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seblos · 4 years

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there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach - ch 7/10

chapter title: honey, not today of all days

word count: 8,826

read on ao3

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, their last rehearsal before break, and Carlos is using any excuse he has to go talk to Seb.

Homecoming had definitely been a big step in their potential relationship, but ever since the forest of trees incident, he’s felt more drawn than ever to be near Seb at all times. Whether it was the hug, or the text Seb had sent him that day, or his hand on Carlos’s knee in Big Red’s basement, he knew now more than ever he wanted this to be something— that he was ready for it to be something.

The idea of them being in this blissful era and then possibly not seeing the boy for a whole 4 days is painful to Carlos. So, throughout the rehearsal, he’s taken every opportunity he can to go stand near the piano. Every time he does, Seb gives him this smile like he’s pleasantly surprised every time whether or not he was expecting it, and it makes Carlos’s chest explode from the inside.

Carlos was standing there now, pretending to check his choreography notes with the music that Seb has. (He knows the show choreo back to front, and Seb probably knows that too, but neither of them says anything as Carlos keeps one hand on Seb’s shoulder.)

Every once in awhile as Miss Jenn sets up the blocking for the opening song, she’ll turn and ask Carlos for his opinion on something. It always elicits a general “yeah, sure” response from him. No matter what his opinion is, Miss Jenn will most likely do it, and Carlos isn’t exactly in the mood to put up a full argument about it when he can stay here and talk to Seb for the time being. Even when the song starts, he still lingers over there for a bit before retreating back to Miss Jenn for the last few bars.

When he finally sits back down next to Miss Jenn as Ricky and Nini rehearse ‘Start of Something New’, though, he notices a few changes in the choreography. Apparently, the things he accidentally agreed to were some extra props and choreo that... aren’t exactly necessary for this particular song. Oh well. After a couple months of rehearsal, Carlos knows that Miss Jenn will decide in a week that she doesn’t like it and take it out. (By this point he’ll just be happy if they get the show together in time for opening night.)

He marks down some things to discuss with Miss Jenn about removing. (Seriously, he doesn’t think they need cardboard pieces with the song title. There’s a pretty small chance that the audience won’t know the song.) At least the vocals sound good.

Not even halfway through the song, though, the bell signifying the end of all extracurriculars cuts through and interrupts rehearsal. Usually, they’re able to run on for however long necessary, but because of the break, they’re required to have everyone out of the building at a certain time before they can close it down for the long weekend.

A “Yes! Yes! WHOO!” accompanies the blaring of the bell as EJ stands up from the benches, speaking for the first time since the start of rehearsal. He looks around after a moment once he realizes everyone is staring at him.

“Sorry, I really love Thanksgiving,” he admits, sitting back down. A few people laugh, including Carlos, but he wonders if anyone else is thinking that maybe he just did it to stop whatever was happening between Nini and Ricky during that duet. The two of them had been staring and smiling at each other the entire time even with the whirlwind of props and choreography going on around them.

“Okay, hold on!” Miss Jenn says over the chatter as the cast begins to pack up their belongings for the break. She stands up, and Carlos follows her to the center of the room.

“I know everyone is excited for the holiday break, but I’m me, and I have notes,” she continues. “Ricky and Nini— that was good. But it could be better.”

Carlos glances over at her. Out of all the things in the scene and she thinks the vocals need adjustments? They’re lucky that Nini and Ricky will actually sing together at this point.

“She said in the spirit of holiday cheer,” she adds, noticing Carlos’s gaze on her.

He nods. “Good save.”

“Your homework over this break, all of you, is to please go on vocal rest,” she tells them. “And go over your lines too… which is hard to do on vocal rest but make it work. And remember, may nothing block your doorway to happiness!”

Just as she says it, Mr. Mazzara (ironically) steps through the door to the bomb shelter. “Excuse me!”

Carlos gives him the biggest eye roll he can muster, and in doing so, glances over at his backpack next to the piano. He had placed it over there as well in hopes to catch Seb at the end of rehearsal, but unfortunately, the boy had left his back by the risers and was already over there, deep in conversation with Gina.

“Okay, starting now,” Miss Jenn says in response to the STEM teacher.

“Oh, don’t mind me. I just came to return a missing item. Ashlyn,” all of the students watch as he approaches the girl with a giant accordion file-type folder in hand. “Cannot have our robotics team co-captain going home without her binder over break.”

She takes it with a smile, before going over to her backpack which is placed next to the piano. Carlos follows, in hopes that this means the end of the conversation with Mr. Mazzara and that he’ll leave.

Unfortunately, he has no such luck. “Thank you, Benjamin, and I hope you have a lovely holiday with whoever could possibly love you.”

“Oh, well, in fact, I will be enjoying three varieties of peach cobbler with a loving family so large, we’re renting out the Rotary club.”

“Well, I’m sure it can’t compare to the candied yam bake-off that we throw every year in my home, but I wish you joy nonetheless.

“And I wish you had some joy, too,” Mr. Mazzara says before finally spinning on his heel and walking out the door.

Carlos stands up from where he was packing up his backpack, letting out a sigh as he faces Ashlyn. “Cobbler sounds so nice,” he says, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “My family usually has three protein courses and then everybody’s asleep by 6:00.”

“My folks start eating at dawn, and then they barely make it past the Macy’s Parade,” Big Red says, coming up behind them.

“Well at least your folks are sticking around,” Ashlyn tells them, leaning her elbow on the piano next to her. “EJ’s parents are treating my parents to a spa in Park City after dinner tomorrow. They told us to try and have a meaningful night at the movies.”

Carlos immediately turns to Big Red to see if they have the same thing in mind. When he turns back, Ashlyn is looking at both of them with the same look he had given Red.

“Wait…” she says, shifting herself so she’s standing a little taller as she regards them, an idea brewing in her mind.

“I was gonna say,” Carlos nods, egging her on.

“Do you guys want to come over after dinner tomorrow? Like, late night party?”

Next to him, Big Red is nodding enthusiastically as Carlos grins.

“I never don’t want that,” he tells her, making Ashlyn laugh. It feels good to be included with them in something again.

Big Red leans closer, a little quieter this time. “Should we keep it to a small group, or…” he sounded hesitant, so Carlos took it as a sign.

“Party at Ashlyn’s after Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone’s invited!” he calls out to the room, and immediately people erupt into cheers. After the past few weeks they’ve had, everyone is in desperate need of a little celebration.

After everyone calms down and begins to exit, they begin to finish packing up and exiting the room, including Ashlyn and Big Red, with Red saying something about offering to help set up the party. Carlos is about to follow them out when Seb comes up to him.

He smiles as the boy approaches. “Hey, you going tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he smiles softly. “I was actually wondering, though, if you maybe wanted to come over to my house today? Since you still owe me that coffee. The cows aren’t exactly the best partners to practice my lines with, and I think Georgie is getting a little tired of me bossing her around.”

Carlos laughs. “Yeah, of course. I would love to come over.”

As they’re walking down the hallway together, their hands bump together like they typically do when the two are walking together.

This time, though, he musters enough courage to reach out and take Seb’s hand. It feels like ever since homecoming, Seb has been the only one to initiate anything affectionate, and Carlos doesn’t want him feeling like he’s the only one who wants this, whatever this is. Next to him, Seb squeezes his hand softly, and he can see the tips of the other boy’s ears turning red.

They get in the car together as usual, pointed looks from Georgie at their joined hands ignored. Seb convinces her to stop once at Starbucks, so Carlos can fulfill his promise of buying him coffee (or, hot chocolate, actually) with only the promise of bringing her back a cake pop.

As they pull up in front of a small, off-white farmhouse with a barn behind it, Carlos realizes he hasn’t been to Seb’s house yet. They exit the car, and he follows Seb up the steps onto the wrap around porch.

