Ugh, ahem… hi there, you still remember me? That's right, I'm the terribly lazy author who started writing a Christmas fic and then abandoned it for like two months.

Guys, I'm so sorry. I really hope there are still some people out there waiting for this to go on. And go on it will. The massive writing-crisis seems to be over at last and so I've decided that I'm gonna finish this, no matter that Christmas has long passed. I'm sure you all possess enough imagination to pretend it's still Christmas time, am I right?

Okay, here goes the next part. It's probably the second to last.

Truly heartfelt thanks to all those who reviewed and put this on alert. I can't tell you how much it's appreciated (and needed to make me get my lazy ass up and writing). Thank you so much.


Christmas something

Part Three

As hard as Ryan tried to find out why his sister suddenly "cared" so much for his happiness and why she was so desperate to have him and Chad go public by performing a song together at the Christmas party, Sharpay wouldn't let her guard down.

Whenever she'd come waving notes in his and Chad's face trying to talk them into singing together (which the basketball star had stubbornly turned down every time) Ryan had started pestering his sister for spilling her reasons. Without luck; Sharpay was, had always been and would always be the more headstrong twin and Ryan wouldn't get anything out of her.

And then, one day before Christmas Eve, Sharpay suddenly changed her mind.

"Ryan," she declared over breakfast, "I think we should rehearse our performance at least once before the party."

Ryan nearly choked on his orange juice.

"What?" he asked incredulously and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Our performance? Since when…"

"Oh come on, Ry! If your basketball freak is too chicken to sing with you then… pfft!" Sharpay shrugged indifferently. "There hasn't been an Evans-free Christmas party since… ever, so we have to uphold the family tradition, right?"

"Ugh, sure, whatever," the blond boy muttered surprised.

"Good," Sharpay nodded satisfied, "we're gonna meet tomorrow morning for rehearsal then. Ten o'clock sharp."

She stood up swiftly and in walking away threw over her shoulder:

"And don't be late!"

Ryan watched his twin leave with a frown on his face before he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey Shar," he shouted after her, "what are we going to sing?"

"Don't worry Ry," came the swift reply, "I found the perfect song. I'll tell you later. Now hurry up, we're leaving in half an hour! "

She sent a brilliant smile along and then vanished through the glass door into the entrance hall.

"Okay," Ryan mumbled and stood up, too. He quickly stole another croissant from the basket before he made his way over to his' and Chad's secret hide-out at the end of the hall. Half an hour was enough time to get a bit of making-out done after all, wasn't it?


Chad and Ryan both had decided that today they'd need some time apart in order to get their Christmas shopping done. Because you couldn't buy a gift for your boyfriend with the other constantly lurking about, could you?

Ryan and Sharpay usually went to the noble boutiques Pallanah had to offer and therefore Chad had planned to take his younger brothers to the tourists shopping center. That way the chances of accidentally running into each other (and spoiling the Christmas surprises) would be practically nonexistent.

After breakfast (and after their too short make-out session) Ryan had left with his sister while Chad had gone back to his room to enjoy some rather rare alone-time. The shopping trip with his brothers was planned for the afternoon, because, really… how long would it take to buy a single Christmas gift?

Chad was lying on his bed sifting leisurely through a sports magazine when there was a sudden knock on his door.

"Yeah?" he asked and turned into a sitting position.

"Hey there, you got a sec?" Tom asked when he stuck his head cautiously through the door.

"Sure, come in."

The older man entered and after some silent nervous fidgeting he leaned his back against the huge window and asked:

"So Chad, you're… ugh… friends with Ryan Evans, right?"

Chad threw a surprised look back and answered hesitantly:

"Yeah, why?"

"Good friends?" Tom inquired further.

"Yes," Chad said and was about to ask where this questions would lead to when Tom spoke again:

"Just friends?"

'What the fuck…?' Chad thought panicked and jumped from the bed. Did Tom know something? Had he maybe seen them together? Ryan and he had always been stealthy when stealing away to one of their 'defrosting sessions', hadn't they?

The panic must have shown on Chad's face because the next second Tom hastily clarified:

"It's okay, Chad! It's really none of my business but… you see, I know that Ryan is gay and so I… well, I just thought…"

"Wait, how do you know Ryan is gay? I didn't know you knew him that well!" Chad frowned and started pacing back and forth.

Now suddenly Tom was the one to look slightly panicked. Several seconds went by before he came up with an answer:

"His father and I have done business together several times and besides… the Evans's have come here for the Holidays ever since… ugh, I don't know exactly… several years at least."

