AN: I do not own anything recognizable.

Chapter 5

Cyrus woke up with only the memory of how unsatisfying the previous night had felt. It was his first real date with TJ, and it didn't go so well. Marty didn't really seem to know them at all, so it just became kind of awkward rather quickly and stayed that way throughout dinner.

Cyrus checked his phone shortly after waking up. He had gotten a text from TJ:

Meet me in the park at 9:00.

It was 8:57, and Cyrus started to panic. Was something wrong? He didn't know what was going on, but wanted to meet TJ.

Hang on! I'm coming! He texted back.

Cyrus started rushing like crazy to get out of bed and get ready to meet TJ. Did TJ need help? Was there something going on that he needed advice? Was something bad happening? The text just came out of nowhere, and Cyrus had a tendency to worry.

Cyrus skipped his shower that morning so that he could get to the park as soon as possible. He ate a quick breakfast of cereal at home and an apple on the way.

He got another text from TJ:

Meet me by the swings.

That's exactly where Cyrus went as soon as he saw that text.

"TJ! Is everything-" Cyrus started to ask if everything was okay before he saw TJ sitting on the swing peacefully and smiling. Cyrus stopped in his tracks and was a bit confused. "What's happening?"

"Our second date," TJ replied nonchalantly.

Cyrus stood perplexed.

TJ momentarily stopped swinging, "Would you like to join me on it, or do I have to go it alone?"

Cyrus was confused. He really thought dating wasn't going to work for him and TJ, but it seemed like TJ knew what he was doing this time.

Cyrus smiled, and he hopped on the swing. The two of them spent about the next hour swinging side by side.

At one point, while Cyrus was still swinging, TJ stopped. "I know you can swing higher than that, underdog," he laughed.

Cyrus knew what was coming. He started chuckling while TJ got off the swing and came closer. TJ started pushing Cyrus on the swing in a re-enactment of their initial meeting at that spot. Instead of shying away from the second set of pushes this time, Cyrus yelled "Woohoo! Let's go again!" That went on for about five minutes before they both continued swinging.

While swinging, TJ and Cyrus didn't say much. They occasionally smiled at each other and shared brief periods of laughter, but what they really both seemed to want to do was enjoy the tranquility of nature and their surroundings.

It was a beautiful morning. It was nice and warm, but not too hot. The trees all around them were green and lively. The park was mostly silent this early, other than birds chirping and sounds of nature serenading those who endeavored to enjoy them. The sun shone, causing the dew on the grass to glisten brightly and gleefully. It was perfect.

At around 10:30, TJ stopped swinging. "Time to get going," he said to Cyrus.

"What? Already?" Cyrus asked, somewhat disappointedly. How could their date be ending already? Sure, it was nice while it lasted, but that was kind of brief for Cyrus.

Before Cyrus could continue being disappointed, TJ said, "Well yeah, we don't want to be late for our next stop."

Once again, Cyrus smiled. He realized what TJ was doing. He had it all planned out. Somehow, he planned it all the night before. TJ wanted to make last night up to Cyrus. He knew that Cyrus was disappointed with it, so he wanted to go on a better date to show Cyrus just how much he really wanted to try for him.

"Where are we going?" Cyrus asked.

"Well, if I tell you, it would ruin the surprise." TJ was adamant about teasing Cyrus for the duration of this date as long as there was another event around the corner. He had planned a whole day for himself and Cyrus, and he wasn't going to let Cyrus guess it away.

It worked. Cyrus couldn't help but to hold a huge smile on his face because of what TJ was doing. At the same time, he began to get curiously impatient. Not impatient in an irritable way, but impatient in a cute sort of excited way.

TJ purposefully threw Cyrus off by walking with him all over town, repeating some of the same turns onto streets they had already walked down. He did this just so that Cyrus would have no idea where TJ was taking him.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Cyrus asked. "Do you want to tell me so that I can help?"

