JATP ONE-SHOTS

RUKE

The boys are shredding on their instruments, bouncing around. When Reggie and Luke make eye contact, Reggie smiles at him and Luke gestures for Reggie to come to his mic. He comes right over and they sing on each side of the mic together while dancing around.

When the song comes to an end Luke briefly pauses then rushes over to his journal, frantically opening it up to a fresh page and ecstatically scribbling into it with his pen. "Yes, perfect..." he mutters to himself, his face in upmost concentration on his work. Reggie and Alex immediately know what this particular look on his face means.

"Well, Luke's deep into song-writer mode, so I guess we're taking a break." Alex says, standing from his drums. "I'm gonna go visit the boardwalk" he tells Reggie, who puts on his most shit eating grin.

"Would that have anything to with the construction that a certain ghost is definitely gonna skate?" he asks, elbowing his friend. "Oh, are they doing construction?" Alex squeaks unconvincingly. Reggie chuckles. "Tell him I said hi!" "And that Luke would if he wasn't off in song land." he adds, smiling fondly at the before mentioned boy. "Okay." Alex poofs out.

"Bye," Reggie says to the empty space. He looks over at Luke, still buried in his work. He sets down his bass. When like this Luke would tune out most sounds, including people talking to him- as Reggie eventually learned. But music or any kind of rhythm could throw him off.

Reggie thinks about what to do. Julie was at school, and Ray was chaperoning Carlos' class trip.

He stretches as he feels himself coming off his adrenaline high from practice, realizing he's been moving around since this morning. He wonders if they can get physically worn out as ghosts. Alex did get a wedgie. Maybe these things are just a...something effect. Julie did an essay on it. Gazebo?

Suddenly an idea hits him. He should take a nice bath! Technically speaking, he didn't need bathing- being a ghost and all- but he really enjoyed those when he was alive. And what else was he gonna do?

Ray had just bought a ton of bubble bath while shopping at Costco, so they probably weren't gonna miss one bottle. They didn't all fit in the family's bathroom, so some of them were stored in this garage. Reggie rifles though the bottles and finds one labeled with the scent fresh meadow. He grabs it, perfect for brainstorming a country hit.

He scurries into the nearby bathroom and starts running a bath. When his bubble bath is set up, he peels of his clothes and sinks it. "Ah, this is nice," he breathes, closing his eyes.

Luke's pen stops scratching on his paper and starts tapping on his chin as he tries to think of the next line. He looks up to ask the other guys for help, but they've vanished. He figures Alex went to see Willie, so he looks around for Reggie. He searches in the kitchen and Julie's room but has no luck finding him. He wonders if Reggie decided hang out with Ray and Carlos on that school trip, but he doesn't know where it is so he has no way of checking.

Giving up, he heads back to their studio. Then he notices a door and can't recall what's behind it. He considers that Reggie might be, so he opens it.

Inside is Reggie, laying in the tub and covered in bubbles. He opens his eyes and sees Luke standing there. Luke blurts out "Uh, I got stuck trying to think of the next part..." He vaguely gestures with his journal. "Oh, okay." Reggie pulls himself into a sitting position, his upper body now above the water.

Suddenly his bass appears in his hands. "Wha-" Luke snatches the instrument. "Why would you play this over water?" "Dude, I'm already dead." Reggie reminds him. Before Luke can retort, he continues. "Plus, I already dropped it in water and was able to poof it into my hands totally dry."

"Of course you've already done it." Luke sighs. "What else should I expect from the guy who fixed his amp in the rain." "Uh, you're welcome for discovering one of our musician spirit powers!" He says, taking back his bass.

"So, what's your song?" He pats the edge of the tub. Luke sits down and puts his journal on his knees- as far from the water as possible, he doesn't know if his journal will be safe like Reggie's bass and doesn't wanna risk it. Luke recites the lyrics and Reggie strums his bass, the former progressively scoots closer to the latter's end of the tub.

Luke sings the last lyric, which mentions "crooked teeth." He notices Reggie making a sour face. "I'm sorry about that song- Crocked Teeth. When I first wrote it and played it for the band you liked it," Luke explains, "and it didn't occur to me that you didn't realize it was about you, so I thought you considered that when you gave your approval."

Luke looks straight into Reggie's eyes with a serious and soft expression. "I never meant it as a bad thing, and I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I understand it wasn't to hurt or secretly jab at me. I guess I just...would've liked to have known the song used my teeth as the hook." Reggie explains. "But it was a sweet song!"

He flashes Luke a smile that makes him feel so warm and good. The smile that inspired him to write a song about it all those years ago.

Luke isn't sure if Reggie meant sweet as in awesome or...sweet. He doesn't want to ask him so he moves on.

They bounce ideas off of and sing to each other. Reggie's scooted closer and their faces are as close as they tend to get when they sing together. Also like in performances, Luke is moving around. He's now swaying on the wet tub edge.

Then he slips.

"Woah!" Luke falls above Reggie before catching himself, his hands on the tub floor and arms on either side of the other boy, who is laying like he was originally.

They share shy smiles and soft laughter, then...a kiss.

Eventually they pull apart then remember where they are. "I, uh," Reggie clears his throat, "I should get dressed. Then we could talk, maybe?"

"Yeah. That'd be good." Luke replies with a reassuring nod. He picks his journal off the bathroom floor and leaves, closing the door behind him.

At the next band practice they're doing a new song, Slippery Smile, with the two of them sharing knowing looks.