Tyler Lockwood (firstsuccess) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-12 15:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jeremy gilbert, tyler lockwood |
Who: Tyler and Jeremy
What: Shooting pool.
When: Mid-August
Where: Some poolhall
Rating/Warning: Low/none
Status: Complete
Tyler had never thought much about Jeremey before. He knew they were both on the Network, but Jeremy was younger than him in real life. He was Elena’s little brother, but while he’d known Elena since they were children, he’d really only hung out with her when he was hanging out with Caroline in high school, and he’d had even less to do with Katherine.
Tyler in the dreams didn’t particularly like Jeremy, though that was mostly because of the whole Vicki thing. And that seemed to be changing. Even if it was because Klaus asked him, playing with crossbows with the youngest Gilbert had actually kind of been fun. And even though Tyler had nothing to do with it, he felt a little bad that he’d nearly had Jeremy killed in the dreams.
So pool and beer it was. Tyler finished racking up the balls. “Your break.”
Jeremy might have been younger than Elena and Katherine and their friends, but it was barely a year’s difference. If he were honest, the span of time between his and Elena and Katherine’s births had never really made sense to him. Not until he’d found out that Elena and Katherine were actually biologically his cousins. Yes, he would always consider them his sisters, but things seemed to make more sense now. He only wished his parents had been the ones to tell them this and not his dreams.
While the age gap may not have been very big, Jeremy and Tyler had never been very close; that was true. The only things they’d had in common growing up had been Elena and Katherine and their friends and it was the same in the dreams as well. And Vicki of course. In the waking world, Jeremy had never been in a relationship with Vicki or any of Tyler’s girlfriends for that matter so they at least didn’t have to deal with that. From what Jeremy could tell, he was far ahead of Tyler as far as the dreams went and knew that they became friends eventually. They might not have been as close as he and Matt, but they were still friends.
And that was one reason Jeremy had thought it might be a good idea to hang out with Tyler a little more. They shared dreams and experiences so it only made sense to him.
Putting down his beer, he picked up a cue and took a moment or two to set up his shot before breaking and sending the balls scattering all over the table.
Tyler leaned against a nearby table, one hand on the table behind him, and the other one raising a pint to his lips as Jeremy knocked the cue ball into the rest of the balls with a satisfying crack.
“So, I hear you’ve got a live-in girlfriend these days,” Tyler said. Elena had mentioned it at one point, though Tyler couldn’t remember much in the way of details. “How’s that been?”
“It’s been good. Myrcella and I have been together for almost three years now.” It was crazy to think that almost three years had passed already, because it also meant that his parents had been dead for almost three years. Jeremy hated thinking about that night, so he tried his best not to, “She was living with her uncle and he moved with his fiance and put the house in her name and we decided I’d move in.” Staying in the family house had just gotten too hard for Jeremy.
“Three years? Wow. That’s impressive, dude.” Tyler said. His mother had told him about the Gilbert family tragedy after he’d already moved to North Carolina, though he would have been hard pressed to remember that it had already been three years since then. But three years with a girlfriend, well, it was impressive. “But damn. I’m rich and I don’t even have my own house yet.” Well, he came from money at least, even if Tyler didn’t have too much of it to his own name yet.
Jeremy nodded as he took a swig of his drink, “Yeah, hard to believe, huh? I mean, for awhile there I was afraid I’d end up with the same sort of luck with girls I have in the dreams.” All three of his girlfriends, in the dreams, had died. Yes, Bonnie had come back from the dead, like he had, but she had still died and now she was gone again cause the Other Side had collapsed. “And if I had to pay rent, I wouldn’t have my own place. So, it helps that Myrcella’s uncle left her the house.”
Tyler took his pool cue, frowning slightly to herself as he lined up his shot. “Speaking of dream girls,” he said after a moment. “You ever have your feelings bleed through?” He knew that Bonnie was around, and that Jeremy and Bonnie had been involved in the dreams.
Now that was a question that Jeremy wasn’t expecting, but it made sense. “I’ll be honest, sometimes after certain dreams I sort of feel something, but I think that since me and Myrcella have been dating more or less since I started dreaming, it’s dulled those dream feelings.” He knew that there were a lot of people on Valarnet who were dating in the waking world as well as the dreams like Caleb and Hanna. He chose not to think about Damon and his sisters. It was just wrong as far as he was concerned.
“It’s a pain,” Tyler sighed, clearly irritated. “I’m with Blossom, and I really her. But then I dream of being with Caroline and it confuses things.” It didn’t help that Tyler had had feelings for Caroline in this world too when they’d been sleeping together in high school, but he’d been more or less over that by the time he’d moved back to California.
“I get it. I think that if I hung around with Bonnie more, like in the dreams, it might be different, but I can’t even think of the last time I saw her.” It had to have been a party that Caroline had or something, but it had been awhile. “I’m glad though that I haven’t really felt that way about her cause my dreams were messed up enough when I had feelings for two girls at once.” Kissing Anna while he was dating Bonnie had definitely been a big mistake. Especially considering Anna had been dead at the time.
