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1 .

     Carlos is huddled up in the back corner of the library with his headphones on, taking in snippets of Andy Blankenbuehler’s work in ‘Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) for choreography inspiration for ‘Get’cha Head in the Game.` The new drama teacher Miss Jenn has entrusted him with choreographing the musical and he does not want to let her down. Thus, he needs to bring fresh new ideas to her. Maybe if the cast does not know how to dribble or dance with basketballs they could mime it like at the Hamilton Tonys performance? It is an idea, at least. Auditions were tomorrow, he needed to prove his worth now before she finds someone better than him.

     Absorbed in his thoughts, he doesn’t notice the blonde-haired sophomore come up from behind him and tap him on the shoulder. Carlos, almost falling out of his chair, turns around to meet the other boy’s piercing blue eyes. Seb, Carlos’s father in last year’s production of Brigadoon and unspoken crush since then, gives him a weak wave. “Hey, Carlos. Hamilton’s a nice choice. I’m more of an In the Heights person myself,” he awkwardly comments giving two thumbs up and a dorky smile.

     Carlos is taken aback, Seb literally never talks to him. Sure they talked when they were scene partners, but Seb always seemed distant at rehearsals and Carlos always hung around the senior dance captain, so there wasn’t much socializing between them. This isn’t bad, just really strange? A good strange. “Thanks, I was using it for choreo inspo, Blankenbuehler is a god. ,” Carlos smiles at the other boy, hoping he’s not putting him off from his choreographer fangirling, “What’s up?”

     Seb awkwardly fiddles with the hem of his sleeve and adjusts his glasses before addressing Carlos, seemingly trying to get his wits together. “I saw you are choreographing the musical and I wanted to see if you can help me get a leg up on auditions,” he weakly smiles at Carlos, and when he doesn’t seem to get a reaction he stifles a laugh, “No pun intended.” 

      Carlos raises his eyebrows at the other boy in a mixture of confusion and disbelief. Does Seb want him to help him get in with Miss Jenn or teach him the auditions choreography? He honestly isn’t sure, “Excuse me Seb, but what do you need?”

     Seb who already is shaking in his boots from asking Carlos the first question takes Carlos’s confusion as a negative response, “Sorry for bugging you, it’s totally fine.” He awkwardly salutes Carlos and turns to go and Carlos grabs his hand, trying to ignore how his heart skips a beat when he does.

     “It’s no trouble, I’m not upset, just confused as to what you want,” Carlos says, smiling up at the other boy. Seb smiles back, takes the seat next to Carlos, and sets his bag down. He lets out a huge sigh of relief.

     “Sorry, I just really want to play Sharpay in the fall musical, and I want to really wow the new teacher with my audition and thought you could help me brush up on my moves. I’m really out of practice, I mean I practice in my barn all the time but—“ Seb continues to ramble on, making a number of adorable hand gestures and faces as he goes. Carlos inwardly smiles as he watches the other boy fumble over himself explaining himself, it was precious. Getting so distracted by Seb, he forgets to give the poor farm boy his answer.

     “I’d love to help, when are you free?” Carlos says smiling at the flustered mess in front of him. The blonde instantly beams the second Carlos gives him his answer.

     “Are you free during seventh period today?” Seb asks hopefully.

     “Yeah, I’ll meet you in the dance studio and bring your tap shoes,” Carlos says with a smile and throws in a wink for good measure.

     “AH! Thank you, Carlos!” Seb says a little too loudly as he gets up, earning the pair a few stares from the other library-goers. He quickly gives Carlos a quick hug from over the shoulders and quietly exclaims, “You’re the best!” Seb grabs his bag and goes to leave, waving excitedly to Carlos and mouthing,” See you later!” before leaving the library.

     Carlos thanks whatever god there is that he is in the back of the library so everyone can not see his beet-red face. He didn’t think that Seb revered him as a dancer enough to ask for help before auditions? It is heartwarming that the Seb does, it seems like the only other person who does is Miss Jenn, who he just met and hasn’t even seen him do enough dancing to make a qualified judgment. Seb also wants to play Sharpay, and while Carlos pegged him for a Ryan, it isn’t a bad idea. It is in fact, another fresh new idea he could bring to Miss Jenn and help with the direction of the musical.

     Most importantly, Seb, the Sebastian Matthew-Smith, wants dancing lessons from him. If he isn’t in a public place right now, he might squeal, but listening to ‘Helpless’ on repeat is the next best thing he supposes. Seventh period can’t come soon enough.

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2.

     The High School Musical: The Musical cast sits around the bomb shelter, waiting for Miss Jenn to arrive and start the rehearsal. Gina scrolls through her Instagram doing the splits, and talks with Seb and Ashlyn excitedly about the new Off-Broadway recording of Little Shop of Horrors with Jonathan Groff. Ricky and Big Red shoot each other eyebrow raises and other gestures in some language that has to be a secret code, as they watch EJ and Nini shamelessly flirt in a corner. Almost everyone seems to be at least somewhat happy to be there and in good company, except for Carlos, who is pouring over his binder in a corner on his own.

     He is excited about the cast, don’t get him wrong, but last week’s read through was abysmal and there was definitely some uncomfortable tension between Troy, Chad, and Gabriella that neither he or Miss Jenn appreciated. Other choices they made like Seb as Sharpay and Ashlyn as Mrs. Darbus were flawless, but even they couldn’t save Big Red’s horrid reading and Miss Jenn’s inability to sing bass.

