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The boys all transported to Julie’s dressing room after they had finished up their part of the performance and did bows. They were all practically jumping from the adrenaline coursing through their veins like electricity. It was reminiscent of how it felt after performances they had done back in ‘95 with the hot spotlights on their skin, or how they felt when they first realized that people could see them as ghosts.
Luke let out a yell of excitement before pulling the person next to him, Reggie, in for a tight, celebratory hug. He pulled away, placing his hands on the sides of Reggie’s head.
Reggie beamed at him and Luke could only focus on how his friend’s hair was not gelled, leaving it messy from all the jumping he did on stage, and, more importantly, on how weirdly soft his lips looked. Suddenly, Luke had an undeniable urge to kiss him. So, he did. No, he didn’t really think about what he was doing when he slammed his lips against Reggie’s and, no, he didn’t think about how his best friend kissed him back after getting over the initial shock. It wasn’t really his fault that the adrenaline clouding his mind made his friends lips incredibly tempting.
Luke pulled away, looked at Reggie who’s eyes fluttered open, before they heard the sound of the door opening causing Luke to whip around.
Julie, who let out an excited squeal, walked into her dressing room, “Guys! That was wonderful, oh my gosh, the solos sounded so good tonight!”
This left Reggie in a daze, shock coursing through his system, as Luke continued to celebrate as if he did not just share a passionate kiss with his best friend, “Julie, you were on fire tonight but who’s surprised? Not us! Right, guys?”
There were a few awkward seconds of silence that followed as neither of the other two could muster anything to say through their shock.
Alex opened and closed his mouth a couple times before saying, “Yes? Yes! Julie, you did so great.”
Julie squinted at them before very slowly responding, “...thanks? Did I miss something?”
“No!” Luke replied, too quickly for it not to be suspicious.
“Yes!” Alex said, looking at Luke with wide eyes.
Julie looked between the two of them, quickly, before her eyes landed on Reggie who still looked like he was malfunctioning. She opened her mouth as if to say something before closing it.
There was a beat before she crossed her arms, “Oookay. Well, you guys should head home cause my dad is expecting me back soon,” she made a motion at all of them, “If any of you ever want to talk about anything, I’m here.”
Surprisingly, Reggie was the first to respond. He looked like he had gained back a semblance of function, “Thanks, Julie! See you at home.”
Reggie promptly poofed out of the room, leaving behind an alarmed Alex who was looking Luke, who was attempting to come off as nonchalant. Before Alex could make any more comments, Luke waved bye to Julie before transporting to a small park that he used to hang out in back when they were alive. He knew that he should have gone to the studio but he had to calm down from the realization that he just kissed his best friend. He also didn’t want to deal with the look he knew he was going to receive from Alex.
And Reggie. He did not know how to face Reggie after that. So, he walked around aimlessly, coming down from his high, as he got more and more nervous about seeing Reggie.
When he finally got the nerve to go back to the studio, Luke entered to see Reggie laying on the couch, reading a book. Alex and Julie were decidedly not in the room much to his despair.
“Uh, hey, bud,” Luke started awkwardly.
Reggie looked up from his book, “Oh! There you are! Where did you go? We missed you after the performance.”
The frown on Reggie’s face was adorable but Luke couldn’t focus on anything but his nerves, “I just...had to get some air. Where’s the others?”
“Helping Julie pick out an outfit for our next performance. I didn’t think I could be much help so I stayed here.”
“Oh okay.”
Then the conversation lulled as Reggie continued to read and Luke stood there, waiting for him to bring up what had happened. However, Reggie never did and Luke tried but the words died in his throat every time. He really never was that great with expressing his emotions unless it was in song. Plus, since Reggie was being so casual, it felt like he was freaking out for no reason. So, Luke settled himself into the couch, asking Reggie about was he reading instead of the kiss. Listening to Reggie go on a long rant about the book was much easier than anything else.
Luke from then on formulated the genius plan of ‘just don’t bring it up and hopefully he’ll forget’ so he acted casual and tried not to think about how nice the kiss felt. For about a day or two after the incident, it seemed to actually be working. Well, he thought so until Reggie made it pretty obvious that he had not forgotten in the slightest. At least Luke thinks he hasn’t forgotten. Luke’s quite confused in all honesty.
It had happened when the two of them were hanging out in the studio as they worked on a new song that the band was working on
“Hey, man, can you hand me a pick?” Reggie had asked, casually.
“Yeah, of course,” Luke turned around to grab one from their pack, not expecting to turn around and be pulled into a kiss. A chaste one, nothing long lasting, but definitely a kiss. Reggie had kissed him. On the lips. What the hell is going on?
“Thanks, bro!” Reggie exclaimed with a bright smile before he turned his focus towards strumming out the cords written in Luke’s notebooks.
“Y-you’re welcome?” Luke barely stuttered out, frozen in place. He simply stared at his friend, whose eyebrows started to crease as he tried to focus on the messily scribbled music. Reggie started strumming his bass pulling Luke from his stupor. He tried to muster up some type of question but every time he tried to actually vocalize it, the question died on his tongue.
