#caleb didn't even realise Alex was missing but he's not going to SAY that

[innytoes]

For the generated AUs, I got Supernatural Is Known AU + Orphanage AU ^^

Okay but Caleb Covington's Home For Extraordinary Orphans. He's not exactly evil, but after 20-plus years of dealing with everything from mermaids to were-elephants, he is Grumpy.

The Molinas always wanted a big family. Most Werewolves do. Something about a big pack just makes them happy. Not all of them turn, Julie and Victoria don't, but Rose, Ray, and Carlos do. (There have been So Many Arguments in the past about Carlos chewing on Julie's shoes.)

Except Rose found out that after her cancer, she wouldn't be able to have any more kids. They'd been trying for some time but hadn't had any more after Carlos, and now there was no more chance to have any at all. They mourn for a year, before talking it over as a family and deciding that pack is pack and they don't need to be blood related to be family. When Julie is fourteen and Carlos is ten, they finally get approved to adopt.

Victoria goes with them, if only to make sure they don't 'bite off more than they can chew'.

They meet a lot of kids, and just like Victoria expected, they want to take home Everyone. She has to be the voice of reason that no, they do not have a big enough back yard to convert into a lake to adopt that mermaid girl. And adopting Willie, the raccoon shifter, was a terribly unsafe idea because Carlos still hadn't learned to control his chasing-prey instinct. Do they not remember the ordeal with the Henderson's cat?

Eventually, Carlos and Julie come running up to their parents, dragging just about the palest young boy Rose has ever seen.

"Mami, this is Reggie!" Carlos proudly proclaims. "He likes dogs and music and pizza so he has to be our big brother."

Reggie is a sixteen year old vampire who is just grateful he got turned after he was allowed to drive. It's better than being fourteen for the rest of his (after)life, that would be rough. Oh shoot sorry Julie. It gets better, he promises.

Ray and Rose are just so charmed by Reggie and the way he naturally fell into a big brother role for Julie and Carlos that they decide yes, they will adopt a sixteen year old vampire. No they do not care that he won't age. Once he actually matures mentally into adulthood (which vampires do, just a lot slower than than humans) they will help him get emancipated.

Victoria is not there to talk them out of it. Victoria, in fact, is in Caleb's office, getting the paperwork done to adopt Willie.

("What? I said it was dangerous for him to be around Carlos until he gets his prey instinct under control during the full moon. I don't turn, my prey instinct is fine! The only thing I hunt is a good bargain.")

So they take Reggie and Willie home, and things are great. Willie and Reggie were friends at the orphanage, they get together for Family Dinners every Friday except on Full Moons, everything is great. Reggie fits in really well and admits that even before he was turned ten years ago, he didn't have a great family, so having two parents that care about him is really nice.

Except sometimes Reggie acts in a way that can't be attributed to being a vampire, or adopted, or maybe a little traumatised from spending ten years in an orphanage run by a grumpy werepanther. He zones out, and sometimes he talks to himself, or laughs at nothing. Ray and Rose love Reggie, and are fully willing to support their new son and all his quirks (Ray immediately started learning about Star Wars when he realised Reggie was obsessed), but they also want to make sure this isn't anything mental illness related that will hurt him.

So they talk about getting Reggie evaluated, about asking Doctor Turner if she has any recommendations for therapists who specialise in vampirism... But Reggie overhears them.

And then Rose overhears Reggie. Talking to himself in his room again. Except this time it's not under his breath.

"No dude, don't worry about it. I'll just... I'll make something up. I mean, you've always said that I might be autistic, maybe we can just... Nobody's going to find out and send you back, I promise."

Which is of course when Rose pushed open the door before adopting a now Very Familiar Pose to Reggie. The Mom Pose. Hands on her hips, eyebrow raised.

The boy on Reggie's bed slowly started going invisible again, and Rose pointed at him. "Don't you dare!"

He stops fading out of view. He looks to be about Reggie's age.

"Can you just turn invisible, or are you a ghost?" Rose asks. "Because if I find out you've been letting someone go hungry under our roof, Reginald, you are grounded, mister."

"I'm a ghost," the boy in the bed said. "I'm so sorry, it's just that, you were taking Reggie, and your sister was taking Willie, and they're all I have and I just couldn't stay there and I'm so so sorry..."

The more he talks the more solid he looks and Rose is not sure if that's a good thing or not, so she just interrupts him. "Right, we need to call Caleb right now."

