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Frank is almost at the locker rooms when he realizes why his bag is suspiciously light. Wincing, he stops short.
"My water bottle's still in the auditorium."
"Go ahead," Jason assures him, with that firm-yet-supportive team captain voice he uses for these sorts of situations. "I'll tell Hedge you're on your way."
"You're the best, Mom," Frank calls over his shoulder as he takes off at a jog to the other side of campus. Jason's comfortable, flattered laughter warms him as he goes.
"—how he got to feel so free—"
There's music filtering into the hall. Voice lessons— right. Fred teaches privately after school lets out. The tenor is familiar, a little quivery but bright and sweet at the same time. Frank can't place it from sound alone.
The voice stops, and the music shortly after. Frank quietly opens the door, hoping to slink in, grab the bottle and slink back out.
"— way I can go that high; are you kidding?"
Leo. It's Leo down by the piano. The same guy who spoke-sang most of his role as Lumiere, because he swore up and down the whole production that he had a terrible voice and could only pull it off because he was such a ham.
Which, come to think of it, is the same thing Percy used to do, according to Annabeth and Grover.
"Humor me," Fred implores, meeting Frank's eyes for an instant before looking back at Leo, who's facing away from the doors. "Switch to your falsetto if it's really too high."
"You say that like I have a falsetto."
He has no idea Frank's here. The polite thing to do is to clear his throat, apologize for the interruption, get the bottle and go, but for some reason, he just…stands there.
"From the bridge?" Fred prompts kindly. Leo's shoulders are tight, which can't be helping.
"I guess. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Fred nods, placating, and starts to play again. Leo visibly swallows, straightens his back, and, trembling, starts to sing again.
"Don't you ever watch the eagle fly to the sun, and wonder how he got to feel so free?"
He starts out quiet, but slowly builds up volume as the key changes. "If you ever have, you know your journey's begun, hey—"
Fred grins, playing harder as Leo's voice builds—
"What have you got to lose, boy, when already we are lost—"
—and builds, from tremulous and nervous to a soaring, ringing crescendo.
"—In the wilderness!"
" Yes!" Fred shouts, beaming, as Leo slams into the passage so hard it rings through the auditorium. He hits the high note like a bullseye.
"And where we are headed, boy, I couldn't even guess, but—"
He's shaking, but there's something new in his voice. "Off we go without no warning, running as we hit the ground—"
Something terrified, shocked but proud , like he didn't know his own pipes could produce that sound. "Where our future lies aborning, where our hearts are outward bound—"
Fred is so happy it looks like he's barely containing himself. He leans into the keys with his whole body—
"'Til one bright and distant morning, we may stop and look around, and there, in the wilderness—"
—and Frank, astonished, realizes he, too, is rocking slightly to the rhythm, without even noticing it.
"—Finally, we'll be found!"
It's like he can't help but move, flooded with the raw emotion Leo somehow pours into a single sustained note.
For a moment, they all sit in silence but the last few waves of resonating sound. Then Fred, still beaming, starts to clap slowly.
Frank joins in, cupping his hands to amplify the noise. Leo jumps half out of his skin and whips around, but his shoulders drop when they make eye contact, almost like he's saying oh, it's just you, I know you, you're safe.
"Dude, how long were you spying on me?"
Swallowing around a sudden jolt of anxiety, Frank heads down the stage. "I needed my water for practice. I was surprised because I didn't know you could sing like that."
"You're just saying that to flatter me," Leo accuses, but he keeps shifting his weight from one foot to another, and he looks up at Frank from under his eyelashes like he's hoping to be proven wrong.
For the first time in his life, Frank Zhang is hit with the desire to kiss another boy.
Instead, he smirks, grabs his half-full bottle, and then reaches out with his free hand to muss Leo's curls and make him laugh.
"I think you just can't take a compliment."