AN: I do not own anything recognizable.

Chapter 7

Jonah couldn't breathe. He tried, but he just couldn't seem to get enough air. He shook. He attempted to retain his stability to be able to stand up straight, but some force pulled down on him hard enough to the point where that wasn't possible. His head hurt. His stomach ached. His heart pounded, banging in his chest. His hands and feet began to fall asleep and go numb, tingling with sharp pricks all over. He began to sweat, drenching himself from head to toe.

He sat down at a convenient nearby bench in the park where he had decided to take a walk that day to collect his thoughts.

Jonah saw Cyrus in the distance.

He started to calm down. "C-, Cy-, Cyrus!" he barely managed to get out through his huffing and puffing.

Cyrus looked over and noticed Jonah looking extremely bloated and distressed. He immediately ran over to see if everything was okay.

Jonah was scared. By the time Cyrus got to him, he took a few heavy deep breaths and was perfectly fine again.

"What's wrong?" Cyrus asked hastily, concerned for his lone friend.

Jonah hesitated to answer, and he held back tears, "I think I just had a heart attack."

"What?" Cyrus interjected. "Okay, stay calm, what do you feel?"

"Nothing now," said Jonah. "A minute ago though, I was short of breath, sweaty, and dizzy. My chest also hurt."

Cyrus calmed his demeanor a bit. "And that's all gone now?"

"Yes."

Cyrus took a deep breath and sighed. "That wasn't a heart attack," he reassured Jonah, "it was a panic attack."

Jonah looked confused. "I literally felt like I was dying. I know I've said that before, but this time it was really bad!"

"Yeah, that can happen," Cyrus tried to stay calm; at this point he just wanted to comfort Jonah. "Sometimes panic attacks and heart attacks can feel similar. If it makes you feel better, we can get you to the hospital."

"Can we just sit here for a few minutes?" Jonah asked, not wanting to move.

"That's fine," replied Cyrus.

"I'm really lucky that you were here. It wasn't until I saw you that it got better."

Jonah was right. He was lucky that Cyrus was there. Cyrus had decided to take a stroll that day, too. He had set aside some time to hang out with TJ, and Andi and Buffy were both busy, but TJ had something come up at home. Cyrus wanted to get out and do something on a nice day, and it was a lucky coincidence that he happened to be in the right place at the right time. The comfort of seeing a friend is what minimized Jonah's symptoms to the point where he was able to recollect himself.

The two of them sat there in silence for a little bit. Cyrus gave Jonah some of the water that he had brought with him on his walk so that he wouldn't get dehydrated. They let Jonah's heart rate get back to normal.

After a few minutes of Jonah's heart rate being steady and normal, Cyrus began trying to comfort him.

"How are you feeling," he asked.

"Better," Jonah said, visibly exhausted.

"How are things going for you right now, bud?" Cyrus turned to his therapeutic friend side. He knew that panic attacks could come out of nowhere, but he also knew that stress could induce them too. He wanted to figure out if there was something heavily weighing on Jonah so that he could help him out with it.

Jonah hesitated. There was something weighing on him. He had made the decision to come to the park to try to decompress and get the thoughts of his friends leaving him off his mind. What ended up happening was that while he was alone, he kept reminding himself that he might end up alone for good. It wasn't good for Jonah to be alone with his own thoughts at this point.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jonah replied softly. He had already tried to talk to Buffy and Andi, and neither of them made him feel better. He had started to lose hope, and at this moment didn't think there was any point in talking to Cyrus.

Of course, that was the wrong answer if he actually didn't want to talk about it. That phrase alerted Cyrus to the fact that something was wrong. He needed to make sure that his friend was going to be okay.

"I can't make you talk about anything," Cyrus said, continuing his therapist shtick, "but you know you can tell me anything?"

Jonah thought again about talking to Cyrus. This time might be different. He had approached Andi and backed away from the conversation. Buffy approached him and noticed something was wrong, but was more assertive and less attentive. Cyrus seemed like he really wanted to listen to what was going through Jonah's mind. Jonah appreciated this greatly, and he decided that he wanted to voice his concerns to Cyrus.

