#it doesn’t even have to do with JATP

[writerownstory]

…speaking of which, I still wish the boys and Madison would collaborate musically and original music would make it even better because the four of them sounded so good together and the fact that they may never make music together again (besides when Jeremy put out the song he and Charlie wrote) is just so sad to me

[heliads]

sorry to send in two requests but if you've got the time Luke Patterson x reader where she is his tutor for English or something and he develops a crush, so even when he understands the stuff she's teaching him he pretends to be confused so that the tutoring sessions last longer. And then one day he gets a good grade and she's proud of him but that means the sessions are over so he builds up the courage to ask her out? You can put this at the bottom of the list or not even write it because I know how swamped your requests get, but ily.

do not apologize for two requests!! my blog exists for you!! and jatp s2 may be dead but my feelings for that show are not. xoxo

masterlist

Luke Patterson is currently fighting a one-man war against his English class, and he is losing. Badly. This was not supposed to be his problem class, he was thinking the biggest struggle would be math or science, but surprise surprise, there’s no such thing as a class you can just skate through. He tried to skate through English. He tried really, really hard, but instead of Spark Notes-ing his way through whatever classic book they threw his way, Luke’s staring at a bright red D on his latest essay.

This would happen to be the most recent essay they were assigned, the one Luke pushed off until the last minute because he was too invested in getting some good songs down on paper. He hadn’t meant to procrastinate, he never does, it’s just that whenever Luke had a spare hour or two, it’s always far more tempting to head out to the studio and mess around with some chord progressions than to do homework.

This essay had gone just like all the other ones so far this year. The book had been assigned, the essay followed not soon after, and Luke told himself that he was going to start it on time for a change. The only problem was that he came home late that day after a shift at his job, so he couldn’t start it that day, and then he was studying for a test the next day, and after that he was working on songs. Before he knew it, it was the night before and he was speed writing to get everything down in time. Luke doesn’t even think he had time to proofread before turning in that mess.

So yeah, he shouldn’t really be surprised about this grade in particular. Still, he isn’t pleased about it. He doesn’t want to see the look on his parents’ face when he dodges another question about his grades, nor listen to all the other kids in his class talk about how easy that essay prompt was. Everything just makes him feel worse.

And, if Luke’s day couldn’t get any better, his English teacher pulls him aside after class to talk about it.

“I noticed your last few assignments haven’t been going as expected,” she says sympathetically, “is there anything you want to tell me about that?”

There’s a lot Luke wants to tell her, such as the fact that this class is dry as a saltine and twice as bland. They’ve spent the last few classes just going over social hierarchies around the time when the book was written, talk about boring. If Luke wanted to study history, he’d read a textbook.

He can’t say all that without damaging his final grade even more, though, so Luke plasters on a grin and does his best impression of an earnest student who’s just had a bad string of luck. “Not really, I’ve just been so busy recently that I didn’t have enough time to really ponder the prompt, you know?”

Usually, this is Luke’s best strategy for getting out of these kinds of nonsense conferences. He’ll whip out a few key words like ‘time commitments’ and whatnot and his teachers will fall for it every time.

He might have done this too often, though, because his teacher just nods and refuses to let him go. “That makes sense to me. Do you think it would help to spend a little more time exploring the prompt or connecting the book to the essay topics?”

“Sure,” Luke says vaguely. He’s only half paying attention; he just saw Reggie outside the door mouthing the words what did you do?? as dramatically as he could.

The teacher looks pleased by this. “That’s what I thought. I’ve gone ahead and signed you up for some tutoring sessions, you’ll start this afternoon after school.”

Luke blinks. “Wait, what?” Clearly, he hasn’t been paying attention nearly enough. Since when was tutoring on the table?

The teacher spreads her hands. “You need a little more help and organization to stay on track. Tutoring is the perfect answer to this.”

“Is it?” Luke asks feebly.

“Absolutely,” the teacher decides, and that’s that. Luke tries to wheedle his way out of it through repetition of how busy he is, like, all the time, but it doesn’t matter. She’s caught him in a half-lie and there’s nothing he can do to avoid it.

Reggie’s waiting for Luke outside the door when he finally leaves. “What happened in there?”

“Pure misery,” Luke groans, and contemplates giving himself a concussion by ‘accidentally’ falling down the stairs so he can go home without having to go to tutoring.

Unfortunately, Reggie enlists Alex in keeping Luke free of head trauma, and so he finds himself in an empty classroom later that afternoon, mournfully watching all of the other students leave the school with no doubt wonderful plans awaiting them.

Luke’s just starting to wonder if his tutor isn’t going to show up after all (after fifteen minutes, he’s legally allowed to leave, right) when someone slides into the seat in front of him.

“Sorry about being late,” they gasp, “I just found out I was doing this like ten minutes ago.”

Luke breaks his desolate stare out the window to glance at his tutor and instantly, he feels the crushing weight of shame bear down on him tenfold. It would have been one thing to have a total stranger be his tutor, someone Luke could avoid looking at in the hallways and never speak to again, but he knows this girl. More importantly, he’s thought she was cute for at least the last four years.

This is the worst case scenario, then. Y/N L/N is smart, she’s pretty, and judging by the fact that Luke always sees her in a group of friends laughing at her jokes, she’s funny, too. Definitely someone Luke would want to impress through gigs or shows instead of, say, his crumbling English grades.

“I’m Y/N,” she says, and Luke realizes that she’s probably been waiting for him to say something. Great, he can’t even introduce himself properly.

“Luke,” he answers, “but you probably knew that already.”

Y/N laughs, and judging by the slightly manic tone behind it, she’s just about as composed about the whole thing as he is. That makes him settle slightly in his chair, lowering his guard. “I was told that I would be tutoring you when I was trying to leave class. Ms. Brown pulled me aside when the bell rang and told me about it.”

“That makes two of us,” Luke grumbles.

The corners of Y/N’s lips quirk up before she manages to tamp them down again, and if Luke weren’t totally out of his mind, he might even say that Y/N has the same attitude towards their English teacher as he does. That would certainly make this whole tutoring experience a lot more interesting.

“So,” she says, clearing her throat in an attempt to sound official, “you wanted to talk about essay pointers, right?”

Luke starts to say something about how he didn’t want any of this, actually, but Y/N arches a brow and he relents. “Yeah, essay stuff. The last one didn’t go over too hot.”

Y/N tilts her head to the side, contemplating this. “Did you agree with her grading?”

“Yeah,” Luke admits, “she wasn’t wrong to mark me down, I kind of did it the night before in one sitting.”

Y/N frowns. “Really? Why’d you put it off so long? I thought you liked writing. Whenever I see you, you’re always jotting something down in that notebook of yours.”

Luke grins. “You’ve been watching me? That’s creepy, you know.” He’s obviously holding back a laugh, though, so the comment has no trace of a barb.

Y/N rolls her eyes, although her face looks a little hot at the moment. “Just answer the question.”

“Alright,” he says, hands raised in mock surrender, “you’re right, I do like writing.”

“Then why wait until the last minute to do the essay? I mean, I get not having a ton of time to work on assignments, but if you really do enjoy writing, it shouldn’t be all that bad, right?”

Luke groans. “ This is different. It’s not fun writing,” he tries to excuse himself.

It sounds bad even to him. Already, Luke can see how this is going to play out– she’ll laugh at him, maybe, say that someone who just got a grade like him can’t possibly be thinking about writing and fun in any way at all. She doesn’t, though. Instead, she nods and smiles at him. A real smile. Not mocking in any way.

“What is fun writing, then?” She asks.

Luke blinks in surprise. “Well, writing songs is fun, I guess,” he stammers, “stuff that actually matters, you know? All these essays are the exact same, but songs are all different. That’s why I care about them and not some pointless paper.”

Y/N nods. “That makes sense to me. So you release music, right?”

Luke isn’t sure where she’s going with this, but he’s perfectly happy to talk about music instead of that offensive red scribble all over his paper, so he plays along. “Yeah, me and my band. We try to, at least.”

