Gift for 7timesfate
Author: cf33
Recipient: 7timesfate (previously known as 7timesfate)
Title: summerset
Pairing(s): Chad/Ryan, secondary Troy/Gabriella
Summary: the summer's over. things change.
Rating: PG (maybe PG-13 for the occasional swear word?)
Warning(s): nothing
Word Count: ~ 10.000
Disclaimer: All High School Musical characters herein are the property of Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.
~~~
If Ryan had made the mistake of thinking senior year would start the way junior year had ended, he would have quickly realized the wrong in that line of thought. The friendship he'd struck up with Chad over playing baseball and singing turned out to be a short-lived one.
It was a good thing, Ryan nodded to himself as he was getting ready for the first day of school, that he hadn't made any assumptions where that was concerned. He'd already expected not to hear from Chad again and he had been right: there hadn't been a single phone call. But that wasn't disappointing. He hadn't even gotten his hopes up.
"Ry-an!" Sharpay yelled from downstairs, voice high-pitched and impatient. "Are you coming or what? The engine of my car's running hot. What are you doing upstairs, you were done ten minutes ago! If you're actually jerking off in your room while I'm standing down here like some -"
"Calm down." Ryan stepped out of his room and proceeded down the stairs, rolling his eyes. "I'm there, I'm there. Let's go."
"You'd better hope so. We're going to be late, and while I have nothing against a fashionably late entrance per se, I don't want to get on the teacher's bad side on the first day of school." Sharpay gave him a sharp look. "And what happened to that cute rose outfit mom helped you pick out for specifically this occasion? Dark green, Ryan? Are we depressed today?"
"No," Ryan sighed. "Can we just go? You can yatter on in the car."
"I do not yatter, ducky."
"Shut up, Sharpay."
"You shut up. It's my car. I can talk however much I want."
Ryan slammed the front door shut in her face and decided that when they came back, he would ask mother if he could take his own car to school from now on. The silence couldn't be as deafening as Sharpay's voice.
III
Of course, Ryan wasn't usually that mean to Sharpay. He loved his sister, and he didn't mean what he said when he was in a grumpy mood. It didn't happen so often anyway. When she chose to take her lunch and sit two seats away from him at school, he sighed and pushed his lunch over to her in an attempt to make peace.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you in the car," he muttered.
"I'm sure you are," she snarked and turned her head away.
"I'm sorry I splashed you with iced tea too. I really am."
"Be glad I always have a spare dress in my car." Sharpay poked him in the chest. "Or else, I wouldn't have forgiven you for this for at least a few more hours!"
Ryan smiled at her from beneath his eyelashes. "You're the best."
"Your favourite sister," Sharpay grinned back. "Say it."
"You know you are."
Someone cleared their throat behind Ryan.
"Oh, look," Sharpay squinted up. "It's your ex-boyfriend, Ryan. He's not dead after all!"
"Sharpay," Ryan chastised, just as Chad said, "What do you mean, dead?"
"Well, you stupid ape didn't call him once," Sharpay snapped. "What do you think that means? You're a lousy boyfriend and if you were mine, I'd have dumped you after an hour."
"Sharpay!" Ryan flushed. "We're not boyfriends. We're not even friends!"
"We're not?" Chad interrupted their bickering.
Sharpay gave him an incredulous look. Ryan said, "We played one game of baseball. We hung out a bit. It didn't work out. I'm fine with that, Chad. Not everyone is compatible to be friends, and if you don't feel it, I'm very well able -"
"- wait, wait. What?"
Sharpay sighed. "He's being intentionally obtrusive to be allowed to spend more time at the clever table so he doesn't have to go back to the dumb table back there." She laid her head to the side and reconsidered. "Then again, to inject that level of subtlety and intellect into a plan might be above him." She gave Chad a sunny smile. "For now, we're giving you the benefit of the doubt."
Chad blinked and met Ryan's smirking gaze. "She just insulted me in more ways than I realized on first glance, didn't she?"
Ryan nodded with a lopsided smile on his face. "Do you want to sit down, then?"
Chad colored. "I - ah, I can't, really. My friends - but I wanted to talk to you. I thought -"
Sharpay rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack, lunch finished. "I'll leave you two to your flirting then. Jeez. Boys. There really is something wrong with your half of our species, Ryan." Then she waved her goodbye at him and left.
Chad looked after her. "Well."
"You didn't call."
"What?"
"You didn't call." Ryan shrugged. "I gave you my private number. Straight to my room. I thought you would, if you wanted to hang out sometime. You didn't. For me, the signals were clear."
"Oh."
Ryan looked at Chad, inquisitive.
"I forgot. I forgot you gave me that number. I was waiting for you to call. I thought - I didn't think you wanted to meet up, so. So I didn't work to find out how to get in touch. I thought if you wanted to, you'd -"
"Oh." Ryan blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah. Dude, you're cool. You - I like you."
"Really?"
"Yes. We can - do you want to sit at our table with us?"
"Sharpay -"
"- is gone. Just for a few minutes until lunch break's over? The others really like you, too. I'm not just saying that. Gabriella fucking loves you, and Taylor has been dying to spend some time with you ever since Gabriella started talking about you." Chad fell silent suddenly. "Well," he added. "Troy isn't a fan, to be honest. But once he realizes you're not after his girl -"
"- and why is that?" Ryan interrupted him.
"What?"
"How do you know?"
Chad looked confused. "That you're not after Gabriella?"
"That's what I'm asking."
"But." Chad frowned. "You're gay, right?"
Ryan gave him a considering look. "Seen me making out with lots of guys, have you?" he then stated dryly.
"No, but -"
"Right. No. Uhm, so have I told you, personally, that I'm attracted to guys?"
"Hey, there's no need to act so prickly, I was just -"
"- assuming. Yeah. I know. People tend to do that. You should know, what with people assuming you're nothing but a jock with no brains in your head or any thought for anything else but basketball."
"But -"
"Look, I gotta go, okay?" Ryan got up from his seat and shouldered past Chad, not wanting to be, but feeling upset anyway. It was just that he was freakin' tired of people always telling him what he was. Chad had no right to tell people anything about him. If Ryan wanted someone to know, he would tell them.
III
Chad didn't look at Ryan for the rest of their shared classes. He kept avoiding Ryan's gaze and talked with Troy or Taylor whenever there was a short break. Ryan kept his gaze steadily on his books and refused to look over as well. After all, he was still miffed. Just because he checked now and then whether Chad was looking didn't mean Chad was forgiven.
It was after school as they were on their way to Sharpay's car, Sharpay chatting to him about new nail polish she wanted to buy, that Chad caught up with Ryan finally and tugged at his backpack.
"Go ahead," Ryan told Sharpay when she opened her mouth to protest. "It'll just take a minute."
"You're driving on your own tomorrow," Sharpay huffed, but went.
"Look, I'm sorry," Chad muttered. "I asked Gabby about it, and she said I was insensitive and that I was a jerk to you. So I'm apologizing. Really, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I just thought - I wanted to let you know that if you were gay, I wouldn't mind. I don't care. I like you, as a friend. I liked spending time with you in the summer. I like you enough to bear with your sister as she's always hanging around you. So…"
Ryan bit his lip. "Apology accepted," he finally said. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to be touchy about it."
Chad nodded. "So. Uhm, do you want to hang out tonight or what?"
Ryan's eyebrows went up. "Really?"
"Yeah. I'd invite you for Saturday, but that's basketball day and we're playing, you know, inter-school game, and I know you're not into basketball, so I thought today; it - hm, I don't know. We could just get some Chinese and watch a movie or something. Maybe Troy and some of the others will come over, but probably, Troy's taking out Gabriella -"
"You're not with Taylor?" Ryan asked carefully.
"We hang out sometimes," Chad admitted. "We tried the boyfriend-girlfriend thing, but, well. It wasn't really for us. We're too alike. We're good as friends. I think - well, to be honest, I think she's seeing someone. She keeps mentioning a certain Don to me, like she's checking if I'm okay with it."
Ryan snorted. "Girls."
"Honestly," Chad laughed along. "They're so weird."
"If you're sure, I'll come," Ryan offered.
Chad nodded. "Great. Seven? Can you -"
"I have a car," Ryan nodded. "I'll just - we'll see how it goes. Right now, I gotta go, though, Sharpay -"
"Yeah, I know, go. See you!"
Ryan waved and left for the car.
III
The thing was, Ryan had never been on a date before. Back in the Little League times, he'd had teammates he'd hang out with, but that was just a lot of friends in one place, drinking coke and eating chips en masse. This was different, Ryan thought. This was one-on-one, and it made him shiver in anticipation.
He told his mom where he was going during their yoga session and she seemed quite happy for him, touching his neck and bouncing on the balls of her feet as he mentioned who it was he was seeing; she remembered Chad from the summer and called him handsome. Ryan grinned when she said it, like it was an accomplishment.
"Call when you decide to stay over, okay?" she added for good measure when Ryan finished and grabbed his things to go shower.
He yelped. "I'm not going to sleep over at his!"
"Of course not, ducky," she smiled. "But best be prepared. Just call, all right? Otherwise, I'll worry."
And obviously, she was right. The possibility was there. It just... didn't seem very likely.
At seven on the dot, Ryan's car drove up before Chad's house. It was a nice little suburban building with white-painted walls and a pretty garden up front. It certainly wasn't a palace, but Ryan liked it. It wasn't pompous and it fit right in, on this street. It even had a basketball field drawn on the ground before the garage, and a ball lying by the foot of the hoop.
Chad opened the door before Ryan could ring the doorbell. He had a huge grin on his face. "We're on our own as soon as mom goes to visit her best friend down the street," he announced as he led Ryan in, "but she made us dinner, because we're boys and we can't cook." Ryan opened his mouth, but Chad shook his head. "Don't argue with the mom. Seriously."
"Okay," Ryan said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a little wrapped box. "I have a present" He smiled. "For your mom. For the trouble and all that."
Chad shook his head. "Dude -"
"No. Really, it's just chocolates, but -"
"Mom!" Chad yelled and pushed Ryan through a door and into the kitchen. "Ryan's here."
"I heard." The short, dark-skinned woman standing by a plate stacked with pieces of home-made pizza looked up and gave Ryan a quick smile. "Hello. Ryan, right?"
"Yes. Thanks for having me over, Mrs. Danforth." Ryan felt a bit silly handing his present over, but his mom had said it was the polite thing to do when you were invited home by someone. He'd never really thought about it, but he figured some compensation was in order.
"That really wasn't necessary," Mrs. Danforth said, but she was smiling, pleased. "Now, I'll leave you boys to your plans for tonight. I still have to change and I'll be running late if I don't hurry up. Chad, you know where everything is -"
"I know, I know. Go, get dressed and ready, mom, we can keep ourselves entertained."
Ryan grinned and watched Chad's mother vanish through the door and down the hallway.
"And now for the food."
III
After the pizza, they watched Sleepy Hollow on DVD in Chad's room, which turned out to be the converted attic. The walls were askew and it was very warm, but it was also spacious and light and they could see the sun set behind the houses in the west.
"This is really nice," Ryan commented somewhere between lusting after Johnny Depp and getting scared to hell and back. "I like your room. It's very comfortable." Chad hummed and grabbed for more chips. Ryan grinned to himself and jotted down in his mental notebook that Chad was definitely not a talker during movies.
When the end credits rolled, they realized it was pitch black outside, that rain was hammering down upon roof and windows like sizzling eggs, and that it had grown much colder in the room.
"Is that a thunderstorm?" Ryan asked, squinting out the window to see if there was lightning.
"Why?" Chad grinned and went to turn on the lights. "Scared?"
"No." Ryan snorted. "I like thunderstorms. When we were kids, Sharpay used to crawl into my bed when there was one, and we'd cuddle up together and if we couldn't sleep still, we'd go to our parents' room." He bit his lip. "That was back when our parents were still sleeping in the same room, though."
"Oh." Chad gave him a cautious look. "So your parents are -"
"They're friends," Ryan shrugged. "But they haven't been living like a married couple for a few years now. They have different interests. We eat together, though, and we're like a family, mostly. It's just. Well, you know."
