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Miss Jenn, please don’t kill me when I arrive, comes the message. Seb’s now half an hour late for their Saturday Beauty and the Beast rehearsal when he finally sends the group chat—the Lin-Manuel one, including Miss Jenn—his message. Not just because I’m late. Please do not kill me because of what I’ve brought, either
Miss Jenn sits at her director’s table in front of the stage next to Carlos when she sees her phone go off with the class group-chat-specific ringtone. She squints her eyes at the brightened screen across the table. “Pause!” She calls to the stage. They’re not doing much but warmups right now, anyway. “Who’s texting in rehearsal?” She scans the room and then turns over to Carlos. Everyone onstage begins to shrug and murmur amongst each other. “Is someone backstage texting the chat in rehearsals? You all and your phones…” she trails off, nudging Carlos with her shoulder.
Carlos shrugs and picks up his phone, opening the messages sent. “It’s from Seb! Finally!” He exclaims. He’d been worried for ages over Seb suddenly having gone unresponsive today. He’d sent, like, ten unanswered messages before rehearsal started asking where he was! He’s glad he’s not blown him off or gotten stuck in a farming accident. Carlos hesitantly repeats the message to Miss Jenn out loud, to which she simply quirks an eyebrow and cues the stage to begin again.
“Do you know what he’s planning on bringing?” She asks Carlos in a low, hushed voice.
Carlos shakes his head back at Miss Jenn and sends another message or two to Seb privately, just for good measure, then shuts his phone off and places it face down on the table. “He hasn’t talked to me all day so far! I have no idea what’s going on.”
“It’s always something with that boy,” she quips.
Carlos turns around and stares at her, squinting his eyes. “You know who you’re talking about him to, right?”
Miss Jenn just laughs and waves him off. As usual, they continue rehearsal with Carlos trying to sneakily catch glimpses of his phone to see if Seb’s texted him back. Still, to no avail: Seb both hasn’t responded, and Miss Jenn keeps catching him and chastising him for being on his phone. He knows if he were anyone else, though, he’d be in way bigger trouble over it. Sometimes there really are perks to being the teachers-pet-slash-choreographer.
When Carlos finally hears his phone vibrate on the table, he immediately goes to pick it up; however, he’s met with a glare from Miss Jenn, who’s still watching the kids on the stage rehearse their scene, giving them tips every so often. “It might be Seb!” He exclaims to her, to which she just sighs and gives him the okay to text him back.
I’m at the front, can you come down to my locker and help me please? is all Seb sends, even after Carlos’s whole day of texting him with no replies! He rolls his eyes at the message as he leans over and whispers to Miss Jenn, “Seb’s here but he needs help, can I go for a minute?”
“Did he tell you what he brought that he needs ’help’ with?”
“Unfortunately, no. It just…seems urgent.”
“Five minutes, Carlos,” is all she says, and then waves him off as she, too, begins to stand up to walk up to the stage and give closer directions.
Carlos grins as he leaps up out of his chair at the table, sliding his phone into his back pocket and racing out of the auditorium, down through the hallways, and to Seb’s locker near the front of the school. As he rounds the last corner, he sees a familiar head of blond hair and flannel at an open locker in the otherwise empty hall, with a couple of bags and a basket sitting on the floor next to him. “Seb!” He calls from across the hallway, jogging the last couple of feet and arriving at his boyfriend, huffing. Gosh, he needs to work out more. “I was worried about you all day! What on earth happened?” He asks, leaning over himself, trying to catch his breath.
Seb laughs at him as he rummages around in his locker, pulling out his purple binder and his script and setting them down on the floor. “I know,” he says, “I’m sorry! I kind of had a big day….”
“What happened?” Carlos asks. Finally, he’s beginning to catch his breath, and he stands upright again, taking a step closer to Seb and sliding an arm around his waist, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to the side of his head, right above his ear. Seb melts into the touch. “Is everything alright?”
“Everything’s fine now,” says Seb, and he hums at Carlos’s touches. He turns his head and smiles, kissing the edge of Carlos’s mouth. “Sorry I didn’t reply to you all day.”
