Fic: A Little Song, A Little Dance, A Little Swing [High School Musical // Ryan/Chad] [Chapter 3]
His mother had looked at him over the table, this one particular night, not long after the fateful employee baseball game. "You know that I love you, Chad, no matter what?" she asked. "You can tell me anything."
His father had been away on business, one of those rare trips that took him out of state; his older brothers had decided not to come home that summer, instead finding an apartment near their university; his younger brother and sister were with friends for the evening. It was just the two of them. Chad had never heard the house so quiet.
"I know," he said, realising that he'd waited too long. "Is something wrong?"
His mother's gaze was penetrating, as if she were trying to look deep into his core; after a long pause, she shook her head. "No," she said. "Nothing's wrong. Just remember that I'll always love you, no matter what. Your father, too."
After the lunch period ended, Ryan and Chad -- as thoroughly debauched as a makeout session can make one -- went their separate ways. Ryan headed to class, and Chad said he was doing the same, but instead he ducked out of the school and headed for the old equipment shed by the track field. No one would be around, he knew, and he needed the privacy for something.
He hit the speed dial on his phone, and heard it ring three times before it was picked up. "Chad?" his mother asked. "Is something wrong? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"No," he said. "Nothing's wrong, exactly, but I needed to call you. There's something I need to tell you, something important. You... might be getting a call from the school, and not just about skipping class."
There were a few seconds of silence. Chad pulled the phone away from his ear to check and make sure he hadn't lost the call. "What is it, Chad?" his mother finally asked.
"Well, I didn't want to tell you this way," he said. "I mean, I'd rather tell you in person. But I wanted you to hear it from me, and at this point this is the only way I can guarantee that." He took a calming breath. "Mom, I'm gay."
"Yes, and?" she asked. "Chad, what's so important that you had to miss class?"
"Mom," Chad repeated, "I'm gay." He paused. "And I got kicked off the basketball team."
His mother hissed. "Oh, Chad," she said. "I know that must hurt. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I think I can take care of it," Chad explained, realising that he had the best mother in the entire world. "I've already kinda started. But... I just wanted you to hear it from me." He could almost hear his mother's beaming grin. "And I'm sorry for skipping class."
"You could have at least called on your lunch break," she said, but Chad knew that she was just keeping up appearances. Her tone of voice said she clearly wasn't particularly concerned about it at this point. "We'll talk to your father tonight," she added. "But he loves you, same as I do. It may take some getting used to..."
"But I expected that," Chad assured his mother. "You know, there needs to be a mom of the year award or something."
His mother's laugh was tinny through the cellphone speaker. "I'll see you when you get home," she said. "And invite Ryan over for dinner this weekend. You two are dating, aren't you?"
"Well, we are now," Chad replied. "It's a little complicated. I'll tell you the whole story when I get home. Which'll be a little earlier today, since I don't have practice."
"Love you, Chad," his mother repeated.
"Love you, too. Bye." He disconnected the line, and leaned back against the wall of the equipment shed. That went... Well, he hadn't expected it to go badly, but Chad was certainly glad it had gone as well as it did. He grinned up at the sky. He really did have the best mom ever.
The conversation with his father had gone well. Neither Chad nor his mother were terribly surprised that he'd suspected already. There'd been some awkwardness with the idea, but nothing that had Chad worried. In fact, when he flopped down onto his bed, he was smiling brightly. His smile widened even further when his cell rang, thanks to the name that came up on the call display. "Hey, Ryan," he said, after hitting answer. "What's up?"
"Not much," Ryan said. "Just thinking about my sexy boyfriend."
"Oh, yeah?" Chad asked. "What's his name? I'd like to meet him."
The two laughed, but when it faded, the conversation turned serious. "That was a really stupid risk you took today, Chad," Ryan said. "I mean, it was awesome, don't get me wrong, but what if it hadn't worked?"
"I'd have convinced you to convince your mom to pay to send us both to private school," Chad said, grinning. "Think it would have worked?"
