Chapter 2 – The Breakup

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All in all, Luke was proud of how wonderfully his plan had been executed. He'd already gossiped with Gran to get feedback from Bobby's side of things because he was more likely to be touchy feely with her rather than Luke. She seemed to think he had a good dance, and if Gran said things were okay, they were really cooking with gas now.

Luke spent Sunday thinking about how next to address the issue, and then the perfect opportunity to get things going manifested on Monday, when Reggie tried to make a fast retreat from rehearsal al la Alex and Luke hadn't let him. The singer intercepted Reggie on his way out the door, wrapping an arm around his waist and bodily carrying him back over to the couch while he squawked and flailed.

Bobby, in his wisdom, watched for all of a moment before deciding to leave them to it, because they all knew by this point that Luke and Reggie operated in strange ways.

"Luke," Reggie whined when Luke tossed him down onto the couch, the singer climbing into his lap so he could pull Reggie's backpack and jacket back off. "I um- I have homework-"

"Why are you all fidgety?" Luke asked, cutting straight to the point.

There was a normal amount of restless movement to be expected from Reggie, but that particular rehearsal had been even more rife with anxious weight shifting than ever before. Enough so that even Alex was pulled from his minor funk to give Reggie concerned looks.

Like, that still didn't make the blond stay after rehearsal, but Luke had considered it a minor victory nonetheless.

"I um- I'm not," Reggie babbled, sighing when Luke successfully tossed his jacket and backpack to the side. "I'm not at all- Luke."

He could complain about being crushed all he wanted, but that wasn't going to stop Luke from splaying out on top of the bassist. It was unfortunately the best way to guarantee Reggie wouldn't be able to wiggle away. Not that he'd want to. He was always down for full-body snuggles.

"Reggie," Luke huffed, nosing at the bassist's throat, watching the way it made his breath catch. "What are you overthinking about the dance?"

"Who said I was thinking about the dance?" Reggie asked, and the question might have been a little more believable if the words hadn't all come in a rush, his voice pithing up a few octaves at the very end until it almost cracked.

Luke lifted his head enough to give Reggie an unimpressed look.

The bassist whimpered. "I wasn't thinking about the dance," he muttered, his voice coming in a sigh. "But it did make me think about things."

"Reginald, my dude, I get it," Luke said, a weird sort of fluttery feeling building in his chest again. Reggie went all tense underneath him, but Luke ignored it. He was on a roll now. "You enjoyed your date with Bobbert."

"Um." Reggie paused. "…yes?"

"And you're worried," Luke continued. "Because Bobby and I are dating."

There was another beat. "Yes," Reggie said eventually, his tone strained. "That's- that's what I was thinking about."

Yeah, that was what Luke thought, and it was enough to send a wave of giddiness crashing over him.

"My dude, worry no more," Luke chirped, sitting up so he was straddling Reggie's waist, something that allowed their eyes to meet. "Because Bobby and I aren't really dating."

The response was understandably confused.

"Um- what?" Reggie asked, his head cocked to the side in a look of open bewilderment. "What do you mean? You guys just had your one-year anniversary."

"That's one year of fake dating, my friend," Luke said, practically preening. "Bobby and I have been putting on a show for his grandparents. It makes them happy and it lets me come over more often, so it was a win-win. So if you really want a shot at dating Bobby, well-" He motioned Reggie on. "Go for it."

Reggie still seemed confused. "If you're not really dating, why do you kiss him so much?"

"Because kissing is awesome?" Luke offered. "Reggie, focus on the big picture here – you could get an awesome boyfriend." Except Luke should probably talk to Bobby first, that would- yeah, communication was important. Bobby seemed a little slow at this romance stuff. "Hold on – I'll go break the news to him. Let him know you're interested."

"That um- that's not necessary," Reggie said, sitting up when Luke slid off the couch. "I mean- you're aren't- it was fake dating?"

