Chapter 6 – Epilogue

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If planning for Homecoming had been difficult, planning for Prom was a level of wowzah for which Luke was distinctly unqualified. As such, he left matters to the responsible, opinionated people of the group – the ladies and Alex, with Willie occasionally chiming in with shy offers that were well-intended but ultimately shut down.

"No, Willie," Carrie huffed, her hands braced against her hips. "I know you're trying to sell paying for all of us to have a super fancy dinner as spiting your dad, but we do not keep you around for your money, we keep you around because we like you, and we're going to go to a restaurant where we can all pay our own way."

"You can pay for Reggie, though," Luke hummed, pressing a kiss against Willie's flushed cheek and feeling grateful that the bassist was currently occupied with Bobby up in his bedroom. They were supposed to be looking for a flash drive Bobby had forgotten, but Luke was about fifty percent sure that Reggie had convinced Bobby to make out with him on his bed since they were taking such a long time.

Luke wasn't surprised by any means. Once Reggie had gotten over the idea that Bobby didn't like him, the bassist was more than happy to seek him out for affection, discovering the fact everyone else already knew – that Reggie had Bobby perfectly wrapped around his little finger. Thankfully, this was a super power he used for the forces of good – or at least, for makeouts.

"Say your dad has a gift card or something," Luke continued. "It'll be cool."

"Always looking out for us," Willie murmured, turning so he could coax Luke into a proper kiss.

Which, as always, was pretty nice – though slightly less nice when Flynn started throwing crumpled paper balls at them.

"No distractions, Patterson," Flynn huffed. "We need Wilbert to help us find the best restaurant packages. Just like- go check on how Julie and Alex are doing with the rental properties in the kitchen. They're going to get overwhelmed without someone to keep them calm."

"Isn't Nick supposed to be doing that?" Luke asked, reluctant to pull away from his boyfriend.

Granted, it wasn't like he was afraid of leaving Willie alone with Flynn and Carrie – not anymore. They'd only kept their new and improved relationship with Willie a secret for a couple of weeks before sharing the development with the rest of their friends, and yeah, they had been angry at first, thinking Willie was playing the long con or something. It had led to Sunset Curve splitting apart from the rest of their friends for a bit, something that left Willie endlessly apologetic, but none of them would hear it. They'd gladly fight off any assholes that tried to say anything against Willie associating with them at school, and that included their friends.

It had taken several months and carefully planned get togethers for the others to see what Luke did, and then Willie was welcomed with opened arms.

"It's a relief," Willie had admitted during a sleepover one time, the two of them the only people left awake. "I was just some kid Caleb adopted for the sake of publicity, but then I was just shoved off on nannies for most of my childhood. The only reason I'm not in boarding school is because he's never home anyway. I mostly look after myself, but despite that, everyone always thinks I'm just like him, and… I dunno, I got used to being alone."

"No more," Luke pledged, leaning forward to give Willie a gentle kiss. "You're going to have so much company you'll get sick from it."

"Pretty sure that's not possible," Willie had whispered back, his voice full of awe. "But I appreciate the attempt."

Flynn waved a distracted hand, dragging Luke back to the present. "Nick went on a snack run," she explained. "His girlfriend was craving a very specific smoothie, so he's out getting treats for all of us and yes," she said, looking at Willie. "You could have joined him but we all voted that you shouldn't because it's way funnier to make Nick pay for everything."

"He literally never complains," Luke pointed out with a confused furrow of his brows.

"That doesn't make it less funny," Flynn replied, and Luke couldn't really argue that.

"In that case, I'll go check on our boos," Luke declared, turning to give Willie one last kiss before he exited the studio.

He came into the kitchen to find Alex tugging at his hair, an anxious habit he only indulged in when he was really overwhelmed.

"Rental prospects that bad?" Luke asked, looking around for Julie. Ah, she was on her phone in the living room, likely talking to one of the property managers.

"Not bad," Alex said, his gaze fixed to his laptop. "Just- there's a lot of options, but finding something in a reasonable price range on prom weekend is so stressful that-" He cut off with a blink when Luke dragged his chair away from the table, but then Luke was settling himself in Alex's lap, facing the blond with a smirk. "Luke," Alex groaned. "Not that I'm unhappy for snuggles- I love snuggles-"

"It's going to be okay, Alex," Luke informed him, bracing his hands against Alex's shoulders. "It will be okay because even if we don't get a beach house or whatever, we can just crash at Carrie's place. Or we can crash in the studio. Or we can crash in the Molina's garage. Will that cut down on the potential for sex shenanigans? Sure, but- you know…" He dropped his voice. "We can always do that at Willie's place. He's got the bed for it."

"That… is a nice bed," Alex mumbled, his cheeks flushing dark. "But this is supposed to be special-"

"Dude, it is special," Luke interrupted. "We're the first poly relationship going to prom like, ever. But more than that, we'll be together, so…" He made a vague gesture with his hand. "Specialness is inherently confirmed."

"Lucas," Ales murmured, his hands curling around Luke's hips, nudging him close. "You really are the sweetest."

Luke tried to hide his flush behind a scoff, ducking his head. "Pretty sure that's Bobbert or Willie."

"Nope, that's you," Alex hummed, leaning forward to claim Luke's lips in a kiss. "That's you, being so affectionate and open with your love that you led the way to a revolution. I mean – you started all this because you wanted Reggie to have something nice." Alex's mouth pulled wide in a fond smile. "You think it doesn't count, but it does. It counts so fucking much, Luke."

"Alexander," Luke murmured, his heart fluttering under Alex's sweet wordage despite the fact that he'd heard it before. It always hit him like it was the first time. "Busting out the adult language for me."

"For you?" Alex replied. "Gladly."

With that, he leaned forward, pulling Luke into another, lovely kiss – one hand sneaking under the hem of Luke's shirt-

"Hey, no," Julie huffed, startling them apart. "Nope. If I can't make out with my boyfriend during planning meetings, you can't either."

Luke pouted. "But-"

"Nope," Julie repeated, her voice firm. "Now get off Alex's lap and help us narrow down options. If you're good, you can have a smoothie."

"I'm always good," Luke protested, but he slid off Alex's lap accordingly.

"Yeah," Alex laughed, carding a gentle hand through Luke's hair. "You really are."

"Way to feed into his ego," Julie muttered, but a smile tugged at her lips anyway because she agreed with him, because she loved all of them – loved and embraced them because Luke wasn't a flake and he wasn't a joke.

He was wanted, and that mattered.

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Endnotes:

And that was all she wrote ;)