Chapter Text
Ryan Evans, Chad concluded, was completely and utterly ridiculous. There was no other explanation for the way he danced from base to base, and frankly, Chad would be more bothered by that if he hadn’t been too busy being in awe of how good Ryan was at baseball. Chad levelled the blond boy with a glare as he made it safely to third base, and instead of receiving a glare in return, he was rewarded with a little dance step.
Against his better judgement, Chad smiled.
Chad took sports rather seriously, and he’d never been one to be friendly with the competition, but seeing the way Ryan beamed in response to his smile, he decided maybe just this once he could afford to be a little nicer. That didn’t mean he’d go easy on Ryan though; after all Ryan, despite the almost-teasing manner in which he pranced around the diamond, was giving the game his best, and Chad was nothing if not competitive.
A trait that Ryan shared, if the way he tensed whenever Chad’s team pulled ahead was any indication. Chad smiled as Ryan let out a little noise of frustration as one of Chad’s teammate tapped one of Ryan’s runners out before they made it to base – maybe he and Ryan had more in common than he’d initially thought – and when Ryan caught him staring and rolled his eyes, Chad only smiled wider.
It was a close game, both sides evenly matched, but then Chad slid home just a fraction of a second before the ball landed in Ryan’s hand and that was it. They had won, and Chad’s teammates surrounded him to celebrate, but Chad’s attention remained the boy who was picking himself up from the ground. Even though his back was to Chad, he recognised the defeated slump of Ryan’s shoulders.
Ryan might have lost the game, but it didn’t diminish the fact that he’d been brilliant on the diamond, and Chad didn’t think that anyone who was that amazing should look so down afterwards, no matter the results.
“Hey Evans,” he called, and Ryan stopped. “I’m not saying I’ll dance in your show, but if I did, what would you have me do?”
When Ryan turned around with a smirk on his lips, Chad immediately regretted his words. He shouldn’t have encouraged Ryan, he decided, because something warm blossomed in his chest at the happy glint in Ryan’s eyes, and Chad would probably do a number of crazy things to keep Ryan happy. So really, encouraging Ryan was not a good move for Chad’s pride.
“Actually, don’t answer that,” Chad interrupted as Ryan opened his mouth to reply. Instead of looking affronted at being cut off, Ryan’s smirk only turned into a proper grin.
Chad sighed, more for show than anything, walking away from his teammates and towards Ryan, throwing an arm over his shoulders and directing both of them towards the staff locker rooms.
Ryan attempted to put his arm over Chad’s shoulders as well, although he wasn’t quite tall enough to pull it off. Laughing, Chad used his free hand to pull Ryan’s arm, readjusting it so that Ryan’s hand curled around his waist instead. Ryan turned to him, wide-eyed and a faint blush dusting his cheeks, and Chad only smiled.
“Never pinned you as the touchy type,” Ryan teased.
Chad reached up to pull of Ryan’s hat, ruffling his hair before switching it with his own baseball cap. Ryan started to protest, but Chad spoke over him. “I play a contact sport,” he pointed out, finally letting go of Ryan once they arrived at the locker room.
“Fair enough,” Ryan replied, although his attention had already moved on from teasing Chad. His nose wrinkled in disgust as he pulled the front of his shirt away from him, inspecting the dirt streaked on it.
“Take it off,” Chad commanded, and Ryan’s eyebrows raised halfway to his forehead before Chad could clarify. “I’ll wash it for you,” he continued, gesturing at the row of sinks next to the lockers.
“Oh,” came Ryan’s rather eloquent response. It almost made Chad smile. And then blinking out of his stupor, Ryan pulled the shirt over his head without undoing any of the buttons, knocking the baseball cap off his head.
“Klutz,” Chad murmured almost fondly, softly enough that only Ryan heard it, despite the rest of the team filing in. He bent down to pick the cap up, placing it back on Ryan’s head – taking care to slant it a little, the way he’d noticed Ryan liked to wear his hats – before taking Ryan’s dirty shirt.
As Chad set about to wash the shirt, gently rubbing soap into the stain using his fingertips, he heard the other boys complimenting Ryan on his playing. Sneaking a glance over his shoulder, he saw Ryan shyly accepting the praise, even complimenting them back on such specific things – such as, “That was a wicked curveball, Jim!” or “I noticed you didn’t miss any pitches at all.” – that he couldn’t have been anything but sincere.