"Wild, huh?" Luke said, shooting Reggie a wink over his shoulder before he practically skipped into the Wilson's kitchen. "Gran, you beautiful goddess, you," Luke greeted, earning an amused look from Bobby's grandmother. "May I borrow your youngest descendant?"

"By all means, Lucas," Gran hummed, letting Luke tug Bobby up to his bedroom with a bright grin.

For whatever reason, Bobby seemed a little stiff that day. Maybe he'd slept on the air mattress wrong or something, that could always be hit or miss. Luke almost winced in sympathy. To have that still bother him two days later must mean his back was real messed up.

"Bobbin, I have good news," Luke declared after he closed the door behind him. "Reggie's interested in you!"

Bobby stared at him for a moment, and it was at that point Luke realized that the other teen was waiting for him to elaborate.

"As in, he wants to date you," Luke offered. "Isn't that great?"

"No?" Bobby said, bringing Luke's train of blithe happiness to an abrupt halt. "Luke, I'm already dating you, I don't want-" He cut himself off with a shake of his head, exasperated. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not," Luke said, wondering where that question had come from. "But like, this is your shot at actually dating someone. I know what we have is comfortable, and like – don't think I won't miss kissing you, because I will – but you can't rely on our fake romance forever. You and Reggie deserve a shot at the real thing."

"Fake romance," Bobby echoed, somewhat numbly. "What- Luke, what are you talking about?"

"You and me," Luke said, trying to figure out where exactly he'd lost the other teen. "Our fake relationship. We can't hide behind it forever."

"You think our relationship is fake?" Bobby asked, which was what finally drew Luke to a halt, made him realize that maybe he and Bobby weren't as seamlessly in sync as he may have thought they were.

But like, it had to be fake dating. It had to be; Bobby would have had an actual conversation with him otherwise. No one started dating by owning up to a dare, that was stupid.

Luke had so many questions, but Bobby was already on his feet, already talking as he started to pace a nervous track up and down the length of his room. "Everything we've done- all the dates- our fucking anniversary – what, did you think that was all some kind of bizarre game? That we were just fucking around for the sake of it?"

"I mean, yeah," Luke said. "But-"

"Are youkiddingme?" Bobby snapped before Luke could elaborate that he realized that had been an incorrect assumption on his part. "I don't even know why I'm surprised, look who I'm talking to. Things were going so well, so fucking easily, of course there had to be something more to it, and this- this entire time, you- what, was I just a placeholder until you could find someone better?"

"No, man." Luke shook his head, wondering how Bobby could ever think that of him. "If anything, I figured you would be the one to-"

"And that's why you set me up with Reggie," Bobby continued like he hadn't heard Luke. "That's why you were talking about 'actual, solid romance' or whatever. Because what we have isn't real, it's a joke."

"I just- I just thought that, you know- you were in on it," Luke said, his heart beating a little too fast, his chest feeling tight, everything seeming too hot.

He didn't know why Bobby was so mad. The joke was kind of obvious. In what world would anyone look at Luke and Bobby and think 'damn, those guys are perfect for each other'. Like, if it had ever been real at all, there was no question that Bobby was just settling because he was a stud and Luke was a mess, a guy who could barely hold his grades together and hyper fixated on his music and didn't really understand personal boundaries all that well. Who would want to actually date that dude? Why would someone like Bobby want to actually date that dude? It didn't add up.

Luke tried to think of a way to explain that, but he'd never had to put it into words before. No one had ever made him, least of all Bobby, and Luke wasn't sure how to even begin articulating it when he tried so hard to focus on the positives all the time.

"Great," Bobby said, looking anywhere but Luke. "Well, now I am. Now I'm in on it, and you know what? We're done." Luke's heart felt like it stopped, stomach filling with ice before it dropped like a stone, but Bobby wasn't finished. "Our fake relationship is fake over. Now get the hell out of my house."

Luke lost a few moments to shock, because he'd seen mean Bobby before, but he hadn't been faced with it in years now, not when Luke had finally managed to get through the rhythm guitarist's prickly shell. It had been a hard but well-earned battle, and Luke had never regretted the effort it had taken to get to know the brooding new kid in the back of the classroom.

