Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The doors of the studio were ajar. 

It had caught Ray's eye as he had been leaving to drop the kids off at school that morning, but he had dismissed it as a lack of coffee and the ungodly hour. Now, standing in front of the building an hour later, it was obvious that something had pushed the doors open. For a moment Ray thought about Julie, that maybe she had dared to enter her mother's studio after nearly a year. Maybe Julie wanted to play again. But that couldn't be it - Julie still wasn't playing in school, and she wouldn't have had time to anyway.

Even though the doors were open, Ray felt like there was a wall between him and the studio. This was Rose's place; her music, her joy, her very being rang throughout the space in a way that made his heart hurt. But it was good to see her things, right? That had been what Victoria kept saying, that starting had to happen at some point. And at least if he went in he could start clearing up some of it.

His decision made, Ray slipped into the studio. 

The world immediately quietened as he did, as if it knew how precious this place really was. The studio seemed almost out of time: it was unchanged, a window into happier times. Seeing the piano shot pain through Ray like nothing could. It looked incomplete, without its other half; something he understood. He felt his heart racing, and breathed deeply. He could do this. Just keep looking at it all. Ray let himself have one more breath before turning to take in the rest of the studio, but when he did-

There was a boy on the couch. 

He was asleep, Ray guessed, from how still he was. Asleep, but not calm, considering the grimace on the kid's face and the way his hands were curled into fists. Ray could see a fairly nasty bruise on the boy's cheek, and since it was eighty degrees in LA, Ray figured that the long-sleeved flannel and leather jacket weren't just for style. 

His first thought was sympathy for the boy; he barely looked older than Julie, but had clearly gone through just as much hardship as her.  And if the boy had ended up sleeping in Ray’s studio, a place he had no connection to, then his home must not be safe.

Ray knew, objectively, what he should do. Go call the police, or social services. But the bags under the kid’s eyes weren’t going away any time soon, and Ray doubted that any attempt to get the boy to make a statement or wait for social workers wouldn’t end with him bolting. So no. Ray would let him sleep. He would call Victoria – she didn’t have a shift until later tonight, he knew – to check over injuries, and she would probably help Ray convince the kid to eat something too. 

That would work. That was a good plan. And it was probably what Rose would’ve done too.

Ray nodded to himself, his plan set out, and turned quickly to walk out of the studio. Too quickly, it seemed, since his hip hit one of the instruments. Ray could only wince at the level of noise the guitar and stand made as they clattered to the ground, and only wince further as the boy startled awake.

The boy sat up so quickly Ray felt lightheaded, but he did note the cut over the boy’s brow. Green eyes, bright and anxious, darted around the studio before focusing on Ray, and Ray could feel his heart breaking as he took in the fear that ran through the boy’s eyes.

“I-I’m so sorry.” The boy’s voice was shaky, his arms wrapping around himself as he stood. “I didn’t realize this was anyone’s place–there was the path from the street, and it l-looked like no one had come in recently-I’m sorry -“

Ray held up a hand, trying to at least slow down the flurry of words the kid was saying. But then the kid flinched, so severely that Ray felt himself automatically moving back, moving away and lowering his hand so that he seemed as un-threatening as possible. The kid had gone deathly silent, staring at Ray with an intensity that honestly made Ray uncomfortable.

Ray smiled, trying to ease some of the tension of the room. “I’m not mad. I promise.”

That seemed to help a little bit; Ray could see the boy’s shoulders relaxing slightly.

“Oh-okay.” The boy was nodding to himself, his hands pressed to his sides. “Um. I can leave, if you want. You probably don’t want some stranger in your home, so I’ll just-“

“No,” Ray interjected, and has to chastise himself as he watched the boy tense up again. He bit his tongue, trying to find the best way to word this.

“What I mean,” Ray began, trying to project calm, safety, “is that you clearly needed a place to sleep. I don’t mind; honestly, it’s good that the studio is being used. What’s your name?”

The boy swallowed, glancing to the door – the door Ray suddenly realized he was blocking. “Uh, Reggie, sir.”

Ray nodded, taking the information in. “Reggie, I’m Ray Molina. Are you okay?”

Reggie nodded, and put on the most unconvincing smile Ray had ever seen. “Oh, absolutely, Mr. Molina. Doing great. I just – I got too far from my house last night, got a bit lost was all. Ended up having to crash here before I could find my way back. I’m perfectly fine, I promise.”

And if Ray hadn’t been paying attention to the boy’s behavior, he might have agreed. But he had been, and as Reggie was fidgeting Ray could see the edge of his shirt riding up, revealing an ugly yellow bruise on Reggie’s side.  Ray knew, then and there, that he was going to do his best to help this kid.

“Well Reggie, I know that for my own sake of mind, I'd like to make sure that those bruises are just that, bruises. I've seen some nasty cases when bruises can get worse. My sister-in-law, she’s first aid trained, and only lives a few minutes away from here. Would you be willing to let her treat you?”

Reggie opened his mouth, and then closed it, biting his lip as if he didn’t know how to answer. And just as Ray was thinking that he’d lost him, Reggie’s stomach growled. Ray almost chuckled at how hard Reggie blushed.

“We also have plenty of food in the kitchen,” Ray added.

That seemed to cinch it, as Reggie softly nodded. Ray’s smile was very real as he beamed at Reggie, who was now shyly smiling back. Ray walked out of the studio, looking back to make sure Reggie was following him. At the very least, Reggie trusted Ray’s promise of food.

And Ray was determined to strengthen that trust.

Chapter Text

“This is going to sting a little bit, alright Reggie? Just preparing you.”

Ray had to give it to Victoria; she really knew how to do her job.

After he had called and asked for her to come over, Ray had barely waited ten minutes before she was there, her first aid kit in one hand and a plate of mallorcas in the other. Immediately, Ray could see the nurse in her come out, and that combined with Tia Victoria, had helped Reggie relax.

Reggie winced as Victoria pressed the rubbing alcohol-soaked Q-tip to the cut on his brow. He was fidgeting; his hand hadn’t stopped tapping the table since he had sat down, but he was still enough for Victoria to do her job.

Absently, Ray was reminded of Victoria doing the same thing with Carlos a few months ago, when he had tripped during a baseball game. Her smile was exactly the same; warm and loving as she placed a bandage on Reggie’s brow and pressed ice to the bruise on his cheek. “You did great, Reggie. Now eat; the mallorcas will get cold.”

Reggie didn’t need to be told twice, instantly reaching for the bread. He didn’t shove it into his mouth, though; Reggie ate slowly, in the near picture-opposite of any teenage boy Ray had ever seen. He ate like he was trying to not make himself sick.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Reggie smiled in between bites.

Victoria beamed back at him, ruffling his hair. “Oh, call me Tia, sweetie. Now you just keep that ice on there, okay? Ray and I have to talk for a moment.”

Ray could see Reggie’s shoulders tightening up again, but it was nowhere as bad as this morning. Reggie just nodded before staring back at the mallorcas, deep in thought. Victoria kept smiling, squeezing his shoulder before locking eyes with Ray and nodding towards Ray’s office.

As soon as Ray shut the doors, she turned. “The world has not been kind to that boy.”

Ray really could do nothing other than nod. “I know.”

“He’s lucky he didn’t have a concussion, after a hit to the head like that. And those bruises are days old! Not to mention how focused he was on the mallorcas. I have half a mind to march straight to social services-“

“No, Victoria,” Ray interrupted. She looked a little taken aback (which was fair – he didn’t normally interject when she was talking), but arched an eyebrow, clearly awaiting his reasoning.

“I don’t think Reggie is in the right mindset to be talking to a social worker,” Ray continued. “Never mind the fact that he’s dodging the question of where those injuries came from.”

“Well I’m not doing nothing, Ray! Look at him.”

“I know.” Ray pinched the bridge of his nose. “But until Reggie feels safe enough to talk to us, then there’s not much we can do.”

“So what? We just wait until he shows up again?”

“I’m hoping that he’ll stay here. Or at least know that that’s an option. And then maybe he’ll be willing to tell us the truth sooner rather than later, but if not then we can still create a somewhat safe environment.”

Victoria sighed, but nodded. Ray nodded in return, and started going through what would need to be done. The couch in the studio could be a pullout, which might solve a bed problem. Ray hadn’t seen a bag in the studio, so Reggie might need to borrow clothes. And then there was also the thought of where Reggie went to school.

“He likes you, you know.”

Ray turned to Victoria, who was smiling encouragingly.

“He barely even knows me, Tori.”

Victoria shrugged. “So? He still does. And you like him.”

And that, Ray couldn’t really contest.

It’s that feeling of being safe

Today, in Julie’s honest opinion, had kinda sucked. No, scratch that, today had sucked. And she couldn’t talk to the one person she actually wanted to.

But she had had to stay at school late for a project, and then had to pick Carlos up from baseball practice today, so she put a smile on her face. She listened to Carlos ramble on about ghost-hunting, and some show he’d seen about it the whole bus ride home. Which was fine, truly, she loved her brother and all of his insane hobbies, but Julie couldn’t help but wish for a female presence in the house. And no, Tia didn’t count. She meant well but it wasn’t the same. Julie was the only girl in a house with a slightly-oblivious brother and a well-meaning-but-not-quite-always-with-it dad.

And when she opened the door, there was another guy in the house.

“Um. Hello. Who are you?”

The guy shot up from his chair, looking like he’d seen one of the ghosts Carlos kept talking about. “Uh, hi. I’m Reggie.”

Carlos ran forward, because of course he did. “I’m Carlos! Do you like ghosts?”

Reggie immediately beamed down at Carlos. “Of course! They’re super cool!”

Carlos turned around, his tongue stuck out at Julie in vindication. “See Julie? I knew someone around here had some taste in television.”

Before she could respond, Dad rounded the corner, their big cast iron pot in his hands. He immediately dropped the pot on the stove in favour of wrapping his arms around Carlos in a hug.

“Hey you! How was school?” Dad ruffled Carlos’ hair as Carlos kept talking about his day. Julie tuned out as she stared at the guy – Reggie. He was vaguely familiar; she could’ve sworn she’d met him before. Was it the leather jacket? Maybe, but Julie went to a performing arts school. Half the guys dressed like James Dean on a regular basis.

“Julie?”

Julie jolted out of her thoughts to see all three of them staring at her. “Sorry, what?”

Ray cleared his throat. “Reggie is going to stay with us for a few days, mija.”

“I-is that okay with you?” Julie stared at Reggie, who was vibrating with anxiety, seemingly in anticipation for her response. He was biting his lip too, hard.

Julie tried to smile encouragingly. “Yeah, that’s cool. Better than cool, even.”

Reggie shyly smiled back, before Carlos started the ghost conversation again, dragging Reggie upstairs with him to ‘investigate,’ whatever the heck that meant. Julie went to set the table instead.

The whole time she was getting the plates, she could feel her dad’s eyes on her. And the utensils. And the napkins. Eventually she faced him and raised her eyebrow. He was almost contemplative as he was stirring the sauce.

“You know I love you, right Julie?”

“Yeah, I do Dad.” Julie reached her pinky out, with her dad matching it to tap lightly. “What’s this about?”

She could see her dad’s brow furrow, a surefire sign that he was conflicted, before he sighed. “Reggie…well, he hasn’t said, but we can assume he doesn’t have the best home life, mija.”

Oh.

Julie bit her tongue as she took in this new information. “Is that why Tia was over here earlier? Because he needed a nurse?”

Dad stared at her in surprised shock. “How’d you know?”

Julie rolled her eyes. “No offense Dad, but there are mallorcas in the fridge. And I know you didn’t make them.”

He laughed at that, cheer and mirth in his eyes and he pulled Julie into a tight hug.

sometimes it’s a person and not a place

“Here.” Julie handed Reggie the pile of clothes. “These are my dad’s old things. They’ll probably fit you.”

Reggie took the clothes almost reverently, before giving Julie the shy smile he seemed to give everyone except Carlos. The two had hit it off over dinner, with Dad and Julie only being able to get a word in edge-wise.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Reggie asked. “I’m a complete stranger in your house, it’s really fine if you’re not.”

Julie smiled back, hoping to dispel some of his anxiety. “Of course, Reggie, really, you don’t have to keep asking. Besides, I don’t think we’re total strangers; your face seems really familiar.”

“Oh, we…we go to the same high school. I’m in the year above you. But I wouldn’t expect you to recognise me, I mean, you’re like, Julie Molina! You’re the star of the music program!”

Reggie’s earnest face was adorable, but Julie could feel her cheeks burning as she suddenly realised why Reggie looked so familiar.

“Um, I was. I don’t-I don’t play anymore. But you, you play bass, right?”

“Yeah! I learnt with…”

Reggie trailed off as his expression saddened. Julie watched his shoulder curls up, and his hands grip each other.

“Um…do you think. Can you. Would you mind doing me a favour?”

The seriousness of Reggie’s words made Julie stand straighter. “Sure. What is it?”

Reggie’s knuckles were white. “Uh, Ray-your dad-he said I shouldn’t go to school tomorrow, but I have-can you tell Luke and Alex that I’m here?”

Julie could feel her voice go a pitch higher. “Luke?”

“Yeah, Luke Patterson?”

Julie wanted to scream. Scream words her dad would never allow her to say. But she smiled and prayed that it didn’t come across as a grimace.

“I will..definitely do it.”

Frick.

Chapter Text

Okay. Julie could do this.

All she had to do was walk like, thirty steps. Thirty steps, and then talk to Luke Patterson. And that right there was the crux of the issue.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t approachable, because he was. The problem was that Julie had had exactly three interactions with the guy, and they had all ended with Julie wanting to strangle him. But she promised Reggie.

Adorable Reggie, who despite Julie’s best efforts, had noticed her grimace last night before launching into a defence of Luke. He was just blunt, Reggie had said. He had trouble focusing on too many things, so he would stop paying attention. He never meant it to be rude, Luke just really couldn’t focus on more than one thing at a time. And Reggie clearly loved Luke, so Luke couldn’t be that terrible of a person. A terrible person wouldn’t have gorgeous hazel eyes and really cute beanies and-

“Whatcha doing?”

Julie nearly jumped out of her skin when Flynn appeared at her shoulder. “N-nothing!”

Flynn practically cackled. “Yeah right.”

“Flynn!”

Flynn tried to compose herself, but failed. “Uh-huh. So why are you staring at Luke Patterson?”

Julie fought down the urge to slam her foot against the floor. “I was not staring.”

“You totally were. Which is fine, like, love who you love, but the last time you two interacted you ranted to me for twenty minutes about it.”

“It was well deserved! He was-you know what, I’m not getting into it. I just need to give Luke a message from Reggie.”

“Sorry, who?”

“He’s Luke’s friend; wears a leather jacket and flannel all the time.”

“Oh, him. And why are you giving the message, instead of Luke’s actual friend who hasn’t fantasized about drop kicking him off a building?”

“Well, Reggie’s sort of…staying at my house.”

Flynn’s eyebrow went higher than Julie could’ve ever imagined. “Excuse me, what? When did this even happen?”

“Last night.”

Flynn’s eyes were the size of saucers. “Okay, you are telling me everything.”

“I promise, I will, but I need to do this, I told Reggie I would.”

“Then go.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Julie.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“Once when Julie Molina was eight, she-“

“Okay, fine!”

Julie made her feet move before her brain could catch up. She was at ten. Twenty. And now she was at thirty which meant that-

“Luke?”

Why wasn’t he turning around. She’d said the words. Good lord this was awkward. No wait, he was talking. He hadn’t heard her. That made more sense.

“And then if we had another few chords-“

“Luke.”

“-you can come in with the drums-“

“Luke.”

“-and Reggie sings the bridge-“

“Luke Patterson!”

She’d shouted that. Damnit.

Julie watched in almost-slow motion as Luke and the guy he was with – Alex, Reggie had said his name was Alex – turned around to look at her. Luke looked annoyed. Well, good. The sentiment was mutual.

“What do you want?” Luke asked.

“Luke!” Alex lightly slapped Luke’s shoulder before turning back to Julie. “I’m sorry about him, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

Julie didn’t really know how to respond to that. She was fairly sure she was just starting at the two of them with an incredulous expression.

“So. Um. Who are you?” Alex practically yelled at her. This was not going well.

“Julie Molina.”

“The music girl,” Luke murmured to Alex. He looked almost sad as he said it.

Julie cleared her throat. “Um. Sort of. Anyway. I have a message for you two. From Reggie.”

She should have started with that. The boys’ dynamic instantly shifted; Luke’s eyes suddenly set on Julie with laser focus (when did he start having green flecks in his eyes?), Alex’s shoulders shot up and both of them started throwing questions at her.

“Where is he?”

“Is he okay?”

“Why didn’t he call last night?”

Julie held up her hands, which thankfully stopped the questions. Luke and Alex stood still, waiting for her next word.

“He’s okay. Well, he’s a little banged up, but other than that he’s okay. He was…well my dad found him in our studio yesterday. And he’s sort of staying with us now.”

The two were still staring at her.

“And that’s what he wanted you to know.”

Perfectly in-synch, Alex and Luke turned to each other. They weren’t saying anything, but they were clearly having a conversation. One that Julie was not following in the slightest.

Eventually they seemed to come to a conclusion, and Alex smiled at her. “Thanks for letting us know, Julie. See you around, yeah?”

Julie could only nod. Luke and Alex shared another look before walking down the hallway. The two started vehemently talking, with one quick look back before disappearing into the crowd of students.

“That seemed like it went well.”

Julie’s heart definitely missed a beat that time. “Flynn stop doing that!”

“Well you should stop making it so easy. Now; how exactly did you end up in the business of three of the hottest guys at school?”

life’s a test, yes

The doorbell would just not stop ringing.

“I’m coming!” Julie went down the stairs as quick as she could, but apparently that wasn’t fast enough since whoever was out there kept ringing the damned bell.

Deep in her gut, Julie had a sinking feeling about who was at the door.

Finally, she made it to the end of the stairs, and then it was only a few steps to the door and pulling that open to snap-

“My god, did you not hear me? I said I was coming!”

Luke’s mouth was open, his hand poised like he was about to start knocking.

“We didn’t hear anything,” Alex said. “Sorry?”

It hit Julie that the two guys were standing in her doorway. “It’s okay. Um. How are you at my house?”

“There’s a registry book for the school.”

“Oh.”

There was silence for about two seconds, before Luke broke it.  “Where’s Reggie?”

“He’s in the studio, I think he’s messing around with a bass. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Making sure to lock the door behind her, Julie led the guys through the gate and down the path to the studio. She could hear some melody coming from the amps; it sounded good, she liked how it flowed. Julie glanced over her shoulder to make sure the guys were there; she could see Luke nodding in time to whatever Reggie was playing, and Alex was tapping along.

Julie knocked on the door, loud enough to be heard over the music. “Reggie?”

The music stopped, and there was a small moment before Reggie opened the door. Immediately a smile shot onto his face, but it still couldn’t distract from the yellow bruise on his face.

“Luke! Alex!”

Julie got jostled as the three guys all ran towards each other, instantly enveloping each other in one of the tightest hugs Julie had ever seen. Luke’s hand was gripping Reggie’s neck, pulling him in closer, and Alex was holding onto Reggie’s waist like he never wanted to let go. It was a sweet intimacy between the boys, but it also seemed private. Julie turned and made her way to sit on the steps outside the studio; this was between the boys.

She took her phone out to text Flynn updates – she’d promised earlier today to not keep Flynn out of the loop – but even with that, she could hear the conversation between the guys.

“You look like hell.”

“It’s not that bad, Luke, really-“

“Seriously? Your face says otherwise, Reg. What even happened this time?”

“Alex, they were arguing. Like they always do. I just got in the middle of it is all.”

“That’s still not okay. Why didn’t you call one of us?”

“…I didn’t want to bother you guys. You’ve got your own stuff with your families; you don’t need to deal with mine.”

“Reggie. You’re not bothering us. We want you to be safe, not end up running into a stranger’s garage.”

“Mr. Molina’s been super nice about it though. He said I can stay here as long as I want.”

“The only good thing a parent’s done for us in the last year.”

“Luke – I’m not dealing with that right now. Reg, I don’t think you should be going back. Not anytime soon.”

“I have to go back eventually – I’ve been missing for two days, and I need my clothes.”

Thump.

“We brought your phone, and some clothes. We’re not joking Reggie. You could get seriously hurt. You already did.”

“T-this isn’t that bad, Alex, I’ve had worse-“

“-that’s not a good thing!”

Silence. No, there wasn’t silence; Julie could hear Reggie’s sniffles.

“Come here, Reg.”

you’re gonna find your way home

It was almost dinnertime. Ray had set the table, because Julie was missing, and Carlos was busy with homework. He hadn’t seen Reggie in hours, but Reggie had practically bolted when he’d realized there was a bass in the studio. Music was important to the kid, obviously. And it was good that someone was using the studio.

Almost as if Ray’s thoughts had summoned him, Reggie stepped through the door, flanked on either side by two other boys. They must be the friends Reggie mentioned.

“Um, hi Mr. Molina.” Reggie was clasping his hands together again, in the way Ray knew meant that he was trying to hide shaking. Ray didn’t move from his spot at the counter, instead staying still. And if Ray noticed that the other two boys were subtly moving so that they were in front of Reggie, and that the brown-haired one seemed particularly distrustful towards Ray, then that didn’t really matter.

“Is it okay if my friends stay for dinner?”

Ray let himself smile at the small request, and that smile grew as Reggie shyly smiled back. “That’s no problem, Reggie, I’ve made more than enough. And call me, Ray remember?”

Reggie energetically nodded, pulling a small chuckle from Ray. He gestured to the larger table – there were too many people for their usual four-person one – as he moved some of the table settings. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friends, Reggie.”

The blonde boy smiled, and did a little wave. “Alex. Hi, sir.”

The other one stared at Ray through narrowed eyes, before Alex not-so-subtly elbowed him in the side and the kid bit out, “Luke.”

“REGGIE!”

Chaos ensued as Carlos ran down the stairs, throwing his arms around Reggie. Reggie instantly became a bundle of joy, reaching down to ruffle Carlos’s hair. Alex was chuckling at the display, and Luke had the familiar off-put look that only came from being an only child.

“Where were you? Homework was so boring, and I thought of a new way we could try and ghost-hunt. But you could also help me practice my baseball, or-“

“Okay, Carlos,” Ray interjected. “Come sit, it’s time for dinner. Where’s Julie?”

“She’s in the studio still,” Alex said.

“I-um-I found a song on the piano. I-I told Julie about it – ow, Luke, stop it – and she said it was from her mom. She said she wanted to spend some time with it.”

Ray nodded; he’d seen the song a few months ago, but wanted to wait for Julie to be ready.

“Are you mad?”

“No, I’m not mad, Reggie. Come have dinner.”

Everyone sat at the table, Reggie sandwiched in between his friends, and Luke in between Reggie and Ray. As the food started being passed around, Ray could only smile as he heard the notes from the piano.

“Here’s the one thing, I want you to know…”

you don’t give up no you grow

Julie was on cloud nine. Better than cloud nine; she could feel music in her again. It was amazing. It was everything.

She stood in the music room at school, where she’d told Flynn to meet her before classes. She was going to sing, and she was going to make sure she stayed in the music program. She didn’t have to hear a final warning: she could do it.

“Um, Julie?”

That wasn’t Flynn.

Julie turned around to see Luke, with Reggie and Alex standing a little further off. The sad expression on his face made Julie think of a puppy; it was so cute.

No. Focus.

“Hi, Luke. What’s up?”

