"Hey Pearson," Nathan greeted to draw the others attention to him. Glenn glanced over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. "Want to learn lesson two later today?" Brown eyes narrowed. "Come on Glenn".
The kid from Christian High called the score from the other side of the net and Glenn turned around quickly. Nathan sighed and directed his attention to the game for the thirty seconds it took for them to score the point.
As Nathan moved to the net and Glenn to the baseline, Nate held out his hand, which Glenn slapped. Quickly, Nate wrapped his fingers around Glenn's and pulled him closer, raising his eyebrows expectantly. Glenn's brown eyes rolled. "Whats lesson number two?"
"Shopping," Nathan claimed, and Glenn's face immediately fell.
"No". Nathan's eyes widened.
"What do you mean, no?"
Glenn glanced down at their hands then, as if only just realizing that they were still connected, and then pulled his hand free. "No means no". Nathan snorted. "Come on. They're waiting for us".
Nathan took his spot up at the net as Glenn went to the baseline. They played another point.
"Come on Glenn".
"Shut up. We're kind of in the middle of something," Glenn pointed out, gesturing to the other side of the court.
"We're almost done," Nathan pointed out, just as the kid across the net called the score. 15-40.
He served, and Nathan returned the ball wide. "Out!"
"Shit," Nathan breathed and Glenn shot him a look, which Nathan ignored. "I'll stop talking about it as soon as you agree to go". They crossed as they switched positions and Glenn shook his head. "Why are you so against shopping?" Nathan was up at the net, his back to their opponents.
"Turn around Nathan," Glenn demanded, and with a sigh Nate obeyed, winking at the kid across the net from him when he caught his gaze. Immediately, eyes averted and Nathan smirked.
"30-40".
Serve. "Out," Nathan called.
"Second".
Serve. "Out".
They shook hands with their opponents before going to the side of the net where they had left their tennis bags. Glenn took a seat, picking up his bottle of blue liquid and taking a drink before offering the rest of it to Nathan.
"Thanks". He finished the rest of the bottle, looking down at Glenn, who was putting his racket away, as he did so. "You wanna talk about the mall now?"
"Jesus," Glenn breathed, pulling his hat off his head and running a hand through his hair. "You even want to go to the mall?"
"Well where else would we go shopping?"
"Literally anywhere is better than the mall," Glenn claimed, reaching his hand out and grabbing Nathan's racket from him. Swiftly, he slid it into Nathan's bag and zipped it before rising to his feet. "Let's go say hi to our fans". Nathan turned his head to look through the fence at his parents, who were seated in foldable lawn chairs alongside of Grace and Rebecca, who both caught Nathan's gaze at the same time and waved enthusiastically. He groaned and looked back to Glenn to find him leaning against the net post smiling at him. "What's the problem?"
"I should have never apologized," Nathan claimed and Glenn's smile widened, his eyes crinkling as he laughed and Nathan sighed in content, smiling softly at the adorable boy.
"Having them like you is exhausting," Glenn agreed, still smiling as he bent down and picked up both of their tennis bags, throwing his own over his shoulder and holding Nathan's out to him.
"It's been three days Glenn," Nathan said, taking the bag from his partner.
Monday night, during their trip to Nathan's beloved ice cream shoppe, the two girls had come up. Hearing Glenn speak of them with such affection, telling multiple stories that made him laugh before he could even get them completely out, Nathan realized that they couldn't be as scary as they seemed to him. Tuesday morning, before Glenn had arrived at school yet, Nathan went up to Grace's locker, where her and Rebecca were waiting for their third, and apologized for everything that had happened recently, and for not apologizing sooner. Since then, Nathan had been treated as one of their own, which he immediately learned was an exhausting task with Glenn and Rebecca's constant bickering and Grace's non stop sarcastic comments. Still, he enjoyed being in their company, and couldn't help but to smile every time Glenn's nose scrunched as it did when he was frustrated or confused by what is friends were saying, which was quite often.
"I'd tell you that it gets better," Glenn began, finally walking forward and nudging Nathan to get him to follow, "but it really doesn't. They're always annoying. You just learn to love them".
Nathan hummed thoughtfully, shooting Glenn a glance out of the corner of his eye as they exited the court and made their way over to their audience. Immediately, Grace and Rebecca scrambled to their feet and launched themself at Glenn, who laughed easily at the attack and hugged them back tightly. "You're so good Glenn," Rebecca groaned before pulling back quickly and turning to Nathan. "You're pretty good too, but you're not Glenn so you don't get a hug".
"I'm actually okay with that," Nathan claimed and Rebecca nodded, as if satisfied, before dropping down onto the grass. Nate let his eyes slip up to Glenn and Grace again and snorted at the sight of Glenn clearly trying to force his friend away from him.
"Gracie, get off Glenn. You're not his type," Rebecca demanded and Nathan smiled a little as Grace huffed and let Glenn go, dropping down onto the grass next to Becca.