"I- fine," Luke said, trying to pick up the scattered pieces of himself. If this was how Bobby was going to act about what had been an honest misunderstanding, Luke didn't want to be with him anyway. "Just don't take this out on Reggie, he really likes you."

He left before Bobby could reply, and he wasn't hurt and he wasn't on the verge of tears and he wasn't angry because he didn't have anything to be angry about. They'd had a disagreement and now it was over and they were on the same page and that was good. That was great.

It was all downhill now.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Luke let his feet carry him after rehearsal, he didn't really keep track of where he might be going. Distantly, he knew he'd have to go back to the garage at some point to get his backpack and his bike but he couldn't stand the prospect of being near Bobby at this moment so he wandered instead, doing his best not to be mad.

Good things were happening. Great things, even. Reggie was going to get a boyfriend, someone Luke already knew would be good for him. That was great. And honestly, he shouldn't be so upset. He'd actually been really surprised by how little Bobby had been mad at him lately. It used to be Luke would set him off all the time. Guess fake-not-fake dating him had granted Luke more leniency with the rhythm guitarist or something. He should have sensed something was up from that alone, but no, he'd thought it was all part of the game.

There were more bright sides to this. For one, Luke could definitely write a song about it. They didn't have an angsty breakup song or anything in their repertoire because that wasn't the kind of sound Luke was really looking for, but if he could focus on the positives – he didn't know, maybe there was a 'brightest sun comes after the darkest night' sort of inspirational song he could throw together. That felt doable.

And Bobby would cool off um- eventually. Luke would just have to try avoiding him for now, but that also meant avoiding Reggie so he could get his wooing on, and with Alex avoiding all of them as a collective unit, that left Luke with limited options. Looked like he was going to be chilling at Julie's for the foreseeable future, but that was okay. Maybe Julie could help him with his new song, and if not, Carlos was always down to play video games. There were options. Now if only-

"Dude!"

That was all the warning Luke got before someone more or less collided with his back, their momentum so great it sent both of them sprawling to the ground in a graceless tangle of limbs.

"What the fuck?" Luke groused, turning to get a better look at the jackass who'd barged into him, and coming face to face with that hot skater dude that Flynn had a crush on in middle school before she figured out she was super gay.

"Sorry," hot skater dude offered with a grin so charming Luke actually couldn't be mad at him, and then he definitely checked Luke out, which made him so endearing Luke knew he wanted to keep him forever. Just- flattery got you everything. "I mean, maybe not entirely sorry though. Looks like I fell for you."

He finished this with a wag of his brows so exaggerated Luke couldn't help but start laughing, and then the guy was laughing, and they were tangled in a heap on the sidewalk but it didn't actually matter – there had definitely been worse first meetings. Like when Luke met Carrie? Just- ugh, best not to think of it.

"Damn right, you did," Luke said, shooting skater guy a wink as he properly settled onto his back, the other guy looming over him. "I've decided to forgive you."

"And I've decided to ask you on a date," skater guy said, and like- wow, that was swag, that was super swag, Luke wasn't actually sure why this guy was a loner at all. "Assuming you're interested."

"I'm super interested," Luke decided, because he hadn't ever been asked on a proper date before, at least, not one without Bobby. "And as it so happens, I just broke up with someone, so I'm available too."

"What I'm hearing is I get to be the messy rebound," skater guy said, finally rising and offering Luke a hand up.

"I mean- assuming you're cool with it," Luke said getting excited by the possibility. He wouldn't have to bother Julie if he was having a rebound relationship with hot skater dude. "I'm pretty good at making out?"

"That's good enough for me," the guy said, giving Luke a lopsided grin.

He had a pride pin attached to the collar of his tie-dye hoody, beaten vans and shorts that emphasized some impressive thigh muscles. This was a guy who did not skip leg day.

"I'm Luke," the brunette offered, sticking his hand out once more.

