#and i found out if you go for killing tyrus you ARE the one to kill him

[queen-scribbles]

Went ahead and finished Xander through Road to Nowhere, after figuring out you can in fact reset the whole Kessan's Landing section of the mission. So I got a do-over talking to the SIS. :D

Still didn't get to talk to Jonas so I'm starting to seriously suspect it's still bugged, but at least they're not dead this time.\o/

[imagineitdearies]

~ A Flawed Eternity ~

(AKA drabbles set in the Perfect Slaughter universe.)

In which Tyrus has some trouble with the whole drinking blood thing. Content warning for unspecified eating disorder and mention of SA.

~

Tyrus stared down the corpse of a feral street cat, his stomach aching at the sight—and yet his mind recoiling in disgust and fear.

“Freshly killed,” Astarion said, overly cheerful as he sat down next to him on the bed. “Found it rummaging in the rubbish bins outside the kitchen door of the Elfsong, darling, just a few minutes ago. No diseases, not even that bad-smelling.”

“Thank you,” Tyrus said, putting on a smile.

But Astarion didn’t nod and move away. He was trying but failing to act nonchalant—picking at his nails, casually crossing his legs, but clearly waiting for Tyrus to drink. Watching to see if Tyrus could prove everything was alright, after he’d failed to hide the rat he hadn’t drunk from a night earlier.

Maybe if he did this for Astarion, Tyrus bargained with himself, he’d be able.

So he picked up the carcass . . . and felt all at once nauseous, terrified, and disgusted with himself, the moment it touched his lips.

“It–it smells off again,” Tyrus tried, the same excuse he’d given about the rat, though he remained a terrible liar. When Astarion just gave him an incredulous look, Tyrus sighed and lowered the carcass. “Maybe there’s something wrong with my stomach. The thrombophilic blood still affecting it, or . . .” he shook his head. Or there was just something wrong with him, Tyrus didn’t finish.

Astarion gave him a very displeased look. “Just try a taste, love,” he scolded. “I’m sure your appetite will return to you.”

Tyrus held in a shudder. “Maybe later?” he offered.

But later came, and Tyrus still had no appetite. He blamed it on the blood being too cold, promising to not wait too long next time. Astarion only frowned at the excuse.

For the rest of their tenday in Baldur’s Gate, Astarion didn’t press the issue at least—but he did make pointed remarks about all the new animals and occasional criminals he was tasting, and suggested multiple times that Tyrus join him once they figured out that Polymorph could allow them to go out together. Frowning, every time Tyrus just nodded or gave a noncommittal answer.

It wasn’t until they were down in the Underdark, on the trail of the spawn horde, that Tyrus’s starvation became a liability.

Astarion had always been faster. But with the little rest his mind allowed him, and more than two tendays since he last drank—from a thrombophilic victim, no less—Tyrus was slowing them down terribly. His feet were quick to stumble and make noise, his magic was harder to access. Back at the palace, there were plenty of times he’d been much worse off than this, but few situations where it mattered. Now, in one of the most dangerous terrains in Faerun, he was a liability to them both.

So Tyrus felt a bit of hope, when Astarion went off to scout around the hollow they’d found for the night and came back tugging a deep rothe carcass with him.

“I drank half,” he said with a wide, blood-smeared smile. “The rest is for you, love.”

Tyrus quickly finished his Tiny Hut casting, kneeling over the creature with surprise and interest. The blood smelled rich and strange, but good. Certainly like nothing Tyrus had tasted before.

And yet, when he lowered his lips towards the bite mark Astarion had already made in its fur, Tyrus felt his insides twist with revulsion.

He thought of the rat Leon had used to trap him, that Cazador had spent tendays beating him over. He thought of the larger, festering one he’d hid in the drawer, that had put him in a tomb for a year. Worse, he thought of the rabbit, limp and twisted and deformed in his grip as Cazador raped him. He could still feel it almost, the blood curdling in his stomach the moment he realized what he’d paid for it.

And, much too viscerally, Tyrus thought of the gingery thrombophilic blood resting like lead in his undead limbs, clotting in his lungs, splitting pain in his abdomen and head.

Tyrus heard Astarion let out a small exhale of disbelief, as he pulled back without so much as wetting his lips. But he couldn’t do it. He needed to—but he couldn’t.

“I don’t think I’m hungry enough yet,” he murmured, sitting back up. “You finish it, love.”

When Astarion didn’t immediately answer, he made the mistake of fully looking at him—and felt his soul crumble at the confusion, worry, and heartbreak in his partner’s eyes. Things Tyrus had never wanted to see on Astarion’s face again, and all of it because of him.

Tyrus felt tears build in his eyes in return, and he buried his head in his hands before his face could fully twist with despair. It seemed like all he could do the last two tendays was cry or make problems. Shouldn’t he be happy, not a broken mess? Shouldn’t he want to drink all the blood he could, as he’d dreamed of for so long?

Couldn’t he at least force it down now, for Astarion’s sake?

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” he whispered, just before he felt familiar arms come around him, pulling him into his partner’s chest. Tyrus collapsed into it, letting his tears soak into the ruffles of Astarion’s new silk shirt. “I know it’s fine now, and I’m hungry, I should . . .”

“Shhh,” Astarion hushed, holding him just a bit tighter. Kissing the top of Tyrus’s head, before he murmured, “You’re alright.”

After the tears passed, Tyrus shook his head. Sighing as he admitted, “I’m not. I’m slowing us down—we’ll never catch up to them, at this rate.”

Astarion gently pulled back from their embrace and met his eyes with a rather serious expression. “I don’t care when or if we ever find them, Tyrus,” he replied, reaching forward to wipe at his tears. “I’m worried about you. Is there something you would like? Or think might be easier to try, at least?” Astarion let out a sad chuckle, adding, “I’d track down a dragon for you, love, if I knew you’d drink it.”

That cracked a smile on Tyrus’s face as well. Then he sniffed, glancing down at the large creature. “It smells good,” he admitted softly. “Different enough I thought I wouldn’t . . .”

“Recall a bad memory?” Astarion guessed correctly.

“Many,” Tyrus nodded with a sigh—though it wasn’t just the memories, he knew. More accurately, it was all the terrible associations the memories had given him, compounded into one deep aversion.

An aversion he simply couldn’t afford.

“I’ll try again,” Tyrus tried to convince himself, pulling away fully to lean down towards the bovine creature. Focusing in on the differences he could smell in the dead animal’s cooling blood than anything he’d drunk before—more earthy and herbal, for a start.

“That’s it,” he heard Astarion sigh with relief, a hand grounding on his lower back as he pressed his lips over his lover’s bite and forced himself to try. And Tyrus felt a small thrill of happiness, both as the first taste warmed his tongue and when he heard Astarion continue to praise, “You’re doing so well, darling,” already pulling back Tyrus’s hair before he could brush it out of the way himself.

And for a while, he was doing well. Tyrus felt his hunger take over quickly, his instinctive need overriding the crackling static of fear and revulsion in the back of his mind. He couldn’t swallow it down fast enough, near choking with how fast his mouth pulled it in.

Then the carcass twitched, when he needlessly tightened his grip.

All at once Tyrus’s mind catapulted back in time again, now to the day Astarion had tried Polymorph to be fed from, and Tyrus hadn’t even been conscious of how much the lion was fighting him as he greedily drank, taken over by bloodlust for so long before he came to his senses and allowed Astarion to scamper away, bleeding and crying . . .

Tyrus pulled away from the carcass just before he gagged, blood revolting halfway to his stomach—choking out a large portion of it onto the ground.

“That’s alright,” he heard Astarion still soothing him, hands still grounding on his back as Tyrus huffed and gasped then stared blearily at the pool of blood he’d wasted.

But not all of it had been lost. Tyrus could feel his head clearing a significant amount, his focus sharpening, his limbs lightening. This harrowing memory couldn’t hold him for long—Astarion was right here, after all, free and healthy.

So Tyrus sat up straighter, licking absentmindedly at his lips as he turned to Astarion and murmured, “Thank you.”

Astarion gave him a feigned look of confusion. “For allowing you a small taste? This was nothing, darling—I could go and fetch us a whole second beast if this is what you can stomach—though perhaps cattle from the surface might go down smoother for you . . .“

“You are wonderful, you know,” Tyrus laughed, before leaning in and kissing him.

Astarion froze in surprise—and then he let out a pleased moan, kissing back with enthusiasm as he tasted the fruit of his labors on Tyrus’s tongue.

[king-of-confections]

WHO RUNS THE BLOG?

Why, King Candy of course!

He is the main focus of the entire blog! Be it in-character or out-of-character. If you found this blog, I have a sneaking suspicion you already know a thing or two about everyone's favourite eccentric monarch & greatest racer, given the small fandom WIR has nowadays.

BUT WHO ELSE IS ALSO A PRIME FOCUS ON THIS BLOG?

Believe it or not, His Puffiness is not going to always be the center of attention... there's a lot more to Sugar Rush nowadays than ever!

Canon-wise... Sour Bill, Taffyta and the Turbo Twins are going to be present.

OC-wise... oh man, where do I begin?

Thiefling - a glitching malware the program built from Vanellope's code remains, mixed with Turbo's & cy-bugs. Appearance-wise, she's an amalgamation of cy-bug & Sugar Rush/TurboTime parts, she can turn into a whole candy cy-bug too!; personality-wise, well... you'll see a lot of resemblances with Vanellope, but that loveable usurped racer sadly does not exist anymore.

Because King Candy had torn up and ripped out Vanellope's code box, the game's sudden shut down ended up completely erasing her identity, she died as the game restarted- the Program simply re-built a new entity with the scraps. But unlike Vanellope, Thiefling proves to be an actual, real threat; she's not just a glitch, she's a malware. If she snoops in the wrong place (AHEM like a certain room full of very sensitive coding at the moment, or hypothetically were to cross a finish line on a racing kart) she could end up actually destroying the entire game, causing another, permanent, shutdown.

Thiefling lives to cause mischief on purpose, not with ill intent- but either just to survive or to have fun, she's still only a child despite being a malware; she steals (as her name implies) mainly food, tries to break into places to gain access to things that aren't hers (shiny trinkets), and she often attempts to disrupt the races. But she does not do so because she wants to race, she has a complete disinterest to do so- despite the King's palpable doubts, she simply lives to be silly and gaze at the wonders of her world. She's one of the rowdiest creatures there have ever been in Sugar Rush, she drives the king crazy!

Rotti -

Candybug - yet another amalgamation of bits and pieces from three different games by the Sugar Rush program, heavily influenced by King Candy's narrative of being the 'ruler' of Sugar Rush, the program created an almost perfect copy of Turbo and his royal persona, if it wasn't for the fact that this one 'double' of himself has absolutely zero recollection of TurboTime, and well- his appearence is a mess of King Candy and Cy-Bug; CB believes himself to be the 'true' King Candy that has been usurped by a fake, and because he is the true king- everything in the game obeys him by law- including the cy-bugs. He believes being part of an underground hive is enough proof that HE should be the true monarch (when in reality he's just half cy-bug and they recognize pheramones or something like that).

Tyrus - the original mascot straight from TurboTime...

Cy-guts - another amalgamation of human and bug, loose-cannon, self-proclaimed 'exterminator' of Cy-Bugs. She doesn't despise them, she has no reason to considering she's almost as feral as one, but there's just something in her code... something feral... yet strict and authoritative that demands her mission to be: KILL! EA̶T̷̪̄!̶̫̑━ Destroy all Cy-Bugs.

She believes the king of Sugar Rush to be a threat because of his insectoid half... and the King believes her to be a threat in return because of her recklessness and madness (oh the irony), believing she could end up harming his subjects.

Cy-berg - a bugged cy-bug (not pun intended I promise) that immigrated all the way from Hero's Duty! It fled to Sugar Rush as a baby once hatched, it's perpetually blue coloration instead of neon green made it stand out like a sore thumb, it has only been successfully blinded in one eye by Sgt. Calhoun.

Now fully grown and residing within Sugar Rush, the giant insect has been adopted into Candybug's hive; Berg's programming is completely unresponsive, bugged out really! This means that it does not respond to the average cy-bug program. It does not kill, it can eat but is not obligated to, and doesn't become anything when it does eat, it doesn't multiply and it doesn't respond to beacons of light. It just exists, a completely tame bug.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 27: The Green Medusa Season 1, Episode 28: Treasure of Planet Tyrus

Episode 27: The Green Medusa ALL RIGHT MY OTHER FAVORITE EPISODE OF DOTU

Ty Lotor for the lore, Planet Medusa was hit with a solar flare that put all of its people into a coma, his plan is to snatch one and let it loose on Arus ofc The sad part about this is that they picked a mother who lost her children, so she's having the worst time

I like the design for the Medusan, just wish it had more flair and no boobs,, is this woman not reptilian why does she have breasts

Ah there's the namesake, when angry the Medusan can grow pretty large, their hair transforms into snakes, and ya guessed it, their laser vision turns enemies to stone she looks a lot more monstrous in this form, a better look imo

Hey a scene from before is reused! We're back on Arus now and the scene of people crowding around lance pidge and hunk for their offer of food from the episode where Sven got got was reused for them calling for orphans since Allura is using part of the castle as an orphanage now A sweet gesture, wish there was more info about it

Back at the castle, an infant apparently chose Keith to be their foster dad oh, I am so making either an AU or a HC from this scene omg

PIDGE LORE he's an orphan! And adopted out of the system recently from what it looks like

His adoptive parents <3

aw no Pidge,, he still wishes to have his biological mother with him, that's always a hard wish to have, not that I can comment much on it as I'm not adopted

Attack time and the team is already in their lions wow, no launch animation sequence? Amazing

AND NO ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE MEDUSAN? THIS ISN'T THE USUAL EPISODE FORMAT also pidge ejects from green who ends up smashing into the castle flooring below, I thought you were a better pilot than this kid

The Medusan mother grabs him after he lands onto the floor but instead carefully picks him up and places him onto her palm, even her expression is soft! This is why I love this episode, pidge found a mom and yknow what good for him because he keeps getting badass women figures in his life

Allura is freaking out about it and Lance wants to shoot everything at her for grabbing pidge before keith tells him again that she's got pidge in her grasp PIDGE IS JUST ROUTINELY GETTING ADOPTED AT THIS POINT AND WE LOVE THAT HERE

Pidge wakes up in a cave with the Medusan and tries running off but for some reason turns back and then immediately gets brought back by one of her snakes who nuzzle him after picking him back up how cute! I think Pidge knows something is going on especially because she only took him elsewhere instead of killing him

"he's awful little to see from up here" -Hunk such a cute line

PIDGE YOU MADE HER CRY, at least he apologized Lotor finds the two of them and immediately tries to capture them, but she protects pidge from it, and he finally realizes she's protecting him

Pidge likes snakes, sucks for lance who is definitely afraid of snakes after Bokar

Lotor says that he created a monster with too good a heart Created?? mf you KIDNAPPED A MOTHER AFTER FORCFULLY AWAKING HER FROM HER COMA YOU DIDN'T CREATE SHIT

Coran and Nanny immediately think Pidge is dead after the team searches for him again and still doesn't find him which like that's a sane assumption, but I'm also biased against them so how fucking DARE they pretend to care now >:/

Sike, Pidge is alive and he made friends with his new mom, Anga HE'S JUST CHILLING ON HER HAND LIKE IT'S NOTHING, MAN IS LIVING THE LIFE And suddenly Hunk is real hopeful that Anga has a friend lol

Attack hours again, this time with a REAL robeast and Haggar tries to force Anga to attack pidge so he PULLS OUT HIS GUN TO SHOOT AT HAGGAR ICONIC

Anyway Anga is shrunk down to her normal size and Pidge gets back to making sure Haggar knows who the bitch is between the both of them, and it ain't the little boy with a blicky that's for sure

Pidge gets a piggyback ride from Anga but she's super hurt and collapses before they reach the castle so Pidge promises to come back for her after having a memory of his adoptive mother giving him a piggyback right too THIS KID CAN FIT SO MUCH BACKSTORY AND TRAUMA IN HIM OH MY GOD

Voltron formed, robeast defeated, another scene is reused where Lance is kissed by allura and pidge gets kisses from the mice when he asks instead not the best scene to use? i mean nobody did anything except for pidge but all he did was make friends with a woman who died trying to do the right thing for him

/episode end

Episode 28: Treasure of Planet Tyrus

Planet Tyrus is a vacation planet i see, i can't tell if it was taken over and made a vacation planet for the villains to relax at or if it was always like that

So as an amateur archivist for older voltron content, I can definitely see why there were so many people who loved lotor specifically, the douchebag attitude probably doesn't take away from his looks either huh

oh so definitely conquered and it's lotors birthday! I wonder when this aired so I can assign that to him

i'm sorry, Zarkon stole treasure from Arus the week before the events of the episode?? guys what the fuck are you letting happen on arus

the team infiltrates the ship that apparently carrying said treasure, and it's deserted! they find a golden statue of lotor though, so that's pretty wild what the fuck is chitter doing on the ship, did i skip something on accident again

I'm sorry, red lion is able to phase through fucking metal? Lance is straight up hiding in the lotor statue what does this fucking imply because-

lotor sends a squad to go grab the treasure from the ship and keith pretends to be a guard only for the lead of the squad to say "nah youre not treasure so fend for yourselves" absolutely ruthless

the quality of this dub is so low lmao, looks like the team didn't realize that it was keith under the mask when he fell with the key in front of lotor because it was hunks voice first before keith suddenly pipes up and reveals himself

lotor v lance sword fight rematch AND LANCE GETS CAUGHT BY A TRAP DOOR WHAT KEITH TRIED TO CATCH HIM BUT WATCHED HIM FALL very homosexual of them

how many times has allura slapped lotor now? 3 times? she's right to do it every time

oh shit keith lance and pidge are about to be burnt a la witch trials, obvs allura is forced to watch because why would lotor kill her but mouse to save the day because chitter is biting the rope away

LANCE SURVIVES AND HE BLOWS UP BOTH THE CAKE AND THE STATUE he's so great, what a way to stick it to lotor on his birthday

voltron v command ship, obvs they win and apparently are able to get the valuables back allura makes fun of lotor and says he aged 10 years instead of only the 1

/episode end

[shinzusdoodles]

'Numb little bug'

Words: 3243 Warnings: self harm, mentions of abuse and drugs, suicidal ideation

There's probably typos but if I kept working on this my brain would become mushy. Formatting sucks ass cause I'm not fighting Tumblr mobile sorry.

