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The doors to the Lava Springs locker room burst open to a big group of adrenaline driven, rowdy and sweaty teenage boys.
And in midst of them was Ryan Evans. Who was positively, entirely out of place.
After an exciting game of employee-only baseball tournament, that ended in a positive victory for the Wildcats (and a disappointing loss for the Lava Springs team), every single player from both opposing teams had made their way to the locker room for an after game shower.
The room was filling up quickly, as the fairly small space wasn’t meant for so many people to be using at the same time. So long before Ryan could even think about turning back and walking right out, he’d already been smushed to the far end of the room. Practically pushed up against the wall, while boys around him started stripping off their shirts, Ryan started seriously regretting walking in there. On any other day, Ryan would’ve just taken a shower in his own, private room in the country club. But he looked a mess, with his white clothes covered in dirt from falling face first in the ground, hair just as disheveled. And the last thing Ryan wanted was to present himself in such a state in front of any other of the club members. There were important people around, and he wouldn’t and couldn’t risk looking (and smelling) like the bottom of a shoe.
So with an irritated sigh, Ryan accepted defeat and focused his eyes everywhere but at the naked torsos around him. Because even though Wildcats were mostly inclusive, Ryan still didn’t want anyone making a scene after getting the wrong idea.
Why Ryan had spontaneously joined in on the baseball game, he didn’t fully understand. It’d certainly been a kick of the moment type of thing, paired with the need to prove classmates wrong (and an underlying desire to get some frustration towards his sister out). And even if Ryan would never ever admit it out loud, sweating it out and throwing baseballs had felt good - even though his team ended up losing.
The best part though?
Shamelessly flirting with Chad Danforth.
As on cue, the doors burst open one more time. And in came all the wildcats pouring, with no one but the subject to Ryan’s subtle smile leading the group and obnoxiously shouting: “WHAT TEAM?”
“Wildcats!” The boys around Chad replied, basking in the glory of victory and making Ryan’s team shoot each other defeated grins.
Laughing and settling down, the Wildcats started getting changed while the showers were slowly filling up in the next room.
Ryan had to force his eyes off the curly-haired brunette when he pulled his shirt over his head, curls bouncing with the movement. With a bite of the lip to hold back a grin and a rushing heart, Ryan started thinking about the game again.
He really didn’t know where it’d come from. The sudden cockyness and the confident teasing he’d given the other boy before and after the game. Usually, Chad made Ryan really nervous. Really, really nervous. Like red cheeks, heart pumping out of chest nervous. The kind of nervousness you get when you have a little bit of an unrequited, deeply secret crush on someone for years - who positively did not feel the same way, or so Ryan always chose to believe.
Believe it or not, but those beliefs were slowly starting to shamble inside that locker room. All because of what had surprised Ryan the most that afternoon. And that was how Chad had responded to the teasing.
The signals he’d given Ryan were undeniable. The playful attitude, the teasing, the looks. Ryan knew he hadn’t been imagining it. Especially the looks. Ryan had seen them when he fought to make baseball look easy, and he recognised them - because he was giving them right back. And when the two of them fell over each other in the dirt at the end, Ryan felt funny about the metaphor. Was it time he recognised how he’d fallen for Chad Danforth?
But even after such a positively flirtatious game, and a smug grin on his face walking away from Chad, after he’d asked Ryan to teach him how to dance, Ryan still couldn’t fully let his head wrap around what had happened.
Why had those signals been given? Where had they come from? Why had Chad, who usually acted over the top jock-like when around Ryan, suddenly shown interest in matching Ryan’s energy in flirtatious games? Was he imagining it, or was it classified as reciprocated flirting from Chad’s end?
Was Chad just joking around? Ryan didn’t think so. He’d spent his whole life around teenagers acting. He would’ve recognised it had he seen it, notably because he didn’t take Chad to be a very good actor.
Ryan was starting to believe Chad might’ve felt the same connection he’d had. Was it possible, even just in the slightest, that Chad was… crushing on him too?
