Against All Odds | Tyrus

5. Embarrassment

❝He hoped he could continue being TJ's friend for a long time. He enjoyed spending time with TJ so much, he almost felt guilty for it.❞

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The minute TJ got home, he sat down on the nearest chair — which happened to be a barstool by the kitchen counter — and started texting Cyrus. His father was in the kitchen putting a frozen pizza into the oven.

TJ sent a short message, asking Cyrus if he was able to text at the moment. A few minutes later, he got a response. He grinned as he read Cyrus's message.

‘Yeah, of course,’ was all it said but it made TJ glow with excitement.

TJ eagerly typed back a reply, hesitating slightly before hitting send. This back-and-forth conversation continued for quite some time, TJ pausing before sending each message. Cyrus, on the other hand, was pressing send the moment he had his messages typed due to the fact that he was supposed to be talking with Buffy and Andi. He really didn't want to lose this chance at texting TJ, but he didn't want to appear rude to his friends either. He thought he was doing a good job of sending his messages in a clandestine way until Andi asked who he was texting.

‘Alas,’ Cyrus thought to himself. ‘My cover has been blown.’

At the same time, a similar situation was taking place in the Kippen kitchen. Although TJ wasn't trying to keep his texting a secret, he nearly leapt out of his seat when his father tried to peek at his phone in sudden interest, asking who he was texting.

TJ tilted the screen towards his chest so his father couldn't see, “My friend.”

“Which one? Reed or Lester?” his father asked.

TJ rolled his eyes, “I have other friends, dad.”

“Then why have I never heard you talk about these ‘other friends?’”

“I don't know. Mom knows about them. I guess I just forgot to mention it to you.”

“Oh, really? So if I were to look at your contacts right now, I'd see someone other than Reed and Lester?”

“Yeah. Wait, why—?”

Before TJ could even question what his father was saying, his phone was taken right from his hands.

“Underdog,” his father read the phone's screen. “Either someone's parents really love Rocky, or your life has become one big cliché.”

“Neither. It's just a nickname I have for my friend.” TJ stood up to get his phone but his father turned his body away to block TJ's reach. “Can I have my phone back now?”

“Sure. One last question though.”

TJ groaned, “Shoot.”

“What's this friend's name?”

“Cyrus,” he answered, grabbing his phone and sitting back down. He looked at the screen and frowned when he noticed he hadn't received a new message. “I... got left on read.”

“What's that?” TJ's father asked.

“He saw my message but didn't answer.”

“Ouch.”

TJ felt an inexplicable panic but decided to swallow his feelings so his father wouldn't tease him. He stared at his phone impatiently, internally pleading with the not-present Cyrus to answer. He didn't want to send another message yet as he thought it'd make him seem excessive or desperate.