---

As guards started hearing the news about the death of Aeloz Smith, the prison became eerily quiet, unsettling Mageil. The residential areas were often quiet especially at night, but nobody dared to speak a word after Aeloz's own son killed him in the middle of the cafeteria during lunch rush.

It had come as a shock even to the one person who'd known Tyru best, the chief warden Jake, who was now locked away in his office with the rest of the wardens and their superiors as they discussed how to handle this.

Before leaving, Jake had said, "I won't let them imrpison him. They won't want to anyway. I just need to negotiate on his punishment."

His face had been sullen, disappointed.

Mageil remembered how delicately Jake explained Tyru's situation to him; cursed to live a life of immortality, given when he was barely a teenager, born to serve the prison under a blood bound contract with their god Keypi. It had been in place for 2000 years, he'd said with a soft, sympathetic voice, and the only way to die was to pass it onto their child.

Since Mageil had stepped foot into the prison officially sworn in as an apprentice, he'd been trying to befriend all of those who would soon be his coworkers. But Tyru rarely spoke to him, and if he did, he'd tell Mageil to fuck off back to his prissy little mansion where his family lived in Province 12. Mageil kept trying, and trying, to do anything that could break that hard shell of his, but truth of the matter was that Tyru did not trust people. He spent his meals alone, his training alone, did all his lessons alone or silently in the back of class.

He didn't even learn Tyru was a host until he'd snapped, and that was the same moment everyone else found out.

And then he disappeared. It had been three days now. Nobody else tried, or even bothered, to find him, and he never showed up.

Mageil had a bad feeling about it though. His symbiont, a three headed dragon, whispered to him that maybe Tyru had finally found a way to do. The head he'd dubbed anxiety, who exuded worry and fear, suggested that he went off to find someone else to kill. He didn't like that disgusting feeling it gave him, anxiety for no reason, and he scoffed.

"That's stupid," he said out loud, ignoring the looks from passersby. "You were a war general, don't play these baby games with me. Besides, he'd never killed anyone before this. I asked Jake."

'That you know of.' All three heads laughed in his mind, rattling his skull.

"Shut the fuck up. I'm going to go find him."

He slammed his meal tray down and left the table.

Most of the guards, upon seeing Mageil's enormous and terrifying dragon form sprinting down the hall, jumped out of the way.

He maneuvered through the maze of hallways in the dorms, glancing in every open room he could. Most were vacant. Even Tyru's assigned room was empty, which he expected, but had hoped to be wrong.

It was unlikely he left the prison at all, so Mageil kept his eyes and ears open. And though it hurt his head, he was able to sort of see through the eyes of all three dragon heads, and commanded that ability at will. His dragon complained about it, but with careful listening the head situated to the far left just barely picked up the sound of sniffling.

---

His hands trembled.

He stood in a pool of his own blood. The blood never stopped flowing from gashes on his arms.

He could not die.

He could not hear the voice of his symbiont. The poor sweet creature who he blocked out with a sedative he'd stolen from his father would have retreated to the farthest corner of his mind.

Domestic dragons watched him from the storage shelves. Some hung in the rafters the chefs used to hang garlic and dried meats. They gave him curious trills, none willing to approach the grizzly scene.

Tyru could only replay the terrible memories in his mind-- Aeloz giving him the cold shoulder since before he could recall. Food being withheld for threatening to report him. The arguments. Brutal trainings that lasted hours with little to no break. Getting called weak. Being backhanded and cursed out for talking out of turn, or at all, really.

The dozens of ways Aeloz found to blame Tyru for his mother's death.

How Tyru's hand wrapped around Aeloz's neck as he pulled out the knife he'd been stashing away for that very moment. Aeloz's eyes were full of fear and then relief- as if he'd been waiting to die this entire time.

Aeloz never fought back.

He dropped to his knees, gripping the handle of his knife tight.

Aeloz was gone, whisked away by an undertaker. He'd planned this for months. He felt no relief though.

What was going to happen to him?

He couldn't die.

He was forced to serve the prison because of his ancestor's mistake.

The first Aeloz. The first host to ever exist and cause the barrier to the soul pool to break.

Aeloz, a cursed name.

Tyru's breaths came short and shallow. Tears rolled down his face. But still he bared his fangs in anger and fear.

He stabbed right through his midsection, gasping in pain. His body shook and his vision swam but no matter how hard he tried to die it wouldn't work.

Death would be better than any punishment the prison and government could possibly think up for him.

/But he could not die./

Yanking the knife back out, Tyru leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the cool storage room floor. It was coated in blood from three days of this... /breakdown/.

What kind of prison warden would he be if he freaked out at the first death be ever caused?

He stabbed his middle again, for good measure he guessed, leaving the knife sticking out of himself as he curled up further.

The dragons frills stiffened and they prepped their wings for flight. Tyru's eyes snapped open; turning too fast to see who was at the door made his vision fuzzier and his stomach lurched.

He kneeled back over, propping himself up with his hand.

"The fuck do you want, /prince/." His words slurred as he became weaker. He wouldn't die, but he still felt the blood loss, especially when he yanked the knife out with dreadfully shaky hands.

Mageil stood in the doorway, a wide, shocked expression on his face.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Tyru didn't have an answer. He got to his feet, wobbly, and tried to throw the knife at Mageil, who merely stepped to the side to avoid it.

The dragons above them trilled louder, some even jumping down to stand intimidatingly next to Tyru. They were a few feet taller than him, with more fangs and sharper claws than he could ever dream of, and in a split second decision he told them to stand down. They were the closest to friends he'd ever had in this god forsaken prison but this wasn't their issue to fight.

Mageil, stupid sickly little prince Mageil, didn't move, his glowing yellow eyes staring straight through Tyru.

Tyru gripped his midsection as more blood seeped into his shirt. His knee gave out, and if it wasn't for the dragon that hurriedly caught him, he thought he'd be face down on the ground.

"Tell me why you're doing this," Mageil said again, "if you can't even die."

"You're not supposed to fucking know that!"

Mageil took a step toward him. A dragon raised its wings. "I want to be friends with everyone I'm supposed to work with. I was concerned about you so I asked why you're like that."

"Like /what/."

"You don't talk to people, you sit alone all the time, nobody even knew you were a host until three days ago."

"Cause that's not their business," Tyru spat.

His bloody nails tried to find a grip on the smooth scales of the dragon to no avail. His other leg started to give out, his vision blurry, and he bit his tongue so as to not vocalize the whine in his throat.

For some reason, the dragons didn't move as Mageil approached. He reached down to roughly grab Tyru by his wrists and yank him up, lifting him a good foot off the ground due to their height difference. Tyru cried out as the gashes on his arms got scraped and agitated by Mageil's claws.

Tyru started kicking Mageil but that stupid man was built like a brick wall. His kicks bounced off of him like a ball of paper. The two foot height difference and build didn't help.

"Just fucking let me go!"

"Answer my gods damned question."

Tyru started twisting his body despite the pain in his arms. He tried to twist enough to slap Mageil in the face with his wing. "Like you'd ever understand wanting to just die! Let me go!"

"You think I don't /know/?" Mageil asked, unbelievable laughter slipping into his voice. "Maybe you'd know if you bothered talking to people!"

"I. Wasn't. Allowed. To." Tyru bared his teeth and kicked again.

Mageil's face fell. "What?"

"You fucking heard me."

He could barely get the words out. His head rung, his arms going numb. He was starting to slip from Mageil's grasp from the blood coating his arms. Whatever strength he'd had left to hold his head up dissipated and his head fell forward.

Mageil lowered him gingerly onto the ground against the cool scales of a dragon. Tyru wasn't unconscious yet, but couldn't keep his eyes open, and could only feel that Mageil was moving his arms around, checking the gashes on his arms and stomach.

Not to mention the scratches he'd dug into his own face with his claws. Mageil's stupid soft fingers brushed over them, making him hiss.

"Just leave me alone," Tyru muttered, barely above a whisper. "I'm not gonna die. I'll just wake up when the skin heals and blood replenishes and move on."

"...you've done this before?"

Tyru stayed quiet. He just didn't have the energy to talk anymore.

He felt himself get jostled around, picked up behind his back and knees as if he weighed nothing. He whined.

"They're gonna put me in my family's own prison," he slurred.

"Jake's making sure they don't. He doesn't think they will so he's looking for alternatives to deal with it. Talk to me if you can."

Alternatives? His heart beat faster.

"Don't have anything to say..."

Mageil hummed. Tyru could feel Mageil's arms trembling.

A young man pampered and spoiled growing up. He wasn't used to seeing someone act like this, let alone blood probably, is all Tyru could think.

"All anyone knows of me is that I was the sick prince," Mageil says absentmindedly. Tyru groaned. "But they never saw that behind the scenes I never saw my parents. My father divorced my mother for giving him a sickly child and I didn't even meet my father until I was almost six. I was taken care of by a hired nanny. I was sick because they didn't know I was a poison host at first and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. When my father remarried, my step mother was cruel to me. My half brother was cruel to me. They only started talking to me when my rare symbiont manifested."

"Spare me the exposition."

"You won't talk so I will."

"Motherfucker just shut up."

"Mm...I don't think I will. You insist I don't know what it's like to want to die when I very much do."

"Shut up," Tyru whined.

He didn't get to hear anything else Mageil said. Exhaustion clawed at him and he drifted into unconsciousness.

---

"He'll be fine," the doctor, Azel, said as he walked out from a back room, having just spent the better part of an hour fixing up Tyru. He tossed his gloves into a trash nearby and sat down heavily at his desk, holding his head in one hand. He looked at the notes Mageil had written for him. "I can't discuss private information. All I can really say is that it will take a day or two for him to wake up, if you want to come visit him."

Mageil's face fell. "I don't think he'd want me to."

"Jake already gave the order that he's to be put on leave for an undisclosed amount of time." Azel sighed. His black jaguar ears flicked. "Once he's able to stand on his own and get the stitches removed, he won't he back for a long time."

"Can I visit him now?" Mageil asked.

Azel was quiet at first. "Do you really want to?"

"I mean what I said," Mageil insisted, already standing up.

He walked past the silent doctor and went into the back rooms without permission, where some large rooms were sectioned off for injured guards being tended to and others were fully private. One door was propped open, the inside illuminated by a dim, warm lamp.

Tyru, one of the smallest people Mageil had ever met, looked dwarfed in the hospital bed made for people much larger than him. Unlike other patients Mageil had passed, he only had a single IV with no other medical devices attached. Pain meds, he guessed, because Tyru was right-- he wasn't going to die. Better to use most of the resources elsewhere, right?

He stood next to the bed, stoney faced and silent. Tyru looked peaceful, more so than Mageil had ever seen him, almost cherub-like with his round face and small proportions. He was pale and cold though, like a living corpse, breathing slow and shallow.

It took almost a week for Tyru to wake up. Mageil visited every day after his lessons until he walked in, just as surprised to see Tyru awake as he was to see someone walk in the door.

The color had returned to his face and the pain meds were gone. His blue eyes were bright and vibrant as they stared each other down. Thick, fresh bandages covered his arms up past his elbows. Bandaids stuck to three spots on his cheeks.

"Oh fuck me," Tyru snapped. He dropped his food onto his tray in protest. "You're like a rat that just won't go away!"

Mageil only smiled. "We're coworkers. You'll have to work with me until we retire. Or I die."

"Fuck," Tyru said under his breath.

---

The Smith family had lived in a large manor for generations now, but as they started to despise the curse more, they had less and less children. Tyru wasn't able to visit his home often until now, greeted by dust, cobwebs, and hundreds of packed up boxes full of memorabilia from generations past.

He didn't know why his father or his grandmother boxed it all up, but it was just him now to do with them as he pleased.

The last direct descendent of Aeloz the first who worked in the prison, all alone at home.

There was no trial as he expected. It wasn't often a warden was killed by someone in the prison itself and usually if one died the apprentice took over. But because of the situation, one of the on call wardens stepped in to fill the job as Tyru was put under a leave of absence.

His superiors asked a lot of questions. Namely about how he was treated, but he kept it short and sweet. They didn't say much about it, but since he was still here and not locked up, he decided not to complain.

They gave him stipulations though.

They didn't want a future warden like him, but since he was born to serve the prison, they let the local psychiatrist decide what to do with him.

1) no sharp objects without supervision

2) no alcohol

3) no recreational drugs or symbiont sedatives

4) monitored medications

Tyru hated it. But how could he possibly say no?

Multiple guards had come with him and spent the better part of a day unboxing everything and confiscating whatever they considered a sharp object. Aeloz's old stash of cheap alcohol was trashed. By the time they left almost everything was unpacked and not put in their correct places. He opted to just go to bed.

He wondered if, had he been born into a normal province under normal circumstances, he would've been left alone. He felt infantilized, like he'd never had a life under his superiors anyway, merely patted on the head like a dog for being unable to die. A curse that they salivated over, because it meant they could use him for whatever they wanted with little to no bad PR.

A few weeks into leave, Tyru found himself sitting at the kitchen table across from Mageil and Samantha, one of their other apprentice coworkers. The dim lamp above them barely lit up the kitchen and he had some easy snacks tossed into the center of the table.

He never had anyone visit before. They stayed for a few hours despite the awkwardness, and Samantha had brought him new coffee and snacks he couldn't get in town or in Scarlet City. Since she couldn't fly, she ended up heading back home earlier than Mageil, and Tyru suddenly felt...exposed under his stern gaze.

Tyru coughed. "What."

"How are you feeling?" Mageil asked. His voice was surprisingly soft and genuine.

The question he was dreading. "I'm fine. I'm not going to try and kill myself again right now if that's what you're asking."

"Right now?" Mageil whined hopelessly.

Tyru held his hands up in surrender. "I swear right now I'm fine." He held out his arms with the gnarly healing gashes and lifted his shirt to show him the stab wounds. Mageil made a face. "I'll be healed soon. They...have me on a lot of medications. Antibiotics n...shit, I guess. You know."

"You don't have to tell me. It's okay."

They fell into an awkward silence. Tyru never really talked this much before, and let his mind drift off to talk with his symbiont as he waited to see what else Mageil might say.

Nothing came.

Tyru suddenly became interested in picking at the edges of the scabbing on his arms and between his scales. Mageil puffed out his cheeks, exhaling slowly. He tapped his hands on the table surface.

"Do you want me to visit more often?" Mageil asked hesitantly. "I mean- I'll visit anyway but I want to hear you say yes."

"Why are you so fuckin obsessed with me?"

"I thought we could be friends. It's not...fair that Aeloz did that to you. It doesn't have to stay like that."

"You're not my therapist."

"Come on, man!"

Tyru clicked his tongue. "Fine. Not like I'm fucking doing anything anyway."

"Do you want me to bring anything from Scarlet City? I can hit it on my days off."

"I don't want anything." He wasn't allowed to really want anything. He stared blankly at Mageil. "Surprise me. If you want. Or something."

Mageil pushed his chair back and stood up, clasping his hands together. "I'll see you next week then alright?'

"I guess. Get out before you make me sappy you asshole."

