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Luke
Bobby had always been a bit moody. No, moody wasn't the right word. Luke had written three seperate songs about Bobby and none of them depicted him as moody. He was just less upbeat than other people. Luke had noticed that since they first started hanging out. Luke had thought maybe he was goth or emo or something but they'd been friends for a while now and Luke had started to believe that maybe that was just him.
Bobby didn't get excited easily and getting him to smile was a challenge that Luke loving winning. He was quiet and unopinionated. Basically the complete opposite of Luke.
But Luke loved him. He saw him sitting by himself on their first day of middle school and decided they would be friends. Despite their differences, Luke did love Bobby. Luke was the only one who could make him smile and, as far as he knew, the only one who Bobby would talk to at all. It was a privilege Luke held highly.
Bobby didn't get bored when Luke would talk for hours on end. He didn't get annoyed when Luke would get stuck on the same stupid math problem for hours, refusing to ask for help. He even sat and listened whenever Luke played music, even if it was unfinished chord progression stuff. Bobby was Luke's best friend.
Then Luke began to notice Bobby disappear. Not literally but instead, like he was somewhere far away in his head and no one could reach him.
He disappeared and his gaze would lower, his head falling until his unfortunately shaped dark bangs his mom cut had covered his eyes, and he would just... sit. Nothing much happened when Bobby disappeared. If he disappeared while walking Luke would make sure to grab his arm and steer him out of the way of people but mostly nothing really happened. He balled his fists up and moved slower. That was it.
(Luke's fourth song about Bobby titled Disappear was one he didn't think he'd ever show him.)
Until Luke noticed one afternoon when they reached the driveway to his house that something actually was happening.
Bobby had slowed, his steps falling behind Luke's and, while Luke could rant like he was oblivious to the world, he always noticed Bobby.
Luke paused in his tracks, letting Bobby catch up to him, before linking their arms to guide him as he often did. Only this time, Luke noticed some resistence and realised that Bobby wasn't just making fists. He was curling his fingers so his nails were pressed tightly into his palms. Luke probably wouldn't have noticed at all if he didn't see the shimmer of blood on his nails as he recoiled.
It wasn't often that Luke could pull Bobby back from wherever he disappeared to. He was worried that it was something like sleepwalking and he'd heard it was bad to wake a sleepwalker.
Luke stepped in front of his friend, slowing their steps to a stop, and wrapped his hands around Bobby's, holding until he felt the other boy's hands still.
Noticing Bobby's eyes readjusting as he looked up, Luke assumed he'd pulled him back. "Bobbers, what're you doing?"
Bobby didn't answer. His eyes darted from their hands to Luke's face and then anywhere but. Bobby was ever so slightly taller than Luke, but here he seemed impossibly small.
Luke frowned, silently pleading that Bobby would meet his eyes again. "What's going through your head right now?"
Bobby had never been super open as a person but Luke could always tell when something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Bobby's lack of response and the way he defensively pulled his hands out of Luke's was proof.
Luke made sure not to let on how his heart ached at that motion and instead turned to beckon Bobby inside.
Once in his living room, Luke told Bobby to sit.
"Something's bothering you." Luke started once they were both seated.
Neither of them said anything for a while and the silence that overtook them was heavy. Luke watched Bobby carefully. He could see the boy tilting his head to hide behind his bangs. He could see the way he chewed on the inside of his cheek. He could see that Bobby was uncomfortable but this wasn't something Luke wanted to let go of so easily.
Minutes passed and Luke was about to repeat himself when Bobby finally spoke.
Quietly but forcefully as if he'd been holding back and couldn't hold on any longer. "I just think it would be better if I wasn't around."
Luke hoped that his heart dropping couldn't be seen on his face. "Like around me?"
He knew he'd been too annoying - speaking a little too much and being a little to stubborn. Bobby was quiet and easygoing. He should have known he was too much for Bobby.
Bobby breathed and it was shaky and lost. "Around anyone. I'm not sure I belong here."
Around anyone. Luke had always thought that if Luke wasn't so stubborn that Bobby would have already made other friends by now. But those words... it would be better if I wasn't around rung something sharp. Where would he go if not around anyone? Would he run off to live alone like some hermit? Would he leave school to live alone in the wild somewhere?
