#sorry for adding irrelevant tags it boosts though

[jamie-sp]

6 SP characters!! I wanted ro give each square its own personality and i think i mostly succeeded on tweeks..

if you couldn’t tell their names are written in the way i think they would write their names!!

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

((You got it! Sorry it’s taking so long, school is kicking my butt. :P 86. “I should never have trusted you.” ooh! my writer’s instinct is gonna make people cry, watch out y’all))

If you were to tell Cyrus Goodman that by his freshman year of high school, he’d be dating Jonah Beck, he would have laughed in your face and called you out for being a liar. But he would have been flattered at your statement.

If you were to tell Cyrus Goodman that Jonah Beck was cheating on him, he would have laughed in your face and called you a liar. He wouldn’t have been happy with what you said; he trusted Jonah with his life, practically.

Cyrus was only told one of these things, and he never thought he’d be told any of them at all.

“Just one look, quickly!” TJ urged, slipping on his basketball uniform and gesturing to Jonah’s phone with a quick nod of his head.

“I can’t! I won’t!” Cyrus refused defensively, crossing his arms and taking a seat on the bench. “I’m not going to check his texts, he’s my boyfriend and I trust him. That’s how this kind of relationship works,” he snapped a bit too harshly, evident from TJ’s missing.

“Mm, a nice reminder that I have no expertise in the field,” the taller boy clipped, shutting his locker with a louder than needed slam, and slinging his towel over his shoulder. “When that boyfriend of yours isn’t as loyal as you say, I’ll say I told you so,” he muttered before pushing through the oak door and heading into the gym, the sound of sneakers squeaking against the gym floor greeting him.

TJ’s words hung in the air; Cyrus could easily reach over and grab Jonah’s phone, peek through, and turn it back off. He had frisbee practice for another fifteen minutes at least, and that was more than enough time.

Hesitating considerably, he took Jonah’s phone and turned it on, greeted by a selfie of them for the lock screen. Immediately, he turned off the phone, feeling guilt rise in his chest. Jonah, sweet and caring Jonah, wouldn’t do anything to hurt him! But TJ’s words still lingered; should he just make sure? Before he truly processed what to do, his fingers found themselves wrapped around Jonah’s phone, typing in the pass code (Jonah put 1234 because he was worried he’d forget if it was anything else).

Clicking over onto the messages, he saw nothing out of the ordinary; the Good Hair Crew group chat, his biology group chat, text from Gus asking about frisbee practice, and texts from Andi, Buffy, and himself, of course. In Jonah’s phone, he was ‘Cy-Guy <3′, which just made Cyrus melt, but the guilt lingered. How could he think Jonah would do anything wrong? Just as he was about to put the phone back down on the bench and leave the locker room, Jonah’s phone buzzed in his hand; a text from Andi.

Andiman: let me know when i should buy cyrus taters to soften the blow. and also try to keep aaron out of his line of sight

What was this feeling? It was like he’d had the air knocked out of him, and there was no more to go around. His eyes were glued to the message and he didn’t want to scroll up to read the rest, but he gave in.

Andiman: so you’re breaking up with cyrus? because aaron asked you out? Me: not just because of that. i’ve always liked aaron, since like elementary school, and even though i said id gotten over him, i didnt. i never did. even when i was with cyrus.

Cyrus has to pause for a moment to compose himself; his hand was shaking so violently he thought he might drop the phone. It hurt, oh it hurt so badly. Especially the last part; on all those dates, he’d still been thinking about Aaron in the back of his mind?

Andiman: fair point, i guess. i hope he doesn’t take it too hard. Me: i still care about him, but...i don’t know i guess i never felt like how i felt around aaron around him. Andiman: let me know when i should buy cyrus taters to soften the blow. and also try to keep aaron out of his line of sight.

That was the end of his texts with Andi, and the end of Cyrus’ relationship all in a few texts. He swallowed thickly, feeling like he almost couldn’t breathe. This could not be happening to him?

“Cyrus?” Jonah’s voice broke though his runaway train of thoughts. Cyrus emitted an involuntary squeak and fumbled with the phone before gripping it tightly.

“Is it true?” Cyrus’ lip wobbled as he spoke, feeling the blood pulsing against Jonah’s phone case.

“Is what true? And why do you have my phone?” Jonah asked, wiping the sweat from his hairline and approaching his boyfriend. Well, sort of boyfriend. Sort of ex. Soon to be ex? Soon to be ex.

“Irrelevant,” Cyrus muttered through gritted teeth. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be sad or angry, so he opted for a mixture of both. But no tears, not now. “You’re breaking up with me?”

