When the boys were in third grade, Cortez dragged them to their first audition as a group. Well, it was really Cortez's audition, but he didn't want to do it alone and so he basically peer-pressured his friends to audition with him. The local community theatre was doing The Wizard of Oz, and Cortez had just started to entertain the idea of acting. He ended up being cast as the Mayor of Munchkinland, and the other three boys got to form the Lollipop Guild. At first, little Toby was annoyed at having to be in a play, but not only did he end up having fun, but he remembered his attitude shifting dramatically on the first rehearsal, when he met the beautiful girl playing Dorothy.

Her name was Shakita. She was 16 at the time, with an angelic face, kind eyes, a singing voice a billion times better than Judy Garland's, and gorgeous thick hair that she wore in box braids. Until that show, little Toby thought he was the only black kid in the area, so getting to meet someone else with his skin tone - especially someone who was older, played the lead in a musical, and was a girl, and a pretty girl at that - was so cool to him that he easily had his first crush right then and there. In fact, he begged Levi and Bridge to let him be the one to give Dorothy the lollipop during their song. Toby would go up to her all the time to say hi, and he would pick flowers from his yard before rehearsal just to bring them to her.

"Awwwww! Aren't you such a little sweetie?" Shakita would say, right before pinching his cheeks and kissing him on the forehead. To say nothing of when she would sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and captivate him and the entire audience. Oh yes, little baby Toby would daydream about marrying her when he grew up.

Obviously, that didn't happen. But in the present day, as Toby miserably got ready for work, it was awfully nice remembering such a simpler time when he didn't have to kill himself at Wallman's just so he could do his thing.

Shakita was living her best life right now, performing in a national tour. Toby was now very envious that she - presumably - never had to work a crappy retail job to get to where she was now. Right?

His thoughts were interrupted by an obnoxious, piercing squeal from the other side of the house. It was his two-year-old sister and one-year-old brother. Suddenly, he was so very happy to go to work! He couldn't wait. He might even sing the "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted if it meant getting away from those two little demons for the day. Toby packed his camera in its bag and put it on a high shelf in his bedroom. He knew his sister Nikki would find her way into his room, so he made sure she couldn't get to it so that he wouldn't have to go to jail. He also placed his laptop up on that same shelf for good measure. Nikki did not want to see what was in that computer, and he definitely didn't need her snitching to their dads.

As he walked to the front door, he saw Logan the babysitter trying to quiet her down.

"Have fun with that," Toby said dryly as he made his way out the door. Logan was a classmate of his, and Toby didn't envy him in the slightest. Maybe slaving away at Wallman's wouldn't be so bad?

….

…. Yes. Yes it was.

No sooner did he clock in than Lindsey, his insufferable manager, was barking orders at him. An irritating white girl in her early-to-mid twenties, with a fake bubbly disposition and who liked to wear her brown hair in… really crappy braids. It was like she was trying to mimic the box braids that black girls wear, like Shakita. Toby found that downright offensive, but he definitely couldn't say anything. He needed to pay for new equipment, and his resume wouldn't appreciate him being fired on his first day.

And oh goodness. What a long first day it was going to be.

When he had a minute, he quickly whipped out his phone and sent a quick text to

The group chat:

TOBY: Kill. Me. Now.

Welp. At least he was getting a little treat from Levi in about a week. Might as well hold out for that.

It was probably a good thing Levi was the first one to get the Pants, however, because he gave them 100% credit for keeping him on the back of the donkey on his way to his grandparents' home. He landed in Mykonos, Greece perfectly safe and sound with no trouble, and his grandmother - known in the family as Yia Yia - was there to greet him at the airport.

Levi loved Yia Yia. She was a woman of few words whose actions always spoke that much louder. He could very much relate to being more on the quiet side, even though his family always equated him more to Pappous due to them both being empaths, and, well, both being male. Unfortunately, their family preferred to come and go around these parts by donkey, and Levi hadn't exactly brushed up on his donkeyback-riding lessons. Are those even a thing? He thought to himself as he struggled to maintain his balance.

