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The last thing TJ wanted to do was go to the school musical, but his sister had insisted on it. Apparently, most of her friends were in it, so she didn’t have anyone else to go with, and she didn’t want to go alone.
“I don’t even like musicals,” he protested as she rummaged through his closet, apparently looking for an ‘appropriate’ shirt for him to wear.
“It’s Beauty and the Beast,” she said. “You liked the movie, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “But if I wanted to watch it, I’d just watch the movie.”
“This is a different version of it,” she informed him, tossing a blue sweater at him. “You’ll like it.”
“Why do I have to dress nice?” he complained. “Isn’t it going to be dark in the theater?”
“It’s the principle of the matter,” she said. “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes; be ready by then.”
TJ groaned and flopped back onto his bed. He had been planning on chilling out and playing video games that night, but then Amber had come in, insisting that he go with her to the school musical. And then on top of that, his parents were apparently having friends over and they thought it would be a great idea for both of them to be out of the house. So, despite his protests, he was being forced to go.
He wasn’t that against musicals, and he supposed that it was a good thing that it was one he actually knew, but he wasn’t a fan of his plans being changed last minute or being forced to go to things against his will.
He did get changed though, because he knew if he wasn’t, Amber would personally force the shirt over his head. Making sure that his phone was charged all the way, he headed downstairs, determined to complain the entire time.
When they got to the school, he was surprised by how many people were there. The parking lot was packed, and the front lobby was buzzing with people. Amber paid for their tickets (which he had insisted she did, since he didn’t want to do this) and they went to find their seats. While they waited for the show to start, he played around his phone. Scrolling through Instagram, he saw a picture of some of the kids in the musical with the hashtag #grantbatb. Clicking on it, he scrolled past pictures of his fellow classmates in rehearsals and decked out in elaborate costumes. At least he had some idea of what the musical was going to look like.
Finally, the lights went down and a spotlight hit the stage. The music swelled and the curtain rose. Despite his misgivings, TJ soon found himself immersed in the story. He knew it obviously; he had seen the movie a few times before. It was a combination of weird yet cool to see his classmates out on the stage, acting and singing. He was surprised by the strong singing voices of some of the people out there; he had no idea some of those people could sing at all.
It was during the scene where they were singing ‘Be Our Guest’ that TJ noticed him. It was easy to focus on the leads, but there were quite a few people in background roles as well. In that particular scene, there were more than usual as they danced in the background. His attention ended up on the dancing silverware in the back – or at least one of them in particular.
The guy was playing one of the forks, and the initial reason he caught TJ’s eye was because he was just a little bit off beat from everyone else. It wasn’t enough to throw the performance, but it was clear he didn’t know the choreography as well. However, it didn’t seem to be bothering him, as he had a giant grin on his face the entire time he was dancing. It was hard to tell who he was from as far away that he was from the stage. TJ was tempted to check the playbill, but it was way too dark at that point.
As the play went on, TJ found himself keeping an eye out for that guy. He didn’t quite understand why that one person had captured his attention so much, but he had. There were a few more scenes where the background characters showed up, and he found his gaze scanning them to see if the guy was one of them.
When intermission came, before TJ had a chance to even think about looking at his playbill, Amber was shoving him out of his seat and into the aisle.
“What are you doing?” he asked her, irritated at her pushing.
“I want to get to the bathroom before the line gets too long,” she said, wiggling her way past him and speed walking towards the door. TJ rolled his eyes but didn’t complain. He had seen the length of the line outside the women’s restroom before, and he understood her rush. He decided to go as well before intermission ended.
Despite the fact that he left after her, TJ still go back to his seat before Amber did, and he dug out his playbill. All the main characters were listed, with pictures and bios next to them. He flipped past those ones to the minor and background characters. However, none of the pictures seemed to match that of the guy he had noticed. He recognized some of the names of people involved, but he was sure he didn’t know who the boy was. Of all the people listed as “flatware,” none of them matched.
He had to pause his searching to stand up and let Amber back in. She flopped back down in her seat and pulled out her phone. He debated asking her, since she knew a lot of the people involved, but didn’t want to let her know that he was interested. While she knew he was gay, she was one of the only people he had told, and he hadn’t really had a crush on anyone since he came out to her. She had bugged him on more than one occasion about guys he might have a crush on, but he always rebuffed her. While he did appreciate her support, he didn’t really want to deal with the teasing.
