Chapter Text
Luke is bored. It’s a rare occurrence these days between band and school and the general chaos that comes with having a family as big as this one, but unfortunately it still happens.
He’s tried all his friends, but Julie and Flynn are working on a Double Trouble song, Alex and Carrie are out shopping, Reggie’s on a date with Nick, and Willie didn’t answer when Luke texted them and begged to hang out so they’re either skating or asleep. Even Ray, Carlos, and Tía are busy at Carlos’s baseball game. Luke was invited but as much as he loves Carlos he is physically incapable of sitting still through a nine inning game.
After scrolling through Netflix for a couple hours— too many new shows to choose from and none that catch his attention— he decides he might as well work on some songs. He’s been trying to take a day off of music a week at Dr. Crystal’s suggestion, something about “being the kid you never got to be,” but there’s literally nothing else to hold his attention long enough.
He goes out to the studio to find that the lights are off and the curtains are drawn over the windows, which is odd because he could have sworn he opened them when he woke up this morning (much to Alex’s annoyance).
He crosses to a window and pulls the curtain open, nodding with satisfaction as sunlight floods into the studio. He goes to the next one and yanks that open too—
—and then freezes as a distressed whine comes from the loft.
Luke drops the curtain and whips around to study the loft, but he can’t see anyone from here.
“Hello?” he calls.
“Alex?” the voice calls back, and shit, that’s definitely Willie and he definitely doesn’t sound okay.
Luke poofs up to the loft and finds Willie curled up in the darkest corner, the hood of Alex’s pink sweatshirt pulled up and their head buried in their arms.
“Alex is with Carrie,” Luke says. He hesitates, then adds, “Are you okay?”
Willie shakes their head, and Luke cringes. This is so far out of his comfort zone. He doesn’t even know how to help Alex— his best friend since third grade— with his anxiety, let alone Willie, who he’s known for less than a year and who keeps most of their negative emotions locked up tight.
He kneels down in front of Willie. Their knees brush as he does so, and Willie jumps.
“Sorry,” Luke says, taking a step back. “What’s wrong?”
“‘S too much.”
Luke glances around the studio, looking for anything that might be bothering them. “Too much of what?” he asks.
Willie sobs out, “Everything.”
Oh, no. No no no no no. Luke can not handle crying. He’s about to poof out to find Alex and end this nightmare when Willie looks up at him, then winces and squeezes their eyes shut.
Luke stops in his tracks. He knows what that feels like.
“Is it the light that’s too much?” he asks, dropping his voice to a whisper.
Willie nods. “Light. Sound. Everything.”
“I got you,” Luke replies, slowly regaining his confidence. He’s back in familiar waters. He knows sensory overload on an intimate level, and it’s a lot less scary being on the other side of it. Suddenly he knows exactly what to do.
“Be right back,” he whispers.
He poofs down to the main floor and pulls the curtains shut, then scurries around the room to pick up a few key items. He climbs back up to Willie, keeping his footsteps as light as he can.
He drops back to his knees in front of Willie. “I closed the curtains,” he whispers. “Can I show you what the guys do for me when I get like this?”
Willie peeks out from his arms, eyeing Luke cautiously. Luke gives them a reassuring smile.
“All you gotta do is nod yes if you want something and no if you don’t,” he says. He holds up his first item, a dark pair of sunglasses. “These help block out the light,” he says.
Willie nods, and Luke hands the glasses over. Willie lifts their sweater paws to take them and slip them on, letting out a little sigh of relief as the darkness settles over their eyes.
“Is the sweatshirt bothering you?” Luke asks.
Willie shakes their head and burrows deeper into the pink fabric.
“Good,” Luke grins, “‘cause this blanket feels exactly like the inside of Alex’s hoodie. Here, feel if you want.”
Willie frowns and reaches out to poke the blanket. When his finger touches the soft fabric, his brow smooths out and he bunches his whole hand into the blanket.
“Nice, right?” Luke asks. “Lex and Julie picked it out special for me. I like to wrap it ‘round my legs, ‘cause I don’t like stuff on my arms but I still like to feel covered.”
Willie nods. Luke takes the blanket and carefully tucks it around Willie’s legs, covering all the skin left exposed by their shorts.
