Work Text:
I.
Luke tapped his fingers on his thighs, his legs bouncing up and down in their crossed position. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth, staring at the individual tufts of fabric in the rug of Julie’s room.
He finally peeked up to see Julie raising her eyebrows expectantly.
His shoulders fell as he let out a huff. “I dunno, I need a hint.”
Julie snorted, looking at the ceiling for a moment. Then, she looked back at him and said, while for some reason putting on a deeper voice, “‘I don’t know, I don’t really feel like studying - I think I’m just gonna take the L.”
Luke stared at her, his lip curled. “What does that mean?” he asked.
“It means to take a loss. So like, similar thing, say I’ve been studying for like hours the night before a test, and I still don’t get some of the material. When I give up and decide to just go to bed, I’m ‘taking the L,’” she explained.
“Why don’t you just say you’re giving up then?” Luke asked, exasperated. “Or just say the word ‘loss’?””
Julie laughs, her nose scrunching, as she shrugs. “I don’t know, it’s just what we say!”
“I’m never gonna get this. I’m never gonna get any of this,” Luke whined, falling back to lie on the floor.
Another laugh, another sound of Julie’s mocking. “Hey, come on,” she coaxed, but it didn’t work because she was still giggling. “If my dad can understand “bae,” you can understand some of this.”
Luke scrunched his face, tilting his head to look at her. “Julie, everyone knows what ‘babe’ means.”
Julie just laughed again, and Luke rolled his eyes.
“No, not ‘babe.’ Bae, like B-A-E,” she corrected.
“ What?” Luke objected, pushing himself back up so he could look at her directly. “What the heck does that mean? Did you guys shorten the already shortened version of baby?’”
Julie grinned, shaking her head. “No, it’s not from the word ‘baby.’ You baby,” she added, shrieking when Luke grabbed one of her teddy bears from off the floor and threw it at her.
“ Yeet!” he exclaimed, definitely in a more defiant tone than he was sure he’d heard Julie, Flynn, and Carlos use it.
“Oh my God,” Julie said through a laugh, “You used it right!” She picked the bear up. “It’s a little more like this, though.” She then chucked the bear back at him, saying the word ‘yeet’ with a more bellow-y tone.
Luke caught the bear after it hit him in the head, and he shook his head. “This stuff is ridiculous.”
Julie grinned. “A little, yeah.” She brought her legs up to cross them on her bed, before continuing her explanation. “Bae can be used like ‘babe,’ though. It stands for ‘before anyone else,’ so you usually use it for a significant other.”
“That’s cheesy,” Luke scoffed, but he was smiling a little bit. It was kinda cute.
Julie clearly noticed. “Oh, please, like you aren’t cheesy. You’re the one who decided to reveal to Reggie how you felt via country song. ”
“Hey, that was cute!”
Speak of the devil.
Luke, predictably, lit up (to which Julie gave him a ‘I told you so’ look) and twisted his body to see Reggie half-in and half-out of Julie’s closed door. “Reg!”
Reggie stepped in fully, walking up behind Luke and leaning down to kiss the top of his head. He then straightened up, grinning, before sitting down next to the guitarist. “What are you guys up to?” he asked.
“I’m teaching Luke modern slang.”
“Oh! Like ‘shooketh’?” Reggie asked, his eyes wide.
Julie’s mouth fell open, before she promptly erupted into cackles. “Where did you hear that?”
Reggie pouted. “It was in a comment on our ‘Stand Tall’’ video,” he said. When Julie just kept laughing, he whined, “What?”
Luke grinned, leaning to his side and wrapping an arm around his boyfriend. “Don’t worry, bae. She’s just being mean to both of us.”
Reggie looks at him, frowning. “Luke, it’s babe.”
Luke whipped his head towards Julie, pointing enthusiastically towards Reggie. “See! It should be!”
Julie just laughed harder.
II.
When Luke poofed into the garage after taking a walk around the city, he was not expecting to see his best friends (one of which was his boyfriend! He wasn’t over that.) surrounded by a ton of junk. And by a ton of junk, he wasn’t sure it was an exaggeration. Alex was surrounded by a mass of clothes, looking like he was at the epicenter of an explosion. Reggie was surrounded by several cardboard boxes, papers, and old bags, and - oh my God, was that Luke’s old backpack?
