DISCLAIMER: Disney created them; Kenny Ortega made them dance; but I let them LIVE!
TITLE: Thank Goodness
RATED: M for mature situations and implied sexual activity
WARNINGS: This story is primarily slash although it starts out with a hetero pairing. That means boy x boy. If you don't like it, please don't feel like you have to read it. Constructive criticism and reviews are always appreciated.
This is also a prequel to my other story After the Music. You don't need to have read it to understand this story, but it might make the beginning of this chapter a little easier to understand … or mean a little more to you. Now please, enjoy!
Thank Goodness
"Where do you want this box?" Troy asked. He'd been helping Ryan and Kaden move into their new apartment along with Jordan for the last two hours. He was starting to sweat through his shirts, which was never very attractive. He hadn't expected it to be so warm on this mid-September day. It was fall, for god's sake.
Ryan popped out of the hallway and into the living room to see what Troy was carrying in. "You can just put it on the kitchen counter," he said noticing the large black 'K' written on the side of the cardboard box.
Troy trudged over into the kitchen and set the box on the counter before turning around and leaning on it to take a survey of the apartment. It was a nice size—two bedrooms a full kitchen, dining room and an oversized living room. And to top it all off, it was only two blocks away from campus. Troy had no idea how Ryan had been able to find such a nice apartment so close to school, but he figured his father had pulled a few strings. Which also explained why Ryan was taking the master bedroom while Kaden took the other. Not that Troy was complaining. He was more than happy to share Ryan's bathroom with him. It would more than likely prove very useful when he stayed the night, which he planned on being very often. All he knew was that it was going to be much better than the residence halls they had lived in last year.
Then Jordan walked in through the door carrying another box. He walked over to where Troy was standing and dropped the box on the table. "I always knew Kaden was dating me for my muscles," Jordan said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "He's up here setting up house with Ryan while you and I get to play pack mule and lug up all these boxes."
Jordan was a good-looking guy. He was taller than all get out, but still, a good guy. He stood taller than any of his friends at a little under six-and-a-half feet—much taller than Troy, who stood just under six feet. He had almost black hair, which contrasted interestingly with his boyfriend's near golden blond. He looked like he could have played basketball, but had apparently never shown any interest. Instead, he enjoyed golf, which suited Troy just fine. The two were bound to find themselves on the golf course many times before this school year was out. Jordan had been dating Ryan's roommate Kaden since the end of their first year at college and the two seemed to still be going strong.
"I know what you mean," Troy said, giving his friend a weak smile. "They'll probably dump us after we've finished providing the manual labor they need."
Jordan just nodded his head solemnly. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a break," he said. "I say we go on strike until our demands are met."
"And what exactly are our demands?" Troy asked, laughing at Jordan's joke. The two had become pretty good friends over the summer, thanks mostly to their boyfriends. Jordan had come with Kaden when he flew to New Mexico to visit Troy and Ryan over the summer and the four had spent a week bonding together without the hassle of classes and college-caused drama.
"Ice cold lemonade and a back rub," Jordan said seriously. "We won't lift another finger until our demands have been met!"
As if it had been planned out, as soon as Jordan had finished speaking, Kaden came out of what was soon to be his bedroom and walked into the kitchen. "And just what are you two talking about?" he asked, noticing that the two were just standing around staring at him.
"We're talking about fair working conditions and appropriate pay," Jordan said.
"Oh?" Kaden asked, quirking an eyebrow. "And what have you determined?"
"We demand ice cold lemonade and back rubs before we move another box," Jordan said. Troy just stood back and watched the interplay between his two friends. He was glad that Kaden had found a worthy boyfriend in Jordan. God knows he had gone through enough with his former boyfriend. It was nice to see that these two were so open with one another in front of other people and apparently when they were alone.
"What are they demanding?" Ryan asked, coming out into the room just in time to hear the tail end of the conversation. He walked over and stood next to Troy who wrapped his arm around the blond's waist.
"I guess they're demanding sustenance and massages," Kaden said, turning to his roommate. "They said they won't do anything else until their demands are met."
Ryan just laughed and shook his head. "Well, we better hurry up and meet them or we'll never finish moving in," he said. "Why don't you guys go sit on the couch? Kaden and I will be right there with refreshments for you manly men."
Jordan shot Troy a triumphant look, which was immediately wiped from his face when Kaden pinched his butt on his way to the kitchen. Troy just shook his head and made his way through the jungle of boxes to find a seat on the plush leather couch Ryan's parents had delivered earlier that day. Troy found himself wishing the movers had stayed to move the rest of Ryan's crap into the place, too. Life just wasn't fair sometimes.
