stranger (still don’t know my …) | THE MANDALORIAN AND STAR WARS - DIN DJARIN AND POE DAMERON
AN: The prologue is here! It’s basically just a little teaser to ease you into the story and provide some background knowledge, before I can dive fully into it. Enjoy!
word count: ~ 1.7k
summary: You get teased about your relationship with Poe and Din and reminisce about how you met them.
warnings: none
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You don't remember arriving at the staff entrance or going through check-in and wardrobe. Yet there you were standing in the kitchen. However, looking at your much too modern clothing and the backpack in your hands, you realised that you must have skipped the last part.
Quickly you kicked your sneakers into the oblivion called 'under the kitchen sink' while simultaneously struggling to take off your jeans and put on your work outfit. Your backpack landed unceremoniously under the kitchen island. You will have to visit your locker during your break to stow it away. And to freshen up a bit. Right now, you were late and looked like a mess. Thank god you were the only one working during the early shift. Customer traffic only picked up during early midday. Maybe you could sell it as a deliberate choice and explain to the children that some mean Tusken Raiders had come by and tried to rob the coffee shop. It was worth a try.
The radio in the kitchen corner crackled alive, and you heard the familiar gong signalling five minutes till opening. Five minutes until another day full of "Hello and welcome to the Sorgan Common House, what can I get you?" began. You could do it.
You were wringing out some rags in the sink behind the counter, having used them to clean up some spilt spotchka off a table earlier when you heard them come in.
It wasn't uncommon for your co-workers or other staff members to swing by for a coffee or tea. The coffee shop was affectionately called 'Sorrow Come-on Out' by the crew, as it was situated right at the entrance to the staff buildings, making it an easy stop for everybody that was either arriving or leaving for the day. You’ve been a shoulder to cry or lean on or a listening ear for almost everybody in your short time working at the theme park.
When you looked up, you saw them stepping in, but this didn't seem to be a social call of the worrying kind. On the contrary, Rey and Finn seemed to be practically glowing while smiling widely at each other.
"How long do you think will it take Finn to finally tell Rey what he has been trying to confess to her for ages?" Omera grabbed the more or less dry rags from your hand and replaced them with clean ones as she passed you.
"Oh. I'm pretty sure they'll be done reconstructing the Death Star by then, and who knows how long that will take. And also," you say, turning around to face her, "I think something is going on between Poe and Finn. The number of times I’ve seen Finn wear one of his sweaters cannot be counted on my hands anymore.”
“You’ve worn Poe’s infamous jacket.”
“Once!”
“Is that why I see it hanging between our pans and pots?”
Before you were able to reply, you heard Rey’s voice over the noise of the customers, and you whipped around to face them again, leaving Omera to disappear into the kitchen.
“Oh, he’s a ghost, alright. For everything and everyone… with one exception.” Holding up a finger, she wiggled it in front of Finn's face. You could hear the amusement in her voice, the not-so-hidden ‘Ask me more about it!’.
Of course, Finn obliged her. He always would. “And what would that be?”
“CB.”
Finn snorted. “What the bantha cr-” Seeing your face, he stopped abruptly, looking around for any children and almost walking into one. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “What kind of drug is that?”
You mentally face-palmed yourself.
“The worst kind of them all,” Rey sighed as she reached you at the bar and dramatically draped herself over it to underline her point, “unrequited love.”
Raising his eyebrows, Finn looked at her before he turned to you, mock-whispering: “Wouldn’t that be UR?”
Rey playfully hit his shoulder but grinned nevertheless, happy that he stepped into her trap. “A cutie? Yes, I am! Thanks for noticing!”
It was your turn to snort, almost asking them why they weren’t at their stations on the other side of the park, but you knew they would just ignore you. So you just shook your head and turned around to serve a customer that had arrived in the meantime.
Out of the corners of your eyes, you saw Finn smile at Rey. “Do you just have a plethora of stupid phrases available, or are you actually that fast with coming up with them? Anyways, what’s a CB then?”
“Not what. Who. Them,” she said, pointing at you. “The cute barista.”
You smiled and wished the customer a happy day when a reflection of sunlight just outside the window to your right caught your attention. But when you turned your head, all you could see were children running around the playground, vanishing into or appearing from inside of the huge Razor Crest. Of course, some exasperated parents were also trying to keep up with their offspring. There just wasn’t a sign of the guardian of the playground. It wasn’t a shiny metal armour or helm reflecting the sunlight while he ran after children or picked them up after they stumbled over their little feet and handed them off to their parents. No, the Mandalorian seemed to be absent.
“Look at them. Already dreaming of their Prince Charming.”
“I’m not dreaming.”
“Oh right,” Rey draped herself over the counter again, “you’re yearning.”
Finn just laughed as you half-assedly tried to swat a rag against her leg and hit his bum.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of your hair in no time. Wouldn’t want to keep him from flirting with you.”
“He’s not flirting.”
“Yeah, he is full-on trying to make you fall in love with him before he takes off his helmet to reveal his… fangs?”
You and Rey both looked at Finn, and he just shrugged. “Why else would he never take off his helmet?”
“To not break the illusion for the children! He’s the Mandalorian, and Mandalorians always keep their helmet on - This is the way,” both Finn and Rey finish the sentence with you. “And, if you must know, he does take the helmet off. How else would he drink the spotchka I give him?”
Rey’s eyes grew big. “You’ve seen his face?”
“Merely his lips.”
“Are they kissable?”
“Rey!” you and Finn said at the same time.
“What? I am a curious woman! I want to know what the face behind the helmet looks like.”
“And you inquire about his lips?” Finn asks with a jealous undertone.
“If that’s the only thing they’ve ever seen of him, yeah! Does anyone actually know what Din looks like?”
Finn shrugged his shoulders. “Lots of people, I’m sure. Poe should. Aren’t they best friends or something? Didn’t they apply together and then got hired on the spot after Leia, Luke, and Han realised what kind of crowd-pleasers and people magnets they could be? For adults and children alike?”
That was true. You’ve heard something similar from Peli when she came over to talk to you about the gossip she picked up in her little repair shop. According to her, however, something must have happened between them shortly before you had begun working at the coffee shop for them to drift apart. They are still tight, but they’ve been very well-behaved and the stories of the shenanigans the two were up to in past years, especially during the yearly staff retreat, sounded like made-up stories. Man, you were looking forward to finally being a part of a staff excursion this year.
You had met both men on the same day. Poe was first, and then, later on, came Din.
Actually, you had bumped into Poe Dameron three times on the same day in short succession after each meeting. It was your induction day, and you kept running back to the shared staff wardrobe after either forgetting things or taking too much with you. Each time you managed to somehow almost run over Poe until he grabbed you by the elbows and told you to “stick with him out of caution”. His more than yours, as you apparently had the energy of a mudhorn. Since his job at the park was to be a tour guide for guests, you couldn’t have asked for better company. What you didn’t know (and still don’t know) is that he was just leaving for the day, exhausted as hell, but after seeing your face, he couldn’t let the opportunity slip away to get to know you better.
Meeting Din was less hectic, although there were many more people around. It was your first trial shift in the coffee shop, and if one asked him now, he wouldn't be able to say what came over him that day. Usually, he would have retreated into the shadows of the staff building, leaving the screaming children behind and just enjoying the quietness during his fifteen-minute break. However, on that day, an invisible force (more like his bladder) forced him to enter the coffee shop. He saw you, actually saw you as he realised how lonely and exhausting your shift must have been, even among the many people ordering a coffee, tea or snack. The park was understaffed, and there was nobody to help you out after your initial introduction. Seeing your forced smile, he decided to sit down at the counter, keeping you company and helping you out whenever you needed it.
“Hey,” Omera’s head appeared between the drapes separating the kitchen from the coffee shop counter area, and her call interrupted your thoughts. She turned to Finn and Rey and pointed at her watch, “If you’re not going to stay and pay for something to drink, it would be better if you make yourself scarce. It’s time!”
