Since he wasn't drinking, Lawson got assigned the role of designated driver. It really didn't bother him, but he still pointed out that Kye never drank and could just as easily do it himself. This made Kye laugh from his seat on his bed- they were pregaming in the dorm since the party didn't start until ten- and say, "you think I'll have time to focus on driving? Let's not forget that I'm Reese's babysitter".

Reese, who was sitting on his bed so Nathan could enjoy the second beanbag chair, poured, but didn't actually seem too offended, since it was most definitely true. Lawson had yet to encounter drunk Kye, since every weekend, he was too worried about Reese to actually let himself go. Reese had a habit of getting himself drunker than he should and dancing with strange men.

"I can drive," Nathan offered. He had been given one of Reese's wine coolers- he had wanted a beer, but Reese had said something about liquor in the near future and how he would regret beer-but had not yet opened it. "I'm not planning on drinking too much".

The three other boys in the room gave him pointed looks, and Reese hopped of his bed, grabbing the wine cooler from Nathan and opening it before handing it back to him. "I can't be the only one drinking".

"Lawson can drink if I don't," Nathan argued. "I'm not just going to drink my problems away".

"Look man," Kye said, moving forward to sit on the end of his bed. This meant that him and Lawson were uncomfortably close given the size of the room, with Lawson's knees pressing into the other boys legs, so Kye sighed and pulled his legs up onto the bed once more. "We're not going to force you to drink-"

"Uh-" Reese cut in, grinning, but Kye silenced him with a sharp look.

"But I don't want you thinking that we want you to forget your problems, that's not the point," Kye continued, and Lawson's eyebrows raised, since he thought that was the entire point. "Don't drink to forget your problems, drink to have fun, and drink because you want to. Don't not drink if you want to because you don't want to make it seem like you're just using it as an out, because we know you're not".

For a minute, Nathan pondered this, blue eyes blown wide, and then he turned his head towards Lawson. "I haven't gotten drunk since that graduation party Jean threw, and that was only because Glenn wanted to get drunk and didn't want to do it alone". Lawson remembered that night very well, and Nathan's mention of it made him grimace.

That night had been awful. There was a miscommunication between Nathan and Glenn that resulted in the whole disaster. When Glenn said he was going to get drunk, he meant take a few shots and ride out the buzz, while Nathan took it upon himself to try to finish all the alcohol himself. The result of this was as expected.

"Ah yes. I'm okay if you drink- I actually want you to drink and enjoy yourself because you deserve a good night and these parties are down right painful if you're sober- but please, for the love of god, don't get that drunk," Lawson begged, and Nathan cracked a small grin.

"I don't think I'll ever get that drunk again," he admitted, finally taking a sip of his wine cooler.

A sad noise left Reese, and when Lawson brought his eyes over to him, he saw the other boy pouting. "I want to see super drunk Nathan".

"You can see me super drunk," Nate promised, his entire perspective on the night apparently changed. "You just can't see me so drunk that I throw up on my boyfriend, Lawson, Jean, and then eventually my father when he comes to get me". Lawson nodded along to this, and Nate blew out a huff of air.

"I have never seen Osmond that mad," Lawson added, and Nate nodded in agreement. "That was terrifying. I had to take Glenn home and he kept crying because he thought you were going to die and it was his fault. We thought you were going to need your stomach pumped".

Nathan nodded at took another sip of his wine cooler. "You know, both my parents were furious with me, but that was nothing compared to how upset Glenn was. He came over the next day and started crying because he was so worried about me and he asked me to never drink that much again". The mood was kind of tense then, and they all remained quiet for a couple of minutes.

The silence was broken by Reese's laughter. "What a great thing to talk about right before I'm going out to get pissed".

***

Nathan drank until his words were slightly slurred, and a smile constantly stretched across his face, and then he stopped. Stopping apparently meant that Lawson had the honor of holding his friends empty solo cup for the rest of the night, but he didn't mind much, since I made him look far more exciting that someone who was simply at a party to watch his friends drink.

Reese was somewhere in the crowd of dancing bodies, but Lawson wasn't too worried, since he also had no idea where Kye was, but had no doubt that the two of them were together. Kye because extremely protective of his small roommate in cases like this, and he had been since the first week of school, when they had gone out and lost Reese for a good twenty minutes, only for the boy to come and find them in a panic because some guy tried to force him into a bedroom.