"No, don't send him back!" Reggie said. "Send me back instead, please, you'll love Alex, he's great, he's funny and cool and he likes music and pizza too. I mean he can't eat it anymore but-"

"We're not sending anyone back," Rose promises, wrapping Reggie in a hug and hovering a hand near Alex' shoulder. "But we do have to arrange some paperwork so Ray and I don't get brought up on any kidnapping charges, alright?"

#julie and the phantoms #AUs are awesome #make Reggie a Molina 2kalways #fanfic #I wrote a thing #rose talks to victoria about it and victoria is just like: I didn't notice but to be fair Willie is a way better liar than Reggie #and also causes so much mischief that him sitting quietly and staring off into space while wearing one earbud was honestly kind of a relief #caleb didn't even realise Alex was missing but he's not going to SAY that #he's been a little busy with the literal demon child and fire imp that were dropped off a few months back okay? #luckily they started dating and now dante and fuego are no long making his life a living hell #sorry this did not stay at the orphanage but can you blame me my whole brand is Make Reggie A Molina #Ray just like: it's free bonus son #and then of course Julie and Alex and Reggie start a band with Luke who is part siren on his grandmother's side

[sunsetcurvecuddles]

Alex + Julie "You didn't deserve that... You deserve so much better."

you sent me this prompt a million years ago i'm sorry it took me so long to answer it. warning for friendship breakup angst. there's no carrie redemption arc in this fic but there IS alexjulie friendship.

with love on their throats | g | 1.7k | alex&julie, past julie&carrie

ao3 link in reblogs!

--

Julie doesn’t mean to ignore the boys all afternoon, but Carrie’s birthday was hard last year and so far, this year doesn’t seem to be getting any easier.

She has the foresight to turn her phone off, at least, this year. She can’t handle the social media posts from everyone else at their school. They’re probably in Carrie’s pool, in her kitchen, in her living room. Probably throwing around the throw cushions that Julie’s mom taught her and Carrie to sew covers for when they were ten. Maybe even smashing the glasses Julie used to drink Trevor’s homemade iced tea out of when she would come to visit before Carrie got home from sport in the evenings. The idea of seeing these familiar spaces still just… out there, existing, rather than stuck in the past along with her and Carrie’s friendship, makes Julie nauseous.

Plus, there’s the added bonus of not being able to text Carrie something reckless she might regret.

So her phone’s switched off. Her dad knows not to bother her today anyway, since he had a front-row seat to whole Carrie mess when it happened. He just shot her a sympathetic glance over breakfast and hasn’t spoken to her at all. Carlos is at a friend’s house, and wouldn’t bother her even if he were home.

It’s just the ghosts Julie is avoiding, locked her bedroom door, perched on her window seat with her headphones on, watching YouTube on her laptop.

Which means it scares her half to death when Alex waves a hand in front of her face.

She yanks her headphones off and curses, sharp and a little louder than she means to, and Alex jumps back like he’s been burned. “Julie! Uh, hi, hey. Sorry to scare you.”

“Why didn’t you knock?!” she demands, still breathless. “It’s you, you know better! Boundaries!”

At least Alex has the decency to look shamefaced. “I know, listen, it’s just -- we were worried about you! And we did knock, a lot, actually, but I don’t think you could hear us? So I said we should give you space but Luke and Reg started psyching each other out, and Luke’s never been able to handle space the same way since the Caleb Covington Kidnapping Incident--”

Which, okay, yeah, that’s fair enough. Julie still shudders at the memory of the Caleb Covington Kidnapping Incident.

“-- so then I got nominated because, well, Reg worried you might be getting changed or something, and that makes me the obvious choice, not that I wanted to be the obvious choice, just that -- okay, I’m doing a bad job, what I mean is --”

Finally, she decides to put him out of his misery. “Alex, stop. It’s fine.”

Relieved, he lets out a breath and leans on his knees, looking up at her with pretty, apologetic eyes. “Still. I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to frighten you, we just… got worried. And wanted to see if you were okay. You’ve been in here all day.”

Julie nods and looks back at her laptop, where the YouTube video is still playing, and pauses it.

She hasn't looked back over at Alex when he says, cautious, "Are you okay?"

When she replies, “Yeah,” it isn’t because she wants to lie to him, necessarily. It’s more because she doesn’t know how to untangle her feelings enough to lay them out in front of him. More because it’s hard to explain why she still misses someone who she knows hurt her, who she knows should have known better.

It’s hard to explain why she feels guilt, and grief, over something she chose to let go.

The window seat dips when he sits down next to her, fingers twisted together in his lap, shoulders rolled forward. He’s offering her the tiniest, encouraging smile in the form of a little quirk at the corner of his mouth. Julie loves him so much that it softens the heartache, just for a moment.

