---

"You are a liability, Ry," Sharpay informs him brightly, when he's hiding out in her dressing room instead of chemistry, because Ms Darbus will totally write him some kind of exonerating note and then he won't have to worry about being in the same room as Chad in case he does something inadvisable. "I asked you not to do anything socially disastrous this year, and you just… lurch from disaster to disaster. It's sort of pathetically sweet."

"Thank you, Shar," Ryan replies tiredly, "I'm so glad I have a sister as supportive as you are. I don't know what I'd do with myself otherwise."

Sharpay rolls her eyes. "Mom isn't going to forgive you," she warns. "Her precious Ducky getting detention; it'll break her heart." There's a smug edge to her voice that implies she is sort of looking forward to telling when she gets home.

"I'll cut your hair off while you're sleeping," Ryan threatens idly. "Don't tell her Shar, and it'll be fine."

"It will not be fine," Sharpay replies, turning her attention back to the more important issue here; her false eyelashes. "And mommy will be so devastated when she finds out that you were caught fighting in front of the principal."

"This is all your fault," Ryan reminds her. He's about to elaborate when Troy walks into the dressing room.

"Shar, they need us to rehearse-" he trails off as he catches sight of Ryan. "Hey man," he smiles. "I hear you got detention."

"I hate this school," Ryan mutters.

"So," Troy continues, oblivious, "What were you and Chad doing?"

"Breaking up. Again. To add to the other break up that happened a couple of weeks ago. Because being thorough is the key to these things, and I don't think we had nearly enough vitriol in the last break up, to be honest," Ryan responds without a shred of emotion in his tone.

"Jeez, Ry, you're so emo," Shar murmurs, curling her eyelashes.

Troy is frowning. "You and Chad broke up?" he asks incredulously. "But you… I mean, why? He seemed really happy not that long ago."

Ryan wonders if Troy has even noticed that he and Chad aren't whatever the male equivalent of BFFs is any more. Shar must realise that they're all on reasonably thin ice here because she gets to her feet, clattering over in her raspberry-pink glitter heels to take Troy's hand and drag him through into the theatre. Ryan sighs, leaning back in his chair and wondering exactly what the hell happened to today.

---

All too soon, it's time for him to drag himself down to Principal Matsui's office for whatever fun the man has cooked up to punish him and Chad for swearing at each other in the halls or whatever it is that they've done. Their principal looks deeply unhappy as he regards the two of them, fidgeting in front of the desk.

"I heard from Coach Bolton that the two of you were getting along very well," he says, and Ryan wonders if he's the only one thinking that that statement is deeply disturbing. Still, he's reasonably certain that Coach Bolton would have either enough discretion or enough sense not to walk into the Principal's office and announce: hey, I found one of my team making out with one of the drama club in the gym. These crazy kids, huh? "Want to tell me what's going on?"

Ryan immediately becomes interested in his shoes, and when he glances sideways he notices Chad is studying the ceiling panels. At least they're showing a united front of silence.

"Well," Matsui continues, apparently deciding not to press them for eye contact – which is kind of a relief, since Ryan has no intention of looking up until it's time to leave – "Is there anything you'd like to say to each other?"

Chad, I am not here for you to work out your frustration and potential sexual identity crisis. If you want to go around jumping people in an angry fashion, go somewhere else. I bet half the cheerleaders would put out.

Well, there's nothing that Ryan would feel comfortable saying in front of his Principal, that's for certain. Chad makes a soft little non-committal sound and Matsui responds with a loud sigh. Ryan gets the feeling that the two of them are being unreasonably frustrating, but he doesn't feel like being helpful. That's one thing he and Shar have always had in common; as far as they're concerned, being helpful is for other people.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk, then you can get on with your detention." Matsui smiles at both of them; it's a tired smile, and doesn't reach his eyes. He waves at two neat piles of manila cardboard folders on his desk. Ryan gets a horrible suspicion that his near future is going to involve filing, and for God's sake, he skipped a lesson or two and swore at one of the schools precious basketball stars, but that doesn't mean he deserves to get treated like some kind of temp.

Chad's expression really isn't much happier, which makes Ryan feel a little better about being so snobbish.

"I will be back in half an hour," Matsui tells them, "By which time I expect you to have put all these away. Ok?"

They mumble and shuffle their feet and Ryan feels hopelessly ineloquent, but on the other hand he's not used to being stuck in situations like this. He and Shar have always carried enough weight to get out of detention in the past. Matsui walks out, closing the door behind him.

"You know," Chad remarks, "We could totally trash his office and go home."

"I think he trusts us," Ryan replies, feeling a little bemused. "Which is pretty random."

Chad half-smirks and then walks over to look at the two piles of folders. "Ever filed anything before?" he asks.

"Stupid question," Ryan reminds him before he can think, but Chad mercifully smiles at him instead of taking it as an insult. Then he narrows his eyes slightly.

"You're wearing glitter mascara," he observes.

Ryan shrugs. "Had to do something while skipping chemistry," he points out.

Chad sniggers, and then looks awkward. "You should probably know that Zeke read me the riot act about the whole attacking-you-over-cookies thing."

"I did try to tell you," Ryan shrugs. "Not very hard, admittedly, but he made me cookies in an entirely heterosexual way." He snickers. "Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

Chad rolls his eyes. It almost looks affectionate from the angle Ryan's standing at, but he wills himself not to read too much into it. That's the problem with spending so much time in the theatre; you tend to judge everyone on body language rather than what they're actually saying.

"You've totally charmed him, by the way," Chad says after a moment, picking up a few files and heading over to the cabinets, clearly deciding to get on with the task – or maybe he just doesn't want to look Ryan in the (glittery) eyes; it really could be either. "Zeke spent all of chemistry going on and on about how I should give you another chance, and then Taylor and Gabriella and Kelsi all started joining in. It was like being in a chick flick. Dude, it was scary."

