Fic: Five Times Troy Didn't Get Chad's Obsession With Ryan (And The One Time He Did)
Title: Five Times Troy Didn't Get Chad's Obsession With Ryan (And The One Time He Did)
Rating/Warnings: None (maybe PG for drinking?)
Notes: For lielabell from this meme. 1800 words.
5.
Troy frowned. The guy standing in front of him looked like Chad. He had Chad's hair and Chad's t-shirt and Chad's basketball tucked under his arm, but there was no way Chad Danforth would have said what Troy could swear he'd just said. So Troy said, "Dude, what?"
"I said," Chad said slowly, "I can't tonight. I've got plans with Evans."
"Plans? Evans? Chad!"
"What?" Chad demanded.
"What kind of plans could you possibly have with him?"
Chad rolled his eyes. "We're going to the batting cages. That's our plan. So I can't hang out."
"You're ditching me for Ryan Evans." The idea just didn't compute. It had been weird enough when Gabi had suddenly become friends with Ryan, but once Troy had realized there was nothing to be jealous over, Troy sort of got that. Ryan was so -- girly, sort of, so he and Gabi liked to gossip and dance and do their nails or whatever. That was Ryan Evans stuff. But even though Troy knew there was more to Ryan than that, and Chad had been talking about how awesome Ryan was at baseball for like two weeks now, Troy still found the idea of Chad hanging out with Ryan weird.
"I'm not ditching you. I'm not the one who does that," Chad snapped. "And I'm not going to ditch Ryan just because you didn't realize I have other friends." And with that, Chad stalked off, literally taking his ball and going home.
Troy just sort of stared after him, because, huh?
4.
"Ryan's having an end-of-summer party," Chad said.
Troy blinked. "Okay," he said, waiting for Chad to explain why that was relevant to his life.
"You're invited," Chad added. "He was going to make you an actual, like, printed invitation, but I told him we're not in third grade, so."
"Weird," Troy said. "I always kinda get the feeling Ryan doesn't like me."
Chad rolled his eyes. "He likes you fine. He's just…" He gestured vaguely in the air, which was weird, because it was a very Ryan-like gesture. And Chad was really not Ryan-like. "You know. He's Ryan."
"I… don't know?" Troy hazarded. "I barely know him at all. I think he's still mad at me about Twinkle Towne."
"That's ridiculous," Chad snapped, then paused. "Well, no, that's… yeah, totally possible. Kind of explains it, actually."
"So he doesn't like me," Troy said.
Chad deflated. "I don't know. He's weird about… drama club stuff, and… Sharpay, and… You know, this summer. He'll get over it, though." He kicked Troy's leg. "You have to come."
"But he doesn't like me," Troy said. "Why did he even invite me?"
Chad shrugged. "You're my best friend. It would be awesome if you two got along."
Which seemed like a weird thing for Chad to say, but then again, Chad had been weird lately. Especially about Ryan Evans. Troy didn't really get it. But he did like to party, and everyone knew that Mr. and Mrs. Evans were out of town all the time, so Evans Twins parties were totally unsupervised. Which was sort of awesome. "Can I bring Gabi?"
"Duh." Chad rolled his eyes.
Troy grinned. "Then I'm in."
3.
At first, Troy didn't think he had to, but the night before school started, he decided he'd better check. He called Chad, and at Chad's "Yo," he said, "So we're riding to school together tomorrow?"
Chad laughed. "Yeah, duh."
Troy relaxed. They'd ridden together every first day of school since kindergarten, whether it was with their parents or sitting together on the school bus. For the first day of middle school, they'd convinced their parents to buy them matching outfits so everyone would know they were best friends. (Their mothers still offered to do that every year, and cooed over how cute it had been. Moms were weird that way.)
Troy knew it was sort of stupid to even care about, but he liked traditions. Besides, it was senior year, which meant it was their last first day of school.
"Cool," Troy said. "I just wondered, 'cause I bet Ryan Evans' car is nicer than mine."
He practically heard Chad roll his eyes. "Ryan's got a Vespa, for some reason," he said. "Which is stupid. I mean, I bet he could borrow one of his parents' cars, since they have, like, nine of them, but… Anyway, bro, it's senior year. We're going to start it right, right?"
Troy laughed. Good to know that no matter how much time Chad spent with Ryan -- which was a lot, lately -- they were still best friends. Chad might be kind of obsessed with Ryan, but nothing could compare to fifteen years of friendship.
2.
Troy really shouldn't have been surprised. But only a few hours after they'd arrived at school, there was Chad's weird obsession again. It was lunchtime, and the whole gang was at the table -- the whole team, in other words, plus a few girlfriends. Like Gabi, who giggled into her strawberry milk and held Troy's hand.