But then it returns. Just as strong. Just as unreasonable. Just as painful.

“It’s Carrie’s birthday,” she tells him, without even knowing why she says it.

“Oh,” he replies, which seems fair. She doesn’t know what she’d say in his position. He chews his lip, a crease forming in his brow. “You guys used to be friends, right?”

God, can she talk about this out loud? It’s easier to joke with Flynn, to make fun of the situation, because Flynn saw it all play out, held Julie when she cried, stopped being friends with Carrie in solidarity. Explaining the situation from start to finish, to someone new, just feels impossible.

So instead she says, “Do you ever miss someone you know you can’t have back? Or not that you can’t. But you know you shouldn’t. You know that you can’t get them back, or you’d have to give up too much for it and it wouldn’t be worth it.”

Because sure, if Julie was really committed, she’s sure she could grovel her way back into Carrie’s inner circle. But as much as she misses her, she’s not prepared to do it.

Alex nods, understanding. “Yeah,” he says plainly. “Yeah, I do. Tons of people.”

Julie’s surprised, but she supposes she shouldn’t be. The boys talk about Alex’s family the way Julie’s mom used to talk about ghosts -- never directly, otherwise they’d hear her and be summoned -- and after the whole thing with Trevor, well. It makes sense.

“Can I get it to stop?” Julie asks. “I had to turn off my phone before I did something stupid like text her. What would I even say? Why would I want to say anything?”

“I don’t know,” he murmurs. He leans over so their shoulders bump together, and she leans her head on him. “It’s okay to miss her, you know. You guys had good things in your friendship -- I mean, I guess, right? That’s why you miss it?”

Julie nods, closing her eyes. There are so many good memories she doesn’t even know where to start. Running in the park. Sitting at the piano together. Fashion shows for their dads and Julie’s mom in the living room of the Wilsons’ huge house. Sleepovers with Flynn full of bickering and giggling and pillow fights. Birthday parties, their whole lives.

“But that doesn’t mean you didn’t have a good reason for stepping away,” Alex says.

That’s true, too. Julie’s pretty sure they didn’t have that good stuff for a while before their friendship ended, in reality. Carrie was becoming… snappish. Self-absorbed. All she wanted to do was boss the other girls in dance class around, and she didn’t ask to hear Julie’s songs anymore. Julie knew that being a good friend meant weathering the good with the bad, but she gave Carrie what felt like a million chances, and she wasn’t getting anything back. When she’d tried to bring it up to Carrie, things had… exploded.

She explains as much to Alex, in fits and spurts, and finishes with, “She just… blew up at me, she told me she’d been sick of me for ages and asked why I hadn’t noticed. Like I was just supposed to realise that we weren’t friends anymore without her telling me.” Sucking in a shaky breath, she manages, “And then my mom…”

“Oh, Julie,” Alex murmurs softly into her hair. She’s trying not to cry, she really is, but it feels all bubbly at the surface of her chest, and the way he puts an arm around her and squeezes tight shows that he can tell.

“I know it’s silly,” she chokes, “but it feels like we broke up, or something, even though we were just friends. It hurts so much just thinking about her.”

“It’s not silly,” he assures her, and wraps his other arm around her, too, so he’s hugging her close to him with her head against his chest. “There’s nothing less important about friends, and a friendship ending can really suck. Especially how she did it.” He presses a kiss to her forehead, and doesn’t draw attention to the few tears making their way down her cheeks. They sit like that for a moment, then Alex says quietly, “You’re a wonderful friend. You didn’t deserve that. You deserve so much better.”

Sniffling, Julie rubs her sleeve across her eyes, wiping away the tears. The thought dawns on her like the sunrise after a long, sleepless night. “I have so much better,” she realises out loud. “I have Flynn. And Dad and Carlos. And you and Luke and Reggie.”

“We are pretty fantastic,” Alex agrees, faux-smug, but his eyes are still cautious, and affectionate. “But it’s okay to be upset anyway.”

“I know,” she says. And she does. “But I think I’m almost done being upset. For now, at least. Maybe we could run through a few songs?”

“I’m sure the boys would love that,” Alex tells her, smiling, and he goes to stand up but she holds on tighter, so he won’t leave the hug.

He just feels so steady, and comforting, and she’ll never really get over being able to actually hold them. “Can we just. Stay here for a moment, first?”

Easing himself back down, Alex grins and pulls her closer, tucking her head under his chin. “Of course,” Alex says. “We can take as long as you need. Just us, or the others, too?”

