I did not expect to update so soon, but I'm wired from a great opening night of my own high school musical and damn, I just love how this turned out.

Thanks to the bestie, as per usual. Don't own anything that you recognize. :)

--

For the Hundredth Billionth Time

Chapter One: An Unexpected Visitor

--

"No."

It was a simple word constructed using one syllable and two letters. The word consisted of a vowel and a consonant, as most words do. It was a word of rebellion, a word of power and a word of denial all wrapped into one. Coupled with the determined and angry voice of it's speaker, it was clear that the word meant business.

"No, no fucking way, Chad. No."

The above sentence fragment consists of expletives and a noun which further proved that business was definitely intended.

The scene is set: two males, both age twenty-six are our protagonists. Male number one, Caucasian with sandy brown hair and blue eyes stands in the doorway of his apartment, his palms set firmly on either side of the door frame, denying entrance to Male number two; African American and standing outside in the hallway with suitcases and boxes at his feet.

"Please, man?" Male number two begs. "Please? It'll only be for a little while!"

"No!" Male number one barks. "You can't stay here now! You can't even be here now, Chad!"

"Troy!" Male number two (also known as Chad) yells, "I have to! I've been evicted! I have no where else to fucking go!"

"Damnit, Chad!" Troy Bolton yells. "No! Are you insane? Do you have any idea what you being here is going to cause? You have to leave! Go stay at your sister's or something!"

Chad Danforth glared at his supposed best friend. Of all the ungrateful...and what a low blow! Stay with his sister! Scooping up his belongs, he barrelled past Troy's raised arms and flew into the apartment, dropping his belongings on the floor by the couch.

"You can't stay here!" Troy yelled. "Get out!"

"And why not?" Chad glared in aggravation. "Give me one good reason!

Scoffing in disbelief, Troy gestured wildly to the room down the hall. "Why? Um, because my wife is pregnant? Eight months pregnant, to be exact, Danforth! Do you remember anything from sex education in tenth grade? That means she has roughly four weeks left! That means she can't see her feet! That means that I have to take the brunt of all of her emotional outbursts!"

Chad raised his hands in an attempt to get his friend to stop, but the rant carried on.

"Do you know what your being here is going to set off? She's going to freak! She's going to say this is in no way the proper environment for a women in such a delicate situation! She's going to blame me! She can't deal with you being here! I can't deal with you being here! Most of all, I can't deal with her dealing with you being here!"

Tapping his foot, Chad waited approximately three seconds before flopping on the couch, grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels. "Chill, man. Gabriella will be more than fine with me crashing here, I guarantee it! Do you mind if I take up residence on this cozy leather couch of yours?"

Troy stared at him, his face growing red. He took a deep breath as if calming himself, only to yell a moment later.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY APARTMENT, DANFORTH!" He opened the front door and threw one of Chad's suitcases into the hallway.

"What the hell, man?" Chad exclaimed, darting up and running to the door. "That's my stuff!"

Troy added a box to the growing pile outside the door and the sound of glass shattering bounced off the walls. "Exactly! It's out there – where you should be, too!"

"I'm supposed to be your best friend, Troy!" Chad cried in anguish, watching as Troy threw the last of the bags out the door. "Your best fucking friend! Is that how you treat your best fucking friend, Bolton?"

"Yes, Troy," a sickeningly sweet voice said. "Is that how you treat your best friend?"

The males blanched. Enter Gabriella Bolton, age twenty five. She stood at a comfortable five foot four and had long, black curls and olive skin. Her small frame was weighed down by the massive bump rising out of her stomach and her hand rested on the swell of it comfortably. She raised an eyebrow.

"Gabriella!" Her husband said, darting to her side. "Is everything alright?"

She swatted at his hand, annoyed. "Yes, I'm fine, Troy. I'm not some glass doll you know!" She walked over to Chad, who was now dragging his belongings back into the apartment. "Now, what is going on here?"

Running a hand through his disheveled hair, Troy let out a heavy sigh. "Chad got evicted. He needs a place to crash, but don't worry about it, babe, I already said no."

Gabriella bristled. "And that's how you treat your best friend, Bolton?"

Troy blanched. "Uh...excuse me?"

"I wonder," Gabriella placed a finger to her lip, thoughtfully, "If our child was in need of a place to stay, would you want someone turing them away?" Before he had a chance to reply, she continued. "No, I think not. So how dare you treat your friend that way!"

"What, Gabi!" Troy threw his hands up. "I just assumed that it would be too much for you right now!"'

Gabriella's eyes filled with tears. "Too much? Too much?! You assume I'm in such a fragile state, don't you? That I'm such an emotional, cold hearted bitch that I can't possibly handle having someone else stay here! That's it, isn't it?"

