#or reggie and julie pulling luke out of the game
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Is this okay? It's more than okay.
Peterpatterlina?
The humidity had reached a point where it was impossible for Julie to determine how much she was actually sweating from the near endless trekking through this jungle. All she really wanted was to sit down and rest. However after learning this place had literal carnivorous flowers that wouldn’t hesitate to eat her and the incident with spiders she didn’t dare stop and risk getting left behind.
Not that she thought Reggie and Luke would purposefully leave her behind. But she was already trailing behind. Only getting further behind with every trip and stumble, not yet as adept at traversing the terrain as the other two.
How long had they been trapped here? They looked to be about her age.
She yelped as her foot caught on yet another root, stumbling forward, her wandering thoughts flying out of her head as the ground quickly grew closer.
An arm around her waist stopped her, and pulled her back against a warm body. A quick glance told her she was in Luke’s arms.
“You ok?” Reggie asked, face full of concern as he stepped closer into her space, all but trapping her between him and Luke. His hands hovered as his gaze drifted over her.
“Yeah, yeah fine.” She said, trying to hide out of breath she was and a little glad the heat would hide the blush burning along her cheeks. “How much more are we going to walk?”
“Not much farther now.” Luke said, releasing his grip and staying behind her as Reggie led the way.
Julie followed along hoping she wouldn’t have to try and remember how she got here in the first place, since everything looked the same to her. Eventually Reggie stopped at a large tree in a particularly barren portion of jungle and began climbing up a set of tangled up vines.
Julie's eyes traced up the vines to what must be their home, little more than a dilapidated ruin of a treehouse. At least from down here that’s what it looked like.
Thankfully, Luke didn’t need much reassurance that she could handle climbing up what essentially amounted to a rope ladder without any assistance. Further grateful that he kept his snickering and any further offers of assistance to himself. Despite how much she struggled she was going to do this herself. Besides she did not want to find out what compromising position she’d end up in if she couldn’t do this herself.
Only compromising positions quickly became her only thought as she entered the treehouse and realized how much smaller it was than she guessed. Definitely smaller than her bedroom back home, as she squeezed herself into a corner to try and stay out of the way, as Luke and Reggie moved about the space.
“Sorry it’s not much.” Reggie said with a shrug, as he glanced around.
“Really it’s just the bed, if you can even call it that.” Luke added, with a sheepish nod toward the assorted fabrics and piles of what Julie had to assume were leaves that took up a good portion of the floor.
“Is this okay?”
“It’s more than okay.” She said, unsure what she even would have done if they hadn’t come along. Certain she very much owed these two her life a hundred times over by now with all the ways she could have wound up dead. “Definitely better than ending up dead or eaten alive, anyway.”
She grimaced as her forced laugh did nothing to try and turn her phrase into a joke. If anything Luke and Reggie’s faces crumpled even more and it broke what tenuous grip Julie had on powering through her situation. She hadn’t even realized how close she had been to crying so focused on following Luke and Reggie to some sort of shelter.
They quickly wrapped her up in a hug, whispering apologies against her hair as her crying only grew worse. They didn’t say it out loud but she could hear it in the finality of their tones. They all were as good as dead in their current situation, trapped in a jungle with no way of getting out or contacting home.
All they were doing now was prolonging the inevitable on the slim hope someone else could pull them free.
Julie’s grip tightened on their arms as she willed those nefarious thoughts out of her mind. Luke and Reggie had survived this long, however long it had been, she could too.
She would cling to that small hope of rescue for as long as she could just as tightly as her nails dug into their arms.
#. . .this somehow turned into a sort of Jumanji AU??#This might be another slightly spite fueled AU…because I can never forgive Jumanji Welcome to the jungle for how tame it made that jungle#rukebox#peterpatterlina#it occurred to me after the fact I could have also reversed this and had julie pulling luke and reggie out of the game#or reggie and julie pulling luke out of the game#OMG could you imagine!?#Everyone thought Luke Patterson ran away from home but really he got stuck in Jumanji . . .an altered Jumanji that freezes time in a way#I could go on for a while
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your dark fantasy/fae au is so fucking cool and I’m going to be thinking about it forever now. I just wanted you to know. that’s all, have a wonderful day <33
Hard same, anon! Have some more headcanons.
-Willie has 100% crashed while skateboarding, walked home with an obviously broken arm, and gone about his day because he still had chores and you have to work through the pain that's just what you do, right?
-NO, and Ray spends a very panicked ride to the ER.
-At least Willie is delighted with his cast and the human tradition of your friends writing and drawing on it. Julie draws a little butterfly for him and he's just delighted.
-The boys all sleep in one room in a giant puppy pile. Ray offered them separate beds but they all looked so betrayed he just... made sure they had enough blankets and pillows instead.
-After the bird funeral, Willie is concerned because Ray's garden is not that big and there are a lot of people in this house and apparently death comes for everyone and he is relieved to learn humans have special gardens for human dead people called cemeteries.
The next time they drive past one on their way to Carlos' baseball game, Willie presses his nose to the car window and informs everyone: "There's dead people in there."
It is quiet in the car (Carlos makes sure to note they can put the 'x days since Willie said something weird' back to 0) before Julie is like: you're not wrong?
-Luke is trying desperately to figure out if in The Modern Era he still needs to ask Ray's permission to Court Julie. After doing a lot of research watching the telly-vision, he concludes he does not, he needs to get Flynn's approval because she is The Bestie.
-Flynn is like: to court Julie you must first complete these quests.
-Reggie would put a stop to it but honestly it's keeping Luke out of trouble when he has to write a song, and fetch Flynn seven sodas, and come catch and release the spider in her room (he brings Willie who politely asks the spider to stay on the other side of her window) and perform Feats Of Strength (help Flynn rearrange her furniture).
-Julie finds out and puts a stop to it of course but to be fair she really likes the song and was very flustered at sweaty Luke in his cut-off t-shirt so... she can't be too mad at Flynn.
(More mature and ridiculous headcanons behind the cut.)
-When the equinox approaches, Willie gets a little distressed. Because Ray hasn't done any preparations. Where are the wines and grapes and cured meats? The honey cakes? The pixie pears? Ray who have you invited? What about the music? What about the revelries, Ray? Are you going to get the couches deep cleaned after the orgies or do you have special soft blankets to cover them?
-Ray goes from mildly confused to very distressed, especially when Willie is like: is that not why you have so many couches???
-What follows is a very distressing day for Ray as he tries to figure out if the boys have sexual abuse trauma on top of the whole 'kidnapped by magical beings' and 'hunted for sport' and 'enslaved to perform for the fairy's amusement' trauma.
-They do not, but just to be sure he has a talk with them about consent and safe sex.
-Willie staring at Ray like: "What do you mean protection? Do humans attack each other during sex? Alex, you never told me this."
Luke is trying to calm Ray down like: it's okay Alex and Willie can't get pregnant they don't need to pull out unless they want to.
Reggie is coming to the frightening realisation that he is the normal one and has to be the mature one. He is also very, very sorry, Ray. There were just... so many orgies. Or maybe just a few long, long orgies. Time was weird. You get kind of desensitised to it all.
-Willie understanding that Consent is like the magic spell that makes sex okay and starts just asking Alex: Consent?
And Alex goes 'okay!' and they happily skip off together.
(Julie: I am traumatised.
Reggie: Yeah well blame your dad.)
-Not Reggie quietly pining as he sees Julie and Luke get closer and Willie and Alex carefree and in love and he's just over here... trying not to think of exactly what happened at those orgies and how suddenly he's the one left behind and alone.
#julie and the phantoms#I wrote a thing#willex#juliexluke#kidnapped by the fae au#special thanks to Yeo for the enabling#do I have any idea what the reggie endgame ship is? no not yet#actually luke and reggie appreciate the heads up on when they should probably sleep in the studio or on the couches#As Yeo said: poor Ray deserves a vacation
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you make me smile (please stay for a while)
So @innytoes prompted me with omegaverse in an ask game and I talked about how I *would* write it. Then I couldn't stop thinking about this scene...so I wrote it XD
You can find it here on AO3!
Even though he knows his flannel won't be there, Reggie checks between the cushions of Luke's couch for the fifth time.
Still—he has to look. Sometimes he misses things that are in front of his face.
He huffs when the couch predictably fails to produce it. It must've been there—for a while, too, with the lingering trace of its scent—but that's also kind of a problem.
Their scents are everywhere now, his and Luke's and Alex's along with Julie's, so it's nearly impossible to distinguish much, let alone track that way. If he really tries, he can guess when everyone was here, but—
Oh! Maybe he doesn't need to track anything. Maybe he can just ask someone.
Ray points him toward Julie's room. Her door is ajar, so he doesn't knock—she'd said that they could come in now if the door is open. Reggie bounces through.
“Julie! Have you seen—”
She whirls around with a squeak. After a beat, she tries to shield the nest that's taking shape on her bed with her body, but she's too tiny. It's adorable, though.
“It's not…” she starts to say, only to falter.
Reggie’s eyes slide past her. The nest she's making looks cozy, and compact—like it'll last a while, unlike his, which are always a bit sloppy and tend to unravel if he rolls around too much.
Warmth blossoms in his chest—and his cheeks—as he spots his flannel, which is neatly wedged between some hoodies.
But—they could've sworn she's a beta.
Just now, though—she's not a good liar.
And her scent has changed some—it's not sickeningly sweet, so she can't be building a mating nest. Her scent has gotten stronger and sharper, though, and it's only spiked since he entered the room. So—
“Julie,” he says slowly, “are you—stress nesting?”
She bites her lip, lowering her eyes.
“Maybe? Um. Sorry I never told you—”
She gasps as Reggie lifts her in an ecstatic hug, only to let out a little laugh as he swings her around, then pulls her close.
“You're like me,” he breathes. “Sorry you're stressed—but your nest looks so good already! Please show me how to do that.”
She laughs again, nuzzling into his chest.
“Only if you promise to cuddle me in it. That'll make me less stressed for sure.”
