It's the mooost wonderful tiiime of the yeear!

its December everyone! and we've got snow! TONS of it:) this is why i love winter. it's such a magical feeling to stand outside in the middle of the night and watch the snow fall. to have it dot your clothes with white. to make tracks in the snow and catch snowflakes on your tongue

...even if you happen to be doing it in the parking lot of a grocery store. what can i say? i work as a cashier, and there's nothing like a good snowfall to let you forget all the annoying people you had to deal with all day long.

but Tertiary Genesis is probably lounging the beach right now soaking up the rays and drinking pina coladas down under -is jealous-.

anyways, there's one main reason im posting this chapter today. so i can post chapter 4 ASAP! lemme tell you now, its a doozy of a chapter! this one... well its cute.

i've also reverted to my old chapter headings from Sing With Me. I tihnk they look nicer :) hope you enjoy this chapter, there's a bit of Tryan fluff in there :) oh, and a hint of gabi-bashing... ENJOY!

-Chapter Three-
Musicals and Mashed Potatoes

The rest of the week passed, and Troy and Ryan had few encounters. As always, Gabriella had herself glued to Troy all day long, Ryan keeping himself well out of the way. However, Gabriella noticed a slight change in Troy. He was a lot less eager to spend time with her, pulling away for stupid reasons. Suddenly Troy seemed to enjoy talking to others more, especially Ryan. Of course, auditions were coming up, so that was excusable. After all, she and Troy would no doubt land the leads for another romantic stage drama. Or so she thought.

"It's a what?"

"A comedy." Ryan repeated. He, along with Gabriella and Troy, were in the auditorium, discussing the new play.

"And how many leads are there?"

"Two." Ryan said. Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief.

"So it's a romantic comedy then?"

But Ryan shook his head. "Nope, it's just a comedy. The two leads are males."

"What?!" Gabriella blurted. "Just a comedy? Two male leads?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, there's nothing wrong with that. Not all musicals are romantic."

Gabriella had another idea. All musicals were romantic. They had to be. Why else would people randomly break out into song? She couldn't do a comedy. She wouldn't! This was theatre, not stand-up! Ryan and Troy shared between them an awkward glance. They knew what Gabriella was thinking. She caught the brief eye contact between the boys.

"What?" She hissed.

"Nothing." Ryan said innocently.

Troy took Gabriella's arm. "Y'know, we should go." Without waiting for her reply, he spun Gabriella around. Troy craned his neck to look back Ryan, mouthing the word 'Sorry'.

Ryan shrugged. 'It's okay'.

Outside the auditorium, Troy continued to steer Gabriella away.

"Not a romance?" Gabriella cried disbelievingly. "Is this a joke?"

"Gabriella, I don't see what the big deal is. Don't you want to try something new?"

"No!" Gabriella said. "What's wrong with you? Don't you want to do a romance?"

Troy grimaced and gave Gabriella a shifty glance. "Not really." This was obviously not welcome news.

"Troy, I don't know what's wrong with you. But give me a call when you figure it out." And with that, Gabriella separated herself from Troy and stalked away. As he watched his girlfriend walked away, Troy slowly raised an eyebrow. Seemed a bit early for that time of month…

-o-O-O-O-o-

Ryan was at his locker again, sorting through his scattered assignments. He felt someone tap his shoulder, and he turned to face Troy. It had become a bit of a ritual. Whenever Ryan was at his locker, Troy would sneak up behind him and tap him. He wasn't sure how it started, or why, but he kind of liked it. Troy always did it when there was something on his mind, and he wanted to tell Ryan about it.

"Hello Troy." Ryan said, before even seeing the brunet. When he did, Troy looked a bit concerned. "What's up?"

Troy sighed. "It's Gabriella. She's been so edgy lately."

Ryan shut his locker, and he and Troy started walking down the hall. "Yeah, I noticed."

"What do you think it means?" Troy asked.

"It means she's a girl." Ryan replied simply. "They don't need reasons for anything."

