AN: Two chapters this week (4 and 5)! I do not own anything recognizable.

Chapter 4

Jonah was tired. He was unable to get to sleep the prior night as he lay in his bed with his eyes open and his mind full. The past two days had been full of news. It was all good news, but Jonah didn't know how he would be able to fare with any of it. Andi got accepted to a magnet high school for art; Cyrus and TJ just announced that they were in a relationship; after lunch, Buffy texted him and told him that she began a relationship with Marty. That left Jonah on the outs. Everyone else was either leaving or began an exclusive relationship with someone who wasn't him. He and Amber had just broken up, and while they were on relatively good terms, it was still a little bit awkward. Jonah wasn't being selfish. He was genuinely happy to hear everyone's exciting news. He had been through so much in his life that was sometimes hidden behind his smile and Jonah charm. When he was with his friends, he didn't have to hide it. When he was with his friends, his charm and happiness were pretty much always real and authentic. They were there for him in a way that he had never experienced before, and now he felt alone.

It was not lost on Jonah that his friends would always be willing to lend a listening ear. He knew that if he wanted to talk to someone about what was going on, he could. It just felt a little bit different this time because he didn't want to accidentally make anyone feel guilty for being happy. He had to be careful about his word choice when expressing his feelings, because Jonah hated making others feel bad. It took a lot of courage just to stand up to Andi on costume day, and he didn't feel all that great about it afterwards either. How was he supposed to express grief at major milestones in his friends' lives?

Despite this, Jonah knew that he had to talk to his friends. He understood that his worries would not be answered unless he did.

A little later in the day, Jonah picked up the phone to call Andi. He believed that she was the best person to whom he could talk about this because he already had a unique bond with her. He hesitated because he wasn't sure what to say quite yet. He decided that this would be a conversation best held in person, so he texted Andi instead.

Hey, can we talk later? he asked.

Sure, what's up? Andi responded almost immediately.

I was just worried about something and wanted to talk to you.

Of course, Andi replied, What is it?

I was kind of hoping we could talk in person.

Andi accepted this request, and they started to figure out a time to meet. In the meantime, Jonah would just try to figure out what he was going to say.

The next day, the pair of them met at the park and decided to talk while taking a stroll. Jonah showed up as his usual smiling self so that he didn't seem too heavy at first.

"Hey," he smiled at Andi as she met up with him in the park and they began walking together, "how are you?"

"I'm good," Andi smiled, "What did you want to talk about?" Andi wouldn't show it, but Jonah's texts earlier worried her. She wanted to make sure that Jonah was okay as quickly as possible.

"Well," Jonah began to respond, but he quickly thought once more about the implications that bringing up this subject could have on his friendship with Andi. He had come here to let Andi know that he was afraid of losing her, but he couldn't say that. They had a weird on-again off-again relationship that never really got very far. They weren't certain how they felt about each other, and the timing was never right for them. The costume day occurrence also worried him that Andi would think that he was being a hypocrite. In addition, he knew that while Andi loved her friends more than anything, she was also a very independent person. He didn't want to do anything to make it seem like he was trying to get in the way of that. Thinking about all that, he ended up deciding that Andi might actually be the worst person to talk to about all of this. With all of those factors swirling around in his head, he backed out at the last second. "Are you going to be okay at SAVA? I just worry about you in a new place." He made up the ridiculous concern because he knew he had to say something. He knew that Andi would be fine; he just had to come up with some sort of diverting topic.

"THAT is what you wanted to talk about in person," Andi laughed. "Why couldn't we talk about that over the phone?"

"Because," Jonah struggled to find a convenient excuse, "I guess I just like hanging out with you." Afraid that Andi would take this as a desperate attempt to get back together with her, or at least some sort of weird manipulative tactic of a clingy friend, Jonah braced himself for the worst.

Instead, Andi laughed and moved on. "I'll be fine," she said, "but I do appreciate your concern."

The two of them talked for a while about SAVA and how excited Andi was to go there. She even got Jonah more excited for her to go there, too.

Andi was also excited to talk about Bex and Bowie on their honeymoon. Since they had finally gotten married, it took a lot of convincing from Andi and Cece to get them to go on a honeymoon. Neither were closed off to the idea; they just didn't like others pressuring them to do it. They had planned it before the party and had departed for the Bahamas several hours before this conversation.

The afternoon was all smiles, and the two talked on for a while and both generally enjoyed themselves. Lurking in the back of Jonah's mind, however, was still the thought of losing his friends to bigger and better things than him.

Elsewhere, a few days later, Buffy and Cyrus were hanging out with each other and talking about what was going on in their lives. They both had spent quite a bit of time with their significant others since becoming official, and they updated each other. Buffy told Cyrus about the witty banter between her and Marty that didn't go away after they stopped being friends. It just kind of worked for them. Of course, it was more flirting than anything else, but Buffy was kind of glad that not much had actually changed. TJ and Cyrus were quite a bit of a more playful couple and they spent a lot of time laughing around and calling each other cute.

