Title: A Friend of Mine
Rating: PG, I suppose.
Warning: None, I think. Just minor slash.
Disclaimer: I don't own. If I did, I would be show the scene, when they were changing into each other's clothes.
Feedback: Very welcome.
Author's Note: This is my first Chyan fic and I'm not a native speaker. So, please, be kind and forgive my mistakes and my bad, bad English.
---
That day started quite differently from any other.
Not mentioning the fact, that Chad Danforth overslept that day and nobody bothered to wake him up, not even his mom, who shouted at him the moment he ran down the stairs and through the doors for an already waiting school bus.
Luckily, thanks to the bus, he wasn't late for his class, which would be horrible since he really didn't like to spend more time at detention. Too much of it lately.
He sighed, sitting at his desk reluctantly and felt his stomach growl. He moaned, resting his head on his elbows and prepared himself for torture.
---
After the torture, which happened to be just a history class, he went to his locker. He waved a short "hi" to Ryan Evans, whom he was passing by and leaned on the wall. He was tired and didn't even know, why.
Slowly, he unlocked his locker and was surprised when something wrapped in a gift-paper fell to his feet. He unwrapped it suspiciously and eyed the gift.
It was a t-shirt with a saying on it, something he was used to see every day on his own chest.
But, this t-shirt was different.
It actually said "My friend has a gay crush on me" with dark red letters against blue background. Chad quickly crumpled it into a tiny ball and threw it inside the locker, looking around, afraid if anyone had seen.
Friend? Gay crush?
Chad thought for a second, then shuddered.
TROY!?
The thought scared him. Was Troy really having a crush on him? Not that he was homophobic or anything. Quite the opposite. Duh.
But, Troy?
It would be flattering if he was even able to return the feelings. And even if he tried really, really hard it was impossible, for he's already fallen for somebody else.
Poor Troy, he thought. But I know what it feels like.
He sighed, then headed to the lunchroom. It was going to be a hard day.
---
"Chad!," Troy screamed, scooting to the side to make Chad some place on the bench. "Where have you been, dude?", he asked, embracing his curly-haired friend with his arm.
"Oh, just checking something up at my locker," he answered, not daring to look at Troy. Though, he did notice Ryan's visible amusement shown on his face. Why was Ryan amused, though? Chad didn't know, but he moved away from Troy's embrace, hitting him on the shoulder.
Troy just laughed, ruffling his hair affectionately and Chad blushed. He didn't want Ryan to see Troy's affection towards him or he may think that Chad prefers Troy than him.
Chad actually doubted that Ryan would ever pay attention to a guy like him, but he can hope, now can't he?
He shot Ryan a quick glance and smiled, glad when Ryan smiled back.
He really needed to talk to him. Maybe Ryan would know what to do with Troy's crush.
---
Ryan could see, that Chad was up to something, so he wasn't really surprised, when during the next lesson, a small piece of paper landed on his desk.
"Can I talk to you after school?"
Ryan furrowed his brows and replied quickly, "Can't – rhrslSry"
He tried to ignore Chad's sad sigh, when he read the note. He didn't want to disappoint Chad, but he wasn't sure, if he's ready to talk to him. Probably Chad wanted to talk about the t-shirt he's found in his locker. It was so stupid of him to put it there... Ryan sighed with exasperation, angry with himself.
Chad wrote a short, "Shame." then and Ryan sighed again. This boy could be really irritating sometimes.
"What's up?", he scribbled nervously.
"Problem."
"Can I help, then?"
He waited patiently, when Chad wrote on the tiny piece of paper, looking at him from time to time. He looked really cute, when he got confused, but Ryan refused to think that way again. It really didn't lead him to anything positive; he was just feeling lonelier and lonelier again. Noticing all the little things about Chad, like the tiny wrinkles that appeared in the corners of his eyes, when he smiled, or how wonderful his smile itself was... This, Chad's smell, the nice touch of his hair, when they hugged sometimes, the way his hipbones were visible when he was wearing a tight t-shirt; everything made Ryan fall for him harder every day.
And made him feel like a total fool to do so.
