Title from "The Girl" by The City and Colour
Chapter title from "Happy Accidents" by Saint Motel

A series based on tumblr kiss prompts

Kiss Prompt: A gentle kiss that quickly descends into passion, with little regard for what's going on around them

"LUKE."

From her spot curled up on the rehearsal studio floor, Julie glances up in time to see Alex slap her boyfriend on the arm. Her boyfriend who is unabashedly staring at her instead of playing his guitar. Under the full volume of his adoring gaze, she can't keep the grin from slipping onto her face, and as soon as she smiles, he bursts into a giant beam, which only makes her smile bigger and then his smile grows and—

"Is this a rehearsal or the middle school cafeteria?" Bobby grumbles.

"Middle school cafeteria?" Julie asks, bemused.

"Bobby did his best flirting in the cafeteria," Reggie explains. "I say 'best': it was middle school, so he basically just smiled a lot and threw a bunch of 'do u want to go out with me' notes as paper airplanes."

"Hey, those notes got me at least three dates."

"Out of, like, two hundred," Alex points out.

"I stand by my methods."

Julie chuckles and glances back at Luke. Whose eyes are still very much focused on her. That blissful smile works its way back onto her face and—

Alex groans. "Do I need to pour water on you two?"

"Sure," Luke replies absently.

"Not near the amps!" Reggie squeals.

"Okay, you know what?" Alex gestures pointedly at the studio door. "I am going on a coffee run. Bobby, Reggie, do you want to join?"

"But you said I'm not allowed to drink coffee anymore because it makes me 'a bit much,'" Reggie tries to point out. Bobby rolls his eyes and elbows the bassist. Then it clicks. "OH. 'Coffee run.' Riiiiight."

Alex studies the ceiling for a second, like he's searching for rational people in the studio and coming up empty, and then marches out with Reggie and Bobby at his heels.

As soon as they disappear, Luke all but jumps across the studio towards Julie. She tries to put on her best approximation of a responsible grown-up voice. "You have got to stop staring at me and focus."

He lets out an exasperated groan as he flops onto his back and rests his head in her lap. "How can I? You're here."

"It's literally your job."

But he continues on like she didn't speak. "And you're wearing my clothes."

She snuggles her shoulders further into his denim trenchcoat. "It's cold in here." Sure. It's definitely the mild A/C. Definitely not that she loves being able to tuck her nose in the collar and fill her lungs with his familiar scent. Definitely not that every time she breathes in that indefinable Luke smell, she has sappy thoughts like "This is what home smells like."

Capturing a stray curl, he twists it up around his finger. "Can we go home now?"

"You've been here for, like, two hours. Come on, you need to focus. This is cute, but it's very unprofessional."

He pouts up at her. "When have I ever claimed to be professional?"

"It's one of the first things I remember you saying to me."

He kisses the hair around his finger and releases the curl, gazing up at her with such soft joy that her heart beats a little faster. Or maybe it's his heart beating into their bond. She can't tell the difference sometimes. "Should I go home?" she asks gently, trying to ignore the immediately disapproving shriveling sensation in both her heart and the bond.

"Nah, if you leave, I'm gonna be just as distracted. Can't I just take, like, two months off? C'mon, seven years of pining—I deserve two months of non-stop basking."

"After you finish the Sunset Curve album."

He pouts again. "No fair. That's gonna be ages away."

She wants to keep lecturing him, but… as much as he's being absurd and over the top, she feels it too. Their journey happened as it was meant to, and she doesn't regret a moment of it, but she can't stop her mind from lingering on all the other periods in their lives when they would have had more time to revel in the new relationship. Running her fingers through his hair, she scratches against his scalp, and a smile purrs its way across his lips. "If you don't start paying attention in class, your dads won't let me come over anymore," she teases.

"Can I at least have a kiss?"

Rolling her eyes, she leans down to drop a gentle peck on his lips. But once she's there, with his already familiar lips eagerly greeting hers, she can't stop with just one. She tries to deepen the kiss, but her neck is bent awkwardly from this angle. As if reading her discomfort, he immediately flips himself around without separating their mouths, coming to kneeling in front of her. He cups her chin with one hand and teases her lips apart, the fingers of his other hand coming up to trace along the parts of her neck that he's already learned are the most sensitive. She sighs into his mouth, and for a moment his lips lose the rhythm of the kiss as they twitch into what she suspects is a smirk. His free hand slides under his trenchcoat and around her waist, tugging her in closer to him, and the bond lets out a sparkling vibration like a throat warbling out a high note. She pulls her mouth from his and starts to work her way intently across his cheek, reaching for the spot behind his jaw that she now knows is—

Luke jolts away suddenly, water spots speckling his clothes. "What the fuck?"

Alex stands over them, holding his water bottle up like he's brandishing a sword. "Don't test me."

"The amps!" Reggie cries again, shuddering with the well-earned fear of his own lifetime of bad decision-making.

"If the amps get damaged, Luke will pay for it. Now can we please rehearse?"

Luke looks back at her, not nearly as sheepish as she suspects they probably should be. Holding up his pinky, he asks, "If I finish the album, two months?"

"Two months," she agrees, and links her pinky with his.

He instantly pops to his feet. "Alright boys, let's do this thing."