In the midst of their conversation, they realized that neither couple had actually been on what they considered to be a proper date.

"I don't know how I would fare with just Marty on a date," said Buffy, deep in thought about their personalities and how they would come about in a more formal setting.

"Yeah, I don't know," replied Cyrus, "It's the same with me and TJ. I've been hesitant to ask him on a real date. It feels like it could be a lot of pressure, sitting there and having the expectation for conversation."

"Yeah," said Buffy reflectively, "It just seems so…," she hesitated, "structured."

The two of them pondered for a bit, thinking about the concept of dating. They both felt that it was something they should be doing with their boyfriends, but didn't necessarily know how to accomplish it. They each were intimidated by the date format with the expectation of a certain nature of conversation. Neither were sure that they would be equipped to pull something like that off.

"Oh, I know!" Buffy suddenly perked up, "let's go on a double date!"

"A double date?" Cyrus repeated, intrigued.

"Yeah, you know? You and TJ sitting across from me and Marty. We call it a date, but it's more like four friends hanging out."

"And we do that all the time," Cyrus chimed in, getting on board with the idea.

"So do you want to do it?" Buffy asked excitedly.

"Sure!" answered Cyrus with glee.

"I'll ask Marty, and you can ask TJ."

"I'll get on that!" Cyrus said with a joyful sense of urgency.

Cyrus didn't need to be concerned about outing TJ to Marty. Marty already knew about TJ and Cyrus. Although TJ only said that he was okay with Andi, Buffy, and Jonah knowing, once he found out that Buffy and Marty were dating, he knew that Marty figuring it out would be inevitable. He didn't mind. He also wasn't very closed off to the idea of coming out. He just didn't want it to become a big thing out of nowhere. He would rather just be with Cyrus and let people figure it out. Marty was very accepting. In fact, he didn't seem to care that much at all. He wasn't really close to TJ or Cyrus, and he believed that people should just live their lives and be themselves. It wasn't really a factor in his thoughts about either of them.

Buffy reached out to Marty, and Cyrus reached out to TJ. TJ and Marty were on board with the idea. They didn't really formally ask each other on dates. They just kind of all informally agreed that it would happen. Through a convoluted series of text messages that had to be misinterpreted a few times before anyone actually figured out what was going on, they set up a night to meet at a local Italian sit down restaurant called Josephine's. It was a family friendly place, so it wasn't too fancy, but it was certainly more formal than The Spoon.

When the day came, all four of them collectively agreed to dress up a little bit and wait until the end of the day to see each other. For TJ, it was torture having to wait until the end of the day to see Cyrus. They didn't even hang out every day; he just knew to expect something in the evening, so he couldn't wait.

Buffy went to The Spoon for lunch, and while there, she ran into Jonah, who sat alone.

Buffy approached Jonah's table as he waited for his food. "Hey," she said gently, "What's up?"

Jonah was a little bit startled, as he wasn't expecting any of his friends to show up. "Not much," he said with a reluctant smile.

"Just came here for a quick bite?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"Great. Wanna sit?" he invited.

"Sure," Buffy replied happily. She liked to take advantage of any opportunity to hang out with her friends. She thought this was a good one because although she and Jonah were friends, she wasn't exactly as close with him as Andi and Cyrus were. She was quite aware that it was probably because she was the only one of the three of them who hadn't had a crush on him at some point, so she didn't take quite as much interest in random details about his life as the other two did – constantly.

Buffy sat down and ordered her food. She and Jonah talked for a bit, and she noticed that something was off.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You seem down."

Jonah's already fading smile went away completely. He wanted to talk to Buffy about this but didn't know the right time. Now that she was asking, it was the right time.

"No," he replied softly, "I haven't been happy lately." He changed course because he didn't want to make Buffy feel bad. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for all of you. It's just-" he trailed off. He wasn't sure how to complete that thought.

"What are you talking about?" said Buffy with an oddly comforting laugh.

Jonah sighed. "I'm worried about losing all of you."

"What?" Buffy said with a laugh that this time resembled bewilderment at the fact that Jonah actually thought that he could lose these friends.

Jonah became somewhat impatiently frustrated. "Andi's going to art school, you and Cyrus are in relationships, and I feel like I'm the odd one out." His tone changed to worry. "What if those things consume your lives and I don't get to be in them."

Buffy shifted her demeanor to one of understanding and listening.

"I'm happy for all of you with the new stuff that's going on, I really am," Jonah continued, "but I lean on you three more than anyone else. You're all my best friends, and I just don't want to lose that."

