-1Title: Once in a Moment

Rating: Teen to Mature

Summary: Troy makes new friends, Sharpay feels threatened.

Notes: Restructuring and rewriting the whole second half of the story … overlook the gaps in time between updates.

Warnings: Little bit of naughty language, prominent slash

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any of the High School Musical characters, plots or themes which are the direct property of Disney and their affiliates. Nor do I have any money in which to be sued with, considering I am a college student and I'd pay my student loans off before any lawsuit, so don't waste your time. However, any characters not recognizable to the two previously existing HSM movies are mine, and I will prosecute without prejudice if they pop up anywhere else without my permission.

Chapter Eight: Honesty in Relationships

It was a Tuesday morning, overcast and dreary outside, when Sam pulled roughly on Troy's shoulder and jerked him into an empty music classroom.

Troy stumbled for a moment, then regained his footing and remarked, "It's not that I don't enjoy these moments of male bonding, but what's up." He paused then, observing his friend's lax expression and the dark discoloring under his eyes. Sam seemed to slouch in front of him, his clothing and hair mused, and Troy wondered if he was a mere step away from toppling over.

Troy took a sharp breath and tried to remember how long Sam had been looking so rough. He knew that he'd been dealing with his own problems, attempting to balance school and sports and the musical, and then the musical and Sharpay, and he'd been feeling more than a little stressed. He'd been neglecting his friends in lieu of trying to please Sharpay and the other people in his life whom he cared the most for, and he knew in that instance it wasn't fair. Sam was angry, Sam wasn't opening up to him, Sam was maybe even crossing the line into territory that threatened to crack their friendship, but they were still friends, and there were obligations that went along with said friendship. Troy hadn't been right to forsake that relationship for another.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly. "This is about Ryan, right?"

Sam shrugged. "No. Maybe. Yes. No. I don't know."

Troy rolled his eyes. "You know, I can't help you figure out whatever's going on if you don't tell me. Sharpay has been working nonstop to try and get Ryan to say something--anything, but she's coming up short. You and Ryan are having serious issues, and whatever they are, you're starting to effect the people around you, which isn't cool. So if Ryan isn't going to say anything, you need to, because I don't want to have to choose between my friends, and I don't want Sharpay to have to, and I really don't want sides to be taken and to find myself on a different one than Sharpay." Troy stopped suddenly, then asked, "Is that really selfish of me?"

"Nah, Troy, I get it."

The dark haired, taller boy wandered over to a nearby chair and sunk into it. "Troy, man, I'm sorry about all this. I didn't mean to screw with you life, too."

"I know that," Troy said, smiling. "I've known you for a while now and you can be scary, but you're also a pretty cool, caring guy. You don't hurt people intentionally unless they hurt you, or someone you care about. So maybe that's why I'm puzzled why you're hurting Ryan. I'm not trying to say he's not hurting you, because I'm not blind, dude, but I think you've forgotten about Ryan what occasionally I forget about Sharpay."

Blue eyes looked up at him. "What's that?"

"You're the first real relationship he's ever had." Troy sat next to him. "Sharpay and Ryan led a really sheltered life because of the men after their father. They didn't go to public school, or get to go to the movies, or have friends other than themselves, and they certainly didn't get to date. Sharpay maybe had a little more social experience when I met her, probably only because she liked to sneak out of her house when she could, which granted wasn't very often, but neither of them knew anything about relationships or the social scene aside from what they saw on TV."

Sam shrugged. "What's that got to do with anything."

"Well, I don't want to call Ryan naïve, but in a lot of ways he's still pretty innocent. He and Sharpay are getting a crash course in the real world here, and they don't know how to deal with certain things. Hell, Sharpay is still convinced I'm going to ditch her for someone else, and she's digging in deep, which is causing friction in our relationship. I gotta imagine that Ryan is pretty confused by your actions-- a normal kid would be. He doesn't know anything about dating aside from what you and he have done. You need to enlighten him to the problem, before things are too far gone, and trust me, you're getting pretty close to the point of no return."

Sam turned is nose up. "Who says I don't want it to end? I'm a restless kind of guy, Troy, you know that. Maybe it's time for a change. He's kind of clingy and I'm not sure I want that in a relationship."

