I remember Ethan teaching Seb to read music.
We were set to headline a local music festival in our home town later and were wasting a lazy morning in the music room at home. It had become the most used room in our house.
Ayame was sat on the floor, surrounded by drawing materials and puzzles.
Ethan was sat with Seb over by the piano with a guitar on his knee. On the floor was Sebastian with a half size acoustic guitar that had been nearly beaten to death by it's 3 ½ year old owner. Where Ayame had been fairly easily taught, and had the patience to pay attention, Sebastian was more interested in actually making a noise.

"Sebby! Listen! This is a C on the piano. And if I hold my finger here on the fretboard of the guitar, that is a C as well," Ethan demonstrated and demonstrated by playing a C on both instruments.

Seb's head tilted to the side.
With a practiced hand, Ethan ran a quick octave up and down on the piano before running the same octave on the guitar.

"See? It doesn't matter what instrument you play, the notes are the same!" Ethan told Seb.

The little boy's attention was fixed on Ethan's hand on the guitar fretboard and suddenly a small finger found a fret. A pure C-note was plucked.
Ethan's face lit up and the lesson continued until kiddo actually managed a simple chord.

"Why don't you ever cheer like that for me?" Simon chuckled as he arrived down the stairs into the music room.

"Because I don't really go for the whole blonde bass-player thing you've got going on," Ethan grinned back at him with a dismissive hand gesture.

Simon chuckled and blew him a kiss.

"Come on, Nico... What's the hold up? It's only a set of stairs!" Simon asked looking up towards the kitchen.

"Food!" We heard a young muffled voice say as he emerged with his hands and mouth full of chocolate cookies.

There was no way I was going to stop the laughter spilling out of me. He was just like his dad.

"Have you been in Auntie Izzy's cupboards?" Simon asked.

Nico shook his head vigorously.

"So where did you find snacks?" Simon asked his son.

"In the kitchen!" Nico replied through the cookies.

"Where in the kitchen?" Simon asked a bit more sternly.

Ethan and I exchanged a look, both trying not to laugh.

"On a shelf," Nico said, getting ready to shove another cookie into his mouth.

"Nico! Did you open a cupboard door to see the cookies?" Simon asked impatiently.

"Yeah. And then I climbed!" Nico shrugged haphazardly.

Simon rubbed his hand across his face.

"Your mum is going to kill me!" He huffed and lifted the little rascal over to the seating area next to me.

"Nico! You can not just take stuff! It's called stealing! And you can't have cookies. There is too much sugar!" Simon told the little guy while brushing chocolate crumbs off his shirt front.

"I was hungry!" Nico explained with a self satisfied smirk that told me he was deliberately winding his dad up.

"You ate before we left home! How can you possibly get hungry in fifteen minutes?" Simon exclaimed.

"Coz he's your son?" I asked, unable to hold my mirth back.

"Oh! Shut it... Just because your two are as well behaved as hindu cows!" Simon muttered.

The almost 4 year old Nico was staring at his dad with an amused grin. He was enjoying this a bit too much.

"Are you at least going to tell your Auntie sorry for stealing cookies?" Simon asked him.

Nico looked at me and saw the smile on my face.

"I'm sorry," Nico grinned without any indication of actually meaning it.

"It's okay. Those cookies were for later, so you just had yours now and won't have any when Seb gets his," I told him and saw the lightning bolt reaction of his brain hearing my words.

His eyes shifted to the two cookies he had left in his hand and before I could do anything he'd shot out of the chair and shoved a cookie in Seb's hand and one in Aya's.

"Opportunist little bastard!" Simon grumbled on a half laugh before his son returned to us.

"Auntie Iz. Can I have an apple?" Nico asked.

"Are you a bottomless pit?" Simon asked and picked his son up to tickle him.

Nico squealed and squirmed until he was released. Once Nico had his breath back he shot his dad the evil eye before the two of them both burst into laughter.

"I'll get you an apple," Simon chuckled and headed up to the kitchen.