Chad had always assumed that Ryan was like a milder version of his sister, but now he realised that he had been mistaken. Apart from a love for theatre and performing, Ryan and Sharpay really weren’t all that alike. While Sharpay needed to be the star of everything she did, Ryan seemed content to share the spotlight.
Then again, with a sister like Sharpay, Chad supposed it made sense that Ryan wasn’t as hungry for recognition. Which was a pity, because Chad thought Ryan deserved to shine on his own for once, and not be hidden behind his sister’s shadow.
He rinsed the soap off, pleased to see that most of the dirt washed out along with the soap. He repeated the process again until the dirt stains were barely noticeable, only stopping when rewashing no longer made any difference. Carefully, he wrung the shirt out before moving over to the hand dryer and holding the shirt out under it.
“I can do that.” He heard Ryan’s voice from behind him all of a sudden, and then the shirt was taken from his hands, although it continued to be held underneath the hand dryer by Ryan. “Thanks for washing it.”
“No problem,” he returned, moving to lean against the wall by the hand dryer. “I didn’t manage to get the stain out completely though...”
Ryan laughed, shrugging. “I suppose that’s what I get for taking a dive with a white shirt on.”
Chad watched Ryan for a moment; standing there in his undershirt and Chad’s baseball cap drying his shirt using the hand dryer, Ryan seemed a far cry from the prim and proper Ryan Evans that Chad had gotten used to seeing in school.
Chad had never really had anything against the Evans twins, but that was only because they had always appeared larger than life, so untouchable and distant that it was hard to feel anything personal about them. But now, just the two of them alone in the locker room, Ryan felt very much real and present. Chad liked that.
Taking off his baseball jersey, he draped it over Ryan’s shoulders, laughing softly when the blond boy jerked in surprise. “You’re a proper Wildcat now,” Chad said by way of explanation, gently taking Ryan’s still slightly damp white shirt and pulling it on, “You should be wearing our colours to the party.”
“Party?” Ryan echoed somewhat confusedly, but slotted his arms through the sleeves of Chad’s jersey anyway.
“Yeah, there’s hotdogs, and I think Gabriella brought her mum’s brownies.” Chad stopped fumbling with the shirt to sigh happily, train of thought momentarily caught on brownies. “Those brownies are heaven, I tell you.”
“I believe you.” Ryan laughed, fingers looping around Chad’s wrist and giving him a meaningful tug towards the exit. “So we probably better hurry before they’re all gone.”
Chad took the cue, starting to walk, although he felt something akin to disappointment when Ryan dropped his arm. In order to remedy that, he threw an arm around Ryan’s shoulders, pulling him into a run towards the benches where everyone else had congregated.
They needn’t have worried about the brownies being gone it seemed, everyone was still busy eating their hotdogs and chatting. It didn’t seem like Gabriella had even passed the brownies around yet. So they each picked up a hot dog and settled onto the closest available bench.
“You call that a little game, by the way?” Chad grinned, nudging Ryan lightly with his shoulder as he picked up the ketchup bottle on the table, shaking it and squeezing the condiment onto his hotdog.
Ryan turned to him, a matching grin on his face. “Little League. World Series,” he said, and had the decency to blush. Chad shot him a look, and his grin turned just this side of sheepish.
He cleared his throat. “Newport, Rhode Island. Champions.”
Chad could feel his jaw drop in disbelief. A week ago, if someone had told him that Ryan not only played in the Little League, but his team had also won the championship, Chad would probably have laughed. Now, after seeing Ryan play, he could believe it.
Just then, Gabriella descended on them, placing a container of her mum’s brownies on the table. Taylor was with her, and Chad caught the mischievous look in her eye.
“Nice outfit, Chad,” she commented, and he merely stood up and did a little twirl for her, to the delight of all three of his companions.
“And you said you didn’t dance,” Ryan teased good-naturedly.
“Hey, baseball, dancing, same game, right?” Chad replied, quoting Ryan’s taunt from earlier. Ryan laughed at the familiar words.
Gabriella dropped her hands onto Ryan’s shoulders, leaning in to give him a quick hug from behind. “You played really well,” she complimented, and Ryan turned to face her, smiling easily.
Vaguely, Chad wondered when the two had gotten close, the ease of their exchange too natural for two people who as far as Chad had been aware of weren’t friends before today. You’re pretty chummy with him right now, a voice in Chad’s head reminded, and you didn’t even look twice at him yesterday.
