Archive of Our Own

It’s not Alex’s fault that he gets flustered so easily, if anything, he likes to blame Willie, claiming that their perfection would fluster anyone who got too close. Whatever the case may be, Alex’s tendency to blush at just about anything is very easy to take advantage of, and Willie is very good at doing that. They do this thing. Where they call Alex pet names in the gentlest, most tender voice possible; Alex swears that the human embodiment of summer popped up and fell right into his arms. 

It starts on a soft summer evening, curled up on the couch with the old cd player humming in the background, worries of Caleb long out the window, they have all the time in the world and more, and Alex plans to spend it all lazing around with Willie just beside him, no need to ever leave. Julie’s sitting upside down on the armchair with Flynn smushed next to her, head on her stomach and drifting in and out of sleep. Luke’s scribbling away in the corner, his brow furrowed in thought while Reggie stands over his shoulder and attempts in vain to make out his chicken scratch. And Alex? Alex is half asleep in Willie’s arms, his entire body rippling with an overwhelming sense of adoration, like waves crashing upon the shore at high tide.

Willie traces a vague shape on Alex’s cheek, humming softly under their breath, like they’re trying to translate the curve of Alex’s brow and the dusting of freckles across his nose into song. 

Alex cranes his neck up to look at Willie, contorts his face into an unspoken question. Willie has to fight a laugh, biting his lip and ducking his chin. “I’m just memorizing,” they answer; quiet enough that only Alex can hear.

“My face?” Alex replies, completely deadpan like Willie hadn’t just said the sweetest fucking thing ever. 

“Yes, your face, dumbass.” Willie kisses Alex’s forehead, laughing when Alex tries and fails to jerk his head up like he’s attempting some sort of spiderman-esque kiss. “It’s a very nice face.”

“How sweet,” Alex says sarcastically. 

Willie giggles, leaning down to pepper Alex’s cheeks with haphazard kisses. There’s a loud, annoyed groan from where Flynn is sitting.

“Jules, they’re being sappy again,” Flynn complains, tossing a plastic water bottle at Alex and sighing dramatically when it goes right through him and lands on the back of the couch. “Not fair.”

“Definitely fair,” Alex retorts. 

“Karma,” Willie adds with a solemn nod. Alex wrinkles his nose in a quiet laugh and cranes his neck up to press a soft kiss to the underside of Willie’s jaw. Flynn gags dramatically.

“Get a room,” Luke grumbles, pulled out of his songwriting reverie by who knows what.

“Ok!” Alex says brightly. “Bye!” He pretends to wave them all out and Luke flips him off while Willie stifles a giggle and clicks his tongue scoldingly, clearly grinning through it. “C’mon babe, be nice to the children.”

And. Ok, that just isn’t fair. Because Alex hears “babe” and just bluescreens, flushing a brighter red than Reggie’s freshly painted nails. He turns his head, burying his face in Willie’s chest and muttering something that even he doesn’t entirely understand, but is probably similar to ‘bastard.’ He hears the telltale poofing, Julie’s footsteps and Flynn’s annoyed grumbling and then Willie breaks down laughing, Alex can feel their shoulder’s shaking and he pokes his head up, pouting. “You’re mean, ” he says, fondness seeping through every word.

“Oh, am I?” Willie smiles, looking quite amused. He pecks Alex’s forehead, still laughing lightly. “Am I still mean?”

“The meanest,” Alex responds in mock solemnity. “You could probably get a world record for it.”

“Oh is that so, babe .” Willie bites their bottom lip after the last word and Alex is pretty sure that he just straight up dies for the second time. Like, how is it fair for them to be so damn pretty ? 

“Stooooop,” Alex whines, covering his face with his hands. “I hate you so much, you scared our friends off!”

Willie shrugs nonchalantly. “They’ll probably be back in 5 minutes with ice cream.”

“We can’t even eat.”

“Ah, that is true.” Willie pauses for a second, then tacks on “babe.”

