Canoeing.
It was something that Cyrus had grown to dread over the years, and for good reason. He wasn't overly athletic, and his arms would begin burning about 2 seconds into paddling. He also had an unfortunate history of dropping the paddle into the water (he could safely place the blame on Jonah for one of those times, because the boy had made him laugh so hard he was practically wheezing.) And really - sue him for thinking that canoeing became tedious after a while.
Amber had insisted on a single-person canoe for herself (Cyrus couldn't help but think there was an ulterior motive there, but he didn't question it), which left him and TJ with a two-person canoe.
Admittedly, the lake they were at was beautiful, and the surrounding scenery was even more beautiful, but he really couldn't concentrate on that when he was currently climbing into a canoe with TJ. His crush - as his brain had reminded him multiple times already.
"You're smaller, so you should probably go in the front."
He gave a quick nod, before carefully stepping into the canoe. TJ had his arms out, seemingly ready to catch him in case he fell.
"You don't trust me?" he teased.
"Of course I do! I'm just being a good friend."
He rolled his eyes at that. Embarrassingly enough, he did end up losing his balance slightly as he went to sit down, and he ended up grabbing onto TJ's hand to steady himself.
"I did that on purpose," he insisted, quickly sitting down before he could embarrass himself further.
"Did what on purpose?" TJ smiled, climbing in after him.
Cyrus couldn't help but return the smile.
Once they were safely inside the canoe, Mr. Kippen gave him a push and they were on their way. Kind of.
"I hope you know that you're about 10 times stronger than me," He said, glancing back at the boy.
"Psh, I bet that's not true. But...I'll go lightly, okay?"
Eventually, after a few near paddle drops on Cyrus' end, they were able to make their paddling relatively synchronised. TJ managed to accommodate for his lack of strength, and they were able to pick up their speed.
"This is actually kinda fun!" he called, and it was true. As it turns out - going at a comfortable pace helped in the non-existent strength department, and the surrounding area really was beautiful now that he was paying more attention. All of the colours around them were vibrant in a way that was rare where they lived. The lake was one of the bluest lakes he had seen in a while, and the surrounding forest was a sea of dark green pine trees.
"Cyrus Goodman? Having fun while canoeing? What universe is this?"
The responding laughter brought a fond smile to TJ's lips that Cyrus missed completely.
"Do you wanna stop for a second?" the other boy asked suddenly.
Cyrus nodded, carefully lifting his paddle out of the water and manoeuvring himself so that he was faced TJ. The canoe came to a stop, rocking gently as the athlete lifted his own paddle out of the water.
"Hi."
The athlete grinned. "Hey. How's it going?"
"Not bad. Tell me - how strong are your drawing urges right now?"
"So strong." he responded, keeping his gaze firmly on Cyrus.
Cyrus' stomach swooped at that, and he ducked his head to conceal the blush he just knew was on his face. "The scenery does look pretty nice." he mumbled.
YOU ARE READING
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...
