Ever since Carmen had left the music room, the black haired, grey eyed boy had yet to leave his mind. He even thought of him through his math test, struggling on problems he regularly wouldn't have since the handsome boy was still in his head.

He thought about how Osmond looked when he smiled, so at ease with everything and simply happy. It was an expression the Carmen couldn't have imagined the other boy having up until today, and now that he saw it he feared it would never leave his mind completely.

Spending time with Osmond made Carmen think about love.

Not for the other boy, of course. He did not have any kinds of feelings towards Osmond other that respect.

Osmond made him think about love, because Osmond was in love. The way that boy looked at the piano, even when he wasn't playing it, was evidence to this fact. He loved it. The keys and the pedals and every single note it was capable of playing. Osmond Greyjoy loved that instrument as most people loved other people.

Carmen wondered if the boy was capable of loving something, rather someone, else, but then dismissed it since it didn't really concern him.

His thoughts were just about to finally shift from Osmond to what he usually wasted his time thinking about, Jordan, as he went to exit the building at the end of the day, but of course that prospect was ruined as his eyes fell upon the stunning grey ones of the boy leaving the band room. Carmen flushed and looked away quickly, continuing on his path to the door and trying not to look at Osmond once more even though his eyes so desperately wanted to.

He was such a lovely man. Everything about him was a neutral color and it was very calming to Carmen. His skin was ivory and his eyes were grey and his hair was black. It seemed that he always dressed somewhat formally; dark jeans and another white button up dress shirt was what he had chosen to wear today.

No. Carmen did not have feelings for the other boy.

But damn was he nice to look at.

And once again, all he could think about were those grey eyes and long fingers that expertly roamed over the keys of the piano, creating beautiful melodies.

Carmen thought about the piece that Osmond had been playing earlier that day, in the practice room when he had interrupted him. It was one of the most perfect things he had ever heard, simple and warm. Written in all major. It had put Carmen at peace, having awed him into silence he had stood in the doorway listening for a few short, too damn short, minutes before making his presence known.

Carmen wondered what Osmond was thinking about when composing the piece.

Probably something beautiful, for that's how it was played.

Carmen thought about this when he drove home. About what could possibly inspire Osmond.

Flowers? Some sort of food? Maybe he was just inspired by playing the piano, if it even worked like that.

And yet again, Carmen had to wonder why he was thinking about Osmond. Sure, there was something about the boy, but Carmen didn't even spend this much time thinking about Jordan, and he had been in love with him for years now.

He pulled into his driveway and shut the car off, thankful that his parents had let him use it since then he didn't need to get a ride from his brother, who was still upset with him for not eating a proper dinner the night before. Carmen thought about how he would react if he knew that he had skipped lunch that afternoon. And breakfast.

It wasn't that Carmen was worried about his weight or anything, if anything he was worried that he was too skinny, not the other way around, but he simply didn't like most foods. There were some foods that Carmen truly enjoyed, like chocolate and pasta, but his mother did her best to prevent him from eating sweets at all costs, and gluten wasn't 'healthy enough', even though he desperately needed it.

He wasn't exactly grossly skinny, but the outline of his ribs were most definitely noticeable. He still fit into clothes or regular sizes and his shirts didn't exactly hang off of him, but they did look a bit loose.

Carmen feared what he would look like if Keith didn't live in the same house with him and watched over him practically every meal. He was luckily that his brother had decided to go to school in state.

Sometimes, and Carmen would never tell his brother this, he felt bad. He wondered that if he wasn't here, maybe Keith would have gone to a different school and gotten away from their controlling parents.

Carmen didn't dwell on this as he walked the pathway to his front door, violin in hand. He didn't really had time to think, much less eat (which was another reason that his pants dropped in size every couple of months) if he wanted to make his mother happy. Thought this seemed impossible to most people, due to her strict and uptightness, she was able to be happy under one condition. Carmen had to live and breathe the violin. When he was just sitting in class, he was supposed to think about it. Bow technique, posture, the shape of his left hand and how it affected his vibrato. And when he wasn't in school, or had a free period, he was expected to practice.

"Like lunch," she always said and then argued with her oldest son when he told her Carmen needed to eat. "Musicians will give up the simple things in life in order to be the best".

This had always bothered Carmen for two main reasons. The first was that food couldn't really be considered as a simple thing, since you needed it to live, though Carmen wasn't complaining about missing lunch. He was rarely hungry and the school food was disgusting.

The second reason it bothered him was because his mother was not a musician and never had been, so how would she know.

Keith pulled open the front door before he got to it, wearing a pair of plaid red boxers and a grey shirt. He seemed surprised to see him, but bent over to pick up the newspaper without saying anything.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" He asked and Keith rolled his eyes.

The only reason Carmen had been given the car was because Keith had class and wouldn't be able to come and get him, and his parents weren't willing to.

"Yes".

Carmen raised an eyebrow. "Well why aren't you there?"

"Because I don't want to be," Keith snapped, pretending to read the newspaper, not looking at his younger brother. Carmen felt guilty.

"I bet mom loved that". Keith looked up then, glaring at him and Carmen shifted uncomfortably under the harsh gaze. "I'm sorry, okay? I'll eat a lot tonight". Keith just raised his eyebrows. "I'm stressed and you know how I get when I'm stressed".

"You say that like it's an excuse". Carmen dropped his eyes to his shoes. "Carmen-"

"I'll eat tonight," he said, glancing up at his brother through his eyelashes. He watched as Keith's shoulders dropped and he sighed in defeat.

"I'm just worried about you". More guilt.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely and a hand ruffled his hair, pulling a smile to his face, reminding him of how sore his cheeks were from already smiling so much during the day.

Each time at Osmond.

