Chapter 33: Cathartic

Troy Bolton was in a state of absolute nirvana as Ryan Evans's pink lips covered the athlete's toned upper body with feather-light kisses, tenderly doting on each bruise, no matter how faded. The blond adolescent changed his position to caress the basketball god's back. With a maternal lenience, he administered the slightest of touches to the boy's spine.

During his confrontation with Chace Cooper but two days before, Troy sustained a varying degree of injuries, although, he, thankfully, avoided a serious concussion. Most of the damage that was visible to the naked eye was on his back and his neck, both bearing unsightly, but, thank goodness, not horribly damaging or permanent afflictions. A panicked Ryan had to be assured of this multiple times.

There was still a part of Ryan that blamed himself for every blotch on the athlete's body, every blotch marring Troy's golden skin and causing him pain even though Ryan knew who was ultimately responsible for Troy's bruises.

Troy and Sharpay routinely reassured the blond that he was not to blame.

"You saved me, Ry. You saved me from that asshole, Chace. There's no way that any of this is your fault," Troy had murmured into Ryan's ear before adding sustenance to his words via a kiss pressed to the smaller boy's earlobe.

Troy's mother, Lucille and father, Jack, were seething when they found out about Chace's assault. They were furious that their son had been viciously attacked while alone in the hallway, and still recovering from an injury on top of it. Lucille was ready to press charges if Chace was not suspended immediately, referring to her son's assailant as a "no account hoodlum with no sense of what the hell he's doing with his future". She wasn't particularly pleased that her son had fought back, giving Chace blackmail and lawsuit fodder, but at least he had prevailed, even momentarily against his attacker.

Jack had gone immediately to the Principal Matsui before taking Troy home. He grit his teeth and withheld as much of his anger as he could while asking for Chace's expulsion.

"That kid threatened to beat my son to a pulp and then turn on the Evans boy!" Troy had quoted his father's words, deepening his voice to imitate the older Bolton.

Ryan's insides were warmed by the protectiveness Troy's parents displayed not only for their own son, but for him as well. He would have never thought it possible that so many people could love him.

Chace was suspended for two weeks. Expulsion was the promised punishment if he ever considered a follow-up attack on either boy. The Boltons agreed that the punishment was fair. The Evans parents were a bit more reluctant to settle for the "light" sentence, but Ryan promised them that he could handle himself. He had more than proved his ability to do so, after all.

Pride had filled Troy from head to toe upon hearing such confidence from his lover.

Once the issue of Chace's punishment had been decided, Troy had been taken to the hospital to have his injuries properly inspected. Lucille rushed there from work and Ryan rode along with Troy and Jack, far too anxious to leave the youngest Bolton's side. The doctor's diagnosis reassured them all. Troy merely needed to take it easy and his injuries would heal on their own.

The senior Boltons thanked the doctor who promptly left the room to write up a report on the damage.

"You could have taken that Cooper kid, Troy!" Jack aimed a playful jab at his son's thigh. "I know you picked something up between hanging with the guys, and lessons with your old man, on kicking some ass!"

Glaring at her husband's grin, Lucille reminded him, "We're very fortunate that Ryan came along to save Troy, otherwise our son might have passed out from asphyxiation or sustained damage to his skull, and then we would' ve been hearing the account of the attack from the paramedics."

Jack lowered his eyes apologetically.

Ryan, also quite embarrassed, found the floor highly captivating at that moment. Jack Bolton had made a point to thank him at least three times on the ride to the city hospital, marveling as he did so, "Knocked that Chace boy clean out. I had no idea you had it in you."

"It really wasn't a great feat, sir," the younger Evans twin had protested. "I just did what I had to do. What anyone would have done."

Although he felt exposed and rather uncomfortable with three sets of eyes focused on the marks on his naked upper body, Troy managed a smile and reassured his mother, and the other two occupants of the room, "I'm fine, really. You heard the doctor."

