"Why are you acting this way?" Carmen asked from the passenger seat, leaning around his chair to peer into the back of Osmond's car at Nathan. "You really don't want to go that bad?"
"I've already been to a million of your concerts. I don't understand why you even want me there," Nathan grumbled, turning to look away from Carmen and out the window.
For the third time that year, Osmond and Carmen were playing in a concert downtown. This was a very common occurrence, since nearly every time there was a musical performance down town they received a call to perform. Nathan had already seen far too many of these performances in his opinion, and his parents had agreed about a year ago that he no longer had to come with them, but it seemed to be the exception tonight.
"Nathan, we want to spend time with you," Carmen explained, turning back toward the front. "You're leaving for state on monday-" Nathan grinned, thinking about his and Glenn's qualification match a few days before. "And you're going to be gone for three days".
"We can spend time together tomorrow," Nathan pointed out. "We're not doing anything tomorrow-" he cut off when he realized that Osmond had pulled up to the curb on a familiar block. "Why are we in front of Glenn's house?" Osmond and Carmen shared a look and Nathan leaned forward eagerly. "Guys?"
"Well he overheard us talking about it after your match last Saturday and he seemed interested so we thought-"
"You invited him?" Nathan asked, and Carmen turned around to look at him.
"Yeah. Is that all right?"
Nathan didn't respond. Instead he unbuckled and left the car.
He was half way up the front walkway when the front door opened. His mouth opened, about to say hey you to the gorgeous boy he had been dreaming about for the whole week, but instead he was greated with the sight of a middle aged woman grinning down at him.
She didn't look like Glenn really, but something about her smile, the shape of it maybe, that immediately told Nathan that this was his friends mother.
For a second, he faltered, unsure if he should continue toward the house, but then Glenn's mother stepped outside and gestured for him to come to her. "Um," Nathan continued until he was a few feet away from her. "Hi".
"Hello," She greeted, and then she closed the distance between them and hugged him. "It's so nice to meet you finally. My son talks about you a lot".
"Really?" Nathan asked, grinning at her once she pulled back. "He talks about me?"
"Oh yes," She assured, and before Nathan could ask for more details Glenn was stepping out of his house, looking absolutely beautiful in a white button down and dark pants, and he had every ounce of Nathan's attention.
"Hey!" he greated and Glenn beamed at him.
"Hey," he responded, sounding much cooler than Nathan had. Glenn turned to his mother then and kissed her cheek. "I'll be back late Ma, so don't wait up".
"I doubt I could if I even tried," she assured and Glenn smiled at his mother one last time before moving around her and grabbing Nathan's arm. As he pulled Nathan down the walk way, his mother called, "have fun!" after them.
"You look really really good," Nathan praised under his breath, his eyes roaming down Glenn's body and focusing on his ass for longer than necessary.
"Stop checking me out," Glenn demanded and Nathan's eyes shot up to see that the boy wasn't even looking over his shoulder at him.
"How did you know?" Nathan asked. They were at Osmond's car now, and Glenn released Nathan's wrist, about to walk around the car, but Nathan was fast to grab his partners hand and hold him in place. When Glenn looked at him, Nathan's eyebrows raised in question.
"You think I don't know that I look good?' was Glenn's response, and Nathan laughed, opening the car door and gesturing for Glenn to get in. "Oh. Thanks". Nathan waited for him to climb in before closing the door and hurrying to round the car to get in on his own side.
"Thanks for inviting me," Glenn was saying to his parents as he buckled his seat belt.
"It's really no problem," Carmen assured, turning in his seat. He winked at Nathan, as if saying you're welcome, and then directed his attention to Glenn. "We get free tickets for performing".
"Well thanks for using one in me. I've never been to a professional concert before-"
"They're not that exciting," Nathan chimed in and Carmen made a soft noise of annoyance. To calm him, Osmond lifted a hand from the wheel and placed it on his husbands leg.
"You know," Osmond began, his voice just loud enough for them all to hear him. Nathan leaned forward in anticipation to hear the rest of what he was going to say. "We could drop you off on the way".
Nathan grumbled in disagreement and dropped back into his seat, staring out the window. Now that Glenn was joining them, there was no way that he wasn't going.
Carmen laughed softly at his son's reaction and smiled at his husband. "Thanks," he said softly, reaching down to pat Osmond's hand.
