JATP One-Shots

4- The Fight Pt. 4

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Summary: Reggie confronts Luke & the twins make up

Setting: The garage/Peters household 1994

Warnings: Language

Words: 1,351

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Luke was anxiously pacing the length of the studio as he waited for Alex to arrive and go with him to Reggie's. Bobby had some family matters to deal with today so he could not come with, even though he was filled in on everything by Luke when he came into the garage that morning and noticed Claudia was not there. The doors to the garage opened slightly as Alex walked in. Luke spun around to greet him.

"Hey, you ready?" Alex questioned.

"Yep," Luke stated walking hastily out of the garage and down the street towards the beach.

The walk from the studio to Reggie's house was silent. Not necessarily uncomfortable but it was clear Luke didn't want to talk about anything and Alex respected that. They arrived at the house and Luke repeatedly knocked on the door until a very angry Mrs. Peters opened it.

"Knock it off!" She yelled a the boys. "Sorry I just had a long night" She responded rubbing her forehead as they jumped back. Luke and Alex were not unfamiliar with these "long nights" Mrs. Peters had on occasion after a big fight with her husband but they brushed it off quickly as Luke spoke.

"Umm are Reggie and Claudia awake?"

"Claudia's here? Nevermind that. Umm no I think they are still asleep, but you can go wake them up just keep it down." Mrs. Peters responded before opening the door further for the boys to come inside. The boys thanked her as she closed the door and returned to the solitude of her bedroom. Luke walked quickly to Reggie's bedroom door and knocked a couple of times. There was no response. Alex tried the handle and the two looked at each other in shock when the door opened. Reggie rarely had his bedroom unlocked. With his parent's constant arguing he never wanted to be dragged into whatever fight was taking place down the hall so he kept the door locked as a precaution. The two took this as a sign and entered the room standing side by side at the foot of the bed. Luke froze in anger when he saw his sister, dressed in his best friend's flannel asleep on said best friend's bare chest.

"What the fu..." Luke started to step forward before Alex pulled him back.

"Dude!" Alex whisper yelled. "Before you overreact and do something you regret, Look at Claudia's face."

Luke stopped and looked closely at his sister's face. He took notice of the fairly large bruise that now covered her face around and underneath her left eye. He also could clearly see the stains on her cheeks from the tears she obviously shed the night before glistening in the morning sun that was coming through the window to his left.

"Shit" He muttered looking at Alex. "What do I do?" Luke question. Alex shrugged in response. Suddenly a voice came from the bed.

"Go out in the hall. Then we can talk" Reggie mumbled as he adjusted the sleeping girl on his side.

"Oh umm okay..." Luke mumbled back as Alex pulled him out of the room.

Reggie looked down at Claudia before placing a small kiss on the top of her head and moving her slightly so he could slip out from under the covers to go talk to the boys. Claudia rolled over slightly as he did this pulling the Build-A-Bear she was still holding closer to her chest. Reggie chuckled as he moved to leave the room.

"Care to explain why your sister appeared on my doorstep crying at 9:30 last night?" Reggie stated coldly crossing his arms and turning to Luke once he shut the door behind him.

"Umm..yeah..w-well first off thank you for taking care of her..." Luke stuttered out.

"Of course," Reggie responded looking at Luke to continue.

"Well okay I was really stressed with our gig coming up and trying to write a new song and she was trying to help a-and I had already tried the stuff she was showing me and it just stressed me out even more and I freaked out and she did nothing wrong I was just tired and frustrated and she scared me when she grabbed my arm which caused me to freak out even more and I flung her off and she got hurt and then I couldn't find her and I called Alex and he said she wasn't with him so I tried to call you, b-but you didn't pick up and I was terrified. I didn't know what happened to her but then you called Alex and he told me she was safe and that we'd come over in the morning so, so I went to bed, but I didn't really sleep well." Luke rambled on and on with barely any breaks to breathe. Tears were falling down his face as he was pacing back and forth being expressive with his arms as he spoke. "I know there is no excuse for what happened and what I did but I need her to know I'm sorry and that I didn't mean any of it...." He trailed off looking up at Reggie pleadingly.

Reggie dropped his arms to his side. "I'm sure she forgives you, but she was pretty broken last night and she couldn't sleep either so I don't really want to wake her up."

"That's probably a good idea..." Alex pipped up first the first time in the whole conversation before he was interrupted.

"Reg...?" Claudia asked as she walked out of the room into the hallway rubbing her eyes. Before she could open her eyes, she was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so so so sorry Clau! I didn't mean anything I said." Luke sobbed into her shoulder.

Claudia immediately returned the hug. "I know. It's okay. I forgive you." She said rubbing her brother's back as new tears fell down her face as well.

"Really?" Luke asked pulling away to look at his sister. Before she could respond Luke's jaw dropped as he moved his arms to grab hold of Claudia's face moving it so he could inspect her eye. "Fuck, Clau I'm so sorry."

"Luke stop." She tried her best to slap his hands out of the way. "I'm fine. Really. Reggie helped me." She looked at the boy with a smile. "Hey about that. How'd you two know I was here? I specifically told you not to call Luke." She pointed her finger at Reggie before crossing her arms.

"I know. You said not to call Luke, so I called Alex. The fact that he told Luke was not my fault." Reggie said with a shrug. The girl just laughed and shook her head.

"I'm hungry," Luke stated before wrapping an arm around his sister's waist once again pulling her into a hug.

"Hi, hungry I'm dad" Reggie joked before continuing. "I'm pretty sure we could figure out something to make in the kitchen"

Realization struck Claudia as she started to take off the flannel she still had on. "Oh. I almost forgot. Here Reg" She said trying to hand it to the boy.

"No, keep it. I'll get it back from you next time I'm at the studio. Besides, you look cuter in it than I ever will." He responded blushing.

Luke looked between them with confusion evident on his face as a blush crept up Claudia's cheeks. The moment ended and the three went to meet Alex who had already made his way to the kitchen. Claudia leaned further into her brother resting her head on his shoulder as he started to hum a familiar tune. She started to sing along softly to the song they had written when they were kids. "Hey, brother. There's an endless road to rediscover..."

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And done! I cannot tell you why I started this book with a) such a long and multipart story or b) such an angsty story. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed it!

I will be posting another one-shot tomorrow entitled The Magician so keep an eye out for that! In the meantime please vote and comment! It means a lot.

Until Tomorrow Fantoms!