"You poor, poor guy," Ryan murmurs, with only a trace of sarcasm in his tone, picking up some files of his own and going to join Chad.

"Did you start up a Ryan Evans Fan Club while I was ignoring you?" Chad adds after a moment. "'Cause I swear, everywhere I go someone new is telling me how awesome you are."

Ryan shrugs. "Well, I didn't want to brag…" he smirks. "Besides, I kind of figured you wouldn't want to join; I'm not exactly your favourite person, am I?"

"I might want to join sometime in the distant future," Chad responds cheerfully. "Are there cool membership cards?"

"With appropriate amounts of glitter," Ryan deadpans.

"What's the point of membership cards without glitter?" Chad asks, and they both burst out laughing. It's the first natural interaction they've had in weeks, and it feels so good. Not looking at him, Chad continues flicking through the files already in the drawer. Off-hand, he adds: "Did you know your sister offered me money to get back together with you?"

Ryan chokes. He can't work out if he feels more bemused or shocked, as he manages to ask: "How much?"

Chad doesn't look at him. "Less than you're worth."

"Could you have gotten a car with it?" Ryan's tone holds a little too much bitterness that he can't seem to hold back.

"Probably." Chad slides one drawer shut and reaches for the next. "And gas money for like the next six months."

"Jesus." Ryan takes a moment to process this. "You must really hate me."

They work in silence for a moment; it turns out filing isn't so much difficult as mind-numbing, and Ryan can totally deal with that. Eventually, Chad shifts awkwardly and turns to look at him.

"I don't hate you," he says. "That's mostly the problem."

All the air seems to have disappeared from the office. Ryan sucks his lower lip into his mouth for a second, trying to regain some perspective. It's frustrating, the way that on the one hand this situation is so simple it's surprising that they haven't gotten back together already. On the other hand, it's so complicated that Ryan just wants to go hide in someone's dressing room for a while and scream.

"I'll have a word with Shar," he says eventually. "Tell her to stop treating you like some kind of hooker."

"I was more insulted on your behalf than mine, actually," Chad replies, not looking at him.

"That's progress, right?" Ryan asks.

Chad smiles, warm and genuine. "Yeah."

A minute later, Matsui walks back in, to find the two of them putting away the last files. Their principal gives them an uncomfortable little half-smile.

"Let's not have a repeat of this, shall we boys?" he suggests, voice all false brightness. "I definitely don't want to have to face Coach Bolton and Ms Darbus on your behalves again."

Ryan and Chad nod and then practically flee the office, back into the empty corridors of the school.

"Oh man," Chad remarks, "Can't you just see Darbus and Bolton getting all pissed at Matsui for putting us in detention?"

Ryan laughs. "That's pretty awesome," he says. "You know, if we made a habit out of this we could make his life a living hell for the rest of the year." He shrugs at the expression on Chad's face. "I'm pretty good at making people's lives hell, if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, I've noticed." Chad looks sad rather than pissed, which was not what Ryan was going for. After a moment, though, he seems to brighten up a little, holding out a hand to Ryan. "Truce?"

Ryan does not want a truce, he does not want to play at being friends; he wants his damn boyfriend back. But that's the sulky Sharpay-like side of him, and the rest of him knows that he should settle for what he can get at the moment if he wants to have more in the future.

"Truce," he agrees, taking Chad's hand. The touch is too intimate, and they're staring at each other, and somehow they're closer now than they were earlier with their ill-thought-out kiss. Ryan lets go too fast, looking away, and he wonders if Chad is blushing; he's too scared to look. "We should go," he says, "I don't really like the idea of staying here overnight."

Chad shudders. "Don't even joke about staying in school all night," he says. "That's totally disturbing."

They make their way out to the front of the school, where Chad's mom is waiting in the car, scowling. Her expression lightens a little when she notices Ryan walking alongside her son.

"Mom misses you," Chad tells him, sounding a cross between amused and embarrassed. "I think she wants to put a picture of you in our fridge next to Michael Crawford."

Ryan stops dead. "Oh dear God."

Chad starts laughing. "Man, you're way too easy," he snickers.

"You are not funny," Ryan informs him, resisting the urge to shove him.

They've gotten close enough for Ms Danforth to roll the window down. "Can I give you a ride, Ryan?" she offers.

Ryan gives her his best charming smile; it's not her fault he and Chad are on thin ice at the moment. "Thanks, but I probably need to hang around and wait for my sister to stop prancing around on stage insulting other people all in the name of art," he replies brightly.

"Your life worries me," Chad tells him, pulling open the car door open and practically falling inside. "See you tomorrow, Evans."

Well; it's a start.

That night, when Sharpay has mercifully kept her mouth shut and not told their mom about Ryan's lapse in judgement and subsequent detention, they sit in the kitchen sharing a tub of Ben and Jerry's. Their mom is humming while she makes herself a smoothie that involves freaky amounts of wheatgrass – her diet fads never cease to be icky-looking – and Shar has a weirdly smug expression.

"Maybe we should have put you and Danforth in a small, enclosed space ages ago," she suggests thoughtfully, following a marshmallow swirl in the ice cream with her spoon.

"You should tell Troy what you did," Ryan tells her calmly. He's been thinking about it all day, and has decided that the next step in the healing process needs to be kick-started.

"The hell I should!" Sharpay responds, voice uncomfortably shrill. Their mom coughs meaningfully from behind them, presumably trying to remind Shar that the neighbours would actually like to retain their eardrums.

"It's about time we cleared the air," Ryan says. "And if you don't tell Troy, maybe I will."