And then, as they were all finally getting settled after mostly skipping the stupid lunch line (they were seniors, they got to skip it now, it was tradition) Chad jumped up again and waved. Troy looked where he was waving and… Who else?
Ryan waved back sheepishly, his cafeteria tray held in his other hand.
"Doesn't he usually sit with the drama table?" Troy asked, at sure why it bothered him that Chad grabbed a chair from the next table over and pulled it into place between their seats.
"So? Now he's gonna sit here," Chad said.
Gabi squeezed his hand under the table.
1.
Troy stared incredulously. Just… stared. Because Chad Danforth was standing inside the theater, and it wasn't detention. Sure, he was holding a basketball and looking awkwardly out of place about it, but…
"Are you feeling okay?" Troy asked.
Chad laughed. "I know, but it's not like I'm auditioning or anything. Just wanted to, like, check this place out."
"Okay, uh… I can show you around if you w -- "
"Chad!" Troy glanced over his shoulder and saw Ryan bounding over to them, beaming. "I didn't think you would actually come."
"Yeah, well." Chad smiled, shifting his basketball between hands. "You invited me."
"I've invited you," Troy said. "Like, a million times."
"Yeah, but…" Chad trailed off.
"Dude," Troy said, and he was actually really pretty offended. Which was maybe stupid, but Chad was supposed to be his best friend, not Ryan's, and during the whole time he'd been in rehearsals for Twinkle Towne, Chad hadn't once set foot in the theater. He'd gone to the performance, but grudgingly, and he'd never stopped thinking musical theater was pretty much lame.
Which Troy got, because Chad had that Phantom of the Opera trauma, but then what the hell was he doing here, now, because Ryan freaking Evans had invited him? It wasn't right.
"Troy!" Chad tried, but Troy stalked off, seething and feeling kind of…
Jealous. Really, stupidly, bitterly jealous, because Ryan Evans, who already had about a kajillion dollars, had stolen his best friend.
0.
Troy's 18th birthday party was going to be awesome, and there was no way Chad was going to spoil it. Chad had tried to talk with him, said he'd explain it, but Troy didn't want to hear it. But Troy didn't say anything when Chad showed up. Didn't kick him out, but didn't run over and say hi or anything.
He had basically invited everyone from their class. Zeke had brought Sharpay, so Troy was expecting that, but he was pretty sure he saw Ryan, too. Which was just infuriating, because Troy had purposely not invited him and couldn't Chad be his best friend for just one freaking night?
But the party had beer and Gabi, and those were both things that made him feel better. Gabi convinced him he should just talk to Chad, give him a chance to explain the whole Ryan situation, and it would make him feel better. Thanks to the beer, that sounded like a reasonable idea, but Chad had disappeared. If he was with Ryan when Troy found him, Troy was gonna be pissed.
He heard them before he saw them. He needed to pee -- also thanks to the beer -- and the downstairs bathroom was full so he went to use the one next to his parents' bedroom. It was quieter upstairs, and the bathroom was all the way in the back, away from the party.
So he heard, "He's never been this mad at me before," and knew it was Chad.
"He'll understand." Ryan, obviously. They were sitting in Troy's parents room, the door slightly open; Troy could see their shadows on the floor, but not them. "We should tell him, it'll -- "
"But what if -- "
"Chad."
And then they didn't say anything for a few seconds. Troy edged closer until he could just see them, sitting at the foot of his parents' bed. Holding hands. Ryan leaned over and kissed Chad, who shut his eyes and didn't pull away. Which was… whoa.
"We shouldn't," Chad mumbled when Ryan pulled away. Troy froze, fascinated, wanting to hear more. Because this was so far away from anything he'd even sort of imagined that he wasn't sure it was real and not, like, a drunken hallucination.
"It'll make you feel better," Ryan said, his voice lighter. Teasing.
Chad smiled, just a tiny bit, and reached out to put a hand on the back of Ryan's neck. He pulled Ryan forward, into another kiss, and it wasn't, like, a small kiss. They were making out. Chad was making out with Ryan and he was doing it while sitting on Troy's parents' bed.
Troy really didn't need to see that. He stepped back and thought about it, anger slipping away. It was weird, but it wasn't, at the same time. He'd never figured Chad was gay or anything, but he knew Ryan was. And that didn't bother him. Ryan had only bothered him because he was stealing away Chad, but…
But it was sort of the opposite of when Troy had been jealous because Ryan was hanging out with Gabi, and just as dumb, now that he thought about it. Ryan didn't want to be Gabi's boyfriend, he wanted to be her friend. And Ryan didn't want to be Chad's best friend. He wanted to be Chad's boyfriend.
Well, that was okay, then.
Still, an hour later when Chad shuffled over to him and said, "Hey, man, can we talk?" Troy totally enjoyed the look of shock on Chad's face when he answered, "You and Ryan are totally going to have to go out with me and Gabi sometime."
