Chapter Text
Carlos can still remember the day he decided he wanted to be a teacher. He’d grown up in a household where following the family line was expected, particularly because he was the only son. So, he’d grown up thinking he would either be a Texan Ranger like his father, or go into the wider family ranch business. Neither really excited him, to be honest, he didn’t want to spend his days investigating crimes and although he likes animals, it wasn’t exactly lighting up his world to work with them all the time.
When he was fourteen, he had a teacher who understood him, listened to him and made a massive difference to his confused life. They may not have been the most groundbreaking teacher in the world, but they were the first person to take an interest in Carlos himself, to find out what made him tick, to listen to his ramblings about his sexuality that he couldn’t talk to his parents about. They changed his world. And that was when he decided he wanted to make a difference to children’s lives, just like he’d been lucky enough to find someone, he wanted to be that person that made even one child feel happy and comforted and intelligent.
His parents had listened to him when he was fourteen, smiled, and then ignored the conversation. He thought it had been a one off, until he’d come out to them at seventeen and they’d done the same thing. It had been that talk that had made his mind up, that he was going to be a teacher regardless of their thoughts. So he had paid to put himself through training and now this is his fourth year in an elementary school. And he loves it.
The thing is though, Carlos shouldn’t have favourites. He knows that but it’s hard sometimes, when he works with incredible, amazing kids, to be neutral. Sometimes one kid comes along that just is different. And he’s got one in his class this year that just tugs on his heartstrings, right from the first day.
Her name is Dot, short for Elizabeth, and she is adorable. She’s just moved to Austin, from New York, she tells him confidently on the first day of term. She’s got brown hair that she wears in elaborate plaits and the most interesting green eyes he thinks he’s seen on any child. But it’s her personality that draws him in right from the start. She’s gregarious, chatty and excitable, but she knows so much about everything that she’s easy to talk to, even as an adult. She can rattle off facts about lots of things, she is interested in everything that he teaches and she gets on well with her classmates. She’s intelligent, sassy and he just likes her. She must have had some tough times recently, with the upheaval, so that’s his excuse for taking a more pointed interest in her work and making sure she’s settling in well and not being picked on by the rest of the class. Because he can’t have favourite students, after all.
Dot gets brought in and picked up each day by an older couple, a man and lady who hold hands and smile broadly at her when she runs to them shrieking. Carlos hasn’t met them yet, but he’s sure they’re her grandparents, made clearer by the way she talks about her Poppa and Nanna and how much fun she has when she goes to theirs and bakes. He’s never met her parents, they don’t appear at the school and so he’s unsure what her family situation is. Is she living with her grandparents or do they just provide all the child care? He’s intrigued, he tells himself it’s professional concern, but he knows deep down he’s getting attached to a child he teaches and it’s not professional. He can’t stop though, he does worry if she’s getting the right home life to nurture her and so he’s aware of her more than ever.
Especially today, which is open morning, when all the children’s parents and carers are invited in for coffee, cake and chats. Michelle, his best friend and teacher of the opposite class and Carlos are running their session together, because although it’s ridiculous to have all of the 30 seven year olds running crazy together, they’ve always done the open morning as a duo and they’re not going to stop now.
He’s sorting through the packs they’ve set up, with details on class trips and books that are needed, whilst Michelle is checking that the coffee is ready for when they’re overrun by children and parents. It’s the worst day of the year in one sense, because it’s not proper teaching, but it’s important too so that they get to know the parents of the pupils they teach, in case there’s any issues in the future. He’s never had any major problems in his teaching career yet, but something may crop up at some point. Besides, even though he and Michelle moan about it every evening in the weeks running up to the day, they have no choice but to do it and do it well. Working with Michelle makes things easier, she’s strict and organised like she’s in the army and they’re so well prepared nothing’s going to get him off task.
The pupils start turning up with their parents in hand and he’s so busy welcoming them and showing them where to go that he almost doesn’t notice when Dot turns up. It’s only when he looks up from the table to check off the next arrival that he sees her.
“Mr Reyes!” she chirps in a happy, eager voice. “This is my dad!”
And Carlos looks up, into a pair of the most beautiful green eyes he’s ever seen.
He’s almost struck dumb. And it’s worse when he realises that the eyes are in a perfect face, hair styled like the owner is a model, mouth that’s quirking to one side in amusement, cheekbones and a jawline to die for. And when Carlos tries to make the most of a bad situation by dropping his eyes, he realises the head is attached to a lovely body too. He’s a goner.
He starts floundering with the welcome pack. “Hey...um, hi, hello, I’m Dot’s… sorry, Elizabeth’s teacher. And you are…”
The man’s face breaks into a smile, which makes his eyes light up and crinkle and Carlos has to fight to stop scrunching the paper up in his hand. “I’m Dot’s father, TK. TK Strand,” and he holds his hand out.
Carlos is unsure of whether he wants to shake his hand or give him the welcome pack so in the end he does a funny half shake, half hand over that leaves him feeling hot with embarrassment. He’s a teacher, after all, he can handle one hot parent.
“I’m Mr Reyes,” he says and TK’s eyes roam over his face, a knowing glint in them that Carlos can’t quite read.
“I know. Dot talks about you all the time at home,” is all he says, but it feels enough, tightness and warmth flushing through Carlos’ body.
He clears his throat, tries to grab back control of the situation. “Will Dot’s mother be joining us?”
“No, she’s not in the picture,” TK says, and his eyes have turned flint hard. “My parents help out a lot, you’ve probably seen them dropping Dot off for me? But other than them, it’s just me and Dot,” and he tweaks one of his daughters' plaits mischievously as he speaks. It’s clear he adores her, and that she adores him too from the way she’s staring up at him like he’s the centre of her world. Carlos has to shake his head to get himself grounded again.
