Five Roles of Ryan's That Chad Liked, And One He Loved
Title: Five Roles of Ryan's that Chad Like (and One He Loved)
Fandom: High School Musical
Rating: PG.13
Characters: Chad, Ryan, etc.
Word Count: 4634
Summary: Over the years, Chad sees Ryan in six roles.
Warning: Spoilers for "Fiddler on the Roof", "Sweeney Todd", Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap", "Wicked" and HSM3.
Notes: There's only so long one can go moping about rejection before they get bored, and when I'm bored I write fanfiction, so here you go.
5.
Back in third grade, Chad Danforth's class went on a field trip to the Popejoy Hall Center for the Arts. And he and Troy and the rest of their friends had all decided that it was laaaaame and that none of them would ever ever go back.
And for the next six years, they all kept to the promise.
Then it was freshman year, Chad had come down with a cold and his mom had kept him home from his yearly skiing trip with Troy over Winter Break. To try and lighten his mood, Chad's mother had come home one day from work with tickets.
Not to a basketball game, or something cool like that-- no, they were to a performance of "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Popejoy Hall. Since his mom seemed really excited about it, Chad plastered on a smile and told her that sure, he'd love to go.
So on the winter of his freshman year, Chad found himself shrinking down into the seats in the theatre, hoping none of his friends would see him. The show was starting, and while it was nowhere near as cool as the movie version (which he had only watched on occasion, when there was nothing on TV), it was almost cool. His mom had informed him that all the kids in the show were high school students, and while Chad wondered if they really had nothing better to do than prance around the stage and play pretend, he guess they could be considered to be pretty talented.
(Except for Sharpay Evans-- she was way too melodramatic and her rendition of "Everything's Alright" lacked the reassurance and sincerity needed, but Chad really didn't like Sharpay so he doubted his opinion carried much weight.)
However, the scrawny white kid playing Simon Zealotes was, despite being no Larry Marshall (not that Chad knew all the actors in the movie by heart, because Chad didn't really like the movie that much), almost impressive. The kid was a pretty decent singer, and his dancing seemed to be in time with everyone else, but really it was how his "Keep them yelling their devotion / But add a touch of hate at Rome / You will rise to a greater power / We will win ourselves a home!" was almost as charismatic as Larry Marshall, and how all the factors combined so that Chad felt like he was actually watching Simon onstage, not a scrawny white kid.
"Simon Zealotes" ended and "Poor Jerusalem" started, and Chad turned to his program. Ty Gager was singing now, nowhere near as good as Ted Neeley, but Chad was more interested in Simon's actor: Ryan Evans.
Chad nearly laughed. Ryan was Sharpay's twin sister, the significantly less loud (but almost as sparkly) of the two, and most of the time Chad wasn't aware of Ryan's presence. And yet, a few minutes ago, he had been up on stage, and there had been a spotlight on him and Chad could almost admit that he was impressed.
Though the next morning when him mom asked him what he thought of the musical (since Chad may have fallen asleep on the way back home), Chad denied everything.
--
4.
It was sophomore year, and the basketball teams (both varsity and junior varsity) were doing pretty well, so the guys on the basketball teams were getting pretty popular, and Troy was a sophomore on varsity and pretty popular, so as his best friend Chad was pretty popular too. It was a Friday night, so Chad thought that he and Troy would be doing something cool...
But no. It was a Friday, Chad and Troy were both single, pretty popular, and they were spending the evening watching their school's showing of "Fiddler on the Roof" because Troy needed to make up credit for homeroom.
It wasn't necessarily a bad play, really. Sure, there was a lot of singing, a lot of dancing, many times when Chad was tempted to text Jason and ask him if Jewish families were really like the ones portrayed, but it wasn't bad. And Chad actually really enjoyed it when when The Lead Russian Dude bitchslapped The Scholar Dude, though Troy was less amazed with how The Scholar Dude had rolled a few times after the slap, and more amazed with how it had been acted out. And yea, Chad had been slightly amazed with how The Lead Russian Dude, who had been stiff and uninteresting in the previous scenes, had become much less stiff and uninteresting when he was slapping a guy to the ground, but he was slapping a guy to the ground and that was all that mattered to Chad.
Then intermission had come around, and Troy had scampered out of his seat in a hurry, saying something about getting something to eat. Chad flipped through the program-- ignoring the "Please don't bring food or drink into the auditorium" notice, much like Troy apparently had-- trying to see if he could recognize any of the names listed. Other than "Tzeitel.... Sharpay Evans" (which, if Chad wasn't mistaken, was in a slightly larger font than the rest of the names), Chad didn't recognize any other names.
...besides the "Constable.... Ryan Evans" settled near the bottom of the page. Chad frowned. The name was familiar-- not the Constable, (Chad didn't bother keeping track of the names, just mentally referring to the characters as The Singing Russian Dude or The Scholar Dude or The Older Not-Sharpay Sister or something like that) but 'Ryan Evans'.
Though familiar as the name was, Chad had barely recognized Ryan. Last year, when he was on stage, he was a powerhouse of energy; but in the past act, Chad hadn't even noticed him. And... if the Constable was The Lead Russian Dude like Chad thought, then Ryan wasn't just lacking in energy, but lacking in his acting.
And Chad was lacking in snacks. Intermission was halfway over, and it didn't seem like Troy was going to return soon. Chad stood up, stretching up and cracking his back. It was like a sauna inside the auditorium, and he was glad to get out of it. But it turned out that it was as hot and stuffy outside the auditorium as it was inside of it, so Chad slipped outside a side door into the cool air of the night. Chad had no idea why no one else was outside... and it was then that he saw another figure leaning up against the school a few feet away from him.
Troy had kept shushing him during the play, and Chad could only go so long without talking, so he turned to the figure and asked, "So, what do you think of the play?"
The figure jumped, and turned towards Chad. "Huh?"
Having grown accustomed to the light, Chad could now make out a few things about the figure. The figure was about his size, looking more male than female, and dressed like a Russian.