Rating/Warnings: None (maybe PG for drinking?)
Notes: For lielabell from this meme. 1800 words.
5.
Troy frowned. The guy standing in front of him looked like Chad. He had Chad's hair and Chad's t-shirt and Chad's basketball tucked under his arm, but there was no way Chad Danforth would have said what Troy could swear he'd just said. So Troy said, "Dude, what?"
"I said," Chad said slowly, "I can't tonight. I've got plans with Evans."
"Plans? Evans? Chad!"
"What?" Chad demanded.
"What kind of plans could you possibly have with him?"
Chad rolled his eyes. "We're going to the batting cages. That's our plan. So I can't hang out."
"You're ditching me for Ryan Evans." The idea just didn't compute. It had been weird enough when Gabi had suddenly become friends with Ryan, but once Troy had realized there was nothing to be jealous over, Troy sort of got that. Ryan was so -- girly, sort of, so he and Gabi liked to gossip and dance and do their nails or whatever. That was Ryan Evans stuff. But even though Troy knew there was more to Ryan than that, and Chad had been talking about how awesome Ryan was at baseball for like two weeks now, Troy still found the idea of Chad hanging out with Ryan weird.
"I'm not ditching you. I'm not the one who does that," Chad snapped. "And I'm not going to ditch Ryan just because you didn't realize I have other friends." And with that, Chad stalked off, literally taking his ball and going home.
Troy just sort of stared after him, because, huh?
4.
"Ryan's having an end-of-summer party," Chad said.
Troy blinked. "Okay," he said, waiting for Chad to explain why that was relevant to his life.
"You're invited," Chad added. "He was going to make you an actual, like, printed invitation, but I told him we're not in third grade, so."
"Weird," Troy said. "I always kinda get the feeling Ryan doesn't like me."
Chad rolled his eyes. "He likes you fine. He's just…" He gestured vaguely in the air, which was weird, because it was a very Ryan-like gesture. And Chad was really not Ryan-like. "You know. He's Ryan."
"I… don't know?" Troy hazarded. "I barely know him at all. I think he's still mad at me about Twinkle Towne."
"That's ridiculous," Chad snapped, then paused. "Well, no, that's… yeah, totally possible. Kind of explains it, actually."
"So he doesn't like me," Troy said.
Chad deflated. "I don't know. He's weird about… drama club stuff, and… Sharpay, and… You know, this summer. He'll get over it, though." He kicked Troy's leg. "You have to come."
"But he doesn't like me," Troy said. "Why did he even invite me?"
Chad shrugged. "You're my best friend. It would be awesome if you two got along."
Which seemed like a weird thing for Chad to say, but then again, Chad had been weird lately. Especially about Ryan Evans. Troy didn't really get it. But he did like to party, and everyone knew that Mr. and Mrs. Evans were out of town all the time, so Evans Twins parties were totally unsupervised. Which was sort of awesome. "Can I bring Gabi?"
"Duh." Chad rolled his eyes.
Troy grinned. "Then I'm in."
3.
At first, Troy didn't think he had to, but the night before school started, he decided he'd better check. He called Chad, and at Chad's "Yo," he said, "So we're riding to school together tomorrow?"
Chad laughed. "Yeah, duh."
Troy relaxed. They'd ridden together every first day of school since kindergarten, whether it was with their parents or sitting together on the school bus. For the first day of middle school, they'd convinced their parents to buy them matching outfits so everyone would know they were best friends. (Their mothers still offered to do that every year, and cooed over how cute it had been. Moms were weird that way.)
Troy knew it was sort of stupid to even care about, but he liked traditions. Besides, it was senior year, which meant it was their last first day of school.
"Cool," Troy said. "I just wondered, 'cause I bet Ryan Evans' car is nicer than mine."
He practically heard Chad roll his eyes. "Ryan's got a Vespa, for some reason," he said. "Which is stupid. I mean, I bet he could borrow one of his parents' cars, since they have, like, nine of them, but… Anyway, bro, it's senior year. We're going to start it right, right?"
Troy laughed. Good to know that no matter how much time Chad spent with Ryan -- which was a lot, lately -- they were still best friends. Chad might be kind of obsessed with Ryan, but nothing could compare to fifteen years of friendship.
2.
Troy really shouldn't have been surprised. But only a few hours after they'd arrived at school, there was Chad's weird obsession again. It was lunchtime, and the whole gang was at the table -- the whole team, in other words, plus a few girlfriends. Like Gabi, who giggled into her strawberry milk and held Troy's hand.
And then, as they were all finally getting settled after mostly skipping the stupid lunch line (they were seniors, they got to skip it now, it was tradition) Chad jumped up again and waved. Troy looked where he was waving and… Who else?
