Barry sat in Lima Bean with Campbell and Chris and laughed with Vanessa as the two argued about who would win in a war between Dinosaurs and Robots when a few loud voices yelled his name. He turned around to see Nick, Jeff and Sebastian sitting at a table together and calling him over. With a chuckle he dragged his friends to the table and sat beside his twin as the other three made themselves comfortable beside each other.
"Hey, guys." Barry greeted, "These are Vanessa, Campbell and Chris, my friends. Ness, Cam, Chris these are Nick and Jeff. You know, Bassie."
They waved and exchanged smiles, "Hey, Bas." Cam said, only just noticing the boy as he leaned back in his chair.
"Cam." Sebastian replied curtly, before nodding to the other two, "Hi, Ness, Chris."
"Sup, Seabass? I heard that you have a boyfriend now." Chris said, somewhat skeptical, with a small smirk.
Nick just waved as the others laughed at the scowl on Sebastian's face, "Yep, that's me." He flung an arm around Bas with a joy filled smile and let out a chuckle when Cam wolf whistled.
"Damn, I'm actually jealous of you." he said looking Nick up and down, resulting in a glare from Sebastian.
"I know what you mean, he's a real step up from that French guy." Vanessa said.
Cam looked at her with an irritated gaze, as Bas's eyes darkened. "Shut up, Vee." Cam said through gritted teeth causing Chris to sling an arm around her waist and pull her closer to him.
Jeff glanced between Sebastian and Cam, who were halfway through a staring contest, with a confused expression before locking eyes with Barry who mouthed, 'Later,'. Nodding, Jeff cleared his throat directing the attention to him, "Why are you here?" he started before rephrasing his question, "I mean what brought you to Ohio? It's quite far away from Central City - wait, that is where you live, right?"
Cam laughed before answering, "Yeah, we're from Central." he replied, "We came here because we're competing against some other school at the Academic Decathlon and it's being held here."
"Wow, you're all nerds." Nick stated.
Chris laughed, "We are Barry's friends. What did you expect?"
Nick frowned a little at the thought that Barry's friends had met Sebastian but he never even knew that his boyfriend had a brother let alone a twin. He nodded along with their conversation, his thoughts clouding his mind, until they had to get back to school.
"I'm coming to Dalton later, I'll meet you at Glee club," Barry said with a smile before they parted.
They all headed back to school and left for lessons, Nick and Jeff separating from Sebastian to go to their Latin class. The both sat beside each other a the back of the room so they could talk.
"What do you think is up with Bas and that Cam guy?" Jeff asked.
Nick nodded thoughtfully, "That was awkward, yeah."
Jeff leaned back in his seat, "Barry said that he'd tell us later so I'm just looking forward to Glee. You, Thad and I all have free period just before Glee, we could talk then so Bas doesn't hear."
Nick agreed though he was internally struggling, thoughts and regrets about his relationship plaguing him. His head spun in circles for the rest of the afternoon until finally his last lesson ended and he walked into the library with a headache. He saw Barry chatting with Thad and it made his head pound harder to see a man with Sebastian's face not wearing the Dalton blazer that his boyfriend was so in love with.
Nick walked up to them and sat beside Jeff who was apparently waiting for him because as soon as he sat, Jeff began to talk, "So, Barry, what happened between Bas and your friend?"
Barry looked at Jeff, then at Nick, then at his lap before swallowing the lump in his throat, "Campbell?" he asked, and Jeff nodded eagerly, "Umm, well before Sebastian came to Dalton he lived in Paris, you knew that, right?"
"Yeah," Nick prompted.
"He had a boyfriend there, Matthew, they were the cutest couple and he lived in Ohio, it was perfect, he was the love of my brother's life, Bas moved to Westerville a little while after he got back from Paris and they planned to stay in touch but it never worked out. Sebastian kept trying, and so did Matt, but their timing wasn't right until one night they met by chance at some gay club near here - "
"Scandals." Thad said, "I took him their, and all of us went, minus Jeff cause he's straight."
"He said that he'd never met the guy before," Nick said, sounding slightly strained.
Barry sighed, "Probably because that same night he found Matt and Cam in the bathroom, in a, um, compromising position at, uh, Scandals. Apparently Cam was just in town and didn't know who Matt was, he said it was just a coincident, but that's bullshit. He lives Central City! What are the odds of him, Bas and Matt being there together. Cam has always hated Bas since, forever. He can be an ass sometimes, but we all have that one friend, and to be honest my brother isn't all that great either most of the time."
"Why does Cam hate him?" Jeff asked shooting a concerned glance at Nick who was still in shock that his boyfriend had lied to him about Matthew.
Barry shook his head, "I'm sorry, it's really not my place to say. This stuff is between them, I've probably overstepped my boundaries anyway."
Thad, sensing the looming awkwardness, changed the subject swiftly, "What about this Becky we've heard so much about? Is she hot?" The question Barry blush and he had an embarrassed smile on his lips, a look that Nick would kill to see on Sebastian, the thought made him grin slightly, almost forgetting all of his worries until he set his eyes on Sebastian who was standing in the doorway.
"She's my girlfriend, and, yeah, she is hot." Barry said with an unbelieving tone, "I still don't understand why we're together. She literally broke up with one of the most popular guys in school then went out with me."
"It's not so hard to believe, I bet more than half the guys in this school would go out with you." Sebastian said, sitting beside Nick, "Your shy demeanour is adorably refreshing with my face." He smirked.
Barry rolled his eyes, "Actually, I'm older so technically you have my face."
They bickered until all of the warblers arrived, and Barry had to leave though not before he heard them singing the beginning of, 'Uptown girl'. He chuckled at them as they waved goodbye in cannon before walking out of the library and calling a taxi to take him to the hotel his team was staying at.