And just like that - punctual like a swiss clock - the sound of heavy footfall and clinking armour announced his presence.
series summary: You work at a coffee shop (affectionately called Sorrow Come-On Out as you often lend your co-workers a shoulder to cry on or an ear to talk to) that borders right to the children's playground Razor Crest. The playground is supervised by a knight man in shining armour - The Mandalorian. Or, as you know him, Din Djarin. However, you've never actually seen the face behind the mask, as he often visits you during his breaks to relax and talk without taking off his costume to not break the illusion for the children. A face you have had the pleasure to see more often belongs to tour guide Poe Dameron - cocky, daring, flirty, charismatic and "the best staff member of the theme park" (at least when it comes to the adults, children might say otherwise). Then your coffee shop has to go through renovations, and you're transferred to the other side of the theme park. There you slowly find a new home while missing your old buddies. Although not for long. Poe Dameron always finds a reason to bring his latest guests (and thereby himself) to your shop, and you get a new regular customer - a handsome man with curly hair, deep brown eyes and a patchy beard.
What happens when the two of them not only start fighting for the position of 'Employee of the Month' but also for your heart?
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy x The Mandalorian Crossover, Modern!AU, Theme Park!AU, Coffee Shop!AU, Everybody Lives!AU (but not Everybody Is Nice!AU)
current total word count: ~ 1.7k
warnings: explicit language, swearing, mentions of sex, mature themes, angst, possible spoilers for The Mandalorian and the sequel trilogy of Star Wars
stranger (still don’t know my …)
summary: You get teased about your relationship with Poe and Din and reminisce about how you met them.
word count: ~ 1.7k
Author’s Note: I'm back, just like The Witcher with its second season! Which was amazing in my opinion, but I also never read the books or played the games, so I went into it without any expectations or wishes.
This one-shot has been in my drafts since season 1 came out, so I apologize if some of this might be off. I have to get into the swing of writing and The Witcher again.
You weren't exactly sure how it had started. Apparently, it was someone from a room at the end of the hall that thought your year needed to celebrate its last night at the Oxenfurt Academy.
At first, it was just someone strumming on a guitar, accompanied by some laughter and loud talking. Then, however, the need to celebrate had spread. Now nearly all of the dorm doors were wide open, allowing the students and some teachers to mingle around.
Whoever was playing the guitar at the beginning had soon been replaced by none other than Jaskier himself and some scattered loudspeakers. His clear and strong voice floated above the crowd, reaching every ear on the floor and, possibly, some above and below as well. He danced more or less elegantly through the crowd, avoiding any possible collision and graciously held onto his instrument, while his nimble finger never played the same song twice.
Even though your room was one of the only ones still cut off from the outside world, Jaskier's voice was strong enough to reach you through the closed door. You didn't want to join the festivities just yet, not ready to say goodbye to a big part of your life. You smiled at all the memories you had made and all the experiences you'd gone through while you packed your last belongings into your suitcase. Tomorrow the only thing to do was to say goodbye, to the place, to him.
People didn't really know you. You were the quiet one, famous for arriving late and being Jaskiers best friend. "Opposites attract," people had said and left it at that, not trying to get to know you better. Still, you wouldn't trade your years at the academy for anything.
As you were halfway done getting ready, struggling to put on your dress as your arms were too short to reach the zipper, the door opened, and your roommate walked in.
"Hey!" she mustered you giggling, "Need some help?". Holding a beer bottle in her hand, she swayed a little and had to stabilise herself by leaning against the closet.
You just nodded and turned your back to her. Another opposites attract. You were the party pooper while she was the first one swinging her legs and arms to the tune of whatever music was playing, no matter how bad it sounded. After putting down the bottle, she approached you slowly, taking in the dress.
"So," she said as she pulled up the zipper, winking at you, "trying to impress somebody special?" Turning you around to face her, she patted down some wrinkles and pulled the dress straight in some places. "You know, he'll love looking at you. I mean, he already does. But until now, he only ever saw you in… less showing and elegant clothes." She looked at you closely. "Actually… I think you might need me as a bodyguard. There are some boys out there that won't know when to stop, not with you looking like this."
"Is it too much? I can change!"
"Oh no, honey, you won't. We've come too far to turn back now. Grab the opportunity! It's your last night together! You'll go back home to Cidaris, and he'll stay here as a professor. Though, only Melitele knows for how long. That boy's not made to teach other people, and he still got a lot to learn himself."
Unwillingly you rolled your eyes at her words but laughed and followed her out of your room into the sweaty mess of people in the corridor. "I’m sure you’ll be too preoccupied looking for your own victim of the night.”
The music wasn’t precisely louder now that you stepped out of your room, but you could almost feel the vibrations in your bones. You were surprised that none of the other blocks had come to complain yet, but you guessed they had their own parties going on.
You squeezed yourself through the mass of people into Jaskiers room. Few were here, and it was almost as empty as yours, but you could see his roommate sitting on his bed with a girl that was in some of your classes. Giving him a slight wave, you turned to face their cupboard. You weren’t a fan of any alcohol, and your stomach was begging for food.
You knew that it wasn’t nice to go through the stuff of others without their permission, but some time ago, Jaskiers roommate had realised that you were spending a lot of time in their room listening to Jaskier playing the songs he had to prepare for class. This had brought up the whole conversation about opposites attract, by the way, as he thought you were dating but was quickly shut up by Jaskier. Remembering that still hurt, as a tiny speckle of hope had shattered that day.
Anyway, as his roommate, and anybody else for that matter, knew that Jaskier didn’t really care about human needs like food and water (“the only thing one needs is excellent music”), he made the rule that there would always be food for you in the cupboard. Of course, he organised it since Jaskier couldn’t even walk a few steps without tripping over thin air. You had already opened the cupboard door as a hand touched your shoulder and began to close it in front of you.
“As much as I enjoy looking at this beautiful back view, I can’t let a stranger go through our stuff.”
Before the cupboard door closed entirely, you managed to grab something tightly wrapped, labelled ‘Y/N’.
“Oh no! Gods, that’s for…”
“Me.” You turned around and faced a shocked looking Jaskier.
“Y… Y/N?”
“Really, Julian? After walking in on me naked on countless occasions, you can’t even recognise me by looking at my back?”
His already flushed cheeks turned even redder. “W… well, almost naked. I never actually got a peek of anything, I swear! Tonight, however…” You hadn’t realised how near you were to each other, him almost trapping you within his arms, pinning you between his chest and the cupboard. “Y/N, you look beautiful tonight.” He stopped, his expression changing from serious to a more admiring look and the tenseness in his arms weakening a bit. “You always do if I’m being honest.”
At those words, a surge of energy, raw and from deep within, filled your body, and you panicked. Wiggling yourself, almost elegantly, out of his arms, you threw him a last look and walked out the door. The package from the cupboard is still clutched tightly in your hands. Then you fled into another room as fast as the mass of students standing in the corridor allowed you to do so. What were you thinking?! He had just told you that you looked beautiful, and you went and destroyed the moment like that?
Not watching your surroundings, you ran straight into someone. Looking up, you saw Valdo Marx, and your jaw clenched for all the mean things and horrible rumours he had spread about Jaskier. What the hell is he doing here.
“Hey! Can’t you… oh. Fancy seeing you here, beautiful. Where’s your shabby appendage?”
"Sorry, I didn’t see you,” you mumbled, not wanting to further interact with him. “I’m already gone."
"Wait! Wait!” He grabbed your free hand. “Slow down, beautiful. Since we already met and are, as I’ve heard, going back to the same place tomorrow, why don’t we dance together? Get to know each other better."
"No, thank you."
"Come on! It will be fun! Don’t you like to slow dance?"
"No, not with you."
"What?!” His grip around your hand got stronger, pulling you even closer to him. “What did you just say?"
"She said she doesn’t want to dance with you!” A strong force pushed you and Valdo apart. Then you felt yourself being pulled into a warm embrace, and someone led you along the corridor to the stairs down to a floor with fewer people and more quietness.
Jaskier then sat in front of you on the floor. “I’m sorry. That mother- He probably came with the wave of uninvited people that suddenly appeared. I still thank Melitele every day that he didn’t go here as well.”
You just shrugged your shoulders, feeling suddenly very sheepish and stupid. And then, when you looked at your hand which was still holding on tightly to the package, you realised that it couldn’t contain food. Great, now you had accidentally stolen something from Jaskier or his roommate.
