our secret places (tyrus)

he doesn't bother me

~tj's pov~

i watched cyrus walk away, he had good friends. i wish i had friends like that. just then, some of my school 'friends' walked up to me.

"yo tj, you still hanging out with that cyrus guy?" one of them said to me.

"yeah and what about it," i replied. these guys weren't cyrus' biggest fans, but i thought he was cool.

"he's... weird, and hanging out with him kinda makes you look weird too."

"ya? well i don't really care about that," it was true. i didn't care about the fact that people thought cyrus was weird, and i didn't care if people thought i'm weird. he was a really good friend, one that i didn't want to lose.

"whatever man, just know that he's probably the reason you don't have a girlfriend."

"alright i'm gonna go to class now," i had to get out of that situation. even if it meant going to class.

i tried not to let their words get to me, but what they said made me think. jonah was friends with cyrus and tons of people still loved him, but he's jonah freaking beck you can't not like him. the only reason people were nice to me was because i intimidated them. if i lost my edge then things probably wouldn't be so easy in this school. could being cyrus' friend strip my scary guy disguise away? was that really a bad thing?

i let the thoughts fall out of my mind as i walked into math class. 

~cyrus' pov~

as i walked away from tj i secretly wished i didn't have to leave him for my other friends, no matter how much longer i had known them. i prepared for the backlash from hanging out with tj from andi and buffy.

"cyrus, you know we don't like tj, so why do you insist on hanging out with him still?" buffy half yelled at me.

"chill out guys! i got here early and he was the only person i knew. notice how i left him right as i saw you guys?" i didn't want to leave him, but i knew i'd never hear the end of it if i chose tj over the GHC.

"yeah i guess that's true. we'll let it slide now, but next time you're in trouble," andi said it sarcastically but i knew there was a bit of seriousness.

"alright, i should probably head to math now," buffy said before leaving.

"yeah and i have to go to science," andi departed as well, leaving me all alone with myself.

as i walked to my class i realized that if i wanted to see tj again it'd have to be in a place where my bodyguard best friends won't be able to find us. why did i want to spend time with tj so bad? he just made something inside of me really happy, i didn't know why. the best thing was, he didn't mind being seen with me, even though he had a cool guy reputation to uphold.  i liked having another friend. 

~third person pov~

buffy walked into the classroom, she planned to have a conversation with tj to make sure he wasn't hurting cyrus at all.

"hey kippen," she said as she approached tj at his desk, "what were you doing with cyrus today?"

"that doesn't seem like any of your business driscoll!" tj didn't really understand what the deal was with him and cyrus being friends. they liked hanging out, why couldn't that just be it, why did everyone have to question their friendship.

"actually it is my business. cyrus is my best friend and if anything bad ever happened to him, i'd have to have a talk with the person who did it."

"relax buffy. i'm not gonna hurt your little puppet," tj was increasingly annoyed at the conversation, at this point he might've preferred if math class started, "and you should be less protective of him, he can do things without you ya know." 

"i'd be less protective if he didn't hang out with you," buffy felt like tj was only going to put cyrus in dangerous situations, like when he brought him to a place with a gun, "you're the only person  i need to protect him from."

"well he doesn't seem to think he needs protecting from me," that was true, cyrus just wanted to be able to make friends without the meddling and hovering of andi and buffy.

"you don't know anything about him," buffy said as the tardy bell rang, signaling the end of their conversation and the start of the class period. buffy made her way to her desk, and throughout the hour they glared at each other.

before they left the classroom tj walked up to buffy to try and cool things down a bit, "look buffy i'm not asking for us to be best friends, all i want is to hang out with cyrus without you breathing down my neck."

"sorry. that isn't gonna happen. i care about him too much to let him near you anymore," buffy left the conversation at that and walked out of the classroom. tj watched as she left, he knew that if wanted to talk to cyrus he'd have to do it outside of school.

everyone sat through their next two periods alone, waiting for lunch. tj and cyrus thought about each other, and how they could talk to one another without being scolded by andi and/or buffy. buffy thought about cyrus, and if tj was really bad for him or not. she thought she was doing the right thing, but what if they really did just want to be friends. no, buffy thought, that couldn't be true. tj was a bad person, there was no other option.

~

cyrus left his class and walked to the cafeteria. he was having rough morning and just wanted to eat his feelings. after grabbing his food he sat down at his friend group's usual table, where andi and jonah were already having a conversation.

"oh hey cyrus!" jonah greeted him.

"hey guys, whats up," cyrus said as he sat down. he didn't really want to talk to them, so he just zoned out by looking at the table. 

"cyrus! hey, i need to talk to you," buffy said as she approached the table, "i had a talk with tj this morning."
"what! why!" cyrus did not like that buffy was trying to interfere with his other friendships.
"why isn't important, but let's just say you don't have to worry about him bothering you anymore."
"what! seriously buffy! i really wish you guys would just stay out of my personal life," cyrus gathered his things and stood up. before leaving he turned back to say, "and for the record, he doesn't bother me, he never did!" the rest of his friends watched as he stormed out of the lunch room.

~

tj saw the interaction from another table. he saw the look in cyrus' eyes and couldn't help wanting to go check on him. his eyes followed cyrus through the cafeteria and out the door.

"i gotta go do something, see you guys later."