A deep purr rumbles through his chest involuntarily, but she responds in kind before he can be embarrassed about it.
She's less stressed already—her scent isn't so sharp—and he smiles into her hair.
Julie shows him how she tucks everything together. She's got something from everyone—she even has Luke's fuzzy sadness flannel, which he had evidently lent to her the last time she was sad.
Reggie wonders if she realizes the significance of this, then shakes his head. Even if not—you'd have to be blind to miss the way they care about one another, the way they click. Sure, they all click, but—
It's—hard to say if it's the same. Thinking about it beyond the somewhat vague scope of family/pack makes his head hurt.
Kinda like the way everything smells so strongly, now. It makes it hard to tell anything apart—and the headache thing.
The scents don't make his heart ache, though—much. Not if he doesn't think.
It doesn't take long to finish the nest—their nest, now, she insists, even though he really hasn't contributed much. Still, his bits are less sloppy, and the way she beams at him when he successfully hides some loose sleeves makes him blush.
They curl up in the center, which is very cozy—cuddling with Julie is always cozy, but it probably helps that the bottom of the nest is mostly layered with sweaters.
She nuzzles at his neck, lazily scenting him, and he's warm all over, safe and loved and a fluttery sort of content that manifests in another purr. He kisses the top of her head, mildly scenting her back.
And really—her purr sounds just as pretty as her singing. It quickly lulls him to sleep.
“This is the cutest shit I've ever seen.”
Reggie cracks one eye open to look at Luke, who pouts back at him.
“You didn't have to stop purring.”
Reggie flushes. “I was still—?”
He pauses. Faintly, Julie's purring in her sleep, and her hands are knotted in the back of his shirt. It is, in fact, very cute.
Alex digs his elbow into Luke's side.
“I tried to tell him not to barge in here because he even said your scents were all sleep dull, but no one ever listens to me—”
Reggie and Luke both interrupt at once.
“I listen to you!”
“The door was open!”
“Okay.” Alex rolls his eyes. “But yes. You were both purring. And Luke was—”
Luke coughs. His face is red, which is unusual for him—but his cough feels less than genuine, and Alex smirks like it's not.
“Anyway,” Luke says pointedly, “does this mean that Julie's—? Is that her nest, or—”
Julie hums. She's stopped purring, but the humming's just as nice. She doesn't move.
“It's our nest. And you could ask Julie.”
Luke smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn't know you were up.”
“Of course she is,” Alex says with a snort. “How's anyone supposed to sleep through the loudest conversation in LA?”
“It's not—” Luke cuts himself off. He turns to Julie. “So, um. Are you an omega?”
She nods, burrowing further into Reggie.
“I know it's not a big deal to you…just, when we met and you assumed I was a beta…my suppressants must be better than what you guys remember. They mask the obvious stuff in my scent, usually. And I wasn't fond of you then, so I let you assume…and then it felt like I waited too long to tell you the truth. I'm sorry.”
Luke's sheepish smile has morphed into more of a wolfish grin. “You're fond of us?”
“Of course that's what you latch onto,” Alex mutters, sounding equal parts exasperated and fond, himself. Luke has that effect.
Julie hmphs. “You know I am, don't tease. Otherwise we won't let you in. Right?”
“Right,” Reggie agrees, “no more teasing.”
He's rewarded with another purr from Julie, and it looks like Luke and Alex very much want to tease him about it, but they don't. They carefully climb into the nest.
Alex burrows into Reggie’s side as he and Julie shift a bit, while Luke just lays on top of everyone like a weighted blanket. It’s—
Perfect. Yeah. This is pretty much perfect.
The next time he can't find his flannel, he's not worried about it. He knows it'll turn up.
He knows his head and his heart better.
And he was right—this, they, are perfect.
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Kissing the homies goodnight for Willie (/Willex) because I feel like Willie would.
Ack I'm so sorry this took so long but here you gooo!
Willie ducked into the kitchen to grab the water pitcher and some glasses, praying he wasn't forgetting anything important. They knew it was just their friends crashed across various surfaces in the living room, but it was still nerve-wracking. Willie hadn't been to a sleepover in like... five years, let alone hosted one. They got why the foster care system had to check over people before they could stay overnight, but with the number of times Willie had moved around since entering the system, it just... had never happened.
Caleb had been hesitant at first when Willie asked if they could all stay over, wanting to ensure Willie was settled himself first. And also wanting to meet all of these kids before he let them have free reign of his home.
But it was finally happening. All of Willie's best friends (and his boyfriend, but they hadn't really managed to wrap their head around that one yet) were lounging in his living room at 2 in the morning, some closer to dozing off than others.
Willie wasn't sure which was stronger: the excitement or the terror of messing this up.
He was pretty sure he hit all the main bits on all the 'how to throw a slumber party' lists he'd found online: pizza, way too many types of ice cream toppings (they're not entirely sure how many of those canned cherries Luke ended up fitting in his mouth), random games (he'd never heard of turning pictionary into a drinking game with shots of soda, but apparently that was a thing his friends did), and a movie with lots of popcorn and cozy blankets.
So they're pretty sure they've done alright thus far.
Still, it'd been a long time since Willie did this.
He re-entered the living room just as Alex managed to grab the TV remote and turn off the rolling credits of Legally Blonde. Flynn looked to already be asleep, lying across one of the air mattresses with her feet up on Julie's stomach. Julie had propped herself up a bit on her elbows and was debating...something with Reggie. Both of them looked closer to dozing off than winning though. Luke and Carrie were both sitting upright on one of the couches, madly swiping on their phones and hissing at each other.
"Do I even want to know?" Willie asked Alex quietly, setting the water and cups down on the coffee table and rejoining him on the loveseat.
Alex groaned. "I made the mistake of telling them there's a PvP mode on this tower defense game they both play."
Willie tried to hold back his giggle. He failed.
Alex attempted to glare at them, but mostly just looked sleepily confused. "I'm serious, we're gonna have to take their phones away now if we want them to sleep," he sighed.
Willie winced. "Any chance the game will kick them off after a few rounds?"
Alex shook his head, then leaned over to rest his head on Willie's shoulder. "And they're both too stubborn to give in, I already tried it."
Willie rested their cheek against his hair, letting their lungs adjust to expanding and contracting in time with the light huffs of Alex's breath against their collarbone. "Is it online?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" Alex responded, blinking up at him sleepily in the dim light of the lamp.
Willie smirked and pulled out his phone. Okay, so Caleb hadn't technically given him the password for the router, but like... it hadn't been hard. He opened the app on his phone that connected to the electronic and started typing.
Twin cries of annoyance erupted from the pair on the other couch a moment later, informing Willie of his success.
"It just kicked me off!" Luke complained.
"Same here," Carrie griped. "Willie I think your wifi died."
Willie looked up, attempting to look innocent. "Oh yeah, I think you're right," they agreed. "Ugh, this happens sometimes, it will probably come back in an hour or two, but we just gotta wait it out."
Both Luke and Carrie groaned, but seemed to buy it and tossed their phones aside. Carrie peeled off her sweater and tossed it down next to Flynn's head, before pulling a blanket up and over herself and stretching out along the couch. Luke slid down onto the air mattress beside Reggie, koala cuddling against his back. Reggie laughed and shifted over so Luke could share his pillow, still discussing... Okay Willie was pretty sure they were trying to figure out who in their friend group would be whom in Legally Blonde. Fair enough.
Willie felt Alex's tiny sigh of relief against his neck and shivered. It felt nice, being close like this and knowing it made Alex just as fluttery as it did them.
Alex brought his fingers up to his chin, then let his hand move forward, palm up. Thank you.
Willie tucked his phone away. "Don't mention it," he whispered, daring to brush his lips against Alex's forehead.
Alex's cheeks turned pink, but Julie interrupted before Willie could tease him about it.
"Hey, no PDA unless you're willing to share with the class," she mumbled, eyes heavy.
"You're one to talk," Alex pointed out, glancing pointedly between her and Flynn's feet still resting on her abdomen.
"Oh you wanna wake her up?" Julie snarked back, the words slurring together a bit.
"I don't think any of us have that death wish," Willie chuckled. They tapped Alex lightly on the shoulder in warning, then stood up. "And I don't mind sharing." Before Julie could respond, he ducked down and pecked her on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, Juju," they added, throwing a spare blanket over her and heading back toward Alex.
"Hey, we're part of the class too," Reggie called out. When Willie turned, he was sticking his bottom lip out, the puppy eyes mostly hidden by his drooping eyelids.
Willie glanced back at Alex, a little startled, but Alex just shrugged and gave him a sleepy smile. So Willie picked his way around to Reggie and gave him a goodnight kiss too. And then Luke perked up a bit and wanted one. And Carrie said she should get one on Flynn's behalf, since her girlfriend was asleep.
"I guess I should have warned you how clingy we all get this late," Alex murmured when Willie finally made it back to his side. "I kinda forgot you haven't been able to be around this before. Just feels really natural."
"All good," Willie promised around a yawn. "Just tryin'a be a good host."
Alex leaned over and hit the button on the side of the love seat to make it lean back, the extending footrest turning it into more of a bed. "It's perfect," he stated, pulling Willie in to lay beside him.
Willie let out a happy sigh and cuddled in closer. Alex's cool arms soothed the nervous energy that was always humming along their skin. He felt Alex's lips brush against his hairline.
"G'night Lex," they mumbled, eyes slipping shut.
"Good night, Willie."