You sighed and looked up, ready to apologise for your strange behaviour, but you found Jaskier staring at you. “Is there something wrong with my face Jask?"
"What? Oh… no. Of course not. Why would you think that? Because when I said you looked beautiful, it wasn’t just because of your dress. I just can’t stop thinking about how you really need to stop calling me Jask. It’s tearing my heart apart hearing you say it… like that."
Your heart fell. "Like what? What should I call you then?"
He softly took the package out of your hand and began to unfold the paper. "I was planning on doing this differently tomorrow, but our whole friendship’s been a mess from the beginning. Why not embrace it?” He pulled out a key. “How about you call me your roommate, to begin with? After that, I’ve got some more… special names in mind. Stay with me here in Oxenfurt, don’t go back to Cidaris. Please.”
“Why?” It was the only thing you managed to choke out.
“Out of entirely selfish reasons if I am to keep up the ‘being honest’ act tonight. But most importantly, because opposites do attract. At least, I hope the feeling is mutual.”
Thankfully you didn’t need to say that they were, as your voice had completely abandoned you after his confession. You could also simply show him.
Author’s Note: Gah… I'm such a procrastinating butterfly. I should be writing my Billy Russo series which I'm so excited about, but I just want to be able to read it already instead of having to write first + I'm currently writing each and every chapter instead of the next one (struggles of a fanfiction writer - am I right?).
So, what do I do instead? I flew from one of my obsessions to another and got inspired by this week's @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt.
Anyways... This fic will be a little to late for some of you guys, but still: Merry Christmas everyone! And if you do not celebrate Christmas I still hope you have a wonderful day and a rest of the year filled with love and happiness. You did it, you fought through it. I’m sure you had your own pair of himbo ghosts taking care of you.
word count: ~ 1k
summary (and basically background info): Y/N is Julie's & Flynn's friend who doesn’t know about the ghosts (let’s just say she believes that they’re holograms). The boys become attached to Y/N due to her kindness and positivity and do everything in their (ghostly) powers to keep her days sunny and bright, especially in winter.
Or: Two times Y/N is oblivious to the boys 'paranormal' activities and the one time she notices it
prompt: Comfort in the Cold by @flashfictionfridayofficial
warnings: english is not my first language, therefore, typos
Slowly and quietly you made your way down the stairs of the Molina household, leaving Julie's and Flynn's sleeping forms behind. Even though you had just watched multiple Christmas movies and probably eaten double your weight in popcorn, your stomach was still asking for more. As Julie knew about your habits of needing a midnight snack and since Ray repeatedly told you to make yourself at home you weren't feeling bad about stealing some small bits and pieces out of their fridge or cupboards.
Which is why you were straining your ears to hear any sounds that might indicate that you had woken up either Carlos or Ray, but you were only met with silence. Releasing the breath you were holding you hastily hopped down the last few steps down to the living room, grabbed the stair railing and used the momentum of your movement to swiftly swing yourself in the direction of the kitchen, freezing at the sight that greeted you.
A quick glance at the clock told you it was 2 a.m. and the continuous silence indicated that nobody except you was awake and around. Yet, as you hesitantly took a view steps towards the kitchen counter, pulling your blanket like a shield tighter around your body, there was a perfectly fine peanut-butter/jelly sandwich waiting for you, a smiley made out of Nutella painted onto it. Your favourite midnight snack.
A small note peaked out from under the plate and it took you some time to decipher the chicken scratch. Can't have our favourite groupie going to bed hungry!
Smiling and shaking your head, thinking that either Julie or Flynn must have sneaked out of the room sometime earlier to make you this sandwich you happily bit into it.
If you'd known that there was a brown-haired ghost with hazel eyes sitting opposite to you and watching you with a smile, the sandwich would have probably gotten stuck in your throat.
#2: Alex
Doing multiple Christmas movie marathons would be fun they said. No need to worry they said. Only Christmas cheer and joy they said. Well… long story short, even fun movies can make you bawl like a baby!
A few days after the midnight snack incident, which you completely forgot about, you were once again sitting on Julie's bed. With her and Flynn to your left and right, you had been watching different movies on her computer. Currently, however, you were only trying. Tears were blurring your vision and your sniffles were the only sounds reaching your ear.
Pressing the plushy's soul that Flynn had won you at a fair out of its body and sobbing into it, you felt Julie shift beside you and lay her head in your lap and mumbling something while Flynn was searching for a handkerchief.
"Whose idea was it again to watch this movie?" you tried to ask, but your voice came out all thick and full of emotion, so you weren't sure if they understood or heard you at all.
What you didn't know was that the boys were watching the movie, and now mostly you, with big eyes.
"Remember the day when Julie was crying in the garage and then Flynn came in crying too? Remember how I said that two girls crying are worse than one girl crying? This… this is way worse!" Luke pointed exaggeratedly at every single one of you and moved quickly out of Flynn's way when she left the room to get a box of tissues.
"Dude… they're not actually crying crying. It's just a really sad movie," Alex said and sighed quietly when he heard Reggie whisper, "Do you think that's what Willie meant when he said Caleb floods the place during movie night?"
"That's... no, okay." Shaking his head Alex moved towards the bed and sat carefully at Flynn's place to not alert you of the shift beside you. Then he gently took a paw of the plushy that you weren't currently pressing into an embrace and lifted it to wipe away your tears and free your sight.
You sniffled, too confused and full of emotion to realize what just happened and that it couldn't possibly have been Julie or Flynn, and whispered a small, "Thank you".
Alex smiled, proud of his action.
#3: Reggie
You didn't even bother to take off your shoes or wipe away the residual snow still sticking to your hair as you flopped yourself down onto your bed, groaning into your pillow. Everything was already grey, wet or at least soggy anyway. To say your day had been bad was an understatement.
It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you be of good cheer
It's the most wonderful time of the year
Confused you lifted your head and starred at your computer who apparently decided to become sentient and cheer you up.
It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap-happiest season of all
The next thing that happened would forever be burned into your brain. Your favourite pen suddenly lifted itself up into the air and started to scribble down onto a nearby paper. Slowly and unsure you stood up and inched closer to your desk, but as soon as you were able to sneak a peak onto the paper the pen stopped and fell down.
Shaking your head you rubbed your eyes and turned back to your bed. "This is the weirdest lucid dream I ever had." The moment you flopped back down onto your bed you heard the familiar scratching of pen on paper again. Turning your head there it was again - the floating pen. "What?"
However, once again, as soon as you reached the desk the pen fell down, lifeless. “Alright... alright. I understand! Don’t worry, I won’t sneak a peak.”
"I am dreaming... right?" You weren't. Pinching yourself hurt, trying to breathe through a closed nose didn't work and your pointer finger would not move through the palm of your hand.
Shakily, yet weirdly motivated by the happy Christmas music still playing in the background, you picked up the note laying beside the now still pen. "Merry Christmas Y/N! Lots of love from Reggie, Alex and… Who?"
"It told you, Luke… I should just have signed for us all."
Author’s Note: This prologue/first chapter is more or less an exact copy of a story I started on another blog, but never had the guts (and/or simply got around to) finish. After (and who am I kidding, even while) watching the Eternals I fell in love with Druig and thought long and hard about (re)writing this story for him. Well... Guess I finally made up my mind! I hope you’ll enjoy the series, that my writing skills aren’t too rusty and that I won’t write him too out of character.
word count: ~ 1.6k
summary: This is just one chapter in Y/N and Druig’s (love) story, and it’s neither in the beginning nor at the end. It is, however, the beginning of ‘the(ir) end’.
warnings: airplane crash, graphic description of injuries, pain and blood, reader is hurt/in pain, reader’s death
You could have sworn that you had only closed your eyes for a split second, and now they were wide open, trying to blink away the sweat that was running down your face and couldn’t be swiped away by your already drenched handkerchief.
“Mayday! Mayday!” What was one supposed to say? SOS? Would they even understand you if you spoke English? After all, you were currently flying over the Peruvian Amazon. “Can anymore hear me? Alguém me escuta?” Shit, that was Portuguese, wasn’t it? “Please respond! I might be losing my engine due to overheating, I think…” The pop that came from somewhere below you didn’t sound good, and when the plane suddenly shuddered and the constant beeping and whirring of different machines reached your ears; you completely lost it. You were now 100% crashing.