“What is happening?” he asked, blinking.
Reggie looked up, his mouth spreading into a grin. “We’re looking through all of our old stuff!”
Alex glanced up at him. “Julie said that we need to sort through our stuff from the loft and, and I quote, ‘get those clothes out of that nasty-ass trash bag.’”
Luke grimaced. Yeah, twenty-five years of sitting in a garbage bag probably made their clothes a bit funky.
“Ray said he’s gonna get us our own dressers!” Reggie said brightly. “For now, though, we’ve got laundry baskets with our names on them! Well, not literally. But mine’s dark blue, Alex’s is white, and yours is that teal-y one.”
“That’s turquoise,” Alex corrected.
“They’re the same thing,” Reggie said, shrugging.
“No, they’re not…” When the bassist paid no attention, he sighed, “Okay.”
“So what are you going through then?” Luke asked his boyfriend, sitting down next to him, careful to avoid sitting on any papers.
“I’m going through our old backpacks. We still had a couple textbooks! Julie says they’re probably outdated, but I figured I’d take a look through to see if there was anything we could pass on to her or Carlos,” he said, pulling out Luke’s old English textbook. As he did, the cover moved so they could see that it was barely attached by one corner. “Maybe not this one,” Reggie commented.
Luke grinned, grabbing the book from him gingerly. “Is there a trash pile?” he asked.
Reggie pointed towards one of the cardboard boxes, so Luke tugged it over and tossed the book in.
“Oh my God.”
Luke and Reggie turned towards Alex, their eyebrows raised. “What?” Reggie asked.
Alex lifted a pair of denim shorts that Luke had been sure he’d thrown away literal decades ago. “These,” he said, grinning smugly.
Luke’s eyes widened. “ Burn those!” he demanded, running forward.
“Nuh-uh, we’re keeping these,” Alex said, stuffing the shorts under his lap so Luke wouldn’t be able to grab them without shoving Alex over (which he still considered).
Reggie giggled, and the fight immediately left Luke as he looked over at the sight. He softened, smiling gently, before looking back down at the mess around them.
A soft gasp escaped his mouth. “Reg,” he whispered, reaching forward and moving a paper pile aside. “Your photo album!”
Reggie’s ‘photo album’ was a notebook filled with lined paper, with photos that Reggie had printed out at Kinko’s taped to the pages. The bassist had never gotten to take a proper photography class, but he had a knack for good composition - even if he didn’t have the means to produce his photos in any professional sense.
Reggie dropped the binder in his hands with a gasp, and he quickly scrambled over to look. “Oh my gosh!” he exclaimed.
Alex crawled over, too, so they were all looking at the collection together.
There were photos of each of them (and Bobby, Luke noticed with a mumbled, “Jerk.”), Alex behind his drum set with his hair flying in his face. Luke with a stubby pencil behind his ear, and using a completely different pencil to scribble in his songbook. One that very much suffered in quality, compared to the others, of Reggie sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, his fingers plucking at his bass’s strings.
Luke smiled, remembering taking the photo in a moment of calm, in their little haven away from the rest of the world.
Reggie flipped backwards through the book, towards the earlier pages. Among those, there were more pictures of the environment - photos of street corners, tourists pouring across the Walk of Fame, of the Hollywood sign, more shaky photos of dogs at the park, a picture of -
“ I’m sorry, is that a tornado?” Alex asked suddenly, loudly voicing Luke’s very thoughts. He shared a look with the drummer, both their eyes wide and very freaked out.
“Huh?” Reggie hummed, before noticing the photo. “Oh! Yeah, that’s from before I moved here! It’s not a great photo, but it was cool to capture on camer-”
“Reggie, why do you have a photo of a tornado?” Luke asked, his voice raised in very obvious alarm.
Reggie finally glanced up, looking concerned as he looked between the two of them. “Because there was a tornado?”
“And what were you doing outside?” Alex asked.
Reggie was clearly beginning to realize he was on dangerous ground. “Um? Well, technically, it wasn’t a tornado yet for another, like, twenty minutes - That’s technically a funnel cloud, so -”
Alex covered his face with his hands, moaning.
“Reggie,” Luke whispered, trying very hard to resist doing the same. “Why weren’t you inside? Aren’t you supposed to go to the basement or something?”