Luke looked Bobby over again. He saw the tired circles pulling at his eyes - an unnatural sight on an eleven-year-old. He saw his closed off posture like he was trying to shrink into nothingness. He saw his hands furl into fists once more. And suddenly something terrible clicked in Luke's head.
"You don't want to be here?" He all but whispered, afraid to put the words into the air. "Like... alive?"
Bobby shrugged which was somehow worse than an answer. His eyes remained trained on the floor.
Luke's throat felt tight as he grabbed Bobby's hands again. He didn't want to let go. "I don't think I get it..." Middle school sucked but it had to be better than whatever death brought, right? Luke studied the misshappen lines drawn into Bobby's palms. He breathed. "But it's hurting you and you're my friend, so I don't want you to hurt."
There was a slight retraction and Luke held tighter not wanting Bobby to pull away. "I'm not a good friend. You can make better ones." He argued through his teeth, quiet and low. "Do I even need to stick around?"
Luke couldn't help the frown that wormed onto his face. It tugged at his eyebrows and pulled at his lips. "I want you to. I want you here. I don't need better friends because you are my bestest friend."
His voice hitched embarrassingly but Luke didn't care. His eyes scanned the room for anything he could use to convince Bobby he needed him.
He landed on his guitar. "What if we started a band? That way you have something to stick around for? You can't go anywhere until we're famous and touring the world, right?"
Bobby still didn't meet his eyes. "I can't play anything."
"I can teach you." Luke had always wanted someone to play music with. He'd always wanted to play music with Bobby. "You can be the super cool rhythm guitarist. Possibly the most coolest but underrated part of any band. I can even give you my old guitar!"
Luke scrambled across the couch to grab his old guitar. His first one. He probably would have framed it but Bobby needed it more than Luke ever would. He held it out to Bobby, an invitation he hoped he would accept.
He couldn't help the sigh of relief that left his lungs when Bobby took it.
Alex
Alex had been seeing a lot more since that night with Bobby.
He'd never seen Bobby like that before. Pressed into the corner playing made up chords with no emotion on his face. Alex had seen him and immediately knew that he wasn't fully there.
Sometimes when Alex thought just a little too much and the panic encircled him a little too hard, he felt like that. Like he wasn't there. Like he couldn't come back.
He'd seen that absence in his eyes and knew something was wrong. He didn't know what but he didn't need to to know he needed to help.
Step one: bring him back from wherever he had gone.
Step two: take away the guitar. Sometimes when Alex got stuck like that he couldn't make sense of his surroundings. If this was the same thing, Bobby may not have known he was still playing.
Step three: get his breathing to steady. In for four, hold for four, out for four.
Step four: be there for him.
Alex hadn't expected a step five or for it to involve plasters but apparently Bobby had been stuck there for a while if his picked raw fingers were anything to go by.
After that evening, Alex started paying closer attention to his quiet bandmate. He wanted to make sure he was ready if Bobby went somewhere again. He began to see things.
He noticed how little input Bobby actually made. He rarely spoke unless he was spoken to. He noticed how his eyes seemed to glaze over everything, watching but never truly seeing. He noticed how he lingered on Luke's words and studied Reggie's hands when he played. He noticed Bobby would avoid making eye-contact with him at all costs.
He also noticed how little Bobby ate. How slouched his shoulders were. How taunt his cheeks were.
Alex also noticed how Bobby played. He saw how even when unplugged or when the rest of the band was quiet, Bobby's fingers where glued to the strings, pressing down in soundless chords until his fingertips where flushed white. He saw that boy pushed into a corner playing until his fingers bled.
Alex began "forgetting" his things more lately. His drum sticks, his bag, his homework. Anything that would excuse him leaving only to come right back. He wanted to catch Bobby alone. Without the pressure of the others watching. Not that the others would react poorly but, Alex knew from personal experience, sometimes there were just too many eyes.
It became something of a routine - Alex liked routines. Alex would leave, come back five minutes later under the pretenses of forgotten items, and stay to help Bobby come out of wherever he went to when the band left.