With a sudden jump and a thud following immediately after, similar to a car running over an obstacle in the road, the plane veered to the right and started to plunge down. You tried to find the eject button, in case there is one in a civic aircraft, but with a loud bang, the explosion of the left wing made the plane somersault in the air, throwing your head around like a rag doll before you hit it somewhere and succumbed to the darkness.
Smoke filled your lungs as you took a deep breath, causing you to start wheezing as soon as you woke up and clutch your right side. You laid there for a while, covering your mouth with your hand while coughing into it - was that blood? - and tried to remember what had just happened. And then you remembered. You remembered the heat, the alarm, the screams - your screams? - the lights, the crash…
And now everything was so eerily quiet, so dark and motionless.
Your headache did not get better, in fact, it seemed to get even worse, and the ground you laid on seemed to get wetter by the minute as well. Grunting, you tried to blindly heave yourself up into a sitting position since the smoke and ashes burned in your eyes. As soon as your free hand touched the metal beside you, you slumped back down, hissing and shaking your now burnt hand, desperately trying to cool it down. The metal was hot, scorching hot.
Without your eyes, you had to rely on your ears and other senses. That’s when you noticed it. You were previously too distracted by your pounding head and your cough attacks. Not only was the metal scorching hot, so was the air. Then you heard it too, the faint hissing of escaping gas, the sizzling of melting metal and the crackle of an ever-growing fire. Knowing that your engine failure came probably from overheating, you drew the only logical conclusion. You were laying in a burning aeroplane wreck.
“Hello?!” you called out, coughing. “Is anybody out there?!” You knew it was hopeless, but you also knew that you somehow had to get out of the debris before it was too late.
You heaved yourself up again, more carefully this time, still clutching your wet right side while wheezing and making sure that all of your skin was covered by some kind of clothing item.
You shook your head. Bad idea. Soot and ash fell out of your hair to the floor or down on your face, which made you sneeze, and a pang of pain went through your body. Doubling over, you groaned as you realised that you must have broken, or at least cracked, some of your ribs.
Slowly brushing the soot and ash out of your eyes, you tried to open them a little, to orient yourself and find the ‘exit’. When you finally managed to open them wide enough to focus on your surroundings, you saw straight into the Amazon rainforest.
A metal pole was sticking out of the wall beside you, so you grabbed it as an aid to stand up. However, as soon as you put pressure on your left leg, pain flared up, which caused you to scream and collapse. You shut your eyes and bit on your lip, trying to suppress the tears that wanted to leave your body and the ringing that started in your head again.
When you opened your eyes again just moments later, you slowly started to move your leg from under you to be able to look at it. Panting, you fought against the pain to able to more or less comfortably sit on your butt, almost throwing up when you looked at your leg. There was a long cut, beginning just underneath the left side of your knee and ending only a little above your ankle. It wasn’t a neat one. The skin looked like it had been torn apart by some kind of animal. At some parts, it was missing completely, while at others, shreds were still clinging loosely to the wound. Luckily, you could say that the cut wasn’t deep enough to have reached any important muscles. Looking at it more closely you saw that multiple little metal pieces were sticking in the wound, and you groaned at the thought of having to pull them all out later on.
A small explosion behind you shook the wreck and made you scream, causing you to lean forward, even though that caused you pain, and to put your hands protectively over your head. Then you felt it, the whole plane was moving. You couldn’t have realised it from where you were laying before, but now that you were upright and looking out, you could see it; the wreck was sliding down a hill that ended abruptly at a cliff. And it was taking you with it.
A scream, not really a cry for help, but more like a general plea to nobody in particular, escaped your lips. You threw yourself on to the scorching ground, ignoring the roaring pain in your body and started to pull yourself forward with only the strength of your arms.
“Y/N!”
‘No, it can’t be. It must be a hallucination. The pain must have taken over my body. There’s no way that-’ And yet before your pounding head could finish the thought, two feet appeared in your blurred vision. There was no strength left to raise your head, not if you wanted to get out of this alive (adrenalin could only do so much), so you didn’t know who exactly was running towards you. You were still pulling yourself forward, grunting and groaning in pain, burning yourself even more on the hot metal, but suddenly, the hard ground had changed into a soft and muddy one.
Then a hand started to caress your face. A voice began to apologise frantically as you jerked and cried in pain when they tried to lift you up but held on too tightly to your sides and completely neglected your injured leg. Some of the pain eased a little bit, not the pain on your right side, of your ribs or leg, but the pain of the burns. ‘They’re rubbing cold mud onto my burns.’
Tears rolled down your cheeks as you were put down again, and you looked up into the sky, or whatever you could see of it that wasn’t concealed by the trees.
Almost out of your field of view, the shuttle exploded the moment it reached the edge, brightening up the surrounding forest for a moment before it disappeared entirely over the edge of the cliff.
Incredible, sparkling blue eyes framed by a dark mop of hair appeared in front of you, but your mind and thoughts were all over the place and your vision so blurry that you couldn’t really focus on what was happening right before you. It hurt to focus, and you could only look into the distance.
“Y/N!” said the same voice from before as they shook your shoulders, more carefully and cautiously this time.
‘How do they know my name? Did they hear my emergency call? Did I say my name back then?’
“Come on turtle, don’t do this to me. Not again. Not this soon.”
Turtle? You tried to open your mouth, but it felt like you had swallowed too much smoke and ash and already screamed the voice out of you, making it impossible for you to speak. Your throat was burning, and your eyes, thoughts and heartbeat steadily slowing down.
The pain in your entire body made it increasingly harder to breathe and to stay awake in general. You were losing the ability to feel the ground beneath you and the cold mud on your skin. The only thing that you could still feel were those hands, warm and strong, caressing your face, whipping away your hair and dirt.
“Ah…,” you croaked after some time. Still unable to focus on anything, you could hear a faint splashing sound as if water was falling. Was it raining? Your cheek seemed to be getting wet and then something firmer was pressing against your forehead.
“Sh… Sh…” The voice was getting quieter as if moving away from you, even though you knew they were right there. “Don’t strain yourself.” A light feeling flooded your body, the pain and agony vanished and something willed your lungs to take one last deep breath, letting you inhale the scent of the surrounding forest. There was also something else, something sweet and familiar in the air. “Just promise you’ll dream a little dream of me. My love, my turtle.”
Then the face disappeared, and so did the pressure of the hands. Without the support, your head fell to the side before your eyes closed indefinitely.
Author’s Note: I decided that this fic trilogy occurs a year after the season one final, making Julie and Y/N almost (or already) 17. Also… this part turned out waaay longer than expected. Which is why there is going to be a fourth part because I have one last idea but didn’t want to rush to write it. And to think this all started because of a rushed (haha) 1k Oneshot. I should really start to write more spontaneously, it seems like good things come out of it. Anyway, Enjoy! :D
Songs mentioned in this chapter (in this order):
Now or Never & Wake Up by JaTP | Don't Stop Me Now by Queen | Rude by MAGIC! | Don’t Laugh At Me by Mark Wills | Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing by Tori Kelly | Still Learning by Halsey | Ayo Technology by 50 Cent | My version of My Name Is Luke by Trevor Wilson | Let’s Forget About It by Lisa Loeb | Let's Just Get Naked Lyrics by Joan Osborne | Hey by Pixies
word count: ~ 3.9k
summary: Even after meeting the boys they still aren’t tired of helping you out and they each have their own little ways to do it.
warnings: // (english is not my first language, not beta-read)
Knowing that ghosts existed was an absurd feeling (even though you had always believed or hoped that there was more out there than just this world, especially with all those planets that had been discovered by NASA), but knowing that there were three certain ghosts that liked you enough to kindly haunt you, well… that was just plain unimaginable somehow. Yet, still less anxiety awakening than you expected.
After Julie let you meet the guys for the first time you thought you were prepared to accept that you would not be able to talk to them unless they played something (after all, you had Flynn to groan about that), but the occasional giggle from Julie and her glances into nothing still sent chills down your spine.
