A/N: This is a "Halloween episode" originally posted on a Rypay Livejournal community. It's a short story, and thereby complete.

Halloween is the one day of the year where everyone has a legitimate excuse to take on another persona. Most people don't; they merely dress in outrageous and risqué outfits while acting much like themselves, only more drunk. Children do not. If you watch them, they are excellent at pretending to be someone else. A little Darth Vader meeting a little Luke Skywalker will react to one another accordingly.

Ryan was good at acting. After all, theater was his life. He relished the chance to be someone else, to start anew. By contrast, Sharpay would not. Despite her own acting ability, she would only act like a slightly less cruel, slightly less inhibited version of herself. A shame, yet a blessing. For there was something Ryan wanted, but couldn't get.

His sister.

So when Sharpay told him that they were going to put on a Halloween costume party, he immediately began forming a foxishly cunning plan. He didn't even mind when she dictated to him what they would be wearing. This would only serve his purposes. In fact, he was so lost in thought (and taking in Sharpay's radiant beauty, admittedly) that he barely registered what she was saying about their costumes.

"…and I'll be Tinkerbell! Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Huh, what?" Ryan said, snapped from his thoughts in a sudden blur. Sharpay sighed.

"You're dressing up like Peter Pan, and I'll be Tinkerbell!"

"Oh, all right, sounds good." He smiled, and he was sincerely happy about this. For one thing, the relationship between Peter Pan and Tinkerbell was ambiguous, to say the least. While one could see it as a fraternal/sororal bond, Tinkerbell's ease of jealousy betrayed a slight romantic attachment. Could she even be subconsciously hinting that she might return Ryan's unperceived feelings?

He shook the thought out of his head as he followed Sharpay upstairs. It wasn't likely. She just happened to like Peter Pan and wanted their costumes to match. The costumes were very well made, he had to admit upon seeing them. It's almost a shame he wouldn't be wearing his for very long; that is, if all went according to plan.

"These are amazing, Shar," he said softly. She smiled with a sense of self-pride that overshadowed the compliment. Although her ego fed on such words of praise, she tended not to respond to the one giving the praise in kind, unless it would further her own ends. Normally it did, since people expect to be thanked, so Sharpay would force an appropriate reaction to ensure that they continue lauding her. They always believed her sincerity, too. (Such talent, used for Evil!) With Ryan, she did not need to feign anything. She assumed this was because he was infinitely loyal to her, and besides, he needed her. An unreturned compliment was small price to pay to continue the machine that was the Evans' theatrical career. Little did she know, the true reason was much deeper than that. Unrequited love, inexplicable love! Why did he love someone who loved only herself? Madness! But she was his twin, in many senses very similar. And yet, they were fraternal twins, so not as close as could possibly be. It was fine, though, she was perfect the way she was and for there to be another would be to infringe on the right that should be hers alone.

"Ryan!"

He snapped back again. "You need to try this on," she said.

"Oh, right," he replied, beginning to shrug off his shirt. Sharpay quietly left the room with her costume, which Ryan found unfortunate. He was hoping she would at least find his undressing slightly arousing. Then again, perhaps she did but didn't want things to be awkward anyway. Well, it would be stranger if she stayed, now wouldn't it? Besides, she probably wanted to try on hers too.

He put on the green tunic. It fit rather well, but he wasn't surprised by this. Sharpay knew his measurements. (She wouldn't let him know hers, naturally.) He suspected that she had made these herself, as their costumes often were at least designed by her. And in typical Sharpay fashion, it was a shiny and bright green. He suspected that hers had sequins.

The bottom of the costume included dark brown pants and light brown leggings. Halloween, the one day of the year men could get away with wearing hose. Slippers and a hat, replete with feather, topped off the costume.

He left the room to go show Sharpay, who was still changing. Briefly, however, she came out, also adorned in her costume. It was not the traditional view of Tinkerbell in the green strapless dress. This one was a halter with a deep V-neck and almost entirely backless. The bottom of the dress was rather short. And as Ryan had guessed, it was also green and liberally sprinkled with shiny sequins. For full effect, she had gossamer wings, glitter on her face and in her hair, which had been put up. Ryan couldn't speak from awe of this beauty, but fortunately he didn't have to, as Sharpay commented after looking him over quickly.

"It'll do," she grunted.

After this, however, Ryan was expected to compliment her. He relished the excuse.

"Your costume is amazing," he said, opting to admire her costume skills. This would cover both saying it looked good on her, and it looked good as a costume, without her thinking it awkward that he's telling her she's beautiful.

"I know," she replied simply, another part of the dance they performed. "Now take it off! We can't be ruining them now."

