#also the fact that the first cupcake is smushed and the second has the half there letters.... gonna make me cry man....

[sophiethewitch1]

Its currently may 18, my birthday!

So what better way to celebrate than draw WWWreader experiencing the worst birthdays of her life two times LMAO

omg dude happy birthday!!! i hope you have (had maybe) an absolutely fantastic day!!!!! ALSO URGHKDJSGBNKSDGBSDGHKJB CELEBRATING.... AND YET I'M BEING GIFTED SUCH AMAZING ART.... nnnnnnnghhh thank you once again!!! also yeah the fact that she had to go through this twice lmao get fucked <3

[rosedavid]

Party at Jackson Street Gym

I kind of hated this by the end but enjoy it anyway lol :)

//

It’s a week before Halloween. The entire town is getting into the swing of things, pasting cheesy looking decorations across town. Jack-o-lanterns guard porches and front doors as you walk past. Some houses even go as a far as hanging up strands of orange and purple lights along their gutters. Grant High School is no exception to the festivities. The student body decorated the hallways last week, lining them with skeletons dancing on the walls and fake spiderwebs hanging from the ceilings (which a lot of students have already yanked down).

Cyrus shuffles through his locker at the end of the day, gathering what he needs to complete his homework. TJ, who he hasn’t seen at all today, sneaks up behind him and taps him on the shoulder. Predictably, Cyrus startles, fumbling to try and save the notebooks in his arms from falling on the floor.

“Sorry! I forget how easily you startle,” TJ apologizes, but the ridiculous grin on his face gives him away.

“Please, you just like scaring me! Admit it,” Cyrus retorts as he organizes his notebooks into the large pocket of his backpack.

TJ chuckles, stepping forward so he’s front to back with Cyrus. He leans in, smacking a kiss to Cyrus’s cheek. “Ok, fine. You���re right. But I can’t help it! You’re so cute when you’re surprised.”

Finishing up in his locker, Cyrus shuts it with a metallic clang. He then turns to face TJ, taking in his boyfriend for the first time that day. Even after a few months, it’s still hard to believe that he’s dating TJ. Despite their somewhat rocky start, Cyrus couldn’t imagine liking another boy as much as he likes TJ Kippen.

“How was tutoring today?” Cyrus converses, trying not to sound too bitter. Of course, TJ has become an expert at picking up emotional cues.

TJ finds Cyrus’s hand, playing with his fingers. “It went fine. I think I’m starting to get the concepts. But tutoring will always suck since I have to miss out on lunch with you.”

Apparently, he said the right thing, as Cyrus bites his lip shyly and glances away. TJ squeezes his hand before a look of recollection passes over his face. Slinging his backpack off one shoulder, he unzips the front pocket. He then pulls out a square piece of paper, obscuring it momentarily with his hands.

“That reminds me! I couldn’t give this to you at lunch, but I have an invitation for you.”

“Ooh, what is it for?” Cyrus asks with curiosity.

TJ rubs the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s kind of stupid and not really exciting. You don’t have to come if you don’t want.”

“Well I can’t answer you unless I know what it is!”

With a nervous exhale, TJ hands him the card in a flash, face burning. Cyrus takes it from him with excitement, looking at the front of it. The paper is orange, colored with black blobs that are probably meant to be bats (although they look more like birds). A cat perches in the corner of the paper alongside a hoard of ghosts and other strange looking creatures. Cyrus’s brow knits together in confusion as he turns it over to read the messy, almost ineligible handwriting:

YOUR INVITED TO ARE HALLOWEEN PARTY!!

“I still don’t get it,” Cyrus admits cluelessly.

“Well, remember the gym I work at? The one where I helped you do the somersault?”

Cyrus smiles as he reminisces. How could he possibly forget a day as monumental as that? The day when TJ truly believed in him to do something he struggled with. And TJ didn’t make fun of him for it, either, he just wanted to help. The memory of that day remains crystal clear.