Soon enough, the lights dimmed, and the show started again. Abandoning all pretense, TJ kept a close eye out for his mystery guy. Sure enough, he showed up again, this time dressed as a villager. TJ became so wrapped up in watching him that he was surprised when the show came to an end. Following everyone else, he started clapping and rose to his feet. Then the cast started coming out to take their bows. His guy bowed with a group of the other kids who had also played background characters. When the applause faded, people started gathering up their coats and belongings.
“C’mon,” Amber said, starting to push him out again. “They’re going to be out in the lobby. I want to go congratulate my friends.”
“Okay,” TJ said, mind racing. The guy was going to be out there too, probably. And then…well, he wasn’t really sure. He didn’t know who the guy was, didn’t know his name, didn’t know anything about him. He had just managed to capture TJ’s attention somehow, mostly because he hadn’t been the greatest dancer. What was TJ going to do, ask for his number?
He followed Amber out into the front lobby where the entire cast was lined up, still in full costume and makeup. Parents and friends were swarming them, handing out flowers and congratulations. Amber dove right into the fray, flinging her arms around one of her friends. TJ trailed behind her awkwardly, trying to appear casual as he glanced down the row of actors. He nodded a congratulations at Amber’s friend and followed his sister as she made her way down the line. It seemed she knew half the cast and wanted to congratulate everyone.
As they made their way down the line, he couldn’t help his gaze traveling down the line to where the boy was standing. He was surrounded by people, both teens and adults, and TJ could barely see him in the crowd. He kept just catching glimpses of him and was struggling to tell if he knew who this guy was.
Then Amber surprised him by bounding directly over to the boy and throwing her arms around him.
Wait? She knew him? suddenly TJ was glad he hadn’t said anything in regards to his interest.
“What were you doing?” she cried as she gave him a hug. “I thought you were just working backstage. I didn’t know you were going to be performing.”
“Neither did I,” the boy admitted. “But Joey sprained his ankle in dress rehearsal yesterday and I was the only person who knew the choreography well enough to fill in for him.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him and said, “Knew the choreography?”
He blushed and she laughed before pulling him in for another hug. “I’m just kidding,” she told him. “You did fine.”
“Oh, I definitely messed up a bunch,” he said. “But I didn’t fall or knock anything or anyone over, so I’m counting it as a win.”
As the two pulled apart from their hug, the boy’s eye caught TJ’s, who realized too late that he was standing behind Amber and just staring at the two of them. Amber noticed and turned to see what he was looking at.
“Oh, that’s my brother TJ,” she said, waving a hand flippantly in TJ’s direction. “TJ, this is my friend Cyrus.”
“Hi,” TJ said, cringing at how awkward he sounded. “Uh, nice job.”
“Thanks,” Cyrus said, giving him a smile that made TJ’s heart skip a beat or two. Now that he was closer to the other boy, he could tell that he was very cute. “Hopefully I didn’t look too terrible.”
“No, you looked great,” TJ replied, immediately regretting it. It was hard to tell under the makeup, but it seemed as though Cyrus flushed a bit at the compliment. Too late, TJ realized that Amber was looking back and forth between the two of them with a gradually knowing look growing on her face.
“Oh! Thanks,” Cyrus said again, looking a little bashful.
“All right, we’ll get out of the way so you can greet all your adoring fans,” Amber interrupted them. “I’ll text you later, okay?”
Cyrus nodded and waved at them as Amber grabbed TJ’s wrist and started to pull him away. as they walked away, Cyrus was immediately mobbed by other people. Amber stopped to talk to one or two more people before she finally said she was ready to go. While TJ didn’t want to sit on the sidelines while she talked to half the school, he also wasn’t ready for the inevitable conversation in the car.
She at least waited until they were halfway home before she started in on it.
“So, what was that all about?” she asked. TJ kept staring out his window, not wanting to encourage her too much.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, knowing full well what she meant.
“’You looked great?’” she said, clearly mocking him.
“I can’t tell someone they did a good job in a play?” he asked, trying to sound casual. Amber just snorted loudly though.
“You could have said ‘good job,’” she said. “And I saw that look between the two of you.”
“What look?” he asked, feeling the tiniest little thrill at the thought that there had been a look between them. He knew he was looking, but had Cyrus been as well?
Amber was silent for a moment instead of responding, which was unusual, and he turned to look at her. She glanced at him briefly before looking back at the road.
