"Wow, Cyrus. I think you've really out done yourself this time!"
The boy grinned, doing a little twirl to show off the shirt he was wearing. "You don't think it's too much?"
TJ couldn't keep from laughing now. "No, no. It's very enthusiastic! A plain shirt with 'go sports' on it. Nice."
"Thank you very much."
The athlete turned to open the door then, stepping aside to let Cyrus pass. "Shall we?"
"We shall." Cyrus responded, picking up his bag and stepping outside.
He completely missed the way TJ looked after him, an adoring smile on his lips.
~
Thankfully, the heat wasn't too severe that afternoon. In fact, the angry grey clouds above them seemed to suggest that a storm could be on its way. A cool breeze had set in by the time they arrived at their local park, and TJ instantly picked up on Cyrus' shivering.
"Take my hoodie," he said, already beginning to lift it over his head.
"I'm not cold." Cyrus insisted.
TJ lifted a disbelieving eyebrow as the boy sat down on a bench, hugging his bag to his chest.
"Sure you aren't," he teased, placing his basketball hoodie on the Cyrus' lap. "I'll just leave this here. For safe-keeping, y'know?
The boy's witty response died on his lips when he caught sight of TJ, who was now wearing nothing but a singlet now. "Um, yeah, sure." he mumbled
The athlete looked slightly confused by that, but he shook it off and headed over to the basketball court to warm up.
Cyrus quickly snapped himself out of it - he had seen TJ wearing singlets about a million times - this time wasn't any different. He had always known TJ was cute, and it still wasn't anything but friendly admiration.
It took about 5 minutes for him to cave and slip on TJ's basketball hoodie - the wind was becoming a lot more biting, and he rationalised that there was nothing wrong with friends sharing hoodies. Right?
He began cheering TJ on whenever he got a goal (which seemed to be an alarming majority of the time) and after a few more minutes of waiting, Rafael and Jamie arrived together.
He could feel his heart racing as he approached the pair, the friendliest smile he could muster on his lips.
"Hey!" he greeted.
TJ was by his side a moment later, placing a hand on his shoulder. He felt himself relax almost instantly.
The blonde-haired boy introduced himself first. "Hey - you must be Cyrus! I'm Jamie."
He held his hand out then, and Cyrus found himself feeling very grateful that he had mastered the art of a 'bro-hug' in middle school.
"It's nice to meet you." he said as they pulled away.
"I'm Rafael." the other boy greeted.
He held his arms out for a hug, which Cyrus felt a lot more comfortable with. Rafael was taller than even TJ, and he was much taller than both him and Jamie. He had dark hair and his eyes were a light brown.
Cyrus stepped back while TJ talked to the pair, a small smile on his lips as he watched them all laugh (no doubt at one of the athlete's ridiculous jokes.)
"You ready to lose, Teej?" Jamie asked suddenly, a challenging smirk on his face.
"Only if you can keep up!" the boy responded, turning around and dashing towards the basketball court.
Rafael rolled his eyes fondly as Jamie took off after him, approaching Cyrus with a timid smile. "I guess we should find somewhere to sit and watch, huh?"
"I guess we should." He agreed.
They made their way over to a nearby bench in relative silence. The silence persisted even after they had sat down, and Cyrus didn't know how to break it for the life of him. Luckily - he didn't have to in the end.
"I'm really sorry about Isaac. We both are." Rafael said quietly.
"It's fine," he assured him. "I know it's hard to get out of something like that."
The boy gave him a grateful smile, and another silence settled between them as they watched the other two play.
"Hey - do you think we could make flower crowns out of these daisies?" Rafael asked suddenly.
Cyrus scanned the area around them for a moment before nodding. "Yeah! I think we could."
That's how they ended up sitting on the grass together, with Rafael picking daisies and creating careful slits in each one while Cyrus tried his best to weave them all together. They fell into conversation naturally after a few minutes, which the boy was very grateful for.
"Do you play basketball by the way?"
The question caught Cyrus off guard at first - who would direct that at him of all people - but then he remembered that he was still wearing TJ's hoodie.
"No," he laughed. "Not at all. This is TJ's."
A smile that he could only describe as knowing came to Rafael's lips. "Right. Of course."
Cyrus didn't even want to begin thinking about what that could mean.
"He talks about you all the time, you know?"
His heart skipped a beat at that, and he looked over at the boy in alarm. "He does?"
Rafael's smile widened. "Yeah. He cares about you. Like - a lot."
Cyrus shifted his gaze to TJ. His hair was wind-swept and his eyes were alight with laughter as he playfully stuck his tongue out at Jamie.
Someone obviously just scored, he mused.
His smile was soft when he turned his attention to Rafael again. "I care about him a lot too."
~
A/N: That's it for now! Tune in next time for Cyrus being slightly less oblivious about his feelings. ;-)
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chalk ; tyrus {completed}
Fanfiction"He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, very convinced that he was just seeing things, but when he opened them again the scene hadn't changed. He was still in his bedroom, looking at his neighbour's house, and 𝘛𝘑 𝘒𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 was still sitting c...
