#tivol

[devdas5z]

[supergraphicultramoderngirl]

the inexhaustible variety of life

summary: Cyrus Goodman has isolated himself from the rest of his prep school, but will an easygoing transfer student manage to crack his shell?

pairing: tyrus

word count of chapter: 1,169

first chapter, previous chapter, next chapter

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chapter 4: nonsense

It slowly became an unofficial tradition for the two boys to meet up every Saturday to talk about the books they were reading. TJ would show up at Cyrus’ dorm, Cyrus would pretend to be annoyed, eventually let him in, scold him for laying on his bed (“It’s my bed! I should be the one sitting there!” “You can sit next to me!” “...You can have the bed.”), and they would talk about either their current assigned book or anything they were reading for fun. And if Cyrus got all of his work done before every Saturday just so he would have more time to talk, TJ didn’t need to know that.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Cyrus has discovered that TJ was a major theatre and history nerd and could rap the entirety of Hamilton on a dime if asked, while TJ noticed Cyrus never, ever read without a pencil in his hand so he could underline and take note of things.

Despite them talking about anything and everything involving literature, Cyrus never let the conversation steer to anything else. TJ wasn’t hurt by that, no, not at all. So Cyrus didn’t trust him enough to talk about normal friend things. It’s fine.

TJ had made his way over to Cyrus’ dorm one Saturday, ready to rant for a hundredth time about how Holden Caulfield was a major hypocrite. He held his wrist up to knock on the door, but he never got the chance, as Cyrus opened the door at that moment. “What, are you gonna punch me?” he teased.

TJ dropped his arm and looked inside the room, noticing everything was cleared out. “What’s going on? Are you transferring out?” He couldn’t be transferring, not now, not when they were just getting to be good friends. He didn’t know why it affected him so much, but he could not let him leave now.

“What? Oh,” Cyrus waved it off, “I’m repainting a wall in my room. Well, not me, because I’d knock everything over, but I am getting it repainted.”

TJ let out a small sigh of relief. “Oh.”

Cyrus smiled, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, since the fumes are so strong that I’m pretty sure I started hallucinating my essay talking to me a hot minute ago, it might be smart to go to your room today?”

“Oh, um, sure, yeah,” TJ replied. He’s gonna see my room, he thought. My messy, boring room, and he’s gonna think I’m messy and boring. Wait, why did he care if Cyrus thought he was messy and boring?

He didn’t, right?

“A man of many words, everyone,” Cyrus joked. “Let’s go,” he added, making his way around TJ to walk to his room, and for some reason the only thing TJ could think was hey, he didn’t shove me this time. Progress.

They stepped into the room, and while Cyrus took everything in, TJ was trying not to freak out whilst simultaneously trying to figure out why the hell he was freaking out in the first place. Cyrus was just in his room. No big deal. Right?

TJ watched Cyrus’ eyes trail from his messy desk to his messy bed to his various basketball posters. “So you’re a sports guy?” Cyrus teased.

“More like sport guy,” TJ answered, a soft smile on his face. “Basketball was the only thing I could get into.”

“I can’t do any sport to save my life,” Cyrus joked. “I almost failed PE in the fifth grade.”

TJ just laughed, taking a seat on his bed, while Cyrus was still glancing and pacing slowly around his room. TJ saw his eyes stop on something laying on his nightstand, and he turned his head to see what it was. Upon spotting the object, he snapped his head back to Cyrus in a panic.

“Oh, right, you’re...” Cyrus trailed off, an odd look on his face that TJ couldn’t decipher.

“Gay?” TJ sighed. “Yeah.”

“I forgot about that,” Cyrus said plainly.

TJ immediately went on the defense. “Is that gonna be an issue?”

Cyrus’ eyes widened. “No, no, dear god, no, it’s not. I, uh, actually— you know what? Never mind.”

TJ quirked one eyebrow, a small smirk resting on his face. “You good?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, then.”