His face had changed into a small dreamy smile as if he was remembering the Evans family through the years. Chad watched his mom's boyfriend silently; not knowing what to say.

After what seemed to Chad like several minutes Tom came out of his thoughts and threw a close look at the dark boy. Then he offered Chad a reassuring smile and, walking to the door, said:

"Chad, you know me enough by now to recognize that I'm okay with people being gay. And I wouldn't think any less of you if you'd tell me that you and Ryan… you know." Tom had reached the door by now and opened it. "But… if that were the case then you should think about telling your mom. You know that she doesn't like secrets. And I'm sure she'd support you and she wouldn't love you any less if you were gay. After all, she likes Alex, too. Right?"

And before the dumbfounded Chad had the chance to say something in return Tom had stepped out of the suite and into the halls.

Chad stared at the slowly closing door, the confused "Who's Alex?" heard only by himself.


Chad was still trying to figure out what the small chat with Tom had been about when his growling stomach suddenly signaled lunch-time.

"Shit!" he cursed and jumped from the bed. "I still haven't thought of a gift for Ryan!"

Well, of course he'd bought the obligatory hat (a ridiculously cute red fedora with tiny white hearts all over it and with the band designed the same but in reversed colors – white with tiny red hearts). But giving Ryan a hat as a present was about as lame as it would be for Chad to get a slogan T-shirt. It was kind of clichéd: Ryan collected hats just like Chad collected T-shirts with sayings on them.

Any idiot could have thought of it and thus it wouldn't be a very personal gift.

And Chad wanted a personal gift for Ryan; something really special that showed his boyfriend how much he truly cared for him.

Well, easier said than done; that much was clear for Chad as he now made his way over to his mom's suite to meet the rest of his family for lunch. He'd only half a day left to come up with the perfect gift for his perfect boyfriend.

Oh boy!


The afternoon sun was already disappearing behind snow-covered mountains by the time Chad and his little brothers returned from their (thankfully successful) shopping trip. Leaving the boys to get ready for the Christmas Eve dinner Chad rushed into his room and placed the shopping bag onto his bed with great care.

It wouldn't do to damage the precious gift now, would it? Not after all the trouble he'd gone through to find it.

Chad pulled the gift slowly out of its bag and eyed the sparkling wrapping fondly. It was simply perfect. He'd found the perfect gift for Ryan!

Well, actually it had been Linus who'd stumbled upon it this afternoon. And Chad had been so happy about it that he'd actually forgotten to scold the little brother-monster for running off unnoticed.

Chad had frantically searched half an hour for his wayward brother before he'd found Linus in a small shop full of the oddest things you could think of.

Ready to launch into a full-fledged lecture he'd started to pull the mini-devil out of the shop when he'd suddenly noticed the small and sparkling object Linus had held clutched to his chest with both hands.

One look at the delicate glass sphere with the miniature baseball figurines inside had driven all the fury from Chad's mind and his face had changed into a huge grin when he'd taken the thing to the counter to pay for it.

Now the glass ball was securely seated in a wooden box and wrapped tightly and Chad just couldn't wait to see Ryan's face when he unwrapped it.

With one last fond pat he put the gift back on the bed and stood up to grab a quick shower and dress for dinner.

Thinking about what would await him later Chad suddenly felt a nervous fluttering settle in his stomach. Today would be the first time his family would share a table with the Evans's for the evening.

This morning Tom had finally managed to catch up with his long-time business acquaintance Vance Evans and both men had decided that something like "both families get together for dinner" was long overdue.

When Chad had heard about it at lunch he'd been thrilled at first. Dinner with Ryan!

But then he'd started wondering if this was maybe some sort of devious plan of Tom's. Maybe he was planning to force Chad into revealing to his mom that he was gay and in a relationship with Ryan.

And as much as Chad truly wanted to come out to his mom (he'd thought about how to do it best the entire afternoon)… he didn't think that announcing it over dinner with both families around would be the right way to do it.

The problem was, Chad hadn't been able to come up with a plan on how to act during dinner yet. And he also hadn't had a chance to talk to Ryan about it. His boyfriend's cell phone had been disconnected the whole afternoon (no doubt one of Ryan's schemes to prevent Chad from pestering him about his Christmas present).

So now he didn't have any idea on how Ryan thought about all this and how to act.