Jonah looked like he’d been hit in the chest with a frisbee, the remainder of oxygen left in his lungs long gone. “What?” he coughed out, his cheeks burning a deep red, “why would you say that?”

“Don’t play coy with me,” Cyrus hissed, opening Jonah’s phone and waving Andi’s texts in his face, “you told Andi before me? I’m your boyfriend!” he shrieked, before lowering his head, “at least, I used to be. I never should have trusted you,” he added.

Ouch. Jonah really didn’t like Bitter Cyrus; hurtful. Hypocritical, he knows, but hey, he’s a kid.

“You’re right, I should have told you first, but-”

“No!” Cyrus demanded, slamming the phone down on the bench, “no buts, no nothing. You needed to tell me that first, period,” he grumbled, taking a seat and rubbing his temples, “Look, I understand if you don’t feel that way about me, okay? I get that. But talking to Andi about it first? Why didn’t you just tell me that you like Aaron and you haven’t gotten over him?”

Jonah hesitated to take a seat near Cyrus, opting to put more space between them. “I-I didn’t want to hurt you,” he admitted, earning a hearty scoff from Cyrus.

“Way to go, you really succeeded in that department,” he groaned, letting out a breath he was holding.

“I’m sorry, Cy, I really-”

“Don’t say anything, save your breath for Aaron. I’m sure he’d love to listen to you go on and on about whatever it is your current obsession is right now. Breaking hearts? Hiding things? Shielding the truth? Let me know when I’ve got it,” he barked, rolling his eyes and getting up.

“Cy, please,” Jonah croaked, reaching for the boy’s arm, but it was swatted away.

“No. Don’t talk to me. Don’t bother texting me, I’m not going to respond. Good luck with Aaron, Jonah,” he called, walking out of the locker room, tightening the strings of his hoodie. Now that he was out of side and earshot of Jonah, he allowed a few tears to slip out, trickling down his face. Few was an unfortunate understatement because by the time he’d reached the swings near the curb, he was all but sobbing, hiccuping with each thump of his feet. He knew his babysitter wouldn’t be there for another half hour; after all, Cyrus usually stayed after frisbee practice to do extra practice with Jonah. They usually ended up stopping a few minutes through for a break, which turned into a hug, which ended up being them being silly together for half an hour. Now, the idea of Jonah left a bad taste in his mouth.

Gripping the chains of the swings harshly, the cool metal stinging his hands, he began to sing and swing. “Legs go up, legs go down, that’s how we make the swings go r-round,” he croaked, dragging his feet to slow himself, burying his head in his hands. How could he be so stupid? So oblivious? Before toxic thoughts could corrupt his mind, he recognized a familiar figure take the swing beside him.

“Go ahead,” Cyrus choked out, swiping at his tears, “tell me. You told me so,” he chuckled weakly, his laughter dissolving into more tears.

TJ grabbed one of Cyrus’ swing chains and pulled him closer to him, an arm around you. “You know I would, but you need a friend right now more than I need to boost my ego,” he murmured, “you don’t need to talk, but I’m here if you do,”

Cyrus latched onto TJ’s sweatshirt like a koala and buried his head into the boy’s sweatshirt, soaking it with salty tears. It felt like hours before he came up for air, gasping for air between hiccups.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier,” Cyrus mumbled through sniffles, dabbing at his eyes with his thin sweatshirt, “You were right,”

TJ smiled softly, ruffling Cyrus’ hair. “Don’t worry about it. I just had the best practice ever. Like, I’ve never played that well. You need to get under my skin more often,”

Cyrus scoffed, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Do you wanna have a sleepover tonight? My parents are away for some anxiety conference, and they won’t be back,” he offered, “it’s the least I could do to make it up to you,”

TJ pretended to think it over for a moment before agreeing. “I’ll be there around 7?”

“Sounds like a plan,” the smaller boy replied, torn from TJ’s arms with the honk of his babysitter, “that my babysitter, but she’s just here to drive me home. She’s going back to whatever college she’s enrolled in. I’ll see you tonight!” he said with a wave, jogging over to the car and taking the passenger’s seat. TJ waved as he drove off into the distance, watching the car shrink into a small dot. As soon as he was alone, save for the gentle sounds of the rustling leaves, he headed off for his house to pack for the sleepover.

A/N: this ended up being a lot longer than I imagined, but I like how it turned out.

tag list: @shortstackofpeaches @seanna313 @geekingbeautytx @heavenlybyers @ghostswasp @wlwandimack @giocondasstuff