#legolas tag#julie and the phantoms#legolas ask#jatp#jatp fanfic#willex#alex mercer#willie jatp#Julie molina#reggie peters#luke patterson#carrie wilson#flynn taylor#mentioned good dad caleb#I am so so sorry for how long this took!#I kept only seeing it when I didn't have time to write!#As an apology have some hcs from this whole thing#Willie moved through half a dozen or so foster homes before ending up with Caleb a few months before this fic#Caleb is very much himself but also was a foster kid himself as a teenager so wanted to pass along that support to other kids#also Caleb makes them all really good waffles in the morning for breakfast#Alex is lowkey scared of him#But CPS has managed to keep Willie in the same high school for the last 2 years even with different homes#so that's where he met Alex and everyone#there was a bit of discussion about the Molinas fostering Willie#but they didn't have another spare bedroom that wasn't full of stuff when Reggie moved in there.#and there's all the legal requirements and stuff#but he ended up with Caleb so it's chill!#also who is dating in this fic? who knows!#not the author that's for sure!#Willie and Alex definitely are
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WIP Ask Game: The Prom
Also a request by @onlygenxhere - so, I just counted out the chapters on my timeline, and assuming I publish one scene/chapter a week, this fic isn't coming out for another 25 weeks. *wince* So, I looked around to find a little snippet that wouldn't be too spoilery, since STUFF happens in this chapter and I don't want to leave people hanging for 6 months on it.
The next time the DJ slowed it down, Flynn asked Delaney to dance. Julie gave her a thumbs up before backing away to leave them and the other couples to it.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Adam, she saw when she turned around. “Hey, broken bone buddy, wanna dance?”
“Sure.” She stepped up to him, but not too close, and rested her hands on his shoulders.
He said, “Really, I just want to be able to say I danced with you at prom. You know, so twenty years from now when the kids I adopted with my hot husband are teenagers and don’t think I’m cool, I can say I knew this famous rock star.”
Julie laughed, then pulled out her phone. “A selfie, then—photo evidence to show your future teenaged children.” She took a few pictures of them, checking them while they continued to sway. “And, posted. I should probably post that one of me and Luke, though, before fans get the wrong idea.”
“Aww, you guys took pics?”
She nodded. “With my dad, before we left. Luke’s hanging out with Dad, Reggie, and Carlos, but we’re going to have a few slow dances after I get home.”
They chatted during the rest of the dance, Adam making her laugh several times. She covertly snapped a picture of Flynn and Delaney, trying not to feel jealous of them being able to dance like that.
Motion out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw Alex and Willie slow dancing on-stage behind the DJ. They looked even more romantic, lacking that first date awkwardness, and Julie tried not to feel bitter. Adam told a joke, drawing her attention, and she attempted to shake off any lingering angst.
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UPDATE DAY!!!! Whoot whoot (insert happy dance GIF here).
Chapter 8/15, preview below ⬇️
FIC WARNINGS: (take effect in ch 11) Original Character Death, Missing Child, Child Death, Drowning (heed all tags on ao3)
FIC SUMMARY: Julie and Reggie form a deep friendship after meeting through their brothers (“We’re FRIENDS! Stop making it weird!”). He and his friends (and bandmates) help bring her out of the fog of grief, reconnecting her with the music that she’d thought she’d lost with her mother. Over the course of a summer, the tables turn and Julie finds herself showing up for Reggie in ways that they could have never expected.
CHAPTER RELATIONSHIPS: Julie/Luke, Julie & Flynn, Flynn & Reggie, Luke & Reggie, pre-Reggie/Bobby, Flynn & Alex, Julie & Bobby, pre-Carrie/Flynn, Julie & Ray, Julie & Victoria, Victoria & Ray
CHAPTER OPENING SCENE:
The boys leave Julie and Luke to write in peace for as long as they can before interrupting to take her home for dinner. They’ve made solid progress and now that the words are flowing, Julie is feeling a lot more confident in their ability to pull this off. She eats with her family (no, the boys aren’t staying again. Reggie has to go get his brother and they don’t want to intrude. “You’re never an intrusion!”) and then runs up to her room to keep the momentum going. Her and Luke text back and forth before committing to a video call to keep working until she can barely keep her eyes open and heads to bed with melodies and lyrics rolling around in her head.
They work on the song when the boys make good on their promise to show up at Stevie and Carlos’ game and in any spare moment they can find. It’s completed in good time and they both feel that she’s invested enough into it to credit it as “hers” though everyone is well aware of how rarely songwriting happens in a vacuum. The bass, drum, and guitar parts are fine tuned when they show it to the others and by the weekend, they have a song that all of them are happy with and they’re ready to start rehearsing in earnest.
Flynn joins Julie on her typical Saturday jaunt to the boy’s studio, excited for a preview of their song.
They play through ‘Edge of Great’ a few times, making small adjustments as they go. When all five of them are comfortable with how it’s sounding and they’re ready for a break, Flynn speaks up. “Didn’t y’all finish another song together too?”
Luke’s eyes go wide and he turns a very effective pair of puppy dog eyes on Julie who laughs, “we didn’t write me into it!”
“Yet!” he rebuts with a grin.
She raises an eyebrow, “yet?”
Luke nods solemnly. “Yet,” he confirms. “But I can hear how your voice will work with it.”
He shows her what he’s hearing and she nods along, picking up exactly what he’s laying out.
When she’s ready, he returns to his spot to start playing and Alex counts them in. She’s intimately familiar with the arrangement already and they decide to run through it without the keyboard. It’s just for fun, after all. And because it’s just for fun, she decides to dance around as she sings, putting on a performance for Flynn and getting lost in the song.
She makes an in-the-moment executive decision to turn the bridge into a call and response and moves over to Luke, pointing her microphone at him to indicate that he should repeat her lines. As they sing together, Reggie smiles and looks back at Alex who’s watching the duo with a huge grin of his own. Bobby is exchanging his own look with Flynn who is also grinning at the two of them.
Continue reading on ao3
#nobodys fics#underneath the undertow#<- why haven't I been tagging that?#jatp#julie and the phantoms#julie molina#luke patterson#juke#flynn taylor#reggie peters#bobby shaw#alex mercer
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First Line Game
Rules: List the first lines of your last 10 published fics and see if there’s a pattern. Tagged by the wonderful @floating-in-the-blue
Jatp-oneshots – (last story posted here)
Go the fuck to sleep - (peterpatterlina, T) Julie was just drifting off to sleep when the voice directly behind her said, "What time is our session in the studio tomorrow?
A Day in the Life of a Ghost Bassist – (Rated T)
The alarm on the phone Ray gave him just last week went off under Reggie’s pillow and he pulled it out to silence it quickly before it could wake the others up.
Jukebox One-shots (last story posted here)
I heard you calling - (Juke, G) Julie dug her hands into the sand again and again as the light slowly faded from the sky.
Julie and Luke’s Book of Dares – (Juke, T)
The first few lines aren’t mine (they’re from the show) - It’s the most detestable time of year. The forced cheer, the frenzied crowds. The carolers that have had so much eggnog they’ve forgotten the words and of course the couples that are naïve enough to mistake holiday spirit for being in love.
This is me - Love was fleeting, love died.
Love the way you love me – (peterpatterlina, E)
She was dancing.
The Truth is Finally Breaking Through – (Juke, T)
“Julie this suitcase is way too big and what’s this other bag even for?” Luke pointed at the luggage Julie had just deposited beside the band’s new to them van.
Bad Boys get Spankings – (Juke, E)
Luke was just finishing up working on a new song in the home studio when his beautiful wife came in looking stunning.
Fireworks – (Rarrie, Willex, Juke, T)
“Hey guys, here’s the blanket you asked for.”
To Date or Not to Date, That is the Question (Teen Wolf, Rated T)
Melissa checked her hair and makeup in the mirror by the door one more time before opening it to see her date for the night.
An Unlikely Duo – (Carrie and Willie, T)
Willie was just pulling the lasagna out of the oven when he finally heard Carrie pulling into the garage.
This was fun but I'm terrible with patterns. All I know for sure is if it's not Julie's pov then most of the time it's her who is being spoken of or to for 7 out of 10.
No pressure tagging @jmrothwell @invisibleraven @bananakarenina @60sec400
#ask game#first lines#fanfiction#my writing#jatp#teen wolf#always enjoy these#sure do write about julie alot#it's like she's the lead or something
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ask game: 🤡 + 🤲
i'll give you TWO bits from unposted 22c stuff B)
🤡 - what's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?
“There’s a thought in my brain,” Luke begins.
“That’s new,” Alex quips. Reggie offers him a fist pump, which the drummer returns easily.
Luke throws his pencil at Alex, pulling a second one from a different pocket. The pencil hits Alex right in the forehead, so Reggie offers Luke a fist pump, too.
🤲 - would you please share a snippet of a wip?
It was easy to pretend, sometimes, that time didn’t pass their families by. Beyond warping to their old family homes, Alex and Reggie haven’t tried looking. The Peters house was torn down in favor of a bike shack, and Alex tried to visit the Mercer house but panicked when a family he didn’t recognize and definitely wasn’t his were the people living there.
But Luke’s parents are the same, just… older. The house is exactly the same, just with more pictures on the walls, a relic lost in time. Sure, Bobby looks like a substitute teacher now, but everything familiar is gone or changed. It makes it easy, then, to pretend they live in a bubble where Julie is their only door to the outside world. That they’re just in a different part of the city where their broke asses could never have hung out in 1995. Their only stake in the present. The only accessible “proof” that anything’s really changed.
But… Mandy had a daughter. Mandy grew up. Mandy… Mandy is, what, forty? Last Luke remembers, she was fifteen.
Oh, Luke’s gonna hurl.
Twenty-five fucking years.
my range... ♡
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Reggie Peters x GN-Ghost-Reader
Gender Nuetral Reader
Ghost/Dead Reader
Reggie x Reader
warnings: mentions of death, cursing.
Hurt/comfort
1995
“I’m so sorry, for your loss.”
I stare at the doctor wide eyed, my heart shattering. “N-no…..”
Beside me, Bobbie is quick to pull me into his side, to which I quickly wrap my arms around him as I choke out a sob.
The loud bustling noise and clean, white walls of the hospital fade out, and even the warmth of Bobbie’s body seems distant as I try *and fail* to comprehend the doctor’s words.
‘This isn’t happening…this isn’t..happening…’
.
.
Oh, but it was.
Despite the heartbroken thoughts in my head telling me it was all just a hoax, a week or so afterwards I find myself standing in front of 3 graves, each decorated with flowers and their own personalized tombstone.