"What, no, that's not it at all, I was only --"

"I don't want to hear it, Troy!" she sobbed, turning on her heel. "Chad you stay here for as long as you like! I won't abandon you in your time of need!" With one final sniff, she left the room and Troy stared after her, confused and crushed at being blamed for something that was not his fault at all.

For what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Do you see what you've done?" He asked Chad, slamming the front door closed and running after Gabriella.

Dragging his suitcases back into the apartment, Chad grinned. "I told you she wouldn't have a problem with me staying here!"

"I hate you so fucking much, Chad," Troy said half an hour later, shutting the bedroom door behind him softly. "Do you realize what it took for me to calm her down? She should be getting so stressed right now anyways; it could induce labour!"

Chad shrugged non-chantly and covered the couch with an Afghan blanket Gabriella knitted years ago. "You probably shouldn't have made her so mad, then," he said simply, a cheeky chin on his face. "Listen man, I know this is inconvenient and I promise you, I would not be here unless I had absolutely anywhere else to go."

"What about Taylor?" Troy said, folding his arms. He scoffed at Chad's 'hurt' expression. "Look, you have to understand that you being here really puts an extra strain on myself and Gabriella that we really can't handle now. Taylor won't deny you; she loves you."

Chad sighed. "Taylor and I..." he paused, thinking of the best way to word it, "She and I have a deal. I can't go to her place until I keep up my end of the bargain."

"What, so no sex until you do her bidding?"

Chad stiffened. "Something like that."

Rolling his shoulders back, Troy slumped on the couch. "What about Zeke and Sharpay's?"

"Ha, like I want to be a third wheel to that car crash of a relationship," Chad shuddered, vaguely recalling the last time he visited the couple for dinner which resulted in a broken china set and scalding hot gravy on his arm.

"Point taken," Troy nodded in agreement. "What about Ryan's?"

"No," Chad said at once, turning away from his friend. "Absolutely not. It's out of the question. I am not staying with Ryan fucking Evans."

"Uh, okay...um, your sister, then?"

Chad groaned in frustration. "When I said I had no where to go, I meant it."

Troy ran a hand over his face and Chad felt a flicker of guilt run through him. His friend looked exhausted, his face and eyes hollow. He let out a sigh while he twisted his wedding band around his finger, a nervous habit he had developed since obtaining the object two years earlier. Chad wanted to pack up his things and leave, letting his friend get the peace that he deserved; to spend those last precious weeks with his wife alone. But he couldn't, he had put it off too long and he needed to stay here. For his own selfish reasons or not.

It was time, after all.

"Fine," Troy said, defeated. "You can stay here. One week, though, Chad, one week. I can't handle anymore than that and I love my wife too much to see her behind bars because she killed you in a moment of weakness."

Chad smiled, relieved. "I'm really sorry, man. One week, that's all. I promise."

One week was more than enough time.

The phone rings.

First instinct? Screen it.

And so he does. It's okay, though, because it's only Taylor Mckessie; his most favourite girl in the whole wide world.

He answers. "What up, babe?"

"Hey," she says, her voice excited and breathless. "How are you?"

He rolls over on the couch. Life at the Bolton's was pretty much exactly what he didn't expect. Troy and Gabriella were completely consumed with the ever daunting arrival of their firstborn and he maybe should have taken Troy more seriously when he had warned him of Gabriella's emotional outbursts. She was sweet and serene one moment and then hysterical and angry the next. How the two were still married, Chad had no idea.

"I'm better now, Tay," he said, smiling in the phone. "You sure there's no way I can come stay with you?"

She chuckled. "I wish, Danforth, but you know very well that my place is off limits until you hold up your end of the deal. It's a matter of principle. Now, let's cut to the chase: have you told them yet?"

Chad sighed and brought a hand to his brow. "Not yet, babe."

Taylor repeated his actions on the other line. "It's been months, Chad, months. They're both going to be crushed that you didn't tell them first in the first place. You have to tell them and soon."'

Staring into the darkness of the Bolton's apartment, Chad took in the surroundings. The beige walls and dark chocolate floors. The picture frames of vacations, their wedding, family and work functions sprawled over the walls, the tables. Car keys set on the kitchen counter, paint cans from the baby's nursery lined up in the halls. Notes scribbled to each other on white boards reminding them to pick up milk or honey. All pieces that made up their life together.

He wanted simplicity like theirs. He wanted a life with the one he loved, too.

"I will, Taylor. I will. Just give it time."

But how could he when the present time was the worst possible time (ever) to drop a bomb such as this?