Back on my bullshit, AKA writing more Chyan fics, although I really like this idea! This was supposed to be the last fic of the year but time constraints over New Year's make it the first one, instead. I'll be dropping the story three chapters at a time, with three "prequel" chapters and then three chapters to go along with each movie so that the story will be between 12 and 15 chapters.

It was November and Chad was in his high school auditorium long after school was over, absolutely bored out of his mind, waiting for The Music Man to start. His mom loved The Music Man. She'd been chattering about it the whole way to the school, about how exciting it was that his school was doing such a great musical and how it would be so awesome to see who was playing Harold and Marian.

Chad had told her not to expect much, that the leads always went to Sharpay and Ryan Evans. He'd skimmed the program enough times while waiting for the show to start to know he was right. All these weird theater people that he'd always seen around but never really looked at- until now.

When "Ya Got Trouble" began and Chad saw Ryan singing for the first time, everything in his life seemed to come into focus, like when he'd worn contacts for the first time after years of struggling to see.

His mom, next to him, was just excited to see her favorite musical, but for Chad, it wasn't The Music Man he was interested in, it was the Music Man.

"Did you like it?" Yolanda Danforth asked her usually apathetic teenage son on the drive home.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Everyone did a really good job."

"Isn't it fun to see your classmates in a whole different light?" She asked cheerily, not noticing her son's dazed expression.

"Yeah… It is." Chad closed his eyes and thought about Ryan, singing his heart out, pulling Chad's heart in.

"Yeah. I really liked it. Thanks, mom."

"Thanks for coming with me. I'm glad I got to share that with you."

Chad wanted to share some particular feelings about the play and its cast with her, but he held his tongue. He didn't quite have words for how he felt just yet. He just knew that Ryan had completely and utterly captivated him.

Which meant, probably, that he was gay.

Chad knew exactly how he felt about Ryan but he didn't know how he felt about being gay. He wasn't sure how his friends or his parents would feel about it, either.

And he definitely wasn't sure about how Ryan would feel. In his memory, he'd only spoken to Ryan one time, during Freshman or Sophomore year, to borrow a pencil. No, it had been a pen. Ryan had said he could keep it. How stupid of him not to remember. What changed between then and now? Why hadn't Chad lost his breath and fallen head over heels right then and there?

Maybe it was the spotlight. When Ryan was on stage he was more confident and more radiant. He was eye-catching. He had caught Chad's eye. He caught Chad's eye a dozen more times the following week before Chad, fearless on the basketball court or baseball diamond but so cowardly now, got up the nerve to talk to him.

"I saw you."

"Uh, what?" Ryan looked incredibly confused and more than a little bit wary of Chad's inexplicable presence in his personal bubble.

"I went to the play. I saw you. You were good." Chad didn't know why he was having such a hard time communicating. It hadn't been hard, asking for a pen.

"Oh, you went? Wouldn't expect that from a Wildcat." Ryan had a point. The cliques at East High kept pretty separate.

"My mom wanted to go, she loves The Music Man."

"Did you like it?"

"I liked you," Chad answered honestly.

"Oh," Ryan looked a little flustered now.

"What was your favorite song?"

"Uh."

"It's okay if you don't have one," Ryan rushed to steer the conversation away from Chad's lack of musical knowledge. "My favorite was always Seventy-Six Trombones."

Chad nodded, distracted by Ryan's hair and his eyes and his outfit and-

"Chad?"

"Huh?"

"Did you want anything else?"

Chad very much wanted something, but he didn't have the words to say it.

"No, sorry. See you around." Chad turned to walk away and then hesitated.

"I mean. I hope I see you around."

"Well, we're in the same homeroom," Ryan reminded him.

Chad smiled, "Good. I'll see you then."

Chad wasn't sure, but Ryan might have looked a little extra flustered when they parted ways.