A/N: The hardest critic is ourselves, therefore please excuse the month delay. This was actually done a long time ago. In fact, I have a collection of one-shots hiding in the numerous folders of my computer that are still not up to my standards. This one still isn't, but I don't hate it as much as I did a month ago. Consider these ficlets like hairballs I have to cough up to get my writing back to par.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. There's not even any OCs. Watch the movie again, you'll recognize some of these guys. I just gave Mitchell a name. Other than that, they're all in the movie.
Rating: T for themes, and language. Clearly, look at the first word.
Characterization: "I'm proud to call you my sister." "Don't be discouraged, the theater club needs more than just singers, it needs fans too – buy tickets!" "Besides, she hasn't even asked our permission to join the drama club." My details that I chose to put a small light on in this fic. After all, Ryan's character grows exponentially from the first movie to the second.
Shit, was all Ryan Evans could think before he had to force a smiling pretense in the fraction of a nanosecond he was given to cover the initial disgust as he found Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez on his doorstep. The giggly duo stood happily in front of him, acting like they were magically granted access to everything the drama department did, including the exclusive cast party the Evans twins threw after every production. The same party that Sharpay had explicitly not invited them to. She was still bitter about Gabriella taking her role for Twinkle Towne, and Ryan would be lying if he said he didn't feel the same. But here they were, at his house, looking at him expectantly. Sharpay was going to throw a fit.
"Welcome," Ryan greeted them before he could be questioned on his small pause. He opened the door a bit wider, his mind still conflicted about what he was supposed to do with the transplants from the science and athletics department. Gabriella stepped towards him, raising a sparkly green bag with tissue paper overfilling at the top, an item he'd failed to notice that she was carrying.
"We brought you a host gift," she said excitedly in her tinkling voice. He had the bag in his hands before he could reply as she continued to walk into the party, Troy close behind her. The playmaker lifted his head in greeting and showed off the two twelve packs of Mountain Dew he'd brought, but didn't say anything. Ryan watched them cross the threshold before he released a sigh of a breath and closed the door. Despite the fact that he now had the inevitable responsibility of informing Sharpay about the intruders, he couldn't help glancing inside the bag, barely capable of seeing what appeared to be tea and some scented candles. It was actually pretty nice. None of the other guests had brought gifts. Looking up, he searched the crowd, only to realize that East High's new power couple was nowhere in sight. And he still had to make sure that he got to Sharpay before they did.
He started for the stairs first, having manned the ground floor for quite some time now, even before the party crashers had arrived. He'd been stuck supervising everybody, insuring that none of his family's possessions were in danger of being broken. He and Sharpay had swept the house for any glass or crystal breakables before the party, but that didn't mean the items they left out couldn't end up damaged as well. With the music pounding and the lights spinning in different shades, it was easy to knock over something by accident. Then there was always a group of boys who decided chasing someone inside the house was a fabulous idea, which aggravated Ryan more than anything else. The theater boy could put up with a lot of crap, but for some reason it was this act of stupidity that always tipped his temper. But as he traveled up the stairs and away from the main event, his thoughts weren't focused on the rowdier guests or how great the turn-out had been, but rather on how Gabriella and Troy had known about the party in the first place. The thought nagged at him as he checked his sister's room and his own, leaving the gift bag on his bed before checking some of the guest rooms down the hall. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the piano player must've tipped them off. Isn't she getting awfully bold, he remarked bitterly as he continued his search, coming to one of the bathroom doors just as one of the theater kids came out from the room opposite.
"Oh hey," he greeted Ryan happily before snagging the crook of his arm and starting to lead him back to the main party downstairs. "Everyone's downstairs you know." Statistically, it was true. Most kids stayed within the living room and kitchen, although there were always groups of people who spread themselves all over the house. Usually by eleven, a group got together to play night games outside while the people inside played Sorry! and other party activities. Occasionally, Ryan ran into couples groping in a guest bedroom, but otherwise it was pretty clean. Well, other than the alcohol. Freshman year, Sharpay and Ryan had noticed that a good number of the theater kids were a bit intimidated by the Evans twins, to the point that they just stood and talked like robots at their parties. So between the hours of seven and nine, Ryan and Sharpay spiked the punch so everyone was a bit more relaxed. It was never enough to get anyone seriously wasted, but it kept everyone buzzed. And they replaced the spiked punch with the actual punch at nine, so no one got busted by their parents the next day about being drunk. In fact, the few people who had hangover symptoms the next day often believed that it was because they'd stayed up so late. It wasn't too hard to believe when the parties only started to die down at about three in the morning.