He snapped out of his thoughts, when Chad slightly pinched him in the arm. He winced, then shot him a dead glare, before noticing that there was a note on his desk. And it was probably laying there for some time already.
He gasped, when he read it, though.
"Dunno. Got a tee today and I think it's from Troy. Kind of says he's having a crush on me. Dunnowat 2 do."
Ryan felt his eyes haze a bit, but he blinked a couple of times, then looked at Chad anxiously. Was he making a joke? Did he really think it was Troy's confession?
But seeing Chad's face, he was sure that Chad wasn't making a joke and that he was just as much oblivious as confused. Should he tell him that the t-shirt was a gift from him? That it was him, who was this friend with a crush? He wasn't sure, if he was ready to admit it just like that. He really hoped Chad would get the point about this shirt, when he was putting it in Chad's locker.
Ryan rubbed his temple, then wrote, "Dunno, man. But isn't Troy straight? Dunno. Sorry, no idea", then threw the note on Chad's desk, deciding that he won't reply anymore. It really hurt him to think, that maybe, probably, Chad felt this way to Troy. And that he was actually happy to know about Troy's crush. Ryan didn't want to make Chad sad. If Chad liked Troy, and will confess his feelings to him and be happy, who was he to stop him? All he really wanted was to see Chad happy. Really.
Chad winced, when Ryan noticed another note landing on his desk, but didn't bother to reply, too focused on the lecture.
"What should I do?", said the note, but Ryan didn't reply.
---
Chad tried to catch Ryan after the lesson, but Ryan escaped before he even blinked. Deciding Ryan didn't want to talk to him, Chad went back home on foot, wondering. He took the t-shirt with him, wanting to really think about it. It confused the hell out of him.
Watching the t-shirt in his hand, he realized that there's only one thing on his mind, when it comes to t-shirts. During the vacation, when they were still working at Lava Spring, Chad and Ryan had one day, when they truly realized they became close friends in a very short amount of time.
Then, just to annoy Ryan (because they really enjoyed annoying each other, just for fun – it was their own private way of expressing sympathy), Chad made himself a t-shirt, saying "I DON'T DANCE" with white letters against black background and wore it the next day to work.
What surprised him totally was that on the same day Ryan came, wearing a t-shirt, that said "I KNOW YOU CAN" with black letters against white background.
"You've seen me, when I was making the shirt on the mall?", Chad asked then, pouting.
"No," Ryan answered, surprised. "I thought you've seen me," he said.
They both blinked, then had a great laugh together, high-fiving with joy. That was one of the best moments of the holidays and Chad was really happy to have such a friend as Ryan.
He laughed, not caring about weird glances people threw at him. So lost in thought, he reached home without even noticing.
"Hi there!," he greeted everyone as usual, then headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat. "Hi, bro'," he smiled to his brother who was sitting at the table and stuffing himself with strawberries.
His brother smiled broadly, a strawberry between his teeth. Chad took a seat in front of him and stole a couple of fruits, before the older boy slapped his hand.
"My strawberries. Get your own," he motioned towards the refrigerator, even though they both knew there was no more strawberries there. His brother always ate them all in the minute they were bought.
Chad just sighed and became silent.
"How are you, bro'?," he heard his brother ask then. "Still gay?", the boy laughed, smacking his lips quite loudly. Chad winced.
"Shut up."
"And how's your little friend Ryan?"
Chad's head shot up. "What about him?"
"He still has a crush on you?"
"A crush?", Chad asked, shocked.
"Yeah, a crush. You know, when you've fallen for someone," his brother explained like to a complete idiot. "The last time I checked, he's been all over you. I wonder how come you didn't notice that yet," he smirked.
"Wha-?," Chad laughed, though a bit hysterically. "A crush? On me? Fallen? For me? You mean, in love?"
"Yeah, you fool."
"Come on, he's not, he's just my frien—"
And then it clicked. And it hit him.
Chad slapped his forehead with his palm, then rested his back on the chair.
He was really stupid, now wasn't he?
Could that be true...?
Could Ryan really...?
---