[diaborodevil]

Manaless

Cyeris it’s a frozen tundra with scattered settlements from local tribes and few settlements from outsiders despite being a frigid region there are two semi active volcanoes known by the locals as the twin pyres

Wh why are you telling me all this

So that you know where we’re going I mean by how I see it seems like you never left westloft

That that’s true

Well by my guesses are that you aren’t going to see much

What do you mean

Well since cyeris is so cold and your beastly form long and thin you wouldn’t last long out here so you stay in the wagon

So do you think anyone is following us

No no one is that crazy to follow us

Hey Kyle we found him

I see that he’s right in front of us

Uh I didn’t think I’d have to resort to this okay (Carlos gets off his horse) tyrus I’m going to need you to run all the way to the other side of cyeris okay (then tyrus starts to run) so what’s more important Catherine or me (Carlos proceeds to run in a different direction)

We need to catch that wagon

No we need him I mean how long can that horse run if we go after the wagon we could lose him

What are you more concerned about

About about getting the job done efficiently no loose ends

Sure buddy I’ll I’ll follow your lead on this

Later

I I think I lost them few

It’s not that easy to lose us you’ll have to try better then

What are you riding

There llamels we were granted them by the state so that we could

Your kidding

No they really

No about being state mages I’ve seen a bunch of state mages but I’ve never seen any like you two I mean how long have you been enlisted two no three days how were you granted access to do something like this

Well Catherine’s parents put in a lot of money to make sure that she gets back to westloft safely

So I’ll kill two birds with one spell I’ll save my friend and help my father

You keep saying save like you actually know how to help her

Oh yeah keep talking we got you cornered

Oh first time in cyeris I presume

Oh yeah what makes you think tha where did he

He walked up to an animal jumped on its back and it started to slide down the hill with him on its back

Are you kidding me uh we have to after him cmon move

I don’t think that will

Come on you beast we have to go after him yes yes down the hill wait why are you going slower

This is going to take a while aint it

Swush

What was that

Meanwhile lower on the hill

Few lost them and hope fully they stay lost

Oh I wouldn’t count on that

Huh who said that

Oh I did sweety

Where are you

For all you know I’m all around you

Who are you

The one who’s gonna catch you sheep prince I’m Irene cyeris state mage rank ranger

Pleasure but you really think you can catch me many have tried

Good half way down the hill but he’s almost at the bottom so you need to hurry up so we can catch up to him

They appear to be at the bottom and oh looks like they crashed into a frozen river and now there going down stream

Take all the time you need

Meanwhile in the river

Huh *huff* that should keep her off my trail

It’s not that easy

Oh you have to be kidding me what is that thing even

A frost wyrm one of the deadlier predators to inhabit cyeris so there’s nowhere safe for you (Irene readies a crossbow) so it’s best if you just accept your fate

No I think I’ll keep running as long as I can

Well ashame I never need more then one arrow for my targets (Irene fires her crossbow)

( we see Carlos’s neck craned to the side)

I’m sorry did I ruin your streak well I’m getting off this river *inhale exhale* enhance beast

No where are you going (Irene readies her crossbow and fires another shot)

You really think that’s really going to work again (suddenly another arrow flies from behind Carlos’s head) how this must be (another arrow goes past his face) her magic uh I need to focus on these arrows

*feeeeeewwww whiff feeeeeewwww*

Wait did it just (Carlos leans to the side letting the arrow fly past him)

*feeeeeewww whiff feeeeeewww*

(Suddenly every time the arrow flew by Carlos he was able to perfect dodge it till it slowed down and fell to the ground)

How how did you

I figured out the trick your a wind mage so you were using your magic to change the position of the arrow so that it would hit me but I could hear it also if I were you I’d get out of the water

What do you mean

There’s a waterfall

No I mean hearing the wait a what ahhhhhh

Welp time to try and catch up to tyrus

Distance

Oh we’ll see about that

[inks-books]

Happy Thursday! You have some interesting names in your WIPs—how do you come up with them? Is there a naming convention you use, or do you flip through sounds until it feels right? What character do you think has the coolest name, and can you tell us about them?

HI!!!!!! And thank you for the ask!!!

I LOVE coming up with names for my characters and my WIPs! I sometimes use behindthename.com and seventhsanctum.com to use names and then name generators! I actually got the name Di-Ne from a planet name generator from seventh sanctum and then later changed it to Dai-Nē for pronunciation's sake cause people were pronouncing it dee-nay instead of die-nee.

My character Tursanay was from a mix of name sites and a name generator, then I used Behind the name to pick a T name for her father because I wanted her to kind of be named after him but I found Tyrus which means "rock" as in something you can form a foundation on which was important for Tursanay to have in her younger years and thought it was fitting. Then I took Tursanay and Tyrus and made a third name: Kursani - her mother and basically reverse-shipped named Tursanay after her parents. Tyrus + Kursani = Tursanay: A spitfire with a big heart.

I kind of suck at title names sometimes for my WIPs even though I love coming up with them? Like take Curiosity Killed the Elf - stroke of genius. She's curious like a cat, she's an elf, she nearly gets herself killed every chapter just about, but satisfaction brings her back from dying each time.

But then look at Love Triangle Gone Wrong - kind of on point, but not really a selling point. (*I* don't care I *love* it, but will the audience? idk).

I think my favorite character name besides Tursanay and her parents has to be Nindë [Nihn-day]. She was my first OC and I just love her to pieces. While she does somewhat look like me - the long red hair - everything else is different. Size, shape, eye color. We're nothing alike. She likes to fight, steal, run, ride horses, and I like to write, create, relax and pet cats. She likes summer and I hate it. She and I would not get along irl, but I think she's great and love her morals.

She's very black and white when it comes to how people are treated. If you're mean to people you perceive as beneath you, she hates you instantly. However, when she realizes there's more to one side to people and that you can be misconstrued as rude instead of what you were going for, she softens that black and white view and stops judging people so harshly. She starts out very prideful and ends up very mellowed out.

Thanks again for the ask and letting me ramble while I wait on work to send me stuff to do! I appreciate it!!!

[thirteen-beaxhes]

You and Me (Tyrus Post Finale One-Shot)

Summary: "There was nothing Cyrus could have wanted more, knowing that for the first time, there was a boy who actually liked him back, who felt the same. Or so he thought then." It's the Monday after that fateful party, and Cyrus is confused.

Words: 2386

AO3 LINK IN REBLOG

“Is there anything else you wanna tell me?”

“Yeah. Is, there anything you wanna tell me?”

“Yes.”

Cyrus slammed his locker door shut, promptly breaking the dialogue that had been repeating in his head since the night of Andi’s Epic Party 2.0, when he and TJ were sitting by the fire on the bench, when in the middle of all the noise and music and people, they held each other’s hands, a weight let off their shoulders.

Or so he thought then.

Cyrus held his bag strap, walking down the hallway to class as he held his books to his chest, still deep in thought. After the party that Friday, they had texted all weekend, everything seemingly back to normal, just slightly more flirty and bold than either of them had been before. And that wasn’t bad at all, in fact every time Cyrus saw a text notification from TJ, his heart would soar, and he couldn’t control a smile from spreading across his face as he hastily typed out a reply. Over the weekend, as they texted from the comfort of their homes, a screen between them, everything was perfect. There was nothing Cyrus could have wanted more, knowing that for the first time, there was a boy who actually liked him back, who felt the same.

But, behind a screen everything seemed easy. Walking into school, however, with the chance of seeing TJ in person, even talking to him, sent Cyrus’ heart racing in a way that wasn’t what it should have felt like. Because at the end of the day, TJ had walked into the party with Kira, hugging her and walking with her and staying with her until her abrupt departure. Whatever that meant. But he was with her, and then he was with Cyrus, holding his hand and looking at him like that. Could anyone blame him for being absolutely confused?

Not to add to the fact that after witnessing everything that had happened between Jonah and Andi in 7th Grade, Cyrus was worried that if he were to walk up to TJ in school and try to call him anything more than a friend, and if he tried to hold his hand, it wouldn’t be real. Because if Jonah and Andi’s relationship trials and tribulations had taught him anything, it was that a handhold could mean anything.

“Earth to Cyrus?” Buffy said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, bringing him out of his thoughts. He smiled and nodded his head at her.

“Hey Buffy, you seem chipper today,” Cyrus noted, narrowing his eyes at his friend’s bright smile.

“What? Me? You’re kidding,” she said, scoffing, but Cyrus just stared at her pointedly until she sighed. “I’m sorry it’s just, I’m excited to see Marty today.”

As if he were summoned by the calling of his name, Marty walked up the two of them, holding his bag straps as he smirked at Buffy. “Hey there, Driscoll.”

“Hi Marty,” Buffy replied with a smirk, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, walking on her other side.

“Wow, I love being acknowledged,” Cyrus said with a deadpanned voice, and Buffy snorted loudly.

“Cyrus! My man!” Marty called out, giving Cyrus a high five. He turned back to Buffy with a smirk. “So, how’s the most amazing person in the world doing?”

“She’s doing great, thank you.”

“Wait, Buffy, you’re supposed to say ‘I don’t know how are you doing?’ “

“Why? I am the most amazing person,” Buffy said, earning a shove from Marty as they continued down the hall.

Cyrus just looked over at the two, happy that they had finally, after everything, had gotten together, except that meant even more competitive banter and flirting, which no one was prepared for. But, he also couldn’t help but feel his heart sink as he looked at them. It had been no question that they were together after the party. It was so easy. Why was he still confused?

“Cyrus? Is everything okay?” Buffy asked, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from walking.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Cyrus said rather unconvincingly. Buffy sighed and looked over at Marty.

“I’ll meet you at lunch okay?” she said, and Marty got the hint, pressing a kiss to Buffy’s forehead before walking ahead. After he was out of earshot, Buffy linked her arm with Cyrus’ and pulled him to the side.

“Now will you tell me?”

Cyrus sighed, looking at the ground before starting. “At the party, when I had gone out for a while, I was with TJ by the campfire. We were talking and, we uh, we had a moment.”

“Cyrus,” Buffy said softly, a smile on her face. “That’s amazing! What happened?” she asked, an eager grin on her face.

Cyrus laughed quietly. “We held hands for a while before he got a call from his mom that he had to go home.”

Buffy squealed loudly, earning glares from people all around, but she didn’t find it in her to care. “Oh my God that is adorable!” she exclaimed, but soon her smile fell. “Wait, but. Why are you sad?”

Cyrus looked back down. “Because, he walked into the party with Kira, and you and I both know a handhold can mean anything. What if, I’m just convincing myself that there is something, when really we’re nothing at all?”

“Cyrus,” Buffy said softly, grabbing his shoulders. “You’ve always had a problem overthinking things. That’s all this is. But, if you are so unsure, you should talk to him. For all you know, he’s out there somewhere, ranting to Jonah or Andi about how he thinks that there may be nothing between you guys.”

Cyrus looked up at Buffy and smiled, pulling her in for a hug. “Thanks, Buffy. You’re right, I should talk to him,” he agreed, but was cut short by the loud trilling sound of the school bell. “But after class.”

*

TJ: ill be at swings then <3

Cyrus pocketed his phone, not before gushing internally at the heart TJ had sent, before trudging in the direction of the park. To be honest, a part of him still hurt to walk there, to go to the swings, the memory of TJ and Kira laughing and having fun still in his mind, trying desperately to claw into him. He tried to push it away but it wouldn’t budge, not one bit.

As he neared the playground, Cyrus spotted a figure sitting on one of the swings, swaying slightly. He smiled and jogged up to him, knowing exactly who it was.

“Is that swing taken?” Cyrus said as he approached the swings, and TJ turned around, a bright smile on his face.

“Only by you,” he said, gesturing to the seat. Cyrus smiled and sat down on the swing, the nervousness returning slightly as he remembered what he needed to say.

“How was your day?” he asked instead, trying to give himself time to think.

TJ just shrugged. “Just a normal day I guess. Kinda disappointing, was hoping I’d meet someone,” he said, smirking slightly.

Cyrus felt his cheeks grow warm as he raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

TJ just chuckled, looking up at Cyrus as his smile softened. “Seriously though. Where were you all day? I didn’t see you anywhere.”

“Oh you know, just busy, like, people to see and help and stuff ya know,” Cyrus said, trying to be causal, but he knew from the way that TJ’s smile dropped that he had not been the least bit convincing. So he shook his head, looking down as he dug into the ground with the tip of his shoe. “Sorry, it’s just.”

“Is this about what happened at Andi’s party?” TJ cut in, his voice quiet and shaky. Cyrus looked up, meeting his eye and slowly nodded.

TJ sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “I, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no,” Cyrus said quickly, reaching across the swings to grab TJ’s hand. “That’s not what I meant. I am so glad it happened.”

TJ looked down at his hand, before looking back up at Cyrus, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “You, you are?”

“Yes,” Cyrus said, his voice cracking. “So much so that sometimes I can’t believe it actually happened.”

TJ let out a short laugh. “Me neither. I feel like I need to pinch myself every time I think about it.”

Cyrus laughed, looking down. But his smile dropped slightly. “But, it’s more me being confused.”

“About what?”

“Well, us. From someone who has witnessed the highs and lows of relationships, hand-holding can mean anything.”

TJ nodded, looking down. Cyrus looked at him intently, before looking back down at the ground.

“Also, you did walk into the party with Kira.”

At that, TJ let out a sigh, and he let go of Cyrus’ hand, grabbing the chain of the swing. “Yeah, I get it’s confusing Cyrus. But I can explain.”

“So go ahead,” Cyrus said, giving him a small smile of encouragement. TJ looked up at Cyrus and nodded, as if he were steadying his resolve.

“Remember Costume Day?”

Cyrus scoffed, looking down. “I don’t think it could be clearer at times.”

TJ drew a shaky breath and looked ahead. “Well, the day before, Kira walked up to me asking me to do a costume with her. But I told her twice that I was doing it with you. But then, she said something weird. Like, ‘So you’d rather do a costume with Cyrus than with me?’ and then just walked away. But as she left I, I felt weird, like she was saying she knew something, something I wasn’t ready for people to know.”

“TJ,” Cyrus whispered, realisation dawning on him. But TJ didn’t hear him.

“I got scared, Cy. Really scared. So I just went along with her costume, even though it killed me to see your face. And I’m so so sorry for that,” he said, finally looking at Cyrus.

“It’s okay TJ, at least I know now,” Cyrus replied, giving him a small smile.

TJ looked back ahead. “After that day, she just came up to me all the time. And soon enough, I found out we had things in common. So hanging out with her didn’t feel too bad. It felt like a lot of it was her betting me I couldn’t do things, so I’d do them. But I didn’t really notice. But one thing I did notice was how much I missed you,” TJ said, sighing. “That’s why I wanted you to hang out with me and Kira. I missed hanging out like we used to, so I thought that we three could hang out.”

“That worked out well,” Cyrus said, and TJ laughed quietly.

“Not my best suggestion in hindsight.”

“Agreed on that,” Cyrus said, but he turned back to TJ. “But then what happened at the party for you to say she isn’t a nice person?”

“Um,” TJ muttered, scratching the inside of his thumb. “She, um, she said something about you.”

“What?” Cyrus said incredulously, turning to look at TJ.

“Well, not said. Okay,” TJ fumbled, squeezing his eyes shut. “You guys were all dancing and Kira and I were standing at the side. Then, she looked over at you and began laughing at your dancing.”

“Well, I don’t blame her,” Cyrus said, smirking, and TJ playfully punched him in the shoulder.

“I don’t know, I just couldn’t bear it. So I snapped at her.”

“You defended me?”

“Bold of you to assume it was the first time.”

Cyrus smiled, looking at TJ curiously, who was purposely avoiding eye contact, his cheeks pink.

“Anyway,” TJ said, his smile dropping. “She said that what it was really about was if she were to make me pick between you and her, I’d pick you. And that’s when it hit me that she had been trying to make me do that for a while.”

“What?” Cyrus asked, narrowing his eyes. TJ looked up at the sky before looking at Cyrus.

“She tried to make me pick between you two. And I couldn’t understand why she was doing that. Because you never made me pick,” TJ said quietly, looking up shyly. “That was that, she just walked away. And just like that, she was gone.”

“Whoa,” was all Cyrus could manage.

“Yeah,” TJ said with a sigh, looking down.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“No, I’m the one that should be sorry Cyrus,” TJ said, looking over at him. “I made everything confusing.”

“Well, you and me both. My overthinking did a lot of the heavy lifting,” Cyrus replied, smirking slightly.

TJ laughed, reaching over to grab Cyrus’ hand. “But, what happened later, on the bench?” he said, looking up him, gulping nervously. “I wanted to tell you that-”

“Me too,” Cyrus said softly, moving his hand to interlock their fingers. TJ looked down at their hands, and looked back up at Cyrus, a bright, relieved smile on his face.

“So,” TJ said, after a while, swinging slightly, his and Cyrus’ hand in between their two swings. “What does this mean for us?”

Cyrus shrugged, looking at TJ. “I have no idea. This has never happened before.”

“Yeah,” TJ said, his word more an exhale.

“How about,” Cyrus started slowly, moving to interlock their pinkies, something that made TJ smile, his cheeks red, just like Cyrus’ were. “We take it slow then?”

“Slow sounds perfect,” TJ said, nodding.

“Slow it is then,” Cyrus said, and he and TJ sat on the swings for a while after that, talking about everything and nothing at the same time, all the while their hands holding each other in between the two swings.

As the evening grew darker, Cyrus sighed, pushing himself off the swing. “I should probably get home.”

“Me too,” TJ said, getting up, scratching the back of his ear. “Hey Cy, do you, uh wanna go to the Spoon after school tomorrow?”

Cyrus smiled, hopping on the balls of his feet. “Like on a date?”

“Yeah,” TJ said, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

To answer him, Cyrus leaned forward and lightly kissed TJ’s cheek, eliciting giggles from the both of them.

