Chapter 19: Reunited

There were clear spaces in the fog that had dominated Ryan's mind, and through these "windows" as he dubbed them, he was bale to make out bits and pieces of what Troy had said while his mind, not his brunette love's had been M.I.A.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Sharpay? He's your goddamn twin brother! …Treating him like shit? …. He would give his fucking life for you! …Come on… Deep breathes… Breathe.

He awoke, finding himself curled upon his bed; Troy's soundly sleeping form sprawled out next to him. Looking at the other male, his bosom swelled with happiness, gratitude and love. Gently, he brushed away several strands of brown shot through with copper from where they fell along the boy's brow and kissed him softly. "Thank you, Troy!" He choked out in a whisper. "Thank you for doing what I could not… At least, not yet, I can't."

As he settled himself, snuggling into his lover's arms, there was a gentle rapping on his bedroom door. "Ducky, darling?"

Only one person ever called him "Ducky" and spoke so softly to him. "M-Mom?" He called out cautiously, daring to hope.

"May I come in, dear?"

"Yes, it's unlocked." He kept his voice low so as not to disturb Troy whom he could easily tell was worn out by the stress of the day and his confrontation with the "Ice Queen", as Sharpay's classmates had come to call her.

Mrs. Evans entered her son's bedroom for the first time in over a month.

Ryan could read guilt and sadness in his mother's blue eyes. No. I don't want to see you upset, mom. Talk to me. Smile. Don't be upset. I'm not worth it.

"I heard you're dating Troy," Derby Evans ventured.

"Yeah," Ryan smiled.

She made sure to keep her voice low as well. She could tell that Troy and her son were both completely drained. The poor dears, her maternal instincts fretted. "He's a lovely boy." She returned the smile. "Does he make you happy, dear?"

Her son's blue eyes sparkled as they hadn't in so long. She missed that sparkle. "More than I can say."

Derby was filled with more bliss than she could ever express. And Ryan could perceive this. She wanted to set things right. She wanted to apologize for all of the pain and abuse her son had suffered because of her neglect. She wanted to shower Troy with endless gratitude for intervening when he did. The boy was a godsend, an angel.

Ryan didn't want to hear an apology. His nerves were shot. He had experienced every emotion known to mankind in less than ten hours. He didn't want to relive the summer through his mother's unknowing words. Instead, he lightly kissed the end of his index finger.

Seeing this familiar ritual, Mrs. Evans took the invitation and kissed her own finger, tears welling in her eyes.

Ryan touched his finger to his mother's and she pulled him into a moist-eyed hug.

"I missed you, dear."

"I missed you, too, mom."

A sobbing mother held her son, shedding tears of sadness. And when she finished, she shed fresh tears of joy for her son's redemption of her. Troy awoke, disoriented and his hair mussed from slumber and she pulled him into the embrace as well.

The brunette male caught the blond's eye and the two of them shared a smile. Ryan's mother was back in his life and she accepted his relationship. His heart full, he luxuriated in the closeness and warmth of his mother and his lover's bodies.

There was closure at last.

Troy entered Ryan, licking a hot trail down his ear and neck. In a state of perfect sexual nirvana, the blond rode his lover's length. After both of them reached climax simultaneously, muffling their orgasms with a kiss, Ryan broke off and nibbled tenderly at Troy's jaw line. "Call me inexperienced, but you're positively brilliant at this," he praised.

Flushed, the brunette grinned, "I just let my instincts take over."

"You've got damn good instincts," Ryan growled suggestively, a smile decorating his lips. Obviously candy pink was the color of the day.

"I pride myself on that fact," Troy remarked, groping his boyfriend's pert butt.

"Oh!" The blond exclaimed. "I can see why," he purred, "Your instincts have given you- Mmm!- amazing talents."

Troy continued to squeeze exceptionally round, luscious ass, feeling a new wave of arousal churning in his stomach. "Amazing, huh?" He pressed himself to the boy's back, his blood surging to his member.