"Still…" Lucille trailed off, shaking her head. As Troy pulled his shirt back on, his mother turned to her son's boyfriend. "Thank you, Ryan."

Ryan had nodded, his eyes moistening. "Don't mention it, Mrs. Bolton."

"Ohhh, Ryaaan… Aah!" Troy groaned.

Ryan continued to litter light kisses along the virile boy's neck and throat, rapture filling him at the pleasurable response the action garnered.

The pain ringing about the basketball team captain's neck was all but eliminated by the simple contact.

Ryan's pink tongue traced a path along the sun-kissed flesh of his lover as he made his way to the brunette's extra sensitive ear.

Troy sucked in air before letting a low moan escape his mouth. He felt the petite actor's soft lips brush against his earlobe, hot, minty breath tickling his skin. The athlete's muscles rippled, clenching. He shivered, the hair on his arms and the back of his neck standing up as he expressed his delight at the other boy's touch. So… good. Yeah… He thought to himself.

The smaller boy softly bit down on the shell of flesh and cartilage.

An electroshock ripped through Troy's body, pooling into heat as it reached his lower stomach. "Ryan…" he moaned.

Moving away from the tender ear, Ryan returned his attention to his lover's neck and throat. He nipped gently at the other male's Adam's apple.

Wrapping his arms around the slender blond, the brunette drew him in. He rubbed his chest against Ryan's, watching the boy's pale face flush, and the ardent ache that wracked Troy's body intensified. Leaning in, he nibbled earnestly at his partner's full lower lip.

His sanity was nearly lost to him at the whimper of unabashed longing that met his ears. "Troooy…!"

"Oh, Ryan… Yes!"

The two of them fell back on the bed, parting lips to allow the intrusion of tongues.

Ryan slid a hand up Troy's shirt, caressing his burning flesh. "Mm…Troy.."

"Oh, Ry…!"

"Troy‽" His mother's voice came from the other side of the youngest Bolton's bedroom door.

The two boys pulled apart, blushing furiously. Troy could feel his loins throbbing in protest even as his heart thundered from the shock. Ryan issued an almost inaudible groan as the warmth of his lover's body withdrew.

Troy, in turn, let his detest be known. "God damn it!" He growled, clapping a hand over his mouth at his obscene dynamic. His cover was too late.

"What was that?" Lucille called.

"Err… nothing, mom! Just…" He looked wildly to the smaller boy for an excuse.

Ryan could only stare helplessly back, his blue eyes stretched wide.

"Umm…" Troy forced his frantic brain to continue functioning. "Playing video games!" He finally replied.

"Well," Lucille's tone was neutral.

Troy and Ryan exchanged a glance, neither willing to express relief just yet.

She went on, "why don't the two of you stop "playing video games" and go outside and get some fresh air."

Giving sighs of exasperation, both boys got to their feet, knowing that they had no choice otherwise. As Troy shook his head, Ryan consolingly rubbed at the taller boy's shoulder. Mothers and their frightening deduction skills, was the unspoken thought between them.

- Don't Let Me Drown-

As the two boys descended the stairs, their appearances more presentable, the brunette found his father looking at him, a slight smirk on the older Bolton's lips.

"What?" Troy asked, almost fearing the answer.

"Oh, nothing." Jack Bolton shook his head, his tone entirely unconvincing. "Go on outside.

The younger Bolton male's face began taking on a light crimson shade. Ryan took the initiative and lead Troy out of the room and into the kitchen. Once they had crossed the threshold of the backdoor and were well out of earshot, Troy grumbled, "What was that all about?"

Ryan gave him a strained half-smile. "Parents. You know they can be."

Troy nodded. Glancing about, they both had to admit; it was a nice day. The wind was moderate and the gleam of the sunlight was comfortable, rather than harsh. Ryan permitted Troy to lead him. He sensed that the virile boy had a plan for what they would be doing while they "got some fresh air". The athlete guided the actor to a spot behind the large oak tree that held the basketball player's childhood treehouse. Troy sat first, promptly plopping himself down on the ground and leaning back against the tree trunk.