"Nice try," TJ teased, "I know exactly where I'm going, and I am making it a point that you don't know until we get there."

In fact, TJ and Cyrus passed by their destination several times before actually stopping there. When TJ was ready to reveal to Cyrus where they were going he stopped and said "We're here."

Cyrus was a little bit confused. He had just been walking along the same city streets for about an hour and they finally stopped in the middle of the sidewalk of some strip mall-type complex. Before Cyrus could think any more, he turned to his left and saw that they were standing at the gymnasium where TJ helped Cyrus learn how to do a somersault.

"Shall we enter?" TJ prodded.

Cyrus followed TJ inside, and they went up to the administration desk. Since TJ volunteered there regularly, the secretary knew him.

"Good morning TJ," he said. He turned to Cyrus, "And you must be Cyrus?"

"Yes, good morning," Cyrus was caught a little bit off guard by the fact that the person at the desk knew his name. He had only been there once, and this was not the person who was working the desk last time. He turned to TJ and whispered, "What's going on?"

"I signed us up for some volunteer time," TJ responded.

This made Cyrus smile again. The last time they were here was a blast for Cyrus. He loved working with the kids, and he even made a breakthrough about his own strength. That day taught him that he could overcome any obstacle, and ever since then, he wanted to pass that message on to others as well.

The secretary gave them both volunteer badges, and they walked into the gym area. There were kids active all over the place and enjoying themselves. Some were waiting in line for the balance beam, some were with other volunteers in preset groups doing various activities, and others were just playing around on the padded equipment until they were to start with their group rotations.

Every week, this gym would have once a day rotation groups where large groups of kids would come in and break up into smaller groups, rotating between various different activities. The way it worked was that there would be two volunteers with each group, and the volunteers rotated activities with the kids. Each group would have twenty minutes at each station. There were six stations, and if there were more than six groups, one would have rest/lunch time. TJ had signed himself and Cyrus up to be in charge of group six, as it was predetermined that there would be seven groups that day.

The group had about seven kids in it, ranging in age from seven to nine years old. Cyrus looked at their first activity assignment listed on the duties sheet:

General gymnastics: cartwheels, somersaults, handstands

Of course. Of course TJ had signed him up to do somersaults. How could he have done anything different?

When the rotation time started at about 12:30, group six came over to TJ and Cyrus's station, excited about the day ahead. These kids came to this gym often, and they recognized and loved TJ because they had seen him there before a lot. He was the perfect one to hype them all up.

"Hey guys!" TJ exclaimed, "Welcome back!"

They all cheered, as they awaited what was in store for them today.

"I brought a friend today," he gestured toward Cyrus, "this is Cyrus."

While Cyrus was excited, he didn't really have a lot of experience around kids or leading any sort of group really. He just kind of smiled and waved at the kids rather awkwardly, yet charmingly. The kids laughed a bit at Cyrus's awkwardness, and Cyrus just kind of went with it. He didn't expect what was coming next.

"Who here knows how to do a somersault?" TJ inquired energetically. Two of them raised their hands. "Well, my friend Cyrus, here, knows how. And he's going to teach you today!"

Cyrus was stunned. He was not prepared for this, and he certainly did not have much confidence in his ability to teach anyone how to do anything. He was being thrown into the ring without training. He gave TJ a quick side eye that only TJ was able to notice. TJ laughed as Cyrus changed his expression to a smile to address the kids.

"The two of you who know how to do a somersault, what are your names?"

They told him that their names were Sarah and Gideon.

"Well, Sarah and Gideon," Cyrus spoke to them, "how about since you know how to do it, you can come up here and help me demonstrate?"

Sarah and Gideon were excited about the prospect of helping Cyrus teach the concept.

"Everyone watch first," Cyrus said to the rest of the kids.

