#Treat You Better Tyrus AU

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

Part XIV: i guess we carried each other

Cyrus and TJ present their history project.

Masterlist

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Cyrus was woken up by his alarm, a pleasant scene where birds are chirping quietly in the background and a soft melody crescendos into a lovely morning song.

It absolutely infuriated him.

Nothing against birds or happy music, but it’s 6am and Cyrus has been studying for midterms all week and and now he has to present a project with the guy who is mad at him for whatever unknown reason and quite frankly, Cyrus didn’t want to leave his bed ever again.

The memory of his and TJ’s rehearsal on Monday has been haunting him all week. Andi and Buffy said not to worry about it so he’s really been trying not to, but he can’t.

He misses how it used to be. TJ was always so open and talkative during their study sessions even Cyrus was rude and dismissive. He made Cyrus laugh anyways, made him feel relaxed. It didn’t feel like a school project, it just felt like hanging out with a friend. And now that he can enjoy that atmosphere, it’s taken away from him. Because of course it is.

Cyrus begrudgingly got out of bed and threw on his clothes before going to brush his teeth.

He got to school 15 minutes before the first exam period and saw Andi and Buffy in their usual spots and Jonah sitting on the table across from Buffy in the cafeteria.

“Hey, Cyrus!” Jonah smiled wide at him and held his hand up for a high five to which Cyrus responded with a weak tap as he slid into his seat.

“C'mon man you can do better than that.” Jonah said disapprovingly as he held his hand over to Buffy who slapped his hand without even looking.

“I’m sorry, I’m so tired today.” Cyrus groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Good thing I got a present for you,” Buffy sang as she slid an iced coffee across the table to him.

He looked at the coffee and back to buddy, eyes wide. “I love you.” He deadpanned, causing his friends to laugh.

“Today’s our last day and then it’s winter break, you got this!” Jonah nudged his shoulder gently.

“I think he’s just not excited for today in particular.” Andi replied, breaking apart each syllable of “particular”.

“Why, what’s happening today?” Jonah asked.

“He has his presentation with TJ today.” Buffy whispered loudly to Jonah.

“Oh.” Jonah whispered loudly back.

“You guys are so subtle.” Andi mimicked their voices.

“Whatever. I’ll be fine. Can we talk about something else?” Cyrus dismissed and took a sip of his coffee.

That lit up something in Buffy. “Oh yeah! Andi, tell him.”

“OH YEAH! Cyrus, you know how I was gonna ask Amber for her number?” She said excitedly.

“I do. Did you chicken out?” Cyrus teased, taking another sip of his drink.

Andi glared at him. “No.” she said quickly before shifting her eyes to the ceiling. “Well, I didn’t really get a chance BECAUSE SHE ASKED ME FIRST!”

Cyrus smiled at Buffy. “Called it.” He whispered loudly. Andi hit his arm playfully as he giggled and flinched away.

“Whatever. I still don’t know if she’s—”

“She is.” Jonah interjected.

Everyone turned to him with confused expressions.

“How do you know?” Andi asked.

“She told me. She doesn’t try to keep it a secret, did you not see the rainbow pin on her bag? Or the rainbow sticker on her name tag?” Jonah explained.

Buffy snorted.

“No I saw— She told you?” Andi asked again, still very lost.

“Yeah we’re friends.”

“Not the development I expected but a good one nonetheless.” Buffy joked to Cyrus.

“Since when?” Andi yelled.

“A while now. Our moms are friends and we have a lot in common. She told me she was gay like 2 years ago, I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out.” Jonah replied.

Andi stared at him.

“You knew her this whole time, and didn’t think to say anything?”

“I didn’t realize she was the girl you were madly in love with.”

Buffy snorted again.

“I AM NOT IN LOVE W—” Andi got cut off by the 5 minute warning bell and Buffy Cyrus and Jonah all started grabbing their bags to head to class. Andi stares at Jonah, grabbing her own bag. “We’re finishing this conversation later Beck.” She threatened before walking away.

Jonah looked at Cyrus with fear in his eyes.

“Don’t look at me man!”

“What did I do!” Jonah laughed as he and Cyrus headed to their first exam.

***

The good news is Cyrus had English for his first exam to distract him from his impending doom. The bad news is English is is over and now he has to go to history.

Under regular circumstances he’d be glad that his teacher is taking these presentations for their midterm grades, but he’s kind of too busy cursing whatever god is out there controlling his life to worry about his grade.

Cyrus subconsciously walked ever so slightly slower to his history classroom, knowing it doesn’t actually make a difference to what’s gonna happen but it’s worth a shot. Turns out it kind of worked, but in the worst way possible.

Cyrus got to the room at the exact same time as TJ and they practically ran each other over trying to get through the door at the same time.

“Hey, what the hell— Cyrus!” TJ said much louder than he probably meant to.

Cyrus stood at him in shock for a second. Of course he thought to himself. “Um, sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” He forced a smile and walked into class as TJ called after him.

“Wait, Cyrus—” TJ said, taking a seat next to him. “Can... Can we talk?”

Cyrus opened his mouth to respond but the only sound that came was from the bell signaling clad to start. Cyrus looked to the front of the room where their teacher had already started talking.

“Alright, we don’t really have time to waste so, look for you and your partners names on the board. If each presentation is 3-5 minutes we should have some time leftover to watch a quarter of a movie. Sound good?”

The class mumbled in content agreement.

“Great. If you and your partner feel like you’d like to go over your work one more time, you can practice in the hall QUIETLY, while the group before you is presenting. Alright, first up—”

And so Cyrus spent the first 15 minutes of class sitting awkwardly next to TJ as they kept looking over at each other in what was supposed to be sneaky glances but they’re kind of bad at being subtle and make contact almost every time. Eventually the people before then stand up to present and TJ turns to Cyrus.

“Hey, can we—” He whispered pointing to the hallway. Cyrus pressed his lips in a straight line attempting an awkward smile and grabbed his bag, TJ following him suite.

TJ quietly closed the door behind them and turned around.

He took a deep breath. “Um— I just wanted to apologize for how I acted the other day.”

Cyrus shifted a bit. “Okay...”

They stood in silence for a beat.

“So...”

“That was it.”

“Have you ever heard an apology? Like ever?” Cyrus tried to joke but he knew it came off more bitter than he meant it to.

“I’m sorry, you’re right.”

“So you’ve apologized for not apologizing, but you still haven’t apologized.” Cyrus stated.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re hard to apologize to?” TJ retorted.

“No, actually. This would be a first.” TJ smiled at that.

“Okay. I’m sorry for how i acted the other day. That wasn’t fair to you. I guess I just thought that if I pretended like I didn’t care it’d make things easier but I was... very wrong.”

“Yeah. No kidding.” Cyrus snorted.

TJ looked at his shoes and Cyrus stared at him. “It’s okay. I mean, I guess I understand where you were coming from but it still kind of sucked. I thought you hated me.” Cyrus said.

“I know. I’m sorry.” TJ said again.

Cyrus nodded.

A soft smiled tugged at TJ’s lips before he tore his eyes to his notebook. “Um, good job on your section by the way, I don’t get a chance to say it but yeah. Not that I thought you’d do a bad job or anything because you’re really smart and I’m actually surprised you stuck with me as your partner because—”

“Thanks, TJ.” Cyrus cut off his rambling, laughing quietly. “You did a really good job too. And you pretty much nailed all the dates too so, congratulations.”

“Ha, thanks.” TJ clearly didn’t believe him.

“Seriously Teej,” Cyrus took a step forward and put his hand on the other boys shoulder. “You should be proud of yourself.”

Cyrus saw TJ’s cheeks turning a light shade of pink s he felt his own face burn a little. If nothing else, one thing hadn’t changed— TJ still had the prettiest eyes Cyrus has ever seen.

They were interrupted by the door opening and their teachers face popped through. “You boys are up!” He whispered enthusiastically before slipping back into the room.

The boys looked at each other a again and laughed awkwardly, both still extreme shades of red but pretending they weren’t.

Their presentation actually went pretty smoothly. The biggest issue they ran into was stuttering every here and there, but this was already ten million times better than their practice run had been. Both of them quickly melted into their dynamic and everything else came pretty naturally and they were done in about 3 and a half minutes. The class snapped quietly (as to not disturb the other classes) and they both sat down, continuing the rest of class “sneaking” looks at each other and smiling when they made eye contact every time.

