Story Title: Loyalty
Author: Mathais
Rating: K(plus)
Fandom: High School Musical
Warnings: Homosexuality, but nothing explicit, and High School Musical 2 spoilers
Pairings: None
Summary: Ryan would bend backwards, twist himself into pretzels, and smile to the bitter end for those he cared about. But there was only one thing which he could never betray: his loyalty toward others.
Disclaimer: The characters/locations/events/etc. of High School Musical and its sequels and spin-offs don't belong to me.
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If there was one thing which Ryan held precious, it was his loyalty toward others.
It was what defined him.
He wasn't the smartest person around the block—not understanding Go Drama Club! would have been the first clue.
He wasn't the strongest or the most buff; he didn't have the time to do all of the weight-lifting those on the sports teams were easily able to do.
He wasn't the most graceful or the most agile, not when he could barely find a place to practice by himself.
Those were all designations which belonged to other people.
But he could claim to be one of the most loyal people in the school.
To those who saw him, he was always the one who followed. He hung back from the spotlight, lingering in the shadows to snatch up what others dropped, only there because he had no where else to be.
To those who knew him (very little), he was always the one who supported. He stepped back from the spotlight, clinging to the shadows to support when others dropped, only there because he wanted to be.
He always supported others, found it to be his calling. He liked being behind the one to catch them when they fell, to bring them back to their feet, and to keep them balanced as they attempted to walk forward on difficult paths.
Because he was always loyal to those who showed him compassion, however small.
Because he would always be there to help those who helped him, even if they never remembered.
Precious few people had ever truly been there for him, and for those people—he would do anything.
He would forsake the light, if it meant that others would be happy.
That was why he always followed Sharpay around.
Sharpay hadn't always been the Ice Queen of East High. Before the turn to high school, she'd been a nice, if somewhat materialistic (though, with their lifestyle, it was hard not to be), girl. When they were in elementary school, they were always side by side, one twin covering the weakness of the other. She supported him as much as he supported her. It continued that way, even in middle school, even when he could see her become more demanding, wanting more and confusing want for need.
In the tumultuous middle school, when he first discovered his sexual orientation, it was a blessed relief to have her unflinching support. It was why he gained a small reputation for a steel fist beneath the soft shell, whenever those who were jealous of Sharpay's talent or those who insinuated an inappropriate relationship between them spoke ill of her, he was already there with every ounce of strength he'd gained from performing, from having to lift Sharpay and whatever props were necessary, from all of the gymnastics he'd had to learn and keep up with, to silence any rumors.
Because, he didn't even pretend to care about what others thought of him, but no one dared to slight his sister.
He was, if nothing else, loyal.
He was loyal to a fault. He was loyal even when he shouldn't be. He was loyal to the point where he gave up baseball in order to support Sharpay. He became her shadow because she needed the spotlight, he lost his anger because she needed someone to dominate, and he gave up his first love as well as several boyfriends because of her—all because he was loyal to her.
He was loyal even when the person he was loyal to dropped him for someone else, and he became loyal to many more people in the process.
It was loyalty which drove him to mastermind the performance.
It was loyalty which made him convince Chad and the Wildcats in whatever way he could to support the performance.
It was loyalty which let him pour his very heart and soul into his work, to step out of the shadows into the light and pull them together, because he realized they needed him in the front.
It was loyalty which collaborated with Kelsi, gave her ideas and led her to conclusions she could've reached herself if they hadn't been so goddamn pressed for time. He hoped she never realized it, though with her mind, she should be able to figure it out soon.
It was loyalty which whispered into Fulton's ear of another job, which paid almost as much, where he could escape with references should Sharpay force him out of this one. Because Fulton had helped him so much, was an innocent in the high school quarrel, and the almost smile directed at him made him it all worth it.
It was also loyalty which had him stealing the car keys to an old car squirreled away inside one of the farthest garages (Sharpay may have had a car, but, rich as he was, Ryan preferred to spend his money elsewhere, and he'd so far convinced his parents not to get him one either) and driving silently out of their house to a place he'd only been able to get via job application papers and MapQuest. (1)
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"Can I see Gabriella?"