"Of course". Nathan watched as Osmond turned his head slightly so his eyes could flicker between the road and his husband. "Are you feeling better?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Nathan could see Glenn turn towards him quickly and looked at him to raise his eyebrows. "Is he sick?" Glenn asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. Clewing his lip, Nathan appreciated how Glenn looked in the back of the car, his face dark in the dim light. It reminded him of the night of homecoming, when Nathan had been unable to resist kissing that mouth, and he looked away quickly before he could be tempted to do it again. "Nathan?"
"Um, no, he's not sick," Nathan explained, loud enough for his parents to hear apparently because Carmen was the one who responded.
"I just get nervous before performances".
"He always has," Osmond added. "Even back when we were in high school".
Glenn looked intrigued. "You guys performed together when you were in high school?" he asked, and Nathan smiled at how easy it was for Glenn to wrap his parents around his finger. They already loved him, but asking questions that would remind them of the beginning honeymoon stage of their relationship.
"Yeah," Carmen sounded dazed. "Osmond was my accompanist. He was actually recommended to me by the music teacher, and that's how we met. Of course, it wasn't exactly easy to fall in love him. He was very rude and made me feel stupid".
"I did not," Osmond argued.
"You told me I was a waste of your time". Osmond was quiet for a minute before he responded in a quiet voice.
"I said that the meeting was a waste of time-"
"The meeting that you were having with me," Carmen pointed out and Osmond scoffed. "You can't seriously think that you treated me fair that day. You played the piano out of tempo just to mess me up".
"I needed to see if you were as good at playing the violin as you were at stealing my heart," Osmond teased, and while normally Nathan would roll his eyes at the flirting, he smiled, since it was just a sign that his father felt much better than he had a week ago.
Carmen laughed cutely and said something under his breath that had the word sexy and the look Osmond sent his husband was half way between aroused and adoring, and Nathan rolled his eyes and looked at Glenn, who was already watching him with a knowing expression. They looked at each other for a minute, eyes roaming faces looking for something that Nathan didn't fully understand.
This had happened multiple times over the last week. Their eyes locking in a sort of silent communication that Nathan didn't know how to vocalize. Typically, when it occurred, Nathan would stare for a few seconds and then look away, but this time he didn't. This time he unbuckled his seat belt and slid across the back seat closer to the boy, whose eyebrows raised above his still unblinking eyes. "Hi," Nathan greeted and Glenn smiled.
"Hey".
The eye contact broke when Carmen interpreted their moment to say, "I don't care that you moved, but you have to put on your seatbelt". Scoffing, Nathan did as he was told as Glenn laughed at him.
"That was embarrassing for me," Nathan admitted and Glenn smiled crookedly at him.
"Yeah?"
"Uh-huh". Nathan let out an exacerbated breath of air. "So, are you ready for state?"
"Umm," Glenn leaned into Nathan's side, and it occurred to him for one second that they had kind of been flirting, but he tried not to think about it too much, because thinking could ruin everything. "Yeah I'm ready. Ready and excited".
***
Adrian, Ezra, and Celia were already at the performance center when they arrived, waiting for them in the lobby.
Immediately Carmen and Osmond began to approach the family of three, but Nathan stayed put, staring ahead at them walked away. Glenn sighed from beside him. "Is it really that bad?"
"What?" Nathan asked, turning his head to look at him before understanding the question and snorting. "No. It's not bad at all. They're really amazing, and I love watching them perform. The problem is sitting through an hour of everyone else performing. That's exhausting".
"I really like music," Glenn responded, turning his face away and Nathan studied him for a moment longer before sighing.
"Fine," he groaned, moving forward and Glenn laughed a little as he followed him.
"What?"
"I'll be good".
"You'll be good?" Glenn bumped his shoulder against his. "What's that mean?"
"I'll be good. I won't complain or talk and distract you from the performance," Nathan promised as they stopped in front of the group of five. "You'll enjoy this performance. I promise you".
Glenn looked at him blankly for a moment before his eyes glinted. "Then you better not be too good". Nathan's eyes widened in surprise but before he could ask Glenn looked forward and greeted Adrian.
"It's so nice to see you again!" Adrian exclaimed, reaching his arms out and pulling Glenn into a hug. "Congratulations on making State. Nathan's been very excited. It's practically all he can talk about. You and state".
Nathan flushed at his uncle's words, but Glenn seemed unphased, laughing easily. "Thank you. I'm very excited as well. I'm happy it's an experience we'll have before we graduate".