So you started to always look around very suspiciously whenever you were over at her house and make obscene hand movements just to be sure that the boys would move before you walked somewhere or sat down (which just earned chuckles from Flynn and annoyed sighs from Julie - “Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they can’t see you. They know where you are, so please stop, or else my dad will call your parents and send you to Dr Turner as well.” The boys found it hilarious and liked to imitate you whenever they came too close to you.)
The boys also still kept doing little things for you, just not so in secret anymore (though… Reggie was never one for subtlety). Whenever you seemed to have had a bad day (or whenever they just wanted to make you smile) you knew you could count on them having something prepared for you.
You soon discovered that anything related to food (which sometimes were extremely odd and bizarre combinations) was Luke’s doing (except for pizza and meatballs, according to Julie that was always Reggie). And you knew it was Alex whenever it was something more calm and soothing, yet sometimes a little bit clumsy. And whenever it was blatantly obvious and/or slightly weird (in a good way!) it was Reggie.
Well, no. Not always in a good way. One time you came back from school and your whole room was filled with glitter and butterflies and a small note with a little ‘Sorry!’ on it was pinned to your desk - cleaning that had been a pain in the a-. But you couldn’t be angry at Reggie, even though you weren’t quite sure what his ultimate goal would have been.
Speaking of REGGIE...
All those helpful little deeds and nice gestures were always done within the limits of your house (mostly room) or Julie’s house and the studio, which is why you almost let out a loud yelp when suddenly during a math test your pen started to move on his own, filling out the empty space (because yes, you hadn’t been doing very much other than staring helplessly at the paper in front of you). Quickly you grabbed the pen as well (loosely and while trying to ignore the fact that you were practically holding hands with one of the guys) so that nobody would see a floating pen as you did a few weeks ago at Christmas.
From the corners of your eyes, you saw Julie slightly move her head towards you, as if she was listening to you - or rather someone right beside or behind you. ‘Of course. I can’t see them, so the only way to help me is by physically grabbing the pen, but Julie can hear and see them, so they (whoever this is - because let’s be honest, none of the guys really looks like a math genius) only have to tell her the corrects solutions and how to get there. My money’s on Alex.’
You were kind of shocked, and weirdly proud when Julie came up to you after class and said: “Reggie’s not so questionable after all, huh?” (Though… you should’ve guessed it, you did say subtlety wasn’t Reggie’s strong suit.) So you just giggled and shook your head while leaving some of your books in your locker (alongside the fact that Reggie was probably almost (if not!) hugging you from behind - you shuddered at that thought, it’s not like you were already awkward around living boys your age, no need to add ghosts to that list!)
A week later you and Julie entered the studio with blank faces and hanging shoulders. Julie threw a weak little wave towards the piano and sighed while you threw the blankets and snacks you were holding carelessly on the ground and let yourself fall face-first onto the couch, not being able to hide your smile anymore.
“We got our math exams back… yes the one Reggie helped us with.”
You couldn’t see what Julie was doing, but you heard her gasp and whisper “No! Reggie…” after a while. Then she was standing beside you, nudging your shoulder and willing you to sit up, but you didn’t bulge, needing a few more seconds to wipe the smile off your face again.
Faking to disgruntledly accept defeat as Julie’s nudges got stronger (the couch was really comfortable, you totally understood Luke now) you sat up and looked at Julie. “Who’s going to tell them?” you said with a heavy voice and felt how the couch dipped beside you. Raising your eyebrows you quickly glanced to the side (obviously not seeing anybody or anything) and looked back at Julie questioningly.
She nodded, telling you that it was indeed Reggie and gave you the okay to drop the bomb.
You sighed as you turned back around, facing the wall on the other side of the studio and hoped that Reggie would ignore the fact that you were probably talking to his ear or something. “So Reggie… the help you gave us on the math final? Well…,” you couldn’t keep your face straight any longer and jumped onto the couch, “WE ACED IT! I WOULD HUG YOU IF YOU WEREN’T MADE OUT OF CUTE AIR!” (Okay… maybe there was a little bit too much serotonin involved.)
Julie added smiling, “And I’m happy to announce that due to my good grades my father allowed Julie and The Phantoms to play at the upcoming Summer Music Festival!”
A guitar riff filled the studio, followed by a short drum intro and with a ‘puff!’ the boys appeared in front of you, beaming and glowing at the news. Reggie even threw a wink at you when you smiled back and said: “Thank you!”
Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now
And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never!
This allowed LUKE…
The music festival was an experience you would never forget. You were very happy Ray managed to persuade your parents to let you accompany Julie (sadly Flynn had no such luck). Not only did you turn 17 and the boys made sure to have the whole crowd sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you (as soon as you were back home you would add an extra point to your to-do: ‘find out how to kill ghosts a second time’), but the boys rocked the stage and Julie stood up taller and shined brighter than ever before.
Gone (yet not forgotten) were the painful shocks and the fear of never performing again and the serenity of the guys was visible.
It was the last night of the music festival when Julie got the phone call from her father. He would come by to get her the next morning and they would drive directly to visit other family members and spend the rest of the summer holidays there.
Of course, Julie was excited to see her cousins and aunts and uncles again, but she also felt bad to leave you to drive back alone (you had come with your car jam-packed with all the necessary equipment you needed and that wasn’t provided by the festival).
“Don’t worry! It’s only a four-hour drive! I’ve got good music, podcasts and audiobooks to keep me company and back home Flynn will be waiting. It sadly looks like I’m going to survive without you.”
Early the next morning Julie and some newfound fans of Julie and The Phantoms helped you load the equipment into your car and you said goodbye to Julie. Expecting the boys to just directly puff back to Los Feliz you didn’t waste any time and entered your car, connected your phone with the stereo and started to blast your favourite Broadway musicals.
You must’ve been on the road for half an hour when suddenly the playlist stopped and ‘Wake Up’ started to play.
So wake that spirit, spirit!
Confused you scrunched up your nose and touched the touch screen displaying the music system, trying to change it back to your playlist. But instead, the music changed yet again.
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm havin' a good time
I don't want to stop at all
“What the hell?” you muttered, staring at your stereo for a quick second before focusing back on the road, “Why you always going crazy on me dude?”
Once again the music switched.
Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too?
It took you a hot minute to understand what was going on and then you couldn’t stop laughing.
Don't laugh at me, don't call me names
Don't get your pleasure from my pain
“Oh, I’m sorry,” you said mockingly, looking at the empty passenger seat, guessing that that’s where your invisible friend was sitting. “Your pain? I’m not the one who is able to puff wherever and whenever their heart desires and who sneaks up on innocent people.”
Silence.
“For what it’s worth. I’m sorry. I really am. It’s not like you choose this life, you deserved better than this. But I’m really glad I was able to get to know you. I’m really thankful for the light and happiness you brought back into Julie’s life.”
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
But I'm still learnin' to
using technology
You laughed. “Impressive skills nevertheless. Knowing three fitting songs and then changing them at the right time? Let me guess, Luke? Because I don’t think all of you three would fit into my tiny car full of musical equipment.”
At first, there was no music yet again, but then the slow melody of a (for you) well-known song flooded your car. It was the one Trevor Wilson song you never understood until you met the boys, the one song that was so totally different to his usual rock sound (except for the refrains, which, as you later would find out, were parts of the original lyrics Luke wrote for his version of the song).
I sing to remember the stories that used to be
But I don’t write to create what could have been
And as I scream words into the darkness around me
They come out like a dying whisper
The kindest thing to do is to silence them and let them die
To unleash my heartfelt sorrow into the sky
And diminish the will to fight
That pulses like fire and screams with pain through my veins
But life’s not always beautiful, it’s rare
So I’mma chase it, watch you make it
Don’t need to introduce himself
You will want to know his name
Pushing your foundations down
He is here to stay
Don’t call him a breeze when he’s a hurricane
Don’t call him a tremble when he’s an earthquake
Don’t call him an inconvenience
Please just say his name
Leaving lyrics in my hands
That I swallow like pills
Like hurtful words, they rip and claw
And press painfully against my chest
But no matter how painful they are
I will soak them up, thinking of our hopes and wishes
And as each word pushes a new pulse through my veins
I keep staring out on the grave of our shared space of mind
Life’s not always beautiful, but it’s rare
So I’mma chase it, watch you make it
Don’t need to introduce himself
You will want to know his name
Pushing your foundations down
He is here to stay
Don’t call him a spark when he’s a lightning bolt
Don’t call him a flicker when he’s a raging flame
Don’t you dare to underestimate him
Please just say his name
But even when the word flood finally comes to an end
Fidgeting hands remind me of music never played
I owe him my voice
I owe him my sound
So I give him this time
I give him this space
To sing it out loud
To let him declare
And let me be proud
What’s his name? (His name is Luke!)