Glenn just rolled his eyes and directed his attention to Osmond and Carmen to greet them before sitting down between Grace and Carmen's chair. Still, Nathan stood, saying hello to his parents before reaching down and removing Osmond's water from the cup holder of his chair and finishing the bottle. Quickly, he stepped out of the way when his father kicked out a leg toward him.
"Glenn, what are you doing tonight?" Rebecca asked, drawing Nathan's attention to the three friends sitting on the grass. At the question, Glenn directed his eyes to Nathan, squinting up at him as Nate raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah Pearson. What are you doing tonight?" Nate asked, kicking the sole of Glenn's shoe.
"No".
"Come on, Pearson. You know you want to," Nathan teased easily, grinning in content when Glenn made that face that he loved, the one where his nose scrunched up.
"Want to what?" Rebecca cut in, leaning across Grace as if she hadn't been able to hear well enough from her own spot. Nathan still looked at Glenn, his gaze not wavering, and the other boy looked back, fighting with his eyes and clearly not about to answer. Not breaking eye contact, Nathan did it for him.
"I'm going to take Glenn shopping tonight".
"No you're not," Glenn protested, and finally Nathan looked away, dragging his eyes to Carmen, who raised his eyebrows at him in response. Nate smiled and turned so his back was to his father before dropping down onto the grass and leaning against his knees.
Carmen made a soft noise of distaste. "You're all sweaty". Nate just shrugged and turned his head to look at the other seniors.
"Oh!" Grace was saying, grinning at Glenn as she did so. "You totally should. Glenn is great to shop with. He's not afraid to tell you when you look bad and he's really sweet when he tells you that you look good-"
"You always look bad," Glenn grumbed and Grace pouted.
"I wouldn't need him to tell me that I look good," Nathan explained and Grace just looked at him with a blank expression. "Not because I always look good, that's not what I was going to say so don't look at me like that. I don't need him to tell me that I look good because we're not shopping for me".
"You're not even going to get anything?!" Glenn exclaimed and Nate shook his head.
"Why would I? I don't want anything".
"Well neither do I," Glenn argued and Nathan made a face at him. "I'm serious". Nathan's eyebrows raised further. "Nathan-"
"You're going with him," Rebecca interrupted in a strong voice. "And that's final".
Once again, Glenn's nose wrinkled. "You are not my mother". Rebecca's eyes rolled as if what Glenn had just said was false.
"I'm having dinner with your brother tonight at your house. Greg and your mother are both working, and I was supposed to get you out of the house so him and I could have some alone time, so this actually works out perfectly," Rebecca claimed, and Nathan just blinked at her for a second and shook his head before directing his attention back to Glenn.
Nathan couldn't help but to laugh at the disgusted look on his partners face. "Could you please refrain from discussing your alone time with my brother around me? It's already annoying enough that Greg sleeps on my floor every other night".
"Greg is a little bitch-"
"Oh my, says you," Grace said with an eye roll and Nathan sighed loudly, sharing a small look with Glenn.
In the very sort time that Nathan had spent with the three of them together, this had already happened twice. Rebecca had said something about Greg that Grace immediately had defended by calling Rebecca out and then they had fought. Nathan asked Glenn why Grace was so defensive of his brother, to which Glenn respond with, "fuck if I know," with great exacerbation before jumping in to end the fight.
"Please don't start this right now," Glenn said exacerbated. "It's embarrassing for me, and both of you, and I'm sure Nathan's parents don't want to listen to it".
"Huh?" Carmen said and Nathan leaned forward to glance back at his dad, completely unsurprised that he wasn't paying attention, since it was hard for Carmen to focus on something that wasn't Osmond for long periods of time.
"Never mind," Glenn said softly, and when Nate turned back to him he was smiling at his father warmly. Nathan wondered what he had to do to get Glenn to look at him like that.
As he thought this, Glenn's eyes moved down to Nathan's, catching him looking, and immediately his expression became more troubled.
"Glenn," Rebecca cut it to their moment, "you are going shopping with Nathan".
Glenn turned his head and frowned. "But I hate shopping".
"How can you hate shopping?" Nathan asked as Grace mumbled:
"But you're so good at it". Glenn rolled his eyes, leaning back quickly as Grace threw herself across his lap to hit Nathan's arm. "You'll have so much fun". Nathan smiled.
Glenn looked at Rebecca, his eyes wide and pleading, and Nathan chewed his lip, worried that Glenn would somehow get out of this. Becca shook her head. "You're not allowed in your house, Glenn". Glenn dropped his head in defeat and then rolled it to look up at Nathan.
"We're going shopping".
"It's Friday," Glenn protested weakly.
"Ah yes," Grace said, still in her position across Glenn's lap. "Because, as we all know, all stores close on Fridays".