***

Cyrus stared at his phone while his friends talked around him at Andi’s locker. It started with Andi scolding Jonah for not being her wingman earlier on but Cyrus lost tack pretty quickly as his mind wandered back to TJ.

He was staring at his contact in his phone and debating on sending a text. On one hand, he wasn’t entirely sure where they stood now. Were they friends again? Were they just school acquaintances again? They weren’t project partners anymore so should he keep TJ’s phone number? Cyrus could already feel that he was about to drive himself crazy and just pushed aside all his thoughts and typed out a message.

Cyrus: good job on the project today!! all things considered i think we did pretty well :)

Cyrus shuts off his phone and puts it back in his pocket as he tried to ignore the part of his brain screaming at him. He heard about 3 words in the conversation unfolding before him before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He yanked his phone back out and read the message in the screen

TJ: thanks :) i can’t take too much credit tho, you definitely carried me the whole way through

Cyrus: you’re simply incorrect. you carried me

TJ: i guess that means we carried each other then huh

Cyrus: i guess it does

“Oooooooooo, who ya textin?” Buffy sang, poking at Cyrus’s arm.

“No one!” He tried to say but the smile on his face begged to differ.

“So did you and TJ make up then?” Andi asked.

“Yeah. We talked before the presentation and it helped.” Cyrus blushed harder.

“You should invite him to the spoon with us!” Jonah proposed.

Cyrus looked at all his friends. “Really? Are you guys sure its okay?”

“Of course! Andi’s invited Amber, who’s one more gonna hurt!” Buffy replied.

“Okay...” Cyrus turned back to his phone, his friends watching him intently. Cyrus stood still and cleared his throat aggressively. Catching the hint they all turn back to their own little conversation.

“So, words amirite?” He hears Andi say.

Cyrus: my friends and i are getting some celebratory end of semester shakes at the spoon, if you’re not doing anything you can join, if you want

He clicked his phone off again pretending like nothing was happening because technically, nothing was happening. He invited his friend to get milkshakes with his friends, big whoop. Except everyone had gone silent again and was staring at Cyrus.

“What we’re you saying about words, Andi?”

“Oh, uh—”

Their fake conversation quickly turned into a very real and heated debate about phonetics which Cyrus had invested himself in hoping to forget about the fact that a full minute and a half has already passed and he still hasn’t heard anything back.

Another minute passes and Cyrus was just about ready to call it quits when he felt his pocket buzz.

TJ: sounds fun :) i’ll meet you guys there?

Cyrus: cool :)

They get to the Spoon and see Amber sitting the the largest corner booth in her normal people clothes. She stands up and waves them over with a smile on her face.

“I already ordered some baby taters but I wasn’t sure what milkshakes you guys wanted because I can never remember who likes what.” Amber said nervously as everyone took their seat.

“That’s ok. There’s one more joining us so we’ll order when he gets here.” Jonah reassured her.

“Oh, who is it?”

As if on que, the door rang as TJ stepped inside and scanned the room, and then waving excitedly when he sees Cyrus.

“You’re joking.” Amber laughs in disbelief and stands up again, making eye contact with TJ who’s face drops like hers before they both start laughing hysterically leaving everyone feeling confused and kind of left out.

“Wait... that’s...” TJ laughed before Amber shushed him.

“I didn’t realize you were talking about...” Amber started before TJ shushed her.

“Hey, what’s going on...” Buffy whispered to the two of them.

“Oh, um, Cyrus remember when I told you I have a sister—” TJ said simply, gesturing towards Amber.

Amber turned to Cyrus and smiled and waved weakly.

“No way.” Buffy said to no one in particular as she smiled widely. She was gonna have a field day with this.

Jonah looked like he was about to pee his pants trying not to laugh and Cyrus and Andi were completely stunned and just stared at each other for a second before also laughing, the rest of the group doing the same.

“I hate it here.” Amber joked as she sat down next to Andi.

“I’ve literally never been happier in my life.” Buffy laughed as she moved so TJ could sit next to Cyrus.

“Jonah, why didn’t you tell them?” Amber yelled at him.

“I THOUGHT THEY HAD FIGURED IT OUT! Cyrus has been to your house multiple times how did you not know!” Jonah yelled back.

They dissolved into more playful yelling and despite being way too loud for this little diner, Cyrus still felt happier than he had all year.

A waiter came over after they had quieted down and took their orders. Everyone started talking about something but Cyrus had noticed that TJ’s pinky was touching his own and that was all he could focus on. It was the lightest touch and yet if felt like his skin was on fire. As if that wasn’t enough, TJ must have noticed it too, because he looped his finger over Cyrus’s, making Cyrus’s face heat up involuntarily and he hoped no one had noticed. When Cyrus didn’t move away, TJ carefully flipped his hand over and intertwined the rest of their fingers. Cyrus looked at him but TJ had gone back into the conversation. Cyrus smiled at him and then tuned back in himself.

He never wanted this to end.

He was happy.

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previous // next

a/n: happy boys for today me thinks 😌 the angst is finally dying down and there’s i think gonna be two more chapters (excluding the epilogue) and our boys are gonna get the happy ending they deserve but for now, they hold hands under the table at the spoon and enjoy the company of their friends. ALSO I WAS LOOSING MY MIND WRITING THE PART WHERE W TJ AND AMBER OH MY GOD i hope you enjoyed lmao

also i’m updating my tag list to make sure the notifications are getting sent and if you want to be added or taken off just lmk!!

tag list:

@secretly-of-course @abg-blah @maybeldontwantheaven @thebisexualweirdo @randomsmilingpotatoes @iam-johnlocked @ohnoitsamistake18 @im-mormon-and-not-straight @unrequitedambi @marriedtobigfoot @fairygclds @c-ristopher @tylercamebackyes @tyrus-is-canon @craftyceleb @ana-lana-ding-dong @dancinglifeboat

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

Cyrus finds himself stuck in a toxic relationship and TJ knows that if given the chance, he could treat Cyrus so much better.

this is inspired by an edit i saw on yt and it’s kind of a fun fic idea so here i am. I haven’t written a multi part fic before but honestly i’m so inspired by this idea so i really hope you like and want a second part, but i’ll probably do a second part anyway. so yeah, enjoy this vv angsty part 1

tw: toxic relationship

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“Okay, I’ll see you after class.”

Cyrus looked his boyfriend in the eyes and let out a small sigh. “Okay.” Exhaustion tainted his voice, but Dylan was none the wiser.

“Okay.” He smiled before kissing Cyrus on the cheek and then walking off to his next class.

Cyrus watched him walk down the hall, his chest feeling heavy. He walked into the classroom and took his usual seat by Andi and Buffy. They were already chatting animatedly as he sat down, so in an attempt to keep the mood light he pushed back the ache in his chest and forced a smile onto his face as he watched his friends gossip about some other boy drama Andi was having. Although, Cyrus couldn’t seem to hear their words. All he could think about was Dylan. He truly cared about him, so why did it feel like someone swung a baseball bat at his heart every time they had a conversation?

“Earth to Cyrus?” Buffy was waving a hand in front of Cyrus’s face, making him realize he must have failed at looking unbothered. However, he put on another plastic smile, hoping to avoid the topic as long as possible.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He tried to sound nonchalant but it came out exhausted.

Andi and Buffy exchanged worried glances. “Cyrus, what’s going on?” Andi asked.

“Yeah, you haven’t been your usual self lately. We’re getting kind of worried.” Buffy added.

Cyrus sighed. “I don’t know. I guess things with Dylan have been kind of weird. I still really care about him but it’s like, every moment we spend together the farther apart we seem to drift.”

“Why don’t you break up with him then? You’re clearly unhappy.” Andi said, the worry on her face only making Cyrus’s gut twist more.

“I-” Cyrus began to speak but was cut off by the sound of their teachers voice. Relief began to flood his body, that is until Buffy leaned over to him and whispered, “This conversation is not over.” Oh well. For the next 45 minutes all he had to do was focus on conjugating verbs and he couldn’t be more thankful for the distraction.

Alas, the bell rang signifying the end of class. As they put away their papers, a vaguely familiar voice greeted them. Well, one of them.

“Aye, Driscoll!”

The three of them turned only to be greeted by Marty, Jonah and another kid Cyrus didn’t know walking up to their table.

