I Don't Do Sadness // Jyrus

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Buffy walked into The Spoon and spotted the table that Jonah was sitting at. He looked a little on edge and was staring into the basket of baby taters in front of him. Buffy sat down and popped a baby tater into her mouth as she did so. She asked Jonah, "Is Cyrus coming?"

He shook his head. They were all going to meet at The Spoon and they invited Cyrus, already knowing that he'd probably be in bed all day and bail on them. Andi knew that it was a guarantee after what had happened at his Bar Mitzvah.

Buffy and Jonah sat in silence, waiting for Andi to come. The two of them hadn't really connected that well and Buffy was still a little embarrassed about him seeing her cry at the Renaissance Faire.

The bell at the door rang and the two of them looked over, relieved to see Andi walking towards them. Buffy and Jonah both scooted over in their seats at the booth, leaving room for Andi to sit down beside them. She took a second, hesitating, before sitting beside Jonah. Buffy watched as they greeted each other and it was as if there was something separating them. They didn't look at each other and they sat with each of them at either end of the bench. They were being awkward like they were when they had first started "dating" which was strange because they had broken up a little while ago.

Buffy sighed and said, "I thought you guys broke up."

Andi looked miserable and shrugged. Jonah put on his smile and said, "No, we hadn't broken up, it was a misunderstanding."

Buffy wished she hadn't asked and continued to chew on their baby taters. Andi took a breath and focused on Buffy, saying, "You know how Cyrus' mom used to hit him?"

That got Jonah to perk up and listen. Buffy nodded suspiciously in response. "Well, she's doing it again," Andi told her.

Buffy and Jonah both asked, "What?" and Buffy continued, saying, "You're kidding."

Andi shook her head and said, "Bex saw her slap him after the Bar Mitzvah yesterday."

Jonah tried to get in the middle of their conversation and said, "What're you talking about?" But, the girls just ignored him.

"Should we ask him about it?" Andi asked Buffy.

She immediately said, "No. Let him come to us."

Andi said, "But he won't come to us, he never comes to us anymore."

Jonah raised his voice and asked, "What are you guys talking about?"

Andi sighed and turned to him while Buffy stress ate their baby taters. "Cyrus' parents, or his mom, used to abuse him, and it had died down and gotten better recently, but Bex said that she saw her hit him last night."

"But the problem is," Buffy intervened, "he rarely ever talks to us, especially when something's wrong, so there's no way that we can help."

"Why can't we just ask him if everything's alright at home since he came out?" Jonah asked. It felt strange to say, "came out" about Cyrus. It hadn't really set in that Cyrus was actually gay.

Andi sighed. "Because you can't just do that with Cyrus."

"He needs to come to us about it," Buffy continued.

They sat in silence for a moment and Buffy scolded Jonah, saying, "You better not ask him about it."

Jonah put his hands up in defense. "I won't," he cried.