you’d better watch out bc Flynn and Luke would be on their way with weapons. Alex solving the argument like that is everything lmaooo

21. OMG yes you’re so right. Let Alex Mercer Punch Cops 2k21!!!!! 100% that is what happens, absolutely no argument there

Ajsbdkskd yeah I love that for me, Alex gets in trouble so it must be arson. But yeah I actually like yours better, Reggie and Luke would be the ones to casually set stuff on fire. I feel like Alex would try to put it out but accidentally make it worse and Bobby would just be watching and quietly enjoying himself thinking the entire thing is hilarious. Yessss omg Sunset Curve graffiti all over Hollywood with the caption “Tell Your Friends” and it ends up being how they get most of their recognition and sell tickets to gigs and stuff. And yeah lmao plus he’s invisible he literally can’t be caught 😂😂

25. Oh yeah Carrie would be the first to do it like even though she can’t see Willie she’d be all up in his face laying down the rules

Right??? Their friendship has so much potential and way better than romantic (and that’s not just because I think Carrie is a lesbian, although she definitely is and that’s definitely a part of it lmfao). Honestly Carrie figuring out Nick being Caleb would really be glorious. Like, she asks him again to get back together with her but he has said no so many times by now that’s she’s expecting him to say no again, but Caleb thinks it could be a way to get Julie jealous and aid his plan so he says yes and Carrie is immediately like nope something is off.

26. He so would. He’d have a mental list of everything that makes Alex lose his mind and he’d make sure to do everything on it at least once a day

32. Wait that’s so cute 🥺😂 Reggie just getting distracted and wandering away and the park ranger being like ok first here have a sticker and second let’s go find your friends. Reggie immediately befriends the park ranger and makes sure to come back with a batch of cookies Alex made as a thank you bc he would not have made it out of there if the ranger hadn’t found him

37. Yeah lmao Reggie tried his hardest but just. Failed miserably. Lmao I love that detail of him completely changing somethings colour and Alex and Luke just being like wtf how did you do that. In the two minutes someone wasn’t watching him Luke managed to put his arm in a candle. Candles are now banned from the studio. Lmao if it happened while they were ghosts then Julie and Alex and Reggie would have just been talking then they’d hear a panicked “JULIE HELP” and turn round to see Luke on fire

Lmao Julie sees the queen’s baby photos and is like “why do you have some random old baby in this scrapbook?” and Reggie is just like “oh that’s the queen” and Julie is the first person who’s ever believed him without an explanation

#this took nearly two hours because of my tangent lmaooo #williexmercer #asks #emily answers

[littlemissaddict]

Date Part 2

Summary: Date between Julie and Nick or a follow on from this fic. 

Julie was nervous to say the least sure she was going on a date with Nick or as Flynn had put it ‘the guy that you have had a crush on forever’ but also because the guys had found out and decided that they were tagging along to ‘watch over’ and to make sure that Nick didn’t ‘pull any moves’ Sure Julie loved the guys, they were her band, her friends, her family for crying out loud she knew they were just looking out for her but the last thing she needed was for them to tag along on her date.

She had made that pretty clear to them but it had made no difference they still insisted on coming and that’s how Julie found herself outside the movie theatre, the phantoms behind her as she waited for Nick.

“Please guys just-just don’t do anything that could give you away or make it seem like I’m going crazy, I’m begging you” Julie asks looking to each of the boys in turn but focusing longer on Luke, this was his idea and he was the one she felt that could cause the most problems for her if he wanted to, they each nodded but Julie wasn’t convinced that Luke meant it but she didn’t get chance to question him as someone called her name.

“Hey Julie” Nick smiles coming up to her, she returns the smile.

“So what movie are we watching” she asks, as when she had agreed to the date she forgot to ask the most important thing.

“I was thinking the new Star Wars” he said and the smile on Julie’s face must have fell because Nick started to backtrack “but if you want to see som-”

“Oh no, no Star Wars is fine” Julie interrupted, but all she could think of was how Reggie would ask questions during the movie because she still hadn’t shown them the new films so he was going to have no clue what was going on and she wasn’t going to be able to answer without seeming crazy. 

“Oh we’re seeing Star Wars, sweet” Julie hears Reggie exclaim excitedly behind her, this was going to be a long movie.

“Well shall we go in then” Nick say moving forward and opening the door “After you” he smiles as Julie enters the movie theatre and he follows, what he doesn’t see is the three ghost following closely behind 

“Hey Alex” Reggie speaks up again “you should have invited Willie, it’d have been like a double date” He finishes and Julie lets out a groan which she quickly covers with a cough.

Nick looks at her concerned “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” Julie says with a wave of her hand “Just a little something in my throat” she coughs again trying to prove her point and when Nick turns to pay for their tickets she turns and glares at the boys. Reggie mumbles out a quick ‘sorry’ and Alex assures her that this is not Willie’s type of thing but Luke just continues to stare at Nick as he had been doing the whole time since he arrived. ‘Jeez that boy has issues’ Julie thinks turning back around just as Nick finishes getting the tickets.

“Do you want popcorn” he asks motioning to the food and drink counter

Julie nods “Let me get it though, you did buy the tickets” she says as they reach the counter getting the pop corn and heading into the screen. They take their seats and Julie notices that the boys sit directly behind them she can only assume that it’s so they can see everything that Nick does but she doesn’t miss the smirk on Luke’s face as the lights dim and the movie begins.

Julie was right about Reggie asking questions, every 5 minutes she hears him and every time she hears Luke hiss out a be quiet at him. When she chances a quick look round at them Alex looks bored, Luke actually seems to be enjoying the film and Reggie well he just looks confused and Julie doesn’t blame him he missed out on a lot.

It was about half way through the film and Julie had almost forgotten about the boys, they had been quiet, even Reggie who had settled down and seemed engrossed in the film.

That was until Julie and Nick both reached for the popcorn at the same time, there hands meeting which Nick took as an opportunity to lace their fingers together and Julie smiled over at him before looking quickly back at the screen so he wouldn’t see the slight blush on her cheeks, even though it was dark and wouldn’t be able to see it. At that moment the bag of popcorn went flying across the room and Julie broke away from Nick fighting the urge to turn around and confront Luke, she knew that it was him without even seeing him.

“What-what happened” Nick whispered, confused leaning closer to Julie so that she could hear him without him disturbing those around them, well more than the popcorn had, but Julie just shrugged not wanting to have to explain and Luke must have heard as she could feel him next to her, leaning forward over the backs of the seat, glaring at Nick clearly thinking that he was too close for his liking. She could also see Luke's hand moving towards Nick as if going to push him away but thankfully a loud noise from the film caused them to jump, meaning that they moved away from each other and that Luke stopped whatever he was about to do.

Luckily they managed to make it through to the end of the film without Luke pulling anymore stunts again.

“Well that was a good film don’t you think” Nick asks opening the door again for Julie as they leave.

“Yeah definitely” Julie agrees a little distracted as the boys seemed to have disappeared “I had a great time though” Julie smiles

“Yeah me too, although the popcorn thing was weird” Nick says bringing it up again and Julie wished he wouldn’t he would never believe her if she told him and she really doesn’t want to think about Luke at the minute as she a little annoyed at him

“Yeah well, it’s getting late I better be getting home” she smiles politely trying to get out of there it had not gone as planned at all and all she wanted to do was forget about it, damn them ghosts. 

“Ok see you later then” Nick smiles, looking as if he’s debating with himself, before leaving Julie with a wave.

“Hey Juli-”someone starts and she recognises it instantly as Luke and she cuts him off before he can get any further, she doesn’t want to hear any ‘I told you so’s’ about Nick pulling something he only held her hand for crying out loud.

“Just stop” she says holding her hand up before turning and walking away leaving the three boys in silence as the poofed back to the garage.

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

Someone requested a part 2 so here it is, there will be a third part as well where Julie confronts the boys.

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp julie #jatp nick #jatp luke #jatp reggie #jatp alex #julie x nick #julie x luke #juke

[gloomyhearts]

Always by your side || Luke Patterson

Chapter eleven~ her special ability

2020

The raven haired boy arrived back at Julie’s house, more over in her room. His eyes dared to the blonde who tried to lift a frame from the dresser. The shaggy haired boy stood in front of the bookshelf, studying the pictures. Reggie himself lays down on her bed, fingers running over the fabric of her blanket.

A voice disturbed the silence, “what are you guys doing in my room?”

“Uh..”

“Um..” they stuttered, view wandering between each other.

Luke was the first to find words, “we were looking for the kitchen?”

“This..” she points toward the band, “this cant happen. Its creepy,” her eyes now glued on reggie, “get off my bed, please.”

Luke raises his arm, “hey Julie, whats in the box?”

“That’s off limits.”

“Oh. Oh okay,” he chuckles, “Girls stuff.”

Julie crosses her arms in front of her chest, anger reflects in her facial expression.

“Oh, like butterflies and glitter?”

“Oh, come on. I'm sorry about them,” Alex insists.

“It's none of your business. And yes, there might be some glitter,” she teased.

Alex holds the frame in his hands, spinning around to his friends, “hey!” he chuckles, “I actually picked something up,” when he finished the sentence the frame fell on her bed.

“I dropped it,” disappointed he looked down onto it.

“Is that your mom?”

“Yes, and it’s my favourite picture of us,” she emphasised the favourite, “you break it, I’ll break you.”

“Okay, well, sorry but we’re kinda unbreakable at this point,” Alex adds.

“I don’t get it. You guys can mess up my bed, pick up your instruments, but can’t pick up other stuff?

“I know, its hard. But for some reason, our instruments easy.”

“Yeah, like super easy. Oh and check out what I learned today,” in the next seconds his bass was in his hands, throwing him back in the beanbag.

“Yeah, that looked super easy.”

“Can I ask you guys something?” they nodded. “You told me about your sister, right? Is she a ghost too? Did you saw her? Can she do it too?”

“Well.. this one.. this one time she.. she told me she was surfing and people could see her, she could talk to them like we do and she kinda lost her mind.”

“You never told it!”

“Yeah, maybe cause you’d freak on the fact she’d leave this dark room.”

“She what?”

“Yes, she left it during the day to avoid you and at night she came back and talked to me and Luke.”

“This means, every time I thought she'd visited my dreams again to talk to me, she actually spoke with me?!”

“I remember she said something like that earlier.”

“Earlier?” His friends asked in sync.

“Well yeah you know how she can feel my mood? So do I and I felt it earlier so I searched for her and we talked,” he shrugged his shoulder as if it would be the casual thing in the world.

“Did you wanted to inform us about it?” Alex questions running his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, if she came up in our conversation maybe..”

Their little argumentation was disturbed by a knocking on the door and Julie’s dad sticking his head in the door, “everything okay?”

“Yeah. Im fine.” Luke let go of Alex’s hand, he had clutched against his chest.

“Okay. I thought I heard you talking to someone.”

“Nope. Must’ve been my laptop.. that I just closed.”

“Okay, if you need anything..” he points to the door.

“Yeah. Thanks.” This was his clue to leave, he closed the door and the attention of the girl was abruptly on the raven haired boy.

“Your dad seems like the kind of guy who likes to barbecue. I bet he has a great ribs recipe.”

“I don’t know. But if you guys wanna talk to me, we have to do it in the studio. He’s worried about me enough as it is.”

“He seems chill. You should just tell him about us,” luke suggests.

“You’re kidding right?” she sighs, “the past year, everyones been watching over me, being super nice, as if theyre waiting for me to snap. If I tell my dad I met a ghost band, I’ll be back to talking to Dr. Turner three days a week.”

“You probably shouldn’t tell him.”

“Julie…”

“Oh my gosh! I told you to leave it alone!”

“I know. You shouldn’t have said nothing cause now I cant stop thinking about it, so.. Whats in the box Julie?”

“It’s just my dream box, okay? Whenever I get a thought, I write it down and get it out of my mind.”

“Like lyrics?” His body shifts so he faced Alex, they both knew exactly what the other was thinking; this was like Sabrina’s green book, every little thing which crossed her mind was written down in it.

‘Where is it now? I had it in my bag at the Orpheum, I couldn’t just lose it right?’

“They would be if I still wrote music like I used to with my mom. Now it’s full of stuff that doesn’t make me sad.”

“But, I mean, you do play. We heard you this morning,” Alex raised from his seat stepping closer to her.

“In the garage?” Luke hits alex upper arm, brows knitted.

“So you were there too?”