“This one’s not optional,” Luke says, holding up a bottle of water, and an almost-smile crosses Willie’s face as they reach out to take it.
Luke waits until they drink a reasonable amount, then pulls out his last item.
“These are noise-cancelling,” he says, handing over the headphones. “The pads are really soft, but you can check if you want.”
Willie pokes at the ear pieces, then lowers his hood and places the headphones over his ears. As soon as they touch him, however, he flings them off with a shudder.
“Bad?” Luke asks.
“Too much pressure,” Willie whispers.
“That’s fine,” Luke assures him. “That’s all I got for you, man, unless you want me to put some music on.”
Willie shakes his head.
“Okay,” Luke nods. “Cool. Can I do anything else?”
Willie hesitates for a moment, chewing at their lip, then averts their eyes from Luke’s.
“Could you—“ their voice cracks, and they pull their hood back up, hiding their face in it. “Could you hug me?”
“Yeah, dude of course!”
Willie winces at Luke’s volume, and Luke sends them an apologetic grimace.
“Sorry,” he whispers. He scoots so he’s next to Willie and pulls him into a tight hug. “This good?”
Willie hums affirmatively and leans their head on Luke’s shoulder, letting their eyes fall shut.
They sit like that for a while; Luke’s not sure how long. Usually his body would be rebelling against sitting still for so long, insisting on fidgeting or humming or doing anything but this, but something in his mind seems to recognize that this is important. Willie is depending on him to stay still, so with the exception of tapping his fingers on the leg farthest from Willie, he does.
After what seems like hours but is probably only one, Willie finally lifts their head.
“Luke?” he asks, voice hoarse as he removes the sunglasses.
Luke startles out of his daydream of their next gig. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for this,” Willie says.
“No problem, man.” Luke sits up, stretching his back. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah,” Willie nods. He wraps his arms around himself, rubbing his thumb on his bicep. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”
“Dude, don’t apologize,” Luke says. “This is, like, the one thing I know how to help with. Do you wanna talk about what triggered it?”
Willie shrugs. “It was nothing, really. I didn’t sleep well last night. Nightmares about… y’know, the Club and stuff. I tried going to the skatepark to shake it off but it was too loud and bright and I poofed back here without really thinking.”
A little spark of pride ignites in Luke’s chest at the thought that even subconsciously Willie knew this was a safe place to go.
“Does this happen to you a lot?” Luke asks.
“Kind of,” Willie shrugs again. “Definitely a lot more since I started needing sleep again. It happened sometimes at the Club with the lights and crowds and music, but usually Caleb took away our ability to be bothered by stuff like that, unless…” he swallows hard, looking away from Luke, “unless we were being punished.”
Luke’s hands curl into fists at his sides. There’s nothing he would love more than to track Caleb down in hell and give him exactly what he deserves for treating Willie like this, but unfortunately that’s quite impossible after the exorcism.
So instead he takes a deep, calming breath and releases his tension.
“Well all this stuff is yours whenever you need it,” Luke says, “or we can get you your own, if you want. Was there anything else I should have done?”
“No,” Willie says, “that was—that’s more than anyone’s ever done for me.”
Luke gapes at them for a moment before pulling them into another tight hug. “I’m here whenever you need help,” he promises. “I’m not too good at the other stuff, but if you need a hug or someone to listen, or a soft blanket, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Luke,” Willie whispers.
Luke feels a drop of water hit his shoulder, and he pulls back to pout at Willie. “Hey, no crying.” He swipes the tear off their cheek and Willie chuckles softly. “I know what’ll cheer you up,” Luke declares.
“Yeah?” Willie asks.
“Yeah,” Luke nods. He stands and goes to the storage shelf Ray put up here shortly after the boys moved in and grabs a deck of cards. “Losing to me at poker.”
Willie giggles, arching an eyebrow. “And what makes you think you’ll win this time?”
Luke shrugs and shoots them a cheeky grin. “Twenty-third time’s the charm.”
“Alright, Patterson,” Willie says, patting the ground in front of them. “You’re on.”
Luke loses, like he always does, but the smile on Willie’s face is victory enough for him.