What’s his name? (His name is Luke!)
What’s his name? (His name is Luke!)
How long do we say his name? (Until we explode!)
My name is Luke! (Tell your friends!)
Tears were rolling down your cheeks, the song now more emotional than ever before. You couldn’t imagine how this song must affect Luke. Thinking that his bandmate abandoned him (which honestly… he kind of did, only mentioning him in one song, not giving any money to their parents and so on) up until he heard the song for the first time.
“Luke…”
Forget about it
Let's forget about it
The ensuing silence wasn’t awkward. You hummed along to the music Luke selected, sometimes it were old classics (probably his favourites), other times it seemed to be random newer hits he probably never heard before mixed with some songs from your favourite playlists.
It was nearing midday and your stomach made itself known. As if on cue a road sign hinted at a diner just up ahead. Setting the blinker you pulled into the parking lot a few moments later.
“I hope you don’t mind. I know home’s only like an hour away, but...” you began to trail off, not knowing where to look at and your stomach finished your sentence. And before you were able to grab the door handle it sprung wide open.
“Uh, what a gentleman. Thank you very much.”
The meal was over in a flash and once more you realised how much the boys actually knew about you without having actually interacted with you (perks of seeing other people without being seen themselves?).
It’s like Luke could read your wishes just from your facial expressions. Whenever you needed salt or pepper they were right there. Whenever something was too salty or had too much pepper on your drink was being pushed closer to your side. And when you accidentally spilt something and needed more napkins they magically appeared.
When you then spotted a cute little guitar keychain that reminded you of Luke that was being sold as a souvenir at the check-out it was suddenly safely tucked into your back pocket (though that was really really risky, and while you did not condone it you couldn’t really stop a ghost).
Back in your car, you didn’t even bother to turn on the stereo, knowing that Luke would take over as soon as your hands were on the steering wheel again.
However, a glance to your right presented you with a map of your surroundings, a big x hastily drawn over the Silverwood Lake in San Bernardino, which was basically just around the corner.
“You want to go swimming? We- I just ate! And my bathing suit is somewhere under that mountain of equipment on the backseat.”
Let's just get naked, just for a laugh
Let's just get naked
It's a trip and a half
You laughed at that, rolling your eyes and shaking your head, before stowing the map away and turning on the car. “I guess catching Reggie in the shower isn’t enough anymore?”
Hey!
“You started making it weird buddy.”
It had started to rain when you finally pulled up in your driveway, but you couldn’t be bothered to rush inside, enjoying the feeling of the cooling wetness on your skin.
“Look at that,” you said to nobody in particular, not knowing if Luke was still around or if he puffed back to the garage, “I didn’t even need to go swimming after all.”
He was. Sitting in the passenger seat, face on his arms while he leaned on the open car window, he watched you dance in the rain with a smile on his face. He was glad he decided to stick around and keep you company on that road trip. You gave him the courage to listen to My Name Is Luke for the first time (and getting to see you smile while showing off his impressive music knowledge was a bonus too). Because without knowing, you were doing little deeds for the boys too.
And made ALEX…
Whoever wrote that “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain”-quote totally forgot to mention how dangerous small summer storms can be.
Well sure, it might have been your fault for staying out for too long and deciding to let the sun that came out a little bit later dry you instead of changing into fresh and dry clothes, but whatever happened happened and you got sick. (It’s not like you had anything better to do during the last few days of your summer holidays, right?)
Flynn had been a great friend and hung out almost daily at your house, playing board games, watching movies or tv or even just discussing upcoming Julie and The Phantoms possibilities with you. But your dearest little helper had been Alex.
The blond drummer had turned into the tall brother you never had but always wanted (focus on tall because the age thing with ghosts is seriously confusing) even if he was invisible to you 100% of the time. You had the same interests and were able to bond without actually having to say any words, little gestures and reciprocations on your side were more than enough.
Julie had come up with an easy solution and had bought you some of those sound buzzers (like the ones that dogs and cats use to communicate with their owners) and recorded some simple words and phrases the boys liked to use on them. Now the boys just had to press them to be able to communicate with you without having to use pen and paper or Julie herself (sure your parents were a little bit weary and confused, but you said it was for a longer school research project and that shut them up).
Now, feeling way better than during the last few days, but still very tired, you were sitting in your bed, not really focused on the tv show (or was it a movie?) that was playing on your computer. You had been contemplating and mentally preparing yourself to get something to eat and to drink for the past 15 minutes, but the thoughts alone were exhausting and binding you to the bed. Just then a tray with a water bottle, meds and a fruit bowl floated into your room.
Suddenly wide awake and full of energy you clumsily jumped out of your bed and grabbed the tray, throwing a quick glance out of the door to see if your parents were around and slammed the door shut, wincing at the loud sound and hoping that Alex had walked out of the way (not that it would have hurt him, but you know - rude).
“Rude.”
See? He thought the same. (Julie had to specifically add this word for Alex.)
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. But I would like not to get murdered or have Sam and Dean Winchester on my back because my parents think I’m possessed and need to be exorcised.”
“Me.”
“You what?”
“Me.”
“Alex… I need more context.”
“I do. Me.”
You just blinked blankly at the sound buzzers, trying to piece together what Alex was trying to say.
“THAT’S ENOUGH Y/N! WHATEVER THAT SCHOOL PROJECT IS, TELL IT I HEARD IT AND I DON’T CARE WHAT IT WANTS!” you heard your father's scream come muffled through the door.
The audience laughter from sitcoms filled your room and you groaned, grabbing a pillow and smashing it against your face.
Faintly you heard the telltale sound of a pen scribbling something on paper and when you peeked from behind the pillow a note was floating in the air in front of you. “You mean exorcise ME! You would be the one surviving!”
“What? Oh my god… yeah okay, YOU get exorcised… same thing. Both aren’t allowed to happen. Forgive my fever brain.”
“No.”
“Fork you, Alex.”
“No.”
“I have Carlos on speed-dial, I’m sure he already came up with other methods to get rid of ghosts other than the salt thing. He already told me that he’s sorry and that he thinks I might get haunted by you too with the amount of time I spend at their house.”
“No. Food.”
Confused at that topic change it took you a few seconds to answer. “What?” Looking around your gaze landed on the tray that you had deposited on your desk. “Oh right! Boy, I completely forgot how thirsty and hungry I am. Did I say thank you? Fang u!” you mumbled with your mouth full of fruit.
“No. Food.”
You swallowed down your food and took a big gulp of water. “Yes Alex, thank you. I am eating. You see? Here I am, here’s the food. The food is here and now whoops - ifs gan!”
You could basically feel the annoyance radiating from the ghost and weren’t really shocked when the pen started to scribble something down again.
“No! Argh!” He really wrote Argh… that dork really wrote Argh! “You can be worse than Reggie sometimes, but you do it on purpose and I’m just sorry for Reggie. A) Carlos thinks he got rid of us by making a french dip and B) You’re awfully lively for a supposedly sick person. I might need to use the buzzers more and see what other reactions I can provoke from your parents.”
Crumbling the note in your hands you thought ‘Challenge accepted’. “You know what? I think I’mma go back on Reggie’s offer and actually let him introduce me to Wilbur. He might know some stuff I could use to blackmail you. And you’re right! I feel much better, just very tired, but that’s nothing a little bit of fresh air can’t fix! Toodles!”
You left your room, leaving a flabbergasted ghost behind who had lost his snapback with the number of times he had been combing through his hair with his hands. And while angrily pressing a pink buzzer, the buzzer wasn't the only thing that screamed “WILLIAM!” after the girl. (That was another important sound Alex wanted to have recorded.)
