the plan ↬ tyrus

ONE

CYRUS GOODMAN knew what a crush felt like - or at least he thought he did. Pining after boys was something he made quite the hobby of, yet no matter how many times he tried, he could never seem to get anyone to like him back. As a Sophomore (soon to be junior), all of his friends were perfectly happy in their sickeningly flawless relationships, and it seemed that he was destined to be the odd one out.

The steady approach of summer vacation did nothing but remind him of the days he would spend boyfriend-less, a fact he had made known to his friends many times prior.

"I mean," he complained for the hundredth time that week, "why is everyone in a relationship but me?"

"That's not true", Andi Mack consoled him, before grabbing her girlfriend, Amber Kippen,'s hand and leaning into her side. The girls' relationship was recent, them confessing their mutual feelings for each other during a seemingly-juvenile game of spin the bottle. They were a overly touchy couple, there arms always draped around each other's shoulders, or their hands intertwined, showing off the matching silver rings they wore.

"Yeah," Buffy Driscoll chimed in, popping a baby tater in her mouth and offering one to the boy settled next to her - Marty from the Party was the nickname he had earned after showing up to a party at Andi's house in seventh grade and boasting the false claim he had once eaten a live frog, somehow making them close friends since. They too, were going out.

Marty nodded "I mean, not everyone is in a relationship.

"Anything from the third couple?" Cyrus stared pointedly at Jonah and Walker, who just looked at each other and blushed, shaking their heads. "You know what? I'm out, I'm tired of seventh wheeling. See you guys on Monday." And with that, he left a few crumpled dollar bills on the table, stood up and left the restaurant, ignoring the calls of protests from the Couple Coterie (he had coined the sarcastic nickname himself) he left behind.

The febrile summer air hit his face, sharply contrasting to the AC the Spoon was blasting as an escape from the heat. It was one of the hottest days Shadyside had seen in a while, leaving nearly every resident nothing to do but find a way to cool off.

As he made his way to his step-father's house, he found himself taking a detour around town, procrastinating the studying he would inevitably have to do. (Yay, finals week!) After thirty minutes of mindlessly strolling by shops and so many goddamn happy couples, he decided to finally go home to do his work.

"Hey! Underdog!"

Finals would have to wait, Cyrus decided, as the one and only TJ Kippen waved him over to the otherwise empty bench the jock had been sitting at. He greeting him back, fist-bumping him in a geeky way he could never pull off with anyone else.

"Hey, Teej. What's up?"

"Avoiding the heat, you?"

"Avoiding the serious seventh wheeling I had to deal with at the Spoon," Cyrus told him with an eye roll to match.

"All your friends are dating, huh? I've been there. It's never fun."

"Hey, you're telling me." They both sighed deeply, content in comfortable silence. It seemed they always ended up this way, trapped in their thoughts, but it was never awkward. With TJ, Cyrus thought, it was just so easy. There was no worrying about what he thought, or what to wear, or how to act.

Cyrus was determined to have it stay that way, meaning he could do absolutely nothing to make things complicated.

The boy would never allow himself to ponder too much on how TJ made him smile, how he squinted his green eyes when he laughed, and the butterflies that tormented him whenever his phone lit up from a text from TJ. It was definitely not a crush, never. Besides, TJ was most definitely straight.

At least, that's what he told himself.

tj: hey, can we talk?

Cyrus opened up his phone, squinting at the bright light the screen emitted, to the message he had received at an ungodly hour of the night (3 am to be exact). Curious to what TJ had to say, he responded quickly with a 'yeah, what's up?'. The telltale ellipsis appeared and disappeared agonizingly slowly, letting Cyrus know that the boy was typing.

tj: i think i might be gay

Well, shit.