Cyrus began to explain step by step in a very broken down way for those who thought more linearly, while Sarah and Gideon demonstrated each step. TJ served as the comic relief, as he laughed about Sarah's and Gideon's positions while they were halfway through the somersault during Cyrus's tutorial, the tops of their heads on the floor with their backs arched in funny ways. Everyone laughed at TJ's hilarious commentary, including Cyrus. This fed into Cyrus's energy.

Once Cyrus was done explaining, he demonstrated the somersault himself. He felt an unprecedented amount of pride in his personal ability to demonstrate a perfect somersault on the first try. He had TJ go next, then Sarah and Gideon, and then the rest of the kids one at a time. After they were done with somersaults, they moved on to cartwheels and handstands, more things that Cyrus didn't previously know that he was able to do.

Since this group was group number six, their lunch time was in the second rotation. During this time, TJ and Cyrus got to talk to the kids and get to know more about them. Cyrus learned the most because he had never been with any of these kids before. He learned all of their names and ages. For the most part, they just held a casual conversation. Some kids talked about where they went on vacation, some talked about the great meals that their moms cooked for them lately, and some talked about their favorite TV shows and video games. Learning more about these kids hyped up Cyrus even more for the rest of the afternoon.

As their afternoon volunteering went on, Cyrus acquired more and more energy. He absolutely loved working with these kids. They were so energetic and unstoppable in their pursuit of activity.

The next activity that they had was the balance beam. They took turns crossing the balance beam, and TJ and Cyrus used the games suggested on the volunteer sheet. At times, they pretended that the balance beam was a bridge, and if you fell you would fall into a lake full of crocodiles. You'd have to get out before being eaten by one of the crocodiles, and if you got eaten by one of the crocodiles, you would become one. It was kind of like a sharks and minnows type game.

Their next station was a climbing station. There were some ropes and a padded structure built for small amounts of climbing.

After that, they had some free time. The group that was in free time got to do pretty much whatever they wanted with the space they had for that twenty minutes. Cyrus took this as another opportunity to get to know the kids in the group better. At this point, though, the volunteers acted more as supervisors.

The next station was the trampoline station. The kids got to bounce around, come up with games, and have fun there.

The last station was a padded obstacle course. It only took about thirty seconds to a minute for one person to complete, depending on how fast and agile the person was. They made games out of this obstacle course, too. It was also an adjustable obstacle course, so the volunteers could shake things up a bit. TJ stood at the entrance and said "go" when it was time for the next kid to enter the obstacle course. They went one at a time, and those standing by were encouraged to cheer on their peers as they completed the course. At the other end, Cyrus awaited the kids for when they finished, and he congratulated each one of them and gave them a high five when they completed the course. This is exactly where Cyrus wanted to be. He had gone through so much of his life being afraid to do things, thinking that he was too fragile. TJ brought out the best of Cyrus's confidence in himself, and now Cyrus wanted to help younger kids feel confident, too. High-fiving and cheering on the kids at the gym was not only fun for him, but super fulfilling. At some point, he made the conscious decision that he would come back and volunteer with the gym more often. He'd love to come and volunteer with TJ, and he would later let TJ know that.

As their hours of volunteering for the day ended, Cyrus found himself to be rather impressed with the facility. It was big, but it wasn't huge. They used the space that they had very well, and it was quite an amazing feat.

"Best date ever!" Cyrus told TJ as they left the gym, never having lost sight of the fact that this was a date.

"Did you think it was over?" TJ asked smugly. He seemed to have a habit of making Cyrus smile, which Cyrus didn't mind so much.

Cyrus wondered what could possibly be left.

TJ led Cyrus back to the park, which didn't seem so far away this time since they walked directly there and not all over town. They went to the blacktop with a basketball net.

"Sports?" Cyrus asked TJ with a perplexed laughter.

"I am going to teach you how to play basketball."

All Cyrus could do was laugh.

"Seriously!" said TJ. "It'll be fun."