“He’s gay, you know,” she said quietly.
TJ didn’t say anything, but let the information sink in. He had wondered (of course he had wondered) and part of him realized that there had to have been a chance since Amber was making such a big deal out of it. She wouldn’t have pushed the issue if Cyrus had been straight.
“He’s a really great guy,” she continued. “He’s really nice and smart and fun to be around.”
“And?” TJ asked, starting to feel a pressure build up in his chest. While he was out to Amber, very few other people knew, and he definitely wasn’t out at school yet. There had been a few guys who had caught his attention over the years, but they had always been completely unavailable, which made it easier for him to pine from afar without the pressure of having to actually do anything about it.
“And you haven’t really liked anyone in a while,” she said. “The last guy you had a crush on was a senior when you were a freshman. And he had a girlfriend.”
“You don’t have to remind me about that,” TJ grumped.
“TJ,” she said, and he could hear in her voice that any trace of teasing was gone, and she was being serious for once. “I care about you. You know that. I just want you to be happy. And if you just met a guy who you thought was cute and there’s a chance he could like you back, then you should be able to do something about it.”
He sighed, still not sure how to respond. Yes, he was interested in Cyrus. He had spent the entire musical unable to take his eyes off the other boy. And he was pretty sure he had made him blush. But actually asking him out? That was a whole new level that he wasn’t sure he was ready for yet.
“Just think about it, okay?” Amber implored him.
“Sure,” he said in a brusque tone that he usually used to end conversations. Before long, they were pulling into their driveway and trooped inside. Their parents were still chatting with friends in the living room, so they both headed up into their respective rooms. TJ flopped onto his bed and couldn’t help but immediately replay the events of the night in his head. Pulling out his phone, he opened Instagram and navigated to Amber’s account. He pulled up the people she followed (which was a much smaller number than her followers) and started looking. It didn’t take him too long to find Cyrus’ account.
It was public, which meant there was nothing stopping him from opening it and scrolling through the pictures. The first one was of Cyrus backstage at the musical with a few other cast members dressed as silverware, with the caption urging people to go see the musical. Most of his other pictures were him was a variety of people – it seemed like he had a lot of friends. TJ was surprised to see one of him with Amber. How had he not known that Amber was friends with someone like Cyrus. Amber posted quite a few pictures on Instagram, but TJ was sure he would have remembered seeing a picture of Cyrus.
As he was sitting there, staring at a picture of Cyrus artistically bathed in sunlight, debating with himself whether or not to just follow him, a text from Amber buzzed through his phone. The notification dropped down, blocking part of Cyrus’ face in the photo. Amber had texted him a phone number, with the message: “Think about it.”
It was Cyrus’ number. It had to be. There was no other explanation. TJ stared at it until the notification went away on its own. He swiped out of Instagram and opened his texts. The number was right there, and his finger hovered over it for a moment. He could text Cyrus right now. Would he think that it was weird? They had only just met that night. What if he thought it meant that TJ liked him? Wasn’t that something that people did if they liked someone?
The thought of Cyrus knowing that TJ liked him sent a thrill of nervousness and excitement through TJ. But TJ was nothing if not a risk-taker, and so he opened up a new message and entered Cyrus’ number. Heart pounding wildly, he typed:
T: hey this is TJ, amber’s brother
T: I just wanted to say good job in the play again
He pushed send and had to resist every urge to immediately chuck his phone across his room. Instead, he dropped his phone face first onto his bed and took a few deep breaths. He couldn’t keep his mind from racing, wondering if what he said was weird or too obvious or out of line or if Cyrus would even respond to him.
He nearly had a heart attack when his phone buzzed next to him, and he scrambled to look at it.
C : Oh thanks! I hope I didn’t mess up too much!
TJ scanned the words, trying to figure whether to read into them or not. The response was friendly (lots of exclamation points). Cyrus didn’t question why TJ was texting him, which was a good thing.
T : nah, you were fine. I mean, I don’t know a ton about musicals, but I didn’t notice anything wrong.
Was that good? TJ didn’t want to lay it on too thick, but Cyrus’ original comment seemed a little self-deprecating, and TJ had spent the entire musical with his eyes glued to Cyrus, and not because he was doing a bad job.
C : well that’s good 😊 I’m not the greatest dancer, so I was a little worried about how it would go.