No sooner had the two boys sat down than Ryan and Kaden entered with a few cans of soda and a box of crackers. Kaden went and took a seat next to Jordan while Troy pulled Ryan down in his lap. "Ew, Troy," Ryan whined. "You're all sweaty."
"I thought you liked it when I got all sweaty," Troy whispered to Ryan as he nuzzled his boyfriend's neck. Ryan just rolled his eyes, but stopped struggling against Troy's grip.
"You two are sickeningly cute sometimes, you know that?" Jordan said from his spot opposite the cuddling couple. "At first I thought it was just cute. Now it's just saccharinely sweet goo."
Kaden smacked his boyfriend lightly on the arm. "Leave them alone," he said.
"No, it's okay," Ryan said from his spot on Troy's lap. "It's mostly Troy's fault anyway. He was the same way with his girlfriend before we started dating. He's just got too much cuteness in him to keep it all bottled up."
Jordan just sat looking at the two, his eyes wide and his jaw open comically wide. "What do you mean his girlfriend?" he asked. "Troy had a girlfriend? Why am I just finding this out?" Then turning on his boyfriend. "Why don't you tell me things like this?"
Kaden just shrugged. He had known through his many conversations with Ryan that Troy had dated a girl named Gabriella before they got together, but it had never really come up in conversation before now and it wasn't necessarily something you just brought up all on your own.
"Well, are you going to tell me about it or are you just going to let me sit here and come up with all kinds of crazy stories on my own?" Jordan asked. "And trust me, I have a very over-active imagination."
"It's not really that interesting," Ryan said, still sitting on Troy's lap, his hand digging through the box of crackers. "Troy dated a girl. Now he's not. End of story."
"That's one hell of a story," Jordan replied. "I think this would be just the thing to get my lifting muscles back into gear."
Troy laughed. He really had no problem telling the story. It's not like he had gone up against insurmountable odds, faced rageful friends and family and an entirely homophobic student body just so that he could date Ryan. It was just a story about someone finding out what he really wanted and going after it. Basically what everyone did at one point in his or her life. Troy just had to deal with the added twist of questioning his sexuality. Still, it was an interesting story if he did say so himself.
"It's okay, babe," Troy said, rubbing his hand up and down Ryan's side. "Just tell the story. It's not like you're going to be unleashing some deep, dark secrets that only masochists would enjoy reading."
Ryan just huffed. "I guess," he said. "But I don't want to get stuck telling the whole thing. You always do this. You have to promise you'll tell parts of the story, too."
"Fine," Troy said resituating himself on the couch so that Ryan wasn't putting quite as much weight on his legs. "You start and I'll cut in when I have something to say."
"Okay," Ryan started. "A long time ago, in a land far, far away there was a stunning prince named Ryan who had the most stunning blond hair you had ever seen—"
Troy clapped a hand over Ryan's mouth, effectively cutting him off. "Okay," he said. "Since you're going to be all melodramatic, I guess I'll have to tell the story."
Ryan just shrugged and sat back, content to let Troy do all the talking. It was then, seeing the self-satisfied smirk on his boyfriend's face, that Troy knew he'd been duped. He shot one more look at Ryan before continuing with the story.
"So, it all started two years ago at the beginning of summer, right after this talent competition at Ryan's parent's country club …"
TWO YEARS EARLIER
Ryan stood at the bottom of the small hill near the outdoor patio of his parent's country club. He and the rest of the participants of the talent competition had just run down the grassy knoll it a fit of childhood exuberance. Sure, if people saw it they'd say it was beyond cheesy, but who cares?
He stopped to watch the fireworks with his newfound friends and as the first few went off, he turned to look back toward the clubhouse. There, at the top of the hill, he saw Troy and Gabriella embracing and his heart sank. Sure, he was already seeing someone and Troy had never shown any sign of being remotely interested in him, even as a friend until this summer, but he had still held some irrational hope that one day Troy would just realize that he, Ryan Evans, was just what Troy had been looking for. Yeah, it sounded like something fantastical right out of a Disney movie, but everyone has irrational dreams.
His boyfriend had been trying to 'take their relationship to the next level' for quite a while now, but Ryan kept putting things off, in the hopes that something would happen, give him a sign maybe that there was even a remote possibility that he would find someone he would find someone he really and truly loved. Not that he didn't love his boyfriend. He cared deeply for Austin, but he didn't know if it was the happy ever after kind of love. And he wanted to be sure about it before he did anything like give himself to another person.
He kept his eyes on Troy and Gabriella as their faces came closer and closer together. His heart sank even further when he saw their lips meet. As if the cosmos had decided to rub it in even further, another string of fireworks lit the sky. It appeared as if everything was against his unrequited crush on Troy.