"First of all, he's clingy because he's not sure how long you're going to be in his life, but he knows he likes you and doesn't want to let you go, Sharpay clued me in to that, and second, I don't believe for a second that you want to end you relationship with him."

"Why's that?"

In the distance the first bell of the day rang, but Troy ignored it. He had been on his way to find Sharpay and make arrangements for after school, but he could sense Sam was close to opening up and he didn't want to risk leaving.

"Simple," Troy responded, "when all the crap went down last year, and bombs were going off, and the Evans' location was leaked, and there were people trying to kidnap or kill or do god knows what, you were with Ryan and you took him and you ran."

"I was scared," Sam defended. "Anyone would have been."

"I know, but the difference between you and anyone else is that you took Ryan with you. You could have dropped him off anywhere, and gotten away as fast as you could. If you had done that you wouldn't have been in any danger. No one wanted you in particular, but if the guys who wanted Ryan had found you with him, they might have killed you if you got in the way. But you didn't just leave Ryan on his own. You ran and you pulled him after you. You were in another state for crying out loud by the time the dust settled. Sam, people don't do those kinds of things for strangers. I mean come on, some people don't put their lives on the line like that for friends even. But you an I--we risk our very being, we sacrifice everything, and we have no second thoughts when we love someone, and their existence is far more important than ours, and we'll do anything to protect them. That's why I know you don't want things to end with Ryan, because that's the kind of love and devotion that doesn't go away over a few petty fights. You can't just get rid of that love, Sam. You can fight it and you can try to deny it, but I don't see why you'd want to. I'm not trying to tell you what you feel, but you may have found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. How can you let him go? I could never let Sharpay go."

"It's not like you and Sharpay!" Sam snapped. "Fuck, Bolton, you have no idea what it's like to be marginally excepted by society because of who you love. You and Sharpay can kiss in public and prance around announcing your undying love for each other and people will think it's cute. If I try to hold Ryan's hand in the wrong place we get dirty looks, and that's if we're lucky."

Troy froze. Sharpay had assumed it has something to do with the both of them being male, but Troy had gotten his hopes up their troubles had been a mere couples feud. He wasn't blind, he knew their own town was filled with bigots, but he'd dared to hope that love was love and at the very least it would be tolerated.

"How long have you been out?" Troy asked calmly.

Sam gruffly replied, "Two years."

"And how many serious relationships."

With a shrug the dark haired boy responded, "A few before Ryan, at my old school, but none of them so public like with Ryan."

"Then has all this just been building? Because if you've know how crappy the world is for so long, then clearly you've known you were going to take crap for who you love and who you were born to be. What changed? What made all the anger bubble up?"

Sam ran a hand over his tired face. "I've been out officially to myself for two years, maybe longer, and just as long to my friends."

"I sense a but."

"But not to my parents."

Troy frowned. He'd never met Sam's parents. They didn't come to his games, or chaperone dances, or attend open houses, or seem at all involved with their son.

"I take it your parents don't approve, then?"

"It's not that they don't approve," Sam said, "but they don't acknowledge it. Like whenever I'd bring up Ryan they'd just pretend like he was a new friend, and whenever I spent the night at his house we were just doing guy things in their minds. My mom asked me if I had a date for the dance a month ago."

Troy nodded. "You took Ryan. Well, actually, I think he asked you, so you'd be his date, right?" He smiled to try and lighten the mood but could tell it failed to work.

"I told her I was going with Ryan--that he was my date. My dad ignored me all together, my mom told me it wasn't too late to ask a girl to come with me, that going to a dance with a male friend wouldn't do anything for my love life. Then she told me a woman she works with has a daughter my age."

"At least they're not yelling," Troy tried.

"It's worse," Sam insisted, "they don't see who I am as a person. They don't understand that I am who I am, and that I love who I am. They don't see me, Troy. You don't have any idea what it's like to have your parents look at you and see someone else altogether because they can't handle your choices. At this point I don't know if they're just fooling themselves or if they honest to god can't comprehend my choices and are instinctually blocking them out."

