#soft theater gayssss

[penguin-writes-books]

First Kisses & Forgotten Scripts

It’s here! @tyrusmuff1n I hope you like it!

---

Cyrus absentmindedly signed his name on the form Ms. Pallas handed him, smiling politely. He signed out of study hall and slid out of the door, clutching his script to his chest. He paused in the hallway, contemplating where to go to practice. He eventually settled on the old music room, as no one was ever there and it was the only unoccupied large space this hour. He figured he could deal with the dust-covered instruments pushed to the walls. He only prayed he wouldn’t fall into a sneezing fit.

He made his way through the halls without once glancing up from his script. He managed to sidestep someone several times despite class being in session. He didn’t notice the gentle, precise melody coming from the music room until he was stepping inside. He glanced up to find TJ sitting at the piano. He glanced up at Cyrus’s presence, jumping and accidentally playing an awful chord.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry,” Cyrus yelped, starting to back out of the room. “I can just…”

“No! Stay- I- Cyrus, stay.”

“I can let you play if you want. I’ll find somewhere else to run lines.”

“Run lines?”

“I- yeah. I got the male lead in the play-”

“-Which male lead? Aren’t there two?” TJ interrupted. “What are their names- uh, Sam and Alex?”

“I got Sam,” Cyrus said, sitting down in a chair near TJ.

“Ah. Shy, closeted nerd. Fitting.”

“Very funny. Casting director thought so too. Sam gets outed though, I just kinda… Stopped keeping it a secret,” Cyrus said. “I swear, Mr. Smalls acts like I came out last year just so I could play this part.”

“Eh, old guys are always like that. They like diversity to be convenient, not natural.”

“I- Wow, you’re not wrong.”

“I know. Who got Alex?”

“Umm… Leo. Leo Tom?”

“Two first names. How… Fun,” TJ said slowly. Cyrus rolled his eyes at his tone, shoving him playfully. “Anyway, what scene do you need to run?”

“The climax. Fight scene, kiss scene, guy gets guy, curtains go down, all is well.”

“Sounds… Unrealistic,” TJ grumbled. “But, because I’m such a good friend, I’ll play Alex for you.”

“So chivalrous,” Cyrus said, pretending to swoon.

“Yeah, yeah, hand over the script and stand up, Goodman. So what’s this play about?”

“Um… Let’s see. It’s pretty basic until Sam almost kisses another boy in his grade and some douchebag-”

“Did not know you knew that word,” TJ noted.

“Shush. Some guy gets a photo and tapes it to Sam’s locker.”

“You were right. Total douchebag material.”

“Yeah, I know, idiot, I know the whole play.”

“What a way to talk to your savior, your knight in shining armor, your hero-”

“Shut up!” Cyrus teased, knocking his shoulder into TJ’s. “Just… We’ll start from the top of the scene, I think I have my lines memorized.”

TJ took a moment to orient himself, skimming over the script to find out the root of the fight. He paced back and forth for a few moments, reading the script quickly. He settled after a while, nodding to Cyrus before turning his back on him.

“Seriously? Just because you’re Alex Danbury, star student, doesn’t mean you get to act like no one else has problems! You saw my locker this morning, and you didn’t care, let alone-”

“Do you ever shut up?!” TJ whirled around, somehow having managed to force tears to come to his eyes. “Who do you think tore into Garringer for what he did? Who do you think ripped that stupid photo off your locker? Who do you think it was that nearly got expelled defending you when Garringer saw me do it?”

“You WHAT? Why would you do that? You got into a fight with Charlie Garringer. God, Alex, you’re such an idiot!”

“What are you talking about? I’m an idiot for defending you?”

“Yes! You shouldn’t have gotten tangled up in my problems when you clearly don’t understand what happened today!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah!” Cyrus insisted, trying his best to see TJ as Alex.

“God, Sam, you’re so-”

“-What?! What am I?”

“You’re so stupid!” TJ yelled.

“Seriously? You get into a fight and I’m the stupid one?”

“Yes!”

“At least I’m not completely and utterly-” TJ glanced down at his script as Cyrus spoke, taking a deep breath before following his cue.

TJ kissed Cyrus.