He hands over the pack and Dot pulls her dad to the other side of the classroom to show him her desk and her work and Carlos manages to put green eyes and soft smiles out of his mind to deal with the rest of the parents queuing to come in. Michelle sends him a strange look when he eventually makes his way over to her at the front of the room, at his desk. “What’s up?”
Carlos scrubs a hand over his eyes because he can’t admit that his attention is still on one of his pupil’s fathers. “Everything’s fine,” he says in the end. “Shall we get started?”
Michelle narrows her eyes but nods anyway and she stands up in front of the board. The parents fall silent as she begins to talk and Carlos takes that time to let his eyes rake over the room, until his gaze lands on the person he’s both trying to find and surreptitiously trying to ignore.
TK is listening to Michelle, his eyes fixed on her face and deep in thought. Dot’s on his lap, her little arms around his neck and he keeps on looking at her with such a fond look on his face that Carlos knows he’s a goner. Then there’s a second when his eyes flick over to Carlos and he knows he’s been caught staring. TK’s gaze doesn’t flicker though, a small smile gracing his lips as they just stare at each other. Until Carlos comes back to his senses by a small cough from Michelle, shakes his head to clear it and breaks eye contact. He has to stand up and do his part now and normally he’d be fine, but today, the nerves are fluttering like crazy in his stomach. And it’s all to do with the cool green eyes still watching him intently.
He’s not sure how he gets through the next fifteen minutes, it’s lucky that the speech he has is one he and Michelle wrote years ago so he knows it off by heart. He fumbles his way through, trying to look at all the parents and children except the corner where he wants to peek. He manages it somehow, teaching is all about acting after all, and when he’s finished he heaves a sigh of relief and refuses to look at Michelle because he knows the way she’s going to be looking straight back at him.
They take questions, ranging from in depth discussions of the curriculum and where they expect the children to be at the end of the year, to if they’re allowed to go to the toilet during the school day. Carlos is good at his job, and this settles him more than the rehearsed speech because he’s thinking on his feet and explaining things. When all the questions are finished with, Michelle lets the parents take a further half an hour with their children before they have to leave. She grabs Carlos’ arm as he turns away. She’s still got that half confused, half bewildered look on her face because she knows he’s out of sorts but she doesn’t know why. “You alright to tidy this up?” she asks and when he agrees, she slips to the other side of the classroom to direct parents who have finished out of the room.
Carlos bends to start tidying up because that gives him something to focus on other than TK Strand, but it’s a losing battle, when he looks up and sees the man is watching him. When it’s clear he’s finished tidying, TK shoots him another smile and approaches, leaving Dot sitting at her desk with one of her friends.
“Hi,” TK says and he sounds nervous. “Sorry, but I wanted to talk to you, if you’re not too busy?”
“Sure,” Carlos can do this, he is the father of one of his pupils, he has to be professional. “Is everything ok, Mr Strand?”
TK smiles at him, a full, proper smile that makes his eyes light up. “Please, call me TK.”
Carlos knows this is dangerous territory but he can’t help himself. “Carlos,” he says and he shakes the proffered hand, ignoring the sparks that travel up his arm from the brush of palms alone.
“Nice to meet you,” TK winks at him and Carlos pretends not to notice, because he is a parent of a pupil and he can’t, he just can’t. But TK is continuing anyway. “Everything is fine. I just wanted to come and speak to you about Dot. And how wonderful you’ve been. She’s so happy here, and it’s because of you and I wanted you to know that.”
Carlos’ eyes snap to his face, shock and pride mixing in his stomach. “I’m her teacher, she’s a wonderful pupil, it’s my job,” he starts to say but TK waves off his excuses.
“It was a big thing, moving here from New York. I was so worried about her, about how she’d settle in and make friends. And she hated her school in New York. She’d come home and just sit on the sofa and not talk to me or my parents, she just wanted to ignore the day. It would take me hours to convince her to do homework. I’d have to bribe her with ice cream. Not that that’s something I would do…” he trails off, looks up at what must surely be a spectacularly gobsmacked look on Carlos’ face. “What I meant to say was, she’s different here. She comes home and I can’t stop her from talking about what she’s done, what you’ve taught her, what she’s spoke to you about. She wants to do her maths homework because you taught her fractions using measuring cups and we made cup cakes so she could show me. She won’t stop talking about how incredible Mr Reyes is and how much she’s learnt. She’s happy and she’s content and she loves it here. And I know it’s your job and she’s probably just another pupil to you, but she’s my daughter and I can’t tell you how much this means to me. So I wanted to thank you.”
He finally winds down and Carlos has to swallow hard, struggles to push the tears prickling at the back of his eyes away because this, this is why he became a teacher in the first place. It takes him a while to speak, but TK is watching the play of emotions over his face and he must understand because he says nothing, just stands and watches with a small, warm smile on his face.
“Thank you,” he manages to get out eventually, and all that does is make the smile on TK’s face grow even warmer and softer. “She’s a special kid, Dot. She’s wonderful, you must be so proud of her.”
“I am,” TK looks fondly back at his daughter and then laughs when she catches his eye and sticks her tongue out, waving a piece of paper at him. “I’d better go, but it was really nice to put a face to the name. You’re just as incredible as she makes out,” and with another wink that leaves Carlos wondering if he was actually imagining everything that had just happened, he returns to Dot, kneeling by her side and looking at whatever she was trying to show him.
Carlos shakes his head minutely, trying to sort out his emotions and stop looking at the two of them. He turns around to grab the last armfuls of paper from the desk, and when he turns back, his gaze skirts over to the doorway to the classroom, where Michelle is standing. She is leaning on the doorframe, her body rigid and her eyes hold a look that has Carlos shaking and dreading the conversation he knows will soon be forthcoming.