Work Text:
“You can’t just act like last night’s episode wasn’t the best thing to ever happen in the history of television.”
Marty was passionately ranting about the show that he and Buffy had both found themselves obsessed with around the time they first met. He had missed talking with her about it when he decided that he needed some space from her and now that they were hanging out again, he was making up for all his lost time.
“The best thing to ever happen on television?” Cyrus repeated in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know about all that…”
Marty scoffed, “You don’t even know! You’ve never watched it.” But he was grinning at the shorter boy. He hadn’t just missed being around Buffy, her friends were also pretty cool.
“And yet he’s still right.” Buffy said confidently, “I don’t know why you constantly discredit the season one finale, it was so beautifully crafted, Marthur.”
“Marthur?” Marty chuckled, “Is that even an insult or are you just grasping at straws here?”
“Maybe not everything I call you has to be an insult.” Buffy replied, a smirk forming on her face playfully. “You don’t know, maybe things have changed since you ditched me.”
Marty sighed at that term, it was just like Buffy to act like he wasn’t allowed to be upset in that moment. “Sorry for having feelings, I guess. I’ll work on my sociopathy.” He snarked back, he made a promise to himself that if he was going to start talking to Buffy again, he was actually gonna start calling her out on her nonsense. Someone had to.
But instead of looking annoyed, Buffy just gave him a coy grin, grabbing a piece of her hair and stretching out the curl to its full length. It was an interesting response to say the least, and part of why Marty decided to start hanging out with her again. Things… could be going somewhere this time.
“Ugh, gross,” Marty suddenly whispered as he spotted TJ in the distance, making his way towards where they were huddled around Buffy’s locker. “He’s coming.”
“Who’s coming?” Buffy asked, turning around to follow Marty’s gaze. “Oh, hey TJ.” She said amicably as TJ actually walked up to them.
“'Sup, Slayer!” TJ greeted, holding his hand up for a high five and quickly receiving one from the girl.
What was going on?
“Hi.” Cyrus said softly to the taller boy, grinning so widely it looked like he physically couldn’t help himself.
To make things more confusing, TJ was grinning just as widely back, “Hey, Underdog.” He replied, throwing a casual arm around Cyrus’ shoulder and pulling him into sort of a side hug, unless Marty was crazy. Which he was starting to suspect he definitely was.
Where was the TJ that Marty knew? The one who knocked Buffy to the ground during tryouts and didn’t help her up then tried to make her quit the team? The one who mercilessly stole muffins from kids innocently waiting their turn in line to get one? The one who literally ignored Marty all year for no reason even though they shared like four classes?
“Hey, Marty right?” TJ was saying, “I don’t think we’ve ever really talked.”
“Yeah, no, I guess we haven’t.” Marty replied shortly. He crossed his arms, looking at Buffy for some sort of explanation for what was happening. But he got nothing from her.
“Hey, you free tomorrow?”
Marty’s gaze shot back to TJ at the sound of that question, only to find that it was directed solely at Cyrus. Like TJ was looking so intently at Cyrus there was no chance it was for anyone more than just him. How in the world had these two become friends? Did Marty not know Cyrus as well as he thought he did? Was TJ holding him hostage?
But once glance at Cyrus showed him looking at TJ as if he had hung the moon. “I pretty much always am.” He replied.
“Good because have I got a day planned for you!” TJ was practically bursting at the seams with excitement. Marty felt like he was in the Twilight Zone, the last time he’d seen TJ smile was when he overheard him and his basketball cronies in class making fun of how mad Buffy got when they wouldn’t pass her the ball.
“Ooh, any hints?” Cyrus asked, looking just as excited.
“Let’s just say you’ll want to bring some hand sanitizer.” TJ teased, squeezing Cyrus’ shoulder, “We’re going to cross off a lot of animal related things off your list.”
“Oof, you better hope it’s not pick up and hold a cat without getting scratched.” Buffy joked, still looking completely fine with this completely ridiculous display in front of them. Marty was entirely alone here!
“Hey, we’re working on that one!” TJ said defensively, “It’s a process to get my cat to like him. Especially when he’s practically radiating fear whenever he’s near her.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t just forget years of trauma!” Cyrus insisted, shaking his head at his friends.
