WHO:Blossom & Tyler WHEN: Feb 14th WHERE: Blossom's house and beyond WHAT: Tyler picks Blossom up for Valentines day; Tyler meets Professor Utonium WARNINGS: Nada; uber cuteness STATUS: Complete
Tyler checked himself in his rear-view mirror again, and nervously adjusted his necktie again. Maybe a burger dinner and a movie didnât exactly call for a suit and tie, but he wanted to look good. It was his and Blossomâs first Valentineâs Day, and he had every intention of making it perfect.
Deciding that his tie was straight, and his hair looked okay, he picked up the bouquet of roses and the box of chocolate from the passenger seat of his BMW. Once out of the car, he adjusted the bouquet so that it rested in the crook of his right arm, and held the box of chocolates in his left hand. He took a breath once he got to the front door, knocked, and then stood there, holding the heart-shaped box against his chest.
Blossom was waiting for Tyler, not because he was late or because she was nervous or anything like that. But it was strategically because she was going to get to the door before her dad. Sheâd made sure she was ready in advance, a nice red summer dress that set off her hair nice, comfortable flats and um⌠nice underwear to match, because ⌠well just because. Sheâd gotten her make-up done, her handbag ready, her gift for Tyler sitting by the front door and she was waiting in the sitting room, tapping her foot and watching her dad watch the TV.
When Tyler knocked the door, she was up like a shot, only just keeping her feet on the ground and not literally flying to the door. It was a big deal because it was her first serious Valentineâs day, and Tyler was taking her out, and her dad wanted to meet him, finally. Blossom couldnât even argue with him about it because, well, it was serious.
Opening the door to Tyler in a nice suit and tie, looking so dashing and with roses and a heart! âHi,â she was sure if she was in her cartoon form sheâd have the big love heart eyes. âUm⌠My dad wants to meet you?â Why did she make that a question?
Tyler swallowed. He had known that the day would eventually come where he had to meet Blossomâs father. Heâd even talked to Stefan about the possibility at one point, trying to get a gauge of just what to expect from their adoptive father. Stefan hadnât made it sound completely terrifying, but Tyler could still feel his heartbeat quickening at the thought of it.
âOh yeah, cool,â he said nonchalantly, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. âBut firstâŚâ he leaned in to kiss her.
The âcoolâ made Blossom smile, leaning in to return the kiss, careful to not squish anything or make Tyler drop something, that would not be a good start. She didnât want to smush up his suit when he wore it so nice.
Professor Utonium wasnât really an imposing man though, he was tall and always dressed sensibly, strong features and dark hair. Really he looked a lot like Blossom dreamed he looked, only he didnât always wear a lab coat. âDad,â she gave Tyler an encouraging smile as she led him inside, closing the door over behind him. âTylerâs here to take me out.â Which was daughter talk for âcome on, donât embarrass me and weâre leaving soonâ.
âWell, hello there,â Dad was smiling as he came out to the hall, âTyler right, Iâve heard good things.â Oh god, he better not go into detail there. Blossom already felt her cheeks heating up.
âDad.â And that was daughter talk for please donât do this.
Tyler nodded. âThe one and only. Iâve heard lots about you too,â he said. He felt like it was a time to shake his hand, but he realized embarrassingly that his hands were still full. He turned to Blossom and gave her a soft smile. âHere, ba- Blossom,â he said, checking himself last minute. Calling her babe was such a habit now, but he realized belatedly that that wasnât something he should do in front of the Professor.
Taking the flowers and the heart box, chocolates, she was sure sheâd be gorging on chocolates later, Blossom grinned at Tyler in thanks. âIâm going to put these in water,â she meant the flowers, obviously, âIâll be right back and then we can maybe go?â It allowed her dad that minute he wanted, and hopefully he couldnât embarrass her too badly in that moment.
As Blossom slipped out, the Professor stretched out a hand to shake with Tyler, the mostly pleasant smile on his face remaining. âSo, Tyler, what bar is it you work in again?â
âSounds great,â he said, giving Blossom a warm smile. He watched her as she left the room, and then he turned his attention back to the professor. He grabbed the Professor's hand, a firm handshake but checking his increased strength enough to not cause the man any pain.
Tylerâs hesitation was barely perceptible when the Professor asked him what bar he worked at. On one hand, he couldnât imagine that heâd be okay finding out that Tyler worked in a bar where women danced around half-naked, but on the other hand, Victrolaâs was a fairly respectable, high class bar. Besides, maybe he had never even heard of the place. âVictrolaâs,â he said.
Luckily, Professor Utonium was getting use to slightly stronger than usual people, not really able to tell too much about Tylerâs increased strength. The name didnât ring any more bells other than a few times Blossom may have mentioned things, but nothing rung any warnings. It was better to only barely know a place than have it in the news all the time.
âAnd thereâs no problems there? No bar fights, drunken scoundrels,â and he was using that unironically, âI have to ask, if my Blossom might be there a time or two.â It wasnât like the Professor would try to stop any of his girls doing what they loved, but he did want to know they were safe.
