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"Cy, we have to…"
"You are going to get in trouble. Or what if one of those crazy bigots hurt you?" Cyrus replies as he sits in the front seat of his boyfriend's jeep, ignoring the protests from Marty and Jonah in the back.
They were pulled over in a parking lot a few blocks from the street preacher and his few dozen crazy followers who earlier today screamed at Cyrus as he walked by sporting a small rainbow pin on his sweater. It was right on Mainstreet. He isn't even quite sure why the preacher was looking at him enough to notice. But he did and the words that left his mouth were horrid and soul crushing.
God will punish faggots.
Repent before it's too late.
You will burn.
Cyrus didn't respond. He was alone and afraid to interact. He couldn't believe people still believed this stuff in 2019. So he just walked by and didn't stop walking until he got to his house.
He wanted to call Andi and Buffy to tell them what happened but didn't. He knew that they were with Amber and Libby doing some spa weekend and he didn't want to ruin that for them. But he wanted to tell someone. He didn't want to tell TJ because he knew for sure his boyfriend would overreact and get himself in trouble. Marty was really only his friend because of mutual friends, so calling him was not really an option. That led him to calling Jonah and venting to him. Jonah listened and Cyrus ended up feeling a little better.
That was until an hour later when he heard a familiar honk from outside his house. He peeked his head out the window to see TJ's jeep parked in front. The blonde jock looked like he was hiding anger underneath a fake smile. Marty and Jonah were sitting in the back. All three boys were wearing Spiderman costumes sans the masks that he could see sitting next to them on the seats. There was also a bag in between the boys in the back. They all sported pride pins on the front of their suits. TJ yelled out to him, "Well, come on. Get in, Underdog."
And that's how they ended up here in the parking lot of a hardware store a few blocks from the bigots. Jonah had not gotten the part about not telling TJ. So when he told him, TJ had a plan. They had gotten these Spiderman suits a few months ago for a Costco prank that ended up going terribly wrong. Now TJ wanted them to use them to get some payback.
They were going to go silly string the preacher and his cringy supporters dressed as your friendly neighborhood Spidermen. Cyrus though was terrified of something bad happening to people he cares about all for his sake. He looks around, first at TJ and then at his friends in the back before saying. "Guys, I'm fine. Please don't do all of this for me.
"Cyrus…" TJ said softly. Turning to face the brunette in the passenger seat. "I don't think I can just sit by and do nothing when that homophobic...asshole... had the nerve to say those things to you. I love you so much Cy…" He places his hand on Cyrus' cheek.
"We are your friends, Cy-guy." Jonah adds from the backseat.
"Yea, plus if it happened to you, it could happen to any other LGBT person in town."Marty says.
Cyrus whispers "That's why I'm worried. People know you and Teej are trans. Plus he's gay…" He motions to his blonde basket player. "And Jonah, your bi. People have seen you and Reed together. This is not a safe situation for any of you." Cyrus' voice is riddled with anxiety.
"Underdog, thank you for being worried...but we are doing this. We got masks and we will get out there if it gets bad. I promise. Now I got one more Spiderman suit if you wanna come." TJ offers.
Cyrus looks away, out the window and doesn't say anything. He terrified to face those people. TJ lets out a small sigh "Okay then. Stay here. We will be back, sweetie."
Cyrus hears the door open and and then shut. After a few moments he looks over to see the dumbass trio,now masked, walking away from the car, silly string in hand. He knows their destination is a few blocks over where that hateful man is "preaching."
Cyrus looks back down. He feels like such a coward. He felt so scared when he had been shouted at and harrassed. Yea the guy wasn't violent, but he could of been. Or his dozen or so supporters. Violence against queer folks is not uncommon and lately people seem to have become more open with their hateful opinions. That's why he didn't want his friends to go. But they did.
And he didn't. He just let them go and wasn't even brave enough to come with. Suddenly any fear he had was overtaken with guilt. He loved TJ so much and he should be there supporting him. So after 5 minutes, he gets out of the car and rushes towards Mainstreet.
When he gets there, it takes him a moment to absorb the chaos that was unfolding. TJ, Marty, and Jonah were running around wildly spraying the preacher and the rest of the bigots with a seemingly endless supply of silly string. He can tell which one is TJ, he is the tallest. Crowds of people gathered around to witness the events.
Suddenly his heart drops. The preacher seems to be coming right up to TJ, screaming, undeterred from the silly string. Cyrus can make out bits of what he is saying.
"Are you one of those faggots?" Do you want to go to hell? That is where you are going?" The bigoted old man screamed, holding the Bible up as some kind of sheild.
Cyrus keeps his eyes fixated on TJ. He can tell by the sudden stiffness of his movements, the man's terrible words get to him even if he couldn't see his face under the mask. He talks a big game, but he knows how insecure TJ could be.This causes Cyrus' blood to feel like it is about to boil over. Nobody gets to make the love of his life feel that bad. It clicks to him why TJ was so adamant about doing this today. He really loves Cyrus.
So he confidently (well as confidently as he can) pushes through the crowd of onlookers and walks towards the man and TJ. TJ has his back to him so he doesn't see him coming. Cyrus puts on his best Mary Jane Watson attitude and calls out to TJ. "Hey Tiger." He grins.
TJ turns around at the sound of the familiar face. Now it feels like no one else is around them. Cyrus closes the gap and let's TJ rest his arms around his waist. He whispers to the shorter boy. "You came...you are not even covering your face." The preacher makes a fake gagging sound from behind them as the other two boys continue to cause chaos around them.
"Don't need to, as long as I have my friendly neighborhood Spiderman to protect me." With that, he does something bold. He rolls up the bottom of TJ's mask revealing his mouth. He gently places both hands on either side TJ's face before leaning in for a soft kiss, that is promptly returned.
As they kiss, they hear the preacher and his followers making hateful comments but they are soon covered up by the cheers of the larger crowd of supporters.
After a few moments, they break apart at the sound of Marty's voice saying "Let's go!" They must have finally run out of the string. So TJ grabs Cyrus' hand and pulls him after their friends, all laughing the entire run back to the car.
Once they were safely back in TJ's car, they demask. TJ smiles "I'm so proud of you Cy…"
"Right back at you, Tiger." Cyrus decides Mary Jane is on to something with Tiger because he likes using the nickname, especially since it is causing his boyfriend to blush like crazy.
The next day, they meet up with Amber, Libby, Andi, and Buffy at the Spoon to catch up after the girls' spa day. When they get there though the girls are all quiet, like they were dying to ask something.
Cyrus finally breaks the silence. "What is with you guys?
Buffy smirks and pulls a folded up newspaper out of her bag. She sets it on the table. "Care to explain?"
It was from this morning and plastered on the front was a large black and white picture of Cyrus and TJ kissing (though the top part of TJ's mask is covering most his face) surrounded by angry protesters and excited supporters a like. In the background you see Jonah and Marty in their suits spraying the protesters. The headline reads "Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman(s)takes Down a Bigot."
A smile stretched across all their faces. TJ says "Its a long story." As he intertwined his fingers with Cyrus'.