There was something decently poetic about the crack of the wooden bat that was sending baseballs into the night sky on a sharp, upwards path.
Besides being a slightly more modern version of The Natural, Tyler loved the stress relief aspect of it all. Using a blunt, wooden object to smash something was beyond delightful. He had a backyard gigantic enough, and a forest, so he saw no need to actually care about the noise or how far the baseballs were traveling. His rival the pitching machine was doing a crap job of trying to get a ball past him.
He would grunt with every swing. Not in an overdramatic way, but more in a 'this is really, really fun' type of way. He took a particularly good swing, sending a ball into high orbit.
"Yeah!" He almost howled, face an almost roaring smile.
"You don't worry that someone might have baseballs raining down on them?"
"Nah," Tyler shrugged, giving a pleased, sighing laugh as the machine powered off due to a lack of pitchable baseballs. "What's up, Jer?"
"Not much," Jeremy shrugged. "Got your text. Was I supposed to come here and watch you swing a bat?" It seemed mundane, really. But that was before Tyler removed his shirt. Then absolutely nothing else mattered. In fact, Jeremy was entirely sure why he was here.
"Drink it in, Gilbert." Tyler bragged, face sliding into that smile that made Jeremy tingle from toes to scalp.
"Oh…oh I am," Jeremy blushed, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't sure how, but he had basically come to worship at the altar that was Tyler Lockwood. Sure, the body was great, but so was everything else. The smile, the jokes, the attitude [Tyler was a dick, but he was Jeremy's dick], and the erection-inducing growls, all of it was amazing and all of it belonged to Jeremy and Jeremy alone. "So, what's with the midnight batting practice?"
"Great stress reliever," Tyler shrugged, placing the bat behind his neck and draping his arms over it. This was yet another step on the path of male model type behavior that Tyler would do to Jeremy for shared amusement. Jeremy eventually, and a little shyly, made his way over to Tyler. No sooner than his arms could reach, then his hands were smack against the sweaty hardness of Tyler's abs. "Oh, soft hands." Tyler laughed, leaning forward to give Jeremy the tiniest of bites on his chin. Hey, he was a wolf.
"Thanks," Jeremy blushed. Compliments from Tyler always felt so weird. Lockwood was so…perfect. In every aspect. How he had wound up in love with Jeremy was something only the stars really knew. He was sure Tyler was full of reasons, and this moment with whispering crescent moon and adoring celestial seascape, seemed like a great time to ask.
Jeremy, however hesitantly, removed his hands from Tyler's abs and eased himself down on the ground, casting his gaze upon the great Galactic Railroad above. Tyler quickly joined him. Their hands linked quickly.
"So, Tyler…I'm going to pull an old school move here and do something that once upon a time would make you punch me." Jeremy half-laughed.
"Go on, Gilbert," Tyler laughed. "I'll just do something physical to you later." He said, entirely a promise.
"What makes me attractive to you?"
"…. Screw you, Jer." Tyler laughed, genuinely happy. Most people didn't know that happy was an emotion that Tyler Lockwood could access.
"I was trying to be serious," Jeremy blushed, almost reverting back to his introverted and entirely unfriendly manner.
"Dude, the words to describe you don't exist. Don't blame me," Tyler shrugged, giving Jeremy's hand a sharp squeeze. "I'm a werewolf. You see Ghosts. When these things make up our lives, words don't mean that much."
Huh. That had been a lot more poetic than Jeremy had expected. He knew Tyler was far from stupid, but he always liked it when he showed flashes of just how sharp his mind was. He rolled slightly so his head was resting on the artistic glory that was Tyler's chest. Tyler draped an arm around him in a pretty protective manner. Hey, he was a wolf.
"I like you for a lot of reasons, Jer," Tyler began. "I laugh around you. I smile. I have fun when I'm with you. Besides, I bought you your first car. That's all you need to know about my feelings."
"I love that car," Jeremy laughed. "It's so cool."
"Damon said it was 'very Jeremy' when he first found it," Tyler explained. "Whatever that means." Jeremy just laughed.
The two were happy to relax and gaze up at the starlight symphony above. Jeremy broke the silence.
"It's cool you're a werewolf," He said. "I love how…haha, I love how you growl over me."
On cue, Tyler did it. Because it was so quiet outside, the deep and husky snarl carried for quite a long ways. Jeremy felt himself turn into one large goose bump. "Yeah, that."
"Gotcha." Tyler said knowingly.
"But yeah, it's cool you're a werewolf." Jeremy repeated. He could never really say it enough.
"Yeah?" Tyler asked.
"Yep," Jeremy nodded. "But, like all dogs, I'm going to start locking you out of my room at night if you keep farting in bed."
"That's a sign of trust." Tyler quickly countered.
"Like when you do it in the car?" Jeremy asked.
"No," Tyler answered. "That's just a dating hazard."
"Uh-huh," Jeremy laughed.