#team willex getting sidetracked from their 'find help' mission because Alex is also stuck in the same unknowing compliment game with Willie

[jmrothwell]

Colour fic prompts! Red 3, PeterPatterLina!

Being a ghost lately was hard enough. With the ever changing rules regarding tangibility and visibility. Add in a layer of honest to god magic no one knew how to combat, and well, even Reggie was having a hard time just nonchalantly brushing this one off. 

It was like all their verbal filters had been shut off for the day. Not that they really had much of any filter set up to begin with. Which is probably why it took the three of them so long to realize anything was wrong in the first place. Sure, Alex was more talkative than usual but Reggie had figured it was just because Willie was back in their after-lives and he was nervous or excited about their upcoming date. 

It wasn’t until Luke openly confessed he was going to go spend the last couple hours of Julie’s school day haunting his parents they knew something was wrong. Worse, Luke didn’t even realize he’d said it, fully believing he’d said whatever lie he’d concocted to explain away his absence. 

Things only got more complicated once Julie got home from school. Mortified by everything Flynn was filling her in on that she’d said throughout the day. The only reason they all knew it was magic magic and not ghost magic.

Soon after that reveal, Alex jumped at the chance to find Willie and hunt down a solution. Reggie’s not sure if it was in an effort to stop word vomiting around them, or to get away from the scene that was Julie and Luke gushing over each other on the couch.

It hadn’t started out that way. At first Julie legitimately was trying to explain how confused she’d been all day. Then she caught sight of Luke’s arms and…”Jesus, would you even struggle to lift me?”

The words fell out of her mouth, so quickly, Luke didn’t start sputtering until she was already several sentences into her next thought. Reggie didn’t blame her for thinking it, nor for the comments Luke made about Julie’s wild halo of hair. He’d thought the same thing himself from time to time. 

Thankfully, the two of them soon were eating up the inadvertent compliments. Practically turning it into a game to see if they could tell when they’d accidentally said something by the way the others expression shifted. All of their focus on eachother, and not on Reggie.

As far as the others are aware he never had a filter in the first place and he was trying his damndest to ensure it stayed that way. 

“Ugh, at this rate those two should just get a room already.” Flynn says, though there is an underlying fondness to their teasing. She doesn’t even bother trying to keep it quiet, Julie shoots a brief blush filled glare before getting understandably distracted by Luke again.

Reggie keeps his tight lipped smile looking as natural as he can, hoping this weird filter thing doesn’t also apply to facial expressions and it’s not obvious how twisted inside he is. 

This should be an easy topic of conversation though, right? Not the first time he’d teased Luke or Julie about how smitten and perfect they are for each other. Surely there’s something he can say without completely putting his foot in his mouth?

More than he usually does anyway. 

The longer he sits and thinks about it the more suspicious it would seem. Besides he doesn’t have the wits or wherewithal to even pretend to be witty right now.  So he just goes with the easiest solution of agreeing with Flynn. 

“Yeah, you’re so right.”

Silence descends upon the room, and Reggie’s stomach drops to the floor with it. Flynn’s teasing smirk has taken on a shocked edge, aimed directly at him. 

What did he say?

“What’d you say?” Julie and Luke ask from the couch, where he is actively avoiding looking. 

Shit, what did he just say?

“What?” He asks, unable to even force himself to laugh. “I said Flynn’s right. Get a room.”

“No. You said, ‘they’re so hot.’” Flynn says, biting back a laugh and keeping her tone relatively neutral.

“Oh, well that’s just stating facts.” Reggie says, relief almost surging through him. All he’d done was essentially repeat what Julie and Luke were already saying. Anyone could objectively see how good looking they were. Just like anyone could see how much they cared about each other and how well they fit together.  

He hadn’t said anything too revelatory. Like mention the bittersweet ache that always plagued his chest whenever he was around them. The happiness seeing them happy despite how much he wished he was more . . .involved.

Flynn grimaces, almost sympathetically. And Reggie didn’t know his stomach could drop any lower. “Oh, god, how much of that was out loud?”

“How honest do you want me to be?” Flynn barely manages to whisper before Julies asking more questions of her own.

“What do you mean more involved?” 

Reggie groans, as he finally turns to look toward Julie and Luke. The two of them are not near as slack jawed as he thought they should be. Luke’s trying to bite back one of his stupidly charming smug grins.

“Stupidly charming?” Luke’s smile grows, in spite of Julie’s pointed elbow nudge, while Reggie’s face heats up to an uncomfortable degree.

He’s really wishing he’d gone with Alex. Maybe he wouldn’t have as much of a headache as he does now.  “Could we talk about this later, please? When I can actually keep track of what it is I’m saying?”

At least at a level he typically can keep track of his thoughts and what he’s saying. 

A round of stiff giggles and chuckling echoes around him. Only making his blush worsen wondering if he’d somehow said even more than he intended again. 

“That’s probably a good idea.” Julie says as she adjusts her seat on the couch “Just so long as you promise to actually talk about this.”

It’s a promise he happily and readily makes. Ease by the way Julie and Luke pull him into hugs and don’t let him go very far for the rest of the day. Even getting pulled into their weird compliments game.

#julie and the phantoms #peterpatterlina #rukebox #not pictured: #team willex getting sidetracked from their 'find help' mission because Alex is also stuck in the same unknowing compliment game with Willie