Chad nodded. "Yeah. My dad moved out when I was eleven. There were a few huge fights and whatnot. He's living with a younger woman now over in New York, he's working in a new firm branch that settled there. I get to visit him sometimes. My mom's doing well for herself, though. She wanted to stay here after the divorce got through, and she got to keep the house, and she's got friends here..."
"I wondered what happened to your dad," Ryan smiled.
"You did?"
"Yeah, when we were doing that project two years ago, remember? That family tree thing. You wrote a lot about most people except your dad."
"Yeah, well. There's not much to say about him." Chad cleared his throat. "What do you wanna do now? Anything you had in mind, specifically?"
"Don't you have to go to sleep?" Ryan asked. "It's a school night and all."
"Oh, yeah." Chad shrugged. "I get by on six hours a night, don't worry. It's not even midnight yet. We have time for another movie, or, I don't know. We can play some computer games or something."
"Are you sure this is okay?" Ryan looked back to the window. "I had a lot of fun tonight, but maybe -"
"Ryan, are you gay?"
Ryan's head whipped around. Surprised, he stared at Chad. "Excuse me?"
Chad shrugged. "You told me not to assume. You never said one way or the other. I'm curious. You can't blame me for wanting to know."
"Really?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.
"Don't get mad, okay?"
"I'm not mad."
"You look like you're going to choke me to death any minute now. That's mad in my book." Chad shrugged. "Why does that question rattle you so much, anyway? It's just a question."
"Is it one you ask everyone?" Ryan demanded rather sharply.
Chad shrugged. "If you mean whether I've asked Troy - I did, actually. When we hit puberty and stuff. And I only didn't ask Taylor because she's been with a couple of guys; Zeke almost punched me in the face, now that you mention it. But since he's been in love with Sharpay for over a year now, I didn't push my luck a second time."
Ryan was staring at him, open-mouthed.
"What?" Chad asked. "I told you. I'm a curious guy."
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because it's interesting. I ask people who are my friends these kinds of things because I want to know more about them."
"You are so strange," Ryan concluded. He shook his head. "What about you? Are you gay, then?"
Chad nodded, then shook his head, and nodded again. "I like boys," he finally said. "I like girls, too. I liked being with Taylor a lot. We didn't break up because I wasn't into it or anything like that. But yeah. I've been with one guy before. It was fun."
Ryan blinked. "Really?"
Chad nodded. "He was older, though. Two years ago. He was a senior back then. It was just a few months."
"A few months?" Ryan gaped.
"Don't tell me you have a problem with it now," Chad stared. "That would be just weird."
"I don't. I really - I was just surprised. I mean." Ryan felt himself flush. "I jump at you like that because I don't really know. I haven't really been with anyone before. So."
"Really?" Chad gave him a look. "You haven't ever -?"
"Don't give me that crap, I'm only seventeen. It's not like I'm in a hurry or anything." Ryan glared. "You can stop looking incredulous."
"I'm not, I'm not," Chad raised his hands. "Geez. To think just a second ago, you were the one blushing about it. No need to get defensive."
"I'm not defensive. I'm being forceful about my point," Ryan huffed, puffing out his cheeks. "What can I say. I'm not a slut."
"Hey!" Chad punched his shoulder. "I'm not a slut either!"
Ryan smirked. "You totally are."
"Am not!"
“There's no need to get defensive, Chad," Ryan imitated his speech, putting up quotation marks with his fingers.
Chad stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, because that's mature," Ryan snorted.
"As mature as you calling me a slut," Chad smiled. He grabbed for a handful of chips, and they settled down again. Then Chad cleared his throat again. "Uhm. But you are attracted to -?"
Ryan didn't look at him. "Boys, mostly, yeah."
"Oh. Okay."
"Mm-hm."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, with the rain still pounding on the roof just above their heads, splashing against the window and then Ryan sat up. "I think I'd better go."
"You don't have to -"
"I really do."
Chad sighed. "Okay. I didn't mean for things to get awkward, though."
"They're not. It's just getting late and my mom'll be worried if I don't get home soon. She always stays up late waiting." Ryan gave him a small smile. "It's not awkward."
"Does that mean you're coming to the basketball game Saturday then?" Chad grinned, giving him a hopeful look.
Ryan considered. "Actually, it's not like I have anything else to do this Saturday. And I haven't ever seen you guys play before, so maybe I should. Hopefully, it won't bore me to death."
"Because that would be a huge loss."
"Turn down the sarcasm, Danforth," Ryan warned. "I might change my mind."
"You're even invited to the after-party. It's here, at my place, so that won't be a problem."
"After-party, huh? With all your jock-friends? How could I possibly say no to that..."
Chad grinned winningly. "I know."
III
Sharpay was disgusted when he told her his Saturday afternoon plans. Her facial expression was comical to a degree that made Ryan want to sign her up for a musical that would require it immediately. Unfortunately, the high-pitched screaming that went with it wasn't so much fun.
"He's a... a brute!" she insisted. "He has no sense of delicacy! He won't treat you right! He's not Evans boyfriend material!"
"You would know," Ryan commented, giving her a sunny smile.
"Lincoln was a mistake," Sharpay admitted. "He was a very... flawed individual. Lonely, too. I was not the right person for him, nor was he for me. But at least, he wasn't engaging in any filthy, sweaty, hairy sports!"
"It's just basketball, Sharpay," Ryan tried.
"That is what you always say, you complete and utter idiot!" Sharpay cried out. "'It's just a swing, Sharpay', 'It's just fire, Sharpay', 'It's just fucking two steps, Sharpay'. You disgust me! You can never keep yourself out of trouble. You are my twin brother! Is that why I got all the brains in this family? Ry-an! Stop running away from me!"
"I'm not letting you insult me," Ryan said coolly, walking up the stairs towards his room to slam another door in her face.
"You're being unreasonable. I tried talking you off that ledge soothingly. It didn't work the first time. I had to get heavier weaponry. Deal with it!"
"No." Ryan turned around, grasped her shoulders and said, "I will do whatever I want to do Saturday. You deal with it."
Sharpay stared him in the eyes, huge and pitiful and with long eyelashes that kept fluttering like she was going to break out in tears, then she gave a big sigh and said, "Fine. It's your funeral."
"It's not a funeral, Sharpay. It's a basketball game."
"It's Chad Danforth." Sharpay glared. "And I know you. You like your pretty-boys sweaty to look at. Not to actually touch!"
"We're just friends," Ryan said.
"Oh, really? Because yesterday you weren’t friends. Not boyfriends either. Because he forgot about you for the rest of the summer."
"It was a mix-up."
"He's unreliable. Let it go."
"He's honest. And curious. He has a mind on his own. He's funny. Why don't you like him?"
Sharpay sucked in air.
Ryan gave her a blank look. "See? That's what I thought. You're just jealous. Get over yourself. It's just a game."
Sharpay glared, turned around and rushed down the stairs. She looked really upset. Ryan hadn't wanted to do that, but she constantly pushed his buttons. He didn't know how to make her stop without hurting her. It wasn't something that was done easily. He sighed as he watched her back vanish out of his sight and realized he would have to fix that, sooner or later.
Then he heard an engine and realized that Sharpay really had been serious about making him take his own car to school. He groaned. He was going to be late, he just knew it.
III
Driving himself made Ryan more aware of his surroundings than sitting by Sharpay's side had ever done, and as he cruised down the streets towards the school, he realized for the first time that every day on his way to high school, he actually passed Chad's house only by a few streets' distance. He'd never noticed before, mainly, he then realized, because he had had no idea the other boy lived in this area, much less that he even existed outside the bubble that was 'popular sports kids at school’.
He parked the car near the school and ran to class, didn't manage to arrive on time but did manage to charm the teacher into skipping punishment for it. After all the excitement in the early morning, Ryan was very glad when the bell for lunch break finally rang. An idea had been forming in his mind and it didn't want to let go, and he knew he would need to talk it over before he could implement it. He caught up with Chad in the hallway on their way to their lockers.
"Hey, Ryan," Chad greeted him with a smile as they walked down the hallway side by side.
"Look, this might come out of nowhere," Ryan got straight to the point, "but Sharpay's kicked me out of her car for the time being."
"And you need the timetables for the busses?" Chad grinned.
"No, duh," Ryan rolled his eyes. "I have to drive my own car to school."
Chad huffed. "Of course. What the hell else."
"Oy," Ryan smirked. "Jealousy doesn't become you."
"Some people standing next to me don't know when to shut their mouth on a topic," Chad sing-songed.
"Hey, I'm trying to do a good thing here, okay? No mocking. Look, I noticed I drive by, like, three streets away from your house every day. I was wondering if you wanted me to pick you up in the morning and back home afternoon. It would save you on bus fare, and it's no trouble for me either way."
"What?" Chad blinked. "Wait, really? You'd do that?"
Ryan shrugged. "It's no big deal. Plus I don't have to spend fifteen minutes on my own in the car, and you can always help me find a parking spot."
"Sounds great," Chad agreed. "I can come up to the main -"
"No, no. Just... be outside your house half past every morning. I'll drive by. We'll be a bit early for classes, but I figure that's a good thing."
"Yeah." Chad grinned. "You were late today. Sleep well?"
"Hah. Funny. I slept fine and long enough. I had a fight with Sharpay, that's all."
"Oh. Okay. But we're still on for Saturday, right?" Chad asked, turning towards his locker.
"I'm coming to watch, sure," Ryan smiled, and opened his own to exchange some books and lock some things in. "I'm actually looking forward to it, by now."
"You better," Chad sent him a lopsided smile back. "We'll rock that game."
III
Ryan drove Chad home after school that day, a clinical trial of sorts. They fooled around the whole way, mocked other students' cars, talked about the baseball games and Chad's after-party Saturday. All in all, Ryan thought it went very well.
He had a strange feeling in his stomach, almost like dread, that something was going to go horribly wrong if he kept it up, but it was nonsense because what could go wrong, really? The worst that could happen was that Chad went back to ignoring him a few days later, and while that would certainly be a big disappointment and possibly hurt, Ryan was under no illusion that their friendship would last forever. He hoped, yes. He wasn't stupid, though, or careless.
The next few days passed quickly; Chad didn't change his demeanor, nor did he give any indication that he didn't want to be friends. He did, however, stay at his friends' table during lunch, and Ryan stayed with Sharpay, even though she grew more uncomfortable and bitchy with every passing day. Ryan would have moved over to their table - Chad and even Gabriella had asked him to come, and bring Sharpay if she wanted to join them - but Troy was still looking at him with all the consideration given to a threat, and Sharpay had no inclination to go anywhere near any other students with her lunch, almost like they were contagious.
They had another fight about that on Thursday, and one more on Friday, when Chad sat down close to Ryan to arrange Saturdays' schedule.
"I just don't get why you have to be so chummy with him all of a sudden," she huffed. "You never cared about him or basketball before."
"I like him," Ryan shrugged. "We're friends. I haven't had a real friend in a while. Not since the Little League."
"Steven wasn't your friend," Sharpay pointed out. "He was a whiny little bitch and really -"
"- he was fine. He was just afraid. You can't blame a person for being scared of six foot tall baseball players."
"Why Danforth, though?" Sharpay sighed. "Of all people."
"Because he's nice."
Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "Nice enough to exchange shirts with you in the locker rooms, huh? Don't look so surprised, little brother, I have eyes and ears everywhere. Is it about that? I didn't ask before because I was a hundred percent certain you would have told me if something had happened, but now I wonder. Did you two fuck, then?"
"What?" Ryan glared. "We didn't! We swapped shirts! People do that all the time!"
"Not with you, they don't. You don't even touch most people when they're sweaty, or their clothes when they've worn them for more than five minutes."
"That's not true."
"Because I haven't known you for seventeen years," Sharpay said sarcastically. "Stuff it, Ryan. If I find out you've slept with him and didn't tell me, I won't forgive you for the rest of your life." She stood up and grabbed her backpack. "I have class to go to."
"Sharpay," Ryan called after her. "I swear -"
She just waved him off.
