Chapter Text
“TJ?” That was the only word Buffy could utter as she took in the sight of the groggy, half asleep boy in the locker room. It was early—way too early for any students to be around—and the only reason Buffy was there was because the coach had agreed to open the gym early for her to help some of the girls on the team that wanted extra practice.
Buffy had gone after yet another basketball that had ended up as far away from its intended target as possible, and followed it into what she had assumed would be an empty boys locker room.
TJ, for his part, looked equal parts horrified and embarrassed, though in usual TJ fashion, he just scowled to cover how clearly uncomfortable he was. “This is the boys locker room. What’re you doing in here?”
“I’m practicing with my team. It’s an hour before the first bell, what’re you doing here?”
“Leaving,” was the only answer Buffy got as TJ stood, sweatpants and a loose t-shirt hanging off of his body. He pulled on a pair of sneakers and threw his jacket over his shoulder, stalking out of there with all of the confidence that anyone else found in a similarly bizarre situation likely wouldn’t have been capable of.
More shocked that anything, Buffy didn’t follow him, instead looking around to what he had left out. A blanket and pillow were shoved under a bench by the lockers, and one of the lockers was open, a mismatch of things inside, mostly jumbled, but a toothbrush, comb and a few articles of clothing were all clearly visible. By the time Buffy stepped back out into the gym, the two girls that had come for practice were whispering to each other, and the door was slamming shut behind TJ.
“What’re you two standing around for? Start moving or we’re running suicides from now until classes start,” Buffy called out. The girls immediately broke away from each other and resumed the free throw drills they had been doing a few minutes before.
Buffy glanced towards the gym door again. None of the last few minutes made sense, but all she knew was that something was wrong. And as much as she’d had issues with TJ in the past, he’d done a lot to make up for it and get back on her good side. Besides, Cyrus was his friend, and he cared about the stubborn basketball player.
Who was she trying to fool? She was worried about the idiot. She could come up with a list of reasons why he would be sleeping at the school, and none of them were good.
TJ of course took it upon himself to spend the rest of the morning avoiding Buffy, and he was damn good at it. Ducking from one class to the next, barely taking ten seconds to stop at his locker. Dodging between groups of people to avoid her until he found the safety of his next classroom. It wasn’t until the bell rang for lunch that Buffy knew she’d be able to catch him. She told Andi and Cyrus that she would meet them in the caf, and plotted an intercept course between TJ’s last class and the caf.
“You mind? I’m starving,” he snapped at her when she cut him off, standing in front of him in the crowded hallway. Arms crossed over he chest, she raised an eyebrow at him.
“I do mind, actually. And I suggest you start talking now before I ask you in front of Andi and Cyrus why you were sleeping in the—“
“Shut up,” TJ hissed at her, getting uncomfortably close before grabbing her arm and leading her back away from the cafeteria, where students were already emptying out the hall in their efforts to get food that was only barely edible. “What do you want, Dricoll?”
“To know why you’re sleeping at the school for one thing,” Buffy said incredulously.
TJ shrugged. “Accident. I stayed late, coach accidentally locked the door, and my phone was dead so I couldn’t call anyone. Figured it would be fine. Janitor comes by in the morning and would let me out.”
“You had clothes and a toothbrush,” Buffy pointed out in a dry tone. “What’s really going on?”
“Just drop it,” TJ snapped at her. He tried to storm past her, but her hand shot out to grab his arm. She knew he could pull away from her if he wanted to, and he clearly did too from the skeptical look he gave her when he turned around to face her.
“I guess I could, but if I asked Cyrus if he knows why you’re sleeping a the school, I doubt he’d drop it so easily.” Maybe it was underhanded, but it was effective. They both knew that if Cyrus thought something was wrong, he wouldn’t rest until he knew what it was, and found some way to fix it, or at least help if he could.
“You can’t tell Cyrus.” TJ was trying to sound intimidating, Buffy could hear it in his voice. But there was also something else there. Something smaller, something desperate.
“I won’t tell him you’re sleeping here if you tell me why,” Buffy said. TJ didn’t answer immediately, but she could tell he wasn’t going to try to escape her again, so she let her hand drop from his arm.
As soon as she released her grip, he sighed, turning to lean his back against the wall beside Buffy. She turned to face him, one shoulder against the wall, arms crossed again as she waited in silence for his answer.
“I meant, you can’t tell him the reason either,” TJ said. Buffy only nodded and his eyes dropped to the floor. For being considerably taller and a bit older that she was, he looks so small. His shoulders hunched forward, legs out in front of him a bit so that when he leaned back against the wall, he slid down a bit to be closer to her height. “My dad kicked me out.” His voice was barely above a whisper when he said it.
“When? Why?” Buffy asked, not bothering to keep her voice down. She sounded just as angry as she had before, but her anger had a new target.