It was fascinating to Carmen. Every time he smiled at the (he discovered earlier) older boy he could see him fight smiling back, failing more often than not and showing him his dazzling white teeth.

For someone who looked annoyed and miserable most of the time, Osmond had a wonderful smile.

"What are you thinking about?" Keith asked, glancing over his shoulder and it just occurred to Carmen that they were still standing outside. "You have this look on your face". Carmen turned his face away, squinting into the sun. "And now you're blushing".

"Let's go inside". Keith laughed but moved out of his way so he could pass.

"Don't keep things from me little one. Do you have a boy in mind?"

He did have Jordan, but that's not who he had been thinking about so he didn't answer how he knew his brother was hoping he would. Instead, he said, "be quiet around here, would you?" He didn't want his parents to find out he was gay because his brother was an idiot.

Keith only grunted in response, shutting the door behind them and following Carmen into the kitchen, where he greeted their mother.

"Do you have homework?" She asked immediately and Carmen set his violin case on the kitchen table.

"My accompanist doesn't want to be payed the full price". He cut right to the chase, knowing that if he answered his mother's original question he would end up in his bedroom practicing without talking to her about this.

"That's ridiculous," she said, looking down at the vegetables she had laid out on the cutting board. "Of course we'll be paying him the full price".

"He says that he doesn't need to be payed to do something he loves". She looked up in surprise and blinked, her lips parting.

"I would like to meet this boy". It took barely no time for Carmen to realize how horrible of an idea this would be.

"Mom," he said, only to be interrupted by Keith who was still leaning in the doorway of the kitchen.

"I'd like to meet him too," he said and Carmen turned to glare at him.

"You're not even supposed to be here," he accused and Keith's lips formed an o for a moment before he grinned at his younger brother.

"Feisty".

"He's right, Keith," their mother interjected.

"I'm agreeing with you," Keith argued and Carmen turned back to his mother.

"I think that's a really bad idea. Osmond is-"

"Coming over for dinner," his mother finished and Carmen opened his mouth to protest once more. "Or he's not going with you at all". His mouth snapped close.

It wasn't just Osmond's talent at this point that made Carmen upset at the prospect of someone else going on the trip with him. At this point he really just wanted to get to know the other.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," he promised, dropping his eyes so neither his brother nor his mother could read him emotions.

"Good!" Keith said at the same time his mother said:

"Have you eaten dear? I want you to go and practice for the night". Carmen closed his eyes and dropped his head.

"I spent all day practicing mom. I even skipped sixth hour". Most parents would be upset to hear this but Carmen's mother looked extremely pleased.

"But an extra hour won't help you dear. You should go up to your room and practice," she said, smiling softly at him, not noticing that Carmen didn't seem as enthused by this as she was.

"Mom, he needs to eat," Keith said, his voice tight.

"He can come down if he wants to," their mother said, looking at her older son as she always did. With annoyance and disappointment.

They all knew that Carmen wouldn't be coming down for dinner. Even if he was hungry he wouldn't. His mother would look at him with such disappointment that he would have wished he stayed upstairs hungry.

"Mom-"

"It's fine, Keith," Carmen muttered, biting his lip as he looked at his brother, who was in return glaring at him. "Keith". He thought of his promise earlier, "I'll come down to eat". For his brother he would withstand the glares his mother would most definitely give him as he sat down at the dinner table later.

"You don't need to-"

"He does!" Keith yelled, startling both of them and it appeared even himself. "God, you're such a horrible mother-"

"Keith Joseph!" Their mother yelled and Carmen winced at her shrill voice. Keith didn't seem bothered though, narrowing his eyes at the woman who birthed him before he pushed off the door jam and left the room.

"Mom-" Carmen began, thinking that the woman must be upset that her oldest son had just called her a bad mother.

But she wasn't upset. Not at all.

She smiled warmly at Carmen. "Go practice dear".

***

He got a half an hour in before his stomach was growling, but had to wait another two hours before Keith snuck into his bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.

"Mom'll kill you if you disturb me," Carmen said, though he dropped his violin on his bed and ran his hand over his face.

"I really don't care," his brother said, crossing the room to the window. "Turn your speaker on and hook it up to your phone".

"Um," Carmen said, not moving from his place in the middle of the room.

"Does she still make you record yourself playing hours on end?" Keith asked, pushing open the window and going to turn on the stereo himself.

"She does," Carmen said. "Why?"

"Give me your phone". He did and Keith looked at it for a long moment before handing it back to Carmen. "Open it".

When he handed the unlocked phone back to his brother he finally asked, "what are you doing?" He glanced at his door nervously.

"We're sneaking out and going to get dinner". The sound of himself playing the violin suddenly poured through his speakers and Keith looked very pleased with himself.

"This a great idea and all, but what if she comes and checks on me," Carmen asked, glancing at his door again.

"When has she ever disturbed your practice time? She doesn't even want you to eat, Car". The younger blinked at his older brother who had moved to be standing half in and half out of the window.

It took him exactly three seconds to decide what he was going to do. Keith whooped as Carmen climbed out after him and closed the window so it was just cracked.

"Please tell me you considered how to get off of this roof?"

Keith laughed at him before reaching out to grasp the closest branch of the tree that had grown outside of Carmen's window. "I got us this far. You can figure out how you're going to do it".

And then Keith pulled himself off of the roof onto the nearest branch and began scrambling down the tree at a surprisingly quick pace.

"Maybe I'll just go back inside," Carmen said, though he was moving after his brother, gripping the nearest branch and pulling himself down.

It took him a bit longer than it took his brother, but he eventually landed next to him and grinned, pleased with himself. "Don't look so happy," Keith said, "getting down was the easy part. We still have to climb back up".

Carmen turned back towards the house and looked up. "Oh".

"Don't worry about it now," Keith said, bumping his shoulder against his brothers. "We're going to go get pasta".