     The biggest problem is that he felt alone, ever since the senior dance captain graduated in May, nobody really had his back or was his friend this year. Heck, he didn’t have any friends the entirety of freshman year until Brigadoon, where he found Brenna. He’d thought that this year, sophomore year, would be different, especially considering he was the choreographer this year, which could give him street cred in the drama department, but even that wasn’t happening yet. The one person who shows him any admiration other than Miss Jenn os Seb, but even then Seb isn’t on top of him at rehearsal today like he hoped. Seb has Ashlyn and his other theatre friends, he, on the other hand, does not have anyone.

     He should have guessed this would happen. He’s a queer human disaster with no friends who became best friends with his drama teacher, which gave him some authority that only distanced himself more from his peers. Now he isn’t just that weird kid, he is that weird teacher’s assistant. He assumes they'll all just use him anyway to get closer to Miss Jenn and get what they want, who would actually care for his well being?

     Thankfully, he’s pulled from his thoughts when Miss Jenn rushes in the room with her director’s binder and her clothing covered in printer ink, “Hello everyone, me and the printer ended up in a tussle, but I have permission forms!” She says halfway out of breath with a fake smile plastered on her face, “Please have your parents sign these by next Wednesday, and let’s get started on warmups!”

     Miss Jenn takes a swig of her triple shot espresso and motions for everyone to circle up. Everyone somewhat begrudgingly does so and gets into their rehearsal huddle, “Alright everyone we’re going to stage “We’re All in This Together Today, so remember to stay hydrated and focused,” Miss Jenn says with a smile before throwing her hand in the center of the circle. She gives Carlos a look and he follows suit, and says, “What Team?”

     Miss Jenn makes a motion with her other hand to get everyone to join in and reminds the cast the proper response should, in fact, be ‘Wildcats!’ Carlos shouts, “What Team?” Again and everyone, finally following on, gives the proper response to the cheer. Miss Jenn throws a hand over her heart, her heart clearly warmed, “That's the kind of synchronization we want in a cast! Now everyone partner up, we’re going to do some dance warm-ups.”

     The circle dissipates as people find partners for warm-ups. Nini clearly with EJ, and Gina snags Ashlyn for the warm-ups. Big Red concedes to join the warmup with Ricky, still acting as stage manager until Natalie gets back. Some ensemble actors start to pair up, but Carlos notices Seb is still alone. He and Gina seem to be laughing about who gets to dance Ashlyn, but he still seems to be without a partner. Carlos almost goes to ask Seb if he wants to be partners, but figures he’s leading the warm-up or will be working on stage plots, and will not be able to. He’s sure Seb will dance with Rico, his Ryan, or someone else. Who wouldn’t want to dance with the enchanting farmboy?

    Carlos sits down and opens up his binder to the “We’re All in This Together” tab, filled with clippings of poses in the film, stage plots, and fabulous color coordination. He goes to review a section when Miss Jenn taps his shoulder. He pushes up his glasses and looks up at her. “Rico is running late so now there’s an odd number, can you please find a partner for the warm-up so nobody is left out?” Miss Jenn asks.

      “Do I have to?” Carlos says raising his eyebrows at her, not really in the mood for a cast bonding warmup and content to be here with his binder, or so he believes.

     “Yes you do, flexibility is everything as a creative lead in the theatre,” she says before walking to the front of the room, throwing a glance back to make sure he does what she says.

     Carlos sighs and gets up, he is not exactly ready to try and mingle with some ensemble members who treated him terribly last year and try to get them to dance with him. As he goes, he hears someone say, “Carlos!” and feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around to find Seb standing there. The other boy is a little too close for comfort, causing Carlos to flush a deep red. Luckily, the other boy doesn’t seem to notice. “Are you joining the warm-up?” Seb asks with a soft smile and excited air.

     “Unfortunately,” Carlos says in a tone tears dripping with sarcasm, making Seb giggle.

    Seb unexpectedly grabs his hand and gives him a big smile, “Well you can be my dance partner then!” Carlos doesn’t know what to say, he’s dumbstruck that Seb would even still want to dance with him. At their pre-audition dance lessons, Carlos had put the other boy through the wringer and Seb looked ready to pass out by the end of it. He said that he had fun, but Carlos wasn’t so sure after he overheard Seb complaining to Ashlyn about how sore he was in chemistry class. And last time, he wasn’t dancing with Seb per se, it was an instructor-student environment, not a dance partners one. He figured that if he was short-circuiting when Seb touched his shoulder or grabbed his hand, he would make a fool of himself when dancing with the blonde right now.

     Then again, he didn’t have much choice when Miss Jenn started playing a dance track and Seb twirled him out of his trance. His heart stopped the moment when Seb said, “Come on Mr. Choregrapher,” under his breath, as if challenging Carlos to dance with him to the fullest. Besides, it isn’t in Carlos’s nature to back down from a challenge, especially one given to him by the person he’s realized just may be the love of his life.

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3.     

     Carlos definitely wants to die if he isn’t dead already. There is no way for him to healthily recover from that disaster he just experienced. Ashlyn said that a karaoke cast bonding night would be fun, and sure it was until it happened.