Reggie Peters -
1978 - 1995
Beloved son, boyfriend and friend.
Could always light up a room, even in the darkest of times.
Should’ve been vegetarian.
…who was gonna light the rooms up now?
****
“And next on todays news- yet another teen death has occurred in town, but this time not by hotdogs. This teen was Y/n L/n- who happened to have been dating Reggie Peters, the former band member of ‘Sunset Curve’ who also unfortunately passed away 4 months ago. Y/n was 17 years old, to have been 18 in only 2 months. The cause of death appears to have been a car crash….
****
2020
It was a cloudy day, most likely about to rain. With about half the sky covered in a grey expanse of clouds, the other half showed splotches of the pink-orange sky, hinting to the sun set.
Most people would be at home, maybe at a restaurant with friends, awaiting for the night or at most some sort of rain.
Except for 5 teens, no no. Restaurants weren’t on their agenda tonight- Y’know what was?
A cemetery,
To be fair though, 4/5 of them were already dead.
Alex, Reggie, Luke, and Willie (not part of the band, but he was honorary) strolled through the maze of stone-slabs and grass, accompanied by their alive friend, Julie. Aka the only who could actually see them.
With Willie and Alex hand in hand, they trailed behind the group and laughed in amusement as Reggie and Luke goofed off- poofing from one side of Julie to the other, playing an odd game of ‘made ya look’.
“Will you two quit it?? I’m gonna trip over someone’s grave-“ Julie said, rolling her eyes at Reggie and Luke’s childish antics. “Eh, I’m sure mister….Jason Barnes won’t mind.” Reggie said, grinning at the dark-haired girl after reading off the slab of stone. “Wait wait- Jason barnes?? Dude wasn’t he the cashier at the Safeway by Bobbies house-“ Luke said, and Alex and Reggie’s eyes widened.
“No way-“
“I always wondered what happened to him.”
This quickly turned into game for the 4 ghosts, “who knows which dead guy.”
So far it was
Alex: 2
Luke: 4
Reggie: 7
Willie: 5
“Um… I’m not gonna ask..” Julie says hesitantly, watching her friends bounce around the cemetery.
‘God my life just keeps getting weirder by the second…’
“What about this-“
Reggie poofed in front of another grave, this one having colorful flowers painted onto the edge of the tombstone.
“….one…”
His face changed from one of amusement to one of shock, eyebrows furrowing as he stood there speechless- mouth hanging open ever so slightly. “..well what about it??” Willie asks confused, only to not get an answer.
Julie, Luke, Willie and Alex all shared a look, before making their way to the grave. “Reggie? What’s wrong-“
It wasn’t until they all got a clear view of the stone for Luke to realize what had happened. “…oh shit.”
Alex quickly caught on aswell, leaving Willie and Julie confused.
Y/n L/n
1978 - 1995
Wonderful friend to many, amazing partner and child. They will be remembered, and they have been and will forever be loved.
Should’ve stayed home.
Luke pats Reggie on the shoulder in comfort, but Reggie didn’t move. “Um, who’s y/n??” Willie asks, and without moving Reggie finally answers him. “The love of my fucking life, that’s who….”
His voice cracks mid-sentance, and the realization finally hits their long-haired companions. “Oh my god…. Reggie I’m so so sorry-“
Julie pulls Reggie into a side hug, to which he weakly returned. “..they only died a couple months after we did, too…” Luke says, and Alex curses under his breath. Willie takes the blonde’s hand, kissing his temple reassuringly.
They all stood there, silently mourning.
“Well the tables have really turned, huh?”
The voice startled the teens, each whipping their head around so fast whiplash couldn’t even describe it.
“No way…” Luke mumbled.
There stood none other then y/n themselves- s/c skin tinted orange in the light of the setting sun- e/c eyes shining brightly.
In a split second Reggie’s troubled expression was gone, instead being replaced by complete shock. “I- youre- huh?”
Y/n laughed slightly. “C’mon, didn’t ya miss me??” They stepped closer, spreading their arms out wide. Without another word Reggie rushed forward, practically leaping into the arms of his love.
Despite the joking tone and wide grin, y/n hugged him with such passion that the two stumbled a bit on the patchy ground. “Oh my god..I can’t believe you’re actually here…” Reggie mumbles, his voice being muffled as his head was currently nestled into the crook of y/n’s neck. “I thought I lost you forever…” they reply, hand cradling the back of the dark-haired boy. “Well, now you’re stuck with me forever..” Reggie responds, pulling away and leaning closer to their face. “And thank god for that…” Y/n whispers, kissing him sweetly.
“Awww!!”
“Shh, don’t ruin it Julie.”
“I think I’m gonna cry.”
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📚 The Devil Searching For Redemption for the ask game? :D
"Bah dah!" Luke happily cheered with a sweep of his hand as he opened the door revealing the interior of the apartment. Much larger than she was anticipating and definitely way outside of her price range.
"Oh, my." Julie exhaled hesitant to even step into the place, only moving because Alex and Reggie gently push her. The three of them are smiling, looking so proud of themselves. "Guys this place looks amazing, but--"
"But what?" Luke cut her off, his pride slipping off for a second. Only a second though he soon recovers. "This place has everything you wanted and more, a spacious kitchen with great appliances."
"An amazing shower and tub big enough to almost swim in." Reggie said as he hopped onto one of the counters.
"Sound proof bedrooms." Alex said unapologetically as he leaned on the counter beside Reggie, and making Julie's face go a few degrees warmer.
"And that all sounds great. And I really appreciate your help." Julie said hoping no one caught them practically breaking into the place. "But there is no way I can afford this. Could you imagine the rent on this place?"
"The what now?" Reggie asked, and Julie turned to see three faces in varying states of confusion.
"What's to afford, it's yours." Alex added with a shrug.
She was about to argue, when she remembered when they'd originally offered to help her find an apartment. 'We'll get you a place' they had said and she'd foolishly assumed they misspoke.
"Oh my gosh, did you guys steal this place?" She barely managed to keep herself from shouting.
"Stealing implies someone was using it." Reggie was quick to say.
Luke emphatically nodded from nearby, "Man's right, can't steal it if it was empty to begin with."
"What?" She looked between the two of them, though they seemed confused by why she was upset. "You can't just go around breaking into empty apartments."
Oh, oh god, they needed to leave. They needed to leave right this second, this place was bound to have some sort of security system they must have triggered some time ago.
The other three did nothing to help her get them out of the place. Continuing to argue with her as she did her best to hurriedly herd them out.
"Jules. Julie, wait." Alex managed to break free from her grip at the door, pulling out a small stack of paper seemingly out of nowhere. "The place really does belong to you."
"What?" She screeched, immediately feeling the sound tear at her throat. She snatched the papers from him.
"Well, it belong to all of us technically. " Alex amended as she looked over the documents in her hand.
Sure enough, the title clearly declared her, Reggie, Luke, and Alex as not just renting, but owning the very apartment they were standing in.
How was she going to explain this one?
#Look this has been in my head for a WHILE now#and this was the perfect opportunity to write it#is it way more than 3 sentences...yes#but them's more what we call guidelines#Devil Searching for Redemption#julie and the phantoms#AUs are Awesome
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Julie and the Phantoms fics
dreams are sweet (until they’re not)
There’s a kind of hidden desperation in each of their encounters, like this might be the last time they see each other. The chance of discovery, the reality that every day that passes means Julie’s one day older, the knowledge that this relationship can’t even exist outside of this building—it creeps into the back of their minds, bleeds over into their conversations, spills into their kisses and loving touches.
This can’t last, so we have to make the most of what we have, they tell each other. Because getting a small slice of happiness with each other is worth the inevitable pain.
or, Luke works at the HGC and starts a secret relationship with Julie, with all the danger that entails
share your dreams with me
Band practice is forgotten for a moment as Luke takes in the scene. His friends, all together for a purpose they all believe in. For a sound, for lyrics, for music they all create together.
*
*
just some fluff about how much Luke loves his friends and his dream
one moment is all it takes
Julie smiles again, love for her mom and for this ghost with her overwhelming the grief for a moment. “And she sent me you, the best part of my life. I don’t know where I’d be without you, Luke.”
The couple grins in unison, as they do so often. Julie allows herself a moment to look away from the road to stare at her musical soulmate.
But one moment is all it takes.
time after time
Julie’s mind whirls. “An earlier point in time, you mean?” she says, disbelief evident in her voice.
Agent Taylor clarifies. “What he means is, Mr. Wilson invented a time machine, and chose not to tell the government about it until it was stolen by terrorists.”
or, the timeless au no one asked for but i wanted to write
let go of the world you know
he can feel them slipping
his life from before
they’re still there
but just barely
like one strong wind could blow them away into the dust, forever
or, Caleb takes Luke's memories, and it's not pleasant
i’m hold onto pieces of us that i just can’t let go
Reggie hasn’t stopped crying for seven days straight. Or at least, it feels like it. Alex was crying for what felt like an hour and it had been twenty five years, so Reggie's not sure on how time works for ghosts sometimes. All he knows is the bright ball of light that was Julie Molina has been snuffed out and it feels like the world has stopped and is holding its breath.
....
And suddenly, a new thought occurs to him. Reggie bolts upright, hope exploding in his chest.
“What if she’s a ghost?”
can’t kill the fire i feel inside
“It's called the Pull.” The words that spell doom for Luke are some of the simplest ones he’s ever heard.
“The Pull?” he questions.
Willie nods. “It’s a weird thing that happens with some ghosts. An all-consuming need to be with someone, a deeper instinct than normal attraction or love. It doesn’t happen often, but always between two ghosts, and it’s part of their unfinished business."
alone together
through him
(through them)
she finds
music
passion
hope
creativity
life
once more
friendship
quickly blossoms
into shared
time, shared
thoughts, shared
souls
learn to live with the unimaginable
Ray had thought he was done with it all.
The tests, the scans, the anxious drives to and from the hospital, the endless waiting, the hopeless horror.