Ryan took long enough to reply that Chad figured he was actually considering it. "Only if things had gotten bad enough," Ryan answered, finally. "Like, death threats or actual physical bullying or something."
"If things hadn't worked today," Chad said, "it probably wouldn't have taken long."
"Do you think you're going to end up back on the team?" Ryan asked. "Or do you even want to?"
Chad shrugged, even though he knew Ryan couldn't see it. "I think Coach just panicked," Chad explained. "He's not exactly what you'd call, y'know." Chad took a moment to phrase it. "Well, he pretty much only thinks about the team. And if things had gone on the way they were, it definitely would have disrupted things. I don't even think it was about being gay, with him, it was just. I was what had changed, so far as he could see, so I was what had to go."
"So if things are good tomorrow, and you dating me won't disrupt the team..."
"Then there's no reason for me to remain kicked off. Or to involve any lawyers."
"I'll call mine in the morning, then, and let her know our dinner meeting is off." A beat. "I was joking, by the way. I hadn't called her." Another beat. "Yet."
Chad laughed. "Ryan?" he said. "Never change."
"Not planning on it."
They kept talking: Chad made sure to mention his mother's invitation to dinner, and Ryan talked about how Sharpay had been pissed that she'd missed Chad's 'spectacular performance'. It wasn't until Chad realised he'd missed the last three sentences Ryan had spoken that he realised he was drifting off. "Listen," he said, "I think I'm falling asleep. I'll see you at school in the morning?"
"Don't forget we have rehearsal tomorrow, too," Ryan said. "The competition's just a couple of weeks away."
"I'll be there," Chad said. "Love you." And he clicked off his phone, rolled over, and went to sleep.
"I don't even think you realised you said it," Ryan will say, smiling at Chad. Little Tyler will run through the hallway, being chased by his older brother, Mitchell, and Chad will marvel at the fact that he and Ryan are raising these two beautiful boys. "You were almost asleep already. I think it just slipped out."
"I definitely don't remember it," Chad will reply. "I mean, that was twenty years ago now. How do you remember it?"
Ryan's laugh won't have changed a bit. Chad will be grateful for that fact, and will fall in love with it again every time he hears it. "I'm an actor, remember," Ryan will say. "It's my job to remember the little details like that."
"At least I remember when you first said it to me." Chad will grin, and lean over to poke his partner in the shoulder. "The dance competition. When we won."
"Can you blame me? I mean, in two months, I turned you into a star."
Chad let himself drop down onto the bench, sweat covering him, pouring from him. He leaned back against the cool concrete wall of the wing. "That was incredible," he said. "I mean, that was back-to-back champions kind of awesome. Is it like that every time?"
Ryan flopped down beside his boyfriend, grinning madly. "Nah," he said. "Sometimes it sucks. But sometimes it's better."
"No fucking way," Chad said, vehemently. "No way does it get better than that."
Leaning his head against Chad's shoulder, Ryan laughed. "That was two of us," he said. "Two people, some judges, and a small audience. Imagine an entire cast, working together. A packed auditorium. A full orchestra. It's better than sex, sometimes."
Chad stiffened a bit. "We..." he began. "You know, we haven't really spoken about that."
"About what? Doing bigger shows? I'm game if you are."
"No, I mean-" Chad bit off his sentence. "I just mean, we haven't really spoken about sex yet."
Ryan laughed again, a little bit harder, although he did make sure to keep himself quiet enough that he wouldn't interrupt the next pair on stage. "Later?" he asked. "I mean, I'm all good to talk about it now, but if we do I'm liable to jump you right here and that might get us disqualified."
"Later, then," Chad agreed. "I'm mean, I'm not saying let's rush into it, but." It was with no small measure of relief that Chad cut off mid-sentence as the pair on stage finished their routine and exited on the opposite side of the stage. A few moments later, a stagehand came up to them.
"The judges will be making their announcement in a few minutes," he explained. "They've asked all the pairs to be ready on stage." Ryan nodded at him, and he left. Neither Ryan nor Chad moved right away, preferring instead to sit there, enjoying each other's presence, a few moments longer.