“Steven scratched you one time and you refused to come to my house until he died.” Buffy deadpanned.
“You had a cat named Steven?” Marty asked, hearing that almost made him feel better. At least that was a level of confusing that he could comprehend, unlike this… Nice TJ.
“That was his name when we adopted him! He was an old man, we weren’t going to change it!” Buffy explained.
“Hey, I gotta run, I have to talk to Coleman.” TJ said, finally taking his arm off Cyrus’ shoulder. And the shorter boy had the audacity to look upset at the loss. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
“Yeah.” Buffy replied easily.
“Coleman? You want me to come with?” Cyrus asked instead, giving TJ a searching look.
TJ hesitated for a moment, “Actually, yeah, could you?”
Cyrus nodded before turning back to face Buffy and Marty, looking away from TJ for the first time since he got there. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”
“Bye!” Buffy called as the two walked away.
“What was that?” Marty was asking incredulously the second they were out of earshot.
“What was what?” Buffy replied, looking a bit amused at Marty’s confusion.
“TJ!” Marty exclaimed, why was this not obvious? “Since when is he… friendly?”
A visible wave of realization washed over Buffy’s face, she laughed again, “Right, you weren’t here for all that.”
“Haha, no, I sure wasn’t.” Marty replied sarcastically, not liking feeling out of the loop.
“Um, basically like I guess somehow Cyrus and TJ started being friends because Cyrus has this complex where he doesn’t want us to have enemies and he thinks everyone can be redeemed. I mean, he was right I guess, since TJ is now a much nicer guy and he apologized to me for how he treated me.”
Marty shook his head, he can’t have completely missed all of this, right? Like, he still had four classes with TJ. He guessed the other boy had been paying more attention in class and spending less time talking to his teammates. He wasn’t passing Buffy the ball for a while but then they had both been suspended from the team and now Buffy was making her own team. But Marty would have noticed if he had seen TJ talking to Cyrus, right?
“You look like you’re trying to figure out the meaning of life.” Buffy said, sounding a little concerned.
Marty sighed, “I feel like this is just all wrong. TJ? Being nice?”
“Yeah, it took some getting used to for me too.” Buffy shrugged, “But I don’t know, he’s just really nice to Cyrus.”
“Yeah, I mean, he looks like he’s in love with him.”
That made Buffy’s expression turn grave, “What.”
“Oh come on, did you not see them making heart eyes at each other that whole time?” Marty scoffed, “They didn’t look at us once.”
“I… that’s ridiculous.” Buffy said, shaking her head nervously, “Why would you say something like that? Cyrus… doesn’t even…”
“You don’t have to say anything, Buffy. I have eyes.” Marty said, “He was looking at TJ exactly like how he used to look at Jonah.”
“...How do you know about that?”
Marty scoffed, “Um, again, I have eyes.”
“Do we have a problem?” Buffy asked, very pointedly shutting her locker.
“Of course not!” Marty laughed and threw his hands up in surrender, “My mothers would kill me.” He couldn’t help but smirk as yet another wave of realization came over Buffy’s face.
“God, I knew it!” She exclaimed, lightly smacking Marty’s arm. “You always just said mom and I knew they looked like two different women!”
“In your defense, they do think it’s funny to confuse people like that.” Marty explained, he had gotten a lot of his wit from his mothers, they lived to tease him. “Cyrus is like… this wasn’t supposed to be a secret was it? Because he’s not exactly good at hiding it.”
“I don’t really know.” Buffy answered honestly, “I feel like it was a much bigger deal when he liked Jonah. Then he said he didn’t like him anymore. So… I don’t really know what to think.”
“Well, you know what I think.”
“What you think is absolutely ridiculous, and that’s the end of it.” Buffy responded assertively. “Let’s go to class.” She started walking away, expecting Marty to just follow her.
Of course, he did.
“Hey.” Cyrus whispered, a little too seriously, as he grabbed Marty on his way to lunch.
“Uh, hey…” Marty replied, not really knowing what to expect. He and Cyrus didn’t exactly have one-on-one conversations very often.
“Buffy told me what you said earlier…” He explained, “About me liking Jonah…”
Marty nodded, noting that Buffy chose not to mention what he said about TJ. She always did have selective hearing. “Yeah, man. It’s cool.”