“I’d love to.”

 ~~~~~~

this SUCKS

Taglist for everything: @imhereforthetryus 

[tjkiahgb]

On August 13th, 2018, at 8:20 PM, TJ Kippen performed a basketball-themed apology rap for Buffy Driscoll and completed his redemption arc. In doing so, he became a full and complete hashtag good boi and fulfilled this blog’s ridiculous destiny.

This post is scheduled to go up on August 13th, 2019, at 8:20 PM. It only feels right that I retire this blog on the one year anniversary of that moment.

Okay. It’s not that dramatic. I’m not deleting my account or logging out forever or anything. I’ll be around. I’ll check in and like some posts and hang out like the kid who graduated high school but won’t leave. He keeps coming back and acting chummy with the teachers and it’s like, doesn’t he have better stuff to do?

The point is, my queue is depleted, my drafts are empty. I don’t have a shift in fandoms planned. I don’t have anything planned. It’s time for me to turn my attention to other things and stop thinking about this show and writing about it and working on this blog.

So that’s basically the tl;dr of this whole deal. I’m going to write some rambling personal stuff so if you don’t care, which most people probably won’t, then thanks for reading and thanks for all the memories. It’s been fun.

Okay, lemme ramble. And if you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ve probably heard some of this already, but whatever, this is my goodbye post.

Way back in October of 2017, I came across a post on a website for TV news that said “Disney Channel to Feature Its First Gay Main Character in Andi Mack Season 2″. I didn’t know what Andi Mack was, and I hadn’t watched Disney Channel in well over a decade. I remembered reading about the two moms on Good Luck Charlie when it happened, but I also remembered that it was, you know, mostly nothing. A lot of controversy for what was just a quick little thing. But this headline noted that it was a Main Character. And I’m reading the article and it’s talking about how he’s going to have this journey in season two and the producers had talked to GLAAD and other groups to get it right, and I’m like, wow, this is pretty cool, this really seems like they’re putting some respect into this. (I’m also thinking about how much young, closeted me would’ve killed for something like this.)

So I set my DVR to record it not knowing what to expect. Mostly thinking it was just going to be your standard Disney Channel show: cheesy and corny and bad jokes, but I’ll catch the coming out scene and it’ll be cool to see how they handle it and that’ll probably be that.

And then I’m watching the episode and I’m like, this is... not bad? In fact, more than not bad, this is way better than it has any right to be. And then I got to the coming out scene, which was so well done, and I’m just... shocked. This is like Pixar. Like, it’s for kids, but I can watch it as an adult and pick up on themes and subtleties. This is not like the shows from my childhood. Where was this show when I was growing up?

Next thing I know I’m watching the next episode. And the next one. And I’m starting to care for these characters. I can forgive a lot of issues with plot if I care about the characters and what this show did, maybe as well as any show on television, is made you care for the characters, from top to bottom.

So now I’m watching the show regularly. At some point, I went back and binged through season one on DisneyNow. I’m in, as a casual viewer at this point at least.

And then I get to 2.11, and the swing scene happens, and I watch it wordlessly, and it ends, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I could not believe what I just saw. I thought for sure this show was just going to have a couple of coming out scenes and that would be the end of it. Had I really just watched a scene that was hinting at a gay romance?

I wanted so badly to talk about it with someone else to see if they were seeing what I was seeing, but, as you may not be surprised to learn, none of my adult friends were watching Andi Mack. So I started looking around online. And I eventually found my way here, to this site, to the tag. And people were seeing what I was seeing. And people were excited about it, and I was like, okay, cool, I might’ve found my community.

So I started lurking around here. And I would check in after 2.12 and 2.13, and I was really starting to enjoy it. Most of the stuff I watch that I care about I’ll watch with friends or family and talk about it with them, so I never really thought being a part of a fandom would be worthwhile. Plus, I’d hear about shipping wars and other nonsense like that, and I’m like, I’m not going to make an account to argue with people over fictional characters’ relationships.

But what I was finding about this community was that it was more positive than that. There were arguments, sure. You’re going to get them in any group of people. But for the most part, people just seemed happy. They were posting theories and memes and gifs and jokes and fanfics. And they were celebrating the characters and developments. I don’t know if that’s special to the Andi Mack fandom or not, but it seemed special to me.

That’s around when I started thinking about making an account, during that hiatus between 2A and 2B. But I was like, do I want to commit to this? What’s the point of my account? What do I want to say? And at some point in the hiatus, I was checking the tag, and I saw a gifset. It was by an account, since deleted and gone, but who, at the time, was very prominent in the fandom. And the gifset was all about attacking Tyrus. It was trying to take everything nice about what had happened between TJ and Cyrus and stomp on it. Tyrus was like a little baby ship at this point. People were just starting to get into it, the numbers weren’t that big. There wasn’t even really a name for the ship back then. The Tyrus tag was mostly that professional wrestler and the CJ tag was even worse. And this account had decided they were going to use their platform to try and make this small group of people in the fandom feel bad about liking their ship. I just remember thinking, why? Why be like that? It just seemed so unnecessary. And for the briefest of moments, I thought, okay, maybe I’ll make an account to be a troll and argue this stuff. And then I was like, nah, that’s just going to make the tag worse. When you see someone trying to ruin things for other people, you can give them attention and power, or you can just do your own thing.

So what I decided to do instead was to make an account that would add to the positivity I had been seeing. To just be one of the many voices doing fun stuff to drown out the bad. I could put out dumb posts to hopefully make people laugh, or eventually start writing recaps to give people something to do after watching the episode. There wasn’t really any bigger goal than that. Kill some time while celebrating the show and making the tag a more fun place, if only incrementally.

I’d like to think I did that. That I haven’t written or made too many things that have bummed people out and that most of my posts have hopefully made things better for people who wanted to hang out on here and talk about the show.

That’s all. At the end of everything, that was all. Just try to leave a net-positive wherever you go.

So that’s why I joined tumblr. Here’s why I stayed.

I am an unemployed writer. I’m an employed something else, but I would like to be an employed writer and I am currently not. And what that really means is I’m an unread writer. It means I write stuff and I try to convince people to read it and buy it, but most of the time they don’t. Most of the time, my stuff sits around waiting and hoping to be read. And when that’s the case, you can start to feel doubt.

What I didn’t realize when I started this account was that I would also be getting positivity back. I mean, I probably should have. It was the whole reason I started this, because I liked the positivity here. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be returned to me.

But it has. It has tremendously. Just writing this silly stuff that I do and putting it out there and getting feedback on it has meant so much to me. People saying something I’ve written is funny or interesting or just saying that they enjoyed it is such a confidence boost. You feel like, okay, people like my jokes or the way I think or whatever. There’s an audience for me somewhere. People who will get me. I just need to stick with it.

That’s what you all have been for me this last year and a half. More than just making this a fun place to share our love of this show, you’ve made this a place for me to feel seen.

I try not to tie too much of my self-esteem to the amount of interaction my posts get. (Seriously, don’t do that, it can be really unhealthy. I’m like, if a post flops, it flops. No biggie. Move on to the next one.) But every note I do get on something I’ve written lets me know I’ve done something right. The reblogs, the likes, the follows, the nice messages in my inbox, the comments on the posts. Any of it. All of it. It lets me know I’ve been read. It makes me feel like I’ve made a connection. And that means the world to me.

So thank you, to any and all of you who participated in this thing with me. Thank you for reading. Thank you for being a part of my experience on here. Thank you for being so cool that I wanted to join your group in the first place and thank you for being so great afterwards that I’m eternally happy I did.

It’s meant more to me than you could possibly know.

Keep the positivity.

- Jay

[imagineitdearies]

I am so curious about what is going through Cazador mind when the subject is Tyrus, cause wtf.

My theory is that friend his old master killed and then impaled Cazador for 11 years

Like, he's living viciously through Tyrus the fantasy that ok,maybe his friend wasn't able to rescue him,but he is alive and support him in this hell making everything a little bit better.But this projection is on a subconscious level.

For a moment due to the interactions with Amanita I thought hmmm Tyrus would be the perfect heir, obedient as fuck and not rebellious,and like he is the most like the other spawn that behaves like the family role that was imposed on him if you understand me? He behaves like a son.But again,Tyrus was made to be consumed.

And what is this family talk? Why is he so insistent on that..To be honest it's totally impractical, in the game until the last moments he was insistent on saying that he and the seven spawns are family , as if two seconds ago he wasn't saying that Astarion was made to be consumed, but ok,and it's not like when he lied saying that the seven would gain ascension out of pure cruelty, it's purely impractical no one believes they are family, there is no psychological horror on their part of torturing a sibling.

I think the motive that Cazador is so adamant of the family business is conected to why he transformed amanita and the way he treats Tyrus, anyway RIP Cazador you would have loved Freud.

But again I am probally wrong as fuck.

~Regarding my fic Perfect Slaughter (Astarion x Tav, Astarion backstory-centric)~

Hi anon!! Thanks so much for this question. Cazador had two very objective, practical reasons for turning Tyrus. One, as we know, was for Tyrus's promising necromantic talents. The second will get revealed at the end of part two!

But he also had a third, more....nebulous reason, and I think your conjecture is right on track. In my opinion, Cazador likes to see himself as a very caring, long-suffering, reasonable master. In comparison to his sire, Cazador would say he is benevolent and merciful. And in my fic at least, Vellioth was confirmed by Amanita as a relative of Cazador's, so his obsession with 'family' and enforcing the idea on his spawn (in a twisted, sick way) stems from his resentment of his actual family treating him so terribly. He's replaying his own trauma to some extent, except 'improving' upon it and being the one with all the power this time. I agree that there's some contradiction to calling his spawn family but also saying they are a consumable means to an end--but honestly I love that Cazador contradicts himself there. It shows just how fucked up his perception of what family is has become. Everything becomes about power and control to an abuser.

The Szarrs seem to turn at least one family member into a vampire per generation (see Amanita's journal about her family rites), so Cazador turning Amanita is the usual order of business. But turning her so young? I think this says a few things: 1) though he upheld family tradition, Cazador still had to have a little extra power over his 'heir,' 2) he found every other option from his family line too threatening, 3) on some level, he is attached to the idea of 'fatherhood' and influencing those he has power over, not just controlling them. Not that Amanita has turned out to be that easy to influence anyway 😂

Cazador's feelings about Tyrus are nearly as complicated as they are about Astarion. Tyrus potentially being the 'perfect son' for him is not far off--he's incredibly useful (no matter how Cazador downplays it) and outwardly respectful, he's thoughtful and careful besides being beautiful and young as all Cazador's spawn need to be. Tyrus's only flaw thus far is his weakness for Astarion, which....Cazador can relate to, let's be real lol. And as Tyrus has realized in the recent chapter, Cazador can now use their growing bond to better rein in Astarion and motivate Tyrus to work even harder for him. Unlike Vellioth, Cazador believes love can be useful. I think he'll forever resent his master for killing that friend, you're right, so he's always trying to toe that line: give just the right amount and type of fear and pain into his spawn so that they're easy to control, but not enough to make them angry and dangerous like he became.

Cazador would have felt VERY called out by Freud 😂

Thank you for this lovely ask, it was wonderful to write out these thoughts that have been mostly just bouncing around in my skull as I write Cazador in PS! In chapter 16, we'll get a little peek into Cazador's thoughts and motivations too, so watch out for that!

Happy holidays everyone 🥰🥰

[typicalmidnightsoul]

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼- Chapter 9

𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗

Let it go, let it leave, let it happen. Nothing in this world was promised or belonged to you anyway. ― Rupi Kaur.

Chapter  1, 2, 3, 4 5, 6 7 8 <- here 

(Adelaide Archeron’s ‘painting’ up above)

With Randolph being gone for extended periods of time Romella had descended upon Prythian much to her sister’s delight.

Nesta had taken an instant liking to her aunt. Her aunt told her stories from all over the world, stories from the other side of Prythian. Nesta was told her family history and she was so excited to be a part of a family with Fae blood.

Nesta was perfect. She was moulded to be like that.

Sent to Etiquette school at 8. She was taught how to play instruments, she was taught ballet, waltz. She was taught etiquette rules from different kingdoms, she knew 5 different languages by the time she was 10. 9 languages by the time she was 11.

But then one day as she was skimming through the library she felt a surge of power burst from…her. She was scared, crying, screaming.

“Its fine Nesta,” Adelaide said bursting through the library doors. Romella clinging to her sister’s side.

She slipped on an iron bangle on Nesta’s wrist. Nesta’s golden skin paled. Suddenly weak.

She gathered the skirts of her blue gown and strode through the halls.

That night, Adelaide and Romella stepped out of the mansion in their hooded cloaks and saddled their horses. Romella carrying Elain as she mounted her horse, Adelaide carrying Feyre, Nesta at front. Their midnight cloaks flowed behind them. They went to the people of the Hill.

Algeron came to them.

“My Lady, what’s wrong?”

“Nesta,” She pushed Nesta in front, “Had her first powers this morning, I need to know-Elain and Feyre will they have their Settling when they’re older too?”

He took each sleeping child in his hands brushing a hand over his brows. “No, they will one day possess powers but not because of their Fae heritage.”

Nesta looked up to the ethereal, towering man.

“Is our fae heritage something to be ashamed of?”

He beckoned her closer, “My dear, your power is an entity of great beauty,” he made a mist figure of a female with beautiful powers helping humans, “But also an entity of great danger and fear, which will incite people to harm and hurt you.” The mist female was smothered by the same people she helped when her power got out of control, Nesta gasped. “The human race is very narrow-minded. Therefore we must try to smother your fae powers.”

“I was proud of my powers.”

“I am afraid my love, there will come a day where you will have to learn to master a power much greater than this, and that power will make you one of the most powerful females of your time.”

She nodded, “My people will show you to conceal your power. There are not many rules. Don’t let it consume you; your coldness will shove it down. The less people there are, the less people getting hurt.”

She left to the females in emerald gowns beckoning to her.

Romella turned to Algeron, “I’m training her.”

Algeron said to her, “There is a great danger coming to her. She must remain defenceless. The Lord above demands it.”

“I don’t care. I am not letting her be defenceless.”

“Ella-” but Romella had left to go to Nesta.

“Leave her Adelaide; she will not stop the inevitable. Let her try to soothe her tormented heart.”

 The green mist changed the scene to Nesta in the bottom floor of her father’s ship checking the new goods. She twirled a diamond chain around her fingers. A thud came from behind she picked up a dagger in a crate next to her.

“Come out, Ruffian” She shouted, “I am the heiress to the Archeron Mantle and I will not be afraid of a vagabond.”

A young boy stood up from the inside of a crate.

“Come into the light.”

He stepped through his hands up in his defence; he had blue eyes with emerald flecks. And pointed ears.

She dropped the dagger, gasping.

She crossed the distance and pushed his hair behind his ears.

“Mr Stowaway you are fae,” she breathed.

His eyes were pleading, “Please my family- they, I have nowhere to go- please just let me walk off this ship safely and you will never hear from me again.”

“Oh no no, you must come with me to my mother, she will help you.” He was confused.

“Help?”

“Oh yes, she’ll know what to do, she’s half fae herself, don’t worry…”

“Oliver…Oliver Bondavich.”

She smiled.

 The green mist changed the scene again

 Christiana had brought her child to meet her sister. Audrey Astor. Audrey, Nesta, Clare and Oliver became as thick as thieves fast. Romella had now met Adelaide every day to strengthen the glamour being put on her whole body to hide the baby bump. Randolph came home for a fortnight at the best, and Adelaide would feign sickness and stay in her room. Then Jonah was born and he was beautiful and Adelaide had begged Drian take him to Rask which he did, but Drian didn’t want to announce him as the heir to the throne, instead he made the first child love his heir. He made Nesta his heir. He had taken Nesta to Rask to meet his mother Vera. Vera’s heart broke at the sight of the small child shackled with an iron bangle.