“Sup Marty.” Buffy greeted before turning to the kid Cyrus didn’t know and giving him high five. Andi and Jonah started talking amongst themselves as well and Cyrus looked back down at the table and picked up his pace. Dylan was gonna be there any minute and he really didn’t want to get in a fight with him, so it was best he didn’t stay longer than he had to. He had just finished putting all his stuff away and was about to walk to the door but then-

“Hey.”

Cyrus inhaled. So close. He turned around and was face to face with the guy he didn’t know. He had dirty blonde hair that was styled up with what was probably considered too much hair gel, but for some reason, Cyrus found it endearing. He was wearing a hoodie with some ripped jeans and he was currently smiling at Cyrus, causing his eyes to crinkle ever so slightly. His eyes. They were light green, packed with vibrance and yet were perfectly calm as well. They weren’t so much an emerald color, but more of a grassy meadow on a nice summer day. They perfectly complimented the pale freckles he had running across the bridge of his nose that you could only really notice if you were paying close attention. But Cyrus wasn’t paying close attention, so he really didn’t know why his heart was beating so fast.

“Hi, I’d um- I’d love to chat but I- um- I really gotta- go.” Cyrus was picking at the corner of the notebook he was holding, a nervous habit he had picked up a few months ago. He turned around and began walking to the door but was once again stopped.

“Wait,”

God what does this kid want?

“Can I at least get your name?”

“Cyrus.” His attempt at holding back an aggressive sigh caused his response to come out strangled, but the blonde boys expression softened anyway.

“Cyrus.” He repeated, no longer looking at him. “I like that name.”

Cyrus simply nodded and then turned back to the doorway, finally able to leave. But of course, just his luck that Dylan was standing right there. He saw the whole thing. But it wasn’t even a thing really, so he doesn’t need to panic.

Don’t panic.

“Hey!” He greeted his boyfriend innocently. Because he was innocent. He didn’t do anything.

“Who the hell was that?” Dylan wasn’t looking at him, but rather still into the classroom where the kid was now talking to Buffy and Marty.

“I don’t know, he was just asking for the time.” Cyrus said casually. Please let it go.

Dylan continued to stare down the guy for a moment longer before turning to Cyrus.

“...Okay. Just, don’t talk to him again.” He said eventually.

Thank god. “Wasn’t planning on it.” Cyrus smiled.

But Dylan’s face remained hard. “Good.”

He took Cyrus’s hand and squeezed it, a little too hard causing Cyrus to wince, and then proceeded to guide them down the hall. For whatever reason, Cyrus felt his head swivel back towards the classroom. And there were those green eyes, staring right into his brown ones.

***

“Cy he’s not good for you! Look, you’ve barely touched your taters at all.” Buffy was never good at controlling her tone when she was irritated, which she seemed to be a lot with Cyrus recently. He just kept staring at his hands but he could feel the hard stare Buffy was giving him. He didn’t want to see her face.

“Dylan and I are going out later, he doesn’t like when I eat before hand.” Cyrus said, his voice small.

“Cyrus, look at me.” Buffy demanded, and Cyrus complied. He slowly raised his head and saw his two best friends staring at him. Andi’s face riddled with worry, Buffy’s hard and cold, but her eyes were begging. Exactly why he didn’t want to look at them.

“You don’t have to live like this. Why can’t you break up with him?” Her voice was soft, but steady.

And suddenly Cyrus was really irritated. He hated the way they were looking at him. He hated the way everyone had control over him. He hated that he had no control over himself. And he wanted to yell, he wanted to scream so loud that his vocal cords bled. But right now his eyes were welling with tears, and the last thing he wanted to do was cry. Not in front of them at least. Dylan said other people don’t need to know he’s upset, he said “it’s a personal issue”. So Cyrus stood up and threw some cash on the table before he ran out the door.

He didn’t stop running until he reached the park. It was rather cloudy outside so it was also colder than it usually was this time of year. It’s early november and the leaves have well turned bright oranges and reds and yellows. They’re colors looked photoshopped in contrast to the dreary atmosphere. The park was empty, probably due to the fact that it could start raining at any second, but Cyrus didn’t care. He didn’t want to be locked up in his room. He needed the space to think and if that meant getting rained on, so be it.

He walked over to the swings and sat down. He knew Andi and Buffy were right. He was unhappy. He really didn’t enjoy being around Dylan at all. But he couldn’t break up with him. “Why” they asked him, and the question scared him. “Why?” Why? What was he so afraid of?

Maybe he was on the verge of a break through, but he wouldn’t know because suddenly there was someone else with him.

“Hey, Cyrus, right?” The voice should have been unrecognizable, but Cyrus knew who it was immediately. Why did he know who it was?

He turned his head and just as he expected, there were those green eyes staring right at him.

“In the flesh.” Cyrus said, attempting to conceal his sorrows with a light tone.

“I didn’t get to properly introduce myself earlier. I’m TJ.” The blonde boy stuck out his hand for Cyrus to shake. Dylan wouldn’t like that Cyrus knew his name now.

“Pleasure.” Cyrus took his hand and gave it a quick shake. It barely lasted a second, so why did it feel like electricity was coursing through his body?

“Do you mind if I sit?” TJ asked. Cyrus knew he should get up and leave, this whole situation was begging for a fight to start up with him and Dylan. But his hands were gesturing towards the empty swing next to him and he didn’t have it in himself to stop them.

“What brings you here?” TJ asked.

“Just clearing my mind I guess.” Cyrus answered. There was a voice in the back of his mind screaming at him, what do you think you’re doing, you shouldn’t be talking to him, leave now. He ignored it. “How about you?”

“I was walking around and saw you here looking all,” He stopped talking and made an exaggerated sad face. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“You tell me.”

Cyrus looked at the boy in the swing next to him. He didn’t sound worried, he wasn’t being condescending, he just sounded curious. And it felt like that should have made Cyrus mad, but it didn’t. And for whatever reason, the next words came falling out of his mouth before any sense of logic could stop him.

“Relationship stuff.” He looked back to the ground and begun kicking the mulch at his feet.

“Man, that’s rough. You wanna talk about it?”

Cyrus furrowed his brows. “With you? I just learned your name.”

“I guess. But sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone who has an unbiased opinion.”

“And that’s you?”

“Maybe.” They looked at each other for a moment. Cyrus just noticed TJ’s smile. It was just a casual one, resting on his face, acting as an accent to the invitation his eyes were handing out.

“It’s stupid.” Cyrus said eventually. “I just feel us drifting apart, I don’t know how I feel about him anymore.”

“Ah, a classic dilemma. But there’s more, isn’t there?”

There was. “My friends don’t like him, they want me to break up with him.” Cyrus answered cautiously.

There was a pause.

“Do you want to break up with him?” TJ asked, turning his head to face Cyrus.

Another pause.

“I don’t know.” Cyrus’s head now turned toward TJ’s. And they continued on looking at each other. It was a weird feeling, one Cyrus hasn’t felt before. It was like, TJ saw him, he saw every secret hidden within him, like he knew everything about Cyrus just by looking in his eyes. And Cyrus felt he could do the same.

“Well, your friends don’t like him, you don’t seem to like him very much,” TJ looked back to the ground front of him for a moment and then back to Cyrus. “I think you should break up with him too.”

“That’s your unbiased opinion?” Cyrus asked, unsure if he was satisfied with the answer.

“Yes.” Came the response. “Do you want my biased opinion?”

“Why not.” Cyrus looked back to the sticks he was kicking. But TJ didn’t look away.

“I think you’re too cute to be sitting by yourself worrying about some guy who clearly doesn’t appreciate you as much as he should.”

Suddenly an alarm was going off in Cyrus’s head. Oh my god what are you doing?! Dylan is going to kill you! Why are you talking to this guy, you cheater.

He jolted out of the swing very suddenly. “I uh- I have t- to go, um-” He suddenly was at a loss of words as he looked frantically around the park. It was empty still, but how long had they been talking, what if someone had saw them? What if Dylan saw them?

“I didn’t mean to upset you, I just-” TJ started but Cyrus cut him off.

“Just, do me a favor, don’t talk to me again. Please.” And with that he was running again. Cyrus knew he sounded harsh, but he was just covering up the much more present feeling that was currently twisting around in his stomach; fear.

***

That same feeling remained as Cyrus layed awake in his bed, staring at his ceiling. It was well past midnight and the moonlight was streaming into his room through his open window. Cyrus’s thoughts were racing a mile a minute and he couldn’t stop them.