Oh. "You're in the play, aren't you?"
"Barely."
Chad grew aware of how the guy was rubbing at his eyes. "Are you one of the guys just listed under 'Russians'?"
"No, I'm the Constable, but just because my Russian is named doesn't make him any less of a shit role."
Chad didn't know Ryan Evans personally, or at all, really, but he didn't seem like the kind of person to swear. "If it's a bad part, how'd you get it?"
"A really shitty audition."
Again, Chad was surprised to hear the swearing. He was about to comment on that, but then he saw the expression on Ryan's face, he shut his mouth.
Ryan stayed silent for a moment, then started to talk. "I had the best audition piece planned out, it was a difficult piece, and I nailed it down. A few minutes until my audition was to start, my boyfriend called. And he broke up with me. I went in a mess, I forgot the melody, I hit a few flat notes, my voice was breaking, I fucked up so badly that I should be happy I even got a part, and I managed to get through rehearsals, but then I found out before last night's performance that Tyler, my ex, broke up with me for Sam, the fucker who got the part I wanted, and now I'm just bullshitting my way through a shitty part." Ryan stood for a moment, took a deep breath, then slid down the wall as he exhaled.
When any guy on the team needed advice, Chad was the last person they went to. He never minded listening to their problems, he just always ended up saying something that made the situation worse. But in this situation Chad didn't think things could get worse, so he sat down beside Ryan. He thought for a moment, then said, "It's like Darbus always says--"
"You listen to Darbus?"
"When my iPod battery is dead."
Ryan snorted.
"As I was saying, it's like Darbus says: There is no such thing as a shitty part, only shitty actors."
There was a pause, then Ryan smiled tersely. "Say that again?"
"Well, I think the phrase usually is 'there is no such thing a small part, only small actors', but you said the your character--"
"The Constable is not a character. The Constable is a plot device with a name."
"Then make him a character. As uninteresting as you may think he is, he's that much uninteresting for us to watch."
"He's got less than a dozen lines in the second act."
"So? Make them interesting."
"...was I really that bad?"
Chad paused. "Uh... yea, you really were." Seeing Ryan's face fall, he added a hurried, "Though, when you smacked the scholar guy, that was pretty cool."
Ryan smirked. "My favorite part of the show, being able to smack Sam."
"Sam?" Chad asked, though after replaying Ryan's rant, he started to laugh. "So you get to smack your ex's new date?"
"Well, it's a stage slap, which means it's fake, but it's still very therapeutic."
Chad just kept laughing.
Ryan shook his head and stood up. "Intermission will be over in a minute, I should probably head back." He turned to leave, but hesitated. "And... thanks."
Standing up, Chad clapped a hand on Ryan's back. "No prob, man. Just make your role interesting this act."
"This scene," Ryan correct as the two headed inside. "I'm only in one scene."
And so he was; But by the second line, Chad already noticed a change. Ryan hadn't entered the stage, the Constable had.
And when The Main Character yelled at the Constable for kicking the Jews out of the town after befriending him, the Constable yelled back, "I had nothing to do with this!" and Chad was pretty sure he wasn't the only one in the audience who felt a shiver going up his back.
After the Constable exited, it took a few moments for Chad to register a poking in his side.
Troy was poking him. "What are you smiling at?"
"The Constable." Chad realized what he said, and continued, "What? ...his hat was funny looking."
--
3.
"Twinkle Towne" had ended, but Troy was still on a musical kick, and this time he was trying to bring the rest of the team with him. He only succeeded in getting Jason, Zeke, and Chad to go with him. Jason, because he had discovered that the Popejoy Hall was putting on a show of "Sweeney Todd" and Jason was good with a musical so long as people died; Zeke, because he had discovered that Sharpay was going to be in the show; and Chad, because while he said he still didn't like musicals and was only going to show support for his best friend and his weird hobbies... Chad had seen the movie version of "Sweeney Todd" at least four times when it was in theatres, and a few more times on DVD.
But nobody needed to know that.
After the show, Chad had suggested they go and play a quick game of basketball at the nearby park, which was seconded by Jason, though Troy suggested they stay back and congratulate the actors, which was seconded by Zeke. They stayed arguing in the lobby in front of the theatre until the actors started coming out.
So they stayed put. Or at least Troy, Jason and Chad did; Zeke had hurried off to the door which the actors came out of, so he could be the first to congratulate Sharpay. Troy greeted the actors as they passed, congratulating them, catching up with the chorus members from "Twinkle Towne" and Jason and Chad just smiled weakly when Troy remembered them and brought them into the conversation.
From the side glances he was exchanging with Jason, Chad got the feeling that Jason was just as anxious to get out of there as he was. But just as he was about to tell Troy that it wasn't too dark out to play ball, Troy called out to Ryan.
"Great job!" Troy yelled out as Ryan approached, clapping him on the back.
"Yea, you were great," Chad added.
Jason just nodded.
"Thanks," Ryan said, a pink tint on his cheeks.
After a second, Jason added, "Well, 'Johanna' sounded really weird at one point, but other than that you were pretty good."
Ryan looked sheepish. "The bench I sat on at the beginning of my song was dusty, and I had to sneeze through the whole scene, "
"That's gotta suck..." Jason said, trailing off as he looked around the lobby.
Ryan smiled knowingly at him. "She's in the orchestra pit."
After a brief moment of opening and closing his mouth a few times, he ducked his head and hurried, blushing, back into the auditorium.
"Seriously, though," Troy said when Ryan looked like he was about to leave. "All throughout Twinkle Towne rehearsals you kept telling me that I was a much better singer than you were, but you were amazing!"
"Except for the sneezing during 'Johanna' thing," Chad said, prompting Troy to smack him on the arm.
"And you were a perfect Anthony."
"I really wanted the part," Ryan admitted.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Why? Because his actor in the movie was hot?"
Troy's eyebrows flew to his hairline, and Ryan just laughed. "Maybe..."
"I want to know why Sharpay was Ms. Lovett, though," Chad said, looking around and making sure that saying her name didn't summon her. "I think she would have made a better Johanna."