"Have you seen my sister?" Ryan asked. The boy on his arm was a little tipsy; his face reddening in blotches over the bridge of his nose and in the space well-beneath his eyes. Ryan couldn't help being amused by this rather innocent look, with Mitchell's curly brown-hair only adding to the effect. In fact, Ryan wouldn't be too surprised if he'd been aimlessly roaming the upstairs for the sake it, just like a little kid would.
"I haven't seen her in a while," he admitted. "Last I saw her, she was telling Cyndra off for wanting a turn on the karaoke machine." He then tried to mimic his sister's patronizing tone. " 'You want to break all the glass in this house?' that's what she said."
"Thanks," Ryan said as he allowed Mitchell to escort him back to the living room, only to excuse himself and wander into the TV room that was off the left side of the kitchen towards the back of the house and down a few stairs. Cyndra was there, singing in her high pitch as always, but Sharpay wasn't in sight. Susan, a nice girl who flirted too much with everybody, was trying to tell her to quiet down, but to no avail. No one took Susan seriously.
Ryan backed out of the room and towards the kitchen again, where the pantry dwelt in between, when he bumped into Troy.
"Sorry," Ryan stated, a little flustered as he stepped back and into the narrow hallway that was formed by the main stairway and the backside wall of the kitchen. Troy didn't appear as embarrassed as the blonde-haired boy was. Yet again, it was Ryan who had bumped into him.
"It's okay," Troy said, smiling a little. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," the other chirped, even though his mind was distanced to his unfulfilled objective and that he'd just ran over the basketball star.
"You just look a little red, that's all," Troy explained, although how he was able to perceive that in the dim and obscured lighting was beyond Ryan's logic. But that wasn't his first thought. He was more-so concerned over the fact that the basketball player had noticed his blush. Sure, he had been jaundiced over Troy getting the lead, but Ryan wasn't stupid. Besides being the most popular guy at school, Troy also happened to be the hottest with his dark complexion, caramel highlights, and piercing blue eyes. Not that Ryan had a shot or anything, but the fact that he'd just backed into him was enough to make him blush.
"It's just a little warm in here," he lied. Troy nodded once, and a sort of awkward silence filled in between the two. Ryan was about to excuse himself to find his sister when Troy attempted conversation again.
"This party is kind of tame." In which Ryan interpreted as 'lame'. So Troy had the audacity not only to show up to a party that he wasn't invited to, but to criticize it as well. I see how it is, Ryan commented internally.
"I'm sure you'd find it a little more exciting if you'd try the punch," Ryan offered about as coolly as he could manage before walking down the hallway and far from Troy Bolton. Jocks. Who was he kidding? Why did he blush for someone who can only think of insulting his party? Not only was it rude, but it showed pure disrespect for every effort that was put into creating the party-like atmosphere that Troy had the privilege to enjoy. Maybe Troy hadn't meant for his remark to come off the way it did, but Ryan felt insulted anyway.
Sharpay seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet, which was really a hard feat to pull off for an obnoxious rich girl. Ryan had looked through all the rooms on the main level, dissected several routes, hallways, and bedrooms on the upstairs, and he still came up empty handed. Finally, as his legs were starting to tire venturing from room to room, he got sucked into playing a game of Bullshit with some of the stage crew and that Asian kid who assisted Ms. Darbus with everything. It ended up being really fun, which far exceeded his expectations when he'd initially looked at the other players. Ryan could get about as manipulative as his sister, sometimes bossing the other theater kids around for sport, but he felt that he could be genuine with this group. Although they didn't know it, he appreciated each and every one of the players in that group for allowing him to have the only fun he'd experienced the entire night. Even before Gabriella and Troy had shown up, he had been reduced to manager of the place, not a participant. As the only responsible host, it was always up to him to make sure everyone had a good time and didn't attempt anything stupid that could get them all in trouble. It always proved to be an exhausting job, and he didn't miss it one bit as he counted cards and initiated conversation so as to distract the others from the mental part of the game.