•••

Cyrus sauntered down the hallway to the library to “return” his latest read, alone as usual. That’s when he saw it.

A bright pink poster pinned up in the hall, clashing with the brown wood of the walls surrounding it. A closer look at the poster told you it was announcing the first boys’ basketball game of the season, taking place that Friday afternoon.

Wait— isn’t today Friday?

He walked briskly toward the gym, book in hand long forgotten, and sure enough, it was packed with people. It definitely was not Cyrus’ scene in the slightest, but when he spotted a certain dirty blonde running across the court in his Riverview jersey, he figured it would be okay to watch. To support his, friend? Acquaintance? Book buddy? Sure.

Cyrus didn’t take a seat, he simply stood next to the bleachers watching. In all honesty, he had no idea how the game worked, he just knew you had to get the ball in the net and that he had never been able to do that. But, it was obvious TJ knew what he was doing, as he looked effortless out there. A small curl of hair flopped into his face then, and Cyrus couldn’t help but think it looked cute.

Wait.

Oh, no.

That’s definitely a crush.

Come to think of it, it’s been there for a long time. And now it’s gotten worse.

A girl with curly brown hair called out to him, snapping him out of his stupor for a moment, “Hey, you’ve been standing around a while, do you want to sit with us?”

“U-um, no, nope, I’m good,” he replied, more frazzled than anything else.

“You sure?” The curly haired girl’s friend asked, adjusting her headband framing her jet black pixie cut.

“Yeah, I was, uh, just about to leave, anyway,” Cyrus responded, backing out of the gym, but not without walking into the wall first.

•••

This crush was ruining everything, Cyrus decided.

He was in history class and noticed that TJ was sitting in front of him, so he stared at the back of his head for the majority of class, as one does. And, as if that wasn’t enough, when the teacher called on him, he answered “Cute.” Cute, for god’s sake!

To make matters worse, TJ wouldn’t let it go for at least a week. At least he didn’t know it was about him.

The crush was becoming more and more of a problem, too, as his witty banter was lacking. He couldn’t tease him anymore, or for lack of a better word, flirt with him. What if TJ picked up on it?

He had to get rid of it as soon as possible.

No one can know.

[supergraphicultramoderngirl]

the inexhaustible variety of life

summary: Cyrus Goodman has isolated himself from the rest of his prep school, but will an easygoing transfer student manage to crack his shell?

pairing: tyrus

word count of chapter: 588 (sorry it’s a small one)

next chapter

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chapter 1: hypocritical

Riverview Academy didn’t often get transfers, at least not in the middle of the year. So when TJ Kippen arrived at the campus, the news spread like wildfire.

Of course, Cyrus was aware of the rumors, but in reality he didn’t give a shit. It was just one more person he had to avoid. He was awfully good at it for a few days while the gossip about the new boy died down, that is, until he tried to discreetly return his latest read (or rather reread), The Great Gatsby, to the library.

He didn’t exactly check out the books or anything, no one did. There was no need to if taking the books was free anyway, so might as well just snag it and keep it as long as you want, right?

He certainly did not expect to get caught by the easygoing new kid, who was currently tapping Cyrus’ shoulder and holding at least seven other books in his other arm.

“Hey, I was looking for that book, are you checking it out?” The blonde asked, a calm grin on his face.

Cyrus sighed. He had to talk now, didn’t he? “No, I’m just putting it back. I’m done with it.”

TJ furrowed his eyebrows. “You didn’t check it out?”

“It’s obvious you’re new here. Just take it,” Cyrus replied, rolling his eyes and handing him the book.

TJ slowly accepts it, squinting, but not without adding, “You’re kinda rude, you know that?”

Cyrus scoffed. “I’m not rude, I just prefer not having to interact with nerds like you,” he responded, gesturing to the now eight books in TJ’s arm.

TJ lifted an eyebrow. “You have me pinned as the nerd because I have a few books?”