Carlos is immediately surrounded by noise the moment he steps into the house. A mix of at least three or four different voices overlap the humming of a fan and the blare of the television in another room. There are also a few barks coming from two different dogs, both of which run up to greet the group as they enter. It’s the complete opposite of his own house, and he loves it.

Seb brings him into the kitchen long enough to throw away their cups while he introduces Carlos to his parents, as well as two more of his sisters before grabbing two apples, attempting to escape up to his room. Unfortunately, though, as they reach the stairs, Seb’s mom calls out. “Sebastian, sweetie, can you feed the cows for me?” she asks. “I have to finish making the pies for tomorrow.”

“Can’t Georgie do it? I’m kind of busy,” Seb sighs, gesturing towards Carlos as he faces his mom. Before she can reply, Georgie slips past the two of them and up the stairs, calling “Nope!” behind her.

His mom looks at her, then back at Seb. “Please?”

Seb sighs again, looking over at Carlos, apology in his eyes. “Do you mind?” he asks, handing Carlos one of the apples.

“Not at all,” Carlos smiles in an attempt to make him feel better. “You can introduce me to all of your cows.”

That seems to cheer him up enough fro Seb to lead out, behind the house, and towards the barn that Carlos had noticed when they first pulled up. It’s painted a dark red, almost brown, and the wood is a bit faded. He can already hear the cows inside making noise without having even entered yet.

When they do enter, it’s exactly what he’s expecting. He’s been to a farm before when he was a lot younger, so the stereotypical red barn with each cow in their specific pen doesn’t come as any surprise to him.

Seb goes around, gently pouring food from a bucket for them, introducing them as he does so. It’s cute watching him work, and he has an impressive amount of musical pun names for them, but he feels bad for not helping.

“Is there anything I can do?” he offers after a few more moments of silently following Seb around while he eats his apple.

“Oh, sorry, is this boring?” he turns, blushing slightly. “I should be done soon, I’m sorry for making you wait-”

“No, it’s fine!” Carlos explains quickly, cutting him off. “I just feel bad standing around behind you.”

Seb shrugs. “It’s fine if you’re okay, I wasn’t expecting to have to do chores this early. Is there anything I can get you while you wait?”

“No, I’m good,” he smiles. It’s always good around Seb.

He finishes up, the two of them idly chatting while he does so. Seb even manages to convince him to pet one of the babies, a new calf named Beyonce (courtesy of Georgie, which Carlos of course adored.)

He admittedly was a bit scared of farm animals growing up, but watching Seb do his chores with them was able to ease his mind enough for him to at least pet one. (As for picking her up, which Seb did offer, Carlos thinks he’ll hold off on.)

They walk back to the house together, hand in hand like they were on the way to Georgie’s car earlier. It feels totally natural to just slip his hand into Seb’s at this point, and Carlos wonders what would happen if he just brought the situation up to him.

He’s been trying to figure out how since the night after homecoming, but with the Miss Jenn situation, he never found a chance to do it earlier. It leaves him thinking over every moment they have together at night, wondering how he could naturally bring up the subject. Every moment he spends with Seb alone, though, he forgets himself. All cognitive thought disappears when the boy gets within six feet of him.

He’s pretty sure Seb likes him. No, he’s definitely sure of it, considering the boy’s hand currently in his. More than anything he wants to be able to call Seb his boyfriend. How to get to the point of asking that, though, is where you lose him. It’s unfortunate that he’s not close enough to Nini or anyone who’s actually done the whole relationship thing because he has no one to help him out.

Oh well, though. There are some things he has to figure out on his own, and luckily he’s with a perfect person to do it with. He will figure it out. It’s just a matter of when.

When they enter the house, Seb lets go of his hand in favor of opening the door for Carlos, ushering him up to his room. It takes him a minute to figure out which room was his, considering the five different doors in the hallway, all painted white and slightly chipping. When Seb reaches the top of the stairs, though, he takes his hand again and leads him to one of the last doors in the hall.

He closes the door behind them, and Carlos turns to admire the room. The walls of Seb’s are a soft green. A dark wood-framed bed with an off-white comforter and patterned with little leaves and flowers is pushed into the corner of the room, the afternoon sun streaming in through one of the windows and lighting up the center of the room.

A few decorations hung along the walls; various art prints, playbills from local shows, and printed photos with memories that lined the room. Carlos couldn’t help but admire them for a few moments, laughing silently at younger Seb smiling widely at the camera with his siblings or friends. Nothing about that smile had changed.

There were a few recent ones on the wall as well. He notices one of Seb and Natalie during auditions, as well as one of their failed jumps for the playbill, and even a couple from homecoming. It makes his heart flutter when he sees one of the two of them dancing together, a photo Ashlyn had snapped and sent to the both of them after the dance. Seeing the two of them together like that makes his stomach flip in a good way.

Carlos recognizes a desk on the other side of the room from their FaceTime calls. It’s made of the same dark wood as his bed and dresser are. Currently, it looks like a High School Musical shrine, covered with stuff for their show. He smiles when he notices the ‘Sharpay’ name card that Seb had apparently taken from the read through. (Carlos had taken his home as well, it was currently pinned to his corkboard.)

Behind him, Seb digs his script out of his backpack. “Do you mind reading for Ryan? I want to rehearse page 74. I keep tripping up on it during rehearsal,” he asks.

Carlos pulls out his own script, flipping to the page as he sits down at the end of Seb’s bed. The scene towards the end of the show when Sharpay and Ryan are plotting to change the timing of the callback. He’s already familiar with the script after countless meetings with Miss Jenn for blocking discussion. Plus, as amazing as Seb is when he’s acting, Carlos has noticed him trip over the lines a couple times now that Miss Jenn has them off-book.

Just as they’re about to start, the door bursts open and Georgie leans against the doorway, “You know you’re not supposed to have the door closed when you have a boy over,” she says slyly, making both boys blush despite not even being close to each other.

“We’re running lines,” Seb tells her, doing his best to glare with his face heated up. “So unless you want to join and hear me run the same scene over and over again-”

“I’ll save it for opening night,” Georgie cuts off, rolling her eyes teasingly before turning.

Once she leaves (closing the door behind her,) Carlos opens his script backup to the scene. Across the room, Seb places his open script behind him on the desk before gesturing towards him to start off the conversation.

“Wow, they sound good!” Carlos reads off, doing his best to portray the character as he reads the line out to Seb. He’s admittedly not the best actor, but he manages to at least keep what he hopes sounds like surprise in his voice.

Seb scoffs dramatically, and Carlos can already see him back in his Sharpay mindset. He leans to the side as if he’s listening to Troy and Gabriella practice in the room next door, before turning around to face him. “We have to do something.”

Carlos glances down at the page, but the next Ryan is for another couple of lines. He looks back up at Seb, nodding at him to keep going.

Seb squeezes his eyes shut, tilting his head towards the ceiling as he racks his brain for the lines. “Our callback is on Thursday, and the basketball game and scholastic decathlon are on Friday,” he says hesitantly, rolling his shoulders as he gets back into character. Carlos continues to nod along encouragingly.

“It’s too bad all the events aren’t happening on the same day, at the same time!” he finishes slyly with one hand on his hip, voice dripping with sass and the general fabulous tone Sharpay radiates.

He’s so perfect for this role that Carlos almost forgets to keep going. “That wouldn’t work out because then Troy and Gabriella wouldn’t be able to make the callba…” he trails off, as Seb shakes his head slightly, giving him wide, condescending eyes in perfect Sharpay fashion

“I’m proud to call you my sis- brother,” Carlos corrects himself at the very second, and he can see Seb biting his cheek to keep from smiling.

“I know,” he finishes, then pretends to whip his non-existent long hair, making them both laugh.

The scene goes on for them still after this when Miss Darbus is supposed to go on stage, and while Carlos could easily read for both roles for Seb, instead he puts his script down in favor of clapping softly for the boy. “You’re doing amazing, Seb!”