Step one: bring him back.
Step two: take away the guitar.
Step three: get his breathing steady.
Step four: be there for him.
+ Step five: bandages.
After the fourth time, and resorting to a childish animal print plaster after running out of skin toned ones, Alex spoke up.
"Do you know where you go?" Alex asked as he wrapped an elephant patterned plaster around Bobby's right thumb (how hard does one have to strum to make that one bleed? Alex's instrument knowledge stopped at percussion).
Alex usually tended to Bobby's hands in silence. Bobby was a quiet kid and had never suggested he wanted to talk. Alex was more than okay with that. He would clean off the blood, wrap up the damage, and offer to kiss it better. That was mostly a Reggie thing but after accidentally doing so the first time with Bobby he began asking him as well. He'd said yes every time. Alex would still ask.
After receiving no response, only a slight head tilt so Alex could see his cloudy eyes, Alex elaborated. "When you get lost in your head. Start playing until you bleed. Do you know where you go? What you think about?"
Bobby's posture stiffened all the way through to his hand which Alex held but he only shrugged in response.
Alex didn't know if that was the full answer but he wasn't going to push it. "It's alright if you don't know. Sometimes I don't know either. Sometimes it's everything and sometimes it's nothing."
The tension Bobby held softened again.
"If you ever want to talk... or if you feel it happening and want a distraction... or if you just need an out, you can come to me." Alex placed the final plaster but didn't let go of Bobby's hand. "I won't judge. I'm here for you, whatever it is."
Alex's after-rehearsal doctor sessions seemed to lesson. He would no longer come back for his "forgotten" bag and find Bobby playing through the blood as often. They would talk meaningless shit until Bobby would head inside.
But he noticed that Bobby seemed to disappear into his mind a lot more. Alex didn't know where he went, but he hoped he could find his way back even if Alex wasn't there to pull him through.
Step six: help him do it on his own.
Reggie
Reggie liked Bobby. Bobby was nice and listened to any experimental country songs that Luke wouldn't be bothered hearing. Sure he could be a sarcastic shit like Alex but it was different. Like maybe he was trying to fit in. Reggie knew that feeling. And while they could all get pretty loud sometimes, Reggie had never heard him yell.
Reggie had never really seen him upset at all.
The day they found out they were playing the Orpheum was crazy day. Reggie, Bobby, and Alex had made it to the studio after school to find Luke giddy on his feet like a tap dancer.
He'd shared their incredible news and Reggie heard Alex squeal for the first time in his life. Reggie didn't know Alex could even make that noise. Meanwhile, his own jaw had hit the floor. The Orpheum?! That was bigger than they could have ever dreamed of! Successful people played the Orpheum. Sunset Curve was playing the Orpheum.
Reggie's blood fizzed in his veins until he couldn't help but shake out the energy, excitement vibrating through his every bone.
Luke kept talking (almost yelling) about how big of an opportunity this was and (despite how Reggie would flinch at his volume) he couldn't help but join him in his loud rambling. Even Alex, who was usually very composed, was loud.
Reggie hadn't heard a thing from Bobby at all until he saw him throw down his guitar and run upstairs.
Luke had scoffed and whispered something to Alex who clapped him upside the head.
Reggie was worried. He understood that loud noises could be a lot sometimes and, to be fair, they were being very loud. Reggie announced to the other two that he was going to check on Bobby and left before he could hear their reply.
Bobby's bedroom door had been slightly ajar and Reggie didn't think to knock. He poked his head through the gap and saw Bobby sitting against his bed with his knees to his chest and his hands woven together.
Reggie wouldn't ask what was wrong. Bobby had obviously come up here for silence. But he didn't think he should leave just yet. He wanted to make sure Bobby was okay first.
Trying to make his footsteps as soft as he could, he tiptoed over and sat beside Bobby, careful not to touch him yet.
He looked over the boy once more. His eyes were sullen and his face was pale. Reggie could see discoloured scarring on the tips of his fingers. He remembered how Bobby used to start some rehearsals with plasters over his nails before getting frustrated at the whiny sounds they made on his guitar and ripping them off. Reggie had wondered how much he must practise do do that to his hands. Bobby hand nice hands, Reggie had thought that often.