“I mean, I don’t like Jonah anymore.” Cyrus continued in his hushed tone. “And like, I just wanted to apologize if I ever made you uncomfortable or anything. I hope that wasn’t he real reason you stopped talking to us.”
“Cyrus, what are you talking about? You couldn’t be more off base.” Marty frowned, “Don’t worry, I really did just stop talking to you guys because Buffy broke my heart. I always kind of suspected that about you but it was never a big deal to me.”
Cyrus noticeably exhaled, looking significantly more relaxed. “I mean, am I that obvious?” He asked, self-deprecation coating his words.
Marty sucked in air between his teeth awkwardly, “I don’t know. The things is, I have two moms so I don’t really have that built in idea that only boys and girls can like each other.”
“Right…” Cyrus replied thoughtfully, “I guess people really do just think that’s the default or something.”
“But, you shouldn’t worry too much. Especially with Jonah, I don’t think he’d notice you liked him if you kissed him square on the lips.”
Cyrus laughed, “True, true.” He smiled gratefully at Marty. “Do you want to sit with us at lunch?”
“Sure, man! I’m sure the track and field table won’t miss me too much.” He agreed, following Cyrus into the already crowded cafeteria. “Also, you know, if you ever need to talk about… you know, all this. I could definitely lend an ear. Or one of my moms could too, if you wanted!”
“That’s very sweet but I literally have four therapist parents I could talk to already.”
“Well yeah, but I’m saying, if you wanted to talk to someone who understands your situation.”
Cyrus gave Marty a pat on the back, “I’ll think about it.”
They finally made it to their designated lunch table. Andi, Buffy, Jonah, and TJ were already sat down and talking to each other.
“Hey!” TJ interrupted everything as soon as he saw Cyrus approaching. “I noticed you were a little late so I grabbed you this.” He held up a muffin.
“Chocolate chocolate chip?” Cyrus asked, grinning uncontrollably again.
TJ smirked, “You know it.”
“Oh my god…” Buffy said as Cyrus sunk his teeth into the muffin. Marty took a seat next to her as Cyrus took his seat across from TJ.
Across the table from Marty, Andi laughed, “What?”
“I just realized that I’m the reason you two became friends.” She groaned, pointing at TJ and Cyrus accusingly. “I did this to myself when I asked you to get Cyrus a muffin that day.”
“Yeah, I guess that was what led to me approaching Cyrus on the swings a couple days later.” TJ shrugged, “Thanks Buffy.”
Buffy groaned again, resting her head in her hand. The table laughed at her dramatics as Cyrus rubbed her back.
As the bell signaling the end of lunch rang, everyone at the table all went their separate ways. Well, everyone except TJ, who had to walk away from continuing his conversation with Cyrus in order to catch up with Marty.
“We have history together, don’t we?” TJ said casually as he started walking in tandem with Marty.
The other boy scoffed, “I wouldn’t really say we have history considering you just started talking to me today.” He joked.
TJ frowned for a moment before nodding, “Oh, you’re making a joke.”
“Yeah, sorry, I tend to do that.” Marty replied awkwardly.
Then they walked in silence for a moment. It felt like an eternity, to Marty at least. The sheer amount of awkward tension was palpable. They clearly had no reason to speak to each other.
“So… what were you and Cyrus talking about before lunch?” TJ asked, clearly trying to sound innocuous.
Marty snorted, there was the reason. “Nothing really.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
“Oh…” TJ did his best not to sound disappointed, but he was proving to be a pretty bad actor. Marty almost wanted to laugh. “It just… seemed kind of serious.”
“I guess you could say that.” Marty agreed, but refused to give up anymore details.
TJ sighed, “I just wonder what serious thing Cyrus could be talking to you about, since you guys haven’t really talked much before.” He gave Marty the shadiest glance and for the first time all day, Marty felt like he was back to reality.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Marty replied, even though he would absolutely say that. In fact, he just thought that exact thing when Cyrus pulled him aside to chat. But he was kind of having fun messing with TJ.
“Really?” TJ asked, eyeing Marty suspiciously.
Marty shrugged, “Yeah, me and Cyrus are bros.”
“Bros…” TJ repeated quietly.
