Lemon Boy and Me - Tyrus Fanfic

Chapter 1: Swings

A gush of soothing wind tossed Cyrus' brown hair out of his face, making him smile to himself. The cool breeze was a miracle on such a hot day. It was 28°C that Thursday afternoon, the hottest it had been all year. May had just begun and the weather was nearly unbearable. Cyrus wasn't upset (the usual reason he would hang out at the park, swinging gently to ease his feelings of anxiety and stress), he was just waiting for TJ's tutoring session to be over. Buffy, a very close friend to Cyrus and the top math student in her grade, had been asked by her teacher to TJ on Thursdays after school. TJ had a learning disability called dyscalculia, and had trouble with numbers. Buffy and TJ used to be worst enemies ever since told her she would never be as good as the boys at basketball, but overtime, after TJ apologized, they became less hateful towards each other, and maybe even friends. Although TJ had been unfair and condescending to one of Cyrus' best friends, he still forgave him and tried to help TJ with his struggles. Buffy had no idea why Cyrus was so nice to someone he'd only heard bad things about, but Cyrus couldn't help feeling drawn to TJ the day he'd first met him. He wanted to know what was going on inside TJ's head. Turns out, there was a lot more to TJ than just a scary basketball guy. TJ was a great friend once Cyrus was able to get to know him and find out who he really was. They ended up becoming friends. Really good friends.

Checking his watch, he saw that it was 3:48, three minutes after TJ's sessions typically ended. School let out at 3:15. Cyrus would wait at the playground finishing homework, reading, singing to himself on the swings, or just watching traffic move past the school. Since it wasn't quite rush hour, the road wasn't busy, and the area was quiet. Cyrus loved the calm after the storm. The quiet after the flood of hundreds of students loading the buses, getting in their parents' cars, unlocking their bikes from the rack near the school's entrance, making as much noise as possible.

"Hey, underdog!" he heard from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he shouted, "Not so scary basketball guy! You're finally done!"

TJ laughed as he jogged up to his friend on the swings. "Yeah, we went a little overtime. Buffy wasn't too happy about it. She's meeting up with Andi at four, something about Cloud Ten. I don't know, I wasn't listening, I was doing equations." TJ ruffled Cyrus' hair playfully.

"You went overtime and it wasn't Buffy's idea? What, do you like math now or something?" the brown-haired boy teased.

"Oh, you're too funny. Believe it or not, I was actually enjoying the lesson. To my surprise, algebra can be interesting at times." the athlete responded, sliding onto the empty swing beside Cyrus. He pushed himself forward and swung as high as he could, to the point where he was parallel with the top of the swing set.

"I really don't know why you never swing high," he called over his shoulder. "Remember when I pushed you and you went higher than you've ever gone before? Don't you want to do that again?"

Cyrus dragged his feet on the ground below him to slow himself down, and looked up at TJ. TJ stopped swinging and tilted his head at Cyrus.

"I told you, it's part of my stuff."

"But don't you hate having stuff? Math is part of my stuff, so I got a tutor to help me." TJ raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I doubt they have tutors for fears of heights." Cyrus' tone was flat, as if to say, duh.

"Uh, yeah, they do, kid," TJ smiled. "although most people call them therapists."

"All four of my parents are therapists. I think I have more than enough therapy in my life inherently." Cyrus rolled his eyes, but not in bad nature.

"Do you?" the taller boy urged. "Sure, you're related to plenty of therapists. But do you talk to them?"

"Of course I do, they're my parents." Cyrus laughed, and TJ poked him on the forehead.

"You know what I mean," TJ couldn't help but grin at the sound of Cyrus' laugh. "You haven't really talked to them. As a patient."

Cyrus' smile faded. "I just don't think it's a huge problem. I'm afraid to swing high, so I won't." Cyrus explained. "I don't see the issue here."

"How can you not see the issue? Your fear is holding you back. Life could be so much more fun if you would just let someone help you deal with your fears." TJ was basically pleading.

"My life is fine as it is. I don't-"

"Life isn't meant to be fine, it's meant to be an adventure!" TJ exclaimed, cutting the other boy off mid sentence.

"Maybe for you, TJ, but we're different people. You need to open your eyes and realize that not everything is about you." Cyrus was angry and upset, and could feel tears stinging his eyes.

"That's what I'm doing! I'm doing this because I care about you!" TJ gripped Cyrus' shoulders with desperation in his eyes.

Cyrus was taken back. He sat unmoving on the swing, staring into TJ's eyes with an intensity that TJ had never seen in anyone's eyes before.

"You're my best friend, underdog." TJ whispered.

Cyrus cast his eyes down. He felt bad for worrying TJ so much, but he didn't believe that he could ever swing as high as his friend on his own. Not when his palms got sweaty and his heart rate sped up and his muscles tensed every time he tried to face his fear.

"You're my best friend, too, TJ." Cyrus replied, and his heart fluttered when his words brought a lopsided smile to TJ's face.

"If you don't want to see a therapist, that's fine. There are different kinds of therapy." TJ stated, standing up and pulling his blue hoodie sleeves halfway up his biceps, and for a split second, Cyrus' mind froze. He snapped out of his trance when TJ offered him a hand. A jolt of electricity shot up the shorter boy's arm when he took TJ's hand He knew his palm was warm and probably a little sweaty because that's the effect that TJ had on him, but he could tell his friend didn't mind. As TJ pulled him up, Cyrus did everything in his power to think about anything but the way the muscles in TJ's arm flexed.

"What kind of therapy do you have in mind, anyway?" Cyrus wondered out loud, not bothering to let go of TJ's hand, because TJ didn't let go, either.

"The kind that involves bathing suits and water slides," TJ laughed and started running, pulling Cyrus along by the hand. There wasn't much pulling on his part, though, because Cyrus was running right beside him.