Carmen looked completely at ease, leaning back against the grand piano backstage as he held his violin up against his chest. Unlike before their last performance, his breaths were even and the lines of his face soft, rather than sharp with worry.

Osmond was sitting at the piano bench, looking up at the boy as his fingers brushed over the ivory keys, but Carmen didn't seem to notice the attention as he smiled silently to himself, his index finger of his left hand tracing the scroll of his expensive instrument absently.

There was something there, Osmond had decided. Something beyond physical attraction that he couldn't quite explain.

Lately, when Carmen directed smiles at him, his heart beat faster for more reasons than that the boy was extraordinarily beautiful. He felt like only one thing could cause the dull ache in his chest even after the younger boy looked away.

Feelings.

Though it had been a while since he had caught feelings for someone, though the ones he got for Adrian had yet to go away, the feeling of falling in love was unmistakeable.

"Are you feeling ready?" Osmond asked him lightly and Carmen's brown eyes blinked before he directed his attention to him, smiling softly.

"I am," Carmen said, nodding his head a bit and a strand of blond hair that looked as if it wanted to curl but just couldn't, fell out of place. "Thank you".

Even though Carmen didn't add for fucking me good last night at the end of his statement, Osmond knew it was implied.

"It's really no problem," Osmond said and Carmen grinned at him.

There it was. Those tingling feelings that started in his chest and spread to all the way to his fingers. Carmen seemed unaware of this as he began fiddling with the tuning pegs on his violin. "I like Tennessee," Carmen said casually, plucking the A string a couple of times before peering up at Osmond, who raised his eyebrows.

"We haven't really seen much of it outside of the hotel room," Osmond pointed out and Carmen's cheeks tinted red.

"Well they have good chocolate chip bagels," Carmen said and Osmond chuckled at the other's cuteness, resulting in the widening of Carmen's eyes. "You know, I thought you were going to be difficult to get along with".

"What?" Osmond asked, shifting his eyes past Carmen to the current performers on stage.

"Benson made it sound like you were really difficult to be around. He said you were stubborn, easily annoyed, and had a short temper". All of these things were true, so Osmond nodded.

"I do".

"But you don't," Carmen said, looking at him with curious eyes and Osmond said the first thing that came to mind before he thought about the implications behind the words.

"Well not around you".

Carmen blushed more but looked pleased.

"You're so cute," Osmond said quietly and Carmen flushed more but smiled pleasantly, his mouth opening to say something in response.

He was interrupted by their names being announced and Osmond stood from the piano bench. "Are you ready?"

Carmen seemed to be thinking about this, his fist tightening on the neck of his violin to the point that they turned a sickly white, but then he nodded and smiled, seeming completely at ease.

"I've never been better".

Then went out on stage, Osmond immediately taking his seat at the piano bench and then watching as Carmen smiled dazzlingly at the crowd and adjusted his music stand. He was looking particularly gorgeous that night, wearing a light grey dress shirt with the collar turned down, exposing some of the red marks that Osmond had left with his mouth.

He felt awful possessive upon seeing them, but didn't regret putting them there, even so. 

And then he realized that Carmen was looking back at him, smiling softly as if he knew that Osmond was thinking about him. Pink lips mouthed "are you ready?" And Osmond nodded shortly, lifting his hands gracefully and setting them on the keys.

Breathing in sync, they began, immediately agreeing on a tempo that was somewhat faster than usual, but neither seemed to have a problem with. Quite the contrary. They were actually performing much better at this speed and Osmond wondered why they hadn't before.

The next three songs were like this to. They played them faster than usual, but better than usual as well, and Osmond once again found him fascinated not only by the boy in front of him, but by his talent.

The fifth song was slower off the bat, and Osmond was the only one to start. He looked up to find Carmen staring at him, shaking his head when Osmond caught his eye. Not faster.

Nodding absently, Osmond moved his hands down the piano, breathing in and out, letting his eyes fall closed before he applied pressure to the white keys, playing the first cord.

His hands moved at the speed they normally did for this peace, his fingers moving over the keys in familiar ways as he kept his eyes closed, feeling the music rather than just playing it.

Two measures before he was to cue Carmen in, he opened his eyes, looking directly at the other boy who was doing the same in return, seeming dazed. Osmond's heart beat faster and his hands almost faltered. Almost.

Typically by this time Carmen would have his violin up on his shoulder and bow on the string, ready to play.

But he was just watching Osmond, his eyes glasses over. A measure before he was supposed to play his first note.