Seb smiles softly, but it’s soon replaced by a tense half-smile as he drops down next to Carlos. “I’m never going to remember all these lines,” he sighs, laying down back onto the bed. “The last role I played with anywhere close to this many lines was when I was the grasshopper in James and the Giant Peach in 7th grade.”

It makes Carlos smile, remembering one of the photos he noticed of Sebs in a dark green jacket and a top hat with antennas sticking out next to some other kids from what must have been the night of their show. It’s weird to think about their separate histories in theatre before ending up at the same school. Judging by the various playbills with Seb’s middle school on them, he must have been doing shows nearly his entire life.

Meanwhile, Carlos had barely been involved before coming to East High. He had auditioned for a few of his middle school shows, but he was almost always cast in ensembles. He much preferred being behind the scenes of the show anyway, and be able to witness the whole thing come together from every perspective.

Instead of dwelling on that, he holds out his hand to pull Seb back up to a sitting position. “You have nearly all your lines memorized, though!” he says. “Compared to Ricky or EJ, I think you’re doing fantastic. Plus your acting is on point, you would be able to pull off forgetting a line.”

“Really? I’m worried I’m making my Sharpay too nice. I always loved her too much as a kid to remember she’s a villain,”

“Trust me, it’s perfect,” Carlos laughs again. “And I agree, Sharpay is barely the villain in the show. The real villain is Gabriella.”

“Righ?!” Seb agrees, turning back around. “Especially in High School Musical 3! Gabriella already has her scholarship to Stanford, there’s nobody she has to impress with the show. The reason she didn’t get that Juilliard scholarship is because they made a fool of her on stage, and then Gabriella stole the show as always, and now she’s stuck in Albuquerque for the rest of her life.”

Carlos bites his lip, trying to keep from smiling.

“What?” Seb asks when he notices.

“It’s just… I’ve never seen High School Musical 2 or 3 all the way through,” he admits.

“What?!” Seb says again, but this time more distraught. “You’re telling me you’ve only seen the worst movie of the trilogy?”

It makes Carlos gasp and laugh at the same time. “HSM 1 is a classic! I refuse to believe the sequels of movies can ever top the first one.”

“Okay, I agree, but also High School Musical 2 is, like, every reason I ever wanted to be Sharpay.”

“I mean, I watched up until the end of Fabulous, but then I gave up on it,” Carlos explains.

Seb rolls his eyes teasingly, sitting back down next to Carlos. “Okay, at least you’re somewhat cultured. First chance we get after break, though, I am sitting you down and making you watch the second two movies with me,” he says, nudging Carlos’s shoulder with his own.

Carlos grins. “Deal,” he says, and now would be a perfect time to make a move and just kiss him, or bring up the whole situation, or do anything. But with Seb’s eyes locked with his, his heart is racing too fast to think properly at this moment, and the moment passes.

It’s progress, though.

(Kind of.)

—

7:45pm the night of Thanksgiving, and Carlos is just about to leave for Ashlyn’s party when he remembers something that’s been in his closet for years.

Ever since he had watched the movies when he was younger, not knowing he would one day be able to create his own version of the show, he wanted a way to express his obsession with the movies. And with that, High School Musical: the Choosical had been born. Granted, at 5 years old, his summer project was more of his mom’s project.

Still, his family had stopped playing it after he had brought it out every night for weeks until they all memorized every question, so he hadn’t played since that summer he made it. No better night than tonight to bring it out again now that he has his own version of the cast to play it with.

“Are you ready to go, mijo?” he hears his mom call up the stairs just as he’s contemplating whether or not to bring it. Before he can second guess himself too much, Carlos grabs the folded red cardboard off of the top shelf of his closet and heads out the door.

As Carlos walks downstairs, his mom raises her eyebrows amusedly at the game in his hands. “Haven’t seen that one in a while,” she says, grinning at him

He smiles, rolling his eyes at her. “Well, it’s not like I’ve had an excuse to take it out in 10 years.”

“Better them than me. I could probably win an episode of Jeopardy with just High School Musical trivia,” she laughs as she opens the door.

After he’s seated with the Choosical safely in his lap, Carlos pulls out his phone just as his phone buzzes with a text from Seb.

From: Seb Matthew-Smith: everyone’s here! just missing you :) <3

Carlos has to keep from smiling too much at the text as he replies to avoid any questions from his mom.

From: Carlos Rodriguez: omw now! tell ash im sorry im late but im bringing smth

From: Seb Matthew-Smith: oh? should i be scared?

From: Carlos Rodriguez: no!! I think ur gonna like it :)

From: Seb Matthew-Smith: guess i better trust you on this one. luckily- i always trust you! :)

From: Seb Matthew-Smith: text me when you get here!!

Even as he gets closer to the cast, and even after having seen him just yesterday, it still makes his chest tight whenever Seb seems excited to see Carlos. It always instills him with confidence to know he likes Carlos back at least somewhat the same way he likes Seb. Perhaps that confidence could take him a long way tonight…

Carlos has to put his phone down, forcing himself to think about something else as he stares out the window and attempts to stop his cheeks from heating up. As much as he loves to daydream about the possibility of having a relationship with Seb, he’s pretty sure his mom knows something is up between the two of them. He doesn’t want to talk to her about it before he knows for sure that it’s real.

Instead, his mind drifts to the party. He hopes he wasn’t being too forward when he invited the entire drama club to come, but he couldn’t help seizing the opportunity when he saw it. Thankfully, everyone seemed excited, including Ashlyn who has to deal with having two dozen theatre kids all in her living room.

It’s not the high school party like the one in shows and movies, he knows that much already. He’s already positive there won’t be drinking because if anything happens it could potentially endanger the show, and, honestly, he’s kind of happy that there won’t be. (Not to mention that theatre kids with sugar are already bad enough.) But it is his first ever party, which has to count for something. If there’s any night for a couple of firsts, it’s tonight.

The car pulls up to what he assumes is Ashlyn’s house, judging by the cars lined on the street and the lights on inside. Carlos shoots Seb a quick text before leaning over to kiss his mom on the cheek, promising to call her when he needs a ride home. He then carefully climbs out of the car, the Choosical still in hand, and makes his way up to the front door.

Just as Carlos is trying to figure out how to open the door without tilting the game so all the pieces fall out (again, never ended up coming up with a better way to store it,) the door opens. In the doorway stands Seb in a pink button up.

“Long time no see, Rodriguez- oh, do you want help with that?” Seb says, eyes drawing from Carlos’s face down to the box in his hand, playful grin turning into delighted confusion. He offers out a hand, but Carlos waves it away.

“As long as you don’t close the door on me, we should be good.”

“Is that your mom?” he asks Carlos, gesturing behind him.

Carlos smiles. “Yup. I think she’s just checking to make sure this is the right house.”

Seb glances over Carlos’s shoulder, grinning as he waves at the car before he ushers him inside the house. No doubt Carlos would be hearing about that later on.

Instead, he focuses his attention on the rest of the cast and crew that are already seated in Ashlyn’s living room.

“The party may begin!” Carlos announces, Seb closing the door behind him.

“Carlos!” Ashlyn emerges from what must be the kitchen judging by the bowl of food in her hand. She passes it off to Kaden, though, and reaches out to help bring the game in. “Woah, okay, you know it’s a potluck and not catering, right?”

“This is not food,” he promises.

“Oh, good, I thought it was pizza. Too much lactose,” Big Red chimes in, causing a few scattered laughs.

Carlos sets the game down on the table, unlatching the velcro strip his mom had attached to it to keep everything in place. As he unfolds the game, gasps come from nearly every person in the room as they stare at the game.

“What is that?” he hears Big Red say among the excited mumbles.

