Title: Once Upon a Time

Disclaimer: yes, I bought out Disney and now own all of it. Soon, in HSM3, Troy and Ryan will have hot and steamy S-E-X scenes that slash lovers will go gaga over. It's true I swear!

Summary: Life isn't a fairytale and she knew that sooner or later, their ending would come. She just didn't realize it would be this soon. TRYAN!SLASH

Author's Notes: This has been written a long time ago but I only had the guts to post it now. This is my first HSM fic and I'm still a bit iffy about it. Comments and constructive criticisms are very much welcome. As are flames, if you feel like I should die a horrible death for writing this story. Just have justifications for your ACTIONS okay? That will be all.

Dulcissime

Totam tibi subdo me

(Sweetest One,

I give myself totally to you)

-Carmina Burana

I suppose I should have known about the affair from the beginning.

After all, the clues were all there: he would smile that soft smile I rarely saw after our marriage, he would hum a song to himself when he thought I was out of earshot. It was all there for the entire world to see.

But I suppose it is true when they said that love is blind. Because I turned a blind eye to all of these. Ignored the smile I fell in love with then but now not meant for me, pretend I never heard the love songs he sang whenever he thought I was not around.

The early years of our marriage had been happy enough. No, more than happy, it was jovial and full of love and a wonderful sense of something far greater than our very being.

We had so many things to figure out like "which side of the bed to sleep on", "what time to go to bed at night", that everyday was an adventure. The newness of everything made our love all the better.

We were so content to be with each other that being in the others presence was happiness enough.

But I guess that happiness never lasts

I guess it had been about three years into our marriage that the love he had started to fade, wear off. The sweet confessions of love and the daily things we used to do together now seemed more like a requirement than an overflow of affection. They were forced and shallow. He did things because he felt he had to and not because he wanted to.

But I just chalked it up to Troy being his usual super nice guy.

After all, what did it matter if he never asked me anymore how my day was or if he never kissed me goodbye anymore before he leaves for work? I knew he loved me and I just have to stop being so clingy. After all, he said he didn't like it in high school that I was way too dramatic.

But the less I expected him to give me signs of his affection, the less it was given, not the other way around. I would barely get a smile from him and I am left to wonder if the times where he would whisper sweet nothings into my ear were just a figment of my wild and dramatic imagination rather than the reality I once had.

I guess it was just my luck –be it good or bad, you decide, that I found out what was truly happening.

It was after dinner and I was loading the dishwasher –an Evans would never stoop as low as to wash dishes- when I heard his cell phone ring. He dropped it on the way to the living room to watch the March Madness Basketball Games.

For some reason, I knew that this it, the cause of our falling out. Whoever is the person who is calling is the one that is taking Troy, my Troy, away from me. And no one takes anything that belongs to an Evans.

I let the answering machine take the call before I gave it to Troy and told him that he had a missed call. He gave me a curt thanks before taking up the call.

Later that night, while he was sleeping on the other side of the king sized bed, his back turned away from me, I grabbed his cell phone, dialed his voicemail and listened to the message that said, 'Hey Troy it's me. I had fun at lunch today. Let's do it again soon, okay? Say, next Thursday at the café across your work? Well, call me. Toodles.'

Toodles?

What was that, an inside joke between the two of them? I only know one person who says toodles and she has not said that abominable word seven years.

The day after the call, Troy had seemed more alive than I have ever seen him. He even gave a smile during breakfast and a goodbye kiss before he left.

All of this happened when I had gathered enough courage and was about to ask him about our relationship. It was like he knew what I was thinking and he sought to make amends and make everything better again. He had acted like the man that I loved and married. He was affectionate and caring and everything that made me fall in love with him. He would stop by the floral shop and get me flowers on the way home to work, commenting that that the golden petals reminded him of my hair and the blue ones reminded him of my eyes with the crooked grin that was his trademark look in high school.

By this time, we had been married for five years. We had discussed having kids many times but it always seemed that it's not yet the right time for one reason or another. Either we were just newly married and must first adjust to living together, or we had just bought a house and we needed more time fixing it than taking care of a child or that we needed to be more financially secure because we couldn't keep mooching off of the Evans Family Fund. Each of them were reasonable excuses in their own right, but putting them all together made me think about the darker undertones of our relationship.

But a part of me still did not want to question it.

And it may sound stupid, but I just trusted him so much that I ignored all the signs and accepted whatever he did at face value. After all, this is my husband, this is Troy, and he would never do anything that would ultimately hurt me. He would never. He would not.

With that decided I continued on with my life for about a week until I remembered the message on the phone on Wednesday night and couldn't get it out of my head. I felt like I just had to go and find out who this person is.

On Thursday noon, I left our house and went to the café across from Troy's work as was said in the message.

And I saw Troy, sitting in a booth, turning to speak to the waiter who held in his hand a notepad. He didn't notice me yet. As I quickened my steps in his direction to once and for all confront him –and the other person- about our situation, and oh-god-I-hope-not, his infidelity when I saw who his company was at the table.

I slowed down my pace and eventually stopped as I saw the expression on Troy's face. There, sitting in the booth was the man that I adored in high school, the man that I married, the man that I was no longer able to bring out.

My heart pounded painfully against my chest, I felt short of breath, and a cold feeling enveloped my gut. Almost against my will, I moved forward, my eyes seeking the identity of the person who was so easily succeeding where all my efforts had failed.

I knew I couldn't pretend that I was fine with everything anymore.

I have to know who it is.

As my gaze fell on the other person, my hear shattered into a million pieces and my lungs seemed to collapse. I couldn't breathe, couldn't talk.

It was my twin brother.

It was Ryan.

Blonde hair and bright blue eyes turned to Troy with a lopsided grin as my husband said something I couldn't hear. Ryan laughed and rested his hand on Troy's arm while Troy placed his on top of Ryan's, and although the gesture itself was innocent enough, I knew better. I remembered from a long time ago that Ryan used to have a crush on Troy but took no action in it upon learning my feelings for the Eat High Basketball star.

So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I turned away and walked out of the restaurant so fast and into my car without a second to spare. Turning on the engine, I held the tears threatening to fall and blur my vision while starting my drive back to the house.

House, not home.

It would never be a home anymore. Not after knowing the true feelings of the one person that made it home for me. Not after seeing the two most important people in my life like that. No, nothing would ever be the same again.

I parked my car in the drive way and grabbed the house keys hurriedly before someone sees me in such a state of wreck. Eyes blurred with the tears I couldn't hold back any longer, I stumbled through the hall and to the bedroom. Dropping onto the bed, I pulled my pillow tightly against my chest.

Alone with my broken heart, I wept.

Le Fin?

Continued A/N: Tell me what you think and review. I am currently at way with myself because I can't make up my mind whether to put the sequel as another chapter or another story. Any tips out there?