“Um…” Luke put his hands in his pockets, his shoulders pushing up to his shoulders. “It’s just that…I realize that I may have been a little harsh, and rude yesterday, and I wanted to apologize. I was worried about Reggie, and some other stuff – not that that’s an excuse, but you deserve an explanation. And. You and your family have been really nice, to help Reggie and everything. And I wanted to thank you.”

Luke reached into his back pocket and handed her a folded-up piece of paper. Julie took it, and gingerly began unfolding it.

“It’s a song,” Luke said. “I know you’re sort of, in limbo with the music program; people kept saying you don’t sing, but we all heard you yesterday, and I was thinking this would be perfect for your range. And as an apology.”

Julie was struck by how sweet Luke’s gesture was. She looked at the song, briefly reading it over before looking back at Luke with a smile.

“Thank you, Luke. Apology fully accepted. This song…it’s really good. Why aren’t you in the music program, if you can write like this?”

Luke glanced off to the side for a moment. “It doesn’t matter, Julie. Don’t worry about it.”

“Seriously though; this is better than like, ninety percent of what people come up with in the program.”

“Julie.” Luke turned back to her, his eyes dark with anger and sadness. “Just drop it. Please.”

Julie wanted to protest – it was a really good song – but something in Luke’s eyes told her he was serious. She nodded, looking over the song again. “We will fight to shine together, bright forever…”

“No, you have to go up for that line,” Luke interjected. “Bright – I’ll just show you.”

Luke went and grabbed one of the guitars. With a quick nod from him, Reggie and Alex went to instruments too; Reggie to a bass, Alex to the drums. Julie didn’t even know before yesterday that they could play.

Alex tapped a quick beat, and without hesitation Luke and Reggie jumped in with the melody. Julie could only smile. She looked at the lyrics again before beginning.

“Sometimes I think, I’m falling down…”

Chapter Text

“…bright forever!”

Luke hit the last chord, and Julie could only beam at the guys. The song was brilliant, and they were all amazing on their respective instruments. It was hard to explain, but the four of them together just…fit. She found it effortless to harmonize with Luke, and Reggie automatically knew when he should come in with vocals; same for Alex, who had kept the tempo perfect throughout the song. Julie could practically hear the audience cheering for them.

No, wait. Someone was actually clapping behind her.

Julie whirled around to see Flynn, with Ms. Harrison, smiling at the four of them and applauding. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, but it felt good. To have someone hear her sing again.  

“Very good, Julie,” Ms. Harrison said. “I hope we can hear the full song today for your participation?”

Julie smiled back. “I’d like to. Um. Luke, would you be okay with that?”

Luke looked like a cornered animal with everyone’s attention on him all of a sudden. Julie sensed Ms. Harrison was about to ask something, and before she could Julie explained, “It’s Luke’s song.”

Luke’s jaw clenched, and out of the corner of her eye Julie could see Alex and Reggie looking at him. “It’s fine, Julie, you’ll be great. Excuse me.”

Luke abruptly stalked out of the room, leaving the guitar abandoned on its stand.

Ms. Harrison turned to watch Luke head down the corridor with his shoulders hunched, before she turned back, her eyes reflecting a sympathy Julie didn’t quite understand. She cleared her throat, catching the other guys’ attention. “Alex, Reggie, I think you two should go catch up with Luke.”

Alex and Reggie nodded immediately, giving Julie quick smiles before following Luke.

“And Julie, I will see you in class today. I’m looking forward to it.”

With that, Ms. Harrison left, and Julie had to just think through what she’d just witnessed.

“Okay, one, we are having an in-depth conversation about you singing again. Second, do you have any idea what just happened?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Flynn.”

if you could only know

Luke wanted to hit something. No, what he wanted to do was find some quiet corner in the school and start writing. But for now, he settled for slamming his fist against his locker.

“Luke.” He could feel Alex and Reggie on either side of him “Luke, Julie didn’t mean anything by it, I’m sure-“

“I know,” Luke said. He forced himself to breathe – those horrible four-count breaths he’d learned for Alex’s anxiety attacks. And as much as Luke hated those exercises, he knew they worked. He could feel himself calming down.

“I know,” he repeated. “It’s just…everything, at this point. She gets to do it all; the music, the lyrics, and from what Reggie says…her dad supports it.”

And that was the crux of it; that Luke had seen the pity in Ms. Harrison’s eyes, the same pity she had every time he told her he couldn’t apply. He could hear his parent’s yelling from last night, their disapproval echoing in his ears.

Alex’s hand was now pressed against Luke’s back, Reggie’s against his arm, grounding him in the here and now.

“I know it sucks,” Alex said softly.

“Yeah,” Reggie agreed.

Luke huffed, before opening his locker. “It’s fine. It’ll be fine.”

He just wished he believed it.

The three of them settled into a comfortable silence as they grabbed their books for the day. Luke couldn’t shake the idea of the music program out of his head. Performing Bright with Julie and his friends was the most fun Luke had had in months; he had felt alive. But it had all sunk at the realization that none of it was going to happen anyway.

Luke could feel himself getting pulled out of his thoughts as the noise around him increased. Everyone around them was talking, all gazing down the hallway with dreamy looks in their eyes. Luke couldn’t remember anything that pulled this much focus since Carrie and Nick’s last disaster break up.

“The hell is going on?” Luke glanced over at Reggie, but he didn’t seem to have any idea either. Alex was equally as clueless. Luke eventually just peered down the hallway to look at what was catching everyone’s attention.

A new guy, it seemed. He had long hair tied up in a bun, and Luke could see small silver hoop earrings. He was also holding a skateboard and a helmet, and dressed the part too.

“Handsome,” Alex blurted out softly.

Luke chuckled quietly, but kept studying the new kid. There was something familiar about his face…

Holy crap.

“Guys that’s Willie.”

“Who?”

“Willie; that alternative artist that got really big last year? He signed to Covington Records and everything.”

Reggie looked back to Willie for a moment. “Oh! Yeah, I remember you liked the songs he did. Why is he here?”

“He’s our age, Reg; he still has to go to school. And we are known for the performing arts.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

Luke nodded, before turning back to his locker. New kid or not, he still had classes to go to. It took another minute for Luke to realize that Alex still hadn’t moved.

“Yo, Alex, you okay?”

Alex startled at his name, before tearing his eyes away from Willie. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

Luke reached over and squeezed Alex’s arm. It sucked, every time Alex hid that part of himself, but Luke also knew Alex wouldn’t be ready to be fully out until his parents knew.

“We should revisit Home is Where My Horse Is,” Reggie announced. “I think Julie could kill it on the fiddle.”

And as much as Luke hated country, he would give Reggie a whole album if he could keep that amused look on Alex’s face.

guess we’re alike that way

Alex couldn’t find Luke for the life of him – which was insane, since their school was only like four floors, and he’d already searched three. The two of them had agreed to distract Reggie from his home problems, at least for the next few days, but they couldn’t exactly do that when one of them was missing.

Alex sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought about where a music-obsessed, obliviously idiotic seventeen-year-old boy would be in a school. If he hadn’t already left school already, damnit, why didn’t Alex insist that Luke keep his phone on him-

The sound of footsteps echoing down the hallway shook Alex from his thoughts. Rolling his eyes, Alex turned around, a sarcastic comment on the tip of his tongue because I swear Luke, you’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached to your body, but that was not Luke and he was careening into him and before Alex could even move, he felt the guy collide into him.

Alex bit down a curse as his back slammed into the ground, and bit down another as the guy fell on top of him. Wow he weighed a lot too. And he smelt like cinnamon and sandalwood, and that was a really nice cologne and no, stop thinking about that because-

“Dude, you dinged my board!”

Alex could only look indignant. “You ran me over!” he shot back.

The guy pushed himself up off Alex. The guy was Willie. Willie from this morning. But his hair was down past his shoulders now, his earrings hidden by a gray helmet. And he was staring at Alex. His eyes were pretty. Who knew brown eyes could have that kind of depth. And what was Alex thinking about again?

Willie scoffed. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but I did tell you to move.”

Right.

Alex fought down several not-safe-for-school responses, and instead took Willie’s hand to stand up fully. Even his hand felt cute. How could a hand be cute?

Focus!

Alex cleared his throat. “Clearly not loud enough, since I didn’t hear anything. Why are you skating indoors anyway?”

Wille shrugged. “Why not? The cops always hit the skate parks, and I promised my manager no more skating in traffic after I broke my arm. At least here, it’s a wide open space, and aside from you-“ he booped Alex’s nose “-no one’s bothered me about. It.”

Alex felt his heart racing. Was he having a panic attack? Maybe.

Willie waited for a moment before putting his hand out. “I’m Willie.”

“I know.”

Wow, Alex, that didn’t sound creepy at all.

“Um,” Alex coughed, reaching to shake Willie’s hand, “What I mean, is that I’ve heard your music, and I think we’re in English together. I’m Alex, by the way.”

“Cool.” Willie smiled, and Alex’s heart had definitely stopped working. “Well Alex, I am sorry about running you over, considering you didn’t hear the warning. How’d you feel about me taking you out to dinner, as an apology?”

Alex stared at Willie for a few moments, shocked, before realizing that a normal person would respond. “Yeah,” he said before his brain even thought about the words. “I’d like that.”

Willie’s smile got brighter, if that was even possible (why is he so cute). “Awesome. Well, I’ll see you around, then. Tell you the plans later!”

And with that, Willie skated off. Alex turned to watch, his mind fully blank. At least, until something’s incessant beeping jolted him out of the shock. It was his Fitbit. Good god, his heart rate was alarmingly high.

But even as Alex was reaching for his anti-anxiety meds, he couldn’t stop smiling.

I never meant to leave

Nothing.

Reggie couldn’t stop staring at his phone. Turn off. Turn on again. Check messages. Nothing.

Absolutely, completely nothing.

But both his parents worked insanely long shifts, and for insanely little money. It made sense that they were busy; they’d probably had to clean the house up too, after all the things that had gotten thrown. And Reggie stayed over at Luke’s and Alex’s for days at a time, so it’s not like it wasn’t unusual for him to not come home. That was it. His parents thought he was at his friends’ houses, and that’s why they hadn’t reached out.

Reggie put his phone on the table and turned to the kitchen. Mr. Molina – Ray, his name was Ray, he told Reggie to call him Ray – hated doing the dishes, which was evident from the pile in the sink. Reggie rolled up the sleeves of his flannel before turning on the tap. Dishes were good. Dishes could be done.

Reggie mindlessly worked, slowing getting through the mound of dishes. Carlos would be happy; if all the chores were done, then Ray and Carlos could go out and play baseball. Julie would like having time to herself, she’d been telling Reggie earlier about a face mask Flynn gave her, and Carlos had already teased her about it. The Molinas deserved a break from everything that had gone on recently.

Finally, all that was left was to put the dishes away. Then Reggie could start on cleaning, maybe? Ray had gone to get takeout for the evening, so there was no need to make dinner. And there was also a layer of dust on the mantel that he knew would irritate Alex if he saw it, so it would be good for Reggie to deal with that.

“I’m home!”

Reggie startled at the voice, turning around so fast his hand slipped and the glass in hand smashed on the floor.

It took a moment for what he’d just done to set in, but once it did Reggie threw himself onto the other side of the kitchen. He should’ve known this was going to happen, he could never do anything right, and now he’d ruined Mr. Molina’s dish, his parents were right he always messed up, Reggie put his hands up to protect his head because any minute the yelling was going to start.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t meant to I’m sorry I’ll clean it up I promise I’m sorry-“

“Reggie?”

Reggie raised his head to see Ray staring at him, sitting a few feet away. He looked worried, he shouldn’t be because Reggie would be fine, he’d just clean everything up and he knew the consequences, he knew he knew he knew but that would be okay and Reggie-

“Reggie, I’m not mad. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Reggie stared at Ray, eyes wide. “You-you’re not?”

“I’m not,” Ray assured. “It’s just a broken glass. Carlos does it all the time.” Ray’s expression softened as his eyes filled with concern. “Reggie, why are you crying?”

Reggie hadn’t even noticed the tears until Ray mentioned it. He furiously wiped at his eyes before curling his arms around his legs.

“It’s just-“ Reggie’s breath hitched, because his entire body was screaming no, not safe, nothing is safe, but he tried to calm down. Four breaths, that’s what Alex did, right? “You-you’re so nice, about everything, even when I keep messing up all the time, and you love Carlos and Julie so much. A-and I don’t want to ruin that for you, because I ruin everything, and my parents fight all the time now, and I-I try to make sure they don’t fight too much, but whenever I try to get them to stop they just push me out, because I can’t do anything right.”

There was silence for a few moments, and all Reggie could do was close his eyes and wait for the ball to drop.

“Reggie…” Ray’s voice was calm, but Reggie could hear the anger underneath, and curled up further. “Is that how you got hurt, how you got those bruises? Because you got in between your parents when they were fighting?”

Reggie nodded, biting his lip. “I-they always fight about me, and I try to stop them because they didn’t use to be like this, but I-I can’t take it anymore, i-I don’t want to be there anymore, I know I’m a horrible son but I-“

And all of a sudden, there were arms around him. Reggie tensed, but it wasn’t the hit he’d been expecting, it was a hug, Ray’s arms wrapped tightly, but it wasn’t bad, it was nice, it almost felt safe, and before he knew it Reggie was sobbing into Ray’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to go back there,” Reggie whispered.

“You don’t have to Reggie.” Ray’s voice was so soft, so calm and nice, and Reggie just cried harder. “You don’t have to go there, ever again, if you don’t feel safe.”

“I-I want to stay with you.” Reggie fought down another sob. “I know you can’t really, and that’s okay, but maybe I could stay in the studio, if that’s not too much of a problem?”

Ray hugged Reggie even harder, and all Reggie could feel was safe.

“Reggie, we’d be happy to have you. If you want to stay here, we’ll make it happen.”

Chapter Text

It really had been a hell of a week.

First Julie’s days had been disrupted by a bunch of hyperactive man-children who while being annoying, were sweet. Then she’d found her passion of music again, albeit only once, but it still counted. And last night she’d come downstairs, expecting takeout and another night of Carlos and Reggie dominating the conversation and instead been faced with a sobbing Reggie being comforted by Dad, glass everywhere. Then she’d helped Reggie clean up the kitchen, and there was having to take photos of all his injuries (which came with Reggie’s protests, and her dad’s firm insistence),

So yeah, it had been a busy week. And then she’d woken up on a Saturday to Luke and Alex asking to be let in. Thankfully, her dad had, and she could roll over and go back to sleep.

When Julie woke up, for real this time, she’d quickly gotten herself ready. She was starving – none of them had been able to eat much last night. Julie made her way down the hall quickly, but then remembered that the boys were in the guest bedroom. She doubled back, and was about to knock before she heard them talking.

Julie didn’t mean to eavesdrop. But her protective instincts were in overdrive, so sue her.

“I-I mean, what am I going to do?”

“Go on the date with him?”

“Not helpful Luke!”

“But he’s kind of right Alex. You like him, he clearly likes you, so what’s the other option? Say no and mope?”

“Are we all forgetting the elephant in the room?”

“There isn’t an elephant in the-“

“My parents Reggie!”

Silence suddenly swept over the room.

“They still don’t know.”

“No. Every time I try I just-think about all the worst-case scenarios.”

“Yeah.”

“Alex, like we’ve always said, tell them when you’re ready. But them not knowing shouldn’t stop you from your own happiness. Just talk to Willie about it, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Julie could hear Alex scoff. “He’s a proudly out gay superstar musician. He won’t bother with some random closeted guy he ran over with a skateboard.”

Julie frowned for a moment, taking in what she’d just heard. There was only one ‘gay superstar musician’ she could think of who would skateboard into Alex – Willie, who had had literally everyone talking about him when he came into school yesterday. He’d asked out Alex? She could see that, actually, they’d be cute together. She leaned in closer to hear more – but she still wasn’t eavesdropping. She wasn’t.

“He asked you out Alex. You, with your hoodies and weird fanny pack obsession and anxiety and your massive heart and awesome advice. So go, have fun with him, and what will be will be.”

Julie smiled to herself – even though she’d only seen it for a few days, the boys’ friendship would always make her happy. She quietly made her way down to the kitchen, and left them to it.

you know all my deep-dish

Julie sat at the table, cereal bowl in hand. She didn’t know where her dad was, and Carlos was most definitely asleep, so that left her with herself for company. That was okay – the sun always looked beautiful streaming in through the window, and Flynn was going to come by later. It was going to be a good day.

She pulled out her phone, scrolling through her notes app. There was one group of lyrics she wanted to take another look at, now that she was actually feeling inspired. And Flynn’s birthday was coming up soon, this would be perfect for it…

“This is really good stuff.”

Julie jumped out of her skin, whirling around to find Luke literal inches away from her. “My god! Luke!”

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Julie was aware that Luke’s face was incredibly close to hers, in a way that made her heart race and her blood rush. But the more pressing issue was that Luke was still reading her phone. He was even humming to himself.

Julie shoved him away, forcing Luke to sit on the chair next to her. He was smiling though; a full beaming smile that exuded happiness and puppy-dog energy. Julie had to fight to keep her expression neutral.

“What? It’s good. Have you come up with a melody for it yet?”

Luke reached for her phone again, but Julie pulled it out of his reach.

“No, I have not. Also, why aren’t you with Reggie and Alex upstairs?”

“We’re right here.”

Sure enough, the other two boys were at the counter, the rest of the cereal in a bowl between them. Alex’s eyes were slightly red-rimmed, which Julie chose to ignore. Reggie was carefully cradling the bowl, as if he was scared it would break in his hands.

Julie smiled at them all. “So what did you three all get up to then, at that ungodly hour this morning?”

“Songwriting, among other things.” Reggie was smiling, his big proper one that Julie was starting to see more and more of. “Luke had some late-night inspiration.”

“It would actually work well for the stuff on your phone,” Luke interjected, reaching again.

Julie held the phone well of out Luke’s reach. “Stop it. Boundaries. And this isn’t really anything, it’s just something I wrote for Flynn…last year. When she was helping me with my mom, and all that. It’s not that good.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh. Julie, you’re crazy talented, okay? Anyone can see that. So are your lyrics. They deserve to be heard.”

“May I see it?” Alex asked.

Julie beamed at Alex’s request, passing him her phone, before sticking her tongue out at Luke for good measure. “Why yes Alex, you can, thank you for asking.”

And no, Luke’s sad puppy face was decidedly not adorable.

Alex read over the lyrics, before passing the phone to Reggie. “Luke’s right Julie, it’s good.”

Julie couldn’t help her smile growing a little bit more; Alex’s sincerity was heartwarming.

Reggie handed the phone back. “And I think it would work with what we were talking about this morning.”

“May I?”

Julie turned to Luke’s outstretched hand; his expression painfully earnest. She passed him the phone, watching how his nose scrunched up in concentration before looking back up.

“So, for the chorus, it could be – my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo-o.”

“Oh-o-oh!” Reggie added.

Julie chuckled at the cute addition, but couldn’t deny that Luke’s idea was good. Like, really good. She leaned over to look at the lyrics again, trying to see where to go from there.

“I-I really like that, actually. What about from that, maybe – you know who I’m liking, way before I like them, duh, ‘cause you liked them first.”

“And if somebody hurts you, I’m gonna get hurt too,” Luke continued.

“That’s just how we work, yeah that’s just how we work,” Julie added.

“What if we added a C chord there, Luke?” Reggie asked.

“I like that,” Alex interjected. “It gives us more variety leading into the pre-chorus.”

“Me too.” Luke was tapping on the table, his tongue poking out between his teeth as he kept thinking. “And then – and then-“

Luke was miming, as if he was playing an invisible guitar. Julie looked at the pattern on his hand, trying to figure out the chord.

“A?” she asked.

Luke’s gaze swung to her, beaming. “Yes! Yes, yes, and then pause for a bit, then we come in big with the chorus!”

“We should play it,” Alex suggested. “See if it works in real time.”

Julie looked at the boys; all of them, her included, were fidgeting, in that particular way Julie knew meant they wanted an instrument in their hand. “Well what are we waiting for?”

Almost in tandem, all four of them stood up, making their way to the studio.

we both know

“Flying solo without you…”

Julie finished the final note, turning to see Flynn’s expression. Her and the guys had gotten the entire melody down in barely an hour, just in time for Flynn’s arrival, and now she was the ‘test audience,’ as Luke put it.

It seemed like she enjoyed it.

“Julie…this is literally so amazing! You guys came up with this in, what, an hour? Ya’ll, I’m impressed.”

Julie couldn’t help the smile growing on her face. Flynn was right. The song had come to them like magic; Julie’s lyrics and the boys’ melodies had combined instantly, like they’d all connected their minds within that one hour.

Flynn’s smile was changing; changing into that one smile/smirk that let Julie knew she was cooking up an idea. “You guys should enter the showcase.”

“The what?” Julie asked.

“It’s a monthly event at one of the clubs in the city,” Luke explained. “For new, or upcoming bands to debut. A ton of agents and managers come too. The next one’s in like, two weeks.”

“Two weeks is not enough time.”

“Alex, we’ve literally written like, eight songs in a day before.”

“Not to perform in front of people!”

“Dude. Quit pacing.”

Flynn stepped in. “If you guys made this, in an hour, then you’re more than ready for the showcase. You just need a name…”

“We’ve kind of been calling ourselves Sunset Curve.”

“No,” Julie and Flynn said at the same time.

“Hey! What’s wrong with that?”

“It sounds like a rock band from the 1990s. No offence Luke.”

“Well you could’ve said it nicer,” Luke muttered, but the wink in Julie’s direction let her know he wasn’t being serious. “Alex, we’re on the runway again. Stop it.”

“No! I will pace if I please! Besides, you’re literally proving my point. We don’t even have a band name; how would we be ready to debut?”

“What about Julie and the somethings?” Reggie looked between everyone, gauging reactions. “I mean, Julie, you started this whole thing with your lyrics.”

“Julie and the Phantoms!” Flynn cheered.

At that, everyone stopped and stared at her, confused. Julie raised an eyebrow as she waited for her friend to explain.

“What?” Flynn shrugged. “You don’t explain when inspiration strikes.”

“I like it,” Reggie chimed in.

“…I do too,” Alex admitted.

“So it’s settled then,” Luke said. “We’ve got a name; now we just need to play.”

“Your manager is on it!” Flynn declared, whipping out her phone before furiously typing.

Julie looked to Luke, and as they made eye contact, they both mouthed at each other, “manager?” Julie had to bite back a chuckle.

Luke made his way across the room, grabbing a beat-up notebook before laying it out on the piano in front of the two of them. “These are all the songs I’ve written,” he explained. “I dog-eared all the ones we can work out for your range. Or we could-if you don’t like any, we could start from scratch.”

Julie flipped through some of the pages. “What’s this Emily one?”

“That’s not dog-eared.”

“I like it.”

“Weren’t you the one talking about boundaries?”

Julie rolled her eyes, but she had been the one talking about boundaries and so she kept flipping to the next marked page.

“Crap!”

Both Julie and Luke’s heads shot up at Alex’s exclamation, turning to see him staring at his phone. The poor guy looked shell-shocked.

“Willie said we’re going to a museum!” he cried. “What am I going to wear for a museum date?”

Before Julie could say anything, Alex’s hands clapped over his mouth as he realized what he’d just said, his eyes going wide in panic.

“Wait,” Flynn said, putting her phone to the side. “You’re going on a date with Willie? Willie, as in new guy musician skater boy Willie?”