"And you won't," Buffy interjected rather quickly. She understood. Jonah had been through more than most people realized, and she knew that he needed them.

Jonah was quiet while Buffy reassured him some more.

"Jonah, we're your friends. We're not just going to blow you by the wayside. We care."

This comforted Jonah, and he calmed down quite a bit. "Thank you," he said with a smile.

Buffy became more upbeat at this point. "We should all get together soon. It's been a few days."

"Should we meet to do something tonight?" Jonah asked excitedly.

Buffy's demeanor shifted again to a more apologetic one. "Oh, I can't tonight. I have a date with Marty."

"Oh," Jonah said, "well, maybe I can ask Cyrus if-"

"It's a double date," Buffy interrupted so that Jonah didn't get his hopes up, "TJ and Cyrus are going to be there, too."

"Oh, alright," replied Jonah, his smile fading a bit.

Buffy really did feel bad. She was trying to show support for a friend, but at the moment, because of prior commitment, she was unable to follow through on the action that would mean the most to him.

"We can do it another time," said Jonah hopefully.

"Of course."

The two of them ate their lunch and went on with the rest of their day. Jonah didn't really leave the conversation with much more optimism than with the little he entered it.

When evening came, Marty and TJ agreed to meet Buffy and Cyrus outside the restaurant. Buffy and Cyrus awaited their dates together, Buffy in a dress – which she didn't wear often – and Cyrus in a suit similar to the one he wore at his bar mitzvah. TJ and Marty walked up at the same time, and the first thing all four of them thought was "Wow."

TJ and Cyrus had seen each other dressed up before, at the bar mitzvah. This time was different, though. They were seeing each other for the first time as boyfriends on a date with each other. They appreciated so much more about each other, as they both found the other one dashingly handsome. Cyrus was in awe of TJ's green suit that matched his eyes, along with a matching tie. This, however, was no match for Cyrus's navy blue formalwear and perfectly combed hair that even Marty had to admire for a moment.

"You look amazing," TJ said to Cyrus, causing Cyrus to turn red.

"And so do you," Buffy turned to Marty and smiled.

The group was pleased by this initial interaction which they hoped would be the indicator for how the rest of the night would go. Unfortunately, it was not.

Rather than being romantic and casual at the same time, like they all hoped it would be, dinner actually got awkward pretty quickly.

Marty had not spent much time with Cyrus or TJ, so he struggled to come up with something to say. He turned to Cyrus and started laughing about what was a fond memory for himself, but not so much for the other two. "Hey, remember when you dressed up as salt on costume day? That was a pretty solid costume."

That was something that TJ and Cyrus both just wanted to let go. It was a really bad day for Cyrus because he felt like he had been abandoned by a friend; it was also a bad memory for TJ because he was pretty much wrapped around Kira's finger at that point. They both exchanged a grimace with each other, and Buffy also got involved by showing her teeth in a face that gave the expression of 'didn't see that coming.'

Marty's smile faded when he saw everyone's reaction, since he realized he didn't understand the context behind that story.

"Sorry, did I say something wrong?" he worried.

"It was supposed to be 'somersault,'" Cyrus clarified, "a couple's costume with me and TJ."

"And I didn't follow through," TJ added, seemingly disappointed with himself.

"I'm so sorry," Marty said, "I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's fine," Cyrus shrugged it off and moved on with his typical optimistic resilience. That didn't keep it from getting any more awkward, though.

This first conversation was pretty indicative of how the rest of the date went. The group didn't really work well together. TJ and Marty didn't know each other that well, and Marty didn't really know Cyrus that well. Buffy was the only one there who knew everyone at the table deeply, and she couldn't help but cringe when something was brought up out of context that the others didn't quite understand. It might even be fair to say that Buffy felt that awkwardness the most out of any of the four that night.

At one point, Marty started talking about basketball tryouts, which were around the time when he was initially getting to know Buffy. He mentioned "the guy who was a jerk to Buffy because she was a girl."

"That was me," TJ said shamefully hesitantly, "I've changed."

It just kind of created a long awkward silence as they all tried to forget that it happened. Buffy and TJ didn't really want to think about that part of their acquaintance to each other anymore.

Later, TJ started playfully teasing Cyrus about the chocolate chocolate-chip muffin, and Marty was lost as to what they were even talking about. Buffy knew what happened, but she knew that Marty didn't, and she had a hard time laughing about it.

The rest of the date consisted of more inside jokes and references to misunderstood and falsely contextualized moments in each other's lives. They all liked each other. No one in the group had any sort of problem with each other whatsoever. It was just clear that hanging out with each other like that, especially on a date, was quite awkward.

After the date was over, everyone went home a bit unsatisfied. Cyrus went home feeling that maybe dating just wasn't really for him and TJ, and he would just be happy with the relationship that they had.