He sure as hell didn’t look like a ne— wait, no. That is not happening. “I’d hardly call seven a few.”

TJ shrugged. “I mean, most of these are for my classes, but I like to read for fun sometimes.”

Cyrus chuckled and replied phonily sweet, “For fun? I think I have you pinned down pretty well. I gotta go, chess tournament.” Cyrus shoved past TJ through the doors to the library exit.

So what if the chess thing was a lie? And so what if he was being a total hypocrite? Sue him.

Meanwhile, TJ was left standing there, definitely annoyed, but sure as hell intrigued. There’s gotta be some reason he acts like that, he thought, there’s no way someone with kind eyes like that can be so cold.

Excited about finally getting the book he wanted, he sat down at the nearest chair and opened up the blue book. He immediately noticed all of the notes and details in the margins, and with the sarcastic tone resonating through all of them, he had no doubt in his mind that they belonged to none other than the snarky dark brown haired boy.

TJ figured it would be smarter to look at all of the notes later when he had more time, so he packed up his things and went back to his dorm to get other work done.

He noticed that the dorm next to his has its door cracked open a bit, just enough so he could see inside as he was walking past, just enough for him to catch the striking head of brown hair. He leaned back a bit to catch the name on the nameplate.

Cyrus Goodman.

No doubt that name was gonna stay in his mind for the rest of the day.

[supergraphicultramoderngirl]

the inexhaustible variety of life

summary: Cyrus Goodman has isolated himself from the rest of his prep school, but will an easygoing transfer student manage to crack his shell?

pairing: tyrus

word count of chapter: 925 (i promise the best one will be over 1000 ok hfjsksk)

previous chapter, next chapter

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chapter 2: reticent

So maybe TJ spent the majority of that night looking over all of the notes in the margins, laughing at every “that’s a little gay, nick” and thinking about all of the actual analyses written on the worm down pages, who’s to say?

At least, he was until he heard a massive door slam from next door at 1am, followed by some definitely angry stomping down the hallway.

He knew it was none of his business what went on in the room next to him, that it was Cyrus’ life and he had no need to get involved, especially when it seemed the boy wasn’t exactly fond of him. Or anyone, for that matter. He knew that the smartest thing to do was to stay put in his blanket cocoon he’s made for himself and mind his own damn business.

So, naturally, that is not at all what he did.

Dog-earing the page he was on, TJ got up while grabbing the book, left the dorm (being careful to let the door shut quietly), and knocked on Cyrus’ door.

A few angry stomps sounded from the room, followed by the door swinging open to reveal a tear-stained, red-faced, messy hair Cyrus, who begun to yell, “Reed, I swear to fucking g-oh. Oh my god, I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

A small smile tried to pull at TJ’s lips at that, but he wouldn’t let it. So he is capable of being sorry. “Yeah, I got that. I heard some noise coming from here, is everything okay?”

Cyrus crossed his arms after quickly wiping off his face with the back of his hand. “Why do you care? You don’t know me.”

“I know you really like this book,” TJ replied, holding up the copy of Gatsby in his hand.

If Cyrus’ eyes widened a bit and his guard faltered for a second, TJ hadn’t noticed. “And how do you assume that?”

TJ dropped his arm to lean on the doorframe. “Your notes? In the margins? That you put literally throughout the entire book? I was going to reread it, but I gotta say, your input was a hell of a lot more interesting. You had a lot to say about the en—“

“You’re wrong. It was for a class, I don’t read for fun,” Cyrus rebutted bitterly, ten more walls up now than before.

And yet, TJ couldn’t find that to be anything other than entertaining. No way you could be that detailed just for some literature class.

“Sure. Right.” He stood up straight, coughing. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair then. Sorry for bothering you.”

Cyrus just squinted, shutting the door in his face. Classy.

As TJ made his way back to his dorm, he can’t help but think he’s making progress; even if the brunette has a habit of walking away.