T : I can’t dance at all so you did much better than anything I could’ve done, so from my point of view you were great.
Every text he sent seemed almost risky, and TJ’s heart was still beating fast. He didn’t really have any experience with flirting. And he wanted to be flirting with Cyrus. At least, he was pretty sure that’s what this was. Or was it? He was almost tempted to go ask Amber, but then he’d have to give her the satisfaction of knowing that he had started talking to Cyrus.
C : oh I’m usually a terrible dancer. I think I just got lucky tonight. It could’ve ended in disaster.
T : no disasters from what I could see
T : are you going to keep being in the musical in the upcoming performances?
C : hopefully not. I think we’re going to do a little rearranging of parts to make it work, but since this happened so close to opening, we didn’t really have a choice.
C : I hope I don’t have to! I much prefer being backstage
T : what do you normally do?
C : I’m an assistant stage manager. I help to make sure everything goes smoothly. Next year when I’m a junior I want to be the main stage manager.
T : well you did manage to help make everything go smoothly by jumping in to fill that spot, didn’t you?
C : hmm, I never thought about it that way. I like it!
C : as much as I would love to keep talking, I’m starting to fall asleep while texting so I’m going to have to sign off for now.
T : yeah no problem. Sorry for keeping you up.
C : it’s not a problem! I just didn’t want to stop talking mid-conversation because I fell asleep and leave you hanging.
T : sounds good. Have a good night!
C : you too!!
TJ couldn’t help but stare at his phone in somewhat disbelief. He had planned on just sending that initial text to Cyrus to open communications between them, but somehow it had delved into a whole conversation. Despite his nerves, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was really easy for him to talk to Cyrus. He had never experienced that with anyone that he had just met. And Cyrus seemed happy to talk to him, even though they were basically just strangers. Part of him wondered if Cyrus had made a polite excuse to end the conversation, but then he realized it was getting close to midnight, so it was very likely that the other boy was really sleepy.
He plugged his phone in and tried to get to sleep himself, but his mind kept drifting and keeping him awake. Cyrus was a sophomore, just like him. TJ couldn’t believe that their paths hadn’t crossed before, especially since he was also friends with Amber. Eventually, TJ did manage to fall asleep, with thoughts of Cyrus whirling around his head.
------
Over the rest of the weekend, TJ felt restless. He knew that Cyrus was going to be busy, as there were several more productions of the musical being performed still. He shot Cyrus a good luck text, which Cyrus replied to cheerfully, reporting that he had been moved back to a behind the scenes role. TJ was almost grateful for that, because he had been debating making up an excuse to go see the musical again. And even though he hadn’t said anything to Amber about their texts, she kept giving him looks all weekend long. He supposed that Cyrus could have said something to her, but she didn’t broach the subject with him.
On Monday, he was feeling more energetic than normal for a Monday morning. He knew it was a bit irrational; he couldn’t remember ever seeing Cyrus in the halls before, but then again, he had never known to look for him. They had been texting a bit more back and forth over the weekend, when Cyrus wasn’t busy, and this would be the first time they would see each other in person since the night of the musical.
TJ’s thoughts were all over the place. On one hand, he knew that Cyrus was gay, and there was a chance that Cyrus could like him. However, Cyrus had no idea that TJ was gay, and as a result, Cyrus might not realize that TJ was deliberately flirting with him. TJ felt very out of his depth, and aside from texting Cyrus, “hey I’m gay and you’re cute” he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
When he got to school, he was high alert for Cyrus, while trying to appear casual. He and Amber went their separate ways and TJ headed to his locker. Despite doing a double take every time he saw a guy with brown hair, he didn’t see Cyrus before school started or in the halls between his first few classes.
It wasn’t until right before lunch that he passed Cyrus. They were heading in opposite directions, and TJ just happened to glance over to see Cyrus walking down the hall. Their eyes met and Cyrus grinned widely, waving briefly at TJ. TJ smiled in return and was trying to think of something witty to say. However, Cyrus was past him and gone before he could think of anything. In his distraction, he almost walked into Marty’s open locker door.
“Dude, watch out,” Marty commented, not really concerned that TJ had almost face-planted into a sheet of metal.
“Who were you looking at?” Jonah asked, glancing down the hallway curiously.