They returned back to the awkward silence for the remainder of the walk to class. When they entered the classroom, TJ immediately went to his seat and sat there looking lost in thought until class started. Then during class too, though Marty wasn’t about to spend all history class examining TJ’s microexpressions.
He was just trying to understand this new side of the boy. Clearly, he liked Cyrus, if the muffin didn’t reveal that then his obvious jealousy sure did. But did Cyrus like him back? Was Marty okay with that happening? Could TJ be trusted?
“I hate you.” Buffy groaned in lieu of an actual greeting as she sidled up next to Marty in the gym after warm ups.
“Hello to you too.” Marty teased as they walked together to grab a basketball from the supply closet, “What did I do this time?”
“You made TJ like Cyrus.”
Marty scoffed, at least she was finally admitting it. “I didn’t make him do it.”
“No but you spoke it into existence and now I can’t unsee it.” Buffy groaned again, “And it’s really my fault for introducing them!”
“Do you really think it’s such a bad thing?” Marty asked genuinely.
Buffy groaned a third time, “That’s the worst part… I don’t.” They got their ball and made their way over to their basketball hoop. They used to play in the big game of Knockout that took place every day in gym and not acknowledge each other. But now that they were talking again, they preferred to play one-on-one alone at the other end of the court. “He’s like really sweet and treats Cyrus right and makes him really happy.”
“Okay, so, why did you just say that so miserably?” Marty wondered, taking a shot and just barely making it in.
Buffy grabbed the ball and made a perfect shot. “I don’t know, like TJ apologized and I forgave him but how can I be sure he won’t hurt Cyrus when we know he has it in him to intentionally hurt people?” Buffy said, putting all of Marty’s thoughts from today into words perfectly. She was constantly reminding him why he liked her so much.
“I think you’re a really good friend for worrying, but at the end of the day, isn’t it Cyrus’ decision to make?”
“Do you think Cyrus likes him back?” She lowered her voice as a couple of the kids who just walked around the basketball court all gym period slinked by.
Marty shook his head, “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility.” He shrugged, “I mean, if he likes guys and a guy likes him and they’re already friends, why wouldn’t he like him back?”
Buffy rolled her eyes at the petty jab. “Maybe it’s time for you to practice your free throws, Marthew. You know, so you can actually make the basketball team this year.”
He guessed he deserved that.
The next day, Marty grinned as he turned the corner and spotted Buffy and Cyrus on either side of Andi as she dug through her locker. He made his way over to them. He didn’t know how he managed to go months without talking to Buffy before. He just kind of wanted to be around her all the time now.
“Martholomew.” Buffy greeted, making Cyrus snort.
“How many of those do you have planned?”
Buffy was toying with a strand of her hair. “Only time will tell.”
“Actually, Marty,” Cyrus said, knocking Marty out of his staring contest with Buffy. “I was thinking about what you said yesterday and I wanted to thank you.”
“Um, okay, you’re welcome?”
“Seriously though.” Cyrus laughed, sounding genuinely happy. “All this time I’ve been dreading having to have that conversation every single time I meet someone new. It’s always so awkward and overly dramatic. And you made me realize that maybe I don’t even have to!” Cyrus opened his arms into a casual shrug, “I can just act however I want to act and eventually people will get it.”
Marty nodded, impressed, “Yeah, I mean, you shouldn’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. And like, I’m pretty sure you don’t want the people who can’t figure it out to know anyway.”
“Exactly!” Cyrus exclaimed, “You took a huge weight off my shoulders and I really appreciate it. So I’m going to hug you now, fair warning.”
Marty graciously accepted the hug, happy to have helped his friend.
“What’s going on over here?” Came an unfamiliar voice from behind Marty. Cyrus quickly pulled away from him, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
“Oh, hey, TJ.”
“Underdog.” TJ said in response, coming up behind Marty and clapping his hand down on Marty’s shoulder. “I guess you and Marty are closer than I thought.”
“I told you, we’re bros.” Marty smirked, TJ was somehow more obvious than Cyrus used to be about Jonah. “Right Cyrus?”
“Yeah, totally, or… brotally.” Cyrus replied with finger guns. He squeaked as he caught sight of the time on his watch, “Oops, I have to ask Ms. Simon a question before class. I’ll see you guys later.”
