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3 Years Later
"Mama!" Cruz called. Making his mother rush into the living room to check on him. "Park" he exclaimed gleefully. "Now Cruz what have me and Dad said about full sentences?" "I want out!" He said in equal amounts of glee not minding his forgetfulness. "Better." His Mom said in a satisfied tone. "Mama you just told me about full sentences," Cruz said in his largest shit-eating grin. To which his mother swiftly ignored him and pulled him out of the crib a stumped expression painting her face which only made Cruz giggle even more.
Celeste Terrazes a perfect personification of her name a goddess like beauty not only that but she hailed from an influential family and through her different investment ventures in the music industry she had made herself known through out the west coast with international suitors from all over pursuing her. Until she met her husband who happened to be the heir of an instrument manufacturing company through the industry and together they got to know each other, fell in love, and once they married Wayne inherited his family company and shortly there after they moved to New York where they then merged their assets to create a large domestic conglomerate known as Terrazes Corp.
Although quite a giant in the music industry it was not the largest however no competition could successfully go against them without leaving themselves open to the rest of the wolves hence putting them in a pseudo-invulnerable position. Honestly the company could've reached further heights but Wayne and Celeste had decided against it with their family backings they had enough of a cushion and they would much rather focus on building a family and living a cozy and wealthy life with minimal working hours than constantly work themself to death in the office.
Right now however this Genius scout and domineering CEO hailing from california was having mental and literal circles ran around her by a toddler. It wasn't that Cruz was all of a sudden a genius rather adults tend to not notice when they commit fallacies when it comes to children and children do not have the knowledge, vocabulary, or self regulation to identify such fallacies. When you think about it did your parents ever say anything hypocritical or contradictory when you were a kid and you just now realize it as you got older? Such situation however is not possible with Cruz unfortunately for Wayne and Celeste. He was still a child but there is no difference in what information he has rather a difference in how he applies said knowledge.
Between Cruz's growing vocabulary and children's books no longer interesting him being superseded by fantasy books of the high school level completely confused Cruz's parents. Those were not the most pressing matters at hand though rather it was Cruz's growing love and talent for music. Of course with both of his parents being in the music industry there was no lack of musical toys. Wayne had figured out that Cruz had perfect pitch and through Cruz singing different songs they had learned he had absolute pitch memory this was not really a surprise but a delight for both Wayne and Celeste since Celeste had been born with perfect pitch and Wayne had been trained since a young age and had acquired it in a crucial time during his childhood.
What really pressed them though was that Cruz was making Major and Minor chords. Then through his own experimentation he was creating chord progressions eventually finding the commonalities and relationships of intervals and Scales that he was taught by both of his parents who had been messing around but Cruz had easily grasped the concept and he eventually found one single progression that he loved and was fixated on that he would always repeat which was a 4 - 5 - 1 progression most commonly seen in jazz. There were 2 matters at hand though.
One was that ever since Cruz found out the progression Wayne and Celeste had been hearing it day and night and sometimes it would even wake them up. Sometimes it would come from a piano other times it would play from a guitar and many more instruments. Second was that Wayne and Celeste didnt know what to do regarding Cruz. Sure they were glad and happy that he had a passion for music and even more so talent but they themselves knew how hard and abusive the industry can be and they were not blind to their social status and the pressure could potentially crush Cruz leaving him talent and no remaining passion. Even Celeste and Wayne could get carried away with music with both of them being fanatics in their own right.
"Cruz its time for a bath!" Wayne called however there was no response. He went to the living room to see his wife watching TV on the couch. "Hey babe do you know where Cruz is?"Wayne asked. "Nah I don't I thought he was with you." Celeste said drawing her attention away from the TV getting up worry plastered on her face. Thankfully for them though nothing bad had happened to him and after a quick search they found him. That day after returning from the park Cruz had snuck into his mothers study and picked up an elementary music theory book. Even if he had technically been disobedient with sneaking in, it was worth it for his parents because Cruz had started to become more interested in music past just a surface level.
When Cruz was returning from the park he planned on playing with his new found powers however he hadn't expected his mother who was looking tired mumble "Stupid god damn 2-5-1." to which Cruz curiously asked "Whats a 2 - 5 - 1?"