Ryan sighed and went back to his lunch, picking at the food unenthusiastically. He hated fighting with her, especially when she was wrong. She never wanted to admit to being wrong.
III
Ryan spent Saturday stressing about what to wear. He dressed in four different costumes and cloth combinations, threw off six hats of various colors and shapes and finally dove into the far back of his closet for his in-a-pinch spare outfit: a pair of tight, but not too tight jeans and an old baseball t-shirt that was a size too small, but stretched nicely across his chest. He found a simple, brown hat to go with it and put it on.
There were no sparkles. Ryan thought he looked quite manly and scruffy and non-gay in it. He knew he shouldn't care, but he did care. He cared a lot. He didn't want to embarrass Chad. He knew that Chad didn't give a shit about what he looked like, but Ryan still felt like he owed something. This was a sport that didn't accept boys like him. The other players - well, he didn't know them. They could be cool for all he knew, but they could also judge Chad for inviting a total fairy and Ryan didn't want that. He wanted Chad to be able to be himself tonight, to have fun with his friends and not have to stand up for Ryan because Ryan had decided to bring the gay threat into men's sport.
He was glad he managed to avoid Sharpay, at least, who at this time on Saturdays was always getting manicured (usually with Ryan, and she was snippy because he'd blown her off) but he didn't fare so well with his mom. She was crossing the entrance hall when he came downstairs.
"Oh, Ryan," she said, her eyes widening. "You look - different. Are you going out?"
"Yes. Chad - uhm. Yes. I'm going out. That's okay, right?"
"Are you staying out long?"
"Maybe. I don't know yet. I have my cell phone. I'll call about coming home."
"Be good, Ryan, all right?" She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him into a short hug. "And be careful."
"I am careful. Jeez. It's just Chad and a few buddies of his. It's not a hooligans’ get-together."
"I know," his mother said and brushed over his hair by his forehead. "You look different. That's all I'm saying."
Ryan nodded, freed himself and walked towards the door. Only when he was unlocking the car to leave, still early for the actual game, he realized she hadn't called him ducky once. He thought that must mean something, but he wasn't sure what.
III
If he happened to yawn a lot during the game, it had to be, Ryan figured, because of the lack of oxygen. The game was only a little boring. The crowd was very enthusiastic and supportive and there were quite a few nice moves throughout the game, but mainly, Ryan just wasn't too interested in the game itself. He watched for the fluid grace of bodies merging together, fighting for the ball, for the sight of glistening upper arms, and chests rubbing up against backs, hips touching, and for the fire of passion on the players' faces.
His eyes kept moving over to Chad, who was playing his best game yet, over his naked arms and legs hungrily, his pretty cheek-bones as he grinned when someone from his team said something to him. That was the real show, for Ryan.
He knew the score; that was the most important thing. Nobody had to know what he had come for, even though Ryan felt a bit dirty admitting to himself that he was shamelessly lusting after Chad so suddenly. They were supposed to be friends. It felt foolish to put that in jeopardy just because his hormones had decided to kick in now and his body was acting up, demanding sex. Lots of hot, passionate, wild and playful sex, possibly with Chad. But nobody had to hear about that. They certainly wouldn't from him.
Chad's team won, barely, and Ryan smiled at all the spectators jumping off their seats screaming and cheering and started walking out of the main hall into the hallways of the sports building early so the crowd wouldn't bury him under their fast exit that would, no question, follow soon.
It was there that Chad found him when his team left the main event to have a shower and get ready for the after-party. "Guys," he said, grinning, and waved Ryan over. "This is Ryan. He's a good buddy of mine. Ryan, meet the team."
Ryan raised his hand in general greeting, smiled and waited for Troy to add a comment, because he looked like he was dying to say something. But Troy just shrugged at him and raised an eyebrow at Chad.
"I'm Will," one of the boys introduced himself, sticking out his hand. Ryan shook it uncertainly, and waited for the other shoe to drop.
"How did you like the game, man?" Will asked. He pulled Ryan aside, expression friendly. He was very nice-looking, huge blue eyes and blonde hair cropped short. "You interested in basketball?"
"No," Ryan admitted. "Chad talked me into coming today."
The boys' smile turned a little mean at the comment. "Not into sports, are we?" he teased.
Ryan blinked, taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"Well, you don't really look like you'd be a huge sports fan, if you catch my meaning."
"If you're referring to the well-known fact that I like doing musicals and theater work, you're a bit late on track," Ryan said icily. "Though I would bet you my car that I could beat your skinny ass on the baseball diamond any day."
"Whoa, whoa, guys." Chad interrupted them by squeezing between them and grabbing Ryan's arm. "Can't leave you alone for two seconds without you doing the bigger-than-yours thing?" He glared at Will. "Seriously."
"What are you looking at me for?" Will shrugged. "I was just having a talk. He thought I was... inferring things." He smirked at Ryan.
"Shut up, man." Chad, Ryan and Will turned around; Ryan stared at Troy, surprised. The other guys from the team were watching on, some curious, some apprehensive, others amused. Troy shrugged. "What? We need to get going. I thought your mom was making lasagna for us."
The other boys all exchanged grins and started cheering and hooraying at the thought of food. Quickly, the little crowd dissipated and one after the other they vanished into the changing rooms off the hallway, shouldering past each other and bumping and mock-punching and talking in loud, jubilating voices. Ryan was forgotten, and so were Will's unseemly remarks.
"That went well," Ryan commented idly, waiting for Chad to follow his teammates.
"Sorry about that," Chad sighed. "Will's an ass. He just always needs to get the attention, and since he didn't shoot many hoops tonight..."
"Yeah, well." Ryan shrugged. "Look, if you don't want me there tonight, it's fine. I'm not on the team. I understand."
"Oh, no, don't even," Chad grinned. "Most of the guys are bringing their girlfriends anyway." Ryan opened his mouth, so Chad flushed and hurried on, "Not that you're my girlfriend. Some bring friends, too. And Gabriella will be there, so it's not like it will be all basketball or anything."
"Was she here?" Ryan asked with renewed interest, glancing over towards the exit to see if she'd been in the throng of those who had already left the building to go outside.
"Probably not," Chad replied. "She had a thing tonight with her mother. But once that's done, she's definitely coming over to my house. Her and Taylor."
"Cool," Ryan grinned. "Okay. Then go get cleaned up and whatever, I'll be waiting outside by my car. I can take like, four more people, if you need a ride over."
"I think the Coach will be driving most of us over, but yeah, sure. I'll definitely drive with you." Chad grinned back. "Though maybe you should ease off on the beaming a bit when it comes to Gabriella," he added. "People might get ideas."
Ryan raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment on the obvious, going for the subtler reproach in the words instead. "In my experience, people always keep to the idea they're convinced is the truth anyway, no matter whether you do something to help them along or cut back so they stop thinking it. Everything's proof for those people. So, you know."
"Right." Chad gave him a small smile. "I'll tell Troy that."
Ryan scoffed, but inwardly, he did wince. If there was one person he better not alienate too much, it was probably Troy. Chad might go against the grain where classmates or even teammates were concerned, but a best friend was another thing entirely.
III
"I'm sorry about - a lot of things some of the guys said tonight," Chad apologized when he managed to catch Ryan putting away things into the dishwasher in the kitchen after most of the crowd had slowly dissipated after midnight. A few people were still lying around who were probably going to spend the night on the couch in the living room as well as the parts of the floor that were covered with carpet. "And you don't need to do that," he added. "I'll clean up tomorrow."
"It's no big deal," Ryan shrugged. "I know you guys think just because we have help at home I'm unable to do things with my own two hands, but -"
"No. No, I wasn't implying you weren't able to do simple work," Chad interrupted quickly. "I meant what I said. It's late. I'll clean up tomorrow."
"Oh." Ryan felt himself flush. "I'm sorry. It's just that a lot of things -"
"I know. I - I am really sorry about the guys."
"It's okay." Ryan shrugged. "It's the whole trying to understand what they're implying that gets my hackles up. The little shots at my masculinity... well. Let's just say I've heard much worse."
"Don't let them get to you." Chad touched his shoulder. "You have no idea the way they needled Troy when he first joined the team-or me for that matter. It's just... the team's way to establish things. If you hold out, they'll accept you, don't worry."
Ryan gave him a wry grin. "You keep forgetting I'm not even on the team. Or trying to get there."
Chad looked sheepish for a second. "You're right. It's just... you're a great guy. I want the other guys to realize that and for you to get some friends and things."
"Thanks." Ryan colored. "That's nice of you to say, and I appreciate the effort. It's just that while I don't tolerate slander, this is really tame, and it's not like I actually care what they think of me, personally. I'm not ignorant about things at school. Nobody's going to say anything to my face because I live in a castle and my dad could afford to give me a private jet for my birthday, but I know what they call me behind my back."
"We don't -"
"It's okay." Ryan shrugged. "Like I said, I don't care."
Shamefaced, Chad nodded. "So... but other than that, how did you like it?"
"The game?" Ryan smiled. "It was good. More entertaining than I thought it would be. A lot of useless running around, but-you know. Considering it's a game whose bigger aim it is to put a ball through hoops, I'd say it was interesting enough."
Chad smiled back. "So you'll be coming to watch more often?"
For a second, Ryan considered what to say. He didn't want to disappoint, especially since Chad seemed eager to recruit new followers and fans, but on the other hand, he didn't want to spend his next fifty Saturdays in smelly sport halls, watching guys run up and down, dribbling a ball. "If I have time," he finally compromised. "Why not?"
"Great." Chad thumped his back and helped him put the rest of the plates and glasses into the dishwasher. It took them a good five minutes, and when they were finished, they leaned against the counter in silent companionship, looking at the kitchen that suddenly looked a lot cleaner.
"Still a bit work to do here," Ryan commented. "But at least, your mom's not gonna die of a heart-attack when she comes down tomorrow."
Chad snorted. "She has seen a lot worse than this." He turned a bit and gave Ryan a considering look. "You wanna stay the night? It's late and you shouldn't be driving tired."
"And I've had two beers," Ryan reminded him. "I wouldn't drive home like that. I'd probably ring my mom to pick me up or call a taxi."
"No, we can't have that." Chad grabbed his upper arm and pulled. "C'mon. The living room's full, but we can pull out the couch in my room. Troy usually sleeps on it, but he managed to snag my sister's bed with Gabriella while the sis is out, so it's all ours."
"You want me sleeping on a couch?" Ryan grinned, mock-disgusted.
Chad gave him a smirk. "You wanna sleep in my bed, tiger? Aren't we moving a bit fast?"
And there was that flip of his stomach again, as Ryan considered the words, and finally just shook his head, resigned. "I guess if you put it like that, I'll take whatever's available. As long as I won't have to share with anyone with grabby hands."
Chad's smirk widened. "No grabby hands. Promise."
Ryan laughed quietly.
III
Ryan woke up early in the morning; it was just past seven when he glanced at his watch. With a little groan he fell back onto the rather comfortable couch and put his arm beneath his head, blinking; too early to get up on a Sunday morning.
Then he realized with a shock that he hadn't called home that he was staying overnight. His mom was gonna kill him. Also, his clothes were messy and didn't smell as nice as the evening before, and everything was wrinkled and where had he put his hat?
Another groan had him up and sitting on the edge of the bed, sighing. Maybe it wasn't too early to get started, after all. He rubbed his eyes, looked around and saw the bed. With Chad in it. Who had gotten rid of his shirt, before going to bed, and apparently liked to sleep with as little clothes as possible. Ryan fought a blush and couldn't quite make it stay down.
Chad had a really nice chest, all smooth and defined. There was a little breeze from the door that was open a crack and his nipples were hard, goosebumps on his arms. The cover only reached above his navel.
Ryan bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but it was too tempting, and Chad looked really - there was no other word for it - pretty when he was sleeping. Of course, he slept with his mouth open, and Ryan would make fun of him for months to come about how he drooled, but his eyelashes fluttered a bit with every shallow breath and his lips were bright red and a little wet where his tongue kept flickering out. With a smile, Ryan leaned down, touched Chad's collarbone with his fingers while he pushed his hair from his forehead with his left and pressed a little kiss on it. Chad didn't wake up.
