Coming Home [Completed]

Ch. 15: Halloweekend, Part II

There was an overflowing ebullience palpable at Nolan's party, which was already in full swing when Charlie and Lucas arrived, later than most. They had been delayed at Charlie's house when Lucas decided to cause a distraction and Charlie was helpless to protest.

Lucas's surprise couples costume idea was Batman and Robin, with Charlie as the caped crusader and Lucas as the boy wonder. Charlie's costume was nearly skin-tight, but Lucas's costume showed nearly the entirety of his legs. That had been what incited the distracting event.

The two made their way through the party until they found their host. Nolan Taylor was nowhere near the party savant that Tate Morgan was, but with Tate retired from hosting suburban house parties and up in New York with Julia, Nolan was the best going. Nolan was holding court with the usual suspects surrounding him. Jude and a few teammates were there. Eva and Patrick were there, which was mildly surprising, but not nearly as surprising as seeing Harry and Theo there as well.

Theo was clearly dressed as Elio in the final scene from Call Me By Your Name. His hair was done the same way and everything. It was quite convincing that he could pass for a shorter Timotheé Chalamet. Harry wasn't costumed at all, from what Charlie could tell.

Nolan fixed Charlie and Lucas each a drink. He'd designated himself the unofficial bartender, dressed as Don Draper in Mad Men. The conversation briefly veered into a rehashing of the game, with most heaping praises on Charlie, but it was clear that the others had already discussed it ad nauseam, so that topic was quickly done away with. This gave Charlie a chance to preen, but not become too self-involved. Every now and then, Charlie would divert from the group discussion to whisper something to Lucas.

"You got a problem, Charlie?" Harry asked, catching one of those snide remarks intended only for Lucas's ears.

"No problem here, all I'm saying is that it's a little weird a 21-year-old college student is spending Halloweekend at a high school party instead of, y'know, a college one," Charlie said, starting to get a bit combative, though trying to set a disinterested tone. He hadn't been fully conscious of how much Harry and Theo's relationship unnerved him.

"Charlie—" Eva interjected, admonishingly, to which Charlie feigned innocence.

"Believe me, this was not my first choice in how I'd spend my weekend, but relationships are about compromises and Theo's happiness is what's really important to me," Harry said, pointedly. Obviously, Theo had divulged some of the more intimate details of his previous relationship to his current boyfriend.

"Hey, not trying to start anything here. It's nice that you've found each other. You guys started dating in July, right?"

"No, May," Harry said, unaware of the trap he'd just walked into.

"So before Theo's eighteenth birthday, right? By about four months?" Charlie smiled, tauntingly.

Harry's face instantly fell at that and Theo began sulking at his side, wishing to be anywhere but where he was. Harry was slowly coming to the realization that this wasn't going to go well for him. "What're you trying to say here?"

"That it's a shame that you two didn't come to me for advice when you couldn't come up with a couple's costume. I would've suggested Tyga and Kylie." Charlie's deadpan elicited a few nervous, stifled laughs from the group, but most were reduced to silence at what was unfolding.

"That is totally unfair," Harry protested. Then in a voice low enough almost no one could hear, Theo added, sourly, "we haven't even had sex yet."

Charlie exerted a superhuman level of mouth strength to keep his drink from spilling out of his mouth at the shock of the admission. He'd only meant to tease the couple, not reveal any deep issues between the pair, albeit that did give him some sense of satisfaction that he was still Theo's first and only.