     He was cursing whatever possessed him to ask Seb to sing a duet with him with every fiber of his existence, but he wanted to murder Ash for suggesting “What Is This Feeling?” which Seb was enthusiastic to perform with Carlos. It was a great song, but dear God did he forget all of the homoerotic subtext, and the fact he was singing it to his crush was too much to handle. If his feelings about Seb weren’t already clear to everyone in this cast and their mothers, looking deeply into his piercing blue eyes and singing about how “My pulse is rushing, my head is reeling, my face is flushing” certainly did not help.

     Seb was oozing confidence, passion, and bubbliness as Galinda, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to him throughout the song. By the end of the song, he and Seb had found themselves nose to nose, and he could feel his crush’s breath on his face. After they had ever so passionately finished singing their duet, the room was so sexually charged, to the point where Carlos found his eyes constantly wandering to Seb’s lips and almost leaned in to kiss him.

     Thankfully, Ash had cut the tension off and picked Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” for her and EJ to sing together, forcing them to separate. If she didn’t stop him, he would have surely made an embarrassment of himself and ruined any chances he had with Seb. So here he is, awkwardly in the corner of the karaoke room, scrolling through his Instagram, beet-red and praying for death.

    Carlos sneaks looks across the room at Seb who seems to be doing completely fine despite their whole almost mistake of a kiss. Seb is beaming as he moves to the music on the sofa and sings along whenever Ash points the microphone at him. Eventually, Ash pulls Seb up off the couch and he starts twirling her around as they belt the song together. Gina ends up joining the duo and starts dancing her heart out alongside them. All the while EJ tries to get Nini to pay attention to him, but Nini is not having it and hasn’t been since whatever happened at yesterday’s blocking rehearsal.

    He’s content to be sitting down for this one, considering he’s not really in the mood to dance and desperately needs to reorganize his mental state. However, his moping and awkward encounter is not a good enough excuse for Ash and Seb, who come over to get him to join in.

     Seb grabs the mic from Ashlyn and sings the chorus at Carlos, while tugging on his hand, trying to get Carlos to join in the fun. When Seb beams at him singing a slightly altered lyric of “he said shut up and dance with me” with a quick wink, Carlos knows he is gone. He allows himself to be pulled up and twirled around by his crush who has made his mission to see Carlos smile. When Carlos smiles at him, Seb returns an even larger smile. He hands the microphone off to Ash, so he can fully focus his attention on dancing with the choreographer.

     If he hadn’t already been in irreversible love with Seb Matthew-Smith for over a year now, he knows he would have fallen in this very instant. He would give up anything to shut up and dance with the boy in front of him for the rest of his life.

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4.

   Why did Miss Jenn think that choreographing ‘Get’cha Head in the Game’ was going to be easy, breezy fun? Carlos would gladly argue otherwise with every fiber of his being. Getting a bunch of theatre kids, most of whom do theatre because they don’t do sports, to learn how to do basic sports training and then later in choreography on top of it was an absolute nightmare. Not only that but having to hear Seb play the same 32 bars on repeat for the past two hours did not help his sanity. Not that Seb didn’t play well, he played flawlessly, but that song would be stuck in his head until his dying day. 

    By the fourth time Ricky had lost the ball offstage and the third bloody nose in the ensemble, he had to call off the rest of the rehearsal and urged them to practice and not come back until they could dance with a basketball. He’d texted Miss Jenn about the disastrous rehearsal, but she was too focused on working on the scenes with Gabriella, Taylor, and the Scholastic Decathlon students that she didn’t offer much in the way of guidance. 

   He didn’t want to seem like the unpleasable, obnoxious, stereotypical choreographer, but he just did not have a choice today. He did not know what was so complicated for them to learn, it’s not like he made the choreography that hard. And thank god they don't all have to know how to shoot hoops or he might as well have quit already. They were still over a month out from tech week, so there was that at least, but it’s not like anyone seemed to care that time was of the essence and every moment counts. Everyone was too worried about who they’d ask for homecoming next week or what dresses they were buying and if it would be too this or that. He, of course, knew he wants to ask Seb, but also is resolved to the fact he never will. But that was beside the point, was a little bit of focus too much to ask for?

    After everyone leaves, Carlos lets himself slide down the wall into a slump and groans into his choreographer’s binder. As Carlos massages his temples, he realizes that he’s going to need a hot bath and a slew of herbal teas to help him relax when he gets home. At first, he doesn’t notice when someone sneaking back into the theatre to grab the water bottle left on the piano. The sound of disjointed keys on the other hand quickly grab his attention.

     “What do you need?” He defeatedly groans, not bothering to lift his head.

    “Oh! Nothing, I’m just grabbing my water bottle,” the voice answers back who Carlos quickly identifies to be as Seb. Carlos looks up and Seb gives him a small wave and holds up his water bottle as proof of his intentions.

   Carlos lets out a heavy sigh and lets his head rest on the wall, “Thank god, I will not be physically able to look at a basketball for 24 hours.” 

   Seb giggles a bit which makes Carlos smile to himself while listening to the sound of footsteps approaching him. Seb plops himself down to Carlos and puts a hand on the choreographer’s knee, “Are you doing okay?” 

