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littlemissaddict · 3 years

Text

Like Brothers

Summary: Carlos has an accident at baseball practice and is unable to get in touch with Ray or Julie so he call Luke instead. (Requested)

Word Count: 1.6K

“Luke” Carlos says when he hears the older boy answer the phone.

“Hey buddy, what’s up?” Luke asks, he’s kind of confused and worried as to why Carlos has rang him because he knows Julie had given her brother Luke’s phone number for emergencies when he can’t get a hold of her or their dad.

“Can you come pick me up?” he asks which confuses Luke even more.

“Yeah, where are you?” he asks, already grabbing his shoes as he hears Carlos telling him he’s at baseball practice “Okay, give me five minutes” he says before the younger boy hangs up. He slides his shoes on quickly, grabbing his car keys and letting his mom know that he’s going out.

It doesn’t take him long to get there, parking the car and jumping out going in search of the boy. Luke finds Carlos sat on the bench watching the rest of his team play and the closer he gets to him he can see that he’s holding his arm against his chest and he wonders what the boy has done.

“Jeez Carlos what have you done?” Luke asks as he reaches him but before he gets an answer the coach comes over to them.

“Are you here for Carlos?” the coach asks and Luke nods not getting a chance to say anything because Carlos speaks up letting him know that he couldn’t get a hold of his dad because he was working. “Okay well you should probably get that arm looked at, you went down pretty hard” the coach says as Carlos stands up and goes to pick up his bag but Luke knocks his hand away.

“I’ve got it” he says, putting it over his shoulder and Carlos gives him a grateful smile as he says goodbye to his coach and follows Luke back to his car. Luke unlocks it letting Carlos climb into the passenger seat and he puts the bag in the trunk. Climbing into the car himself he notices Carlos struggling to put the seatbelt on with one hand.

“Do you want a hand?” Luke offers knowing how stubborn he can be when it comes to doing things by himself. Carlos groans and nods as Luke twists in his seat to face him, he takes the seat belt from Carlos’s hand and pulls it across him, careful to avoid his arm and clicks it into place.

“So a trip to the emergency room then” Luke says as he buckles his own belt before starting the engine. They’re quiet on the way to the hospital, only the sound of the radio playing softly in the background as Luke navigates the roads. The car park is surprisingly full when they get there and Luke has to drive around it a couple of times before he finds a space.

At the front desk of the emergency room they ask the usual questions: name, date of birth and what they’re here for. Luke answers the first and last questions easily but pauses and looks to Carlos for his date of birth, which makes him laugh.

“You’ve been dating my sister for how long and you still don’t know my birthday” he asks and Luke shakes his head waiting as Carlos answers the lady behind the desk, after she inputs it into the computer she tells them to take a seat and that it won’t be long.

They sit for about half an hour before a nurse calls them through, taking them into a room where she can examine Carlos’s arm. She makes small talk as she checks it over, asking how he did it and when he tells her it was at baseball she talks to him about that.

When she’s finished, she sits back in her chair “I think it may be a break but we’ll send you down to x-ray just to double check and then we’ll get you patched up” she smiles leading them out of the room and telling them where to find the x-ray department. The boys follow her directions only getting lost once on the way there, which Luke thinks is a miracle because all the corridors feel like a maze. Luke lets them know that Carlos is there and they take a seat waiting to be called through, this time they’re not waiting long before his name is called. The x-ray confirmed that Carlos’s arm was in fact broken and he left the hospital with a cast on.

“You hungry? How about we stop for something before I take you home?” Luke asks as they climb back into the car and Luke helps Carlos with his seat belt again to save him from struggling with only one hand. They decide on burgers and get take-out, planning to eat it back at the Molina house while they wait for Julie and Ray to get home.

They pull up outside the house, Luke takes the food and grabs Carlos’s bag out of the trunk, meeting him at the front door which he’s already unlocked. Luke places Carlos’s sports bag down by the front door then the two boys head straight through to the kitchen to unpack the food. Luke notices that Carlos had disappeared while he was putting the food on plates but he comes back in just as he’s putting the food on the table and Luke see’s he’s got his tablet with him.

“You don’t mind if it put this on while we eat do you?” he asks, sitting down and opening up the youtube app. Luke shakes his head as he takes a bite out of his burger as Carlos props the tablet up in the middle of the table where they both can see it and he presses play on the video. From what Luke can tell it’s a ghost hunting video, he shouldn’t be surprised really Julie has told him about Carlos’s latest obsession with ghosts and he knows that he had even roped Reggie in to help him search the house for ghosts after band practice a couple of weeks ago. Luke’s not sure he believes in the existence of ghosts and he’s certain that all the tricks that they pull off in shows like these are faked but despite this he finds his attention glued to the small screen and Carlos definitely notices.

“Didn’t know you were a believer too” he teases as he stuffs a couple of fries into his mouth.

“I’m not, I'm just trying to work out how they’re doing it” Luke answers truthfully because one video is not going to change his mind.

“It’s ghosts.They’re not doing anything” he proclaims before gesturing to the person on screen and he sounds so certain that Luke doesn’t try to argue just gives him an amused look. “Okay I’ll make a believer out of you just watch this one” he announces bringing up another video.

They hear the front door go and Luke looks at the time it’s almost four, they’re still sitting at the table watching ghost videos even though they had finished eating a while ago and Luke’s still not convinced about the whole ghost thing but he has to admit the videos are pretty entertaining. Ray comes into view shortly afterwards and he seems shocked to see Luke there but he doesn’t say anything until he sees Carlos’s arm.

“Carlos” Ray says, walking over to them and gesturing to the cast on his arm.

“Oh it’s broken” Carlos states looking up at his dad but Ray gives him an unamused look and Carlos sighs before speaking “I fell at baseball this morning and landed funny. I tried calling you but there was no answer and I know Julie was out with Flynn all day and wouldn’t be able to come for me so I rang Luke. He took me to the hospital and then stayed with me all afternoon” he explains. Ray reaches into his pockets searching for his phone but can’t seem to find it then he looks up seeming to remember where it is going out into the hall and returning with the phone in hand.

“I’m sorry Carlos I must have left it on the side when I was looking for my keys this morning” he admits before turning to face Luke a smile on his face “Thank you Luke for looking after him”

“It’s no problem really,” Luke shrugs “but I better be going, my mom will be wondering where I am.” He smiles getting up from the chair, Ray nods walking him to the door and thanking him again for looking after Carlos as Luke gets into his car.

“So I heard you had an interesting day” Julie smiles when she calls Luke later on that night and Luke agrees “Carlos had fun though despite everything” she tells him and he can’t help but smile.

“How’s his arm?” Luke asks

“It’s a little bit sore but it’s not hurting as much now that he’s taken some pain killers” Julie responds before she starts giggling slightly “You know I asked him why he didn’t try ringing Tia and you should have seen the look on his face”

“I can imagine” Luke laughs along with her, he had only met Julie’s aunt a couple of times but from what he’d seen she did tend to go a bit over the top with things.

“He said he’d rather spend the day with you” she says becoming serious “I think he sees you as a brother rather than just his sisters boyfriend, especially after today” she adds and Luke can’t help the warm feeling that washes over him, he didn’t have any siblings himself although he would’ve liked a brother to play with when he was growing up but then he got Alex and Reggie when he started school and they became his brothers. Now here he was with Carlos and he couldn’t help but smile. Julie saw but she didn’t tease him for it just started telling him about how her and Flynn almost got kicked out of a store while they were out, which Luke found hilarious.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #carlos molina #jatp carlos #luke patterson #jatp luke #julie molina #jatp julie #julie x luke #juke #jatp juke #requested

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daydream143 · 3 years

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Edge of Something

Julie and the Phantoms

Julie Molina/Luke Patterson - Exists; Not Focus

1200+ words

Part 1 of 9

A series of character perspectives during the performance of "Edge of Great" by Julie and the Phantoms.

Part One: Flynn

Part Two: Ray

Part Three: Carlos

Part Four: Carrie

Part Five: Nick

Part Six: Alex

Part Seven: Reggie

Part Eight: Julie

Part Nine: Luke

Congratulations to Julie and the Phantoms for winning Best Musical Moment at the MTV Awards last night with "Edge of Great"!

This fic is also available here on AO3.

FLYNN

“What’s up, everybody,” Flynn called into the microphone, a grin on her face.

Flynn was so proud of her best friend for finding her voice again. She knew that Julie had had a hard time after Rose… after. Rose had been the best mother. She had been more of a mother to Flynn than her own mother was.

And despite the craziness that was ghosts, Julie and the Phantoms was a pretty awesome band, so when Ray called her asking for help throwing a party that night for the band’s promotion, Flynn jumped on board.

She scanned the crowd and was glad to see Nick in the back, having come after Flynn texted him from Julie’s phone with the invitation. He would be good for Julie to get over that Luke thing.

Though she wasn’t too happy to see Carrie next to him. She knew she hadn’t invited the demon. But she wouldn’t start something right when she was supposed to be announcing the band. Besides, Julie could handle that on her own with her music.

“Time to put your hands up, do a little dance, yup.” As Flynn spoke, Carlos and the friend he invited opened the doors covered in paper flower letters she and Julie had built that afternoon just as Flynn had instructed them, revealing Julie, in the outfit and hairstyle she and Flynn had painstakingly put together while the boys had moved the piano and decorated the rest of the garage, having left Alex in charge. “Here’s the new anthem from Julie and the Phantoms.”

Julie sat at the piano. “Thanks for coming, everyone.”

There was no point in stalling, so Julie started singing and Flynn’s heart swelled with love. She had missed her friend’s voice in the year it was gone.

Running from the past Tripping on the now What is lost can be found It's obvious

Flynn grinned at Julie when she nervously looked her way, nodding in encouragement, and the crowd whooped, excited by the soothing smoothness of Julie’s amazing voice.

And like a rubber ball We come bouncing back We all got a second act, inside of us

And the band shimmered into existence behind her as the music picked up and the crowd cried out in amazement. Flynn danced in place at her spot in the front of the crowd, their peers following her lead and jamming to the beat.

I believe I believe that we're just one dream Away from who we're meant to be That we're standing on the edge of Something big, something crazy Our best days are yet unknown That this moment is ours to own

Good girl, Flynn thought, watching Julie spin away from Luke’s approach. If Luke were alive, tangible, real, Flynn would most definitely be pushing Julie toward him and forgetting Nick like Julie seemed to have. How could she not? This boy had swept Julie off her feet with lyrics and chords. (Julie seriously had a type.) But Luke was dead. Flynn was not about to stand back and let her friend get her heart broken. What kind of friend would she be if she did that?

So, yeah. She told Julie to stay away from those big, beautiful eyes of his (because they were dead), because they would only make her melt, and it seemed like Julie was following her advice.

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great (On the edge of great) Great (On the edge of great) Great (On the edge of great) 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great

Flynn clapped along to Luke’s verse, reluctantly admitting he had a hypnotic voice capable of drawing out Julie’s powerhouse vocals, but her friend did a good job of staying on the other side of the stage with Reggie.

We all make mistakes But they're just stepping stones To take us where we wanna go It's never straight, no

Flynn didn’t like Luke’s little nod at Julie, but she was proud of Julie for not giving in to those eyes of his, and instead, her friend turned to the crowd.

Sometimes we gotta lean Lean on someone else To get a little help Until we find our way

I believe I believe that we're just one dream Away from who we're meant to be That we're standing on the edge of

Julie slowly rounded the piano, grazing the edge of the crowd.

Something big, something crazy Our best days are yet unknown That this moment is ours to own

Flynn cheered, briefly taking Julie’s outstretched hand, greatly appreciating Julie’s effort in including her. It was pretty hard when she was around the boys and could see them or hear their conversations. It made Flynn the outsider. And that was only emphasized when Julie and the Phantoms were onstage and not Double Trouble.

Flynn couldn’t help but grieve for what could have been had the Phantoms not appeared, even as she watched her girl shine like a star with them.

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great (On the edge of great) Great (On the edge of great) Great (On the edge of great) 'Cause we're standing on the edge of

In a surprise move, Julie climbed onto the piano, sitting on the edge and moving her body to the music, basking in the attentive audience.

Shout, shout C'mon and let it out, out Don't gotta hide it Let your colors blind their eyes Be who you are no compromise Just shout, shout C'mon and let it out, out What doesn't kill you makes you feel alive (Alive) Ooh-oh

Damn. Flynn’s plan had not counted on Luke.

That boy had apparently not liked Julie’s ignoring him and as the rest of the band’s sounds fell away for Julie’s solo moment, Luke stepped forward playing his guitar in an admittedly fabulous manner. He was verytalented.

Damn.

I believe I believe that we're just one dream Away from who we're meant to be

Julie’s nose wrinkled as she looked at him, and a smile grew on his face. Julie was a goner.

Welp, Flynn thought, there goes that plan.

That we're standing on the edge of great

Whatever issues they would have – and they would have them – now was not the time to worry about them, as Julie belted out her notes standing tall above the crowd on her mother’s grand piano.

Something big, something crazy Our best days are yet unknown That this moment is ours to own 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great (On the edge of great) On the edge of great (Great, on the edge of great) On the edge, woah (Great, on the edge of great) 'Cause we're standing on the edge of...

Maybe Flynn should be worrying right now, because…

Yeah, Flynn’s plan had definitely not counted on Luke, or on Luke’s feelings for Julie in return. He slipped onto the piano bench beside Julie, singing softly with her, to her. And did that boy not know the concept of personal space?

Running from the past Tripping on the now What is lost can be found It's obvious

Julie finished the song, smiling at Luke, who was less than a foot away, her eyes staring into his, and Flynn could guarantee her friend was thinking about the fact that they were dead.

Damn.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #jatp fic #flynn jatp #flynn #jatp fanfic #jatp fanfiction #juke #jatp juke #jukebox

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blind-their-eyes · 3 years

Text

Edge of Great

Pairing: Julie Molina & Luke Patterson (Julie and the Phantoms)

Words: 2,843

(I wrote this in 3 hours, reread it 3 times to edit it, there might be mistakes as it is currently 2 am for me :P)

Read on ao3!

Don’t ask me how many times I’ve rewatched this scene, because I will not be able to tell you. This is my favorite performance in the show, Stand Tall coming up really close behind it, but I think it’s my favorite due to Luke fighting for Julie’s attention. (It’s a real shame they didn’t add in the guitar riff/solo for this song in the soundtrack :c) Also! This is the first time I’m writing something JatP related, I hope you enjoy it! ! Also tagging @dance-dreamer cause they asked to be tagged when I posted it! (here you go friend, its finished!)

Julie was nervously pacing behind the closed garage doors, waiting for Flynn to announce the band. Ray had “booked” the band a gig (and by booked, he called Flynn and had her invite a bunch of people over to their house to perform) to repay for what happened with the manager at the café a few days back. Flynn’s voice echoed around the front of the Molina’s garage from her place in the crowd, and everyone cheered in excitement.

“What’s up everybody! Time to put your hands up, do a little dance yup! Here’s the new anthem, from Julie and the Phantoms.”

The garage doors open (thanks to Carlos and a friend of his) and Julie comes out smiling, her hands moving from her hips to in front of her chest as she clasps them together. She felt amazing in her outfit, Flynn had helped glue the butterflies to her white crop-top and shoes a few hours before the show, which she had paired nicely with some black and white cargo pants. She looks over the crowd for a second before taking a seat on the piano bench.

“Thanks for coming, everyone!” she says into the mic, the applause having yet to stop. Her eyes are on Flynn for a few seconds before she takes a deep breath and readies her hands on the piano. Watching her hands, she begins to play.

“Runnin’ from the past,

Trippin’ on the now,

What is lost can be found, it’s obvious.”

She looks up at the crowd momentarily, a smile on her face from the reaction she’s gotten so far. She knows that soon enough, everyone will be dancing, and she will be too, but she has to keep her eyes off of Luke. Even after her talk with Flynn about her feelings for the guitarist, she still had feelings for Nick as well. He was here, and she didn’t want him to get the impression that something was going on between the two bandmates. Yes, there was some chemistry between her and Luke, but Julie tried to convince herself that it was only the music that was driving her to be that intimate during their performances. Especially during “Finally Free”. (also, had she mistaken the way Luke had looked at her that night while he was singing the chorus back to her?)

“And like a rubber ball,

We come bouncing back,

We all got a second act inside of us…”

The band kicks in, Julie is smiling bigger than before as they appear. She stands from the piano and takes her mic off it’s stand and pushes it away from her on the beat. She makes her way in between both Luke and Reggie, right in front of Alex’s drums. She’s dancing and feeling the music, the weight of the lyrics, with a bright smile on her face. Luke looks over at her with a lovesick smile on his face, all of the boys are slightly bouncing to the beat of the music.

“I believe,

I believe that we’re just one dream,

Away from who we’re meant to be,

That we’re standing on the edge of,”

She turns to Reggie and starts to dance with him as she sings, Flynn’s word’s in the back of her head. “... The key is avoiding those big, beautiful, dead eyes.” If she just followed her best friend's words, she could convince (herself) Flynn that her feelings for Luke were just from the music and the heat of the moment. She could get through this performance without looking at the cute boy.

“Something big, something crazy,

Our best is yet unknown,

That this moment is ours to own,

‘Cause we’re standing on the edge of great!

(on the edge of great)

Great!

(on the edge of great!)

Great!

(on the edge of great!)

‘Cause we’re standing on the edge of….

Great!”

Reggie and Julie look back at Alex, who is smiling at them both. Luke leans in towards Julie as she makes her way back to the middle of him and Reggie, but Julie pays him no mind as they echo the last line back to her. A look of confusion crosses over his face before he flashes a smile at the crowd while singing along. Why didn’t she want to sing with me? Maybe she didn’t see me… A few thoughts run through his head at why she didn’t come over to him, and Julie finishes the first chorus. As she sings the last line, she turns to Reggie once again, and Luke starts the second verse, the crowd cheering as he comes in.

“We all make mistakes,

But they’re just stepping stones,

To take us where we wanna go,

It's never straight, no.”

Luke’s smile fades a bit when he looks from the crowd over to Julie. She’s dancing with Reggie and Alex once again. Did I do something wrong again? Why doesn’t she want to come over to me… His thoughts are answered when he gestures with his head for her to come over to him as she steps away from the other two and she blatantly ignores him, facing the crowd again instead.

“Sometimes we gotta lean,

Lean on someone else,

To get a little help,

Until we find a way!”

As Julie joins in the second half of the verse, Luke’s face falls from a happy one to a more upset one. He clearly did something to upset Julie, but he couldn’t think of what he did. Julie, however, was trying her best to stay away from the boy and was extremely proud of herself for how well she was doing. Julie looks over to Reggie again before starting pre-chorus.

“I believe!

I believe that we’re just one dream,

Away from who we’re meant to be,

That we’re standing on the edge of,”

Julie makes her way to the front of the piano, closer to the crowd as she moves with the music, dancing with every step. Reggie makes his way over to Luke, giving him a glance before looking over at Julie. He knows something is up between the two, he’s seen them ooze chemistry while on stage together. He raises an eyebrow towards Julie’s back as she sings. He’s honestly really glad to have jammed out with Julie, but she was clearly avoiding Luke tonight, and he might know the reason why. Luke’s eyes flash with a bit of jealousy when Reggie approaches, but he quickly hides it with confusion as he looks back over to Julie.

“Something big, something crazy,

Our best is yet unknown,

That this moment is ours to own,

‘Cause we’re standing on the edge of great!

(on the edge of great)

Great!

(on the edge of great!)

Great!

(on the edge of great!)

‘Cause we’re standing on the edge of-”

Julie reaches her hand out towards Flynn, who is happily jamming along with the rest of the crowd. The boys all join in during the chorus, and Luke looks at her again with a loving longing expression. Julie starts making her way back around the other side of the piano, stepping up on the bench, getting ready to climb on top of it for the bridge of the song.

“Shout, Shout!

Come on and let it out, out!

Don’t gotta hide it,

Let your colors blind their eyes,

Be who you are, don’t compromise!”

Julie slides across the piano and sits on the edge closest to the crowd, belting out the words, tossing her head back as she feels the music run through her. The crowd echoes the “Out’s” as she and the band sing them and she’s feeling good. The song’s almost over, and she hasn’t had a single moment with Luke. That last thought hurt a bit more than it probably should have, but again, she was sticking to the plan!

“Shout, Shout!

Come on and let it out, out!

What doesn’t kill you makes you feel alive…”

Again, the crowd echoes the lyrics, but this time they include the “Shout’s” as well. Julie is crouching on the piano now, on one knee, ready to stand at any moment, ready for her solo. What she wasn’t expecting was for Luke to come in with his guitar, and for him to walk over to the piano beside her. She goes with it, of course, her eyes drawn to him immediately. Her voice is as soft as can be as she sings, and Luke feels as if she’s finally singing to him.

“Ooh-oh, I believe

I believe that we’re just one dream,

Away from what we’re meant to be,

That we’re standing on the edge of great!”

As Luke plays along with her, he is smiling softly, hoping to finally grab her attention. She looks into his eyes as he approaches, his confusion fading as she leans in a bit towards him, smiling a bit bigger, scrunching up her nose at him, and Luke can feel his heart-melting as he gives her a lovesick smile of his own. After avoiding him so much, she finally had her moment with Luke, and it might’ve blown the plan over completely. And to be honest, she didn’t really care. The way she felt when he had looked at her was as if she was looking straight into his heart, and it was as if his heart was beating just for her. She didn’t know if he had a heartbeat anymore, being a ghost and all, but what she did know is that it felt real. That one little moment, whatever they had together, it seemed real, and the way it made her feel was almost indescribable. And with all those feelings, she belts out the rest of the chorus.

“(something big, something crazy,

Our best is yet unknown!)

That this moment is ours to own!

‘Cause we’re standing on the edge of great!

(great, on the edge of great!)

On the edge of great!

(great, on the edge of great!)

On the edge!

(great on the edge of great!)

Woah-oh-oh!

(Standing) on the edge of!”