“Uh.. I don’t…” his voice a pinched ton.

“uh he was, like..,” Reggie's voice on the same level.

“We were..”

“Somewhere.”

“So, where is you kitchen, by the way,” the shaggy haired tried to distract her. He rested his head in his palm as he laid on her bed, also with puppy eyes.

“Okay, we need to set some boundaries,” she bend down to his level, “for starters, stay out of my room!”

“Mm-hmm. Cristal clear. Let’s go.”

“We're leaving,” they made their way over to the door.

“Yes, ma’am! We’re out of here.”

Moments later Alex’s head was in the room again, “hey. Um, sorry I didn’t mean to bother you. Did you get back into your music program?”

“No.. no I didn’t.”

“I’m sorry. That really sucks,”

“thanks.” His eyes wanders around the room and silence felt over the pair.

“is that it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, this is getting weird,” she waves at him and he leaves her alone.

The band was back in the studio sitting spread across the room. Reggie tugs on his bass, Alex head rests on the drum, Luke’s eyes glued to the roof.

“You know guys, I really miss her,” the shaggy haired boy whined, “but I can't forgive her, not after all those years. I mean she ignored me twenty-five years, like.. wait she’s stubborn she can and will if she wants. But I thought…”

“Shut up, talk to her or leave it,” Alex exhales.

“that’s the point, where is she, what should I say, whats her response.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t do it.”

There was a knock on the studio door and through the window were some blonde strands visible which floaded in the wind.

Reggie sat up, his eyes laid on the door, “should we open the door? Is that her?”

“Come in!”

Sabrina poofed herself into the room but was still in a good distance to the boy.

“I shouldn’t be here, I know but.. I.. mm..”

Alex was fast on his feet, embracing her fragile body, although they weren’t alive anymore they both still had their special scent which felt like home for each other.

“I was an ass, Will. And I should have listened to you but I was so heated that you didn’t told that we were dead for twenty-five years.”

Their little moment was interrupted by the guitarist who taped Alex’s shouler letting him know they weren’t alone.

“Brina. I was so selfish and full of anger. I .. I really missed you and your voice. I’m sounding like Alex but I’d probably should had listen to you and your point of view.”

“Yeah right. It’s.. never mind. I should get going.”

“No Will stay.”

“Right, we have to introduce you somebody.”

“It’s this Julie, right? Yeah, she’s impressive, you should probably play with her, push her and all this,” Sabrina shruggs her shoulders and Reggie locked his eyes with her, a brow raised; he felt it and she knew it.

Luke’s eyes lit up as she mentioned her voice, “yeah she is stunning,” the grief in her grew and Reggie’s eyes widened. Alex looks between the two, seeing her eyes are welling up.

“Do you mind if I talk with Will in private?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“That’s bullshit. Talk to me Sabrina.”

“It’s just, y’all hate me and I understand but you have to understand me too. And now with this girl, I’m losing you and Luke, the way he looks at her…”

“How would you even know?”

“This morning when she sang, I was there, I saw you, her, everyone. And… and I really wanted to hug you, talk to you but I couldn’t.“

“But I didn’t saw you?”

“Well yesterday I saw the three of you at the orpheum, you even passed me as well as this tall man in smoking and black coat. He bumped your shoulder but went straight through me, it drove me crazy so I wanted to speak to you and I knew where I would find you so I came here. First, I.. I was in the garage as well but then you three poofed in and I left, then y’all were outside as well and your eyes laid on me so I thought you saw me.”

“But I didn’t.. but then suddenly you were.”

“I was, the whole time.”

“How’s that possible? Are you superman?”

“I don’t know but we’d try if people see me without surfing if I want to. I mean not Julie cause she can see you without you playing your instruments.”

“Her friend Flynn, she can't we should do it...”

#jatp fanfic #jatp x oc #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms fanfiction #julieandthephantomsimagine #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie fic #jatp luke #jatpluke #luke patterson #luke patterson fanfiction #luke x oc #luke patterson x oc #luke jatp #julie and the himbos #luke julie and the phantoms #julie and the podcasters #julie and the fat ones #julie and the phantoms luke

[bluegrowlmon]

hoping this might take yr mind off some of the anxiety so, what do u think other smt protags (besides demi obvs nd u kno who) wud look like as fiends?

Thank you Demi You know just what to say to snap me out of a slump

Idk if this will answer your question satisfactorily but itll be. Something. Ive thought about this too much too often. Just a lot of rambling. (Wont go into Nanashi bc he already kind of is one? A demi-demi fiend)

For consistency’s sake in this im defining a fiend as some kind of human demon fusion.

Im sorry this took so long

Kazuya – kazuya my man my treasure. I’ve thought about this a lot, so I’ll use this as a chance to link up to my ‘demon from the start’ AU. In the opening of smt 1 kazuya and yuji are taken to a hospital where weird experiments are being conducted. They both break out in like 2 minutes and leave but I kinda thought ‘hey what if they didn’t break out in time and went through terrible demon fusion experiments?’

Ive got 2 cohabitating versions in my head. So version 1, He kind of looks like an electronic ghost? Idk if you remember when I talked about this 500 years ago. Grey, barely visible, fuzzy around the edges, when he does talk its like someone talking through a broken radio. Idk sort of like the idea of someone isolated getting lost in computers and technology but on a literal level. Makes doing anything pretty difficult but on the upside maybe if someone else wears the comp he can, possess it? I just made him rotom dangit

Version 2 is just straight up monster version, sort of like I wrote him in that one fic where he got cursed but more, werewolf-y, scraggly hair, maybe spikes on his back and filmed over eyes, sort of all white like the alexander nina chimera in fma? A lot of this demon form I made to parallel that chimera actually, not in terms of body shape (kazuya can still stand and wear clothes) but the unnerving factor, the inherent wrongness and fear it inspired in others.

a very unhappy pained werewolf, bc the thing I would (will? If I write it) is that the fusion was done improperly, so its not as seamless as takeshi’s fusion was. Kazuya hands are more claw than hand, so using the comp is more difficult, but even more pressing is that the fusion screwed up his throat, so demon negotiation is hard, and its that much harder to explain who he is to a future full of very anxious trigger happy humans who probably wouldn’t listen to him at the best of times.

Flynn – For some reason I always associate Flynn with birds? Mostly diurnal raptors, ever since I first started playing smt iv in 2016. I have no idea why.

I think Flynn kind of has a canon fiend, or at least semi-divine form when he fused with Vishnu in smt iv a? but this is where I put my bad thoughts so disregarding that

Ive had this dumb idea for a long time (pre-smt iv a) of Flynn being like a bird-demon type fusion, with talons, sharp fingernails, maybe some patches of softer short feathers on his arms and legs, and wings (idk from what, prob red-tailed hawk). Idk how it’d happen, I thought some kind of curse, he’s probably pissed off enough deities to warrant it. theyre big enough to let him fly, if he ever tried

In his case the change is noticeable but almost entirely hide-able. So for Flynn, in a neutral route that depends on so much on what outsiders think about you, he has to get through while hiding his new demonic nature from Hunters and people in Tokyo in general (also the samurai too probably) who’d turn on him if they knew what he was. So doing every mission, working himself to the bone endlessly with his nails constantly filed short and wings tied down tightly until the pain almost makes him sick. Fun!

DS1 (these headings have no consistence) – ds1 kazuya has a fairly canon demon version I think, but ill throw down my hc anyway – King of Demons route he can usually make himself look how he wants, but default he’s got horns, bat wings, fangs, and keeps the cape I see him in sometimes. I think it suits him. If he hugs someone (Atsuro) he uses his wings too without thinking, so it’s a very warm all-enveloping hug

Ds2 – if Hibiki goes alcor route, I think his outward appearance would kind of change to reflect his new nature. To other humans he mostly looks the same, but sometimes in stressed moments/pre-battle his eyes turn totally blue like Leo Watch’s in Kekkai Sensen. Hibiki’s battle form (the way alcor turns into a giant cube) looks like a white glowing abstract rabbit (like the rabbit on the moon get it?)

Smt if – this is vague bc I only played 30 minutes of the game and don’t know anything about it. You know how when you die in the game you get a guardian spirit? HC that the player character is actually a guardian spirit demon possessing the corpse of a student that died in the attack trying to find someone to, guardian over? They look mostly normal, except not, really dying when theyre killed? They just get back up, taking horrible wounds. Only clues about their demons nature are a grey pallor to their skin and red eyes.

Persona  - and now the vaguest of all. What would a fiend even look like in persona, in a world that (usually) doesn’t have demons? I have no idea but I like to think if any human fused with a shadow they’d look mostly normal in the real world except for eyes that turn yellow at dramatic moments, and then in whatever alternate world the game has their human skin starts falling off and they take increasingly abstract and freaky shapes depending on whatever emotional turmoil/teen angst they’re going through. (also slightly ties into a hc for that fic i will also never write where philemon and myarly reincarnate as humans)

Im sorry for all of this

#smt #ask #i hope this was what you meant? #Anonymous

[nicknellie]

Honestly the fact that March is in two months is actually horrific. Also that’s a mood, my sleep schedule has been weird due to Covid as well. (and technically good night to you when I get this down in like the next hour)

Box stuff

1. Exactly, Alex tells Luke how exactly to get back on good terms with his parents and at the same time tells him how dumb he was but lovingly and of course since it’s Alex Luke immediately listens.

I love that, also he was close to his teachers. Like he would be the one to tell them if Luke (for example) had a bad night and to let him skip the class and the teacher would begrudgingly agree just because they know that Alex is true to his word and will make sure that he’s caught up on everything. Honestly I don’t really feel like Alex is a teachers pet as well but he did get along with his teachers.

Actual points (that did make sense)

Oh my goodness yes, Emily will deliberately try to remember embarrassing Luke stories just so Alex can bring it up.

‘Bold words for someone who cried when they didn’t get to go on the tea cups’

Precisely, they gave the chance for Luke to make up with Emily if he wished because they didn’t really have anything to say to their parents. Agreed, and that’s some thing I hope season two expands on because they had to have friends outside of the band even if they were closer with the band than anyone else they definitely had some acquaintances. Imagine people making tributes 🥺 (honestly I feel like they were all kind of done with school and that Bobby if he didn’t quit like the other boys then he probably did not return). But I love that idea. I feel like Alex had a little sister as well, and that’s a really good theory I feel like it would make sense that Mitch and Emily were a bit more overprotective about the band and everything if they had a miscarriage. Because they want Luke to do so well that to them committing himself to a band that might not take off wasn’t the path to go and they were worried. Agreed, honestly if anything sometimes I just think to myself that the three of them are only children however I feel like it would also work if they had a younger or older sibling (Alex having a younger one and Reggie having an older one).

That’s relatable I’ve had quite a few songs I’ve only listened tofor a bit and then immediately fall in love with them. I hadn’t heard the song before but I checked it out and I agree. If you like it is some thing that Rose wrote towards them just to remind them not to give up. Because, while wake up was personal to Julie and to remind her to keep doing music this song would kind of be Roses way to say all the words she never got to say but not like in an Unsaid Emily way. (Exactly how you said it lol)

I feel like they had a piano as well, so one day Julie does play it for them and it’s so sad.

3. Oh my goodness, Willie setting the kitchen on fire and then Alex trying to help him is everything. And yes he does need to be banned from the kitchen, is the type who would burn water. Yes, every single time Luke and Reggie try to receive the book for Alex just so that he has something to look at but he’s just like ‘nope I don’t need it anymore’

Board games and jam (that is honestly just monopoly and among us at this point)

1. I’m glad this made you laugh because I find it hilarious as well. And that’s exactly what happens because Alex waits for Reggie to be completely unprepared and just like Luke he sends a drumstick at him.

Honestly I’m the one who wrote the sentence and at first I interpreted that way as well. Just like Alex has thrown drumsticks of the band so many times that he has perfected his skills is so true.

He does and Willie is just crying laughing in the corner because Alex is throwing drumsticks at Caleb. I love how Alex just doesn’t stop and Caleb eventually it’s just like okay I guess I will continue on with my evil speech. But he continues to get hit with drumsticks, although he doesn’t understand how.

Among us

I love that so much. That is exactly what happens and bonus points if Alex looks Willie straight in the eye when he kills him. And Alex isn’t even subtle about it he legitimately just follows Willie and kills him immediately.

That is so cruel but hilarious. Building off of that idea a little bit the first time someone finds Luke’s body is Alex and he runs away. After that round Luke is so hurt but Alex is like we’re all just going to be suspicious of each other and there’s no point.