Ryan hesitated for an instant. He knew how laborious of a task it was to remove grass stains from fabric. But, if Troy had no qualms with muddled green staining the seat of his jeans, then the theater king wouldn't, either. Daintily, he joined his lover, a voice, remarkably like his sister's chiding him internally to, "Stop being such a pansy!"

He felt Troy's arm drape across his shoulders and he fell happily into the embrace it offered him. A breeze rustled the leaves on the branches above their heads. A gust of wind blowing through his hair, Troy spoke up, "If you close your eyes… you can almost imagine that we're somewhere else, like maybe in Middle Earth."

Ryan perked up. "I've always loved the Shire. It's so homey and peaceful there."

"Yeah." Troy agreed. He paused, then added, " It's a damn pity that Frodo couldn't enjoy it anymore, and had to leave."

An unwarranted tidal wave of feelings flooded over Ryan. My heart is like a sponge, soaking up everything you say, everything you do, he thought. I would be nothing without you, nothing. Hell! I'd probably still be in that bed… "Troy?" He shifted his weight, moving so that he could look into the other boy's ocean colored eyes. So that he could reveal everything.

"Yeah?" Troy turned to face the blond boy.

"Y-You're the Sam to my Frodo," Ryan relayed softly, his voice cracking the slightest bit.

Troy smiled, his eyes sparkling. "I never thought I'd be so happy to be called a fat hobbit." He drew Ryan back into him and the two of them settled into the earlier positions.

Troy's heart beat against Ryan's ear, lulling him into a half-awake state. In this odd state of mind, he considered the circumstances. He no longer dreamed of being washed away downstream, the essence of his being slowed erased by lapping waves. There was no longer a feeling that he was being swallowed up by a violent tide that he could not escape from. His eyelids fell. He wouldn't fight slumber off. "This is all very cathartic, don't you think?" he murmured.

Another laugh came from Troy. "You and your big words." He squeezed Ryan's shoulder affectionately.

They remained that way for a while longer, finally dozing off under the warmth of the sun until Mrs. Bolton came out and roused them. "Sleeping outside unprotected isn't healthy," she chided the boys.

"Ryan and I were sharing a "cathartic" experience, mom," Troy returned, smiling as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Shaking her head bemusedly, the Bolton matriarch dismissed her son. "Go wash up for dinner."

"Yes, mom," the brunette called over his shoulder as he walked back into the house.

"Yes, Mrs. Bolton," Ryan's light voice followed, his inflection courteous.

Lucille shook her head as, believing that she could not see them, Troy offered Ryan his hand, and the smaller blond boy took it, before they entered the house together. She smiled to herself, pleased that her son had found someone who not only had a proper upbringing, but loved him unconditionally, which was certainly an improvement on his previous partner.

Even with the uncanny observational skills all mothers are naturally equipped with, there was one thing that escaped her. She could not tell that the same blond boy with the dazzling smile and soft spoken, laid back personality, not even a month ago, would have most certainly died had it not been for her son's timely intervention. She was unable to discern, to see the subtle scarring beneath the pale skin of the Evans boy that told of garish events that were better off long forgotten.

The exterior scars were fading fast and his weight was nearly back to where it had been the previous year, two facts that would put Ryan's mind at ease. As long as no one other than Troy and himself was unfortunate enough to retain the knowledge of the full extent of the two boy's experiences together, it would be that much easier to heal.

And, although Ryan himself wished that Troy would be sporting no battle scars when they emerged, they were indeed emerging, a fact that was very cathartic indeed.

A/N: I send out my sincerest apologies that this update has taken me so long. Fear not, I have not lost my passion for this story, as it needs to be told. I've just found myself getting caught up in some personal issues.

I promise you, my dear readers, that will not happen again.

The next chapter focuses on more internal analyses and leads up to an event that is long overdue. Stay tuned!