#eli.writes

Alex had poofed out onto Hollywood Boulevard, expecting to see Willie skating amidst the lifers. When he doesn’t find him there, he poofs to the beach where he’d hung out with Willie. Once again, there are no ghosts to be found. 

He’s checked the street, the beach, and he doesn’t know where Justin Bieber’s pool is, so he goes to the only other place he can think of where Willie might be- the museum. As he stands in front of the closed doors, preparing to poof in, Alex tries not to think about the very likely possibility that Willie is somewhere else completely- at the Hollywood Ghost Club, being tortured by Caleb for helping Alex and the band. 

No, he tells himself, you’re okay, and that means he’s okay. He’ll be here. 

Alex doesn’t mean to, but he transports himself to the exact spot where he and Willie had been before, the stone bench still sitting where they had moved it together. It only takes him a second to adjust to the new location before he notices that he isn’t alone. 

Willie has his back to Alex, and just like the last time they were here, Willie is screaming. It’s a much different sound this time, though. The yells are anguished, and based on the way the other boy is shaking, Alex thinks there must be sobs mixed in with the screams. Willie is kicking the bench furiously, and Alex can hear him cursing under his breath. 

Alex is so taken aback by the scene that he doesn’t do anything at first. But soon the part of him that is screaming at him that if he sees Willie like this for one more moment his heart will literally break takes over. 

  “Willie?” He says it softly, barely more than a whisper.

The ghost turns around, shock painted on his face.

“Alex…”

Alex doesn’t process what’s happening, but the next thing he knows, Willie’s arms are around around him, holding him tight. Alex relaxes into the hug, letting his head fall on Willie’s shoulder.

“Holy shit, I thought I’d lost you.” Willie mumbles into Alex’s ear. 

Alex pulls away slightly, just enough so he can look into Willie’s eyes. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Willie laughs slightly, though the sound is thick with tears. “What happened? Why didn’t you cross over? Shit, are you still having jolts? Are you going to fade-”

“Woah, who’s the one with questions now?!” Alex puts his hand on Willie’s shoulder, squeezing a bit in an attempt to calm him down. “I’m okay. We played the Orpheum, but didn’t cross over. Apparently that wasn’t our unfinished business. And… well we almost faded away, but we’re fine now! Julie saved us, somehow. I still don’t really get how. But look, my stamp is gone.” Alex rolls up the sleeve of Caleb’s suit that he’s still wearing to prove it to Willie.

“Oh my god, it’s actually gone.” Willie whispers, running his fingers over the spot on Alex’s wrist that had previously been marked with the bright purple stamp. Alex gulps and tries to ignore how Willie’s touch sends shivers through his body. “That’s never happened before.” 

“Oh. Huh. Well, the guys were hoping you knew what caused them to disappear, but I guess that’s not the case…”

“Nope, sorry man. Do you have any idea what it could be?”

Alex racked his brain, trying to remember what happened in those last few moments of blinding jolt-induced pain. “I dunno. I think… I think Julie said she loved us, though. And then she was able to touch us, and we all hugged, and the stamps just… floated away.”

Willie blinked, looking taken aback. “Okay, I’m not going to focus on the part where a lifer can touch you… but maybe love has something to do with getting rid of Caleb’s curse? I mean, it would make sense. I’ve spent decades with Caleb, the guy doesn’t even know the meaning of the word love.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Alex scratched at the back of his head awkwardly, unsure what to do. If Willie was right, does that mean Alex had a chance to free him? As much as Alex had spent the time where he thought he was going to disappear forever thinking about how he wanted to tell Willie how he felt about him, now that he had a chance to, it was a terrifying thing to think about doing. 

Alex realized that Willie had stopped looking at him, and was blinking ferociously. “Dude, are you okay?”

“Huh?” Willie looked up at him. “Oh, yeah, I just…” He trailed off, but after taking a deep breath, he looked Alex in the eyes and continued speaking.

“I thought I was never going to see you again. Even if you’d crossed over, which obviously I wanted you to, but if you had I still wouldn’t have been able to follow you. And if you had disappeared completely… I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. And god, Alex, you nearly did. All because of me.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Alex assures him. “I told you, I don’t blame you for what you did. You didn’t have a choice.”

“Still, I.. I thought you were going to leave me before I even got to tell you how I feel.” Willie bit his lip slightly, not looking at Alex. 

If Alex had a heart, it would have leapt into his throat. “How you... feel?”

Willie nodded. “... about you.” He locked eyes with Alex again, an intensity in his hazel eyes. 

Alex was frozen, unsure what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, but Alex had never really been one to act impulsively, no matter how much he wanted to. What if he was wrong about what Willie meant? Maybe… maybe Willie was just a very affectionate person! Maybe he just meant he felt that Alex was cool guy. Or... or something. 

