Tyrus One Shots

The hand we're dealt with (AU)

By: futureboy

"Guys," Jonah says breathlessly, white in the face, "it's happening again. Look--"

He throws his phone into the middle of the table. His hands are shaking.

Cyrus shares a worried glance with Buffy.

"What are you talking about?" Andi asks, frowning at the screen, before she takes in exactly what Cyrus had been expecting.

Burning concrete, mass destruction, and some kind of explosive fight. It's clearly being livestreamed by someone on the scene, because the screen orientation is the wrong way around and everything keeps pixelating at random moments, but the main figure in the midst of the battle is unmistakable.

Buffy inhales sharply. "It is Shuffle."

"Yep," says Jonah, eyes wide with apprehension, "they say those weird lumpy clones are getting worse and worse. It's right outside ChesterLabs, too."

"Do you ever get the feeling that we're living through some kind of science-fiction apocalypse?"

"Cyrus."

"I'm just saying!" he protests. "That's how it feels. Look at that mess."

By now, most people in the cafeteria have gotten wind of something happening. An odd feeling of community settles over the room as schoolkids send links to videos and live news feeds to each other - Cyrus knows for sure that some of them have family and friends, working or living in Midwest City, and that this is all the support they've got right now.

"Do you ever wish we could help?" Andi mumbles.

He takes in the tiny figure in black on Jonah's screen. Thrown backwards, he takes a second to adjust his mask, and leaps right back into the fray. Protecting them. Fearless and steadfast.

"Every day," Cyrus murmurs.

Homeroom is weird these days.

Ever since those things started popping up, there's been a way bigger focus on current events. It makes sense, given that it's extremely local to them, but Cyrus is of the mindset that it's a terrible way to break up the day's lessons.

(Particularly for Buffy. She's discretely left the room a couple of times... Having a mom stationed in the city for clean-up duty? It's really set her on edge lately.)

He's tapping his pencil against the desk anxiously, avoiding the math worksheet he's supposed to be working on, when TJ slides into place next to him.

"What's happenin', small fry?"

"Not much, catch-of-the-day," Cyrus says, unable to stop a smile spreading across his face. "The usual. We're about to see a remarkably poor 'breaking news!' article with very little detail, an eyewitness photograph of what could be a superhero, and the fact sheet on the Splitter Clones."

TJ raises an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

"And attendance," Cyrus grins.

"I know the answer to that part," TJ says, eyes twinkling. "But I can't figure out this superhero stuff, I never kept up with it before. Now this is happening, I'm totally lost."