Who: Kurama & Tyler Lockwood When: May 27th, 2018 (Backdated) Where: Little Shop of Horrors: Kurama’s Apartment What: Reunited and it feels so gooood~ Tyler is a real boy again, but with that comes real boy emotions and the the bros have a itty bitty fight before making up. Warnings: None Status: Complete
One of the first things Tyler did, after a day spent with Gabby catching up on all the touches and kisses they had missed out on while he had been a ghost, was eat a meal fit for a giant. The second was to go find Kurama, to let him know that things had worked alright in person. Yeah, he had given him the head's up through the network, but the other man was practically his brother. This deserved hugs.
But the closer he got to Kurama's place, the anger from before, about Kurama choosing to leave Blackpoint to go back home, started to trickle back. It had been two years since the closing of the Blackpoint portal. Two years of missing his friend, his family, and by the time he had managed to make it to Kurama's room, he was angry. Angry that Kurama had left them, angry at the fact that the portal hadn't stayed close, angry that he had just spent weeks as a ghost, not knowing if he was ever going to be with Gabby again.
The knocks on Kurama's door were loud, even to Tyler's ears, as his temper rose. And when the door finally swung open, Tyler immediately shoved Kurama from where he stood. "You're such a prick!"
Things could be worse, reflected Kurama, even as Tyler’s hands pushed him back, furious words loud in the otherwise still room. At least Tyler wasn’t trying to kill him, or blackmail him into betraying his friends. No one was bleeding yet, either. As reunions with long-lost friends went, this one ranked rather high on Kurama’s scale. It might have earned an even higher grade if one of Kurama’s plants hadn’t reached out and grabbed Tyler around the ankle, yanking hard.
Kurama winced, an apology in his eyes for the plant if not for whatever it was he’d done to anger Tyler this time. He had an idea what this was about, though, considering they hadn’t spoken at any length about his departure from Blackpoint.
“When are you going to learn to watch out for the security system?” Kurama sighed and laid a hand over the vine that had latched onto Tyler. “I haven’t had a chance to adjust it to recognize you.” In retrospect, he probably should have done that already, but Tyler had been a ghost, and Kurama hadn’t known if his old set of instructions for allowing his friend passage would work once Tyler was corporeal again.
Tyler went down hard, the air knocked out of him as he landed on his front and was being dragged away from Kurama. Of fucking course. How could he have forgotten about Kurama’s pet security system? He had a similar setup back home in Blackpoint and Tyler had gotten lazy around it, since he had been one of the non-threats that was always allowed access to Kurama and his space. He blamed his lack of practice with this on his less than graceful entrance to Kurama’s space, conveniently not giving his own less than friendly greeting another thought.
When the vine obeyed Kurama and pulled itself away to go back to its waiting place until the next time it was called forward, Tyler sat up, checking himself for any real damage, before getting up fully. “You have to forgive me, since I’ve been out of practice with your plant tricks,” he muttered, sounding far too bitter for such a happy day of being alive. “Also, I’m still pissed at you, so don’t try to distract me from that.”
“Forgiven,” Kurama replied, with serenity that would drive a Buddhist monk to envy. “For what it’s worth, I apologize for the vine. The rest of it, you’re going to have to explain. Something to drink?”
The kitsune strolled to the kitchen without waiting for Tyler to say anything. It was a delaying tactic. He wanted to give Tyler some time to think about his next words, decide exactly why he was angry, and how he wanted to address it. Of the two of them, Tyler was more prone to impassioned outbursts. Kurama’s own anger was cold, slow, and dangerous. He didn’t feel it now, thankfully, and doubted he would ever be truly furious with the man who was near enough to a brother after years spent together in Blackpoint. He was frustrated, however. Yes, he had left Blackpoint, but he had hoped Tyler understood why he couldn’t stay when given the chance to go home.
Evidently, Kurama had not done enough to help Tyler come to terms with his departure.
Tyler never had understood how Kurama managed to be so frustratingly calm in the face of anything he was dealing with. It was probably because he himself was quick to anger and that usually led to blowout fights where he managed to get out all of his frustrations before things could return to normal, but it just wasn’t in Kurama’s observed nature to get immediately into a shouting match.
Snorting at what was no doubt a bit of dig at his own lack of control of his emotions, by the mere serenity Kurama was projecting, he said, “You know what this is about. I was coming here to show you in person I was a real boy again, but now I really just want to punch you for leaving Blackpoint.” He sat down, taking the offered drink with a mumbled thanks because he was angry at the other man, but he was also loved him like family so it was a weird place to be at, emotionally.