“This is something I’ve been waiting many long years to share with the world,” he explains while the cast fiddles with all the pieces and admires the different tiles on the board. It boosts his confidence when he finally says, “you guys, this is High School Musical: the Choosical. ”

Ashlyn laughs giddily. “The what, now?” she asks, causing a few others to laugh as well.

Carlos grins, his chest warming as he finally gets to debut his childhood creation. “Okay, so when I was a child, I wanted to go into the movie. But the movie was on a screen.”

“He’s not wrong,” Seb adds.

“So, I decided to create the next best thing: an interactive, hyperactive HSM experience that can be played by children and adults everywhere in the world…” he pauses, then, “as long as they lived in my bedroom.”

“Wait so you’ve had this for ten years?” Big Red asks.

“And I’ve never actually played it,” he says. Well, never actually played it the way he always imagined. It’s not exactly the best game when only two people are playing.

“Okay, we’ll totally play it!” Ashlyn says, and everyone else murmurs an excited agreement.

“I’m gonna cry!” Carlos says, (jokingly, although part of him wants to in a good way.) He then rummages through his pockets, where he had put all the cards and the figurines before he left his house, so they didn’t fall out of the game during transfer.

“There are two teams. The East High Wildcats-” he explains, pulling out the little toy cheetah (the closest thing he could get to a leopard). “-Or the West High Knights,” he says, this time with a knight figurine. “So, sort yourselves.”

Everyone talks excitedly among themselves as they decide who’s on which team. Seb, unfortunately, has to move from where he was sitting next to Carlos, to on the floor with the rest of the Wildcats team— the team Carlos always insisted on being while playing when he was younger.

Meanwhile, he notices Ashlyn shyly going to sit next to Big Red. Carlos vaguely remembers Red offering to set up before the party, and wonders if something happened before the party while no one else was around. He makes a mental note to ask her about it later.

“Wait, who goes first?” Big Red asks.

“Oh,” Carlos says, realizing he never actually figured out that detail. Usually, when he played with his mom, she would just let him go first.

“Coin toss?” Nini suggests. A few people nod in agreement, and after a bit of rummaging around, Ashlyn offers up a quarter to Carlos.

He takes it, then turns to the Wildcats team. “Pick a side.”

“Heads!” Seb calls out.

“I guess we’re tails then,” Ashlyn says in reference to the Knights, though nobody seems to object.

Carlos flips the coin.

Tails.

“West High Knights go first,” he announces, and the right side of the room cheers. Across the coffee table, Seb just smiles as he shrugs, mouthing ‘whoops!’ to Carlos.

Just as they’re about to start, Ashlyn announces that EJ had just texted her that he’s on his way. They decide to wait to start the game until he, as well as Ricky and Gina, arrive. A few people stand up, gravitating towards the kitchen for more drinks or just to stretch their legs. Carlos is tempted to go find a way to squeeze in next to Seb for a bit, but he looks deep in conversation with Steph. He just talked to him yesterday, anyway.

Instead, he decides to strike up a conversation with Big Red, who’s across the coffee table.

“Hey, Red, how’s your day been?” he asks, causing Big Red to look up from his phone in surprise. (To be fair, they’ve never really interacted themselves before if Ashlyn or Ricky wasn’t around.)

“Oh,” he smiles. “It was all right. My parents have been napping on and off since noon, so I’m glad we have this party.”

Carlos matches his grin. “Same. Did you come early?”

“Uh, yeah, I did. Ashlyn wanted help bringing all the sodas in, and I offered to help since crew is basically all about carrying around heavy stuff.”

It makes Carlos laugh. It’s not exactly all that crew is about, but sometimes it does feel a little bit just like that. Plus whenever he brings up theatre without the presence of Ricky, it makes Carlos happy to hear he’s not the only one who found a new family this year.

“How’s Ashlyn?” he asks, suddenly deciding to try and draw some details about her from him. “I haven’t really talked to her since rehearsal yesterday, and just now when I walked in.”

“Oh, she’s good, I think,” he says, flushing slightly at the question. “I mean, I don’t really know, but she seems good.”

“Cool,” Carlos smiles, nodding. Interesting… Perhaps he won’t be the only one this year spawning a new potentially romantic relationship

“How’s Seb? I know you two are like… a thing,” Red says suddenly, and this time it’s Carlos’s turn to blush. He knew Ashlyn thought they were together, but he didn’t realize that other people may have thought the same.

“What do you mean?”

Big Red glances over at Seb, then back at Carlos as he speaks. “I mean, like… you guys are dating, right?”

“Uh, no? I mean, well… no. I don’t think so. But, also, like, kinda? It’s complicated,” he rambles. “We’re not. But, like, yet. We could be. I don’t know really.”

“Oh,” Big Red says, shrugging. Judging by his blank stare, Carlos honestly thinks that his words may have gone through one ear and out the other. “Alright, cool. You would be good together, though.”

“Thanks,” Carlos replies. He’s definitely bright red at this point.

Thankfully, they’re saved by Gina and Ricky walking in together. Excited chatter starts up again as members of the cast call them over to sit with the rest of the West High Knights, who had ended up being slightly smaller compared to the Wildcats. Carlos settles back down in his spot on the floor, pulling each different deck of category cards out of his jacket before calling everyone to attention.

“Okay, okay you guys, okay!” he calls, and excited chatter turns to shushing as everyone quotes down to hear him explain the rules.

He points to each deck of cards as he speaks, each sporting one of his favorite characters on the label. “There are four basic categories. The Getcha Head in the Frame Trivia Challenge, the Bop ‘Till You Drop Dance Challenge, Sync to the Status Quo Lip Sync Challenge, and Looking for Glee, which I thought would be a fun name for the singing challenge because when I was a kid I was obsessed with the show.”

A few people laugh, but not in a judgemental way, including the newly arrived EJ, who tells him, “hey, it still holds up.”

“Oh, good, I thought you guys were gonna judge me,” Carlos admits with a laugh, causing a few murmured reactions, all sounding like it’s obvious that they wouldn’t. (Not that they have exactly the best track record of not judging Carlos, but it’s reassuring to at least hear their opinions on the game.)

He gets back on track, pointing to the left side of the room. “Okay, so Knights, you won the coin toss, so you guys get to pick the first challenge.”

They talk among themselves but eventually surface with Ashlyn being their chosen spokesperson. “We’re gonna Look for Glee.”

“Excellent,” Carlos says in his best dramatic game show host voice. He picks a card from the deck before clearing his throat and reading the question. “As fast as you can, please sing the lyrics to ‘What I’ve Been Looking For’ to the rhythm of ‘Getcha Head in the Game’... go!”

They sputter for a moment before Ashlyn and Red take the lead, rapping out the lyrics while Ricky sings out the ‘Getcha Head in the Game’ rhythm. It’s messy, and half the time they don’t even get the lyrics right, but it’s good enough to complete the challenge and leaves the rest of the cast laughing at the group. They end the song, clearly very proud of themselves, and everyone else still in tears at their performance.

“That was terrible,” EJ wheezes, followed by Seb’s joyful “I’m so happy.”

“Congratulations,” Carlos says, collecting himself as he turns to the team. “You get to move four spaces closer to center stage at East High!”

The Knights cheer as Red leans forward to move their knight across the board, much to the disagreement of the Wildcats.

Ignoring EJ’s “they get four spaces for that?”, Carlos continues the game, turning to the left side of the room.

“Okay, Wildcats. Take a spin,” he tells them.

EJ leans forward, spinning the Game of Life wheel that was attached to the center of the board that decided how many spaces they would move, before settling back in the chair. “Alright, we’re gonna bop.”

“Okay. Pick one member from each team,” Carlos says dramatically.

Both teams turn to talk among themselves, voices growing as they debate who to send up. After a moment, EJ and Ricky stand up at the same time. Realizing it’s already too late to switch them out without it being awkward, the room grows silent except for a quiet “oh, boy,” from Seb.