Osmond raised an eyebrow at the boy and that seemed to be enough to pull him out of his trance because Carmen moved quickly, getting into his typical position, turning away from Osmond to his music, only a beat before he was to begin playing.

Every other time they had played this song, Osmond closed his eyes after Carmen's first note until he had to cue the other again, but this time his eyes didn't fall shut.

They couldn't.

Not with Carmen looking at absolute peace, his eyes half open and mouth slightly parted as he played, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to focus on both finger placement and vibrato speed. It was a the face of someone who loved what they were doing. For the first time, Osmond saw no hatred in the way that Carmen played, just a slight hesitation to love it completely.

It was easy to see the exact moment Carmen's hesitation disappeared, to recognize the softening of his features into complete submission to the instrument, letting it play him just as easily as he played it. Carmen had stopped thinking, Osmond could tell, and just started playing. His eyes shut, not needing the music on the page to tell him what to do anymore.

It was a beautiful sight and Osmond couldn't help but to watch it until the adagio before he had to look down at his hands for the allegro.

Osmond tried his best to not get distracted by the beauty that was Carmen Huego for the rest of the performance, falling miserably every time he was given the opportunity to look.

It had never been like this with Adrian. While they played together, Osmond had never gotten distracted by him, never once been enchanted by him to the point of his fingers nearly playing wrong notes.

Playing the last note of his final song, Carmen turned his head towards Osmond, violin still under his chin as he nodded slowly and Osmond lifted his hands off of the keys.

The entire concert hall was quiet for a total of two seconds before it erupted in applause and Carmen smiled easily before looking to Osmond. They shared a brief moment, just looking at one another, before Carmen turned back to bow and the were ushered off stage.

They had been the last performance, so there was no one behind the stage when they got there, allowing them to talk amongst themselves at a normal volume.

"You did amazing," Carmen was saying and Osmond snorted, bumping his shoulder against his.

"It was your concert". Carmen shook his head then.

"It's just as much yours as it is mine". This wasn't really true, but Osmond didn't say anything about it in response, only:

"You play the violin quite wonderfully, little Huego". Carmen blushed pink but he grinned, following Osmond to their practice room where he put his violin in its case and then handed it to Osmond.

"Would you wait out in the lobby for me? I need to use the bathroom," Carmen declared, leaving before Osmond could dignify this with a response. Sighing, he did as he was told.

Over the weeks, Osmond's stubbornness and attitude had lulled some. Even so, if anyone but Carmen was telling him what to do, he would have put up more of a fight rather than letting them walk away.

Osmond found his way to the lobby, ignoring all of the people who looked him up and down, probably recognizing him from the performance. At first, no one approached him, too frightened by the blank look on his face as he stared down those who seemed to be contemplating this.

But then a girl, probably a year or two younger than him, seemed to take his glare as an invitation rather than a warning. She approached slowly, as if she was nervous, but eventually came to stand directly in front of him, smiling.

"Hello," she said, and he simply looked her up and down. He supposed she was pretty, long strawberry blonde hair and light blue eyes, but she was clearly wearing makeup, and Osmond preferred his partners to be all natural. "You're the piano player, correct?" He nodded. "You were amazing up there. I don't think I've ever seen anyone play an instrument with that much emotion before".

Then she clearly hadn't been watching Carmen.

"Thanks," he said, looking away from her, his eyes searching the crowd for a boy with white blonde hair. Spotting him, all the way across the lobby, his brown eyes searching the area, Osmond raised a hand to catch his eye.

Instead, a small hand was placed on his forearm, soft fingers brushing against the fabric of his white dress shirt and he froze, looking down. "So, how old are you?" The girl asked, her voice low and Osmond raised his eyebrows. "You're really attractive".

"I-"

"Kim?" A soft voice said and Osmond took the chance to lean away from the girl, causing her hand to slide off his arm. A middle aged woman joined them, smiling at him. "You found the piano player!"

Osmond didn't like the attention he was getting, especially when Kim came close to him once more and leaned against him this time.

"This is my mother," she explained, as if he had asked. "Mom, this is... we didn't exchange names yet".

Osmond opened his mouth, about to give his name, but when it was spoken, it wasn't from his own lips.

"Osmond?" Carmen said, his cheeks flushed pink as he looked at the two women, his gaze lingering on the one who was standing extremely close to him before stepping forward and surprising them all.

Arms wrapped around Osmond's neck, pulling him into a hug, and then a warm kiss was pressed onto his cheek. "I've been looking for you everywhere, hun".

Hun.