Alex could hear his friend’s voices in his head, telling him how much of an idiot he was being. Dude, he obviously likes you. We both saw that hug, not to mention the way he looked at you that night at Caleb’s. He really wanted to believe them. 

Alex broke eye contact briefly, his eyes flickering to Willie’s lips, which were parted slightly open in confusion. He realized how long it had been since either of them had spoken. 

“Alex?” Willie finally spoke, his voice soft and full of concern and curiosity. 

Screw it.

Alex kissed him. 

For a fraction of a second, Willie didn’t kiss him back and Alex’s fears came back worse than ever before. But then he felt Willie’s arms wrap around him and pull him closer to him, and his fears- along with any other coherent thoughts- were gone. All he could think about was Willie, the way his hair felt tangled in Alex’s fingers, the way he tasted of smoke and peppermint, Willie, the way one of his hands had moved to cradle Alex’s face, the way he murmured Alex’s name as he pulled back slightly for air… Willie.

The two eventually pulled apart, and Alex felt like crying tears of joy at how beautiful Willie looked, face flushed a deep red and hair mussed.

Without think, Alex said in a rush, “I think I’m in love with you.”

God fucking damnit, Alex. 

His eyes widened in fear, preparing to poof away and never show his face to Willie ever again. But Alex realized Willie wasn’t looking at him, instead he was looking down at his own wrist, where a purple stamp was floating off his skin and into the air around them. 

“Holy shit…” Willie whispered. He looked up at Alex in disbelief, eyes shining. “I guess I was right about the love thing.”

Willie continued to beam at Alex, but Alex couldn’t find it in him to respond, still mortified from his blurted love confession. He meant it, of course, but he hadn’t planned on saying it to Willie for a very long time, if ever.   

Finally he said something. “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the moment or anything, I just-”

“Sorry?! Alex, you just saved me! I’ve been under Caleb’s curse for years, and you just came along and freed me. I mean, what could I ever do to thank you enough?”

“Oh. Cool.” Alex looked at Willie in relief. “You could kiss me again, for starters.” 

Wille broke into his gorgeous smile, melting Alex’s heart in the process. “You don’t need to tell me twice.” He threw his arms around Alex and laughed, kissing him. 

So Alex had found himself entering Hollywood Coffee, a nice place in the middle of Sunset Boulevard that he hadn’t actually been to before (again, getting drinks was usually Luke’s job). He didn’t pay much attention as he walked to the register, and as he waited in the short line, he pulled out his phone and opened his notes app, making sure he had everyone’s order written down properly. Alex had gotten much better with handling his anxiety, but everyday social interactions were still far from his favorite thing. 

Alex was just finishing going over the order in his head for what had to be the fifteenth time, because the last thing he wanted was to be on his phone the whole time he was talking to the barista- how rude would that be?!- when he heard the employee in question wish the person in front of Alex a nice day, and Alex stepped up to the counter, still not looking up as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

“What can I get for you?” A friendly voice asked, and Alex finally looked up at the barista.

Fuck.

Alex wasn’t sure if he was breathing as he stared at the boy in front of him. He had tan skin and long dark hair that was pulled up into a messy bun, wispy strands of hair framing his face perfectly. He was wearing what appeared to be a tye dye crop top under his black apron. The shirt was loose and short-sleeved- which was very unfortunate for Alex, who had made the mistake of looking at the man’s arms and felt himself growing very red as he took in the impressive muscles. He scanned the apron, finding a name tag with ‘Willie’ scrawled across it. The apron also had a pin that read ‘He/They’ and a rainbow pin. 

The guy- Willie- made a small sound, something between a cough and a sigh, and Alex suddenly remembered he was supposed to be ordering drinks, not ogling the random cute boy. Alex’s head shot up, and he opened his mouth to speak, but found himself unable to do so as he accidentally made eye contact with Willie. 

Alex had heard people been described as having “kind eyes” before, but he’d never understood what they meant by that until he looked at Willie. There really was no other way to describe the boy’s deep brown eyes. The sunlight streaming in the nearby window lit his eyes with a soft golden glow, and Alex could have easily kept staring into them forever, but Willie blinked and Alex was jolted out of his trance. 

“Uhh….” Alex started, but was still finding himself unable to talk. “Sorry, I… um… here.” Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, unlocking it quickly and shoving the still-open drink order into Willie’s face.

Well that wasn’t ideal. But hey, at least if Alex didn’t talk, he couldn’t embarrass himself any further. 

“Oh! Uh, do you mind if I…” Willie gestured to the phone. 

