Tyrus oneshots.

It's all for you.

"Everybody's looking at you," Buffy said, talking to Cyrus, who was sitting right next to her. The crowd cheered because TJ, the captain of the Jefferson Middle School basketball team, scored but many of the boys around them turned to look at them.

Cyrus blushed, but looked at the faces of their peers, not encountering any glance. "I actually think they're looking at you, Buffy."

She frowned. "But TJ didn't just dedicate the basket to me."

"I know," he replied. Andi and Jonah listened in silence beside them. "But no one knows that TJ and I are together, besides you. So, the others think he's straight and, by extension, he's pointed you."

Buffy snorted annoyedly and made a sign with her hand to those who were still staring at her to stop. "Why don't you just tell everyone?"

Cyrus looked at her badly for a moment but then turned his total attention to his beautiful boyfriend on the court, who occasionally glanced at him and smiled.

At the end of the game, which ended with the Jefferson team winning, Cyrus reached TJ on the court as everyone made their way to the exit. He smiled softly, proud of him, and patted him a few pats on the shoulder. "Teej, you were great!"

He smiled in response and put his arm around his shoulders, leading him out. As they walked, TJ slipped his hand down his back, which caused a great shiver throughout his body, before he took his hand. Cyrus looked at him confused but really happy. "The arm around your shoulders smell too much of friends," he justified himself.

Cyrus smiled, feeling that relief and happiness that was unfamiliar to him. He had felt that way only one more time, when TJ had confessed to telling police about the gun Reed had brought that afternoon. He didn't say anything, but he knew that the blonde next to him had interpreted that silence as a positive response: in fact, Cyrus' muscles had relaxed and he had squeezed his hand more tightly, perhaps unconsciously.

They enjoyed that moment, because, even if they still didn't know, the next day, at school, an unwelcome rumor would break out.

The following day, Cyrus walked into school with Buffy, and as they walked through the hallways everyone followed them with their eyes, curious about what would happen next. Andi and Jonah reached them worried.

"I've heard rumors around that Buffy and TJ are together," Jonah warned them. "Cyrus, maybe you should talk to him."

Cyrus came out with a grimace. "I wanted to, but yesterday I didn't want to make his face darkening after the game. We decided not to tell anyone because he didn't feel ready, but I wouldn't know what to invent to get Buffy out of this situation."

The direct concerned shrugged. "It's okay, Cyrus. We can wait a few days and then I'll put the rumor that we've broken up."

Cyrus bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't want to involve her best friend, but he didn't want to force TJ to come out to school either. "No, we will get you out of this, I promise you."

They split up as the bell rang and Cyrus remained agitated until lunchtime: he would not see his boyfriend until then, as they had no common course that day and, as soon as the hour of literature ended, he reached the cafeteria.

He found the blonde sitting alone at a table and reached him without even filling the lunch tray. "Hey," he announced himself. TJ looked up from his plate of mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini that looked nothing like zucchini and smiled. "I know you don't want to scream at the four winds we're together, but the rumor that you're with Buffy goes around."

TJ nodded. "I heard. I've already made a decision, actually."

Cyrus looked at him more confused than ever, his eyebrows frowned, and his mouth sealed. "That is?"

The other smiled, trying to stab a courgette that looked like plastic. "You'll know when the cafeteria fills." Cyrus frowned and watched his boyfriend stand up on the bench as the cafeteria filled up. Those already seated began to stare at him perplexed, while those who were still standing noticed him only when he yelled a 'Can I have your attention?'. Cyrus felt in the spotlight with TJ and blushed, covering his face with his hands and shaking his head. "To everyone here, I would like to point out that yesterday, when I dedicated my first basket in the game, I didn't point at Buffy Driscoll but at Cyrus Goodman here," he said, pointing at him. Everyone began to murmur frantically, but when TJ resumed the word, they all shut up instantly. Cyrus, meanwhile, was dying of embarrassment and barely dared peek at the faces of his peers through his fingers. "So yes, I confirm your suspicions: I'm gay and Cyrus Goodman, I repeat: Cyrus Goodman, is my boyfriend. Thank you for your attention and have a good lunch!"

Cyrus grabbed the blonde from the hoodie, and he sat down with nonchalance. "It was... hilarious!" he laughed. "But also, very embarrassing. How did you come up with it?"

TJ shrugged his shoulders. "I'd heard rumors around, and I didn't want to sound like a coward, so I denied everything." He voraciously bit into a fried potato from his plate. "Oh," he added, between the bites. "I hope you don't mind me outing you."

Cyrus shook his head no. "But now I have to tell my parents, or they will be told by some parent of one of my classmates."

"Oh." TJ looked down on the tray, laying the new chip he was about to bite into. Cyrus hoped he wouldn't let him lose his appetite. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to."

"No," Cyrus smiled, trying to make him feel better. "You don't have to apologize. I would have done it anyway, so I have to thank you for giving me the opportunity."

TJ smiled. "Do you want me to take you home after school?"

Cyrus nodded slowly, smiling back. "You might as well stay for lunch if you want."

Buffy, who was passing by and had heard that last exchange of jokes, intruded into the conversation making Cyrus blush for the second time in ten minutes. "I think you might as well stay at his house for your whole life if you wanted to." TJ chuckled and watched Cyrus cover his face with that look he could reserve only for him. Buffy noticed something different about him, which perhaps not even TJ himself had noticed: Cyrus had just changed him for the better and now they just had to learn to love each other. But with those exchanged glances, Buffy was sure it wouldn't take that long.