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Even though Reggie had just met Julie through music class this semester, they were already best friends—well, best friends after Flynn of course, but she was her girlfriend, so he counted himself as best friend. He would frequently find himself at the Molina house, sleeping over a lot. At least Ray didn't ask too many questions. Reggie tried to keep the crying to a minimum, but sometimes he just couldn't help it.
Usually, he'd go to his boyfriend's house, but Luke had been fighting with his parents lately becasue he wanted to focus on music as a career. Quite frankly, Reggie didn't want to go from his family's problems to his boyfriends.
He'd failed an English test, it wasn't horrible—a 68–but enough that if he failed another he'd be forced to quit the music program. He had already talked to his teacher, who upon hearing about his home situation, agreed to let him retake the test. That didn't stop his parents from fighting. He stood in the doorway of his room listening to the fight that was getting louder and louder with each minute it went on. Reggie was at his limit, he barged downstairs and yelled over them. "I'm going to retake it tomorrow! It's gonna be fine!"
Thats when his father pushed him and he fell facefirst into the wall. The breath was knocked from his lungs more from the shock than the impact. His father had pushed him. With as many fights as they've had, its surprising that none of them have ever gotten physical, but they never have until today.
Reggie stood up, holding onto the wall for support as his vision blurred and his body shook. He sucked in a shaky breath. Now they were fighting about his dad pushing him. Reggie ran to his room, grabbed his essentials and slammed the door on his way out and rode his bike down the street knowing exactly where he'd end up.
So thats why he showed up again today at the Molina's house with a duffel bag on his shoulder and his bass nestled safely in its case. Julie answered the door, smile dying on her face when she saw him. "Reggie! What happened?" He walked inside, getting wrapped into a welcome hug from the girl.
"My... my parents..." He got out as teardrops streaked down his cheeks.
"Your parents did this to you?" She asked, anger laced in her voice.
"He didn't mean to, he just pushed me..."
"Reggie..."
"I think I need to lie down, I've was really dizzy on the ride over here." His words slurred on the way out of his mouth.
"Yeah, come on." Julie led him to the couch and got him comfortable, even bringing him a wet cold towel for his head.
"Just give me one second Reggie."
——
Julie walked to the kitchen and called Luke.
"Hey Jules." he said as he answered.
"How soon can you get here?" Julie said urgently.
"Whats wrong?" She could hear him shuffling in his room.
"It's Reggie, his parents were fighting again."
"You're making it sound like there's more to this Jules." She could hear the strain in his voice.
"I don't know what exactly happened, but it got physical this time."
Luke let out a shaky breath, she wasn't sure if it was out of anger or tears, she decided it was probably both. "I-I'll be right there."
"Julie? Did I hear someone at the door?" Her father walked in, saw her, then asked another question. "Is something wrong?"
"I need to talk to you about something."
——
Reggie woke up to find his head resting in Lukes lap, with his fingers raking through his hair. "Hey Reg, you up?"
"Luke?" He barely breathed out. He brought a hand up to his face to find a gauze pad taped to his cheek. "What's this?"
"You have a cut on your cheek and a split lip Reg, and I thought I'd at least clean your cheek while you were asleep." Luke's thumb grazed his cheek. "Reg I'm so sorry."
Reggie sat up, saying nothing, and now sitting in his boyfriends lap, buried his face in the guitarist's neck. "I don't want to go back Luke. Please don't let them make me go back."
Luke rubbed Reggie's back with his right hand and cradled his head with the other. "Shh baby, it's gonna be okay. I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you again."
Luke looked over Reggie's shuddering shoulders to see Ray looking at them from the kitchen. Luke gave him a hopeful look and Ray gave him a thumbs up in return.
Reggie had tired himself out again through the sobbing, and Ray insisted he and Luke take the spare bedroom for the night. Even though Reggie was an inch taller than him, Luke grabbed him and carried him upstairs to the bedroom, where he held him in his arms all night.
——
The next day Alex had come over too after Julie had called him. They all sat in the living room in silence, Reggie still cuddled up on Luke's lap it seemed impossible that they could get any closer than they already were.
Ray walked in with Julie, and she sat beside them while Ray still stood.
"Last night I called CPS. They should be coming today to talk to you Reggie." Ray said. "They might interview any of you too, even me, so I just wanted to let you know so you aren't caught off guard."
The band members nodded, Reggie too, even if his head was still in Luke's neck.