Surely not, Ryan thought while sitting down on an empty bench, the room mostly clear in favor of the showers. Chad was dating Taylor, everyone knew that. There was definitely no way Chad had eyes for Ryan. But even while forcing himself to think realistically, Ryan couldn’t fight back the small sliver of hope that was spreading in his heart.
Particularly now, when Chad was looking so deeply into Ryan’s blue grey eyes with his own, brown and drowning ones.
Wait.
Chad was looking him in the eyes?
Okay, Ryan thought when the two quickly averted their gazes back to their own spaces again. That look had sealed the deal. He definitely wasn’t imagining it.
Looking down to his shoes, Ryan started running a little warm again all the while he was fighting back a giddy smile. He felt like a 13 year old with a first crush all over again.
To distract himself, Ryan shot the room one more quick look before deciding the best he could do now was wait it out. Sooner or later, the big group of boys would finish up and Ryan would be able to shower privately, without feeling like a deer in headlights.
- - -
So Ryan sat and waited…
…And waited…
And waited.
He waited for so long on that bench, that the moment when Zeke, Chad and Jason walked out of the showers, Ryan almost sprung up from the bench.
“You’re still here?” Jason asked Ryan with a point of the finger, his face scrunched up in a familiar look of confusion.
“Yup” Ryan answered quickly, moving about in speed while fighting back against his lack of self respect to keep his eyes off a wet-dripping, towel draped Chad. Before any of the three boys could ask anything else, Ryan had gathered up his towel, his shoes, socks and hat long left behind on the bench, and had long since disappeared into the showers.
And it didn’t take him long to strip out of his dirty clothes after a quick double check once he was in there, even though Jason, Zeke and Chad were right next door. Ryan would’ve waited until it was completely empty, but he’d been in there so long already, plus, Zeke and Jason weren’t all that bad. Sure they weren’t really Ryan’s friends, per-say, but they spoke to him kindly and respectfully (that is, as long as Sharpay wasn’t looming over the conversation).
And Chad, well, Ryan’s opinion about him was quite obvious. Even though it was embarrassing to admit and a thought he wouldn’t be voicing, Ryan didn’t mind the idea of Chad walking in on him.
Turning on the shower and rubbing away sweat and dirt, Ryan scrubbed his face to clear his thoughts too. With a hand reaching out for the soap dispenser he started to daydream of more intense baseball games, that were so maddening they simply had to end in hot kisses under the burning sun with Chad, while Ryan could care less of everyone else watching. He thought about what it would feel like to run his hands through Chad’s tied up hair, how it’d feel to let himself get carried away and reach under the taller boy’s shirt, how it’d feel being what drove Chad to madness and pleasure. The images in Ryan’s head made him blush. And he started to appreciate the fact that no one else was in there with him, and that the cold water helped cool him off.
Once he was clean enough to step out, Ryan turned off the shower head and reached out for his towel. He stood to listen for a moment, and picked up Zeke and Jason’s voices through the door, leaving the area completely empty. Perfect timing, Ryan thought with a satisfied smile, walking out from the tiled showers with a small kick in his step at his luck. But the confidence painted across Ryan’s face didn’t last very long, because waiting for him on the other side of the archway wasn’t an empty locker room.
Instead, inside by the small wall mirror next to the right side of the lockers, stood Chad. With his towel still wrapped around his waist and his hands deep in his hair, the boy turned his head to shoot Ryan a small smile, on the edge of flirtatious: “Hey”
“Hey” Ryan said, voice an embarrassingly higher tone than usual due to the initial surprise, eyes snapping burning holes into Chad’s face to keep them away from everywhere else. The silence went on a moment too long, so Ryan quickly explained: “Sorry I- I thought everyone had left”
“Yeah, the others did” Chad grinned, looking back at Ryan with a playful glint in his eyes: “Just not me”
Ryan nodded, unsure of what to do other than quietly walk to his claimed spot on the bench across the room, arms full of dirty clothes he couldn’t wait to get back on.