"Ummm, Yia Yia?" Levi tried to ask, "It's such a nice village. Maybe we could-Aaah!-walk?"

Yia Yia said nothing.

"Hehe, uh… It could give us more time to talk," Levi continued, "and I could start learning some more Greek?" Yia Yia still said nothing, only smiling back at him. And that's how he knew they were going to continue on these damn donkeys the whole trip.

After what felt like several hours - but really wasn't - they arrived at the grandparents' house at last, and Levi was far too eager to get off the donkey, no matter how cute it was. At that very moment, Pappous burst out the door and dashed towards him as much as his old age would allow.

"Levi!" Pappous called out in that wonderfully joyful tone that only Greek citizens were familiar with. "Levi, Levi, Levi!" As soon as he reached the boy, Pappous wasted no time hugging his grandson and clapping his shoulders and shaking him and hug him some more. "I think I'll die and never see my Levi! Oh, I do think I'll never get to see you, my little Levi!"

Needless to say, I'm contrast to his wife, Pappous was quite fond of talking. This didn't bother Levi one bit, and he was happy to hug his grandfather back and allow Pappous to help him bring his luggage into the house. Pappous hardly even gave the poor boy a chance to say a word, much less say hello; the man was too busy gushing about what a special room they had prepared for their special boy, with a special bed and special sheets and pillows and the most magnificent view of the city. "You are precious, like dog! And we guard you like dog! That is FINAL!"

Levi knew that was a compliment, because Pappous and Yia Yia adored dogs. The evidence lay no further than the six cute dogs that greeted him inside the house; one boxer, one corgi, a French Bulldog, a pug, a pitbull, and a beagle. Levi made a mental note to love on each one of these furbabies once he'd finished unpacking.

While unpacking, he took a second to check his notifies and saw Toby's message in the group chat. Bridge had already responded, but Levi wanted to chime in as well.

BRIDGE: Sorry bud, I don't got insurance on you.

LEVI: Aw I'm sorry Toby. Don't forget, that new film equipment will make it all worth it! Love you! *heart emoji*

Levi wondered if Bridge had made it to Mexico yet. Probably.

And as a matter of fact, he did. Bridge arrived at "Los Campeones" with dozens of other boys who signed up, in a huge bus in which they'd all been happily chanting a popular Spanish nursery rhyme, because they thought it felt festive. Bridge had taken a second to enter his message in the group chat during this time before rejoining his summer crew. On their very first day, everyone gathered up and waited for the camp counselor's assignments.

"Alright boys," the man called out to them, "When you hear your name and team color, I want you to run over and join your coach!"

As the camp counselor began calling names and team colors, Bridge waited with some other boys he'd bonded with on the bus. One was a smaller, gangly boy about 15 years old, with curly red hair and freckles all over his face, named David. The other, Malik, was a little taller, black, aged 17, and had some muscle on him, and stood with his hand on his popped out hip. One was clearly more confident than the other, but they, along with Bridge, still got along very nicely and they knew they'd be hanging out even if they were assigned to different teams..

"Crap… I hope I sprain my knee soon…" David thought out loud. Malik looked at him with a little concern. "What do you mean, baby?"

"This whole soccer thing was my dad's idea," David responded, looking back up at Malik with a forlorn look. "He couldn't wait to get rid of me. I don't even play sports."

Malik clearly couldn't relate, and as sympathetic as he was, he couldn't help but laugh a little at the irony. "Damn, my daddy's been in a frenzy all week! He's been all 'What if you get bullied?' 'What if you're the only gay kid?' 'What's your momma gonna do without you?' 'What am I gonna do without you?' And I'm just over here like, 'Daddy, shut up and get a life,' y'know?" David laughed a little too, already feeling a little better. That's when they both looked over to Bridge, who hadn't mentioned his parents at all the entire trip.

"What did yours do?" Malik asked innocently.

Bridge tensed up a little. He didn't want to kill the mood, but he also felt a little uncomfortable talking about his father at all. Before his new friends could notice that anything was wrong, he casually shrugged. "Ah, nothing really. He was… chill."

