This fic is based on the post you made that got me to ship RayReggie in the first place. I wrote this fic to honor the shenanigans the post led to. Thank you for being my friend and indulging my ideas. You’re such a creative and supportive person, and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate your birthday.

“Help me propose to Julie.”

Reggie was stoked that Luke was getting engaged. Julie was the best, which was reason enough to be excited, but it also meant that Reggie would get the chance to be the best best man in the history of best men (Bobby and Alex were more than happy to let Reggie be best man because he was so excited about it). Reggie was going to knock the whole best man thing out of the park.

You know, after Luke proposed and all of that.

Luke wrote a song for her because of course he did. He was Luke. He showed it to Reggie and got his input, and Reggie was touched that Luke trusted him enough as a musician to workshop his proposal song with him. He also asked for Reggie’s help to plan the location, day, and time.

“Shouldn’t you coordinate that with Julie?” Reggie asked.

“I need you to be there too. Her family is going to want pictures, especially her aunt. She’s already been hinting about it.”

“So, you want me to creepily hide in the bushes and take photos of you proposing?”

“Yes?” Luke said, sounding unsure now that Reggie phrased it like that.

Reggie shrugged, smiling. “Sure, sounds fun!” Then he got an idea. “Actually, do you want a professional photographer to do it?”

“I don’t really want to pay a stranger to creepily hide in the bushes and take pictures of me.”

“You don’t have to pay a stranger,” Reggie clarified. “I know a guy who will do it for free.” He started fidgeting with his fingers. “I’m actually, kind of, dating a guy who will do it for free.”

Reggie hadn’t told the band about Ray. It was just easier that way. Alex already teased him about his Daddy Thing without knowing that his boyfriend was a silver fox, and he didn’t want to subject Ray to the shovel talk Luke and Bobby would most certainly give him. He liked him—loved him—too much for that. (And besides, Ray had also yet to introduce Reggie to his adult children, so they were, like, mutually hiding each other from the people in their lives.)

But recently, he’d been trying to figure out how to bring it up. Their relationship was getting more serious, and they were thinking about moving in together, and he couldn’t just say to the guys one day, “Hey, I’m moving out so I can live with a guy you’ve never met and who I’ve never even mentioned until now, okay bye!”

Luckily, the perfect opportunity had fallen into his lap. Luke needed a photographer. And Ray was a photographer. Luke couldn’t say anything negative about Ray or their relationship if Ray was doing something nice for him. Plus, Luke would get some awesome shots of the proposal, so it was a win-win.

Luke’s face lit up. “Wait, since when are you dating someone?”

“A little while,” Reggie said, unwilling to go into details just yet. “But he’s a professional photographer, and he’d definitely help us out if I asked.”

“Sweet! Let me know when he’s available!”

That was how Reggie found himself anxiously waiting for Luke with Ray at the agreed-upon location so they could go over the plan before Julie showed up.

Ray must have noticed that Reggie was nervous because he took Reggie’s hand. “It’s going to be okay. Your friends sound like lovely people. I’m sure it will go just fine.”

“You’re not nervous at all?”

“Maybe a little. It helps that I have my camera and reason to be here besides just meeting your friend and his fiancé as your boyfriend.”

“They’re not engaged yet. He still has to propose, remember?”

“Of course.”

Reggie spotted Luke as he rounded the hedge that Reggie and Ray would be hiding behind, and he waved him over. “Hey!” He pointed at Ray. “This is—”

“Mr. Molina?!” Luke’s eyes were wide.

“Luke?” Ray said.

Reggie glanced between them as he realized that they recognized each other. “Oh. You two know each other?”

“Better question:” Luke said, “you’re dating my girlfriend’s dad?”

Reggie processed Luke’s words and said, “Wait, your Julie,” he pointed at Luke, “and your Julie” he pointed at Ray, “are the same Julie???”

“Hold on,” Ray said, “You knew Luke was dating someone named Julie, and you knew my daughter’s name is Julie, and you didn’t put that together?”

“There’s a lot of Julies in LA! I could say the same thing about how you never figured out that my Luke and Julie’s Luke are the same Luke!”

Ray stared off into space as he processed that. “You’re right.”

Holy shit, Reggie was dating the father of his best friend’s fiancé (soon-to-be-fiancé, but still). He’d met Julie, just not as Ray’s daughter. That meant that if he and Ray got married, he’d be Julie’s stepdad. And by extension, after Julie and Luke got married, he’d be Luke’s stepfather-in-law, even though Luke was older than him.