Julie slides off the piano and walks back around to the bench, putting her mic back on its stand before taking a seat. Reggie and Alex give each other a knowing look as Luke walks over to Julie, and the two poof out, causing the audience to gasp at the sudden loss of the bassist and drummer. Luke is face to face with Julie, and he slides onto the bench next to her. Their shoulders would’ve been touching if he was human. A small gasp leaves Julie’s lips as she notices him, and she backs up a bit from the mic to give him room.

“Runnin’ from the past,

Trippin’ on the now,

What is lost can be found, it’s obvious.”

Julie watches as Luke’s eyes drift from her own to her lips, and she can feel the heat rising on her cheeks. The way he had been looking at her before, during the solo, suddenly had been amplified by 10,000% (maybe it was because he was closer now?). She can’t fight off the smile on her face as she sings to him, and he doesn’t try to hide his lovesick smile anymore. He knows he’s got it bad for her, and he doesn’t care if anyone else is watching. He doesn’t care if anyone else is watching anymore because he knows that he’s stolen her heart as well.

As Luke poofs out, Julie is still looking into his eyes, and the crowd cheering is the only thing that snaps her out of the moment. She looks around with a smile on her face and chuckles a bit embarrassed about her (what felt like a private) moment being shared with so many people. She stands and clasps her hands in front of her again, nodding towards the crowd in thanks.

“Thank you! That was “Edge of Great”. We’re Julie and the Phantoms, tell your friends!” Julie waves to the crowd, her smile unshaken as she gives a small bow. The crowd's cheers don’t stop for a few minutes, and Flynn runs up to Julie and throws her arms around Julie’s shoulders, giving her a big hug.

“Jules, that was AMAZING!! Even better than all the rehearsals!” Flynn gushed to her best friend, who was still blushing.

“Thanks, Flynn. And thank you for getting the word out so fast! I didn’t expect so many people to show up for a house party.” Julie lets Flynn out of their embrace, tucking a piece of loose hair behind her ear.

“Nick is here! Do you want to go chat with him?” Flynn raises her eyebrows at her bestie, giving her a knowing look, and Julie sighs and shakes her head.

“I should probably talk with some of the other people that came, not just Nick,” She scans the crowd, looking for the redhead boy. “Plus, he might’ve already left, I don’t see him anywhere.” Julie points out to her friend.

“Alright, alright, fine. But if you see him, you need to talk to him.” She says, pointing her index finger towards her friend as if to scold her. Julie just laughs and wraps her own index finger around Flynn’s as she lets her best friend lead her through the crowd.

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The boys' poof to the beach, seeing as the garage doors are wide open still, they didn’t exactly have a safe place to ghost around with no one watching. They had agreed to meet here once the show was over so they could all be together and talk about the performance. Reggie and Alex are the first to arrive, of course, seeing as Luke stayed behind with his crush to finish the song.

“Did you see that Julie was literally avoiding Luke during the whole song? What was up with that?” Reggie questions, a semi-confused look on his face. “Did she not want to have her signature Juke moment on stage? That doesn’t make any sense.” Reggie continues, kicking up some sand.

“Juke?” Alex questions back.

“Oh, Julie and Luke - their names mashed together.” He holds up both of his hands, motioning to either one when he says the two names, then bringing his hands together as if to put something together. “It was either Juke or Lulie and I think Juke sounds better.” Reggie explains, dropping his hands.

“Oh. Alright. And yeah, Julie did seem to be avoiding Luke all night, but boy, did he chase after her alright.” Alex nudges Reggie's side with his elbow, a grin on his face. “He’s got it for her, BAD.”

As if on cue, Luke poofs in next to the boys, his lovesick smile not faltering. Alex gives him a clap on the back as Reggie gives him a smug look, folding his arms over his chest.

“I got more stage time with Julie, how does that make you feel, Lukey?” He says, rubbing in the fact that he got to jam out with Julie twice during their performance tonight.

“Hey, Reg, I got to jam with Julie too-” Alex is cut off as Luke frowns and through a flash of jealousy, he fires back a response towards Reggie.

“Oh yeah, well what about that riff, huh?” He dares Reggie to say anything else about sharing a moment with Julie. He knows he shouldn’t be jealous of his best friend, but the high of singing with Julie hasn’t gone down yet, he’s amped up.

“That was just you being a simp, Luke.” Alex calmly responds, removing his hand from the back of Luke’s shoulder. The boys go from looking at each other (Reggie smugly, Luke annoyed,) to looking at Alex with the utmost bewildered looks on their faces.

“A what?” Luke asks as calmly as he can, his eyes squinting as he folds his arms over his chest defensively. Reggie is struggling to back laughter at this new funny word.

“You heard me, a simp.” Alex said, a small blush on his cheeks.

“You have no idea what that word means, do you?” Reggie says, giggling a bit.

“Well, sorta, but I’m not gonna tell you what it means. Figure it out for yourself.” Alex says, slightly embarrassed. He poofs back to the studio to see Ray, Flynn, Carlos and Julie pushing the piano back to its original place. He steps out of the way politely as Julie looks up, catching his eye.

“I’m gonna ask Julie what that means!” Reggie says quickly, poofing back before Luke can tell him otherwise.

Suddenly, Luke is left alone at the beach, and his heart is full and a smile is on his face. He’s happier than he has been in a long time. Just as Luke is about to poof back home, he’s hit with another painful jolt. He clutches his chest in hopes to ease the pain, and he can only hope that the guys weren’t in Julie’s view when it happened. His only thought on his mind when he gets back into the studio is “time to write another song.”

#jatp #jatp fic #juke #julie molina #jatp julie #jatp luke #luke patterson #jatp flynn #jatp reggie #jatp alex #guys this is my first fic!#I'm extremely proud of it!#i hope you all like it as much as i do!#jatp edge of great

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daisiesforlacey · 3 years

Text

clouds - chapter 3 : stratus

Pair : Julie x Alive!Luke

Summary : After her mother’s death, Julie Molina moved away from Hollywood, across the country, to Ithaca, New York. She’s left behind her two loves in life: her best friend, Luke, and her music. There, she finds new friends and enemies, new experiences and joys, she might even find herself. Every night, Luke calls Julie to talk about the clouds. But what if Luke is hiding something?

Word Count : 5,061

Warnings : mild swearing

Notes : Ok so chapters will be around 3k to 5k words, the first one was just an outlier lol. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please please comment and like; feedback means the world to me

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Taglist

---

Julie had been finishing up her toast and orange juice with her brother, bleary eyed and barely functional, when Flynn strutted herself into her house with a shout. She dropped her backpack on the ground unceremoniously by the doorway.

“Good morning Molina household!” She called, “I’m here to kidnap one of you!” Flynn walked into the kitchen before sliding into the bar stool between Julie and Carlos and taking a piece of toast for herself. She shoved it down her throat with remarkable speed before turning Julie’s brother.

“I was over here in 43 seconds, a new record.”

Carlos nodded his head, impressed, “What was your time to beat, 55 seconds?”

“Yep. Next time, I just have to remember not to take the stairs so fast.” She rubbed her knee with a grimace.

Julie got up to put her now empty glass in the sink with a clink, “I don’t understand how you two get up in the morning all happy and stuff. There must be something wrong, because it’s not genetic.”

Flynn had now stolen what was left of Carlos’ breakfast, her mouth full while she talked, “Cheer up, we have at least 20 minutes before we have to leave, so you have plenty of time to become a functional human being.”

“She’s never a functional human being,” Carlos retorted. Flynn smirked as Julie shot a glare at the two of them, now leaning on the counter

“You’re not allowed to be on his side. It’s against the rules.”

Flynn only shrugged, “Rules were meant to be broken.”

Julie crossed her arms, but she was smiling, “Says who?”

“Says me, the rule maker supreme. My word is law. Right, Carlos?” Flynn didn’t even have to look at him as they fist bumped.

“Right.”

Julie groaned and pushed herself off of the counter top, “Ignoring the heartbreaking betrayal that just went down, Flynn do you remember when I told you I had something to show you?”

Flynn nodded passively.

“Well I think it was in the garage.” Julie grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the back door, “Carlos, can you finish cleaning up? This is super important.”

Julie heard her brother grumble about stupid sisters and their secrets before getting up to put the rest of the dishes in the sink.

Julie had texted Flynn after last night’s conversation with Luke to come over a little earlier than normal. She had said that she found something in the garage last night; she didn’t know yet if she would be able to play her piano, so she didn’t want to get anyone's hopes up.

They walked on the stone path to the disconnected garage to the left of her house before standing in front of the two double doors. Julie pulled them open to reveal a spacious, relatively empty, blank slate. Inside to the right was an old red couch, a lone chair, and a few old band posters, to the left lay a rug, but with enough room to fit at least four chairs and a table. There was a loft overhead, which Julie and her father had spent their first weekend moving boxes into.

And finally stood a dusty baby grand piano at the back. It had been her mother’s and she and Julie would spend hours at it. No one had played it since they moved.

Julie turned to Flynn as they stood at the entrance, “Okay, so maybe I didn’t find anything per se, but I sort of did.” She led the other girl to stand in front of the piano before she sat down on the dusty bench, her hands in her lap

“Julie-” Flynn started.

“I was talking with Luke, and he had written a song and we got talking and,” Julie paused, looking at the keys, “He brought up my mom’s song. We had worked on it before she passed.”

Julie looked up to see her friend with a hopeful smile on her face, “I can’t let myself be kicked out of the music program, and I-I think that if I can play this song, I might be able to play again.”

Julie pulled a folded piece of paper out from her pocket and set it atop the piano. Flynn had pulled up a chair next to her and looked at the girl expectantly.

Julie took a few deep breaths; in and out, in and out, she repeated. She could do this. She could set her hands on the ivory and play her mother's song. All it was was a few notes and lines on a page. She raised her hands to play. It was so simple.

Except, it wasn’t.

She quickly pulled her hands back into her lap, and started toying with her sleeve. If she played her mother’s song, she wouldn’t have anything left of her. This was her mother’s last creation, the last thing she would ever do; if Julie played it, she'd be accepting that. She’d be letting go over her mother and her legacy.

Flynn must have seen her unease, because she placed a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to push yourself.”

Julie shook her head, “No, I have to get over it eventually, I can’t not play.” But she didn’t make a move. She was frozen to the seat, stuck in limbo.

“It’s just, this is the last thing my mom and I ever did, the last memory I have of us playing. If I play it, I’ll be letting go of her. I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to do that.” Julie shook her head and placed her head in her hands, “I really wish I could. I wish I could just play the damn piano! Every time I try I just get looks of pity or-or like people are annoyed with me. I wish it was that simple, just sit down and play, and not worry and come to terms with my own mother dying, but I just can’t! I have no idea what will happen when I do!”

She took a stuttering breath in her eyes watering, “I wish that I could be like Dad and accept that she was gone. I wish that I could be like Carlos and just distract myself from it, thinking that ghosts are real just to wrap my head around the concept of death. But I’m not. I’m just Julie. And the one thing that makes me me, I can’t do.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, “I’m sorry, that was a lot to unload on you.”

But Flynn pulled her into a bone crushing hug. They stayed like that until Flynn pulled back and held her at arm's length, looking her in the eyes, “I have absolutely no idea what you are going through, and it is completely unfair to ask a person to go through something like this. But please don’t ever feel like you can’t tell me things; that’s what friends are for, especially awesome best friends like me.” She chuckled.

“I never knew Rose, but I do know what it is like to lose someone. You wish you could have known that every moment you had with them was precious, and you wish you could hold on to them forever, and you wish that they just hadn’t left in the first place. And I know that everyday without them feels like a day wasted, and you feel so hopeless when the one person you need isn’t there. And that sucks. But you don’t have to go through it alone; you have me and your dad and Carlos, and L.A boy. You have so many people that love you and will help you through this. I promise.”

“If you can’t play your piano today, that’s completely fine. It may not be tomorrow, or next week, or even a year from now. But one day, you will. And in that moment you’ll realize that you’re not forgetting your mother or letting go of her: you’re moving on. You’re saying, ‘You made me who I am and I love you and I miss you and I think about you every day, but I can’t let this stop me from growing.’ You’re honoring your mother's life by doing what she knew you were born to do: sing and play. All she ever wanted was for you to be happy.” Flynn pulled her into a hug again, “And who knows, maybe Carlos is right, and she’s standing right in this room cheering you on.”

Julie laughed into her friend’s shoulder, sniffling with damp eyes, “You’re the best.”

Flynn shrugged and patted her back, “I know.”

---

After flipping a coin, Julie had agreed to pay for lunch that day in the cafeteria. She stood in the lunch line examining the room as she waited. Another cougar had been painted by the microwaves and a yellow border ran around the ceiling. Tiles in their school colors were scattered across the floor and the room held about 25 round black tables.

As she finished in the lunch line and walked toward her and Flynn’s table near the entrance, she overheard a conversation.

“So if Dirty Candi wants to perform at the dance, we need to tighten up our routine. Kayla, that means you need to get it together near the chorus.” Carrie Wilson wagged ketchup covered french fry in her friend's direction, “But I really do think we’ll nail it.”

“I know you will!” Nick was sitting next to her, his arm around her waist.

Julie didn’t particularly like Carrie but she had to give it to her; her songs were catchy and her choreography was always immaculate. They had worked hard for every gig they got, and made it look effortless.

Only a few seconds later, she arrived at her table. She handed Flynn her lunch tray, distracting her from her Pre-Calc homework, then sat down.

She grimaced, “Carrots and peas again? You’d think they’d run out of slop to feed us but nope! It just keeps coming.”

Julie rolled her eyes, “You could always just pack your lunch.”

Flynn gave her a deadpan look and gestured to her spread of papers, “I have more important things to attend to.” She went back to tapping on her calculator.

Julie scrolled through her phone, shoveling her food in her mouth, before she came to one of Carrie’s posts. It showed her and the Dirty Candi girls after a performance, striking the last pose. The caption read ‘couldn’t ask for a better group.’

Julie turned to Flynn, “Weren’t you and Carrie really close way back when?”

The girls head shot up, “If by ‘way back when’ you mean two years ago, then yeah, you could say that.”

Julie didn’t want to prod, but she was innately curious. She also figured that they were close enough to tell each other most things. If Flynn shut it down, then she wouldn’t ask again.

“What happened?”

Flynn looked down at her carrots and peas, she pushed them around with the plastic fork. “We were really close, our parents were friends. You’ve seen her house, they don’t live too far from us, so I used to bike there after school. We’d hang out every day and we did everything together: school chorus, swim team, dance team, literally everything. On Wednesday’s--”

“We wear pink?” Julie snorted.

“Yes, because that’s exactly what I was going to say.” She gave her a flat look, “No, on Wednesdays we’d go over to her McMansion and have dinner. But I guess something happened because she dropped me like that.” Flynn snapped her fingers. “I never found out why, but she moved on and formed Dirty Candi and now I have you. So all’s well that ends well.”

Julie nodded, “Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah, of course,” Flynn softly smiled, then looked down at her homework, “But could you seriously help me with this, I’m so confused.”

---

“‘We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain!’ That is genius!” Reggie held the crumpled paper in front of his face, spinning around. He then plunked on the bright blue couch.

“That’s what I was saying!” Luke laughed.

Luke, Alex, and Reggie, were in Alex’s garage yet again, but this time, with a finished song. The day was just as hot as the previous one, so they had all of the doors and windows open. They had moved the blue couch, a desk chair, a couple lawn chairs, and their band equipment around to form sort of a homey interior. Alex thought it was more trashy, but Reggie had insisted that cozy was the right word.

Alex was sprawled out on the desk chair, one leg over each arm, seeming to not know how to sit, as Luke had pulled up a lawn chair around the center table.

“You said Julie Molina helped you finish it? The girl that moved away?” Alex asked. “The one you talk to everyday?”

“Yeah, yeah, we talk sometimes. And she came up with this awesome line.” Luke snatched the paper from Reggie’s hands and waved the paper like Reggie had.

“Cool, cool. That’s not the point though. You guys talk everyday and you haven’t told her about us?” Alex was now upside down in the chair, his hair brushing the ground.

“I mean she knows about you guys! We were all in music together last year! She just doesn’t know we're in a band.” Luke didn't really mean to not tell Julie, it just, hadn’t come up. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Okay we’re not a band: one,” Alex held up a finger, “We only have three songs, and two,” he held up another, “We don’t have a band name.”

“Oh! We are Whisper Cats, tell your friends!” Reggie waved his hand with a giddy smile, as if it was spelled out in blinding lights.

Alex whipped his head, “We are not using that name.”

Luke shrugged and mumbled, “I kinda liked it.”

“Again, not the point,” Alex sighed and ran his hand over his face, “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one with a brain cell. Why haven’t you told her about our music? I’m sure she’d be happy to know that you have other friends that aren’t 3000 miles away.”

“2,789 miles away--”

“And how many minutes is that?”

“About 7 hours, 15 minutes, by plane, give or take.”

Alex groaned, “Exactly. If you know that much about her, she should at least know about your favorite people in the world.”

Reggie stuck his bottom lip out and made puppy eyes, “We’re your favorite people? Aww, Luke!”

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but Alex shot him a look.

“I just don’t want her to feel replaced. She hasn’t played her piano in months and suddenly I join a makeshift band with my ‘new’ best friends? We used to write songs together, that was our thing, and now I write them with you guys? Yeah, that will totally blow over well.” Luke looked down, a frown etched its way onto his face.

“I mean if she’s your friend she’ll be happy for you. Music is a big part of your life, and it seems like it’s a big part of hers. You’re also totally not replacing her, obviously Alex and I look nothing like her. And it's not as if you can, like, monopolize writing music, I don’t think that’s how that works.” Reggie said, looking between Alex and Luke.

Alex pointed at Reggie, “For once, you made some good points.”

He looked mildly offended, “I always make good points, what are you talking about?”

Alex ignored him, “Just make sure you’re not taking Julie for granted. One way or another, she’ll find out about our band.”

Yeah, Luke totally wasn’t going to mention that he didn’t tell her about his family situation now.

“Yes, alright, can we get back to practicing?” Luke pushed himself off of the chair, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and reached for his blue guitar, swinging it around him. He plugged in his amp, setting the volume levels as he played a couple chords. He adjusted the mic stand up, before switching the mic on.

“Bet. I can’t wait to play Now or Never all the way through.” Reggie scrambled to get his bass and followed suit. Alex rolled his eyes.

He slowly moved right side up in his chair so as to not get a headache then set up behind his drum kit. He nodded to Luke before clicking his sticks, “From the top. One, two, three!”

“‘Take off, last stop, countdown ‘til we blast open the top’,” Luke sang into his mic, bouncing around, “‘Face first, full charge, electric hammer to the heart’.”

He beamed at Reggie who plucked his bass in turn. This was the first time they had been able to come together and have the full fledged song.

“‘Clocks move forward, but we don’t get older, no. Keep on climbing, till our stars collide’,” Luke continued, feeling the energy grow as the chorus built, “And all the times we fell behind, were just the keys to paradise!”

He stomped his foot down into a power stance as Alex’s driving beat filled his soul. It seemed so natural as electricity seemed to flow through them all. They were enveloped in the music and drowned out the world around them.

“‘Don’t look down! Cause we’re still rising up right now! And even if we hit the ground, we’ll still fly!’” Luke’s voice danced over the chorus when he closed his eyes, “‘Dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never!’”

“‘Hear the noise, in my head, it’s calling out like a voice I can’t forget. One life, no regrets, catch up, got no time to catch my breath’,” Luke’s words came alive and transformed with the music. “‘Clocks move faster, cause it’s all we’re after.’”

Luke nodded Reggie over to share his mic, their energy seemed to fuel each other when they harmonized, “‘Won’t stop climbing, cause this is our time yeah,” Luke pushed him back playfully and turned to look at an imaginary audience, “‘When all the days felt black and white, those were the best shade of my life’.”

Alex nodded along as the second chorus came around and Reggie and Alex joined Luke with his vocals. Alex had an ear splitting grin as he sang with his best friends. He knew that this was what he wanted to do; he didn’t want to go to college or a trade school, he wanted to be on stage and learn the ropes of performing. Luke wanted to go city to city and eat bad hot dogs and be too tired to walk, and just play. He knew that was where he belonged.

“‘We ain't searching for tomorrow’,” Alex sang as Reggie echoed. The finished bridge was great, “‘Cause we got all we need today’.”

Reggie glanced at Luke nervously, “Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins.”

Reggie beamed and swooped a hand through his hair when he sang Julie’s line. It was perfect, “‘We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain.’”

The boys looked back and forth when singing the next chorus in gang vocals, clapping along with Alex’s clicking drum sticks. Luke, ever the dramatic, swung his guitar over his shoulder “‘Don’t look down, cause we’re still rising up right now.”

On the last beat, Reggie and Luke struck their power chords. “And even if we hit the ground, we’ll still fly. Keep dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never.”

The song was coming to an end as Reggie and Alex sang backup to Luke, “It’s now or never!”

The last sounds rang around the garage and Luke could already hear the crowd cheering. His chest heaved and he could feel the back of his sleeveless shirt stick to his skin.

Reggie threw his hands in the air, “We’re Whisper Cats, tell your friends!”

Alex threw a drumstick at him.

Flynn and Julie walked home as usual and they looked at the clouds together. The weather had warmed up as the day progressed, but it was still cold enough to warrant a jacket. The leaves were just hanging onto their branches by a thread, and the sky, a perfect, ideal blue, was almost clear.

Julie had thought about Luke and Flynn’s words and she had made an executive decision: she was going to play her mother’s song. Not because anyone was forcing her, but because she knew she was holding herself back. She knew that it was time for her to move on.

After finishing her homework, she rushed to the garage and sat at the piano, the warm golden light of sunset illuminating her. She had placed the music on top of the mirrored surface and took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the keys. She knew that the second she started, memories of her mother would come flooding back.

And she was ready.

She pressed the ivory keys, reading along to her mother’s notation. The notes filled the space, the melody feeling like coming home.