He smirked, considering stripping right there, and then ravaging her. Not a serious consideration, naturally, but rather one of the fantasies he couldn't seem to keep himself from having. He then turned on his heels and marched back into the bedroom to change.

Later that night, while Sharpay slept, he crept out of his room and began to put his plan into action.

The next day, things proceeded normally. This was essential to his plan so that he betrayed nothing. They went to class as normal, spoke in the hall as normal, Ryan was whispered at as normal – excellent, excellent. Then came their after-school practice. Kelsi, despite her general detest of Sharpay, was always willing to help them.

"Thank you Kelsi," Sharpay said with too much sweetness. Kelsi herself could tell that it was feigned. "See you next week. Are you coming, Ry?"

Ryan hung back for a bit. "I'll be home late today, I want to practice my voice some more."

Sharpay nodded. "Well don't overstress it. It'd be a pity for you to lose it," she said, and then was off.

"You know, we really do appreciate your help," Ryan said to Kelsi as a manner of apologizing for Sharpay.

"I know," she said, smiling at him. "I think you're the only reason I put up with her."

Ryan blushed slightly, despite himself. Kelsi wasn't unattractive, but she didn't have quite what his sister did. He couldn't explain it, he only knew that Sharpay did something to him that was unnatural and not right, extremely erotic.

"I do want to work on my voice a bit," he said. "I would love if you would stay and help me." She nodded, and Ryan was an hour later getting home.

Sharpay noticed Ryan's speech practices continue throughout the next week, with or without Kelsi's aid. She couldn't help but wonder what it was about, but she also had to prepare for their Halloween party, which was in three weeks. Ryan was doing his part too, she had to give him that, but he had less to do with the planning stage than he had with the miscellaneous errands.

This gave him plenty of time to work on his own plan. He was extraordinarily careful about it, and he didn't believe that Sharpay had any clue that he was up to anything.

The day of the party advented, and Sharpay was completely ready. She and Ryan changed into their matching costumes, and awaited their guests. They didn't need to wait long – their guests began arriving right on time. The first to arrive were Troy and Gabriella, dressed as the Mad Hatter and Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Chad and Taylor came next, dressed as Aladin and Jasmine. More followed.

Everyone got on the dance floor and rocked out to traditional Halloween songs, such as Monster Mash. While it was playing, a knock came at the door.

"Another guest!" Sharpay said. "Ryan, could you get that?" she asked, expecting Ryan to be at her side. She looked around; she had apparently lost him in all the confusion. Grumbling to herself about Ryan's loyalty, she went to answer the door herself.

Standing on the other side was someone dressed as Zoro, including the mask. Because of it, she couldn't quite place who he was, but he did look handsome, from what she could see, and he did seem kind of familiar, so she let him in.

"Gracias, milady," he said to her, kissing her hand. Sharpay blushed slightly. His voice was deep, smooth, and with a light (but probably fake) Spanish accent, but somehow again, very familiar. He brushed by her to the dance floor – just then a tango came on.

"I don't suppose you would care to dance," he said, as Sharpay wandered after him, enthralled. Ryan was the only other person Sharpay knew that could dance the tango, but since he wasn't here at the moment, she figured she might as well.

He was an excellent dancer, she would daresay even better than her brother, although she felt a bit guilty for thinking so. They tangoed, cheek to cheek, and she felt like she knew him. Another song came on, and they retreated to a corner in private.

People began whispering. Who was that masked man? Why was Sharpay so enticed by him? What's in these hor d'oeuvres, they're delicious, and do you think I can get the recipe?

Sharpay, meanwhile, heard none of them. She spent hours talking to him, amazed at how his own thought meshed with hers, amazed at how good a listener he was. And yet still slightly bothered by the sense of familiarity she got from him, and could not pin it.

The end of the evening, came, and she had to say goodbye to her new friend. Everyone else was leaving, and there were a few people left when he announced that he too, had to go. Sharpay looked him in the eyes, by the door.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Perhaps, milady."

"But I don't even know who you are."

He leaned in and kissed her. A brief kiss, their lips barely touching, but still full of passion and fire.

"Of course you do, I'm Zoro," he said, before turning away, his long cape sweeping the Tinkerbell Sharpay. She stood there, confused but oddly happy.

Ryan came out of a crowd of stragglers saying goodbye to one another as Sharpay began cleaning up the food table.

"Oh, hello Ryan. How was your evening?" she said, attempting to make up for her ignoring him in favor of 'Zoro'.

"Not bad," he said. "Who was that guy, anyway?"

"Zoro," she replied simply.

Later that night, Ryan went up to his room and closed the door. He smirked to himself. He would have done anything to have an evening where he wasn't related to Sharpay, where he could tell her his heart in secret without her discovering who he was. And so he smiled, as he put away his mask…