It was that—the idea of being the stepfather-in-law to his best friend who was older than him—that broke him.

It started with a snort that descended into a fit of hysterical giggles. As Reggie practically doubled over, holding Ray’s hand for all he was worth in an attempt to keep himself upright, Luke said, “I think we broke him.” Which of course only made Reggie laugh harder.

“Just give him a minute,” Ray said back. “He’ll settle down.”

When Reggie could breathe again, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Sorry, this is just… too weird.”

“Oh, it’s too weird for you?” Luke said. “I just found out that my best friend is dating my girlfriend’s dad!”

Ray added, “And I just found out that my boyfriend is friends with my future son-in-law.”

“Yeah, I think we can all agree that this is super weird,” Luke said, “but anyway, thank you for helping us, Mr. Molina.”

“Luke, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Ray?”

“At least one more,” Reggie quipped before they started discussing logistics.

The proposal went off without a hitch. Everyone cried when Luke performed his song for Julie, and Ray managed to get some amazing shots to show Julie’s aunt later. Julie only stared off into space for a few minutes when she learned about her dad’s relationship with her fiancé’s best friend, so that was a win.

And when Luke and Reggie told Alex and Bobby about the whole thing later? They made him sign a contract saying he was only allowed one dad joke per year with the penalty that he wouldn’t get to be best man. Reggie happily signed it knowing that after the wedding, once he had already been best man, it would be open season on the dad jokes.

The little room they put him in was blessedly silent. The chairs weren't the most comfortable thing, but well, it was an interrogation room. They weren't supposed to be comfortable.

Reggie rested his forehead on the steel table, his leg bouncing in a steady beat. He felt... fizzy, somehow. Like a soda can that had been shaken and then put back in the fridge for an unsuspecting victim.

The door opened, and an agent stepped through. "Doctor Peters."

Reggie's head shot up from the table, and he sat up straight.

Oh no. "Oh no."

Agent Molina raised an eyebrow at him, and sat down in the chair across from him.

"Am I in trouble? They wouldn't send a Level 7 agent if I weren't in trouble oh my god are they firing me aren't they? They're firing me and I'm going to have to be a barista somewhere because I can't put down Top Secret Government Lab as my former work experience."

Agent Molina smiled a comforting smile. "You're not in trouble, and you're not getting fired. They sent me because I'm experienced in truth serum. We're just trying to figure out what happened."

Oh thank god. "Oh thank god," he breathed out.

"When did you realise you'd been doused with truth serum?"

"Well, probably when I was holding a vial of truth serum to put in the centrifuge and I slipped and it spilled all over me."

"That would do it," Agent Molina said. "Were you wearing your agency issued shoes?"

"Yeah. I just tripped over my own feet because I was dancing along to music and I didn't mean to say that part."

"Truth serum will do that to you," Agent Molina nodded. "Besides the whole truth telling part, it lowers your inhibitions, so you blurt out basically everything you're thinking."

"I'm thinking about how if they fire me I can never get another one of those chocolate caramel muffins from the cafeteria." Wow, Agent Molina was right. "You were right, I am just blurting everything out. Even more so than usual. I mean I'm a dork and a blabber mouth at the best of times but I literally cannot stop talking and I hate it."

"How are you feeling?" Agent Molina asked.

"Really bad," Reggie said. "I ran into Agent Shaw and told him he couldn't pull off the man bun he was sporting and he looked really sad about it. I thought it was for an assignment but it turns out he was Trying Something New."

"I meant physically," Agent Molina clarified, looking rather amused.

Oh. "Oh. Um, fizzy."

"No trouble breathing, sweating, or increased heart rate?"

Reggie took stock of his body. "Only that last one, but that's 'cause you're so hot and I always get a little flustered when you're around and oh my god you weren't supposed to know about that."

Agent Molina looked a little startled at that.

He thunked his head on the table. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the feelings I've been trying to avoid. I'm so sorry, Agent Molina, I know you're totally not interested in a dorky scientist ten years your junior but you're just such a DILF and when you smile your eyes crinkle and if you could just kill me now that would be great thank you."

"It's alright," Agent Molina said. "We all say things we didn't mean to share when we're under truth serum. Back in the academy when we were learning to deal with being interrogated while dosed, I managed to successfully complete the assignment and then immediately after exiting the exam room tell my roommate I would have liked to have sex with him but him leaving his dirty underwear all around our room was a massive turn-off."

"How did that work out?" Reggie asked, moving his head up off the table.

