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“Bobby…”
“Don’t say it.”
“We’re gonna be–” Bobby slaps a hand over Alex’s mouth. “I said don’t say it,” he growls.
Alex licks his hand and Bobby rips it away, wiping it on his pant leg before placing it back on the steering wheel.
“You’re disgusting,” Bobby grumbles.
“That’s what you get for making us late,” Alex says.
“It’s not even my fault this time!” Bobby cries. “We would’ve been perfectly on time if your boyfriend would have put on a proper dress shirt the first time.”
“How come he’s only my boyfriend when he’s being annoying?”
“Hey,” Luke protests from the backseat, at the same time Reggie chimes in, “I’ll share him with you.”
Alex reaches back to take Reggie’s hand. “You’re an angel, Reg.”
“What about me?” Luke demands.
“You’re a nuisance, Lu.”
Luke pouts, but only for a second before Reggie kisses it off his face. Luke pulls back with a smile.
“It’s not my fault anyways,” Luke says. “My shirt was perfectly fine. Bobbers was the one who told me to change it.”
“So it is your fault,” Alex says, a vindicated smirk on his face.
“No,” Bobby says as he parks in front of Eats n Beats, “it’s Luke’s fault for thinking Willie would ever be impressed by his ratty old cutoff.”
“Willie knows my style,” Luke insists. “Sunset Curve’s number one fan, remember? If he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t have agreed to a date with all four of us.”
“I think you look great either way, babe,” Reggie says.
“Reggie’s my new favorite,” Luke declares as Alex opens Luke’s door and drags him out of the car.
“He’s everyone’s favorite,” Alex grumbles. “Get in line.”
Bobby shifts anxiously as Reggie takes his sweet time getting out of the car.
“Can we go?” Bobby asks. “I don’t want Willie to think we stood him up.”
Alex scoffs. “Well maybe if you hadn’t–”
“Shut up,” Bobby cuts him off and grabs his wrist to drag him into the restaurant.
They get about two steps in the door, however, before Bobby trips and falls, taking Alex down to the ground with him.
“What the fuck?” Alex groans. “What happened?”
“Saw Willie,” Bobby says, making no move to stand up from the floor. “He’s gorgeous.”
Alex rolls his eyes. “You’re a disaster.”
Luke and Reggie’s faces appear above them.
“Why are you on the floor?” Luke asks.
Reggie has a knowing smirk, and Alex has the distinct feeling that he’s about to be mocked, so he decides to stop it before it starts by tugging Reggie down with him. He lands on top of Alex and Bobby with a soft oof .
Luke frowns deeper. “Why is Reggie on the floor?”
“Reggie would like to know that too,” Reggie says.
“So would Willie,” a new voice says, and Alex looks up to see their date grinning down at them. Bobby was right– he looks stunning.
“Willie!” Alex yelps, pushing Reggie off of him so he can leap to his feet. “Hey, how’s– how’s it going?”
Willie giggles as he helps Reggie stand and Luke does the same for Bobby. “I’m great, now that you guys are here. They wouldn’t let me in to our table without the full party.”
“Yeah, we have a private booth reserved in the back,” Bobby says. “For a little more, uh, discretion, you know?”
The hostess leads them to their table, a curtained off semi-circle booth in the back. They all squeeze in, Willie in the middle with Alex and Luke on either side of him and Reggie and Bobby on the outsides respectively.
Once the hostess has left and the curtain has been closed, they all relax, and Alex feels comfortable enough to take Reggie’s hand while Luke’s comes to rest on Bobby’s thigh.
“I’m really glad you guys came,” Willie says, fidgeting with his napkin wrapper. “I was kinda worried you weren’t going to show up.”
“Are you kidding?” Luke asks. “We wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
“I dunno, I mean,” Willie gives a bashful shrug, “I finally meet my favorite band and all four of them want to date me? It seems like the kind of thing that only happens in bad romance novels.”
“Well, Willie,” Reggie says, leaning over Alex to take Willie’s hand with his free one, “welcome to the best romance novel you’ve ever read.”
Willie grins at him and gives his hand a squeeze before letting go, because it’s an admittedly awkward position, but Alex is more than happy to take Willie’s hand in Reggie’s place.
“You should tell us about yourself,” Alex says. “You know all about us, but that interview didn’t exactly go both ways.”
“Okay,” Willie says, “what do you want to know?”
“How’d you get into journalism?” Bobby asks.
“It was sort of an accident, actually,” Willie says. “I was on track to be a pro skater–”
“That’s so cool!” Reggie gushes.
Alex elbows him gently. “Let him finish.”
“It’s okay,” Willie giggles. “It was really cool. It’s still, like, my first love, but a couple years ago I got hit by a car–I’m fine now,” he clarifies, upon seeing all four of them wince, “but I broke both my legs and a whole bunch of ribs so I was out of commission for about a year. I had to make money somehow, though, so I got a job for a local skating mag, and eventually started also covering local punk shows me and my skater friends went to, and I worked my way up from there.”