“He’s a Little League champion,” he announced, unwilling to let his thoughts run away from him. There were some things he wasn’t ready to confront yet, and his subconscious had no business trying to steer him in that direction.
“You should try out for the baseball team!” Gabriella suggested, all happiness and excitement. Ryan didn’t look all too enthused about the idea, and Chad had a feeling that if it’d been anyone other than Gabriella, they’d receive a firm ‘no’ in response.
But since it was Gabriella, Ryan only shrugged and smiled politely. “I’ll think about it,” he conceded.
“We could use someone with your skills on the team,” Chad added, although Ryan didn’t seem to have heard him. Upon closer inspection, Ryan had a half-eaten brownie in his hand. Those brownies had the ability to take coherent thought away, so Chad wasn’t mad about being ignored.
“These are good,” Ryan marvelled, quickly finishing the rest of the brownie and reaching for another one. Not willing to have all the brownies eaten in front of him, Chad picked one up as well, moaning in appreciation as he bit into it.
“Boys,” Taylor huffed, shaking her head. When Chad turned to grin at her, she returned it, her fondness evident despite her tone. “You got a crumb... Right there...”
Taylor reached towards his face to wipe off the crumbs. It wasn’t like it was something she hadn’t done before, but for the first time, Chad jerked back from her hand, reaching up to brush the crumbs off himself. Taylor blinked, taken aback by his reaction. Her eyes narrowed at him for a moment, but she laughed when he pulled a face at her.
Good. That meant she wouldn’t start asking questions that Chad didn’t know the answers to.
He felt someone steal the uneaten half of the brownie he was holding, but when he turned to admonish the culprit, all he saw was Ryan popping the entire thing in his mouth before giving Chad a close-mouthed grin. “I think I liked you better before we were friends,” he joked.
He had expected Ryan to return the quip, so when there was no reply, Chad felt panic spike in his chest. “Listen, I didn’t mean––”
“We’re friends?” Ryan interrupted, and Chad almost laughed at the absurdity of the question, until he got a good look at Ryan’s face. The boy was wide-eyed, looking both pleased and slightly wary, as if he couldn’t quite believe that Chad considered them friends.
It was endearing, but at the same time a little bit sad. The fact that Ryan found it hard to believe that people would want to be friends with him made Chad’s heart ache. They were already sitting really close, with Ryan’s shoulder brushing against Chad’s chest, but Chad leaned in closer anyway.
“Of course we’re friends,” he said, tilting his head slightly to knock their hats together. Except he probably should have thought that through, because now his face was really close to Ryan’s, and the way Ryan glanced at him from underneath those long, blond eyelashes of his made Chad’s breath catch.
“We’re all friends!” Gabriella added, reaching over Chad to tug Taylor’s arm and pull her into a group hug. Ryan laughed as his face was pressed against Chad’s hair, and the moment was lost.
Which was just as well, because Chad had a feeling if Gabriella had not interrupted when she did, he might have done something he’d regret.
//
They had decided to head over to Gabriella’s place when Lava Springs closed. Technically, since Ryan was a part of the group, they could have stayed in the country club, but apparently heading to the Montez residence was something of a tradition after games.
Ryan didn’t think he was invited, and was already starting to take Chad’s jersey off when a bewildered Chad asked him what he was doing. They were in desert country –– the days might be sweltering but the nights were chilly.
“You’re letting me wear your jersey home?” Ryan asked in surprise.
“Who said anything about going home? We’re headed to Gabi’s place,” Chad replied, pulling the jersey back over Ryan’s torso and doing up the buttons as well. “But after that, you can wear it home if you’d like.”
Ryan was so stunned that when Gabriella looped an arm around his and led him away, he hadn’t resisted. Instead, he let her pull him all the way to the lobby without saying anything. Those who had cars would drive themselves to Gabriella’s, and Ryan offered to drive those who didn’t.
After collecting his keys from the valet, he tossed them to Chad, who looked at him in disbelief. “You know the way to her house,” he explained, which really wasn’t much of a reason, considering Gabriella herself was riding with them and could easily provide directions.
But Chad was too excited at the prospect of driving the sleek silver convertible to question Ryan’s motives, although Ryan did catch Gabriella watching him curiously. He didn’t acknowledge the look, merely opening the passenger side door and gesturing for Gabriella to climb in. Her face lit up, her previous curiosity forgotten as she got in. Ryan smiled.
