Disclaimer: I do not own ATWT.
This is a slight AU since it de-SORASes the boys back to being Sophomores and plays fast and loose with the exact date they moved into the apartment. Also, this story is nothing but fluffly wish-fulfillment. Don't look for a plot; it's not there.
Immaturing
It's nothing huge, really.
It was one Saturday night double-date Casey thought up, that somehow ended up becoming a weekly thing. Casey had been like a child in a candy store when the newest version of Rock Band appeared in stores, featuring roles for a back-up vocalist and a violin of all things. Casey of course had no use for the new roles; he was excited mainly on principle. And upon hearing that neither work nor school would keep the group apart that Saturday evening, he almost dragged Alison, Luke, and Noah from their homes and into his living room.
To Noah, the night was like one of his favorite old movies, played traditionally and cast perfectly. Luke stepped immediately into vocals, showing off an unpolished but nonetheless good voice Noah sometimes heard drifting out of the shower or following along to the Windows Media Player on Luke's laptop. Combined with his looks and the charisma that seemed to ooze out of his pores, Noah had no trouble imagining fangirls screaming lyrics along with him in the bleachers of a stadium. "Classic frontman" was how Casey described him.
As for Casey, Noah imagined that said fangirls would divide themselves up and go to war over Casey and Luke. Casey had immediately claimed guitar as his own and nothing short of prying it from his cold, dead fingers would force him to relinquish it. Aside from an insane amount of talent—how many times had Casey played earlier versions of Rock Band to start on Expert Mode immediately with this one?—Casey had a quality that could only be described as "badass". And yet there was a sweet boyishness there, too, that Noah saw when Casey smiled. Playing pseudo-guitar brought a lot of joy into Casey's features. Casey, Noah decided, would be the one the fans cooed over whether he was signing autographs or drunkenly beating up cops.
Noah and Alison took one look at each other that first night and immediately took to the less intrusive instruments. Alison situated herself on drums and stuck to Easy Mode, not expecting much, and was surprised by the amount of drum solos that had been worked into the game. The challenge incensed her after she was booed into losing once, and soon Casey was wrestling the drumsticks from her for fear she'd break them with how hard and fast she was banging them against the drum pads…though he nearly threw his girlfriend her own party the first time she scored 100%. Noah could see jealous fans hating her for her relationship with Casey, but nonetheless could hear "Girl drummers rock!" coming from the mouths of more mature supporters.
Years of playing second fiddle to his father's job and moral values led Noah to feel right at home playing bass. In real bands this was the least appreciated and noticed instrument, and when that fact came up in conversation once they had decided to stop for a pizza break, Luke shushed his half-sarcastic self-denigrating comment.
"It might not be noticeable unless you're really listening for it, but the bass is the backbone. It keeps the whole band steady and together. Otherwise you have three spazzes," Luke waved a hand at himself, Casey, and Alison, "making noises at each other." Luke then grinned and whispered that he'd be "making noises at" Noah once they got back to the apartment, if Noah caught his drift, and Noah suddenly thought bass was the best musical instrument known to man. He was the steady one in that situation, too.
Two Saturdays after that, as Luke was losing points for slipping into the harmony, Riley poked his head out from the stairwell. Casey had—with extreme discomfort—explained that Riley was Not To Be Discussed. Thus far he had made that easy by not allowing hide nor hair of himself to be seen by the four. But music seemed to be his "own, personal brand of heroin" (Luke relentlessly teased Noah for going to see Twilight even though Noah swore uphill and down that it was for his Contemporary Film class—"That class doesn't even exist at OU!") and going for three nights without checking out the group's fun proved itself impossible for him to do.
It was Margo's glower from the kitchen (though later Alison confided that Casey had begun thawing towards Riley after Riley distracted Hunter at the party celebrating Casey's re-admittance to the university) that made Casey hand the second microphone to Riley. In the interest of fairness Noah kept distrust subdued enough to acknowledge Riley had a good set of pipes on him. And considering Riley had stolen the show with the Hughes family, it made sense that Riley compete with Luke for frontman status. He was the Robby Takac to Luke's Johnny Rzeznik (the Colonel had forbidden contemporary music, and Noah had devoured Luke's many playlists like a starving man since Winston was jailed the first time); he'd have a little less than half the songs on their first album.
