#he dresses like every other straight metal head and flirts with cheerleaders in the middle of the cafeteria

[qprstobin]

Every time a fic says something about how Steve doesn't clock as queer to people and half the time this leads to people being like wary of him in gay clubs or something I'm just woebejdk please be so serious rn. Look how well dressed that fucker is. He matches his shoes with his outfit and wears little polos. He third wheeled his best friend and his girlfriend for years. None of these make him queer but people acting like there haven't been gay rumors about him from the moment he hit middle school are lying to themselves.

[tyguygoodman]

Mystery Man

At Jefferson high’s masquerade ball, Cyrus follows a trail of notes to find his Prince Charming 

———————————

The repetitive pitter-patter on the window was all Cyrus could hear as he drove his gray Honda Civic through the pouring rain.

He was currently on his way to Andi’s house to meet up the rest of the GHC so they could get ready for the dance. OK, well it wasn’t just any dance. It was a masquerade ball. And Cyrus was so undeniably excited for it.

His cheeks hurt from smiling so much. And even though his suit was slightly tight, he couldn’t care less.

Ever since he knew it existed he’s dreamed of finding some beautiful girl and making her his Cinderella. And he still wanted that! Except now, his plans had changed a little.

Instead of finding some beautiful girl and sweeping her off her feet, he wished more than anything that TJ Kippen, basketball team captain, the most attractive guy in school, his best friend, would be the one to sweep Cyrus off his feet.

The thought made a strange mix of sadness and happiness stir up inside his brain.

Of course, this always happened when he thought about being in a relationship with TJ. Cyrus really truly liked him, but the boy was so obviously straight, it actually hurt.

Girls would come up and flirt with him after games and give him their numbers, although he always denies them, that didn’t mean he didn’t like girls. In fact, One day when Cyrus asked why he always denied the female companionship, He said that he already had a crush.

Probably some beautiful cheerleader with blond hair and perfect blue eyes with a really nice personality…

Cyrus let out a sigh as he realized he was already at the house and had probably been sitting there for a moment or two without moving. He parked the car and grabbed his umbrella, as he stepped up to the front door.

He pushed the cold plastic doorbell into its slot, alerting the girls that he was there, but instead of squealing, he could’ve sworn he heard someone say “Thanks for the help guys, I’ll leave through the back door.” And it was a boys voice too.

It couldn’t have been Bowie’s, it was too high pitched. It couldn’t be Jonah or Walker because they were already at the dance together taking pictures.

It didn’t really matter though, so he let the thought pop out of his head as the door opened up, revealing an Andi with one half of her face covered in makeup and a robe over her dress. “Cyrus! Thank god! Uhm, me and Buffy were just having a disagreement on which mask I should use. Come on in!”

As the girls worked their magic on Cyrus’ face and outfit, making him a huge glittery mess, somewhere in the middle He felt his phone ding in his pocket.

“Stay still!” Buffy groaned when he tried to retrieve it but as soon as he pulled his hand away from his phone, Andi elbowed her harshly, giving her some look that Cyrus didn’t understand.

Buffy’s eyes widened and she stepped away,“ Actually I’m gonna go get some water. You check your phone or whatever.”

He chuckled awkwardly as he shuffled around his back pocket in search, pulling the cold screen out after a second.

It was a Text from TJ.

“I’ve never understood how people can’t recognize a friend under a mask.”

—————

45 terrifying minutes later, the trio was stepping into the school. Cyrus told them to act like they weren’t friends, which would be an obvious give away to who they were, seeing as the whole school knew them as the GHC, but they both stood planted at his side.

“Hey,” Buffy nudged him motioning her head in the direction of the lockers, “I was wondering if I could have back that book I lent you? It’s in your locker right?”

“Well yeah, but do I have to get it right now? I could get it before we go home-”

“Yes!” Andi piped in, seeming overly intrigued by the situation, “I need it now! B…Because I wanted to borrow it! And I need it right now. How could you deprive me of the wonderful world of reading for one more second Cyrus?!”

“Wow, okay…I didn’t realize you wanted to read about basketball so much…”

He walked away tentatively. He was honestly a bit worried about their health at this point.

As Cyrus swished the pesky metal knob back and forth, even failing one time, he finally got it. But instead of immediately grabbing the book from his bottom shelf, he watched a white piece of paper float down to his feet gracefully.

“What the…” his voice trailed off as he leaned down to pick it up, folding open the white material.

‘I heard you talking about a dream’ -Mystery Man

What?

Something so strange was happening…he just didn’t know what.

Who in the world was mystery man? And why did he put a note in Cyrus’ locker? Was it just Andi and Buffy playing a trick on him?

He let out a bit of a laugh, shaking his head slightly. it must’ve been them. That’s why they were acting so suspicious! “Excuse me?”

Cyrus jumped, spinning around suddenly to look at whoever the voice belonged to, simultaneously hiding the note behind his back.

There was a short-ish boy with ginger hair standing in front of the first locker in the row, looking at him.