Reggie looked up from the music sheet, “Dude, are you gonna join me or what?”
“Um, right,” Luke turned around and went to go grab his guitar, “Right, of course.”
When Reggie could no longer see his face, Luke let his panic show, wide eyes and all, as he grabbed his guitar.
“What the fuck,” he whispered to himself before he walked back over to Reggie with what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. Luke wanted to ask Reggie what that kiss was, he truly did, but Reggie seemed so engrossed with the music that they were trying to write that Luke just didn’t.
He thought that maybe it was a one time thing, that Reggie was just paying him back for the one from when they were backstage but then it kept happening. Luke felt like he had lost his mind. Reggie was just kissing him when he least expected it and he had no idea how to handle it. It was always so casual too and he could never conjure the will to actually question what was going on. He didn’t mind the kisses, if anything they were sweet, but he had no clue if they meant anything to Reggie. He was getting entirely too used to casually kissing his best friend and didn’t really want to stop to question what that meant for him. It was much easier to smooch then actually think about feelings.
So, it became routine for the two of them. Reggie would give him the occasional chaste kiss, usually over small things, and Luke started feeling stronger butterflies in his stomach with each one. It was just nice to have someone smile at you before they kissed you for simply being there. At least that’s what Luke told himself. Though, he felt a little bit selfish for not returning the favor most of the time. Usually, he was confident with affection but something about this made him almost feel shy. He wasn’t sure why and it was driving him mad.
Their routine, however, was disrupted when Alex started to notice the affection (more the normal) between his two friends.
After a good practice, Reggie had smiled, his slightly crooked teeth gleaming, before he gave Luke a kiss on the cheek. Luke felt his face heat up before he nervously adjusted his guitar strap. He was used to Reggie’s kisses at this point but what he wasn’t used to was the other people around to witness it. Alex’s eyes trained on him which made Luke adjust the weight between his feet uncomfortably before looking down at the ground. Reggie walked away from him to talk to Julie.
Luke continued to look at his sneakers (they were untied) before he heard Alex clear his throat in front of him. Out of everything, he was not expecting to look up and see Alex smiling at him. There wasn’t a hint of questioning on Alex’s face which confused Luke to a new level.
Alex kept his voice low, a smile still lacing his lips, “Glad you two idiots finally figured out your feelings! I never thought I’d live to see this day...well, I guess I didn’t, but you get the point.”
Something in Luke malfunctioned as he tried to respond to that, “We’re not...I’m...that’s not... what ?”
Confusion radiated off Alex as he slowly said, “...you and Reggie are dating?”
Luke's eyes widened and he looked over to Reggie and Julie. With that he grabbed onto Alex's sleeve and pulled him out of the garage so that the others couldn't hear the impending conversation.
“We aren’t dating, Alex,” Luke whisper yelled as he gripped Alex’s sleeve a bit too tightly.
“What do you mean you aren’t dating? What was that cheek kiss then? I haven’t seen you get so blushy since middle school when you asked that girl out to the Halloween dance.”
“We aren’t dating,” Luke reiterated before continuing, “We are just friends who kiss sometimes.”
Alex stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was being told, before stating, “Okay, so let me get this straight. You aren’t dating but you do kiss.”
Luke nods, “Yes, exactly, dude.”
“Friends who kiss…so like boyfriends?”
Luke looked at him with wide eyes before protesting, “ No! It’s not the same thing, dude.”
After a few loaded seconds of silence, Alex, highly alarmed, almost yelled, “Luke...are you friends with benefits with Reggie?! Oh my God! Are you? I mean I don’t exactly have anything against that but I’m not sure how healthy tha-”
“ No?! I am not!” Luke yelled before lowering his voice as he did not to gain the others attention, “Alex, oh my God, I am not friends with benefits with Reggie. Bro, I’m literally telling you that sometimes we kiss as friends but nothing more.”
“Luke! We’re friends and we,” he motioned between the two of them for emphasis, “definitely don’t kiss each other!”
“That’s different cause you’re dating Willie, man! I don’t know what kind of relationship boundaries you two have set up, dude, who do you think I am?”
Alex slowly said, “Okay, okay, Luke, let me just organize this. So, I kiss Willie and he’s my boyfriend. You kiss Reggie and he’s still just your friend? A completely platonic bro? ”
There was a long pause as Alex watched the gears move in Luke’s head, “Oh my god, am I dating Reggie?
Alex searched for the joke in Luke’s expression, for any hint of mirth, and when he found none, he swore that he felt a small part of his soul die.
“Have you talked to Reggie, man?” Alex said, rubbing his hands against his face.
“Uh,” Luke felt even more embarrassed at having to say this out loud, “Not exactly? You remember when I kissed him after one of our performances?”
“Yes?”