“All good,” he hums and then quirks an eyebrow. “Um, so what did you have to bring, by the way? ‘Cause Miss Jenn seemed a little freaked out, and honestly, I’m kind of curious too,” Carlos swears he sees all of the colour drain out of Seb's face at the question, to which Carlos pulls away from him and squints his eyes across the inches between them. “Oh, God. Seb…”
Seb purses his lips as he takes a glance down at their feet, at the little wicker basket covered by a blue and white checkered flannel blanket. “You can’t kill me either, Los.”
Carlos raises his eyebrows as he follows Seb’s gaze down to the elephant in the room—or rather, the extremely suspicious basket in the hall. “Is it something in the basket?”
“You can’t get mad—”
And then Carlos hears a tiny, high-pitched chirp in the otherwise silent hall. Seb’s heart sinks.
“...Seb,” is all Carlos can dryly say.
“...Um. Yes?”
“Seb," Carlos repeats, dumbfounded. "Baby. Please tell me there’s not a living and breathing baby chick in that basket.”
Seb goes to open his mouth, to reason with his boyfriend, to assure him that it’s not what he thinks…
Unfortunately, it’s exactly what he thinks. And Seb has no way out of this now.
“Um…”
“Seb!” Carlos exclaims, his voice at least an octave higher than usual. He crouches down to the ground and places his hand on the handle, picking it up. “You did not bring a literal farm animal to rehearsal!”
But his continuous, abashed lack of answers tells Carlos everything he needs to know.
Seb gulps as he finally shuts the door to his locker, his binder and script now abandoned on the ground between the two of them. He takes the small wicker basket from Carlos and slowly pulls back the flannel blanket, revealing exactly what Carlos was hoping wasn’t in the basket. A tiny, frail, yellow chick nuzzled right there in the middle of the blankets. There’s a small container of berries and greens sitting with a clear lid a few inches away from it and a little water bottle at the other end. This was not real.
“You just need to hear me out—”
“Miss Jenn will kill you, Seb!”
“She won’t! She let Natalie have a hamster here once and was fine with it!”
“That was an emotional support animal, Seb, she had to be fine with it!”
“Well, she needs my emotional support!”
Carlos falters as he glances from the chicken he’s been laser-focused on to Seb’s eyes. His big, blue, puppy-dog eyes are basically begging for Carlos to hear him out. “Okay…okay. I’m calm. What is she doing here, then?”
“Okay, well, it’s only January, right? And chickens aren’t really in season in January, but we found out one of our old hens has laid a couple of eggs the last few days, which was super weird, but we found her, and a couple of other cracked eggs…she was the only one that actually survived this long outside,” Seb explains. His voice is gentle, barely above a whisper, as if he doesn’t want to disturb her. “I don’t know if she’s going to even live, Los, but if I didn’t bring her here to take care of her, she’d have had even less of a chance! Either that, or I’d have stayed home from rehearsal all together. She’s just…really weak and really wasn’t doing very well when we found her. Baby chicks like her almost always die outside in the cold. It’s a miracle she was even alive out there. And she needs me.”
Carlos’s heart melts as Seb explains to him what happened. He can’t say he really understands what being a farmer is like—surely, he probably never will—but this seems to be really important to Seb. The lull in his voice, his gentle hands, the way he’s looking at this ever-so-tiny, sleeping animal in this sweet little basket, all done up for her…
It’s actually really, really heartwarming. Or maybe that’s just him being biased because how could he ever be upset with someone—never mind Seb of all people—for doing whatever they need to to help a living thing, especially one so close to death outside? It’s admirable, really. And…like, maybe the cutest thing he’s ever seen Seb do. How’d he get so lucky as to have found someone with such a gentle soul like this? He really is blessed.
As Seb looks up at him, Carlos softly smiles. “This is a really good thing you’re doing for her,” he says quietly. “Can I hold her? Or is she too sick?”