Sharpay pouts. "If you tell Troy what we did, I'll have you killed," she warns. "I'll hire someone. Like Javier. I bet he'd do it, he loves me."

Ryan pushes the ice cream out of collateral damage range and leans over to whisper in her ear. "FYI, sis, you're not the only one who hooked up with Javier last summer."

This revelation causes Sharpay to loudly call Ryan something that makes their mom look over and say: "Careful, Kitten; that's not a very nice thing to call your brother."

"You are dead to me," Shar hisses, pulling the ice cream out of Ryan's reach.

"Well," Ryan counters, "I'm dead until six-thirty tomorrow morning, when you will need me to help pick out your outfit."

Shar scowls deeper as he reaches over to try and take the ice cream back. "Dead people don't need Ben and Jerry's," she informs him tightly.

Ryan gets up, deciding it's about time he went to bed anyway. "Just think about what I said," he suggests mildly. Shar ignores him, shoving a large, selfish spoonful of pudding into her mouth. "You'll get fat," he warns idly, with just enough venom to make it sting. What else are siblings for?

Sharpay's shrieks, occasionally punctuated with their mom's soothing attempts to explain: Pumpkin, you have been winding Ryan up all night, what did you expect, follow Ryan all the way up the stairs.

---

Ryan actually remains dead to his twin until five-thirty the next morning, when Shar comes in carrying armfuls of clothes and starts dumping them all on his bed. Ryan blinks blearily at her for a while, unable to summon up any powers of speech, while Shar clatters about. Eventually, he edges out from under the increasingly high piles of clothing all over his bed.

"Do I want to know what you're doing?" he asks tentatively. Shar rolls her eyes.

"Sorting out my summer wardrobe," she replies, like it's perfectly logical for her to be doing that all over his bed at an unreasonably early hour of the morning. "Duh, Ry."

"Of course." Ryan sighs, stumbling towards the bathroom. "Stupid of me not to figure it out."

Shar tuts loudly behind him; Ryan ignores her and goes for a shower.

When he gets back, Sharpay seems to have put her entire summer wardrobe all over his bed and is sorting it into colour piles. He watches her for a moment, trying to find a tactful way to get her to take her clothes off his bed that won't involve high-pitched shrieking, because if he starts shrieking then Shar will start shrieking and then there'll be a whole thing. And Ryan totally doesn't have time to do three hours of yoga to burn off the hysterical feeling before school starts.

He hides in his walk-in closet for a while, finding an outfit in lemon yellow for today that is either totally hideous or kind of cute. But after trying on four different hats and angling each one appropriately for a while, Ryan decides that he's got to be a man for once – or the closest possible equivalent, anyway – and kick his sister out of his room. He walks back in to find Shar is still arranging dresses all over his bed.

Ryan opens his mouth to get angry when he realises something about the way his sister is almost compulsively organising things. Sharpay is one of the messiest people Ryan knows, preferring to leave stuff lying around for other people to pick up rather than put it away herself, and only organises her own things when she's bored or frustrated. With the Spring Musical in just over a week and therefore a whole lot of people to bitch at in rehearsals, Ryan's going to assume that it's not the former. But what exactly does that mean?

"You're frustrated," he says slowly, attempting to figure this out aloud.

Shar rolls her eyes. "Help me pick out an outfit for today," she orders, waving a hand over the clothing heaps.

"You're frustrated," Ryan repeats. "Which is weird since your little scheme worked out so very prettily. Maybe the musical isn't going so well – but it can't be that 'cause you'd be spending every other minute trash-talking the other students and you're not, and anyway I don't think you'd willingly be in any musical that wasn't one hundred percent perfect, so it's not that."

"Save the Psych 101 for a day when we've got more time," Sharpay snaps, but she's folded her arms defensively which means that Ryan's getting somewhere.

"And the opinions of others have never bothered you so it's not that the fact half the student body wants you dead, and anyway it's not like that's a new thing."

"I think we need to brush up your flattery skills," Sharpay informs him frostily. "Pick me some clothes or go away."

"Yeah, good luck with kicking me out of my own room," Ryan replies, but concedes enough to pick her out a dress in hot pink, which should go nicely with her latest pair of gold stilettos. "So if it's not the musical and it's not your fanclub, and it isn't me 'cause you tend to just vent at me in a high-pitched sort of fashion when you're pissed, then it's something else in your life that's making you frustrated."

"Jesus, Ry," Sharpay cuts in sharply, "Maybe Broadway isn't your calling after all. You should be a psychoanalyst or something."

In general, Ryan cares less about other people's problems than he pretends to, but his sister really doesn't need to know that. And anyway, he always cares about Sharpay's problems, partially because he does love her, but also because when his twin is unhappy she tends to decide that everyone must be unhappy to match her. It's all about the flattering coordination.

"It's Troy," he decides. "Last time I checked he was still unsettlingly devoted to you, so you haven't broken up, but your problem is with him."

"I do not have a problem with Troy!" Shar's voice is so high-pitched it could probably shatter glass. Ryan finds himself glancing towards his windows, just to make sure that they're still intact.

"Nice case for the defence, sis," he remarks. Shar remains mutinously silent, leaving Ryan to fill in the blanks for himself. Which really isn't that difficult a task; he knows his sister far better than he wants to admit he does – if only because their thought processes are worryingly similar. "Ok, so you're frustrated by Troy. Even though the two of you seem to be in a perfectly nice relationship…" He trails off.

Shar clutches today's dress against her lilac silk robe, and scowls at him.

"Oh," Ryan says, realising he's finally cracked it. "And it's what you thought you wanted until you got it, right? 'Cause Troy's so nice and there's only so much you can do for his personality and you don't want to sit around all the time being expected to hold hands and watch movies. You don't have Gabriella's temperament."

