InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hold the door!"

{ʟᴜᴋᴇ ᴘᴀᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴏɴ} (lukepatterson) wrote in chances_rpg,
@ 2025-04-03 18:47:00

Entry tags:

julie and the phantoms: julie molina, julie and the phantoms: luke patterson, ~!game plot: hallmark movie

LOG: JULIE & LUKE

Who. Julie Molina & Luke Patterson
When. February 22
Where. Julie's apartment → room
What. Everyone is back to normal. Luke isn't married!
Warnings. Nah

"Are you kidding? Strong mafioso ties. One call is all it would take."

She had been so quick to assure him that the whole thing wasn't considered cheating that Luke hadn't even let himself get stuck on the idea. He trusted her. He trusted her to not lie to him, especially about what her true feelings on that would have been, and she had wanted to see him. The way she offered said nothing about her maybe wanting to break up with him.

At least he had good news. He was holding fast to that and he would tell Mal just as soon as he was able to see his girlfriend and just hug her. Kiss her, if she allowed it. Everything was always Julie's pace and he never hesitated to follow her lead nor did he ever argue.

He knocked on the door to the familiar apartment and fidgeted in place as he waited. Luke could have texted her when he was close enough but he needed the moment, needed to give her the chance to ignore him being at the door, and he needed to see if either of the adults were around and what their opinions were.

Julie was doing her very best not to let worry overwhelm her. She wasn't worried about Luke's brief concern that he might have cheated – that thought had never even crossed her mind until he brought it up and she'd subsequently shut it down.

No, what she was worried about was the possibility that he was married. And she wasn't even all that concerned about what it would change for them. She was confident that there would be a minimal impact if at all. Her worry sat with what it meant for Luke. He didn't deserve to have to go through things like a divorce at nineteen because they'd been forced to not be themselves.

She hated that it had happened, and she hated it for him.

When she heard the knock she didn't hesitate to open the door, knowing exactly who it would be. In the same moment her arms went around him, throwing herself into the embrace with all she had. She put every ounce of love and caring she felt for him into the hug.

"Hey." The word was muffled against his chest, not ready to let go in any hurry.

It was funny how the two people he'd needed hugs from the most had basically hugged him in the same way. Hard, reassuring, and not ready to immediately let go. But Julie was smaller than Matt and his arms were able to wind around her better.

"Hey," he said against her hair. Sure, they were standing in the doorway but he didn't care. This was fine. This was perfect, in fact. Luke felt something release in his body and his next exhale was probably the most relaxed his breathing had been since he had woken up.

Julie held on a little longer, feeling the way some of the tension bled out of his posture. She'd needed this too. No one could make her feel better quite like Luke could. And she wasn't the one who'd just been through a really, really weird situation. She'd sort of just been on the sidelines of one.

Eventually she pulled back, but she took his hand. She loved how well their fingers fit together. "Come on." She turned and led him towards her room, knowing he'd follow.

Even once they were inside and the door was shut she didn't let go. Sure, the door didn't need to be shut. They weren't hiding anything. But she liked to have this quiet moment with him and thought maybe he needed it today. Standing almost toe to toe, she met his eyes with a soft smile, squeezing his fingers in hers. "Did you speak to Matt?"

Any time Julie took his hand, Luke was completely under her spell. That first touch had been earth-shattering and a core memory for him now and he delighted in every touch he could get. From her, from anyone. But Julie's was different because he had wanted to touch her and couldn't. His fingers had the typical calluses in the places where his fingers were always so often against guitar strings and she never seemed to mind them.

It amused him, vaguely, that the two Russian Assassins in the apartment never seemed to mind when he was in Julie's room with the door closed. Matt never minded, either, but he could hear anything and everything going on. His parents would have never trusted him behind a closed door with someone he was interested in.

They were nearly toe to toe, nose to nose, and he leaned forward enough to press a kiss to her forehead, returning the squeeze of their entwined fingers. "Yeah," he said softly and let his lips linger against her skin as he smiled. "It didn't happen. We ran through the whole thing, Mal and I never actually managed to get it done. I wasn't following everything but he's positive I am not married, legally or otherwise." Luke grinned as he pulled back. "I would have texted that to you but I wanted to see you anyway. It was able to wait."

Julie blew out a breath at that, a relieved sound at the news, solidified by the broad grin on his face. "No, I'm glad you came here." He was right, it could wait. And now he was here with her and he wasn't married or anything else weird and sure, it might take some time but they could put that weirdness behind them a whole lot easier than if there'd been some kind of legal entanglements to go with it.