The two of them worked on shooting for a while. TJ helped Cyrus with his form by getting behind him and adjusting his arms. This was very comforting to Cyrus. He couldn't seem to hug TJ in public without feeling super awkward, but he was fine with this.

It took Cyrus several tries to make his first shot, but when he did, he celebrated it like nothing in his life before. He was just so excited that he had made a basket that he couldn't calm down about it.

He attempted more baskets, and once he made a few in a row TJ moved on to talk to him about the rules. This took quite a bit of time, as Cyrus had to ask for a lot of clarifications. TJ sometimes fell into using terminology that Cyrus didn't understand at all, and he found himself having to backtrack a lot.

Once Cyrus believed he had a basic understanding of the rules of basketball, he insisted that he play one-on-one against TJ.

"Really? You want to play me in basketball?" TJ laughed.

"Sure, why not? I think I should give it a shot!"

"Alright. But you're going to be in for it!"

They started a one-on-one game, and TJ decided to take it easy on Cyrus. TJ recognized that Cyrus wasn't bad, and he wasn't weak, but he certainly wasn't Buffy or anywhere near that level. He kept it close, and tried hard while still giving Cyrus the chance to win.

Cyrus did end up winning the match, and he had to boast about it. "In your face, Kippen!" he said. TJ just laughed along with it.

"Want to play again?" Cyrus asked hopefully.

"Our date isn't over yet, and I have to take you to our last stop before it closes," TJ said.

"Alright," Cyrus replied. It was nearly evening, and Cyrus wondered what the last stop on TJ's list could be. He hoped it wasn't a restaurant or dinner place, since that didn't go too well the night before. Because of the time, he had some worry that it was.

Since Cyrus knew the town well, TJ pulled the same maneuvers of walking all over the place that he did earlier. Again, they passed their destination several times, just to throw Cyrus off. When they got to their destination a fourth time, TJ stopped and let Cyrus know.

TJ opened the door, and immediately the overwhelmingly pleasant smell of the place hit Cyrus. Cyrus took in the bakery air that gave him a sense of relaxation. He was not familiar with this bakery. While Cyrus enjoyed the pleasant smell, TJ interrupted:

"This place has the best muffins in town."

Cyrus looked at the menu above the counter and found an alphabetical list of a wide variety of muffins. The first was apple cinnamon. After that was banana nut. Sure enough, the two that followed immediately were blueberry macadamia and chocolate chocolate chip. He looked over at the casing to see huge fresh-baked muffins on display; they all looked so delicious.

"Order whatever you want," TJ insisted, "it's on me."

As expected, Cyrus ordered a chocolate chocolate chip muffin. TJ ordered the blueberry macadamia muffin that Cyrus didn't even know existed.

"Wait, don't I owe you that muffin?" Cyrus suddenly remembered Buffy's basketball tryouts.

"I'll let it go this time," TJ said, "I'm doing this for you."

The two walked back to the park while they enjoyed their muffins. They found a bench and sat down to finish.

"Did you have a good time today?" asked TJ.

"You bet I did!" Cyrus said with conviction. "How did you put all this together?"

"I have my ways," replied TJ smugly.

By this point, the previous double date was out of both of their heads. Dating was for them; they just had to do it in their own way.

Before they left, they stood up and said goodbye. There was no one in the park.

"I'm glad you had a good time," TJ said softly.

"Did you?" Cyrus asked.

"Of course," TJ chuckled.

In a moment, TJ leaned towards Cyrus. Cyrus quickly pulled back. He was caught off guard. When he realized what was happening, he smiled, and he leaned in again. Their lips touched for about two seconds. TJ smelled like macadamia nuts, and Cyrus loved that.

Their kiss broke, and they both smiled. They hugged and reluctantly left their separate ways to go home.

On his way home, Cyrus thought about the amazing day he had just had. He didn't think about what he would eat for dinner or what the next day would bring; he only thought about TJ. This day was amazing. It was perfect.

Chapter 6 Coming Soon!