Brows knotted determinedly, Alex stretches up and kisses Willie roughly, tangling his fingers in their hair, which is somehow like, inhumanly soft. Willie hums contentedly, resting his hands on Alex’s cheeks. 

“M, love you too babe,” Willie mutters against Alex’s lips, throwing their head back in laughter when Alex pulls away and pouts at him like a toddler that’s just gotten their lollipop stolen. 

“I’m never kissing you again,” Alex says, tucking his head into the crook of Willie’s neck. 

He doesn’t make good on his promise. But Willie? Willie has apparently decided to do everything he can to make Alex resemble a cherry tomato. And dammit, if they aren’t fantastic at doing just that.

---

Alex huffs in frustration, fingers too clumsy as he attempts in vain to knot together the pile of dandelions by his feet. Julie had shown him how to like 10 times, but the one time he tries on his own, he ends up with a sad, fragile little dandelion string that will probably never resemble a crown. Willie, their head in Alex’s lap, glances up upon hearing Alex sigh again. 

“What’s up, hotdog?” They ask, taking one of Alex’s hands and letting him fiddle with their rings. “You’ve huffed about 10 times in the past 5 minutes.”

“I don’t huff ,” Alex protests. He slips the black ring from Willie’s right middle finger and rolls it around in his palm absentmindedly. “Flower crowns are just much more difficult than they look!”

“I bet they are,” Willie replies, biting back a laugh and attempting for a sympathetic expression.

“You’re mean.” Alex sticks his tongue out at Willie, smirking as he slips their ring over his finger. “You can have this back when you apologize for being mean .”

Willie gasps in mock offense, sitting up and pretending to glare at Alex. “You- that’s aphobic.”

“It is not- give me back my dandelions!” Alex squeals and grabs at Willie, who’s situating the sorry excuse for a crown on his head with a smug grin. 

“Or what?” They counter, leaning forward and waggling their eyebrows almost comically. Alex narrows his eyes, scooting over so he’s just inches from Willie’s face; and Willie bites at their lip, trying not to laugh, a pink blush blooming across his cheeks. 

“I’ll take back my sweatshirt,” Alex threatens. 

“Well I suppose I’ll just have to wear my crop tops every day,” Willie replies with a shrug. “Such a shame.” Alex’s face flushes slightly and he wrinkles his nose, grumbling something that sounds like “not fair.” 

Willie shifts just a bit and they’re centimeters from their noses brushing. “I guess it isn’t huh?” There’s a beat of silence full of a sort of warm familiar tension and then- Alex lunges forward and snatches the flower crown from Willie’s head with a triumphant cry, flopping back down so he’s laying on the grass, giggling at Willie’s gaping mouth.

“Cheater!” Willie cries, shoving Alex’s shoulder. Alex only laughs louder and grabs Willie’s wrist, pulling them down beside him. He sighs contentedly, settling his head on Alex’s chest while Alex runs his hands through their hair. “Can’t believe you’d take advantage of me like that.”

“Hm, you might just have to break up with me.” Alex sighs loudly. 

“I just might.” Willie turns around despite Alex’s protestful grumbling, and plants their elbows in the grass so they’re hovering just above Alex. He takes the dandelion crown from beside Alex and begins weaving the flowers together with a look of intense focus. 

Alex can’t even really be shocked that they know how to do this, because they look so pretty with the sun framing their face, wisps of hair falling in front of his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed just slightly in the way they always are when he’s particularly focused. Sometimes Alex wonders how he managed to get someone so bright and wonderful to fall in love with him. Willie was the sun and sometimes Alex felt like he was merely a half burnt-out comet. But then-

“There you are, dandelion.” Willie drags Alex into a sitting position and fixes the crown in his hair, brushing a few strands behind his ears and letting their hands linger on his jaw for a moment. And maybe Alex is just as bright a star as Willie, or perhaps he’s the moon. Oh god, he’s really letting Willie get to him huh?

