notes: for amber sentbyfools because she loves this ship more than anyone in the whole world and she deserves some fluff in her life also maybe she'll finally update her tyler/shelby fic soon
no spoilers for the episodes that have been airing in latin america, promise.
jump then fall
i like the way i can't keep my focus
i watch you talk, you didn't notice
i hear the words but all i can think is
we should be together
— taylor swift, jump then fall
-:-
Shelby smiles at him, popping her bubblegum. "D'you want some?" she asks, and he's pretty sure that's the moment he realized he was doomed.
-:-
As a general rule, Tyler doesn't do bubblegum. It's never been his thing. He does keep some chewy breath mints in his car, but that's as far as he'll go with gum.
The first day he meets Shelby and gives her a ride back to the museum, she offers him one of her little packages of bubble gum, bright pink and still completely unappealing.
"No, thanks," he says, and she shrugs and unwraps one for herself. It takes him a while to notice that she's actually using it blow bubbles.
It takes him about a week to notice this is a habit of hers.
And another week to realize that it would be annoying him, if it were anyone else.
-:-
Like all things Shelby does, he finds the bubblegum-popping endearing in an odd way. Like the way she wears bright pink but hates high heels. Or the way she likes to throw things at Chase when he's being annoying. Or the way she'll hit him in the arm when he makes a bad joke and expects him to act hurt even though she didn't put any force into it.
He always does. She always smiles at him when he does, so he doubts he'll ever stop.
-:-
He starts keeping an extra pack of gum in his car, for those rare occasions when she runs out of hers. He doesn't know how to justify it to himself, or to Riley, who gives him a knowing look when he spots the bright pink package on the dashboard, or to Chase, who smirks and calls him whipped.
Tyler likes to think of it as being a good friend. Koda agrees, but then again, Koda loves bubblegum, too.
-:-
The first time he offers her the extra pack, she stares at it for a moment. He tries to keep his eyes on the road. It's a lot harder than expected, at least when Shelby is in the passenger seat.
"I thought you didn't like bubblegum," she says in a voice that's threatening to spill over into a smile if she's not careful. Tyler hopes she'll be careful.
"It was an impulse decision," he tells her solemnly. "They were on sale."
"Uh-huh," she says, popping one in her mouth. "You're cute."
His face is the color of his ranger suit the whole drive home. She's kind enough to pretend not to notice.
-:-
His first real girlfriend, sophomore year of high school, had this annoying habit of clicking her nails on tables and desks and the ground. It drove him crazy, but he liked her enough to smile and bear it, at least until she dumped him.
The tap tap tap of her French-manicured nails still haunts his dreams, sometimes. But he tries not to be too dramatic about it. First loves don't have to be special.
Shelby laughs when he tells her the story. "She must have been really pretty, because I would not have been able to deal with that."
Tyler tries to remember what she looked like, but finds he can't. Shelby is smiling at him when he looks back at her. "Yeah," he agrees absently. "She was really pretty."
"What was her name?" Shelby asks, sounding genuinely curious. He wants to melt into the floor. Like hell he can remember her name.
Chase saves him by calling him over for grill duty. Shelby remains at the table on her break and begins to chew another stick of bubblegum.
Tyler watches as she blows bubble after bubble and realizes that it's not even something he has to smile and bear. Now he knows what Chase means by whipped.
-:-
"Hey, Shelby, have you – "
He stops. Stares. There's a guy at her car. Next to her. Talking to her. A guy he doesn't know.
Not a cause for concern. Of course Shelby has other friends. He clears his throat and smiles.
"Tyler," she says, eyes wide as if she hadn't been expecting him to show up at her usual parking space in the morning so they could walk to work together like they did everyday. "Hi. Um. This is Oliver. He's a friend of mine. From high school. Oh, Oliver, this is Tyler. He's a friend from…the museum."
Oliver smiles at him and extends a hand. The gap between his teeth reveals something bright blue on his tongue – bubblegum. "Nice to meet ya," he says pleasantly. "Shelby's told me a lot about you."
"She has?"
"No, I haven't."
Tyler stares at her. She looks away.
"Right," Oliver laughs. "Anyway, I'll see you around?" This is directed at Shelby who shoots him a smile and a wave as he heads off into the distance, blowing a bright blue bubble as he goes.
Tyler suddenly feels an irresistable urge to throw away every pack of bubblegum that has ever been near him.
-:-
He knows he's being irrational. He's not obtuse enough to think he has any legitimate reason to be jealous. Of course Shelby has friends from high school. She's pretty and smart and funny, why wouldn't she be popular? Why wouldn't she have friends like Oliver, who is tall and handsome and has hair that does that swoop thing right into his eyes like a movie star?
Why wouldn't she have friends like Oliver, who visits her at the café and makes her laugh with his jokes and always seems to know how to get a smile out of her, even when she's annoyed?
He always has bubblegum with him, too. Apparently it's a thing with them. Apparently it's an inside joke from high school. They trade bubblegum packets for a day and Shelby comes into the base blowing blue bubbles.
Tyler grinds his teeth a lot. It's a coincidence, of course.
-:-
"So…"
He's in trouble and he has no idea how to phrase this.
"Yeah?" she asks, looking up from her files. They're the only two in the base, the others either working at the café or dealing with a museum emergency, and Kendall has assigned them to look over her data to keep them busy.
She pops another bubble, but at least this one is pink.
"Are you and Oliver – " God, this is a bad idea. "Sorry. Stupid question."
Shelby sits up and leans forward, looking almost amused. "No, go ahead," she says, a smile twitching her lips. "Are me and Oliver what?"
"Uh." He still doesn't know how to phrase it. "Are you guys – like – together? I mean, are you – you've been spending a lot of time with him, so…"
She waits until he awkwardly trails off his babbling before laughing. He flushes red. "No," she says, spitting out her gum, presumably so she could laugh at him more. "We're not dating. Were you worried?"
"No," he says hastily. "Why would I be worried?"
Shelby raises an eyebrow. "I don't know. Would you be worried?"
"About you?" he asks and the words of course not are about to spill out of his mouth but he stops himself in time when he notices the look on her face. His voice softens. "No. He seems like a good guy."
She half-smiles. "He is. So are you."
He freezes. "What does that mean?"
"It means you're an idiot."
"I – " The alarms go off for a monster attack, saving him from gaping at her in bewilderment. She pops one last bubble before spitting out her gum and going to the viewing monitors, leaving him staring at her, wondering what just happened.
-:-
"How am I an idiot?" he asks after they defeat the monster of the day, cornering her in the back room of the café, where nobody else is because it's after closing time.
"Why do you think?" she asks, crossing her arms. No bubblegum this time. Just him and her and the space between them. His stomach somersaults traitorously.
"I don't know," he admits, but she seems skeptical of that, so he adds, "Is it because I got jealous?"
Shelby rolls her eyes. "Try harder."
"Is it because I should have kissed you, like, a month ago?"
She rolls her eyes again, but this time she's smiling. His heart does a victory flip. "Harder."
"Is it because I should be kissing you now?"
"Put your money where your mouth is, Navarro," she sighs, and yanks him down for a kiss. He stumbles a little, but catches himself on the wall behind her, backing her up against and kissing her properly until the whole world seems to melt away.
She tastes like bubblegum, and it might be excessively cheesy of him, but he's kind of come to love the taste.
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