Glenn glared at her as he addressed Nathan. "Can't we skip shopping? What's lesson three? Let's just skip to there".
"Uh..." Nathan thought for a moment. "Porn". Glenn's eyes got increasingly wide but he was only able to appreciate it for a second as Carmen slapped the back of his head. "Ouch".
"Making It our watching it?" Grace asked with a snicker and Glenn didn't hesitate to flick her forehead. She groaned and rolled off of him onto her back.
"Hey," Nathan scooted away from his father, sending him an annoyed look, and moved closer to Glenn. "It's just shopping. I'll make it as fun for you as possible. I promise".
Glenn dropped his eyes and frowned. "What's the point?"
"You need to pick out something for yourself that you'll like. Something that you'll use for yourself and not give away to someone else to make their lives better. It's about making your life better," Nathan explained, looking slightly off to the side as he attempted to recall word by word what he had written in his notebook the night before while planning exercise two.
"That's actually a great idea," Rebecca claimed, not looking up from her phone screen as she said this. "You should totally do it".
"You're just saying that because you want to canoodle my brother," Glenn grumbled and Nathan laughed softly at the term, which seemed to relax Glenn some since he smiled. "Alright, fine. We can go shopping, but I'm only getting one thing for myself, alright?"
"Deal".
That was all that could be exchanged before Lawson decided to throw himself down on the ground in front of them. "How'd you guys do?"
Nathan refused to respond, glaring at the boy on his back before them, but Glenn smiled kindly at Lawson. "Good, Actually. We didn't lose a game. How about-" Nathan attempted to elbow Glenn, but the boy quickly caught it and shot him an amused look. "-you?"
Nathan watch Lawson eye the space between them and Glenn's fingers slipped off of Nathan's elbow. "I won. I did lose some games though," he claimed, smiling at Glenn, who easily returned the gesture. It made Nathan mad.
"Good for you. Could you like, go away now?" Nathan demanded and Lawson's eyes grew wide.
"You guys are the only ones done, besides Jean, but I can't go stand by him," Lawson explained.
"Why the hell not?"
"Because he's hitting on Green at it just makes me uncomfortable," Lawson claimed and Nathan shrugged.
"Weren't you hitting on him too like a week ago?" Nathan inquired and Lawson frowned.
"I wasn't hitting on him. I was just standing next to him and talking to him go piss off Jean. I'm not gay," Lawson claimed, and then Nathan laughed, receiving a punch to the leg from the other boy. "Hey! I'm not".
"You totally like dick, man," Nathan pointed out and Lawson flushed. "It's not anything to be ashamed of-"
"Oh, fuck you," Lawson spat, pushing himself up onto his arms and jumping his feet forward so he was standing. His attention went to Glenn. "If he tries to get you to have sex with him, and he will because he's a fucking pervert, just leave. If you do it he'll never let you live it down".
"Uh, noted," Glenn responded, looking at Lawson's feet as he did so.
"I'm not not letting you live it down-" Nate began and Lawson shot him a look, "right now. I'm just telling you that you're probably bisexual".
"It's not like you turned me," Lawson said angrily and Nate raised his eyebrows. "You're not good enough for that".
Grace snorted and Lawson turned and walked away. "I'm not saying that I turned him. I'm just saying, if he was so eager to fuck in the first place wouldn't that be an indication that he was kind of interested in men. I mean... I didn't hit on him or anything. He kissed me first and I just went with it," Nathan explained, watching Lawson leave with squinted eyes.
Nathan felt a tug at his hair and his eyes widened as he recalled both of his parents being seated alongside of him.
"Uhh," he turned him head to regard Carmen, who was frowning at him.
"So... you're not a virgin?" His dad asked, and Osmond actually laughed out loud, covering his face with his hands. "Why is that funny? He's never had a girlfriend or boyfriend?"
Rebecca and Grace joined him. "You thought Nathan was a virgin?"
Nathan shot a look or annoyance at them out of the corner of his eye, which only Glenn caught, and he immediately turned and began his attempt to calm them down.
"Why are you laughing?" Carmen asked his husband, who leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "You knew?"
"Honey, it's Nathan. I kinda just figured".
"Hey," Nate groaned. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you don't always make the best decisions," Osmond said, still smiling at Carmen, who once again directed his attention to their son.
"Who else have you had sex with?" He demanded, and Nathan opened his mouth to say no one, but Jameson, Vinney, and Red all exited the court at the gate next to them and simultaneously responded with;
"Me," before all turning to look at one another with very wide eyes. Nathan sighed and dropped his head.
"Are you serious Nathan?" Jameson asked. "I mean... Red's kind of cute, but Vinney".
"Hey-" Vinny attempted to punch Jameson in the face and Red pushed him back.
"Okay," Nathan interrupted. "Well, You two actually happened the same night, and I was stoned out of my mind, so- ouch. Dad, stop hitting me!"