Ryan straightened his back, stood and looked around for his hat.
III
Gabriella was the only other person awake when he entered the kitchen. A quick look into the living room had showed him that the other boys were still fast asleep, two of them snoring beneath their breaths.
"Morning," she laughed at him, standing up from her seat and her coffee to fetch him a cup of his own, "You hungry?"
"Not especially," Ryan admitted. "I could stand a coffee, though."
"Great. I made more than enough." She touched his arm as she passed him and grabbed the pot, a cup, filled it, "Black?"
"Mm-hm. How did you know?"
"I think I saw you drinking some in the summer. Must have been a type of unconscious information processing."
Ryan grinned. "Geek."
"Look who understood what I said."
"Touché."
Gabriella burst out laughing. "You didn't just say that."
Ryan felt himself flush. "What?"
"’Touché?’"
"Shut up." He took a sip of his drink to cover his embarrassment.
"It's not weird," Gabriella touched his hand. "Or only a little."
"You're too nice." Ryan rolled his eyes. "What are you even still doing here?"
"Uhm, I just woke up, duh. I'm gonna leave in a bit."
"Yeah. Me too." Ryan felt guilty about leaving so early and not helping to clean up, but his parents had to be worrying already and sending them a text message now wouldn't help matters. He was probably lucky if Sharpay hadn't burned his whole hat collection.
"I didn't know you were into sports like basketball," Gabriella said, smiling. "Are you going to abandon the dancing and go play with Chad now?"
Ryan glared. "Funny."
Gabriella took his hand. "Look. It's not like you have no chance at all. He likes you a lot. A lot lot. He did invite you here, after all."
"Twice," Ryan mumbled.
"I'm still holding you to that teaching me some new steps promise, though," Gabriella told him, and twirled a bit, still holding on, laughing. "Because I really like you, too."
Ryan opened his mouth to reply that she shouldn't say stuff like that, when there was movement and someone behind them cleared their throat. Ryan winced. Of course, Troy would be up now and walk in at exactly the wrong moment. As always, Murphy’s law didn't disappoint.
"Morning, Troy," Gabriella smiled, oblivious to the tension, and waltzed over, letting go of Ryan's hand to give Troy a small kiss and offer coffee. "You look like you might need some," she added.
"I don't wanna know," Ryan declared.
Gabriella winked at him. "Spoilsport."
Troy's glare didn't exactly improve over that exchange, on the opposite. He grumbled a "Morning," and leaned back against a chair, watching Ryan suspiciously. He didn't sit down.
"What?" Ryan finally sighed.
Gabriella looked up from pouring the coffee and glanced at Troy. "He's right, you know? Why are you scowling at him like that? It's not like we -"
"He's flirting with you," Troy ground out, accusing. "He's constantly chatting you up and trying to - to - to I don't know what!"
"Oh, he's not!" Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"Then why is it that he's always touching you when I see the two of you together?"
Ryan opened his mouth, but Gabriella was faster. "Actually," she said, "I like to touch him because he touches and handles people, especially girls, with care." She glanced at Ryan with a sunny smile. "You're very popular with the girls because of that, in case you want to know."
"I don't." Ryan held his hands up. "I really don't, and it's not intentional and I don't mean to cause any trouble!"
Troy's glare was murderous now. "I don't care what other girls say," he muttered at Gabriella. "I care that you hang out with him."
Ryan sighed. "I swear I'm not trying to steal her away."
"It doesn't look that way to me!"
"Troy!" Gabriella warned.
Ryan rolled his eyes again, put down his cup after a last sip and closed in on Troy, who didn't budge, just looked at Ryan. Ryan stopped a few inches before they touched, put his hands to his hips and said, "I don't like Gabriella that way. That might or might not be, not that it's any business of yours, because I find Chad a whole deal more attractive in general." He turned to Gabriella. "Not that you're not beautiful."
Gabriella beamed. "Thanks."
Troy pushed at his chest and forced him out of his personal space. "So you're gay?"
"Like I said," Ryan shrugged. "Really none of your business.”
When Troy wanted to say something else, he just turned and said, "I gotta go home. Bye, Gabriella. Bye, Troy." He gave her a wave and left.
III
Sharpay was waiting in his room when Ryan got back, lying on his bed under his covers, clutching his pillow.
"Sharpay," he said softly.
She looked up. "Oh. Hey, you're back."
"Yeah. Sorry I got back so late. I didn't mean to worry you."
Sharpay sat up, still holding his pillow. "Did you fuck him?"
"What?"
"Chad. Did you -"
"No!" Ryan shook his head, sat down beside her and forced her to lie back down, curling around her, sighing into her hair. "I swear I didn't. I like him, okay? I admit it; I'd like him to be my boyfriend. But I never even kissed him. Not even back then with the shirt-swapping. I would have told you if I planned to sleep with someone. You know me. I even told you every time I went out with the guys in Rhode Island, despite you clutching your ears and not wanting to know."
"Yeah." Sharpay gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I remember that. I'm sorry for being a complete bitch, Ryan. I'm just - jealous, I guess."
Ryan smiled. "I know. There's no need to be. We'll still spend more time together than you can really stand me. I promise."
"Good." Sharpay pushed her nose into the space between his shoulder and chin and grinned. "I have scheduled massages for today and a movie-afternoon with lots of popcorn and potato chips. And then, I'm gonna paint your nails hot red with my new nail polish -"
"You are not!" Ryan protested and then started shrieking when she proceeded to tickle him into submission.
III
Chad called after the massage, but before Sharpay burst into his room to get him to go down into the den where they had their big screen. Ryan was a little surprised.
"Can we talk?" Chad asked after Ryan picked up.
"Now?"
"Yeah, you left totally early. I thought we would get to have breakfast together and all that."
"Sorry." Ryan sighed. "I had to go home. I didn't even tell anyone I was staying over at your place."
"So - can you come over?"
"No. I promised Sharpay this day is hers." Ryan tried not to sound too apologetic. They were friends, but nothing more. It wouldn't do, he told himself, to sound like a needy girlfriend.
"Oh. Okay." Chad was silent for a second and then asked, "Are you still picking me up tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course!"
"Okay."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Uhm. I thought you were maybe mad at me or something."
"No. Do I have reason to?"
Chad didn't reply, and Sharpay knocked before entering his room. "Are you coming? Den's all set up."
"I'm coming," Ryan grinned. "One second." He turned back to the phone. "I'm sorry, I gotta go. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Have fun," Chad replied. He didn't sound mad at all, either, so Ryan wondered what the hell was going on. He shook his head a little and said, "Thanks. See you," and hung up.
Sharpay grabbed his arm and pulled him off his bed. "Let's go!" she beamed. "I even got Troy."
"I hate -"
"It's Brad Pitt! I have to get your mind off Danforth!"
Ryan groaned. "With a movie named Troy? Sharpay, think!"
Sharpay stopped and reconsidered. "You're right. Maybe we should go with Transformers. You like that Shia guy, right?"
Ryan colored. "Shut up."
Sharpay yowled. "Transformers it is!"
III
The ride in the car was awkward and Ryan had no idea why. He searched for something to say but apart from the morning greetings, he had nothing. Chad seemed to be having similar problems. He cleared his throat. Ryan shifted uncomfortably.
"This is... awkward," Chad finally commented.
"Yeah, good thing the ride's only a few more minutes," Ryan tried to joke.
"We're early."
"Mm-hm. I know."
They parked, but when Ryan wanted to get out of the car, Chad grasped his arm and held him back. "We have twenty more minutes, right?"
"About… yeah." Ryan sat back and turned to him. "Is something wrong?"
"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Chad gave him a searching look. "You've been... distant, since Saturday."
"I'm fine," Ryan insisted. "Seriously, I have no idea why things are so strange. I thought I did something that freaked you out. Or maybe, I don't know. Some of your teammates said something about not liking me. I'd understand. I mean, they're your team. I get that their opinion is important to you."
"This is about Troy, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Well, Troy told me -" Chad looked up at his face and fell silent, expression guilty. "You don't know."
"No. What did he tell you?" Ryan swallowed. He'd just thrown his crush on Chad out there to get Troy off his back, but he hadn't thought Troy would actually blurt it out for everyone to know. He'd thought it was understood that this was the kind of thing you didn't share with anyone else, especially since he'd emphasized it was none of Troy's business as long as Ryan wasn't after Gabriella.
"Well, he... uhm." Chad grinned sheepishly to overplay the embarrassment. "Don't be mad at him, he meant well. He just... uhm, Well. He told me what you said. About liking me."
"Did he." Ryan felt hoarse. "I... didn't mean for him to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not like it's so serious and I knew it would make things weird and if people find out, nobody is ever going to want to share changing rooms with me again, not that that's a big loss because most guys in our classes are complete morons. But," Ryan squinted. "He didn't tell everyone I'm gay, did he?"
"No. No, just me." Chad shook his head decidedly. Then a quick grin lit up his face. "Which was when I told him that he didn't need to be freaked about you being after my ass, because I kind of like the thought." He reddened a bit, hardly visible against his dark skin. "A lot."
Ryan stared open-mouthed. "What?"
"Troy said the same thing," Chad grinned.
"We're eloquent people," Ryan dead-panned.
Chad's grin slipped. "I'm serious. Was he lying?"
"Ah... no." Ryan shrugged. "I - I do think you're hot. And who wouldn't? In case you haven't noticed, you are kind of hot."
"I know." The grin was back. "I like you, too."
Ryan rubbed his wrist with his hand and shifted again. "So... "
"So yeah." Chad gave him a look. "We've had two... not-quite dates. Would you go on a real one... with me?"
"Yes!" Ryan said and then flushed. "Uhm. Yeah. I'd love to."
"Great." Chad agreed. "So we're on for... Friday?"
"Sure. Friday sounds great. Uhm, seven? I'll pick you up?"
Chad smirked. "If you think I'm gonna shy away just because you try to do the 'you're the girl' thing, you're dead wrong."
"I didn't," Ryan snorted. "I didn't even think of that. It's just that I have a car, so it's more comfortable. And I know a good place, I sometimes eat there with Sharpay when we're in the mood for some great chicken in sesame dough and they make fantastic hot chocolate -"
"Ryan?" Chad reached out and touched his jaw. When Ryan blinked and shut up, he leaned over and kissed him, pressing his lips firmly onto Ryan's.
"Okay," Ryan said, gasping, when Chad moved back again. "That wasn't surprising at all."
Chad smirked.
"If you think you're going to get into my pants before the first date, you're out of luck, Chad," Ryan teased.
"No, I didn't think that would be a go with you," Chad assured him, laughing. "But maybe second base? No?"
Ryan punched his shoulder. "Just because I'm good on the baseball field -"
"C'mon," Chad laughed some more. "Let's get to school. I promise not to make further advances until you jump me and push me in some hidden closet to ravish me -"
"My turn," Ryan rolled his eyes, but he was laughing too. He leaned over and returned the kiss and Chad managed to almost push his tongue into Ryan's mouth when Ryan parted his lips and they both were left reeling and tingling and Ryan thought his stomach might be doing somersaults a lot in the future. He would have to get used to that.
"School," he interrupted when Chad started inching up his hand beneath his shirt, caressing the soft skin of his belly. "Seriously."
"But -"
"We have five minutes. I'm not running to class."
"You could use some work-out -"
"Are you calling me fat?"
"I wouldn't dream of it!"
"Good, because you're not my boyfriend yet, and if you don't treat me right, I'm siccing Sharpay on you."
Chad rolled his eyes and kissed his nose. "I'll treat you right," he promised. "Just keep your sister off my back."
"If you keep Troy from jumping my throat," Ryan agreed.
They sat a few more seconds in silence and then Chad said, "They'll all be fine. If they're my friends, they'll be fine."
Ryan nodded and thought about how Sharpay didn't like Chad, at all. "They will," he said decisively. "Or those of them who really care, at least." Because they had to.
They exchanged a nervous grin and got out of the car. If anyone could make it work, it was them, that was for sure.