âAnd Iâm done,â hopping back from the kitchen, Blossom had been sure to put the flowers in a nice vase, place them somewhere safe and then scurry back before too much was said. âAre we ready, were you nice?â She asked her dad, because she knew that Tyler had been a little nervous about this. She just slipped up to his side, wrapping her arm around his waist with a squeeze.
âNo, nothing like that,â Tyler said. The occasional demon attack, but Blossomâs dad didnât need to know about that. âItâs pretty high end. Everyoneâs usually on pretty good behaviour.â And on the odd occasion when someone did get out of hand, Tyler doubled as a pretty good bouncer.
When Blossom reappeared, he smiled. âHe was nice,â Tyler assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. âWe were just talking about work. Iâve heard you work in physics?â he said to the Professor. âHowâs that?â Tyler himself had never been very good at physics.
Oh dear, Tyler had mentioned work, oh dear. The Professor lit up at the prospect of talking about his work, and while Blossom could keep up a little, she wasnât sure Tyler would be that interested to try and keep up. âOh, itâs marvelous. Weâve just managed to oxide a semiconductor thatâs a single atom thick, effectively, it isolates circulating tumor cells from whole blood at a liquid-liquid interface. Itâll open up a whole new level of thin, transparent and flexible electrical devices while cutting out---â
âDad!â Okay, Blossom knew that the Professor was excited about the work being done with the semiconductors, and she was glad he hadnât started talking about dark matter and the journey to master the theory of harvesting dark matter into an energy source. But, Blossom wasnât even that interested in the semiconductor stuff and she was a scientist. âIâm sure Tyler is super interested, but we should probably not get too into that, yeah?â
Tyler could feel his eyes glazing over, regretting asking about the professorâs work almost as soon as the man started talking. He didnât understand anything that he was saying, and he was beyond relieved when Blossom cut in. âOh yeah,â Tyler said. âAs much as Iâd love to, we should probably be going if we want to have time to finish eating before our movie. But it was great meeting you, uh, Professor Utonium.â
If the Professor was put off but the abrupt interruption he didnât let it show, still smiling pleasantly as Blossom and Tyler told them they needed to get going along.
âOh, of course, well, you kids enjoy yourselves. Behave and have some fun.â Because Professor Utonium believed you could do both. Blossom just smiled before hopping over to place a kiss on her dadâs cheek.
âWeâll have fun, you donât stay up late with your experiments, okay. Night daddy!â It was fine for her to herd Tyler out of the house now, throwing a wave back at her dad before shutting the door. âNot too scary?â At least she hoped that meeting her dad was fine.
Tyler wrapped an arm around Blossomâs shoulders as they stepped outside. âNot too scary at all,â he said, content. âHonestly, way better than what I had been expecting. Iâm a little less surprised about how you ended up so great now.â
It was kind of hard to not be great when her dad was so great, and it likely took a great man to look after three girls all the same age too. But the Professor was special in a lot of ways, âAw, you.â Blossom just blushed, but was very happy that Tyler seemed to like her dad. She knew that Tylerâs family were a little different, and she wouldnât say she liked his dad -he was a little too serious and judgemental towards Tyler for Blossom to really like him, but he was okay, she was sure.
âI think he liked you, I mean, I think he likes most everyone, but I think he liked you as my boyfriend.â
âFirst time Iâve heard that,â Tyler teased, though it wasnât untrue. He usually wasnât a âmeet the parentsâ type, and those few whoâd met him, like Carolineâs mom, werenât really fans. But, well, he wanted to think he was better than the dick heâd been before he met Blossom. Once they reached his BMW, he opened the passenger side door so Blossom could get in. âBut Iâm glad he approves.â
Blossom knew that her dad wasnât harsh on people, and he was the sort to trust his girls and what they thought. Blossom was pretty sure that if she was happy, the Professor would manage to be happy whoever she was dating. It just helped that Tyler was sweet and polite. As showcased with the door holding.
âYou did great, but donât worry, weâll slowly work up to family dinner.â That was mostly a tease, although she knew theyâd get there eventually, maybe a few more double dates before they jumped into family dinners would be good.
âGood, slow and steady is how I like it. With family affairs, at least.â Not that there was much to be nervous about. Her father seemed like a nice enough guy, and he already knew Bubbles. Theyâd even spent some one-on-one time together, though nothing explicitly planned as of yet. Buttercup was a little more nerve wracking. Heâd talked to her a couple of times over the Network, but hadnât yet met her face-to-face, and she seemed like a harder sister to win over than Bubbles.
He leaned over the car door to give her a light peck on the lips before she slipped into the car, and grinned. âI hope you like burgers,â he said. âBecause I think I found the best burgers in the county for tonight.â
Her family was super important to her, that much was true. But Blossom felt like Tyler was super important to her too, and she hope that they all got along. She didnât see there being any huge issues, especially since they cleared up their only proper misunderstanding at the beginning. âBurgers are awesome!â And the promise of the best burgers? Best Valentines ever.