swingsets and dance routines ; tyrus

chapter #6: the dance battle (pt.1)

A/N: Hi! Sorry for the longer wait with these two! School has been killing me

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Buffy and her team met up consistently over the next three weeks, meticulously going through every aspect of their routine to ensure they were all in sync. Buffy was particularly hung up over of all the minor details, and Cyrus could see that she was leaving each practice session more and more frazzled.

He only saw TJ twice during this time period, and he would never admit it aloud but the number of times he found himself looking out the window during class and missing TJ, with his sweet smiles and his compliments and his weirdly extensive knowledge about historical events, was alarming. Even he wasn't blind to the chemistry they had when they were together, subtly drawing them closer whenever they walked and crackling in the air around them whenever they paused for a moment, smiling softly at one another.

TJ was just as charming over text message as he was in real life, and without seeming dramatic, it was kind of beginning to ruin Cyrus' life. Surely it was unhealthy to smile as wide as he did saw that TJ was typing a text and surely he shouldn't be getting as many butterflies in his stomach as he did whenever TJ called him late at night, his voice rough in the most heart-melting way possible.

It was one of those nights. He could see bright stars dotting the clear black sky through his window, the moon flooding his room with pale light. He had a small rainbow night light on next to his drawers, and he was sprawled across his bed with a soft smile on his face. It was quiet in his house, with the faint sounds of their dishwasher running downstairs being the only thing he could hear in his room.

His eyes scanned the room for a moment, already adjusted to the darkness. There were a large group of precisely placed polaroid pictures on the wall, mostly of him, Buffy and Andi. There were photos he had taken of scenery too, dark blue oceans and red autumn leaves scattered across a concrete pavement. He reached a photo at the right bottom corner of his collection, and a smile formed on his lips as he took it in.

"I put that picture of you up on my wall," he said suddenly.

TJ didn't respond for a moment, but when he did he sounded surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah - why not? You look cute in it."

Cyrus hesitated for a moment, feeling his face grow warm at TJ's silence.

"I mean-"

"I know what you meant," TJ assured with a slight laugh.

"Okay," Cyrus breathed, his eyes never leaving that picture of TJ. He was at the café, rain splattered across the window behind him, wearing sunglasses and a smug smile that never failed to make Cyrus' heart skip a beat.

He couldn't help but giggle slightly. "I love the fact that you were wearing sunglasses on a day like that."

"I wanted to look cool!" TJ defended.

"There are other ways of looking cool, you know?"

"Like what?"

"By being anyone other than you."

He laughed then, and Cyrus could practically see the amused smile that was probably on the boy's face when he responded.

"You were calling me cute about 2 seconds ago!"

"Cute - not cool," Cyrus reminded him.

TJ let out an amused huff. "Sure."

Silence fell for a moment. Cyrus shifted again, laying on his back.

"Is your team ready for the dance battle tomorrow?" He asked.

TJ laughed. "I hope you're not trying to get exclusive information about our routine, Cyrus."