"Hello, beautiful," a deep voice greeted, pulling Lawson from his thoughts. It was probably a good thing, since he had zoned out, and in that time, Nathan had moved. For a second, Lawson panicked, but then his eyes located his friend across the room, leaning against the wall next to Kye, taking. Relaxing, Lawson addressed the person who had pulled him from his thought.

The man was clearly older than him, a senior probably, and had taken the seat on the couch to his left. His intoxication was very clear to Lawson, and he easily dismissed his interest in him as a drunken mistake. "Hi," Lawson responded, and the man smiled, all white teeth. He was attractive in a Nathan sort of way, and it was old to Lawson.

"I'm Jake".

Humming, Lawson leaned slightly away from the man. "Parker," he lied easily, as he typically did at parties. Telling shady drunk strangers his name was something he didn't often do.

The man's green eyes wandered his face, and then dropped down to the empty cup in Lawson's lap. "Would you like me to get you a refill? You'd have a better time if you drank more, I guarantee it".

Resisting an eye roll, Lawson shook the red solo cup in his lap, acknowledging its presence without looking at it. "This actually isn't mine. I'm holding it for a friend".

"I could get you a new one".

"Sorry," Lawson said, not really feeling the word as it left his mouth. "Designated driver".

The man- Jake- frowned at this new information. "Oh, well... we could still have fun with you sober-"

Just as Lawson was about to tell him he has having fun just fine on his own, someone dropped down on his other side, and he turned quickly to see Kye. "Hey-" Lawson began, but his voice cut out when he realized Kye wasn't looking at him, but past him, at Jake, with an unamused expression.

"Oh shit," Jake said, and Lawson turned his head back to look at him as the man stood. "I didn't realize he was taken already, man. I'm sorry. I mean no offense". Lawson's eyebrows raised as he watched Jake disappear into the crowd, and almost immediately the seat was taken by a laughing Nathan.

"That was fucking awesome man," Nathan complimented, leaning around Lawson to address Kye. "Look at you taking care of everyone".

"I don't need to be taken care of," Lawson insisted, looking around. "Where the hell is Reese- oh". He spotted the small boy across the room, leaning against the wall and looking up as a tall boy leaned over him. They were clearly flirting. "Why don't you stop them?"

Dismissively, Kye shot Reese a quick look. "Because he doesn't totally look uncomfortable, and that would be giving him what he wants". Lawson's eyebrows raised, but before he could ask what that meant, Kye was talking again. "I'm sorry. You really did look uncomfortable. I didn't think you'd be upset with me intervening".

"I'm... I'm not," Lawson assured, unable to keep himself from frowning. "I mean, I wasn't interested, if that's why you're implying, it's just... kind of flattering to have someone think I'm attractive. That doesn't really happen often". Kye and Nathan made identical huffing noises. "What?"

Kye's eyes focused on his face, slightly narrowed. "You're cute as shit," his friend said simply, and Lawson's eyes widened. "You're just also an oblivious idiot. People check you out all the time".

"No they don't-"

"Yes they do," Nathan cut in, voice slightly slurred. He leaned heavily on Lawson's arm. "Every time we go out to eat and have a waitress, she tries to flirt with you. You just don't realize it's happening". This was far from true, so Lawson opened his mouth to say so, but Nathan was still talking. "You have a certain charm. Once Glenn told me you looked like a puppy, like a golden retriever puppy or some shit, with your big brown eyes and your light brown hair... your hair was longer at the time, but you still always have that earnest expression on your face and you look like you constantly need to be cuddled. Chicks love that shit".

"Ummm..." Lawson wasn't sure if being told he looked like a dog was a complement, but in the context, it sounded like it was, so he said, "thank you?"

"You don't seem convinced," Nathan observed, eyes narrowed. Suddenly, Nathan was leaning very close to him. He smelt like cranberry wine coolers, and coke. "Lawson, I have fucked you, multiple times, and I don't have sex with anyone who I don't think is attractive".

Lawson felt his eyes get very wide, and he turned in his seat to look at Kye, who seemed shocked by the sudden confession. "Please don't ask, and we can never talk about this ever again, okay?" Lawson demanded, and Kye nodded. "Good. Nathan, let's get you some water so you don't have a headache in the morning".