“‘Here’s the one thing I want you to know, you got some place to go.’” She sang, “Life’s a test, yes, but you go toe-to-toe. You don’t give up, no, you grow.’”

She could feel her voice wobble as her eyes started to water. She was overwhelmed by her mother’s lyrics, knowing they were written just for her, just for this moment.

She continued, “‘And use your pain, cause it makes you you, though I wish I could hold you through it. I know it’s not the same,’” Julie gasped, “‘You got living to do, and I just want you to do it.’”

“‘So get up, get out, relight that spark, you know the rest by heart.’” She remembered her mother’s last Christmas where they made too many cookies to ever eat. She remembered all of the walks where her mother would point out every little thing, from the leaves, to squirrels and spiderwebs.

“‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain.’” As Julie crescendoed she remembered her mother’s warm all encompassing hugs, and her sharp tongue when Julie would talk back to her.

She could feel the music flow through her bones and every atom of her body as she finished out the chorus. The setting sun was warm on her back.

“‘Better wake those demons, just look them in the eye, no reason not to try. Life can be a mess; I won’t let it cloud my mind, I’ll let my fingers fly.’” She threw her head back as she riffed on her mother's words. She could feel a tear run down her cheek.

“‘And use the pain ‘cause it’s part of me, and I’m ready to power through it. Gonna find the strength, find the melody, ‘cause you showed me how to do it. Get up, get out, relight that spark, you know the rest by heart.’” She wondered why she had waited so long to play, her mother had written these lyrics just for her; something that would last forever.

“‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain.’” Julie thought of every family dinner and every grocery run, just for the simple things.

“‘Wake up your dream and make it true, look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, relight that spark, time to come out of the dark,’” She thought of her mom’s burning bravery, her fearless want for adventure, and fierce love for her family. “‘Wake up, wake up.’”

Julie stood up, fully in tears as she looked up to the sky, “‘So wake that spirit, spirit. I wanna hear it, hear it. No need to fear it, you’re not alone. You’re going to find your way!”

She pulled her hands up from the keys and stretched them out before crashing them back down, “‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain. Wake up your dream and make it true, look out, look inside of you. When you feel lost, relight that spark, time to come out of the dark.’” She smiled out as she sang. She wasn’t letting go over her mother, she was honoring her. She was the closest she had been to her mother since she had passed.

Julie sat back down on the stool, “Wake up, mmm, wake up.” She closed her eyes and played the final notes of the song.

She had done it.

She found her music.

Suddenly Flynn burst into the garage, followed quickly by her father and Carlos. They tackled her in a group hug. “I would promise you we weren’t listening, but with a voice like that how could you not!” She said.

“Mija, I’m so proud of you!” Her father chuckled, but she could hear that his voice was choked.

“Julie, that was amazing! Better than anything you’ve ever sung!” Carlos said.

Julie was stunned for a second as they all held onto her, before they let go and let her breathe. She wiped her tears on her sweater sleeve as she stood up, “Thank you. That was mom’s song.”

Her dad slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug, “We all knew you could do it, I just didn’t think it would be so soon. Your mother would be so proud of you, I know we all are.”

Luke had remembered to bring his acoustic guitar back to his house after practice. Luckily, he had made it home before dinner, although the meal they did share was filled with tense words and silence. His mother had stabbed her potatoes with her fork after she had heard that Luke was trying to book gigs. He was sure he had done the same when she asked about his science fair project.

He had run to his room the second he finished eating. His room was small, but appropriate; it was covered floor to ceiling in band posters and written scraps of lyrics. He had his guitars propped in one corner, next to his messy desk. Clothes were haphazardly strewn around his laundry basket, from where he hadn’t bothered to try and aim accurately.

But now Luke was talking to Julie.

“-and it was amazing, Luke! My fingers flew across the keys and I sang and it was beautiful! I swear I could feel my mom looking over me!” Julie sighed, talking a million words a minute.

“That’s awesome! I told you you could do it! Julie Molina pianist extraordinaire is back in business. Oh my god, we can write songs again, just like last year!” Luke had her on speaker phone and was playing around with some chords and riffs. He was elated that she had played her mom’s song; he knew how much her death had affected Julie and how much of a mountain playing her song was to climb. He was proud of her. “Speaking of songs: I finished Now or Never, thanks to you, and it’s a banger. I can already hear the bass and drums and the crowd chanting our names!”

Julie laughed, “You’re really working on that whole rockstar thing, huh?”

“Of course, they always told us to chase our dreams in school, didn’t they? I’m just going on more of an… unconventional route.”

“By yourself? A one man band? Doesn’t sound very rockstar-ish to me.” Julie retorted. Luke knew he hadn’t really told Julie about his friends. But he also knew that this was her way of prodding him to tell her. Luke supposed that it has been a long time coming.

“Do you remember Alex and Reggie? From music class?”

Julie hummed as she thought, as if she hadn't prodded Luke “Oh! The blond one with the fanny pack and the one in the leather jacket? Them right?”

Luke nodded before he realized that she couldn’t see him, “Yeah, them. I’ve become closer with them, mostly hanging out in Alex’s garage.” He was careful to omit any mention of their instruments, music, or any tell that might give him away. Julie could catch him red handed in a lie, no matter the distance, so he...didn’t lie. He just didn’t say the full truth.

“Really? I never would have guessed.” He heard her sit in what he thought was a chair, judging by the slight squeak. “It’s a good thing you’ve made friends that aren’t so far away.” He laughed as she unknowingly parroted Alex’s words.

She continued, “Yeah now that I can play again, I can stay in music class. I just need a song by Friday, which isn’t too hard to do -- write a song in 3 days -- it’s just kind of a lot to ask right now. I was going to ask if I could just turn one of Flynn’s raps into a song with a simple 1, 5 , 4, progression.”

“Actually I wrote another song that would be perfect for your range,” He moved his guitar off of his lap, opened his song book, took a picture and sent it to Julie. “I just sent it, if you want to use that.”

Julie checked her phone, “Are you sure? I’d be playing it in front of my whole class.”

Luke smiled, he had intended to show Alex and Reggie the song, but he figured Julie would get more use out of it, “Yeah totally, it can be a thank you for helping me figure out that lyric in Now or Never.”

Luke could hear Julie’s smile, “Thank you so much, oh my god. You’re the best!” He heard her get up from her squeaky chair, “I have to go, but I’ll send you a video of when I play it; I’ll make Flynn record it.”

He chuckled, “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

---

Taglist : @siennanoelle01, @roses-and-ponds-and-bowties

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sheyshen · 3 years

Text

Patch stuff had me thinking and inspired me a little bit so... Some Shey dealing with Anduin being kingnapped among some other things and some background fairshaw because I wanted to write Mathias and Flynn since they’re her friends.

It was late. Really really late. Shey knew she shouldn’t be up right now, but she couldn’t sleep. Anduin was missing, the scourge were starting to rampage, there was a blasted hole in the sky. And she felt useless. She hadn’t been in Stormwind when the king had been taken, hadn’t been there to protect her son, the only family she had left.

It wasn’t her fault, or Genn, or Mathias though both the Worgen and spy blamed themselves as much as they blamed the true guilty party. But even though she knew deep down that there was nothing any of them could’ve done to prevent this, the guilt still gnawed at her. So instead she walked through the halls of the keep, heading to the one place she would go when her mind wouldn’t let her rest. Turning she recognized a familiar coat, the owner doing his best to look as unassuming as possible.

Which might’ve worked had it not been well past two in the morning. Still, the guards ignored him as he strode past them and poked his head into a side room before continuing on.

“Flynn.” Shey smiled at him as he started, turning to look at her a large grin masking how surprised he had been.

“Ah! Commander! Fancy seeing you here.” He strode up to her, the smile never leaving his face. “Now what are you doing wandering the halls of the keep?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” She pointed out, laughing lightly, “Looking for Mathias?”

He scratched the back of his neck, “perhaps. Or I could be here to see you, or Taelia, or…” he seemed to be dragging out a long pause.

“The spymaster is in the war room down that way.” She gestured back the way she came. Flynn thanked her and hurried past her, “And Flynn. When you see him, try to get him to get some rest. Tell him it’s my orders if he refuses.”

“Will do.” He looked like he wanted to say more. She had nearly bid him farewell and continued on her way when he nodded toward the halls she had exited from, “You should go get some sleep too.”

“I have some things to attend to, besides the bed’s too big for me alone.” She waved him off, “Don’t worry so much about me, go find Shaw before he wanders off to find more work to do.”

Flynn looked like he was going to argue, insist that she should take her own advice but finally, he nodded, wished her good night, and hurried off toward the war room.

Alone once more she returned to her intended goal, taking another hallway to the gardens and then to the attached library. Her little safe haven amongst the hustle and bustle of the day to day. She browsed around, picked out a well-worn book, sat down, and began flipping through the pages. Inside was a letter, the edges worn and had been obviously handled numerous times.

It was addressed to her, and even before opening it she already knew what it said. She ran her fingers along the edge of the seal, the wax broken years ago, opened the letter carefully, and took out the single page folded inside. She didn’t unfold it, instead, she put both the letter and the envelope on the nearby table and leaned back in her chair, picking gently at the edge of the paper as she let out a heavy breath.

She doubted she could read the letter now, though she knew every word by heart, it hurt too much to think about it. But as always on nights like this, she debated on what to do. The letter detailed a gift hidden away in the gardens. One she knew of, she knew what it was, what it meant. But hadn’t been able to bring herself to get it yet. It was from Varian, meant to be an anniversary present when she returned home from some last-minute requests she had needed to attend to.

But the Legion invading delayed things, and she hadn’t found the letter until after he had…

She picked up the letter, carefully putting it back into the envelope. She debated on putting it back in the book, putting it away, perhaps she’d be braver next time, be able to deal with finding the last thing she’d ever receive from the one she loved most, that’s loss still tore at her heart even with Gul’dan’s death. She knew next time she’d still chicken out, she knew herself well enough that if she hadn’t been able to make herself go and open the gift over the past few years she wouldn’t be able to do it tomorrow either.

She pushed herself to her feet, deciding that maybe at least taking the gift from its hiding place would be a step forward. She pocketed the letter, mentally following the clue that had been written down, and went to the corner of the garden that was attached to the library. Underneath a bench that faced toward the ocean was a hidden compartment. Shaw normally kept a hidden weapon there in case he or the royal family had been caught off guard, but currently, it also held a small box. Taking it from its hiding place, Shey turned it in her hand. Simple, a blue ribbon kept it tied shut, and the box looked untouched even after all this time.

She inspected it, before pocketing the box and leaving the gardens. She strode out of the keep, taking the pathways along the canals, nodding towards the guards that kept watch and the death knights and paladins that had set up posts to keep an eye out for undead. They let her be, greeting her with a simple ‘commander’ or ‘ma’am’ or ‘majesty’. She still wasn’t fond of the last of those, while she knew the title was merely a formality it still never sat well to be regarded as anything other than what she was, a mage just trying to help.

Crossing the bridge to the gardens she strode up to Varian’s grave. It was quiet now, her friends and comrades that had swarmed where Anduin had been last having turned either to different leads in hopes of finding their missing king or had decided to get some well-needed sleep. She ran her hand on the stone, wanting to say something but knowing that there was nothing she could say. She was sorry she couldn’t protect Anduin? That she didn’t know what to do? That she couldn’t forget, couldn’t move on? Instead, she sat down on the steps, pulling out the box, and ran her hand along it.

She didn’t hear him approach but wasn’t surprised when she heard Shaw speak up. “Mind if I join you?”

She gave him a sad smile, “Please.”

He seated himself next to her and let out a heavy breath.

“I take it Flynn couldn’t convince you to go to bed.”

He chuckled, a rare sound coming from her friend. “He tried, but he ended up falling asleep first.” He dug around in his bag, pulled free a flask, and took a swig before offering it to her.

“Thanks.” She took it, sipping at it in thought. “I…”

“Don’t. This isn’t your fault.” He took the flask when she handed it back to him. “We’ll find him.”

“He’s my son, Mathias. If I can’t protect him…” She cringed, hating even the thought of what might happen.

“And my friend.” He stared her down, “We’ll find him.” He repeated as he drank from the flask, turning away to look over the gardens again, quietly adding “we will.” at the end. It sounded more like an attempt to convince himself rather than her.

Taking the flask she sipped at it once more. She picked at the box that still sat on her lap, rubbing the ribbon between her fingers.

“You finally opened it?”

She glanced at Shaw before shaking her head. “Not yet. I can’t bring myself to. But it’s a step.”

"Did you know Fairwind named his parrot after me?"

Shey rose her eyebrow at the change in subject. She huffed a laugh, "did he now."

"He thought it was funny." He smiled faintly, the look on his face affectionate. "Not as much when it warmed up to me faster than to him."

"Did he bring little Mathias with him when he came to Stormwind?"

"No, actually. Seems the bird gets seasick. Stays in Boralus with Cyrus whenever Flynn comes to visit."

Shey grinned. "So no parrot sitting on Anduin's shoulder during meetings I take it."

Mathias nearly choked on the contents of the flask, likely some of Flynn's rum if Shey was able to guess by the taste, "no. Absolutely not. Thank the light for that. It already can mimic his voice nearly perfectly. I don't need it following me around the keep too."

She chuckled at his sudden loss of composure, a rare moment that likely wouldn't be repeated easily. "I'll be sure to watch out for him next time I'm out there." She grinned.

"I'm sure you two will get along." He seemed to hesitate before handing the flask to her, but in the end, he pushed it into her hand. "Rest is yours."

"Thanks." She took a gulp, finishing off the drink and handing the now empty flask back to its temporary owner. He put it away as she leaned back and watched the stars, the pair lapsing into a comfortable silence. After a few moments, she spoke up again, "hey Mathias? Thank you. For coming to sit with me tonight." She yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"You needed the break."

"As did you." Barely a few seconds passed and she felt as if she could barely stay awake. "Did you… did you put something in-" she practically collapsed mid-sentence as whatever he had slipped into the drink took hold and she fell asleep.

The next thing she knew was waking up in her bed. She bolted upright as she awoke. Glancing around the room she found her friend asleep on a thin bedding on the floor, Flynn hugging onto him tightly as the sailor grumbled in his sleep.

Getting out of bed she strode across the room sitting down and narrowing her eyes at the spy as he looked up at her.

"I can't believe you."

"You needed your sleep." He spoke quietly, trying not to wake the man who had a death grip on his shirt.

"I was fine." She also stayed quiet, the pair arguing back and forth in whispers. "I would’ve slept eventually."

"Or passed out at your desk like last time." Flynn shifting made him glance back but the man only rolled over onto his other side and continued his grumbling. Free from his lover's grip Mathias sat up. "You need your strength, If anyone is going to find Anduin it'll be you."

A mix of emotion flashed across her face before she sighed, "I suppose you're right." She admitted. She glanced around the room, "why did you sleep here anyway? I don't mind, but your room is nearby, you didn't need to stay here."

"Flynn's suggestion. He said you seemed lonely, and I'm inclined to agree." He watched her carefully. "Whatever is to happen next I have a feeling it will be over my head, so allow me to make sure you have a home to return."

She debated on what to say, before settling on "thank you."

"Heey." Flynn’s groggy voice joined in as he sat up. His eyes were still closed and his face was scrunched up like he was quietly cursing how bright the room was, but he smiled at them. "What are you two chatting about?"

"You of course." Shey grinned at him.

He laughed, went to say something then stopped and buried his face in his hands, grumbling something as he tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

Mathias pushed himself to his feet, Shey followed suit and then turned to gather her gear to prepare for the day.

"I'll gather reports for you before you leave for Northrend." He stretched as he spoke.

She nodded, "we can go over them while we eat. I have some things to leave for Genn before I go so I'll meet you in the dining hall."

"I'll be sure to keep things brief." He gave her a formal nod and left the room to get things in order.

Flynn flopped back down still grumbling that it was too early, before kicking off the blankets and getting to his feet, stretching, and then dug around his bag. Not finding what he was looking for he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion for a moment before remembering and then looking towards his friend. "Did chatting with Matie help?"

"It did." She huffed a laugh, "though I'm not sure how I feel about him spiking the drink to get me to get some sleep." She stepped around a corner, dug out some clothes, and pulled them on while she spoke. "But yes, it helped."

He wandered the room, inspecting the furniture and decorations that took up much of the space. "You weren't kidding about how big the bed was. This whole room seems a bit big for one. But…" he shrugged.

"I used to share it with another." He glanced at her when she cut him off. "Anduin was supposed to make this room his and I to return to my previous quarters. But he refused. Said he wasn't ready." She didn't elaborate more.

He watched her as the pieces clicked into place. An unopened box sat on the edge of a chest of drawers. He picked it up, inspected it, and then turned and handed it to her. She looked at it, the gift she still debated on what to do with, the end that she didn't want to face. Anduin wasn't the only one who wasn't ready to face that Varian was forever gone.

Flynn put his hand on her shoulder, "then if you need someone to stay with you let me know. I'm not always in the city, so if I'm not I'm sure Matie’ll offer the same even though he likely wouldn't say it." He cocked his head, a goofy grin on his face, "I mean, we're friends right?"

"We are." She smiled at him.

He released her shoulder. "Right. Now, I need to get me a drink, and I'm sure you need to get to your own things and. Just, be careful alright?” He pulled her into a hug, “Come back safe."

"I'll do my best." She returned the hug.

"Good." He looked like he wanted to say more but instead stepped away, waving goodbye as he turned and left the room.

She wondered if he had debated on offering to travel with her. But an ice block full of undead likely didn’t sit in with what he was willing to face down for much of anyone but Shaw. Still, she was grateful for his support, even with how wild things have been.

She looked at the gift in her hands and settled on what she would do. She tucked it away in the side table next to the bed, closing and locking the drawer. When Anduin was home safe then she would face this, but for now, she had taken a step forward and had a world to save.

#my writing #oc: shey wrynn #mathias shaw #flynn fairwind #wow #world of warcraft

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driedlasagna · 4 years

Text

lol ok so here’s a fic that I wrote quickly with barely any editing, but I felt the need to write it all out lmao. I’m not sure if this will turn into a longer thing? Maybe? We’ll see? A while-ish ago I was like hmmm....what if Eugene was never sent away and Rapunzel wasn’t kidnapped and so they met as a prince and a princess (a thought I’m sure many have had and written out) so then this kind of happened I guess. Idk what else to say? This is my first time posting using my computer lol so we’ll see what happens. It kinda just....ends so there’s that too I guess lmao- i never know how to end fics,,,or anything

Summary (aka just a snippet from the fic lol):

"Thank you," he says, "for trusting me. And healing me.”

Rapunzel smiles. "Of course," she says, "I like to show my friends that I trust them."

Eugene smiles, too. They're both silent, staring at each other, the only light around them coming from the fire and the moon.

Suddenly, Eugene clears his throat.

"We should, ah… we should probably head back," he says.

•••

Rapunzel, able to sneak out of the party, heads to the garden to clear her head and just be alone.

Now that she's 18, princes from a million different kingdoms are trying to "woo" her, as her mother says.

Rapunzel does not like it.

None of the princes are actually genuine. They're all the same with no personality and they only want to marry her because Corona is a powerhouse of the Seven Kingdoms.

She sits down on a bench outside with a groan and kicks off her awful shoes.

"This sucks,” she says, leaning against the wall, her legs splayed out in front of her.

"I can second that," another voice says.

Rapunzel yelps and brings her legs up to her chest. She looks for the source of the voice and sees a boy, probably around her age, on another bench not too far away.

Next to him on the bench lays a large cape and a crown on top of it- Rapunzel can only assume he's a prince.

"Sorry," the boy says.

Rapunzel shakes her head. "No, it's okay, I just- I thought I was alone."

The boy stands up and walks over to her.

"Eugene," he says, holding out his hand, "well, technically that's my middle name. I'm Prince Horace from the Dark Kingdom, but Eugene is marginally better."

Rapunzel laughs and shakes his hand. “Rapunzel."

"Mind if I join you?" Eugene motions to the open space on the bench. Rapunzel shakes her head and he sits down.

"You're the Princess here, right?" he asks.

Rapunzel sighs and nods. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't."

"I get that," Eugene says. "Let me guess, you've been hounded by random princes all night and you wanted to get away and get some fresh air."

"Right on the nose." Rapunzel sighs. "Everyone is just so… boring. They have no sense of adventure or anything!"

Eugene hums. "That's what's always irked me about other princes. I've never made friends with any of them- I agree, they're all so boring."

Rapunzel eyes Eugene. "You're not just saying that to get an edge on everyone else, are you?"

Eugene's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What- oh! No, absolutely not, I promise. Listen, blondie, I'm not scrambling to get married, trust me."

Rapunzel laughs. "Blondie?"

Eugene points to her long hair. "I mean, am I wrong?"

Rapunzel takes her hair in her hands. "No, I guess not."

She suddenly gets an idea.

"Hey, Eugene," she says slowly, still forming the plan in her mind, "do you like riding?"

"Horses?" Rapunzel nods and Eugene shrugs. "I mean, I guess-"

"Great!" Rapunzel exclaims, standing. She grabs Eugene's hand and pulls him up.

"Woah-" he says as Rapunzel tugs him along and into a run.

"What exactly are we doing?" Eugene asks as they run through the castle gardens.

Rapunzel answers with a grin. "Getting away from this stuffy party."

They quickly end up at the stables, and Rapunzel opens two doors up to reveal two horses.

"This is Fidella," she says, motioning to one of them, "and this is Max," she motions to the other one.

"Blondie, I'm all for adventures, trust me, but is it the best idea to just… leave right now?"

Rapunzel is already getting on Max when she answers. "Why not?"

"I mean- well-" Eugene fumbles for words. "For starters, we did just meet."

Rapunzel shrugs. "That's how all friendships start."

Eugene can't help the smile that slowly forms on his face. God, he thinks he likes this girl.

"Now get on!" Rapunzel says, motioning towards Fidella.

Laughing, Eugene does so.

•

They ride all the way out to the woods near Old Corona, joking with each other and racing all the way.