"Willie," the skater murmured, grabbing the proffered hand and pressing a kiss to Luke's knuckles, giving Luke another bright wink. "I look forward to being your distraction."

"You're distracting my pants right now," Luke said. And then- "Wait, I can do better than that."

"No, no, I'm already sold," Willie assured him. "C'mon – milkshakes and pants distractions sound good?"

"Sounds fucking dandy," Luke said, even though he hadn't had dinner or anything. He was pretty sure if Julie or Alex were here they'd be appalled, mostly because Luke was going out with someone he'd literally just met, without texting any of them any kind of emergency information in case he went missing, but-

But Luke hadn't thought about Bobby once since Willie had showed up, and that was more than enough for Luke to throw himself five thousand percent into this.

-:-:-:-:-:-

It turned out, Willie was hilarious. He loved flirting as much as Luke did, didn't think much of sitting on the same side of the booth as him so they could play footsy and cuddle while sharing their milkshake because if they were going to obnoxiously rebound date, they wanted to do it right. It turned out, Willie loved shredding on his skateboard, came from a single-parent household where his dad was extremely busy all the time, and loved the same flavor of trashy reality television as Luke. He wasn't as well-versed in music, but he knew enough to keep up, and Luke was pretty sure he couldn't have dreamed of a better distraction.

They ended up making out on a park bench near where they'd met, the two of them exchanging numbers when things started getting dark because they both had to ride to their respective homes.

"What a good day it is to be me," Willie had said before kissing the tip of Luke's nose, which was just like, so stupid he couldn't help but laugh and reciprocate, the two of them taking a commemorative selfie before they went their separate ways. Even if nothing else ever came of it, Luke had a pretty nice evening, and he held onto that.

Was Luke worried about school the next day? No, he refused to be. He didn't have time for it. Working hard to manifest his dream of being a rockstar had conditioned Luke into a certain mindset that protected him from the worst of his parents' criticisms, that kept him going when gigs didn't pan out or were canceled or it felt like they couldn't get any traction. Luke applied it to most areas of his life as a matter of necessity, and that included school, friendships, and anything he couldn't really control.

So he was totally fine when he went to school, and when he found Bobby lingering near the entrance he always used, Luke definitely didn't feel a nervous sort of flutter in the pit of his stomach, and if he did, it was probably because he forgot to eat breakfast again.

"Hey," Bobby said, head ducked and shoulders hunched and looking the epitome of awkward. "I'm um- sorry for yelling at you yesterday."

"That's- it's cool, bro," Luke said, and he was pretty sure it wasn't a lie because he didn't really think that hard about it, and if he didn't think that hard about it, then there was no way of saying it was false one way or the other. "You were upset."

Luke still didn't really get where Bobby's head was at. He'd thought they'd been really dating and he was mad that they weren't, or really, he was mad that Luke was just fucking around like he always was. Maybe Bobby had thought that this thing, as strange as it was, showed that Luke could be dedicated to something other than music, and that had made him happy. Like, there was no question that Bobby's presence was definitely a good influence on him – maybe Bobby mourned the end of that.

Luke cleared his throat, trying to move on before he had to think too much. "Anyway, we can just tell everyone it was mutual. No muss, no fuss."

"We could," Bobby allowed. "But-"

"I even met someone else," Luke continued, because he didn't want to hear Bobby say something like 'but they deserve to know I dumped your dumb ass', and he couldn't if Luke just kept talking. Luke was great at talking. "So it works out. Now Reggie won't feel bad, and you don't have to either."

Not that he thought Bobby would, not that he should imply that Bobby might, just- ugh, this was way too much thinking. Luke hated it.

"See you at lunch, bud," Luke chirped, clapping Bobby's arm before he moved on with his life.

His chest hurt a little bit, sort of like he had indigestion, but Luke was pretty sure that was just the whole 'allergic to feelings' thing coming into play. Carrie insisted she couldn't do heart to hearts all the time, and Luke was a little bit like her when things got uncertain. Life was hard enough as it was, there was no need to overthink things.

