THE SWITCH HITTER

"Hey Starr, it's Ryan Evans again."

"Yeah, it was. Look, you gotta find me some work. I have 23 dollars, 57 cents, and an eviction notice."

"Yeah, I know."

"No! There has to be something else."

"Okay, fine. I'll do it."

Ryan hung up his cell and sighed. It was only a matter of time before that got turned off too. His life had just gone downhill since his arrival in New York. He needed money badly, and this new gig would pay - well. But if he hated himself for it, was it even worth it?

6 months later

"Starr. Ryan again."

"Yeah, I am. Just returning your call about that new gig."

"Ohh. Uh...Starr, I don't think I can do that."

"I don't know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Okay, I'll do it."

Ryan hung up his cell and sighed. This was not what he had meant to do with his life. He did really need the money. He'd barely been scraping by for the last 6 months and this did pay more. Ryan looked at himself in the mirror. The man he saw was not the one he would have liked to be seeing. Not the one his old friends and family knew, not that any of them ever spoke to him. No, the man in the mirror was the face of a 24 year old just scraping by in life. His blue eyes still shone in his pale face on occasion, but usually only when he made them for work. There was nothing in his life worth celebrating.

3 months later

"Sharpay!" Sharpay stuck her head out from the kitchen.

"Yes, dear?" she replied to her boyfriend of many years.

"Have you seen these?" Troy asked, entering the kitchen and starting to slap DVD cases on the counter in front of her.

"No, Troy, I don't watch those kinds of movies," Sharpay said, resuming her search for chocolate.

"No, not the movies. Just the cases." Sharpay took a closer look.

"What about them?" Troy stared at her.

"You don't see it?" he asked incredulously.

"See what? Who the hell is Alexander Myers?" She picked up one of the cases and frowned. "Did we go to school with this kid? He looks familiar."

"That, my dear Sharpay, is your brother." Sharpay gasped. It was indeed.

"That's so sad. My brother, reduced to starring in porno movies."

"Oh, it gets worse," Troy said, throwing some more movies on the stack. Sharpay picked up the top one.

"Alexander Myers is the Switch Hitter." She picked up the one underneath. "America's favorite Switch Hitter is back for more! Alexander Myers in-- Ew. Well, we always knew Ryan could sell sex for money. Personally I saw him as a prostitute, not a porn star, but you can see how he might have problems there."

"Shar, this is your brother."

"Yeah, and? He left us, Troy. Don't make me out to be the bad person here."

"He shouldn't be reduced to this." Sharpay shrugged and resumed looking for chocolate again.

"To each his own."

"Whatever," Troy said to Sharpay, gathering his movies and leaving the kitchen. He had no intention of letting this go unchallenged. Ryan was above having sex in movies under a fake name. He was talented and Troy could see that. Troy got in his car and began to drive.

3 months earlier

"I'll give you credit, you know what you're doing," the director said to Ryan.

"Thanks, but I have been doing these movies for 6 months," Ryan replied, rolling his eyes.

"This is your first male/male, your agent told me."

"Oh. Yeah, it is."

"Just saying, you know what to do out there. Good job today."

"Thanks." The director walked away, and Ryan's costar walked up to him.

"I don't think we got introduced properly. Hunter Adams."

"Alex Myers," Ryan said, shaking hands with the other boy. "Ryan, if you want. I prefer Ryan."

"Well, Ryan, good job today. Is this your first time?"

"Yeah this was my first male/male movie."

"No, I mean is this your first time?"

"Uh..."

7 years earlier

"Are you sure you know what you're doing back there?" Ryan asked.

"Nope," his partner replied, truthfully.

"I vote we do it this way," Ryan said, turning himself around to face Troy, who raised an eyebrow.

"This is becoming less hot by the second," Troy said.

"Well, excuse me for not having done this before!" Ryan said, haughtily, before slamming Troy around and leaning him over the table.

"Wait, this isn't right either," Troy said. He climbed onto the table. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. "No, that's not right either." Ryan became bored of Troy incessant babbling about the correct position and shoved his wrapped cock in Troy's hole anyway. Troy howled and Ryan picked him up easily, so he was in total control. He liked this position the best, his many, many ex-girlfriends would testify. Troy wrapped his legs awkwardly around the blond one, looking for more support and control. Ryan smashed their lips together, mostly to make Troy stop whining, but if Troy didn't care he had a girlfriend, Ryan certainly didn't.