"I've been thinking a lot lately," Jonah began, "worrying, actually," he corrected himself.

"About what?" Cyrus probed.

"Everyone has so much going on. You have TJ, Buffy has Marty, Andi is going to SAVA, and I'm the outsider."

Cyrus immediately felt sympathetic, more so than Buffy did. He understood what it felt like to be an outsider. Cyrus was used to spending his life constantly in fear of everything. It would be a mistake to assume that at some point the fear that he might lose his friends someday had never crossed his mind. He listened attentively to Jonah's worries.

"I'm happy for you," Jonah said as he smiled at Cyrus. He really genuinely was. For some reason, he was able to say this to Cyrus in a more genuine way than he said it to Buffy. "You're my friend, I support you." Jonah sighed and his smile faded. "I'm just afraid of losing you."

"Jonah," Cyrus jumped in confidently and reassuringly, "you can't control what happens to other people. And we may not get to hang out as much." At this remark, Jonah hung his head, but Cyrus quickly continued. "But I'm still you're friend. I'm still always going to support you. I can't speak for Andi or Buffy, but I'm sure they would be on the same page. Because being friends means that even if you're not physically in the same place, you'll always be there for each other."

Jonah began to cheer up a bit. He began to flash a smile, this one more genuine than any smile of his in the past few weeks. "Always?" He asked for confirmation.

"Always," Cyrus repeated, looking right into Jonah's eyes.

"Thank you," Jonah said softly as he proceeded to hug Cyrus.

"Any time," Cyrus said with a smile on his face.

After the two of them had their nice moment, the mood lightened a little. Jonah sniffed, as he noticed something he hadn't before. "Are you wearing cologne," he asked Cyrus, intrigued.

"Umm...yeah," Cyrus said beginning to turn a little red, "it's Macadamia." He knew it wasn't about him so he didn't say anything else about it. Jonah just laughed and the two moved on.

Jonah didn't continue his walk in the park. He wanted to get home. He felt much better after his conversation with Cyrus than he felt after his conversations with Andi and Buffy. He dodged the topic with Andi, and Buffy's words didn't really seem to have much of an impact. Cyrus's response, however, was honest. It was true. Cyrus said that they might not get to spend as much time all together as they used to, but he wasn't going to lose the support of any of his friends. It confirmed something he knew that he wasn't happy about, but it reminded him that he isn't going to lose what matters. That's what Jonah had been searching for all along; he wanted someone to tell him the truth and comfort him at the same time. And that is exactly what Cyrus did. He was truly grateful to have Cyrus as a friend. Cyrus had so much unprecedented wisdom that really helped Jonah. He had used it to help others, too, like when he helped TJ deal with his dyscalculia. He even used that wisdom and maturity to help Jonah and TJ reconcile their differences. Jonah was grateful for all of his friends, but he didn't know what he would ever do without Cyrus.

For the next few days, Cyrus checked in with Jonah every now and then to make sure that everything was going alright. Jonah would continually inform Cyrus that he hadn't had any more panic attacks or frightening episodes like the one he had in the park. What was great about Cyrus checking in is that Jonah felt like he could be honest. If he felt down, he knew that he could talk to Cyrus about it without feeling like he was becoming a burden. Sometimes Cyrus would write some wise and inspiring words that would immediately make Jonah feel better; other times, when Cyrus wanted to get Jonah out of a heavy place, he would send some sort of funny emoji with a phrase like "You got this!" which never failed to cheer Jonah up. Jonah knew that Cyrus cared. He knew that Cyrus was devoted to making him feel better. What Jonah didn't know is that Cyrus had tricks up his sleeve.

Cyrus wanted to do something for Jonah that would resolve his worries a little bit more. He understood that actions spoke louder than words. He got to work right away.

Cyrus knocked on TJ's door. When TJ answered, Cyrus immediately said, "I need your help."

TJ let Cyrus in. "What is it?" he asked.

"You know how you organized that date for me?" Cyrus asked in return.

TJ nodded.

"I need to plan something like that on a similar scale for someone else, but not as a date," Cyrus clarified.

"Why?" TJ asked.

Cyrus described the situation with Jonah and explained how he wanted to make Jonah feel better by showing them that his friends care.