With that, Cyrus was walking briskly down the hall.
“Cute…” TJ mumbled to himself, practically right into Marty’s ear.
“Did you just say cute?” Marty asked, immediately ready to call him out.
“No.” TJ replied quickly.
“I think I definitely heard you say cute.” Andi agreed, looking just as excited to tease TJ.
“No!” TJ implored.
Buffy joined in with a smirk, “Can confirm I heard and saw him say cute.”
“Was that the bell?” TJ asked, looking around the still crowded hall. “I think that was the bell.” He gave Marty a pat on the back before swiftly walking away.
“So, that’s a thing.” Andi said, closing her locker. “How do we feel about this?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” Buffy answered.
When Marty spotted TJ and Cyrus talking to each other in between classes, he almost decided to leave them alone. He was spending a little bit too much time concerning himself with their relationship, but the thought of having news to give to Buffy later made him stay and eavesdrop.
Well, not necessarily eavesdrop as he couldn’t get near enough to hear what they were saying without them spotting him. More like he was kind of hiding completely conspicuously half behind a row of lockers as he watched Cyrus animatedly speak to TJ who had stars in his eyes visible even from a distance.
“Uh, Marty?” Marty jumped at the sound of his name, turning around to see Jonah. “Hey, you’re kind of blocking my locker.”
“Oh!” Marty exclaimed, moving away from the locker he was hiding behind. Then as Jonah opened it, he leaned back against it casually. “So, uh, what’s up?” He asked, still looking at Cyrus and TJ a couple feet away.
“Nothing much, I guess?” Jonah replied, sounding a little bemused. “What are you looking at?”
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Marty asked, gesturing towards the two boys.
“TJ and Cyrus?” Jonah asked, now also looking at them. “I’ve never really thought about that before.”
In the distance, Cyrus was bouncing with excitement. He did a quick glance around before wrapping his arms around TJ’s neck and pulling the taller boy down into a hug. TJ very quickly reciprocated it, holding Cyrus’ waist.
“They’re really good friends, huh?” Jonah said happily, zipping up his bag.
Marty snorted, “Yeah, friends.”
They slowly broke apart from the hug, both not wanting to move their arms away from the other. They seemed to be locked in a haze for a brief moment before quickly retracting their respective limbs. Then they both sheepishly looked down at their shoes, clearly blushing.
Maybe Cyrus liking TJ back wasn’t an issue? From where Marty was standing, he’d suspect they were already dating…
“Dude, are you okay?” Jonah asked, nudging Marty’s arm with his elbow.
Cyrus and TJ were now no longer where Marty had last seen them, and he was just staring into space.
“I need to find Buffy.”
“I have a theory, but I don’t think you’re gonna like it.” Marty whispered covertly to Buffy in the lunch line. He was risking it all talking to her now when Cyrus was right behind them talking to Andi.
“Tell me.” Buffy replied, fully invested in whatever Marty had to say.
“Just bear with me, okay?” He glanced behind him to make sure Cyrus was distracted. “I think Cyrus and TJ are already secretly dating.”
“What?!” Buffy shouted, completely blowing their cover and attracting not only Cyrus’ attention but half the cafeteria’s as well.
Marty gave her a death glare.
“What’s wrong?” Andi asked curiously as Buffy and Marty fought with their eyes.
“Shh, let them have their little spat.” Cyrus said, giving them a knowing look. Good thing Marty knew that he didn’t actually know.
Once everyone calmed back down, Marty whispered again, “Just watch the way they interact.”
“Look, TJ liking Cyrus I can accept.” Buffy said, “Maybe even Cyrus liking him back. But them already dating and keeping it a secret from us?”
“I know it’s out there, but just trust me.”
“I don’t understand how you think Cyrus would even do that to us.” Buffy continued, not being nearly as quietly as she needed to be.
“Just watch them.” Marty insisted, grabbing a gross burger to put on his tray.
When they all got back to the table, Cyrus and TJ were already there, TJ offering the other boy a muffin yet again. They were making this too easy.
“Please just tell me where you’re taking me!” Cyrus begged.
TJ shook his head smugly, “Absolutely not.”
“If I guess will you tell me if I got it right?”
“Fine.” TJ agreed, “Only because you’ll never guess.”