Why was he so afraid of Buffy’s question? Were they not the same questions TJ had asked him? Why could he so easily trust this random guy he had just met, but he couldn’t trust his own friends? He remembered a time when he wasn’t afraid to cry in front of them. When they would hug him and tell him he’d be okay, no matter how big or small his problem was. He expected Dylan would do the same for him, but he didn’t. He told him to stop being a baby, that he didn’t want to hear his problems, that no one did. And Cyrus believed him. But TJ wanted to hear his problems. Why did Cyrus feel so safe talking to him? He hasn’t felt that safe talking to someone since he and Dylan started dating. So why now? And why was it TJ?

There it was again. That damned question, “Why?” “Why” this, “Why” that. It made Cyrus so angry. He didn’t know “Why”. It just was. That’s how it is. TJ was just easy to talk to, Buffys questions just didn’t have an answer. That’s just how it was, right? Like, he knew she still loved Dylan right? He still loved him. Did he still love him?

And that’s when his heart stopped and it hit him.

Was Cyrus afraid of Buffy’s question? Or, was he afraid of his answer?

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Next

[sapphosclown]

someone teach me how to spell oh my god

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better AU Masterlist

this fic is finished! if you like angsty gays, slow burns, and pining, boy is this the fic for you.

tw: toxic relationship/emotional abuse

part I

part II - What do you not get about “don’t talk to me”?

part III - It’s Nothing, I Swear

part IV - He’s Not Here Is He

part V - Is That Right

part VI - Why Is It So Tense

part VII - It’s Probably Nothing

part VIII - This Can’t Be Happening

part IX - Stupid

part X - Can You Hear Me Now?

part XI - Good News and Bad News

part XII - Hey, Can We Talk?

part XIII - Not What I Meant

part XIV - i guess we carried each other

part XV - 85%

part XVI - 89%

Epilogue - I’m Sure

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

pt. II; What do you not get about “don’t talk to me”?

Cyrus tried to avoid TJ but the universe has other plans, and so does TJ.

so i think people are liking part 1?? idk but i’m having fun. if you are liking it comments are much appreciated, it just lets me know to keep writing this story. pls enjoy some more *~ a n g s t ~*

also since i didn’t really make it clear in the last one, it’s the start of sophomore year for the whole gang

tw: toxic relationship

~

~

SLAM

The metallic clang rings for a moment after Cyrus closed his locker. He turned to face his boyfriend, who was currently leaning against the other lockers to Cyrus’s left.

“So you’re not coming to the party right?” Dylan asked, not a single sign of emotion on his face. Cyrus shook his head slowly. He hated parties. At least, the ones Dylan went to. There was always alcohol and drugs and the dancing was practically just everyone having one giant orgy in some jocks living room. To say the least, that’s not really Cyrus’s thing. He was more into the types of parties Andi had, ones with silly string and adult supervision.

“Okay, good.” Dylan breathes out a sigh of relief, causing an ache to fill Cyrus’s heart. He looked down at the ground and Dylan must have noticed something happened because he tried to back peddle.

“Not that I don’t want you come or anything it’s just, it’s really public and you don’t like socializing anyways so,” Cyrus looked up at him tiredly. “I’m just thinking about you here.” He continued, almost accusingly.

“You know, I’m still not really comfortable with you going to these parties D.” Cyrus said quietly.

“What?” Dylan replied, his voice suddenly sharp. The change caused Cyrus to flinch but he repeated himself anyways.

“I- I’m just saying, that, um-” Cyrus stumbled through the sentence, words suddenly failing him.

“God, Cyrus, spit it out!” Dylan snapped.

“I just don’t like you there with all the alcohol and- stuff.” He sputtered out quickly.

Dylan’s expression changed to hurt. “You- you don’t trust me?” Were those, tears in his eyes?

“What? No, I trust you I just- what if someone else does something to you or, or-”

“How do you expect this to work if you can’t trust me-” Dylan cut him off. He started going on a rant about how Cyrus was being a bad boyfriend and needed to trust him, but Cyrus had found a new focus. Behind Dylan, Cyrus caught a glance of TJ across the hall talking to some random kid. He looked like a normal high schooler, just an average guy having a conversation, but for some reason Cyrus couldn’t stop looking at the way TJ smiled.

“Cyrus! Are you even listening to me?” Dylan’s voice snapped him back into reality.

“Of course, yeah, I’m sorry.”

“What were you looking at?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Dylan didn’t believe him. He turned around and looked to wear Cyrus had been staring. Sure enough TJ was there, laughing about something that the other person had said. Dylan turned back to Cyrus.

“Who is that?” He asked, clearly remembering him from the other day.

“He’s no one, I swear.” Cyrus was begging. He really didn’t want to fight. It really wasn’t worth a fight.

But of course, at that exact moment, TJ has ended his conversation and begun walking towards the two of them.

“Hey Cyrus!” TJ said quickly as he walked past him and Dylan.

Cyrus felt his heart sink. Crap.

“Who is he? Why does he know your name?” Dylan asked, an edge to his voice.

“I don’t know! I think he’s in one of my classes but I don’t know because I haven’t seen him before.” Cyrus partially lied. He hadn’t noticed him in any of his classes before, that’s true. But he had seen him before. Cyrus hated lying but he didn’t want Dylan to hear the truth, he didn’t want to upset him.

“You’re lying. You obviously like him.”

“No I don’t, Dylan. I like you! I’m dating you.” Cyrus grabbed his boyfriends hands, face softening. “You should go have fun at the party, I’m just being stupid and paranoid.” Cyrus gave a weak laugh at that, but Dylan seemed to perk up.

“I’m so glad you trust me. You don’t have to be worried about me, if I’m being honest it can get a little annoying.” Dylan squeezes Cyrus’s hands with what was probably supposed to be affection, but something was lacking from it. “I’ll see you after class! And, stay away from him.” He added with a quick glare towards where TJ had walked off to. Then he kissed Cyrus on the cheek hurriedly and walked away.

Cyrus once again stood there as he walked off, a deep sense of anger bubbling in his gut. But he tried to shake the feeling off quickly and turned to go to his next class.

***

“So, you guys are coming to my game tonight right?” Buffy asked with excitement.

“Of course! Right Cyrus?” Andi responded, nudging Cyrus’s arm and seemingly awakening him from his daze.

“Huh?” He had been zoned out and playing with his lunch, he missed the question.

“Buffy’s game tonight!” Andi smiled wide.

Something in Cyrus woke up and he began to smile as well.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He said softly.

Buffy’s smile grew wider. “Good. I need my entourage.” She giggled as she kicked their feet under the table, causing the other two to laugh as well. It was nice. Cyrus missed this feeling, genuinely smiling with his best friends. He tried to soak it in a little longer but the moment was short lived as he saw TJ walking up to the three of them. Cyrus’s smile faded.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” He said as he stood up and walked away. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and felt his gut twist as he saw TJ’s face drop at Cyrus walking away. However, he ignored it and continued on into the empty halls.

He wandered loosely around the school, making no effort to actually get to the closest bathroom. After a couple minutes he decided TJ had probably left their table already and it was safe to go back now. He was walking back into the cafeteria again when he ran straight into someone.

“I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I should’ve been looking where I was going I’m sor-“ Cyrus’s vision focused again and of freaking course, he had run into TJ. How does he just keep materializing out of thin air like that?

“-ry.” Cyrus finished his sentence hesitantly.

“Don’t apologize. I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday.” TJ said. Cyrus straightened his posture and looked at TJ, his arms crossed.

“There’s nothing to talk about. What don’t you get about ‘don’t talk to me’? You are the last person I want to talk to.”

“Look,” TJ took a step forward.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said what I said,” Another step.

Cyrus scoffed, trying to remain composed as he realized the space between them was closing.

“But that doesn’t make it any less true.” With one final step TJ was officially too close to someone who has a boyfriend, but Cyrus couldn’t move. He was locked into place by TJ’s eyes. Those damn eyes. He could have stared at them for hours.

But then the bell rang.

TJ scanned Cyrus’s face one more time and then walked away. Cyrus stood in the hallway for a moment, arms still crossed, heart racing, and unbelievably confused. He walked through the entrance and saw Andi and Buffy walking and waited for them to reach the door to join them.

