#i have not had the misfortune of explaining why i am eating cereal at 2 am to someone

[c10v3r]

IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY IM SILLY

[seriestrash]

The List - Chapter Seven

- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -

Summary: It’s summer vacation and TJ and Cyrus fill their days checking things of Cyrus’ list.

Read on AO3

Chapter Seven: Lazy Days

Word Count: 2686

Cyrus wakes when he’s gently kicked by TJ whom stirred lightly in place. Cyrus groggily looks up from where he had been curled into the arm of the sofa. A pillow had been placed under his head and a blanket had been draped over both his and TJ’s lap. The television was also turned off. That was definitely not how Cyrus remembered drifting off to sleep last night. Considering Cyrus was fairly certain TJ dozed off first and it felt like a very loving motherly thing to do, he thought Tess might have come in and tucked them both in after returning in the early AM from work.

Even with the pillow being placed under his head, Cyrus still has a painful kink in his neck from how he fell asleep and he listens to his bones crack as he stretches in place. His eyes fall on TJ as he groggily wakes too.

“That was uncomfortable.” TJ proclaims sleepily as he stretches out his tense limbs.

“Tell me about it,” Cyrus yawns, “And we didn’t even finish the task.”

“Next time we attempt this, I’m setting up the pullout bed just in case.” TJ laughs but groans a little when he rubs at the kink in his neck. 

“I second that.” Cyrus agrees. 

“What do you want to do today?” TJ questions now that he’s a little more awake. He picks up his glasses that were on the coffee table and places them on his face. 

“Nothing.” Cyrus grumbles, still sleepy from the couple hours they managed in an uncomfortable set up. “Too tired.” 

TJ lets a soft laugh out at how spent Cyrus was. “We can take a break from the list today.” TJ states, “Do something else that’s fun instead.” 

“Like what?” Cyrus’ interest spikes.

“I don’t know,” TJ shrugs, “What do you like to do for fun? Other than making lists.” TJ jokes. 

“I like the museum?” Cyrus is unsure. 

“Museum it is.” TJ happily agrees. “But first let’s get some breakfast, I’m starving.” 

The pair make their way into the kitchen for something to eat. The twins are sitting at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal in front of each of them whilst Tess washes up some dishes. Cyrus wonders how Tess managed to be so chirpy considering she would have had less sleep than he and TJ did but then again, that was another very motherly thing to do. 

TJ starts fixing him and Cyrus some cereal whilst Tess lectures her eldest son about making their guest sleep uncomfortably on the sofa. 

“We fell asleep like that by accident, it wasn’t intentional.” TJ halfheartedly defends his actions. 

Tess drops the argument quickly and asks the boys what they were thinking about doing for the day. TJ explains that they were planning on going to museum and checks if that was alright with his mom. Tess says she has no problem with it and makes a casual comment that surprises Cyrus about TJ loving the museum.

After eating the mountain load of cereal TJ poured for them both, the two boys get ready for their day. Cyrus showers first and TJ attempts to tease Cyrus in a similar manner he had been subjected to the evening before but since Cyrus’ hair looked very much the same wet as it did dry, TJ’s attempt fell flat. Cyrus still laughs at the taller boys attempts and retorts with some harmless teasing of his own, Cyrus implies that TJ stretched out his clothes the night before. 

If this summer so far had proved one thing about the boys relationship it was that TJ and Cyrus have a habit of losing time when they’re together. Whether it’s due to them messing around and getting off track or just getting carried away with whatever they were doing. This morning was definitely the former as they boys didn’t manage to leave until close to midday despite having been up since 7am. 

The two arrive at the natural history museum after Tess dropped them off. Walking around the museum with TJ was eyeopening for Cyrus and it also made Tess’s previous comment make sense. Cyrus was learning how much of a history geek TJ was. TJ would proudly explain the history behind various exhibits and it was so wonderfully warming to witness that Cyrus pretended to be amazed by each fact TJ shared even though he himself knew a lot about them.

Once the pair finally reach the prehistoric section of the museum, thoughts of Iris flows to the forefront of Cyrus’ mind and he questions why it had taken him so long to think of her, after all, they had gone here on a date together in the past. Cyrus is snapped out of his deep thought bubble when TJ gently nudges Cyrus’ ribs with his elbow. 

“Come on, tell me about the dinosaurs,” TJ says, “I know you’re dying to.” 

“Nothing could tricera-top, your presentation of the ancient Egyptian exhibit.” Cyrus pauses for a laugh but is met a blank expression from TJ. 

“Was that a dinosaur pun?” TJ knits his brows together. 