Not long after a quiet lunch they heard a knock at the door. Carlos was sent upstairs, much to everyone's disappointment because he was the only one to get a smile out of Reggie.
"Mr. Molina I presume?" A woman stood in the doorway, holding out her hand.
"Ms. Decker." He shook her hand. "Please come in, Reginald is just through here."
The small conversation the teens had ceased when she walked in the room. Luke squeezed Reggie's hand.
"Reginald Tyler?" Reggie looked up at her and nodded.
"Barbara Decker, I would really like to speak with you." She turned to Ray. "Is there somewhere where we may speak in private?"
"Yes, I'll show you to my office." She nodded and motioned Reggie to follow.
"You got this Reg." Luke squeezed his hand and let it fall after Reggie had stood up and followed her.
They sat in silence, Luke was fiddling with the rings on his fingers. He'd taken one off, a simple stainless steel band that all of the band members had as a matching set. He was twirling it in his fingers when they started to hear Reggie muffled cry from behind the doors of Ray's office. That was when Luke finally lost it himself. A silent choked sob escaped his lips, bringing all the attention to him. He dropped the ring from his fingers and brought his hand up to cover his face.
He wasn't one to usually hide his emotions, he's cried in front of pretty much everyone in this room. But he was trying so hard to be strong for Reggie, and he just couldn't anymore. He couldn't stop the tears flowing down his cheeks, he couldn't stop the feeling that he was losing his breath no matter how much he inhaled.
"Woah, woah, Luke are you okay?" Julie slipped off her chair and came to him.
"I- I just-I-don't-" Luke wiped his hand across his face and sniffed, attempting and failing to gather himself. "I- I don't like seeing Reggie hurt like this."
"Luke..." Julie hugged him and he squeezed her back. "We hate seeing him like this too."
"It's just- I try to be strong for him- an- and I just can't-" She rubbed a hand on his back as Alex pulled tissues out of his fanny-pack and handed them to Luke.
He wiped his face and excused himself from the table, heading to the bathroom to attempt to wash the puffiness out of his eyes.
——
Reggie came out not much later. If he saw the puffiness of Luke's eyes, he didn't say anything as he sat beside him and leaned his head on Luke's shoulder.
Ms. Decker took Ray in to talk, leaving all of them in silence again. Reggie played with Luke's hands. Finally, when Ray walked out she motioned towards Luke. "You are Reginalds boyfriend?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Follow me."
Luke stood up, giving Reggie's hand one last squeeze before he followed her into rays office.
He'd never actually been in here, but she had it set up very informally. Two desk chairs were set about three feet apart from each other in the middle of the floor. She took the one on the left, so he took the right.
"How long have you known Reginald?" She crossed her legs and propped up a notepad on one.
"I've been friends with him since third grade, when I moved here."
"I see, and when did you first notice anything different about his home life?"
"He never wanted me to spend the night at his house. He'd always come to mine, or Alex's house when we had sleepovers. We were twelve when he told me about their fights."
"And did he ever mention if these fights were physical?"
"He always told me they were only verbal. I'd hear them sometimes too, sometimes he'd talk on the phone with me until it stopped."
"So the first one that got physical occurred last night, correct?"
"As far as I know, yes." Luke shuddered.
"So you can attest to the fact that these fights have taken a toll on Reginald?"
"Yeah. He tries to hide it behind his humor but... he's spent many nights at my house crying. And his grades have slipped when they got really bad and it just made them worse..."
"Thank you Luke." She stood, motioning him to walk ahead of her.
When Luke sat down next to Reggie she closed her notepad.
"For now, I have all the information I need. I want to be blunt with you, this doesn't look good for your parents Reginald." He sighed, but nodded.
"I do have to talk to them, but Ray has agreed to take you into his care while the case is moving forward. Reginald it is important that you stay here, okay?"
Reggie nodded.
——
It was only a few days later when the judge decided Ray was the best suitable guardian for Reggie, which wasn't surprising. Reggie had grandparents, but they lived in Florida and they thought it best to not completely uproot him from his friends, and he was glad for it.
So after a very awkward interaction of Ray taking him to pack up his room, he stood in the former guest bedroom of the Molina house surrounded by boxes and bags of all his things.
Ray slapped a hand on his shoulders playfully. "This is your room now Reggie. We can do anything you want with it."
"I like the blue walls." He said smiling. He didn't know what else to say, so he threw his arms around Ray. "Thank you for taking me in Mr. Molina."
"Its Ray, Reggie." The man chuckled hugging the newest member of his family tightly.
