Osmond had completely scrapped his original piece of music he had spent months upon months working on, all for a single melody he thought of while he was daydreaming of Carmen, and it seemed like a very stupid thing to do. It almost felt like he was writing a song for the smaller boy, since he only seemed to be able to come up with notes while imagining him, and it felt fairly ridiculous to write a song for someone he barely knew and didn't care about at all. To justify his stupid decisions, he decided that it wasn't for Carmen, just merely inspired by Carmen.

It was a softer melody than Osmond typically wrote, one that reminded him of a real smile of white teeth and white blond hair and soft violin music.

He did not have feelings for Carmen.

He was simply intrigued.

Osmond felt the need to remind himself this every time after he spent long periods of time with his eyes closed as he pictured a beautiful boy.

Usually when Osmond composed, he thought about his past. His mother and father and pain... so much pain. It was refreshing to think about something new and actually make real progress.

But he did not care about Carmen. He was a distraction.

It was a simple song, but made him smile nonetheless. Sometimes, Osmond could appreciate the simplicity, especially since he himself was so complicated.

He had once before tried to write a song for Adrian, but Adrian Vang was almost as complicated as he was, and he had to throw too many accidentals into the piece to make it sound how he thought Adrian did, and then it just ended up messy. Which, now that he thought about it, was pretty accurate if he was trying to compose Adrian.

And suddenly, Osmond wanted nothing more than to call the boy who he feared he loved when he most defiantly shouldn't and listen to his soft voice.

Instead he continued playing, changing his thoughts to those of a boy with white hair and eyes to counter it. 

Uncomplicated. A major scale with no sharps or flats written in. It reminded him of a warm summer's day. Relaxed.

And that was just how he was feeling until he was interrupted.

For a second he wondered if he was imagining Carmen, since it was perfectly possible after spending almost the entirety of three hours thinking about him. Once he realized that he wasn't just day dreaming and Carmen was actually standing before him, his fingers stopped on the keys and he was embarrassed.

"That's wonderful," Carmen claimed, sounding in awe and Osmond blinked. The blonde boy smiled at him, but Osmond found it rather annoying. Now that he had seen Carmen's real smile the day before as he got into a car with a different boy, Osmond didn't want Carmen to smile at him unless it was like that. Genuine. Real.

"What do you want?" It came out harsh and even Osmond winced at his tone. He could clearly remember being told by Benson that he had to make this boy like him. "I'm sorry. That was rude".

"It was," Carmen agreed softly, and Osmond watched in interest as the others face transformed into one of nervousness, his teeth digging into his lower lip. "I should apologize too though. I didn't mean to startle you".

"You didn't," Osmond said. Carmen's hair seemed even whiter under the light in the practice room and Osmond just looked at him, unable to help himself from admiring the obvious beauty.

He thought of Carmen sitting by himself at lunch, and then the look on his face after school when he climbed into the car with that older boy.

"Why are you staring at me?" Carmen asked, blinking his wide brown eyes.

"You're nice to look at," He responded because it was true, and there didn't seem to be a reason to lie. He was proud of his choice as soon as Carmen's cheeks flushed pink and he averted his eyes. Absolutely gorgeous. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

Pink lips parted to respond, and then snapped shut again and the smaller boy hummed. "It does not". Osmond looked at him a second longer and then away. "I would ask you if you were flirting with me but I know you're not". An amused noise left Osmond without his ability to stop it, but he was able to catch his face from changing. "Right".

"What would you like, Carmen?" Osmond asked, tasting the name on his tongue as he returned his hands to the piano keys. "I was rather busy".

"What was it you were playing?" The soft boy asked, "it really was beautiful. I've never heard it before".

"That's because I wrote it". Normally Osmond would never admit to composing a piece of music himself to anyone but Benson, it always sounded like he was bragging when he did, but something about Carmen made him want to impress him.