Reggie noticed now that Bobby's other hand was pressing his nail forcefully into his opposite hand and wondered if that was a reaction to the loudness downstairs. Sometimes Reggie got itchy when things were too much.
Reggie didn't want to see him break the skin of his nice hands so he reached out and gently took Bobby's hands in his own.
They sat like that in the quiet for a while and Reggie let his eyes wonder around Bobby's room.
They'd been in his room many times before but Reggie was seeing it with different eyes now. From where they sat on the floor, Reggie couldn't see above Bobby's oddly tidy desk. He couldn't see the posters that hung by his mirror or the Christmas photo of the four of them Luke had gifted him that past year. He couldn't see the black nail polish that Reggie and him used for gigs. He couldn't see the discrete pride pin on the side of his desk that Luke had bought for them all when Alex had come out.
From here on the floor, Reggie couldn't see anything that indicated that anyone lived there at all. Just desk legs and a cracked plastic chair to replace his desk chair that Alex had broken and still felt guilty about. An empty trash can and a black nail polish stain beside a dropped guitar pick. He saw a lack of life.
Without really meaning to, Reggie sighed and let his head fall to rest on Bobby's shoulder. When Bobby didn't flinch or move away, Reggie relaxed into his touch.
Bobby had always been comforting to Reggie. He was the quiet in their otherwise very loud band. Reggie knew he was loud sometimes himself but some days he just needed that quiet and Bobby was always there to offer that.
Reggie didn't know how long had passed in that room. It was enough time for Bobby's dad to pull up in the drive home from work but not enough time for Luke or Alex to come looking for them. Or perhaps it had and they were just too distracted to notice.
After a while longer in the soft silence, Bobby swallowed.
"It's a big deal."
Reggie lifted his head to look Bobby in the eyes. That was the first thing he'd said since Luke had announced their gig. Reggie didn't want to scare him away from further words.
"The Orpheum." Bobby clarified as if he would be talking about anything else.
Taking that as his cue to respond, Reggie nodded. "It's exciting."
Another beat passed and Reggie noticed Bobby's eyes had gone a murky colour. "We made it." Bobby uttered quietly, and Reggie could hear an odd sense of finality in his words.
Reggie chose not to respond to that, instead squeezing Bobby's hand tighter, afraid what might happen if he let go.
Reggie didn't want to let go.
Julie
When she had played that CD in her garage and three cute ghost boys had appeared in front of her, Julie had been convinced she was crazy. It took enough effort to convince her that she wasn't so when she open the door to her room after bidding her new ghost housemates goodnight to find a fourth cute ghost boy sitting on her floor against her bed she almost lost it again.
After establishing that yes, this was the fourth member of the dead band downstairs, she made him follow her out to the garage.
When the fourth ghost - Bobby, she realised - saw the other three ghosts, Julie saw him freeze like a deer in the headlights.
The boys had jumped forward and hugged him only for the taller one - Alex - to jump back and question why in the hell he was dead too.
Bobby had paled and muttered something about eating the same street dogs just a couple of minutes after them. The boys had believed him easy enough.
Julie didn't know anything about ghosts or their whole returning 25 years later rules and regulations but something didn't feel quite right about it. They came back as a band when the CD was played but three came together and one seperate. There was a disconnect to their deaths and Julie didn't think "a couple of minutes" was it.
Still, she wouldn't question it (yet) and retired after what had been a very strange night.
It turned out that Julie loved each and every one of her garage ghosts and pretty soon they became great friends if a little hesitantly on behalf of Alex and Bobby.
Shortly after realising that her ghosts could be seen when they played with her, Julie and the Phantoms was born. Shortly after that is when Bobby started disappearing.
The boys were often teleporting all over the place but not like Bobby. Bobby would zone out for a good few minutes before announcing in the middle of a conversation that he needed a moment and he would poof out.
The boys didn't question it and when Julie asked Reggie he mentioned that sometimes he thought Bobby just needed some quiet. That was fine. Being a ghost 25 years in the future was weird enough to warrant some quiet.