"I've got him well trained," Nico grinned at me which tipped Ethan over from the occasional giggle into full on laughter
Simon returned a couple of minutes later with a bowl holding apple cut into chunks. He looked at Ethan and me in confusion at our tear stained faces.

"Yeah... You're the boss at home right?" I grinned.

Simon rolled his eyes dramatically, but with a smile. He was happily enslaved to his wife and children. At nearly two, Juniper was at risk of being the most spoilt little girl on the planet and Nico ran circles around his dad.

"How do you do that?" Simon asked with a nod towards Seb, who was sat with a focused look on his face trying to place his fingers as his dad had taught him.

I looked at my little boy, amazed at how much he looked like his dad. The mannerisms, his facial expression, everything down to the way his tongue-tip curled up was identical to the larger version sat next to him. The difference was in the colouring. Seb had my green eyes and light brown hair.
Suddenly Sebastian looked up at Simon.

"Can I try that on the bass?" he asked and I saw Ethan's face light up.

"You wanna try more instruments?" Ethan asked.

Seb nodded and walked over to Simon.

"Bass? Can you teach me?" He asked.

Simon looked at his nephew with a widening grin. Over by the piano, Ethan looked slightly disappointed that Seb hadn't asked him.

"I'd love to!" Simon said and took Seb over to the bass-guitars where he selected the one I recognised as Simon's own first bass.

Two minutes later, Nico had devoured the apple and Seb was playing scales on the bass. I studied Seb with a feeling that something had passed me by when I looked over at Ethan and saw his eyes filling with tears.

"It clicked into place! He's figured it out!" Ethan mumbled proudly.

I sent him a look.

"I knew he'd understood highs and lows... he's just made the connection between where his fingers sat and the note! Our boy is going to play music," Ethan smiled.

Before Ethan could get overly emotional, Nico huffed with a grumpy look towards how his dad was teaching Seb. It amazed me how patient Simon was.
Ethan looked at Nico.

"Wanna learn how to play too?" Ethan asked.

Nico looked at his dad again with a tight, tearful look before he nodded. As much as Nico wound his dad up and pushed the limits, Simon was Nico's hero. He hated sharing his dad's attention.
Until Ethan placed the half size guitar in his hand and sat down in front of him.
Nico's face lit up as Ethan sat down with him, moving his fingers and praising every move the child made.
I left them to it and turned my attention to Aya, who was sat on the floor drawing.

Half an hour later, Seb, Nico, Simon and Ethan were playing simple melodies together and the two little boys were both sweaty with concentration but laughing, the two proud dads supporting and correcting as needed.

A low chuckle was heard from the stairs. I turned to see Oddball with Elsie on his arm.

"Did you know you have an open packet of cookies on your kitchen table?" he asked with a nod towards Hale, holding several cookies.

I looked at Simon who looked suitability embarrassed.

"Forgot to put them back..." he mumbled.

"Well... now you can go upstairs and get the packet so the rest of us can have some," I laughed and watched him run upstairs and return with a half empty cookie packet.

While Simon was handing out the remaining cookies and taking a few for himself, Oddball handed me a music magazine.

"The reviews are up," he grinned.

Seconds later I was battling Ethan and Simon for the magazine.
Our album was due to release the same week. As usual we had sent promo copies to select magazines and this one had taken the bait.

"Izzy's voice has gained a consistent maturity that adds credibility to the total weight of the sound," Ethan read out loud in a proud voice.

I groaned. Why did they always have to focus on me?
Ethan grinned at me.

"The lyrics have moved on from the sweet and romantic into the more philosophical which suits the smoother sound. We particularly liked the metaphorical qualities of the song "Eternity" penned to our surprise by Oddball," Simon chuckled.

"They do like their big words," Oddball shrugged.

"Think Evan's gonna get the hint?" Ethan asked and received a sharp look from Odd.

"What? It's about him isn't it? The moment we release it as a single, the question will come up!" Ethan smiled.

Oddball didn't reply but turned his face down.

"It could just as easily be about the kids," I suggested and placed a reassuring hand on Oddball's arm.

"Yep," Simon nodded.

There was a gleeful smirk on Oddball's face as he looked at Ethan.

