a/n: okay this is longer than i intended lol also I love them and that is all
It was nearly three a.m. as Lee sat on the roof just outside her bedroom window. She was huddled up with a blanket over her shoulders, eyes closed, but she wasn’t tired. Not even close to it.
Ever since moving to the new house, Lee didn’t get enough sleep — but really, she hadn’t been getting much sleep before that either. The accident seemed to be the stem of all of her problems, she realized. The list never seemed to end: lack of sleep, loss of friends, gain of ghost-seeing abilities.
Speaking of ghosts, Lee didn’t even need to open her eyes to feel the sudden presence beside her. If she were anyone else, she might have screamed, jumped, panicked — but she just sighed.
“I could’ve fallen off this roof and died, you know.”
“You barely flinched.”
Lee took that moment to open her eyes. Luke sat beside her, his face void of his usual goofy grin. He was looking at the sky, which surprisingly showed more stars than usual. Lee dropped her gaze to his arms — they were bare in his ripped-sleeve shirt. She shivered just looking at him.
“Aren’t you cold like that?” She said, immediately snapping her mouth shut at her words. She didn’t know if ghosts could feel cold, or hot, or anything in between. It was an insensitive thing to ask, and even though Lee wasn’t exactly opposed to saying sometimes rude things — well, something about saying those rude things now, in such an intimate moment…
Not that this was intimate. At all. Lee was sitting on the roof, and her ghost friend was sitting with her. Maybe not even her ghost friend — ghost colleague? Anyway, it was not so much intimate as it was quiet; it was like her words echoed in the air around them, making them sound three thousand times worse.
But of course, through Lee’s minor panic, Luke just smiled. “Worried about me, Ramìrez?”
She hoped he couldn’t see her shoulders slump in relief from under her blanket. “In your dreams.”
“Speaking of dreams…” Luke said, his grin finally returning. But there was something else in his eyes that Lee couldn’t quite place. “Can’t sleep?”
She watched him for a moment, trying to figure out what was different in his gaze. She gave up after staring at his eyes for too long, settling on a shrug. “Nah.”
If Luke wanted to ask more, he decided not to. His eyes returned to the sky as he bit his lip, and Lee followed soon after. She was glad he didn’t push her to talk more, like he normally would have.
Her mind began to wander as her eyes traced the stars in the sky. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to be a ghost — she had only been one for three minutes, after all. Even then, she couldn’t say her experience was at all the same as the boys’; she only remembered an overlaying haziness, the echoes of voices around her. She felt a pull upward, but not strong enough to actually bring her anywhere.
She remembered the guys telling her how they died. How they were floating above their ambulance, not unlike her. But their floating didn’t stay near the ground, it brought them upwards, to the ‘black room’. Maybe that was the tug Lee felt, but never fully gave into. Not that it was really a choice — she barely felt any sense of agency while in her…well, her ‘dead’ state, much less would she have been able control where her body took her. Still, the thought was frightening. It must have been scary for them, to not know where they were going, or where they would end up. But at least they had each other…
“Lee.”
Lee snapped her eyes open with a start. Her head was careening to the side, threatening to tip her over. She blinked a couple times, surprised that she managed to doze off. It seemed like seconds ago that she was wide awake, staring at the clear skies. Now, her head felt quite heavy, and her body shivered in the dropping temperatures.
After another moment of blinking the sleep away, her eyes met Luke’s. He was looking down at her, trying not to smile.
He was failing.
“You were dozing off.”
“So I gathered,” she sighed, but smiled slightly at him — it was her way of saying, ‘thank you for waking me up before I actually did fall off the roof and die’. She wouldn’t want to see her mother deal with that one.
Despite her mind screaming at her to stay awake, Lee swung her legs over and back through her opened window, only turning around once she was inside. Her room was cold now, but the air felt refreshing.
“See you tomorrow?” Luke was in front of her window, eyes shining as usual.
Lee nodded, her foggy brain not able to formulate the proper words. Of course, Luke didn’t mind saying them for her.
“Goodnight, boss.” And with that, he was gone.