“You good Cyrus?” Buffy asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” They moved on.

***

Cyrus wasn’t the biggest fan of history. His teacher wasn’t the best and the past makes him sad because of how poorly everyone who wasn’t a cishet white man was treated, and he didn’t know anyone in his class. Well, he thought he didn’t.

“For this assignment, I put you into groups of two. We’ll be working on this up until winter break and it will make up for 60% of your semester grade.” His teacher announced. “Partners are listed on the board, find your partner and get to work, you have all period.”

Cyrus slid out from behind his desk and walked up to the sheet of paper that was dangling on the white board. He scanned the paper for his name and once he found it, he followed the dotted line to his partners name and...

“You have got to be kidding me.” Cyrus spun around and of course. Of freaking course, none other than TJ Kippen was sitting at the back of the class.

Literally where did he come from?

They made eye contact for a second and a smirk grew on TJ’s face. Cyrus was about to go and tell Mr. Young that he could not work with TJ, but he knew he would ask why and what was he supposed to say? Oh, it’s nothing that TJ did, he’s actually been nicer to me in the past 24 hours i’ve known him than my boyfriend has been to me in the whole 6 months we’ve been dating. No no, it’s just my boyfriend, the one I mentioned earlier, yeah, he would have a hissy fit and we’ll get into a big fight for no reason. Yeah, he’d rather not go there.

Cyrus took a deep breath and walked over to TJ’s desk, his eyes desperately trying to find something to look at anywhere else in the room because if he has to look into TJ’s perfectly green eyes one more time—

He took a seat at an empty desk next to the blonde.

“Cyrus Goodman, to what do I owe the pleasure?” TJ said innocently.

Smart ass. Cyrus shot him a glare before looking back down at his papers. He hated that smirk.

“You know,” TJ turned to face Cyrus. “This project is going to be really hard to do if I’m not allowed to talk to you.” he said quietly.

Cyrus exhaled aggressively. “We should start brainstorming.”

TJ’s sly smirk grew into a full blown smile. “Okay.”

If the way Cyrus’s heart skipped a beat at that smile was any indication of how the next few weeks were going to go, he was completely and utterly screwed.

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Previous / Next

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

pt. III; It’s Nothing, I swear

Cyrus attends Buffy’s basketball game and is surprised at who else is there. Dylan finds out about Cyrus’s history project partner and it’s not pleased.

people are liking this!!! it makes me so happy thank you for your support <3 who knew Andi Mack would be the push i needed to start writing again lol

although i have to say this before i keep going:

i’m not trying to romanticize toxic relationships. i’ve never been in a toxic relationship and i’m just going off of what i’ve heard from people i know who have and also just like... common sense ig?? but if you are in a relationship that makes you feel unsafe or unhappy, GET OUT OF THERE!!! don’t let yourself get treated like garbage because you’re not. you deserve to feel secure and happy in a relationship and in yourself.

with that said, here’s part three. sorry it’s kind of long and probably messy, i wrote most of it half asleep lmao.

tw: toxic relationship

———

———

Cyrus loves Buffy’s basketball games. He doesn’t know anything about the sport, other than you throw the ball and hope that it lands in the hoop. Sometimes he’ll try to keep track of the score but either zone out or get bored and end up just looking at the score board anyways. But none of that mattered. He loved making signs to support his best friend, he loved cheering her on with Andi. But most of all, he loved the games because Dylan wasn’t there. He didn’t care much for basketball, at least, girls basketball. He didn’t like Andi or Buffy all that much and would always come up with an excuse not to go to the games, but Cyrus knew that he just didn’t want to go. Some part of Cyrus subconsciously gets excited by the prospect of not having to see Dylan, but he quickly pushes that excitement to the back of his mind; he doesn't want to think about it.

Cyrus walked into the gym and he swore it got bigger every time he walked inside. There were people filling the bleachers on either side of the floor, one side cheering for Grant and the other side cheering for the away team. As he walked further inside, the squeaking of tennis shoes and the pounding of the ball hitting the ground grew louder. He spotted Buffy with her team doing warm ups and he couldn’t help but smile. She’d never admit it, but he knew she was nervous for this game. They’re playing against the Raptors and Cyrus didn’t know much but he knew they were good. But, he also knew that Buffy was better.

He looked away from the court and begun to scan the Grant crowd for Andi. He saw her sitting with Jonah a few rows away from him. They had quite a few open seats around them, which was confusing because the gym was relatively packed and they were only waiting for Cyrus so why’d they need that many seats?

Regardless, Cyrus made his way over to them and sat down next to Andi who greeted him excitedly. He smiled at her and quickly nodded at Jonah as well.

Cyrus and Jonah hadn’t hung out much since he and Dylan started dating. He had considered Jonah his best friend (after Andi and Buffy of course) for a while, but Dylan didn’t like that. He said that he should be Cyrus’s best friend and he didn’t want Cyrus to hangout with Jonah anymore. Cyrus convinced him that wasn’t totally realistic, because Andi and Buffy would still hangout with them both in groups, but he still didn’t like them talking. So, Cyrus tried to avoid contact with him as much as possible. It made him feel icky, but what else was he supposed to do?

“Why are there so many open seats over here?” Cyrus asked.

“Because we’re waiting for some people.” Andi responded quickly, looking around the room.

“People? What people? All our people are here?” Cyrus tried to piece together what was happening but then Andi and Jonah were waving dramatically to something across the gym. Cyrus turned to wear they were looking.

It was Marty. He and Buffy had become friends recently so it made sense that he’d be there. It was the next person he saw that drained the blood from his face. TJ. He and Buffy had also become friends recently, and he was friends with Jonah and Marty. Perfect.

While Cyrus was trying to get his brain to work again the two boys made their way over to them. He locked eyes with TJ who had the audacity to smirk at him. Honestly, who gave him the right to do that? He strolled up and sat down right next to Cyrus. There were like, 12 seats by Jonah he could’ve chosen but no, he chose the only empty seat by Cyrus. Of course he did.

Cyrus gawked at him.

“I hope you don’t mind.” TJ said slyly, still wearing that stupid grin.

Cyrus did mind. He very much minded the fact that TJ’s knee was forced to touch his because of the overcrowded seating. He minded way TJ’s hair was flopping ever so slightly because he was (probably) running out of hair gel. And most of all, he minded that despite the neon jerseys both teams wore, TJ’s eyes continued to be the most captivating thing in the room.

“Nope. Not at all.” Cyrus said dumbly. TJ gave him a large smile and then the whistle blew.

Right. The game. Buffy’s game. He’ll focus on that... Hopefully.

By the grace of God or whoever was clearly trying to ruin Cyrus’s life, he made it through the game and was able to maintain a decent idea of what was going on. Grant won, obviously. Buffy made the winning shot and the crowd errupted in cheers of joy. TJ instinctively threw his arm around Cyrus’s shoulders and gave him a side hug as he continued to celebrate. But Cyrus barely noticed it because he didn’t care about TJ. His heart was racing because Buffy had just won and he was excited. Yeah. Totally not because the minuscule physical contact with TJ was bringing him more joy than the past 6 months with Dylan had. Nope. Not that at all.

The crowds began to disperse and the players made their way to their families. Andi, Jonah and Marty had all gone down to congratulate Buffy. Cyrus went to join them when TJ grabbed his shoulder.

“What?” Cyrus huffed. “I want to go talk to Buffy.” It came out more aggressively than he intended but TJ must have picked up on his annoyance because he quickly removed his hand from Cyrus’s shoulder.

“Meet me outside afterwards?” He asked.

Cyrus’s face contorted. “Why?”

“Please?”

Cyrus looked at TJ and then quickly at Buffy. Maybe it was just the fact that Cyrus would really rather be on the court and congratulating his best friend, or maybe it was the genuine tone of TJ’s voice. Whatever it was, Cyrus found himself nodding at TJ’s request. The blonde broke out into a large smile.

“Cool.” He said, no, whispered to himself. Why did Cyrus find that so endearing?

“I’m going to talk to Buffy now.” Cyrus turned and started to walk of.

“Tell Buffy I said congrats!” TJ called after him. Cyrus looked back, gave a quick nod, and continued onto the court.

***

It was cool autumn evening as winter was soon approaching. It wasn’t cold enough to require a hat and gloves just yet, but not quite warm enough that a sweatshirt would cut it. That didn’t seem to stop TJ though.