It was the middle of their fifth round when Kelsi came by their card table, tapping Ryan's shoulder in her meek demeanor.
"Um, uh, R-Ryan," she started, her voice so soft he actually had to lean closer to hear her. "Sh-Sharpay would like to see you." Ryan felt a hot shiver cross his body as his thoughts were pushed back to Sharpay and the two party crashers. She probably ran into Gabriella or something, and naturally her fury was bound to twist in his direction. He started brainstorming his excuses as he left the card game and followed Kelsi down several different hallways into a secluded guest bedroom he hadn't realized their house had. The idea of using their residence as a bed and breakfast all of a sudden didn't seem like such a radical proposition his parents had considered doing a while back.
He entered the room only to stop at what he found. Sitting in a circle on the floor was Sharpay, Troy, Gabriella, Susan, Alan, two guys from stage crew, the stage-frightened girl from tryouts, and now Kelsi and himself. In the middle of the group on the carpet sat a large hard-covered book that he and Sharpay used to read in their youth, and on top of that was a glass bottle. His eyes instantly shifted to Sharpay's. Although it looked like she had come to terms with Troy and Gabriella being there, she also seemed to have devised the perfect party game in which she could wind up with Troy in a closet.
As he and Kelsi sat down, Sharpay explained the rules. As there were umpteenth versions of the game, Sharpay had to explain the Evans version. At least, that's what she nicknamed it. So, how the game was started in this version was that everyone was numbered off, with each number written on a piece of paper and placed into a hat (which was probably the only reason why Ryan was invited as he had to donate his fedora for this ritual). Sharpay mixed the numbers, but then a volunteer picked one out. Whoever's number it was started the game. Then the person who started spun the bottle, and the person it landed on would get kissed on the cheek. Afterwards, the one who received the kiss spun the bottle to figure out who the next kisser was, and that person would spin to see who they would kiss, and so on. Sharpay had to explain that part alone about five times before everyone paid attention long enough to understand the rule. Then she explained the fun part. The first few spins would result with a kiss on the cheek, which would progress to a kiss on the mouth, then with tongue, and the finale being locked in the closet for a minute so the kisser could do 'whatever' in that duration. The first person to chicken out would end the game. Kelsi stared wide-eyed at this prospect. Little did she know that most times, nobody did anything while they're in the closet. The two forced in that enclosure just stood there until their minute was up.
However, unlike most other versions of the game, gender meant jack-squat. If two girls, a guy and a girl, or two guys ended up being spun together, then they either had to get over themselves and do it, or call chicken. It actually served as a good rule. It made the common party game so much more fun. Ryan imagined how it would be if the entire basketball team had to play the Evans version of Spin the Bottle, deciding that it would indeed be the most hilarious thing to happen. Well, he decided, as he looked across the circle and at Troy Bolton, they had one anyways.
Gabriella volunteered to draw from the hat. Ryan was a little surprised that she would even play. For some reason, this game just seemed too risqué for someone as innocent and smart as Gabriella. And yet she looked eager to play. Maybe all those moves for her mother's job made her desperate to have a normal teenage party experience. Whatever floats your boat.
Alan was the first name drawn. There was a collective, 'oh', in anticipation and he looked nervous as he gave a weak spin. It landed on none other than Sharpay, to her horror, and Troy just about hooted and hollered over it, like a typical lunk-head basketball boy. Ryan smiled in amusement too. Alan wasn't a bad guy, just awkward to be around. It wouldn't be too surprising if he'd never kissed a girl in his life (besides his mother) and there was no doubt that no girl ever kissed him. However, Sharpay's pride won out and she let herself be kissed on the cheek instead of chickening out on round one. The next few were uneventful, as kisses on the cheek usually were.