The bassist was flustered. “I mean, yeah, but this was the first time I’d actually seen one from my house! And I had my camera, so I -”
“Reggie,” Luke groaned, finally following Alex’s example. When he dropped his hands again, he grabbed Reggie’s shoulder. “Promise me that next time you see a tornado, you go downstairs and get in the shower or whatever!”
“Actually, you’re supposed to get in a tub,” Reggie said. “And Luke, I’m already dead.”
“That’s so not the point,” Alex moaned.
“So not the point,” Luke agreed.
Reggie pouted. “But I got a photo of it…”
Luke reached over and grabbed Reggie’s entire upper body and pulled it towards him, pushing his boyfriend into his lap. He wrapped his arms around Reggie protectively, probably a little too tightly even.
Smushed into his thigh, Reggie mumbled, “It wasn’t a big deal, guys.”
Luke placed his hands on Reggie’s cheeks, turning his face towards him. “It was a tornado. You could have gotten sucked up and died and gone to Oz or some shit and we never would have met, and you should be more careful.”
Reggie scowled (and it was very cute). “I asked you almost thirty years ago to quit it with the Oz jokes,” he grumbled.
Luke ignored him, instead shaking him. “ Reggie, cowboy, I love you, but please start paying more attention to your well-being.”
“Again, I’m already dead, but sure, whatever,” his boyfriend mumbled.
Meanwhile, Alex finally lowered his hands, slowly dragging them down his face. “Flynn was right, there really are no brain cells.”
III.
“What the hell is going on?”
Luke looked up from the whirlwind of fabric around him to see Alex right inside the garage door, Willie beside him. Alex was looking across the mess with a look of apprehension, while the skater simply looked amused as he took in the scene. A quick glance down told Luke that they were holding hands, which made him very happy. Alex deserved good things, and he was finally getting them.
Reggie, who had several articles of clothing laid out across the piano, looked up and immediately smiled. “Willie!” he exclaimed brightly.
Alex threw his hands up before gesturing at himself. He looked at Luke with a look that said, “What am I, chopped liver?” Luke just grinned at him and shrugged. Reggie loved Willie, and it was really cute.
“Hey, man,” Willie said, grinning and walking across to give Reggie a bro-hug and clapping him on the back. Reggie preened under the attention, and Luke and Alex shared amused looks. They were both glad to see the two get along so well - Willie acted a bit like the brother Reggie had never had but probably really needed growing up.
“So, explanation?” Alex asked, stepping towards Luke while Reggie and Willie started talking about whatever Alex and Willie had been doing that afternoon.
Luke lifted the pirate hat in his hand. “You know that gig we have at Carrie’s Halloween party?”
Alex nodded. After the Orpheum, Carrie had reached out to Julie and they had slowly been making amends. They were by no means friends again - it was still way too awkward and there was too much turbulent history - but they were no longer hostile towards each other. Carrie had extended this upcoming gig as an olive branch. Julie had panicked and said yes, not wanting to immediately ruin their new fragile truce.
Of course, they’d quickly realized that there was going to be a problem - Bobby. The boys were still irritated with him, yeah, but they weren’t really interested in messing with him anymore. Playing in his house definitely qualified as messing with him, and frankly, they already had no idea what was going on with the ghost thing - Bobby recognizing them and telling everyone that his old dead bandmates were back as ghosts wasn’t really something they were ready for.
“Well,” Luke said, “Turns out Bobby isn’t gonna be there.” It had been a relief when Julie came ramming into the garage with the news. Apparently, Carrie had mentioned that her dad was going to be out of town for the weekend, so there was no risk of him looking at them closely.
“Thank God!” Alex said, before looking at the hat. “What does this have to do with that, though?”
“Well, now that we’re for sure actually able to do the gig,” Luke said, “Julie says that Flynn says that we need costumes.”
Alex grimaced, looking at the absolute mess around them. “Do we have to?” he asked, tugging on his shirt.
Luke raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to say no to Flynn?”
Alex sighed.
Luke nodded. “Anyway, Julie went digging and found a bunch of the Molinas’ Halloween stuff from over the years. She said we’re free to use anything here.”
Alex nodded slowly, letting his gaze slowly move across the clothes in the room. “This isn’t overwhelming at all.”
