#i want a natural and slow paced progression in their relationship y'all

[hoperays-song]

Okay, so based on my last ask: remember in Sing 1 when Ash's spikes starts flying off while she's rocking Set It Free? And Johnny doesn't even react to it because he's sad? (I feel so bad for Johnny, but I can't help but find that scene slightly funny for some reason)

I can't help but imagine that scene now with Ryan trying to comfort Johnny and has to duck down to avoid them - with Johnny still not reacting.

(Though considering Ryan's personality he'd probably try to cover Johnny slightly or something? In that case I don't know whether Johnny reacts or stays deeply in thought by himself still)

Sorry this is random 😂😅

OK, I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! The whole idea of Ryan being in Sing 1 is absolutely amazing and I love it but the pure opportunities for this scene alone is just ✨perfection✨. I'm gonna have to further write this out (I'll tag you in the full written out one if you want)! I hope you enjoy tho! - <3 Gooseless

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Ok so, this would start with the singing competition becoming a talent competition (probably to get more participants). And since in this Ryan joins the main cast, we of course get a pan over in the beginning showing his day to day life. I imagine he's on a phone call standing outside an agency of some kind (implied that it's a dance company by his outfit). We only get to hear his side of the conversation (though we can hear muffled noises of voices) but he seems exasperated and a bit worried.

R: Mom, I'm fine I swear. I'm at an audition now.

R: No, it's not for one of its associated companies. I double checked.

R: Manman, not you too. I'm fine! I can handle myself!

R: Yes I'll be home in time for my classes, I just need to fit in a few more jobs first.

*a worker appear with a clip board, looks around, calls the number on Ryan's shirt*

R: Here! Look, moms, I gotta go, love you.

*ryan hangs up the phone and heads into a room behind the worker*

The next time we see Ryan is when the flyers are spreading around, he's walking on a sidewalk, texting on his phone until a flyer on the ground catches his eye. He picks it up and immediately starts grinning, giving a little bounce of excitement.

At auditions, Ryan is in the dance category, competing as a soloist. I think his audition song would be Take Me To Church by Hozier (mainly because I do want him to dance to something slower in comparison to the final song). Mrs. Crawly and Buster both seem really impressed by this and and smiling and nodding along at the end, Mrs. Crawly even seeming to be crying a bit.

Ryan is picked first draft unlike Johnny when it comes to the selection, however he is the last one named. We can see him watching the singers being picked from the side, clapping when the final selection is announced.

The next time we see him is when they're being assigned their rehearsal areas and given performance recommendation lists. He's next to Johnny, mentioning that he's dances modern, contemporary, and lyrical, not ballet as Buster apparently recommended. He shares a frustrated look with Johnny when the man brushes off their concerns before heading off to his rehearsal space.

When the power cuts, Ryan appears with the rest of the group at the bottom of the stairs, looking around like everyone else. He voices his agreement with the confusion on how they're supposed to practice if they can't see, and he and Johnny shrug at each other before returning to practice, Ryan accepting the glow stick Gunter offers him with a "Thank you".

When Meena walks through, we see Ryan doing a spin in his rehearsal space.

During the showing of what the groups lives are like, we see Ryan returning to what appears to be an empty and cramped hotel room, immediately opening his phone, allowing the audience to see a picture of him with an older tigeress and lioness, along with two liger cubs, before he clicks out of the photo app and to a contact labeled mom. Again, we get to hear his conversation from his end (though we can hear muffled noises of voices) and his motivations are revealed. He's trying to make it on his own as a dancer as well as help his family financially.

R: Hey mom!

R: Yeah, I'm okay, just missed you guys. How are the girls?

R: *laughs* That's my Ames alright! And Bella? How's she feeling?

R: That's a bit better at least! I'm sure she'll be back to normal in no time. But mom, you're not gonna believe this.

R: Yeah, I got a gig! My first solo gig! It's a talent competition and the prize is $100,000 mom!

R: No, I'm not kidding! We could pay off rent and Bella's stuff and manman's loans and everything!

*the scene goes in to the life of the next person*

At the rehearsal, we see Ryan walking off stage before Mike walks on. Ryan is sitting on the opposite side of Ash compared to Rosita, looking worried as she's crying.

The next scene we see is the prepping for run-through for the Noodlemans one and Ryan is reading the newspaper over Johnny's shoulder. He looks at Johnny, apparently concerned at Johnny's behavior, when Johnny answers Buster asking if they're ready. He's seen putting a hand on Johnny's shoulder as Buster leaves and appears to be asking if he's ok.

During the theatre flood, we see that Ryan is the one doing the best besides Johnny (tigers are good swimmers after all). He's able to stop himself from being completely swept up by the current at first but is eventually pushed into the lobby with the others. Ryan is seen looking around frantically as the water raises and is the second person to take their last gulp of air before the room fills entirely. When they all spill out onto the street, he's one of the first back on his feet, helping Johnny up as he was the closest.