While Ryan's advice wasn't very helpful, it was the truth. Gabriella was seemingly angry for no reason.

"She could just be having girl problems." Ryan suggested.

Troy gave Ryan a confused look. "I thought it was the guys that got girl problems…"

Ryan laughed. "Not those kind of girl problems. Personal problems."

"Ohh." Troy said in realization. "Well, I thought that… but it's a bit early."

"Early?" Ryan asked snickering. "You actually keep track?"

"Trust me, it helps." Troy and Ryan shared a laugh as the pushed through the front doors. Ryan stopped as a cold gust of wind rushed at him.

"Gah! I hate the cold." He said, bundling himself up. Troy shook his head, smiling.

"Then why don't you wear a proper winter jacket?"

"Because a proper winter jacket just didn't match my hat today." Ryan said. His fruitless attempts at staying warm made Troy laugh even more.

"Here." Troy slipped off his scarf and wrapped it around Ryan's head. The blond looked at Troy, the lower half of his face now hidden under Troy's scarf.

"You dint puh ih on righ." Came Ryan's muffled voice.

"What's that?" Troy asked, not letting his laughter die down. Ryan pulled the scarf away from his mouth.

"You didn't put it on right!" He said, rearranging the garment. As he straightened Troy's scarf, Troy pocketed his ungloved hands and started whistling. Now, annoying as that was a few days ago, suddenly it was a lot more bearable for Ryan. Was he really taking that great a liking to Troy? Ryan dismissed that idea. He wasn't trying to concentrate on math right now, that's all. It was all right if they were just strolling down the sidewalk. Come to think of it, why were they walking down the sidewalk?

"Troy, where are we going?"

Troy gave Ryan a shrug. "Dunno. Wherever."

The two ended up at Troy's house. Outside, Mr. Bolton was taking the Christmas lights down.

"Hey dad!" Troy called to his father. Mr. Bolton looked down from the top of the ladder.

"Good afternoon boys." He said. The two made their way to the front door, and Troy ushered Ryan in. As soon as he stepped into the entryway, Mrs. Bolton was all over Ryan.

"Ryan dear, look at you!" She fussed. "You look positively chilled to the bone. Come in, we'll get you some hot soup." Troy followed as his mother herded Ryan into the kitchen. Ryan found it a bit strange that Troy's mother was calling him dear, but that's the kind of mom she was. Troy found it so embarrassing. After being seated at the table, a giant bowl of turkey soup was placed in front of Ryan.

"Eat! My goodness, we need to put some meat on you!" Mrs. Bolton fretted.

"Mom." Troy groaned. "Give him a break!" A bowl was placed in front of him too.

"You need to eat too young man. You can't be running all over creation on an empty stomach." Troy rolled his eyes as his mother disappeared into the kitchen again.

"And that's the Bolton family for you."

"Mine isn't much better." Ryan joked as he spooned some soup into his mouth. "By the way, this soup is delicious."

Troy slurped down his soup in a flash then led Ryan to his bedroom. Amidst the expected basketball posters and East High colour scheme, there were also posters of well-known musicals, including a personal favourite or Ryan's, Hairspray.

"Okay Ry," Troy said. "Can you show me that dance for the opening number? I can't get it for the life of me."

Ry? Since when did Troy have a nickname for Ryan? The only other person who called him that was Sharpay, and that was when she was too lazy to utter the second syllable. But it sounded very different coming from Troy. It wasn't from lack of interest in Ryan. It was quite the opposite. Obviously if Troy saw fit to honor Ryan with a nickname, he valued him that much as a friend. Either that or he was as lazy as Sharpay. Ryan hoped it was the former.

"Uh, hello? Ryan?" Troy waved a hand in front of Ryan's face and he snapped back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, right. The opening dance." Ryan stood beside Troy and assumed his starting position. "First, we start off with a twist." Ryan placed one foot in front of him, rocking his heel back and forth as he twisted his body. "Troy?"

Troy didn't really look interested in doing the dance, but he was having a merry time watching Ryan do it. Did he always have that conspicuously round ass?