Cool? Cool. It was all cool.

He distracted himself by texting dumb shit to Willie on and off throughout the school day, and by the time he got to lunch, Luke was pretty much walking on sunshine.

"Um," Nick said, shifting a pinched look between Luke and Bobby, who had mostly taken their usual positions, except Luke had more or less forced Reggie to sit between them because the bassist was acting all shy for some reason. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're great!" Luke chirped, which would maybe look better if Bobby didn't look like he'd spent the past hour sucking on lemons. His pre-calc quiz must have been harder than he'd anticipated. "Thank you for asking."

"No offense, but you guys don't look great," Nick pointed out as the girls settled into their usual positions. Now that Luke actually looked them over, neither Alex, Bobby, or Reggie looked particularly chipper – all of them seeming preoccupied or, in Reggie's case, worried.

Aw damn, Luke must have missed something.

Carrie was speaking up before he could ask about it though. "Why aren't you sitting by your boyfriend?" she asked Luke, making at least two people tense.

Luke wasn't even one of them. It was so weird.

"He's not my boyfriend anymore," Luke said, making everyone else tense. It made him wonder when his love life had gotten so interesting. "We broke up yesterday. But it's all good, we were mature about it." That was actually something that bordered on a lie, but Bobby wasn't saying anything, too busy hunching in on himself, which meant Luke got to control the narrative. "On the bright side, I found someone to be my messy rebound – we're both very excited about it."

No one said anything for a long moment. Like, too long. Luke got in like, three bites of his sandwich, it was that long.

Then Alex was speaking up. "What? What are you even talking about? Why would you- you guys just had your anniversary."

"And it was good," Luke agreed. "But we decided to move on. So-" He made a vague waving gesture towards himself. "Rebound."

Across the table, Carrie was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Who the hell did you convince to be your rebound date?"

Luke fired off a set of finger guns towards Flynn. "His name's Willie."

There was another pause.

"You asked another dude out?" Flynn asked, seeming confused.

"Actually, he asked me out after he ran me over, but like- details," Luke said, waving them off. "He's a very good kisser."

"Oh my god," Flynn groaned, hiding her face against Carrie's shoulder.

"What is going on?" Alex asked, like he hadn't heard the past three minutes of conversation.

Bobby, ever the helpful human, didn't say anything at all.

Luke was considering how best to answer this question when Reggie cleared his throat. "Hey, um- I need- we should go to the bathroom," Reggie said, and then he was dragging Luke away, demonstrating the surprising amount of strength he had for such a small guy. It wasn't until they were safely in the bathroom that Reggie rounded on him. "Dude, did you- you didn't break up with Bobby because of me, did you?"

"No dude," Luke said, getting that dumb feeling in his chest again. He really hated it. "I told you, it was all fake. We are now for real moving on."

"Just- Bobby seems upset," Reggie said, tugging at his sleeve.

"I mean, he's a little annoyed," Luke undersold by a very large margin, but what Reggie didn't know wouldn't kill him. "Because he's down a makeout buddy, but that's all temporary, right?" Luke shot him a wink. "Soon you'll be back in his arms again, tout suite."

"Luke…" Reggie sighed. "I don't think Bobby likes me like that."

"What? Of course he does, I asked him," Luke said, because he'd been sure to do that first – somewhere in the mess of everything else. When it came to his friends he didn't like messing up, which was what made this whole fake relationship thing all the more frustrating. "Reg, you just gotta believe in yourself. You had a good time, right?"

Man, if he hadn't- Luke wasn't actually sure what he would do. It seemed like he'd fucked everything up, and he'd hate to have done that for nothing.

"I did," Reggie said. "It's just- he asked you first."

"I was convenient." It was true, Luke was just about always around Bobby's house, but so was Reggie. It wouldn't be hard for Reggie to step into Luke's old shoes. If anything, Luke was getting Bobby an upgrade. Bobby should thank him.

He probably wouldn't though.