“Keep it down,” TJ hissed at her. Buffy pressed her lips together, unhappy about the request, but sighed quietly and otherwise remained silent. “A few days ago,” he finally answered quietly. He looked down the hall towards where the rest of the students had disappeared for lunch before he continued. “The why doesn’t matter. He just— he kicked me out, alright?”
“What do you mean the why doesn’t matter?” Buffy asked, her voice like the angry hiss of a serpent ready to strike. “It absolutely matters. He can’t just kick you out. You’re a minor, for one thing. You can—“
“I can what?” TJ snapped, his voice suddenly loud enough to make Buffy flinch. He looked guilty about that for half a second before the anger was back. “I can call child protective services? Have my dad tell them that he doesn’t want me, so they can throw me into the damn system, where I can be shipped around to families as the problem child, getting in fights with the other foster kids, and having to change schools? Screw that. I’m not calling anyone, and neither are you.” Buffy was fairly certain the words were intended as a threat, but they cane out as more of a plea.
“I won’t call anyone,” she said, and he visibly relaxed. “But you can’t keep sleeping in the gym. A teacher will find you, or the coach will find you. And they will call someone. They’re probably bound by school code or something to call child protective services if something like that happens.”
“I know,” TJ muttered, eyes dropping again. Buffy didn’t ask why he didn’t go stay with a friend. She knew the answer. He wasn’t talking to his friends anymore since the incident with the gun. And he clearly didn’t want to tell Cyrus, so he couldn’t ask to stay with him either. As much as she disliked TJ sometimes—alright fine, most of the time—she felt bad for him. And she had to respect how far he’d come, and the changes he’d made in his groups of friends in light of what had happened.
“Tell me why your dad kicked you out,” Buffy said, earning only a scoff from the boy. “Tell me, and I’ll talk to my mom about you staying in the spare room at our house. And I won’t tell Cyrus.”
TJ stared at her for a long moment before calling her bluff. “You gonna talk to your mom and let me stay there even if I don’t tell you?” He asked.
“Maybe,” Buffy admitted, though her tone didn’t offer the kind of leeway that her response did. Of course she wasn’t going to just leave him hiding and sleeping in the locker room if she could do anything about it. But she also wanted an answer.
He smiled and let out a short chuckle. She smiled a little. With that single statement, she knew she’d won. Trying to out stubborn him flat-out would get her nowhere, but allowing some small amount of leeway while staying focused on what she wanted him to tell her— that would work. “You won’t tell Cyrus, right? Or Andi, or Jonah—No one?”
“Promise,” Buffy said. Now she was starting to get concerned. How bad was it that he had to ask her to make the same promise several times before he would tell her?
“It was stupid,” he said with an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes. “We were just watching some movie— me and my dad. And there was just some reference— I don’t even remember what they said, or what the scene was about— but there was a gay couple, and my dad just started going off, complaining about how they ruined a perfectly good movie with a couple of— Whatever. Anyway, I got pissed and started arguing with him. And hell if I know what possessed me to do it, but I told him—I—“ He broke off for a second, and Buffy almost stopped him. His eyes were red and he stared up at the ceiling, willing himself not to let the tears, whether formed of sadness or frustration, fall. She almost stopped him, because she knew where this was going. Knew what he was going to say, but then he continued. “I told him I’m gay. I don’t know if I just wanted to piss him off, or if I thought it would change his mind, or what. But he told me to leave and not come back.”
Buffy still didn’t say anything for a second when his gaze dropped from the ceiling to meet hers again. Green eyes silently dared her to say something, to take back her offer, her promise, anything. She took a shaky breath, and when she tried to speak, her chest tightened. She didn’t expect it to be this difficult to talk to TJ. She didn’t expect to want to defend him, to protect him, from anything. As far as she had been concerned for most of the time that she’d known him, he’d always deserved the punishments he got. For being cruel to her during practices or games, for treating her like she didn’t belong on the team. But he didn’t deserve this. That old TJ didn’t deserve this, and the newly changed one since he’d been hanging around with Cyrus definitely didn’t.
“Why don’t you want Cyrus to know?” Buffy asked. “He’s not going to freak out, I promise.” At least, not freak out in a negative way. Even though Cyrus hadn’t said anything, she could tell by the way Cyrus talked about TJ, how he insisted that Buffy give him the chance to redeem himself. He cared about TJ, and wanted his friends to accept him as well. “He’s not going to hate you for being gay.”
Tj scoffed, but a tiny smile quirked up the side of his lips. “I know he won’t hate me,” he said.
“You know,” Buffy said carefully. She didn’t want to out her best friend, but something in his voice implied that he already knew.
“I’ll tell him, I’m just not ready to yet,” TJ said, ignoring her words. “So don’t tell him, alright?”
“Okay,” Buffy agreed. Silence stretched for a minute before he pushed away from the wall and she took a step back from him. “I’ll call my mom after lunch. I’m sure she’ll be fine with you staying with us for a while.”
“Thanks,” TJ said. He still didn’t look entirely relaxed, or like he fully believed her, but it was a start. And it would be alright. Right?