Best would be to be his normal joyful self and act as if Ryan and he were just friends until he'd get a chance to talk things through with his boyfriend.

"Can't be too hard to act like we're just friends, can it?" Chad muttered to himself before he pulled his shirt over his head to get into the shower. "After three months together some of Ryan's acting skills must have rubbed off on me. And after all, it's just a dinner!"


This wasn't a dinner, this was hell. Chad was sure of it.

He'd been sure of it the moment he'd watched Ryan and his family enter the dining room. One look at Ryan, one small glimpse at the sheer magnificence that was his boyfriend, and Chad had known for sure that pretending to be just friends with that… that walking gorgeousness would be an impossible task.

Maybe not-seeing his boyfriend the entire day after a week of really close proximity had something to do with it. Chad didn't know nor care. But…

He couldn't take his eyes off of the blond boy.

Chad had watched Ryan approach the table wearing an outfit that hid nothing and promised everything. Incredibly tight fitting black pants showed off Ryan's lean legs and the burgundy satin shirt under the black blazer clung to his chest and left nothing to imagination. A matching burgundy newsboy cap completed the outfit and Chad had tried really hard to concentrate on the sparkles on top of the cap to prevent his thoughts (and his blood) from running wild.

But no matter how hard he hadn't looked too closely, he still had to shift nervously in his seat and had to fight a blush from taking over his face.

And yet somehow he'd managed to get through the opening scene and its introductions without following the urge to jump his boyfriend right there and then.

Ryan had of course noticed Chad's discomfort and he'd had the cheek to throw sly smirks over the table every now and then.

And Chad hadn't even dared to try and kick Ryan's shin under the table more than once because that first attempt had ended in Mrs. Evans looking irritated under the table for whatever had bumped against her designer-pumps.


Throughout the first few dinner courses the conversation at the table had mostly been led by Linus and his cute but sometimes embarrassing curiousness.

Alyssa Danforth had more than once felt the need to apologize for the bluntness of her youngest but Vance and Darby Evans had obviously taken no offence by whatever came out of Linus' mouth.

On the contrary, it seemed that especially Darby was truly fond of the small boy and his off-hand remarks and nosy questions.

Vance and Tom, who conveniently sat next to each other, mostly talked about business until both Darby and Alyssa ordered them to let business rest for once. It was Christmas Eve after all, wasn't it?

Both men apologized quickly to their spouses and tried to steer the talk into a lighter direction.

Sharpay and Ryan shot a matching grin over to Chad; all three of them silently agreeing that in both families it were obviously the women who wore the pants.


By the time dinner was nearly done and everyone was enjoying their desert Chad was sure that the evening couldn't get worse.

Not only was he ready to burst any moment from suppressed sexual tension (why for God's sake did Ryan have to look so amazingly sexy in burgundy?). No, he was also feeling incredibly stupid and completely embarrassed because of the painfully dumb childhood stories his mom had told to everyone's amusement (well, everyone's but his that is).

So while everybody was having a wonderful time listening to "When-Chad-was-young" tales the dark-haired boy kept sending silent prayers towards God or whoever was up there watching over them. He wished for something to happen; something to make someone else the center of attention.

Well, wishes just happened to be horses today because only a moment after Chad had made his plea someone else became (or rather made himself) the center of attention.

But not in a good way, absolutely not.


Much to everyone's unease the two mothers had soon started a rather delicate topic.

"So," Alyssa spoke towards Darby, "I know that Sharpay has been seeing Zeke Baylor for some time now."

"Yes," Darby answered with a smile, "and what a charming young man he turned out to be. He's polite and truly amiable. And so devoted to her! He bakes and cooks for her all the time, doesn't he?"

"Just what our princess deserves!" Vance chimed in.

"Of course he's devoted to me, why wouldn't he?" Sharpay stated matter-of-factly.

Ryan rolled his eyes and shared a grin with Chad over the table.

"And what about you, Chad?" Darby suddenly addressed the jock at her side. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

The grin froze on Chad's face and he stared at Mrs. Evans in shock. "Me? Ugh… well, no. I, ugh…"

"Chad went out with a nice smart girl a while back but lately…" Alyssa offered her son a gentle smile, "There hasn't been anybody lately, right, honey?"

Chad threw a quick glance at Ryan who found his caramel cream desert to be very fascinating all of a sudden. No help from there.