"You are such an idiot," Carmen hissed, attempting to kick Nathan. "Why do you do this to yourself? You fucking idiot-"
"I'm sorry," Nathan groaned. "They're it. That's all the the people I've ever slept with before. I promise". Nathan glared forcefully at the three younger boys standing in front of them, daring them to say any different. His look must have scared them enough, because they quickly excused themselves. Nate turned his head to regard Osmond then, since the man most definitely knew that he was lying. Grey eyes regarded him cooly before moving away, and Nathan sighed, knowing that he was off the hook, at least for now.
"Come on, hun. I'll take you out to dinner to make you feel better," Osmond promised, leaning over and kissing his husband's temple. Nathan smiled at the two of them before turning back to Glenn and his friends.
He waited until his parents had packed up their stuff and left to say,"that was all Lawson's fucking fault. I mean...Oz can probably talk Carmen out of being mad at me for this, but if he had learned the whole truth... My father would probably disown me". Grace snorted and rolled her eyes, and Glenn just looked at him with a blank expression. "Lawson's a fucking tool".
"Uhh," Glenn turned his head to look forward at the empty court in front of them. "He's actually not". Nathan raised his eyebrows, nudging Glenn so he would look at him to see his what the hell face. "We'll he's not. He's my lab partner in AP Chem. He's actually really nice and smart and-"
"And cute as fuck," Rebecca chimed in and Glenn smiled sheepishly at Nathan, who felt his eyes grow.
"Do my ears deceive me?" Nathan asked, bringing a hand up and pushing his hair out of his eyes. "You can't actually think that he's cute".
Glenn shrugged, the pink in his cheeks slowly brightening. "He looks like a puppy," he claimed. "It's hard to find puppies ugly".
Nathan blinked, trying to process this information. "But he's not one".
"Yes, Nathan. I realize that he's not literally a dog," Glenn replied and Nathan scoffed.
"You're not actually interested in that idiot, are you Pearson?" Nathan questioned and Glenn's eyes grew incredibly large.
"What- no. I didn't say that," he looked at Grace who had begun to giggle. "I never said that".
"Glenn," Rebecca sighed. "If you were interested in every single boy that you thought was cute, I'd be really concerned for you".
"Really now". Nathan leaned into Glenn, dropping his chin down onto his shoulder to look over him at Rebecca. "Is there a list? I'd very much like to hear this list".
"Umm," Glenn hummed, his shoulder very tense where Nathan's chin was on it. "I really don't think that this is important-"
"David Clearwater," Grace began and Nathan could hear as Glenn let out a small huff of air in response.
"Brandon Litmen".
"Caleb Markson, Hayden Smits..." the list continued for twelve or so names, and then both girls fell silent, looking at one another as if trying to remember anyone else.
Slowly, Nathan lifted his head from Glenn's shoulder, glancing at the boy with the covered face for a second before he began to go through all the names in his head.
There was one name missing that really bothered him for some reason.
His own.
If they asked Nathan to recall the list of cute boys he kept in his head, Glenn's name would be the first one to leave his lips with no hesitation. More often than not he found himself thinking about Glenn, and many of those times he was simply thinking about how attractive the other boy was to him, at all times.
"Okay..." Nathan said after a minute. "Yeah, alright. I have to say that I agree with you on most of those. Some of them I don't know though, so I can't judge them". Glenn dropped his hands and turned to look at him, his cheeks aflame. "Have you talked to all of these boys?"
"Just talked to?" Glenn asked, and Nathan nodded. "Yeah. That's usually how I learn their names".
"How many of them do you have feelings for?" Nathan asked, and Glenn blinked slowly before answering.
"None".
"Okay". Nathan nodded. "Now let's get to the fun stuff. How many of them have you kissed?"
Glenn looked perplexed. "I just told you that I don't have feelings for any of them". Nathan snorted.
"You don't need to have feelings for someone to kiss them, or fuck them, for that matter. I don't have feelings for Lawson or Jameson or any of those fools. The only person I actually care about that I've had sex with is Jean, and it's totally platonic," Nathan explained, and Glenn frowned.
"I've kissed none of them," he claimed, and Nathan regarded him for a moment.
"Have you ever kissed anyone?"
"I kissed Grace at the party," Glenn reminded quickly and Grace made a noise of confrontation as Rebecca whistled loudly. Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Okay, was that your first kiss?" Nathan would be incredibly surprised if Glenn said yes to this. He had watched him kiss Grace at the party, watched how sure Glenn had seemed when moving his lips against another person's. He was a good kisser, Nathan could tell just from that, and had to have plenty of experience. After the party, Nathan had been assuming the number of people Glenn kissed to be quite high.
"No, she wasn't my first kiss".
"Figured," Nathan said before really thinking about it. Immediately, Glenn looked like he wanted an explanation. "It's just... well at the party you seemed to, uh, know what you were doing. I'd be surprised if you haven't kissed lots of people".