“Have you ever gotten a review that bothered you? Not because they didn’t like it, but because they disliked your songs for the wrong reason? Like you had a whole story in mind for your album but the critics just ignored it?” She prompts him.

“Yeah,” Luke says, eyes widening with irritation, “Man, it’s so annoying. You go to all the trouble of writing out these ideas, and you make them have a really good meaning, too, and then it’s like they never read it at all. It makes me so mad sometimes, I want to write a column or something in response about how they totally missed my point.”

“Like, say, an argumentative essay about the real strengths of your chosen piece of writing?” Y/N says as casually as she can.

Luke’s about to argue and say that’s not like this at all, but on second thought, it is. It totally is. “Wait, you’re right. I never thought about it like that, but you’re right. Y/N L/N,” he decides on the spot, “I really like you.”

She grins back at him. “Luke Patterson, I like you too.”

That settles it for him. Luke had been annoyed at the thought of having to suffer through tutoring beforehand, but maybe he’ll be alright with it now. Y/N isn’t a part of the oppressive legion of teachers all conniving to make his life a living hell because he wants to be a musician instead of a doctor or a banker, she’s on his side. That makes it all better somehow.

And, unsurprisingly, it is better. Luke actually ends up having a really good time in his tutoring sessions with Y/N. They don’t feel like tutoring at all, more like a chance to hang out with a friend. They talk about Jane Austen and tell awesome jokes, read Shakespeare and spend more and more time together. Luke knows this is only a temporary thing until his grades get back up, but it’s too easy to forget that.

Until, one day, it isn’t. His English teacher hands back an essay with a bright red ‘A’ marked on the front, and tells him that she’s proud of all the progress he’s made so quickly. Instead of a sigh of relief, the only thing escaping Luke’s lips is a desolate sigh. After all, if Luke’s improved to this point, that kind of means his tutoring sessions will be over, right?

Y/N doesn’t know that, though. Y/N doesn’t have access to his grades. All she knows is what Luke tells her, and if informing her of his latest essay win means she’ll stop seeing him after school, why should Luke let slip a single syllable?

So, later that day, when Y/N asks him how the latest essay went, Luke shrugs and pretends to be disappointed. “I’d hoped for more,” he says, “she, uh, didn’t like my commentary.”

“Really?” Y/N questions, frowning slightly, “I thought you were really good at that.”

Luke’s eyes widen, caught in a lie. “Who knows with teachers, right?” He laughs weakly.

Y/N pretends to shudder. “I know, right? I feel like half of your grade is literally just how much she likes you. English classes are always so subjective.”

“Subjective?” Luke asks, grinning and propping his chin up on his hand, “Tell me about that.”

Y/N laughs. “Only if you promise we’ll talk Jane Eyre immediately afterwards. Immediately.”

“I so swear,” Luke intones, holding up his right hand with all the solemnity of a president being sworn into office.

Y/N swats him on the shoulder with her notebook, but she obliges, and maybe they don’t talk about Jane immediately. Maybe they laugh a little longer than usual. And maybe, just maybe, Luke thinks that he’s perfectly fine with obscuring the truth if it means he can have more of this when he needs it the most.

The truth, unfortunately, has a habit of making itself heard regardless of who is inclined to hide it. Luke comes into their usual study spot in the library one day to see Y/N waiting for him, not already in her seat like normal but standing tentatively at the side.

He frowns, slinging his backpack down on the ground and pulling up a chair. “Everything alright? You look like you’re about to run. If you’ve got something planned, we can do this another day.”

Y/N shakes her head slightly. “No, I’m free all day.”

Luke gestures towards the table. “Then sit down, my legs are getting tired just looking at you. We’ve got stuff to study, don’t we?”

“Well, that’s what I was going to ask about,” Y/N says, “Ms. Brown stopped me after class today, said she had someone else she wanted me to tutor. I said I was already booked with you and she was confused. Apparently you’ve been doing just fine for quite some time.”

Luke feels his breath catch in his throat. This is not how he’d wanted Y/N to find out. For what must be the hundredth time this year, Luke sends out a silent curse to all meddlesome English teachers.

“Yeah,” he says as carefully as he can, “I have, but only because of your expert tutoring. It’s like antibiotics, you know? You don’t stop taking ‘em when you start feeling better, only when the prescription is over.”

Y/N blinks at him in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

He runs a hand through his hair, trying not to feel like everything is slipping out of control in an instant. “It was a simile, sorry. A bad one. All I mean is that we don’t have to stop this just because I got a good grade or two.”

Y/N almost looks like she’s smiling, but that could just be Luke being delusional. “I thought you didn’t want to do tutoring.”

“I didn’t at the start, but you’re different. We’re cool. We are cool, right?” Luke starts rambling more and more with each passing second, but he can’t help it. He’s overthinking everything. What if he’s literally just been a tutee this whole time, and she doesn’t think they’re friends at all?

Y/N stares at him a second longer, then takes a seat at last. “Luke Patterson, are you telling me that you like my company so much that you’re willing to keep going to extra English practice just to see me?”

Luke can feel his face heating up, but he does his best to ignore it. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds–” He still has a little bit of self control left, so he cuts himself off before he can make a truly terrible mistake.

Y/N catches him, though. “It sounds like what?”

“It sounds like I like you,” he admits, and Y/N’s smiling at him, so he decides to take the leap of faith and just do what he’s been wanting to do for quite some time. Since the start of this, actually. “And I do like you. I like you a lot. I might not need the tutoring anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to stop seeing you. So what if we met up sometime soon? Not for English, for us.”

Luke decides that he likes Y/N’s smile more than anything. “Are you asking me out?” She says.

“I am,” he affirms. “Are you saying yes?”

“I am,” she repeats.

Suddenly, Luke feels like the luckiest kid of all. Maybe he does have to throw in a good word or two for meddlesome English teachers after all. Sometimes they have a way of connecting you with the best people in the world.

requested by @thatfangirl42, i hope you enjoy!

jatp tag list: @rogueanschel, @retvenkos, @callsign-scully, @lovesanimals0000, @amortensie

[1mnobodywhoareyou]

Wrath of Venus

idea credit to @floating-in-the-blue courtesy of this reblog (I also recall some back and forth in the tags but i can't be bothered to find them). Title/band name credit to @legolasghosty. And motivation credit to every single person who sent a rose. This happened exclusively because I didn't want to give Bex snippets to people who don't read Bex 😅. It'll hit ao3 eventually. When i can think of tags. May or may not become a proper AU. Hope y'all enjoy.

JatP | 1404 words | G | ambiguous/pre-Juke | alive AU

Julie’s thoughts are interrupted by an unexpected voice to her left. “Hey, you come here often?” 

Julie turns toward him, eyes narrowed as she takes him in from head to toe. Brown shaggy hair, captivating smile, broad shoulders… She grimaces as she notices the cut off tee but continues her inspection anyway, taking note of his black pants - surprisingly absent of tears or holes, the countless chains hanging from his waist complete with dangling folded wallet…

“How does anything stay in that?” she asks, pointing to the offending accessory.

He scoops it up and flips it open. “Little secret I have,” he responds with a sly grin. “If you keep it empty, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Julie rolls her eyes. “Broadcasting your poverty isn’t as cute as you seem to think it is.”

He offers a resigned shrug in response. A pause and then, “I’m Luke, by the way.”

“Julie.”

“Julie.” He repeats, saying it slowly like he’s feeling her name out in his mouth. She does everything in her power to keep from rolling her eyes. This is one of the worst parts of being involved with the music scene in LA. Men who feel like they’re entitled to her because she exists. Them and the men who feel like she’s an interloper who doesn’t belong there. If she’s really lucky, she’ll encounter a two in one. She’s trying to figure out which this Luke guy is when-

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” 

Sure, the dingy bar isn’t a great place to hang out or be found, but it’s unfortunately one of the few places for some of the best acts to get their start. And if she wants to keep her edge over her competition, this is where she needs to be. But he doesn’t need to know that.