Sharpay pushes past him, heading back for her own room. That, if nothing else, confirms Ryan's suspicions.

---

Today, Kelsi's hat is a vivid apple green, tilted back from her face as her fingers dance over the piano keys, expression one of bliss. The fact she's clearly been here at least an hour doesn't do anything to disprove Ryan's theory that she actually lives in the practise rooms, but he doesn't mention it.

"How was detention for you?" Kelsi asks, tone mildly innocent but the glitter in her eyes makes Ryan think she's waiting for some kind of report of him and Chad making out during their forced labour detention. Because, of course, Ryan has so little dignity that he would go for that in his Principal's office.

"I filed," Ryan replies calmly. "It was unexciting. I'm going to have to make it on Broadway, 'cause I'll never be able to work in an office or whatever."

"You won't ever have to work," Kelsi points out. "You will be able to pay other people to take care of the menial tasks for you."

"That's true." Ryan brightens up a little, coming to sit beside her on the piano bench.

"And that really wasn't the part of the detention that I was interested in," Kelsi adds.

"I've got better gossip," Ryan responds, trying not to read too much into Chad's friendlier attitude because God knows what it actually means, "Shar is bored of Troy."

Kelsi's eyes widen. "Oh," she says, and for a long minute seems incapable of speech. "Does Troy know this?"

"No." Ryan frowns. "I think I need to break him and Shar up, but…"

"You can't do it until after the musical is over," Kelsi interrupts quickly. "I've done enough key and tempo changes on these songs as it is, I won't do it again because Sharpay or Troy or both of them decide to walk out."

"Yeah," Ryan agrees. "But the longer I go without telling Troy…"

"You've managed this long," Kelsi points out, and then sighs heavily. "Look, you've got me thinking like an Evans now. Troy probably should know what you and Sharpay did, shouldn't he?"

"It ought to come from Shar, though," Ryan says. "Otherwise I'm just going to end up looking all petty and bitchy."

"And of course," Kelsi says, looking virtuous, "No one could ever normally accuse you of being petty or bitchy."

Ryan knocks her hat off. "I thought you said I was 'nice'."

"You actors are so temperamental," she replies, rolling her eyes. "And you are nice. And petty. And bitchy."

Deciding to quit before this dissolves into childish bickering, Ryan reaches for the latest sheet of music lying on the piano, Kelsi's neat pencil scribbles all over it.

"Last minute changes to a song in the first act," Kelsi explains. "Sharpay thinks it needs to go a little faster and there are a couple of lyric changes I need to fit in."

"Do you want me to go complain at her some more?" Ryan offers.

"She's probably right," Kelsi shrugs. "For once." She plays a few experimental notes, and then adds in a nonchalant voice: "If you or Sharpay end up talking to Troy today, I'm around for damage control."

Kelsi does damage control like no one else; it's something to do with the way she's all non-threatening and tiny, at least up until the point you turn around and realise that she's completely manipulated your emotions without you noticing until it's too late. It is entirely possible that she is a long-lost, much more subtle, Evans.

"I think we might need it," Ryan replies, patting her on the shoulder. "Though I'm going to need to persuade Shar first. Wish me luck."

Kelsi smiles at him. "Good luck," she tells him, and Ryan gets up to leave. As he gets to the door, Kelsi adds: "Don't think that telling me about Sharpay will get you out of giving me every single minute detail about detention last night."

Sometimes, Ryan can't help wondering if he corrupted Kelsi in some weird way, or if she's always thought like him and Sharpay. It's not something he can ever really slip into conversation, though, so he guesses he'll never know.

---

Sharpay accidentally sticks her mascara brush in her eye when Ryan tells her that she's absolutely got to talk to Troy today.

"You're frustrated," Ryan says. "And it's unfair to keep Troy in a relationship that you're not committed to."

"He'll leave the musical," Shar warns, dabbing at her eyes with makeup remover. Although her tone is calm she's clearly not as stable as she wants Ryan to believe she is. It's a pity for her that he knows her too well.

"He won't leave the musical," Ryan tells her, trying to keep his voice soothing. "Kelsi's on damage control."

"She is good at that," Sharpay admits softly. Then a pout appears on her face, and her voice returns to a shrieking pitch. "You told Kelsi?"

Ryan doesn't wince; he just shrugs. "Of course I did. You knew I would."

"You're a dreadful brother."

"I'm a brilliant brother," Ryan responds calmly. "One day you're going to figure that out."

Shar rolls her eyes but says nothing, which Ryan decides he'll take as her agreement, because it's simpler.

"Go and talk to Troy," he orders quietly.

"And I guess this will help you get Danforth back." Sharpay spits Chad's name like it's a swear word or something, but Ryan refuses to let her get to him. Shar is hurting so she wants to push out and annoy everyone around her. That's ok; she has far worse coping mechanisms that she could be using right now.

"For once," Ryan replies, "This isn't actually about me and my personal gain, which is obviously very weird, but maybe if I lie down in a dark room later it'll go away."

Sharpay wrinkles her nose. "You secretly like being selfless," she tells him in tones of disapproval. "You enjoy it. I wish you'd just have some kind of dirty covert porn thing instead."

Ryan blinks at her for a moment. "…Ew."

"You tell him," Sharpay suggests, in her usual manner of delegating. She turns around in her chair to look right at him instead of his reflection in the mirror, expression hopeful in a brittle sort of way. "It'll sound better coming from you."

"No it won't," Ryan replies. "It won't sound good coming from anyone."

Shar sighs, turning back to the mirror and completing her make-up. It's flawless, as ever, and she's made her eyes look even bigger than normal. Great big Bambi eyes; Ryan decides that you know the situation's bad when Sharpay Evans, the girl who eats lesser mortals on toast for breakfast, decides that she needs to look vulnerable.

