While Ryan, Kelsey, and Tyler were gossiping about smelly teachers and most likely unrequited crushes, Chad was at the Boltons' (A/N: I'm really bad at proper apostrophe use god help me) having a similar conversation with Troy and Jason.

Chad hadn't originally intended for anyone else to know about his not-so-straightness (A/N: I love technical terms), but Jason had overheard Troy trying to convince Chad that the conversation he had overheard between Sharpay and Ryan was totally about him ('even if it is, he specifically said he doesn't like him' 'Chad, buddy, that never actually means that you don't like them') .

Earlier that week, on Wednesday, during free period

Chad was in the library pretending to actually be doing homework in the hopes that Troy would decide to leave him and his scientific formulas alone.

Alas, the fellow WildCat was stubborn, especially after standing up for his interest in singing, and now it seemed that once he set his mind something, nothing could stop him.

Troy was straddling one of the plastic school chairs so that the back of the chair was against his chest and his arms were crossed on top of it. He was trying to convince the other to 'just talk to him dude' ('as if it was that easy'), when Jason creeped up on them without either noticing.

Before making his presence known, the raven-haired boy decided to eavesdrop, and ended up hearing the following exchange,

"Troy, I know you think you're helping, but you don't know anything, okay? He doesn't like me, that's it."

"C'mon dude, at least give it a chance. You don't even know for sure yet and you're obviously really crushing on him-"

Jason finally decided to clear his throat, startling his two friends. Troy's eyes widened as he glanced between his two companions, and Chad turned a significantly red shade in embarrassment.

"Jason, dude...." Chad began, trying to sound normal but instead sounding like he was going through puberty again. Which, after seeing Ryan shirtless for a split second after rehearsals the other day, he just might be. "How- how much of that did you hear?" He squeaked quietly.

"Uh- all of it? Starting at you telling Troy he doesn't know anything." Jason was suddenly embarrassed himself, realizing that those children's stories about not listening in on conversations that weren't yours were probably on to something.

Finally snapping out of his daze, Troy decided to jump to his friend's rescue, "Jason, maybe we should just forget and leave this conversation for another time? Chad here just needs a second to-"

The boy was cut off by Chad, "Thanks, Troy, but it's fine, really." Troy gave him an unsure look before nodding. Turning in his seat to a completely confused Jason, Chad took a deep breathe.

'This shouldn't be this hard. People do this all the time'

This was true, but it was also true that Chad had only done this once (twice, if you counted the talk with Kelsey) before now, so yeah, he was nervous.

"Well, Jace," He began, among a more casual approach, "I have a crush."

Jason nodded slowly, "Ok, so you have a crush. That's not that big of a de-"

"On a guy." Chad added quickly.

Jason stopped. "Oh." He said dumbly, and the other two held their breathe.

"So... who's hotter, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, or Chris Hemsworth?"

Back at the Boltons on Friday Night

"You guys are impossible." Chad sighed, resting his head on his fists. He was sitting on Troy's bed, leaning against the wall with his legs in the 'butterfly' position and his arms propped up on his knees, knuckles pressed together.

He could practically hear the mischievous grin in Jason's 'You'll he thanking us if- er- when this all works out.'

"You don't sound very sure." He grumbled, unsure himself if the other two could hear him in his position of shame and regret.

Shame because, wow, he can't believe he's friends with these idiots, and regret because he'd actually agreed to this.

To be fair, he was too excited that Troy still wanted him sleeping in the same room as him, despite his sexuality crisis (ok, so it wasn't exactly a crisis at the moment, but it was in fact different), so he didn't really pay attention to the smirk on Troy's face, and now he's really wishing he had.

"Come on dude, we just need to talk to him, try to pry something out of him, and then go from there." Troy insisted, and Chad sighed again. He couldn't exactly be mad at them for caring, but man would he try.

"Yeah, dude, it's not like you're really risking anything. Won't it be worth it anyway? I mean, don't you really like him?"

This caused Chad to look up at the two boys sitting in front of him, and his face softened at the genuinely caring looks his friends were giving him.

Stupid Jason and Troy, caring about him and shit.

"I do," he nodded, trying not to think too deeply about his adoration for the boy, and completely failing. "I just- fuck guys, I really like him." Chad bit his upper lip in thought, pretending not to notice his friends leaning forward in curiosity.

"If you don't mind me asking, buddy, what exactly do you like about him?" Troy didn't mean it in an accusatory way, he was more just trying to repeat the things Chad asked Troy about Gabriella after the whole 'her or the team' fiasco.

Chad couldn't help but the grin spreading across his face. "He's got these eyes, right?" He began, and Jason snickered.

"Wow, eyeballs. He must be really special."

Troy elbowed him.

"Ow! God, sorry."

Chad ignored them.

"Like, these really blue eyes. Not exactly ocean blue, they're more turquoise. And just really- bright? Yeah, they're bright. He's kind of all brightness."

"What do you mean?" Jason wondered quietly, gently encouraging his friend to continue.

"Like, he's just got this bright, radiating, happiness to him. But not in like a hyper way, more so he's just really genuinely happy to be existing, and it's brightest when he's acting, I think. Er- Troy, you've rehearsed with him, you have to know what I'm talking about, right?"

They turned to the boy in question, who was furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "I mean- I guess I do. I only notice it a little when he's acting with me, though." He eyed his friend curiously, "Honestly, Chad, I'm pretty sure you're the thing that gives him that happy energy."

Chad's heart stopped. Or beat faster, he couldn't really tell.

He knew it was probably wishful thinking, but he really did want it to be true.

"You think?" He mumbled, and Troy grinned.

"I really do, dude."

"Yeah," Jason was nodding now too, "I agree. I'm not around him as much as you two with the play and all, but at lunch and when I'm helping with props during free period, he mostly only 'radiates' around you, Chad."

Ok, now that was really wishful thinking.

But one glance at the two told him that they really did believe that.

Chad let himself entertain the idea, 'maybe,' he mused, 'just maybe.'

************************************
A/N: Whaaaat? Two chapters NOT weeks apart?? Man, this isolating myself thing is really good for my writing.
Ok so I've always had a small soft spot for Jason, despite not getting much information on him (at least I think, I haven't seen the last movie in YEARS and when I did I think it was only twice, so hopefully I don't get too much wrong, but this is based a fair amount of time before that movie), so I decided to have him find out about Chad's crush pretty quickly, as I don't want the coming out part to be too dramatic and drawn out.
Ya boys got enough of that IRL.
And don't worry, we'll have our love birds actually interact again and progress the story soon enough, I just like these little conversations between friends, but five in a row is a little much.
Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy, feedback is always appreciated, hadet! Xx
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