But he was wrong.
~~~
Having a brother
is all fun
and games
until
until
your mom dies.
then,
having a brother
is a
necessity.
let’s be crazy
Julie chalked up, getting ready to try her new dismount from the uneven bars when she looked over to see Luke jumping on the floor. She smiled slightly at his antics.
“What do they make this springy floor out of?” Luke asked.
“Springs,” Julie deadpanned.
or, i started watching make it or break it and made it Juke
if it’s only a game you lost me
“You’re different,” Willie concludes.
“Different, bad?”
“Bad for me.” Alex’s heart drops at that. “I didn’t want to think about you,” Willie continues. His face is earnest, and his tone isn’t harsh, just sincere. “I wanted to stay focused. And then I saw you…after you got shot. Fighting for your life.” His voice grows softer, drawing Alex’s eyes back to his face. And then it shutters closed again as Willie says, “But you’re right. I’m kevlar, you’re not.”
“You don’t have to be.”
i feel something around me now
Luke Patterson, the bastard of the barrel, limped his way into the chapel.
It was the last place someone like him should be, considering what he had done in the past to earn the nickname "Dirtyhands," but the Inferni chasing him left him with few options. He hoped Julie wouldn't run into any trouble, since the Inferni was only following him. Julie could take care of herself, but he couldn't stop the single thread of anxiety from snaking down his back at the thought of her being in danger.
i miss the days when
The door slams open and Luke shoots to his feet, an admonishment on the tip of his tongue. It dies the second he sees Rose burst through the door, a wild and panicked look in her eyes. “Luke, come with me.” She runs to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the exit.
“Rose, what?” Luke tries to pull away, but damn this woman is strong. “I have a show–”
“They’re hurt,” she throws over her shoulder, still yanking him out of the building. “Mi hermana found your boys, and it’s not good.”
past the curses and cries
She jolts upright, looking around for the others. Alex and Reggie are sprawled a short distance away, and Luke is only two feet to her right.
But Luke’s wheezing in pain, and there’s a huge red stain on the suit jacket he stole for his disguise. Julie’s breath leaves her in a gasp as she hurries to him.
prompt fill set in an HP au because why not!
i’ll watch
the thing about being a wordsmith
is you have
so many
(almost too many)
words to express
yourself
and yet
they aren't enough
the irony is cruel on his tongue.
he watches her
get older
without him.
running with fire, i live like a liar
The man stops moving and says in a raspy voice, “Hey sweetheart.”
Julie’s so shocked it takes a moment to even realize that he’s talking to her. She blinks at him, but he just shoots her the same smirk he gave her when she first picked him out from the crowd. He keeps his voice low and says, “You shoulda told me our honeymoon was going to be this much fun.”
Julie stares at his blue-green eyes, now perfectly clear and full of mirth. He squeezes her hand once, then lets go and moves his legs under him so he can crouch beside her. “Let’s go slow, while they’re distracted,” he breathes in her ear. A shiver runs down her spine as she nods. Even though she doesn’t know this boy, they’re in this together now.
Full of Love, Full of Light
Julie keeps talking. “Reggie, I’m so glad you’re here with me, and I love you. Thank you for being a part of my family.”
Reggie’s definitely not crying now; those aren't tears welling in his eyes, nope, not at all. He sniffles and whispers, “Thanks Julie. I love you too.”
or, 3 times Reggie feels like a part of the Molina family
i stumble through the wreckage, rusted from the rain (there’s nothing left to salvage, no one left to blame)
It's been a very long time since Alex has kept a secret this big from the people he loves. One that can change everything. One that's so big, so monumental, life will never be the same once he shares it.
And he can say with certainty that he hasn't missed the anxiousness that comes with keeping a secret like this. The way his mind whirls in circles, coming up with every possible scenario of what could happen when he tells them. How his stomach rolls, and his insides turn to jelly at the thought of revealing it. How the fear keeps his fingers locked, and his breath short.
How much danger there is in telling the truth.
...
“We’re getting out of here. Tonight. There’s a ghost who can free our souls from Caleb.”
nothing broken (just our minds)
The quiet of the studio is broken by saxophones playing a very familiar tune. The sound comes from everywhere, and yet nowhere, all at once. Luke jolts upright, guitar almost falling off of his lap. He clutches it tightly as the sax continues, a drumbeat adding to the sound now.
This can’t be possible. Caleb’s gone; they got rid of the stamps. Luke checks the inside of his wrist, panicked that somehow the purple seal will stain his skin. But there’s nothing there.
or, Caleb sends a song to torture the boys
in a world i can’t fix (with a hammer in my fist)
“Connection. That’s why you play, why your passion is music. You long for the special connection between performer and watcher, between singer and listener.”
Luke’s not sure how Caleb knew that. Maybe he had been paying attention during all those rant sessions Luke had in his office (before the jolts came, of course).
“I…” Luke can’t find any words, so Caleb fills the space with a wave of his hand. “We need people like that in the Hollywood Ghost Club, Lucas. But to have that connection, you need audience members. And that is exactly what we are here to do today.”
don’t tell me that it wasn’t black and white
“Well, I suppose a name would make things easier, Detective,” August continued, and Julie was glad he seemed to have missed her confusion. “A word -- a signifier to your senses. Something that means a smell, a feeling, a taste…” He trailed off, eyes flicking to her lips once again. Julie’s heart gave a traitorous jump.
In the distant future, Private Investigator Julie Molina finds herself with a case that leads to an annoying yet attractive agent helping her, and maybe....the hint of something more?
i can’t change the past but i can fight to change today
“It’s a song about a girl named Emily?” Julie says, and the woman’s eyes dart between the paper and Mitch.
“I’m Emily,” she whispers.
Julie nods solemnly and holds out the paper. “Then I think your son may have written this song for you.”
Emily takes the song as Mitch puts his hands on her shoulders, leaning to read it as she unfolds it. Julie’s fully prepared to stand here and watch them read it, but then the boy behind her begins to sing.
Julie can hear Luke sing Unsaid Emily. It's... a lot
my mind is a home i’m trapped in
Alex loves being able to use his drums as an extension of himself. Sometimes he pretends his anxieties are laid out on each piece of the set. The thoughts of being dead? Clang, the symbols go. The hidden fear that his friends will turn on him for liking boys? Thump, his foot hits the pedal of the bass drum. He whacks the high and medium toms, pretending he’s beating back the questions of why and how and who and where. Those questions are different depending on the days, but he places them all onto the drums, letting himself get lost in the rhythms he creates. The anxiety backs down, the fear recedes, and he finds the enjoyment in keeping tempo for his friends.
It’s all going great, until they reach the bridge.
hold you in my arms and i won’t let go
Everyone else is broken, so Alex can’t be. Someone needs to step up, and he volunteers himself for the task.
He knows, of course, that if he said this in so many words, everyone would be quick to take the burden from him. His anxiety aside, he knows that doing things alone isn’t the Molina style. Or Julie and the Phantoms’ style either. A small part of him knows that if Julie could see him, she would give him a soft smile and remind him that they are a family, and families don’t shoulder these heavy burdens alone.
But Alex shoves imaginary Julie to the back of his mind. He has to do this, because he doesn’t know what will happen if he doesn’t.
wide awake in the middle of your nightmare
It happens so fast.
One minute, Luke’s watching Julie as she sings her heart out on stage. Completely mesmerized by her talent and her beauty.
Looking back later, Luke thinks that’s what the problem was. He’s always been too enamoured by Julie--too amazed by her to realize she wasn’t indestructible. She wasn’t permanent. She was fragile, even; more so than he was, because he was already dead. She never seemed breakable; the wrecking ball of talent was the one doing the destruction, breaking hearts with tragic songs and blowing minds with her incredible voice. He forgot that Julie, no matter how tough she seemed, still needed to be protected.
Accidents could still happen.
everything has got a price
But maybe the little that does is enough. Maybe, maybe, but maybe not--
Luke and Julie vanish into thin air, leaving the Orpheum Theater behind them.
~~~
It’s not enough.
They reappear into the worst place in the club, the room Luke hates the most: Caleb’s office. Nothing good ever happens in this cursed area. Luke shakes off memories of Alex clutching his chest, breath coming in short gasps, and Reggie with tears in his eyes as Luke begs for another chance, just stop hurting them.
trade my joy for her protection
“Julie, we have to have this out.”
“No, Luke, we--”
He cuts her off. “Julie, yes we do. We need to talk about it.”
don’t say goodbye
Bobby has to keep him talking so he knows his friend is still there. If Luke falls unconscious again... “Where did you get the street dogs from?”
Luke whimpers as another spasm hits him, then answers, “Sam’N’Ellas. They were close by and they were cheap.”
If the situation were different, Bobby would laugh at Luke for convincing Alex and Reggie to eat from the sketchy couple selling hot dogs out of their car. The bandmates had walked by them two weeks ago when they got the call they could play their showcase at the Orpheum, and Alex had insisted they go check out the theater.
But there’s nothing funny about watching Luke writhe in pain on the ground.
...
or, Bobby finds the boys after the hotdogs and has to watch what happens next
music is the only place i can go to speak to you
If Julie could put a relationship status for herself and music, it would be “it’s complicated.”
Julie’s mom and music were so intertwined in her life. Her mom was music.
But that’s the key word, isn’t it? Was.
or, Julie thinks about music and her mom
you are alive.
Julie’s fingers still as she says, “Your hair’s getting longer. We should trim it.”
Luke doesn’t think ghosts’ hair can grow, but it’s not a big deal, so he doesn’t bother asking Willie about it.
or, the boys come back to life slowly
Watch You Breathe In
The scream rips from Julie’s throat, terror coursing through her. Not Carlos, please don’t let him die. He’s only ten.
She watches as Caleb jerks his knife out of Carlos’ stomach, her brother crumpling up and falling to the ground.
Her feet are moving instantly, rushing towards the small form lying way too still for someone with so much energy.
Please let him be okay.
you were an angel in the shape of my mom
Those plants cannot die.
