notes: really enjoying dino charge so far, and these two especially! hope you guys like this!
this takes place directly before, during, and after episode seven, let sleeping zords lie.
hearts racing like a rocket
hold on, we got our wings
and we're chasing the wind
― thriving ivory, where we belong
His car smells like spearmint and pine trees, which she only notices because it's such a change from what she's used to.
Usually, boys – her older brother, her high school friends, one ex-boyfriend in particular – let their cars smell like fast food and weed. If she's lucky, some of them have air freshener that smells like cotton or spices or the sea. Those are nice, but they don't really cover up the weed.
But Tyler's car reminds her of the forest and the Earth and his laugh when he teases her about being a dino-it-all, which, personally, she thinks is one of his weaker burns.
"I think that was a pretty good one!" he protests when she brings it up on a drive to a dig site that's more out of the way than usual.
They've managed to find a shortcut that the other three boys, trundling along in the museum truck, have somehow missed, so it's nothing but the open air and the two of them in his red car and altogether a more pleasant experience than making out with some high school quarterback who smoked too much weed.
Not that she's thinking about making out right now. Obviously not.
"You also think let's barbecue this chicken is a good burn," she teases, just to see the look on his face.
"Hey!" He almost drives them off the road in the process of sending her the most indignant, wounded puppy dog look she's ever seen. It's adorable. "That was a great burn. You're just jealous because you never have any."
"Not true!" she scoffs, flipping her hair. His smile when she does it is all soft and fondly amused, which is somehow more cute than his outraged face. "Just because you wear red you always have to have the last word."
"It's not my fault red is the coolest color," he says, a note of challenge in his voice. She jabs her elbow at him and he pretends to wince, though he's laughing, so the effect is kind of ruined.
In the hazy afternoon sunshine, she can't help but notice that he really does look good in his red shirt, the color offsetting his warm brown skin. He smiles at her when he notices her looking, though, to his credit, he doesn't say anything.
"Pink is definitely the coolest," she declares with an air of finality, after remembering what she was doing. "I don't know what you're smoking, Navarro."
Tyler chuckles, ducking his head over the steering wheel so his hair falls into his eyes as he swerves to avoid a particularly low-hanging tree branch. That motion has an unfortunate habit of making her want to reach up and brush his hair back or just tangle her fingers in it and see if it's as soft as it looks or what his shampoo smells like or –
"Shelby?" he interrupts her thoughts and when she focuses back in on his face, he's grinning at her, his smile equal parts amused and sweet. He looks at her that way a lot, she's noticed – like he's completely endeared by her. "We're here."
She blinks. The dig site stretches out in front of them, and she can hear the boys' truck coming in from the side as well. "Oh," she says, sitting up straight. Apparently, she'd gotten utterly distracted thinking about Tyler's hair. And his smile. And laugh. "Right. Let's go!"
"What were you thinking about?" he asks teasingly, and for a second, she is startled enough to think he might somehow know that she'd been thinking about him. But he seems perfectly at ease as they hop out of his car, turning to face her through the open window with a smile, and she figures if he could read her mind, she'd know about it by now.
"About how pink is so much cooler than red," she retorts, and he laughs, but doesn't argue as they move to unload the digging equipment from the back of his car.
"Well," Tyler grins, his arm brushing hers as they push boxes aside in his trunk. "It does look good on you."
Shelby pauses as he picks up a box and moves away to unpack it, feeling her insides melt into butterflies as she comprehends his statement. It takes her a moment to resume working, and he makes no mention of the conversation when he returns to her side, but he smiles at her like he's got a secret.
It's only when he leans in later to whisper a joke at Chase's expense that she notices he smells like spearmint, too.
-:-
Tyler's kind of gotten used to Shelby sitting front-seat in his car, making fun of his music choices and tossing dinosaur facts at him or telling him to keep his eyes on the road – usually when he looks at her too long to be safe.
He can't help it, though; she's impossible not to smile at, even when she's in one of her moods. Maybe especially when she's in one of her moods.
She hops into his car for the drive to where the Ankylo zord is located as the other three boys pile into the truck, their usual group split for driving. He raises an eyebrow at her until she remembers to toss him back his keys.
"You didn't hurt my car, did you?" he asks, half-teasing and half-serious as he keys the ignition. "I do expect you to pay for damages if you did."
Shelby makes a face at him. "I'll have you know, I'm an excellent driver," she proclaims as he laughs and reverses out of the loading docks. "Your car has not a single scratch on it, thank you very much."
"I'm holding you to that," he warns her, unable to fight a grin as he rounds the corner to the highway, with the museum truck following behind them. "You're welcome, by the way."
She tilts her head. "For what?"