“Yeah,” Luke said, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m thinking about being a cowboy,” he added, looking at the hat, not thinking about whether Reggie would like it or not.
“You’re a simp,” Alex said flatly, before walking over to join Reggie and Willie, but Willie immediately looked over at the words and started laughing.
“What?” Luke asked, his voice high-pitched. “What does that mean?”
Alex just kept grinning while he gave Willie a high-five. Reggie looked confused, but he just shrugged and returned to his array of clothes.
Luke wanted to continue to question - what did that even mean? - but he also knew that Alex probably wouldn’t elaborate. So, he sighed, and put the cowboy hat aside and continued digging through the pile on the floor, hoping to find something good.
He did.
He gasped as he realized what he’d found, tugging the white sheet out and spreading his arms, looking at the jagged eye holes. “It’s a ghost!” he exclaimed, grinning.
“Oh, my God,” Alex and Reggie said simultaneously, but Alex groaned while Reggie got excited and ran over.
The bassist immediately took the sheet from his hands and started pulling it around to inspect it. Luke grinned at Alex smugly, who just mouthed the word ‘simp’ again, succeeding in wiping Luke’s grin away and immediately frustrating him.
The scowl dropped from his face quickly, though, when Reggie pulled the sheet over his head. He tugged on it a few times until the eye holes were appropriately placed. He raised his arms before jumping. “Guys, look! I’m a ghost!”
He was so cute.
“Reggie, you’re -” Alex started, but fell silent when Willie elbowed him in the side. Still, he rolled his eyes, showing what he thought about the display.
Luke just grinned, though. “You sure are, Reg,” he said fondly, before wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s clad shoulders. “You’re my boo.”
Alex groaned immediately, and Willie snorted, but Reggie just bounced in place, and Luke could see the way he was preening despite being concealed by the bedsheet.
“We should all be ghosts!” Reggie said, and Alex sighed.
IV.
Luke rolled his eyes as Flynn and Julie came into the garage with their voices raised, clearly in a fierce debate. Reggie lifted his head from his lap so he could sit up, making Luke’s hands fall away from his hair, which only gave him more reason to be annoyed with them for interrupting their peace and quiet.
“Hey, guys!” Reggie greeted.
“-no, there’s no way he’s a - Hi, Reggie,” Julie said, walking over and sliding her backpack off her shoulder, dropping it by the couch. She then returned her attention to Flynn. “There’s no way he’s a Ravenclaw.”
“But I thought he was the smartest?” Flynn said, waving vaguely in the boys’ direction; it was more aimed towards the end they weren’t cuddled on, but she was getting better at guessing.
“He is, but he’s still dumb. It’s a low bar,” Julie replied.
“Who’s dumb?” Luke asked, pushing himself up from his nearly horizontal position reclined on the couch.
Julie glanced at them, pursed her lips, then looked back at Flynn. “ Anyway -”
“All of y’all,” Flynn said, then laughed when Julie smacked her in the arm. “What? It’s true!”
“What’d we do?” Reggie asked, pouting (not seriously - he felt good enough around their small family that he didn’t overthink their teasing.
“Yeah, we’re super smart!” Luke argued, wrapping his arms around Reggie’s waist and putting his chin over his shoulder.
“Yes, you are,” Julie said placatingly, very much in the tone of a mother talking to her children. She looked back at Flynn. “That’s not the point anyway. He’s a Hufflepuff. They all are.”
Flynn didn’t look convinced by the argument, while Luke wasn’t convinced that they were using real words. “Maybe,” she said. “Reggie, definitely, but couldn’t Luke be a bit of a Gryffindor?”
Julie shook her head. “At most, he’s a Gryffinpuff, but if I had to narrow it to one house, it’d be Hufflepuff.”
“Um,” Reggie said loudly. “What are you guys talking about?” he asked, and Luke just felt relieved that he seemed just as confused as he was.
That made Julie actually look at them. “Your houses?” she said, her tone rising in question before her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh! You guys don’t know Harry Potter!”
“Who?” Reggie and Luke asked. Reggie immediately grinned and twisted to look at him as he realized their responses were simultaneous. “Jinx!”
“Yeah, I’ll buy you a Coke,” Luke teased.
