Work Text:
Luke
It was no secret to anyone who knew Luke Patterson that he loved touch. In fact he thrived off of it. He used it to express every emotion. If he was happy, whoever was next to him would get a big bear hug. If he was sad, he would pick up the nearest hand and play with their fingers. Contentment usually led to a lazy hug. Anger and frustration was tapping on someone’s shoulder. Fear was a cartoonish jump into the nearest person’s arm. It was how he wordlessly expressed himself. It was how he made connections to people. Luke’s touch was a language of its own. Something that only three other people spoke.
The first of the band he met was Reggie in sixth grade. The boy was picking at his lunch when Luke made his way over. Without a single word of warning he slung his arm around the boy and introduced himself. Reggie allowed the contact without question and offered Luke a half of his ham and cheese sandwich (which the boy happily took). Unlike a lot of other people, Reggie didn’t mind Luke’s constant need for contact and would allow whatever type of touch Luke decided to bestow upon him that day.
It didn’t cross Luke’s mind until much later, that people might not appreciate his constant touch. When he brought the fact up to Reggie, he quickly assured him he didn’t mind it. Sometimes when he had his arm slung over Reggie’s shoulder people would glare at them and whisper slurs. It didn’t make sense to Luke. It wasn’t like he was actively kissing Reggie. Why was friendly contact between friends seen as gay and gross? Whenever those incidents happened, he would always back off from touching Reggie for a few days, but his need for it won out. Reggie was always quick to reassure him that he didn’t mind it. Reggie’s acceptance always made his heart grow with happiness.
Alex
Alex was the exact opposite of Luke. He did not enjoy touch. It made him uncomfortable and made his anxiety skyrocket. He would have panic attacks in the bathroom of his church because the touches of churchgoers were too much. He just wasn’t used to touch. There were no idle touches in his house. Each one had a purpose: a hand on the shoulder to reprimand, a hand on the arm to drag, a hand on the back to remind, a slap on the thigh to discipline. Hugs were few and between and when they did happen they were usually just for show. His parents weren’t ones for emotions and he was perfectly okay with that.
When two boys approached him and his science partner, Bobby, asking them to be friends. He was perfectly fine with that, but then Luke threw his arms around him and he flinched then stiffened instinctively. It took a few moments, but when the boy did not reciprocate nor relax, Luke slowly let him go and gave him a quick apology before moving back next to his friend and grabbing his hand. Alex felt a twinge of guilt for making him sad, but it was covered up with relief that he had finally been released from the boy’s captive grip. Bobby gave them a strange look before offering up his garage as a hang out spot.
Luke kept his distance from Alex for a few months after the incident. Sometimes there were moments where Luke would move to touch him, but abort the mission once he realized what he was doing. It continued like that until one afternoon in Bobby’s garage. Reggie had gone inside with Bobby to gather snacks for the boys. That left the other two boys alone. It took a second, but Alex noticed that Luke was practically vibrating.
“Are you ok?” Concern filled his voice.
Luke chuckled, “Yeah, I’ve just got too much energy, can’t get it all out.”
Without much thought, Alex offered up his hand. Luke looked at it, then at Alex, before slowly taking it. He began to splay the fingers and play with them as his vibrating slowed. It was a small moment but it opened a gate that was previously closed between Alex and Luke.
In a small voice, Alex spoke, “I don’t mind if you give me a hug or things like that, but just ask first, okay?”
Reggie
If Luke was touch dependent and Alex had touch aversion, Reggie was somewhere in the middle. He would always reciprocate physical affection without hesitation, but he never initiated it. When Luke’s emotions were high he would always target Reggie, in case it was too much for Alex, and he took it without complaint. Sometimes when Luke was angry enough Reggie would joke about the tapping leaving a bruise, but he never asked the boy to stop. He allowed his fingers to be played with when Luke was sad and would hug back just as hard when he was happy, but Reggie was never the first to move. Just like Alex’s touch aversion and Luke touch dependency, it wasn’t talked about, but it was respected.
They officially started their band their freshman year and Luke’s occasional spats with his parents began to get worse. One night, Reggie escaped to the garage to already find Luke sprawled on the couch with unshed tears in his eyes. He coughed to make his presence known, but Luke barely gave a nod of acknowledgement. He made no move to get closer and Luke made no move to bring him closer.
After a few moments of silence, Luke spoke with a trembling voice, “Reggie, do you mind me touching you all the time?”
“No! of course not.” He smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way.
“Then do you mind hugging me?”
Without a word Reggie finally made his way over to the couch and Luke grabbed his arm to pull him down to him. Reggie not even making a sound of protest.
Whenever they finished a show, Luke’s favorite thing to do was to give each member a hug. It was a way for him to release his remaining adrenaline and energy. Bobby was always first because Bobby’s favorite thing to do after a show was sleep, and the faster he got through the mandatory hug, the faster he got home. Next, Luke would silently ask, with a tilt of the head, if Alex was okay with being hugged. If he was, Luke would gather Alex into his arms and hug him for much longer than he did Bobby. All the while Reggie would patiently wait for his turn. There was no doubt that if he wanted to he could break the pattern, and hug Luke first, the other boys wouldn’t mind, but he just waited. If Alex agreed to a hug, after about a half-minute Reggie would be pulled in. If Alex didn’t want to be touched, Reggie would immediately be pulled into a one-on-one hug that could last for a whole minute. Of course, he didn’t mind. He would laugh and allow himself to be pulled in.