It had been four days since Barry arrived in Westerville, and all the Warblers were beginning to not only enjoy his company but anticipate it, except one: Thad. The boy hadn't done anything to spite him but Thad didn't trust Barry, he seemed to carry the weight of a large secret on his shoulders. Thad had thought the same about Sebastian when he had first arrived but Barry was different. There was something about him that Thad found strange.
He looked up to see a familiar face, lips tilted upwards in a grin as he walked towards Sebastian. The room seemed to quieten as he spoke to his brother.
"Hey, I have some extra entry tickets for the first round of the decathlon, and since you and Nick already have yours I was wondering if any of your friends want to come, you can bring any three people." Barry told him and Bas agreed with a stiff smile.
The past two days had been hectic for Sebastian, he didn't know what to think of himself anymore. In the span of two days he had tried to cheat on one of the only men he had ever loved with a man who already had a boyfriend. He was messing with his life and didn't know when or how to stop, but he knew one thing: Barry could never know.
"When is the decathlon?" Nick asked, standing up.
"Tonight," Barry grinned, and their conversation went on until his cell phone pinged, he looked down and sighed, "I have to go, Vanessa's being paranoid and wants us to do a last minute quiz thing,"
He said his goodbyes before leaving the Warblers to their business, it was halfway through Geometry when Sebastian slipped Thad a ticket with a smile. The rest of the day went by quick and they all left straight after school for Westerville High, the central school in Westerville,, where a stage and chairs were set out. Thad sat with Jeff to his right and David to his left, as they waited for the show to begin, patiently. The lights on the stage came on revealing a middle aged Asian man standing in the spotlight behind a podium. He droned on about how clever the students were before the teams were revealed.
"To my right are, Westerville High's very own, 'Denominators', and to my left, we have, all the way from Central City, 'E=MC Hammer." Thad heard Sebastian cheer loudly though he could see him chuckling at the name of their team. The competition itself was boring, though Thad found Barry's reactions interesting: he was unusually serious and his demeanour matched that of Sebastian's. He was beginning to see the similarities between the two more and more as the days progressed.
The crowd cheered as he felt David and Jeff stand up, and followed them towards back stage where they found Vanessa and Chris smiling lovingly at each other, as Campbell looked at them in disgust, but they couldn't seem to find Barry so the five walked towards the changing rooms and Sebastian twisted the knob, opening the door, to reveal a blonde girl sitting on the dressing table with her lips pressing against Barry's, her hands on his chest as he gently clutched her face. Her skirt had riden up slightly showing her toned thighs, which Barry grazed his hand against.
"Whoa!" David shouted covering his eyes, "Dude, next time you plan on making out with a girl on a table, lock the door."
The two jumped apart, and Barry's cheeks flushed a brilliant shade of red, "You could knock before you walk into a changing room, you know." The girl giggled and hopped of the table, straightening out her skirt.
"Hi, I'm Becky, Barry's girlfriend." she said with a wide smile, "Hey, Sea bass."
Sebastian just stood with a look of disgust on his face as he observed the two, "That was gross. You know I understand why you don't like seeing me and Nick kiss, I just see my self kissing Becky."
"So it's true?" Becky asked, "Nessa told me, but I couldn't believe that you'd ever be in a long term relationship since - you know."
Sebastian grinned, ignoring her last comment unlike Nick who shifted uncomfortably as Sebastian nodded, "Yep,"
"So which one of these lucky guys is he?"
Nick put out his hand bashfully, "Nick Duval, lovely to meet you."
"Damn, he is fine. Nice one Bas," She appraised Nick with her eyes as he squirmed under her gaze. Barry laughed before swinging an arm over her shoulder and leading them out of the changing room to where the other three were grinning at their victory. They sat down the couches around the trophy which was small and had a green ribbon laced around both handles.
The group chatted as Barry's friends caught up with what was happening in Central City, and at their school. "I still can't believe that you get to take two weeks off of school for a mathlete competition." Becky complained, "School is so boring without you guys, and Tony is being such an ass to everyone. It's so not fair."
They laughed and explained to the Warblers who Tony Woodward was, but the whole time Nick couldn't help but notice how strangely Barry was acting, it was obvious that he had feelings for Becky but his awkwardness around her was weird. Nick looked at Barry to finding him with a huge grin on his face, staring at something behind him. They all looked up at the same thing as Barry stood up to greet two people who were walking towards them. He first hugged a middle aged man, who was wearing a wooly hat and a broad smile, then went to hug a petite girl with similar features to the man.
"I missed you so much," Barry said once he let go of her, "Both of you."
"Aww, we missed you too Barr." the girl said before cocking a brow at the Warblers, questioning who they were.
"Right, guys this is Joe, my foster dad, and this is Iris -"
"His sister." Iris put in as Barry nodded, though Nick was still wondering about the fact that Barry was a foster kid, the thought that Sebastian may be one to was making his head hurt.
"Iris, Joe, these are Jeff, Thad, David, and Nick. Nick is Sebastian's boyfriend."
"Well it's nice to finally meet you, Nick. We've heard so much about you." Joe smiled.
Nick looked confused, "You have?"
Iris laughed as her dad replied, "Oh yeah, he won't shut up about you when we're talking on the phone."
Sebastian scowled as Cam cooed at him, "Aww, that's so sweet, Bassie." Bas groaned and threw his head back as they all laughed.
Iris and Joe sat down and joined their conversation until Joe's phone rang, "Excuse me," He answered the phone with a, "Detective Joe West," Then continued to exchange words with the person on the other end, "No, Sir. I'm afraid I'm not in Central City at the moment. . . . In two days, Captain. . . . Thank you."
He frowned as he sat back down, "Problem?" Barry asked, and Joe looked up.
"There was a break in at CCPN but the force should be fine without me." he answered.
David's eyes sparked with sudden interest, "You're a cop?"
Chris answered, "He's a detective for the CCPD," Joe nodded before he was bombarded with questions, somehow managing to answer all of them. After about an hour the teacher supervising Barry and his friends walked in, telling them they had to leave, so they said their goodbyes to the Warblers and Barry's family but Thad couldn't help but notice the way Barry lingered on Iris or the way that every time he spoke he seemed to holding back from saying something or the way his eyes always seemed to find her when they were wandering meaninglessly or the way he looked at her the way he was supposed to look at Becky.
"I'm staying in town for the weekend so maybe we can get a coffee or something?" Iris suggested.
"Sounds good," Barry agreed and soon they were gone, leaving the Warblers to go back to Dalton.
Throughout the whole drive all Nick could think about was that Barry and Sebastian didn't have the same parents. Their parents couldn't have been divorced otherwise Barry would have said step-dad instead of 'foster dad'. So what happened to their real parents? The whole thing made his head pound as he became more and more confused the more he found out.
Nick glanced at his boyfriend to see him wearing his usual grin when Nick was around but lately he seemed uncomfortable when Nick sat near him or did anything remotely affectionate, he was beginning to worry about the future of their relationship, even without all the secrets Sebastian has kept.