“Your challenge is to stare at your partner and do the Sharpay and Ryan warm-up thing for 60 seconds straight without laughing…” he trails off, regarding the two boys. “Or killing each other.”

Their competitive nature makes for thick tension between them, as well as all the Nini drama, but Carlos already knows that’ll just make for a more interesting game. (As long as they don’t literally kill each other.

“Okay, go!”

Both of them start the dramatic warm up, making the buzzing noises with their lips, then shouting “Ma!” as they flick their hands at each other like there’s water on them, just like from the movie. It becomes increasingly clear within the first few seconds that nobody can take them seriously like this, including them. Before long, everyone is once again doubled over with laughter.

It’s not even the hilarity of the situation that makes Carlos smile wide. Knowing that his game (and indirectly, himself) brings this much joy and laughter to the cast and crew is enough.

—

After many rounds of Choosical, including Seb doing his best Sharpay impression while reading Chad’s monologue to Troy from the first movie, Gina destroying everyone at movie trivia, Ashlyn giving a dramatic reading of ‘When There Was Me and You’, and Ricky doing as many jazz squares as he could in a minute, which ended in him tripping over himself and collapsing on the floor, the two teams were one tile away from the end of the board. Meaning, it was time for a tiebreaker.

“Okay, you guys!” Carlos says, calling for everyone’s attention, which was working better tonight than it ever did during rehearsal. “According to the Musical Choosical Handbook of Rulesicals-”

“Stop it,” EJ interrupts, though his tone is harmless and everybody laughs.

He continues. “The only way to resolve a tie at the end of regulation play is with a lightning speed round of Getcha Head in the Frame Trivia questions.”

A few oooh’s echo around the room as everybody sits back, preparing to show off their respective HSM knowledge.

“Are you ready?” Carlos asks, holding up the deck. “Because people have been known to cry during this.”

“I thought you had never actually played-” Seb starts, but Carlos cuts him off.

“Honey, not today of all days.”

Seb’s eyes widen, but he gives Carlos a soft smile as a feel people nudge him teasingly.

Carlos doesn’t even realize the pet name he used until he turns to see Ashlyn and Big Red giving him matching pointed looks. It was an accident, really. Ever since working with Miss Jenn, the names have started to slip out without him realizing. He realizes now, with Seb, though, that it means something totally different.

“Okay, here we go,” he starts, fighting back any heat creeping to his cheeks as he reads the question. “Name both jersey numbers Troy wears in the movie.”

Right away, Big Red answers. “Oh, uh, fourteen and ten!”

Carlos doesn’t even register who answered until he looks up, but when he does, he’s shocked. No wonder he and Ashlyn get along so well. Turns out, Big Red is a High School Musical nerd just like the rest of them.

Speaking of Ashlyn, she’s just as shocked as Carlos. “How did you know that? I didn’t even know that!”

“Correct!” Carlos moves on. “How does Gabriella describe herself when she’s complaining to her mom?”

Ashlyn jumps up. “Oh! As the school’s freaky genius girl.”

“And do people usually talk like that?”

“They do not!”

“Correct!” he says with a laugh, before turning back to the left side of the room. “Wildcats! Whose red tie does Ms. Darbus compliment at auditions?”

Expressions drop as everyone falters for a moment, trying to remember the audition scene in the movie since it’s not part of their show.

Just as it seems like nobody will get the answer, EJ speaks up. “Allen?”

Carlos grins. “Yes!”

People turn in surprise to EJ, before breaking out with praise for him.

He holds up his phone. “I looked it up on my phone, you guys. I can’t stop cheating, I’m sorry!”

Praise turns to groans, as everyone grills him on cheating.

“EJ…” he trails off, vaguely remembering seeing a few Instagram stories from him earlier in the day when he was talking about cheating at water polo. Not one of his best moves. Apparently, it’s a common theme for him. Honestly, Carlos is just surprised he never got caught.

“Well, the West High Knights have a chance to steal,” he pulls attention back to the game. “What is the name of the girl who pops and locks.”

Immediately, Gina hops up. “I love to pop and lock and jam and break!” she sings, mocking Martha’s movements from the movie much to the delight of the others.

“Martha Cox!” she answers afterward, dropping her arms.

Everybody laughs, and Carlos reaches for the handful of confetti he pocketed.

“West High Knights win!” he announces, throwing it into the air, and the right side of the room erupts into cheers.

“You, my dear, get this homemade Scholastic Decathlon ribbon,” he presents to Gina. It’s a little prop he’s had for a while, although never had any real use for. “Careful, it’s a straight pin, and was never sanitized,” he explains as he attempts to pin it onto her.

“Ooh, wait, everybody get in!” Gina pulls her phone out of her pocket and holds it up so the surrounding castmates can lean in for a selfie. It’s not the best angle or lighting, but it makes everybody laugh.

Once the photo is taken, she brings her phone back down to type out a number. “Okay, hold on, I need to share this honor with my loved ones.”

“You gotta stop moving, this is the price we pay for beauty,” Carlos jokes as he tries not to stab her while attaching the pin.

Someone picks up on her phone, though, and she holds it up to her ear just as he finishes pinning it. “Mom, mom, mom, okay, two things. One, I was just crowned the queen of crazytown. And two, can I spend the night at Ashlyn’s house?”

“Um, it’s actually the queen of East High,” Carlos corrects, settling back down in his spot on the floor.

She shushes him, then “sorry, mom, I can’t hear you,” she tells her. She pulls the phone off her ear and holds it out, tapping a button. “Okay, mom, you’re on speaker. Say happy Thanksgiving to my mom everyone!”

“Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Oh! Same to all of you!” Ms. Porter says, then a little quieter, “Gina, honey, can you take me off speaker?”

—

“Hey, are you heading out?” Seb asks as Carlos is packing up the game. After Gina left abruptly, followed by Ricky and Nini, the party pretty much winded down. Carlos didn’t know the full story, but from what it sounded like, Gina may be moving again. Already.

“Yeah, I’m just getting everything together,” Carlos says, shrugging on his jacket. “Mood kind of dropped.”

Seb picks up the Choosical carefully and hands it to him once he has his jacket on. “Do you need a ride.”

“My mom is on her way already. We could go sit outside together, though? I think I saw a porch swing out there.”

Seb nods. They go up to Ashlyn together, saying goodbye and thanking her for hosting. Seb allows Carlos to lead the way out the door since he was carrying the game.

“I feel bad for Gina,” Seb says, walking down to the swing at the end of the porch. “I know she had kind of a rough start, but she was starting to fit in well.”

Carlos sets the game down on the porch steps so he doesn’t accidentally drop it while they’re swinging. He then goes to sit down next to Seb. “Do you really think she’s going to move?”

He draws one knee up to his chest. “I don’t know. I mean, her mom is her only family. It’s not really like Gina has another option if she leaves.”

“Yeah. I get it, though. It’s not easy only having one parent.”

“What happened to your dad?” Seb asks softly, glancing at him without turning his head.

It’s hard to make out his features with the porch light all the way at the door as their only source of light, but he already knows what Seb is giving him. It’s the same one everyone gives when they ask. Like Carlos might break.

He takes a deep breath, heart beating hard against his chest like it’s trying to break out and run away. It’s not his favorite topic.

“When I was around three, he just… left. Sent her divorce papers a little while later or whatever. I don’t really know the reason why, but I guess he didn’t want this, with me and my mom.” Carlos says, spreading his hands. “He lives outside of Salt Lake. I think he has kids, but I’ve never met them or his wife. The few times I’ve visited, they weren’t there. I don’t visit anymore, though.”

Seb is quiet for a moment. Then, “Well, that sucks- he sucks. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Carlos shrugs. “Yeah, well, it’s not a big deal. I have my mom, and I don’t think she has any plans of bringing me across the country at a week's notice, so there’s that.”