She let his hand go but only to bring both hers up to cup his face, stretching up to kiss him sweetly. Some occasions called for more than just forehead kisses – not that she minded the gesture from him in the slightest.

"My boyfriend isn't married and I'm all caught up on my homework. Today is a very good day."

Luke smiled against the kiss, relief making its way through his body as it relaxed more. He had woken up completely stressed and had hit a panic mode; Julie grounded him in ways that the boys and Matt didn't. Maybe it came from her being the only girl in the equation, maybe it came from her being his girlfriend, but Luke suspected it was simply Julie being herself. Everything about her made him starry-eyed and he was never very good at hiding his emotions or his thoughts.

Maybe he could get a tattoo of a heart on his arm. No names, no romantic meaning behind it, just the idea of his heart on his sleeve--because goodness knew he hated sleeves in general.

At the mention of homework, Luke's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to let his worries spill out. His own homework would have piled up. His absences would be handled, as they always were, because it was hard to argue against the Dean when the government was applying pressure. But his mouth shut again and he chose to not worry. Not yet. "And my girlfriend is caught up on homework and her boyfriend isn't married so it's probably a pretty good day for me, too," Luke joked. His hands were on her waist and his thumbs rubbed absently though still perfectly respectful. He was always respectful with his touches, nothing that would get someone riled up because of a wrong assumption about them. Luke didn't really care too much about what people thought about him but he never wanted Julie to be caught up in something and made to feel uncomfortable.

"Want to watch a movie?" he suggested. "Just... spend some quiet time together?" A beat and then there was a sigh that was heaved, a dramatic sound. "Just not some romantic comedy."

She smiled at his joking, closed mouthed and amused. Her hair was pulled back into braids today and she tucked a stray curl behind her ear. She could have stood here all day just looking at him as his thumbs moved at her waist. He had such a beautiful face – she could never get enough of his eyes and how expressive they were, or the way his mouth was always so animated, whether pulled down in a frown or smiling widely. She loved everything about it, and him.

She just had a lot of love for him right now.

"Anything but a romantic comedy," she agreed vehemently, reaching for his hand all over again to pull him in the direction of her bed. "How about a comedy? Let's see what Netflix recommends." They could Netflix and Chill, only it would be actual chilling, because she knew full well Luke's brain could use that right now. He needed to switch off and relax and not stress for a while.

"Comedy, yes. Something stupid," Luke agreed readily, sounding almost desperate as he was dragged toward her bed. It was so commonplace that it was easy to get comfortable almost immediately and Luke waited for her to get settled though he scooted so he was behind her and she was able to be between his legs.

And then he wrapped his arms around Julie. "I love you," he whispered into her ear, chin moving to rest on her shoulder. The position might not last, especially with how he tended to need to move, but for the moment he was grateful for it. "Which reminds me. We missed Valentine's Day and I don't know how to make up for it but I'll figure something out. Just not today. I think my brain cells all melted into a puddle after Matt figured out I'm not actually married."

Julie settled with her back to Luke's chest, pulling her laptop closer and bringing up the Netflix menu to have a scroll through. A 'stupid comedy' wasn't going to be too hard to cater to as a request, there were plenty of those to choose from. She was leaning towards something animated, too. It felt right for a day like today.

She gave a pleased little hum at his declaration, leaning her head against his for just a moment. "It doesn't need to be anything extravagant," she reminded him. She wouldn't tell him not to plan something. She liked the idea of celebrating something with him, too, and she didn't want to shoot him down or make him think she didn't appreciate the thoughtfulness of it. "Definitely not today." She pulled up Kung Fu Panda and hit play, settling back and resting a hand over his. "Your brain deserves some quiet time."

The rest of the stress seemed to melt away the more and more Julie spoke. It didn't need to be extravagant. It didn't need to even be decided that day, much less acted upon.

And his brain, the one that never shut up unless he was properly medicated, did deserve some quiet time. Her movie choice made him laugh and he just let it all go. He wasn't married, he knew who he was, his friends were okay, and his girlfriend was the exact same person he needed. The person he loved. Still, he couldn't help opening his mouth. "I really want to write a song or two about our experiences before today. They'd sound wild. We just claim they were a silly phase and no one bails on us for changing our sound."

He grinned, slowly. "Maybe even let Reggie write something about horses."

"I like that," Julie half enthused, half encouraged. She was a lot more interested in brainstorming music ideas with Luke than the movie. She always would be, it was one of her favorite things to do. They'd come up with some incredible music together, and she knew there was plenty more to come.

