#using tumblr in the year of our lord (kenny ortega) 2021

[aro-of-artemis]

Together I Think That We Can Make It

it occured to me like 5 mins ago that i should post my fic on here lmao. i havent written fic since 2016 but then jatp came along soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here’s the first one. if you enjoy it please leave kudos over on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28131345

--

Julie is a tactile person. She enjoys those little everyday touches, the brushing of shoulders, the knocking of elbows, an arm slung around someone you care about just because you can, a warm, squeezing hug when you're sad. Those types of things. As such, not being able to touch three of the most important people in her life was…challenging. This being her nature, she hadn't even thought through the action of hugging Luke until it was already happening.

"No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you," he'd said, his eyes full with tears and steadfast conviction, "No regrets." And she couldn't help it. Her throat was closing up, clogged up by the thunderstorm of reliefgrieflove and all she could think to do was wrap her arms around him. And so she did.

He was so warm. She felt his hands span across her back, holding her together as she wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, to them. Overcome with desperate clawing love, manifested in the grip of her arms and the nearly audible tearing of her barely-healed heart.

"I love you guys," she eked out through the boulder in her throat.

And then it hit her. She was touching Luke. He had a physical body and she was touching him. She pulled back slowly, running her hands along his definitely-present-and-accounted-for arms, his similarly in-attendance hands.

"How can I feel you?"

"I-I-I dunno." His brows furrowed in a charming display of bewilderment and Julie's breath left her in a gasp as she reached up to his face. Feeling the curve of his cheekbones under his skin, the curl of hair around his ears, she revelled in the sensation of his burning hot fingers gently stroking her face. His small, confused chuckle burned in her chest, sparking down her arms. When he held their hands to his chest she could barely breathe. And his eyes - so familiar and yet seemingly so much closer than they had ever been.

Luke turned to Reggie and Alex, "I feel stronger." Stubborn, prickly hope bloomed in her chest.

"Alex, Reggie, come."

Together, they formed an unending circle, knit together as a unit. The love she felt for these boys was overwhelming, like she was bigger on the inside than she was on the outside.

---

After Caleb's stamps had disappeared, their hug had turned into another which turned into a twirling circle of excitement. This then turned into an exhausted cuddle pile. They were all emotionally and physically wrung out from their rollercoaster day. The couch had been turned into the pull-out (by whom, Julie couldn't tell you, she was just glad to be horizontal). Julie's head lay cushioned on Luke's chest, her ear pressed against his steady heartbeat (another development, apparently). Reggie had his face squished up against Luke's bicep, his arm slung over Luke and landing on Julie's shoulder. Alex's head was on the gentle rise and fall of Julie's stomach, his legs tangled with Luke's. Julie absent-mindedly played with his soft blond hair. She felt incredibly content. And then a voice rang out.

"Hey, Julie! I thought I told you not to ghost me. What happ-"

Julie glanced over at the doorway where Carlos stood with dinner plates for eyes. She wasn't sure what he was seeing other than her head seemingly suspended in mid-air but she didn't have the energy to move.

"Sorry, Carlos," she began, "I got distrac-"

"I - I can see them!"

"You what?"

Suddenly energy returned to her muscles. She lurched up, jostling the boys from their half-sleep.

"You can see them?" she asked, her heart beginning to race.

"Yeah," Carlos said. "I thought they were ghosts!"

"They are!" Julie cried at the same time Reggie said, in a much brighter tone, "We are!"

"Huh," Carlos said before grinning. "Cool!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Luke said, leveraging himself upright, "You can see us?"

"Awesome!" Reggie said when Carlos nodded. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Carlos made a show of squinting at him but his grin gave him away. "Four. Plus a thumb."

Luke smirked and rolled his eyes, glancing over at Alex who had been sitting quietly and looked a couple degrees away from panic.

"Hey, man, it's okay, we'll figure it out," Luke soothed, immediately understanding Alex's aversion to change. Alex just nodded dumbly in response so Julie started running her hand across his shoulder blades which seemed to calm him a small amount.

Meanwhile, Reggie had moved closer to Carlos.

"I wonder if-," Reggie cut himself off when his hand came to firmly rest on Carlos' shoulder. He turned around, still anchored to Carlos with a smile splitting his face. "Julie! Look!" He pulled back and tried again, his fingers this time passing straight through. He frowned down at his hand and continued trying, with mixed results. The others watched on in amusement.

Once again, the night air was cut through with a ringing voice. "Carlos, it's time to sleep. You can talk to Julie in the morning."

Ray stopped dead - ahem - in the doorway, several steps behind his son.

"Hello…" he said uncertainly. "Julie, what's going on?"

"I - It's a long story," she began, "You might wanna sit down for this."

--

"Ghosts?"

"Yeah."

"From 1995."

"Yup."

"Huh."

"Uhuh."

In the intervening time, all the boys had brought themselves to sit on the edge of the pull-out, crowded around Julie, helping her to tell the story, hot dogs and all.

"Y'know, your mom used to work as a waitress at the Orpheum. I think I remember her telling me about working the night that Sunset Curve-," he abruptly stopped himself, glancing up at the boys.

"Wait," Luke said, a grin starting to climb across his face, a little lopsided and entirely charming if one were to ask Julie. "That was your mom? Dude! Reggie flirted with your mom!"

"Hey!" Reggie cried defensively, "So did you!"

"I did not!"

"Did so!"

Ray chuckled at them while Alex looked on in smug satisfaction at the fact that he could not be said to have been flirting with Julie's mom, never mind the small details.

Ray's smile softened into something contemplative, and he looked around, eyeing Reggie, Alex and Luke in turn. When he spoke it got a little stuck in his throat but he continued on.

"Thank you, boys. For what you've done for Julie." He reached out and placed a hand on Reggie's shoulder without it sliding through. "Even though I've only known you a short time, I'd like to think you are now a part of our family."  Julie heard Reggie sniffle. And then Alex. And then Luke. They all looked at Ray as if he'd given them an irreplaceable gift.

The night ended with another hug, now bigger by two.