AN: I do not own anything recognizable.
Chapter 19
Cyrus stood petrified, not at all having anticipated his father's words.
"We need to set boundaries," his dad said firmly.
"What?" Cyrus asked, perplexed.
"We saw you at the spa with TJ today!"
"So?" Cyrus asked. "Wait," he shifted, "why were you at the spa?"
"That's not important!" Norman made sure his son couldn't change the topic. "You two were in public together, and that's a problem!"
"Hold on, you're upset because TJ and I were in public-"
"At the movies! At the spa! You're going to expose yourselves. So that you don't do that, we need to set boundaries."
"What? No! I can't deal with this right now! This is ridiculous!" Without listening to anything his dad had to say, Cyrus ran up the stairs to his room, not wanting any part of whatever his parents' problem was with him and TJ.
"Cyrus!" Norman called after him, but it was too late. He sighed in defeat.
In his room, Cyrus texted TJ.
We can't hang out in public anymore.
Where is this coming from? TJ texted back.
My parents.
I thought we were past that!
So did I. Cyrus left the conversation at that.
On the other end, TJ felt rather upset about the situation. He had just had a great day with Cyrus at the spa, and now Cyrus said that they couldn't hang out in public. Cyrus had been afraid to come out to his parents before, and that already hurt the couple's ability to spend time together. It got them into a huge fight, but TJ thought it had been resolved. Cyrus came out to his parents, Cece came around, and it was all good. Apparently, that wasn't the case. TJ, having not been told about other things that Cyrus's parents had said since Cyrus came out, was utterly perplexed by the situation at hand. He had no idea what to think or what to do. Once again, his boyfriend's parents were getting in the way of their relationship.
Meanwhile, Cyrus also had no idea what to think about his predicament. When he came out to his parents, they were nothing but supportive. Why did they all of a sudden have such a big problem with Cyrus's relationship with TJ?
On Monday morning, Cyrus decided that the best course of action was to talk to TJ at school about the situation. He realized that he hadn't told TJ anything about what his parents said, and he was very brief in saying that they just couldn't hang out.
"So now they're just suddenly not supportive?" TJ asked, as the couple ate their lunch together.
Cyrus responded with silence and a defeated shrug.
"That's so unfair!" TJ began to get mad.
"I know," Cyrus didn't even get livid about the issue. He was just dejected. TJ saw this, and decided not to get any more heated.
"So what now?" he asked.
"We can still hang out at school," Cyrus said, "because my parents aren't here. We just have to make sure they can't see our relationship or know anything about it."
"Are you okay?" TJ asked.
"I don't know."
"What's wrong," Buffy asked while sitting down with Marty at the lunch table, having overheard the last part of TJ's and Cyrus's conversation.
"Cece took me and TJ to the spa, and my dad got mad because he saw me and TJ there together," Cyrus explained.
"What?" Buffy asked, surprised.
"I thought your parents were okay with your relationship," Marty said in disbelief.
"So did I," said a defeated Cyrus.
"So what are you going to do now?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know," Cyrus responded.
"I guess we can't hang out anywhere Cyrus's parents might see us," TJ elaborated.
"Buffy, what do I say to them?" Cyrus asked.
"I'm not sure what to tell you on this one," Buffy wished she could give an answer. "But you know that you guys can always be completely yourselves around us, right?"
"You can," Marty assured him, "I'm in on this, too. We'll always be here for you."
Cyrus felt some temporary relief, and he thanked his friends for the support.
To break the tension a little, and because she was intrigued, Buffy said, "Now I do have a few questions about that spa day. Cece took you?"
They all laughed, and TJ and Cyrus, in tandem, explained what had happened with Cece.
The rest of lunch that day was lighthearted and fun-spirited, but that didn't last into the coming weeks. TJ and Cyrus never hung out outside of school. Cyrus was so paranoid that because his parents somehow found out they were at the spa together that they could run into them anywhere. He worried that any time he left to hang out with TJ, his parents would ask him questions he wouldn't know how to answer because he wasn't good at lying. School was the only place that they felt safe away from Cyrus's parents, but even then, they worried that someone might rat them out. It was always tense with their friends at school because they constantly feared what might happen if Cyrus's parents found out they were still hanging out.
This was all made even worse by the fact that Cyrus and TJ felt like they couldn't even hang out with their friends together outside of school. They saw any place they could have gone as somewhere they might get caught. Even though Cyrus knew Andi, Buffy, and Jonah before TJ did, he wouldn't go over to hang out with them when TJ didn't go. They had kind of become a package deal. It wore on their friends, especially Andi, who didn't even get to see Cyrus in school. Buffy had explained the situation to Andi, and Andi understood, but she was still frustrated.
After about three weeks had passed, there was a day that Cyrus walked into the kitchen to get a snack, only to find his parents sitting, drinking coffee, and talking.
"We haven't seen TJ in a while," said Cyrus's dad.
"Yeah, how have you two been doing?" Sharon chimed in.
Cyrus was confused, as they seemed nice. Either way, he didn't want to fight that battle with his parents at that point.
"We broke up," he lied.