"Ahem, well…" Chad stuttered, "you know… I, ugh…"

"No need to be ashamed, Chad. You're young and I'm sure the right one will come someday!" Mrs. Evans offered. Then she took hold of Ryan's hand on the table and squeezed it affectionately.

"After all, Ducky hasn't found the perfect match yet either."

"Mom," Ryan groaned and at the same time Vance let out an embarrassed cough and quickly asked around:

"Who wants more ice cream?"

"Me, me!" Linus and Miles squealed in unison.

The waiter approached after a quick wave from Vance and while he took in everyone's order Sharpay leaned towards her father and said:

"Thanks for changing the subject, Daddy. There's really no need to discuss Ryan's love life while having dinner."

Vance's only reply was a quick pat of his daughter's hand before he turned to Tom again. He didn't hear Sharpay add thoughtfully:

"Or… any other time in fact."

"Oh, well…" a voice from behind suddenly chimed in, "I for my part would love to hear all about Ryan's love life. Especially the parts where I'm co-starring."

Everyone's head shot around to look at the new arrival.

A man, possibly in his early twenties, stood tall and broad-shouldered behind Ryan's chair; clad in faded jeans and a stylish black leather jacket. With a sly smirk on his handsome face he grabbed Ryan's shoulders from behind and leaned down to the stunned boy.

"That's the best part after all, isn't it, Ry?" he whispered seductively. And with everyone at the table still staring open-mouthed at him the man placed a quick peck onto Ryan's blushing cheek before standing up straight again.

He'd made two steps towards the head of the table when Tom finally snapped out of his stunned stupor and jumped up from his seat.

"Alex!" he exclaimed enjoyed and pulled the stranger into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought it would be a nice surprise to visit my dad for Christmas!" Alex answered with a huge grin and returned the hug.

"Oh, and visiting old friends, too of course," he added when he'd stepped out of his father's embrace to greet the other occupants of the table.

"Darby, Vance… nice to see you again."

"Likewise, son!" Vance replied and shook the offered hand. Darby received a formal kiss on the hand and smiled at the perfect manners Alex displayed. After that the young man turned to Sharpay with a gleam in his eyes and offered her a hand-kiss, too.

"Sharpay," he addressed the beaming girl, "you've become quite a dish."

"Well, thanks," Sharpay waved off good-natured, "I'd say likewise but… well, you're a tad too gay for my taste."

The Evans's, except Ryan who still seemed shell-shocked, shared a kind laugh with Alex. They were apparently used to this kind of friendly banter.

Alex turned towards Alyssa next and took her hand in both of his. "Mrs. Danforth, it's really nice to meet you again so soon."

"You too, Alex," Chad heard his mom reply, "but I told you to call me Alyssa, didn't I?"

Chad had watched the whole scene frozen to the spot but now he suddenly came out of his stupor.

"You know him?" he threw confused at his mom who simply nodded and smiled.

"You must be Chad!"

Alex had meanwhile walked up to Chad's side of the table and was now offering an outstretched hand. "I've heard so much about you!"

Chad stared from the hand to his mom and then back and finally lifted his head to meet the greenest eyes he'd ever seen.

Wow!

He shook the strong hand and held the look for a few seconds until he noticed the green eyes wandering astray and over to Ryan with something like… raw hunger in them.

What the heck…?

Wasn't that HIS boyfriend the guy was so damn openly devouring with his eyes?

"Can't say the same about you, dude. Sorry!" Chad growled and pulled away from Alex' firm grip.

The sudden hostility didn't seem to have any impact on Alex' cheerfulness. He sauntered over to Ryan's side and gently put his hand onto the blonde's shoulder.

"Oh, never mind," he waved off. "There's not much to know about me."

'Again with the touching!' Chad thought distractedly, 'Why is he always touching him?'

Alex had meanwhile grabbed a chair from the next table and sat down next to Ryan.

"I'm just Tom's wayward son Alex, who my dear father ever so often forgets to mention."

"Hey," Tom quickly protested but Alex just threw him a smirk and went on casually:

"Oh, and I'm also this precious jewel's boyfriend. Or... kind of."

HUH?

And before he even knew what was happening Chad had to watch in horror how Alex leaned closer to Ryan to give him another peck on the cheek.

And Ryan?

He didn't do anything.

Chad closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" he forced out between clenched teeth and bolted from the table.

What the hell was happening here?


TBC

I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter because… well, I thing there's too much narration and not enough dialogue in here. And I didn't find a way to include some Linus-cuteness. Sorry for that. I'll try harder in the next chapter.