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Oh. Oh, my God. [ He pulls the phone a little closer, squinting. ] She has eyes to kill for and she's hiding them with those? I would kill to be that slim, holy shit.

[ The phone is handed away, and Elliot sighs. ] Case in point, and I salute just how good of a friend you really are. Friends don't let friends wear cargo pants.

Exactly. [He looks self-satisfied as he pockets the phone again, shaking his head.] Trust me, this is why she has me and it's like…I tried to tell her that she's adorable and that being a lesbian isn't a choice but she can at least choose to be a pretty one. [Ryan why do you have zero problems outing your best friend but not yourself what the fuck.]

…she really is gorgeous though. It disgusts me. [But he's grinning. He's definitely proud of her.]

Not my type. She has boobs. [ Simple and as about as matter-of-fact you can be, and Elliot waves it off slightly comically, moving to shove a few things in the dishwasher as he talks. Gotta do his job, after all. ]

Oh, hey, thanks for the tip, by the way.

If it's any consolation they're kinda small. [Ryan stop. Still, he just sips his coffee, nodding toward the tip jar.]

Sure. You sorta went above and beyond your job and that always deserves to be rewarded don't you think?

Sure, but I also called you out on being a complete asshole. [ Wiping the counter now, still trying not to find the entire thing amusing. ]

Well yeah, that's kinda what I was talking about. [A headtilt.] Why, what did you think I meant?

You think most people like to be reminded they're only human?

[ He sort of half-shrugs. ]

I guess I'm just surprised. There's a lot of people I have to grit my teeth to here. I hate having to be nice.

I don't really like it sometimes but it's still something that has to be done. And anyway maybe I'm just an exception to most rules. I'd say "well don't be nice" but pretty sure that's the kind of thing that'd get you fired. Maybe?

Maybe? I'd be out faster then RuPaul starts a Kiki. You act like you've never had a job in your life.

[ He's shaking his head, and they're interrupted as a line of preteens wanting to go to the cool yuppie stores around here get their mocha-frappe-whatever, and Elliot is suddenly all smiles and laughter. Luckily, no one complains (he's a good barista, goddammit) but it takes for fucking ever. It's immediately after the door closes that Elliot looks up, notices the time, and narrows his eyes at the clock. ]

And as usual, Ellie is either late or not coming. Awesome. [ Which means he has to deal with the lunch rush on his own, most likely. He gets up and away from the counter, plops himself onto a chair next to Ryan's, and sighs. ]

Don't trust shady bitches, Ryan.

Of course you watch RuPaul's Drag Race. [He laughs a little, carefully skirting around the issue of never having a job in his life. He steps to the side to let the annoying kids place their orders, idly wondering if he was ever that bad. He's watching Elliot closely, still amazed at the way he rotates through personalities until the last of the kids exits the shop.

When Elliot joins him though he just lifts an eyebrow while taking a sip. The cup's almost empty, but it doesn't help that Ryan's been downing his coffee like it's the last drink on earth.]

If it's any consolation, I don't really trust anybody.

[ Squint. ] You're way too young to be bitter and jaded, Ryan, come on. Even as a competitive dancer.

I'm not bitter. [But jaded, hell yeah.] I don't really have anything to be bitter about...and anyway what does that really mean? Being too young to be bitter. How do you know? I could have a lot of things to be bitter about. [He has some things but that falls under the "telling people I trust" umbrella and Elliot's not there yet.] ...Sharpay and I just spent most of our lives working under the idea that you can't trust anybody but yourself and your family, and even then that depends what's at stake.

That...[ He has to word this properly. He knows he does, but his hands are pressed flat on the table at first and he half-ass drums them as he thinks quickly.

Nope. ] Sounds completely insane.

Oh I know. There's a reason I stopped listening to her a couple of years ago but she's still my sister so...kinda have to deal with it. [He puts the coffee cup down finally now that it's empty, biting on his lip a little bit.] I love her but she's absolutely batshit sometimes.

Sharpay, right? [ He'll take note.

Wait a second, why will he take note? Ryan's just a friend. What the fuck, Starchild? ] Sooo glad I'm the an only child. Still--can't really be that bad, can it? I mean you're on top of your game, you dress well, you're in New York for dance... That's pretty good, if you ask me.

Um. [That same wry grin.] She's my twin and I got a scholarship to Juilliard but she didn't and then she didn't talk to me for the entire month of June. I guess you could call that pretty good.

Still...New York's New York. Things are way better here than they would be back there so maybe you're right. [...wait.] Did you just appreciate my fashion sense?

Yeah, you look good. Why are you surprised? [ He's still sort of laughing but there's one word that's still ringing in his mind. So, still beaming, he looks Ryan dead in the face: ]

I'm sorry, what was that last bit?

Just am. [Because people usually don't flat-out say so, that's why.