“He was looking at someone?” Marty asked, a delighted smile lighting up over his face. TJ barely restrained himself from groaning out loud. If Amber was annoying when bugging him about liking someone, then his friends were almost unbearable. While he was definitely grateful that they were supportive of him being gay, they could also be incredibly annoying.
“No, I wasn’t,” TJ said, trying to sound nonchalant.
“You almost walked into my locker,” Marty said, slamming the door shut. “You were definitely looking at someone.”
TJ decided that he would just ignore his friends instead of continuing to argue, which proved harder than he thought, as Marty and Jonah pointed out various guys as they walked down to lunch, speculating about whether they were the one that TJ was interested in. Needless to say, TJ was glad that he didn’t see Cyrus again, because he likely wouldn’t have been able to keep the guys from noticing.
The rest of the week passed in a similar fashion. Their paths would cross occasionally in the hallways, and they usually smiled at each other and said hi. They continued texting sporadically as well, and TJ found himself growing more and more interested in Cyrus. He wanted to hang out with the other boy but was debating how to ask him to hang out. While he was definitely interested in it as a date type setting, he figured they should get to know each other as friends first, and not just over text.
However, all his deliberating and planning on how to casually ask Cyrus to hang out flew out the window when he got home from practice the following Monday. He was headed up to his room when he heard voices coming from Amber’s room. Assuming it was another one of her friends, he walked past her door without stopping, but then he heard her call his name in a singsong voice which he knew meant she wanted him to do something for him. heaving a deep sigh, he turned back and opened her door.
To his surprise, Amber was lounging on her bed with none other than Cyrus. The other boy grinned widely at TJ who managed to smile back through his surprise.
“Cyrus is here,” Amber announced unnecessarily.
“I see that,” TJ cocked an eyebrow at her. “What do you want?”
“So rude,” she rolled her eyes at Cyrus who just smiled back. “I have to run over to my friend’s house. she’s having a hair emergency.”
“Okay?” TJ asked, not sure how this applied to him.
“Cyrus and I are hanging out today, but I don’t want to drag him along to have to sit there and deal with that,” she explained. “Can you hang out with him until I get back?”
If TJ didn’t know his sister as well as he did, he would have been astonished at her sneakiness. While he wouldn’t be surprised if one of her friends was having a hair emergency, he was also pretty sure he was being set up. If Cyrus hadn’t been in the room, he would have given her a look, but he didn’t want it to seem like he was upset by the prospect. Instead, his insides were a mixture of excited and terrified of being able to spend the afternoon alone with Cyrus.
“If you’re busy or have homework or something, I can figure out something to do until then,” Cyrus offered.
“No, it’s okay,” TJ said hastily, hoping that he didn’t appear as eager as he felt. “I’m not busy.”
Amber smiled sweetly at him, before bounding off the bed and heading for the door. “Have fun!” she chirped.
There was a beat of silence as the two boys stared at each other and TJ searched for something to say.
“So, what do you want to do?” he asked.
“What do you have to do?” Cyrus replied. “Or what would you normally do now?”
“Hmm,” TJ considered it. “I guess play video games? Do you want to do that?”
“Sure,” Cyrus agreed. “I’m terrible at them, but I’ll give it a shot.”
TJ laughed and led the way into his room. He tossed his backpack onto his bed and dragged some bean bag chairs in front of his TV. He had a setup for when Marty and Jonah came over to hang out, and he booted up the system as Cyrus settled in one of the chairs.
“Mario Kart?” he offered.
“Why not?” Cyrus shrugged. TJ handed him a controller and got himself settled in a chair as well. As they waited for the game to load, Cyrus proceeded to examine the controller.
“Which one makes it go?” he asked TJ, a completely serious look on his face. TJ paused, not sure if he was really asking.
“Just kidding,” Cyrus grinned, and TJ scoffed, gently shoving his shoulder.
They started the game, and it became abundantly clear that Cyrus was truly terrible at it. He had a good attitude though, and the two were soon laughing and joking around. Considering the fact that they had only had one face-to-face conversation before this and had only communicated via text otherwise, TJ was happy to find that it was easy to talk with Cyrus and there weren’t any awkward silences between them.
After a while, (and many losses in a row for Cyrus) they decided to take a break from playing. They lounged around for a bit, just talking about school and other things in their lives. At one point, TJ decided to run downstairs for snacks. On his way back up, he realized that Amber was back and in her room.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were here?” TJ asked, pausing in her doorway.