It takes Alex a moment to register what Willie had said, caught up in their fond smile and the sunlight tracing the bridge of their nose. But when he does, oh- Dandelion. Dandelion dandelion dandelion- Alex flushes vibrantly and attempts to tuck his chin and bury his face in his hands, but Willie turns his head up and chuckles softly, thumbs firm on his pulse points. He scrunches his nose and Alex is sure that he’s seconds from dying again . 

“Dandelion,” Willie sings teasingly, grinning and relishing in Alex’s flustered stammering that results. They adjust the flower crown, humming gently, their eyes sparkling with the waning light. “The prettiest dandelion in the whole world.” They pluck one from the grass and contemplate. “Except maybe this one-”

“Oh shut up, please .” Alex pulls Willie forward by the key around his neck, and kisses him roughly, heart (metaphorical) bursting like it probably will until the day he’s erased from existence. Willie rests a hand on the nape of his neck, grinning against his lips as Alex winds a hand through his hair, twirling it gently around his fingers. His eyes flutter slightly as Willie pulls the crown from his head, tracing circles along the back of his neck. They break apart in pieces, slowly, because there isn’t a need to rush. Willie giggles, tackling Alex into the grass and burying their face in his shoulder. 

“Maybe I should call you that more often,” Willie muses. “Dandelion.”

Alex presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Okay, speed bump.”

---

Willie had been talking for ages about taking Alex stargazing, rambling about the best places to go and when to do and how you can’t talk about anything boring because it ruins the whole experience. Secretly, Alex would love to lay in the grass and listen to Willie ramble about stars, sinking into the way their voice softened and lilted like waves. But he was never one to give in to the competition (seriously, it’s a problem how competitive he is, monopoly is a nightmare).

“But it’s a new moon tomorrow!” Willie protests, hanging off of Alex and tucking their chin over his shoulder. “Only the best time ever to go stargazing. If we miss it we’ll have to wait another month and for all you know, we’ll have both crossed over by then.”

“Right,” Alex deadpans. “Because we will both find and complete our unfinished business in the next month, how could I forget.” 

“You never know, I knew a ghost once that-”

“That crossed over in the middle of the night because their unfinished business was getting a full nights sleep- if I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that story.”

“It’s an important story!”

Alex spins around, looping his arms around Willie’s waist and pressing a quick kiss to their forehead. “You know I love you-”

“Doubtful.” Willie bites his lip to fight back a snicker, coming up on his tiptoes until their noses are brushing. “If you loved me, you’d go stargazing.”

“Will you let me finish?” Alex says through a chuckle. He snakes his hands up Willie’s arms until he’s cupping their face, and says in a mock-serious tone. “I will go stargazing on one condition- hmph.” He’s cut off by Willie pressing up and kissing him roughly, winding their hands through his hair.

“Hm- okay- Willie.” Alex pulls away, albeit reluctantly, and laughs breathily. 

“That was the condition, I read your mind.”

“The condition-” Alex holds a hand in front of his mouth and continues speaking. “Is that you admit -”

“I will not!” Willie cries; they’d had this argument enough that he knew precisely what was coming. “If we know so much about space, explain dark matter , hm?” 

“That’s totally irrelevant.”

Willie hums in consideration, drumming his fingers on the back of Alex’s neck absentmindedly. “If you go stargazing with me I’ll help you sew sleeves onto all of Luke’s shirts,” they counter, almost temptingly .

Alex blinks in surprise, before grabbing Willie by the shoulder and chuckling, “I love you so much.”

Willie breaks out in a grin, pushing themself back up and pecking Alex’s cheek. “I know!”