Gabriella's mother stared hard at the blond boy who stood at her doorstep, smiling an easy smile beneath soft blonde hair, with a beat up old car behind him. She tried to reconcile the teen, dressed in subdued blue and black, who wore a mere baseball cap, who held a tightened sense of emotion in his eyes, with the Ryan Evans who lived with rich parents, who dressed in bright, flashy colors, who had the largest collection of hats she'd even been graced to see, and who normally was so submissive she worried about him.
She tried, and she actually succeeded.
"If she wants to," Mrs. Montez allowed before gasping in surprise. "Oh, excuse my manners! Would you like to come in for something to drink?"
Ryan shook his head regretfully. "I just have to talk to Gabriella."
"Is there a particular reason?"
Ryan paused slightly, his fingers alternatively clenching and unclenching. He then leaned forward and said quietly, "I'm here for Gabriella, and for Troy as well. I want to get them back together, because she knows that she still loves him, and Troy's finally coming back to his senses." He closed his eyes and masked his lingering pain with the happiness he could embody. "I'm not letting anything happen to a love that's... That's so beautiful you can't help but want to sit back and admire."
Mrs. Montez stepped back and looked again at the boy before her, much harder this time.
And she found her heart aching for someone like him, who was so absolutely rare these days.
Who was she to impede him in his quest?
"Please," she heard herself saying, "take a seat on the couch. I'll get Gabriella down here."
When Gabriella walked down the stairs, she found on the couch a Ryan Evans who looked up with a puffy-eyed gaze. It was quickly masked by steeled eyes, but she'd seen them all the same.
"Ryan?" she asked hesitantly.
"I need you to do me a huge favor," he said softly and handed to her a sheet of music. Her face first paled then saddened, though she remained guarded.
"Why?" Gabriella questioned simply.
"Because you and Troy have something which should never have been broken," honestly answered Ryan, and there was such pain in his gaze that Gabriella found herself hugging the boy in front of her in an effort to relieve him of some of that pain. "Because you'd be sad without him, and he'd be sad without you."
"Why do this for us?" she asked. "Why?"
"I'm nothing if not loyal." She looked up at him, soulful eyes meeting ones with deep pain. "I will always take care of those who've shown me kindness."
"Then you are a far greater person than you give yourself credit for."
The words she spoke were heartfelt and true, and for a moment, one brief moment, true warmth flickered across Ryan's eyes before he turned away.
"...I do what I have to."
"We'll be there for you. We'll always be there for you."
"I know."
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He'd given up so many things to loyalty. He'd given up light, love, recognition. He'd given up so much of himself that Ryan wasn't quite sure who he was anymore.
But he still had his loyalty.
It was this very same loyalty which made him rip the blinds off of his sister, which forced her to acknowledge the lonely existence to which her path would eventually lead her.
It was the same loyalty which whispered into Fulton's ear to let Troy back, to forgive him for his mistakes.
It was the same loyalty which had him deceiving his twin for her own good, for the good of everyone involved.
It was the same loyalty which had him disappearing into the crowd, his voice melding with others, becoming one of many.
And when Sharpay pulled him to the front, he smiled at the glimmer of the old Sharpay inside the cold shell, at the way Troy clasped hands with Gabriella, at the true happiness in Gabriella's eyes, and at the utter joy the entirety of the Wildcats were radiating.
Loyalty was not blind devotion.
Loyalty was the willingness to whatever it took for the good of another at any personal cost, no matter how painful it was for either party.
It's what allowed him to force others to grow, to realize their own mistakes.
There were many things Ryan was willing to do.
Sacrifice his loyalty, the one thing he could still have, which he knew inside and out?
Never.
Not when it led to the people around him becoming the people he knew they could be.
Not when he could see the happiness he'd so carefully nurtured come to fruition.
Beyond all else, Ryan was loyal.
And he found that, when he was swept up into the group's happiness, he liked it very much.
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(1) MapQuest isn't mine.
I actually started writing this the moment High School Musical 2 ended. I know it's pretty bad right now, and I know I'll be back later to touch it up, but I wanted to write this so badly. And, yes, I leave a lot of things unexplained—but they should be left unexplained.