"Ms. Lovett was the largest female role, therefore it was perfect for her. Besides, if she had been Johanna, I would have had to been Toby."
Chad made a face. "I'm glad she was Ms. Lovett, then."
"Why's that?"
"I don't think you could have pulled off Toby."
Ryan raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Why's that?"
"I don't think you could pull off a murderer."
"That's why it's called acting."
Chad shrugged, "Still, I don't see it."
"You don't think I could do it?" Ryan asked, looking at him intently.
"I think you could," Troy said with a small smile from behind them.
Chad didn't look at him, instead holding Ryan's gaze. "No."
--
2.
Next time it was Zeke who was convincing everyone to go see a theatre performance with him. He excitedly told everyone that over the summer he and Sharpay had gotten closer, and he felt a breakthrough was coming. The drama department was opening up the year with a production of "The Mousetrap", and Sharpay was in it, and Zeke was going opening night (and a few after that). He just didn't want to go alone.
To everyone's surprise, Chad was the first to agree. Ryan had been talking for the past few weeks about how excited he was for the play, and since he and Chad had become good friends over the summer, Chad had said he'd see the play once, maybe twice.
Though once the actors came out for their curtain call, Chad knew he would be coming back a few more times, if he could scrounge up the cash for it. For, as he had told Jason multiple times throughout the performance, the play had been pretty cool.
The cast was small, and Chad didn't recognize half of them. Out of the eight people listed, the only names that stood out where "Miss Casewell.... Sharpay Evans" (a role that had surprised Chad, what with Miss Casewell being a rather mild, quiet character who was nothing like Sharpay, but made sense towards the end), "Mr Paravacini.... Kelsi Nielson" (a role that had surprised Chad again, since Paravacini was the exact opposite of Kelsi) and "Detective Sergeant Trotter.... Ryan Evans" (who turned out to be the murderer, and a completely awesome one at that). And yea, Chad was definitely going to go see it a few more times.
As they were exiting the auditorium, Jason started looking around.
"Zeke probably ran off to find Sharpay," Chad told him.
"I know, I'm looking for Kelsi. She said she would be at every..." he trailed off and stopped walking, causing Chad to bump into him. He unfolded his program and scanned it, letting out a soft, "No way..."
Next thing Chad knew, Jason had grabbed his arm and weaved around the people milling about to the door leading from backstage.
"Did you really not know it was Kelsi?"
Jason shook his head, nervously hopping from foot to foot. When Chad was about to ask when the actors would finally come out, Jason announced, "I think I'm going to ask her out."
Chad was about to ask what brought about this change of heart, or ask where they would be going, but realizing that Jason would chicken out in an instant, he just gave him a thumbs up.
The first person to come out of the door was Sharpay, and Chad really wasn't that surprised. What was surprising, though, was how he was one of the first people to start clapping for her.
After Sharpay had been enveloped in a bear hug by Zeke-- who was careful not to crush the cookie-flowers he had made-- the actors who acted out the newlyweds came through the doors next, followed by the goofy guy and the chick who had been killed in the first act, then Kelsi, then that guy who really didn't interest Chad, and finally Ryan.
The minute Ryan walked through the doorway, his eyes fell on Chad, and he hurried over. "And you thought I couldn't pull off a murderer," he said, smug grin on his face.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Yea yea yea..."
"You were wrong," Ryan sing-songed.
"I was mistaken," Chad corrected. "And I have never been happier to be mistaken. That was awesome."
"You really think so?" Ryan asked, a smile growing on his face.
"Uh, yea? Dude, you were great! I didn't expect you to be the killer, you played it perfectly. And how your character and Sharpay's character turned out to be related was just awesome--"
Ryan held up his hand, looking startled. "Did you just indirectly compliment Sharpay?"
"...no." When Ryan didn't look convinced, Chad continued on, "Anyways, that whistling thing was pretty sweet.. Like before you killed that woman? It gave me goosebumps."
The smug smile turned into a sheepish one. "That... that wasn't me." At Chad's confused expression, Ryan admitted, "I can't whistle."
Chad was silent for a moment, before repeating, "You can't whistle?"
"Well... not on-cue and on-tune. Stop laughing."
Chad bit his lip, but he couldn't help sniggering. Ryan reached over and smacked him on the arm. "Shut up."
"Dude, you can sing, you can dance, you can act, but you can't whistle? I'm sorry, but that's funny."
Ryan stuck out his tongue, then turned on his heel and started walking off.
"Wait, Ryan!" Chad took a few steps after him.
"Yes?" he asked, turning around.
Chad's face broke into a wide grin. "I just wanted to tell you that you look nice in that policeman's outfit." And he let out a wolf-whistle.
Ryan flushed in anger and flipped him off.
Worried that Sharpay would appear out of nowhere and ask him if he was harassing her brother, Chad waved cheekily to Ryan, then hurried out to catch the bus home.
--
1.
The Popejoy Hall was much more packed than Chad had thought it would be. He had heard a lot of talk about "Wicked" on the few occasions that he hung around the theatre kids, so he should have expected there to be a lot of people, but the show was sold out-- it made him glad he had reserved his tickets a week ago, but he suddenly grew self-conscious of the flowers in his hand. They had been Taylor's idea, and if anyone saw Chad with them, he was going to blame her. He had figured the way around that would be to wait until Ryan didn't have anyone around him, but the show had ended twenty minutes ago and he still had a group of people fawning over him.
Finally, he just decided to go and leave the flowers in Ryan's dressing room. He asked a girl which way to the dressing rooms, and she gave him vague directions, which he followed.
And got lost.
It took Chad a few minutes to get himself out of the labyrinth under the stage, until he managed to get to hall where the dressing rooms were. It was quiet, and Chad guessed most of the actors had gone already. Only one door had a stream of light coming from it. He poked his head in... and watched as Ryan pulled his shirt off.