How Flynn has the rules memorized no one understands but she will legitimately say ‘in section B point 2 it says blah blah blah’ and she is always correct.

I love the example you chose was someone, probably Willie, moving three squares instead of two and Flynn just loses it. (bonus points if just like Alex she will throw something at you but it’s usually the rule book and or her piece)

I do have to agree with you but at the same time Alex being friends with Flynn and the two of them plus Julie making friendship bracelets is adorable to me. But with your point, legitimately they are always in agreement together. One time Alex even lies about the rules and just because Flynn is done with Luke, she will agree with him.

I do have to agree with you, I may not start arguments but I am definitely the type to be like ok this is your turn and you have to go twice ect. And as we should

Alex never has any pity for Reggie struggles, legitimately Reggie will not understand how Uno is played and Alex will just be like ‘oh sad, now draw 4’ (I have no clue why I chose Uno but that’s the route I’m going down)

Numbers

2. That was exactly my intent. And yes, Alex does say that.

6. Honestly Willie trying to have a discussion with Alex and then Alex just panicking while the guys are laughing in the corner is everything.

Actually I haven’t seen Miranda before but I will have to check it out and the American version because anything that has Cheyenne Jackson in it needs to be seen at some point. I don’t know why but that just gives me total Alex energy like Willie just offhandedly asked him about some thing and Alex is immediately agrees although in real life the statement is very false. (Honestly I feel like we’ve already talked about three AU here but you definitely should)

8. Luke- yes he is very selfless which upsets Alex who usually is the one who reminds him to proceed with his day and do things. Also agreed, the band means so much to him that he couldn’t be cocky even is he tried (unless it’s about the others talents)

Reggie- I love his solo in stand tall as well, I don’t think you’ve mentioned that before but that lyric is really good from now or never. (Honestly part of the reason why I love those song so much because both Alex and Reggie have solos in them)

I haven’t listened much to his new EP either but I’ve listened to Uh oh and ballerina (really good)

Alex- exactly, honestly I feel like that scene was kind of uncharacteristic on Luke’s part. Because throughout the show we see him being supportive of Alex and trying to get Alex to appreciate his talent more (after now or never basically him being like Alex you killed it come on) so him basically saying that they don’t need drumming anymore is a bit weird.

Precisely, whenever anything goes wrong they usually turn to Alex because although it may not go the best way he’s always the best person to handle it

Bobby- same here, it’s easier to talk about a character if you know how exactly they are/how they react to things

Umm this is painful. Thinking about Luke being left behind hurts, also your right. Honestly I feel like if any of them and Luke especially lost each other then they would probably lose music because the greatest attachment they have to music is each other. (Which for Luke is a big thing) oh my goodness thinking about him going to the studio and just crying because he’s thinking about the boys is everything. Also thinking about Luke unconsciously going home and just seeing the boys in simple stuff that his parents are doing is heart crushing. Aw just Luke and Emily going to hug each other is adorable, honestly it would be amazing to see him talk about the fact that he lost the boys and then slowly she becomes supportive of his music and, despite what I said earlier, eventually he releases a tribute to them.

17. Yes exactly, bonus points if the wave that Caleb does is the one that he did after Alex says ‘Willie and I. I mean I wouldn’t call it magic’

‘Do what you gotta do’ and nothing to lose are some of the best technically villain songs and Cheyenne Jackson does such a good job at them that honestly seeing his character turn good would be sad. (But that would also mean more songs in general possibly and not losing the character so it’s hard to decide)

19. Exactly, they all just end up attacking each other with snowballs that it’s hard to keep alliances. Also yes, Willie has a really keen eye for perfect moments to throw snowballs.

Agreed, it will be exciting to see them grow as actors and also how they grow in general because as you spend more time with castmates you get closer to them and that chemistry is more evident on screen which will also help out. It’s interesting because the show has kind of like a perfect balance of actors who are in stuff before so they have previous acting experience and actors who haven’t really. So seeing them get more recognition especially for the ones who have been in stuff before but aren’t really recognize/popular because of that is amazing. (also the fact that quite a few of them have picked up learning a new instrument and or in general can play quite a few instruments so I hope that they will experiment with that during the second season)

Agreed, just wouldn’t want the show to have too many villains to the point where it gets overwhelming and just repetitive. Honestly Willie turning the ghost club into a skate park just out of spite for Caleb would be amazing.

I have no clue why but the ‘you’d better run’ made me think of that ‘why are you running’ vine and now I can see Carlos saying that just to be funny.

21. Oh yea Willie almost got arrested while he was alive. Honestly if anything I think that he was running from the cops before he died so he was almost going to get arrested for sure.

Exactly, bonus points if it’s Alex who actually did the graffiti just because he knew that Reggie was upset and although he teases Reggie so much, he will be the first one to say something if anyone ever hurt him.

25. Exactly, also love the ‘she’s going to kill me again’ like Caleb is scary but if you hurt Alex then Carrie is most definitely scarier. That’s how the talk goes, word from word. And yes although Carrie is more so all bite no bark, the boys would’ve definitely killed willie if he hurt Alex. They would find a way, it’s definitely possible. I feel like while all of them would know that Willie wouldn’t actually hurt Alex. They say that just in case because they love Alex and if there’s a slight chance that someone could hurt him then they want to make sure that the person knows repercussions will happen.

They are perfect for each other lol

32. Exactly, and Alex just brushing off the dirt of Reggie‘s jacket and being the mom friend is very in character. Also the handing over the cookies, and Bobby goes with him just to make sure that Reggie doesn’t get lost again. (Luke was probably with Reggie when he got lost and or is the one who wandered off and lost Reggie while doing so)

37. He can do the impossible though I feel like that’s definitely canon. It does makes sense, if anyone can be trusted to do something that is hypothetically impossible it’s definitely Reggie. It will definitely be done in the weirdest way but Reggie will always pull through.

Oh my goodness ‘the timeout corner’ I love that. They are preschoolers thought especially with lighters. Yes, that is the only time Alex did not realize that Reggie had a lighter and of course it was the time that Reggie set Luke on fire. (Love the fact that you said he was panicking because he knows that he will be put in a time out)

I want a Reggie and Julie duet as well, it would be so amazing. And yes that is the title. They have another one that’s pure country because Luke won’t let Reggie have a country song.

Omg I’m so sorry, I’m really dumb and I thought I had posted this forever ago but turns out I just had it saved to my drafts! Aksbdkdk sorry lmao

March is in two months??? That doesn’t sound right. March was like a week ago. I hate this.

Good *insert time of day here* for whenever you read this!!

Box stuff:

1. Yeah exactly! And like what if it’s not just that it’s Alex so he listens, but it’s Alex so it makes sense? As in, if anyone else was telling him he’d wouldn’t get where they were coming from but because Alex takes the time to really explain what’s going on Luke actually gets it (even if he doesn’t want to get it, but Alex can tell when he’s just being difficult and petty)

Omggg I love that! Like he’d arrive to class early to tell them to make sure nobody else heard. And it gives a whole new meaning to his line “I’m pretty sure that was just a you thing. I was always pretty trustworthy ☺️” because like if any of the other boys (especially Reggie) tried it then they wouldn’t have got anywhere at all but just everyone trusts Alex

Actual points:

Agskdlsld I love that also “bold words for someone who once got his head stuck in a lampshade” “SHE TOLD YOU THAT?!?!”

Oooooh I never thought about them dropping out of school but that would make a lot of sense (especially for Luke dropping out because of all people he wouldn’t have seen any need to stay). And exactlyyy they would have had to have other friends and they must’ve been upset by their friends dying so like??? And the idea of people making tributes hurts my heart - like, putting flowers or whatever outside their old lockers at the school, no matter if they were still in school or not, just as their way of saying goodbye, or making sure nobody sat where they used to sit in class. And having a whole-school assembly where they played Sunset Curve’s demo and talked about how inspirational the boys were and I’ve gotta stop or I’ll cry. And yesss because if Luke was their one shot at having a child, something they had dreamed of for years, they’d want him to succeed and they were so blinded by it that they wanted him to succeed in their way, not his which could fail. And yeah, I also usually think they’re only children but for the purposes of fics or adding some more depth to their characters then I like to think about siblings and how that would have changed them as people. But the show never mentions them ever so I mainly stick to canon that they don’t too

Yessss exactly 🥺 it’s her way of telling them that they don’t need to worry or be sad and I love it so much!

3. Lmao Willie just being a kitchen disaster is brilliant - he actually did burn water once (on purpose just to see if he could actually do it) but then every time he tried to cook after that and use water he burnt it on accident and he has no idea how he’s doing it bc it’s impossible and after the fifth time and the fire Alex is like “ok willie just go”

Lol it kinda turns into some sort of game once Luke and Reggie realise Alex is dead set on not having that recipe book. He throws it away and one of them sneaks it into his pocket somehow. So he throws it away again and next time he opens the fridge one of them has put it in there. They just spend hours moving around the book solely to piss Alex off

Board games and jam (lmfao yeah there’s no jam left, it’s one board game, and a random online game):

1. Alex now just uses it as any excuse, like Luke will ask him to make room for him on the couch or whatever and Alex will scowl at him and say “if you make me move I swear to god I will pelt your face with drumsticks” and Luke just backs away slowly and sits somewhere else

Absbdksl with the Caleb bit, it’s like Alex has been secretly practising magic tricks or sleight of hand or whatever, so he’s got these hundreds of drumsticks hidden all over his body and no one can see where he’s getting them from apart from when he literally pulls them out his sleeve. Caleb - the actual magician ffs - spends hours later trying to work out how he did it but can’t. Willie finding it hilarious is everything omg just stood in the corner like “you go babe! Mildly inconvenience that soul-stealing jazz singer ghost!”

Among Us:

LMFAO YES and he does it in front of everyone too, reports the body himself, admits to it on chat, but nobody votes him out because Willie had it coming

I love that sm, Luke looking at Alex like “dude I’m right there” but Alex just completely ignoring him. The anger and hurt just fuels Luke’s weird ability to be able to sense whenever Alex is imposter

Yes definitely! Flynn gives the page number and everything, and Julie watches so smug and proud as he best friend rattled off these rules and Reggie is like “that can’t be right” so Alex checks and everyone is just that little bit more scared of Flynn because god that was weirdly cool

Ajakdlsnd YES she does or if she’s sat beside the person who did it she just repeatedly hits them over the head with the rule book like “MOVE. YOUR. PIECE. BACK. ONE. SPACE.”

Oooohhh I love the friendship bracelet idea that’s so cute! Also, I know I said they wouldn’t be that close, but the idea of Flynn going to Alex before anyone else when she realises she has a crush on Carrie (because she knows he’s gay and also hopefully friends with Carrie at this point and he might be able to be helpful) is literally such a cute idea to me. And the one time they’re not in agreement with the rules is obviously when it comes to Willie - Flynn accuses Willie of cheating somehow and Alex readies his drumsticks to throw at her like “what did you just say about my boyfriend?”

I do that too! But tbh most arguments are because I get competitive and demand we play the game by my utterly made up rules which are very biased towards me. I’m half the reason most card games are banned in my house... 😂

Oh lol I love that Alex just takes advantage of Reggie’s complete lack of uno knowledge. Reggie will pick up a useful card like the one where you change the colour or whatever, and he asks what it means, so Alex is like “oh that means you have to pick up four of every colour”

Numbers:

6. Exactly, so right. And like I feel like that’s definitely the sort of thing we could see in season 2 - like Alex and Willie having a conversation and Alex feels normal and fine but then Reggie and Luke and Julie come in and suddenly everything that comes out of his mouth sounds romantic and sappy and they’re all laughing at him and it wasn’t this hard before they came in!