Sure, he’d let the idea of talking to Chad later grace his mind while daydreaming, but he hadn’t expected to be put on the spot so soon. Especially because a part of him was very conflicted on how to go about it, without sounding totally pathetic or desperate.
Hey Chad, I know we practically eye banged while throwing balls around on a baseball field. But I just wasn’t sure if it meant anything to you?
Nope.
Humiliating.
Mortifying, even.
And while Ryan was internally freaking out about coming back onto Chad Danforth smoothly, the brunette had already focused his attention back to his hair with no trace of panic in his face.
Ryan cursed under his breath when he turned around, resisting the urge to knock himself in the head for some sense. And while reaching for his polo shirt, Chad spoke up behind him:
“I’m surprised you decided to shower in here” he said while his lips curled into a smile, Ryan turning around to listen, “I for sure thought you’d get cold feet and push yourself out of here, when you got the chance”
“That was the plan” Ryan answered, his confidence from earlier slowly coming back in a smile: “But It was between staying here a little while longer or walking through the club in dirty clothes”
“So you chose waiting, smart move” Chad budged in, laughing again and making Ryan smile wider in response. “Forbid someone sees you with a little dirt on your hands” Chad teased.
Ryan smiled again, failing miserably to mask his amusement while replying: “Yeah…forbid”
“I’m sorry for scaring you, by the way” Chad said with a nod to his head, gesturing back to when Ryan came back from the showers, expecting the room to be empty. Chad’s tone was both honest and light hearted: “I would’ve been out here long ago too, if I hadn’t decided to trap myself with his” He laughed, fingers deep in hair product while scrunching it into his damp curls.
“Your hair?” Ryan asked, heart bubbling from Chad’s adorable smile.
Chad looked back up to meet Ryan’s eyes through the mirror with a smile: “Yes, my hair”
Ryan let out a small laugh, turning his head to the side to self consciously run his hands through his own hair.
“It takes more time than I’d like to admit, to keep it looking as good as it does” Chad continued by the mirror, the sound of him screwing a lid back on a container echoing with his voice.
“I would imagine” Ryan spoke, saying the next flirtatious words without really noticing it before it was too late: “Perfection doesn’t happen randomly”
“Perfection?” Chad’s teasing voice asked, Ryan shutting his mouth with a rushing heart.
“You think my hair is perfect?” Chad pushed on, trying to catch a look on Ryan’s face through the mirror.
“Oh, well..” Ryan spoke under his breath, acting distracted by his hand while fighting to keep his next thought a thought: Yes. It’s the most perfect thing in the world and I would kill to run my hands through it.
“It looks nice. Is what I’m trying to say” Ryan settled on, looking up from his hand to catch Chad’s eyes waiting.
Chad’s face chuckled in the mirror: “Alright…I’ll take it”
Ryan fought to hide a smile, dissociating onto the floor for a moment, polo shirt still in his hands while he tried to make sense of himself again after making Chad smile like that.
“So, I wanted to tell you nice game, you know…from earlier” Chad suddenly spoke, shaking Ryan out of his trance, “You played really well, it was really cool” Chad spoke, his attention entirely on Ryan, now that his hair care routine had been done.
Ryan looked at Chad for a moment before a slow, but confident, smile spread in the corner of his lips: “Thank you”
“Of course” Chad said quietly, eyes dropping down Ryan’s body. And Ryan was reminded once again that they were both shirtless. In the locker room. Alone.
With a drifting look down at Chad, Ryan felt his face burn up as he shamelessly looked across Chad’s naked chest. You could tell he spent a lot of time playing basketball. He was fit, but not too fit in a way Ryan really liked. Ryan had always liked looking at Chad.
“Hey…listen” Chad broke the silence slowly walking closer to Ryan, stepping over a bench on the way: “I feel like I’ve never really told you how brave I think you are”
Ryan watched, arms slowly crossing over his chest while he was, once again, forcing his eyes away from Chad’s torso and into his eyes.