It was like…incredibly creepy

“Uhm–hi? D-did you need something?” He stuttered, mentally facepalming for tripping up so much.

“This might seem a bit strange,” he started, even taking a deep breath before he started talking again,“ But I’m supposed to give you this.”

The boy pulled out a rose with another piece of paper attached to it. As soon as it was in Cyrus’ grip, the boy ran back into the party.

Got it…Andi and Buffy, we’re really trying to weird him out here.

Maybe they were actually having fun with this. Of course, why would Cyrus wanna ruin their little joke? He read the note on the rose, giving an overdramatic reaction to the girls, who were probably watching him from around the corner.

But when he looked around, he didn’t see either of his friends, but another boy smiling at him. Not creepily, just…happily.

Even if he was smiling creepily, Cyrus wouldn’t care because– oh my god

The teen had a dark gray suit with a red lining and a white undershirt. Tucked in his chest pocket, was a rose. The rose with the most beautiful shade of scarlet covering it. Not to mention it fit his body like– perfectly.

“What did you find?” He asked, motioning to Cyrus’ hand. “Oh, just something…my friends are pranking me. At least I think they are.”

The boy cracked a smile, “I Don’t think that’s the case. If your friends were the ones that gave you those, how do I know about the Dream?”

“Oh…” Cyrus felt his face flush, “You put them in here? What’s your name?”

“Be creative Cyrus. You’re going to have to figure that out yourself.”

The guy walked away after that, leaving him dumbfounded, so Cyrus turned to his note.

'For someone to love you at every seem.’ -Mystery Man

So, he wasn’t being pranked, 'the Fancy-tux-mystery-guy was the one behind the rose and locker note, but Andi and Buffy were still the ones that told me to go there, so they must know something’ He concluded.

with a sigh, he walked out into the dance room, coloring his locker door in the way.

As soon as he spotted Andi’s dress he walked up to her, giving a slight slap on the back of her head.

She turned around with a pout, making Cyrus feel slightly bad. But at least she deserved it.

“What is this about?” He groaned, holding up the notes.

“Who’s mystery man?”

“Don’t play coy with me, Andi! I know you know who he is. He told me.”

“He did?”

Cyrus Smirked, “Not really, but you just confirmed it.”

Andi rolled her eyes, punching him in the shoulder.“I can’t tell you, I’m sorry Cy.”

“Do I at least know him?”

“I mean you would know if you knew him.” Cyrus glared at Buffy as she walked up behind Andi with a smug look on her face.

“Don’t use that with me. Don’t you have some boyfriend to be getting punch for?” He mocked, sticking his young out at her like a mature 17 year old would do.

Andi gasped, pointing to the bottom of the stage “No, but you do!” She handed him an empty cup as she grabbed Buffy’s arm and dragged her away “Enjoy the party!” She yelled back.

He followed where her fingers went, leading him to the same perfect tux boy that he had met before. The boy pointed down to Cyrus’ cup, then winked at him. Leaving the same way Andi did.

He peered into the cup, gasping at the piece of paper taped to the bottom.

Did they plant these things before the party?!

'A boy to make you feel like royalty’ -Mystery man

Now that Cyrus was sure it wasn’t one of his friends being dumb, he really wasn’t sure who this guy was. All of the notes that were given to him made a poem, but the poem didn’t give any hints away as to who the mystery man was.

For half a second, a thought popped into His head that maybe…just maybe, his mystery man was none other than TJ kippen, but he shoved it down as hard as he possibly could. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, and even if He isn’t TJ, he sure is going through a lot to get this message to Cyrus. So he must be a hard working person at least.

“Would you like a snack with your drink dude?”

The black haired boy silently thanked whoever this was for pulling him out of his head.

Now, in front of him was one of the dance waiters. Yes, waiters. They were usually kids that got in detention days before the dance, used as a luxury for the good kids. They weren’t allowed to wear masks so Cyrus was pleasantly surprised with a familiar face.

“Hey, Reed!” Cyrus took a cookie off of the silver platter he was carrying with a polite smile. “You get detention again for smoking weed in the bathrooms?”

Reed cackled, nodding triumphantly. He started to walk away but after a second he backtracked quickly, switching the platter to his left hand,“By the way, I was supposed to somehow get this note on that Cookie,” he mumbled, fishing something out of his pocket and handing it to Cyrus, “But uh, I was kinda high when I did that too and I tried to bake the note into the cookie. Needless to say, it didn’t work, so I thought I’d just hand it to ya. Bye kid!”

He probably should’ve expected that.

'To show ultimate loyalty’ -Mystery man

——————————

Two hours Later, a very tired boy was sitting at a table, head down with a massive headache.

As cute as this was, and it really was cute, Cyrus couldn’t figure out for the life of him how he was supposed to find this boy.

All throughout the night, there were people giving him notes. It almost seemed like the whole school was in on it! When he had gone to get pictures with Andi and Buffy, Amber (she was taking the pictures for extra credit in journalism class) gave him the pictures with the note somehow already written on the back!