You should definitely watch Miranda! I can’t remember if it’s still on Netflix, but highly recommend! Exactly, any opportunity to see Cheyenne Jackson act should be taken at once. And yes, it has total Alex energy, Willie could say anything and Alex is just like yes absolutely. (And tbh that’s mainly the plot of Miranda as well so if I did write this hypothetical AU there would be plenty of opportunity for it lmaooo)

8. Luke - yes wait I love all this so much. Like as a totally random example if Luke tries to surprise them all by cooking lunch or dinner or whatever one day (even though he’s a terrible cook and it should always be left to Alex) he just forgets to make any food for himself and Alex has to gently remind him that Luke you need to eat too remember? And Luke being cocky about the others’ talents??? God Tier Thought, I love it so so so much. Like someone will tell him he was really good on stage that night and he’ll brush it off with “yeah, but did you hear Alex’s drum solo? Totally improv, the guy has mad skills. And Reggie’s backing vocals and harmonies - his range is literally unbelievable, better than most people to be honest. Oh and Bobby? Well damn, did you hear his solo? He’s up there with the best, learnt that whole thing in under ten minutes”

Reggie - same tbh 😂 like I love Luke and Julie’s vocals to the moon and back, but it always feels kinda special whenever Alex and Reggie sing y’know bc we hardly ever hear them apart from backing

Yeah I listened to Uh Oh and a few others too, I think Stranger was my favourite (if that’s even what it’s called, I think it is) but I haven’t heard the whole thing yet. Ballerina is my jam omfg I love it and I love he wrote the whole thing for and about Carolynn like that’s so sweet 🥺

Alex - yeah I thought that too! I think I saw a post ages and ages ago that was talking about how it would have made more sense if Luke was worried about being left behind or had some abandonment issues (worries from his days arguing with his parents) so at the first sign that Alex wants to “leave him” (in his mind) and cross over or join Willie he gets defensive and tries to shut Alex out with that line before Alex can leave him. I might not have explained that as well as the post did but I think it’s the general gist?

I think you’re right, I can totally see any of them losing sight of music to begin with. I think for Reggie he would sort of shrink in on himself and just not feel up to doing anything at all, he would really struggle mental health-wise. Then for Alex I think he’d launch himself into boring menial tasks to get his mind off it, maybe go off the rails a little because what does it matter anymore? Then exactly as you said for Luke, bc it’s so important to him he just can’t face it. And obviously we’ve talking about Bobby like a million posts ago and still now 😂 but eventually all of them would take up music again and write a tribute for each other.

This is only a little bit off topic bc we just mentioned Emily and Luke but yeah so if Emily and Mitch saw Julie and the Phantoms perform what would they do??? Bc I can’t imagine it, and I don’t think they’d believe in ghosts, but if they did like would they be happy? Or angry that Julie didn’t tell them? Or sad because they can only see their son if he’s playing and that’s the very thing they encouraged him never to do? Idk idk idk but I just want them to find out about the band in season 2!!!

17. Bonus points definitely awarded, I love that sm lmao

And yeah like Cheyenne Jackson just does villain songs so well??? Like, Caleb is my best friend’s favourite character and I asked her why she loves him so much and to answer she just got Spotify up and started playing Nothing to Lose and I was like ok fair enough. Exactly, like I want him to turn good but the villain songs might be something I can’t lose. But then just general Caleb songs ugh idk I’d love that too

Wait wait wait I had a thought - someone’s probably said it before but Caleb and Willie duet????? Please?!?!

19. Lmao by the end alliances just don’t exist at all anymore

Yes all of this!!! It really is perfect because as you said their friendships will develop and that’ll translate into screen so beautifully and I honestly can’t wait. And of course as you said the balance between upcoming actors and those who have been in stuff before is great, they’ll be able to give each other tips and pointers and learn from each other and eventually start reaching the same levels of fame or whatever and that’ll just be so cool! And yes it’s so cool to see them start getting recognition - like Madison hitting one million followers on Instagram the other day, I’m literally so proud of her and so glad she’s getting what she deserves!! Agreed, it’s great that they all play their own instruments and sing their own stuff rather than having others do that for them - I really want to see more of Sacha playing his guitar as Nick bc he’s so good, but also he’s being possessed by Caleb and I want Caleb to just be terrible at guitar so that’s how they first know somethings off bc Nick suddenly can’t play 😂😂

Ajsndlslf Carlos would totally do that. Carlos would be the one to introduce the guys to Vine and it would haunt Julie’s existence for all eternity because now Alex won’t play anything until Julie has said “bring the beat in” for him to reply “anything for you Beyoncé!” And Reggie would keep saying “I wanna be a cowboy, baby” and it gets on her nerves, and Luke takes to strumming his guitar and going “I love you bitch I ain’t never gonna stop loving you bitch” and yeah lmao

21. Wait yeah lmao that’s the only reason he didn’t get arrested because he freaking died instead, chaotic king

Oh it was DEFINITELY Alex who did the graffiti, it’s his way of being overprotective and cheering Reggie up

25. Lmao I love that - Caleb is scary but oh shit better watch out for Carrie Wilson. The guys would definitely find a way to kill Willie again - they’d go to extremes like figuring out how to do the stamp so he stops existing (or maybe they would just talk about doing that but not actually do it because that feels way too mean and if Willie hurt Alex (not that he would) then they could just keep them out of each other’s way). Yeah exactly, they just want to make sure they’ve got everything covered to try and protect Alex as they would do for anyone in their group - and Alex insists he doesn’t need their protection because it’s just Willie, but really he’s extremely grateful for it

32. YES I love all that like Alex is about to send Reggie on his way but is just like “hang on, take Bobby with you, I don’t want you getting lost or eating all the cookies before you get there” And Luke having got lost with Reggie is everything - both of them were looking at a cool bird or something and didn’t realise Alex and Bobby had kept walking, so Luke tried to lead Reggie in the right direction but got them lost, and then said to Reggie “stay here I’ll get help” and left him and didn’t come back because he couldn’t find him again

37. Oh 100%. Reggie can do impossible things but they’re just in ways that also seem like they should be impossible. I wish I could think of examples, but I don’t know how to do impossible things so 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Adjoskflfmj yeah he’s not panicking because Luke’s on fire, he’s panicking because he doesn’t want to miss snack time while he’s in the timeout corner (having a scheduled snack time was Bobby’s idea because Luke said he wasn’t allowed to eat during rehearsal because he needed to focus)

Honestly Julie letting Reggie have any country song he wants just because Luke won’t let him is everything I need and more

#ugh im so sorry im an idiot for saving this to my drafts instead of posting it :((( #its lucky I realised before it had been like a week lmao #williexmercer #asks #emily answers

[nicknellie]

By the time I finish/send this it’s going to be at the most random time so I say good night and technically good morning for whenever you read this!

I’m glad that you were able to finish your schoolwork, if it’s any consolation you still did hand them in, which is amazing! Also shame on them, they should’ve explained how all of this was going to work.

Same here! It’s so fun replying to these

Let’s do this

(Also if I were to make a tally of how many times I used exactly and agreed I would be in the hundreds by now 😂)

1. You are so brilliant, yes. Reggie just uses random stuff to hold his things especially considering that he has like 1000 scrapbooks so all the other stuff needs to go somewhere. (He also has used Luke’s and Bobby’s)

2. I didn’t think that Reggie actually has pictures of random baby, oh my goodness that is hilarious.

3. Exactly, and the reason why he doesn’t recognize the French dip is because he has no clue where it came from but it does belong to him

The non-box stuff

First two very random comments that totally did not come from me accidentally hitting some board games and seeing jam which led to inspiration for this

First point, Sunset Curve and then later Julie and the phantoms most definitely had board games. In this scenario I’m going to use Spin Master Hedbanz because, I have no clue when this game came out so I’m just gonna say it’s a game that the Molina’s play.

(Hedbanz is the fast-paced, easy to play question game of “What am I?” Ask “yes” or “no” questions, I think Amazon can be thanked for that description)

Anyways, so they play this and after not guess Luke flips a table. that’s this entire point that Luke is the one during game nights to flip tables (never play Monopoly with him)

The second point, the jams. First Reggie hates strawberry jam, loves raspberry jam and is indifferent to marmalade (I mention the last one although it’s not really a jam) however Alex loves marmalade and grape. Luke has no taste, but sometimes likes jelly, and Bobby like marmalade as well (honestly idk)

Now numbers,

2. Wait yes, I don’t know how else to describe it aside from that. (All of them feel guilty, and massive group hug and movie night after)

3. Luke as a frustrated puppy is his facial expression when Reggie accidentally scares Victoria and Luke sits down on the couch. Also yes, that is exactly the conversation they have (Yes Willie can also get through to him). Also it does work when Juli tries it however maybe not as much as when Alex and Willie talk to him.

4. Yes, basically Luke and Alex are two halves of a whole and can read each other very well.

5. Oh yea, Alex is always very sarcastic with the boys and is a tiny bit hesitant in front of Julie however after that interaction he acts more like how he normally is.

6. Yes and there’s no in-between (although it could be that he stayed there for a few days and hasn’t been back since). Aww, that’s so sad and exact what happens, however he doesn’t have someone who gives him a flower, unlike Julie, so he just sits there crying.

8. Yes! I like that theory as well, also for some reason Luke was always very good at solving Rubiks cubes however Bobby never was.

10. So I randomly saw this meme one day and you mentioning the spinning tea cups reminds me of it (I have no clue who made this sadly)

(Just change Luke to be sitting with Julie then) Also yes Luke doesn’t like things that spin, honestly I love the fact that I went off on a board game tangent and you went off on a theme park tangent.

Yes, every single ride Alex goes on, also yes for bobby. I love the little addition you made that they save it for the end of the day, adding on there’s like one ride that Bobby won’t go on (maybe the tea cups) and he always rides the logflume ride during that time)

Oh yes, anytime they go to a waterpark or go on a roller coaster or basically anything Reggie will take a picture of it, (also there’s quite a few of the boys going on roller coasters that Reggie doesn’t want to ride)

Luke goes on a ghost train once and regrets everything, he spends the entire ride with his head buried in Alex‘s hoodie. Yes, also Bobby has to make sure that Alex doesn’t accidentally bump in to random strangers.

Toffee nut- for a second I thought you said that Reggie didn’t know one of his friends was allergic to gluten and I was like this fits Bobby so much but I misread that severely. But that’s exactly what happens, also Julie brings it up once, just in general, and that’s where Alex has to be like ‘Reggie we are already dead’

11. The game to see if Reggie is lying or not, love that. (Honestly I wanted him to have actually met Queen Elizabeth very randomly however your theory fits so well)

13. Yes, they all just randomly dance around the studio. I mean the band in full cowboy outfit should be very high up on your list of things to expect for season two.

14. That’s exactly why I said that, because Nick shouldn’t be able to see the boys however since he’s actually Caleb during that moment he can. So he has to pretend like he isn’t furious, he kind of fails but somehow is able to pass it off.

They can’t deny good music, love this line and yes they most definitely can’t.

15. I’m glad that you like the little Han-solo idea

16. Yes, yes, we all know that Alex still lets them in the kitchen because he can’t say no to the puppy dog eyes however during that moment he tries his best to keep them out

17. Alex was most definitely the cutest baby also that is precisely what the photo looks like. (As you mentioned earlier I believe whenever Reggie was upset at Luke he would give Julie baby pictures of Luke. So of course Reggie does the same to Alex and shows Willie pictures of him as a baby. And Willie has heart eyes for the rest of the day from that photo

19. They definitely jump in puddles also the amount of times Luke has done that to Alex for no reason at all is a lot (also this is adorable)

20. Yes, I think everyone fell in love with Alex after the first episode as they should. ‘I have been crying for 25 years. How is that possible?!?!’

Yes Reggie and Willie definitely only talk in puns to each other and Alex is not happy (lies but for now they will let Alex be)

Also this makes me think that if flynn had known that Luke existed when she was going to egg Julie’s house, he definitely would’ve helped. Also yes, Emily buys those eggs right then and there, alongside toilet paper because.

21. That’s exactly what I thought but now seeing it in writing makes me upset. Him having a key symbolizes that he now found his home, and when Luke ran away Alex was so torn because obviously he supported his best friend more than anything however at the same time he just didn’t know what to do. (I don’t think I’ve seen this list but I am very intrigued, should we petition the show to let you write Mitch‘s character for season two) Yes, Alex and Luke are such brothers and we can blame Mitch.

24. The first time I saw the song I just thought that she sang in it as background vocals or something and then I was massively disappointed. Wait wait, what if in season two we get a song from Flynn that basically answers flying solo and shows how much Julie means to Flynn. I am in the same exact boat flynn is in a music program so at the very least we have to see her doing something they can’t just waste that talent like that. So I know this YouTube creator by one video and one video alone which is I’m going to kill Santa Claus, but yes I added it to my watch later (also you did get the title right, caps and everything)

25. Yes, he wanted to be strong for her which is why he initially went. (Third chance at getting a family 🥺🥺 awww)

Yes they exactly would’ve been uncle Reggie, uncle Luke, and uncle Alex, she definitely would’ve been nicer just due to the fact that the boys never would’ve let her get away with it.