The following week Casey let Riley sing back-up again with slightly, but noticeably, less reluctance.
Noah insisted on every last box being put in storage before he allowed non-family guests into the apartment, and Luke timed it so the apartment was finally put in order on a Friday late afternoon. That left Friday night to "celebrate" (they'd done an inordinate amount of "celebrating" since getting the apartment, on which Noah blamed their lateness in setting the apartment to rights), Saturday morning to sleep in, and Saturday afternoon to stock up on chips, popcorn, and soda.
Casey barged his way into the apartment with the box of imitation instruments, making a beeline for the TV. Alison and Riley both took a moment to compliment their new living quarters, though Riley was quickly distracted by Casey's whine that Luke and Noah's entertainment center was too hard to figure out. It was over Casey and Riley's banter that Alison offered to get the door, and a girl with long, curly brown hair suddenly shocked the whole apartment into stunned silence.
Surprisingly it was Luke who first went forward to give Maddie a welcoming hug, and that seemed to cue all of them to simultaneously insist on Maddie staying when she offered to leave. She had first visited the farm and Lily had pointed her in the direction of the apartment. She had declined to take a summer semester and came home to visit, and had wanted to check in on her "favorite couple", as she referred to them with a wry smile.
The room was taken over by uncomfortable silence until Maddie noticed the box of video game equipment and nigh unto squealed when she saw that it housed the latest version of Rock Band. She'd been wanting to attempt the violin role since hearing the game had come out with it. Miraculously, Casey chose that moment to discover how to install the game and set-up began. Alison smiled weakly and handed Maddie a bowl of tortilla chips, which was soon replaced by a fake violin. When Noah gave the game piece over to Maddie, he couldn't help but think that it fit her. She was classy; mature but high-spirited when she needed to be, and, he remembered, in formal wear she looked like a concert violinist.
Their guests left earlier than expected that evening. Noah saw, when he went to the window, that Casey, Alison, and Maddie separated from Riley and disappeared in the general direction of Java. In his head he was scripting the conversation between them; Casey's second profuse apology was interrupted by Luke suddenly putting his hands on Noah's shoulders.
Noah whipped around and quickly pulled Luke into his arms. To his surprise, it was his own hold that was tight, possessive; Luke leaned passively against him like a cotton bedsheet.
"I know," Luke whispered into Noah's chest, before looking up with a small but genuine smile. "Let's have her over next week."
Maddie was the one all the indie and post-modern fans loved, Noah decided a few moments before going to bed. The one that broke the rules of rock 'n' roll by introducing a classical instrument. Very Yellowcard. Luke laughed and said that he didn't have to steal CDs anymore; he'd burn copies for Noah so he could psychoanalyze to his heart's content whenever he wished.
They forwent "celebration" that night, just to prove that Maddie's appearance didn't necessitate it. Noah instead fell asleep to Luke curled up against him and humming a melody he was trying to remember so he could sing it instead of Riley next Saturday.
In one of his rare psychic moments a few days later, Noah joked to Luke that it wasn't a band without roadies. The next few weeks rectified that.
The first instance saw Jade showing up the next Saturday evening for an impromptu visit. Luckily, she arrived in the middle of a song and let herself in (they had accidentally left the door unlocked), so Jade was sitting on the couch, munching popcorn and watching Noah make a fool out of himself by attempting Hard Mode, by the time they noticed her. Luke marched into the kitchen and pulled the half-serious list of rules he and Noah had drawn up one night when insomnia and giggles afflicted them both off the refrigerator; back in the living room he pointed out the only one written in red ink, underlined twice, and circled: "Leave your damage at the door. No fighting unless you live here."
And for once, all abided by a rule…even though it was tested two weeks later, when Hunter showed up searching for Alison. ("For no reason aside from the fact that he hates me," Casey later grumbled.) Eyeing Rock Band with some modicum of distaste ("Just because I love it."), Hunter opted to sit on the couch and glare at the back of Casey's head. After ten minutes, Jade slapped his leg and told him to lighten up before shoving a soda can in his face. (Though she smacked his hand when he attempted to partake of the popcorn bowl.)