"We should get out there," Ryan said, eventually. "C'mon." He levered himself up, and then pulled Chad up after him. "Besides, I can't wait to see the look on their faces of all those girls' faces when they see that two guys won."
Chad laughed. "Confident, aren't you?" he asked, but he followed along happily, still riding the performance high. "Hey, you guys were great," Chad mentioned to one of the other pairs on the stage. He recognised the girl as one of the West High cheerleaders. He'd seen her frequently at games.
"Not as great as you guys!" she replied, grinning. "It's nice to see a basketball player who's not afraid to do something a little different." Her partner rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't even say it, Alexei," she said to him. "Alexei thinks that two guys shouldn't dance together," the girl explained to Chad. "Says it's not right."
"Well, it's not against the rules," Ryan interjected. "And I don't see what's so wrong about it, anyway. You get some additional strength, sure, but women have other physical advantages over guys. There's lots of stuff we can't do -- some of the lifts, especially." He smirked at Alexei. "It balances out. Or are you just jealous that we've got the balls to be true to ourselves, off stage and on?"
"I will not be beat," Alexei retorted, his eyes dark. His accent was thick and Russian, so Chad assumed he was an exchange student. "Especially not by stupid jock man and his pansy partner."
Ryan and Chad shared a look before breaking up laughing. "If you ever feel like ditching him," Ryan said to the girl, "look us up. I'm in the book -- Ryan Evans. We'll hang."
"Candy Walters," the cheerleader said. "And thanks, I'll do that. Now, Alexei, are you going to behave?" Alexei just rolled his eyes again, and the two walked off to stand somewhere else on stage.
The judges returned to their seats in the audience, prompting the pairs gathered on stage to quiet down. One of them stood and turned to face the audience gathered behind them. "We'd like to thank you all for coming out to the Albuquerque Amateur Pairs Mixed Dance Competition," she said. "As you've all seen, we have a great deal of talent here in our city, and deciding who stands out as the best is not an easy choice. However, this year, we felt there were three truly stand-out pairs.
"First, in third place, the pair of Candace Walters and Alexei Kryshov, with their hip-hop ballroom piece entitled, 'Into the Awakening Sun.' We felt that their innovative combination of the two styles showed creativity and originality, and their technical skills show true dedication to the artform. Ms. Walters, Mr. Kryshov, if you'll please step forward?"
Chad watched as they came forward and one of the judges' assistants brought them their trophy. His heart was starting to race again, and he wondered how Ryan could stand it. At least with basketball, with any sport, you knew where you stood when the buzzer went off.
"In second place," the judges' spokeswoman continued, "with their Latin-inspired piece using music from the Dirty Dancing franchise, are Andrea Mcintyre and Gavin Blane, chosen for their accuracy and attention to detail. Ms. Mcintyre, Mr. Blane, your trophy.
"And finally, we have our first place team. This was not an easy decision for us; certainly this pair is unconventional at best. Still, the showmanship, artistry, and technical skill of this final pair made it, in the end, no decision at all. This year's first place winning pair, and the winner of the $1000 bursary for continued dance training, is Ryan Evans and Chad Danforth, for their mixed-styles piece 'The Music In Me'."
Later, Chad wasn't quite sure he could accurately remember those next few moments. It was mostly a blur, really, with a hundred different emotions running through his head. He knew, though, that what he wanted most of all at that moment was to grab Ryan and kiss him.
He didn't, though, and the moment passed. The trophy and the mock-check for the bursary were brought on stage and presented to them, then he and Ryan bowed graciously, waved to the audience, tried (mostly successfully) not to gloat in front of the other dancers. The one thing that really did stick out in Chad's mind, though, for the longest time afterwards, was what Ryan said to him on that stage, through the applause from the audience, from their fellow performers.
"I love you," Ryan said, before throwing his arms around Chad and hugging him mercilessly. At that moment, Chad felt he could do anything.
He wondered what Troy would say if he auditioned for the next school musical. Maybe he could convince Darbus to do a dance showcase, or something. Troy could sing, but he absolutely failed at dancing.