Recipient: 7timesfate (previously known as 7timesfate)
Title: summerset
Pairing(s): Chad/Ryan, secondary Troy/Gabriella
Summary: the summer's over. things change.
Rating: PG (maybe PG-13 for the occasional swear word?)
Warning(s): nothing
Word Count: ~ 10.000
Disclaimer: All High School Musical characters herein are the property of Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.
~~~
If Ryan had made the mistake of thinking senior year would start the way junior year had ended, he would have quickly realized the wrong in that line of thought. The friendship he'd struck up with Chad over playing baseball and singing turned out to be a short-lived one.
It was a good thing, Ryan nodded to himself as he was getting ready for the first day of school, that he hadn't made any assumptions where that was concerned. He'd already expected not to hear from Chad again and he had been right: there hadn't been a single phone call. But that wasn't disappointing. He hadn't even gotten his hopes up.
"Ry-an!" Sharpay yelled from downstairs, voice high-pitched and impatient. "Are you coming or what? The engine of my car's running hot. What are you doing upstairs, you were done ten minutes ago! If you're actually jerking off in your room while I'm standing down here like some -"
"Calm down." Ryan stepped out of his room and proceeded down the stairs, rolling his eyes. "I'm there, I'm there. Let's go."
"You'd better hope so. We're going to be late, and while I have nothing against a fashionably late entrance per se, I don't want to get on the teacher's bad side on the first day of school." Sharpay gave him a sharp look. "And what happened to that cute rose outfit mom helped you pick out for specifically this occasion? Dark green, Ryan? Are we depressed today?"
"No," Ryan sighed. "Can we just go? You can yatter on in the car."
"I do not yatter, ducky."
"Shut up, Sharpay."
"You shut up. It's my car. I can talk however much I want."
Ryan slammed the front door shut in her face and decided that when they came back, he would ask mother if he could take his own car to school from now on. The silence couldn't be as deafening as Sharpay's voice.
III
Of course, Ryan wasn't usually that mean to Sharpay. He loved his sister, and he didn't mean what he said when he was in a grumpy mood. It didn't happen so often anyway. When she chose to take her lunch and sit two seats away from him at school, he sighed and pushed his lunch over to her in an attempt to make peace.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you in the car," he muttered.
"I'm sure you are," she snarked and turned her head away.
"I'm sorry I splashed you with iced tea too. I really am."
"Be glad I always have a spare dress in my car." Sharpay poked him in the chest. "Or else, I wouldn't have forgiven you for this for at least a few more hours!"
Ryan smiled at her from beneath his eyelashes. "You're the best."
"Your favourite sister," Sharpay grinned back. "Say it."
"You know you are."
Someone cleared their throat behind Ryan.
"Oh, look," Sharpay squinted up. "It's your ex-boyfriend, Ryan. He's not dead after all!"
"Sharpay," Ryan chastised, just as Chad said, "What do you mean, dead?"
"Well, you stupid ape didn't call him once," Sharpay snapped. "What do you think that means? You're a lousy boyfriend and if you were mine, I'd have dumped you after an hour."
"Sharpay!" Ryan flushed. "We're not boyfriends. We're not even friends!"
"We're not?" Chad interrupted their bickering.
Sharpay gave him an incredulous look. Ryan said, "We played one game of baseball. We hung out a bit. It didn't work out. I'm fine with that, Chad. Not everyone is compatible to be friends, and if you don't feel it, I'm very well able -"
"- wait, wait. What?"
Sharpay sighed. "He's being intentionally obtrusive to be allowed to spend more time at the clever table so he doesn't have to go back to the dumb table back there." She laid her head to the side and reconsidered. "Then again, to inject that level of subtlety and intellect into a plan might be above him." She gave Chad a sunny smile. "For now, we're giving you the benefit of the doubt."
Chad blinked and met Ryan's smirking gaze. "She just insulted me in more ways than I realized on first glance, didn't she?"
Ryan nodded with a lopsided smile on his face. "Do you want to sit down, then?"
Chad colored. "I - ah, I can't, really. My friends - but I wanted to talk to you. I thought -"
Sharpay rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack, lunch finished. "I'll leave you two to your flirting then. Jeez. Boys. There really is something wrong with your half of our species, Ryan." Then she waved her goodbye at him and left.
Chad looked after her. "Well."
"You didn't call."
"What?"
"You didn't call." Ryan shrugged. "I gave you my private number. Straight to my room. I thought you would, if you wanted to hang out sometime. You didn't. For me, the signals were clear."
"Oh."
Ryan looked at Chad, inquisitive.
"I forgot. I forgot you gave me that number. I was waiting for you to call. I thought - I didn't think you wanted to meet up, so. So I didn't work to find out how to get in touch. I thought if you wanted to, you'd -"
"Oh." Ryan blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah. Dude, you're cool. You - I like you."
"Really?"
"Yes. We can - do you want to sit at our table with us?"
"Sharpay -"
"- is gone. Just for a few minutes until lunch break's over? The others really like you, too. I'm not just saying that. Gabriella fucking loves you, and Taylor has been dying to spend some time with you ever since Gabriella started talking about you." Chad fell silent suddenly. "Well," he added. "Troy isn't a fan, to be honest. But once he realizes you're not after his girl -"
"- and why is that?" Ryan interrupted him.
"What?"
"How do you know?"
Chad looked confused. "That you're not after Gabriella?"
"That's what I'm asking."
"But." Chad frowned. "You're gay, right?"
Ryan gave him a considering look. "Seen me making out with lots of guys, have you?" he then stated dryly.
"No, but -"
"Right. No. Uhm, so have I told you, personally, that I'm attracted to guys?"
"Hey, there's no need to act so prickly, I was just -"
"- assuming. Yeah. I know. People tend to do that. You should know, what with people assuming you're nothing but a jock with no brains in your head or any thought for anything else but basketball."
"But -"
"Look, I gotta go, okay?" Ryan got up from his seat and shouldered past Chad, not wanting to be, but feeling upset anyway. It was just that he was freakin' tired of people always telling him what he was. Chad had no right to tell people anything about him. If Ryan wanted someone to know, he would tell them.
III
Chad didn't look at Ryan for the rest of their shared classes. He kept avoiding Ryan's gaze and talked with Troy or Taylor whenever there was a short break. Ryan kept his gaze steadily on his books and refused to look over as well. After all, he was still miffed. Just because he checked now and then whether Chad was looking didn't mean Chad was forgiven.
It was after school as they were on their way to Sharpay's car, Sharpay chatting to him about new nail polish she wanted to buy, that Chad caught up with Ryan finally and tugged at his backpack.
"Go ahead," Ryan told Sharpay when she opened her mouth to protest. "It'll just take a minute."
"You're driving on your own tomorrow," Sharpay huffed, but went.
"Look, I'm sorry," Chad muttered. "I asked Gabby about it, and she said I was insensitive and that I was a jerk to you. So I'm apologizing. Really, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I just thought - I wanted to let you know that if you were gay, I wouldn't mind. I don't care. I like you, as a friend. I liked spending time with you in the summer. I like you enough to bear with your sister as she's always hanging around you. So…"
Ryan bit his lip. "Apology accepted," he finally said. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to be touchy about it."
Chad nodded. "So. Uhm, do you want to hang out tonight or what?"
Ryan's eyebrows went up. "Really?"
"Yeah. I'd invite you for Saturday, but that's basketball day and we're playing, you know, inter-school game, and I know you're not into basketball, so I thought today; it - hm, I don't know. We could just get some Chinese and watch a movie or something. Maybe Troy and some of the others will come over, but probably, Troy's taking out Gabriella -"
"You're not with Taylor?" Ryan asked carefully.
"We hang out sometimes," Chad admitted. "We tried the boyfriend-girlfriend thing, but, well. It wasn't really for us. We're too alike. We're good as friends. I think - well, to be honest, I think she's seeing someone. She keeps mentioning a certain Don to me, like she's checking if I'm okay with it."
Ryan snorted. "Girls."
"Honestly," Chad laughed along. "They're so weird."
"If you're sure, I'll come," Ryan offered.
Chad nodded. "Great. Seven? Can you -"
"I have a car," Ryan nodded. "I'll just - we'll see how it goes. Right now, I gotta go, though, Sharpay -"
"Yeah, I know, go. See you!"
Ryan waved and left for the car.
III
The thing was, Ryan had never been on a date before. Back in the Little League times, he'd had teammates he'd hang out with, but that was just a lot of friends in one place, drinking coke and eating chips en masse. This was different, Ryan thought. This was one-on-one, and it made him shiver in anticipation.
He told his mom where he was going during their yoga session and she seemed quite happy for him, touching his neck and bouncing on the balls of her feet as he mentioned who it was he was seeing; she remembered Chad from the summer and called him handsome. Ryan grinned when she said it, like it was an accomplishment.
"Call when you decide to stay over, okay?" she added for good measure when Ryan finished and grabbed his things to go shower.
He yelped. "I'm not going to sleep over at his!"
"Of course not, ducky," she smiled. "But best be prepared. Just call, all right? Otherwise, I'll worry."
And obviously, she was right. The possibility was there. It just... didn't seem very likely.
At seven on the dot, Ryan's car drove up before Chad's house. It was a nice little suburban building with white-painted walls and a pretty garden up front. It certainly wasn't a palace, but Ryan liked it. It wasn't pompous and it fit right in, on this street. It even had a basketball field drawn on the ground before the garage, and a ball lying by the foot of the hoop.
Chad opened the door before Ryan could ring the doorbell. He had a huge grin on his face. "We're on our own as soon as mom goes to visit her best friend down the street," he announced as he led Ryan in, "but she made us dinner, because we're boys and we can't cook." Ryan opened his mouth, but Chad shook his head. "Don't argue with the mom. Seriously."
"Okay," Ryan said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a little wrapped box. "I have a present" He smiled. "For your mom. For the trouble and all that."
Chad shook his head. "Dude -"
"No. Really, it's just chocolates, but -"
"Mom!" Chad yelled and pushed Ryan through a door and into the kitchen. "Ryan's here."
"I heard." The short, dark-skinned woman standing by a plate stacked with pieces of home-made pizza looked up and gave Ryan a quick smile. "Hello. Ryan, right?"
"Yes. Thanks for having me over, Mrs. Danforth." Ryan felt a bit silly handing his present over, but his mom had said it was the polite thing to do when you were invited home by someone. He'd never really thought about it, but he figured some compensation was in order.
"That really wasn't necessary," Mrs. Danforth said, but she was smiling, pleased. "Now, I'll leave you boys to your plans for tonight. I still have to change and I'll be running late if I don't hurry up. Chad, you know where everything is -"
"I know, I know. Go, get dressed and ready, mom, we can keep ourselves entertained."
Ryan grinned and watched Chad's mother vanish through the door and down the hallway.
"And now for the food."
III
After the pizza, they watched Sleepy Hollow on DVD in Chad's room, which turned out to be the converted attic. The walls were askew and it was very warm, but it was also spacious and light and they could see the sun set behind the houses in the west.
"This is really nice," Ryan commented somewhere between lusting after Johnny Depp and getting scared to hell and back. "I like your room. It's very comfortable." Chad hummed and grabbed for more chips. Ryan grinned to himself and jotted down in his mental notebook that Chad was definitely not a talker during movies.
When the end credits rolled, they realized it was pitch black outside, that rain was hammering down upon roof and windows like sizzling eggs, and that it had grown much colder in the room.
"Is that a thunderstorm?" Ryan asked, squinting out the window to see if there was lightning.
"Why?" Chad grinned and went to turn on the lights. "Scared?"
"No." Ryan snorted. "I like thunderstorms. When we were kids, Sharpay used to crawl into my bed when there was one, and we'd cuddle up together and if we couldn't sleep still, we'd go to our parents' room." He bit his lip. "That was back when our parents were still sleeping in the same room, though."
"Oh." Chad gave him a cautious look. "So your parents are -"
"They're friends," Ryan shrugged. "But they haven't been living like a married couple for a few years now. They have different interests. We eat together, though, and we're like a family, mostly. It's just. Well, you know."
