A/N: I've had an absolutely discouraging week, so instead of doing homework I'm going to make myself feel better by posting the next chapter. Also, love HSM3 though I do, I have decided to completely disregard it—I already had most of this fic planned out in my head. So basically this fic follows canon of the first two films, and we pretend HSM3 didn't happen, capice? Well, except for the prom outfits. I'm stealing those. Don't worry, once this is done I'll work on more fully canon things.

Disclaimer: Disney hasn't admitted that Ryan is gay, so what do YOU think?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Troy was snapped out of his world-shattering reverie by his cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" he asked without checking the caller ID.

"Are you going to let us in or what?"

"Yeah, hang on, I must've not heard the door buzzer."

"Whatever."

He shut his phone and opened the door.

Sharpay and Ryan Evans were a vision in…sweats?! Troy's brain went into overdrive. Ryan was in grey oversized sweatpants and a black yoga shirt and matching baseball cap. Sharpay's black track pants had sparkly silver stripes down the side to match the plastic jewels scattered around the neckline of her hot pink tank top. Her hair was up in a messy bun. Both siblings were wearing sneakers.

"Hello? Aren't you going to invite us in?" Sharpay said by way of greeting.

"Um…since when are you guys not coordinated and dressed up to the nines?"

Ryan stepped into the small apartment and put an "it's okay, you don't know any better" hand on Troy's shoulder.

"You've obviously never moved cardboard boxes while wearing designer shirts, have you?"

"…Point taken."

"Good man."

Ryan took one disdainful look at the mountain of clothing Troy had started 'unpacking' before striding purposefully towards it and sorting everything out by color.

Sharpay was wandering through the boxes, peering at the labels to see what was what.

Troy's phone began to ring again.

"Hey, Chad!"

"How's New York?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Troy joked.

"As am I. The city, man, how's the city?"

"I wouldn't know. I just started unpacking. Sharpay and Ryan are helping me out."

"…I'm sorry, I momentarily lost my ability to hear, because there is NO way an EVANS would willingly undertake manual labor."

"Ryan!" Troy called over his shoulder.

"What?" came the shouted reply.

"Chad doesn't believe you're helping me in the form of manual labor!"

"Oh he doesn't, does he?" Ryan hurried over. "May I?"

Troy laughed as Ryan took his phone into the other room and proceeded to berate Chad for his lack of faith in an Evans's ability to do anything they wanted to.

This left Troy and Sharpay alone in the living area-slash-kitchen.

"This box is unmarked," Sharpay suddenly exclaimed.

"OH! Um…we don't have to look in…."

But she already had the box open. Troy had had no idea she owned a Swiss Army knife…

"OOOOH! How CUTE!"

Troy could feel the heat creeping onto his cheeks. She had found his cheesy "High School Memories" stash. He just hoped to God Ryan would be busy on the phone with Chad for a long, looooong time. One person knowing of his dorkdom was more than enough.

"It's…really stupid, I—"

"Nonsense! I have things like this all over my apartment! My Star Dazzle awards, my programs of my musicals, my yearbook…I think I have some of my old costumes stashed away somewhere too…"

"Oh," said Troy, feeling a little less embarrassed. "Well, you can look through it, I guess…"

"Sit with me! Sit, sit!" Sharpay waved him over energetically to the kitchen table, where she had placed the open treasure trove.

"Ooooh! The Twinkle Towne playbill!"

"Yeah, my mom had me autograph it for her."

"Awwww!"

"Hey, you autograph things all the time if I remember correctly. Don't mock me," he joked.

"I wasn't! And I SO do not autograph everything. Do you see my signature anywhere in this tiny apartment? No? Well, then, it seems you are mistaken."

"Don't diss the apartment. It doesn't like to be made fun of."

"Ha ha. Let's continue, shall we?"

They went through newspaper clippings of Wildcat victories ("My mom," Troy said defensively), pictures of Troy and Chad on their first day of freshman year ("I don't remember Chad with short hair," Sharpay said thoughtfully), and miscellaneous memorabilia ("Do you own anything that's not red and white?").

When Ryan came out of the room half an hour later, he had to remind himself to close his mouth, which was gaping open in surprise.

Sharpay was wearing Troy's old basketball jersey over her shirt.

She and Troy were laughing over pictures of senior prom.

Troy's arm was resting on the back of Sharpay's chair.

What!?!?!

"What's that?" Ryan pointed at the picture they were looking at as he walked over to the unexpected scene.

Giggling, Sharpay handed it to him. Ryan smiled as he looked at the picture of him in his classy suit and awesome hat.

Just a minute….

Was that…Chad in the picture as well?

Was he doing what Ryan thought he was doing?

"Bunny ears. Is he for real?" Ryan asked.

"That's not even the best one, dude," Troy said, attempting to be serious and failing miserably.

Ryan accepted the second picture and almost dropped it in shock.

He and Chad were leering suggestively at the camera, and GOOD LORD, was he really groping and being groped? Hey, since when was Chad's leg able to hike up high enough to hook around Ryan's waist?

"I…uh….what?"

"After party. Don't you remember?" Troy's composure failed him entirely and his face split into a mischievous grin.

"Obviously not," Sharpay snickered.

"I'll just…um…wow." Ryan was at a total loss. He dazedly wandered over to the pile of clothing and absent-mindedly began to sort again.

"Hey, Sharpay, I've got another box like this with my college stuff in it, wanna have a look?"

"Sure, Troy. I'll just pack up all this." She began to remove the jersey.

"Oh hey, you don't have to…I mean, you can keep that if you want. I have another one, it's okay."

"Really?"

"Sure, why not. It looks good on you."

"Everything looks good on me," she corrected.

Troy grinned as he turned to sort through the boxes and locate the "College Memories" one.

Sharpay looked at the spread of items on the table. She smiled, and began to put them all back in the box. As she was putting the photos of prom back in their pouch, she noticed that two of the pictures were sticking together. Carefully, she pulled them apart. As she looked at the picture that had been hidden, her eyes widened.

There she was in her senior prom dress, pink and fabulous, without a doubt the best dressed girl at prom, smiling her heart out. She looked positively radiant.

And there was Troy, right next to her, holding the camera at arm's length to take the shot of the two of them, grinning goofily.

"Oh…" she said softly.

She remembered that moment. In all the swirl and color and madness of the dance, Troy had come up to her holding a camera.

"Picture with me?" he had shouted over the music.

"Okay!" she had shouted back.

Funny she never thought to ask for the photo. It was a good one.

Just then, Troy came back with the new box.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hours later, Sharpay and Ryan waved goodbye to Troy.

"Call me whenever!" he said as they left.

"Well." Sharpay began as she and Ryan stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"Yeah." Ryan hailed a cab.

They clambered in and rode all the way home in silence.