"You're doing a good thing, sis," he tells her.

Sharpay gives him her favourite melodramatically tragic look. "I know, it's awful."

She gets up determinedly and heads for the door. "Break a nail," Ryan calls after her. It's their own personal good luck message; after all, what are broken limbs when there are damaged manicures to contend with? Shar doesn't turn back, though, just keeps walking, golden stilettos clicking determinedly on the floor.

Once she's gone he starts feeling guilty. Of course, it's better for everyone that Shar and Troy break up, because it's creating rifts between the students and whatever Gabi says and no matter how many times she wears her divine new shoes she still gets wistful if you don't distract her; and weirdly enough Ryan has started to like her. But still, Shar is the sort of girl who likes winning things and then getting to keep them, regardless of whether she really wants them or not. They've got cabinets full of glitzy forgotten awards that mattered for all of about five minutes.

"Greater good," he murmurs, which is weird 'cause his usual mantra is something along the lines of it's going to be sparkly and it's going to be mine, "Greater good."

---

Attending classes has kind of wound up pretty low on Ryan's current list of priorities, which he should probably do something about on a day when his sister and Troy Bolton aren't breaking up. The school is buzzing with rumours and it's sort of sad how voyeuristic the students are (don't they have their own lives? Why are they all trying to live vicariously through Troy?), exchanging gossip with an excitement bordering on smug. Ryan has yet to see his sister or Troy after whatever happened, and mostly he's just trying to stay out of it.

"You're going to flunk… everything," Kelsi points out mildly. They're in the auditorium, surrounded by the overwhelming smell of drying paint from the freshly-decorated scenery. It involves a lot of green and flowers, what with the whole spring theme.

Ryan waves a vague dismissive hand in her direction. "I'll be fine. Taylor's promised to make me revision flashcards."

Kelsi smirks. "No wonder you befriended Gabi and Taylor; you need someone to cover up for you when you don't work."

Ryan rolls his eyes at her and she leans over to bat his hat over his eyes. They're getting into a very silly slapping fight with slight traces of girlish shrieking coming from one of them (but Ryan will never admit which) when the distinctive sound of four-inch stilettos clicking along the hall reaches them. Kelsi turns to look at Ryan, a question in her eyes.

"Go," Ryan hisses. "Go now."

Kelsi nods, climbing over him to get out of the row and then running down the central aisle, heading for the nearest exit. Ryan lets out a slow breath, and then gets to his feet, ready for when Sharpay bursts into the auditorium. Her pink dress shimmers beautifully, she doesn't have a hair out of face, and she's held together with beautiful dignity. But her lips are pressed too hard together and Ryan's heart breaks for her; like it always will.

"Happy now?" she demands, voice quivering.

Ryan walks up to her, taking her hands in his. "Come on, Shar."

He leads her up to the empty stage, the place the two of them will always feel most comfortable, and sits down on the floor. Sharpay follows suit, sitting opposite him.

Ryan points at the gold mary-janes with their implausibly thin heels. "Shoes," he says.

Sharpay slips them off; Ryan can see the marks where the shoes are cutting into her feet, but Shar's stamina when faced with uncomfortable footwear is limitless, so he doesn't mention it. Sharpay crosses her legs, immediately assuming the lotus position. Ryan's the one with the patience for yoga, but every now and then his sister gives in and has a go.

"Are you ok?" he asks quietly.

Shar presses her hands to the floor, spreading the fingers, and they both stare at her gold glitter manicure for a while.

"Ry, am I a bad person?" Her tone is hesitant and entirely un-Sharpay and Ryan hasn't felt this guilty since Chad dumped him unceremoniously in the hall.

"No," he replies, and Sharpay raises her head to look at him. Her mascara is just starting to smudge, and her mouth is twisted with misery. "You're not a bad person, Shar, you're just… not very good at sincerity."

Sharpay gives a smile that's a little bit more genuine. "Thanks, Ry."

Ryan puts his hands on top of hers. "So…"

"Yeah." Shar nods. "It's over. And Troy may or may not want me dead."

There isn't a lot Ryan can say to that, so he curls his fingers a little, linking their hands together. They sit there and breathe, slow and steady, until the bell goes. The theatre will soon be full of people and while the Evans twins of course thrive on having an audience there are times when they don't, so Shar gets her shoes back on and they head off to fix her make-up before math.

They enter the classroom with Ryan's arm wrapped protectively around his sister. Sharpay isn't cowed at all, but she's still a little vulnerable, her chin raised defiantly. Gabi gives Ryan a little understanding smile, and while Chad stares at them for too long he isn't glaring.

Kelsi and Troy are both conspicuously absent. Ryan hopes that this is a good thing.

---

They're meant to be running lines for Guys and Dolls, but it's kind of turned into an impromptu dance lesson. Ryan can't go home too soon, anyway; he thinks Shar ought to go first and talk to their mom before he gets back.

Kelsi says that she has too much on her mind to learn any new dances, and Ryan just wants to relax, so the two of them just waltz around the dance studio. They're both so busy concentrating on other things that it takes Ryan a moment to realise that they're absolutely nailing the dance; bodies moving in smooth tandem as they get faster and faster. Even Kelsi notices how well they're dancing together as they spin more quickly, light on their feet and grinning openly at each other. They stop when the music does, collapsing in a dizzy, giggling heap on the floor. Ryan stares at their reflections in the numerous mirrors, Kelsi leant against his shoulder, fingers still loosely entwined with his.

"Sometimes," he murmurs, and doesn't realise what he's saying until he says it, "I think everything would be easier if I was straight."

Kelsi gets an anxious look, following his gaze to their reflection in the nearest mirror.

"That's something I never thought I'd hear you say," she observes, giving him an easy smile. "Though we would be a very cute couple."