    Well, as much he internally was not okay now thanks to one Sebastian Matthew-Smith’s touch, he could not physically express that. He tries to not let himself flush because of simple bodily contact, and collects himself to answer Seb. “Yeah, I’m doing fine, just stressed. I didn’t think that this would be so difficult.” 

   “I think you’re doing great for what it’s worth,” Seb says with a small smile, nudging Carlos with his elbow, “Not a lot of sophomores can carry an entire production on their shoulders like you are.”

   “Thank you Seb, that means a lot.” Carlos smiles at Seb weakly before letting out a sigh and tapping our eight counts on his thigh absentmindedly. He appreciates the words, he really does, he just doesn’t feel capable of even expressing emotions right now, exhausted and with his heart and mind at war. 

   “Carlos, I know there’s something still on your mind,” Seb says giving Carlos a confused look. He knows what’s on his mind, but how does Seb? “You’re doing the thing where you tap out eight counts when you’re nervous.” 

    Carlos does a double-take between the boy sitting next to him and his thigh, noticing he is indeed tapping. He hurriedly puts his hand in his jacket. Seb lets out a small laugh before getting up and extending his hand to Carlos. “Come on.” 

    Carlos raised his eyebrows at Seb, “What?”

    Seb smiles at him, “You’re going to dance with me.” 

    “I’m going to what?” Carlos chokes out, unsure if he heard Seb correctly. 

    “I’m sorry, will you dance with me?” Seb offers with a sheepish grin, hoping it will elicit a better response from the dumbfounded choreographer. 

    Carlos doesn’t know what to say. He wants to say yes but also is terrified to do so. He also has no clue what this has to do with anything, so the only thing that can come out of his mouth is, “Why?”

    “Because it’ll cheer you up and you can clear your mind,” Seb says in a matter of fact tone, giving Carlos a pointed serious look. Carlos goes to grab Seb’s hand, It’s not like dancing with him will do any harm right? The second Carlos’s hand comes in contact with Seb’s, the farm boys’s serious look turns into a beaming smile. 

    Seb pulls Carlos on to his feet, and once Carlos is stable, Seb makes a wait here gesture. The blonde runs to the piano and grabs his phone, turning on “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” He dances up to Carlos and grabs his hands when he’s close enough. 

    Seb dances in place, lip-syncing to the lyrics and moving Carlos’s hands with his, trying to get the other boy to move along with him. He continues to do so for a couple of seconds until Carlos bursts into a smile and gives into the blonde’s trance. They start off pretty tamely, smiling at each other as they awkwardly dance, but as the song plays they slowly let their inhibitions go and lose themselves in the song. The two boys, alone in the theatre, slowly find themselves acting as if they’re performing for a crowd of thousands, singing their hearts out as they head bop to the beat, forgetting that their only audience is each other. 

    For Carlos, dancing with Seb just feels so right, so comfortable. Sure, they had danced together before, but this wasn’t because Miss Jenn made him join in a great warm-up or because it was cast bonding or because he was teaching Seb. It was different, a good different. With Seb, he was finding he could let loose and be unapologetically himself in ways he only usually expressed in his bedroom dance recitals. He never thought that dancing with a partner could be this much fun and completely freeing. Maybe he would ask Seb to homecoming?  

    No. That is moving to fast, he shouldn’t get in the way of what he has right now, and if he doesn’t need some silly dance to go in order to dance with Seb why should he go? Besides, he doesn’t have time for a showmance and has a show to choreograph. A showmance with Seb would only distract him and cause more drama due to favoritism towards his boyfriend. He has a show to run and if he wants everyone else to put all their focus on the musical, he has to model that behavior. And what was best for the show was best for him. Right? It is best to just enjoy these special moments with his crush until the beat stops and he has to return to the real world.

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5.

    “And that’s a five,” Carlos says, clapping his hands as Seb and Rico reach the top of the golden tinsel covered-staircase. They just finished their tenth run-through of ‘Bop to Top’ and things while going better than other numbers, still was not perfect yet. It doesn’t help that this is one of the few numbers Seb couldn’t be at the piano for, and as talented as Ashlyn was, she isn’t Seb. 

    As for the dancers, Rico and Seb were nailing their individual parts, the timing, acting, and intention of the moves were hitting every time. Kourtney had done an amazing job with the costuming, and those turquoise flare pants and the matching beaded flare top on Seb certainly did wonders for his already attractive body. Not that he was paying attention to that of course, he just needed to watch Seb and his November’s closely as the choreographer, that was all. And he had just wanted to try it in costume this rehearsal to see how well the fabric moved and if they should pick more dynamic clothing pieces. It was all part of his creative vision and job as creative lead, his crush on Seb had nothing to do with it. 

    Now, there is a problem here, and that’s the pair dancing at “Move it to the groove ‘til the music stops” lyrically. The two of them are hopelessly uncoordinated and have two-left feet, and every time they try to pull the double-dip during the dance break, one of them almost falls. Don’t even get him started on Rico pulling Seb into that floor spin. It is honestly concerning, they are a couple of weeks out from the show and the last thing they need is a twisted ankle or broken foot. He doesn’t think he made the choreography that complicated? 