26. I mean even when the boys forgive him, he still doesn’t forgive himself. Also yes, and the first thing he does is remake the hat for Alex because for some reason Alex hasn’t been able to find the hat (and or one for Willie because he wears beanies as well) Just imagine happy Bobby reunited with his bandmates (family) though aww.

28. Yes, also Reggie is like a cat when it comes to yarn so after he initially got tangled of course he got himself even more tangled until he just became a ball of yarn. (I love that title, also there is two parts because Reggie made a similar one again due to the fact that this happened twice)

30. Yes, Willie does have an old soul and him and Alex connect very well with Vitoria

32. Yes, best fan base ever. Legitimately they will get stopped on the street and if someone finds out that their sunset Curve they immediately get some sort of fanart or sticker (also a hug because Luke will give free hugs to everyone)

Yes, honestly I was thinking that Alex could be a cat as well however you’re entirely correct it’s Bobby who is the cat. I’m a bit stumped on what Alex would be, hear me out he would be a hedgehog just because that would be absolutely adorable. (Also I love the owl idea that’s brilliant)

Wait, not only does Alex get that but a fan handmade a puzzle of the band and it’s one of Alex‘s most treasured items from a fan.

34. The boys laugh for so long but the eventually help him out of the fridge, not before Reggie takes a picture though

35. Wait yes, Ray helps them out with the photoshoot. At first he thought that Flynn was asking him to take the pictures and he was completely prepared but then he quickly realizes that she kind of just wanted him to be there too not only help out but because he’s the greatest.

37. They take all of his hoodie expect the pink one, however they do wear it just give it back.

39. He says it immediately, honestly doesn’t even register that he says it until about five minutes later

40. It’s actually a mixture of both, also because Alex wears Luke’s shirts while they are practicing. Even if the practice doesn’t turn out the best they always have a great time just because they love spending time with each other and that makes everything better.

So you mentioning Willie wanting to learn lifts and stuff, and it made me think of the fact that Kenny Ortega has done dirty dancing which means they should have a scene like this

https://youtube/DIKpUa0O7Ns (if the link doesn’t load basically its the dirty dancing - time of my life final dance)

So now I need this in season two. (Also Willie is the one who is being lifted)

Also I agree this may take the cake for my favorite (also because I now have the dance I want Willie and Alex to do in season two)

Now I may have Time of my life stuck in my head ‘and I owe it all to you’ (actual a song lyric and technically I only have myself to blame)

I’ve been trying to answer this all day but kept getting interrupted by things including but not limited to my schoolwork and the fact that my kitten escaped the bathroom while my mum was trying to wash her which caused s t r e s s but I’ve finally got round to it so here we go!

Before I start, thanks! I actually managed to get most of my work in on time today which I’m really proud of (all of it was in on time if we ignore maths, but that’s my worst subject and I don’t think my teacher is excepting much from me anyway 😂😭)

And oh god I kind of am tempted to make tallies of how often we say that now lmaooo I’d add for me any variation of “ahdslflkdp” or “omg lmaooo yes”

Anyway! Let’s start!

BOX STUFF

1. Thank you!!!!! Exactly but somehow I can imagine he still manages to be messy. Like all his stuff is packed away neatly, but the boxes they’re packed away in are just everywhere and it’s a nightmare for Alex who likes to be clean and tidy. (Luke doesn’t care whether things are messy or tidy, and Bobby is messy but not as cluttered as Reggie I think) And yes!! He uses Luke’s and Bobby’s too, as well as a drum Alex accidentally broke and is now kind of like a box if that makes any sense lol

2. Ikr lmaooo he just puts them in there like “well we needed something” and when Bobby continues to say it doesn’t count because it’s not him he just claims the baby is an honorary member of the band

3. Yes! Maybe he found it one day, thought to himself that he’d read it and try it out later but then completely forgot about it and the box

BOARD GAME AND JAM STUFF

1. I am so in love with this idea oh my godddd, yes, your mind!!!! They have these extravagant board game nights that last hours and hours (while they’re all wearing their matching pyjamas or onesies of course). I love games like Hedbanz omg and I can totally imagine them playing this and also games like Cluedo, Pictionary, Articulate (great game btw if you’ve never played, highly recommend), and any game Julie finds like at a charity shop (because I can totally see her and Flynn going to charity shops and finding a bunch of cool stuff??) Whoever is in a team with Julie is pretty much guaranteed to win (unless it’s Luke, but Alex or Reggie with Julie are pretty much unstoppable) and in the old days Reggie was the master of all games. You’re so right about Luke getting angry lmao monopoly was banned after the first fifteen minutes of the first time they ever played it

2. I love how random that whole thing is but also that you’re 100% right. Also the fact that This Band Is Back is also called Reggie’s Jam has led to some interesting different versions of that song over the years

NUMBER STUFF

2. This kind of links in but not really - once they’re with Julie they have movie nights too and Flynn and Willie often join in. Julie and Flynn have a couple’s jumper and Reggie and Luke are jealous of how comfy they look all snuggled up together so because Luke is wearing one of Alex’s hoodies they both get into that. The only problem is Alex’s hoodie only has one head-hole so they end up stretching it and Alex isn’t happy. Him and Willie just watch the whole time, Alex not finding any of it amusing, Willie laughing his head off

3. Yes that was the exact image I had in my head!!! And it only works when Julie does it because it’s Julie and Luke isn’t really convinced but he’ll agree with her because it makes her happy and that’s all he really wants

4. Ok that made me think of Merlin if you’ve ever watched that show??? If you haven’t then you should, it’s on Netflix and one of my all time favourites. Anyway the phrase two halves of a whole is really similar to two sides of the same coin which is used all the time in Merlin and now I kinda wanna write a Merlin AU where Luke is Arthur, Alex is Merlin, Reggie is Gwaine, Julie is Gwen, Carrie is Morgana, Caleb is Uther, etc.

5. Yeah 🥺 I kinda just want more of Alex relaxing around Julie next season y’know? Like they’re obviously super close but he doesn’t always act around her the same as he does with the guys. I want to see them get closer, have nights where it’s just the two of them, maybe Alex officially coming out to her (though I like to think he already did that and it just wasn’t shown to us)

6. Omg ok that hurt. Wow. Because the boys don’t cross over or go to wherever Rose went after they died, they just stayed in the dark room for an hour, they can’t watch over Bobby and see how he’s doing and they can’t send him any signs like Rose did for Julie. If they had been able to do that then things would have been so much different!

8. What if Bobby started trying like everything the boys liked when they were alive? Like after he realises he can’t make jewellery or write poetry anymore he tries the Rubik’s Cube but can’t do it. So he tries puzzles but just can’t find them as interesting as Alex did. And he tries crosswords and sudokus but can’t wrap his head around them like Reggie. Eventually all his interests kind of drop away and he’s left with even less than he already had.

10. Absjdldl yes lmao that’s perfect! Honestly I love that for us, little random tangents here and there is perfect 😂

Yessss I love that lol like when he meets up with the guys again he’s soaking wet and grinning like an idiot lmao

Reggie has scrapbooks dedicated to their theme park trips and it’s kind of messy and most of the photos are blurry but he loves them as they’re some of his best memories

Also the image of Alex getting so lost in his happiness watching everyone having fun that Bobby just has to pull him out of the way of people is glorious and I love it

Also I had another random thought literally just now. This is kinda based on something that happened when I was 12 I think? So Sunset Curve goes to a theme park and they’ve just finished lunch and Alex wants to go back on rides immediately so they decide to go on something small and not scary so they won’t like vomit their food everywhere. Reggie goes with it because they won’t be going on a big ride. They go on one of the smallest rides there, literally it’s this platform that moves side to side I can’t really explain it better than that. And it is the most terrifying ride any of them have been on in their entire lives even though it looks fine and Reggie refuses to go on anything else for the rest of the day just in case he’s tricked by its tame appearance again.

Toffee nut - omg yeah no I love that! Bobby is definitely allergic to gluten. Alex loves baking special gluten-free stuff just for him and the others are banned from eating it (but y’know they ignore that and do anyway)

11. Tbh now you’ve said that I want it too and I’ve changed my mind, there’s a high chance he did meet her. Somehow. Even he’s not really sure what happened but yeah he did 😂

13. Honestly just any kind of fancy dress? Like cowboys is up there but I’d love to see Fairy Princess Luke ngl

14. I love the image of Nick very poorly containing his anger and ending up accidentally saying something like “they wouldn’t know sophistication if it snuck up and slapped them” and then having to explain what the hell that meant to Julie

16. No one can resist Reggie and Luke’s puppy dog eyes 😂 I love the idea that he shoos them away but they look at him through the door. So he shuts the door, leaving them outside, but they move to the window. He pulls the curtain down over the window but they come in through the front door and stand in the kitchen again and either he has to relent and let them stay or offload them to Bobby or Julie depending on when this is

17. Afjkgjl yes and Alex looks as if he’s embarrassed by it but really he’s isn’t, he’s actually angry because he wanted to be the one to show Willie his baby photos and Reggie stole that from him damnit!

19. This is kind of unrelated but it’s on the subject of water so kinda close - water fights. Absolutely. Especially in summer. Alex is the best at them. Luke sucks (it’s kind of becoming a theme that Luke is awful at anything competitive and I love that lmao)

20. LITERALLY. He said that and a bunch of other things (there’s too many to list lol) and I was immediately like “ok yeah he’s gonna be my favourite isn’t he” and I was right

Absjdidko yeah he hates the puns but love that they’ve found something to bond over, he’ll just never admit it. Whenever they’re doing it he just shakes his head disappointedly, trying to hide a smile

Lmao yeah Luke is well-practised at egging houses and for at least an hour he would have been thinking “I want to but it’s Julie” unable to decide and eventually he would have done it for the fun

Emily Patterson honestly would’ve won Mother of the Year imo (except the arguing with Luke, but that’s one flaw and otherwise she was great)

21. Omg yeah totally, he would have definitely struggled between supporting Luke by not going and supporting himself by going. Either he would have not gone, or gone secretly and updated Emily and Mitch to tell them Luke was safe.

YES DEFINITELY PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Honestly I love Mitch and there’s so much I want to see from him (especially a conversation with Ray) and I would love to write his character @ Kenny Ortega please hire me :)

Also here’s the list of you want to look through it whenever lol

24. I love this yesss we deserve to see Flynn’s response to Flying Solo! Honestly my prediction for her is that she kind of starts feeling left out of everything because she can’t see the boys (even though Julie and the guys obviously don’t mean to leave her out and they’re devastated when she tells them that’s what’s going on) which A) could be how she starts to reconnect with Carrie and B) could be the reason she sings a song for Julie. And YES Jadah Marie is so talented therefore Flynn is and that can’t be wasted!

Lmaooo I’m Going to Kill Santa Claus is one of the only videos I’ve not seen of his but I love all his other stuff. And I’m legit proud of myself for remembering that title 😂😂

25. Exactly! Like Trevor I think would be a semi-lenient parent and whenever Carrie acts up it would have been Alex who was the first to tell her off and tell her what she should have done. He would never shout, but he also wouldn’t sugarcoat it and would be honest. Reggie and Luke would have been gentler on her but Bobby would have just been terrible at discipline lol

26. Yes omg 🥺 the little gestures like making more hats are the things that get the boys to finally forgive him. And I know for a fact that Willie wearing a beanie is all I’m going to be thinking about forever now, holy moly

28. Ajsbdkspskke yes!! Eventually it turns into a whole series of songs that end with “Bobby I Swear I Will Hide All Your Knitting Needles If You Don’t Start Cleaning Up Your Yarn, This Is Your Final Warning”

32. I love that! The band is very sociable so they run into fans a lot and fans just start bringing their fanart and stickers wherever they go because you never know when you might run into Sunset Curve

Omg I can totally see hedgehog Alex that’s literally perfect I love it! Because he’s kind of shy and nervous but also prickly (like come on, his sarcasm and the way he just deadpans half his lines is brilliant)

Yessss it’s this really detailed painting made into a puzzle of all of them and Alex puts off making it for ages because he doesn’t want to damage it or anything 🥺

34. Lmao yeah Reggie has to take a load of photos because he’s using his Polaroid and he’s laughing so much that the camera shakes and the photo comes out blurry every time

35. Yes she wants him there because Ray is obviously the Best Dad Ever (I am definitely in agreement with Reggie on this one). Also it helps because then it doesn’t look like Flynn is by herself taking all these photos because the guys can’t be seen 😂

37. Yes lol the one rule is that if you take the pink one you MUST give it back. Willie is the only one who can occasionally get away with breaking that rule, in which case Alex just takes it back himself

39. Absjdldl yes especially because Carrie doesn’t comment on it (because she’s not really listening to him, just speaking her thoughts aloud, because I feel like she does that a lot? Talks to herself because it’s easier to understand her thoughts when she says them?)

