Prompt: Alex + “The phantoms and the reader doing a fall photoshoot, and everyone keeps telling Alex how adorable his boyfriend is with his camera and photos and Alex is just like I know he’s a keeper.”
A/N: This was the thirteenth prompt for my 2021 Halloween event! The next piece will be posted on Friday, October 29th.
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Alex couldn’t help but smile as he watched you work; effortlessly guiding Reggie and Luke into the proper poses and making sure the sheets that made up their ghost costumes draped in such a way that would make the lighting look even more impressive before stepping back to snap a few photos.
“Is that your boyfriend?” A woman’s voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts and he turned to face her with wide eyes. After a moment, he recognized her as the woman who owned the pumpkin patch that they had come to take photos at.
It took him a moment to process what she’d asked, and then another to determine whether it was a genuine question, but Alex finally managed to respond after what felt like entirely too long. “N-no. We’re just, uh, just friends.”
The woman laughed, her amusement making her eyes crinkle up at the corners ever so slightly. “Maybe you should think about asking for more,” she suggested with a grin, “The way he was looking at you when you were getting your photos has me thinking that you’re not the only one thinking this would’ve been a fun place to come on a date.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment you turned and shot him the most brilliant smile and the setting sun caught your eyes in a way that made them seem to glow and he could feel his heart seize in his chest. “Yeah, I think maybe I should.”
“He seems like a keeper,” the woman said quietly, nudging Alex forward. “Best of luck, dear. And bring him back next year; we’re going to have a corn maze.”
Alex stumbled forward at her push, grinning sheepishly as he got closer.
“Oh, good, I was just about to ask you to come over here,” you said, gesturing with your camera toward a cluster of large pumpkins, “I need you to sit on this one, kick your legs out in front of you, and tip your head back a little like you’re laughing.”
Alex hesitated, shooting a glance back at the woman before steeling his nerves, “Hey,” he started quietly, as he moved to the spot you’d directed him to, “Um, would you maybe wanna go get hot chocolate with me after this?”
“Yeah, we can all head over once I get these last couple shots of you,” you responded, clearly distracted by getting the right lighting and framing.
“No,” Alex said slowly, flushing a little as you finally looked up from your camera and met his gaze, “I meant just you and me. Like… as a date?”
“Oh.” You said, visibly surprised. “Oh! Yeah, definitely!”
Alex grinned widely at your response, a light blush dusting across his cheekbones as he looked up at you, pointedly ignoring the excited whoops from Reggie and Luke, who had de-ghosted themselves when they realized what they were witnessing. “Okay, sweet.”
After that, he was more than happy to let you take as many pictures as you wanted, because when you were done taking your pumpkin patch pictures, he finally got to take out the guy of his dreams.
Original Request: “Hi I just binged Julie and the phantoms and it was AMAZING!!!! And if you are taking requests could you do a photographer reader who is always behind the camera because he’s shy and Alex likes him so he keeps jumping in front of the camera.”
A/N: I’m glad you liked the show, anon! I’ve been obsessed with it since I watched it last weekend so I can’t tell you how excited I was to get this request! I love Alex and I’m super happy to get the chance to write for him. Hope you enjoy :)
The first time you’d seen Alex, he’d nearly given you a heart attack. It had only been a few days after the band had met Julie that you’d come into the studio with her, a big, professional-looking camera slung around your neck as you rambled about where she should sit to get the perfect lighting and where you’d position yourself to get the best angle. You’d guided her to sit on the piano and had her place her hands on the keys, obviously unable to see Alex, who had been perched behind his drums nearby, having been messing around with some rhythms while Reggie and Luke were off wreaking havoc somewhere.
He straightened up at the sight of you, leaning forward excitedly. Alex got up, moving to watch you work.
“Are you sure about this?” Julie asked quietly. Her eyes widened a little as she noticed how close Alex was standing to you, “I’ve only been playing again for a couple of days; I don’t think that really constitutes a photo shoot.”