“What are you guessing?” Jonah asked, taking a seat next to Cyrus. He seemed to be oblivious to what Buffy and Marty, and even Andi were all witnessing.
“TJ is taking me somewhere tonight to cross stuff off my list.”
“What list?” Marty asked, he remembered they mentioned a list yesterday too.
“Oh, uh…” Cyrus chuckled nervously, “It’s stupid…”
“It’s not stupid.” TJ immediately rushed to his defense. “Having a bucket list is cool!”
“It only became cool when I started calling it a bucket list instead of a list of easy things I can’t do.” Cyrus argued.
“But we changed the name because we merged it with your bucket list.” TJ argued right back. “And added even more stuff to it.”
“Anyway!” Cyrus interrupted, “TJ has been helping me cross stuff off for a couple months now.” He continued explaining to Marty.
All Marty could do was look at Buffy. They practically had a list of dates for them to go on. She shook her head adamantly.
“So what are you working on crossing off? Or would that give it away?” Andi asked.
“He said it had something to do with animals.” Cyrus offered. “And he kind of implied that it wasn’t hold a cat. So there’s feed a dog without flinching, feed a horse an apple, pet an animal besides a cat or dog…”
“What are you gonna take him to a petting zoo or something?” Marty asked.
TJ’s face gave him away instantly.
“Oh my god, you are!” Cyrus said, grabbing TJ’s shoulders and shaking him in excitement.
“How did you guess that?” TJ asked, looking actually annoyed at Marty.
“Um,” Marty said, looking at the rest of the table as if TJ was crazy. “it’s not like you’re the first person to take someone on a da… to hang out… at a petting zoo.”
Both TJ and Cyrus’ eyes went wide at Marty’s slip up. The entire table went silent for a moment.
“What happened?” Jonah asked, breaking the silence easily as he had no idea what was going on.
“Nothing!” Cyrus practically squeaked, “Andi, tell us about Walker!”
Andi hesitantly started talking about her boyfriend, respecting the fact that Cyrus wanted to change the subject. Marty gave Buffy a look and she rolled her eyes as aggressively as possible, looking defeated.
But it didn’t take long for Cyrus and TJ to become distracted by each other again. As Andi and Buffy discussed the pros and cons of Walker being scared to introduce Andi to his mother, Marty noticed that both the boys across from him were on her phones. They kept exchanging glances with each other and stifling giggles as if they were being sly. Marty could clearly tell they were texting each other.
“What’s so funny?” Marty asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
Both their heads shot up to look at him, guilt almost written right on their faces.
“You keep laughing at your phone.” Marty explained.
“Oh, haha, TJ sent me this meme.” Cyrus said, holding up his phone to show their text conversation briefly. “It’s kind of an inside joke? I’m just now realizing it literally wouldn’t be funny to anyone else.”
Marty nodded, looking to Cyrus’ left to find that TJ was giving Marty a weird look, it kind of reminded him of Old Mean TJ. Did he really have absolutely zero chill? He couldn’t even handle Marty talking to Cyrus without getting jealous?
Marty looked over at Buffy to see if she was seeing this happen but she seemed to be locked in an argument with Jonah and Andi now. She was purposefully distracting herself because she didn’t want to deal with this. And maybe Marty should take a page out of her book and butt out of what was clearly none of his business.
When he looked back at TJ, he was still getting the stink eye and TJ’s hand seemed to be on Cyrus’ lower back. Marty raised an eyebrow, then shook his head, tuning in Buffy’s shouting so he could participate in that conversation instead.
“I’m gonna go get some ice cream.” TJ said far too abruptly and loudly.
“I-I’ll go with you!” Cyrus said far too quickly after him. They both stood up and rushed off to the freezer section.
“They’re kind of weird, right?” Marty said to the whole group.
“Yeah…” Andi agreed.
“You’re seeing it too, right?” Marty asked, looking past Buffy to make eye contact with Andi.
“Yes,” Andi replied, “I’m not really sure how this all happened, but…”
“Nothing has happened.” Buffy said firmly to Andi. The other girl didn’t seem convinced.
“I think it’s nice that they’re such good friends!” Jonah interrupted, reeking of obliviousness. “I kind of miss having Cyrus at all my practices though. I think he likes basketball better than Ultimate.”