40. Omg yes and that’s even better because Alex had done it with Luke and Reggie so he knows how! I mean, it doesn’t go well at all, but they have fun!

God me too now I’ve got it stuck in my head 😂 tbh I had Devil Went Down To Georgia and also Ring Of Fire stuck in my head for ages after we mentioned those so it only makes sense lol

#the spacing probably turned out weird between paragraphs idk but it just wasn’t working so I had to go with it 😂 #williexmercer #asks #emily answers

[nicknellie]

It’s been really fun to brainstorm with you, honestly this has been so much fun!

Yes, honestly at first I was thinking that Bobby and Reggie would have a little solo in it however I was just thinking to myself that it’s kind of like unsaid Emily where Luke has to talk about how he feeling and although that would be cute it’s much more emotional with just Luke singing. I’m just starting to imagine this song and them just crying and it’s so sad. That’s exactly what I was thinking, you articulated that so well!! I agree that they all have different doubts and insecurities, just briefly mention them I think that Luke thinks that he causes a lot of issues (which is some thing I feel like all them kind of share but Luke more so). Alex (especially after death and the Caleb issue could be thinking that’s his fault) may be having some fear that they will leave him, Reggie thinks that he’s too hyper active and that they don’t actually care about him, also Bobby is kind of the same but seeing how close Alex, Luke, and Reggie are he may having doubt about how he fits in and if he does. (Kind of confirms after they died and let’s not think about 17-year-old Bobby just crying because his dream with his friends is now crushed and he doesn’t know what to do) sad times

Mission: Support Alex, slay I love that so much. I just just see the boys having ‘secret meetings’ (Alex knows about them but he just thinks that they are doing something else)

Also kind off-topic however I feel like Bobby would totally be the one who gets into fights with people who are rude to Alex with Luke supporting him in the back/also getting into a fight. Reggie would be distracting Alex because due to his parents fighting he doesn’t like participating or watching other people fight.

To Bobby it might not have mattered that they where not on there by name because he knew how important the songs were also to him he could’ve possibly thought that he was still honoring them although he wasn’t really (although most people don’t come back to life and the boys parents weren’t exactly the greatest so who knows what else he could’ve done).

Wait, I was totally thinking Alex for the 4AM thing (I think he’s light light sleeper and although at first he would begrudgingly not want to after like a minute he would) however that works perfectly. I can totally see it, also he most definitely would be making jewelry for them. Going along with your poetry theory for some reason I keep thinking to myself that Reggie would be a very good artist although majority of his paintings are either Star Wars, pizza, or the boys. But yes, he totally would be just casually slips Reggie a little poem or some thing just before he has to go back home (same to Luke and Alex when they still lived with their parents).

(Honestly I feel like Alex (or Reggie works either way) would be a stress baker and although he didn’t get any sleep either he would jokingly tell them that they looked tired) However none of them wake up Reggie, he is the one person who needs at least 10+ hours of sleep and majority of the time he isn’t able to sleep at his house so whenever he is able to go to sleep no one wakes him.

Yes, you read my mind because that’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s been 25 years but he still can’t over them (and then one day he gets ‘hi Bobby’ which was probably done because he is terrified of ghosts and the boys knew that or at least Alex did)

Wait I didn’t even think about him making his own charity (my mind is blown in the best way possible) but yes that is exactly what he does alongside donating to countless others. (Possibly helps Mitch set up the one for Luke ?)

Honestly the fact that Emily and Mitch are the most supportive parents has been on the back of my mind for the entirety of this conversation. I’ve seen many theories where Bobby’s parents were just neglectful and honestly I don’t disagree with them.

Honestly if the show says that someone other than Rose is Julie’s mom, a lot of people will rage I’m just calling it. But yes, that is exactly what happened and although it wasn’t the closure that Luke’s parents got from his song it was pretty close.

Oh yes, Ray definitely did (or if not they had both of their last names and then as you said once she passed away they just took on Molina)

I was actually thinking about this when you were talking about Rose knowing Mitch and Emily however what if they actually knew Julie as a baby because Rose took her over once and just as you said they couldn’t recognize where they knew her from but they definitely recognized her (and then cried once she left) it could be another instance where Rose helped people out in ways that they never expected (bringing the boys to Julie and once Julie had music back again it helped Ray and Julie helped Emily and Mitch)

I’m really hoping that season two focuses on them more because I think part of it is due to the fact that they only had 9 episodes that were 25 minutes so they can’t put a lot in without either overwhelming people or taking on more than they could’ve handle however it was mostly focused on introducing people and Luke’s backstory. So I would love to see more about Alex and Reggie (also Bobby and past sunset curve)

Exactly, Luke taught him a few chords which is enough for him to do the song. Honestly for no reason I’ve also been thinking that he can play piano but yes a violin fits so much better!!

Agreed, and he’s just trying his hardest and although he may have gone about it the wrong way he had pure intentions (or at least that’s what I’m going to assume). He does have to take his family into account because if he didn’t then that wouldn’t have been the best upbringing for Carrie with him being in the spotlight for that reason (he is in the spotlight but not for that reason).

You took the words right out of my mouth, I kind of wish that they had shown more of a reaction because aside from Alex the only thing we really get is Luke saying that it’s been 25 years (also kinda Reggie with his parents house being turned in a bike shack) however we don’t see either Luke or Reggie really dealing with it or at least acknowledging it like Alex has.

That did make sense or at least I got what you were trying to say, due to the fact that they haven’t processed it it’s harder for them to acknowledge the fact that it’s been so long and especially when they originally found out none of them had really thought about it.

Yup, that is exactly what would happen and in the end they both would feel so much better. (Bobby for sorting out his problems and Alex for being able to help him out)

Honestly all we can do is aspire to be on Reggie‘s level, he is the true fanboy. (Also once he accidentally drew a character in the margins of Luke’s notebook which Luke wasn’t entirely pleased with). Yes to all of that, thinking about Reggie finding out what a Jar-Jar is (although he loves Gizmo, I have no reasoning just that) potentially Reggie writes a song about how much he can’t stand Jar-Jar and how people are ruining the franchise. (This is where Julie gets really concerned)

Alex and Reggie bond over photography so much, they definitely watch the pictures come out and then sometimes Bobby and Luke join them (they have no clue what is happening however they are just happy for Reggie).

So I looked it up and apparently Polaroid cameras were but I’m not completely sure how authentic it is (one can never be to careful). However I am definitely seeing Reggie out of the blue pulling up at Polaroid camera and taking pictures of the band.

I didn’t even think about Reggie being a photographer out of the band but yes that is exactly what his backup plan is. Honestly Reggie has so many scrapbooks that everyone even if they don’t know a single thing about him just say ‘oh you’re the scrapbook band member’.

Exactly it would show how he is able to know that also how he can listen to Ray without losing interest.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it earlier however the little photo that Carlos found, Reggie definitely took it (he set up the camera somewhere and in the album there’s numerous pictures that he took but sadly that was only a demo)

Yes, the amount of pictures of Alex and Reggie fills up about two scrapbooks, and because Luke can’t say no to him there about 3 of just Luke. (Luke is an actual puppy) (part of why he is so photogenic)

Also once they discover social media and potentially get onto Instagram, Reggie has a photography account which consist of Luke, Star Wars, photography things, and pouty Alex (and or just Alex and Luke jamming out, great pictures of Julie as well) (also occasionally he has pictures of Alex and Willie because and occasionally Flynn because she is also photogenic)

Exactly yes, that’s what I was thinking. Reggie would be to excited and because Alex knows how much this means to him he always grabs whatever he can (refuses to grab wrappers)

That would be such a great bonding moment between Reggie and Julie, that’s so adorable. I’m just picturing it now.

So sad, I was not expecting you to say that and once again I am just imagining Bobby looking at these developed pictures and crying. (Also there’s one of all of them with the back saying ‘we were going to be legends’)

Completely, (they are all a little sentimental). Yes, they all had a little something that set the gifts apart, for Bobby it was the knitting, for some reason Alex is weirdly good at wrapping (but can’t make a decision on what to get someone) and Reggie is not (tends to use newspaper that sometimes he draws on, also as you mentioned he gives really great gifts), and Luke is known for using whatever can possibly not something be shown to wrap also something completely the wrong size. (One year a circle gift was wrapped in a square).

They totally shared clothes, Luke more often then not steals Alex’s hoodies (also the rest of them because Alex is tall and soft hoodies), they just steal each other clothes all the time. If the item can’t be found then there’s a 10 out of 10 chance that another bandmate is wearing it.

Agreed, I feel like it was their way of making some thing for Bobby however they are not jewelry maker so they couldn’t make it as good as he could (I mean Luke writes music for everyone and Reggie is banned from writing any of them country music), however they tried and Bobby did tear up.

Precisely, in the end he did have to buy a necklace because he couldn’t make something with breaking down.

Yes, Luke is such a musical fan, honestly between Reggie and Luke they would watch movies for everything even sad gigs. (However to Luke every gig is successful so the boys can quote Grease every single line) Also for some reason I’m thinking that Alex and Bobby just love horror movies (which are reserved for truly successful gigs) and although Alex does get scared he loves them. (not the present ones to him, that is terrifying and is not cool however he loves older ones).

Exactly, (great songs by the way), they all kind of hate Star Wars (once again can quote everything) however they just do it for Reggie.

We all know that Alex is the choreographer, best statement I have heard because it is all true. That is precisely what they all do, it’s plays to what they are best at.

Yes, honestly for some reason I keep thinking that dance was really important to Alex‘s parents so after he came out he wasn’t able to dance in front of people anymore because it reminded him too much of them (comparing this to again Julie with not being able to play music after her mom passed ). Also could possibly be why the boys were so happy for Alex during ‘all eyes on me’ because it was the first time he had danced in such a long time (also just in general happy for him)

It’s really fun to share my thoughts and hear what yours are as well! Agreed this is really long 😂

And good night! (Or technically when you’re reading this good morning!)

This was a joy to wake up to omg! Once again I’m gonna have to put a keep reading thing because otherwise it’s gonna be painfully long lmaoo

I definitely think it would have only been Luke singing it, yeah, like him just looking Alex in the eyes the whole time, desperately trying to connect and convey how much he meant what he was singing. Bobby and Reggie probably had background vocals they were supposed to add but they just broke down halfway through the song (like there was one line that set them both off crying) so by the end it was just Luke and his guitar. And I think you’re totally right about their insecurities. They all know really that they’re important and the band wouldn’t function without each of them but it’s still hard for them all to see past their doubts because they believe them so forcefully. Luke would definitely worry about causing issues - I reckon when arguments happen within the band he’s usually involved and that’s why (not that it’s like his fault specifically, it just so happens that he can be headstrong and will argue about creative differences with any of the guys) and it worries him that they’ll think he’s too much trouble. I totally agree that after everything Alex would have some sort of fear of abandonment or being left alone or whatever. He could definitely have some trust issues and there’s always a thought at the back of his mind that the guys could kick him out at any moment. I think you said Reggie’s totally perfectly as well omg like YES - I read a fic a while back that basically talked about Reggie worrying about stuff like being too over the top and it was heartbreaking. And same with Bobby, maybe he didn’t have the best friends when he was a really young kid or he was bullied lots or something so he finds it hard to recognise that he’s just as close with the other boys as they are with him.

And no no no I do NOT want to think about Bobby crying after his friends are gone it hurts! Like he’d walk into the studio one day and it’s silent - it wasn’t that he expected the guys to be in there playing their instruments, but there had always been some sort of noise in the studio. Them chatting or the crappy TV they had down there or a pen scratching on paper as Luke scribbled down a song or Reggie did a crossword. He walks in and is greeted with nothing and it just breaks him.

And yeah lmao Alex totally knows about the secret meetings - he has guessed they’re about him because he’s never invited but whenever he asks the boys give him a different answer. Bobby’s are the only convincing ones, Luke’s just don’t make much sense, and Reggie’s are completely unbelievable.