Troy tapped his foot nervously. "Man, I get what you're saying. That's tough, and you shouldn't have to deal with that, but it sounds like that's your problem, and not Ryan's. His family accepts him and loves him just the way he is, and I can't help but think that maybe you're a little jealous over that. You can't take out your anger on him. That's not fair."

"I'm not," Sam snapped, then sighed deeply. "I'm a normal kid, Troy, my parent's approval means the world to me. I want them to be proud of me. Nothing I've ever done has made them openly proud before, and I really want them to be. They're good people. So I told Ryan that I wanted to keep our relationship quiet. I didn't want him to flaunt anything. I told him if we were going to make this work, we had to learn how to be subtle. For the sake of my parents, we had to be quiet until graduation."

Troy groaned loudly. He recalled the day in the sub shop when Ryan and Sam had hinted at such a thing. "Sam, you just said you loved who you were, and that it hurt you that your parents wanted you to be different. How could you ask that of Ryan?"

Sam failed to respond, seemingly curling around the chair and closing his eyes. He shuddered occasionally, throat working visibly to continuously swallow, telling Troy his friend was close to vomiting.

"Is that it?" Troy asked softly? He reached out and laid a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"No."

"Okay, tell me when you're ready."

Troy didn't look at the clock, but he assumed quite a bit of time had passed before Sam said, "I told my parents to go screw themselves."

That startled Troy. "What?"

Sam opened his eyes. "A week ago. I told my parents to go screw themselves. I told them exactly what Ryan was to me. I told them in pretty graphic detail exactly what we've done together, what we plan to keep on doing, and the many things we're going to eventually get to. I made it clear that I wasn't going to marry a girl, and give them grandbabies. And then I told them to go screw themselves again."

"What happened?" Troy asked almost breathlessly.

"My dad probably had an aneurysm, it sure looked like he was red in the face enough to be having one. My mom told me I could come back when I was ready to be normal."

"What? What!" Troy tightened his grip on Sam. "They kicked you out? Why didn't you say anything? Where have you been staying?"

"I slept in my car the first night and showered and changed at school."

"Why didn't you come to me?" Troy demanded. "You know my house has a spare bedroom. You should have come to me."

"I was angry, Troy, at everything and everyone one. I didn't want to see anyone or speak with anyone or be reminded of what I had just lost. But after I calmed down I called my sister. She lives a town over. She's been letting me stay with her, but I gotta find a more permanent place, because she's getting married in a month and I can't sleep on her couch after that."

Troy jabbed a finger at him. "You follow me home after school. We're going to tell my parents exactly what happened and you're going to stay with us. Gotta problem with that? My mom is going to flip when she hears what your parents did, and the she'll probably sit you on the stool and demand you eat a big bowl of ice cream for all your suffering. Prepare to face the wrath of the ultimate mother hen."

The first hints of a true smile began to develop on Sam's face. "Thanks, Troy."

Troy nodded. "No problem. Now you gotta talk to Ryan."

Sam shook his head sharply. "No. We're over. He said as much. He don't want to see me or speak to me or even know I exist. I've hurt him enough, Troy."

"You ever stop to think that maybe Ryan would like to be let in on what you've been dealing with? He can't understand the feelings, he can't empathize, but he can be a crutch for you. I think if you let him know what you just told me, he won't think the way he does now. I'm pretty sure he's convinced you're ready to settle down with a cheerleader or something, you know, someone not too loud."

Sam dropped his head. "I love him, Troy. I could kick myself in the ass for taking so long to choose him over everyone else, but I really do love him."

"You've got to tell him," Troy urged. "Even if you think nothing is going to come of it, doesn't he deserve as much? I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure he's made mistakes just like you, still, doesn't he deserve to know this before he leaves? Can't you give him peace of mind?"

The shock was evident on Sam's face. "What do you mean? Where's he going?"

Troy bit his lip. "It's not certain, but Sharpay said Ryan's already started packing up. His dad's offered for him to come live with him instead of here. I don't think Mr. Evans knows anything about why, and Ryan isn't the kind of guy to share his love life with his father, but apparently the offer stands and Ryan is most likely going to take it."

"For how long?" The white sheen that covered the taller boy's face gave Troy hope.