Gabriella and Troy were the first to experience phase two, a kiss on the lips. But that wasn't eventful either since they were already dating. A few girl/girl pairings occurred, although girls were usually willing to kiss each other up to the point when they'd have to use tongue. About the third round of having to kiss on the lips and the bottle landed on Ryan to be the kisser. He spun and it landed on one of the stage crew guys. It was funny how deep homophobia ran in boys, to the point that they would avoid anything that would make them appear gay themselves, including any association with an open homosexual. The stage crew boy laughed at first when he realized the bottle landed on him, but quickly called chicken afterwards when he was reminded that the kiss would have to be with Ryan.
"Why do we even have this rule anyway," he complained though, hating that he was considered the weak one now. "That's kind of unfair, isn't it?"
"You knew from the start what you were getting into," Troy stated otherwise. "Suck it up and deal with it – you're a chicken." The boy glared at him but didn't argue with the jock's superiority. Troy had so far been pretty bold with his spins. He could always whip the bottle around a dizzying number of times before it would finally slow and come to an eventual stop. He never hesitated. He took his kisses and he gave them just as quickly. Yet again, he hadn't been paired up with another guy yet, but it was bound to come.
Round two started, although now the two stage crew boys were out, as they couldn't handle the idea of having to kiss another boy. It only skewed the probability of pairing girl/girl to be much greater. In fact, Ryan sat through the first two phases of the game without getting picked once. Kelsi had to kiss Gabriella on the mouth at one interval – which Troy seemed to enjoy watching – and Sharpay looked like steam was going to come out of her ears when she had to kiss Alan again! It was more laughable than anything else. Even the duos forced to kiss were starting to have a hard time keeping a straight face while doing it. Troy was still hopped up on seeing Sharpay's expression when he had to use tongue with Susan, and it took him three times to get the job done because he had to pause and laugh.
At one point, Sharpay and Ryan were paired with each other. There had been a little silence, a small hush, to all giggling and conversation when the two had landed together. Incest hadn't been addressed in the rules, and since it hadn't, it was fair game. The only ones who seemed not to mind the situation were Sharpay and Ryan themselves. They'd kissed each other plenty of times on stage, even though they'd just been pecks. Now, even though it was with tongue, it didn't seem much different. Ryan let her kiss him like that, and everyone in the circle made a sickening noise, which caused them both to smile when they released each other. Ryan felt a little light-headed, and tried not to dwell too hard on the fact that his sister just kissed him like that. It wasn't like it was a huge deal, but she was his sister. Perhaps the fact that he wasn't attracted to girls lessoned the meaning of incest to both of them, like it wasn't real because it couldn't. They simply couldn't mean anything more to each other than siblings, so kissing would never be a threat. Everyone else gave them a weird look, but Ryan just spun the bottle for the next victim of the game.
It wasn't long after that that they reached the final phase of the game: the closet. The first two picked for that were Kelsi and the stage-frightened girl, so everyone knew that the two of them were probably as frozen as statues in there, neither one moving. It brought a little humor to the rest of the group, although that dulled too by the time the sixty seconds were up. As much as they'd made a huge deal about this closet thing, it proved to be a bore. Everyone seemed to realize that no one actually did anything in there, which made it uneventful for the people outside as well as the people inside. Sharpay suggested that maybe the people paired together should be forced to do something while in the closet, and to insure that it happens, the outside people should be able to open the closet doors at a random time during the sixty seconds. Troy disagreed in that opening the doors would ruin whatever the group concoctions the duo to be doing in there.
The resolution ended up being that either the kisser had to have something in mind to do to the other person while in the closet, or take a suggestion from the group. The group would suggest what they should do before they go into the closet, then it would be up to chance of what would be decided. Of course, they all knew that someone wasn't going to follow either of those ideas, so it was decided that the group would come up with something to encourage the duo to follow the rules. The last part wasn't tagged on until Alan and Gabriella were the ones in the closet and it was clear to everyone that they were just standing in there. It had been Troy's idea to do something about it, so the rest of the group had gotten up and spooked the two by rattling the door and banging on the wall next to it. Two screams were the result, although it was hard to tell which scream belonged to whom. The rest of them started laughing and didn't stop until after they were out of the closet and spinning for the next two victims.