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➤ Lee Ramírez x Luke Patterson (and the Phantom gang)
“Remind me why you want to do this?” Lee scrunched her nose at the box of decorations at her feet, holding what she guessed was supposed to be an ornament. It looked more like a moldy bath bomb to her.
Julie sighed, deflating her shoulders as she attempted to untangle some Christmas lights. “It’s our first holiday together. As a band. It should be…like…special. Don’t you think?”
Lee pursed her lips. With her old dance group, holiday parties were a given. Every member went to every party, no matter how gaudy or outlandish they were. Lee supposed it brought them all closer, though none of that really mattered to her now.
But Julie and the guys were different. At least, she hoped.
Lee took a sharp breath in, “So, where do we start?”
It didn’t take long after they finished decorating for the boys to show up. Immediately, the guy’s eyes widened at the sight before them.
Lee and Julie didn’t have a crazy amount of time to set it up, but with the help of Ray and Carlos, they managed to set up an old tree in the back of the room. Christmas lights were hung along one wall, with tinsel being woven through the loft’s railing. They practically threw ornaments on the tree with the little time they had, but even Lee was impressed with the decorations they managed to place.
After a moment of circling the room, Luke was the first to speak, “You did this all for us?”
Julie nodded, but being the selfless girl she was, she shoved Lee with a grin, “Lee helped.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot up, simultaneously flashing his infamous smile at the girl before him.
Lee sniffed in determination under his gaze, “Don’t flatter yourself, beanie boy. It was for the good of the band.”
“Right. The band.”
“Are those presents?” Reggie gripped onto Alex’s sweatshirt in disbelief.
Julie smiled, “We weren’t sure if you could use them, or touch them, but yeah. Those are presents.”
“You guys—“ Alex started, the gratefulness in his eyes shining.
Reggie finished for him, “This is…great. Beyond great. You’re great.”
Lee smirked, “Such a way with words.” But her chest blossomed with warmth at the boys’ looks.
As Reggie and Alex struggled to peel back the paper over their gifts, Lee watched with a subdued smile. Even though Julie suggested the small Christmas shindig for the boys, Lee was glad to be here. She didn’t know whether or not her mother would be home for Christmas, and even though she didn’t particularly care for the holidays, no one truly wanted to be alone during them.
Now that she thought of it, Lee had no clue what it had been like for the boys before…well, before they died. She knew they all left their homes at one point, all to engage completely with their music. But did they even see their family anymore? Did they celebrate holidays together?
“Thanks.”
Lee whipped her head to the side, tugged out of her thoughts by the ghost beside her. Luke was standing there, hands in his jacket pockets as he looked down at her.
Lee furrowed her brows, “Why are you thanking me?”
Despite her dry tone, Luke smiled, his eyes twinkling with…was it fascination?
“For this.” He gestured to the room around them, eyes still shining.
Lee shrugged, “It was Julie’s idea.”
The boy let out a breathy laugh, “You really can’t take a compliment, can you?”
“Not really, no."
Luke did a very poor job of holding back a smile, and an even worse job of holding back a wink. He quickly joined the other guys to ogle the strung up lights and neatly wrapped gifts, leaving Lee to deal with the annoying flutters in her stomach.
Ugh. Ghosts.
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JATP taglist: @pearlseleganciess
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➤ Lee Ramírez x Julie, Flynn, and the Phantom Gang
Julie was just on time. And Lee almost killed her for it.
“She’s here!” Flynn yelled, despite being in the kitchen with Lee, and took it upon herself to open Lee’s front door. The girls were in the kitchen just as Lee took out the last batch of cookies.
“Wow,” Julie said, gasp on her lips as she saw the many trays stacked on the kitchen counter. Her eyes lifted to Lee, “Who knew you were actually a decent baker?”
“Hey, I helped!”
Lee narrowed her eyes at Flynn, “Yeah, helped licking the bowls.”
Flynn shrugged guiltlessly.
“All of this just for the gig?”
Lee scoffed, gathering the cookies into one container, “Your gig that is also at a bake sale?”
Julie rolled her eyes despite her smile, “You didn’t have to.”