"Sam, I don't think he's coming back if he goes. He'll probably visit Sharpay, and he's got some friends here that he'll want to see once in a while, but Sharpay was pretty clear that if he goes, it's pretty permanent."

"Tell him?" Sam asked, shoulders shaking. He asked for confirmation of the monumental task. "Tell him everything?"

"Yes," Troy said emphatically, "and save your relationship."

"Okay."

When they parted company Troy gave Sam an encouraging smile, shouldered his backpack, and took off for his next class. By the time lunch rolled around both he and Ryan were missing and when Sharpay questioned him he brushed her concern off.

"I talked to Sam this morning. I mean really talked to him."

Sharpay cocked an eyebrow. "Like guy talk or real talk?"

"Shar," Troy said, rolling his eyes, "real talk. He told me what's been bothering him. He had a falling out with his parents, partly over Ryan, partly over his preferences, and they kicked him out. He's going to stay with me for a while. I haven't asked my parents, but I'm sure they'll agree."

Sharpay nudged her lunch away from her. "You think Ryan is with Sam?"

"I really hope so. It's pretty rare of two people to be so compatible like they are. They deserve to make it through this."

Sharpay nudged his shoulder. "We're pretty compatible, too."

"True," he laughed kissing her softly. He stole a sushi roll from her mostly untouched lunch. "I think they have to learn to work at their relationship just like us. From what I've seen, for the most part it's been smooth sailing for them. Ryan is one of the most agreeable guys I've ever seen, and Sam's so easy going that between the two of them they probably instinctually learned how to compromise."

"As opposed to us. We butt heads over everything," Sharpay supplied. Then she asked honestly, "Do you wish I was more like Ryan. You know, that I didn't mind giving in so much and didn't always have to get my way. I'm not very good at compromising, and that's not a great trait to lack."

Troy popped another sushi roll into his mouth and chew pensively. "I dunno, the idea of you catering to my every whim is pretty appealing. You offering to be my Stepford Wife?"

Sharpay smacked him hard in the arm and he laughed it off. "I'm being serious, Bolton."

"Docile is nice, Sharpay," Troy finally admitted, "I was there with Gabriella. It's nice to have someone primarily concerned about your welfare. I won't deny that isn't great to get your way most of the time, and not have to ask permission to do anything, but this is better."

"Better?"

Troy threw a solid arm around her, pulling her as close as he could manage. Her warmth felt so right and he sought to take as much of it in as possible.

"It's much better to know that you're romantically involved with someone who's your equal, who's going to fight you because they're fiercely independent and knows exactly what they want in life. It's better to be with someone who can stand on their own, so you know that if you ever falter, they can hold you up until you can get your footing again. I'd never want anyone but you Sharpay, because you make me work for everything, which only makes it more fulfilling and worthwhile in the end. You challenge me, reminding me exactly who I am. And when I managed to get your approval it means the world to me, because it isn't given out easily, and it counts in the most important ways. There's nothing that could ever be better than the fire that I see in you, because drive and passion are things that can't be faked and they define a person. You make your mark on the world, you make other people recognize that world around them and themselves. Trust me, there's nothing even relatively close to that."

Sharpay smiled, and Troy thought it was the most radiant thing he'd ever seen in his life. He loved the woman in front of him, truly loved her, and he knew for as long as he lived there'd never be anyone else for him.

Sharpay pressed her forehead against his and whispered, "You're so getting laid tonight, Bolton."

Across the picnic table with wide eyes Zeke's head tilted to the side.

Jason's fingers curled around Chad's sleeve and tugged. "They always like this?" he asked quietly.

Chad slumped forward, forehead banging a few times against the wooden table.

Kendall snorted loudly and took a bite from her sandwich. She chewed happily, observing the happiness radiating from the couple in front of her. Swallowing, she said, "This is why they usually end up eating lunch alone."

"You couldn't have told us earlier?" Jason asked. They were trying so hard to be accepting of Sharpay and Ryan, for the sake of Troy, which now included attempting a couple lunches with the pair every week. But every man had his limit.

Kendall rested her jaw on her palm and beamed. "Misery loves company."

Chad groaned loudly and let his head thud against the table a few more times.