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Luke supposed that he and Julie had always been big on casual affection. They’d gone months desperately wanting to hold each other without being able to, so when they’d finally gained the ability to do so, it just seemed to come naturally to the two of them. Why waste time not doing what they wanted when there was no guarantee his solidity would last?
Fortunately, the corporeal form seemed to be a permanent development these days. It had been months since Julie had hugged the boys and somehow saved them from the jolts that would have wiped them from existence, and they'd been more or less solid beings ever since.
And Luke had always been physically affectionate with his boys, so why not Julie, too? Julie, who was the human embodiment of music and very likely his soulmate across lifetimes. And yeah, they were definitely too young for that to even be a thing he vocalized to her, but how could she not be? She was everything.
Most of the time their affection was kept casual around the boys. A sleeveless arm thrown across Julie’s shoulders, a smacking kiss to the crown of a head, a small hand curved around Luke’s arm while they wrote collaboratively in his journal on the black sofa in the studio. Cuddling and anything their boys might tease them for was saved mostly for the dark stillness of Julie’s bedroom late at night, when she couldn’t sleep and Luke swore her soul called out for his to shield the loneliness that sometimes shadowed her when she thought about her mom a little too long.
The one somewhat overly-affectionate thing Julie seemed to adore, though, was something Luke had discovered completely by accident. One day after a long band practice where Julie had sounded particularly amazing, she’d been talking excitedly with Reggie over lyrics spread out across the piano and Luke just couldn’t stand the distance between them anymore. He’d set his blue electric on its stand and slid into place behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist to encourage her to lean her back against his front. He was perfectly content to hold her there, staying out of her conversation with Reggie and instead peaking over her head at the lyrics they’d pumped out together over the weekend.
But then she’d completely melted against him, her little hands clutching to his arm to keep him in place and leaning against him so completely that he’d had to wrap his other arm around her, too, to counterbalance their weight enough to keep them from completely toppling over. She’d tucked her head into the hollow between his neck and shoulder and hummed along to Reggie’s bass line recommendations while Luke stood in as an observer, content to hold his world in his arms and provide her support however she needed it. He hadn’t expected that she’d actually let out a small whine whenever he’d finally moved away to help Alex cover up his drum kit for the evening, and he couldn’t help but giggle in elation at the involuntary reaction she’d had when they parted.
So Luke took note of that particular reaction and made sure to do it again whenever she least expected it. It didn’t matter if he used a gentle hand on her hip or a casual arm across the front of her shoulders, encouraging her to lean back against him; she always came willingly and would stay curled up against him until he finally had to push her away to continue whatever task they’d been distracted from in the first place. It was something Reggie and Alex always raised their eyebrows at, but they were at least nice enough to Julie not to bring it up around her. There were plenty of jokes made at Luke’s expense over the whole thing, but he’d just blush and threaten them with a wet willy if they continued on too long about it.
To be honest, Luke wasn’t really sure exactly why Julie enjoyed it so much. But it was Julie, and he’d already told her he’d do anything for her, so he definitely wasn’t going to not do something that she so obviously enjoyed.
And then one day they were hanging out in their studio, Julie perched up on top of the piano laughing at them while Luke chased Reggie around for sticking yet another country song into the pages of his journal. She grabbed at the hood of Luke’s sleeveless sweatshirt as he passed by, tugging him back toward her to save Reggie as she koala’d herself against his back. Her spot at the piano gave her a rare height advantage over him, and she curled her arms securely around his shoulders to keep him in place against her.
And, oh.
This was why Julie loved it when he held her like this.
With the warmth of her pressed completely against him, her arms holding him in place and her cheek tucked into the top of his head, he suddenly felt totally and completely safe.
She felt like home.
Luke couldn’t even try to hold onto all the annoyance and irritation he’d held toward Reggie only moments ago. He leaned back into the embrace, managing only to send Reggie one last halfhearted glare before he gave in completely and tilted his head back against Julie’s chest to stretch up and press a tiny kiss to the curve of her jawline. She giggled and squeezed her knees against his waist, only loosening her hold enough for him to spin around in her arms and wrap his own around her in a more solid hug.
“Ah, Julie’s Magical Hug strikes again! My hero!” Reggie’s laugh echoed across the studio, and Luke immediately knew he’d just given the boys substantial teasing ammo for at least the next week.
“Shut up, Reg!” Luke started to pull away from Julie to resume his chase and scare the daylights out of Reggie, but she immediately tightened all her limbs around him so hard that she’d for sure come off the piano with him if he kept going. And that meant that either she’d fall and Luke would be directly responsible for hurting Julie, or she’d stay completely attached to his front which also wasn’t something he was ready to deal with, so he let her have her way and stayed where she wanted him.
Because who was he to deny Julie Molina anything?
And once Alex poofed back in from his visit with Willie and distracted Reggie with his latest 21st century lingo he’d learned, Luke tucked his head into Julie’s neck and told her, “You’re my whole world, you know?”
Julie giggled, squeezing her arms against his shoulders. “Isn’t music your whole world?”
Luke shrugged noncommittally, jostling her arms as he leaned further into her. “Same thing. You are music. Didn’t have to choose between you.”
He couldn’t see her face from where he’d purposely stayed hidden in her neck while he spoke, the words (though true) feeling a little too big for him to say if he was looking straight on into those giant brown eyes that always tore right at his heartstrings. But he could feel her sharp intake of breath, and he knew she had to be doing that soft surprised smile that seemed to be reserved for whenever he confessed something she hadn’t quite been expecting. The one that always made him smile stupidly back at her with a face that wasn’t fooling anybody–the one that made it so transparent he was completely gone for this girl.
“You’re my whole world, too,” is what she finally whispered back.
And somehow, Luke didn’t doubt it for a second.