    Sitting on a stool, drinking from his water bottle and skimming through his binder, he catches Seb trying to walk through the double- twirl leading into the dance break, awkwardly on his own. Carlos giggles under his breath as he watches the other boy, trying to find his footing in those extremely dramatic pants. Seb stops in his tracks and looks at Carlos, who is flushing red because he’s been caught. Seb gives him a pointed look and puts his hands on his hips. Carlos can’t help but smile at the adorable pout across Seb’s face but tries to keep his cool. He half-heartedly rolls his eyes at Seb and walks over to him. He extends his hand to Seb, which the other boy, cautiously takes. Carlos tries not to focus on the fact that his heart just skipped a beat and pulls Seb into a twirl, counting out the beats out loud. Quickly picking up, Seb follows in suit and twirls Carlos before the two of them step apart and do a jazz square. Smiling at each other, they perform the chicken-like move with their hands on their hips face to face. Once Seb hits the mark on the move, Carlos beams at him saying, “And that’s how you perform that section.” He throws in a wink for good measure, and the way Seb’s eyes widen means he must be doing something right. 

    Was he actually flirting with Seb correctly this time? He is usually not the smooth one, but he thinks he may have won this round. That is if Seb is even aware of the game they are playing in Carlos’s head and if actually likes him the way he likes Seb, but Carlos doesn’t want to unpack all that right now. 

    “Carl—“ Seb, flushed and out of breath, goes to say, but is shortly cut off by Rico who has come back from the break.

   Not allowing Seb to talk for fear of what he might say, Carlos claps his hands once again, “Alright, can we practice the beginning of the dance break again?” Seb still looks somewhat shocked at what had transpired and is still very red. Carlos can’t help but try and milk the moment for all that it is worth, “Close your mouth, Seb, we are not a codfish.” 

   Seb closes his mouth and swallows rather loudly and Carlos raises his eyebrows at the other boy, who tries to avoid his gaze. Carlos inwardly smiles as Rico and Seb get into position for the start of the dance break, and cues Ashlyn to start playing. This time through the first section is a lot smoother, Seb’s footwork is much more precise and it helps him lead Rico a little bit more, despite the fact that Rico should be the one leading. They at least look like they are somewhat put together, and are having more fun with it, which is always a plus. Seb and Rico nail the last part of the section, and Ashlyn lets out a celebratory whoop causing them all to break face and burst out laughing. 

   “We did it?” Seb says with a large grin, seeming half impressed and half confused. 

   “Hell yeah, we did!” Rico says giving Seb a high five.

   Carlos smiles at the Evans twins, “I say we drill it a few more times and call it a night. Let’s try and take this number one section at a time.” The two of them nod and get into their places for the top of the dance break again.

    “And that’s a wrap!” Carlos exclaims excitedly. With each time they practiced, the two of them fell more in sync and they finally started to look like twins who’d been performing together for their whole lives, “I want the next two segments down Tuesday so please keep drilling them every night. And homecoming tomorrow is no excuse not to practice. Now go get yourselves out of those costumes.” 

    Seb and Rico give Carlos a thumbs up as they leave to go, excitedly talking to one another on the way out, clearly impressed with their improvement. Carlos watches as Seb goes, only a little upset this will be one of the last times he sees Seb in his ‘Bop to the Top’ outfit until tech week. He lets out a contented sigh once the Evans twins are out of sight and begins absentmindedly doodling hearts into his binder.

   He snaps his head up when he hears Ashlyn call, “Hey, Carlos,” and she begins to play ‘I Won’t Say I’m in Love’’ on the piano. Carlos drops his binder and stalks up to her because this is clearly uncalled for.

   Carlos slams his hand down on top of the piano, “What do you think you’re implying, Caswell .” 

   She smirks at him, “Just what the rest of the cast is already aware of, Rodriguez .” Carlos goes to make a comeback but instead sighs and leans up against the piano. He knew he is hopeless but is he that obvious.

   Ashlyn stops playing and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Carlos, look, just put yourself out of your misery and ask the boy to homecoming.”

   Carlos looks at her pointedly, “He’d never dance with me in public, and I don’t even know if he even likes me.”

   Ashlyn holds in a laugh, having been on the end of her fair share of Seb’s pining. Not wanting to out Seb’s feelings, she opts to squeeze Carlos’s shoulder, “You’ll never know unless you ask him.”

   Seb and Rico walk back in their activewear and wave to the two at the piano. Carlos stiffens up, and Ashlyn, after packing her bag in expert time whispers to Carlos, “Go get him, tiger,” before leaving. Carlos watches her go in slight confusion and shock, not entirely sure what to do with himself. He shakes it off and tries to compose himself. 

   Rico comes up to Carlos and pulls him into the bro hug-handshake, “Thanks for the help today Carlos.” Carlos returns it with a smile, trying to not let his face betray the mess going on in his mind right now. Rico grabs his bag and waves goodbye to Seb as he heads out the door, “See you, Seb! You killed it!”

   “You too Rico!” Seb calls after as he packs up his dance bag. Carlos finds himself awkwardly standing there, remembering that he and Seb are the only two people left in the room. Should he ask Seb to go to homecoming with him? It was tomorrow and it would help to be able to coordinate their outfits in advance. He had his planned out for weeks, but only would wear it if he got the nerve up to ask that one stupid little question. 