I’m on to you, Goodman, he thought.

•••

“I bet he’s a giant softie,” Amber teased, nudging TJ’s shoulder. “The way you talk about him, there’s no way he isn’t secretly a massive teddy bear,” she continued, trying to finish up the last of her fries but ultimately deciding to throw them in the trash can. (They were most certainly not good; granted it’s cafeteria food, but still. Eesh.)

“I mean, I don’t know about that, but he’s definitely not as bad as everyone acts like he is. At least I think so,” TJ replied.

Amber chuckled as the two began to walk out of the dining hall. “You sound like you have him all figured out. You sure he really isn’t just a jerk?”

TJ shrugged. “Technically, I’ve only had two conversations with him so there’s no real way for me to tell, but I just have a gut feeling, you know?”

Amber nodded for a moment before lowering her voice, giggling, “You sure you don’t just want him to be nice because he’s cute?”

“Shut up,” TJ retaliated, elbowing her in the side.

Amber was one of the first of his peers that he met at Riverview— they only met because he accidentally knocked over her lunch tray on his first day there, but they clicked instantly. In fact, one of the rumors that popped up upon his arrival was that they were dating. That was dispelled quite quickly though, with the two of them coming out publicly as gay and lesbian (respectively), luckily with little to no backlash. Some thought they were siblings, and honestly, TJ could definitely understand why, given their bickering all the time.

“See you later,” TJ said, waving to Amber as she kept walking down while he entered the English wing to his literature class.

He was one of the first ones there, as he didn’t want to be late for one of the first classes of the year. He took in his surroundings, looking all of the posters made about various classics, especially admiring those for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books. The walls were an incredibly faded blue that was definitely chipping off in some places, and TJ was surprised that even though the private school took in so much money they couldn’t manage to give the walls a better paint job.

The only other students in the room that he noticed were a kid wearing a hoodie over their uniform, shielding their head as much as possible, a girl wearing impeccable acrylics scrolling through her phone, and— oh.

Cyrus Goodman sat in the very back corner of the classroom, the typical eternal scowl on his face.

Oh, this should be fun.

[supergraphicultramoderngirl]

the inexhaustible variety of life

summary: Cyrus Goodman has isolated himself from the rest of his prep school, but will an easygoing transfer student manage to crack his shell?

pairing: tyrus

word count of chapter: 845 (sorry i suck at writing long chapters ok)

first chapter, previous chapter, next chapter

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chapter 3: nerd

At this point, TJ isn’t sure if Cyrus actually hasn’t noticed or is just playing coy, but it’s blatantly obvious to any bystanders that TJ has slowly made his way across the classroom throughout the past two weeks to try and get closer to Cyrus’ spot.

His excuse? Cyrus is constantly scribbling in his books during class, and sometimes doesn’t even notice the bell rang dismissing them all. TJ simply just wants to see the inside and read his analyses. That’s it. Nothing at all to do with the fact that maybe he wants to run his hands through the chocolate brown hair of his or make those dark eyes stop being so cold. Nope. At least, that’s what he would say if you asked about it.

Especially if you’re Amber.

“You’re so in denial,” Amber sighed, taking a seat across from him in the practically empty library.

“I’m not in denial if there’s nothing to deny,” TJ retorted, leaning back in his chair.

Amber furrowed her eyebrows. “That doesn’t even make any sense.”

The door to the library opened behind TJ then, making Amber glance to see who was entering. Amber gave them a small smile and a shy wave, which caused TJ to turn around to see who the hell rose that reaction out of the blonde.

He turned to see a pixie haired girl sporting a pink headband along with a few pins on the mandatory uniform making her way to the textbook section. “Who’s that?” TJ asked, turning back to face Amber.

Amber coughed. “That’s Andi, from my biology class.”

“Andi, huh?” TJ smirked.

Amber crossed her arms, now on the defensive. “It’s not like that.”