After a stunned moment, he pulled his head back out. He waited a minute or two, staring idly at the flowers-- they should probably be put in water soon, or they'd wilt-- before sticking his head back in the doorway. Ryan had put a shirt on, and was buttoning it up.
Chad didn't know exactly what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "That was perfect."
Ryan turned around, looking surprised. But the surprise melted into some expression that Chad couldn't quite describe. "Chad? I didn't know you were coming to this..."
Chad shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, the other keeping a firm grasp on the daisies. "Oh, well, Troy took Gabs up to go skiing, and Jason is visiting his brother, and Zeke told me that you were in this show, so..."
"Did you enjoy it?" Ryan asked, looking at him hopefully.
"Of course," he said. "I, uh, got you these..."
Ryan's eyes grew to twice their size as he took the flowers from Chad. "Thanks..."
"Seriously," he continued as Ryan set the flowers down gently on his dresser. "You were a perfect Fiyero."
"Thanks... but there's no such thing as a perfect performance," he said, adjusting and readjusting his fedora. "Or at least, I haven't had one."
"Are you nuts?" Chad asked, leaning against the dresser.
"Name one show of mine you've seen that I was perfect in," Ryan challenged, arms crossed.
"'Jesus Christ Superstar'."
Ryan blinked a few times, but said, "I hit a really sharp F."
"'Fiddler'?"
"As you told me, I was uninteresting."
"But then you gave the Constable a character."
"Still wasn't a perfect performance."
"'Sweeney Todd'?"
"I had to sneeze when I was singing 'I'll steal you, Johanna'."
Chad shook his head. "I'm not even surprised when you burst into song anymore."
In reply, Ryan just smiled and continued, "'I'll steal you'."
"And in 'The Mousetrap' you couldn't whistle..."
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Nope. So tell me, Mr. Perfect, what your mistake was this time."
Ryan stared at him for a long moment, his smile faltering a little bit, then quietly said, "I wasn't singing to Ella."
There was a buzzing sound, and Ryan reached for his phone. He quickly texted a reply, then was a brief silence between the two. Chad made a gesture. "Go on."
Ryan looked sheepish. "Well, in 'As Long As You're Mine'--"
"No," Chad interrupted, shaking his head. "You can't seriously have any complaints with that song, it was perfect."
"I know," Ryan said softly, "but I wasn't singing to Ella, which threw our chemistry off. I was singing to someone else."
"Who were you singing it to?"
Ryan's eyes widened, and then he quickly averted his gaze.
Chad was about to ask who when a girl popped into the doorway.
"Am I going crazy, or did I just hear someone singing 'Sweeney Todd'?" she asked.
"Hey Ella," Ryan said brightly. "What are you still doing here?"
The girl, Ella, held up a green-tinted sponge. "Removing make-up, still." After a second, she whipped to look at Chad. "And you are?"
Chad fought the urge to squirm under her intense stare. "I'm just a friend of Ryan's..."
"Is that so?"
He nodded, then glanced toward the watch on his arm. "And I should probably get going." He turned back towards Ryan, who was shooting an exasperated look at Ella. "See you some time over break?"
Ryan nodded. "Of course."
Chad was halfway out the door, edging carefully around the girl still there, when Ryan called out.
"Wait..." Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Were you the one whistling for my curtain call?"
Chad shot him a grin. "Why would you think that?"
--
0.
"I told you there was such a thing as a perfect performance."
Ryan's eyes drifted open. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. Catching sight of Chad, he smiled briefly for a moment, then frowned.
"I guess you were right," he said with a long-suffering sigh.
Chad rolled his eyes, and after Ryan pat the spot next to him, he hurried to the stage and sat down. For a few minutes, the two sat beside each other in silence.
"That really was a perfect performance," Chad said finally. "I'm glad you got the scholarship, you deserved it."
Ryan smiled. "Thanks. And congrats to you too."
"For what?"
Ryan looked at him as he was insane. "For getting into the school you've been dreaming about for years? Congrats, man. You're going to be a great addition to the Redhawks."
"Especially with the moves you've taught me."
"Of course."
"It'll be the perfect strategy," Chad told him. "I'll be passed the ball, then I'll start dancing with it, maybe start a brief reprise of 'Now or Never', maybe get Zeke in on it, and everyone will stop what they're doing to wonder what I'm doing, and then I'll shoot and score a three-pointer and win the game."
It took Ryan a few moments to stop laughing and catch his breath, but finally he managed to get out a "I'll believe it when I see."
"You'll actually have to come to one of my games to see it though," Chad teased. I mean, have you even been to one of my games?"
"Yes! Junior year, play-off against the Knights. And I may have been to another... hm... maybe the one where I spent the entire game as the mascot?"
"How bad is it in that, anyways?"
Ryan wrinkled his nose. "It took weeks to wash the stench off."
"How did you end up with that job again?" Chad asked, glancing at him.
"Well... I realized that you had gone to so many of my shows, but I hadn't been to many of your games... and then something happened to your mascot, and, well... you asked me to fill in."
Chad shifted to look at him fully. "We won both those games, you know."
"I guess I'm just good luck," Ryan said smugly.
"You should come to my games more often."
"I will," Ryan said, and just like that the mood in the room shifted drastically. "Sharpay will pretty much be demanding I come back every other weekend, so I'll be around..."
"Damn, I thought I would finally be rid of you," Chad joked, though Ryan looked less than convinced.
Ryan leaned back to rest on his elbows, eyes fixed on him. "Chad?"
"Yea?"
"Do someth--"
Before Ryan could finish his sentence, Chad had leaned over and pressed his mouth against Ryan's. One of his hands went to keep his steady, the other going to Ryan's neck so to pull him closer, kissing him until his lungs started screaming for air.
When Chad finally pulled away, Ryan let out a low whistle. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."
"What," Chad asked, looking a bit dumbfounded, "whistle or kiss me?"
"Both."
He shook his shock off. "When do you leave for New York?"
"Sometime in August..." Ryan told him, grinning.
"Good," Chad said with a wicked smile. "That'll give us plenty of time to work on your whistling."