That wouldn't be fair to Mom, because she loved those plants almost as much as she loved music, or her family, or those little dancing Santas the stores would have at Christmastime (which Carlos also loved, because they always made him laugh, and his mom had the best laugh which made him laugh even harder).
Carlos wrestles with grief, and takes care of some plants
it is for family that he plays
But now, Reggie can tell his friends are split in the worst of ways, and he doesn’t know what he is supposed to do.
Taking Caleb’s offer was off the table when it was simply choosing between playing for him or playing with Julie. Reggie had everything he needed with his new band — with Julie (including a family of lifers that didn’t know about him yet but he enjoyed their company nonetheless).
Rejecting Caleb’s offer had been easy.
The circumstances, however, had changed.
reggie's pov of Nothing to Lose
it is for dreams that he drums
Alex’s arms kept moving as his mind whirled. Luke was fully under Caleb’s spell now, facing the crowd beside the magician. Alex tried to stop playing, but his hands didn’t belong to him anymore. They moved to Caleb’s rhythm, keeping the tempo for the rest of the band, backing Caleb’s vocals as he continued to sing. He had given up looking for Willie, and focused on trying to get out of the club.
...
Alex couldn’t let himself focus on the loss of control for too long, because he didn’t have time to spiral now. Escape first, panic later.
alex's pov during Nothing to Lose
it is only for love that he sings
This isn’t how music works.
This isn’t how it should work, anyway. But it’s happening, without his permission.
....
Luke knows music.
And this is a perversion of everything he’s ever desired.
it's basically just luke's pov of the end of Nothing to Lose
i saw imène's post and spiraled
right this way
Julie, meanwhile, is once again struck by the similarities between Luke and Donny. “Flying Solo” had turned out amazing, and they had written so many songs together since then. She had opened her dream box and used some of her other lyrics and poems she had written in the year after her mom died to create new songs with Luke, changing them around, combining them, adding his ideas to her words. And Donny had done the exact same thing for Julia; taken her words and put them to music to touch people in a new way.
or, the band watches a movie for Julie's homework and get more than they bargained for.
The Last Night
Reggie comes late to band practice one day and the boys have a revelation
Based on some lines from "The Last Night" by Skillet
dying takes longer (the second time around)
What if the jolts had lasted a little longer before Julie could give her boys the magic hug?
Takes place during 1x09, starting right after the Orpheum performance
Alex, Luke and Reggie's pov
Written for JATP Appreciation Week Day 7: write something set in canon-verse (mine's a little canon-divergent, sorrynotsorry)
watching is worse (the second time around)
What if the jolts had lasted a little longer before Julie could give her boys the magic hug?
Takes place during 1x09 after the Orpheum performance, Julie's pov
Written for JATP Appreciation Week Day 7: write something set in canon-verse (mine's a little canon divergent, sorrynotsorry)
Butterflies and Glitter
Julie takes a second to notice the boy's outfits after their magical hug
Written for JATP Appreciation Week Day 4: found family
Also written using prompt 74 from this list by @niamaggie on tumblr: https://niamaggie.tumblr.com/post/633529458786238464/100-julie-and-the-phantoms
Road Work?
Julie enjoys (somewhat) teaching the boys about modern slang. But Flynn is the master, so when she yeets a paper, the boys are confused. Vine references abound.
Written for JATP Week Day 4: write a fic including pop culture/memes
Music is Gone
Julie's thoughts as she runs away from music class and talks with Flynn during ep 1, including the deleted scene
Written for day 1 of JATP week: favorite character
#my fics#my writing#jatp#julie and the phantoms#julie molina#luke patterson#reggie peters#alex mercer#willie#willex#juke#bobby shaw#trevor wilson#ray molina#rose molina#carlos molina#angst#fluff#au#flynn taylor#frienship#found family#caleb covington
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Come on, you did not put in “You got me a stocking?” - “Of course, you’re family.” and NOT expect me to prompt it with Reggie & the Molinas right?
Four people sent me some version of this prompt and I think I made the Reggie Molina bait a liiiiittle too strong. #noregrets
Set in the same universe as this fic
Christmas hadn’t been the same since they came to LA. Not that his parents had been great at Christmas before that, but his Meemaw and Pops usually picked up the slack. They made sure Reggie got presents he actually liked, and clothes that actually fit. They took him to the mall to see Santa when he was little, even though the nearest mall was over an hour away. And whenever his parents inevitably started to argue (not fight, not yet, they had only turned into full blown fights after the move), Pops would take him out to give the horses their Special Christmas Treat. Usually some apple peels or carrots.
Pops had also been the one to sit him down and tell him about the Magic of Christmas and the truth about Santa. Thankfully, because his first winter in LA, there were no presents from Santa under the tree. There’d barely been any presents at all, but he’d heard enough fights about money, late at night huddled in his bed, to know not to complain.
Christmas after they came to LA just got worse over time. The arguments turned into full blown fights. They stopped getting a real tree, then stopped setting up the fake tree, and finally, his mom just stopped helping Reggie decorate at all. (At least they still let him decorate.)
There was the year both his parents forgot to get him a present, after spending a lot on each other, which crashed them straight out of the honeymoon phase and back into another fight. He‘d gotten his bass guitar around New Year to make up for it, though.
These days, Reggie tried not to be home a lot around the holidays. They still did Christmas morning, kind of, Reggie making Meemaw’s apple pancakes and exchanging only-sometimes-heartfelt gifts. He did his best to get his parents something he’d thought they would like, and he kept a smile on his face, even when he unwrapped the Star Trek shirt. It was the thought that counted, right? At least the shirt fit.
Most years, he just wandered around town, pretending he was on his way to some awesome party, smiling and nodding at families in the street. Or he stole they key from under the flower pot at Luke’s house, crashing in his room even though Luke and his parents always visited his grandparents for Christmas. The Pattersons always had a pretty tree, and he liked to stare at it, even if he didn’t dare turn on the lights lest the neighbours call Mitch or Emily.
This year though, he had a place to go. Because Julie had invited him to Family Christmas Dinner. And then dragged him inside and made Ray invite him too, when he started talking about how that was like, family time and he didn’t want to intrude.
When he got to the Molina house and knocked, Carlos opened the door, shouting happily. “It’s Reggie!” He pulled Reggie inside, talking a mile a minute about the new videogame he’d gotten for Christmas and how they’d finally have enough people for multi-player mode with him and Julie.
God he loved the Molinas.
He gave Julie a hug, and passed Tía the tin of cookies. “I know you said I didn’t have to bring anything, but I made cookies,” he explained. And honestly he hadn’t felt like sharing them with his parents. He’d left them a few, but he’d made them for the people he really wanted to spend the holidays with. “It’s my Meemaw’s recipe.”
“Thank you, mijo, that’s very kind of you,” Ray said, catching him in a hug. Ray hugs were still kind of new, after Father’s Day, but they were also kind of the best.
Dinner was amazing, and he basked in the feel of sitting at a family dinner and not being worried about when the shouting would start. The food was delicious, the pre-video-game trash talk was g-rated but thus extra hilarious, and it was just everything Reggie had been missing at home for the past couple of years.
After dinner, while they waited for the ice cream to thaw enough to eat and munched on Reggie’s cookies (and man, did he glow under the praise from Victoria and Ray), Carlos jumped up. “Can we, dad? You said after dinner, it’s after dinner!”
“Fine,” Ray said, chuckling as Carlos raced out of the room. Reggie blinked, wondering if it was video game time, but then Carlos came back, carrying three brightly coloured stockings. He handed one to Julie, put one on his chair, and Reggie leaned back so he could give the last one to Ray, but it ended up in his lap instead.
He was about to pass it over, when he saw the name embroidered on the hem. “You got me a stocking?” he asked, shocked. He hadn’t gotten anyone presents. Julie had told him not to. They were already doing the Band Secret Santa when Luke came back, and she knew his pocket money was non-existent.
“Of course,” Ray said, like it was nothing. “You’re family.”
He did eventually get to his stocking, but not before hugging the daylights out of Ray, and then Julie, and Carlos, and Tía.
#julie and the phantoms#reggie peters#ray molina#julie molina#carlos molina#best dad ray molina#tia victoria#make reggie a molina 2kalways#fanfic#I wrote a thing#Ray Molina got Reggie some goddamn Star Wars socks and other trinkets that showed he'd been listening to Reggie rambles#because he is a Good Dad
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Someone talking in their sleep + there was Only One Bed, peterpatterlina
Julie looked over the strew of clothes all over her bed, and ran her fingers through her hair. How did one choose what to bring when one was packing for an adventure?
"You sure you want to go?" her dad asked from the doorway.
"Of course," Julie replied. "I've always wanted to see the country, I've got months until school starts again, so why not travel around?"
"You know I support you, even if I will worry. I just wonder if this is the best way to do so," Ray mused.
"It's not like I'm backpacking and hitchhiking around," Julie replied. "I'll be with Luke and Reggie, we'll be staying in hotels and RV parks when we can."
"And you'll call every night?" Ray asked, but the question wasn't really there.
"As long as I have service, yes," Julie said. She started putting things into her bag, and others away as she spoke, nodding in thanks as her dad helped hang things as she rejected them. "Has Tia calmed down about it yet?"
"You know your aunt," Ray replied, handing her her favourite yellow sweater to pack. "She'll get over it."
Finally Julie was sure she had everything packed, just in time for a honk to sound from the driveway. She kissed her father's cheek, and gave Carlos a half hearted hug that he squirmed out of before waving as she boarded the old camper that Luke and Reggie had bought to travel in.
Reggie had fixed it up, and Luke had made sure it was fully stocked with everything they needed, while Julie helped make it homey enough. They had asked Alex to come along, make it a real band outing, but he had gotten a job for the summer, and didn't want to be away from WIllie that long.
"Ready to go boss?" Luke asked as Julie took her seat.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she replied, hitting the horn as they took off down the drive.
They all took turns at the wheel, and controlling the radio, playing road trip games and chatting as they drove, stopping every so often to stretch their legs and to see the sights.