It was Alex who came to her one day to tell her that Bobby had really been teleporting just to the loft above them the whole time. Alex had poofed up there to look for something and found Bobby sleeping. Ghosts didn't need to sleep, they'd all told Julie that before, so Alex noted that it was a conscious decision for him to disappear just to sleep. He mentioned that he was worried about him.
He didn't elaborate but he didn't need to.
It wasn't long after that that Luke came to her. Luke and her had kind of an interesting little relationship going on and they were working on some lyrics with laying on her bed when Luke had spoken up.
"Can I talk to you about something?" He'd piped up seemingly out of nowhere.
"I'm not letting you in my dream box, we've been over this."
Luke sat up, his posture serious. "Not that. It's about Bobby."
That made Julie look up. She put her pen down and nudged her glasses up on top of her head, her attention fully on Luke.
"I'm... I'm worried about him." He backtracked, his eyes flittering all over the room. "To be honest, I'm actually scared."
"Of Bobby?"
Luke shook his head furiously. "No! Not of him. I'm scared for him. Like really scared. Which is weird because technically we're already dead so what can really happen now but I wish he would talk to us."
Luke didn't say much more than that. He had worried he'd said too much. Julie wished she could hold him and tell him it was fine more than anything. But she couldn't.
Julie didn't know everything and Bobby had always been the quieter of her ghosts but she feared she knew enough.
When her mother had passed away, Julie had thought her world had ended. That with her mom went every bit of joy left in her life. For a few months, Julie's therapist had been working with her to dissolve the suicidal thoughts that plagued her.
She wasn't one hundred percent sure she knew what Bobby was going through but she couldn't leave one of her new friends alone like that. Even if she was wrong, he deserved to have someone check on him.
She couldn't teleport so she knew Bobby heard her coming.
"Hey, Bobby." Unsure if he was asleep or simply pretending, she sat down beside him.
Bobby didn't look at her. "How did you know I was here?"
She wished she could touch him, even if it was as simple as nudging his hand. Proof that she was there. Proof she cared. "Bobby, we all knew you've been coming up here for a while."
His surprise echoed around them despite him not saying a word.
"The boys figured you needed some space to process all of this. They know you better than I do so I went along with it, but now... I'm checking in."
Bobby finally turned his head to look at her. She didn't know how ghosts could look so worn out. She didn't really understand ghosts at all.
"Alex mentioned he was worried you were panicking. Reggie thought you needed some silence. But Luke..." She paused, swallowing harshly. "Luke is scared."
It was weird to claim Luke as being scared. She'd never known the boy to be scared and from the look on Bobby's face, neither did he.
"He didn't say much but I've never seen Luke like this so I've taken it upon myself, as your lifer friend with lifer feelings, to check up on you. How are you handling this all?"
Bobby averted his gaze again. She hadn't thought it would be that easy. She continued.
"Are you... upset that you're dead? Or..." How do you ask a ghost if he wants to die again? "...upset that you aren't more dead?" Her words were low, almost like a whisper.
She saw Bobby bite his lip and knew that was as much of an answer as she was getting. It was also enough of an answer for her to know everything she needed to. If she wasn't right, he would have argued. It's hard to admit you don't want to live. She imagined it was just as hard to admit you don't want to be a ghost because you wished it ended for good the first time.
She released slow breath, searching for her words. "I know it doesn't help but... after my mom died... I experienced... maybe not exactly this but... something similar and all I can say is we're all here for you."
She wondered if it wasn't longing to die to be with the ones he loved if maybe he felt he didn't deserve them. She'd heard that was common.
"You aren't a burden. Not to me or to the boys. They really miss you." They love you. "I know it's a lot to ask for you to come back right now but maybe we start small. Like... I know ghosts don't really need sleep so maybe we start with waking up. Even if it's all you do right now."
It felt suitable to quote her mother at a time like this. She knew what it was like to not want to wake up. She knew how hard it was. She also knew that the exact thing that helped pull her out of that were in her garage right now worried sick about their best friend.
For a few days after that, Bobby was nowhere to be seen and the boys were a wreck. But Bobby did come back and the first thing he did was hug Luke fiercely. He followed that by hugging both Alex and Reggie next. He sent a soft look Julie's way and she sent one back.