They left Kye behind on the couch and went to the bathroom, which was surprisingly empty, but smelt strongly of vomit. It was silent for as long as it took Lawson to guide Nathan to sit on the closed toilet seat and then fill up his solo cup with water. Nathan took it and drank from it without protest. "So," the dark haired boy began and Lawson leaned back against the sink. "You're not telling people that we've fucked?"

"No". Nathan hummed. "Why would I?"

"I don't know," the boy grumbled into his class of water. "I didn't know if you were one of those people who would be embarrassed if other people thought you were a virgin".

"I don't care," Was Lawson's short response. It was quiet as Nathan finished his cup, and then held it out for Lawson to refill again. "Have you broken the seal?"

"No," Nathan responded, taking the red cup when it was offered back to him. "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Sleeping with me?" Nathan elaborated, turning his face up towards him. "I've always wondered if you regret it now that we're friends".

Lawson thought about it for a minute, and then sighed. "I don't regret it, because I don't think you and I would be friends if it hadn't of happened". Nathan's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Think about how we became friends. You came over to apologize to me and I invited you inside and we played video games for the afternoon and ate pizza, and now you're one of my best friends. So I'm happy we slept together, because if we hadn't you wouldn't have come over to apologize, and we wouldn't be friends"

Nathan snorted. "That's sappy as shit man". Lawson kicked Nathan's leg, and they both laughed. "I guess I'm glad it happened too then".

"Do you regret sleeping with most people?"

"Yeah," Nathan admitted. He took another sip of water. "Glenn didn't deserve to give me the time of day, but he did, and I felt like I wasn't good enough for him for a long time, so I kind of ignored my feelings for a long time, and I just think about where we would be if I hadn't made all those stupid decisions, if I didn't have a reason to think I didn't deserve him in the first place". Blue eyes looked down into the red cup, shamefully. "Probably not broken up".

"Hey, that's not your fault," Lawson said, but Nathan didn't look at him, so Lawson reached out and grabbed a fistful of dark hair and yanked his head back so their eyes met. "Glenn is going through something right now, and you are just giving him the time he needs to handle it. When he figures it out, you two are going to get back together, and then you're going to get married, and I'm going to stand up in your wedding".

Typically, Nathan wasn't one to tolerate being told what to do, but this seemed to be the exception, because his lips pulled into a big smile. "You can stand right next to Jean". Lawson made a mock scoffing noise, and Nathan laughed. "Thank you, Lawson".

"I'm just telling you the truth," Lawson claimed, letting his hand fall as he took a step backwards. "Do you want to go back out there? You did just tell Kye we used to have sex, and then we disappeared into the bathroom for an extended period of time, so..."

Nathan hummed thoughtfully and stood from his seat on the toilet. "Yeah, we can go, but I want to say something first". Turning back towards him, Lawson raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah?"

"I want to give you relationship advice".

"Nathan-"

"No, hear me out," Nathan interrupted. "It'll be short, I promise. Just... if you really like this Sean boy, I think you should go for it, because... I've only seen you two together once, but judging on how he looks at you, he likes you too, and I want you to be happy. Okay?"

Lawson's eyes felt very wide. "I'll think about it".

Nathan laughed, and pushed past him to get to the door. "Don't look so scared, Lawson," he instructed, and then he was opening the door and pulling Lawson back towards the party.

They found Reese and Kye on the couch together talking, and they looked up at the two of them as they approached. "How are you feeling?" Kye asked Nathan, scooting closer to Reese so the four of them could fit on the couch. Drunk Reese made a happy noise when Lawson sat next to him, and leaned into his chest.

"Clearer," Nathan answered, his slurring mostly gone. "The water helped". Kye nodded in understanding and said something else, but Lawson wanted to ask Reese a question rather than listen to them.

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Not a lot," Reese responded, and Kye shot Lawson a look that told him the other boy wasn't exactly being truthful.

"What happened to the guy who was talking to you?" Lawson asked, and Reese laughed, cheeks flushed red, reminding Lawson that he was pretty. Sometimes it was easy to forget with how annoying Reese could be.

