notes: another one because i'm in love with these two and i can't stop. plus bonus megaforce rangers because i miss my kids.
takes place in the distant future of the season.
something was bound to go right
all those kisses up against your car
for all those wishes on planes
we thought were stars
― taylor swift, this is really happening
The first time they kiss is kind of an accident.
They're training in the park near the museum, the whole team taking turns sparring and running laps or doing exercises. It's a sunny day in a wide open space, nothing but fresh air and grass and Tyler's laugh as she roundhouse kicks him onto his back.
"All right, all right!" he exclaims, grinning as he raises his hands in surrender. "Best three out of five?"
Shelby laughs, extending a hand to help him to his feet. "You're going down, buddy," she teases, and he smiles at her and doesn't drop her hand for a heartbeat too long. His skin is warm and tingling where it touches hers; she draws back quickly under the guise of dropping into a battle stance.
Tyler does the same, sending her a smirk. "We'll see about that," he says in his best evil villain mocking voice, and she knows he only does it to distract her because it's so utterly ridiculous and adorable that she has to laugh, but his tactic works and the next thing she knows, she's spinning around trying to dodge his punches and kicks.
"I think that's cheating!" she declares, managing to land one kick at his shoulder before he overtakes her, both of them falling down onto the grass with his body carefully balanced on top of her so he doesn't crush her, his hands pinning her down by her wrists.
"Making you laugh is cheating?" he asks innocently, grinning down at her. His face is near enough that his breath ghosts over her cheeks, his hair flopping down and brushing over her forehead. Everything about him is soft and sweet and makes her heart somersault in her chest. "If all monsters were as easy to defeat with humor as you, Shelby, I think the world would be a much nicer place."
"Shut up," she laughs, squirming around in an attempt to get free. "Distracting me is cheating and you know it!"
His grin widens, and he doesn't give her an inch to get free. "Am I distracting?"
She's struggling to come up with the perfect, definitely-not-flirtatious response to that when suddenly his lips seem very near and then they're on hers and he tastes minty and fresh and she's not sure who opened their mouth first but –
Someone whistles in the distance. It's probably Chase.
"Sorry," Tyler breathes, and the moment is over almost as soon as it began. When she remembers to look back at his eyes, he's already scrambling away from her, his gaze darting every which way except towards her. His cheeks are flushed almost the color of his shirt, and he looks completely out of breath.
Shelby hops to her feet, unsure of how to deal with the tangle of emotions twisting up inside her. Tyler can't seem to find anything else to do but stand several feet away and try not to stare at her, at least until he manages to catch Riley by the arm and toss him at her almost desperately.
"What's going on with you two?" Riley asks in confusion, watching Tyler rush off to do handstands with Koda. Clearly, he hadn't noticed what had just happened. Shelby's not sure if she should be relieved by that.
"Nothing," she says quickly. "Wanna spar?"
Riley beats her easily, but it's mostly because she's lost in thoughts of what kissing Tyler felt like and how soft his lips were and how much of that kiss was really an accident or not.
-:-
The second time they kiss is mostly a coincidence.
Playing spin the bottle is Chase's idea, of course, because Koda doesn't know what it is and Riley is definitely not one for party games, and while she and Tyler have fallen back to their usual rhythm in the weeks since their kiss, it's still not something she's been planning to do.
But the Megaforce rangers are enthusiastic enough, and they did just help the team destroy a particularly difficult monster, so spin the bottle it is. Chase spins it first and lands on Gia, which earns him a glare from Jake but Gia doesn't seem to care about that as she kisses him.
It's a good kiss, Shelby admits, even though she's trying not to look because, well, Chase is kind of a messy kisser. Everyone else's reactions range from pseudo-disgust to laughter (barring Jake), but mostly, it just reminds her of those fleeting hopes she'd had when Tyler's hand lingers on hers too long or when he smiles at her across the café when he should probably be working instead.
She sighs and slumps back against the edge of the sofa, her shoulder brushing his almost of its own accord. Tyler glances sidelong at her and shoots her a grin. Back to normal, she reminds herself. It's not like there's anything there to be awkward about, after all.
Gia spins next and it lands on Emma. Everyone cheers as the two girls kiss, both of them giggling even as they deepen the kiss accordingly to their applause of the others. Shelby kind of gets the feeling there's more there than just a party game, though, and completely involuntarily, her thoughts travel back to Tyler.
She really hopes he can't tell what she's thinking.
It takes several turns before the bottle lands on either of them, and everyone has pretty much loosened up by this point after all the kissing and shouting stories and laughing. Troy spins the bottle and it points straight at her, and she's not sure if she's imagining it when Tyler's body next to her tenses.
Troy half-smiles at her, having the grace to look embarrassed by his friends cheering him on as he slides across their circle towards her. Shelby manages to smile back – he's cute, anyway, and he seems like a gentleman and also like he smells good, which is always a plus. He touches her cheek gently, almost as a warm-up, then leans in and presses his lips to her.
He does smell good, which is really nice because he smells like lemon shampoo and tastes like the strawberry cake he'd been eating earlier at the café. It's not bad, a little chocolatey for her tastes, and probably not as deep as expected for the game, but it does the job. She shoots him a more genuine smile when he pulls back and almost forgets about Tyler sitting next to her.
At least until her spin of the bottle lands on him.
Riley has the good sense to hit Chase before he can say anything too embarrassing. Even the Megaforce rangers seem to sense something is up, because there's none of the usual cheering before a kiss as Shelby turns carefully to face Tyler, not sure what she wants to see when she looks at his face.
He looks nervous, more than anything. Most of his other emotions seem to be locked deep – she can tell because his expression is far more guarded than normal – but the nervousness is easy to spot. He flashes her a quick grin when she catches his eye though, in comfort or in reassurance maybe. Her heart skips a beat.