“Could ask the same of you,” she counters. 

He sputters for a moment and Julie hides a proud smile behind her glass as she takes a sip of her drink. 

She waits patiently for him to recover. 

“My band’s playing tonight,” he finally says. 

Great. He’s one of those. 

She nods politely, choosing to keep her thoughts about guitarists and lead singers to herself. He gives off lead singer energy. 

She starts to spin herself back toward the bar when she feels him slide onto the stool beside her. His energy seems to have shifted from that of casual bar patron looking for a hookup to overly excited puppy desperate for attention. She eyes him curiously.

He immediately takes the opening she’s inadvertently offered. “We heard this is the best place to get noticed by this killer agent. Took us weeks to even get booked. And everyone’s so good! Can’t wait for our set.” He looks out toward the floor, scanning the small crowd that’s gathering. “Hope she’s here tonight.”

Julie looks up at the bartender who’s trying their hardest not to laugh. She sends them an amused wink. Julie knows that the staff here are discreet, she’s built a solid relationship with all of them over the last several years and they’ve always got her back when needed. Willie’s been a constant through the ups and downs of her wading her way through this world.

Julie hums in acknowledgement as she tries to decide if she wants to brush this guy off or find out more about him. You know, for work. Obviously.

Curiosity wins out. 

“Have I heard of you?”

This time it’s Luke’s turn to consider her carefully. 

“I don’t know. We’re still pretty small and-”

“Try me.” Julie can’t help but be amused by how quickly this guy’s energy seems to shift.

“Well, uh…” he stammers.

“Unless you’re lying to pick up women in the bar?”

His eyes widen comically. “What?! No! I promise I’m in a real band that’s playing a real show tonight. Well, set. A small set.”

“Okay,” she gestures toward Willie, silently asking for a copy of tonight’s event poster. They’re not even hiding their eavesdropping at this point and immediately hand her one. She reads through the list, glancing back up at Luke once she’s done. 

“Well you’d be cutting it too close to be the next act. I know for a fact that you’re not Midnight Madness or Whisper Cats. And you said it’s your first time playing here so I doubt you’re the headliner. Which means you must be Sunset Curve?”

He sputters at her again. This time she doesn’t bother hiding her grin. 

“How did you do that?!” he asks once he’s recovered.

Julie shrugs. “I know things.”

This is, apparently, the wrong thing to say. He eyes her carefully and oh, Julie knows that look. That’s the dude in any male-dominated space’s “I’m about to test you” look. She loathes that look. 

He glances up at the bartender, as if he’s considering ordering a drink to fully settle in next to Julie, then back at the stage, then back at Julie. 

She raises an eyebrow, part curiosity, part challenge. She’s been here before. Her part in the game never changes, she just needs to wait for them to make their move.

“So who’s your favourite band, then?”

And there it is. She narrows her eyes at him. His tone is just slightly different than most of the guys she encounters but she can’t quite figure out how or why.

“You wouldn’t know them.”

He scoffs. Julie suppresses an eye roll. 

“Try me,” he challenges. 

“Fine.” She leans forward, into his space, and stares at him. “Wrath of Venus.”

He hums consideringly and takes a long moment to think. Julie waits for the inevitable response of his made up opinion, usually negative, of her completely made up band. 

“I don’t think I’ve heard of them,” he finally answers, far too earnestly. “What kind of music do they make?”

This time it’s Julie’s turn to sputter as she’s completely caught off guard. She glances back at Willie who offers her a sympathetic shrug and smile but no actual aid. She glares at them before turning back to face Luke.

“They’re a hard rock girl group,” she finally blurts out.

Luke hums thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I still don’t know enough women-fronted groups. I’m working on it though.” He shimmies his phone out of his pocket. Or tries. From the look of things, his pockets are deeper and tighter than is ideal. 

He lets out a small, victorious shout once he finally succeeds. He unlocks it and taps around. “Can you tell me their name again? I want to look into them later!”

“Uhhhhh…” Julie stalls, trying to come up with literally anything to cover her ass. “They’re not on any streaming services yet. Still really new. Up and coming.”

“Oh,” Luke says, dismay clear in his voice, as he pockets his phone again. “I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for some shows. They’re from here?”

“Uh, no. They, uh… They just come through town once in a while. When they can afford it, you know?”

Luke nods. “Yeah, I do. I’m so glad we actually live here.”

Julie notices the current act finishing up from over his shoulder. She nods toward the stage. “You’re almost up.”

Luke turns toward the stage in a panic. He scrambles off his barstool. “Nice to meet you, Julie!” he calls as he darts off. 

She breathes out a sigh of relief. Willie sets a refill of her drink down next to her. 

“Say. Nothing,” she warns them. 

They mime zipping their lips shut but don’t bother trying to hide the amused grin. 

“Watch them actually be good,” she grumbles as she lifts her glass to her lips. 

And they were. Really good. Enough so that Julie had to go and properly introduce herself after their set. Thankfully, there wasn’t any real opportunity for Julie’s fake band to come up again as she was introduced to the other band members and they exchanged contact information. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for managing to maintain a professional front through it all. 

And after getting over his shock that she was indeed the Ms. Molina from Dahlia Records he’d been hoping for, a downright giddy energy overtook Luke. It would take much longer than is reasonable for Julie to admit how endearing she found it. And would continue to. For better or worse.

[gay-flyboys]

First Line Analysis

Okay, @read-and-write- tagged me in this while at work, but this is so fun.

RULES: post the first lines of your last 10 fics/chapters posted on AO3 (if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics) and try to draw some conclusions.

I went with only fics, not chapters, because otherwise it would be wholly dominated by two fics and that's not fun. Though I am curious what it would look like if I broke it down by chapter.

(This is maybe the widest variety of fandoms that could have happened, so I've labeled for ease of... something)

(Life In Full Bloom) (RWRB) "It’s 2024, and one person knows they’re engaged—a tattoo artist who spent the better part of two hours signing NDAs and etching delicate ink into the fragile skin of Henry and Alex’s hands, right where newly minted gold rings would sit."

(Hair Twined With Flowers) (RWRB) "Mud, fun fact, was a remarkably slippery substance after the first rain of the practice season."

(Tornt) (Fantasy High/Garfield) "Honestly, he doesn’t even know how he ended up in this situation."

(True Colors Shine In Darkness and in Secrecy) (RWRB) "10:54 PM, his phone says."

(Oxidation) (RWRB) "It’s in times such as these that Alex is catapulted back to his junior year of high school, studying Hamlet in his early morning English class."

(Still Singin' Here Above the Ground) (RWRB) "As long as Henry can remember back, he’s always been a watcher."

(His Greatest Fears and Wringing Hands (The Loudest Silence)) (Spiderman: ATSV) "'No. No, no no nono, Peter-'” Miguel’s voice can’t reach far enough."

(Across the Rubicon) (JATP) "When Bobby was asked by his teachers about his plans for the summer after graduating high school, he had bragged about the summer tour that Sunset Curve had managed to make happen."

(Sun Bleach) (The Hunger Games) "Despite his reputation and the several drinks he’s downed by lunch, Haymitch would say that he’s a rather perceptive guy."

(The Devil Took Your Breath Away) (Top Gun (Movies)) "The first thing he hears is from the mouth of his soon-to-be best friend."

Analysis!

Only two of these begin with dialogue. This is a thing I think I'm aware of, but not something I consciously think of as something I do.

Similarly, only one of these is less than 10 words. I be yapping. Love me some commas and dashes.

I apparently only write from the POV of masc characters (not surprising, I almost only write MM fics), and it's hit or miss if I tell you who is speaking immediately.

One of these was mostly written by one of my beta readers (i think i edited it a little) and to ME it sticks out, but I'm curious if anyone else can find it.

I feel like, despite my best efforts to encompass the fic in one sentence, I end up being really fucking cryptic all the time.

No Pressure Tags!