“You sounded like you were having so much fun,” she replied, not looking up from her phone. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
He stood there and stared at her until she finally looked at him. He narrowed his eyes and she simply smirked back. Sticking his tongue out at her, he headed back to his room.
“Ooh, Cheetos!” Cyrus said, grabbing eagerly for the bag.
“Amber’s back,” TJ informed him, settling down with a bag of pretzels. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but Cyrus’ face seemed to fall a little bit at that proclamation.
“Oh,” he replied, hand deep in the Cheeto bag.
“You can still hang out in here if you want,” TJ offered. “I totally get if you don’t want to go spend time with her.”
Cyrus rolled his eyes at the comment. “You guys are so mean to each other.”
TJ shrugged. “We’re siblings. It’s how we show we love each other.”
Cyrus just shook his head but smiled. After he finished his snack, he did head back to Amber’s room, and TJ was left wishing that he was still there.
----
In the following weeks, TJ and Cyrus’ paths crossed quite a bit. They didn’t share any classes or even the same lunch, but TJ started seeing the other boy in the halls more. Sometimes they would be able to stop and chat for a minute, and they were still texting. The more time they spent together and talked, the more TJ found that he was growing closer to the other boy. He still definitely had a crush on Cyrus, and getting to know him personally was just making that crush stronger.
“Just ask him out,” Amber said when TJ finally opened up to her about it.
“It’s not that easy,” he complained. “He doesn’t even know that I’m gay.”
“You know, there’s a really easy way to solve that problem,” Amber rolled her eyes. “Like, just telling him.”
“I don’t know how,” TJ said.
“You don’t know how to say, ‘I’m gay?’” she asked incredulously.
“No, it’s more a matter of when to tell him,” TJ explained. “I don’t know when. There never seems to be a time in the conversation to bring it up.”
Amber sighed heavily. “TJ, Cyrus is gay. He’s been through all of this. You could literally tell him any time and he’d be nothing but supportive and accepting.”
“I guess,” TJ said, musing it over. He knew that he had to tell Cyrus if he wanted to even start the process of asking him out. But he had only come out to a few people so far, and they were all people he had known for years – or in Amber’s case, his entire life.
After mulling it over for a few days, TJ decided to just do it. Over text, because he was still nervous, but he felt it would be easier to bring the topic up.
T : hey, you busy?
C : not really. What’s up?
T : can I tell you something?
C : of course. You know you can tell me anything.
T : I’ve only told a few people this before, so it’s a little scary.
C : whatever it is, I’m sure it’s okay.
T : okay
T : I’m gay.
C : teej!! I’m so proud of you!
C : thank you for telling me!
C: did you want to talk about it?
T : nah, it’s okay
T : I’ve only told a few people and I wanted to tell you
C : thank you for trusting me
C : who else knows?
T : amber, marty, and jonah
C : okay I just wanted to know. I wouldn’t want to say something in front of someone I shouldn’t
T : yeah I don’t know if I want everyone to know just yet
C : I get that. And if you ever want to talk, I’m always here. I know what it’s like to go through this
T : thanks. I’ll definitely make sure to let you know if I do need to talk
TJ felt a sense of relief as he ended his conversation. Even though he knew that it wouldn’t have been a problem, it was still scary to tell anyone. It felt almost as though a weight had been lifted off his chest. Although now that he was out to Cyrus, it did now open up the fact that both of them were gay and TJ could ask Cyrus out if he wanted.
And he wanted to. More than anything. Ever since that night when he first saw Cyrus at the musical, he hadn’t been able to take his mind off of the other boy. He had never felt this way about anyone else before, and more than anything, he wanted to take a chance and see if there was a chance that Cyrus liked him back. He wasn’t the greatest at reading the signs when it came to flirting, but part of him couldn’t help but wonder if Cyrus was flirting with him at times. Cyrus was super friendly with everyone, so sometimes it was hard to tell.
Amber kept encouraging it though, and since she and Cyrus were close friends, TJ couldn’t help but hope that her pestering came from a place of knowing what Cyrus thought of him. And while his sister annoyed him a lot of the time, he did ultimately trust her, and he knew she wouldn’t purposely set him up for failure in that way.
So, he stewed over it for a while. The more time he spent with Cyrus, the greater the desire grew, and he found himself analyzing their interactions, to see if he could figure out if Cyrus was flirting or not. Finally, he got so tired of going over and over it in his head and he decided to just bite the bullet and ask Cyrus. At least he’d have his answer, one way or another.