Ryan smacked him on the upside of the head, then pulled him in for a kiss.
"...among other things."
Fandom: High School Musical
Rating: PG.13
Characters: Chad, Ryan, etc.
Word Count: 4634
Summary: Over the years, Chad sees Ryan in six roles.
Warning: Spoilers for "Fiddler on the Roof", "Sweeney Todd", Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap", "Wicked" and HSM3.
Notes: There's only so long one can go moping about rejection before they get bored, and when I'm bored I write fanfiction, so here you go.
5.
Back in third grade, Chad Danforth's class went on a field trip to the Popejoy Hall Center for the Arts. And he and Troy and the rest of their friends had all decided that it was laaaaame and that none of them would ever ever go back.
And for the next six years, they all kept to the promise.
Then it was freshman year, Chad had come down with a cold and his mom had kept him home from his yearly skiing trip with Troy over Winter Break. To try and lighten his mood, Chad's mother had come home one day from work with tickets.
Not to a basketball game, or something cool like that-- no, they were to a performance of "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Popejoy Hall. Since his mom seemed really excited about it, Chad plastered on a smile and told her that sure, he'd love to go.
So on the winter of his freshman year, Chad found himself shrinking down into the seats in the theatre, hoping none of his friends would see him. The show was starting, and while it was nowhere near as cool as the movie version (which he had only watched on occasion, when there was nothing on TV), it was almost cool. His mom had informed him that all the kids in the show were high school students, and while Chad wondered if they really had nothing better to do than prance around the stage and play pretend, he guess they could be considered to be pretty talented.
(Except for Sharpay Evans-- she was way too melodramatic and her rendition of "Everything's Alright" lacked the reassurance and sincerity needed, but Chad really didn't like Sharpay so he doubted his opinion carried much weight.)
However, the scrawny white kid playing Simon Zealotes was, despite being no Larry Marshall (not that Chad knew all the actors in the movie by heart, because Chad didn't really like the movie that much), almost impressive. The kid was a pretty decent singer, and his dancing seemed to be in time with everyone else, but really it was how his "Keep them yelling their devotion / But add a touch of hate at Rome / You will rise to a greater power / We will win ourselves a home!" was almost as charismatic as Larry Marshall, and how all the factors combined so that Chad felt like he was actually watching Simon onstage, not a scrawny white kid.
"Simon Zealotes" ended and "Poor Jerusalem" started, and Chad turned to his program. Ty Gager was singing now, nowhere near as good as Ted Neeley, but Chad was more interested in Simon's actor: Ryan Evans.
Chad nearly laughed. Ryan was Sharpay's twin sister, the significantly less loud (but almost as sparkly) of the two, and most of the time Chad wasn't aware of Ryan's presence. And yet, a few minutes ago, he had been up on stage, and there had been a spotlight on him and Chad could almost admit that he was impressed.
Though the next morning when him mom asked him what he thought of the musical (since Chad may have fallen asleep on the way back home), Chad denied everything.
--
4.
It was sophomore year, and the basketball teams (both varsity and junior varsity) were doing pretty well, so the guys on the basketball teams were getting pretty popular, and Troy was a sophomore on varsity and pretty popular, so as his best friend Chad was pretty popular too. It was a Friday night, so Chad thought that he and Troy would be doing something cool...
But no. It was a Friday, Chad and Troy were both single, pretty popular, and they were spending the evening watching their school's showing of "Fiddler on the Roof" because Troy needed to make up credit for homeroom.
It wasn't necessarily a bad play, really. Sure, there was a lot of singing, a lot of dancing, many times when Chad was tempted to text Jason and ask him if Jewish families were really like the ones portrayed, but it wasn't bad. And Chad actually really enjoyed it when when The Lead Russian Dude bitchslapped The Scholar Dude, though Troy was less amazed with how The Scholar Dude had rolled a few times after the slap, and more amazed with how it had been acted out. And yea, Chad had been slightly amazed with how The Lead Russian Dude, who had been stiff and uninteresting in the previous scenes, had become much less stiff and uninteresting when he was slapping a guy to the ground, but he was slapping a guy to the ground and that was all that mattered to Chad.
Then intermission had come around, and Troy had scampered out of his seat in a hurry, saying something about getting something to eat. Chad flipped through the program-- ignoring the "Please don't bring food or drink into the auditorium" notice, much like Troy apparently had-- trying to see if he could recognize any of the names listed. Other than "Tzeitel.... Sharpay Evans" (which, if Chad wasn't mistaken, was in a slightly larger font than the rest of the names), Chad didn't recognize any other names.
...besides the "Constable.... Ryan Evans" settled near the bottom of the page. Chad frowned. The name was familiar-- not the Constable, (Chad didn't bother keeping track of the names, just mentally referring to the characters as The Singing Russian Dude or The Scholar Dude or The Older Not-Sharpay Sister or something like that) but 'Ryan Evans'.
Though familiar as the name was, Chad had barely recognized Ryan. Last year, when he was on stage, he was a powerhouse of energy; but in the past act, Chad hadn't even noticed him. And... if the Constable was The Lead Russian Dude like Chad thought, then Ryan wasn't just lacking in energy, but lacking in his acting.
And Chad was lacking in snacks. Intermission was halfway over, and it didn't seem like Troy was going to return soon. Chad stood up, stretching up and cracking his back. It was like a sauna inside the auditorium, and he was glad to get out of it. But it turned out that it was as hot and stuffy outside the auditorium as it was inside of it, so Chad slipped outside a side door into the cool air of the night. Chad had no idea why no one else was outside... and it was then that he saw another figure leaning up against the school a few feet away from him.
Troy had kept shushing him during the play, and Chad could only go so long without talking, so he turned to the figure and asked, "So, what do you think of the play?"
The figure jumped, and turned towards Chad. "Huh?"
Having grown accustomed to the light, Chad could now make out a few things about the figure. The figure was about his size, looking more male than female, and dressed like a Russian.
Oh. "You're in the play, aren't you?"
"Barely."
