palm trees on the beach

its more than just a name (cyrus & tj)

the bell rang loudly and echoed in the hallway. cyrus jumped out of his chair as fast as he could to speed to the lunchroom. on any other weekday, he'd be thinking about the homework he had due the next day. but friday is a day of relaxation. and all cyrus wanted to was hang out with his friends at their table and mindlessly flirt with his boyfriend, tj.

he walked through the large doors and beelined to his usual table. he got his usual greetings from his friends and waited for tj. due to block scheduling, cyrus didnt see much of his boyfriend in his classes. he made a mental note to give more affection when he saw him.

cyrus was busy on his phone when a large, muscular pair of arms wrapped around his waist in an effort to surprise him. the smaller of the two giggled at the pair of soft lips that left a numerous amount of gentle kisses all over his neck. tj planted a longing kiss on his cheek as he sat down.

"did you bring food," tj asked when he saw nothing on the table in front of his boyfriend. "well actually, a cute boy brings me a muffin everyday. he's so sweet; he remembers exactly which type is my favorite."

cyrus smiled a huge, toothy smile grin as tj pulled the exact muffin cyrus was teasing about out of his bag and handed it to him. as he took the first bites, tj pulled cyrus closer to him by the waist and pecked his cheek again. "a muffin for my muffin." buffy wanted to make a gagging noise for comedic effect, but marty stopped her to protect the soft moment.

the two broke from their little bubble and joined the the convos that scattered around the table. it only took five seconds for the two to immediately intertwine their hands. every time tj would rub his thumb on cyrus', the latter would feel his cheeks grow a peachy tint.

"hey tj, did you show cyrus that picture from earlier?" marty asked as he turned from buffy. cyrus looked from his conversation with andi and amber to see who called his name. tj was already loading up the pic in a text to cyrus when he answered, "marty, jonah, and i saw a group of baby ducks earlier and i snapped a pic because i thought of you." he whispered that last part to not get teased by the rest of the group.

"awww, teej." cyrus laid his head on tj's shoulder and wrapped around the taller boy's arm. "you're so whipped." tj put a hand to his chest in fake hurt and kissed cyrus's head, melting at the scent of cyrus' shampoo.

tj saw cyrus's phone go off on the table and was taken aback when the contact name simply said, 'tj kippen'. "woah, since when did your phone get so formal?" cyrus took a second looking at the photo before responding, "i just cleaned it out and redid everyone's names."

he couldnt lie. tj felt weird about something as simple as a display name, but it was a little more than that. "oh." cyrus noticed how off his boyfriend was acting, but he didnt know why?

the bell rang before he can push further. cyrus made sure to remember to ask about it later. he relaxed when tj walked hand in hand with him and the rest of the group towards their next classes.

tj hugged and kissed cyrus like normal before catching up with marty and jonah at the other end of the hallway. "you guys are so perfect, it hurts." andi whined to cyrus. amber gently elbowed her and laughed. cyrus laughed but he really was worried about tj.

-

cyrus was in his last class of the day. but unfortunately for him, it was study hall. goodman felt himself falling asleep from boredom. a silent vibration broke him from a sleepy trance. it was from tj, telling him to look at the door to the classroom. cyrus looked up only to see his boyfriend knocking on the glass. he slipped the teacher a not and cyrus was free to leave with him.

"i thought you have history right now." the boys were walking hand in hand towards the back of the student parking lot where tj's truck was. tj laughed when he answered, "its all good, baby. the sleeping sub said it was okay for me to leave."

now in the truck and driving away, cyrus thought it be best to ask his boyfriend about earlier. "hey, were you upset at all today?" tj broke his eye contact with the road to look at cyrus. he looked back and sighed. "honestly, a little. i know it's literally so tiny and not important, but i liked having a nickname in your phone. it made me feel special like i was different from everyone else to you."

"its like, comforting, to know that if i text you, that someone is gonna read your phone and say that you got a text from your boyfriend. not just some guy named tj. i like people knowing that you're mine and i dont feel like sharing."

cyrus stared at his boyfriend in awe. leave it to tj kippen to put a beautiful meaning to everything in life. "teej, of course you're different than everyone else. i'd say you're better: you're probably my favorite human being ever. but don't tell buffy that i said that."

"and i'm the one that's 'whipped'." cyrus laughed at his boyfriend's comment and playfully punched him in the arm.

cyrus took tj's hand that rested on cyrus' thigh and linked it with his own. "what should i change it to?" tj kissed the back of cyrus' hand that was intertwined with his and thought about his answer. "i like when you call me theo. it makes me happy and my heart flutters everytime you say it."

"than theo it is!" cyrus quickly changed tj's name in his phone to 'theo<3' and kissed tj on the lips as soon as they parked. "i love you, theo." tj smiled before connecting their lips again. "i love you too, muffin."