Alex was starting to think he’d never meet someone. His best friends, Luke and Reggie, had been dating for over a year, still grossly in the honeymoon stage, and he was happy for them. But he felt lonely when they had dates. They always offered for him to join, but he didn’t want to third wheel. Which is why today he was wandering down Sunset Boulevard, listening to music on his ear buds, and didn’t expect something hard and firm to slam into him from behind. He rolled onto his back, looking up at the thing, or person rather, that had quite literally knocked him on his ass. The guy was frantically waving his hands in intricate patterns, and it took Alex a few seconds to process that the boy was signing.
“Dear god, you are beautiful.” Alex hadn’t meant to say it out loud as he took in the boy’s long brown hair that fell to his shoulders, his deep brown eyes, and the amused smile that played on his face. The smile is what made Alex realize he didn’t say it in his head. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” The boy nodded, clearly pleased with his lack of filter. He pulled a notepad out of his back pocket, holding up a message for Alex to read as he got back to his feet. ‘I can’t speak, but I can hear.’ Alex’s face flushed a deep red as he stared at the boy in front of him as he flipped the page. ‘I’m Willie.’ “Uh, I’m Alex.”
This time the boy pulled out a pen, writing a new message, ‘Pleasure to meet you Alex. I'm sorry it was because I ran into you though.’ Alex laughed to himself as Willie wrote again, ‘By the way, you’re very beautiful, too.’ Alex flushed again, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. “I’m sorry I don’t know sign language. I feel like it would be easier for you.”
Willie grinned easily at Alex, ‘Don’t worry about it. Most people don’t unless it effects them.’
“My friend Julie and her girlfriend do, actually. And my best friend Reggie. They tried to teach me once because of my anxiety, figured it would help me when I can’t force the words out. But they realized more often than not that I talk too much when I get anxious instead.” Alex realized he was rambling and abruptly cut himself off.
‘Am I making you anxious Alex?’ Willie smirked as Alex nervously glanced at the page. Alex swallowed before slowly nodding his head at Willie. Willie’s smile widened, ‘So, Alex, what are you doing on your own? No girlfriend?’ This time, Alex found himself laughing out loud. It probably looked weird to anyone walking by since Willie didn’t actually make a joke they were aware of. Alex shook his head no as he laughed. ‘Boyfriend?’ Alex just smiled and shook his head no again. Willie winked as he held out the next page, ‘Looking?’
Alex flushed again, the smile on his face turning shy, but with Willie flirting with him, at least he thought it was flirting, he felt a bit more confident than he usually would, “At you? Yeah.” Alex bit his lip to contain his smile as he watched Willie silently laugh, his body shaking. When he finally stopped, he held up another note, ‘Good to know.’ Alex grinned despite the blush still high on his cheeks. ‘Want to go for a walk, Alex?’
“Yeah,” Alex grinned, “Where do you wanna go?”
‘There’s this spot at the beach. No one really goes there. Tell me about yourself while we walk.’ Willie tucked his notebook back into his pocket, and slipped his board under his arm, grabbing Alex’s hand in his other. Alex blushed again, shy smile back on his face.
“Uh, okay, let’s see. I live with my two best friends. Luke and Reggie. We’ve known each other since we were ten and ended up in the same fifth grade class. They started dating about a year and a half ago, which is awesome. Cause now I don’t have to listen to their pining.” Willie raised in an eyebrow and Alex chuckled to himself, “Something tells me you’re trying to ask me how I really feel about it.” Willie nodded with a satisfied smile. “Well, I am really happy for them. They’re probably the best couple I’ve ever seen, though I would never tell Julie or her girlfriend Flynn that ‘cause they might kill me. But Reggie completes Luke in a way I didn’t think was actually possible outside of a story. And that sounds so cheesy and sappy, but it’s true. Luke knows how to calm Reggie when he’s panicking or shutting down, and Reggie can talk sense into Luke when he won’t listen to anyone else. It was the best thing in the world when they started dating. I mean, they’re noisy at night which can be annoying, and it kind of makes it hard to sleep, not to mention I end up alone a lot cause they need their coupley time, but I am genuinely happy for them.” Willie smiled softly at Alex as they got to a rocky shore, and true to Willie’s statement it was empty. Willie waved the hand that wasn’t holding Alex’s, like he was telling him to continue as they sat on the bigger rocks. He pulled his notebook back out, but watched Alex expectantly in the afternoon sun, “Uh, well we’re in a band together.” Willie’s eyes lit up making Alex laugh again, “You look like you want to know who does what. Uh, Julie is our lead singer and keyboardist. Luke does the secondary vocals and lead guitar, Reggie plays bass and does back up vocals with me, and I play drums.”
‘Do you perform?’ Alex nodded his head again. ‘I bet you look hot on stage.’ Alex blushed and shyly looked away. Willie bumped their shoulders together until Alex looked at him again. ‘What else do you do?’
“Mostly we just prank each other. We each have part time jobs, but we’re also really serious about making our music known.”
‘I’d like to see you play sometime.’ Alex blushed again as he remembered the gig they had the next day.