"At least as adorable as Troy and Gabriella," Ryan agrees flatly.

He thinks that Sharpay's carefully-concealed despair today has made him realise just how damn lonely he feels without Chad; his time with Chad made him reliant on something he didn't have before him, and doing without it stings to a stupid degree.

Kelsi sighs, looking worriedly at him. "Was Sharpay very angry?" she asks, reaching up to sweep messy hair off Ryan's forehead.

"No," Ryan replies. "Just upset. How was Troy?"

Kelsi grimaces. "Pissed," she says. "Really, really pissed."

"Ah." Ryan frowns. "And the Spring Musical?"

Maybe he should, you know, care about Troy Bolton's emotional welfare or whatever, but showbiz is, for better or worse, lodged in his bloodstream and he does care more about the show than he does about Troy right now. He won't admit it aloud; Kelsi probably knows anyway,

"It's still going ahead." Kelsi gives him a broad, proud smile. "You may worship me now."

When Shar says that, it sounds like she's only claiming a right she honestly believes is due to her; but coming from Kelsi in a tone designed to mirror his sister's, Ryan can't help laughing. Besides, Kelsi has kind of earned some kind of super awesome reward; she has took what could so easily have been The Biggest Disaster, Like, Ever (at least, to hit the East High Drama Department), talked Troy down off his metaphorical ledge, and smoothed it all over without needing to blackmail anyone or offer money/various kinds of maiming. The girl is possibly magical.

"You are my superhero," he says, straight-faced. "You're wonderful and fabulous and gorgeous, oh my beloved Composing Nymph."

"Am I interrupting something?" comes a voice. Chad is peering around the door at them, looking somewhat bemused.

"Yes," Kelsi deadpans, getting up. "Ryan and I are passionately in love. Gabi's going to sing at our wedding."

Chad walks into the studio, letting the door shut behind him. "Dude," he says.

"I think I might go by 'Composing Nymph' from now on," Kelsi says, as Ryan pushes himself to his feet as well. "Maybe you could get it printed onto a t-shirt for me?"

Chad smiles, but his attention is fixed on Ryan. "Troy's talking to me again," he says. "I'm going to guess it's all your fault."

He sounds less angry than his words imply; he's kind of smiling, and his eyes are full of warmth.

"'My fault'?" Ryan echoes. "Shouldn't you be going 'oh Ryan, darling, Troy's talking to me again, how can I ever repay you'?"

Chad snorts. "Seriously, I've never called you 'darling'."

Ryan can't resist. "Maybe you should start."

Chad screws up his face. "I wouldn't call you 'darling', even when I liked you."

Ryan's adjusts his pose a little, resting his weight on one hip. "So you don't like me now?"

Kelsi starts giggling. "Boys, stop flirting. I thought we were meant to be running lines, Ry?"

Chad frowns, suddenly looking lost. "Are we flirting?" he asks Ryan, like he genuinely doesn't know.

"Well." Ryan shrugs. "I am, and you're not running away, so I guess that kind of makes it flirting."

Chad nods, slowly, considering this. "Ok."

It's a bit of a lack-lustre response, but then Ryan supposes that they did kind of leap from staring at each other across classrooms to making out everywhere to full-on dating without any of the traditional stuff that comes in the beginning of relationships, so he can't really blame Chad for not picking up on it now.

Kelsi glances uncomfortably between the two of them, fingers curled around Ryan's script.

"I should go," Chad says, looking a little awkward but not entirely, you know, horrified. "I'll see you guys around."

He offers Ryan a brief smile and then he's gone.

Ryan stares wordlessly at Kelsi for a moment, all: I'm not entirely sure what the hell just happened but it did happen and do you think it was good or bad because honestly? I've got nothing.

Kelsi stares back, and then says what is probably the only appropriate thing to say in these circumstances. "Dude."

It sounds so strange coming from her that Ryan can't help laughing out loud, some of the tension cracking.

"You've been hanging out with the jocks for way too long," he tells her.

Kelsi ignores him. "You guys make my brain hurt," she says.

Ryan shrugs. "Join the freaking club."

---

The school is taken over by Musical Mania, some kind of special student-wide disease that only occurs in the week before a musical. Suddenly random students who haven't been within about fifty feet of the auditorium ever are humming You Are The Music In Me, everywhere smells of drying paint, and Sharpay amuses herself by shrieking all the time.

Ryan's musical isn't taking place on the school premises, and it's kind of nice to not be directly involved in all the panic; it's sort of sadistically entertaining to watch younger students running about covered in paint and sparkles trying to get the scenery to work. Not that he'll say this aloud; his role as The Slightly Less Hysterical And Potentially Nicer Evans Twin must not be compromised.

Shar bounces back like no one else on Earth; she might be despised by all the creepily fervent Wildcat people, but nonetheless comes into school every day dressed in sparkly and expensive things and acts like the diva she is. And Ryan sort of loves her for it.

"Admit it," he pushes, the two of them sitting in her dressing room, "It's better now you've broken up with Troy."

Sharpay won't look at him for a long moment, and then sighs. "He was so vanilla he was practically tasteless," she confesses. And then fixes him with her very sharpest look. "If you tell anyone I will have you murdered."

Ryan has heard this about three times a day since they were eight, and it doesn't bother him anymore. "You can't kill me," he says reasonably. "For one thing, mom and dad would stop your allowance, and then how would you buy new shoes?"

Sharpay pouts at him, and then apparently sees something she doesn't quite like in the mirror and leans forward, applying a fresh layer of lipgloss. Ryan smiles slightly, and acknowledges the fact that most people – including himself, on occasion – don't understand Sharpay and therefore miss her motivations entirely. Shar isn't a bitch in any conventional sense of the word; she just wants everything to be perfect. The problems only stem from the fact she's more fixated on the final goal than on the journey, and so she leaves a nice messy trail of wreckage behind her.