Then came The Dark Fae. In her last attempt to change her daughters’ fate she called upon some really ethereal people. People who had stuck to their God’s scriptures and called upon different sources of power, the fae people called them witches and warlocks. The parties she threw were now a cover up. King Peirce of the Dark Fae came with his two sons Torin and Tyrus. Nesta took an instant liking to both of them but the bond of a childhood sweetheart formed between her and the boy who kept himself hidden between the worn pages of old books. The boy she stayed with next to that oak tree in front of her father’s house.

 Nesta with her dimples and fringe stepped onto the balcony. She eyed the young boy reading a worn out book. His dark hair fell over his face, his knees curled to his chest.

“Hi” No answer.

She cleared her throat, “Hello.”

He slowly looked up trying to drink in the last few words on the page. He looked at her with curious grey eyes.

“Is my brother causing any issues?”

She chuckled, “No, no not at all. On the contrary he is proving to be quite the…life of the party.” He went back to his book but she wasn’t quite finished, “Has Stephen found out about his cousin’s weird obsession yet.”

He looked up in shock, “It’s not an obsession!”

“Yes it is! Which man would spend his life wanting to be immortal instead of living it to the fullest?!”

“Some people die young and get buried at an older age.”

“Good point. But he killed children.”

“Which is what makes this story so compelling…?” He paused, “What was your name again?” He dropped his legs of the bench. She sat next to him.

“Nesta.” He held out his hand.

“Tyrus.” She shook it.

 The green mist changed the scene. Their clasped hands being the last image to change.

 The day before everything changed. Tyrus and Torin had become frequent visitors. But something in Tyrus had started changing. He had realised that he was getting to close to Nesta, the feelings were not able to be controlled, and he hated that. The voices in his head made him think twice, they told him to leave her. And he, not possessing the courage to deny them came one day to her house under the cover of night.

 “Ty!!” Nesta ran into his arms. He memorised the feel of her under his fingertips. If he didn’t push her away now he wouldn’t be able to do what he had to.

“Nesta, we need to talk.”

Her face scrunched in confusion.

“I am letting you go. I am setting you free.”

Her face scrunched up again but this time tears were forming, “What do you mean?”

“Friendship was ok, but love…is impossible.”

“What-what why? Did I-I” her face fell and she took a shuddering breath.

“You don’t mean that.”

He had to be cruel now. “Really? You’re sure I don’t? Please Nesta a relationship between us would never work out! Loving you would mean destroying me. You would die in the next 70 years anyway what would I do then wallow in grief? No, that’s not me.”

She held a hand at her throat, trying and failing to keep her sobs in. Audrey came out.

“Nes-Tyrus?

She took a look at Nesta’s face.

Tyrus kept his eyes on Nesta, “Goodbye Nesta.”

He turned leaving.

Nesta sank to the floor; her hand outstretched trying to form the words to stop his leaving figure.

Audrey wrapped her hands around Nesta’s shoulders.

“Nesta. He is not coming back.”

“He has too,” she sobbed.

 After that Nesta had asked Romella to start her training. It went on for months and Nesta had developed muscle memory but it was all about to die out.

Ollie’s power was getting vicious he was having sudden outbursts and since iron would permanently harm him, Adelaide was helpless. Nesta, Audrey, Clare and Ollie were in the old clock tower looking down on the village when Ollie had his second outburst. All three of the girls were flung back rendering them unconscious. The surge of power did not go unnoticed by the villagers.

In his last attempt Oliver hid the girls in the corner. Upon seeing his pointed ears the villagers, in their fear had locked him in a cage of ash.

When Adelaide found out she went mad. She sent her sisters away, she sent away Jonah, and she sent away any trace of magic from their lives. But when Nesta woke up there was no force alive stopping her from saving her best friend and ensuring her family got away safely.

 Nesta ran, her hooded cloak trailing behind her in the mud. She hid an axe under her cloak. Getting in was the harder part but she had managed with Clare’s help to create a diversion.

“Ollie!” She held up the axe.

“Nesta! You should not be here!!!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!!” She swung the axe on the ash bars.

“You are rubbish at yielding that!”

“Don’t make me swing it on your face!”

She managed to make a permissible hole which he wsa bale to climb through.

As they were running out a village boy had seen the hole.

“The Fae monster’s gone!”

They ran.

As they ran into the woods, where Feyre would one day hunt to provide for her family Nesta said,

“Go! There’s a ship waiting for you, Aunt Christie is taking you all to Rask for safety, Go!”

He hugged her tightly, “On one condition, you promise me you’ll go straight home, no looking back understood?”

She softened, kissing his cheek, “Yes, now go.”

He nodded and kissed her cheek running off into the dense forest to the sound of the trees.

As his figure disappeared, Nesta whispered,

“I’m sorry Ollie.” The only promise she would ever break.

She ran into the opposite direction, making as much noise as possible, rustling leaves making yelps.

The squires’ men saw her hooded figure and made a run for her, she let herself get caught. They had fallen into her trap.

“She’s a Randolph Archeron’s girl be soft with her men,” The squire himself had arrived he knelt down, “Listen sweetie, you tell me where that fae boy is and I’ll let you hurry on home, how about that?”

She spat in his face.

He took out his hankie, wiped his face and addressed his men.

“Old boy Randolph isn’t home for weeks; he doesn’t need to know anything.” He chuckled at the coldness on her face, “A few weeks in the mental asylum ought to fix her.”

Her face drained of colour but she didn’t yield.

 The scene changed to Nesta being dragged by her hair to the mental asylum. As she went in and the bars clanged shut.

Everything went silent.

And then the void filled with a whip slapping against skin and bone-shattering shrieks. They had taken a child and they were torturing her.

 The squire in fear of Nesta’s father returning had let her out. Nesta had come out physically and mentally broken. Hostile and cold. She came out to find her mother dying.

Feyre and Elain thought that Nesta had been travelling with their father. A weak lie fed by their mother.

Her mother’s last words to her,

“Nesta, warriors are not meant to be coddled, take your shadow off Feyre let her live however she wants to, Do. Not. Stop. Her. Feyre knows what she needs to do.” Her eyes softened, “I will weep in my grave because my gender stopped me from being able to protect my daughter. I am so sorry Nesta, I love you.”

Nesta wept, “I love you too, please.”

Her mother’s eyes drooped, she let out a last shuddering breath and her hand caressed her daughter’s cheek once more.

 The scene changed.

“THE FAE PEOPLE CAN SAVE HER!” Nesta screamed.

“I AM NOT RISIKING THAT!” Randolph roared back.

Nesta sobbed leaving to see her mother one more time, she had tried for the past hour to deal with her father, but he didn’t budge.

 Once more the memory in front of them changed.

It was a pregnant Adelaide with playing with two-yaer-old Nesta on the grass. They were on the floor, their heads next to each other. Cloud watching.  

“Momma?”

“Yes darling?”

“What if you’re gone and I’m still here?”

Adelaide stilled, “Well then…You’ll be all big and you won’t need me anymore.”

She considered, “I don’t think I’ll ever stop needing you.”

 The green mist blew once like a roaring fire.

Clare came to her, next to the oak tree, “Feyre’s gone. You’ve tried to bring her back. What are you gonna do now?”

Nesta brushed her hand over the tree, “I wait.”

Clare nodded wrapping her hand around Nesta’s waist, “Quick question, Nes are you waiting for him?”

“No, I’m done with that other life. I need to focus.”

The mist roared again.

A few years after Nesta had left the night court she had gone back to their old mansion in the continent. She coughed as she pushed the heavy doors. She trailed down the ghost like hallways. After her mother died her father had taken all these paintings and had put them in her mother’s childhood room. She pushed the door of the childhood room and let out a gasp. She sat in front of the paintings.

She stroked the painting,

“Hey momma.”

 The green mist flared and died out.

Tags:

@mis-lil-red

@wannawriteyouabook

@absolute-dissapointment

@skychild29

[jcforsapphics]

Fake our way to love- chapter 1

TJ was nervous.

Well, of course he was nervous, what he was about to do was incredibly dangerous. And incredibly stupid. Honestly, he was kind of afraid for his life.

He should be afraid for his life, because Buffy Driscoll could kill him -and everyone else she hates- if she wanted to. And oh, she definitely wanted to kill him.

Since the moment they met, TJ has been nothing but a jerk to Buffy.

Constantly bullying her just for being a girl, never giving her the balls in games. She had every right to hate him.

TJ never really had anything against Buffy, he just did what people expected him to do. He actually thought Buffy seemed rather nice, and that she was a really good basketball player- something he could definitely use, because if he was being honest, the basketball team was a complete disaster.

But of course he ruined any chance he had at being friends with her the moment he told her she'll never be his teammate. Which of course, she end up being- but still, it doesn't really feel like it because he never pass her the ball.

But it was all (hopefully) about to change. If Buffy agree to his deal, he'll pass her the ball anytime she wants. She could be the new team captain, for all he cares. All that matters is that she'll say yes.

Which she probably won't. But it's worth a shot, right?

Buffy walked into the basketball court and TJ made his way to her hesitantly.

"Ummm... Hey, Buffy, can we talk?" He asked nervously

Buffy eyed him suspiciously before she shrugged

"So uh... Ok, this is kind of hard for me to say. Please at least consider it, ok? And don't tell anyone!" TJ warned

"What is it about, Kippen?" Buffy seemed annoyed

"I need you to be my girlfriend." He blurted

Buffy's eyes widened and TJ hurried up to explain

"Not actually my girlfriend! Just... Pretend to be my girlfriend."

Buffy snapped out of her shock quickly and folded her arms "and why the hell would I do that?"

"Because I'll pass you the ball in every game and tell the other teammates to do the same." TJ said without missing a beat

Buffy blinked. "Why do you need a fake girlfriend, anyways?"

"I'll only tell you if you'll agree." TJ folded his arm

Buffy thought about it for a few seconds, and than sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if the reason isn't good enough, I'm cutting off the deal. But I won't tell anyone you asked me, or the reason. Maybe I'll tell the reason if it's some dirty funny secret about you, but I won't tell them how I found out about it."

TJ blinked. That was a way better compromise than he thought he'll get.

He nodded. "Ok. I'll tell you why after practice, I just don't want anyone to hear."

Buffy looked suspicious again "is it like something really bad? Or are you just tricking me?"

TJ's eyes widened "no!" Buffy raised an eyebrow at how squeaky hus voice sound, and he cleared his throat. "I mean, no, it's not a trick and it's not anything really bad. At least, I hope it doesn't count bad." God, he really hoped it doesn't count bad.

Buffy still looked suspicious but mumbled a 'fine' and went to the middle of the court.

Just then, one of his teammates, Jason, has arrived.

"Dude, what were you doing talking to this Buffy chick? Holy shit, do you have a thing for her or something?" Jason asked with wide eyes

TJ took a deep breath. Well, I guess it starts now, was the last thought going through his head before he spoke: "yeah, man. I mean, she's pretty hot. And I think she's up for it."

Jason eyes widened even more, but he grinned as he said: "dude, that's awesome! We all wondered when you'll finally get a girlfriend! I guess that's mean we should pass her the ball now?"

TJ shrugged "depends on how it goes. We're going to talk after practice, so I'll tell you after if it works out."

Jason nodded, still grinning "yeah, ok, totally. Is it ok if I tell the other guys? I mean, I know Leo though about asking her out, so we should probably tell him so he'll know she's yours. I mean, even if she'll say no, he can't ask her since you did first."

TJ internally cringed when Jason said Buffy was his. Even if we were really dating she wouldn't be my property, he thought, but he just smiled and nodded.

----------

After practice, TJ fidgeted while he was waiting for Buffy.

He was so nervous, both from telling Buffy, and from actually saying this words out loud.

Yes, TJ admitted it to himself a while ago, but it really wasn't that long ago (although deep down he always kinda knew) and he never said this words out loud. He never even told his sister.

To be honest, he found it quite funny that the girl he was bullying was the first person he come out to. And kinda sad, too. But he really hoped she'll react well and won't make him regard telling her.

Buffy narrowed her eyes as she walked towards TJ.

"Well, Kippen, what is it? I don't have all day. Unlike you, I actually have friends to hang out with."

TJ couldn't deny hearing this words hurted him, because he knew they were the truth. But he shrugged it off.

"Driscoll- urgh, Buffy, I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend because-" TJ took a deep breath "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend because I'm gay."

That's it. He said the words out loud for the first time.

He looked up to Buffy to see her reaction, and his eyes met her wide eyes.

He waited a few seconds for her to speak but she didn't say anything.

"So, uh-" TJ stumbled awkwardly "I kind of have to go- you know, to get food. Before people eat all the good stuff, so uh- yeah. Bye." He finished lamely

Just as TJ turned around, he heard Buffy calling for him.

"TJ, wait!"

He couldn't hide his suprise as he turned to look at her, and saw she was still a bit shocked, but her look softened. He couldn't hide his suprise about how soft her eyes were, too.

"Are you serious? Like, are you really gay or is this some type of weird joke?" She asked

TJ shook his head "no. It's real. I'm really... It's real."

"And you need a girlfriend so people won't find out?" Buffy asked softly

TJ nodded, still shocked about how soft her eyes were, and about the fact she figured it out so quickly.

"Yeah. The guys on the team... They always ask me when am I finally going to get a girlfriend, you know, since I'm the captain of the basketball team and I'm popular and all that and of course hot girls will like to go out with the basketball team captain- and anyone on the team. But especially the captain. And they know that some girls asked me out, but that I always turn them down. And you know, some of those girls are really nice, and I sometimes wonder if I should say yes, but I know it won't be fair for them, since I'll never feel the same way."

TJ didn't know why he was telling her all that. Maybe it was from relief, that he can finally talk to someone about this. About him being gay. Because he never talked to anyone about this. Or maybe, it was because Buffy was looking at him so softly. And maybe it was both.

And maybe it was just because he needed to convince her to play along. But something inside of him told him it was more than just that. He wouldn't have told her all of this just to convince her.

Buffy looked at him, like she was encouraging him to keep talking. So he did.

"Some of the guys already joked about me being gay, and I know its a joke, but I just want them to stop before they realise I'm actually gay. And of course I'll tell them one day. It's just... Not my time."

It's only when he said that TJ know he was right. It's not his time. Not yet. But one day it will be. Something inside of him told him that and he felt like it was the truth.

Buffy took a deep breath and then look at him straight in the eye.

"Ok. Let's do this."

TJ's eyes widened. He was not expecting that.

"W- what?" What are you talking about? Why would you agree?

"Yeah, I'll do it. I get it. It's a good reason. I might don't like you, but nobody should feel afraid about their sexuality. If it'll help you coming out in the future, I guess I owe you that. So, let's meet tomorrow at lunch and talk about it?" Buffy answered, her expression unreadable.

TJ blinked, and then nodded like an idiot.

He waited until Buffy walked away to bang his head against the wall. He couldn't be so lucky. He just couldn't. He never was.

And he couldn't believe Buffy actually agreed.

He honestly didn't thought about an option where Buffy agree, and he didn't know what to do now. He only thought about an option where she said no, and didn't tell anyone, and an option where she said no and told everyone and he was completely humiliated.

But Buffy seemed to have some sort of soft spot for that kind of stuff. And he was lucky she did.

Well, he thought, tomorrow will be a life changing day.

Tag list: @abg-blah @extrairwin @luzawithoutu @buffysoftie @herculesthedemigod @tyrusstan06 @purplefacey @ravencremisi @tjkxppen @tyrusxmuffins @hellolancemcclain @tyrus-is-godtier

[you-get-to-exhale-now-cyrus]

title: he’s like cold coffee in the morning

summary: tj works at the local coffee shop in college, and finds that the most attractive boy seems to spend all his time buried in books and lattes. so naturally, he does the most logical thing. he tries to flirt with him.

word count: 6752

ships: tyrus, muffy

notes: this is for @illbeyourreasonwhy for the pride exchange! there’s another thing on the way, but i hope you like this!

“And that’s a wrap on practice, great work today, boys! Keep up the good work!”

TJ walked out of the gym, wiping his sweat with the hem of his shirt. He quickly hopped into the shower and turned the water on, sighing softly. It was nice, just sitting here and letting the water hit him, but he had a shift soon, so he needed to get going. Drying himself off with a towel and changing into his clothes, he headed out the door, nearly running down the street.

Pushing open the door to the cafe, he was reminded of why he took this job in the first place. There was really nothing better than the smell of coffee to make him feel happy. He slipped on his apron and his nametag, hopping behind the counter and prepping the machines.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Marty said, untying his apron and putting his elbows on the counter. He seemed exceptionally mopey today.

“And you’re just so thankful I’m here to handle our-” he looked out into the store, counting the customers with exaggeration, “three customers, one of which already has a coffee?”

Marty rolled his eyes, nudging TJ’s shoulder and sighing loudly. “I’m just glad I have someone to talk to.”

TJ chuckled, running his hands along the coffee machine. “Ah, yes. Your little flirty friend isn’t here to keep you company.”

“First of all, her name’s Buffy,” he started with an exasperated tone, “and second of all, she’s not my flirty friend. She’s just my friend.”

TJ snorted. “Says the guy who continuously writes pick-up lines on her orders.”

Marty spotted a few people coming in, and started grabbing a couple of cups, without thinking. “When are you going to stop bugging me about my love life and start focusing on yours?”

“When I find a cute boy, who also likes cute boys,” TJ commented, retying his apron.

“Oh, you think you’re cute, Kippen?”

