Tyrus One-Shots

Yes or Yes

Shadyside is having its annual carnival week. One a year the small town builds a carnival in town square to celebrate fun, but in all honesty, it's just because the town always ends up with excess money left over from the budget and thought it would be a good idea to have an annual carnival. The townspeople didn't mind and used it as an excuse to spend more time with family.

The carnival itself was two miles long and held various attractions. Fortune tellers, game booths. Mind readers, and even a Ferris wheel were parts of the festivities. When night came, the streets were lit with beautiful shades of blue, pink, and yellow that came from the lights from all the booths. The smell of all the popcorn, junk food, and fast food the catered the carnival brought in the younger kids because they couldn't resist food.

Cyrus stood just outside the entrance, admiring the beauty of it all. The last time he saw anything this extravagant was his bar mitzvah. He looked around at all the tents and tried finding the fortune teller. It seemed like he was stuck in place until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ready to go in?" TJ asked as he placed himself next to his friend. "It's not a twenty-four hour carnival, it's going to close eventually. And I would like to go in before it closes."

Cyrus shook his head, seemingly coming out of his trance. "Of, sure. Let's go. I was just looking around."

"You know what's better than looking, actually going in and experiencing it." With that, TJ grabbed his hand and led him inside.

The two ran around and tried a lot of the games that was still open. Cyrus attempted the throwing a ball at the bottles, but kept missing because of his poor aim and the ball kept somehow getting behind him. They both played the racing game where they had to shoot water from a water gun at a target. One of the last activities they did was the test your strength game. Cyrus gladly let TJ give it a try. TJ grabbed the oversized mallet and slung it onto the pad. They watched the bell as it kept on going higher on the level. It eventually reached the top and rung the bell. Cyrus screamed in excitement and hugged TJ, maybe a little bit too tight to the point he would send the wrong signal. He removed himself and acted like a bro would by patting him on the back. The attendant at the station awarded TJ an extremely oversized teddy bear.

"Look, TJ. You won you." Cyrus said while laughing. His laughing dimmed down when he realized what he said. There he goes again, not acting like a bro would act. He tries to act normal around TJ, but his feelings keep overpowering logic.

"Ha ha, very funny." TJ said teasingly. He ruffled Cyrus's hair and smirked.

Cyrus rubbed his arm and looked around. "Do you wanna visit some of the tents? I heard the mind reader is really good?"

"Sounds fun, how about we do the tents separately? It'll save time and we can do the ones we really want."

"If that's what you want."

TJ and Cyrus parted ways and made their ways to separate tents. Cyrus found a fortune teller and went inside the tent. When he entered, he immediately recognized the setting. He looked ahead and saw the woman sitting at the table. It's the same fortune teller from his bar mitzvah.

"Welcome back, Cyrus." Madame said.

Cyrus has a shocked look on his face. "I didn't know you would be here."

"I did. And I knew you would return. I always know."

Cyrus took a seat in front of her. His hands were together, shaking as he was preparing himself to ask his question. "Same rules as last time? Yes or no question?"

"Yes, my child. Write whatever you want."

She passes him a card and a pen. He takes the pen and stares blankly at the card. He figured he would only get one question, so he has to make it a good one. He scratched his head to help him think. He looked at Madame, who was just rubbing her crystal ball. He looked down at the card. After a few minutes he finally thought of a question.

He passed the card back to Madame. She flipped it over and read the question. Her eyes locked with Cyrus as she placed the card on the table.

"Boy," She started to say. "I was supposed to be a yes or no question."

Cyrus nodded his head. "And it is a yes or no question."

"The only answers here are yes or yes."

"What are you talking about?"

"The only answer is yes. There's no possible, or even scientific, way that the answer will be no."

Cyrus perked up. "You mean I have a chance."

"Chance implies the option of it not happening. There is no chance, only definite."

Cyrus smiled harder than ever. He got out of his seat and hugged the Madame. She cringed, but let it happen as she knew it wouldn't last long. Cyrus stopped and skipped out of her tent.

He exited and looked around the area. Most people were already leaving because it's getting late. The streets were clear enough that he wasn't walking into people like earlier. He made a few steps towards the mind reader tent and was stopped by TJ walking out.

Cyrus approached him and tapped his shoulder. "So, Teej, what happened in your session?"

"Oh, you know, the usual mind reading thing. I sat there and they told me what I was thinking."

"What were you thinking?"

"Um." TJ gulped and nervously rubbed his neck. He wanted to avoid the question and change the topic. He looked up and saw the Ferris wheel. He turned Cyrus around and pointed at the giant wheel. "Look! Let's do that."

TJ pushed the boy towards the wheel. He gave the attendant their last two tickets and took the empty seat. They were secured and the level was pulled. They started being lifted into the air. Cyrus glared at TJ.

"So, are you going to answer my question? Bringing me up here was nice, but it's not going to make me forget what I asked."

TJ repeatedly tapped the side of the seat. He wanted to tell the truth, but was scared.

"Honestly, he read my mind perfectly. He knew what I was thinking."

"Awesome. What were you thinking?"

TJ paused for a second. His fingers tapped the seat faster. "I was thinking about my crush on someone and if he likes me back."

Cyrus was more confused than ever. "He? You mean her?"

TJ started tearing up at what he just said. He could've lied but didn't want to lose Cyrus's trust, but now he's thinking he lost more than trust. "I mean he, Cyrus. I'm gay."

Cyrus cracked a small smile his he comforted his friend by patting his back. His hand slowly got tired and made its way onto the space in between them. He slowly moved his hand forward until it was brushing against TJ's fingertips. "Good to know. So am I."

TJ looked at him and smiled back. He noticed Cyrus's hand close to his and decided to hold it. The two stared into each other's eyes and could feel a spark.