“Brave?” Ryan asked, sinking a small pit of spit in his throat.
“Yeah…” Chad said, voice growing slower, more intimate in a way Ryan had never heard before: “You don’t care what anyone thinks about you, or at least you don’t show it…like earlier, you went out there on that field like it was nothing”
Ryan didn’t know how to answer in time, but he could feel his heartbeat picking up. Was Chad moving even closer or was he just imagining it?
“I’m actually…very jealous” Chad said, eyes deep in Ryan’s: “That you can do that…you know, I feel like I have this image to live up to”
“Yeah?” Ryan asked, Chad no more than a half step away from him.
Chad nodded, product-damp hair bouncing with the movement and eyes nervous, confused: “Yeah…”
“You know..” Ryan started, back slowly straightening, wild thoughts from earlier running through his head as he tried to stay present: “I think most people do, I mean- I have to uphold my own too”
Chad smiled ever so slightly, eyes painfully obviously moving down to look at Ryan’s bare shoulders: “Well that makes me feel a little better, knowing that even the perfectly talented Evans feels that way”
Ryan couldn’t help the pushing smile and light laugh, putting the shirt in his hands back down unconsciously: “You saying that really proves my point”
Chad looked back into Ryan’s eyes and smirked, really smirked. And Ryan felt like passing out. He felt as warm and sweaty as he had out on the baseball field, when he’d caught Chad’s eyes one time too many.
“I guess it did, huh?” Chad said, his smirk slowly dropping along with his eyes.
Somebody pinch me, Ryan thought before regaining focus to hear Chad murmur with knitted eyebrows, crossed arms and a tilted head:
“You really conflict me, Evans…”
Ryan looked deep into the pair of brown and nervous, but desperate eyes looking back at him. With a short breath, Ryan replied cockily:
“I can tell…”
And in a matter of seconds, and without any kind of warning that might’ve prepared Ryan, Chad was moving forwards at full speed. His head had tilted back up and his arms had uncrossed, reaching out to hold Ryan’s cheeks instead so he could guide him close. And when his lips pushed into Ryan’s, everything snapped.
All the pent up and buried tension from the field came pouring out of both boys, hands running quicker than light to reach out, to touch, to feel.
And while adding to the surprise, Chad was pushing Ryan back into the lockers so hard they rattled and Ryan forgot how to act. Before he could stop himself, his hands had reached up to the sides of Chad’s neck, clinging onto him in a desperate way to keep himself on the ground. The kiss was simply that good.
Ryan hadn’t seen it coming, but wow had he needed it.
The way Chad’s tongue ran across his, how his head tilted into it and how his strong hand fit perfectly onto the back of Ryan’s neck. It was insanely ecstatic. Ryan didn’t know it was even a possibility to be kissed like this, especially by Chad Danforth.
Being pushed deeper into the lockers, Ryan’s naked chest graced Chad’s in a way that sent prickling sparks through his skin and made Ryan greedy. So in the heat of the moment, he let his hands grab Chad’s shoulders while drastically attempting to map out every possible angle of Chad’s lips. Responding nicely to the wandering hands, Chad’s own ran two opposite directions over Ryan’s body. One moving down his back, one moving up the stomach and all the way to his chest.
Ryan’s head was running on adrenaline, every possible assumption he could’ve had about Chad Danforth currently falling apart. He'd never taken Chad to be into boys, let alone into Ryan himself.
Before it got any wilder between them, the two boys leaned back a moment to catch their breaths. With very silent eye contact, the two of them matched with hazy eyes and red glowing cheeks.
Gasping in a breath, Ryan collected his thoughts to teasingly smirk: “Bold, Danforth…”
Chad grinned, looking like a starving man for a second: “I know” he breathed, before going right back at it.
And this time Ryan was ready, accepting the kiss with hands running over bare skin, chests brushing and heads tilting until personal space was a concept.
