Disclaimer: HSM and all things affiliated with said title belong to Disney Channel and the respective companies and whatnot. If I owned them, 'I Don't Dance' would have been the start of an epic romance, not a short friendship that ended as soon as the summer did.

A/N: I've had this idea in my head for about a week, and finally got it written down and out of my head today. It's not really betaed, but I think I'm good enough at using Spell Check to handle it.

Pairings: Zekepay, Troyella, and eventual Chyan. Very eventual.

Summary: What do you do when your dream Is ight in front of you, and is suddenly ripped away?

Chad Danforth had found his dream; he was star forward on the Boston Celtics, up for MVP, and it was the semi-finals. He was in his element, having become captain of the team after only 2 seasons, and leading the Celtics to 4 back-to-back NBA Championships. He was the best; until his dream came crumbling down.

In the semi-final game against the lakers, Chad was was up making a jump shot when he was thrown to the side by a Laker, hearing and feeling a snap as he landed awkwardly on his left arm. The pain flooded his system moments later, making him curse quietly in an attempt to keep himself from howling in the middle of his own team's arena.

The next hour was a bit hazy, as were the next few days, until he sat down to talk to Cherry, the team's doctor Cheryl Barton.

"Danforth, you'll be on the medical roster for a few months, but you'll get to practice again if the physical therapist clears you. Don't count on getting back to practice, though," the woman stated matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"This kind of break is tricky. It may or may not heal correctly, and the nerve damage might persist no matter how it heals. You may need to figure out something else to do. I'm not going to sugar-coat anything for you, Chad. This is a bad injury, one most people don't ever heal from, not completely."

Chad left her office feeling kind of sick. He might have to find something else... but what else was there? He finally shrugged it off and decided to work as hard as possible to get back to 100%, because he sure as hell didn't know what else he would do.

3 months later, his break had healed enough to start therapy, and instead of using one of the therapists Cherry recommended, he went to one person he knew could help him more than anyone else; Troy Bolton. Troy had been his best friend since they were little, and was a physical therapist and actor out in San Fransisco.

The first month of therapy was filled with pain, and Gabriella's mom's brownies. Troy was an exacting task master, knowing Chad and what he could and couldn't handle. But after 4 months of intense therapy, Chad had to accept that he would only ever be able to barely raise his left arm over his head, and his left arm would tremble for the rest of his life from the nerve damage, which was more extensive than had been hoped.

He would never play in the NBA again, and he mourned the loss of his team, who had become like a second or third family to him, and even threw a huge party for him when he was recovered enough to attend without embarrassment. The party was full of people, anyone and everyone that could come was invited, although Chad hid in a corner for most of the night, nursing a beer as he watched everyone else, whole and fine, dancing or chatting or just having fun in general.

Then Troy and Gabriella, who had taken the week off from her law firm came over, and things started to get better. They brought someone with them that Chad hadn't seen since the Christmas before he got on the team. Ryan Evans had grown up a lot in the years since they'd last seen each other, dressed in a tasteful grey suit with a matching fedora perched on his head. Life seemed to have been good to the dancer, and he told him so.

"Lookin' good, Wildcat," he said, hugging the blonde, who had at one time been his other half, both of them getting closer in Senior Year when Troy became more and more distant because of Gabriella.

"Not lookin' too bad yourself, Mr. 'I Don't Dance,'" Ryan replied. "What happened to keeping me informed, Danforth?"

"Sorry, man, I was... busy. But you didn't update me either, so nyah!" Neither of them realized that Troy and Gabriella had disappeared, too interested in keeping up with each other.

Jason Cross wandered over after awhile; he was a professional photographer, and had done the team's pictures for the last 6 years, though Chad hadn't seen him in almost a year.

"So what're you gonna do now, dude?" Jason asked after a few minutes, and Chad bolted, not sure why. He found himself outside of his theatre, the one that he had financed for community theatre. He made his way to the stage and just sat on the edge, letting his feet dangle over the orchestra pit, just staring at his shaking hand.

For some reason, he suddenly missed Darbus's detentions and the one musical he had been in. He missed how easy it had been then, even with all of the drama of Troy and Ryan leaving New Mexico, and being pressured into the play in the first place. It reminded him of happy times, when the only real worries he had were if he was going to be able to translate Ryan to the other basketball players, and having to wear that stupid clown costume, which had never ended up in the final production.

"It doesn't get any easier," a familiar voice said from behind him, materializing into his blonde best friend as the man settled on the edge next to him, hat in his hands. "And I don't think the stage is going to solve your problems."

"I know. Not sure why I ended up here, to be honest. It just... It feels like Darbus is gonna come out of the wings and drop some pearl of wisdom or insanity like she used to. Is that weird?"