“Come on that was dino-mite.” Cyrus holds his hands out and gives TJ a look like he was waiting for a reaction but again TJ refuses to play along and shakes his head. 

“Tough crowd.” Cyrus mumbles and TJ finally laughs. Iris would have laughed at my joke... Cyrus thinks to himself.  

“Okay, tell me about the giant scary lizards.” TJ says with a kind smile as he was genuine in wanting Cyrus to offload his knowledge. 

“Now I get it.” Cyrus folds his arms knowingly. 

“Get what?” TJ is confused. 

“It’s not just snakes your scared of but reptiles and these ‘giant scary lizards’,” Cyrus uses air quotes, “Aren’t amusing to you therefore my dinosaur puns, not well received.”

“Yeah that’s the only reason.” TJ pfft’s the idea but Cyrus knew he was correct. “You going to dork out over the dinosaurs or are we leaving?” TJ tries to shift focus away from his reptile phobia. 

“Right this way,” Cyrus puts on a goofy voice as he motions towards the first stop of the exhibit. 

Now it was TJ’s turn to listen to Cyrus be the geek which definitely didn’t bother the basketball captain at all, in fact, TJ encouraged it. As they’re nearing the end of the prehistoric section, Cyrus announces excitedly they were coming up to his personal favourite dinosaur but as he turns to lead them there he trips on the laces of his sneakers and takes a huge tumble in front of all the other museum goers.

“Here we have a new exhibit in the prehistoric wing,” TJ chuckles as he motions to Cyrus, “A tyrannosaurus wreck.” 

“TJ Kippen, did you just use a dinosaur pun to communicate my misfortune?” Cyrus looks proud. 

“It’s contagious.” TJ jokingly scrunches up his nose in disgust before offering his hand to help Cyrus up. “We’re just a couple of dorkosauruses.” 

“I know that was meant as an insult but honestly I’m not even upset.” Cyrus laughs as he lets TJ help him to his feet.

Shortly after the dinosaurs, the two teens exit the museum. Once outside, the boys notice the clouds in the sky have darkened and it appeared the weather was going to take a turn for the worse. 

“We should probably hurry before it starts raining.” Cyrus says with his head tilted up towards the sky. 

“Wanna stay over again?” TJ asks, his gaze pointed at Cyrus, “Your stuff is already at my house and mom is home tonight so the twins won’t be our responsibility.”

“I wouldn’t mind if they were.” Cyrus lowers his stare to TJ with a smile. 

“So you wanna stay again?” TJ waits for confirmation. 

“You’re not going to make me try and stay up all night again are you?” Cyrus asks warily. 

“I’m not sure I’m going to even be able to stay up until dinner.” TJ laughs. “We can just crash in the living room, play video games, watch movies.” 

“Sleep.” Cyrus says with a goofy smile. 

“That too.” TJ chuckles softly. 

“I’m in.” Cyrus nods. 

Just as they finalise their plans for the rest of the evening the sky opens up and rain lightly starts to fall. The two teens quickly run in the direction of TJ’s house.

An evening unfolds much like the boys had discussed outside the museum. After drying off from the dampening run home, TJ and Cyrus dress in something comfier. Cyrus wears his pyjamas from the night before but with the addition of a clean hoodie from TJ as the change in weather had taken the heat out of the air and left an overall chill. 

Tess makes the best spaghetti with meatballs that Cyrus has ever tasted. Sitting around their small dining table was so enjoyable for Cyrus, his formal meals at home were a lot of back and forth talk between each sets of parents - so much so that he felt like he wasn’t even present sometimes - and other times Cyrus sat down for what could feel like a therapy session, like he was being analysed. Sitting at the Kippen table was so wonderful for Cyrus, he felt so welcomed and immediately comfortable. 

After dinner, Cyrus insists on washing up the dishes to say thank you to Tess for hosting him these past two nights and TJ assists with the drying. As the pair are working well together a big clap of thunder sounds and makes both of them jump. TJ quickly laughs off his embarrassment and casually mentions that he’s never really liked thunderstorms. 

After finishing with the dishes, the two retreat to the living room where Tess had already set up the pullout sofa bed for them before she turned in for an early night. TJ sets up his gaming console and assures Cyrus that it will be fun as Cyrus was negatively expressing his skill set, or lack thereof. 

They play a few different games together, some multiplayer and others where they took turns for rounds but Cyrus took a long time to get the hang of the controls. After Cyrus loses one round dismally, TJ jokes, “I swear you’re an alien sometimes.” He was referring to Cyrus not really being into video games. 

“Sometimes I feel like an alien.” Cyrus lets out a heavy sigh as he hands the control to TJ for his turn. 