It started angry and aggressive as the script intended, but it was soon morphing into simply TJ and Cyrus. They wrapped their arms around each other, TJ dropping his script, the telltale sound of a paper packet hitting the ground not even mildly alarming Cyrus. He had better things to think about.

Example: Cyrus! Goodman! Was! Kissing! TJ! Kippen!

He ignored the way his thoughts ran around his head, burying his hands into TJ’s hair. TJ pulled away after their own personal eternity to breathe. He met Cyrus’s eyes with a knowing smile, sitting down on the floor and pulling him down with him.

“I- I think I’ve got the lines now,” Cyrus whispered.

“Yeah,” TJ said amusedly, raising his eyebrows. “I think you do.”

“You’re a really good actor, why didn’t you…”

“Audition? For Alex?” TJ filled in. “Rehearsal conflicted with basketball practice… And I didn’t want to have to- to, um, use my sexuality to get a part.”

“I get it, but you wouldn’t have had to. You’re really good at this, TJ.”

“Eh. Good castmate, I guess,” TJ teased.

“Yeah.” Cyrus went silent for a long moment, smiling and shaking his head to himself.

“What’s going on in that head of yours? Wait, no- let me guess. Dinosaurs, baby taters, and… books?”

“No, actually. I was thinking about how, when I was little, I used to hate that it’s called falling in love. It makes it feel like-”

“-Like it’s not supposed to happen,” TJ finished.

“Exactly! It’s like you were just going for a stroll along a cliff’s edge, and then one misstep and you’re tumbling in.”

“Isn’t that kind of how it is, though?” TJ asked. “It’s kind of like you’re just supposed to be friends with someone, and then suddenly…”

“I just hated it, though. It felt like falling in love is some shameful act.”

“Where is this all going?” TJ asked, turning to face Cyrus.

“I just- I get it now.”

“Are you telling me you’re in love with me?”

“No. I’m telling you I found my cliff’s edge.”

---

Cyrus paced back and forth backstage, clutching his script in his hands and trying to ignore Leo’s gaze on him.

“You okay, man?” he asked, stepping in front of Cyrus.

“Yeah, no, for sure. I’m so okay. I’m great. This is just a really big scene, and it’s opening night, and if we screw this up it kind of ruins the entire play and-”

“-And that’s our cue to the wings,” Leo said, pointing to the stage.

“Oh, shi- I’m supposed to enter from stage right in like 30 seconds.”

“Yeah, you are. Go!” Leo exclaimed, shoving Cyrus to get to his side of the stage and making his entrance from stage left.

Cyrus managed to make his entrance in time, sighing in relief as he crossed the stage toward Leo. They made their way through the entire fight scene, Cyrus holding his breath slightly before he kissed Leo. It wasn’t anything like kissing TJ - it wasn’t like their first kiss or any of the ones that had followed close behind, and it certainly wasn’t anything like the way they’d kissed before the show as TJ wished him good luck. It was over soon as the lights went down and they silently left the stage. Leo hugged him briefly when they left, congratulating him for a job well done.

“That was so good!” Cyrus agreed.

He accepted hugs and high fives from the rest of the cast as the lights came up and they started to line up for bows. Cyrus and Leo took the stage last, jogging downstage and bowing with grins on their faces. They stayed there as the crowd applauded, Leo making eye contact with his boyfriend as Cyrus met TJ’s eyes.

TJ was on his feet next to Andi, Buffy, and Jonah, pride shimmering in his eyes.

‘Perfect,’ he mouthed. Cyrus nodded slightly, joining the rest of the cast for a final bow before running off stage.

He got out of his costume and into his street clothes as quickly as possible. He wiped off his stage makeup and picking up all his things in record time. TJ met him backstage, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“That was so good, Underdog!”

“Thank you!” Cyrus exclaimed. He buried his head in TJ’s jacket, smiling when his boyfriend kissed him on the head.

“That should have been me up there kissing you, babe,” TJ whispered, fake pouting and ruffling Cyrus’s hair.

“I wish it was.”

#Andi Mack #cyrus goodman #tj kippen #tyrus #leo the locker boy #soft theater gayssss