Julie could see Alex’s eyes darting back and forth between her and Flynn, but before Julie could reply, Luke interjected, moving closer so he was in between Julie and Flynn and Alex.

“You can’t say anything about it.” Luke’s voice was low, fierce, and cold in a way Julie had never heard before. She almost wanted to take a step away.

“Seriously. Nothing.” Even Reggie’s voice was uncharacteristically icy.

Julie stepped in before the situation got too tense. “Don’t worry, we won’t.” She tried to smile encouragingly at Alex.

Flynn nodded furiously. “Yeah, promise.”

The boys relaxed a bit at that. Alex starting twirling his drum sticks, clearly a nervous response, while Luke was biting his lip in thought and Reggie was seemingly uncomfortable with the weirdness in the air.

“Sorry,” Reggie said. “It’s just-we’re all-“

“No need to apologize,” Flynn said. “We get it.”

The group fell into silence for a moment, before Flynn perked up. “Oh! Do you still have that one jean jacket you wore first day of school last year?”

“Yeah,” Alex replied.

“Okay, so what about if we did that, and then you have a white shirt, right? Or if it’s just pink in your wardrobe, I can work with that too…”

Julie couldn’t help but laugh watching Flynn’s fashionista side take over; as Alex and Flynn starting passionately discussing what “museum date-wear” meant, she could feel Luke and Reggie coming back to her by the piano.

“Um…Alex isn’t…out to everybody,” Luke murmured. “That’s just-that’s why we’re a little insistent, is all. Plus he’s got anxiety, which makes it all worse.”

“I know,” Julie said.  

Reggie’s look of surprise was priceless.

“I heard you guys this morning,” she clarified. “Not that I’ve got a problem with him being gay, because I don’t. I just figured he’d want to tell me when he was ready.”

Reggie smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Thanks Julie.”

“No problem.”

“So. Julie and the Phantoms.”

“Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Luke ruffled his hair before looking over at Alex with a fondness that reminded Julie of how she looked at Carlos.

“Yeah. Yeah it does.”

if somebody hurts you I’m gonna get hurt too

Finally. Ray had been waiting for hours. He stood up, managing to crack his aching joints as he did, before making his way over to the officer.

“Good afternoon. Yes, I’d like to file a petition for custody.”

Chapter Text

"Reggie, could you come into my office for a moment?"

Reggie tried not to react to that, but he couldn't help a small flinch. 

Not that he thought anything bad was going to happen, really. Ray was incredibly nice, and he was still letting Reggie stay with him. He was always calm, and willing to listen when Reggie explained why he would react in a certain way. Reggie could especially see how good of a person Ray was through his kids – Julie and Carlos had such a great relationship with their dad, in a way that Reggie didn't think he had ever seen before. But even though Reggie's head was saying there was nothing wrong, his body was still screaming that being alone with an adult was  bad . 

Nevertheless, Reggie left the 'emergency song-writing session,' as Luke had called it, moving up off the couch in the Molina's living room. He could feel his bandmates' eyes on him – Alex still insisted on daily check-ins, and Reggie didn't think Luke had ever come around to the idea of Ray Molina – but Reggie shot them both looks. He was  fine . 

When Ray closed the doors to the small office, Reggie took a moment to look at all the photos on the walls. Ray was really talented; Reggie spotted at least ten different magazine covers, plus a few awards. Reggie's gaze went over the desk, and he couldn't help but focus on all the documents on it. They looked official. They looked like police things. 

Ray cleared his throat, capturing Reggie's attention as he leaned against the desk. "So, I went to the police station last week."

Reggie felt his heart stop. That was-that wasn't good, cops were never good. What had Ray said? Ray was calm, so that couldn't be anything bad, could it? Reggie's throat was dry as he tried to talk. He wanted to reply, but could barely get the words out. "A-and?"

"I didn't tell the officers anything, Reggie." And Reggie truly hated how much better he felt when Ray told him that. "I just went to gather information."

Ray gestured towards all the documents. "If you don't want to stay with your parents, these are the options, essentially. You've still got a year until you're eighteen, so you would have to have a guardian. If you want, I can apply for a foster license, and we can work to terminate parental rights and move into a full adoption. Or we can look into other custody agreements."

"You-you'd do all that for me?" Reggie couldn't really think at the moment. 

"Of course. I said if you wanted to stay here, I would make it happen. But, Reggie…"

Ray's hesitation sent a shiver down Reggie's spine. 

"But what?"

"There needs to be due cause to start this process. And all that hinges on making a police report."

And honestly, Reggie knew that he knew that. He'd known it from the moment he'd agreed to stay with the Molinas for a few days. 

"I don't want to make you feel like you need to, Reggie, because it should be your decision. But I do feel obligated to do so, and I'm hoping that if you're not willing to, I at least have your blessing."

Reggie nodded, staring at all the different papers spread out on the desk. His eye caught on one of the photos – the one Julie had taken of his face, barely three days after what Reggie had been dubbing 'the incident.' Though he had mostly healed now, the ugly color of the bruises made his stomach churn. 

He didn't look happy, in the photo. He looked, for lack of a better phrase, dead; there was barely any emotion showing on the photo's Reggie, nothing in his eyes. Reggie knew what that expression meant. He felt like he'd worn it every day he was back in his childhood home. But long screaming matches interrupted by even longer silences made the house feel like home only in name. His parents had become increasingly interested in being anywhere else, never mind taking care of their actual kid. Hell, even Luke's house, where there was constant bickering, or Alex's, which could be considered stilted and stoic at best, felt more like home. 

But maybe he didn't have to feel that way anymore. Maybe he never had to look in the mirror at that dead expression again. 

Reggie looked back up at Ray. The older man didn't look bothered; he looked almost peaceful, not encouraging any particular option, but instead just letting Reggie think. Let Reggie decide what he wanted.

He wanted to never feel dead inside again.

"I…I want to file a report."

the pearly gates to your new favorite thrills

"Stop laughing, it's not that funny!"

"It's definitely a little funny!"

"Willie!"

Alec could feel his cheeks flaming, even as Willie managed to get a hold of his laughter. Why,  why  did Alex have to mention that one painting reminded him of a hot dog?

Willie actually wiped a tear away, his smiling growing. "Sorry. It's just – all three of you got serious food poisoning, because you thought street dogs were a good idea?"

That was, in fact, almost word for word what Alex had said that night, but now he felt compelled to defend their actions. "We were like, thirteen. Who even has good decision-making skills at thirteen?"

Willie nodded at that, biting his lip in a way that made Alex's legs feel like jelly. "Fair enough. I was like, fourteen when I skated into a car. Man, my manager was furious."

"So you've been signed for three years now?"

Willie shrugged. "Eh, kind of? I've always been dabbling in music, ever since I was little. But it was never serious, if that makes sense? I…I don't really have much of a family, and Caleb, he basically raised me. I owe him everything. And then he suggested that I try the music thing properly, and it morphed into a whole slew of projects. I just kind of go with the flow. Caleb knows what he's doing."

"Caleb, as in Caleb Covington? Your manager and parental figure is the literal founder and owner of Covington Records?"

"I guess. He's not really that to me, though, you know? He's just always been Caleb. Yeah, he runs a music empire, but he also grounds me when I eat pavement."

Alex couldn't help but laugh at the image of Caleb Covington, a man who supposedly had never been out of a suit, berating Willie like a disappointed parent. 

Willie laughed in return, running his hand through his hair. "It's an odd thing to think about, I know. So how are you and the band doing?"

"Good, I think. We're gearing up to debut at the club showcase next week, which is terrifying, but it's also exhilarating. Like, Julie and Luke writing together creates genius."

"Cool. Well, Caleb's always at those showcases, so I'll be around too. It'll be fun to see you kill it on the drums."

Willie reached for Alex's hand, interlacing their fingers. And there went Alex's heart again, beating with an intensity that made him almost dizzy. The date was going great, and Alex wanted to focus all his energy on it, but there was that frustrating voice in the back of his head, the one that was listing any and everything that could go wrong. On autopilot, Alex moved his other hand to press his nails into his palm. 

And Willie, bless his soul, noticed. "You okay, Alex?"

"Yeah. Um. Just. Sorry." Alex took a breath, hoping that that would help. "I just get anxious. Like, a lot. A lot of anxiety, a lot of the time. And I really like you, and I don't want to screw it up. And I think I just did, because I am rambling like an insane person-"

"Whoa, Alex." Willie cut Alex off, which he was  so, so  thankful for (Alex knew his rambling would get him in trouble one day). "Don't worry. I don't think you're an insane person at all. And you know what? I really like you too."

Alex couldn't help but smile. In fact, he found it in him to close his eyes, lean forward and press his lips to Willie's, even if just for a second. 

When he opened his eyes again, Willie was beaming at him.

"Aw, thanks hotdog."

"I think I hate that nickname."

"I dunno, I like it a lot."

"Of course you do."

"C'mon, I want to show you my favorite part of the museum, it'll definitely help your stress: the screaming room."

"I don't think there's a room called that in this exhibit." 

"No, there isn't, but that's another perk of being raised by Caleb; if I ask him to close a museum of his for a day so that I can scream in it, and I ask really nicely, he'll let me do it."

And with that, Willie pulled Alex's hand down the hallway, and Alex couldn't help but follow, a smile on his face. 

your soul print on the walk of fame, on the boulevard of your wildest dreams

" I got a spark in me ." Though she'd rehearsed the song a million times, Julie still felt like this song was brand new. Instinctually, she turned to Luke, like she always did in practice. This time, she held the microphone out to him. 

Luke leaned in, catching her eyes with his little smile, the one she knew meant  we're doing great . "I've  got a spark in me ," he repeated. 

" And you're a part of me ."

" And you're a part of me ."

" Now till eternity ."

Luke's nose scrunched up again, but his eyes stayed fixed on Julie. The lights were making the hazel in them stand out even more. " Now till eternity ."

" Been so long, and now we're finally free !"

At the end of the song, Julie was breathless. She could only grin as she took in the club's cheering crowd, but even as she did, her eyes were slipping to her left to look at Luke, soaking it all in. There was a looseness in his shoulders Julie had never seen before, his smile blinding as he stood in front of the crowd. He looked happier than Julie had ever seen him. And that made Julie even happier. 

"Did you  see  that?!" Luke was immediately at Julie's side as they left the stage, Reggie and Alex on the other. They were all a mess of limbs, arms intertwined as they tried to hug each other without falling over. "They loved us!"

"They sure did!" Julie said.

"You were all terrific."

"Alex, just own your awesomeness for two seconds, alright?"

"Okay, yeah, I was killing it."

"Were the girls looking at me?"

"Bro, they were looking at you."

Julie rolled her eyes at the typical boy talk – though she had noticed one of Carrie's group members focusing specifically on Reggie at the time. And in the end, it was probably good for his confidence. 

The four of them settled themselves in the little corner by the bar, smiles still stuck on their faces. Julie was practically giddy. It had probably been their best performance yet; they hadn't made a single mistake, and as Julie had stood there, holding the microphone her mom had given her, she could almost feel her next to her. It had been perfect.   

"You guys were amazing!" And there was Flynn, bouncing up to them. "And did you see Carrie's face? She was so mad!"

"Not the best reason to be happy," Julie reminded her best friend, "but yeah. None of the bands from tonight seem to like us that much."

She wasn't wrong; there were definitely some dirty looks from the other bands, but they'd also gone last, which could be another reason for the irritation. 

"Who cares," Luke said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "If we're the best of the night, then we're the best of the night. And we were. And now, there are just a few more steps until we're inducted into the rock and roll Hall of Fame!"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Okay, slow down, Luke. We're not quite there yet."

"We deserve a little bit of celebration, Alex. I bet we're getting a record sooner than you think." Reggie was still grinning, pushing his hair back off his face. 

"Damn right!" Luke and Reggie high-fived over Julie's head. 

"Are we celebrating?"

Julie turned, and there was Willie, in a classic blue suit. He was smiling sweetly at Alex, and Alex was doing the same; it was like no one else existed for the two. Julie found herself locking eyes with Flynn; aside from how cute the two were being, Willie's hair was done up in a French braid neater than anything she had ever seen before. Julie should ask him for tips.

"Yeah, we are," Alex replied breathlessly. 

"Great." Willie kept staring at Alex, eyes bright. 

Julie, Flynn, Luke, and Reggie all looked at each other in a  they're cute, but they're ignoring everyone else  way, before all biting their lips to keep from smiling. From Luke and Reggie's expressions, Alex was in for a lot of teasing after this. 

"So. Julie and the Phantoms."

Julie's head snapped up again to be facing a tall, intimidating man, stood in an impeccably tailored burgundy suit. He was smiling at them all, but it didn't seem genuine; it seemed like he was looking at prey. It was the same smile she'd seen on billboards and websites – standing in front of her was music industry legend, Caleb Covington. 

"That's us, sir," she said cautiously. 

The boys all focused suddenly at the mention of the band. Out of the corner of her eye, Julie could see Reggie moving behind Luke. 

"Great performance," Caleb said. "You all have something most groups dream of getting."

"Thank you."

Caleb reached into his pockets before pulling out a card. "I'm afraid you're a little too unknown right now, at least for the Covington brand, but hopefully you'll be playing more and more around the city. Keep the card; we'll be looking for you all in the future. It'll be a bright one, I'm sure."

Luke took the card from Caleb, and Julie peered over to look at it. It was simple, with a 1920s jazz style design, emblazoned with the phrase  The Hollywood Ghost Club .

"Thank you," Alex said. 

Caleb nodded, the smile still in place, before adjusting his suit. "Willie, the car's waiting." With that, he turned and left. 

Willie made to leave with Caleb, but turned back for a moment to stare at Alex again. "I hope you'll take Caleb up on his offer, guys. There's… there's a lot to like, about working there."

Was it just Julie, or were Willie and Alex full on just staring at each other's mouths now?

No, Luke looked equally as disgusted. So did Flynn and Reggie. Cool. 

whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do boy

"Ow,  ow !"

Willie's hands jumped up to his hair, trying to protect his skull. Caleb just chuckled, knocking Willie's hands away before continuing to undo the hair tie. 

"This is partly your fault, Willie," Caleb chided. "I've told you a million times that this hairstyle always ends in disaster, but you just had to have it." Finally, Caleb removed the hair tie, now moving to untangle the braid gently. "Let me guess, you wanted to impress that Alex boy of yours?"

Willie fought to keep his blush down, but really couldn't. He knew he couldn't keep anything from Caleb. "Alex is…pretty special."

Caleb hummed in agreement. "On that, Willie, we agree. They'll be good additions to the collection."

At that, Willie felt his heart skip a beat. He fought to keep his face neutral, lest Caleb see anything in the mirror, instead settling for pressing his nails into his palm. He had wanted to believe, that maybe, this time it wouldn't end like this, but he should've known. 

"Caleb…when I told you, about Alex…I didn't think that you would want them for-"

Willie cut himself off as Caleb tightened his grip on Willie's hair, pulling Willie closer to him. Willie fought to keep his hands at his sides, not letting Caleb see any signs of pain. 

"William, please do not forget our agreement." Caleb's words were cordial, but his tone icy in a way Willie knew meant he wasn't happy. "You chose this, for yourself, and in exchange, I have given you everything you've ever wanted."

"I know." Willie hated how small his voice sounded. 

"Good." Caleb let go with more force than necessary, forcing Willie to put his hands up to catch himself. "And while you're at it, invite the band to the party next weekend. It'll be a good opportunity."

Willie swallowed down his protests, only nodding as Caleb walked away. 

Chapter Text

Julie could feel her stomach rumbling. Was it really that late already?

“It’s past one, Julie. Wanna stop for lunch?”

Julie pulled her gaze away from her horrible – aggressively horrible – math homework. For the first time in four hours, she looked up to Luke, who looked as exhausted as she felt. 

He’d initially shown up this morning looking for Reggie, but her dad had taken Reggie out to get a few knick-knacks; now that they knew Reggie was staying, the guest bedroom was going to have to become a bit homier. Carlos had tagged along, claiming his role as Reggie’s co-decorator. It was adorable, because it always was, and Reggie came alive with Carlos in a way he didn’t with others. 

That meant it had just been Julie to answer the door. She’d offered for Luke to come in and wait, which he’d accepted. Initially, they’d thought about songwriting more – it had been almost three weeks since their debut, though Flynn said she was working on new gigs – but they had homework to do. So Julie and Luke had sat down on either end of the couch, legs tangled around each other, and got to work. 

Julie’s stomach rumbled again, and she chuckled. “Yeah, let’s. I’m starving.”

Luke smiled back at her, his big, wide-eyed smile that gave Julie butterflies. The two of them got up, abandoning their work in favor of snacks. Julie was hungry, yes, but the way Luke was tearing through a sandwich would make you think he hadn’t eaten in days. Reggie and Alex did the same whenever they had band dinners; teenage boys.

“Are you almost done with homework?” Luke asked in between bites of food. 

“Basically. The only thing I’ve got left is the calculus homework, which will probably take me the rest of the day anyway, because it took me so long to finish my essay for Evans’ English class. I can’t believe she lets you  type  your essays.”

Luke grinned. “Yeah, I’m special. She made me start doing it, maybe halfway through freshman year? She said, and I quote, ‘I refuse to suffer through your handwriting.’”

Julie burst out laughing at that – it was true, Luke’s handwriting was terrible. If he tried to make it neater, he just made it worse. Luke put his hand over his heart in mock offense, but ultimately had to join in on the laughter. 

“What about you?”

“I’m good. Just got to finish something off for a composition class.”

“Do they have those outside the music program?”

“Yeah, as an elective.”

Julie bit down on her toast, silently chewing on the question she’d wanted to ask for weeks. “Luke, tell me if this is rude, and I’ll just mind my own business…but why haven’t you guys applied for the program?”

The brightness in Luke’s eyes dimmed down at that, and he stared down at the table. Julie was about to apologize because she knew it was a touchy subject, but Luke eventually answered. 

“Several reasons, I guess.” Luke cleared his throat, looking off to the side as he fiddled with his fingers. “My parents are both office-job people, so they’ve never been enthused about the idea. I’m pretty sure that if they could, they would go back in time and stop me from taking guitar lessons. And since I need their signatures on the form, it’s fairly certain that I’ll never audition. Reg, his parents can’t afford the additional fees, not that Reggie would’ve ever asked them to put money aside. Alex could if he wanted to, but he’s always said he’s not joining without us, no matter how much we’ve told him otherwise.”

Julie felt a pang of sadness through her heart. She knew, objectively, that she was lucky that her parents had encouraged her creative hobbies, but she didn’t really think about it until she was in front of someone whose life was the complete opposite. 

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Luke shrugged. “Not your fault. I mean, they let me have the band stuff and everything. And I’m planning on showing them they were wrong.” The pure determination and ambition in Luke’s eyes sent a shiver down her spine, reminding Julie why Reggie had firmly classed Luke as Slytherin in their last Harry Potter game night. 

Luke nodded, before seemingly shaking himself out of the funk Julie had put him in. “Anyways. I say we make this a proper break. Quick writing session?”

we will fight to shine together

Alex leaned back against Willie’s shoulder, trying not to move the laptop that was balanced on both of their legs. He was also pressed up against the wall, with Willie on the other side of him, trying not to fall off the twin bed. It was probably a comical image; Alex made a mental note to not mention the layout to Luke or Reggie. There’d already been enough teasing. 

Willie moved in tandem, shifting so that his arm was around Alex. Alex could already feel his cheeks starting to heat up, because he always did when he was around Willie, but Alex just leaned in closer, resting his head on Willie’s chest. This was nice, he thought to himself. 

He kept his gaze focused on the tv show Willie had put on, but Alex was barely paying attention, his anxieties distracting him. This was the fourth date Alex and Willie had been on in as many weeks. They’d all been amazing, in one way or another. And Willie had been so unbelievably understanding about it all, working around his own status as a celebrity to find private ways to spend time together. Even if it was just like this, an afternoon in Willie and Caleb’s small but luxurious house. But Alex wanted more. He wanted to hold Willie’s hand in school, and go out with Willie to an actual movie theater.

The problem was that that all depended on Alex’s family knowing the truth. 

“Sorry to interrupt, boys.”

Alex jumped out of his thoughts at Caleb’s sudden appearance, jolting almost over the edge of the bed. Willie laughed a little under his breath, moving to keep Alex from rather unceremoniously falling on his face. Caleb looked amused. 

“Hi, Mr. Covington,” Alex managed. “Nice to see you.”

“It’s just Caleb, Alex, I’ve already told you.” Caleb smiled at the two of them. “It’s nice to see you as well. My apologies, but I need the key, Willie.”

Willie swallowed. “Yeah, of course. Just, Alex…” Willie moved his arm, letting Alex sit up properly. Alex watched as Willie pulled a necklace with a key off before reaching out to Caleb. The older man took it with a quick thanks, promptly exiting the room. 

Willie caught Alex’s questioning gaze, softly smiling. “It’s for the safe where Caleb keeps all of the label’s contracts. He thinks it’s safest on me.”

Alex nodded before moving back to snuggle under Willie’s arm. “It’s cool. I’m enjoying this; let’s keep doing it.” 

They watched the episode for a little longer before Caleb returned, handing the key back. 

“Alex, will you be staying for dinner?”

“Um, thank you, sir, but I promised Reggie I’d go over to his this evening.”

“No matter. He’s one of your bandmates, yes? I’d hoped to see more of your playing. Has Willie told you about the club?”

“Uh, no.” Alex glanced over at Willie, but truly didn’t know what Caleb was talking about.

“The Hollywood Ghost Club. It’s a passion project of mine, you see, fostering an environment where people working in the industry can all come together. I’d love for you and your band to come, on the weekend, obviously, don’t want you all missing school.”

Alex nodded. “That…that sounds great, Caleb. We’d love to.”

Caleb smiled, as if Alex had made his day. “Excellent. Next weekend, then. I’ll have Willie bring you over. Enjoy the rest of your date, boys.”

With that, Caleb left. Alex was smiling, but his promptly faded when he saw Willie staring at him with a worried expression. 

“You okay?” Alex asked. 

Willie smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, course I am. Just not the biggest fan of the club work is all. It’s all good. Let’s keep watching; we’ll probably finish before you have to go.”

Alex wasn’t totally convinced but let the issue go as he lay back down. And if Willie was hugging Alex a bit tighter than before, well, then he didn’t mention it. 

and times that I doubted myself

“We’re home!”

Julie looked up at the three guys bursting through the doors, various bags and packages held between them. Reggie looked exhausted, her dad looked content, and Carlos looked on the edge of a sugar high. They had been gone for most of the day, anyway. Long enough that Julie and Luke had moved on from writing to Netflix, Alex joining them after his date with Willie. It was about time; honestly, Julie was about ten minutes away from getting dinner reader herself. 

“How was room shopping?” Julie pushed herself off the couch, accidentally elbowing Luke as she tried to see above the arm of the sofa. He elbowed her back, and Julie subtly poked him. He was not winning this. 

“It was great!” Carlos jumped onto the armchair, narrowly avoiding the dining table. “Reggie likes horses, so we got a picture of them, and his favorite color is red, so we got a red duvet. And then I was the one who suggested the glow-in-the-dark stars because they’re awesome!” 

“Cool.” Luke balanced his guitar pick on his tongue, something that had revamped Julie’s urge to strangle him. “Reg, had fun?”

Reggie shyly nodded, taking all the bags and arranging them on the floor. “It was nice. We didn’t have to get so many things though; I really was fine with the way the bedroom was set up.” 