All at once, the dancers were being rushed off the stage, and Chad found himself in his mother's arms. "You were fantastic, Chad," she said, kissing him on the forehead. "I never thought to see you do something like that. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom," he said, grinning at her. He glanced over at Ryan. "Y'know, I was thinking. Maybe I would like to take classes with Ryan. We've got the bursary, after all, and Ryan's probably got a private teacher already, anyway."
"What about your sports?" she asked. "Will you have time?"
Chad shrugged. "So I'll drop track or something. Mom, I really like..." He hesitated. "This. I really like dancing." And Ryan, too. Which he'd been about to say. From his mother's glance at Ryan, where he was talking with his own parents, Chad assumed that she knew exactly what he hadn't said there. "I never thought I would, but it was amazing up there."
"We'll figure something out," she assured him. "Now, why don't you and Ryan go off and celebrate, hmm? Don't worry about calling tonight. I'll expect you to be late." Chad nodded, grinning, and ran over to throw his arms around Ryan.
"Congratulations, Chad!" Ryan's mother said. "It's nice to see all that hard work paying off. Ryan tells me that you're not planning to continue with dance? That's such a waste."
Ryan's father laughed. "Come on now, Darby. The boy's a Wildcat! I bet you can't wait to get back on the basketball court, son."
"Actually, sir," Chad said, his hand snaking down to grab Ryan's and hold it tight. "I was just telling my mother that I'm thinking of dropping one of my sports, and taking dance lessons with Ryan instead."
Ryan's eyes were wide. "Really?" he said, completely shocked. "You'd -- Really?"
Chad leaned in, his forehead resting against Ryan's. "Really," he confirmed. "I mean, we can't stop now. Surely there must be another competition we need to prepare for."
Ryan laughed. "One thing's true: there's always another competition."
They had to mingle a little more; the judges came up to congratulate them personally, of course, and no less than four local teachers came up to offer their business cards. Eventually, though, Chad and Ryan had a moment to sneak off by themselves. They found a convenient patch of wall to slide down, to lean against. It was cool enough that it sapped the excess heat from their bodies, a welcome relief. "So," Chad said, smiling at Ryan. "I think I figured out why I agreed to that bet."
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
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His father had been away on business, one of those rare trips that took him out of state; his older brothers had decided not to come home that summer, instead finding an apartment near their university; his younger brother and sister were with friends for the evening. It was just the two of them. Chad had never heard the house so quiet.
"I know," he said, realising that he'd waited too long. "Is something wrong?"
His mother's gaze was penetrating, as if she were trying to look deep into his core; after a long pause, she shook her head. "No," she said. "Nothing's wrong. Just remember that I'll always love you, no matter what. Your father, too."
After the lunch period ended, Ryan and Chad -- as thoroughly debauched as a makeout session can make one -- went their separate ways. Ryan headed to class, and Chad said he was doing the same, but instead he ducked out of the school and headed for the old equipment shed by the track field. No one would be around, he knew, and he needed the privacy for something.
He hit the speed dial on his phone, and heard it ring three times before it was picked up. "Chad?" his mother asked. "Is something wrong? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"No," he said. "Nothing's wrong, exactly, but I needed to call you. There's something I need to tell you, something important. You... might be getting a call from the school, and not just about skipping class."
There were a few seconds of silence. Chad pulled the phone away from his ear to check and make sure he hadn't lost the call. "What is it, Chad?" his mother finally asked.
"Well, I didn't want to tell you this way," he said. "I mean, I'd rather tell you in person. But I wanted you to hear it from me, and at this point this is the only way I can guarantee that." He took a calming breath. "Mom, I'm gay."
"Yes, and?" she asked. "Chad, what's so important that you had to miss class?"
"Mom," Chad repeated, "I'm gay." He paused. "And I got kicked off the basketball team."
His mother hissed. "Oh, Chad," she said. "I know that must hurt. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I think I can take care of it," Chad explained, realising that he had the best mother in the entire world. "I've already kinda started. But... I just wanted you to hear it from me." He could almost hear his mother's beaming grin. "And I'm sorry for skipping class."