I 100% agree with the fight thing, literally you read my mind. Bobby seems really chill so people think they can get away with saying anything but the second someone insults his friends he’s ready to deck them. Luke would mainly stick to shouting at people which could be equally intimidating but he would fight if it came to it, though he wasn’t quite as good as Bobby was.

Ooooh yes I can see that I totally think Reggie is good at art! I included it a little bit in a headcanon I wrote a while back about Reggie’s relationship with his grandad. I think they used to do a lot of art together and Reggie wasn’t quite as good as his grandad but he did gain enough skill to do pretty good paintings. He’d definitely paint those things, and he’d also use the photos he takes as references, so the studio at one point was filled with canvases just of Luke’s face because Reggie had so many photos of him lmao. And yes omg where Luke would write comfort songs for the boys Bobby would write comfort poetry omggg

I love the idea of Alex being a stress baker! On bad days/weeks/even sometimes months the studio will smell of cookies and cakes because Alex just keeps bringing the guys more and more food like “hi I made this at 3 am please tell me you like it”. The guys wait until after they’ve finished eating all Alex’s amazing food to talk about whatever is bothering him and force him to take a nap.

And yes Reggie needs as much sleep as possible or he won’t function. He’s never tired - he skips straight past tired into overtired and gets even more hyper and excitable so the guys need to know the right time to get him into bed. Or sometimes he won’t get overtired he’ll just get sad and distant and won’t tell the guys what’s up; when that happens it’s only Alex who can convince him that they care about him and the best thing to do is sleep.

Yessss he would totally help Mitch! Especially if they were still close, then Bobby could use his fame and influence to get other important names to support the charity and it grows massively.

And yeah with Mitch and Emily even though they didn’t like the band I think they came to see all of the boys as sons and they could always talk to them or stay at their house when they needed to. After the boys died I think it was one of the first places Bobby went - he hadn’t seen them since Luke ran away, but he explained everything that had happened since then and got very close with the two of them again. I can totally imagine Bobby’s parent being neglectful in some way - that way like the other three he would find solace and a new family within the band and be much happier there.

Bro I will be the first to riot if the show says someone who isn’t Rose is Julie’s mum. I will genuinely be furious. And yeah her talking to them would definitely give them some sense of closure. And yes omg, your mind!! Mitch and Emily knowing baby Julie is PERFECT. Like maybe they only saw her once or twice, so they wouldn’t recognise her when she’s all grown up, but the name sticks and they silently thank Rose when they realise it was her daughter who brought them so much closer to their son.

Yes me too I hope we get to see storylines like that developed more in the second season. We got to see barely anything of Alex and Reggie’s backstories, like all we know is Alex’s parents were homophobic and Reggie’s parents fought a lot. I’d love some flashbacks to the nineties, like the boys are telling Julie a story and then we as the audience get to watch the story play out. I just think that’d be cool

I can see Trevor/Bobby being such a family man. After losing his own family (the boys) he was determined to make his own family kind of perfect or to at least look after them (also if his parents were neglectful then he’d strive to not be) I truly think he really really loves Carrie to the ends of the earth and I’d love to see more of that in season 2. It only makes sense that he’d want to protect her from all of that sort of thing.

Yeah exactly!! It’s almost like they don’t care that they’re dead. Maybe they talked it out in the weird dark room where Alex cried, but Luke says that’s only an hour and that’s definitely not enough time to get over any death, let alone your own. The sadder option is that they genuinely just didn’t care - it’s like a fresh start for them and none of them really had the best life. Maybe they’re dead and they’ve left everything behind, but at least they’re still on earth and together.

And yes that’s exactly what I was trying to say, I’m so glad it made sense!!

Yeah, I feel like Alex would feel so accomplished after helping Bobby talk about his problems. Like he’d proudly tell the others that he’d helped Bobby out and they’d be like “okay Alex well done”

Yes omg lmao the song Reggie writes about hating Jar-Jar isn’t some country song like he usually writes, it’s this full-on heavy metal death song complete with verses that are just him screaming “die Jar-Jar die” (and I’m gonna be honest: I’ve never seen Star Wars so idk who Gizmo is but you’ve been right about literally everything else so far so I’m going to agree with you that he does love Gizmo lmao). Like you said Julie definitely starts worrying then, and one day she finds Reggie just like lying face down on the floor and she asks him what’s up and he just goes “stupid Jar-Jar”.

Yessss the guys would all really like watching the photos come out but it was kind of like Alex and Reggie’s “thing” like they felt it was their little experience just for the two of them (though they were more than happy to have Luke and Bobby there too). Yes to Reggie just randomly pulling out his Polaroid and snapping pics of them just whenever, that’s adorable and he definitely would. Yes lmao people know Reggie most out of the band because he’s kind of famous for just constantly buying scrapbooks and filling them up and needing to buy more scrapbooks on an endless loop.

Yes yes yes I definitely think Reggie took that photo. It was a little stressful as he had to put the camera on a timer and run into place without looking like he’d just sprinted across a room, but they eventually made it work.

Yes omg he has so many scrapbooks of Luke. When Julie first asks to see some of his photos he just smiles and says “I know which ones you’ll like” and pulls out these three overflowing scrapbooks filled with pictures of Luke. It’s mainly his face and his arms lmao

Yesss Reggie’s photography account is basically just everything he loves! There’s so many photos of the band and also food (because when he’s looking over that lady’s shoulder as she takes a photo of her food and he says that’s a great pic?? Yeah he likes doing that even though he’s a ghost and can’t eat the food). I absolutely love the idea of Reggie and Flynn being best friends so she’s more than happy to feature on his account because YES she is so photogenic it’s unreal.

Omg yeah if Alex refuses to grab wrappers (“no Reggie they’re sticky and gross get them yourself!”) then it’s fine because Luke just doesn’t throw things away so he has a ton of sweet wrappers in his pockets and will let Reggie have them because he doesn’t want them really

Wow ‘we were going to be legends’ on the back of one of the photos BROKE ME so thanks for that lmaooo. Bobby wrote it down with shaking hands and smudged the writing with tears. He couldn’t make himself bring it out of the studio.

You’re so right with the gifts and the wrapping thing, that’s so perfect I love it. Idk if you’ve ever seen the show Gavin and Stacey but there’s a Christmas episode of it where one of the characters wraps all his gifts in tinfoil and I feel like Luke or Reggie would also do that too lol

Alex would buy a new hoodie and be like “do you like my new hoodie” and the other three would just be like “our new hoodie, thanks Alex, we love it”

I feel like that pretty much sums up the band’s whole relationship, just that they try their best for each other. It isn’t always perfect or pretty but they’d give the world for one another and it’s all any of them could ask for

Oh they definitely love horror movies! Luke and Reggie are less keen and they’ll huddle together under a blanket for the whole thing, basically just cuddling each other with their eyes closed. Alex loves the feeling of being scared by the older movies and Bobby just somehow doesn’t get scared at all. And yes, Alex hates the newer ones they see after they come back as ghosts, but Willie convinces him to watch a few and he just uses it as an excuse to hold on tight to him.

On the subject of Choreographer Alex, I’m now picturing him making the others do mini aerobics classes. Like those pictures Owen Joyner posted of his Halloween costume, Alex would unironically dress up similar to that and make the boys copy his actions in a little class to keep them all fit and healthy. Reggie was very enthusiastic, Luke definitely was not, and Bobby went along with it because he found it funny.

Oh yeah I can totally see that! Like Alex’s parents used to be dancers and they wanted to get him into it - he loved it but like you say it was too painful once they didn’t accept him. I feel like he and Julie could bond over that, and she would gently encourage him to get back into dance like she did with music and he finally does at the Dirty Candi performance!!!

Ok that was about as long as I was expecting it to be but still extremely long 😂 I love how all of this came from two posts about a jigsaw lmaooo

#williexmercer #asks #sunset curve #emily answers

[nicknellie]

First, numbering them is absolutely brilliant because especially where paragraphs kind of change abruptly. I just keep like saying a word before it with a little dash mark just so you can (hopefully) have some reference as to what I’m talking about, but now I can do numbers!

1. Never knew I needed this until you typed it however this is everything

2. Exactly, that is the thoughts that they have and it takes Reggie breaking down for them to finally talk to each other about it because none of them wanted to approach the situation

3. Yes, I maybe should’ve chose a better point but I was like you can tell he’s passionate and it kind of shows what I mean. Also I feel like the fact that he still hasn’t processed his death might also be a sign that it’s hard for him to change his mind (Alex doesn’t like change, and neither does Luke)

However eventually Luke is able to reconsider what he said and also sometimes admit that he might’ve been in the wrong (but not often, hmm thinking of what I can reference from the show, possibly the dance ?)

4. Yes, and if he did intervene then everyone knew that they needed to be quiet and listen (also Alex is one of the only people who Luke would possibly let change his mind and or consider the other side quicker)

5. Due to his upbringing Alex always tries to be respectful hence why he said sir to Caleb however he is a sarcastic person and has quick comebacks

6. And that loneliness only grew after the boys passed away (part of the reason why he isn’t able to get close to people in fear that they will pass as well)

7. Same here, that’s part of where my theory came from. I agree, people grieve in different ways and that could’ve been how Bobby grieved and he shouldn’t be judged for it.

8. Yes he definitely goes through their bags. I do agree with you however at the same time I wonder if the bag did stay in the garage just because at the time Bobby knew how Luke and his parents parted (possibly could be that after a while, more so after he talked to them, he gave them the bag)

9. Absolutely and Reggie kind of switches between crosswords and sudokus just because he’s interested in lots of things

10. Precisely, despite the fact that Reggie is the one who is actually afraid of heights not Alex, Reggie tried to convince Alex that he was going to climb Mount Everest. Another time Reggie tried to convince Alex that they were going coffee tasting and didn’t want to make him feel bad because all of them had toffee nut in it (Owen is allergic to toffee nut hopefully and that’s the explanation I can offer😂)

11. They can’t lie to each other at all, Alex is the best liar sometimes when talking to other people (at least in defense of the boys) and in general Luke just can’t lie

12. Luke would definitely be the person who would cut someone off for something rude that they said. (Usually after exploding and saying why exactly they are wrong, especially if someone says something bad about Alex)

13. There’s a drawing of Reggie with a cowboy hat (https://kidovna.tumblr.com/post/639425200784572416/hi-little-reggie-in-a-cowboy-hat-even-if) (oh how I hope that link will work) and now I just want to see a picture of Sunset Curve with cowboy hats because Reggie was sad and they couldn’t say no

14. Yes, alongside those songs I offer the ‘devil went down to Georgia’ (i’m basically saying it because a version of this should be this song the boys use against Caleb and it’s basically them saying that they are better than Caleb) (also because it was released at some point during the time that they were alive I believe)

15. Yes those are the only art styles that Reggie has. Sometimes he randomly has half of the picture be realistic and then the other half be like Booboo Stewart’s art (Picasso like maybe ?)

16. Reggi definitely help decorate because not only was he impatient but he wanted to eat the cake. (The shape was kind of horrendous because Alex was trying to get it to be the exact shape of the character however the cake came out fantastic)

17. Yes the boys always juggle between if they should be concerned about the fact that he’s baking or the fact that he’s baking again so happy times (once again something he did that reminds him of his parents so for a long time the boys were the only ones who got the bake goods)

18. It took me longer than it should’ve to find this link and honestly I have no clue who wrote it but it’s so good https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308108 (same for this one as well)

19. Precisely it wasn’t like he was fixing the amp and then all the sudden it started raining. He just thought that starting to fix it in the rain would be best

20. You took the words right out of my mouth, yes. Honestly Alex was another son to Emily and Mitch so the fact that he was hurting so bad made them so mad. Maybe that’s why he had his stuff because if he was kicked out then he probably wouldn’t have had time to get everything that belong to him so because of Mitch and Emily that’s how we got his stuff (if they caught the rest of the boys climbing a tree to get what belonged to Alex and honestly only provided a car they will never say) (what if they just egg the house with Emily and Mitch’s help)

21. Exactly, Alex didn’t have the courage the tell Luke for a bit and still to this day Luke has no clue that Alex spend those nights at his house. (Also occasionally that Emily and Alex would talk and Emily would give him food just to make sure that they were well fed)

22. Sunset Curve just needs more in general, any scenes for them works

23. Yes!! Sadly I don’t have the book but I did see that (sometimes you just never know with shows because they easily could’ve taken a theory that the fans had and turned it into something completely different). I’m so happy that this is confirmed, although this still does leave the potential for them to reveal her in season two maybe (not sure) (just more Rose in general is needed)

24. Thank you, yes and I get that part of the reason may be that they don’t have as much screen time and don’t have as much about them known as the boys (hence the need for past stories) however they are wonderful characters played by wonderful actors and deserve more. Also the fact that neither of them really sang in season one is my one regret. (Flynn had ‘I got the music’ however that was kind of like an alternative reality partly, and aside from a bit in ‘the other side of Hollywood’ we don’t see much dancing/singing for Willie)

Flynn just like Luke is very set in her beliefs and also would be the first person to cut someone off/explode at someone if needed. However eventually she is the first person to reconnect with Carrie. Honestly just more of both of them is needed, in any fashion.

