Sleep deprivation (and magic carpets)

Julie leaned her head against the piano top, trailing her fingers across the keys. The melody echoed around the studio, harmonizing and clashing with the notes and chords and beats Luke, Reggie and Alex were playing, all together creating soothing waves of sound. It had started out as a band rehearsal, but had soon disassembled - everyone too tired to stay focused but too awake to go to bed.

How long they sat there, absentmindedly plucking at their instruments Julie didn't know, but eventually Reggie put his bass back on the stand. With a yawn he walked towards her, dramatically sprawling out on the black-and-white carpet next to the piano (they'd found it in the attic only a few days ago and had all agreed it looked "rad enough" to put in the studio).

"Um, Reg, what're you doing?" Alex asked, sceptically eyeing his bandmate currently with a face full of carpet.

Reggie rolled over on his back, arms flailing as he did. "I don't know, it looked comfy." He grinned. "I was right."

"Dude, it's not even an inch thick," Luke pointed out. "How can it possibly be comfy?"

A shrug. "Magic carpet?"

Julie turned away to hide her smile.

"That's not how magic carpets work," Alex said, nearly poking his eye out with a drumstick as he tried to cover his own yawn. "Magic carpets fly."

"Well, we were wrong about the ghost thing, so who's to say the flying thing isn't wrong? Maybe real magic carpets are just extra soft, normal carpets."

Luke put his guitar down, pouting ("I don't pout!" Julie remembered him saying when they'd pointed it out to him, before doing that very thing). "Don't you dare ruin Aladdin for me."

"Or maybe it's both," Reggie quickly placated. "Both soft and able to fly."

Shaking her head in amusement, Julie stood up. In a few steps she'd crossed the distance and flopped down next to Reggie with a contented sigh.

Never mind that it probably wasn't about the carpet itself but rather just the notion of lying down: it was comfortable. Really comfortable, actually.

She sighed contentedly. "This carpet's totally comfy."

When she said as much, Reggie let out a gleeful "Told ya!" and shuffled over, his shoulder brushing hers. "And you know Julie's always right!"

Julie wasn't quite sure that was true, but smiled and played along anyway. "Yup. And I've decided this is a magic carpet."

Making a triumphant noise, Reggie raised her hand and moved it to high-five his own. It looked so ridiculous that they both giggled.

Meanwhile Alex was watching their antics fondly, arms resting on his snare drum, but Luke only rolled his eyes. Spinning dramatically around on the stool he'd been sitting on, he stood up, walked over… and tumbled down right on top of them.

"Luke!" Julie yelled at the same time Reggie groaned, "My ribs!"

A shit-eating grin spread across Luke's lips as he looked down at them, not moving an inch. "You're right. This is comfy!"

Now it was Julie's turn to roll her eyes. "Get off, you dork." She shoved his side.

"Nope," he replied, but he shifted anyway (which earned him a sigh of relief from Reggie) to lie diagonally across them instead, head on Reggie's shoulder and legs flung over Julie's.

They simply laid there for a while, quietly revelling in the close contact and the (semi) softness of the carpet. Without meaning to, Julie felt herself start to drift off.

"Come on, Alex," she heard Luke say, bringing her back to awareness. She looked over to see that Alex was still sitting at his drums. "You know you want to get in on this."

"Yeah, come on!" Reggie chimed in. "If this is a flying magic carpet, we don't want to fly away without you."

"That's not… okay." Despite the words, Alex dropped his drumsticks onto the snare drum and shuffled over. For a moment, he hovered uncertainly before Julie pulled him down next to her. Reggie looked a little disappointed - understandable, as Alex was by far the best snuggle partner of them all.

Smiling softly to herself, Julie nuzzled a little closer as Alex shifted his body to fit along her side, his arm going around both her and Luke. As one, she and the others brought a hand up to his, their fingers all tangling together.

Julie closed her eyes again, the smile still ghosting her lips. "Wake me up if the carpet starts flying."

Sleepy murmurs were her only answer.

Is this me projecting onto the JATP gang because I miss my friends and wish I could hug them (or even meet them) but can't because of the pandemic? Yes, yes it is.

But I also just ADORE how wholesome, silly and cute they are together.

This story's basically gonna be a series of fourteen one-shots (with a bit of an overarching plot), centred around their dynamics and different moments where they hug each other, so yeah, I hope it'll make you smile and feel things... maybe even act a bit cathartic if you're missing your friends like me.

Until next time! :)