Chapter Text
Seb's family had always been extra supportive of his interests, despite them lying rather far afield from their own. So after seeing Seb in his school's musical the previous spring, they encouraged him to branch out a little further than the farm over the summer following his freshman year, and maybe even gain a little independence along the way. This is how Seb Matthew-Smith ended up being a part-time pianist in a fancy restaurant in town over the summer break.
Seb did enjoy his job - he loved playing piano, and loved when people enjoyed listening to him play. The downside to working in a fancy restaurant was how lonely Seb was - he was used to being around his large number of siblings on the farm every day, and honestly, the only people who ever came to dine were usually middle-aged rich folk who wanted to flex their money. He had to admit, he did feel a little out of his depth sometimes. There was a stark contrast between his family and the types that Seb played for - in class and money.
One day, one of the owners of the restaurant came to let all the staff know that some of his family - who were local to Salt Lake City - were coming to pay him a visit, and were probably going to dine in the restaurant whilst they were there, and for the staff to be on their best behaviour and make the place as good as it has ever been. For Seb, all that meant was to play the provided music flawlessly - and with the amount of practice he had had over the last few weeks, that was bound to be easy. He wasn't especially excited to finally meet the famous Rodriguez family, but it was interesting to observe the diners while he played, so at least there was that.
Later that evening, Seb was sorting his sheet music in preparation for the next day at work. He looked longingly at the musical theatre arrangements sat on his piano. They were so much more fun to play. Seb loved getting lost in the music he was playing, and he loved it even more when it was one of his favourite songs.
The floorboard creaked outside his doorway, and Seb realised he had been stood frozen staring at the piano for who knows how long. He looked up to see a figure standing in the doorway.
“Why don't you just play one of those?” one of his younger sisters, Penny, was standing watching him.
“You really think these rich people would care to hear 'What I've Been Looking For' whilst having their dinner?”
“They probably wouldn't recognise it. Just make it sound more classical.” She giggled, and skipped towards Seb's piano, grabbing his sheet music binder and leafing through it. “Didn't you say your bosses family were coming tomorrow? You could play it for them.”
Seb frowned. “I've been told to be on my best behaviour, and I don't think that counts.”
“Maybe they have a son who likes musical theatre for you to impress.” She gasped. “Like that boy from school you always talk about!”
Seb grabbed his binder out of her hands and whacked her with it, gently. “Shut up! That isn't my aim. I just want to have fun at work for once.”
She shrugged, a glint in her eye. “Maybe you should try it anyways.”
Seb rolled his eyes fondly and patted her on the shoulder. But Penny had sparked an idea in his mind.
“Honestly?” he said, slowly, “that's not a bad idea. For once.” He opened the binder in his hands, looking thoughtful. “It would make my job a whole lot more fun.”
He flicked through the binder, thinking hard. What arrangements could he compose that would disguise the songs enough for them to not be instantly recognisable? And which songs would work? Seb had been planning to have an early night, but that would have to wait if he wanted to do this. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Penny slipping out of his room, a big smile on her face, her mission accomplished.
He swiped a pencil from his desk and collapsed onto his bed, thinking hard. The binder fell open onto his sheet music for The Climb, and he stared down at it. You could practically see the lightbulbs in his head as he slid the paper out of the plastic casing and began scribbling fervently. Maybe tomorrow's shift would end up better than he thought after all.
--
Carlos did not want to go and visit his uncle's posh restaurant for fancy rich middle-aged people who wanted to be young again. He was not looking forward to the dreary dinnertime chat and the stares from older white couples that he always got when he was in that sort of place with his family. The only positive to Carlos' visits to his uncle's restaurant was the food. But here he was, sitting in the back of the car, on the way to the restaurant on a Friday night, earphones in, and not looking forward to it.