"Of course," Adrian grinned and shot a look to the side at his husband, who was currently standing far too close to Osmond with his arm wrapped around Oz's shoulder. "Ezra and I had a list of a few things we wanted to achieve before he graduated". If Nathan had to guess, he'd say that Adrian and Ezra's list wasn't exactly appropriate.
"Did you manage?" Glenn asked and Adrian looked pleased.
"I think we did".
"Did what, Dad?" A small voice asked and Nathan watched as Glenn dropped his head quickly to meet Celia's eyes.
"Nothing honey," Adrian claimed, his eyes finding Nathan's as one eyelid dropped in a wink, confirming all of Nathan's suspicions that the list Adrian was referring to wasn't an appropriate one. "Glenn, this is Ezra and my daughter, Celia".
"Hi," the younger girl said, eyeing Glenn and then Nathan. "He your boyfriend?"
"Um... uhh-" Nate stuttered.
"Something like that," Glenn assured before extending his hand out to the middle schooler. "Hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm Glenn".
Celia shook his hand with raised eyebrows, her eyes moving between him and Nathan before she grinned. "He's cute," she said. Nathan laughed and stepped forward, bending down to lift Celia into a tight hug. "Hey no no no!" Despite her protest, she couldn't help but to laugh.
"I missed you, peanut. How was band camp?" Nathan asked, returning her to the ground. Just for a moment, she continued to pretend that she was mad at him and glared, but then Ezra reached down from behind her to ruffle her blonde hair and she grinned.
"It was great. I was better than all the other kids there".
"I do not doubt it," Nathan agreed, holding his hand out for her to high five, which she did enthusiastically.
"Of course you were, sweetie," Adrian cut in, looking down at his daughter proudly. "You're my daughter".
"If that's how this works, then whose am I?" Nathan questioned, and both Adrian and Carmen raised their heads from looking down at Celia.
"Ezra's," they both said simultaneously, with equally careless shrugs and Nathan rolled his eyes as his uncle grinned at him. Osmond looked less than pleased, but smiled when Carmen came up to him, setting his violin down by his feet so he could throw his arms around his husband's neck.
"What?" Carmen asked, and Osmond shot Ezra a look.
"I'm offended that you think our son is anything like that man," Osmond accused, and Ezra's very green eyes rolled to the ceiling at Adrian's laugh.
Nate leaned slightly into Glenn's side. "You know, he says that, but I'd argue I'm far more like Ezra than I am like him," he claimed, and Glenn made a noise, but it wasn't exactly agreement. "No?"
"I'm not sure," Glenn commented before he was distracted by Carmen exclaiming;
"Oh my god!" His arms dropped from around his husband's neck and he instead grabbed Osmond's hand and began pulling him away. "Look look look".
They all followed as if Carmen was pulling them as well- Nathan pausing only briefly to pick up the forgotten violin from where Carmen had left it on the floor- and ended up at the entrance to the theater, looking at a small poster taped to the wall. It was a picture from a long time ago of his parents, up on a stage performing. Nathan was struck with how young Osmond looked, while he was unsurprised with Carmen's appearance. It seemed that only one of his parents was aging.
Nathan leaned over and whispered this to Osmond, who elbowed him in the side at the teasing.
"We were your age," Carmen interrupted before Nathan could be scolded.
"That's crazy," Glenn vocalized and Nathan nodded in agreement, dragging his eyes over to the photo again. It really was crazy. He wasn't sure that he had ever seen a picture of his parents from that long ago. No surprise, Osmond despised getting his picture taken, so over the years Nathan had seen very few shots of the two of them.
And this one was special. Something about it seemed unusual to Nathan, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Adrian vocalized it. "Wow. You two really look like you dislike one another, huh? Is this before you two began fucking each other's brains out?"
"Hey," Ezra and Celia warned at the same time, and a minute later they both looked extremely pleased with one another as Adrian scoffed.
Nathan noticed that his parents and Glenn all ignored the small encounter in the Drake family.
"I was actually after our relationship began," Osmond claimed, wrapping his arm around Carmen's waist. "This was taken in Wisconsin".
Carmen hummed thoughtfully, but Nathan wasn't going to let that pass. "How can you tell?"
"Well," Osmond began, but then there was an uncomfortably long pause before he spoke again. "Um... I'm not looking at your father as he plays-" immediately when he said it, Nathan realized that was what he found so off about the picture. Whenever Carmen and Osmond performed, Osmond never took his eyes off Carmen, not even for a second to make sure his fingers were on the right keys, but in the photo Osmond's eyes were down.