And that's precisely when he saw what was possibly the most gorgeous girl he had seen in a long, long time. She was tall like Bridge, wore a whistle around her neck as well as a white short-sleeve shirt with a black collar and buttons, with the camp emblem, signifying that she was staff. She had light brown skin, long black curly hair in a ponytail, and beautifully protruded lips; Bridge figured she was probably Hispanic, or at least mixed. She also had to have been about four years older than him.

"Whoa…" Bridge was stunned. "Who's that?"

David saw who he was ogling, and looked right back to Bridge. "Bad idea, man. It's against the rules to have flings with the coaches." Bridge had absolutely no intention of taking his new little friend's advice whatsoever.

And that's when "Vreeland, Bridge! Red!" was called out. As Bridge answered and ran towards his team, pumping his fists in the air as everyone kept cheering as they did with each name called, he made a point to send a wink towards the beautiful female coach he was eyeing, and take off his shirt conveniently as he ran directly past her. The girl coach kept a professional attitude, but Bridge could tell she was not ignoring him.

Score.

Cortez wasn't ignoring the group chat. He was simply too excited to see his mother. He felt his phone vibrating a little at the train station after getting off, but that was also the same moment he actually saw his mother, Allison. Everything else immediately left his mind, as he was so overcome with joy that he ran up to her, bags and all, and gave her a huge hug, a favor she was perfectly eager to return.

Allison was a woman in her mid-forties, with golden hair and the prettiest green eyes. She was dressed in a business-casual attire; a long black skirt and a black blazer over a fancy purple shirt. She had a loving smile and a kind voice, but she also spoke in a very assertive and confident manner. It was this confidence, assertiveness, and career-driven attitude that attracted Cortez' father to her in the first place; their marriage failed so disastrously for entirely separate (and much more complicated) reasons.

The mother and son had a not-too-terribly long drive to Allison's house. They spent the entire trip talking and catching up, by which I mean, Cortez did most of the talking and Allison did much of the listening. He shared his impressive grades with her, shared pictures of all the plays and musicals he'd been acting in, and was very excited to tell her about just how hard he'd been practicing tennis. "So Mom, I sure hope you serve to me your absolute hardest, okay? I don't want you pulling ANY punches," he declared triumphantly, earning a laugh and a wholehearted agreement from Allison.

Finally, Cortez began to calm down and said some things that he truly meant from the bottom of his heart. "Y'know Mom, I was calculating on the train, and you know what I found out? We haven't actually spent more than four straight days together since I was ten! This is gonna be amazing! I mean, I LOVE it when you come for Christmas, and I love your birthday cards, but a whole summer with just us two? This is like a dream come true! Oh! Dad taught me how to make arroz con pollo! I gotta make you some! Platanos too! Authentic Latin food, just for you!"

Finally, Cortez began to notice that this neighborhood was decidedly not the same place his mother had lived in before. There were motels, strip developments, and historic houses everywhere, and none of them looked familiar. He then looked at his mother's face more closely than before, and saw that she actually had a bit of a tan. "Uh… Mom? Where are we?"

Allison smiled at him. "Well, sweetie, we're in my new hometown. I don't live in Charleston anymore."

Cortez's eyes widened and he felt a slight shock. "Mom! That's terrific. And huge. Why didn't you tell me that?" He had to admit, he wasn't complaining about not having to see those racist white neighbors who would give him side-eyes. But still, she definitely should have told him.

"Well, baby," Allison started, "I actually have some big news for you."

They had to be big news indeed, because they were now slowing down and approaching Allison's new house. There was a tall, muscular, very Caucasian, and very blonde man standing by the driveway, waving at them with a big smile.

Before Cortez could say anything, Allison spoke. "Cortez, I want you to meet someone very special."

Cortez knew precisely what his mother meant, and he wasn't sure if he liked it much or not. With nothing left to say, he decided to take this moment to quickly check his notifications, saw the messages in the group chat, and quickly added his two cents before putting it away.

CORTEZ: Right there with you, Tobes.