“Oh yeah, that whole Anna and Bonnie thing, huh?” Tyler asked. He really hadn’t cared that much about it all, but Caroline had definitely told him. Apparently in confidence, though he hadn’t known that until she yelled at him for mentioning it aloud. “It’s probably a good call, not seeing her. Hanging out with Caroline as often as I do can get confusing.” He punctuated the last remark by taking his shot, managing to sink two balls in a row and missing his third shot.
Jeremy nodded, “That would be the time. And I just really don’t want to screw things up with Myrcella,” He often wondered if his parents hadn’t died, would he and Myrcella have still gotten together? Sure, they’d become friends before it had happened, but it was partly the trauma of having found their bodies that had led him to her house in the middle of the night during that first week when he couldn’t sleep. Sure, they hadn’t gotten together officially until that Halloween, but they had certainly become closer after his parents had died. “So how’re things with Blossom?” Jeremy had known before today that Tyler had been seeing someone, but he hadn’t known her name until now.
“Relationships are a whole lot harder now that the dreams are around screwing things up.” They had even caused Tyler to stand Blossom up on one of their first dates due to his first, unexpected werewolf transformation. She had understood once he’d explained things, but it was still new enough in their relationship that it could have ruined things for good. He couldn’t stop the smile from crossing his lips at even the mention of Blossom. “Things are going pretty good,” he said. “I don’t want to screw things up with her, either. I worry about it sometimes, like when I dream of being in love with Caroline.”
“Does she know about you and Caroline, in the dreams? I usually talk to Myrcella about the Bonnie stuff when something significant happens partly cause I don’t want to keep anything from her and partly cause Bonnie isn’t there yet.” It did make things a little hard when it came to Bonnie, because as far he knew, they weren’t dating yet in her dreams. “I have a feeling that my next dreams aren’t gonna be easy on the Bonnie front.” The Other Side appeared to have collapsed, taking Bonnie and Damon with it and he’d been too late to save her. Considering how deeply Jeremy cared for Bonnie in the dreams and how sensitive he could be at times, this wasn't going to be easy on him by a long shot.
“No, I haven’t brought it up,” he said, frowning thoughtfully. “I mean, how exactly do you bright that up? ‘This is Caroline, one of my best friends. We used to bang in high school and by the way, I’m totally head over heels in love with her in the dreams.’” That was definitely a conversation he’d rather avoid if he could help it. He frowned. “Oh yeah? You guys got back together?” They hadn’t yet in his dreams.
“Good point.” Jeremy knew how difficult it was to bring up dream relationships with someone you were in a relationship with in the waking world, but he’d thought Myrcella had a right to know, especially with the nature of his dreams, he knew she’d want to be able to help him if he ever needed it and he didn’t like keeping her in the dark about things, “Yeah, we did.” Considering Tyler was behind him in the dreams, he didn’t want to give him any actual details about how they had gotten back together, because there were quite a few spoilers in that discussion, “It was complicated, for a number of reasons, but we did.”
Tyler sighed. “You’re right though,” he said after a moment. “I really need to talk to Blossom about it at some point.” He’d probably be pissed if he found out that Blossom’s dream boyfriend was in the OC and she didn’t tell him about it. Of course, Blossom dreamed of being a five-year-old superhero, so he doubted that that problem was ever likely to arise.
“Good for dream you,” he said, smiling a little, though he was pretty sure the whole thing only made things more difficult for the real Jeremy.
“It’s probably for the best. Wouldn’t want her to accidently find out from someone else.” Things like that always happened when there was something you didn’t want someone to know and in a town where strange things happened often, it was a safe bet that things wouldn’t stay a secret for long. “I don’t know; dream me still seems to have pretty bad luck at times, but maybe things will get better.” Of course the only way for things to get better was for Bonnie to not be stuck on the Other Side or wherever she was now.
Tyler frowned. He hadn’t even thought of Blossom finding out from another source. He had always kind of thought of the dreams as something private that she wouldn’t know about unless he told her about them. Caroline barely told him what was coming up - she sure hadn’t mentioned the werewolf thing before he turned - and he doubted Stefan and Jeremy would either. But that seemed like the exact kind of bullshit Damon would pull if he thought it would be fun.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “The last thing I need is Damon telling her about it. Thanks, man.” But there were better things to talk about than the dreams. He lined up his next shot.
Jeremy rolled his eyes at the mention of Damon, “Yeah, he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with telling anyone about our dreams; even if we haven’t gotten there yet or it’ll annoy us or hurt someone. He just doesn’t care.” Jeremy clearly didn’t like Damon and after all the things he’d done to him and Elena over the last few years, who could blame him. “And no problem. Now take your shot.”