"The dorm room was spotless the last six weeks of training," Agent Molina said, winking.

Reggie giggled helplessly, then whined and thunked his head back down. "Stop looking so hot it's unfair and now my crush will never go away and we have the same lunch hours and I won't be able to get the chocolate caramel muffins ever again anyway."

"I'm sorry," Agent Molina said. He did not sound particularly apologetic.

"You don't sound sorry." Reggie pouted at his shoelaces. "You got what you came for, the dumbass scientist just tripped, no foul play, no OSHA violations. Can I suffer my embarrassment in peace now?"

"I'm afraid someone has to sit with you and watch you for the next couple of hours," Agent Molina said. Reggie whined again. Maybe if he thunked his head against the table hard enough, he could make himself unconscious. "Stop that, you're going to have a headache tomorrow anyway. Now, the basic key to not saying anything you don't want to say while on truth serum is to talk about something else and keep steering the conversation to that. What can you talk about for hours on end?"

"Star Wars," Reggie blurted out. "Oh god now you know I'm a nerd."

"I like Star Wars," Agent Molina said. "What's your favourite movie?"

They talked about Star Wars for two hours, and Reggie only veered off topic to explain fanfiction and the existence of Coffee Shop AUs for like, twenty minutes. Agent Molina didn't ask anything that would make him say anything embarrassing (or well, he tried), and then when Reggie started to get sleepy, he guided him to one of the rooms on base where agents could sleep in between assignments or after stake outs.

He reassured Reggie he'd be outside the door for the next four hours, after which the serum would have worn off, but that Reggie would probably sleep for much longer. He got clearance for a few days off on medical leave afterwards, so he could lick his wounds in his own apartment (and binge read his favourite 50k coffee shop AU, of course).

When he finally did go back to work, he was very much not expecting Agent Molina to show up at his lab balancing a bag with two chocolate caramel muffins on top of two coffees, asking if maybe he'd be interested in going to drink them together.

Happy birthday @jatp-spinsb!

When it came to meeting Ray’s kids, he and Reggie had made a plan. It was a good plan, one shaped by Ray’s grief support group’s advice and Reggie’s perchance for listening to Youtubers reading out reddit posts while he worked out. He didn’t want to become anyone’s wicked stepparent. Also, if he was being very honest, he was kind of scared Ray’s kids wouldn’t like him.

Six months, they’d agreed. At least six months, or until they were very sure they were in this for the long haul. Which Reggie had honestly known since the third date when Ray casually mentioned some deep Star Wars Lore. But he’d been a little scared to ask if Ray felt the same.

Though, four and a half months in and he was pretty sure the guy felt the same, considering they’d also talked about other timelines. Like moving in together. And their thoughts about marriage. And when to go public so Sunset Curve’s terrifyingly efficient publicist could ensure that Julie and Carlos were left alone. Reggie was pretty good at keeping his relationships out of the press, but with two kids, it didn’t hurt to be extra careful.

So they had plans.

These plans did not involve Reggie, in just his boxers, making French toast for his man in the Molina kitchen. They did not involve Julie coming home on a weekend she was supposed to be staying over at Flynn’s house. They did not involve the honestly very high pitched screaming from both her and Reggie. They certainly did not involve Ray tripping down the stairs in sweatpants still trying to get a t-shirt over his head.

It was Reggie’s t-shirt. It was far too small on him. It would have been ridiculously sexy if not for the shouting teenage girl standing on the other side of the kitchen peninsula.

“WHY IS THERE A NAKED ROCK STAR IN OUR KITCHEN?” Julie shouted.

“I’m not naked!” Reggie defended, even as he hastened to grab the apron Ray sometimes wore while cooking.

“WHY IS THERE A ROCK STAR IN PIZZA BOXER SHORTS IN OUR KITCHEN?” Julie amended and oh, whoops, moved a little too far from the peninsula there to grab that apron.

Ray took a deep breath, panicked expression turning into… well, a slightly less panicked expression. “Julie, this is my… my friend, Reggie.”

“I know who he is!” Julie hissed at her dad. She did, he’d seen the Sunset Curve poster through the open door of her bedroom. “Why is he here? I thought you were going on a…” She paused, a look of understanding slowly dawning on her face. “No!”