"I think we have honest-to-God groupies now," Luke joked sometime in the ungodly hours of Sunday morning, after they had played well past midnight and one by one the strength to stay awake deserted them. Hunter's glare seemed permanently glued to his face, even in sleep, even with his head in Jade's lap as she leaned against the couch cushions, head falling backwards. Ali had fallen asleep with her face buried in her arms, resting on the drum pads; Casey sat on the floor and leaned back against her legs. Maddie was passed out on the recliner, and Riley stretched out on the floor.
"All here for your melodic, sultry voice," Noah said.
"Won't disagree with that." Luke planted a kiss on Noah's lips. "But I think the awesome bassist is part of the reason."
"Yeah?"
"Of course. Did you try his spinach dip? He caters a good party."
Noah rolled his eyes, and grinned. "He does more than that."
"Oh yeah?" Luke grabbed Noah's hands and moved so their hips were pressed together.
"Oh yeah. He played "Don't Fear the Reaper" on Expert Mode."
Luke burst out laughing; surprisingly not rousing anyone from sleep. "And got a thirty-two percent on it."
Noah put on a pout. "Thirty-three."
"Well…" A mischievous glint shone in Luke's eye. "I can think of something for you to score a hundred percent on."
(Noah found out that night that Jade snored. Loudly. Enough to be heard through bedroom doors. Luke apologized for forgetting this fact.)
It only took another week for Casey to speak to Hunter, still using unfriendly tones but without adding an insult under his breath. Somehow Luke and Noah's living room had become sacred space, where the only loud noises allowed were Alison going crazy on the drums, and Luke and Riley competing with each other. That sense seemed to follow them, as two weeks after, they decided that the video game versions of themselves were going to leap out of the screen and strangle them if they played another round. They instead opted to go out in public together to watch a movie.
Maddie called the fact that all returned home sans permanent bodily injury or property damage lawsuits "nothing short of a miracle".
"You figure out what it is yet?" Luke asked midway through the next week. He was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling and playing with a pillow.
"Figure out what now?" Noah was sitting on the floor leaning against the sofa, scribbling illegibly (to Luke's eyes) on a pad of paper.
"What's keeping our apartment from being flooded knee-deep in blood every Saturday night?"
Noah stopped writing and looked up, but not at Luke. "Maybe we're just…I don't know, growing up. Maturing."
"Or immaturing," Luke said, rolling over to get a better view of the box of video game equipment Casey now left at their apartment.
"Is that even a word?"
Noah's head was immediately assaulted with the pillow. "Shut up. We can't all be Mr. Smarty-Pants College Man."
"You could." Noah abandoned his Steno pad to push up off the floor and sit on the couch.
"You sure I haven't immatured too much for that?" Luke's hands reached out to grab Noah's shirt.
"You're thinking about doing it?"
"I don't really want to, but…how do you feel about housing foster kids?"
"Why?"
"Because I think I want to use the Foundation's money to start a foster group home. And if I go back to school, I'd want to go for social work. But if you don't want to do it then I'm hitting the classifieds. Someone else can have my education."
"A foster group home?"
"For kids who run away from home or…who are thrown out."
Noah was silent for a long time. "You know, ever since you told me about it…I've been jealous that you "got to be" adopted and I never did." Another silence. Luke's grip on Noah's shirt strengthened. "As long as we keep Saturday nights free."
Luke smiled, gentle but strong, and pulled Noah down to kiss him. "I can see you teaching a kid to play fake-bass."
"Can't see "Uncle Casey" giving up the guitar long enough to do the same," Noah half-laughed, initiating his own kiss. "So you see me in your life long enough to set up a foster group home with me? You sure a proposal isn't hiding in there somewhere?"
"Mm. It's hiding elsewhere. Can't get everyone else excited yet, after all. We won't have time for the big schmoopy wedding they'll want to throw us until we're out of school."
"You think that it…well, everything will be legal by then?"
"…Looks like the Foundation just took on a new project."