Marty side-eyed Buffy, it was nice of Jonah to make his point for him. Albeit completely unintentionally.
Buffy huffed out a sigh in response, “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“What doesn’t mean anything?” Jonah asked.
“Shh! They’re coming back.” Andi suddenly whispered. Moments later, Cyrus was excitedly approaching their table, TJ not far behind.
“Guys!” Cyrus exclaimed as the two sat back down. “TJ and I decided we were going to buy each other ice cream and surprise each other and we bought the exact same thing!”
“Wow, that’s crazy.” Buffy replied, sounding very unimpressed.
“I know, right!” Cyrus said, completely undeterred. Next to him, TJ seemed to only have eyes for the shorter boy.
It was like they knew Marty was trying to prove a point.
“What do you know?”
Marty had spent his entire history class trying to ignore the fact that TJ was glaring daggers at him. Like seriously, did he think he was being subtle? Then again, subtlety not being TJ’s strong suit is kind of what got Marty into this situation to begin with.
He had escaped the classroom without having to talk to the taller boy, but just a couple steps out in the hallway, he was accosted.
TJ asked that one simple question, trying to sound nonchalant as he casually started walking besides Marty.
“Are you dating Cyrus?” Marty asked in return. He didn’t want to outright accuse the other boy, he was only somewhat sure.
“Yes.” TJ answered bluntly, raising an eyebrow. “And what about it?”
“Nothing!” Marty said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Good for you guys!” He actually was pretty happy for them, or for Cyrus at least. He deserved a guy who liked him back.
Then TJ grabbed Marty’s arm, stopping them both in the middle of the hallway. “Do you like Cyrus?” He asked quietly.
Behind them, people were disgruntled at them for stopping in the busy hall. Marty moved him and TJ, still holding his arm, off to the side. Now that he wasn’t worrying about being in people’s way, he could finally be completely befuddled by TJ’s question. It was like any time he started getting things a bit, TJ went and made things confusing again.
“What are you talking about?” Marty finally replied, shaking his head and laughing slightly at the ridiculous of that notion.
“Whatever, you were talking to him alone yesterday and like, you’re always being nice to him.” TJ finally let go of Marty so he could cross his arms and look particularly upset. He was one step away from pouting. “He always talks about how nice you are.”
“Dude, I thought this was common knowledge, but I like Buffy.” Marty explained, “Like, it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Literally everyone knows, including Buffy. And my ex-girlfriend.”
“Oh.” TJ said simply, now looking kind of… embarrassed?
“I mean just because you hate Buffy doesn’t mean everyone else does.” Marty scoffed.
Then TJ had the audacity to look confused. “I don’t hate Buffy.”
“Right, the constant bullying and ruining her time on the basketball team was you showing your appreciation for her.” Marty responded, sarcasm layered on so thick, it was almost dripping from his words.
“Look, I don’t know where you’ve been, but we’re all past that.” TJ said, shrugging his shoulders. “Everyone knows the only reason I was mean to Buffy is because she’s really good at basketball.”
“Oh, so I guess that’s why you just ignored me. Because I was never competition.” Marty said with a self-deprecating chuckle. So, maybe he was feeling petty today.
TJ looked confused again, “Ignored you? What do you mean?”
“We’ve had like four classes together and you literally never even talked to me!”
“Did you ever talk to me?”
“No…” That made Marty falter a bit in his anger, but he quickly found his footing again. “In my defense, why would I talk to you when you just put out his air of… meanness?”
“I’m working on that.” TJ said, sounding a little ashamed. “That’s why Cyrus is so important to me. He makes me want to do better.”
Lovesick puppy was not a side of TJ that Marty was really ready to see. But maybe… over time… he could get used to it. For Cyrus’ sake.
“You know,” Marty said. “You guys better tell Buffy because I make no promises that I’ll be able to keep this from her.”
“Trust me, I know.” TJ sighed, rolling his eyes.
“No I mean, I literally have a class with her at the end of the day. She will know by then even if you don’t tell her.”
“It’s just…” TJ groaned, “Telling people is the worst. You wouldn’t understand.”