Alex bit back a laugh at the judgmental look you gave her. “Everything constitutes a photo shoot, Jules,” you teased, taking a few steps back and moving to the first of the angles you wanted to shoot from. “Now, just act like I’m not even here, okay?”
Julie nodded slowly, visibly forcing herself to relax and start to play.
Alex wasn’t sure what exactly was drawing him to you, but it felt like the same sort of chemistry that Luke described having with Julie. Alex felt like he was being pulled toward you like a magnet to metal, like the way that he and his bandmates had always been drawn to music.
The blond bit his lip as he watched you get to work, eventually giving in to his urge and teleporting himself into the frame of your camera. He wasn’t sure if you would actually be able to see him or not, but he hoped that would be the case.
He couldn’t help but grin as you checked the photos you’d taken so far, but it faded when you merely shook it off with a frustrated frown. Clearly you weren’t able to actually see him, but he could tell that his presence was at least affecting the images somehow. With that in mind, he continued to deliberately move into your shots, watching as you quickly became more and more frustrated with the “lens flares” that kept appearing no matter where you moved.
Then Alex was struck with a better idea. Julie’s friend Flynn had been able to see the band when they performed with Julie, maybe it would work for him now too. He vanished from your photo and reappeared behind his drum set, spinning one of his drumsticks around his fingers before starting to play.
He grinned a little when you jumped, whirling to face the new musician. His smile widened a little as your mouth fell open in surprise and he stopped playing with one hand to shoot you a quick wave.
He could see Julie rolling her eyes at him, but she kept playing nevertheless, and Alex reminded himself to thank her later for giving him the chance to talk to you. “Hi,” he grinned up at you, voice coming out a little more breathless than he would’ve hoped. “I’m Alex.”
“Hi,” you replied, still clearly confused by his sudden entrance. “Where did you-? I mean, Julie hadn’t mentioned having anyone else over today…”
Alex shrugged, still keeping a soft rhythm going to make sure he didn’t vanish, “My friends and I kind of just show up sometimes, but Julie’s nice enough to let us stick around. I just- Um, I thought you were cute, so I really wanted to talk to you.” Alex’s heart tightened in his chest as you blushed, his smile widening.
“O-oh?” Your gaze dropped back to the screen of your camera, idly adjusting a few of the settings just to give yourself something to focus on. “Um, t-thank you.” You hesitated for a moment before forcing yourself to continue speaking, “Would, um, would it be okay if I took a couple of photos of you? I’m working on a project for my photography class.”
Alex beamed up at you, nodding quickly, “Yeah, absolutely! I’d love to be a part of your project! What do you want me to do?” He listened intently as you spoke, all the while making sure to tap out a subtle backbeat to Julie’s melody. He’d hate to disappear when he was finally getting your attention to himself.
You’d only managed to take a few quick snapshots before Luke and Reggie appeared, Reggie stumbling into an end-table and knocking over the vase of flowers that’d been balanced on top of it in his shock at seeing a stranger interacting with Alex. Both you and Julie whipped around at the sound of the vase shattering, her surprise causing her to stop playing.
Alex swore quietly as he vanished from view, a frown tugging at his lips as you turned back to where he’d just been, only to find his seat behind the drums empty.
“Huh,” you muttered, confused. “He sure took off in a hurry, didn’t he?” you mused, moving back toward Julie to take some more pictures. “Hope I didn’t scare him off or anything; he was cute.”
Alex perked up at your words, ignoring the excited whoops of his bandmates as he tried to think of what to do. He knew he couldn’t just reappear without freaking you out, but maybe there was some other way to get you a message?
He moved quickly, tearing a page out of the notebook that Luke and Julie had been working on songs in and grabbing a pen to scribble out a quick message. He tucked it quickly into your backpack before finally letting himself be swept up in his bandmates’ interrogation, knowing that while he probably wouldn’t get to talk to you again today, at least you knew that he wanted to see you again.
Now he just had to figure out how to make himself visible to you even when he wasn’t performing.
