WHO:Blossom & Tyler WHEN: March Full Moon WHERE: The Beach WHAT: Tyler and Blossom do a beach picnic in the full moon WARNINGS: Schmoop STATUS: Complete
Tyler may not have come across it to people who didn’t know him (or even to those who did), but he was, at heart, a bit of a romantic. It wasn’t a trait that had really been brought out before then, not until Blossom had entered the scene, but it was one that he was fully willing to embrace. Though even then, walking on the beach during the full moon wasn’t something that he probably wouldn’t have thought of doing before the chance had been robbed from him.
But he was human again. Genuinely human. He found he missed the perks more than he thought he would - the super speed, the super strength, the super hearing - but when he thought about the trade off, how he might be trapped in a cave worried about getting out and hurting someone he cared about, instead of walking hand-in-hand with his girlfriend on the beach in the middle of the night, the loss didn’t seem so great.
He’d had almost a month to plan for this. His and Blossom’s first real date on the full moon. He’d even tried his hand at cooking, as something of a surprise, and he thought everything had turned out okay despite the fact that he barely knew how to boil water. It all looked edible at least.
“I think this looks like a good spot,” he said, stopping. There was no one around, and the waves were lapping gently at the shore, the full-moon reflecting brightly off the ocean. He pulled a blanket from the bag he was carrying, and laid it out over the sand, then began to pull out the food, packed in tupperware, and a bottle of wine with two plastic wine glasses.
Blossom was kind of in heaven; they’d made on plan on a full moon before, and it had been the same weekend that she’d swapped bodies with Sharon and Tyler had become a werewolf in this world, triggered by his dreams. And while they’d moved past that after the initial sting, and worked around the cave and Tyler’s evenings where he couldn’t leave that locked up space, it was nice to not worry about Tyler being uncomfortable, or what might happen if he escaped for whatever reason.
The beach date, with the full moon beaming down on them, was the height of romantic, and Blossom hadn’t stopped grinning since they started walking down the beach, leaning into Tyler’s side while her hand was clasped in his.
“Perfect spot,” honestly, the whole beach was a perfect spot, but there was a nice view and some rocks further up to guard from too strong a wind coming in. When Tyler started pulling out tupperware boxes instead of the take-away boxes that Blossom half-expected, she raised an eyebrow while her smile turned sweet and soft.
“You cooked?” It wasn’t that Tyler was hopeless, it was just that Blossom thought he struggled a little with heating up ramen. “This is so sweet.”
“I did,” Tyler said, spreading out the food. “Though I haven’t tried any of it yet. Could be that we’ll wish I hadn’t pretty soon,” he joked. The food out, Tyler sat down close to Blossom, and placed an arm around her shoulder to pull her into him.
A moonlit picnic, on the beach, with home cooked food. If Blossom felt any more happy she was a little worried she’d start accidentally blasting things from excitement. “I’m sure it’s great, cooking is just like following instructions.” And for Blossom it was a lot like lab work. She’d never be a chef, because that took imagination with the food, but Blossom could follow instructions very well.
Nuzzling into Tyler’s side, Blossom was maybe a little more aware of just how normal and human he was right then, “This is wonderful, you’re wonderful. I love it.” It hadn’t been a big deal to her about the full moon nights, sitting outside his cave, just talking and hoping she helped a little, but she knew this was a big deal for him. He was in control of what he was right now, and that made it important for her too.
“I’m not very good at following directions. I’m a bit of a rebel,” Tyler teased, and kissed her on the top of her head. “But I’m glad you like it, because I love you.”
He reached for one of the chicken legs that he’d cooked and took a bite, though he’d barely started chewing before his mouth twisted downward. He grabbed one of his napkins and quickly spit it out into there. “I don’t think I cooked the chicken long enough,” he said, once the slimy food was out of his mouth. “But the sandwiches are probably fine. I didn’t actually have to cook anything in them.”
Maybe that was a little of the appeal, he was a touch of the rebel, but he just so happened to be decidedly sweet as well. “I love it, and I love you too.” It was so much better to just be able to say it so freely too.
She couldn’t help but giggle just a little at him, carefully packing away the chicken he’d tried to make, “Well, you attempted it, that’s important.” Making sure the chicken was put away and not at risk of contaminating anything else, Blossom got some more napkins to help clean off Tyler’s fingers -he was human now, he probably couldn’t deal with raw food like normal people. “Sandwiches are fine, it’s a picnic, that’s picnic food.”
Tyler smiled warmly as she helped clean off his fingers. It was nice having someone who cared for him enough to think of it, because he definitely hadn’t. Food safety wasn’t something he’d ever bothered to learn, given that he’d always had someone to cook for him before. “You’re the best,” he said, going to kiss her lightly as she took the napkin to his hands. “I’ve got some ham and cheese ones in there. And some PB&J.” Maybe he should have asked Blossom what kind of sandwiches she liked, but he’d wanted to keep it a surprise.
Blossom was sort of used to taking care of people, their dad was really good with responsibilities, and raising three girls took a lot of attention, but as Blossom grew up she liked to help, liked to get involved. It got to the point where Blossom liked being able to help her dad and sisters was something she enjoyed doing.
“PB&J!” Blossom was fairly easy going, even though she’d eat whatever Tyler had made, even if she didn’t like it, just because of the effort he’d gone to making this night special for them. “It’s a guilty pleasure of mine,” but she wasn’t making that up, “I sometimes feel it’s childish, but I love it so much.”
“Hey, you can’t beat a good PB&J sandwich,” Tyler agreed. “Except maybe with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.” But grilled cheese was a terrible picnic food, even if Tyler could make one without burning it to a crisp. “I don’t think it’s childish either, though that might be because I didn’t really eat a lot of them when I was a kid. Unless I was visiting a friend.”
“You didn’t get PB&J in your lunch box? When the jelly could just soak into the bread and make it all squishy?” The Professor had sometimes allowed for ‘unhealthy’ but fun food, although he’d sometimes cut up sandwiches into fun shapes to make them cool when it was sliced meat and salad too.
“Grilled cheese sandwiches are specifically for watching movies and chowing down, it’s gotta be an indoors thing.” Blossom was happily devouring her food and leaning in against her very human boyfriend under the full moon light. “There’s a trick to the perfect grilled cheese, I’ll teach you it.”
“Not really,” Tyler said. “I’d usually just buy lunch at the school. Sometimes our cook would throw together something for me to bring with me, but generally not sandwiches. Lots of meat and vegetables to help me keep up my energy for all my sports.” Occasionally he’d trade his fruits for Matt’s junk food, but Matt was very rarely up for the trade.
Tyler opened his mouth, about to say something that he thought better of. It was still too early to ask her what he wanted to ask. He just had to wait a couple more weeks. “Maybe you can teach me to cook chicken while you’re at it,” Tyler joked. “You’ll get me making something edible someday.”
Lunches were one of the best things about school, and Blossom had always loved what her dad had made up for her. But she knew that most people just went with the lunches provided and the meals at school, but even in high school, Blossom had swayed towards making her own lunch to take too.
“We’ll start small, and work you up. I’m sure you’ll get there. We’ll make it fun.” Cooking could be fun, it didn’t need to be like learning things or anything, she could make it something they both enjoyed and had some fun with! “We can do stuff together like that.”
“I bet watching paint dry would be fun if I was with you,” Tyler said warmly, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. “Learning to cook will be a blast.”