"I haven't," Glenn corrected, shaking his head. "I haven't kissed lots of people".
"Oh". Nathan swallowed and turned his head away. "How many people them?" Glenn's laugh was soft in response and Nathan smiled a bit, tilting his head slightly so he could see the other out of the corner of his eye.
"Why are you prying?" Glenn asked, leaning forward to look up at Nathan's face. "How many people have you kissed?"
Nathan thought about it for a minute. "I don't know. Four, I think". Glenn's eyes rolled and he sat back up, though Nathan's eyes followed him. "What? Why is that so hard for you to believe". Nathan's eyes slipped past Glenn to Grace and Rebecca, who were no longer paying attention to them, lost in a conversation amongst themselves. For some reason, knowing that it was just him and Glenn, Nathan relaxed.
"I wouldn't have asked if I knew you were going to lie," Glenn claimed, smiling ahead and Nathan scoffed, turing his entire body now so he was sitting cross legged and facing Glenn, who spared him a glance before shaking his head and looking away.
"Hey, look at me," Nathan demanded, and when Glenn didn't he reached a hand out and grabbed his chin, turning his face towards him. "I'm an ass, yes, but I wouldn't lie," Nathan assured. "At least not to you". As if to prove this, he dropped his hand and held is pinking out to Glenn as an offering. "I promise you".
Slowly, Glenn's face transformed into a smile and he reached his hand out to Nathan, locking his pinki around his. Neither of them pulled away, so their hands just stayed between them, their smallest fingers linked. "So you really only kissed just four people?" Nathan nodded. "But haven't you... well, I know that you've had sex with more than four people".
"Well," Nathan said, shrugging. "I don't need to kiss them to put my dick in them". Glenn snorted, as if surprised, and squeezed Nathan's pinki lightly before dropping it and rubbing his hands on his shorts. "Would you like to know who I kissed?"
"Sure," Glenn said, shrugging. He frowned then. "As long as I don't have to tell you who I kissed". Nathan's eyebrows raised quickly and Glenn flushed. "I just... I really don't like to talk about him".
"Him..." Nathan trailed off. "It was only one person?" Glenn's teeth sunk into his lower lip and Nathan's eyes focused on the action for just a second before looking away before it became noticeable. Glenn nodded in conformation and Nathan nodded back in acknowledgement. "I've kissed Jean, Lawson, Lisa, and then my first kiss was with a boy named Kip".
"Kip?" Glenn asked with a snort. "That's a stupid name". Nathan scoffed. "Well it is- wait, you've kissed more people than that".
"I swear Glenn, I haven't-"
"Grace," Glenn said, speaking quietly so his voice didn't alert the blonde girl laying on the ground in front of him. Nathan was thankful that her attention remained fully on Rebecca.
"Glenn, that doesn't count. Our lips had barely touched before she was slapping me across the face". Glenn looked content for a moment before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Yes?"
"So you've only kissed one girl before? Lisa?"
"Yeah," Nathan confirmed, and then he grimaced. "Not a great kiss. Honestly, the idea of kissing another girl after that really isn't appealing". Glenn gave him a pointed look. "Unless I've had a few drinks".
"So..." Glenn looked as if he was trying to understand. "You don't want to kiss women?"
"No desire to at all," Nathan assured and Glenn looked perplexed.
"So, you're just gay? I always thought that you were bisexual-"
"Oh!" Nathan exclaimed, finally realizing why Glenn had been so confused with what he'd been saying. "No. I'm not just gay. I still like boobs. A lot". Glenn grimaced at this statement and Nate laughed. "I can tell by your face that you're not in total agreement".
"Yeah, well, I'm not," Glenn said, and then he sighed. "To each their own, I guess".
"Yeah, to each their own". Nathan paused. "Something's bothering me".
Glenn's eyes continued to look into his and Nathan wondered when the last time he had maintained eye contact for this long was, and with who. "What? That I don't enjoy female genitalia? It's weird-"
Nathan laughed and reached out both of his hands, grabbing one of Glenn's own and cupping it in his palms. "No, Glenn. No," He said, shaking Glenn's hand with each word. Brown eyes widened a bit. "Not that".
"Oh". Carefully, Glenn wiggled his fingers and Nathan looked down at where they were connected before sighing and slowly pulling his hand away, fingertips grazing against Glenn's hand. It wasn't right for him to touch, Nathan knew, but sometimes he couldn't help himself, and he knew that Glenn wouldn't read too much into it. "Uh, what bothered you then?"
Nathan dropped his eyes as he remembered. "So, your list of cute boys-"
"You're bothered by my list?"