“Of course I do!”

“Well…” TJ licks his lips, “Um, the kids wanted me to invite you to our celebration this year. They made this card.”

Cyrus cracks a smile. “That’s slightly relieving. I was hoping it wasn’t you who used ‘you’re’ and ‘our’ wrong. But how do the kids even remember me? I came one time, and that feels like forever ago!”

“I kinda talk about you—a lot,” TJ admits with a red tint to his face. “Sorry if that’s, like, weird.”

“Are you kidding? That’s not weird! It’s sweet. I can’t believe you talk about me.”

TJ sends him a strange look. “You’re my boyfriend and best friend! I always talk about you. When I first told my parents I had a boyfriend, the first thing they asked me is if it was you because apparently, I talk about you nonstop.”

“My parents said something similar, although for me the give away was my ‘obvious heart eyes’.”

They two of them collapse into a fit of giggling. TJ braces his hand on Cyrus shoulder for stability. The other students walking by probably think that they’re crazy, although many of them are probably used to their antics by now.

Once their laughter has tapered, TJ composes himself enough to ask, “So, will you come?”

“I’d be honored! I can’t wait to see them again.”

“They’ll be thrilled! And they’ve all gotten so big, too, it’s crazy! Like, I don’t think we were that little when we were their age.”

“Yes, we were. Although, you are super tall, so maybe you were just like an abnormally tall child,” Cyrus jokes, standing on his tiptoes to try and reach TJ’s height. TJ grins, kneeling a bit to shrink down until he’s eye level with Cyrus. The height difference between the two of them has slowly been decreasing with age, but TJ still towers above Cyrus.

“Or maybe you were just abnormally short,” TJ teases, tapping his nose playfully. Cyrus smiles, accompanied by a fond eyeroll.

“So Mr. Tall Basketball Player, do you need help setting up for the party?”

“I suppose I could use a hand.”

…

Despite TJ’s initial hesitance about inviting him, Cyrus can tell how happy TJ is to have Cyrus there. He’s acting like one of the kids in the gym already, bouncing off the walls with energy. After they swing by TJ’s house to pick up the Halloween decorations, they head to the familiar Jackson Street Gym to go set them up. As soon as they walk through the doors, an intense wave of nostalgia hits Cyrus. It’s crazy how much things have changed in his life since his last time in here, yet the gym remains almost exactly the same as if it’s frozen in time.

“The kids should be here in about half an hour,” TJ remarks, dropping the containers he was carrying on the floor.

“What do you need me to do?”

“There’s a little storage area in the back with some snacks. Bring them out for me and put them on the table?”

Cyrus follows his instructions, heading to the back. He spots a container of something on the counter, assuming that’s what he needs. When he sees what they are, he smiles. Little cupcakes decorated like spiders smush together slightly, with licorice pieces for legs and nerds for eyes. There’s also dirt and worm cups, a staple of Cyrus’s elementary school days.

“Did you make these?” Cyrus wonders as he carries them back out toward the front of the gym.

TJ blushes slightly, “Uh, yeah. I know it’s dorky.”

“TJ, you don’t need to do that around me,” Cyrus reassures, stepping toward his position at the wall hanging decorations. “I like you a lot, if you haven’t noticed. You don’t need to feel embarrassed around me, especially for doing adorable stuff like this!”

This statement causes TJ to blush even more. In fact, Cyrus has never seen him this red before. He reaches up to brush a strand of hair out of TJ’s eyes, but his fingers linger on the side of TJ’s face. Then, Cyrus stands up on the point of his toes, getting lost in TJ’s eyes. In fact, the two of them are so lost in the moment, that they fail to hear the door opening until a young voice calls out.

“TJ!!”