Kurama’s calm was hard-earned, and in truth, Tyler had never seen the ancient fox spirit truly lose his temper, not up close. Kurama thought that, intellectually, Tyler knew what he was capable of, what he had done in centuries past, but that wasn’t the same as having stood witness to the cruelties for which Youko Kurama had become famed in the Makai. Other youkai feared the thief for good reason. When he was angry, he tended to become … inventive.
“If punching me is going to make you feel better, then by all means,” Kurama offered, taking a seat across from Tyler after he’d handed him his drink. He was deliberately not rising to the bait, though tension still simmered underneath the gentle, reasonable persona he projected. “I’m pleased to see that you can. I would ask how, and if you’re sure you’re well, but I think there are a few things we need to talk about that we skipped over when you arrived. I told you,Tyler. I had to go.”
Tyler took maybe one sip of his offered drink and then placed it down on coffee table with a hiss of frustration. “You know I don’t want to punch you, you jerk. This…ugh.” He sat there silent for a few long moments, trying to gather his thoughts. He was so angry and hurt and that might just because he could feel things now that he couldn’t as a ghost, but finally, he just sort of...deflated? Deflated and the anger had left him just as swiftly as it had come.
“I know you had to go back. I just wasn’t ready to lose you, Kurama. And we didn’t exactly leave it on good terms when you did go back.” He was looking down at his hands, where he was clasping them together tightly. He quietly added, “It’s been two years. I missed you.”
After a pause in which Kurama simply watched Tyler for a moment, thoughts quietly stirring in his always busy mind, he sighed and lowered his gaze. “I would have liked to bring you with me,” he said, slowly. “Show you the more beautiful parts of Makai. Introduce you to my mother. Give you somewhere to go that … where I could keep an eye on you.” He frowned and his fingers twitched, momentarily, as though they wanted to go for the weapons always concealed on his person.
“I missed you. If we’re going to be upset with each other, then I should tell you how displeased I was to hear you died. And I wasn’t there to help you, you idiot.” He glared now at Tyler, allowing a little of his own feelings to show. “I’ve destroyed allies for less than what was done to you, so I hope you can understand that I’m not exactly pleased, either. Even if you were lucky and found a way to come back. Not everyone does. Some souls are devoured in the process, where I’m from, so you can imagine how frightened I’ve been for you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m a dumbass, what else is new?” Tyler snorted, not ready to admit how fucking terrified he had been about the possibility that he would be stuck as a ghost. But Bonnie and her team had pulled through and he owed her a life debt for that. The forced flippancy of his words though didn’t stay for long, as he admitted, “I know I fucked up back home, trusted the wrong people again. But I’m here now and I just don’t want to lose anymore people that I love now.”
Carol wasn’t here. There was a good chance he wasn’t going to see her again and she was dead in his original world. Matt was still alive, but for how long? Mystic Falls had a tendency of attracting the bullshit.
Shaking his head, he smiled a little bitterly. “You know I wouldn’t have come with you. I couldn’t leave Gabby. My mom. All the people that I wouldn’t see again if I had left. So I get why you left because that’s exactly the reason why I stayed. I’m just upset that those two things didn’t line up to the same place.”
Kurama offered Tyler a weary, sad smile. “We both know the portal appeared to have no intentions of bringing my mother or Hiei through, let alone anyone else I cared about from home. And it wasn’t going to once it was closed. How could I know if I was leaving them behind forever if I chose to stay? We had no way to be certain that remaining in Blackpoint would mean that things back home would continue as though we’d never left. My world is as dangerous as yours. The moment an enemy realized who I was in the human realm, and that my human family was unprotected .. ” Kurama didn’t need to finish the sentence. Tyler would understand.
“I’m still annoyed with you for dying,” he persisted. “If it happens again, someone is going to get hurt, and if I can bring you back just to feed you to one of my plants, I will. Don’t do it again.” Kurama knew he was being a hypocrite. He’d done his own share of dying and nearly dying. “Be that as it may, I’m not going anywhere. So are we going to be all right, or do I need to fight you, first? It seems to work wonders for ninety percent of the people I know in making peace with the people they care about. Personally, I think they’re all a little insane, but that doesn’t say much for my own state of mind in choosing to be around them.”