"But you're you," Luke continued. "And that beats out just about anything else, I think."

Reggie paused for a moment, a bashful flush spilling across the bridge of his nose. "Luke," he began quietly, his hands fidgeting against his sides. "I-"

"Out of the way," some random jock asshole huffed as he pushed through the bathroom, the weirdo making a beeline for the urinals because apparently he'd been holding it or whatever.

Luke rolled his eyes at his antics, then turned his attention back to Reggie. "Yeah?"

"Just- nothing," Reggie sighed before the two of them moved on.

By the time they got back to the table, Bobby and Carrie were missing and everyone else was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Did we miss anything exciting?" Luke asked as he settled in, giving Alex a careful once over. He was biting at his bottom lip, playing with the wrap his mom had packed him more than he was actually eating it.

"Luke," Flynn began, sounding tired. "You're a damn idiot."

Luke didn't flinch because it was something he already knew, something his dad already told him on the regular, and that didn't change the fact that he was on occasion quite very much awesome.

"Be nice, Flynn," Julie murmured, but she looked exhausted too, and Luke… part of him wished he could go back in time and undo the whole fake dating thing. He couldn't even say he regretted it though, because he was happy he'd had it, he was glad he'd gotten in that experience because he never would have managed anything that nice or actually meaningful on his own. As it was, Willie was only playing along with him for the laughs.

But that was life.

One day, their band was going to be famous and Luke wouldn't have to worry about high school drama because he could sit back and watch his most favorite people be happy and content and celebrated, and in the end, that was really all Luke cared about. It was all he needed.

Everything else was superfluous.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Bobby canceled their next three band rehearsal for reasons that seemed entirely unnecessary, and while Luke was normally one to object to such things because music was going to be his career and he would treat it as such, he understood the rhythm guitarist needed some time to reorient himself as a single dude pursuing an actual relationship, so Luke let him have this retreat without complaining too much.

It did, however, raise the minor problem of Reggie. They didn't talk about it, but the studio was a safe escape for Reggie from the trials of his home. He never went into detail about what his home life was like, nor did they ever ask him, but even Luke could tell it wasn't great. No rehearsals meant no peace and secure spaces for Reggie, which would never do.

Ideally, this would be the perfect opportunity for Bobby and Reggie to hang out and get their romantic jive on, but Luke was pretty sure Bobby would need his three days to disengage from all his usual fake-couple habits with Luke before he was ready to move on. It was mature of him to take that time to himself, but it still presented a problem. And with Alex being all flighty and weird- and now sort of twitchy and weird, the blond didn't seem like a viable solution.

Still, Luke tried, because Luke would forever and always be a fixer.

He had to sprint from his last class to intercept Alex before he could get into his car, Luke more or less tackling him and pinning him against the beige monstrosity in a tight hug.

"Alex," Luke said, ignoring the blond's startled squawk. "Is it cool if Reggie chills with you for the next few days?"

"I'm busy, Luke," Alex insisted, the same way he always had once he started pulling away from them. "I have family stuff, remember? I don't have time to- I mean, it's not that I don't want to, and-" He shook his head, still trying to squirm out of Luke's hold. "Why don't you just take him to your house? You got a date with Willie or something?"

The last question was asked in a sort of odd tone, but Luke ignored it. That could very well be from how tightly Luke was holding onto Alex. He had to though, the guy was too good at getting away otherwise. It was his gangly limbs.

"I do, actually," Luke said, because even if it was sort of thrown together at the last minute, it was still the rough shambles of a plan. It was their rough shambles of a plan.

"I don't know what to tell you," Alex said, looking anywhere but Luke. "But also, did you have to move on from Bobby so quickly?"

"Technically, no," Luke allowed, his chest getting all tight again. "I just wanted him to get a shot at something real, you know?"

"And he couldn't have that with you?" Alex asked, and that was when he pinned his gaze to Luke, their eyes locking with such severity it left Luke breathless. The brunette hadn't realized how much Alex had been avoiding his gaze lately until that happened, and now that he was presented with the sheer intensity of it, he wasn't sure what to do, let alone how to answer the question.

