So this is the Secret Santa Fic Exchange for Lucyej so Merry Christmas! I hope you along with everyone else enjoys it. I decided to try and challenge myself with this fic, and have no dialoge, because people have told me before I rely too much on it to move the plot, so that was my challenge, I think maybe it turned out a little too confusing, so tell me if you thought so.

The requirements:

BRIEFLY describe 5 elements you'd like your story to include:
1) Angst
2) Forbidden relationship
3) Happy ending
4) Drama
5) Kissing :D
What pairing would you want?: Tryan or Troypay
What rating would you prefer?: Any
What things don't you want?: Troyella, cliche, RPS

I think I fit them all alright, except the relationship isn't EXACTY forbidden, and the drama isn't EXACTLY drama... but you know I tried my best. So without further ado... the fic.

If we're Tryan... So we're breaking free

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

It started out slowly, with secretive glances, if they caught one another's eye, there would be blushes, and then turning away. Then it was knowing looks, where their eyes would dare to meet, occasionally a wink. Casual waves to each other in the hallway, conversations while leaning against lockers. Occasionally even pick up games of basketball in the driveway.

After that it moved faster.

Fervent kisses in the library, brief grouping in the bathroom. Seeing movies in purposely empty theaters. Always when no one was looking, always quick concise. A mad dash for a kiss, an impulsive brushing of the hand, "accidentally" being locked in the prop closet.

Then it became crazy.

Climbing the sides of each others houses, nearly falling off the balcony. Into a bed there wasn't their own almost every alternate night. Finding strange deserted places just for a moment alone. Becoming more and more disparate, bolder and bolder. Moving faster and faster, spinning out of control, almost to the brink.

But of course thats all over now, Ryan Evans made sure of that.

I wasn't that Ryan Evan's didn't like Troy Bolton, quite the opposite really, it was that he was too much in love. And with someone like Troy, it was a deadly combination. Ryan was a skeptic about love to begin with, seeings as his parents had practically an arranged marriage, and his sister was dubbed "the ice princess," with good reason.

Ryan considered Troy to be somewhat stereotypical. Whether that was true or not remained to be seen. But not by Ryan, his mind had already been made up. Troy was easily the most popular guy in school, however he had a reputation as a fairly nice person, that rarely let his popularity go to his head.

His counterparts outlook on life was quite different from Troy's. Ryan was often viewed as stupid and stuck up simply because he walked behind his sister and was the only one that could put up with her squabbling. The fact Ryan was quiet didn't help matters either.

Maybe it was the hats, but something about the boy just gave off an aura of cluelessness. Ryan was not a lurker because he was stupid and anti-social. It was just easier to follow Sharpay's lead than to try and explain anything. Being judged wrongly so often actually made him be extra judgmental, this naturally caused him to be suspicious of everything.

Ryan wasn't unwilling to entertain the fact that maybe he loved Troy. He was afraid of the fact that maybe Troy didn't love him, or even like him. To Ryan the other boy was probably going through a curious stage which would soon fade and the basketball star would go running back to Gabriella, or worse, to his sister.

Troy spent most of his, "After Ryan Period," as he did during his "Before Ryan Period," after all there wasn't much else he could do except, go to school, basketball practice, eat and sleep. He didn't really accept Ryan's sudden garbled explanation but there was nothing he could really do about it. In fact the only time Troy saw Ryan was in the cafeteria, he would always ascend from the balcony to purchase his and Sharpay's lunch. Other than that brief lunch line encounter, sightings of the blond were scarce.

Troy in attempts not to act not to act hurt had him operating on an autopilot. Meaning his "pretend nothing was wrong," act was actually very believable, so believable in fact that sometimes Troy himself believed it. Ryan certainly did.

He believed in the fact that Troy move on so much that it encouraged himself to move on. Ryan, so desperate to forget Troy, would take the first thing thrown his way, even if that, "thing," happened to be a girl. A cheerleading girl to be exact. Her name was Amanda- Jane, she was small, blonde, and perfect, exactly what Ryan needed to forget about his tall, muscular basketball player. Cheerful and cleaver, she distracted Ryan in a way that no one else could begin to comprehend. Ryan didn't necessarily dislike girls in a romantic sense, he just had a prefernce for people with strong personalities. If he wasn't Sharpay's twin, he would probably be infatuated with her.

He and A.J. (as no one else was allowed to call her) got along astonishingly well, but their relationship was a bit on the platonic side. Sure they held hands and walked one another to class, but they were rarely seen engaged in any sort of deeper affection.

For only knowing her such a short time, Ryan cared about her deeply, and fell for her more everyday, but he loved her as a person, not as a girlfriend. And on some sort of level, Amanda-Jane realized this. They weren't technically dating, but everyone assumed that they were. Amanda-Jane originally had some sort of intention to pursue a more physical interaction, but once she knew Ryan better, intentions of that faded.

The strange thing was that everyone sort of assumed Ryan and Amanda were an item. Neither of them took any measure to confirm it, but they didn't attempt to deny it either, when asked they would just look at each other and giggle. Many saw it as Ryan finally attempting to get some sort of personality away from his sister. Most thought he was just switching from one demanding female to another, but that couldn't be farther away from the truth.