Kurama didn’t need to say it. Tyler knew enough about his world to know exactly how important Hiei was to the fox spirit and he tried to imagine if he had been in the same situation with Gabby. Whatever anger he had about the whole situation died completely at that thought. Yeah, he got it. He would get over this because it was bigger than any of them.
“I didn’t exactly set out to die, man!” Tyler protested, picking up his drink again just to have something to do with his hands. He felt like a child, sometimes, when he was getting yelled at by Kurama. “But I’ll do my best to not put myself in those kinds of situations again.” His track record in Blackpoint had been pretty great in that regard. It was usually Mystic Falls that was the one that set out to kill him.
Shaking his head with a slight grin, he relaxed a little into his seat and said, “Nah, bro. I don’t think we need to go Mortal Kombat on each other. We’re good. I think I just needed to yell at you and get yelled at too, to get it out of my system. Two years of feelings, you know? Sometimes I let my shit get to me.”
Lips twitching into a smile that he tried to restrain, Kurama nodded as gravely as the moment probably merited. “I know. You have every right to be angry about it. No one got out of that situation fairly. Maybe if we’d had a means to stabilize the portal, allow people to come and go with some sense of control … ” He shook his head. “Well, that’s not what happened, so it’s not worth stewing over. And here we are again, with another portal, misbehaving in its own ways, and at least neither one of us is alone.” He stood up and crossed the room to sit next to Tyler. Kurama was almost delicate in his human form, and the arm of the chair made a perfectly good seat for him.
“How did you end up doing it?” he asked. “I spoke to Bonnie briefly about possible methods. Unfortunately, all of the ones I could think of that would get you back into a body that was yours would have required science that I happen to know no one has built on here. Yet, anyway. I’m honestly surprised no one has.”
“Honestly?” Tyler asked, looking up to where Kurama was sitting next to him. “I can’t tell you. It’s a bunch of witchy woo that I don’t really understand, but there was a lot of merging of different worlds and their magics. Bonnie can probably explain it better than I can, but all I know is that she lit a candle and I owe that girl a life debt. Let’s just hope I live a long life before she cashes that in.”
Kurama sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. A life debt. He had no idea what that meant in this context. He didn’t like the way Tyler had phrased it, either. Filing that thought away before he could start to change, he took a deep breath and laid a hand on Tyler’s shoulder, reassured by the physical reminder that the other man was flesh and blood. Kurama could hear the thrum of Tyler’s heartbeat if he filtered out other distractions.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said, couldn’t say enough. “I’m glad that you know me and we don’t have to start over. I’m not going to pry into what this debt means, or exactly what Damon did, because this is a small town, and I’m worried enough about your safety that I don’t want to add to it right now. Is there anything else I should know? Anything that happened or any changes that I need to understand?”
Tyler laughed, patting the hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “Dude, no, it’s cool. Quit looking like I told you I was dying. I just meant that I owe Bonnie something big. She’s not like the others, you know? Not like the Salvatores or Klaus. At most she’s going to ask for is a giant gummy bear. I just meant that if her life is ever in danger, I’m going to save it. I would have done that anyway, but now it’s a promise to her and to myself.”
Running a hand through his hair, he said, “There’s really nothing to do to except watch for weird side effects. There shouldn’t be any, but who knows, you know? It’s magic and sometimes that comes with a price. So yeah, don’t worry about it, we’ll deal with shit if it ever happens, but I have a new lease on life and I plan to enjoy it.” Standing, he offered a hand to help Kurama up, as well as another offer: “Come to breakfast with me. We can shoot the shit and I can tell you about what I was doing those two years after you left.”
“Save it while not dying,” Kurama admonished. “Otherwise you’ll waste her effort.” Briefly, he considered slapping Tyler upside the head as he said it. In the end, he decided that tactic was more suited to his other friends, and Tyler knew exactly what sorts of stunts Kurama would pull to keep him from doing something stupid.
The kitsune allowed Tyler to pull him up, which showed plenty of trust on its own. Kurama could be a little particular about touch or gestures that might indicate vulnerability. “Your two years had better be more interesting than my time at home unless you’re looking for an early nap.” He smiled a little and held the door for Tyler on the way out. “My tales of corporate Japan might be the cure for insomnia.”
“Yes, Mom,” Tyler obliged, rolling his eyes at the fox. But there was a smile in his words, happy that Kurama cared enough to yell at him about his stupid shit. There was a balance again, between them. He could feel it. Things were rapidly improving for them and hopefully that would continue on through breakfast.