Summary: After weeks of flirting with you, Tyler is just about to give up, when a mysterious night involving your key necklace changes everything….
Words: 2.7k
A/N: based of an anonym request with the prompts 20. “Where is my Kiss”, 24. “You have something in your hair”, and 50. “If you could only see how wonderful you look right now”
You groaned as Tyler ran after you on your way to school. “We had a bet, Y/N!” He yelled until he finally caught up to you. You carried your books with both of your hands and threw an annoyed glance at him. However, he wasn´t wrong; you did have bet. Tyler had been after you since the day he first saw you in school. You weren´t easy to get, everybody knew it. Javier and Brinker had even warned him, but Tyler wasn´t going to give up anytime soon. He didn´t know why you tried so hard to distance yourself from him and you hadn´t given him an explanation either. But he felt this mysterious pull towards you. He didn´t know about the necklace around your neck, didn´t know about the key that was dangling on it…
“Where is my kiss?” You let out a sigh, and stopped. It was hopeless and you knew you had lost. He had won the last hockey game and you had bet that he wouldn´t make one shot. There was nothing you hated more than admitting you were wrong. But you were. Stopping in front of the school building and pulling him by his arm, you ended up near to a few protecting trees. A somewhat safe place to give him his price. “Fine.”
Before Tyler could realize what was happening, you leaned on your tip-toes and placed a kiss on his cheek. Then you turned on your heels and finally made your way into the school, a satisfied grin on your lips. At your locker, Tyler was again next to. “That wasn´t a real kiss.” You shrugged. “You never explicitly said where to kiss you”, you explained and his jaw fell open. Devilishly grinning you threw your hair back. “Also, you hadn´t stated by whom the kiss should be, so at least be grateful that it was me, and not my dog.”
Tyler was left in the clearing school hall. After weeks of watching and trying to analyze you, you continued to be a riddle. There was obvious chemistry between the two of you, but why on earth, didn´t you go on a date with him?
It wasn´t until a week later, another party at Javier´s place was hosted, when Tyler was about to find out. When you entered the room, it had been late already and Tyler had been drinking. First, he started to get into the mood, but after two hours he had lost hope. He thought you wouldn´t come and continued drowning his disappointment. But then you did and all he could do, was stumbling to you. You saw him coming, it was really hard not to see him. A good amount of almost falling over, stumbling against several people and leaning against the kitchen counter was deeply needed.
“Hey Y/nnnnnn”, he lisped. He eyed you in your high waisted jeans and the glitter top. You took the cup out of his hand. “I think you had enough”, you added, but then decided to sip yourself. He chuckled when you squinted your eyes at the bitter taste. “Tyler, that´s strong”, you admitted and he grinned somewhat proudly. “I thought you wouldn´t come”, he then admitted a little quieter. You shrugged, avoiding his waiting glance. “I wasn´t planning on it, Christina dragged me here.” He continued to eye you obviously, but that might have been the alcohol in his veins. Out of nowhere he spoke up again. “Are you okay?” You looked up and forced a smile. “Yeah, just stress from home.” Tyler wanted to continue to ask, but he was suddenly pulled away from Brinker, a new round of beer pong was beginning. When he turned back, the place where you had just leaned, was empty.
Two, or had it been three rounds? Nevertheless, Tyler lost track of time and his condition was not improving either. He had lost the beer pong, his mind was still settled on you and he couldn´t think straight. It was already after three in the morning, when this sudden urge ran over him. With all balance that was left in his body, Tyler stumbled to the toilet. He fell on his knees and immediately threw up. You were alarmed by the noise and followed the choking sound. The sight wasn´t pretty, Tyler half passed out, hanging onto the toilet bowl. It hurt you to see him that way and the feeling of guilt laid like a burden on you. You bend down to him and offered a glass of water. “Hey Ty, drink this.” Even in his state, his eyes lit up when seeing you. It hurt even more. He wanted to take the glass, but his hands were still shaking. So, you knelled down next to him and help to guide the glass to his lips. He drank the entire glass in one go and with some toilet paper, you cleaned the edges of his mouth. “You should go home, is your mom picking you up?” Tyler shook his head and mindlessly pulled out the car keys. “You want to drive home? Not in that state!” “But-“ “You´re too drunk!” You argued and took the keys from his hand. Then you took his arm and pulled Tyler back on his feet. “C´mon, I´ll drive.”