It’s enough of a joke to make Seb laugh, or maybe it’s just an excuse for him to take Carlos’s hand. “That’s good because I don’t know how I’d feel about you leaving.”

“Same applies to you,” he says, squeezing Seb’s hand gently. “You still have two High School Musical’s to show me.”

Seb laughs. “And then you can write some new Choosical questions! Although, that trivia kicked my butt! How was I supposed to know who was wearing a red tie in the first movie during the audition scene?”

“By watching the original 37 times instead of wasting time on the sequels.” Carlos nudges his knee.

“Watching the sequels is not wasting time! I think the moment you see ‘I Don’t Dance’, you’ll change your mind,” Seb insists.

“I guess we’ll have to see!”

“Speaking of the trivia…” Seb trails, scooting closer. Instantly, Carlos’s stomach flips. “Or more the moment, really. Um, you called me ‘honey’?” he asks, clearly blushing although acting like everything’s normal and not like he initiated the conversation Carlos had been thinking about all night.

“Yeah, it was kind of an accident, but, um,” he falters trying to find the words. Carlos is suddenly very aware that he’s currently holding Seb’s hand, and that Seb is sitting close enough to him that their thighs are pressed together. If he’s going to do anything tonight, it’s going to happen now.

Finally, he speaks. “What is this?” he asks, nodding his head at his hands.

“What do you mean?”

“Like… what are we?”

Seb glances up at him. “What do you want us to be?”

“Together,” Carlos says before he loses his courage. “Like, dating together, If you want, I mean. Or we can keep doing whatever this is and pretend this didn’t happen-”

“Carlos,” he interrupts. “That’s what I want, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I just didn’t know how to ask. But that’s what I’ve wanted for a while.”

“Me too,” Carlos breathes. “Since homecoming.

“Maybe a little before then, too,” Seb smiles, making him smile too. He suddenly bites his lip before dropping his head on Carlos’s shoulder, bursting into giggles.

“What?”

“Georgie has been not-so-subtly rooting for us forever. She’s going to freak when I tell her you’re my boyfriend,” he explains.

“Car rides will never be the same Carlos laughs, too, although he can feel his cheeks flushing at the word boyfriend. It’s absolutely everything he could hope for, and they’ve been officially dating for less than a minute

Seb lifts his head after a moment, locking eyes with Carlos. His eyes look nearly black. Their heads are definitely closer together now. In fact, if Carlos just-

A honk sounds from somewhere in the street, and he pulls his phone out of his jacket pocket.

“Oh, whoops,” he laughs, showing Seb the stream of missed messages from his mom that she was here.

“At least she didn’t come up here,” Seb points out, squeezing their still-clasped hands.

They stand up together, having to let their hands go so Carlos can go grab the Chooscial and head to his mom’s car. Before he can make it to the steps, though, Seb grabs his arm and pulls him back.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Carlos,” he says.

Carlos grins, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek like Seb did on his porch the night of homecoming.

“Happy Thanksgiving, honey,” he says, this time purposely using the pet name. Seb blushes, still visible even in the dark of the night. He squeezes Carlos’s hand one last time before letting him turn to pick up his game and get into his mom’s car.

“Sorry that I’m late. I was… talking. I didn’t see your messages,” he explains as he gets into the front seat.

His mom shrugs it off. She’s always been pretty chill about these things as long as he’s safe and lets her know where he is. “Was the party good, mijo?” she asks instead.

“Yeah,” Carlos says, only blue eyes and blonde hair on his mind. His boyfriend. “Yeah, it was great.”

#seblos #seb matthew smith #carlos rodriguez #hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #my writing #not a star

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justkimberley · 4 years

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HSMTMTS Thoughts Episode 7

Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6

This one is also kinda long (~2200 words)

Nini and Ricky doing a fantastic job harmonizing in Start of Something New

the dance routine around them is absolutely crazy and all over the place

So it seems that Seb is just their resident piano player (side note, who ended up getting Kelsey??)

Big Red with the flashlight trying so hard to keep it on the disco ball

EJ interrupting because of the bell. Does anyone really love Thanksgiving that much??

Also I always forget that American Thanksgiving is like a month later than Canadian Thanksgiving and I was hella confused for a second.

Ricky is so surprised that Nini is complimenting him

Ashlyn as Robotics Team captain! (side note Big Red gives her an impressed look after he overhears that she’s the captain)

Also: debate team, baking club, high priestess of the Renaissance Faire

We love a multifaceted lady

Miss Jenn/Mr. Mazzarra trying to have a ‘my horse is bigger than your horse’ banter except neither of them have the horses they claim to have

“With whoever could possibly love you,” lol ok Miss Jenn went for the head

“Late night party” - party starts at 8 that’s adorable

“Small group or…” “PARTY AT ASHLYN’S HOUSE!”

It’s really interesting learning about Nini’s Lola (? I think that’s how it’s spelled, which is what I believe Filipino people call their grandmother’s), and her story

I’m just really proud of Ricky’s Dad. Like he was in such a bad place 2-3 episodes ago and now he’s taking care of himself and Ricky (even if it isn’t a grandiose Thanksgiving) he’s trying and I think he’s doing great

“We roll hard” I just really love this line

“I suppose if you’re lonely, you could always just… randomly text my drama teacher,” “Too soon… RIck,” “... yeah okay”

That was pretty funny. Also, it seems like Ricky’s okay with his dad dating?

Ricky’s mom waiting for him to call

I don’t know how I feel about this to be honest. I feel like maybe she should have tried to call him first and then if he didn’t answer or want to talk to her, that she should wait for him to make the next move then.

EJ’s truth arc is very funny to me

Big Red and Ashlyn

“I promise not to steal your phone if you promise not to throw a basketball at my face,” “No, the only thing I’d ever throw at your face is a brighter spotlight cause, I like the way you sing

Oof they’re so cute, we love little crushes

Also this might be an unpopular opinion but y’all need to calm down about the whole ‘Ashlyn and Big Red are GAY and they only THINK theyy like each other’ thing. #1 It was never confirmed for them to be gay. #2 You can still have wlw and mlm head-cannons for them! Bi, Pan, and other multiple gender attraction oriented people exist, even if you forget about us sometimes.

They are a cute little pairing of people who are always looking out and taking care of other people. It’s okay for them to do things for themselves.

Ricky debating calling his mom, it took a lot of courage and then Todd picks up.

Hangs up immediately, it almost looked like he was going to have a panic attack. That would be so hard, such an extreme shift

I guess the reason he was more okay with his Dad dating was that his Dad was open and honest with him about it. Calling your Mom only to find out that she has a boyfriend that a. She never told you about b. He knows about you and c. is trusted enough to be left alone with her phone while she showers? Is a lot, and probably means that she started dating him before the split was official.

Ricky going to call Nini and then deciding against it. Why doesn’t he feel like he can talk to Big Red about this kind of stuff? Why does he always go to Nini first?

Gina shows up, those are good looking cupcakes

She made him a hat!

She looks so hesitant before she gives it to him!

Gina’s like ‘look dude, I know something’s wrong, spill the beans’

Ignore it and push through - I understand where she’s coming from but you really shouldn’t ignore your problems, it usually just makes them worse

“Do what makes you happy,” “... Give me that hat,”

Adorable, also do what makes you happy is good advice so we’re a little all over the map here

“That’s too big,” “I’ll grow into it,” (adorable)

Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzarra’s whole interaction is hilarious.

Don’t burn down my shop! - holy shit, foreshadowing buddies

Ashlyn is so cute! She’s so happy when people compliment her

“I highly recommend not telling someone you love them for the first time on instagram” - yup! That’s what I said in the first one of these I did.