Blacking out into the kiss, Chad’s body moved so closely to Ryan’s so their waists were touching. The touch ultimately voicing their hormonal driven minds into pant-like heavy breathing at the contact. The shared open-mouth breath of air drove Ryan crazy, the aching feeling of desperation burning holes into his soul. It felt so good because Ryan had wanted Chad for so long. So long Ryan wished he could show his younger self himself right now.
But because that wasn’t possible, Ryan settled on acting a little recklessly for himself. With his tongue running over Chad’s, he let his waist seek out the touch of Chad’s while grasping onto the damp curls in front of him. The little act was well responded to, Chad grabbing Ryan’s waist and groaning into his mouth.
Chad was quite vocal, Ryan would come to learn.
And while Ryan wanted nothing else, than to stay in the movement forever and never face the realities of the outside world, he was the first to stop the kiss when Chad was about to kiss his way away from Ryan’s lips (and before the towels would start to come off).
“I think…” Ryan spoke, sinking a pit of spit and fighting the urge to lick his lips: “I think we should stop…we’ve been here a while, people are gonna come looking for us”
Chad looked at him with a hint of irritation and dejection in his eyes from being stopped. But he forced the emotions away with an understanding nod: “Right..” he said, his, oh so gorgeous eyes, lost on Ryan for a moment while his hands weren’t really letting go.
It took a few seconds for the boys to actually let go, Ryan’s own hands also still lingering on Chad where they’d paused until he pulled back.
Chad let him, his own hands hovering in the air before he leaned back on the lockers. A big, goofy, bewildered grin on his face while he watched Ryan move a step back.
Ryan was losing his mind, fighting both the urge to throw himself back on Chad and the million questions he was starting to have. Had he really just made out with Chad? Why had Chad initiated it? Had he liked it? Was he regretting it?
All the while Chad was shooting playful, satisfied and giddy smiled Ryan’s way while pushing off the locker to go gather his clothes across the room. And because he was unable to help himself, Chad just had to break the silence: “Hey Evans?” he called out.
Ryan stiffened and paused just after he’d gotten his underwear back on, preparing for the worst while turning his head:
“Feel like doing one last act?” Chad asked, one hand reaching out in front of him while his eyes glanced at the bench in front of Ryan.
Following Chad’s gaze down to the white clothes on the bench, Ryan’s shoulders softened as he fought back a smile.
Where had the real Chad Danforth gone, and who was this in place of him?
- - -
Walking out from the changing room side by side as if nothing had happened, Chad and Ryan were practically glowing under the setting sun while heading off to go catch dinner.
Turning his head grinning at Ryan and acting best friends, Chad reached a hand up to playfully flick his basketball cap on top of Ryan’s head: “You look good in red”
Ryan looked back up at him, laughing with a roll of his eyes: “You’re crazy, Wildcat”
Chad laughed, letting his hand drop before his face turned a little serious while he murmured: “But how do you ever breathe in these?” he said, squirming with the waistband of Ryan’s white pants, that filled out over Chad’s backside and thighs very differently than how they did on Ryan himself.
“You don’t, that’s the secret” Ryan teased, glancing down at Chad’s bottom half before commenting: “They suit you though”
“Do they?” Chad grinned, looking down before reaching an arm up and around Ryan’s shoulders to pull him in so he could whisper in his ear: “Maybe it should become a common occurrence”
And before Ryan could properly reply after shooting Chad a shocked, heated look, the two had already arrived to the rest of the Wildcats, gathered around picnic tables by a burning grill. Squeezing Ryan’s shoulder, Chad let go with a playful smile before heading to grab a basket of fries, receiving laughing compliments on the way.
Ryan stood there admiring the scene in Chad’s clothes and with a rushing heart, until he shook his head playfully to go join the rest, all while thinking to himself.
Maybe finally, after living in someone’s shadow, things were starting to go Ryan’s own way.