Chad nodded. "Yeah. My dad moved out when I was eleven. There were a few huge fights and whatnot. He's living with a younger woman now over in New York, he's working in a new firm branch that settled there. I get to visit him sometimes. My mom's doing well for herself, though. She wanted to stay here after the divorce got through, and she got to keep the house, and she's got friends here..."
"I wondered what happened to your dad," Ryan smiled.
"You did?"
"Yeah, when we were doing that project two years ago, remember? That family tree thing. You wrote a lot about most people except your dad."
"Yeah, well. There's not much to say about him." Chad cleared his throat. "What do you wanna do now? Anything you had in mind, specifically?"
"Don't you have to go to sleep?" Ryan asked. "It's a school night and all."
"Oh, yeah." Chad shrugged. "I get by on six hours a night, don't worry. It's not even midnight yet. We have time for another movie, or, I don't know. We can play some computer games or something."
"Are you sure this is okay?" Ryan looked back to the window. "I had a lot of fun tonight, but maybe -"
"Ryan, are you gay?"
Ryan's head whipped around. Surprised, he stared at Chad. "Excuse me?"
Chad shrugged. "You told me not to assume. You never said one way or the other. I'm curious. You can't blame me for wanting to know."
"Really?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.
"Don't get mad, okay?"
"I'm not mad."
"You look like you're going to choke me to death any minute now. That's mad in my book." Chad shrugged. "Why does that question rattle you so much, anyway? It's just a question."
"Is it one you ask everyone?" Ryan demanded rather sharply.
Chad shrugged. "If you mean whether I've asked Troy - I did, actually. When we hit puberty and stuff. And I only didn't ask Taylor because she's been with a couple of guys; Zeke almost punched me in the face, now that you mention it. But since he's been in love with Sharpay for over a year now, I didn't push my luck a second time."
Ryan was staring at him, open-mouthed.
"What?" Chad asked. "I told you. I'm a curious guy."
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because it's interesting. I ask people who are my friends these kinds of things because I want to know more about them."
"You are so strange," Ryan concluded. He shook his head. "What about you? Are you gay, then?"
Chad nodded, then shook his head, and nodded again. "I like boys," he finally said. "I like girls, too. I liked being with Taylor a lot. We didn't break up because I wasn't into it or anything like that. But yeah. I've been with one guy before. It was fun."
Ryan blinked. "Really?"
Chad nodded. "He was older, though. Two years ago. He was a senior back then. It was just a few months."
"A few months?" Ryan gaped.
"Don't tell me you have a problem with it now," Chad stared. "That would be just weird."
"I don't. I really - I was just surprised. I mean." Ryan felt himself flush. "I jump at you like that because I don't really know. I haven't really been with anyone before. So."
"Really?" Chad gave him a look. "You haven't ever -?"
"Don't give me that crap, I'm only seventeen. It's not like I'm in a hurry or anything." Ryan glared. "You can stop looking incredulous."
"I'm not, I'm not," Chad raised his hands. "Geez. To think just a second ago, you were the one blushing about it. No need to get defensive."
"I'm not defensive. I'm being forceful about my point," Ryan huffed, puffing out his cheeks. "What can I say. I'm not a slut."
"Hey!" Chad punched his shoulder. "I'm not a slut either!"
Ryan smirked. "You totally are."
"Am not!"
“There's no need to get defensive, Chad," Ryan imitated his speech, putting up quotation marks with his fingers.
Chad stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, because that's mature," Ryan snorted.
"As mature as you calling me a slut," Chad smiled. He grabbed for a handful of chips, and they settled down again. Then Chad cleared his throat again. "Uhm. But you are attracted to -?"
Ryan didn't look at him. "Boys, mostly, yeah."
"Oh. Okay."
"Mm-hm."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, with the rain still pounding on the roof just above their heads, splashing against the window and then Ryan sat up. "I think I'd better go."
"You don't have to -"
"I really do."
Chad sighed. "Okay. I didn't mean for things to get awkward, though."
"They're not. It's just getting late and my mom'll be worried if I don't get home soon. She always stays up late waiting." Ryan gave him a small smile. "It's not awkward."
"Does that mean you're coming to the basketball game Saturday then?" Chad grinned, giving him a hopeful look.
Ryan considered. "Actually, it's not like I have anything else to do this Saturday. And I haven't ever seen you guys play before, so maybe I should. Hopefully, it won't bore me to death."
"Because that would be a huge loss."
"Turn down the sarcasm, Danforth," Ryan warned. "I might change my mind."
"You're even invited to the after-party. It's here, at my place, so that won't be a problem."
"After-party, huh? With all your jock-friends? How could I possibly say no to that..."
Chad grinned winningly. "I know."
III
Sharpay was disgusted when he told her his Saturday afternoon plans. Her facial expression was comical to a degree that made Ryan want to sign her up for a musical that would require it immediately. Unfortunately, the high-pitched screaming that went with it wasn't so much fun.
"He's a... a brute!" she insisted. "He has no sense of delicacy! He won't treat you right! He's not Evans boyfriend material!"
"You would know," Ryan commented, giving her a sunny smile.
"Lincoln was a mistake," Sharpay admitted. "He was a very... flawed individual. Lonely, too. I was not the right person for him, nor was he for me. But at least, he wasn't engaging in any filthy, sweaty, hairy sports!"
"It's just basketball, Sharpay," Ryan tried.
"That is what you always say, you complete and utter idiot!" Sharpay cried out. "'It's just a swing, Sharpay', 'It's just fire, Sharpay', 'It's just fucking two steps, Sharpay'. You disgust me! You can never keep yourself out of trouble. You are my twin brother! Is that why I got all the brains in this family? Ry-an! Stop running away from me!"
"I'm not letting you insult me," Ryan said coolly, walking up the stairs towards his room to slam another door in her face.
"You're being unreasonable. I tried talking you off that ledge soothingly. It didn't work the first time. I had to get heavier weaponry. Deal with it!"
"No." Ryan turned around, grasped her shoulders and said, "I will do whatever I want to do Saturday. You deal with it."
Sharpay stared him in the eyes, huge and pitiful and with long eyelashes that kept fluttering like she was going to break out in tears, then she gave a big sigh and said, "Fine. It's your funeral."
"It's not a funeral, Sharpay. It's a basketball game."
"It's Chad Danforth." Sharpay glared. "And I know you. You like your pretty-boys sweaty to look at. Not to actually touch!"
"We're just friends," Ryan said.
"Oh, really? Because yesterday you weren’t friends. Not boyfriends either. Because he forgot about you for the rest of the summer."
"It was a mix-up."
"He's unreliable. Let it go."
"He's honest. And curious. He has a mind on his own. He's funny. Why don't you like him?"
Sharpay sucked in air.
Ryan gave her a blank look. "See? That's what I thought. You're just jealous. Get over yourself. It's just a game."
Sharpay glared, turned around and rushed down the stairs. She looked really upset. Ryan hadn't wanted to do that, but she constantly pushed his buttons. He didn't know how to make her stop without hurting her. It wasn't something that was done easily. He sighed as he watched her back vanish out of his sight and realized he would have to fix that, sooner or later.
Then he heard an engine and realized that Sharpay really had been serious about making him take his own car to school. He groaned. He was going to be late, he just knew it.
III
Driving himself made Ryan more aware of his surroundings than sitting by Sharpay's side had ever done, and as he cruised down the streets towards the school, he realized for the first time that every day on his way to high school, he actually passed Chad's house only by a few streets' distance. He'd never noticed before, mainly, he then realized, because he had had no idea the other boy lived in this area, much less that he even existed outside the bubble that was 'popular sports kids at school’.
He parked the car near the school and ran to class, didn't manage to arrive on time but did manage to charm the teacher into skipping punishment for it. After all the excitement in the early morning, Ryan was very glad when the bell for lunch break finally rang. An idea had been forming in his mind and it didn't want to let go, and he knew he would need to talk it over before he could implement it. He caught up with Chad in the hallway on their way to their lockers.
"Hey, Ryan," Chad greeted him with a smile as they walked down the hallway side by side.
"Look, this might come out of nowhere," Ryan got straight to the point, "but Sharpay's kicked me out of her car for the time being."
"And you need the timetables for the busses?" Chad grinned.
"No, duh," Ryan rolled his eyes. "I have to drive my own car to school."
Chad huffed. "Of course. What the hell else."
"Oy," Ryan smirked. "Jealousy doesn't become you."
"Some people standing next to me don't know when to shut their mouth on a topic," Chad sing-songed.
"Hey, I'm trying to do a good thing here, okay? No mocking. Look, I noticed I drive by, like, three streets away from your house every day. I was wondering if you wanted me to pick you up in the morning and back home afternoon. It would save you on bus fare, and it's no trouble for me either way."
"What?" Chad blinked. "Wait, really? You'd do that?"
Ryan shrugged. "It's no big deal. Plus I don't have to spend fifteen minutes on my own in the car, and you can always help me find a parking spot."
"Sounds great," Chad agreed. "I can come up to the main -"
"No, no. Just... be outside your house half past every morning. I'll drive by. We'll be a bit early for classes, but I figure that's a good thing."
"Yeah." Chad grinned. "You were late today. Sleep well?"
"Hah. Funny. I slept fine and long enough. I had a fight with Sharpay, that's all."
"Oh. Okay. But we're still on for Saturday, right?" Chad asked, turning towards his locker.
"I'm coming to watch, sure," Ryan smiled, and opened his own to exchange some books and lock some things in. "I'm actually looking forward to it, by now."
"You better," Chad sent him a lopsided smile back. "We'll rock that game."
III
Ryan drove Chad home after school that day, a clinical trial of sorts. They fooled around the whole way, mocked other students' cars, talked about the baseball games and Chad's after-party Saturday. All in all, Ryan thought it went very well.
He had a strange feeling in his stomach, almost like dread, that something was going to go horribly wrong if he kept it up, but it was nonsense because what could go wrong, really? The worst that could happen was that Chad went back to ignoring him a few days later, and while that would certainly be a big disappointment and possibly hurt, Ryan was under no illusion that their friendship would last forever. He hoped, yes. He wasn't stupid, though, or careless.
The next few days passed quickly; Chad didn't change his demeanor, nor did he give any indication that he didn't want to be friends. He did, however, stay at his friends' table during lunch, and Ryan stayed with Sharpay, even though she grew more uncomfortable and bitchy with every passing day. Ryan would have moved over to their table - Chad and even Gabriella had asked him to come, and bring Sharpay if she wanted to join them - but Troy was still looking at him with all the consideration given to a threat, and Sharpay had no inclination to go anywhere near any other students with her lunch, almost like they were contagious.
They had another fight about that on Thursday, and one more on Friday, when Chad sat down close to Ryan to arrange Saturdays' schedule.
"I just don't get why you have to be so chummy with him all of a sudden," she huffed. "You never cared about him or basketball before."
"I like him," Ryan shrugged. "We're friends. I haven't had a real friend in a while. Not since the Little League."
"Steven wasn't your friend," Sharpay pointed out. "He was a whiny little bitch and really -"
"- he was fine. He was just afraid. You can't blame a person for being scared of six foot tall baseball players."
"Why Danforth, though?" Sharpay sighed. "Of all people."
"Because he's nice."
Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "Nice enough to exchange shirts with you in the locker rooms, huh? Don't look so surprised, little brother, I have eyes and ears everywhere. Is it about that? I didn't ask before because I was a hundred percent certain you would have told me if something had happened, but now I wonder. Did you two fuck, then?"
"What?" Ryan glared. "We didn't! We swapped shirts! People do that all the time!"
"Not with you, they don't. You don't even touch most people when they're sweaty, or their clothes when they've worn them for more than five minutes."
"That's not true."
"Because I haven't known you for seventeen years," Sharpay said sarcastically. "Stuff it, Ryan. If I find out you've slept with him and didn't tell me, I won't forgive you for the rest of your life." She stood up and grabbed her backpack. "I have class to go to."
"Sharpay," Ryan called after her. "I swear -"
She just waved him off.