“Harry Potter is a book series, and then a movie series,” Julie explained. “It’s as big a part of pop culture as Star Wars, if not bigger.”
Luke winced as Reggie immediately scowled at the mention of the franchise - the bassist was not over the things that had been done to the Star Wars stories. “What’s it about?”
Flynn was looking frustrated by not knowing what was going on, so Julie repeated the question aloud. “Oh,” said Flynn. “Basically, it’s about this kid who, after growing up for eleven years with his aunt and uncle in an abusive household, finds out he’s a wizard and goes to this wizard school, and he basically has to keep saving the world with his friends from this nose-less guy who killed his parents and is basically a fantasy version of a Nazi.”
Luke blinked, while Reggie’s mouth fell open. “Sounds… interesting?” Luke said.
Julie snickered. “That’s one way to explain it, I guess,” she said, looking at Flynn. “Everyone our age grew up with it, like you guys did with Star Wars.”
“Yeah, which kinda sucks, because it turns out the author is super shitty as a person,” Flynn said. “We generally try to ignore her, because Harry Potter is such a big part of our childhoods.”
“Right,” Julie said. “I mean, there were definitely parts of the books that are questionable looking back on it, but we’re able to still enjoy the series, even if we look at it critically.”
The boys nodded slowly. “So… what were you guys talking about then?” Luke asked.
Julie repeated his question, and Flynn brightened. “Oh! We were discussing what house you guys would be in. In Harry’s school, kids are sorted into these ‘houses,’” she said, making finger-quotes. “Based on their personalities. We were trying to figure out how you guys would be sorted.”
“Oh,” Reggie said. “What are the options?”
“There’s Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw,” Julie said, listing them off on her fingers. “Slytherin kids are known for being ambitious and resourceful, Gryffindors are known for being brave, Ravenclaws are smart and creative, and Hufflepuffs are hard-working and loyal.”
Reggie nodded slowly, then asked, “What are you guys?”
“Flynn’s a Slytherin,” Julie answered. “I’m a Ravenclaw.”
“Oh, but Julie has Hufflepuff qualities, too! And Gryffindor… She’s hard to pin down,” Flynn added, shrugging.
“And you think Reggie’s a Pufflehuff? That’s cute,” Luke said. “My little Pufflehuff,” he sang, wrapping his arms tighter around his boyfriend while Reggie grinned.
Julie laughed, shaking her head. “No, it’s Hufflepuff. ” She looked at Flynn, explaining, “He said ‘Pufflehuff.’”
Flynn snorted. “What, like a puffle mixed with a-” She gasped suddenly. “Oh, my God… what if we showed them Club Penguin?” she asked, her eyes wide as she grabbed Julie’s arm.
Julie snickered. “It shut down, remember?” she said, and they were back to saying nonsense again.
“A club… for penguins?” Reggie asked, but Flynn and Julie were already talking amongst themselves again, saying weird words like ‘Web Kids’ and ‘Pop Tropical.’
“I don’t think I’m ever gonna understand what they’re saying,” Luke said, and Reggie just nodded in agreement.
V.
“Are you boys ready or not?” Julie asked, her hip cocked to the side as she stood in the doorway to the room - Bobby’s room, actually, but they weren’t haunting it this time around. They were getting ready for the show, finishing up their costumes - not ghosts, much to Reggie’s disappointment, but they’d realized that bed sheets would sort of get in the way of performing.
“Hold on!” Luke said, moving to wave a hand in her direction, only for that hand to be smacked by Alex.
“Dude, hold still for two seconds,” he scolded, using two hands to grip the tape in his hand. A flick of his wrist tore it, and he quickly patted it down against Luke’s arm. “There, you’re good.”
Luke grinned and carefully pulled the sleeves of his shirt down to cover the tape, so the straw looked like it was naturally sticking out of the flannel. He put his hands on his hips, smiling proudly. “How do I look?” he asked.
Alex smiled before patting him on the head. “Just like you always do,” he teased, acting as if the guitarist didn’t have make-up on to look like his face was all patched and stitched up like a scarecrow.
Luke scowled. “Speak for yourself,” he retorted, poking at the ‘rotting flesh’ that was peeling from Alex’s cheek.
The drummer immediately squawked, batting his hand away. “Don’t touch it!”
