Chapter Text
Ryan could have dance of happiness (actually, he did).
He had gotten the part. He just couldn’t believe it. And not only that, he was going to be King George’s understudy and had been told by the choreographer that his help might be welcome in the dancing department…could things get any better?
He arrived to his first day at his new dreamed job with a smile on his face when a girl from the ensemble –Ariana, he recalled- approached him.
“Hi, you are Samuel Seabury, aren’t you?”
“Well, I am Ryan but, yeah, sure...why?”
She smirked, as if she had some kind of scheme going on.
“Um…nothing special just…there is this guy from the ensemble, he’s also from Albuquerque and I thought ‘Ey, was if Seabury and him know each other? Maybe they haven’t spoken because they didn’t know…’”
He froze, could it be…?
No, impossible, ridiculous.
“Ahem…thank you.”
Her smiled turned a bit mischievous.
“You are very welcome.”
It was actually him.
“What…what are you doing here?” The other man –because now they were men, not boys- turned, frowned with surprise at his sight and tentatively smiled.
“Dancing, apparently. Bet you’re pleased to know you were right.” He sighed. “I was in a NBA team (yeah, with Albuquerque college I also got there), everyone thought I was going to be the new star…so I decided to come out, on a live interview. About time, don’t you think?” He lowered his face, while chuckling sadly. “Terrible idea, they made it IMPOSSIBLE for me to play…they even boycotted my trainings! I got pissed and asked what was all about and, well, they told me I shouldn’t have said openly what I said because I was setting a bad example for the kids…good thing I kept going to dance school since I left home.” He made a pause, waiting for any kind of astonishment that didn’t come. “You don’t seem surprise.”
Because he wasn’t. All those years, he had kept in touch with Kelsi, who had done the same thing with Gabriella and Troy, still great friends with the man in front of him and he might (and only might) shown more interest than expected on Chad’s life.
However, he couldn’t say this out loud; it might sound…well, as stalky as it was.
“I…I am just too shocked to show it. What are the odds…? I also came out, last day of a show I was doing while I was still in Julliard…my parents haven’t spoken to me since. Good thing Shar doesn’t know how to shut up most times, so I still have family that speaks to me.” He laughed. “She came out six months later, I would have PAYED to watch my father’s face when he found out how ‘badly’ he had raised his children.”
His former classmate reaction to his tale was, at best, surprising. He broke into laughter.
“Ok, now I get it. That was why you weren’t surprised; you did the same I did…You asked about me!”
“I guessed…you were my first…” He started humming ‘Summer Loving’ from Grease and, this time, both laughed. “Ey, I…you…we were both scared kids, we had grown, changed but…would you like go and play basketball after rehearsal?”
“Wait, is Ryan Evans asking me to go play basketball willingly? I can’t say no to that kind of miracle.”
And, like this, a friendship was reborn.
-----
Being just friends lasted them less than a month. They met these adult versions of the other one to find out that they were just as compatible as the teenage ones were.
And, a certain day of June 2016, without even speaking to one another, they realized. This wasn’t a summer crush anymore.
It had happened in the play’s intermission. They were both in the backstage, resting and pretending not to be freaking out since they had been told that day’s performance was being recorded for prosperity.
Ryan acted first, turned into the other man’s face and pressed his lips to his.
Chad gave the perfect second act to their affectionate gesture, separating afterwards with an interrogating look, though he imagined what was about to happen.
“I want it all with you. I want the shared flat, the kid, the dog AND the cat. I want more kisses and all of the other…” He grinned. “…stuff whenever I want...Would you marry me?”
“You can be as bossy as your sister…YES.”
They kissed a third time, now covered by most cast and crew, clapping at them and exchanging money (they would have probably betted who was going to propose first).
This was a night they will always remember.
-----
3rd July 2020, a blond man with a five year old and their elegant black cat sat in front of their TV.
The kid groaned and his father perfectly organized his hair, annoying the little boy. They had finally managed to adopt their son –named, ironically as it could be, George- two years ago, being him already three.
At the beginning, he hadn’t spoken a word –apparently, he came from a pretty terrible home-, but within a few months he started acting as if he had been with the two men since birth; thing that warmed both their hearts.
“Why do we have to wait for daddy? He was THERE.” He complained while he played with a baseball ball he seemed to be as attached to as Chad had been with his basketball one as a teen.
Ryan was about to answer when the door opened, showing a man wearing a face-mask and his puppy (who run to the front of the TV and curled up there in an instant).
“Chad! A green face-mask with a blue T-shirt?! Are you serious?!” His husband gave him a look that clearly meant ‘Are YOU serious?”, cleaned his hands and took oof the said mask.
Without another word, he sat in the couch, kissed the other man with a ‘gross’ comment from George.
“So…we are watching it.”
“Yes, but George is leaving after intermission.”
“Of course he is.”
“But the number dad helped with the dancing was in the second act!”
“Yes, and you are specially NOT WATCHING THAT ONE.”
He tried to protest a bit more, but they shushed him as the Disney’s castle appeared with Hamilton music in the background.
This was all they could have asked for, you could bet on it.