"You wrote that?" Carmen didn't sound as impressed as Osmond wanted him to, but that was intriguing rather than disappointing. "Is it part of the song you were writing the other day?"

For a brief second Osmond considered explain that he had chosen to scrap that one, but didn't not to have to explain that he had felt like writing a song for- no- about Carmen instead.

"What would you like from me?" Osmond asked once more, getting to the point once more.

"Oh, yes. Of course. You're busy. I can come back later". Osmond didn't know if he didn't want him to come back, or if he didn't want him to leave. Either way, he could hear himself saying:

"I'm not really that busy," as he snapped his composition book shut. "How can I help you, Carmen?"

"Um, well, I just finished orchestra, and I have lunch now, and I was wondering if we could practice some more".

His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to face Carmen again, straddling the piano bench. The blonde looked down at Osmond's legs before his cheeks flushed once more. "I don't need to practice anymore," Osmond said slowly, confused as to what he was asking and Carmen looked down at him blankly.

"Everyone needs to practice more". Osmond must still have looked confused because Carmen sighed heavily and shook his head. "I've never played with an accompanist before. I don't really agree with them, so I'd like to get used to playing with you if we're going to be doing it together for over a month".

"I don't usually accompany people".

"Then you do need practice," Carmen said, moving to set his violin case on top of the piano and opening it. Osmond could feel the small boy pressing slightly into his right side as he reached over him to the top of the piano and he squeezed his eyes closed. "I just want to run through a couple of the songs". The room was quiet. "Oh". Osmond opened his grey eyes and looked up. "I don't have music for you. Did you bring it or-"

"I don't need music. I've already played it before".

Carmen looked very confused. "What do you mean?"

"I remember it," Osmond said slowly, as if the other was thick and this was the only way he could understand it.

"You remember it," Carmen repeated at an even slower speed and Osmond blinked in response.

"I do". Carmen was just staring at him, still pressing into his side with his fingers frozen on his violin case. "Is that surprising?"

And then Carmen was sitting on the bench next to him, so close that Osmond could clearly smell his body wash and the mint from the boy's gum that he just realized he was chewing. "What are you?" He asked, sounding amazed with him and Osmond blinked and moved away from him an inch. "I was impressed the first time we played together. You just picked the music up so easily. One of the reasons why I never play with a piano is because it's hard to find someone who can even play the music, but to remember it? All of it? After playing it, what? Twice? What are you Osmond Greyjoy?"

He wanted to flinch at the sound of his name, but it sounded different coming from this boy. Softer, somehow. It actually make him kind of want to hear it again.

"Oh," Carmen's voice was soft. "Should I call you, Osmond Daily?"

That sounded really good too and Osmond's eyes widened. At this point, he figured everything sounded good when it was coming from Carmen. "Either's fine," and he was surprised when he meant it.

Carmen hummed thoughtfully. "Sorry for changing the subject. I believe you were just about to me about your superhuman powers or something, correct?"

The word superhuman almost had Osmond laughing. Almost.

"They say I'm a prodigy, but I don't think that's exactly correct". Carmen propped his elbow up on the piano, ignoring the chime from the keys as he leaned his cheek against his closed fist.

"Why not?" Carmen asked, his voice hinting at the curiosity that Osmond could see in his eyes.

"Because I'm not as good as any of the prodigy's that I'm familiar with".

"What do you mean you're not as good. You're amazing!"

The small boy sounded fascinated by him and Osmond had to fight off a smile. It scared him. He didn't have to keep himself from smiling since he rarely ever smiled. It hurt his face.

"Why are you making that horrific face?" Carmen asked, seeming to be a completely different person from the blushing boy who had stood in the doorway only moments ago. "I suppose you can't see your face. It's halfway between a grimace, and then the face you would make is someone was trying to cut your fingers off- oh. It's getting worse now".

"I'm trying not to smile," Osmond said simply, and then realized that it kind of defeated the point.