At first, Osmond had no clue what the smaller was doing, but as Carmen pulled back an inch, leaving his arms draped around Osmond's neck, he caught the look the smaller boy was giving Kim and couldn't help but to grin at the others adorableness.

Leaning forward, not thinking things through completely, Osmond pressed a soft kiss onto Carmen's forehead and the other tilted his head back to look up at him. It felt like they were having a moment as they just looked at one another happily.

"No wonder to two play so well together," a voice interrupted and Carmen broke eye contact, looking down at his shoes. A beautiful rose blushed across his cheeks and Osmond just wanted to kiss the flushed cheeks. He didn't though and instead looked up at the girl named Kim's mother. "Well, you two make a very cute couple. Have a good rest of your night".

And then the woman was pulling her daughter away by her wrist as the younger gaped openly at them.

Even when they were out of sight they still stood like that, Carmen's arms around Osmond's neck as Osmond held him around the waist with one arm.

"Are you hungry?" Osmond asked him and Carmen tilted his head back to look up at him.

"Are we going to get dinner?" Carmen asked, avoiding the question.

"We could," Osmond said, and then corrected, "should. We should".

"Okay," Carmen said, dropping his arms from around the tallers neck and taking a step away from him. Reluctantly, Osmond allowed his arm to fall from the other's waist. Carmen reached for his violin case but Osmond tightened his fingers around the handle.

"What do you want to eat?" He asked, ignoring Carmen's small fingers as he tried to pry the case away from Osmond, who just simply began walking away. "Come on, Carmen. We don't have all night".

***

Carmen smiled at Osmond as he pushed his nearly empty plate over to him. "Luckily for you, I don't like olives," the blonde said and Osmond couldn't help but chuckle.

Though Carmen always claimed to be very picky, he seemed to have a weakness for all Italian food, much like his weakness for anything with chocolate, so when the younger boys had said I don't care, you pick a place, Osmond immediately found the nearest place that served pasta.

They sat quietly for a minute, enjoying one another's company as Osmond finished the rest of Carmen's nearly empty plate and the boy gazed out of the window at the night sky. He was quite obviously thinking about something, distracted by whatever it was, and Osmond took the chance to examine the boy when he wasn't paying attention.

Since they had left Florida, Osmond had noticed many new things about Carmen. It was hard not to when they'd been spending every hour together.

Carmen had many cute habits, like how when he was thinking he would press his fingers against his lips, as if trying to taste the answers. When he was frustrated his lip would be abused by his beautiful white teeth. His hands fidgeted in frustration and his nose crinkled when he was annoyed. All of these things were incredibly adorable to Osmond, and he couldn't help but want to kiss the boy whenever he noticed any of these actions.

And he was doing three of them now, and Osmond could barely control himself.

Carmen's cherry red lip was being nibbled on as his right hand absently fidgeted with his fork. Lastly, the fingers of his left hand were pressed against his mouth, brushing over his lip that was being chewed on.

Osmond was staring so intensely that he was caught off guard when Carmen turned to him, stopping all of his ministrations at once. When his lip fell from between his teeth it was beautifully swollen red, much like it would get after he swallowed Osmond's cock whole.

Rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, Osmond tried to remember a time when he was not the average teenage boy and could think of something other than sex.

"How did your parents die?" Carmen asked suddenly and Osmond damn near choked on an olive. Hastily, Carmen shoved a glass of water in front of his face and he slowly sipped at the rim.

When he was finally able to breathe again, Carmen pulled the glass back and looked at him expectantly. "So?"

"I-" Osmond began, closing his eyes tightly and trying to push back memories that he didn't want to remember.

Blood. Lots of blood. His father facing away from him, hands stained red as he was handcuffed in front of him.

"Oz?" Carmen asked, and suddenly a hand was pressing against his forehead and Osmond was jerking away from the touch. "What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you!" Osmond said loudly, his eyes opening as he looked at Carmen, who seemed extremely alarmed at the outburst.

"I'm so-"

"I know," Osmond said, exacerbated. He had heard those words enough in his lifetime. "It's fine". Carmen shifted in his seat, dropping his eyes as if he was guilty and Osmond sighed loudly, trying to relax in his seat, though finding it difficult when he could still smell her blood. "Why do you want to know so bad?"

Carmen peered up at him from under his eyelashes and his cheeks flushed red. "You're unlike anyone I've ever met. I just want to understand you".

When Osmond smiled, it was fueled by his sadness. Reaching across the table, he hesitantly brushed his fingers over Carmen's hands. "Do you trust me, Carmen?" Osmond began and the boy nodded at him eagerly. "You don't want to understand me".