"What would the first song be about? I don't think the first one can be about the horses. Might scare people off." She was only joking of course. She knew Reggie had done a lot of work towards his musical based around the subject.

"You know, something good that came out of all that was getting to know people even better. I bet it's the same for you with Mal. Especially now that you know you're not married."

Luke nodded, careful to not jostle their combined position too much since his chin was still on her shoulder. "She seems nice," he agreed. "Little loud but not in a bad way. And Enid tried to talk sense into me. I remember that much."

He tipped his head so he could look at Julie a little better. "Who'd you end up with? Doing what?" Luke asked, genuinely curious--as he usually was.

"You're a little loud in a not bad way," she teased. "Sounds like a good combination to me." She smiled at the mention of Enid attempting to caution him. Kind of ironic, after the saga where their werewolf friend had decided she was in love with some barista. "I'm glad somebody tried."

The movie was all but forgotten, just background noise, but Julie liked it that way. "I was a bit of a spectator. I was with Julio – Richter? He was my dad. He and Klaus were kind of falling in love. It was sweet, even if now looking back it must be so weird for them." But it had been nice, having that father figure back in her life, even temporarily.

Luke made a humming sound that somehow came out as amused. What? He was a musical kind of guy. "It would have probably been more effective if the whole thing weren't so... logical," he sighed. "I can't even remember the specifics, just that it was a marriage of convenience and I didn't even love her until toward the end. Everything was going hilariously wrong by that point which was probably what saved our butts."

He was talking through the movie but Julie didn't shush him and it was meant to be a distraction anyway. "But that seems kind of nice, just being a spectator. And that's wild, that he was your dad but it worked out okay? And I know you miss your dad. I miss your dad. He'd probably lose his mind at being able to actually meet us." Luke's arms tightened around Julie for a second and his eyes went wide. "You don't think he'd try to make me disappear, do you? No ties to any mafia, right?" The idea was comical but they were dating and parents got weird about that.

"The whole thing was just so weird." Even if for some of them it had meant meeting new people, and there were nice aspects. That wasn't enough to make her like it. "I guess it's not the worst thing this place has done," by a long shot, actually, "but I don't think that gets it many points in its favor."

Julie's smile was a little melancholy at the thought of her dad. She did miss him. But the expression lightened at the thought of his dad finding out about she and Luke. "Are you kidding? Strong mafioso ties. One call is all it would take." She poked his side, because he was being silly and it was adorable. She liked when he was playful, which was often. "He'd be thrilled to meet you properly, and he would know you've been a perfect gentleman and that his daughter is happy and he'd love you."

It took him just a second to realize she was joking but there was still that second of panic that came and went. Luke squirmed when she poked him but it didn't diminish the grin that appeared. "I hope he'd like me. Love me, even. Did you know Reggie used to talk to him? It was all one-sided, of course," he said. "Maybe one day we'll all get to meet him properly. Who knows?"

"And in the meantime, I get to keep loving you anyway," Luke added with a smile. He knew he was ridiculous, he knew he probably had hearts in his eyes, but there wasn't anyone else he wanted to love the way he loved Julie Molina. "Guess you're stuck with me."

That made her laugh fondly. "Just like Reggie. They'd get on well, I think. But he'd love all of you. He already knows how talented you are."

Maybe he was being a little bit cheesy but that didn't mean she wasn't ready to melt just like cheese herself at his words. Leaning her head back against his shoulder she smiled at him from the awkward angle. "I happen to like being stuck with you. Wouldn't have it any other way. I've already done the 'can't touch you' thing and I was not a fan." All those times they'd tried to touch hands; all those lost moments. She could still remember the feeling of throwing every part of herself into that hug like it was yesterday. The shock and joy at feeling him, real and solid in her arms.

Luke honestly hoped--wished--that Julie's dad would show up. For her sake and for his own selfish desires because he knew that Julie'd had to lie about who the band really was, where they were. Maybe they would get the chance to really explain everything, really just...

He folded himself around her just a little more and his smile changed. It was one of the softer variations and, sure, a little melancholy but it wasn't a mood that needed to be fixed. Luke just needed to feel it for a moment. "I hated not being able to touch you," he mumbled. "And then we could. And now we're here and I can do this as much as I want." As much as she would let him, which was exactly how he liked it. "And jeez, you're such a talker," Luke teased after a few moments, the smile morphing back into his grin before he settled again. Relaxed. Relieved. And maybe he didn't peel himself off his girlfriend. Sue him.