This thought left his mind as Carmen's lips curved up, revealing to him his beautiful white teeth as he had to the boy in the car the other day.

Osmond could keep himself from smiling back. "You are something else, Osmond Greyjoy," the blonde said, shaking his head. "I think we're going to get along quite nicely".

"We will?" Osmond asked, biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood and looking away from the wonderfully beautiful boy who was smiling at him to keep himself from doing more of the same.

"I really think so," Carmen said. "I'll be honest, I was nervous for a bit". Osmond nodded.

"I'm not really the best with first impressions," he thought about that for a few moments longer, "or second impressions".

Carmen laughed lightly and oh god he was wonderful. "You're just different. That's not really a bad thing".

But Carmen didn't know how different he actually was, and if he did, Osmond knew that the boy wouldn't be looking at him the way he was now. If he knew, he would most definitely consider Osmonds type of different to be a very bad thing.

"You're actually... I don't know. I guess easy to talk to, I'd say. I usually don't talk to people, you know". Osmond thought back to the previous day's lunch period and how Carmen had sat by himself. "Really only my brother".

Brother. Ah. It all made sense now. The boy in the car was probably his brother. Osmond immediately felt better.

"We should play if you want to have time to eat before lunch is over," Osmond said, just realizing that they had already wasted about a quarter of the period.

"I don't need to eat," Carmen said quickly, and he was suddenly once again the blushing boy from earlier.

Osmond ignored this, his mind already on something else. "Hey, when do we leave?". It was currently mid September and he had yet to be given a definite date.

"I looked this up last night. September twenty ninth," Carmen said quietly, looking down at the piano in front of him before clearing his throat. "We'll be flying up to Georgia and then making our way, well, there's not really a pattern. It's mostly along the coast the entire time. I think we're going to like, Wisconsin and stuff too. We'll be playing in concerts pretty much every other day. It'll be... fun".

Carmen didn't sound like he'd be having fun. "Why do you say it like that?"

"No reason". The boy pursed his lips and Osmond could respect the fact that he wasn't the only one with secrets. "You'll get payed, obviously. You don't need to worry about airfare or restaurants or anything else like that, and you'll also get extra money simply for playing-"

"I don't need to be payed to play the piano," Osmond said, looking down at the instrument in front of him and raising his fingers to play a soft melody, the one that reminded him of the boy sitting next to him. This time when he played it, it was slightly different from before, still light and sweet, but there were extra notes that made it a bit more complex. "I love it. Playing is payment enough for me".

He could see Carmen watching him from the corner of his eye and tried this best to ignore it as he continued playing, but was unable to concentrate and his fingers slipped from the keys after a false note. Osmond turned his head to the other, who visibly swallowed. "Um," Carmen seemed unable to find a place to start, and Osmond remained silent. "Uh, you'll be getting payed anyways". Osmond opened his mouth to protest yet again and Carmen just shook his head. "You haven't met my parents, Osmond, there's no way in hell you're not getting payed. They're really fucking persistent".

Osmond raised his eyebrows at the harsh word and the boy blushed once again and ducked his head. "Alright," Osmond said, even though he didn't like it. It would make his aunt happy though, having him contribute a bit, so that would be agreeable. "But I don't want to be payed as much as they're planning on paying me".

"You don't even know how much yet," Carmen said softly.

"I don't care".

The blonde seemed to be thinking for a moment before he nodded. "Alright," he began, "I think that'll work".

They just looked at each other for a while longer before simultaneously clearing their throats and looking away. "Do you want to-" Osmond began, feeling rather flustered and Carmen cut him off.

"Yeah". The shorter stood again and this time succeeded in removing his violin from its case without getting distracted. "Do you have time to go through all of them? It might run into sixth hour".

"I don't go to any real classes, Carmen". The boy blinked in surprise and looked down at him before grinning again.

Osmond wondered if he was bipolar.

"Of course you don't, Osmond Greyjoy. Of course not".