Oh no. This was what he’d been so scared of. Because while Ray had reassured him that the kids had said they were okay with him dating, that didn’t mean they were okay with him dating a guy. Especially a guy like Reggie. Even though he was, as Julie had put it, a rock star, he knew his reputation in the press. He was the dumb, flirty, flighty one. The one who never seemed to have a serious relationship, who never wanted to settle down ‘because Dolly Parton is already taken’. (You make a bad joke once…)

“Mija,” Ray started, his face falling. Reggie turned off the stove, ready to make his retreat. Ray’s kids were the most important thing in his life. If they didn’t like Reggie, that was kind of the end of their future together, right?

“When were you going to tell me?” Julie asked, crossing her arms.

“I-In a couple of months!” Ray hedged.

“Months?” Julie yelled, and yeah, Reggie definitely should get going. Except how was he going to sneak past an angry teen girl in just his boxers and an apron without being a creep? He could just slip out the back door and drive home in his boxers and hope nobody saw, but his car keys were in his jeans, which were on the floor of Ray’s bedroom. “You’re dating the second coolest member of Sunset Curve and you weren’t going to tell me for months?”

Wait… “Second coolest member?” he couldn’t help but ask. Julie looked equal parts mad and flustered, and he took a step back, raising his hands. “I’m just saying, Alex cries at sad commercials, Bobby once got his head stuck in a jack-o-lantern, and Luke thought narwhals weren’t real until like last summer.”

Somehow, his ramblings seemed to take the wind out of Julie’s sails, and Reggie decided that he should press his advantage while he still had it. “I made french toast!”

Julie looked between him, her dad, and the plate Reggie was hopefully holding out. Then, she slid into one of the tools on the other side of the peninsula. “Is there any syrup?” she asked.

- @anotherfantom

-When Ray's phone goes in the middle of the night and hears someone sniffle and ask 'can you come pick me up' he is suddenly wide awake and out of bed in an instant.

-Except Carlos is in his bed, and well, Julie is across the country at university. He is one hundred percent ready to call Victoria and get in his car and drive to the airport to catch the first flight to New York...

-But when the static of adrenaline in his ears wears off, the voice is still talking, rambling: "I know you said it was a bad idea but he was so hot, Alex, he was so hot and charming and I met him somewhere public and I was safe and come on, you know I can't say no to a hot silver fox like that except he wanted to go to this other place away from down town and it was fun but then when I wouldn't put out he left me with the tab and I'm somewhere on the edge of the burbs and there's no busses here and I'm lost and there's no wifi and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Lex..."

-And Ray really feels for this guy, but he's not Alex. He gently lets the poor guy know, telling him he's sorry his date went badly, and wishing him good luck.

-The guy, Reggie, is very apologetic for waking him up and ranting at him. He even asks his name so he can apologise properly. He is maybe a little drunk, so Ray humours him.

-He's just cozied back up in bed and dozing off when his phone rings again.

-"You dialed the wrong number again, Reggie."

-"Ray?" Reggie sounds a lot more upset than last time. "Alex isn't picking up and I think I took a wrong turn and now I'm really lost and I still don't have wifi. Or money to call a taxi. Can you please... just... check a map for me or something? Please? I'm sorry."

-And Ray feels so bad for this guy that he actually wanders downstairs and boots up his laptop to do so. Only for Reggie to read the street signs and him to realise that 1) Reggie is nowhere near anywhere he can catch a bus or a taxi to wherever home is and 2) that is a rather sketchy part of town.

-Before he knows it, he's in his car, because he can't just leave some poor unfortunate soul out there, knowing he could have helped.

-When he finds Reggie, he's kind of surprised to see the guy is in his early thirties and not, as Ray was projecting, a teenager or just-turned young adult like his own kids.

-"Reggie?" he asks, and Reggie looks so sad and small his protective instincts flare up again. He opens the passenger door for him and Reggie slides in, looking embarrassed and apologising profusely.

-"Oh man and you're super hot too and I can't even hit on you because you might kick me out of the car and also you already know what a loser I am," Reggie blurts out, and Ray just chuckles because yeah, Reggie is a very honest and rambly drunk.

-He's about to ask Reggie what exactly his address is, since on the phone he only asked for busses to a specific neighbourhood, but Reggie is already passed out in the passenger's seat.

-Which is why - and god he must be insane - he brings Reggie home. He's not quite trusting enough to let him in the guest room inside the house, but he pulls out the sofa in the studio, carries Reggie there, and covers him with some blankets. There's nothing in here worth stealing except Rose's piano, which is pretty impossible to get out of there through the gate (he knows, since Rose pointed it out after he spent a whole Saturday building it when the kids were little, laughing at his face).

-He puts a large note on the door to come up to the house for breakfast if he wants, or some painkillers, and goes back to bed.