"What?" Sharon exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Is everything okay?" his dad said out of concern.
His parents' seemingly fake concern annoyed Cyrus enough to make him forget about his desire to avoid the conflict.
"What do you care?" he said with a look of disgust and anger.
"What are you talking about?" asked Norman. "Of course we care!"
"Really? Because one moment you say you accept me for who I am, and the next, you're telling me that I can't even be seen with my boyfriend. I don't get it!"
His parents responded with blank, confused stares.
Cyrus continued to lie, "Are you happy now? You've got your way, and TJ and I are apart!"
"What? No!" Sharon said.
"Cyrus," Norman chimed in, "the reason we didn't want you to be in public with TJ wasn't because we aren't accepting."
"It's because we were worried!" Sharon clarified.
Cyrus's expression dropped, and he let his guard down a little. He was a little confused, and didn't know what to say.
Before he could say anything, his dad said calmly, "Cyrus, we support and accept you one hundred percent for who you are."
"But there are a lot of people who might not," Sharon dovetailed off of her husband's comment.
"We just don't want to see you get hurt."
At that last point his dad made, Cyrus took a deep breath. He was still angry. He wasn't thrilled that his parents had taken away so much time he could have spent with his boyfriend. But he did understand. He realized that his parents were afraid of the same thing that he was afraid of before he came out. They were all afraid that he would get hurt and that he wouldn't be safe if who he was was exposed to the public.
"We didn't break up," Cyrus said with his eyes closed, trying to calm himself down, "I just said that because I thought you didn't support us."
"Of course we support you, honey," Sharon said.
"Don't you ever get the idea in your head that we don't," Norman added.
"But I have to be able to live my life," Cyrus continued as if to suggested that he wasn't done standing up to his parents yet. "My boyfriend is my boyfriend, and it hurts when you take that away by telling us we can't even be seen together."
Norman and Sharon just looked at each other in empathy for their son.
"I've thought about all that stuff, too," Cyrus said, now on the verge of tears. "Sometimes I am afraid of getting hurt. Sometimes I take that extra caution so that we don't expose ourselves and put ourselves in danger. But sometimes, I just tell myself that I have to live life the way I want to live it, and I'm not going to let anyone else take that away."
They all paused, making sure Cyrus was done, and reflecting on what he said.
After a long pause, Norman conceded, "You're right. We shouldn't try to take that away from you."
"We won't set artificial boundaries about who can and can't see you with TJ. That isn't right for us to do," Sharon added.
"Just please try to be careful. We love you, and don't want to see you hurt," Norman finished.
"I know. I will," Cyrus assured them.
"I'm proud of you for being able to stand up for yourself, too," Norman added, "that takes courage and guts to be able to do that."
The person most proud of Cyrus for standing up for himself was Cyrus. He had always been afraid of virtually everything and every judgement that might be made about him. He finally got to the point where he realized that he would always be Cyrus, and no one else. That was the best thing that he could ever be.
Later that day, Cyrus called TJ and told him what had happened with his parents. At this point, their school district had just started their holiday break, so they wouldn't get to see each other at school. They arranged a time to meet with each other. TJ's family was celebrated Christmas, and Cyrus's family celebrated Hanukah, so they arranged for a time after the holidays.
After the holidays passed, Cyrus and TJ met at The Spoon. It was kind of unusual that just the two of them would meet at The Spoon; usually, their other friends were there, too. When it was just the two of them, they liked to meet in the park, but it was too cold at that point to stay outside for too long.
They were both relieved about the situation with Cyrus's parents, and they acted as if nothing had happened. That is, until TJ said something that Cyrus didn't anticipate at all.
"I'm glad you and your parents worked things out. I'm looking forward to dinner with them on Saturday."
Cyrus was so shocked that he spit out his chocolate milkshake and some of it hit TJ.
"I am so sorry!" Cyrus apologized. "What dinner? What's happening?"
"Wait, your parents didn't tell you they invited me to eat dinner with you guys?"
"Obviously not!"
"I was in the grocery store with my dad," TJ started to explain, "he had me go get something from another aisle, and I ran into your dad and your step-mom. They told me that they were sorry about what had happened. We talked a little bit, and they seemed really nice. Then they invited me over for dinner Saturday."
"That's great," Cyrus said with a sort of phony enthusiasm. It wasn't that he didn't want his parents to get along with TJ, but he just wasn't sure he was ready for the level of embarrassment that came with it. Whenever TJ brought it up, Cyrus just did his best to pretend to be excited about it too.
On Friday afternoon, the day before dinner with TJ, Cyrus, and Cyrus's parents, Cyrus sought help from Andi.
"Okay," said Bex as she, Bowie, Andi, and Cyrus gathered in the Macks' apartment, "it's very important that you are both kind to each other. Andi, could you pretend to be TJ?"
"Sure!" Andi agreed.
"I don't like where this is going," Cyrus said nervously.
"It's fine," Bex brushed off his concern, "Now, Cyrus, compliment 'TJ'."
"Okay, umm," Cyrus started, "you're looking nice tonight."