They stop near a river, letting the horses rest.

Eugene easily makes a small fire, and the two sit by it, talking about anything and everything.

"I always dreamed of being like Flynn Rider from the books," Eugene says.

He climbs the rocks right by them, acting out one of the stories. Rapunzel watches, laughing along.

"The idea of just being out in the world, free to do whatever… it sounds amazing," he continues.

Rapunzel hums. "I've read some of those stories," she says. "The adventures sound wonderful. I don't want to just stay in Corona forever… I want to go places- see new things!"

"You’ve never left Corona?"

"Only briefly in order to visit other Kingdoms, but it's not the same. I want to explore, but my father is fairly strict when it comes to that. He's a little overprotective."

Eugene sits down on top of the rocks. "Really?"

Rapunzel nods. "Mmhm…" She pauses. "I guess I understand it to a certain degree. I-"

She's unsure if she should continue. She's only ever told this story to one other person, Cassandra, but she likes Eugene. She thinks she can trust him.

"I was almost kidnapped as a baby," she says. "If it weren't for the Captain of the Guards being extremely quick, I would've been."

"Oh," Eugene says quietly. He stands up and moves to get off the rock. "I-" is all he's able to say before he slips, shouting as he falls.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaims, standing up. She quickly moves to where he lays on the ground.

"I'm fine," Eugene says from his position on his back. He starts to prop himself up on his hands and arms, but hisses in pain as one of his hands makes contact with the ground.

"Oh, here," Rapunzel says, helping him sit up.

"I'm alright, really, just scratched my hand." Eugene turns his palm up to look at the scratch. He grimaces. "It probably just looks worse than it is."

"I can help," Rapunzel says.

"Rapunzel, really, it's okay-" he stops, confused, when she starts to wrap her hair around his hand. "What…"

"Just… trust me," Rapunzel says, "and don't freak out. Please. Promise me you won't freak out."

"I- okay."

Eugene watches as Rapunzel starts to sing, his eyes going wide when her hair starts to glow.

Rapunzel finishes her song and lets out a breath. Her hair stops glowing, turning back into the regular blonde shade it usually is.

"What the h-"

Rapunzel cuts him off. "You promised not to freak out," she says as she starts to unwrap her hair from his hand.

"That was before I knew your hair glowed!"

"It doesn't just… glow."

Rapunzel finishes unwrapping Eugene's hand, but takes it in her own before Eugene can see it.

"Seriously, don't freak out," she says, letting go of his hand.

Eugene, extremely confused, brings his hand back to his chest and looks at it. He sees that the cut is completely gone.

He opens his mouth-

"Don't freak out!" Rapunzel repeats, putting her hands up.

"I-" Eugene clears his throat, "I'm not freaking out, who's freaking out? Not me, that's for sure." He laughs awkwardly.

"That's why my father is overprotective," Rapunzel says, looking down. "The woman who tried to take me wanted me for my magic. Who knows how many other people do. You're really the first to know who's not my family. Well, besides Cass, but she’s my best friend and lady-in-waiting."

Eugene takes Rapunzel's hands in his own, causing her to look up at him.

"Thank you," he says, "for trusting me. And healing me."

Rapunzel smiles. "Of course," she says, "I like to show my friends that I trust them."

Eugene smiles, too. They're both silent, staring at each other, the only light around them coming from the fire and the moon.

Suddenly, Eugene clears his throat.

"We should, ah… we should probably head back," he says. "The party should be winding down… we don't want anyone to worry."

Rapunzel nods, not excited about the evening ending, but understanding.

•

They ride back to the castle, getting the horses back into the stables and stopping by the garden to pick up the things they left.

"Your crown is very pointy," Rapunzel says, poking one of the spikes on Eugene's crown as they walk back to the ballroom.

Eugene laughs. "Yes, it has to do with whatever rocks we have in the Dark Kingdom. It's some kind of ancient magic, but my father won't tell me anything about it yet.”

Rapunzel hums. "Interesting. We'll have to trade stories about the magic from each of our Kingdoms at some point. Maybe they're connected somehow."

Eugene shrugs. "Maybe. All I know is that there's something called the Moonstone."

"Moonstone…" Rapunzel says, thinking. "Funny, my magic comes from the Sundrop."

That's where that conversation ends as they walk back into the ballroom and are immediately met with Rapunzel's father.

"Rapunzel, there you are, thank goodness," he says, taking her hands into his. "We've been looking for you."

"Sorry, dad," Rapunzel says, "I was getting to know my new friend!" She motions towards Eugene.

Eugene bows. "Your Majesty," he says.

"This is Eugene from the Dark Kingdom," Rapunzel explains.

"Hello Eugene," Frederic says, nodding towards the boy. He turns back to Rapunzel. "We must say goodbye to everyone and thank them for coming. You can say goodbye to your friend but then please find your mother and I."

Rapunzel nods and her father walks away.

"We have to stay in touch," Rapunzel says, turning to Eugene.

Eugene smiles. "I'd like that." He suddenly finds himself in a hug from Rapunzel.

Surprised at first, he gladly returns the hug after a few seconds.

It ends sooner than Eugene would like to admit he wants it to, but when Rapunzel moves back, she keeps his hands in her own.

"Hopefully I can come visit your Kingdom," she says, "until then, I'll be sure to send you letters."

"And I'll be sure to write back."

Rapunzel squeezes Eugene's hands, smiling, before walking back into the crowd to find her parents.

Eugene watches her go, a smile on his face as he thinks about this new and wonderful friendship.

#new dream #rapunzel #Eugene Fitzherbert #Eugene x Rapunzel #eugunzel #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tts #rta #fic #this took me so long to format #what the hell #like way too long #my fics

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aro-of-artemis · 3 years

Text

i've had no love like your love (from nobody)

number three! ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855644 Three times Julie borrows the phantoms' clothes + one time they borrow hers.

(1)

Okay. So Julie loves the studio. She does! Being in there makes her feel close to her mom. And it's where the boys hang out the most (although they'd been spending an increasing amount of time in the house now that Ray and Carlos are in the know).

But it gets so. Fucking. Cold. Especially on long winter nights. Sometimes she forgets that the studio is a glorified garage. Insulation? Never heard of her.

So it is on one such night that she finds herself there, shivering, but too stubborn and too distracted to make the journey inside to find a jumper. She's so close to finishing the lyrics to this song - she just needs to make some adjustments and then it'll be perfect. She wants to get it done before Luke and the others get home so she can show him. Them. But it's just not quite right yet.

Her concentration is rocked when a violent shiver rattles through body. With a deep, heartfelt sigh, she pushes away from her lyric book where it sits on top of the piano. Glancing around the room for any options - perhaps a blanket she can wrap around her shoulders, a stray sock, a particularly large leaf, she'll take anything - her eyes land on a puddle of pink fabric that had fallen off the side of the couch. With a quick smile, she strides over to it, pulling it on.

Alex, of course, is much taller and broader than her so it hangs down low, brushing her thighs, sleeves well and truly past her hands. She doesn't mind being so completely swallowed by the fabric though, because it's warm and it's been softened by age and wear. And it smells like Alex. Like laundry detergent and the beach and just a little bit of sweat. So she pulls the hood up around her face, containing her fraying braids.

She breathes in and out, revelling in the comfort it brings. The muscles of her shoulders, which had been tensed in concentration, relax. After a couple more breaths she sticks the tips of her fingers out of the sleeves - just enough to be functional.

She returns to the piano to continue her work. As she looks over at what she'd written, suddenly words fall into place. She begins scribbling furiously, new fire in her bones.

When the boys return, they are greeted by what appears to be a shapeless pink blob sitting on the piano bench and slumped against the lid. The only discernible feature is a mass of frizzy hair peeking out of the hood. Luke and Reggie snicker a little at the sight but Alex feels his heart swell to press at his ribs.

Moving towards her, he looks over his shoulder and jerks his head towards the couch. But the boys already know. They're folding it out into a bed. None of them want to disturb Julie if she's sleeping peacefully so it had become an unspoken agreement that she could just stay the night in the studio with them if that was where she happened to fall asleep.

Alex approaches Julie. Gently, he gathers her into his arms, manoeuvring her into a bridal carry, settling her head against his chest. She snuffles a bit but doesn't wake.

Slowly, he lowers her down onto the pull-out where Luke and Reggie have already laid themselves out. Julie stirs and rolls over to wrap her arms over Reggie's torso and rest her head on his stomach. Luke watches with a fond smile as Alex wiggles himself in place between Julie's other side and Luke. Alex places an easy hand on Julie's head (because he knows she finds it comforting) while Luke snakes his arm over Alex's waist to best use a space that was intended to only accommodate two but now is asked to fit four.

None of them mind being squished together. Julie sleeps peacefully until morning.

(2)

Julie is sad. A deep, aching sadness that made a home in her a long time ago. There are days that are better, where it doesn't hurt so much, the ache dulled, just barely pushing it's cold past the edges of her bones into the sinew and muscle. But some days it feels all-consuming. World-shattering. Some days she is struck anew with this paralysing grief. The feeling that nothing will ever be okay again.

Some days happen less often in recent times. Her phantoms, her boys, her family - they help. They can't rid her of the hurt and she wouldn't want them to. She never wants to not keenly feel the empty space where her mom used to be. She doesn't want to forget her. But the boys. They help that constant awareness to be filled by sweet remembering rather than bitter longing. But the bitter longing will always be there.

So sad doesn't quite encompass what she's feeling but it's a linguistic shortcut to express all of these things that she can't verbalise.

On this particular some day, Julie is sitting on the couch (Luke's couch) in her mama's studio, knees under chin. Her face feels numb. It's wet with absentminded tears - grief made manifest.

The cool stillness is broken by a ray of sunshine who calls out, "Julie?"

Reggie. Reggie is here, making the studio a bit brighter, a bit warmer. He turns around a little until he spots Julie, huddled as she is. "Julie! Are you all right?"

He rushes over to her, stopping short of actually touching her. Julie follows him with her eyes, unable to move any other part of her body.

"You're shivering." His voice is gentle.

"Am I?" Julie whispers.

"Yes," Reggie's eyebrows furrow together. "Are you cold?"

Julie shrugs. She's truly not sure.

"I - hang on." Quickly, he pulls his arms out of the sleeves of his leather jacket before draping it over her shoulders, bringing it around to her chin.

As the warmth of the jacket - Reggie's body heat - settles around her, she realises how chilled she had felt. She draws in a long, deep breath, feeling the comfort of his smell and his big-brotherly presence settle around her, anchoring the jacket to her shoulders.

"Thank you, Reggie." Her voice is earnest and she finally turns her head to look at him.

He smiles just a little, creasing his ruddy cheeks. "Of course, Julie."

Julie moves closer to him, leaning her head against his collarbone. His arms come up automatically now that he'd been given permission. He pulls her in tight to his chest, rocking her slightly, humming a low, soothing tune.

Julie isn't okay. But she will be. In the meantime, her bones feel a bit warmer. And if she wears Reggie's jacket for the rest of the day, no one mentions it.

(3)

Just her fucking luck. Here she is, stuck in the school bathroom scrubbing lasagne out of her white shirt cause some kid wasn't watching where they were going. And Flynn isn't even here to help her 'cause she went and caught a cold.

She lets out a long, noisy sigh that is abruptly cut off when Luke poofs in beside her.

"Luke!" Her voice comes out as an undignified squeak and she quickly reigns it in as she darts her eyes around to check that all the stalls are unoccupied. Satisfied that they're alone, she returns her attention to the intruding ghost.

"You can't be here! This is the girls' bathroom."

"I - sorry I didn't mean t-- Julie, what happened to your shirt?" His eyebrows tugged together, giving him a puppy-like expression that Julie finds far too charming.

She looked down at her shirt, still covered in oil and tomato stains that are setting by the minute. Another long sigh leaves her mouth, leeching out some of her anxious frustration, leaving her feeling deflated. "This kid tripped over their own feet and spilt their lunch all over me."

"Are you okay?" His voice is gentle, concerned.

She shrugs back. "Yeah. Nothing's bruised except my ego. And maybe that kid's face where they hit the deck."

Luke's face relaxes a bit, eyes now dancing with mirth.

"Don't laugh! I don't have anything else to wear!"

"I'm not laughing!" he defends. "But, c'mon. You have to admit it's kinda funny."

Julie softens a bit. "Fine," she relents, "It's kinda funny. But that doesn't solve my problem!"

Luke nods very seriously, a thoughtful expression coming over his face. And then his expression clears, a small excited smile curling the corners of his lips. The kind of smile he gets when he solves a problem and he's proud of himself: toothy and bright. It's endearing.

"Here," he says, tugging his flannel off, leaving him in just his sleeveless tee. "You can wear this."

Julie looks at the proffered shirt for a moment. She feels some small but insistent something poking against the walls of her chest. "Th-thanks, Luke. You don't have to-"

"I want to," he interrupts. "I can't let you walk around covered in lunch. Besides, if you change into my shirt I can take yours home with me to soak the stain."

"I-," she's not quite sure what to say. So she settles on, "Thanks." A tender smile graces her lips. "Turn around then," she adds. "I'm not gonna get changed with you watching."

As soon as the words leave her mouth her cheeks begin to blaze with the unintended implications of her statement. Luke coughs awkwardly, cheeks a bit more rosy than usual, and quickly spins around.

As she quickly swaps shirts, buttoning up Luke's baggy flannel, she watches as his head tilts back and forth, studying the bathroom tiles on the wall with rapt attention and drumming his fingers against his legs.

"Okay. You can turn around now."

Luke turns to face her and smiles giddily at the way the sleeves fall past her fingertips and the hem settles just above her knees.

"It's a little big on you."

Julie scowls back at him good-naturedly. "I know. Just give me a sec."

He watches in fascination as Julie gathers up and knots the front corners of the shirt so it sits neatly at the top of her jeans. Then she starts trying to roll up the sleeves. Trying being the operative word. But it's a challenge because they're just so damn long.

"Here, let me," he interrupts, stepping into her space. She sucks in a breath.

"Oh. Um, sure." She holds out her arms to him and he begins rolling them up to a decent length, taking the time to make sure they're matching. She feels overwhelmed at the gentle brush of his fingers as they travel up her forearms. The contact sends shivering jolts of electricity along her skin as if a circuit had been completed, allowing energy to move freely between the undefinable start and the infinite end. She feels like she's about to vibrate out of her own skin.

"Good?" he checks once he's finished. His voice is low and soft.

Julie nods mutely.

He takes a step back to size her up and nods appreciatively. "Not too shabby, Jules."

"Um. Thanks!" she squeaks (again) - God, get it together, Molina - and looks at herself in the mirror.

Something about wearing Luke's flannel - skin-warmed and worn in, smelling like him - makes her feel safe and protected and cared for. Like he himself is draped across her shoulders and wrapping around her torso. Also, she looks good in it. Like it was made for her.

"It suits you." Luke interrupts her thoughts as he comes up behind her. They lock eyes through the mirror and Luke's curling smile returns, his eyes auroral.

"Yeah," she says. "It does."

The end-of-lunch bell trills harshly in her ear. Luke steps back, clearing his throat. "Cool. I'll - um -," he picks up the stained shirt, "I'll get this one home to soak."

"Thank you, Luke. I really appreciate it." Her chest feels pumped with helium.

He nods a little, smiling and looking up at her through his lashes. And poofs away.

(+1)

Julie hums contentedly as she toes off her shoes and drops her school bag on her bed. It had been a long, sweaty day at school to top off a long, sweaty week, the California heat having shown up with a vengeance.

She makes her way down to the studio, feeling lighter with the knowledge that she has the whole weekend ahead of her.

The heavy doors to the studio open at her urging. She breathes in deeply the green smell of plants and the metallic tang of guitar strings. And then stops. Blinks slowly and squints her eyes, trying to make sense of what's in front of her.

"Oh, hey, Julie!" Reggie greets her from his spot on the couch. He's leaning forward over a cross-legged Alex, who is seated on the ground, carefully twisting the long hair at the top of his head into braids. And Luke is sitting next to them, guitar across his lap, strumming it quietly. But none of this is what stops her in her tracks.

Alex is wearing what appears to be a mesh tie-dye top, Reggie's top proclaims that It was all a dream, and Luke's blue t-shirt is covered in familiar swirls of white. Those are her shirts. Her crop tops. Her eyes quickly skate across Alex and Reggie's stomachs but are quickly pulled away when Luke stands up, placing his guitar to the side.

"Julie! You're home!" Luke exclaims, a puppy dog smile across his face.

"You-You're." She can't quite get words out. The sight of his bared stomach has set her heart to stuttering in 6/8 time, a drumbeat that echoes through her skull.

She realises that her mouth has been hanging open. She snaps it shut.

"You're wearing my clothes." She's addressing all three of them but she's looking at Luke. Her eyes keep flicking down and then back up to his face. She can't help it. She would stop if she could. Luke definitely notices because his smile turns mischievous.

Alex speaks up, a concerned look on his face. "Yeah. I hope that's alright. It's just that it was really warm and we didn't really have anything to wear and-"

"Alex," Julie interrupts, finally coming to her senses and looking away from Luke, "It's fine. I was just surprised. Besides it's not like I haven't borrowed your clothes before."

"Exactly what I said!" Reggie exclaimed. His voice turns a bit milder now though, "And we all really missed you 'cause you've been so busy with school this week so…"

Julie feels tears spring to her eyes and she quickly scrubs them away. "I've missed you guys, too, Reg."

She looks across each of them, making sure not to dwell too long on Luke who's still standing, fiddling with the hem of his (her) shirt. An idea hits her and her eyebrows wiggle teasingly at them.

"Well, in the name of sharing and caring…" She walks across the room to where the boys keep their clothes. She picks up one of Luke's sleeveless t-shirts. Turning her back to them, she quickly exchanges her shirt for his, breathing a sigh of relief as the cool fabric settles around her.

When she turns back around she finds that Luke's mouth is hanging open slightly as if he simply forgot to close it. Alex and Reggie are grinning at him. If not for the way they are positioned it's clear that they would be exchanging knowing looks.

"What?" she shrugs, playing innocent but feeling vindicated.

Luke shakes his head jerkily. "N-nothing. I- nothing." He averts his eyes to the ground but his whole face is red and Julie is delighted to notice that it extends down his neck, under his shirt to his stomach. She presses her lips together to keep a hysterical laugh from bubbling out of her throat unbidden. Her eyes are stuck on Luke again.

Luke looks up at her and his eyes catch on hers. And oh, his eyes. If you asked her, she wouldn't quite be able to tell you the colour of them, despite the amount of time she'd spent looking into them over a microphone or a lyric book. Sometimes green, sometimes blue. Right now, wearing her shirt, they're a dazzling, drowning blue.

Reggie breaks the silence. "All done!" He ties off the end of Alex's second braid and pats the top of his head gently.

"Thanks, Reg," Alex says lightly, drawing Julie's attention. She's impressed with how well Reggie's done.

"Wow, Reg. Where did you learn to braid like that?"

He shrugs a little half-heartedly but his mouth is pulled into a bittersweet curve. "I used to braid my little sister's hair."

Julie nods, giving him a sympathetic look. A beat. "Can you do mine next?"

Reggie's smile broadens into something entirely sweet, the bitterness done away with. "Of course!"

And so Alex shuffles over so that she can take his spot cross-legged and leaning against Reggie's knees. Alex settles himself so that his back is against the cool concrete floor and his head is in Julie's lap. She starts scratching her nails through the short pieces of hair that didn’t make it into the braid.

Luke is still standing where he'd greeted Julie (although this is perhaps a generous term because anyone who knows Luke knows that staying still is not a skill of his and what he does when upright should not be classified as merely standing. Perhaps a better term would be wobbling. Or jittering.)

"C'm'ere," she says, patting the ground to the other side of her. Luke practically trips over himself to do as he's told. He sits next to her, stretching his legs out long, pressing his thigh against Julie's.

She places the hand that isn't occupied with Alex's hair atop her thigh, palm up, wiggling her fingers a little. She doesn't look at him but she's trying not to make life harder for Reggie whose tugging on her hair is ginger and slow.

But Luke seems to get the message. He links their hands together pulling them into his lap. Julie feels him trace a fingertip over each of her nails, brushing across the back of her hand, tugging on the ends of her bracelets. He holds her hand as if it contains the entire universe.

Here, connected to each of her boys, she feels safe. Each point of contact feels like a lifeline she hadn't known she needed.

"I love you guys."

And she does. She really, really does.

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #fic #fanfiction #my fic #jatp fic #boys in crop tops

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cuthian · 3 years

Text

Becoming a Memory, Becoming a Treasure Chapter Five

Thanks for the love, guys!

Here's the next chapter. I have no idea when more is going to be up. I'll try to be fast though!

Love

Annaelle

PS Love to the peeps on the JatP Discord server for telling me let Luke use pet names on Reggie ;) You know who you are.

FIVE

“Wherever a Beautiful Soul Has Been There Is a Trail of Beautiful Memories…”

—Ronald Raegan

ALEX

He followed Willie to the museum again, hands pushed deep into his pockets.

“You know,” he said as Willie walked straight through the closed doors and into the empty museum. “I’m really starting to think you have a thing for breaking rules, Willie.”

Willie grinned at him over his shoulder, bright and handsome and shit Alex was so gay.

“You,” Willie said teasingly, turning to poke Alex in the chest, “love it.” And Alex… Yeah, Alex couldn’t really deny that. His crush had been obvious from day one, and the only thing that had made him feel better about it was that he’d been pretty sure it was reciprocated.

Then, of course, there had been the whole mess with Caleb, and much as he wished he’d just grabbed Willie and kissed him then and there, he hadn’t and now here they were—

Still very much interested in one another, but still not quite together.

It was kind of embarrassing at this point. Even Luke and Reggie had gotten their heads out of their asses and told each other they were in love with each other.

Alex really should be able to tell Willie the same—especially considering they had all but done so already. There really wasn’t another way to interpret the long, intense gazes and the hugging and the ‘I’d do anything for you’ or the ‘I’d have followed you anyway’.