"Nothing sweetie all those rhythms you hum tend to be whats called a 4-5-1 progression. Just a music theory thing you wouldn't quite understand, you might when you get older." Which perplexed Cruz even more. In his previous life he had been interested in learning music it was something he was passionate about however he had never had the time between working part time jobs and being an orphan and keeping his grades up he had a lot more obligations than he does in this life. Hence he vowed in this life subconsciously to learn, it was also the reason why he had chosen his powers.
'Maybe it'll have some sort of correlation with my powers.' There was a reason for his obsession with the 2-5-1 progression it was that when he hummed the root notes he felt his powers grow stronger it seemed like it was a type of cultivation method akin to those he had seen in the online Chinese novels he read in his previous life.
Speaking of powers, Cruz had confirmed he was indeed in Marvel he had seen Tony Stark and Justin Hammer on the news. Tony Stark looked like a mix of his comic book and MCU version. It was slightly weird like seeing Robert Downey Jrs. long lost brother.
There was nothing he could do right now though, he himself was aware of his immaturity and he would have to wait until he reached high school at least to be able to gain a clear head but until then he was stuck being a child.
"Whatcha doin buddy?" His father questioned walking in.
"Mommy talked about a 2-5-1 progression thingy and a music theory thingy and this book said music theory." Cruz replied to his father not even looking up.
"You understanding it ok?" Wayne asked with an eyebrow propped up half chuckling half serious. After all there was a huge difference between middle school to high school level fantasy books and something as complicated, vast, and developed as music theory hence it was nigh impossible for a toddler to understand.
"Yeah kind of. Daddy do you know what the difference between a scale and a key is?" Cruz asked perplexed.
Wayne almost choked at that question. Although elementary level it was still fairly advanced and something a toddler shouldn't be asking. Wayne quickly composed himself and thought best how to explain to a 4 year old the contrasts of scales vs keys.
"Do remember how me and mommy taught you how intervals work with hopscotch?" Wayne spoke.
"mhm" Cruz replied.
"Well they can be used interchangeably however…" Wayne tried to explain as best he could.
"Ooohhh. That makes sense!" Cruz said eyes lighting up in a sparkle.
"So that means they're the same thing like synonyms but not really? That seems reaalllllyyyy complicated." Cruz groaned rather adorably with a vocabulary far past his age.
"Well yes and no buddy but thats a topic for a different day. Its time to bathe and get in the bed. You remember how grumpy you go when you convince Mommy to let you stay up." Wayne said as he shook himself being caught up in a conversation about music theory.
"Its not myyyy fault." Cruz grumbled remembering how he threw an embarrassing tantrum. Hey it wasn't his fault that his pop tart broke into pieces do you know inconvenient those crumbs are?
"Sure buddy alright go get in the tub I'll be right there I need to talk to Mommy for a bit." Wayne replied.
Celeste had long entered the room without the two noticing since they were so entranced with their conversation. Cruz quickly hugged his mother before running off to the bath tub.
"What do you think? Sign him up for lessons or teach him ourselves?" Wayne asked.
"Babe you know how pressuring those teachers can be. Especially since hes our child. I may not have personally gone through it but you know first hand." Celeste replied worried.
"How about this? We teach him strictly by ourselves and when he reaches an age where he can decided for himself he decides if he wants to pursue competitions and the like." Wayne proposed.
Even though both Wayne and Celeste were experienced enough that they could match even the directors of top conservatories they were not teachers and someone specialized and who has experience teaching would be more qualified.
It wasn't a bad idea. After seeing Cruz's monster level comprehension and understanding Wayne and Celeste both knew that they needed to covet Cruz at whatever cost. Wayne knew if his family got wind they wouldn't hesitate to do whatever they could to get him in their hands and push him into lessons and different curricular, even going as far as beating him if he went against their wishes or didnt perform to further excel their social standing. They would then have to rely on Celeste's family as a protection.
"Daddy!" Cruz shrieked. Getting both Cruz and Celeste's attention.
Wayne quickly rushed to the bathroom and what he saw made him laugh in amusement Cruz had basically dumped a whole bottle of bubble soap into the water making it overflow and right now Cruz was panicking slightly.
"Bahahhahah" Wayne let out. After a tense debate with his wife this was just what he needed after being reminded of his childhood. Soon what took place thereafter was a bubble fight with Celeste joining in to. After essentially flooding the bathroom Wayne called for the maids to clean up the bathroom as he tucked in Cruz for the night. Cruz after playing a couple of 2 - 5 - 1 progressions quickly fell asleep.