Gabriella whacked Troy playfully, insisting that what he had just done was cruel. He laughed and kissed her forehead as a form of an apology. Alan spun and it seemed to land coincidently on the very basketball player who had shaken them both up. Good-naturedly, Troy gave the bottle his classic whip of a spin, the bottle circling around the book seven complete spins before starting to slow down to an eventual halt. Everyone held their breath simultaneously – like they always did – when it finally ended to point at Sharpay.
Ryan could visibly watch his sister's face brighten. After spending nearly two hours playing this game with no luck in achieving a kiss she so desperately wanted from Troy, she now got to spend a minute with him in the closet. Troy rolled his eyes as she suddenly latched to his arm.
"All right, Troy, let's go," she encouraged him in that sappy voice she always used with him. But he wasn't looking at her, instead focusing on Gabriella as she threatened to scare him like he did to her.
"Dare you both to strip," Ryan called as his group suggestion. Troy was normally the king of these and called the shots, but now that he was forced to the closet, Ryan was the only one who could bring up an outrageous idea. Troy stuck his tongue out at him.
"We wouldn't want to get dirty now," he cautioned the blonde boy as his twin pulled his arm to follow her to the closet. As soon as the door closed behind them, Alan started his stopwatch, which lay near the middle of the circle, although not close enough to come into contact with the bottle. The group talked conversationally for a little bit, although a giggle-like noise that was clearly Sharpay brought their attention back to the pair in the closet. For the first time in this entire game, Gabriella didn't seem to enjoy what was happening. It wasn't like she hadn't been aware of her boyfriend's kisses with the others, but something about her being unable to see what was really going on behind the doors made her suddenly look uneasy. Alan and Susan's comments about what Sharpay and Troy could be up to didn't help her with that either. Ryan assumed that the fact that it was Sharpay didn't make the situation any better.
"Maybe they're faking it," Ryan said out loud, trying to give her some ease. Troy and Sharpay must've interpreted it as a jest, for suddenly an even louder giggling moan rose from the closet. An angry look that Ryan had never witnessed before spread across Gabriella's face, directed straight for the receptacle of clothing. It almost looked like she was going to get up and open the doors when the sixty seconds were up and Troy and Sharpay came out, a little more disheveled than the others had been. When he sat down, Gabriella leaned into him and whispered something in his ear.
"Ah, come on, let's stay a little longer," he disagreed, rubbing the top of her hand. "We're just starting to have fun again."
"It's just…it's getting late," she insisted.
"Let's just watch a few more rounds, okay?" He tried compromising. She looked sullen, making sure he knew that she didn't like that idea but didn't complain. Sharpay was still readjusting her hair and tucking away the strays, although it was clear with the amount of volume her hair possessed and the fact that she didn't have a mirror in front of her that she was never going to conquer all of them.
"Shar," Ryan prodded. "It's your turn to spin." She snapped out of her grooming and took notice of the bottle.
"Oh, yes," she agreed. "That." She turned to Troy, making sure she caught his eye as she flirtatiously spun the bottle so that it landed on him again.
"He just went," Gabriella protested, still angry about the first time he had disappeared into the closet.
"There's no rule that bans someone for going twice in a row," Sharpay insisted, sitting back confidently, enjoying her renewed superiority over the freaky math girl. She also seemed to hope that Troy would push the bottle the small distance to land back on her. But he didn't. He left it up to fate as he spun once again. His girlfriend sat back unhappily, growing very quiet in a manner that made everyone aware that she was upset. However, her expression slowly relaxed as the bottle finally stopped, the nose pointed at the other Evans twin.
Ryan sighed, knowing what this meant as he looked up slowly, waiting for Troy to call chicken. Troy might've been a bold player all the way through, but homophobia seemed to outweigh everything. To his surprise, Troy turned to look at the rest of the faces in the group.
"Any suggestions?" He asked. No one seemed to have an idea. Were people so grossed out that they couldn't even think of an idea for a silly game? They were all so quiet. Ryan was half tempted to call chicken himself, just so he wouldn't have to deal with this. Sure, Troy was putting up the calm front, but anything could happen once the doors were closed.
