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It was a little funny watching Quinn, who had never traveled very far from Michigan, much less all the way to the sunbelt.
“Sebastián. I am dying. Surely there was an easier way to kill me than dragging me down here and letting me melt.” Quinn sprawled out further on the lawn chair, making a show of fanning himself off.
“Don’t be dramatic.” Nando laughed, but still poured most of his iced tea into Quinn’s empty cup. He pressed the cold glass to his forehead for a few seconds before taking a sip.
“Thank you.” Quinn smiled at him, brighter than the Arizona sun.
His neighbors threw a huge block party on week of the Fourth of July every year. When his mother not so subtly told him he could bring a plus one, it was a no brainer to call up Quinn and see how soon he could hop on an airplane. And now he was with him, laying out in a lawn chair, hair sticking up in every direction, and wearing a pair of sky blue swim trunks. He couldn’t tell if the red flush was just him having a hard time with the heat or a sunburn, but he grabbed the sunscreen from a nearby table and handed it to him anyway. He already made Quinn put it on three times in the past hour and a half, but he had a whole childhood of experience in Arizona summers. And the desert sun wasn’t something to mess around with.
As Quinn snapped open the bottle and began reapplication, the neighbor’s puppy ran up to him, tennis ball in mouth. They had gotten him while Nando was back in Samwell, and he couldn’t remember his name to save his life, but he was pretty cute. And had an infinite supply of energy, apparently. Nando grabbed the ball and aimlessly chucked it back into the yard. It landed in the pool, and the puppy dived in after it. Nando’s sisters all shrieked when the water hit them, and he laughed fondly.
“Hey, Quinn, why don’t you go in the pool to cool off?” He asked as Quinn handed him back the bottle of sunscreen.
“My hearing aids aren’t waterproof.” He said, pointing to them.
“Then take them out.”
Quinn looked a little hesitant but slowly reached up to take them out of his ears. They were safely placed on the table (under Nando’s t-shirt, so they didn’t get too warm while sitting out). Nando smiled at him, checked to make sure that Quinn’s phone wasn’t in his pocket, then picked him up and chucked him into the water.
Nando quickly jumped in after him, and when he surfaced, Quinn was treading water, giggling like a child. As soon as his head surfaced, Quinn splashed him with water. And he looked so adorable, hair soaking wet, obviously pleased with himself. Nando couldn’t help but grab his chin and pull him into a kiss.
---
Quinn ended up getting sunburnt anyway. He was as shocked as Nando was. Thankfully, it wasn’t bad, but Nando still heard him wince every time his back hit the chair too hard at dinner, and heard him mumble to himself once about how his skin was going to peel.
It was the least he could do to break a piece of his aloe vera plant off and situate Quinn on his childhood bed. Nando had fished out an old pair of athletic shorts for him to wear, and something in his stomach fluttered seeing Quinn wear clothes with the name “Hernandez” written on them in faded sharpie.
His brain kept replaying the phrase “ Quinn Hernandez, Quinn Hernandez, Quinn Hernandez ”
It was way too early in their relationship to be thinking about things like that. He tried to shake the thought away and focus on the task at hand. He sat straddling Quinn’s thighs, rubbing the plant onto his burnt back. Quinn hummed in appreciation as Nando began rubbing the cold gel into his skin.
“So, Sebastián.”
“Yeah?”
“Where are these shorts from? If they fit me they definitely don’t fit you, but I don’t think any of your sisters would wear these.”
“They’re my PE shorts from sixth grade.” Nando laughed, and Quinn huffed, pressing his face into the comforter.
“Baby, don’t be upset. I think it’s cute that you’re so tiny.” Nando went in to press a kiss to the back of his neck but made a disgusted noise when he ended up getting a mouthful of aloe. It was Quinn’s turn to giggle then, and Nando rolled off to lay next to him and look at him face to face. He rolled his eyes fondly at Quinn, and grabbed his hand, bringing it to his mouth and pressing a soft kiss to it.
It was only 9, but the combination of a day in the sun and the comfort of having his boyfriend there meant that he quickly and accidentally fell asleep.
---
He was awoken by Quinn gently shaking his shoulder. A quick glance towards his alarm clock showed that it was almost 3 am. The room was pitch black, and he knew that Quinn most likely had his hearing aids off, so he grabbed his hand and brought it to his mouth, before mouthing the words “ are you okay?” exaggerated and slow. Quinn grabbed his hand and brought it to his face so that Nando felt when Quinn nodded. He was about to flip on the light so that they could have an actual conversation but stopped when Quinn’s other hand came up to grab his. He molded Nando’s hand until his four fingers were pressed flat against his palm, with his thumb sticking upwards beside them.
“A,” Quinn whispered. Nando was about to ask for clarification when Quinn moved his hand again, this time pushing his four fingers up and pressing his thumb into his palm.
“B,” Quinn whispered again. Realization dawned over him.
“The alphabet,” Nando mumbled to nothing in particular while Quinn molded his hand into a C. They went through the whole alphabet like that, Quinn making his hands do the letters. Finally, he shaped Nando’s hand so he was pointing, and moved the point in a z shape.
“Z.” He whispered. Nando grabbed his palm and kissed it again, before sitting up and snapping on the lamp by his bedside table. He tried his best to remember the letters that he had just been shown.
Q-U-I-N-N he signed, very slowly. It was worth it, to see Quinn’s face light up. In return, Quinn lifted up his hand and spelled out something, although his hand moved far too fast for Nando to see what he was signing. When Quinn saw the look of bewilderment on Nando’s face, he giggled, and Nando felt his face flush.
“Sebastián” Quinn whispered, before slowing down. S-E-B-A-S-T-I-A-N
Quinn sat up too, before bringing one of his hands up to his head. He signed a shape that Nando would describe as a flattened version of the letter O. He then brought it forward from his forehead. He switched his hand to make a hook with his pointer finger and connected that with his other hand, which was in the same shape.
“Boyfriend,” Quinn said, before repeating the sign. “Boyfriend.”
Nando copied the motion.
Boyfriend.
Quinn’s smile somehow grew even wider. He made the same handshape he did for the sign “boy” with both his hands, then pressed the tips of them together.
“Kiss.” He said. Nando was quick to copy.
Kiss.
Quinn then signed something. There were a lot of signs Nando didn’t know, but he was able to pick out kiss and boyfriend from the jumble and filled in the blanks. He grabbed Quinn’s face in both of his hands and pulled until their lips met.
“Yes, yes! You’re getting it! Yes!” Quinn whispered against his lips. Nando felt a tear fall down Quinn’s cheek and pulled back.
“You’re crying,” Nando said.
“They’re happy tears. I’m happy.” Quinn said. He placed once palm on his chest and one of his stomach and rubbed them in circles.
“Happy,” Quinn said.
Happy . Nando responded.
Quinn smiled, before tackling Nando back into laying down. He reached up to turn off the light, before snuggling into his chest.
Nando knew it would probably only be 5 minutes before Quinn complained about being too hot and rolled away. But for the moment, he reached down to card his fingers through Quinn’s hair.
He was so glad he had invited him to Arizona.