Worse people do exist in the world.

"I was going to suggest some kind of Get Troy And Gabriella Back Together scheme in order to show willing," Sharpay muses, "But Kelsi has it all in hand. The girl just seems to enjoy playing matchmaker."

Because he can't resist, Ryan smiles at her and begins: "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match; find me a find, catch me a catch…"

Shar glares. "Out."

But Ryan can tell that she secretly kind of loves him underneath.

The music and dance sessions with Kelsi are dropped for the moment; Kelsi spends every spare second she has rehearsing with various cast members, and Ryan is in the theatre for unreasonable amounts of hours every night, brushing up Sky Masterson for public consumption. Even if he does say so himself; he's good. And he is seriously stealing the fedora afterwards, whether the wardrobe department want it back or not.

"Ryan," Kelsi calls, sticking her head out of one of the practise rooms as he heads past, "Have you got a few minutes?"

"I've got half an hour," he replies, backtracking, "What can I do to help?"

It turns out that Troy, even when trying to make up for inadvertently being an asshole, is still, well, kind of a hilariously sadistic asshole after all. Ryan is amused at this; there does seem to be something slightly infectious about Shar that seeps into anyone who spends protracted amounts of time around her. And since Chad got talked into being Troy's understudy forever ago, Troy is insisting that Chad do the middle performance. Consequently, Kelsi is trying to convince Chad that he wants to perform because he's awesome on top of all the other things she's got to do.

For a moment Ryan thinks that they don't pay her enough; then remembers that nobody's paying Kelsi at all and that's possibly kind of the problem.

There's a pot of tea and sheet music on the piano lid, and Ryan pours himself a cup before finding out what Kelsi wants. Chad is scuffing his toe against the floor, not quite looking at him, but things are still awkward between them because what they really need to do is just sit down and talk it through and neither of them seem to have the self-control to do that. At least; not any more.

"I need to go through the music with Chad," Kelsi explains, "And therefore I need someone to play the piano so I can use my hands. And you were right there, so…"

Ryan sips his tea, and then sits down on the piano bench. "I apologise in advance," he says, and then lowers his fingers to the keys.

Chad's eyes flicker towards him a few too many times as Ryan plays slowly, Kelsi leading him through all the notes with patient care, but Ryan concentrates on not screwing up.

"Right," Kelsi decides, "Let's put it all together."

Ryan is about to scoot over and let her use the piano when she shakes her head. "Stay where you are."

He obediently begins playing and Kelsi takes over Sharpay's words; her voice is more hesitant but sweeter than Shar's, and she offers an entirely different quality to the song. Chad sings his part with confidence, and Ryan can't help smiling as he listens to the two of them singing together. Kelsi turns to him three-quarters of the way through the song and gives him a pointed glare; Ryan obediently comes in with the backing vocals. And yeah, it does feel a little weird, the three of them singing this song together, voices twining together on you are the music in me; Ryan hits a wrong note and Chad stares at him and oh, this whole thing just isn't fair.

When they finish, there's barely time for Ryan to get his brain back in gear because Kelsi pushes a cup of tea at Chad and tells him to take a break before turning to Ryan, hands on her hips. Kelsi becomes very very scary around musical times; not threatening and loud like Shar, but very firm.

"You were complaining about Luck Be A Lady this morning," she says, "Since it is your song, and I've got five minutes, get up and get on with it." Her smile softens the words, but only just.

Ryan glances towards Chad, but Kelsi is looking so very terrifying, black sparkly newsboy cap angled delicately to the left, that he can't really say no. He stands up, taking a sip of cooling tea, shakes out his shoulders, and decides that if he can perform this in front of Chad then he could do it naked in front of thousands without batting an eyelid.

"They call you Lady Luck; but there is room for doubt…"

He forgets Chad's eyes on him, forgets Kelsi watching him carefully as her fingers move on the piano keys, forgets everything but the words pouring from his mouth and he falls straight into the performance, as he always does; dancing and singing in fluid tandem, and for those few minutes he feels like he's the king of the world. And that, really, is why he does this. It really is.

"A lady wouldn't make little snake eyes at me when I've bet my life on this roll…"

He just about registers Kelsi joining in with backing vocals, playing the part of the other men at the dice game, swirling smoothly, cupping imaginary dice in his palms.

"Luck be a lady tonight!"

He is aware of a complete silence, and while he pretends as hard as he can that he doesn't need the adoration he kind of thought Kelsi would at least have some constructive criticism. But she's just staring at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, and he doesn't dare turn and look at Chad.

"Well?" he asks anxiously, arms folding defensively across his chest. "I've got three days before curtain up, if it's terrible you have to tell me now."

Kelsi seems to pull herself back together. "You're my best friend, Ryan," she manages eventually. "And it is very very wrong to even be acknowledging it, but…"

"But what?" Ryan asks, genuinely worried now.

"You're sexy," Chad provides from behind him. "Like, scarily sexy. I think Kelsi is trying to come to terms with that."

Kelsi nods, with an awkward little smile. "What he said."

"Oh. My. God." Ryan drops his head into his hands. He thinks he might be blushing, which is horrible and embarrassing but… but oh well.

"Sorry dude," Chad says, and he seems to have come up close without Ryan noticing, "But it's true."

Ryan cracks two fingers apart so he can peer between them at Chad. "What's true?" he asks, and he knows he has to stop hiding and take all this like a person, but stepping out from behind Sharpay was not supposed to end in singing songs that make everyone, including his friends, want to jump him.

"Well," Chad shrugs, lips curling a little, "You're hot." He seems to register what he's said, and then adds swiftly: "And maddening. And way too easily led. But hot."