   Seb pops up with his bag and almost runs into Carlos, a little flustered from the surprise. “Ha, I didn’t see you there.” Seb runs his hands through his hair, which is mussed from all of the dancing he’s done. It is falling on his face in the most handsome way, and one strand is hanging over his eye that he wants to push away. No . Carlos. Focus. 

     “I wanted to ask —“ both boys say simultaneously, almost jumping over each other to get whatever they had to say out. Carlos’s mind draws a blank when he wonders if Seb is going to ask him to homecoming. That’s the only obvious question, right ?

   “You go first,” Carlos offers with a smile, which Seb returns. Carlos notices the blonde fiddling with the sleeve of his track jacket and making adorable face contortions as he tries to formulate his question. 

   “So, you working through the pair dancing with me really helped today, and I was wondering,” Seb looks away from Carlos as he fidgets a little bit more. Carlos is dying of anticipation, he has never been a patient man, but this is too much, “Could you run through the rest of the number with me tomorrow during zero period?”

   Both Seb and Carlos let out the breaths they didn’t know they were holding. Carlos smiles, “Yeah. Why were you so nervous, it’s not like you were asking me to homecoming.” Carlos says laughing hurriedly at Seb. 

   Seb returns an awkward laugh and runs his hands through his hair once more. Carlos swears if he does it again, he’s not going to be able to function for the rest of the day, “You’re just a really good lead, and dancing with you is comfortable.” Seb looks down to the ground kicking his foot idly, “But I don’t want to monopolize your time. I know you’re busy, so if you don’t want to—”

     Carlos has to stop himself from squeaking out ‘Please, Monopolize my time.’ to the boy in front of him and replies with a simple, “I’d love to help!

      “Thank you so much, Seb says with a smile, pulling Carlos into a quick hug that the choreographer is a little to shocked to return. Seb pulls back and cocks his head to one side, looking at Carlos’s odd expression. He steps in closer to examine Carlos’s face, “What were you going to ask me?” 

    Carlos hurriedly laughs and pulls himself away from Seb to grab his bag, not wanting to allow himself to be that close for Seb for that long, in case his mind thought to do something incredibly stupid. He already caught himself multiple times today staring at Seb’s lips. Trying to analyze what cologne Seb used was only going to make this infatuation a heck of a lot worse. “I, uh, was planning on asking if you wanted to rehearse more together but you, uh, beat me to it.” Carlos spends half his time looking at the ground and halfway stealing glances at Seb, hoping he’ll believe it blatant lie.

   Seb stares at him for a second, not fully believing it’s what Carlos had wanted to ask, but doesn’t want to push it. “Lucky me then,” he says throwing a smile at the still-panicking choreographer, “See you tomorrow morning?” he questions. 

   “For sure,” Carlos says looking at him and giving a thumbs up. Seb struts out of the room but stops at the door. 

   “I’ll pick up at 6:30,” Seb says and Carlos looks at him confused, “Coffee, my treat!” He finishes, throwing Carlos a wink, and then disappearing from sight. 

    Carlos lets himself sink into the ground and grabs his phone as it starts buzzing. There’s a text from Ashlyn reading, ‘How’d it go?’ 

   Carlos groans as he lays in a snow angel on the floor of the bomb shelter. He had his chance, why didn’t he take it? If Seb wasn’t being so precious with his hair tussling and flushing, he would have been fine, he thinks. At least he was going to see Seb tomorrow morning for some private dance lessons and coffee. At this point, alone time with his crush was the best thing he could hope for, he just hopes he won’t make a complete fool out of himself tomorrow morning. The thought of them performing that very close quarter’s choreography was enough to make him blush, he couldn’t imagine how he would still be functional by the end of one run through. 

   He could do this. He danced like this with people all the time in his classes and this was no different, he just had to keep a level head. Seb just wanted help from him and that was it, and it’d be like dancing with anyone else, right? Besides, if he wasn’t going to homecoming tomorrow night their lessons could be his own personal one tomorrow morning. Yeah, their very own dance date, it was going to be fun, right?

Chapter Text

+1.

     Carlos sheepishly clutches his bag to his chest as he waits for Seb’s pickup to pull in front of his house. It is earlier than he usually gets up or cares to be, but Seb wanted to practice during zero period and take him out to coffee, so who is he to deny his longtime crush and prospective boyfriend that. He had spent this whole week trying to find a way, any way, to ask Seb to homecoming, but he slipped up every time or stopped himself in fear that the other boy would turn him down. If he couldn’t go to homecoming his sophomore year it would be okay, and he could always pretend their coffee “date” and dancing was his dance.

     He watches the blue pickup pull up and sees Seb beaming from the front seat, so he runs over to get into the car. When he gets in, he’s greeted by a warmer than expected shoulder hug from the farm boy. “Good morning!” Seb says into his ear with a smile. He pulls away and puts the car into reverse and starts driving to the nearest coffee shop and Carlos cannot help but stare at the blonde next to him. His hair is done really nicely today, combed over in a very handsome fashion with his adorable matching tracksuit. He honestly felt underdressed in his tee and pants despite it being just the two of them getting coffee and working on choreography, no big deal, right?

    After a couple of moments, Seb nudges Carlos with the elbow as he drives. At the light, he looks over and smiles at Carlos, “You’re quieter than usual, anything on your mind?”