“Well, of course, you would’ve been,” Carlos interjected. “But it’s your room now; it should be more about your style.” 

Julie smiled at Carlos. They all tended to dance around the circumstances of Reggie’s arrival in their lives around her brother, not because he couldn’t handle it, but more to keep him as the happy-go-lucky kid he was where the world wasn’t a bad place. But Carlos was smart and picked up a lot of the undertones. Not that he let Reggie know, because Carlos seemed to know Reggie didn’t want him to know, but Carlos was still subtly doing his part to make Reggie feel at home. 

“Julie, did you finish all your homework?” From the kitchen, Dad interjected. 

“Almost. The only thing left is calculus, but like, it’s calculus. It sucks.”

“You should have Reggie look it over,” Alex suggested. 

All of their heads swivelled to Reggie, who just shrugged as if he wanted the attention gone. “Math just makes sense to me, is all. Like how Alex is good at science, and Luke’s good at English.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but Reg, you’re a math whiz. Seriously, you finish our tests in like, twenty minutes.” 

Reggie shrugged again, but looked at Julie. “I’ll help you tomorrow, if you want.”

Julie smiled. “That would be great, Reggie. Thank you.”

Dad’s phone started abruptly ringing, before he could grab it and answer. “Ray Molina.” He glanced over to the living room where they all were. “I’ve got to take this call, guys; I’ll be back in a minute.”

As her dad moved away, Luke showed Alex and Reggie the new songs they’d been working on. There was a rough collection of sixteen songs in their repertoire, enough for a solidly hour-long gig if need be. Before she knew it, Julie was involved in an intense discussion of what exactly constituted a ‘country song,’ and how it was a good idea to show diversity in their performance,  Luke , and how one country song among sixteen was not cohesive,  Reggie , and how all of them swore never to touch a bubblegum pop song, but Alex would be allowed as an exception if he wanted to create a dance soundtrack for himself-

“Reggie?” Dad’s quiet voice shook them out of their conversation, all turning towards him. “Can we speak in my office?”

“Um…it’s okay,” Reggie said, playing with the edge of his flannel with a tight grip. “I’m okay with you telling me with everyone here.”

Dad hesitated for a moment, before nodding solemnly. “Alright, then. That was Officer Brenson, who we spoke to a few weeks ago. She just wanted to let me know that your parents have been charged.”

“Oh.”

Julie took in the weight of that statement for a moment, managing to somehow lock eyes with Luke, Alex, and Carlos at the same time. At Reggie’s quiet voice, she turned to him, her heart aching as she saw the tears silently streaming down his face. 

“Reggie?” Julie’s voice sounded foreign, in the strange silence that had suddenly overtaken the house. “Don’t cry, please. It’s okay.”

Almost on autopilot, Reggie brought a hand up to touch his cheek, looking surprised, as if he hadn’t realized he was crying until Julie had said so. Out of the corner of her eyes, Julie could see Luke and Alex giving Reggie similar concerned looks. 

“I-I don’t-“ Reggie’s breath hitched as he fought down a sob. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I-”

Reggie dissolved into small sobs, and that was it for all of them. With barely a thought, Julie jumped forward to envelop the older boy in a hug, bringing his head onto her shoulder. As she held Reggie, she felt Luke and Alex coming up around them to add to the hug, and Carlos too, wrapping his arms around Julie, and by extension, Reggie. No one said anything – honestly, Julie couldn’t think of anything – so they just stayed silent, holding Reggie as he quietly cried. 

fight through the dark and find the spark

“Hey.”

Julie smiled at Luke as she made her way out of the bathroom after brushing her teeth. Somewhere in her mind, Julie was aware that she was in cupcake pajamas and monster slippers, and that that was embarrassing, but she didn’t really care anymore. It had been a trying day for all of them; cupcake pajamas weren’t going to have much of an impact. 

“Hey.” Julie looked at the door Luke was leaning against, where she knew Reggie was now, hopefully sleeping calmly. “How’s he doing?”

Luke shrugged. “Better, I guess? He managed to go to sleep, so there’s that. But he’ll probably wake up again at some point; Reggie’s a light sleeper.”

Julie nodded before taking in Luke’s sleepwear that was definitely the same pair of sweatpants and shirt that she had given Reggie in what felt like a lifetime ago. “You’re staying here overnight, then? Your parents cool with that?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. I’ll text them in a minute.” Luke slid down to sit on the floor, Julie joining him soon after. “It sucks, you know? Reggie’s one of the kindest, best people out there, and yet all of these horrible things still happen to him.”

“The worst things happen to the best people.”

“Yeah.” Luke turned, softly smiling at her. “This-this is good for him, though—your family. I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly trusting of you at the start of all this, but he loves you all so much already. He loves Carlos and your dad, and you’re pretty much the younger sister he never had. I’m happy for him. He deserves it.”

Julie couldn’t agree more. “He wanted to try to help me with my hair a few days ago. He was so eager about it, too, even had a notebook to write down what all the products were for and everything. It was so sweet. Especially considering my hair is regularly a disaster.”

Luke stared at her, his hazel eyes filled with unnerving honesty. “Your hair is beautiful, Julie. Just like you are.”

Julie stared back, mouth open in surprise, before closing it. “Um-yeah-thanks. You’re pretty too.” 

Why did she just say that.

“Um – I’m going to go, let you get ready for bed.” Julie scrambled up, darting over to her bedroom. “Goodnight, Luke.”

Luke just smiled back, calm, and happy. “Goodnight, Julie.”

Chapter Text

“100.” Tia Victoria pulled the thermometer out of Julie’s mouth. “How did you even get sick, sweetie?”

And at that, Julie could only shrug. She’d only been to school; her afternoons were taken up by band rehearsal, homework, and hanging out with the guys and Flynn. There wasn’t even a bug going around school – and none of the guys were sick either! It was so unfair. Julie just had to accept that universe hated her.

Tia fussed around, giving Julie another blanket and handing her a glass of water. “Well, I can confidently say it’s only a twenty-four-hour flu, so you’ll most likely be fine tomorrow. But you’re not going out tonight, love.”

Seriously. Hated her.

Julie looked back up at the guys, who were all anxiously crowding around the doorway. It had been a weird week, that’s for sure; but the bright spark had been the invitation to see the Hollywood Ghost Club that Saturday. All four of them had been talking about it. And now, this.

Still, Julie smiled at the guys. “Don’t worry; I’ll be fine. Go, enjoy yourselves, and tell Willie I say hi.”

Luke bit his lip in concern, staring at her earnestly. “You sure, Julie? We can stay in.”

“Yeah, just give us the word, no biggie,” Reggie reassured.

Julie wanted to get up and hug all of them, but she settled for smiling and wrapping herself further into the blankets. “Don’t worry; like Tia said, I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”

I got your glamour, got your gold, got all you’ll ever need

Looking at the ornate staircase, Luke was speechless. He knew he and most of his friends were well off – they lived in LA, for god’s sake – but this building just screamed wealth.

It was straight out of a 1920s jazz movie, if that movie was made in modern times. Silver tapestry hung from the walls, contrasting gold steps in a way that shouldn’t be elegant, but was all the same. The staircase wound down to tables, the areas away from the stage lit in smooth blue light. Guests milled around, laughing and chatting as waiters darted in between, food and champagne on platters.

“Damn,” Reggie said.

Yeah, that about summed it up, Luke thought.

“C’mon,” Alex said, his fingers tapping the strap of his fanny pack in a way that Luke could tell was unsuccessfully trying to shake off nerves. “We should try to find Willie.”

With that, Luke made his way down the stairs, both of his friends behind him. There was a comfortable silence around them as they took in even more details of the club. Luke tried to keep as much of it in his mind as possible; he wanted to be able to recreate every scene for Julie.

Julie. He was so sad she wasn’t here with them; honestly, in the month that he’d known the girl, Luke had barely spent any time apart from her. First it had been dealing with Reggie’s home life, and Luke was fully away he’d been a jerk at the beginning, but the more he had been with Julie, watched her grow into her music and her insane talent, it had been hard to think of those original misgivings Luke had had about the Molinas. And there were all those moments when Julie would hold the mic out to Luke, the moments when their eyes connected during songs, and that one time Julie had a strand of hair in the face that Luke had so desperately wanted to reach out and move away-

His phone rang out sharply, shaking Luke out of his thoughts. Sighing, because really, he hated his phone and if he had a choice would never use one (but no, Alex insisted), Luke reached into his jeans pocket and pulled the phone out, checking the screen.

His parents were calling. Luke denied it.

“You and your folks doing okay?” Alex asked.

Luke could feel Alex and Reggie’s eyes on him, and fought to keep his expression still. This, of all things, was not something he felt like discussing today.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” he answered. “I’ll just call them tomorrow.”

Luke knew Alex didn’t fully believe him, but that didn’t matter as Luke caught sight of Willie, tucked away in a small alcove. Luke beelined toward him, partly because he wanted Alex to enjoy the evening, and partly to avoid having the rest of this conversation.

Willie’s eyes brightened as he saw them approaching. “Hi, guys.” Luke and Reggie raised their hands, getting their greetings in quickly before Alex and Willie started staring at each other like they were the only people in the world again. Luke and Reggie turned to let them have a little privacy, as sure enough Alex and Willie started talking quietly, hands loosely intertwined.

“This is amazing.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah. Wish Julie was here to see it, though.”

Reggie laughed under his breath. Luke whipped his head around. “What’s that supposed to mean, Reginald?”

Reggie shot Luke that look when Reggie knew something Luke didn’t. “Well, Lucas, it means I think someone has a crush on Julie.”

Luke faltered for a moment. “No I don’t.”

Reggie smiled at him, amused. “Sure you don’t.”

“We just have good chemistry.”

“Yes. And romantic feelings for each other.”

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but his opportunity was lost as Caleb Covington swooped in. “Boys, glad you see you here.”

Reggie was moving in the corner of Luke’s eye, moving behind Luke. Luke adjusted his position slightly and smiled up at Caleb. “Good to be here, sir. You’ve got an amazing club.”

Caleb accepted the compliment with a nod, gesturing for Alex and Willie to join them.

“It’s all the work of the talent,” Caleb said. “They’re what makes the space what it is.” Caleb surveyed the boys. “I take it we don’t have the full Julie and the Phantoms here with us?’

“No, Julie’s sick I’m afraid,” Alex replied. “She sends her regards, though.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Another time, then.” Caleb smiled at them all. “Enjoy the night, boys. If you have any questions-“ As if Caleb had snapped his fingers, two waiters appeared on either side, flanking Caleb like bodyguards. The two stared Luke down, their smiles not reaching their eyes. Luke almost took a step back.

“Dante, Fuego. These is the band I was telling you about.” Caleb turned back to Luke. “Any and all questions, boys, I mean it.”

With that, Caleb swayed away, the waiters following him on either side.

“Well that was…odd,” Alex said.

“Mmmm,” Luke hummed in agreement. He could see Reggie’s hands shaking and quickly went to cover Reggie’s hands with his own. He shot Reggie a quick look, but Reggie shook his head. Not right now, then.

“They’re a little…cold,” Willie said. “Even to me, and I’ve known them since I was six. Don’t take it personally.”

The group lapsed into silence for a moment, before Willie cleared his throat and gave them a shaky smile. “C’mon. I’ll show you guys the best spot to hear the music.”

watch me make a move, watch me make a move

“Have you heard from Alex?”

Julie looked up from her spot on the couch – her flu was ninety-five percent over, but Tia was still adamant of her not doing anything more strenuous than lifting the tv remote. Carlos and her dad had gone out for a baseball game and Tia was on a shift, so Luke and Reggie had agreed to take care of her, mainly by making cookies (or more accurately, Reggie had baked and Luke had been allowed to lick the spoon).

Currently though, both Luke and Reggie were staring at Julie, their gazes intense. Julie could feel in her bones that something was wrong.

“I think the last text I got from him was that thing in the chat about Willie’s hair,” she said, carefully thinking through the chaos that group chat had been last night upon the boy’s return from the club. “Yeah, that. He hasn’t sent anything else. Why?”

Luke and Reggie shared a quick, anxious glance before looking back at their phones.

“We agreed – we have a daily check-in with each other,” Luke explained. “But there’s – there’s nothing.”

Julie could feel her own anxiety rising as she thought about the implications of that. “You guys did come back at like, one in the morning. Maybe he’s just sleeping?”

“It’s past noon,” Reggie said.

Julie bit her lip. “I’m sure it’s fine, guys, really; we shouldn’t work ourselves up over nothing. Doesn’t his family go to church on Sundays?”

Neither of the guys looked convinced.

“Just come sit with me.” Julie patted the spots next to her. “We’ll all text him, and if he doesn’t respond in an hour, we’ll take the next step, okay?”

Reggie nodded, moving to sit on the couch. Luke followed, though he kept his phone tightly gripped, his knuckles white over it. Julie grabbed the Netflix remote, scrolling and finding something mindless to watch. Her and Reggie didn’t even bother to keep up their usual joking remote fight, just all staring at the television in silence. Julie couldn’t pay attention to the screen, her own worries occupying her thoughts.

After what felt like hours, but in reality, was probably twenty minutes, there was knock on the door.

Luke practically vaulted over the couch his phone left behind on the coffe table. Reggie stood up and followed moments after. Julie tried to do the same, but even sitting up made her head spin. She settled for adjusting her position so she could see the door.

There was Alex, wrapped up in one his hoodies. He looked shell-shocked; he was looking at Luke and Reggie, but his eyes were empty, stoic, and red-rimmed in a heart-wrenching way.

“I told them,” Alex said, emotionless.

Everyone else froze in response; even Julie couldn’t think of anything to say to that. She could see Luke and Reggie trying to form sentences, form some kind of response, but there was nothing. Alex looked like he was trying to hold back tears.

“They didn’t take it well,” Alex managed.

The quiet, meek phrase was like a smoking gun. Luke and Reggie jumped forward to pull Alex into a hug. Alex went, pliant as his friends pushed him to the other end of the couch, next to Julie. A quick glance at them all confirmed that Alex’s apparent lack of anxiety was worrying.

“I’m proud of you,” Julie said. “Even if your parents didn’t take it well. And there’s always an extra spot on the studio bed if you need to stay somewhere else.”

Alex didn’t even smile at that. Reggie sat on the coffee table, hooking his ankle around Alex’s.

“They…they didn’t kick me out,” he said, his voice heavy with an emotion that Julie finally managed to pinpoint as exhaustion. “They were just…okay. They smiled, patted me on the shoulder and said they were ready for when I stopped going through this phase.”

And that in itself is worse, Alex’s subtext said.

Julie reached across for Alex’s hand, taking his in hers. She got a small smile from him out of that, which she considered a victory.

Luke kneeled down on the floor next to Alex, taking his other hand. “Who cares about them, Alex, seriously. If they can’t be okay with who you are, then screw them. You’ve got us, you’ve got Ray and Carlos and Flynn, and hell, you’ve got Willie.”

Alex shot up at that, panic suddenly overtaking him. “Willie. Crap, I-I promised I’d text him after I told them, I-“ Alex checked his pockets and fanny pack, seemingly to no avail. “I didn’t bring my phone, I just left, I couldn’t be there anymore-“

“Alex, breathe.”  Luke gently slapped Alex’s knee, which appeared to have helped Alex avoid spiralling.

“We can just go and get it,” Reggie suggested.

“Yeah,” Julie agreed. “Plus, if you don’t want to be in your house for a few days, you should grab clothes.”

“I…I don’t really want to see them,” Alex admitted.

Luke scoffed. “Dude, that’s fine, I’ll go get your stuff. Give your parents a piece of my mind while I’m at it.”

“Luke, no-“

“What? They never liked me anyway, might as well continue that with some well-deserved words.”

For some reason, the image of Luke passionately yelling at Alex’s parents made Julie giggle, before she managed to get a hold on it.

“What if we all go?” she asked. “Moral support, and all that. You can just tell us what you need to get.”

“We’ll even bring your entire fanny-pack collection if you want.”

Alex chuckled at Reggie’s comment, before turning back to Julie. “Thanks, Jules, but you’re still sick. You shouldn’t come.”

“Absolutely not! You’re basically another brother, and I’m going to support you-“ Julie moved to sit up further but her head firmly disagreed with that. “Okay, yeah, maybe. I’m not coming.”

“We’ll just go, quick in-and-out,” Luke said. “It’s only a twenty-minute walk to your house from here.”

“Or I could just never go back. I don’t really need my phone, carrier pigeons could make a comeback-“

“Alex, you went and got all my stuff from my parents after…” Reggie cut himself off. “Just let us do the same.”

“C’mon.” Luke grabbed Alex’s other hand, pulling the taller boy up onto his feet. “Let’s go.”

“We’ll been back in an hour,” Reggie said. “You’ll be okay, right Jules?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Julie replied, decidedly ignoring the way the room was slightly spinning. Reggie seemed to catch on, smiling softly before handing her a glass of water.

“Seriously, drink all of it,” he chastised. “You’ll feel better.”

Julie wanted to roll her eyes at Reggie’s mothering, but had to settle for sticking her tongue out. Reggie only laughed again, ruffling her hair before getting up to join the other guys.

“You’ll be back in an hour, right?” Julie didn’t want her voice to sound so small, but she did still feel sick. And she hated being alone.

“An hour. Promise,” Luke said.

welcome to my stage, boys

Luke bit down on his anger as the cool LA evening wind brushed past him. He was fully equipped for a giant rant at Alex’s parents, but he knew Alex wouldn’t appreciate that. So now he settled for keep Alex’s hand tightly in his, hopefully providing some comfort. On instinct, Luke glanced back over his shoulder, but there was nothing there. Just his hyper-activity playing on his nerves again.

“You think you’ll be okay?” And there was Reggie on Alex’s other side, biting his lip in worry.

“…probably,” Alex said. “Eventually. I mean…it’s not like I expected a great reaction. So for all intents and purposes, this was probably the best case scenario.”

The thought of that left a bitter taste in Luke’s mouth. Alex deserved the most supportive and amazing parents in the world, not…whatever the hell he had now. Really, if he had a minute alone with those two, Luke was prepared to give them his unfiltered thoughts, Alex’s anxiety be damned. He deserved better.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising up, and so Luke looked over his shoulder again.

“What are you looking at?” Reggie asked.

Luke stared back down the street, as if he could will whatever was bothering him into existence. Still, nothing.

“I dunno,” he replied honestly. “Just a feeling.”

Luke turned back, planning to bring up some new music ideas for the band, a for sure way to get Alex’s mind off of things as the drummer would start talking about rhythms and harmonies, but just as Luke opened his mouth-

Suddenly there was a hood over his head, arms tearing him away from Alex, and what would’ve been a harmless comment turned into a scream.

“Alex! Reggie!” Luke thrashed against whoever was holding him, but he couldn’t see anything, couldn’t see the man, or his bandmates, his friends, and he could hear them yelling too, yelling for him but he couldn’t get to them, couldn’t get away-

“Alex! Reggie!” His voice was already hoarse, he'd been screaming so loudly. Luke’s back slammed into a hard surface, taking his breath away as he lied there, trying to get air in. He felt, more than heard, two more thumps before something started running. A motor. Were they in a car?

Luke could barely get a grip on his thoughts as a hand found his. Luke felt the cold silver of a ring – and that was Reggie, Reggie’s ring that he never stopped wearing He felt Alex’s arm and wrapped his hand around him, pulling his friends closer to him. Luke squeezed tighter, his heart pounding because all he could do was wait, wait and see what had happened to him and fight back tears.

Chapter Text

Willie hated the farmhouse. Hated everything about it – the fact that it was hours away from the city, the way it stood looming over the miles of open land surrounding it, the shiver he got down his spine when he walked through the doors. There was a reason he avoided it as much as possible.

On autopilot, Willie weaved through the hallways (because really, it was a farmhouse in name only) until he made it Caleb’s office. Sure enough, there he was, his suit perfectly fitted, papers and work spread out across the desk.

At Willie’s entrance, Caleb concentrated frown morphed into a grin – not the showman grin that was for the press and the public, but Caleb’s real smile, the one that came out when Willie did well in school, or nailed a particularly difficult skating move.

“Willie!” Caleb stood up, his work seemingly abandoned. “What a nice surprise! I thought we were staying at the apartment tonight, but if-“

“Are you insane?” Willie whispered.

Caleb arched an eyebrow, his smile instantly gone. Willie swallowed.

“Broad daylight, Caleb. Dante and Fuego took them in broad daylight, on a residential street. Anyone could have seen them! Why didn’t you just take them at the club, like you always do? If someone had seen it, this entire thing would crumble; you could’ve been arrested, and I…” Willie fought to keep his emotions down, but couldn’t help the lump in his throat. “I would’ve been alone.”

Caleb’s expression immediately softened, reaching out to cup Willie’s face in his hands. Willie hated how much better he felt at that minimal reassurance.

“Willie, believe me when I say that I will never let that happen.” Caleb looked directly into Willie’s eyes, keeping that soft smile on his face. “In fact, I didn’t use the club precisely so you wouldn’t be alone.”

Willie frowned. “What do you mean?”

Caleb sighed, moving back to his desk. He sat back in his chair, the perfect picture of relaxation that only served to fray Willie’s nerves further.

“I knew, when I adopted you, that you wouldn’t spend much time with people your own age, outside of school of course. It’s the nature of the gig. So I was so happy for you, when you met Alex.” Caleb leaned back further in the chair, and Willie could feel guilt welling up in his chest. “If I had taken those boys at the club, he would’ve known you were involved, and that would’ve been the end of it. Now, after they sign the contracts, you two can continue your relationship, no harm, no foul.”

Willie felt sick to his stomach. Caleb must have picked up on Willie’s discomfort, because there he was, wrapping his arms around Willie, the same way he did when Willie scraped his knees. But this time, it didn't help; if anything, Willie felt worse. This was all orchestrated because of him? Willie fought down nausea.

“I promise it’ll all work out. Now, Willie, you hate the farmhouse. Go home, and I’ll be back in time for dinner.” Caleb ruffled his hair, before not-so-subtly pushing Willie towards the door. “You don’t like seeing this.”

Willie knew Caleb was right – this was always his least favorite part of the process – but he couldn’t help feeling like a coward as he walked away.

you know you wanna take a chance, and be a little bad

The hood was ripped off of Luke’s head as he got shoved forward. Despite his eyes having to adjust to the lights, Luke was immediately moving; Alex and Reggie were in similar states of distress, and Luke practically teleported to their sides. Trading quick looks to make sure they were okay, Luke whirled around, putting himself between the guys and whoever had just taken them. There were at least a hundred smart comments on the tip of his tongue, but they all died out as Luke found himself facing the two waiters from the club.

“What the fuck,” Luke hissed.

“There’s no need for such profanity, boys.”

Luke spun around again, taking in Caleb Covington in all his grandeur. As the waiters, who Luke really couldn’t think of as anything but bodyguards, moved to flank Caleb, Luke adjusted his position, trying to make sure that no matter what, he was in the way before anyone could get to Alex or Reggie.

“I think a fair amount of profanity is called for, considering that you just kidnapped us!” Luke hands curled into fists. He stepped forward, but before he got any closer one of the bodyguards – Dante, Luke thought his name was – shoved him back. Luke fought down his immediate responses, instead choosing to look back at his friends. Alex looked as okay as he could be, only slightly more anxious, but Reggie looked on the verge of passing out.

“What-what do you want?” Alex asked.

“A good question.” Caleb was smiling, but it wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. It was like he was looking down at prey. “You all have immense talent, boys. And I’m planning to be the one that introduces you all to the world.”