Ryan honestly doesn't know what to say in reply so it's helpful when Kelsi steps in and says: "You let that sentence get away from you, didn't you?"

Chad laughs. "A bit, yeah."

Ryan pulls himself back together, because if by some horrible chance Shar finds out about this she will actually disown him and that will be slightly problematic, and lowers his hands from his face, forcing himself to breathe.

"You could come, if you wanted to," he offers lightly. "To the show, I mean."

Chad sighs, amusement gone from his face, and Kelsi stares down at her music, clearly wanting to be elsewhere.

"I'm sorry," Chad says. "I just… I can't."

He presses his lips to Ryan's cheek and walks out, head bowed.

It takes a lot of effort not to scream, but Ryan just about manages it. Dignity at all times; it is The Evans Way.

---

His parents, Shar, Ms Darbus, Kelsi, Gabi and Taylor all come to the opening night of Guys And Dolls, and are right there whooping with flowers afterwards. The Spring Musical doesn't start for another two days, and it's nice to have people he knows in the audience. Shar is bubbling with praise, Gabi and Taylor can't seem to stop hugging him, Ms Darbus goes all misty-eyed, and Kelsi is absolutely wreathed in smiles. His mom and dad make sure to line his dressing room with flowers and Ryan finds that performing without the safety net of East High is actually kind of fun. Exhilarating and scary and crazy fun.

Although he can't be there, he gathers that the Spring Musical goes wonderfully; Sharpay and Troy are glossy and elegant and absolutely marvellous, possibly because Troy has started to acknowledge that bits and pieces of what happened were kind of his fault, and also his weird lame hair has started growing back. Kelsi is delighted with the reception her songs get, and apparently Chad is really good when he takes over and performs for the evening. Ryan sends him a break a leg text, and gets a you too, man text in reply. He sort of feels it might be masochistic to keep pushing, hoping that Chad will crack, but on the other hand he refuses to give up on something that is so close to getting there. All he needs is one catalyst.

The last night of Guys and Dolls is also the night of the final Spring Musical, though Guys And Dolls starts earlier and therefore finishes earlier. Ryan considers going to the aftershow party to congratulate Kelsi and Sharpay but wonders if he can actually deal with an evening with East High's drama department being so happy with itself when he had no part in it.

He's utterly on fire onstage though. He's the best he's ever been, and gets four curtain calls. It feels good; it really feels like the start of something.

Ryan is has just finished washing off his make-up in his dressing room when a tentative knock comes at the door. He calls come in, wondering how he could have a visitor when everyone he knows is over at East High.

Well. Apparently not quite everyone.

Chad shuffles his feet and clears his throat and then manages to close the door behind him; Ryan resists the urge to say you came because he thinks he'd sound kind of too enthusiastic if he did and he wants to give the impression of not being completely obsessed with Chad.

For his part, Chad doesn't seem entirely sure what to say for himself either; he stares around at Ryan's various bouquets; mommy and daddy are brilliant at sending flowers and Shar has sent him a lot of roses.

"I didn't bring you flowers," Chad blurts. "Because I'm still not entirely sure you deserve flowers."

Ryan pouts. "I was damn good," he points out.

Chad smiles a little. "You were," he agrees. "All right, I didn't want to bring you flowers."

Ryan shrugs; fair enough. "Ok," he says carefully, and waits to see where Chad is going with this.

There's a moment. "…But only for you would I drive halfway across the city in a bright pink car with SE spraypainted on the hood."

Ryan gapes. "You didn't."

"I got the keys from your sister's purse," Chad confirms. "I don't have a car and I needed to get here. So we need to get back before she realises I stole it."

Ryan gets a highly amusing mental image of Chad driving Shar's pink convertible, and then registers what Chad is saying.

"'We'?" he asks.

Chad nods. "Will you come to the aftershow party with me?" he asks, voice serious and a little bit desperate around the edges. "I mean, it might be slightly fun. It'll be sparkly, and, you know, someone spiked the punch."

Ryan frowns. That's his job. "But…but I always… and I wasn't…"

Chad shrugs, smiling a little. "Well, I'm going to need to be under the influence of something if I'm going to be reasonably polite to your sister tonight."

Ryan considers telling him to go away, but Chad is trying and they've got to start forgiving each other somewhere or they won't ever get anywhere.

"Gabi's started talking to Troy again," Chad offers.

Poor sweet Gabriella; she'll end up forgiving Troy for being an asshole to her because she's the cleverest person Ryan knows (except maybe for Taylor) but in some cases she doesn't learn anything. She doesn't want to learn anything; it's Troy she loves, and she'll let any amount of things go. Ryan thinks he might be in the same position, and he can see the apology in Chad's eyes.

"That's good," Ryan says at last, getting to his feet and putting the fedora he totally intends to steal back on. He's reaching for his jacket when Chad catches his wrist.

"I'm sorry," he says softly. "For parts of it. Not all of it, but… you know."

Ah, eloquence. Not exactly Chad's strong point but Ryan isn't sure he's feeling entirely eloquent either right now.

"Me too," he says.

They stare at each other for a moment and then both lean tentatively in for a kiss. It takes a moment for their lips to connect and to begin with it feels like they're both testing the waters; then Chad drops Ryan's wrist and slides his fingers into his hair instead and Ryan decides that yeah; he's got his boyfriend back. He nibbles Chad's lower lip and curls his fingers over the other boy's hip, only realising now just how much he's missed this.

He finally pulls away, unable to stop a broad grin spreading across his mouth. "I think you said something about a party with spiked punch and inappropriate amounts of glitter?"

Chad nods, laughing, twining their fingers together and leading him out to where Sharpay's car is parked.

"Hey; don't let it be said I don't take you anywhere nice."

The End