"How are you not freaking out right now?" Lawson asked, taking his eyes off of the road for just a second to shoot Sean a look. The other boy shrugged, still seeming unconcerned and Lawson huffed. "Sean. You are meeting my family". Lunch plans had been made for that afternoon, but it didn't seem like it was actually happening until Sean had gotten in his car and he started driving in the direction of home.

"Yes, Lawson, I remember," Sean retorted slowly, laughing when Lawson narrowed his eyes at the upcoming stop sign. There was the clicking noise of Seas seatbelt being undone, and then he was sliding down the seat to get close enough to Lawson to kiss his cheek. "I'm excited to meet them".

"How am I more nervous than you?" Lawson inquired. "I already know them".

Sean laughed again at his, ducking to nuzzle his face into Lawson's neck. They were often doing things like this to one another to show their affection, and Lawson suspected it had something to do with the fact that they still hadn't shared kisses beyond brief pecks.

And the fact that they really liked one another, of course.

"Do you doubt me, Lawson Murphy?" Sean teased, directly into his ear and Lawson snorted before pushing Sean away with his right hand.

"We're going to get in an accident and die if you keep distracting me like that," Lawson claimed, but Sean seemed unconcerned as he moved back into his seat and buckled his seatbelt. "I don't doubt you, I promise. I already know they're going to love you. It's just... what if you don't love them, and what if my mom tells you really embarrassing stories about me when I was younger".

"Oh I hope she does," Sean said immediately and Lawson rolled his eyes, turning his car onto his street. "And don't worry about me liking them. They made you who you are, an I like you. A lot. I don't see there being any problems".

Thankfully, Lawson relaxed, and it was just in time for him to pull into his driveway. "I'm gonna hold you to that," Lawson promised, turning the car off. Sean just looked at the house in front of them for a minute before looking to Lawson.

"You live much closer to campus than I thought you did," Sean claimed, and Lawson shrugged.

"Yeah, but I don't come home that often".

"It's not a bad thing, living close," Sean assured, unbuckling. "Sometimes I wish I lived this close". Lawson's teeth dug into his lower lip at this, and Sean laughed. "Hey. I like it here. I really do. I'm not like... going to transfer or anything".

"Good," Lawson said with a small smile. "I think people here would miss you".

"Anyone in particular?" Sean teased, and Lawson grinned before shooting a look at his house again.

"We should probably go in. By now, moms probably noticed the car in the driveway and Will is trying to talk her out of coming outside to greet us," Lawson explained. "He'll only be able to hold her back for so long".

"I'm intrigued already," Sean claimed before pushing open his car door. Hastily, Lawson unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out as well.

"Now," Lawson began to advise as they started up the front walkway to the house. "Prepare yourself for screaming children and my mother potentially crying and-"

"Lawson!" He cut off and looked towards the front of his house, where his mother had pulled open the front door and was tearing down the front steps. "I haven't seen you in forever". Her arms came around him, hugging him close and he laughed, wrapping his arms around her as well.

"Mom, I was home like three weeks ago," he reminded. "It's not even the longest we've gone without seeing one another since I left".

"But you haven't been talking to me," she scolded, paging him back to hold him at arm's length and he smiled down at her.

"I've kind of been busy, mom". With that, his mother's eyes were sliding over to Sean, and not even a second later she was pulling the startled boy into a quick hug.

"You must be Sean then. It's nice to meet you. I'm Molly, Lawson's mom, but you probably guessed that. You don't need to call me Mrs. Murphy or anything like that-"

"Mom," Lawson interrupted, voice thick with amusement. "Calm down. You're going to scare him". His mother had pulled from the hug but was still holding Sean's arms as she spoke to him, but at Lawson's words she took a quick step backwards.

"Well I'm excited," she defended before addressing Sean once more. "You know, Lawson always made jokes about being single for the rest of his life so your existence is actually quite a relief-"

"Mom".

"Not that we ever really thought he was going to stay single, really. We knew that people liked him since he's cute and personable, he just tended to give off a sort of awkward first impression and then got discouraged-"

"Mom," Lawson interrupted again, shooting his grinning boyfriend a look. "You don't have to tell he that".