“Actually, she did.” Both Julie and Lee looked at Flynn with a quirked brow. “What? Lee promised me I could have the extra goods. I just wanna make sure I get compensated for my work.”
“You’ll get compensated alright.” Lee tried to sound threatening, but her smile betrayed her. She pushed a tray towards the girls, watching smugly as they dug into the double chocolate chip cookies. “Are the guys—“
“Cookies!” Julie and Lee jolted in their spots, both turning their gaze to the three boys who poofed into Lee’s kitchen.
Alex nodded at the girls, taking the time to lean on the counter before turning to Reggie. “You know you can’t eat them, right?”
Reggie’s smile fell, “Oh. Yeah.”
“Well, we better get going soon, boss.”
Lee’s glare would have burned Luke if he weren’t a ghost — and, as usual, he only smiled back at her.
She grit her teeth, “Don’t make me regret getting you this gig.”
Noticing Lee’s near-hostile words — aimed at Luke, of course — Julie shuffled over to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you for doing all this…boss.”
a/n @thetenthdoctorscompanion couldn’t send this through my ask box because tumblr hates me so here are the prompts from the NYE ask game in a separate post...also i’m including the last oc winter challenge because I CAN
also this is an au where the band does become tangible after season two or just an au where they’re alive because I make the rules here
Prompts: 💥 “We’re doing New Year’s Eve right if it means blowing off my own hand with these firecrackers.”, ⏱ “Well technically it’s still midnight for another 30 seconds…”, “It’s almost midnight”
“You sure you have enough fire power, Reg?” Lee called to the boy in front of her, whose arms were packed with a mediocre arsonist’s wet dream.
“Oh, I definitely have enough fire power.”
It was near midnight on New Year’s Eve; Lee expected to just sit in her room and scroll through tiktok until her clock read 12:00, then keep scrolling on tiktok until she was forced to close her eyes — instead, she was literally dragged out of her house by Flynn and Julie to join them and the guys in a little New Years fun.
Alex sighed dramatically as he swung his and Willie’s joined hands. “You know, I would’ve been fine spending New Years watching the ball drop on TV. Maybe even eating cheap snacks and just chilling with my friends.”
Beside Lee, Luke rolled his eyes, “Come on, Alex, you know that’s not how Reggie works. It was his idea to use those sparkling birthday candles without the cake. Or the birthday.” Luke leaned his elbow on Alex’s shoulder, his smirk evident even in the darkness of night. “Did you really think he would celebrate New Years without fire and explosions?”
Alex pursed his lips. “No, I guess not.”
“We’re doing New Year’s Eve right if it means blowing off my own hand with these firecrackers.”
Lee quirked a brow. “Even if that means you can’t play bass anymore?”
Reggie pressed his lips together with a nod. “That, my friends, is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
Reggie’s determined gaze mixed with his confident smile made Lee scoff; she had only seen him like this two times before, and both ended in disaster.
She watched with a subdued grin as Reggie and Willie set up the small array of firecrackers a couple yards away from the group. Somehow, the gang managed to find an empty parking lot with enough space to wreck havoc — or so Reggie said. She didn’t think he had that much experience with this stuff, but she also didn’t really care to ask.
Clearly, Julie did. “Does he know what he’s doing?”
“No. Definitely not.”
“Alex, have a little faith. Reggie hasn’t blown himself up yet.”
Lee raised her eyebrows at Luke. “Yet being the keyword.”
With a roll of his eyes, Luke checked his watch, immediately perking up at the sight. “It’s almost midnight.”
He not-so-subtly nudged Lee in the arm. She nearly sputtered. “Luke Patterson, please tell me that’s not you trying to say you’re gonna kiss me.”
Luke pressed his lips into a tight line. It was enough of an answer.
Lee scoffed, but couldn’t deny the way her cheeks heat up in the cold of the night. To make up for it, she spoke again, “I’m surprised you didn’t bring your guitar to kiss.”
He shrugged playfully. “I didn’t think I’d need a backup.”
“Think again, lover boy."
