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nebula-lad · 2 months

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Dancers in the Rotunda

Hello, happy February Fanfest Day! For this year's @jatpfebfanfest, my giftee is... @lyxchen! I hope you like the fic and art I made, and I hope anyone else who reads this enjoys it at well.

Read it on ao3

“Willie, I know you like breaking the rules, but this feels a bit much…” Alex says quietly, worried he’ll get caught if he’s too loud.

Willie had decided to invite Alex to another hangout (definitely not a date, why would Willie want to go on a date with him) to boost their spirits amidst all the chaos of Caleb possessing Nick and the boys being almost-but-not-quite-alive. But he’d failed to mention that they were once again breaking into a museum, but this time in the dead of night, making Alex feel like he was accidentally going to rob the place, and be caught by James Bond or some crazy character like that.

Willie’s chuckle brings Alex out of his thoughts. “Relax, Hotdog. It’s not like anyone can tell us what to do. Not here, anyway.” He grins, grabbing Alex’s hand and pulling him along.

The two ghosts stop their wandering in the hall of artworks made by 19th century artists. They look around in awe at the art, fascinated by the glimpse of the distant past they were given. Alex finds himself drawn to a particular painting, lost in the scene as he stares at the ballet dancers within it.

“‘Dancers in the Rotunda at the Paris Opéra’?” Willie asks, reading the plaque next to the painting, then standing next to Alex. “I didn’t know you were into Degas.” He smiles, playfully knocking into him.

Alex huffs out a laugh. “Didn’t know that’s who this was by. I just felt drawn to it. Like I was in the scene for a bit.”

He nods. “What about it draws you in?”

“The dancers.” He explains. “I want to be with them. When I was younger I wanted to be a ballet dancer, and I read up on everything I could about the subject. I used up my allowance before saving for my drums to pay for records of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake and all those famous ballets so I could memorize them and their stories. I wanted to be that so bad…”

“But… you ended up in a rock band filled with rebels instead?”

Alex sighs quietly. “Yeah. My mother and father… They didn’t appreciate my passion for feminine stuff like that to say the least, and wouldn’t let me get lessons. But what I did have access to was music class at school and very determined friends.” He chuckles. “I became a rebel by proxy.”

“Nah, there’s no ‘by proxy’ with that sort of stuff.” Willie laughs as well, then looks at the painting quietly for a moment. “I’m sure you’d be a great ballet dancer, by the way. You’d look stunning up on stage.”

“I- What?” He looks over at the ghost by his side, only to find a soft smile and a genuine shine in his eyes.

“I said you’d look stunning.” He says casually, looking over at Alex. “I’ve never been to a ballet, but I’d go to one if you were in it.”

Alex stares at Willie in shock, trying to figure out if this whole situation is a dream. He never imagined being flirted with by a guy about his childish dream of being a dancer. All the times he’s admitted this to others, it had been met with teasing or denying. Not flirting, and definitely not flirting from a very cute guy who’s also a dancer (even if the dancing was maybe against his will).

Willie watches the light blush form on Alex’s face as he processes the compliment with an amused smile, and goes back to looking at the painting. Now that Alex has told his story, Willie sees the painting in a new light. He can imagine one of the dancers being Alex, golden hair glowing softly in the dimly lit studio as he practices his twirls and leaps and all those ballet moves that had strange French names Willie could barely pronounce. It seemed like a thing that was made for Alex, like playing the drums or wearing pink or being cute and funny and just the greatest. He looks back at the boy in question and smiles softly again. Maybe now…? “Hey, Hotdog-?”

Alex shushes him quickly, and in the silence he hears the footsteps of the night guard coming over to their hallway. Alex’s eyes widen in a panic, adrenaline coursing through him as he grabs the other ghost’s hand and pulls them towards a small alcove, hidden from the view of the guard. He takes a minute to catch his breath, then looks at Willie to find that he’s staring at him with the ever-present shine of amusement in his eyes, and maybe the shine of something else glistening there too.

Alex glances around his face, taking in all of his features as the guard's footsteps get closer and louder, or maybe that’s his phantom heartbeat getting loud as his gaze settles on Willie’s lips for a moment before looking back at his eyes. Willie’s hand that’s not gripping Alex’s own settles on the shoulder of his pink sweatshirt, feeling the other’s hand lightly touch his cheek.

Next thing Willie knows, Alex leans forward and softly pecks his lips. It’s only a moment, but it’s enough to steal both their breaths away. Their phantom heartbeats grow louder once again as they let go of the other’s hand and pull each other into a much more passionate kiss.

Alex feels euphoric. Not only has tossing his anxiety away led to something good this time (instead of, y’know, death), but he’s now kissing his crush and the prettiest guy he’s ever seen, and this guy is kissing him back. He definitely feels like he’s dreaming now, with Willie clutching his sweatshirt hood to try and pull him impossibly closer and his hands running through Willie’s hair.

Eventually, though, Alex comes up for air he doesn’t necessarily need but doesn’t want to go without, and the two boys knock their foreheads together, sounds of breathing filling the silence. They look into the other’s eyes for a minute before Willie lets out a soft laugh. “I think the guard’s gone.”

It’s quiet again before they both burst out laughing, realizing the ridiculousness of this whole situation.

“Oh my gosh, we kissed for so long the guard’s gone.”

“Dude, you hid us away from a lifer that can’t see us.”