"You really don't," Sean assured. "I mean, I kind of realized the whole awkward thing the first time we met and it didn't really bother me". It was the right thing to say, because Lawson's mother absolutely beamed.

"Why don't you boys come inside, there will be food- yes, Lawson, Will is making it so it's edible- and the girls would love to meet you Sean and I have photo albums". Lawson groaned at this part and she chuckled before turning away from them and heading back up to the house, still talking enthusiastically.

Neither of them moved at first, and when she got to the front door she shot a look at them over her shoulder before smiling and slipping inside. Lawson took Sean's hand, urging him closer. "You okay?"

"I'm great," Sean responded calmly. "She's really beautiful. I mean, I remember Nate talking about it but I'm not really sure what I was expecting".

Lawson hummed thoughtfully as he began to move towards the door, urging Sean along as well. "Yeah, I know. I had to deal with all the stupid jokes in highschool about it. I alway thought it was too bad I looked like my father".

"I don't think-" Sean cut off as Lawson pulled him into the house, through the door his mother had neglected to close, and Lawson was immediately assisted by his sisters. They threw themselves at his legs, throwing him off balance, but Sean stopped him from falling by placing a hand of his back to steady him.

The room was immediately filled with two very distinctive squeals, and Lawson dropped to his knees to envelope both wriggling into a tight, but short hug, seeing as neither of them wanted to stay still for very long. When he let them go, they both turned and ran from the room.

"Wow," Sean said as Lawson stood back up. "That just happened so fast".

"Well, they're four," was Lawson response. Sean continued to blink after them. "What?"

"I don't see other identical twins often. It kind of caught me off guard," he admitted.

"See other identical twins?" Will questioned, peeking his head out from the kitchen. Lawson could see his mother standing behind him, hands on his back to push him forward.

"Ah, Yeah," Sean confirmed, coming off nervous for the first time that morning. Lawson smiled and lightly brought his hand to the other boy's back in a sort of comfort. "I have a twin brother".

"Really?" Lawson watched as his mother pushed her way around her husband, who raised an eyebrow at his wife's enthusiasm before following her further into the living room. "Well Lawson didn't mention that. He's identical?"

"Yeah," Sean confirmed, and he slid his hands into his back pockets.

"It's very rare. Are you two close?" His mom asked, leaning against Will once he joined them in the front entryway. "Oh! This is Lawson's step father, by the way".

"Will," the older man greeted with a smile and outstretched hand. Sean shook it with a pleasant smile.

"Nice to meet you. And uh, yeah. We're really close. It made leaving for school really hard," Sean answered, and then he shrugged. "Not that it hasn't been worth it, of course".

When Lawson mom made a squeaky noise, Sean looked smug and Lawson rolled his eyes as he grumbled, "you're a little shit," under his breath for only him to hear. It made Sean laugh sweetly.

His mother's mouth opened to say something- probably embarrassing- but before she could Luna was tearing back into the room. "Cyble's bleeding and she told me not to tell you!" She yelled loudly, and William sighed, raising a hand to Molly's shoulder for just a second before turning and leaving the room.

"Ah, I'm guessing Lawson has mentioned Cyble's condition?" His mom asked, and Lawson nodded as Sean stated his confirmation. Lawson's eyes, which had followed William out of the room, flickered to his mother's worried expression, probably at the fact that Cyble hadn't wanted to tell them she was bleeding yet again.

A moment later, William carried a crying Cyble into the living room, expression blank. "She likes doing it in the living room," William explained, gently setting his daughter onto the couch, and then putting the red medicine bag on the coffee table. As he began to dig through it, Lawson looked to his sister. Her eyes very very red, and her nose was bleeding. "The television distracts her".

With one last glance at his mother's worried expression and Williams tired face, Lawson moved from Sean's side, ignoring the look of surprise his boyfriend gave him, and went to stand next to his step father. "May I?" He asked, and William looked at Lawson, and then Cyble, and handed over the needle which was connected to a tube that drained her medication from a small glass bottle. "Cyble, can I helped you?" It was important to ask, since her comfort was the most important thing in this situation.