"Well, not the fact that you have one, just... well..." Nathan cut off with a sigh. "How do I say this right? Well, your list is great and all, but... I couldn't help but to realize that I'm not on it". Glenn's expression went from confusion, to understanding, to amusement in a split second. When he began to laugh, it was loud enough that it finally got Grace's and Rebecca's attention back on them. "What? Why are you laughing? I'm serious, Glenn. This is a concern of mine. I mean, are you sure that you can see right?" This made Glenn laugh louder, and threw his head back. The sound made Nathan grin so hard that his face hurt.
"Oh my god," Glenn breathed happily once his laughter died down to short chuckles. They were all smiling at that point, even Grace and Rebecca, who still had no idea what was going on. "You're such a dork".
"I'm not-"
"Relax," Glenn breathed, reaching out a hand and gently resting it on Nathan's forearm. His hands were soft. "It's a good thing".
"Not good enough for me to be cute?" Nathan inquired after a short pause and Glenn smiled at him softly for a minute before sighing and making a move to climb to his feet. "Ah, hey. Where are you going?"
Glenn got to his feet and nodded his head in the direction of the team's bleachers, where all of the finished players were seated, along with Coach Green. "We kind of have to tell him our score". Glenn extended his hands down to Nathan, who looked at them for a long moment before taking them so he could be pulled to his feet.
"Am I cute though?" Nate demanded to know, not letting go of Glenn's hands once he was also standing. Glenn looked down between them before sighing and smiling.
"Yes Nathan. You're very cute, and you're on the list," Glenn assured, and Nathan smiled in content, releasing Glenn's hands only to throw an arm around his shoulders and nudge him in the direction of the reason that they had stood in the first place. "You're way too happy about this".
"I'm not," Nathan assured, smiling as they got closer and closer to their teammates. Jean, who was sitting on the bleachers next to Green on his phone raised his head, noticing them. Even through Jean's sunglasses, Nathan could see his best friend wink. "I greatly enjoy the fact that you think I'm cute Glenn".
"Now I wish I hadn't told you," Glenn claimed, leaning into Nathan's side. "You're going to tease me".
"Yes I will," Nathan confirmed. "Shopping is going to be so much fun".
Glenn groaned.
***
"You know," Glenn said, and Nathan glanced at him to see Glenn finish the last of the french fries from the fast food bag before crumpling it, "you don't always have to pay for me".
They had just crossed the parking lot, walking towards the entrance of the mall, and Glenn paused for a second to throw away the bag as he sucked the extra salt off his right hand.
"Nonsense," Nathan assured, "it doesn't bother me to spend the money".
Glenn let out a huff of air. "You're really taking the wrong friend shopping. Rebecca would gladly spend all of your money for you. You should go get her".
"Nah. Becca already knows how to be selfish," Glenn snorted at this, "and besides, she doesn't think I'm cute".
"I assure you, she does".
Nathan was silent as they stepped through the automatic doors, thinking of what was best to say next. "But she doesn't think I'm as cute as you think I am".
Glenn shot him an unamused looks. "Yeah, keep at that. You're getting a lot less cute every time you says stupid shit like that".
"No I don't," Nathan said with complete confidence and a smile. "But I'll stop if you'd like me to".
Glenn let out a small sigh and nodded. "Yes please". He looked around then at the stores they were passing. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," Nate said, looking forward. "That's really your choice, isn't it?" We are, after all, shopping for you, so what kind of things do you like". The look on Glenn's face could only be described as pained, and Nathan laughed, leaning over to bump his shoulder against his. "Don't look so scared, Pearson".
"I don't like anything Nathan. These are all things," Glenn protested. "And, I don't want to spend your money while I have my own".
"You don't have a job, Glenn".
"That doesn't mean that I don't have any money," Glenn replied and Nathan turned his head to regard the other boy, whose eyes were flicking around quickly as if he was nervous.
"Would you please just let me pay for you, Glenn? I want to, I promise," Nate assured, and Glenn's eyes moved to his, disbelieving. Nathan grinned at him. "Be selfish for once. Spend my money".
"I want a car".
"Well, I'll pay the first two thousand," Nathan offered and Glenn hissed through his teeth before looking away again. "We're not leaving until we buy you something new".
"Why are you doing this to me?" Glenn inquired, grabbing Nathan's arm and lightly pulling him out of the way of a group of women.
"Because," Nathan said, watching the group walk away over his shoulder, "I think you deserve to have new things every once and a while that make you happy, and you're clearly not going to buy them for yourself, so I'll buy them for you". Glenn rolled his eyes. "So... choose a store".
"I don't want to".
"Can I choose then?" Nathan asked, reaching his hand up to push his hair off his forehead. "I mean, if you can't choose..."
"As long as you don't take me to some stupid fucking porn store," Glenn grumbled and Nate snorted.
"But we could get our stuff for our next lesson," Nathan vexed and Glenn looked at him blankly for a moment before cracking a small smile.
"You'd better be joking about that".