“Looks like I’m not the one in denial,” TJ teased.

Amber just swatted his shoulder.

•••

The fated day had finally arrived.

TJ was actually close enough to read whatever Cyrus was scribbling in the latest book he’d picked up.

TJ leaned forward just a bit in order to catch the name of the book, and immediately grew ecstatic when he saw the familiar cover of A Streetcar Named Desire, his personal favorite play. He had to see what was being written in those margins.

So, instead of being a normal person and try to forget about it because it’s totally not his place, he did the most TJ thing possible and started formulating his plan.

•••

TJ knocked on Cyrus’ door, knowing this definitely wasn’t his brightest idea, but he was going through with it anyway because, well, maybe he actually didn’t know yet. Whatever.

Cyrus didn’t even finish opening the door when TJ held up his own copy of the play and said, “I can’t stand a naked lightbulb, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action.”

Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows. “What? I mean, I know that’s a quote, but—“

“It’s one of my favorite plays,” TJ explains, “and I bet it’s one of yours too.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in true Cyrus fashion. “Why are you so insistent on talking to me about literature?”

TJ sighed, a small smile having not left his face throughout the entire conversation. “Because I’m sure you like it, whether you want to admit it or not.” He leaned in, adding, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell your chess buddies.”

Cyrus simply squinted and opened his door a bit more. “Are you gonna come in or not?”

TJ walked into the dorm room, marveling at all of the various literature themed posters adorning the walls. “Wow,” he said. “And you called me a nerd.”

“I am not a nerd!” Cyrus retorted. “I just... have passions.”

TJ chuckled. “I’m just teasing. It’s nice to finally meet someone who likes literature as much as me.”

TJ looked over at Cyrus then with a soft gaze, and he couldn’t help but think that for a split second, Cyrus did the same.

They stood there for a moment, until Cyrus turned away to grab his copy of Streetcar, handing it to the taller boy. “Since you’re so interested in what I’ve been thinking about these books, you can read it for yourself.”

“Are you sure?” TJ asked, “I don’t want to be invading anything.” He thought back to the week and a half of him trying to peer over to look at Cyrus’ desk. Yeah, that line was crossed a long time ago.

“I’m sure. Just as long as you tell me what you think too,” Cyrus said, the smallest ghost of a teasing smile on his face.

TJ scratched the back of his neck. “Maybe we could, like, discuss it or something?”

Cyrus took a glance at his desk and winced. “I... can’t right now, my physics teacher is a bitch and he assigned us 30 pages of textbook notes for tomorrow. Maybe another time?”

TJ, the ever hopeful, replied, “I get it. What about Saturday?”

It was apparent Cyrus hadn’t expected TJ to come up with an actual day, considering the confused face he made, but still he softened and replied, “Yeah. Saturday.”

[supergraphicultramoderngirl]

the inexhaustible variety of life

a new chaptered fic based off that tyrus prep school au @you-get-to-exhale-now-cyrus and i came up with

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preface:

Cyrus Goodman knows Riverview Academy Boarding School like the back of his hand. He’s been going there all his life, perks of having four shrinks for parents, he assumes. He had formed a routine over the years; go to his classes, sneak into the library and change books, go back to his dorm to get things done, read until he falls asleep, and never talk to anyone throughout the process. See, Cyrus had quite the reputation, he was notorious for thinking he was better than everyone else, the stereotypical preppy rich kid. You know the kind. He really wasn’t, though— but it wasn’t like anyone needed to know that. Being avoided was the easiest way to not get distracted and work his ass off so he could get into an Ivy League like he’d planned all his life, so he didn’t feel the need to dispel the rumors that circled around his head.

The only thing Cyrus didn’t plan for was some new kid to come in and break the very routine, and the very facade he had worked so hard to sculpt over the years.

———

coming at ya soon :))

[pennyarmy]

[chiarabond]

København, Tivoli Park - Giugno 2016