It filled him with pride when she nodded eagerly, and William said a soft thank you before moving out of his way, going back over to where Sean and his mother were talking softly. Lawson paid them no mind as he took a seat on the coffee table across from his sister. Her small body shook as he carefully pulled her arm towards him and readied the spot on the inside of her elbow that would get the injection. "You know, you need to tell mama and papa when you start bleeding, Cyble," Lawson said to her in a small voice, and she just blinked at him with large eyes before focusing on the needle. When he brought it closer to her skin, she began to cry again. "Hey hey, look at me". He repeated himself a few times until she did, not inserting her needle until her attention was on his face. "Wanna know a secret, Cyble?"

She ran a small hand under her nose to wipe the blood away, but only ended up smearing it on her face. Softly, she whined as the needle pushed into her skin, but answered him with a small, "yes".

He smiled at her and gently began to press the plunger, pushing the medicine into her skin. "You see that boy over there?" He whispered, eyes flickering over to Sean for just a second and smiling when he caught the other boy watching him. Cyble turned to look at him as well, and Sean's blue eyes widened. Softly, Lawson's mother said something to him with a little laugh, and Sean cracked a smile. "You see him?"

"Yeah," Cyble confirmed.

"Well, I really really like him, but you can't tell him that, okay?" He whispered, and Cyble looked at him with very wide eyes before giggling sweetly.

"You think that he's cute?" She asked and Lawson squinted his eyes and puffed out one of his cheeks like he was thinking about it, and then nodded. Cyble rewarded this display with more giggles. "Do you want to kiss him?"

"Sometimes. But shh it's a secret," Lawson whispered, glancing up as Sean began to move towards the two of them. He rounded the back of the couch and took a seat next to Lawson on the coffee table, facing Cyble.

"What are you two talking about?" He asked suspiciously and Cyble immediately began to giggle some more. It seemed to be enough of a distraction from the medicine, since she wasn't squirming as she usually was at this point. Lawson was proud of her. "Hmmm?"

There was the soft sound of little feet walking across hardwood flooring, and then Luna was taking the place on the couch next to her sister and leaning over to whisper something in her ear. In response, Cyble said something back to her that made the two of them laugh, and then Luna leaned forward and attempted to whisper, "Lawson says he likes you," to Sean. 

Both girls began to laugh again as Sean's eyebrows shot up, and Lawson scoffed playfully. "That was supposed to be a secret," he reminded, but neither girls seemed to care about their betrayal.

To his surprise, Sean leaned forward then and whispered something in Luna's ear that made her eyes go wide before she giggled again and leaned over to past the news on to Cyble.

The words Sean has a crush on you managed to get back to Lawson as well, and he shot his boyfriend a fond look before drawing his attention back to his sisters medicine.

"Did you know," Sean began once the drama of the two boys liking one another had died down between the girls, "that I have a brother who looks exactly like me too?"

Both girls were intrigued. "You have a twin?" Luna asked, making a funny inquisitive face that Lawson chuckled at before gently removing the needle from Cyble's arm. Her small arm dropped absently to her side, distracted by Sean.

"I do. And did you know that having a twin is the special-est thing in the world because you always have a best friend and they look just like you so you can never lose them," Sean joked, and Lawson laughed but it clearly went over the two girls heads.

"What's his name?" Cyble asked, and with a little chuckle at the fact neither of them had clearly cared about his last statement, he said:

"Chase".

"That means Lawson thinks two boys are cute!" Cyble exclaimed before carefully climbing down off the couch and making a dash for the kitchen. Luna was quick to follow her with a loud battle cry that made Sean laugh.

"Nicely done," Lawson praised once they were out of hearing distance. He dropped his head down onto Sean's shoulder after assuring his parents had left the room, probably to go catch Cyble and clean the blood off of her face.

"I'm pretty sure that was all you," Sean said softly, and Lawson smiled. "Not sure if this is really possible, but you have become even more attractive to me".

"Well, you already know I think you're cute since they spoiled it," Lawson teased. "You and your brother... who I've never seen by the way".

