Work Text
T.J. never wore red, let alone
pink.
A
nd all of a sudden, he was clothed in a light red shirt, black jeans, and some
pink
socks sneaking out of his Nikes.
“Are you okay, Teej?” Cyrus asked his boyfriend concernedly. Yesterday’s cafeteria cookies hadn’t given him a brain hemorrhage, had they?
“Yeah, I’m all good,” he said dismissively, grinning broadly. “Well! How’s the outfit?”
Cyrus laughed. T.J. Kippen was just the most adorable person in the universe. “It’s great, but not your usual style, hm?”
T.J.’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, but today’s a special day.” He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, perhaps to emphasize his point.
Cyrus chuckled and shut the door of his locker in response. “My boy, I think you’re forgetting Valentine’s Day is the fourteenth.” He shook his head, trying to conceal a grin. (That proved impossible because he glanced at T.J.’s pink socks.)
“I know that,” T.J. said, rolling his eyes. He turned Cyrus around and played with the strands of his blue cardigan fondly. “But today’s the day we need to make Cyrus Goodman’s Very Valuable Valentines.
Es importante, querido.
”
Cyrus’ eyebrows raised in surprise. “Are you serious right now? You’re into that, now? Last year—” He had to laugh at the recollection, then continued— “Last year you definitely didn’t.”
“Well, last year I was a bitter old man.” T.J.’s smile was almost sheepish. “But this year I’m a bitter old man with a boyfriend. Oh, and not just any boyfriend. Shadyside’s number one Valentine maker.”
“Oh, not better than Andi’s ones,” he said, flushing the same shade of red on T.J.’s shirt.
T.J. didn’t argue; instead, his response was thoroughly nonverbal. Cyrus hated himself for it, but he broke apart mid-kiss to laugh at something that had happened exactly a year prior.
* * *
“So, class, how are you spending your Valentine’s Day tomorrow?” Ms. Doran asked. She was the young History teacher that every boy admired—more to do with the way she looked rather than the way she taught. But Cyrus found her sweet and smart, so he always paid attention in class. Perhaps not as intently as the other guys, though. “I’d like for you to talk to your new desk partners about this.”
The whole class’ seating chart had been rearranged, and the guy who sat next to him was a basketball jock who he knew vaguely. He seemed thoroughly disinterested. Perhaps even hot teachers weren’t enough to spike his interest in class. Cyrus had never seen him smile, not once, unless he was smirking with his other athletic friends in the back.
In truth, Cyrus would’ve loved for him and Jonah Beck to hang out the next day. Maybe he wouldn’t embarrass himself; maybe Jonah would teach him how to throw a Frisbee without harming anyone in a three-meter radius...Just wishful thinking, of course; Andi couldn’t stop talking about the movie she going to watch with Jonah. “The Notebook, of course; do you think he’ll actually like it?”
Anyway, it wasn’t like he could actually tell his desk partner this, not without being laughed at or maybe even punched in the face. So he told him simply, “I’m going to make valentines for a lot of people tomorrow. Like a lot. I don’t even have that many friends, but they’re all great, you know? They deserve more than one card.”
The basketball boy raised his eyebrows, and because he was embarrassed and idiotic, Cyrus went on, “Today is actually the main day! I mean, it’s the most productive day of February for me. Most of Cyrus Goodman’s Very Valuable Valentines are created today. Yes, they have a name—it’s like a tradition for me. You know—like lighting the candles on the menorah. Or in your case, setting up the Christmas tree. I mean, I don’t know. Are you Jewish?”
His desk partner seemed quite taken aback, but he answered slowly, “No, I’m not.”
“Oh, okay. I am. If you hadn’t guessed already. I love Valentine’s Day, actually! It’s my favorite day of the year. Well, next year, it won’t be. Not because I’ll have my heart broken by then—I mean, I hope not—but because I’ll have my Bar Mitzvah… Okay, anyway. How about you? Do you like Valentine’s Day?”
“No.”
“Yikes. Why?”
He shrugged. “It’s just dumb. D’you know Al Capone shot a bunch of people on Valentine’s Day 1929? Well, him and his Chicago gang. Why don’t we celebrate that?”
Cyrus laughed slightly. “I don’t think we’d exactly celebrate that.”
“Well, not celebrate, obviously. But talk about it, at least. It’s more interesting than chocolates and hearts. This is History class! We should be discussing that instead.”
Cyrus actually thought this was interesting insight and was just about to ask him for his name (he was so terrible at remembering classmates’ names and hated himself for it) but one guy walked over. Another basketball player, another person that was effortlessly cool. Al Capone Boy fist bumped him immediately. He tilted his head at Cyrus and added one last time, “Plus, the color pink sucks ass.”
How dumb would it have been to tell him about Jonah Beck? he thought idly as the two basketball players immersed in discussion about Stephen Curry or whoever. Like he would ever understand…
Al Capone Boy ended up transferring out of his history class to accommodate his demanding sporty schedule. Al Capone Boy also ended up becoming his best friend’s enemy. Al Capone Boy then morphed into Scary Basketball Guy, just a couple of months before he’d finally become Cyrus’ boyfriend—first love, too, if you had to be cliche about it.
And now, exactly a year and one day after the infamous “
the color pink sucks ass,
” T.J. Kippen strutted around in a pink sweater and a bright smile with one arm wrapped around his boyfriend. The other hand held a valentine that he finally gave to Cyrus at the end of the day, this terribly cut paper heart with the words
Roses are red, Al Capone made people dead, but I’m excited for the times we have ahead.
Needless to say, it even beat Cyrus Goodman’s Very Valuable Valentine. Then they kissed in celebration.
And yes, they did break apart just to laugh at T.J.’s craftsmanship.