Alex stared at him blankly for a moment before replying, “Yeah! Yeah of course! Here!” Alex dropped the phone into Willie’s outstretched hand and stared down at the floor while Willie carefully read over his order. Alex frantically tapped a rhythm on his legs, trying to calm down the blush that had spread across his whole face. 

Willie placed the phone on the counter, and Alex quickly swept it up into his pocket. 

“Okay, your drinks will be ready soon!” Willie smiled at Alex and Alex felt himself go weak in the knees at the boy’s crooked grin. 

Alex just nodded. He probably should move from the counter, but he didn’t want to leave Coffee Shop Boy forever. 

Willie smiled at him again, nodding at his shirt. “Nice shirt.” Alex glanced down quickly to see what he was wearing. It was a really stupid shirt of Reggie’s- plain pink with a hot dog on it, god knows why- that had been left at his place. Why Alex was wearing it, he didn’t know. He had probably been tempted by fate to wear it today for the sole purpose of humiliating himself further in front of the cute barista. 

Alex just attempted to smile at Willie and hurried away from the register, hearing a faint “Have a nice day!” from the other boy as he left. 

Alex found a seat in the farthest corner of the coffee shop and… well he didn’t want to say that he buried his head in his hands, but also that’s exactly what he did. Why am I such a disaster! This is why I can’t get a boyfriend! He cursed his existence, wishing he was capable of seeing cute boys without obviously staring at them like a creep. 

Alex sat there like that for what couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, but felt like much longer. He eventually took his head out of hands and decided that he’d rather get his anxiety out by pacing around the coffee shop as he waited for his drinks to be ready. 

Alex stood up, turned around, and promptly crashed into somebody, falling to the floor. He felt hot liquid splash against him and his head was ringing from the force of the collision. 

“Oh my god are you okay?” A worried voice asked from above him, and Alex felt hands on his arms as the person who had landed on top of him pulled themselves up. 

Alex opened his eyes and found Willie staring back at him. 

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit-

Willie stood fully, extending a hand to Alex to help him up. Alex took it on instinct, but immediately regretted doing so. His hands were sweaty and warm and sticky with coffee and oh god he’d really fucked up this time-

“I am so sorry.” Willie said once Alex was standing. “I realized that I didn’t get your name, so I figured I’d just bring your drinks to you, but I didn’t see you moving to get up… anyways, I’m really sorry.” 

Alex ran his hand through his hair, blushing madly at Willie talking to him in such a genuine way. “It’s okay. It’s my fault.” 

“No, no, it’s not! Here, let me make you new drinks.” Willie turned to go back behind the counter but Alex reached out and grabbed his arm- shocking both Willie and himself. 

“Don’t bother.” Alex said, dropping Willie’s arm as quickly as he’d grabbed it. “I have to go,” Willie looked at him curiously. “Band practice.” Alex explained. 

“Oh, nice!” Willie responded. “But are you sure you don’t want me to get you something? I can just whip up those drinks again really quick.” 

“I’m sure,” Alex answered. “I’m already running late.” It was true, and there was nothing worse than being late to a rehearsal with Julie Molina (if looks could kill…). 

“Okay… well, if you’re sure. But I have to find a way to repay you. Like, actually I do, or I’ll get in trouble with my boss. And believe me, being in trouble with my boss would be bad.” Willie shuddered in a way that filled Alex with a surprising amount of anger towards this unnamed boss. 

“I can come back after practice? Maybe I’ll buy something then.” Alex suggested. The more he talked to Willie, the less embarrassed he felt and found himself just enjoying being in the company of the other boy. 

Willie nodded, seeming to contemplate carefully what he was going to say next. “Let me pay you back in another way though. I’ve got to make up for ruining your shirt.” 

Alex was about to point out that it wasn’t actually his shirt, and also that Willie’s clothes were equally soaked, but Willie wasn’t done talking.  

“I’ll pay for your drinks. I don’t mind paying out of my own pocket. But let me take you out for coffee- somewhere else, though.” Willie laughed. “I’m kinda sick of the drinks here.” 

Holy shit. 

Was Willie… asking him out? 

Even after he blatantly checked him out, was so awkward that he couldn’t even talk to him, and collided with him and got coffee all over him? 

Well, Alex wasn’t going to be the one to complain. 

“Yes. Please. I would like that.” Alex hurriedly responded, furiously blushing and hoping his eagerness wasn’t too obvious. 

Willie smiled, and goddamn, if Alex thought that first smile was captivating. This one was clearly different from Willie’s customer service smile, wider and much more genuine, and Alex would have fainted from it had he not become completely numb to how hot Willie was from the events of the past twenty minutes. 

“Cool. I’ll meet you at Sunset Brew after my shift?” Willie asked, referencing another coffee shop a few blocks down. 

Alex just nodded, smiling shyly. 