"You could have at least called on your lunch break," she said, but Chad knew that she was just keeping up appearances. Her tone of voice said she clearly wasn't particularly concerned about it at this point. "We'll talk to your father tonight," she added. "But he loves you, same as I do. It may take some getting used to..."
"But I expected that," Chad assured his mother. "You know, there needs to be a mom of the year award or something."
His mother's laugh was tinny through the cellphone speaker. "I'll see you when you get home," she said. "And invite Ryan over for dinner this weekend. You two are dating, aren't you?"
"Well, we are now," Chad replied. "It's a little complicated. I'll tell you the whole story when I get home. Which'll be a little earlier today, since I don't have practice."
"Love you, Chad," his mother repeated.
"Love you, too. Bye." He disconnected the line, and leaned back against the wall of the equipment shed. That went... Well, he hadn't expected it to go badly, but Chad was certainly glad it had gone as well as it did. He grinned up at the sky. He really did have the best mom ever.
The conversation with his father had gone well. Neither Chad nor his mother were terribly surprised that he'd suspected already. There'd been some awkwardness with the idea, but nothing that had Chad worried. In fact, when he flopped down onto his bed, he was smiling brightly. His smile widened even further when his cell rang, thanks to the name that came up on the call display. "Hey, Ryan," he said, after hitting answer. "What's up?"
"Not much," Ryan said. "Just thinking about my sexy boyfriend."
"Oh, yeah?" Chad asked. "What's his name? I'd like to meet him."
The two laughed, but when it faded, the conversation turned serious. "That was a really stupid risk you took today, Chad," Ryan said. "I mean, it was awesome, don't get me wrong, but what if it hadn't worked?"
"I'd have convinced you to convince your mom to pay to send us both to private school," Chad said, grinning. "Think it would have worked?"
Ryan took long enough to reply that Chad figured he was actually considering it. "Only if things had gotten bad enough," Ryan answered, finally. "Like, death threats or actual physical bullying or something."
"If things hadn't worked today," Chad said, "it probably wouldn't have taken long."
"Do you think you're going to end up back on the team?" Ryan asked. "Or do you even want to?"
Chad shrugged, even though he knew Ryan couldn't see it. "I think Coach just panicked," Chad explained. "He's not exactly what you'd call, y'know." Chad took a moment to phrase it. "Well, he pretty much only thinks about the team. And if things had gone on the way they were, it definitely would have disrupted things. I don't even think it was about being gay, with him, it was just. I was what had changed, so far as he could see, so I was what had to go."
"So if things are good tomorrow, and you dating me won't disrupt the team..."
"Then there's no reason for me to remain kicked off. Or to involve any lawyers."
"I'll call mine in the morning, then, and let her know our dinner meeting is off." A beat. "I was joking, by the way. I hadn't called her." Another beat. "Yet."
Chad laughed. "Ryan?" he said. "Never change."
"Not planning on it."
They kept talking: Chad made sure to mention his mother's invitation to dinner, and Ryan talked about how Sharpay had been pissed that she'd missed Chad's 'spectacular performance'. It wasn't until Chad realised he'd missed the last three sentences Ryan had spoken that he realised he was drifting off. "Listen," he said, "I think I'm falling asleep. I'll see you at school in the morning?"
"Don't forget we have rehearsal tomorrow, too," Ryan said. "The competition's just a couple of weeks away."
"I'll be there," Chad said. "Love you." And he clicked off his phone, rolled over, and went to sleep.
"I don't even think you realised you said it," Ryan will say, smiling at Chad. Little Tyler will run through the hallway, being chased by his older brother, Mitchell, and Chad will marvel at the fact that he and Ryan are raising these two beautiful boys. "You were almost asleep already. I think it just slipped out."
"I definitely don't remember it," Chad will reply. "I mean, that was twenty years ago now. How do you remember it?"
Ryan's laugh won't have changed a bit. Chad will be grateful for that fact, and will fall in love with it again every time he hears it. "I'm an actor, remember," Ryan will say. "It's my job to remember the little details like that."