Author’s Note: Somebody on Wattpad asked if they could get ‘a part two where she like meets them and they still do kind stuff?’ I really liked that idea, so this little part is a filler (their meeting) so that I can fullfill the request in a third and final part. Enjoy! :D
word count: ~ 1.4k
summary: You finally meet the boys. Obviously, chaos ensues.
warnings: // (english is not my first language, not beta-read)
You knew that Julie wouldn’t judge you, not after the year she had. But honestly, after hearing that Flynn was almost going to egg her house after finding out about the Swedish hologram boys you were very inclined to just shake your head and forget about it all. Even if the note from Reggie, Alex and Thing Three had been burning a hole into your pocket.
Needless to say that it had been a very weird winter break. But you were still kind of disappointed when nothing happened on New Year.
Nevertheless, you closed your locker and turned around to look at Julie and Flynn while they approached you. “Does a flying pen called Reggie and a computer that suddenly decides to cheer me up called Alex and a third something, temporarily called Chicken Scratch, do as well?” you asked and took the note out of your pocket, hoping it would come out as comedically rather than insane.
At first, nothing happened and Julie and Flynn just stared at you. Then Julie ripped the little paper out of your hand and quickly unfolded it.
Almost afraid you smiled at them nervously when they looked back up at you, expecting everything and yet nothing at the same time. Which is why you weren’t quite sure what to make from Julie and Flynn’s reaction. Sighing they both looked at each other and whisper-shouted: “Reggie!”
“Reggie… as in the pen? You’re calling my pen?” Bewildered, you looked at your two best friends. Okay so maybe they did think you’ve lost it. ‘Retreat, retreat! Make a final joke about it and let it slide!’ “ I think you kind of forgot the magic word ‘Accio’ beforehand. Accio Reggie, you know? And don’t forget to swish and flick it guys or else it might blow up in your face,” you giggled nervously. ‘Nope, that wasn’t it.’
But instead of going into it, Julie suddenly seemed busy staring angrily at a locker just to their right and making weird eyebrow movements towards it, while Flynn just swung an arm around your shoulder and pulled you with her.
“I think it’s time that we, or rather Julie, told you something. But, first things first, you know that egging your best friends house isn’t the solution, right?”
-
Correction: They lost it. Not you, they! Ghosts. Forking 90s ghosts they said.
Because apparently Reggie, Alex and Luke (not Who or Thing Three - just a ghost with a very terrible handwriting, Flynn couldn’t stop giggling and said something about the Fat Ones?) were exactly that - forking 90s ghosts. You almost snorted into your cereal and inhaled the milk when Julie told you that after arriving home from school.
“Sure. Ghosts are wishing me a Merry Christmas. What’s next? Did I miss Michael Jackson wishing me a Happy New Year and will Elvis Presley be serenading me on Valentine’s Day?”
“Wait... Michael Jackson died?! When? Ah damn... I barely had time to listen to his 9nth album before we died!”
“Dude... First Star Wars, now this? What exactly are you doing when we aren’t rehearsing?”
“Not screaming in a museum, but I did say dibs on the shower… the rubber duckies are just too cute to ignore!”
“You use them in a bath Reggie, not the shower!”
Obviously, you couldn’t hear them but you did see the eye-roll Julie gave the thin air before turning back to you. “Sorry to disappoint but no. Michael and Elvis are dead.”
Silence fell upon you three six.
Ending the silence by eating your (crunchy) cereal, you swallowed and said, “Yeah fun fact, the adjective dead literally appears in the definition of ghosts. That’s kind of what makes them ghosts. Being dead. So… what makes your buddies so special?”
Silence. Again. (Well, for you. Julie was listening to two ghosts chasing each other around the kitchen ‘STOP IT REGINALD!’ while the third one was sitting by your side, face in his hands, eyeing your cereal wistfully and sighing.)
Taking a deep breath Julie pushed her hands away from her body. “We don’t know. But we would like to show you. So... Boys, Garage. Now! Girls, Garage. Please,” she said, waving her hand to the backdoor.
Opening the garage door a few moments later and gesturing at the couch and chairs Julie said, “Please sit down. The band will be with us shortly.”
“Uh!”, you said excited, clapping your hands. Might as well go along with it. Worst case scenario? All three of you will go visit Dr. Turner. Best case scenario? Well… best case scenario the boys ghosts are real and you will be sleeping with one eye open from now on. But honestly, how bad can that be? They have a good taste in Christmas music after all. “What are we going to hear? Panic! At the Disco? Taylor Swift?”
“No no no. They only do originals. Now come on, Mama needs her eye candy. Oh, and watch it. Reggie needs space to rock out,” Flynn told you as she guided you to the couch.
“Look at that! She listens and learns!” Julie giggled and sat behind the keyboard. “Let’s do it the old fashioned way. Y/N, this is Flying Solo.”
-
Well, they were real. Or as real as ghosts can be.
“Yeah… quick question. Why am I always the one who gets probed?” the dark-haired bassist asked after your hand passed through his shoulder.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I should have asked first.”
“Ah don’t worry. It was nice actually. Now I know that you have a kind heart.”
The shaggy-haired guitarist snorted, accidentally strumming his guitar a little too hard. “And an endless black pit as a stomach.”
“And you know that why?” Julie asked with her hands crossed in front of her chest.
“He watches her eat the sandwiches he makes for her. He finds it cute when she giggles at the Nutella faces he paints onto them," the bassist answered for the guitarist.
“You make her sandwiches… with Nutella faces?! Why don’t I get those?!” "You watch me while I eat?!" Julie and you screamed out at the same time.
“Chill out you both! You," Flynn said pointing at you, "get free food! But watch it, they did die by eating poisoned hot dogs, so don't trust them entirely. And you!" She moved over to Julie, "You get eye candy 24/7! I should be the one to complain! I don’t get anything and I am your manager!”
Blushing the brown-haired boy averted his eyes and muttered, “I don’t remember agreeing to that." (Because of course that would be the point he would focus on.) "You booked us a school dance after all!” Feeling and then seeing their indignant looks he quickly retreated. “Which we are still very, very sorry for missing out on! A… and and the band name you came up with is really great Flynn!”
Throwing her hair back and squinting her eyes, Flynn gave him a joking glare. “You pass. Barely. I’m still watching you.”
“Okaaaay so, judging by your looks and your attitude I’d say… you're Chicken Scratch, right?”
“HEY!” And then more quietly, “My name’s Luke.”
You nodded. “You deserve it. So, Luke, I guess it's nice to meet you.”
“So today is ‘Make fun of Luke’-day?”
“Oh… that’s only today? Sorry, I must’ve missed that memo. I thought that was every day.”
You giggled and turned to the drummer who had just spoken. “Alex, right?”
The blond guy nodded smirking while continuing to quietly drum.
“Then you must be Reggie!” you smiled at the bassist again. “I heard Kayla talk about you to Carrie on a few occasions.”
As he dropped his bass the last thing you saw or heard from Reggie was an excited, “Girls talk about me? Take that Alex!” Then he puffed out of existence.
“Reggie, you do realize that my ‘they can’t tip what they can’t see’ statement still applies here, right?” Alex said sighing and mouthed, “I’m sorry” in your direction, before flinching and puffing out of existence as well.
“They don’t have to tip me, Alex, they just have to like me!” Luke imitated Reggie sarcastically, shaking his head and raising his eyebrows while eyeing the thin air.
“Wow! Watch it!”
But Julie’s warning came too late. With a ‘whooosh’ and followed by a dull pain one of Alex’s drumsticks flew through the air and hit your head. “Ow!”
“Oi boys! Stop it!” And with that Luke vanished as well.
Author’s Note: I wrote this fic for an old fandom of mine and thought I could re-write/re-use it to finally get started on my JaTP bingo card (because my creativity and originality are nowhere to be found) - I hope you enjoy, yet I’m still sorry in advance? (song’s Poet by Bastille but slightly adapted by me)
word count: 1.9k
prompt: ‘Song Fic’ on my @jatpbingo bingo card
summary: It took several sleepless nights, days of throwing up and feeling bad and the pressure of cuddling with Luke to finally discover that you were pregnant.
warnings: teen pregnancy, character death, a very hastly scribbeled down fic idea (this was not beta read (or read over in general) so typos, inconsistent grammar and other faboulous little annoyances (if anyone loves to read my fanfics and would like to volunteer as my beta reader I’ll kiss your feet))
It had been a few weeks since you, well... since you had seen another room rather than your classrooms and your own four walls. You even missed your kitchen and living room. But especially, you missed the boys' studio.