Caleb tossed a document at Luke, who barely caught it because he hands were shaking. When did his hands start shaking?

He could feel, more than see, the questioning looks Alex and Reggie were sending him. Luke glanced down at the stapled paper, righting it so he could read it. It was a contract. A recording contract? Luke skimmed through the writings, flipping pages as quickly as he could. And even with what little he knew about contracts, he knew this was wrong…

“This-this isn’t a viable contract.” Luke glanced back up at Caleb. “Half of this would be illegal.”

Caleb shrugged. “Semantics. You’d be shocked at what’s legal when someone consents to it.”

The callousness of Caleb’s statement made Luke take a step back.

“But we…we don’t.” Luke wanted to cry at how small Reggie’s voice sounded. “We didn’t sign the contract.”

“But you will. I’ve done my research, boys, and I can give you everything you’ve ever wanted. A home. Support. Love. Not to mention the adoration of millions. Your music can be what connects you to audiences around the world.”

Luke couldn’t respond. There was this voice in his head that was agreeing with Caleb; Luke wanted people to hear his music, and this was probably the easiest way to do it. No more scrounging for gigs, trying to differentiate himself from the hundreds of other bands; it was just there, plain and simple. And a family. Luke could have a family that supported him doing music.

But he already had that. He had Julie. And despite their rocky start, Ray Molina was actually a great parent, especially for Reggie. Even Luke had gotten some good advice from Julie’s dad. So he had a family, in a sense. It all came from Julie.

No one said anything, the silence stretching out longer with every second. Caleb sighed, reaching into his pocket before pulling a pen out. He tossed it into the air, waiting until Alex caught it to adjust his suit jacket.

“I’ll give you three days; it’s a lot to take in.” Caleb’s voice then took on a darker, icy tone. “But I’ll be getting my contract, one way or another. Think about it. You’ve got nothing to lose, boys.”

And with that, Caleb and his bodyguards left.

Luke tossed the contract on the cold metal floor, before sinking to his knees. He couldn’t really focus; all of his thoughts were racing, flowing in and out and sparking.

Reggie’s quiet, panicked breaths drew Luke out of his own mind. Standing back up and turning, Luke saw his bandmate sitting in the corner of the room, wrapping his arms around himself. Luke moved to sit in front of Reggie, wrapping his hand around Reggie’s.

“You okay?” he whispered.

“I-I don’t want to sign that,” Reggie whispered back. Even with all of Caleb’s agents gone, it felt like they had to whisper, had to keep their conversation silent. “I don’t want anything he offers. I want to go back to the Molinas.”

“I know.” Luke started rubbing circles on Reggie’s hand. “I’m not signing it either, that’s for damn sure. And we’ll get out of this. Promise, Reg.”

Inwardly, Luke didn’t really like their chances – he had no idea where they were, he was pretty sure the door was locked, never mind how many people were in the building itself. But he’d never let Reggie know that. In this case, he was fine with lying to him.

“Did they hurt you?” Luke pulled Reggie’s hand towards him and studied the bruises around Reggie’s wrist. They didn’t look as bad as some of the bruises Reggie had had before, but it did worry Luke that they were circling the entire wrist.

“Just bruised and banged up a little,” Reggie replied. “They grabbed me pretty hard. What about you?”

“Same, really. I’ll probably have an awful bruise on my back tomorrow.”

Reggie bit his lip, before looking past Luke’s shoulder. “Alex?”

Luke glanced back towards Alex, who stood still and stoic, reading through the pages of the contract.

“I’m fine,” Alex answered with no emotion.

“Dude, stop reading that,” Luke said. “It’s not going to make you feel better.”

Alex kept staring at the paper, in a way that Luke knew would probably mess with Alex’s vision later. The guys all stood in silence for a moment, before Luke stood up, because really Alex didn’t need to read it, all it was going to do was make him more anxious, and-

“Willie’s been signed for three years,” Alex said. “He’s probably had a contract just like this, for three years. And Caleb’s his family, too. What’s that like?”

Luke didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t know,” he honestly said. “But reading that’s only going to make you panic more, and I can tell you’re on the edge of an anxiety attack. Leave it alone. Please.”

Thankfully, Alex did, leaving the contract and that blasted pen on the other side of the room, as far away from them as possible. He moved closer to Luke and Reggie, tapping his fingers on his knees as he sat down. Luke quickly joined him, while at the same time, Luke moved his arm so Reggie could lie on his lap, before looking back to Alex.

“Do you need to do the four breaths?”

Alex pressed his fingers to his temples, swallowing. “Yeah. I think so.”

Luke nodded, immediately launching into the four-counts that helped distract Alex, and seemingly helping Reggie as well. And even though he could feel his own panic building up inside of him, Luke fought to keep it in check. His friends needed him. And so he’d be there for them.

i feel it in the air, we got nothing to lose

“Julie.”

At the soft jostling, Julie slowly opened her eyes. She was tired – when had she even fallen asleep? Squeezing her eyes closed before trying to open them wider, Julie found herself staring at her dad and Carlos, standing in the living room.

“Hi,” she said, fighting back a yawn. “How was the baseball game?”

“We won!” Carlos was grinning ear-to-ear, holding a small trophy up for Julie to see.

His enthusiasm made Julie smile, even as her brain was still foggy. “That’s great, Carlos.”

“Go wash up,” Dad said. “Then we’ll break out the pizza, okay?”

“Awesome.” Carlos practically ran up the stairs, eliciting a small laugh from Julie. She loved watching her little brother develop into a mature young adult, but seeing him still be overjoyed over a pizza party warmed Julie’s heart in a special way. It had been a tough year for her, but for Carlos as well; and now with the guys, Carlos was coming out of his shell.

Julie nestled back into the blankets, smiling sleepily up at her dad. “Hi.”

Dad laughed. “Hi, mjia. Feeling better now?”

“Yeah, a bit. I’m hungry though.”

“Well, I’ll go find the boys, and then we’ll all dig in.”

“They’re not here?”

“No. At least, they don’t seem to be around the house.”

That, at least, made Julie wake up. Sitting up straighter, Julie looked at her dad. “What do you mean they’re not here?”

Dad shrugged. “They’re…not here? They’re somewhere else? I don’t know, Carlos and I have been gone for a while. Reggie was talking about wanting to go to the beach, so maybe they’re there.”

“No – no, they’re not. Alex – he came out to his parents today, and it wasn’t good, so they went to get Alex’s things – it was only supposed to be for an hour, Alex’s house isn’t far away, they should be back, I can’t believe I fell asleep, Dad they’re supposed to be back, they promised they’d be back in an hour-“

“Whoa, Julie, calm down. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation, okay? They might just still be at Alex’s house.”

“No, Alex didn’t even want to go back. They promised they’d be back in an hour.”

“Well, let’s take it slow. I’ll call Reggie.”

Julie shook her head. “They don’t have their phones on them, they never do.” Sure enough, behind her dad was Luke and Reggie’s phones on the coffee table.

“Okay. I’ll call Alex’s parents, I’ve got the school directory; we’ll just start narrowing down options. I’m sure it’s fine, Julie. Just take deep breaths.”

Julie nodded, but wasn’t really convinced. As her dad went into the kitchen, phone out, Julie’s thoughts were racing a mile a minute. Luke had promised. He wouldn’t be like that; he wasn’t that kind of person. And Reggie still didn’t like being out late at night, so he definitely wouldn’t be out there somewhere when she couldn’t contact him. And Alex; he got anxious all the time, he wouldn’t make Julie nervous on purpose. She wanted to believe they were fine; objectively, what could have gone wrong? But even as she tried to calm herself down, there was still that voice in the back in her head, telling her that something was wrong and she needed to do something about it-

“Julie?”

She whipped around to face her dad, waiting with bated breath for his next sentence.

“The boys never went to Alex’s house,” Dad said carefully. “Do you know where else they could’ve gone?”

Screw it. She was listening to that voice, because currently, it was right.

“Dad, I think we need to call the police.”

Chapter Text

Two days.

And there was nothing. No sign. No trace. Not a single message from anyone. No leads. They’d just vanished into this air.

Two days. Forty-eight hours.

Julie couldn’t wrap her head around it. That they were just gone – they couldn’t be gone – and she was alone again. Flynn did her best to be around, but she’d already thrown her life aside for Julie once before, and Julie didn’t want to pull her into that spiral. Not again.

At forty-height hours, they assumed you were a runaway or dead.

Julie couldn’t stop thinking. Going over the events of that day again and again, trying to understand what had happened. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep. She should’ve forced them to take a phone with them. She should’ve gone with them, because at least then she wouldn’t be alone.

It just hurt, every time she remembered they were missing. When she’d hear something stupid, and immediately turn to Alex for a snarky remark. Sitting down to watch anime, expecting Reggie on her side. Trying to write music, waiting for Luke’s suggestions. It had only been two days, but the boys’ absence rang out throughout the house.

Julie just went to school and came back, and then went to the studio. It was where she felt closest to them; their instruments were there, a mix of Reggie and Luke’s clothes. Right now all she could do was sit on the couch, her knees curled up underneath her, Luke’s journal on her lap.

Absent-mindedly, Julie flipped through the pages of the notebook, scanning through the lyrics. She missed it. Turning over another page, Julie stared at the song. Unsaid Emily. She managed a small smile, thinking of the moment Luke had told her the story behind it.

start the scene in reverse

“So, Emily’s your mom?”

“Yeah.” Luke wasn’t meeting her eyes, staring down at the piano.

“I think it’s really sweet that you wrote her a song.” Julie read over the lyrics again, humming the melody quietly.

“I just…I can say it all better this way, is all.” Luke glanced off to the side, before looking back at Julie. He was absently drumming on the piano. 

“My parents and I…I mean, you know we were on different wavelengths, future career-wise. They want me to study business, I said no; it’s never been the same since. Now I spend as little time as possible at home, because it just dissolves into fights. I think I’ll always regret the stuff we’ve ended up saying to each other. This is as best of an apology that I give.”

“I mean, it’s beautiful. Will you ever give it to her?”

“Maybe one day.  I don’t know. There’s some part of me that wants to never speak to them until I’m a superstar, and then just come home and slam that on the table. But I know I’ll never do that.”

“I have the feeling you’ll make up sooner than you think.”

“I doubt it. We’re stubborn people, the Pattersons.” Luke laughed, but Julie could tell it was hollow, a way for Luke to ease off before changing the subject.

Sure enough, Luke flipped the pages over. “Now, where were we on the Stand Tall verse?”

i should have turned around

A phone ringing drew Julie out of her thoughts. She glanced up, trying to find the root of the source – because she’d come here specifically to be alone, to not be bothered by what was going on – and finally, her eyes settled on Luke’s phone, sitting on the table.

Fighting down the slightest glimmer of hope (because she knew it couldn’t be Luke, he didn’t know his own number, but that didn’t stop her from wishing), Julie reached for it and answered. “Hello?”

“Luke? Oh, Luke, honey, is that you?”

“Has he answered?”

Julie paused for a moment. “Um, no, sorry. This isn’t Luke.”

“Oh.” And the woman on the phone sounded so sad, so disappointed, that Julie desperately wanted to lie to them, that, yes Luke was here.

“May I ask who this is, then?”

“I’m. I’m Julie. Julie Molina?”

“Oh, you got to Luke’s school, yes? You’re that sweet family that took Reggie in, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. That’s me. I’m – I’m guessing I’m talking to Luke’s mom?”

“Yes, love. Do you know where he is? I know he rarely has his phone on him, but we’ve been trying to reach him for a few days now. He’ll usually call back after this long, so we were just a little worried, that’s all.”

They didn’t know?

“Um. I’m really sorry to say, Ms. Patterson, but Luke’s missing. No one’s heard from him since Sunday.”

There was a horrible, aching silence on the other end, and Julie hated that she was the one who had caused it.

“He-he’s missing?”

Julie couldn’t say anything. She knew how devastating it was, and Luke was just her friend - she couldn’t imagine what his parents were thinking.

“If-if you want, I can come over and explain everything. It’s-a lot’s happened.”

“I - yes please.”

Julie nodded, not even waiting for their address before moving. How had the police even missed this? She made to exit the studio, but just before she did, Julie turned back, reaching for Luke’s notebook before continuing.

pieces of the clock that lies broken

Julie fidgeted on the Patterson’s couch. It was uncomfortable; she could tell Luke’s parents had been crying, which hadn’t been helped by her explanation of the last few days. Her knuckles went white over the edges of Luke’s notebook. She could only nod as Luke’s mom excused herself for a moment. Looking at his dad, he didn’t seem to be faring any better.

“We…” Luke’s dad ran his hand over his face, clearly lost in thought. “It’s been a few years, since Luke and us agreed on…well, a lot of things. We’d had a small agreement, that he could stay with friends, if he called…but he always forgets for a few days, after the date we’ve decided on, so we didn’t think anything of it…”

“I know,” Julie admitted. “I’m kicking myself now, thinking about what I should’ve done differently.”

“Luke…he’s just headstrong, and we thought we were working towards a solution – but he’s barely in the house, hasn’t officially agreed to stay with us since Christmas...”

Julie felt a pang of heartache. That was almost a year ago. Almost a year, Luke and his parents have been on the outs. She couldn’t imagine being made at her dad for a day, let alone nearly a year.

“He told me he wanted to make things right, he just…he didn’t know how.” Julie shifted, opening up Luke’s notebook to the marked page. “He wrote this, for Emily.”

“Luke wrote me a song?”

Julie turned back to the kitchen, where Luke’s mom was, clutching a tissue. Julie could only nod, handing the notebook to her. The sobs echoed throughout the room as Luke’s mom took the words in, his dad reading over her shoulder. Eventually, Luke’s mom looked up, softly smiling up at Julie.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Julie cleared her throat, because she knew this was going to be the difficult part. “I’ve, um…I’ve been writing with Luke, for about a month now, and I can tell you that he’s incredibly talented. He has such a passion for music, and he’s got what it takes. It’s never sat right with him, that you guys and him have never fully discussed it all, but I’m hoping…I’m praying that this will all turn out all right, and he can come home. I know he missed you.”

if you could only know

At the sound of the door opening, Luke scrambled to his feet. Reggie did too, cautiously watching the entrance as Alex, who had basically been alternating between anxiety and exhaustion the entire time they’d been here, woke up, slowly moving to sit.

One of the guards, Luke didn’t know their name, walked in. It wasn’t one of the regular ones; this man was dressed in full tactical gear, and Luke would be remiss if he didn’t notice the gun strapped to the man’s side.

Swallowing down his fear, Luke faced the guard head-on. He wasn’t letting anyone hurt Alex, or Reggie. Not if he could help it.

The guard almost looked bored, half-heartedly gesturing to Luke. “Covington wants to talk to this one.”

“No,” Alex protested, still fighting to be awake.

“I’ll be fine.” Luke glanced back, seeing the worry reflected in both Alex and Reggie’s eyes. “Stay back. I mean it.”

With that, Luke carefully moved forward, still trying to keep the guard’s attention away from his friends. Once he got close, the guard took hold Luke’s arm in an iron grip, pulling him away and out the door. Luke went without protest; he knew there was too much at stake.

After marching Luke down a dizzying pathway of corridors, the guard stopped in front of an elegantly wooden door, pausing only to open it before shoving Luke through, step inside himself and close it, the click of the lock ringing out decisively in the room.

Caleb was still bent over the desk, but glanced up for a moment. “Ah, Luke. Please take a seat.”

Luke wanted to move back to the door; really, he wanted to find Alex and Reggie and then leave and never come back, but he knew he couldn’t. So as much as he hated it, he slowly gave in and reluctantly followed Caleb’s orders, sitting down across from him.

Caleb didn’t say anything, simply pushing across a water bottle across the table. Luke took it before slowly sipping at the water, because he’d watched Reggie get sick too many times after not eating or drinking and then having it all at once.

The silence was driving Luke insane, having to just wait as Caleb kept writing on papers, shuffling them around. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Caleb put the papers aside, looking at Luke from the other side of the desk in a way that made Luke feel small.

“Two days,” Caleb acknowledged. “You’re the only ones who have lasted that long. I almost feel like I should be congratulating you.”

Luke bit his tongue in a very difficult attempt not to scowl at Caleb. “Yeah, we’re special.”

“You are.” Caleb leaned back in his chair. “But I’m afraid I’ve gotten quite bored of this.”

Caleb slid another contract and pen across. Luke didn’t pick it up.

“We already told you we didn’t want to sign the last one,” Luke said. “That hasn’t changed.”

“Yes, well, it turns out circumstances have changed.” Caleb’s eyes raked over Luke, like he was a specimen he was studying. Luke felt oddly nauseous at the concept. “It was confusing, at first; why three boys without any real family wouldn’t jump at the chance to be something, to have what they’ve always wanted. And then, well, I found the one thing my research had been missing: Julie Molina.”

Luke felt the bolt of fear race through him; him, Alex and Reggie hadn’t even uttered her name in the cell, in some unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t let her get involved in this, in any capacity.

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Luke hissed.

Caleb arched an eyebrow. “Seem to have hit a nerve, haven’t I? Well, to be honest, Luke, I wasn’t that fussed about her; don’t get me wrong, she’s lovely, but it’s a bit too much work for the PR team, with the family and all that. But I do need a contract, and at some point, when options don’t work out…”

Luke didn’t have to let Caleb finish the thought. He didn’t want to imagine it; Julie having to go through this.

“None of these contracts will work,” Luke whispered, hopelessly throwing out the only protest he could think of. “We’re all minors.”

“Not anymore,” Caleb said.

Luke’s heart stopped. His eyes darted around, before he managed to find a calendar. He hadn’t been paying attention to any of it, hadn’t even thought about it, but now…

“Happy birthday, Luke.” Caleb titled his head, correcting himself. “Well, as of yesterday.”

Luke couldn’t think. Every twist, every turn, Caleb was there, with only one way out. All he could think about was Julie; Julie, with all her smiles and her rediscovery of music. The way she could light up a room with one well-placed comment, her seemingly effortless ability to pick up any melody she heard.

Julie had only just started enjoying playing again. And she loved her family, so much. Luke couldn’t let any of that be taken away from her. He was just another kid with a guitar, with parents he probably wasn’t ever going to talk to again. He didn’t have anything he had to hold on to.

And Alex and Reggie, who had been his best friends since he was six. Reggie, who finally got to be with a family he loved, who had finally stopped flinching when someone raised their voice. Alex, who’d finally came out to his family and hadn’t even gotten to enjoy it. If Luke agreed, then maybe it would be easier to get them out, to change the terms. Alex and Reggie still weren’t eighteen for a few months.

Luke was okay with doing this for the three of them. So he gritted his teeth and reached forward.

Once the pen left the paper, it was like all the energy drained out of Luke. He couldn’t think, could barely listen to Caleb talking about plans for the future; the image of his name scrawled across the paper was superimposed in his vision.

It took all of his focus to understand what was going on around him; to understand that the guard was asking him to move, was taking Luke’s arm to direct him out of Caleb’s office and into the hallway again. Luke walked as if in a fog, blindly following the guard back through the maze, up to the cell again before opening the door and being pushed inside.

Breathing deeply, Luke steeled himself, preparing to face his friends and explain. It was only as the door closed and locked behind him that Luke realized he wasn’t in the same cell with Reggie and Alex. There was no one else.

Luke whirled around, even though he doubted anyone could hear him. Nevertheless, he slammed his fist against the door. “Let me out! Where are Alex and Reggie? I need to see them!”

Luke hit the door again, but it was to no avail. He was alone.

I never let you go

After Alex’s best estimate of an hour, he had to accept that Luke wasn’t coming back. He could only hope that Luke was somewhere close, that all of the horrible ideas racing through Alex’s mind weren’t anywhere close to being true. Alex fought back tears, because he hadn’t realized how much he’d relied on Luke’s calm presence until it was gone.

Reggie’s soft nudge drew Alex out of his head. Looking over, Alex managed a small smile, which Reggie reflected back. Luke’s absence weighed on the two boys, adding to the discomfort brought on by the contract on the other side of the room, the one that had stayed in that position on the floor since Alex had left it there two days ago.

Two days. Alex wondered what his parents were thinking. What Julie was thinking. What Willie was thinking.

Alex pressed his nails into his palms, trying to cut out the thoughts that had been haunting him since he’d seen the contract. If Willie had been through all of this, then he knew exactly what was going on, what Alex was going through.

He didn’t want to think about the repercussions of that, what that really meant. But even just looking at the facts, a dark future seemed inevitable.

who’d be the first to break

Caleb was in a good mood when he came home that evening.

Willie didn’t even want to ask, because he really, really didn’t want to hear the answer. But he knew Caleb expected it, so Willie swallowed down his emotions and left his bedroom, quietly coming to stand in the doorway of Caleb’s office.

Caleb immediately turned around, practically beaming. “Willie! It’s a night of celebration.” With that, Caleb held up the contract he was holding, letting Willie clearly see Luke’s signature.

“Was he the only one?” Willie had watched Caleb’s mood increasingly sour as the days had dragged on and the band had continued to refute him. He’d been walking on eggshells, terrified of invoking Caleb’s wrath. And if there was only one name signed…

“Yes, and it took an annoyingly large amount of pressure to get it.” Caleb rolled his eyes, almost as if he was amused by the events. “But now it’s all well and good, and the next two will fall in line. He reminds me of myself, in a way, the Patterson kid.”

Willie was fairly sure Luke wouldn’t take kindly to that compliment.

Caleb reached forward, and all Willie could do was hand over the key around his neck. It was a familiar sight, with Caleb going through the motions of unlocking the safe, depositing the contract and re-locking it. Almost robotically, Willie took the key back.

“Don’t look so down, Willie.” Caleb smiled, ruffling Willie’s hair as he directed Willie away from the office. “We’ll have your favorite for dinner tonight, and then you can show me that new board you’ve been wanting for a while.”

Later that night, when Caleb had retired to his room and Willie was throwing up the last of dinner because he felt too guilty (Alex wasn’t eating, Alex hadn’t eaten in two days so why should he), Willie couldn’t lie to himself anymore. He’d had moon-shaped cuts in his palms for a day now, and every hour he just felt worse and worse.

Sitting on the cold tile of the bathroom floor, Willie opened up his phone and searched for the link to the high school directory.

guess we’re alike that way

Julie was physically and emotionally exhausted. Sitting with Luke’s parents had been hard, but she was glad she’d done it. They deserved to see the song, to know that their son didn’t hate them in the end.

As she approached her house, she could see her dad inside, waiting for her like he had every night since…that night. She’d texted him about ten minutes ago, but she knew he was anxious and ultimately, she was fine with the frequent check-ins.

“Julie?”

Julie’s heart shot out of her chest as she jumped, spun around and managed to cross herself at the same time. She was on the verge of throwing her phone at whoever it was as a defense, but was able to stop herself when she saw who it was.

“Willie,” Julie hissed. “What the hell?”

“Sorry.” The older boy at least had the gall to look embarrassed, moving out of the bush where he’d managed to hide himself.

Julie sighed. “It’s fine, just…we’re all a little jumpy, you know? With everything that happened.”

“Right.” Willie tucked his hands into his pockets. “Um, about that…I might know. Where the guys are.”

Julie froze. She almost didn’t want to believe him, to get her hopes up. But she did. Willie didn’t seem like he was lying; he looked as emotionally destroyed as she did.

“If that’s true,” Julie began carefully, “then you and I are going straight to the police station and telling them that.”

Willie nodded, a sorrowful expression on his face.