They break apart in a flash, just in time for a head of blond hair to barrel into TJ’s legs. TJ leans down to ruffle the boy’s hair with a gentle fondness. The boy pulls back and smiles crookedly at TJ. He’s missing one of his front teeth, and freckles cover his cheeks. Across his chest is the familiar Spider-Man logo, matching his pants and gloves. He almost reminds Cyrus of a miniature TJ.

Then, the kid looks over at Cyrus knowingly. Cyrus doesn’t know a lot about kids, as he’s never really been around them, but he’s amazed out how perceptive this boy seems to be.  

“You brought Cy-rus!” He grins. “You brought your boyyyyfriend!”

“Well, none of you left me much of a choice,” TJ reminds him, “Now, Spider-Man, take off your shoes and drop your stuff off like usual until the others get here!”

The boy hurries to go do what he says, eager to get to playing. TJ then leans in to whisper to Cyrus, “That’s Noah, by the way. He’s a sweet kid.”

Cyrus watches Noah, thinking back to his own childhood years. He remembers how carefree he felt a lot of times, at least before the divorce of his parents. Usually, though, the biggest worry he had was getting enough time to play with Andi and Buffy or making sure he got his favorite colored crayon in class (violet, by the way). As he continues to think about his childhood memories, he glances over at TJ. Butterflies float in his stomach. In that moment, he realizes that TJ makes him feel as happy and content as he felt in childhood, like he has nothing to stress about as long as TJ is there with him. It’s reassuring.

“Hello Mr. TJ!” Another child greets as she comes inside, this time accompanied by her mother. She’s wearing a black cape and plastic fangs.

“I thought I told you to just call me TJ,” he responds with a smile.

“But you’re a adult, so I’m ‘upposed to call you by a proper name!”

TJ laughs, “I can’t argue with that. You’re very smart, Melanie. Why don’t you go join Noah in getting ready for the celebration?”

Melanie’s mother stands on the sidelines next to Cyrus for a second, watching her daughter as she chats animatedly to Noah. She speaks up, and it takes a bit for Cyrus to realize that she’s talking to him. “This place is great, you know? Melanie loves it here!”

“I like it here, too,” Cyrus admits. “I can’t believe how good TJ is with kids.”

She smiles, watching as TJ approaches the children with a roar, causing them to squeal as he chases them around the play equipment. If someone told Cyrus at the beginning of middle school that he’d be watching TJ Kippen running and playing with children at a kids’ gym, he would have never believed it.

“Yeah, TJ is great with them. Melanie always talks about how ‘cool’ and ‘fun’ he is. She mentioned how he has a real life boyfriend, too, that he always talks about.”

At this, Cyrus stutters, trying to find something to say in response. Luckily, she just smiles at him and continues to talk. “Based on what Melanie says, he really seems to like you.”

Cyrus’s heart swells, as he whispers back, “I really like him, too.”

Over the next ten minutes, a bunch of other kids in costumes and some of their parents arrive for the party. Most of the adults stay off to the sides catching up, and Cyrus quickly begins to feel like he’s at one of his parents’ conferences again. He slips back out toward the play equipment, where TJ is supervising the about 15 children as they laugh and frolic with each other.

“Cyrus! Come help me do the monkey bars!” An unknown kid calls out to him who is wearing a princess dress. Almost all of the kids seem to know Cyrus’s name. His eyes flash over to TJ, wondering exactly how much the other boy talks about him. As if reading his mind, TJ looks over at him at the exact same time with a cheerful wave.

The kids are just as adorable as he remembers, except this time the costumes make it even better. Cyrus loves playing with them and interacting with them. It makes him feel like one of them again. The best part of it all, though, is seeing TJ with them. He acts so bubbly and lively with the kids. At one point, he even gives them piggybacks around the gym, acting as a dragon for the little girl dressed as a knight.

There’s one boy that attracts Cyrus’s attention more than the others, though. He’s short with dark hair and glasses. He seems to be off by himself, shy and unsure of how to interact with the others. For Cyrus, it’s like looking in a mirror. Back before he met Andi and Buffy, this was him; scared, shy, and constantly unsure of himself. Cyrus approaches him slowly, sitting down cross-legged beside him.