"Was that a question?" Bex asked with a tone of humorous mockery. "Say it like you actually mean it."
Cyrus raised his eyebrows, but did as he was told. "You're looking very nice tonight, TJ. That suit looks good on you," he said with a smile.
"He's going to wear a suit?" Andi laughed.
"I don't know," Cyrus said out of mild frustration that turned to apprehension, "Should he?"
"I think he could probably get away with a polo shirt and khakis," laughed Bowie.
"Right, because when my mom first met you, she thought you were delightful!" Bex teased sarcastically. "But you are right. He doesn't need to overdo it."
"What's happening?" Cyrus whispered to Andi, afraid of where their help would take him next.
"Just go with it," she whispered back with a smug grin on her face, as if she knew something was up.
"Now let's talk about table manners-"
"Hold up," Cyrus interrupted Bex, "remember, he's meeting my parents, not the other way around."
"Hmm," Bex considered and turned to Bowie, "he's right. We need to re-evaluate our approach." After thinking for a minute, she said, "Aha! I've got it! To the kitchen!"
The four of them headed into the kitchen, and they sat down at the table.
"Alright, we'll still do the same role play," Bex said, "Cyrus, you'll be yourself. Andi, you'll be TJ, and Bowie and I will be Cyrus's parents!"
"I really just want to know how to avoid total embarrassment," Cyrus clarified.
"And we're about to show you," Bex said with a smirk that made Cyrus a little uncomfortable. Shifting her tone of voice, she turned to Bowie, "Remember that time when Cyrus would dance all around the house to songs that he liked. He was three years old, and he would run around singing 'Elmo's Song' with nothing but his underwear on. Oh what it was like to have such an eccentric child!" Of course, Bex's tone when imitating Cyrus's step-mother had to be highly exaggerated and overdramatic.
"Don't you think that's a little much?" Cyrus laughed.
"Hey, anything can happen," Bex cautioned.
"She's right," Bowie chimed in. "You never know what weird thing your parents will do. When I met Bex's parents, they told me a lot of things Bex probably didn't want me to know."
"Okay, moving on," Bex said abruptly.
"So what exactly is this teaching me?" Cyrus asked, not seeing how what they were doing was helping.
"You have to find a way to brush off those embarrassing stories," Bex answered, "you know, come up with something to say that either throws off the topic, or just own it and be confident."
"I'm not really sure what to say to that," Cyrus said.
"How about something like 'yeah, but I had the best singing voice back then'?" Bowie suggested.
"Ooh, that's good!" Andi said.
"Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself!" Bex chimed in.
The same sort of thing went on for about two hours, as Bex and Bowie came up with all sorts of scenarios. Ultimately, Cyrus ended up leaving feeling even more nervous about the next night. Even though he wasn't meeting TJ's parents, he just wanted everything to go well. He wanted his parents to like TJ, but he realized that he had no control over that.
The next night, Cyrus heard a ring at the doorbell. He was dressed in a button down shirt and khakis, and his parents were in their regular work clothes. "I'll get it!" he yelled to his parents, who were cooking dinner in the kitchen.
Cyrus opened the door to TJ, who was, in fact, wearing a suit. It was the suit they wore on their first date. He was glad that his parents weren't there at the door with him because he got so lost in his admiration of how TJ looked in his suit that he forgot to say hello.
After TJ stood there for almost a full 30 seconds being admired by his boyfriend, be broke the silence and laughed, "Can I come in?"
That was enough to snap Cyrus out of his daze. "Oh, yeah, of course."
TJ gave Cyrus a small kiss as he walked in the door. The two of them then walked into the kitchen.
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Goodman," TJ caught their attention as he walked in.
"Well hello! You're looking very nice this evening," Norman complimented TJ.
"Thank you, sir," TJ said with sincerity.
"And you can just call me Sharon," she corrected.
"What's for dinner?" TJ asked kindly.
"Marinated chicken and rice," Norman replied.
"It smells delicious."
"Why thank you very much!" Sharon said. "I used my mom's marinade recipe."
"I can't wait to taste it," TJ said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You two boys can relax and go take a seat in the living room. We've got this for now," Sharon responded.
"Alright, just let me know," TJ offered.
"That's very kind of you," said Norman. After the two boys left the room, he turned to Sharon and said, "I like him."
"Me too."
In the other room, TJ and Cyrus waited for dinner to be ready.
"How am I doing?" asked TJ somewhat nervously.
"Just be yourself," Cyrus said, "you don't have to try too hard."
"I am being myself," TJ said. "I always want to help."
Cyrus smiled and said sweetly, "Then you're doing perfectly."
The rest of the night also went perfectly. Norman and Sharon really did like TJ. They were glad that their son had found someone so sweet, kind, and caring. He complimented their food, always offered to help, and said so many wonderful things about Cyrus. Cyrus's parents didn't really tell any embarrassing stories like Bex had warned. In fact, it was TJ who bordered on being the embarrassing one. TJ would tell Norman and Sharon things that Cyrus did that he just adored, and it made Cyrus blush every time.
By the end of the night, all was well, and Cyrus couldn't have been happier.