“How are you not cold?” Cyrus asked as he walked up to the other boy, who was currently leaning against the brick exterior of the school and scrolling through his phone.

TJ looked up and his eyes sparkled when they met Cyrus’s. “I dunno. I guess I don’t get cold easily.” He shrugged casually. Cyrus couldn’t help but smile.

“Right. So why did you want me to meet you here?”

“So I could walk you home.” TJ responded with an innocent smile.

Cyrus blinked at him. “What?”

“I asked you to meet me out here so I could walk you home.” TJ repeated.

“Why?”

“I figure we could talk about our project on the way.”

“You want to walk me home... So that we can talk about our project? You know we have class time all week to do that?”

“It can’t hurt to get a head start.”

They stood there and started at each other for a moment. TJ looked exactly the same as Cyrus remembered. His green eyes still mezmorizing, his faint smile still earning Cyrus’s trust, the way he was so calmly leaned against the school. Cyrus eventually caved.

“Fine. But only to talk about the project.” He warned.

TJ smiled fully. “Lead the way Goodman.”

Cyrus didn’t live too far away from the school, in such a small town like Shadyside everything was within walking distance. TJ, much to Cyrus’s suprise, stayed on topic for the entirety of the walk. More than that, he actually came up with some pretty good ideas. They were walking down Cyrus’s street and he began to relax a bit. He made it home with no issues. But, because with Cyrus’s luck, his bliss didn’t last long.

“So, I noticed you haven’t broken up with your boyfriend.” TJ said suddenly.

Cyrus stopped in his tracks. “You said you’d only talk about the project!” He scolded.

“I said no such thing.” TJ smirked back. Cyrus rolled his eyes and started fast-walking towards his house.

“Cyrus,” TJ was following him now but he just kept walking, ignoring the continuous sound of his name being called.

“Cyrus!” TJ grabbed his wrist, causing him to spin around. They stood on the sidewalk, only a few houses until Cyrus’s.

“Can I ask one question?”

Cyrus glared at him.

“It’s about the project.” Cyrus relaxed ever so slightly, his eyes shifting down to where TJ was still holding onto his wrist. He pulled his arm away and looked back at TJ.

“When are you free to work on the project?” Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows. “I have work after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday mornings but I don’t think—”

“What do you mean, can’t we just work on it in class?” Cyrus cut him off, a vague sense of panic beginning to bubble in his stomach.

“Well, we only have the next couple of days to brainstorm but most of the work has to be done outside of school.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so what days work best for you?”

“I, I- um, I don’t know I’ll have to check my, my calendar.” Cyrus breathed as his brain had officially checked out.

“Ok, well, let me know.” TJ smiled kindly, which was actually very rude because the nicer TJ was to him the harder it was for Cyrus to dislike him. “Did you say your house was on this street?”

“Oh, yeah.” The question had snapped Cyrus out of whatever daze he had entered. “Yeah my house is right- there.” He gestured vaguely towards his driveway.

“Cool. Well, I should probably go. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see ya.” Cyrus said, voice just barely audible. He turned and walked the rest of the way to his house. He got to the porch and just before he opened the door he looked back at TJ, who was walking in the opposite direction of him. He stared after him for a moment, not completely sure why. It wasn’t until TJ turned and looked at him as well that he quickly looked back to his door and went inside.

***

See, Cyrus knew the project would require a lot of outside of school time but he had been denying it. Because if he accepted it that meant he was actually partners with TJ, and they would actually have to spend a lot of time together, and he would actually have to tell Dylan. Cyrus really didn’t want to tell Dylan.

“How was the party?” Cyrus asked gently before sipping his milkshake.

“Fine.” Dylan replied shortly, not looking up from his phone.

“Did you have fun?” Cyrus tried again.

“Yep.”

Cyrus nodded meekly. “Buffy’s game went really well,” he said eventually. “She made the winning shot and—”

“Cool.” Dylan cut him off. Cyrus’s heart sunk and the smile he had been trying to keep on fell. It’s fine. He’s probably just doing something important Cyrus told himself. He sat up straight for a moment and peered over to see his boyfriends phone screen. He was on instagram. Right.

“Hey,” Cyrus grabbed Dylan’s hand, hoping to break him out of his social media trance. It worked but Cyrus almost wished it hadn’t. Dylan looked up at him looking incredibly annoyed. His face looked tired, almost sunken. He looked paler than usual, but the worst was his eyes. His icey blue irises pierced through Cyrus like a spear, his stare cold and lifeless. It was honestly kind of scary.

“What?” Dylan hissed.

“I just, I just want to talk to my boyfriend.” Cyrus attempted to hide the pain in his chest with a soft smile and gave Dylan’s hand a squeeze.

Dylan sighed and rolled his eyes not-so-subtly. He tore his hand away from Cyrus’s as he put his phone in his pocket.

“What’s up.” He sounded like he was trying, but it came out insincere. The bored look on his face made Cyrus hesitate.

“I was, um, I was just talking about, uh, Buffy’s game, last night...” At that moment Cyrus’s phone vibrated on the table. Cyrus peeked at it and grew confused when he saw a number he didn’t recognize. This had also caught the attention of Dylan who was now staring curiously at Cyrus’s phone.

“Who is that?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” Cyrus answered honestly. “Probably just a wrong number. As I was saying—”

It vibrated again.

Dylan raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll just put it away,” Cyrus grabbed his phone and as he moved to put it in his pocket he caught a glance at the text.

Hey Cyrus, it’s TJ

I realized we had no way to contact each other so I asked Buffy for your number, I hope that’s ok :)

“What? Who is it?” Dylan demanded. Before Cyrus could think of an answer, Dylan grabbed his phone out of his hands and looked at the messages. He scanned them for a minute and then looked back up at Cyrus.

“Who’s TJ?” He held Cyrus’s phone up accusingly.

It’s fine, remain calm. It’s nothing, make him believe it’s nothing. “Oh, just some kid I got partnered with in history. I was meaning to tell you but I completely forgot about it. You know me!” Cyrus joked awkwardly.

Dylan didn’t seem to believe him.

“Is this the guy you were talking to at school the other day?”

“Um,”

“I told you I don’t want you talking to him!”

“I- I really didn’t have any say in it we got partnered randomly!” Cyrus didn’t want to fight. Desperation filled his voice and he couldn’t do anything about it. “I promise it’s nothing I swear—”

“I want you to switch partners.” Dylan cut him off abruptly.

“I can’t, it’s already too far in the project” This wasn’t a total lie. Sure, if he really wanted to he could probably switch partners but everyone had already come up with ideas and it would just be too much of a hassle.

Dylan crossed his arms and scoffed.

“Dylan,” Cyrus reached across the table and carefully placed his hand on his boyfriends arm. “Trust me.”

Dylan’s face remained the same. “Fine.” He said bitterly. Cyrus smiled weakly despite every muscle in his body remaining tense. Dylan started at him, expression still hard.

“I have to go.” He said suddenly, yanking his arm out of Cyrus’s hand.

“Dylan,”

“It’s fine. I just have things to do today.”

And with that he left the Spoon. Cyrus watched him walk past the window. Some part of him thought maybe he’d look at him through the glass as he walked past, he didn’t. He walked all the way down the street and didn’t turn towards Cyrus once.

Once he was out of sight, Cyrus looked at the empty seat across from him. He let out a heavy sigh then payed for both of their food and went home.

So, did you get a chance to check your schedule?

...Typing...

yeah. i’m free.

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Previous / Next

tag list:

@miracufan @abg-blah @maybeldontwantheaven 

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

pt. IV: He’s Not Here Is He

part 1 / previous part

Cyrus and TJ have their first work session outside of school, it doesn’t go exactly as Cyrus plans.

i feel like the more parts of this i write the longer each part will get

ahaha

enjoy.

———

———

The Goodman house was filled with the scent of clorox wipes and lemon soap on this fine Sunday morning. Cyrus had been frantically running around trying to get his house under control, although, his house was rarely far from under control. But today he felt like it needed to be perfect.

Cyrus pulled out a candle from a cabinet and set it in the center of their dining table. He found a lighter in a drawer full of miscellaneous objects and papers. The aroma of cinnamon and apples began to overtake the scent of cleaning products when the doorbell rang. The sudden sound caused Cyrus to jump, but his brief fear was quickly replaced with a different sense of panic when he realized who was waiting on the other side of that door.