Reggie pulled his camera out as often as he could, claiming he was going to make a scrapbook with Julie's help to preserve the memories of this journey. Luke had brought his guitar and between the three of them they were determined to write as many songs as they could over the summer.
Their first night was spent in a hotel in northern California, a little rundown place but it was nice enough for their first night on the road. They had budgeted staying in a few places along the way, but most nights they had decided to stay in the RV, as it would save them some money.
However, Julie came to regret that during the first night in the camper. For one thing there was only one bed for the three of them-big enough but it was still a tight squeeze to be fully comfortable.
Plus she found that Luke had a tendency to sing in his sleep-not talk, but sing. And Reggie sometimes harmonized with him. It made it a little harder for her to sleep, since Julie was used to the quiet of her room.
However, it was kind of... comforting? after a while, to have them singing in their sleep to her. It became a bit of a lullaby, and she started to find it soothing, even if they tended to hum and sing rock songs rather than Brahms.
"Do you two know you sing when you sleep?" Julie asked when morning in a diner in Idaho.
"I've been told," Luke replied sheepishly. "Sorry if it's kept you up."
"I had no clue," Reggie said, blushing. "Do I really?"
"You two started harmonizing," Julie stated. "It's kind of adorable."
"Well next time you should wake us up and we'll make a trio out of it," Luke stated. "Rather than let it keep you up."
"I've come to enjoy it," Julie admitted. "It's nice to fall asleep to."
"Has to be better than Alex's snoring," Reggie snickered.
"Oh gosh it's the worst," Luke agreed.
"Well then it's a good thing he didn't come along," Julie stated. The three of them smirked as their feet tangled under the table, kicking at each other playfully.
Things were still a bit unsaid between them, but it was evident the other reason they were glad that it was just them.
And maybe by the end of the trip, they were using the bed for a lot more than sleeping-and Julie had joined into the singing in more ways than one.
And she saw more of the world than she ever thought she would-and came back with more than she ever bargained for. Something that made her happier than she ever thought possible, and the three of them vowed to make the trip as often as possible.
Though they did have to upgrade to a bigger camper once the kids came along.
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"You've been kind of obvious" "what" for the reggie pairing of your choice!
Reggie can't overstate how much he loves his friends. They've altered how he feels about camping over the course of one evening, rallied around a bewitchingly bright fire.
Old memories of his father huffily attempting to instill 'manlier' hobbies in him are replaced with laughter and lopsided tents, smores and card games, ghost stories and squabbles and—of course—music.
But if he has to endure one more actual argument about who's sleeping where, he's bound to tear his hair out.
So when Julie leans in close to whisper in his ear, he can blame the way he shivers on the tension that's already in the air.
"Do you want to get out of here?"
God, yes, he mouths, grinning as she giggles, brilliant in the firelight. Where?
She tips her head towards the truck, and they quickly sneak away, letting out twin sighs of relief as the sounds of Luke and Carrie shouting start to die out. They're muffled completely as they climb in the truck and close the doors, thank fuck.
He's trying to remember where he put the blankets—he doesn't want to turn the engine on and risk garnering attention—only to startle as Julie moves the console, pushing it up into a seat.
"Oh—what's—" He swallows when she slides over next to him, blanking from the solid line of her body pressed to his. "Um."
Her lip scrunches like she's bitten it, but it's difficult to tell in the semidarkness. He shouldn't be able to tell at all, and yet.
"I was hoping," she murmurs, twining their fingers together, "you'd keep me warm."
There's no mistaking the sultry note in her voice. He has to be dreaming, but it sends a sharp pain through his leg when he pinches it, and he blinks at her slowly.
"Julie—are you flirting with me?"
She tilts her head, squeezing his hand.
"Yes? Did you not want me to flirt back?"
"Not—really?" He winces. She goes to pull her hand away, but he gently squeezes back. "But only because I was trying so hard not to flirt with you! Not more than I normally do, because—I didn't want to make it weird, but I'm so fond of you, Julie. I don't know what changed, or when. But it's like—you snuck up on me. I love you."
"I know," she says softly, only to huff a laugh as he sends her an incredulous look that must be visible even in the weak moonlight. "You've been kind of obvious."
Kind of—
????
But he was being so careful!
"What?"
She laughs again, low and warm in her throat, and what he wouldn't give to see her eyes dancing in the firelight right now.
"You've been doing all of these special little things for me. You do that for everyone, from time to time, but you've been especially considerate to me, and I remember what you were like with Kayla. I thought I was jealous of the way you worshiped her, but I was just…jealous!"
Reggie’s mind is racing. He realizes his mouth is hanging open and closes it.
"That was—ages ago, I mean—you only just broke up with Nick and—you deserve special things! I wanted—I—I want you to be happy so of course I—"
"Reggie." She puts her fingers on his chin, keeping his eyes on her silhouette, as if he could look away, partially blind or no. "Are you trying to talk me out of this? Because you snuck up on me, too. I love you too!"
His heart gallops away; it never did have much sense to begin with. He swallows.
"But—"
Julie makes a frustrated noise. The hand that's knotted in his fights its way free and clings to his shoulder, freshly knotting in the sleeve of his shirt.
"I broke up with Nick three months ago. And I mostly dated him to get over you, which obviously didn't work. So are you going to kiss me or not?"
His body is still abuzz with everything, not quite believing it, but her request makes it through, and when his lips touch hers it's like she's made him into a live wire.
It's—electrifying.
He'll think of a better, less cliched description later, when this is all a memory. All he knows right now is Julie, the tickle of her curls on his cheeks and the small of her back where his hand has splayed for support, the warmth of her skin and her smile pressed to his and the sweet sound of her satisfied humming.
Then she's in his lap, and whatever was left of his thinking capacity is officially fried.
It's not until she accidentally brushes against the horn in the slightest of beeps that they startle apart for a moment, and he gasps, struck with delayed realization.
"Wai—Julie! You Han Solo-ed me!"
She just giggles mischievously, and he has to steal the sound from her mouth.
And because she's braver than Reggie will ever be, she makes a beeline for the bonfire when they stumble out of the truck, which is still raging, along with Luke and Carrie. A few other people are literally asleep on their logs, slumped together.
"I'm sleeping with Reggie," Julie announces, and he thinks he makes an embarrassing sound, but it's thankfully lost to the spitting of the fire and her confident voice as she continues. "So keep it down while you sort your shit out. We won't hold back otherwise. Just. Keep that in mind."
So—yeah. All in all—
How Reggie feels about camping has definitely been altered for the better.
#fluffy crush prompts#rulie#reggie x julie#this one had so much potential and I really tried not to go the usual rulie route but#honestly I do love how it turned out#also are you gonna kiss me or not is a country song#ficlets with ash#julie and the phantoms
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but otherwise!
Jem and the Holograms??? 🙏
Hehe, I'll also try and write some Boggie, but I'm ALWAYS down to talk my JatH AU!
Okay for some rough context, it's basically the Jem and the Holograms movie from 2015, but make it JatP! Julie makes a video of herself singing, calling herself Dahlia, which her adopted brother Luke ends up posting online. It goes viral, and suddenly Julie (and her three older brothers/band) are the center of some very unexpected attention. Off they go to LA, with a rather scary music producer (Caleb Covington) pulling them along, an annoying handler (Bobby) who can't seem to echo his boss's positivity, and a little robot called PH4NT0M, who everyone thought was Rose's unfinished masterpiece... but maybe isn't as unfinished as they thought.
Also I added a whole lot of family stuff that isn't in the original, cause it's my fic and I can do whatever the heck I want with it. It's currently almost 3 chapters long, out of who knows how many.
A little snippet of Julie and Bobby first meeting below the cut! Cause oh yeah, this is a JuBobby story. Did I mention that bit? (Sighs in rarepair hell)
“Ah, there you are,” Caleb declared, clapping a hand on the guy’s shoulder. “I was wondering what was keeping you.” Was Julie crazy, or did rude guy shoot a glare at the producer before his expression smoothed over? “This is Bobby, our intern,” Caleb continued. “He’ll be acting as your handler for the time being. Bobby, this is Luke, Reggie, Alex, and of course our new star, Dahlia.”
“Julie is fine,” she corrected. Was the name thing going to keep coming up with this guy? She held out a hand to shake Bobby’s, but he didn’t take it.
“First off, ground rules,” the intern said, giving a half smile that didn’t really reach anywhere past his mouth. “No drinking, no drugs, no bringing people back to the house, and curfew is at midnight, no exceptions.”
“I thought rockstars were allowed to do all that stuff,” Julie retorted, crossing her own arms. Luke propped an elbow on her shoulder and nodded in agreement.
“Not sure, I’ll have to ask if I ever meet any,” Bobby snarked back. His steady stare almost felt like a challenge.
“Let’s keep moving,” Caleb called from the bank of elevators on the far wall, tapping his foot impatiently.
Julie smirked, resolving to sort out whatever Bobby’s deal was and beat him at his own game later. “Sorry, the boss is calling,” she said.
He stepped aside and gestured to the elevator in a show of politeness. “Well best not to keep him waiting then. Good luck with the style session.”
Julie rolled her eyes and strode past him. Plenty of time to deal with him later. “Thanks,” she responded over her shoulder.
(Ask me about my wips!)
#legolas tag#julie and the phantoms#legolas answers asks#jatp#julie molina#bobby shaw#there will also be significant doses of Willex don't worry#they just haven't met Willie yet#I have *PLANS* for this fic...#if only I had enough time and energy to actually write it...
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if love’s elastic, then were we born to test its reach?
2k, T, Flynn & Luke
Warnings: discussions of homophobia, swearing
Summary: Flynn and Luke sit in a car and talk about their moms.
ao3 link
It's not an official rule, it's not on purpose, and honestly, it's not very convenient, but Flynn is the only person capable of calling the weekly Julie and the Phantoms band meetings to order. The others try, sometimes, but no one else's efforts to curb the giggles and social time and say, "hey, okay, we have work to do" ever seem to have much effect.
