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Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: gimme kith 😠
Alex stares at his phone.
“Julie?”
“Yeah?” Comes her reply from the piano bench.
Alex pushes himself off of the chair, making his way over to her and extending his arm across the piano, brandishing his phone screen. “What does this mean?”
She looks up from the music sheets spread across the keys– the boys had told her to go to bed, but she insisted she had to get this song out before she could sleep or she’d forget it. She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and squints at the bright screen, reading over it once, twice as her eyes widen, and then she’s grabbing the phone out of his hand.
"Hey–!" Alex borderline shouts, inevitably drawing the other boys’ attention.
She giggles as she reads over it again and he asks in a confused rush, “What? Is it bad?”
“He’s asking you for a kiss.” She all but smirks. Luke and Reggie have abandoned their spot on the couch to come over and check it out as she sets the phone face-up on the piano for all to see.
"Skatie boy? Really?” Luke teases when he sees the contact name, and Alex flushes a soft crimson. His quiet 'shut up' goes unacknowledged however as Reggie’s voice overlaps his.
“What’s with the emoji? It looks...angry.” He furrows his brow slightly, before looking to Julie for answers.
“Well, technically, yeah. It is an angry emoji. However, in this context, it isn’t. It’s more...pouty? I guess?”
When all three boys look at her, still wildly confused, she adds; “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s a good thing. He’s saying 'give me a kiss’, but in a soft way.”
Alex blushes even further when everyone turns to smile at him. He swallows quickly as he swipes his phone back into his hands, turning his back to face the others. It’s futile though as Luke and Reggie still manage to watch over his shoulders as he types out a reply.
Alex: Like, right now?
Alex taps his fingers nervously on his phone case as all three of them wait with bated breath when the three dancing dots appear.
Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: yes 🥺 right now
Luke whoops– straight up whoops next to him and then he’s reaching to high five Reggie over his head.
“What? What?!" Julie’s impatiently excited reply comes from behind them. Before Alex can even fully process what’s happening his phone is being pulled out of his hands again, and he turns just in time to see it being slid face-up across the piano to an eagerly awaiting Julie.
It takes her all of two seconds to read the texts before she’s squealing, bouncing a little on her heels.
“Well come on! Don’t want to keep skatie boy waiting!” Luke chirps as he tugs on Alex’s arm, pulling him towards the garage doors.
“Wait– wait, guys." Alex pulls his arm out of Luke’s grip, causing them both to come to a complete stop. “It’s 12 am, we can’t just—“
He looks to Luke, who’s wearing his best ‘technically, we can' face.
“We shouldn’t—“
He looks to Reggie, eyebrows raised in a silent 'why not?'.
Alex sighs, deeply.
“We are not driving to my boyfriend’s house at midnight just because he wants a kiss.”
“You say that as if you don’t want a kiss.” Reggie says, practically challenging him to deny it.
“Well. I–“ Alex cuts himself off, letting out a resigned sigh. "...Yeah."
“Okay, then what are we waiting for?” Luke grabs the car keys off of the table beside the door and throws them to Alex, who just barely manages to catch them. “Let’s go get you a kiss from your man.”
“You–,” Alex stops, looks at the keys in his hands, “You want me to drive?”
“You really want either of us to drive?” Reggie quips, coming over to balance on Luke’s shoulder as he slips his shoes on.
Alex goes almost ghastly white just at the idea. “Okay, but do you really think I should be driving right now? I’m kind of panicking and still not even entirely sure this is a good idea. A panicked gay behind the wheel can only mean disaster.”
“Well, if you don’t want to drive, and you don't want us to drive...then…” Reggie trails off as Luke’s eyes slowly drift behind Alex, and the one shared brain cell between all of them seems to power on at once, each of them turning in unison with the same idea in mind.
"Julie~?" Luke singsongs, stepping forward and grabbing the keys out of Alex’s hands. Reggie, now sans human support beam, manages to save himself seconds before he eats the floor.