“Yea, so, um, after that he kind of just kissed me again and I didn’t not like it so…” he let out a nervous laugh, “Look, we just haven't talked about what the kisses mean, man, and it’s not like I don’t want to. I mean, how am I supposed to know that it's not platonic, Alex?”
Alex made a noise that almost sounded like he was choking as he looked at his friend in disbelief, “Because he’s kissing you?! Okay, no, I refuse to have this conversation with you anymore. You’re talking to Reggie right now whether you like it or not. This is...unbelievable even for you.”
“Hey, rude,” Luke said as Alex started to walk back to the studio.
When Luke tried to follow him, Alex spun around and very sternly said, “Stay.”
Luke frowned and crossed his arms before saying, “You don’t tell me what to do.”
Alex gave him a warning look before he headed into the studio. This made Luke listen and stay where he was even as he grumbled, “Fine! Not staying here for you, though, I’m standing here for me.”
After a few minutes of standing, Reggie eventually tumbled out of the garage and Luke felt his heart rate pick up. Nerves suddenly hit him as he realized that he actually had to articulate his thoughts, his feelings to Reggie. He thought of chickening out but decided that it wasn’t an option as Alex would have hunted him down. There was no escaping this after that conversation.
“Hey,” Concern laced Reggie's features, “Alex said you had to talk to me about something? He looked pretty frazzled. Is everything okay, dude?”
“Um, yea, everything is cool, Reg,” Luke, nervously adjusted his beanie.
“Oh...alright, cool.”
“Well, um, actually things are kind of not cool but it's nothing bad.”
“Oh? Did...did I do something?” Reggie fiddled with his necklace as he looked at Luke, eyes sincere.
“What? No, no, dude, I’m just being stupid.”
“If I did something wrong, you can tell m-” Reggie cut himself off as Luke grabbed his shoulders, forcing Reggie to look at him.
“No, no,” Luke leaned in and pressed a kiss to others forehead, “Shush. You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise you, Reg.”
Luke pulled away, looked at his friend (?) who’s soft smile with bright eyes that almost made him melt where he stood. He couldn’t remember feeling this nervous for anyone, yet, here he was unable to act like a confident front man with his Reggie of all people.
“I wanted to talk about, uh, us, I guess.” Luke took a step back, unsure if he could even focus on the topic at hand if he stayed that close to Reggie.
“ Us? ”
“Nothing bad, just, how do I even put this,” he let out a nervous laugh, “Are we, like, a thing, Reg?”
A surprised laugh escaped Reggie before he looked at Luke, who was wholly serious, and sobered up, “Yes? I mean, after you kissed me, I kind of got the message that you liked me so I just rolled with it. Did...did you not think that, Luke?”
“Yes? No? I don’t know,” there was a beat as Reggie looked at him, confused and silent, “Okay, this is going to sound so stupid and I need you to promise not to laugh, dude.”
Reggie nodded, “I promise.”
“I thought,” he sighed, “I thought we were kissing as friends? Like platonically kissing? But then Alex thought we were dating and I realize now that...that’s kind of dumb.”
“Wait, wait, man, what?”
“Please, Reg, I don’t want to have to say it again.”
“So, all those times I kissed you...you thought I was being friendly?” Reggie looked at him, wide eyes and confused.
“I don’t know! We never said we were dating!” Luke said, holding his hands up defensively.
Reggie opened and closed his mouth several times before deciding on what to say, “Why did you let me kiss you so many times if it wasn’t romantic for you, dude?!”
“Because I like being kissed by you! Your lips are like stupid soft, dude, and I didn’t want to stop to question it because I didn’t like thinking that you’d stop kissing me if I did.”
Reggie softened at those words, “Aw, dude, that’s actually kind of adorable.”
“I’m not adorable.” Luke crossed his arms with a frown.
“Whatever you say, man, all I know is that it made me want to kiss you...but not as a friend,” Reggie said, a dorky smile on his face.
The frown was replaced with a small smile on Luke’s face, “As a boyfriend? Like romantically?”
“Yea, definitely as a boyfriend. Only if you want that, though.”
Before Reggie knew it, he was being pulled into a kiss by Luke. It was less harsh then the one that they shared backstage. It was gentle yet passionate, enough to light a small flame between them. Luke ran his hands through Reggie’s hair, intoxicating himself on the feeling of soft hair and lips. They pulled away and looked at each other, smiles bright on their faces. Reggie laughed into Luke’s shoulder for a while before looking up, “I kissed you how many times and you thought we were just bros?”
“Shush, don’t ruin the moment,” Luke said, pulling Reggie into another kiss.
So, maybe, Luke was a little embarrassed about how relieved Alex looked when they finally went back into the studio with their hands intertwined. Maybe, he was even more embarrassed when Julie wasn’t even surprised in the slightest when he told her that they were officially dating. If anything, she basically tells him that she had already thought that they were. Though, when he feels Reggie’s calloused fingers hold his or when he gets soft kisses, he thinks that he can live through a little embarrassment.