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"Crooked teeth?" Reggie hisses when he finally gets a moment alone with Luke.
It's been bothering him for hours, but he knew he had to hold out for the right moment. Not that this is it, exactly, but he's not sure when he'll have another shot since they have to perform at Julie's school dance later.
"I knew you weren't going to let that go," Luke sighs.
"My teeth aren't that bad, are they?" Reggie whines. "I always took such good care of them when I was alive, although I'm pretty sure the afterlife doesn't offer dental benefits..." he trails off.
"Yo, calm down," Luke says as he pats Reggie's cheek playfully.
"Oh sure, easy for you to say. Not all of us have flawless facial structure and perfect teeth, Luke."
"I do not have, wait...flawless facial structure?"
"Focus." Reggie snaps his fingers in Luke's face. "I'm not here to fuel your narcissism, I just need to know if my teeth are really that bad?"
"Of course not," Luke says, softening a bit as he wraps an arm around Reggie's shoulder and drags him to the small studio bathroom. "Look," he adds as he reaches up with his free hand and angles Reggie's face toward the mirror.
"Are we even supposed to have reflections?" Reggie asks.
"No idea, bro. I've just learned to just roll with it at this point," Luke laughs. "Seriously though, look," he insists.
Reggie obediently stares at his reflection, but he's still confused about what he's supposed to be seeing. There's nothing out of the ordinary, just his usual self. Well, the seventeen-year-old version, not the one who would technically be turning forty-two this year.
"I give up, what am I looking at?" Reggie asks.
"You, you dork. There's nothing wrong with you, Reg. It's just a song, it doesn't actually mean that your teeth are crooked."
"That's literally the title of the song," Reggie huffs.
"Just trust me on this one, okay?" Luke asks.
"I guess they are kind of weird though," Reggie frowns. "I just never thought about it all that much."
"Good, so please don't start worrying about it now," Luke smiles.
"You swear you don't think they're totally hideous?"
"Reg," Luke says as he nudges Reggie closer to the mirror. "There's nothing hideous about you, I promise. You're a total babe."
"You think I'm a babe?" Reggie grins as he whirls around to face Luke. "Since when?"
"Since shut the fuck up and just take the compliment," Luke smirks. "I'm trying to make a point here."
"Which is?" Reggie asks as he folds his arms across his chest and stares Luke down.
"You're so lucky you're pretty," Luke grumbles. "I swear you - "
Reggie's mouth falls open in shock. "Pretty?"
"Huh?" Luke mumbles as he runs a hand through his hair.
"You called me pretty."
"No, I didn't," Luke argues. "I said that you're so lucky you can play bass, but I've told you that before."
"Nope," Reggie shakes his head. "You said, 'you're so lucky you're pretty' which you've definitely never called me before."
"Well, I meant that - "
"You think I'm pretty," Reggie beams.
"Right now, I think you're annoying," Luke says as he rolls his eyes fondly.
"Nice try," Reggie giggles. "I know your 'I'm annoyed with you' face, and that's not it."
"Oh yeah?" Luke challenges. "Then what face am I making now, smartypants?"
"That's, um," Reggie falters.
"Well?" Luke licks his lips as he leans closer.
Reggie knows the answer, but he just can't bring himself to say it out loud. "Forget it," he snaps as he shoves past Luke and heads back into the studio.
"Hey lovebirds," Alex calls cheerfully from where he's clearly been eavesdropping.
"Not now," Reggie glares as he drops down onto the piano bench.
"Okay, okay," Alex holds up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll just be over here if anyone needs me," He says as he produces a glossy copy of Cosmopolitan magazine and stretches out onto the couch.
"Or," Reggie suggests, "maybe you might want to see what Willie is up to?"
"Nah, he just - "
"Alex, please. I can't deal with this right now."
"On second thought, I think I'll go hang out with Julie and Carlos in the kitchen while she helps with his fractions," Alex says as he disappears in a bright flash.
"Hey, what was that all about?" Luke says as he takes a seat next to Reggie and props his chin on Reggie's shoulder.
