Andi Mack One Shots

Bravery (Tyrus)

Cyrus' POV
I stand outside of Bex's door, prepared to celebrate another day before Thanksgiving dinner. After ringing the doorbell, Andi answers and lets me inside. "I'm so glad you could make it," she says joyfully.

"I'm glad I could too." I put my coat on their hanger and sit next to Buffy on the couch. "Looks like it'll be another success this year."

Bex rushes into the living room. "Andi! Where are the lemons! I burnt the turkey!"

Andi runs back into the kitchen. From the other side, Buffy and I hear her screaming, "This isn't even burnt! You practically incinerated it!"

"Just help me find the lemons. I heard it can fix burnt food."

"We need at least a lemon tree if we want to fix this."

I turn back towards Buffy. "I guess I can cross 'eat a burnt turkey' off my list of things to do."

"Speaking of burnt turkeys, did you talk to TJ yet?"

"I'll do it on Monday. It's Thanksgiving, and I don't want to spend it thinking about recent events."

Buffy gives off a very concerned look. "But this recent event isn't going to just go away like that. You need to bring this up to him. Just imagine what could've happened if they were just a little more careless."

"I really don't want to think about it tonight of all nights. Especially if..." I get interrupted by the doorbell. I say again with a lower voice, "...especially if ."

I go up to the door, and lo and behold, TJ Kippen is standing outside. He seems a bit more reclusive than normal. He mumbles, "Hey, Cyrus."

I look back at Buffy, who is just as surprised as I am, then back at TJ. "Hey. I completely forgot I invited you. I didn't think you would be coming."

"Yeah. My plans freed up, so I decided to come over. Is that okay?"

I move out of the way so that he can enter. "Sure. Come in..."

Andi walks in and pauses suddenly, before dragging me away into the next room. "Cyrus, what is he doing here?"

"I completely forgot that I invited him, but I didn't think he would come after that event."

"Event isn't even the right word. He brought a gun to what was supposed to be a dirt-biking hangout."

"He didn't bring the gun. His friend did."

"He's still associated with them."

"By logic, so am I." I could tell all of this was just Andi's worry for me, so I lower my volume a bit. "Look, I'm scared too. This is a completely new side to TJ that I don't know about. I will talk to him. But not tonight, okay?"

Andi sighs. "Fine. I'll let him stay, too. Just be careful around him, okay? The last thing I need is for you to get hurt."

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The entire dinner was incredibly awkward. Everyone was incredibly quiet towards TJ. Jonah, who came earlier, was initiating a normal conversation with him, completely unaware about the gun incident.

Despite my close friendship with TJ, not even I could muster up the courage to talk to him.

A couple hours later, almost everyone had fallen asleep from the turkey. I didn't eat much of it, meaning that I was still awake. As I look around the area, I notice that TJ isn't anywhere to be seen. I look outside and find him sitting on the porch, staring at the twilight sky.

I sit next to him, and both of us sit in silence for a good few moments, before I finally break the quiet atmosphere. "TJ, why didn't you leave with me that past Saturday?" From his expression, I could tell that he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words, so I continued to talk. "Reed brought a gun, and you weren't happy about it, but you weren't surprised. I'm not completely sure what you did and didn't know."

TJ finally says something. "This... this isn't the first time we've done this. We've used the gun before. I asked Reed not to bring it this time, since you were coming. I didn't want you to know that I was doing this."

"Because you'd know I would be reacting the way I am now. You have to understand how dangerous it is. What if you had gotten hurt, or worse?!"

"I can't just leave my friends like that."

"If they're really your friends, they'll understand if you're scared."

"I like firing the gun." He darts his eyes away from me, giving me a clear sign that he's lying, and he knows that I know. "Maybe I'm a little scared."

"Then tell your friends that you can't do this. Bravery isn't using the gun. It's being able to walk away from it, and doing the right thing."

TJ smiles. "That's so cliche, you know that?"

"If it's cliche, that means it usually has a good message, right?"

I hear a small chuckle from him. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Thanks for being my real friend."

He hugs me and I wrap my arms around him. It's nice and scary at the same time. I'm friends with someone who's fired a gun.

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To be honest, this story started off well, but I just kind of crapped on it at the end.