Usually, Carlos' sisters would be sat in the back of the car with him, and they would play silly games to pass the time, and make fun of all the people dining in the restaurant together and very much not join in on the adult dinner chat. Carlos stared out of the car window, reminiscing on these days and missing his sisters terribly. He played with his bracelets and thought about texting to ask when he'd see them again. As they pulled up at some traffic lights, a light rain began, and he watched the raindrops race down the window. Honestly, what could be more atmospheric than a light rain and some streetlights right now? He almost laughed aloud - this was some pathetic fallacy.
As they entered the restaurant, Carlos noticed the typical tinny speakers usually playing a compilation of relaxing music were distinctly not doing that, and instead he heard the familiar sound of a grand piano. Carlos hadn't even realised his uncle even owned a grand piano, but he wasn't about to complain. Whilst classical music didn't tend to be his thing, it was definitely much better than the usual background music. Plus, he thought, whoever was playing is really talented.
Carlos and his parents were guided to a table, and he sat and stared at the menu (which he had memorised) whilst they waited for his uncle to come out from the back, where Carlos guessed he had been yelling at the chefs for some reason or another. His eyes wandered around the restaurant - the decor was exactly the same as the last time they visited - and landed on the piano on the far wall.
A vaguely familiar classical song was playing - Carlos couldn't quite put his finger on the name, and he could see a blonde head bobbing up and down from behind it. As the song came to an end, the person looked up quickly to swap their sheet music and Carlos' breath hitched.
He felt like he was about to combust.Of course the extremely talented pianist at his uncle's restaurant just happened to be Seb Matthew-Smith. Carlos shared an English class with him, and it was his favourite class for that reason. He may or may not have a tiny little bit of a crush on Seb. Okay, who was he kidding? He definitely had a big crush on Seb, and now he was right here?
He had been staring directly across at Seb, shellshocked, and the other boy had probably felt his gaze. Seb glanced up over his piano, and made direct eye contact with Carlos. On the eye contact, he blushed and ducked his head. Carlos wondered why he happened to be working at his uncle's restaurant that summer, and why he had to be sat directly across from him right now. The ideal position for stealing glances, but the worst for awkward eye contact.
He felt a light touch on his shoulder and started suddenly.
“Carlos? Are you there, honey?” his mother asked, in a low tone. He realised she had probably been trying to get his attention whilst he had been thinking about Seb.
“Oh- uh, yeah, I am, sorry. What did you want?”
“I was just asking if you were okay? You've been staring across the room for a few minutes, love.” She did sound concerned - in her own way - and Carlos figured he'd been sat frozen and lost in thought. Wait, he thought. This could be my opportunity to ask about the new pianist! Only because he is clearly new and I want to know about the swap from playlist to live music, absolutely no other reason involving it being Seb, definitely not.
He smiled up at his mother. “I'm fine! I was just wondering when Uncle hired a pianist for the restaurant?”
She followed his line of vision and furrowed her brows. “Oh wow, you're right! I hadn't even noticed. I'll ask your uncle when he comes to greet us.”
No sooner had she said this, Carlos saw his uncle striding across the restaurant toward their table, a big smile on his face.
“Ah! My favourite customers!” he chuckled, and rested his hand on the back of Carlos' mother's chair. “So good to see you all! How have you been?”
Carlos' mother smiled up at her brother-in-law. “We've been well! I see the restaurant is as good as ever!”
“Of course, of course. Are the girls not in town?”
Mrs Rodriguez shook her head. “They're both away at university still, so it's just Carlos. Still keeping the staff on their toes?”
Carlos' uncle chuckled. “Always. Send the girls my love, yes? It's so great to see you, Carlos! You've gotten so big!”
Carlos rolled his eyes internally. He figured it was impossible to see extended family members without one of them commenting that. Despite the fact it had literally only been about a month since he had seen his uncle. Even so, he mustered a big smile and pretended he wasn't completely distracted right now. “Nice to see you too!”
Nobody noticed his lacklustre response, and after a little chitchat about school, he was relaxed of his conversational duties. Not that he had anything better to be doing - they didn't even have food yet.