They arrived last, because Chad insisted on driving slowly even though Ryan kept telling him that it was okay. When they entered the living room, everyone was chatting amongst themselves, looking very at home despite Gabriella’s absence.
“Took you long enough,” Taylor greeted them when she spotted them. “The boys already finished another batch of your mum’s brownies.”
“I’m surprised we didn’t get pulled over with how slow we were going,” Ryan grinned, thanking Taylor when she handed him a brownie. He’d already had plenty earlier, but he felt he needed to make up for lost time, when he’d been too busy being Sharpay’s shadow to be Gabriella’s friend. That was a lot of brownies he’d missed out on.
“Shut up,” Chad whined, then pouted when Taylor refused to pass him a brownie. Ryan made a show of begrudgingly handing over the rest of his brownie to Chad, who didn’t even think twice before popping it into his mouth. “You have a nice car and I didn’t want to be responsible for wrecking it.”
Taylor pulled a face as some crumbs sprayed from Chad’s mouth, muttering something about boys being gross before she turned back to resume her conversation with Martha. Chad shrugged the dismissal off, walking over to the boys when Zeke called him over. Zeke was gesturing for Ryan to join them as well, but Ryan declined with a smile, ducking into the kitchen to look for Gabriella who’d disappeared.
He did find Gabriella; she was leaning over the kitchen island chatting to a woman who could only be her mother. “You must be Mrs Montez,” Ryan said smoothly, when both women turned to him, “Unless Gabi has a sister she never mentioned.”
Mrs Montez smiled at that, and Gabriella hopped walked around the island to grab Ryan’s hand, pulling him to where she’d been standing. “Mum, this is Ryan Evans,” she introduced, and Ryan was glad she didn’t mention anything about his parents owning the place where she worked.
“Your brownies are amazing,” he complimented, and from the way Mrs Montez chuckled, he guessed it was a compliment that she was used to hearing.
“Glad to know you like them. There’s always more where that came from,” she smiled warmly, reaching over to squeeze the hand that Ryan rested on the counter. “Feel free to come over whenever you’d like.”
“I’ll be over as often as Gabi wishes,” Ryan replied, bumping his shoulder with Gabriella’s.
“Gabi! How do you set up the karaoke system?” The yell came from the living room, and Gabriella excused herself to go help the rest of their friends.
Ryan knew that he should probably join them, but he still felt slightly out of place. And to be honest he was rather overwhelmed. Even if Sharpay could be overbearing at times, at the end of the day, she was only one person, and Ryan wasn’t used to dealing with spending time around large groups of people outside of the theatre.
“They’re quite the rowdy bunch, aren’t they?” Mrs Montez’ soft voice broke his thoughts, and he suddenly remembered that he wasn’t alone.
Flushing lightly at his thoughts being so obvious, he nodded. “Yeah. It’s nice, but I’m not used to having so many friends.” He paused, and then sighed, deciding he might as well be honest. “Actually, I’m not used to having friends, period.”
Mrs Montez looked at him, the surprise clear on her features. “I thought a nice boy like you would have plenty of friends.”
Ryan shrugged. “My sister isn’t exactly the friendliest person, and people are either scared of her, or assume I’m like her.”
“Sharpay?” She asked, and then laughed when Ryan turned to her in shock. “Zeke’s nursing quite the crush isn’t he? She comes up in conversation occasionally.”
Ryan nodded, and then they fell into a companionable silence. Eventually, Chad poked his head into the kitchen, excitedly calling for Ryan to join them. “Please?” Chad gave his best pout when Ryan didn’t budge, “I need you out there. I love them, but some of them should never be allowed near a microphone.”
As in on cue, the sound of someone singing horribly off-key could be heard. Ryan winced. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed quickly. When he turned to Mrs Montez, she simply smiled and waved him away.
Chad’s arm came up around Ryan’s shoulder as soon as he came close enough – he’d been doing that a lot all day, every chance he got, and Ryan tried not to think too much about it – and he all but dragged Ryan to the area in front of the couches. The horrible singing turned out to belong to Jason, and Chad winced at a particularly flat note as he reached out to grab the microphone from the boy.
