Tyler hadn’t expected any different kind of reception; she didn’t want anyone to care about her, because she didn’t care. Tired of people trying to fix her…that was something he could relate to in a way, but he would have never flipped the switch. As much as he lost, that fueled him. Without those emotions, he didn’t want to think of the kind of person he would be…worse than her, he knew that. She’d only given a seconds pause before the door was being shut in his face. Stepping forward, he put his foot in the way, blocking it from closing completely. “You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?” Being stubborn was just a part of who he was; it went along with having a short fuse…he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of pissing him off this quickly. “I could wait out here all night if I had to.” He didn’t just give up; maybe even to a fault. Damon and Stefan might back off when Elena started making threats, but he wasn’t like that. Refused to be.
There was no denying that he could be aggressive; something she had already pointed out before, but that wasn’t what this was completely about. The old version of him really wouldn’t have cared. Might have tried to get in her pants, immediately, but wouldn’t have gone all out to help. Being a hybrid, he was just a little stronger than her, and it was enough to step forward and force the door further open. “You couldn’t shake me in New York. Being in some whacked out version of Los Angeles isn’t going to change that either. Come on, Lena…if someone’s going to be after you, we both know you want it to be me.” Maybe he was overstating just how much she could tolerate him; arrogance had always been pretty high on his list of personality traits. Had it been toned down? Yeah, but it still came out in flashes. Like taunting Klaus when Bonnie had trapped him. And Elena, with the flip switched, was still able to bring out intense emotions in him. More than he would have wanted her to.
“So how do you want to do this?” His free hand ran through his short wet hair; black spikes sticking up in random places. It was the wolf inside of him, he was sure, but Tyler’s body always felt like it burned hot. He just radiated heat. The difference between him and her….for all intents and purposes, he was still alive. Not a vampire inhabiting a ‘dead’ body. “Because I’m not going anywhere.” Dark eyes were focused on her now through the gap of the doorway. Why? Why did she have to mean so much to him now? He wished he knew the answer; they had been really close growing up, but drifted apart later on…when his dad got worse with the abuse, Tyler wasn’t a very fun person to be around. Now, maybe it was about proving something. Klaus had broken everything in his life. He just wanted to put the pieces back together. Elena gave him purpose. And even without the switch being flipped again…he’d still stick with her. He didn’t know exactly when things had changed but they had. In New York…just seeing her.