She pauses. “The others, too.”

Alex closes his eyes, and Julie knows he’s reaching out to the others, through their one leftover remnant of their time in the afterlife, tugging at their leads until they come to find him. A moment later, Reggie and Luke both pop into presence in the middle of her room, puppy-eyed with worry and hope.

“Julie?” asks Reggie quietly, fiddling with his fingers.

“You good?” Luke asks, on the balls of his feet.

“Yeah,” she tells them. “Just needed a hug.”

Within moments, they’re all around her and Alex, Reggie’s arm around her waist, Luke’s leg somehow, inexplicably, over her lap. Alex makes an insulted noise, but he’s so relaxed, Julie knows he must not mean it. When she presses her ear to his collarbone, Julie can hear his heartbeat, solid and alive, miraculous. Her friend’s heartbeat. Her friends, all around her.

Things are still bittersweet, and it’s still Carrie’s birthday, but Julie is still surrounded by love, enveloped in it, living in it. She can be sad for what’s gone, and be grateful for what she has, at the same time.

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #alex mercer #carrie wilson #ask #joyandthephantoms

[join-the-joywrite]

But only one of us was standing by the grave (I remember that day)

Alex loses people he loves and blames himself for it.

***major character death 1553 words everyone please direct your complaints to @williexmercer read on ao3 here

All his life, Alex didn't think there was anything worse than losing his best friends. Then he'd died and he figured the worst thing would probably be just one of them crossing over, or only one of them staying behind. 

But then came Willie. 

And god, Alex loved Willie. 

"I could let him go," Caleb said, a taunting edge to his voice. He stopped behind Alex. "Let you take his place." 

Alex stared straight ahead at Willie, who had long since lost the energy to stand. 

"What do you say to that, Alex? A fair deal, no?" 

"No." The weak protest came from Willie and had Alex not been rooted to the spot by Caleb, he would have been by Willie's side already. 

"Alex," Caleb said, drawing out Alex's name, "the clock is ticking. One more jolt could -- oh!" 

Alex watched helplessly as another jolt ripped through Willie. He remembered the feeling not so long ago and he hated that Willie was suffering the same way -- if not worse. 

"What a fighter!" Caleb said, smiling. Alex knew better than to think Caleb was anything but cruelly amused. "You never know which one might be the last. You don't have much more time. Tick tock . . . tick tock." 

Alex had already known when he first figured it all out that he woukd trade places with Willie in the blink of an eye. But Willie had been able to stand, then. Willie had wanted to talk. Willie had sworn to never forgive Alex if he did. 

But how could Alex just stand there and watch? 

As if Willie could read his thoughts, they forced themselves to sit upright. He shook his head, holding Alex's gaze. 

"Tick tock," Caleb reminded Alex. 

Willie shook his head again. If they could, they would beg Alex to stay silent. 

"All it takes is a single word, Alex. Do you want to spend the rest of your afterlife in regret? Or I could make it stop faster. Just a quick little magic trick and poof! No more William, no more pain." 

Alex opened his mouth but no sound escaped. Willie mustered a firm glare. Another slow shake of their head. 

Alex shook his head too. I'm sorry, it said, I'm sorry and I love you. 

"Time is ticking. . . What do you say, Alex?" 

Alex's agreement was on the tip of his tongue when he heard the familiar sounds of his friends poofing in. 

Caleb scowled, knowing he would never get what he wanted with all three ghosts together -- not to mention the fact that they'd brought Julie Molina with them. But Willie was still there, hanging on by a thread. One final jolt ought to do the trick. 

Caleb turned to face Willie. 

Alex, still rooted to the spot, quickly realised what Caleb was about to do and struggled to break free. Luke and Reggie were there to help instantly. Luke tried to pull Alex from his spot. Reggie jumped on Caleb with a banshee screech. 

Alex stopped quite suddenly. He saw, almost in slow motion, as a stream of sparks shot from Caleb's hand as Reggie fell to the floor with a soft thud. Alex heard Julie's muffled voice, almost as though he was underwater, as she screamed and sprinted to protect Willie. 

Everyone stilled, watching the cloud dissipate achingly slow. Even Caleb seemed stunned. 

"What did you do?" Reggie asked softly.  

Luke grabbed hold of Alex's hand. Alex could almost hear Luke's repeated reassurances. They're okay. Julie's okay. Willie's okay. They're okay. 

"What did you do?" Reggie shouted, standing up and shoving Caleb back with both hands. 

"Reg," Alex barely whispered. 

