The Thing About Glenn Pearson (boyxboy)

Nathan- Thirty-one

A week later, Glenn sat on Nathan's couch, watching television with half lidded eyes as Nathan fussed over everything beside him. "Are you good?" He kept asking, and eventually Glenn turned his face to him.

"What is wrong with you today?" Glenn inquired and Nathan frowned and looked away quickly. "You've been anxious all day".

Nate thought of what to say, and decided to put it off a bit longer. "You want popcorn? Yeah, I'm going to go make popcorn".

Detangling himself from Glenn, Nathan rose from the couch and fled the room before Glenn could ask what the hell was wrong with him.

In the kitchen Nathan found Osmond and Carmen, sitting in the island and sharing a bowl of spaghetti Alfredo. "Hey kid," Osmond greated, and Nathan nodded his head as he moved over the microwave, absently pressing his hand against his wallet in his pocket. "What's up?"

"How's your boyfriend?" Carmen inquired happily and Nathan rolled his eyes and removed a bag of microwave popcorn from the box he found in one of the shelves.

"Glenn's fine," He assured.

"And how are you?" Osmond asked after a pause, but Nathan didn't respond, instead giving his full attention to the popcorn he had thrown in the microwave. He didn't speak until the device beeped and he opened the door.

"I..." Nathan removed the hot bag from the microwave, dropping it onto the counter to cool. He turned them, crossing the room to stand across the island from Osmond.

"What?" Carmen asked, looking between the two of them.

Nate knocked his knuckles on the counter. He had spent the last week thinking about this, but now that he was planning for it to happen, his nerves were picking up again. Peering up at Osmond through his eyelashes, Nathan sighed and withdrew his wallet from his pocket. Slowly, he removed a twenty dollar bill and slid it across the counter to his father, whose eyebrows furrowed in confusion before his grey eyes showed understanding. Osmond nodded, once, and Nathan sighed in relief and watched Osmond climb off of the counter and hold a hand out to Carmen.

"Come on, Carm," His father said and Carmen's eyebrows furrowed. "Let's go out for a bit".

"Huh?" Carmen looked down at his food. "Honey, we're eating".

"Carmen, come on," Osmond pleaded and Carmen narrowed his eyes and looked between his son and his husband.

"What's going on?" Carmen demanded. "We're a family. You're not allowed to keep secrets from me. Come on, fess up". Osmond's eyes moved to Nathan.

"I've got this". Easily, Osmond grabbed Carmen's waist and pulled him down from the counter before securing his arms around him and lifting him from the ground. Without another word, he steered his protesting husband from the room.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Nathan went back to his popcorn, but didn't pick it up just yet. First, he allowed himself one minute to calm down, taking many deep breaths.

When Nathan entered the living room, his parents were already gone, and Glenn looked up at him to smiled. "Hey," Nate greated. "I brought popcorn". Glenn turned on the couch to face him, sitting cross legged.

"I didn't want popcorn," Glenn said, smiling easily and Nathan looked down at the bag in his hand.

"Well why didn't you tell me that?" Nate asked, and Glenn chuckled.

"You didn't really give me a chance, hun," Glenn pointed out and Nate frowned.

"Oh, yeah". The living room was quiet then, and he shot a glance at the television. "You paused the tv".