“I did? My anxiety really got the better of me…”

“It led to better things, though.” Willie grins at the other ghost.

Alex flushes, and covers his face with his hands to hide it. “Willie…” He whines, realizing that that whole thing really did happen. His eyes widen. “Oh gosh, wait, was that ok? Like, were you ok with that? It’s ok if you weren’t-“

Willie cuts him off with a soft peck and smiles. “It’s totally ok, Alex. I promise.”

Alex nods the tiniest bit, then after a beat throws his arms around Willie in a tight, comforting hug. Willie lets out a surprised noise, then grins and hugs him back.

They stay like this for who knows how long, neither wanting to let go until they had to. Alex lets go first, and sighs quietly. “Um, I should go. The guys are probably worried about me, and I’m sure you have things to do. So…”

Willie blinks. Oh, right, he works at a club of ghosts run by the worst guy ever. He doesn’t get to spend all his time with his- uh… “Can I call you my boyfriend?” He blurts out, not even thinking about the sentence before it’s out in the open. He feels his face flush now.

Luckily, Alex laughs a bit. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.” He says, giving his now boyfriend a warm smile.

Said boyfriend grins, and gives him another peck. “Alright, go. Your band probably misses you.”

Alex nods and poofs out of the 19th century wing of the art museum, leaving Willie alone with the 200 year old paintings of landscapes, people, and a particular one that holds a trope of ballerinas practicing for their latest show. He looks at the painting once more, and smiles softly. “Catch you later, Hotdog.” He whispers before poofing out as well.

~~~

When Alex suddenly appears in the middle of the garage, Reggie lets out a sigh of relief as Luke angrily pouts on his couch. “Holy crap, there you are! We were worried about you!” Reggie says, hugging his friend.

”Woah, was I really gone for that long?” Alex asks, patting Reggie’s shoulder as he looks to Luke.

”Yes.” Luke grumbles. “You left in the middle of movie night, without telling us, and then showed back up after the movie ended! We were in the middle of Jurassic Park!”

”Luke, dude, we’ve seen Jurassic Park a billion times, no thanks to you. It’s not like I was missing anything in the movie.” He sighs. “I’m sorry for not saying something, though. I just thought you guys would make fun of me…”

”Why would we do that? We’re your friends!” Reggie frowns up at him.

”Yeah, like you haven’t done it before.”

”Where did you go?” Luke asks.

Alex frowns slightly, trying to figure out how to explain what happened. As he thinks, he feels his cheeks flush and he looks down at the floor to hide it. “I… I went on a date with Willie.” He mumbles.

Luke goes slack-jawed as Reggie squeals with delight. “You ditched movie night to be with him?!” Luke stands up, bouncing around from either annoyance or joy, Alex couldn’t tell.

”It’s a completely valid reason to ditch!” Reggie says. “Besides, you’d probably ditch if you had the chance to go hang out with Julie. You’re no better than Alex is.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but he quickly closes it, knowing the bassist is right. Reggie then turns to Alex again, an excited smile on his face. “So, do we get the deets? Did you guys scream in a museum again?”

”Uhhh…” The drummer squeaks, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Well, we did go to a museum again, but no screaming. We talked about the paintings and what we liked and…” Alex trails off, his face flushing red again. “I might’ve kissed him.” He mutters under his breath.

The two boys cheer like they just got their best gig yet. “Finally! Alex, we’re so happy for you.” Luke grins, going over and jumping up to try and wrap his arm around the taller boy’s shoulder, with Reggie nodding along.

”Thanks guys.” Alex smiles a bit, feeling a bit embarrassed still but also relieved that his friends were excited for him.

Reggie gasps. “We should go tell Julie, and Ray and Carlos! They’ll be super happy for you too!”

”Ah, maybe we should wait until it isn’t, like, two in the morning to go and tell them.” He suggests.

”Ohh… Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Luke chuckles. “We should still celebrate. Alex, what do you wanna do?”

The drummer thinks for a minute. “Well, it sounds like I owe you guys a movie. We could watch whatever you guys want to choose.”

”Nope, no no no.” Reggie interjects. “This is your celebration, you get to choose. That’s the rule.”

”Oh.” He mumbles. He didn’t usually choose the movies the three of them would watch. It wasn’t like he didn’t have favorites, he definitely did. He was just worried that the guys wouldn’t like what he chose, or that they’d just make fun of his taste. But… if letting go of his anxiety can lead to a date with his crush and getting to call his crush his boyfriend, then he could choose a movie he loves and not worry about what his friends think. “Let’s watch The Princess Bride, then.” Alex says.

After agreeing, the three boys sit down on Luke’s couch while Reggie turns the movie on. Alex pretends not to notice when his band mates get highly invested and find that they can’t peel their eyes off the screen. He also pretends not to notice the next morning when Julie comes into the garage, telling the three of them to wake up, that Luke replies with ‘as you wish’. He also notices a certain long-haired skater boy come into the garage during band practice, but this time he doesn’t pretend not to. He instead decides to make it everyone’s problem as he poofs over and kisses his boyfriend, thanking him for the night before.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp 2024 feb fan fest #willex #alex mercer #willie jatp #my writing #my art #uhhh this is my first fic ever so sorry if it's too ooc #also this is my fifth attempt at posting this so sorry it's a bit late #anyways hope y'all enjoy!

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