"Nothing," Reggie shakes his head as he plays a few idle notes on the piano.
"It didn't seem like nothing," Luke objects. "I didn't mean to upset you, I promise. I was just messing around."
"Yeah, exactly," Reggie sighs. He really needs to get over his stupid crush before it gets any worse.
"What does that mean?" Luke asks. "I'm not a mind reader, I just wanna know what happened back there. Something obviously freaked you out."
"I wasn't freaked out," Reggie lies. "I just… it's dumb, okay? Can we just drop it?"
"You're important to me, you know that right? You, Alex, Julie, you're all I have in this world so please - "
"I thought you were going to kiss me," Reggie interrupts before he claps a hand over his mouth. He hadn't meant to blurt it out quite like that, but he would rather die all over again than to ever make Luke feel bad.
"What's dumb about that?" Luke asks as he pries Reggie's hand from his face and holds it gently.
"I - " Reggie stutters. This is not at all how he expected the conversation to go.
"Out of curiosity, what led you to that conclusion though?"
"I already told you, it's - "
"Dumb? Yeah, you mentioned that. Just humor me, okay?" Luke smiles as he nudges Reggie's shoulder.
"Fine," Reggie mutters as he turns to face Luke. "I've known you for a really long time obviously, and I've been around you and Alex when you were together, so I know what you looked like when you wanted to kiss him."
"Is that right?" Luke eyes him curiously. "And how did I look?"
"Um," Reggie hesitates. He really should have just let this go, but now he's trapped. So what if Luke wrote the song about him? It's actually pretty flattering since people usually write about the things that inspire them.
"It's kind of hard to explain," he finishes finally.
"Show me, then."
"You're enjoying this way too much," Reggie smirks. "I told you what it was, okay? So can we - "
"Show me," Luke repeats. "How do I look at someone when I want to kiss them?"
"I don't know, kind of intense?" Reggie offers weakly.
"Like this?" Luke leans forward and stares into Reggie's eyes.
"No," Reggie pulls away quickly, "now you're just being creepy."
"Well, you won't show me what you mean, so I just have to guess," Luke teases.
"Okay, fine, kind of like this," Reggie demonstrates as he tilts his head and glances back and forth between Luke's eyes and his mouth. "It's just that you…"
"I, what?"
"You've just never looked at me that way before."
"So your first instinct was to bail on me? Ouch," Luke winces.
"I'm really sorry about that," Reggie frowns. "You were right, though. I did kind of freak out. I know you were just messing around, but it got a little too real for me all of a sudden."
"Understandable," Luke says. "And I definitely wasn't trying to freak you out, so I'm sorry too."
"You don't think I'm a total loser, do you?" Reggie asks.
"No, not totally," Luke winks. "There's a reason why I wrote that song, though."
"You love torturing me?" Reggie guesses.
Luke shakes his head fondly. "No, it's just much easier to write about false imperfections than real feelings."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Reggie agrees. "People like silly songs too."
"You're really not connecting those dots, are you buddy?" Luke laughs as he reaches out to ruffle Reggie's hair.
"What do you mean?" Reggie blushes.
"I wasn't just messing with you," Luke tells him. "I was actually trying to work up the courage to do something I've been wanting to do for years."
"Which is?" Reggie asks, his voice cracking slightly.
"You can't tell?" Luke jokes. "I thought you were an expert at reading my facial expressions."
"I just don't want to make the same mistake twice," Reggie admits.
"You weren't wrong to begin with," Luke murmurs as he cradles Reggie's jaw and brushes their lips together.
The kiss is clumsy at first, all awkward angles and bumping noses. They laugh through it though, and then it melts into something perfect. Soft lips, shared breaths, and Reggie's hands tangled in Luke's hair for leverage as he drags him closer.
It's Luke who pulls away first, gasping softly as he leans their foreheads together.
"Do you get it now?"
"I'm starting to," Reggie nods. "You might have to remind me every once in a while, though."
"I promise I will, every chance I get," Luke smiles as he pulls Reggie into his arms and kisses him again.
~*~