Despite her indignant tone, Luke knew she wasn’t serious. Well, at first he didn’t — it was only when she purposefully brushed her fingers over his that he let his full smile return.
The rest of the gang hollered and cheered as Reggie and Willie set off their share of firecrackers. Lee never really cared for fireworks or sparklers or anything of the sort; they were a little fun, sure, but it was all very…meh. But this year, seeing her friends point enthusiastically and marvel at the convenience store explosives — she kind of understood why people found this stuff so entertaining.
As Lee was lost in her thoughts, only half watching Reggie fail to light yet another fountain sparkler, Julie’s gasp interrupted the show.
“Only fifteen seconds until midnight!”
Lee tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly nervous. She hesitantly leaned beside Luke to look at his watch.
“Ten seconds.” Luke’s voice was practically a whisper. Lee shivered.
“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Two!”
“One!” In perfect timing, Reggie popped his party popper, launching confetti over the group. Lee smiled as Alex grabbed a surprised Willie into a kiss, but immediately burst into a laugh as Julie and Flynn reached up to kiss Reggie on the cheeks.
His blush was just beginning to spread when Lee let her smile fall, but only slightly. This small group of people had grown so close to Lee, and so fast. Over a year ago, she wouldn’t have thought she could meet people like them. Over a year ago, she probably would have told you she was meant to be alone, to wallow in the depths of her mind for the rest of her life. But now, standing here, watching her friends smile and laugh and jump around in the chilly night air — she was happy. And she had more hope than she could’ve imagined.
She was still smiling when she turned to look at Luke. The boy had been watching her, his lips turned up slightly until she met his gaze. His smile faltered, eyes falling only a bit lower than hers — and then, she realized: Luke was nervous. It wasn’t a look she had seen on him often, if not at all. It made Lee smile wider. And roll her eyes.
“Stop staring, Patterson, and kiss me.”
For a second, Luke was surprised — but he definitely didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned down, his bright eyes falling to Lee’s lips before they fluttered shut. Lee knew he was going to kiss her — she literally told him to — and still, she let herself take in a sharp breath right before their lips met. No matter how many times they kissed, no matter how close they had gotten, Lee couldn’t believe how…alive he made her feel. And as his lips moved against her own, careful but unwavering, Lee reveled in the feeling of life — how her heart pumped faster at his proximity, how her face heat up when his thumb caressed her cheek, how her hands grasped his worn flannel.
Lee couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her lips as they pulled apart. She slowly opened her eyes, quickly turning her head to the commotion that had erupted beside her and Luke. Reggie had moved onto a pack of sparklers with the gang, but, of course, decided to light them all at once. She breathed a laugh, turning back to Luke with a pat to his chest.
“Happy now?” She taunted lightly, but even Luke could hear the softness of her voice.
He lifted his wrist up, dramatically squinting at his watch and feigning consideration.
“Well, technically it’s midnight for another 30 seconds…”
“It has definitely been over a minute,” Lee said. But still, she kissed him again.
please tell me everything u can about lee bc i love her already
fhagihoiasghah I LOVE HER TOO okay let’s see
lee was apart of a dance group since she was in middle school, but after the accident they pretty much ditched her and she pushed herself away from them but still
it especially hurt bc one of her friends was actually MORE than a friend and she stopped talking to Lee as well
not being able to dance the same as she used to quite literally ruined her life
she found comfort in binging shows and listening to music, imagining choreographies etc (but that also made her really sad)
billie eilish is her main comfort artist and hugeeee inspiration
the first time she meets luke he immediately likes her (her not so much)
she may or may not be able to astral project (have out of body experiences when she is asleep where it feels like she’s awake but in a more dreamy version of the real world) and she connects/hangs with Luke and the guys that way 👀
AHHHH I LOVE HER SM!!! Thank you for the ask and for fueling my obsession!!!
For you, a long sentence from Revenant, Lee Ramìrez’s story:
So, instead of engaging with the boy in the beanie — who, by the looks of it, admired 90s fashion — she walked around him, sneaking onto the bleachers and grabbing an empty seat where she could bite her tongue to hide her laughter in peace.