"Why didn't you look at him in Wisconsin?" Nathan questioned. "Were you mad at him or something?" Both of his parents were silent, and Nathan looked to them. "About what?"
"Yeah," Osmond smiled then. "Tell them, Carm. Tell the why I was so mad at you".
It was with great interest that Nathan watched his shorter father melt in to the others chest and tilt his head back to look up at him. They didn't fight very often, and when they did they always made sure not to bring Nathan into it. This meant that he always knew when his parents were fighting, but never understood over what.
"I'm still sorry about that, you know," Carmen said softly, blinking up at Osmond who smiled down at him fondly and ran soothing hands up his sides.
"Sorry about what?" Nathan demanded to know, but Carmen just shot him an unenthused look before turning to kiss his husband. Nathan's gaze moved to Glenn to roll his eyes at his parents affection, but Glenn continued to look forward at the kissing couple, his expression unreadable. "Hey".
"Huh?" The other boy responded half heartedly, his eyes reluctantly moving to look at Nate.
"You good?"
Glenn smiled. "Yeah. It's just... it's sweet. They're great together".
All he wanted to do was stare at Glenn then, but a tug on the violin in his hand had him looking to Osmond. "Give me this. We're going to go backstage so he can try to calm down".
Nathan, knowing what this truly meant, snickered and gave his father the violin. Then he addressed Glenn. "Would you like to go find out seats?"
***
The way they ended up sitting, Glenn was between Nathan and Ezra, and the older man was very content with this, happy to tell stories that Glenn, and sometime even Nathan, had never heard before.
The story Ezra was currently on explained his story with Adrian, which Nathan head heard, but his parents were incorporated this time, making it a little different.
"...So, Adrian and I had just broken up that day and I get a call on the phone from Osmond about Carmen and his feelings for him. Of course I was thrilled since up until that point my boy Ozzy was tripping over Adrian all the time-"
Nathan interrupted his uncle. "Wait, What?" Glenn turned to look at him, but Nathan continued to gaze past him at Ezra's growing smile. "Dad... and Adrian?"
"Oh no no no," Adrian chimes in, pushing Ezra back into his seat and leaning forward in his seat to address his nephew. "Nothing ever happened. Really. He just... had a crush on me from his freshman year to his senior year. No big deal".
"Four years".
"It was really three," Ezra corrected. "But it was still pathetic".
"Why have I not heard about this before?" Nathan asked. Something came to mind and his very blue eyes widened. It must have been comical because Glenn's mouth curled up. "Carmen... does he get Jealous?"
Adrian snorted. "Of course not. Nothing to be jealous of. It just doesn't come up much. We have far better things to talk about these days". Celia then demanded Adrian's attention and he turned away.
"Anyways," Ezra continued, "when Osmond called me it was because they were having a fight-"
Nathan interrupted again. "About?"
"Um-" Adrian threw an elbow into Ezra's side and the older man cut off before clearing his throat. "You should talk to your parents about that, kid".
The look on Nathan's face must have been funny because Glenn let out a small laugh.
Their eyes met, but before Nathan could say anything the lights grew dark, and Glenn smiled at him, eyes flashing under the dim lights.
***
"They're amazing," Glenn whispered in his ear, lips so close that Nathan could almost feel them on his skin. It was distracting to him, so much so that he looked away from his parents- who were indeed, amazing- to look at the boy next to him. He was equally amazing, but also unbelievably beautiful.
Nathan's gaze wandered down to Glenn's hand, which was resting on the arm rest between them, his fingers relaxed and slightly parted, just enough so that Nathan could easily slip his fingers between-
He looked forwards towards his parents again, trying to forget about that terrible idea. It had already been decided that things between him and Glenn, no matter how badly he wanted them, wouldn't work. This had become abundantly clear to him the night of homecoming when Glenn had pushed him away. It had been subtle and soft, but it had most definitely been a rejection. He couldn't let himself forget that.
But he was. The longer Nathan watched his parents up there, watched the way Osmond's eyes never left his husband, he thought about how content he would be to look at Glenn like that, unblinking as to not miss a single movement.
Nathan didn't take Glenn's hand, but he touched it, just gently, sweeping his thumb over his knuckles and lightly massaging the web of his thumb. He didn't really know what he was doing. The only thing he really processed was that Glenn had not yet pulled away. Quite the opposite, actually. Not only did Glenn's hand remain where it was, it turned so his palm was faced upwards, giving Nathan the opportunity to explore the creases of his hand.