Ryan sighed and went back to his lunch, picking at the food unenthusiastically. He hated fighting with her, especially when she was wrong. She never wanted to admit to being wrong.
III
Ryan spent Saturday stressing about what to wear. He dressed in four different costumes and cloth combinations, threw off six hats of various colors and shapes and finally dove into the far back of his closet for his in-a-pinch spare outfit: a pair of tight, but not too tight jeans and an old baseball t-shirt that was a size too small, but stretched nicely across his chest. He found a simple, brown hat to go with it and put it on.
There were no sparkles. Ryan thought he looked quite manly and scruffy and non-gay in it. He knew he shouldn't care, but he did care. He cared a lot. He didn't want to embarrass Chad. He knew that Chad didn't give a shit about what he looked like, but Ryan still felt like he owed something. This was a sport that didn't accept boys like him. The other players - well, he didn't know them. They could be cool for all he knew, but they could also judge Chad for inviting a total fairy and Ryan didn't want that. He wanted Chad to be able to be himself tonight, to have fun with his friends and not have to stand up for Ryan because Ryan had decided to bring the gay threat into men's sport.
He was glad he managed to avoid Sharpay, at least, who at this time on Saturdays was always getting manicured (usually with Ryan, and she was snippy because he'd blown her off) but he didn't fare so well with his mom. She was crossing the entrance hall when he came downstairs.
"Oh, Ryan," she said, her eyes widening. "You look - different. Are you going out?"
"Yes. Chad - uhm. Yes. I'm going out. That's okay, right?"
"Are you staying out long?"
"Maybe. I don't know yet. I have my cell phone. I'll call about coming home."
"Be good, Ryan, all right?" She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him into a short hug. "And be careful."
"I am careful. Jeez. It's just Chad and a few buddies of his. It's not a hooligans’ get-together."
"I know," his mother said and brushed over his hair by his forehead. "You look different. That's all I'm saying."
Ryan nodded, freed himself and walked towards the door. Only when he was unlocking the car to leave, still early for the actual game, he realized she hadn't called him ducky once. He thought that must mean something, but he wasn't sure what.
III
If he happened to yawn a lot during the game, it had to be, Ryan figured, because of the lack of oxygen. The game was only a little boring. The crowd was very enthusiastic and supportive and there were quite a few nice moves throughout the game, but mainly, Ryan just wasn't too interested in the game itself. He watched for the fluid grace of bodies merging together, fighting for the ball, for the sight of glistening upper arms, and chests rubbing up against backs, hips touching, and for the fire of passion on the players' faces.
His eyes kept moving over to Chad, who was playing his best game yet, over his naked arms and legs hungrily, his pretty cheek-bones as he grinned when someone from his team said something to him. That was the real show, for Ryan.
He knew the score; that was the most important thing. Nobody had to know what he had come for, even though Ryan felt a bit dirty admitting to himself that he was shamelessly lusting after Chad so suddenly. They were supposed to be friends. It felt foolish to put that in jeopardy just because his hormones had decided to kick in now and his body was acting up, demanding sex. Lots of hot, passionate, wild and playful sex, possibly with Chad. But nobody had to hear about that. They certainly wouldn't from him.
Chad's team won, barely, and Ryan smiled at all the spectators jumping off their seats screaming and cheering and started walking out of the main hall into the hallways of the sports building early so the crowd wouldn't bury him under their fast exit that would, no question, follow soon.
It was there that Chad found him when his team left the main event to have a shower and get ready for the after-party. "Guys," he said, grinning, and waved Ryan over. "This is Ryan. He's a good buddy of mine. Ryan, meet the team."
Ryan raised his hand in general greeting, smiled and waited for Troy to add a comment, because he looked like he was dying to say something. But Troy just shrugged at him and raised an eyebrow at Chad.
"I'm Will," one of the boys introduced himself, sticking out his hand. Ryan shook it uncertainly, and waited for the other shoe to drop.
"How did you like the game, man?" Will asked. He pulled Ryan aside, expression friendly. He was very nice-looking, huge blue eyes and blonde hair cropped short. "You interested in basketball?"
"No," Ryan admitted. "Chad talked me into coming today."
The boys' smile turned a little mean at the comment. "Not into sports, are we?" he teased.
Ryan blinked, taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"Well, you don't really look like you'd be a huge sports fan, if you catch my meaning."
"If you're referring to the well-known fact that I like doing musicals and theater work, you're a bit late on track," Ryan said icily. "Though I would bet you my car that I could beat your skinny ass on the baseball diamond any day."
"Whoa, whoa, guys." Chad interrupted them by squeezing between them and grabbing Ryan's arm. "Can't leave you alone for two seconds without you doing the bigger-than-yours thing?" He glared at Will. "Seriously."
"What are you looking at me for?" Will shrugged. "I was just having a talk. He thought I was... inferring things." He smirked at Ryan.
"Shut up, man." Chad, Ryan and Will turned around; Ryan stared at Troy, surprised. The other guys from the team were watching on, some curious, some apprehensive, others amused. Troy shrugged. "What? We need to get going. I thought your mom was making lasagna for us."
The other boys all exchanged grins and started cheering and hooraying at the thought of food. Quickly, the little crowd dissipated and one after the other they vanished into the changing rooms off the hallway, shouldering past each other and bumping and mock-punching and talking in loud, jubilating voices. Ryan was forgotten, and so were Will's unseemly remarks.
"That went well," Ryan commented idly, waiting for Chad to follow his teammates.
"Sorry about that," Chad sighed. "Will's an ass. He just always needs to get the attention, and since he didn't shoot many hoops tonight..."
"Yeah, well." Ryan shrugged. "Look, if you don't want me there tonight, it's fine. I'm not on the team. I understand."
"Oh, no, don't even," Chad grinned. "Most of the guys are bringing their girlfriends anyway." Ryan opened his mouth, so Chad flushed and hurried on, "Not that you're my girlfriend. Some bring friends, too. And Gabriella will be there, so it's not like it will be all basketball or anything."
"Was she here?" Ryan asked with renewed interest, glancing over towards the exit to see if she'd been in the throng of those who had already left the building to go outside.
"Probably not," Chad replied. "She had a thing tonight with her mother. But once that's done, she's definitely coming over to my house. Her and Taylor."
"Cool," Ryan grinned. "Okay. Then go get cleaned up and whatever, I'll be waiting outside by my car. I can take like, four more people, if you need a ride over."
"I think the Coach will be driving most of us over, but yeah, sure. I'll definitely drive with you." Chad grinned back. "Though maybe you should ease off on the beaming a bit when it comes to Gabriella," he added. "People might get ideas."
Ryan raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment on the obvious, going for the subtler reproach in the words instead. "In my experience, people always keep to the idea they're convinced is the truth anyway, no matter whether you do something to help them along or cut back so they stop thinking it. Everything's proof for those people. So, you know."
"Right." Chad gave him a small smile. "I'll tell Troy that."
Ryan scoffed, but inwardly, he did wince. If there was one person he better not alienate too much, it was probably Troy. Chad might go against the grain where classmates or even teammates were concerned, but a best friend was another thing entirely.
III
"I'm sorry about - a lot of things some of the guys said tonight," Chad apologized when he managed to catch Ryan putting away things into the dishwasher in the kitchen after most of the crowd had slowly dissipated after midnight. A few people were still lying around who were probably going to spend the night on the couch in the living room as well as the parts of the floor that were covered with carpet. "And you don't need to do that," he added. "I'll clean up tomorrow."
"It's no big deal," Ryan shrugged. "I know you guys think just because we have help at home I'm unable to do things with my own two hands, but -"
"No. No, I wasn't implying you weren't able to do simple work," Chad interrupted quickly. "I meant what I said. It's late. I'll clean up tomorrow."
"Oh." Ryan felt himself flush. "I'm sorry. It's just that a lot of things -"
"I know. I - I am really sorry about the guys."
"It's okay." Ryan shrugged. "It's the whole trying to understand what they're implying that gets my hackles up. The little shots at my masculinity... well. Let's just say I've heard much worse."
"Don't let them get to you." Chad touched his shoulder. "You have no idea the way they needled Troy when he first joined the team-or me for that matter. It's just... the team's way to establish things. If you hold out, they'll accept you, don't worry."
Ryan gave him a wry grin. "You keep forgetting I'm not even on the team. Or trying to get there."
Chad looked sheepish for a second. "You're right. It's just... you're a great guy. I want the other guys to realize that and for you to get some friends and things."
"Thanks." Ryan colored. "That's nice of you to say, and I appreciate the effort. It's just that while I don't tolerate slander, this is really tame, and it's not like I actually care what they think of me, personally. I'm not ignorant about things at school. Nobody's going to say anything to my face because I live in a castle and my dad could afford to give me a private jet for my birthday, but I know what they call me behind my back."
"We don't -"
"It's okay." Ryan shrugged. "Like I said, I don't care."
Shamefaced, Chad nodded. "So... but other than that, how did you like it?"
"The game?" Ryan smiled. "It was good. More entertaining than I thought it would be. A lot of useless running around, but-you know. Considering it's a game whose bigger aim it is to put a ball through hoops, I'd say it was interesting enough."
Chad smiled back. "So you'll be coming to watch more often?"
For a second, Ryan considered what to say. He didn't want to disappoint, especially since Chad seemed eager to recruit new followers and fans, but on the other hand, he didn't want to spend his next fifty Saturdays in smelly sport halls, watching guys run up and down, dribbling a ball. "If I have time," he finally compromised. "Why not?"
"Great." Chad thumped his back and helped him put the rest of the plates and glasses into the dishwasher. It took them a good five minutes, and when they were finished, they leaned against the counter in silent companionship, looking at the kitchen that suddenly looked a lot cleaner.
"Still a bit work to do here," Ryan commented. "But at least, your mom's not gonna die of a heart-attack when she comes down tomorrow."
Chad snorted. "She has seen a lot worse than this." He turned a bit and gave Ryan a considering look. "You wanna stay the night? It's late and you shouldn't be driving tired."
"And I've had two beers," Ryan reminded him. "I wouldn't drive home like that. I'd probably ring my mom to pick me up or call a taxi."
"No, we can't have that." Chad grabbed his upper arm and pulled. "C'mon. The living room's full, but we can pull out the couch in my room. Troy usually sleeps on it, but he managed to snag my sister's bed with Gabriella while the sis is out, so it's all ours."
"You want me sleeping on a couch?" Ryan grinned, mock-disgusted.
Chad gave him a smirk. "You wanna sleep in my bed, tiger? Aren't we moving a bit fast?"
And there was that flip of his stomach again, as Ryan considered the words, and finally just shook his head, resigned. "I guess if you put it like that, I'll take whatever's available. As long as I won't have to share with anyone with grabby hands."
Chad's smirk widened. "No grabby hands. Promise."
Ryan laughed quietly.
III
Ryan woke up early in the morning; it was just past seven when he glanced at his watch. With a little groan he fell back onto the rather comfortable couch and put his arm beneath his head, blinking; too early to get up on a Sunday morning.
Then he realized with a shock that he hadn't called home that he was staying overnight. His mom was gonna kill him. Also, his clothes were messy and didn't smell as nice as the evening before, and everything was wrinkled and where had he put his hat?
Another groan had him up and sitting on the edge of the bed, sighing. Maybe it wasn't too early to get started, after all. He rubbed his eyes, looked around and saw the bed. With Chad in it. Who had gotten rid of his shirt, before going to bed, and apparently liked to sleep with as little clothes as possible. Ryan fought a blush and couldn't quite make it stay down.
Chad had a really nice chest, all smooth and defined. There was a little breeze from the door that was open a crack and his nipples were hard, goosebumps on his arms. The cover only reached above his navel.
Ryan bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but it was too tempting, and Chad looked really - there was no other word for it - pretty when he was sleeping. Of course, he slept with his mouth open, and Ryan would make fun of him for months to come about how he drooled, but his eyelashes fluttered a bit with every shallow breath and his lips were bright red and a little wet where his tongue kept flickering out. With a smile, Ryan leaned down, touched Chad's collarbone with his fingers while he pushed his hair from his forehead with his left and pressed a little kiss on it. Chad didn't wake up.