"Not at all. Every time I run rehearsals for a show, I expect to see her." Chad couldn't bring himself to look up from that rembling hand of his, the permanent reminder of his broken dream. "You know, I don't dance anymore," Ryan said, pulling a leg up to wrap his arms around it.

"Why not?" Chad looked up and actually studied his friend, noting the sheen of sweat on the blonde's forehead and the deep-set pain in his blue eyes.

"Hurt my back two years ago. Some days I can't get out of bed, some days I just shouldn't. I choreograph now, when I'm well enough, and I'm comfortable money-wise, living off my Broadway royalties and such. I'm still doing what I want to do, but I can't take as active a role in it, which makes it hard to get through the day sometimes."

"Ryan, I'm -"

"Sorry? Don't be. My plans just got sped up a bit. If I hadn't hurt myself, I still would have had to stop performing in a few years anyway. So I'm fine." Chad could tell he wasn't fine, but didn't have the guts to call him on it, not when his friend was trying so hard to help him.

"...I don't know what to do..." he finally said, feeling stupid, because of course Ryan knew, because he was RYAN, and despite their years apart, it was as if they had never lost touch with each other.

"You don't have to know, right now, Chad. You're only 26, and you've accomplished more in that time than most people do their entire lives. Just take a break. It'll come to you." Ryan sounded so... SURE, that Chad couldn't help but to agree, and they continued to sit in silence until Chad's phone rang shrilly, making him look around for Darbus before he answered it, laughing because Ryan had done the same thing.

It was one of his teammates, making sure he was okay, and he reassured him before pulling Ryan up with him, the blonde looking like he shouldn't have been even semi-vertical, let alone supporting his own weight.

"Where you stayin' at, Evans?"

"Hotel, though I don't think I'll make it," the blonde answered, losing his fight with gravity. Chad caught him and called for his car.

"Well, you're stayin' with me now." The car arrived and his driver helped him get Ryan inside, where the man pulled out a bottle of medicine and popped 2 pills dry.

"For the pain," he said when Chad looked at him funny. By the time they got to the penthouse, Ryan was breathing easier, and was even able to partially support his own weight. Chad got them into the bedoom, where he dumped the blonde onto the bed.

"How'd it happen?" Chad asked as he pulled out a pair of pajama pants for himself and the blonde.

"Fell off a scaffolding during rehearsal. Broke a vertebrae; they told me I wouldn't walk again. I sure showed them, huh?"

"Sure did. Water or juice?"

"If I hadn't just taken 2 Vikodin I'd ask for scotch, but I'll settle for something that looks like it," the blonde replied, putting his own pants on,. "Hey, are these the pants I gave you for Christmas?" Chad realized that they wer, indeed, the bright red Wildcat monstrosities that he wore almost every night to bed simply because they were a gift from the blonde.

"Yeah, they are." He quickly poured a glass of water for himself, draining it immediately before getting a glass of apple juice for Ryan, who hated orange juice as much as he himself did. "So, wanna watch a movie?" he asked as he handed the glass to Ryan.

"As long as I can lay here and watch it. Your bed is comfy."

"Damn skippy, it's comfy. You know I only got it so that you would lay on it right? I've had this planned for years. What movie do you wanna watch?" he continued over Ryan's laughter at his joke.

"You pick."

"Done." He grabbed the remote and took the glass from Ryan, putting it on the table before crawling in beside his friend. As he hit play, he couldn't help but remember the other times he and Ryan had done this, just watching movies in a comfy bed until they fell asleep, and realized that things weren't as different now as he'd thought.

"Five-hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes," came from the theater speakers. Ryan grinned up at him before singing along for a moment.

"RENT?"

"Not just any RENT, your RENT." Ryan had done a production of RENT 3 years before, and played Mark. Chad had gotten ahold of one of the only copies of the filming that were available, and had the rest around there somewhere. He was pretty sure he was the only one that bought it, but he wasn't disappointed, especially not if Ryan was going to look at him like that. "Shut up and watch."

As the movie went on, Chad surprised Ryan by singing all of Collins' and Roger's lineds perfectly, and by the tim the movie ended, Ryan was almost asleep, head on Chad's chest as the final few songs played.

"Missed you, Wildcat," the blonde mumbled as he fell asleep.

"Me, too, Evans."

A/N: This is not the end... The next part is going to take place a little later, though not sure how much later yet... The timeline for this story is 8 years after Senior Year, and will end at the 20th reunion, though not without a bit of time skipping involved.

I'm curious as to whether this sounds plausible, because I think this could be a natural evolution from the movies, just inputting some behind-the-scenes to flesh it out a bit.

So give me a holla if this sounds okay. Next part should be up sometime soon.