Ryan smirked to himself. He sounded like some moonstruck spinster girl who was pining away after an unreachable someone. And in a way he was, but it wasn't like he was letting it impair his life. He wasn't forsaking all of his friends, family and relationships on the small hope that someone would see the light; he was just holding onto a dream. Kind of like little kids who still believe in Santa Claus. But after seeing how close Troy and Gabriella had been getting over the past school year, he was now ready to let of that dream. He was ready to move on. He was ready to be with someone who wanted to be with him in every sense of the word, even if he wasn't so sure as to his own feelings on the same person.
All anyone ever wants is to be wanted by someone else. To know that someone else is out there to put his or her emotions before their own. And Ryan had that. A sad smile graced his lips as he watched Troy and Gabriella with each other. He was happy for them; really, he was. He was glad that Gabriella had been able to find her niche so quickly after she moved to Albuquerque and he was happy that Troy had been able to find someone to bring him out of his jock-shell. And now, because of the two of them, he had more friends than he ever had before. Things, as a whole, were going fantastically and he couldn't really make himself be upset about all of that.
Ryan went back to looking around at all of his friends and spotted Sharpay over by Zeke, Jason and Kelsi. He began walking over toward them, hoping to get his sister's attention and let her know that he was leaving.
"Hey Shar," he said as he approached the blonde. "I'm going to take off in just a second, so if mom and dad ask, just let them know."
Sharpay turned to her brother with a curious glance. "Why are you leaving?" she asked. "The party is just starting, and everyone is going to want to see the guy who made the show such a big success."
"I just don't feel like hanging around here," he said, sending a glance back up toward the top of the hill where Troy and Gabriella were still standing. Sharpay followed his gaze and then gave him a sympathetic gaze. She knew about her brother's crush; they were twins. They shared many things, among them a taste in men. She knew that Ryan would never act on his feelings, though, and that was why she was so relentless in her pursuit of the brunet basketball star.
"Are you sure?" she asked, then leaned in so she could whisper to him. "There are a ton of people here, you probably won't even run into them at all tonight."
"Yeah," Ryan said, shaking his head. "I'm just going over to Austin's place to hang out with him. I'll call you later and let you know what's up."
"Okay," she said warily. She knew that Ryan was just using Austin as a warm body, not in a malicious way or anything, but because he didn't want to be alone. And she couldn't blame him for that. But that didn't mean she liked it either. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," she added as an afterthought while Ryan was walking away.
"I guess that leaves the door pretty wide open," Ryan shot back over his shoulder. "I'll see you later, sis."
Sharpay waved to him as he walked off. Soon, however, she was distracted by the people surrounding her and her brother made the way to the back of her mind as she began having fun with people she never thought she would ever be more than acquaintances. It's funny how life turns out sometime.
HSM•••HSM
Troy pulled away from Gabriella. He could feel that some of her lip gloss had rubbed off on his lips during their kiss and it tasted faintly of strawberries. He wasn't quite sure if he liked the taste, but he was pretty sure he didn't really like the feeling of the lip gloss on his own lips.
It was weird. At first, when his lips touched Gabriella's, he saw bright flashes of light behind his eyelids and thought that this was what a first kiss was supposed to be like. Then he opened his eyes. Gabriella's were still closed. Troy began looking around, his lips still pressed up against his girlfriend's. That's when he noticed the fireworks going off above them.
If it wasn't the kiss making the fireworks then that would explain why he currently felt so awkward. Wasn't he supposed to be focused completely on Gabriella? Wasn't the kiss supposed to be something all encompassing, something that was supposed to block everything else? And why was he looking around?
Then he felt his nose start to itch. But he didn't want to be the first person to break the kiss. What would Gabriella think? And so he stood there, with his lips pressed lamely against his girlfriend's. Then he watched as Gabriella's eyes opened and looked directly at him. He blushed and then pulled away from her. He smiled awkwardly at her and raised his arm to rub against the back of his neck nervously. Gabriella's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"That was … interesting," Gabriella said. "Maybe it's just because we're around so many people, you think?"
"Yeah," Troy answered quickly, a little too quickly, probably. "That must be it. I mean, and the fireworks must have had something to do with it, too."
Gabriella laughed. "Yeah," she said. "Well, it was … nice."
"Yeah," Troy replied, not really agreeing with Gabriella's assessment of their first kiss, but going along with it anyway. He didn't need to upset her after giving her what he assumed was probably one of the worst first kisses ever.