@littlemisskittentoes @inexplicablymine @happiness-of-the-pursuit @firenati0n @gayrootvegetable

@anincompletelist @msmarvelouswinchester @songliili @affectionatelyrs @rockyroadkylers

---

Did you make it this far? Sick. Have the first few lines from current Wips. No, i won't say what they're from

"Despite being surrounded by nearly his entire family, Henry has never felt so alone."

"The settee really isn’t made for two people to lounge on, and yet, Alex and Henry manage."

"As Alex turns off the shower, he realizes just how little the fan in his hotel room is doing to prevent condensation from building up."

[thedeathdeelers]

Juke au request:

where sunset curve is famous, julie carrie and flynn are backup dancers for this big epic gig and Luke sees julie right there on the spot onstage

👀

I got that vivid idea last night I can't write if my life so I asked someone else to write it but they don't write fir that ship it would mean a lot to me to see this fleshed out

hello! sorry i don’t really do requests anymore cause i’m nowhere near as motivated to write jatp fics, but here’s how i think this could pan out:

ok so julie being a backup dancer feels a little ooc for me in the way that i think she should always be the star of whatever she’s doing — and that although luke would be intrigued to see her cause she’s very Pretty, it wouldn’t be enough to fully captivate him. they both bonded over music and it’s how he fell for her so deeply

SO

my idea is that julie finds herself being a backup dancer with flynn and carrie because it was her only way to keep her promise: she still can’t bring herself to sing again after her mom’s death but rose made her promise to always be involved with music, to always have it in her life. so julie does the next best thing: she chooses to dance - she’s still surrounded by music all the time, it’s just slightly different to what she’s used to: she doesn���t sing

and maybe. maybe at this event/gig/festival that both luke and julie find themselves in, that’s where they first meet. i’m thinking that perhaps luke coincidentally walks past her backstage at some point before their performance and hears her hum a song (maybe one of theirs? maybe one by rose and the petal pushers?) and it peaks his interest cause 1. it’s his song (or a song by a legend called rose molina and he doesn’t often hear people listening to rose and the petal pushers) and 2. cause even with just the soft humming he can hear the quality of this girl’s voice

but before he can backtrack and approach her, maybe talk to her about music, he gets called over for sound check and then it’s just a busy day and he kind of forgets/lets it go

that is until later on when he sees the same girl dancing on stage and is a little surprised she isn’t the one singing — and shit, he also notices that she’s kinda cute too.

he’s Intrigued even more at this point. because he thinks he saw her look a little happier humming to a song backstage than she does dancing her heart out onstage

and now he wants to know more

cue him looking her up on instagram, and reggie and alex rolling their eyes at him. cue him going way back down her old posts until he stumbles on the earliest ones on her insta and it’s a short clip of her…singing

like singing singing. and now he’s sat there on their tour bus, mouth hanging open and heart beating in his throat because holy shit this is the most beautiful voice he’s ever hear

so he shoots his shot….and DMs her 👀

[onlygenxhere]

Jatp/10 Things I Hate About You AU

In honor of the third anniversary of the premier of Julie and the Phantoms here is the 10 Things I Hate about You AU I will never write.

I’m not going to explain a whole lot about 10 Things. If you’ve seen the movie this should make sense, If not I highly recommend.  

Luke is Patrick – With his sleeveless tees and his doesn’t give a crap about school attitude. Think more brooding musician Luke, less excited puppy. He gets sent to the office all the time for skipping class to write music.

“You’re not afraid of me are you?”

Julie is Kat – Angry at the world. Her mother died three years ago and she’s moved on from grief to anger. The only scene I have an idea about is changing the dancing drunk on a table scene to singing karaoke drunk on a table. Cause I’d still want her to hit her head and have Luke catch her and take her outside and worry she’s got a concussion.

That whole scene on the swing set, need it.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you you may have a concussion.”

“You don’t care if I never wake up.”

“Sure I do.”

“Why?”

“Because then I’d have to start taking out girls that actually like me.”

“Like you could find one.”

“Oh, See, that, there. Who needs affection when I have blind hatred.”

“Ugh, just let me sit.”

“So why’d you let him get to you?”

“Who?”

“Bobby?”

“I hate him.”

“Well you’ve chosen the perfect revenge, mainlining tequila.”

“Well you know what they say?”

“Nope, what do they say?”

Julie passes out.

“No, no, no, no, Julie wake up look at me! Listen to me Julie open your eyes!”

Julie opens her eyes to see Luke hovering over her.

“Hey, what color even are you eyes? Every time I look at you they’re different.”

He smiles at her.

She throws up.  

Reggie is Cameron – New kid in school. Completely smitten by Flynn the first time he sees her just like Cameron is with Bianca.

“I burn, I pine, I parish…”

Alex is Michael – He’s a band geek instead of future MBA (Masters Business Administration) like Michael was. He knows all the gossip about everyone. He’s the one showing Reggie around campus when Reggie sees Flynn for the first time. He could also be the one that sets up the apology song (Can’t keep my eyes off of you) for Luke to sing to Julie with the band chiming in.

Flynn is Bianca – Kat’s/ Julie’s sister. I’m going to go with Flynn being adopted a couple years after Julie was born.

“Can you for one night forget that you are completely retched and be my sister… please.”

So they wouldn’t be the same age like in jatp but a couple years apart like in 10 things. So everyone but Flynn and Carrie are seniors.

Willie is Mandella – Kat’s best friend who Alex has a crush on. No weird Shakespeare thing needed. Maybe Alex just leaves a regular old note in their locker asking them to prom? Maybe it’s not a “regular” note but one on the back of a postcard of a famous painting by Willie’s favorite artist.

Carrie is Chastity – Flynn’s best friend.

“I know you can be overwhelmed and you can be underwhelmed but can you ever just be whelmed?”

“I think you can in Europe.”

Bobby is Joey – It’s definitely believable that that character could be an idiot jackass and I think I can believe he’s a model if he was prepped up some (less grunge more styled). The only weird would be that he’d end up taking Carrie to the prom and most of us write them as related. I was thinking they don’t HAVE to be related but then again maybe it’d be even funnier if they were cousins and she was his only option after Flynn ditched him for Reggie.

Bobby punches Reggie.

Flynn punches Bobby.

“Shit Flynn! I’m shooting a nose spray add tomorrow!”

“That’s for making my date bleed!”

Punches him again.

“That’s for my sister!”

Knees him in the groin.

“And that’s for me!”

She helps Reggie up off the floor.

“Are you ok?”

He smiles, “Never been better.”

KISSES!

Nick is Bogey Lowenstein – Rich band nerd not cool jock. It works well enough.

“You guys please, take it outside!” Fighting boys crash through the window. “Thank you!”

Ray is Mr. Stratford – Kat and Flynn’s dad. I know on jatp he’d a photographer but he’d just have to be a gynecologist in this because all his panic about the girls dating is way too funny to skip and with the pregnancy belly he makes Bianca put on at one point.

“I know who you want to bend the rules for it’s that hotrod Bobby.”

Caleb is Ms. Perky –The principle. Who doesn’t want to see Caleb spending time writing a romance novel instead of disciplining the children? I can just see him trying to think of new words for “throbbing member” and Luke or Julie giving him an answer he’s pleased with.  

“The point is Julie. People perceive you as somewhat…”

“Tempestuous”

“Heinous bitch is the term used most often.”

Julie grins.

“You might want to work on that… Thank you.”

“As always thank you for your excellent guidance Mr. Covington. I’ll let you get back to Christopher’s quivering member.”

“Quivering member, hum, I like that.”

Mrs. Harrison is Mr. Morgan - The English teacher, no stretch here.

Carlos and Victoria could still be there just in much more minor rolls. They would be pretty much how they are on jatp.