“Maybe a little,” he told Willie with a grin, and the other ghost laughed delightedly, hitting him on the shoulder lightly before jumping on his skateboard and rushing off into his usual parkour of the museum while Alex went to find the bench they always ended up on so he could watch. Willie looked free as he skated, wild and untamed and delighted, laughing as he went and watching him made Alex’s chest clench—in the best way.

“You’re looking wired again,” Willie told him when he’d jumped the bench and came to a stop in front of Alex, tossing his helmet and grinning at him.

Alex sighed. “Yeah. Yeah. It’s—remember Reggie’s sister?” When Willie nodded, Alex explained everything that had happened on Saturday, and the fallout—Reggie barely making it back to the studio before he broke down in tears and spent the entire night crying in his and Luke’s arms, Julie’s anxiety about their future only adding to his own, Luke being so focused on trying to make Reggie smile that he complete forgot about everything else…

“Shit man,” Willie shook his head. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Alex chuckled wryly. “Yeah, it does.”

“Come on,” Willie said suddenly, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Alex. “I think you need to yell again, and no better place,” he swept his arms wide in a dramatic gesture that made Alex smile despite himself, “than an empty museum.”

“Willie,” Alex sighed, but he let himself be tugged to his feet anyway.

“Come on, hot dog,” Willie coaxed, grinning widely at him. “You remember how this goes.”

Before Alex could say anything, Willie threw himself into a loud, piercing yell, just like he had the first time they’d done this, and Alex couldn’t help but smile at this beautiful weirdo before he yelled too. The first scream that he forced from his lungs was short and explosive, and Willie grinned encouragingly at him, grabbing fistfuls of Alex’s sweater before he screamed again, louder and longer and Alex couldn’t help but join, screaming his frustration about being unable to help Reggie, about the uncertainty they lived with now that Caleb had reluctantly agreed to a temporary truce and now that Maggie knew about them but hadn’t contacted them at all, about how he wished he was brave enough to just kiss Willie already—

He fell silent with a gasp, panting, and Willie smirked at him, fists still clenched in Alex’s sweater, and suddenly Alex was so tired of overthinking. He nearly lunged forward and curled his fingers around the back of Willie’s neck, tangling them in the other boy’s long hair, smashing their lips together in a messy, breathless kiss.

It lasted less than five seconds, and really, Alex barely had the chance to relish in the feel of Willie’s soft lips on his before the latter pulled away, his eyes wide and startled—and damn it.

“I thought,” Alex stammered, cheeks burning with an embarrassed blush, “I thought you wanted—”

“Yeah,” Willie nodded shakily. “Yeah, no, I do.” He swallowed thickly, and his eyes fell to Alex’s lips before he said, “Kiss me again, hot dog.” He smirked and added, “Promise I’ll kiss back this time.”

Alex grinned, feeling delighted and lightheaded and exited, and did as Willie asked.

--------------

LUKE

Luke sat sideways on the couch in the studio, back pressed to the armrest, Reggie curled up against him, pressed into his arms, his nose tucked against Luke’s neck, breathing soft and quiet. It’d been the first time in three days that Luke had been able to get him to sit still long enough to fall asleep, and he wasn’t going to wake him up now.

They didn’t need sleep anymore, not really, but they weren’t invulnerable to exhaustion.

Once Alex had returned to them after he’d talked to Maggie, after he’d relayed everything that had been said, Reggie had broken down into anxious, angry, frustrated, sad tears and had spent most of the night crying in Luke and Alex’s arms.

He’d spent the next two days in a morose, melancholy mood, bundled into the corner of the couch in the studio, barely responding to anyone, even to Luke, and he’d started pacing yesterday.

It’d taken Luke hours to convince Reggie to stop rambling, to stop blaming himself for everything, to let Luke take care of him for a little bit, and even longer to coax him back to the couch. Julie and Alex and even Flynn had flitted in and out of the studio, but for the most part, they’d left him and Reggie alone. Luke was pretty grateful for it—he didn’t think Reggie could stand being around anyone else right now, except maybe Alex.

He stroked his fingers through Reggie’s messy hair, relaxing back into the pillows a little.

The consequence of Reggie having been awake for this long was that Luke had been too, and he was feeling the strain of being up and aware that long too.

He rested his head back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, with its weird, floating chairs. He understood all too well why Reggie had taken Maggie walking out on them so hard—it’d been… it’d been hard enough acknowledging that they were dead to themselves. None of them had really allowed themselves to think about what being dead actually meant to the people they’d loved.

Luke had tried, with his parents, had opened himself up to that grief because he couldn’t not—

But the other boys… Reggie and his father had parted on terrible terms, and in the last six months before they’d died, Luke and Reggie had both spent every night either in the studio or with Alex. Luke had known, back then, that not being there to protect Maggie from their parents’ temper had broken Reggie’s heart, and seeing her now must’ve brought all those feelings back to the surface.

It worried him more than he could say, and he knew Alex felt that way too.

Luke knew that Julie was worried too, of course, but more in the sense that she didn’t want Maggie to ruin any career she might be able to build in the future before it’d even begun. Alex had promised them all that Maggie had mostly seemed to believe him by the time they’d finished speaking, and that she hadn’t even seemed so very angry anymore, but asking someone to believe that the ghost of their brother that had died twenty-five years previously was suddenly back was a big ask.

Luke hated how it was affecting Reggie.

When they’d been alive and Reggie had sunk into moods like these, Luke and Alex had been able to coax him out of them with their music, with laughter and jokes and group hugs that lasted far too long to be casual—which made sense now, knowing that they’d all, at some point, been involved with each other—but nothing had seemed to help this time until Luke had bodily dragged him over to the couch.

He rolled his head to the side when he heard a gentle plop and found Alex standing in the middle of the studio sporting the stupidest grin he’d ever seen on the other boy. “Well, don’t you look happy,” he said teasingly but quietly, continuing to run his fingers through Reggie’s hair soothingly.

Alex rolled his eyes before settling on the chair beside the couch. “I had a good time with Willie,” he admitted, blushing just a little. “He says hi, by the way.”

Luke grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Alex. “Sure he did. Elaborately? With ton—”

“Okay,” Alex cut him off, waving his hand impatiently, but he was still blushing and Luke had known him long enough to know he hadn’t been that far off the mark. “How’s he doing?” Alex asked then, nodding towards Reggie.

“He’s sleeping,” Luke sighed, looking down at the boy that was, by now, snoring quietly against his chest. “Which is better than the relentless pacing.”

“True,” Alex nodded, as if he wasn’t an eternal pacer himself, slumping down in his chair a little. “Has Julie heard anything from Maggie yet?”

Luke shook his head. “Not that she’s told me.”

Alex heaved a sigh and slumped further, putting his feet up on the table and flashing his drumsticks into his hand to have something to fiddle with. “He’s not gonna be able to stay away much longer,” he said quietly, glancing towards Reggie, who was drooling on Luke’s shirt.

“Yeah,” Luke agreed quietly, dragging his fingers through Reggie’s hair again. “I know. I’m hoping we’ll hear something before then though. We don’t want a repeat of what happened with Ray.”

Alex winced, and yeah… that had been a bit of a mess.

The day after Julie had freed them of Caleb’s stamp, Reggie had popped into the house for his usual routine of chattering at Ray while the man made breakfast. Except, this time, when Reggie had appeared in the kitchen, Ray had dropped the bowl with pancake batter to the floor and stared straight at Reggie, looking quite like… well, like he’d seen a ghost.

It’d been how they figured out other people could see them after Julie had hugged them.

They also learned, over the course of a very long morning, where Julie called in sick to school and they spent hours explaining everything that’d happened to Ray, that it was temporary. That they needed to touch Julie again—another hug or something as fleeting as bumping shoulders—and they’d become corporeal and visible again.

Before Alex could say anything, the door to the studio pushed open and Julie came in, chewing on her lower lip nervously. “Oh, good,” she said, sounding relieved. “You’re all here.” She glanced towards Reggie, who still hadn’t moved, and said, “Shit. Okay. Luke,” she looked up at Luke and said, “You need to wake him up.”

“Jules, he was so tired,” Luke sighed. “If it’s not necessary—”

“It is,” Julie insisted, and then the door behind her opened further and Maggie walked in, holding hands with a tall, dark skinned woman, a baby strapped to Maggie’s chest. Luke’s mouth fell open, and when he glanced towards Alex, he saw the drummer was similarly stumped.

“Right,” Luke breathed. “Okay.”

“Are they in here?” Maggie asked, and her voice trembled just a little.

“Yeah,” Julie nodded. “Yes, sorry, they’re just.. Reggie’s asleep, they’re waking him up.”

Luke glanced up towards Maggie, towards her little family and smiled, a little bittersweet, before bending forward and running his fingers through Reggie’s hair a little more insistently. “Reg,” he said softly, shaking the other boy gently. “Wake up, baby.”

Reggie groaned wordlessly and pressed back into Luke’s touch, stretching lazily.

Luke smiled despite himself, pressing a kiss to the top of Reggie’s head. “You gotta wake up, baby.”

----------------

REGGIE

Reggie blinked the sleep out of his eyes, rubbing his cheek against Luke’s chest for a second longer before what Luke had said registered and he froze. “Did… did you call me baby?”

Luke smiled at him, that slow, sweet, intense smile that made several of Reggie’s potentially vital internal organs go all warm and mushy, and rubbed his thumb over Reggie’s cheek. “Yeah, baby,” he said, his voice low and warm and unbearably fond, the same way he sounded when he told Reggie he loved him.

Reggie’s cheeks burned and his heart felt like it was bursting—could he still die from that? Really, the only thing Caleb should’ve done to kill him was make Luke call him ‘baby’—and he needed a second to process, okay? He ducked back down and hid his burning face in the crook of Luke’s neck, exhaling shakily as he tried to deal with the onslaught of feelings.

This whole week had been a very heavy week, emotionally, and Reggie really wasn’t good at this.

Luke just huffed in amusement, curling his fingers around the back of Reggie’s neck and pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

Reggie relaxed a little, at that.

“You can’t do that in front of the others,” he muttered against Luke’s neck.

“Uh,” Luke replied hesitantly, and Reggie looked up.

Luke was biting his lip and blushing and Reggie’s stomach sank even before he noticed Alex sitting right next to them and Julie standing by the door and—

His train of thought halted abruptly.

“Maggie,” he choked, rolling right off the couch in his haste to get to his feet. Luke and Alex both started towards him, but Reggie bounced back to his feet and rushed towards Julie. “Can she see me yet? Have you touched us—is that? Did she see—”

“Oh no,” Julie chuckled, “Only Alex and I saw that.”

Reggie felt his cheeks burning, but Julie took pity on him. “It’s okay,” she grinned. “I was like that too, the first time Flynn called me ‘baby’. It’s fine.”

“Someone called Reggie ‘baby’?” Maggie piped in, eyes wide. “Is it Alex or Luke? Tell me it’s Luke.”

Alex frowned. “Should I be insulted?”

Julie rolled her eyes and turned to Maggie. “I’m gonna make them visible—it can be a little… disorienting, to just see them appear…”

“Just do it,” Maggie said, although Reggie noted that she held the baby a little closer and squeezed her wife’s hand, and he was… relieved to find he wasn’t the only one that was nervous about the conversation and the meeting and just the whole situation.

Reggie exhaled shakily when Luke and Alex joined him in front of Julie, both of them pressing close, Luke’s hand slipping into his and Alex’s hand lightly resting in the middle of his back. They held out their free hands to Julie, who smiled encouragingly and folded both her hands around theirs.

Maggie’s wife—and they really should ask her name, because it was quite bothersome to call her Maggie’s wife the entire time—gasped, and Maggie’s eyes widened, and Reggie knew they were visible.

“Oh my God,” the other woman breathed. “This is real.”

Maggie turned to her with an incredulous expression. “You said you believed me.”

“Well, yes,” her wife said. “But believing is still quite a bit different than actually seeing.” She waved her hand at the three boys vaguely. “This is…”

“A little crazy?” Alex offered wryly.

The other woman just blinked, and Reggie turned his attention back to Maggie. “Hi,” he said shakily, clutching at Luke’s hand. “I’m sorry for last time, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to explain—I didn’t think—”

“It’s okay,” Maggie said immediately, cutting him off. “I—I get it.” She rubbed her hand over her baby’s back gently—the baby she’d named after him—and took a deep breath. “I… Uh… I have questions. And I—” her lower lip trembled, and the only reason Reggie wasn’t already over there, hugging her, was because Luke was still holding his hand. “—I wanted to talk to you. There’s so many things I don’t remember, that I wish—”

“Yes,” Reggie nodded immediately. “Anything you wanna know.” He frowned and reconsidered. “I mean, as long as I know,” he smiled, “But if I don’t know, Luke or Alex probably do, I mean, they’ve been here all along too, so really—”

“Reg,” Luke cut him off, tugging at his hand quietly, “She gets it.”

Reggie glanced at Maggie, who was smiling faintly and looking between the three of them. “Right,” he said faintly. “Sorry.”

“Maybe we should sit down,” Julie suggested quietly, gesturing towards the couch and its mess of pillows. “I can get those of us who’re alive something to drink too.”

“Rude,” Reggie pouted, but he let Luke and Alex drag him towards the chair and watched as Alex dragged over the massive bean bag they’d relocated from Julie’s room to the studio a week ago. Maggie and her wife—he really needed to ask her name—gingerly took a seat on the couch, Alex plopped down in his chair again and Luke dragged Reggie down onto the bean bag with him.

Reggie couldn’t help but relax a bit with Luke’s arms casually slung around him. He leaned back against Luke just a little and eyed his sister nervously. “So who starts?” He asked.

Everyone chuckled a little at that, although Reggie found it a perfectly valid question.

“I guess,” Maggie said slowly, “I guess I can start. Uh,” she tugged on her wife’s hand lightly and continued, “this is T’Nia, my wife. We’ve been married for six years—”

“Seven,” T’Nia cut in. “Seven in three weeks.”

“Right,” Maggie grinned, her cheeks a little flushed. “Seven.” She then turned her attention to the baby and said, “This is Regina. Reggie.” She looked up with a tremulous smile, and with a start, Reggie realized he was about to burst into tears again.

“You named her after me,” he said hoarsely.

Alex glanced over at him with his eyebrows raised. “You already knew that.”

Reggie pouted and glared at him. “I can get emotional over it more than once, Alexander.”

Alex wrinkled his nose in disgust and Luke snorted with laughter. When Reggie dared look at his sister again, it was to find her grinning broadly, although her eyes were suspiciously shiny. “I can’t believe you guys are exactly as I remember you.”

“Well, it hasn’t—” Alex started, “It hasn’t exactly been twenty-five years for us.”

“We didn’t… appear,” Luke explained when Maggie looked puzzled, “until Julie played our demo. That was a few weeks ago. We thought it’d been a few hours, not years.”

Maggie blinked and sat back heavily. “That’s insane.”

“Yeah,” Reggie nodded. “It was.”

Baby Reggie began to fuss right then, drawing everyone’s attention, and T’Nia rested a hand on Maggie’s. “Do you want me to take her?”

“No,” Maggie blurted. “That’s my emotional support baby.”

Julie snorted an abrupt laugh, but Reggie was just really confused, and a quick look at Luke and Alex told him that he wasn’t, thankfully, the only one who didn’t get the joke.

T’Nia mostly looked unimpressed. “I’m not sure how I feel about you referring to our daughter as an emotional support tool,” she said dryly, but Maggie just smirked and rocked the baby calmly, and before long, baby Reggie was dozing again.

“I’ve a question,” Luke piped up, and Reggie craned his neck to look at his boyfriend quizzically.

Maggie raised her eyebrows, and Luke continued, “You said… at the restaurant… You said you knew. About Bobby. About what he did. Why didn’t you—”

And Reggie heard what Luke was really asking.

Why hadn’t she stopped him from stealing their songs, why hadn’t she told anyone, why—

Why had he gotten away with it?

Maggie sighed. “Luke, I was thirteen. It was his word against mine—and I didn’t have proof. He waited long enough to make sure people didn’t really… remember. And then he only used songs you hadn’t recorded or played in public. I didn’t have your notebooks—I didn’t have anything. I tried, I tried telling Luke’s parents, but they couldn’t prove anything either. I was the only one other than him who knew most of the songs and I only knew them because I spent so much time listening to you guys rehearse.”

Reggie swallowed thickly as Maggie looked down. “I tried,” she said quietly.

“Thank you,” Alex said, and blinked hard because he’d spent all week crying, he was done, he didn’t want to start all over again. “For trying.”

“Yeah,” Luke rasped, and Reggie nodded jerkily, trying not to burst into tears, because that had been the worst thing about learning that Bobby had stolen their songs—no one had remembered them enough to know that they were theirs.

Knowing that Maggie, at least, had remembered them, had known—

It helped.

He sniffed a little and turned, hiding his face in Luke’s shoulder as he tried to get it together. Luke dug his fingers back into his hair and Reggie exhaled shakily before he went boneless against him. “Thanks,” he whispered against Luke’s skin, pressing a small kiss to the hinge of his jaw before he sat up again. Luke smiled fondly at him and rubbed his thumb over Reggie’s hot cheek and Reggie just kind of wanted to melt.

“So it was Luke,” Maggie said gleefully, and Reggie jumped—he’d kind of forgotten everyone else was still there too. When he looked back at his sister, she looked like all of her Christmases had come early.

“You are weirdly invested in this,” Julie remarked, and Reggie pointed to her as he nodded.

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Look, I’ve been wondering what the deal was since I walked in on Alex and Reggie—” Luke made a slightly punched-out noise, and Reggie patted his leg comfortingly, and Maggie continued, “I’ve literally been waiting for twenty-five years to know, okay? I need to know.”

Reggie blinked at her.

She grinned back. “Come on, Reg. Dish. You’re with Luke, right?”

“I—yeah,” Reggie said slowly, cheeks flushing when Luke leaned in behind him to press a kiss to the nape of his neck. “I mean, not until after we came back though.”

“Wait, so you and Alex really were—” Maggie leaned forward eagerly, and Reggie wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

“No. Nope, I’m not talking about this with you,” he squinted at her. “Unless you want me to start asking questions about your sex life?” Maggie blanched so hard Reggie and Luke both burst into laughter and Julie giggled while T’Nia patted her wife’s arm comfortingly.

“Fine, change of subject,” Maggie conceded.

“Tell me about our parents,” Reggie said before anyone else could say anything. “I wanna know what happened after we—after—”

“After we died of extreme food poisoning,” Luke cut in, hooking his chin over Reggie’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around his middle. Reggie winced a little, but leaned back into Luke’s embrace anyway, stretching his leg out a little so he could hook his ankle around Alex’s.

The blond startled at the touch, but shot him a grateful little smile anyway, and Reggie’s chest went all warm and tight and he wished, for a second, that they were alone so they could try that awesome group hug thing again. They hadn’t done that in far too long.

“You didn’t die of food poisoning,” Maggie cut in, sounding a little surprised, and Reggie’s head snapped back towards her so fast he felt his neck crack a little.

“What?”

“You didn’t—” Maggie shook head, looking between them with an expression that hovered between baffled and confused. “You didn’t die of food poisoning. You—” she blinked. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Reggie frowned.

“Oh, shit,” Maggie exhaled.

--------------

For those of you that wanted to see these adorable himbos cuddling.

--------------

Start from the beginning:

Becoming a Memory, Becoming a Treasure:

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Or read it HERE on AO3 :D Find the next chapter HERE on Tumblr :)

#jatp #jatp ruke #ruke #luke/reggie #julie and the himbos #Julie and the phantoms #Luke patterson #julie molina #alex #reggie #BaMBaT

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mobius-prime · 4 years

Text

247. Sonic the Hedgehog #178

House of Cards (Part 1 of 2)

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

Well, this already looks bad from that cover page. Indeed, the very first page of this issue begins with Nicole playing back some footage from earlier in the day which depicts Amadeus Prower leading an angry crowd through the streets of the city toward the castle, calling for freedom from the monarchy. Nicole has brought Rosemary, Tails, and Sonic together to show them this footage, wanting them to know why Amadeus has been arrested.

Nicole chides Sonic for being a bit thoughtless in his comment, but Sonic sticks by it, thinking Amadeus' actions are insult to Tails if anything considering his history in fighting for the right for the monarchy to exist at all, given Robotnik's takeover and all. Nicole is concerned, pointing out that things have been a bit distant between Tails and Sonic not just since Knothole's destruction, but ever since Sonic returned from space in the first place, but Sonic brushes it off with a comment about how they're like brothers before rushing out to find Knuckles, who it turns out is leaving the city today. Julie-Su and the rest of the Chaotix are confused and even (in the former's case) a little hurt, thinking it's a bad idea for him to just go off alone while insisting the rest of them stay here, but Knuckles insists it's the right thing to do and that he can handle things solo.

You know, I will say that I actually agree with Knuckles on this one for the most part. I don't think it's a good idea for him to leave everyone else behind - it would be much more prudent for him to take at the very least Julie-Su with him - but going back to Angel Island to check on things and try to repair things with his father is a good call, especially considering how bad things have gotten for the echidnas there. Sonic offers for him to take the gray Chaos Emerald back to the island, but he refuses what with the whole Dark Legion civil war plus dingoes thing going on there, not wanting it to get stolen in all that mess. With that, Knuckles uses the guiding star gem to teleport back to his homeland, leaving a worried Julie-Su behind. Shortly thereafter, King Elias heads to New Mobotropolis' jail to speak with Amadeus, though he's initially heckled by Sleuth, Nack, and Bean from behind the other cell doors. Mogul irritably tells them all to shut up, allowing Elias to ask Amadeus exactly why he incited a riot earlier that day.

Again, I agree with him! He's put into words a lot of the same opinions that I've previously expressed about the monarchy, and while certainly not everything bad that's happened in the past twenty years has been their fault, the sheer fact that this nation is led by a hereditary monarchy at all has led to a lot of really bad calls over the course of this comic, not to mention some outright abuse towards the heirs. When Sonic finds Elias later, he's sitting under a tree on a bench in the garden, Amadeus' words clearly having found their mark. He admits that he actually would like to give up power and give it to the people, but something else is holding him back. Or rather, someone, someone who has just been wheeled up by his wife, in fact.