He disappeared again the next day.
But he started coming back on his own after that and Julie hoped that was enough for now.
Reggie
Reggie watched his boys a lot. They liked to argue that he was easy to distract but if there was one thing that could always hold his attention, it was his boys.
Reggie always noticed when Luke got really in the zone and he would chew on his pencils with his eyes squinted in concentration. He always noticed the twitchy tapping in Alex's fingers when he didn't have his drumsticks as a distraction. He always noticed when Bobby smiled because it didn't happen often.
Sure, he offered timely pretend smiles that felt like they fit the conversation but none of them were ever very convincing. Reggie could always tell when Bobby's smile was real because made his eyes crinkle in an endearing sort of way. Sometimes Reggie was the cause of said smile and there was possibly nothing better than knowing he was the one to make Bobby genuinely happy. Something warm bloomed in his chest as he committed the smile to memory. He had to remember it because it was hard to tell when would be the next time he'd see it.
Lately, Reggie had been watching Bobby a lot in particular. Julie and the Phantoms were playing for a party Julie was throwing. Ray had even offered to film it for their social medias (whatever that was). They'd been rehearsing on and off all week and Reggie mostly watched Bobby.
Adding Julie to the band and letting her lead was entirely fair considering she was the thing that made them visible to lifers but Reggie still worried that her presence might have been intimidating to them. Especially Bobby. He wasn't super keen on solo vocals and some might say the rhythm guitar was the easiest to replace especially when Julie was so multitalented. Reggie didn't want Bobby to feel like he was being kicked from the band or that they no longer needed him. So, Reggie watched him.
His (a little bit) obsessive focus on Bobby earnt him some odd looks from Alex but it also ensured Reggie didn't miss anything. Things he would have been devestated to miss.
Like once when Luke was workshopping a song with Julie, Reggie noticed Bobby working on something in a notebook he didn't recognise. Whatever he was working on made him smile - a real Bobby smile - and Reggie couldn't help but beam.
He also noticed that Bobby had started pitching in more in band discussions. Usually he was quiet and let decisions get made around him. When he spoke up, arguing against Luke's suggestion, for the first time, Luke had made a funny little dumbfounded face that Reggie also had to commit to memory. He liked the way Luke's lips looked when they softened into that surprised expression.
Bobby had also started to fill the silence more. He never used to be the one to start conversations but lately Reggie had seen him bring up random things here and there just because it had gotten quiet. Reggie didn't know if he'd ever heard Bobby talk about something so insignificant as the dogs he'd seen when he and Alex had walked along the beach that morning. It was so simple, so mundane. So unlike him. Reggie wasn't complaining and he would join Bobby's trivial conversations every time.
It was nice to notice that even in such an extreme circumstance like death, Bobby could manage to grow in a way that meant more than disappearing when things got loud.
Reggie wished he was a little more like that. He wished he'd grow out of his fear of loud noises or quick hands.
Reggie was proud of Bobby. He'd watch him any chance he got. He liked seeing him smile.
Alex
Alex figured it out pretty quickly after Julie had introduced them to the internet. When Bobby had shown up as a ghost 25 years in the future with them and he'd admitted to eating the street dogs too, something had felt off to Alex.
There was something lingering in the air between the four of them. Something unspoken but louder than anything that screamed that something wasn't right.
When Julie had googled Sunset Curve and their tragedy, she'd read most of the article to them before seeing something and closing her laptop dramatically. Something deep in Alex's chest told him he already knew what she'd seen but he still took it upon himself to do his own research.
That meant sneaking onto Julie's laptop while she was at school and the boys were distracted. It didn't take much research their deaths to discover that only three of them had died via street dogs.
Confirming Alex's worst fears, Bobby's death had been less than six months later by a poisoning of a different kind.
He'd killed himself.
Based on the dots that were quickly connecting in Alex's head, he'd always wanted to die. Perhaps still does.
He assumed whatever mental trouble caused him to feel this way to begin with didn't leave just because his body was no longer tangible. If Alex could still feel all his anxiety, he didn't doubt that Bobby still felt the same way he did before death.
