swingsets and dance routines ; tyrus

chapter #20: roses are red

A lot of things happened over the next week.

Cyrus came out to his step-mom first of all, after a lot of encouragement from TJ and his friends beforehand. When he'd sent a text to the group chat on Monday night, TJ, of course, was over in an instant, following by both Andi and Buffy. It had gone just as well as if had with his dad, and Cyrus felt another small pressure lift off of his chest.

He knew he was some time away from telling his mom and his step-dad, but he felt content nonetheless. He'd be ready to tell them one day after all and face their possible reaction - that day just hadn't been it.

Cyrus, after having been offered, decided to join the LGBT club they had at his school, which he'd somehow only found about that week. A nervous girl had approached him, asking if he wanted to join, and he'd instantly answered yes.

As it turns out, Marty had managed to ask Buffy out that night after a lot of 'awkwardness and stalling' as he put it, and Buffy had agreed almost right away. Cyrus had been told the full story over iced coffee by Marty, and it was about as cute and ridiculous as he'd expected it to be.

Prom was also coming up, and Cyrus had spent the past few days planning with Marty, Andi and Buffy how exactly he should go about asking TJ. It wasn't an overly complex task, although it did require talking to TJ's parents so they could help coordinate.

"Okay," said Marty, taking a sip of his milkshake. "So let's go over this again."

There was sunlight streaming in through the windows of The Spoon, which was somewhat of a relief following the overcast days they'd been hit with that week. It was Saturday, and Cyrus was sat at a booth with Andi, Buffy and Marty.

"Okay," Cyrus agreed. "So you've arranged to take TJ out for a few hours, starting at 3. While you guys are out us the three will head over to his place and finalise the sign, place the rose petals and make the blueberry macadamia muffins with help from TJ's dad. Then, when I message you saying we're done, you can drive TJ back here and boom! I ask him out to prom and hope to god he says yes."

"He'll say yes," Andi assured him, smiling, "I mean - how could he not?"

Marty nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's been head over heels since day one, dude."

Cyrus waved them off, feeling his face redden slightly at the words. "Let's hope so."

Marty ended up leaving the diner before them to go pick TJ up, and when they'd been given the all-clear the trio headed back to Andi's place to pick up the sign they'd been working on. Bex and Bowie gave them a lift to TJ's place, and they'd ended up hanging around to talk to TJ's mom.

Cyrus, Andi and Buffy managed to transport the sign, the craft supplies and the baking supplies into the house with help from TJ's dad.

"We just have a few letters to colour in," said Andi, and Cyrus nodded, sitting down beside the girl and picking up a blue sharpie. Buffy busied herself with preparing some of the ingredients, chatting animatedly with TJ's dad about basketball. Cyrus and Andi exchanged an amused glance at this.

With help from TJ's dad, everything seemed to come together after about two hours. The muffins were standing out to cool and the sign was finished. They brought it outside in preparation, along with a basket of rose petals for decoration.

"I'm starting to think this might be too over-the-top," Cyrus fretted about an hour later, looking over the display they'd created.

TJ's dad laughed. "Too over-the-top for TJ? The most dramatic boy I know? I don't think so. Trust me, Cyrus, he'll love it."

Cyrus couldn't help but smile at that. Andi and Buffy were by his side, both nodding in agreement. Marty was due to come back with TJ at any moment now, and Cyrus could feel a whole swarm of nervous butterflies filling his stomach. He breathed in deeply a few times to try and calm his nerves.

It was late afternoon now, and the sun was lowering in the sky. A cool breeze was setting in too, and he found himself shivering slightly as a result.

TJ's mom walked out of the house, holding a camera, with Bex and Bowie in tow. Cyrus gave them all a weak smile.

It was a few more minutes before Marty's car was pulling into the driveway, with TJ tapping away at his phone in the passenger seat. He casually glanced for a moment, double-taking immediately and looking back up again. An amazed smile came to his lips, and he gave Marty, who was laughing now, a playful shove before opening the car door and stepping out, pocketing his phone in the process.

He approached hesitantly, stopping a few feet away from Cyrus, the same wide smile still on his face.

"Okay," Cyrus began, returning the smile. "Basically, I had a whole cheesy speech ready for this but I decided last minute that I wasn't gonna use it," TJ laughed at that, and Cyrus winked before adding "you can read it later if you want."

He could feel the eyes of his friends on him, as well as the eyes of Bex, Bowie and TJ's parents, but somehow he didn't feel nervous now with TJ in front of him.

"The bottom line is that I really, really like you, and you're one of the most amazing people I've ever met, so I was wondering - will you go to Prom with me?"

TJ nodded his head. "Of course I will!"

Cyrus smiled at that, placing the sign down so he could walk up to TJ and wrap his arms around the boy, who pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. He heard cheering behind them from Andi, Buffy and even Marty, who had somehow managed to sneak around to join them. He could practically feel the amount of photos that were being taken at that moment, but he couldn't find it within himself to care.

He looked up at TJ, smiling wide, and the boy playfully tilted his head down to bump his forehead against Cyrus'.

"Okay - we need a photo with that sign now!" TJ's mom called, and the boys laughed before separating and picking up the sign.

~

"Roses are red, violets are blue, iced coffee is sweet and so are you," TJ read out quietly as they stood out on the driveway later that night, smiling softly. "Now that's a nice sign."

Cyrus laughed. "Andi helped me with that one - I don't know anything about poetry."

"Really?" asked TJ, eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you would, seeing as you are poetry."

Cyrus could feel himself blushing slightly at that. "Very smooth," he smiled, leaning up on his tip-toes to connect their lips.

TJ's hands found his waist almost automatically, and as always, they managed to fit together like two puzzle pieces. Cyrus couldn't help but think his puzzle piece was somewhat broken, rough around the edges from Dylan in a way he thought he'd never get back again, but there TJ was now - holding onto him as if he was the most important thing in the world, kissing him. Somehow, they still managed to fit together, and Cyrus couldn't be more grateful.

He hadn't expected a flirty boy from a café to become so important to him, but right now he felt light and carefree in a way he hadn't for a long time, his arms looped around TJ's neck, TJ's hands gently pulling him in.

Thank god he'd been late to his book club meeting that day.

A/N:

And...that's a wrap!! I'll most likely be posting a short epilogue when I get around to it, but that was the official last chapter of 'Swingsets and Dance Routines.'

Thank you so so much to anyone who had read and interacted with this story - I read all the comments and they're all super heart-warming. Special thanks to Micah (bezlque on tumblr) for editing a lot of these chapters and Smriti (green-lemonboys on tumblr) for being so supportive throughout!

You can find me on tumblr @heart-eyes-kippen

If you liked this chapter or this fic as a whole, votes/comments are appreciated!!

Thanks again,

Sarah <3