Archive of Our Own

It finally happened.

After a particularly trying afternoon fighting another one of Sledge's cronies, the whole team was exhausted. All they wanted to do was fall asleep and not have to think about going into work that day. Which that evening, Shelby and Tyler had off.

And it gave Shelby an idea.

"So Tyler, since everyone's stuck working at the Cafe tonight," Cue the dirty glares from Chase who was sitting in the corner, feet propped up on Kendall's desk. "Why don't you and I go out for dinner?"

Riley, who had just walked out of the locker room, raised his eyebrows since he caught the tail end of that conversation. His eyes wandered over to Chase, who began to grin. Koda seemed oblivious to everything, which was normal. Sometimes it was best for him to be outside of the conversation.

"You mean, like a date?" Tyler asked as he stood just at the entrance of the underground lair.

Shelby stood there for a moment. She hadn't thought about it as a date. But she couldn't lie to herself by saying she hadn't thought about it before. Of course she imagined going out with Tyler, going to the movies with him, spending time with him as his girlfriend. Now seemed like the perfect time to ask.

"Sure. But only if that's what you want." Shelby asked, tapping her right foot lightly on the ground as she waited for Tyler to answer.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. A wide smile appeared on Tyler's face when he nodded. "I'd love that."

And there was Chase, sitting in the background making kissy faces in Tyler and Shelby's direction. It didn't stop when Riley managed to drag him away. "Mwah, mwah, mwah! Tyler and Shelby, sittin' in a tree!"

"Do you think Riley's going to knock some sense into him?" Tyler asked.

Shelby shrugged her shoulders. "If he knows what's good for him, he better."

Needless to say, their evening wasn't exactly perfect. The restaurant they wanted to go to ended up being closed and everywhere else they went had an obnoxiously long wait time. It wouldn't have mattered if they waited, but Tyler heard Shelby's stomach growl rather loudly so they had to come up with something else.

It was a mutual decision, but they sat in the gazebo at the park, eating their pizza straight from the box. They spent the next few hours just talking about anything, laughing about silly childhood stories and just in general enjoyed being in one another's company.

"You know, I'm almost surprised Chase hasn't shown up yet." Tyler said as he stretched his neck around just to see if Chase was nearby.

"He's probably hiding in a bush with a camera." Shelby shrugged her shoulders. "But let's face it, he's too busy with Riley to even pay attention to us."

Tyler snapped his fingers, finishing off his slice of pizza. "Good point."

As Tyler reached for the last slice of pizza in the box, so did Shelby. Briefly their fingers met but they didn't shy away from each other. Looking up, Tyler was met with Shelby's beautiful brown eyes and he smiled. "Split it?"

Shelby nodded and while they finished the last slice of pizza, she enjoyed just being by Tyler's side.

When their evening was over and Tyler walked Shelby to her door, he suddenly grabbed her hand. "I know tonight wasn't perfect but, I'd love to do this again."

The smile on Shelby's face said everything Tyler needed to know.

"On one condition though."

Tyler's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"I pick a restaurant that isn't closed. And we do a little more of this." Shelby edged herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Tyler's. As she could feel Tyler smile into the kiss, she too knew that Tyler felt the same way.

Their first date wasn't quite the disaster it wanted to be.