He had hoped that Sunset Curve as a whole would be enough to keep him around now that they were kind of bound together, but, after a cute skateboarding ghost introduced them to a ghost magician that could literally kill them again, Alex had his fears. Could anyone really blame him? He loved his friends! He loved Bobby. He didn't want Bobby to die again. He didn't want Bobby to want to die.
The knowledge that ghosts could in fact be more or less killed again was unsettling to all of them, and Alex couldn't help but watch Bobby a little closer after they found that out. If he poofed out again, Alex wanted to be sure he would come back. He couldn't lose him again.
But, really, all Alex saw was Bobby writing a lot more recently.
Now that they figured out they could hold things if they concentrated hard enough, they'd all been utilising it wherever they could. Luke would open the fridge several time a day, as long as Julie wasn't watching. Reggie would leave sticky notes for Julie and sometime Ray. Alex like to practise lifting things of different weights to see where his ability's limits ended. And Bobby... Bobby had been writing.
Bobby hadn't done much writing when they'd been alive. Aside from his schoolwork which he was always very efficient with, Bobby never really wrote like Luke or Reggie with their songs or Alex with his journal.
Which didn't exactly calm Alex's heightened mind.
What if whatever Bobby was writing was for them? What if it was a goodbye?
Alex wouldn't say he was proud of what he'd done but he also didn't regret it.
Alex respected rules and people's personal boundaries. Alex would never touch someone's private things without asking them. Usually.
But he'd justify it this time.
When Bobby left with Reggie and Luke to scope out this new venue with Julie, Alex had stayed behind with one mission in mind. Check what Bobby had been writing in his book.
The first few pages were empty aside from a couple of math problems from Flynn figuring out budgeting things back when the book was theirs. The next few had a few doodles of guitars and some flowers that had been furiously scribbled over, the artist clearly unhappy with them.
Then Alex found the songs.
Of course! Songs were exactly how Luke and Reggie expressed their feelings. If Bobby had been planning or thinking anything, it made sense that he would transcribe it into music.
Although, maybe Bobby wasn't the lyrical genius that their friends were. The first song he found was an attempt at a reprise for Lakeside Reflection. It was good but nothing special, not that Alex was one to judge!
The second song was something called Home With You and the further he got into it's lyrics the more he realised it was about horses and farms and he realised too late that it was an attempt at a country song (no thanks to Reggie's incessant pleading; Bobby always gave into Reggie quicker than Luke did).
The third was something called Ritual which was the most fleshed out, with a rhythm and chords to go with it. There was even a weak attempt at a drum part scribbled in the corner. But, Alex realised as the same of his actions finally started to kick in, there was no real deep meaning or hidden messages to it.
There were no other pages of ink.
While embarrassed that he had to stoop so low as to invade his friends privacy, Alex was honestly relieved that the only thing he found was mediocre songs. It was a sign that Bobby's time was being spent on something other than the worst. It was hopefully a sign that they'd be okay.
Alex wasn't always the most optimistic but he hoped it was a sign that Bobby would stay.
Luke
Bobby played them a tune. The bridge that Luke had been working on for entirely too long.
And it was exactly what Luke had been looking for.
Well, not really. If he were to really analyse it, Julie probably could have come up with something more intricate or cool sounding if he had asked her. But when he heard Bobby play it, it was perfect.
Luke was often told he got a little lost in the music. That he started seeing things in song instead of sight. Luke wouldn't argue it. Everything came easier to him when it was through the lense of music. And hearing Bobby play something he'd written and composed for them without anyone asking him to was perfect. It was perfect because it meant he'd gotten out of his disappearing state for long enough to do something for himself.
Luke couldn't help it when he beamed and picked Bobby up, spinning him around while the other boys feet dangled off the ground. Bobby yelled sharp protests at the uncalled for action but only put the boy down when he laughed.
It was just the two of them sitting on the couch going over his bridge and translating it to the other instruments. Reggie had gone inside to follow Ray around again and Alex was probably out trying to find that skateboarder again.
It was just Luke and Bobby. Like old times.