Butterflies bubble up a storm inside of her as he leans down, closer and closer till she can feel his hair touching her temple, his breath warm over her lips. Just like the first time – except this time isn't an accident.
Tyler angles his head and seals his lips over hers, making all her nerve endings feel like they're on fire. He still kisses her softly and sweetly, just like he did that day in the park, and his hands reach up to run through her hair, soft and gentle as he opens his mouth to deepen the kiss.
Troy had been a nice kisser, but this is something else. She thinks it's lucky she's not standing because his tongue tracing over her lips would have made her knees buckle in an instant.
Someone coughs. It's probably Chase.
His eyelashes flutter against her cheek as he opens his eyes, and then it's over, just like that. Tyler draws back, avoiding her gaze, and reaches for the bottle as she slowly, almost reluctantly, moves back to her prior sitting position. There are a few light giggles and murmurs amongst the other rangers, but nobody says anything until Tyler spins the bottle and it lands on Noah.
After that, it's back to normal. Shelby manages to excuse herself for the bathroom before anyone else can land on her and she doesn't come back until the game is over. By that time, the party is winding down and everyone is standing around, helping to clean up the food and drinks.
She catches Tyler's eye and almost wishes she hadn't. He smiles at her and ducks his head and neither of them says anything to each other for the rest of the night.
-:-
The third time – well, third time's the charm.
She's waiting by his car outside the museum loading docks, the sky turning deep dark blue above her as the stars come out, her nerves still knotted around each other in a gaggle of anxiety from the battle that day. Every color seems so much more intense after almost dying – the bright red of his car, the muted pinks and whites of her dress, the raindrops from the earlier storm glowing on the gray sidewalk.
It takes a moment for her to realize she's still working off adrenaline, even though the battle is over and they're all alive and to everyone else around her, it's just another day. The museum is about to close and the rest of her team has headed home for the night, except for Tyler.
"Shelby?" he asks, suddenly in front of her, breaking her out of her thoughts. She jumps a little and turns to look at him, one hand instinctively jumping to play with the bracelets on her wrist as she takes in the sight of him. He looks a little banged up, none the worse for wear, aside from his left arm, wrapped securely in a bandage that Kendall had made for him in their base. There's spots of dark red blood on his t-shirt and a dried cut on his cheek, and Shelby nearly breaks her favorite bracelet in half thinking of how close he was to death that day.
"How are you?" she asks breathlessly as he walks slowly towards her, his leg clearly still in pain from where the monster had hit him. She's never seen him this wounded before, but he still smiles at her as if there's nothing out of the ordinary about today. "How's your – everything?"
Tyler laughs a little, the sound soft and cautiously optimistic, leaning himself up against the car for balance, turning to his side to face her. "I'm good, I'm good. Kendall got everything taken care of, nothing to worry about."
Shelby frowns at him. "It's everything to worry about," she counters, reaching over to touch the cut on his cheek. His eyes flutter closed for a moment when her fingers brush his skin, but he opens them again to send her a look that verges on the wrong side of desire.
"What are you still doing here?" he asks, his voice a little breathless, instead of anything else he might have said. "Kendall told you all to go home."
She rolls her eyes. "Like hell you're driving in this condition. I'm taking you home." Besides, she wants to add but doesn't, since when I have listened to Kendall?
He smiles at her, that same fondly amused smile she's become so used to over the course of the last few months. It's almost frightening to realize she hasn't even known him a full year, that it feels like she's known him forever. He fits so seamlessly into her life, into her heart, that it's impossible to think he hadn't always been there.
"Shelby," he says, and it occurs to her that she's still touching his cheek. But he doesn't tell her to stop, instead lifting his good hand to curl around the wrist of her outstretched arm, his skin hot where it touches her, his fingers unerringly gentle. "You don't have to – "
"Oh, shut up," she says, so fiercely that the words startle him into silence, dropping her hand from his face even though she instantly misses the warmth of his touch. "Don't be such a hero all the time. We're a team. We take care of each other. Koda even saved you a Bronto burger, it's in the backseat."
That tugs a laugh out of him, genuine this time, even though the smile splitting his cheeks probably makes his wound hurt. Shelby presses her shoulder against the side of his car and smiles back, feeling the jumble of worry and heartache in her chest start to untangle itself just listening to his laugh.
"That's impressive," he muses. "Koda loves his Bronto burgers."
She grins at him, then reaches over and steals his keys from pocket. "Come on, let's go home," she says, ignoring his look of reluctantly impressed outrage. Pushing herself off the car, she steps forward to walk around him to the driver's seat, but he doesn't move.
Suddenly, he is very, very close.
Tyler's gaze darts down to her lips, sending a flurry of butterflies dancing inside her, and when she meets his eyes again, something's different. Her heart practically pounds a drum solo in her chest because he's leaning forward and this isn't an accident or a coincidence, this is real, and she's never wanted to kiss him this badly before.
When their lips meet this time, she feels like she's flying. His good hand slides around her waist, pulling her in closer as he tilts his head to deepen the kiss, every inch of her body tingling with the sensations of his touch. Gingerly, he lifts his broken arm to cup her face with one hand and she curls her fingers over his wrist, anchoring them both there to the moment, to the kiss.
He pulls back to rest his forehead against hers, smiling at her. Her breath escapes her in a laugh, the butterflies inside her bubbling with euphoria.
"I should have done that…a lot sooner," Tyler murmurs, his breath still warm from the kiss, still close enough to touch. Shelby smiles, tilting her head up till they're almost kissing again.
"Yeah, you should have," she agrees, and he laughs and kisses her again, the worries of the day melting away in the touch of his lips to hers.
notes: please DON'T favorite without reviewing, i'd really love your feedback, thank you!