"I'm in!" TJ was excited to make a friend feel better. "What do you have in mind?"

Cyrus explained the rough draft version of his plan.

"Do you have anything in mind for something that I can do?" TJ asked.

"I know exactly what you can do."

The two of them looked at each other with that look of mutual understanding of being on the same page. They were both excited to make the plan work.

Later, Cyrus went over to Cece's house. He wanted to involve her in the plan to cheer up Jonah, so he spoke to her. While discussing the details of the plan, some unprecedented subject matter came up.

"Wait," said Cece interrogatively, "you want TJ to be there?"

"Umm, yeah…" replied Cyrus, confused as to why Cece found this shocking. "Why?"

Cece decided to play an interesting game of vagueness. "Well, I don't know. I just thought he didn't know Jonah that well," she said disingenuously.

"Well, not entirely, but we're all friends."

"Oh really? Or is there more to it than that?"

"What do you mean?" Cyrus was confused.

"Do you think maybe you have some personal stake in inviting TJ?"

Cyrus stood puzzled. He hadn't told Cece about his relationship with TJ nor about the fact that he was gay. Did she pick up on it? If so, how? He and TJ hadn't been around her together since the night of the party, and at that point their relationship hadn't even started yet.

"Do you know something?" Cyrus asked, trying to undercut Cece's vagueness.

"Look, I know that you're going through this phase with TJ, but just be careful not to let that get in the way of your other personal relationships," Cece declared in a manner which she believed to be reasoning.

"It's not-" Cyrus began to exclaim, but he stopped. He took a deep breath and collected himself. She knew. Cyrus figured that she either overheard his conversation with Bex and Bowie or that someone told her. And he didn't think that any of his friends would break his confidence. From these words, he knew what Cece's beliefs were. She didn't have to say that she didn't accept homosexuality for him to know that she was passing it off as a phase so that she wouldn't have to face the fact that the real nature of it would make her call her belief system into question. And it stung. He wanted to defend himself, but he didn't want to fight. Even though Cece's views were hurtful, he didn't want to focus on that at the moment. He was focused on Jonah. This conversation was about how they could cheer up Jonah. He got back on track, a bit more visibly irritated. "TJ and Jonah are friends, too. Are you on board with the plan?" he asked to make sure that Cece got back on track.

"Yeah, I'm on board!" Cece agreed as if she hadn't just said anything wrong.

"Alright," Cyrus said. "I'm going to get back to talking with Andi to set it up."

That's exactly what he did. He didn't talk to anybody about what Cece had just said that had almost gotten him heated. He shoved it down because he didn't want the difficult topic to have an intruding presence. He wanted to enjoy what he was doing for Jonah.

Once the plan was together, Cyrus texted Jonah telling him to meet Cyrus at noon on Saturday. He played it off as if he just wanted to hang out. It wasn't a total lie, but it was going to be a bit more than that; Jonah just wasn't aware of it yet.

Jonah met up with Cyrus, and they started talking.

"Hey," Cyrus greeted when he saw Jonah walk up, "How have things been going?"

"Alright. Could be better," Jonah replied honestly.

In order to try to distract Jonah from his own negative thoughts, Cyrus got Jonah to recount the good things that happened to him in the past few days. One thing that Jonah mentioned was that his dad's job was going well, and that he seemed to be happy working it. This was big for Jonah because it meant that his family was on their way to being more financially stable and just happier in general. Another good thing that happened is that he was able to talk to Amber without it being incredibly awkward. He had mentioned this to Cyrus before in their series of texting, but he was glad that things with her were better than they previously were.

Cyrus did a lot of listening on their way to where he was leading Jonah, but not a lot of talking. He was actually texting Andi so that he could time his arrival right.

Cyrus led Jonah to the middle school where they all just finished eighth grade. Surely enough, as they rounded the corner a mass of Jonah's friends stood in a big field, awaiting his arrival. This brought a huge smile to Jonah's face. He saw Marty, who he didn't know very well, but had agreed to come anyway. Amber, with whom he was finally on good terms, stood as her new and improved kind self. Cece, Bex, and Bowie joined the group; they had been rather present in his life because of his presence in Andi's life. TJ stood with a smile on his face, friendlier than he had ever seemed to Jonah before. Buffy stood waving as Jonah arrived.