Ryan straightened his back, stood and looked around for his hat.
III
Gabriella was the only other person awake when he entered the kitchen. A quick look into the living room had showed him that the other boys were still fast asleep, two of them snoring beneath their breaths.
"Morning," she laughed at him, standing up from her seat and her coffee to fetch him a cup of his own, "You hungry?"
"Not especially," Ryan admitted. "I could stand a coffee, though."
"Great. I made more than enough." She touched his arm as she passed him and grabbed the pot, a cup, filled it, "Black?"
"Mm-hm. How did you know?"
"I think I saw you drinking some in the summer. Must have been a type of unconscious information processing."
Ryan grinned. "Geek."
"Look who understood what I said."
"Touché."
Gabriella burst out laughing. "You didn't just say that."
Ryan felt himself flush. "What?"
"’Touché?’"
"Shut up." He took a sip of his drink to cover his embarrassment.
"It's not weird," Gabriella touched his hand. "Or only a little."
"You're too nice." Ryan rolled his eyes. "What are you even still doing here?"
"Uhm, I just woke up, duh. I'm gonna leave in a bit."
"Yeah. Me too." Ryan felt guilty about leaving so early and not helping to clean up, but his parents had to be worrying already and sending them a text message now wouldn't help matters. He was probably lucky if Sharpay hadn't burned his whole hat collection.
"I didn't know you were into sports like basketball," Gabriella said, smiling. "Are you going to abandon the dancing and go play with Chad now?"
Ryan glared. "Funny."
Gabriella took his hand. "Look. It's not like you have no chance at all. He likes you a lot. A lot lot. He did invite you here, after all."
"Twice," Ryan mumbled.
"I'm still holding you to that teaching me some new steps promise, though," Gabriella told him, and twirled a bit, still holding on, laughing. "Because I really like you, too."
Ryan opened his mouth to reply that she shouldn't say stuff like that, when there was movement and someone behind them cleared their throat. Ryan winced. Of course, Troy would be up now and walk in at exactly the wrong moment. As always, Murphy’s law didn't disappoint.
"Morning, Troy," Gabriella smiled, oblivious to the tension, and waltzed over, letting go of Ryan's hand to give Troy a small kiss and offer coffee. "You look like you might need some," she added.
"I don't wanna know," Ryan declared.
Gabriella winked at him. "Spoilsport."
Troy's glare didn't exactly improve over that exchange, on the opposite. He grumbled a "Morning," and leaned back against a chair, watching Ryan suspiciously. He didn't sit down.
"What?" Ryan finally sighed.
Gabriella looked up from pouring the coffee and glanced at Troy. "He's right, you know? Why are you scowling at him like that? It's not like we -"
"He's flirting with you," Troy ground out, accusing. "He's constantly chatting you up and trying to - to - to I don't know what!"
"Oh, he's not!" Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"Then why is it that he's always touching you when I see the two of you together?"
Ryan opened his mouth, but Gabriella was faster. "Actually," she said, "I like to touch him because he touches and handles people, especially girls, with care." She glanced at Ryan with a sunny smile. "You're very popular with the girls because of that, in case you want to know."
"I don't." Ryan held his hands up. "I really don't, and it's not intentional and I don't mean to cause any trouble!"
Troy's glare was murderous now. "I don't care what other girls say," he muttered at Gabriella. "I care that you hang out with him."
Ryan sighed. "I swear I'm not trying to steal her away."
"It doesn't look that way to me!"
"Troy!" Gabriella warned.
Ryan rolled his eyes again, put down his cup after a last sip and closed in on Troy, who didn't budge, just looked at Ryan. Ryan stopped a few inches before they touched, put his hands to his hips and said, "I don't like Gabriella that way. That might or might not be, not that it's any business of yours, because I find Chad a whole deal more attractive in general." He turned to Gabriella. "Not that you're not beautiful."
Gabriella beamed. "Thanks."
Troy pushed at his chest and forced him out of his personal space. "So you're gay?"
"Like I said," Ryan shrugged. "Really none of your business.”
When Troy wanted to say something else, he just turned and said, "I gotta go home. Bye, Gabriella. Bye, Troy." He gave her a wave and left.
III
Sharpay was waiting in his room when Ryan got back, lying on his bed under his covers, clutching his pillow.
"Sharpay," he said softly.
She looked up. "Oh. Hey, you're back."
"Yeah. Sorry I got back so late. I didn't mean to worry you."
Sharpay sat up, still holding his pillow. "Did you fuck him?"
"What?"
"Chad. Did you -"
"No!" Ryan shook his head, sat down beside her and forced her to lie back down, curling around her, sighing into her hair. "I swear I didn't. I like him, okay? I admit it; I'd like him to be my boyfriend. But I never even kissed him. Not even back then with the shirt-swapping. I would have told you if I planned to sleep with someone. You know me. I even told you every time I went out with the guys in Rhode Island, despite you clutching your ears and not wanting to know."
"Yeah." Sharpay gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I remember that. I'm sorry for being a complete bitch, Ryan. I'm just - jealous, I guess."
Ryan smiled. "I know. There's no need to be. We'll still spend more time together than you can really stand me. I promise."
"Good." Sharpay pushed her nose into the space between his shoulder and chin and grinned. "I have scheduled massages for today and a movie-afternoon with lots of popcorn and potato chips. And then, I'm gonna paint your nails hot red with my new nail polish -"
"You are not!" Ryan protested and then started shrieking when she proceeded to tickle him into submission.
III
Chad called after the massage, but before Sharpay burst into his room to get him to go down into the den where they had their big screen. Ryan was a little surprised.
"Can we talk?" Chad asked after Ryan picked up.
"Now?"
"Yeah, you left totally early. I thought we would get to have breakfast together and all that."
"Sorry." Ryan sighed. "I had to go home. I didn't even tell anyone I was staying over at your place."
"So - can you come over?"
"No. I promised Sharpay this day is hers." Ryan tried not to sound too apologetic. They were friends, but nothing more. It wouldn't do, he told himself, to sound like a needy girlfriend.
"Oh. Okay." Chad was silent for a second and then asked, "Are you still picking me up tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course!"
"Okay."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Uhm. I thought you were maybe mad at me or something."
"No. Do I have reason to?"
Chad didn't reply, and Sharpay knocked before entering his room. "Are you coming? Den's all set up."
"I'm coming," Ryan grinned. "One second." He turned back to the phone. "I'm sorry, I gotta go. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Have fun," Chad replied. He didn't sound mad at all, either, so Ryan wondered what the hell was going on. He shook his head a little and said, "Thanks. See you," and hung up.
Sharpay grabbed his arm and pulled him off his bed. "Let's go!" she beamed. "I even got Troy."
"I hate -"
"It's Brad Pitt! I have to get your mind off Danforth!"
Ryan groaned. "With a movie named Troy? Sharpay, think!"
Sharpay stopped and reconsidered. "You're right. Maybe we should go with Transformers. You like that Shia guy, right?"
Ryan colored. "Shut up."
Sharpay yowled. "Transformers it is!"
III
The ride in the car was awkward and Ryan had no idea why. He searched for something to say but apart from the morning greetings, he had nothing. Chad seemed to be having similar problems. He cleared his throat. Ryan shifted uncomfortably.
"This is... awkward," Chad finally commented.
"Yeah, good thing the ride's only a few more minutes," Ryan tried to joke.
"We're early."
"Mm-hm. I know."
They parked, but when Ryan wanted to get out of the car, Chad grasped his arm and held him back. "We have twenty more minutes, right?"
"About… yeah." Ryan sat back and turned to him. "Is something wrong?"
"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Chad gave him a searching look. "You've been... distant, since Saturday."
"I'm fine," Ryan insisted. "Seriously, I have no idea why things are so strange. I thought I did something that freaked you out. Or maybe, I don't know. Some of your teammates said something about not liking me. I'd understand. I mean, they're your team. I get that their opinion is important to you."
"This is about Troy, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Well, Troy told me -" Chad looked up at his face and fell silent, expression guilty. "You don't know."
"No. What did he tell you?" Ryan swallowed. He'd just thrown his crush on Chad out there to get Troy off his back, but he hadn't thought Troy would actually blurt it out for everyone to know. He'd thought it was understood that this was the kind of thing you didn't share with anyone else, especially since he'd emphasized it was none of Troy's business as long as Ryan wasn't after Gabriella.
"Well, he... uhm." Chad grinned sheepishly to overplay the embarrassment. "Don't be mad at him, he meant well. He just... uhm, Well. He told me what you said. About liking me."
"Did he." Ryan felt hoarse. "I... didn't mean for him to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not like it's so serious and I knew it would make things weird and if people find out, nobody is ever going to want to share changing rooms with me again, not that that's a big loss because most guys in our classes are complete morons. But," Ryan squinted. "He didn't tell everyone I'm gay, did he?"
"No. No, just me." Chad shook his head decidedly. Then a quick grin lit up his face. "Which was when I told him that he didn't need to be freaked about you being after my ass, because I kind of like the thought." He reddened a bit, hardly visible against his dark skin. "A lot."
Ryan stared open-mouthed. "What?"
"Troy said the same thing," Chad grinned.
"We're eloquent people," Ryan dead-panned.
Chad's grin slipped. "I'm serious. Was he lying?"
"Ah... no." Ryan shrugged. "I - I do think you're hot. And who wouldn't? In case you haven't noticed, you are kind of hot."
"I know." The grin was back. "I like you, too."
Ryan rubbed his wrist with his hand and shifted again. "So... "
"So yeah." Chad gave him a look. "We've had two... not-quite dates. Would you go on a real one... with me?"
"Yes!" Ryan said and then flushed. "Uhm. Yeah. I'd love to."
"Great." Chad agreed. "So we're on for... Friday?"
"Sure. Friday sounds great. Uhm, seven? I'll pick you up?"
Chad smirked. "If you think I'm gonna shy away just because you try to do the 'you're the girl' thing, you're dead wrong."
"I didn't," Ryan snorted. "I didn't even think of that. It's just that I have a car, so it's more comfortable. And I know a good place, I sometimes eat there with Sharpay when we're in the mood for some great chicken in sesame dough and they make fantastic hot chocolate -"
"Ryan?" Chad reached out and touched his jaw. When Ryan blinked and shut up, he leaned over and kissed him, pressing his lips firmly onto Ryan's.
"Okay," Ryan said, gasping, when Chad moved back again. "That wasn't surprising at all."
Chad smirked.
"If you think you're going to get into my pants before the first date, you're out of luck, Chad," Ryan teased.
"No, I didn't think that would be a go with you," Chad assured him, laughing. "But maybe second base? No?"
Ryan punched his shoulder. "Just because I'm good on the baseball field -"
"C'mon," Chad laughed some more. "Let's get to school. I promise not to make further advances until you jump me and push me in some hidden closet to ravish me -"
"My turn," Ryan rolled his eyes, but he was laughing too. He leaned over and returned the kiss and Chad managed to almost push his tongue into Ryan's mouth when Ryan parted his lips and they both were left reeling and tingling and Ryan thought his stomach might be doing somersaults a lot in the future. He would have to get used to that.
"School," he interrupted when Chad started inching up his hand beneath his shirt, caressing the soft skin of his belly. "Seriously."
"But -"
"We have five minutes. I'm not running to class."
"You could use some work-out -"
"Are you calling me fat?"
"I wouldn't dream of it!"
"Good, because you're not my boyfriend yet, and if you don't treat me right, I'm siccing Sharpay on you."
Chad rolled his eyes and kissed his nose. "I'll treat you right," he promised. "Just keep your sister off my back."
"If you keep Troy from jumping my throat," Ryan agreed.
They sat a few more seconds in silence and then Chad said, "They'll all be fine. If they're my friends, they'll be fine."
Ryan nodded and thought about how Sharpay didn't like Chad, at all. "They will," he said decisively. "Or those of them who really care, at least." Because they had to.
They exchanged a nervous grin and got out of the car. If anyone could make it work, it was them, that was for sure.