TJ nudges Cyrus with his arm to show he didn’t mean offence by the comment and the two happily move past it. 

An hour into games it was evident that the storm outside was picking up, ignoring the loud thunderclaps was becoming impossible. Katie comes into the room with a blanket in one hand and a stuffed lamb pinned under her arm. 

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” TJ asks. 

“Can I watch you play games?” Katie looks sad. 

TJ nudges his head towards the arm chair with a smile before quietly whispering to Cyrus that Katie hates storms. Evidently so did TJ but Cyrus chooses to ignore the light uneasiness TJ showed every time the storm got louder. Cyrus found it kind of endearing that TJ was worked up over something like a storm but he still chose to not draw attention to it as he didn’t want to upset or embarrass TJ. 

TJ and Cyrus continue playing the game for a little while longer, somewhere along the way Katie dosed off in the chair but TJ chose not to move her back to her room, instead he makes sure she’s covered with her blanket comfortably. 

Then TJ and Cyrus were starting to feel their poor nights sleep from the previous evening and agree to put on a movie and settle in bed. Cyrus figures he must have fallen asleep almost immediately as he woke up very confused during the end credits rolling. Also, to confuse things further, Katie at some point must have woken up from her slumber on the armchair and wedged herself between Cyrus and TJ. The pullout was quite a comfortable size so it wasn’t awkward or too crowded for Cyrus, it was actually kind of sweet and it made Cyrus long for siblings deeply. Cyrus glances at the two Kippens sleeping peacefully and is careful not to wake them as he switches off the television and rolls over to go back to sleep. 

That was just the first night in a very lazy week for TJ and Cyrus. The day following the second sleepover at TJ’s, Cyrus went home as TJ had a morning shift but the very next day TJ was invited over to Cyrus’ house for the night. With the weather still dull and rainy as storms blew in and out, they chose to spend the evening with a Marvel movie marathon and a few healthy debates over who the best avenger was. 

The first night TJ spent over at Cyrus’ house was a little nerve wracking for Cyrus in the afternoon leading up to it. This anxiety episode stemmed from the idea that the two of them would be sharing his bed in his room. At TJ’s, it was two nights on the sofa but at Cyrus’ it was sharing the bed - which shouldn’t be weird at all for him, but sadly it stressed Cyrus out quite a lot.  It was the first time all summer where Cyrus thought about his feelings towards guys and it made him feel like he was doing something wrong keeping it from TJ, especially with all the time they were spending together. It was also the most he’s missed Buffy and Andi since they left. Sure he always missed them - the sporadic texts from each of them were definitely not enough GHC fix for Cyrus - but not having their reassuring selves to calm him down whilst he spent the afternoon stressing was a horrible reminder that it had been over a month without them there. Buffy and Andi were the only two people in the world that knew anything about Cyrus’ confusing web of feelings and not having them to lean on when those confusing feelings weigh on his mind was torture. 

Strangely though, Cyrus had the urge to tell TJ about it all. If he couldn’t speak to his two best friends about it he wanted to tell TJ. The two of them had gotten so close that Cyrus felt completely at ease with TJ but there was a nagging self doubt in the back of Cyrus’ mind that sharing his concerns and feelings with TJ might be misenturpted in the wrong way. The last thing Cyrus wanted was his friendship with TJ to end because he thought that Cyrus might have feelings for him. Because he definitely did not. So instead of talking to TJ about it and getting it off his chest, Cyrus just suppresses everything and tries to act like nothing is wrong.

Within ten minutes of TJ arriving at Cyrus’ house, Cyrus had completely forgotten about all of his worries. TJ charms Cyrus’ mother and stepfather effortlessly and comfortably settles in Cyrus’ room when they have a moment alone. TJ had a knack for being the most confident person in existence and Cyrus wished he could be more relaxed like TJ. 

By the time their Marvel movie marathon began, Cyrus had completely forgotten that he was ever nervous in the first place. 

At the end of the week, after many lazy days, Cyrus is sat in the living room at his mothers house with TJ is beside him.

“We’re going to have to leave the house eventually.” Cyrus mumbles but he doesn’t peel his eyes from the television. 

“We should probably catch up with Marty and Walker.” TJ says, his head also pointed forward at the movie they were watching. 

“We should...” Cyrus nods and finally he looks to TJ whom manages to pull his stare towards Cyrus too. 

“Tomorrow?” TJ says with a growing smile. 

“Tomorrow.” Cyrus nods with a laugh and the two settle back into their very comfortable routine. 

End Notes: Thank you very much to everyone thats been reading this story! I always feel so blessed from all the lovely reviews you guys leave me!! I’m truly undeserving!! Thank you so much! 

[Next Chapter]