Title: Evans(ton) Family Secrets

Author: Live2TiVo/ Musical Junkie/ Tally

Feedback: is like Ross and Rachel on Friends, Luke and Lorelai on Gilmore Girls, Jim and Pam on The Office, Logan and Veronica on Veronica Mars and Phil and Keely on Phil of the Future… TRUE LOVE!

Pairing: Rypay (NOT Twincest)

Word Count: 1,931

Rating: T (PG-13)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Summary: Nobody had any idea that Ryan and Sharpay Evans weren't actually related, and the pair hoped to keep it that way. At least, they used to.

Notes: Yes, I realize that I use a lot of Broadway references. If any of them are confusing, just ask and I'll explain.

Special Thanks: To Jacky, who encouraged me to write this. And to my newspaper adviser who lets me use the computers during lunch.

Spoilers: Not so much

Warnings: Lots of Broadway references and a little bit of fluff described using Broadway references.

Disclaimer: If I owned HSM, I wouldn't have to baby-sit to fund my TV DVD OCD.

Nobody had any idea that Ryan and Sharpay Evans weren't actually related, and the pair hoped to keep it that way. It would be harder for everyone to know the truth after all this time than to just keep it a secret. Ryan and Sharpay lived next door to each other, their birthdays were one day apart, and their last names were both Evans. When Ryan's Evans moved next door to Sharpay's Evans, the families thought they might be related, but Sharpay's family realized it couldn't be because of an old family story. When Sharpay's great-great-great Uncle moved to America he changed his surname from Evanston to Evans because he was running away from the law. It was an Evans(ton) family secret, and the only other people that knew were the other Evans.

The idea that they were related started on their first day of Kindergarten. Their teacher, Ms. Whites, had seen their last names and figured they were brother and sister. "Are you two twins," she'd asked. Not knowing what twins were, Ryan and Sharpay said yes. By the time they realized what they had said, they were in first grade, and were already using the "twin" thing as an advantage in being in school musicals. It was too late. They told their parents, who thought it was pretty funny. "They have always acted like brother and sister," Sharpay's mom had said.

As the years passed, the musicals changed from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown to The King and I. All of a sudden it was harder for Ryan and Sharpay to keep up their sibling act. Playing the leads in Grease required kissing, which was definitely something normal brothers and sisters did not do. They would have to write off romantic scenes as "just acting" and tone down the PDA to slight pecks on the cheek. Nobody thought much of it. Ryan and Sharpay weren't exactly the most normal people in the first place.

Ryan and Sharpay Evans began to view themselves as siblings more and more as time went on. They argued like most brothers and sisters do. They pulled pranks on each other. They gave off the impression of the quintessential sibling relationship. Ryan and Sharpay were great actors.

Ryan was the first to develop less than siblingly feelings for his "twin." He knew it wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right, either. It started when Ms. Darbus announced that their fall play would be Romeo and Juliet There was no doubt that the Evans would be cast in the title roles. Troy and Gabriella could sing, but they weren't the best actors at East High. That title belonged to Ryan and Sharpay, and, despite the opinions of Chad and Taylor, it was well-deserved. Gabriella was cast as the nurse and Troy was Mercutio. Ryan was Romeo with Sharpay as his Juliet.

"The Big Kiss", as it was often referred to in high schools and movies, was going to be a problem. They would have faked it, but Ms. Darbus hated it when they did anything that was out of character, and they wanted to stay on her good side when the musical rolled around.

They rarely practiced the scene during full cast rehearsals. Ms. Darbus trusted the Evans when they said they were practicing at home. They'd add in the scene during show week. Of course, this meant that the burden of perfecting the scene fell on Ryan and Sharpay.

"Oh, true apothecary, thy drugs are quick."

"Ryan? Do you and Sharpay want some snacks?"

"Just some water, Mom."

"I'll have some water, too, please."

"Be right back."

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans."

"You mean 'thank you, step-mother'." Ryan and Sharpay's parents had started to have fun with their kids' charade. Even they had gotten in on the act, playing their own roles. To account for their different addresses, Ryan and Sharpay's "parents" pretended to be divorced. Ryan lived with his dad and "step mom" and Sharpay lived with her mom and "step-father." All four thoroughly enjoyed their parts. Ryan's mom made jokes about Sharpay needing to call her "Judith" or "Step Mother" and Sharpay's dad referred to himself as "Steve" and "Step Dad" around Ryan. Acting was definitely in both Evans' blood.

When Judith Evans left the room, Ryan and Sharpay decided it may be time to discuss "The Big Kiss." Well, Sharpay decided it was time to discuss "The Big Kiss."

"What are we going to do? We can't just hold hands and do a European greeting this year."

"I don't know. Why'd we have to do Romeo and Juliet?"

"Darbus wanted to do a tragedy for the fall play because we're doing We Will Rock You for the spring musical. Comedy/Tragedy balance."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "It was a rhetorical question, Shar. I know all about Darbus's comedy/tragedy balance. Last year we did Sweeney Todd and that play one of the lit mag kids wrote, Interpretive Chicken Dances."