Feeling heat emanating from the muscle that dug into his backside, Ryan let out a gasp. "Mmm… Trooooy!"

Reaching around the slender boy to his front side, Troy reached up underneath Ryan's midnight blue dress shirt and teased his pink nipples.

"Yes!" Ryan cried. He pressed his rump to the tent in his partner's boxers.

"Does that feel good?" Troy prompted in a syrupy tone.

Ryan bucked his hips. "Aah! Yes! Ohhhh…!" Perhaps he was a hedonist. All he knew for sure was that Troy's touch, the touch of the one he loved, drove him insane.

"You like that?"

"Hell yes I do!" Ryan's voice was strained.

Seizing the basketball god's hand, the theater king guided it towards his bulge which was tight, hard and aching with sharp need.

Both of them emitted a simultaneous outcry, but the school was next to empty. No one could hear them, so there was no fear of discovery. They could be as uninhibited and adult as their hearts and hormones desired.

"I'm going to squeeze you, is that okay?"

As if I would deny you anything! Ryan had Goosebumps and his arousal ached fiercely just thinking about it. "Yes, by all means! Go for it, Troy!"

That being all of the encouragement he needed, Troy groped the stiffened muscle through the fabric that just barely concealed it. He set up a rhythm, their breaths coming at a short, rapid staccato pace as sounds of pleasure laced the air.

"Yeah, go for it, Troy!" A third male voice joined theirs.

Stunned, the intimately joined pair froze.

Troy recognized the voice for it had called out drills to him everyday of his life. "Dad?" He choked out, incredulous at seeing his father and coach standing there, his temperament unaffected by the situation.

Ryan took on the deer-in-the-headlights look, perturbed not for himself, but for Troy. However, something told him that reprimanding and scolding his son for engaging in nipple play and stimulation of the genitals of another male was the farthest thing from the senior Bolton's mind.

As Troy gaped at his father, Jack told his boy, "Close your mouth, Troy."

Dumbfounded, Troy struggled to speak, floundering.

Ryan did what he could and straightened himself out before doing the same with his sex god lover and at last taking his hand to provide comfort and reassurance. I'm here, love. I'm here.

"What's the matter, Troy? Cat got your tongue?" Jack Bolton grinned.

Finding his voice once more, Troy asked, "Aren't you… aren't you…?"

"Mad? No way."

Troy and Ryan glanced at one another, their expressions reflecting the same thing; shock.

"What did you really expect me to do?" The elder Bolton continued. "Kick your ass for being brave and falling in love and then tell the Evans boy that he can't see you anymore?"

"No. Of- Of course not! I'm just surprised that you're taking this so well, dad." Troy managed a half smile.

Ryan was nearly convinced that his heart was going to explode and he was going to require resuscitation.

"You know I'm all for whatever makes you happy. I could careless if you were dating a Norwegian prostitute. As long as-"

"Ryan," Troy chipped in.

"As long as Ryan makes you happy, he's part of the family."

Jack couldn't help but feel a rush of happiness as a genuine smile broke out on his son's face, which Ryan amply returned. He and his wife, Lucille had always known that Gabriella wasn't right for Troy. They had been waiting for their son to ditch the succubus and find someone that could make him happy and would love him for all his quirks as well as his exterior. And after overhearing Ryan's defense in the hallway the day before when that crock of lies was printed in the school paper, he knew right then and there that his impulsive son had made the right choice. "Just clean up when you're done."

Troy blushed furiously, humiliated at the innuendo. "Dad!" He exclaimed, his cry meeting his father's unresponsive back as the senior Bolton walked away.

Although blush dusted Ryan's fair cheeks as well, his smile had not faded. He was overflowing, bursting at the seams with joy.

"What?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

Ryan didn't answer him either. Instead, he pulled him into a kiss, the entrance of his tongue gladly received. Grinning to himself, Troy realized that he didn't mind the lack of an answer. After all, it would be quite difficult for Ryan to talk when his tongue was "tied up".