Luke hummed Bobby's bridge through the pick he held between his lips, smiling as he wrote down another note in his songbook.
He shifted the pick to between his teeth. "I love this, you know? Where did it come from? What inspired it?" Luke should have known better than to question the motives behind something from someone who didn't always like giving real answers. He just had to though! The need to understand Bobby's musical standpoint was so strong.
Bobby shrugged but Luke swore he saw his face flush a little in the light. "I heard it first with you guys." He admitted. "It's you."
Luke tilted his head, hoping to prompt an elaboration.
He was so happy when Bobby offered one. "See, this part came to me when I looked at Reggie. I just kind of... heard it. Then I looked at you and it sort of blended into... something. Then Alex and Julie were part of the picture and it became something that could really worked."
Luke couldn't help but smile wide. That was such a Luke answer. "That's so cool!"
Bobby smiled too. Small but real. "I couldn't really figure out what was wrong with it at first. It was all there. You, Reggie, Alex, and Julie. It had all the parts to be great but something was missing."
It's you, Bobby. It's always been you. You complete us. Luke hoped more than anything that Bobby had realised that for himself.
Bobby looked down, his bangs shielding his eyes. "But then I realised what was missing was... me." He pointed at a piece of the sheet music Luke was halfway through copying. "This part. It's me. I was what was missing. I don't know if that makes sense or if that sounds a little selfish -"
Luke cut him off by wrapping his arms tight around his shoulders. It had been ages since they'd hugged. Luke didn't want to let go.
Bobby reciprocated the embrace, sighing into the touch. "Whatever our unfinished business is..."
Luke held him tighter, scared for the words that would come next.
"I hope it's something we share." Bobby admitted quietly into Luke's shoulder. "I think I'd like to go with you guys, if that's okay."
Luke grabbed Bobby by the arms as he pulled apart so he could look him in the eyes. "If that's okay!?" He echoed, eyes stinging with the threat of ghost tears. "Bobby, we aren't letting you go anywhere without us ever, okay?"
Bobby's eyes were a little wide and a little afraid, but there was a softness to his face Luke hadn't seen in years. "Yeah. Okay."
Luke pulled him back into his arms. He knew that there would be hard days, but this felt like the start of better ones. And they'd be there to help him through the hard days, no matter what.
Julie
The boys played the Orpheum and yet they didn't move on. There was a stickiness in the air when she arrived home after their show to find them still there and still in pain.
But in an unbelievable act of power and love and definitely some tears, their stamps had been lifted and they could touch her. For real.
It was Reggie who discovered that they could be seen after that night. She woke up the next morning to find her four ghost bandmates sitting on the couch in the house with her father standing in front of them. He'd had a lot of questions about why he'd found her Swedish band in his garage that day. They had a long story to tell him.
It was Alex who discovered that they couldn't teleport anymore. After getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to simply poof out to find Willie, the boys had to admit that that power must have gone along with the stamps.
It was Luke who discovered that they could eat and Julie had never seen four people eat so much so quickly. She was sure they would be sick at the rate they were going.
But it was Bobby who discovered that they were alive.
Everything else had seemed to be either gained powers or lost powers and they were taking them as weird post-stamp side effects. Until one night when they were watching a movie in the living room, Bobby jumped up in the middle of a conversation.
"Julie. Julie!" His eyes were quickly filling with tears. She rarely saw Bobby cry. He beckoned her over with fast frantic hands.
She was on her feet immediately and all eyes turned to them.
A single tear fell from his eyes as he lifted her warm hands to his chest.
Julie felt his heart beat and she burst into tears without a second thought. Alex was the next to notice his stuttering chest, then Reggie, and finally Luke, and suddenly all five of them were inconsolable.
She couldn't tell how much time had passed before she was composed enough to speak.
"You guys are never allowed to even touch a hotdog again, okay?"
Her boys laughed but she wasn't joking.
"I'm serious. You have to promise me you won't go anywhere. You aren't allowed to go anywhere, alright? I don't want to lose you again."
Through her tears and relief and overall joy, Julie barely noticed when it was Bobby who grabbed her by the shoulders and promised.
He promised to stay.