Chad grew aware of how the guy was rubbing at his eyes. "Are you one of the guys just listed under 'Russians'?"
"No, I'm the Constable, but just because my Russian is named doesn't make him any less of a shit role."
Chad didn't know Ryan Evans personally, or at all, really, but he didn't seem like the kind of person to swear. "If it's a bad part, how'd you get it?"
"A really shitty audition."
Again, Chad was surprised to hear the swearing. He was about to comment on that, but then he saw the expression on Ryan's face, he shut his mouth.
Ryan stayed silent for a moment, then started to talk. "I had the best audition piece planned out, it was a difficult piece, and I nailed it down. A few minutes until my audition was to start, my boyfriend called. And he broke up with me. I went in a mess, I forgot the melody, I hit a few flat notes, my voice was breaking, I fucked up so badly that I should be happy I even got a part, and I managed to get through rehearsals, but then I found out before last night's performance that Tyler, my ex, broke up with me for Sam, the fucker who got the part I wanted, and now I'm just bullshitting my way through a shitty part." Ryan stood for a moment, took a deep breath, then slid down the wall as he exhaled.
When any guy on the team needed advice, Chad was the last person they went to. He never minded listening to their problems, he just always ended up saying something that made the situation worse. But in this situation Chad didn't think things could get worse, so he sat down beside Ryan. He thought for a moment, then said, "It's like Darbus always says--"
"You listen to Darbus?"
"When my iPod battery is dead."
Ryan snorted.
"As I was saying, it's like Darbus says: There is no such thing as a shitty part, only shitty actors."
There was a pause, then Ryan smiled tersely. "Say that again?"
"Well, I think the phrase usually is 'there is no such thing a small part, only small actors', but you said the your character--"
"The Constable is not a character. The Constable is a plot device with a name."
"Then make him a character. As uninteresting as you may think he is, he's that much uninteresting for us to watch."
"He's got less than a dozen lines in the second act."
"So? Make them interesting."
"...was I really that bad?"
Chad paused. "Uh... yea, you really were." Seeing Ryan's face fall, he added a hurried, "Though, when you smacked the scholar guy, that was pretty cool."
Ryan smirked. "My favorite part of the show, being able to smack Sam."
"Sam?" Chad asked, though after replaying Ryan's rant, he started to laugh. "So you get to smack your ex's new date?"
"Well, it's a stage slap, which means it's fake, but it's still very therapeutic."
Chad just kept laughing.
Ryan shook his head and stood up. "Intermission will be over in a minute, I should probably head back." He turned to leave, but hesitated. "And... thanks."
Standing up, Chad clapped a hand on Ryan's back. "No prob, man. Just make your role interesting this act."
"This scene," Ryan correct as the two headed inside. "I'm only in one scene."
And so he was; But by the second line, Chad already noticed a change. Ryan hadn't entered the stage, the Constable had.
And when The Main Character yelled at the Constable for kicking the Jews out of the town after befriending him, the Constable yelled back, "I had nothing to do with this!" and Chad was pretty sure he wasn't the only one in the audience who felt a shiver going up his back.
After the Constable exited, it took a few moments for Chad to register a poking in his side.
Troy was poking him. "What are you smiling at?"
"The Constable." Chad realized what he said, and continued, "What? ...his hat was funny looking."
--
3.
"Twinkle Towne" had ended, but Troy was still on a musical kick, and this time he was trying to bring the rest of the team with him. He only succeeded in getting Jason, Zeke, and Chad to go with him. Jason, because he had discovered that the Popejoy Hall was putting on a show of "Sweeney Todd" and Jason was good with a musical so long as people died; Zeke, because he had discovered that Sharpay was going to be in the show; and Chad, because while he said he still didn't like musicals and was only going to show support for his best friend and his weird hobbies... Chad had seen the movie version of "Sweeney Todd" at least four times when it was in theatres, and a few more times on DVD.
But nobody needed to know that.
After the show, Chad had suggested they go and play a quick game of basketball at the nearby park, which was seconded by Jason, though Troy suggested they stay back and congratulate the actors, which was seconded by Zeke. They stayed arguing in the lobby in front of the theatre until the actors started coming out.
So they stayed put. Or at least Troy, Jason and Chad did; Zeke had hurried off to the door which the actors came out of, so he could be the first to congratulate Sharpay. Troy greeted the actors as they passed, congratulating them, catching up with the chorus members from "Twinkle Towne" and Jason and Chad just smiled weakly when Troy remembered them and brought them into the conversation.
From the side glances he was exchanging with Jason, Chad got the feeling that Jason was just as anxious to get out of there as he was. But just as he was about to tell Troy that it wasn't too dark out to play ball, Troy called out to Ryan.
"Great job!" Troy yelled out as Ryan approached, clapping him on the back.
"Yea, you were great," Chad added.
Jason just nodded.
"Thanks," Ryan said, a pink tint on his cheeks.
After a second, Jason added, "Well, 'Johanna' sounded really weird at one point, but other than that you were pretty good."
Ryan looked sheepish. "The bench I sat on at the beginning of my song was dusty, and I had to sneeze through the whole scene, "
"That's gotta suck..." Jason said, trailing off as he looked around the lobby.
Ryan smiled knowingly at him. "She's in the orchestra pit."
After a brief moment of opening and closing his mouth a few times, he ducked his head and hurried, blushing, back into the auditorium.
"Seriously, though," Troy said when Ryan looked like he was about to leave. "All throughout Twinkle Towne rehearsals you kept telling me that I was a much better singer than you were, but you were amazing!"
"Except for the sneezing during 'Johanna' thing," Chad said, prompting Troy to smack him on the arm.
"And you were a perfect Anthony."
"I really wanted the part," Ryan admitted.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Why? Because his actor in the movie was hot?"
Troy's eyebrows flew to his hairline, and Ryan just laughed. "Maybe..."
"I want to know why Sharpay was Ms. Lovett, though," Chad said, looking around and making sure that saying her name didn't summon her. "I think she would have made a better Johanna."
