Title: "That ... This Dance"
Author: by ciononeme
Fandom: High School Musical
Pairing: Ryan/Sharpay UST
Rating: PG-13
Length 876 words
Summary: She hates ... loves ... those boots. Part of the "Pouring" universe.
0o0o0o
Sharpay is six and hates her rain boots.
Actually, she's six, two months and twenty-three days but it's not like she's counting and these hideous rubber boots she's forced to wear every time it rains are so unbelievably ugly she wonders how she'll survive the next cloudy day.
Ryan, on the other hand, has no such prejudices.
He stomps happily though every puddle not caring he has neon yellow clod stompers attached to his feet.
Sharpay can't help but wonder if they're really related. Maybe the circus did drop him off at the house one dark night as her best friend Ashley said. Not that she'd ever mention that to him again after that time he burst into tears like a big baby and told Mommy and Daddy on her and they took away her very, very, very favorite Barbie for a whole hour afterwards ...
Still, she can't help but wonder.
He also wears his hood even when Mommy's not looking and he tilts his face up to let the dirty rain fall into his mouth which is too gross for words. Only bathtub water is more disgusting, she thinks, at least until Ryan pulls her into a puddle with him.
Ew, a gross puddle with her brother who has no taste at all and she's so going to tell. "Ryan!"
She glares at him, hard.
He laughs at her, hard.
They are still holding hands and the rain is beating all around them like a drum hitting the sidewalk in nature's own rhythm.
Splish, splash, splick, splock. Smack, crick, crack, smick.
Click, clack, clurk and Sharpay's foot start tapping, the toe of the boot making the rainwater ripple in perfectly round waves. She takes a dainty step, then another, just like the ones she's learned in dance class.
Ryan takes the same class with her and he taps with her before he twirls her effortlessly, helping her spin on boots that suddenly aren't quite as ugly as she thought less than a moment before.
They are truly dancing then, in the pouring rain, and Sharpay can no longer think about what she's wearing, only about what she's doing and how it makes her feel likes she's flying. Flying through the rainstorm with Ryan, without a care in the world.
Laughing, she turns her face up to the rain to taste it and Ryan was right.
It's almost ... almost ... as sweet as candy.
0o0o0o
She's seventeen now, too old to be told what to wear.
The irony of her enjoying putting on a pair of pink rubber boots when it rains isn't lost on Ryan who's lost his own taste for such childlike things long ago.
He smirks and looks away with an expression of mock superiority when she tugs them on. She's squealing with glee when she looks in the mirror at those big rubber-clad feet poking out from the bottom of whatever pants she's wearing that day and he can't stop rolling his eyes but they both know he doesn't mean it.
Because he still dances with her outside in the rain when no one is looking.
Twirls her, spins and dips her twice, the second time with a look so passionate, Sharpay can feel the racing heat run down her spine despite the cool rain tickling her parted lips like a kiss.
Thankfully, the boots ground her, keep her from falling down from the sheer, shivery excitement of it all -- oh God, he wants her -- and she thinks she secretly loves these ugly, wonderful, fantastic shoes most of all, out of the hundreds of pairs she owns.
Later, she walks into East High with wet clothes and a secret smile. The other girls think they have something on her, staring pointedly at her ungainly feet. Sharpay laughs at them in her heart, her eyes on Ryan who walks beside her as always, his damp bangs falling into his eyes, making him look perfect and innocent ... and utterly ... hers.
Her scuffed boots squeak along the school's tiled floors.
Ryan pretends he doesn't know her. She kicks him with one foot under the lunchroom table, then with the other before 'accidentally' spilling her juice on him.
He yells at her for something. She throws his hat out the window.
They make up at dinner, until the tart Cook brought for dessert looks a little too small and they wrestle like animals for the last chocolate strawberry.
He gives it to her with a furious huff and she trails him to the TV room where he's blindly flipping through the channels, annoyed. She sits on the far end of the couch, slowly edging closer until their legs touch and when she leans her head on his shoulder, she smiles at his deep exhale.
He falls asleep a little while later. Sharpay closes her eyes not long after, but not before she says an earnest little prayer.
A little prayer for rain and all the wonderful things that follow.
0o0o0o
Reviews are always welcome, thank you!