Aaaand this is exactly the reason the monarchy should no longer be in power. I've already voiced my many, many criticisms of Maximillian, so I won't go into them yet again, but suffice to say that he represents everything wrong with the current state of the government. I get that he's pretty sick at this point, and he's dealt with a lot of awful things in his life that have led to his mental state not exactly being the most stable, but his views are still a problem, and he's not a good influence on his children. Alicia wheels him back to the castle for some rest, with Elias reluctantly following, leaving a confused Sonic wondering what exactly is going on here. Unfortunately, things are about to escalate pretty quickly. That night, Tails flies his mother into the boundaries of the jail and begins hacking his way in. When Nicole pops up to warn them away from trying to break in, she's momentarily shocked when she sees just who is leading the break-in, before Tails wordlessly yanks some wires and causes her to disappear from the immediate area. The two make their way into the jail, and Amadeus is shocked to see them, trying to warn them away so they don't end up jailed as well, but they both assure him that they support his mission and think that now is indeed the best time to act, for the stability of the city. Meanwhile, Nicole pops into Sonic's bedroom to wake him up and tell him that there's currently a break-in going on at the prison, but he rushes off before she's even able to tell him who's breaking in at all. By now, Tails and Rosemary have Amadeus out of his cell, and as Rosemary assures him that she's determined to free him due to her having a hand in writing the speech that got him here in the first place, Sonic shows up. Tails quickly hides in the ceiling vent, while Sonic walks forward, trying to talk Rosemary and Amadeus down from their plan.

Very, very bad move, Sonic. Tails furiously blindsides Sonic with a punch and yells for his parents to run while he holds Sonic off. Rosemary is against the idea, but Amadeus drags her along, reminding her that Tails is technically a war hero and can handle himself. They rush outside and quickly formulate a plan to infiltrate the castle and get Elias to step down from the throne before anything else happens, while Tails continues to attack Sonic in the prison. Sonic tries to get Tails to stop, but is clearly angered by the attack from his friend, and only becomes further agitated when Mogul mocks him with the comment that his only two choices from here are to either be the guy who got beaten up by a kid, or to be the guy who beat up a kid. And so, Sonic and Tails rush at each other, ready for a fight… but why, exactly? If you're starting to think all this seems a little contrived, you wouldn't be the only one. However, I do have a defense of all this. Remember, Tails is still a little kid - a highly intelligent and accomplished one, but a little kid nonetheless - who only just got his parents back. He's so enamored with the idea of having his very own parents now that he's much more susceptible to being roped into whatever plans they may have, even illegal ones (though it is worth noting that illegal obviously doesn't mean immoral here, as again, I agree that the monarchy needs to go). At the same time, he and Sonic have had some tension between them lately, and when Sonic shows up seeming to want to keep Tails' father in jail, and not only that but then speaks flippantly of Tails' own ability to decide right and wrong for himself, I think it's not too surprising that he'd end up doing something like this. There is one more component to this conflict, but it's covered next issue, so that's when we'll tackle it.

Before this issue ends, however, we have one more thing to look at - namely, several diagrams and maps of various buildings in New Mobotropolis, as well as a map of the city itself! There are no dimensions or statistics given, so none of the fun we've had in the previous cases of looking at maps, but it's still interesting to see a layout of where the heroes live now. The comic covers Freedom HQ first, both the outside and the inside, going over its two entrances (the front entrance and the Great Oak Slide) and a few other technical notes. It's still located on the edge of the ruins of Knothole and still suffering from the damage of the attack, but apparently still slated to be in use as a home-away-from-home for the Freedom Fighters as well as continuing to serve its role as a decoy target away from the main city. Next we have the library, which is stated to be full of information that Nicole was able to preserve. It seems that it holds the books that were able to be saved from Robotropolis before its destruction, as well as the ones that weren't in the form of raw data that was reconstructed by Nicole. Then there's the civic center for social gatherings and the marketplace, and then we get to Castle Acorn. Interestingly, I can only assume from the information we're given about it here that this was meant to be included in the next issue, since some of the info contains some pretty obvious spoilers, talking about including space for the "Acorn Council" after "the revolution." Wow, I wonder how this arc is going to end! Finally, we're given a layout of the entire city, which I'll show here.

This is truly a lovely city everyone has ended up in! The layout makes a lot of sense too, with the center being the castle and seat of the government, surrounding it the commercial areas and other public buildings, and around the outskirts, a residential district, bordered by a "Faux Forest" which is presumably made out of nanites. And of course, now that the city is protected by a forcefield, surprise attacks from Eggman are no longer nearly the dire concern they once were in Knothole. Knothole was certainly a nice village, and it's a little sad to see it gone after so long, but New Mobotropolis is absolutely gorgeous and a wonderful new setting for plots to come! That is, if the government even survives… DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN! I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 178 #writer: ian flynn #pencils: tracy yardley #colors: jason jensen

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littlemissaddict · 3 years

Text

Something More

Summary: Julie and Luke have been friends since they were kids and everyone thinks they are a couple. Alex and Reggie do what they can to get them to confess that they like each other. (Requested)

Word Count: 2K

A/n: To the anon that requested, I hope this is what you were looking for.

“Hey Julie, can we talk?" Alex asks, as he walks into the garage, surprising Julie who jumps a little from her spot on the piano bench. She had been focused on getting the lyrics down that had been stuck in her head all day before band rehearsal.

"Sure Alex, what's up" she says closing her notebook as he comes closer, he raises his eyebrows curiously at her actions but doesn't say anything.

"You and Luke" he states as if its fairly obvious what he means.

"What about me and Luke" she replies, she knows where he is heading with this and she is honestly not surprised, she gets this question a lot from people who meet the two of them but she thought Alex would know better, he has known them long enough to know the answer.

"You're together aren't you" he says it as though he's telling her more than asking her.

"No" she says simply with a shake of her head but Alex just looks at her like he doesn't believe her "come on Alex, you know me and Luke have know each other pretty much since we were born, our parents are friends, we grew up together, we're more like brother and sister than anything else" she says exasperation clear in her voice. Its true her and Luke had been friends since then, their parents were always together so it made sense that they always played together as children, there was just that bond between them. They'd been there for each others first crushes, first heartache, Luke had helped her when her mom had passed away and she was always there for him when he fought with his own parents. That was just what they did, they looked out for each other like best friends and family did.

"Julie, you and Luke pretty much act like a couple constantly and the chemistry you two have is not that of siblings" he reasons but she shakes her head at him.

"I really don't want to talk about this" she mumbles "I get asked all the time by people we meet, fans I really don't need it from my friends" she says eyes pleading with him to drop it.

"There must be something there then if everyone sees it don't ya think" he points out but she just glares at him so he finally drops it sighing as he flops down onto the couch pulling out his phone while Julie goes back to her notebook, Alex's words repeating in her mind making it hard for her to concentrate.

Alex messages Reggie, who was meeting Luke after school before they headed over to Julie's. Him and Reggie had decided to do what it takes to get these two oblivious idiots that they called friends to admit that they like each other as more than friends and so far it wasn't working out. Maybe Reggie would have better luck with Luke, Alex thought.

---

"So you and Julie huh" Reggie says as they make there way down the driveway of Luke's house.

"What do you mean Reg" Luke asks confused, they were heading over to Julie's now for band rehearsal and Luke was excited because he had a new song that he'd been working on and he could wait to show the band.

"Come on Luke, you ooze chemistry, everyone can see it" Reggie replies waggling his eyebrows at the other boy and Luke chuckles.

"Reg we've discussed this before, me and Julie are just friends" he says with certainty and Reggie shakes his head at him.

"Dude, friends don't look act like you and Julie do, they don't look at each other like you and Julie do" he’s staring at Luke in disbelief right now, like he gets it the boy is oblivious to his feelings but Reggie knows there's no one quite oblivious to everything than himself but even he sees this.

"And how do we look at each other" Luke asks not taking his eyes of the path ahead of him.

"Its heart eyes constantly, its a little unbearable sometimes and before you say that's how you look at everyone I'll have you know that you've never looked at me and Alex that way let alone anyone else you know" he says holding his hand up halfway through to stop Luke from interrupting.

"Seriously man, we're just friends" Luke says but he doesn't sound as certain this time as he did before and Reggie considers this a victory, its small but its a victory nonetheless. They walk the rest of the way in silence, Reggie messaging Alex and Luke caught up in thoughts of Julie.

"Finally you're here" Alex cheers as the two boys enter the garage, he and Julie had been sat in silence since their little debate and she hadn't even acknowledged the boys as they entered which made Luke frown. He walked over to her noticing how her brow was furrowed and her attention on the book in front of her, she was cute when she was like this he noted but he shook the thought away, no they were just friends he wasn't supposed to have those thoughts. When he recovered he smiled bending down so his face was level with her and he said her name rather loudly, startling her.

"Ahhh, I wish you wouldn't do that" he said pushing his face away from her own when she realised how close he was, her face slightly flushed. Since her conversation with Alex all she could think about was Luke, did she have feelings for him or was he just her best friend, she wasn't sure but their close proximity flustered her slightly.

"What cha working on" he asks reaching for the book, reading the words ‘Perfect Harmony’ before the the book was snatched out of his grasp making him pout at her.

"It's not finished yet" she says not quite meeting his eyes and he's about to protest and tell her that they always share songs, even the ones that aren't finished but a voice behind him interrupts them.

"Okay lovebirds can we get on with practice" Reggie jokes, him and Alex chuckling at something Alex whispers before he makes his way over to the drum kit. Luke looks towards Julie and sees that her cheeks are flushed and wonders if that was caused by Reggie's 'lovebirds' comment, he makes a mental note to ask her later but for now they both head over to there instruments ready for practice.

---

It had been a week since Alex had questioned Julie about her relationship with Luke and since then it was all Julie could think about. She found herself noticing all the little things they did that would suggest they were more than friends like how he would always come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist in greeting when she was at her locker. How whenever they watched a film, be it by themselves or with the boys or on their own, they would always cuddle and usually fall asleep wrapped in each other. In fact now that she thought about it they were always touching in someway whenever they were together, it was no wonder everyone thought they were together.

“Julie, Julie you’re spaced out again”

It was Flynn. She blinked a couple of times and focused her thoughts again as she gave her friend an apologetic smile.

“Sorry I was just thinking” she apologised.

“Jules this is the third time this class you’ve spaced out. What’s up?” she asked, concern etched on her face.

“it’s nothing really” she assures but the look Flynn gives her tells her that she doesn’t believe her. Julie sighs “Fine, Alex cornered me last week before rehearsal talking about how me and Luke act like a couple, the usual things but I don’t know some of the things he said got me thinking maybe I do like Luke like that, y’know” she says voice quiet like it’s hard for her to admit.

“Wow okay, first off, called it” she says and Julie rolls her eyes “second, what are you going to do?” Julie frowns, she’s not sure what she is going to do now that she has come to the realisation that she likes Luke. Probably nothing if she can help it, she really doesn’t want to ruin the friendship they have, when she doesn’t answer Flynn takes her silence as a no.

“Julie you have to tell him” Flynn says a little too loudly, forgetting that they are in class and they end up with a warning from the teacher. They apologise quickly before going back to their conversation, quieter this time. “Soo....”

“No I can’t tell him, he’s too important for me to lose him if he doesn’t feel the same” Julie sighs going back to her work, hoping that if she ignores her feelings they’ll go away but she doesn’t miss when Flynn mumbles that he definitely does feel the same. The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly and Julie finds herself avoiding Luke as she tries to work through these new feelings she’s uncovered.

Unfortunately for her, Luke has noticed that something is up and after band rehearsal, when Reggie and Alex have left, he stays.

“Do you mind if I stay, there’s a song I’ve been working on and I wanted to get your help” Luke says, placing his guitar on the stand looking over to her by the piano, he sees the ways she hesitates which confuses him, for as long as he’s know her she’s never had a problem with him staying longer for them to hang out.

“Sure, let’s have a look” she says finally making her way over to the couch and sitting down.

“Julie are you okay, you’ve been acting weird all day and I feel like you’re trying to avoid me” Luke asks as he sits next to Julie on the couch.

“I’m sorry it’s not intentional I swear, I guess I just have a lot on my mind” she says finally looking over to him a small smile on her face. He reaches over and tucks her hair behind her ear, his fingertips brush against her cheek as he does making her shiver slightly.

“Well maybe if you tell me I can help” he suggests withdrawing his hand from her face.

“I-I can’t Luke” she stutters with a shake of her head.

“Why not, is-is it me did I do something to upset you” he asks. Julie notices how hurt he looks and it upsets her to know that she’s caused the hurt in him.

“No Luke it’s not you it’s..” she starts to say but Luke cuts her off

“Julie if you were just about to say it’s not you it’s me, I swear I’ll kill you” Luke warns, at his words her eyes widen and she shakes her head.

“You really want to know” she asks and he nods “okay I’ll tell you but you have to promise me you won’t hate me afterwards” she says biting her lip nervously and watches as the confusion crosses his face before he promises. She’s not sure where she gets the sudden boost of confidence from but rather than telling him she reaches forward, hand sliding round the back of his neck and pulling him towards her. Luke’s eyes widen when he realises what she is about to do but he doesn’t pull away instead he reaches up to cup her face, leaning into her. Their lips meet it’s soft but filled with all the unsaid emotions that they are trying to convey.

"Sorry guys I uh" Alex apologies coming back into the studio stopping as Julie and Luke pull away from each other "Just friends huh" he smirks watch their faces flush as they look back at each other.

Okay maybe they weren't just friends maybe they were something more but they could figure that out later, right now Julie was just happy having Luke here in her arms.

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp julie #julie molina #jatp luke #luke patterson #julie x luke #friends to lovers #jatp juke #juke #reggie peters #alex mercer

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

Note

Okay ONE MORE because I'm needy. “Ring the bells that can still ring. Forget your perfect offering. There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” For Garcy or Asher/Maria.

The Engineering & Aerospace Technical and Industrial Summit’s keynote opening address is held in the New York Hall of Science, and starts four minutes past nine AM on April 28, 1972. Maria is in the audience with the others, Lockman lanyard around her neck, notepad and number-two pencils at the ready. As promised, it’s a notably international gathering. President Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to China in February means that a group of student engineers from Beijing have been granted permission to attend, and they sit together in a self-contained huddle, with wary glances at the others. There are Mexicans, several Brits (instantly recognizable as they moan about the quality of the conference-supplied tea) and a decent selection of Western European intelligentsia. There are also some who may well be from the other side of the wall. Maria has heard snatches of German, something that might be Polish, and other Eastern Bloc languages, though nobody is dumb enough to openly speak Russian. The fact of this being conceived as a showpiece for the promotion and exchange of advanced American technological prowess means that it is also a possible target for the Soviets. There are a few ordinary-looking men in plainclothes, occasionally wandering up to random delegates and making friendly conversation, who Maria suspects of being CIA.

The keynote address is dull, but Maria takes dutiful notes. There are three more days of panels and papers to go, and the morning proceeds as you would expect. Weedy men in badly fitting suits struggle with their slide projectors, and drone on about bogglingly obscure minutiae in commercial combustion engine design. Even some of the other Lockman delegates are yawning, but Maria pays intent attention, and not just because it’s her job. She’s good at this, she knows she is, and she translates some of the more obtuse mathematical formulas into plain English before she hands them over to the men, who are supposed to understand better than she does, but don’t actually. Shocking.

Lunch is held in the cafeteria, a not-terribly-appetizing selection on offer, and Maria wrinkles her nose at whatever is pretending to be beef stroganoff on her plate. As she’s trying to decide whether she wants to eat it, a voice says, “Excuse me, is this seat taken?”

She looks up with a start. She thought it would be one of the Lockman engineers, but it’s not. The man is tall, lean, a few years older than her, and wearing a trim blue blazer, a tie, and slacks that actually fit. He does not have one of those disagreeable mustaches; he’s clean-shaven, and his hair is thick and dark and prone to flip over his forehead. His eyes are dark too, lively and intelligent, and his strong nose suggests southeastern Europe, as does his accent. The badge around his neck reads Jugoslovenski Aerotransport. JAT, the national airline of Yugoslavia. He might be into those very engines.

Maria is surprised – yes, there is open space at the table, but there are spots at other tables too. Presumably he should be sitting with the rest of JAT, as she should be with the rest of Lockman, but she makes a small gesture, inviting him to set his tray down. He does, swings his long legs over the bench, and examines the dismal culinary prospects without relish. “Do you think they’ll make us eat this the whole time?”

Taken aback by the fact that he has read her mind, Maria laughs. It feels like something for which she should have asked permission, though from who she has no idea. “I hope not.”

“I hope not too.” He speaks English well, mostly fluently, with the careful intonation of someone who has learned it out of books. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I am sitting down next to you, and I have not introduced myself. Asher Flynn.”

“Maria,” she says by reflex, glancing down; his name is indeed printed on his badge, though it strikes her as slightly Anglo for someone from Yugoslavia. Not that it is her business why he would have any kind of name at all. “Maria Tompkins.”

They shake hands, and he nods to her, having evidently also read her badge. “You are with Lockman? That must be exciting. They work with NASA, yes?”

Maria nods back, though she cannot help be wary of why this man has chosen her to chat up and immediately seemed interested in her employer. They choke down the gluey stroganoff for a few moments, and then she says, “Isn’t Yugoslavia a communist country?”

This is rather skip-the-formalities with someone she’s just met, and Asher Flynn looks surprised. “Yes,” he says, as if that was obvious. “Well, mostly. Tito is no friend to Moscow, though, and we are officially non-aligned. We’re the only country in Eastern Europe where you can travel abroad without an exit visa, and emigrate if you want to. Those poor bastards in the USSR, they need a passport even for domestic travel, they have to request leaves of absence from their hometown council if they plan to be gone longer than thirty days, and they can’t leave the country. I wouldn’t want to live that way.”

Maria notes the elegance of this answer, how he seems to be responding to the real question (are you a Soviet spy?) hidden within her first one, while never letting on that he is. Or maybe it’s just her imagination, and he’s gotten this a lot from suspicious Americans, inclined to mistrust a dark young man with an Eastern European accent and an interest in spaceflight technology. Maybe that’s why he goes by Asher Flynn, if the name is easier for the West to trust. Maria takes a bite of bread (stale), and says, “So that’s where you’re from?”

“Yes. SR Croatia. Zagreb.” He doesn’t seem offended by her asking. “You?”

“Texas.” She bites her tongue on asking if he knows where it is. Just because she couldn’t find Zagreb on a map doesn’t mean he can’t. “Houston.”

“Houston,” Asher says, nodding. “Yes, yes. Where they launched Apollo 11. Were you there for that?”

Maria looks at her plate. She can feel the stroganoff revolting, threatening to come back up and taste even more vile this time, and swallows heavily. Asher cannot know that he has stepped directly onto her most vulnerable sore spot, her most enduring wound, and she tries to concentrate until the urge to scream and run backs down. He can sense at once, however, that something is wrong. “I didn’t – ” he says. “Sorry, is that – ?”

“I – no. I wasn’t there.” The words are dredged out of her like leaden anchors. “There was – there was a family emergency. My son, he – ” God, no, no, no, she is not telling this man she just met, she is not doing it, she is not throwing it onto him, and yet she is. “My son actually – my son died that day. It was – a bee sting, a bad allergic reaction. He – he didn’t make it.”

Asher blinks like she’s hit him. There are any number of things he could say or do in response, not least some screaming and running of his own. Then he reaches out and pats her hand; his own is large enough to cover it, if he held on, but he doesn’t. “Please forgive me,” he says quietly. “I did not know, of course, but I am very sorry. You may tell me to go away and eat my lunch somewhere else, if you would like.”

“I – no.” Maria is determined not to crumble, not to sit here and cry in the middle of the cafeteria, and she might do that if he left. “No, it’s – ”

He’s still looking at her, pensive, considering. Then he says, “What if we throw away this mess, and go get a sandwich? I heard New York has good sandwiches. The next panel I want to attend is not until two o’clock.”

Maria tenses. “Are you just – because you feel sorry for me?”

“I do feel sorry for you,” Asher says, simply and unpretentiously. “But I was going to ask if you wanted a sandwich before you said that, so it’s not why. There is a shop on the corner. It would take only a few minutes. If you would like.”

Maria supposes there is something to be said for the fact that he took the dead-son bombshell and his next move to is to seek out more of her company, to see her cracks and her ruins and somehow find them -- well, not beautiful, but not dead, unbearable, disqualifying. She can give into it, she’s never going to see him again, and the stroganoff is disgusting. She pauses, then says, “Okay.”

Asher smiles – it’s unforced, natural, dazzling, and her insides do something strange – and gets to his feet, once more nearly tripping over the bench that has not been made with the interests of a six-foot-three man in mind. He strides at her side as they leave the cafeteria, as Maria recalls the warning against walking alone in New York and then decides that after all, she isn’t alone. The sandwich shop is not far from Shea Stadium, bedecked with graffiti, and the 7 train rattles overhead on its elevated tracks, felonies presumably being committed aboard. It looks seedy, but Asher ducks inside with easy confidence, strides up to the counter, and orders them both a New York sub special, opening his wallet and carefully counting out cash to pay before Maria can offer to go Dutch. It’s hot and greasy and possibly the most delicious thing she has eaten in her life.

She looks at her watch when it’s done, decides to get back so she can serve as Lockman stenographer for the afternoon sessions, and Asher escorts her back. As he regards the Unisphere with a slightly ironic expression, Maria asks, “Is this your first time in America?”

It’s rich of her to be asking, since she’s a newcomer to the city herself, but she finds herself wondering. He nods. “Yes,” he says. “I can’t say that New York’s impressed me very much.”