Ryan waved back sheepishly, his cafeteria tray held in his other hand.
"Doesn't he usually sit with the drama table?" Troy asked, at sure why it bothered him that Chad grabbed a chair from the next table over and pulled it into place between their seats.
"So? Now he's gonna sit here," Chad said.
Gabi squeezed his hand under the table.
1.
Troy stared incredulously. Just… stared. Because Chad Danforth was standing inside the theater, and it wasn't detention. Sure, he was holding a basketball and looking awkwardly out of place about it, but…
"Are you feeling okay?" Troy asked.
Chad laughed. "I know, but it's not like I'm auditioning or anything. Just wanted to, like, check this place out."
"Okay, uh… I can show you around if you w -- "
"Chad!" Troy glanced over his shoulder and saw Ryan bounding over to them, beaming. "I didn't think you would actually come."
"Yeah, well." Chad smiled, shifting his basketball between hands. "You invited me."
"I've invited you," Troy said. "Like, a million times."
"Yeah, but…" Chad trailed off.
"Dude," Troy said, and he was actually really pretty offended. Which was maybe stupid, but Chad was supposed to be his best friend, not Ryan's, and during the whole time he'd been in rehearsals for Twinkle Towne, Chad hadn't once set foot in the theater. He'd gone to the performance, but grudgingly, and he'd never stopped thinking musical theater was pretty much lame.
Which Troy got, because Chad had that Phantom of the Opera trauma, but then what the hell was he doing here, now, because Ryan freaking Evans had invited him? It wasn't right.
"Troy!" Chad tried, but Troy stalked off, seething and feeling kind of…
Jealous. Really, stupidly, bitterly jealous, because Ryan Evans, who already had about a kajillion dollars, had stolen his best friend.
0.
Troy's 18th birthday party was going to be awesome, and there was no way Chad was going to spoil it. Chad had tried to talk with him, said he'd explain it, but Troy didn't want to hear it. But Troy didn't say anything when Chad showed up. Didn't kick him out, but didn't run over and say hi or anything.
He had basically invited everyone from their class. Zeke had brought Sharpay, so Troy was expecting that, but he was pretty sure he saw Ryan, too. Which was just infuriating, because Troy had purposely not invited him and couldn't Chad be his best friend for just one freaking night?
But the party had beer and Gabi, and those were both things that made him feel better. Gabi convinced him he should just talk to Chad, give him a chance to explain the whole Ryan situation, and it would make him feel better. Thanks to the beer, that sounded like a reasonable idea, but Chad had disappeared. If he was with Ryan when Troy found him, Troy was gonna be pissed.
He heard them before he saw them. He needed to pee -- also thanks to the beer -- and the downstairs bathroom was full so he went to use the one next to his parents' bedroom. It was quieter upstairs, and the bathroom was all the way in the back, away from the party.
So he heard, "He's never been this mad at me before," and knew it was Chad.
"He'll understand." Ryan, obviously. They were sitting in Troy's parents room, the door slightly open; Troy could see their shadows on the floor, but not them. "We should tell him, it'll -- "
"But what if -- "
"Chad."
And then they didn't say anything for a few seconds. Troy edged closer until he could just see them, sitting at the foot of his parents' bed. Holding hands. Ryan leaned over and kissed Chad, who shut his eyes and didn't pull away. Which was… whoa.
"We shouldn't," Chad mumbled when Ryan pulled away. Troy froze, fascinated, wanting to hear more. Because this was so far away from anything he'd even sort of imagined that he wasn't sure it was real and not, like, a drunken hallucination.
"It'll make you feel better," Ryan said, his voice lighter. Teasing.
Chad smiled, just a tiny bit, and reached out to put a hand on the back of Ryan's neck. He pulled Ryan forward, into another kiss, and it wasn't, like, a small kiss. They were making out. Chad was making out with Ryan and he was doing it while sitting on Troy's parents' bed.
Troy really didn't need to see that. He stepped back and thought about it, anger slipping away. It was weird, but it wasn't, at the same time. He'd never figured Chad was gay or anything, but he knew Ryan was. And that didn't bother him. Ryan had only bothered him because he was stealing away Chad, but…
But it was sort of the opposite of when Troy had been jealous because Ryan was hanging out with Gabi, and just as dumb, now that he thought about it. Ryan didn't want to be Gabi's boyfriend, he wanted to be her friend. And Ryan didn't want to be Chad's best friend. He wanted to be Chad's boyfriend.
Well, that was okay, then.
Still, an hour later when Chad shuffled over to him and said, "Hey, man, can we talk?" Troy totally enjoyed the look of shock on Chad's face when he answered, "You and Ryan are totally going to have to go out with me and Gabi sometime."