When the group is shown reeling after the flood, Ryan is seen sitting with a duffel bag on a bench, trying to call someone without getting an answer. It's implied he doesn't have anywhere to stay due to the bag next to him.

At Eddie's pool house, when they're trying to convince Buster to try again, we see him react in a shocked manner to Johnny's statement of "I lost the chance of ever speaking to my dad again" and keeps glancing at him for the rest of the interaction, visibly concerned.

At the start of the rebuild, Ryan also receives a call, leaving an audition to go join the rest of the troupe. He also is seen helping with the renovations, helping Johnny with the beams and slabs of concrete in particular. I would also add scenes of the troupe hanging out in there too, during the rebuild, so we see scenes of all of them practicing together and watching each other perform, cheering them on.

During the show, Ryan performs second, after Rosita and Gunter, to the song Stand Out Fit In by One Ok Rock. He high fives Johnny when he leaves the stage and then helps him drag the piano on stage for his song.

During Set It All Free, Ryan is standing next to Johnny, clearly checking on him to see if he's ok. When the quills fly, he shield Johnny himself, resulting in getting stuck in the cheek. At that, Johnny seems to snap out of it a bit, and reaches up to help him pull it out, now also looking worried. The rest of the performances, he can be seen nodding along and clearly happy, standing next to Johnny, as if he's making him experience the shows instead of moping.

When Marcus reappears, Ryan actually is hinted at seeing him first (tigers have a really good sense of hearing compared to the other species after all) and slightly turns his head towards where Marcus is before turning back to the show with a smile.

When Johnny walks back to join the others, Ryan smiles at him and pats him on the shoulder and Johnny smiles back at him. He also stands next to Johnny during bows, with Gunter on his other side.

At the unveiling of the New Moon Theatre, he's standing next to Johnny as well and throws and arm around his shoulders in the photo.

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Ok! One, I'm so so so sorry with how long this took (I promise I'll post the other one soon). Two, thank you for the amazing ask!

In this, Ryan would have left Klaus's troupe a few months beforehand and is trying to make it on his own as a dancer as well as helping his family care for one of his sisters, Bella, who's hinted at being sick.

There are a few Rynny coded moments, but not many, mainly because in this au I would want that plotline to spread across both movies to make the relationship seem to movie at a more natural pace. Also, their interactions in this set up a pretty natural felling close friendship that could appear in the next movie that wouldn't be shocking.

Ryan's personality is also given a spotlight a bit in this au as well, as he's shown to be ambitious as well as to be a caring individual. It also dives a bit into his backstory, but not a lot.

I hope you enjoyed!! Thank you again for the awesome ask!!!

- <3 Gooseless

[paceunknown]

high school musical, often abbreviated “hsm”,

is quite literally one of the best musicals ever released. it draws on old, often overused tropes that any audience would recognise and be able to identify with (chance meeting/running away at midnight - cinderella; main characters on opposite sides of the tracks - romeo and juliet; etc). said tropes tug on memories and expectations that make the movie interesting enough to want to see through to the end but aren’t boring and predictable enough to steer one away, as the plot itself can play out in a multitude of ways with the promise of a cute and happy ending still present. 

troy bolton’s characterisation is the one of the driving forces behind why the franchise as a whole is so successful and you can fight me on it. he’s just… so nice, so thoughtful, his character breaks all the stereotypes and makes you love him and therefore the whole movie because you’re rooting for him to open his eyes and be himself. he’s the typical jock, yes, number one star player with narrow, one-track minded friends and a pushy dad, and that’s how he’s introduced in the exposition. but that’s quickly broken during the countdown to midnight scene where he’s honest with gabriella about having enjoyed singing and how he’s genuinely, earnestly interested in keeping in contact (and absolutely solidified when he does everything in his power to ask for gabriella’s forgiveness). completely off trope, he’s nervous and awkward with her instead of cocky as expected, and we immediately understand that troy is a lot nicer and conflicted than we’d originally thought; when we see him back at east high laughing at chad’s dig at sharpay it’s confusing, as it should be, since he’s been established as a Good Guy™, but it makes sense because we also know he has an image to uphold (see: “why are you whispering?”). further, though gabriella coerces his love for music out of him, troy ultimately comes to the conclusion for himself. she made the joke about auditioning, but it was him who lingered on the poster, let the idea of singing influence his basketball practice, hid at the back of the theater, and decided to do the callback. that’s something we don’t usually see in these kinds of love stories: the boy didn’t need the girl to be his end-all-be-all savior—all she did was give him that little push which he used to make his own decisions.