“Of course you can, I trust you with her,” Seb says softly and raises the basket a bit higher. He sticks a single hand in, picking her up. Carlos’s heart flutters at Seb trusting him enough with a life so frail as hers, just as her tiny eyes simultaneously flutter open. Carlos has to hold back a coo at the very sight. He really didn’t know he’d been missing this sight of his boyfriend nursing a baby chicken all his life, but now that he has it, he kind of doesn’t ever want to let it go. Curse his wandering mind, too, because does this mean Seb’s just as gentle with human babies just like animal ones? Carlos has to stop himself from trailing down that path because, God, Seb would be the loveliest parent, wouldn’t he? And someday…
Ugh. That is so not the point right now.
“Hold out your hands like this,” Seb demonstrates to Carlos, and when Carlos does, Seb gently, so gently, places the baby chick into them. “Then just go…like…this,” Seb aids, placing his hands ontop of Carlos’s and adjusting his fingers accordingly. Carlos’s heart still flutters, even all these months later, when Seb touches his hands. When they interlock fingers going down the hall, or when Seb’s standing behind Carlos at the piano, his hands atop his, guiding him on what to play next, or when it’s thirty degrees outside and both of them forgot mittens. It’s electricity, here, coupled with the warmth from this little baby chick.
Carlos can feel her body still shaking in his palms. “Are you sure she’s okay?”
“For now,” Seb admits, stilling his hands underneath Carlos’s, still not letting go. It’s not that he needs the safety net, really, but it’s nice holding Carlos’s hands whenever he can. “I’m going to nurse her as best I can and we’ll see how she turns out in a couple of days. I’ll need to figure something out during school on Monday…”
“Your parents couldn’t have kept her?” Carlos asks. He hasn’t looked up at Seb properly once, though he’s just inches away. The baby chick is far too captivating to look away from, honestly. She won him over nearly as fast as Seb did all those months back. Nearly. “Did you name her?”
“They’re out today,” Seb says. “I haven’t yet, I was too busy worrying about her to find a name. Maybe we can go see if anyone has any good ideas later during our dinner break.”
Carlos wordlessly rubs his thumb over the top of her tiny, fragile head, and her eyes flutter shut once again. He sticks out his button lip at sight. “She’s really cute, actually.”
“Isn’t she?” Seb says. “She’s really little, too, even for her age, hey? I don’t think she’s any more than a couple days old.”
“It’s really sweet how much you care about her,” Carlos says gently.
Carlos finally flutters his eyes up to Seb’s, and Seb bashfully grins at the compliment. “Thanks,” he agrees. “Yeah, I mean, I found her, and I couldn’t just leave her at home. Even if…I don’t know. She might not survive, ‘cause it happens sometimes, and you get used to it on a farm, for the most part…but I couldn’t just not try. I’d never have forgiven myself if I didn’t do all I could to help her., you know?”
“You’re a really good person, Seb,” Carlos says softly. “It’s sweet you brought her here, actually.”
“You’d do the same,” Seb retorts. “That’s why we love each other. We’re both really good people. We’d both take care of sick baby animals if need be.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, hey?” Carlos snorts. “Well, if I had found one, I’d have probably called you and gotten you to take care of it, but…”
“Either way, I’m right. I’m always right.”
“That’s a little far, sweetheart…”
“Carlos? Seb?” Both boys jump a bit at the sound coming from down the hall. “What are you guys doing? Miss Jenn asked us to come and find you guys ’cause we need you both for rehearsal soon.”
Seb jumps as he takes back the chick from Carlos and bends down to grab the basket to place her back into her makeshift bed. “Yeah, we’re just coming, thanks, Kourt!” But Kourtney and Gina both continue their walk down the hall and meet the two boys at Seb’s locker.
“What do you have?” Kourtney asks, narrowing her eyes at the basket in Seb’s hand, glancing between the two very guilty-looking boys before them. “Seb?”
Seb purses his lips and glances between the three of them.
“Sebby, I know you can’t lie, especially not to your mother, and you two both look guilty. What’s in the basket?”