Cyrus looked out the peephole and sure enough TJ Kippen was standing there, wearing a green and black sweatshirt, the kind with a quarter-zipper at the top, paired with some jeans. Cyrus became suddenly very aware of the sweat beginning to coat his palms. He wiped them on his own jeans and grabbed the door handle with a deep breath.

When Cyrus opened the door, TJ had his hand halfway through his hair and was looking off at some of the other houses. However, he quickly turned his attention to Cyrus, his face lighting up and a smile spreading across his face. Cyrus let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding and couldn’t help but smile back, a strange sense of relief running through him.

“Hey!” TJ beamed at him.

“Hey.”

He didn’t mean to stare at TJ, just something about the way TJ’s hair had been flopping freely recently had gotten the better of Cyrus. Or maybe it was his eyes, his eyes always ran his train of thought off their tracks, (which was not very much appreciated). Today especially for some reason, his green eyes were causing Cyrus to relax every muscle in his body. Something was so comforting about them that he just couldn’t describe.

“Can I,” TJ smiled as he pointed into Cyrus’s house.

“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.” Cyrus stuttered as he moved himself and the door to the side, allowing TJ to enter.

As he stepped in his head slowly surveyed the interior of Cyrus’s house. It was a fairly large place, it had high celings with a very open floor plan, every room flowed into the other. Grey and blue walls complemented each other and were accompanied with Cyrus’s baby pictures as well as many family portraits. Cyrus couldn’t help but notice the slight awe on TJ’s face.

“What is it?”

“Huh? Oh nothing it’s just your house is,” TJ gesticulated randomly. “Bigger, than I expected, I guess.”

“Oh.” Cyrus hadn’t really thought much of it before. Both his parents had fairly large houses, what with the whole family in the medical field, he supposed they made a pretty decent living.

TJ’s eyes finally landed on Cyrus and he settled back to his casual demeanor.

“So, should we get started?”

***

The two boys had been sitting at Cyrus’s kitchen table for what was probably a little over an hour and had gotten a lot of their work done, granted, they still had plenty to go. TJ had been very helpful which had honestly suprised Cyrus. Maybe it’s just years worth of ingrained stereotyping having taken control on Cyrus but he just kind of assumed TJ was the kind of kid who slacked off and cheated on tests, but he seemed genuinely interested in the work. Well, for a while at least.

“I’m bored.” TJ suddenly announced. The break in silence startled Cyrus for a moment as he had also started to lose concentration.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Let’s go do something.” TJ closed the notebook he had been taking notes in and stood up.

“What? We still have work to do.” Cyrus protested.

“We have weeks to do work. Come on, if we don’t give ourselves a break then our work is going to become sloppy, and we can’t have that can we?” TJ was wearing that mischievous smile again. He wore that smile a lot now that Cyrus thought about it, but he wasn’t complaining.

If he’s being honest, Cyrus agreed with him. He was beginning to think he was loosing brain cells rather than gaining them at this point and he could feel that he was getting antsy. But a part of him still wasn’t sure if it was the best idea.

“I don’t think Dylan would like that...” Cyrus said quietly, looking back down at his own notes. He had subconsciously started picking at the corner of his notebook, which was already rather run down from all the times he had done so previously.

TJ’s smile didn’t fade one bit, if anything, he looked more mischievous. He leaned a little bit closer to Cyrus from across the table.

“Dylan isn’t here, is he.”

Cyrus looked up at TJ and they locked eyes. TJ raised his eyebrows as if inviting him one more time. Cyrus felt himself start to smile and turned his head so he was now looking at the glass doors leading to his backyard.

“I can’t believe you.” He said shaking his head, smile still stuck on his face.

“That sounds like a yes to me.” TJ stood up straight again and walked around the table to wear Cyrus was sitting. He reached out a hand to which Cyrus just glared at, although whatever emotion he was attempting to convey hadn’t quite reached intensity.

“What’s life without a little adventure, right?” TJ teased.

Cyrus stood up from his seat, pointedly not accepting TJ’s hand. “Don’t push it.”

“Whatever you say.” The blonde raised his hands in surrender causing Cyrus to roll his eyes, despite of the smile that still refused to leave his face. He walked over to his front door, TJ close behind.

Once they were on the sidewalk Cyrus asked, “So, where are we headed.”

TJ shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

“Nope.”

“You didn’t come up with a plan before we left?”

He shook his head. “I like just going wherever the universe takes me.”

“That sounds incredibly stressful.”

“Only if you make it incredibly stressful.”

“Making things more stressful than they need to be is kind of my specialty.”

“Well, making things less stressful than they are is my specialty, so it balences out.”

Cyrus wasn’t sure why that made him smile so much. He liked the idea of having someone to balance him out. He thought that would’ve been Dylan but he kind of eclipses him entirely.

The two boys continued to walk aimlessly around Cyrus’s neighborhood. It was a rather beautiful day, small blue patches poked out from in between fluffy white clouds, it was slightly windy but there wasn’t any bite to it. There weren’t too many days like this anymore seeing as the end of fall was nearing, but it was nice. Cyrus was happy with their decision to leave the house.

They had made their way to the main part of town where all the local shops were set up. Personally, Cyrus loved it. He loved watching small business thrive and people greeting each other as they make their ways into stores. Everything just felt so connected.

As they looked through the store windows, TJ would make item-based puns about things for sale, and try as he might, Cyrus couldn’t help but laugh. There were few times he even gave in and made a few puns himself. Dylan thought puns were stupid so Cyrus stopped saying them, but TJ laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard every time Cyrus made one. It was refreshing.

“Oh I love this place!” Cyrus stopped on the sidewalk outside of Nine Lives, the local thrift store. Most of his statement pieces were from there, but he hadn’t been going recently as Dylan had expressed his distaste for thrifting.

“Do you wanna go in?” TJ asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Dylan says—”

“You know, you care a lot about the opinion of someone who isn’t here.” TJ pointed out. “If you want to go in let’s go in!”

Cyrus pauses for a moment and then smiled. “Yeah. let’s go in.”

The scent of the fabric was one that Cyrus didn’t know he had missed so much. There were various racks of clothes scattered about and shelves of knick knacks lining the walls. For a second, he forgot why he stopped coming.

But then he remembered and got sad. But it only lasted a second, less than a second, because he was there with TJ, not Dylan. He had been laughing all day with TJ, yet he couldn’t remember the last time he ever laughed around Dylan. Had he ever laughed around Dylan? Now that he thought about it, Dylan wouldn’t have done basically any of the things TJ had done all day. It got Cyrus thinking, maybe he should just break up with—

“Cyrus look!” TJ called from across the store as he somehow managed to balence 5 hats on his head at once, but as soon as Cyrus looked up at him they all flew to the ground, causing Cyrus to roll his eyes fondly.

“You’re a disaster.” He laughed.

TJ opened his mouth and covered his heart with mock offense. “I can’t imagine why you would say such a thing.” He bent over to pick up the hats which caused a bunch of shirts to fall off their rack. Even Cyrus couldn’t quite figure out how that happened, but it didn’t stop him from laughing.

***

“Are you sure you don’t want that shirt because I’ll pay for it it’s not a big deal—” TJ rambled as the two boys exited the store.

“Seriously, I’ll just come back another day with money it’s not a big deal.” Cyrus assured.

“Fine. But I’m hungry, can we stop for lunch somewhere?” TJ asked.

“Sure, the Spoon is right over there.”

The bell chimed as they opened the door to the diner. It was about as busy as one might imagine a diner to be at 2pm on a Sunday. Nonetheless, the two of them walked up to the counter and sat down on the last two stools.

“Ok, what do you want?” TJ asked while they waited for a someone to take their order.

“Huh?” Cyrus responded, confused.

“What do you want to eat?” TJ repeated.

“Oh I wasn’t gonna get anything since I don’t have money.” Cyrus stated simply.

“Don’t worry about it, what do you want?” TJ persisted.

“I’m really not that hungry, honestly.” Cyrus tried to dismiss the conversation again but TJ didn’t look convinced.

“When was the last time you ate?”

Cyrus opened his mouth to answer but quickly realized that he may have a point. Last he recalls, the last time he ate was the previous night at dinner. He was going to eat breakfast this morning but he had gotten so proccupied cleaning and then working and then they went on that walk, and now he was suddenly a lot hungrier than he thought he was.

