Ryan slept throughout most of the night, Troy however couldn't sleep. He was scared for Ryan, he had never known anyone who got caught up with drugs, he didn't even know what type of drugs it was that Ryan had taken. He wanted to ask, he wanted to know about the drugs and make sure that the beautiful boy next to him never had to take them again. He ran a hand through Ryan's hair, the black dye was fading slightly and he could make out the blond roots. He stared at the pale face, that was slowly coming back to it's normal complexion. Troy was getting the old Ryan back. Troy wrapped an arm around Ryan's waist, smiling when the boy snuggled closer to the embrace and put his head on Troy's chest. Troy had never felt so needed or wanted in his life and he couldn't help but feel very comfortable falling to sleep with Ryan in his arms.

When Troy woke up he was alone in the bed, he looked over to the corner where he had found Ryan the day before but was surprised to see it empty. He got up a little panicked now and headed towards the bathroom, the door was open and there was no Ryan. He walked down the stairs and smiled when he saw Ryan sat in the living room on the sofa. Troy walked into the room and smiled at Ryan. "Morning, your mum left you some bacon and put it in the microwave and our school work is on the side."

"You spoke to mum?" Troy asked. Yesterday Ryan had been terrified to speak to anyone other then him.

"No," Ryan blushed slightly. "She left a note." Troy nodded his head and headed over to the kitchen, now that Ryan had mentioned breakfast he was feeling really hungry. He knew if he was to ask Ryan if he wanted breakfast he would say no, so instead he just made him a sandwich instead of the full breakfast he was having. He walked into the living room and handed Ryan his plate, he stared at it before biting at the corners.

"What time did you wake up?" Troy asked, Ryan scowled at him for talking with his mouth full and Troy felt a little sheepish, none of his friends usually cared as most of them did the same. "Sorry." He laughed.

"Not long ago. I'm not used to sleeping long so when I woke up I couldn't get back to sleep, and I didn't want to wake you." Ryan explained.

"You feeling okay?" Troy asked once he had swallowed a piece of egg. Ryan simply nodded. "I was thinking maybe we could go out for a walk today," Troy suggested.

"What outside?" Ryan panicked. "I mean well if you want to go for a walk it's obvious you would go outside because you can't really walk around the house I mean not much space to walk but..."

"Ryan calm down," Troy said, he placed his breakfast on the table and headed over to Ryan who was trying very hard to regain his breathing patterns. "Hey, it's okay. Deep breaths..." Ryan mimicked Troy's breathing and once he got his breathing under control he stared at Troy with what could only be described as a broken expression. "We wont go outside, it's okay."

"But..."

"You need fresh air but it's a nice day we can sit in the garden and do some work," Troy smiled. Ryan nodded his head as he held onto Troy's hand.

"Thank you," Ryan said sheepishly. Troy didn't say anything instead he wrapped his arms around Ryan and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

The two boys finished breakfast in comfortable silence and then they grabbed their work from the side and headed out into the garden. Troy didn't have a lot to do and his pile was quite a lot smaller than Ryan's. "You don't do drama any more do you?" Troy asked, even though he knew his work had to be done he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"No," Ryan answered quietly.

"How come?" Troy asked, he knew how much the younger boy loved drama.

"Couldn't face Sharpay, and drama involves everyone seeing you and I really didn't want to be seen." Ryan sighed.

"So, what do you do instead?" Troy asked.

"English," Ryan smiled.

"Looks like it's a lot of reading to me," Troy said as he stared at the large book Ryan was holding.

"That's what English is, reading and writing." Ryan laughed. "Instead of acting plays, I read them."

"Do you miss it?" Troy asked as he leaned back, he couldn't be asked to do his work so instead he peeled off his tee and bathed in the sun. Ryan watched him and smiled and set the book in his lap.

"I haven't had time to miss anything from my old life," Ryan sighed. "But yeah, I miss it."

"You miss your family." Troy said as he took Ryan's hand in his.

"Yeah," Ryan sighed. Troy squeezed Ryan's hand and then let go, though he missed the feeling immediately.

They stayed outside for a while, Ryan reading the English text he was provided with and Troy lying on the ground staring at the sky. When Ryan closed his book and laid down next to Troy, the basketball player looked at him. "Good book?"

"Yeah," Ryan smiled. "So, how is everything with Gabriella?"

"We broke up." Troy answered quickly. "I took your advice, told her we were better off as friends."

"How did she take it?" Ryan asked curiously.

"She agreed." Troy smiled. "We're mates and it's good." Troy looked over at Ryan who was staring up at the sky. "Do you want any more hair dye?" Troy asked randomly, the question seemed to take Ryan by surprise because he started to laugh.

"What?" Ryan laughed.

"Hair dye, do you want some more?" Troy laughed, he could see how weird his question was but was glad it made Ryan laugh. "You're blonds coming through."

"Oh." Ryan just shrugged. "I want to the black to go." Ryan answered truthfully.

"Cool." Troy smiled not having anything else to say. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Troy asked.

"Can we stay out here?" Ryan asked.

"Course." Troy smiled.

"It's a nice day," Ryan stated. "I feel safe here."

"You're safe here with me, I promise." Troy said as he took Ryan's hand in his. Ryan looked at him and grinned, squeezing his hand tightly. "Ry, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," Ryan said nervously.

"What you said last night about drugs..." Ryan looked away, too ashamed to look at Troy. "What sort of drugs?"

"At first it was just pot." Ryan answered still looking away from Troy. "Then I wanted something more. I only did it twice."

"What was it?" Troy asked as he put a comforting arm around Ryan's waist. Ryan looked up at him nervously.

"Cocaine. I'm not proud of it..." Ryan mumbled. "It just made everything seem better."

"It's okay," Troy said strongly. "It's in the past now," Ryan nodded and moved so he was lying with his head on Troy's chest, much like how they slept at night.