"And, see, I knew that. All we're doing is telling each other stuff we already know."

"And yet, we still haven't come up with any solutions to this dilemma."

"We'll think of something, we always do."

"But everybody knows the story of Romeo and Juliet, Ryan. We can't just "leave that part out" like we did with Interpretive Chicken Dances. It'd be like cutting "Memory" from Cats. It'd be great, but it wouldn't be right."

"Kindly avoid Andrew Lloyd Webber references. Stick with Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown."

"You are such a theatre slut, Ryan."

"You're the one who won't listen to Hairspray ever since they cast John Travolta as Edna," Ryan shot back.

"And you wouldn't buy tickets to the touring show of Chicago, because Usher was in it on Broadway."

"You won't watch RENT because they left out "Christmas Bells" and "We're Okay" in the movie!"

Ryan's mom reentered the room at that moment, holding two water bottles. "Now you kids better play nice. I don't want to have to tell your father on you."

"Thanks, Mom."

"We were just discussing Broadway, Mrs. Evans."

"Well, that's never good. I'm just going to leave now before the two of you get into a screaming match about the merits of Kristin Chenoweth versus Shoshana Bean even though they played different parts." Mrs. Evans left.

"You know Shoshana was better than Kristin," Sharpay claimed.

"Was Shoshana nominated for Wicked or win for You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown?"

"She couldn't be nominated. You can only be nominated for a Tony if you're in the original or revival cast of a show."

"We are not getting into this, Shar."

"You only say that because you know you're going to lose."

Ryan stepped closer towards Sharpay, "I have the Tony Awards committee on my side."

"Daphne Rubin-Vega was nominated for RENT. It doesn't mean she was the best Mimi ever."

"They didn't even play the same part, Sharpay. And do not bring Daphne Rubin-Vega into this."

With each biting comment, the two took one step closer to each other.

"Why not? Afraid that you're not going to be able to beat me?" Three feet apart.

"I'm just saying that unless you're talking about Idina Menzel, RENT should be left out of Wicked arguments, Sharpay." Two feet apart.

"If I can't bring in Daphne Rubin-Vega, you can't bring in Idina, Ryan." One foot apart.

"Shut up, Sharpay." Six inches.

"Make me." Contact.

Their lips met in a stereotypical argument induced kiss- angry, passionate and unexpected. And like any good fight induced kiss, neither really wanted to stop through a combination of enjoyment and unwillingness to be the one who ended it. Their arms became entangled; their tongues began their own version of a Cirque de Soliel show. Just as they would never know who leaned in first, they would never know who pulled away. Their moments were simultaneous, like the choreography at the beginning of A Chorus Line. Step-Kick-Kick-Leap-Kick-Touch.

As soon as their lips detached, Ryan turned away from Sharpay to conceal a problem that had suddenly come up. He sat down and crossed his legs, eyes closed, praying for either Sharpay or his dilemma to go away.

Sharpay sat next to him. So much for either problem disappearing, Ryan thought as Sharpay put her hand on his knee.

"Ryan?" He didn't say anything. "Ryan, I'm sorry." Silence. "Ryan, say something." Nothing. "Ryan Michael Evans, do not give me the silent treatment."

"Well, I don't think we can do that during the play."

Sticking with the string of stereotypical situations, Ryan hadn't realized he'd said that out loud.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You said something."

"Just go, Sharpay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm not leaving, Ryan. We need to talk about this."

"We won't talk about it, Shar. We'll just yell at each other about Broadway."

"Well, we can't just pretend it never happened."

"That's exactly what we'll have to do. We're supposed to be related, remember?"

"We're not, though, are we, Ryan? We're not. We've never been and we never will be."

"What good is that, Sharpay? The only people that know we're not twins are our families."

By this point, neither of them knew what they were trying to prove. That it was okay or that it was wrong.

"We can change that. It's our senior year, Ryan. I'm tired of lying."

"Nobody'll believe us."

"They will if we can prove it, Ryan."

"Birth certificates?"

"Um, yeah. Birth certificates. Good idea. Better than mine, anyway."

"What was yours?"

"Never mind."

"Well, no matter what it was, could you please take your hand off of my knee? You're not exactly helping my problem."

Sharpay, who hadn't actually noticed Ryan's predicament, quickly obeyed his wishes when she saw the issue he was ineffectively trying to hide with his legs. "Sorry. Sorry. Do you want me to leave?"

"Do you really want to stay?"

"Good point." Ryan waited for Sharpay to leave, but she didn't move. He looked at her, questioning, but she just sat there and stared at the wall, thinking.

"Sharpay…"

"I'm going, but I want to see something first."

"What?"

"This." This time it was perfectly clear who was the initiator.

Ryan's last coherent thought before losing himself in the moment was I really hope my mom doesn't walk in.

Sharpay broke it off muttering apologies. Ryan put a finger over her lips to silence her and said, "Let's tell them on Monday."

----------------------------------------------

I might add another chapter with them telling everybody at school, but only if I get reviews from people wanting one. Constructive flames welcome, really. Please Review. It'll make me happy.