It had said, “I can give you what you what.” -Mystery Man

And not to mention, can you guess how was talking to her after they left? That’s right! Fancy tux guy himself.

He felt a pout slide on his face as he rearranged the pieces of paper on the tablecloth. It was easy to tell that the poem wasn’t written by any Edgar Allen Poe, or maybe it was because Edgar kinda sucked at love poems. And yes, the poem wasn’t the most creative thing, but it was still sweet.

He liked the most recent pieces he got from Walker and Jonah that said

'It’s all I want to do’ -mystery man

And 'I will sweep you off your feet’ -Mystery Man. They didn’t seem like much on their own, but it sounded like the poem was coming to an end. Maybe he could finally figure out who his Prince Charming was!

“Are you getting worn out?”

The shorter boys head popped up, with a smile. It was TJ! Accept, when he made eye contact, it wasn’t. It was fancy man…

'I must be hallucinating.’ He huffed

“What? Not happy to see me?”

“No, I just thought you were someone else,” Cyrus said with his most respectful smile. He didn’t want to make the one person that might actually like him, feel bad.

“And who would that be?”

His voice almost sounded hopeful and happy, even though Cyrus wasn’t talking about him. And he knew that.

“My friend TJ. I wanted to talk to him tonight.”

He gave a nod a stood up from his chair. For an odd second, Cyrus panicked because he though tux guy was gonna leave him alone, instead he walked up to him and held out his hand. “How about I distract you for a bit? I like this song.”

A sigh a relief exited his mouth as he got up with a slight hop in his step. If he spent time with the taller boy, maybe he could figure out who it was.

Cyrus was absolutely burning red as Mystery Man put his hands and his waist. He was hesitant to put his arms around the other boy’s neck, but when he smiled at him encouragingly, Cyrus relaxed and slotted his hands behind the taller boys head.

The Smile seemed strangely familiar, which was easily a sign that he knew this person, but who’s smile was it? Cyrus titled his head slightly, observing the other boys facial features. He felt as if the name was on the tip of his young, but it got swept away as Mystery man started to speak.

“Any clue who I am yet?” He nudged on.

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes at the irony and giggles, “I would if you didn’t interrupt my thinking process.”

“My whole goal tonight is to distract you. I’m glad I’m succeeding.” Something seemed a bit off about that. Why would Cyrus need to be distracted?

“What do you mean?” He prodded.

“If you weren’t distracted, I wouldn’t be able to finish this part of the plan.” Mystery man spun Cyrus around, letting him expand to the edges of the dance floor, the grabbing him again and pulling him closer than before. “Nobody else is dancing, cutie.” He whispered, sending shivers down Cyrus’ spine.

He looked around frantically realizing that he and the taller boy were, in fact, the only people on the dance floor. Everyone else was standing around the edge, smiling at them.

He noticed a very energetic Buffy and Andi standing at the front of the crowd giving him a thumbs up, but it barely made him feel less nervous.

“Who did you say you were looking for again?” Although Cyrus was somehow positive that he remembered the name, he repeated himself.

“My friend TJ kippen…” he murdered, flushing at the realization that TJ could very well be watching him from the crowd.

“And why can’t you find him again?”

“Well everyone is wearing masks…it would be hard to spot him in the crowd.”

“You know,” he started, leaning in closer, “I’ve never understood how people can’t recognize a friend under a mask.”

Why did that sound so familiar?

“I mean, if you’re close enough, you should be able to tell easily.”

Where in the hell had he heard that before?

“Do you think you could do that for me underdog? Do you think you could look slightly closer?”

Cyrus had almost missed it. But with the close proximity, every word that was being conveyed and processed, was clear as water.

And then, he looked closer.

“TJ..?”

The taller boy stayed silent for a moment, then smiled nervously.

“I heard you talking about a dream, for someone to love you at every seem.

A boy to treat you like royalty, to show ultimate loyalty. I can give you what you want, it’s all I want to do. Thanks for looking closer so I can say that I love you.”

He took a hand off of Cyrus’ waist and untied his own mask, gripping it in his hand as it pulled away.

“Yeah…I know it’s cheesy.” He sighed, “But I wanted to give you your Cinderella story.”

Cyrus was dumbfounded as he studied the other boys face. Just to double check, that yes, standing in front of him, holding his waist, confessing his feelings, was TJ kippen. His best friend.

Cyrus retracted his hands, pulling his mask off with a small tug.

He felt his cheeks dampen, overwhelmed with happiness.

“Maybe it was.” He whispered, “But at least it was from you.”

He stood up on his toes, closing the distance, and moving his lips along TJ’s.

The entire room erupted in cheer and Cyrus found it hard not to break the kiss by smiling entirely too much.

—————THE END—————

Thanks so much for reading this! I had a masquerade ball idea in the drafts so quite a while, so I decided I would finally write it. 💗