(A/N: i'm gonna start doing requests if you guys have them! i really like this one so thank you @grassed23 for commenting it. i didn't proof read this... sorry in advance)

1980-90s sunset curve
jealous! luke
oblivious! alex
protective! luke
protective! reggie
anxious! alex (all the social anxiety/anxiety stuff in this fic is based on stuff i've done)
luke x alex x reggie

——————

alex- of the guys of sunset curve- was usually the one who could pick up on the most subtle hints, the smallest of pitch changes in someone's phrase, the smirks and eyebrow raises; but somehow whenever someone was flirting with him, alex would completely and utterly oblivious.

the first time it happened the band was in 6th grade. alex knew he should've found jessica lewis attractive, but he didn't, and when the shorter brunette from his 4th period math class bounded right up to him during lunch all he could do was sit beside luke and smile. jessica flipped her hair slightly, giggled a bit and smiled at alex and alex just sat there almost ignoring her but still holding conversation. eventually he said goodbye to jessica while she was in the middle of a giggle and the girl's expression fell as she marched off.

"dude!" luke cried out, slapping alex's shoulder.

"what?"

"bro, jessica lewis was flirting with you and you just ignored her?" reggie was slack jawed and wide eyed, "why did you ignore like... the prettiest girl in our grade?" alex noted the way reggie's voice raised in pitch slightly at the end of his sentence.

"well if she's so pretty, you talk to her," alex smirked and watched the tips of reggie's ears go pink and the boy crossed his arms and scrunched his nose. alex just sighed before getting back to the topic at hand, "besides, jessica wasn't flirting with me. and why would she flirt with me anyway?"

"jessica was definitely flirting with you alex, like 100 percent." luke just nudged the blond with his elbow as his best friend huffed and ran his hands through his hair.

"yeah dude she totally was. and like... who wouldn't flirt with you bro? you're a great drummer, you're super funny, and you got that whole 'cute smile and nice hair' thing going for you too."

alex just nodded with a smile and punched reggie's arm lightly from across the table.

~•~

the second time it happened the guys were sophmores and sunset curve had just officially been formed. the band was practicing in bobby's garage when bobby's neighbor practically hopped into the studio giggling.

"hey bobby!" the girl called, "who are your friends?"

"hey elise! elise these are my bandmates luke, reggie, and luke," bobby motioned between the three pointing them out to the girl, "guys, this is elise frayer, my neighbor."

reggie gave the girl a small excited wave, luke did kind of a two finger salut, and alex nodded from behind the drum kit.

"guys i'm gonna go bother my mom for snacks, i'll see you in like 15?" the three guys just nodded and immediately alex was out from behind the drum kit sitting on the couch.

alex sat back on the couch lazily with one hand carded through his blonde hair and elise sat on the beanbag right by him.

"so like... you play drums, right?"

"hm?" alex turned to look at elise, "oh uh... yeah yeah i play drums."

"that's so cool! i bet you look super hot when you play," the girl smirked at alex.

"oh yeah. we all get super sweaty under the lights when we play."

from across the room alex heard two simultaneous groans. the drummer just shakes his head in confusion at his bandmates and let's himself refocus on whatever elise was talking about. her palm gently pusjed into alex's forearm as she laughed at one of her own jokes. alex just smiled and pulled away from the girl's grasp.

~•~

about a month after alex came out to reggie, bobby, and luke the band had been working gigs constantly. they performed in all sorts of places and while his bandmates constantly flirted with girls alex stayed behind and would talk to the technicians that worked their shows.

on this particular night, though, the technician was a guy who looked maybe a year older than the band, and his long-ish auburn hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. he and alex were leaning on opposite sides of one of the guitar ams, laughing about a stupid lights joke the tech guy, called jamie, had made.

luke didn't know if it was the way jamie's hand clasped onto alex's elbow as the two laughed, or if it was the fact that alex was laughing so hard his head was thrown back, but something about the sight had him bounding over, reggie right behind him with the same look in his eyes.

"hey lex," luke walked up and leaned on the drummer's shoulder with his elbow, "who's your friend?"

"oh, luke this is jamie, jamie this is luke. luke is sunset curve's lead guitarist and jamie is the lighting guy for the show tonight."

"oh awesome! it's nice to meet you jamie," luke stuck his hand out and the two shook hands.

suddenly reggie appeared and alex did a similar introduction yet again. this time, however, when reggie shook jamie's hand he asked the technician a question, "how old are you jamie? you look young to be working tech at a club."

"oh i'm 25."

alex suddenly became a fish glubbing in place as reggie and luke pulled him away, saying something about needing to talk to their other guitarist.

~•~

the next time it happened was the summer of 1994, just a few months later. bobby was visiting family in san francisco for 2 weeks, which meant the rest of sunset curve was playing on the pier almost every afternoon.

the guys had finally taken a break from performing to eat, silently thanking everyone that had tipped them, and decided the corndogs stand was their best option.
usually alex and reggie would go up together to get food while luke retuned the guitars, but that particular day reggie and luke had both already started tuning their own guitars. leaving alex to get the corndogs on his own.

alex strolled up to the cart, money in hand as he did the math in his head for how much three corndogs would cost while he waited in the short line. when alex got to the front of the line he already had the bills and quarters counted to make up 9 dollars as well as two quarters and 4 pennies.
as soon as the person in front of alex moved to the side alex cleared his throat as quietly as possible and moved up in the line quickly.

"hi what can i get for you today?" the guys about alex's age asked from behind the counter.

"oh uh... three corndogs, please," alex cringed internally as his voice cracked on the last syllable.