There were two solid claps behind them, making them startle and spin towards the doorway. Next to Julie, Flynn was standing with her hands. “Boys!” she exclaimed. “You’re on in two minutes!”
“Where’s Reggie? Yell at him!” Alex complained.
“I’m right here!” Luke glanced over to see his boyfriend rushing out of the bathroom. “Sorry, I was just finishing my makeup.”
Luke’s jaw dropped. The bassist was dressed as a pirate, his clothes messy enough to look rouge-ish with fingerless gloves, a classic pirate hat, black boots, and to top it all off, eyeliner smudged around his eyes.
He looked hot.
He practically tackled his boyfriend, giving him a quick peck on the lips before holding his cheeks in his hands. “Babe, you look awesome! ” he grinned.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t ruin your make-up!” Alex said, swatting at Luke’s shoulder as he walked past to join the girls.
Reggie smiled at Luke. “You, too! Y’know, I’d hold your hands, but… I feel like I’d be grasping at straws,” he said, tilting his head with a very stupid smile on his face.
Luke rolled his eyes, but kissed the smile anyways, even as groans chorused behind them.
“Let’s go!” Julie exclaimed, hopping in her heeled boots, which were pointed at the tips and matched her witchy apparel, complete with a hat that shimmered whenever it caught the light.
Reggie laughed and grabbed Luke’s hand, following Julie out of the room to get to their places.
They’d already set everything up, so once Julie and Alex got in place behind their respective instruments, Luke and Reggie just had to pick up theirs so they were ready to go.
They only had a small set of a few songs, so they played a couple of their songs that Julie’s classmates had heard before, along with a cover that Julie and Flynn had insisted they play of a song called “Spooky Scary Skeletons,” that had a fun dance with it that Flynn led with a bunch of the other party-goers.
They finished with that song to lots of applause. As always, the boys disappeared with their bows, while Flynn ‘turned off’ the projector. After a second of soaking in the applause for a moment, even without being seen, the three of them apparated back into the house as Julie started to socialize.
“That was awesome, guys!” Luke grinned, wrapping his arms around the boys’ shoulders.
“That last one was really fun,” Reggie said.
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to see if Flynn will teach me that dance,” Alex agreed.
“Or I could teach you?”
The three spun to see Willie, perched on the kitchen island. Alex’s eyes widened, and he immediately tore away from Luke’s side to greet his boyfriend. “Willie! What are you doing here?”
“I told you I like to break into celebrities’ houses,” the skateboarder grinned, gladly greeting the drummer with a kiss.
When Alex obviously didn’t complain, Luke scoffed. “Oh, it’s fine when you kiss your boyfriend.”
“Duh,” returned the blond, before returning his attention to Willie. “How do you know the dance?” he asked.
Willie grinned, jumping down from the counter and grabbing Alex’s hands. “It was a TikTok trend last Halloween,” he answered. He guided Alex back outside, adding, “How do you still look so cute as a zombie, by the way?” which was met with a lot of blushing and stuttering.
Luke smiled as he watched them leave, before turning back to Reggie. His eyeliner was a little more smudged than before, and he happily wrapped his arms around the bassist’s waist. “You were amazing as always, rockstar,” he murmured, leaning forward to peck a kiss on his cheek.
Reggie preened. “So were you,” he said, beaming as he returned the embrace. “It was really fun.”
Luke noticed as the bassist bounced a little, which normally he would attribute to post-show energy, but he also caught the way that his eyes flicked back towards the door outside.
Luke huffed, rolling his eyes fondly. “You wanna go learn the dance, too, don’t you?” he asked.
Reggie beamed even wider. “Yes! Come on!” he exclaimed, and Luke happily let himself be dragged along.
1.
“Do we absolutely have to, though?” Luke asked.
A chorus of “Yes!” was his answer.
“It’s a professional event, Luke. A bunch of important people are gonna be there, including some of my dad’s clients. We have to look a bit more formal than usual.”
He sighed, flopping backwards onto Julie’s bed, next to where Alex was already sitting.
“There, there,” the drummer said, patting him condescendingly on the shoulder. “You can survive wearing sleeves for one night.”
