TJ's Playlist | Tyrus

Epilogue

It had been over seven months since TJ first started C.C.C.M., its eighteen songs with their chords and lyrics each engraved in TJ and Cyrus' minds. It's been six months since TJ and Cyrus sat at their favorite swing set and decided to cast away all of their fears and be boyfriends. Five months since everyone at JMS and their families found out that TJ made Cyrus the happiest person alive and vice versa. It had been ten minutes since TJ told Cyrus he was ready to go through his great grandfather's things in the attic- his GG.

The boys were sitting on the Kippen's new living room couch that was already covered in cat hair when TJ pulled up the idea out of nowhere.

"You're ready?" Cyrus smiled at him, knowing that it had been years since those items had started collecting dust up there. He had gone with TJ's family to visit his GG's grave on the third year anniversary of his death, clearly pleasing TJ's Nana. She liked Cyrus better than Viktor by a whole lot.

"Yeah," TJ nodded, standing up. "Let's go see what weird things my GG left me."

"Is it going to be more music stuff?" Cyrus asked him as they passed by the white piano to go upstairs. Macaroni who was sleeping on top of it quickly jumped off to follow them.

"I don't think so," TJ said as the went to the end of the hall. He jumped up and grabbed the string that would bring down the ladder, dust immediately dropping down on the boys as it opened. They both started coughing into their shirts as TJ went into his room to grab a flashlight, leaving Cyrus and curious Macaroni behind. "Alright, let's go up," TJ said, starting to climb up the ladder. He yelled down, "There's a light switch. Let me see if it still works." Cyrus waited with Macaroni by his feet until he saw the light go on. "Babe, do you need help getting up here?" TJ asked from somewhere in the attic.

Cyrus was already climbing up the ladder as he said, "No, thanks. I'm fine." Cyrus reached the top to find his boyfriend opening a box. There were boxes everywhere, a lone corduroy couch gathering dust in the corner and an old black pet bed right next to it. There was a cage stacked on top of other things. Cyrus was wondering what TJ had been avoiding all these years.

"I found photo albums," TJ announced. "They look really old. Should I go through them at the end?"

"Yes or you'll get distracted," Cyrus nodded, walking up to him.

"Okay," TJ said, simply opening up a cover of the first album of the box. He gasped, "Okay I have to go through at least one. He looks so young in these." Cyrus smiled as TJ set the box down and took out the album. TJ sat down on the floor where Cyrus sat down next to him as he flipped slowly through pages.

"You need to cut your nails," Cyrus said as he watched TJ's fingers flip through the sticking pages.

"I know," TJ sighed, "I keep forgetting to." TJ turned to a page where there was a large portrait of his GG, smiling at the camera with who he assumed to be his older sister behind him.

"Wow, he looks so much like you," Cyrus commented. "Your Nana wasn't lying."

"I've been told," TJ smiled, changing to another page. Then he paused. Neither nor Cyrus were breathing anymore. They both saw it. TJ reached out slowly, moving the old plastic from the covering the photograph and pulled it out, almost scared it would fall into dust particles at the touch of his hand. TJ turned it around and read it out loud, "Paul and Brian's Union Ceremony 1954." It was his GG and two men in tuxes in someone's backyard, a bunch of people filling up fold up chairs. It looked like a very unorganized and hidden wedding. TJ looked down and flipped through the album, finding more photos of the union ceremony.

"Did your GG ever mention having gay friends?" Cyrus asked him.

"Paul was his best friend. He died in the 90s. GG didn't like to talk about him because he'd get sad, but his kids still visited my GG," TJ told him. TJ's mouth fell open, "That's why his kids didn't look like him. I thought it was just because he looked old in the photos I saw. Wait," TJ said, sliding the photo he was holding back in. "Here," he pointed at a picture of a corner of two little kids with a teenage version of his Nana. "I think those were Brian's kids before he got with Paul. They look a lot more like him. That's Brianna and Alicia. They would send us Christmas gifts sometimes."

"Do you think your Nana would tell you everything if you asked?"

"Yeah, she should," TJ happily said, a huge smile on his lips, "but you know what this means, Cyrus?"

"What?"

"My GG wouldn't have cared if I was gay," he said, tears seeming to fill up the edge of his eyes. "He wouldn't have cared if I was with you."

"TJ," Cyrus reached over to cup his face, "are you crying?"

"It's just dusty," TJ laughed, his eyes getting redder by the second.

"Your GG was always going to love you, no matter what," Cyrus told him, pressing his forehead against his. TJ took in a deep breath and exhaled, the grin never leaving his face. "TJ, can I tell you something right now?" TJ looked up, his green eyes staring in Cyrus' brown ones, his face being held the entire time. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

TJ smiled, putting his hands on top of Cyrus', "I'm falling in love with you, too, Cyrus." Cyrus grinned, leaning in to kiss TJ, the dust on their noses being swept off. TJ knew he was young, but he also knew that in a few decades, his life with Cyrus would be forever captured with polaroid pictures inside of albums.

Behind him, across vast piles of memorabilia and relics, from the memories he'd thought he could never back to, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only the sound of his great grandfather humming inside of his head.

-

A/N: This is it, folks. Thank you once more, from the bottom of my heart. If you have about five minutes, please go read this thank you letter. If not, just know that I appreciate you and love you for reading this.

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