Against All Odds | Tyrus

1. Trust

“Cyrus, can you give us the playground?” Buffy asked, an apologetic look on her face.

“Yeah. Um, you know where to find me,” Cyrus replied. He then turned to TJ with a smile, “And so do you.”

TJ gave a small smile in return before Cyrus began walking away. Cyrus feared TJ up until this point. After all, TJ was a big, angry jock who acted like a jerk towards Cyrus's best friend, Buffy. It almost seemed out of character when TJ spoke kindly and pushed Cyrus on the swings. In fact, Cyrus was still in disbelief that that had just happened. However, he was willing to be TJ's friend. He knew people weren't always as bad as they seemed.

Cyrus found his smile widening at the thought of a new friend. His pace quickened, and there was a bounce in his step as he walked back to finish his video with Jonah.

Meanwhile, TJ couldn't feel any more irritated. He believed he and Cyrus were sharing an intimate moment until Buffy came along, bearing bad news. He wasn't just stupid. He had a learning disability. TJ felt like the world was working against him, and he found it incredibly unfair. This only made him angrier. So despite how the saying goes, TJ decided to shoot the messenger. He shouted at Buffy and refused to believe her. It wasn't hard for him to do since, admittedly, he had never been nice to Buffy. Though this time, he felt a twinge of guilt as he left her. Cyrus didn't strike him as the type to hang around people who were mean to his friends.

As TJ walked home, he hummed the song Cyrus had sung to himself on the swings. Obviously, TJ didn't know the words to either of Cyrus's songs, but the simple tune stuck with him. He found it almost endearing when he first heard Cyrus sing. It reminded him that there was still innocence in the world. Although it was impossible for TJ to be certain of Cyrus's character after two brief conversations, he chose to believe Cyrus was nothing but good after their time swinging together. He didn't seem to hold anything against TJ for his past actions and was friendly despite his obvious fear.

• • •

Buffy was astonished, to say the least. She couldn't understand why TJ acted the way he did towards her. She was only trying to help him, but he got frustrated with her for some reason.

If anyone should be frustrated, Buffy believed it should be her. She had never done anything that could've made TJ hate her the way he seemed to. In fact, she had tried to approach him nicely one day after Cyrus asked her to. But being nice to TJ hadn't worked then, so Buffy didn't know why she thought it might work now. She just knew she was right about TJ having some sort of math dyslexia. And she was pretty sure she was the only one who knew about his learning disability. So if Buffy didn't talk him into getting help, she knew no one else would. But if she continued trying to convince TJ into seeing someone about his problem, she'd have to deal with mistreatment from him more often. It seemed Buffy was caught in a dilemma.

And to add to Buffy's confusion, she had seen Cyrus and TJ together. She couldn't exactly tell what was going on between them, but Cyrus didn't seem upset by TJ, so she decided to let it be. She didn't even bother asking them about it. She just let the bewilderment fester inside of her for the time being.

• • •

Cyrus finished filming his video, his smile never leaving his face once. Jonah, though usually oblivious, seemed to notice Cyrus's good mood.

“Something good happen, Cy-Guy?” he asked. “I don't think you've stopped smiling since you came back from... wherever it is you went.”

Cyrus thought about telling Jonah where he went, but he feared more people would start using the swings like him. Sometimes he simply needed time alone, to think and to calm down. So the thought of Jonah being at the swings one day when Cyrus truly needed them bothered him. Especially since Jonah was often the cause of Cyrus's stress.