Here's a baby fic for nek0-sama (boltonevans on tumblr). I sent her a set of prompts, we had Feels over it for a hot minute, and then I realized that I really wanted to write one of them. (Not pictured: the ridiculous amount of headcanon in this universe that I also force-fed her.) I haven't written in a long time, and not for this fandom in even longer, but here you go.

"Troy? Troy, man, you're a million miles away right now."

At the second call of his name, Troy shook himself into awareness. "Sorry, Chad, what were you saying?"

Chad glanced over at him, grinning, before returning his attention to the road. "I was just saying, it's been cool working together again this summer, huh? Just like old times — although I gotta say, Bert's Auto doesn't pay quite as good as your golf gig at Lava Springs!"

"Hah," Troy laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with a grease-covered hand. He pulled his hand back quickly, grimacing.

Chad chuckled. "Man, we were little shits back in the day, weren't we? Terrorizing all the full time staff, never wanting to do any real work."

"Dude, speak for yourself," Troy replied, quirking a brow.

Chad waved a hand dismissively, only smacking it back down on the steering wheel when the vehicle began swerving into the opposite lane. "So, what're you gonna do now that you're back in Albuquerque?" he asked. "Gonna take off halfway across the country again, or stay put a while?"

Troy snorted. "Like you can talk," he said, "moving all the way to Connecticut to live with your high school sweetheart turned fiancée."

Chad held up his hands defensively, turning to Troy. "I'm sorry, what was that, mister up-and-move-to-California? At least I waited until I was done school to — holy shit, buddy, watch where you're going!" He quickly grabbed the wheel again, swearing under his breath at an unassuming driver.

"Eyes on the road, Chad!" Troy gasped. "And I thought you said you weren't going to make fun of me about that."

Chad just shrugged, turning the radio up to signal the end of that topic of conversation. A generic pop song about being young and in love came on, making Chad snort and turn it back down after a few seconds. "So," he began, "did you ever keep in touch with anyone else after high school? I remember you and Kelsi were friends for a while, and you were pretty tight with Sharpay's brother, too. I haven't heard you talk about them in forever, though."

Troy shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I kinda lost touch with Kelsi and Ryan, after the whole thing with Gabriella–" Chad cringed as Troy said the name "–went down. I don't think I ever even told either of them what happened... man, now I feel like a dick."

Chad clapped a hand on Troy's shoulder. "C'mon, Troy, don't beat yourself up over it. You were going through some bad shit, it was just a thing. Doesn't make you any more of a dick than anyone else."

Troy chuckled. "Thanks, man. Hey, wait, who is this? I like this song," he said, reaching over to swat Chad's hand away from the volume dial on the radio.

"Chick music," Chad snickered, but didn't move to change the station.

The two sat in silence for a moment, listening to the voice over Chad's souped up car stereo. It was a light, pleasant male voice, crooning about dancing with a partner and ignoring the world around them.

As the song came to a close, the radio deejay's voice announced, "You're listening to 98.7 Now FM, and that was Albuquerque's own Ryan Evans with his new single, A World Alone! Folks, if you liked that song, then it's your lucky day, because we have Mr. Evans in the studio with us today for an interview. I'm thrilled to introduce you all to Ryan Evans!"

Troy and Chad turned to each other, shock written on their faces.

"Like, your Ryan Evans, Ryan Evans?" Chad asked disbelievingly.

Troy just shook his head, leaning forward to crank the volume higher.

"Hey, Albuquerque," Ryan's familiar voice said. "It's, ah, nice to be back for a while!"

Chad just shook his head, blinking as if he were trying to believe what he was seeing. "Damn, Evans," he muttered.

"A while?" the host replied, "What's a big star like you gonna be doing in Albuquerque for a while?"

"Well, you know," Ryan said, "I wanted to get back home for a little bit, see some old friends. But I'm really back in town to, ah, start writing my next album. Will my publicist kill me for saying that? She'll probably kill me for saying that."

The host chuckled. "Your publicist, huh? Your publicist is actually your twin sister, is she not?"

Ryan laughed nervously. "Yeah, that'd be Sharpay. Publicist, manager, she does everything. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Now, I've heard rumors," the host began, "rumors that this isn't always the way you two worked. Apparently, she once wanted to be a big star, too?"

"Oh, yeah," Ryan agreed. "She wanted all the fame and glory, go to every celebrity's party, boss everyone around. This way, she still gets to boss people around and go to all the events. Managing people was always her forte. And, you know, I think she does love what she does. Especially when I talk about her in interviews, like this."

Troy and Chad both laughed, along with the host. "Can't believe the mountain lion let her poodle take the spotlight," Chad joked.

"Alright, alright," the host said, "so, now we know more about your professional life, is there anything to tell about your personal life? This song of yours, A World Alone, it's a love song. Is it about anyone in particular? Is there a Miss Ryan Evans that we should be on the lookout for?"

Ryan coughed. "Well, there's nobody in my life, uh, like that, if that's what you're asking."

"Ah," the host replied, drawing out the sound. "I hear what you aren't saying. Nobody at the moment, at least. So, if there's nobody at the moment, can you tell me who or what this song is about?"

"That's, uh, a bit of a long story," Ryan explained. "There was this, ah, guy. In high school. And I had such a big crush on him — we were friends, I guess? I didn't have many friends back then. But he was, you know, popular, on the basketball team and all that."

The brakes screeched as the SUV pulled into a roadside stop. "Holy shit! Chad, you can't just do that!" Troy yelled, gripping the door handle so hard his knuckles were white.

Turning his hazard lights on, Chad turned to Troy. "Shut up, man! This is juicy gossip! Four years late, but still juicy."

Unaware of the reaction that his confession had elicited, Ryan continued. "Anyway, uh, I had this crush on him. And we were both in the school's drama club, right, and we were working on a dance scene for the play — that is, uh, I was helping him out with some steps because he was playing the lead. He was really good, actually, just he was having some trouble with this one step. And, uh, we were dancing together, right, and I just. I thought it was, like, this moment. This thing. It wasn't, really, you know, just something I made up at the time because I was so into him, I guess. Uh, I'm really glad he won't hear this — the last I heard, he lived in California with his girlfriend. That song, that. I wrote that song, just thinking about how it made me feel at the time, just that one moment, you know? He probably doesn't even remember me. We kind of lost touch, a while back."

Troy and Chad were both staring, wide eyed, at the center console, as if the radio was a bomb about to go off. The host carried on, "Man. So you've got a regular Taylor Swift love story, there, huh. That guy's missing out — could be dating a celebrity! Anyway, that's all the time we have for now. You're listening to 98.7 Now FM, I'm Jay Stuart and this has been Ryan Evans, now here's The Chainsmokers with Closer."

"Dude," Chad said, grabbing Troy by the shoulder. "Dude!"

"Dude," Troy repeated. "Ryan Evans is famous. And he liked me. And he thinks I don't remember him."

"Well, do you like him?" Chad asked. "I know we don't talk about it, but bro. You haven't dated anyone since you-know-who, and that was three years ago."

"Yeah, but," Troy argued, "Ryan is famous now. He probably doesn't like me any more. He could have anyone he wants, why would he want me?"

Chad scoffed. "You're Troy Bolton! You're still a catch. And besides, the guy's in town for a while. You could at least give him a call, say you still remember him, or something."

"You really think that's a good idea?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, I do. I'm the one who had to hear you talk about the guy like the sun shone out his ass for half of senior year," Chad replied, putting the vehicle back in drive. "Now, come on, this is enough feelings talk for one day. Let's go home and not talk about this shit for another month, at least."

"Fine by me," Troy agreed. "Just don't kill us on the way home."