...oh god he actually didn't know. Ryan's not sure if it came up the night they met (it must not have been, or Elliot didn't take him seriously) but he's sure as shit taking Ryan seriously now and it's kind of scary. He blinks almost innocently, looking like he's struggling to remember what he just said.]

Um...Shar didn't talk to me for a month because I got a scholarship to Juilliard and she didn't?

That's, uh. Weird because I thought you said you had a scholarship.

[ Elliot's beginning to think he's being lied to. ]

That's because I did say that. Because it's how things happened. The scholarship reps were only supposed to pick one of us but they couldn't choose between me and my best friend, so...they picked both of us which is half the reason Sharpay's probably still sorta mad in the first place.

You were serious.

[ Elliot can't begin to explain the wave of emotion that that sentence, said so casually, hits.

This kid is good. This kid is so good they make an exception for him, a scholarhip is given to him, presumably full ride. Julliard. The hardest school to get into in the universe just walked up and said 'this guy's in'?

That's good. That's very good. Because Elliot applied for Julliard three times and got asked to audition only once. Elliot couldn't even get to the school one step below it, NYADA. Ryan was very, very good.

...But a huge part of him takes that the other way: Ryan's good, sure, but it's that Elliot's bad that he can't get in. ]

That's--I mean that's insane! You actually got in! That's like a one-way ticket to being extremely successful!

Edited 2015-01-20 10:22 (UTC)

[Though the words sound sincere, Ryan's not entirely sure how to respond to them. He's not relaxing by any means, still a little guarded as he gauges Elliot's reaction to the news.

He really, really didn't know. Or rather he didn't believe him and he's not sure which circumstance is worse. He just lets Elliot finish before slowly nodding, looking at his hands instead.]

...I know. [The look on his face is a little bit regretful but it's mostly proud. He busted his ass to get to Juilliard. He choreographed an entire show by himself while working on stuff for his classes and while dealing with twelve different personal crisises. Ryan Evans had flipped his senior year the middle finger and still made it out without hating anybody and having the best year of his life. Still. Juilliard is insanely hard to get into and he knows how this must look.

He got a free hand-out. He didn't even have to audition, they just watched the show and decided that he was good enough to study at their school. He looks up finally, grin now much smaller and a little more subdued.] It's both the most amazing and terrifying experience of my life, but like you said, it's a one-way ticket. I couldn't go back even if I wanted to.

...that's why I hate my dorms and why I had a curfew and why I was getting up at the asscrack of dawn to get ready for classes at 8am. I'm working for what I want. Is that really so bad?

[ He's jealous, but he really is genuinely impressed. Elliot's just glad he's able to separate those two emotions, thanks to two months backpacking in India and finally getting his head out his ass.

It just dawns on him why, though, they made an exception for this kid. He's hungry, he's hungry and he needs it and he's hungrier than the others for it. Elliot likes that, loves it, even. It's just that he's still floored. ]

No. [ He says after a few beats ]. I think that shows how much you want it.

[That much is true and he relaxes again. It's probably easier now to see what causes him to tense and what causes him to breathe easier around Elliot but he's still not entirely making eye contact. This is a super personal discussion that he's not even sure he should be having, but he's not about to stop either. He has to explain.

For some reason, he has to have Elliot's approval and make sure he's not upset or think he's weird or think he didn't earn this himself.]

...I've known I wanted to be on Broadway since I was three or four. Shar and I both do. We've been taking singing lessons since then and we took dance lessons for a long time together. I kept going when Shar decided to focus on her singing instead. We've been in 17 musicals together since kindergarten basically, 18 if you count the one our class put together for our senior year.

That's...um. That's actually how Kelsi and I got the scholarships. There were four of us nominated for one scholarship and so Kels wrote the whole show, I choreographed everything, and Sharpay and Troy were two of our actors. Anyway so I was putting together the whole show and volunteering at this dance academy I used to take lessons from teaching kids jazz two days a week on top of my normal homework and I'm still sort of surprised I didn't have a nervous breakdown.

But this is all I can see myself doing and it sounds stupid and impractical not to have another goal in case this doesn't work but I'm going to make it work. That sounds crazy, I know, but I'm not going to stop until I catch my dream and stomp the everliving fuck out of it and skyrocket to be successful.

[...waaaay to be dramatic, Ry. Let's just sip coffee--oh shit it's still empty. Goddamnit.]

[ Elliot's smile is gentle, if strangely reserved. He's happy about it--loves what's happening--he's proud of Ryan, even if he's just some dude he gave a handy to after dragging him around.

It's jealousy, and he's trying to deal with it. He'll meditate, dos ome yoga, reflect on him being selfish like he always does. ]

You're a fighter. That's gonna be good, because you're going to be told no more times than yes. Trust me.

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