Carlos slipped his phone out of his pocket under the table and turned it on, hoping nobody had noticed. No new messages. He wasn't surprised. Since starting at East High, Carlos hadn't made any solid friendships. Sure, there were the senior dancers he had hung out with during the spring musical, but they were seniors, and definitely only put up with him because they were too nice to say no. He'd never hung out with any of them outside rehearsal - or even texted them. He spent all his lunchtimes in the library, alone. And he was lucky to be allowed to do that. Carlos didn't know what he would do without his library solace. Probably just wait it out in the bathroom. On the third day of freshman year he had tried his luck at actually sitting in the cafeteria, but the second he had made it to the doorway he panicked and left. There were so many people, who all seemed to know each other, and that was too much for him. He was so afraid of being seen. But that meant he was extremely lonely. Sometimes he really wished he had a friend group - or even just a single friend - who actually cared about him.
--
Seb was finally on his last hour of the day playing for Mr Rodriguez's customers. All in all, it had been an uneventful shift, and he'd even managed to slip in a few extremely altered musical theatre arrangements to pacify his time. He felt a strange feeling of superiority when he was playing them, mostly because he knew that he wasn't playing the typical classical arrangements and the customers probably didn't - at least, none of them had shown any sign of recognition. Unfortunately for Seb, his last hour was the hour in which the Rodriguez family were supposed to be visiting, so he couldn't even afford to slack off.
He was halfway through a song when the aforementioned guests arrived in all their glory. There were only three of them - one of whom Seb recognised immediately. Just from school, obviously. Not because he dug himself into a social media hole some nights and ended up a year into Carlos Rodriguez's instagram - quite a feat, considering the sheer amount of posts he has. It wasn't that Seb had any ulterior motive - he just greatly admired the other boy, that was all.
He followed them with his eyes as they were greeted and led to a table. Seb had always noticed Carlos' outfits at school - they were always so good. He had even referred to the other boy as the 'King of Fashion' when telling his sister about him once. Not that he talked about Carlos at home often. But he had gone above and beyond today, it would've been impossible for Seb to not notice. And he looked so good. Although that was probably just because of the floral blazer, Seb reasoned. Sure, he's conventionally attractive, but that's all, right? Sure, Seb's eyes were always drawn to him in a crowd, and he always looked to see Carlos' reaction to things in English class, and sought him out in the busy corridors at school, but that didn't mean anything. Right?
The Rodriguez's were seated at a table directly opposite Seb and his piano, unfortunately in the perfect location for him to make awkward eye contact with Carlos if they ever looked up at the same time. So he resolved to keep his head down at all costs for the sake of his piano playing. Seb knew that if he saw Carlos even look in his direction that he would almost certainly mess up, and he could not afford that. This plan was foolproof until he reached the end of the song.
Okay, all I have to do is stare directly at the sheet music and not look anywhere else. Pretty straightforward. Easy.
It sure sounded easy when he put it like that. But Seb couldn't help it - as he raised his head, he glanced up across the room toward where Carlos was sitting, almost like they were naturally drawn to look at each other by some kind of invisible string. However, this glance ended up with the two boys locking eyes.
Carlos' eyes widened and Seb felt a blush creep across his face, and so he ducked his head and stared intently at his hands, cursing himself under his breath. He hoped that the other boy hadn't noticed his blush - or recognised him, for that matter. Although Seb doubted that Carlos knew who he was - he hadn't really made himself known in any circles in the school, and Carlos had mostly kept company with the seniors.
Seb remembered seeing him watching a computer screen intently in the library on the few occasions he had visited to pick up some books and definitely not stare at Carlos. He had lurked behind a bookshelf, wishing he had the confidence to go and sit with him.
Seb brought himself out of his memories and into the present, hoping he hadn't been deep in thought for too long. Unfortunately, this lapse in concentration caused Seb to miss a note in the song. Of course he had managed to do the one thing he wasn't supposed to tonight. Luckily, it didn't seem as if anyone had noticed.