[noworneverphantom]

Reggie for the ask game

First impression

he’s just a little guy, so dorky and silly. I loved him from the very first scene

Impression now

he’s a traumatized little guy in my mind now. Fanfiction has influenced me WAY too much. He’s still very much my favorite character though <3

Favorite moment

the chemistry scene with Luke. Hands down my favorite Reggie scene

Idea for a story

I have fleeting thoughts occasionally about writing more polyphantoms just showering Reggie with love when when they go on a date, but otherwise I’ve sapped my ideas up from writing countless fics deep in my hyperfixation lol

Unpopular opinion

Reggie doesn’t need to be paired up with someone. He doesn’t need a romantic relationship to be a great character (for the 2020 timeline. 1995 and past timeline is a different story)

Favorite relationship

Polycule! Reggie, Luke, and Alex is my favorite Reggie ship

Favorite headcanon

That Luke and Reggie were childhood friends from primary school and on!

thanks so much for this ask!! Reggie still holds such a special place in my heart even though I’m not active in jatp as much anymore, so this was really fun to do :)

[stellarspecter]

hey I recently followed you after I watched npmd as my foray into its fandom and One NPMD Blog To Follow (your fic 10/10 btw, greatly enjoyed it) and was delighted by the aro/ace posts you also reblog ^_^ doesn’t need to be npmd, but do you have any favorite aro or ace headcanons?

omg thank you anon! one thing about me is i will be sooooo aro on main

i was big into jatp for the last few years, so one of my fave aro hcs is reggie peters! that boy is aro bi and you Cannot tell me otherwise. headcanon acquired from this iconic post by amanda @secretly-of-course and like i mean it's just correct. i even made a gifset and a fic about it (the fic does also end up aro-fying the rest of the polycule lmao). other aro jatp hcs include aro carrie, aro luke, and obviously the band as a qpr bc that's basically canon. i do also believe in aro bobby because i loveeee to project onto that boy lmao. you may be noticing some patterns in my headcanons and it is that i am extremely biased towards zapping characters with my arofication beam. well guess what i also transgenderize them

(if i had a nickel for every time i made an ao3 series about a polycule consisting of musically-inclined main characters, then wrote subsquent fics transing their genders and aromanticizing their orientations/queerplatonic-ing their relationships, i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice. if you're into be more chill you can check out my meremine series i wrote in high school lol)

other than jatp i haven't really been super active in fandom recently? i did find a very good aro bi steve harrington series on ao3, which i definitely recommend checking out if ur into that sort of thing

honestly my hcs change depending on the day and mood. i haven't spent too much time thinking about npmd hcs but i mean. any character i like ends up getting arospec'd it's only a matter of time

[rainysaturdayafternoon]

Best Tag Credit to @mouse-fantoms

#omg it’s the- (you asked for it so no complaints now)#I guess I’ll start what got me interested in the first place bc I had already heard that Alex was gay and so I went into thinking ‘ok but#that’s going to be his only personality trait’ and then to watch it and then that not be the case was so incredibly nice to see and the fact#too that like kind of right away they give a boyfriend like again IT WAS SO NICE TO SEE

#one of the things I remember very clearly is just how I kept watching and I would think they would do certain cliches but then I’d get#proven wrong the next sentence that was spoke like with Carrie and Julie I was like ‘oh mean girl is mean to main character bc she’s mean#girl’ but then Nick says ‘you two used to be friends’ like him saying that adds so much layers to just these 3 characters bc it implies that#they all have this history with one another before we saw them like it just makes them feel so realistic and like they’re actual real people#like Jatp just blew my expectations out of the water bc of all these cliches we’re used to seeing and then they way it doesn’t do them is#just so different and so new

#also too I thought when I heard Alex is gay I thought it was like ‘fanon’ bc idk I’m just used to that but to have that not be the case#was so refreshing and lovely to see#I love the whole concept of how this girl who hasn’t been able to do anything music related since her mom passed gets stuck with these three#ghosts from a BAND like out of all ghosts she got stuck with them and for good reason <3#I love the way the songs are in the show like they’re there for storytelling purposes it’s so brilliant it’s not just they’re singing out of#nowhere like they’re there to tell a story and they make sense when they’re in corporated

#I love the how I can still go back even now and find something new to analysis like I know the ‘casual fan’ of Jatp won’t go back and find#these details and analysis them like how my brain does but it’s the details that are put into the show that make it worth analyzing

#god these characters- I love them all so much the way that Carries isn’t ‘just a mean girl’ that Flynn isn’t ‘just the best friend’#they way too that like with Juke how their friends treat it like Alex and Reggie look to each other whenever Luke talks about Julie like#that is so realistic to see like the fact that this guys friends are being like ‘👀👀👀’ whenever he mentions a girl who’s in their circle like#it makes them feel like real 17 year olds ya know like just guy friends who know their best bud is in love#same with Flynn the way that she calls out Julie’s crush in the first place and Julie is like ‘WHAT! no way he’s a ghost’ and then Flynn#still calls it out and Julie does admit ‘…with a perfect smile’ and ‘cute air’ like I feel like I just saw a convo between two best friends#about a crush also later when Flynn says ‘first off called it’ after Julie tells her about perfect harmony like again you get the impression#that these are two friends who have an interaction about the others crush who are talking about it IT FEELS SO REAL

#I love this cast so much I love their relationship and friendship it makes my heart so happy especially how in like late 2019 they were#posting about each other on socials before they ‘had’ to like it makes my heart so happy to see that they’re all like genuine friends#like I cannot watch behind the band episode 1 without just like like immediately sobbing bc you see the moment they got the news that they#got their parts and before they truly knew what magic they would make with this show they got cast in like omg

Feel free to expand in the tags cause I’d love to know!

[nicknellie]

omw to write a flarrie fic 😌

[beingthirteenwascrazy]

is it bad that I want a really angsty willex animatic to “bittersweet tradegy” by Melanie Martinez, or?

[idreamofdraco]

But seriously how annoying would it be if I suddenly posted a Julie and the Phantoms fic when every other story on my profiles are Harry Potter? Or do people not care about that sort of thing? 

[mouse-fantoms]

Hello again new fantom, happy to have you once again.

So for your first question, not sure on that 100% but I think it took awhile was bc Covid like most things which also made a lot of us hopeful about why there was silence like “Oh they’ll just get renewed and then be able to film when Covid dies down”

The cast was more than ready to go back and do it again. You watch those behind the scenes and interviews and insta lives omg their dynamic is just so fun. Also (this part is frustrating I warn you) the season 2 script was written and Jeremy said in a live that they even were doing some band camp season 2 things over zoom. So like they were more than ready to go back and you could just tell how much fun they all had with each other and their characters (I mean Owen saying “Charlie wants to be most like his character” and then Charlie answering “Oh yeah Luke’s a badass” in an interview like they all wanted and were so ready to go back)

The only fucking bs fucking “reasoning” (still salty don’t mind me) we ever got for the cancellation was “low viewership in the first week” so doesn’t matter overall view it’s just based on its first week view (which lets be real here it was under promoted from the start so like that just wasn’t fair from the start for it). Also no big deal that the soundtrack held the number one spot of Apple Music for like 3 days after it’s release which means that it topped above Hamilton again no big deal there and means nothing to Netflix but it happened none the less which could have been a telling sign of it’s popularity but what do I know 🙃

About the ending, I’ve said this once when the recent Dream-It was but as unfortunate as it is to have that cliff hanger ending… it’s bitter sweet in a way. Technically yes, the turn is the technical ending but… the ending we saw for our band is them all hugging, being touchable now. We didn’t see the boys cross over, our ending is that Julie still has her boys and they are still in her life, they didn’t cross over, they’re still there. Our band is still there.

And this is when getting into the fandom culture really helps bc with it being just that ending, who’s to say that your favorite fic isn’t canon? Most jatp fics are just continuing on the story that was already given to us. Maybe that crossing over fic you read that’s your favorite is canon, maybe that one shot you read is canon, maybe your favorite season 2 opening fic is canon, we can’t technically be told what’s not and what is canon now. The ending we saw was Julie still having her boys and that’s kind of a beautiful thing, her phantoms are still with her and they aren’t leaving her in show canon, they’re still there. It’s like a “leave it to your imagination” type thing

Hey new fantom here /

I just have some questions that bug me and I'd like to know if we have answers to them or not.