“Yeah. I probably should."

Chapter Text

Alex could hear someone on the other side of the door. There were shouts and bangs before, ones that had sent chills down his spine, but they hadn’t been this close.

Tentatively, Alex moved to his feet, ignoring the alarmingly quick way the world started spinning and his head started pounding, even with the water the guards had given him and Reggie yesterday. Dehydration, he sarcastically thought to himself. Ten out of ten, would recommend.

Reggie was moving too, though he looked as bad as Alex felt. The two shared a quick, worried glance before turning back to the door. Alex’s heart raced, thinking of what it could be – was Luke finally coming back? Was it another one of Caleb’s soldiers, planning to tear their group further apart? Was it Caleb himself, now that their three days were up (because Alex had been keeping count, as it had gone by and the contract still sat blank) – but

But it was Willie who came rushing in.

“Alex, Reggie.” Willie sounded out of breath. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

Now that the door was open, Alex could hear the yelling more clearly. Shouts of “LAPD,” short bursts of what he could only guess was gunfire. Alex’s nerves were screaming at him, to get out and get away, but as Reggie made his way forward Alex’s arm shot out to pull him back.

Alex was used to Reggie’s questioning look, but the almost heartbroken one on Willie’s face made his stomach turn. Still, he stood his ground.

“Alex?” Willie sounded upset, but Alex didn’t really care. “What are you doing?”

“When did you know?”

“What?” The surprise on Willie’s face almost made Alex take it back, but staring into Willie’s eyes, Alex could see the small flickers of recognition. Willie knew what he was talking about, and that sent waves of rage running through Alex.

“When. Did. You. Know.”

Willie’s mouth opened, but he closed it soon after. Guilt crept into Willie’s body language as the skater tucked his hands into his pockets, almost curling in on himself.

“Alex…I promise, that any questions you have, I’ll answer. I swear. But we need to go, now.”

“Alex, come on.”

And it was Reggie’s panicked tug on Alex’s sleeve, more than anything, that made Alex pause his anger and follow Willie.

if I could take us back, if I could just do that

Luke raised his head at the door opening, barely moving from where he had curled in on himself last night.

When he saw who it was, Luke jumped to his feet, rushing to grab Alex and Reggie and pull them in closer. “You okay?” he asked, trying to see what had happened to them since he was gone.

“We’re fine,” Reggie replied. “What about you? Why’d Caleb take you away?”

“He just wanted to try and isolate us, make it easier,” Luke murmured, just taking in being able to hold his friends in his arms again. “I didn’t do anything, it’s fine.”

The lie seemed to burn Luke’s throat, but he kept hugging the guys. Looking over Alex’s shoulder, Luke made eye contact with Willie, who was looking at Luke with pity and understanding. He knew. Damnit.

Luke ignored the implications of that, challenging Willie’s expression by staring back, and thankfully Willie cleared his throat, getting the other’s attentions.

“We need to go.”

Luke nodded, moving, his hand wrapped around Reggie’s. Willie led them through the maze with an almost supernatural familiarity. Gunshots rang out, making them all react; Luke jumped, Reggie flinched, Alex turned in their direction, and Willie cursed under his breath.

Glancing over at Alex, it was clear the other boy didn’t know what the gunshots meant either. Luke bit his tongue, walking faster, because he didn’t want any part of this. Willie’s steps became quicker, as the four of them tried to get out of the building.

Turning the corner, Luke’s heart missed a beat at the sight of men in full tactical gear. The LAPD logo was blazed across the equipment, making Luke relax slightly. This was the police. If the police were here, they were being rescued, right?

Sure enough, three of the men moved past them, a final one stopping. “You found them, William?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” The officer nodded, before gesturing the way he came. “Let’s get the boys out then. Medical’s all there to look them over. We’ve secured the first floor, moving to the second.”

A burst of gunfire startled them all, and with a tight nod the officer moved towards his colleagues. Luke didn’t wait to look back, pushing them all forward to where Willie was moving. After tense minutes, Luke could see the exit, see freedom. None of them waited, moving as fast as they could.

Eventually, Luke burst out of the building into the Los Angeles evening air, jumping away from the doors and bracing his hands on his knees. All three of them were immediately gasping for air, the shock hitting them like sledgehammers. They were out of that horrible place.

Luke glanced up, taking in the area. They seemed to be in the country; he couldn’t see another building. Police vans were surrounding the place, ambulances a few feet behind the cops. Luke almost couldn’t believe it.

Willie kept looking worryingly over his shoulder, back into the corridor, but turned back. “They’ve got EMTs, they said they want to check you over.”

Luke nodded; honestly, that was a good idea. His head was spinning, he was starving, and he couldn’t imagine Alex or Reggie were doing any better.

He stood up fully, trying to regain his breath. Quick glances back confirmed Alex and Reggie were doing the same, and with a shaky smile, Luke started making his way over to the ambulances.

As he walked, Luke felt his instincts screaming, alarm bells ringing as loud as they could in his head. Remembering what had happened the last time he’d ignored this feeling, Luke whirled around, trying to locate the danger. But there seemed to be nothing; cops were everywhere, and there wasn’t a sign of Caleb or his guards.

Almost as an afterthought, Luke glanced up, and nearly tripped over his feet doing so. Standing on the roof, surveying the scene with an icy frown, was Caleb. Luke could see three, maybe four men behind the record executive, all guarding him. In Caleb’s hand sat a gun, and from a quick glance, Luke could tell any bullet fired wasn’t going to hit him. Caleb already had him; there was no need to aim for him.

But he was aiming for Reggie.

And in that single instant, Luke made his mind up. His reasons weren’t all that different to the ones he’d had yesterday, when Caleb had presented that contract. And this time, Luke’s life was already forfeit. He’d already signed it away.

So really, it wasn’t that difficult for Luke to move, to shove Reggie out of the way, to not make a sound as the bullet hit him.

He just wished he’d been able to say goodbye though. To his parents. To his friends. To Julie.

“Luke!”

nothing to lose

Willie looked at the number written on the door, checking that it was the one he’d been told by the nurse at the counter.

He knew that really, he should walk away. It hadn’t been a good day for anyone, especially Alex, but Willie also knew that that was him being scared to do this. And out of all the things he owed Alex, an explanation was at the front of all of it. So he gritted his teeth and knocked on the door.

He hoped the small “come in” he heard hadn’t been in his imagination.

Willie gingerly opened the door, hating that it just swung seamlessly open. It was too quiet already; all he could hear was his own heart, beating so unbelievably loud.

Alex was staring at him. Despite the hell he’d gone through in the past few days, he looked as beautiful as he did the day Willie met him. The hospital gown they’d put Alex in made him look smaller, but Willie also objectively knew some of that was not eating for three days. He’d seen that look too many times. The only comfort in the room was the heart monitor, beeping steadily.

Willie looked back at Alex, but it was hard. The burning anger he’d seen in Alex’s eyes, after Willie had opened that door in the farmhouse, had seemed to fade away, leaving a cold disappointment that was somehow worse. Willie’s eyes dropped down to the IV in Alex’s arm.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Even his own voice sounded pathetic.

“It’s just dehydration and not eating,” Alex answered. “Fluids and I’m fine, apparently.”

Willie nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the package of saltine crackers. “Um, I got this. It’s what the internet says is a good thing to eat when you haven’t for a while. It’s not too rich, so it’s supposed to be good.”

Alex didn’t reach for it, so Willie left it on the bedside table.

“How’s Luke.” Alex’s tone was flat, but Willie knew he was upset. It had been an awful sight – watching Luke move to quickly for anyone else to react, the sharp crack of the gunshot, followed by others trying to neutralize the threat, the blood being everywhere. The EMTs had rushed to get Luke into the ambulance, to the nearest hospital. Alex and Reggie had followed, though they’d been forced to go in a different ambulance. Willie tried not to think about how Alex had gripped Willie’s hand the whole ride to the hospital.

“I asked the nurse. All she could say was that he was in surgery.”

Alex seemed to deem that an acceptable answer. Willie swallowed, eventually moving to sit down next to him, which Alex didn’t outwardly object to.

“And the Molinas were called, because they’re considered Reggie’s temporary guardians. They’ll be here soon. We can call your parents too, if you want.”

Out of all the possible reactions, Willie didn’t expect Alex’s sharp laugh.

“Yeah, no. I don’t need to deal with that right now.”

Willie nodded again. He glanced down at his shoes, but had to look up again when he sensed Alex looking at him.

“Can I have my answer Willie?”

Willie wanted to cry, but objectively he knew Alex deserved it. And he’d promised him, back at the farmhouse.

“I…I knew he was interested, that night after your debut. I didn’t know he was definitely doing it until he invited you to the club.”

Alex nodded, not taking his eyes off of Willie. Willie fought to not squirm under Alex’s gaze, but couldn’t help it. He hated seeing Alex disappointed, seeing Alex hurt, hated even more that he was the reason for it all.

“Why.”

Willie was taken back at that, staring at Alex in slight shock. “Um – it’s a long story.”

Alex raised his arm, showing off the IV. “I don’t exactly think I’m going anywhere.”

Oh. Right.

Willie cleared his throat before fixing his gaze of Alex’s blanket. “So, if we’re starting at the beginning…I wasn’t lying, when I said Caleb was all I had. I don’t remember parents, or anything like family. Barely even remember foster families. The clearest memory I have is running away from someone, though who knows who.

“I lived on the streets for a while. Don’t really remember how long – maybe two years? That’s how I got into skating and everything; it was a cheap way to get around, good for quick getaways and all that. And then, one day I wasn’t watching where I was going, and I skated into someone. Well, Caleb.

“I was terrified of him, so I ran. But then we kept running into each other, whether I saw him on the street, or he saw me skating. We were somehow always together. Then one day, he approached me. He was all imposing, and intimidating, and I thought for sure I was getting arrested. But he just took me to the club, gave me lunch. Asked me questions about skateboarding, tried to ask me about my circumstances. I told him I didn’t have a family, and then that was the end of it. He let me sleep in his office, after that. He was probably the first person who was genuinely nice to me.

“And he knew, of course, that I was living on the streets, any adult could tell that. But again, no questions, just asked me if I wanted to stay with him. And I didn’t immediately trust him – I was wary, wasn’t that enthused about the idea. I asked him, straight-up, why he would want to do that. He told me that he didn’t have a family either. And that maybe we could be each other’s family.”

Willie glanced up, afraid for a moment that Alex wasn’t listening, but when he looked up there he was, still staring impassively. Willie continued.

“I was skeptical, but I’d never been treated that well by…well, anyone. So I agreed, and he took me to his home. It wasn’t even like he was trying to impress me – he just made dinner, still kept asking me about skateboards and my hobbies. Offered to tuck me into bed. I…kinda lost it then. Just started sobbing, telling him that he was nice and I’d never been treated nicely. In that moment, I never wanted to leave him, to feel alone again. And Caleb told me I didn’t have to be. That he’d protect me, take care of me.

“So then if was official. He even got the paperwork to do a proper adoption, so that courts couldn’t interfere. He enrolled me in school, took me to the skate park, helped me with my homework. When I came out to him, he was the most supportive parent I’ve ever seen. By the time I was eleven, I’d already been with him for five years, and he was my family.

“After that, he let me hang out more at the office, let me know about the inner workings of the music industry. He’d take me to the club, too, and sometimes when he was having meetings with new artists, he’d ask me my opinion about the record company, what I thought about how the artists were treated. I never even had to lie; to me, it was the best place on earth. By the time I realized what he was doing, I was too far in.”

Willie could still remember the fight that night, the only real fight Caleb and Willie had ever had. The pang of betrayal at realizing what Caleb had wanted. The declaration that this wasn’t why Caleb had adopted him, but now that he knew he could do more.

“And then it just…kept going. I would butter up new recruits, Caleb would seal the deal with the contract. Then he wanted me to be an artist, so it was more credible that I was talking about working in the industry. I was okay with it all, because it wasn’t all bad, you know? Caleb was a good parent. He was there at every event I had, helping when I struggled with classes. The side work was just that, side work. And I couldn’t go to the police, I couldn’t tell anyone – because then Caleb would be gone.”

Willie could feel the emotions rising, but he pushed them down. “Alex, I am so sorry. I’m sorry that I didn’t try to warn you, I’m sorry that I didn’t try to change Caleb’s mind, I’m sorry it took me so long to go to the police. I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I should’ve never asked you out again after that first date, I should have told you to leave me alone-“

He stopped as Alex’s hand grasped his own. Willie stared up at Alex, his mouth open in surprise.

“I wouldn’t have listened,” Alex said.

Willie couldn’t keep the small smile off his face, moving so that it was easier to hold Alex’s hand, and asked the question he’d been dreading. “So where does this leave us?”

“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. He stared up at the ceiling. “I…I think I need time. I’m hurt, and I’m angry, but I also know that I really like you Willie. So maybe, we just need to take a bit of time for ourselves.”

Willie nodded. He’d hoped for better, but honestly had expected worse. This, he could do.

“Whatever you want, hotdog,” he promised.

That drew a small chuckle out of Alex, who finally looked at Willie, softly smiling.

“Thank, you, by the way,” Alex said. “For going to the police. For rescuing us.”

Willie could only nod, bringing Alex’s hand up to lightly kiss his knuckles. But even as Alex relaxed, Willie knew he had one more thing to do before he would consider the three boys properly rescued.

Gonna find the strength, find the melody

Reggie was half-asleep when the Molinas burst into his hospital room. Jolting awake, Reggie could barely form words as Carlos catapulted onto the bed, wrapping his arms around Reggie. Ray stayed back, sitting on the edge of the bed, though looking no less relieved.

“Reggie!”

Reggie reached up, managing to wrap his non-IV-injected arm around Carlos. “Hey bud, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Carlos didn’t say anything, and Reggie didn’t mention that he could see Carlos’ tears on the blanket.

Ray smiled, wrapping his hand reassuringly around Reggie’s ankle. “We’re just glad you’re all safe. And let me just say, you are never, ever going anywhere without your phone again.”

Reggie couldn’t help but laugh. Nodding in agreement, he ran his hands through Carlos’ hair.

“Yes sir. Um…do you know how Luke is doing?”

Ray’s expression took on a sadder, more serious look, and Reggie could feel his heart drop.

“We’ve only been able to know that he’s in surgery,” Ray said carefully. “Julie’s outside now, calling his parents. So hopefully, we’ll be able to get more information after that.”

“Oh.” Reggie hated how small his voice sounded. He managed to nod though, proud of himself for not freaking out.

Ray seemed to pick up on that stress, not-so-subtly nudging Carlos. “Carlos, go get Reggie something he’ll be able to eat. Crackers, or something like that. And check on your sister for me, okay?”

Carlos nodded, but didn’t seem to be happy about it, considering how reluctantly he pulled himself away from Reggie. Reggie could only give what he hoped was a reassuring smile, because really, he was okay.

As Carlos shut the door closed, Ray moved closer. “Reggie…the police told me what happened.”

And with that, the floodgates opened. Reggie burst into tears again, and is was so frustrating that this was all he’d been doing for weeks. He felt Ray wrapping his arms around him again, because Reggie was a disaster again, because he’d screwed up again.

“He pushed me out of the way,” Reggie managed in between sobs. “Because of me, he got shot.”

Ray’s arms tightened around Reggie, providing a small amount of comfort; but really, it wasn’t much. “Reggie, please do not blame yourself for this. You had no way of knowing someone was pointing a gun at you. Luke getting hurt isn’t your fault.”

“But it is!” Reggie snapped. “Luke moved to save me! He got hurt, because I was in danger!” He sniffled. “I should’ve been the one hurt, not him!”

Reggie could see the shock of Ray’s face, but Reggie didn’t know why. It was the truth.

“We may never know why Luke shoved you away,” Ray began, quietly. “But Reggie, Caleb Covington trying to shoot you was not your fault. It’s a terrible situation, but it’s in the past. Now, Luke is injured, yes, but he has the best medical care he can. We have to wait and pray.”

Reggie hugged Ray tighter, trying to slow the flow of tears. He just wanted Luke to be okay. He just wanted them all to be okay.

Chapter Text

“There’s a couple different things he does…did. Um, Caleb basically took the “controlled consumption” idea and ran with it. So you know, maximizing the reduction of royalties, minimizing how much he actually paid artists. Plus the fact that the contracts gave Caleb complete control of image, sound, career prospects. He owned everything, including the artists. And then the clauses about when and how they’re allowed to leave the contract. They were legal policies, but they were taken far past legal. No sane person would willingly sign, so that’s why he has the farmhouse. Had, sorry.”

The officer looked up from his notes, smiling reassuringly. “It’s fine, Willie. It’s been a long seventy-two hours. Just breathe.”

Willie nodded, curling up further into the corner of the couch. He tried not to squeeze the pillow in his arms harder, but he wasn’t succeeding.

“So how much of the operation did he share with you?” The officer asked.

“Everything, really. I didn’t ask much. Caleb’s paranoid, he doesn’t like anyone knowing more than he thinks they should. Here, at home, he just would talk. I picked up a lot.”

“And that’s why he gave you the key to the safe?”

Willie shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah. He thought it was safest with me.”

And look how that turned out.

The officer nodded, before fanning himself with his notebook.

“Sorry, are you hot?” Willie hadn’t felt warm since going to the police that fateful night; he was wrapped up in an old hoodie Alex had left in Willie’s bedroom. And if there were other, non-cold related reasons, well, that didn’t really matter.

“Yeah, a bit. To be honest, kid, I don’t understand why you want a fire when it’s eighty degrees.”

Willie managed a small smile, shrugging. “I’m just a little cold. And I had some kindling to get rid of, so, you know, two birds.”

The officer nodded, but didn’t say anything. The silence stretched out long enough that Willie was desperate to fill it.

“If you don’t mind me asking…what’ll happen to the artists? The ones on contracts?”

The officer sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s not going to be a pretty process. They’ll have to testify; we’ll be dealing with our legal departments to get them out of the contracts. Covington Records is going to be dissolved, or if not, taken over by a completely new company. This is going to haunt those artists for a long, long time. Covington’s done a number, slipping this under the industry’s nose.”

True. Sometimes, Willie couldn’t believe that Caleb had gotten away for it as long as he had. Willie shifted again, and asked his real question.

“And what’s going to happen to me?”

The officer looked taken aback at that question. Willie didn’t understand why.

“What do you mean by that, Willie?”

Willie shrugged. “I’ve been working for Caleb for six, seven years? I knew the whole operation. And even if I didn’t do most of it, I didn’t say anything.”

“Kid…” The officer looked like he wanted to get up and move to Willie, but thankfully didn’t. “You’re seventeen. Covington adopted you. None of this happening was your fault. You grew up with him, it’s understandable that you didn’t say anything. And regardless, you were the first person to come forward and tell us the truth.”

The officer tapped the notepad, filled with scribbles. “And now we have your testimony. This is going to be instrumental to the DA’s case, and even if the DA was looking to involve you, Willie, they wouldn’t have much to personally get you in trouble for. But the DA’s not interested. They’re treating you as a witness.”

“And if you’re thinking about the future; Covington only had you as a beneficiary. Even with the assets the police seize, you’re going to be comfortable. You even have grounds to emancipate yourself, if you want.”

Willie nodded, taking all the information in, but the officer seemed to know he wasn’t convinced.

“Kid, don’t beat yourself up about this. Hey, do me a favor. That skateboard in the doorway’s yours, right?”

“Yeah.”

“After we’re done with this, go out, go find a skate park, and just take your mind off of all of this. Go have fun for a bit. Okay?”

“Okay.”

wake up, if it’s all you do

“Julie. Mija, wake up.”

Julie opened her eyes, fighting sleep. It was hard though – she’d barely slept in the last forty-eight hours. It had been an all-consuming anxiety, filled with thoughts about-

Luke!

At that reminder, Julie jumped up from her spot on Reggie’s hospital bed, hoping and praying that everyone hadn’t noticed the drool she’d left on the pillow. Reaching across for her glasses, she crammed them onto her face before sitting up to fully look at her dad. He’d gone home overnight, so he looked half-presentable. Julie didn’t even want to think about a mirror, considering her day-old jeans and hoodie.

“Yes? Is there news?”

Dad nodded, sticking his hands into his jean pockets.

“Luke’s out of surgery. His parents told me that the doctors say he’ll make a full recovery. We’ve all been waiting for the anesthesia to wear off.”

“He’s truly okay? What about-“ Wait a minute. They’ve been waiting? “Hold up; how long has he been out of surgery?”

“He was out when I got here this morning; so two hours, maybe?”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?!”

“Reggie said not to. He said you needed the sleep.”

And damn if that wasn’t true, but that was also an issue for another day. Julie pushed herself up and off the bed. “What room?”

“187.”

She was already gone, dashing through the hallway until she found the room in question. Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Julie had to fight down panic and force herself to open the door. When she did, she was met by Alex and Reggie, who were sitting in chairs on either side of the bed. Upon her entrance, the two boys glanced up, sharing sad smiles before turning back to –

-to Luke.

The main thought that was screaming in Julie’s head was that Luke was still. She didn’t think she’d honestly seen it before – the guitarist was always moving, even if he was lying down on the couch, Luke’s hands would be everywhere, gesturing with as much passion as usual.

But not right now. Right now, Luke was lifeless, surrounded by machines. His face was obscured by an oxygen mask, which, if nothing else, Julie knew would be a hilarious thing to tease him about if (when, not if, when) he woke up.

“How you doing, Jules?” Reggie’s voice was hoarse, likely as a result from all the crying last night. Julie had only seen the last of it, which had made it exactly zero percent less heartbreaking, but she guessed that was the only thing that could make his voice sound like that and make his eyes red.

“Fine,” she answered, moving to pull up another chair so she could sit next to Luke. “I didn’t need to sleep that long though, you guys could’ve woken me up.”

Alex shrugged. “Might as well be one of us sleeping. Reg and I have just sat here for hours. Not exactly making much progress in…well, anything.”

Julie nodded, glancing back to Luke’s face. Aside from the oxygen mask, he could’ve been sleeping peacefully. Absentmindedly, she intertwined her fingers with Luke’s.

“You got out of that horrible place, and you’re healing. That’s all that matters.”

Julie noticed Alex’s eye roll, but also didn’t comment. She’d seen enough examples of the drummer deflecting with sarcasm to know this was just a defense mechanism.

“The doctors think he’ll make a full recovery,” she said.

“He got shot in the lung.” Reggie’s sentence was emotionless. “The nurse said he’s going to have trouble breathing for a while.”

“Which is to be expected for being shot in the lung, Reg. We already got miracle with getting out of that place, we’re probably not getting another.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Julie chose to stare at Luke’s nails instead, looking at the black and white patterns’ she’d painted only a week ago, but felt like a lifetime ago. It had barely chipped. She was oddly proud of that.

Alex’s stomach rumbled, drawing everyone’s attention to him. Alex blushed slightly. “Sorry.”

“You should eat,” Julie said. “Both of you. I can stay with him, sit. Really. The nurses gave my dad an in-depth lecture on how often you guys need to eat to bring the weight back.”

Both Reggie and Alex rolled their eyes at that, but Julie knew they knew she was right. And about thirty seconds later, she was validated with the boys gingerly moving out of their chairs.

“Just…look after him?” Alex asked.

“Call us there are any changes?” Reggie softly said.

Julie managed a small smile. “You’ll hear me screaming from the next county.”

With that, the boys seemed convinced enough, heading out into the hallway. Julie moved again, shifting in the uncomfortable hospital chair to look back at Luke.

here’s the one thing

“My girl has a crush, and his name is Luke.”