"And 'Liquid Silver'?" he asked

"...is safely stored away never to be released..." Ethan mumbled.

"Liquid silver?" Simon and I asked simultaneously.

"Yeah. The single most explicitly dirty lyric Ethan has ever written," Odd grinned.

I looked at my husband in surprise. I'd once told him that his eye color looked like liquid silver in certain naked situations. He caught my look and cringed.

"It also happens to be the potentially best song you've ever written." Oddball said evenly and went for the computer.

"Not with the kids here!" Ethan pleaded.

"Just let Izzy read it!" Odd said.

Shamefaced, Ethan handed me his notepad so I could read.

"Where the world ends.
We lose all sense of where we begin.
Waves of primordial ocean waves
Turns the world to liquid silver
Melting
Mixing
Wanting to dive deeper
Until liquid silver is all
We know"

"Oh wow," I mumbled.

"That's actually quite good!" Simon nodded.

"I've kinda recorded a test because I started with an idea for how I want it to sound. Simon. Can you do a funk style heart beat?" Ethan asked, nerding out on the music.

Oddball winked at me and jumped into the discussion.

"So? Why is this not on the album?" I asked.

"I can't ask my wife to sing this!" Ethan said softly.

"Of course you can!" I huffed.

"Izzy. It would be putting our... sexlife... out there! I'm going to write a new lyric," he whispered.

To my side Simon giggled.

"Dude! You have two kids. Izzy carried them and they look like you. I don't think it would surprise anyone that you poke her with your rainstick on occasion!" He laughed.

"Rainstick?" I asked.

"Yeah... rainstick!" Simon grinned.

"Aaaanyway," Oddball laughed drawing our attention.

"Do we want to check out this festival before the sound check or do we just farm out the kids and get to work?" He asked.

"There's supposed to be a magic show for the kids in about an hour," Simon said checking the festival website.

"What do you say kids? Magic show?" Oddball asked and had Ayame and three boys cheering. Elsie clapped along.

As soon as we arrived, we parked the band bus by the artist entrance and left the stage manager to unload our instruments.
The gig was to be held inside a huge sports hall and there was a large stage set up at one end for the main attractions in the evening and a smaller one nearer the exit for the daytime entertainment.
Once we were cleared by the backstage crew, we took the kids out to look at the attractions. Outside of the hall was a travelling fun fair with rides and booths. Inside were the food booths and stages.

"Right. Let's go to the little stage to see some magic," Ethan smiled and took my hand to follow the kids.

In front of the stage, kid size seating was set out but a lot of children were already sat on the floor. Nico and Hale ran forward to grab good seating, followed by Ayame, but Sebastian stayed back with us.

"Are you not going?" I asked.

Seb shook his head.

"Don't you want to sit with the others?" I asked.

Seb looked over to Oddball who was setting Elsie on her feet, allowing her to toddle around on a relatively open area.

"I don't want Elsie to feel left out," Seb said.

"Too many people up front?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. Elsie might get scared," Sebastian nodded and walked over to Elsie where he started chasing her and making her laugh.

"He's so careful!" I sighed.

"Just shy," Ethan shrugged.

"Exactly like his dad!" I laughed and looked at the man holding my hand.

His eyes were glittering mischievously.

"It's one of my many talents," he whispered.

"Along with writing dirty lyrics that sound like poetry?" I asked.

"I wanted to describe what being with you feels like," he blushed.

"I love you so much!" I laughed and placed a hand on his cheek pulling him in for a soft kiss.

"In public people!" Simon muttered.

"There will be photos!" Oddball deadpanned.

"Hashtag rockstarsmakingout," Simon grinned.

"Ethzy4ever," Oddball said.

"Cutestrockcouple," Simon laughed.

"Quickieb4gig," Oddball delivered sending Simon into laughing hysterics.

Ethan and I looked at them shaking our heads.

"Let them be stupid. I don't care. I love you and will kiss you when I want," Ethan grinned and kissed me again, this time fully aware of the mobile cameras not so subtly taking photos.

***

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Teaser: next chapter will be back to the present.
Izzy has to figure out how she feels after the date.