“I like your costume,” Cyrus says honestly toward the boy who is dressed as a pirate. The boy peers up at him through thick lenses. “Pirates are really cool.”

“I think so, too,” the boy whispers back.

“Did you know that the Vikings are also considered pirates? In fact, there are still pirates today…” Cyrus starts spewing off all the facts he can remember about pirates from the documentaries he’s flipped through on TV.

Soon, the boy (whose name he learns is Adam), is chatting animatedly with Cyrus about pirates and a whole bunch of other stuff. Cyrus has never felt himself connect to a kid this much, not even with his cousins.

“You know, there’s a ship wheel on top of that tower by where those other kids are,” Cyrus points. “Maybe you should go see if they want to play pirates with you.”

Adam seems much more confident than before and decides to take Cyrus’s advice. Cyrus stands up, dusting his pants off as he watches Adam go up to the two girls and start talking to them. Much to his relief, they look eager to play pirates with him.

A hand touches his shoulder. At first, he suspects it’s TJ, but it turns out to be Melanie’s mom from earlier. She’s looking at him with a soft expression.

“I can see why TJ likes you so much,” she says simply. “It was really nice to meet you, Cyrus.”

He doesn’t have a chance to respond before TJ is coming over to them out of breath. He stops at Cyrus’s side, wiping sweat off his brow.

“Those kids are so energetic! A lot more than me, and I play basketball,” TJ laughs. “Melanie loves to climb, too. Maybe you should take her to the community rock wall sometime.”

“That’s a great suggestion, I’ll have to do that. Now, I’ll leave you two boys alone. After all, I think the kids are already missing you both.”

On that note, they turn around to see a bunch of kids heading their way. A few urge TJ to help them make some baskets on the mini hoop they have in the gym, while some others want to race Cyrus up the rope climb.

After what feels like hours of playing, they finally break for snacks. Melanie insists that she has to sit next to Cyrus, as does Noah and Adam and all of the other kids. TJ pretends to be offended that the kids don’t want to sit to him, but in reality Cyrus can tell how happy he is that they’re all getting along so well.

As they sit in a cluster eating their snacks, Melanie asks them, “So, if you two are boyfriends, does that mean you kiss too?”

“Ooh,” the rest of the kids chorus, then begin to chant, “TJ AND CYRUS SITTING IN A TREE K-I-S-S-I-N-G…”

Of course, all of the parents who are there can definitely hear the screaming words. Both of them turn tomato red as they try to shush them. The parents seem more amused than anything, though, especially Melanie’s mom.

By the time they get everyone out the door, it feels like the party’s gone on all week. Cyrus doesn’t understand how TJ can do this all the time along with basketball and school. The two of them are collapsed on the floor, too tired to make it to the seats in the backroom.

“I’m sorry about them,” TJ apologizes awkwardly, “with the whole kissing thing, I mean.”

Cyrus laughs. “They’re kids, TJ. It’s okay. Besides, I thought they were all really sweet.”

“You seemed to bond with Adam pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, I suppose he just reminded me of myself.”

TJ hums. “Well, if he grows up to be similar to you, he’d be incredibly lucky. I can’t believe you actually endured all this chaos today with me.”

Cyrus rests his head against TJ’s shoulder, staring up at the skeleton half stuck up on the wall. “Ugh, I can’t believe you always do this! It’s so tiring. I think I’m going to sleep through Halloween next week!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me tomorrow, too?” TJ laughs, throwing his head back as Cyrus imminently says no.

They stay there like that, resting on the floor, until the sky grows dark. Cyrus falls asleep at one point, and TJ doesn’t have the heart to move him. Instead, he places his balled up sweatshirt under Cyrus’s head as a pillow as he finishes cleaning up.