#rex keller x reader

[schmetective]

oh to be a teen with paranormal abilities and a very-alive-but-once-dead boyfriend watching the sunrise with all your beloved friends at your side. oh wait. 

this was born out of my softness for rex... you’ve gotta love the friends to enemies to lovers trope. besides having helped diego get together with ashley and saving the town via beach party, this is not specific to an mc, so pls enjoy as your character :) <3 

i was inspired by @leon-dalton to make something sömft so tyvm :’)

Rex Keller. 

It’s the name that followed you around for the worst few months of your life, blaming you for a murder you didn’t commit and reminding you of a friendship you had lost. The death of someone who decided they no longer wanted to be your friend, despite how deeply you still cared about them. The name of a ghost that flipped your world upside down, calling to life a dead past you had tried to escape. 

Rex Keller. 

It’s also the name of the boy who holds your hand in his, large and smooth and warm. Alive. The name of the boy who tugs you along Main Street towards the shore where the rest of your friends await. The boy who looks over his shoulder at you with excitement curling the corner of his lips. 

“You’re walking really slowly for someone who woke me up at five o’clock in the morning to see the sunrise,” he says, slowing down to pace with you nonetheless. 

Your heart flutters at this, but you misdirect his perception with a smirk and a roll of your eyes. 

But he’s right. The two of you are strolling through a mostly asleep Arbor Isle, the only people awake save for the fishermen and your friends who are lighting up your phone with text messages, wondering where you and Rex are. You’re in no rush. 

“I might be regretting that decision,” you say, gesturing to your knitted sweater. Cozy as it is, the holes between the stitches do little to keep you warm. No jacket on an Arbor Isle morning? What is this, amateur hour? 

“What, did you just move here or something?” Rex asks, laughing softly around his words. His voice is still groggy from sleep. 

Your thoughts are so in sync with his, it’s like the two of you never ceased to be friends after middle school. Moments like these always take you by surprise, even if you spent a lot of your time with Rex after resurrecting him.

“It’s too early to deal with you,” you say, tone gentle and bearing no malice. 

“And yet you brought me,” Rex replies, like there’s some modicum of pride to be had in the fact. He lifts up your entwined fingers to support his case. 

“I did, didn’t I?” You look away and shake your head as if in regret, but the fact that you don’t bother to let go of his hand tells him all he needs to know. 

“We can’t just let you be cold all morning though, can we?” He asks, the not-really-a-question doused in a conspiratory tone.

The two of you are nearing the bay and you can make out the figures of Addy, Anuja, Kiril, Diego, Ashley, and Caleb, all looking to the horizon lined with trees. 

He lets go of your hand and for a second you think he’s about to give you his flannel lined with faux sherpa. But then he’s grinning and lifting his hands, and before you can protest, he throws his arms around you. You’re captured in a tight embrace that keeps you in place. A surprised yell makes the figures on the shore turn to you, and you realize that it’s you who made the sounds. 

“Rex!” You exclaim, though when he squeezes you, you crumble into laughter. 

“C’mon,” you say, trying to untangle yourself from him. All it does is urge him to pull you tighter against him. You’re well aware of your back pressing against his chest. “I don’t wanna miss the sunrise.” 

That, and being so close to him has made you warm enough to survive. 

“We can move like this!” He protests, causing you to shift so that you can look at him. 

Really? Is the sardonic word you don’t need to ask. 

He picks it up -- he always does. “Really.” 

And before you can ask him how, he begins waddling down the road with you still in his embrace. You move along with him, growing more embarrassed by the second. The sky is also brightening along with you. The sun will rise any moment now. 

You’re closer to your friends now. Close enough to see Addy pretend to look as if they’re about to vomit. 

Rex stops in front of the group but doesn’t seem like he’s letting go of you anytime soon. 

“Hey,” he greets everyone, as if this is a completely normal position to be in. 

Caleb breaks into a smile and claps Rex on the shoulder. That look of relief flashes through his eyes like it does whenever he sees Rex. You doubt it’ll stop in the near future, and you don’t really blame him. You’re probably the same. 

Despite everything, your friends are still tentative about Rex, and even more so Caleb, who Rex invites to hangouts like this. You get it. It’s hard to get over a friend heartbreak. Even harder when said friend died. But, even if you yourself don’t know it, they know how much you enjoy Rex’s company. They’ll come around. 

“‘Sup,” Diego says back, smiling at the two of you. 

“Did we miss anything?” You ask, looking around at the group. 

It really is like worlds collide, seeing the two groups in one when they wouldn’t hang out together otherwise. Diego dating Ashley and you Rex brought them together in a way that at first wasn’t comfortable for all parties involved, but it was something everyone was warming up to now. Caleb would likely leave once Arbor Isle started to wake up, which shows where he’s at... But he’s here nonetheless. Rex is grateful for his best friend’s effort, as he’s told you a few times before. After all, your best friends were once his too. Time was still doing its work in healing the hurt and easing the tension. 

“No, but did we?” Anuja asks with a raised eyebrow and a skeptical look from Rex to you. 

“Just got cold,” you and Rex say at the same time. 

“Right,” Addy grins with a wiggle of their eyebrows, drawing out the word like they were anything but accepting of the excuse (which, in yours and Rex’s defense, is the whole truth). 

“Guys!” Kiril says, and everyone’s attention snaps to him. “The sun!” 

And then you’re all looking at the sun as it peaks over the bay, washing the water and trees and the town behind you in its warm glow. The start of a new day. 

Rex, his arms still around you, kisses your cheek. “Thank you.” 

You reach up and squeeze his forearm. “For what?” 

“You. This. Everything.” 

You smile, hoping he knows you wanted this all with him to begin with anyway. You’d saved him for yourself as much as you’d done it for him. Not out of guilt, but... something that makes you unable to imagine a future without Rex Keller.

The way he squeezes you once more tells you he knows. That he’s still grateful anyway. 

“So!” Ashley says. “Breakfast at the diner?” 

She looks to you, asking as if you would have said no. 

“Your treat!” Diego punches your arm, though he has to awkwardly look for an angle to do it from because of Rex. 

The group begins walking back up to the street and you roll your eyes. 

“It always is,” you laugh, hoping Mom is ready for her first customers of the day.

You begin to move to follow them, not even minding that Rex still hadn’t let you go. 

But then he does, and he steps in front of you. You look up at him, eyebrows furrowing quizzically. 

“You good?” You ask, searching his face. His really, really attractive face. Will you ever get used to it? Probably not. 

His eyes roam over your face too, slowly as if he wants to savor every detail. It’s almost uncomfortable, but then he smiles. Charmingly and disarmingly so. 

“So good.”

And he kisses you. And you kiss back. And it’s the stuff of dreams, really. 

“Hey! You getting us breakfast or a room for yourselves?” 

You flip your finger at Addy, arms circling Rex’s waist.

He laughs against your lips at Addy’s words and reluctantly pulls away. 

“Shut up,” you tell them as the two of you make your way to join the group. 

“I will if you two stop being... like that,” Addy says with a fake shudder, turning away and starting to walk again. 

Rex laughs and squeezes your hand. 

“Addy won’t ever shut up then.”