He was, but he didn't want to explain that yet, wanted Glenn to squirm for a while longer, so he reached out and grabbed Glenn's arm. "Hush," he instructed before pulling him off to the side, into one of Nathan's favorite clothing stores. "Why do you hate shopping so much? You're usually happy and now you're just all sullen".
"I don't know". Nathan continued to pull him through the store, towards the back. "Shopping doesn't interest me. I have everything I need".
"Then let's get you something fun". They stopped in the back, by the shelf of hats, and Nathan pulled a pink one off of one the hanging pegs and turned to put it on Glenn's head. The boy blinked in surprise and then turned his head to look up at the wall.
"This is so dumb," he claimed before pushing himself up onto his toes and grabbing another hat off the wall. Nathan was unsurprised as Glenn pushed it onto his head, patting Nates hair down first. "I already have a hat".
"But do you have a pink one?"
"Of course not," Glenn claimed, his brown eyes hooded as Nate removed a rainbow hat from the wall and held it out to him. "That is awful".
"Come on," Nathan urged. "Pride".
"I'm gay enough already," Glenn assured, taking the hat and returning it to the wall. A moment later, he returned the pink one as well before looking down the wall. "Beanies".
"You most certainly are," Nathan agreed and Glenn rolled his eyes before wandering down the wall and stopping at the knitted hat. Nathan took the hat off of his own head and returned it to its spot before following the other boy. "I'm not buying you one of those hats".
"I don't want one," Glenn assured. "They're stupid".
"Then why are you looking at them-"
"Because," Glenn picked up a grape colored hat and pressed it into Nathan's chest, "I would like to see it on your head".
"Uh, no," Nathan refused, pushing Glenn's hand away. "I don't want to-"
"This will make me happy, Nathan," Glenn assured, smiling a little. "Come on. I'm not asking for a lot".
Nate looked at him for a moment, his eyes searching Glenn's face for any sign that he was joking, but there was one. Sighing, Nate looked down at the hat and pulled it from Glenn's fingers. "How do you even wear these?"
"Here". Glenn took the hat back and took a small step closer to him. "Could you close your eyes when I do this?" Nathan blinked in surprise.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to put the hat on you," Glenn claimed, and Nathan's eyebrows raised in skepticism. "I'm not going to kiss you or anything. Your gaze is just very intense and I can almost feel you staring at me".
Nathan closed his eyes and cracked a smile. Immediately, he felt Glenn's hands in his hair, pushing it back before he pulled the hat into Nathan's head. "There". Nathan didn't say anything, just stood there. "You can open your eyes now". Nathan did and Glenn smiled at him. "Very cool".
"It feels like it's supposed to fall off. Is it supposed to be this way?" Glenn nodded in confirmation. "How do I look?"
"Like someone who enjoys dancing to hip hop," Glenn assured and Nathan made an amused noise before reaching up and pulling the hat off his head.
"Alright. So you clearly don't want a hat," Nathan observed, throwing the hat back onto its shelf.
"I don't want anything-"
"We're literally not leaving until I buy you something," Nathan said, once again, and Glenn dropped his head and sighed. "So come on. If you have extra money to go shopping, what do you buy?"
Glenn lifted his head quickly, his eyes very wide. "You're not going to believe me".
"If you says books I'm going to punch you in the face".
Glenn's mouth twitched. "I don't have time to read".
"So What then?"
"Socks". Nathan laughed, and then cut off when Glenn didn't join him.
"Oh, you're serious?" He inquired, and Glenn's teeth dug into his lower lip as he nodded. "You buy socks for yourself when you have money". The nodded continued. "I don't believe you".
"I do!" Glenn declared. "I love socks. Especially the fuzzy ones. They keep your feet so warm when you're walking around inside on hardwood flirting without your shoes on".
"That's strangely specific".
Brown eyes rolled. "You said you'd buy me What I wanted, and I want socks".
"Are you really this much of a dork?" Nathan asked and Glenn shrugged, looking sheepish. "I always used to think you were so cool, Glenn. You always wore baseball caps and hung out with hot girls".
"Am I not cool now because I like fuzzy socks?" Glenn asked, and Nathan grinned at him, displaying all of his teeth. Glenn blinked in surprise. "Why are you smiling?"
Nathan chuckled. "I can't help it". Glenn looked perplexed. "There's just... something about you Glenn Pearson".
"Something good?"
"Would my face look like this if it was bad?" Nathan inquired, and Glenn shrugged.
"Maybe. Maybe you could have hated me this whole time and now you have a reason to kill me or something. Because... uh, I like socks".
"No," Nathan assured, "only if you like beanies". Glenn snorted and then reached out to grasp Nathan's forearm.
"Can we go to a store now that actually has what I want?"
"Uh, sure," Nathan agreed, looking around for a second before grabbing the wrist of Glenn's hand that was still resting lightly on his forearm and pulling him back to the front of the store. Halfway there, Glenn began to drag his feet. "What is it, Pearson?"