"Ms. Lovett was the largest female role, therefore it was perfect for her. Besides, if she had been Johanna, I would have had to been Toby."
Chad made a face. "I'm glad she was Ms. Lovett, then."
"Why's that?"
"I don't think you could have pulled off Toby."
Ryan raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Why's that?"
"I don't think you could pull off a murderer."
"That's why it's called acting."
Chad shrugged, "Still, I don't see it."
"You don't think I could do it?" Ryan asked, looking at him intently.
"I think you could," Troy said with a small smile from behind them.
Chad didn't look at him, instead holding Ryan's gaze. "No."
--
2.
Next time it was Zeke who was convincing everyone to go see a theatre performance with him. He excitedly told everyone that over the summer he and Sharpay had gotten closer, and he felt a breakthrough was coming. The drama department was opening up the year with a production of "The Mousetrap", and Sharpay was in it, and Zeke was going opening night (and a few after that). He just didn't want to go alone.
To everyone's surprise, Chad was the first to agree. Ryan had been talking for the past few weeks about how excited he was for the play, and since he and Chad had become good friends over the summer, Chad had said he'd see the play once, maybe twice.
Though once the actors came out for their curtain call, Chad knew he would be coming back a few more times, if he could scrounge up the cash for it. For, as he had told Jason multiple times throughout the performance, the play had been pretty cool.
The cast was small, and Chad didn't recognize half of them. Out of the eight people listed, the only names that stood out where "Miss Casewell.... Sharpay Evans" (a role that had surprised Chad, what with Miss Casewell being a rather mild, quiet character who was nothing like Sharpay, but made sense towards the end), "Mr Paravacini.... Kelsi Nielson" (a role that had surprised Chad again, since Paravacini was the exact opposite of Kelsi) and "Detective Sergeant Trotter.... Ryan Evans" (who turned out to be the murderer, and a completely awesome one at that). And yea, Chad was definitely going to go see it a few more times.
As they were exiting the auditorium, Jason started looking around.
"Zeke probably ran off to find Sharpay," Chad told him.
"I know, I'm looking for Kelsi. She said she would be at every..." he trailed off and stopped walking, causing Chad to bump into him. He unfolded his program and scanned it, letting out a soft, "No way..."
Next thing Chad knew, Jason had grabbed his arm and weaved around the people milling about to the door leading from backstage.
"Did you really not know it was Kelsi?"
Jason shook his head, nervously hopping from foot to foot. When Chad was about to ask when the actors would finally come out, Jason announced, "I think I'm going to ask her out."
Chad was about to ask what brought about this change of heart, or ask where they would be going, but realizing that Jason would chicken out in an instant, he just gave him a thumbs up.
The first person to come out of the door was Sharpay, and Chad really wasn't that surprised. What was surprising, though, was how he was one of the first people to start clapping for her.
After Sharpay had been enveloped in a bear hug by Zeke-- who was careful not to crush the cookie-flowers he had made-- the actors who acted out the newlyweds came through the doors next, followed by the goofy guy and the chick who had been killed in the first act, then Kelsi, then that guy who really didn't interest Chad, and finally Ryan.
The minute Ryan walked through the doorway, his eyes fell on Chad, and he hurried over. "And you thought I couldn't pull off a murderer," he said, smug grin on his face.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Yea yea yea..."
"You were wrong," Ryan sing-songed.
"I was mistaken," Chad corrected. "And I have never been happier to be mistaken. That was awesome."
"You really think so?" Ryan asked, a smile growing on his face.
"Uh, yea? Dude, you were great! I didn't expect you to be the killer, you played it perfectly. And how your character and Sharpay's character turned out to be related was just awesome--"
Ryan held up his hand, looking startled. "Did you just indirectly compliment Sharpay?"
"...no." When Ryan didn't look convinced, Chad continued on, "Anyways, that whistling thing was pretty sweet.. Like before you killed that woman? It gave me goosebumps."
The smug smile turned into a sheepish one. "That... that wasn't me." At Chad's confused expression, Ryan admitted, "I can't whistle."
Chad was silent for a moment, before repeating, "You can't whistle?"
"Well... not on-cue and on-tune. Stop laughing."
Chad bit his lip, but he couldn't help sniggering. Ryan reached over and smacked him on the arm. "Shut up."
"Dude, you can sing, you can dance, you can act, but you can't whistle? I'm sorry, but that's funny."
Ryan stuck out his tongue, then turned on his heel and started walking off.
"Wait, Ryan!" Chad took a few steps after him.
"Yes?" he asked, turning around.
Chad's face broke into a wide grin. "I just wanted to tell you that you look nice in that policeman's outfit." And he let out a wolf-whistle.
Ryan flushed in anger and flipped him off.
Worried that Sharpay would appear out of nowhere and ask him if he was harassing her brother, Chad waved cheekily to Ryan, then hurried out to catch the bus home.
--
1.
The Popejoy Hall was much more packed than Chad had thought it would be. He had heard a lot of talk about "Wicked" on the few occasions that he hung around the theatre kids, so he should have expected there to be a lot of people, but the show was sold out-- it made him glad he had reserved his tickets a week ago, but he suddenly grew self-conscious of the flowers in his hand. They had been Taylor's idea, and if anyone saw Chad with them, he was going to blame her. He had figured the way around that would be to wait until Ryan didn't have anyone around him, but the show had ended twenty minutes ago and he still had a group of people fawning over him.
Finally, he just decided to go and leave the flowers in Ryan's dressing room. He asked a girl which way to the dressing rooms, and she gave him vague directions, which he followed.
And got lost.
It took Chad a few minutes to get himself out of the labyrinth under the stage, until he managed to get to hall where the dressing rooms were. It was quiet, and Chad guessed most of the actors had gone already. Only one door had a stream of light coming from it. He poked his head in... and watched as Ryan pulled his shirt off.
After a stunned moment, he pulled his head back out. He waited a minute or two, staring idly at the flowers-- they should probably be put in water soon, or they'd wilt-- before sticking his head back in the doorway. Ryan had put a shirt on, and was buttoning it up.