Carlos - “The party may begin!” - I totally thought he said “The party made me gay,” the first time I watched it so uhh yeah

Big Red is lactose intolerant

Carlos’ board game is amazing

“High School Musical the Choosical,” - fantastic name

Everyone is so accepting

Ashlyn and Big Red choosing to be on the same team

“South Side Knights -” “It’s the West High Nights,” “the West High Knights”

Ej is like a compulsive truther now. And it’s kind of hilarious

His face when he says “She laughed!” is hilarious and kind of adorable

“I gotta go join the party, and admit some terrible things, you ladies, catch up!” - I wish we got to see what he was admitting to, I find this whole thing quite funny

I’m glad that Emily and Nini got some reconciliation, I know Nini felt guilty even though it wasn’t her fault

That is not a good cockney accent

Why did Ricky enter alone when him and Gina walked together?

And he left her to open the door on her own with all those cupcakes?

“Buddies,” “We,”

Ricky and Gina both laughing about YouTube, cuties

Look, feelings are feelings and you can’t help what you feel, but pushing someone away and insisting to remain only friends means that you shouldn’t be upset when he makes a new friend

Mr. Mazzara and Miss Jenn

The plug socket is in the frame, more foreshadowing

“He won’t.. Not… fall” this show loves it’s double negatives huh? I don’t not love you, he won’t not fall etc.

“Ok but the center of gravity is off,” YES to different kinds of intelligence being helpful in fields other than the main one people associate them with

Carlos thinking people are going to keep judging him and the theater people being as accepting as possible

EJ is a gleek

What I’ve Been Looking For to the rhythm of Get Your Head in the Game is hard! (Catch me on the piano later trying to figure it out lol)

It just turns into a terrible rap

EJ - “That was terrible,” Seb - “I’m so happy”

EJ vs. Ricky - “without laughing… or killing each other,”

This is a good parallel to the basketball scene, once again they get kind of aggressive, but this time they also joke around and no one gets hurt

Also I would love to see them become friends, I mean they both need to grow a little before that happens, but I have hopes

They missed the ‘neeee howww’ part of it, I really wanted to hear them do the high voices

EJ’s little “mehh” that sounds like a duck kills me everytime

Gina and Nini awkwarddd

“I do have high hopes for a junior year at East High” oof babey :(

“It must be nice sometimes though, right?” - nini does not understand

This actually gives us an insight as to why they don’t understand each other. Nini would love nothing more than to start a new life with no drama and Gina would love nothing more than to have a life that lasts longer than a couple months before being restarted.

Gina/Nini apology very exciting, hopefully they can actually become friends

“It’s all good,” from Nini seemed disingenuous, I don’t know if it’s because of the Wonderstudy thing or the Ricky thing.

The sleepover thing I was so worried that it would be a mean spirited thing but I’m so glad it wasn’t

Nini sits on Ricky’s lap when she goes back to the game room and I don’t know if it’s intentional or not but it’s kind of like she’s trying to lay her claim back on Ricky.

Gina looks so happy when a. Carlos calls her in and b. the happy dance about the sleepover! (why’d they have to ruin the happiness??)

Mr. Mazarra returning the favour

“It’s beautiful,” “Math often is,” dudde I feel you I fucking love math

“I cannot stress to you enough how uncomfortable that would make me feel,”

“You know what we should do?” “Break off eye contact sometime soon?”

I’m dying

“It’s about a robot!” this is… pretty adorable. She just wants to make a genuine connection with him

Also are they going to do a romance route with these two? Because I can see them setting it up but also imagine if they just become like… best friends? I feel like they’d be unstoppable.

Musical Choosical Handbook of Rulesicals

“I thought you had never actually played this with people-” “Honey not today of all days,”

Carlos and Seb are the only couple with no bad drama and I’m living for it (please let them just stay happy)

Oops! I knew that jersey question… also it’s definitely the answer Big Red would now because he’s only watched the movie with no words (at his allergists office)

“And do people usually talk like that?” “No they do not.” - gold

EJ the compulsive cheater and also compulsive truther makes a comeback (I seriously find this so funny I don’t know why)

“I love to pop and lock and jam and break,” oh GIna

She’s so happy about winning

Not realistic, you know that the second she called her mom at least someone would be like “pass the weed,” (you know because friends are awesome and also terrible)

“Can you take me off speaker”

Some people are like ‘oh no is she in trouble?’

I kind of hate that it looks like Nini looks sort of happy about Gina’s mom asking her to take her off speaker - I really don’t want Nini to turn into a catty person.

Ricky is concerned

Why did her mom tell her this right now? She should have waited until the next morning, like that wouldn’t have hurt anyone and it would have let them form stronger bonds. And Gina would have had her first sleepover and also they might form strong enough bonds to try and stay in contact with her

Ricky is worried for her, he’s like, ‘You made me feel better, so I’ll go make you feel better’

Nini’s looking upset that Ricky’s being emotionally aware for once? Like dude, he’s grown up a lot since BEFORE summer break? That’s like six months ago I think at this point?

Ricky just wants to help Gina feel better because she made him feel better

She doesn’t understand that they can stay friends even if she leaves and I just :(

“Please don’t do that” he’s so overwhelmed

“My mom moved out two weeks ago and she’s already got a new boyfriend, sound familiar?” Oooh low blow Ricky bud.

“Really don’t need advice from a .. buddy right now,”

Ok but then who does Ricky want advice from? I’m so confused. This boy needs to get a better support system and learn how to use it. Romantic relationships should not be your only outlet for your problems.

Red and Ashlyn

“I hope Gina’s gonna be okay,” - Big Red is so sweet!

They’re so cute

“Hey Big Red? Don’t forget your dip,” - oh she was so going to ask him out and then lost the nerve

Write something for yourself.

It’s a hard thing to do, dude. It’s also hard to let yourself feel so vulnerable, even if it’s only you that’s going to hear it

Gina packing, I feel so sad for her, she’s finally made some good friends and now she has to leave again. She kept the badge! :(

EJ losing followers and being cancelled, at least we know why now

It seems like a lot of EJ’s self worth comes from how others think of him. So losing followers is probably a pretty big hit. I wonder if he’ll keep going with his whole truth thing when it has these consequences or if he’ll just go back to what he was doing before. I hope that he has a positive arc but, will it go downhill from here? I hope not.

Ricky about to apologise to Nini (why did he erase it, he probably should have sent that) - side note: their conversation before was them asking each other if they were going to the party

It’s interesting that Nini had pictures of EJ and Ricky up still

Gina’s crying face is making me cry

“Hey mom, it’s me, I miss you so much,” tears

Nini hanging up pictures of her grandma and the musical. She’s really trying to move forward from boys huh?

Is nini going to apply to the theater school??

Electrical fire???????? WHy??

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts spoilers #episode 7 #kimberleysthoughts #mypost #kimberleyreacts #feel free to come yell into the void with me about this show #the void is always open #(the void is the name of my askbox lol)

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queer-as-in-slightly-odd · 4 years

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Here’s your gift!

@caitlinesmewilliams - I got you in the gift exchange, and I wrote you a Ricky/Nini one-shot, which I hope you like! It’s called ‘We’re Breaking Free’, and I’ve cross-posted it to AO3 in case you want to read it there (here’s the link). If not, I’ve posted it under the cut :)

In a rare moment of quiet, Nini sits backstage, quietly strumming. Her chords clash a little with the familiar beat of ‘Getcha Head in the Game’, barely audible from the makeshift stage in the school gym. She didn’t plan on bringing her ukulele tonight, but on her way out of the door this morning, she grabbed it on impulse and took it with her. As a good luck charm, perhaps. I need it now more than ever, she muses with a dry smile, thinking of the talent scout from the Y.A.C., Kalyani Patel, out in the audience.

She relaxes a little, though, as she reflects upon the first act thus far. She can’t deny it’s been… a little chaotic, particularly with Gina’s surprise return, prompting a very sudden cast change which, she thinks with a grimace, probably seriously confused the audience. She’s pretty sure they pulled it off, though, and Gina’s incredible dance break in ‘Status Quo’ made it worth it.