Like first, Netflix took A YEAR to cancel the show. Did they ever do that for other shows ? I feel like they generally only need 2 to 6 months to do that. A year and half seems like something went wrong.

From what I read the entire cast was ready to jump into a second season by the time they were cut. I dont think the show is too expensive to produce... and the fanbase was definitely there so I just don't understand.

I saw some video saying that something went wrong in the negotiations between Kenny ortega and Netflix but I've seen no proof and I just don't see Kenny ortega doing anything that would jeopardise the show

Even I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS that was cut in 2020 for covid reason was cut within 6 months of its release ! So in that idea if JatP was also cancelled for covid reason ( which I would understand. I'd still be mad but covid fucked us all over ok) it would have been announced before March 2021 ??? So why DECEMBER 2021???

I just wish Netflix would just force their show writers to not make a cliffhanger If they're not 100% sure the series is gonna get another season.

I've seen other people say this. JatP would have been just fine, as good as it was, if it had finished on their hug and maybe Carlos and rey walking in revealing they could see the guys 24/7 now too like wow they're basically alive they're gonna be an amazing band they all love each other THE END.

But noooo we have the stupid nick and caleb thing which raises soooo many more questions that I WANT answered ! Why can't Netflix have acceptable ending shows if no show is sure to get renewed? Also @ any show creator out there please don't make your show with Netflix I swear

Anyways I'm just very confused I saw some people saying maybe when the exclusivity clause ends we'll get something. Tbh I just wish instead of making new dumb shit Netflix would just give all the shows they already have like 1 more episode to give them an acceptable ending

*coughs* looking at you disney channel with the owl house *coughs*

Like I'd rather have some sort of ending to a good show than new shit I don't care about ! Netflix understand that having a bunch of unfinished shows is not good !! It doesn't make anyone want to watch your shows !! It's pissing everyone off !!

Anyway OMW to cancel my Netflix subscriptions until heartstopper and young royals come back there's nothing else to watch on that shithole 🙄🙄

[1mnobodywhoareyou]

rewrite the pain

JatP | G | 2217 words | alive, aged-up AU

Is a special gift for @narcissusbrokenmirror - hope you like it! It'll get posted to ao3 sometime after I wake up :D

Bobby’s been running behind all day. Almost entirely of his own doing, of course: he’d stayed in bed longer than he should have, let himself get lost in nothing instead of getting ready, forgot to eat until it was almost too late. And it’s not even early. There’s no reason he couldn’t have been ready to be somewhere for 10am. Other than the way his brain just won’t LET him get things done.

He shakes his head to clear his mind, not letting himself fall down the self-hate rabbithole. He’s learning to not beat himself up about this kind of thing any more but, well, old habits die hard. 

Bobby looks up at the house shrouded by more greenery than Bobby’s ever seen on a residential lot before. He doesn’t even want to think about how much time, energy, and money it takes to maintain this yard. So he doesn’t. Or tries not to, anyway.

He double checks the address and makes his way up the walk. He rings the doorbell and waits. When there’s no answer, he knocks a few times. He backs down the walk when he’s met with nothing and triple checks the address. He confirms that he is indeed in the right place and looks around, trying to find signs of life or clues to where everyone could be. 

Bobby notices a sidewalk that crosses the front of the house and makes his way down it, peering around the side of the house as he reaches the corner. He can hear voices coming from the backyard and decides to brave the rest of the journey. 

He attempts a futile knock on the gate, knowing that nobody will hear it anyway, before pushing it open. He lets out a sigh of relief when he notices people he recognizes. 

Luke immediately catches sight of him. “Bobby!” he exclaims, running up to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Glad you could make it. Bex will be so happy to see you!”

Bobby huffs out a light laugh, “Thanks.” He holds out the gift that he’d had tucked under his arm. “Where do you want me to put this?”

“Oh, I’ll take it. Let’s introduce you to everyone!”

Bobby hands Luke the gift as he agrees to the offer. He trails behind Luke as they make their way around the yard to meet Bex’s… family, he guesses. Who knew that one child could have so many adults who wanted to show up for her? He smiles in amusement to himself as he notices a distinct lack of other children in attendance.  

“So you’re Bex’s… babysitter?” one of the older men asks when Luke introduces them. 

“Yes, sir.”

“Huh. How does a man your age wind up babysitting toddlers?”

Bobby gapes at him. It’s not like it’s a question he hasn’t faced before. Or asked himself, quite frankly. But it’s not often that people are so up front about it. 

The more he sees about the inner workings of Bex’s family, the more confused he winds up about his answers to the question. How did he, a man in his early 30s, wind up babysitting Bex, a toddler with more than enough grown ups around to ensure she never gets a moment alone for the rest of her life? Granted, a LOT has happened in the last several months. Very, very quickly, even. But Bobby’s still not entirely sure how HE got here.

“Could ask how a man your age winds up at a toddler he’s not related to’s third birthday party, no?” a familiar feminine voice says from behind Bobby. 

Bobby turns to greet Carrie with a smile. “Hey, Care.”

“Hey, loser. Don’t mind Caleb. He’s just…” she narrows her eyes at Caleb, “like that.”

Bobby looks back at Caleb who’s mid-eye roll. 

“I’m here for the same reason the rest of us are. She asked,” Caleb rebuts. 

“Yeah, lucky us,” Carrie mutters under her breath. She turns her attention back to Bobby, “Did you and Luke finish the rounds?”

Bobby looks around the backyard, noticing that Luke had disappeared at some point, and confirms that he had met everybody new. Most of whom were Julie’s family. 

Carrie grabs him by the elbow and steers him toward the refreshment table. 

“Luke should have at least gotten you a drink before subjecting you to the chaos,” she says as she shoves a plastic cup full of punch into his hand. 

Bobby lets out a light chuckle. “It wasn’t that bad. Everyone seems nice and it’s only like four new people. They can’t be any worse than what I’m used to.” 

Just as he’s about to take a sip, he’s shoved backward by tiny arms wrapping around his legs. 

Bobby steadies himself and his drink, being careful not to spill it on Bex’s head. He looks down with a smile. “Hey Bex!” he greets, stopping himself from ruffling her hair when he notices that she’s sporting neat pigtails. He can’t help but wonder how many people it took to actually get her hair done. He laughs lightly to himself as he imagines a few possible scenarios.

Bobby crouches down to meet Bex properly. “Happy birthday, kiddo! You having lots of fun?”

Bex nods vigorously. In typical Bex fashion, she starts to rattle off all the things she’d been doing before he got there. Far too quickly for Bobby to follow. 

When she finishes, she stares at him expectantly. 

Bobby laughs. “Why don’t you just show me?” he offers. 

She reaches up for his free hand and pulls him away from Carrie. 

Bobby holds his cup up to Carrie in apology. She waves him off with a fond smile of her own. 

Bex leads Bobby around the backyard, showing him all her favourite things (and people). He waves and nods in acknowledgement to everyone Bex (re)introduces him to. He can’t help but laugh every time she pulls him away before he can get more than two words out in any given conversation she butts them into. 

Bex eventually bores of Bobby and is successfully lured away by games and treats and family. Specifically by Carlos deciding that he wanted to experiment with what kinds of things he could convince Bex to do. Bribery with candy included. 

Bobby shakes his head in amusement as he watches them walk away. He looks around the backyard again, taking in the mishmash of ongoing conversations. He notices that every single adult somehow manages to keep half an eye on Bex at all times. It’s not something he sees often from families of his other babysitting clients, not that he gets to see them engage with their kids directly very often. 

He tops up his cup of punch and climbs the handful of stairs to the porch. He leans over the railing as he takes in the chaos. While he has no issue being a part of the action when he’s wanted, he does still have a general preference for watching from the sidelines. Bex and Carlos are taking turns chasing each other around the yard, occasionally tagging in someone new who plays for a round or two before resuming whatever they’d been engaged in before. 