“See ya there, Hotdog.” Willie bumped Alex’s shoulder and began to walk back to the counter. 

It took Alex’s brain a few seconds to process the nickname, but then he cried out, “Wait!” 

Willie stopped walking and looked expectantly at Alex. 

“Uh… I didn’t get your number?” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. Although Willie had told him a place to meet up, Alex still wanted to get the boy’s number. In case any number of things went wrong, he still wanted to be able to talk to him again. 

Willie just winked. “Check your phone.” 

He disappeared behind the counter, and Alex pulled out his phone, confused. He found it still open to the notes app, and at the bottom of the list of drinks, Alex found text that hadn’t been there before, along with a phone number. 

Call me ;)

Alex smiled as he left the coffee shop, trying his hardest to not freak out and scream right there on the street- his freaking out could wait until he was with his friends. 

“Why do we even celebrate our birthdays anymore?” Alex complained. “We’re dead! We don’t age!” 

Reggie punched him playfully in the shoulder. “I think you just can’t accept that people want a day to celebrate your awesomeness.” 

“Yeah, c’mon, Alex, just let us have this.” Julie pleaded, giving Alex her best puppy-dog eyes. “Besides, you actually can’t complain any more because my dad baked a cake for you and you’ve definitely known me long enough to know that no one turns down my dad’s cakes.” 

Alex rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine, I’ll let you guys celebrate my birthday. Just let the record show that I think it’s stupid to celebrate a dead guys birthday.” 

“Noted.” Julie said. “But all but one of my friends are dead guys, and I’m a big birthday gal, so I’m still electing to ignore you.” 

Alex just smiled at her. The occasion did seem to make Julie happy, and Alex just wanted Julie to be happy. The band was interrupted by Willie poofing next to Alex on the couch, causing everyone but Alex to jump (Alex had gotten very used to his boyfriend randomly showing up like this). 

“Well thank god you’re letting us celebrate, because this would be an awkward thing to give to anyone else.” Willie was handing something to Alex, but he didn’t take it right away. 

“Babe, you’ve gotta stop hiding outside the studio and spying on us just so you have a witty quip to use when you finally appear.”

Willie pouted. “You’re no fun. Here, take my gift.” Alex finally grabbed the small item in Willie’s hand, listening as Willie explained, “I thought your pride pin could use something to accompany it, since you refuse to stop wearing that stupid fanny pack.” 

Alex wasn’t listening to his boyfriend anymore, instead processing the item he held in his hands- a white pin with the black silhouette of a drum kit, accompanied by text reading ‘save a drum, bang a drummer’.  

“Oh my god.” Alex looked up and glared at Willie, who just smirked. 

“What, you don’t like it?” 

“You jerk!” Alex laughed, lunging forward and smacking his boyfriend’s arm. 

“Alex, what is it?!” Luke demanded to know. Alex had forgotten his friends were there, and he threw the button at them.

The three of them erupted into laughter and various choruses of ‘oh my god’ and ‘holy shit’. 

“No! Don’t encourage him!” Alex begged, gesturing at Willie, who had fallen over onto the couch laughing. 

“Oh I absolutely will encourage him.” Julie said, tossing the pin back at Willie. “Willie, amazing job. Fantastic gift. Ten out of ten. I will personally ensure that Alex never stops wearing this.” 

“Thank you Julie, I appreciate your support.” Willie pulled himself up and moved towards Alex, who was trying to slap him away. 

“C’mon Hotdog, we’ve gotta see how it looks!” Willie moved under his boyfriend’s hands to grab his fanny pack, preparing to attach the button. 

Alex grabbed Willie’s face and kissed him hard, hoping to distract him from the matter at hand. Alex found himself getting distracted instead as Willie kissed him back- even though they’d been together for months, Alex still saw stars every time the boy kissed him, or hugged him, or did anything, really (look, Alex was just a hopeless gay sometimes, okay?!).

Willie pulled away from Alex and pumped his fist victoriously. 

“Wha-” Alex looked down in confusion and saw the infamous button successfully attached to his fanny pack. “Oh, fuck you!” He flipped off his boyfriend, who was cackling on the couch next to him. 

“I mean, that’s what it says on the pin, yeah.” Willie wiggled his eyebrows at Alex, who just rolled his eyes and extended a hand to Willie, ignoring the blush rising on his cheeks. 

“C’mere you dork.” Alex kissed him, gently this time, ignoring the yells from Luke to get a room (if Alex had to deal with Luke and Julie, they had to deal with him and Willie. Plus, he knew that somewhere deep down, his friends were happy for him).

“Happy birthday, ‘lex.” Willie mumbled against his lips.

“I hate you.” Alex replied, the fondness in his voice exposing how he truly felt about the boy in his arms.