    You. Me. That dashing tracksuit. Homecoming. Not that he could say that to the boy next to him. Carlos brushes a hand through his hair and smiles back weakly, “Just tired is all, I’m not usually up this early.”

    Seb laughs a bit to himself as he drives, “I’m lucky if I get to sleep in this late, we’ve got to be up around five every morning to feed the cattle.”

    “Do you get any sleep?” Carlos concernedly asks Seb with a yawn.

    “Oh no, we always go to bed early except for special occasions,” he mentions offhandedly with a smile. He turns up the volume of the sound system as he plays a classic Broadway playlist through the aux, humming along to “People Will Say We’re In Love” as he drives.

    I know a special occasion coming up tonight. No. Carlos. He thinks and finds a way to save himself. “Well I only get up early for special occasions,” Carlos says crossing his arms and giving Seb a small pout which makes the blonde laugh. Carlos hadn’t paid attention before to how light and melodic Seb’s laugh was, but here in the car alone with just the two of them, he could witness and listen to it in all its glory. The way his eyes crinkle a bit and his face turn completely up every time are heartwarming and the sparkle in his eye is enough to stop his heart.

      He finds himself staring at the other boy,  but Shirley Jones reminds him not to sigh and gaze at Seb,  lest people think they are in love. Not that that would be a bad thing, but he still didn’t know how Seb feels about the whole ’them’ situation, or if there even is one. Stolen glances would have to do, for now if he stares any longer it might rouse more suspicion, and that almost caused a slip up earlier so he has to stay calm, collected, and focused. It is just two guys who might be into each other on a coffee and dance date. Piece of cake.

   Carlos collapses himself on the coffee table and is ready to sleep. The triple shot espresso he had polished off already certainly isn’t helping him wake up. He needs to stay up for Seb, but the uncomfortable table seems like it might provide some solace He finds himself about to doze off when he feels a hand on his chin turn his head up, “Wake up love. We can’t run through ‘Bop to the Top’ without you.”

    Carlos chokes out an “Excuse me?” as he tries to make sure he heard exactly what Seb said correctly as he malfunctions. Seb has a slight grin on his face as he takes a seat down across from Carlos. If Carlos dies here he honestly wouldn’t complain, having heard what he thinks he heard, intentionally or unintentionally from the Seb Matthew-Smith. Carlos weakly looks up across the table seeing Seb smiling at him over a cup of earl grey with cream and sugar.

    “I can’t practice my choreo if my choreographer is asleep,” Seb says with hints of sass and affection, Carlos isn’t sure what bit he loves more. Carlos inwardly resets himself and takes a breath as he sits up in his seat and rips off a small bit of his croissant to eat. He doesn’t know what to say so he stifles a small laugh earning him a grin from Seb.

     He smiles as he watches Seb happily bop back and forth as he happily drinks his tea. He’s not sure what to say, but the silence between them as comfortable as they enjoy a very early breakfast together.     

     “Do you have any other lessons coming up, Carlos?” Seb asks him, drawing him out of his daydreaming.

    “Not any outside of the scheduled rehearsals. I thought I’d have to give some to Ricky, but he’s finally getting it,” Carlos says with a small laugh. He wasn’t sure that most of the cast would be able to pull off his choreography, especially the newer crowd, but they are more than exceeding his expectations. “Besides, nobody has asked, well, except you,” Carlos adds on shyly, hoping eating bits of pastry after talking will hide the flush his face is betraying him with.

    “I can’t see why not, you can always get better, and who wouldn’t want to with your help and company,” Seb says offhandedly as he unwraps his muffin. Carlos is floored at how incredibly kind and smooth Seb could be without even focusing on another person. He practically radiates optimism and kindness with every breath.

    Carlos smiles at the blonde and tries to think of a way to even give off half of the sunshine Seb does. He puts a hand on Seb’s across the table for emphasis, and not because he also wanted to squeeze his crush’s hands at all.  “You’re really talented though Seb, you’re getting the hang of Sharpay’s choreo and you don’t need the lessons.”

    Seb smiles at Carlos warmly, “Oh I know,” Seb says with a wink, “But I want them.”

    Carlos is pretty sure by this point he’s ascended you another plane of existence cause this flirting is an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise this morning. Maybe, just maybe,  that means Seb might like him, even a little bit of enough to want to go to homecoming with him. He’s going to ask Seb, he swears to himself, he has to at least try.

    Carlos thanks every neuron in his brain for coming up with the choreography he did from ‘Bop to the Top.’  He went into the number with the hope to truly show off Sharpay and Ryan, his two favorite characters from the original film,  and to really wow the crowd. What he did not expect to come out of it was getting to actually perform the complicated and in close quarters choreo with none only than Sharpay himself, Seb. It is one thing to watch Rico whirl around Seb in those twirls, dips and pair dance moves and imagine himself in Rico’s place. It’s another thing entirely to be there.

     Carlos never has had this much fun dancing before in his life. It’s exhilarating to dance through his own with one of the people who so heavily inspired its creation, that he just so happens to be head over heels in love with. Every moment of the music makes him feel alive and free and he forgets everything but the rhythm, his partner, and their hushed audible conversations as they move. He loves the feeling of Seb’s soft hands in his and the little laughs that he hears as they run through sections of the song. They mess up a few times, but Carlos doesn’t mind, he would rather that they mess up so they can stay here forever. He would give Seb dance lessons until the day he dies if he could feel this way each time, feel this alive and in love.