The creak of the porch stairs redirects his attention. He turns to see Alex climbing up the steps, wiping at his eyes. As observant as Bobby is, he’d somehow manage to miss whatever it was that had loosened Alex’s emotions. 

“Oh, shit. I didn’t think anyone would be up here,” Alex says when he notices Bobby, a slight wobble in his voice. 

“It’s okay, man. There’s room for two,” Bobby moves over to sell the point. “Y’alright?”

Alex sniffs before directing a grateful look Bobby’s way. He settles in against the porch railing in the open space beside Bobby. “‘S just a lot, you know?”

Bobby coughs out a dry laugh, “Which part?” 

Alex turns to look at Bobby, brows furrowed.  “All of it.” 

They both redirect their attention to the party below them.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.” 

“Okay. Well, if you change your mind…”

“I won’t. But thanks.”

Bobby hums in acknowledgement but doesn’t say anything further. While he doesn’t get it, he gets it. It’s weird coming from a life like his and seeing kids be loved so deeply. It’s beautiful but hurts in a way that he can’t quite put words to. He can only imagine how much more complicated those feelings are as a parent.

They stand together in silence for several long minutes. Bobby takes a sip of his punch. “This is how it should be, you know?” he finally says, breaking their not-quite-but-almost-comfortable silence.

“What d’you mean?”

“This,” Bobby repeats, gesturing out at the backyard. “A group of adults showing up for their kid. Loving their kid.”

Alex nods slowly. “Yeah. We try.”

Bobby huffs out another light laugh. “I’m not just talking about you, you know. Look at all these people who love Bex. It’s incredible. You built the most beautiful family. Every kid deserves this.”

“Yeah,” Alex agrees softly, “they really do.”

They fall into another comfortable, contemplative silence. 

This time, Alex breaks it. “Do you want your own one day?”

“Kid? God no. I’d only fuck them up. I love kids, obviously. But the best part of what I do is that I get to give them back. And any trauma I cause is probably pretty easily fixable, on the grand scale of things.”

Alex coughs out a dry laugh. “Yeah. That’s fair. Reggie had that fear for a long time. But I know some people never really get over it.”

Both of their gazes track over the backyard, landing on Luke who has Bex perched on his shoulders. She’s pulling on his hair and ears to steer him around. Alex and Bobby share a chuckle at their antics. 

“No, I guess not,” Bobby agrees with a fond smile. “I’d guess it’s probably pretty common for people who come from fucked up families. They either want to save anyone else from experiencing what they did. Or they overcorrect hard in the other direction and want to do it all different. Prove it’s possible.”

Alex hums thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe,” he agrees before letting a grin take over his face. “That’s a lot of words for a Bobby,” Alex teases. 

“Yeah. Just been thinking.”

“Careful. I’ve heard that kind of thing’s contagious. And can hurt.”

Bobby lets out a dry laugh. 

 “I think that might be one of the hardest parts about parenting?” Alex says after a moment. “Imagining what could have been different. Questioning why things weren’t. For us, I mean.”

Bobby hums in acknowledgement, encouraging Alex to continue.

“I don’t know. I mean, I know we’re gonna fuck up. We have fucked up. But it’s not that hard to just… love your kid?”

“So then you keep asking why you weren’t deserving of that love?”

“Exactly. Shit hurts.”

“Do you and the guys talk about it often?”

Alex shakes his head. “No, not really. I mean, we don’t really need to. We all get it. We’ve been all each other’s had for pretty much our entire lives.”

“And now look at you. Giving Bex everything you never got and then some.”

Alex laughs bitterly. “Who knew there were families overflowing with so much love that they’d so readily adopt 4 wayward rockstar slash artist adults and their toddler.”

“The Molinas seem as great as you’ve all been saying.”

“And more,” Alex sighs. “We’re so lucky to have them. But it also shows how… I guess, unfair it all is? We should have had more. Bex should have had more. Like, yeah, gratitude for what we have, blah blah blah, but that doesn’t change what could have been, you know?”

Bobby offers Alex a wry smile, “I think Reggie or Julie would call that grief or something.”

Alex laughs. “Yeah, probably.”

“Well, they don’t deserve you.”

“That’s what Willie and Reggie try to remind me of. ‘If they can’t love all of you, they don’t deserve access to any of you,’” Alex says, mocking their voices. “And they don’t deserve the joy that is Bex either. And she deserves better than them.”

“Exactly. Enter the Molinas.”

“Enter the Molinas,” Alex firmly agrees,  “The family none of us could have ever dreamed of.”

Bobby lets out a self-deprecating laugh, “Can you imagine what it would have been like being raised by someone like Ray? An adult who cares about where you are. What you’re doing. How you are? More than just some trophy to show off? Or inconvenience to hide away…”

“Loves and encourages you in your full self.”

“What would Luke even write about without shitty parents?”

Alex laughs. “Would we even have the band? This family? I guess that’s a silver lining or some shit.”

“Or some shit,” Bobby agrees with a grin.

“It’s cake time!” Reggie yells from the kitchen, just inside the porch doors. He must have snuck past them at some point. Bobby and Alex exchange a fond smile. 

“Time to give this kid and her… everyone even more of a sugar rush,” Alex says through a grin. 

Bobby offers Alex his fist and Alex immediately knocks their knuckles together. “Right behind ya,” Bobby agrees as he follows Alex into the house. 

[blustainedfingertips]

my sister’s watching jatp in the other room while i do homework and i just heard my mom say she didn’t like “stand tall” so on another note who wants to adopt me

[heliads]

sorry sorry, I'm spamming but I had this idea ages ago for a Luke Patterson x reader where the reader is an artist that does cover art for sunset curve promo.

Hear me out on this one; Luke tries to teach the reader how to play guitar and the reader tries to teach Luke how to draw. It doesn't end well, the reader is embarrassed that they can not play an instrument to save their life and Luke is embarrassed that he can't draw something as simple as a dog. But it's that thing where Luke finds it cute that the reader can't play even though they're trying hard and the reader finds it cute that Luke can't draw even though they are trying hard. And it just ends up all cute and mushy and ilysm I'm gonna marry you someday vibes.

i am once again reminding you that i miss jatp with every fiber of my being

masterlist

You are absolutely hopeless. It was one thing to sign up for this sort of job– artist by hour, some sort of after school nonsense that you were fitting in around your courseload so you could try and make at least a little bit of money– but it’s something entirely different to get involved in it like this.

Looking back, there was no reason for you to ever start feeling this way. When Sunset Curve first reached out to you over the opportunity to do the official art for their demo album, you were thrilled. They already had a decent sized following despite just having started, and you’d never created anything half so important as this. That’s how it felt, at least, like you were on the cusp of something new, something brighter than you’d ever experienced before. If only you knew how right you truly were.

It wasn’t just the job that was special, though, it was the people. Sunset Curve is made up of the four funniest, kindest, most amazing boys to ever walk the earth. You’re definitely not biased in that regard, not in the slightest. Reggie Peters cares more than anyone you’ve met before. Alex Mercer looks out for you every single minute of every single day. Bobby Shaw recognizes the potential in everyone who crosses his path.

And Luke? Luke Patterson, who greeted you with the widest smile you’ve ever seen the second he met you? Luke, who really should just be a friend? You couldn’t pin him down to one specific phrase if you tried. Luke is everything– creative, bold, bright, you name it. More importantly, he’s everything to you, but that’s because you happen to harbor a crush on him.

You couldn’t shake the aforementioned crush if you tried, but oh, how you wish you could. It does not do to spend every afternoon over there in Sunset Curve’s studio, pretending you’re sketching new designs for them or doing your homework when in reality you’re just wishing Luke might finally look up from his guitar and finally notice you as something other than a background character to his stellar world.