Wordlessly lifting back the flannel blanket, both girls gasp in unison. “Oh my God, Seb!” Nini exclaims. “It’s so cute…but Miss Jenn’s going to kill you! Why do you have a chick here?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” Seb says sheepishly, but Kourtney and Nini both nod and take him for his word. At least they were easier to convince than Carlos was. “It’s just for today. We found her today outside, and she was just really sick and cold. I was the only person who could’ve taken care of her.”
Both of the girls just shrug at him. “Well, we need the accompaniment today, so you’ll have to figure something out.”
“I know, I know. I’ll talk to Miss Jenn. Gosh, I hope she’s not too angry at me….”
“Who could ever get angry at you, Seb?” Carlos quips, nudging his boyfriend with his shoulder and smiling softly. Seb sheepishly grins back, and the four of them make their way back to the auditorium for Seb to finally face his fate. Nini and Kourtney both rush back to the stage when they arrive, but Carlos and Seb loiter outside the door for a few moments longer. “So, are you ready to face the wrath?”
“The wrath? Carlos, you just assured me she wouldn’t be angry!” Seb exclaims nervously, clutching the covered basket a little tighter to his chest.
Carlos just nervously smiles and shrugs. “Well…”
Seb rolls his eyes and lets Carlos lead the way, trailing behind him and letting the door shut behind both of their backs. “Oh—boys, I was just going to—what do you have here, Seb?”
Seb swallows down the lump in his throat at the question as they bump directly into Miss Jenn entering the auditorium. “Miss Jenn! It’s really, uh, well, quite the funny story, actually,” he trails off, clutching the wicker handle. Miss Jenn stands before the both of them, her arms crossed in front of her chest and her eyebrows both raised, meeting her hairline as if silently expecting a further explanation. Seb cracks. “Well, um, I guess you can see for yourself…” he says slowly as he pulls back the little blanket, revealing the baby animal inside. Miss Jenn gasps. “Okay, okay! Before I get yelled at, okay, I really didn’t have a choice! She was sick and shivering out all alone in the cold, and she wouldn’t stand a chance at living if I didn’t start immediately taking care of her. I couldn’t leave her at home all alone, Miss Jenn! Did you want me to leave her to die, out in the cold, all alone?”
Miss Jenn shuts her eyes for a moment and tries to take a deep breath. Okay. He’s definitely trying to be as conniving as he can be—not that Seb really could be very conniving, to be fair, but it is kind of working on her. She’s dealt with worse things than a little chicken at rehearsal, right? Right? She’s dealt with Elliot. And Ricky and Nini. Yeah, she’s got this.
“I’ll just need to take a few minutes to make sure she’s eating and drinking okay, but I can leave her alone to sleep most of the rest of the time. And it’ll just be for today’s rehearsal! Please, Miss Jenn…”
“You need to make extra sure she stays very safe in that basket and doesn’t go anywhere, Sebastian,” she says slowly, peering down into the basket once again. She is kind of cute, sleeping there in the tiny mountain of blankets to keep her warm… “Don’t let her get out like Natalie’s hamster did. Keep her right by your side at the piano, alright?”
“She can’t really go anywhere on her own yet, but thank you!” He exclaims, excitedly grinning up at her. “Do you maybe want to hold her?” He asks, gentler.
Miss Jenn squints her eyes at Seb. “...Hold the chicken?”
Carlos stifles a laugh next to Seb. “Who else?”
Miss Jenn ponders for a second before a smile inevitably overtakes her face, and she nods a little bit, almost nervous. The bird makes a little, broken chirp from inside the basket. “Isn’t she very fragile?”
“Well, yeah, but as long as you don’t drop her, she’ll be fine,” he says. “I promise.”
Seb guides Miss Jenn on how to hold her, similar to how he did with Carlos, but with far less…well, lingering hands. She seems excited nonetheless—it really is a lovely experience, holding something so frail and delicate, their whole life placed in your hands. Seb knew it wouldn’t have taken much convincing to get her to come around.
Meanwhile, Carlos is already walking away from the two of them, making his way up to the stage, filled with his mingling peers. They’re hardly doing work, anyway, but he yells out, “okay, let’s officially take a five, people, but let’s all gather up first,” to get everybody’s attention. “Together we need to brainstorm the perfect name for a baby chicken.”