Tyler looks at her incredulously. "For loaning you my car? For not ruining your dramatic exit? Take your pick."
"Such a gentleman," she teases, and he snorts. It's so hard to be mad at her, even when he's annoyed that she's finished his drink. "Thank you for your car, even though, quite frankly, I'm a better driver than you."
He stares at her in exaggerated outrage. "Untrue."
"You're not looking at the road!" she points out, and he quickly snaps his head back to the highway, both of them laughing now.
"Okay, fine, I get distracted more, but that doesn't make you a better driver," he insists, shifting lanes probably a bit too sharply. He'd kind of forgotten to signal, too caught up in not looking at how pretty she looks out of those digging uniforms. Shelby raises her eyebrows at him till he sighs and drops the point. "Whatever. It's my car!"
"Yeah, yeah," she laughs, turning her face to look out the open window, the wind rushing through her hair. "Hey, how was the ride back? You guys didn't catch poison ivy from Koda, did you?"
Tyler chuckles as the truck speeds by on the next lane, the caveman in question waving excitedly at them from his seat. "Nah, but I think Chase's driving scared a few years off Riley's life. He doesn't do well in heat."
He pauses, then nudges her arm with his elbow. "Which is your fault, by the way."
Shelby rolls her eyes dramatically, but he can tell she's amused. "Don't be such a crybaby," she says. "I'll buy you a drink at the café, how's that?"
Tyler shoots her a sidelong glance. "Just me?" he asks, trying to the ebb the curiosity rising in his voice.
She grins. "Just you."
He spends the rest of the drive trying probably way too hard not to smile. If she notices, she doesn't say anything.
Riley makes Shelby ride with Chase and Koda on the way back after their fight with Stingrage, and it's the first time Tyler notices just how much he's gotten used to having her in his car.
-:-
Evening is drawing close in soft blues and golds when she finds him outside of the museum, everyone else having dispersed to their homes or hotels for the night. He's sitting in his car, listening to the radio as the sun sinks over the horizon, his eyes closed. It's been a long day for all of them, she supposes.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," she says when she reaches the window of the passenger seat, crossing her arms on the side of his car and shooting him a smile as he opens his eyes to look at her. "Got room for one more?"
Tyler laughs, pressing the button to unlock the door. "Thought you'd gone home after your shift," he tells her as she hops up onto the seat and offers him a drink.
"There's a new exhibit I wanted to check out," she explains as he frowns in confusion at the drink. "It's your favorite," she tells him, waving it in front of his face. "I promised I'd buy you one, didn't I?"
His face clears as he grins and accepts the drink. "I'd completely forgotten," he admits, taking a sip. "It's been a crazy day."
"No kidding," Shelby sighs in exhaustion, stretching her legs out on the dashboard. "For a moment there, I was afraid I was going to be Ankylo lunch."
She means it as a joke, but Tyler goes oddly quiet at her words, looking down at his drink instead of at her as if it's the most interesting thing in the world.
"Hey," she says softly, nudging him to get his attention. "I'm fine, you know. Nothing I couldn't handle."
He smiles at her, but he still looks troubled. "I was worried," he admits, the words a soft echo of his relieved confession on the battlefield. "I know you can handle yourself but – it was still really scary."
There's a moment of quiet, Shelby's mind wandering to the conversation she'd had with Kendall after leaving the Dino Bite Café, how Kendall had said with utmost certainty, "Tyler was going to jump into the hole to find you before I left." She wonders what he's thinking about, when he breaks the silence.
"I'm sure it was scarier for you, of course," he says, his voice a deliberately more lighthearted pitch this time. "And, anyway, you were great out there today."
Her heartbeat picks up, fluttering in her chest. "Thanks. You weren't too bad yourself, even if you did get your butt kicked before I showed up."
Tyler chuckles, ducking his head. This time, she can't stop herself from reaching up to brush his hair out of his face, propelled by the desire to touch him, to feel him real at her fingertips, that she hadn't had this morning, before the battle. He looks sideways at her, and she half-expects him to jump away, but instead, his gaze is soft and warm as he smiles at her.
"Hey," he says gently, like he doesn't want to break the stillness of their moment, "make a wish."
A streak of light passes by them in the sky before she can ask why or even blink. Tyler's smile brightens as he watches her, and it takes her only a moment to think of what to wish for.
"What'd you wish for?" she asks him quietly, barely daring to hope. He doesn't say anything for half a heartbeat, the seconds pressing into her pulse, and then he leans forward and kisses her as stars light up the sky.
He tastes like spearmint, and she thinks she could stay like this forever, if the world would let her.
notes: please don't favorite without reviewing; i'd really love some feedback!