Any plans for said new project were put on hold in Luke's head for the moment; they were pre-empted by the actions of the future Mr. Snyder (Luke figured they'd be using his name).
It was amazing to Noah that almost-fiancés hosting a party for a fake band every Saturday was the most real thing he had ever experienced. Eighty percent of his life had seemed straight out of a nightmare, and the remaining twenty percent out of a dream. Scheduling sociology electives around film classes, handing checks to a landlord who still gave them funny looks but had the decency to wish them good morning, begging his boss for every Saturday night off and switching with a co-worker when she refused to outright grant the request just so he could always go back to Casey's, Maddie's, and his fingers aching both to put down the instrument and to play another song; Luke and Riley's breath condensing on and dampening the wire mesh of the microphones; Alison's hair flinging wildly as she really got into the game; sometimes Jade taking over vocals and Hunter fumbling his way through bass so he and Luke could steal a moment in the kitchen, ostensibly to restock food (once, from this vantage point, Noah thought he saw Casey talking Hunter through a song, and discovered what Luke had always known: the joys of smiling while kissing)…he couldn't help but hear Luke screaming "This is right!" at Winston in the police station two years ago.
On the last Saturday of the summer Noah went to Statesville Prison and told his father the same thing Luke had said, but quieter. He smiled while doing so; he remembered how his smile had never been important to Winston. Then he went home, to people who considered his happiness one of their priorities, and finally broke into the ninetieth percentile on Expert Mode (but only on one song).
Maddie was leaving early the next morning for Connecticut. Noah hugged her and kissed her cheek as she was preparing to leave. Luke did the same. Alison and the other boys hugged her, Riley a bit stiffly. The unthinkable happened, and Jade managed to offer her hand to Maddie. The handshake morphed into an awkward squeeze that made Luke grin like a madman. Jade even looked somewhat pleased when Maddie said she'd visit again during her Christmas break. (Hunter looked a bit more than pleased.)
"I'm going to invite Will and Gwen over for Christmas," Luke said after they had bid goodnight to the rest of their guests.
"Why?"
Luke held up the Steno pad with "Nothing Short of a Miracle (WT)" emblazoned across the top and Noah's smaller chicken-scratch decorating the rest of the page. "So you can write the sequel. "Rock Band Wars", maybe? Riley…excuse me, Matt abandons back-up for frontman status in a new band led by…let's name them Rachel and John, causing drama! Helena takes over and the fans hate it a la The Mamas and the Papas! How will the public react to that onstage kiss between Sean and Duncan? Throw in some stalker chick looking to break up Joe and Amy…ooh, she's masquerading as Kelly…and you've got yourself an Oscar. Maybe Alex protects them despite his seething hatred for Joe…"
"Gimme that." Noah snatched the ideas for his it's-coming-up-way-too-soon senior project. "It's dumb, okay? I know it's stupid, but it was the only thing on my mind…"
"Seriously? I love it." Luke wrapped his arms around Noah's neck and smiled up into his face. "And so will your eventual advisor, and Sundance, and…"
Noah cut him off with a kiss. "Let's not put the cart before the horse, okay?"
"Why not? A cart behind the horse gets its wheels covered in horseshit."
"Was that supposed to be profound?"
"I think so. I don't know; I couldn't fit "Inspirational Quotations 101" into my class schedule."
"Maybe next semester."
"You saying my mind's not good enough to come up with stirring quips on its own, Not-Quite-Mr. Snyder?"
Noah was truly beginning to relish the new nickname. "Yep. I think it immatured too much."
Luke stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend; Noah responded by sticking out his own and batting Luke's away. The two tongues dueled for a few seconds before moving on to more enjoyable (though only slightly so) activities.
So it's nothing huge, really. Just a weekly almost-quadruple date that had somehow called an armistice between not only the guests, but the offense of Noah's past against the defense of his present and future. The pain of memory is still out there—Noah was reminded of that every time a piece of mail addressed to "Mayer" was picked up from the mailbox downstairs—but the pain in his hand after a four-hour marathon is enough to blot that out, at least temporarily.
And Luke kissing his fingers is an excellent cure to both.