Julie’s eyes slowly rise from the paper. Alex watches as she looks at Luke, then him, then Reggie, and back again. She must read the looks they have on their faces like a book because–
"No."
Luke pouts, “But why not?”
“I have school tomorrow! You know what my dad would do if he caught me out this late.” Her eyes drift back to Alex, a sad smile on her lips. “Sorry, Alex.”
His shoulders betray him as they droop in defeat. He doesn’t know when it had happened, but if the fact that he has to put a little more effort into making his smile convincing is anything to go by, he was actually starting to warm up to the idea. “It’s okay, Julie. Really.”
Reggie steps up after he gets his other shoe on, exuding mock confidence. “Let me handle Ray.”
Julie looks at him, the sadness in her smile fading way to humor. “That’s cute, Reg. However he’s kind of you guys’ dad now too, I doubt he’d give you special treatment.”
Right. Ever since they hugged after the Orpheum, their bodies have become corporeal again. Meaning everyone can see them, and they’ve lost most of their Ghost Abilities; like poofing.
Carlos and Ray had come out to investigate when they heard the delighted squeals coming from the garage. It was a long night of explaining, and Ray was understandably suspicious of them at first. However, after realizing they didn’t really have anywhere else to go, he allowed them to stay, and it wasn’t long after that that he started to get to know them all better. Little did he know then that it’d only be a matter of time before he started seeing them as something of his own kids. Which is lovely for the most part, unless it’s for punishments, then it’s decidedly less fun.
“I’ll just tell him it was my fault and make him lay off of you guys.” Luke states, so nonchalantly, as if it’s nothing.
“You guys really don’t have to do that for me. Seriously. It’s fine. I’m seeing Willie tomorrow, anyway.” Alex says, disbelieving that his friends are seriously going through this much work just so he can see his boyfriend tonight.
“So? The man wants kisses. Who are you to deny him of that?” Reggie says.
Luke turns back to face Julie again. “So, Jules? What do you say?”
She’s silent for a minute. Which isn’t an outright no. And Reggie seems to pick up on that as he adds on; “We’ll only be gone for a few minutes?”
Julie looks back and forth between all of them, a slight furrow to her brow as she finally lands on Alex.
“Alex?” She asks softly, like she wants to hear his opinion on this before she makes her decision.
He knows he could say no. Shut down the whole thing right now and apologize profusely to Julie before sending her to bed. But…
“I mean...it would be kinda nice...to see him?”
The smile on Julie’s face starts small like she’s biting it back, before it bursts into a full grin.
“Okay! Okay fine." She caves, but her voice is pure joy. She holds her hands out in front of her. “Keys.”
The boys erupt into hushed cheers, Alex’s much more subtle in the form of a shy smile, as Luke tosses the keys into her hands.
“Do you even know what room is his?”
They’re all sitting in the car, parked in front of the house Willie had shown him was his once. Headlights off and the engine on.
“...Yes?” Alex says after a long beat, in way too squeaky of a voice to be believable.
"Alex!” They all shout in unison.
“Wait, so you mean to tell me we drove all the way out here, and you don’t even know what window is his?!" Luke asks incredulously.
They had decided on the way over that there was no way they could go to the door without waking his family up. Alex could just text him and ask him to come outside, but that would ruin the surprise.
“Hey, you’re the one who even suggested we come here in the first place. I didn’t plan this far ahead because this wasn’t my idea!" Alex turns in his seat to shout at Luke in the back.
“Okay, okay.” Julie sighs, rubbing her eyes. “There are two floors. Usually, bedrooms are on the second floor, right? So...Any idea which one might be his?”
Alex turns to look out the passenger side window, surveying the house. “I don’t know. I don’t see any lights on…”
“Should we get out and look around the back?” Reggie offers.
“I’m in my PJ’s!" Julie protests, pulling at her sleep shirt in emphasis. “You guys can go but I’m staying here.”
“No, you’re coming with us.” Luke says adamantly, already opening the back seat door and pulling Reggie out with him.