"Everyones here!" Julie barreled into the room, pulling Flynn and Carlos in. Next Alex walked in holding hands with his boyfriend Willie.
Both of the boys hugged him together. "We love you Reggie, you deserve this." Alex told him before he pulled away. He pulled a small box from his fanny pack. "We got you these."
Reggie opened the box and found extra strings for his bass. "Thank you guys." He pulled them into a hug.
"Someone else is here for you too..." Alex moved out of the way to reveal Luke standing in the doorway holding cupcakes and a box wrapped clumsily.
"How you doin' baby?" Luke wrapped his arms around Reggie, still holding the cupcakes and the box. Luke kissed his cheek. He set the cupcakes down on the bed and handed Reggie the box. "I got this for you, since I know you didn't have them."
Reggie took the box, tiliting his head at Luke playfully. "Hmmm." he ripped the box open to see a boxed set of all the Star Wars movies. "Luke!" He hugged his boyfriend. "Thank you."
Luke kissed his cheek again. "Shall we get started on your room?"
"Yeah, lets do it."
——
Luke pulled him back on his bed once they were mostly done. All of his clothes were put away, but some of the posters he had brought still littered the floor becasue he couldn't decide on where to put them yet.
"Do you want to watch Star Wars?" Luke asked.
"Yeah."
"Empire Strikes Back?"
"Of course! Its the best one!" Luke chuckled, sliding the disc in the player, then going back to holding Reggie in his arms.
——
Julie and Flynn had one task today: keep Reggie out of the house. They had concocted up a story that Luke would be joining them for dinner becasue he was held up with his parents, so Julie and Flynn would take him to lunch. Reggie still insisted that he drive because she is only sixteen, and just barely learning how to drive.
He parked in front of Flynn's house and she flew into the backseat behind him. "Happy birthday Reggie!" She hugged him from behind the seat. "I can't believe you're 18!"
Reggie smiled and blushed. "Thanks." He turned to the girls. "Where to?"
"It's your birthday, we can get lunch anywhere you want."
"Cool." Reggie said.
Julie and Flynn weren't surprised when they ended up at In-N-Out Burger, which was Reggie's favorite place next to getting street-dogs.
"What should we do after this?" Flynn asked.
"What if we just hang back at the house? That way we can wait for Luke to come at dinner?"
"No!" Julie said, then realized how suspicious that sounded. "I just meant dad told me he was going out for a bit to get some... ice cream."
"Yeah, anyway, it's your birthday! Let's go have fun!"
"There was a record I wanted to buy..." Julie and Flynn secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
——
Luke ran his hand through his hair. This had to go perfectly.
"It's going to be perfect Luke." Ray laid a hand on his shoulder. "He's going to love it."
"I really hope so."
"He is." Ray said. "But know you're not alone, I'm pretty nervous about my surprise." He said looking at the envelope on the kitchen counter.
"Dad!" Carlos ran in. "I think this is for Reggie."
Ray took the letter from Carlos, seeing that it was indeed addressed to Reggie. "Wow."
"What is it?" Luke craned his head.
"It's from the Los Angeles College of Music." Ray gasped.
"Like an acceptance letter?" Luke asked.
"It could be, it's pretty thick."
"He never even told me he applied." Luke said, looking at the letter in his hands after he grabbed it from Ray. "Please let him have this one good thing." He muttered. "Should we give this to him before or after we give him our gifts?"
Ray smiled. "Let's save this for last." He put it in his coat pocket.
——
Julie and Flynn were mildly regretting suggesting Reggie go shopping, because this was his third time in the dressing room with a selection of flannels and black skinny jeans. Julie wasn't sure what the difference was between them were, but Reggie was dedicated.
"Jules, if we don't get him in the checkout line in 5 minutes we are going to miss dinner." Flynn said looking at her phone.
"Okay okay." Julie said, pulling out her phone. "I'll text Luke."
Julie: We'll be on our way back soon, y'all ready?
Luke: All going to plan :)
Julie slid her phone back into her pocket.
"Reggie! Come on we're gonna be late for dinner!" Julie yelled into the fitting rooms.
"Okay I'm just trying to get out of these pants!"
Julie and Flynn laughed. Flynn yelled back chuckling. "I told you those were too small!"
"You just like being right!"
Flynn turned to Julie. "He's absolutely right."
Reggie came out with not one, but two bags of flannel and jeans. "Let's go home," he said putting his bags in the backseat.