“Very.”

Marty shook his head, walking towards the exit. “See you later.”

“I’m going to die,” Cyrus groaned, throwing himself onto his bed.

Buffy took a seat by him, patting his back. “You won’t die. You say this every semester, Cy, and you always make it through. This week’s gonna be rough, but I promise that you’ll do fine.”

Cyrus sighed, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. “I’ve never had to write a paper this long before, and I just kept putting it off, and now I only have a week? On top of studying for midterms? I’m going to die.”

“Just. . .go and grab a coffee or something, to, you know, keep you going,” she suggested, and he perked up at that.

“Come with me?” Cyrus asked, almost pleadingly.

Buffy hesitated. “I would but. . .I kind of already promised someone that I would hang out with them today after classes.”

“Don’t you have midterms too?”

Buffy smiled proudly, crossing her arms. “Perks of playing a sport at the collegiate level is that I get to take midterms early. ‘Cause of the game schedule. It actually works out quite nicely.”

Cyrus sighed, leaning back against the back of his bed. “You’re going to make me go and interact with the barista and order a coffee? You know I’m just going to stumble on my own words.”

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, as if to try and reassure him. “You’re gonna be fine. You’ve done it before. Plus, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“I see a cute boy and short circuit, forget my name, he thinks I have amnesia and he takes me to a hospital where they find out that I have-”

“Cyrus!”

“Sorry,” he caught his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, “dream I had. Fine, I’ll go. . .but please, can’t you come?”

“I already promised Marty that I’d-”

“Marty?” Cyrus interrupted her, “you mean that guy that you’re always flirting with at the coffee shop?”

“It’s not flirting! We’re just friends, and he invited me to go bowling.”

Cyrus smirked, crossing his arms. “And are you going with a group of friends?”

“Well, no,” she answered, shaking her head, “but that doesn’t matter.”

Cyrus waved her off, ushering her out of his room. “Yeah, yeah, it’s a date, even if you won’t admit it. Tell me about it afterwards. Also wear a blue shirt, it brings out your eyes.”

He closed the door before she could say anything else, and started to pack his backpack full of things he would need to work. Normally, he would work in the library, but during midterms week, he always found it either too quiet or too loud. The coffee shop seemed to have the perfect blend of quiet chatter in the background in order to keep him focused on his work, and not allow him to listen to his thoughts. It was a good environment to work in. Probably one of his favorites. He knew he couldn’t stay away no matter if he was alone or with a friend.

And that’s how Cyrus found himself rushing to coffee shop during the rain, papers in hand, sliding through the door and plopping himself down in his usual seat; a booth near one of the windows. He started setting up his computer, plugging it into the outlet, and turning it on. Pulling out a folder of his, he shuffled through piles of paper to find the one with the assignment. That’s when he decided to go up and order, running a hand through his hair.

TJ saw the boy approaching, and swore that for a split second, he lost his breath. With his soft brown hair sweeping across his forehead, slightly upturned nose, and rosy complexion, he was, in short, beautiful.

“Hello?”

TJ snapped out of his reverie at the boy’s words. He looked down at him, slightly flushed. “Sorry, what can I get for you?”

Cyrus sighed, squinting up at the menu and then just bowing his head slightly. “Can I just get five espressos, but all in one cup?”

If TJ were holding a cup in his hand, he would have dropped it. Picking one up from the stack, he started to write on it. “That’s bound to kill you.”

Cyrus shrugged with one shoulder, smiling a little bit. “It’s either that or exams, so I’d rather it be coffee that gives me the sweet release of death.”

TJ laughed out loud at that, smiling far too widely given what Cyrus said. It wasn’t particularly hilarious, but it sure seemed that way to TJ. Maybe it was just because the boy in front of him was exceptionally cute.

“What are you, going to med school or something?” TJ wondered aloud, scooping some of the coffee grounds into a container.

“No, I’m a double major,” he replied, leaning against the counter.

TJ nodded. “Ah, the silent killer.”

Cyrus laughed so hard at that he snorted, immediately flushing a deep shade of red. Oh, Buffy was going to get an earful of this later.

Meanwhile TJ was trying to keep his composure and not spill the coffee grounds all over the place. Turning on the machine, it started to hum and drip the espresso into a cup. He had to continuously add more grounds to make it to five shots, but he eventually got there. Capping the cup, he slid it over to Cyrus, before noticing the pile of stuff, which he assumed was his, in the corner of the shop.

“Oh shoot, I assumed this was to go, sorry,” he mumbled.

Cyrus waved him off, sliding him the money for the coffee. “That’s fine, I’ll stay here, keep you company, seeing as there are almost no people here,” he laughed a little.

TJ ignored him for the moment, focusing intensely on getting the amount of change right, and handing it to the other boy. “Don’t you have studying to do...I would use your full name, but I don’t even know your first name.”

“Well,” Cyrus squinted at his nametag, “TJ, studying can wait. I’m Cyrus, by the way.”

Cyrus. What a beautiful name to match a beautiful person. “Well, that’s cool then. Maybe I’ll just take my break now,” he decided, walking out from behind the counter.

During the time that they talked, Cyrus learned that TJ was here on a basketball scholarship, but that he was majoring in psychology, with the intent of becoming a school counselor, and a minor in gender studies.

“What made you wanna minor in that?” Cyrus asked, sipping his all too bitter coffee, and making a face about it.

TJ smiled shyly, sliding him a couple of sugar packets. “Oh, uh, I guess it just sounded cool, or something,” he mumbled, trying to brush it off.

Cyrus made a mental note to himself that TJ looked cute when he was slightly flustered. “That’s cool. Sounds really interesting.”

TJ learned that Cyrus was double majoring in film and journalism, with the intent of either becoming a playwright or a writer. He still didn’t know which one he wanted to pursue; as he sipped his coffee, he seemed to talk faster and faster, which increasingly worried TJ.

“Hang out here for a while, alright?” TJ told him, getting up from his seat, “I’ll walk you back after I finish my shift.”

Small groups of people filtered in during the rest of TJ’s shift, and he kept an eye on Cyrus all the while, who was typing away on his computer like a mad man. He couldn’t help but smile at that as he made the seemingly endless streams of chai lattes.

TJ finished up his shift on a good note, and he even had time to clean some of the equipment at the end of his shift, before he hung up his apron in the back room and walked out to where Cyrus was sitting, his leg bouncing uncontrollably.

“Alright, time to head out,” TJ said, to which Cyrus pouted and shut his laptop, shoving it in his bag.

“I was so close to finishing my last paper, though!” he whined, getting up and nearly hopping towards the door.

TJ chuckled, falling in step with him. “And you’ll get to finish it once you get back to your dorm. . .which I’m just now realizing I don’t know where it is. Care to lead the way?”

And lead the way he did. Cyrus had never felt more energetic in his life; was this how athletic people felt? It was incredible. He even went up the stairs without feeling completely winded at the top. All the while, TJ was admiring him with a fond smile on his face. He had just met Cyrus this afternoon, but he felt like he’d known him his entire life.

Once they reached Cyrus’ dorm, his frantic energy seemed to calm down a little, as he opened the door and stood in the threshold, turning to face TJ.

“Thanks for walking me back,” he said, and he was a bit more calm than he’d been previously, “you didn’t have to.”

TJ shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, looking around the room. He saw a small pride flag on one of the tables, but he tried to tell himself it was probably Cyrus’ roommate’s. “But I wanted to.”

He wanted to, and Cyrus thought it was so sweet of him. He’d only known TJ for the time that they’d spent at the coffee shop, but he already felt so close to him, like they were best friends. Without thinking, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around TJ in a hug.

TJ didn’t really respond for a second; a hug was the last thing he was expecting, and yet, here he was. It was really nice, actually, but by the time TJ had actually started to put his arms around Cyrus, the boy pulled back, mortified, and shut the door.

TJ waited outside Cyrus’ door for a minute, waiting to see if maybe he’d open it again and talk to him. But after a little while, he left, shaking his head.

For the next few days, Cyrus avoided the coffee shop like the plague. Buffy came in to get his orders, and by the time she delivered it to him, it was cold because she’d been talking to Marty about their next date.

“You guys are going out on a date?” Cyrus had exclaimed, his eyes bugging out of his head.

“It’s not a big deal,” she brushed it off, grabbing a piece of her hair and twirling it around between her fingers.

Cyrus took a sip of his coffee, smirking. “Oh, please, you’re so smitten with him and you’re excited that he asked you out.”

“Your words, not mine.”

TJ’s head snapped up every time the bell rang above the door, but he never saw Cyrus enter. He sighed, pouring the milk into the cup before Marty came up by him and snatched it out of his hand.

“What was that for?” TJ snapped, crossing his arms.

“The order is for soy milk, not two percent! Are you trying to actively kill our customers?” Marty carded his fingers through his hair, exasperated.

“I’m bad with numbers,” TJ mumbled, grabbing a new cup.

Marty shook his head, taking the cup from TJ’s hands. “You’re not like this even when you pull an allnighter. What’s going on, dude?”

TJ sighed, leaning back against the counter. He started to explain everything, from the moment that Cyrus walked in, to when they walked back to his dorm together, to when Cyrus hugged him and them pulled away immediately.

“That pretty much brings us up to date,” he said plainly, grabbing a rag and wiping down the counter, while Marty stared at him with wide eyes.

“Just talk to him, dude,” he told him, nudging him a little, “I’m sure things are still fine between you two.”

TJ just shrugged, and continued on with his shift like a robot, going through the movements with little effort. The end of his shift came pretty quickly, and he ended up spending some time at the courts shooting hoops, until his phone buzzed.

[Marty: go talk to him or so help me]

Somehow, TJ found himself going up the stairs in Cyrus’ dorm complex, and towards his room. He stood outside the door for a little bit, trying to collect his thoughts and think of something to say that would make sense. Tentatively, he rapped his knuckles on the door and waited.

Soft footsteps were heard from inside, and Cyrus opened the door. All of TJ’s planning to say something comprehensible went out the window when he saw him; Cyrus was wearing clothes that were way too big for him, and he had glasses on this time.

“Oh, hi,” Cyrus said quietly, snapping TJ out of his thoughts.

“. . .hey,” he mumbled, clearing his throat, “can I talk to you for a second? If you have a class that’s fine, I can come back later, or-”

“-I have time right now,” Cyrus cut in, stepping aside and letting TJ in. He shut the door, his head pounding in his chest, and turned around to see TJ sitting on the ground. Cyrus found that amusing and a little bit cute, but he tried to quell that voice in his head. He took a seat by TJ, pulling his knees into his chest.

“Did I. . .do something wrong?” TJ asked quietly, looking down at the ground.

Cyrus immediately turned to look at him, a worried look etched into his face. “What? No! What would make you say that?”

TJ shrugged, picking at a fray string in the rug. “I. . .I don’t know, I guess since I haven’t seen you much around the coffee shop that. . .I did something wrong.”

Cyrus drew in a breath, gnawing on his lower lip. “Right,” he mumbled, “but. . .you didn’t do anything wrong. I did.”

TJ looked up from the ground for the first time, unable to meet Cyrus’ gaze since the other boy was looking up at the ceiling.

“What do you mean?”

Cyrus closed his eyes. “After you walked me back to my dorm and I just. . .hugged you, I wasn’t thinking straight. . .sorry.”

TJ nearly chuckled at ‘not thinking straight’, but kept a solemn face. “You think I’m, like, mad at you for that?”

Cyrus shrugged, opening his eyes and looking at TJ. “I. . .guess not mad, but weirded out because I’m-”

He stopped, not letting any more words flow out of his mouth. He surprised himself in that moment; he almost came out to TJ without so much as a second thought to how he might react.

TJ seemed to pick up on Cyrus’ discomfort, and shifted a little. “I’m not weirded out, Cyrus,” he said, pausing for a beat, “I. . .I actually liked it.”

Now it was Cyrus’ turn to be a little surprised, meeting TJ’s eyes. “You did?”

TJ nodded, unable to keep looking at Cyrus, so he opted for looking around the room to try and find something to distract himself. The pride flag on the desk caught his attention, and he picked it up, twirling it around in his hand.

“I like this,” he said softly, holding it delicately.

“Y-You do?” Cyrus stammered, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Yeah.”

Cyrus took this as a good sign, and, feeling a little bold, said “It’s mine.”

TJ turned to him with a smile so bright that it could eclipse the sun’s rays. “Really? That’s cool. I don’t think I’d have the courage to have one in my room.” He breathed out shakily after that; he didn’t really plan on coming out today, to Cyrus, but the moment just felt right.

Cyrus’ smile softened, opening one of his drawers and rifling around in it. “You don’t have to make it a big deal, just,” he popped his head up, handing TJ a pin, “here, take it.”

TJ turned the pin over and over in his hand. It was a rainbow one, with the words ‘you are loved’ painted on top in black. He smiled, slipping it into his pocket. “Thank you, Cyrus. Will I be seeing you around the coffee shop again?”

Cyrus giggled, throwing his head back; TJ didn’t think he’d heard such a beautiful laugh. “Do the gays flock together?”

TJ chuckled, standing up. “In that case, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Things seemed to get a lot better after that day. Cyrus started coming in and ordering coffee during TJ’s shifts, and TJ was glad to see that the boy had returned. He’d even started wearing his pride pin on his apron. Sure, he was a little nervous to do so for the first few days, but after a few people had complimented him on it, he was much happier to wear it.

It’d been about a month of Cyrus coming in, ordering coffee, spending a little too much time talking to TJ, and then working frantically on his schoolwork.

It was a relatively quiet Wednesday afternoon, the business of the coffee shop had come to a gentle lull. TJ was steaming some milk for an order, when Marty came up beside him, leaning against the counter.

“So, how long have you been dating him?”

TJ nearly spilled the milk on him, pretty much dropping the cup onto the counter, some of the milk sloshing around and spilling on the counter. “What?” he squeaked, grabbing a rag, and wiping up his mess.

Marty rolled his eyes, handing TJ a clean rag. “You and that kid who keeps coming here?” he pointed to Cyrus, who was making gestures at his computer, since he was studying for his ASL test.

TJ flushed an embarrassing shade of pink, kicking at the ground below him. “I’m not. . .we’re not dating, Marty.”

Marty groaned, sitting up on the counter. “Sure, dude. He just happens to be here whenever your shifts are.”

“That’s definitely not true,” TJ shot back quietly, sneaking a glance over at Cyrus, who was deep in concentration, “I’m sure he’s here other times.”

“Never here when I’m here working without you,” Marty said calmly, shooting TJ a smirk.

TJ tried to keep his composure on the outside, but on the inside, he was melting. He tried not to read too much into the situation, but he couldn’t help himself. He looked over at Cyrus, who smiled up at him and signed ‘hi TJ’. It was so cute, he just kind of stared at him until he felt something, or rather someone, slap his arm.

“What the hell was that for?” TJ scolded, rubbing his arm where it had just been hit.

“You were staring,” Marty pointed out.

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

At that moment, before any more arguing could be done, Buffy walked through the door, smiling brightly at Marty, and taking a seat with Cyrus.

“So that’s Buffy, huh?” TJ crossed his arms, leaning back against the counter.

Now it was Marty’s turn to be flustered, turning pink. “How’d you know?”

TJ nudged him. “You never smile like that.”

Marty glanced over at Buffy and Cyrus, seeing them deep in conversation, hands moving wildly. Hopping beside TJ, he shook him, effectively spilling ice all over the floor and pointed to Cyrus and Buffy.

“Marty, I love you, but if you don’t fucking stop shaking me I will pour hot coffee into your sneakers,” TJ threatened, bending down to pick up the ice, Marty helping him a little.

TJ stood up, letting Marty pick up the rest of the cubes, and ran a hand through his hair. Some of it flopped over his forehead, since he’d run out of hair gel and hadn’t had a chance to get some more. He grabbed another cup, remaking the iced coffee order.

Meanwhile, Buffy was sizing him up, as Cyrus sat typing away. “So this is the boy you keep talking about, huh?”

Cyrus huffed beside her, grabbing a few of his papers and sifting through them. “Oh hush, he’s cute and you know it.”

Buffy shrugged, leaning back in the booth seat. “I guess I can see why you like him,” she agreed, scrolling through her phone for a while, Cyrus doing work next to her.

After a little while, TJ came up to where he was sitting, and cleared his throat, setting down a coffee cup.

“Oh, I didn’t order anything,” Cyrus said, nudging the cup away, but TJ held it firmly on the table.

“I know. This one’s on me. I thought you could use a break from all that strong coffee you drink,” he laughed a little, pushing his hair back. Buffy glanced over at Cyrus, who was blushing at the gesture.

Cyrus eyed the drink with suspicion. “What is it?”

TJ smirked a little, leaning against the table. “My special drink. It’s a secret.”

“How do I know you’re not trying to poison me?”

TJ’s eyes widened a little. “Cyrus, really? You think I would poison my favorite person?”

Buffy choked on her spit at that, getting both boys to look at her, but she waved them off, going back to her phone.

Cyrus was now insanely flustered, and couldn’t function as well as he wanted to, so he carefully took the cup into his hands, and took a small sip. It was almost like hot chocolate, but with a hint of vanilla and mint. “This is. . .really, really good.”

TJ smiled at his work. “I’m glad you like it. I’ll call it the ‘Cyrus Special’.”

Cyrus laughed a little at that, shaking his head. He went back to his studying, talking to Buffy, and answering her questions about TJ. His drink was gone in record time, and he figured he’d miss it a little.