Luke smacked him in the head, which shouldn’t have been a surprise, but Alex squawked anyway. He shoved him in the side, which made Luke sit up and push him back, and then they were both struggling to get each other into a headlock.
Meanwhile, Flynn stared at the bed that, to her eyes, was shaking on its own, and she raised her eyebrows as she turned to Julie.
Julie just sighed. “They are children,” she said, before stepping forward and swatting at them. “Now get out! I have to get dressed and so do you! Your outfits are in the garage, you better be ready by the time I come down.”
Luke groaned, but in the next second, his arms that were around Alex’s neck fell together as the drummer disappeared. He groaned even louder.
There was a snicker, and then he felt Reggie’s familiar hand grabbing his shoulder. “Come on,” he coaxed, gently tugging.
Luke let himself be pulled to his feet, but not without pouting. After a second, he felt the strange feeling of slipping through space, but then his feet were hitting the floor of the garage.
Alex’s suit was already missing from where the others laid on the piano, and Luke could hear him changing in the bathroom.
Reggie grabbed his own, then picked up Luke’s and handed it to him. He just gave him a fond roll of the eyes when Luke stuck his tongue out as he took it.
Still, he wasn’t going to disobey Flynn and Julie - he didn’t have a death wish. (Or double-death wish?)
He pulled his shirt off over his head, before carefully removing the button-down from its hanger. He slowly assembled the outfit, hearing Reggie do the same behind him. The white shirt, the black slacks, and the black jacket. He immediately tugged at his collar as soon as it was buttoned, and he glared balefully at the tie. That wasn’t going to happen, and not even Julie and her Disappointment Face could make it happen. He discreetly pushed it aside (meaning onto the floor and kicking it under the piano), just as Alex stepped out of the bathroom.
His friend was wearing a pale blue suit, the jacket open to reveal a white button-down that matched Luke’s. He was wearing a pink tie, which Julie had picked out to match his usual style. He was running his hands through his hair, though, and Luke rolled his eyes.
“Dude, you look good,” he said. “Stop worrying.”
Alex looked at him, grimacing, before nodding. “You’re right. It’s just another gig, we’ll do fine.”
“Exactly,” Luke said.
Alex frowned. “Are you gonna wear your hair like that, though?”
The singer squawked, pushing his hair back instinctively. “Hey! My hair looks fine!”
Alex shook his hand back and forth. “Ehh,” he said, grinning as Luke tried to dash forward to swat at him. Luke scowled as he simply flashed across the room.
“Sometimes the ghost thing is annoying,” Luke admitted, crossing his arms.
Behind him, he heard a chuckle, and he immediately turned around to see Reggie, who was adjusting his jacket. His whole suit was fully black, except for the red tartan trimming the lapels. Luke felt his jaw drop as he took in his appearance.
Reggie looked up from adjusting his sleeve cuff, catching on Luke’s expression. “What?” he said, looking down as if expecting to see something wrong.
“You look incredible, ” Luke said, walking over and placing his hands on his shoulders, scanning up and down over and over again.
“Oh,” Reggie said, looking back up at him. He grinned. “So do you, handsome,” he replied.
Luke, to his own horror, felt his cheeks heat up as his heart fluttered around his chest, beating against his ribcage. “O-oh,” he whispered, looking down to hide his blush, even though he could feel that his ears were turning red, too.
“Oh my God.”
Luke twisted to glare at his friend. “Dude, shut up!” he whined, his voice cracking.
“You loser,” Alex laughed, wrapping a hand around his stomach. “You call him nicknames all the time, and he calls you handsome once and you get all flustered?”
“Shut up!” Luke groaned, covering his burning face with his hands. He could feel Reggie shaking with his own laughter, even as he tried to pry his hands away.
Alex kept laughing, so Luke tried to block him out once Reggie pulled his hands away.
“It is cute,” Reggie agreed, and Luke grumbled, keeping his gaze on the floor.
Then, Reggie shifted, and the guitarist looked up to see him tilting his head as he looked him up and down. Carefully, the bassist reached up and undid the top button of Luke’s shirt, immediately allowing him to breathe a little easier, before gently patting him on the chest. “I think this suits you better, though.”
Luke’s face broke into a grin, unable (and not particularly willing) to stop himself from leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, whose smile only widened.
They both pointedly ignored Alex’s exaggerated retching in the background.