Suddenly the sound of drums pulsing through the walls stops, and she pictures Ricky, suspended on wires at the turning point of the song. And she smiles – something she’s finding herself doing a whole lot more lately, when she thinks about Ricky.

That said, on this particular occasion, she’s not sure whether she’s smiling at the thought of Ricky himself, or simply remembering what happened when they first used the wires at the dress rehearsal yesterday.

Most of the cast had been sceptical when Mr Mazzara, of all people, had arrived at their first meeting after the disastrous tech rehearsal, and told them that his robotics club had constructed a pulley system in the gym by which they could lift Ricky off the ground for the scene.

When they tried it, however, it worked fairly well – the harness held, and it turned out that Ricky was perfectly capable of singing whilst being hoisted up. The problem came when the industry-grade steel cable made Natalie’s hands sweat, and she lost her grip.

With a terrified yell, Ricky plummeted about eight feet before EJ and Seb seized the cable, halting Ricky’s gut-twisting descent and leaving him spinning in his harness, seven feet from the ground. A nervous laugh rippled around the gym as Carlos, looking distinctly pale, proposed using one of the climbing ropes instead. Ricky was white as a sheet when they brought him down again, but he quickly saw the funny side and was laughing with the rest of them.

Nini shakes her head fondly, but frowns as she realises that the production has been silent for a weirdly long time. The band stopped playing almost twenty seconds ago, and Ricky’s only supposed to wait about five seconds before giving them his cue line. Suddenly, though, the music starts up again, and she lets out an involuntary hum, hoping that there’s nothing wrong.

Less than a minute later, she sees someone – who looks suspiciously like Ricky – march past the open door. She carefully puts down her ukulele and jogs to the door to ask him how the scene went, but by the time she gets there, he’s disappeared. She looks the other way, where Kourtney, Carlos and Seb are looking in the direction Ricky vanished. Nini’s unnerved by how concerned they look. “What happened?” she asks, as Big Red’s voice sounds over the speakers, announcing the intermission. “We’re not sure,” Kourtney says with a shake of her head. “He sort of froze,” Seb adds. “While he was in the air. And he dropped the ball.” “Why, what’d he do?” Nini asks. “No, as in, he literally dropped his basketball,” Carlos says, widening his eyes to emphasise the point. Nini feels her heart sink. “Did he say where he was going?” Carlos shakes his head, but Kourtney speaks up. “He’ll be back for the second act.” Her voice is confident, and Nini hopes she’s right.

“Gabriella, you’re on in one minute!” Natalie calls, and Nini relaxes. They’re about five minutes into the second act, and as far as she can tell, nothing has gone completely wrong. She follows Natalie to the wings and, as rehearsed, looks around the set and the gym as she walks casually onstage. This is right; this feels good. “Wow, this is your real stage?” she says curiously, but her voice shakes on the final word as her gaze falls on EJ, wearing Troy’s basketball shirt. Ricky’s basketball shirt. No. No, this is wrong. Where the hell is Ricky? “Guess you could call it that,” he replies, looking altogether too relaxed in this topsy-turvy situation. “Or, just a smelly gym.” It kills her to break character, but she has to make sense of this. “What’s going on?” she hisses, surreptitiously covering her microphone with one hand. “Where’s Ricky?” EJ frowns minutely and, without replying, passes her the basketball. She narrows her eyes at him as she catches it, but dutifully makes a shot, watching with a bizarre sense of satisfaction as it misses the hoop and bounces off the backboard. “Whoa!” EJ says, jogging across the stage to retrieve it. “You shoot hoops too?” She stutters; she’s suddenly having difficulty breathing. Ms Patel can’t be impressed by this; she has to do better. “I once, uh, scored forty-one points at a league championship game.” “No way.” “Yeah,” Nini says, functioning purely on autopilot. The words are muscle memory to her, but she can barely hear them. Her mind is swirling. “The same day I invented the space shuttle, and microwave popcorn.”

The rest of the scene is a blur. Again, on impulse, she whispers desperately to EJ for an explanation, infuriated by his plea for her to trust him. At her cue, she all but runs offstage. As she exits through the temporary stage door, she can hear the words of Ashlyn’s beautiful song taunting her from behind.

What I did felt right, but was I wrong? Is this where I’m supposed to be at all?

Everything after that passes in a blur. She’s so angry, at everyone. At Ricky, for bailing on her – on them. At EJ, for letting him go and just taking the part so readily. At Miss Jenn, for casting her in this role she feels she’s so abjectly failing. At Kourtney, for inviting Kalyani Patel when she’s sure she’s never going to get in. At herself, for thinking she could do any of these things.

She kicks a chair backstage in fury, feeling her heart pound in her chest as she watches it topple over and skid across the wooden floor. A figure bedecked in an elegant black pant suit appears in the doorway, looking worried. “Nini, you okay?” Miss Jenn’s voice is soft and full of concern. “Will be,” she says, pressing a hand to her temple. “Just… a lot going on.” “I heard about the talent scout,” she says. “It’s not surprising that you’re stressed.” She nods slowly. “It’s not just that. But thanks.” “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, and Nini hesitates, picking up the chair she kicked and sinking into it. “I guess I’m just scared of screwing up,” she says quietly, and Miss Jenn lets out a low chuckle. “Are you serious? You’re killing it out there.” “Thanks,” she says, not even slightly believing him. “But this is not my best performance.” “It’s not supposed to be,” she says, and Nini does a double-take. “What?” “Nini,” she says, crouching down in front of her and taking her hand, “I spent nearly fifteen years assuming that my best performance had already happened.” Nini nods, wondering where she’s going with this. “But the truth is, it turns out you guys are my great performance. My magnum opus, if you will. This isn’t Broadway, Nini – no one here is looking for the perfect show.” She cracks a smile. “Which is good, because God knows we haven’t had it tonight.” Nini laughs and sniffs, feeling her eyes moistening. “This isn’t going to be the best performance of your life, because you’re only going to keep getting better. That talent scout is looking for potential, and that’s what she’s going to see in you.” She squeezes Nini’s hand and stands up to go. “How do you know that?” Nini asks desperately, and Miss Jenn pauses at the door. “Because I did.” She smiles once more and disappears out of the door. After a moment’s thought, Nini exhales deeply, gentle wipes her eyes and follows her out.

By the time she’s back onstage, she’s forgotten her anger. EJ’s explained what happened – what Ricky told him to do, and why. She’s not even concerned about the Conservatory anymore – as EJ begins the chorus of ‘Breaking Free’, she remembers what Miss Jenn told her: she saw Nini’s potential. Maybe Kalyani Patel will too.

And then she sees Ricky, standing at the gym doors with Gina, and the last embers of her fury at him evaporate as well. As EJ lets her go – possibly in more ways than one – she looks into Ricky’s frightened eyes, and she realises that she loves him.

“You know the world can see us, in a way that’s different from who we are…”

As she walks towards him, she pulls out her phone and flicks on its flashlight. Since Big Red hasn’t put a spotlight on him yet, she’ll do it herself.

“Creating space between us, ‘til we’re separate hearts…”

He shakes his head and murmurs, “I’m really… not at my best.” And her heart aches because of how wrong he is. She’s known him for nearly their entire lives, and this, right here, is the best version of Ricky she’s ever known. He’s open and vulnerable, and he might have given up on something he was committed to – but this time, he did it entirely because he wanted her to succeed. “Just look at me, Ricky,” she says, slipping her phone back into her pocket as Big Red finally gets his act together. “Right at me.” The music starts up again, and Nini lifts the microphone to her lips again. “But your faith, it gives me strength…” A grin breaks out onto his face as he joins in. “Strength to believe…”

She can’t help smiling as she pulls him back to the stage. They’re going to be okay.

#rini #nini salazar-roberts #ricky bowen #hsmtmts #fanfic #gift exchange #friendom gift exchange

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