"Well," Gabriella started when Troy didn't make an attempt to say anything else. "I'm going to find Taylor and see if she needs any help cleaning up after the guests."
Troy nodded absently and watched as she walked back off toward the clubhouse. He smiled weakly at her and waved as she turned around to look back at him and then sat down on the cool grass, drawing his legs up to his chest and leaning his head down on his knees.
What the heck was going on? He had waited over seven months to give Gabriella that first kiss. He'd tried so many times before that and was always interrupted by something silly. He thought it was just the universe's way of telling him it wasn't quite time and that a better opportunity would present himself. He resigned himself to the fact that it would happen when it was supposed to and after they had reconciled on stage, he figured it would be the perfect time. He took her hand and ran off stage with her and the rest of their friends. As they stood at the top of the hill, he looked at her and she smiled. He knew it was time, and as the rest of their friends ran down the knoll, he brought her in for a kiss.
And then nothing. He felt absolutely nothing, which is what led him to begin taking in his surroundings. He at least thought their lips were supposed to be moving or something, but not even that. Weren't instincts supposed to take over with something like that? Shouldn't he have at least felt something? He had been trying to kiss the girl for the longest time and then when he did, he didn't even feel any kind of satisfaction. Wasn't the universe trying to get him the perfect first kiss?
He couldn't believe his awful luck. He draped his hands down by his side and he fisted his hands in the grass, ripping some out of the ground. Fulton would probably be mad if he saw what Troy was doing to the pristine lawn, but right now the brunet couldn't bring himself to care much. He was upset.
He wondered what was going through Gabriella's head at the moment. Was she having second thoughts about everything? Did he even really want to know what she was thinking? If this is what was going through his head, he couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through hers. Would she ever let him kiss her again? Did he even want to attempt it again?
Wait. What was he thinking? He'd waited a whole seven months to kiss her. Seven months! That had to mean something. It just had to. And then Troy stopped, his hands still gripping the grass tightly. Maybe it did mean something. Something he hadn't thought of quite yet. Maybe all the interruptions and roadblocks to his kissing Gabriella was not some universal power trying to make him wait for the right moment to kiss her, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe Gabriella just wasn't the girl for him. It sure as heck would explain that moment of supreme awkwardness that had just masqueraded as a kiss. Maybe he should just put an end to it all.
But he had put so much into the relationship. He couldn't let it just fall by the wayside. He could make it work, he knew he could. He just had to put some effort into it. That kiss didn't mean anything, it was just a fluke—probably just the pressure and the nerves from the performance they had just given.
Yeah, that was it.
With a newfound resolve, Troy let the grass in his hands fall back to the ground in a small pile. He stood up and brushed off his jeans, then began searching the crowd of friends for Gabriella. He spotted Chad not far from Zeke, Jason and Sharpay, but there was no sign of Gabriella or Taylor. He just shrugged to himself and went to go visit with his friends while he waited for his girlfriend to come back to the party.
"Hey guys," he yelled as he began jogging off toward his friends. They all looked up and waved him over. Yeah, things would be back to normal in no time flat.
HSM•••HSM
Ryan gently flung his feet over the side of the bed and reached down to the floor to pick up his underwear. He slipped them up his legs and over his hips before getting up completely and padding across the bedroom and into the hallway. He stopped when he reached the doorway and poked his head out to make sure the coast was clear. He then made it quickly across the hallway and into the bathroom.
He gently closed the door and flipped the bathroom light on. He let out a quick sigh and sagged against the wooden door. He looked over to the wall and saw his reflection in it. He was wearing only the pair of underwear he had slipped on moments before. His hair was tousled and he could see the bite mark that Austin had left on the juncture between his neck and shoulder.
He pushed himself off the door and ran his fingers over the bruise that was forming. He knew he should have been pleased with himself that he had made Austin so happy. He should have been back in the bedroom cuddling with him under the sheets, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that. What he really wanted to do was go home and take a really long shower, and that shouldn't have been the first though in his head after he had just done something so personal with someone who he claimed to love.
The mirror in the bathroom took up the entire wall, from above the sink going across the entire side of the room to the shower. It allowed Ryan to look over his entire body. He looked good, if he did say so himself. He turned to his side to look at his profile. He was lithe and lightly muscled, mostly thanks to his dance and yoga regimen. His light blond hair fell across his eyes and he raised his hand to move it out of his face.
His chest was hairless as was most of his body. Some people thought that made him less manly, but Ryan liked the fact that he didn't have much body hair. He ran his hands lightly over his chest and then down to his stomach. He turned around some more to get a look at his backside. His rear end filled out his underwear nicely and he roamed his hands over the soft cotton. There was a slight twinge of pain as he rotated more to get a better look, a reminder of what he had just finished.