---

Alex is- well Alex is definitely not at all flustered in the slightest. Willie swings their hands together, all but dragging him up the hill, the Hollywood sign towering over them. Their hair is almost sparkling in the dim starlight, wisps hanging from their braid and sticking to their forehead from the heat. He beams, spinning around so he’s walking backward and facing Alex, just barely avoiding stumbling over a rock. Willie has this tendency to just… glow, looks like he’s holding the whole world in his palms; Alex wouldn’t be so shocked if they were. Smiling unconsciously, Alex speeds up a bit to intertwine their fingers again, bumping their shoulders together and letting Willie lead him up the hill, rambling about-

“There’s this planet where it rains molten glass , hotdog!” Willie hops over a rock and twists slightly to face Alex. “Molten- do you know how wild that is? And-” He drags Alex forward just slightly, eyes bright and free. “The sunset on Mars, is blue !” He lets out a breathy laugh, breathing in the dry summer air. They’d apparently reached Willie’s perfect stargazing spot, because they sit down and pull their knees to their chest, a grin tugging at the ends of his lips. Alex has to steady himself on a nearby tree to keep from falling over before he joins Willie on the ground, resting his head on their shoulder, he can almost feel them rising and falling with a phantom breath. 

“So,” Alex starts quietly. “This is the perfect spot?”

Willie nods. “Mhm.” His gaze is focused on the last bits of sunlight stuck to the stars, watching as the sky darkens and the city lights sharpen beneath their feet. “Took me months to find it.”

Alex sinks into the silence for a moment, focusing on Willie’s feet tapping against the ground, the gentle breeze snaking around them both. “I like it,” he whispers finally. Willie turns to face him, facial features softened and smoothed over. He leans forward slightly until their foreheads are resting together.

“I like you,” Willie responds fondly, tucks a strand of hair behind Alex’s ear, and scrunches his nose slightly. It’s brief moments like these that make Alex feel like he’s floating; the intimacy and calm is something he never thought he’d have, something he was always told he’d never get. And yet against all odds, here he is. 

“Now c’mon-” Willie flops into the grass, pulling Alex down beside him and wrapping their hand tightly around his.

Alex is sure that he can’t be a ghost, because there’s no way that this is anything but heaven. 

“And that one-” Willie points upward, tugging on Alex’s hand excitedly. “Hey, Delphinus, we’re here for the stars, stop staring at me,” they laugh, tipping Alex’s chin up, seemingly missing his confused expression.

“Delphinus?” Alex inquires after a moment of Willie going on about Andromeda.

“Yea.” Willie tilts his head, amused. “It’s the dolphin constellation.”

Oh . “Oh.” Willie does not miss the way Alex’s voice rises an octave. “That's-”

Giggling, Willie turns over, folding his arms over Alex’s chest and kissing the tip of his nose. “It’s a compromise,” they say; and Alex can hear the nerves behind their dramatic eyebrow waggling. 

“Pretty great compromise,” Alex breathes, a laugh lacing the edge of the sentence. 

“Yea?”

“Mhm.” Alex’s eyes flick to Willie’s lips and- he keeps forgetting that he can do this now! He surges up to kiss Willie, relishing in the taste of peppermint and cotton candy that always seems to linger even when he shouldn’t be able to taste anything. Willie hums contentedly, shifting so he can toss his arms around Alex, who’s got his hands planted behind him to stay balanced. 

Kissing Willie will always feel like coming back to life, Alex thinks. One of these days, he’s sure to cross over in Willie’s arms and not even notice. Maybe he already has, a long time ago, he doesn’t care to check. 

Willie pulls back with a huff, pushing Alex back and chuckling at his bemused gaping. “Stop distracting me, Delphinus.”

And well, Alex has never been too good at refusing Willie. 

---

“You mean to tell me- you’ve never had a peanut butter cup. Like, not even when you were a kid?” 

They’re walking along the pier, just after noon, and Alex doesn’t quite know how the subject of candy came up, neither of them can even eat after all. But apparently peanut butter cups are one of Willie’s favorites, specifically when they have caramel, and they really like the green apple jolly ranchers; Alex is partial to watermelon. And he’s apparently very offended by Alex’s lack of peanut butter cups.

Alex shrugs in response to Willie. “I guess not,” he says, swinging their hands. “My parents were really strict with sweets when I was little and then we figured out I have a peanut allergy so I just never got the chance.”

Willie shakes his head mournfully. “Excuses, excuses,” They say with a sigh. “I’m lactose intolerant but that never stopped me. Or- I was lactose intolerant I guess.”