-Around ten the next morning, there's a sheepish knock on the backdoor. Ray meets Reggie with some painkillers and a glass of water, getting a muttered 'you really are a hero' as Reggie downs them.

-He kind of has to fill Reggie in on what the hell happened because he can't remember, and the guy was really embarrassed. He admits that his friends warned him not to go on this date, that the guy seemed sketchy, but that he was really hot and charming and he had a motorcycle, and well, he was getting a bit sick of being the perpetually single dude in their friend group.

-They actually get to talking a little about how hard dating is, how The Apps suck, how people only seem to want hook-ups anymore. Ray tells Reggie about how he and his wife had a bizarre Meet Cute where she chased him all over the city because he lost his keys during a photo walk, but he couldn't hear her because he had his Walkman on. And how he wishes he could just have something like that again, an actual 'how we met' story that didn't involve swiping or emojis.

-Yes he grimaces a little at how 'walkman' dates him, but Reggie just swoons at how romantic that is, and tells him about his friends Alex and Willie who literally crashed into each other.

-Around that time, Reggie's friend Alex starts FRANTICALLY CALLING HIM like 'omg you called me seven times in the middle of the night are you okay' and Reggie has to reassure him that he hasn't been serial murdered. He leaves out the whole 'I called a stranger and slept in his garage' part, which, clever.

-Maybe Ray offers to make him breakfast and then drive him home.

-Maybe Reggie asks him out in the car, hopeful and cute and 'hey, you wanted a cool meet cute story right?'

Happy birthday @jatp-spinsb!

They’d chosen donor 482 because of his love of music, his health records, and the fact that his baby picture had been absolutely adorable. And because of the the fact that in the little essay portion, he’d written that he wanted to be a donor because a friend of his was a trans man, and he wanted to help people like him start families if that’s what they wanted to do. ‘Besides, it’s not like it’s a hardship (sorry if that’s gross!)’ it had ended, which always made Rose laugh.

They’d also chosen donor 482 because he’d agreed that, once any children turned 18, they could contact him. Ray had talked it over with Julie for several months, and she’d been determined. So when donor 482, Reggie, invited her to come to see his band practice, she’d been thrilled. Ray had been too, for her, but that didn’t mean he was going to let his daughter go to some random house on her own.

When they rang the doorbell, a handsome man with long hair answered. “Oh hey, you must be Julie and her dad!” he said, excited. “I’m Willie. The guys are in the studio out back, come on in.”

He lead them through a house, gently nudging aside a very excited dog, three cats, and a six year old in a princess dress who demanded to know if this was ‘Uncle Reggie’s biology daughter’.

“Biological,” Willie corrected them. “And we’re going to give them space so they can talk, remember, Oliver?”

The studio out back looked a lot like Rose’s studio, Ray thought. A big wooden garage transformed into a place for music, for magic, made into a home. The music coming out of it was good, upbeat and fun, with beautiful harmonies. One of the doors was open, and Julie hesitated.

He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently, letting her know he was there for her no matter what. They’d already agreed on a sign if she wanted to cut the visit short and leave, no questions asked. She grabbed onto his hand, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.

What's "How to find the perfect dog"? I am very intrigued 👀

Also for @floating-in-the-blue who also asked about this one.

How to find the Perfect Dog is the next part of the Floggrverse, where Reggie finally gets to go to the animal shelter. Right now the whole document is just random sentences @jatp-spinsb and I traded back and forth.

It's going to be Ray's pov simply because Reggie's would just be 'AAAAAAAAAA PUPPER AAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!1!1'

The doc contains important plot points such as:

Julie is on Ray-watch, Alex is on Reggie-watch, they are going home with only one (1) dog, dammit

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ray Molina/Reggie Peters Characters: Ray Molina, Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina, Alex Mercer (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), lots of dogs - Character Additional Tags: Fluff, Animal Shelters, Dogs, give Reggie a dog 2kalways Series: Part 9 of Floggr Fics Summary:

Reggie and his friends and family finally go to the animal shelter to pick out a dog. Mild chaos ensues.

Part 9 of the Floggrverse is out. I want everyone to know that Ren and I were calling this the Doggr fic throughout.

In which Reggie meets a lot of cute dogs and finds the perfect one, Julie is just trying to ensure they only go home with one pet, and Alex knew they should have put someone on Willie-watch.

Also for those who want to know what Reggie’s doggo looks like, I did not spend weeks scrolling through animal shelter websites to not share this picture (under the cut).