That brought him back to his current situation and he moved to take a seat on the lid of the toilet. He rested his elbows on his knees and laid his head in his hands before letting out another sigh. He should have been feeling more attached to Austin right now, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He heaved another sigh before getting up and checking his face in the mirror. Then he turned off the light, opened the door and made his way back to his boyfriend's bedroom. He walked back to the bed and lifted the sheets so he could climb back in.
As soon as he was settled, he felt an arm snake across his middle and pull until he was snug up against his boyfriend. "You doing okay?" Austin asked. "I was about to come out and see if you needed anything."
"No, I'm fine," Ryan replied, letting his boyfriend plant a soft kiss on his shoulder as they snuggled. "I just had to clear my head."
"Yeah," Austin said, misunderstanding what Ryan was talking about. "That was pretty amazing, wasn't it? I'm glad you finally decided the time was right. Now we'll be able to know absolutely everything about one another."
"Yeah," Ryan replied half-heartedly. "It'll be great."
Ryan wasn't facing Austin, so his boyfriend couldn't see that his expression wasn't really reflection what he had just spoken. But Austin didn't really seem to notice anything was amiss, at least, Ryan couldn't tell by his boyfriend's actions. He was cuddling up behind Ryan and placing soft kisses all along Ryan's neck and back and Ryan didn't have the heart to tell him to stop.
Then he felt Austin maneuvering him to turn around in the bed so that they were facing each other. When he had finished moving, he looked directly into the brown eyes of his boyfriend and willed himself to feel the same way that Austin felt about him.
It's not that he wasn't attracted to his boyfriend. Austin was slightly taller than he was, but was a lot like Ryan in many other ways. He was lithe, but not incredibly muscled and had a head full of shaggy blond hair. He also did dancing, which was how they met in the first place. Austin went to a private school in Albuquerque and was heavily involved in the drama department there. He also took dance lessons where he and Sharpay had been going since they were little kids.
When they first met, they were drawn to each other because of how much they had in common and when they found out that both of them were interested in men, it only seemed logical that they start dating. They had been seeing each other since the beginning of the previous school year and were coming up on their one year anniversary, which probably explained why Austin was so preoccupied with them committing to each other by having sex.
Ryan was brought out of his thoughts once again when he heard Austin whisper into his ear. "I love you," he said.
Ryan just laid still for a minute before saying, "Me too." But it didn't matter, Austin's breathing had already evened out. He was asleep. Ryan stayed in the same position, not wanting to wake his sleeping boyfriend. He didn't really feel like talking about their relationship at the moment and was content to just lie there.
He really hoped morning would come soon, so he could beg off quickly and head home.
A/N: I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who stayed with me while I finished After the Music. I hope you all really enjoy this story. I put Kaden and Jordan at the beginning just for you guys. I know in my last story I had a ton of OCs, but I only plan on having one in this story (so for all of you who don't like original characters, you can breathe a little easier.
Also, I tried really hard to make it so that Ryan didn't come off as a whiney little baby who's just pining after someone. I don't think that's how his character is, but I could totally see him harboring a crush on Troy. Let me know if you think I didn't get that to come across in my description of him.
And for those of you who were interested. The story's title is taken from a song in Wicked. It's also called Thank Goodness, and I just think it's a fantastic song. I'm going to post the lyrics below this so you can read through it. I think it's actually influenced how I set up the plot for this, so if you want to see where I'm going with this, just take a minute to read some of the lyrics below.
Now, read and review! I hope you all enjoy this new story!!
Thank Goodness, sung by Kristen Chenoweth
Yes -
We couldn't be happier,
Right, dear?
Couldn't be happier
Right here
Look what we've got
A fairy-tale plot
Our very own happy ending
Where we couldn't be happier -
True, dear?
Couldn't be happier
And we're happy to share
Our ending vicariously
With all of you
He couldn't look handsomer
I couldn't feel humbler
We couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true!
That's why I couldn't be happier
No, I couldn't be happier
Though it is, I admit
The tiniest bit
Unlike I anticipated
But I couldn't be happier
Simply couldn't be happier
(spoken) Well - not "simply":
(sung) 'Cause getting your dreams
It's strange, but it seems
A little - well - complicated
There's a kind of a sort of : cost
There's a couple of things get: lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed
And if that joy, that thrill
Doesn't thrill you like you think it will
Still -
With this perfect finale
The cheers and ballyhoo
Who
Wouldn't be happier?
So I couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true
Well, isn't it?
Happy is what happens
When your dreams come true!