"Troy!" Troy jumped as Ryan pulled him out of his thoughts. Where did that come from?

"Sorry." Troy said quickly. "I just zoned out for a sec." He tried to mimic Ryan's movements, but found it tricky. He was having a hard time coordinating all the twisting his body was doing. Ryan laughed.

"Okay, let's forget the arms and just focus on the feet." Ryan placed his right foot in front of him again, and Troy followed. "First, the heel moves left." Troy followed intently as Ryan demonstrated. "Then it goes right."

After having it broken down for him, Troy gradually got the hang of the twist. Soon he and Ryan twisting so much it was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Okay, I think we've got that move down." Ryan said laughing. The next move Troy found particularly funny.

"That what?!"

"The Mashed Potato!" Ryan said, swinging his legs back and forth. Troy made a silly face as he mirrored Ryan.

"What's next? The French Fry?"

"Hush you!" Ryan said.

Ryan didn't know how long he and Troy had been up in his room practicing dances, but it must have been pretty long. The sky outside the window was totally black when he heard Mrs. Bolton calling him down.

"Ryan! Your sister is here!" Ryan groaned.

"Something tells me this wont be pretty." He said, as he headed for the door. Troy followed him downstairs where they found an irritated looking Sharpay.

"Thank you so much for calling. Dinner was fabulous without you" Sharpay grumbled.

"Oh calm down." Ryan retorted. "Mom and Dad wont care anyway." Donning his jacket and hat, he turned to Troy and Mrs. Bolton. "Thanks for having me over."

"Anytime dear." Mrs. Bolton said sweetly. Troy sighed and pushed his mother out of the room.

"Stop calling him that!" He returned a few moments later without his mother.

"I'll see you on Monday then?" Ryan asked.

Troy nodded. "Yeah, we can practice during free period."

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Practice all you want, but I'm getting that lead role."

"When's the sex change?" Ryan snorted. Sharpay eyed her brother.

"What?"

Troy stepped in to explain. "The leads are all male this year." Something reminiscent of Gabriella's reaction replayed on Sharpay's face.

"What?!"

Ryan grabbed Sharpay's arm. "Okay, time to go." He pulled Sharpay out of the house, taking one last look at troy. "Bye Troy."

"See ya, Ry."

tada!

troy and ryan dancing in Troy's room? a bit random, yeah, but all for the sake of cuteness. and not the puke-your-guts-out-cute Troyella cuteness, but the subtle, sweet, Tryan cuteness.

troy better keep those wandering eyes away from ryan's butt, or who knows what will happen? heh... heh... heh...

so anyways, i hope you liked that chapter.

to Tertiary Genesis, thanks! its actually REALLY hard not to rush things, but things like this take time sometimes. and i know what you mean about deadlines. i have to write out lesson plans for an entire 10-day swimming course for my Swimming Instructor class, as well as list a bunch of drills used to perfect the four major strokes and whatnot. and then there's saving people's lives, which i completely failed at yesterday... oh boy... and your theory on Gabriella is actually plausible, maybe she did do it before. although, i still think she's a bit scrawny to be a lifeguard. cant wait for the next chap of Lockdown!

to Broken-SilverWings, thanks! i was really worried about my protrayal of Ryan, and everyone else. i hope it still fitting. and yes, i like taking a different approach regarding his relationship to Troy. i think its a bit more realistic that way. sex in the 2nd chapter's kinda pushing it, i didnt know people actualy did that :S when i do write the sex scenes, i want them to be tasteful, and not just sex for the sake of sex, if you know what i mean. and i assure, i am trying my darndest to not bash gabriella! thanks for reading!

to HSMTroypay07, thanks! hope you like the way its going so far, thanks for reading!

to evilpinkbutterfly101, thanks, im hopinh to get the chapters up as fast as i can

...and i just dont stop do i? i really need to shut up :P if i keep going my author's notes are gonna be longer than the actual story.

so yeah, hop you liked. i cant WAIT to post chapter 4! thanks for reading, and please review!