“And now you work for Rolling Stone ,” Luke says, vibrating with excitement at just the thought of it. “Who’s the coolest band you ever got to meet?”
“Honestly?” Willie asks. “You guys.”
Luke smiles so hard his face must hurt. “You mean it?”
Willie nods. “I mean, maybe I’m a little biased since you’re buying me dinner.”
“And dessert, if you want it,” Bobby adds.
“See?” Willie says, “You’re sweet-talking me and giving me sweets. Dave Grohl wouldn’t do that.”
“ You’ve met Dave Grohl? ” Luke shrieks.
“In case you haven’t figured it out,” Bobby says, “the way to Luke’s heart is through music, especially Nirvana.”
“And the way to mine is through desserts,” Willie winks.
“Willie,” Luke says, his voice falling into a grave seriousness, “I will buy you as many desserts as you want for the rest of your life if you tell me everything about what Dave Grohl is like.”
“I’ll take that deal,” Willie says, freeing his hand from Alex to shake Luke’s. Luke doesn’t let go after they finish the shake though, so they just end up holding hands.
As Luke starts to ramble about his favorite Foo Fighters songs, Alex leans in to whisper to Willie, “We’re kind of a touchy group, in case you haven’t noticed. You can tell us to stop if it’s too much.”
“It’s great,” Willie says with a shake of his head. “I love it.”
“Good,” Reggie says, apparently having overheard, “‘cause that’s the bare minimum amount of contact Luke will accept at any time.”
“I’m a cuddler,” Luke cuts off his rambling to protest, “that’s not a crime. What, I’m supposed to hang out with four gorgeous guys and not cuddle them?”
“Not if they don’t want to be cuddled,” Bobby warns.
“Of course not,” Luke says, “but I don’t hear any of you ever complaining.”
Unfortunately, the waitress comes back a minute later to take their orders, and everyone has to take their hands back to themselves. As soon as she’s gone, however, Reggie wraps an arm around Alex’s waist and Alex takes Willie’s hand again.
That’s how they stay through the rest of the meal, and time seems to fly like it did during the interview where they first met Willie. He’s so easy to talk to, even more so now that they’re not limited by the professional setting, and it’s like he’s always been a part of them.
They learn that he’s lived in LA his whole life, and that on top of skating and writing he’s also an artist, with galleries sometimes showing his work.
“Reg is an artist too,” Bobby chimes in.
“Yeah, he designed our logo,” Alex adds.
“ And all our merch,” Luke finishes.
Reggie nods, bouncing excitedly. “Can we see your work sometime?”
“Yeah!” Willie grins. “That would be awesome. I’ve got one this weekend, actually. They only give me two comp tickets but I’ll pay for the other two.”
“Don’t you want to give those to your family or something?” Alex asks.
Willie’s grin falters. “I, uh, I don’t really have any family.”
“I’m sorry,” Alex says, squeezing his hand. “None of us really do, either.”
“We have each other,” Reggie says. “And our friends Ray and Rose. They’re our family, and we can be yours too.”
Willie gapes at him. “You guys just met me.”
“We really like you,” Bobby shrugs.
“Yeah,” Luke says, “even if the dating thing doesn’t work out– but I think I speak for all of us when I say we really hope it works out– you’re still welcome.”
“I–” Willie looks between all of them, his eyes starting to water. “Thank you.”
“Lexi, I’m gonna need you to move,” Reggie says. “I need to hug Willie, like, right now .”
Alex laughs and allows Reggie to shuffle into and then out of his lap to get to Willie and wrap his arms around him. Willie looks like he’s always belonged there in Reggie’s arms.
After they’ve paid for their meal and reluctantly separated themselves from each other, the five of them make their way out to the parking lot together. They move slowly, not wanting to part ways with Willie just yet.
“Hey, Willie,” Luke calls. “D’you wanna come home with us?”
Willie stops in his tracks, his eyes bugging out of his head. “I, uh– I mean. It’s, uh, it’s just the first date, you know, and there– there are four of you and I don’t really–”
Alex’s eyes widen as he realizes how Willie took that statement. “Oh my god, that totally sounded like a preposition, didn’t it? Luke didn’t mean it like that, he just doesn’t know how to turn the flirting off.”
Luke squints at Alex confused. When it clicks, he looks almost as panicked as Willie. “Holy shit, no, I just meant to, like, watch a movie or something.”
“Luke and I are asexual,” Bobby explains. “We don’t really do, uh, that .”
“Oh,” Willie breathes, his shoulder sagging in relief. “Thank god . I’m asexual too. I’m not, like, opposed to it. I just need to know you guys a lot better.”
“Lex and I do it sometimes,” Reggie adds, “but it’s not super important to us. It’s not something we ever need from you, if you don’t want to.”
“Okay,” Willie nods. “Well in that case, I would love to have a movie night with you guys.”
Reggie pumps his fist in the air and hisses Yes! While Luke lets out a victory cry.
“So should you just follow us there?” Alex asks.