“Is it different back home?” Maria has no idea what Yugoslavia is actually like, other than presumably Soviet Union-lite. The American imagination does not encompass much social diversity (or quality of life) over there in the Red parts of Europe, those oppressed and faceless millions bereft of the freedom and luxury of the West. “Better?”

Asher shrugs. “Every country has its problems. It was devastated by the war, the Nazis occupied it and turned it into a puppet state – it used to be the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but the last heir to the throne fled in 1941, and the monarchy was abolished. That’s the year I was born, so I don’t remember, but Tito rallied the Partisans and the anti-fascist forces, and they fought to drive the Nazis out. Then he became president of the republic, and he separated from Stalin fairly quickly. But my mother was born in a farmhouse with dirt floors, in a poor and rural country that was still essentially in the nineteenth century, and now she lives in a nice rent-free apartment in Zagreb. She can go on vacations to the seaside and to cafés with her friends, her health insurance is paid for, she has a television set and a washing machine and likes to read Žena u borbi and watch soap operas. I can even take her to Paris, Milan. I don’t think that is so bad, no?”

Maria glances sidelong at him. The way he speaks about his mother makes it sounds like he loves her, and is proud that she has a comfortable life. Maria wonders what Asher is leaving out, what sacrifices are made for this, but then, is it any less than the sacrifices made in America, this increasingly strange land that they all accept as the norm? She looks at this dirty city, the trash blowing in the gutters. Remembers the pictures of burning TV sets and prostitutes and homeless people in suits sleeping in the street. She says, “No, it sounds nice.”

They reach the fairgrounds, and go inside. Asher gives her half a bow, old-fashioned, oddly charming, before he returns to the JAT contingent, and Maria finds herself inexplicably reluctant to see him go. In her defense, he was polite and well-dressed, gracious about that inadvertent emotional minefield, interesting to talk to, not from around here, and saved her from having to eat the cafeteria food. Out of nowhere, she wonders if he’ll take her to lunch again tomorrow, if she could induce him to do so, but that seems manipulative. She could even ask, but that – no. She doesn’t want to give the wrong impression. Not when, as she already has to remind herself, they are never going to see each other again.

#timeless ff #asher x maria #note that this is an excerpt #from my much longer fic of them #which is already like.... 40k words #and will be finished one day #possibly #i have the feelings #prompt fills #extasiswings #ask

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the-reverse-mermaid · 6 years

Text

Today I took a break from actual writing and wrote a crack fic about @losingmymindtonight @caraminha @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars and @parkrstark ....um. Yep. Here’s 1k words of crack. Enjoy, my iconic ladies and all other fans of @starklovinjuice ;)

...

“Can you hear us now?” Kat says loudly and slowly, holding up her phone so the Skype cam fits herself, Shannon and Leah in the frame.

“Yes, babe,” Maren’s voice affirms over the speaker, patient as ever. “You just keep going in and out when you move the phone around too much.”

“HI, MAREN!!” Leah calls, waving happily until the girl on the phone smiles and waves back.

“Alright people,” Shannon says seriously, turning back to the sidewalk that the three Americans are standing on. “We’ve got work to do.”

It’s a beautiful summer’s day, a perfect day for the mission they have in mind: they’re out to collect research.

Not just any research, though, no no; they’re out to look for whump ideas.

First stop: the Life Science Museum.

As they enter, Shannon studiously pulls a pencil from behind her ear and chews the end, notebook in hand. She looks over the museum map.

“‘Deadly reptiles exhibit,’ sounds promising…” she murmurs.

“There’s a live animal show at 2!” Leah exclaims, pointing at a sign.

“Hang on, I lost connection again,” Kat says distractedly. She wanders off to find a better WiFi spot.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Maren spins in her computer chair idly, waiting for the call to reconnect. As she waits, she clicks through tumblr posts and cackles at the woeful reactions to her latest story update. Mmm, the tears of her readers are like a fine wine.

When the call reconnects, the video that pops up is an image of a growling canine. She furrows her brows. “Babes, what am I looking at?” she asks.

Kat’s voice is giggling. “Check it out!” she says, backing up so that the whole display is visible. It’s a predator-and-prey exhibit, and under the claws of the snarling stuffed wolf is a replica severed deer head.

A child passing by is heard: “Mommy, look, the doggie found his lunch!”

“Guys, what if Peter got attacked by wolves?” Leah gasps. “He could get, like, separated from IronDad in the woods!”

“How is he supposed to get attacked by wolves when he lives in New York City?” Kat asks thoughtfully.

“No, no, she’s on to something,” Shannon says. She brings up her notepad and begins scribbling like mad. “Let’s say Tony takes him on a camping trip, you know, for bonding and what-not…”

“I mean, I whumped Peter in the woods of NYC in my fic,” Maren interjects. “So it’s possible.”

“Maren, we can’t all be as amazing as you,” Kat stage-whispers. The two wiggle their eyebrows at each other.

When they leave the museum an hour later, the visiting families and other people sigh in relief.

Next stop is a park where they sit to eat lunch (or in Maren’s case, dinner). They’re gathered on a bench in the shade, listening to the sounds of children playing and birds chirping.

“Aww, look,” Leah coos, pointing to a Dad holding his toddler’s fingers and helping him take little steps across the grass. “Reminds me of Shannon’s de-aged Peter fic.”

Shannon smiles humbly. “You know, Leah, you could really capitalize on toddler Peter in your AU,” she comments. “Growing up with Tony as his biological dad, he’s bound to have been kidnapped once or twice as a baby.”

“Imagine if he were kidnapped and put in a tower like Rapunzel,” Maren says around a mouthful of fish and chips (British food, you know). “And he grew up thinking some abusive person were his parent, while Tony mourns him…”

“...Only to find him when he’s a teenager and bring him home for an abundance of sleepy cuddles,” Kat finishes.

“And forehead kisses!” Leah adds.

“Does he have to have magic hair in this AU, or…?” Shannon teases, but she’s already writing in her notebook.

“Please can Ned be Flynn Ryder,” Maren says, making Kat snort juice.

Last stop of the day is Leah’s house, where they’re having a sleepover that night. (Leah warns them in advance to keep out of way of the artist living in her basement… that person is dangerously unpredictable and tends to polish off the family supply of ice cream when nobody’s home.)

Kat’s phone charges nearby, still with Maren’s face showing (albeit, she looks much more ready to fall asleep than the rest of them).

As they gather in the living room, Leah displays their collection of DVDs and pulls out the most important ones (Iron Man And Spider-Man:Homecoming, of course).

“Okay, ladies,” Leah says, “which would you rather watch first?”

“IronDad first,” Kat suggests. “I like watching his captivity scenes. Gives me ideas for And You’ll Blow Us All Away.”

“I bet I could bootleg a version of Infinity War,” Shannon says slyly, “if you want even MORE ideas for the sequel…”

“That babe is too powerful,” Maren calls, yawning. “I vote yes, though.”

“Same,” Kat agrees.

“Okay, just make sure the FBI can’t trace it back to me,” Leah shrugs, sliding the laptop to Shannon to work her magic. “I don’t need to go back to jail…” (the others can’t tell if she’s joking).

They end up watching the “I don’t wanna go Mr. Stark” scene about fifty times on a loop. Nobody has dry eyes by the time they turn the tv off, except Maren, who has fallen asleep.

“Well… R.I.P. me…” Kat sniffs.

Shannon wipes her tears, looking determined. “It was for science,” she declares. “We did good things today.”

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m ready to write,” Leah agrees.

By midnight, the three US authors have added to their WIPs significantly, with Kat even posting a one-shot to the Tumblr Archives about Peter dying from the perspective of Tony later on when Peter says “I’m sorry” about something trivial after he’s back from the dead (with much input and collaboration from the others).

They’re dead asleep when Maren tries to FaceTime the next morning. The UK girl just huffs at her silly American wives and goes to get herself some tea.

Overall, it is, in fact, a perfect day.

The END.

#i......really need sleep #good night #crackfic #this is for you leah #do i need a life? yes yes i do #ps @ the others i dont know any of you that well but i did my best in the hopes that it would make you laugh #this is not meant to be creepy ....sorry if it is

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tmarie82 · 6 years

Text

Truths and Lies

Pairing: Naomi x F!MC (Marin)

Book: Veil of Secrets

Word Count: ~1,500

Rating: PG-13 (for Marin's potty mouth 🤭)

Author’s Note: Another installment of the angsty Naomi x Marin x Flynn love triangle mess, following Numb and then Just for the Day. Sh*t's about to hit the fan, people. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Please let me know if you would like to be added to my tag list. You can find all of my fics here - MASTERLIST

~~~~~~~~~~

The ride back to Naomi’s house had been quiet, both women deep in their own thoughts as they trotted back to the real world. Marin kept sneaking glances over to Naomi, the soft satisfied grin on her full lips instilling both joy and guilt in her at the same time. Luckily Naomi didn’t seem to notice Marin’s inner turmoil, continuing to ride along in blissful ignorance through the peaceful meadow at dusk. And when the car arrived to take her back into town, when Naomi held her so tight and kissed her so gently farewell, Marin knew she had missed her opportunity to divulge the truth of her mistakes.

That night lying alone in her bed at the B&B, Marin’s exhausted body finally gave in to sleep. But instead of the much-needed peaceful slumber she sought, she was restless, tossing and turning in the sweat-soaked sheets. Plagued with visions of Kate’s fragile figure covered in dirt in the basement of that abandoned shack, of Tanner’s limp body slumped over lifeless in the armchair on his boat, of Flynn lying asleep under the stars as she slipped away into the night ...and last, of Naomi’s lips curved in a slight grin as she leaned forward to kiss her in the hay, silencing Marin’s confession yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, a groggy Marin dragged herself out of bed as the alarm sounded on her phone at 7:00am. It was hard to understand how she could be so groggy when she really hadn’t slept anyway. She fumbled with the one-cup coffee-maker on the desk in her room, groaning as she found the water reservoir was empty. “I just need coffeeeeeeee ...” she groaned and stumbled into the bathroom to fill it.

About 15 minutes, a warm shower and half a cup of coffee later, Marin was beginning to feel halfway human as she started dressing for the day. She slipped into her most conservative and least wrinkled outfit, a pair of slacks with a blouse and a sweater vest, before tousling her damp hair and quickly weaving it into a loose side braid down her shoulder. She studied her appearance in the mirror, obviously fatigued but at least pulled together, and said a quick prayer that it would be enough to impress the jury at Kate’s trial today.

~~~~~~~~~~

“And so, in conclusion, I think that Kate’s mannerisms and reputation speak to her overall character. She has a big heart and she is kind to a fault. There is no doubt in my mind that Kate couldn’t be capable of killing Tanner.” Marin ended her response to Grant’s inquiry, flashing a reassuring smile to her redheaded friend before settling back against the chair on the witness stand.

So far she felt the trial was going well today, Grant shooting holes through the DA’s arguments and having several witnesses (including Marin herself) painting a vivid picture of the sweet and caring Kate. And the jury seemed to be eating it all up, with soft understanding expressions and nods as Marin outlined her relationship with Kate. So far, so good.

“Thank you, Marin.” Grant tipped his head towards her, an appreciative smirk on his lips. “No further questions, Your Honor.”

“Thank you Mr. Emerson ...” the judge spoke dryly, no hint of any emotion on her face. “Mr. Hornby, would you like to address the witness?”

“Yes, Your Honor, thank you.” DA Mac Hornby glided out from behind the table where he had been perched and walked slowly toward Marin on the stand. A chill ran down Marin’s spine as he approached ... for while anyone else in the courtroom could only see the fake smile plastered across his face, looking at him straight on and up close she could detect something cold and devious underneath his show face.

“Good morning, Marin. Thank you so much for your cooperation this morning. I know we all want to get to the bottom of this and ensure justice has been rendered.” His eyed crinkled at the sides in his smug grin, delivering the pleasantries he’d no doubt perfected after years and years of practice. Shit, he’s good, Marin noted.

Hornby’s questioning started out simple enough, asking Marin about her childhood, her parents, her career ... everything illustrating her wholesome lifestyle. Marin explained how she got into journalism, growing up playing reporter on the playground at school during recess. The jury seemed content with her responses, and occasionally one or two would even chuckle at her colorful descriptions. Everything seemed to be working in Marin’s, and therefore in Kate’s, favor. What is he getting at? Why is he going so easy on me?

“So Marin, it seems to me like you’re just the typical All-American girl. Good citizen, hard worker, loyal friend ... just like your best friend Kate here.” Marin’s inner journalist squirmed with unease. “But things, and people, aren’t always what they seem on the surface, now are they?” Shit, Marin gulped. Here comes the bomb. “Despite her good-natured demeanour, Kate O’Malley has some skeletons in her closet. A rough childhood, a father that abandoned them ... and even her brother Flynn, who she’s very close to, was just released from prison. Is that correct?” He arched his brow at his last question, a devilish gleam in his eyes.

“That’s not exactly true-“ Marin started.

“Yes or no? It’s a simple question.” Hornby cut in.

Marin’s eyes flitted to Flynn sitting in the row behind Grant and Kate, his eyes narrowed and cheeks flushed with anger. Despite his obvious frustration, he simply nodded his head in assent. Her voice was shaky as she replied. “Yes, that's correct.” She lowered her eyes to her lap, anxiously fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

“Thank you, Marin.” Hornby replied curtly. He paced in front of the witness stand for a moment, rubbing his hand along his jaw in silence. The silence, the anticipation, was deafening as Marin waited patiently for the DA’s next question. He cleared his throat but continued to pace aimlessly in front of her when he fired his next attack. “And this same brother, Flynn, the ex-convinct ... is it not true that you two have been involved, both romantically and physically, since you arrived in Birchport?”

Marin heard a shocked gasp from the jury as she raised her gaze to Hornby’s face, her jaw open slightly in surprise. “I, uh ...” She glanced to Flynn, who was silently fuming on the bench, his head in his hands ... and then to Kate, a confused look on her face she glanced between Marin and her brother behind her. In the corner of her vision Marin saw a familiar figure towards the back of the room, the dark-haired bronze beauty shifting uneasily against the back wall. Marin met Naomi’s stare, a fretful look behind her glossy eyes as she bit her lip nervously. Marin hadn’t even seen her come in ... her stomach churned, all the guilt and emotions from the past few days bubbling to the surface.

“Answer the question, please.” Marin glanced back to Hornby’s sneering face. “Did you or did you not have a relations with Kate O’Malley’s ex-convict brother?”

Marin sat up tall, chin jutted forward as she fiercely stared down the legal bully in front of her. But strong and proud couldn’t get her out of this one. Her gaze softened and her eyes shone with remorseful tears as she turned back to Naomi. “Yes. Yes, I did.” She felt a stabbing pain in her chest as she watched Naomi simply close her eyes, inhaling a deep breath before looking down to the floor at her feet.

Marin tuned out the murmurs in the courtroom, avoiding the judging stares and focused on the one person standing in the back that wasn’t looking at her. Look up! She pleaded internally, Just look at me! But her thoughts were swiftly interrupted as DA Hornby continued to press on in his interrogation.

“Thank you for your honesty, Marin.” There was that smug grin again. It took every ounce of self control Marin had left to not stand up and slap that smug grin off his rancid old face as he turned to the jury. “So it would seem that the witness here has a very complicated and close relationship to the O’Malley family. Relationships that she would be willing to protect at any cost, I would reason.” He turned back to look at Marin with a cold stare. “Based on this I have a hard time believing any character assessments from the witness at all.” He nodded towards the judge- “I rest my case, Your Honor.”- before sitting back down in his seat.

Marin sat, stunned and silent as she watched Hornby’s closing statement unfold in front of her. Once he was sitting back down she slowly blinked, awakening from her trance before averting her eyes again to the back of the room. Only this time instead of finding her target, she found herself staring at an empty spot along the back wall where Naomi had been.

