Trying something old
New scars give way to old ones out there in the ocean.
Notes: Post 22.08.
It was a beautiful day at the beach. Or it would have been if Tyler could actually see the beach. He was still spitting salt water when Shelby laid her hands on his shoulders and, voice high-pitched and sugar sweet, said, "Oops."
"Oops? Is that what you call trying to drown me?"
"It's endurance training. You never know when you might need to develop gills."
Even with water burning his eyes, he had to laugh. There was no alternative when Shelby was making her 'you'll let me get away with anything' face that she saved just for him because well, retaliation wasn't on his mind as he backstroked into the incoming wave and out of her reach.
It happened anyway when he kicked out and she fell backwards, balance lost from the sudden rush of water. The wave swallowed her up – he would be lying if he didn't panic for a moment but she reemerged, back turned to him so he could stare at the barely covered dark skin of her back and lower –
"Hey, when did that happen?"
He hadn't seen that large bullet shaped mark on her the last time they'd gone swimming as a team or even just the two of them like it was today, and it had the fading pink lines of a wound recently healed.
She turned her head to him and his stomach dropped at the way she bit her lip and instinctively reached out to cover the scar.
"It's nothing."
"Shelby," he dragged out.
She raised an eyebrow, hand still held over the scar. "Tyler."
His mood had dropped too far to the bottom of his twisted stomach for jokes. Eyes held with hers, he kicked over to her and pried her fingers away from the scar. The skin was stretched but soft beneath his fingers, not like the smooth skin of the rest of her back. She flinched at his touch.
"Was it one of our fights?" he asked.
He knew his voice was verging on desperation but he didn't want to be right. He wanted her to tell him it was some embarrassing mark of her slipping in the shoulder. Tyler wanted to laugh and tease her about being clumsy until she tripped him up and he fell back under the waves.
Quietly, she replied, "It was from the anklyozord. It was revved up by that stinger, and it took a bit of work to get it out."
"To get out of you, you mean."
She turned to him fully so he had to pull his fingers from her. Shelby paddled back and the intentional distance she put between them felt like being slapped with a wave.
"I didn't tell you because I knew you would be worried – you were already worried! You told me so."
She relaxed her shoulders and sighed. "I didn't want to put that on you."
"You know," he started and Tyler knew he was being unfair but it was Shelby. "If we're supposed to work together, be a team, you should try trusting me."
Her face wrinkled, eyebrows meeting in the center while her mouth twisted to the side.
"Trusting…"
"I can take it, being worried. I've been worse – scared, upset, sad. I can carry that without losing my head. You should know that."
Shelby's mouth fell open. He unconsciously drew his other hand to the bracelet around his wrist and the frustrated longing for answers and his father back by his side took hold of him.
Tyler felt more than he saw the battle with Fury replay in his head. He shook free of the anger and longing and said, "You should have trusted me to handle it."
The distance between them filled too quickly for him to prepare himself for Shelby so close and beyond cute. She was beautiful even now when seeing her secret injury felt like being stabbed in the back.
Her hands were on his this time, clasping them between their bodies. Waves rolled in and out, splashing on their heads but she didn't move and Tyler didn't either. The water clung to their skin. Tyler could count the droplets on her eyelashes if he wanted to.
They were so close that looking into the brown shade of her eyes made him ache with the hurt she left unshared, unlike this space that she shared with ease.
Water stung his eyes. He almost glanced away.
"I always trust you, Tyler. With everything."
She kissed him and he expected it, somewhere in the back of his mind that went on auto pilot when Shelby was in his vicinity, always reaching out to offer a hand – or now his lips. He closed his eyes to the kiss because another large wave was headed their way and as much as needed to breathe, he'd rather be able to see her when it passed.
The water washed over them, but they didn't stop trying to steal each other's breaths.
It was only when it receded that Shelby pulled back, sucking in the ocean air. Tyler did the same, lungs burning, and chest burning even more. The kiss was a perfection cracked by the reality that she hadn't planned to tell him at all.
"You trust me, and yet you didn't tell me you were hurt. So, I'm really not understanding, Shelby."
She squeezed their clasped hands. Her knees knocked against his beneath the water.
"We all have our scars, Tyler," she said.
"But a team shares their hurts. In order to be a team, we have to united, undivided."
"I know that. I really do."
She lifted his wrist to his mouth and kissed his wet bracelet. When she pulled back, Tyler could only stare at her, anymore protests swallowed in the emotions that overwhelm him and the soft smile she gives him.
"We do share our hurts, but not when they've already been mended. So, I got a little cut. How can I hurt when you guys are there to have my back even when it's bleeding?"
Her mouth curled into a silly grin that Tyler wanted to laugh at, but he could only manage a smile without giving away how much it meant to him that she saw them, and him, that way – and how much of a jerk he'd been assuming that she didn't. He would've apologized if apologies were enough to make up for it.
"I don't know what happened to my dad and all the time, I think about how I wasn't there to have his back. I don't want to lose you the same way. I can't lose you, too."
It was an admission that made Shelby pull their clasped hands apart so she could wrap her wet arms around him. She was much warmer than the water, and her head, resting on his shoulder, smelled like the sea and flowery shampoo.
"You won't. I promise."
Tyler choked on a laugh.
"You can't promise me that."
Shelby's sarcasm hit him like a brick. "Obviously, I can. I just did, didn't I?"
All at once a tightness loosened in his chest and he breathed her in, laughing on his breath out. How could he think he could argue with her? He'd never win.
When Shelby pulled back to look at him, arms still wrapped around his torso, Tyler didn't want to win. He wrapped his arms around her as well, fingers brushing against her scar. United, they stared at each other, silent but smiling until a wave crashed over them, dragging them under the sea.
Together, they fought their way to the surface and when they were bobbing in the water again, Tyler towed her into his embrace and nearly missed her lips when he dove in for a kiss.
"Don't make promises you can't keep," he said, breathing against her lips. The kiss was too wet and too salty, but it didn't matter at all.
Voice sugar sweet with a grin that stole his breath, she said, "Would I ever?"