Cyrus tried to busy himself with homework that afternoon, but he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.
TJ - as in TJ Kippen - had stood up to his friends after seeing Cyrus there? Surely that couldn't be right.
His plan had never been to become friends with him - and really, Cyrus wouldn't even consider them friends. They were more like acquaintances. Acquaintances that had interacted a few times, and absolutely nothing more.
He was never supposed to start seeing good in TJ, that's for sure.
To be fair, the boy was making it awfully hard to dislike him with all of his softness. Helping him draw, asking him about dinosaurs and now this?
Cyrus' head was spinning.
After dinner, he was still sneaking glances out of his window in hopes that TJ would be there, drawing as normal.
Finally, when the sky had faded from oranges and yellows to purples and blues, he saw the boy walk outside with his usual box of chalks.
Cyrus had passed the point of convincing himself not to go down and talk to TJ; he was far too curious after what had happened, and it wasn't like one more conversation would cause any harm. Right?
With this thought in mind, he rushed downstairs and pulled his shoes on, stopping by the living room to tell his dad that he'd be next door for a while.
This time, he didn't hesitate before approaching the boy.
"Hey."
TJ looked up with a soft smile. "Hey. I had a feeling you'd come down."
"You did?"
"Yeah. You can see my driveway from your room, right?"
Cyrus' cheeks reddened at that, and he felt oddly exposed as he sat down in front of the boy. "Uh...yeah. I can."
Silence fell for a moment. Cyrus broke it before it could extend too long.
"I'm sorry if you felt pressured to tell your friends the truth today. I really didn't mean to-"
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," TJ interrupted. "I shouldn't have told them they were Amber's anyway - it was wrong, and I knew it was, I just...I don't know. I regret not telling them off sooner."
TJ's eyes were wandering now, and Cyrus could tell that talking about his friends made him feel uncomfortable. He wanted more than anything to keep pressing, but he decided against it.
"Well...you did, which is what matters. And now hopefully they won't make fun of your drawings? Or hose them away?"
"Hopefully." the athlete confirmed with a wince.
Cyrus had planned on smoothly changing the topic from there, but he came up blank on ways to do that.
"Hey! Have you seen my shirt?"
Okay - so it wasn't the most subtle topic change, but his shirt was cool. How could it not be when it had a T-rex drinking tea on it, with the words 'tea rex' stamped across it?
Thankfully enough, TJ seemed to find it amusing. "I did, actually - at school today. It's a very cool dinosaur pun."
"Thank you! I'm glad someone appreciates it."
TJ smiled fondly at the boy, before moving to open his box of chalk. "Hey...could I draw you?"
Cyrus' eyes widened at that. "You wanna draw me?"
YOU ARE READING
chalk ; tyrus {completed}
Fanfiction"He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, very convinced that he was just seeing things, but when he opened them again the scene hadn't changed. He was still in his bedroom, looking at his neighbour's house, and 𝘛𝘑 𝘒𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 was still sitting c...