25. He does blame himself for their death and the fact that he wasn’t there (could be part of the reason why he started therapy because he believed this for so long)

26. Honestly I want them to give Trevor more character because aside from being Carrie‘s father and stealing the songs we don’t really know a lot about him or who he is (same for Bobby as well) Agreed, I would love to see more Carrie and Trevor moments.

27. Honestly I feel like that will be how they start to process their deaths because they realize, exactly as you said, that they are not going to age however everyone else is

28. Yes, everything you just said needs to be canon. There’s no in between for Reggie song writing it’s either pure country or heavy-metal. (Once he wrote a rock-ish song for Luke but it was most so along the lines that Luke needs to let him add his country music into the set list)

29. Exactly, that is entirely my thought process as well

30. Lightsaber fights happen all the time, Ray gets concerned by the floating lightsaber but Carlos shrugs it off with ‘it’s the ghost that’s been haunting our house’ (Tia is there and is shocked)

31. Wait wait, that is brilliant. Although Reggie can do it by himself, the pictures always turn out much better when Bobby isn’t there so the last few steps of the developing process are always saved for Bobby alone. (Also once Reggie just left a picture in mix while he was soaking the film and the picture turned green, no one knows why)

32. Yes, and if for some reason a fan can’t locate Reggie, they give the stickers to Alex. also the album is not only full of pictures but the stickers that they gave him, also a drawing that a fan made of Han-solo that made Reggie cry in a good way)

33. They all cried to be honest, although Alex only cried because all of them were crying

34. Oh my yes, that is his blackmail material and he uses it well. You are absolutely right that is exactly what Luke does, (also once got stuck in a child swing set)

35. I didn’t even think about her managing it but yes that is precisely what she does and she is in charge of those photo shoots. However once during golden hour, he is the reason for that one happening (also did the same for Willie because)

36. You stole the words out of my mouth that is exactly what he did.

37. I’m just now picturing it in my head and I need this in my life (imagine Julie just bundled up and since the sleeves are long they are overflowing as well and Alex just melts).

38. Luke is such a scaredy cat although when they meet Caleb, Alex said that he would be hiding behind Luke they all knew that if it came down to it that Luke would be hide behind Alex. So obviously this sentence meant that this needed to be created

39. They have matching costumes.. what if it’s like dirty candy where each costume is in a different colour. (Luke hates them even though he once bought them matching pjs)

40. They all dance with each other, just to displeased Luke for the longest time Bobby and Alex would just waltz around the garage (we all know that Luke joined them after the first time). Also once Willie sees Alex waltzing with Julie and decides that this is the greatest thing that has ever existed (also bamboozled because Alex never told him he could dance)

41. I wasn’t thinking about these things existing at all but I now need one as well

Ok I’m going to do my best to answer this quickly because I’ve got schoolwork to do but I absolutely love responding to these and want to do this instead, so I’m just going to expand onto each point I can and I might come back and edit it later with more detail!

2. Yes! Like one day in rehearsal Reggie just seems really out of it and the guys ask what’s wrong and he basically just asks if they even really want him there or they just keep him around to spare his feelings. Prompts Bobby to make them all sit down and talk it out because clearly they all have some issues they need to get a grip on

3. Oh yeah I get what you mean, kinda like it’s hard for him to adjust to any new or different way of thinking, even something as trivial as a song they’ll play probably like one time. I think you’re right about him actually managing to change his mind - it takes him a while and he despises admitting he’s wrong but he will do it if it’s really clear he wasn’t right

4. Oh yeah I love that! Like Alex knows just how to talk to him to get him to at least start reconsidering. Alex is a good influence in that way because he ensures Luke is always looking at every perspective and considering everyone in the band rather than only himself or sticking to only his ideas (I feel like he probably gets carried away writing songs and only wanting to include what he comes up with and Alex needs to gently remind him that he’s in a band, he’s not a solo artist)

5. Yesss you’re right - I think he has surprisingly quick wit and he doesn’t like arguing because it’s so fast that he’ll sometimes say things he doesn’t mean and finds it hard to take it back

6. Yeah omg that hurts to think about - having the boys in his life made him happy and less introverted but all that was ripped away from him too when they died

8. Oh yeah actually I like that! Seeing as we see ambulance lights/police lights in Unsaid Emily it’s likely Bobby was there first to identify bodies and collect stuff, so if he didn’t know Luke’s parents were coming then he would have just taken Luke’s things and gone through it - he finds a completed Rubik’s Cube (seeing as that’s part of where this whole massive list started lmaooo) and remembers Luke fiddling with it before the sound check and even that just breaks his heart

10. Now you mention it, Reggie being afraid of heights is something I could get behind - the boys would sometimes go to theme parks and Reggie would be the one who would wait with all their bags while they were on the rollercoasters. He preferred watching them all have fun anyway, it made him feel like a proud parent. Abbcoeprke yes definitely, Alex has the same allergy as Owen so Reggie was just panicking like “we just didn’t want to risk your health!”

11. Oh yeah definitely, Alex can lie unless it’s to one of the boys; Reggie only gets away with lies (not to the boys) because he comes up with the weirdest stuff and people just think it’s Reggie being Reggie so it’s hard to tell when he’s lying; Bobby is just way too casual when he’s lying which is how they catch him out; Luke “where is your kitchen by the way?” Patterson cannot lie to save his life

12. Luke is 100% willing to just cut all ties with someone even if they’ve been perfectly nice before - if it was an honest mistake that the person is willing to learn from, Luke would still keep them at arm’s length to avoid them hurting any of his best friends again

13. Yes omg thankfully I made the link work and that’s freaking adorable (I follow that person and I love ALL their art especially Reggie, they’re so talented) and yes oh my god. Reggie has been sad for a few days, maybe because his parents are fighting, and so Luke has the idea to do something kind of like a cowboy-themed party. It’s not really a party, it’s just the four of them spending the whole day wearing cowboy costumes and line-dancing but it definitely does the job of cheering Reggie up

14. Omgggg I listened to the song and I’m amazed at how perfectly that fits!!! Wow you’re exactly right, Reggie loves that song and he loved it even more after Julie pointed out how much it related to their situation

15. Ooooh I love that like a combination of the two styles!! Definitely a bit of Picasso inspiration in there too!

16. Yes lol the shape was weird because of that and also Reggie kept picking bits off to eat (Alex kept slapping his hand away but Reggie was so excited that he couldn’t bring himself to kick him out of the kitchen completely)

17. Yes omg and now I’m just thinking about young Alex being taught to bake by his mother back when they were really close, so now that’s all he can think about when he bakes - it gives him equal amounts of comfort and stress because he’s comforted by the happy memories but sad that he’ll never have those days back. But the cookies he’s left with at the end are great so it kind of gets rid of any sadness!

18. Ooooh I’ll read that when I’ve got time!!

19. Yeah lmao like it just didn’t occur to him that it would be a terrible idea. He kinda thought that rain was relaxing in a way and just. Went for it.

20. Asjkxbskl I love that like Mitch and Emily being good responsible parents the majority of the time but someone upsets Alex?? His own parents upset him??? Ok boys it’s time for payback get in the car

21. Yesss Alex just showing up at Luke’s house whenever he needed to just to speak to Emily! And the way she would look out for him!! 🥺🥺 plus Mitch making sure he took on the role of Supportive Father Figure

23. Yes you’re so right any more Rose content will make me so happy! I’d love to see her interacting with young Julie and Carlos, or her and Bobby being friends, or her meeting Ray, or her and Victoria being supportive sisters, plus her with her band Rose and the Petal Pushers!!! Just anything to do with Rose and I’ll be happy

24. Omg yes I’d kill for more performance from both of them! I want a Flynn and Julie duet or even Flynn and Carrie, or just Flynn becoming their resident rapper so whenever they want a rap section in a song they call on her. I desperately need a Willex duet, and yesss I need Willie dancing more - we were robbed of him and Alex dancing together at the HGC so we need any dance between them tbh. Ooooh yes I totally agree like when she’s like “watch it Carrie” in the music class, she’s just very protective and loyal and I honestly love her for that. Yesss more Flynn and Carrie!!

25. Definitely, he must have suffered so much survivor’s guilt afterwards and I think it was probably a while before he went to therapy, so maybe a lot of damage had already been done

26. 100% right, Trevor needs more character development. Honestly I kinda want to see him just losing his mind trying to figure out how the boys came back, and I also want to see him somehow communicate with them, explain his point of view and apologise. It’s an idea I’m including in a fic I’m writing but it could work here too if Trevor was to become the band’s manager to help them achieve the goals he did but they never got to

27. Especially Luke!! Him realising that Julie is growing older would be really tough for him :(((

28. Lmao yes Reggie writes songs to tell the boys to do things or to get his opinion across like “this one’s called: Shut Up, Luke, Country Music Is Good, You Just Have Poor Taste” or “I present: Alex, Just Ask Willie Out Before I Do It On Your Behalf”

30. Lightsaber fights are the way Ray actually finds out the guys are ghosts. He doesn’t believe Carlos so asks Julie and then as she’s trying to talk her way out of it the fridge opens by itself (well, Luke opens it, but that’s how it looks) and Ray is just like “are you sure there’s no ghosts?” and she has to explain everything. Tía Victoria just watches in horror and won’t come back to the house for months - eventually she does come back and bonds with Alex somehow

31. Absnfoflske yes the amount of pictures Reggie has accidentally ruined because of his terrible developing methods is unreal. Bobby stopped finding it funny when Reggie started getting really upset about it and spent like a week straight perfecting the technique

32. Awww yes Alex being like a sticker messenger and fans giving the boys fanart! For Reggie it’s almost always Star Wars (a lovely Han Solo like you said omg I love it), and for the others it’s usually portraits of them (Alex was once given a jigsaw but never figured out how people knew he liked them so much bc he never really made it public???)

34. Omg YES. Other places Luke has got stuck: halfway through the railings of a fence, inside a washing machine, his foot got stuck in a toilet, he got his arm trapped in a vending machine for five hours, in a tunnel on a children’s climbing frame (that was the same day as the swing set lmao), and once inside a suit of armour (nobody ever figured out where he got the armour from - even Luke himself wasn’t really sure)

35. Oh my god oh my god oh my god Willie and Flynn photoshoots together!!!!!! With Luke and Flynn, Willie is definitely also the most photogenic (they found out because Reggie accidentally took a photo one day and everyone looked dreadful except for Willie who was practically glowing) so some days during golden hour like you said Reggie will just take the two of them down to the beach and make them do a photo shoot omgggg

37. Yes 🥺🥺 the second he sees her he just marches right up to her and hugs her (bonus points if she’s sad (about her mum or something else) and she found Alex’s jumper and put it on for comfort and she’s crying when he finds her but he calms her down just by hugging her and letting her keep the hoodie for as long as she wants it which ends up being forever)

38. Akdbsokcod yes exactly that’s freaking amazing I love it

39. Oh my god yes! Alex had multiple outfits but his favourite was pink, Reggie’s was red, Luke’s was blue, and Bobby’s was yellow (he wanted black but Alex said no because he didn’t want him to overheat while exercising like he would have done in black). And matching PJs yes omg that’s so cute. And Julie gets them all matching onesies - Reggie absolutely adores them

Here’s a genuine real actual photo of Sunset Curve in their workout gear (left to right is Reggie, Alex, Bobby, Luke)

(Could I have found a better picture? Probably. Is this a thousand times funnier and therefore worth choosing instead? Definitely.)

40. Yes totally and after that Willie insists Alex teaches him too and Alex once again resumes his position as resident dance teacher

#this definitely wasn’t a quick response lmaooo but oh well i had fun doing it 😂😂 #williexmercer #asks #emily answers #julie and the phantoms