Reggie turned around, hoping to see both Willie and Julie, perfectly all right. But the glimpse he'd caught of Alex's face as he turned already told him he wouldn't like what he saw. 

Julie lay disturbingly still on the floor -- she was just out cold, right? -- and Willie . . . well, Willie was missing. 

Reggie turned back to Caleb again, who had begun to laugh in amazement and disbelief. Reggie shoved him back again. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" 

Alex nudged Luke, letting go of his hand. As Luke slowly and cautiously approached Julie, Alex collapsed on the floor. He'd had a perfectly good shot at saving Willie and he hadn't taken it. So what if Willie never forgave him? At least Willie would've still been around. And Julie. . . 

Alex pulled his knees up and buried his face in his arms. He knew Caleb had lured him into a trap. He'd have been a little daft not to know that. But he'd come here to try to save one person that he loved and now he had lost two. 

As one, all three boys seemed to realise the same thing. Luke turned to Alex, his hand still holding Julie's. Reggie stopped fruitlessly attacking Caleb. Alex lifted his head. 

Someone had to tell the rest of Julie's family.

Alex still wasn't quite sure what had happened. Everything between that single moment and right now was a dazed blur to him. How long had it been? Weeks or months? Days or years? Time felt . . . different, without Willie. Everything felt a little fake without Willie and Julie. 

Luke didn't even touch his journal, let alone his guitar, for a very long time. Reggie spent a lot of time alone in Julie's empty room. Maybe he was waiting and hoping Julie would turn up, if only to scold him about boundaries and kick him out. 

And Alex? Well, Alex spent a lot of time standing on the fresh green grass, reading Julie's name, carved into the headstone, over and over and over again. If he knew how to find Willie's grave, he would spend some time there too. 

Was it bad that he felt worse about Julie than he did about Willie?

Losing Willie was like dying all over again, but he and Willie had already known that only one of them was going to leave that building. Julie was so much younger and smaller. Julie still could've grown older. She'd had her whole life ahead of her. Neither of their time was supposed to end like that but somehow, Julie's death was worse. Because to Alex, Julie was still just a kid.

Alex couldn't remember how the rest of Julie's family had reacted to the news. He couldn't even remember how they'd found out. Sometimes, as he stood by her grave, he wondered, who had cried? Who had been too stunned to even move? Who blamed him for it, the way he did?

Other times, he wondered what his unfinished business was supposed to be, now. Anything he could think of was unattainable. If it really was something to do with either Willie or Julie -- maybe even both of them -- then what happened now? Would he just stay a ghost forever?

Alex didn't remember the time between their deaths and every waking moment, but he could remember every single second of the last time he saw Willie or Julie. Maybe this was what hell was like. Forever having his regrets burned into his memory. Always regretting his choices, always wishing he could have another chance to change things.

For a brief second, Alex wondered if his unfinished business was to forgive himself for the things he hadn't been able to control. It's what Julie would have told him. It's what Willie tried to tell him. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, Julie was standing in front of her headstone. She smiled. Alex stared, wanting to commit every little detail about Julie's smiling face to memory before reality crashed down on him again. She held out her hand to him. Alex frowned. This was new. Usually, his visions of Willie or Julie just consisted of them smiling warmly at him -- or, on particularly bad days, blaming him.

Or was this not a vision of Julie? Was this her ghost? Alex believed that whatever Caleb had wanted to bring down on Willie had hit Julie too, wiping both of their souls from existence completely. But then he looked at Julie and the twinkle in her eye told him exactly what he -- what everyone -- had always known. Julie had a very powerful and pure soul. If anyone could find a way to just dampen the severity of Caleb's curses, it was Julie.

Alex took her hand and followed her away from the grave. She walked in silence through the rows of headstones, along the pathway, and all the way to the gates. Every few steps, she glanced back and smiled at Alex. Even if this wasn't real, even if Julie was just a vision to guide him along, he was grateful for it. He wondered if Willie had somehow escaped being completely erased too, but even he knew that was too much to hope for.

Julie crossed the threshold of the gates and vanished in silence. Alex stopped. Was this a sign from Julie that he needed to move on? The way Julie said her mom sometimes sent signs? Alex glanced back the way he'd come before leaving the graveyard. Almost as soon as he stepped out and onto the sidewalk did something collide with him. Alex saw a skateboard roll on further.

"You took your sweet time."

#IM SORRY OKAY #jatp #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #alex mercer #willie jatp #willie nolastname #luke patterson #reggie peters #caleb covington #mara writes stuff #mara kills an innocent character