Today, however, has been a good day. You had managed to eat properly without feeling sick and were starting to catch up on some shortly due essays, papers and homework assignments, so you wouldn’t need to do them when feeling utterly sick again.
Luke had come to visit you (or tried to) a few times, needing to use his charm at your door, as you told your parents that you didn’t want him to see you. Your hair was a mess and unkempt, it pained you to stand for a long period of time (so you reduced the times you washed it to a minimum), your eyes had dark circles under them and you were exhausted even if you didn’t do anything the whole day long.
“I brought you food. I know that your fridge only knows like three meals”, he had said once quietly, putting the tray with the steaming meal on your bed, gesturing for you to move a little, so he could sit beside you.
“You mean to say that I and/or my parents only know three meals”, you had coughed laughing and refused to move. You didn’t want him to get sick too.
“No don’t,” you had muttered when he started to push you to the side, “I think I might have a bad bug and Sunset Curve can’t function without its lead vocalist and guitarist. And I can’t eat anyway.”
He had looked at you, confused and concerned. “Still? Alex told me you were able to keep your breakfast in, and I thought that meant you were on your way of improvement.”
“Some illnesses take longer to go away. I just didn’t want you to check on me because things like a normal cold or a little stomach bug can pass without unnecessary medications even if it takes longer.”
That had been two weeks ago. But today, when you were finally looking presentable again and were even able to open the door yourself, it wasn’t Luke that was visiting you.
“Oh… it’s you guys.”
“Geez, thanks Y/N. No need to kill us with all this kindness,” Reggie said laughing and sniffed, “Uh! Smells amazing. Pizza?” Without any hesitation or warning, he entered your house and vanished into the kitchen.
“Pizza? Wow, you must really be feeling better. I remember you throwing up on me a week ago when I tried to feed you chicken soup,” Alex smiled, hands in his pockets and not moving until you invited him in.
“Oh no,” hiding your face in your hands after you closed the door behind you both and groaned. “I’m so sorry about that. Again. Tell me how much the cleaning bill was and I-”
“Chill Y/N, relax. You’ve seen me at my worst and now I’ve seen you at your worst. Sure, I was still way more elegant and not as weak as you, but you just gave me a reason to finally get rid of those shoes.”
“No Alex! You loved those sneakers!” you said horrified.
“Just kidding. Give me 50 bucks and we’re even. Or, you know, better yet, come back to the studio and help us get rid of an overly clingy Luke. Now that you’re better, pleeeease, give him some cuddles!”
You giggled. “You know you have two perfectly fine arms to hug him with as well, right?”
“Yeah!” He said, raising his voice. “But not ALL the time. And I want to be appreciated for myself once too! Not just because I am the only one available to give hugs as an ‘emergency solution’!”
“You make it sound like you actually let us hug you dude, don’t lie,” Reggie muttered through a mouthful of Pizza, throwing himself on your couch.
Throwing Reggie a stink eye Alex turned to you again. “Anyway… You and I will go to the studio now. Yeah?”
“Well”, you stocked, not sure if you could talk to them about it. You had hoped for a few more days to think it over. “You know… It might actually not have been a bad bug, but rather a big bug that I caught.”
At their confused faces, you sighed. “I’m a few days, or even weeks... late”, you mumbled the last part so quietly, you weren’t even sure if they had heard you (if they even knew what you meant).
You were definitely not expecting Reggie to be the one to answer. “Do you want me to drive you to the hospital or do you just want a pregnancy test first?”
-
You didn’t know who of them had told Luke, or when, but after a few minutes of waiting in the hospital’s waiting room he came barreling in, beanie askew on his head and guitar case on his back. His searching eyes found yours in a haze and you could basically hear the question in his gaze ‘Are you?’. Silently you shook your head, averting your eyes.
Alex offered him his place beside you and Luke grabbed your hand while you waited. A few moments later your name was called and the nurse brought you and Luke to an empty room and told you to wait again. She came back a few minutes later and Luke moved to the side of the bed and held your hand again.
You didn’t feel the cold gel on your belly. Didn’t feel the way Luke was almost crushing your hand in his. Didn’t hear the words the nurse said. You only heard the faint heartbeat of your baby. You were pregnant.
Luke was beaming, looking at the screen where you could see the ultrasound of your baby, but he also looked at you with a little bit of fear in his eyes.
I can't say the words out loud
So in a rhyme, I wrote you down
Now you'll live through the ages
I can feel your pulse in the pages
Even though you were only in your eighth week and not really showing yet, Luke wouldn’t allow you to wear anything else than his oversized hoodies, sweaters, pullovers and flannels (the ones that still had sleeves. And okay, fair enough, it might also have been because he absolutely loved to see you in his clothes.)
He was like an eagle watching over you, flying down as soon as you were doing or were going to do something he didn’t approve of. He even almost convinced his and your parents to move into your room so he could reach you faster in case of an emergency. (It was a clear no from both parents and he even got grounded for that idea - though later on, you learned from Alex that it was because he had said ‘Why not? It’s not like I can impregnate her again!’)
Of course, your parents weren’t happy about the situation, but they weren’t about to throw you out on the street. They both loved you and Luke (after all, they did fall for his charms one to many times), but they never really spoke the words out loud, never really talked about the fact that you two were going to be parents, a family at such a young age.
And Luke and you? While he was acting like an overprotective husband you both weren’t really talking about it either. You both were terrified about the fact that you were going to raise a child while Sunset Curve was trying to make it big, while you were still in High School and it still seemed more like a dream to you both, a dream from which neither of you wanted to wake up and face reality.
That’s why you started to write the letters. Or in Luke’s case - lyrics. Letters to future you’s, letters to your unborn child telling them about your adventures, your experiences and feelings. It was a way to tell yourself all the reasons why it was okay that you were going to be having sleepless nights filled with the cries of a baby, telling you that it was all going to be worth it.
And for the first time, while writing those letters and lyrics, it was as if both you could feel your baby.
Your body lies upon the sheets
Of paper in words so sweet
I can't say the words
So I wrote you into my verse
Now you'll live through the ages
I can feel your pulse in the pages
Time went by fast. You remembered the first time you felt the little kick very well, as if it was yesterday, but at that time you still could somewhat see your feet and now you couldn’t even stand up anymore without somebody’s help.
School was weird, but you had the boys to help you through it.
You started to draw little babies beside your letters, trying to imagine the different looks it could have. Would it have your hair or Luke’s? His eyes and your nose? Your eyes and his smile?
And then you started to write your letters and lyrics around the baby, making it look like it was cradled by your warm words, hoping that whenever you wouldn’t be able to hold your child, it would be able to read your letters and feel the love, because you surely did.
How could you have known that in just a few weeks these lyrics would be the only words your child would ever ‘hear’ from their father?
I have read you with these eyes
I've read you with these eyes
I have held you in these hands
You had never seen your parents looking so fragile and broken like the night they came into your room to tell you the boys died.
And then, the next thing you knew was that your son was born. The doctors and nurses said that it was the stress, the emotional overload of being told that your friends, your loves, the father of your child died that caused your water to break.
That’s why it was Bobby and not Luke that was by your side that night and held your hand. It was Bobby, the normally strong and grumpy teenager, that was smiling like a little kid that just got told it would get to eat as much candy as it wanted.
His eyes were glistening with tears as the nurse handed him the little bundle of joy and he started to sway him - Luke - slowly back and forth, knowing that you were too tired to hold him at the moment.
“He is beautiful”, you murmured as he took a seat beside you, his gaze still fixed on his nephew, because obviously, he would be Uncle Bobby (though not for a very long time), “Just like his father.”
You didn’t hear Bobby’s answer as you fell asleep and dreamed of Luke, tucking you in and kissing your forehead before he dedicated himself entirely to the new tiny human in his arms, singing a sweet lullaby.
“We have written you down. Now you will live forever and all the world will hear you and you will live forever. In eyes not yet created, on tongues that are not born, in ears not yet listening. I have written you down, now you will live forever and Sunset Curve will sing about you.”