     When the warning bell for school rings, time starts again and the world starts turning again. He shares a sigh with Seb, both of them knowing that their morning has come to a close and they have to step back into reality. Carlos sits down to pack up his things and Seb follows in suit.

    “I don’t get it,” Seb starts causing Carlos to sit back up and pay attention to the boy next to him. “When I dance with you, it’s easy. When I dance with Ryan, I have two left feet,” he says with a chuckle, that warms Carlos’s heart. He’s glad that the seamlessness and ease he felt in having Seb as a dance partner is mutual, he would honestly be devastated if it wasn’t the case. Seb’s little laugh and defeat with Rico was slightly adorable, and Carlos tries to help support him.

    “You just gotta drill it, Seb,” he says to the farm boy, returning his laugh and light tone. Carlos can’t help but notice that he’s making direct eye contact with Seb’s brilliant blue eyes for their lighthearted yet heartfelt moment, and he hopes that the levity will hide how fast his heart is pounding.

    Seb urges, “I mean,  I practice for like an hour every night in our barn.” His time shifts when he leans in closer to Carlos to say, “My parents think I’m bonding with the livestock.” The knowing look and cock of Seb’s head as he makes his joke is absolutely precious and Carlos can’t help but let out a small laugh which is shortly joined by Seb’s. As he laughs, Seb gets up from the chair to go pack his water bottle and towel into his bag for class. “I need more practice dancing with someone who actually knows how to lead.”

    This is it. He could practically hear Ashlyn’s voice in his head saying, “Carlos you spent the whole morning in this boy’s arms, dancing choreography that has way too much sexual tension for siblings, you can ask him to homecoming.” This is the perfect invitation to start, he has to get this right. It’s now or never.

     Carlos gets up from his chair awkwardly, hoping the distracted blonde won’t notice as we tried and formulated what he’s going to say in his head. It’s too late because, “Well, are you busy tonight?” comes out of his mouth. He cringes a bit as he asks, knowing it’s not the best lead.

    “Tonight?” Seb questions offhandedly, looking to Carlos, before looking back to his bad. Did he not know? Way to be vague Carlos.

     Carlos gathers every ounce of his courage and utters, “Yeah. You know, homecoming?” He thanks whatever gods that are out there that Seb is not facing him when he has to get those four words out.

   Seb quickly looks up and turns to him and the two lock eyes for a moment, in a slightly uncomfortable silence as the tension hangs in the air. Seb’s blank face turns into a smile and Carlos knows at this point things could have gone much worse and is thankful for that.

    “You mean, like, you and I dancing together?” Seb asks looking at him with a smile on his face and levity in his tone and laughs, “And in front of, like, all the non-theater kids?”

    Carlos isn’t sure what Seb’s angle is here, does he not know what a school dance is like? Or does he not believe what Carlos is asking of him or that Carlos would want to do that with him? He’s honestly not sure. He opts for a safe answer and laughs lightly at Seb, giving him a knowing look, “As far as I know that’s how Homecoming works.” As he thinks about going with Seb and finally entertaining that fantasy he smiles more, “This would be my first time going.”

     Carlos feels the tension rise the moment Seb looks away from him and doesn’t say anything. Maybe Seb isn’t interested at all, otherwise, he would have said something, right? He knew this was a dumb idea but still went through with it and is paying the price. He practically feels the world fall in around him and he prays he doesn’t have to see Seb again for the next few days to spare him the embarrassment.

    He watches Seb as he goes and grabs his bag in silence, playing he’ll get some sort of an answer, anything from him. He sees Seb sigh as he zips up his bag and he is ready to be shut down by the first boy he’s truly fallen for and showed even a fraction of the fact that they could be a possibility.

    He is floored when Seb turns around and instead of seeing a frown or a grimace on his face, he sees a smile. Seb smiles at him and smoothly says, “Text me a pic of what you’re wearing,” as he exists the bomb shelter. As he goes Carlos is in complete shock and he follows Seb as he goes, positive his lovestruck look is betraying him, but he doesn’t care. He wants to scream for joy and rush up to envelop Seb in a hug, but in a moment the blonde is gone. The feelings, on the other hand, are not.

    When Seb is out of sight Carlos throws himself into a silent fit of celebration, sure he looks like a tots idiot but does not care. He practically jumps for joy and ends up seating himself down to try and take it all in before he explodes or ends up missing class to dance a routine to a love song.

    He is going to homecoming with Seb Matthew-Smith. The love of his high school life and actual angel among men. Seb wants to dance and dance with him, and not just at rehearsals or alone or in front of the cast anymore. He’s fine with and open to being seen with him in public and romantic setting as his date. It is too good to be true and yet his dream is unfolding in front of him. He doesn’t know what to do with himself and if he is late to  first period it doesn’t matter. He asked Seb to the dance and Seb said yes. Seb said yes. It was going to be the best night of his life, because if what they had today in rehearsal and at the coffee shop is any indicator of the evening ahead, Carlos isn’t entirely sure this is real. The thoughts of what was to come and what could fill his head as he walks in a daze to class, mind filled with one blonde who was making each one of his wildest dreams coming true by just existing, being himself, and dancing with Carlos, his doting choreographer.