15 minutes later

"That was-" Troy began.

"Different," Ryan supplied. "Awkward."

"Yeah. But still amazing."

"Definitely amazing. But different."

"Definitely different."

7 years later

"Ryan?"

"No, no it wasn't. First time in a long time, but not in my life."

"Interesting," Hunter said.

"And you?"

"All my life. Wanna get a coffee or something?"

"Sure," Ryan said.

"You know, if you were just in this for the money, you would have stopped and got something better a long time ago. The one-hit wonder method," Hunter said, sipping his coffee as they walked down the New York streets.

"There isn't anything better out there for me, and this is good money," Ryan argued. "I'm not proud of being a porn star-"

"Adult film actor," Hunter corrected.

"Let's call a spade a spade. We're porn stars," Ryan said. "I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ashamed either." Hunter didn't say anything. "Does it hurt your feelings when people call you a porn star?" Ryan asked, looking sideways at his companion.

"I'm not ashamed either," Hunter said, carefully. "But this isn't what I wanted to do with my life." Ryan stopped short. Hunter stared. "What?"

"Nothing, same here. This is my building. Wanna come up? Get out of the cold?" Ryan asked.

"Sure," Hunter said. Together they entered the building and went upstairs.

"Oh, good, you're back. I was just- Oh, you brought a friend. Nice to meet you, I'm...Bailey," she said, offering her hand, though the expression on her face made it clear she didn't approve of him.

"Hunter," Hunter said.

"Is that your box name or your real name?" the dark-haired girl asked.

"Shut up," Ryan said quietly. "Hunter, this is my girlfriend, 'Bailey'." Ryan said the last word in a scathing and slightly mocking tone. "Babe, this is Hunter, my coworker."

"And is that your box name or your real name?" Hunter shot back at the girl. She eyed him haughtily with her over-mascara'd brown eyes, and stalked out of the living room area of their apartment.

"Excuse me one sec," Ryan said, flashing a smile at Hunter and following his girlfriend.

"Leave," she said, as he entered her bedroom.

"Gabi, come on," Ryan said. "You bring your stripper friends home all the time and I never say anything."

"You made a movie with one of my friends," she hissed. "And you made a movie with him."

"I'm an adult film actor. I don't control who I make movies with."

"I don't control who I dance for."

"I have never come to your place of business and been intentionally rude to your customers."

"Your point?"

"Don't hate on my career or my coworkers."

"I'll give you two good reasons why I should."

"Bring em on."

"You had sex with him, and he's a guy!"

"That's my job!"

"Fine," she said, storming back into the living room. "Gabriella Montez, nice to meet you, I work at the club down the street, bye." She left again. Ryan shrugged.

"Sometimes I think she's ashamed of what I do," Ryan said quietly. "I know she doesn't approve. If possible, less now than 6 months ago."

"Women - and men - in our line of work are portrayed as more - well, you know, than they actually are. As your girlfriend, it's possible she's jealous of...your coworkers. Do you catch my drift?" Hunter said, looking up at Ryan, who was frankly surprised he hadn't walked out already.

"We've been sticking together for five years. She...She's so smart, she was accepted to Stanford with honors, valedictorian of our class in high school. She couldn't handle it, dropped out, and started dancing. Met up with me here. We worked together, we did stage, and we loved it, but...we dried up, and she started working at the club...I did too. I tried. I didn't want to dance for...the particular audiences they wanted me to...no offense..." Ryan looked at Hunter, but he was unfazed. "I tried and tried going back to the stage and acting, but...nothing came. Fame is fleeting. She was our valedictorian, smartest girl I've ever met, reduced to dancing for men with singles."

"When I was 16, my parents threw me out cuz I brought home my boyfriend one day. My parents called his parents, next thing we know, we're both living on the street. A friend of ours took us in until the end of high school. After graduation, we were on the street again. He got pulled into a prostitution ring, I started doing this," Hunter confided.

"Jesus. How young are you?"

"Almost 20, why? How old are you?"

"Almost 25." Ryan stared at his friend. "I have so lost track of reality."

"You look 17."

"It's a curse."

"If you looked 25, I wouldn't have been so surprised you were so good at work today."

"Again, it's a curse."

A/N: I'm back. Kinda. And I don't own HSM or, like, you know, the Pornography industry. Please review. :)

Samantha.x333