“Hey!” Jason protested, but otherwise didn’t resist being pushed back towards his seat, although he did seem to sulk a little at the murmur of relief that passed through the crowd. But he brightened up as soon as Gabriella offered him a brownie, so Ryan didn’t feel too bad.
//
Despite his earlier reservations, Ryan had fun singing karaoke. He sung plenty of songs on his own, but also did a duet with pretty much everyone present at least once.
As it grew later, one by one everybody left, until it was just Ryan, Chad, and Gabriella left. They were sprawled over Gabriella’s couch, giggling as Chad shared horror stories about some of the Lava Springs members he had to wait on, with Ryan occasionally providing additional commentary.
“I should probably head home,” Chad announced eventually, although he made no move to extricate himself from the mess of limbs on the couch. Gabriella pouted.
“I’ll drive you,” Ryan offered, and Gabriella pouted harder. Ryan pouted back at her. “Don’t be like that. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Fine, fine,” she huffed. “Now get out of my sight.” There was no real heat in her words, and Chad reached over to flick her nose lightly, jumping up before she could retaliate.
“Quick, Ryan! Get me out of here before she gets her revenge!” Chad laughed, unceremoniously pulling Ryan off the couch as well.
Ryan flailed a little, stumbling before he caught his balance. “Sure, just as soon as we say bye to her mum.”
Chad levelled him with a look. “I always knew you were a mama’s boy, but I didn’t think that extended to other people’s mums as well.” For a second Ryan tensed, but then realised that Chad was only teasing and rolled his eyes.
“I bet it’s all part of his ploy to get more brownies,” Gabriella joined in on the teasing, standing up as well. “C’mon, she’s probably reading in the kitchen.”
Mrs Montez was exactly where Gabriella had said she’d be, and she was so pleased at Chad and Ryan for saying bye to her before they left that she packed separate containers with leftover brownies for them.
“Seems like my ploy worked,” Ryan leaned in to whisper into Chad’s ear and he laughed, both of them thanking Mrs Montez for the brownies.
Gabriella walked them to the door afterwards, and they both lingered long enough to give her a hug. They said their goodbyes one last time before finally heading to Ryan’s car, where Ryan handed the keys over to Chad again.
“You’re spoiling me here,” Chad complained, even though he was happy to take the keys and get into the driver’s seat. “How am I going to be happy with the crappy car I get with the money from my crappy summer job after driving this?”
“Is your job really that crappy?” Ryan asked, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
“I’m pretty sure there’s no place where being a waiter isn’t crappy,” Chad assured him softly. For some reason, it was important that Ryan didn’t think he was unhappy at Lava Springs. Even if lately he had been feeling unhappy. Ryan didn’t need to know that. “At least at Lava Springs I get to hang out with my friends.”
Ryan nodded, although he didn’t seem to be any more at ease, staring intently at his folded hands on his lap. “Hey,” Chad called gently, reaching out and placing a hand on Ryan’s thigh, startling him enough to get him to turn to Chad. “And from now on I get to hang out with you, don’t I?”
Chad smiled, wide and bright, until Ryan returned with a smile of his own and a nod. “Maybe Fulton will think you’re bossing me around and lay off me a little,” Chad remarked with a laugh, removing his hand from Ryan’s thigh and starting the car.
“Maybe I actually will boss you around,” Ryan shot back, causing Chad to laugh louder.
The drive to Chad’s place was short, and even when they pulled up in front of his house, Chad remained seated. They sat in silence for a while before Ryan laughed, pushing Chad’s shoulder lightly. “Lunch tomorrow?”
Chad shoved Ryan back, grinning. “My lunch break starts at noon –– I’ve only got an hour, so don’t be late!”
“I won’t. Maybe I’ll even be early and steal you from Fulton’s micromanaging ways,” Ryan joked as Chad got out of the car.
“Please do,” Chad said, standing awkwardly by the side of the car. Neither of them really knew how to say goodbye, or wanted to, not that they realised it. Eventually, Chad decided that they were being ridiculous, shaking his head as he turned to go.
“Chad?” Ryan called, and Chad turned around faster than he cared to admit. He watched an unidentifiable emotion pass over Ryan’s features, before he settled on a small smile. “Goodnight.”
Chad had a feeling that wasn’t what he meant to say when he’d called for Chad’s attention, but he only smiled. “Goodnight,” he said in reply before finally heading in.
That night, for the first time that summer, Chad went to bed excited to go to work the next day.