Stupid, he reprimanded himself. There's no point thinking there's any meaning behind any of Carlos' glances. Just keep your head down and keep playing until they leave.
Unfortunately, much like his previous plan to keep his eyes down, this didn't go particularly well. Seb's admiration for Carlos and also the loud, raucous laughter from the Rodriguez table each played their part in Seb's inability to keep his eyes away from Carlos. It wasn't that he was staring at Carlos specifically, he reasoned. He just happened to be glancing in that direction. Okay, no. Who was he kidding? He was definitely staring at Carlos.
Whilst this mental war was going on inside his head, Seb had to be extra careful not to break out into his affectionately known ‘thinking jazz’. This was a common occurrence for him, if he happened to be in the general area of a piano at the same time as him having a lot of thoughts. And this was a LOT of thoughts. He didn't know why Carlos had such an effect on him - it wasn't like he had made a lasting first impression at school, or even like they'd actually interacted.
Thinking about it, Seb realised that he hadn't actually formally introduced himself to Carlos. Despite sitting in front of him in class for a year.
Seb's thinking took him mindlessly through two more songs, and risking a glance over the top of his piano again, he noticed Carlos looking extremely bored. At least, he assumed as much. It's not like family dinner for the Rodriguez family would be anything close to as chaotic as family dinner for the Matthew-Smith's. A small little plan formed in Seb's mind. He knew very well that Carlos was a musical theatre fan - although that was probably an understatement. And Seb had one last song he had been itching to play all night, but too afraid of it being recognised. It was his classically arranged version of The Climb.
He didn't know why he felt so nervous to play it. The song wasn't that popular, only someone who had listened to it as regularly as Seb would be able to recognise it. It was going to go down as either nobody realised their pianist was playing a non-classical song, and it would go unnoticed, or someone - namely, Carlos, Seb hoped - would recognise it, get excited and maybe, just maybe, come over and have a conversation with him. Seb knew the chances of that happening were close to zero, but they were zero if he didn't try. Plus, it had been a dreary night. Playing this would be sure to raise his spirits in any case.
With this revelation, Seb flicked to the correct page and began to play.
--
As his parents chatted, Carlos felt his gaze gliding across to Seb at the piano again. He didn't know why the boy had such an effect on him, but he knew there was absolutely no way he would be able to focus on the dinnertime chitchat. He noticed everything about Seb - from the way his head nodded in time to the rhythm of the song to the way the light glinted off of his blonde hair. He probably spent a little too much time noticing Seb. Silently, he wondered if anyone would ever notice him in the same way.
All this attention had meant he had picked up the moment that Seb's usually flawless playing had taken a stumble, which had happened to be when they had made eye contact. Carlos worried that him being there was putting the other boy off. He didn't even know if Seb knew - or cared - who he was, but maybe he was annoyed to see someone from school during the summer? If he was anything like Carlos, who hadn't really gotten stuck into any friendships with people in his grade and thus was slightly afraid of most of them, then seeing a random guy from his English class would have been the last thing he wanted.
As Carlos was mulling this over and fidgeting with his bracelets, the ending notes of whatever song Seb had been playing rang out and reverberated around the room. Carlos was barely paying attention anymore, completely lost in his own head, until familiar opening notes to a song Carlos knew very well began. He startled out of his reverie, listening eagerly. It was extremely altered - Carlos assumed it would have to be, to prevent being recognised. But Carlos would know those notes anywhere. Seb was, unmistakably, playing The Climb.
A wave of excitement swept through him - a song he loved, and Seb was playing it? Despite the fact that it was definitely not one of the songs his uncle would have provided? And he'd even gone to lengths to disguise it? From that moment, Carlos knew that it was going to be his favourite song. He also knew Seb was into theatre, but he didn't know how to approach the other boy to begin a conversation. But this might just be the perfect opportunity.