So Luke detached, gave himself tunnel vision and distanced himself from his emotions, because that was how he survived under the weight of his parents' judgements.

"You know we couldn't," Luke huffed, reluctantly detaching himself when he realized this would get him nowhere.

He'd been hopeful that Alex would get over himself for Reggie's sake, but maybe that wasn't fair. Julie had said that Alex's issues could be way more complicated than they knew, that they could have nothing to do with the band at all, and when he was ready to share the burden of them, he would. They couldn't push him, no matter how much Luke wanted to.

"Just- good luck with your family stuff, dude," Luke said, deciding to move on before he could alienate yet another one of his friends.

Alex's shoulders tensed. "I could always drop him off at the studio. I'm sure Bobby wouldn't mind him just chilling or something."

"No, I've got this – you go do your stuff," Luke dismissed.

Whatever Alex was going through, he needed to focus on that. Luke could handle Reggie. Besides, it was kind of shitty of him to blow off his bro for the sake of a date. And not even like, a super serious date.

Wow, he really was fucking up left and right today. He shouldn't have had that conversation with Alex at all. The blond working through his issues didn't deserve to be interrupted for Luke's frivolous benefit. It was kind of shitty that he'd even asked.

He definitely needed to reevaluate. He got his phone out to do as much as he went to hunt down Reggie, knowing that he needed to track down the bassist before he could carpool home with Bobby. He was halfway through a text to Willie when the man himself strolled up beside him, throwing a companionable arm around Luke's shoulder.

"Looking good, sugar bear," Willie hummed, planting a kiss against Luke's shoulder. "You messaging me?"

"Yeah," Luke sighed. "Sorry, but I um- I have to cancel. My friend- well, we try to keep him out of his house as much as possible, but we had to cancel band rehearsal so I'm just gonna hide him out at my house for the night."

Willie pressed his lips together with a contemplative look, his eyes narrowing in thought. "What I'm hearing is that we can start our date much earlier than before," he noted. "And also, you can totally just bring him with us."

Luke paused, because the thought had genuinely not occurred to him. "You wouldn't mind?"

"No, dude," Willie laughed, his eyes sort of crinkling up. "I've seen your friends and they're all hot. Whichever one you want to tag along with us definitely won't be a burden." He shot Luke a wink. "I'll even pay."

"Dude, it's my friend," Luke protested, but he was smiling. "I'll pay for him."

"Nope, I insist," Willie hummed. "And since it was my idea, you have to go along with it."

"Well damn." Luke grinned. "If I must."

They managed to intercept Reggie before he even made it to the parking lot, the bassist likely held back by his eighth period teacher and looking anxious, probably because of their canceled band rehearsal.

"Is Bobby gonna give you a ride home?" Luke asked, cutting straight to the point. Willie waited for them outside the building, letting Luke take charge, which was probably for the best since Reggie was a bit jumpy.

"I- yeah," Reggie tried not to sigh. He always downplayed his problems, which was just another annoying habit of Luke's friends.

"Text him to let him know I've got you covered," Luke said, draping his arm around Reggie's shoulders. "I mean, eventually. I'll get you home eventually."

Or not at all. Luke was already making plans for Reggie to sleep over at his place. As long as he spun it as a study thing (and they actually did study in the living room, where his parents could see them and track their progress and know they weren't goofing off), it would probably be allowed.

Immediately, Reggie was perking up. "I can come hang out at your place?"

"Eventually," Luke said, leading Reggie outside the building, where Willie was waiting. "But first, we have a date."

Reggie paused, drawing to a halt when he noticed Willie lingering nearby. "I uh… wouldn't want to intrude."

"It's cool, hot stuff," Willie said, shooting Reggie a wink. "It was my idea."

"No real flirting with Reggie," Luke informed Willie, wrapping his arms around the bassist and drawing him close. "He and Bobby are going to have an epic romance together."