"Nathan, stop for a second," Glenn demanded, and Nathan did, looking back at his doubles partner, who was pointing down the clothing isle at something. Nathan took a step closer to him to see what he was looking at, and then frowned in confusion.
"It's just a mannequin," Nathan pointed out, and Glenn turned to look at him then, meeting his eyes for a second before they dropped down to his shirt. Nathan looked down at himself as well. "Ohhh".
Glenn looked back down the aisle and was silent for a moment. "I think he wears it better".
"Shut up". Nathan began to pull him through the store again as Glenn laughed. "You know, I didn't have much time to change. I was only home for like, ten minutes before I picked you back up. I just grabbed the first thing I saw. I don't actually wear this that often".
"Do you usually just buy the outfits right off of the mannequin? I mean, that way you know it always matches-"
"Glenn," Nathan groaned loudly, finally getting them out of the store and dropping the others wrist.
"Hey, no judgement," Glenn said, smiling easily. "I mean, I want socks, so I really can't say anything about you buying the shirt off the mannequin".
"I bought this a few weeks ago," Nate explained. "It wasn't on the mannequin then".
"Okay," Glenn said, but he didn't sound totally convinced.
"Why are you being so difficult right now?" Nathan demanded and Glenn snickered.
"Does it make you not want to buy me things?"
Nathan bumped his shoulder against Glenn's. "No. It makes me want to buy you more things just to piss you off".
***
"You know, I kinda like the dynamic we have going on here," Glenn claimed, reclining his seat a bit as Nathan glanced away from the street towards him for just a second.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that I don't really have any friends who are boys, and it's nice to not have to listen to you talk about your menstrual cycle, or how much it hurts to go up and down stairs without a bra on," Glenn explained and Nathan's eyebrows shot up.
"Is that a thing?" Nathan asked. "That's painful?"
"Apparently," Glenn said, his hands fiddling with the plastic bag in his lap. "I don't know, I try not to ask about it because sometimes Grace gets mad when I don't understand and punches me in the balls and that makes me like her marginally less". Nathan snickered at this. "I'm serious".
"I do not doubt it". Nathan flicked his blinker with his left hand so it signaled left. He turned onto Glenn's street.
"Hey," Glenn spoke softly, "are you really going to make me watch porn".
Snorting, Nathan threw a look at Glenn out of the corner of his eye. "No, Pearson. I'm not going to make you watch porn". Glenn hummed in content. "I am going to make you watch television for twelve hours straight though".
"Is this really how you live your life?" Glenn demanded to know and Nathan shrugged and nodded. "Don't you ever have school work?"
"Okay, mom," Nathan mocked and Glenn's sighed filled the car.
"Whatever. When is this marathon going to happen?"
"Tomorrow is Saturday, so how about we just start then," Nathan offered, pulling up to the curb along side of Glenn's house and putting his car in park. Glenn frowned.
"What if I have plans tomorrow?"
"Well do you?"
Glenn blinked and turned his head to look up at his house. "I do, but I should be done by eleven, if that's alright. Could I just come over then?"
Nathan chewed his lip for a moment. "Ah, yeah. Any time should work... Am I allowed to ask you what you're doing tomorrow?" Glenn looked at him. "I'm just curious".
"It's alright," Glenn assured. "I'm actually just making breakfast for my family. My mom's going to be home for the first time in forever, so I figured I should do something nice to welcome her back". Nathan smiled at him. "What?"
"You're great, Glenn. You deserve more than three pairs of socks. You deserve your car". Glenn looked at him closely for a moment, his brown eyes searching for something that Nathan didn't quite understand.
"I don't want a car," Glenn admitted, still looking at him like that and Nathan raised his eyebrows and leaned back against his seat, his head turned to continue maintaining their eye contact.
"What do you want Glenn Pearson?"
Glenn blinked then and looked ahead. "That's a really good question".
"Is it?"
"Yeah". Glenn opened the passenger side door then and climbed out. Nathan was expecting him to close the door and leave without another word, but of course that didn't happen, because it was Glenn, and he was sweet, and he couldn't not say thank you. "Okay, so," he began, leaning back in through the open door and bracing both of his hands on the top of the car, "I really hate shopping and all, and I'd never like to do it again, but I did have a good time, so thank you".
"You also got three good pairs of socks," Nathan teased, and Glenn rolled his eyes.
"Two pairs," Glenn corrected.
"Huh?" Glenn straightened for a second before bending down and throwing a pair of black socks into Nathan's lap. "But-"
"Shush," Glenn instructed before taking a step back. "You'll thank me later". He winked, and then slammed the door between them.
Unable to help himself, Nathan leaned forward against his wheel to watch Glenn go up his front walkway. Once he was inside, Nathan sighed and dropped his forehead to his wheel.
There was something so exhilarating about being with Glenn that everything just felt dull when he was absent.