——
Reggie and the girls were laughing at a joke he had made when he walked in the door.
"Happy Birthday Reggie!" Luke, Ray, Carlos, Alex, Willie, and Nick all screamed in unison.
Reggie took it all in. Streamers, balloons, and confetti were neatly placed through the house. All in one color scheme: blue, pink and purple. Tears welled up in his eyes and he ran inside greeted by a group hug of everyone.
"Guys!" He squeezed them. "Thank you so much! I've never had anything like this before."
"You deserve it Reg." Luke kissed him
"Please keep your pda to a minimum, Willie and I are supposed to be the really gay ones." Alex said smiling at them.
"Come on, we have dinner." Ray led them to the dining room, which was stacked with meatball subs, arguably his favorite food. "Guys you didn't have to do all this."
"Yes we did." Julie said.
They made Reggie sit at the head of the table, and his cheeks reddened at all the attention he was getting. But all that was quickly forgotten when he took a bite of his meatball sub. "This is the best meatball sub I've ever had!"
"It was my mom's recipe. I found it in her old things." Julie said.
He smiled at Julie. "Thanks Jules. I love it."
——
"Happy birthday..." They all sang to him while setting a chocolate cake with lit candles on the table.
"Happy birthday Reg." He blew out the candles and they cheered.
"Okay, okay, let's eat cake and then you can open your presents."
"Presents?" He looked at them.
"It's your 18th birthday Reg, of course we got you presents." Luke put his hand on his. Reggie's lips widened into a smile, and dug into his cake and ice cream.
Once everyone's plates were clean, Reggie was awkwardly sitting there. He wasn't used to this much attention.
Julie and Flynn went first, giving Reggie CDs from bands he liked and spare picks for his acoustic guitar.
Alex and Willie went next, giving him another flannel jacket, earning a groan from Julie and Flynn. Reggie just chuckled and thanked them.
"Ok, Luke do you want to go first?" Ray asked and Luke nodded. He brought out a box and slid it over to Reggie.
Reggie tore into it, finding first a necklace that held a small metal bar, and it was decorated with three bands of blue, purple, and pink. Reggie smiled and simply put it around his neck. Nestled in the box after that was cd case with a hand drawn cover, he would recognize Julies art anywhere. It was Luke in a cowboy hat. Reggie couldn't stop a laugh from escaping his lips. "What's this?"
"You know how you put your country songs in my notebooks sometimes?" Reggie nodded. "I recorded them for you."
"What?" He looked at Luke, who was staring back at him with his puppy dog eyes. "I thought you hated my country songs."
"No Reg I was just poking fun, I love every time you put one in my notebook." He hugged his boyfriend. "I read every one, and I save every one." Luke smiled and pressed his lips against Reggie's.
"Okay, okay, break it up." Julie laughed in the back. "Dad has a gift for you now."
Reggie's head snapped towards Ray as the man held an envelope in front of him. "What's this?"
Everyone was staring at him. He laughed nervously, opening it carefully by bending the metal secures. He pulled out a paper, looking it over. "What am I looking at?" He looked around the table for help.
"It's only if you want to, but..." Ray pointed his finger at a name.
That's when it finally clicked. He hadn't even thought twice about it when he glanced over it a few seconds ago. Reggie Molina. That's what was written on the paper.
"Is this..."
"Adoption papers." Ray confirmed. "That is only if you want-"
Reggie cut him off by barreling into him and wrapping his arms around the man. "Yes! Yes!"
Ray chuckled as Julie and Carlos joined him in a hug. The three hugged for a bit until they eventually pulled away, Reggie wiping his eyes.
"One last thing." Luke held out another envelope for him.
"Oh, I forgot about that." Reggie said, grabbing it from Luke. "I didn't really expect to get in..."
"There's only one way to find out." Luke put a hand on Reggie's shoulder.
Reggie took a breath and ripped it open. His eyes frantically scanned the page as he read aloud.
"Dear Reggie, with great pleasure we offer you admission to the Los Angeles College of Music class of 2021!" He jumped up into Luke's arms. The rest of the group patted him on the back and congratulated him.
"I'm so happy for you Reggie." Luke still hadn't let him go.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I know school isn't your thing." Reggie said.
"No, don't be. But school has always been your thing. How many times have you helped me on homework?" Luke laughed. "I'm just glad you're not going far though." Reggie laughed.
"I could never move far away from any of you guys. You're my family." Reggie succeeded in getting a group hug. "I love you guys!"