“Flynn!”

Much to Julie’s annoyance, her best friend dodged the (admittedly terribly thrown) pillow, only bouncing back up with a triumphant smile.

“Ha! So you admit it!”

Of course Julie admitted it. She wasn’t blind.

“Yes, okay, I like him! We just…click. We understand each other. We’re writing with the same pain, we’re coming from the same place.”

“Not to mention his eyes are dreamy.”

“Flynn!”

“What? I’m not wrong.”

“Besides the point! It’s not going to happen, so we might as well move on.”

Flynn frowned. “What do you mean? Jules, I’m pretty sure he’s into you.”

“I’m literally two pieces of paperwork away from becoming Reggie’s sister. And Luke’s practically Reggie’s brother. That’s just…weird.”

“Weirder things have happened.”

“Flynn.”

“Julie.”

“Flynn.”

“Look, all I’m saying is that I see chemistry, plain and clear. And I know you’ve got other focuses at the moment, but let yourself be happy, Jules. I watched you be understandably miserable for a year, and now you’ve got the guys, who I can see make you so incredibly happy. Don’t hold back your feelings because you’re scared of what might happen.”

“When did you get so wise.”

“It's the seven sodas in preparation for today’s presentations in music class. I refuse to watch Carrie be top in class again.”

Julie couldn’t help but laugh at that. But even weeks later, Flynn’s advice had stuck with her.

I want you to know

Julie closed her eyes; admittedly, she was still exhausted after the events of the last few days. But with Luke’s hand clasped in hers, she felt safe. She wasn’t going to sleep; just rest, until the guys came back.

Quietly, Julie hummed her mother’s song. It was nice; first, it distracted her from all the noise of the hospital machines, and second, it was just a comforting melody. And if she thought really hard about it, Julie could imagine Luke’s fingers tapping against her own in a perfect harmony.

No. Wait.

Julie’s eyes shot open, moving to stare back in awe. Sure enough, Luke’s own hazel eyes were staring back at hers.

“Luke!”

Julie threw herself at the bed, fully prepared to smother Luke in a hug, but quickly had to pull back when she remembered his injures. She settled for squeezing Luke’s hand as hard as she could, smiling. He looked okay, considering that he had been near death a day ago. His eyes were still cloudy under the anaesthesia, but Luke looked aware enough to have a conversation. And he was smiling back under the oxygen mask, and all Julie could feel was pure relief and elation coursing through her veins. He was awake. He was smiling at her. He was safe.

Luke shifted in the bed, moving closer to Julie, though by his grimace, she guessed it hurt. He opened his mouth, as if to speak.

“No, don’t talk yet, I’ve got to get a nurse!”

Luke shook his head as best he could, grabbing onto Julie’s hand again, pulling her closer to him. He stared at her, as if he could speak telepathically.  Julie could only stare back, trying to understand what Luke was attempting to say.   

“Luke, I can’t…can you do yes or no right now?”

A nod.

“Okay. Um…are you wondering where Alex and Reggie are?”

Nod.

“They’re just waiting in the hall; they’re okay, I promise. The doctors cleared them and everything, they’re just here for an extra night of observation. That, and they didn’t want to leave you. Your parents are there too, by the way. We – I met them, when you guys were missing. There’s a lot to catch you up on. Do you want to see them?”

Luke fervently shook his head.

“Wait. Your parents or the guys?”

Luke held one finger up. Julie assumed that meant his parents.

“Okay, I won’t ask them. Do you want the guys?”

Luke shook his head again. Instead, he did some movement with his hand, like he was writing.

“Do you want like…a pen and paper?”

That didn’t seem to be what he wanted, she judged by Luke’s rolling of his eyes, but the shrug didn’t mean yes or no. Luke huffed, reaching for the oxygen mask again, but Julie grabbed his hand.

“Dude, stop. I get you’re frustrated, but you were shot in your lung less that twenty-four hours ago. You need to wait for a doctor.”

Julie fixed Luke with a look until he glanced back down, seemingly taking her point in stride. He made the movement again. Julie frowned, trying to figure out what he was writing.

Yeah. She had no clue.

Julie reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone. Opening up the notes app, she handed Luke the device. “Here, type.”

And after deciphering the alarmingly large amount of typos (which Julie had to attribute to the wearing-off anesthesia, because otherwise all she could be was disappointed), Julie figured out two words. 

Contract. Willie.

The contracts…Reggie had told her what Caleb had wanted, what he’d tried to make the boys sign. Julie’s blood just boiled at the lack of ethics that man had had. But Reggie had said he and Alex hadn’t signed anything.

But Luke hadn’t been there the whole time. 

Julie could only look at Luke, silently asking him what she was beginning to think was true. Luke stared back in earnest; he looked as upset about it as she did. He turned back to the phone, typing again.

Call Willie, please. I need to know what happened to it.

Julie nodded. “I’ll do it now, I promise. Luke, it’s not your fault, you were coerced. No court will agree with it.”

I didn’t tell the guys.

Julie wanted to cry. Only someone as evil as Caleb Covington would be able to drive a wedge between the boys like that, to mean that they were lying to each other.

“It’ll be okay, I promise,” she whispered. “I’ll go call Willie now, alright? I have to go out, because we’re not supposed to call near the medical equipment. I’m going to tell a nurse you’re awake, okay?”

Luke reluctantly nodded, seemingly resigning himself to staying in the bed. The poor guy looked destroyed, and Julie had to fight back the tears. She smiled again, trying to reassure Luke, but she had to get up. Slowly she moved her hand out of Luke’s, standing up out of the uncomfortable bedside chair. Luke looked like a kicked puppy.

Julie moved to make her way out of the room, but quickly turned back. Crossing in a few strides, she reached over the bed to awkwardly hug Luke.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.”

Julie pressed a quick kiss to Luke’s cheek, and dashed out of the room before her brain comprehended what she just did.

Chapter Text

Alex abruptly exited the bathroom, not bothering to dry his hands. He’d gotten the text from Julie, that Luke was awake, and nothing was going to stop Alex from being with his friend-

He was suddenly shoved off course as he collided with someone.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was-“ Alex abruptly cut off when he saw who he had bumped into. “Willie?”

Sure enough, there Willie was, looking a lot worse for wear then when Alex had seen him yesterday. He was clutching his board and helmet to his chest, his hair down in such a pretty way that it made Alex’s heart ache.

No. Alex had wanted to take the break. And he knew, objectively, that it was a good thing. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Willie nodded slightly. “Hi, Alex.”

Never one to be subtle, Alex asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I…Luke, well, Julie – she said Luke wanted to see me, to talk…I’m not stalking you, I promise. I didn’t think I’d run into you.”

Alex accepted the explanation, but something about it was setting off alarm bells in his head. “What did Luke want to talk to you about?”

Willie’s eyes darted up to meet Alex’s, before glancing back down. “Alex…”

“Do not lie to me again, Willie. Please.”

I can’t take it if you lie to me again.

Willie bit his lip, eventually looking back up. “Luke, he…”

conversations in my head, and that’s just where they’re gonna stay forever

Inhale.

Exhale.

Getting shot was definitely one of the worst decisions of Luke’s life. Not that he regretted it – he’d never regret it, saving Reggie from more pain – but it had left him feeling the worst he’d ever felt.

His entire right side hurt, so much, and he was reminded every time he breathed. Inhale, exhale, it didn’t matter, because every movement sent sharp pains that all seemed to emanate from his chest. Not to mention the pinch from the IV, and the tube in his side that the doctor said was for his chest, for his lung. On top of that, every part of his body ached, reminding Luke of how he’d been thrown around by Caleb’s guards days ago.

It felt like lifetimes ago.

And then there was the stupid oxygen mask, because breathing was hard, so, so hard, and Luke hadn’t paid this much attention to his physical breathing ever in his life. The doctor that had come in, after Julie had convinced (read: bullied) Luke into agreeing to see him, had explained that with such a recent surgery he needed to stay on the supplemental oxygen, though he could try to talk since nothing in his vocal cords had been damaged. And Luke immediately tried to, because well, he was Luke (despite popular belief, Luke Patterson happened to know himself very well, and he knew he was stubborn). He’d managed a sentence, enough to say he didn’t want to see his parents right now, before he’d been coughing (which hurt like a motherfucker) and had been told to put the mask back on.

Currently he stared at the ceiling, putting all of his mental energy into breathing.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Julie was on his left, that he knew; he could feel her hand against his, but they weren’t really touching; something Luke longed to correct, but moving his hand seemed like the hardest thing in the world, so he settled for the contact he got.

Reggie was on his right; he’d rushed into the room, talking a mile a minute about Julie’s text that Luke was awake. On the surface, Reggie looked okay, but Luke had known his friend long enough to see past the façade, to the slight wobble in Reggie’s voice, and the small shakes in his hands. But Luke knew that Reggie would think he’d need to stay strong, both for Luke himself and for Julie. Luke made a mental note to talk to Reggie alone later in the day.

A noise at the door had Luke gingerly turning his head, only to blanch as Alex stormed in, his face stony. Willie followed only steps behind, offering Luke an apologetic look.

Alex stopped at the edge of the bed, pausing for only a moment before locking eyes with Luke. “You signed a contract. And you didn’t tell us.”

And just like that, no amount of oxygen in the world would be able to fill Luke’s lungs. It was like everything had just stopped, and he couldn’t breathe.

Of course, that was a terrible decision for his body, so instead of answering, all Luke could do was cough, trying to push himself up so he could at least not be lying down. He managed, and thankfully Julie and Reggie were immediately at his side, helping to move Luke up higher and rest him against the pillows. Luke immediately leaned back, waiting until he’d had enough oxygen to feel like he wasn’t about to pass out.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Luke determinedly ignored Julie’s concerned look, and Reggie’s heartbroken one, calmly looking over Alex’s shoulder until he felt okay. Gingerly, he moved his arm (which hurt, so much, but dammit he was going to push through), moving the oxygen mask away.

“He threatened both of you,” Luke said, his voice harsh and hoarse. “And Julie.”

Quickly, he moved the oxygen mask back.

Luke could tell his explanation changed the dynamic in the room a little bit; everyone looked horrified, though Willie just looked resigned. Alex immediately began pacing, talking aloud.

“But…but why did he target you specifically? He had all three of us where he wanted us, but he made the effort to get you first…”

“Luke turned eighteen,” Willie emotionlessly answered. “It’s easier to get someone who’s legally an adult to sign without fuss. Once he got one of you, he could get the others. It just was figuring out which one to target.”

“Who cares what Caleb wanted?” Reggie interjected, turning back to Luke. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you think it should be kept secret?”

Luke did his best attempt at a shrug. “I wanted to protect you. I’m expendable; it was better me than you,” he mumbled, and note to self, mumbling felt so much better than speaking.

“Luke,” Reggie whispered. Carefully, Reggie worked his hand under Luke’s so they were intertwined. Luke squeezed, trying to reassure. He loved his boys. He’d do anything for them.

“You’re not expendable, Luke.” Alex’s voice was quiet, but it seemed to ring out into the room, echoing in Luke’s ears. “You are everything to us, you’re our family. We can’t live without you.”

Luke avoided the urge to roll his eyes, because he knew that would end terribly. “I am, Alex, when you think about it-“

“No you’re not!” Alex rushed to the end of the hospital bed, sitting so that his leg was pressed against Luke’s. Within moments, Alex was gripping both Luke and Reggie’s hands together, staring at Luke with a gaze that seemed to almost penetrate into Luke’s soul. “Luke we wouldn’t have survived without you; not just yesterday, but every day of our lives. You were the one who picked fights with the older kids so they wouldn’t pick on Reggie. You were the one who convinced my parents that drum lessons were a good idea, hell, that therapy was a good idea because then I’d be less anxious. You always took care of us, but you never let us take care of you.” Alex had to take a moment to breathe, tears silently falling down his face. “We’re family, Luke. We shouldn’t have to bear it all alone.”

Luke felt his own eyes watering, but he fought them back. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“We understand,” Julie said, and for her sake Luke pretended not to hear the emotion in her voice. “You were put in an impossible situation, and did the best you could.”

“Please just tell us things,” Reggie pleaded. “Especially the things that impact you.”

Luke nodded, pressing the mask back on. They sat in comfortable silence, just taking it all in.

“And, actually…nothing’s going to impact you.” Willie’s quiet voice drew the band out of their minds, all heads turning to him. Willie seemed to shrink into himself. “The contract’s gone. Up in smoke.”

Willie glanced up to Luke, a small, joking smirk appearing for a moment. Luke paused for a moment, taking in the meaning of Willie’s statement before laughing, then immediately stopping that because his lungs felt on fire.

“Thank you,” Luke managed before having to put the mask on again. Amidst a round of coughs, he noted Alex’s open-mouthed stare of surprise in Willie direction.

“But wouldn’t Caleb know?” Julie asked. “He’d remember it, right? Is that going to cause any trouble?”

Fear shot into Luke’s heart. No. Not after all of this, after everything they’d been through, Caleb couldn’t just come out of the dark and take it all away again. He couldn’t.

Willie paused for a moment, before shrugging. Luke could see the pain in the skater’s eyes as he began to talk. “The…the police aren’t letting the general public know yet, but Caleb’s gone. After he shot Luke, the police’s snipers…”

Relief flooded Luke’s veins, marred somewhat with guilt from Willie’s obvious, yet quiet devastation.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Willie shrugged again. “Don’t be. You, of all people, shouldn’t be.”

“Still,” Luke said, before pressing the mask to his mouth again. He tried to fight down the urge to cough, but that was a terrible decision because it just became worse.

Eventually, Luke managed to get ahold of himself, barely having the energy to do anything but lie down again (because coughing was now his archnemesis). He locked eyes with Julie, who was smiling at him incredibly unconvincingly. He tried to send the message the he was fine, reaching for and squeezing her hand, but Luke didn’t really believe himself.

“I think you need to rest,” Julie decided. “You only woke up an hour ago, really. We shouldn’t be putting so much stress on your body so soon.”

“Yeah.” Following Julie’s cue, Reggie stood up, pulling Alex along with him. “We’ll go. But we’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

Luke wanted to protest – these were his people, and he wanted them by his side every moment – but he knew they were right. So he settled for nodding, shuffling to make himself more comfortable.

He was asleep before he knew if they left.

i have too much pride

Ray sipped at the truly terrible, lukewarm, soul-sucking hospital coffee, surveying the small common room on this floor of the hospital. There were the Pattersons, off to themselves in a little corner talking to all of Luke’s doctors and filling out the insurance forms. He’d spent most of his time explaining the past month’s events to them, and silently being shocked at how little they knew about their son. From what Ray had heard, it wasn’t out of any malice, but it was just that Luke and his parents were very different people. Meeting them, that had been confirmed. The Pattersons were well-meaning parents, who were desolate over what had happened to their son, and were waiting, patiently hoping that he’d be willing to see them.

Ray’s eyes slid over to the other area of the common room, where the kids were sitting.  They were quiet, absentmindedly staring off into space. They’d left Luke’s room in various states of distress, before just all sitting. It was heartbreaking, and Ray made a mental note to get them all into therapy, and soon. They were strong kids; they’d get through this.

A phone’s tone rang out throughout the room like an alarm, startling everyone out of their thoughts. Alex jumped so severely he fell off his chair; in another time, Ray reflected, it would’ve been a funny circumstance.

“Sorry, that’s mine.” Alex pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll just – I’ll just go.”

Alex made his way out of the common room into the hallway, sliding his finger across the screen to answer the call. Ray watched him go, ironically enough following the same path Alex’s friend (they were definitely more than friends, but Ray didn’t know if they were actually boyfriends, so he’d figured he’d just wait for confirmation) Willie had taken to leave the hospital. Ray liked those boys together. He hoped they would be okay.

Damnit. He was out of coffee.

And because terrible hospital coffee was better than no coffee, Ray sighed and placed his cup in the trash. “Mija, I’m getting coffee. Do you want any food?”

Julie shook her head. “I’m good, Dad, thanks. But that reminds me, we should stop by the supermarket tonight, after we pick Carlos up from school.”

Right. Ray remembered mentioning last night the lack of food in their pantry. “Of course. We’ll grab the comfort foods.”

With a quick smile to his daughter, Ray left the room in pursuit of the coffee station. He walked through the hallways, thinking through his shopping list for tonight. And thankfully tomorrow was a weekend, so he didn’t feel bad about Julie missing school, and Carlos could come. That way the younger boy could come see Reggie; Carlos had been a wreck when Reggie had gone missing, and even though Ray was trying to keep the details away, Carlos knew it was serious.

Finally, Ray got to the coffee station; and surprisingly, there was Alex, his back turned to Ray, his phone held up to his ear. Ray didn’t want to intrude, but Alex’s body language was screaming anxiety, so Ray stood and waited for the kid to finish.

“No, yeah, all the insurance information’s gone through, it’s fine, Mom,” Alex said. “It’s an overnight stay is all-what? No, I’m fine, Luke was the one who got shot. Yeah, they’re okay with discharging me tonight…”

Alex trailed off as the person on the phone – Ray assumed his mother – was talking.

“If I come home, are you going to be okay with me being gay?” Alex blurted out.

Ray could almost taste the silence on the other side.

Alex sighed. “Yeah. Well, in that case Mom, I’m not going to come see you guys. I’ll figure out housing and let you know.” With that, Alex abruptly ended the call.

Ray waited for a moment, before clearing his throat to indicate his presence. Alex, for his part, simply turned around, looking defeated.

“I didn’t mean to overhear,” Ray said. “I just came for coffee.”

Alex shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter if you did.”

Ray nodded. “You gonna be okay, kid?”

“Yeah. Eventually. I just-they’re my parents, you know?”

“It’s difficult, yes. But you’re doing the right thing Alex; you should never have to hide who you are. And my home is always open to you.”

Alex nodded slowly, wrapping his arms around himself. “Do…do you think I can take you up on that offer? I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

Ray smiled. “Absolutely. I’m always here to help, Alex; you can stay as long as you need. Hell, I’ll even do the same thing for you I did for Reggie.” Even as the words left his mouth, Ray knew how true they were. These boys had brought his Julie back, and he would forever return the favor.

“I don’t think I’m really at that step…but thank you, Mr. Molina. I’ll just stick with the bed for now.” Alex managed a small smile back, making Ray’s smile only grow.

“Of course. Now, come; it’s almost lunch, you’re all probably starving. I’ll treat you.”

Alex’s nose wrinkled. “Hospital food?”

Ray chuckled. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

Alex nodded at that. The two made their way back towards the common room in silent companionship. Ray found his thoughts drifting again into the shopping list, until Alex’s quiet clearing of his throat drew Ray back into the present.

“Um, Mr. Molina…can I ask you a question? About…romance stuff?”

Ray wanted to laugh at Alex’s almost adorable awkwardness, but kept his face calm. “Certainly. The game’s changed since I was in it, but I’ll do my best.”

Alex took the statement in stride, sticking his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. Um. So. When someone’s lied to you…and it’s about a kind of big thing…but you still think you love them…what do you do?”

Ray was silent as he thought through options. “Well, I think first and foremost, you need to be okay with what happened. And that will take time, maybe therapy. But once you’re okay with everything that’s happened, and you still want to be with them…then that’s what you do. As much as we have these guidelines for what situations are deal-breakers in relationships, each situation is different and has different people in it. If you love them, and you think you can survive the lie, then do so. You deserve to be happy.”

Ray hoped that that was good enough advice for Alex, who Ray knew liked to deconstruct every statement he’d ever heard. It seemed to be; Alex’s brows were furrowed in thought, fully staring off into space.

“Yeah. Maybe I do,” Alex agreed.

didn’t get to apologize

Luke was anxiously tapping his fingers against his leg in anticipation. The hour of sleep he’d gotten was great, but he’d had to wake up for the doctors to come in and do their rounds. They’d said they were pleasantly surprised with his recovery in this short time, which honestly made Luke ecstatic – he’d been in bed for like eight hours and it was driving him insane – but they were still worried about how his breathing would fare without the additional support. He still had the oxygen mask, which was quickly becoming as vital as his muscle tees. The plan, the lead doctor, whose name was Dr. Sinclair, said was to keep him under observation for at least another week, but they didn’t think he’d need much more time. He was a strong, healthy kid, as Dr. Sinclair said.

But right now Luke felt about four years old. He’d known, really, that he’d have to talk to his parents at some point, but it seemed like he could put it off; focus on the contract, focus on the boys, focus on sleeping.

Dr. Sinclair had seen right through his bluffs, gently reminding Luke that these were his parents, after all. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see them; he was just nervous. Hence the tapping.

The sound of the door drew Luke out of his thoughts. Before he could even process what was about to happen, the door was opening and Luke was bracing himself and then his parents were standing in front of him. They’d closed the door behind them, but hadn’t moved closer yet, as if they were scared they’d spook him.

In the back of his mind, Luke realized that he hadn’t seen his parents in over a month.

His mom was already crying, though he could see she was trying not to. His dad looked teary too. Luke could feel his own eyes watering, but he was desperately trying to keep himself in check – if all three of them started crying, they’d be done for. Instead, Luke tried to smile, and move the oxygen mask.

“Hi, Mom,” he said. “Hi Dad.”

It was as if his voice flipped the switch; before Luke could take another breath, his parents were at his side, both grabbing onto a different hand like he’d disappear if they didn’t. Luke could feel the lump building up in his throat.

“My baby,” Mom whispered.

“We missed you, kid,” Dad said.

Luke couldn’t hold himself together; the tears started flowing, first slowly, but then all off the emotions he’d been holding in for weeks floated to the surface, and he couldn’t stop.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry I’ve been making you worry so much, I missed you guys too, so much, I never meant to make you worry about me, I should’ve answered when you called-“

All of Luke’s words were spilling out of him, faster than his mind could ever catch up. He was speaking so quickly, and he was crying at the same time and he didn’t think he could breathe, he couldn’t get air in, all he could do was gasp as he tried, he tried to breathe and his throat was sore and aching, his chest was pounding and it hurt so much, and breathing hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt-

Suddenly Luke could feel arms around him, pulling something over his head (absently he realized it was his mask, the one he’d completely forgot about) and then there was oxygen flowing in and out and he was still crying but it was easier now, he wasn’t coughing (thank god) but his chest still ached.

He tried to inhale as fast as he could, tried to say something to ease his parents’ worries, but his mom shook her head, stopping him.

“You’re okay, sweetie, you’re okay,” she reassured. “Don’t try to talk, okay? The doctors say it’ll be a while until it’s easy for you. Just focus on breathing, for me?”

Luke nodded, still focusing on taking air in. Tears were freely flowing down his face, which sucked because it messed up his breathing, but he couldn’t help it.

“You don’t need to apologize for anything,” Dad began. “It’s everything that you’re here, you’re alive and you’re safe. All you need to focus on is getting better.”

“We’re the ones who need to apologize,” Mom interjected. She sniffled, but kept gripping his hand, kept smiling through the tears. “We drove you away, we know we did, we didn’t mean to, we just – we care about you Luke. So, so much.”

Luke nodded, trying to project his thoughts. I know.

His mom smiled, pushing his hair back off his forehead. “We love you, and we’re so sorry if you never thought that.”

No, I knew you loved me, I love you too.

“And your friend, Julie, she showed us that song you wrote,” Dad said. “Unsaid Emily?”

Luke stared, his mouth wide-open in shock. Julie had shown them the song? It was everything he’d wanted to say to his parents, every regret and every anger and every sadness. Did they-

“It was beautiful, Luke,” his mom said. “Beautiful. We never realized how musical you are, honey.”