"You haven't?"

"No. You haven't exactly shared pictures of your family with me," Lawson pointed out.

"Well, you've seen me so you've seen him". Even as he said this, Sean leaned over to free his cellphone from his pocket. "He's probably sent me something..."

Lawson was content with his head on Sean's shoulder as he watched the other boy navigate his cellphone, pulling open a familiar app and clicking on the first name at the top of the list. A picture appeared on the screen of a boy who looked strikingly like Sean, but only with a slightly rounder face and eyes a tint lighter. He was making a horrified face and the caption read: gonna fail math because you left asshole.

It made Lawson laugh. "He's bad a math too?"

"Terrible," Sean confirmed, clicking to reply to his brother. When Lawson saw himself on the screen to take a picture, he smiled, as did Sean. "Cute".

Lawson watched with pride as Sean saved the picture, and then typed: you're not the only one who needs help with math, before sending the photo. "I didn't realize you told your family".

"I haven't talked to my parents yet," Sean admitted. "But I told my brother about you on the day we met".

"Is that so?" Lawson lifted his head to look at Sean, who turned his face towards him and eyed him carefully.

"Of course. A cute boy sits next to me in math class, asks me about lunch. There was no way you weren't coming up in conversation," Sean said with a smile tugging the corners of his lips. The laugh that left Lawson was one he wouldn't have been able to hold back if even he tried.

"What is it-" Lawson cut off when his mother cleared her throat from the doorway, softly with a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there is food for us if you're interested," she said, and Lawson nodded at her before looking back to Sean.

"We'll be there in a minute, mom".

***

Lunch went well, not that Lawson was expecting anything less.

A lot of questions were thrown at Sean right off the bat, mostly by his mother, though William was interested in Sean's future career path. The girls chimed in every once and awhile as a good diversion, giving Sean enough time to prepare  himself before another round of questioning, which Lawson appreciated, not wanting to overwhelm his boyfriend.

Thankfully, the topic eventually shifted from Sean to Sean and Lawson, so he had an excuse to answer some of the questions for the other boy, like how they met and previous dates of theirs. Sean mentioned the brief tour of the area that Lawson had given him a while back, which prompted his mother to ask Lawson all the places they still had to go.

She was clearly very excitable, and Sean appeased her by answering all of her questions, and ultimately agreeing to talk to her and William alone after lunch. Immediately, Lawson protested. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes, Lawson, it's really necessary," his mother assured while Will just gave him a sympathetic shrug and a head tilt towards his mother that made Lawson's mouth twitch in understanding. It wasn't that he was concerned about Sean in this situation- Sean clearly wasn't concerned, seeming perfectly at ease- he was just nervous about what they were going to say, as his parents, to his first ever boyfriend.

Since his mother insisted that Sean talk to them alone, she had the girls drag Lawson to their room to entertain him until further notice.

As Cyble tried to build a castle with legos, Luna sat next to her on the rug and played with her two favorite stuffed animals: a pink unicorn, and a shark. They had given Lawson a tea set upon entering the room so he could keep himself occupied, but he abandoned that to help Cyble build her castle. The blood had been cleaned off of her face, and looking at her, Lawson thought no one could even imagine what had gone down only an hour before. "Lawson," Luna said after a long silence.

"Yeah Lu?"

"Is that boy your boyfriend?" She questioned, not looking up from the place on the rug where she was making the unicorn and shark interact.

"Well, would you approve of him being my boyfriend?" Lawson questioned, and both girls looked at him, confused. He smiled at them. "Do you like him?"

Luna and Cyble shared a look and then giggled softly for a minute. It was Luna who ended up answering first. "Well I like him".

"Me too!" Cyble said happily. Her castle wasn't turning out very well, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Well, then yes. He's my boyfriend," Lawson confirmed, and Cyble looked up at him for a moment, expression thoughtful before asking:

"Can I come to your wedding?" she asked. Luna looked horrified.

"Cyble. People kiss at weddings, and kissing is gross," Luna reminded, and both girls made identical disturbed faces that Lawson couldn't help but to laugh at.

"What about kissing?"

They all