"At least I remember when you first said it to me." Chad will grin, and lean over to poke his partner in the shoulder. "The dance competition. When we won."
"Can you blame me? I mean, in two months, I turned you into a star."
Chad let himself drop down onto the bench, sweat covering him, pouring from him. He leaned back against the cool concrete wall of the wing. "That was incredible," he said. "I mean, that was back-to-back champions kind of awesome. Is it like that every time?"
Ryan flopped down beside his boyfriend, grinning madly. "Nah," he said. "Sometimes it sucks. But sometimes it's better."
"No fucking way," Chad said, vehemently. "No way does it get better than that."
Leaning his head against Chad's shoulder, Ryan laughed. "That was two of us," he said. "Two people, some judges, and a small audience. Imagine an entire cast, working together. A packed auditorium. A full orchestra. It's better than sex, sometimes."
Chad stiffened a bit. "We..." he began. "You know, we haven't really spoken about that."
"About what? Doing bigger shows? I'm game if you are."
"No, I mean-" Chad bit off his sentence. "I just mean, we haven't really spoken about sex yet."
Ryan laughed again, a little bit harder, although he did make sure to keep himself quiet enough that he wouldn't interrupt the next pair on stage. "Later?" he asked. "I mean, I'm all good to talk about it now, but if we do I'm liable to jump you right here and that might get us disqualified."
"Later, then," Chad agreed. "I'm mean, I'm not saying let's rush into it, but." It was with no small measure of relief that Chad cut off mid-sentence as the pair on stage finished their routine and exited on the opposite side of the stage. A few moments later, a stagehand came up to them.
"The judges will be making their announcement in a few minutes," he explained. "They've asked all the pairs to be ready on stage." Ryan nodded at him, and he left. Neither Ryan nor Chad moved right away, preferring instead to sit there, enjoying each other's presence, a few moments longer.
"We should get out there," Ryan said, eventually. "C'mon." He levered himself up, and then pulled Chad up after him. "Besides, I can't wait to see the look on their faces of all those girls' faces when they see that two guys won."
Chad laughed. "Confident, aren't you?" he asked, but he followed along happily, still riding the performance high. "Hey, you guys were great," Chad mentioned to one of the other pairs on the stage. He recognised the girl as one of the West High cheerleaders. He'd seen her frequently at games.
"Not as great as you guys!" she replied, grinning. "It's nice to see a basketball player who's not afraid to do something a little different." Her partner rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't even say it, Alexei," she said to him. "Alexei thinks that two guys shouldn't dance together," the girl explained to Chad. "Says it's not right."
"Well, it's not against the rules," Ryan interjected. "And I don't see what's so wrong about it, anyway. You get some additional strength, sure, but women have other physical advantages over guys. There's lots of stuff we can't do -- some of the lifts, especially." He smirked at Alexei. "It balances out. Or are you just jealous that we've got the balls to be true to ourselves, off stage and on?"
"I will not be beat," Alexei retorted, his eyes dark. His accent was thick and Russian, so Chad assumed he was an exchange student. "Especially not by stupid jock man and his pansy partner."
Ryan and Chad shared a look before breaking up laughing. "If you ever feel like ditching him," Ryan said to the girl, "look us up. I'm in the book -- Ryan Evans. We'll hang."
"Candy Walters," the cheerleader said. "And thanks, I'll do that. Now, Alexei, are you going to behave?" Alexei just rolled his eyes again, and the two walked off to stand somewhere else on stage.
The judges returned to their seats in the audience, prompting the pairs gathered on stage to quiet down. One of them stood and turned to face the audience gathered behind them. "We'd like to thank you all for coming out to the Albuquerque Amateur Pairs Mixed Dance Competition," she said. "As you've all seen, we have a great deal of talent here in our city, and deciding who stands out as the best is not an easy choice. However, this year, we felt there were three truly stand-out pairs.
"First, in third place, the pair of Candace Walters and Alexei Kryshov, with their hip-hop ballroom piece entitled, 'Into the Awakening Sun.' We felt that their innovative combination of the two styles showed creativity and originality, and their technical skills show true dedication to the artform. Ms. Walters, Mr. Kryshov, if you'll please step forward?"