Luke could not stop crying. He wanted to talk, to say everything he was thinking, but he settled for grabbing his parents’ hands and squeezing as hard as he could.

They squeezed back, smiling at him.

“I hope you know we love you Luke, no matter what career you want to pursue. We just want the best for you. And if it’s music, then we’ll support that.”

Luke nodded, squeezing harder. 

“Will you give us another chance?” Mom asked. “We want to make this right. I can’t lose you again, baby.”

Luke nodded again, breathing as evenly as he could.

I love you too.

and i know that I’m home

Reggie was exhausted. The week had been hell, in truth, and now that he was officially discharged from the hospital, heading home with Julie, Alex, and Ray in the car, the toll of it was all beginning to affect him. He could feel himself slipping away as he leaned against Alex’s shoulder.

“Reggie. Dude. We’re here.”

After what felt like not even a minute of sleep, Reggie was shaken awake. Still fighting his tiredness, Reggie made his way out of the car and into the house, a bag of groceries in his arm. Carlos was already asleep; the discharge from the hospital had been too late for the younger kid to stay up for.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Julie said through a yawn, “but I’m good with skipping dinner and going straight to bed.”

“Me too,” Alex agreed.

“Hate to break it to you, boys,” Ray interjected, “but the doctors require that you guys eat regularly, at least for the next two weeks or so. I’ll make it something quick, but you’ve got to eat.”

Reggie inwardly groaned, but he knew Ray was right. So he reluctantly pulled up chairs for him, Alex and Julie to the table, putting his head in his hands. He was so tired. He couldn’t imagine how Luke was feeling, considering how much worse his friend was.

Some of the guilt had worn off in the day, Reggie could admit; he knew, objectively, that there wasn’t anything he could’ve done, but he would still carry this with him for years. But he couldn’t focus on the what-ifs. Luke was alive, and this situation seemed to have brought him and his parents closer together. Luke deserved that, Reggie decided. So there was a good thing from all of this.

“Reggie?” Ray’s quiet voice drew Reggie out of his thoughts, sleepily turning to Ray. “Would you mind grabbing the mail off of the porch for me?”

Reggie nodded, moving away from the table, outside to the porch and coming back in with the mail. He glanced through it – mainly it was just bills and catalogues, so nothing interesting – but there was one large, manila-shaped package.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“Don’t know.”

“That’s actually for you, Reggie,” Ray answered. “Open it.”

Reggie arched his eyebrow, but Ray didn’t divulge anything, only smiling. Curious, Reggie ripped open the envelop, staring down at the package of papers and official-looking documents in it. He pulled them out, looking at them in shock.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

Reggie couldn’t help the smile growing on his face; his sleepiness was gone, and suddenly he was the happiest he’d ever been.

“It’s adoption papers,” he said. He looked up, grinning. “I’m officially Reggie Molina.”

The kitchen erupted into beams and cheers; suddenly Reggie was getting hugged on multiple sides, laughing as he fully took in what the documents meant. Alex was hugging him from behind, Julie from the front. Over Julie’s shoulder, Reggie made eye contact with Ray, who smiling equally as hard, which just made Reggie smile harder.

He was home.

Chapter Text

 “Julie.”

“No, Dad, five more minutes.”

“It’s Flynn. And we’re in dance class.”

At that, Julie suddenly shot up, realizing that she had dozed off in the middle of warm up. Wow, that’s embarrassing. Thankfully, Flynn and Julie had tucked themselves away in a corner when class began, so no one was really looking at her.

“Rough night?” Flynn’s tone clearly meant she was joking, but it fell flat with the knowledge that most recent nights had been rough nights, and it didn’t look like that would change anytime soon.

Julie sighed, balancing her head on her hands as she gave up any hope of stretching. “It’s just been a lot.”

Which Julie knew Flynn knew was an understatement. Even with Reggie and Alex being mostly recovered two weeks after what they were all calling The Incident, the aftershocks of Caleb Covington’s plans were still careening through their lives. The boys were hesitant to be in different rooms, always preferring to have eyes on each other. Alex was processing his parents’ reactions to him coming out, now that he actually had the wherewithal to do so, which was going fine, but still sucked. Reggie was subdued again, almost like the past few months hadn’t even happened. Julie pretended not to hear her Dad constantly on the phone with Dr. Turner to discuss new solutions. Therapy (or, in Julie’s case, return to therapy) had brought all issues front and center. But they were trying. Slowly, they were getting better.

And then there was Luke, who was regaining strength every day, and getting discharged tonight. He was well enough that the doctors were okay with him returning to school, but not well enough that he didn’t need an inhaler nearby every second of the day. Every time she visited, Luke seemed in high enough spirits – winking at her even though he was going through physio, seeming upbeat about the smallest thing – but Julie knew something was missing, that it was missing in all of them.

None of them had touched an instrument since the Sunday before said Incident.

Half of it was not wanting to start anything until they were all together; that Julie knew instinctively. The boys and her were connected in that way, and anything incomplete wouldn’t feel right. So they were okay with waiting. But the other half was worry. Luke still couldn’t speak for long periods of time. Julie had decided it was best if she didn’t think about if Luke would be able to sing.

“Yeah, but it’ll get better every day, right?” Flynn asked. “It’s just baby steps. First it’s sleeping through the night, then it’s being able to play instruments, and then it’s a sold-out Madison Garden, and 10% commission for your amazing manager of course.”

Julie couldn’t help but laugh at that. “When did you get so into psychology?”

“Dr. Phil is always on TV at my dentists. You’d be surprised at what I’ve managed to pick up. Like if you ever have an ex-boyfriend who can’t stop crying, I’m your girl.”

“Would require getting a boyfriend first.”

“Jules. You basically do already.”

“Ugh, Flynn, we’re not talking about that again.”

“Why not? You’re in love with Luke, Luke’s in love with you, the only people who are against it are literally you two. Why we haven’t locked you guys in a closet yet is beyond me.”

“Because nothing would happen. Wait, we?”

“You don’t know what Alex and I text about.”

Julie rolled her eyes, but stuck her hand out so Flynn could help pull her up. “Anyway, everything you’re talking about is future Julie’s problem.”

“Fair enough.”

As the girls made their way over to the mirror for the class to begin, Julie locked pinkies with Flynn. “You should stop by tonight. We could have a movie night, or just a sleepover or something. I miss hanging out with you.”

Flynn smiled. “Me too. It’s a date.”

we’re standing on the edge of

Because of course Luke was Luke, the minute he stood he couldn’t keep himself up. The only reason his face didn’t meet the floor was that Reggie and Alex had seen it coming and rushed to catch him.

Really, Reggie thought to himself, it was shocking how little impulse control Luke had. He and Alex helped Luke adjust, arms gently wrapped around him to support him.

“Dude, take it easy,” Alex chastised. “You’re not bouncing back to 100% instantly.”

“I’ve been on bed rest for two weeks,” Luke growled. “I’ve been so bored that I willing did my homework. What I wouldn’t give for my guitar.”

“Well, it’s all ready for you in the garage when you are.” Reggie positioned himself so they wouldn’t jolt Luke as the three of them moved through the door. “Julie’s been keeping it tuned and everything; I think she’s basically taught herself the instrument at this point.”

True to form, the mention of Reggie’s adoptive sister – and truly, the joy he got from saying that would never go away – sent an absolutely adorable beam across Luke’s face. The girl had unfortunately been unable to get out of a dance practice, and had to miss Luke leaving the hospital – but it wasn’t like she wasn’t going to see him exactly twenty-four hours later. Anyways, Reggie knew the mention of Julie always perked Luke up, for reasons he seemed not to know about (but Alex and Reggie definitely did). Reggie wanted to talk to Luke about it, maybe see if he could nudge his best friend in the right direction, but he also had an outstanding bet with Alex and Flynn that he was determined to win. And if Reggie was secretly a fan of slow burn, then sue him.

“Speaking of Julie,” Luke said, turning to face Reggie with an accusatory look, “I have a bone to pick with you, man.”

As much as Reggie knew Luke wasn’t being serious, he still felt his heart skip a beat. There were still a few things that Luke absolutely had the right to be furious with Reggie for, and-

“No one told me you were actually going to change your name with the adoption thing!” Luke complained. “I thought you were joking. Now I’m the only P in the group!”

Reggie felt his whole body relax as Alex did what was essentially an evil cackle. “Now you know what it’s like!” the blonde crowed. “I’ve had to be the only M in the group for eleven years, so you can suck it up.”

With that, Luke pouted, muttering under his breath something about “the balance of life” that Alex seemed to almost be enjoying – scratch that, he was definitely enjoying it.

Finally the three of them made their way out into the reception area of the hospital, where Luke’s parents were finishing with all of the discharge paperwork. Soon Luke was neatly (and gingerly) placed into the Patterson’s car with promises of hanging out the next day, and they drove off. It was weird to see Luke with his parents without a veil of anger around the three of them, Reggie reflected, but it was a good thing. The Pattersons had always been nice to Reggie, and besides the one disagreement within their family it was so obvious that they loved each other.

Quietly, Alex and Reggie started walking back to their house. Alex was lost in thought, but Reggie could guess what he was thinking about. Alex didn’t talk much about what was going on with his parents, but he’d gone back to the house the other day to get clothes, so Reggie assumed that it hadn’t gone well. The lack of support hurt, that much was clear, but Alex was talking to Dr. Turner, and he had a whole expanded support group. The first step was always the hardest, Reggie figured.

The Molina house was only three blocks away from the hospital, so the walk was fairly fast. The two of them let themselves in with the key, and Alex quickly went up the stairs, citing a stress headache. Reggie could smell chile powder and tomatoes, so he figured that Ray was in the kitchen.

Sure enough, the Molina patriarch was standing there, the renowned cast iron pot bubbling on the stove. Reggie leaned against the wall for a moment, simply taking in the sight of Ray dancing to some Spotify playlist, doing a flourish that culminated with a bay leaf thrown into the pot. He was smiling in a way Reggie’s parents never had; even with all the tragedy this family went through, they just got closer.

Reggie must have made some noise, because Ray’s head was darting up, immediately smiling.

“Hey Reg. How was the hospital? Luke doing good?”

Reggie found himself nodding, smiling back. “Yeah, seems so. He’s not used to walking, after so much bed rest, but he’s getting back into it. He said he’ll be coming by tomorrow, though.”

“That’ll be fun,” Ray said. “You guys all deserve a little time to just relax, hang out.”

Reggie couldn’t agree more.

“Oh, and when I went into town, I picked up that book you were asking about.” Ray gestured to the dining table.

It took a moment for Reggie to remember what Ray was referring too. Ages ago, before The Incident, as Julie had taken to calling it, Reggie had mentioned his growing interest in psychology – in knowing why his own mind reacted the way it did. He’d done research, and found a few good beginner books before asking Ray about it. They’d agreed to make it an outing, go to one of the good bookstores.

It warmed Reggie’s heart to think that Ray remembered the conversation, and the actual name of the book, and had actually gone and bought it for him.

“This is so thoughtful.” Reggie crossed the room, looking at the book – really, such a small, simply gift in reality, but to him it was so much – before gingerly taking it in his arms. “Thanks, Dad.”

Reggie realized what he had said as soon as he’d said it, and froze. Carefully, he turned to see Ray’s reaction. The older man was standing perfectly still, his mouth open in obvious surprise.

“I-“ Reggie started. “I didn’t-“

Before Reggie could say anymore, Ray’s arms were wrapped around Reggie, pulling him into the tightest, most secure hug Reggie had ever been in.

“No, you don’t need to say anything,” Ray assured, squeezing Reggie. “Nothing at all.”

Reggie pretended to not see the tears in Ray’s eyes, and simply hugged him back.

we got all we need today

Alex had to stop pretending that he was going to go to sleep at all tonight. It was probably two in the morning at this point, and ever since he’d lain down in his bed earlier all he’d been able to do was stare up at the ceiling. All of his thoughts just stayed in one circle, constantly reiterating in his head.

Anxiety was wonderful.

Huffing, Alex ended up rolling over to grab his phone. Sure enough, his phone was glaring back at him, showing that it was 2:03 a.m. Nevertheless, Alex unlocked the device, hesitating for one moment before clicking the call button. Because realistically, as much as Alex thought himself into frenzies, as much as he talked to Dr. Turner about the literal exact same situation every week, he’d already made up his mind. And leaving a voicemail was probably less terrifying than an actual-

“Alex?”

Seems he wasn’t the only one who was awake at an ungodly hour.

“Hey, Willie.”

“…What’s up?”

“Can we talk?”

“Um, yeah. Of course. What about?”

“Everything, really, I guess. I…I want to try again.”

Willie’s silence on the other side of the phone was deafening. Alex could feel his heart pounding in his ears, his breath hitching as he waited for a response.

“Are you sure about this?” Willie asked, his voice quiet. “I don’t want to rush you into anything, Alex. If you’re not ready, then I’m okay.”

“I’m sure, Willie.” There was more Alex could say, that he’d spent days trying to understand it from Willie’s perspective, and when he finally did, trying to forgive him for it, and finally doing so realizing how much he cared about Willie. “I’m sure.”

truth is finally breaking through

“Hey, Julie.” Luke rolled over on the couch, gently adjusting his position so that there’s wasn’t too much pressure on his side. “What do you think of an ACG chord progression?”

Julie frowned. The four of them had had a quick jam session, really focusing more on getting back into practice (and decidedly not trying to sing without a doctor's permission, Luke), and were now focusing more on writing a larger repertoire. That way, as Flynn put it, "there could be a gig in the future." Julie took a moment to run Luke's combination through the rest of the song they’d written. “That could work, yeah. I think it might be better for the bridge, though.”

She could see Luke mirroring her own process, thinking it through. “On second thought, yeah. Genius as always, Molina.”

Julie could feel heat rushing to her cheek, and fought down any other reaction. “We’re a good songwriting pair.”

“Damn right we are.” Luke moved again, because he was three and incapable of keeping still, swivelling around to sit properly. As he did, Julie noticed his wince and his half-aborted movement towards his ribs.

Not even bothering to roll her eyes, Julie reached towards the small fridge, pulling out an ice pack. “You know what the doctor said. Any pain, and you ice.”

Luke did roll his eyes. “I’ve been icing for pretty much the entire time I’ve been out of the hospital. I’m fairly sure my rib is cold enough.”

And just because she could, and Luke couldn’t really react without hurting himself again, Julie pulled his shirt up and shoved the ice pack up to his ribs. She tried not to be too happy about Luke’s small yelp from the cold and subsequent pout in her direction.

Julie did laugh though, plopping down on the couch next to him. Absentmindedly, Julie moved some of Luke’s hair out of his face.

“Whatcha thinking about, Julie?” he asked softly.

Julie opened her mouth, to say something asinine that would get them both laughing and move on from the situation, but she found herself telling the truth.

“It’s just…when all of it was happening…” Julie began, “all I could think about was all the things I hadn’t said to yet, and the thought of losing you…after the forty-eight hour mark, when it wasn’t looking positive…I couldn’t bear it.”

Luke stared back at her, his eyes boring into her soul. “I’m so sorry, Jules, that you had to go through that.” He shifted on the cough again, looking slightly uncomfortable before talking. “When Caleb was…threatening all of these things, threatening you, I wanted to tear my hair out. All I could think of was you, and how much you love your music, and what it would mean if Caleb was going after you. It was awful. You’re such an important person to me, Julie, and I couldn’t bear to have you go through anything horrible again.”

Julie felt her heart in her throat, but she swallowed it down. This was a long time coming, and with Flynn’s words echoing in her head, Julie knew she needed to say what she had known ever since The Incident happened.

“You’re important to me too, Luke.” Her voice felt like a whisper, like she was barely talking. “And I don’t think I ever want to do certain parts of my life without you.”

“Me too,” Luke breathed back.

Julie intertwined her fingers with Luke’s, bringing his hand up to be clasped in both of hers. “I…I’m not super familiar, with a lot of these kinds of things, but I want to explore it. I want to figure it all out. With you.”

Julie glanced back up to Luke, staring into his eyes. Luke was staring back at her, smiling his adorable big smile that made Julie’s heart swell and butterflies flutter in her stomach. She didn’t know whether she loved Luke Patterson, but she knew she cared about him, so much, and she knew she wanted to find out if it was love.

“I want that too, Julie.” Luke made a small gesture, and Julie followed, slipping in so that she was pressed up against Luke’s better side, tucked under his arm. She stared up at. Luke, smiling, and somehow wondering if this was all a dream, because it seemed almost too easy to confess the feelings she’d felt ever since she’d seen how much Luke cared about his loved ones.

Luke leaned forward, gently pressing a kiss against her forehead. Julie practically melted at his touch, slipping further against Luke to hug his as carefully as she could.

When Alex, Flynn and Reggie found them two hours later asleep, Julie wouldn’t be able to ignore the bright red blush across her cheeks, nor Luke’s, nor the not-so-subtle ten-dollar bills that both Reggie and Alex slipped Flynn.

Chapter Text

six months later

“Thank you!” Julie raised her arms up in the air, her mike still clutched tightly in her hand. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Luke coming up behind her on the left, and Reggie on the right. She assumed that Alex was close behind; after all, he did have a larger distance to travel than the rest of them. “We are Julie and the Phantoms!”

The audience burst into cheers, and Julie couldn’t help the beaming smile that grew on her face. When Flynn had initially declared that she was going to get the band to play The Orpheum, Julie had laughed – really all of them had. They hadn’t expected Flynn to be serious, let alone actually book them as an opening act. But Julie and the Phantoms had been growing a fanbase at a frankly exponential rate, to quote Reggie, and the quick gigs here and there had quickly turned into a budding career in the music industry. And really, that was all that any of them had wanted.

Julie gazed over the audience, at the small booth in the corner where the Molinas and the Pattersons were watching. She focused on her family, making eye contact with Carlos, Dad and Tia separately. She always made sure to smile at them after gigs, as a way of thanking them, every performance, for supporting her, and helping with managing a band of sixteen- and-seventeen-year olds (and she knew Reggie did the same thing). The Molinas were all smiling back, and Julie knew that she would later pretend that none of them, herself included, had tears welling up in their eyes. Even Luke’s parents looked on the verge of crying – but then again, Unsaid Emily, which had only been two songs ago, had that effect on anyone.

Julie couldn’t help glancing back at Luke, who was practically glowing as he took in the crowd, but his eyes were focused on his parents, a soft smile across his face. Julie’s heart warmed at the look. Luke and his family definitely hadn’t worked out every issue they had – she still had to calm Luke down sometimes after a particularly vicious argument – but all three of them were trying, were putting the work in, and that was that mattered. And since they’d reconnected, the Pattersons hadn’t missed a single performance; even the silly school music program ones.

Eventually, the applause died down, and the band was able to move off the stage for the touring band. Behind the stage Julie ran to grasp Flynn’s hands, still high off of adrenaline from performing.

“Did you see it?” Julie felt like she might be screaming, she wasn’t sure considering how close they were to the speaker system.

“They loved you!” Flynn squealed back, squeezing Julie’s hand harder. “Jules, it was amazing. From start to finish, you were all superstars.”

“It was definitely the best we’ve ever played.” And there was Luke behind her, wrapping his arm around Julie and pulling her in closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead in the way that had become signature to their relationship, even before they’d officially started dating. Julie had to hold back a snicker at Flynn’s disgruntled face, but she could see the smile hiding behind the expression, so she just squeezed Flynn’s hands harder.

“That, I can confirm.” Julie felt Reggie’s arm encircle her shoulder, and she glanced up to smile at her brother of six months (and the rest of their lives, no ifs ands or buts).

Alex came up behind Luke, getting rid of his excess energy by twirling his drum sticks. “Dude, we finally got the order of the Stand Tall bridge right. That was bugging me all sound check.”

“Well, you guys all sounded great. The audience loved it.” And there was Willie, making up the rest of their small group. He smiled at Alex, linking their hands together before lightly kissing Alex’s knuckles. Alex’s blush was adorable, and Julie felt nothing but happiness for the couple.

It had been a slow start, when Alex had decided he wanted to start over; getting to know each other again, with no secrets this time, had been a rocky process, but ultimately, they’d come out the other end stronger. It was still awkward at times, but so was every relationship. And undoubtedly, their relationship had strengthened from the fact that Willie was fully emancipated and had his own apartment (he’d sold the one he’d shared with Caleb and bought one closer to the Molinas house) and Alex had to live with four other people at Julie’s house. Reggie always made comments about “alone time” that resulted in him and Alex fighting like children, but really Julie doubted that anything was happening (and that might have to do with all the videos Willie sent her of Alex straight-up passed out asleep on the couch). Alex and Willie were already a disgustingly domestic couple, and that was coming from Julie, but it was true. The boys were basically perfect for each other; they just fit together seamlessly.

“That they did. Very good job, Julie and the Phantoms.”

A new voice startled the group out of its reverie as they all turned to face the person. Julie relaxed at seeing Trevor Wilson; or Bobby, as most people knew him in his personal life. With all the stress of performing, Julie had completely forgotten that he was here, representing the band they’d been opening for.

“Thanks Mr. Wilson,” she replied.

“The group’s doing really well, kids,” he said, nodding at the boys too. Julie could practically feel Luke’s distrusting gaze, which made her want to roll her eyes (this wasn’t a stranger, he’d been at Carrie’s parent-teacher conferences and at a bunch school events for years) but Luke was also the type of person who was always last to warm up to someone – case in point, meeting Julie.

“I know you’ve all been through a lot, with the Covington situation-“ which was about as delicate as you could put it, to be honest “-but if you’re ever interested in pursuing a record deal – which you should be, because you’re all massively talented – let me know. Julie, I’ll see you at the PTC tomorrow, I’m guessing.”

With a quick smile and final nod at the group, Bobby walked off, towards the sound board. Julie stood in silence, taking in what he’d just said.

“I mean, not be that manager,” Flynn began, “but yeah. That’s like, the logical next step.”

“Yeah, we know Flynn,” Julie said.

“I mean, he did ask you first,” Willie interjected. “That’s more than Caleb ever did.”

The snort/laugh Alex let out in response was somehow horrifying, hilarious and embarrassing at the same time, and broke the group out of their shocked silence. Alex went beet-red, but Willie was quick to wrap his arms around Alex’s waist; Luke and Reggie were already openly laughing, and Julie and Flynn were fighting back chuckles.

“What do you think?” Julie looked up at Luke (because she still hadn’t had a growth spurt, despite each of the boys having at least three), who was staring inquisitively down at her. “I mean, you’re the boss, Jules.”

“I think it could be good for us,” Reggie said, a smile still on his face.

Alex nodded. “I agree.”

Julie bit her lip, mulling it over in her mind. “I do too.”

“Then it’s settled.” Luke bounced on the balls of his feet, interlacing his fingers with Julie’s. He beamed at her. “We’ll start it. Together.”

Julie couldn’t help but agree. For so long, every step in her life had been with these five people. Spending time with them, growing as a person with them. Alex was free to be himself, and he was the bravest person Julie knew. Reggie had gotten himself out of a truly terrible home situation, but now was surrounded by a loving family and was still the kindest person she knew. Luke was doing what he loved and his passion for everything only made Julie love him more. Even Flynn and Willie had changed irrevocably in the short time their little group of six had been together.

And Julie herself? She’d grieved, she’d laughed, she’d loved. She found music again. And it was all thanks to the people around her.

For the past nine months, they’d done everything together.

“Together,” she said.

And they’d take the next step the same way.