"Use tongue," the stage-frightened girl piped up. This released the awkward energy as they all chuckled at her proposition. Ryan got to his feet as the two walked over to the closet and went in. Instantly, he felt claustrophobic in the tight space, and standing next to a guy who remained several inches taller than him didn't ease his discomfort. He bit his lower lip nervously while he tried to think of something to say. They hardly ever talked to each other alone – in fact the conversation they had downstairs earlier in the night might've been the first. Ryan's brain was too tired to recall if there was any other time before that.
Ryan turned towards him a little, trying to remain as light-hearted as he could.
"It's all right, we don't have to," he assured him. "I get it, it's awkward." After all, the only thing worse than a straight guy having to kiss a boy was probably kissing a gay boy.
Troy scoffed at Ryan's offer.
"I'm not afraid to kiss a guy," he said pointedly, his intense blue eyes meeting Ryan's, making the blonde feel like he was being eaten alive until he looked away. It was going to be a long minute, he decided. He honestly didn't mind the idea of kissing Troy for a minute – well, how could he not, he thought to himself as he let his eyes slide over to take in Troy's sculpted body. Constant training kept his muscles prominent, and his natural golden tan that stuck to him all year long made him look like he jumped out of the Odyssey. Ryan was never blind to this, but this close-up was quite a different experience in the dim light. He tried not to let it go to his head. The last thing he needed was a rumor going around about how he'd turned into a needy whore after Troy Bolton kissed his as part of a game.
Ryan was snapped out of his musings when he heard the stopwatch go off, marking the beginning of their sixty seconds together. It felt simultaneous of when he heard the beep that – to his surprise – he found Troy already on his mouth, crashing his lips against his with a force Ryan couldn't penetrate.
The dancer's eyes widened in his shock as he stumbled backward in their confined space, unable to control anything, even as he gave limp attempts to push the basketball player off of him. I'm not ready! I wasn't ready! He insisted mentally but Troy paid no mind to his cognitive outbursts. In fact, with Ryan's forced step backwards, Troy only pushed him further and pinned him to the wall of the closet, Ryan's head hitting the back of it with a bang, initiating a headache that was going to haunt him for the rest of the night.
He was insatiable, Ryan decided, like a fire released from the confines of the pit, only to find an entire forest sickened with drought waiting to be devoured. Anything sensual or emotional about a lip-lock was burned to ashes at the ferocity Troy seemed to want him with, dominating his mouth with ease, leaving no room for participation from Ryan. The other was flustered and exasperated at what was happening, suffocated by the heat of their bodies that was becoming nearly unbearable, Troy's hot and quick breaths escaping in between each capture of Ryan's mouth, and the ever-sustaining knowledge of how small their enclosure was. Yet despite his discomfort, the surprise that hadn't left his face at all, and Troy's proximity to him being closer than anyone had ever been, Ryan was stupidly realizing he was starting to like it. That he actually enjoyed the sweating palms holding his shoulders in place; that he enjoyed the tongue in his mouth that was rough like he'd just swallowed a pound of powdered candy; and that not only were they mouth to mouth, but also chest to chest, hip to hip, and leg to leg. He liked this feeling of being wanted in such a way, even though it was borderline violent. No one had ever wanted Ryan Evans in such a way before, and he couldn't help but give in to somebody who did, even though it was just lust. Maybe that's why Troy wouldn't let him participate here, to insure that any attachment of emotions wasn't reciprocated. Just lust. No love. And yet there was something about the way Troy reacted to Ryan's unsuppressed moan as their hips crashed infinitely closer that made Ryan think, just for a second, that the playmaker liked being as intimate as he was, and not just participating in the game. A fleeting thought crossed the theater boy's mind of what the basketball team was going to think once they found out, but it was quickly drowned out in the intoxication of the heat.
And then, he was released. Ryan nearly had his knees buckle as he gasped desperately for air, although Troy kept him standing as he moved his mouth down his neck and to his collar, leaving each new patch of skin he came across red. The normally pale boy was flushed all over in the color, and Troy only seemed to be amused by this reaction.
He then let his hands slowly slide to his waist, untucking his dress shirt from his pants. Troy was demanding, making sure Ryan had melted underneath his touches that were progressively becoming more and more teasing before capturing his mouth in his again.