"He touched me, so Kye punched him in the face," Reese answered, and then he held up his hand, which was clasped with Kye's- Lawson hadn't realized this earlier- to show him Kye's bruised knuckles. "It was really sexy. You should have seen it". Before Lawson could even think of what to say in response to that, Reese's eyes were getting huge. "Oh my god!"

"What?!" Lawson questioned frantically as the short boy jumped to his feet.

"I- love- this song!" Reese exclaimed, and he expanded his hands out to Lawson. "Dance with me".

"Uh, I am way too sober for that," Was Lawson's response, and Reese pouted before taking two steps so he was standing in front of Nathan, hands still outstretched.

"Dance with me".

"Uhh-"

"Don't think about it, just do it," Reese urged, but still Nathan seemed unsure. "Nathan, I'm not asking you to do anything you couldn't do when you had a boyfriend. Dance with a friend. It's just dancing, nothing more. Come on". Nate looked close to agreeing, so Reese pushed out his lower lip and said, "please," eyes very wide.

If he had made that face at Lawson, sober or not, he would have gotten his ass up to dance with him, so it was no surprise when Nathan got to his feet and handed Kye his solo cup.

Reese beamed, grabbing Nathan's hand and pulling him closer to the crowd of dancing bodies, but not into it so they were still in sight. To his right, Kye relaxed a little bit. As they watched the two of them dance, facing one another with Reese's arms sling over Nathan's shoulders, Lawson moved down the couch to sit closer to Kye. "How are your knuckles?"

When Lawson turned towards Kye, he was surprised to see the other boy had his phone out, and was recording the scene in front of them.

"Sore," Kye responded without looking at him.

"Why are you so protective over him?"

"Because, he's too small and stupid to be protective of himself," Was Kye's answer, spoken sharply as if he wanted the conversation to end. Lawson didn't ask any more questions.

Instead, he brought his attention back to Nathan and Reese, his eyebrows raising at the sight and sound of Nathan's uncontrollable laughter. At some point, Reese had turned around so his back was plastered on Nathan's front, and they were both laughing as they swayed together.

It made Lawson happy. Just seeing Nathan smile and laugh consistently for a night gave him hope that maybe this time without Glenn, how ever long it would be, wouldn't be absolutely miserable.

***

At the end of the night, Lawson dropped Nathan off at his apartment first, since he lived in the same building as Kye and Reese, and Reese had fallen asleep in the backseat anyways. Before leaving the car, Nathan had looked between the two roommates in the back with a smile and said, "I miss Glenn, so fucking much, but knowing that you guys are there for me means a lot".

When they got back to the dorm, Lawson helped Kye get into his dorm room, since Kye was carrying a sleeping boy and didn't want to wake him. Apparently if Reese fell asleep while drunk and was woken up, he'd start crying, and that was "annoying," according to Kye.

Lawson didn't question it, only reached into his friends pocket for his keys when he was instructed to, and unlocked his dorm door. Kye offered a silent thank you, and then slipped into the dark room, carefully so he didn't bump Reese into anything on the way.

Then Lawson went to his own room, not bothering to be quiet as he removed his cloths- all but his boxers since the dorms were hot- and falling into bed. Wesley was with Del that weekend, since they apparently couldn't make it more than two weeks without seeing one another, so he had the room to himself.

Before going to bed, he went through his phone, which he had neglected to check all night. He had a text from his mother about school, two from his step-father, both of which were short videos of his sisters that made him smile, and one from Jean that said why did Kye from elementary school just post a video of Nathan dancing with someone on his story. Where's Glenn?

Lawson:

Glenn wasn't there. The boy Nathan is dancing with is a friend of ours.

To see this video, Lawson went into the proper app, and clicked on Kye's name. Immediately, the video he had noticed him taking began to play, and Lawson squinted at the bright screen of his phone.

It started with Nathan and Reese facing one another, with Reese dancing as Nathan looked at him with an amused expression that also somehow said, "You're ridiculous". Reese tilted his head up, saw this, laughed, and then turned to plaster his back to Nathan's front, moving his hips back against him. For a split second, Nathan looked surprised, but then he threw his head back to laugh, and Reese joined him.

With a sigh, Lawson turned off his phone, immersing his room in darkness.

A/N just to be clear, nothing is going to happen with Reese and Nate. They're just friends