Title: Disco Ducky
Rating: G-ish
Dedicaton: This was hastily written just for
ienablu. Happy birthday, you!
Notes: Technically, this fic is before any actual relationship between Chad and Ryan...
Summary: Chad and Ryan joke around backstage during a rehearsal, and Ryan revels in the power of being a choreographer.
Ryan was totally oblivious to the fact that Chad was standing next to him, until Chad murmured, "Don't tell anyone this, ever, but your sister is completely right."
That was enough to get Ryan's attention. He'd been listening to Troy and Gabriella rehearsing Just Wanna Be With You around the piano, trying to envision it so he could really begin choreographing, so he'd been pretty focused. The fact that he hadn't turned to greet Chad was proof enough of that -- not that he'd admit it, but he still got a bit of a thrill every time Chad talked to him, and he pretty much always knew when Chad was in a room, let alone near him.
Let alone standing pressed against his side, whispering in his ear.
But Chad admitting Sharpay was right about something? That was even more rare than Chad dancing. Definitely worth Ryan's undivided attention.
Or maybe it was the fact that Chad's ridiculous t-shirt was a size too small that was worth Ryan's attention. One of those things, anyway.
"What?" Ryan gasped. "Are you feeling okay? Should I call the nurse?" He took advantage of his barely-exaggerated surprise to press a hand against Chad's forehead, as if feeling for temperature. Really, he just liked touching Chad. Not that Chad's forehead was particularly sexy or anything.
Not that his forehead any less sexy than other random pieces of Chad's body. Except the pieces that were particularly sexy, like his upper arms and shoulders (god bless Chad's sleeveless basketball jersey) or his abs (and god bless Chad's tendency to go shirtless in gym class) or his -- well, Ryan had only fantasized about the rest, but he was pretty sure it was sexy.
Chad laughed and stepped back, swatting Ryan's hand away. "I feel fine, thanks for worrying. But everyone in the entire building -- probably everyone in Albuquerque -- heard her bitching that Kelsi only writes boring love songs, and this song is a little..." He faked a yawn and a snore, and Ryan laughed. "I'm just sayin', none of you are getting into Juilliard if the judges fall asleep."
"Then I guess I'll just have to spice up the choreography..." Ryan said, and, because he was camp enough to pull it off, he shimmied, gyrated his hips, and winked at Chad. And got one of Chad's larger-than-life grins in return.
"Doesn't quite fit the music, though," Chad noted.
"Ah, well." Ryan shrugged. "Anyway, this is nothing -- you should've heard the song before it went up-tempo. I don't know why Sharpay bothered to fight that one out, since it's not even her song, but..."
"She probably was pissed that it wasn't her song," Chad said. "I mean, until a year ago you two were the only ones in any shows, so... Hey, it would have been your song, too."
"Yeah, the love song to my sister. A staple of the East High Drama Club, back in the BG era."
"BG?"
"Before Gabriella." Ryan rolled his eyes.
"Ahhh. Also BC, then." Chad grinned again. "You know: Before Chad. 'Cause let's face it, I make this show about a hundred times more awesome."
"This from the guy who insisted all summer that he wouldn't dance," Ryan mused.
"Hey," Chad said. "I don't like dancing, but if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna make it look good."
"Oh, because you make everything look good, right?" Ryan teased, trying to keep it heavy enough on sarcasm that Chad wouldn't realize Ryan was pretty sure it was completely true. Chad somehow managed to make completely mundane things -- like sitting in class, and walking down the hall, and talking with his mouth full -- look good. Well. Maybe not the last one. Ryan was in lust, but he wasn't in love.
But Chad said, "You know I do, Evans." And he did a laughably bad imitation of Ryan's shimmy, and yes, it somehow looked good. Not that Ryan would admit that aloud.
"Oh, lord, what am I going to do with you? How am I supposed to choreograph around that?" he said instead.
"What, my awesome moves? You want to put together a whole dance of 'em?"
"No, your massive ego. It'll barely fit on stage, I'm not sure where the rest of the team will stand..."
"Oh, hardy har," Chad said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I know you're way too worried about your own number to care about the team's. I also heard Sharpay shriek something about an entire chorus line, in pink wigs...?"
"Yes, well, I need to impress the Juilliard people somehow," Ryan said.
"I just assumed you secretly want to be a Rockette."
Damn it, if Chad didn't stop smirking like that, Ryan was going to have to do something about it. But he answered, "Be nice to me, or I'll make you disco. Don't think I won't."
"Please tell me you don't know how to disco," Chad answered.
Ryan struck a pose, and Chad laughed so hard that after a few seconds, the music around the piano went silent. "Everything okay back there?" Troy called.
Chad staggered out of the wing, towards the edge of the stage. "Ryan is threatening me with disco!"
"He deserved it," Ryan answered, trailing after him. "Sorry to interrupt, Kels."
Kelsi looked back and forth between him and Chad for a second, smiled knowingly, and said, "No problem."
"You can disco?" Troy asked incredulously.
"It's like the gay man's mating dance," Ryan said. "Of course I can disco."
Chad laughed again, a noise which, if he weren't so very masculine, would probably have been properly called a giggle. "Silly me, Disco Ducky," Chad said.
Ryan turned on him and pointed in mock anger. "That's it, Danforth. You brought this on yourself. And when everyone else complains, I'll be sure to let them know who to thank. Kelsi! I'll need the finished version of A Night to Remember as soon as humanly possible."
"Sure thing, Sharpay," she chirped.
Ryan deflated a little. "Sorry, wow, yeah," he acknowledged. "But I still need it as soon as humanly possible."
"I'll finish it up tonight," she said. "But only because I love you."
"As does everyone," Ryan said.
"Who had the giant ego?" Chad asked innocently.
"You adore me," Ryan said, smirking at him.
"I wouldn't go that far," Chad said, and started to walk away. "Well, I'm going to the gym, Bolton, since I still have priorities." He hopped off the stage.
"Yeah, yeah," Troy said, rolling his eyes.
"And Evans?" Chad looked over his shoulder. "If you make me disco, you know I'll just make it look good." And he smirked, and swaggered off.
Yeah, Ryan was going to have to do something about that smirk. Ideally kiss it off, but he'd settle for tormenting Chad via choreography.
Though he was willing to bet Chad would make disco look damn good.