This is for CSIslave, for the secret santa exchange. I hope this is ok. :D

Troy stared out the window. Snow was still falling heavily from the sky. HeeHeH sighed. Troy wished he didn't have to be here, unfortunately Sharpay Evans was hard to say no to. Not for the fact that she was his friend, and he didn't want to let her down, although that was a factor. No it was more for the fact that Troy was deathly afraid of Sharpay, and could just imagine the day when he turned her down in any way. The claws came out. And there was blood. Lots of blood.

It had been a few months since Troy and Gabriella had beaten out the twins for the school musical, and unlikely as it may have seemed at the time, they had gradually formed a friendship that the school had gasped, gossiped, speculated and strung theories on for about two weeks, before moving on to the subject of Alice Sullivan's obvious breast implants. Were they real? Nobody would ever know.

Through all of this scandal, Troy and his friends remained in their own little bubble of happiness. Troy and Gabriella had gone out for a short amount of time, but decided that the awkwardness of actually dating had squashed their ability to converse in words other than monosyllables. Besides, Troy was pretty sure he was gay anyway. They were just best friends now.

A couple of days before school had finished for Christmas, Sharpay had invited the group to her cousins house, up in the mountains. The group being Troy, Gabriella, Ryan, Kelsi, Chad, Taylor and Zeke. Sharpay had insisted that they had to do Secret Santa for Christmas, because in her words it was "Like, way more fun." Troy had picked Taylor, but as he didn't really want to have to buy a present for a girl, traded with Gabriella for Ryan.

As soon as they had reached the house, settled in and made plans to go skiing, it had started snowing. Then harder, and harder, until it had become a full-blown blizzard. So left them where they were now, huddling around the living room fireplace. As the electricity had gone out earlier, the only heat and light was coming from the pitiful fire they had managed to light (not without a struggle), and few candles they had found (significantly easier to light).

Currently Sharpay was giving an amusing rendition of the time she walked in on Ryan dancing around in his boxers, singing along with Nsync into his hairbrush. He, Troy noticed, was blushing adorably.

When she was done, it was silent for a while, and then Chad piped up. "Can we get some food in here or something? I haven't eaten in like …an hour! At least!"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Sharpay, why don't you go get some snacks or something. We'll get our presents for the Secret Santa thing. I mean, there's nothing better to do!"

Troy picked up a candle and made his way to his bedroom. He set the candle down on the bedside table and searched through his bag. T-shirt – no. Toothbrush – no. Old underwear – ew no! "Shit" He couldn't find it. Troy tipped the bag onto his bed and searched through the mess. It wasn't there. Troy went back to the living room with his tail between his legs. He told Sharpay about his situation and she just rolled her eyes, sighed, and told him that he'd better do something about it. Some help she was.

When Chad was fed and everyone had returned from the trek to their rooms, they sat in a circle around the fireplace again. Troy sat down next to Ryan, and their legs brushed. Troy felt a jolt of electricity run through him. If that was what it was like to just touch Ryan, he couldn't imagine how it would feel to actually kiss him.

"Okay, people!" Troy was jolted out of his pleasant thoughts with the sound of Sharpay's (not so pleasant) voice. "You can trade your presents now!"

Ryan turned to Troy. "Um, I got you. So here you go. Hope it's ok." Ryan handed him a carefully wrapped present. Troy gulped. Now he felt worse.

"Listen." He grabbed Ryan's arm and dragged him over to a corner of the room, where they couldn't be heard by anyone else. "I, uh, got you too. Huh, what are the chances! But-" Troy looked around nervously, then started to speak faster. "-I forgot it. I swear I bought you one! I just, I must have left it behind or something, and now I feel really bad and I'm so sorry-" Ryan cut him off.

"It's okay, Troy." He laughed a little. "No need to tie yourself in a knot over it. It's fine." Wow. Troy figured that he would have had a tantrum over it, in his Ryan-Evans-The-Diva way. He was about to say something, when he looked up. "Mistletoe."

"Huh?" The next thing Troy knew, he was leaning in and placing his lips gently against Ryan's. They were soft, like silk, and cold from being away from the fire. The feeling was electrifying. Ryan moaned softly and Troy took this as his cue to deepen the kiss. He pressed a little harder, and swept his tongue along Ryan's lips, and Ryan parted them slightly to let Troy in. Their tongues slowly massaged each other, and Troy could taste Sharpay's gingerbread cookies, and just a hint of something uniquely Ryan.

They broke apart when whistles and catcalls came from the other side of the room.

Ryan smiled. "That was the best present I've ever gotten, Troy." Then he walked back over to join their friends. Troy followed, numb with shock.

When he sat down Ryan linked their fingers together. Troy just squeezed his hand and smiled softly. Best. Christmas. Ever.