"sure thing! that'll be $9.54 for ya," the boy smiled and alex handed him the money, with a small smile in return. the boy counted the money and placed it in the cash register and handed alex back a penny, "gave me an extra one there, for good luck i guess?"

alex laughed awkwardly and pushed his hair out of his eyes as the other worker in the food truck handed him the three corndogs. he said a curt thank you and then was practically running over to his band mates to avoid the situation.

alex handed his bandmates their corn dogs and sat between them on the bench. they all sat on the small bench silently, upper thighs pressed together and shoulders squeezed against each other. alex could feel his face heating up slightly but he ignored it, blaming it on how hot LA is in the summer, and noticed the same redness on luke's cheeks and the tips of reggie's ears and he knew he was right, it was just really hot in los angeles.

luke was the first of the boys to finish eating, the kid could probably eat an entire tray of cheese burgers on his own if he wanted to, and got off the bench to throw his trash away.
when luke still lived with his parents they'd often take their son and his three best friends to the pier. alex was sure mrs. patterson yelled at luke more often than not about throwing away trash rather than littering because "it made him seems cool".
alex smiled at the memory as luke sat back down next to him. the guitarist nudged his friend, who was bumped slightly into reggie getting both boys attention.

"what're you smiling about, alex?"

"yeah alexander... smiling about that cute guy at the corndog stand?"

alex furrowed his eyebrows as he turned to look at reggie, "what?" alex looked over to the corndog stand and flushed, more from the embarrassment of his friend thinking he liked the corndog guy rather than the embarrassment of actually liking the corndog guy.

"dude you totally are smiling about him!" reggie exclaimed, to which alex got even more flustered.

"no i was not! luke please tell me you believe me!" alex pleaded as he turned to his other best friend.

"i do believe you because, unlike reggie, i'm not a dumbass."

alex turned back to reggie with his arms crossed and gave him a look like "see luke believes me" and reggie pouted, the redness of his ears spreading to the rest of his face.

~•~

it had happened again a few weeks later after rehearsal. all four guys were lounging around the studio; alex tapping out a rhythm on his knee as he sat in the couch, luke sitting on the coffee table strumming a new melody on his guitar, bobby on the opposite side of the couch to alex nodding along to the melody luke played, and reggie laying on the rug in the studio.
eventually bobby decided he should be productive and get homework done and went inside. as soon as bobby was off the couch reggie was in the spot bobby had left.

"dude you could've just sat up here with us," alex offered when reggie plopped down.

reggie swung his feet onto the coffee table near where luke was sitting and smiled, "alex, babe, i was not about to be stuck between a cute guy and well... bobby."

alex just nodded, the guys had reminded him he was attractive far too many times for him to feel like dealing with their nagging now so he let it slide.
the boys sat in almost silence- aside from luke's guitar- for a while after that, until luke stood up setting his guitar on its stand and walking away without saying anything. alex lifted his head from where he thought it was propped up on his hand and realized he and reggie had been all but cuddling on the couch. reggie seemingly had the same realization and opened his mouth before closing it again and blinking.
alex just sighed and stood up, chasing after luke.

alex got out of the studio and found luke leaning against the other door to the garage, his hands pressed just under his eyes.

"luke, you good?" alex leaned against the door beside the guitarist.

"yeah," luke's voice cracked, "yeah i'm good. i just-"

"don't want to talk about it?"

luke nodded, then shook his head, then nodded and then sighed rubbing his face again. "i want to tell you but also... i don't want to change our friendship or my friendship with reg. you're my best friends and i don't want to lose either of you."

"hey, it's ok, and you can tell me anything you need to as soon as you're ready," alex grabbed luke's shoulder and smiled slightly.

luke sighed and stood up a bit, "ok," he whispered, "ok i uh... well i like you... and reggie," the boy trailed off.

"well i'd hope so! we're your best friends," alex punched luke's shoulder lightly.

"no... i meant i like you. both of you..."

"oh-" alex thought about it for a second and then pushed his hair back, "luke... did you storm off because reg and i were basically cuddling?"

luke just nodded and alex smiled, shaking his head.

"what? what is it?"

"come on, i need to talk to you and reggie."

alex grabbed luke's hand and tugged at it slightly before luke willingly walked back into the studio. alex gestured for luke to sit in the seat by reggie and the stood on the opposite side of the coffee table.

"you know... i feel like we've been in this situation before," reggie admits as he looks up at alex.

alex rolls his eyes in response and sighs. "alright i need to talk to you both about something that's been on my mind for like... a really long time."

"ok alexander, shoot." reggie smiled at the drummer and looked over at luke, who seemed nervous.

"ok," alex let out a breath and breathed deeply, "i like both of you, in a more than friends way, and i have for a while, i just didn't know how to tell you."

reggie's eyes went wide and luke face brightened immense. luke was suppressing the urge to run up and hug one of his best friends as he impatiently waited for reggie to say anything. after a solid minute of silence luke spoke up.

"i like both of you in a more than friends way too," the guitarist focused this announcement to reggie, who didn't know luke's true feelings yet. reggie turned to look at luke and the guitarist noticed the blush that usually stayed around the bassist's ears had travelled to his cheeks. luke smiled at him and placed a hand on reggie's arm. reggie put his hand on top of luke's and looked over at alex.

"i..." reggie looked between them, "i feel the same way." the bassist had a massive smiled on his face as he looked at alex again, nodding him over and sliding closer to luke so alex could sit on his other side.

the three boys sat hand in hand for a while, luke's head on reggie's shoulder, reggie's head leaned against luke's, and alex leaning on the bassist's other shoulder with an arm wrapped around reggie's waist.

it was a good day for sunset curve.