Chad didn't know exactly what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "That was perfect."
Ryan turned around, looking surprised. But the surprise melted into some expression that Chad couldn't quite describe. "Chad? I didn't know you were coming to this..."
Chad shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, the other keeping a firm grasp on the daisies. "Oh, well, Troy took Gabs up to go skiing, and Jason is visiting his brother, and Zeke told me that you were in this show, so..."
"Did you enjoy it?" Ryan asked, looking at him hopefully.
"Of course," he said. "I, uh, got you these..."
Ryan's eyes grew to twice their size as he took the flowers from Chad. "Thanks..."
"Seriously," he continued as Ryan set the flowers down gently on his dresser. "You were a perfect Fiyero."
"Thanks... but there's no such thing as a perfect performance," he said, adjusting and readjusting his fedora. "Or at least, I haven't had one."
"Are you nuts?" Chad asked, leaning against the dresser.
"Name one show of mine you've seen that I was perfect in," Ryan challenged, arms crossed.
"'Jesus Christ Superstar'."
Ryan blinked a few times, but said, "I hit a really sharp F."
"'Fiddler'?"
"As you told me, I was uninteresting."
"But then you gave the Constable a character."
"Still wasn't a perfect performance."
"'Sweeney Todd'?"
"I had to sneeze when I was singing 'I'll steal you, Johanna'."
Chad shook his head. "I'm not even surprised when you burst into song anymore."
In reply, Ryan just smiled and continued, "'I'll steal you'."
"And in 'The Mousetrap' you couldn't whistle..."
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Nope. So tell me, Mr. Perfect, what your mistake was this time."
Ryan stared at him for a long moment, his smile faltering a little bit, then quietly said, "I wasn't singing to Ella."
There was a buzzing sound, and Ryan reached for his phone. He quickly texted a reply, then was a brief silence between the two. Chad made a gesture. "Go on."
Ryan looked sheepish. "Well, in 'As Long As You're Mine'--"
"No," Chad interrupted, shaking his head. "You can't seriously have any complaints with that song, it was perfect."
"I know," Ryan said softly, "but I wasn't singing to Ella, which threw our chemistry off. I was singing to someone else."
"Who were you singing it to?"
Ryan's eyes widened, and then he quickly averted his gaze.
Chad was about to ask who when a girl popped into the doorway.
"Am I going crazy, or did I just hear someone singing 'Sweeney Todd'?" she asked.
"Hey Ella," Ryan said brightly. "What are you still doing here?"
The girl, Ella, held up a green-tinted sponge. "Removing make-up, still." After a second, she whipped to look at Chad. "And you are?"
Chad fought the urge to squirm under her intense stare. "I'm just a friend of Ryan's..."
"Is that so?"
He nodded, then glanced toward the watch on his arm. "And I should probably get going." He turned back towards Ryan, who was shooting an exasperated look at Ella. "See you some time over break?"
Ryan nodded. "Of course."
Chad was halfway out the door, edging carefully around the girl still there, when Ryan called out.
"Wait..." Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Were you the one whistling for my curtain call?"
Chad shot him a grin. "Why would you think that?"
--
0.
"I told you there was such a thing as a perfect performance."
Ryan's eyes drifted open. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. Catching sight of Chad, he smiled briefly for a moment, then frowned.
"I guess you were right," he said with a long-suffering sigh.
Chad rolled his eyes, and after Ryan pat the spot next to him, he hurried to the stage and sat down. For a few minutes, the two sat beside each other in silence.
"That really was a perfect performance," Chad said finally. "I'm glad you got the scholarship, you deserved it."
Ryan smiled. "Thanks. And congrats to you too."
"For what?"
Ryan looked at him as he was insane. "For getting into the school you've been dreaming about for years? Congrats, man. You're going to be a great addition to the Redhawks."
"Especially with the moves you've taught me."
"Of course."
"It'll be the perfect strategy," Chad told him. "I'll be passed the ball, then I'll start dancing with it, maybe start a brief reprise of 'Now or Never', maybe get Zeke in on it, and everyone will stop what they're doing to wonder what I'm doing, and then I'll shoot and score a three-pointer and win the game."
It took Ryan a few moments to stop laughing and catch his breath, but finally he managed to get out a "I'll believe it when I see."
"You'll actually have to come to one of my games to see it though," Chad teased. I mean, have you even been to one of my games?"
"Yes! Junior year, play-off against the Knights. And I may have been to another... hm... maybe the one where I spent the entire game as the mascot?"
"How bad is it in that, anyways?"
Ryan wrinkled his nose. "It took weeks to wash the stench off."
"How did you end up with that job again?" Chad asked, glancing at him.
"Well... I realized that you had gone to so many of my shows, but I hadn't been to many of your games... and then something happened to your mascot, and, well... you asked me to fill in."
Chad shifted to look at him fully. "We won both those games, you know."
"I guess I'm just good luck," Ryan said smugly.
"You should come to my games more often."
"I will," Ryan said, and just like that the mood in the room shifted drastically. "Sharpay will pretty much be demanding I come back every other weekend, so I'll be around..."
"Damn, I thought I would finally be rid of you," Chad joked, though Ryan looked less than convinced.
Ryan leaned back to rest on his elbows, eyes fixed on him. "Chad?"
"Yea?"
"Do someth--"
Before Ryan could finish his sentence, Chad had leaned over and pressed his mouth against Ryan's. One of his hands went to keep his steady, the other going to Ryan's neck so to pull him closer, kissing him until his lungs started screaming for air.
When Chad finally pulled away, Ryan let out a low whistle. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."
"What," Chad asked, looking a bit dumbfounded, "whistle or kiss me?"
"Both."
He shook his shock off. "When do you leave for New York?"
"Sometime in August..." Ryan told him, grinning.
"Good," Chad said with a wicked smile. "That'll give us plenty of time to work on your whistling."
Ryan smacked him on the upside of the head, then pulled him in for a kiss.
"...among other things."