Disclaimer: HSM and affiliated stuff belongs to Disney and the other companies involved in their production. If I owned them, Chyan would have been Canon and it wouldn't have been a Disney film... seeing as how Walt Disney was a misogynist a**hole who wanted to be frozen until his perfect world came into being.

Warning: Child abuse (not graphic) and deadbeat dad syndrome ensue.

A/N: Was honestly smoking when this came on me, really angsty but non-pairing and such... Happy ending, kind of. You'll see

Pairing: None

Summary: Seeing Chad dance in the Talent Show was a surprise, but not in the way everyone thought.

Chad was Troy's best friend, and his sidekick. That's how it had always been, or so everyone thought. They'd been friends since Pre-K, and knew pretty much everything about each other. So seeing Chad dancing in the Talent Show shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was. And it wasn't for the reasons everyone thought.

Troy knew that Chad's dad had taken off when they were in third grade, and that for the rest of that year, Chad didn't speak unless he absolutely had to. He also knew that Chad's mom had signed him up for dance classes over the summer, along with basketball camp, in hopes that he would open up again.

It worked. Chad was back to his normal self, laughing and chattering and just so 'Chad' that Troy didn't even tease him about the dancing. But when Chad's dad came back the summer before middle school started, Chad stopped dancing. Troy didn't know whether Chad stopped because he didn't need it anymore or because his dad had forced him to, but from the way Chad threw himself into basketball, baseball and track, he guessed the latter.

Troy never asked, but whenever Chad would show up at his house just to cry, he never felt the need. So Chad dancing was a surprise. Chad had never talked about dancing again, only saying that he 'didn't dance' whenever the subject was brought up. But Chad was happy on that stage, dancing, in a way he hadn't been since they were 11 years old, and Troy wanted to know why. He cornered Chad after the show, and finally asked the question he should have asked years before.

"Why did you stop dancing?" Chad didn't speak, only turned around, Troy once again realizing something; Chad hadn't turned his back on him shirtless since they were in grade school. Thin scars criss-crossed his back, scattered across his shoulder blades.

"Chad.."

"It was only that summer," Chad said softly, turning around and putting his t-shirt on. "He never did it again,. Not really." Troy knew that was a lie, but didn't want to let his anger get the better of him.

"So why did you start again?"

"Because he can't hurt me anymore. I know who I am and he can't do anything about it. Besides, I think he mellowed. If it weren't for Miles and Linus, I would have moved in with you a long time ago." He grinned suddenly, closing his locker and looking up at Troy. That grin was the old 'Chad' grin, the one that Troy hadn't realized he was missing until he saw it again. He remembered echoes of that smile on stage and when he'd spied on rehearsals, that Chad was finally back in a way he hadn't been in years. "I'm okay."

"Welcome back," was all that Troy said, hugging him tightly.

A/N: Wow, so that one was interesting... Not really long enough, but I don't know what else I would do with it, besides put up something involving Ryan... actually I think I might. Look out for that one, but for now this is complete. I hated that there was abuse in this, but my brain and muse disagreed.

Read and review please.