Chad watched as they came forward and one of the judges' assistants brought them their trophy. His heart was starting to race again, and he wondered how Ryan could stand it. At least with basketball, with any sport, you knew where you stood when the buzzer went off.
"In second place," the judges' spokeswoman continued, "with their Latin-inspired piece using music from the Dirty Dancing franchise, are Andrea Mcintyre and Gavin Blane, chosen for their accuracy and attention to detail. Ms. Mcintyre, Mr. Blane, your trophy.
"And finally, we have our first place team. This was not an easy decision for us; certainly this pair is unconventional at best. Still, the showmanship, artistry, and technical skill of this final pair made it, in the end, no decision at all. This year's first place winning pair, and the winner of the $1000 bursary for continued dance training, is Ryan Evans and Chad Danforth, for their mixed-styles piece 'The Music In Me'."
Later, Chad wasn't quite sure he could accurately remember those next few moments. It was mostly a blur, really, with a hundred different emotions running through his head. He knew, though, that what he wanted most of all at that moment was to grab Ryan and kiss him.
He didn't, though, and the moment passed. The trophy and the mock-check for the bursary were brought on stage and presented to them, then he and Ryan bowed graciously, waved to the audience, tried (mostly successfully) not to gloat in front of the other dancers. The one thing that really did stick out in Chad's mind, though, for the longest time afterwards, was what Ryan said to him on that stage, through the applause from the audience, from their fellow performers.
"I love you," Ryan said, before throwing his arms around Chad and hugging him mercilessly. At that moment, Chad felt he could do anything.
He wondered what Troy would say if he auditioned for the next school musical. Maybe he could convince Darbus to do a dance showcase, or something. Troy could sing, but he absolutely failed at dancing.
All at once, the dancers were being rushed off the stage, and Chad found himself in his mother's arms. "You were fantastic, Chad," she said, kissing him on the forehead. "I never thought to see you do something like that. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom," he said, grinning at her. He glanced over at Ryan. "Y'know, I was thinking. Maybe I would like to take classes with Ryan. We've got the bursary, after all, and Ryan's probably got a private teacher already, anyway."
"What about your sports?" she asked. "Will you have time?"
Chad shrugged. "So I'll drop track or something. Mom, I really like..." He hesitated. "This. I really like dancing." And Ryan, too. Which he'd been about to say. From his mother's glance at Ryan, where he was talking with his own parents, Chad assumed that she knew exactly what he hadn't said there. "I never thought I would, but it was amazing up there."
"We'll figure something out," she assured him. "Now, why don't you and Ryan go off and celebrate, hmm? Don't worry about calling tonight. I'll expect you to be late." Chad nodded, grinning, and ran over to throw his arms around Ryan.
"Congratulations, Chad!" Ryan's mother said. "It's nice to see all that hard work paying off. Ryan tells me that you're not planning to continue with dance? That's such a waste."
Ryan's father laughed. "Come on now, Darby. The boy's a Wildcat! I bet you can't wait to get back on the basketball court, son."
"Actually, sir," Chad said, his hand snaking down to grab Ryan's and hold it tight. "I was just telling my mother that I'm thinking of dropping one of my sports, and taking dance lessons with Ryan instead."
Ryan's eyes were wide. "Really?" he said, completely shocked. "You'd -- Really?"
Chad leaned in, his forehead resting against Ryan's. "Really," he confirmed. "I mean, we can't stop now. Surely there must be another competition we need to prepare for."
Ryan laughed. "One thing's true: there's always another competition."
They had to mingle a little more; the judges came up to congratulate them personally, of course, and no less than four local teachers came up to offer their business cards. Eventually, though, Chad and Ryan had a moment to sneak off by themselves. They found a convenient patch of wall to slide down, to lean against. It was cool enough that it sapped the excess heat from their bodies, a welcome relief. "So," Chad said, smiling at Ryan. "I think I figured out why I agreed to that bet."
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Fanmix