"What? Why?!” Julie exclaims, however she’s already turning the keys in the ignition and pulling them out as Alex climbs out of the passenger side.
“Someones gotta take the picture!” Reggie stage whisper-shouts as he and Luke make a run for the back of the house.
"Picture?!" Alex calls after them in the same hushed voice, before inevitably taking off after them, the telltale sound of Julie’s cheetah print slippers following closely behind.
“Okay, so now what?”
All four of them stand underneath the second-floor window. Through the half-drawn curtains, they can see band posters and skateboard decks lining the walls, along with the LED strip bathing the room in colorful lights.
Definitely Willie’s room.
“We could throw rocks? I’ve seen that in movies before.” Julie suggests.
Alex barely even considers it before he’s replying in his borderline anxious manner. “And have to pay for a shattered window? Hard pass.”
Julie throws her arms up in surrender. “Do you have any better ideas?”
There’s a beat of silence for a moment as Alex seems to consider it.
“You could climb?” Reggie supplies.
"NO!" Alex and Julie reply in near unison, keeping their shouting hushed but still firm.
Another pause.
“...We could lift you?” Luke offers, and it’s the first suggestion that doesn’t get immediately shot down.
“...It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard?” Julie shrugs.
Alex turns to Luke, a small bit of nervous unease painting his features. “I mean, do you think you could even lift me? I’m considerably taller than you, a-and—“
The rest of his sentence gets cut off by a high pitched shriek as Luke ducks down and scoops him up onto his shoulders in one fell swoop.
(None of them can be sure over Alex’s screeching, but they're pretty sure they heard Luke say something that resembled ‘do you think you could lift me?’ repeated back at Alex in a mocking tone.)
“What the hell Luke?! PUT ME DOWN!" Alex shouts, hushed whisper forgotten entirely as he flails a little from his place high on Luke’s shoulders, who is now standing at full height.
"DO YOU WANT TO KISS YOUR BOYFRIEND OR NOT?!" Luke shouts back, the smallest bit louder to be heard over Reggie and Julie’s laughing from beside him.
And then the window is opening.
Willie's face is a mix of confusion and worry. He fully takes in the scene in front of him, and a fond smile settles on his features.
“Well I don’t know if he does, but I sure do.”
Alex jumps at the sudden extra voice, which already throws him off balance. And then when he realizes what he said, and who said it, his gay panic takes over and he doesn’t think he even knows what gravity is anymore as he feels his stomach drop and he starts to topple backward to his for sure second demise.
Except he doesn’t hit the ground.
Because Luke’s hands grip tighter around his ankles, and he’s never been more grateful for his friend’s fast reflexes as he feels two sets of hands behind him land on his back and keeping him from falling.
His stomach is still reeling as they carefully push him back up to his seated position firmly on Luke’s shoulders.
"Shit!... You okay, ‘Lex?” Willie’s expression is back to worry and concern as his hand reaches helplessly out of the window towards him.
Alex subconsciously reaches out and links his hand with Willie’s, whether to ground him from falling or from the near panic attack he almost went into, he isn’t sure. Either way, his breathing returns to normal shortly and he’s able to talk again as his body slowly exits fight or flight mode.
“Yeah. Yeah, I-I’m. I’m okay.” He says it almost to reassure himself. “I was just–“
"He’s just falling for you!" Reggie shouts unhelpfully from below him, and if Alex wasn’t worried about losing his balance again he’d kick him in the shoulder.
His annoyance is long forgotten though as the comment elicits a pitchy, beautiful laugh out of Willie.
“So what brings you to my window sill, Juliet? Besides falling for me, of course.” Willie teases, and none of them miss the proud smile on Reggie’s face that his pun was appreciated.
“Well, that was unintentional.” Alex motions vaguely to where he almost fell, still slightly out of breath. “However, I believe someone requested a kiss?”
Alex watches as Willie seems to connect all of the dots, coming up with his own version of the events that transpired since their text conversation, and then he’s laughing again. Leaning back into it a little which pulls Alex closer to the window by their joined hands.