It should be mentioned that it took all of your efforts, to rather pull Tyler into the car, fasten his seatbelt (he constantly wanted to hug you), drive him home in the middle of the night with the street to Key House barely enlightened and as quietly as somehow possibly, bring him upstairs to his room. In the meantime, you had pressured Tyler to drink some more water and while he almost fell asleep on the ride to his house, he seemed to be much better now.
“I smell like shit”, he admitted when sitting down on the bed and you chuckled lowly. “No need to tell me, I sat next to you.” He starred at you and started smiling as well. “Thanks.” “Don´t worry, it´s what friends do.” He shook his head and walked over to you. “Do you see Javier or Brinker here?” He wasn´t wrong, when you were leaving, they were both flirting with random girls. Tyler furrowed his eyebrows and his hand reached up to your hair. “There is something in your hair”, he added explaining and pulled out a confetto. However, in the process some of your strands were pulled back and his eyes landed on the necklace around your neck. The necklace you always wore, but Tyler had never seen what was on the necklace. It must have escaped from your shirt when you pulled him in the car or something, but the old key was now in the open…
Tyler stumbled back and his hands went through his already messy hair. “What key is that?” He asked and you saw the angst in his eyes. “It´s nothing, I swear”, you tried persuading him, but Tyler knew what a key like this meant. And by your way of hiding it, he knew that you weren´t as unaware as you might seemed.
“What do you know about this house?” He asked you again, jumping off the bed and taking a few steps to you. He sounded dead serious and a weird mixture of worry and tension laid in his eyes. You sighed, knowing it was now useless. He had seen the key; you had no other options left than telling him. “Not much…” You admitted quietly. “My grandfather gave it to me, he began to tell me all those stories about key house when I was just a little kid.”
You knew the story wasn´t particularly short and the slight ache that was dragging along, pulled you down by your shoulders. You sat down on the bed, Tyler did as well and remained patient listening. “I was a child, I believed in Santa Claus, so why not in a house with magical keys? However, when I turned nine, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s…”
You paused, trying to control your shaking voice. “It was really bad in the beginning, because he realized that he was forgetting things and there is no cure. The day came, where we had to bring him into a retirement home, it was also the day he gave me the key. I hadn´t forgotten about the stories, but I was almost eleven at that point and I didn´t believe like I used to. When we came to visit him and I was alone with him, there were those small moments, where he came back and began rambling about this house again… I didn´t know what to believe.”
“And then…” “Then I came, didn´t I?” Tyler spoke up and for the first time since talking, you actually looked directly at him, nodding. He cleared his voice after minutes of silence passing. “Do you think he will remember? If we´d ask him about key house?”
“Tyler… He died a few months ago.”
Tyler sighed and started walking up and down in the room. Meanwhile, you took off the key from around your neck. “I guess yours… Do you… Do you know what it does?” He took it carefully and eyed it. The key was golden, in a much better state than the other keys he and his siblings had found. The connecting part, also called the forging die, had a small star… Actually, it was starfish. The bow was carefully formed into what seemed a wave. The front part, the bit, had small detailed golden bars, that formed into a crisscross. Tyler stopped abruptly, he remembered now where he had seen a fitting hole. “Follow me, be quiet.” “Tyler, what-“
He opened the door from his room and let the light outside stay off. You didn´t have a chance to question and followed him down the hall. Finally, a few feet in front of you, he turned on a light again. It was the bathroom. After you entered, he closed the door and locked it. You turned around to get a better look and your eyes stopped at the bathtub. It was a off-white tub, with typical golden feet and a golden tab. You wanted to step closer, but Tyler´s hand grabbed your arm. “Before we do this, you have to promise me; don´t tell anybody. Not your friends, or parents and if my siblings ask, you don´t know anything, okay?” You nodded quick witted. “I promise.”
Then you stepped aside so Tyler could go first, the key in his hand. He leaned down to the tab of the bathtub. “I had seen it somewhere, when I helped looking for my sisters earring.” He started explaining and you shifted to closer as well. To get a better look, Tyler stepped inside the tub, still in socks, until he found the keyhole again. “Here, I found it!” Carefully, the keyhole was placed under the tab, which made it hard to even notice, he put the key in. Tyler leaned back, waiting and for several seconds, absolutely nothing happened. Then, suddenly, water started running. “What is happening?” You asked slightly worried. Tyler shrugged and wanted to turn off the tab, but it wasn´t even on. The water continued running, with a very high speed and his socks were quickly wet. Within seconds, the water was up to his calves. “Tyler!” You exclaimed, clearly alarmed by now. “Don´t!” He gestured for you not to come closer. “It feels like…”
“Like what, Tyler?” “The floor, it´s vanishing…” “WHAT?”