“That’s… okay.” 

Willie giggles, turning to bury his face in Alex’s chest, which makes it quite difficult to continue walking, but Alex would rather die all over again than ask them to move, even if he’s seconds from tripping on his own feet. 

“We’ve gotta find some way to get you a peanut butter cup,” Willie says, head on Alex’s shoulder and twirling the strings of his hoodie around their fingers. 

“I’m dead ,” Alex replies apathetically. Willie responds by kicking his ankle lightly, crooked grin on his face. They tilt their head in thought. 

“We’ll figure something out.” Willie wiggles his fingers, laughing. “I’ll steal Caleb’s magic, can’t be that hard.”

“Good luck finding him,” Alex huffs playfully. “I’ll eat all the peanut butter cups in LA if you manage that.”

“That’s going on record.”

“What record?”

“The one-” Willie taps the side of their head- “in here.”

Alex leans closer, peering into his eyes suspiciously. “Nope, don’t see anything, sorry babe.”

Willie throws their head back, laughing, and Alex breaks out in a shy smile, capturing the crinkle of Willie’s eyes in the same way he always does, like it’s the first and last time he’ll get to hear them laugh like that. 

“Did you- okay.” Willie stops laughing and attempts at a serious expression. “What about peanut butter fudge, that-” He gestures vaguely, eyes widening to emphasize his point- “is the best shit ever.”

“Nope,” Alex replies, popping the p. “I kind of liked the whole being alive thing.”

“Ha!” Willie whips his head around to face Alex, grinning wildly. “Now what’s your excuse?”

“I can’t eat, William .”

“Not with that attitude you can’t, Alexander .”

Alex opens his mouth to say something, but comes up empty, staring at Willie with a baffled expression. “You’re ridiculous,” he breathes finally, but in a much fonder tone than what he’d been going for. Willie responds with a soft snicker. Willie laughs a lot, and it always always sends sparks shooting up Alex’s body until they burst out of his chest; he’s constantly left to wonder how he’s yet to be set on fire. 

“One of these days-” Willie pokes Alex’s chest- “I’ll get you some peanut butter cups.”

“Ok.” Alex squeezes Willie’s hand, shifting closer to them so that their calves brush as they walk. It’s inconvenient and dripping with opportunities to trip, but it’s not like they can get hurt anyways. Surely, the promise of peanut butter cups will keep them moving.

Alex doesn’t realize he was lost in thought until Willie comes to an abrupt stop and tilts Alex’s head to face them.  “What’s on your mind, buttercup?” They ask genuinely, like they really want to hear Alex’s thoughts, which… that isn’t something that he’s used to.

Alex blinks himself from his reverie, face growing pinker by the second. “That’s a new one!” he squeaks, louder than intended. “Uh, buttercup, it’s, that's-” he cuts off his stammering, burying his face in his hands in embarrassment. 

“Do you- do you not like it?” Alex can all but hear Willie biting his lip anxiously, and the worried furrow of his brow. He quickly takes his head from his palms and grabs Willie’s hands, intertwining their fingers and rubbing circles over the back of their thumb. 

“No no no no no,” Alex clutches Willie’s hands to his chest, like he wants to keep him in his heart. “It just surprised me is all, you’re pretty good at getting me flustered,” he admits, chuckling. “I like it though. Buttercup.” He smiles encouragingly, watching as the doubt melts from Willie’s face.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he quips teasingly, but there’s a faint blush dusted across his cheeks even as he rises up on his tiptoes to kiss Alex’s temple, grip on Alex’s hands tightening to balance themself. 

Buttercup. Yea, secretly Alex hopes that Willie does keep that in mind. 

---

Willie’s always been a morning person, since before he can remember, surely. When they were alive, their apartment had a balcony, and as rickety as it was, it was the best place to watch the sunrise. The world was honest in the morning, before the lights flicked on, and his sister was still fast asleep, and the morning dew dripped from the roof and into his palms. God, the things Willie would give to feel dew on their hands just one more time. They’d gotten almost desensitized to the whole being dead thing, but sometimes he just aches for mornings and what they used to feel like. 