As awkward as they looked, the most popular cheerleader in school with the quiet shadow of the schools biggest drama queen. They somehow fit together like the perfect clash of ideals. This of course sort of perfect coupling made Troy believe that Ryan moved on, quite quickly in fact, so he kept his facade of normality, and pressed on with his basketball schedule.

This average fantasy world continued on for an over-welcomed stay. With them ignoring each other, believing the other moved on. It was almost strange that if one looked as closely they could see that Ryan and Troy were almost mirror images of each other. A china plate seeming pristine, carefully painted with artfully placed cracks, but it was really just on the breaking point the stress from the cracks almost too much to bear.

It became a game of sorts, like a game of chicken, both of them grinding their cigarettes into each others thumb grimacing but not giving up. Because they truly believed that they were the one that was going to last the longest in this twisted competition. Of the few that knew of the situation (which were few and far between), the majority would have bet that Ryan Evans would be the first one to crack. After all he was the weaker of the pair, and was often viewed as somewhat spineless.

So of course the surprise was evident when Troy was the one to finally shatter his precious china plate.

The showdown was quite dramatic really, so climatic so abrupt, like a storm you knew was brewing in the distance, but didn't really pay attention to until it was on top of you, the weight crushing down like there as no hope left in the world. It began with their brief daily encounter in the lunch room. Ryan descended from his position above the cafeteria to preform his daily menial task of buying lunch.

They did the same thing they always did cast side long glances and turned away when the other would look. Troy was so intent not to enter the same line is Ryan that while walking backwards, he hit the very person he was trying so hard to avoid. The clash was dramatic, a huge sound as plastic, metal and food hit the floor.

The cafeteria paused curious to see what caused the noise.

They stared for a moment then attempted to studder some sort of apology in hopes of forgetting about the incident already. Ryan voiced that opinion blatantly, about wanting to forget, not just this one incident, but about everything.

Troy looked at the other boy in shock. How dare he think something like that, how dare he assume Troy already forgot something Troy held so entirely dear to himself. With out thinking he to a action that had possibly never been done by a basketball player quite possibly in the history of East High. His hand swung around hard, and fast, fingers spread, and landed on the smaller boys check with a resounding slap!

The cafeteria, if possible, became more silent.

For a moment Troy was stunned, not only at his actions of striking the boy he loved, but at the fact he didn't really regret it. But then he gathered his thoughts, how dare Ryan not realize that he loved him? How did Ryan have the nerve to just pretend something that Troy, no both of them thought was so special, pretend to mean nothing? He knew Ryan loved him, and he loved Ryan with every fiber of his being, more and harder than he had quite possibly ever loved someone in his entire seventeen years. And for what was the second time in his life Troy found that he no longer cared what he though of the other people at East High, all the matter was Ryan, and the fact that Ryan was no longer his.

So he voiced it, all of it, first in screams about Ryan being stupid and not understanding. Then hysterics about how they were supposed to spend the rest of their life together, and finally, the one phrase that everyone was expecting after the cascade of feelings. The three words, I love you.

And then what no one was expecting, Troy moved in quickly, pressed his lips to the blonds and pushed every emotion he was feeling into the moment. Taking a deep breath he stepped back and looked Ryan in the eyes. Nothing, nothing there. So Troy took his over-expressed injured body and did the best thing he could, he turned and ran.

The noise in the cafeteria then began to pick up again.

Ryan really wasn't so great with his emotions. Being constantly dominated meant that he didn't really have a basis of people interaction. It gave him a straight forwardness that some people found endearing, but more often than not, people found him rash. It gave Ryan incentive to not talk, which meant people instead found him dumb.

Instead of trying to find his way out of this paradox, Ryan instead found ways to bury himself deeper into it, the more he hated being stereotyped, the more he himself did it, and it just re-entrenched the whole cycle.

So then the whole exchange with Troy made him think, how come things like this always happened to him, and why obviously there was something there. Ryan admitted to himself that he did love Troy. But there had to be a reason why every time he wanted to he couldn't express himself in the right way. So thats When Ryan made a resolution, because he loved Troy, and Troy clearly loved him back, he had to become a better person. Or at the very least be more aware of his surroundings, after all not everyone would put up with his antics like Amanda Jane did.

And Troy, Troy really was patient with him through almost everything, and he truly hadn't been fair to Troy. Not only had he been a bad boyfriend (if you could call their relationship that), he had been a bad person, and that was inexcusable.

The only thing he could do really was go apologize. So he walked the familiar route, three blocks left, then another two, through the neighboring back yard. And climbed the once familiar but, but now slightly strange fence, then finally up the tree. Jiggling the window it popped open just as he remembered, and Ryan carefully climbed in shutting the window carefully, he tried not to make any noise.

Removing his jacket and shoes he carefully climbed into into the other boys bed. Placing an arm around Troy, Ryan snuggled up and the other boy turned around and mumbled a greeting of sorts. Ryan placed a kiss on his head, and whispered an apology in his ear. Troy smiled and went back to sleep.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

So originally it had a different ending, actually it just had like a paragraph more, but I left it off because I didn't like it, but it might seem a little incomplete now? Not exactly sure.

Also there is a graphic I made for it, make sure to look at it (it's really cute!) the secret Santa Fic Exchange forum has the link.