To be continued ...

~~~~~~~~~~

Tagging: @simplyaiden-blog @mfackenthal @lizeboredom @walkerismychoice @boneandfur @laniquelove @choices-fanatic @liam-rhys @the-everlasting-dream @client327 @kamybelen-blog @butindeed @enmchoices @drakelover78 @kamilah-sayeed-xoxo @parkerattano @asprankle @innerpostmentality @jadedpixiescribbles @crookedslimecreatorpasta @choiceswreckedme @debramcg1106 @mymandrake @alesana45 @christopher-powell @eileendannie @diavolosprincess @lazychic28 @clarissafics @blackcatkita @bella-ca @writtenbycandy @stopforamoment @mind-reader1 @snyggflicka @pbchoicesobsessed @miss-cordonia @mrswalkerwrites @speedyoperarascalparty @viktoriapetit @flowerpowell

#naomi x f!mc #naomi silverhawk #veil of secrets #tmarie82 fanfic

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transcendence-au · 7 years

Text

The Manor of Alcor (1/?)

Happy Birthday TAU! It only took 6 MONTHS to finally feel comfortable with how the story should go, but here’s an anniversary present to you. And I’m sorry that a lot of the more recent hc for this prompt couldn’t be added; I started planning and writing long beforehand. Anyway, here’s a murder mystery plot involving Alcor. Or, well, you’ll see…

Also on ff.net

He checked the time on his phone once more as he continued to walk down the secluded path. 7:00AM. He was still thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Perfect!

Still, after readjusting the straps on his backpack and his hold on his suitcase, Orrie increased his pace. Though this road just on the outskirts of town was assuredly safe, and streetlights brightly lined the pathway, it was still early in the morning and anything could happen to a boy out in the woods alone. So when he saw the bus stop just at the top of the hill he let out a thankful sigh. As he neared, it turned out he wasn’t the first to make the trek here.

Three others sat on the short bench flooded with artificial light. Two, who had to be a couple judging by the way the young woman was resting her head on her husband’s shoulder and how the two of them were dozing, sat nearest the sign. The other man with the incredibly long silver hair and summer trench coat sat closer to the other end, reading a novel. He glanced up when Orrie approached and scooted over some to give the boy a space to sit. Orrie, smiling shyly, took the offer graciously. As he put down his backpack and suitcase, the man closed his book. “Are you here by yourself?”

“Um, yes sir,” Orrie answered, letting his legs rest. The man, which Orrie could now see had some long, pointy ears, frowned only slightly.

“You didn’t want to come with anyone else?”

Orrie blushed. “Well, I’m kinda treating myself to this excursion. An early birthday present.”

“Ah.” The man’s expression instantly brightened. “So it’s also your first time going to the manor?”

“Yes sir. It took me ages to convince my parents to let me sign up for the event. I think they only agreed because they thought I wouldn’t be one of the two to get randomly picked to go. But I’m so glad I was. It’s a really popular attraction, I hear.”

“That it is,” agreed the man, “I chose to go on the waiting list. It was a year’s wait, but I’m not going to complain.” He lifted a brow at Orrie. “You know, I’d never thought someone as young as you would be very excited to visit the Manor of Alcor.”

“No way! I love Alcor.” He then laughed, embarrassed. “Okay, that came out so wrong. I mean that I find Alcor a really cool guy.” By now the other couple had woken up and turned their attention to the two. “My grandfather used to be part of a tiny Alcor branch when he was a teenager– you know, back when cults were a big deal. He’d tell me all the times he and his friends would summon Alcor and they’d just do fun stuff like play a real-life version of DD&MD and get the whole town involved, or have music battles in the middle of the street with the local musicians, or tutor kids after school through the use of sock puppets. I mean, they also did other cult stuff, but that was mainly just for formality; most of the time it was just hanging out with Alcor while also helping the community.” He blushed faintly. “I’m not scared of him like others are, though I know I should be.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” the man stated gently. Orrie glanced up at him, his blush still present. “You grew up knowing of the kinder side of Alcor, the side most of the world doesn’t get to see. While I myself have grown accustomed to the dark stories involving the Dreambender, I’m well aware he’s not the pure evil most regard him as.” Orrie nodded, his small smile growing. The man held out a hand. “Flynn Fairfern. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Orrie Walter,” answered Orrie, shaking his hand. “May I ask why you’re here?”

Flynn smiled wistfully. “Oh, it’s for nothing important. I just want to test my skills one last time so I can fully enjoy my retirement.”

“Retirement? But you’re young.” To Orrie, the man looked no older than maybe his mid-thirties.

Flynn chuckled. “I appreciate the compliment, but I should inform you that elves are typically twice as old as you think they are.”

“Oh.” Well, that was embarrassing. “You say skills. Are—were you a detective?”

“Yes. I specialized in organized criminal investigations, usually working undercover to gather information. I tried to steer clear of actual confrontations if I could help it.”

“Still, you must have had quite an exciting career,” the young woman from the other side of the bench spoke up, “I wouldn’t envy a bit more adventure in my life.”

Flynn’s eyes went distant for a moment. “Exciting, sometimes. But most of my days were simple if not a tad dull. Honestly, I preferred those days over the exciting ones.”

“I hear ya,” the young man replied, squeezing his wife’s shoulder, “Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy the tranquility.”

“Is that why you’re going to the manor?” Orrie asked them.

“Partly, though we’re going to try and solve the mystery too,” the man admitted, “But it’s so far from the hustle and bustle of civilization that even if we don’t Zahia and I have a spectacular scenery to enjoy nonetheless. It’ll be our perfect honeymoon.” They nuzzled each other on the nose before the young husband shook Orrie and Flynn’s hands. “Cliff Lionhart. This is my wife Zahia.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintances. And also congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Zahia smiled at Flynn. The sounds of brisk footsteps grabbed all of their attentions. A fifth member to the party approached, wearing a red coat even longer and far more extravagant than Flynn’s. He had a rugged face and large mustache, and for the oddest of reasons he reminded Orrie of a circus ringleader he saw in those old movies and outdated books. The newcomer dropped his bag by the sign, looking at the lot.

“And here I thought I’d be the first to arrive. Nice to see so many youngsters this time around.” Flynn made nothing of the comment as he and the others introduced themselves. “Siegfried Connolly. And don’t take this the wrong way, lady and gents, but I intend to be the first to solve the mystery at the Manor of Alcor.”

“Oh you do, do ya?” Cliff chuckled. It was obvious he was only teasing, but Siegfried leered at him nonetheless. “You sound pretty confident, Mr. Connolly. I’m going to use my deductive reasoning skills and say you’ve been to the manor before.”

“Indeed I have,” sniffed Siegfried, straightening his coat, “And the last time I came I was this close to solving the mystery.” He brought his index finger and thumb close together. “I’ll admit I was with several of my colleagues last time, though, so I had a lot more help. But I don’t believe it’ll be as difficult for me to find all the clues again.” Zahia giggled as Cliff rolled his eyes, still smirking.

Orrie, however, grew even more excited. “Are they really that hard to find? I mean, if the outing lasts the whole weekend and no one has yet solved the mystery it must be challenging.”

Siegfried grinned. “Of course it has to be challenging. You have to really know your—ah! I can’t say; it’ll spoil the fun. But don’t doubt for a moment that it’s hard. After all, it is no small prize given to whoever solves the mystery.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that,” said Zahia, “They never did advertise much about the prize, just that there was one if you could solve the mystery. I guess because they want to keep guests more focused on that. I wonder what it is, though.”

“One million dollars,” Siegfried answered, to the gasps of several of them. “Though I’m not supposed to tell. Contracts, remember. But I intend to win it all. No hard feelings or nothing.”

“None taken,” Flynn replied curtly, returning to his book.

“Ditto,” answered Orrie. While the prize’s value was definitely enticing, it still didn’t change his true excitement of just solving the mystery, whatever it may be.

“A million dollars would be nice,” mused Cliff.

More minutes ticked by, the group chatting amiably when the next two guests made their way slowly up the hill. They were an elderly couple, and Cliff and Siegfried hastened to assist them to the bench, where Flynn and Orrie readily offered them their seats. “Oh, you are all too kind,” the old lady smiled sweetly, sitting down next to her husband. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s nothing at all,” spoke Flynn, and the others nodded.

“Are you youngsters going to be solving the mystery?” the old man asked, somehow sounding not at all nosy. When the other guests confirmed they were, he chuckled, a light wheezing sound. “Ah, well, you don’t have to worry about us old geezers. Jillian and I won’t be participating.”

“Why not?” Orrie asked, curious. Jillian set down her cane.

“We just want to enjoy one weekend in a nice place. We’ve never been to an elegant home before, and we heard the manor is an idyllic haven for those wanting to get away for a small while. Jackson and I, unfortunately, may not have much longer together, so we wanted to share one last, happy memory with each other.”

Siegfried nodded respectfully. “Then you won’t be disappointed. The manor is as beautiful as you picture it to be, with its many rooms and scenic gardens. If ever you need anything, the housekeepers will provide.” The old couple smiled warmly at his words.

Heavy panting could soon be heard, and they all turned to see a rather large man struggle to make the climb to the bus stop. He staggered over to the sign, collapsed under it, and snatched a small bag of chips and a water bottle from his suitcase. He immediately downed them both in a matter of seconds. “Too…far…” he huffed, wiping moisture away from his one eye. Jackson leaned over towards the cyclops, handing him a handkerchief. “Thanks.”

“We’re only half a mile away from the nearest town,” Cliff said to the newcomer, a bit of concern highlighting his tone, “Are ya sure you’re up to the task?”

“Of what, solving the mystery?” the cyclops grumbled, reaching for another bag of chips. “I don’t care about that. I’m only coming because I had nothing better to do and my friend offered me xir ticket. Hear the place has some good food, though.” He finished his second bag as he said this. “The name’s Duglas Segal, by the way. Just call me Dug.” The rest greeted him in turn.

It wasn’t long after when the bus finally showed up. The party grabbed their various belongs and made their way toward the small white vehicle once it stopped and opened its doors for them. Orrie silently thanked the person in charge of all this for sending a bus with comfortable seats; the bench had been too hard for him. As the lot boarded, Orrie frowned, counting silently in his head. Disregarding the secondary guests who were allowed to come along with a ticketholder, there should be seven people boarding. At least one person was missing.

“Hey, someone’s still missing,” Orrie said, flashing his ticket before he could board. The driver shook his head.

“Everybody was told the bus would be leaving at exactly 7:30AM and to be at the stop on time. The drive’s nearly four hours long, kid; we’re on a tight enough schedule as it is.”

But it just didn’t sit right with Orrie to leave without the last person; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that no one should miss out on. “Can’t you hold on for five more minutes? My, uh, my friend told me they were running a bit late and would be here soon.”

“Kid, we got to go. We need to beat traffic if we’re to get to the manor on time.”

“But—”

“On the bus. Now.” Disheartened, Orrie grabbed his suitcase and took a step onto the bus. He could just make out pounding footsteps coming towards them and turned just before his head could disappear behind the door. The last two guests were running as fast as they could, their luggage banging wildly against them as they raced toward them.

“Wait, hold on! They’re right there!” Leaning out the bus, he waved them to hurry up. “Come on, you guys! You can make it!”

“Kid, sit down already.” But the final two members leaped onto the bus, huffing and laughing with relief that they just made it. Orrie helped them get their stuff, guiding them toward the back of the bus. The grumbling driver didn’t wait for them to take their seats, already backing up and driving back down the road he came. Orrie took the seat all the way in the back, the other two taking the row across from him, placing their luggage under the seats in front of them.

“Phew! That was a close one,” the teenage girl grinned, still trying to catch her breath. The boy next to her leaned his head against the window, also smiling.

“For the record, I was ready to go before you even got up,” he said.

“Yeah right. You were in the middle of double-checking everything in your suitcase again by the time dad started the car.”

“I’m just glad you could make it,” said Orrie. At least now he wouldn’t be the only kid going to manor, even if these two were a few years older than him. Perhaps fifteen? “I’m Orrie. Are you two also a couple? Because we have a couple of those already.” He nodded his head toward the Lionharts and Jackson and Jillian. The girl snickered.

“Ew, no! We’re twins.” She held out her hand, which Orrie shook. “I’m Belle. This is my dorky bro-bro Dipper. Nice to meetcha’, Orrie.” Dipper reached past his sister to shake Orrie’s hand as well.

“So did you drag your brother along for the ride?”

“Actually, I—”

“Are you kidding?” the sister spoke over her brother, “Dipper’s the one who begged me to come along. He was one of the lucky two to win a free ticket.”

“I didn’t beg you, I asked,” he retorted, but Orrie wasn’t really listening, his eyes lit up.

“Really? Me too!” And he showed them his ticket. “So why’d you sign up? Are you going to solve the mystery or to relax in an awesome mansion?”

“Honestly, I’m more interested in whatever they have to say about this Alcor legend,” Dipper answered, smirking slightly. “Solving the mystery should be hardly a challenge at all. But I’ve heard nearly every story there is about Alcor, and not once did I hear of him owning a mansion of sorts.”

“I know, right? You’d think if he did it’d be all over the history books and demonology texts. Nah, the only building that frequently pops up in articles about him is the Stanley Pines Memorial Library in Gravity Falls, and I just think that’s a place he visited a lot because of where it is and the amount of knowledge it holds. If you ask me, Alcor doesn’t seem the type to want a mansion of any kind unless it was with, uh, people…” He noticed how Belle and Dipper were giving him odd looks. He coughed nervously. “Er…so I presume.”

“…You seem to know quite a bit about Alcor,” Dipper narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, “For a kid, I mean.”

“I spent hours reading about him, his cults, Mizar, the Transcendence– everything,” Orrie admitted, looking away and messing with his glasses. “My grandfather was the one who introduced me to the subject, being in an Alcor branch when he was younger. The Seekers of Starlight? You probably never heard of them.” Dipper leaned back against his seat, his eyes closed.

“I think I have. Wasn’t it that tiny cult located in a small town in Delaware?” Orrie nodded, surprised the boy knew that. “Its name popped up once or twice during my readings,” Dipper hastily added, sensing Orrie’s look.

“Oh. I didn’t know it was that popular.”

“Oh yeah. They did a lot of interesting stuff, I hear.”

“I wish I could meet him,” sighed Orrie, leaning back in his seat as well. “He sounds like a neat guy. Bringing shelter to the homeless. Defending the defenseless. Fighting evildoers alongside Mizar. If only I could summon him like my grandpa did.”

Dipper cracked an eye open at him. “You do know it’s not a good idea to summon the most dangerous demon known on a whim, right?”

“Oh, I know, I know,” the boy hurriedly assured him, “Grandpa always warned me never to try summoning anything unless in grave trouble. He told me how Alcor would constantly lecture them about that kind of stuff. Still, it’s just…” He paused. He shook his head. “Nevermind, you’re right. Forget it.” The two eyed him curiously, but they fortunately didn’t press the matter further. They spent a little over two hours talking about other things, school and personal life, and Orrie was really starting to like them. The twins—Belle and Dipper Sterling he found out—seemed to be magnets for trouble and adventure, something Orrie always secretly craved in his own life. Between running away from cultists and finding sea demons there seemed to be a never-ending amount of stories they shared with him. “Wow, you guys practically live the life of Montana Martinez. Lucky!”

“Wait, you watch those movies too?”

“You bet! He’s awesome! Did you know they’re rebooting the franchise?” And so that developed into the topic of movies for the next half hour with them ignoring Belle as she rolled her eyes and teased “Dorks,” under her breath. Orrie was having such a great time with them that it didn’t feel like much time had passed when he felt someone gently shaking him awake. He rubbed his eyes gingerly, wondering when exactly he dozed off.

“We’re here,” Flynn said, giving him one last nudge. “You should wake your friends.”

Orrie sat up, looking at the time on his phone. It was half an hour before noon. He quickly turned to his new friends and woke them up, telling them they’d arrived. Belle yawned as Dipper stretched, but it wasn’t a minute later before the three of them and Flynn were stepping off the bus. Orrie gasped in awe.

The manor was spectacular. The three-story structure made of faded tan bricks stood impressively over the wide, open yard of freshly cut grass. The cobblestone pathway cut the massive yard evenly in two, with a miniature hedge maze located to its left and a stone lagoon swimming pool with surrounding outdoor furniture to its right. Nestled beside the manor was a fairly large greenhouse with various plants and shrubs growing inside it (Orrie couldn’t help chuckling at the rainbow pinwheel spinning merrily on top of the glass structure despite there not being a breeze). Men and women all dressed in identical but comfortable attire were gathered around a barbecue and table, and the delicious smell of grilled burgers and corn was making Orrie’s stomach growl eagerly. Orrie looked back, watching the bus drive through the tall metal gates that closed with a heavy slam behind it.

The guests walked silently down the pathway, ending up on the front stairs of the manor. Before anyone could knock, the front doors opened by themselves and an old maid stepped out, beaming cheerily at them all. “Welcome to the Manor of Alcor,” she greeted them before stepping back and bowing slightly. “I’m Ms. Wheatly. Please come in, kind guests.” They all stepped inside, steadily if not a bit slowly making their way to the large foyer that split into several hallways. Ms. Wheatly led them down the one on the far right. “The Master will be with you shortly,” she spoke, opening a door and letting them step inside the room before closing it behind them. It looked to be a parlor room with its numerous chairs and sofas, mantle, and tiny bookshelf. Orrie made himself comfortable in one of the chairs, dropping his luggage down in front of him. Most of the others were inclined to do the same, with only Flynn and Siegfried preferring to stand and pace around the room.

Orrie was beginning to let his mind wander and wonder when they were going to have some grilled food when the lamps in the room began to flicker. He sat up straighter, watching the other visitors glance around to what could possibly be causing the faulty wiring. Suddenly, the lights went off entirely, and with no windows in the room, it was eerily dark.

“…H̛mh̴m,͞ we͠l̀c̵ome̡ t͞o ͝my ́manor͟…” Golden irises flashed in the darkness. Moments later, the lights slowly came back on, and a young man hovered in the air before them, smirking down at them all. Orrie had to give him props: he looked exactly like the Dreambender he always imagined. Cool demeanor, elegant black suit, velvety wings, floating top hat, inhuman gold irises, and an air of dangerous mystery about him. Orrie could see from the corner of his eye the other guests’ reactions. They ranged from stunned disbelief to mild bemusement, the latter mostly sported by Siegfried and Dipper.

In fact, Mr. Connolly stepped up to the figure, a smile of familiarity on his face. “I must say, that’s a better entrance than last time, Mr. Dreambender. Glad to see you haven’t lost your touch.”

‘Alcor'—because Orrie was well aware this was an actor—blinked once before grinning himself. “Oh, I ̶̡re͡member y̴o͏ų, Sie͏g̡fried̕ Conno̶lly. Y̧ou c̵am͏e ̶v̧ery c̷lose to ̧so̵lving my ̀mýs̴ter̀y̵ last time.” His grin grew, mocking. “But you d͝idn’t quite ma͡ke͟ it.”

“Sadly, no. But you’re in better luck this time around. We have ourselves some very bright detectives to help solve your mystery. Assuming you don’t scare them off, that is.” At that, 'Alcor’ smiled mischievously at the youngest members, and Orrie couldn’t stop himself from being just a tad unnerved. Dipper, on the other hand, burst into giggles.

“Oh come on! Are we supposed to be scared? You don’t even look like Alcor!” Belle elbowed him in the side, earning a small wince from him.

“Dipper!” she hissed.

“Well, he doesn’t. Look. Where are the claws? The sharp teeth? The pointy ears? I’ve seen better cosplayers of Alcor at TwinCon. And he does not smile that much.”

Did it really matter? Yes, the actor had some things off—even Orrie had noticed that—but it wasn’t like anyone was trying to prove he was the real deal. This was all just part of the gig. Orrie supposed Dipper could simply be a more passionate fan of the Alcor legends, taking some offense that the professionals weren’t getting even the small details correct.

“Though you got everything else more or less correct,” Dipper finished. 'Alcor’, his grin falling, huffed and straightened his coat. Orrie spotted the small wings peeking from behind his back flutter with the movement. Evidently, Dipper spotted them too. “Let me guess– attached by wire through the back of the sleeve? Cool trick, but the wings should be further down.”

“An̷d h͢o͡w ̕w͢o͢ul̀d ͝y͡ou ̷k͟n͞o͢ẁ so m̨uch a̢bout ̛my appȩár̢anc̕e͏?” 'Alcor’ growled, lowering down to lean over Dipper. Dipper shrugged.

“I read a lot,” was the smooth reply.

“Ţh͢en͞ perha̵p̷s you’ve ̢read̢ th̛a͢t Í can̵ alter͠ m͢y ̷a̧p̕pe̴a͢r̨anc͡e̢ t͝o ̶m̛a̧k̀e myself̀ not l͡o̶o͞k̴ ve͡ry frigh͏t̀e̷ning̀. Mayb͡e I̡ d̨idņ’t ẁan̢t ́ţo̵ terri̷f͏y potentíàl m͏or͝tals w̢ho dec̢i̕de ͝to come ̨to ͢my m̧anor̛ and͞ śo̷lve i̧ts m̛ystery͞.”

Belle very hastily slapped her hand over her brother’s mouth before he could so much as inhale a retort. “So what’s the mystery exactly? I’d like to hear more about it.”

“Same here,” Orrie agreed a little too emphatically, grateful for the change in topic. 'Alcor’ looked more than eager for an excuse to ignore the brazen teen.

“W̴hat͞?̧ Yo͞u͏ have̶n'̀t h̴eard̶̕ i͡t̛?̷” He shook his head, as if ashamed by their ignorance. “Mak̢es m͠e w͡on̶der ͏why ͞y͞o̷u’re ́here͞.̕ A̵s i̡t ̕s̀t͟ands, I ̢do ̵n̴ee̕d śome͞ he͡lp̵, s̵o I ́suppos͝e I'̧ll have t̡o inf̷or̕ḿ you.” He clapped twice, and the lights dimmed again, though they didn’t go out. Dipper, still with his mouth covered, rolled his eyes.

'Alcor’ began the tale, the synthetic reverb in his voice toned down so they could understand him better. “You s̨ee, this̵ ma̛nor̡͞ ẁa̛s͝n't͏ o̕r̷íg̴ina͟lly m͠i̡n͞e. I̡t ̛w̷as b͏ui͟lt b̛y a ͡group of ͟b͞right, gi͢fted, and gr͏eedỳ h̢um̨a̕ns. Ea̡cḩ on̶e so͢u͏ght ͝͝un͟li͟mi̧t͝éd͡ p̛ow̢er fo͟r thei̴r own̕ ńefa͏rious n̶e̢eds, bu̷t͏, b̧ei͝ng hum͡ans, t̕h́ey h̵a͏d no̡ m̶ȩa̧n͠s ̕t͏o ̨́gèt ̡it̀ ou̶ţs̴ide of̴ a d̶eal wi͟th a d́e͟mon. And̵̴ s̢uc͞h a ̕c̶ostl̴y dea̵l̡ it wo̴uld̷ be, ͡too.” He floated over to a portrait of the very manor, the yellowed paper encased by thin glass. “T͞h͏ìs ma̧nor̴ wa̧ş c͡ons̢truct̛ed͏ w͡ít̵ḩ thé inte̢ņt o͝f ̢ca͞p̢tųrin͢g m̛e, fo̧rcing̷ me̴ t̨o cơmp̶ly to th͡e͠i͢r ne̴eds. Its͠ fra̴mes a͟r̛e en͞gra͟ve͠d wit̨h́ an̷ciȩnt runeś. Its͞ walls̀ are marr̨ed̨ with̢ hi̕dd͢e͟n̕ wa̢rd̢s. A͏nd̨ aļl th͏at'̀s not in͞clud̡ing ͏t͏heìr͡ m͏o͝st̷̢ p̨ower͏fúl of̧ co͢nf̵i̧ne͢me͏nt t̡o̡ols͝.”

“But͏ some͡t̨h̶in͞g̵ happȩn͡ȩd ͞t̨he nig͏ht ̀͡b̢e͠fore they ̢tri͠ed̀ t̨o̶ capt͠uŗé͡ m̵e̷. An͠d͝ I͝'̶m no͟t̕ şure̡͡ what. All͟ I do kno̷w͟ i̷ş t̷h̷a͟t six o͞f th̨e ͞sev̶e̡n̷ h̡u̧ma̕n̶s w̛er̵e͡ mu̢rdered, the̕͏ s͞ev̢e̵nţh ͞fleein͢g ͏f̵r̷om th̴i͏s plące be͏fo͏re the͟ý̨ cou̵l̕d ̛̀be ͝arrestéd. W͞hy? I͏ h͟ave̷ m̨y suspic̢io͞ns̵, aś̕ I’m su̢r̢e yơu ḑo as̡ w̢el̶l. B̷ut ͞͝who ͝exactl͢y? I ca̶n’t t̡éll yo͠u, a̡nd t̵ha̵t͢'s̶ w͝h̴a͏t ̕I w͞ant for you t̵o s͏olve. T͠he ide͢ņtity̷ of the s̡ev̛e̷n ͟pȩople̷ wḩo͢ tried̷ to captuŕe me ̡an̢d ́t͠he ͟c̴u͢l͢pr̛it béhind̵͏ th̶e murder͞s͡. Do t͞hat̡ àņd̴ I'l̛l o̷ffe͠r ͝y̕o̴u̢ a g͡e͏n̕e̴ro̡us rewa͢r̵d̡ f̛or y̢our tr̶o͏uble̶s.”

“That seems fair,” Cliff said, rising to his feet. “A luxurious stay and the chance to win a million dollars in return for solving a mystery even Alcor can’t. I’m ready for this.”

“Me too!” added Zahia.

“Of course you know where I stand,” commented Siegfried, pointedly ignoring the accusing glare 'Alcor’ was giving him.

“These youngsters sound so excited, honey,” Jillian said to her husband, who nodded in agreement. “We wish you all the best of luck.”

“A million dollars? You know, I’m starting to appreciate coming now,” Dug muttered.

“We can totally solve this, bro.” Belle and Dipper were sharing mirroring grins.

“I’m ready for a challenge,” Orrie chimed in.

“As am I,” Flynn spoke out.

'Alcor’ chuckled. “Goo̵ḑ͟ to ͏he͏a̡r. B̴eca͟use ͏a͡͞ ch͞a͢ll̴enge i͟s wh̛at̡ t̛his͞’ll b͟e. Y̢o̷u ha̷v͞e̵ u͝ņti̴l̶ n̶oon of the͡ th͢ird̢ da͠y t̷o s̷olve th͟e̛ my͏sterý. If you̡ ma͡na͡ge to succeed̵, the pr̵ize is yours͞, th̨ough͢͡ thos̷e wor͝ki̛ng i̛n̷ gr̴o̵up̴s will h̷av̀e to sp̴lit it. If ͢none͞ o͟f yǫu c͡a͟n sol͢ve the̷͟ m̷y̢s͠t̢eŗy̧ by tha̛t time̶ t͡h͡e͟n yo̡u l̷e͞a̷v̴e w̷it̨h nothin͡ǵ. D̀eąl?” Blue fire engulfed his hand.

“Deal.” Cliff answered for them all, stepping forward to shake the proffered hand. He looked a little nervous when the fire wrapped around his own hand, but didn’t say anything.

“P͞e̕rf͏ȩct͞. I'l͞l͏ l̢e̕av͠e t̕he hou̕se̛kȩe̛p̧ęrs͏ to get͏ yơu a͞ll s̶eţtled into y̷ou̧r r̵oo͠ms̨. In th̴e me͏antíme͠, good̶͟ luck̶.” And with that the lights flickered again, turned out completely for less than a second, and 'Alcor’ was gone.

The grandfather clock in the corner of the room chimed twelve.

The doors reopened and Ms. Wheatly stepped inside, holding several white envelopes. “These are for you. They’re where you’ll be sleeping during your stay.” She handed one to each of the primary guests. Orrie took his, noting the masterful penmanship of the calligraphy. 'Orso Walter’ it read. He opened it to find a tiny slip of paper inside. All that was on it was a single word: 'Keller’.

“Please, come with me. Your rooms are upstairs. I’ll guide you to them.”

#submission #dipper #belle #fic

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