“I actually took a cab here,” Willie says. “I don’t drive. Could I get a ride with you guys?”
“Absolutely,” Luke says, though Bobby grimaces.
“I’m sorry for what you’re about to experience,” he sighs.
To his credit, Alex tries to be on his best behavior in the car, but he can’t help it. He’s a born backseat driver, and they have extra-precious cargo this time.
“Bobby, your turn signal–”
“I know, Lex.”
“So turn it on–”
“I’m getting to it!”
In the backseat, Willie leans over to whisper to Reggie, since Luke is currently completely spaced out, like he usually is on car rides. “Are they always like this?”
“Always,” Reggie sighs. “I don’t know why Bobbers doesn’t just let Alex drive instead.”
“Cause he’s a fucking shit driver,” Bobby interjects.
“I’m better than you,” Alex argues.
“I have my license too,” Reggie tells Willie. “But Bobbers loves driving and Alex loves being in control, and I love them too much to take that away from them.”
“Love you too, baby,” Alex says. “Bobbers, I’d love you a lot more if you would put on your fucking turn signal. ”
Willie laughs, but Alex doesn’t have to look at him to know there’s something off. He weighs the risks of taking his eyes off Bobby’s shit driving, then decides to turn around so he’s fully facing Willie.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asks.
That snaps Luke out of his daydream, and he immediately turns to scrutinizing Willie for any signs of distress. “Are you okay? Did we say something wrong? You shouldn’t take anything Bobby and Alex say while driving seriously, they’re just dicks while we’re in the car.”
“No, you guys didn’t do anything,” Willie says, taking Luke’s hand to prove it. “It’s just… it sort of just hit me how long you guys have known each other. It’s kind of… intimidating… knowing I won’t be able to catch up with that, is all.”
“Aw, Wils,” Luke frowns. “That doesn’t matter to us. We want to build a new relationship with you.”
“We’ll help you catch up,” Reggie nods, patting Willie’s thigh.
“We’re a simple group to get to know, really,” Bobby says. “Reggie’s the sweetheart, Lex is the one who keeps us alive, and Luke’s the annoyingly passionate gremlin.”
“And which one are you?” Willie asks.
Before Bobby can answer, the car behind them nearly rams into them, and the driver slams on their horn.
Alex smacks him on the arm. “He’s the one who doesn’t use his fucking turn signal, Christ, Bobby.”
When they get back to their apartment, it’s all too easy to incorporate Willie into their movie night routine. They all change into pajamas, and Reggie and Luke lend Willie some sweatpants and a shirt, respectively, while Alex helps Bobby make enough popcorn to feed an army.
They bring the bowls out into the living room, where Luke and Reggie are grilling Willie about his favorite movies. Luke gave him a cut-off, of course, and while Alex appreciates the view, he knows the AC in their apartment is brutal. He slips his pink hoodie off and drapes it in Willie’s lap.
Willie looks up at him with a delighted grin. “Thanks, Alex.”
Alex presses a kiss to his cheek and sits down next to Reggie, who immediately takes Alex’s hands and uses them to wrap Alex’s arms around his waist.
“Here, take this too,” Bobby says, handing over the softest blanket they own. Luke had given it to Bobby as a birthday gift, but like most things they own it quickly became communal property. “It’s our favorite.”
Bobby plops himself down across Luke and Willie’s laps, Luke lays his head on Willie’s shoulder, and Willie does the same to Reggie. It’s amazing how easily Willie fits between all of them. Alex never exactly felt like they were missing something before Willie, but now it feels like he’s always belonged there.
“I still feel like I’m being punked or something,” Willie whispers, once they’ve all settled in and chosen the movie.
“Yeah,” Bobby deadpans. “There’s a camera crew behind that plant.” He points across the room to the tiny succulent in a five-inch pot that Alex and Reggie adopted together.
“You just got punk’d!” Luke says in an overzealous imitation of Ashton Kutcher.
Willie laughs and snuggles deeper into Reggie’s embrace. “Okay, I get it. This is real.”
“It absolutely is, babe.” Alex leans over to give Willie a quick kiss, then does the same to Reggie as leans back to his seat.
“No fair!” Luke whined. “I wanted to kiss Willie first!”
“You can be second,” Willie offers, and Luke’s face lights up. He moves so quickly he almost jostles Bobby off the couch. Bobby demands his kiss next as compensation, leaving the best for last.
“Woah,” Willie breathes with a dazed smile when Reggie pulls away from their kiss.
“He’s good at it, right?” Alex asks.
“Yeah,” Willie grins.
The commercials on their DVD end and the actual movie starts so Luke hushes them all– apparently Back to the Future is both Willie and Luke’s favorite movie. The five of them end up falling asleep together on the couch, and despite the awful crick in the neck Alex has in the morning, he’s never been happier.
His boys have always felt like home more than anything, but waking up sandwiched between Luke and Reggie and hearing Bobby and Willie laugh in the kitchen as they make pancakes together, it’s the most at home he’s ever felt.