When Cyrus came in the next day, however, there was a small chalkboard sign on the counter, which said ‘try the Cyrus Special: A Minty Vanilla Wonderland’. Still in shock, Cyrus approached the counter, and got TJ’s attention.

“You actually made a drink for me?” he asked, his voice soft and filled with wonder and fondness.

TJ returned the smile. “I said I would, didn’t I?”

“I guess I’ll have to order one then,” he chuckled, handing him the money and placing the change in the tip jar.

TJ was busy cleaning the counters in the back, so Marty took care of the order. However, when he saw the name written on the cup, he took the liberty of drawing hearts all around the remaining space, and smiling to himself.

“One Cyrus Special!” Marty called out, chuckling a little to himself.

Cyrus closed his laptop and set it on top of the table, putting his phone in his pocket and heading up to the counter. He picked up his drink, but couldn’t help but notice the hearts drawn all over his name. He looked between the cup and Marty, as if to say ‘what the hell’.

“You like him, don’t you?” he asked, giddy with excitement like a child.

Cyrus’ grip tightened around the drink, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Wh-what?”

Marty sighed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “TJ! He likes you a lot!”

The world seemed to stop spinning right then and there, as TJ walked out from behind the counter and froze. He could feel the blood rushing from his head, and his chest suddenly felt like it was being crushed. Cyrus was looking between Marty and TJ, a look of confusion and worry on his face.

Marty fumbled with something to say. “Oh, uh, I mean, I mean that he talks to you like-like a friend, and he likes that you, uh, when you come in and talk, or, uh-”

TJ couldn’t take it anymore; he hopped over the counter and ran out the door, making a sharp right and taking off. Cyrus took one sip of his coffee, set it down on the counter, and took off running after TJ. It was harder for him, since he wasn’t athletically gifted, but TJ was important to him, so no matter how badly his legs burned or his lungs ached, he kept running.

He eventually saw him, sitting under a cherry tree that was almost ready to bloom. His apron was tossed to the side, and as Cyrus got closer, he could see that he was holding the pride pin in his hand.

Cyrus came up to him, taking a seat on the grass and taking a few moments to gulp down air, trying to catch his breath. “TJ-”

“-what?” he cut in, sharply. It took Cyrus by surprise, TJ’s tone, but he didn’t linger on that too long.

“I. . .I just wanted to see if you’re okay and-”

“-I don’t need your pity,” he grumbled, holding the pin tighter in his hand.

Cyrus shrank into himself, trying to press down the lump in his throat. “I-I’m sorry, TJ, I just. . .look, about what Marty said, I-”

“-I don’t need your pity or your help! Can you just back off?” TJ shouted, standing up in a bout of anger, dropping the pin, and stomping on it, effectively breaking it into pieces. It might as well have been Cyrus’ heart that he stepped on; that’s how it felt to Cyrus, at least.

Cyrus brought a hand up to his mouth, his fingers trembling over his lips. For a split second, TJ looked apologetic, but Cyrus didn’t give himself the time to ponder over his facial expressions He just took off running back to his dorm; he was tired, everything ached, and the hot tears spilling down his cheeks made his vision blurry, but he didn’t stop until he reached his dorm, slamming the door behind him and collapsing on the bed. He couldn’t be thankful enough that his roommate was out.

Cyrus didn’t know how long he spent, clutching the pillow to his chest and crying into it. At some point, he shakily grabbed the pride flag on top of his desk and shoved it underneath his bed. This was the worst he’d ever felt in his entire life; TJ hadn’t even been in his life for that long, but it felt like he’d just lost the most important person to him. After a while of trying not to cry, followed by crying, he took his phone out of his pocket and texted Buffy.

[Me: can you pick up my stuff from the coffee shop? i left it there and i’m in my dorm]

[Buffy: what? why??]

[Me: long story, i don’t feel like talking about it right now, please?]

[Buffy:...okay]

He waited in his room, until after around twenty minutes there were footsteps  near his door, and a soft ‘thump’ on his door.

“Cyrus? I brought your stuff. I hope you’re okay, text me when you can,” she said, walking off.

Cyrus waited five minutes before he opened the door and picked up his things. He saw that she’s also brought his coffee, with his name and hearts still on the cup. Taking it in his hand, he took a sip; it was cold now, but it still tasted good. Unfortunately, it still reminded him of TJ, so he ended up throwing it out, before resigning back to his bed for the rest of the day.

TJ took the next few days off of work; he couldn’t handle being in there for a while, but he couldn’t avoid it for too long; he needed the money.

When he rolled in on Monday morning, and saw Marty behind the counter, casually wiping it down, he made a beeline to him, narrowing his eyes.

“You absolute idiot!” he shrieked, yanking on his apron.

Marty glanced up from the counter, raising a brow. “What?”

“Don’t you ‘what’ me Marty! You told Cyrus that I liked him!” he whispered harshly, his gaze flitting around the shop, “that was supposed to be a secret.”

Marty groaned, turning on the machines. “It’s not exactly a secret that you two are flirting.”

TJ’s eyes widened, crossing his arms. “What does that mean?”

“Do you not see the way he looks at you or talks to you? I’m like almost a hundred percent sure that he likes you,” he told him.

TJ sighed sadly, washing a cup. “Well now there’s no chance of that happening.”

Marty didn’t look up. “What do you mean?”

TJ hesitated, fidgeting with the loose ends of his apron ties. “I kind of snapped at him after what happened that day and we haven’t spoken since.”

“You have to work things out with him, dude. You know that right?”

TJ nodded. “Yeah, I know. I just have no idea what to do.”

Marty grabbed the milk out of the fridge, and started to make himself a coffee, dropping a few bills into the tip jar. “I have some idea.”

The following day, early in the afternoon, TJ climbed the stairs to Cyrus’ dorm, his nerves increasing with each shaky step. Considering how close the two boys had been, TJ knew Cyrus’ schedule with relative confidence. He stood outside of Cyrus’ door for a full minute and a half before he knocked, so quietly that he wondered if Cyrus even heard it. After a beat, he heard footsteps from inside, and Cyrus opened the door.

The first emotion that came over TJ was guilt; Cyrus looked miserable, his hair all over the place, and it looked like he had been wearing the same clothes. He felt upset, mad at himself, but most of all he felt like a terrible human being because Cyrus started to shut the door. Thinking quickly, TJ shoved his foot in the doorway.

“Please, Cyrus, can I talk to you?” he pleaded; it sounded almost like a whimper.

Cyrus just blinked in response, not changing his facial expression or body positioning. TJ had really hurt him; he knew that he tended to forgive fairly easily, but he tried to force himself not to, at least in this instance.

TJ reached into his pocket, pulling out a new pride pin, and fumbling with it for a moment, before he attached it onto his shirt successfully. “I’m sorry about what I said and what I did. I was just. . .so freaked out by what Marty said. . .”

Cyrus leaned against the doorframe. “So you decided to snap at me?”

TJ ran a hand through his hair; Cyrus tried his best to not think about how cute he looked. “I’m sorry, I got scared because. . .because he’s right.”

Cyrus raised a brow, his cold demeanor now replaced with a confused one.

“I like you, Cyrus, okay? Marty saying that. . .it scared me, I was worried it would ruin things between us,” he said, his voice getting softer as he spoke.

Cyrus didn’t say anything, he just ushered TJ inside, shutting the door behind him. He took a seat on the bed, patting the spot beside him for TJ to come and sit down. TJ nervously sat, wringing his hands in his lap.

“I want you to know that something like this wouldn’t change things for the worse between us, okay?”

TJ nodded in response, but he kept his gaze down, not willing himself to look at Cyrus. He didn’t want to start crying, not now. Noticing his distress, Cyrus placed a hand on top of TJ’s.

“But. . .I’m really glad you said something because I like you too, you know?”

TJ felt the tips of his ears burn at that, and he looked up at Cyrus, a hopeful smile on his face. “Really?”

Cyrus giggled, nodding. “Yes, really!”

TJ felt his whole body relax, and he leaned back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “So. . .would you maybe want to go on a date with me?”

Cyrus counted to three in his head before he tackled TJ with a hug. “Yes, you dork, I would love to go on a date with you!”

They stayed like that for a little bit, before they sat up, hands intertwined. Cyrus reached down and pulled out the pride flag from underneath his bed, waving it around. TJ grinned, holding it with him.

Exactly two days and eight hours later, TJ and Cyrus walked into the coffee shop, hand in hand, both excited and thoroughly nervous for their first date. Cyrus ended up ordering the ‘Cyrus Special’, while TJ was too excited to order anything.

They talked quietly until their server brought the order, winking, and making TJ blush like mad. He glanced over to Cyrus, a fond smile on his face. “You look unbearably adorable right now.”

Cyrus grinned, letting a soft laugh escape his through his lips. “Don’t make me blush like this,” he practically whined.

TJ leaned in a little closer, knocking their knees together. “Like what, hmm?”

Cyrus’ smile turned into a small smirk, his eyes glimmering. “Bet you can’t get closer to me?”

TJ laughed softly, before leaning forward and kissing him. Cyrus tastes like vanilla and mint, and it’s everything he’s ever wanted. No other kiss could compare to this one.

When they pull away, TJ’s eyes stay closed for a little while before fluttering open, and landing on Cyrus, who was nearly on the verge of tears.

“Wait, did I do something wrong?” TJ worried, placing his hand on top of Cyrus’, but then removing it.

Cyrus shakes his head, choking out a watery laugh. “No, no, I’m just. . .so insanely happy,” he admitted, after which TJ pulled him close, wrapping his arms around Cyrus and enjoying the moment. He could confidently say this was the best first date ever.

The following Monday, Cyrus came in and greeted TJ with a kiss on the cheek, to which Marty reacted as if TJ had just sprouted a second head.

“So. . .” Marty trailed.

TJ chuckled, shrugging. “Yes, dumbass, we’re dating.”

Marty broke out into a grin, shoving TJ a little and slapping his arm over and over. “Dude, finally! Who confessed first?”

“I did.”

Marty’s face dropped at that, and Buffy popped out of seemingly nowhere (it wasn’t nowhere, it was actually from behind the counter).

“Ha! I told you! You owe me the drink of my choice,” she stated victoriously.

“You bet on us?” TJ asked incredulously.

Buffy chuckled, nodding. “At least you guys got your heads out of your asses and confessed to each other.”

TJ looked over at Cyrus, who was sitting and working on his laptop, with a fond smile. “Yeah. At least that.”

“So, what’ll it be?” Marty asked, grabbing a cup and a pen.

“Hmm, I think I want my own drink,” she decided, “the ‘Buffy Blitz’, if you will. A latte with two pumps of caramel, and three of white chocolate, topped with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.”

Marty scribbled away on the cup. “Coming right up, your highness.”

After he finished the order, they decided to close up a little early, and all four of them sat together at a table for a double date. It was one of their favorite experiences to date.

When TJ graduated from college, he ended up becoming the school psychologist for Jefferson Middle School and he opened a coffee shop on the side, which he and his sister Amber co-owned.

Cyrus went on to study during his graduate years, and would always come by to grab his coffee, which TJ would always have a coffee ready for him. He would still wear the pride pin that he had kept all these years, and there was even a small pride flag around the tip jar.

The menu was made up of the classic drinks, but there were also specialty drinks, which were all named after his friends. Cyrus sometimes got a different order, but the one that TJ named after him would forever be his favorite.

One day, after TJ’s shift, he and Cyrus took the long way back to Cyrus’ apartment, taking in the beautiful buds that were soon going to bloom into flowers, and admiring the way the sun fell through the leaves. Even if it was the long way back, it still felt too short, too soon to part, at least to TJ. Cyrus seemed to pick up on this, giving him a soft smile and taking his hand in his own.

“Come in, stay for a little while,” Cyrus offered.

TJ shrugged, kicking at the ground. “No, that’s okay, I’ll have to leave anyways.”

Cyrus waited a beat, taking a small step towards TJ. “I mean, you could always move in with me.”

TJ looked up at him so fast he swore he heard his neck snap. “What?”

Cyrus giggled, tugging him inside. “Look, I know it’s kind of small and cramped but. . .we could make it work. What do you say?”

TJ could barely believe what he was hearing. He stared for a few moments, before wrapping his arms around Cyrus and spinning him around. “Yes, oh my gosh, I’d love to!”

Peals of laughter filled the room, the two boys happier than ever before.

TJ put him down, his smile softening. “You know, I told myself I wouldn’t move in with someone unless I was getting married.”

Cyrus raised his brows, smirking. “Well, well, well. Might just have to propose one of these days then, huh?”

TJ laughed a little, pressing a kiss to Cyrus’ temple and wrapping an arm around him. “Okay, sure, whatever you say, Cy.”

Two months later, when they were both sitting under the covers, watching a movie, Cyrus turned to TJ and said, “We should get married.”

TJ just looked at him, pausing the movie. “Cyrus?”

“I mean, only if you want to, you know,” Cyrus shrugged, looking up into his eyes, “but. . .if you do, that’d be cool.”

That night, Cyrus saw what was quite possibly the most beautiful smile on TJ’s face. “There’s no one else I’d rather be with,” he smiled, leaning in for a kiss. Cyrus seemed to always taste like vanilla and mint, and if that’s what it would be like for the rest of their lives, that was just okay with him.

Cyrus pulled back from the kiss, his eyes still closed, and leaned on TJ’s shoulder. “I love you, TJ.”

TJ smiled at the boy in his arms. He remembered when they had barely just met; TJ had no idea how important Cyrus would become to him. He couldn’t imagine his life without the brunet.

“I love you too, Cy.”

[ohwormworld]

Operation: Spying at The Spoon, a multi-ship Andi Mack fanfic

This one was requested by anon, so here you go!

taglist:

@tyrus-is-everything @shes-a-snorpian @losrgeekwhatevr @youcanexhalenowtj @tyrus-and-the-swings @tyrusendgameperiod @lesbianrelateddeath @lemonboyandcccmuffin @purplefacey @yeettyrus @luzawithoutu

AO3 link

Cyrus was sitting on his bedroom floor, video calling with TJ while doing some light studying in preparation for high school.

“Can you come to work with me tomorrow?” TJ asked, running a hand through his hair subconsciously. 

“Sorry, The Good Hair Crew has plans to meet at The Spoon tomorrow,” Cyrus apologized.

TJ’s raised his eyebrows. “The Good Hair Crew?”

“Andi, Buffy, and I,” Cyrus explained, “The Good Hair Crew,” 

TJ gave Cyrus his pleading face, the face, the same mock pouty-face he gave Cyrus before he pushed Cyrus on the swingset.

Cyrus shook his head determinedly. "That's not going to work with me this time. I have to honor my commitment I made with Buffy and Andi."

"Ugh, fine," TJ whined. "But you owe me a date at The Spoon and you have to come with me to work tomorrow. It's only fair."

Cyrus pretended to analyze the terms of TJ's request "Hmm, let me see if I have to do anything tomorrow. My calendar is just so full, I hardly have enough space for bathroom breaks."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Maybe."

"Cyrus,"

"Thelonius Jagger,"

TJ crossed his arms and looked at Cyrus expectantly, all green eyes.

"Ugh fine, I'll come to work with you, Thelonius."

The two of them ended the call after a few more minutes of teasing. 

As TJ walked to the kitchen to grab a snack, an idea hit him. He texted Jonah and Marty about it, and both them OKed it.

TJ walked to Amber's room and knocked on her door. He opened the door before he hears a response.

"Amber I just had the best idea," TJ announced.

Amber was working on a bracelet, it seemed. She had been getting into crafts ever since she started dating Andi.

"What is it, worms-for-brains," Amber sighed, trying to loop her piece of string through a glittery bead. 

"So, first…"

***

"That's them," TJ whispered. Marty, Jonah, Amber, and him hid behind their table at the Spoon as they saw The Good Hair Crew approach the diner.

"Why are we hiding again?" Marty asked, ever the forgetful one.

"We're spying on our girlfriends," Amber answered, her impatience ringing.

"And boyfriend," TJ added. 

"I can't believe I agreed to this," she said as she almost bumped her head on the table.

Jonah looked as confused as ever. "But guys…" he began, looking at the rest of them, "I'm single."

Amber tried to reassure her ex-boyfriend. "You're just here for comedic relief, don't worry"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonah asked her, more perplexed than offended. 

"Shh," TJ interrupted, "I wanna hear what they're saying."

Cyrus, Andi and Buffy were seated at their favorite booth in The Spoon, chatting up a storm.

"And when he did that face, I almost melted," Cyrus told the girls. "I'm going to write an entire screenplay about TJ Kippen's various faces and how those faces make me combust."

From under the table behind Cyrus', TJ blushed the color of a tomato while his friends and sister teased him mercilessly.

Andi giggled. "You must really like him."

"Yeah it's kinda gross how in-like you guys are," Buffy joked, smiling to herself.

"Have you noticed how green TJ's eyes are?" Cyrus asked no one in particular. "They're like emeralds," he mused wistfully.

"Are my eyes really that green?" TJ asked his sister. 

Amber smirked. "To him, you oblivious dork.."

Cyrus blushed, looking down at his lap. "But enough about me," Cyrus announced as he snacked on a baby tater. "What's going on with you and Amber?"

Amber smiled to herself from her hiding spot with the boys as she noticed to flower crown Andi was wearing. Amber had given it to her on one of their many flower-crown making dates by the lake.

"She's so perfect she made a bracelet," Andi gushed. "It's really nice that someone made something for me for a change."

Jonah smiled at Amber, painfully aware of the times Andi had made him a bracelet that he had taken for granted. 

Buffy smiled at her friend across the table. "I haven't seen you this happy in, well, forever."

Andi flung a baby tater at Buffy. "Don't you dare go soft on me, Buffy Driscoll" she warned, wagging her finger for emphasis.

"Don't worry, I won't," Buffy affirmed as Andi's baby taters hit her sleeve. "In fact, I'll keep all my stuff with Marty to myself."

Marty sighed, clearly disappointed that he didn't hear Buffy yearn for him like the others did.

