swingsets and dance routines ; tyrus

chapter #17: a promise

A/N: I have nothing to say for myself. Here's the chapter!

~

It had taken Andi a solid few seconds of wide-eyed staring for her to produce something coherent when Cyrus told her later that night exactly what had happened. Buffy on the other hand, looked relieved more than anything.

"Cyrus you have no idea how excruciating this whole thing with TJ has been to watch," she had said with a smile on her face that told Cyrus she was secretly just as happy as Andi seemed to be at that moment, "I'm just glad you finally kissed and made up...literally.""

Now there they were on a lazy Sunday afternoon, lounging about on Cyrus' couch and basking in the sun that was pouring through the window. Andi was braiding Buffy's hair, one earphone in as she did so, and Buffy appeared to be texting someone. ( Marty if the smile on her face was anything to go by, Cyrus couldn't help but muse.)

TJ had a casual arm thrown around Cyrus' shoulders as he recounted a story about Amber and him accidentally stealing a snickers bar from the store when he was 6, and Cyrus was more than happy to just listen. After having spent the past few weekends stressing out over his feelings for TJ, it felt nice to be this close to him now - close enough to count the faint freckles that dotted his face.

"We had no concept of money whatsoever by the way, so please don't tell the cops on us. Actually - can six years get arrested? Do they even have handcuffs that small?"

Cyrus snorted at that. "No, TJ. I don't think 6-year-olds can get arrested," he deadpanned, laughing as he narrowly dodged TJ's swat at him.

Buffy glanced up from her phone for a moment, shaking her head in exasperated amusement before returning to it again.

Everything felt right.

Until it didn't.

His phone, which had been sitting discarded on his lap, suddenly lit up with a text message from Dylan. Cyrus wanted to do a lot of things - burst into tears, punch something despite being the most passive person on the planet, throw his phone across the room, but what he ended up doing was staring down at the messages with an expression of horror.

Dylan: Come on, Cy

Dylan: Can't we talk about this?

It was almost embarrassing how quickly he lost it, muttering a quiet "fuck" under his breath and shoving his phone forcefully into his pocket.

Andi was looking over now with concern written all over her face, clearly having an idea of what was going on.

"Who was that?" TJ asked, confused more than anything. Cyrus could barely bring himself to make eye contact, but he knew the boy was probably looking at him too now.

Buffy glanced up at Andi then, who had stopped braiding her hair, before following her line of sight to Cyrus. Cyrus could see the gears in her head turning, and the thought only added to the uneasy pit in his stomach. He knew he'd have to tell TJ about Dylan eventually, but a day after their first kiss just didn't seem like the right time.

TJ was one of the kindest people he knew, but for some reason, Cyrus didn't think he'd take too kindly to someone who had indirectly caused the whole mess between them.

It was delayed and a little bit unconvincing, but Cyrus managed to get out a hurried "no one!" after a few moments, which only served to deepen the frown on TJ's face.

"Okay," he trailed off, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he removed his arm from Cyrus' shoulders. "Then what's wrong?"

Cyrus looked desperately to where Buffy and Andi were sat. Buffy was giving him a pointed look that pretty much screamed 'tell him!' while Andi had a sympathetic smile on her face that seemed more like a 'tell him if you want to.' He let out a heavy sigh before turning his gaze to TJ again