tyrus oneshots

#18: Let Me Love You

A/N: Hi, this is kinda short and I posted it on tumblr a while back but I was reading over it last night and I kinda like it ngl, so I thought why not post it here too.

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Context: Set in the 90's, high school AU. TJ and Cyrus kissed, now TJ is trying to avoid him.

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TJ Kippen was well aware of the fact that he was background noise. He was well aware that everyone avoided his eye in the corrdior, fearfully turning away as though one wrong look would do it. One wrong move would set him off. An accidental glance in the wrong direction would be the breaking point.

He was okay with it. In fact - he even welcomed it. He liked the silence that surrounded him when he was alone, he liked being avoided wherever he went and he liked being something that people would rather not aknowledge, something they'd much rather drown out. It was comforting in an odd way, and the familiarity of his own company was something he wouldn't give up for anyone.

Not even Cyrus Goodman.

If TJ was background noise, then Cyrus was a gentle summer song, drawing people in with the kindness of his smiles. He wasn't obnoxiously loud, rather, he was soft hum that made people feel safe. Warm. Accepted. He was someone that people waved to in the corridors, someone who always asked if his peers were okay no matter how well he knew them.

Cyrus Goodman was a star that burned so brightly, so wonderfully, that TJ was blinded everytime he saw him.

And if he was a star, then TJ was a shadow, so dull that up until recently, Cyrus had barely spared him a glance.

That's the way it should've been.

People like TJ weren't supposed to like people like Cyrus.

It had never been part of the plan to like Cyrus, and really - it shouldn't have been within the realm of possibility to begin with.

His mind was constantly reminding him of the fact that it shouldn't be like this. That he'd let down his dad, who remained adamant that boys weren't supposed to like boys. That it was unnatural. Something to be hidden away; something to repress.

So that's what he did.

He repressed.

And repressed.

And repressed.

Until it became easy but no less painful to ignore the way his heart would ache around Cyrus, and the butterflies that would fill his stomach when Cyrus so much as smiled at him.

Until it became second-nature to avoid his eye in the corrdior, and avoid his questions whenever he asked them.

People like Cyrus weren't supposed to like people like TJ, and though he sincerely wished this wasn't true, he couldn't escape the reality.

Cyrus was too vibrant, too perfect for TJ, who was rough around the edges in comparison.

Cyrus was like the summer sun; overwhelming in the best way possible, and TJ knew he shouldn't feel this way about someone who could overwhelm him so easily. Someone who could make his knees weak. Someone who could make his heart flutter the way it did.

But then Cyrus would smile, and he would fall even further, and he'd wonder if perhaps there was a small chance they could work.

That maybe,

miraculously,

He wasn't wrong for liking Cyrus.

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