“If you want, there’s this like performing coffee shop we have a gig at tomorrow.” Willie eagerly held out his notepad, smile taking up his face. Alex took it, writing down the name of the shop and what time they were performing. At the end of the note, Alex made a judgement call and scribbled down his phone number. When he gave the notepad back, Willie’s smile grew impossibly wider. ‘I can’t wait, drummer boy.’
~~
Alex was pacing. Which wasn’t new, but it concerned Flynn enough that she manhandled him into a chair. “Alex, I get that you’re nervous. But you’re making me nervous and I’m not even going up there.”
“I’m sorry!” Alex almost shouted. He realized he was too loud when he saw Reggie’s shoulders flinch. Luke made a gesture, letting him know that he would take care of Reggie. Alex nodded, directed his attention back to the lead singer’s girlfriend. “I’ve never invited someone to a show that wasn’t related to one of us before.” He ran a hand threw his hair, which made Flynn slap his hand.
“I spent twenty minutes styling your hair, child. Don’t mess it up.”
“One, I am older than you.” She gave him a very unimpressed look but he continued, “Two, it gets messed up halfway through the first song anyway.”
“But don’t you want to look good when your boy sees you?”
He took a deep breath, sinking further into the chair as the others moved around the green room, “There’s something I need to mention to you guys about him.” It got everyone’s attention, Reggie was grinning. He’d been on Alex’s case ever since he mentioned inviting Willie to the show. “Uh, it’s not really my information to share, but watch what you say to him. He speaks in a lot of sign language but he can hear.”
Luke looked confused, “They why-“
“He’s mute.” Alex closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure why. He knew they wouldn’t judge Willie.
Julie gently placed a hand on his shoulder, kneeling down in front of him as he opened his eyes again. “Alex, you know we support you no matter what. The way you’ve talked about him, he sounds amazing.”
“And hot.” Reggie volunteered, causing Luke and Flynn to smack his shoulders.
Julie continued, “As long as you’re happy, we won’t treat him any differently than we do each other. And I promise I won’t let these knuckleheads embarrass you.” She narrowed her eyes at Luke and Reggie who just smiled nervously, promising to be good. Alex gave Julie a sincere smile as his phone went off.
“Oh god,” he muttered as he read the message, “He’s here.” His nerves hadn’t entirely gone away, but Julie made him feel better. He knew that if it was supposed to work out, it would.
As the show started, Flynn volunteered to keep Willie nearby in case he needed any help talking to anyone. And Alex thanked silently as Julie and Willie had a signing conversation before it was time to join Luke and Reggie on stage. Willie snagged Alex’s hand as he turned toward the stairs, pressing a soft kiss to Alex’s cheek. When Alex looked at him, wide eyed, Willie just gave him a double finger gun before joining Flynn at the side of the small stage. Alex smiled to himself, a little dazed, until Reggie calling him up reminded him what was going on. His band mates gave him knowing looks that he avoided looking at as he took his place behind the drums.
~~
The show that night passed in a whirlwind, and Alex felt like he’d never performed better. As soon as the first song started, the nerves disappeared like they always did and he gave everything to the music. Luke was a ball of energy as the final chords rang out, running over to Reggie and practically throwing him in the air in celebration as Reggie laughed. Alex slowly got out from behind his drums, making his way over to where the girls were talking to Willie. Something he signed made Julie and Flynn laugh really hard, and Alex smiled, happy he was getting along with his friends. Willie immediately handed Alex a piece of paper when he saw him approach, ‘I was right. Definitely looked hot up there.’ Alex laughed a little to himself, beaming at Willie. “We’re gonna be having a movie night, if you wanted to join us.” Willie’s smile softened at the nerves in Alex’s voice, and he nodded, leaning over and kissing his cheek again.
“Oooh, did I just see that?” Alex turned at the sound of Luke’s voice, sending him a halfhearted glare. Luke grinned in response, Reggie’s hand held tightly in his. “Man, you know we’re happy for you.”
“Yeah, now we can double date with someone other than Julie and Flynn.” Reggie added, earning a smack on the arm from Julie.
“One, what did I say about trying to embarrass him?” She narrowed her eyes, “And two, you’re just mad we’re the cuter couple.” Willie signed something that made Reggie bust out laughing as Julie turned her glare on Alex. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.
Reggie filled him in as his laughter died down, “Willie just told her that you said me and Luke were the better couple.”
“Uh, he wasn’t supposed to say anything?” Alex offered, embarrassed to be caught.
Julie narrowed her eyes. “You’re lucky you’re too much a sweetheart to wound.” She said simply. Turning on her heel and calling over her shoulder, “Let’s get packed up.”
~~
Everyone else fell asleep halfway through the movie, leaving Alex and Willie texting each other to remain silent, though Willie was silent anyway. They were sitting against the couch in the studio, cuddling under a blanket. Willie was resting his head in the crook of Alex’s neck against his shoulder and kept pressing feather light kisses to his neck because Alex kept flushing at the contact. When the movie was finally close to ending, and Willie’s eyes were getting heavier, Alex took the chance. He tapped the top of Willie’s head, making the shorter boy look up, and when he smiled sleepily at him, Alex leaned in carefully, pressing a soft kiss to Willie’s lips. As he pulled away, Willie wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him back in.
And suddenly Alex was thankful for being run into on the sidewalk.