It’s not like Luke’s an asshole about it, it’s just true. Luke Patterson is so out of your league it’s crazy. Why would he ever look at you as something other than a friend or glorified coworker? Reggie and Alex have teased him enough times about flirting with anything that breathes that you know better than to overthink so much as a smile from him. Just because you happen to think the world of Luke doesn’t mean that he has to do the same thing about you.

That doesn’t stop you from almost losing your mind every time you hang out with the boy, though. In fact, you’re alone with Luke right now, and even though it’s pretty obvious Luke doesn’t take this to be anything other than a chance to spend time with a friend, you’re one accidental brush of hands away from screaming.

You had headed over to the boys’ studio early so you could think about some new designs for their albums, both the demo one and potential future numbers. You were given a key to the place a long time ago; the members of Sunset Curve accepted you with open arms and open doors back when you first started drawing for the band. 

Apparently they like having someone else there to force them to actually be productive and make music, but you’re not too sure about that. You swear that you end up talking to the boys for even longer than they manage to distract themselves, although that’s more fun than anything in your book. 

So, although you didn’t expect anyone to have issues with you showing up to the studio unannounced, you also weren’t expecting Luke to be there alone. You stand there for a moment, hovering over the threshold, wondering if you should leave or take this as your chance to finally get closer to him. 

Luke sees you and spares you from the indecision. “Come on in, Y/N. I’m not doing a whole lot, just practicing.”

You smile at him and step inside. “Technically, if you’re practicing that’s something. I just don’t want to bother you if you’re in a songwriting mood.”

Luke makes a face. “I would love to be in a songwriting mood, but the lyrics just don’t want to come. Please tell me you’re here as a distraction.”

You laugh. “I can be an excellent distraction when I wish, but I’m not all that interesting today. Just trying to get some ideas for a potential album cover.”

Luke watches you excitedly as you reach inside your bag for your sketchbook and some drawing supplies. “Are you kidding? That’s super interesting to me. Tell me, what direction is your grand artistic vision pulling you in now?”

You swat him lightly with your sketchbook. “There’s nothing grand about it, trust me. I’m here because I’m just as stuck as you are. Are you sure your next album can’t just have a completely blank design? Maybe one solid square of color? It would make it a lot easier on me.”

“Absolutely not,” Luke declares, “you’re already robbing us of our hard-earned cash, we at least deserve some designs in the bargain.”

The easy grin on his face tells you that he doesn’t mean a word of it. Luke and the other members of Sunset Curve have made it quite clear that they value your presence, both in art and in friendship. Besides, you have discounts when it comes to people you care about, and the members of this band are certainly that indeed.

“Well,” you smile, “if that’s the case, I’d better get on it.”

Luke watches as you do some thumbnail sketches for potential designs. His eyes never seem to leave your pencil as you shade in piano keys or trace the outline of a guitar.

At last, he breaks his meditative silence to pose a question. “How are you doing that?” He asks plaintively, “Every time I try to draw something, it takes me forever and ends up being a big eraser smudge. When you do it, though, you take two seconds and have a masterpiece.”

“I’ve been doing this for a lot longer than you have,” you remind him, “practice makes perfect, trust me on that. My first so-called masterpieces were just as full of eraser marks as yours.”

Luke harrumphs. “You’re just saying that. Embrace the fact that you’re extremely cool.”

“You’re just as cool as I am,” you counter, “you may be in awe of my art skills, but I think your music is way more impressive.”

Luke’s jaw drops. “No way. Half the time you’re in here, I’m messing up my chords.”

You grin. “That’s not true, and even if it was, that still makes you better than I am. I can’t even remember what a chord is, let alone how to play it right even half the time.”

Luke sits up straight, an idea occurring to him. “You know what? We can fix that. Let’s have a skills session. You teach me art and I’ll teach you music.”

“Just like that?” You ask, doubtful but smiling nonetheless.

“Just like that,” Luke confirms, and after that it’s decided.

Luke reaches over to grab his guitar. He places it on your lap, moving close to you so he can help guide your hands into position. You think your breathing might stop entirely from how it feels to have Luke’s breath hot on your cheek, his fingers wrapped around yours as he teaches you a chord. If you look up slightly, you can see how his face, no, his entire being is angled towards you. It is the most marvelous sight you have ever experienced.

Despite the beauty of the boy teaching you, your own mastery is far less substantial than you’d like. You can feel the shame of it heating up your cheeks as Luke reminds you of what you’re supposed to be learning for the umpteenth time. Watching Sunset Curve practice, you’d always wondered why you never picked up an instrument. This is reminding you of that reason:  you’re absolutely awful at it.

Eventually, your desire to seem at least somewhat capable in front of Luke wins out over your need to be so close to him and you carefully put the guitar in his lap.

“I think that’s enough for now,” you whisper, glancing away, “at this point, teaching me music is a lost cause.”

Luke shakes his head. “Hey, don’t feel too discouraged. It took me forever to learn. You wouldn’t believe how awful my fingerpicking was when I first started. You’re blowing my first attempts out of the water by a long shot, trust me.”

You laugh. “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

Luke’s eyes are wide and earnest. “No, it’s true. Besides, I see this as an absolute win. If you can’t play the guitar, it means you need me around more often.”

Smiling, you ask:  “And is that a good thing?”

“Most certainly,” Luke breathes, and you think you might die just there, watching him look at you like you were worth so much more than you ever thought.

Luke comes to reality first, and looks away quickly, a faint pink blossoming over his cheeks. “If we’re trying to learn how bad we are at each other’s habits, though, I think it’s my turn to fail. It’s time for art lessons.”

You flip to a fresh page in your sketchbook and pass it over. Luke holds the thing reverently, and only through severe coaching do you manage to convince him to actually grip it tight enough to keep the paper steady. He keeps claiming that he doesn’t want to hurt such precious contents, but you think it might also just be a ploy to keep you laughing even just a little longer.

As much as you hate to admit it, Luke’s fears about not being able to pick up drawing might be true. You swear you give him easy subjects to start off, and despite an abundance of furrowed brows and studious expressions, Luke and art do not mix. 

At last, he looks up at you desolately and holds up graphite stained hands for you to witness. “See? It’s a losing battle, I swear.”

You bite back a smile. “It’s just like you told me about guitar, isn’t it? All you need is practice.”

You think you wouldn’t mind being there for a few more art practice sessions, either. Something about the way Luke is so devoted to trying to get this right, and all the while watching you draw out examples like you’re a living saint, makes your chest feel so tight that it might burst. You would gladly sink the rest of your afternoons and sunsets into these sorts of moments, walled up in the studio with Luke, losing track of time until you have no idea where your days begin and his end.

Luke must be feeling the same way, because he leans a little closer to you. “I’m not sure I believe it, but I wouldn’t mind more practice sessions with you. We wouldn’t even have to draw or play guitar if you didn’t want to. If you’re alright with that, of course. We could just, you know, hang out.”

The hope in his eyes is only matched by the delight in yours. “I think that sounds great,” you say.

Luke’s face brightens. “Really? I mean, yeah, it would be fun. Maybe we could go get ice cream soon.”

“Tell me a date, I’ll make time,” you reply. You’ll clear your entire schedule if that’s what it takes. This is something that you didn’t see happening in your wildest dreams, and now that it’s real, you don’t plan on giving it up for anything.

Luke lifts a shoulder. “How about Saturday afternoon? We can go anywhere.”

You could gladly spend the rest of the day just talking over the prospect of this date with Luke, but a sound from outside the studio makes you bite your tongue. You can see Alex, Reggie, and Bobby approaching the door– it must be time for the band to have practice.

Luke groans. “They have terrible timing.”

You laugh. “They didn’t know anything was happening, that’s their fault. I know everything I want, though.”

You don’t think Luke’s smiles have ever been brighter than the one he shoots you now. For once, you realize a most welcome truth:  all this time that you’ve been pining over Luke, he’s been feeling the exact same way. At last, the two of you have been able to get together, and you couldn’t be happier about it.

requested by @thatfangirl42, i hope you enjoy!

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