The studio is dimly lit, sky still gray as the sun begins to crawl up the horizon. Willie folds their arms over their chest, exhaling softly and tracing circles over their bicep. It was a habit he’d picked up about a year into being a ghost. His mom and sister had always been affectionate, and losing that felt like he’d lost a limb. For so long, he didn’t have anyone to reach out to, and then-

“Why do you wake up so early?” Alex pads over to where Willie is sat on the piano bench and rubs sleepily at his eyes. “You’re like a- a reverse vampire.” He flops down next to Willie, burying his face in their shoulder and yawning loudly.

“Does that make you a vampire?” Willie asks, laughing. 

Alex nods. “Mhm, I vant to suck your blood.” Willie giggles and turns to wrap his arms around Alex, relishing in the way he could feel Alex grinning dopily against his t shirt. Willie hadn’t missed the way that Alex softened around them, and it was just about his favorite thing, next to everything else about Alex of course. 

The sun is timidly rising now, lighting up the plants in the studio window and painting over Alex’s hair until it looked like gold. Willie tucks their face into Alex’s hair, inhaling deeply; lavender and something else distinctly Alex. Ghosts probably aren’t supposed to have smells,  but Willie had long since chosen not to dwell on it.

“Mmm, love you,” Alex mumbles blearily. He sits up to face Willie, their legs tangled together, Willie doesn’t care to figure out how that happened. Not when Alex, still half asleep, is smiling at him like that . 

“I love you too.” Willie grins crookedly, letting his gaze linger for a moment, because there’s really no reason to let go. They can see Alex’s expression stuttering as the sunlight washes over their face. He scoots forward and tucks a loose strand of hair behind Willie’s ear, smiling when Willie’s breath hitches and he reaches up to hold Alex’s hand to their jaw, leaning into the contact. Alex is here, Alex is here. Every time  Alex touches him, whether it’s knuckles brushing as they walk, or limbs tangled together, fast asleep, it’s always grounding. For so long, it was just him, even when Caleb showed up, but now Alex is here. Alex is here and he’s gazing at Willie like nothing else matters.

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?” Alex muses. His voice is still slurred from sleep, Willie finds it adorable .

“You,” Willie replies with a laugh. “Several times.”

Alex hums softly, thinking, but not in the bad way, Willie can tell. “Well, it’s true.”

“It really is.” Willie nods, giggling in spite of himself. 

Alex rolls his eyes and lowers his hand from Willie’s jaw, promptly moving it to his waist. “Some ego you’ve got there, prettyboy.” 

Huh. Well, this is new. Heat rushes to Willie’s face, seemingly freezing them to their seat. So, so not fair. This is supposed to be their thing! Alex is laughing at something, Willie realizes, slowly pulling themself back to Earth. When Alex finally calms down, Willie gapes at him, no doubt still bright red. “You called me prettyboy !” Willie squeaks

Alex smirks smugly, shifting closer to Willie, if that’s even possible. “Hm, I did, didn’t I?” Oh, he’s really enjoying this, Willie can tell. 

“Prettyboy.” This time he says it softly, almost reverent, voice like moonlight. Alex settles one hand on Willie’s waist, the other tracing circles over their spine. And that’s just- that’s completely unfair. Willie clutches at the collar of Alex’s shirt, yanks him forward and crushes their lips together, trying very hard not to laugh. 

“I love you so much,” Willie mumbles against Alex’s lips, pulling him even closer when Alex smiles. 

Lazy morning kisses are Willie’s favorite, he’s decided. When Alex can still barely keep his eyes open, and they’re still soaking in the morning sunshine. It’s slow, a “hello” and an “i love you” and a “good morning.” And in this case a “I can’t believe you made m blush, bastard.” There’s no need for them to pull apart, they don’t need to breathe after all, and when they do, Willie presses gentle kisses to Alex’s cheeks and forehead and nose, just because they can.

Mornings feel alive again, and Willie fucking loves it.