Soul authority

At first, Willie hadn't been sure about going to the studio. Not that he didn't want to see Alex - he did, with every fibre with his being. It was just… they hadn't seen each other for weeks now and he hadn't sent a single word to Alex to tell him he was okay and oh god, he didn't know if he could handle Alex being mad at him on top of everything else that had just happened...

All their doubts disappeared however as Alex gasped and nearly bowled them over in a bear hug the second they appeared.

"Oh my gosh, Willie! You- I-" he spluttered, voice rising in the adorable way it always did when he was overwhelmed, "You're here, you're okay- wait, are you okay? Please say you're okay."

That Willie knew the answer to. "Yeah. I am." Reluctantly untangling themselves from Alex's arms (man, they'd missed those hugs), they sent him a wide grin. "You're looking at a free ghost."

A moment of stunned silence hung in the air.

"You mean… free from the Ghost Club?" a girl with curly brown hair said, sending him what must be the most contagious smile in existence. She had to be the Julie Alex had told him so much about.

"Yup." They mirrored her expression. "The only one who owns my soul now is me."

"Ha! In your face, Caleb!" Reggie yelled, looking like he was on the verge of breaking out into a victory dance.

Alex however seemed to still be somewhere in the shock phase, as all he managed to get out was, "What? B-but how?!"

"Who cares, man, Willie's free!" came Luke's reply, thankfully saving Willie from getting into that very long story he still hadn't really had time to process.

Because how did you even process the fact that Caleb had lost control over your soul because your connection to Alex (and in turn Julie and her "magic") had grown stronger than to him? How did you process the utter look of surprise, of anger, of horror on Caleb's face as you poofed away from him for what could be the last time?

A pair of arms wrapped around him and, being as caught up in his thoughts as he was, it took him a good few seconds to realise it wasn't Alex hugging him again, but Luke.

"Yeah, Luke's a hugger," Reggie said, no doubt having seen his confusion. "He's like this with all his friends: you get used to it after a while."

"He also has boundary issues," Julie added, crossing her arms.

Luke responded by sticking his tongue out at her, but let go of Willie all the same. "Seriously though, if it's weird I'll stop."

"No!" they said a little too quickly. "I mean," they cleared their throat, "no, it's… it's cool."

More than cool, actually. Just… they hadn't been hugged much since they died. Alex being the only one in recent memory. So to have someone they'd only met a few times show that level of affection so freely, so easily… it was a lot.

Then what Reggie had said earlier truly struck him. "We're… friends?"

"Well, duh," Luke replied like it was as obvious as the colour of the sky.

"Yeah, man, any friend of Alex's is a friend of ours!" Reggie paused. "Okay, not every friend - what was that guy's name, the one with the mullet?"

"Jared," Alex supplied with a sigh.

"Right, Jared! That guy sucked."

Luke leaned closer to Willie, as if sharing a secret. "One time in art class, he spilled oil-based paint all over Alex's favourite hoodie on purpose."

"No, he didn't," Julie gasped.

"Yeah, I stopped hanging out with him after that and- Reg, why are we talking about Jared?"

For a second, Reggie just looked at Alex in confusion before remembering. "Oh yeah, what I meant was, we don't become friends with all Alex's friends, only the ones who're cool and nice to him. Like you! Honestly, we'd be crazy not to be friends with you."

"If you're okay with that?" Julie added pointedly before looking at Willie.

They grinned. "Yeah. Totally."

A short silence descended over the group as they simply stood there, looking at each other. Then Alex let out a breathy laugh. "You're free. You're actually free."

"Heck yeah I am."

And Alex lunged forward to hug him again, Luke and Reggie and Julie quickly joining in, the four of them surrounding him like a blanket of comfort… filling him with more warmth than he'd felt for a long, long time.

Who knew a group hug - with actually nice people, with friends - could feel this good?

So Willie's finally entered the story! *confetti and balloons and fireworks*

And he has sole authority of his soul! ! ! ... Or should I say soul authority?

... Okay, I'll see myself and my dad jokes out lol

Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)