High School Musical Parenting Done Right, Tryan Style

**I was watching HSM 2 last night and I really couldn't get over how much Mr. Evans likes Troy. Then this happened.**

"And what about you, Ducky? Why are you still single?"

Ryan choked on a bite of steak, his face rapidly turning purple. He could not believe that his mother had just asked him that and his reaction made that painfully obvious. Sharpay, sitting across from him at their dinner table, looked equally surprised, but her shock was much more amusement based.

"Um… what, Mom?" Ryan asked hoarsely, suddenly feeling rather under the weather.

The woman smiled at him innocently, but the glance she shared with Ryan's father was telling. "Well, your sister has that lovely Zeke boy and I was just wondering if you had any dates planned. There are some very nice boys here in Albuquerque -"

"Okay, Mom, I'm just going to cut you off right there." Ryan's face was burning with embarrassment and he was suddenly regretting coming out to his parents. He should have just told them he was asexual or something, or that he was going to be a Buddhist monk, because this conversation was just too awkward. "No, there is no one in my life right now. I'm just trying to survive high school right now."

"What about Troy?"

Ryan froze, looking over at his father, who was ignoring Sharpay's indignant shriek of protest. He tried to put flashes of blue eyes and tanned skin out of his mind, but instead he just blushed an even darker shade of red.

"What about Troy, Dad?" he asked slowly, unsure of whether or not he really wanted to know the answer. He sent his mother a glance and was unsurprised to find that she looked way too pleased with herself. Ryan suspected her involvement.

"Well," their father said thoughtfully. "He did seem rather fond of you this summer. And your sister tells me all the time how attractive the boy is." He paused, only giving Ryan more time to stew in his humiliation. Sharpay's face was red, but for an entirely different reason. She looked like she was about to explode. "Is he not your type?"

Ryan really wished God would strike him dead. "Dad… it's not that Troy's…" He paused to cough delicately while Sharpay threw vicious glances between her brother and her father. "… not my type. It's more like he doesn't exactly play for my team. So why are we having this conversation?"

His father chuckled calmly, winking at his wife, who giggled in response. "I never said the boy was gay. He's something, though. After all, he agreed to take you out on a date after dinner tonight."

"Wait - what?"

For once, Ryan shared his twin's sentiment.

"I may have spoken to the boy earlier this evening, and he seemed more than happy to take you out tonight," their father said with a childlike grin. "Are you sure you don't want to give him a shot?"

"Isn't he dating Gabriella?" Sharpay hissed and Ryan nodded sharply in agreement.

"Isn't he?" Ryan echoed, palming his cheek and wondering when the blush would go away.

"Not as of two weeks ago," their father said with a roll of the eyes. "Really, Ryan. I realize you don't really have to go out and keep up with the gossip at school since you graduated, but they are your friends. You'll be gone to Julliard in a couple months - why not spend some time with them? You should get out more."

"Which is exactly why we think this date would be a good idea! Since everything didn't work out with that Kelsi girl -"

"Because you're gayer than a rainbow," Sharpay snubbed, huffing. Ryan rolled his eyes, ignoring the dig and giving his mother a dirty look.

"Kelsi and I are _fine,"_ he said, putting emphasis on the last word. "And really, you didn't need to go get me dates, Dad. I could do that on my own."

"So you really don't want to give the boy a chance?" his father asked with a raised eyebrow. "Is he really not your type, then?" Ryan sighed, looking toward the ceiling. The truth was, he actually was kind of interested in Troy - how could he not be? Troy was some otherworldly being. Everyone loved him and it wasn't like Ryan was an exception. He was attractive and funny and one of the few people who had never treated Ryan as 'that theater fag'.

"I just don't think it would work out," he grumbled, moving corn around on his plate to avoid eating it. "He's Troy Bolton. And I'm me." When his mother opened her mouth to object angrily, he added dryly, "Fantastically rich, devastatingly good looking and a brilliant catch, I'm sure. I'm just saying, I'm not a sweet Eisensteinette like Gabriella. I don't think I'm his type."

"Again, he seemed pretty excited about taking you to a movie tonight, so don't count yourself out, my boy," he chuckled. "Go change, all right? You're not getting out of this one."

Ryan grumbled his way upstairs and into his closet, half-heartedly pulling on a pair of dark grey slacks and a light blue button down. With an afterthought, he added a fedora to match his slacks and slipped his phone and wallet into his pocket.

He was giving himself a once-over in the mirror of his vanity as he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. He let out a heavy sigh, reminding himself to get back at his father later, and left his room, hesitantly making his way downstairs.

He stopped short about halfway down the staircase.

Troy was in the entry, laughing and talking animatedly with Ryan's father, his mother standing a little ways away, giving him adoring glances. She obviously approved, though in Ryan's opinion there wasn't much to approve of. It wasn't like he and Troy were _together_, or ever would be. A date did not a relationship make, after all.

Then Troy glanced up at him and Ryan was embarrassed to admit that his thinking processes were halted. Troy's eyes were such an intense blue that he could see them from where he was standing and Ryan felt a little weak in their gaze. A smile turned Troy's lips upward, warm and almost affectionate. Ryan was sure he was missing something - why was Troy sending that smile at him?

"Well, I hope you two have fun tonight!" his father chuckled, patting Troy on the shoulder.

"Ready to go, Ryan?" Troy asked, that smile still very much in place and as dazzling as ever. Dumbly, he nodded, descending the staircase. He was even more surprised when Troy held out an arm. He took it with a tentative smile, cheeks warming all over again when Troy covered the hand resting lightly on his bicep with his own right.

"I'll, um…" He gulped, sending glances between his mother and his father, both of whom looking far too proud of themselves for him to take for too long. He could hear Sharpay complaining to herself, probably plotting, in the dining room, but he wasn't going to bother with that right now. "I'll be back later?"

"We trust you," his mother said with a bright grin. "Just be back before the sun rises tomorrow morning!"

Fighting an even brighter blush, Ryan tugged Troy to the door. "Goodbye, mom! See you guys in the morning!"

"Have fun!" his father called after them, obviously enjoying his embarrassment and Ryan practically slammed the door in retaliation.

"I can't stand those two," he groaned under his breath, but Troy squeezed his hand and his frustration melted away.

"They love you," Troy told him with a warm grin. "You can't be too angry with them. According to your father, you never would have worked up the courage to ask me out on your own, right? And god knows I never would have, either."

"What do you mean by that?" Ryan asked, eyes widening. "What do you mean?"

Troy laughed, dropping the arm to simply take up Ryan's hand instead as he led them to his car, a graduation present from his parents to replace the truck that barely ran. "I mean, Mr. I-have-no-self-esteem, that I've been trying to gather the balls to ask you out for a while now. It's part of why Gabi and I broke up."

"No way," he deadpanned as he climbed in the passenger side.

"Way," Troy grinned. "So I think you owe your father a thank you."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his incredibly good looking date, he looked back at the house, steadily shrinking as they drove down the driveway.

"I'll thank him later," Ryan said idly, before stilling and turning a dark red as Troy laughed. He would have been much more embarrassed for admitting that he was actually thankful for the interference if it wasn't for Troy's hand, which had taken his again.

"Later," Troy agreed. "After the movie."

"Yeah," he responded quietly, giving Troy a hesitant smile. "Okay."


End file.

High School Musical, Humor, Romance