After only five minutes, Nathan felt like he had Glenn's hand memorized, right down to the freckle on the back of his thumb. He felt like a palm reader, studying someone's hands so closely, and wished that he could read the lines and lean Glenn's future. At the moment, anything seemed possible between them.
By the end of the performance, Nathan's fingers had stopped searching and had slipped through the gaps in Glenn's, holding his hand tightly. Glenn held him back, his palm warm against Nathan. They didn't look at one another, only stared forward as Osmond and Carmen performed, pretending like what was happening between them wasn't abnormal, even thought Nathan couldn't ignore the pounding in his chest.
When the lights turned on, and Ezra and Adrian began to talk amongst themselves once more, neither Nathan nor Glenn moved. In silence, the continued to stare a head.
"Hey guys-" Adrian cut off and Nathan quickly turned his head towards both of his uncles, who were both looking down at the high schoolers clasped hands on the arm rest. Glenn, who was between Nathan and his family, looked ahead, eyes distant as he chewed on his lip. Adrian met Nathan's eyes, and the younger boy shook his head, communicating to him not to comment. "Um, do you want to head out and meet your parents in the lobby?"
Glenn's lips parted and he inhaled, but Nathan spoke before him. "We'll be out in a minute".
Then left, and Nathan turned completely in his seat to face Glenn, adjusting the angle of his arm so they could still comfortably hold hands. "So this is happening," he pointed out, and for the first time since the lights had dimmed Glenn turned his head to look at him, all wide eyes and pink cheeks.
"Nathan". He sounded exacerbated. Nathan's eyebrows raised. With a long sigh, Glenn dropped his eyes to look down at their clasped hands before squeezing Nathan's gently. He returned the gesture and Glenn smiled a little before completely pulling his hand back, out of Nate's grasp. "Let's go see your parents".
***
They didn't talk much on the car ride home (they being Glenn and Nathan, though mostly just Nathan). Glenn held conversation with Osmond and Carmen quite easily, complimenting them multiple times on their performance, leaving Carmen to blush and Osmond to look pleased.
All Nate was able to contribute to the conversation was a quiet yes, when Carmen asked him if he enjoyed the performance. His father looked content with this answer, and Nathan didn't have the heart to tell him that he had been barely paying attention due to the warmth that was Glenn's palm against his own, though, knowing his father, that would probably make the older man more than happy.
When they got to Glenn's house, Nathan was still lost in his head, thinking about what he, no, they (Glenn had most definitely contributed this time), had done, and how it would affect their friendship.
He didn't realize that Glenn was leaving until he heard the car door slam. Jerking his head up, he looked out the window at the retreating boy. "Why didn't he say goodbye?"
"He did," Carmen said from the front seat, sounding annoyed and Nathan looked to him with wide eyes. "That was quite rude, what you just did-"
If there was more to that lecture, Nathan didn't know, fore he was already outside of the car and hurrying down the Pearson's front walkway. "Hey Glenn, Wait," he demanded before the other could unlock his front door. As if Nathan coming after him had been expected, Glenn turned without pause and blinked at him, unsurprised.
Nathan hurried to join him on the front porch, hyper aware of those brown eyes on his approaching figure, and the gazes of his parents burning into his back. "Yes Nathan?"
They looked at each other silently, eyes squinted slightly against the harsh porch light. Nate sighed and dropped his head to look down at Glenn's hands. "Are you ready for Monday?"
There was a pause before the answer came. "Uh, Yeah. I think so".
With a shaky breath, Nathan reached forward and grabbed Glenn's right hand, the one he had been holding earlier. Instead of lacing their fingers together in its previous embrace, he turned Glenn's hand upwards and slid his hand down over his palm to his wrist. Nathan's fingers wandered for a moment and then stopped over Glenn's pulse.
It hammered rapidly against his fingertips, and Nathan raised his head to make eye contact.
Glenn's eyes were very wide, and Nathan wanted to kiss him. Instead, he smiled, and said, "great. I'll see you bright and early Monday, Pearson. Be prepared for the long ride".
***
When Nathan got back in the car, both of his parents turned in the seat to look back at him. "What?" He asked, playing dumb as he buckled his seat belt.
"What was that about?" Carmen demanded and Osmond raised his eyebrows.
"What was what about?"
Osmond and Carmen shared a look. "That".
Nathan shrugged and turned to look out the window at Glenn's house, thoroughly ignoring his parents until they gave up and began to drive.
Only then did Nate smile.