"Honey pot, I'm wounded," Willie said, pressing a hand to his chest. "I already agreed to a messy rebound relationship with you. I take my messy relationships seriously."

"It's so good to find a gentleman with honor nowadays," Luke sniffed, pretending to be touched, and then he was guiding Reggie on, slipping a hand into the bassist's when Reggie didn't move right away.

Willie, because he was a fortunate human being, had a car, so he was the one to drive them down to a familiar diner for an early dinner. They claimed a rounded booth that allowed all three of them to sit next to each other, Luke keeping in the middle with one arm companionably wrapped around Reggie's shoulders since he seemed a little skittish. Reggie was always that way around new people though, so Luke did his best to compensate – squeezing his arm and nuzzling his cheek and occasionally combing his hand through the bassist's dark hair.

If Willie was bothered by it, he didn't say anything, happy to trade easy small talk that slowly but surely coaxed Reggie into the conversation. It helped when they started talking about the Mandalorian, which was something they could all agree was awesome.

"I could see you being a kickass Mando," Willie mused as he levered a chili cheese fry in Reggie's direction, giving it an affectionate wag before he popped it into Luke's waiting mouth. "Be a shame to cover your cute face though."

"It most certainly would," Luke agreed, preening because Reggie was the cutest, because each member of Sunset Curve were studs in their own right – Reggie being cute and slight and Alex being all handsome and rugged and Bobby being all tall, dark, and mysterious.

They ended the meal by splitting a sundae, both Willie and Luke insisting that Reggie take the cherry on top because Luke had already told Willie that was the bassist's favorite part.

"This is your date," Reggie groaned, trying to sink into the seat again, like he was going to make a determined effort to slide under the table.

"Trust me," Willie hummed, his foot running careful patterns up the length of Luke's calf. "This date is going exactly how I want it to."

"Aw, baby," Luke preened, leaning over to share an obnoxious, chocolate sweetened kiss with Willie. His lips tasted like ice cream and caramel sauce, and Luke would have gotten a little more into it were Reggie not still very much tucked under his arm.

As it was, he decided to be a gentleman and show some restraint.

"Let me walk you fellahs home," Willie said, laughing at his own joke before he drove both of them to Luke's house. To his credit, he did walk them to the door, trading another kiss with Luke that was just as delightful as the last few. "How long are your rehearsals canceled for?"

"Until Wednesday," Luke said, and he could see Willie connect the dots, the skater realizing that Luke would need to keep Reggie with him until then.

"Then I'll take you guys to the arcade tomorrow," Willie decided, shooting them another wink. "See you, Skywalker. Mando."

"Back at ya, Wilbert," Luke said, laughing when Willie lazily shot him a middle finger before climbing in his car and cruising on with his life.

Reggie fidgeted from his spot beside Luke, twisting his fingers together. "He doesn't mind?"

"Trust me when I say Willie isn't a dude who does something he's not interested in," Luke said, ushering Reggie inside. He was going with the 'ask for forgiveness rather than permission' route when it came to Reggie sleepovers. Besides, he was already there. "Now, come on. If we finish up all our homework, my mom will let us have brownies."

"We just had ice cream."

"But she doesn't know that," Luke hummed, grabbing Reggie's hand when he lingered and tugging him on.

His mom wouldn't be happy about the whole already-eating-dinner thing, and even less happy about a sleepover on a school night, but since Luke was already a perpetual wealth of disappointment with her, he tried not to worry about it too much, focusing on Reggie instead. He'd seemed a little flushed the entire afternoon, maybe he was beginning to come down with something. Luke would have to keep an eye on it.

But Luke could manage that. For Reggie, he would.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

I'll admit, this story pushes the boundaries of catastrophic miscommunication even for me. Like, this obviously didn't stop me from writing it, but I wanted it known that I am aware of this fact, lol.

Story notes:

'Flattery gets your everything' is definitely a reference from the Team Starkid musical 'Starship', which I recommend for anyone who enjoys comedic scifi musicals.

Until next time :)