Just after Tyler had said the words, his body completely dropped into the water. He didn´t fall, the tub wasn´t as deep, he was just gone. You immediately fell on you knees next to the tub and grasped in it, hoping to catch anything from him. But even leaning over the edge, your hands didn´t reach a floor. The running water stopped as abruptly as it had begun, the water now at the rim of the tub. “Tyler?” You asked carefully. No answer.
“Fuck!” You exclaimed. “What do I do?” You jumped off the floor and looked around the bathroom. Wake his sister? You didn´t know where Kinsey´s room was and if Tyler didn´t know what the key could do, how could she? Behind the bathroom door, next to the shower was a toolbox. You quickly started searching, and somehow, luck was on your side; you found a rope.
“Okay, Y/n, calm down, you can do this.” You tried to calm yourself down, as you took off your shoes and tied the one end around your waist and the other against the heater. Then you sat down at the edge of the tub, your feet dangling in the water. Taking a last deep breath, you let yourself fall into the water. Within the first second, you lost track. It felt like a strong undertow, that pulled you deeper in. Then finally, you were able to see again. And what stunned you, was even hard to put in words…
A beautiful underwater landscape with corals and the soft movement of seaweed. A few fish swam in the back, their scales reflecting in a light coming from above. The corals that were spread across the stone slopes were in pastel colors, while some animals made their way through the labyrinth. The water had a comfortable temperature and reminded you of the ocean close to the equator; warm and turquoise. You didn´t know where the light was coming from, were you in the ocean? But then something even weirder hit you; you could see everything crystal clear. It wasn´t like the times when you were a child in the pool and pretended to be a mermaid, you could actually see underwater. Out of reflex, a gasp escaped from your mouth, and while you watched the air bubbles float up; it hit you once again. You could breath. It all felt like a fairytale and you were the little mermaid.
Then, a little more away, you made out a figure. You could breath, but when wanting to call out Tyler´s name, only bubbles came out of your mouth. You glanced back, following the rope with your eyes. It ended in a dark hole within a stone slope, looking like a cave. Carefully you pulled, checking how much rope you had left. Beginning to move your body, you started swimming towards Tyler. Just like you, he floated in the middle of the breath-taking scenery, not realizing how you came closer. Not completely planning your plan of approaching, you arrived with way too much speed. Not wanting to miss him however, you grabbed his shoulder and the two of your started spinning. Surprised to see you, Tyler grinned widely. The hug was first slightly awkward, but then, when the spinning slowed down and your arms remained on his shoulders, you both couldn´t help but just smile at each other. Tyler noticed the rope around your waist, in which you were both now tangled up. Tyler´s smile faded when he looked towards the cave, where the two of you had come from. You nodded sadly. It was safer to leave for now. Still admiring the landscape, which seemed like sculpted by Poseidon himself, you followed the trail. First, Tyler swam through the cave, and after waiting a few seconds, you followed.
The pull you had felt previously, made you end up in the bathtub again. Gasping now for air, you found yourself in Tyler´s arms. He sat in the bathtub, back against the tub and the rope still tangled around the two of you. The floor of the bathtub had suddenly appeared again, only the water that was filled before, was still there. Your face was only inches away from Tyler´s, you both starred at each other, not believing what just happened.
“If you could only see how wonderful you look right now”, Tyler breathed.
In that night had happened so much, it ended with you leaning for and kissing Tyler. You remembered how Tyler kissed you back, how you dried off and he lending you a sweater from him. You remembered not driving back, instead sleeping cuddled together with Tyler, your hair still smelling like ocean water. And when you woke up the next morning, it all seemed like a dream. But Tyler was still next to you, the key around his neck.
We’ve seen the physical versions of Bode’s (arcade), and Kinsey’s (mall) but they’ve yet to show us Tyler’s. We do see his door though, which looks like the front door to their old house in Seattle. However, as proven throughout the series, the look of the door doesn’t determine what’s behind it. I personally think Tyler’s head is either their old house in Seattle, or some kind of Ice/hockey rink.
Can their heads change location/shape? Like, Bode’s right now is an arcade because he’s a kid, and Kinsey’s is a mall because she’s a teenager, but what was her head back when she was Bode’s age? Some kind of Claire’s-esque make up store? Maybe some kind of hair/nail salon? And at what age do their heads change? Because age has also been proven to be an important part this series, after all, adults can’t remember magic. So what if her head changed when she turned thirteen or something? What could cause someone’s head to change? A simple change of personality, or does it have to be something bigger? If so what?
If you’ve got any theories yourself feel free to sound off below! :)