“You are, so cute.” Willie says between giggles. And Alex can’t help but giggle too, which makes him once again aware of exactly how high up he is, and Luke would never admit it, but he can feel his shoulders shaking a little.
“We should probably...uh…” Alex starts shyly, hoping Willie will get the idea.
“Oh! Yeah. Right!” And he does. “How do you wanna…”
It’s just then that Alex realizes, even with his and Luke’s height combined, he’s still not quite tall enough to reach Willie’s lips. “Reggie, boost me?”
“Got it!” Reggie says, adjusting his position to better support Alex’s weight as he leans up and forwards a little, using Willie’s hand and the window sill as extra support. It winds up that Reggie’s hand is, right on his butt.
Sacrifices, he supposes.
Julie waits until she can tell he’s stable, or, as stable as one can be in this position, before she slowly withdraws her hands from his right side and takes a couple of steps back, pulling out her phone and opening the camera.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yeah, just hurry up! I don’t know how long I can hold him.” Reggie says.
"Ditto." Luke’s reply strains to sound effortless.
“Okay.” Julie counts them down. “One…”
Willie leans out of the window a bit more, making it easier on Alex so he doesn't have to go as far.
“Two…”
Alex shifts his weight more to his left hand, supporting himself as he pushes forward the rest of the way to close the gap.
“Three!” Julie announces.
Alex registers the flash go off in his peripheral vision through his closed eyes, feels Luke and Reggie shift in what he assumes is a pose for the picture as he smiles into the kiss, and Willie’s thumb lightly strokes over his knuckles where their hands are still intertwined.
They kiss for a second longer after the flash dissipates, only separated by the collective "Woo!" from their friends below them.
They pull back, both wearing big goofy smiles, Willie’s bottom lip between his teeth in an attempt to bite back the giant smile hurting his cheeks.
They kinda just. Sit there. Smiling at each other. Neither wanting to break the moment.
But thankfully, neither of them have to, because Luke does it for them.
“Okay I love you both and this is gay and adorable in every sense of the words, but Alex if you don’t get off of my shoulders I will drop you.”
All five of them burst into loud laughs, Alex and Willie rest their foreheads together as they come down from the giggles.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Alex whispers, hopeful.
“You know it, hotdog.” Willie is still all smiles as he leans forward and presses a final quick peck to Alex’s lips.
And then Alex is, reluctantly, letting go of Willie’s hand and slowly climbing down off of Luke with the help of Reggie and Julie. When his feet are back on the ground he gives himself a second to recenter his gravity, then looks back up at the window where Willie is now waving to his friends.
“Goodnight guys! Oh, and Julie!” He redirects his attention, pointing to her, “Send me that picture! I wanna make it my background!”
“Oh, me too!” Reggie says, and they all give him a confused look before shaking it off.
Julie giggles lightly, shaking her head. “Of course!”
Alex smiles up at him, giving his own soft wave. “Goodnight, I love you!”
Willie returns the smile, his grin growing even brighter. “Goodnight, I love you too. Drive safe guys!” He says, giving a final wave as he climbs back into his room, shutting the window.
The four of them aren’t even in the car for a full second before they’re all jumping on Julie to see the picture.
“Okay, okay!” She placates as she pulls her phone back out of her pocket, opening it up and going to the most recent picture in her camera roll.
A stunned silence falls over them as the four glowing orbs stare back at them, bright and blinding but definitely not human.
It takes a moment for the full realization to dawn on them, and then they’re howling with the loudest laughter they have all night.
Alex doesn't miss the way Reggie rubs Luke’s shoulders in the backseat on the drive home.
Alex: I guess we didn’t quite think the picture thing through, huh? [IMAGE ATTACHED]
Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: 😂😂😂
Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: still making it my lock screen 🥺
Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: it’s the thought that counts 😌
Alex: Memories 💖
Sk8ie boy 🛹💕: memories 💕