Today, Flynn kicks it off by bursting through the door, announcing, “I’m going to kill my mother,” and then plunking herself down on the couch next to Julie and reaching for the calendar on the table.
“You good?” Reggie asks. There’s a tiny hint of a smirk on her face, but it’s overshadowed by concern, like she can’t quite tell if Flynn’s going for laughter or sympathy and she’s trying to cover all her bases.
"I'm fine," Flynn says. "Can we get started?"
They do, but Flynn is completely off her game, and she's sure everyone can tell. They drop off sentences halfway through the point they were trying to make; they don't process a single word of Bobby's budget review; Julie has to wave them back from zoning out two separate times. She just can't get her brain to stick to anything with her blood boiling like this.
Luke is the one who breaks the tension, after Flynn forgets half of her own carefully crafted, years-old color coding system. “Okay, Flynn and I are taking a break,” he declares.
She eyes him skeptically, but Luke just says, “Come on, let’s go,” and pulls her up off the couch. “We’re gonna go for a quick drive,” he tells everyone else. “Don’t release any albums without us.”
“No promises!” Julie and Reggie chorus. Alex just gives them a thumbs-up, and Bobby tosses his keys over to Luke, who catches them and blows a kiss at him before he pushes Flynn out the door.
“We’re in the middle of a meeting,” Flynn says as she slides into the passenger’s seat.
“You’re in the middle of something more important,” Luke answers easily. “What’s up with your mom?”
“It’s not even like, a big thing,” Flynn says. “I just got stuck on something stupid she said.”
“You don’t get mad over nothing, though.”
“Ugh, I know. Like, I’m right, it’s just so annoying that I have to be the one affected by it. I just wanna know that she’s wrong and move on with my day, you know?”
“Yeah,” Luke says, and when Flynn lets the sound of the engine and the movement of the car fill the silence instead of her voice, he prompts, “So what was it that she said?”
“She’s mad that I think she’s homophobic? Which I didn’t even say to her face, she just assumes I’m saying it behind her back, which I am, but if she didn’t want me doing that she could have tried not being homophobic, right?”
“Definitely. Dude, didn’t she try to take your library card for reading too much queer stuff?”
“Yep!” Flynn confirms. “And for like, a year after I came out to her she made a point to let me know how uncomfortable every single rainbow accessory made her, and one of my dad’s brothers is gay too and she still doesn’t want us spending the night at his place and we never talk about that, and it’s just . . . okay, obviously I’m mad about those things, but it’s whatever, I just can’t stand that she gets to do all that and then turn around and tell me that the problem is me calling homophobia what it is.”
“Jesus.”
“Like, why the fuck does she get to make it my fault?”
"She doesn't," Luke says emphatically. He rolls to a stop at a light and turns to face her. "That's total bullshit and she has no right to make you feel bad for being right, you don't ever deserve that. Flynn, you're like, the coolest, most caring person I know, she's insane if she thinks you calling out her shit makes that less true."
The sheer earnestness is almost enough to make Flynn cry, and they should give him a real response, but . . . "The light's green."
"Shit, yeah," Luke says, eyes back on the road. "We're having a moment, okay?" he hollers at the cars honking behind them. "Assholes."
Flynn shakes their head. "It's like they don't know we're the main characters."
Luke grins, and they're quiet for a minute (or, Flynn is quiet; Luke is still muttering curses as he drives—less like he's mad and more like it's simply a requirement to keep the car moving). He pulls into a McDonald's parking lot and kills the engine, and Flynn says, "It is a little bit my fault, though."
Luke tenses, and before he can go on another trademarked validation rant, she adds, "I didn't do anything wrong. It's just . . . I can tell she's trying, right? Like, she has tried to have real conversations with me about queer stuff, and I don't think she can blame me for not being excited about that after she kept telling me how much she was 'really struggling with the whole rainbow thing,' but I also still get that it hurts when I brush her off. And it's not just with this; like, I know she's trying to be emotionally available in general, and I'm not engaging with that, and there's no way to not feel a little bit shitty about that."
"Yeah," Luke says. "Yeah, I definitely get that." He twists a ring around on his finger, slides it off and then right back on. “It's like . . . I'm glad I'm talking to my mom again, you know? I love her, and she knows I love her, and I can go and talk to her instead of hiding in the bushes, and I get to include her in the parts of my life I want her in, and, like, I actually feel like our relationship is good , and that's—I mean, I don't know if I ever thought we were gonna have that, especially after I left."
"Right," Flynn says. It's practically illegal for a friend to let Luke Patterson talk about his mom without offering some kind of physical comfort, but he won't want to keep his hands still long enough to hold hers, and hugging or leaning up against him are tricky in the car, so she settles for resting a hand on his knee.
He catches their eye for half a second before continuing, "But I think she thinks it's gonna keep getting better? Like, she's happy that we're talking again because she thinks it means we're on a path to getting closer, and I don't know if I can do that. I don't . . . I don't think I want to do that. Which I guess means I'm gonna be disappointing her for the whole rest of our lives." Luke ducks his head and pushes a hand back through his hair, a little self-conscious. "Was that . . . did I get it right, is that what you're feeling? Or did I go on the wrong kind of tangent?"
"No, you pretty much nailed it." Flynn sighs. “I love my mom, and I know I came into this with ‘I’m gonna kill her,’ but I really do think things are mostly good, and there are a lot of things she does right, it’s just that every time we try to actually talk, it ends up like this. So then I feel like we have too many fundamental differences for things to ever be better, and she feels like I’m not trying, and we never get anywhere, and it sucks .”
“Yeah,” Luke says.
Flynn pulls his hand over to her lap and fidgets with his bracelets as they speak. “I get why she’s hurt, and I get that some of the choices I’ve made have been hard for her, but I don’t know what to do, because like . . . I don’t know, it’s easy to be in favor of the idea of having hard conversations with the people you love, but then all the actual conversations we have are this bullshit” —Flynn waves their free hand meaninglessly; Luke seems to get the idea anyway— “so either I talk to her, and we both get upset about it, or I don’t, and she’s still upset, and there aren’t any better options when just existing as ourselves around each other hurts, so I just . . . exist a little less around her. And that hurts too.”
“Fuck,” Luke breathes. “Dude, come here.” They’ve given up on respecting the limitations the car puts on cuddling, then. Flynn isn't complaining. She clambers over to sit in Luke's lap, back against his window, side wedged against the steering wheel.
“I don’t think she gets that she pushed me away in the first place," she tells Luke. "She either doesn’t know what she did, or she doesn’t think my reaction is fair, and either way, neither of us think we’ve done anything wrong, so all she’s ever gonna see is how I keep rejecting her. That’s always what her story’s gonna be.”
“I know,” Luke says. “It sucks, and she’s wrong, and you deserve better than that, okay?”
“Okay,” Flynn echoes, noncommittal. They usually don’t have any trouble knowing their worth and knowing how they deserve to be treated, but mom stuff has a way of getting to them, of dragging every insecurity up with claws. Luke gets that better than anyone, though.
“I’m serious, she’s so lucky to have you. You know that, right? God, I never tried this hard to understand my mom’s side of things back when I lived with her.”
“Eh, mine doesn’t scream at me,” Flynn shrugs. “I think it balances out.”
“That’s fair,” Luke says. He sort of half lifts her up for a second so he can shift his legs, then adds, “They’re about even as far as having no way to win with them, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, like, all of our fights about music were like that; she’d get mad that I was doing too much band stuff and then she’d get mad that I didn’t want to tell her anything, and I think I always thought that if the band got far enough, she’d see it was all worth it? But every time we got closer to that it just freaked her out more.”
This isn’t new information to Flynn, she had the gist of that conflict already, but it’s nice to hear it again in a context that lets them know that Luke gets what they’re dealing with, and anyway, sometimes listening is less about learning anything new and more about just letting your friend say what they need to say.
“And I just spent a lot of time swinging back and forth between trying to hide everything from my parents and trying to throw it all in their faces,” Luke says, “because if they were going to be like that anyway, like, what was the point? Why not blow everything up? Maybe it would at least make them see how much it mattered to me, you know?”
“Yeah,” Flynn says, because that’s really the only thing to say. Like, yeah. Yeah . Exactly. Fuck.
"I dunno," Luke says, "we're better about the music thing than we used to be; I think she knows she can't push it too hard, but now she keeps getting on me to bring Bobby over for dinner like I don't know how that's gonna go."
Flynn raises their eyebrows. "Yikes."
"I know," Luke groans. "But I don't really have better options here, either, because if they don't see me, like, bring him to family stuff and go on real dates and gush about him all the time, both of my parents are gonna think that it's not serious, or that I'm wrong about my feelings, or that I'm not doing this relationship the right way, but then if they do see any of that, they're just gonna be weird and tense and judgey and I hate it."
"It's so stupid," Flynn says.
"So stupid," Luke agrees. "You ever think about how many problems we just wouldn't have if our parents knew how to chill out?"
"Alllll the time," Flynn sighs. "But hey, gotta give them props for keeping all those therapists in business."
Luke snorts, and Flynn decides they're officially out of serious mode now, so she says, "Okay, I love you, but I am not loving this steering wheel right now, I'm gonna—" She pushes off of Luke and does a little half-tumble, half-crawl back over to the passenger seat. "There."
Luke reaches for the keys, but he pauses, checks, "Did you get everything you needed? I didn't mean to take over or anything."
Flynn grins. "I was asking for it, we all know you win at mommy issues."
Luke sticks his tongue out at her. "Shut up."
"Seriously, you're good," Flynn assures him. They don't know how to say everything they mean to—that Luke putting words to his feelings was a gift to them, saved them the time and frustration of having to sort through everything on their own. That he's really good at this, at handing people pieces of his heart that reflect things in themselves that were hard to nail down. He can get avoidant about his feelings, and Flynn can't blame him, but when he makes the space to stumble through them honestly, he always hits something real.
Flynn tells him, "I feel better," and gives his hand a squeeze, and hopes that says enough.
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