Ryan was a little more prepared for this one, and fought back a bit harder, making it difficult for Troy to gain access to his mouth, only to find this reaction well-received. It was so unlike anything else he'd experienced, for all the boys Ryan flirted with were so tentative and shy in their kisses, trying to figure out if they liked kissing boys. Troy, however, remained confident in behavior and concise in action.
With this new surge of defiance, Ryan pushed himself away from the wall, backing Troy away from him and managing to keep himself from being put in that demeaning position again. Troy seemed to welcome the counterattack, smiling playfully as Ryan forced Troy's shirt over his head and let if drop to the floor.
The two weren't separated for long as Troy soon brought Ryan's body close to him again, battling for his mouth while traveling his skin. Ryan's own hands were sifting through Troy's rather long strands of hair, not giving him the satisfaction of admiring his defined abdominal muscles and smooth complexion. They kissed each other with satisfaction, although it remained conflicting of where to go next with their time limit. Despite this, Troy pursued to move against him, igniting the moan he was daring to provoke, although he pulled away from Ryan's mouth immediately afterward and hushed him for making noise, the corners of his lips lifted to reveal the joke.
Ryan looked at him with fair incredulity for his brazen manner. He then remained lost in Troy's face, trying to remember that this was the same boy who was the captain of the basketball team, the most popular guy in school. He looked into his face, his thumb caressing his cheek innocently while he remained captivated by his eyes, wild and animal-like in the dark.
Troy bent to kiss his cheek, although the fire in his touch wasn't as demanding this time. He was slowly starting to return to his gentleman-like self.
"You look a little red," he whispered to him softly, his breath heavy as he smiled against his cheek. Ryan leaned against him, recovering a normal rate of breathing as he finally noticed how his heart beat wildly, trying to calm itself now that the heat of the moment was starting to dissipate. He then leaned in to reclaim his lips, teasing him several times by nearly withdrawing, only to come back. Troy encouraged him, although all the intensity from before was gone. It felt more romantic now – not just desire unleashed. Ryan was just about to grant him access to his mouth and tongue again when they both heard a beeping noise. Their minute was over.
Troy instantly broke away from him, grabbing his shirt from off the ground and pulling it back over his head. He ran a hand through his mussed up hair, making sure he could compose himself enough. As a last check, he glanced down at his jeans, making sure the fabric could hold him. Content with his appearance, he was the first to come out. Ryan truly believed he was the only one who saw the irony in that, before he too walked out after him, not even bothering to fix his appearance. He'd rather leave it to the imagination of those sitting in the circle of what exactly transpired in that minute.
Gabriella was nearly adamant about leaving shortly after their pairing in the closet. Hearing her talk to Troy was like listening to an echo – Ryan could hardly hear her with his head so fogged up with thoughts about her boyfriend. Now that they weren't forced in that confined space with each other, all the rational questions and thoughts were starting to come back. But it was too late now. When would he ever get a chance to talk to Troy about what really happened in there? Never seemed like a nice estimate.
Finally, she won out, and both she and Troy were standing, thanking their hosts for the party and announcing their departure. The twins stood up to say goodbye, Sharpay being theatrical as usual, and Ryan stating it mechanically, his attention still caught up in his thoughts, although his eyes always seemed drawn to Troy. The basketball player wished Ryan well, although he paused a little longer to add, "I guess it was a little exciting after all." He pushed up a smile so easily, and Ryan was just curious if anyone caught on to what he was saying. Or even how he was able to keep people from suspicion.
Sure, the small group that had played Spin the Bottle that night would jest at them days afterward about their time 'in the closet', but they had no idea what had really happened. Something more significant had occurred, although a silent truce seemed to be formed beneath Troy's departing words that neither of them were to say anything about it. Ryan couldn't even figure out what it was that made the whole situation important, but it was enough to make him realize that they couldn't speak of it again. It was their little secret.
Sharpay whispered into her brother's ear, "You know Ry, it wasn't a complete disaster that they showed up. I got to French Troy a little, after all." She beamed at this, her words set to make him jealous. He smiled back at her, his own experience fresh in his mind.
"Yeah, it was very interesting," he agreed, and that was the closest he ever got to commenting on it.