“That’s what I thought.” TJ smirked. “Baby taters and a shake?”

Cyrus really wanted to try and protest again, but his stomach started rumbling at the sound of baby taters. He let out a defeated sigh.

“Chocolate?”

“You got it.”

When they finished their (reletively late) lunch, the two of them began their walk back to Cyrus’s house.

“Thanks again for lunch, I can pay you back though seriously,”

“Cyrus. It’s okay, you don’t have to pay me back. I don’t mind paying for stuff, and I’m getting paid this week too so really it’s not a big deal.” TJ cut him off.

“Getting paid? You have a job?” Cyrus asked, suddenly more interested in this new topic.

“Yeah, at the kids gym not too far away from the Spoon.”

“You work at a kids gym?” Cyrus repeated astonished.

“Yeah. Why? Are you suprised?” TJ laughed.

“Maybe a little bit. Why did I not know this?”

“Because you never asked.”

“Touché.”

The sun was setting at this point, thanks to daylight savings the sun was pretty much done after 5pm. The sky was still covered in a dusty pink with colorful clouds striping across it. Fall always had gorgeous sunsets, Cyrus liked watching them. He’d sit on his front porch and just watch the colors slowly fade into black as the sun fell. It was relaxing, no other thoughts crossed his mind, it was just him entranced by the sky.

In fact, he must have spaced out thinking about it because suddenly they were back at his house and reality was setting in again.

“What time do you need to be home?” Cyrus asked TJ, suddenly realizing he forgot to ask earlier.

“Probably no later than 6:30.”

“Do you need a ride? It’s going to be pitch black out pretty soon and probably not the best condition for walking.”

“Nah, I’ll just text my mom. She said she was out running errands anyways.”

“Ok, well should we try to do some more work until then?”

“I think we’re already significantly ahead of most other groups.” TJ chuckled.

“I know, but we spent the majority of today doing just about anything other than work.”

“That’s not entirely true, we worked for a good hour and a half, I say that’s pretty solid.”

“Right.” Cyrus said sarcastically as he unlocked his front door and swung it open. He moved off to the side, allowing for TJ to enter first.

“If you really want to do more work we can do more work.” TJ offered. Although, now that he was home, Cyrus felt a lot more tired than he expected to be at almost 6pm on a Sunday afternoon.

“You know, I think I’d rather just watch TV instead.” He said.

“I’m down for that too.” TJ smiled. Cyrus liked his smile, it made his eyes sparkle just a little bit more and softened his face ever so slightly. It was cute endeering.

“Cool.” Cyrus snapped himself out of his own thoughts and led the other boy into his living room where the TV was mounted on the wall. He kind of zoned out as he sat down and picked out a show. Well, correction, TJ picked the show, Cyrus just had the controller. They were sitting next to each other on the couch and TJ’s knee was touching Cyrus’s, making him realize they were sat rather close together considering the how large and empty the couch was. Cyrus moved his knee out from TJ’s contact but he still found him self feeling sad at the movement.

Today with TJ had been odd. Not in a bad way, it was actually a good day, a great one even, but that’s why it was so strange. Today Cyrus laughed harder than he had in a long time, his cheeks were still sore from smiling so wide. His legs were aching from all the walking and his skin felt cold to the touch, but he was warm inside. He was happy, and it was weird.

It was also weird because just about everything they had done that day was up to Cyrus. Sure, TJ had proposed all of the ideas, but he left them for Cyrus to act on. He didn’t pressure him into choosing one option or another, he didn’t try to get him to do anything he really didn’t want to do. TJ gave him options. Dylan never did that. Andi and Buffy sometimes did but he mostly went along with what they were doing. TJ seemed like he just wanted Cyrus to have a good time, and it was weird; he wasn’t used to being put first.

“Oh, my mom’s here.” TJ said suddenly whilst looking down at his phone.

“Oh, let me walk you out.”

TJ stood up first and walked over to where his stuff was still displayed on the kitchen table. He quickly gathered it all and stuffed it into his bag. Cyrus then led him to the front door even though he knew where it was at this point.

“Thanks for having me over.” TJ said as Cyrus opened the door for him. Just as Cyrus had predicted, it was pitch black out other than a few illuminating street lamps and his moms car lights reflecting off the Goodman house.

“Yeah, no problem.” Cyrus replied. He felt kind of sad. Why’d he feel sad?

“Are you free to meet up after school tomorrow to do some more work?” TJ asked, almost hopefully.

“I can’t tomorrow, but I think Wednesday should work.”

“Cool. I’ll look forward to it.” TJ smiled and walked onto Cyrus’ porch. Before he realized it, Cyrus heard himself calling after him. The blonde turned back to face him from the sidewalk that led from the door to the driveway.

“Um, I- Thank you, also.” Cyrus stuttered rather awkwardly.

TJ’s brows furrowed together but his smile remained in tact. “What for?”

“I don’t know, it just— I had fun... is all...” He continued, still not entirely sure why he was talking.

But TJ smiled fully again, and that smile was worth his stupid blabbering.

“Anytime.”

And with that TJ walked off and got into the car. Cyrus watched from his doorway as the lights slowly faded off into the distance. So many thoughts raced through his head, but he suddenly felt like he hadn’t slept in decades. He closed the door and made his way up to his room and flopped down onto the bed.

His thoughts can wait. Right now, he just needs a nap.

———

———

previous / next

tag list:

@miracufan @abg-blah @maybeldontwantheaven @thebisexualweirdo @randomsmilingpotatoes @teagaysmitten @ohnoitsamistake18 

[sapphosclown]

i was rereading the last part of my au i posted today bc i wanted to and i’m realizing just how bad the typos are lmao i’m so sorry i wrote pretty much the entire thing whilst half asleep and really didn’t care enough to proof read

(this is a picture btw it’s blending in very well with the post on my phone)

like that was supposed to say “after” i’m—

[sapphosclown]

i’m gonna cry

i just accidentally deleted an entire fucking chapter of my au that i HATED writing and i just wanted to post it and get it out of the way so i could write the part i was excited about and now i have to rewrite the whole fucking chapter again and it took a whole month last time and i feel so shitty and i want to fucking cry it’s 1am i can’t i hate everything why why why why why why why why why

[sapphosclown]

ok idk how many people actually care about my au but this is for anyone who does,

i am writing the next part but it’s a lot uglier than i thought so even after i finish writing it i’m probably gonna have to do a lot of editing so i’m sorry :(

in other news i might write some one shots for andi mack ship week idk we’ll see

[sapphosclown]

i got two cats today and it may have given me and idea for my tyb au if you catch my drift 👀

[sapphosclown]

hello for anyone who cares i’m my life kinda not vibin rn and i’m struggling to find the motivation to finish my au because not a lot of people are reading it and i don’t feel like anyone likes it and i feel like it’s stupid but anyways that makes it really hard to write when i just feel like it sucks and no ones gonna read it anyways. maybe that’s not true but that’s my mindset rn so please bear with me. i am actually excited ab writing this chapter i just am so overwhelmed by school bc i’m so behind and i’ve barely had a minute to myself bc i can’t say no to anything yikes sorry

tldr my life is a mess and i’m struggling with motivation for my au so please be patient with me thank u

[sapphosclown]

so ik it hasn’t been that long since the last part of tyb but i still feel bad, it’s kind of a weird part of the story where not enough has happened for the really angsty parts to happen and idk i have to do a bunch of build up and i’m just figuring out how to write it. i’m glad people like it though lol

if you wanna read it, here it is lol

[sapphosclown]

Do you have a tag list for your treat you better au? If so I’d love to be on it please

i guess i do now :)

idk how to tumblr honestly i’m just kind of winging it but the fact that people like the au makes me 🥺 i almost started crying yesterday lmao

but yeah if you wanna be tagged on the next part lmk????

[sapphosclown]

yo for anyone keeping up with my au; sorry it’s taking so long, i’ve been hella busy and only get random bursts of motivation every now and then. the next part should be up within the next week, i’m just about done, just need to revise and all that.

thank you for all the patience and support :)

[sapphosclown]

i just wanna reply to people’s kind comments on my fic but it replies on like my main tumblr and that’s not the tea i’m tryna spill and it’s big 😔👊 but i just want you to know that if you leave nice comments on any of my posts just know you’re making my heart melt and ily 🥺🥺