Cyrus joined Andi in assaulting Buffy with baby taters. "Tell us all about him or we'll keep these coming."

"Fine, I'll tell you," Buffy surrendered, raising her hands in defeat. 

Marty perked up again, shoving Jonah. "She's gonna talk about how in love with me she is."

"He's pretty cute, I guess," Buffy told her friends.

"Just pretty cute?" Andi asked, a doubtful look on her face. "You guys are attached at the hip."

"Hey, that's not-" Buffy stammered.

Cyrus interrupted Buffy. "Literally attached at the hip. I've seen your piggyback rides."

Marty beamed with pride from his side of the diner. He tried to flex his muscles under the table but ended up hitting Amber with his elbow.

"Ow!" she yelled in reflex.

"What was that?" Buffy asked the group. She turned around the others followed. 

"What do we do?" TJ whispered frantically. Cyrus, Andi, and Buffy hadn't found them yet. But a few more stray sounds and they definitely would. 

Amber shifted her weight under the table. "I think we should just come clean." She started fidgeting with her bracelet, the one Andi had made for her. "I don't want her to think I was spying on her."

"But we were spying on her," Jonah pointed out. Amber glared at him.

"I'm with Amber," Marty said. "Let's just tell them now so they don't stay mad at us. TJ? Jonah?"

"I'll do whatever you guys think we should do," Jonah whispered. "I don't really have any other ideas."

With that, TJ walked out from their hiding spot under the table and turned to face Cyrus. "Surprise?" he said lamely.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked, annoyed by TJ's antics.

"I, um," TJ began meekly. "wanted to hear what you guys talked about."

"You were spying on us?" Andi accused, her eyes shooting daggers at TJ.

Amber quietly got up, following her brother. "Me too," she said while twirling a finger through her hair sheepishly.

"Us too," Jonah called out, Marty hunched over behind him.

Marty ran a hand through his hair from behind Jonah. "Please don't kill us," he pleaded.

Buffy laughed bitterly. "We're not going to kill you. Just make your life very hard from now on."

Cyrus covered Buffy's mouth with his hand. "Don't listen to her," he told TJ. "We're not going to hurt you in any way."

"What did you guys hear?" Andi interrogated the other group, pointing her accusedly.

"Enough to know Buffy thinks I'm cute," Marty smirked. Buffy attempted an icy glare, but ended up grinning; a light blush coating her cheeks.

"And I know Andi really liked my bracelet," Amber says, eyes lingering on Andi's wrist. Andi melts, unable to suppress the smile forming on her face.

"TJ, don't," Cyrus warned, embarrassed at the fact that TJ had heard him gushing over him. "I'm so stupid."

TJ stepped closer to Cyrus.

"You're not stupid. Not even close," TJ assured him, tucking a strand of Cyrus’ hair behind his ear.  Cyrus smiled softly at that, and TJ grinned back.

"OK, OK, we get it," Jonah deadpanned."You're all in a relationship except me."

Everyone laughed at that. The couples all looked at each other fondly as a confused waitress watched them from her seat at the counter. It might seem cheesy, but they were subconsciously wishing that moment had lasted forever.

Just seven of them crowded into a table meant for four people, looking at their first loves like they were the only thing in all of Shadyside.

[andimackismycrack]

blissful ignorance - a tyrus story

part 2/?

here’s part 1! https://andimackismycrack.tumblr.com/post/186843853844/blissful-ignorance-a-tyrus-story

word count: 1,115

Cyrus woke the next morning smiling, thinking about the previous night and TJ. He reached over, unplugged his phone from it’s charger, and unlocked it. Cyrus texted the first person who entered his mind

[Cyrus: good morning :)]

[TJ: morning!]

[Cyrus: i’ll see you at the spoon in 30?]

[TJ: sounds like a plan, underdog :)]

They arrived to The Spoon almost simultaneously, both grinning widely. TJ insisted he hold the door open and Cyrus begrudgingly obliged, still smiling. The boys walked through the door to see a few familiar faces already seated, looking at the pair with a sort of knowingness. This was something both Cyrus and TJ saw but neither mentioned.

They sat down, waiting to order, making their usual snarky comments and jokes, gazing into each other’s eyes. They still couldn’t tell if the previous night was a dream or not. Amber came up to the pair with a fake ‘I’m your waitress so I have to smile but I really hate you and my job’ smile.

“Hi can I take your ord-“ she suddenly stopped, fake smile disappearing from her face.

“What?” TJ insisted she tell them what was wrong. Cyrus looked at TJ, both equally as confused.

“Oh.. Oh my god. You guys didn’t see it, did you?” her tone became increasingly worried.

“See what…?” Cyrus questioned, visibly becoming anxious, tapping his menu with his index finger.

“Just,” she pulled out her phone, pressed a few buttons and hesitantly turned it around, “Here.”

The boys’ lighthearted expressions faded. “Kira? Why would…” Cyrus trailed off.

TJ grabbed the phone in disbelief. He was going to kill Kira. This is what he meant when he told Cyrus she wasn’t a good person. He found himself thinking back to the night before, wishing his joke about Kira being a witch and dying, wasn’t so much of a joke.

“Oh my god,” TJ fumed. Cyrus reached his arm across the table and placed it on top of TJ’s, in hopes of comforting him.

“We’ll be okay,” Cyrus wasn’t sure if he believed it himself, “It’ll be okay,” Their eyes met with vulnerable and saddened expressions.

“I-” TJ started, “I have to go,” he stood up.

“No!, TJ wait!” Cyrus hoped he would stay, he wanted them to figure this out.

“Please,” Amber pleaded, grabbing her little brother’s hand.

“I- I’m sorry, I need to be alone,” his eyes welled up with tears. A second or two later, he was out the door, running home.

Cyrus just sighed and put his head down on the table. He was lost in his own spiraling thoughts until Amber returned a few minutes later with an extra large chocolate milkshake with whipped cream.

“I um didn’t order this…”

“Don’t worry about it, I think you need it,” Amber winked and walked away, stopping Cyrus of anymore opposition. He stayed at the booth for a long while, Kira’s post flashing through his vision. He couldn’t stop thinking of TJ walking to the door, looking back at Cyrus, and running down the sidewalk. At this point, the boy was visibly fuming, stuck in his thoughts. He wasn’t sure whether to go find TJ, go home himself, or find his friends. So he just sat.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

It had been what felt like hours at this point. Cyrus’ legs were tingling. He hadn’t moved since him and TJ sat down earlier that morning.

“Cyrus!” chimed a familiar voice.

“There you are! We’ve been looking for you, we were worried,” another exclaimed. He looked up to see his best friends. He didn’t have the words to talk in the moment but Andi and Buffy sat down regardless.

”Cyrus…” Buffy turned to face her friend and he stayed completely frozen. Face not moving, empty milkshake glass in front of him. Andi flagged Amber down and go up to talk to her.

“How long has he been sitting there?” Amber could hear Andi’s genuine concern for her best friend in her tone of voice.

“It’s been about two hours since i brought him his milkshake,” Amber paused to look over at Cyrus, Andi’s eyes flitted over to Amber then quickly away to him, “I tried talking to him on my break but he wouldn’t say a word. I should’ve called sooner, I’m sorry Andi,”

“Don’t worry about it,” Andi walked back to the booth where Buffy was trying to get through to Cyrus.

Eventually, they were able to get him to walk with them back to Buffy’s house. The two girls looped Cyrus’ arms around theirs as they started their walk. The trio clambered up the stairs and finally reached Buffy’s bedroom.

“Cyrus, please. You have to at least tell us something,” Buffy glanced over to Andi, who had a hand on their friend’s back.

“It’s gonna be okay. We’re here for you,” Andi continued to rub circles onto the back of Cyrus’ shirt.

A long silence. Then, “I just,” Cyrus started, choking back his tears, “I can’t lose him, I just got him,” he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He just broke down. At least his two best friends were there to hold him.

He couldn’t help but feel so stupid. This was all because of Kira. Oh god, Kira. Cyrus hated her. And he didn’t hate anyone, that is, except her.

The group spent the remainder of the day watching cheesy, animated Disney movies, gorging themselves on microwave popcorn and m&m’s. Buffy and Andi also made sure their best friend drank plenty of water and had at least one real meal that day.

It was getting late, Cyrus decided to text his dad.

[Cyrus: I’m gonna stay the night at Buffy’s house, bad day.]

His dad responded promptly, telling him to have fun and feel better. Cyrus lifted his phone to show his friends that he could stay the night. He absolutely dreaded this next conversation. He knew the girls would tell him to ignore Kira and go talk to TJ but he knew he wasn’t up for that yet.

“Distract me,” Cyrus begged.

“I thought that’s what we were doing…” Buffy trailed off.

“No, I mean,” Cyrus paused to think, “Tell me about what’s happening with you guys, maybe something like what happened with Marty last night?”

Andi popped her head up in interest, “Yeah, Buffy, what happened with Marty last night?” she repeated Cyrus’ words, slightly shimmying her shoulders.

“Okay well,” Buffy took what seemed like the longest deep breath ever before continuing, “He kissed me,” she whisper-screamed, a smile plastered across her face. They all giggled and gossiped until they fell asleep, the movie Brave playing in the background. This was exactly what Cyrus needed just then.

notes: i posted it! albeit a little late, today was crazy busy so i’m sorry if this part seems rushed or uneventful but i promise i have a plane ;)

[27emailsicantsend]

Baking with Bowie: A Tyrus Blueberry Macademia One-Shot

“Seriously guys, I cant find the recipe anywhere!” Cyrus pleaded to Andi and Buffy through their group video chat.

“I can’t believe you are actually following through with that stupid bet you made about me. And why me? Why couldn’t you have made a bet on Andi? Or each other?” Buffy drilled.

“Says the world’s most competitive girl,” Cyrus retorted.

“Good point,” Buffy said back almost immediately.

“Maybe Bowie or CeCe can help you, Cyrus. Bowie is a really good cook,” Andi chimed in as she sat back up from painting her toe nails. While she was screwing the brush back into the bottle, Cyrus chimed, “really? You think they would do that?”

“Sure,” said Andi, “But don’t ask Bex for help. I love her,” Andi suddenly lowered her voice, “but she can’t cook to save her life”. All of the kids giggled together as they reminisced Andi moving in with Bex for the first time and the many cooking disasters they ran into.

The next day, Cyrus gently tapped on the Mack’s door. If he was at Bex’s, he would have just walked in, but he wanted to use a bigger, nicer kitchen, so he begged Bowie to use CeCe’s. Which, admittedly, frightened Cyrus. He was worried about leaving finger prints on the muffin tins or not remembering to put a utensil back where he found it. Or worst of all, what if he left some crumbs on the counter?? Cyrus shuddered the thought away. He didn’t want to imagine the retaliation of Celia.

Bowie answered the door with a big smile, pat on the shoulder and “how are you buddy?” As Bowie led Cyrus into the kitchen, he began explaining where everything was and all of CeCe’s kitchen rules. The list seemed to take ten minutes. There were so many things. Put the dishes away. Make sure they are all prerinsed before the washer but use the specific determinen for glassware vs pots and pans. Don’t put the pans in too high of heat, they pop...

“... and we also need to sweep and mop when we’re done. Oh and we need to wipe the counters too. Make sure to use the wash rag for rinsing the counter, the dirtying rags for the disinfectant, and a soft cloth for the glass cleaner. Oh and why are you doing this anyway? Seems like a lot of work for some muffins”.

Cyrus snapped back into reality. Bowie’s question caught him completely off guard.

“What? Oh. I- uh- uh” Cyrus stammered as he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why he needed the nicest kitchen in Shadyside to make one of the messiest foods.

Because TJ deserves the best. Because these muffins need to prove that I won the bet. He can’t win if I made muffins better than what he was expecting. That in turn, makes me the winner. Because I want to impress-

“Hello?” Bowie cut off Cyrus’ thoughts. “Listen, little man, it’s totally ok. I get it. The food always tastes better when it’s made in a nice kitchen”

Yeah. That’s it.

“Listen, why don’t we just get started. Did you bring the ingredients?” Bowie said, obviously trying to change the topic.

“Sure did!” Cyrus exclaimed. He dropped two grocery bags filled with items. Cyrus began pulling out items and naming them, “blueberries, macademia nuts, flour, eggs...”

The two began to make the muffins. It actually turned out to be a really fun time baking with Bowie. They put Bowie’s music he played on his tour through the house while they talked about cooking mishaps and different types of dinosaurs. Bowie even talked about how he used to use baby tater’s for his grease mobile.

While the muffins were baking and the scent was filling through the house, Bowie put down the wet dish rag for the counter and gestured Cyrus to come sit down at the table with him.

“Let’s take a break, little guy. Come sit down for a minute”.

“Thank you,” Cyrus said with mercy.

Bowie giggled.

“No, seriously,” Cyrus said as he became more serious. “I really appreciate this. It was so nice of you to give me a break from cleaning, but it was also for helping me make these muffins. For CeCe to let me use her kitchen... I just really want TJ to like these”.

Bowie’s expression softened, then became curious. He sat up and leaned forward. “I know making these means a lot to you. You wouldn’t of basically killed yourself to make them for him if they didn’t. Besides, you bought all of the ingredients. I just instructed you,” Bowie said with an arrogance in his voice, while still mysteriously staying humble.

“I really did believe in Buffy though,” Cyrus pleaded. “I still do. I think this team really has a shot, but TJ is bringing her confidence down. Maybe if he starts to believe in her, then-“

“Then why did you make these for him? Doesn’t that just prove his point? And make it seem like you’re letting him not have confidence in her?” Bowie said as he cut Cyrus off.

“Well, I’m also hoping that maybe if he sees these muffins aren’t that big of a deal, he’ll pull down on her a little. That bringing her down wasn’t worth some silly little muffins”.

“I don’t know, bro,” Bowie said suspiciously. “It seems to me like these muffins aren’t so silly to you. Especially with how much work you went through to make them”. Bowie gestured his face towards the kitchen. Cyrus was shocked. Bowie was really bringing down the hammer on these muffins. It was just innocent, right?

Just as Cyrus was plotting a debate strategy for telling Bowie he was wrong later in his head, the oven started to smoke. Both guys ran over to the oven startled.

“Cyrus! Fire extinguisher! It’s in the pantry closet!” Bowie exclaimed as he went to open the oven. Cyrus ran to the closet and flew the door open. He tried to lift the extinguisher, but it was too heavy.

“But Bowieeee. My arms. They’re so puny. You know this. I’m a coogle if a man, remember?” Cyrus whined.

Bowie sighed, frustrated. Darted his head back and forth between the oven and closet for a minute and ran over. Cyrus backed into the pantry as Bowie lifted the fire extinguisher off it’s hook. Bowie ran back to the oven. Cyrus, on the other hand, slowly stepped back into the kitchen.

“Heh heh heh, I’m out of the closet!” Cyrus giggled to himself.

“Cyrus! This is no time for jokes!”

“Right. Right. Sorry about that.” Cyrus said quickly as he ran back to the oven.

Bowie looked at Cyrus, the smoke beginning to fill the room and the smoke detector’s alarm now covering up the sound of the music.

“Ok!” Bowie yelled. “On three, you open the door and I’ll put out the fire!”

“Ok!”

“Alright, one... two...”

Cyrus panicked and opened the door. They both started screaming and Bowie started yelling, “Cyrus! I said on three!”

“I’m sorry! I panicked! It was a high pressure situation and I thought it would be best to get it over with. My mom says I don’t think stressful situations through and act on impulse. It’s something I’m trying to fix so that I can eventually level out my blood pressure-“

Suddenly a small flame burst out of the oven. Bowie and Cyrus both screamed. Neither of them had realized when they opened the oven it had just been smoke until that point and now was the time to actually start panicking. Instinctively, Bowie pulled the trigger and sprayed down the oven.

The fire stopped and Bowie and Cyrus started opening up doors and windows to let the smoke go out. The alarm eventually stopped sounding. Thankfully, there wasn’t any damage to the oven and only some damage to the pans themselves. Cyrus hoped that with some paint from Andi Shack and a lot of clear polish they could cover up the damage on the pans and any scrapes from scraping the burnt muffin off of the pans.

Cyrus and Bowie both learned against the sink.

Cyrus sighed and said, “well, so much for that idea”.

Bowie looked at him slightly frustrated and said, “and remind me again why it was so important we did this, Cy?”

The next day at school, Cyrus ran up to TJ in the hall.

“Teej!” Cyrus exclaimed as TJ gave him a bro-hug.

“What’s up underdog?”

“I, uh, I have something for you”. Cyrus pulled out a clear plastic baggy filled with black char from his backpack. “As promised”.

“Um... thanks?” TJ said as he took the bag with hesitation and began to look it over. “But I don’t really know what it is?...”

“It’s your muffins!”

“I hate to break it to you, Cy, but these aren’t really muffins. This is more... volcanoe ash”.

“You didn’t let me finish”, Cyrus grinned. “It’s your muffins from my first attempt. And my second. And my third. Apparently, you’re supposed to push bake instead of broil.”

“And it took you three attempts to figure that out?” TJ asked Cyrus with a slight smirk.

“Yes, but once I did figure that out, it only took me one to make these”. Cyrus pulled out another plastic baggy from his backpack. He pulled out a batch of the most perfect looking mini muffins with speckles of white and blue in them.

TJ’s face beamed as he grabbed the bag. “Whoa! You actually made them! I thought these would be impossible to make! You’re the best, underdog! Thank you!” TJ wrapped Cyrus in his arms, the muffins pushing against his back. TJ let go first, but Cyrus lingered a half second longer.

“You’re welcome”, Cyrus said as he broke the hug and then smiled innocently at TJ.

“So.. these muffins?” TJ asked suspiciously.

“Yeah?”

“You know you didn’t need to put that much work into them right? I mean, I get I won the bet, but I didn’t want you to set your house on fire to make them. You could have easily just gotten me a chocolate chocolate chip muffin, and I would have still been happy”.

“But TJ, you know that would have been the same amount of work for me,” Cyrus said, slightly cynical.

“I watched you get that muffin before. Cy, you’re a lot more capable of doing things than you give yourself credit for”.

“Thanks, TJ. That means a lot.” Cyrus smiled. “But the work for these was worth it”.

And then Cyrus thought, because you’re worth it.

Requested by: @kitalphrii