“I understand a bit better than you think.” In some ways, Marty supposed he didn’t. But he still did have lesbian mothers. “Cyrus told me he was just going to let people draw their own conclusions about him from now on, maybe you should let that apply to your relationship too? Just stop hiding and everyone will get it eventually.”
TJ hummed, clapping Marty’s shoulder lightly, “Maybe you’re not too bad. I get why Cyrus likes you. And you know, Buffy likes you too.”
“Oh, trust me. I know.” Marty laughed, “If you ever think your relationship is complicated…”
Marty was actually relieved when Buffy came into the gym looking rather forlorn. Which sounds bad, but it meant that Cyrus and TJ had told her about them and Marty wouldn’t have to break the news to her. Or, it meant something really bad happened to her and now Marty had to make it worse by telling her about Cyrus and TJ. That thought made him the opposite of relieved.
After a particularly long group warm up, Marty finally rushed over to Buffy to find out what had happened.
“You were right.” Buffy said as soon as Marty approached.
Marty let out a sigh of relief, “TJ told you?”
“Cyrus did.” Buffy replied, “He told me that TJ told you.”
“Yeah, it was pretty awkward to say the least.” Marty said with a chuckle.
Buffy smiled back half-heartedly, “Sorry, this is all just so weird.”
“You best friend dating your arch nemesis, what’s weird about that?” Marty joked.
“It’s not that.” Buffy shook her head, “Well, kind of that. But more the fact that Cyrus felt like he couldn’t tell me.”
“What did he say?”
“He just said that they were really good friends and TJ told him he liked him so Cyrus decided to go for it. They didn’t really want to tell anyone in case it didn’t work out. Then they just kind of got caught up in keeping it a secret.” Buffy recounted.
That actually made sense. “How long has it been?” Marty wondered.
Buffy sighed dramatically, “Almost two months.”
“I mean, I get that.” Marty shrugged, “The longer you keep a secret the harder it is to admit it because then you have to explain why you kept it for so long.”
“But Cyrus is my best friend .” Buffy insisted, “He’s supposed to tell me everything.”
“Buffy, Marty!” One of the gym teachers called out. “What are you two just standing around for? At least walk like the rest of the kids who use this as a social hour.”
“Sorry.” They apologized in unison, then smiled at each other for their synchronization.
“Want me to get a ball?” Marty offered.
Buffy grinned, “Yeah, I think beating you will really make me feel better.”
About halfway through their game, Buffy was up by 5 points, Marty finally found the courage to speak his mind.
“You know, maybe TJ and Cyrus didn’t have such a bad idea.”
Buffy tilted her head to the side, “How so?”
“Trying out dating without telling anyone to avoid awkwardness in case you broke up.” Marty replied, passing the ball pointedly to Buffy. Quite literally the ball was in her court, but like a basketball court instead of a tennis court.
“You make a point, Marxwell.” She said, tossing the ball easily into the basket.
“A point?” Marty laughed, “Not a good one?”
Buffy shook her head, “Jury’s still out.”
“I don’t think Marxwell really works, by the way.”
“If you got it, then it works.” Buffy responded smugly.
Marty scoffed, “That's not how jokes work! I only got it because it’s a pre-established running joke.”
“But if I make the joke knowing that you have the context needed to understand it, then is that not making a joke that works?” Buffy argued.
“I guess you win.” Marty replied sarcastically.
“As usual.”
That night when Marty went to check Instagram, he was met with a new post from Cyrus. It had three pictures of him and TJ at the petting zoo and seven short videos of TJ recording Cyrus feeding the animals excitedly. Cyrus’ Instagram was always full of pictures every time he hung out with his friends though.
Curiously, Marty scrolled back to the first picture, a selfie of him and TJ, and clicked on TJ’s tagged account. TJ also had a new post, another selfie of him and Cyrus, but this one featured TJ kissing Cyrus’ cheek.
Marty smiled to himself, clicking the picture. The post had no caption but Andi, Buffy, and Cyrus had already liked it. He guessed they were really taking the whole “don’t come out, just do whatever you want and let people draw their own conclusions” thing to heart.
He actually hoped it worked out well for them. Especially since it seemed like they were really good at balancing each other out. If Cyrus could make TJ into a person that even Buffy could forgive? There must be something special there.
Marty double tapped the screen, making a heart come up over the picture.