The person who caught Jonah's eye the most was Andi. She stood at the front of the group wearing her old Space Otter's jersey and holding a Frisbee in hand. Jonah looked slightly up the hill where there were cones set up for a game of ultimate.

"Ready to play?" Andi said to Jonah.

Before Jonah could respond, he turned around back to Cyrus to express his amazement that Cyrus had pulled this off. As he turned, he noticed Cyrus revealing the honorary Space Otters jersey Jonah had given him as it was under his other shirt.

"Wasn't that hot?" Jonah asked in amazement that Cyrus wore two shirts in the summer and it didn't seem to bother him.

"Eh, it was worth it," Cyrus said, causing Jonah to smile.

By Andi's feet was a gym bag with more Space Otters jerseys that she made for everyone who she knew would be there. She distributed them to everyone – except Jonah.

Jonah thought she was one short until he saw TJ reach into his own bag. TJ approached Jonah and pulled another Andi-made Space Otters jersey out of his bag.

"I think you should have this," said TJ. This Space Otters jersey wasn't like the other ones. It had the number 21 on it.

Jonah smiled; he was speechless.

"Did you think I was stopping there?" TJ continued.

Jonah looked at TJ with curiosity. TJ pulled another jersey out of his bag. This one was a solid burgundy jersey with "21" in big bold white letters. It was the baseball jersey that TJ had accidentally taken from Jonah when they played little league together.

"It's yours," TJ said, "not mine."

Jonah had no idea what to say. He managed a "thank you," but every word he tried to utter after that was just meaningless stammering.

"Don't strain yourself," TJ laughed.

Jonah looked back at Cyrus and smiled, impressed by what Cyrus had put together and extremely thankful for it. Cyrus smiled back and shrugged as if to say that it was nothing.

"So are we going to play some Frisbee or what?" Cece chimed in with an impatient excitement.

Jonah turned to Cyrus again, "Too bad you don't have your vest, huh?" Jonah had an entirely light-hearted spirit at this point.

Cyrus smirked, "You underestimate me, Jonah Beck."

Cyrus led Jonah up the hill where his vest with all of the usual accessories hung on a nail that he put into a tree. Jonah was astonished at how prepared Cyrus was for everything.

They proceeded to pick teams. The team captains were Jonah and Andi. Jonah got to pick first. As a thank you for setting the whole thing up, Jonah picked Cyrus first. Andi picked Buffy because of her athleticism. Jonah then picked TJ to be on his team as well. Cece made a big deal about being picked last, even though she knew that that was bound to happen.

"This grandma has more power than you all give me credit for!" she boasted.

Jonah's team consisted of Cyrus, TJ, Marty, and Bex. Andi's team consisted of Buffy, Bowie, Amber, and Cece. The teams couldn't have been more perfect. Cyrus and Jonah got to unite, and for the first time ever, Cyrus got to play with Jonah in ultimate. Jonah and TJ got to rekindle a new and better relationship as teammates. Marty and Buffy got to play against each other and bring out all the competitive banter that was somehow the basis of their relationship. Bex and Bowie got to compete against each other and bring out their own competitive sides. Andi and Amber got to work as a team. Cece was able to impress everyone with her competitiveness and unprecedented athleticism.

Everyone got so caught up in the game that all of their troubles melted away. Cyrus didn't think for a second about what Cece had said to him the other day. None of that mattered now. Everyone was happy.

They kept score, but Jonah didn't pay attention to that. He didn't care who was winning. He had lived the past few weeks dreading that everything that mattered to him would be taken away, but somehow, in just one day, he gained so much more that was meaningful. He was convinced that it wasn't going away. Jonah knew that whatever the score of this game was, he was a winner.

PSA: Panic attacks can actually feel like heart attacks. If you experience some severe combinations of the symptoms that Jonah experienced in the first paragraph, you might be having either one; the best thing to do is to seek medical attention immediately. Please take care of both your mental and physical health!

Chapter 8 Coming Soon!