They had plans to hang out one day, and TJ decided that he’d ask Cyrus then. He had a tentative plan in mind in case Cyrus said yes, and ended up spending the entire day at school full of nervous energy. It was a Friday, so the plan was that Cyrus would stay the night. Amber was off doing something with her friends, so they’d have some privacy.
TJ hoped that he wasn’t acting weird, because he felt like his entire body was vibrating with anticipation. When they got to his house, they grabbed snacks and headed up to TJ’s room to play video games. It had become a bit of a routine for them, although Cyrus’ skills hadn’t really improved much in that time. They became fully engrossed in the game, and TJ was able to relax a little bit. Then, halfway through one of their races, his vision was suddenly obscured by a hand in front of his eyes.
“Hey!” he protested, trying to knock Cyrus’ hand away.
“Oops!” Cyrus giggled with delight as TJ’s kart when flying off the track. In that time, Cyrus managed to pass him up. TJ growled in frustration, though he wasn’t truly angry. But his competitive side was kicking in, and once he got back up to speed, he leaned over and poked Cyrus in the side. Cyrus let out a yell and swerved on the track. Before long, they weren’t paying attention to the game and were engaged in what ultimately became a tickle war.
TJ wasn’t sure what happened, but somehow, he ended up half laying on Cyrus, with his fingers in the other boy’s ribs. Cyrus, it turned out, was very ticklish, and TJ was definitely taking advantage of that. However, he paused when he realized the position they were in, and as Cyrus’ laughter faded, the two boys realized how close their faces had gotten. TJ was ready to pull back and apologize, a knee jerk reaction. But before he could, Cyrus leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips.
It was the briefest touch of lips against his own, but it set off a cacophony of butterflies in his stomach, and his lips felt like they were tingling from where Cyrus had touched them with his own. But he barely had time to appreciate what had happened before Cyrus’ face turned bright red and he looked horrified with himself. The other boy started struggling to get up, apologizing the entire time.
“Hey, whoa,” TJ tried to get him to stop as Cyrus started clambering to his feet. “Cyrus, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” the other boy muttered, not meeting TJ’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
TJ reached out and grasped Cyrus’ wrist, forcing the boy to stay in place. Cyrus met TJ’s eyes, looking both embarrassed and nervous.
“I’m not mad at you,” TJ said, tugging Cyrus gently down to sitting again. He had never seen Cyrus look so upset before.
“You should be,” Cyrus said, gaze cast down again. TJ thought quickly; obviously he liked Cyrus and had literally been planning on asking him out that afternoon. And now this had happened, which answered a lot of his unasked questions. He could explain all of that, he mused. Or there might be a quicker way to fix the situation.
He let go of Cyrus’ wrist and gently lifted Cyrus’ chin so that they were eye to eye again. Cyrus looked nervous and confused. But instead of saying anything, TJ leaned in and pressed a kiss to Cyrus’ lips.
It felt just as amazing as the first time, and he didn’t want it to ever end. But it did, and when they broke away, TJ was sure his own face was as red as Cyrus’ currently was.
“Really?” Cyrus said, his voice coming out in a whisper.
“Really,” TJ confirmed. A smile slowly started to spread across Cyrus’ face, and TJ felt a matching one grow on his face.
“Okay,” Cyrus said, looking back down at his lap. He looked almost bashful, and TJ couldn’t help but grin at how cute he was.
“I was going to ask you out today,” TJ informed him. Cyrus’ head shot back up in shock.
“Seriously?” he asked.
“Yup,” TJ confirmed. “I wasn’t expecting you to make the first move though.”
“Neither was I,” Cyrus joked.
They sat there in silence for a moment, both sitting cross-legged, facing each other. TJ reached out and entwined his fingers with Cyrus’. The house was quiet around them, and TJ knew it was a moment that he’d remember for the rest of his life.
“Yes, by the way,” Cyrus said. TJ looked at him, confused.
“You asked me out,” Cyrus explained. “I would love to.”
TJ grinned widely and leaned in to kiss him again.
Later, when he finally told Amber, she screamed so loudly that he jumped. Apparently, both of them had been confiding in her about their respective crushes, and she was getting sick of both of them moping and not making a move. TJ just shook his head and left her room, but not before yelling a thank you back at her.