Carlos may have been rather starstruck by the talented (and super cute) blonde pianist, but musical theatre was something he would never pass up the opportunity to talk about, especially when it was with a potential friend his own age.
He walked over and casually leant against the piano. Seb glanced up at him, looking both nervous and excited, for reasons Carlos couldn't fathom. He spoke quickly, afraid Seb was going to ask him to leave.
“I love this song! I'm glad you're playing something a little more... exciting than before.” He stopped, realising Seb might think he was criticising his playing - Carlos definitely didn't want to give off that impression. “Not that your playing was bad! Not at all. You're... very talented, I mean.”
Without faltering his playing, Seb looked up at Carlos with furrowed brows. “Hm? What do you mean?”
“The Climb. That's what you're playing, I mean. I could recognise that from a mile away.”
A flash of concern crossed his face. “Wait. You don't think anyone else will realise, right?”
Carlos shook his head reassuringly. “Not a chance. I doubt any of these rich white folk have even heard The Climb before. I just have ears trained to pick up any of my favourite songs.”
Seb played the finishing notes of the song, and smoothly transitioned into the next one before replying.
“Good. I'm only supposed to be playing the classical music they gave me, but between you and me...” He leant sideways, closer to Carlos. “My personal sheet music may have just gotten a little mixed up with my work sheet music... and I just haven't had the time to sort it out.”
Carlos raised his eyebrows in approval. “You're making the place so much better, I won't lie.” He mock-bowed, smiling broadly. “Thank you kindly for your service, sir.”
Seb laughed, and then looked around anxiously. “I don't know if I'm actually supposed to be talking to you right now. Nobody's ever approached me before, so I don't know the rules on that.”
Shaking his head, Carlos quickly reassured him. “I mean, I don't know the rules here either, but since I am family... I'm sure an exception can be made.” He contemplated winking at Seb, but thought maybe that would be a little too much. It had taken enough for him to come over here in the first place.
“Mmkay, that's fair. Maybe you won't get me fired after all.” was Seb's reply.
Carlos didn't know how Seb was so chill right now. I mean, sure, he didn't have a rapidly growing crush on Carlos like the latter on Seb, but he was still holding a conversation with someone from school during the summer. If Carlos were to describe the inside of his brain right now, he was pretty sure it would just be a bunch of italicised question marks. Italicised because he wasn't boring, obviously.
“Hm, well, if you do get fired, I'm sure I could convince my uncle into letting you back into a job. If you still wanted it, I mean.”
Seb laughed again, and the question marks in Carlos' brain rapidly turned into exclamation marks. Unsure, he gave a weak laugh too. Seb had opened his mouth - probably to respond, when they were interrupted by raised voices and loud laughter floating across the room from the Rodriguez's table. Carlos turned to see his mother gesturing for him to rejoin them. He didn't feel overly thrilled about having to leave Seb's company. He turned back to Seb, sadly.
“Looks like I have to go...”
Seb smiled sadly. “It was nice to actually talk to somebody outside my family for once.”
Carlos nodded, and began to walk away slowly. Their short conversation was somehow the best conversation Carlos had ever had. Plus - he had had a conversation - like, an actual real conversation - with Seb Matthew-Smith!!!!!! Carlos' day could not get any better. He didn't know if Seb even knew who he was, and despite his awkward crush, he did very much want to be friends. So, he mustered up the remaining confidence from going to talk to Seb in the first place and spun around on his heel, taking a deep breath.
“Um... how often are you working here?”
Seb smiled, and it spread right up into his eyes. His smile was infectious, Carlos thought. “I'm scheduled every Thursday and Friday evening this summer.”
Carlos smiled back, just as wide. “I'll be sure to drop in.” He turned to leave, but then spun back around again, not wanting Seb to think he was weird by saying that he'd come to chat without introducing himself.
“I'm Carlos, by the way.”
The boy played the last note of the song and looked up, eyes shining.
“I'm Seb.”