and while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about troy and gabriella’s relationship that has set my standards high since 2006. first of all, even though gabriella is sweet and soft spoken, she doesn’t take any shit (“nice penmanship” blew my eight year old mind; when she came for sharpay in hsm 2 I lost it). from the jump she’s interested in troy, clearly, but she doesn’t go all goo-goo over him like I’m sure he’s used to: running away to find her mom at the party, basically ignoring him to find her classes, not being so willing to accept it when taylor revealed the webcam thing was plotted. it’s not something that’s been unseen, but it’s definitely out the norm to see the nerdy girl not let the cute jock engulf her life. in fact, it’s pretty much the opposite way around: troy asks for her number, troy risks getting in trouble to call her in class, troy is the one off his game when gabriella stops speaking to him whereas gabriella’s sad but she keeps on keepin on. this role reversal is key in not only further establishing how much he’s unlike his stereotype but cementing hsm’s Groundbreaking Originality. on this as well, it ends up being troy who convinces gabriella to do the callback (both times, pretty much) which again breaks the stereotype. also, they’re just so fucking cute together it makes me wanna die?? it’s natural cuteness (probably because zac and vanessa had that real life chemistry but), not “these are our love interests and they’re supposed to be in love” cuteness. they’re goofy together (practice room with kelsi, detention when they’re humming breaking free, when they're on the court together), honest with each other (rooftop garden, scene after darbus’ class), genuinely care for one another (gabriella’s pushiness to get troy to do what he enjoys and not what’s expected of him, troy’s understanding of gabriella’s stage fright and taking the first verse of breaking free/telling her to just look at him). their entire existences don’t become all about each other, which is so incredibly refreshing, but we still get to see their relationship happen over the course of something longer than a three-minute song. and it’s apparent that they aren’t even technically dating/haven’t had That talk yet by the looks on their faces when troy kisses gabriella’s cheek after breaking free. that’s what really gets to me: we were supposed to assume they were together but ,, they weren’t! and that’s due to good world building and character progression! are y'all hearing me the ENTIRE MOVIE we #thought but they were still in the beginning stages of their relationship! when has any romcom ever! talk about slow burn I LOVE that their relationship actually grew and wasn’t just written to have happened spontaneously WHEW BOY okay.

let me also discuss the whole webcam incident. what troy said was dumb and inexcusable, definitely, but the fact that both sides realised what they did was wrong and conspired to fix it not even for their personal gain (the upcoming game, the decathlon) but because they genuinely cared about their friends’ happiness and even helped to devise this ridiculously complex plan to help get their friends to the callback!! everyone changed, it wasn’t just troy and gabriella. even though troy still struggled internally with his love for singing all the way up until the end of the last movie, it was never a thing where their friends continued to conspire against them or they had to keep proving their worthiness to be on stage. they realised their friends were more important and that was it, and that’s such a beautiful message and, again, one you don’t see too often: typically the leads have to be together in secret, or run off together, or only one or two of their close friends accept them. like I said! Groundbreaking Originality!

now onto the music. I was listening to the rent soundtrack a few weeks ago and recently bopped the hsm soundtrack, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the former. not because of content, obviously, but the range of styles and a lot of the styles themselves were reminiscent. the hsm soundtrack wasn’t your typical disney musical, it wasn’t all bubblegum and legato and, just, old school disney. it’s like rent, it’s new and fast-paced and used fuckin guitars and one song literally made a beat using basketballs like bro. so many different influences went into the music. hsm was ahead of its time, at least where made-for-children musicals were concerned, and it’s success musically has been copied so many times but never to the same level, there can never be another musical like hsm. it’s just impossible. you had your typical musical theater-esque tunes, you had your modern tunes, you had your ballads, you had a little bit of everything, everyone can find at least one song they like because there wasn’t a strict motif being followed (like rent wow). not only that, but the songs are BOPS and I’m genuinely not being biased. there aren’t many songs that can hold the test of time, especially not songs from musicals, ESPECIALLY not when those songs were everywhere due to the massive commercial success of said musical (prime example: frozen) and the fact that hsm’s music can still be enjoyed with just as much fervor as it was 11 years ago speaks volumes. not to hate on 2 and 3 because I would die for those movies too, but out of all three soundtracks, the first is the one most would pick for replayability (that’s not a word I know but it works). there’s just something effortlessly timeless about it, catchy but not annoyingly so, nostalgic but not saddening, something that forces you not to hit skip and just belt out the lyrics. I’ll skip you are the music in me (reprise) all day but let what I’ve been looking for (reprise) come on. I just wanna be with you could catch that swift next but my finger will never come near that button when breaking free is on. it’s like the second two movies worked too hard to continue to capitalise off the commercial success (for example, hsm 2 made sure to have multiple easy-to-learn dances because of the reaction to we’re all in this together) whereas the first movie didn’t have anything it clung to or had ties to so it was free to just exist. please don’t get me wrong: the entire trilogy owns my ass, music and storyline alike, but the first one just has a special touch musically.

I could quite possibly go on forever but moral of the story: high school musical is a masterpiece, deserved a grammy, deserved an oscar, deserved a golden globe, deserved a vma, deserved a brit award, deserved a people’s choice, deserved an AMA, deserved a much music award, deserved an ARIA, deserved a SAG award, deserved a critics’ choice, deserved an emmy, deserved five stars on imdb and a 100% on rotten tomatoes,